Finntoniaaaaa Palace Monkey Stew

Livin' in the 80s Month: Day Twenty Nine

2012-01-30T19:14:00.005+11:00

movies:

back to the future (1985) holy shit, christopher lloyd was only 46 when he filmed this movie! i mean, i know he was somewhat made up to look older (hell, crispin glover played michael j fox's dad & he was 3 years younger than him), but still!

back to the future part II (1989) in what i found to be a bizarre revelation, kyle said that he'd watched part 2 the least of all three movies & that he'd probably seen part 3 the most. i thought part 2 was the one everyone had watched a million times, then part 1, then part 3. i'm right, right? BLEW MY MIND. 3 more years to 2015! i have full faith that all technology featured in this movie will be commonplace by then (we can do it!).

tv shows:

full house (1987-95) season two, eps 13-15. episode 14 is a valentine's day episode & danny, joey & jesse give the girls presents. ok, little weird, but whatever. maybe some families roll like that, i don't know. i always thought it weird that some of my friends got presents from their families for easter, but maybe my family is just cheap. i got presents for my birthday and for xmas, other occasions were not present warranting occasions. anyway, then the girls get cards from all the kids in their classes. this i am sure is not done here. unless it really was & i just went to crappy schools whose budgets didn't allow for the extra paper required to make the cards (this is entirely possible). i've seen it in a few american shows, i guess it's a common tradition over there. i don't think aussie kids could hack it, the temptation to take the piss would be too much.

music:

there's this six disc 80s hits compilation at lush work that i've had on decent rotation this month, but i'd always skipped the yellow disc for some reason. maybe it'd been hiding behind another disc. anyway, put it on today & not only does it contain the ghostbusters theme, but divine's 'you think you're a man' is on there too! winner!

food & drink:

twinings lady grey tea & sara lee carrot cake.

2 cadbury furry friends. loved these as a kid, but was disappointed to discover they're no longer packaged in foil & a paper sleeve. i loved straightening out the foil with my fingernails & collecting the paper sleeves. bummer.

glucojel jellybeans.

spicy asian vegetables in crispy baskets (recipe from the women's weekly vegetarian cookbook).

challenges/comments:

in the late 80s, we used to go thing finding around the alleys behind our house in brunswick & one day we found our wonderful stray cat, who we called usagi yojimbo (a character that had been appearing in teenage mutant ninja turtles at the time). he was a great cat & i loved him very much, rest in peace usagi!

Livin' in the 80s Month: Day Twenty Eight

2012-01-29T21:24:00.008+11:00

movies:

mannequin (1987) mannequin features two faces i've been seeing a lot of this month, andrew mccarthy & estelle getty. mccarthy plays a guy who falls in love with a mannequin (or more accurately, an ancient egyptian woman who time travelled into the body of a mannequin), played by kim cattrall, when she was a little less herpes (i kid, i kid, i actually quite like her...especially after she played britney's mom in crossroads, hoot hoot!). a pretty radical sequel was made a few years later starring kristy swanson, which i actually think is a little better than the first. also features james spader as a somewhat snivelling department store employee.

also, if anyone wants to track this jacket & hat down for me, that'd be swell.

tv shows:

full house (1987-95) season two, ep 12. dj & kimmy tape over uncle jesse's newly recorded jingle with their own version of the loco-motion. after he rightly tells off dj, he feels bad & buys her a frickin' drum kit! then danny gets angry at jesse for both buying dj a drum kit & yelling at her! these kids get away with freakin' murder! and they're always up so goddamn late, partying with their uncles! it was a stretch for me to be allowed to stay up until 8pm to watch this show when i was their age! damn kids, making me get out the exclamation marks!

food & drink:

passionfruit bubble cup.

strawberry daiquiri (good!) and chips (baaaaaaaad) at tgi friday's happy hour (what a gaudy place! everything i expected).

spring onion pancake & dumplings at dumpling specialist (excellent).

challenges/comments:

i really miss T2 tea. i quite like some varieties of twinings, but none really compare to my favourite T2 blends. tea & cake has become an important part of my day (ahhh, i am truly approaching my thirties now), so this shit matters, ok?

Livin' in the 80s Month: Day Twenty Seven

2012-01-29T18:24:00.006+11:00

movies:

bill & ted's excellent adventure (1989) my childhood obsession. one of the first vhs tapes we owned. i watched this movie so much that i actually memorised it in full & would watch it in my head every night before i went to sleep. i even went through a stage where i thought i was joan of arc & fashioned myself a sword out of silver gaffa tape. beyond fantastic movie for a litany of reasons, doesn't get much better than this. have some so-crates!

ziggy piggy, ziggy piggy, ZIGGY PIGGY! oink oink oink oink oink!

tv shows:

full house (1987-95) season two, eps 10-11. uncle joey has the most amazing collection of shirts i've ever laid eyes on. i don't know where on earth you find shirts like this anymore, but kyle needs them. he's a classic uncle joey type of guy. op-shops have proved fruitless. the mission continues. we will succeed.

food & drink:

agedashi tofu bento set at kaneda for linner.

twinings traditional afternoon tea & homemade carrot cake.

challenges/comments:

oh dear god, i really miss the soup. kyle & i have a sunday morning tradition where we make some awesome shit for breakfast & watch the soup. we call it soup sunday (duhhhhh!). substitutes have included married...with children & full house, but IT'S JUST NOT THE SAME. it's been a hardship. however, next sunday will be a pretty major catch up soup sunday of excellence, that's pretty sweet i guess.

Livin' in the 80s Month: Day Twenty Six

2012-01-28T21:41:00.005+11:00

movies:

adventures in babysitting (1987) classic out-all-night movie. elizabeth shue is a bonafide 80s babe. also features a future 2000s babe, vincent d'onofrio a.k.a. detective goren, looking a tad bleached.

tv shows:

amazing stories (1985-87) season one, eps 11-12. clint eastwood, the episode you directed was a bit of a dud too. go sit in the naughty corner with burt.

music:

various bits & pieces during my lush shift, inc. echo & the bunnymen's grey album (it's the only bunnymen album i can get away with playing in the shop)

food & drink:

homemade carrot & walnut cake, twinings irish breakfast tea & bits of cardia's dip & bread at lush work.

avocado, eggs & sundried tomatoes on toast (breakfast for dinner always!).

twinings lady grey tea & homemade carrot & walnut cake.

challenges/comments:

kyle is starting to get really distressed about not being able to talk to me about current events & stupid internet stuff. seriously. about twice a day he'll throw his arms up in the air & yelp about not being to show me the latest white ninja or some dumb thing someone somewhere did & stories containing the word poopdick & more often than not, tim & eric. SOON, K-MAN, SOON.

Livin' in the 80s Month: Day Twenty Five

2012-01-27T21:06:00.007+11:00

tv shows:

tales from the crypt (1989-96) season one, ep 1. another horror anthology show, bit addicted to the format it seems. this series is based on the tales from the crypt comics from the 50s & uses stories from that & other related comics of the era. i remember buying a lot of reprints of said comics when i was 13, good readin'. there was an amazing sounding tales from the crypt christmas album released featuring xmas classics spookified & sung by the cryptkeeper (the zombie type guy who introduces the episodes). titles include "we wish you'd bury the missus" (we wish you a merry christmas) & "deck the halls with parts of charlie". must have.

full house (1987-95) season two, eps 1-9. i remember absolutely hating stephanie (the middle sister) when i watched this show growing up, she was an utter jan & i remember being very glad that i didn't have a sister, because i thought i'd be unlucky enough to get one like her. i idolised DJ (the oldest sister) & wanted to be like her. now, the complete opposite is true. i think stephanie's a really cool little character (and really, a pretty good actor, that kid) and want to punch DJ in the face every time she's in frame. hmmm.

amazing stories (1985-87) season one, ep 9-10. burt reynolds, the episode you directed was pretty half-arsed. just, ah, yeah.

music:

does the wail of a screaming child while it waits an hour & a half with it's mum for the doctor count? kyle would probably say it's music. i swear kids cried less in the 80s. well, except me. i was big on the sound of my own voice. mum had to quit her job because i refused to stay at kindergarten & would scream until they had to call mum to come collect me. sorry mum.

food & drink:

twinings english breakfast tea & homemade carrot cake.

diet coke, mineral water, curly wurly & pomegranates for lunch at the lab.

spring onion pancake, vegetarian noodles & banana fritter for dinner in box hill.

challenges/comments:

i'm starting to feel really horrible for the effect my month is having on people! i try & discreetly stick my fingers in my ears when my friends bring up current pop culture or the news, but they notice & look horrified & apologise! poor friends, it's ok!

Livin' in the 80s Month: Day Twenty Four

2012-01-26T20:54:00.006+11:00

movies:

weekend at bernie's (1989) so many questions with this movie. didn't people notice the smell? the cold skin? aren't people supposed to decompose fairly quickly when they die? the fact that all of the above was ignored just makes this only-in-the-80s classic even funnier. i have this weird memory from when the sequel was released. we were living in watt st, thornbury (where do you live? watt st. yeah that's what i'm asking, what street? WATT ST. WHAT'S THE STREET NAME? IT'S FREAKIN' WATT ST.) & a radio station was doing one of those random promo giveaways outside our house. we were the only household in the street willing to sacrifice our dignity to go on the air answering stupid questions to win prizes. we didn't know the answers to anything, they were asking things about kim wilde or some shit, but they gave us prizes anyway. double passes to weekend at bernie's 2, chips, cds & soft drinks, HOORAY.

tv shows:

growing pains (1985-92) season one, eps 8-9. fun fact: the mum has a baby during the fourth season & i guess the writers got a little bored of writing baby/toddler storylines, because the kid ended the fifth season a toddler & started the sixth season as a six year old.

murder, she wrote (1984-96) season one, ep 2. oh man, so i hear there's a recent murder, she wrote pc game. on it.

tales from the darkside (1983-88) season one, eps 1-4. episode 2 has a man selling his soul to a friend for a million dollars & i of course thought of that episode of the simpsons where bart sells his soul to milhouse. it's such a classic storyline, i wonder where it originated.

amazing stories (1985-87) season one, eps 1-8. a fantasy, sci-fi & horror anthology show created by steven spielberg, something i’d never watched, but heard a bit about from time to time. i finally bothered to track it down for the purposes of this month & as it turns out, love the crap out of it. quite a few famous directors & actors were involved in episodes & it has somewhat higher production values than some similar shows than ran through the 80s (tales from the crypt, tales from the darkside, freddy’s nightmares etc.). a thoroughly engrossing show (some eps more than others, as with any show), evident in the fact that i postponed my planned movies for the night to smash out 8 episodes instead.

food & drink:

mocha.

twinings irish breakfast tea & homemade carrot & walnut cake.

vegetable dumplings.

peach from our newly discovered peach tree!

twinings lady grey tea & homemade carrot & walnut cake (it's really rather good).

shin ramyun noodles w/ egg.

choc wedge ice cream.

frozen blueberries.

challenges/comments:

no seriously, i've got an unhealthy attachment to shoulderpads a-brewing...even when i'm not wearing them, i find myself adjusting my posture to look more, ah, shouldery.

Livin' in the 80s Month: Day Twenty Three

2012-01-24T14:59:00.006+11:00

movies:

computer/human romance night!

electric dreams (1984) the whole movie is basically leading up to one of the greatest movie scenes of all time, when the entire world jams the fuck out to phil oakey singing electric dreams, as it streams uncontrollably from all sorts of electrical equipment! wooooooooo!

weird science (1985) dig on that title track by oingo boingo, could happily listen to that & only that for hours! danny elfman of oingo boingo is responsible for all the good in the world. well, all the good in my world. his world. what i'm trying to say is that he created the simpsons theme, the pee wee music & scored most of tim burton's movies, so basically, if you're the religious type, you should consider constructing a little altar to elfman in your bedroom (danny...not his scientologist nephew bodhi that married dharma from dharma & greg, ugh).

tv shows:

growing pains (1985-92) season one, eps 5-7. dana plato guest stars in episode 6 as a madonna look-alike love interest of mike's. plato starred in diff'rent strokes, but is known more for her post-strokes downfall. she had lots of problems & eventually died of a drug overdose, but the most bizarre event would have to be her robbing a video store in vegas at gunpoint & being bailed out by wayne newton! i like to imagine wayne is a vegas bail angel & once a week shows up at a jail & randomly bails someone out. yeah, i'm making that true, great job wayne!

family ties (1982-89) season one, eps 5-6.

full house (1987-95) season one, eps 21-22. DJ skips school to go to a signing by stacey q. i remember thinking the last time i watched this episode that stacey q was just a character, but no, she's a real true life 80s one hit wonder.

tales from the darkside (1983-88) season one, pilot. bitchin' horror anthology series created by zombie king george a. romero. these twilight zone type shows experienced a real revival during the 80s, but they aren't really around anymore & maybe that's a good thing, left in an era when they were done best.

music:

coil's horse rotorvator (1986)

crispy ambulance's open, gates of fire (1983)

food & drink:

twinings irish breakfast tea & homemade banana cake.

vegetable dumplings (wang brand from korea - yes yes, have your laffs, haha - to the best of my research ability they were around in the 80s).

nut loaf w/ homemade tomato sauce (recipe from 1989 women's weekly vegetarian cookbook).

twinings lady grey tea & homemade carrot & walnut cake (recipe from the aforementioned book).

orange zooper dooper.

challenges/comments:

kyle has been very excited about the tim & eric movie for months now. well, something exciting must've happened with it, because he keeps running up to me with his fingers gripped to his mouth, tells me i have to watch this clip on youtube, whispers 'they got rango'd!!!' then runs away squealing like a little girl. no kyle, i won't give in, i don't know what you're talking about & whatever it is can wait 'til feb 1st! stupid husband.

Livin' in the 80s Month: Day Twenty Two

2012-01-23T19:54:00.005+11:00

movies:

license to drive (1988) coreys night! license to drive is majorly kick ass from start to finish & one of my favourite kinds of movie, the 'out all night' movie. the 80s did out all night movies so very well, best examples being ferris bueller's day off, sixteen candles, adventures in babysitting & this! when this month is up, i might have a mini marathon of the 2000s revival of the genre, inc. superbad and harold & kumar.

the lost boys (1987) this was a major childhood favourite of my brother & i, and an early seed for my bunnymen obsession. their cover of 'people are strange' is featured during the opening scene & closing credits and a poster of jim morrison is also prominent in the vampire's cave, because, you know, vampires really dig on the doors. the scene with the chinese food traumatised me enough that i still picture my rice as maggots. best cast, this movie. the two coreys. alex winter (aka bill from bill & ted's). dianne wiest is so dianne wiesty as corey haim's mum, righteous, righteous babe she is. ed hermann plays her love interest & it was rather strange to watch him in the very different role of the grandpa on gilmore girls years later. the lost boys also taught me that barnsey has the power to kill vamps. very cool movie, fuck yo' modern vampires.

tv shows:

married...with children (1987-97) season four, eps 11-12. a two part christmas special, the last two episodes that aired in the 80s. see the rest of you in february, old friend!

full house (1987-95) season one, eps 19-20. wow, uncle jesse & his friends sure know how to have a good time. all cosy sweaters & constant sing-a-longs.

music:

house cleaning music!

psychic tv's allegory & self (1988).

coil's scatology (1984).

soft cell's non-stop erotic caberet (1981). i think that this is the most fitting album name in history.

food & drink:

eggs, avocado & sundried tomatoes on wholemeal bread, with hot cross buns & a mocha.

twinings english breakfast tea & homemade banana cake on my bodacious new noritake tea set given to me by a patient who was going to throw it out!

veggie burger w/ avocado on a wholemeal roll.

cola zooper dooper.

challenges/comments:

NPH is my psychic life partner (thanks for passing it on court!)

"Neil Patrick Harris (@ActuallyNPH)
1/20/12 11:55 AM
I kind of want to bring an old word back into my vocabulary. Hmm. Ooh, got it! Grody. As in 'Ew, that's grody'. Welcome back, old friend."

Livin' in the 80s Month: Day Twenty One

2012-01-23T18:08:00.006+11:00

movies:

back to school (1986) i love rodney dangerfield's schtick, his boob gags are particularly off/fantastic. the diving scene at the end of this movie is absurd perfection. robert downey jr. also features with a fairly bitchin' array of hairstyles.

tv shows:

married...with children (1987-97) season four, eps 6-10. milla jovovich guest stars as a french exchange student in episode 6. i remember her being really big in 1997, she was on the cover of juice magazine or some crap like that. yeah.

food & drink:

twinings chai tea & homemade banana cake.

barbequed veggie burger & banana cake at the noisebbq.

soju.

two vodka & tonics.

challenges/comments:

my final cheat for the month, i swear, kyle played a gig at KIPL. a combination noise show/bbq to be precise, how could i miss such a thing? it was a righteous time & i went straight home & let rodney dangerfield transplant me firmly back into the 80s.

Livin' in the 80s Month: Day Twenty

2012-01-22T14:55:00.001+11:00

movies:

driving miss daisy (1989) i watched this today because i remember loving it as a kid. now i'm wondering what the hell was wrong with the kid version of me, because this was incredibly dull. maybe i was a dull kid. odd. dan ackroyd's in it too, fuck.

tv shows:

sounds of the 80s (1995) this was a bbc program that i remember watching on sbs in the late 90s & isn't a cheat because the content is comprised entirely of music performance clips from shows like top of the pops and the old grey whistle test, spliced together with relevant, funny little clips from british tv shows of the time. lots of great performances, including this one!

music:

sparks, neverending story etc. at lush work

food & drink:

instant coffee at work...it really is quite terrible, i've just been sleepy & not fussed about the inevitable jitters.

banana.

homemade bubble logs.

calippo (thank you bron!).

challenges/comments:

my mum was absolutely horrified when i bought this rather 80s jacket when we were op-shopping...maybe this month is getting to me & i've lost all good judgement, because i think it's the most bitchin' thing i've ever seen.

Livin' in the 80s Month: Day Nineteen

2012-01-22T12:02:00.005+11:00

movies:

uncle buck (1989) i remember the day john candy died. it wasn't that long after cool runnings came out in australia & everyone at brunswick primary was obsessed with it. kids were actually crying in the schoolyard when word got around. it was one of my first experiences with death & i remember being somewhat confused. uncle buck had been a favourite. i must've watched it at least 15 times as a kid. i have an uncle buck, i think everyone does & john hughes did a brilliant job playing tribute to the uncle bucks of the world, in this & other movies. the scene where mac culkin 20 questions john candy is one of my favourite movie moments of all time.

tv shows:

married...with children (1987-97) season four, ep 5. guest starred kimmy robertson, who played one of my favourite twin peaks characters, the super squeaky lucy moran. she appeared in some amazing sounding films in the 80s such as 'the last american virgin' and 'my mom's a werewolf'...kyle, get on it.

murder, she wrote (1984-96) season one, ep 1. i forgot how long this show ran for! i'm a sucker for a good murder mystery, plenty to keep me going here. jessica fletcher is one crafty cat. good times ahead!

food & drink:

barf me out, what an atrocious day of eating!

crappy instant coffee w/ a bit of cocoa at work.

french fries chips!

liquorice allsorts, chocolate bullets & mineral water at bingo.

challenges/comments:

went to bingo with my mum, possibly the most 80s month safe place in melbourne. pretty sure absolutely nothing has changed at that place since the 80s, there's stains in that carpet that i recognise from 20 years ago when my nan would take me.

Livin' in the 80s Month: Day Eighteen

2012-01-19T17:12:00.005+11:00

tv shows:

full house (1987-95) season one, eps 10-18. kirk cameron, you sly bastard, sneaking your way into my other shows. his sister candace plays the eldest daughter DJ (who is also a bit of an arsehole in real life, though not as much as kirk & his bananas) & kirk guest stars as her cousin. the applause he gets when he enters the room is rather loud & i forget he was considered such a dreamboat...definitely the lamest of the 80s teen idols, i mean, he's no corey.

married...with children (1987-97) season four, eps 2-4. episode four was about al getting a toothache & going to the dentist. i found myself absentmindedly checking out my own teeth while watching & a piece of my top right wisdom tooth fell into my fingers! the top left one did the same thing a few months ago & i had it pulled & i'd been meaning to go back to get the other three extracted since. so, uh, thanks bundys for the kick up the pants i needed to get to the dentist (i always knew tv was good for your health).

music:

sparks' in outer space (1983) while making dinner.

food & drink:

two plums & a white knight bar.

twinings irish breakfast tea & homemade banana cake.

vegetable risotto (the same one i made a couple of weeks ago from the margaret fulton book).

blackcurrent zooper dooper.

lemonade icypole.

challenges/comments:

i really want to know what's been happening with molly meldrum!

Livin' in the 80s Month: Day Seventeen

2012-01-18T20:18:00.005+11:00

movies:

the golden child (1986) this was so, so much weirder than my vague memory of it. kyle put it best when he said that eddie murphy's character doesn't even seem to know what movie he's in. freaky shit. dragons & hell dimensions & constant jokes about tibetan poverty & human sacrifice & uh, yeah. excuse my modern catchphrase, but "cool story, bro" sums up my feelings on this perfectly.

a fish called wanda (1988) i really hate monty python. so much so that i had avoided this movie my entire life, despite the glowing recommendations, because of the python alumni involved. finally gave it a go & of course, loved the crap out of it. i like fawlty towers, so i should've known better, really. the scene with the fish made my stomach turn, though. grody.

tv shows:

the golden girls (1985-92) season one, eps 20-25. end of the first season. the final episode is a flashback to how they all met. flashback or flashforward eps of sitcoms are always the best, especially seeing how they youngify/age the stars.

married...with children (1987-97) season three, eps 19-22 & season four, ep 1. i love it when they show the bundys sinking particularly low, morally speaking. the first episode of season four shows kelly & bud stealing marcy's dead aunt's ashes to use in the barbeque. somehow, the characters remain relatable & likeable, instead of repulsive (the fact that i think that possibly says a lot about me...and my family, haha).

music:

still a bit of a 24hr sparks marathon going on here.

food & drink:

dinosaur spaghetti on wholemeal toast...it's been far too long since i've enjoyed canned shaped spaghetti.

twinings lady grey tea & homemade banana cake.

subway veggie footlong (all salads except carrot, tomatoes & onion, swiss cheese, italian herbs & cheese bread).

challenges/comments:

all this eddie murphy in my life is making me crave a little thing from the future called chappelle's show...

Livin' in the 80s Month: Day Sixteen

2012-01-17T15:14:00.006+11:00

tv shows:

the golden girls (1985-92) season one, ep 19. kevin mccarthy guest starred in this episode as a love interest of blanche, instantly recognisable to me as gordon fitzpatrick from my favourite tex murphy game, the pandora directive. he also played the rival network boss in weird al's UHF & holy shit, i had no idea how old he was when he played these roles until just now. so old in fact, that he died in 2010 of pneumonia, aged 96.

married...with children (1987-97) season three, ep 18. i only have 15 80s episodes left, bogus.

quantum leap (1989-93) season one, eps 4-5. the first season is only 8 episodes long, long enough apparently to catch the eye of the creative arts emmys & win an award for outstanding achievement in hairstyling. for sure!

reading:

bitch bitch bitch (1988) by mike wrenn. my mum gives me some great books. this one & the charming 'who farted?' are two of the best. bitch bitch bitch is a collection of snarky quotes from musicians, often about each other. this is gold:

"that's a conscious decision to buy clothes like that. i bet mark smith's got a wardrobe full of those mark smith shirts." - ian mcculloch, 1981.

"i went back to his house and his bedroom was just like what you'd expect. there were about 40 albums stacked against a radiator, about half of them were warped by the heat and they were exactly the right records for mark smith. and looking at his collection of shirts - they were exactly what you'd expect him to have!" - julian cope, 1981.

"julian cope's a fucking lunatic. completely obsessed. like the way he used to come round my house and rummage through my wardrobe, then go away and tell people all about it. i don't like that." - mark e. smith, 1988.

music:

sparks' whomp that sucker (1981).

food & drink:

twinings lady grey tea and homemade banana cake.

maltesers, fruit, frittata & cake at the lush staff meeting.

challenges/comments:

i really wanted to see kyle after my staff meeting ended. he was at a gig, so i popped down to surprise him. i was only there for an hour & the music wasn't distinguishable to me as anything in particular, let alone a particular genre or era, so i've decided it wasn't a major cheat, just where my husband happened to be! i didn't really listen to it, honest. carey even managed to find some 80s music in his car to play on the drive home. stoked.

