You Can't Go Back - list experiential failures here

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I'm not sure if it's due to loss of imagination or loss of naivete, but certain experiences which were at one time thoroughly absorbing and enjoyable beyond description just don't hold up today. I have actually tried to make some experiences feel like they once did only to realize I have no idea how.

Here is a place to list a few things you've tried to "recapture" from earlier days that just can't be recaptured.

A few of mine:

1. action figures
2. comic books
3. Josie & The Pussycats IN SPACE
4. Battle of The Planets
5. Voltron
6. Twisted Sister
7. Star Wars
8. horror movies

― asdf troll, Sunday, 28 November 2004 03:55 (twenty-one years ago)

The first two Red Hot Chili Peppers albums.

― I Am Curious (George) (Rock Hardy), Sunday, 28 November 2004 03:57 (twenty-one years ago)

J.A.B.

― Orbit (Orbit), Sunday, 28 November 2004 03:59 (twenty-one years ago)

breastfeeding.

― g--ff (gcannon), Sunday, 28 November 2004 04:00 (twenty-one years ago)

video games

― It's hard to kill a horse with a flute (AaronHz), Sunday, 28 November 2004 04:04 (twenty-one years ago)

1. "Heavy Metal: the Motion Picture" --- I literally have a scar on my face because of this film.....you'd think it would be worth it. It's not.
2. "the Legend of Boggy Creek"
3. "Battle of the Planets' (OTM!!!)

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Sunday, 28 November 2004 04:05 (twenty-one years ago)

Jump rope

I used to love that game. Now it's only ok if anything at all.

― Aja (aja), Sunday, 28 November 2004 04:06 (twenty-one years ago)

haha! Legend of Boggy Creek, OTM!
xpost

― Orbit (Orbit), Sunday, 28 November 2004 04:06 (twenty-one years ago)

LSD

― jones (actual), Sunday, 28 November 2004 04:12 (twenty-one years ago)

1. for some reason, The State
2. laser tag
3. egg and cheese

― Roger Fidelity (Roger Fidelity), Sunday, 28 November 2004 04:15 (twenty-one years ago)

After reading Pashmina's longings for lego trains on the "Ebay: Cash Cow..." thread, I was going to write that while looking at old toys on ebay, I will lapse into believing that by bidding, I could possibly win back some of my childhood. It's ridiculous, but the longing is so great that I do somehow believe in the power of this object-rapture.

― Pangolino (ricki spaghetti), Sunday, 28 November 2004 04:16 (twenty-one years ago)

For me, it's those little lead people from role-playing games; Grenadier and Citadel and all that. I'm still fascinated by reading about old role-playing games and their development, etc., but I wouldn't be able to play them, I don't think. In my case, perhaps I can induce a kind of regression via lead-poisoning.

― Pangolino (ricki spaghetti), Sunday, 28 November 2004 04:26 (twenty-one years ago)

oh, hip hop culture - that is, the music, grafitti, etc.

― Roger Fidelity (Roger Fidelity), Sunday, 28 November 2004 04:30 (twenty-one years ago)

Ninja magazines (admittedly, haven't really tried to 'recapture' the magic of these in some time)

― Roger Fidelity (Roger Fidelity), Sunday, 28 November 2004 04:30 (twenty-one years ago)

pot, man.

― Snush (x Jeremy), Sunday, 28 November 2004 04:32 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm really in danger of having to list The Replacements on here. Let's hope it never happens.

― Pleasant Plains (Pleasant Plains), Sunday, 28 November 2004 05:48 (twenty-one years ago)

No way! Just take a breather - say, 3 mnonths. Then, put on anything from Tim and tell me they're not still one of the best bands of the 20th century

― Roger Fidelity (Roger Fidelity), Sunday, 28 November 2004 05:49 (twenty-one years ago)

1. "The Facts of Life"
2. sleeping comfortably on any non-bed surface
3. Nerds candy
4. Care Bears
5. hot chocolate
6. watching the Weather Channel for hours on end
7. the editorial section of our local newspaper
8. iced oatmeal cookies
9. total '80s pop culture obsession
10. "America's Most Wanted"

Um, I think that's it.

― Drama Queen Wannabe (Dee the Lurker), Sunday, 28 November 2004 05:57 (twenty-one years ago)

(Ha, I only wish I had a cool answer to provide here, e.g. The Replacements.)

