Okay, Cyber_3 (manga forum moderator) here. Here are the long awaited results of the CPM Head Bangin' Contest. Man, this was a fun contest to judge. In case you were wondering, my criteria were: originality, humour, and ring of truth - i.e. this person felt angst in the 80s and was brave enough to share with us. Heh. I also think that these entries in some way reflect something we can all relate to. Congratulations winners, you'll be receiving your prize in the mail sometime in the next week or so. Official e-mails will be sent out later tonight. The rest of you, read and enjoy
^_^.

Winners:

James Sinnett
prize: Alien 9 vol. 1
His entry:

"Something about the 80s that I wouldn't like to see come back? Two words: Hammer Pants. Those things were just wrong. Nobody should walk around with the crotch of their pants around their ankles. "

Ivan Chu
prize: Let's Stay Together Forever
His entry:

"Hmmm, what do I miss most about the 80s?

Well, there's a lot, from geometric drum sets to those little slap on
bracelets. But what I'd have to say I miss most is the Delorian. With
classic 80s styling and gull wing doors, how could one not love the
DeLorian? Lovingly built by the Irish, and immortalized in Back to the
Future, the DeLorian truly was a one of a kind. The English language falls
short, when describing the regal majesty of crusing down to the mall clad
in a leather jacket, mullet recently fluffed in this marvel, nay! Pinnacle
of all human advance! All of man's achevements pale in comparison to the
splendor of the DeLorian! The steam engine, the Great Wall, atomic energy, all NOTHING! We may never hope to again approach the heights pioneered by the Delorian, nor shall we be so insolent to believe we are remotely capable of such a deed.

Oh, John Z. Delorian! May your genius bless us all."

David Boop
prize: Let's Stay Together Forever
His entry:

"The thing I miss most about the 80s is Radio.

Today's radio blows in comparrison to the sound that was laid down in the 80s. A Disc Jockey had complete control over the music then. It was a raw time when new sounds were created daily. Today we are force fed the same stuff over and over. God forbid something gets popular. I heard Coldplay six times in the matter of three hours between four different stations the other day. I was a DJ in the 80s and what I could do then versus what I hear from DJs today makes me sick. To top it off, one to three companies own ALL the stations in a large market. No variety anymore. Same style, same traffic reports, same songs. Give me back my nights of listening to Journey, Duran Duran and Judas Priest. Give me back Casey Casem and America's Top 40. Give me back the days when when a DJ accidentally cursed or used sexual innuendo it was a rare lucky moment for us the listener, not a every morning event.

What I don't miss about the 80s is pressure.

Everything seemed some life and death in the 80s. Politics, styles,
cliques. You had to be something specific to fit in. Dress a certain way or
you didn't get dates. Listen to certain music or find new friends. Be
successful or risk being left behind. I feel the threat of nuclear war may
us collectively hold our breath and everything we chose to define ourselves could be the last thing we chose. A break-up with someone was the end ofthe world because the end of the world could happen any moment. We gave up our morals easily, we sacrificed friendships and we sometimes wore really dorky clothing because we felt we had to. The pressure was everywhere not just in a Billy Joel song.

I also miss my 3-wheeler and don't miss Tears for Fears but that's another story. "

Grace Lu
prize: Alien 9 vol. 1
Her entry:

"The fashion I will *not* miss...the big hair, the blue eyeshadow, the
legwarmers, the bizarre "tuck in the front of your shirt but not the back".
So strange. so very strange. "

Tim Triptow
prize: Record of Lodoss War: Welcome to Lodoss Island vol.1
His entry:

"So the one thing that I'll miss most about the 80's has got to be John
Hughes' movies. He made some of the best teen angst movies ever, all were quality titles that were for the most part believable, well except for
Weird Science. The teen movies that I've seen put out in the 90's on have
all been pretty silly, I'm just not seeing the quality of the films when
compared to The Breakfast Club, Some Kind of Wonderful, and Pretty in Pink. Plus they all had killer soundtracks. The one thing I won't miss however is bad hair styles. (thanks a lot Flock of Seagulls...) I'll leave you with aJudd Nelson quote from The Breakfast Club; "Being bad feels  pretty good  doesn't it?"

Bill Lasek
prize: Samurai Legend
His entry:

"FREEDOM; Of all the intricacies and abnormalities throughout the 80's I
miss freedom. I am not talking about huge grandos global scale freedom,
well perhaps in a small way I am, allow to explain. I miss the freedom only simplicity provides and is found in children. Whether this freedom is real or imagined, created by circumstances or just ingnorance, it was there in the 80's. It was going outside any breathing in the fresh air without thinking about the smog index, it was looking at the sky and worrying about aliens not airlplanes, thinking bad men went to jail not congress, knowing hairspray didn't hurt anything and the more the better, knowing southpark was on 5th street not comedy central, MTV played music, videogames didn't carry ratings they carried the afternoon. What I truly misss is the freedom to have a simple life, one not betrayed and caged by responsibilites and mental traumas of a world driven mad by progress, souless by profit, and scitsofrenic with pc. Although the 80's may have been affeted with all these I was unaware as I was a child, and I had freedom. "

Zachary Leonis (Zell)
prize: Samurai Legend
His entry:

"I was born in 1985 so in the eighties I was between -5 & 5. So I miss
footy-pajamas and nap time but I don't miss, colic and rectal thermometry."

Benjamin Smith
prize:Record of Lodoss War: Welcome to Lodoss Island vol.1
His entry:

"What I Miss Most About the 80's

The main thing I miss about the 80's has to be the arcades. Sure, they have arcades now. But, ever since the early 90's or so they've changed. Arcades used to literally be holes in the wall: dark, dank places where the only lighting was from the arcade games themselves. It was so dark, in fact, that the sticky stuff you were stepping through could've been the blood from the guy that got knifed over a game of competitive A.P.B. as easily as it could've been a spilled soft drink. Arcades back then were so crammed full of games that everyone was shoulder-to-shoulder in there, especially with multiplayer games, as few as those were. The heat was intense, the stench overwhelming. Ah, it was great. "