Flashback Friday: catchphrases

What were my favorite catchphrases or words in the 1980s? They were as follows:

• Rad
• Grody to the Max
• Gnarly
• Psych
• No Doy

I will now use them in one long 1980s rambling stream of consciousness: 

"So we like went to the arcade at my dad's bowling alley and played this rad game called Paperboy, afterwards we went to eat pizza and we saw this kid eating his booger right in front of us and it was like totally like grody to the max. We so like decided to leave and go to the movies and watched this movie called Sixteen Candles which was like totally gnarly and that guy who plays Jake was like so ugly...Psych! He was like a total hunk...no doy."

Do I use any of these words or phrases currently? Absolutely not (psych!)

(photo via)

Flashback Friday: Warm Fuzzies

Remember these guys? When I was a kid in the 1980s, I used to love to collect these adorably cute fuzzy fellas. They were called Warm Fuzzies - they were meant to be given to people because you wanted to make them feel "warm and fuzzy" inside. They were basically just a colored pom-pom with googly eyes, antennas and large feet with adhesive.

So simple a concept expressed with such a simple toy.  Maybe we should bring these fellas back and just stick them randomly around to spread the love. 

Warm Fuzzies for everyone!

Flashback Friday: The Outsiders

I remember the exact moment my girlish hormones went from "I'm too shy to say I'm crushing on this guy, because I'm still not sure what this is all about" to "Hello cutest guy on the planet! Please become my boyfriend!!!!!!" (had to add all those explanation points, because pre-teen girls say everything excitedly). That moment was 1983 when the movie The Outsiders (based upon the novel by S.E. Hinton) came sauntering into my life. Literally that movie was a living, breathing, Teen Beat magazine, but it had a certain grown-up feel to it because Francis Ford Coppola directed it and there was no cheezy '80s music montage moment (which BTW there is nothing wrong with those '80s music montage moments - The Karate Kid wouldn't be what it is without them).  

Check out this cast:  Patrick Swayze, Rob Lowe, Matt Dillon, Ralph Macchio, C. Thomas Howell, Emilio Estevez and Tom Cruise. All of them in their youthful beauty back then. My particular crushes were on C. Thomas Howell (Ponyboy Curtis) and Rob Lowe (Sodapop Curtis). And when I say "crushes," I mean like your typical over-obsessive teen crushes: plastering my bedroom walls with their posters, buying every possible Teen Beat, Bop, etal magazines, watching subsequent movies made by them...the list goes on and on.  And to be honest, even though my teen crush on C. Thomas has faded, I still find Rob Lowe (who is almost 50 years old) smoking hot. Need proof:

But I digress. The movie does not feel dated either (maybe because the movie was set in the 1960s, but filmed in the 1980s and therefore is hard to pinpoint the look of this movie) and it's score was done by The Godfather's Carmine Coppola and Stevie Wonder did the title track "Stay Gold" (inspired by Robert Frost's poem "Nothing Gold Can Stay"). There is too much cool attached to this film. Those that were disappointed the original film did not include additional scenes based upon the book, Coppola did release his "director's cut" with 22 additional minutes in 2005. 

Want tidbits?

• This was Rob Lowe's first major film role.  He was 17 years old
• The majority of the main cast were under 20 years old, except Patrick Swayze who was in his 30s and Ralph Macchio who was in his 40s (I kid! He was 20, but looked the youngest)
• Director/writer (and Francis Ford Coppola's daughter) Sofia Coppola had a cameo as the girl who kept pestering Matt Dillon for a dime
• The author of The Outsiders, S.E. Hinton, had a cameo as a nurse in one of the hospital scenes
• For those who probably have GIFS or Tumblrs of Tom Cruise running in his movies, he does have a very brief running scene before they fight the Socs in the big rumble scene (also Cruise has the least amount of screen time than the other main cast members)
• Blooper fans? When Matt Dillon (Dally) falls off the chair in the drive-in theatre it was really an accident, but they kept the scene in the movie
• Blush moments for a pre-teen girl: (1) Rob Lowe (Sodapop) coming out of the shower; and (2) Matt Dillon (Dally) in his tightie whities

Yeah, I still love The Outsiders. *Sigh*

Art is everywhere

I really appreciate individuals who can see art in something we may find ordinary. It's a gift that I wish we can all have. Imagine a world full of art - that would be nirvana to me.

One such artist is Brock Davis. Brock Davis does mostly commercial work, but a majority of his projects have an underlying humor to it.  You know when your parents used to say "don't play with your food"? Well, there is always exceptions when you make things like Mr. Davis does.

If this guy wasn't cool enough, he even designed t-shirts for one of my favorite stores - Tar-zhay or as us common folks call it "Target." 

For the pessimist in me, Brock Davis even created a poster where he re-imagined a classic video game without the proverbial happy ending. 

The next time you look at that boring piece of potato sitting on your plate, think art and you'll be all the better for it. 

(all photos via Brock Davis) 

Top five fashion faux pas: 1980s

Not to date myself, but I am a child of the 1980s. The 1980s were my formative years and I thoroughly enjoyed it. But the 1980s, for me, gave me the biggest embarrassments in terms of fashion. I rarely bust out the old family albums during that time period, because my clothing choices make me cringe. 

I will not show any of my photos in this blog, for fear it will be used against me when I become a world famous blogger (okay that was sarcasm, I am world famous to my five loyal followers. Okay, maybe not world famous, but just...known).  In lieu of photos, I will attempt to recreate these fashion blunders via drawings (resemblance is only coincidental). 

So without further ado, here is my top five fashion faux pas of the 1980s (in no particular order, because they each deserve the number one spot of utter embarrassment):

Fashion Crime:  Mullett

Description:  We used to call it "Business in the front and party in the back," but I like to now call it "Ugly in the front and all ugly in the back."  The hairstyle became popular in the 1980s, but actually was seen being worn by singer Tom Jones back in the 1960s.  David Bowie as Ziggy Stardust sported it in the 1970s.  The scary thing is that today some people still sport this hideous haircut and thus deserve some sort of intervention.

The Mullet's emaciated cousin:  The Rat tail

The Mullet's current mutation:  The reverse Mullet ("Party in the front and business in the back")

Fashion Crime:  Shoulder pads

Description:  Shoulder pads so wide and big that if you look closely you can see a small jet taxi off of them. Trying to figure out why 80s fashion is so bad is easy - Just Look At Them. I'm still perplexed why us women liked to wear huge pads in our jacket (and sometimes our shirts?!) - is it women's lib? Is it the desire to look like Football players? Whatever the reason, I still can't watch a rerun of "Dynasty" without cringing (although I should not admit that I would watch a rerun of "Dynasty").  

Awful Truth:  I remember becoming tired of the shoulder pads and had removed them from my jackets. Big mistake, I now resembled a person wearing flap jacks on her shoulders. 

The 1980s Shoulder Pad current mutation:  Lady Gaga's fashion has now made big shoulder pads mainstream again...although only Lady Gaga can get away with it.

Fashion Crime:  Pegged pants

Description:  The best way to describe this style is by giving you instructions on how to recreate it: (1) Buy some mom jeans (preferably acid washed mom jeans); (2) fold over the bottom portion of your mom jeans (closest to the ankles); (3) and then cuff them over the folded part.  The point being is to make the bottom part of your mom jeans as skinny as possible.  I like to think those of us in the 1980s as being prescient and knowing that in the future skinny jeans would be in, but I know better - we just had bad taste.  

Pegged pants current mutation:  No current mutations, just cuff your pants the normal way and all will be well.  

Fashion Crime:  Stirrup pants

Description:  It's basically like treating your pants like a horse saddle.  These pants were just unflattering all around.  Why I thought wearing pants with a strap hooked onto the bottom of my feet looked 'cool' is beyond me.  There is no excuse for this monstrosity.  Your pants were not going to ride up on you-there is no need to hold it down with a strap on your foot! You are not a male figure skater!

Worst way to wear stirrup pants:  With those tacky 80s pumps with the strap exposed

The Stirrup pants current mutation:  A horse saddle

Fashion Crime:  Neon 

Description:  One word "WHAM."  George Michael dancing around in that "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" video in a flurry of neon made a lot of people in the 1980s go practically cuckoo for coco puffs.  I don't care if you are white, black or asian - head to toe neon is not flattering. Humans were not made to look like they took a big swig of radioactive juice.  

Double violation:  Wearing your flashdance styled, neon sweatshirt.

Triple violation:  Wearing your flashdance styled, neon sweatshirt with fingerless gloves.

Neon's current mutation:  Neon.  It's making a comeback.  But try to remember that less is more and it's okay to now accessorize with a smidge of bright color. 

Remember, admitting you made a mistake is the first step to recovery.