Bring It On Week: Oh, It's Already Been Broughten!

The incomparable Chris Sims of Chris's Invincible Super-Blog -- who, as some of you long-time blog monkeys might remember, once awarded me a badly-drawn picture of the comic book character of my choice as a Punishment Day present -- has declared this to be "Bring It On Week," a celebration of all things Bring It On related. Having already posted an entry into the Bring-It-Ontest I figured that I should more fully embrace the festivities of BIO Week by doing my own, personal BIO post.

My initial exposure to BIO was thanks to Rebel Monkey, who somehow convinced The Pirate, Rose Hips the Enforcer, and myself to go see this somewhat cheesy looking cheerleading flick at the theater; for some reason we saw it in OKC, although if that was because it wasn't playing Stillwater at the time or because we were just doing one of our periodic day trips, I don't recall. I do recall that one of the main reasons Rebel Monkey was wanting to see it was because it starred two Buffy alums, Eliza Dushku (Faith) and Clare Kramer (Glory), which was, I admit, a draw for the rest of us as well, but it probably wouldn't have been enough to get us into the theater to see it; "definite rental material," I thought to myself, settling in to watch a sure-to-be-bubblegum teeny-bopper, feel-good movie.

And then the film started with Torrence's dream sequence and my perception of what I was watching did a big 180, or, as I might actually say to the first Bring It On if it were a real person and we were ever to meet face to face: "You had me at 'I swear I'm not a whore'." Follow that sequence up with tons of charismatic characters and loads of the pop-culture savvy* patois that is custom made to appeal to fans of all things Whedon, and you have a film that was immediately at the top of my Christmas DVD wish list.

Now, was the film high art? Hardly, nor was the plot the pinnacle of originality. But it made me laugh, made me smile, made "Those aren't spirit fingers, these are spirit fingers" a part of my lexicon . . . what more could one ask for?

My favorite BIO related memory**: I was at a Texas Rangers game with the Singles, and was heading to the rest room when I noticed a group of teenagers approaching from the other direction doing a cheer as they walked: "I said brrrrrrr/it's cold in here/there must be some Toros in the atmosphere/I said brrrrrrr/it's cold in here/there must be some Toros in the atmosphere." By a wonderful piece of synchronicity, I was parallel with both the group of girl and the Men's room at this exact moment, so I belted out along with them "I said: oh-ee-oh-ee-oh-ee! Ice ice ice!" and then quickly darted into the restroom, leaving behind a chorus of surprised giggles in my wake.

As mentioned above, BIO week include a Bring-It-Ontest, in which people are challenged to come up with an appropriate title for the next sequel. I came up with a couple of possible entries, but when Zinger suggested the following, I knew I had to post it to share with the world: "Bring It On WWII: Bring-time for Hitler." At the time I write this there are 168 comments in the Bring-It-Ontest; my hopes are that if my entry is not up to Mr. Sims' standards that the winner is one of the following:

• Bring It On: Some Like It Brought***
• Bring It On: The Mancheerian Candidate
• Dr. Strangecheer, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Bring It On
• I Know Why the Caged Bird Brings It On****

Please feel free to add you own cherished memories of BIO in the comments below.

*Although detractors of the style would probably want to substitute "heavy" for "savvy"
**Okay, so it's pretty much my only BIO related memory, what's your point?
***This is Fellow Book Monkey and Blogger Bubblegum Tate's entry, but I would have been cheering for it regardless
****This was one of the two possible entries of mine which were rejected due to Zinger's suggestion, and which someone else came up with dependently later on; I will also be happy if my other choice, The Postman Always Brings Twice makes it