Slumber Party infiltrator .. and a Question

There had been MANY good TG stories and some captions dealing with slumber parties, and I wanted to stick my toe into the water and make one as well. I did this almost 3 years ago,so it is no where near as refined as I like to think I am now when it comes to making captions. Its much more straight forward and the storyline was pretty much ripped off from the movie "Just One of the Guys" with one of the hottest teen girls of the 80's, Joyce Hyser AND the immortal WILLIAM ZABKA! See it if you can, as she goes undercover as a boy to write a journalism story (sort of like a Black Like Me thing, I think) where she sort of looks like a girlish Ralph Macchio when in guy drag. Also, contains a great line of dialog, "where do you get off having tits?" and later on, the same guys says, "Its OK everyone, its alright. He has tits."

I'm hoping that the slumber party that "Emily" is going to is as fun as what Steffie had last night on the Haven. Heard it was a real blast for all involved!

Now here is a question from Alectra:

Surely you are bound to know a lot of folklore on American History but are you in touch with any folklore outside of your country? by folklore i mean culture, myths, legends, customs, etc. related to the country...

I know a fair amount of world history and some traditions, due to taking some folklore classes in college. I also know many stereotypical things that aren't true, as per the filmstrips we watched when I was in elementary school. I've also mentioned here about Joseph Campbell and the Archetypal Hero and how those relate to myths. Every culture has its own myths and each seem to have the same roots. I think that is one of the reasons that TG captions can play well across cultural boundaries. The ideas behind the captions are universal.  The witches, gypsies, tricksters, etc .. we all use tend to be the same across all cultural boundaries, from Baba Yaga to Sabrina the Teenage Witch.

However, my captions can be an island unto themselves and distinctly American. I tend to litter them with cultural references that are relevant to me and those of my generation. In addition, there is a huge smattering of pop US culture, and pile onto that, instant memes that will fade quickly from our consciousness, unless prodded in a way that you'll say, "remember when that was popular 10 months ago?"  For instance, there was a moment where some old guy sung a song called "Pants on the Ground". It seems like a long time ago, but it was less than 2 years ago. It was a huge sensation for about 3 weeks, then it disappeared. I can't even tell you the name of the guy that did it. Rebecca Black and her song "Friday" is another one of those instant pop culture references that will probably disappear fast. 10 years from now, they'll do a "where are they now?" feature and they'll reflect on it, even though at that point, she'll probably just be getting out of college.

Anyway, my point is that what I write is often contingent on when you are viewing it and where you live. You'll get the main point of it, but there might be some place where you aren't getting the whole GESTALT of what I was playing around with. I mean, how many people honestly read the caption above and KNEW the movie reference I was working with? Perhaps you got a Twelfth Night vibe (which the movie sort of ripped off) but unless you were a teen in the 80's, the caption just sort of "sat there" and existed.

I guess I might need to take a step back occasionally and try for some universal themes, un-littered with obscure (for the world at least) references. Just so I don't leave people out. I will make an effort, but honestly, I put a lot of myself into what I create, and this is who I am. Someone that makes constant pop culture references (the writers of Family Guy really understand my brain, and Seth went to college not too far from where I'm from) is someone that will probably be a good friend of mine. Otherwise they'll just sort of sit there puzzled at why I'm yelling "ROWSDOWER!" when a Molson Ice commercial comes on the television.

DISCUSSION QUESTION:  Do you lose any enjoyment in not being completely aware of everything that is going on in the caption? Does it make you enjoy it more when you catch something that is an obscure reference that most won't get? What percentage of a caption should be universal to all vs cultural references as a good balance?

Perhaps the link will work here in the main posting? It is here to show an interview I mentioned in the comment section.