iTunes Album Art Gets Nostalgic

Before iPods, there were CDs.  Before CDs, there were cassette tapes, but let’s not go there.  Before I got an iPod or iTunes, I bought CDs – lots of them.  We had a local Sam Goody’s in my town (which is now a bank) and I used to go every weekend to pick up a new album.  This warranted a semi-desirable CD collection, however there are many hidden gems in that dusty stack that I still listen to, to this day.

Now, when I started using iTunes and my iPod (old, original white thing…that still works!  Ok I’m not that vintage, I do have an iPhone…), I decided to upload many of my old CDs into iTunes, which made sense.  I didn’t want to just download new music, I wanted to listen to all my old stuff in this new, innovative way.

Everyone knows that when you download a song from iTunes, you download an associated “album art,” which is usually a picture of what the CD cover looks like.  If you upload CDs into iTunes, unfortunately you don’t upload it’s associated album art.  Instead, a placeholder image appears, which looks like this:

via: Flikr

Now, this is lovely if you like musical notes.  However, recently I began to really miss the old CD covers that I grew to love.  A friend told me he started clicking and dragging album artwork into a space at the bottom of iTunes that looks like this:

via: Pain In The Tech

This has been proving to be an extremely arduous task, however, it’s really fun looking up some of my old album covers!  For instance, I found the first three CDs I ever owned, which are (in order or appearance in my boombox):

via: Amazon.com

via: Amazon.com

via: Amazon.com

This really made me think about browsing the shelves of Sam Goody.  And my old CD collection.  Although iTunes really cuts the clutter and makes listening to music so easy, there is something about having a physical CD library on display in your home.  My CDs are still there, collecting dust along with my old Discman, but hey, at least I can “look” at them on my iPhone whenever I want!

Star Sighting: Kirk Cameron

OK, I’ll admit it.  I wasn’t actually the one who saw America’s favorite older brother in Da Silvano in the West Village, NYC.  My friend and co-worker watched him wine, dine and look oh so fine!

I don’t have a picture from the event, but here’s a random, recent photo of Kirk Cameron:

You might remember Kirk from his days playing Mike Seaver on Growing Pains, which is one of my favorite ’80s – ’90s family sitcoms of all time!  Below is the family portrait:

I was really jealous when she said she saw Kirk at Da Silvano, especially since she told me the unfortunate information that she NEVER watched Growing Pains growing up.  Who can resist Mike’s crazy antics, Carol’s pubescent frustrations, or Maggie’s motherly advice.  There are two significant family members missing from the above portrait, so posted below is a supplemental “kids only” photo):

Chrissy and Luke (Leo!).  Aww look at all the Seavers together.  I miss this show.  I miss this genre of television.  Can we please go back to these lovely snipets of idealistic family life where everyone is perfectly witty?  When she told me she saw him, I started singing the theme song (below video is from Season 5):

Maybe I watched too much TV as a kid.  Maybe I’m a sucker for feel-good comedies.  Maybe I need a break from YouTube.  What I don’t have is the experience of seeing Mike Seaver in a restaurant in NY, which is a little disappointing.  But in all seriousness, remembering this sitcom puts a huge smile on my face, and makes me realize how much I miss these shows: Growing Pains, Full House, Step By Step, and the rest.  Of course some are broadcast in syndication now, but they are definitely not on enough to distract us all from watching A Shot At Love With Tila Tequila over and over again. 

Animaniacs Are Zaney To The Max

Who remembers these guys:

Woohooo!!!  I came across this theme song on YouTube this morning.  I used to LOVE Animaniacs!  What a great cartoon.  Constant silliness, weirdness, and just about anything you can think of under the sun that completely doesn’t make any sense.  Since I’m at work all day now, I don’t know for sure that a niche channel runs this show, but I’d be willing to find out.  I do know that seasons 1-3 are out on DVD.  There are some interesting similarities with this theme song and the Garfield theme song I wrote about earlier:

1. Both explain who the characters are in the show and what the show is about (as opposed to a generic song with visuals).

2. Both show examples of incredibly looney, absurd, borderline obnoxious situations.

3. The main characters in both shows are animals who sing the actual theme song.

4. Somehow in each show, there is always a segment with secondary characters.  Animaniacs – Pinky and the Brain.  Garfield – Orsen and Friends.  All of these characters are featured in the theme song.  

You get the idea…

So, similar shows from a similar era, that put me in a similar state of nostalgia.

Animanics also makes me think of one friend with the initials “KK” who I know really loves this show and all that it stands for.  This one’s for you!

T-Shirts Come and T-Shirts Go

Ever open your closet of one of your drawers and think “I have no clothes!!”  As soon as the weather started to warm up here in New York, I started to do a little spring cleaning of my own.  I realized that I have amassed tons and tons of t-shirts from all areas of my life.  T-shirts from high school sports teams, vacations, college events, sorority programs – even my work kickball team uniform (which I plan on wearing tonight at the second game of our season).  Some were chucked and some were donated.  The t-shirts I simply couldn’t part with were refolded and placed back in my drawers.  Those made me the most nostalgic.  Camp t-shirts from the ’90s that I will never give away because I still wear them.  I can’t help it!  Even if I never wear them, like a long sleeved t-shirt I bought at a friend’s high school “Fall Fair.”  It’s not even from my high school, but I’ll never give it away, because it makes me think of my friend. 

