My Life As A Magazine: The 80's

The 80's

Showing posts with label The 80's. Show all posts

Hello! Apologies for my absence for the last couple of months. I promise I have a good excuse! I have been working on some new exciting creative projects that I will be sharing with you soon. 

In between my projects as you can see via my Instagram, I have been sending out lots of snail mail around the globe. Some to pen pals and other 'happy mail'  to customers who have purchased my zines and stationery kits! This washi tape, heart corsage brooch has been posted out to a fan of Aussie TV show Neighbours. A little nod to iconic 80s couple Scott and Charlene (aka Kylie Minogue).

Love a good hit of nostalgia! 

Like my Rankin/Bass Christmas classic collection there are a few other Christmas movies & TV shows that I just HAVE to view every year!

The animated 'The Nutcracker Prince' (1990) tells the famous tale of a boy called Hans who has been turned into a toy nutcracker by the Mouse King. The nutcracker needs to win the heart of a girl called Clara for the spell to be broken. This is the best 'Nutcracker' movie I have watched as it has a romantic Disney feel to it.

This 1987 TV version of the 'Little Match Girl' is very hard to come by. I watched it every year at Christmas in the 80's-90's. My nan had a copy of it on VHS, I would also watch it when she was minding me if I was sick during my primary school days. Love the bit where she makes a snow angel! I remember pretending to be sick sometimes, just so I could get the day off and watch it....shhh don't tell!

The Muppets Christmas Carol (1992)- MUST WATCH! I can never get sick of this. I love all versions of 'The Christmas Carol' but this is by far the best. I always cry at the 'Tiny Tim' part. Love the mice, especially the little jokes between narrators 'Gonzo & Rizzo'- "light the lamp not the rat, light the lamp not the rat"!!

I am a big fan of British comedy. My dad is from England so I have been educated well when it comes to British comedy shows. Love all of Mr Bean's episodes, it's something that you can laugh at over & over again. The Mr Bean Christmas episode is called 'Merry Christmas Mr Bean (1992)- lots of laughs as he messes up a department store, gets his girlfriend the wrong Christmas present (advertised picture of a ring....instead of the 'actual' ring) and when he gets the big Turkey stuck on his head.

Keeping up appearances- another British fave! My mum can be just like Hyacinth at times- she even does high teas like Hyacinth's 'candlelight suppers' & bosses my dad around (like Richard) about how & where to drive!

Vicar of Dibley-(1994-2007) ah! I love Dawn French and the crazy, weird and unique country folk of Dibley!

Home Alone 1 & 2 are classics everyone should own! It shows snowy America & New York at Christmas. I have always wanted to go to 'Duncan's Toy Chest' not sure if it actually exists though. It's sad they don't make movies like these now- love John Hughes movies.

The Santa Claus (1994)- Best movie that shows the North Pole! Magical family fun!

Bridget Jones's Diary- my fave movie/book of 2001- starring Colin Firth too in a Rudolph jumper- great romantic Christmas movie.

More romantic Christmas movies...

The Holiday (2006) I learnt what a 'meet Q' in movies are from watching 'The Holiday' (when the main character first meets their soulmate).

Love Actually (2003)

Every year my mum, sister & I have a 'Anne of Green Gables' (1985) movie marathon.

What are some of your Christmas movie or TV show faves?? Would love to hear!

Being a fan and collector of all things nostalgia, I just had to pay a visit to the Sydney Powerhouse museum to check out their latest exhibit 'The 80's Are Back'! The 80's are back features 80's memorabilia of fads & toys, fashion, design, images, movies, TV, music, politics and audio-visuals of the best of the 80's, neon-80's (now) and other Australian history events of this iconic time. Maybe the Powerhouse museum curator Peter Cox, should of contacted me, as I have heaps of memorabilia...mainly toys & TV shows from the 80's that he could of included in the exhibit. While it is imperative that you check out The 80's are back yourself, I thought I would share with you my experience and some of my favourite things from the exhibition.

Walking into the Powerhouse museum foyer you are greeted with a big hanging white t-shirt saying The 80's are back! As you enter the exhibit you walk through a fluro tube playing famous 80's music video clips. First I spot a poster of the 1988 Yahoo Serious movie Young Einstein (why is this not available on DVD in Australia yet?) and his guitar!

A tribute to other iconic Aussie TV shows are also included; Neighbours soap show memorabilia posters, TV Guides, costumes, audio-visuals of the scene where Charlene (Kylie Minogue gets proposed to by Scott (Jason Donovan). Walls are emblazed with Aussie movie posters of Crocodile Dundee, Mad Max and Puberty Blues etc. Standouts for me was the Young talent time yo yo, Hey Hey it's Saturday book and collectibles from the Comedy Company; Con and Kylie Mole dolls!!! I'm sorry I didn't mention the Comedy Company in my Aussie 80's-90's TV at it's Best blog! I was obsessed with Kylie Mole! I had her cassette tape single of her 1988 chart hit So Excellent as well as her gum range and a Kylie Mole school folder! I also dressed up as her for a dress-up party, she was the Aussie version of a St Trinian and wore dress-up out-fits that would make Lady Ga Ga jealous! To make up for my fail of mention- here's a music video clip of Kylie Moles So Excellent and a picture of me wearing my Kylie Mole T-Shirt!

The Pac man stickers pathway will lead you to the main exhibit floor; there is a wall covered with 80's music records, a section dedicated to vintage gaming- mostly focusing on the Commodore 64. There are also arcade tables to play the original Space Invaders and Pac man games, you can purchase your own tables similar to these from Arcade Tables.

Mannequins fill the room wearing outfits and costumes of 80's music genres & fashion fads as well as iconic music, movie & TV garb like, Micheal Jackson's silver glove and Boy Georges' jumpsuit/trench.

I went crazy for the 80's toys! Rainbow Brite and Cabbage Patch dolls, Teddy Ruxpin, Storytelling Robot, Barbie & the Rockers, Strawberry Shortcake, Voltron, Trivial Pursuit board game, Rubik Cube, Hologram puzzle, Alf, Popples and the Inspector Gadget doll! (I always went to my neighbours house to play with this, and his Thunderbirds collection!)

There is also a giant Rubik's Cube light- good for a photo op!

I was is awe of the 80's teen bedroom that featured an 80's pink bedspread, cassette player with tapes and a poster covered wall of teen 80's movies like, Dirty Dancing, The Breakfast Club, The Labyrinth and Flashdance etc.

Couldn't stop laughing a the 'yuppie' collectibles either with it's massive brick-like mobile phone (my dad had one the same!), American express card and even a Yuppie Newsweek magazine and a book called The Official Australian Yuppie Handbook by Janies Beaumont that includes words and slogans...that the yuppie community would use like; portfolio, state of the art, megabuck- gotta get this book, hilarious!

As well as pop-culture and entertainment a look at 80's politics and Aussie events also feature in the exhibit. Like Aussie fashion brand Mambo, caricature sculptures of Bob Hawke and Paul Keating.

The 80's are back also takes a look at present 80's culture in fashion, magazines, music and movies today as well as a look at Kitsch/camp nostalgia that was still around in the 90's. I loved seeing Sarah Blasko's mix-tape in the line-up!

Let me know your thoughts on the 80's exhibit or what some of your fave things from the 80's were ?

To find out more and about tix details head to the official The 80's are back Powerhouse Museum website.

