The Nostalgia Thread (aka...I remember that!)

[Kombatologist]

I worked at a Taco Bell in Toronto during college. It was actually fun.

I'm fond of that Taco Bell logo because it reminds me of a time when Taco Bell was actually good haha. (I used to be a TB addict.)

Also, Kombatologist, I worked at Blockbuster for almost 3 years back in my high school days. Used to be able to tell you where a particular copy of a movie came from, and a few other things, just from the number above the bar code there. Good times. Pay was crap, but I loved that job.

That's cool. My family and I would go there every weekend to rent a bunch of VHS movies and games when I was a kid. I miss those days. Good times indeed. :(

Oh, and I remember Clearly Canadian as well. I loved the hell out of that stuff in the late '80s/early '90s.

[Kombatologist]

Know what else I miss? Planters Cheez Balls.

[te72]

Know what else I miss? Planters Cheez Balls.

Can't you still get those?

Something I miss? Silly as it sounds, tickets you'd get at the arcade. Not necessarily for the prizes you'd get, but from you know... WINNING that many tickets. At some point, the basement arcade to be, will have a ski-ball machine.

[Kombatologist]

Can't you still get those?

Nope. Planters doesn't make them anymore. There's cheese ball knockoffs, but they don't taste the same. Those Planters cans were magical.

[Kombatologist]

Something I miss? Silly as it sounds, tickets you'd get at the arcade. Not necessarily for the prizes you'd get, but from you know... WINNING that many tickets. At some point, the basement arcade to be, will have a ski-ball machine.

We have a fun center nearby called Scandia that still has them. I personally enjoy collecting arcade tokens. I have a small collection, many of which are from defunct arcades.

(Sorry for the double post. Meant to include this in my post above.)

[twiztor]

Something I miss? Silly as it sounds, tickets you'd get at the arcade. Not necessarily for the prizes you'd get, but from you know... WINNING that many tickets. At some point, the basement arcade to be, will have a ski-ball machine.

Skee-Ball is my favorite non-video game to play in arcades. i have seriously thought about making my own Skee-Ball setup for my basement as well. still might some day.

[te72]

We have a fun center nearby called Scandia that still has them. I personally enjoy collecting arcade tokens. I have a small collection, many of which are from defunct arcades.

Haha, most arcades are defunct, I'd say, other than the occasional one here and there. Some places still have them, which is nice. Prefer them to online play, literally any day of the week.

I hear ya on the token collection though, I have a small collection of coins from all over the world. You'd be surprised what you find in a roll of pennies sometimes.

Skee-Ball is my favorite non-video game to play in arcades. i have seriously thought about making my own Skee-Ball setup for my basement as well. still might some day.

Hadn't really considered making one. I'm not much of a skilled carpenter, but I can't imagine it would be terribly difficult, as far as the mechanics and ball return go. I think the trickiest part would be shaping the ramp at the end of the runway. I wonder if getting the basic shape in wood, then using fiberglass to finish and fine tune the shape would work well enough?

As for me, I just need to stop spending money on the car at some point so I can start saving for the basement, where the arcade will live.

[miketheratguy]

A nostalgia thread? This is awesome. How did I miss this? I run a whole forum dedicated to nostalgia.

Nope. Planters doesn't make them anymore. There's cheese ball knockoffs, but they don't taste the same. Those Planters cans were magical.

One of the earliest memories that I have is of riding through my old hometown on my Big Wheel, chomping ravenously on a can of Cheez Balls, as my aunt Patty escorted me to the drug store that had a puzzle in the window featuring a cast shot of the aliens of Return of the Jedi.

Magical indeed.

[te72]

Mike, for some reason, I get an image of Cartman from South Park in my head when you tell that story.

[miketheratguy]

Mike, for some reason, I get an image of Cartman from South Park in my head when you tell that story.

I was actually a super skinny little dude but yeah, now that you mention it, the Big Wheel and the Cheez Balls really do cement that image, don't they?

[vice350z]

I miss the 90's in general. Such a great time in life...games/music/bars. Everyone was either single or just had a girlfriend and it was easy to all go out every weekend.

Now..everyone's married with kids and live not so close anymore so its a whole planning ordeal to get together.

Love watching docs on 90's stuff like that new thing called "the internet" or on Napster or gaming consoles.

VH1's "I LOVE THE" series was great and always give those a watch every so often.

[Phillyman]

Anyone have one of these in the 90's? I am pretty sure I had a Transformers and TMNT bed tent back then

[te72]

I miss the 90's in general. Such a great time in life...games/music/bars. Everyone was either single or just had a girlfriend and it was easy to all go out every weekend.

Now..everyone's married with kids and live not so close anymore so its a whole planning ordeal to get together.

I hear ya there bud. Used to go to Village Inn for pie almost every weekend, just to hang out and BS. Bring kids into the picture and it rather complicates things for the social life unfortunately.

Then again, if I knew anyone in the 90's who had kids, it was probably my friends' parents haha.

Anyone have one of these in the 90's? I am pretty sure I had a Transformers and TMNT bed tent back then

Had something similar, but it looked more like a tree house. That was from the 90's though? I seem to recall Transformers kinda falling off the pop culture radar a bit by the late 80's.

[Kain]

Anyone here remember and love In Living Color? One of the best shows of the 90's and one of the best comedy shows ever. Wayans family did a amazing job and Jim Carrey was awesome I loved the Men On Skits. Funny as hell.

[miketheratguy]

Anyone here remember and love In Living Color? One of the best shows of the 90's and one of the best comedy shows ever. Wayans family did a amazing job and Jim Carrey was awesome I loved the Men On Skits. Funny as hell.

I remember that show. They once had a really great Three Men and a Baby parody played by Mike Tyson and two other boxers (not the real guys, of course). Fire Marshall Bill and Homie Da Clown were standouts.

[Kombatologist]

Haha, most arcades are defunct

Haha, true. It's been a while since I've taken inventory.

One of the earliest memories that I have is of riding through my old hometown on my Big Wheel, chomping ravenously on a can of Cheez Balls, as my aunt Patty escorted me to the drug store that had a puzzle in the window featuring a cast shot of the aliens of Return of the Jedi.

Magical indeed.

Memories like that are the best. Life's all about the little things, I say. I remember going to the store to buy baseball cards and Garbage Pail Kids. I still remember how hard and stale the gum was in the GBK packs. Also, Big Wheels were the shit! My neighborhood friends and I started a Big Wheel club when I was a kid.

I miss the 90's in general. Such a great time in life...games/music/bars. Everyone was either single or just had a girlfriend and it was easy to all go out every weekend.

Amen to that. I remember getting the internet for the first time in the mid-90's. It was like exploring a whole new world. I was amazed by the fact that I could talk to strangers from all around the world (this was during a time when people still had pen pals, mind you). I look at the youth of today and they just take it all for granted. They'll never know what it was like to rent VHS tapes and game cartridges, play newly released arcade games, or watch porn on dial-up. A friend of mine pointed out that our generation is unique in that we're not so far removed from the computer/internet/social media age. And it's true. We understand all this stuff, yet we didn't grow up with it like kids do now.

[miketheratguy]

Memories like that are the best. Life's all about the little things, I say. I remember going to the store to buy baseball cards and Garbage Pail Kids. I still remember how hard and stale the gum was in the GBK packs. Also, Big Wheels were the shit! My neighborhood friends and I started a Big Wheel club when I was a kid.

Thanks, that one rates pretty highly among my "carefree days of youth and innocence" files. It's funny that you mention GPK, I was actually going to put a picture of them on the last page. I definitely remember the gum stick, which was more like a pointy, rigid little shiv that would shatter if you tried to stab someone with it. I've got lots of great memories of GPK but my favorite may be the day when my family and I were enjoying a warm summer day of swimming at the local lake when I saw a kid run by with the all-new ninth series in his hands. Suddenly swimming day at the lake - which was one of my favorite things of all time - was now of far less importance than drying off, getting in the car still in my bathing suit, and finding the nearest gas station to get some 9th series GPK of my own (which I did, after which we came back to the lake, so it was really all win).

Was never part of a Big Wheel club though. Man, that would have been cool.

[te72]

Memories like that are the best. Life's all about the little things, I say. I remember going to the store to buy baseball cards and Garbage Pail Kids. I still remember how hard and stale the gum was in the GBK packs. Also, Big Wheels were the shit! My neighborhood friends and I started a Big Wheel club when I was a kid.

