About two weeks ago, my nine-year-old cousin randomly asked me what Duck Hunt was. Ever since then I’ve felt 23 going on 40.
The ability to reminisce is a gift and a curse. A gift in that you’re able to reflect on joyous memories of days past; a curse after your realize you’re getting that much older. A few days after my cousin’s question, I stumbled upon an article at Wired which immediately made me start to think back. The write-up detailed several items/experiences “your kids” will likely never encounter or knew existed. Hell, some of them I never experienced, but we’re getting beyond the point here. The article immediately reminded me of my nine-year-old cousin & all those kids who’ll never know the thrill of 8-bit era of video games.
Audio Visual Entertainment
1. Inserting a VHS tape into a VCR to watch a movie or to record something.
9. Vinyl records. Even today’s DJs are going laptop or CD.
16. Watching TV when the networks say you should. Tivo and Sky+ are slowing killing this one.
17. That there was a time before ‘reality TV.’
Computers & Videogaming
18. Wires. OK, so they’re not gone yet, but it won’t be long
19. The scream of a modem connecting.
21. 5- and 3-inch floppies, Zip Discs and countless other forms of data storage.
33. Having to delete something to make room on your hard drive.
35. Recording a song in a studio.
The Internet
39. Doing bank business only when the bank is open.
42. Newspapers and magazines made from dead trees.
54. Waiting several minutes (or even hours!) to download something.
56. When Spam was just a meat product — or even a Monty Python sketch.
Everything Else
70. Taking turns picking a radio station, or selecting a tape, for everyone to listen to during a long drive.
71. Remembering someone’s phone number.
72. Not knowing who was calling you on the phone.
73. Actually going down to a Blockbuster store to rent a movie.
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Ha ha quality picture VHS tapes!
Remember putting it on longplay mode so you could fit on like 3 movies on one VHS tape?
Then the picture quality would go all fuzzy, that’s because you need to clean the head (pause) on the videoplayer.
You had to put in that special tape with benzyl alcohol on the tip just to clean the head. (No innuendo).
I miss the days when programmes like V had you all clamouring in front of the television set because it was such a major event.
Anyway, peace out.
LOL@Fritz the Cat
I remember having to stick tisue in tapes I wanted to rerecord over.
Yeah when V first came out, everybody was watching it. I hear they are comming out with a remake soon.
J. Tinsley, you’re a breath of fresh air around here man… not that it was polluted, but I find myself checking in to see what YOU have to say and share recently… just paying respect to a good ass writer.
hahaha I’m 22 but yall got me beat on a lot of those. I do however remember spending 8 hours downloading the remix to black rob’s “whoa” on napster back in 99 or so….
^ lol, yea i remember goin crazy with Napster downloading anything and everything like I knew that shit was gunna get shutdown any second. my brother actually went to Northeastern University with the dude who made it.
take it even further back, I remember sittin by the radio waiting for that one song to get play so I could record it on a cassette…always felt like I had accomplished something when I got it. or how about repairing the tape after your shitty stereo deck fucked it up, praying that it would still play lol
@Bigga, ha ha the tissue trick! What brand of tape were you rocking? We had them Scotch VHS tapes, E-180 (was three hours), E-240 (was four hours) and E-40 is a prolific rapper from Vallejo, California!
Check this out though we still got our Sony VHS player in the living room, the front of the tape slot compartment states that it has got ‘Super Head Smart Engine’. What the heck?!?!!
As for V, heard about the remake, will cop it, but the mini series and mini movies from back in the 80s were awesome. That female alien who swallowed that gerbil (or was it a rat) was freaky and that human baby with the lizard tongue was kind of scary too.
You all used to dub tapes on the radio, with finger on pause before the radio announcer or promo reel kicked in? Like you wanted to create the perfect mixtape, but them darn promo reels and announcement used to mess up the mix.
My new CPU doesn’t even have a floppy drive. Told them to leave that shit out of there.. I remember the big ass floppy discs quite well too.
Napster gave me my first virus. Was downloading a song. Got done. Clicked on the flle then all my music files turned into some sort of VBS script. Fun times lol.
@ paw loc…..u shouted out “V”…u the dude for that one.
that series WAS the shit.
I used to rock two VCRs back in the day when I lived in Germany. I would go to the shoppette and rent the latest release. I would watch the movie in one vcr, and record the movie with the other vcr. I have tons of vhs tapes lying around the crib. I can’t get rid of them, they remind me of good times.
@ Bigga: I used to put a piece of scotch tape over the hole so I could record over it. The first tape I recorded over was “House of Pain”. I remember when I lived in NY, I used to listen to Hot 97 and record all the dope songs. I would make a mix – people at school wanted me to make them coppies. I would used the high-speed dubbing feature on my box… ahhh good times..
TDB & BABY PAW
The first Tape I taped over was RedHead Kingpin; I taped DJ Red Alert show. lol I didn’t use the tape over the hole till later. I was old school Scotts tissue. lol
Being old enough to remember 99 out of their 100, let me just say that dual vhs/dvd player is one of the greatest inventions in many years & it saved quite a few vcr tapes for me lol.
Chris, much respect for that comment. I definitely, definitely appreciate that man.
All respect to Gotty for molding me into a better writer though.
Speaking of VHS tapes though, my Mike Jordan “Come Fly With Me Tape” has been M.I.A. for years.
For the record, I do not miss floppies, at all.
I used to work at Blockbuster back in 01, I witnessed the VHS selection get smaller and smaller. Folks used to come in there complaining that we didn’t have enough tapes. Hell, I got a DVD player so that I could enjoy my free rentals.
I got a Shawn Kemp VHS tape that I need on DVD. Dood was ill
#101. Loso’s Way
You know there there is a plethora of VHS movies and releases that have not been released on DVD and probably never will.
I miss those old skool video rental stores, not Blockbuster or the major chains but those old skool ones you used to get back in the day.
You could go in there looking for a video rental and be in there for almost an hour exploring the shelves, it’s like they were packed to the rafters with video cases.
I loved those days, like you could admire the cover art and wot not on the cases.
Evil Dead 2, Chopping Mall, Return of The Living Dead 2, Prom Night and I remember this one flick called Aerobicide (aka Killer Workout) the sheer randomness of it all was pure magic.
I just turned 20, should I know what “V” is?
sean kemp posterizations
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ALdNck0f2o
someone bring the jheri curl back.
this is a damn good post…here goes one.
SATURDAY MORNING CARTOONS…
you see the shit kids have to watch on sat morning now? straight bullshit.
they show shit that comes on cable everyday like thats so raven and hannah montanah like its a freebie to poor kids that cant afford cable.
dog saturday morning cartoons was my SHIT!
I used to lock in for hours and when it was all said and done with the cartoons basketball came on.
i miss the 80′s 90′s so much that it hurts my soul sometimes.
oops for got to switch my name back…fred sanford is me.
O i got 1, they will never have to use an answering machine. .
forgot beepers