Livin' in the 80s Month: Day Fifteen

2012-01-16T15:08:00.007+11:00

movies:

dirty rotten scoundrels (1988) i am a huge nerd for steve martin. that man is right up my alley (if only i meant literally...). it'd been long enough since i'd seen this that i'd forgotten the twist ending, making for a most enjoyable viewing experience. martin & michael caine play con men who get into a bit of a 'this town ain't big enough for the two of us' tizzy. they make a bet to see who can be the first to con a lonely lady out of $50k, the loser agreeing to leave town. hilarity follows. no, really, it's extremely funny. directed by frank oz, who went on to make some seriously righteous movies, such as what about bob?, housesitter, the indian in the cupboard, in & out, and bowfinger. i can't believe a man capable of such greatness has spent so much time involved with wretched puppets, grody.

tv shows:

quantum leap (1989-1993) season one, eps 1-3. holy shit! why has it taken me so long to watch this show properly?! sam beckett is a physicist who gets ripped from 1999 during a time travel experiment & gets lost in time. every episode has him leaping into someone else's body & he has to figure out how to right the wrong in their lives, aided by his hologram sidekick, al. BITCHIN'.

married...with children (1987-97) season three, eps 8-17. had, ah, a bit of a marathon. missing from the sequence i watched was an episode titled "i'll see you in court", which only aired in 2002, 13 years after it was filmed. the storyline revolved around the bundys and the rhoades being secretly filmed having sex in a sleazy motel & the fox network deemed it too risque to air at the time. i've never seen it before, but it's included on the last disc of my dvd set, so i'll watch it later.

food & drink:

cappuccino.

eggs, avocado & sundried tomatoes on wholemeal toast.

leftover veggie pastries.

twinings traditional afternoon tea & homemade banana cake.

2 bubble logs.

pumpkin soup.

challenges/comments:

milkbars have gone way downhill, i can't get my hands on enough of my favourite childhood lollies. such a crappy, basic selection. i miss those little garbage bins full of lolly shaped garbage, i saw some similar ones somewhere a couple of years ago, but they weren't in the same cool bin.

Livin' in the 80s Month: Day Fourteen

2012-01-15T18:58:00.007+11:00

movies:

movie night with my friend emma...i saved my favourite john hughes movie (ferris) & her favourite (the breakfast club) especially for tonight.

sixteen candles (1984) features some of the most hilarious & true to life grandparent-grandchild interaction in cinematic history. also, the guy who plays long duk dong has a great bit in another of my favourite movies, weird al's UHF.

ferris bueller's day off (1986) my number one favourite movie (or favourite anything, really) of all time. every second is a work of art. my instant cure for i-hate-the-world-itis. thank you, john hughes.

the breakfast club (1985) emma noted that the janitor was the same actor who played the sister's fiance in sixteen candles, something i'd never noticed (he's got a small role in weird science too).

tv shows:

married...with children (1987-97) season three, eps 6-7. episode 6, 'her cups runneth over' is infamous for the complaint it attracted by an irate viewer. she was a bible-basher who thought the show to be too racy & launched a campaign to have it taken off air. unfortunately for her, it backfired & all the publicity made viewers curious, sending ratings through the roof. apparently the producers have sent her a fruit basket every year for christmas since.

music:

sparks' in outer space (1983) & angst in my pants (1982) while baking. every time i listen to sparks, i wonder why i ever listen to anything else.

food & drink:

horrible lipton tea at work in the morning.

much better twinings traditional afternoon tea & a curly wurly when i got home.

homemade pumpkin soup & bread for lunch.

lemonade icypole.

treats for emma's visit! banana cake, bubble logs, afghan cookies, chocolate rocks & savoury vegetable parcels. sweets were made with secret mum recipes, all are things i grew up making & eating with mum & i completely associate them with the 80s.

all kinds of bitchin' cocktails made by our accomplished bartender, k-man.

challenges/comments:

i came home from work to find kyle had given life to the pumpkin. this isn't the first time i've found him writing on our food.

Livin' in the 80s Month: Day Thirteen

2012-01-15T16:19:00.006+11:00

movies:

dirty dancing (1987) work was so quiet this morning that i got to watch this in it's entirety, stoked. this was so much better than i remembered, i got in a swayze trance. i'd never much appreciated patrick swayze before, maybe i do now because i'm an old lady. staring at swayze's arse strikes me as an old lady thing to do. or something groups of 'girlfriends' do before they go to over 28s nights, you know, watch dirty dancing & giggle & drink cheap wine. oh & extra added special bonus, baby's mum is the grandma from gilmore girls. excellent.

beverly hills cop 2 (1987) i don't know why i haven't spent every single day of my life watching the beverly hills cop movies. i would've been perfectly happy doing so. judge reinhold, who appears in all three films, later had an awesome part in seinfeld as one of elaine's boyfriend, the close talker who becomes obsessed with jerry's parents.

tv shows:

the golden girls (1985-92) season one, eps 16-18. oh man, best episode. blanche's niece is engaging in a bit of bedhopping, so naturally all the girls go to confront her about it at some guy's apartment. the guy is obsessed with miami vice & it's one of my favourite moments so far. i've linked to a clip above, made funnier by the fact that's it's dubbed in german.

"you've never seen miami vice? it's only the best show that's ever been on television...ever! it's in stereo, for pete's sake!"

married...with children (1987-97) season three, eps 4-5. al's love of taking a dump is a running gag throughout the series & episode 5 has him building his own personal poo palace out in the garage.

music:

the neverending story theme at lush & at home...a lot.

beverly hills cop soundtrack at lush.

food & drink:

curly wurly.

twinings lady grey tea & banana cake.

salad sandwich.

lemonade icypole.

vegemite saladas, curly wurly & chamomile tea.

popcorn.

plum.

challenges/comments:

it always surprised me just how many of my friends had no interest in the news. prior to this month, every day i would read the news (mostly online now, paper version a couple of times a week), listen to neil mitchell & watch today tonight/aca for a hilarious take on the news, discuss the news with others & watch a bulletin. i particularly enjoyed my courier at work telling me the latest bizarre happening from the herald sun (remember that 80 year old grandma that got her car impounded for speeding with her dog on her lap while racing to her lesbian lover?). i always wondered what it would be like to be completely unaware of current events & well, now i know. that feeling i had for the first few days of missing out on something major has passed & now i don't even think about what's going on outside of my own little world. it's unsettling & i'll be going back to stickybeaking the business of the universe feb 1st.

Livin' in the 80s Month: Day Twelve

2012-01-13T13:39:00.004+11:00

tv shows:

family ties (1982-89) season one, eps 3-4. alex loses his virginity in episode 4 & as is often the case in sitcomland, his parents take waaaaaaaaay too much interest in the event.

growing pains (1985-92) season one, eps 3-4. tracey gold looks pretty bitchin' in these early episodes.

married...with children (1987-97) season three, eps 2-3. the past few episodes have shown kelly's IQ dropping significantly & al mentioning his past football glory most episodes.

music:

new order's brotherhood (1986) and power, corruption & lies (1983) in the broom broom to/from vengaboys.

food & drink:

bubble o' bill.

salad sandwich.

twinings traditional afternoon tea & homemade banana cake.

kfc chips.

curly wurly.

challenges/comments:

a couple of days ago, i remembered that i had bought tickets to see the vengaboys. i considered selling them to stay true to 80s month, but in the end decided to have a massive cheat & go back to the future. it's the vengaboys, i had to. and they were only, ohhh, 9 years too late...i got carded, so i guess at least i'm doing a good impersonation of my 80s self.

