70's - 80's film references in Netflix's "Stranger Things" Season 1

• Stephen King's "Stand By Me" (train track scenes, being hassled by older bullies)
• Stephen King's "Firestarter" has a girl with telekinetic powers, likewise King's 1976's adaptation "Carrie".
• Opening titles are a homage to 80's graphics accompanied by John Carpenter-esque electronic music ("Hallowe'en", "Escape from New York")
• The monster is a cross between "Alien" (tube down Will's esophagus) and  John Carpenter's "The Thing". 
• Teenage romance and misfits - John Hughes comedies, take your pick. The Duffer Brothers chose great English alternative music, too. But this is another matter.
• "E.T." - BMX bikes, El(even) is hidden in a bedroom closet, a garden shed, shown Star Wars models by her new friend, a mysterious government agency is pursuing her. She even points (E.T.like) in on scene.
• Film posters on kids' bedroom wall: "'The Evil Dead"
• The monster's shape making a wall elastic-like ("A Nightmare on Elm Street")
• Dustin refers to El as the "weirdo on Maple Street". Am I drawing a long bow with the last one?

What to do with those 80's hand-knitted jumpers ...

Front

Back (ignore our pooch's shadow)

Remember all those colourful hand-knitted jumpers and cardigans in the 1980's (think U.S. born, now England's Kaffe Fassett and Australia's Jenny Kee).
Of course you are not going to wear them now, but you don't want to part with them either.  All the time and effort you put into knitting them still needs to be celebrated.

Solution : My crafty wife turned them into cushion covers.

The battle of the i-pod playlists

On a road trip at the moment, travelling from Melbourne, north to Sunshine Coast, around 4000 km round trip.  It is the battle of the i-pod playlists in the car.

My wife’s playlist is a lot broader than mine and a lot more hard core:

The Beat, House of Pain, Cypress Hill, Sex Pistols, Stranglers, Joy Division, Led Zeppelin, David Bowie, The Models, Hunters And Collectors, The Clash, Ian Dury, Roxy Music, UB 40, Simple Minds, Echo and the Bunnymen,  The Smiths, Sigue Sigue Sputnik, Nick Cave, Butthole Surfers, Wall of Voodoo, Nina Hagen, Malcolm McLaren, The Cure,  Souxie and the Banshees , Rammstein - mainly 70’s and 80’s alternative (like being stuck in a John Hughes movie),  with a smattering of 90’s and newer stuff.  Some opera, “Ride of the Valkeries” and “Madam Butterfly” is in the mix too.

My playlist sounds very gay in comparison – some musical soundtracks (mainly Sondheim), Pet Shop Boys, The Presets, Scritti Politti, Heaven 17, New Order, Culture Club (“Time”), Mental As Anything (“Berserk Warriors”), EMF (“Unbelievable”) Hurts, Blur, Kate Bush, The Police,

We have some overlaps:

U.K. Squeeze “Kool  for Kats”, Lou Reed “Walk on the Wild Side”, New Order “Bizarre Love Triangle”, “World in Motion”, The Clash “Rock the Casbah”, The Church “Under the Milky Way”, Amy Whitehouse “Back in Black”, Violent Femmes  “Blister in the Sun”, Duran Duran “Planet Earth”, The Verve's "Bitter Sweet Symphony"

Anyway, it made the kilometres pass.

Why old fart music is better than new music - another A to Z list

A  Alphaville, Aztec Camera
B  Bryan Ferry, Blondie, Blur, BAD
C  Cure, Clash
D  David Bowie, Duran Duran
F   Echo and the Bunnymen
F   Frankie goes to Hollywood, Funboy 3
G  Gorillaz
H  Hunter & Collectors, Hoodoo Gurus
I    Ian Drury and the Blockheads
J    Japan, Joy Division
K   Kate Bush, KLF
L   Led Zepplin, Lou Reed
M   Madness, Morrissey, Mott the Hoople, Mental as Anything, Malcolm McLaren, Models
N    New Order
O   Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark
P    Psychedelic Furs, Police
Q   Q-tips
R   Roxy Music, Ramones
S   Sex Pistols, Stranglers, Souxie and the Banshees, Smiths, Specials, Simple Minds, Spandau Ballet, Scritti Politti
T   T-Rex, Ten Pole Tudor
U   Ultravox
V    Visage, Violent Femmes
W  Wall of Voodoo, Winehouse (Amy)
X    XTC
Y   Young (Paul), Young (Fine Young Cannibals)
Z    Zevon (Warren), ZZZ Top - okay, not great, but great fun.



The above list is a joint effort with my wife, wiling away time on a long car journey.