Do unicorns make you happy?  Are rainbows and sparkles missing from your life?  Have you never really outgrown your childhood obsession with My Little Pony?

If you answered yes to any of the above, then might I suggest cornifying your life by adding this handy little button to your web site or blog:

Click This Button!

Try clicking on the button multiple times. It’s fun! And everyone is doing it! Even the folks at ESPN!

Thanks to Otto at Deprogrammed Studios for turning me on to this fun new way to add some extra sunshine into my life :)  More info available at the Cornify web site.

Alien Quadrilogy
Drool, drool, drool. The Alien Quadrilogy tops my Christmas wish list this year. The boxed set includes 9 discs, including the original Alien (1979), Aliens (1986), Alien 3 (1992), and Alien: Resurrection (1997), along with loads of extra features.

Barry Manilow’s The Greatest Songs of the Eighties
Since I have a blog on seventies and eighties pop culture, I have determined that it is my duty to own this album. I am especially keen to hear Barry’s version of Rick Astley’s Never Gonna Give You Up.

Darth Vader Bobblehead
I think I could use one of these bad boys on my desk at work.  You know, to remind myself of the badass that I really am.  There are a lot of other fun Star Wars-themed chotchkies out there, including a Darth Vader Toaster, a Yoda Luggage Tag, and for you real Star Wars geeks there is the all-new three-volume Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia.

A-Team Lunchbox
I don’t know what I would ever do with this vintage 1983 A-Team lunch box since I don’t pack a lunch any more. Maybe I could start carrying it around at work like a pseudo-brief case. Except I’m pretty sure my laptop won’t fit in there. Hmm… I’m sure I’ll think of some use for this lunch box to justify my unholy desire to own one.

A Christmas Story Ultimate Collector’s Edition
A Christmas Story (1983) has been a holiday favorite at our house for as long as I can remember. Who can’t love a movie that includes a kid shooting his eye out with a BB gun, a kid who is triple-dog-dared to stick his tongue to a light pole, a pink bunny suit, and a leg lamp? The Ultimate Collector’s Edition comes with a 2-disc DVD set of the movie (including one disc of extra features), a collectible cookie tin with cookie cutters, a red apron, and a cookbook with recipes inspired from the movie.

The Year Without A Santa Claus Deluxe Edition
And speaking of holiday specials, my DVD collection wouldn’t be complete without The Year Without a Santa Claus (1974), my favorite Rankin-Bass movie.   Who doesn’t love the Heat Miser and the Snow Miser?  We have this on VHS but I seriously don’t remember how to hook up the VCR any more so it is high time we owned this on DVD.

Our recent viewing of The Dark Crystal inspired The RollerBlog family to view another classic Jim Henson film. Labyrinth (1986) stars Jennifer Connelly as Sarah, a headstrong teenager who goes on a quest to save her baby brother from the clutches of the Goblin King (played by David Bowie).

I remember watching this movie as a child and finding the Goblin King a very scary character.  Now that I am an adult and a big David Bowie fan, I can’t help but come to the same conclusion.  The Goblin King is pretty darn scary.  Maybe it is the big hair or the freaky make-up or the tight spandex pants or the pirate shirts.  Or perhaps a combination of all of the above.

Some of my favorite characters from the movie:

Jareth, the Goblin King

Sarah

William the Worm

Today is the birthday of my better half, my best friend, my one and only RollerReggie!

Please join me in wishing him many happy returns. Happy birthday sweetie!

RollerReggie in 1986

Me and My Dad with our Atari 800 XL

A few things to note in this photo:

• My dad’s man perm (he only permed his hair once that I can remember)
• Our state of the art computer: The Atari 800 XL. This particular model used floppy discs instead of cartridges.

I was something of a tomboy as a little girl.

This may not come as a surprise from a woman who now spends a considerable amount of time watching science fiction films from the 1970s and planning zombie movie marathons.

But there you have it.

I did have a few dolls as a youngster, but I do not recall being very interested in playing with them. I was more interested in playing with my older brother; we would play make-believe games together like “Time Machine” or make forts outside in the blackberry bushes or play video games on our Atari 800 XL.

That is not to say that my life was devoid of any girly toys, however. I did have quite a collection of My Little Ponies. I didn’t spend an obsessive amount of time playing with them and I have no memory of watching the 1986 film My Little Pony: The Movie, but I did watch a number of episodes of the My Little Pony Television Series.

I found this on Youtube today and this definitely brought me back…

Some movies from the 1980s stand the test of time, and some, sadly, do not.

The other day, for lack of anything better to do, the RollerBlog family took a chance and settled in for a viewing of the movie Short Circuit (1986). The movie was free on cable, featured a robot in a prominent role, and starred Ally Sheedy from The Breakfast Club. Sounded like a safe bet.

Wrong! The Robot is entertaining enough, and even occasionally endearing (Number 5 is alive!), but that’s about all the movie has going for it. The acting in the movie is terrible, and Ally Sheedy’s performance is downright cringe-worthy. Short Circuit is definitely a movie that has not stood the test of time.

Having grown up during the eighties, though, I can’t always trust my own judgment on such matters. So, I turned to my son (who just turned 12 last week) for a truly unbiased opinion.

RollerKaty: So… what did you think of Short Circuit?

RollerBoy: Wow, Mom. That was a really bad movie.

RollerKaty: Yeah, it was pretty bad wasn’t it? Sorry about that.

RollerBoy: I don’t see how you could have thought that was a good movie when you were a kid. Even I know that was a bad movie.

RollerKaty: …. (embarrassed silence)

So it was with some trepidation that we introduced RollerBoy to another Sci-Fi classic: Tron.

Tron stars Jeff Bridges as Flynn, a genius computer programmer who gets sucked inside the computer system of his former employer ENCOM. He must traverse an alternate electronic universe populated by computer programs and defeat the villainous Master Control Program before he can return to his own reality.

Mr. Rollerblog and I both have fond memories of watching this movie many years ago. I remember thinking that this was possibly one of the coolest movies *ever* in the eighties. Who couldn’t love a movie about video games?

But there was the matter of the special effects to consider. The computer-animated graphics, although groundbreaking at the time, are positively primitive now. I wasn’t exactly sure how well the special effects would hold up 25 years later - especially to someone who was born 14 years after the movie came out.

So we watched the movie. Then came the moment of truth.

RollerKaty: So… what did you think of Tron?

RollerBoy: I thought it was pretty cool.

’nuff said.