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10 in 10 Again

June 24th, 2009 - Uncategorized - 33 Comments »

A few months ago I wrote a post about 10 things you probably haven’t thought of in 10 years. Well, my high school reunion on Saturday conjured up some more nostalgic thoughts, so here are 10 more things I bet you haven’t thought of since 1999:

1. Homestarrunner.com – This was my go-to site in college. I would spend tens of minutes every day immersed in Strong Bad emails, Marzipan, great jorb, Homesar, and Bubbs.

2. Book Fair – I’m willing to say that the single greatest sound of my childhood (better, even, than the sound of a wrapper coming off of a Fruit Roll Up) was the sound of the Book Fair carts rolling down the halls at school. You knew you were about to add some new tracing books, Lamborghini posters, and Clifford erasers to your already-vast collection.

3. Dinosaurs – Remember? The show that single-handedly brought about the demise of TGIF? I actually saw the first season on sale at Target the other day if you have any enemies you’re shopping for.

4. Shawn Kemp – The Reign Man was easily my favorite player to be on NBA Jam.

5. Sharks and Minnows – This was my favorite of the many pool games I rule-altered on the spot to benefit myself.

6. Floppy Disks – Remember the sound of them being inserted into the drive? Glorious. They literally didn’t even have enough space to hold one digital photo – and we were none-the-wiser.

7. Dr. Mario – The ol’ Tetris knock-off. Would you hate me if I said I actually liked it better?

8. Meatloaf – If I remember correctly, he had one of the most epic music videos of all time with I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That). Also, did you know he was in Fight Club?

9. Jock Jams – There is no other single album that I have listened to more than this one (kind of embarrassing, I know). There was about a two year period where I would have told you my life anthem was Mony Mony.

10. Tootie – Who knew this budding young actress would reach the pinnacle of her career on something as mediocre as Living Single?

Your turn. What are some things you bet the rest of us haven’t thought of in 10 years?
___

  • AM

    I still go to homestarrunner every so often to watch at carthage mortgage. Like NOW!

  • Bryan

    Loved the "if you have any enemies youre shopping for" line. Brilliant. Here are my 3:

    1. Marble Madness for NES- Yes, it's exactly what it sounds like
    2. Carabiners- The most essential piece of any male's keychain
    3. Shamu, the killer whale

    • http://intensedebate.com/people/tylerstanton Tyler Stanton

      Wow. I think I used a carabiner for about 6 years. Are lanyards the new carabiners?

    • http://clarkumentary.blogspot.com/ Carl

      I had totally forgot about Marble Madness. That was my favorite NES game by far.

  • http://gaskillrascal.blogspot.com GaskillRascal

    I saw some kids with slap bracelets lately, so I guess they are making a comeback….but those were a favorite accessory.

    I think my hypercolor shirt also made it through some college 80/90 theme parties, but I have since lost it. Why did we think it was ok to wear something that encouraged other children to breath and touch all over our clothing. How many colds were passed that way?
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypercolor…..doesn… the wiki description make it sound so appealing.

  • http://bryanallain.com/blog bryan a

    a few thoughts…

    Homestarrunner was always funnier by yourself than with other people. Every time I called someone over to my computer to show them, it was always underwhelming. not sure why.

    I always thought the dad on the Dinosaurs looked like Detroit Lions head coach Wayne Fontes.

    The Jock Jams thing is embarrassing. I'm almost embarrassed for you, except that the CD i wore out my senior year of High School was Chicago's Greatest Hits.

    Loved Tootie. There was that commerical for the show where she said, "Am I a fox or what?" and i would always answer, "yes you are".

    Remember that Nintendo game "Anticipation"? What about how Saturday morning cartoons was actually an event. Now that we have whole channels for kids programming, it has lost the luster it once had.

    • http://intensedebate.com/people/tylerstanton Tyler Stanton

      I remember the Smurfs credits coming on as being one of the most depressing moments of childhood because you knew it meant cartoons were over for the day.

  • Alex

    My ten-year-old brother bought a Lamborghini poster at his book fair this last year. So cool – it took me back too.

    I think Fight Club is the only reason anyone ever thinks about Meatloaf now.

    • http://intensedebate.com/people/tylerstanton Tyler Stanton

      Wow. They're still selling those? I figured there would be a new choice car these days…like a tricked out Honda or something.

  • http://www.tylerthigpen.com Tyler Thigpen

    1. Four-square by the pool
    2. Excitebike for Nintendo
    3. Bel Biv Devoe's rendition of Poison

    • http://intensedebate.com/people/tylerstanton Tyler Stanton

      There was one kid who's house I frequented that I only knew as "the kid with Excitebike". His name wasn't important. He was also known as "the kid with Fruity Pebbles"

  • John L

    I still love Homestarrunner.com. Who doesn't need a daily does of abuse infused email replies from Strong Bad? And yes, I love Fluffy Puff Marshmallow Mayonaise because it is made from the beeest stuuuuff!

