John’s Top 7 Childhood Movies

All right!  Not that you’ll know until tomorrow, but this will be my second post this week.   I am feeling on top of the world, today, as I got some great test scores back, and it’s basically put me in a pretty good mood.

Enough about that, though.  I am here to talk about my Top 7 Childhood movies.  These movies were NOT easy for me to pick, really.  I have so many movies that I loved as a child, and I still watch many of them today.  Hell, I’ve even probably watched some of them semi-recently.

Since I was born in 1980, I was a child of pretty much the entire decade though I can’t claim that I remember movies I might have watched as a wee one.  From about five years-old, I remember certain movies, and these were my favorites.  (Granted, this list will span from my 5th to 10th years…more or less…).  These movies aren’t really in any order.

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Christine’s Top 7 Childhood Movies

So here I am, still alive and producing a Top 7 for Wednesday (ok, it is one day late) no less!  I blame Shaka and life for keeping me from you.  Shaka, I need to pace the books you recommend, because there was a week or more that I was in a Hunger Games obsessed cacoon.  Then I got the Warded Man from the library, and my sister visited…..anyways, now that I have caught up on  a little sleep and before I enter another spiral, with the Gregor:the Overlander books…. A Top 7 List!

Keeping with the theme I started with my first post and one on which I hope John, Shaka, and anyone else might join, I am listing more favorite things from my childhood. ( I swear my lists will leave nostalgia land soon.)  So here are some of the movies I watched over and over again as a child, and many of which I quote ad naseum to this day.

7. Puss N Boots

I watched a lot of the disney channel as a kid and they had this whole slew of fairy tale musical movies.  I remember most vividly the one for Sleeping Beauty and this one; Puss in Boots.  The songs still sometimes pop into my head.  And I mean, come on: Christopher Walken is the singing, dancing cat, himself!  I admit to buying this movie at Sam’s Club for 5 dollars, just to watch it again, when I got older.  Why does nostalgia have such power over us?  It definitely brought back the kid in me, anyway. … Continue Reading

Christine’s Top 7 Nostalgic 80s Cartoons

So, I have been trying to think of something completely random for a top 7, one that I would not get too worked up about, and as I was walking past a trendy clothing shop, I happened to notice the Little Miss Sunshine shirts they had available for purchase.  This brought back many memories of hours of my youth spent watching some of the most inane programming ever put together for children’s entertainment.  I loved it then…some of it I even like now, but much of it was truly ridiculous. … Continue Reading

Good news, everyone! Futurama has returned!

I toyed with the idea of writing this on the night that Futurama began airing again.  I sort of forgot about it until this week, when Rufus commented on a Facebook post I had made using a quote from the most recent episode.  It was then that I decided to write a short piece on the return of Futurama to television.  It’s not super in-depth, because I don’t want to spoil any of the episodes.  I am probably naive in thinking that some of you might not have seen the debut episodes, but that’s neither here, not there.

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Chain snatchers and giant broads – The 4th Annual White Elephant Blogathon

This is my second year participating the White Elephant Blogathon; my experience last year was so enjoyable (by which I mean utter dismay) that I quickly signed up for another year of service. If you’re new to this, basically we all throw movies into a hat, draw a title from said hat and write a review about it. Usually we go for some awful movies and just try to make the best of it. This year I drew Attack of the 50 Foot Woman (a la 1958 version)… all I can say is whoever threw this name into the pot has to be godless and cruel.

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Scott’s Top7 NES games

It helps to be autistic.

I got my NES for Christmas when I was 6, and I kept playing it (fairly consistently) until I was sixteen–when the system finally gave out after 10 years of reliable service.  Yes, there were days when a game would freeze up on me just as I made it to the final boss battle..and yes, there were the times that I threw a game cartridge across the room in frustration…and yes, there were days entirely punctuated with my brother’s mantra, “stop talking to me!  You’re making me die!”  But, even with all of these petty frustrations, I am typing this blog not six feet away from a (somewhat) functional NES, and I can’t help but be happy to have it in my life.  Here are the 7 greatest games from my youth, although there were many, many more. … Continue Reading

The Legacy of Ms. Pac-Man; or Who is Crazy Otto?

Ms, not Mrs

In 1981, Namco unleashed what was to become the most successful arcade cabinet of all time, Ms. Pac-Man, which featured subtle but significant tweaks on the original Pac-Man, thus seriously enhancing the gameplay experience.  A few of these changes were as follows: 1) Apparently, the logarithms (not that I remember enough sophomore math to really get this) which were used to program the ghosts made them less predictable and more erratic,  2) instead of remaining static, the fruit dances around the play-field and appears in a random order,  3) and, of course, Ms. Pac-Man features a female protagonist–which was a rare find in the male-centric world of 80s gaming.

Even if you’re a wee-young gamer, you’re probably aware of these facts.  You’ve been raised in a world saturated with Pac-mania.  Many bars (and Laundromats) here in Brooklyn feature a Ms. Pac-Man machine (even if it is adjacent The Fast and the Furious).  What you’re probably not privy to is that Ms. Pac-Man began her long career with a snip and a tuck–namely, a sex change.  She was originally a little guy named Crazy Otto (see below). … Continue Reading

Shaka’s Top 7 Toys from Childhood

Yes, I had a My Buddy Doll and no, I don't want to talk about it.

I don’t plan on including video game systems, though they are pretty much a given as a big part of my childhood, simply because they’re not really toys. Everything else on this list however, is.

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Muppets are still awesome

Happy Easter weekend everyone! Its Friday and I have 45 minutes to get ready for work but first I came across this awesome muppets youtube video. I love that they’ve been releasing these viral videos online and targeting the kids that grew up watching them (us) in a way that will get us interested again (teh internets). So its Friday and I have to go eat and take a shower so I’m cutting this short. This video is fairly amazing. Enjoy.

I Still Like Marshmallows on My Pizza

Twenty years ago a cinematic masterpiece was unleashed upon the world. No not Opportunity Knocks, it was about lean green fighting machines. Yes Teenage Muntant Ninja Turtles: The Movie, was released twenty years ago. The Ninja Turtles and Ghostbusters pretty much encompassed most of my childhood cartoon watching and toy playing. As I sit typing this right now the ninja turtles are watching me from the top of my desk. I once had a theory that everything our generation liked came from the Ninja Turtles. It had ninjas, pizza, skateboarding (extreme sports), arcade games, martial arts, Asian philosophy, hockey (via Casey Jones) and hot redheads in jumpsuits. The first movie in the series stands the test of time as actually a good movie. By far the best of the series (come on I know your thinking Secret of the Ooze but that got pretty ridiculous plus the ninja rap was only cool when you were little) the first film actually had a plot and character arcs and was fairly dark. It brought the best of the comic and the cartoon together into one glorious turtle power movie.

I’m hoping that they continue with the Turtles line, as I for one really enjoyed TMNT. Also I would love to see hardcover collections of the Image comic book. Also could we please get the special edition with the deleted scenes and alternate ending over here? Why only Germany?