Here’s a song that came out a couple of years later than the rest of this week’s selections, in 1984. But I still associate it more with my elementary school days than with the 80s songs I counted down last year.
I remember the video as much as the song — complete with creepy mailman, mysterious cloaked woman and Psycho shower homage. It’s goofy as hell now but at the time it kind of freaked me out.
1982’s ‘Pac-Man Fever’ is an important touchstone for me because, at 10 years old, I was a chronic sufferer of the ailment described by the song. My friends and I used to play Pac-Man at the Sav-a-Step convenience store a mile or so from our school, walking there as soon as the bell rang.
Here’s where I channel generations before me and write about how I used to walk two miles home from school every day. At least, living in Miami, it wasn’t uphill both ways and it wasn’t in the snow.
Dreamworks Animation has thrived as a smart-ass, pop culture savvy alternative to more innocent kiddie fare. Many of the jokes in films such as Shrek and Madagascar are designed to fly right over children’s heads and get a few chuckles out of the adults forced to accompany them to the theater.
Contrast that to the films of Pixar, which are powerfully heartfelt and human (even when about toys, car or rats) and more interested in character development and story than in-jokes and alternative soundtracks.
There is certainly a place for the films produced by both of these studios, but when it comes to true quality, it’s no contest.
I haven’t written about Date Night since seeing it for one simple reason: I agree entirely with just about every review of it I’ve read.
Here we have two of our funniest, most interesting and appealing actors paired up with a script that is only occasionally worthy of their talents. At times the film broaches themes and topics that feel fresh but it quickly devolves back into a slapstick action comedy padded with pointless chase scenes.
But despite those flaws, Steve Carrell and Tina Fey bring so much good will to the table that you can’t help but root for them, and therefore for the movie. So it’s pretty tough to dislike Date Night even as it lets you down for not being what it could have been.
1981’s ‘Ya Mama’ by Wuf Ticket is the first rap song I ever remember hearing. I was 9 years old at the time, which would put me in 4th or 5th grade. My friends and I learned this song by heart and sang it together after school.
I particularly remember the line “your butt’s so big you need two seats, extra strong to hold all that meat.” The rest of the song has escaped my memory over time but that verse was scribbled in permanent marker, probably displacing some bit of civics, mathematics or history I should have learned.
Meet Me In Montauk 