  • brad

    1. Going to eat at Old Country Buffett (Friday was Shrimp night!!!)
    2. John Elways Quarterback NES- run the reverse and you could run out the half super fast. No trick, just made you lightning fast!)
    3. Wearing the Duckhead/DuckTail shirts with duckhead shorts and Bass shoes. And of course the brown braided belt! I was STYLIN'!
    4. GoBots.
    5. Garbage Pail Kids
    6. When looking through Mom's "Good Housekeeping" magazines was risque.

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/dustyken dustyken

    My wife is the same on #7. I'll take it even further. Not only did she like it better than Tetris, but she still prefers it over Tetris. I modded my classic xbox and have every original nintendo game ever made on it. She will still waste hours playing Dr. Mario. I don't get it.

  • http://830eyes.wordpress.com Katie

    My office building has a book fair twice a year. It's okay to be a little jealous.

    • http://intensedebate.com/people/tylerstanton Tyler Stanton

      Are non-employees allowed to come?

  • nate

    your book fair summary was great. can't ever have enough create your own story books and mad libs.

    this may be more late 80's early 90's, but who remembers helvetica color-change shirts? awesome, now that hot girl in my youth group can't understand why my shirt changes color whenever i give her a back rub on the bus trip.

  • Leigh

    Def Leppard's drummer has only one arm . . . clearly a few more than ten years since I've thought of that. The sad part is what reminded me. Their remake of Photograph with Taylor Swift. Tragic.

    May I change the subject? Thanks. I saw the vneck twitter thing and after attending ATL fest (vnecks were in abundance) I saw another disturbing sight. A vast array of man capris. It worked for Family Force 5 because, well, if you're wearing golden football pads and your name is Crouton, your man capris look cool otherwise . . . the jury is out. My friend and I discussed this pant popularity:

    Me: What's the deal with all these man capris?
    Her: The guy that does videos with Tyler Stanton was wearing them when we saw him.
    Me: That Tripp guy? Nuh-uh.
    Her: Uh-huh
    Me: He's really tall. Maybe they were high waters.
    Her: I don't think so.

    Speaking of Family Force 5: If any band out there is looking for someone to run around the stage holding a tamborine and leading the crowd in sychronized clapping, I'm your girl. I'm pretty sure that's my spiritual gift.

    • http://intensedebate.com/people/tylerstanton Tyler Stanton

      I'll be seeing Tripp in a few minutes. You better believe I'll be showing him this.

    • http://trippcrosby.com tripp Crosby

      Do you have something you need to say to ME?

      • Leigh

        Yes. I like your girly man pants. They are cute.

  • http://www.xanga.com/chrisdliu chris

    GaskillRascal took both of what i was gonna say! haha. slap-on bracelets and hypercolor tshirts. and props to homestarruner. good stuff!

  • Kyle

    Beanie Babies- I thought I sat on a gold mine. I was mistaken.
    Any good childrens cartoon- What happened to Looney Toons?
    Dunkaroos- The greatest school snack a kid could ever bring from home

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/HaleyElise HaleyElise

    Pogs. I've sat here for 20 minutes now looking for an appropriate description. Turns out there isn't one.

    Atreyu from the Never Ending Story. Went horseback riding the other day and got stuck in the mud. No one seemed to understand my yells for "Artax."

    OK, I'm gonna need a response on this next one if anyone remembers… Orbitz… the drink. The creepy one with the little balls floating around in it. Made by Clearly Canadian (which by the way, is another subject altogether)… Anybody?

    • http://clarkumentary.blogspot.com/ Carl

      I thought Orbitz was so unique I not only drank them, but collected each kind and had them displayed (unopened) on a shelf in my room in high school. I also collected each of the 24 Star Wars character Pepsi and Mountain Dew cans during high school and had them prominently displayed. I even paid someone twenty bucks to get the gold Yoda can (if you found a rare gold Yoda can you could send it in for a twenty spot).

  • http://www.nolangottlieb.com Nolan Gottlieb

    The Book Fair meant one thing for me…new Matt Christopher books!!! The Catcher With A Glass Arm changed my life…with the Kid Who Only Hit Homers as a influential piece in my maturity as well.

    And by the way I was never a Goosebumps type of guy.

    Thanks for the memories…

  • Leyton

    Artax!!!!

  • http://www.andreabrown.wordpress.com Andrea

    Hanson. It was a dark time in my life, please don't judge.

  • http://kevinkeigley.wordpress.com Kevin

    You introduced me to Homestar. We were in the back offices at Look Up using some crappy dial-up connection. That's the place where I now offer my witty office banter and share my wisdom with the Summer Staff All Stars.

  • http://sarachoe.theworldrace.org sara

    haha, floppy disks. dr. mario v. tetris. . . tough call. the one thing i didn't like about dr. mario was when it was game over – in one player mode – those nasty virus things snickered at you with quasi-menacing music playing in the background.

  • http://mymorgue.org Hayne

    Max Headroom.

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  • John L

    This is a really late comment (not sure if it will ever get seen) but I forgot all about one of the best shows when I was a kid. I loved to watch "Salute Your Shorts" on Nickelodeon.