Nostalgia - Your burden is heavy on my shoulders

Due to recent events in my life...ok, just one event actually that seems to stretch longer and longer as the anticipation of a notorious, yet evasive, letter to be received continues to build a virtual flood of maudlin euphoria, I find myself paddling along the river of reminiscence and wading through memories that had long been forgotten. I won't go into any more detail about said letter, as it has not yet arrived, but when I was alerted to its existence and its continuing journey westward, the floodgates were unleashed and experiences and emotion that have been rooted in the depths of my mental archives were swiftly yanked from their eternal slumber and blasted in full 80's Hi-Fi Stereo and full spectrum color across the widescreen that is my mind. It seems that many of them however, were originally filmed in standard NTCS television standard, so widescreen or not...they are square.

Because of this walk down memory lane, I have spent the better part of this week indulging myself in activities that foster and strengthen these remembrances. Here is a list of some of the things I have allowed myself to dabble in:

The Nightmare Before Christmas - This has to be the longest running money-making machine to ever come across the big screen with only a single movie title to its name. Most movie franchises that stretch for more than two or three years have multiple movies attached to them. Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas continues to make money for Disney over a decade after it was created. In fact, just yesterday I found a new version of the movie soundtrack re-done by contemporary artists such as Fiona Apple, Marilyn Manson, Fall Out Boy and Panic at the Disco!. It is an excellent rendition of Danny Elfman's original work of genius.


The Karate Kid - Daniel-san and Mr. Miyagi still have it. On my day off last week, I watched all 3 of the original Karate Kid Movies in one stretch. A waste of time you say? Nay...I disagree. I found myself awash in memories not just of the movie, but of events of my life that revolved around each of these movies. Classic.


Super Mario 2 - With the advent of the Nintendo Wii, they have made it possible to resurrect old classics from the bygone days of video game lore. The original big names are making a return and they are doing it with style. Of the original Nintendo Mario Brother games, number 2 probably got overshadowed for the most part. There are only a handful of people I know of that can say they beat #2. I am proud to be a part of that elite group of Mario-enthusiasts.


Voltron - Obviously there is a lot of hype right now with the Transformers movie that has just been released. And it is awesome. However, there was another robot adventure that unfolded many thousands of light-years away from Earth wherein 5 robot lions combined to create the Defender of the Universe - Voltron. The cartoon has been available on DVD for a couple of months now, however, until recently they were priced exorbitantly too high. This week they cut the prices almost in half, so I picked up Volume 1. I had forgotten how cruddy the animation was...but at the same time I find myself waxing quite maudlin as I watch these episodes. It is surprising how much I remember of the story line.


Finally, this was an unexpected surprise of memory jarring. I don't know how many of you will remember this short lived series from 1982 - 1983 about a former pirate named Phineas Boggs and his sidekick Jeffery Johnson, an orphan who finds himself time traveling with Phineas to help make sure time and historic events happen as they are supposed to. They traveled with a hand held device that looks like a brass compass called the Omni. I was surfing the Net yesterday and found a reference that the entire series had been released on DVD. As soon as I got off work, I headed over to Best Buy and found: VOYAGERS!

It is amazing what one minor event, such as learning that there is a letter coming from someone whom you have not heard from in almost a decade, can do to turn your calm and routine world up on its ear. Especially when just the knowledge of that letter erupts long-forgotten feelings, emotions and memories that have been shackled out of the light of thought for oh so long. 9 years is not just a moment.