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The Video Notebook: A Retro Design

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Don’t go sticking this in your VCR (providing you’re perpetually trapped in the ‘80s). Behold the Video Notebook, a 260-page writing pad ingeniously designed to mimic the appearance of a VHS cassette tape, a recording device now considered primitive in the modern age of the Blu-ray. Such a strikingly retro design will allow for diarists and casual scribblers the world over to indulge in sweet nostalgia, of which the makers of this conceptually brilliant product were fully aware: “For most of us, the VHS is just a nostalgic memory, but we thought it was an object worth revisiting, in the form of this very nice Video Notebook.”

A must-have for any self-respecting film fan of a certain age, the Video Notebook comes with a protective sleeve and a sheet of sticky labels for writing on, just like the actual tapes of yesteryear. The manufacturing company has apparently (and unsurprisingly) sold out of the product, although you can find it on Amazon for a measly $29.99. Oh, a little advice: if you do buy the Video Notebook (and who could blame you?), try and make sure you don’t get it mixed up with your VHS copy of “The Notebook” – y’know, if you’re a complete doofus.

The images above were taken by filmmaker BenDavid Grabinski, a proud purchaser of the Video Notebook, and the images below are official marketing stills. [Read more…]

Awesome Space Invaders-Inspired Silver Ring

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If you were a teenager in the late ‘70s or early ‘80s, you may recall playing a few rounds of Space Invaders at your local arcade, heroically battling the alien menace from behind the decreasingly sound security of your ever-deteriorating final bunker. If so, you may be interested to know that a silver ring heavily influenced by the classic arcade game is available for purchase online.

Designed by Amsterdam creative studio Tjep, the Invader Aiko Ring has a pixelated face intended to have a striking resemblance to the extraterrestrial foes featured in the game. [Read more…]

The Five Worst TV Shows of the 1980s

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The 80s are fading into myth faster than we, who lived it, could imagine. Let these terrible TV shows someone thought were a good idea, possibly after snorting a shoebox full of cocaine and driving to work in a DeLorean, remind us that we probably shouldn’t try this again. This decade we mean. Yeah. It was worse than the 90s, and bicycle shorts were in style in the 90s. For guys.

Disclaimer: These aren’t all the terrible TV shows the 80s vomited into existence. Rather, we chose to vary our sampling based on the many different types of shows including sitcoms, dramas, and a spinoffs. We also– Seriously though, bicycle shorts! They were basically tights with the pant legs missing. And men wore them! Even when they weren’t going to be bicycling! It’s just wrong. And you know it’s wrong. Dad. Sorry, sorry, we’re getting way off topic here. Please enjoy the article. We’re, uh, going to fix ourselves a stiff drink and pray the nightmares don’t return tonight.

1. Mr. Smith

In the history of TV, there have been many shows about things that talk that shouldn’t: horses, cars, dogs, Snooki, but it turns out America draws the line at monkeys. In 1983, Mr. Smith debuted in September and was cancelled by December, with 13 episodes somehow being made before God intervened and sealed all evidence of its existence into the Ark of the Covenant.

It will melt your face.

What made Mr. Smith such a piece of excrement? It’s hard to pinpoint exactly. The show featured an orang-utan named ChaCha who first becomes separated from his trainer after a car accident, and then ends up in a research lab. Which he escapes from. Then, probably just for the hell of it, the monkey finds an experimental serum that increases human intelligence. [Read more…]

The 10 Most Annoying 1980’s Pop Culture Robots

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Technology has come a long way from the dark days of the 1980’s when fingerless gloves and slap bracelets weren’t considered hideous forms of fashion expression and dumping your child’s entire college savings into Pogs were a sound investment that’s sure to pay off in the long run. Not only were the robots of the past primitive in terms of their technology and function, but they lacked a serious quality that practically makes them as obsolete as the horse and buggy: a lack of a personality that didn’t want to make humans grab something heavy and smash them until their own motherboards couldn’t recognize them. [Read more…]

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