Shush Penfold, I'm reminiscing... (.80snostalgia.com)

Member Name: kingseany

Product:	.80snostalgia.com
Date:	20/05/05 (177 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Some funny stories, Some good links

Disadvantages: Short on content, Chat not working, Dead-links

We all like a bit of nostalgia don't we? Every decade seems to have it's followers, usually inspired by the times they grew up as an innocent young person. Well for me, this is the 80's, and I love to take a wander down (fading) memory lane and re-kindle all those things which made the decade it was.

No doubt there are countless sites dedicated to the 80's, but this particular one is:

http://80snostalgia.com/

It's a simple enough site, quite obviously a non-commercial, non-profit making and non-flashy site, developed by some lonesome guy or guyess with a fixation for all things 80's related. The content isn't huge, so don't expect this to be an all singing all dancing 80's site - it's not.

Broken into sections, the site covers:

Classic TV
Memories
Computers
On This day...
You were a child in the 80's if...
Links

So to TV first. An alphabetical list of popular 80's programs, classics such as the A Team, Bagpuss, Danger Mouse, Knight Rider, He-Man, Tomorrow People, Worzel Gummidge - you get the idea. If by now you have no idea what I'm talking about, you probably didn't experience the 80's like I did, and you'd be better off reading the latest mobile phone review.... Anyway, clicking onto one of the TV Programs will give you another page with any relevent information that the site author has amassed, or remembered. Pictures, stories, links and so on. There are also links of where you can buy merchandise associated with your favourite programs - all 3rd party sites. A good deal on the list are just that, with no option to click for more. All in all this section isn't majorly exciting, but does provide some links to sites dedicated to particular 80's programs.

Memories. I found this mildly amusing in places. Take "White Dog Poo". Is there a connection between it's scarceness now and the disappearance of the Dulux Dog? Quite possibly. The site owner also takes us through stories of playing mousetrap, grazed knees after falling from a BMX, the Rubiks Cube and Peter and Jane books. All very 80's, and all things I can definately relate too, although had forgotton about until finding this site. Why would you want to remember "White Dog Poo"? I don't know, but we all gets our kicks someway, and until doctors tell me it's dangerous, I'll keep wanting more.

Computers - Well actually only the ZX-Spectrum in truth, as this was the only '80s computer' the site owner had. Still if you were one of the many millions of kids who waited painstakingly for a tape to load, with that dreadful wail of a noise, only find it crash - well you'll find this interesting. I for one, didn't have a Spectrum, so not of particular interest to me. I was an Acorn fan, but that's another story. Again, if you have no idea what a Spectrum is, then you're probably too young - or indeed too old.

On This Day... This simply lists world events from todays date - but in the 80's. So for instance 20th May, 1981 - Ipswich Town wins 10th UEFA Cup at Amsterdam. Useful stuff. There's also a list of births and deaths.

You were a child in the 80's if... You remember Look In magazine, and when it was only 20p (for instance). This section is just a list of memory joggers, most of which I can certainly answer YES too! I certainly was a child in the 80's!

Links is just that - a page devoted to other 80's related sites dealing with music, TV, computers and so on. I've tested quite a few of these links, most work, a few no longer work.

Lastly there's a Chat option, although everytime I try it, I get the message "IRC server actually unreachable." I can only assume that the site owner no longer puts much time into keeping things working.

On the whole, it's a site with some interesting content, nothing about the music scene, which I'd expected to see, so I'm off to find something better. 5/10 for trying though.

Summary: