I’ve been dropping hints for a few posts but today it’s time to tell the readers all about the 2019 project. This was accidental, but also seems to be fate.  Today’s post will be about how this project came to be and where it will go throughout the year.

In December I read through a large stack of magazines that have been in my “to read” pile for months. These magazines are meant to be read immediately and then disposed of, not to be consumed in one sitting. By doing this I saw how much certain types of entertainment are forced in front of the world and others are ignored.  It’s not a matter of quality, it’s being told what to enjoy in order to make the most money now.  The intent being to make as much money as possible right away because no one will care about it months or years later. One of the best examples is Jerry McGuire.  When was the last time anyone watched it, or bought it, or gave a damn?  There’s an entire site built on collecting the VHS of the movie because it’s so disposable and no one cares about the movie.  But it won awards and made money.

The recent example I gave is the new Viggo movie. I can’t even remember the name nor do I care enough to look it up.  Oscars this and awards that.  No one will remember this movie next year.  But what will matter?  Black Panther, Spider-Verse.  Even Solo, considered a failure will resonate for years.  Annihilation flew under everyone’s radar but is already gaining cult status and will be discovered again and again over the years.

With this in mind, I picked a random year to prove a point.  1983 for no good reason.  I didn’t know half of the movies nominated for Best Picture.  Never even heard of them. But I did know Return of the Jedi.  I had heard of the box office failure, A Christmas Story.  I found this held true for all media.

Now my thoughts expanded.  There is so much media already produced all companies could stop today and I still would never get through what already exists. I began looking through 1983 releases that I had never enjoyed and it’s stunning. There is no shortage of rock, comics, movies, TV from this one year alone that has never been before my eyes.

Sure, I was 5 for most of 1983 and a lot of this I shouldn’t watch at that age. But it’s such a personality creating age.  Not only was Jedi out in 1983 but He-Man and GI Joe debuted. Sometimes it’s not even that I knew of it at five, but that it had to be created then for me to discover later.  Metallica’s first album was in 1983.  I didn’t know it at the time, but because of that album the next four could exist for me to hear Enter Sandman when I was ready for it and then dive backwards in time to the rest of the catalog.

Finally, there’s a 5 year old in my house too. The things he is exposed to now will be what creates his personality in the future. Instead of watching GI Joe he’s watching the Marvel movies.  I wonder not only what would be his reaction to He-Man, but also how could the current entertainment resonate for him 30 plus years later.  The Marvel movies for sure, some of the great cartoons like Adventure Time and Steven Universe.  But what will be the cult ones? The dumb fun ones that will still be enjoyed later?  Rampage? Jurassic World?

I won’t only focus on these.  There will be the annual Super Bowl post, WrestleMania predictions, and various reviews and stories as things come up in life.  For the most part though, I really want to deep dive on this specific yesteryear. I haven’t read Alpha Flight, or Batman and the Outsiders. There’s a ton of great music and cult movies that will be new to me, even though I already own a lot of them.

Send me suggestions from 1983.  Even though the research has already begun, there is so much I’ve yet to discover.  Let me know where I can find your suggestions too, that will help me get to them.

Tune in tomorrow and throughout the year as we revisit for the first time, 1983.