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NINTENDO Video Games & THE WIZARD (1989)

Sliding down drainpipes… chucking smiley-faced vegetables at ghost-faced villains… transforming into a raccoon and flying through the air… either we just took a large dose of LSD, or we’re entering the weird, wonderful world of Super Mario. (Possibly both!)

In the pursuit of channeling the competitive spirit of our youths when our main concern in life was finding warp zones, we spent a whole day playing decades-old video games we loved as kids, including Tetris, The Legend of Zelda, Donkey Kong Country, Goldeneye and every Mario Brothers game from Super Mario through Super Mario World.

In this episode, we discuss the experience of playing these old-school games as adults, debate the gender fluidity of Super Mario 2 boss “Birdo,” and vex our many frustrations regarding the 1989 film THE WIZARD, Nintendo’s grand attempt to create a movie-length commercial for Super Mario 3 and the Power Glove. Listen as our hosts are joined by lifelong gamer Mike Van Gorder from Countless Thousands (countlessthousands.com!) and find out if our gaming marathon inspired us to welcome the plumber brothers and all their pixelated companions back into our hearts.

When We Were Young is a podcast devoted to the most beloved pop culture of our formative years (roughly 1980-2000). Join us for a look back to the past with a critical eye on how these movies, songs, TV shows and more hold up now. You can follow us on Twitter and Instagram at @WWWYshow, on Facebook at Facebook.com/WWWYShow and you can email us your episodes suggestions at wwwyshow@gmail.com. Don’t forget to subscribe and review us on iTunes!

Help us defray the costs of creating this show, which includes purchasing movies/shows/music to review, teleporting through pipes, and producing & editing in-house at the MFP Studio in Los Angeles, California, by donating to our Patreon account at patreon.com/WhenWeWereYoung

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THE BIG LEBOWSKI (1998)

A rug that really tied the room together until it got peed on. A hippie burnout who kept burning. A Vietnam vet who drags everyone else into his world of pain. Add to this a case of mistaken identity, the kidnapping of a trophy wife (in the parlance of our times), and an erotic artist seeking a good and thorough man and you have just *a few* of the characters and plot elements of the woolly and disoriented world of THE BIG LEBOWSKI, the cult favorite 1998 film by the legendary writer-director team of Joel and Ethan Coen.

The Big Lebowski was on every single level the intentional opposite of its Oscar-winning, box office-hit predecessor FARGO (1996), and audiences and critics at the time (like some of our hosts) didn’t abide this strangely hypnotic film. The Coens’ vision of Los Angeles is distinctly un-Hollywood, and it’s filled with anachronistic characters seemingly unstuck in time from the Wild West, the Summer of Love, and the Vietnam War all thrown into the plot of a 1950’s Raymond Chandler detective novel that is playing out in the very early 1990’s. There are so many ins, outs, and what-have-you’s you may need to mix a White Russian and roll a joint just to think it all through.

And in the years since its release, new shit has come to light – and now film audiences of all generations fully embrace and revel in the journey of Jeff Bridges’ stoned drifter The Dude (or His Dudeness, Duder, or El Duderino if you’re not into the whole brevity thing) recovering the few things that keep his universe together – his car, his rug, and his Creedence tapes. Let’s see if our hosts found joy in this movie about bowlers who never actually roll, or if they believe in NOTHING.

When We Were Young is a podcast devoted to the most beloved pop culture of our formative years (roughly 1980-2000). Join us for a look back to the past with a critical eye on how these movies, songs, TV shows and more hold up now. You can follow us on Twitter at @WWWYshow, on Facebook at @WWWYShow, you can Email us at wwwyshow@gmail.com, and don’t forget to subscribe and review us on iTunes!

You can help us defray the costs of creating this show, which include purchasing movies/shows/music to review, adhering to a pretty strict drug regimen to keep our minds limber, and producing & editing in-house at the MFP Studio in Los Angeles CA, by donating to our Patreon account at patreon.com/WhenWeWereYoung

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MADONNA

Before there was Britney. Before there was Beyonce. Before there was Gaga. There was one woman who reigned the radio waves in the 80s and 90s — Her Madgesty, now and forever the Queen of Pop.

Ms. Ciccone is known for her iconic, chameleonic looks, and it just so happens that our hosts each gravitated toward a different era in her storied career. First, Becky goes bananas for I’m Breathless, the Broadway-inspired Dick Tracy soundtrack, and the revealing concert documentary Truth or Dare.

Next, Chris whips his co-hosts into shape for the leather-heavy Sex/Erotica/Bedtime Stories period, which ignited a very sado-masochistic relationship between Madonna and the media. Last, Seth looks directly into the Grammy-winning Ray of Light, which introduced us to a softer, gentler, and much more geisha-like incarnation of the Material Girl.