Amen to that. I remember getting the internet for the first time in the mid-90's. It was like exploring a whole new world. I was amazed by the fact that I could talk to strangers from all around the world (this was during a time when people still had pen pals, mind you). I look at the youth of today and they just take it all for granted. They'll never know what it was like to rent VHS tapes and game cartridges, play newly released arcade games, or watch porn on dial-up. A friend of mine pointed out that our generation is unique in that we're not so far removed from the computer/internet/social media age. And it's true. We understand all this stuff, yet we didn't grow up with it like kids do now.

Hah, you bring up an amusing story of my 7th grade gym class. Coach gives me a pack of baseball cards for kicking ass at whatever sport we were playing that day, likely baseball, if memory serves. I open the cards, don't recognize any of them (I was athletic, but not a fan in the sense I could name off many players of any sport), and find a piece of gum.

Hey, awesome, free piece of gum, right? Turns out that pack was over 10 years old... bubble gum flavored dust is every bit as disgusting as it sounds.

As for the culture of our generation, we are kinda in an in between segment of society, not entirely unlike our parents or grand parents. Speaking of the ones born AFTER the great depression. The folks who lived through it were of an entirely different mindset, but their children or grandchildren were a little more care free, growing up in the 50's through the 70's.

Us 70's through 90's kids, you pointed out that we grew up in a time to learn and appreciate technology, but it was all fresh. My 4 year old niece can work an iphone MUCH better than I possibly could. Her attention span on the other hand...

[E-Day]

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Madballs!! I used to have the green one. I totally forgot about these.

[Kombatologist]

Hey, awesome, free piece of gum, right? Turns out that pack was over 10 years old... bubble gum flavored dust is every bit as disgusting as it sounds.

That made me laugh. Those sticks were bad enough when they were just months old.

Us 70's through 90's kids, you pointed out that we grew up in a time to learn and appreciate technology, but it was all fresh. My 4 year old niece can work an iphone MUCH better than I possibly could. Her attention span on the other hand...

All I know is I'm glad I wasn't born around the year 2000.

[te72]

All I know is I'm glad I wasn't born around the year 2000.

Never mind the culture and history that kids born around then missed out on, but they're going into the world born blind, education wise. The ignorance of history, as well as math, economics, and in some cases, manners, is really gonna cripple that generation. Not really looking forward to the day when I have to babysit those kids at work someday haha.

But hey, who knows. I'm sure our parents' generation said the same about us, and the majority of us turned out alright I think.

[Kombatologist]

Never mind the culture and history that kids born around then missed out on, but they're going into the world born blind, education wise. The ignorance of history, as well as math, economics, and in some cases, manners, is really gonna cripple that generation. Not really looking forward to the day when I have to babysit those kids at work someday haha.

But hey, who knows. I'm sure our parents' generation said the same about us, and the majority of us turned out alright I think.

Very true. Though, my eldest niece (who was born in 1998) gives me hope. She's educated, well mannered, and has a great work ethic.

[twiztor]

Anyone here remember and love In Living Color? One of the best shows of the 90's and one of the best comedy shows ever. Wayans family did a amazing job and Jim Carrey was awesome I loved the Men On Skits. Funny as hell.

one of my all time favorite shows. probably #2 behind Seinfeld.

easily the best sketch comedy show of all time.

man, i LOVED my Muscle Men when i was a kid. always liked the colored ones better than the fleshtone ones tho.

tried google to find a picture of my favorite one, but didn't see it in the dozens of group shots i looked at. he was purple, tho.

[te72]

Very true. Though, my eldest niece (who was born in 1998) gives me hope. She's educated, well mannered, and has a great work ethic.

Yeah, same here, I know a few that really stand out. I've come to believe that humanity at large is pretty decent, but the handful of bad apples make the whole species look intolerable at times.

More on topic, who here remembers the ties that Pizza Hut had to gaming? At least for me, I distinctly remember the local Hut having an Outrun arcade machine, as well as getting a PS1 demo disc or two from them.

[Kombatologist]

More on topic, who here remembers the ties that Pizza Hut had to gaming? At least for me, I distinctly remember the local Hut having an Outrun arcade machine, as well as getting a PS1 demo disc or two from them.

I don't remember the PS1 demo discs, but I saw/played Mortal Kombat II for the first time at a Pizza Hut.