R.I.P. Sir Roger Moore (1927-2017)

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It’s a sad day for Bond fans with the news of the passing of Sir Roger Moore at age 89 after a short battle with cancer. The charismatic actor wore the 007 mantle for seven films playing the super suave British secret agent, James Bond from 1973 to 1985, replacing Sean Connery and went on to be the longest serving Bond to date.

Roger had early success on television portraying Simon Templar in the “The Saint” and that role groomed him well for taking over the 007 franchise. He did have quite the television resume before taking on films including roles in “Ivanhoe”, “The Alaskans” and “Maverick” and with Tony Curtis in “The Persuaders”.

His big break came in 1973’s “Live and Left Die” that launched Moore’s Bond. Roger brought a smoother more gentlemanly vibe to the role compared to Sean’s rough and tumble Bond. The mix worked well and it brought a new standard to how Bond would be played in future films.

Some of the classic bond films Roger will be remembered for include The Spy Who Loved Me, Man With the Golden Gun, Moonraker, For Your Eyes Only and Octopussy.

His Bond movies, as many late 70s early 80s films, were unfortunately a bit campy and a bit slapstickish at times however there are undeniable classic scenes that will remain a huge part of the bond lore. 

The debate of who was the best Bond always seems a pointless conversation. Usually, the Bond you grew up with is your favorite Bond but an argument can be made that Moore’s 007 set the standard of how future Bonds were to be played.   

Roger will not only be remembered for his impressive body of work but also for his humanitarian efforts as well. He was appointed a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador in 1991 and was Knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2003 for his “Services To Charity”. He will be missed. 

Retro Arcade Game of the Day – Raiden

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One of the things that was cool about video games back in the early years of gaming was the ability to just enter a game and start playing. No muss, no fuss. No long intro story lines, no boring tasks to complete before it got interesting, just sit and start blasting. Great to relieve some stress in the middle of the day. 

Raiden was one of those games. The arcade version was released in 1990 and is a classic scrolling shoot em’ up game. Easy to control with only two options, shoot or bomb. Nice and simple yet loads of fun. Enjoy ! 

Controls
Arrow Keys – Movement
Space key – Select
Enter key – Start
“Z” key – a
“X” key – b
“A” key – x
“S” key – y
“D” key – l
“C” key – r
To save your game: hover over the emulator screen and use the icons to save your progress.
Down arrow icon (save), Up arrow icon (load).

Earth, Wind and Ozzy !!

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There is no doubt that the advent of technology has produced many amazing things that most of us never saw coming or would ever think was possible. Furthest from anyone’s mind would be the mashing of two polar opposite musical styles of heavy metal and funk.

Not possible you say? Check out the fine work by DJ Cummerbund as he seamlessly combines the heavy metal madness of Ozzy Osbourne with the super slick, funky rhythms of Earth, Wind and Fire to produce a mashup of Crazy Train and September. Ain’t technology grand??

The Return of Retroguy !!

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Hi everyone – been a while since my last post. Hey, life happens! I had to put this on the back burner for a while but thanks for all the kind words! Fear not, I’m back!! Been working on the look of the page so this you may see changes for the next little while.

Plenty more to come but for now, check out this awesome cover from Hall and Oats from the “Live From Darryl’s House” web series featuring the Canadian electro-pop duo Chromeo.

As always – Keep It Retro !

R.I.P. Neil Armstrong (1930-2012) The Original Moonwalker

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The first man you ever set foot on the moon, Neil Alden Armstrong, passed away on Saturday at the age of 82. Neil had a pretty amazing career before becoming an astronaut. He served as a U.S. Naval pilot in the Korean war, and then as a test pilot before joining the space program in 1962. He performed the first docking of two spacecraft during his first space flight aboard Gemini 8 in 1966 and then became the first human being to walk on the moon on his second and last mission on Apollo 11 in 1969.
  


When you think about the modern “daredevil” or stuntman and all the wild and dangerous things they do, nothing comes close to what the original astronauts of the early space program dared to do. Imagine strapping yourself into a small capsule, whose outside walls are as thin as a coin, and then lighting the fuse that will ignite the huge gas tank your capsule is sitting on and hoping for the best. Sure it was a bit more technical than that but consider that the average modern day calculator packs more computing punch than the first moon landing mission and you understand the scope of how amazing the accomplishment was.

 

There was a time when children looked up to brave men like Neal and vowed to follow in their footsteps and carry the torch of progress forward. Build on their accomplishments and push mankind to even greater technological feats. Some kids still do but sadly modern day heroes in our time take the form of sports stars, autotuned recording artists and reality TV wannabe stars.

Check out the original version of Space Oddity by David Bowie from 1969, the year of the first moon landing.

Retro Heatwave Video of the Day – Hot In The City

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People say that relentless heat can mess you up in many ways. It can make some people nauseous, dehydrate you, give you a headache, make you drowsy or in some cases, it destroys your ability spell ! I’m not bying itt thoughh. I thunck thets a lode of crips. 


Yup, it’s been a pretty hot one this week with temperature records being broken, hydro grids being strained to the limit and people with air conditioning suddenly having friends over unexpectedly. You can actually buy a raw steak and cook it on your dashboard during the drive home. 

While some would say this heat wave is a result of global warming, others say it is the coming of the end. I just think it’s a great excuse to hear a great summer retro classic !
 

Happy Birthday I.B.M. – Thanks For Changing Everything

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Back on June 16, 1911, a group of technology companies merged and called themselves the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company. Kind of catchy but later in 1924 they decided they needed something catchier and so renamed themselves International Business Machines which is now better known to the world as IBM. 



IBM has dominated the technology sector for most of it’s 100 year history by having the uncanny ability to foresee where technology is heading and having the right product mix available to support the need. They also were smart enough to recognize a dieing technology or something well on it’s way to being a commodity and got out of that business before losing money. 


Some examples of this would be getting out of the timeclock business, selling off their typewriter division to a little company called Lexmark ones they recognized the word processor was about to crush the once mighty typewriter, selling off their hard drive division to Hitachi even though they invented them, and one of the most surprising was selling of their PC division to Lenovo back in 2004 for a cool $1.8 billion. Considering how cheap and dirty the PC market has become, you can’t say it wasn’t a smart move on their part. 


Some other inventions to their credit include the web server, the punch card, electric typewriters, mainframe computers, laser surgical procedures and nanotubes to name a few. Although other companies come to mind when the subject of innovation comes up, the fact remains that in 2010 alone, IBM had a total of 5896 new patents to their name which is the most of any company in the world including GE, Apple, Google or Sony.

That’s not to say they haven’t made a few mistakes along the way. Back in 1981, when they introduced their Personal Computer, they hired a little known company to create the operating system. Since IBM believed that the hardware was mightier than the software, they agreed to allow the small company to keep the rights to the software and allow them to license the operating system, or DOS, as they wished. This little company was Microsoft and that deal helped make Bill Gates one of the richest men in the world.


Years later IBM tried to jump back into the operating system market and challenge Microsoft with their own version of an operating system but needless to say, Windows prevailed and IBM stuck to what it does best. 



 

Retro Music Producer of the Day – Arthur Baker

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One of the driving forces in early hip hop and Electrofunk was DJ / producer Arther Baker. Starting as a club DJ in the early 70s, he began experimenting with the new electronic sounds of the day and began producing remixes on analog tape. Long before digital took over, to create a quality mix required skill and patience since most of what you were doing was pretty much live. You needed mad skillz back in the day not like these days were software downloaded for free can create a remix on a whim.


Though you may not have heard of him, you certainly have heard his work since his collaborations include artists like Afrika Bambaataa and the Soul Sonic Force, Pet Shop Boys, Cyndi Lauper, Hall and Oats, Bruce Springsteen, David Bowie, ABC, Nenah Cherry and New Order to name a few. He was actually responsible for taking an obscure, instrumental piece from a 1984 New Order album “Lies, Power and Corruption” and churning it into the now classic Blue Monday.  



His style was easily recognizable with heavy emphasis on the rhythm track with heavy use of drum machines and 808 sounds that pretty much defined the genre. He brought some contemporary  artists to the mainstream with his remixes and also forces some artists to expand their horizons a bit by introducing new life into their usual style.



In 1985, he and Steven Van Zandt created Artists United Against Apartheid and created the anti-Apartheid anthem “Sun City” which helped raise global awareness of Apartheid in South Africa and was credited for being a major factor in it’s eventual demise. (Who says music can’t change the world ?)  


His influence is still felt today and continues to inspire new artists and DJs as well as producers and remixers. Here’s a few more classic examples of his early style.






  

Retro Video of the Day – Babe We’re Gonna Love Tonight

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Growing up in Canada in the 80s exposed me to many Euro inspired music groups and to be honest back then I wasn’t that in tune with who was who in the music world so every once in a while I’d pick up on a group and think they were some avante garde, new wave group from the U.K. or France. Lime was one of those groups. 


Formed in Montreal in the early 80s by the husband and wife team of Denis and Denyse LePage, they took full advantage of the exploding electronic music scene and created a bunch of Euro-disco inspired tracks. The story of Lime does have a few twists in it though (Lime twist…..get it ?….never mind) with some speculating that Denis and Denyse were in fact the same person that recorded both the male and female parts himself and used two attractive people to front the band when touring kinda like Milli Vanelli ended up doing years later. Regardless, they did leave behind some club classics.

Babe, We’re Gonna Love Tonight is one such classic from their second album Lime II released back in 1981. It reached #6 on the U.S. Dance charts in 1982 and the video has all the classic elements of music videos from the early 80s. Cheesy graphics, awkward edits, cheap effects, bad lip syncing, boring dance routines and the list goes on. Not sure if the couple in the video are the actual band or the “attractive” people chosen to front the band on tour. Either way though – this track sounded great in a crowded club and always got the party started back in the day. 

When Weiners Were Hot Dogs

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It kind of sucks when things you grew up with and liked or possibly loved get twisted into something different and are forever tied to some stupid act or worse a really really really really dumb guy. When I was a kid, Oscar Mayer was synonymous with delicious hot dogs or bologna. A wiener was something you looked forward to at a ballgame or a cookout. Now, when someone says wiener, you immediately think of:




Oh sorry, that’s a picture of a twit not a wiener…….. or is it both……. hmmmm, so confused now. Honestly though, who could have seen it coming. Anthony Weiner always looked so confident, so professional and well adjusted. A man of power and resolve. Why would there be any reason after enjoying moderate political success that he’d crave and need the admiration of young women to feel powerful and accomplished? I’m sure as a young lad he got his ya ya’s out so that as an adult he could keep his libido in check. After all the action he must have got in high school and college he’d surely be able to keep his wiener in his pants right ?? 

   Oh snap………. never mind.