As many of you have heard by now, iconic 80's teen film maker John Hughes passed away yesterday. Though he wrote many comedies up until 2008's "Drillbit Taylor," he will always be known for creating some of the most recognizable, and in most cases realistic, teen characters in the '80s. One of my favorite things about these characters was that he was able to make being a "geek" or a "dweeb" into more than just a bookworm with no social skills. He added layers to all of his characters in this way.

I thought a good way to honor him would be to go through my favorites among his geeks, and try to see what it was that I had learned from them to make me the proud geek that I am today.

"Farmer Ted" We're going to be seeing Anthony Michael Hall a few times in this post I believe. In "Sixteen Candles," AMH's geek role was that of the "Newbie/Freshman Geek." He spent the entire movie trying to prove to his buddies that he was mature and cool enough to spend the night with Molly Ringwald (or any girl). After a night of crashing the Senior Party, charging admission to show off a pair of panties, and spilling his guts to anyone within ear shot, Farmer Ted was able to negotiate his way into driving the prom queen home in a borrowed Rolls Royce.

Lesson Learned: You can use your words and your mind to get you pretty far. You don't have to be the most handsome guy in the room, just the one willing to take the right chances.

Cameron Frye "In Ferris Bueller's Day Off," it may be easy to focus on Ferris and all of his witty one-liners, but my favorite character has always been Cameron Frye. Ferris's reluctant partner in crime and best friend, Cameron must be dragged through the whole movie, kicking and screaming, to have a little fun. Cameron is the "Too Worried to Have Fun" Geek. He begins the movie convinced that he is sick and bedridden, and ends the movie by kicking his dad's expensive car through a glass window. Quite a character change for old Cameron.

Lesson Learned: You can't always control the situation around you. Sometimes you have no other choice but to go with the flow and see what life has planned for you. Also, if you do a killer impression of your friend's father, do it on the phone to the principal as much as possible.

Brian Johnson "The Breakfast Club." No three words can make my remote control stop on an all-day TBS movie marathon quicker. Anthony Michael Hall once again proves why he is so good at capturing the layers of the teenage geek. This geek is the "Under Pressure" Geek. Brian's big moment in this movie is when he explains how he got to be in detention. He explains the pressures that are being laid on him by his parents, how he has to get an A in every class and how he can't make an elephant lamp light up in shop class. This all caused him to bring what he thought was a gun to school and hide it in his locker. It ended up going off and only turned out to be a flare gun. In the end, he smokes marijuana, dances with Emilio Esteves and realizes that he isn't the only one with a bad home life. Maybe the geek, the jock, the artist, the rich girl, and the bully have more in common than they think ...

Lesson Learned: You can't put yourself under that much pressure 24/7, a person just can't take it. Deadlines, pressures from the boss, pressures at home and elephant lamps not lighting up can all add up. Sometimes you just have to stop, breathe, and dance with Emilio Esteves.

Kyle Stuef is a Marketing professional who blogs on internet / technology trends, and being a young professional in Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor for The Deuce and AnnArbor.com

You can contact him at: kstuef@gmail.com @KyleStuef www.linkedin.com/in/kylestuef www.facebook.com/kylestuef