Beyond the world of play and make believe ...

there were the tragedies, and the scandals.

When most females are little girls, they imagine that being a princess means living in a castle, having a crown of gold, and wearing a long gown of pink or lilac. My ten year old self was no exception. At this age, I enjoyed a plethora of make believe games, like playing dress up, as it gave me the chance to boast my early dramatic flare. I pranced around my house in over sized dresses and sparkling shoes from my dress up box and spoke in a lofty accent to my playmates. This is probably the reason why, on the long weekend in August of '97, when family and I were visiting with friends, my Mom simply laughed and shoo-shooed me back to my sisters as I marched up to her and the other adults on the deck to announce that "Princess Diana has died".

I did what my Mom said -went back into the TV room where the news was on every channel, reporting the death of this princess. What my mom didn't realize that night was this time, my princess game was not entirely made up. By the next morning at breakfast, my Mom seemed to have heard of the international news. She asked me if I was just playing the night before when I had told her about Princess Di, to which I shrugged my small shoulders and said "the TV said so". In this moment, I can still remember the look on my mother's face -one of simultaneous shock and sorrow. When we returned home, the face of Princess Di (who wasn't at all what I thought a princess looked like) was everywhere - in the newspaper, on covers of magazines, and on the TV. And I will never forget that.

This, to me, is unbelievable. A lifestyle above me, an ocean between us, and nothing at all in common, I can still remember the vivid details surrounding Princess Diana's death. For the rest of my life, I expect to remember the details of world events like 911 or the Virginia Tech Massacre. But Princess Diana? Undoubtedly it was a huge event, but I didn't watch the news when I was a kid, I played pogs and sang Spice Girls.

Of course, when an event is as big as something like the death of Princess Di, it moves beyond news coverage so that people of all ages remember it (albeit in different ways). Like Princess Di, there are parts of the 90's, besides toys, movies, and television, that I can clearly recall hearing about as a kid. A child and adult perspective vary greatly from each other, especially on instances of importance. I've decided to make a list of some of the top "news-related" things that I can, as accurately as possible, recall learning about in the 90's, whether voluntary or not:

1. Princess Diana (see above) and Mother Theresa - I still remember the deaths of two prominent promoters of charity that passed on within two weeks of each other. I knew that both must have been very good people, as the story of their lives' dominated the mainstream media.
   
2. O.J. Simpson, 1994/1995 - I was only 8, and I remember that my Mom said he was a 'bad man" with a black glove (which I often times got confused with the white glove of Michael Jackson, but still, they were both scary). Anyway, I knew he was in the NFL too, and football still scares me to this day.
3. Nancy Kerrigan vs. Tonya Harding, also in 1994 - I remember that Harding clubbed Kerrigan in the knee so she could win a gold medal. I never really knew exactly what happened but I got the gist - it was the wrong thing to do and Harding still placed 10th. Guess she missed about nine targets.
   
4. JonBenet Ramsey, 1996 - All I remember is that she was pretty and rich. And because of that, she was killed. But nobody knew by whom. But she was pretty.... and rich.
   
5. Bill Clinton & Monica Lewinsky, 1998 - I was 12 when this all broke out, so I understood that Clinton was adulterous, and because of that, he was an inadequate President of the U.S.A. (*Some things never change...)

These are not all the scandals, tragedies, or big news stories of the 90's. They are simply the ones I, personally, can recall best at this time. In keeping this blog, I have been doing some research into more news related issues of the 90's, and have found it interesting to learn that things like the L.A. riots and the availability of the internet also occurred in the decade. Some of these events lived solely in the 90's, but many have obviously lived on to influence our life today. To put it in perspective - without the introduction and popularization of the internet, how would I even be keeping this blog at all? (*Well, I guess some things change)

Ho-Wii Fun!

On friday night, instead of going out, I had the pleasure of playing Nintendo Wii for the first time at a friend's house. After about two hours, I had gone to the bowling alley, performed abismally at a home run derby, ventured to the tennis courts, and punched and got punched out by my friend in the boxing ring - all without leaving my friend's living room OR spending a cent. I am no gamer, but WOW, what a break through!

On my way home, I got to thinking about how the world of video games has changed significantly from the 90's. Remember good ol' Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis? Yes, they were both great systems, and Sonic the Hedgehod and Super Mario Brothers were the shiz-nit. But seriously, they got nothin' on Wii.

Now don't get me wrong - I loved and still do love Super Nintendo and am proud to say I can hum the theme song to every level of Super Mario. But since the 90's, I am happy to say that I feel video games have changed for the better. Back in the day, I, and countless other 90's kids, could frequently be found plopped one foot in front of the TV screen, craning our necks playing Nintendo or Sega. But NOW, us same kids can be found jumping around swinging bats and punches in mid-air or throwing imaginary bowling balls at the television! That, to me, is all kinds of awesome.

