R.I.P. Patrick Swayze (1952-2009)

I've only been writing this blog a couple of months and I can't believe how my memorial posts I've had to write for some rather iconic 80s type figures. The latest to the list is Patrick Swayze who sadly lost his battle with pancreatic cancer the other day. Hell of a way to go. You have to admire the fact that he kept right on working right to the end and had a current show on A&E that was doing fairly well.

Whether you liked him or not, his body of work was pretty large and he was an accomplished dancer and released some music as well. He's mainly known by many for his roles in Ghost and Dirty Dancing (which let's face it, wasn't dirty at all in retrospect.......I've seen worse during Sunday mass, but I digress) along with some of his earlier work on The Outsiders, Red Dawn and Young Blood which helped earned him a membership in good standing of the Brat Pack back in the 80s.

As a tribute, here are some examples of Patrick doing what he does which you may not have seen before.

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Candies You Grew Up With That May Gross You Out Now (Part 1)

Being a kid in the 70s and 80s allowed you to experience certain candies that may no longer be produced but some of the stuff you grew up with is still around and there are even some specialty stores and websites that cater to making available the treats of your youth. However, just because you can still get them, doesn't mean you should. Your adult palette is vastly different than your youthful taste of what was gross and what was really cool. While eating some of the stuff on this list today may remind you of your youth, it may also provide startling and sobering realizations that you may not have been firing on all cylinders when making choices while spending your hard earned allowance at the candy counter as a kid. Bazooka - Not only was this gum cheap, 2 for a penny back in the day although I may be seriously dating myself, but it also came with a small comic featuring Bazooka Joe, who wore an eye patch and a bunch of his freaky friends including Mort who wore his turtleneck...

Retro Arcade Game of the Day - Pac Man

One of the all time greatest arcade classics, Pac Man brought the video games out of the arcades and into the public consciousness. Even though it was critically not well received, it was the hottest selling game for the Atari 2600 and one of the biggest games in terms of revenues at the arcade for it's time. The simple game play yet challenging levels meant hours of fun for people of all ages and was simple enough for anyone to play. Here it is again in the original arcade version. Just click start to begin and use the arrow keys to control the little yellow quarter bandido . arcade

Retro Arcade Game of the Day - Raiden

One of the things that was cool about video games back in the early years of gaming was the ability to just enter a game and start playing. No muss, no fuss. No long intro story lines, no boring tasks to complete before it got interesting, just sit and start blasting. Great to relieve some stress in the middle of the day. Raiden was one of those games. The arcade version was released in 1990 and is a classic scrolling shoot em' up game. Easy to control with only two options, shoot or bomb. Nice and simple yet loads of fun. Enjoy ! Controls Arrow Keys – Movement Space key – Select Enter key – Start “Z” key – a “X” key – b “A” key – x “S” key – y “D” key – l “C” key – r To save your game: hover over the emulator screen and use the icons to save your progress. Down arrow icon (save), Up arrow icon (load).

New Site

Just a heads up, the blog has now moved to a more modern WordPress site over at https://retroguyswonderland.com Site is up and under slight construction. New posts coming soon! - Retroguy's Son (The SysOp)

Retro TV Ad of the Day: Pop-O-Matic Trouble

You know you used to watch a lot of TV as a kid when you catch yourself mumbling a certain part of an advertising jingle from time to time even though the commercial hasn't played on air in over 30 years. Case in point - the Kohner Brothers "Pop-O-Matic" Trouble. Originally made by Irwin in 1965, it eventually was made by Milton Bradley which is now part of Hasbro. This probably explains why the board games of today aren't as good as back then with all the major brands are buying each other up - so much for competition. But I digress. Although the game was actually called Trouble, you probably knew it more as "Pop-O-Matic Trouble" thanks to the popular commercial from around 1970 that showcased the plastic domed dice container that when pushed down would "pop" the dice ensuring a fair roll of the dice, faster game play and guaranteed annoyance to parents everywhere due to the constant popping sound.

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