Black Friday Memories

K-Mart (1988).
I worked for the electronics department of a K-Mart on Black Friday nine years after this ad was published.  It was pure insanity.  I remember that the special item that year was a big screen television which we sold out of in about three minutes.

Dinners Of Death

Dinners Of Death
Hosted by Joe Bob Briggs
Tonight at 9:00 pm, the live stream of Dinners of Death with Joe Bob Briggs will begin streaming on Shudder.  I've been looking forward to this ever since I first learned about it.

Happy Thanksgiving Eve

National Supermarket (1978)

Aiwa Mega CD

Aiwa Mega CD (1994)
aka: Sega CSD-GM1
One of the rarest Sega consoles is also one of the coolest.  Released only in Japan, the Aiwa Mega CD boombox had a cartridge port for Sega Mega Drive games below the cassette deck.  The CD drive plays music and Sega CD games.

Manhattan At Night

Manhattan At Night
Photographer: Chris Nova

Pre-Turkey Day Marathon

Mystery Science Theater 3000
Turkey Day Marathon - Shout TV
Because the new season of MST3K is set to debut on Netflix on Thanksgiving, the Turkey Day Marathon is being held a few days before Thanksgiving this year.  No arguments here - six episodes of classic MST3K sounds like a great way to start the holiday season.

Seven Year Old 7-Up

I spend a little time cleaning out the kitchen cupboards today and I came across this bottle of 7-Up Citrus Marinade that got pushed all the way to the back.  It expired on October 7th, 2011.

Games, Undies and Toilet Paper

Target ad (1990)
Put a coupon for Doritos and Pepsi on the cover and you have all you need for the weekend.

Psychedelic Pinball Park

The World of Sid and Marty Krofft
Atlanta, GA (1976)
This theme park was only open for about six months before it went out of business.  It included a dark ride in which you sat inside of a pinball and ricocheted through the inside of a giant pinball machine.

Value City Gaming

Playstation and Nintendo 64 sale
Value City Department Store (October 1998)
I worked at Value City twenty years ago (from 1998 to 1999).  We received a big shipment of video games for the 1998 holiday season.  We didn't have an electronics department with a locked cabinet, so the store manager decided to keep them on display behind the customer service desk where I worked.

The games weren't the latest for the time, but we had a pretty good selection and you couldn't beat the price - especially with my 20% off employee discount and the fact that I was able to put them on layaway and pay them off a little at a time over the holiday season.  I picked up Suikoden, Tecmo Stackers, Pandemonium, Tokyo Highway Battle, Myst, Riven, Blazing Dragons, Discworld 2 and WWF In Your House for Playstation and Quake, Doom 64, Mortal Kombat Trilogy, and Wayne Gretzky's 3D Hockey '98 for Nintendo 64.

I guess they don't seem like much by today's standards, but it was over a dozen new games to play and I had a lot of fun with them.

I Hear They Play Baseball In Cuba

Lenny, I'm no lawyer, but I have a hunch that this tweet won't do you any favors when you want to post bail.

Very Old Veryfine

This Veryfine Fruit Juice vending machine is at the Sunoco station on Broad Street in Hazleton, PA.  It's been there for at least the past thirty years.  I'm not sure if it's still in operation.  I didn't have any change, and the cashier was staring me down when I took a photo of it, so I didn't ask.  It's also not the first time I saw vintage Veryfine in Northeast PA this year.  It must have been a big market for them.

I was shocked to find that they still make Veryfine fruit juice.  It's owned by the same company that makes Sunny Delight.  I'll have to keep a lookout for their Pineapple Orange juice.

MJ, MJ and Macaulay

Three Icons of my Childhood
Michael Jackson's "Black or White" was released 27 years ago today.  It was an iconic song that defined the transition from the 80's to the 90's that has been senselessly mocked in the years that followed.  This photo, of Michael Jordan, Michael Jackson and a Reebok Pumps-wearing Macaulay Culkin was said to have been taken backstage during the shooting of the Black or White music video.

The Ultimate Arcade Sign

Aladdin's Castle Lighted Sign
I stumbled across this awesome sign on eBay.  The seller listed it as being used in the arcades in the 90's.  If I ever managed to put together a home arcade, I'd love to have something like this hanging on the wall, but it's a little too rich for me at almost two grand.

Crystal Pepsi Float

Right now, I'm not looking at the calories.  This was made with two big scoops of Turkey Hill Homemade Vanilla ice cream and roughly 10 oz. of Crystal Pepsi.

