Testing, Testing... 1, 2, 3... Is This Thing On?

The corporate sponsors at Red Barn restaurants called us up recently.

"We want you guys back. Fans have been clamoring to re-live the 70s and 80s again and you two are the ones that they want to do it with" was more or less how the call began.

Knowing that "the fans" equated to a handful of people, we were a bit skeptical but decided to entertain the thought of returning to a bi-weekly, or possibly just a monthly podcast. 

"I kind of miss it," said Mike.

"Yeah, I could go for some more trips down nostalgia lane," replied Joseph.

A call was put out to locate our old pal Bingo who was equally as intrigued at the idea.  Being a helper monkey (a chimp, to be exact, but he prefers the title 'Helper Monkey'), is in his blood so it didn't take much to lure him back.

There's plenty to talk about that we either never covered or only briefly touched on, so material wasn't going to be a problem.  That left just one piece of the puzzle; where to host at. I think the answer to that would be obvious.  When It Was Cool dot Com.  The site that originally hosted us.  Would they be willing to bring us back? Was there enough demand (despite what corporate said) for two old men pining wistfully for the "old days"?

I guess you'll just have to stay tuned and keep an eye on things here to see.

Please Stand By

 

"They're Magically Delicious!"

It's March and March is known for St. Patrick's Day, so in honor of Ireland's greatest snake wrangler we're going to look at some retro pop-culture things with an Irish slant that managed to become timeless touchstones.  First up is Lucky Charms breakfast cereal!

Lucky Charms was first introduced by the General Mills company in 1964. The cereal is known for its distinctive shape, which includes toasted oat pieces in the shape of hearts, stars, horseshoes, clovers, moons, and diamonds, and also for its colorful marshmallow shapes.

The idea for Lucky Charms came from John Holahan, who was the product development director at General Mills at the time. Holahan believed that adding marshmallows to cereal would be a unique and interesting idea that would appeal to children. He was inspired by a recipe for a treat made from Cheerios and bits of candy.

The original marshmallow shapes included pink hearts, yellow moons, orange stars, and green clovers. The cereal was an instant hit with kids, and General Mills continued to add new marshmallow shapes over the years, including red balloons, blue diamonds, purple horseshoes, and more. 

8 From the 80s: Romantic Movies

Each installment Mike will look back to the decade of decadence and provide a list of eight things – from movies to music to memorable moments and everything in-between.  Keep in mind, this isn’t a TOP 8 list and any numerical notations are included to merely designate one item from another. Because, frankly, how can rate one thing over another when it came from a decade as totally tubular as the 80s?

80s Romance Movies – A Special Post-Valentine’s Day Installment

While the 80s were chock full’o teen sex comedies and coming of age rom-coms, there were plenty of standard romantic movies. Depending on how loosely you define a “romantic” movie, almost anything can fit, so I’m trying to keep this trip down memory lane to movies where the romance/relationship aspect is central, or at least very important, to the plot. 

8. Somewhere in Time (1980)

Maybe it was the actor’s strike at the time, or the fact that The Blues Brothers came out the same week or maybe it’s because it got bad word of mouth – for whatever reason(s) it didn’t perform well despite having Superman (Christopher Reeve) starring opposite Jane Seymour.  In the film, a playwright falls in love with a woman from nearly 70 years earlier and travels through time to find her. Somewhere in Time is one of those movies that people either like or hate, although chances are good that people from both camps will feel a tug at the heartstrings at the end of the film.

"Strange Phenomena"

Episode 132

The guys are back and trying to ease into a regular schedule again. Mike is (still) on the mend and Joseph is mending the still, and after going in search of a fun topic for this episode they've come up with a banger; Unexplained phenomena! That's right - Bigfoot, aliens, the Bermuda Triangle, and more. Step aside Leonard Nimoy, the UBW Research Team is on the case! But before all of that, there's a little house keeping and catching up to do with some brief talk about recent movies and TV shows. It's time for some retro pop-culture nostalgia, the UBW podcast way!

https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/whenitwascool/Uphill_Both_Ways_132_Strange_Phenomena.mp3

Happy Holidays!

From all of us here at the Uphill Both Ways corporate offices we want to wish you a happy, healthy, and safe holiday season, regardless of what you may celebrate.

Yippe-ki-yay!

"Fly Like an Eagle"

Episode #131

Uphill Both what? Oh, the retro pop-culture nostalgia podcast hosted by those proud card-carrying members of AARP? We're back, baby! Mike is almost fully recovered from his surgery a couple of months ago so it's back to the grind! The guys spend this episode catching up on things from the past couple of months, including movies, TV, and books. There's no regular feature this episode, but there IS plenty of flying by the seat of their pants. enjoy the show!

https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/whenitwascool/UBW131_Fly_Like_an_Eagle.mp3

Book Review: The Kinderhook Creature and Beyond: A Personal Reminiscence (2022)

"The Bigfoot of Hudson Valley"

by Joseph Perry

The town of Kinderhook, New York has been home to  President Martin Van Buren, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” and “Rip Van Winkle” author Washington Irving, author of the book being reviewed here Bruce G. Hallenbeck, and, some say, a cryptozoological beast akin to the Pacific Northwest’s Sasquatch. In The Kinderhook Creature and Beyond: A Personal Reminiscence, Hallenbeck discusses the 1980s heyday of high strangeness and what has happened since in the town and its surrounding area, during which he, his family, and other locals including law enforcement officers have had many fascinating experiences.

The UBW Top 100 Horror Movies - #25-1

We here at Uphill Both Ways love our horror movies.  Both of us grew up with vampires, werewolves, swamp monsters, irradiated beasts and everything around and in-between, and never has our love of the genre wavered. And it's with that love in mind that we decided to create our ultimate top 100 list of horror movies.  The only catch is that the films couldn't be newer than 1989. Sixties, fifties, or earlier? That's fine, as long as it's something we watched during the 70s and 80s  - and that only makes sense since that's the time frame we like to reminisce about here and on our podcast.  So how did we decide on this spooktacular countdown? We scoured the Internet for dozens of "Top Horror" movie lists, collated everything, eliminated ineligible entries, added, divided, averaged, and then sorted it all and then added our own personal rankings to the mix.  Really, the process is something a mad scientist would love and make lesser men tremble. We'd like to think that this process has given us the definitive list of movies that could have been watched on fuzzy UHF channels or VHS tapes back in the day.  Enough talk - let's wrap this thing up and see what the top films are!

#25

Invasion Of The Body Snatchers (1978)

Director: Philip Kaufman

Starring: Donald Sutherland, Brooke Adams, Leonard Nimoy, Jeff Goldblum, Veronica Cartwright

There’s maybe a handful of remakes that surpass the original and this is one of them. While the original had the scare of communism at its heart, this one - coming at the tail end of the 70s - is more akin to the fear that the hippies of the 60s and early 70s had to becoming yuppies and losing their whole counterculture street cred. There’s also the specter of government surveillance hovering over everything (like a spy satellite!), all of which - in addition to that ending - makes for one scary world.

The UBW Top 100 Horror Movies - #50-26

We here at Uphill Both Ways love our horror movies.  Both of us grew up with vampires, werewolves, swamp monsters, irradiated beasts and everything around and in-between, and never has our love of the genre wavered. And it's with that love in mind that we decided to create our ultimate top 100 list of horror movies.  The only catch is that the films couldn't be newer than 1989. Sixties, fifties, or earlier? That's fine, as long as it's something we watched during the 70s and 80s  - and that only makes sense since that's the time frame we like to reminisce about here and on our podcast.  So how did we decide on this spooktacular countdown? We scoured the Internet for dozens of "Top Horror" movie lists, collated everything, eliminated ineligible entries, added, divided, averaged, and then sorted it all and then added our own personal rankings to the mix.  Really, the process is something a mad scientist would love and make lesser men tremble. We'd like to think that this process has given us the definitive list of movies that could have been watched on fuzzy UHF channels or VHS tapes back in the day.  Enough talk - let's keep this going!

