Enjoy Stuff: A TechnoRetro Podcast

As shazbazzar and JediShua start Spring Break, they conclude the fourth season of TechnoRetro Dads.  For those who have joined the ‘Dads since they first wandered with Willow until their most recent Joust at the arcade and for those who have tuned in somewhere along the way, pour a bowl of your favorite cereal, slather on some sunscreen (or Starscreen, as Shua likes to call it), and sit back in your beach chair for 77 minutes on this Good Morning and watch the Captain sail his ship out to sea.

 

In the NEWS…

Two icons of the past, Chuck Berry and Chuck Barris, both passed away within a week of each other.  From the earliest days of Rock ’n’ Roll, Chuck Berry added his unforgettable talent to the rolls of rockers.  Talent was on the menu for Chuck Barris, but on an entirely different level, of course.  The creator and host of the ‘70s version of the popular Got Talent franchise, Barris put together comedy greatness with The Gong Show where celebrity judges look for talent in the seemingly least likely places. PLUS: Star Wars and the Power of Costume is leaving Denver for Cincinnati in May.  It’s time to buy your tickets to this exhibit (for either city) right now!  

 

We Love Our Cereal…

Honey Nut Cheerios is lacking a mascot but gets a special addition inside their boxes.  We’re all wondering whether this prize has different versions for different regions of the country or if “one size fits most.”  It’s likely to bee the source of some controversy and possibly more problems than it hopes to correct if it’s the latter.  Finally, it’s time to put the other Girl Scouts cereal to the test with Sheldon’s original Cereal Connoisseur Rating System (using Oneida cereal teaspoon).  Find out what the ‘Dads think about thin mints in a chilled bowl of milk (thanks for the idea, Steve Glosson).

 

TechnoRetro Arcade

What do you call a pyramid of cubes with color-changing tops, dropping orbs, coiled snakes, Esheresque enemies, diagonal moves, and an obscenity- uttering orange alien hero who has a tube nose/mouth combination?  In 1982, we discovered Q*bert to the consternation of many arcade aficionados.  The unique style of play captured the attention of kids everywhere as quarters poured into coin slots for the satisfying sounds of Gottlieb’s most famous addition to video game lore.  Whether you played Q*bert as a kid or you got into the game later in life, this classic calls for more than a passing glance.

 

Good Morning, Captain!

Captain Kangaroo entertained a couple of generations of kids from the mid-fifties to the mid-eighties, and the ‘Dads were certainly in the mix.  With ping-pong balls to green jeans, Captain Kangaroo was part of a balanced breakfast before kids made their way to school.  

 

History Lesson

Richard Kimball was delivered by a doctor on March 27, 1948 — years before he was convicted of killing his own wife.  Taylor wonders about the difference in ape life and human life.  A Betazoid from Betazed takes her first breath.  A journalist from TMNT starts a video record that will become significant later in life.  Many fools are born on the first, while Billy Madison continues his pursuit of a minimal education.

 

Feedback

Andy Lindeman sends an electronic-M filled with rules and cards for a homemade version of Uno.  His first version was written years ago on a Commodore 64.  This guy is totally #TechnoRetro! 

 

Check out TechnoRetro Dads each week for more unexpected memories from the ‘70s and ‘80s.  Continue the heyday of pop culture and relive the things that made us who we are today — even those who were too young to remember those times.  Be sure to let us know what you’re thinking on social media, or give us your feedback by calling our voice mail line at (209) 878-7323 or sending us a message or mp3 via electronic-M to podcast@TechnoRetroDads.com.  Don’t forget to rate and review TechnoRetro Dads on iTunes and Stitcher.

 

Share and enjoy!

Direct download: TRDads_04.51.mp3
Category:TechnoRetro Dads -- posted at: 5:30am EDT

Spring officially arrives today and Spring Break is on the horizon.  Before hurrying out to the beach, be sure to pack your ear buds for a trip back in time to the ‘70s and ‘80s with shazbazzar and JediShua as they remember a couple games we all enjoyed playing as kids (and can still play today, if we’re lucky).  Get ready for fun and funniness this week on TechnoRetro Dads! 

 

In the NEWS…  

Amazing Stories, the Steven Spielberg anthology series from the mid-eighties may soon return.  With imaginative tales of fiction, fantasy, and fright, this weekly show was a staple for GenXers who were facing the certainty of no new Star Wars movies for the foreseeable future.  Brian Fuller takes the reigns (with Spielberg’s approval) to reinvigorate television with distinctive episodes that will surely resound with today’s audiences.  The Ultimate Visual History of Back to the Future is rereleased as a “Collector’s Edition” with a 3D sculpted movie poster of the original Drew Struzan art and several bonus features like three 32-page books (one for each movie).  Edward James Olmos reprises his role as Eduardo Gaff in Blade Runner 2049.

