Looking at an old chemistry set from the 70s/80s.
Category Archives: Nostalgia
2Point4 Children was Remarkably Prescient at Times
All 8 series are on iPlayer for a few more months. I noticed some prescient scenes...
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Blast From the Past — OnChat.com, sixdegrees.com and uboot.com
I posted about OnChat earlier this year. It was a graphical chatroom. There were multiple themed rooms, and you could create custom avatars (see link).
Anyway, it seems I just didn't look hard enough. Here is the link to the wayback machine, a reddit thread, and here's a screenshot of an example of the rooms.
Continue readingLetterbox Prize and NatWest World Savers
I can’t remember exactly how we got these. I think it was the consolation prize for an art competition?
Note for morons: this is not a picture of a Muslim woman.
Continue readingBlast From the Past: I Found the Original Chibi Sky Stickers, Plus More 80s and 90s Nostalgia
I found the stickers! They were in my old diary. They’re cute, huh? These were the pictures I tried to replicate, and then I made one of my own design in that style.
Read on to find out what I wrote in my diary at age 7…
Continue readingKeenopoly
The Chipmunk used to be mad about Commander Keen and Monopoly. So I made a Keen-themed Monopoly game, don’t sue me, Hasbro.
The Chipmunk is absolutely ruthless with Monopoly. He won’t even let me forfeit if I’m on the way to bankruptcy. He has to claw Mayfair out of my cold, dead hands. Although when he (very rarely) loses, he’ll throw a tantrum. Hm. His sister is the opposite. If I’m about to be bankrupted in Junior Monopoly, she’ll waive the rent, or give me money, while holding back the tears! It’s so cute! Poor thing.
Continue reading Blast From the Past: The Minitz Mix ‘n’ Match Watch
I came across this on a Nostalgia Nerd video, and oh my Lucy, the memories! I wanted the watch on the right so much when I was 11. It was very Clarissa Darling-esque. My mum refused to let me buy it. She thought it was too trashy or flashy or something. She kept trying to persuade me to get a Sekonda granny watch like my older sister. I tried to compromise by offering to buy the one on the left instead, but it was no go.
I still want this watch. It's so 90s and cool.
Edit: here ya go!
The Superstar Sindy Box
Let's see how good my memory was. I managed to find some pictures of the packaging for Superstar Sindy. There are two sizes, and I seem to remember having the larger one. I downloaded these several months ago, and unfortunately I can't find the original images, nor does TinEye show any matches. So my apologies to the original photographers. If I do find out where I got them, I will credit you appropriately.
Here's my original memory:
My mum also threw away the original packaging for my Superstar Sindy. I used to keep it under my pillow and look at it every night before I went to sleep. There were photos of the other dolls in the range, and they had such cool 80s fashion. I think one had glass-style boots. I totally wanted that one.
So, let the healing begin!
Continue readingPlayground Clapping Songs from the Late 80s/Early 90s
My niece is five now, and I've been trying to teach her the clapping games. I tried to remember some of the songs we used to sing as kids.
Before we start, please remember that these songs are products of their time and therefore might be considered a little offensive at times. When teaching my niece, I will alter these to make them acceptable, but I'm documenting them here just for a record of my school days.
Ai Shu Shweila
I don't know how this name is meant to be spelt. It's pronounced like "eye", "shoe" and "shweila" to rhyme with the name "Layla/Leila". I can't find a record of this particular variant. I've also forgotten how the first line goes, so I've taken it from others that I've seen online.
Continue readingBlast from the Past — 90s Sonic stuff
Ahhh! My old Sonic merch! Here I show you some old Sonic merch: the Panini sticker album, Burton's Toffee-flavoured biscuits and the Tiger LCD video game.
Does Anyone Remember OnChat.com?
It was a graphical chatroom from the 90s. I can't find any mention of it online anywhere though. I did find these old avatars that I downloaded, and I know I downloaded some of the room backgrounds, but they're either on a floppy drive somewhere or I deleted them. I know I definitely had the treehouse background, and I had a copy on my old geocities, but who knows where it is now. It's strange that I can't find any reference to the site, unless I'm remembering the name wrong. Putting the avs through TinEye brings up no results either. I'd expect some trace of it to remain.
There was also a guitar girl, but I can't find the original, only my edited bass version.
Fimo RoboRed from Commander Keen
The Chipmunk is crazy about Commander Keen, especially RoboRed. PROTIP: the (unofficical) sequel trilogy, "The Universe is Toast!" has been around for some time now: Episode 7, Episode 8, Episode 9 (all download links are on the right-hand sidebar). We're on episode 8 at the moment, and it's up there with the official releases in terms of quality.
Anyway, I decided to make Chipmunk a RoboRed of his own. I toyed with using salt-dough, so I could make a large scale one, or even attempt to make a plushie, but discovering I still have some red Fimo leftover, I went for that. And yes, being about 10 years old now, it did need reconditioning.
Continue reading MCoG Series 2 — Initial Thoughts
I've watched the first three episodes finally (yes, I did buy these many years ago). My first impressions are kinda so-so. I wasn't impressed by the casting. Pedro and Sancho are spot-on, Zia is pretty decent, Mendoza is passable, but were they even trying with Esteban and Tao? Their actors sound nothing like the originals. Also, it sounds like they've used adults doing kids' voices. Esteban's actor lacks any charm or warmth at all. I'm really disappointed. Unfortunately they didn't put the French dub on the UK release, so I'm stuck with the English.
Also, I still think Esteban looks too much like Ben 10.
The opening episode was quite meh, but it did pick up. However, even though it was written by Chalopin, it just lacks that je ne sais quoi. Somehow, it doesn't feel much like the MCoG I know and love. The soundtrack is underwhelming and I don't know, somehow it doesn't inspire the interest and excitement the originals did. In fact, it makes me want to watch the originals instead.
Kokapetl's voice, while different, is super cute though, and his documentary features at the end are great. He's so sweet! He does seem to be way more sapient in this series though.
Well, so far, I'm not impressed. I mean, it's not terrible, but it's not special either. But I'll watch the full series, and then see how I feel about it.
Unfortunately, the DVD doesn't play well on my portable DVD player. The backgrounds are fine, but the lines on the characters are not anti-aliased at all, so they appear all choppy and low res. I don't have this problem with Series 1 though, and Series 2 does render fine on VLC Player.
Pob’s Programme
I've been wondering for over 25 years what that crazy programme was that I used to watch as a toddler! Thanks to Michael Gove, I now know what it is! Holy cremola, this is some weird crap. No wonder I'm so messed up.
The unravelling jumper and the technicolour backgrounds! Oh, I remember that so well now! I feel 3 years old again!
Blast from the Past: Piranha Hints and Soundtrack!
I guess I don't give my PC enough credit. Not only did I get Piranha to run, I also managed to record the soundtrack without any (well very little and easily fixable) skipping. While I wait for the mp3s to upload, here are some PROTIPS for you: