Mr. Mister - Kyrie

Used to hate this song!

Ah, Kyrie by Mr. Mister. This song was on power rotation on Atlanta radio stations back in 1985. They played it so much that I actually was sick of it and it took many years before I was able listen to it again.

The lyrics "Kýrie, eléison" mean either "Lord have mercy" or "Christ have mercy" in Greek and according to composer Richard Page the song was basically a prayer. Think about it.  "Kýrie, eléison down this road that I must travel. Kýrie, eléison through the darkeness in the night."

It's funny, now I quite enjoy the song and will freely listen to it whenever I hear it.

As far as living in the 80s when this song came out it reminds me of the early years I had my Commodore 64 and playing games like "Bruce Lee", "Spy Hunter" or "Raid on Bungling Bay". It also reminds me of road trips from Conyers to the malls in Atlanta with my friend Tracy.

I rate this song highly.

Good Ol' Buck Rogers Who Was In The 25th Century

Could have been so much better.

I own the box set to Buck Rogers and the 25th Century. I used to watch this show religiously as I did
with anything with the slightest hint of science fiction that came on television. Some shows were bad and my 11-12 year old mind new it at the time. Some shows were bad and it took the sobering effects of time to realize how bad they were. Buck Rogers was one of the latter.

One of the things I used to love about those shows and movies were the lasers and laser like effects. They were bright, vivid and cool in my mind and I used to devote a ton of time trying to figure out how they did them. That meant visiting the library many times over.

Amiga BASIC

Spent hours watching these demos.

One of the cool things about my Amiga 1000 when I got it was that it included Amiga BASIC and a number of demo programs. When I first got the computer one of the first things I did was to fire up BASIC and watch the demos. I would eventually try my hand at programming after a bit. This was before I bought any games for the machine.

Getting used to Amiga BASIC took a bit of time as I was used to 8-bit Commodore BASIC and the reliance on line numbers. Also, I was a horrible spaghetti programmer and made judicious use of the GOTO command. It took a bit of time to grow out of that. The other thing I needed to get used to was the fact that there was a bunch more memory to do stuff in. Making big programs was, at least a bit, more feasible. I did take advantage of that.

First Encounter With The Rubik's Cube

Rubik's Cube is still a fantastic toy.

One of the coolest things about the 80s is the pop culture that permeated everything. And one of the strongest pop culture icons of the 80s is the Rubik's Cube. Right now, as I type this, I'm looking at two Rubik's Cubes that I own. They are originals that were bought in the early 80s. Probably 1982 or 1983. When I hold them in my hand and really "feel" the weight and texture of them I can transport myself back to those days when I first held one in my hands and was fascinated by it.

Like any decade the 80s can be divided up into sections. There is the early section where a lot of what makes up the decade is defined by the decade before it. For example, in the 80s there are several songs that are considered 80s songs but were released in the late 70s. There is the middle section where the decade can stand on it's own as a decade. It is what it is. This is usually a very short time in the mid decade. One or two years at best. Then, there is the late section where the decade starts changing and starts defining what the next decade will start out as. The Rubik's Cube is an indicator of that.

The Simpler Days of Star Wars

When we didn't know much about Star Wars

Long time ago in the late 70s after the Star Wars phenomenon had hit us I was able to get the following poster through a Burger Kings/Coca Cola promotion and I remember spending many hours just looking at it and taking in the details.

This was in the time between Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back came out and there was not a lot of information on the Universe of Star Wars. This was a time when Darth Vader was a bad guy straight and simple who had killed Luke's dad. Darth Vader was simply his name and not a Title.
Those days were interesting and especially so for my 9 to 10 year old self.

I often think about and sometimes talk about paradigm shifts or Copernicus moments. When one day something is a certain way and has been for as long as people can remember and within a moment the world changes in a very real and perceptible way. Suddenly things are different. Sometimes they happen overnight but usually it’s within a year to a year and a half. In my lifetime I've gone through three of them that I can think of.

Back in 1984...

With all the stuff going on over the new Ghostbusters reboot/remake I got to thinking back...

In June of 1984 Ghostbusters was released upon the United States. I was 16 and had joined Police Explorers a bit after that as a result of a classmate who was also in Police Explorers and had asked me to join.

Of course Ghostbusters was a hit and a phenomenon so, when October rolled around a local haunted house needed someone to direct traffic at their super popular (and Ghostbuster themed) haunted house. I didn't have a uniform yet so they gave me a pair of white gloves and I had to hangout with a uniformed Explorer. Our Explorer group did this to raise money for our organization.

The haunted house played the Ghostbusters theme over and over. It was on non-stop repeat and, for a while, I grew to hate that song. It took a long while before I could listen to it again.

As the night went on and the Ghostbuster's theme played for it's umpteenth time I'd gotten into the groove of directing traffic. Probably was subconsciously grooving to the song too as some sort of Pavlovian response to the music. A car pulls up and rolls down a window. A guy who looked like he had just rolled off the set of Breakin 2: Electric Boogaloo looked at me, white gloves and all, and asked me if I was some sort of white Micheal Jackson. I thought about it for a moment and replied, "yes, I think I am," which was unusual for a shy guy like me. The guys in the car, the other Explorer and I had a good laugh about it and then he continued on his way.

It's a funny story and I often think fondly back at it because now it reminds me of some sort of scene in an Adam Sandler 80s themed movie.

Those days were awesome!