 

We Love Our Cereal…  

The Keebler Elves are sneaking tiny cookies into people’s cereals — and we appreciate it!  PLUS: DC Superheroes cover boxes of Big G cereals and the mascots get in on the action.  Collect them all and read the comic books in every box.

 

Toys in the Attic  

Games have always been integral to toy boxes, and card games are part of the fun for friends and family.  Since the ‘70s, Uno has been a staple for kids and adults alike, allowing anyone who can match colors and numbers to have a chance at winning a game against virtually anyone else.  The luck of the draw is the main thing, as well as well-timed usage of “special” cards like Reverse, Draw Two, Skip, and Wild.  Race to be the first to play every card in your hand, but make sure you say “Uno!” when you’re down to a single card or you may find yourself holding more cards than you bargained for!

 

TechnoRetro Arcade  

From knights on horseback in medieval times to clones against ‘droids on speeder bikes, the strength of lances against armor at high speed has been entertaining for hundreds of years (and painful for the contestants).  In 1982, Williams Electronics continued the success they had in the video game industry with Defender by releasing Joust, a reimagined combat game pitting mounted knights against each other with lances seeking to unseat their opponents.  This time, however, the knights ride on flying steeds: either a buzzard, an ostrich, or a stork.  Combining running on flat surfaces at different elevations with flying through the air, Players 1 and 2 challenge computer players for survival amidst additional dangers from lava and pterodactyls.  “But ostriches can’t fly!” some protest.  Evidently the minds behind this iconic game figured flying ostriches was more believable than running eagles.  Go figure.

 

History Lesson  

This week is filled with fictional history from the frontier of 100 years ago to the comic book movies of this decade as the ‘Dads open the TechnoRetro history books with snippets from Legends of the Fall, Forrest Gump, Billy Madison, Watchmen, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and more!

 

Feedback  

EarBuds chime in with updates on the seven “earth-sized” planets mentioned a couple weeks ago and memories of Kevin Flynn in King Kong.  With a mention of Scholastic Book orders back in our school days, the ‘Dads affectionately recall their own days in elementary school with the pulp order forms made their way into the hands of children, opening their imaginations to the future. 

 

Check out TechnoRetro Dads each week for more news about franchises and fandom from the ‘70s and ‘80s that continues to this day as well as reliving those amazing times that made us who we are today — even those who were too young to remember those times.  Be sure to let us know what you’re thinking on social media, or give us your feedback by calling our voice mail line at (209) 878-7323 or sending us a message or mp3 via electronic-M to podcast@TechnoRetroDads.com.  Don’t forget to rate and review TechnoRetro Dads on iTunes and Stitcher.

 

Share and enjoy!

Direct download: TRDads_04.50.mp3
Category:TechnoRetro Dads -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

As the new week begins with new time for those who observe the change in time that coincides with the change in seasons, TechnoRetro Dads have discovered a way to solve the problem of losing an hour of sleep on the day time “Springs Forward”: add an eighth day to the week for rest!  But that’s not the only EIGHT in this week’s episode.  JediShua and shazbazzar talk about Eight Is Enough with Dick Van Patten and Adam Rich, Scott Ryfun provides informational feedback with an 8-Track electronic-M and more shapes and sounds of the number eight provide loads of fun this Monday morning before Pi Day and during the week of St. Patrick’s Day.  (This episode is brought to you by the number eight and the color green). 

 

In the NEWS…

Turner Broadcasting and Warner Brothers team up to present a streaming version of Boomerang with thousands of your favorite cartoons from decades of Saturday mornings and syndicated shows from Warner Bros., MGM, and Hanna-Barbera!  The cost is five dollars per month or forty dollars annually (that’s five time eight for the mathematically challenged).  The starship Enterprise D gets the 3D treatment in virtual reality through the Enterprise 3D Project.

 

We Love Our Cereal…

…who doesn’t?  Ben & Jerry’s shares a bowl with those lucky enough to have a Ben & Jerry’s Scoop Shop near them (sorry, shaz — no ice cream for you) featuring breakfast morning favorites like Frosted Flakes, Cocoa Pebbles, and Fruity Pebbles.  Cereal continues to gain ground in the marketplace as the next step in cerealtastic recipes moves forward to include frozen versions of Saturday morning fare.

