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Another Nostalgia Break: Activision's Pitfall Manual

Jay — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 03:21:25 +0000

We caught this via Wil Wheaton (the Twitterer laureate of Gen X gamers), and yes, it brings us back.

Pitfall Harry's Jungle Adventure is fraught with danger. Some hazards will slow him down, while others will stop him cold in his tracks... The catastrophic hazards are the scorpions, fires, cobra rattlers, crocodiles, swamps, quicksand, and tar pits.

Oh, the quicksand. That damnable quicksand... [Atari Age]

HEY. Remember the 90s? Remember CD-ROMs?

Jay — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 22:28:02 +0000

Remember Microserfs? Remember when you didn't spend half your life online but you were still tech-savvy enough to purchase such reference tools as Roger Ebert's Cinemania '94 -- one of the CD-ROMs spotlighted in this slideshow from PC Mag of forgotten, but beloved, CD-ROMs.

John Hughes R.I.P.: The 2010 Oscar Montage

Jay — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 22:17:53 +0000

It took us a couple days, but here's that lovely montage (after the jump) compiled by the Academy Awards' producers for this past weekend's ceremony. It does a better job summarizing Mr. Hughes' best work than most of those earnest YouTuberists out there who've been making these montages for the past six months.

Also, Molly and Matthew look pretty good don't they? Fortyish, sure... less nubile than they were on screen. But we're not so old yet, right?? [via HuffPo]

The 'Vanity Fair' Profile of Hughes, Six Months Post Mortem

Jay — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 22:01:03 +0000

Photo: Jeff Slocomb/CorbisFor their March 2010 issue, Vanity Fair's David Kamp authors a great and nuanced look at the man John Hughes had become in his later years, while completely removed from public life. His sons, Gen Xers both born in 1976 and 1979, talk about how he reveled in his role as a grandfather, and becoming the "curious, engaged grandpa in his seersucker." Through talking to John's sons, we learn that John had a particular bone to pick with his own Boomer generation in writing his famous teen films: He was frustrated with what he saw as their refusal to cede the cultural stage. "He was kind of upset not to see more people of his generation passing the baton," John III says. "He wanted to give youth a voice."

In trying to figure out which of the archetypes (geek, basketcase, jock) Hughes most related to, Kamp points to a fascinating interview from 1986 on the Ferris Bueller DVD extras in which he refers to the "classic third wheel situation" of having Cameron tagging along, but he reveals that he was always the one with the girlfriend (Hughes and his wife Nancy met in high school), with the dopey friend in the backseat. Kamp of course goes on to say that Molly Ringwald, Matthew Broderick, Alan Ruck, and Anthony Michael Hall each represented a facet of Hughes' real character, which "was at once an old kid and a young fogy."

"Beaker's Ballad": A Metaphor for How Gen X Deals With the Aggressive YouTube/Twitterverse

Jay — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 20:44:54 +0000

Melancholy, no? The Muppets have always been excellent arbiters of irony in pop culture. We recently Netflixed The Great Muppet Caper and were totally awed by how well its aged, so many of the jokes still zinging true.

For those who've tried to achieve YouTube fame and been obsessed with your virtual popularity, perhaps you can relate to this latest Muppet short featuring the charmingly one-note Beaker. But we have to say we're so happy to see the Jim Henson people becoming prolific in the online sphere. (In case you're not one of the 13 million to have watched their "Bohemian Rhapsody" re-do, here it is.)

The 25 Greatest Garbage Pail Kids

Jay — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 20:39:52 +0000

The younger among our generation should have fond memories of these -- we had a complete set once upon a time, and wonder where those might be now... Ah how we missed Acne Amy. [Holy Taco]

Has the Internet Made Gen Y Nicer Than Gen X?

Jay — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 17:19:25 +0000

We kinda call bullshit on this one -- but then again, we're jaded and snarky! According to Allison Mooney, "vice president of emerging trends" at a consulting firm called Mobile Behavior, Gen Xers have a harder time coming across well on the internet because we're too mean. To wit: "I think Gen X is a very sarcastic generation, and sarcasm doesn't really translate online. Gen Y has grown up interacting with people online. They've developed different social skills, a different rapport. Being sort of dry, sarcastic, snarky — that's not going to get you any friends online. Social currency is only built around positive interactions."

Whatever. We bet you're a real ball of laughs, Allison. [via NY Mag]

The Exploding Whale: Touchstone of a Generation?

Jay — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 00:31:35 +0000

We were only recently introduced to this footage of a quite extraordinary news broadcast showing the dynamiting of a dead whale back in 1970 in Florence, OR. The footage in its original form was probably only seen by less than a 100,000 people, but via YouTube, it became the fifth most viewed viral video of all time, with over 350 million views, and is claimed as something of a touchstone for the Echo Boomers who helped pass it around. Asylum tracked down the original reporter, Paul Linnman, who's apparently proud to have become a late-in-life web sensation. It makes sense that Gen Ys touchstones are going to be, well, 9/11 (for us too), the iPod, and YouTube. But what will the web do next, besides delight, disgust and amaze us?

A Further Attempt At Defining What Makes Generation X Different

Jay — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 23:23:00 +0000

How do you define a generation while they're still in their prime? Though the subject deserves to be tackled in essay form, and has certainly inspired many an essayist and blogger, we may have to turn to a bulleted list right now just in the interest of time and outlining. It's a complicated subject, and on some level, especially when it comes to relating the generation to John Hughes, it starts to feel like it's about class -- specifically that Gen X, as it's been defined, is a white middle-class phenomenon. But it's not.

We suppose that a generation's defining characteristics arrive, necessarily, from their cultural output. With filmmakers like John Hughes, Richard Linklater, and John Singleton; writers like David Foster Wallace, Dave Eggers, and A.M. Homes; and musicians like Kurt Cobain, Eminem, and The Smiths, one starts to see a specific picture emerge that's about non-conformity, disaffection, and a search for authenticity. But weren't most of those characteristics also true of the Boomers who became hippies? The true defining edge for Gen X might then have to be irony, humor, and not a small degree of cynicism inherited from the failed revolution that preceded us.

Our Review of Morrissey's Recent Show in Oakland, CA

Jay — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 22:12:00 +0000

Photo by catenin on FlickrThe current tour Morrissey's on, while a welcome thing for all his fans, feels like a bit of a downer. Sure, where Moz is concerned, that's probably the point. But the show we saw this week wasn't so much the glorious, ironic celebration of melancholy that we all associate with the man and his music. It was a downer because Morrissey himself just seemed like he was going through the motions, just as cynical as ever but almost dismissive of the audience who's funding his retirement. With record sales in the shitter across the industry, perhaps he's bitter about having to tour so much to make any cash. But we just wish he hadn't been quite so reluctant about it all. He even made some remarks about spending two hours surfing through American television from his hotel room, unable to find a single thing worth watching, and that this seemed to him a specifically American phenomenon. He kind of waved this off, implying he doesn't even like traveling here, and maybe a segment of fans get off on this abuse. But why piss on your fans and cut your set short, Morrissey, old friend?

Read our full review of the show on SFist.