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A Real Page Turner!
7 Plays9 days ago
It may sound boring, and yes, we had a hard time staying awake, but that's not because books are boring! Opposite! Tyler's type of nerd is comics and Josh's nerd is sci-fi fantasy! And sometimes mystery. Like the Three Investigators, or the world of Narnia and who can forget the Riddle Master of Hed? Well, Josh can't. So join us for an episode dedicated to all the books we have loved. Well, not all of them. Just a few. And yes, we talk about Star Wars, and Dune. And Bladerunner.
What's your favourite book? Let us know at speakpipe.com/denx4lifepodcast
Send a message at Instagram at instgram.com/genx4life_podcast
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Transcript
Introduction and Reading Habits
00:00:01
Speaker
Okay, so here's a tough one for you. What's the last book you read? ah That wasn't a comic book? He looks over his shoulder. yeah <unk>s got and some ah ah I am looking over my shoulder. I read a ton of comics. I read a ton of magazines.
00:00:23
Speaker
Are we talking a proper book? No, because even the last like proper bound book I read was an independent manga. so So I'm embarrassed to say it's been a while.
00:00:36
Speaker
Well, the good thing is you're reading stuff, but you're just Oh, every day without fail. Yeah. You're just not reading books. It's not for my brain. See, I don't We're going to have to work on that. See, old biographies, like I'll read biographies, but like, you know.
00:00:51
Speaker
And and i'm i'm I'm pretty bad, too, because I'll read a lot. I think a ton of poetry. I've got a ton of playbooks that I'm reading, but I i haven't read novels in a very long time.
Childhood Reading and Imagination
00:01:02
Speaker
But just recently I started to collect, of course. But he's like, oh, he's collecting more things. yeah I have been reading and collecting.
00:01:12
Speaker
the three investigators. Oh, OK. So when I was a kid, one of my favorite books was Alfred Hitchcock and Three Investigators. So I've got a bunch of those and i I've actually been reading them.
00:01:24
Speaker
Cool. They're fun reads. I think only if you have a good imagination do you benefit from reading. Because I think other people who can't picture things or hear things, and you know, I think it's lost on them. But, you know.
00:01:36
Speaker
Well, I've got the right brain for that then. yeah but But like, it's so hard. Like, don't you find when you go crawling to bed at night, like, like I need to fall asleep almost the minute I lay down. So I get like one page done and that's all I can do.
00:01:49
Speaker
When I was a kid, I would stay up for hours reading. Yeah. I could read all night. Yeah. Yeah. It's hard now, but I think that's because we spend so much time on our phones and, uh, you know, our our brains are not exercised.
Podcast Introduction: 'Yabba Zuckers Wings'
00:02:02
Speaker
I'm telling you. Yeah.
00:02:08
Speaker
Hey, don't turn that channel. You've reached Yabba Zuckers Wings, the Saturday morning podcast where your host, Josh Downing, that's me, will take you on a trip through a Gen X Saturday morning of cereal, toys, cartoons, and so much more.
00:02:21
Speaker
So grab your honeycombs and your favorite Micronaut and sit back and enjoy. All right, listeners, we are back. And today, um ah we're going to talk ah about something that that Gen Xers probably all remember, and that's reading.
Early Reading Memories and Achievements
00:02:37
Speaker
And then that's reading a book. And like, I know when I was a kid, I read a lot of books. And Tyler's laughing because he's like, books? What the hell? yeah I am not prepared for this assignment, teacher.
00:02:51
Speaker
You're never prepared. um Oh, now hold on. Let's be fair. I never know what the subject is going to be. Well, that's why you're not prepared, because I don't tell you what the assignment is.
00:03:01
Speaker
Thank you for clarifying. It's not about you. it's It's about the fact that it's a mystery. it's Yeah. Ooh. Ooh. Spooky. Mystery. Yeah. You know, I was looking around my cluttered office, and i'm like,
00:03:15
Speaker
what what is something else that's sort of unique to our generation? And I think that um reading was was big. And i know it was big for nerds like me. um i have a memory of our family traveled a lot over the summers, as I've mentioned before.
00:03:33
Speaker
And we were in I want to say we were probably done in the States, we're probably in Portland, Oregon, visiting from family friends. And i had nothing better to do.
00:03:44
Speaker
They didn't have kids my age. I didn't know anybody. So I went to their local library and they had a summer book club. And they're like, if you read 50 books, you can win a prize. I'm like, I can do that easy. i was quite the reader.
00:04:00
Speaker
So I read 50 books over the week or week and a half that we were at this. Oh my gosh. At these people's houses. You do end deserve a prize. And won my award. What was it? A bookmark? I think it was actually a bookmark and a certificate. And I was very proud of that certificate.
00:04:17
Speaker
Probably that we should be. Read a lot of books. Now, I'm not saying they were big books. Some of them were picture books. But, you know, I'm all about the winning.
00:04:28
Speaker
Yeah, that's so funny.
Adult Reading Preferences
00:04:30
Speaker
Competitive nature. so so were you a reader when you were a kid? Well, I was. i learned to read books. at a younger age because of comics.
00:04:41
Speaker
um So, you know, I never looked down on that, you know, um so I was advanced when I got into school for reading. But I'm trying to think like, when I was a kid, I never liked things that were for kids.
00:04:55
Speaker
You know, i don't want I don't want music for kids. I don't want books for kids. You know, I want adult stuff all the time. You know what I mean? So when I think about the books that I was reading, I was always kind of irked a little bit that like, yeah, these are for kids my age. And I just, you know, I just, I didn't care for it.
00:05:14
Speaker
I know I went through a phase where I read like every Judy Blume book and they were great, you know, but at the same time, I'm like, no, I'd rather read about adults or teenagers, you know.
00:05:25
Speaker
um And I've, I had a huge collection of books and, And I just recently sold half my collection couple of months ago. Um, because like books are beautiful, you know? Um, but if I'm not touching them, you know, unfortunately then, you know, I did sell off half, but, um,
00:05:48
Speaker
But yeah, I was much more a comic book kid or photo novel kid, you know, or the movie novella kid, yes you know, than traditional books. I used to go to the library and I would just be annoyed what I saw.
00:06:03
Speaker
ah Sorry. I'm laughing because there's a hundred jokes there, but, um but I was always frustrated. You know, I remember going to the local library and the only cool quote unquote book I could find was the Beatles. yellow submarine book so i took it out because I'm just like, well, this is the only thing you have here. That's cool. You know, and I'm like seven.
00:06:23
Speaker
um So I guess I guess what this is boiling down to is I had an attitude problem right from the beginning, included the library where other people had already touched these books.
Library as a Safe Haven
00:06:33
Speaker
eo I'll get my own. Thank you.
00:06:36
Speaker
Although I did like the Scholastic Book Club at school. Okay. it was exciting to get books that way. But I was buying like the Disney movie books. And of course you were. yeah I remember having the novella for going coconuts. Yeah.
00:06:53
Speaker
ah That's good read. Oh my goodness. That's a good read right there. ah ah Especially after some yellow submarine. Yes. Yes. Seriously.
00:07:05
Speaker
I was big nerd. I was always being beaten up. So the only place to hide where there was no bullies was the library. Right. So that was the best, safest place for me. Thank God. through like elementary school and junior high, i have lived in the library. So ah that was my my refuge place.
00:07:22
Speaker
And I read a lot of books and there's a lot of books that, that struck me and stayed with me. so no doubt. One of the, one of the first ones was when our, uh, I don't, I don't remember what grade it was, but, uh, the teacher was reading to us the secret world of Aug. Do you remember that book? No, do not. It was written by, Pierre Burton.
