The 80's.

I was born in 1987 so I don't really consider myself a child of the 80's as I grew up in the 90's. However a very good friend of mine Stu has recently lent me a book called Ready Player One by Ernest Cline, which is making me reevaluate how I view the 80's and my place in that decade.

The book is brilliant, and I feel like it was written for me being filled with so many references to 80's films, games, music etc that I instantly recognise. It got me thinking about how I view the 80's.

I came to the realisation that whilst I was not born in the 80's, I am an 80's kid. I also realised that I can blame my brother for this one. The thing with my brother Rob is that he is 10 years older than me and so was born in 1977 which meant that he got to see all the cool things that came out of the 80's and appreciate them at the time. This did however mean that I got some great physical and psychcological hand me downs.

I quickly listed off my favourite films and I tried to think of when they all came out. Here they are:

All of these films are from the 80's, and theres more great ones like Time bandits and Labyrinth to be enjoyed. It then got me thinking that my favourite computer game of all time is also from the 80's: Missile Command.

I realise that of course the 80's was a very difficult decade for alot of people, much in the same way that in 30 years people will say the same about this decade, but some of the things that have come out of the 80s are brilliant. Just think that Tetris, which many of us have invested great time into over our lives first appeared in 1984. Pac-Man came out in 1980. Centipede in 1981, the list goes on and on with companies such as Atari leading the way to the games and consoles that we have today. It must also be noted that you got great toys introduced such the mighty Etch-A-Sketch.

Lastly you have to think of the brilliant kids TV that existed that is way better than the utter rubbish young kids have to watch today (caveat Star Wars Clone Wars). Look at Centurions, Battle of the Planets (although I've always known it as G-Force), Dungeons and Dragons (don't forget the great game that is still very alive today that the series is based on). Theres also great shows like Inspector Gadget, Teenage Mutant Ninja (yes Ninja, none of this hero malarkey), Thundercats, Starfleet, MASK, Ulysses 31 (which probably influenced me on my path to become a classicist) and the great Transformers.

I realise that this post is not really about books, but this train of thought has come about because of a book and its made me realise that the 80's has had a massive impact on my life. Yes, the 80's was not an ideal time and alot of bad things came out/happened in the 80's but at the same time, as shown above, some brilliant things came out of the 80's that have certainly shaped my life so far and I cannot wait to review Ready Player One once I finish reading it.

John