Sunglasses At Night

Have you checked out what our celebs are wearing on their faces this summer, in fact the trend has been sneaking back in for a few years now – Wayfarers. Now I know that they were around a long time before the 80s, but I think we really made them look good!!!

So come on and tell me how many pairs of Wayfarers did YOU own?

Next question – how many of you are singing Boys of Summer in your head right now? You know the line I’m talking about…..”you got that hair slicked back and those wayfarers on baby…”

You can check out Wayfarers in all their glory at the appropriately named Wayfarer Sunglasses!

Pac Man

If you are feeling nostalgic for 80s video games you can play Pac Man and Space Invaders for free on your computer now, or get versions for your Playstation or Wiis even for your mobile phone! If you know someone who loves the classics though, what about baking them a cake?

Ideal for 40th birthday parties and the like a Pac Man cake can be quite easy to make and produce so many compliments you’ll be blushing for days! If you don’t know where to start then check out Pac Man Baking.

What better gift to accompany the cake than an 80s gamer tee? There are so many different types to choose from.

CLASSIC GAMER by dgpaulart
Make custom t-shirts on zazzle

If you don’t like this one then check my collection out at 80s gamer tees.

80s - Simply the Best

Why do I always think that the 80s were the best decade I’ve been asked by my daughter. Well hello, you keep remaking films from the 80s, you keep doing cover versions of 80s songs need I go on???

I’ve had a pretty busy year so I’m a little behind with the movie gossip (the problems with being a mum I guess), there was a time when as soon as someone even whispered any movie news I was hip to it, but not anymore.

It appears that a movie I liked from 1980 has been dragged into the noughties. This isn’t exactly a remake instead they are saying that it is ‘based’ on the original. Yes I’m talking about Fame – the movie, the song, the tv series, the legwarmers!

I loved the tv series of Fame and from there I read the book that the movie was based on. I don’t know when I actually saw the movie, but I don’t recall seeing it on the big screen, just on video. The Kids from Fame actually had a couple of hit records in the UK as well, I had a friend who owned both of them and we would go to her house at lunch times (she lived opposite the school) and make up dance routines to them!

Let’s hope that the noughties version of Fame can bring a smile to the faces of a whole new generation.

John Hughes RIP

Wow, John Hughes has died. Aged only 59 he died of a heart attack, at least it was quick by all accounts.

It's hard to think of 80s movies without thinking of John Hughes with films such as The Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller's Day Off and Sixteen Candles John Hughes owned 80s teen movies. He didn't stop there though, he was still showing what he was made of during the 90s with the hit movie Home Alone to name just one.

What was the best John Hughes movie? It's so hard to say, I love Uncle Buck I think that John Candy played the role so well. Having said that Mr Mom was also fantastic and my hubby loves Ferris Bueller. Why don't you vote for what John Hughes movie was your favorite at The Best John Hughes Movie.

80s Music

I love 80s music, don't you? I can't decide what I prefer more the New Romantic sounds or the Soft Cell techno pop, the darkness of Depeche Mode's Blasphemous Rumours, the pop of Madonna, the dance sounds of both Michael and Janet Jackson, the power ballads, Bruce Springsteen.......I don't know where to start let alone where to finish!

What is 80s Music? is the start of my attempt to bring all of my 80s favorites together, it's a long way from complete, but I'd love your thoughts on it.

Watching all of the celebs bringing back the Wayfarers makes me think of Don Henley - hair slicked back and your wayfarers on (or words to that effect) and then hair slicked back is the girls from Robert Palmer's video.....who started this conversation!

Anyway - what is your favorite 80s song, genre or artist, don't leave me hanging here people!

80s Games

What games do you remember from the 80s? I enjoyed it when the annual fair came into town as they had an arcade game tent and I would play Space Invaders - awesome! I found an online version of the game and it's so easy these days, but then wow it was HARD!!!!!

I score really high scores now, especially when I turn the sound off (hearing the music stresses me in to making mistakes!

What was your favorite 80s game? Vote for Space Invaders of Pac Man at my Space Invaders Rule! page. I guess I just gave away the one I prefer didn't I??!!

Of course there was always the Rubiks cube, but really when you are happy being able to get one side done and a six year old comes along to solve it really, really fast it kind of annoys you!

It's a Red Dawn - An Awesome 80s Movie

Red Dawn - The Beginning of WWIII

Framed Red Dawn Movie Poster

September in a small Colorado town and teens are rocking up to school talking about football - including their school's bad loss at the weekend. It's just another day in 1984, but everything was about to change because today was about to become the beginning of a Red Dawn.

On the school playing fields pupils in class notice paratroopers landing, but they're not Americans........panic rises as the movie begins.

Red Dawn is an absolute classic 80s movie starring Patrick Swayze, Charlie Sheen, Jennifer Grey, Lea Thompson and C Thomas Howell. Red Dawn embraces a very real fear in people's mind during this era and the chilling consequences they believed could occur.

Red Dawn - The Movie Trailer

Why Every 80s Teen Wanted to Watch This Movie

Red Dawn - A Movie For It's Time

I can remember watching Red Dawn at the cinema (I can't believe how long ago that was!) and I absolutely loved it. The 80s were the era of the cold war, although it was thawing later on in the 80s. The events that occurred in Red Dawn were actually believable at the time and was the stuff of some people's nightmares.

I had been thinking about Red Dawn for some time and so decided to rent the movie out again recently. The clerk at the video store commented what a classic it was and said that he watched it every few months - he looked like he hadn't even been born when it was released! That tells me that Red Dawn is a classic, despite the fact that the cold war is dead.

I still enjoyed it this time around although I wasn't on the edge of my seat this time- that's the trouble with knowing the ending! It also seemed to drag in places, but that was also because I knew what was coming. It's pretty good to see the stars before they became household names as well.

Red Dawn (Collector's Edition)

Red Dawn starred Patrick Swayze, Charlie Sheen, Jennifer Grey, Lea Thompson and C Thomas Howell. It was actually Charlie Sheen's first film credit and (in my opinion) a great start to an actor's career.

Here's what other critics had to say -

Red Dawn is a classic 80s movie from writer director John Milius. Red Dawn, in my opinion, is a pop culture classic. Red Dawn joins the ranks of good cult movies. A Heroic Action-Adventure Film for those who remember the dark days of the Cold War

Red Dawn Movie Poster

Buy This at Allposters.com

Wolverines

Before Hugh Jackman Wolverine meant a small group that included Jed (Patrick Swayze), Erica (Lea Thompson), Matt (Charlie Sheen), Robert (C Thomas Howell) and Toni (Jennifer Gray). The 'rebels' from the 1984 movie Red Dawn.

After the deaths of their families (except Darryl's) the kids decide to fight back. Using the name Wolverines after the school's football team they engage in Guerilla warfare with the Russians, Cubans and Nicaraguan troops.

The Wolverines was the name of the high school football team that Jed used to play for and Matt currently played for. A Wolverine is also a member of the weasel family that has a reputation for ferocity and strength out of proportion to it's size. It seemed a fitting name for this band of teens when they were tackling the might of a combined Soviet, Cuban and Nicaraguan troops

"Far better it is to dare mighty things, than to take rank with those poor, timid spirits who know neither victory nor defeat." Theodore Roosevelt.

Everyone wants to be a hero, but do you think you have what it takes to be a wolverine? If the answer is yes then why not wear the name with pride?

Red Dawn Silhouette T-ShirtRed Dawn Property Of The Wolverines T-ShirtRed Dawn Shirt AK47 T-Shirt

Red Dawn - Chilling Dilemmas

The movie Red Dawn also tackles some moral questions - would you compromise your values for your life? We see the Mayor of the town effectively sign his own son's death warrant and we see Matt and Jed create a diversion to allow others to survive while knowing it was a suicide mission.

When the two brothers go into town towards the end of the movie you do wonder how much havoc a couple of teens can cause.....the answer is alot as we are treated to a pyrotechnic display of gunshots and explosions. There are also a couple of really touching moments.

 "...dad'll be here soon Matt"

More on Red Dawn

This movie was Charlie Sheen's first credited film role and what a film to make a debut in. A 1980s classic.

In Red Dawn Charlie Sheen gets to act out every boys dream, being able to fight for his countries freedom. He also has to answer the question - what's the difference between them and us and to dig deep for courage alongside his big brother.

The movie Red Dawn has several ironic moments in it the classic one appearing in the opening scenes. You can see a bumper sticker saying "they'll get me gun when they pry it from my cold, dead hands" then the camera pans over and shows the driver dead and a Russian prying the gun from his hands! These little gems of irony all add another layer to what was, at the time a very believable scenario.

Red Dawn Monument

Partisan Rock

The movie ends with one of the surviving characters returning to Partisan Rock when WWIII had ended. At the rock a monument has now been errected celebrating the Wolverines it reads as follows......

"In the early days of World War Three, guerillas, mostly children placed the names of their lost upon this rock. They fought here alone and gave up their lives, so that this nation should not perish from the earth."

Have You Seen Red Dawn?

Share your thoughts about the movie.