It's A Sundae In A Slice

Ice Cream Pizza
Emack & Bolio's
I found this groovy ice cream pizza at Wegmans.  It's made up of vanilla ice cream with hot fudge, marshmallow cream, candy stars and moons, and raspberry filled chocolate hearts that the box calls "bleeding hearts".  This is arranged on a brownie crust and topped with a big chocolate peace sign.  Very groovy.

The back of the box has a brief history of the Emack & Bolio's company:

The Governor

I got to meet Governor Rendell at the Phillies game tonight.  Very cool dude who signed a copy of his book for me.

First Steps To Becoming A Space Avenger

Lost Again
Photo by Michael Wilkins (2012)
The woman in this photograph is playing Gorf, which is one of my favorite arcade games of all time.

Kramer And George At The Ballpark

Michael Richards and Jason Alexander
35th Annual Hollywood All-Stars Night at Dodger Stadium

Los Angeles, CA (August 22, 1992)

Thank You, Hunter

Hunter Pence was traded to the Giants at the July 31'st deadline, but the team decided to go ahead as scheduled and give out his bobblehead at tonight's game against the Reds.  Inside was this note from the right fielder to his fans in Philadelphia.

The Famous Chicken

Thursday, August 20, 1992
Ft. Myers Miracle @ West Palm Beach Expos
Municipal Stadium - West Palm Beach, FL

Pitching: Mike Misuraca vs. Joey Eischen

Results: Expos defeat Miracle, 5 - 1

Notes: I'll always remember going to this game with my dad less than two months after my 12th birthday.  The Famous Chicken mascot made a special appearance.  On the way to the game, Dad told me a bit about him.  He began his career in California where Ted Giannoulas first donned the chicken costume to become a character then known as the KGB Chicken.  After separating from KGB Radio, he performed as the San Diego Chicken, and then The Famous Chicken later.

The Chicken was a brilliant physical comedian who gave birth to the concept of the sports mascot as we know it today.  He began performing at San Diego Padres games in the mid 70's and was the inspiration behind the creation of the beloved Phillie Phanatic.  Like the Phanatic, The Famous Chicken made everything that he touched more fun and special.  This game where I first saw him took place 20 years ago, and I still remember it and smile today.

The Chicken was awesome with kids.  I got to meet him at the game where he signed this 8x10 photo for me, which I kept with the game program all these years.  I was able to see him perform one more time, 16 years later on August 14th, 2008.  The game was in Scranton where the SWB Yankees were taking on the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs.  I may have been the only 28 year old who stood in line to meet him that night, but I wanted to take a moment to shake his hand and thank him and let him know how much I enjoy his work ever since that first night back in '92 when I was a kid.  He was a very gracious and awesome guy, and he took a moment to sign my game program with his real name.

The Expos has a great game the night that the Chicken came to town.  Southpaw Joey Eischen struck out 12 in 7 innings of work for his 7th win of the season.  Eischen made his major league debut two years later with the Montreal Expos.  He was traded along with Roberto Kelly to the Dodgers in 1995.  He would go on to pitch in relief for the Dodgers, Tigers and Reds before returning to the Expos in 2001.  He had an excellent season in 2002 with a 6-1 record, a 1.34 ERA, and 51 strikeouts in just under 54 innings of work out of the bullpen.  He remained with the organization for the rest of his career, including the move from Montreal to Washington in 2005, and retired after the 2006 season.

Santa's Escort Wiener

Oscar Mayer Wienermobile
Philadelphia, PA (1951)
This picture was shared by Roger Wilkerson on Tumblr.  It was taken on November 22nd, 1951 at the Thanksgiving Parade in Philadelphia.

Burger Mail

Hamburger Card
American Greetings (1980)
My grandparents house had a cupboard above the stove.  In this cupboard was a plastic box that was mostly used to store coupons and batteries, but throughout my life, this box also had a few of these hamburger cards.

You open the card by flipping up the top bun which reveals the lettuce and tomato topping on the burger.  When you're ready to mail it out, you can seal the burger up with the pickle stickers that were included with the pack of cards.

The back of the card looks sort of like a postcard.  There's a place to put a stamp, and a place to write an address, so you don't need an envelope to put it in the mail.

These cards were released by American Greetings in 1980, and I'm pretty sure that's around the time that my grandmother bought them.  They're exactly the kind of thing that she would pick up at the mall - just clever enough to get you to smile, and inexpensive enough to not be a complete waste of money.  This sort of thing was like crack to my grandmother.

After she bought them, I'm certain that she put them in the cupboard with the thought that they'd come in handy some day, but that "some day" never came.  As a result, they've been safely tucked away in the cupboard for over 30 years.  They've literally been in the same spot for entire life.  My grandmother passed away earlier this year and I found them while cleaning out her house.  Now, they're in my house, where I'm sure they will sit unused until I die and some poor schlub has the unfortunate task of having to clean out all of my random junk.

Ohana Mau Loa

Phillies center fielder Shane Victorino purchased this billboard on the Pennsylvania Turnpike.  It can be seen if you're traveling west near the Willow Grove exit (343).  You will be missed, dude.

Dead Or Alive, You're Coming With Me

Crazy 4 Cult Invades NYC
Jason Edmiston (2012)

Gallery1988 is holding its first show outside of California.  It features the work of over 200 artists and opens tonight in New York City at 6:00 pm 64 Gansevoort Street in the Meat Packing District.  This poster was designed by artist Jason Edmiston to promote the event.

Your Daily Allowance Of Monkey Muscle

Donkey Kong Junior Cereal
Ralston (1984)
Thirty years ago, Donkey Kong Junior made its arcade debut in the United States.  In honor of this milestone, here is a box of a breakfast cereal that I never got to try.  My family weren't sticklers for nutrition or anything, but I think even they had enough sense not to feed a three year old a bowl of pure sugar first thing in the morning.  I had to be at least old enough for Kindergarten.

I may not have ever tried the cereal, but I had plenty of the Topps baseball cards that came free inside.  They were one of the coolest subsets of the 80's.

Most Valuable Punk

Bart Simpson trading card
WFLX Fox 29 (1990)
This card was given to me at Municipal Stadium at a West Palm Beach Expos game in 1992.  I'm pretty sure that it was same July 29th game where I was given the red baseball bat because the local Fox affiliate was on hand giving away promotional material.  I think it was printed in 1990 during the first or second season of The Simpsons, so they probably had a few boxes of them lying around the office and decided to bring them out to the ballpark to give to the kids in attendance.

According to Bart's stats on the back of the card, he hit .247 with 75 home runs.    

Bat Night

Wednesday, July 29, 1992

Vero Beach Dodgers @ West Palm Beach Expos

Municipal Stadium - West Palm Beach, FL

Pitching: Eric Weaver vs Rafael Diaz

Results: Expos defeated Dodgers, 9-1

This was one of the best giveaway night I've ever been to.  The first 1,000 kids under the age of 14 (including a 12 year old me) were given a souvenir baseball bat.  However, this wasn't one of those miniature replica bats that you see in stadium gift shops.  It was a real, full-sized wooden baseball bat.  It was bright red and featured the Expos logo and the logo of the local Fox TV affiliate.  I still have mine.

I remember this game fondly as a fun night at the ballpark with my dad.  As usual, I spent a little time playing the pitching machine game.  The way it worked was that you would pay a few dollars and they would let you throw a baseball in a batting cage three times.  A display showed you how fast you pitched the first two balls.  You then had to guess how fast your third pitch would be before you threw it.  If you guessed correctly, you won a plastic replica baseball helmet of your choice of teams.

The Expos won 9 - 1 in a game that featured several players on both teams that went on to the major leagues.  West Palm Beach CF Rondell White went on to hit 198 HR and to play on the 2003 All-Star Team in a a 15 year MLB career with the Expos, Cubs, Yankees, Padres, Royals, Tigers and Twins.  DH Glenn Murray had a much shorter MLB career, but he did appear in 38 games for the Phillies in 1996.

In the visitors dugout, catcher Ken Huckaby would go on to play parts of six seasons in the big leagues for the Diamondbacks, Blue Jays, Rangers, Orioles and Red Sox.  Second baseman Roberto Mejia appeared in parts of four seasons in the mid to late 90's with the Rockies and Cardinals before ending his career with the independent El Paso Diablos in 2009.  The player who would go on to the most stardom from the Vero Beach Dodgers that night was shortstop Miguel Cairo.  Cairo went 0-4 that night against WPB Expos pitching, but he would have a 17 year MLB career with ten teams, including the 2009 National League Champion Philadelphia Phillies.

Zapping The Meatloaf

Today marks 55 years since the incident in Roswell, New Mexico that inspired UFO and alien fever in the United States.  Before you take them to your leader, be sure to ask if they wouldn't mind using their ray guns to warm up your tv dinner.  Artwork from Bruce Coville's Book of Aliens II: More Tales to Warp Your Mind.

The Woodgrain Didn't Start With The 2600

Atari Inc.
Los Gatos, CA (1973)
Nolan Bushnell incorporated Atari Inc forty years ago today.  This was the lobby of their corporate headquarters on Winchester Blvd in Los Gatos.  The company used these offices for three years before moving to Sunnyvale in 1976 (source: Atari Inc - Business Is Fun).

Virginia City Buffet

Virginia City Buffet
Bally's Wild Wild West Casino - Atlantic City, NJ
My favorite buffet on the Atlantic City Boardwalk is permanently closing today.  The Virginia City Buffet opened on July 2, 1997 at the same time as the old west themed Wild Wild West casino.  Throughout the 90's and 2000's, my grandparents would take a bus trip to Atlantic City once a month, and this is usually where they ate.

I started visiting Atlantic City in the mid 2000's.  I played some roulette, but I'm not much of a gambler, so for me, the main attraction was the beach, the boardwalk, the Ripley's Museum and the food.  After hearing for years about how good this buffet was, I had to check it out.  I wasn't disappointed.

The Buffet was on the second floor of Bally's Wild Wild West Casino.  Guests of the restaurant would stand in line and pay on the first floor.  You'd be given a receipt and a ticket for a ribeye steak, and you would then be guided to an escalator that brought you to the restaurant.  When you got there, you'd turn in your receipt and then be seated in the dining room.

Source: The Daily Journal (7/29/2004)

As its name suggests, the Virginia City Buffet was themed after the old west, and it had just the right amount of kitch to be charming.  If you were hungry for a good steak, the first place to stop is the Chuck Wagon Carving Station where you would turn in your coupon in exchange for a juicy and very nice sized ribeye steak.  All of the food at the other stations was all-you-can-eat, including Fort Pasta, The Last Chance Deli, and the dessert section which was called Remember The Ala Mode.  There was always a wide variety of different foods available, including roasted chicken, shrimp and delicious hot pastrami.  Everything I've ever had there was very tasty, but as much as I enjoyed the food, the atmosphere is what kept me coming back.

The dining room was divided into several different seating areas.  The main area was an outdoor courtyard with street light and trees.  This was surrounded by structures that were made up to look like the front of country homes.  It may sound silly, but after a few minutes of dinner and conversation, it was enough of an illusion to make you feel like you really were sitting outside.

There was a seating area on the front porch on each of these homes.  This area had dim porch lights and hanging plants, and a doorway that led into a small dining room where additional restaurant seating could be found.  All of the tables were spaced out well enough that you could go to the buffet and return to your table with no trouble, even when the restaurant was busy.

One of the things that made the atmosphere special was the lighting.  I'm not sure if they had a set schedule to adjust the lighting of the restaurant based on the time of day, but it definitely did change.  The photo above is how the dining room looked most of the time when I had dinner at the Virginia City Buffet.  The courtyard was dimly lit by lights in the trees, street lights and the lights from porches and faux windows on the second floor of the country homes.  The center of the ceiling was dark, but the perimeter above the rooftops of the homes were lit with dark blue lights that made it look like the horizon of a night sky.

I suppose that some people would laugh at what I'm saying about this place, or that they'd think it was a cheesy place, but I found the Virginia City Buffet to be a very warm and cozy place to eat.  It was a nice tucked away corner of Atlantic City where you could relax and have a cup of coffee with some good food.  You could forget about the outside world for a little while and escape into the moment.

If I knew ahead of time that it was scheduled to close today, I would have definitely made it a point to go back and have one last meal here.  However, time marches on and the Virginia City Buffet is now just a pleasant memory of a place I liked to have dinner at when I was in my 20's.

Naptime

My little buddy fell asleep with me.

Revenge Is A Dish That Is Best Served Cold

Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan

Standard Speaker - Hazleton, PA (1982)
In most cases, a movie sequel doesn't live up to the expectations set in the original.  However, on rare occasions, it surpasses them.  That was the case with Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan, which premiered in theaters 30 years ago today.

The studio did a poor job of hiding the dramatic conclusion of the Star Trek sequel.  News about the death of Spock began to circulate while the movie was still in production.

This clipping was published in the Times Leader on June 4th, 1982, so even fans who managed to avoid the rumors about Spock's death would have read about it in the newspaper hours before they could have attended the earliest screening of the film.

The Newest Member Of Our Family

This is Harvey.  Get used to seeing him.

Around Here, He's The King Of Soda

Michael Jackson King Of Pop Can
Pepsi (2012)
The Choice Of A New Generation is commemorating the 25th anniversary of Bad with a limited edition Michael Jackson can.

The Tavo & Rondell Show

Saturday, May 16, 1992
Lakeland Tigers @ West Palm Beach Expos
Municipal Stadium - West Palm Beach, FL

Pitching: Jason Pfaff vs. Tavo Alvarez

Results: Expos defeat Tigers, 1 - 0

Notes: The two players that I remember the most from the West Palm Beach Expos are Tavo Alvarez and Rondell White.  My 11 year old self was convinced that both were destined for stardom in Montreal.  Games like this were part of the reason why.  Tavo pitched a complete game shutout and gave up no walks to improve his record to 7 - 0 by the middle of May.  The only run of the game was a solo home run hit by Rondell White in the bottom of the third.

Tavo Alvarez - West Palm Beach Expos

In addition to Rondell and Tavo, this game featured two other players who would go on to the major leagues, including Tigers RF Rudy Pemberton, who played parts of three seasons with the Detroit Tigers and Boston Red Sox, and Expos CF Glenn Murray, who spent the 1996 season between the Scranton Wilkes-Barre Red Barons and the Philadelphia Phillies.

Kibbles And Blood

Zoltan... Hound Of Dracula

aka Dracula's Vampire Dogs
EMI Films (1977)
The story of Count Dracula's doberman, and the movie that taught me that one movie can sometimes go by more than one name, hit the big screen for the first time 35 years ago today.

Greenford and Northolt Gazette - Ealing, West London  (May 6, 1977)

Zoltan... Hound Of Dracula premiered in theaters in the UK on May 8th, 1977, where reviewers of the time questioned if the title character would scare the audience, or if they would be rooting for the vampire pooch.

New York Daily News  (March 29, 1978)

Less than a year later, the movie crossed the ocean to come to the United States.  It premiered in theaters in North America on March 29, 1978 where it was released under the title Dracula's Dog.

 

I didn't know anything about this movie when I came across it for the first time.  There was a shop at the Hometown Farmer's Market that had an excellent selection of television shows and movies on VHS and DVD.  Almost everything that was for sale was previously viewed, but some of the movies that he had were pretty obscure and his prices were very reasonable.  The shop has unfortunately closed, but there are at least 20 or 30 VHS tapes in my home video library that came from this place, and a lot of them are ones that I hadn't seen for sale anywhere else before or since, including these two:

I bought both of these movies at the same time along with a few other horror movies that I had never seen or heard of before.  They had different titles, they were released by different companies, and the box even had them listed with a different runtime (85 minutes for Zoltan and 90 minutes for Dracula's Vampire Dogs).  They obviously look similar, but I figured that they were just two different movies about a vampire dog, or maybe one of them was the sequel to the other, but... nope.  They're the exact same movie.

This is one of those movies that is so cheesy that it's great.  I'm not sure where to suggest you look to find a copy, but if you ever happen to find one for a couple of bucks at a flea market or a yard sale, I highly recommend it.

Mama At The Kirby

Vicki Lawrence and Mama: A Two Woman Show
FM Kirby Center - Wilkes Barre, PA

One of my wife's favorite shows when she was growing up was Mama's Family, so we had to get tickets for a one-woman show featuring the star of the show, Vicki Lawrence.