Livin' in the 80s Month: Day Eleven

2012-01-12T20:42:00.005+11:00

movies:

poltergeist (1982) this movie is fucking creepy. not so much because of the film itself (though that clown made me want to bleach my brain. i believe my exact words were "WHAT THE FUCK I DON'T REMEMBER A FUCKING CLOWN WHAT IS THIS SHIT I DIDN'T AGREE TO THIS, FUCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCK!!!"). no, it's creepy because various cast members of the original film & it's sequels died within a couple of years of filming & also because they used REAL CADAVERS as props. WHAT THE HELL. way to curse everyone, spielberg.

st. elmo's fire (1985) two hours of brat pack whinging. the imdb plot summary is amazing "a group of friends, just out of college, struggle with adulthood. their main problem is that they're all self-centered and obnoxious". well, they look good, at least.

tv shows:

full house (1987-95) season one, eps 2-9. i've noticed they quite desperately pushed uncle jesse's "have mercy!" catchphrase in these early episodes. to the max. pretty much every time he opened his mouth.

married...with children (1987-97) season two, ep 22 & season three, ep 1. the final episode of season two (about peggy's hick relatives visiting) was dedicated to divine. kyle tells me that divine was supposed to play one of the uncles & that it was going to be an ongoing role. he'd died the night before he was to shoot his first episode. would've been radical, shame.

food & drink:

bogus instant coffee at work.

two plums.

strawberry chupa chup.

homemade banana cake, teevee snacks & twinings english breakfast tea.

big fat salad.

vanilla choc wedge.

challenges/comments:

kyle is having trouble randomly spewing out modern day pop cultural references. he just can't stop. thuggish ruggish bone sung lonely island style is a big one. we do a lot of around the house singing, so it's hard to make sure it's 80s appropriate. i myself keep singing "THREE HAAAAAAAMS!" which is from the brak show & referenced in my blog address. it's only because we're not allowed. we're children, i swear.

Livin' in the 80s Month: Day Ten

2012-01-11T21:22:00.004+11:00

movies:

trading places (1983) i don't like dan aykroyd. i will usually tolerate his presence in a movie, but spend the whole time willing his character to die. this was different. this movie is just so damn bitchin' that i not only tolerated him, but loved everything about him. he looks gorgeous too, young, foppish. and hey, eddie murphy! great movie. righteous ending. good times.

tv shows:

growing pains (1985-92) season one, eps 1-2. growing pains is about as daggy as it gets, and for that, i love it. i actually find it quite hard to watch, for two reasons. one is kirk cameron. what an arsehole, seriously. the other is the extreme embarrassing dad-ness of alan thicke's jason seaver. i find him hard to watch in a larry david/curb your enthusiasm cringy kind of way. worth the pain.

full house (1987-95) season one, eps 0-1. i watched the unaired original pilot (with some other guy playing the dad, danny tanner) for the first time, followed by the final pilot that went to air (with bob saget in his rightful place). bob saget was the original choice to play danny tanner, but was committed to a morning show at the time, so they filmed the pilot with said some guy (john posey, who went onto great things, such as a bit part in robocop 3). then in a wonderful twist of fate, bob saget was fired from the morning show, so they told john posey to go jump & reshot the pilot with bob & one of my all time favourite tv shows was saved from certain death, hooray! the other guy was so wrong. wrongtown. wrongtown usa. long live bob saget.

uncle jesse to DJ: "you've gotta understand this world is not a perfect place...bruce willis has a record deal"

the golden girls (1985-92) season one, eps 12-15. in episode 13, rose dates a little person. cue 25 minutes of dwarf jokes. bitchin'. bizarrely, not long after filming this episode, the actor who played the dwarf was diagnosed with marfan syndrome, which causes sufferers to grow taller than normal. his sudden rapid growth from his short stature caused him to suffer a fatal heart attack. so there you go.

music:

91.5 fm at work...they're playing entirely too much farnsey, not enough barnesy.

food & drink:

bubble o' bill. the greatest ice cream in existence. actually, my favourite icy treat back in the 80s was an icypole shaped like a rocket with a chocolate ball at the top. can't remember what it's called, but i haven't seen it for at least 15 years. you see plenty of chocolate on ice cream, but not so much on icypoles anymore. it was a pretty gnarly combo, may it return to the world of food soon!

twinings english breakfast tea & a wagon wheel.

vegemite salada (worms!) & mineral water.

a crapload of food at dumpling specialist with lush people & k-man. i forgot to photograph it all, robbing whitey of her food porn (sorry!). pictured is the red bean cake. i also ate steamed vegetable dumplings, spring onion pancake & vegetarian noodles.

challenges/comments:

POO CAR. on our way to dumpling specialist, there was this car. covered in bird shit. COVERED. my brain still hasn't quite recovered, so my only comment for day ten is this. poo car.

Livin' in the 80s Month: Day Nine

2012-01-10T15:33:00.007+11:00

movies:

gremlins (1984) i vaguely remember gremlins scaring me as a kiddo...in the same way that kids who had garbage pail kids merch instead of cabbage patch dolls scared me (rebels!). anyway, i love joe dante movies. i plan to watch the 'burbs before the month is up, maybe that cursed twilight zone movie too.

tv shows:

the golden girls (1985-92) season one, ep 11.

blanche: they got my jewels!
dorothy: but i see they didn't get your cocaine
rose: oh my god, blanche has cocaine?!
blanche: this is flour, i hid my jewels in the flour!

good morning, miss bliss (1988-89) eps 10-13. and that brings us to the end of the series. i'll be moving on to saved by the bell season one once i, er, recover. also, future birthday present please: mr belding released an album.

married...with children (1987-97) season two, eps 15-21. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" - kyle's reaction when i told him that ed o'neill (al bundy) is the guy who plays the manager of the donut shop in wayne's world.

food & drink:

hot chips.

twinings english breakfast tea & sara lee carrot cake. (i'd already downed it by the time i remembered to take a photo, this looks kind of grody).

teppanyaki for japanese night at mum's.

wagon wheel!

challenges/comments:

i wish i wasn't acutely aware that some of my shows are starting back up again. can i really wait until february 1st for the biggest loser US season 13?! yeah, i guess. i must say, i did actually consider the season beginning & ending times of survivor when planning when to do 80s month.

Livin' in the 80s Month: Day Eight

2012-01-09T20:27:00.004+11:00

movies:

joysticks (1983) so much boob. there's nothing quite like the pointless nudity of an 80s teen sex comedy. chuck in some (oddly formatted) pacman & it's taken to a whole. 'nother. level. the spa in the panel van & the oversized joysticks at the arcades were pretty bitchin'.

beverly hills cop (1984) lots of great things have already come from this month & one of them is rediscovering eddie murphy. AHHHHHHHHH HOLY SHIT BEVERLY HILLS COP! i was in a permanent state of pumped chuffness watching this. righteous soundtrack...kyle observed that movie characters kind of having their own theme song that followed them around was a lot bigger in the 80s. what a gnarly trend.

tv shows:

freddy's nightmares (1988-90) season one, ep 2. this episode was much better than the first. i'm a sucker for anthology shows, i even like the 90s version of the outer limits, so i'll stick this show out.

married...with children (1987-97) season two, eps 11-14. episode 14 'guys & dolls' is one of the best of the series. al & steve get hooked on collecting baseball cards & steve sells one of marcy's barbie dolls to fund their habit. marcy wigs out & in one of the greatest scenes ever to air on television, al & steve are forced to roam the harsh city streets in search of the doll...all set to a bitchin' sax instrumental. linked above, watch it, love it, live it.

food & drink:

twinings lady grey tea (no power, so boiled the water in a saucepan on the stove, how old timey!) & sara lee carrot cake.

shin ramyun noodles w/ an egg & a mocha.

breakfast for dinner! eggs, sundried tomatoes & avocado on sourdough.

vegemite toast (too much bread yesterday, barf me out!).

lindt dark chocolate.

challenges/comments:

there's a forum i frequent that sprouted from the pre-hacked lush forum, i'm missing it! i'd been a bit too busy to post much leading up to this month, but miss popping in for a quick catch up. plus i might be missing out on news of a new villainess range or something like that! WHAT IF SOMEONE'S RUNNING AN AMAZING GROUP ORDER?! probably better for my wallet anyway...

in current news, i can't believe someone shot john lennon today, bogus!

