12″ Mixes from the 1980s & 1990s

From the late 1970s into the 1990s, producers issued extended mixes – accompanied by instrumental versions, remixes, bonus tracks (songs cut from the record, live versions) – on 12″ records. The same size as a regular LP, each 12″ record had but a few songs on it. It might play at 45 rpm (like a single)

Radio Shack's TRS-80, with cassette

I Love the ’80s: Dystopia, Nostalgia, and Ready Player One

Kansas State University’s “K-State First” asked me to talk to undergraduates about Ernest Cline‘s Ready Player One (2011), this year’s “First Book,” at a “Beyond the Classroom” event.  So, this past Tuesday (Oct. 1st), I did.  In case it may be of interest to others, I’m posting my (admittedly somewhat hastily assembled) talk here, along