Cleaning out my t-shirt drawer was like watching my life flash before my eyes.  Knowing I had to give some t-shirts up was bittersweet, because while those memories are now a little more faded in my mind, I know that I’m making room for more sweet memories to come.

 

Saved By The “IM”

Awhile ago I got an amazing instant message (IM) from one of my friends at work:

FRIEND (3:19:58 PM):i saw leon karosi yesterday

Amazing!  I know who Leon Kerosi is, do you?  If you’re a Saved By The Bell fanatic like I am, then you definitely know who he is.  He’s none other than the proud owner of the Malibu Sands Beach Club.  The cast worked here during one summer (or 6 episodes).  Actually, Lisa Turtle didn’t work here, she OF COURSE was a member.  Moving right along to the flashback and memory:

The IM conversation resulted in this:

FRIEND (3:19:58 PM):i saw leon karosi yesterday
ME (3:22:52 PM): no way!
ME (3:23:08 PM):were you at the malibu sands beach club?
FRIEND (3:26:21 PM):hahaha i was
FRIEND (3:30:31 PM):i went there to have some breakfast in the dining room and then I was planning to go hit on kelly at the lifegaurd stand before gearing up for the big volleyball game. I’m really only on the team to get a work out in preparation for the big obstacle course at the end of the summer. We’re also making one giant sandcastle that you would swear requires expert engineering (or 5 high school juniors) to build. Then, that night we’re gonna have a luau on the beach. But I’m not really one for parties, so I figure I’ll take my girlfriend Staci (daughter of leon) off to go look at the stars on our last night before she heads back to the East Coast. Knowing me, I’ll probably have a touching farewell with her and then sit out on the beach all night to be met by my friends in the morning. We’ll then walk off into the sunrise and never reference any of this ever again

What an incredibly accurate, detailed recap of the Malibu Sands experience!  I literally laughed out loud when I read this on my computer at work.  In fact, I loved it so much I stuck it in my Facebook profile.  And now I’m posting it here.  Because anyone who loves Saved By The Belland the whole gang would love this convo.  It really made me nostalgic for all things SBTB, however you can still catch reruns bright and early in the morning on TV .  I think I need to buy the DVDs though.  It’s nice to know that this IM came completely sporadically, and that my friend was having some sort of personal nostalgic moment.  I’m glad he chose to share it with me.  I wonder what made him think of it?  When I asked he said he just suddenly thought about those episodes.  But there had to have been some sort of memory trigger.  This is definitely a very happy memory that reminds me of watching TV with my friends and having a humongous crush on Mark-Paul Gosselaar – who’s still hot!

I’m almost positive I’ll be writing about SBTB again in the future…

Pret-A-Manger For A Sand-A-Wich

I LOVE PRET-A-MANGER!!! 

I studied abroad in London and almost lived off of this stuff.  Have you ever heard of it?  The only locations in the U.S. as of now are in New York.  They are also in the U.K. and Hong Kong.  It’s basically a quick-serve sandwich/soup/salad shop but oooooh it is so much more!  They use natural ingredients and offer many dishes that are wheat-free, organic, contain free-range meat, etc.  Beautiful, healthy and fast!  Enough of my advertisement.

Here’s what made me think of Pret…seeing one of its many storefronts obviously!  This Pret is located on 7th Avenue at 39th Street:

I had a few favorites while over-seas: chicken and avocado sandwich, brie tomato and whole-leaf basil baguette, and their falafel (it’s actually very good!).  Often, when we didn’t know what to eat for lunch, we’d go to Pret.  All the time.  It was cheap, quick and delicious.  Only a few months after I returned home to New York from London, I started to notice Pret-A-Mangers popping up all over the city.  It made me the reverse of homesick, it made me London-sick!  It always makes me think of the amazing semester I spent in London.  Whenever I see a Pret in the city, I feel like I’m looking through a secret portal to London and I remember all the good times I spent with my friends…eating sandwiches .

Check out their site!  Click here!

More Powdered Drinks – The “Koolest” Aid In Town

The “powdered drinks from my childhood” theme continues here.  Look who I ran into this morning:

Source: My personal photo

How many of you said “OHH YEAHHHH!!!” when you saw that?  I know I did (I hope he wasn’t terribly offended).  The elusive Kool-Aid man lives on in the hearts of “grown-up” children (unlike me) everywhere!!  What flavor do you think he is?  Mountainberry Punch?  Rock-a-dile Red?  Sharkleberry Fin?  Mmmmmm I can just taste that cold, artificial goodness running down my throat on a warm, spring half-day in fifth grade.  Of course, my parents would never buy the stuff so I was definitely on a play-date whilst enjoying this fantastic beverage.  Therefore, Mr. Kool-Aid Pitcher Dude reminds me of fun, elementary school play-dates (and super red tongues!!).  Man, he makes me look so short.

Did I mention this was taken on a Polaroid camera?  Classic.  That makes me think of, oh I don’t know, taking countless ridiculous pictures with my friends?  It also makes me think of Cher (Alicia Silverstone) taking Polaroid pictures of her outfits in Clueless.  :-)

However, I’m definitely not the only one who becomes reminiscent when running into the Red Man.  Check this out:

I remember the first time I saw this on Family Guy, which is one of my favorite shows of all time.  It just goes to show us all that Seth MacFarlane and all the guys over at Family Guy are also constantly having “flashbacks” and interjecting these bits of memory and nostalgia throughout the show.  It is the perfect placement of the iconic wall-crashing “OH YEAHH!” and reminds me of every Kool-Aid commercial as well.

Dane Cook takes this one step further:

He’s picking on our poor pitcher pal, but his commentary is hilaaarrrrrious so I HAD to post this here.  Dane remembers him, I remember him, Seth MacFarlane remembers him…do you?

Nesquik – Powder Is Preferable

I always walk through Times Square to get to work and recently, I noticed this:

Source: My personal photo

Nesquik.  It seems that Nestle is trying to make a comeback with one of my favorite childhood beverages!  But when I see people drinking Nesquik nowadays (on the train, in the street, my own friends) it’s from a plastic bottle!!!  Pre-mixed Nesquik chocolate milk!  This is the Nesquik that I am used to:

Source: (click here)

Nesquik chocolate powder!!!  Nesquik powder was a staple in my house growing up and boy do I miss it!  I remember mixing this velvety, delicious powder in with skim milk on weekend mornings while devouring a hot, fresh bagel with cream cheese.  I think I need to go to the supermarket and pick some up because there is something so independent and satisfying about mixing your own chocolate milk.  The best part about this powder is when it collects at the bottom of the glass or mug in little clumps and lumps.  Then, when the milk is finished, you scoop these clusters up with a spoon and eat them (no matter how salty the clumps tasted).  A very distinct taste with an even more distinct “clink clank” of my metal spoon hitting the sides of my glass during the mixing process.  Nesquik: makes me think of weekend breakfasts. 

How It Started – Cartoons and Commercials

 

 

The above two YouTube videos sparked my initial interest in this “project.”  My brother actually posted these videos on my facebook wall.  When I first clicked “play” I was so, so excited!!!  

Not only did I remember the words to the entire Garfield and Friends theme song and the entire Crossfire commercial, but I absolutely remember every visual of each segment.  These really take me back to Saturday mornings and weekday afternoons in elementary school.  I actually owned a Crossfire game at one point, and am not sure where it is.  I have to go digging for it in my basement.  If I recover it, I’ll be sure to post some nice action photos.  I can’t promise I’ll be surfing on one of the game pieces though.

In terms of Garfield and Friends, wow did I love that show!  What’s there not to love about a cat who eats everything in sight.  I did collect lots of Garfield (and Odie!) merchandise over the years.  Stuffed animals, T-shirts, pencils (I probably received these in a goody bag from a birthday party) and of course, the Garfield stuffed animal with the suction cups on his paws, that everyone used to stick on the inside of their car windows.  What a fun site to see on the Long Island Expressway.  The one thing I never fully understood about the show was the cut to Orson and his farmland-friends, but I enjoyed it just the same.  It was a nice break from the constant sarcasm and digestion taking place in Jon’s kitchen.  But poor Wade with his inner tube.  A duck who can’t swim - no wonder he almost got the crap kicked out of him every episode. 

I miss this lasagna-loving lump!  “Disguises, surprises and pies of all sizes” for all!

In the beginning…

…I created this blog.  The beginning of my blogging adventure.  An opportunity to connect with all of you on an endless array of topics and ideas!  Sometimes my mind works so quickly and so crazily I can’t keep up with it.  I try to write everything down: the observations I observe, the thoughts I think, the ideas I ideate.  So I created this blog in an effort to do so.  Your comments, praise, criticism and feedback is much appreciated.  So don’t be shy.  Really.

I am truly intrigued by the concept of nostalgia.  It’s amazing to me how certain stimuli tickle each of our five senses and cause us to remember our pasts.  Nostalgia though, isn’t just about our past and memories.  It’s a feeling we each get while engaging in remembrance.  Joy, sadness, anger, silliness, regret, appreciation, gratification, etc.  This isn’t just about nostalgia though.  It’s about flashbacks and memories.

I will be posting photos, videos, images, stories, interviews and other ramblings about all things that make me and others feel nostalgic.  Some will be extremely silly, while others will be heartfelt.  It is my hope that this blog triggers a conversation about all the things we used to love, and use to love to hate.

Enjoy!

I leave you with two quotes tonight:

“Memory… is the diary that we all carry about with us.”  ~Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest

“Memory is a way of holding onto the things you love, the things you are, the things you never want to lose.”  ~From the television show The Wonder Years