Watch this Space – Tales of the Gold Monkey

Tales of the Gold Monkey... Wow! Now here is a TV series that pretty much summed up all my interests as a kid in the mid 80’s – Second World War (hey I had English grandparents), cool planes, adventure stories and a pretty female lead (Catlin O’Heaney & I started early ok)...

Set in the South Pacific in 1938, Tales of the Gold Monkey told the story of ex Flying Tigers ace Jake Cutter (Stephen Collins) and his Red and White Grumman Goose (a type of seaplane) called Cutters Goose. It was a blatant exploitation of the “Indiana Jones” vibe that had hit the world after Raiders of the Lost Ark, but it worked... Well at least for me it did.

Although Tales of the Gold Monkey only lasted one season (due to high production costs) this TV series has always stuck in my mind as one of the greats. Great adventure storytelling with some added tongue-and-cheek humour was always a good mix in my book. Still is in fact!

Let’s take a look at the opening sequence (this is going to bring back some memories I promise):



Here is a later version of the opening sequence (with added scenes):



This clip below pretty much sums up the feel of the show... Just listen to Stephen Collins’s narration and you’ll see what I mean.



Cheesy? Hell yea! Fun? You betcha! Good stuff? More than we can remember!

PS: Unfortunately Tales of the Golden Monkey is not currently available on DVD (or Blu-Ray for that matter), but hopefully Universal will remedy this soon. Will update this post (and place my order) if things change.

Cape Town Lullaby

Hush my laaitie don't you cry
Daddy's gonna steal you a GTi,
And if that GTi don't Torque
Another GTi, I will stalk.
And if the stalking don't go to well
Daddy's gonna steal you a Caravelle
And if that Caravelle makes some tricks
Daddy's gonna jack you a VR6.
And if that VR6 won't fly
Daddy's gonna knock a BM from a Sandton guy.
And if that BM's sound is kwaai
Da Cape Flats cherries will go with you to elke braai!
And if the Cape Town cops ask why ?
Daddy will buy the docket from a Police spy!
And if all these things still make you cry
Then you're not my laaitie... Your mom told me a lie !!

Ok, ok it's true!

I admit it, I have an addiction! The damn Twitter craze has hit me hard and I’ve been spending an awful amount of time updating the world about... Well actually now that I think about it, I’ve just pretty much rambled on (can you ramble in 140 characters?) about whatever came to mind... Mmmmm, so maybe updating is not the right word... Arrghh, I digress! With me becoming a bit of a fan I thought I’d let you all in on a (not so little) secret. There is now a Twitter DICTIONARY!!! So without further ado my fellow friends and fellow TWEEK’s here it is, so god speed and use it wisely:

The Twictionary

ATTWACTION – a crush on another twitterer.

BLOCK – to stop someone’s tweets appearing in your feed.

DM – direct message.

DWEET – tweet sent while drunk.

EGOTWEETICAL – someone who tweets about themselves too much.

FAIL WHALE – the friendly whale character that appears on Twitter when the website is down.
FOLLOWER – user who follows another person’s tweets.

HANDLE – your Twitter name, beginning with @ – e.g. @joebloggs.

ILLTWITERATE – someone who doesn’t understand Twitter.

IM – instant message.

MICRO-BLOGGING – another phrase for tweeting.

MISTWEET – an error in a tweet, or a tweet you later regret.

NUDGE – a friendly reminder to someone to update their profile.

QWITTER – someone who stops using Twitter.

RETWEET – posting something already posted by another user.

SPEETS – spam tweets.

TWADD – to add someone as a follower.

TWADDLE – boring tweets.

TWAGGLE – gaggle of followers.

TWEAVESDROPPING – reading strangers’ Twitter conversations.

TWEEK – Twitter geek.

TWEET – a post on Twitter.

TWEETERITIS – injury caused by too much twittering, e.g. sore fingers.

TWEETHEART – someone you fall in love with while tweeting.

TWEETOUT – to sign out.

TWENDY – something trendy on Twitter.

TWIRTING – flirting on Twitter.

TWITCH – the need to tweet.

TWITLIT – stories or poems posted via Twitter.

TWITTERATI – the A-list celebrity twitterers.

TWITTICISM – a witty tweet.

140er – a tweet that uses exactly the maximum 140 characters.

You can follow me on Twitter here...

Watch this Space – Buck Rogers

During the 80’s in South Africa we were a little starved of choice when it came to TV shows, but we did still get many of the greats. TV series like The A-Team, Voyagers, Automan and Riptide to name but a few. But for me one stood out above all others... Buck Rogers!

Buck Rogers (with the original series of Battlestar Galactica) introduced me to what has now become a lifelong passion for Sci-Fi in all its forms. It also introduced me to my very first crush with the ever beautiful Erin Gray as crack Starfighter pilot Col. Wilma Deering...

The Buck Rogers TV series ran for only 2 seasons and was dubbed into Afrikaans, but it was still one kickass show. Gil Gerard stared as the erstwhile hero Buck Rogers, with Tim O’Conner staring as Dr. Huer and Felix Silla as Twiki.

I wanted to embed the video intros into the blog, but it seems like the copyright owner has requested that the embedding be disabled. That’s why I’ve provided you with the YouTube links to the 3 different intros below.

The first video clip is the intro to the pilot show that originally brought Buck to our screens. It is however in its original English.

Buck Rogers Pilot Intro

Next up is the season 1 intro

Buck Rogers Season 1 Intro

And finally season 2

Buck Rogers Season 2 Intro

Then for good measure I’ve also thrown in the end credits.

Buck Rogers End Credits

Man those were good times! Terribly cheesy, but damn good times.

UPDATE! I managed to find a copy that I can embed! Check it out below:

Springbok Radio... Man that brings back a memory or two!

Holly hell! Do you remember the Radio Dramas like “Squad Cars” and “Inspector Carr Investigates”? Or how about the classic comedy series “Men from the Ministry”? I spent many an evening as a kid listening to these shows and they truly were the theatre of the mind.

I remember sometime in the early 80’s my parents took me to a recording of Men from the Ministry at Northdene Primary School. It was an absolute blast! *Sigh* I just wish we still had such great broadcasting in this country. Unfortunately that is not going to change anytime soon, so instead I can offer you the next best thing...

The Springbok Radio Archive!

Another Pop Shop Post is up!

Check it out here!

After Action Satisfaction...

OMG! OMG! OMG! This is absolutely fantastic! I grew up playing with the Action Man Toys (errr... that sounds A LOT gayer than it is) and this collection of old commercials has brought back soooo many memories.



My best friend while I was growing up was this kid Ben Littler. Between the two of us (and my brother Vaughn) we had almost all of these toys. We spent hours playing in the garden, building “bases” and generally causing mayhem. Do you know that I still have most of my Action Man stuff in the top of my cupboard? Yea, always had a problem letting go of my childhood he, he, he...

Action Man Update! Just found this video clip that pretty much shows you how much fun was to be had with these great toys.

Gone but not forgotten...

Just done another Pop Shop post here. Don't think I've forgotten about this blog though. Will be back with a new post at lunchtime tomorrow (SA time).

Pop Shop Blog is up and running!

Go take a look, put in a request or two... I'll see what I can do.

Pop Shop Blog

Pop Shop

I’ve always been a huge fan of music! I must admit I totally suck at making it myself, but I sure as hell can’t live without it. The very first record (or LP if you wish) that I ever bought was Complete Madness... Those boys were good, very good:



I had the chance to see them live years later at Finsbury Park in London. What an honour it was!

Fast forward a couple of years through Eddie Grant, Sex Pistols (I still listen to them by-the-way) and a few other bands like The Cure and Joy Division (still listen to them too) and you get to my next great band – Iron Maiden! The year was 1986, the album “Somewhere in Time”. The reaction... LIFE LONG FAN!!!



Anybody recognise the intro music? It’s the music from Ridley Scots “Blade Runner”. What an awesome movie, buy it, watch it, keep it!

Mmmmm... Look out for more Pop Shop ladies and Gents, cause’ I’ve enjoyed doing this post so much I’m going to make it a weekly addition to my rants. Up the Irons!

UPDATE: I've created a Pop Shop blog here for future music posts. I think I'm going to be doing more than a few each week, so go check it out starting Monday morning.

Ok I admit it...

I’m a fanboy, a geek and I LOVE (yes you read that right, LOVE) Movies, Comics and Computer Games. Hell, just check out my gaming blog and you’ll see what I mean.

So why am I admitting to this you might ask? Why am I making myself the laughingstock of woman everywhere? Simple really, there is a new movie that is opening in Theatres on the 6th of March called Watchmen and it is going to offer me a joygasm of note. Created and written by writer Dave Moore and artist Dave Gibbons the Watchman offers an alternate history of the United States during the 80’s. It gives people a grim look at a time when superhero’s are banned and the Doomsday clock is about to signal the beginning of a colossal nuclear war between the USA and the Soviet Union. It’s not your usual superhero fair; it’s not even your normal type of comic book story (it was the only graphic novel to have made it to Time’s list of 100 best English language novels), but it is an absolutely amazing piece of work.

Still not interested? Then why not check out this trailer:



Or even this one:



Do yourself a favour guys and gals, when this movie comes out in 2 weeks time go and see it. I promise you that you won’t regret it!

Blistered Thumbs

Space Invaders... Man was that game the sh*t! My uncle Frank was one of the first people in South Africa to get an Atari 2600. I spent many a rainy afternoon playing Space Invaders until the blisters on my thumb wept. They were good times...



I tried to get a damn flash version of Space Invaders working, but the bloody script does not want to play ball. However, if you’ve a sudden urge to kill some alien scum then get your arse over to spaceinvaders.de.

Check out these extra cheesy Atari ads that we in South Africa never got to see:



And an ad for a later version of the Atari (now with colour):

Mmm Bah!

Remember this bloke?



I called him the pencil guy, but I believe his actual name was La Linea. He was a total source of fascination and amusement for me as a kid. The animation was simple yet effective, the storylines clever and endearing.



My parents would only let us eat takeaway when they went out on the weekend, I remember eating Kentucky Fried Chicken with my brother on Saturday nights and watching these in-between programs like Buck Rogers and Arsene Lupin...

Ahhhh the 80’s...

They still put the fear of god into the heart of many a child born in the 1970’s. Bad hair, even worse clothes and terrible movies (anybody remember Police Academy?). But the music... Oh the music was rocking, original and oh so sweet to the ears: