Where were you in 1982?

An 80's classic in much the same way that "Electric Dreams" was a classic.

Last night i decided to re-visit a slice of my past. The setting was Theatre 2 at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image at Federation Square. The movie was "Tron" and judging by the reaction of the people that i told that i was going to see it, they had no idea what this movie was. In short is is an early 1980's Disney film about a renegade computer programmer who somehow gets put into the program he was trying to hack into. I won't go into the details of the actual film because you all may lose interest .

I was reading the local paper at lunchtime on Friday when i came across a small ad in the newspaper saying that "Tron" was playing Saturday night. I just had to see it. I barely remember seeing it when i was a little fella and what struck me back then was the amazing colours and the cool hybrid-motorbikes. I called Sab to see if she wanted to see it but she hadn't heard of it (plus she was visiting family ont he other side of town) so i called my other good mate Stav who hadn't seen it either but decided that he will accompany.

Not many of you know about Stav. I met him at Uni as well in pretty much the same manner as i met Sab. Now Stav has to be one of the nicest guys on the face of the planet. As his name suggests he has Greek heritage but he's Aussie through and through (even though he supports Collingwood) and it's always fun to catch up with someone else who enjoys Chicken Parma's as I do.

I caught up with Stav at the steps out the front of Flinders Street Station which is the place to meet people in the city. When you say on the phone "i'll meet you on the steps" or "i'll meet you under the clocks" it can only mean this famous place. As i got there about 10 minutes before Stav i was people watching and it seems that while the faces change, the styles of people who meet at the steps never seem to change.

There are the underage wanna be hotties waiting for their freinds, there are the bogans who have their 6 pack of beer waiting for their de-factos and their de-factos kids to come back from the Target Superstore in the city. There are the groups of workmates off for a night on the piss or on their way to another sporting event. It is one of the only places in Melbourne where all sections of the community can be seen every day.


Seen that Federation Square is across the road from the station, Stav and I decided to have a drink down at the Riverland Bar on the Yarra River. We had a quick beer and then went further down the river to find a place to eat but it was a lovely humid night so every man and his dog were out so we couln't find a place to eat so we ended up at a Portugese Chicken Fast Food franchise. When we went up to order the guy behind the counter said in his best Indian accent "I'm sorry we are out of chicken but you can have a burger if you want." Considering that Nando's is a Chicken shop and they serve Chicken Burgers it begs the question...WHAT THE HELL PRODUCT DO THEY USE IN THE BURGERS IF IT'S NOT CHICKEN?

Stav

After thinking about the answer to that question i couldn't finish my burger so we slowly made our way back to Fed Square to get ready to see the film. We got to the theatre about 10 mins before the show to see only 4 other people waiting. I thought "Gees I must be one of the saddest people in Melbourne" yet when i started talking to a couple of the people about the film the excitement was on everyones face. "Tron" was a film that came out when computers were still a new fad and the world wasn't dominated by computers as yet so to watch a film thats nearly 25 years old talking about the future of computers (according to Disney) was a laugh for me and about the 50 people that were in the theatre last night.

The film felt longer than 90 minutes (Stav actually fell asleep for a minute) but it was an opportunity to step back into a time where computers weren't the be all and end all of life these days. It was an opportunity to think about how life was different in the 80's and how cool computer games were in the 80's. They may not have the cutting edge animation but gees they were addictive!

Kids today don't appreciate computers.