When Did the 80s Start to Rock?

In the American vernacular there are several words and phrases that have changed meaning as culture has changed. Consider the word “cool.”  No longer does it refer to the temperature of a room only.  It also describes an attitude, a state of being.  To be “cool” is the ultimate goal of every high school student (and it’s not because the GAP has some great sweaters on sale). 

Another word that has (unfortunately) changed is “gay.”  It once meant “of good cheer.”  Now it of course refers to homosexuality (as do the words “funny” and “queer”).

So when did “dude, that is so 80s” go from an insult to a compliment.  There was a time when one would say “dude, that is so 80s” and it meant “dude, that is over-the-top, outdated, wussified, and/or a bad hairdo.  Now when  you hear “dude, that is so 80s” it is liable to be followed by a high five.

It happened slowly. I remember the 80s somewhat. I remember the hair,the clothes, and of course the music (new wave, hair bands, spandex, classic MTV when they actually played music videos). Then came the 90s and grunge and alternative music rendering everything 80s as dorky and excessive.   However now in the 21st century, twenty years out from 1989, I am starting to see the 80s come back.

I first became truly aware of this phenomenon when I was watching an episode of “Psych.”  A staple of the show is each episode will begin with a flashback from the youth of the main character Shawn Spencer and his best friend Gus.  Usually the year of the flashback is 1987.  During these flashbacks viewers are shown an event in Shawn’s life that will shed light on some of his behavior and ideas as an adult.  The flashbacks have 80s pop culture refrences galore. Everything from kangaROOS shoes (with the pocket on the side) to Shawn and his best friend Gus dressing up as the Tears for Fears guy and Michael Jackson, respectively. 

Another example of the 80s comeback is the clothing that I see many people starting to wear and that I myself am drawn to. Think thrift store.  T-shirts with screen printing or that depict colorful logos (usually advertising an event of the past that the wearer is unfamiliar with).  I recently found a shirt that said “Walking In Memphis” on the front and the backside depicted a guitar with the words “Interact Fashion Show 2005.”  I bought it. I simply liked the way it looked. And tight jeans is another fashion that is coming back especially among young people (who are the only ones who can really get away with it). 

Personally I am in the market for some ROOS.  When I saw that episode of Psych recently I exclaimed “I forgot about ROOS!”  I was never able to own any so I will revisit my childhood and purchase myself a pair of kangaROOS.  With any luck I will be able to find some that are navy blue with velcro straps. 

Dude, that would be so 80s!

LOST Is Back! LOST Is Back!

The season 5 premiere of my favorite show LOST is airing tonight on ABC. It is an awesome three-hour event that begins at 8pm (Eastern) with a clip show that recaps events leading up to the season premiere. Then at 9pm..ooooooohhh, it’s the premiere of the new season and they will show TWO BACK TO BACK EPISODES! Yahoooo!

If you have not gotten into LOST, go back and get caught up by watching all of the previous 4 seasons at ABC.com. You can get all the way caught up, hopefully before the end of the current season, and then join me in elation and suspense and awe every Wednesday evening.

Josh H.

Happy Birthday, DeForest Kelley

Today we celebrate the birthday of DeForest Kelley who is famous for the role of Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy on Star Trek: The Original Series.  Bones is one of my favorite characters on Star Trek along with Kirk, Spock, and Scotty.  Oh…er, I guess that’s all of them isn’t it? Anyway, enjoy this montage as we honor the good doctor!

Things That Happen This Month

Two and a half weeks to go. Only two and a half weeks until the premiere of the 5th season of my new favorite show LOST. If you have not watched LOST, you are missing a treat. When it first premiered 4 years ago I thought it was a soap opera. I thought they were trying to play on the “Survivor” hype and make a drama and that there would be a lot of relationships and double-crosses and kissing and lies and kissing and break-ups and make-ups and kissing. Actually some of those things are in LOST but with a twist you might not expect. Well except for the kissing, it’s pretty much like all other kissing.

The breadth and depth of the plot of LOST is more than I can explain in a simple blog post. So I won’t try. But if you find yourself on a Saturday night with nothing else to do you have a few options. You can head down to your local movie store and rent the first season. Or (why pay for it when) you can watch Seasons 1 through 4 for FREE on ABC.com. Just make sure you have a high-speed internet connection because dial-up probably won’t cut it (who still has dial-up anyway?).

So on January 21 ABC will be airing the first two episodes of Season 5 back-to-back. You can still get caught up because ABC will post new Season 5 episodes to their website after they air. I can not imagine what is going to happen considering the events of the Season 4 finale.

That same week involves a special day for my other favorite show Star Trek: The Original Series. January 21 is the birthday of DeForest Kelley who played Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy. He was the one that is famous for saying “He’s dead, Jim!” and “Damn it, Jim, I’m a doctor, not a ________ (fill in the blank as the circumstance dictates)!” I have ordered the remastered first season of Star Trek on DVD and hopefully it will arrive by then so that I can celebrate the good doctor’s birthday with a little Trekkie geek goodness.

And while you are getting up to speed on LOST, if you find yourself with a Friday evening with nothing to do, why not watch the original series of Star Trek? Yes, it can seem campy at times considering our modern special effects, but the stories are often intriguing. That is…IF…you caaan…endure Kirk’s speech!

Josh H.

Sorry, Adama, I’ve Gotten Lost in LOST

My previous favorite show, Battlestar Galactica, has been dethroned. Enter LOST.

Why, oh why, Stephen, did I not listen to you sooner? The owner and operator of Undeception has tried for a while now to get Lyndsay and I to begin watching LOST, ABC’s drama of a group of folks who have been stranded on an uncharted island via an airliner crash. The longer they go unrescued the more of the island’s secrets they discover which shock and bewilder the characters…and the viewers. Couple the already intriguing island secrets aspect of the show with flashbacks of individual characters’ lives prior to the crash and the fact that their previous lives intertwine in some amazing ways that the characters themselves were unaware of at the time, and you have got a show that will have you literally writhing with anticipation between episodes.

But we have our work cut out for us. In January season 5 of LOST will begin and we are currently watching season 2 on DVD. So between now and January we have to burn through two and half seasons in order to be up to date with the next season starts. Of course their are spoilers all over the internet so I practically can not read up on anything about the show online. So my constant companions have been the Jay and Jack podcast and the ABC Official LOST podcast. I just listen to archived episodes that go along with where we currently are in the season.

So what? It’s just a show
You have no idea. Heck! I had no idea. I previously thought LOST was basically Survivor made into a soap opera. Oh man! There is absolutely so much depth to the characters. You can never trust your first impression of anything or anyone. The overarching theme of LOST is Look closer because things are not always what they seem. I’m getting giddy just to thinking about it.

The characters are phenomenal. They are so real. You could totally imagine that these people exist. Aside from the extraordinary destinies they end up having, they are just typical people from various typical backgrounds with a variety of lifestyles: you’ve got a doctor, a fugitive, a young overweight guy who works at a chicken joint, an artist, a fisherman’s son turned business man, a musician, a unwed mother, a former soldier, a spoiled rich girl, a guy who works for a box company! And their nationalites are all very different which adds an interesting mix: American, Korean, African-American, Australian, British, Iraqi. The cultural differences make for some great personality clashes.

And this is no soap opera. It’s hard to give an analogy of what this show is like without giving to much away. Maybe if you mixed Robinson Crusoe with Diehard, add just a pinch of the clever humor of House, a dash of the Outer Limits (or if you’re all out of that you could use a dash of Twilight Zone), some conspiracy from X-Files for good measure, then you might have something like LOST. This is, however, a very insufficient analogy. LOST beats the pants off of any of the shows/movies I’ve just mentioned. There are mysteries to be solved, rescues to be made, secrets to be uncovered, plots to be discovered, and individual agendas of the characters to make all those things harder to do.

Just take a night off, rent or borrow or stream (from ABC.com) the first season of LOST and you will not be disappointed. If you can make it through the first season, you will be hooked. There is so much to theorize upon and figure out. I just love it and I think you will too.

Josh H.