Tag Archives: Throwback Thursday

Throwback Thursday: this 1986 commercial for Ernst & Julio Gallo Winery (scored by Vangelis)!

So people still remember this 1986 ad as the “Gallo wines commercial with the classical music” that they loved but could never identify.

Well … it sounds like classical music.  But the composer for the pretty piece is none other than Vangelis.  (If you’re anybody who’s anybody in my particular corner of sci-fi nerd-dom, then you know that Vangelis was responsible for 1982’s legendary “Blade Runner” soundtrack.) 

The name of the piece is “Hymne,” and it was originally released on Vangelis’ 1979 album, “Opera Sauvage.”  The original song, which differs a bit from the version in the commercial, can be found right here.

I only learned while writing this that Vangelis wasn’t really “a group.”  It was a single Greek composer — Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou — who passed away in 2022.



Throwback Thursday: This McDonald’s Dollar Menu!

Ah, the halcyon days of yore — when the unhealthiest food you could eat was also the cheapest.  (Nowadays, you’ve got to be fairly RICH to harden your arteries properly.)  Another reason why the 1990’s were the goddam AWESOMEST decade.

I was a big fan of McDoubles back in the day.  I’d buy five or six at a time, eat two, and throw the remainder into the fridge for later.  Dollar-sundaes were kinda nice too.

Taco Bell was another fast food chain with some super-low prices.  I remember rolling out of the dorm half-asleep on a Sunday morning, and riding along with another hungry student to the “Taco Hell” on Route 1 in Fredericksburg (just before Falmouth Bridge.)

Beef Meximelts were $1.50 a piece, if memory serves.  And we don’t have those at ALL, today — they were discontinued!

It occurs to me only as I write this that this entire post is really just today’s version of our parents’ nostalgia in the 1980’s.  (Do any other GenXers remember them talking about how candy and soda and double-feature matinee once cost … I dunno, a fifty cents or something?)



Throwback Thursday: “New Ch-Ch-Ch-Cherry Coke” (1985)

This catchy jingle comes to you courtesy of the grand old year of 1985.  (Actually, it was the deftmahatma Youtube channel.)

Unlike the New Coke debacle that very same year, Cherry Coke caught on.  I had one just yesterday, despite my dentist’s sage counsel.  (It’s the acidity that’s bad for your teeth — not the sugar.)  I think we can all agree that Cherry Coke is super-god-damned good.

By the way, nobody can tell me that 80’s fashion isn’t due for a revival.



Throwback Thursday: the Cover to “Marvel Comics Presents” #85, Sam Kieth, 1991

This is a truly iconic 1990’s comic cover by the inimitable Sam Kieth; the image takes me right back to when I returned to comic book fandom in the first half of the decade. Kieth passed away on March 15th.



Throwback Thursday: the debut of Frank Miller’s “The Dark Knight Returns,” 1986

That’s right — the legendary tome saw its 40th anniversary last month.  (I’ve always had the habit of referring to its graphic novel format, but of course it was initially published as a four-issue limited series.)

Forty years — I can’t wrap my mind around that.

For a little perspective, imagine being a young person in 1986 and discovering The Dark Knight Returns for the first time.  (I myself was introduced to it a few years down the line, but still.)  Now picture an older comics fan in 1986 trying to interest you in a title that was published 40 years prior.

THAT COMIC WOULD HAVE BEEN PUBLISHED IN 1946 — a year after the conclusion of World War II.  It would have to be a title like Tintin or the Mark Trail comic strip.

Damn, we’re old.



Throwback Thursday: “I love the smell of napalm in the morning. It smells like … victory.”

“Apocalypse Now” (1979) was an institution in the house where I grew up.  I think most fans will agree that Robert Duvall’s line here was the most iconic.

I am linking to The Dollar Theater on Youtube for the clip below.



Throwback Thursday: a Pre-gray Nolan.

This was … ten years ago, I believe.

Throwback Thursday: my (TERRIFYING) awkward phase!

⚠  WARNING — THIS POST MAY CONTAIN GRAPHIC OR DISTURBING IMAGERY.  ⚠  Is it any wonder that I am happier as an adult?  The first picture below was taken in the early 1980’s.  The latter was taken a couple of days ago.

Granted, I’m not exactly Chris Hemsworth now, but ya gotta admit that 53-year-old me is a damn sight better looking than 13-year-old me.  Adolescent Eric looks like a cross between an anemic Oscar Wilde and an accursed species of upright, hairless goat.

“Thanks for the trauma!” I told my sister after she texted it to me.

“It’s what I’m here for,” she told me.



Throwback Thursday: this 1980 ABC7NY holiday news segment about video games!

I actually remember Kaity Tong.

And listen to those New York accents!  “My mutha.”  For a pretty big portion of my life, that sounded perfectly normal to me.

I can only vaguely remember ads for that “Dark Tower” game, but I believe a group of my friends on Facebook were actually talking about it.  I thought they were making a Stephen King reference, but they told me they periodically play a certain board game as a tradition … I’m guessing this is it.

I am linking here, by the way, to the ABC7NY YouTube channel.



Throwback Thursday: College Nolan!

Circa 1992.  With College Girlfriend, no less.

The young lady pictured was always a sublimely cool individual, so I will spare her the ignominy of naming her here.  (We protect the innocent at this blog.)

Thanks to MWC Alum Rick Slagle for the photo!