The Bartman and other Pop Cultural Oddities Discovered - Page 8

I've been fighting that urge since it was released on DVD. I haven't seen it since it was first released on video, and remember it having that weird '80s post-apocalyptic/dayglo/nightmare production design (such as in Howard the Duck/Jason Takes Manhattan/Vamp) but can't bring myself to pull the trigger.

Part of me feels like I can find a better way to spend my time, and that watching the Garbage Pail Kids movie a second time should be considered a crime against society.

Fuck Garbage Pail Kids. Wacky Packages were the way to go. Collectible cards in general - back in the day when packs were about a quarter or 35 cents, of course.

Before Young Adult fiction got sophisticated, all we had were Goosebump books and crazy sci-fi stuff known as Animorphs. Straight out of the Scholastic book order yo!

Billy Beer:


and also, The Reggie Bar:

[QUOTE=Judas Booth;2529772]Billy Beer:

QUOTE]

This beer is SO good, you can even see the DT's reflected in his signature...

Definately makes me want to crack one open.

If the man was able to conduct business deals with Quadafi. He should have the prowness to make a good beer.

I've never had any of the Billy Beers, but we used to pound those Reggie Bars back in the day. As I recall, they were really good.

Of course you wouldn't have had the Billy Beers. You were eight at the time.

You're a funny one, Ed.

Well I know it was obvious but I can't imagine any family would let their kid drink. Even if the beer was from the brother of the president.

Sadly we never got anything with Roger Clinton.

I was a Big League Chew kid.

I still say 'awesome' all the time.

As do I. I've also been known to let a "rad" fly once in a while, mostly for the reaction it gets. I think a lot of it has to do with my upbringing as a skater in the '80s.

You must be a young-un. I had Choose Your Own Adventure.

Don't forget Encyclopedia Brown.

I had my folks old Hardy Boys books, myself. Then I found my dad's James Bond paperbacks from the '60s (as well as were he kept his Playboys, but don't tell him, or I'm grounded). Gotta tell ya, some of those Bond books beat the shit out of anything Sean Connery could whip up.

Don't forget BUNNICULA and the MOUSE & THE MOTORCYCLE.

Guys, don't get me started on books we loved as kids. I loved that thread when we did it a few years back!

...okay, just one: The Great Brain series!

Weird Wheels anyone?

I was all about Alfred Hitchcock & The 3 Investigators

*An older uncle had almost the complete run of early Mad magazine (great stuff!) and set of hard cover first edition Hardy Boys. Unfortunately, inheritance was denied when he had kids of his own.

You know what I think is a GOD damn shame, is that the Travis McGee series of novels didn't make more of a cultural impact. Damned fine works, those. I dream of the day some intrepid director will get the balls to make a good, hi profile film version of one of those. I read an article wherein the author plainly marveled at the fact that Hollywood hasn't been all over this, because the books (there's 21 in the series) provide enough fofdder for not just a series but a FRANCHISE. I concur. If done right, Travis McGee could be a movie hero for the ages, right alongside Han Solo, james Bond & Indiana Jones.

But I kind of digress from the thread's main point. As an observation: isn't it kind of cool that James Bond films have been around since the 60's and have remained relevant and entertaining?

And as for the Reggie bar, they were awesome. I guess the cultural trend of having a sports hero so big they'd name a candy bar after him is something we don't see anymore. I mean, we didn't get a Sosa Bar or McGuire flakes,did we?

Oddly enough my dad would mention Travis McGee from time to time. I think I may have read a book or two. But I don't remember a thing.

Of course then there are those children's books that were always around. Anyone figure out the plot to Maniac McGee? I know I never really read that book.

Reggie Bars...

If they actually were good, then why did fans throw them onto the field after he hit home runs? Kind of ironic that they were sort of disc shaped.

"Reggie Bars... the candybar made to throw."

How about the "Bloodhound Gang" from the PBS show "3-2-1 Contract".. hell..the show "Zoom" for that matter.

Bunnicula really fucked with me as a kid. I can't really say that it scared me, but in retrospect I do believe I read that whole series as being far more dark than it was intended to be. I think it was because I saw the TV special before reading any of the books, and it played up the vampire aspect a lot more (Bunnicula would sprout bat wings and had powers in the special, instead of having vaguely defined vampiric tendencies like he did in the book).

I tried to start my own detective agency out of the garage. I lost interest soon after I caught a glimpse of the girl across the street's training bra one afternoon while trying to solve the case of why nobody wanted to fucking hire me.

Does anybody remember the Tom Swift books?

The day that we, as heterosexual boys, discover that we're attracted to girls is glorious. The priorities in life change INSTANTLY, and the 'cooties' are gone forever.

LOL

Hey, that's pretty cool. Like Brick meets Pineapple Express meets something not as great as either of those but still intriguing.

I was given a whole box of Reggie bars for my birthday by some friends. None
of them wanted me to share them so I had the whole box to myself.
Good times.

I found the trailer after reading the main page article on it.

Does slang fit into the aegis of this thread? I have in mind specifically the trend of adding "Not!" to the end of a sentence, popularized by "Wayne's World", among other things. As in: "That's pretty cool. . . Not!" Can't say as I miss that one. . .

We address Valley Speak at the top of this very page!

WhatEVER, Loser.






EDIT: Speaking of... 9,999th post!

I remember "Psych!". You'd tell someone something unbelievable and then when they asked "really" you'd yell "Psych!" and then mock them for having believed that their grandmother just died.

I was reminiscing about Garbage Pail Kids(Official website) the other day and how they could only have existed during the 80's yet they're back and have been for a couple of years. Unbelievable. These were the greatest thing ever when i was a lad.

Also just found out that Art Spiegelman was the mastermind behind the series.

Related, I recently discovered this series of Topps cards called Hollywood Zombies.

That we did, those weird as shit memories of '94 just keep coming back.

I realize I'm replying to a month old post, but I read that book roughly 20 times (no joke) when I was between the ages of 7 and 9. I could give you a comprehensive recap of the whole fucking thing. It would probably blow your mind, it was fairly dark. A lot of racism and death.

Fuck it, here it is:

Jeffery Lionel "Maniac" McGee's parents were killed when he was 4 years old when the trolley they were on jumped the track on the P&W Trolley Trestle in Two Mills PA. Jeffrey was sent to live with his aunt and uncle who hated each other but due to strict Catholocism, could not get divorced. During a school play when he was 8 (9?10? I forget) he bounded from the stage and ran out the door, never again to be seen by his aunt and uncle.

He arrived in Two Mills PA, and bested the best athelete in town (McNabb) at baseball by bunting a frog and running the bases before McNabb could field it.

The thing about Two Mills was that it was segregated. There was some street that ran down the center of town that no one of another color crossed. Maniac (as he is now known) crosses the street and befriends a black girl by the name of Amanda Beale. He moves in with her family and is very happy there until a neighborhood block party where an old man tells him he belongs back with his own kind.

He runs away and begins living in a little league dugout where he is discovered by a kindly caretaker named Grayson. He lives with Grayson for a while and is very happy until one winter's night Grayson dies.

He leaves Grayson's and ends up staying with the McNabbs (as in, the family of the best athelete in town). Now, the thing about the McNabbs is that they're incredibly racist. They build a pillbox in the back yard out of cinder blocks as a refuge against the inevetable black revolt. Somehow Maniac has a falling out with them and leaves.

Much like Forest Gump, he just runs around town for a long time. After a while he is again discovered by Amanda Beale who invites him back to her house to live. The end.

I cannot fucking believe I remember all of that. There's no way I could resist showing off my vast Maniac McGee knowledge. Thank you for the opportunity.

Nothing about Mars Bars??

But yeah, I'm not sure how pop culture it could be, but i remember that book and a couple others (Where The Red Fern Grows, Bridge To Terabithia, The Cay) being the standard at school. Everyone loved them.

What about Jolt or Jasta cola

I had to leave some stuff out or I'd have been typing that all night.

Jolt's still around, but it's scarce. I buy that shit every time I see it. Gotta respect it, though. I once guzzled 2 20 ouncers back to back in an effort to stay awake for a continuing ed class after a hard day at work.

Let me preface this next by noting I am a caffeine addict. I drink 6 -10 bottles of Diet Coke a day, on average, and have for years. Which is one reason I love Jolt so much.

So Imagine my surprise when, a short time after the guzzlin's done, I get more wired than I've ever been. My HAIR was tingling. And the diuretic effects of caffeine cannot be overstated at a time like that. I was really regretting selecting a seat in the middle of my row in that packed auditorium for more than an hour. . .

An overcaffinated lawyer? Man, that must be something.

BOTTLES? Not cans, but BOTTLES? Damn, Ig. All that sugar and caffeine in ya, I wouldn't be surprised to find out you've built an addition to your house, your neighbor's house, settled 45 court cases, started another 23, all while doing cartwheels and handflips as you freerun around your neighborhood. And that's just yesterday. Your heart must be going like a jackhammer, beating in tune to "Ace of Spades".

I miss Choc-O-Diles. Twinkies covered in a chocolate coating. A box of those and a glass of milk = manna from heaven. I also miss plain cherry Pop Tarts (oh sure, they have 'em with that frosting shit, but the plain ones are even better).

ETA:
Actual courtroom dialogue from Iggy: "YouhonorI'dliketomoveforadismissal-atnotimedidmyclientEVERcommitthepettylarcenymyeste emedcolleague,whoyouMUSTrememberresemblesCharlesMa nsonwhen viewdfromacertainangle,andIknowforafcatisadirtypin koCommunistwhodarestomockmyappreciationforafinecig ar_excusememyphoneisringing_hellohoney.YesIcanpick upmilkonmywayhome,andtellmybrotherthattheweatheris lookingmightygoodnextweek,sohowaboutwehavealittleb arbecue,soshouldIbringhomesomesteaksaswell.Okfine, seeyou.Yes,Iloveyoutoo.YesmorethanIloveLemmy.So,wh erewerewe,yourHonor?"

Watching Prince's Batdance recently reminded me of this thread. Was this the catalyst for all the awful gimmick songs that infested soundtracks in the late '80s and early '90s? I can imagine Jon Peters doing a line of coke when approving this song for the Batman soundtrack.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLlQpc8D2Kc

Lisa's alter ego is Bartman???