We were all crazy for at least one of these albums growing up, but what happens when we listen like virgins as adults? Is Madonna’s 90s oeuvre still something to remember, or should it invoke the power of goodbye and take a bow? Don’t just stand there, let’s get to it ­— it’s time to see if the best-selling female artist of all time can still justify our love.

When We Were Young is a podcast devoted to the most beloved pop culture of our formative years (roughly 1980-2000). Join us for a look back to the past with a critical eye on how these movies, songs, TV shows and more hold up now. You can follow us on Twitter at @WWWYshow, on Facebook at @WWWYShow, you can Email us at wwwyshow@gmail.com, and don’t forget to subscribe and review us on iTunes!

Help us defray the costs of creating this show, which include purchasing movies/shows/music to review, ordering delivery food to eat our emotions, and producing & editing in-house at the MFP Studio in Los Angeles CA, by donating to our Patreon account at patreon.com/WhenWeWereYoung

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90s TEEN IDOLS JONATHAN TAYLOR THOMAS, DEVON SAWA, JONATHAN BRANDIS, BRAD RENFRO, ANDREW KEEGAN, and RIDER STRONG

For our very special Valentine’s Day episode, we’re taking a look back at the fanatic love we had back in the day for the 1990s’ biggest teenage heartthrobs. If you didn’t have a poster of Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Devon Sawa, Jonathan Brandis, Brad Renfro, Andrew Keegan or Rider Strong on your wall and would stare at it for hours and maybe even practice kissing on it… well, you clearly were more emotionally mature than we were as pre-teens.

In this episode we dive into the history of teen idol mags like Tiger Beat and BOP, discover that LADYBUGS is most definitely not a movie for children, and try not to feel like creeps discussing the wholesome sex appeal of teenage boys. Also, Becky shares the intimate details of her internet relationship with JTT (or, more likely, someone pretending to be him). It’s our most embarrassing episode yet!

When We Were Young is a podcast devoted to the most beloved pop culture of our formative years (roughly 1980-2000). Join us for a look back to the past with a critical eye on how these movies, songs, TV shows and more hold up now. You can follow us on Twitter at @WWWYshow, on Facebook at @WWWYShow, you can Email us at wwwyshow@gmail.com, and don’t forget to subscribe and review us on iTunes!

You can help us defray the costs of creating this show, which include purchasing movies/shows/music to review, ordering delivery food to eat our emotions, and producing & editing in-house at the MFP Studio in Los Angeles CA, by donating to our Patreon account at patreon.com/WhenWeWereYoung

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DANTE’S PEAK and VOLCANO (1997)

Don’t look back. The pressure is building. This thing’s gonna blow, and it’s hotter than hell! No, this is not When We Were Young’s episode on the best porn of the 90s — it’s the pyroclastic flow of natural disaster flicks unleashed by Twister’s sweeping success in the summer of ‘96. To blatantly rip off our first episode, Episode 33 surmounts Dante’s Peak and pokes around in the stinky tunnels of Volcano, two back-to-back disaster doppelgangers from 1997.

First, Chris relates the real-life 1980 eruption of Mt. St. Helens, the basis for Dante’s Peak’s magmatic magic. Then, Becky harkens back to her days as a budding geologist to scientifically measure the likelihood of a volcano suddenly bursting from the loins of Los Angeles.

One has Pierce Brosnan and Linda Hamilton, the other has Tommy Lee Jones and Anne Heche. Both feature thwarted vacations, youth in peril, charred limbs, and dogs leaping away from lava in the nick of time — but neither was a seismic event at the box office. This podcast once concluded that Twister doesn’t suck, but does Volcano blow? Is Dante’s Peak dormant or active? And which rates higher on the disaster epic Richter scale? In this episode, strong opinions flow like magma until these hosts are toast!

[Please excuse the audio quality in this episode – in keeping with our disaster theme, the computer fucked up the recording! We assure you we’ll return to peak fidelity in future episodes.]

When We Were Young is a podcast devoted to the most beloved pop culture of our formative years (roughly 1980-2000). Join us for a look back to the past with a critical eye on how these movies, songs, TV shows and more hold up now. You can follow us on Twitter at @WWWYshow, on Facebook at @WWWYShow, you can Email us at wwwyshow@gmail.com, and don’t forget to subscribe and review us on iTunes!

You can help us defray the costs of creating this show, which include purchasing movies/shows/music to review, ordering delivery food to eat our emotions, and producing & editing in-house at the MFP Studio in Los Angeles CA, by donating to our Patreon account at patreon.com/WhenWeWereYoung