Sitting infront of the television vs. jumpin' around like a lunatic infront of the television. What's the better situation here? Obviously, in our North Amerian society of increasing obesity, the latter. I'm not saying that Wii will in any way solve all health problems, but alteast it encourages physical activity more so than pushing the controller to where you wanted Mario to jump did. And in present day society, where kids enjoy playing with toys like Webkins, physical activity is just what they need.

Obviously, there are still things about Super Nintendo and Sega that I will sorely miss. These primarily being the games. Paperboy, Zombies Ate My Neighbours, 3 Ninjas Kick Back. And pre Super Nintendo, Blades of Steel and Duck Hunt. As I said previously, I am no gamer, so correct me if I'm wrong but I'm pretty sure these games don't yet exist on Wii?

On the bright side, I look forward to venturing further into the world of Wii, and experiencing an all new way to game. But, at the same time, I will never neglect to play Super Nintendo or Sega given the opportunity. So what's the verdict - old school gaming systems or Nintendo Wii? Like I said before, Nintendo Wii wins the battle. But Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis will always hold a special spot in my heart. Think of it like your first love, that bond can never die.

It's finally here...The Plog

A few posts back, I took a big step. And, in taking this big step, I may have seriously injured my reputation as a lover of the 90's. But, although I told you I didn't watch Ninja Turtles, I can assure you that I did do other cool things growing up (I mean, besides collecting beanie babies). One of these cool things I did was play pogs. So, I'm pretty confident my rep. should still be in tact.

Pogs. Ohhh pogs, they were quite possibly my favourite fad of the decade. Because of their cool factor, I have decided to title this entry after a newly crafted word I've invented through combining the word blog and pog. "PLOG". You are reading a plog. A plog does two things: elicits those warm nostalgic fuzzies we all get in our tummies, and also, investigates deeper issues - like the mysterious disappearance of pogs from the playground. Well, that's what my plog does anyway. I don't actually know if other plogs exist.

So for that first part. Warm fuzzies. I will take this time to recall my experiences in the pog world, and hopefully they will be somewhat similar to your own.

Pogs were first introduced to me at school, when I was about 9 or 10. At first, I did not quite grasp the concept of the game, but after observing for a short amount of time, I dived into the pog world head first. I mean this literally - head first - becuase in my head, I thought I would be good, but in actuality, I was just a mediocre pog player.

Because my pog collection was still quite small, and I was not a great player, I knew it was not wise to play for "keeps" right away. I didn't give up, and I continued to practice until I felt confident in my pog playing abilities. Soon, I knew how to throw down my eight ball slammer sideways to make the pogs flip over just right (commonly known as knifing) , I knew that metal slammers (especially the ones with the spikes) got the job done, but were mostly banned from keepsy games, and I knew which pogs were the "good" ones. (not those crappy imitation pogs with a goofy made up cartoon character on the front)

I was ready to enter the real gaming world and play for keeps. In the real world, I learned the various pog personalities that existed faster than I had learned the basics. The pog personalities that I was familiar with were as follows: the spectator, the poser, and the gifted. The spectator was that kid who didn't actually own any of his or her own pogs, but took pleasure in observing games, and sometimes, even spectating aloud the happenings of the match. The poser was that kid who had more than one pog case to keep all of his or her pogs in. But this was not because the poser was especially good at playing pogs, it's because a) they were spoiled or b) they stole. And lastly, the gifted. The gifted pog player had a crapload of pogs because he or she was just plain good. When playing for keeps, I always avoided the gifted players, and seeked out the posers instead. It worked to my advantage.

My pog collection blossomed, and I even got the chance to play in my friend's brother's pog arena. I played pogs every recess at school, after school in my neighborhood, and in the evening against my sisters. And then - suddenly - pogs were banned from school. :(


This brings me to the second part of my plog - attempting to uncover the reasons behind the banning of pogs at school. First I would like to note that I, myself, was a fairly reserved pog player. I followed the rules and played the game fairly, and always made it clear when I was or was not playing for keeps. Unfortunately, not all pog players were like me, and there were matches that caused absolute mayhem amongst my school mates (like when a poser beat a gifted player). I remember once, my teacher announced that 100 pogs from a classmate's desk had gone missing, and I bet you that kid is still mad. But these were just the extreme cases. More generally, I think pogs went bye-bye as they were considered a form of gambling.

Schools simply could not advocate the playing of pogs for "keeps". We were kids afterall. When we lost our "good" pogs, we just didn't understand the concept of gambling. In our minds, the pogs we had just lost somehow still belonged to us, and we envied little Johnny as he added them to his collection . In addition, children were getting "tricked" by wise pog players, who would trade their pogs of low value for pogs that were worth much more. I don't even know how small pieces of cardboard varied in value at all, but hey - that was pogs.Pogs still existed outside of school, but as children spend most of their time there, the popularity of pogs declined.

