You may well have seen this slogan around. Maybe you know all about its history, or maybe you just see it as a generally nostalgic 1980s design. Either way, you may or may not be aware that its a slogan of some importance.

Along with other large print and abstract slogans, Frankie Say Relax came into popular culture during the 1980s. In particular, popularity surged when the slogan was adopted by the British band Frankie Goes To Hollywood in association with their controversial hit single "Relax", which was banned from airplay in the UK at the time for its suggestive lyrics. When compared to the lyrics in the pop charts today, its interesting to see the difference between what was deemed unacceptable then and now.

Quite often misquoted as "Frankie SAYS Relax", the correct wording has always been "Frankie SAY Relax", and purists would go for that option if they were looking for the design today.

Interestingly, this was only one of three major "Frankie Say..." slogans at the time. The others were "Frankie Say War! Hide Yourself" and "Frankie Say Arm The Unemployed". Both were barometers for the general public feelings of unease over the Cold War and rising unemployment at the time. More Frankie slogans never really appeared, and so the concept became known as an 80s phenomenon.

With the 1980s being the retro decade of choice these days, the slogans are enjoying a resurrection. Perhaps what we read into the slogan today is very different to what was behind it years ago, but there's always going to be some reason for it to exist, even if the human race exists for another billion years.

We're always worried, we're always scared. We're always looking to the future and disregarding the present. Someone is always telling us that we haven't got enough, or that we haven't done enough. Sometimes they tell us what to think or believe. If you're going to listen to what anyone has to say these days, perhaps Frankie is as good a choice as any other.

The classic movie Ferris Bueller's Day Off detailed the high-rolling exploits of modern-day Holden Caulfield, Ferris Bueller. Ferris, a teenage rebel and genius, is full of quotable asides and advice, such as, "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."

Wise words in 1986, and maybe even wiser today. Ferris' main agenda seemed to be to avoid living a "grey" life, a point emphasised by some of the adult characters in the movie, like Ferris' teacher and Principal, whose lives were so entrenched in petty issues or boredom that their lives seemed to be headed into a sort of pointless oblivion. Using the system against itself, Ferris is able to not just take a day off, but use every moment of that day to his full advantage.

There are consequences, but not for Ferris. His best friend, Cameron, is cajoled into allowing Ferris to use his father's vintage Ferrari as transport for the big day, and the car ends up trashed. This is portrayed as a positive outcome for Cameron, whose fear of his father has paralysed him all his life. By forcing him to face his father's ultimate wrath, Ferris believes he is freeing Cameron from fear. Whether we would thank our friends for this kind of help is clearly something for debate.

Ferris' girlfriend, Sloane, is clearly intelligent and strong-willed, but she follows Ferris and his plans with blind devotion. With Ferris' attitude to life's institutions, it's worth pondering for a moment on whether the two would end up married as Sloane predicts in the movie. If they did, Sloane could probably look forward to a life as the target of her husband's schemes, as he plotted ever more outlandish means of fooling her while he went out having a string of affairs.

Having said all of this, the movie's main message is this: use the system, buck the system, beat the system. Anyone reading this who saw this film when it was first released may now find themselves slowly sliding into a prescribed life of work and sleep, and maybe this is the time to revisit Ferris Bueller for a refresher course in what motivated you as a youngster.

The Sinclair ZX Spectrum was one of the most popular home computers of the 1980s boom. By today's standards, the Spectrum is slow, inflexible and as powerful as a sleeping housefly, but in its day, it ruled supreme.

Bringing innovations such as color and sound into the home market for the first time, the Spectrum originally appeared with a staggering 16k of RAM, and later boosted this already impressive capacity to 48k.

Although sold as a family computer, capable of running the household accounts, the Spectrum was, in practice, mainly used for the playing of games. Used to the uncomplicated and short playing span of arcade machines, the kids of the eighties were suddenly presented with games that could take days, or even weeks to complete, including text-based adventures like Melbourne House's take on JRR Tolkein's The Hobbit, or large platform games like Jet Set Willy.

The whole computer was smaller in size than your keyboard is today, making it possible to take it to a friend's house for more sociable fun, although some odd decisions such as the infamous rubber keyboard made the Spectrum never quite intuitive to use. The supposedly timesaving idea of having single keypresses produce commands (such as RUN or PRINT) meant learning a complicated new method of typing which was in fact far slower than simply typing out the words as one would do today.

Despite this limitation, many who grew up in the 80s will tell you of the tense anticipation of typing in an entire game's code from a magazine, and then waiting with trembling hands to see if it worked.

Today's gamers, with their superfast PCs and consoles, owe a great deal to vintage machines like the Spectrum. These were days when hit computer games were entirely written by one person rather than by a huge development team, and some of the original ideas that came from those days formed the basis of many of today's gaming staples.

So, whether you are someone who grew up with the ZX Spectrum, or someone who plays today, there's reason to celebrate the achiveements of Sinclair and the game publishers of the day.

You probably have a cell phone. It's probably a veritable work of technological genius, with a phone, a personal organiser, web browser, alarm clock and a digital camera all bundled into an unfeasibly small case.

You probably take it for granted that you can contact people wherever you are, and that they can contact you. You can send an receive text messages even when you're at work or school, and if you ever forget your phone, you feel cut off and somehow naked without it.

Along with the Internet, mobile phones have linked us all together in a perpetual state of communication the like of which has never been seen before. Even the science fiction writers of decades past never imagined such a close-knit world. If they had, they would have been astonished that we still can't seem to understand each other.

Far from the tiny phone you keep in your pocket today, the first cell phones were huge in comparison. Early models required a base station the size of a briefcase to be carried around, and it wasn't until the late 1990s that "everyone" had one.

The example on these designs isn't even all that early, but there was no way it would fit in even the most voluminous of pockets. This was one for the briefcase, or better yet to be carried around in one's hand as an aggresive display of status. Younger readers may find it hard to believe that simply owning a cellphone used to be a major symbol of success.

But still, without these early models and their image as badges of business acumen, the market wouldn't have accelerated to create the frankly amazing pieces of everyday hardware we recognise today. So, for reasons of nostalgia, irony, retro chic or whatever, celebrate the huge old cellphone.