Livin' in the 80s Month: Day Seven

2012-01-08T21:20:00.007+11:00

movies:

the great outdoors (1988) not the best john hughes movie in existence & about 30 mins in, i realised i really wasn't in the right mood to watch it...which is why i was a bit chuffed when we had a blackout another 30 mins later! that blackout turned out to be a 'something exploding in our fuse box' type situation that required an electrician & meant we didn't have power for 17 hours...

tv shows:

married...with children (1987-97) season two, eps 9-10. episode 9 featured the bundys bowling against a rival family. the terrifying looking daughter of the rival family was called didi, or as she put it "that's didi with two i's, NOT four e's!". according to imdb, her real life name is jennifer sophia & her only other acting credit is in a movie called 'reform school girls' (linked above). it's rated 4.3/10. i've made it kyle's mission to find it before the end of the month.

games:

well, our electrical issues put a dampener on my plans to spend the rest of my last saturday off for the foreseeable future watching married with children, so out came the board games. checkers & dominos...i'm bitchin' at checkers, k-man at dominos.

music:

new order's brotherhood (1986) in the car with my friend jessica. we were driving to ingrid's haven in sunday creek so jess could adopt a cat (she ended up with a big, black, one-eyed, hi-fiving gentleman named bojangles!).

food & drink:

twinings lady grey tea & sara lee carrot cake.

spinach & cheese bread roll.

blueberry smoothie.

vegetable risotto, recipe from the margaret fulton book...this book was completely ignored by me before this month, LOVE IT.

challenges/comments:

sudden overwhelming craving for vanilla coke, wiggin' out!

Livin' in the 80s Month: Day Six

2012-01-08T15:36:00.006+11:00

tv shows:

the golden girls (1985-92) season one, eps 8-10. hahaha, what the hell, the opening of episode 8 shows them returning from a madonna concert, sophia included.

family ties (1982-89) season one, eps 1-2. i never loved this show, i liked it, but you can never have enough michael j fox in your life.

married...with children (1987-97) season two, eps 4-8. i only have 48 episodes left to watch that aired in the 80s!

music:

various 80s comps during my lush shift, including the valley girl soundtrack.

food & drink:

(an interesting day of eating...)

twinings lady grey tea & sara lee carrot cake.

strawberry kiss bubble cup w/ pearls.

leftover vegetable rissole & uh, fantales. good combo.

er, cheese & a teddy bear biscuit...

challenges/comments:

one of our young regular customers at lush came into the store & we got talking about all these shows we liked, total illegal operation for this month. he's very into nightmare on elm street, so we talked about that for a bit too, but ah, yeah, my bad.

also accidentally asked my workmate cardia about the book she was reading, but it wasn't published in the 80s, bogus!

Livin' in the 80s Month: Day Five

2012-01-07T20:30:00.007+11:00

movies:

raiders of the lost ark (1981) indiana jones is such a tex murphy (or tex murphy is such an indiana jones...). i don't remember these movies being quite so gory though! gnarly/righteous melting/exploding head scene at the end.

tv shows:

good morning, miss bliss (1988-89) season one, ep 9. i've noticed screech is practically subdued throughout this series, they really turned him up a notch for saved by the bell.

the golden girls (1985-1992) season one, ep 6-7. blanche's grandson visits & teenages the crap out of the place (i.e. his mates visit & SLOUCH ON THE COUCH!).

married...with children (1987-97) season 2, eps 2-3. most excellent two parter with the bundys holidaying in dumpwater, florida at a murder motel. it's beginning to be established that al & peggy don't really willingly have sex anymore. during the first season, they were shown happily running off to the bedroom most episodes, but during this two-parter, peggy begs al for sex when they get to the motel, reasoning that they're on vacation. al cries at the thought of it. it becomes a running gag throughout the rest of the series, taken to the extreme when peggy becomes pregnant by practically assaulting al after he'd had a few beers.

food & drink:

kfc chips & potato & gravy.

twinings lady grey tea & sara lee carrot cake

vegetable rissoles, avocado, spinach & a blackberry smoothie

teevee snacks! also fantales, milky bar & jaffas.

challenges/comments:

my favourite lady solved my radio problem, her housemate suggested i try 91.5. they're got this summer 80s thing going on with their programming & they don't play ads between the songs, stoked! as long as i switch it off when the news update comes on, it's safe to have on at work. excellent.
court totally used the word grody too! i don't know how it ever stopped being in common use.

Livin' in the 80s Month: Day Four

2012-01-05T20:03:00.006+11:00

movies:

the secret of my success (1987) i love michael j fox, because he's ALL THE WAY DOWN HERE, like me. his love interest in this movie is fairly pretty much totally princess di.

tv shows:

the golden girls (1985-92) season one, eps 4-5. blanche's sister needs a kidney transplant & blanche struggles with whether to hand over the goods, CLASSIC SITCOM STORYLINE NUMBER ONE!
good morning, miss bliss (1988-89) season one, eps 4-8. one of the students protests when asked to dissect a frog in science class, CLASSIC SITCOM STORYLINE NUMBER TWO.
married...with children (1987-97) season one, eps 11-13 & season two, ep 1. buck knocks up another dog in the neighbourhood, CLASSIC SITCOM STORYLINE NUMBER THREE.

music:

kyle was playing a lot of Les Rallizes Dénudés (all 80s recordings, he assures me).

food & drink:

cup of twinings lady grey tea & a teddy bear biscuit (STOKED TO HAVE MUCH OF BOTH OF THESE!).
leftover mushroom pie & salad for lunch.
sara lee banana cake & lady grey tea.
cheese & vegetable gratin for dinner, recipe from the marg fulton book.
milky bar & fantales, tubular!

challenges/comments:

in a somewhat bizarre incident at home, kyle was reading the news online when he suddenly yelled out with major enthusiasm "HAMISH BLAKE IS ENGAGED!". after slapping him for revealing current news, i then spent the rest of the night trying to figure out why he was so excited...

every wednesday after i finish my morning job, i wander down to our main laboratory to spend the afternoon watching people wee for corrections victoria. yep. anyway, i have a little tradition. i stop at safeway to grab my weekly bibles of average aussie trash, that's life! & take 5. of course, i couldn't today & wept until i could weep no more. i'm going to get kyle to buy them over the next month & then, oh boy, i am going to have the best day ever catching up on stories of nigerian love cheats & people's skin removal surgery.

Livin' in the 80s Month: Day Three

2012-01-04T21:26:00.007+11:00

movies:

valley girl (1983) basically an 80s slang how-to. best soundtrack. nic cage is extremely nic cage like, as usual. that man manages to both terrify me & make me believe in a better world all at the same time.
fatal attraction (1987) hadn't seen this in forever & was intensely distracted by how scary glenn close looks. not because her character is a grody creep, but like, her actual physical appearance. ghoulish horseface. i had nightmares.

tv shows:

good morning, miss bliss (1988-89) season one, eps 1-3. this show is unofficially the first season of saved by the bell. screech, zack, lisa & mr belding are there, but they're in junior high & miss bliss is the featured teacher, instead of mr. belding. it lasted one season before they retooled it, graduated the kids & renamed it saved by the bell. miss bliss is a poncy tart, so i'm glad they got rid of her.
the golden girls (1985-1992) season one, ep 3. dorothy can't beat sophia at gin rummy, oh the drama that ensues!
married...with children (1987-97) season 1, eps 7-10. kyle is loving this, having not really seen it before, stoked!

music:

the jesus & mary chain's barbed wire kisses (1988) on the record player while kyle & i were painting in the garage.

food & drink:

sara lee banana cake & lipton tea (grody...i can't have my usual T2, as they weren't around in the 80s, so had to settle...buying twinings tomorrow to get me through the month).

cherry apple lollipop.

shin ramyun noodles...second last pack, won't buy any 'til next month, i have to break the stomach churning addiction!

mushroom & nut pie, salad, banana smoothie. pie recipe from the margaret fulton book. this was way gnarly, margaret knows what time it is.

cola zooper dooper. we bought the aldi version of zooper doopers last month and they were grody to the max (i'm genuinely in love with the word grody, by the way). kyle was forcing himself to eat them, but gave in & threw them out yesterday. nothing compares to the original.

challenges/comments:

first day back at my path centre since i started this. the very first thing that the very first patient said to me when i brought him in was "happy new year...how about that guy who blew his head off with the fireworks?". i couldn't scream "NOOOOOOOOOOO, I'M LIVING IN THE 80S FOR THE MONTH & I CAN'T HEAR THE NEWS, DUHHHHH!". instead i said "yeah that was something...but you should've seen my cats on new years with all the carry on, their ears were so pricked up!". yeah.

i really missed having my radio on at work. maybe i can find one of those oldies community stations that have no ads & only play music from the 30s & everyone's name is betty & sound like they're being run from a nursing home. i remember finding a station like that when i lived in st. kilda during my teens, it was my favourite.