― Drama Queen Wannabe (Dee the Lurker), Sunday, 28 November 2004 05:58 (twenty-one years ago)

"GI Joe"
Pearl Jam/Slaughter/Warrant/Tesla
'84 Cubs
'85 Bears
'91-'93, '96-'98 Bulls
Star Wars
daily newspaper comics
Skittles
flannels
video games and TV shows in general

― Riot Gear! (Gear!), Sunday, 28 November 2004 06:10 (twenty-one years ago)

ROGER SO OTM

― I'm serious ... Ti-i-i-i-im (deangulberry), Sunday, 28 November 2004 06:15 (twenty-one years ago)

ferris bueller

― Does John Coltrane Dream of a Merry-go-round? (ex machina), Sunday, 28 November 2004 06:26 (twenty-one years ago)

I know, I know, Roger and Dean. I just don't get the same paralyzing feeling that I used to get when I was nineteen listening to "Unsatisfied". Maybe it's because I'm eating better.

(Roger Dean! HA!)

― Pleasant Plains (Pleasant Plains), Sunday, 28 November 2004 06:28 (twenty-one years ago)

You need to be 200% more drunk.

― I'm serious ... Ti-i-i-i-im (deangulberry), Sunday, 28 November 2004 06:30 (twenty-one years ago)

I was thinking that. Either drink this bottle of champagne or quit the band.

― Pleasant Plains (Pleasant Plains), Sunday, 28 November 2004 06:31 (twenty-one years ago)

Sex! It is still great, I have not lost interest. But it is not, and can't be, that mysterious, looming, tantalizing, threatening off-screen presence that it was for all the years between when I started figuring out what it was and when I actually started doing it. (I guess this isn't an experiential failure so much as an inability to recapture a lack of experience and the massive weight of the mystery that accompanied it.)

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Sunday, 28 November 2004 06:42 (twenty-one years ago)

previous relationships?

― Laura H. (laurah), Sunday, 28 November 2004 06:53 (twenty-one years ago)

all contact with the opposite sex is a big experiential failure

― caitlin oh no (caitxa1), Sunday, 28 November 2004 06:54 (twenty-one years ago)

1. chicken by itself
2. raves
3. competitive wintersport (I almost puke if I stand up too fast from sitting these days)
4. art
5. films (adult-onset A.D.D., though I did watch all of Training Day on DVD last night with no breaks)
6. trying to be nice to my dog when visiting parents' house (obscenely good-looking but hostile shika inu that turned on me during high school and has growled at me ever since, I wouldn't care if he died, he attacks absolutely everyone outside the family, he bit my friend, our landscaper, and probably more people mom and dad don't tell me about)
7. sharp girls that are going places - let's be honest, only unemployed unbalanced psychos ever work out for me
8. GHB
9. photography
10. beverages that aren't clear (something to do with my tactile defensivity or bizarre hatred of tastes that taste like anything when I'm not in the sit-down act of eating)

― LeCoq (LeCoq), Sunday, 28 November 2004 09:12 (twenty-one years ago)

law school

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Sunday, 28 November 2004 12:52 (twenty-one years ago)

Reading the NME

― ailsa (ailsa), Sunday, 28 November 2004 13:09 (twenty-one years ago)

9. photography

You're just not taking the right pictures, then.

Please don't tell me the first "Star Wars" doesn't hold up. I still believe it does. Am I wrong?

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Sunday, 28 November 2004 13:27 (twenty-one years ago)

"unsatisfied" still gives me those paralyzing feelings. maybe it should become my litmus test w/r/t whether i've sold out or not.

― stockholm cindy (Jody Beth Rosen), Sunday, 28 November 2004 13:43 (twenty-one years ago)

Alex, Star Wars was on my list, too. I just can't watch it anymore. When I was a kid, I would do anything to have it on DVD so I could stare at it every waking moment.

― asdf troll, Sunday, 28 November 2004 15:32 (twenty-one years ago)

the internet.

― maria tessa sciarrino (theoreticalgirl), Sunday, 28 November 2004 15:33 (twenty-one years ago)

ugh, maria otm.

― caitlin oh no (caitxa1), Sunday, 28 November 2004 16:01 (twenty-one years ago)

Please don't tell me the first "Star Wars" doesn't hold up. I still believe it does. Am I wrong?

