Offensive Image Warning ::: The Furries and the Fury

Hmmm...while I did not have a sheltered childhood by any measure I did find somethings shocking and deeply disturbing. I just could not fathom one reason in my tender head why any other child aged 7 of so like myself would like these characters...TV assulted me with a bombardment of hideous disfigured creatures with bad faces, equally poor humor, innane chatter from bad voice actors or mute panotomime! This was the stuff of nightmares to me.

Marty Monster and Co.

I felt isolated and alone as my friends would laughingly recount Marty Monsters antics - a sadness of a world gone wrong would resonate through me like a gong. I still have a thing about bad teeth to this day - you can blame Martyfor that.

Fat Cat
This still scares me - what was fat cat trying to say?

Would we call him Metabloically Challenged Feline today instead of just Fat Cat?

Agro had a bad attitude but had an acid humor that sometimes shone through his Brillo/Jex like face. 

BARRGHHHH!

I don't think I need to elaborate anymore on that.

Sigmund the Seamonster

I am no furry but I did one love Sigmund. 

He was small had one prominant tooth and was picked on by his family - so I could relate. 

Before braces you could have mistaken me for this little guy, although I did not answer the phone by saying 'Shello' - it was a shell phone that was the gag.

True hidiousness.

Which with so much mixed emotion and trauma attached to the phantasmagorical creatures splashed across my vision most of my childhood might explain why I go weak at the knees for this guy.

Wilfred.

If you haven't seen it and have an acerbic bent when it comes to humor give this little dog a try. Adorable, rude and crude.

And just in case you're wondering what ever happened to Marty it was this.

Clearly animal cruelty this would not be permitted these days. Perhaps Marty got his just desserts.

STRONG MAN COMPETITIONS!

There are many things that are springing to mind lately that do not make sense. Things that were ok when I was young - they were apart of the everyday like bad teeth and hair. Of course I am referring to the 1970's yet again my grey matter can barely contemplate what went on back then and just this morning I thought of strongman competitions. Men using their mouths and bodies to create super human efforts.

This guy is clearly thin with but sports neck muscles and gums that are incredibly ripped.

I recall men pulling aeroplanes and trucks with this sort of apparatus...
and that was a good idea!

Sitting in front of the TV with my own bad teeth (before I wore braces) my gympie grin in front of my thugs of brothers belied my true confusion.

Whats going on here? My tiny brain would scream as I backed out of the room as the testosterone threatened to seep into my thin girly skin.

I knew there were men that did look like this but did I want to know one?

Was lifting a train axle that much of a good idea?

Who took the axle to that venue?

Train axle + strongman = event .... In whose brain?

I was so confused.

Many hours were spent trying to purge these images from my mind. I kept my small hands busy and hoped the memories would fade.

Today it all came back to me.

This guy Vasily Alekseyev a famous athlete the sport of weightlifting. From 1970 through 1977 he was undefeated in every major international competition and claimed 22 titles, including eight consecutive world championships and two Olympic gold medals. 

Umm okay. I still don't get it.

Now I can see how this kick might warrant some true talent and strength and am not sure If I myself copped a few in my time - little sisters don't always get off easily.

Now as far as strongman activities go I am not sure what it takes but surely the mind is saying "Look this is really not such a great idea - just stop it" Surely the brain is saying a lot of stuff like that or was it just mine?

This cant be fun...surely.
Like I understand how lifting this enormous dumbbell might theoretically look alright in a Popeye Comic sense but in real life?

And I don't want either of these guys knocking at my door (or on my TV these days).

Ok I actually am at a loss at what to say about the rock but you certainly would not want to drop it.


Its not very sophisticated is it? 

I know I may have totally missed the point and am sure it is a skill and a talent to manage these feats and not just achieve them but commit to them mentally and physically without doing any permanent damage to the body. I don't know how they do it.

You can't tell me this guys having a good time.

Well good luck to him. Meanwhile I just hope my sons never find footage of these events and if they do I will surely dissuade them from being amateur Strongmen, my only hope for them is that they become goodmen.

PARENTING AND BEING A CHILD 1970's STYLE

In the 70's being a child was an all together different experience than it is today.

Most families remained in the one family home their entire lives and we knew all the people in our street. Shops streets and neighborhoods quietly remained the same. It was a great comfort and to this day I am still assured by the few remaining details in my old neighbor hood that have been left unchanged.

Parents were different too...

Men's pants were unashamedly tight and high at was all at brow height as a small child and just too much to take in. It was unavoidable teachers rocked these pants too!

An innocent visit to the local super market or worse still your friends house was met with the unbridled breasts of your best friends Mum. Thin t shirts and areola were swirling about our innocent heads like looming balloons. It was all wrong.

Even Sesame Street wasn't safe.

Barbecues involved children playing with fire eating carcinogenic blackened meat, parents inhaling Viscount Cigarettes and swilling copious amounts of alcohol.

All this followed by bundling the gang into the family vehicle safety restraint free and if you were really lucky Dad was drunk and made the drive like a visit to Luna Park - flying over railway lines and ditches the car becoming semi airborne was a thrilling treat, Mums near naked boobs slamming you in the temple. You would go home to no air conditioning in summer sleep in the back yard on a divan and smother yourselves in a spray on insect repellent - who knows what that had in it?

No one had food allergies or their child diagnosed with mental issues or challenges, no one had dyslexia, hair straighteners, braces or things like moles removed from their faces - you had what you had and dealt with it. This made for some pretty fascinating school photos its like a shop of horrors or an ugly meet. There were obese children - they got called fat. There were 'slow' kids and smart kids and that was it. Teachers did not implement 'Rock and Water' self esteem building policies if they didn't like what you did they got to hit you with their hand or a wooden rod.

So there was danger sex and violence back then too - it was just all at school.

How did our parents survive with out mobile devices? They made plans and stuck to them. Anticipated and planned them...it didn't matter if we dreaded them we had to go there was no getting out of it besides Dad might drive drunk over the railway tracks so it was always worth it.

Parents and children experienced real ANTICIPATION! Such sweet delight. As a child you would wait all year to perhaps receive your most wanted toy and the parent had the power to either deliver or restrain from giving the object of joy. The parents had the power. Half the joy as a child in the 70's was the agony of the wait, watching the TV commercials all year. Your little heart would race each time you got to drink the visuals in. And meanwhile you went out into the street to play and dodged all the drunk drivers in tight pants and ladies with their boobs out.

You behaved at home and at school or got hit and parents were more than happy to thank the teachers for the great work they were doing.

 I have very fond memories of my childhood and wouldn't change it even if I could.

1970s Food Trends

Thats me on the right.