Pepsi and Pretzels

The Man Who Stepped Into Yesterday

The Man Who Stepped Into Yesterday (1988)
Trey Anastasio
I have a terrible habit of putting things off, and I don't even mean work or responsibilities - I mean everything.  I have movies that I meant to watch, albums that I've meant to listen to, books that I've meant to read and video games I've meant to play that number in the thousands - things I have put off for not just weeks or months, but years and decades.  Part of this is that I'm extremely forgetful and I just don't think of it when I have the time, and part of it is that I'm very easily distracted, so it's hard to pay attention when I do finally settle in to check something off of my list.  Eh, I''m a mess.

With that in mind, people who were familiar with my taste in music have recommended Phish to me when I was in high school, which was over 20 years ago.  At some point in the past decade, I made a playlist on my iPod to check out some of their stuff, which was promptly forgotten.  Earlier today at work, I stumbled on it and decided to give it a listen.  Included in this was The Man Who Stepped Into Yesterday - an incredibly creative concept album that completely blew me away.

In the ten minutes of research I've done, I've learned that this was Trey Anastasio's senior project when he was working towards a bachelor degree at Goddard College.  It's a story that includes songs broken by spoken narrative segments.

The story may seem a little silly on the surface, but there's a lot going on here.  My take is that it's about acceptance of a dark reality and adaptation to that reality.  Throughout human history, we have had kings, politicians, cult leaders and clergy who have adapted to the vulnerabilities of their fellow man and who use the gods and mythologies of their era to help themselves at the expense of others.  It's the dark side of evolution: for every creature that adapts and thrives, it does so at the expense of those who do not.  The frog who has evolved to have poisonous skin thrives and passes those traits onto their offspring with no regard for those who have no such protection, or for who their poison skin comes into contact with.  The story presents this in the framework of "good" and "evil", and that "evil" is essentially just an acceptance that someone or something is going to seize power at the expense of others, and it might as well be you.  The trick is to surrender to the flow.

The Body Politic

Throughout my childhood, Dad and I often watched wrestling together.  One of our favorite performers of all time was Jesse "The Body" Ventura.  He always took the bad guy's side, but unlike so many of the other heel commentators, his arguments for defending their actions was usually plausible.  I used to love when he'd say "Come on, Gorilla!" in an exasperated tone when Monsoon would say something positive about Hulk Hogan.

Twenty years ago, this former Navy SEAL, professional wrestler, actor and mayor was elected to serve as the 38th Governor of Minnesota.  Earlier in the year when I found out he was running for governor, I rushed downstairs to tell Dad.  Before the day was over, we ordered two of these shirts and wore them proudly.  I'm from Pennsylvania so I couldn't vote for him, but I was happy that our t-shirt order helped to contribute to his campaign and his victory.

Please Vote

Can You Milk A Bull?

Farmers Dairy (1984)
Rt. 309 - Hazleton, PA
Farmer's Dairy Store & Ice Cream Shop opened in 1943 and was a Hazleton landmark for over fifty years.  It was across the street from Genetti's Best Western at the intersection of Church Street and 32nd Street in Hazleton.  When I was a kid, my grandfather brought me here for banana splits.  I remember that they were served in blue plastic boats, and they were very yummy.  I know that they served other food too, but all I ever had there was ice cream.

The restaurant closed in October 1995.  The building is still standing and is now home to Antonio's Breakfast World, but this sign was torn down not long after the Farmers Dairy restaurant closed.

62 Years of Baseball

Connie Mack Stadium
Philadelphia, PA

Pac Man Gives You Wings

Pac-Man Red Bull Arcade Cabinet
Bandai Namco (2018)
7-Eleven - Austin, TX
This specialty arcade cabinet not only features new special levels of Pac Man.  It also has a refrigerator stocked with Red Bull built into the cabinet in place of the coin box.  It even has graphics of a coin slot on the door of the fridge.

When playing the game, a can of Red Bull will randomly pop up and bounce around the screen.  When Pac-Man eats it, he gets surrounded by a shield that lets you shoot lightning at the ghosts.  It's incredible that after all these years, Pac-Man continues to be reinvented and embraced by the world.

Photo Credit: Dustun Rogers

Update: The arcade cabinet design is based on the Namco Pixel Bash machine (hat tip to Win Hickman and Todd Guse).

Red Bull Pac-Cans

Red Bull
Limited Edition Pac-Can
These cans just started hitting stores in my area in the past few days.  Not only is the Pac-Man design awesome, but the tab underneath has a special code that unlocks an exclusive Red Bull level of the game on the Pac-Man game app from Bandai Namco.  There are three levels, so a four pack of the energy drink will allow you to unlock all three, with a fourth can for hoarders like me to save.

Zombie Outbreak Response Team

Laurel Mall
Hazleton, PA
I'm not sure about those blue flames on the window, but you've got to love the fact that there was a coffin in the back of the hearse.

