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Awesome 1980s

Living with 1980s Tech for a Week

Living with 1980s Tech for a Week

Technology advances quickly, so the difference between today’s gadgets and those you could buy in the 1980s is dramatic. That said, the decade did give us early cell phones, portable tape players, VCRs, and personal computers. Twenty-something YouTuber Liam Thompson wanted to see what it would be like to live using only tech from the ’80s for a week.

Bardcore ’80s

Bardcore ’80s

The 1980s and the 1380s were pretty different times. The era of big hair and Rubik’s produced some great synthpop and arena rock, and those tunes sound surprisingly good when played on medieval instruments. This 90-minute medley features bardcore versions of 22 classic ’80s tracks, including Don’t Stop Believin’, Smooth Criminal, Eye of the Tiger, and more.

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Monsterama Retro Horror Zines

Monsterama Retro Horror Zines
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Tattoo artist Allan Graves created this awesome series of zines celebrating horror illustrations and advertising from the 1970s and 1980s. Each issue has 100 pages packed with gruesome and graphic imagery that is definitely not for kids. Monsterama #4 hits 8.30.2023, and you can grab the first three issues here.

’80s Singers Sing The Weeknd

’80s Singers Sing The Weeknd

Lebanese singer Tony Abou Jaoudeh, aka looneytony4 is a master of vocal impressions. In this video, he performs The Weeknd’s 1980s-style track Save Your Tears in the voices of artists who were popular in the 1980s like A-Ha, Pet Shop Boys, Depeche Mode, and George Michael. His Jimmy Somerville is spot on.

AVI-8 x Capcom 1942 Watch

AVI-8 x Capcom 1942 Watch

Watchmaker AVI-8 teamed up with Capcom to create a limited-edition wristwatch based on the top-down shooter, 1942. The aviation-themed watch features pixelated planes from the game, skeletonized hands, a bitmapped date indicator, and a “12” marker in the game’s logo font. Each watch includes custom prints by artist Nache Ramos. Drops 7.28.2023.

If Creep Was an ’80s Pop Song

If Creep Was an ’80s Pop Song

The Radiohead track Creep has been covered countless times. But we bet you’ve never heard it quite like this. Scary Pockets shared this awesomely ’80s version of the alternative classic performed by Promises and vocalist Therese Curatolo. The cyberpunk music video aesthetic is the icing on the cake.

If The Mandalorian Was The A-Team

If The Mandalorian Was The A-Team

The Mandalorian has some great action. So did The A-Team. So Nebulous Bee thought it would be fun to combine the two. This edit reimagines the credits for the Star Wars series in the style of the 1980s hit series, with Bo-Katan, Paz Vizsla, The Armorer, and Din Djarin standing in for Templeton Peck  B.A. Baracus, Hannibal Smith, and Howling Mad Murdock.

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The Final Flopdown 3.0

The Final Flopdown 3.0

In 2016, Paweł Zadrożniak turned his Floppotron electromechanical orchestra loose on Europe’s 1986 hit The Final Countdown. He’s revisited the tune with his much more powerful Floppotron 3.0, a system that’s powerful enough to load all the diskettes from Microsoft Office 97 Standard simultaneously with plenty of room to spare.

LEGO Icons Pac-Man Arcade Machine

LEGO Icons Pac-Man Arcade Machine

While you could buy a playable Pac-Man game for less money, the official LEGO version gives you the joy of assembling one yourself. The 2651-piece kit features a mechanical playfield and scoreboard, spinning Pac-Man and ghost characters on its top, and a light-up coin slot.

Discmaster Classic Computing Archive

Discmaster Classic Computing Archive

Created by Jason Scott and a team of dedicated tech archivists, Discmaster provides online access to more than 91 million files from CD-ROMs and floppy disks collected by the Internet Archive. The retro-style search interface lets you directly view images and play video and audio files from the disks.

Tactile Turn 8-Bit Titanium Pen

Tactile Turn 8-Bit Titanium Pen
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Tactile Turn’s limited-run Spring 2023 pen features a design inspired by classic 8-bit game consoles, specifically the NES. The titanium pen has a two-tone Cerakote finish in grey and black with a textured orange pocket clip and a red “Reset” button to retract its ink cartridge. Available in Standard (5.8″), Short (5.3″), and Mini (4.6″).

