Reliving the '80s in National Geographic's Time of our Lives

 

Yes, we started it all—a fact that many of today's tech-savvy Pinoy millennials seem to have forgotten, obsessed as they are with a sense of entitlement to all that their elders had painstakingly achieved before them. Not having experienced the brutal horrors of a repressive regime, they pose with delight and post their pictures with the reviled Marcoses, and some are even disgustingly enamored with the idea of the fascist New Society!

Oh well, times have indeed changed. For those of us who are fortunate enough to have survived teargas dispersal during rallies and military surveillance while putting out what were once considered subversive student publications, it's a blessing to be able to look fondly on those exciting years when some of our peers and the personalities we covered, like Lean Alejandro and Rolando Olalia, sadly didn't. It's a sobering thought, one that today's twenty-somethings will hopefully keep in mind when they tune in to watch National Geographic's The '80s: Time of our Lives special that will start airing in Manila on Monday, May 20.

At the press preview for the show last week, the young and the not-so-old got a glimpse of the heady and turbulent era that the series intends to portray, not just as a sentimental flashback for the yuppie generation but perhaps as a reminder to the youth of today about the origins of their freedoms and their nifty gadgets. A one-hour sneak peek seemed to be largely US-centric, which will probably be resoundingly familiar to the many little brown Americans among us.  From politics to pop culture, the iconic images were all there, poignant reminders all about a single decade that reshaped our world.

In keeping with the theme, the Amber Ultra Lounge at The Fort Strip was transformed into an '80s hangout complete with slinkys and Rubik's cubes on every table. From the Wednesday group of  Kuya Germs' That's Entertainment came Jojo Alejar and Chuckie Dreyfus, who gamely served up a menu of baduy anecdotes as they shared emceeing chores for the night. Towards the end of the program, they were joined by drool-worthy Carmi Martin—in the opinion of my buddy, at least—from the top-rating Chicks to Chicks TV series. Nearing 50 and svelte in a slinky black outfit, she personified the showbiz professional who takes good care of her appearance and still excels in her craft, unlike some newbies who pollute the airwaves today with pa-cute antics instead of real acting.