CONTINUED FROM PAGE 11
than 300 songs from the '80s on my computer," Doug Tetreault, Herndon, Va., sophomore, says. To take him back to his childhood, he's been able to compile five '80s mix CDs — featuring the likes of A-HA, Styx, Hall & Oates, REO Speedwagon and Huey Lewis and the News. Tetreault says '80s tunes are easier to sing along with than today's popular tunes." I listen to ['80s music] pretty regularly and it puts a better spin on the day because it's not heavy on love or hate, just happy."
Today's world of "TRL," "The Real World" and "Punk'd" may seem to be the norm, but it's helpful to remember that MTV was popularized in the '80s as a 24-hour music video station. As much as it has strayed from its original intent, combining video with music was a revolutionary idea — bringing about many of the embarrassing styles we now reference. Next time you see a girl with bangle bracelets and large hoop earrings remind yourself that this craze was initially started by Debbie Gibson and Madonna." That was the worst decade yet for style," Jon Simon, Lenexa sophomore, says. "I would hope none of that comes back."
Tubular shows and Saturday morning rituals
Simon's childhood home in Merriam brings back many memories — ones of sending the family cat down the laundry chute or playing Nintendo with his dad, who would get frustrated after losing. It's what he calls "the golden age of kindergarten," when kindergarten was still a half-day. Simon would rush home to play watch television with his sister, Rachel. Snacking on Gushers or Pop-Tarts and surrounded by the orange, yellow and brown retro blinds of the living room, they would take part in their daily routine of sitting together in front of the TV to watch shows like "Salute Your Shorts," "Legends of the Hidden Temple" and "Pete and Pete." "Watching those shows with my sister definitely brings back good memories," Simon says.
Fry, creator of the Nintendo Loyalists Facebook group also recounts "Inspector Gadget," "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" and "Transformers"
as being a large influence on his childhood.He recently acquired "Miami Vice"on DVD and says that it takes him back to a simpler time.
Tetreault, the self-professed '80s fanatic, indulges in more than '80s mix CDs, but enjoys movies from the decade as well. "The one movie
I believe carries the whole culture of the '80s is 'Fast Times at Ridgemont High," he says. "Life in the '80s was widely centered around the mall culture, and this movie shows it." John Hughes seems to have ruled the late '80s and early '90s with films like "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," "Pretty in Pink," "Sixteen Candles" and "Weird Science."
Another classic Hughes hit, and the top-grossing film of 1990, is "Home
a feeling of comfort that many people long for. "Sometimes people get attached to cereals," he says. "[They're from] a vibrant time with a lot of lost joys with your parents."
"SHE CALLED ME LAST YEAR TO ASK WHERE THE SECOND WHISTLE IN 'MARIO 3' IS LOCATED. I HAD NO IDEA THAT SHE FOUND THE FIRST ONE. ON TOP OF THAT, I KNOW FOR A FACT THAT SHE'S BEATEN THE FIRST ZELDA GAME 6 TIMES." VAUGHN FRY. ON HIS GRANDMOTHER'S SHARED AFFINITY FOR OLD SCHOOL NINTENDO
One company that knows this well and is banking in on those feelings is a company called Cereality. The store
Alone," a favorite of Chris Roberts, 2006 graduate."It's always great to see a kid your age as a hero and controlling his world minus the intrusion of parents," he says.
Would you like milk with your memories?
As a kid, Roberts often had football games on weekend mornings. However, when he wasn't playing football, he has fond memories of rolling out of bed and watching early morning NBC sitcoms like Saved by the Bell and California Dreams with a bowl of Life cereal. Similarly, when sophomore Stacy Lake was a kid in Leawood, she would wake in the morning and head straight for the television. Accompanied by a big bowl of Cheerios, she would wait for "Rocko's Modern Life" or "Angry Beavers" to appear on the tube.
It's not uncommon to have enjoyed a big bowl of cereal in your pajamas on a Saturday morning as a child. Schindler, who has studied nostalgia for more than 15 years, says cereal is a food that brings
currently has locations in Illinois, Pennsylvania and at the University of Arizona in Tempe and specializes in serving up cereal by the bowl. The difference between Cereality and any other cereal bar is that at this company has "Cereologists" who work in their pajamas and mix up any concoction of milk, cereal and toppings. They say their product isn't about tapping into nostalgia as much as it is evoking the Saturday morning experience of waking
up with no obligations, grabbing a bowl of cereal and flipping on cartoons, all while in your pajamas. Who knows, you may still do that. "You don't have to really love old cereal boxes or old cereal commercials, but you do [have to] love and appreciate the emotions of the ideal Saturday morning of your childhood," says Lisa Kovitz, public relations manager for Cereality.
Another thing many students remember about those sleepy-eyed Saturday mornings, other than not having school, is the toys they would play with.
Matt Walker, possibly rebelling from his sister's New Kids on the Block influence, says that if he could bring back one thing from his childhood it would be "Teenage
Mutant Ninja Turtles." While he may reminisce over the cartoon show, what he loved most were the action figures of Donatello, Michelangelo, Leonardo, Raphael and Splinter."I have all of my original Ninja Turtle action figures," he says. "They're tucked away in my closet." Regularly, he would go into battle with his brother and the action figures, often claiming victory.
A little thing called nostalgia
"The kind of attachments you have to things has to do with strong emotion being present at the time you were experiencing it," Schindler says of memories like those Walker has of his four hard-shelled friends. He offers the example of Schwinn reselling its retro style of bicycles." Retro bikes have been very popular because they meant something to kids to get a bike without training wheels," he explains. Many strong memories are imprinted in early childhood, he says."So when [people] have children, they want to buy the same toy for their kids or sing the same nursery rhymes to their kids," Schindler says.
Does this mean that when you're 40, you'll be longing to play Halo and bonding with friends over whether or not "Wedding Crashers" is better than "Old School"? Quite possibly. So be careful what you invest your time in now; you might just be nostalgic for it in the future. And Vaughn Fry might be teaching his grandkids how to play original Nintendo, while they scoff at the fact that he was born in the 1980s.
27-12-JANPLAY 08.31.2006
「吉喜菓處自生給何何何何何何何何何何