Duolingo in the 1980s

Duolingo in the 1980s

The app Duolingo is an easy way to learn new languages. It didn’t come out until 2011, but Squirrel Monkey lives in the past and imagines what it might have been like if it ran on 1980s IBM PC hardware and shipped on floppy disks. And yes, that Covox Speech Thing really was a thing.

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Low-Budget Practical Movie Effects

Low-Budget Practical Movie Effects

These days, many visual effects are produced using computer animation. Artist and filmmaker Markus Rothkranz looks back at some low-budget practical effects he created in the 1980s and 1990s. The tricks include miniatures, multiplane backgrounds, mirrors, and set pieces made from everyday objects.

They Live: The Card Game

They Live: The Card Game

Ready to chew bubble gum and kick ass, but you’re all out of bubble gum? We’ve got a game for you. Based on John Carpenter’s classic, They Live, this card game from Iconiq Studios has players teaming up to uncover the aliens hidden at the table. The upgrade pack includes Hoffman Lenses that reveal hidden words on some cards.

Rebuilding Amiga’s Four-Byte Burger

Rebuilding Amiga’s Four-Byte Burger

The Commodore Amiga was one of the most graphically-capable PCs of the 1980s. Stuart Brown of Ahoy dives deep into one of the greatest pieces of digital art from the era – a gloriously colorful cheeseburger designed by Commodore’s Art Director Jack Haeger. Sadly, the original file wasn’t saved, so Ahoy reproduced it from scratch.

Every Robot Wants to Rule the World

Every Robot Wants to Rule the World

The One Hacker Band is a robotic musical group that plays electromechanically-controlled instruments. They recently added a new member – a head that can sing. Here’s the latest line-up of the band performing the Tears for Fears hit Everybody Wants to Rule the World. Need more? Enjoy a little Radiohead.

How to Write a Depeche Mode Song

How to Write a Depeche Mode Song

Back in the 1980s, there were few bands to achieve the popularity of Depeche Mode. Despite their success, their melancholy alt-rock was at times quite formulaic. Musician Desmond Doom breaks down the basics so you can create your own Personal Jesus in under a minute.

Akka Arrh

Akka Arrh

Serious video game nerds might have heard of the never-released Atari arcade game Akka Arrh. Created by Tempest and Gridrunner dev Jeff Minter, a modernized version has been released for consoles and gaming PCs. Like other Llamasoft games, expect a trippy array of colors and insane swarms of attackers.

Tetris (Trailer)

Tetris (Trailer)

Before you start scratching your head, Tetris doesn’t feature a bunch of animated anthropomorphic puzzle blocks. Instead, it’s based on the true story of the man who invented it, the publisher who discovered it, and the hurdles he faced in licensing it from the USSR for Nintendo’s Game Boy handheld. Coming to Apple TV+ 3.31.23.

If Futurama Was a 1980s Dark Fantasy Film

If Futurama Was a 1980s Dark Fantasy Film

For the most part, Futurama takes place in a colorful and capitalistic 31st century. But how would the series have turned out if it were filmed in the aesthetic of David Lynch’s Dune or another similarly styled film? Through the power of AI image generation tech, Tenzin Tensor envisions just that. Hypnotoad is still highly effective.

Retro Breakfast Cereals

Retro Breakfast Cereals

While staples like Rice Krispies and Frosted Flakes have stood the test of time, some cereals last only as long as the fads they’re associated with. Weird History Food looks back at some of the sugary cereals that popped up briefly on the breakfast scene from the 1970s to the 2000s. We still have a box of C-3POs that we should eBay.

(Richard Donner is) Forever Young

(Richard Donner is) Forever Young

Bored at home during the 2020 lockdowns Michel + Nico, decided to make a movie with their sons Sacha + Robinson. The result is this wonderful short about kids dreaming up their own action-adventure flick. The title pays tribute to The Goonies and Lethal Weapon director Richard Donner. A must-watch for film buffs.

Atari x Misfit JK500 Watch

Atari x Misfit JK500 Watch
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This colorful Artist Edition watch celebrates 50 years of Atari. The forefathers of video games and Misfit teamed up with artist JK5 (Joseph Ari Aloi) to create this collectible 42mm watch, illustrated in a vibrant pop art style incorporating classic gaming elements. Limited to 500 pieces.

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