Entertainment
Raunchy 80s Comedy Is A Campy Coming Of Age Sequel
By Robert Scucci
| Published
When was the last time you fired up 1982’s Grease 2? I’ll bet you have fond memories of the singing and dancing, the dudes and the dames, and the sexually charged innuendos that drip from every single number. Romance. Cool Riders. Reproduction. Doing it for your country. There are so many memorable moments in Grease 2, but it’s also a painful watch because of how hard it leans into its camp.
Having gone to high school myself at one point in my life, I don’t remember having any classmates who were approaching their 30th birthday. I don’t recall resolving differences with rival cliques by snapping my fingers and doing jazz hands. And I especially don’t remember an expensive luau themed homecoming party where someone crashes a motorcycle into a swimming pool.
On one hand, I get it. Grease 2 is supposed to be a fun 80s film about high school, set in the early 60s. Times were certainly different. Back then, it was socially acceptable to lock your girlfriend in a bomb shelter and make unwanted advances under the guise of patriotism while your buddies on the other side of the fortified door high-five each other because you’re about to score. You know, good clean fun.
It probably sounds like I’m needlessly railing on Grease 2 because I don’t know how to have fun, and that’s partially true. Despite all of my complaints, I still find it bafflingly rewatchable for reasons beyond my understanding. It really is a fun film, but the fun I have while watching it is at its expense, not because I want to be one of the dudes.
The Primary Players
Grease 2 wastes no time coming in hot and introducing us to its characters. School is back in session, and everyone attending Rydell High spent the entire summer choreographing their epic return. During this opening sequence, we meet the primary players in spectacular fashion as Stephanie Zinone (Michelle Pfeiffer) is christened the new leader of the Pink Ladies and shows us the lay of the land alongside Sharon (Maureen Teefy), Paulette (Lorna Luft), Rhonda (Alison Price), and Dolores (Pamela Segall).
Smash cut to the resident biker gang and class cutups, the T-Birds. Included in the gang are Goose (Christopher McDonald), Johnny (Adrian Zmed), Louis (Peter Frechette), and Davey (Leif Green). All of the T-Birds are portrayed by actors who are pushing 30, even though they’re meant to be high school seniors. If you were coming of age in the 80s and found yourself wondering why you didn’t need to replace your razor cartridge every three days to keep your five o’clock shadow at bay, it’s probably because Grease 2 was your only frame of reference.
Rounding out the lineup is Michael Carrington (Maxwell Caulfield), the British exchange student trying to find his place in this wacky world where a spicy song and dance number is always right around the corner. That search for belonging eventually puts him directly in front of Stephanie, his primary love interest.
Cool Riders, Charades, And Pretty Lies!
With the introductions out of the way, let’s talk about Grease 2’s primary conflict. Michael pines for Stephanie. Stephanie, the head of the Pink Ladies, only wants to borrow jackets from cool riders. Michael has a lightbulb moment and decides he can be a cool rider. He gets a motorcycle, learns how to ride it, and promptly sweeps Stephanie off her feet. The problem is that Stephanie doesn’t know this cool rider is Michael because he’s wearing a helmet and goggles, and she still has unresolved feelings for Johnny, even though she’s mostly over his womanizing and arrogant attitude.
The T-Birds, meanwhile, are too busy preparing for their talent show audition and a choreographed bowling alley brawl with rival biker gang the Cycle Lords (sigh), but they also want a piece of the Cool Rider’s mystique. This is complicated by the small detail that he’s trying to steal Johnny’s girl. Are you keeping up? Good, because it somehow gets dumber.
Louis locks Sharon in a bomb shelter and pretends a nuclear attack is imminent, hoping this manufactured moment of desperation will help him score. Everyone in sex education class makes Mr. Stuart (Tab Hunter) hot and bothered while singing about the reproductive process in graphic detail. As mentioned earlier, everyone in this universe is well rehearsed and ready to break into a blistering jam at the drop of a hat if it helps move the plot forward. Cool Rider faces off with the Cycle Lords, led by Leo “Crater Face” Balmudo (Dennis Stewart), and everyone claps. Wow.
How Is This A Thing?
Grease 2 is an absolute punisher if I’ve ever seen one, yet I probably watch it once a year for a good laugh. Everything about this movie is inherently ridiculous, and it becomes even more absurd if you look up the actors’ birthdates. These are people born in the 1950s, starring in a 1982 production, portraying teenagers in 1961. None of it makes sense, and I don’t think I’d have it any other way.
What really sells Grease 2 as a guilty pleasure is how committed everyone is to the premise. It doesn’t matter that the only reason Stephanie likes Michael is because he has a cool bike. The cool bike is the friends we make along the way, and once she catches on to Michael’s alter ego, she can ride on his handlebars guilt-free while Johnny eats dust for being such a handsy little tomcat.
Your mileage may vary on Grease 2, but if you want to see what $11 million worth of sexual innuendo and hip choreography looks like, you can stream the film for free on Pluto as of this writing.
Entertainment
Moon phase today: What the Moon will look like on February 9
Tonight marks the Third Quarter Moon, halfway between full and new. We see exactly half of the Moon lit up, with illumination on the left-hand side. So, there’s around a 50% chance of spotting some features on the Moon’s surface, what can you see?
What is today’s Moon phase?
As of Monday, Feb. 9, the Moon phase is Third Quarter. According to NASA’s Daily Moon Guide, 652% of the Moon will be lit up tonight.
But what can you see? With no visual aids, you should be able to see the Mare Imbrium, Copernicus Crater, and the Aristarchus Plateau. With binoculars, you’ll also be able to see Clavius, and the Archimedes Craters, and the Grimaldi Basin. If you have a telescope, you’ll also be able to see the Apollo 14 landing spot, the Schiller Crater, and the Rima Ariadaeus.
When is the next Full Moon?
The next Full Moon will be on March 3.
What are Moon phases?
NASA says that a complete lunar cycle takes around 29.5 days. This is the time the Moon needs to orbit Earth once. During this cycle, it goes through eight phases. While the same side of the Moon always faces Earth, the visible portion that is illuminated changes as the Moon travels along its orbit. The varying amount of sunlight reflected off the Moon is what causes it to appear fully lit, partially lit, or nearly dark at different stages. The eight phases of the Moon are:
New Moon – The Moon is between Earth and the sun, so the side we see is dark (in other words, it’s invisible to the eye).
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Waxing Crescent – A small sliver of light appears on the right side (Northern Hemisphere).
First Quarter – Half of the Moon is lit on the right side. It looks like a half-Moon.
Waxing Gibbous – More than half is lit up, but it’s not quite full yet.
Full Moon – The whole face of the Moon is illuminated and fully visible.
Waning Gibbous – The Moon starts losing light on the right side. (Northern Hemisphere)
Third Quarter (or Last Quarter) – Another half-Moon, but now the left side is lit.
Waning Crescent – A thin sliver of light remains on the left side before going dark again.
Entertainment
Microsoft Office 2024 for Mac and PC gets smarter with AI, now 60% off
TL;DR: Microsoft Office 2024 Home & Business for Mac or PC is on sale for $99.97 through March 1 at 11:59 p.m. PT, offering 60% off Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and more.
$99.97
$249.99
Save $150.02
If your work revolves around documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and email, Microsoft Office 2024 Home & Business brings those core tools together with updated features designed to keep everyday tasks moving efficiently. The lifetime license for Mac or PC is priced at $99.97, representing a 60% discount off the regular price, and ends on March 1 at 11:59 p.m. PT.
Included are Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook — the familiar lineup, installed directly on your device for both online and offline use. Office 2024 brings performance improvements across the whole software. In Excel, for example, working with large datasets or handling multiple workbooks is quicker and more reliable. For anyone who routinely works with numbers or builds reports, this added speed can make daily tasks less tedious.
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Content creation tools have also been refreshed. PowerPoint now supports recording presentations with voice narration, video, and closed captions, which is a plus for remote meetings, online classes, or sharing presentations after the fact. Word adds Focus Mode to help reduce distractions as you write, alongside AI-powered suggestions to sharpen up your prose. Built-in research features keep citations and references at your fingertips, so you can stay in the zone without switching tabs.
Microsoft’s Fluent Design system brings Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook a cohesive look and feel. Touch and pen support is now smoother on tablets and convertibles, and customizable templates and themes make it easy to create polished work without a designer’s eye.
Collaboration tools are built in as well. Real-time co-authoring allows multiple people to work on the same file simultaneously, with chat, comments, and version history helping track changes and feedback. Deeper integration with Microsoft Teams centralizes file sharing and communication within the Office environment.
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Microsoft Office 2024 Home & Business is designed for users who already rely on Microsoft’s core apps and want updated features without changing how they work. For $99.97 through March 1 at 11:59 p.m. PT, the current deal makes it easier to step into the latest version at a lower cost, especially if those tools are already part of your daily routine.
StackSocial prices subject to change.
Entertainment
Super Bowl LX performers: Who is singing the anthems
The Super Bowl LX halftime show featuring Bad Bunny and the Super Bowl pre-show featuring Green Day may be taking up all the attention when it comes to Super Bowl performances — and rightfully so! Everyone is looking forward to what the internationally known artists will do or say regarding President Trump and ICE.
However, other musical artists are performing at this year’s Super Bowl as well.
Charlie Puth to sing national anthem
Kicking the show off with the U.S. national anthem “The Star-Spangled Banner” is the Grammy-nominated singer Charlie Puth. Puth’s debut single, “Marvin Gaye,” featuring Meghan Trainor, was a Billboard chart hit upon its 2015 release. Puth has since had other hits, including “We Don’t Talk Anymore (feat. Selena Gomez),” “Attention,” and “Nothing But Trouble.”
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Brandi Carlile to perform patriotic song
Next up, singing “America the Beautiful” is singer-songwriter Brandi Carlile. Carlile has a whopping 11 Grammys and two Emmy awards. Her biggest hit was 2007’s “The Story,” but she is also known for songs like “Broken Horses” and “The Joke.”
Coco Jones to sing Black national anthem
Grammy Award-winning R&B artist Coco Jones will sing “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” also known as the Black national anthem. “Lift Every Voice and Sing” has become a Super Bowl staple since 2021, when Alicia Keys performed it at the event. Singer and actress Ledisi performed the song at last year’s game.
Moon phase today: What the Moon will look like on February 9
Microsoft Office 2024 for Mac and PC gets smarter with AI, now 60% off