It's sad really, especially for us pog players who weren't the hard core gambling type. On the flip side of that, I recognize the problems that playing pogs at school posed. The same went with hockey cards and pokemon cards. The practices themselves kicked ass, it was just the fact that children were not mature enough to comprehend gambling that they didn't work. Alas, now that we are older, I believe that us kids of the 90's should, and could, revamp the popularity of pogs amongst adults. I just hope we don't get them banned from University too.

TY Warner, you owe me $1800

Coming home for Thanksgiving brought me back to my 90's childhood more than I ever imagined it would. This afternoon, as I was leafing through my family albums for some good ol' fashioned nostalgia, I stumbled across an album featuring photos that I had totally forgotten about. It seems, that in my childhood, dedicating an entire 24 roll of film to pictures of my sisters and I with our beanie babies was a sensible thing to do. The pictures featured us sitting in, around, among, and maybe even on, our beanie babies - and quite frankly, angered me to look at.

Here, I'll share one with you.... On the surface, this picture is a little but cute right? (sorry for the bad quality)

But I encourage you to look deeper, and you will see how this picture is alot nauseating. Keep in mind readers that this photo was taken sometime closer to the beginning of my BB collecting days. I know this because our beanie babies still fit on a shelf. Not long after this "photoshoot" was completed, our collection grew too large for that small shelf, and moved on to bigger and better storage : one of those net thingy-mah-jings that hanged from the ceiling of my bedroom.

Now this is the very reason why this picture makes me go BLAH. This photo is pictorial evidence of the utter obsession I - and many other kids of the 90's - had, with coloured bags of , well....beans..with googly eyes, tails, and red TY tags sewn on them. This picture alone features roughly 27 of these bagged beanie animals that I (err...my parents) actually spent money on. And this is nowhere near how many BBs I had at the end of my collecting days. In fact, by the time I had purchased my last BB, I boasted a collection of about 150 plush toys. If I remember correctly, beanie babies costed between $10-$15 in the 90's, but for the sake of this next experiment, let's say the average cost of a BB was...$12.

Though math has never been my strong point, I do know that $12 X 150 = ALOT. ($ 1800). GAH! One-thousand,-eight-hundred-smackers gone from my life forever. Here are the reasons why I'm bitter:

$1800 = a good fraction of a semester's tuition
$1800 = approxiametely half a year worth of grocery shopping
$1800 = around 30 tanks of gas
$1800 = about 765 bus fares
and the shocker $1800=...........900 2 dollar drinks.

Oh - and that 2 minutes just wasted of my life calculating that, I'm pissed about that too.

When I collected beanie babies, I totally thought they were going to be worth something some day. I bought tag protectors (because they were more 'valuable' with their red tags in tact) I kept them on display and out of harm's way, I dilligently examined each tag for the silver stamp to indicate their autheniticity before purchase, and I even spent hours arranging them according to natural habit (water animals, rainforest animals, farm animals) Hahah, maybe that last one was just because I'm a geek. Whatever the case, I have been sadly misinformed...as my BB's are now estimated to be worth about $1.25 a piece. (Just check your e-bay account)

Don't get me wrong readers, I loved the 90's. But I definetely do not love Ty Warner for inventing beanie babies during the 90's. (Either that, or I'm mad I didn't come up with the idea first.) Maybe then I'd be sitting where he is...#49 on the "400 Richest Americans List". And, I hope, in all his richness, if he ever stumbles across this rant - that he is so moved he decides to give me back my $1800. C'mon Ty, that's freaggin pocket change for you!

A Couple of Things

Number one: Out with my old layout. It was as tacky as a 90's pair of skants.

Number two: TMNT are still "all that". I just got home from dinner with my mom (who teaches kindergarten) She informed me that two of her students won't listen to her unless she calls them "Leo" and "Raph". Holy turtle power.

Cowabunga Dude!

90’s lovin’ readers, I have a tiny confession to make. But before I do that, I feel I should explain myself. One of four sisters, I grew up in a fairly ‘girly’ household playing dress up, barbies, and reading J-14. I’m not saying there were “girl” things and “boy” things to do as a kid, but I blame my impending confession on my gender. I…didn’t watch Ninja Turtles. I know what you’re thinking…(…that I’m lame? ...that I shouldn’t even call myself a lover of the 90’s without having watched TMNT?) Well, just cut it out. I fully recognize that TMNT ruled the decade. And I know the basics – it started off as comic book around late 80’s, and erupted with fame on TV in the 90’s. But still, I need to know more, like about the characters. So, I took it upon myself to do a bit of umm…fieldwork..,– which can be more accurately described as… chatting with pals on MSN. I am now slowly realizing what my childhood majorly lacked.