One good reason not leave your TV screens during the ad breaks is that the Gobbledok is back! The Gobbledok is the Smith Chips mascot that became popular from a series of 'Gobbledok' adventure ads that played between the 1980's to mid 1990's. The Gobbledok was a pale brownish fury alien that looked across between a troll doll and Alf! He was addicted to Smith Chips....which made sense because he comes from the 'Potato Planet' Dok. Some of the Gobbledoks many adventures included; crashing his spaceship into a supermarket to steal chips, disguising himself as a guest in a suit at a party....to steal more chips, Hiding a truck full of Potatoes, stealing chips from a lounging couple or from a granny sleeping in her couch in front of the fire and moving in with a Potato farmer who teaches him the 'best way to eat a Smith's Chip'! Each ad would end with the Gobbledok munching on Smiths Chips saying his famous catchphrase "mmm chippies"!

The original Gobbledok was the brainchild of writer John Finklesen, while the famous Aussie Character was bought to life and designed by special effects director Warren Beaton (who lived in my small Blue Mountains hometown when I was at Primary School!). I remember on one special School occasion I got to meet the Gobbledok in ~~person~~ alien!

Due to it's once popularity it's no surprise that Smiths decided to bring back their much loved Aussie mascot icon. Once a puppet that resembled something from Jim Henson's; The Labyrinth and Dark Crystal- The Gobbledok as been given a 'new generation' reworking and has now gone CGI with one of the Gobbledok original adventures also getting a remake.

May 25th is the day for celebrating the rights and the responsibilities of being a Geek or Nerd! Some Geek rights include; the right to show of your geekiness, the right to hate sports, the right to not leave your room, the right to have only a small group of friends, the right to be out of style. While Geek responsibilities include; to save and protect geeky material, always give your opinion, attend every nerdy movie opening, take over the world! etc. Wikipedia defines Geek as being ' a peculiar or otherwise odd person, who is perceived to be overly obsessed with one or more things'. While nerd is a more of a stereotype term and is referred to someone who is 'a loner by peers, who avidly pursues intellectual activities'. The term Geek community has now grown to become more accepted in society hence the new term Geek Chic. Geek Chic is about embracing the stereotypically unpopular geek characteristics and likes. I'm am proud to say I'm a Geek Chic, so to mark this day of Geek pride, I'm going to share with you a 'few of my favourtie Geeky things'!

Big Bang Theory, where has this show been my whole life? It's characters summarises what it means to be a Geek! Sheldon Cooper epitomes what it means to be a nerd, he is obsessive compulsive, is a genius but doesn't understand basic society interactions. His room mate Leonard is the most normal of the bunch and dates Penny from across the hall. Howard Wolowitz is the nerdy womanizer who still lives at home with his Jewish mother- always love the pop-culture belt buckles he wears; a Nintendo controller. He always tends to wear loud, vintage 1960 outfits and tight turtlenecks. Rajesh is from India and is so shy with girls, he can't even speak when they are around. Each episode is filmed in Sheldon's apartment, the comic bookstore, the university or their walks up the flight of stairs leading to their apartment. The lift has been out of order since the first episode. This was due to a rocket that Leonard accidentally fired off!

Chuck is a spy action-comedy series, a geeky comedy version of James Bond. Chuck works as an computer whiz in the 'nerd herd' at the Buy More (electronics chain store) by day, then as a spy by night. The Nerd herd is the computer and electronics technical support division of the Buy More. The 'herders' include Chuck, his best bud since childhood Morgan, Anna Wu, Jeff and Lester.

Dr who is the sci-fi show I have grown up watching. My fave Doctors and Dr fashions have been; Tom Baker (Long block coloured scarf), Jon Pertwee (also fan of his role as Worzel Gummidge) David Tennant as the 10th Doctor, this is when the Doctor became a more snappy dresser, wearing vintage business suits with Chuck Taylor's. David Tennant was the most handsome of the bunch including the new 11th Doctor played by Matt Smith. Bringing on a new writer and director for the 11th Doctor series, you will see the Doctor as never seen before- more affectionate towards companions. I love the Dalecks too! they are meant to be scary, but when the roll about and yell 'Extermintae! Exterminate!' I can't help but laugh!

Freaks and Geeks was one of the first spawns of crass teen comedy writer Judd Apatow. It was a short series that aired between 1999-2000. The show centered on a 'Daria' like teen Lindsay and her nerdy brother Sam at high school in the 1980's. Their friends and acquaintances consisted of both freaks and Geeks.....obviously! The series featured a young James Franco and Seth Rogen.

My most loved geeky films include; Star Wars, The Matrix, Back to the Future, The Goonies, Juno (Michael Cera), Napoleon Dynamite and John Hughes classics; Revenge of the nerds, Weird Science, Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles and Ferris Buellers Day off etc.

Japan Geek culture; like the Japanese 'Otaku' (Japan term for people who have obsessive interests.) I'm obsessed with many Japan related things like; retro gaming, Anime- fave being any of the Studio Ghibli collection, collecting toys (mainly from the 80's-90's), Blythe Dolls, comics and other movie collectibles. Some of my fave haunts in Japan was Osaka's Den Den town and Tokyo's Nakano Broadway.

Vintage Gaming; I still play and collect games and gaming units of Amiga, Sega Mega Drive, and Nintendo 64. My favourite gaming genre is Adventure point 'n' click. In the early 90's and even now (thanks to PC Dos emulators) I often play games from the Serria Discovery series; Eco Quest, Incredible machine, Peppers Adventures in time, Kings Quest. Lucas arts; Maniac Mansion, Day of the tentacle, Leisure Suit Larry, Monkey Island, Indiana Jones. My all time fave game has to be, The Adventures of Willy Beamish. I have played these games over and over again, and till this day. My no.1 modern console today is the Nintendo DS, their format is now known for it's new voluminous selection of 'point 'n' click adventures' such as; Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, Runaway and Professor Layton...just to name a few.

My all time favourite geek has to be Family Matters; Steve Urkel. I would often treat family members to my impersonations of Urkel. I would even go as far as wearing jean pants with braces, pig snort and say "did I dooooo That' and call people my "macadamia nut".

This is a picture of me 'Geek Chic-ing' out.I have my Japan flannie on that I got from Uniqlo (in the guys section). The glasses are my hubbies (don't need glasses yet though. If i did I would get a Lisa Loeb pair!)

Hope you have all enjoyed some of my 'favourite Geeky things'. What are some of yours?

Is it just me, or does everyone else agree that the Australian Logies always seems to be lost in a time-warp? Watching this years logies got me thinking about my most loved Aussie shows of the 80's-90's.....which were mostly children's shows!

Mr Squiggle (ABC) aka 'the man on the moon' was one of Australia's longest running children's TV shows. Mr Squiggle, a marionette with a pencil at the end of his nose, lived at 93 crater Crescent on the moon. Each episode he would fly in his silver rocket to meet his friends Gus the snail who had a TV or flower pot for a shell and Bill the steam shovel, who would often tell corny jokes. Viewers (children) would send their scribbles for Mr Squiggle to turn into recognisable pictures/drawings, while his female assistant (Jane, Rebbecca) would try and guess......sometimes things appeared to be "upside down, upside down" the grumpy 'blackboard' would say, or "Hu-rry-u-p".

Agro's Cartoon Connection (Seven) Played on weekday mornings, Agro's a brown puppet with a mono-brow and red nose, who often made snide remarks and jokes to his female assistant (Ann-Maree, being the most re-memorable). The show consisted of competitions (always wanted to win the Nestle yellow car!) full of treats like art supplies, gaming devices, Agro's food like Agro chocolates and ice-creams. The Newspapers would often run colouring competitions for the show too. Agro's cartoon connection also played the best cartoons like; Teenage mutant ninja turtles, Samurai Pizza cats, Sailor moon, Sonic the hedgehog, Scooby doo and The Mask.

In Agro's final years it lost it's viewers to Cheez TV (Ten)! Cheez TV was like the 'older Gen' cartoon variety show, which also aired weekday mornings. Hosted by the goofy presenters; Jade Gatt and Ryan Lappin, who both often overdone facial expressions when they spoke. Cheez TV aired lots of Marvel based cartoons such as; X-Men, Transformers, Batman, Poke'mon, Dragon Ball-Z as well as; Biker mice from Mars, Inspector Gadget, Men in Black etc.

Host Jade Gatt, later went on to hosting late night music show; Ground Zero (Ten). Ground Zero consisted of music video clips and live appearances. Remember the green cage square background? Speaking of music shows, I cannot forget Recovery (ABC), the ultimate music show of it's time....oh and rage. Recovery aired every Saturday morning, hosted by Dylan Lewis (eyebrow ring, black pointy hair..) Jane Gazzo (Channel [V]) and the mysterious alter-ego 'The Enforcer'. Recovery included music video's, interviews and film/music reviews and often made references to the Japanese series Monkey, which ironically was aired in it's spot during non-ratings season.

Younger audiences were treated to shows like Plasmo the lovable shape-shifting red clay stop-motion alien (Aussie Gumby rip-off). There was also The Power Rangers, Playschool; the big clock and choosing a window is what kept me interested! Spot the dog, had all the books too, Johnson & Friends toys who came alive in a boy named Michael room when he was asleep. Each episode would convey messages about sharing, cheating complaining etc. Johnson was a pink Elephant, McDuff a blue and yellow concertina,

angry red diesel truck...called Diesel, Alfred the green fusspot hot water bottle, Robot squeaky and Victoria the orange Dinosaur.

"Mulligrubs me, Mulligrubs you, can you find a Mulligrub too? Pre-school show of different coloured or white screen, showing just the eyes and bright red lips. Some found it creepy, but to me it was memorising! Not many people seem to remember this or the show Hunter, an educational show that we would watch in Primary School, it was about a detective that lived in an orange house, who had a pet mouse (Albert) and would go around investigating things on his bike....hmm triangles were in it a lot too...."what, why, where and when, That's Hunter".

Was also shown the shows Lift-off and Kaboodle at Primary School, normally in the Library. You can buy Kaboodle now on DVD and it has a very young Rove Mc Manus in it!

Kaboodle, an anthology series that included short stories in animation or live action. My favourite stories being; The Great Detective ('claymation', Watson the dog) and Penny Pollard's diary. A girl who was crazy about horses and would often visit an age-old home and eat heaps of yummy creamy sponge cake. Lift-off had backpacks that would come to life and talk, Rocky the lizard, crazy characters at 'Wakadoo cafe' and the main girl would carry around a white canvas doll (EC) that had no facial features also now available on DVD. Lift-off had everything, it was a mixture of; live action, animation, science, documentary, drama, music etc. Also starred that fat crazy curly blonde quiz show host, who starred in every kids show like; Round the twist, Ship to shore and Genie down under(now playing on ABC3 along with fave teen drama Heartbreak High). These being my ultimate fave show along with; Wayne Manifesto! Please bring this back ABC3! Wayne was played by (Bronson) Jeffrey Walker from Round the twist centered around 12-yr old Wayne and how he wishes the world was like Vs how it really is. It shone light over the hard adolescent times that we all face.

Last but not least....sigh Aussie game shows! Amazing competitive school team sports, figure out the answer to a riddle, write it out on the big keyboard, look for the letters of the word in the jungle, toy shop, treasure chest, near the penguins. If you found a key you got extra prizes! Double Dare was similar included physical challenges, lots of slime....an older age version was It's a knockout for the smart geeks we had Now you see it which was a quiz show that featured science, maths and word puzzles. Prizes where normally a computer or educational books. For the romantics there was Blind date, for the sport crazy, Gladiators!

Phew! I could go on, what were your most loved Aussie 80's-90's shows?