00:07:43
Speaker
Oh yeah. And it was about this bizarre underworld kind of, realm with these sort of little goblin people. And these kids, of course, get pulled into this world somehow in some way and have to try to find their way back. And it the the fantasy of this book and the imagery in the drawings in the book were so
Fantasy and Science Fiction Influence
00:08:06
Speaker
compelling to me. i was like, this is just mental. Like I have to, you know, I have to be in this world. I have to explore this.
00:08:15
Speaker
And so it was one of the ones that really stuck with me. And I think it eventually got Hanna-Barbera animated special as well. Really? Yeah. Okay. Yeah, it was ah it was an important book, but it was one of the ones that really stuck out.
00:08:29
Speaker
Then the one that that came after that for me was the line the witch in the wardrobe oh yeah yeah yeah and a teacher read the first book and i was like what do you mean there's more books i need to go to this world sure enough took the books out read every single one of them multiple times and i was just fascinated like the world of narnia to me was was it like I wanted to be, you know, a Pevensey kid and, you know, get your escape, right?
00:09:00
Speaker
Yeah, totally. Like it was, it was, yeah, absolutely escape. And then that's kind of when fantasy and science fiction started entering my world. And then that became my focus. Like that was the stuff I love to read.
00:09:13
Speaker
I thought it was cool that you could, you know, at that time buy, you know, books based on Star Wars. You know what I mean? Like, yeah you know, just all these, you know, people cashing in but, you know, all of a sudden the science fiction section was huge because people were writing all these new stories. Right.
00:09:34
Speaker
Yeah. And I was fascinated by that. I think that one of the first ones that, that, that happened to me when that was, um, there was two books, I think that came out shortly after star Wars, maybe, maybe just after empire. And I can't really remember one of them was about Han Solo.
00:09:51
Speaker
question I had the mind's eye. Was that one of them? Oh, splinter the mind's eye. That that was an amazing one. I loved that. Because that was about Luke and Leia and Darth Vader. Right, right, right.
00:10:04
Speaker
So good. And that, yeah, that one and the Han Solo's revenge. Brilliant. Loved them. You know, I was, I was right there. They were fantastic. And then I got into um ah some really trippy books like the, I don't know you've heard of these, but they were called the white mountains by John Christopher. Nope.
00:10:23
Speaker
And they were about these tripods that had taken over earth and were controlling people. And they would, they would take young people and put these caps on their head so they can control them.
00:10:35
Speaker
Oh yeah. And this guy and his friends were supposed and everybody was okay with this. They were like, yeah, yeah, we're going to go and be capped and, you know, be controlled by the, ah these aliens. Yeah. And him and his friends decide, hey no we don't want to be capped. We want to be like you know have control of our own lives.
00:10:52
Speaker
So it's about them trying to escape and and overthrow this this tyranny of aliens.
Secretive Reading and Adaptations
00:10:59
Speaker
did you like i didn but ah Did your parents mind you reading that?
00:11:03
Speaker
I don't think they knew. yeah i kept this very top secret. But I found out recently that the series also got a British television series. So you know that went.
00:11:18
Speaker
It was ah very much of its time, very much of its, ah we'll call it pre-CGI special effects. Yeah, well, that's fair.
00:11:30
Speaker
Interesting in its own way that somebody would challenge, like take on the challenge of this. Because, I mean, that's a huge undertaking, especially for a television show way back then. think it was done in the eighty s But I was still, you know, it's still fascinating for me. I love that stuff.
00:11:46
Speaker
Oh, for sure. and then I think my favorite fantasy series ended up being the series called, um a it was The Riddle Master of Head, Air of Sea and Fire and Harpest in the Wind.
00:11:59
Speaker
And something about this book was so deeply emotional for me that it stuck with me. Like it was one of those ones where I read it and it just, burned itself into my brain well then it's doing its job right you know it's a gift whenever that kind of experience happens you know yeah it was uh it was it was truly like there's there's so many things that i remember you know in my life and growing up but some of these books that provided, you know, my brain, the the kind of imagery that I was looking for. And and it really was sort of, you know like you said, an escape, but also really rewarding.
Aspiration to Write and Creativity
00:12:36
Speaker
Like I really, really understood these, these people and these characters.
00:12:41
Speaker
And of course, then I wanted to be a writer. So I drew pictures of spaceships instead. Yeah. Pew, pew. And they were good spaceships. Yes, of course. And they didn't look anything at all like anything you would have seen in star Trek or Star Wars Battlestar Galactica.
00:12:58
Speaker
You don't have to worry about getting sued. ah Totally. And no, my hero did not look like a Mandalorian the in any way whatsoever. Yeah, I think that um ah being like sort of a book nerd was just, it was going to be inevitable and it stuck with me.
00:13:17
Speaker
And so much of you know what I did as a creative person came out of all the inspiration that I got when I was a kid and and reading books. Yeah. And I loved comic books too, but I was not the comic book nerd. I was the, you know, the science fiction nerd.
00:13:32
Speaker
who Well, yeah, like you would want something a bit above the trash that I was reading.
00:13:41
Speaker
Yeah, but it wasn't trashy. if you If you're like reading the stories and not just looking at the pictures. come Oh yeah, no, I'm teasing. I'm teasing. As I say, it helped me to read at a young age. So, you know, good job.
00:13:52
Speaker
when you When you were saying that you wanted to read about adults, it was funny because one of the things that I thought of was when I was a kid, my mom started to read murder mystery magazines.
00:14:05
Speaker
So she had this subscription to, i think it was called Ellery Queen's Murder Mysteries or Mysteries or something. And there were these little sort of paperback books that she would get on a monthly basis.
00:14:19
Speaker
And they would have sort of short stories or like novelettes that were based on like mysteries and murder mysteries and things. And I loved those things. I just read every single one of them.
00:14:32
Speaker
And it's funny because as an adult, I'm not so crazy about it. But I think that's also where I started to love, you know the Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigator. Mm-hmm. stories as well because they were they were like you know they were kid version of mysteries but they were also really cool kids yeah they got to do such cool things cool right did you ever read them nope nope never even heard of them no so cool these kids one of the kids knew alfred hitchcock in the books and so he would always have sort of a forward to the book
00:15:04
Speaker
And like, and I don't know, i don't I don't think it actually came from Alfred Hitchcock. I think it was just part of the storytelling, but it sometimes he would like sort of introduce the story and say, well, you know, the kids are off on another adventure. And the one kid was a child star and his parents owned a junkyard. So they built their, their, you know mystery solving hideout in an old trailer buried under a bunch of junk.
00:15:31
Speaker
Like that's magic. That's Scooby-Doo kind of magic. It wouldn't be allowed today. no because you'd step on a nail or something. But yeah, that was the cool thing. And they would always go and have these these awesome adventures cool and in California.
00:15:48
Speaker
so Of course. course right Most of it took place in California. And also I found out recently that there were, i want to say three movies, but I've only been able to find two movies. And they were done by a German film company, I think.
00:16:01
Speaker
Okay. Really hard to find copies of them. Yeah. But i I've watched one of them and it wasn't bad. Like the yeah production quality is not bad. it's It's not an American film for sure. And it certainly doesn't have that sort of American appeal to it.
00:16:16
Speaker
But I always imagined like... Also, when I was a kid and I wanted to be a filmmaker, that would be the film I was going to make. I was going to make Three Investigators. okay. Yeah. Right? Because I just thought they would make such a cool film.
00:16:28
Speaker
Now we just Google whodunit. yeah Yeah. don't Do people even read mysteries anymore? oh for sure. i think anybody who who still reads, I think like,
00:16:41
Speaker
you know, all categories are probably still pretty strong for, for fiction. i i get the, I get the feeling though, that, um that like fiction has just sort of taken on this.
