Back to the EIGHTIES, back to the FUTURE

It was eighties flashback week recently as I some how found myself face to face with the things I grew up with. Who knew I remembered so much?

The first sign that my early childhood was in retro mode was when the Plurkosphere (that’s my Plurk world, which I wrote about a couple of columns back) decided to hold a That’s Entertainment day on September 24.

For non-Plurkers out there, you can change your nicks as often as you want—and you’re only limited by, well, the character limit and your creativity. I’ve seen upside-down nicks, nicks with special characters, and nicks in different languages. For That’s Entertainment day, my contacts used nicks from Kuya Germs’ long-defunct variety show. 

Unfortunately for me, I was swamped with work that day, so I only snuck in bits of time checking out new Plurks and replies; I didn’t get to go into the full swing of things. Not that I had a ready name to use; I would’ve picked Manilyn Reynes, as I was a fan, but I’m pretty sure somebody had already beat me to it.

I did see enough, however, to notice how the That’s mania spread like wildfire. Before going to work at noon, only a handful of my contacts (and none of whom I’d met IRL—in real life) used That’s nicks. I saw names I haven’t seen in ages, like Jovit Moya, Jigo Garcia, Dennis da Silva, Dranreb Belleza and Chuckie Dreyfuss. A little after dinner time, my friends had become Ilonah Jean, KringKring, Fatima Alvir, Sheryl Cruz, and Tina Paner.

I clicked on Plurk after Plurk and reached “ground zero,” or the Plurk that started it all. I was expecting him to nab the Kuya Germs title, but he was using another name I hadn’t seen in ages: Manolet Ripol. 

There were two attempts to change the theme: Sexy Stars (where Gardo Versoza and Priscilla Almeda made an appearance) and Ang TV Stars (I saw somebody dub himself Stefano Mori). (Un)fortunately, they didn’t quite catch on. Apparently, at least that day, there was nothing more entertaining than, er, That’s Entertainment.

My lasting That’s Entertainment memory is that of a polka-dot-cycling-shorts-wearing Manilyn Reynes (see, told you I was a fan) singing Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini, a song that was always sung in That’s to welcome the summer. It didn’t feel like summer had begun until a That’s star had had that Yellow Polka Dot bikini segment and that Grease medley had been performed, where the love team du jour and their stage posse donned their best imitation of fifties “The Pink Ladies” and “T-birds” outfits and jumped up and down and ran all over Broadway Centrum, sometimes with umbrellas a-blazing, to the tune of Summer Nights.

I lived for those late afternoons, I tell you.

More recently, I was able to correct a false memory. Prior to chancing upon Gil Portes’ High School Scandal on Cinema One in the wee hours of the morning a couple of days ago, I could have sworn the Sharon Cuneta’s High School Life left its imprint on me via a tragic Sharon-Gabby movie.

A buried memory was awakened when I watched Sandy Andolong and Gina Alajar portray high school students trying to navigate their way through difficult teenage years and pitfalls like first love, rejection, angst, pre-marital sex and abortion. Apparently, the only thing accurate about my memory was the tragic feeling: after getting an abortion in a seedy clinic, Gina’s character dies, leaving Sandy’s character without a best friend, The End.

I remember that being one of the first movies I shed a tear for. I’m pretty sure I watched it on an early afternoon, when our “nana,” as we called our yaya back then, could watch “Tagalog” on TV. I also remember swearing to treasure my own high school life (and never to have pre-marital sex and, in case I did get pregnant, never to get an abortion) after watching that film. Apparently, Gil Portes and I go way back!

All these put together sent me earlier down memory lane—when a cute boy and my unrequited attention was motivation enough and my biggest problem upon waking up was finding socks that matched.

Perfect. My 30-day countdown to 31 has begun.