One of my favorite films from back in the day was Teen Witch. Robyn Lively was the titular teen witch, Lousie. Dan Gauthier was her ‘oh so dreamy’ object of desire Brad. And Zelda Rubenstein (Poltergeist) played her cooky but lovable mentor, Madame Serena.

The movie doesn’t really make much sense and borders dangerously close to becoming a musical. But it’s fantastic, I tell you! It’s better if you really don’t know much. If you need a primer, check out the “Top That” scene that Sasha Frere Jones posted on his blog. It totally reminded me of why I love Teen Witch.

Check it:

Dear god, I hope that Teen Witch with Ashley Tisdale remake dies in development hell. I feel like the 1989 version was able to work because the climate of late eighties accepted its over the top spirit. In today’s film market, I fear it would come off as one of those INSERT GENRE movie movies like Not Another Teen Movie. I’d probably make a more entertaining homage to the original film with my friends simply reenacting the dance scenes. All you really need is someone with an inch more of charisma than that High School Reunion girl, some eighties costumes and a decent Panasonic digital camcorder.

If you liked that digital taste of Teen Witch from above, you should buy it on dvd today. It’s so cheap what could it hurt? I guarantee it’ll bring a smile to your face.

The are more video cameras on the market these days than any sane person can keep tabs on. But you won’t find many that are designed to record underwater. Not without a “housing,” anyway.

Even if you just want to take your camera into the bathtub with you (Ready for your close-up?), you’ll need a waterproof if you want to get any underwater shots. If you want to take it with you when you go snorkeling, you’ll be able to have a greater variety of subjects to choose from—and even more if you are scuba diving.

If you have an older camera, you may have to buy a new one. Manufacturers often discontinue making cases for older models. If you do have to buy a new one, make sure you buy a camera from a manufacturer that also offers a housing. Not all of them do.

You can find a more detailed discussion here. If you’re a hardcore DIY type, you can build your own. It looks like a major task to me though.

I’ve saved the best solution for last. I have enough trouble managing the gadgets I have already, so this nifty camcorder from the folks at Panasonic is just what I’d buy.

Panasonic SDR-SW20

Online video communities are chock full of digital videos of dancing babies. Parents + digital camcorders can sometimes turn into a dangerous situation.

They become totally addicted to filming their little bundles of joys (can ya blame them, tho?). A video of their first steps quickly turns into 500 clips of the kid dancing away to a leap frog fridge dj!

Good thing there are tons of affordable camcorders on the market, so all parents can learn how to capture family videos. If you know someone who is expecting and is in the market for a compact camcorder, I’d recommend any entry level flash memory camcorder by Panasonic, JVC, or Sony.

JVC Everio GZ-MG555 HDD Camcorder

Sony Handycam DCR-SR200 40GB HDD Camcorder

Panasonic Palmcorder SDR-H18 HDD/SD Camcorder