I often joke that I struggle with JDOCD, “Johnny Depp Obsessive Compulsive Disorder”. I also wrestle with PCS, “Pop Culture Syndrome”. Thankfully this site helps keep my symptoms under control.

There is one side effect though. Being plugged in to the Intertubes day in and day out, can make me feel  “Internet Bipolar”.

I’ve been active in cyberspace for years now. I check in with social media daily, search for information, write posts, keep up with favorites, find gems of videos, some old and some new. Mostly old, but that’s just because I have a love for all things retro. The internet is an exciting place yet it can also be exhausting.

Some days I am thrilled by the fascinating finds I come across. I feel connected to the world, a part of something bigger than the confines of my little house on a So Cal cul-de-sac. Other days I’m done with it all.

The sharing, the linking, the supposed new ideas, the selling, marketing and spewing of everyone’s endeavors. That would be the exhausting part.

Do you ever feel this way? If so, how do you break out of those Internet Bipolar chains? One song comes to mind right now.

For more information about JDOCD, visit http://www.ohjohnny.net/jdocd.html

I’ve been changing the YouTube channels looking for retro videos from MTV’s first broadcast, thanks to The Kitsch Bitch and her Facebook update about MTV’s 30th anniversary. MTV debuted on August 1, 1981.

Thirty years ago I was 11 years old. The first time I tuned into MTV it altered my pop culture loving life forever. I don’t think video killed the radio star but it sure did get my attention.

If you’re old enough to remember the first days of MTV than your old enough to feel like I do; I want my old school MTV! For you young adults out there, get this… they used to play music!

Here’s a few of my favorites from MTV’s first day of broadcast:

Visit the Kitsch Bitsch on Facebook. http://www.facebook.com/thekitschbitsch

So I like did a search on my site using the totally tubular words VALLEY GIRL and like OH me gawd I didn’t get anything?
That’s like so uncool, right? Fer sher! Totally!

I had to like put something up like so this minute because like oh me gawd! That was like so much an awesomely huge part of like my existence you know? Oh ME gawd!
There was a time when I tried like so hard to like talk with as many like “likes” as I could, right? You remember don’t you? Really? Are you fer sher?

Well it was this totally bitchin’ time in the 80’s and there was like all this awesome music. Totally rad colors like fluorescent ya know? Pinks, greens, yellows. There was like lightning bolt earrings and shades that look like those window thingys, you know shades like the ones you wear on your face. Fer sher!

Like OH me gawd, just like the raddest time could be spent like at the mall. You remember don’t you? Really?

OK, ok so like here’s some videos I like found on the internet which would have been so totally awesome back in say 1984. OH me gawd, like all we had then was like MTV and like arcades and like the Atari like 64. Oh and like 3 Way Calling which was like so cool. OK, ok! So here’s the videos:

I wasn’t from the Valley I was like from Chula Vista. Like oh me gawd it’s like still in California so that’s like why I thought it was so cool to be part of that scene. Ya know?

A contest? Like nobody told me about a contest?

So some of the comments on this next video like please, gag me with a spoon! But this video from Solid Gold is hot like Nicolas Cage! Totally!

Were you ever like a Valley Girl or did you want to say, “Oh me gawd bag your face!” every time one talked near you?

Looks like it’s going to be hot all over the place again today! Stay cool and have a great summer with these retro products.

If you couldn’t get to a pool this was the next best thing.

How many America’s Funniest Home Video’s were made possible with Slip-n-Slide blunders?

This was one of my favorites. Who doesn’t love Snoopy or Sno-Cones?

Which product did you stay cool with in the summer?

I am a happy TV watching fool this month. All settled in with True Blood and now it’s time for one of my other fave’s, Breaking Bad. I’ve got my DVR set up for this Sunday night. How about you?

The new season of Breaking Bad premieres Sunday at 10PM, July 17th on AMC. http://www.amctv.com/breaking-bad

Two shows I reference a lot are Gilligan’s Island and The Brady Bunch. Both of these shows were created by writer/producer Sherwood Shwartz. He was 94 years old and passed away today.

What I like the best about Gilligan’s Island, besides the elaborate stuff they had made out of island materials, are the characters. Each role is unique and the group dynamic worked so well. It was such a kitschy campy show with nothing but fun. I wanted to leave on a 3 hour tour and be stranded with Ginger, Mary Ann, the Professer, the Howell’s, the Skipper, and of course Gilligan.

Watch Gilligan’s Island: http://www.thewb.com/shows/gilligans-island/

Ah the Brady Bunch. How many life lessons did we learn from the Brady Bunch? When it’s time to change we have to rearrange, who we are into what we’re gonna be.

Watch the Brady Bunch: http://www.cbs.com/classics/the_brady_bunch/video/

Find out more about show creator, writer & producer Sherwood Shwartz. Click here.

When I was a kid I watched a lot of old shows from the 1930’s, at least the shows that starred cute, witty and comical kids. Television shows and picture shows from The Little Rascals shorts to Shirley Temple movies.
So it makes sense to me that seeing Paper Moon starring Tatum O’Neal would also be on my favorites list. Of course this was a movie made in 1973 set in the 30’s, but to my childhood moving watching self it didn’t much matter.

At a young age, I knew part of what made the performances special in Paper Moon was that the lead actors were a father/daughter team. I’d imagine how cool it would be to be an actress alongside my dad, walking the red carpet to the Oscars, schmoozing with all the Hollywood celebs. This was easy to imagine since I accompanied my dad on many of his dump truck driving projects. How different could it be I thought? We had so much fun together getting donuts at 4:00 am, then off to load asphalt into the back of his dump truck. Break time of 7-11 Slurpees with the other owner/operators.

Alright, so it’s a long way off from a dump truck to a limo taking you to an Academy Awards dinner but I could imagine. The main thing I imagined was that Tatum O’Neal and her father Ryan O’Neal had perfect lives. As time went by, I got older and started noticing more about them in the media. What I imagined didn’t match up with what the news and tabloids were saying.

Here it is 2011 and Tatum & Ryan O’Neal are back in the spotlight, this time together with a reality show on Oprah’s network. I love reality shows because I like to people watch. I admit it. I like seeing the depth of relationships, and even the surface level simplicity of what’s on the kitchen counter in a person’s house. Yes, I know. Reality TV is a bit like watching entertainment wrestling. It’s not real. It’s edited, put together. I think the fact that a story is being created out of reality is what I find interesting. When you stop and think about it that’s what telling a story is. It’s not always what really happened, it’s how we want the story to be told.

Many have read Tatum O’Neal’s story through her New York Times Bestseller A Paper Life and we’ve heard Ryan O’Neal’s through various interviews. With this new show, Ryan and Tatum: The O’Neals, we watch their story together, a story of reconciliation.

Are you tuning in to Ryan and Tatum: The O’Neal’s?

Set the DVR for Sunday nights on OWN, click here for times, videos and extras.

Check out this great clip from when Tatum O’Neal won her Oscar. She still holds the record for being the youngest actor to win one. I wonder how that must feel. Click here to see the video.

No I’m not thinking of the Heavy Metal reference to “Stars & Stripes Forever”. OK maybe just for a minute. Happy 4th of July Muppet Style!

Have a great weekend!

Four clips in anticipation of Sunday’s night’s premiere of True Blood, Season 4 on HBO. Set your DVR! Visit http://www.hbogo.com for more info.

This is what I call a fun internet find!

Click here to visit the Big Feet Boys site, and here to check out the Red Hot Dixie Devils.