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: