If you’ve been listening to The Retro Network Podcast, you’ve heard the Recurrent Events segment that we curate with the latest retro pop culture headlines. We talk about everything from the latest movie remakes to just retro-minded stories featured across the web each week. This week’s TRN Podcast is our first Halloween Party episode which includes nothing but Halloween-centered content, so all of our normal headlines are being diverted right here.
I’m actually looking to do this as a weekly Recurrent Events link-based column as an extension of the podcast. I save so many stories each week and some never make it to air so instead of wasting that content, I’ll be posting everything here for our retro-minded followers to stay up-to-date. I’ll also be earmarking the stories we’ll feature on the upcoming TRN Podcast.
Here are Recurrent events for the week of Oct 13 – 19, 2019.
MUSIC
- 2020 Rock and Roll HOF Nominees were announced this week which include Pat Benatar, Dave Matthews Band, Depeche Mode, The Doobie Brothers, Whitney Houston, Judas Priest, Kraftwerk, MC5, Motörhead, Nine Inch Nails, The Notorious B.I.G., Rufus featuring Chaka Khan, Todd Rundgren, Soundgarden, T. Rex, Thin Lizzy. (VOTE HERE) I asked the TRN Staff and our Patreon supporters on Slack to share their votes and we inducted these 5: Motorhead, Whitney, The Doobie Bros, Soundgarden, Pat Benetar.
- Guns N Roses “Sweet Child of Mine” becomes the first 80s music video to get 1 billion views on YouTube. GNR also has the only 90s music over the billion mark.
- Top 1980s: Guns N’ Roses – Sweet Child O’ Mine (1B), a-ha – Take On Me (943M), Cyndi Lauper – Girls Just Want To Have Fun (786M), The Police – Every Breath You Take (699M), Michael Jackson – Billie Jean (694M)
- Top 1990s: Guns N’ Roses – November Rain (1.2B), Nirvana – Smells Like Teen Spirit (968M), The Cranberries – Zombie (962M), Whitney Houston – I Will Always Love You (859M), 4 Non Blondes – What’s Up (765M)
- Vinyl records expected to outsell CDs in 2019 for the first time since 1980s
- There is a worldwide shortage of a key ingredient for making magnetic tape for cassettes. The leading cassette-maker National Audio Company is running into trouble filling its orders due to a global shortage of high-grade gamma ferric oxide, a key ingredient in magnetic tape. (Cassette sales were up 25% in 2018.)
VIDEO GAMES
- The Internet Archive added 2,500 MS-DOS games to its website this week “ranging from tiny recent independent productions to long-forgotten big-name releases from decades ago.” Some that caught my eye at quick glance were:
- Tony and Friends in Kellogg’s Land (1994) featuring Tony the Tiger, Toucan Sam, and other Kellogg’s characters and was only released in Germany.
- The Three Stooges (1987) which is the same game found on NES, C64, and later on Gameboy Advance and Playstation
- Spooky Kooky Monster Maker (1992) which involves creating your own monster and writing a story about it.
- The Price is Right (1990) originally released for Amiga and C64
- The Punisher (1990) DOS game only.
- Microsoft Flight Simulator (1993) DOS Win98 game, 5th version in the series.
- $100,000 Pyramid (1998) for Apple II C64
- Atari’s new VCS console might be in trouble. On the same day that Atari released a blog post updating the world on the progress the company was making on the VCS console’s hardware, The Register reported that the Atari system architect Rob Wyatt quit the project, stating that Atari hadn’t paid invoices to his design firm for more than six months.
- New mobile game Super 80s World is now on Android, (launched in iTunes) where you get to play as Dan Camaro, saving the decade from evil genius. Dr. Noid Wormser who vows to tape over the decade. it’s up to you to stop the evil doctor by collecting old-school memorabilia like VHS tapes, game cartridges, and boom boxes. Retails for $2.99 with a review to come on TRN.
- Blade Runner PC game rescued by fans.
- Earth Wars: GI Joe and Cobra Battle the Transformers in New Trailer. G.I. Joe vehicle versions of Soundwave, Hound, Jetfire and Skywarp added to the tower defense title. The mobile game has unveiled an explosive, new trailer showing the Joes and Cobra entering the fray alongside the Autobots and Decepticons.
MOVIES
- Samara Weaving casts as Scarlett in Snake Eyes movie. She is the neice of actor Hugo Weaving and has a role in the upcoming Bill & Ted Face the Music movie as Bill Preston’s daughter. Also cast was Takehiro Hira who is rumored to play the Storm Shadow’s brother Kenta which is an original character for the film.
- Training Day Prequel in the works at Warner Bros. Script in development now and is set a decade before the 2001 movie which would be around the time of the LA riots following the Rodney King verdict.
- Purple Dino ‘Barney’ Repurposed As Movie Star By Mattel, Daniel Kaluuya. God help us.
- Prepare for hot flashes, because a Mrs. Doubtfire musical is heading to Broadway. This should be a fun adaptation.
- The Batman movie casts Paul Dano as The Riddler
STREAMING/TV
- Disney+: The Best Marvel Cartoons Headed to the Streaming Service. Includes the entirety of the 1990s Fox Kids Marvel Animated Universe.
- Gargoyles Creator Addresses Whether The Show Might Return
- Tubi Kids Goes Live Early With 5,000 Hours of Free Kids Content From Lionsgate, MGM, Paramount, & STARZ. Includes Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows and animated favorites like Sonic the Hedgehog and Strawberry Shortcake.
- MOTU Revelation series to kick off with 26 episodes.
- Sam Bobrick Dies: ‘Saved By The Bell’ Creator Was 87.
- ‘Grease’ Spinoff Series ‘Rydell High’ Ordered By HBO Max
- Will Smith Is Developing a Fresh Prince of Bel-Air Spinoff
COMICS
- Wonder Twins #8 comic will feature a cameo of the beloved Anheuser Busch mascot Spuds MacKenzie. He won’t be the ultimate party animal as we remember but referred to as Studs McDoggy. The story is set for a high school reunion with a mock casino and a ceramic Studs McDoggy is one of the prizes.
FOOD
- Limited edition Coca-Cola flavored Tic Tacs I’m actually curious to try these as I love Happy Cola gummies.
Be the first to comment