00:16:53
Speaker
Everything's kind of the same and it's, it's usually just a mild mystery with quirky, really super quirky characters in it. Kind of like our TV shows are these days are also very similar.
00:17:05
Speaker
Well, it just feels like that's just what people are reading. They've run out of ideas. Yeah. Well, we're just we're recycling ideas left, right, and center, right? It's easier, right? Yeah.
00:17:16
Speaker
And it's ah it doesn't make for good storytelling.
Impactful Series and Adaptations
00:17:19
Speaker
That's why when a you know if a TV show comes along and there's solid you know storytelling, i just it's amazing to me.
00:17:29
Speaker
Well, yeah, because you just consume it. like Because it's such a it's such a fantastic... relief to finally have something to enjoy and respect we just um just finished watching the and or star wars series i do need to see that yeah you do yeah yeah yeah i saw a brief um clip of when he tries to steal one of the prototype ships and i'm like this is motion picture quality you know and just the effects were spot on and you know it like just that little bit was enough to be like yeah i'm missing out on something here i think
00:18:10
Speaker
Yeah, it's um it's also just really super sharp, intelligent, interesting writing. Like they they created, ah you know, a Star Wars universe that didn't constantly nod to the Star Wars universe. It was like, nope, these are just people trying to survive. And yet it's the it's the prehistory of the Star Wars universe.
00:18:38
Speaker
And it's why everything that we saw in Star Wars happened. Well, you're a Dune fan. Was Dune a book first or was it always a movie? Dune was definitely a book first. It was. Yeah. Frank Herbert wrote the books way back. And that was another series that I discovered and was way too young when I read it. And it was so thick because his books are so intricate and detailed.
00:19:02
Speaker
He describes, you know, so much of everything in every single shot. Yeah. Um, and so I read all of those books when I was a kid, loved them. And then they did the first movie.
00:19:16
Speaker
And at the time I loved it. yeah it was like nothing I'd ever seen. um and then they did the television series of the first two books, um,
00:19:26
Speaker
also really good. But then the the latest movies that have come out have just been absolutely incredible. Good, good. Yeah. It's a tough one because so much of those books are in people's heads. It's so much of the the plotting and the politics and the thinking and, you know, the feeling about things.
00:19:48
Speaker
So that's really hard to convey, you know, in a movie. And that's why the books were so successful because they were so intense. Yeah. Did you read all the Harry Potter books?
00:19:59
Speaker
I read every single one of the Harry Potter books. Okay. Yeah, and that was that was a harder one because the books were not really strong song-rewwritten books. They're not great books.
00:20:11
Speaker
So does it make sense that the phenomenon of the books was so huge? Absolutely. Okay. it's still It still had the right stuff to be a great young adult series. Yeah. Yeah.
00:20:26
Speaker
um I think that, you know, the the things that were tapped into, you know, the the the magic and the, you know, the escapism and the, you know, trying to to make sense of a crazy world and then fighting back against, you know, teachers and and oppressive adults, all those all those themes were what made it so special. Yeah.
00:20:49
Speaker
You know, but it, ah the movies also made it really powerful. Yeah. Because by the time they got to the third movie, it was just stunning.
00:21:02
Speaker
Yeah. Like for as popular as the books were with adults, I thought, well, obviously there's something to these books, you know, but if it's more about the characters, maybe then about the story writing, that's interesting.
00:21:15
Speaker
Yeah, I didn't find the writing strong and there was a lot of stuff where it was like, nah, that's not great. That's interesting. Yeah, but um but I think, once again, like I was reading it as an adult, so I also had to say, well, these were written for young adults. Yeah, that I get.
00:21:32
Speaker
yeah Even when I go back and read, you know, the Narnia books, I'm still like, yeah, yeah this is not a book for adults. I get the themes and I understand the other the other levels to it, but overall,
00:21:45
Speaker
It's still a kid's book. It was ah yeah it was you know a series of books written
Bookstores and Collecting
00:21:49
Speaker
for children. Do you have a favorite bookstore in Toronto? ah I used to love going to, I want to say it's BAFTA, but that could be wrong.
00:21:59
Speaker
It's not Banta. have to look it up. Is it the Danforth? No, it's moved around. It used to be on Queen Street, and then it moved somewhere else. and I can't remember what it is, but it was a science fiction store, and it they focused on the the rare ah science fiction. Actually, no, my favorite bookstore is the one that's on the Danforth.
00:22:22
Speaker
i just can't remember what they're called now. I don't remember. I know you heard it. Reword. I'll find it. One second. It's an awesome bookstore. It's a used bookstore. And it's it's so much fun.
00:22:35
Speaker
Because the owner also loves Star Trek and science fiction. And has turned it into like a ah Star Trek uh museum but i can't seem to find anything today it's because i'm so tired my brain is actually just like five seconds away from just rebooting but anyways us there's still some awesome bookstores out there it's hard to it's hard to find books yeah it's hard to uh to you know to find bookstores that are still around there's actually another amazing bookstore on the danforth that is called i think first edition yeah and they they
00:23:08
Speaker
have the first editions of some of the best books ever. wow And they're just they're beautiful. They're mint. They're all wrapped up in these these beautiful sleeves to protect them so they can last a few more years.
00:23:20
Speaker
But my other big reading, ah my one of my favorite authors was Philip K. Dick, and I started reading him when I was in junior high. And I'm like, Whoa, this stuff is amazing. Like his stuff was just not like anything I'd ever read before.
00:23:37
Speaker
Sure. So I was into him way before these, before they started making movies. And, uh, some of the movies have been okay. Yeah. Not all super great movies, but there's been some really good stuff out there.
00:23:49
Speaker
I mean, obviously the most famous one is a blade runner. Right. But, uh, yeah, there's some, there's, you know, I, I love reading. I still buy books when I can. and Like I said, i so I started buying a lot of theater books because they've been disappearing and and there's a lot of plays that I still want to read and and enjoy.
00:24:08
Speaker
So I have quite a big collection of plays and also poetry. Cool. Yeah. So I guess I'm still a bit of a reader. Well, sounds like it. That's good.
00:24:20
Speaker
Just think when we retire, you'll have more time. You know, I keep telling myself that little lie. You'll have lots of things to do. Yeah, and the old retirement thing. but I'm like, oh my God, I'm going to sit there going, I'm not reading those stupid books.
00:24:38
Speaker
I'm not watching that movie again. That's so funny. I don't know what I'm going to do.
Trivia and Computer Nostalgia
00:24:44
Speaker
That's awesome. All right. That's all I got for you today. Unless you want a trivia question.
00:24:49
Speaker
Oh, I think we should. It's so funny because I'm tired too. I've been up since four and I'm just like, ugh. ah I know. So you obviously slept in.
00:25:01
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, exactly. All right, here you go. Okay. All right. umm Wait, wait, wait, wait. We got to do this first. Okay, that's better. Okay. Now we know we're playing a game. All right, I'm awake.
00:25:12
Speaker
Okay. What 1987 film allowed Peter Weller to in intone, excuse me, i have to go somewhere. There is a crime happening. Uh, make it guns.
00:25:27
Speaker
ah no Peter Waller with a naked gun. I don't know who that is. i never know names. or ah Robocop. Oh, God. but You know, I was surprised. Sorry, is that the answer? Robocop? Yes, it's Robocop. I was surprised how violent that film was. It was really intense. I had no idea. I thought it was sort of a bit of a joke film, you know?
00:25:48
Speaker
And when I saw it that year, I was just like, whoa, that's not what I thought. I liked it. i don't remember for it. Oh, it's just, it's just violence. It's just, you know, he takes like 800 bullets and so they turned him into a robot.
00:26:03
Speaker
And then he's very sad because he still has flashbacks of his family. I'm like, oh my God. there Yeah, it's pretty tragic, but it's, it's still a really good movie. Well, I was close with the naked gun.
00:26:15
Speaker
Yeah, you were totally close. So you're not going to get. Oh, damn it. I hate that noise. It actually shocked me in my chair. That's exactly what it does. i don't think anybody realizes that. Okay, here's a toy. Full humiliation. Here's a toy question for you.
00:26:37
Speaker
You better get this. What toy company unleashed pound puppies in 1985? I'm going to assume it was Hasbro. Okay, where's my button? Where's my button? Oh,
00:26:48
Speaker
Where's my button? Oh, no. oh I'd like to change my answer to Mattel.
00:26:56
Speaker
and by Oh, damn it. Coleco? a You're getting closer. There's only 800 toy companies left. who who Who is it?
00:27:08
Speaker
It is actually Tonka. The answer is Tonka. Oh, that's a good question. i think it's a gloom. Yeah, that's a good question. I would never know. we We only remember Tonka as being like the truck people. Totally.
00:27:21
Speaker
And then all of a sudden they're making pound puppies. And pound puppies were huge. Yeah, was huge. Right? They were like little tiny Elmo's. All right. What's my next one? Okay. Here's a movie question for you.
00:27:33
Speaker
Okay. Okay. Who landed roles in Do the Right Thing? Did you see that? I did. okay And Moonstruck. Did you see that? I did. Awesome movie.
00:27:45
Speaker
After showing up in a Madonna video. God. Is it that little boy? it's probably that little boy. no I don't think there's a... No?
00:27:59
Speaker
No. Danny Aiello. Oh, that's so funny. He was in Papa Don't Preach, right? Yeah. Oh my God, that's totally the answer. That's so funny.
00:28:09
Speaker
That's a good one. well I'm not a Madonna fan, as everybody knows. Yeah. But I was close with the little boy. Well, I'm sure they were in a scene together, but no, that was not the answer we were looking for.
00:28:23
Speaker
So was thinking like, is there a little boy in Do the Right Thing? like Probably in the background. I don't think I ever saw Do the Right Thing. No, it's good. I don't remember it. It was good. and All right. Here's the music question for you.
00:28:34
Speaker
Oh, good. I'm glad we're still going. Yeah. What was Tina Turner's only chart-topping single as a soloist? only yeah like me does that mean number one well chart topping meaning that it got you know to the tops of the charts she had hundreds of singles i'm assuming it's what's love got to do with it wow sorry for that gap but there it is yeah you got that one right no that one was a little easy but yeah i thought was well i thought it was just like i have no idea what you're talking about well i thought was worded strange i thought is it a trick question like what are they trying to say here you know
00:29:13
Speaker
yeah that way is That was the summer of 84, kids. Yeah. The year I graduated from high school. I was only in second year high school.
00:29:24
Speaker
We would have computer class on punch cards. Fun. I'm on the pet computer, which was just rolled out a couple years before. I just didn't understand and I failed that class.
00:29:35
Speaker
Oh, I did too. My teacher actually said to me, um computer science is not for you. i suggest you go take an art class. exactly and i'm like yay ah zero zero one zero i could not do that those punch cards were just not going to work with my my brain i didn't understand what we were doing like we're sitting in classroom without computers yeah and i'm failing like like i don't i didn't understand what we were being taught Clearly.
00:30:06
Speaker
we were trying to write a language that we didn't even understand. So we had to, and then take that language and punch it into a card And then feed it into a computer. Because once a week, we're allowed to go feed the computer the punch cards.
00:30:21
Speaker
Well, here's here's an embarrassing story that I'll share. embarrassing stories. Here we go. So, yeah, right on. So it's 1984. nineteen eighty four And I'm like well, I'm not getting anything out of this class. So I have a question.
