Super Nintendo!!!

Two fabulous words: Super Nintendo. It was released by Nintendo between 1990 and 1993, and my life was never the same once I got my hands on a controller. My favorite Super Nintendo games included Yoshi's Island, The Legend of Zelda, Donkey Kong Country, Diddy's Kong Quest, Dixie Kong's Double Trouble, and just about any Mario-related game.

Needless to say, I had a very active childhood during the first three years of my relationship with Super Nintendo. In fact, I became such an expert in collecting bananas, squashing enemies, and meeting checkpoints that friends from around the neighborhood would visit my house just to watch the virtual magic...or perhaps to watch my head explode whenever I lost a game and proceeded to blame everyone and everything around me (noises, especially).

Nevertheless, I accomplished so much (in my adolescent mind) playing Super Nintendo that I eventually graduated to Nintendo 64 after its release in 1996. Hello, Mario Kart 64, goodbye fresh air and homework. Fortunately for my self-esteem, plenty of other kids on the block were addicted to Mario Kart 64 as well. I had partners in crime, and it was amazing.

Watching my younger brother play video games on PlayStation 3 and XBox 360 blows my mind. The graphics have evolved so much in such a short period of time. Fortunately, however, stores such as Zelda and Mario Bros. have stood the test of time.

Until next time,
Mel

Savage Garden

Behold, the soundtrack to my existence in 1997. Savage Garden was by far and away one of my favorite bands when I was younger, and To the Moon and Back was, in my humble opinion, their best single. It carries so much nostalgia every time I hear it, and the music video is just perfect.

According to my memories, wherever there was a pool in 1997, so too was there a Savage Garden song playing in the background. Seriously. My younger sister and I grew up on a military base in Omaha, Nebraska, and we spent every summer together at the local pool. All I remember is that Savage Garden's self-titled album was on repeat every single day. The same rule applied at neighborhood pool parties.

Other Savage Garden favorites include Tears of Pearls, Carry on Dancing, and, of course, I Want You, which I think was everyone's all-time favorite. Who could forget those lyrics?: "Where your crystal minds and magenta feelings / Take up shelter in the base of my spine / Sweet like a chica cherry cola." Brilliant.

Sadly, the band only released a total of two studio albums. They're definitely more than just a one-hit-wonder, however. Savage Garden wrote the soundtrack to my late '90s, and I'll always remember them for it.

Until next time,
Mel

Melanie's Mall!

Okay, so call me a little biased. I first discovered Melanie's Mall in the back of my parents closet five days before Christmas in 1996. I was snooping around for presents and discovered three large boxes with "Melanie's Mall" written in large, pink font near the top. Being the spoiled kid I was back then, I was actually a little disappointed that I didn't discover any Barbies or Polly Pockets. Nevertheless, I was interested to learn more about this new-found toy and to find out what it had to offer my personal toy collection.

Christmas morning, I opened my presents and pretended to act surprised when I unwrapped my Melanie's Mall sets. The first set included a purple runway, a number of fashionable outfits, and, of course, a blonde Melanie doll. The second set was a beautiful ice skating rink with both a Melanie doll and a male doll who I named Jimmy after my crush at school (duh). The final set was the inside of a mall, complete with an escalator, clothing store, and pink water fountain.

By the end of December, I was living vicariously through Melanie's Mall, and by about February of the following year I owned every single piece of the collection. Similar to my Polly Pockets, I'm sad to say that all of my Melanie's Mall toys are currently collecting dust in my attic...*sigh.*

Until next time,
Mel

Polly. Pockets.

(photo credit: www.flickr.com/photos/nearbytrains)

Okay, so this post actually brought a tear to my eye, and I'm sure many women my age can relate. It actually pains me to think that all of my old Polly Pocket toys are just collecting dust in my attic. I can only hope that they will still be recognizable by the time I resurrect them from their boxes...

Polly Pockets were in a league of their own at the toy store, right next to Barbie. The cases were pocket-size (hence the name), and I carried mine around with me everywhere. Inside each case was a unique, miniature-sized world of tiny little people - the most popular of whom was blonde-haired Polly. The themes of each case ranged from underwater castles to Beverly Hills-like mansions, complete with indoor swimming pools and tanning beds.

Polly Pockets were such a simple and loveable concept. Looking back, I realize how wonderful they were, not only for me as a child, but for my mother who never had to worry about cleaning up after the compact toy.

A similar toy that I was absolutely enamored by as a child was Littlest Pet Shop, which was basically the same idea as Polly Pocket but with animals. But I will save that topic for another blog...

Until next time,

Mel

Labyrinth

I was channel surfing the other day when Labyrinth happened to be playing, and it sent me all the way back to my childhood. The movie was released in 1986, and you can certainly tell (in a good way). It is one of the most brilliant fantasy movies that Jim Henson has ever directed, which, naturally, says a lot.

Labyrinth is basically about a young girl who, in a fury of teenage angst, inadvertently wishes her baby brother, Toby, into a magical world of crazy Muppet characters ruled by David Bowie. Speaking of whom, I had the biggest - and perhaps strangest - crush on when I was younger. There was something oddly attractive about David Bowie wearing drag makeup and that fabulous '80s wig. See also: 

(photo credit: www.screened.com)

Yes, that happened. Then again, we're talking about David Bowie, and in other news, grass is green. He also sings many of the songs in the movie, which is wonderful if you're a fan of his music.

Jim Henson truly deserves to have a planet named after him for his remarkable contribution to fantasy film making. Muppets are the most timeless creatures, and movies like Labyrinth just never get old (in my humblest opinion). I love this movie so much, I think I'll watch it again this evening. 

Until next time,

Mel

Plastic Fashion

(Photo credit: de.aliexpress.com)

Behold the difference between living and existing in the second grade: shoes with built in lights that glow with every step. Almost everyone has owned a pair of these shoes at some point in their lives, and I'm sure many folks are proud owners of multiple pairs. They even make them for adults! (Don't judge.) God bless the creator of this idea, too, because anything that makes walking a little more enjoyable is a gift to this world.

These shoes should be required for all physical education classes in school, assuming there are any schools left with physical education classes. Could you imagine the visual theme park it would be to see a gym full of glowing feet? The seizures it would cause? Perhaps not the best idea.

Nevertheless, I loved these shoes. It didn't take long before the lights stopped working altogether, but the brief enjoyment they brought to my OshKosh B'Gosh wardrobe was unparalleled. In fact, my 6-year-old self probably would have even considered light up shoes to be as cool as clear jelly flip flops. Needless to say, the plastics industry truly set the stage for kids fashion in the early '90s...and then disgraced it 20 years later with the introduction of Crocs.

Until next time,
Mel

The Fellowship of the Mood Ring

(Photo credit: www.savesucash.com)

If someone asked me when I was eight years old what I would bring if I were stranded on a desert island, my mood ring would have ranked right next to water and lip gloss. I blame Anna Chlumsky's character, Vada, in the movie My Girl. Vada wore this amazing mood ring in the film, and the color of the ring would change according to how she felt. When she was happy, for example, the ring would turn blue, and when she was sad, the ring would turn yellow. The mechanics of it blew my mind, and I simply had to have one.

I remember the first time I wore a mood ring to school in the third grade. All of the girls in my class were fascinated by it, and pretty soon they were wearing mood rings, too. Every other minute of the day, I would look at my ring to discover my mood. Then one dark and stormy day, someone told me that the color of a mood ring is determined by body temperature rather than emotion. I was floored, but it made sense. Nevertheless, I continued to wear my mood ring until about the fifth grade when I finally became bored by it and graduated to my mother's old spoon ring.

Until next time,
Mel