Livin' in the 80s Month: Day Two

2012-01-03T16:03:00.008+11:00

movies:

war of the roses (1989) i remember all the bitter divorcées of my childhood loving this movie. divorce/unhappy marriage was seemingly all the rage in the 80s. i am not a bitter divorcée, but i love this movie. michael douglas is grody to the max, but kathleen turner is one righteous babe.
mr. mom (1983) ahhhh, this was so cute! written by john hughes. martin mull is in it, always a plus.

tv shows:

married...with children (1987-97) season 1, eps 1-6. i grew up with this show, so it's pretty rad that 3 & 1/2 seasons aired in the 80s, so i can watch them this month. bitchin'! i remember my dad, brother & i loved it & didn't miss an episode, while my mum hated it & grumbled in the background. al bundy is hands down one of the greatest tv characters of all time. it's good straight off from the pilot episode too, most shows take at least half a season to get into the swing of things. uh, tubular.
freddy's nightmares (1988-90) season 1, ep 1. this show was a spin-off from the nightmare on elm street movies & is an anthology show, like the twilight zone. the first episode was about how freddy became freddy basically & was a bit slow moving. from what i know of it, most of the stories don't actually involve freddy. maybe it gets better, or maybe it's a pile of crap, we'll see.

music:

the human league's dare (1981) while i cooked dinner. i seriously considered phil oakey-ing my hair for this month (i still kind of want to).

food & drink:

eggs & avocado on multigrain & a cappuccino for breakfast.

shin ramyun noodles for lunch.

smiths crinkle cut chips.

spinach & potato patties and avocado w/ raspberry vinaigrette for dinner. both are recipes from my trusty margaret fulton book of vegetarian cooking (1989). i made the avocado dish just because it looked like the most hilariously 80s thing in there, but it was actually completely awesome. stoked. margaret fulton looks alive on the back cover of this book, far more pleasant than the zombie apocalypse cardboard stand that haunted me in coles all last year.

challenges/comments:

spent the entire day vegged out at home, safe from outside influences.

i miss my 5:30 eddie mcguire fix. i wish i had some episodes of sale of the century or wheel of fortune to tide me over. i don't think i ever would've crushed on tony barber like i do on eddie, though. burgo on the other hand...

Livin' in the 80s Month: Day One

2012-01-02T12:49:00.014+11:00

movies:

hot pursuit (1987) john cusack tries to find his girlfriend in the caribbean, hi jinks ensue. i'd never seen this before & wish i'd kept it that way. also features jerry stiller playing the exact same character he plays in everything ever.
star wars episode VI: return of the jedi (1983) finally. years ago, i promised kyle i'd watch the original star wars movies with him (having avoided them all my life). i got through the first two ok a while ago, but couldn't bring myself to watch the last. well, it's done now & may we never speak of this franchise again (though i did like that part where chewy hugged han solo...and those teddy bear things were kind of cute).

tv shows:

the golden girls (1985-92) season 1, eps 1-2. i forgot how much i loved this show. blanche gets involved with a bigamist! dorothy confronts her cheating ex stan at their daughter's wedding. i was having trouble remembering the gay housekeeper coco while watching the first episode, which makes sense as the character was dumped when the show was picked up.

music:

various 80s compilations during my shift at lush, inc. dickie wilkins hits of the 80s #1 and #2!

food & drink:

space food stick on my way to work! plus choc coconut & lemon slices & some fruit salad when i got there courtesy of my workmate whitey.

kumquat & taro pudding bubble tea. i don't even know what a kumquat is, but the taste was not unlike regurgitated orange juice.

japanese curry & rice for lunch.

home time, west coast coolers! this was the only pack at my local bottle-o & i'm pretty sure it's been there since the 80s. later on, i had a bacardi & coke and a cosmopolitan.

microwave popcorn with the movies.

shin ramyun noodles (thankfully sold since 1986...i've been going through a phase with these, even though my digestive system is less than keen about it).

top deck chocolate.

challenges:

i already really, really miss the news. i can't shake this feeling that something really important has happened & I DON'T KNOW ABOUT IT. in 80s news, there's lots of shit going down in the USSR...

on the bus on my way to work, well, as i put it on my facebook "a posse of newjacks are blasting their boom box on my wheels! i can't tell them to step off, but am saved by the earplugs in my bag! bitchin'!".

watching my slang is proving tricky...going on my lunch break yesterday, i said "BRBBBBBB", as i always do, then had to slap myself hard on the face for doing so. which you can only get away with so many times in public before they put you in the loony bin, but it's THE ONLY WAY I'LL LEARN!

Livin' in the 80s Month!

2012-01-01T19:55:00.006+11:00

a few weeks ago, i decided i wanted to live an entire month confined to 1980s culture (for nothing other than my own personal kicks).
december was going to be too busy, so i settled on january & here we are, january 1st.
i rang in the new year last night with some footage from the countdown to 1984 & distressingly woke up with "she blinded me with science" in my head, fuck it. i hate that song. i mean, i hate that latest smash hit by thomas dolby.
i'll be updating this blog daily with how i'm going. here's the rules:

movies/TV: i can only watch movies and TV shows that were released/aired during the 80s. watching qualifying shows/movies on free to air television is risky, as i can't watch the ads, so i'll likely be avoiding it altogether and just relying on my own collection (we've disconnected the aerial).
music: i can only listen to music released during the 80s.
books/magazines: i can only read books/magazines released/issued during the 80s.
food/drink: i can only consume food and drink that was available in the 80s. it doesn't necessarily have to have been available in australia during the 80s, anywhere in the world will suffice (for instance, today i had bubble tea, which originated in taiwan in the 80s, but did not become available here until much later).
video games: i'm a nintendo nerd, but we only have consoles from SNES onwards, so no video games for me. we have plenty of board games, though (unfortunately my all time favourite, the home improvement board game, will have to have the month off).
technology: given how hard it was going to be to access enough old technology to get me through the month (signing up for a home phone again, obtaining playable VHS tapes etc.) & the fact that i wanted to keep an internet based record of this whole thing, i am giving myself a fair amount of leeway with this. my movies and tv shows are all either on DVDs or are avi files being watched through a usb stick connected to my set top box. i can only use the internet for work related reasons, for research purposes relating to this project (e.g. was cadbury top deck available in the 80s?), and for the purposes of updating this blog and my facebook regarding this project. my "home phone" is in fact my iphone, however i am banned from using it for anything other than phonecalls, and facebooking/internet relating solely to this project or work (i am rather upset that all my words with friends games are going to lapse!).
news: i cannot watch any televised news, read a newspaper, or listen to radio. i can however read news from the 80s. my husband kyle is planning on printing a page of news from online archives every day for me to read.
work: i work two jobs, one being as a pathology collector in a medical centre. i have my own room there & usually have talkback radio playing for background noise/entertainment/patient distraction. this will have to stay off for the month. i can't even play gold fm, because they play 90s music now (plus the news updates & ads are a problem). i don't anticipate other problems there, apart from patients talking to me about the news, as they sometimes do. my action plan if that happens is to just yell "LOOK, KITTY!" and point to the pictures of my kitties i have around. my other job is at a LUSH cosmetics store, the girls there have already been given the heads up & have pledged support to only play 80s cds when i'm rostered on, chaaaaaaamps! i sometimes need to use the internet to update our store's facebook page & this is allowed.
language: i am awkwardly trying to incorporate 80s slang into my everyday vocabulary...so, ah, bag your face.

other rules/issues will be dealt with as they happen. day one's blog post to come in the morning!

this is something.

2010-11-07T15:38:00.009+11:00

this girl on the bus was wearing two pairs of glasses. at the same time. one looked like her actual prescribed specs, and the other op-shopped. they weren't even sunnies, so it's not like she couldn't be arsed buying prescription sunnies & just desperately needed to shield her eyes from the sun. every time she moved her head, the second pair moved and she had to adjust them. this averaged about 9 adjustments per minute. that's a lot of effort just to achieve a six eyes look. more power to her? i don't know.