#50

House of Wax (1953)

Director: André De Toth

Starring: Vincent Price, Frank Lovejoy, Phyllis Kirk, Carolyn Jones

While House of Wax is itself a delightful thriller, its hook was that it was a 3D picture.  While there are a few scenes that really make use of the 3D gimmick, it’s not overdone and in fact somewhat takes a backseat to the story and performances themselves. Take away the stereoscopic images and there’s still an engaging and respectable thriller on screen.  

The UBW Top 100 Horror Movies - #75-51

We here at Uphill Both Ways love our horror movies.  Both of us grew up with vampires, werewolves, swamp monsters, irradiated beasts and everything around and in-between, and never has our love of the genre wavered. And it's with that love in mind that we decided to create our ultimate top 100 list of horror movies.  The only catch is that the films couldn't be newer than 1989. Sixties, fifties, or earlier? That's fine, as long as it's something we watched during the 70s and 80s  - and that only makes sense since that's the time frame we like to reminisce about here and on our podcast.  So how did we decide on this spooktacular countdown? We scoured the Internet for dozens of "Top Horror" movie lists, collated everything, eliminated ineligible entries, added, divided, averaged, and then sorted it all and then added our own personal rankings to the mix.  Really, the process is something a mad scientist would love and make lesser men tremble. We'd like to think that this process has given us the definitive list of movies that could have been watched on fuzzy UHF channels or VHS tapes back in the day.  Enough talk - let's keep this going!

#75

The Cat and the Canary (1927)

Director: Paul Leni

Starring: Laura La Plante, Forrest Stanley, Creighton Hale

With a plot that certainly seems to have influenced many ‘Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?’ episodes, this old, silent film includes some dark humor that serves to break up some of the most eerie segments. Following the death of the wealthy Cyrus West, his will leaves the inheritance to niece Annabelle solely due to her being the most distant relative named ‘West’.  Of course, she has to be declared sane by a doctor and as the rest of the family starts seeing dollar signs, the excitement begins. Filled with fun visual elements and some wonderful, gothic sets, this is not only a great haunted house movie, it looks good, too.

The UBW Top 100 Horror Movies - #100-76

We here at Uphill Both Ways love our horror movies.  Both of us grew up with vampires, werewolves, swamp monsters, irradiated beasts and everything around and in-between, and never has our love of the genre wavered. And it's with that love in mind that we decided to create our ultimate top 100 list of horror movies.  The only catch is that the films couldn't be newer than 1989. Sixties, fifties, or earlier? That's fine, as long as it's something we watched during the 70s and 80s  - and that only makes sense since that's the time frame we like to reminisce about here and on our podcast.  So how did we decide on this spooktacular countdown? We scoured the Internet for dozens of "Top Horror" movie lists, collated everything, eliminated ineligible entries, added, divided, averaged, and then sorted it all and then added our own personal rankings to the mix.  Really, the process is something a mad scientist would love and make lesser men tremble. We'd like to think that this process has given us the definitive list of movies that could have been watched on fuzzy UHF channels or VHS tapes back in the day.  Enough talk - let's get this going!

#100

Wait Until Dark (1967)

Director: Terence Young

Starring: Audrey Hepburn, Alan Arkin, Richard Crenna, Efrem Zimbalist Jr.

Things are much scarier in the dark! A bit of a slow burn out of the gate, the pace eventually quickens as Hepburn, playing blind Susy Hendrix, is in-between a doll full of heroin and three men eager to recover the drugs. Hepburn was so good in the film that she was nominated for an Academy Award.

Happy October!

"Diamond Dogs"

Episode #130

Where's the paw-ty? Right here! Anything is paw-sible when Mike and Joseph get together to raise the woof! Things start off with the fellas on a short leash as they Gift, Keep, and Ditch famous dogs from movies and TV shows, and then its on to the main topic, a look at cartoon dogs through the years. This episode may be a diamond in the ruff, but you're barking up the wrong tree if you think that it isn't a paws-itively fetching episode. Dear Dog, there goes our dignity. Woof.

https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/whenitwascool/UBW130_Diamond_Dogs.mp3

It's Almost Time!

In just a few short days we will be unleashing upon the world our definitive top 100 Horror Movies of the Uphill Both Ways era.  You have hopefully seen the bonus sneak peaks of #105-101 over the past few weeks and that that has piqued your curiosity.  

So make sure you check back on October 2nd and see what movies made the list at #100-76!

 

UBW Top 100 Horror Movies: A Taste of Things to Come (Part 5)

We're very excited to release our upcoming Top 100 Horror Movies list. So excited, in fact, that we've decided to offer a bonus to everyone in the form of number 101-105 each week until October when we'll release 25 films each week with the top ranked batch the week before Halloween.
Finally, here is number 101.

101

When A Stranger Calls (1979)

*69 would have come in handy back then

Director: Fred Walton

Starring: Carol Kane, Colleen Dewhurst, Tony Beckley, Charles Durning

Quite possibly the scariest opening act of any of the films on this list, it’s quite surprising that it only clocks in at #101.  While not the only - or even the first - film to utilize the urban legend of “the babysitter and the man upstairs”, it is arguably the best.

Coming next week:  Numbers 100-76!

Don't Be Jealous!

These have been a bit harder to find this year, especially in these larger sizes.  But I got lucky, thanks to my wonderful wife, who managed to snag these on a recent visit to the grocery store.

As we like to say around here at the UBW corporate offices, as soon as the Monster Cereals hit the shelves, it's time for Halloween!

Breakfast has never been this scary good!

UBW Top 100 Horror Movies: A Taste of Things to Come (Part 4)

We're very excited to release our upcoming Top 100 Horror Movies list. So excited, in fact, that we've decided to offer a bonus to everyone in the form of number 101-105 each week until October when we'll release 25 films each week with the top ranked batch the week before Halloween.
Now then, here is number 102.

#102
The Blob (1958)

This encounter isn't going to end well.

Directors: Irvin Yeaworth, Russell Doughten
Starring: Steve McQueen, Aneta Corsaut, Earl Rowe, Olin Howland
More of a B-movie sci-fi film - and mainly known as Steve McQueen’s first leading role - The Blob does manage to contain a few moments of horror as the titular monster engulfs and absorbs its victims. There’s also the “red terror” and cold war metaphor which were probably pretty scary things to think about back then (we’re old here at UBW, but not THAT old).

"That’s Why God Made the Movies"

Episode #129

This episode the fellas talk about some of the movies they watched from this year's Genre Blast Film Festival (including 'Manfish', 'Johnny Z' and 'The Brilliant Terror') - which were hits and which were misses? You've gotta listen to find out. Plus, September 15th (this episode's release day) is National Malcolm Day, so what better way to celebrate than to do a Gift, Keep, Ditch with famous Malcoms! This one's like a sequel to the previous episode. Or is it a reboot? A reimagining? Even we're confused!

https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/whenitwascool/UBW129_Thats_Why_God_Made_the_Movies_.mp3

UBW Top 100 Horror Movies: A Taste of Things to Come (Part 3)

We're very excited to release our upcoming Top 100 Horror Movies list. So excited, in fact, that we've decided to offer a bonus to everyone in the form of number 101-105 each week until October when we'll release 25 films each week with the top ranked batch the week before Halloween.

Now then, here is number 103.

#103

Demons (1985)

These are demons. The glowing eyes are the telltale giveaway

Director: Lamberto Bava,

Starring: Urbano Barberini, Natasha Hovey

We’ve got to admit - we’re a little surprised this didn’t make it.  With Bava directing and Dario Argento producing, you would think a movie about demon-creatures bloodily running amok in a cinema would rank a bit higher. Throw in some gonzo action involving a motorcycle and a helicopter and it’s even more of a shock that this didn’t make the cut.