Ice Queen Posted November 1, 2017 Share Posted November 1, 2017 On 9/30/2017 at 10:32 AM, drawkcabi said: and I'm drawn in like a moth to a flame... We've been here before, but here's a recap: Generation Xer born in 1975 Nostalgia/Memories Subjective POV: 70's: Jimmy Carter Star Wars Star Wars toys PBS: Sesame Street, Mr. Rogers, and Electric Company. Fisher Price Toys The Muppet Show, The Muppet Movie Saturday Morning Cartoons: Bugs Bunny and Road Runner Show, Superfriends, Tom & Jerry, Woody Woodpecker, Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids, Scooby Doo & Hanna-Barbera domination. CBS prime time "Specials"... Charlie Brown, Looney Toons, Devil and Daniel Mouse, Chuck Jones' specials - Bugs Bunny, Rudyard Kipling cartoons, Cricket in Times Square cartoons, Raggedy Ann & Andy Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley, Mork & Mindy, Diff'rent Strokes, MASH, Three's Company, Soap, All in the Family, The Jeffersons, Barney Miller, Good Times, What's Happening, Wonderful World of Disney, Buck Rogers, Battlestar Galactica, Saturday Night Live. Ma Bell Phone Company break up of monopoly. Lots and lots and lots of snow. "At McDonalds...we do it all for you!", "I'd like to buy the world a Coke and keep it company", "Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don't," Pepsi taste test. 8 - Track Tapes. Sony Betamax Atari Space Invaders, Asteroids Animal House Superman Iran Hostage Crisis 80's: Reagan USA vs. USSR Cold War Nuclear War threat/fear Launch of Columbia, the first space shuttle to go in space. Video Arcades Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-man Joust, Donkey Kong, Q-Bert Board Games: Monopoly, Risk, Payday, Life, Stratego. Atari 400, Colecovision Empire and Jedi, Indiana Jones Saturday Morning Cartoons: Spider-man and his Amazing Friends, Incredible Hulk, Smurfs, Turbo Teen, Mighty Orbots, Alvin and the Chipmunks, Muppet Babies, Thundarr the Barbarian, Blackstar, Droids, Ewoks, Space Stars (New Space Ghost and Herculoids), Video Game cartoons Pac-Man, Q-bert, Dragon's Lair, Space Ace) Hanna-Barbera still there. Sugar cereals for everything and anything popular (Mr. T, Pac-Man, Nintendo, C-3PO's, E.T., etc.) The Greatest American Hero, V (mini-series and regular series), Knight Rider, The Dukes of Hazzard, The Incredible Hulk (Ferrigno), The Love Boat, Fantasy Island, Alf, Silver Spoons, WKRP in Cincinatti, Taxi, Benson, Amazing Stories. Video Game crash '84 Olymipics, Russian Boycott. Mary Lou Retton Joe Gibbs' Washingon Redskins, Bill Walsh's San Francisco 49'ers, Mike Ditka's Chicago Bears, Bill Parcel's New York Giants Super Bowl Shuffle Lakers and Celtics Marvelous Marvin Hagler vs. Sugar Ray Leonard Mike Tyson Reagan deregulation, G.I. Joe, He-Man, Transformers, Gobots, Robotech, Voltron, Thundercats, The Real Ghostbusters (toys and afternoon cartoons). Lots and lots and lots of robot toys of all kinds that changed, converted, combined, etc. Cable MTV, Nickelodeon, The Disney Channel You Can't Do That On Television, Danger Mouse, Belle and Sebastian, The Little Prince, Mysterious Cities of Gold. Back To The Future, E.T. Rocky III & IV, Ghostbusters, Karate Kid, Goonies, Gremlins, Airplane!, The Last Starfighter, By Me, Top Gun, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Die Hard, Transformers: The Movie, Secret of NIMH, The Dark Crystal, Labyrinth, Willow, The Princess Bride, Star Trek Movies, Schwarzenegger movies, John Hughes movies. Free range parenting and latchkey kids "Where's The Beef?" Reagan - Mondale election Muammar Gaddafi, Libya, terrorism, Regan reprisals. New Coke Classic Coke Challenger Explosion VHS Renting movies. Mom and Pop Video rental stores Blockbuster Video FOX Broadcasting Network Audio Cassette Tapes Michael Jackson and Madonna Heavy Metal Hair Bands Denim L.A. Law, Hill Street Blues, St. Elsewhere, The Wonder Years, Doogie Howser, the Cosby Show, A Different World, Cheers, Night Court, Family Ties, Saved By The Bell First Run Sydication Saturdays: Star Trek: The Next Generation, Baywatch, Superboy, Superforce, Charles in Charge, What's Happening Now, Small Wonder. Nintendo Super Mario Bros., Legend of Zelda, Metroid, Mike Tyson's Punch Out, Castlevania. Iran Contra H.W. Bush - Dukakis election Batman Noriega & Panama Tiananmen Square Berlin Wall Comes Down (early) 90's: The Simpsons In Living Color RIP Jim Henson Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Nintendo Gameboy Gulf War I - Desert Shield & Desert Storm Buffalo Bills, 4 Super Bowls, 4 losses Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls MC Hammer, Vanilla Ice, Bobby Brown, Bel Biv, Devoe Compact Discs Grunge Nirvana, "Smells Like Teen Spirit" plaid flannel R.E.M. - "Out of Time" Blind Melon - "No Rain" Rodney King beating, cop trial, L.A. Riots George H.W. Bush/Ross Perot/Bill Clinton Election Dan Quayle vs. Murphy Brown Nintendo vs. Sega Johnny Carson retires. Late night wars - Leno vs. Letterman vs. Arsenio Disney Film Renaisance Home Alone, T2: Judgement Day, Jurassic Park Disney Afternoon (TV) Ducktales, Chip & Dale, Darkwing Duck, etc. TGIF Batman: The Animated Series, X-Men, Spider-Man, Tiny Toons, Animaniacs, Pinky and the Brain 1993 World Trade Center Bombing Waco Tx Branch Davidians stand off/fire O.J. Simpson Born in 1969 so I'll add few to the 70s: Waiting in line at the gas pumps--if you were lucky enough to get gas. The days you could go depended on your license plate. Watching the Watergate Senate hearings because my mother had a crush on John Dean. Nixon's resignation. End of Vietnam War. Viking lands on Mars. Jaws traumatized me for life. Alien Apocalyptic movies like the Planet of the Apes films, Meteor and Airport 74. And then, of course, the Airplane! movies. The Steelers and Pirates, 1979! (The Penguins sucked but they still had their cool blue and white jerseys.) The real beginnings of computers. Riding in open cab pick up trucks. Basically, everything that's illegal now, we did as kids and we survived somehow. 80s: Indiana Jones, ET, Terminator, Aliens, the Brat Pack Miracle on Ice Mohawks (I had one) Space Shuttle (including, sadly, Challenger) Bombing Libya Grenada The 80s were the best decade of my lifetime, period. I don't remember much of the 90s, honestly. I was busy starting a family and missed a lot of the pop culture stuff until my kids were old enough to start paying attention to their own pop culture. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ice Queen Posted November 1, 2017 Share Posted November 1, 2017 On 10/2/2017 at 10:18 PM, Dr. Pepper said: In between all of that, we were the last kids who rode our bikes all over and walked through fields to get to the neighbors and spent all day long outdoors away from the adult supervision, coming home only to eat and sleep. We walked ourselves home from school or rode the bus and let ourselves inside and then spent hours alone until our parents got home from work. The things my kids aren't allowed to do becuase social norms have changed makes me sad It floors me that people won't let their 10 year old kids walk half a mile to a friend's house. I remember a few years ago, a woman was arrested for allowing her 12 year old to walk a mile home. It's ridiculous. We rode public transit alone at 10 and had free run of the neighborhood, but if you weren't home by the time the street lights came on, look out Loretta, you were in big trouble. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drawkcabi Posted November 1, 2017 Share Posted November 1, 2017 1 hour ago, Crazy Cat Lady in Training said: Born in 1969 so I'll add few to the 70s: Quote Waiting in line at the gas pumps--if you were lucky enough to get gas. The days you could go depended on your license plate. My brother was late to his wedding, almost didn't make it, because he was stuck in a gas line. I wasn't there but was told the story. I remember I thought it was weird when I had to pump gas in my grandmother's car I had to get a key to unlock the gas tank. None of my parents cars were like that. Quote Jaws traumatized me for life. When I was a kid I was very sensitive to movies, the slightest thing could scare me. But I knew this and stuck to "safe" movies, even then I got scared at movies I didn't think I would (The Muppet Movie, Airplane! Ghostbusters - all movies I dearly love now - ) It took me until 1984 when Return of the Jedi came back around to the theaters for a second run for me to summon the courage to go see it, I was so nervous about seeing Jabba The Hutt on a big screen. Jaws - Forget about it. As a kid, I didn't even want to see the commercials for it, hear anything with that music. I finally saw the movie for my first time when I was in my thirties. Quote Mohawks (I had one) My last Halloween trick or treating I went as a punk. I did my hair in a mohawk using glitter mousse. Otherwise I did shave my head in a buzz cut one summer. Quote The 80s were the best decade of my lifetime, period. QFT Quote It floors me that people won't let their 10 year old kids walk half a mile to a friend's house. I remember a few years ago, a woman was arrested for allowing her 12 year old to walk a mile home. It's ridiculous. We rode public transit alone at 10 and had free run of the neighborhood, but if you weren't home by the time the street lights came on, look out Loretta, you were in big trouble. I started walking home unsupervised from school (3 blocks) in Kindergarten when I was five. By the time I was in second grade I'd go anywhere in the neighborhood on my own. When I was seven I remember I was at my parents' restaurant one Friday night. I don't remember why, maybe I was being a pest, but my dad decided to drive me over to the movies. He asked me what I wanted to see. I knew Sword in the Stone had been at that theater and I would have seen that, but the marquee had changed that Friday. So I settled on Tootsie which I had seen before with my mom, I knew it was "safe". My dad buys me a ticket some popcorn and a soda and leaves me there. I watch the movie for about thirty minutes, next thing I know the lights are on in the theater it's completely bright. The projector is off and the screen is blank. The theater is completely empty. I had fallen asleep and the manager was shaking me on the shoulder to wake me up. "Your parents are here for you," she said. "Oh." I said groggily. I get up, walk out of the theater, out of the movie house and into my parents car right outside and lie down stretched out on the back seat. No seatbelt laws in those days either. I went back to sleep. No big deal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prince of the North Posted November 1, 2017 Share Posted November 1, 2017 Yep, the 80s were my formative years (born in 1968). I grew up in a rural western North Dakota town (population about 2,000) and my friends and I always had the run of the whole community (and rode our bikes everywhere, etc.) Then there was an oil boom for the first half of the 80s and the town grew overnight to about four or five times its original population. And, as you can imagine, there were now things like actual crime, drugs, etc. to worry about. There was even a "house of ill repute" that was routinely raided (but it always just shut down for a little while or simply moved). There was even a 10 pm curfew for minors enforced by the police. Sometimes, I would go to an 8 pm movie at our single screen theater and so would be walking home at around 10 pm. The police would drive by and yell "Go home!" to which I would yell in reply "I am!" I don't know that I can say the 80s were the best time of my life but I did manage to have a ton of fun. And now, whenever I see the weird 80s fashion, hairstyles, music, culture, etc. depicted on TV or whatever, I just think or say "Eh, it was the 80s" I'm not sure if anyone who wasn't there (like my kids, for example) will ever really understand but anyone who was there knows exactly what I mean Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Which Tyler Posted November 1, 2017 Share Posted November 1, 2017 I can't believe no-one's mentioned the trauma of Watership Down! FFS, I was 6 years old when I was sat down with the rental video in lieu of a babysitter! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Wedge Posted November 2, 2017 Share Posted November 2, 2017 15 hours ago, Which Tyler said: I can't believe no-one's mentioned the trauma of Watership Down! FFS, I was 6 years old when I was sat down with the rental video in lieu of a babysitter! I almost brought this up yesterday when someone was talking about the trauma of seeing Jaws as a little kid. When I was either 5 or 6 my family went to see Watership Down in a theater. It's about rabbits! And it's a cartoon! Holy crap, I was scared out of my mind at the violence. The book is one of my favorite novels, though I did not read it until in my 20's. My kids ask about reading it and I tell them they are more than welcome to tackle it, but it's densely packed and filled with trauma. Another less than light-hearted romp for Gen X kids: The Dark Crystal. Hey, it's Jim Henson! It blew my mind and I had no idea what was going on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Which Tyler Posted November 2, 2017 Share Posted November 2, 2017 Loved Dark Crystal! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ice Queen Posted November 2, 2017 Share Posted November 2, 2017 20 hours ago, drawkcabi said: My brother was late to his wedding, almost didn't make it, because he was stuck in a gas line. I wasn't there but was told the story. I remember I thought it was weird when I had to pump gas in my grandmother's car I had to get a key to unlock the gas tank. None of my parents cars were like that. When I was a kid I was very sensitive to movies, the slightest thing could scare me. But I knew this and stuck to "safe" movies, even then I got scared at movies I didn't think I would (The Muppet Movie, Airplane! Ghostbusters - all movies I dearly love now - ) It took me until 1984 when Return of the Jedi came back around to the theaters for a second run for me to summon the courage to go see it, I was so nervous about seeing Jabba The Hutt on a big screen. Jaws - Forget about it. As a kid, I didn't even want to see the commercials for it, hear anything with that music. I finally saw the movie for my first time when I was in my thirties. My last Halloween trick or treating I went as a punk. I did my hair in a mohawk using glitter mousse. Otherwise I did shave my head in a buzz cut one summer. QFT I started walking home unsupervised from school (3 blocks) in Kindergarten when I was five. By the time I was in second grade I'd go anywhere in the neighborhood on my own. When I was seven I remember I was at my parents' restaurant one Friday night. I don't remember why, maybe I was being a pest, but my dad decided to drive me over to the movies. He asked me what I wanted to see. I knew Sword in the Stone had been at that theater and I would have seen that, but the marquee had changed that Friday. So I settled on Tootsie which I had seen before with my mom, I knew it was "safe". My dad buys me a ticket some popcorn and a soda and leaves me there. I watch the movie for about thirty minutes, next thing I know the lights are on in the theater it's completely bright. The projector is off and the screen is blank. The theater is completely empty. I had fallen asleep and the manager was shaking me on the shoulder to wake me up. "Your parents are here for you," she said. "Oh." I said groggily. I get up, walk out of the theater, out of the movie house and into my parents car right outside and lie down stretched out on the back seat. No seatbelt laws in those days either. I went back to sleep. No big deal. I remember sitting in the back seat while waiting to get gas. My dad had a 20 mile drive each way to and from work. I don't know how that boat of a car got good enough gas mileage to make it for a week. (His '72 Polara. We also had a '68 Impala and a '70 Monaco. Got maybe 12 or 13 mpg if you were lucky.) My hair has been every color you can imagine, including rainbow. Kool Aid was cheap! Back then, red hair was NOT the in thing and I did everything I could to hide it. Now I revel in it (before it turns gray). One of my friends was in beauty school and I was her favorite guinea pig. Three months before senior prom she bleached my hair...and fried it. I had to chop it all off, and it took a year or so for it to recover. Never did THAT again. Other than Jaws, the only movie that scared me out of my wits was The Omen. I still can't watch that alone. It's a shame that kids now don't know the pride young kids take in doing things on their own, like walking to school or sitting in a movie theater alone. No wonder they're so helpless well into their 20s. When did that happen and why? I remember the first time my mother let me go to the neighborhood corner store by myself. I was 5. I walked in and Rosie (the owner) asked me if my mother was coming. Nope. Are your brothers with you? Nope! I handed her a $1 bill and asked her for 4 packs of Marlboros. She gave them to me, and on home I went, bursting with pride at being able to do that all by myself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manhole Eunuchsbane Posted November 2, 2017 Share Posted November 2, 2017 1 hour ago, Crazy Cat Lady in Training said: It's a shame that kids now don't know the pride young kids take in doing things on their own, like walking to school or sitting in a movie theater alone. No wonder they're so helpless well into their 20s. When did that happen and why? I remember the first time my mother let me go to the neighborhood corner store by myself. I was 5. I walked in and Rosie (the owner) asked me if my mother was coming. Nope. Are your brothers with you? Nope! I handed her a $1 bill and asked her for 4 packs of Marlboros. She gave them to me, and on home I went, bursting with pride at being able to do that all by myself. It's not just the pride in doing things without adult supervision, it's conflict resolution, methinks. We had to hash things out amongst ourselves without always turning to an authority figure. I think that's another important angle to emotional growth and maturity that we are probably not developing properly with our youth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IheartIheartTesla Posted November 2, 2017 Share Posted November 2, 2017 I didnt grow up in this country (the US), so I always use Billy Joel's "We didnt start the fire" as a chronological and culture capsule of what went on before I came here. Just thought I'd share. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manhole Eunuchsbane Posted November 2, 2017 Share Posted November 2, 2017 4 hours ago, IheartIheartTesla said: I didnt grow up in this country (the US), so I always use Billy Joel's "We didnt start the fire" as a chronological and culture capsule of what went on before I came here. Just thought I'd share. TROUBLE IN THE SUEZ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GAROVORKIN Posted November 2, 2017 Share Posted November 2, 2017 This is a terrific thread topic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IheartIheartTesla Posted November 2, 2017 Share Posted November 2, 2017 57 minutes ago, Manhole Eunuchsbane said: TROUBLE IN THE SUEZ! Hula hoops Castro Edsel is a no go....tells me exactly when hula hoops were invented! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ice Queen Posted November 3, 2017 Share Posted November 3, 2017 17 hours ago, Manhole Eunuchsbane said: It's not just the pride in doing things without adult supervision, it's conflict resolution, methinks. We had to hash things out amongst ourselves without always turning to an authority figure. I think that's another important angle to emotional growth and maturity that we are probably not developing properly with our youth. I have three brothers and one sister. As long as no bones were broken and blood wasn't gushing, no one cared. We had to work it out ourselves. Along those lines, bullies have existed in schools and on playgrounds forever and always will. It's how we teach our kids to deal with it that's the difference. I had to literally beat the crap out of my bully in the 8th grade (a boy) before he left me alone. Teaching them to ignore it or go to authority figures is NOT the way to go except as a last resort--schools do NOTHING about it. But that's my opinion. I know I'm probably in the minority for feeling that way, and that's okay. I had to deal with a girl who was bullying my daughter when they were in the 6th grade. After going through all the proper channels, including the girl's parents, nothing happened. So one day I told my daughter, in front of the principal and her parents, to get this girl off school property and kick the sh*t out of her. I wasn't joking and the principal said, "You can't say that!" Well, I just did. And guess what? The bullying stopped that day. It's hard to learn conflict resolution when their idea of doing that is by text message. They have so many more ways to torture each other than we did. It's even easier to be mean and rotten when you're not looking the other person directly in the eye. But you're right, they're not learning that. It doesn't help that we've pumped up their self esteem so much when they've done nothing to earn it and we never let them fail. They need to fail. They need to learn how to handle stress and adversity. My daughter almost didn't march at graduation because she missed 63 days of her first period class senior year. She was under the mistaken impression that once she turned 18 she could do whatever she wanted without consequence. I let it happen and had zero sympathy whatsoever for her tears. She needed to go through that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ice Queen Posted November 3, 2017 Share Posted November 3, 2017 11 hours ago, IheartIheartTesla said: Hula hoops Castro Edsel is a no go....tells me exactly when hula hoops were invented! U2, Syngman Rhee, Payola and Kennedy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isis Posted November 4, 2017 Share Posted November 4, 2017 The idea that teens today are still drinking as heavily as we (born in 77) did in the 1990s is incorrect. Subsequent generations are drinking less as a whole. Your anecdotal evidence might make you think otherwise but I've seen the stats. The one thing that galls me the most I think, is that younger generations will have always had the ability to look something up online instead of using a book or asking someone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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