General Pop Culture Archives : Page 5 of 9 : The Retro Network

Old Comic Book Ads: Halloween Edition

Normally Gary is the host of this recurring feature, but I asked if I could step in and take a crack at it for an all spooky edition. He kindly obliged, so I pulled a

Fascinating Facts About Elvira

Mickey Yarber

If you grew up in the ’80s and ’90s, then surely you’re familiar with the Mistress of the Dark, Elvira. Elvira got her start after winning an audition to replace former “Fright Night” host Larry

Summer Reading Program, Day 1: A Boy, A Mouse and Your Own Adventure

Eric Vardeman

A few weeks ago, I mentioned a series of books from my childhood on the Retro Network VIP Slack channel and asked if anyone had heard of the series. Somewhat surprisingly, nobody had heard of

Summer Reading Program: A season full of books

Karen Flieger

When Eric announced his idea for this series, I was very excited. Books have always been a big part of my life. My mom always read and the library was a frequent errand for us.

Summer Reading Program, Day 2: A Lion, A Witch and Several Investigators

Eric Vardeman

The summer of 1982. I’m twelve and it’s the first summer that I’m really allowed to just ride my bike all over the place. My friends and I would usually take off mid-morning and explore

Summer Reading Program, Day 3: A Galaxy Far, Far Away…

Eric Vardeman

I’m a child of Star Wars. I saw the original trilogy in the theaters starting at age 7. I had all the action figures and a lot of the toys. I had shirts and pajamas

Summer Reading Program, Day 4: S.E. Hinton and The Life of A Dog…

Eric Vardeman

Ninth grade me had a huge crush on an tenth grader in my Biology class. She was blonde, cute and very flirty. So when I found out that she was a library aid during my

Summer Reading Program, Day 5: Death, Time, and Fate

Eric Vardeman

By the time I hit tenth grade, my penchant for reading had slowly been replaced with a new hobby: playing guitar. It’s all I did in my spare time and recreational reading fell by the

Downhill Daredevils

Christopher Bailey

Like many other kids growing up in the 80s, the holidays were a huge deal to me. Christmas was the big one as it lasted a whole month, and Thanksgiving served as the kick-off to

Big City Summer

Kevin Decent

I grew up in a small town/city in upstate New York with my mom and brother. In my 16th year my dad invited me to spend the summer with him in Maryland. What conversations took

Summer at the Rec Center

Brandon Myers

Following my parents’ divorce in 1993, my father was transferred to the Naval Training Center in Orlando, Florida. He took custody of my brother and me and we relocated to the city of every kid’s

The Summer Of Batman: No Batdancing at Boy Scout Camp

Jason Gross

The summer of 1989 was truly one of the most memorable times for movies. I was 13 and can vividly remember watching many films in the theater, five in particular that were released in June.

My childhood was spent in Southern California, the home of palm trees and endless sunshine. While most folks imagine a California summer filled with surfboards, bikinis and Beach Boys tunes, I grew up just 20

A Not So Traditional Summer

Brandon Myers

Sometimes, what you see on TV doesn’t match up with real life. When I think back to what television taught me about summer breaks in the 90’s, it consisted of adventures at camp or family

Event(s) of the Week Proms 1994 and 1995

Karen Flieger

Events of the Week: Junior and Senior Proms (May 1994 and May 1995) Why did I choose this event? My original intent was for this article to drop last week before the anniversary of my

Retro Commercials: Energizer Batteries

OldSchool80s

I don’t know about you, but commercials can often take me back to my formative years as quickly as any song or movie can. That is why we will continue this semi-regular feature on ’80s commercials

Favorite Pop Culture Bears of the ’80s

OldSchool80s

There are many memorable non-human characters and mascots throughout history. There are lots of dogs, cats, robots, aliens, monsters and countless other animals as well. One of those animals that made an impact is the