Holds up just fine.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 28 November 2004 16:02 (twenty-one years ago)

Camping
Drinking in a field
One night stands
Life without hair products/straighteners/dyes etc
Dancing on tables and whipping bra off at a minutes notice
Cheap booze
Impromptu parties in cold, draughty, pissy flats
Listening to whiny, self-obsessed fucks at above parties

― Penelope_111 (Penelope_111), Sunday, 28 November 2004 16:58 (twenty-one years ago)

Unmatching bed linen
Crap towels

― Penelope_111 (Penelope_111), Sunday, 28 November 2004 16:59 (twenty-one years ago)

I keep reading this as "You can't go back - list experimental failures here"

I'm thinking, is there really enough call on ILE for people to talk about their meddling in alchemy or the time they tried to use their vacuum cleaner to simulate the sound of shortwave radio on some avant garde soundscape they were making?

― Just Kate (papa november), Sunday, 28 November 2004 17:01 (twenty-one years ago)

Using vacuum cleaners as masturbatory aids.

― Penelope_111 (Penelope_111), Sunday, 28 November 2004 17:02 (twenty-one years ago)

going back to work someplace where I'd been fired. Got fired again.

― lovebug starski (lovebug starski), Sunday, 28 November 2004 17:12 (twenty-one years ago)

Did the same person fire you?

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 28 November 2004 17:14 (twenty-one years ago)

technically no but ultimately, yes. Total naivete on my part.
perhaps more to the point I had this sensation listening to the Psychedelic Furs the other day. Never happens with the Cure.

― lovebug starski (lovebug starski), Sunday, 28 November 2004 17:37 (twenty-one years ago)

Heheh. I think I might have to agree (much as I love the Furs, I don't feel a need to listen to them much anymore).

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 28 November 2004 17:37 (twenty-one years ago)

I hadn't heard them in years, either. Whereas I've been dragging out the early Cure and first couple Echo albums quite a bit lately.

― lovebug starski (lovebug starski), Sunday, 28 November 2004 17:41 (twenty-one years ago)

Hey, I came in right on cue!

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 28 November 2004 17:42 (twenty-one years ago)

1. Sleepovers
2. Crushes
3. Feeling romantic.

― Snush (x Jeremy), Sunday, 28 November 2004 18:06 (twenty-one years ago)

"Battle of the Planets" is so, so OTM.

I bought a DVD and tried to explain to others who hadn't seen it the way that it blazed through my childhood in all its futuristic Japanese animated glory.

We watched it together.

It kinda sucks, basically.

"you can't go back" indeed.

― Drew Daniel (Drew Daniel), Monday, 29 November 2004 18:19 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah, I'm not convinced any of the old anime stuff holds up. A few years ago I was ecstatic to find a VHS box set of some of old favourite "giant robot" shows. I've watched it exactly once - lousy scripts, bad voice acting, and even worse animation. Bleh.

Also, I went to a 1994-style rave this spring, where they were spinning records like Acen and early Prodigy. It was fun, but I felt so old.

― Tantrum The Cat (Tantrum The Cat), Monday, 29 November 2004 18:30 (twenty-one years ago)

Long lonely solo road trips. I used to LIVE for those sorts of drives, nowadays they're like the second and a halfth layer of hell.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Monday, 29 November 2004 18:36 (twenty-one years ago)

xpost-

I feel like a sad old rave hag because I totally trawl the used bins in search of Acen stuff. It has left this planet for a better place, apparently.

― Drew Daniel (Drew Daniel), Monday, 29 November 2004 18:58 (twenty-one years ago)

Agreed, nick. I used to nothing but drive around the country by myself, but now, it's not so fun anymore.

At least I'm not like my dad who gets off of the interstate because everyone's driving so much darn faster these days.

― Pleasant Plains (Pleasant Plains), Monday, 29 November 2004 19:45 (twenty-one years ago)

Running for fun (not jogging). Only kids can pull that shit off.

― alex in montreal, Monday, 29 November 2004 20:01 (twenty-one years ago)

Black Flag's "TV Party" and "Wasted" (and the rest of it maybe too).

― asdf troll, Monday, 29 November 2004 20:44 (twenty-one years ago)

xpost-

I feel like a sad old rave hag because I totally trawl the used bins in search of Acen stuff. It has left this planet for a better place, apparently.

Does the format matter? I can outfit you with some MP3s. Just drop me a line.

― Tantrum The Cat (Tantrum The Cat), Monday, 29 November 2004 22:24 (twenty-one years ago)

1. "Heavy Metal: the Motion Picture" --- I literally have a scar on my face because of this film.....you'd think it would be worth it. It's not.

Do tell!