 

Aftershocks of 1977

On March 15th of this banner year, Dick Van Patten, Adam Rich, and Luke Skywalker’s cousin Mark Hamill star in the pilot episode of Eight Is Enough, a “bigger than Brady Bunch” family dramedy for the late ‘70s and early ‘80s that ushered in the new era of culture and politics that pushed conservative family shows into the past and opened the floodgates of the family as reimagined for a more “enlightened” society.  Proving once again that 1977 impacted western culture in ways that are still felt forty years later, the family as promoted in this series has become the norm in sitcoms over the past four decades (minus a few kids, of course).  

 

Feedback

Radio talk show host and podcaster Scott Ryfun responds to shazbazzar’s and JediShua’s lack of fluency in the ways of 8-Track tapes.  From his 1977 powder blue LTD wagon, Ryfun schools the ‘Dads in the mixed-up albums of a thankfully bygone era in portable audio, complete with the iconic “kerchunk” of track changes.  KISS, Aerosmith, and Battlestar Galactica fuel the Feedback fodder in this lengthy discussion of 8-Track tapes with memories that are both funny and fond. 

 

Check out TechnoRetro Dads each week for more news about franchises and fandom from the ‘70s and ‘80s that continues to this day as well as reliving those amazing times that made us who we are today — even those who were too young to remember those times.  Be sure to let us know what you’re thinking on social media, or give us your feedback by calling our voice mail line at (209) 878-7323 or sending us a message or mp3 via electronic-M to podcast@TechnoRetroDads.com.  Don’t forget to rate and review TechnoRetro Dads on iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play.

 

Share and enjoy!

Direct download: TRDads_04.49.mp3
Category:TechnoRetro Dads -- posted at: 5:00am EDT

Greetings, Programs!  

 

TRON is in the news again (sort of), and is heavily featured in this week’s episode of TechnoRetro Dads (well, FLYNN is, anyway) as shazbazzar and JediShua take another look at King Kong from 1976, monkey around with ‘Dad jokes, and finally get to some Feedback from our EarBuds.  Get ready for 77 seconds minutes of gigantic gorilla goodness on the first Monday of March! 

 

In the NEWS…

Dungeons & Dragons might find its next incarnation in the form of buildable modules built of smaller modules.  Tune in to find out more.  Joseph Kosinski talks about TRON Ascension, seven earth-sized planets less than a Kessel Run away, and memories of Bill Paxton.

 

Let’s All Go to the Movies…

…and watch Kong: Skull Island.  But before we go, we take a peek at earlier versions and revisit the Dino De Laurentiis 1976 King Kong with Jessica Lange, Charles Grodin, and Kevin Flynn with beautiful hair.  The classic creation from 1933 is reimagined during the energy crisis of the ‘70s with a naïve wannabe actress with a penchant for skimpy clothes, a troped-up bad guy from a greedy petroleum corporation, the original USER Kevin Flynn, and Odo from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.  With Kong: Skull Island premiering later this week, it only seems reasonable to remind ourselves of “the most exciting original motion picture event of all time.”

 

History Lesson

After the W Files and before the Y Files were the X Files (at least that’s what we want to believe).  Adam Sandler finishes fifth grade (before JediShua started teaching fifth grade).  Weyland Industries leaves out the eighth vertical so the ‘Dads can claim it.  Bright Eyes gets her “treatment”.  Scarlett Johansson unintentionally embodies the singularity.  The One is born.  Yes, by “One” we mean “Neo”, otherwise known as Mr. Anderson.  Which reminds us of this week’s brief Aftershock of 1977: Philip K. Dick predicted The Matrix at the Metz Sci-Fi Convention in France.

 

Feedback

Rory O’Toole finds an old bag from Video Exchange and reveals a license plate Easter egg in American Graffiti. Starships, Sabers, and Scoundrels Dennis Keithly and Darth Taxus spice up the 8-Track discussion with a Pumpkin Marshmallow “Spirit in the Sky”, the Spider-Pan can’t figure out “What a Fool Believes”, D$ discovers The Legal Sword of Shunnarah, and Jedi Arjii finds a way to make Rocky even better — more Star Wars

 

TechnoRetro Dads go bananas for big primates this week, and want more electronic-Ms and voice mails from our EarBuds. So let us know what you’re thinking on social media, or you can give us your feedback and let us know what you think by calling our voice mail line at (209) 878-7323 or sending us an mp3 via electronic-M to podcast@TechnoRetroDads.com.  Don’t forget to rate and review TechnoRetro Dads on iTunes!

 

Share and enjoy!

Direct download: TRDads_04.48.mp3
Category:TechnoRetro Dads -- posted at: 5:00am EDT

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