Synth Thriller

Thriller
Performed by Scandroid
Off of their album Monochrome
I found this on The Nerdist last year and instantly fell in love with it.  Happy Halloween!

Free Birdseed

Chicken and Farm Shop
North Green Street - Chicago, IL
Artwork by E. Lee

An Army On The Dance Floor

The Psychedelic Furs
Penns Peak 
Jim Thorpe, PA - October 28, 2018
The Psychedelic Furs are one of my favorite bands of all time, and Heartbreak Beat is my favorite song ever, so this show was a dream come true.  They sounded incredible the energy they brought to the show was infectious.  I was right in front of bassist Tim Butler for the majority of the show, and he caught me singing along and sang with me a few times during the show.  He tossed his guitar pick to me after the show, but my depth perception is lousy, so it bounced off my hand and someone else ended up with it.  No worries though - it was one of the best concerts I've ever been to, and the show is a memory that I'll never forget.

In The Not Too Distant Future...

Mystery Science Theater 3000
30th Anniversary Tour: The Brain
Wilkes-Barre, PA - October 27, 2018
I wasn't sure what to expect when I first heard that MST3K was going on the road.  I was kind of thinking that it would be something like the Fathom Events RiffTrax movies.  Don't get me wrong - those RiffTrax events are a lot of fun, but the MST3K tour blew that out of the water entirely.

The stage was set up to look like the Satellite Of Love.  They showed the 1988 horror cult classic The Brain, and the backdrop of the MST3K commentary was a game show with original host Joel Hodgson and Tom Servo on the red team, and current host Jonah Ray and Crow on the yellow team.  Rebecca Hanson (Synthia Forrester and the voice of Gypsy) was the host of the show and did a fantastic job.  The entire show was hysterically funny, and they even brought out the actual Brain prop from the film - and squirted the audience with it.

I Hope It Wasn't Greg Valentine

The Magna Carta was signed by King John in 1215, and it the foundation of modern democracy.  There are only four copies of it in existence, the best preserved of which is kept at the Salisbury Cathedral.  We saw this copy of the Magna Carta on display at the Salisbury Cathedral when we visited England four years ago.

Yesterday, a man with a hammer broke through the protective case that housed the historic document and set off an alarm while attempting to steal it.  BBC News reported that the would-be thief was caught and arrested while trying to flee the scene.  The Magna Carta was not damaged, but it has been temporarily removed from the cathedral while they repair the display case.

I Want To Be The Golden Robot

Woolco Halloween Ad - early 1980's
Maybe the couldn't decide if it was C-3PO or See-Threepio.

A Nightmare On Burger Street

Nightmare King
Burger King (2018)
Three years after they introduced the Halloween Whopper, Burger King has given us the Nightmare King.  This monster burger is made up of a quarter pound of beef and a crispy chicken patty topped with cheese, bacon, onions and mayo on a green bun.  The fast food chain claims to have done a clinical sleep study and found that eating the Nightmare Burger will make it 3.5 times more likely that you will have a nightmare when you fall asleep.

The bun wasn't quite as green as I was expecting, but it is a very tasty burger.  It reminds me a bit of the Churger from the Reading Fightin' Phils games.  It's just a shame that they didn't get Freddy Krueger to promote it.  They did have some pretty cool Frankenstein packaging though.

Nightmare King wrapper

French Fry bag

Hail Satan

George "Satan" Stutz
Shortstop - Philadelphia Phillies
Minor league journeyman George Stutz played professional baseball for nearly two decades beginning in 1908 for the New Castle Nocks at the age of 19.  Over the next 19 years, his career included time spent with 15 different teams, including the Reading Pretzels, Harrisburg Senators, Quincy Gems, Hannibal Mules, Portland Beavers, and Muskegon Anglers.

He finally made it to the major leagues in 1926 with the Phillies, appearing in six games with a total of nine major league at bats.  Stultz did not reach base, going 0 - 9 with two strikeouts and no walks.  The following season would be his last, playing 2B for the Martinsburg Blue Sox.  He died three years later on December 29, 1930 at the age of 37.

I could find no explanation for why he had the nickname "Satan", but I'm guessing that the wooly beard had something to do with it.

Three Clerks

Mr. Hush Weekend of Fear
Wild West City - October 21, 2018
Stanhope, NJ
Photo Album

Clerks is one of our all-time favorite films.  Both of us have spent a few years of our lives working as a clerk in a convenience store.  We even took a road trip twelve years ago to visit the Quick Stop in Leonardo, NJ where Clerks was filmed.  Needless to say, it was awesome that we had the chance to meet the star of Clerks, Mr. Brian O'Halloran.

Meeting a Drive In Icon

Mr. Hush Weekend of Fear
Wild West City - Stanhope, NJ
When I was a teenager, I loved watching MonsterVision on TNT.  As much as I loved the movies, the best part of the show was the host, Mr. Joe Bob Briggs.  Before it began, he would share facts and stories about the movie, and he'd give a preview of what to expect with the Drive In Totals.

A few months ago, I saw an advertisement for Shudder, a streaming service dedicated to horror flicks, and I was very excited to see that they brought Joe Bob back for a marathon of movies called The Last Drive In.  It made me feel like a teenager again, staying up late to watch Sleepaway Camp, Basket Case and other awesome horror movies with the wit, wisdom and humor of Joe Bob throughout.  If that isn't awesome enough, it was announced last month that Joe Bob would be coming back to host a Thanksgiving marathon called The Dinners Of Death, a Christmas marathon called A Very Joe Bob Christmas, and a new marathon of movies in 2019.

Earlier today, we went to Wild West City theme park in Stanhope, NJ for the Mr. Hush Weekend of Fear horror convention.  There were quite a few very cool vendors and guests, including Brian O'Halloran from Clerks and Kevin Van Hentenryck from Basket Case. and the park itself was surreal with actors performing a wild west bank robbery.  However, the highlight for us was getting to meet and talk with Joe Bob.  We got there pretty early before it got too busy, so we were lucky to spend over an hour talking with him about movies, pop culture and life in general.  He was genuinely one of the nicest and most interesting people I've ever had the privilege of meeting.

I usually have a little bit of anxiety talking to people in general, but especially celebrities.  It's not really that I'm star struck.  I just don't always know a ton about the person, so other than telling them that I'm a big fan of their work, I'm not sure what to say.  That wasn't a problem with Joe Bob at all.  He was just such a cool, friendly, laid back guy, and we have a lot of interests and opinions in common.  I feel like we could have hung out with a few beers and chatted for hours.

He signed two of his books for us before we left, and I look forward to reading them.  He also took this photo with us out in the front of the building.  My wife and I spent the entire drive home talking about how awesome the day was.  I'll never forget it.

Metallica at Penn State

Metallica
Worldwired Tour
Bryce Jordan Center
State College, PA - October 20, 2018
Photo Album - Ticket
Traffic getting into this show was unbelievable, so we missed most of the pre-show with comedian Jim Breuer, but we didn't miss any of the concert.  It's the first time I ever saw a show in the round, so I wasn't sure what to expect, but the stage presentation was out of this world.  The highlight was the release of lighted drones during Moth Into Flame, a track off of their latest album that was inspired by the life of Amy Winehouse.

The setlist was a solid mix of classic hits, including Seek and Destroy, For Whom The Bell Tolls, Master of Puppets, One and Sad But True.  They also performed several tracks from their newest album, Hardwired To Self Destruct, which was given to everyone in attendance for free (either via download or a CD) in the months leading up to the show.  They closed with an encore trio of Blackened, Nothing Else Matters and Enter Sandman.

Update: it has been reported that the attendance for this show was 15,588.  This is an all-time attendance record at the Bryce Jordan Center. 

Vintage Halloween Commercials

70's and 80's Halloween Commercials
Shared by Some Classic Game Music
Sit back and enjoy some of the spooky ways companies convinced us to buy their products in the past.

Creature From The Mountain Dew

Pepsi Monster Match (1991)
The Creature From The Black Lagoon

Caffeine Free Pepsi Mummy

Pepsi Monster Match (1991)
The Mummy

Diet Pepsi Wolfman

Pepsi Monster Match (1991)
The Wolfman

Diet Pepsi Dracula

Pepsi Monster Match (1991)
Dracula

Pepsi Bride Of Frankenstein

Pepsi Monster Match (1991)
Bride of Frankenstein

Pepsi Frankenstein

Pepsi Monster Match (1991)
Frankenstein

Monster Match

Pepsi Monster Match (1991)
This was a pretty cool promotion.  Every pack of Pepsi or bag of Doritos contained half of a Monster Money bill.  If you matched both halves, you won a prize.  The grand prize was if you matched the Frankenstein Monster Money to win a million dollars.

The coolest part was that the back of every carton of Pepsi had an awesome horror monster poster.  I don't remember this part, but according to the bottom left corner of each of these, there was a second contest where you could win prizes if you hung these posters in your window if they were seen by a "Monster Spotter".

Khabib Nurmagomedov's Punch Out

Khabib talks like he's from an 80's Nintendo game, but damn he can fight.  Congratulations, champ.

Rocky The Frog

Meet my new friend, Rocky.  He's guarding my car in the parking lot at work.