― Tantrum The Cat (Tantrum The Cat), Monday, 29 November 2004 22:24 (twenty-one years ago)

1. The Harry Potter books (I enjoyed them a lot on first reading, so I thought, I fancy some escapist crap, let's re-read. No joy whatsoever, no depth, no layers, appalling dialogue. It's like reading a list - interesting the first time, a void the second)

― Jesus Christ, Paraplegic (Mark C), Tuesday, 30 November 2004 13:08 (twenty-one years ago)

MODERNISM

― trigonalmayhem (trigonalmayhem), Tuesday, 30 November 2004 15:48 (twenty-one years ago)

THE AUTOMOBILE AGE

― trigonalmayhem (trigonalmayhem), Tuesday, 30 November 2004 15:48 (twenty-one years ago)

oh, I thought this said "experimental failures"

actually, though
both of those are still applicable for me

― trigonalmayhem (trigonalmayhem), Tuesday, 30 November 2004 15:49 (twenty-one years ago)

1. "Heavy Metal: the Motion Picture" --- I literally have a scar on my face because of this film.....you'd think it would be worth it. It's not.

Do tell!

Well, it's a long story, but here goes. Rewind to the summer of 1981 when I was a lad all of fourteen years old. "Heavy Metal: the Motion Picture" was a highly anticipated film for m'self and my peer group -- but being only 14, the prospect of actually being able to see the film (which was rated "R" due to some arguably racy content) was daunting. In any event, somehow my friend Charlie and I conned his mother into taking us. Suffice to say, we were most gleefull. I already owned the soundtrack (I started a thread about it a while ago, I believe) and was already well on the way with being obsessed. Mrs. F (Charlie's mom) had to go run some errand before picking us up to take us to the film, so Charlie and I spent the afternoon getting all amped up -- as your average 14 yr. old is wont to do -- about the film. I believe I was actually jumping up and down on the bed (or was it a couch?), invariably air-guitaring along to some selection on the soundtrack. We hear Charlie's mom pull into the driveway. "YES! WE'RE GOING TO HEAVY METAL!" I decide that the right way to celebrate our departure is to jump from bed/couch to chair and then out the door in a manner of gymnastic flamboyance. As fate would have it, the chair on the receiving end of my jump turns out to be a folding chair. And fold it does, greatly altering my planned trajectory. My face slams down onto the corner of a protruding suitcase, basically PUNCTURING MY HEAD on the left side of face where chin fuses with cheek. I'm bleeding from my face and inside my mouth. It ain't pretty. Mrs. F sees and is horrified. "We need to get you to a hospital!" she say. "ABSOLUTELY NOT," I strenuously protest, bleeding profusely from the mouth, "WE ARE GOING TO HEAVY METAL! I'M FINE, SLAP A BAND-AID ON IT AND LET'S GO!" In an act of herculean irresponsibility, Mrs.F actually heeds my earnest demand, puts an entirely insufficient and paltry butterfly-bandaid on my exterior wound, and off we go to the movies. Over mouthfulls of bloody popcorn, I bask in the sci-firrific idiocy of the film, later claiming it to be the pinacle of my young life.

Several years later. The film in question get held up from VHS release by copyright problems and such, until about 1995 or so, when it is re-born on store shelves. In the ensuing years, the wound on my face from that afternoon has settled into a nice little scar that in all probability will be with me for the rest of my days. Since I'm scarred for life, I figure: "I should own this movie!" So, I go buy it. Having not seen it since that first viewing, I pop it in the ol' VCR and settle in for an evening of youthful reminiscence.

IT'S CRAP! The animation is pathetic, the writing is godawful, the plot is weak. Ugh. The soundtrack isn't even that stellar, in retrospect.

Anyway, that's the story.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 30 November 2004 16:51 (twenty-one years ago)

Heavy Metal prompted one of the few threats of bodily harm I've received as a reporter. I wrote a snarky blurb about it in my college paper when the campus Science Fiction Society was showing it one weekend, and the head of the society stormed into the newspaper's office wanting to challenge me to a duel or something. Sadly, I wasn't there. But he apparently loudly insisted that the movie was a MASTERPIECE and anyone who didn't understand that had NO BUSINESS writing about movies, and maybe the Science Fiction Society would sue the newspaper for lost ticket revenue.

Yes, it's crap.

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Tuesday, 30 November 2004 17:02 (twenty-one years ago)

Sadly, poetry. It's been a few years since I've been able to really immerse myself in the writing, reading and study of it, which is beneficial at least in that I do a lot less wandering around muttering to myself.

― briania (briania), Tuesday, 30 November 2004 17:33 (twenty-one years ago)

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