DeeDee's Craptacular Movie Festival Of Crap.

2010-11-04T14:41:00.006+11:00

so i'm doing this thing at the moment where if i want to watch a movie, i have to watch whatever is next in order in my avi movie folder that i haven't seen before. i do things like this often, obsessive quirk? i don't know, but at least it's put an end to my complete indecision when it comes to movie watching. i have a lot of random shite picked up from my brother, so this is going to be kind of gruelling at times.
all the james bond movies are first in my folder, and i've only seen one of them before, but fucked if i'm watching 20+ bond movies in a row, so i'll watch one of them every 5-10 movies 'til i'm done. so far...

#1 lord of the rings the first one, whatever it's called - will watch the other two when i get a chance with kyle...i need to watch them with him so he doesn't miss any of my brilliant snarky commentary & so he can update me when i look away or get distracted by cats, same goes for the other two matrix movies ;) yeah, so, this was long, peeps weren't kidding for real etc. i think it made me pee a lot for some reason, much more than i usually would in 3 hours. hobbits are kinda shit. what even happened in this movie??? 3 hours and they didn't even get to their final destination! this probably would've gone better if i liked fantasy, but i really, really don't. it least it had the professor from sliders in it, love that crazy bastard.

#2 bee movie yesssssss, the audio doesn't work! (rule is if there's something wrong with the file, i'm excused)

#3 before i self destruct oh god no. it's a 50 cent movie. screw you zal, screw you. i am so tempted to pretend this doesn't exist, but the obsessive completest in me won't allow it. OH HOW IRONIC, HE'S A GHETTO THUG BUT HIS KID BROTHER'S A GENIUS, I GET IT. 40 minutes in so far. i can do this. he sure is shooting a lot of people. oh, and now it's turned into soft porn. there ain't a single competent actor in this whole damn thing. stilted lines galore. OHHHHHHHHHHHH. i just imdb'd it, turns out fiddy wrote it and directed it too. that explains it. doesn't he have mega-money? doesn't he own vitamin water or something? why didn't he pay someone to make this passable? goofy fuck. oh yay, more shooting. 48 mins in.

this can't be an accident.

2009-08-18T18:19:00.002+10:00

penis nose mask w/ pot leaf scarf.
$2, family discount store, bell st mall, heidelberg west.

sweax.

2009-03-25T22:22:00.002+11:00

i got this with a magazine sample bag a couple of months ago and have kept it because...because the cheapskate in me sez MAYBE ONE DAY IT WILL COME IN HANDY.
it's a pad.
a pad for men's underarms.
this exists, for real.
and is apparently worthy of taking up space in my medicine cabinet.
yeah, i don't know either.

elvis...tree.

2009-03-25T22:18:00.002+11:00

$250 + $20 postage.
i live for shit like this.

op-shop score of the week.

2009-02-20T22:49:00.003+11:00

six disneyland lps, in v.good condition, $3 for the lot.
the picture discs are from the early 80s, the rest from the early 60s.
colour me rapt.
from the wildlife victoria op-shop, heidelberg west.

lol, cats.

2009-02-12T20:48:00.002+11:00

i like weird stories about weird cats.
the greatest thing i have ever heard of in my life lives (here)

i married some douche with a cheesy nickname.

2009-02-01T00:27:00.003+11:00

oh that's life!, you never let me down.
payrate for this story: $300.
dear stoopid lady,
no, you didn't marry homer simpson.
you married some fuckwallet called brent simpson, who his mates oh-so-imaginatively nicknamed homer.
you marrying some snatchknicker with a shitty nickname does not an interesting story make.
it does, however, make for some damn fine lolz.
at your expense.
the end.

pick-tu-errs.

2009-01-19T16:09:00.003+11:00

i've been caring for my 9-yr-old brother while our mum is in perth with our ailing nan.
last night, we did some fabric painting.
mine is on the grey fabric, his is on the red.

you sly bastards.

2009-01-18T00:09:00.005+11:00

what the hell?
at international cakes in the cbd greek precinct, a choc waffle, slice of mud cake, and a coffee costs $16.
you wouldn't get away with that shit in sydney rd, fuckers!

neighbourhood cat watch.

2008-12-22T23:28:00.004+11:00

our house is very popular with the local cats (we have three fluffybums inside).
this pretty lady has graced me with her presence the past two nights.
she is hungry, gobbling grits for two hours last night, and one hour tonight.
she is also a smudge/cuddle/playfight monster and a trying-to-get-in-the-house monster.
and i think she's pregnant? (her nipples are swollen and i can feel what i'm pretty sure is a cat-baby on the side of her belly)
+ tonight i noticed wetness around her nipples...she may be nesting!
i think i know what house she's from.
a house that has about $10k rudd-money worth of kids in it!
sadly enough, i think she may be the same cat from that house that gave birth to a litter in march.
people around here are too lazy and/or smacked-out to bother with desexing.
DON'T EVEN GET ME STARTED, BLOG.

someone who came to me in similar circumstances is mister-mister-bovista! (aka majide, pictured below on the left)
he turned up one night and strolled right inside, acting like he'd lived here forever.
i begged to differ, but he was quite insistant.
after a two month stay, he moved in with my mother (it took two months to convince her), where he has stayed, now desexed, healthy, and smitten with my 10-yr-old sister.

BFF.

brand new purchase of the week.

2008-12-11T21:24:00.002+11:00

BEHOLD MY GLORIOUS CRABBY AM/FM SHOWER RADIO.
14.99 @ kmart northland.
he has only actually fulfilled his true role as a shower radio twice.
i mostly carry him around the house so i can listen to grouse shit like derryn hinch on 3AW in my lounge room.
so he's a multi-room-dwelling crab radio.
hooray!

how kabuki moo finntonia spent 27/11/08.

2008-11-27T22:10:00.004+11:00

an angry-looking play in the garden.

followed by a dip in the pool (I FINALLY CAUGHT HER).

ending with a schleep on the tv, being warmed by my sliders marathon.

louis wain.

2008-11-09T22:57:00.004+11:00

the above = my newly purchased book on louis wain, my favourite anything ever.
here's a selection of my favourite pics.

japanese ultra shit band.

2008-11-02T21:33:00.003+11:00

present for kyle.
his favourite band, the gerogerigegege.

2008-10-23T15:19:00.001+11:00

kyle and i got tickets to see the veronicas in february (true story).

teppansan suuuuuuuuucks.

2008-10-22T23:47:00.004+11:00

having heard lots of great things, and with our regular kaneda closed, kyle and i decided to try teppansan on russell st.
WORST MEAL EVER.
i have no idea why this place has such a great reputation.
the service blows, the staff yell at each other constantly, and i nearly choked on the amount on smoke coming out of the open kitchen.
the food was the shittest shit that ever did shit.
seriously, so bad.
i've never left so much food on my plate.
four days later, we are still talking about how shit it was, because we are petty and gayz, but also because it was SO FUCKING SHIT.
JUST DON'T GO THERE.
EVER.
OMG.
instead, go to kaneda (shop 6, mid city arcade, 200 bourke st), the greatest great that ever did great.
especially b/w 3-5, when bentos are $2 cheaper and come w/ a calpis.
KANEDA, YES.
TEPPANSAN, NO.

pictures.

2008-10-18T20:18:00.000+11:00

i like to draw.
my mad drawing skillz haven't progressed since i was 6, but I DO IT ANYWAY.
here's a selection.

my kitties (l-r) kabuki, apple hellion soda & suri cruz.

a lollipop, candy & flower pizza.

julie andrews (birthday present for stef).

a colourful tree.

that's life! is the housing commission flat of magazines.

2008-10-18T20:00:00.000+11:00

this lady lives on my fridge.
her story of cheating death 9 times was the feature article, for which she was paid $600.
she's very diseased and fucks up a lot.
it was an unpleasant reading experience.

AMAZING MELBOURNE FASHION.

2008-10-18T19:35:00.000+11:00

my favourite thing about the weekend papers is the multitude of crappy little inserts they all come with now.
they contain things.
funny things.
like this.