Study A – Leonardo

- * a n g i e * - says:
who was your favourite ninja turtle?
Chuck says:
Leonardo!
- * a n g i e * - says:
why?
Chuck says:
cause he's blue, has the best weapon (sword), and is quite brave

So between Chuck’s description of Leonardo as “quite brave”, and some of my own further research, I think it’s safe to say that Leo was sort of the alpha dog of the group. He was fair, and valiant, and took his martial arts studies seriously, like a good turtle should.

Study B – Donatello

- * a n g i e * - says

who was your favourite ninja turtle?

Miss Nicole says:

purple!

- * a n g i e * - says:

do you remember why?

Miss Nicole says:

I dunno, he was the brains of everything

My level headed, intellectual roommate chose Donatello, and it seems to make perfect sense. Apparently he was the most peaceful Ninja turtle, and used his brains over weapons to solve problems. Oh – and thiis guy was plain brilliant – inventor of the Turtle Van and the Turtle Blimp!

Study C – Michelangelo

- * a n g i e * - says:
who was your favourite ninja turtle?
ness says:
LOL Mikey!
- * a n g i e * - says:
how come?
ness says:
because he's fun like me! and says cool things like DUDE and RADICAL! and COWABUNGA!

So I might not have actually watched TMNT but I definitely copied the cool kids at school and said COWABUNGA. Michaleangelo was the fun turtle – laid back, relaxed, and eating pizza with anchovies most of the time. He wore the orange mask and had a sweet pair of numchucks too.

Study D - Raphael

- * a n g i e * - says:
Dave, who was your favourite ninja turtle?
Dave says:
michaelangelo
- * a n g i e * - says:
didn't ANYONE like raphael??
Dave says:
nah, he was a pretty angry and secluded ninja turtle, not very fun, or even useful

My friend Dave summed poor Raph up pretty well. Last but not least, he was the cynical figure of the four. Always sarcastic and probably the most violent, he often was instigating fights with others.

So there you have the stars behind all the hype- the TV show, the backpacks, the action figures, even the shoelaces that my cousin Mat stole from Zellers when he was five. As for where the “Turtle Power” lies today, Imagi Animation Studios released a comeback film , entitled TMNT in March of this year. The story seems to pick up where it left off : in the sewers of NY after the defeat of their arch nemesis , “The Shredder”, the troop has somewhat drifted. Leonardo and Master Splinter forge some unity into the group of turtles and once again, they save the city. Like many other passed crazes of the 90’s, I was not surprised to read that the movie received some pretty harsh reviews. Just like TGIF, the popularity of TMNT flourished in the 90’s and lacked it’s turtle power in the new millennium. As one critic and former fan of the turtles put it best, the movie “ is a bland, plain cheese when it shouldbe a supreme with extra anchovies.” Michelangelo would not be impressed.

Just (don't) call me.... Fashion Diva Extraordinaire

Now that I’m keeping this 90’s blog, I frequently visit the TeamSugar’s 90’s group site. Yesterday I came across a pretty cool discussion entitled “90’s Clothing: What Did You Wear”? A few replies made mention to the same types of clothing: overly baggy pants, knee highs and plaid skirts (a la Clueless), and of course those God awful spiral perms. I personally felt there were a few key styles of the 90's that still deserved mention:

THE TRENDS…

Butterfly Clips
Didn’t actually do much to hold things in place, but what was cooler than having pink and purple butterflies in your hair?? Nothing. I had them in every colour.

90’s Grunge Appeal
I remember the big high school kids passing by the fence at recess wearing over sized flannel shirts over top rock concert tees. Oh, and long tresses of dark greasy hair.

Back Pack Purses
Ahh, these things were the coolest! I know for a fact I never kept anything inside of mine. I remember my first one looked a lot like this. <-------

Northern Getaway
The One-Stop-Shop for my back to school wardrobe every year. Oh how I miss the floral print leggings and baggy sweatshirts.

THE FAUX PAS…

Overalls
By far the most uncomfortable look of the 90’s, but still - I had a pair. Ugh, worse than wearing a one piece pyjama set.

Doc Martens
Reeedonkulously overpriced ($100 a pair!) and they looked like freakin’ combat boots.

The Fanny Pack
Seriously, wearing these things made it look like you had two asses. One in the front, one in the back. ‘Nuff said.

Skants
A skirt…a pair of pants? A case of dressing in the dark? What (and WHY!!) were they? I’m still confused ten years later.

There's tons more...Platform shoes, the return of bell-bottoms / "flares", snap bracelets, and tear-aways. But that's all for right now... I'm no fashion diva. I still wear my fanny packs!