Tag nostalgia

My thoughts on Stranger Things

Angel Ackerman Leave a comment

I listen to a lot of podcasts at work and one of them is “Why are people watching this?” This weekly podcast takes the top rated show on Netflix for any given week and reviews it among a group of friends.

They recently looked at Season Four of Stranger Things. Now, I first “tried” Stranger Things and couldn’t get into it. But I decided to try again, based on some comments made in that episode.

They reference how well the show captures 1980s nostalgia and comments on the good casting and talent of the young actors.

I am now starting the current season— and I’m curious where it will go because Season Three ended at a perfect point. So I think it will be hard to maintain the arc.

The series plays out like a comic book, often poignant, then funny, then over-the-top. It’s part teen drama, part horror, part sci-fi and in all honesty, the sci-fi/conspiracy horror/monster storylines don’t impress me. And the plot line of a government agency raising children with superpowers still feels like a rip-off of Dark Angel. Personally, the early episodes of Dark Angel captivate me and I love Jessica Alba in her lead role in that series. Just don’t watch the final season, it’s some of the worst television I’ve ever seen.

But anyway, the characters on Stranger Things keep me coming back. They are so interesting. And the essence of the eighties oozes out the pores. Their season three depiction of The Mall scene captured every detail— even the old branding of all the main icons of that era: Burger King, Orange Julius, the Gap.

It’s like the Buffy The Vampire Slayer of sci-fi/dark fantasy.

So I’m curious to see if Season Four will hold up.

Never underestimate your impact

Angel Ackerman Leave a comment

Last night at about midnight, I received an unexpected post on my Facebook wall.

Happy New Year, Angel. You have done great things this year despite a million obstacles. And yet you always strive to do more… taking care of so many.”

I don’t want to say I was feeling down last night when I received this message, but I was thinking about past relationships and memories as many people do. So this brought tears to my eyes.

I didn’t set out to do any of the things I did in 2020, but I merely reacted to the situations in my path. I think the moral of this post, if it has one, is if you are thinking of someone or have something kind to say do it. Don’t wait.

This particular shout from the dark, so to speak, came from a college peer. A young woman from Brooklyn who wore clogs and drove a Jeep and blasted The Beastie Boys. Someone pretty and jovial and a little loud. I admired her, and her boldness, and her social life (which is something I didn’t have at that age, my insecurities were so raw).

And I look at her now, and she’s still beautiful and she has equally beautiful children, one of whom is an amazing gymnast.

I don’t know much about her life. She posts about her pride in her family. And I have a feeling she’s a really great mom.

We’ve all matured a lot since the mid-nineties at Moravian College, and it’s super cool that Facebook allows us to spy on each other when life would have separated us. That counts for everyone on South Campus at that time.

So thank you for starting my year with happy memories and high hopes.