00:30:35
Speaker
So here's my... flexi game of thompson twins that's from a computer magazine and i asked my teacher can you please play this for me and he said no so i've only seen recently a couple of screen grabs from that game i don't even remember what it was called but like i paid a lot of money to get that flexi game i don't even know what device you would have played it on back then but it was a computer game and it was thompson twice yeah yeah it was probably just a regular pc game i yeah i get what you're saying but i mean like the format did that make sense back then like if those black flexi like the right yeah yeah it was a game yeah it was the black rectangles right and they were like about no it was around six inches square oh it was around like like like a flexi record
00:31:27
Speaker
I'm just quickly. I think somebody took them out of the, out of the, uh, sleeves. you were going to say out of the gap. Yep. Oh, here it's called. It was called Thompson twins adventure. Yeah, there it is. There's a lot of pictures of it online.
00:31:41
Speaker
Oh, see the internet's good. Take paper. Okay. Got a newspaper, read paper. The newspaper proclaims the Thompson twins do it again. and Great game.
00:31:54
Speaker
Wow. That's compelling. But yeah, I really don't get how you played it. 7-inch Flexi Disc Freebie with the October 1984 issue. But yeah, I don't really get what you played it on.
00:32:07
Speaker
yeah it would it would have probably been a really early PC of some sort. And usually those those early games were entering in commands like, you know, go or run or stop.
00:32:21
Speaker
And then it would give you some options and then you'd pick an option. Yeah, I guess like they're doing something with this newspaper. yeah You know what's really funny? According to Wikipedia, it's based on the Dr. Doctor single. Oh, perfect.
00:32:37
Speaker
That is so funny. That is so hilarious. Oh, here you go. Sorry, forgive me. Unusual storage format. Yeah. Experimental technique.
00:32:50
Speaker
Yeah, that's weird. Like, why would it just be on a naked disc? A small handful of other games distributed on grooved discs. This format never became
Conclusion and Listener Invitation
00:33:01
Speaker
established. i I'm sure I have it.
00:33:04
Speaker
I'm sure I have it somewhere. You still have it? I'm sure I do. I don't think I would have gotten rid of that because it's too odd of an item, you know. Plus, I probably paid $15 it back then.
00:33:15
Speaker
Oh my God, you're rich. Well, British magazines were expensive. Yes, they are. Okay. One last question for you. Okay.
00:33:26
Speaker
What your rhythmic, I'm so tired. What your rhythmic hits swooned. I want to dive into your ocean. Oh, here comes the rain again. Yes. Look at that. you got it.
00:33:41
Speaker
Look at that. Yes. You're such a Eurythmics fan. It was just getting more and more boring at that point.
00:33:49
Speaker
That was awesome. Well, thank you once again, Tyler. I really appreciate it. contributed nothing. yeah No, you did. No, you contributed lots.
00:34:00
Speaker
Give book. Read a book. My books. Yeah, go read something. You know, readers, you can participate. this is ah This is a two-way street here. You can certainly jump on to speakpipe.com, Gen X for Life podcast.
00:34:15
Speaker
Let me know, is there a kid's book or a book that you love or even like a genre of books that you loved? I'd love to hear from you. love to hear if you have a question or something else you want us to talk about.
00:34:26
Speaker
And hopefully next time we won't be both half asleep. We'll be more and engaged and then you won't fall asleep and you'll keep subscribing and listening to Yabba Zonkers Zoinks.
00:34:38
Speaker
You've been listening to Yabba Zonker Zoinks, a Gen X for Life podcast. Don't forget to subscribe so you don't miss any exciting episodes. You can reach out on Instagram at Gen X for Life podcast. That's Gen X number four life underscore podcast or send an email at Gen X for Life podcast, all one word at gmail.com.
00:35:00
Speaker
I'd love to hear about your favorite Gen X Saturday morning memory, maybe a favorite toy or the cereal you just couldn't wait to tear into. Until then, have a Yabba Zonker Zoinks day, and I'll be back bright and early next Saturday morning.