Ka-Double Trouble

Posted on 03.17.2012 by tita buds

Back in the Stone Age, when my sisters and I were not yet in our teens, watching a good movie required not only dressing up and going to a moviehouse, but also getting there on time — because missing the first part of the movie meant one had to sit through its “kadobol”.

A kadobol (or ka-double feature) was a second film that was supposed to add value to one’s movie ticket. But it really served as time-filler while the film reels for the main feature were rushed to and shown in the other moviehouse across the street.

A kadobol was often randomly selected, forgettable and boring — the moviehouse equivalent of the song on the ‘B-side’ of a hit record. (Think Duran Duran’s Make Me Smile on the flipside of The Reflex*). So at various times, us kids suffered through B-grade costume dramas, a coming-of-age movie from Israel, a documentary about General MacArthur, film footage from the wedding of a celebrity couple, and film footage from the funeral (I kid you not) of a starlet who famously died of leukemia.

But once in a while, a kadobol would turn out to be equally, if not more, memorable than the main feature. A horror film, for example.

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Drool Day: 80s Film Alphabet

Posted on 03.01.2012 by tita buds

People, I need your help.

You might have seen this poster before but I came across it only today at The Bazaar and the Eighties teen still living inside me has since been sitting cross-legged on her bed with her face all scrunched up, trying to will her middle-aged mind into identifying every film depicted herein.

Guess!

Here’s what I’ve got so far: Coming to America, Dirty Dancing, ET, Ghostbusters, Honey I Shrunk the Kids, Indiana Jones, Karate Kid, Nightmare on Elm Street, Labyrinth, Rambo and Teen Wolf.

Wait…isn’t that Emilio Estevez … ? … Waaah! Breakfast Club! Yes! (Sorry, my train of thought just took over.)

You know the feeling that you know you know something and you CANNOT rest until you remember what it is? Good. Help me then? (And because this is a fun challenge, can you ‘fill in the blanks’ without looking at the answers already submitted? )

While we’re at it, what other 80s movies do you think also deserve to be there? I vote Flashdance, Back to the Future, Say Anything, Pretty in Pink, and Some Kind of Wonderful. (Train of thought: Oh gaaaad, Andrew McCarthy and Eric Stoltz.)

Anyway, the print (by artist Steve Wildish) is available for purchase (printed or as a downloadable file) at The Bazaar. I want it. It’ll be the perfect conversation piece when high school friends come over. I’ll watch them get stumped, too, as I put Moment of Truth and Billie Jean on repeat.

*****

More Drool Days here.

*****

Update: It’s been pointed out that B is in fact Back to the Future, not Breakfast Club. That oh-so-eighties jacket confused me and I really thought it was Emilio (yes, we are on first name basis, haha!).

1983 B.C. (Before Cellphones)

Posted on 11.26.2011 by tita buds

From the depths of my keepsakes box, an old note from high school:

Written by a classmate and marked ‘CONFIDENTIAL’, it was secretly passed hand to hand in class until it reached me, who as class president had the responsibility to resolve weighty matters such as: