I used to love to catch the episodes of Red Dwarf that featured the talking toaster. There is just something about the idea of kitchen appliances that can hold an intelligent conversation that makes the thought of cooking far more appealing. Imagine how useful it would be to just start listing off items in the fridge or the pantry and your stove starts recommending recipes that use the particular items in question. No more wasting time trying to figure out what you should eat for dinner. You simply ask your refridgerator to remind you what left overs will likely be going bad soon. And if for whatever reason you are really stumped for ideas, you just pull up a chair and have a conversation with all your helpful appliances at the same time.
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Exterminate!  Exterminate!  Exterminate!  I’ll never forget how scared I was the first time I saw the Daleks move across the old black and white television set in the family room of our old house in Illinois. In those days, Tom Baker was settling in as the lead character in the British sci/fi series, Doctor Who.  And it never failed, everywhere he traveled in his little blue police box, there was shure to be lots of danger lurking around every corner. But, in those episodes where he met up with the Daleks, I was always finding myself curled up behind a large piece of furnature out of sight.
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On May 22, 1980, Pac Man was released on the world by Namco.  I was seven years old at the time and completely obsessed with the whole video game phenomenon.  The first time I saw Pac Man was in the small arcade inside Keel Roller Rink in Salem Illinois.  There it stood to the right of the exit leading into the concession area.  Virtual ghosts chasing a hungry little munch happy icon around the screen was too much to resist.  Popping in quarter after quarter, my addiction to video games went from bad to worse.  I had a full blown case of Pac Man fever in no time at all.  And I was loving every moment of it.

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It’s often difficult for us as a culture to confront the death of a popular celebrity head on.  When people we grew up watching on television or listening to on the radio pass away, it sort of reminds us of how old we are getting.  However, the recent passage of Jerry Reed, age 71, sent me skimming through articles and news blurbs for details about his many accomplishments in life.  To be honest, I found myself experiencing a bit of nostalgia as his role in films like “Smokey and the Bandit” and his work with such musical legends as Chet Atkins and Elvis Presley were brought to bear upon my mind.  But, as I continued to sift through reports from large media outlets like CNN and the Associated Press, it was what I was not seeing show up in these articles that left me a little disappointed.

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Growing up during the 80′s left a deep impression on my life.  There are days I would give anything just to go back and experience it all over again. The music, the animated cartoons, the arcades, first dates, and the hours I spent trying to solve the Rubik’s Cube on the long bus ride home from school.  Looking back, it all seems like a passing dream. In fact, just the other day I was going through some old clips of Max Headroom on youtube wondering whatever happened to Matt Frewer anyway. I mean, is he still a card carrying cokeologist?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKt7AJLIFL0

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