Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Reverting to the 80s. 'Cause THAT'S Never Been Done Before.

Why I love and hate the advent of e-mail.

Love: staying in touch with friends all over the world for free
Hate: forwards. Especially the kind that say you will suffer some sort of sick and twisted death, a la too much toothpaste up your nose, or something, if you don't forward on this crap-tastic-virus-laden image of an angel to everyone you know or might possibly come to know. Ever.
Exception: forwards that remind you of the 80s. I love that stuff. *Especially* when there are images.

Images of Fraggle Rock.
Images of Hair Bands.
Images of Cabbage Patch Kids. (Scroll down on that one to see pics. I just liked the article, too!)
Images of Inspector Gadget.
Images of Rainbow Brite.
Images of Skip-It.
Images of Jordache jeans.
Images of This Is Your Brain on Drugs.

The one problem I have, though, is that I have never once seen one of those e-mails reference Poochie. Do any of you remember Poochie? She existed. There's a website. Actually, TWO. So it's not just me. And Poochie was awesome, and worth of much more memories and forwards than she gets. A pink dog with sunglasses? Who comes with an amazing amount of accessories? C'mon! There is all sorts of nostalgia, there.

I had a dollhouse in the 80s. (Still do, come to think of it.) It was beautiful. My grandfather made it. My grandmother painted it. When it was given to me, I immediately cut out swatches of the cheapest, pink polyester fabric I could find and fashioned curtains for my new house, held up by POOCHIE TAPE. Yes. It was fantastic. Clear, except for the little pink dog in sunglasses everywhere. It clashed a little with the detail of the old stone exterior, but whatever. It was the 80s, and I was a Material Girl.

I also notice a lack of mention to Cricket, in those forwards. And she was an 80s product if there ever was one. I got a Cricket doll when I was in the hospital. Over Christmas. In '86. Tragic, no? Practically Tiny Tim, I was. (Except for the crapload of expensive presents that were dumped upon me by my adoring family.) But I was very pale and sickly, and that doll, with all of her high tech fascinating electronic-y parts (read: Very Large Tape Recorder with Brightly Colored Buttons) weighed more than I did. And she came with outfits, and very large bows to put in her hair, while she sang eerie little variations of kids songs, and said, "Or What!" at the end of every sentence.

And my parents wondered, like, how I totally became a valley girl, like, right after I got that, like, doll. What-ever. I mean, was I cool OR WHAT? Hee?

I feel there MUST be other key 80s elements that were omitted from those e-mail forwards. Why? Why? Were they TOO good? Were the writers of those forwards (and there are MANY, as you must know) just lacking in some of these Very Critical components of that decade, or is there something more sinister going on, that they ALL "forgot" to mention them? Can anyone think of any more, besides Cricket and Poochie? There MUST be more! I will update, if necessary....

2 comments:

Andrea Frazer said...

Don't forget Little Twin Stars, Hello Kitty, Lisa Franke stickers, those hair clips that were braided with silk thread and then beaded, roach clips, black rubber Madonna bracelets, those 3D animal earrings, and Dolphin shorts. Thanks for commenting on my blog. I look forward to reading more of yours.

Anonymous said...

I am trying to remember where I was during the 80's. Pre-babies. Oh yeah! College. Then work.

Neat post. Thanks for stopping by my place.