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Retro Now: Guitar Hero Commodore 64 Mod

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Guitar-Hero-for-Commodore-6

Guitar Hero for the Commodore 64 computer system? Some kinds of madness transcends both the medium AND the message of the presentation. This is all at once the most pointless thing ever done and the coolest. Why would you want to play Guitar Hero on the C64? For the same reasons people climb Mt. Everest–just freakin’ BECAUSE. Forget about “can’t be done” or “shouldn’t be done”, anyone crazy enough to mod an old clapped out computer from the copper age of computing is also probably a total genius.

I discovered this glorious insanity on my new favorite retro blog, Retro Thing, which also features VIDEOS of this in action–definitely worth the flashback value. Bravo, Retro Thing…and the best part of this whole thing for me was the fact that it was on display right here in Chicago. It’s just a shame the post was already two years old when I found it!

Retro Thing is definitely still going strong and well worth a look.

retro culture

Andy Warhol Eats a Burger King Hamburger

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Now THIS is some serious retro video. Andy Warhol typified so much of every decade he was active in, from the 60s to the 80s. Warhol is one of those public figures that fascinates even as you wonder what the big deal was all about- a combination of sophistication and blinding simplicity.

The greatest thing about this clip is the complete lack of a statement, which in itself is taking a philosophical position. Warhol said of “static” films like these that when you see a famous person you want to “eat them up” and stare at them for a long time. Film studies like these are Warhol’s way of boiling film down to that sort of raw experience.



retro culture, trailers

Retro Drive In Movie Trailer: They Came From Within

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I love retro drive-in culture. Especially grindhouse trailers. Here’s one in that classic 70s tradition for They Came From Within, which is actually pretty good. Sometimes the trailer is the ONLY entertaining thing about drive-in grindhouse flicks, but this time that is DEFINITELY not true. This is the first of many many 70s drive-in trailer posts, to be sure.


Gear

Hit 65 Retro Album Cover

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Hit 65 retro album cover

This most excellently retro album cover from 1965 comes courtesy of the delightful LP Cover Lover, which is a favorite of mine. One of the awesome things about this particular look is the “future now” vibe. I’m a sucker for those squeaky-clean whites and the rounded corners that let you know this girl just might have arrived from a space ship or time machine a few minutes ago.

We have the space race to thank for a lot of that futurist design and fashion, methinks…and I’m soooo glad it happened. Where would be we today if not for Sputnik, JFK’s moon landing ambitions, and UFO hysteria?

retro culture

60s Retro Television: Groovy Milk

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Adventures in Retro isn’t just a catchy slogan round here…I’m a huge fan of culture artifacts from the 60s through 90s…including this deliciously cornball commercial from the America Dairy Association. Look at this stuff–the design, the music, that eye makeup! We laugh at this stuff now, but it was cutting edge in its own time, miles and miles away from viral marketing and social media. This is the first of many, many trips back in time here….