I remember when the Rubik’s Cube came out and how unexcited I was to get and solve one. Seriously, it looked like absolutely no fun at all to me. My brother got one, and I think he was able to solve it, without even taking the stickers off and just replacing them. I tried it, I couldn’t get it, I didn’t care.
Now a new generation of kids, and an old generation of middle-aged people who still think they’re kids, can try to solve a new version of their favorite old game. Head on over to Hsien’s post to find out how you can try to win a yet-to-be released Rubik’s Revolution. Can you guess how anxious I am to get my hands on one of these? ;)
I don’t often watch The Today Show anymore, my mornings these days are filled with cartoons on PBS or homeschooling. The other morning, though, I was able to catch a few minutes of the show and caught John Mellencamp performing songs from his recent album, Freedom’s Road. You can watch the YouTube video below to see and hear Mellencamp chatting with Today Show host, Matt Lauer.
I think the bit that stole the hour, though, was the cameraman’s capture of Richard Simmons working out while watching Mellencamp perform. You’ve gotta watch it just to check out the glittery tank and the striped shorts, so very 80’s. I can’t say too much, though, the man does have better legs than me. Simmons was there to promote his upcoming hearing to try to get more mandatory Phys.Ed. in the schools as an attachment to the No Child Left Behind Act. The fact that he adjusted himself while they were taping kinda stole the show, but I think it’s no more scandalous than what you’d experience sitting around with guys watching the big game, ya know?
You can check out that video below…
If you just can’t get enough of John Mellencamp, click on over to his site and you can listen to AM (all Mellencamp) streaming radio. Enjoy.
I got a chance to get out for a bit today, and I took the opportunity to call up Bald Man and get out for lunch. Just the two of us. It was fantastic.
Anyway, as most of you probably don’t know, Bald Man loves to sing. As you probably also don’t know, he’s aurally challenged (read as: doesn’t really know whether or not he’s in tune when he’s singing). It is a fact that he’s well aware of, so I’m not outing him here or anything. Or maybe I am, but he can take it. :)
Anyway (wow, I say that a lot)…..we were stopping for coffee before our lunch date was over, and he was singing kinda. He made some comment about how he could still get on American Idol and we made a little joke about the girl this season who auditioned KNOWING that she couldn’t sing. Did you see her audition? It was her grand idea to be the first American Idol who couldn’t sing, and who they taught to sing.
I said something to the effect of, “Yeah, an American Idol who can’t sing.”
Bald Man’s reply, “Two words for you…..Milli Vanilli.”
Heh, yeah…I’m sure Simon Cowell would have had a field day with them. But I did love that Girl You Know It’s True album. I have it on cassette. :) I think I even did a karaoke bit to it in high school. I seem to remember singing it at a pool party. Now, I just get Blame it on the Rain stuck in my head when it’s, well, raining.
And now, for your 80’s flashback pleasure, Blame it on the Rain by Milli Vanilli. Thanks, YouTube. :)
I know, I know, you just have too much time on your hands, don’t you? You look at your week’s schedule and think, “Wow. I just don’t know what I’m going to do with myself this week. There are just tons and tons of big white spaces indicating huge blocks of time with which I don’t know what to do!”
Well, do I have the solution for you. The b5media forum arcade. Oh yes. What, you ask, is the b5media forum arcade? Thank you for asking. It is the most monumental time waster, but it is fun. :)
So, if you’d like to whittle away precious hours of your life trying to beat the retro games scores of those of us b5 bloggers (and new forum members as well) who have already wasted our best years in front of the computer, click on over to the main site for b5media, then click on the forums tab. This will lead you to the part where you come up with a clever username and let us know as much or little about you that you think is safe for us to possess, and then join in the arcade fun! Oh yeah, and introduce yourself in the forums and join all of the wackos, erm, my colleagues there. :D We really do have some fun conversations going on there, a few of which are actually useful. ;)
With the Chicago Bears in the home stretch to the Super Bowl, every child from the 80’s should be walking around with the sweet sounds of The Super Bowl Shuffle streaming through their brains, or is that just for those of us who were living in the Land of Lincoln at the time and couldn’t have gotten away from the song if we’d tried?
It was up at YouTube for a while, but has been pulled down. I’m guessing it has something to do with those pesky copyright laws, but it was fun to see it while it was up, though a bit bittersweet when “Sweetness” Walter Payton appears.
The 80’s brought out some weird videos, this one by The Cars most definitely among them. But I do have to watch it all the way through, anyway. It’s a fun one!
Gotta love the Ray Ban-style glasses. And, is it just me, or does the lead singer (Ric Ocasek) look a lot like Richard Belzer in this video? Him, or Dana Carvey with a dye job? Or I’m just losing it, and that’s a good guess, too. ;)
Have you seen these joystick games? I was so excited when walking through Target (I think it was) and saw the cute joystick with Ms. Pac-Man’s likeness pictured on it. I pointed it out to my friend and she said, “Oh yeah. I have a couple of games like that. All you do is plug it into your TV and there are several games that you can play.” Crazy. Apparenly, a few of my friends have these and are enjoying hours of 80’s reminiscence and fun and are not inviting me over to join them. Hmph.
We were visiting at my mom’s tonight and Annie (1982) came on the TV. I remember seeing it in the movie theater with my mom, my friend, and her mom. I loved it and sang, “Tomorrow” probably for a week straight. Man, that must’ve been annoying to everyone else in the house. Hmmm…
Anyway, my oldest is just slightly younger now than I was when I first saw it, and I think she’s seen it at grandma’s before, so I thought it would be fun to sit and watch a bit of it with her. Wow, it is so completely different what you catch in a movie with a few decades of life’s observations behind you!
We couldn’t stay long enough to finish the whole thing, but the parts that I saw were as fun as I remembered. Carol Burnett was great, and I remember her character, Miss Hannigan, being as mean as I’d recalled, but who knew she was so risque. Yowza. And I didn’t remember Annie saying the word, “crap” when singing to poor, abused Sandy.
Of all the things money can buy these days, too bad a little of our childhood innocence isn’t one of them! I’m hoping that, since I didn’t pick up on those things when I was a kid, neither will my daughter. /me keeps my fingers crossed
In honor of the Christmas Day passing of the late, great James Brown, I present to you (via my new addiction, YouTube) the legendary 1983 performance of Eddie Murphy in the legendary SNL sketch, James Brown’s Celebrity Hot Tub Party. I don’t think a week passes in our house with out someone shouting out, “Too hot in the hot tub!”
I completely forgot to post my Best of the Worst of the 80’s Movies post! So, here we are, a day late. Who am I that I think I get a day off for Christmas? ;) Hope your holiday was great!
For this week’s best of the worst I’m sharing a pick from my totally awesome friend of 20+ years, Jackie. Of all the great things that she is, she is not a blogger. I know, I know, I’m working on her. She’d crack you up. Anyway, her bid is for Grease 2. Here are her thoughts:
My pick for best of “worst” 80’s movies is Grease 2. It is horrible, but I can’t help watching everytime it is on. Michelle Pfieffer singing with a great deal of electronic help. Cool Rider, Let’s Do It for Our Country, Reproduction. The crazy ending luau scene. It is horrible in the way that makes you love it.
So, hope that helps and bring on my critics!
Did you remember that the premise of the movie was that the character of Michael, played by Maxwell Caulfield (who I had a HUGE crush on in this role) was Sandy’s cousin? I completely missed that. Too busy being infatuated, I guess. ;)
