| layout | title | number | date | published |
|---|---|---|---|---|
study--newsletter |
The 80s and links |
76 |
2019-02-17 11:00:00 |
true |
Hello!
I’m briefly back in Waterloo to celebrate my birthday, so (out of necessity, out of luxury) I’m often driving and listening to the radio.
My favourite radio station is hosting a “Totally 80s Family Day Long Weekend”. On Friday morning, the host named some TV shows and movies from the 80s. I smiled as I realized how many were major parts of my (very much not 80s) childhood. Some favourite movies from the decade:
- Ghostbusters
- Dead Poets Society
- Die Hard
- Trading Places
- Lethal Weapon
- Footloose
- Field of Dreams
- Beverly Hills Cop
- St. Elmo’s Fire (and John Hughes movies, with caveats)
- When Harry Met Sally
- The Princess Bride
Some of these movies haven’t aged well, or need to be taken with a grain of salt. But I think that each of these shows still holds up well:
- M*A*S*H (a 70s show, but the last few seasons and the finale were in the right decade)
- Star Trek: The Next Generation
- Golden Girls
- Murder, She Wrote
The movies and TV shows (and books and music) of our younger years can crystallize within us, becoming a comfortable home to which we return repeatedly (or randomly). I don’t keep up with new TV shows or movies (except for some CBC comedies), but I always enjoy making time to rewatch an old favourite. This isn’t to say that I won’t return to recent movies, nor do I want to overindulge in nostalgic celebration of childhood, but there’s a definite magic to the enduring influence of your younger years.
Because I’ve already shared two lists with you, and the world loves trios, here’s another list of links to read:
- Maria Popova (Brain Pickings) shares some of poet David Whyte’s redefinitions of concepts like anger, forgiveness, and maturity. (I excerpted and annotated this link.)
- Rich Ziade describes how Postlight structures their digital projects, with a metaphor and visual that I’ve found useful for understanding :waves hands: agile product management.
- Austin Kleon outlines some thoughts on self-help as a genre, with his usual charming mix of tasteful quotations and thoughtful annotations. (On top of the “self-help” books that Kleon references, like Aurelius’s Meditations and Rilke’s Letters to a Young Poet, I suggest Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life.)
Okay, I’m off! Tomorrow I’m taking the train back to Ottawa and reading the whole way—delightful. All the best for the week ahead!
Lucas