Five Fun Stocking Stuffer Ideas!
I love Christmas stockings. The way they look, the way they feel, the way they get filled up with tiny toys. The way they let me hammer nails into studless walls that could support nothing heavier than a 14” sock. They’re 100% great.
During my earliest years, this was the one classic Christmas tradition that my family kind of skipped over. We had plenty of stockings, but they were only used as decorations. It was such a pisser, because the world revolved around me, and a pile of Inhumanoids and Nintendo games under the tree meant zilch if it wasn’t accompanied by a sock full of extra garbage.
After several “depressing” Christmases, I successfully lobbied for stocking stuffers. At first, my family just took this to mean that I specifically wanted Christmas presents that would fit in a stocking, rather than outright additional gifts. Corrective measures were taken. Eventually, I got the stocking that I’d always dreamed about, filled with crayons and candy canes and Super Elastic Bubble Plastic. I put down the knife.
If you’re in charge of filling a kid’s Christmas stocking this year, I’m here to help. See below for five Matt-approved stocking stuffer ideas. Read More…
The 1987 Broadcast of A Charlie Brown Xmas.
Oh, man. My buddy donated another of his treasured childhood videocassettes, and this one was killer. Among other things, it included the full broadcasts of A Charlie Brown Christmas and How The Grinch Stole Christmas, which aired back to back on December 11th, 1987.
Nostalgia’s been my trade for the better part of 15 years, and at this stage of the game, it takes a lot to really move me. This tape did. Both specials aired on CBS — which throughout the ‘80s kind of had a stranglehold on animated holiday specials — and there’s no way the me-of-1987 would’ve missed them. Watching Christmassy cartoons in prime time was one of the very best things about December.
Bill’s tape, which included both specials complete with commercials, was almost more than I could handle. I’m used to these fits of nostalgia being delivered as collages, with my own memories filling in the blanks as well as they can. Here, it was delivered as-was, as-it-always-was, and I caught myself getting choked up. I was reliving something from nearly 30 years ago with as precise a lens as allowable.
I couldn’t help but think about how much has changed since I first saw those broadcasts. The last time I watched these specials — these exact specials in this exact order with those exact commercials on that exact December night — my late father would’ve been within earshot, we’d still have a dumb dog named Sandy, and all of my older brothers and sisters would be dramatically younger than I am right now.
It isn’t as if I’m not consciously aware of these changes in my everyday life, but watching that tape… jeez. It was like having a time machine that almost worked, but not quite. Like I’d landed on the living room floor in our old house, but was stuck in some nightmare where I couldn’t turn around to see all of the shit that was way more important than A Charlie Brown Christmas. Does that make sense?
I felt like if I tapped the TV screen, the me-of-1987 would’ve gotten an electric shock. So close, but yet so far.
It was bittersweet, but still so worth it. In some senses, watching that tape put me in the “old kid shoes” harder than our ancient home movies do.
See if your brain plays any of the same tricks by watching ten of the commercials that aired during those specials, down below. (Spoiler: It will.) If I can call ten sketchy encodes of 1987 TV commercials “gifts,” consider this an early Christmas present. It’s the thought that counts.
A CBS Special Presentation Intro!
This isn’t a commercial, but of course I was gonna include it. If you’ve seen images from this intro but aren’t part of the generation with firsthand experience, let me confirm that THIS WAS THE SHIT. It meant EVERYTHING to us. Every primetime animated special that aired on CBS came with this intro at the front, signaling a rare bout of kid-targeted nighttime television. It totally set the stage! Read More…
The Purple Stuff Podcast: Episode 16!
After a special holiday delay, the latest episode of The Purple Stuff Podcast is finally ready!
Me and Jay from The Sexy Armpit are both enormous Star Wars fans, and with The Force Awakens mere weeks from debuting, it seemed only fitting to do a Star Wars show. If you can’t stand Rodians, turn away now.
Episode 16 is called Force Flashbacks, where we share ten super random memories that all have some loose tie to Darth Vader or Jabba or both. We’re covering everything from Star Tours to that old Jedi-fueled episode of Muppet Babies!
(Spoiler avoiders: The show isn’t really about The Force Awakens, so you’re safe!)
Give us a listen by clicking the giant play button below!
You can also download the MP3 directly at this link.
The Purple Stuff Podcast is also on iTunes, Stitcher and Podbean. As always, we don’t care how you listen, so long as you do! Read More…
The Mostly-Complete History of Ecto Cooler.
Midway through Thanksgiving, the news broke: Coca-Cola has renewed its trademark for Ecto Cooler, signaling mass speculation that the ghoulish green beverage just might be returning as part of the Ghostbusters reboot push.
This trademark renewal does not in of itself guarantee Ecto Cooler’s return, but given the timing, it sure sounds that way! Besides, many of us already felt that this was a can’t-miss opportunity and a now-or-never situation: Ghostbusters is suddenly a very hot brand again, and interest in Ecto Cooler is at an all-time high.
I suspect that official word with trickle down soon enough, but given that the whole internet is presently ablaze with Ecto Cooler excitement, I don’t see how they couldn’t do it now. This, of course, is the biggest motherfucking news in the history of everything.
As many of you know, Ecto Cooler has been the “totem item” of everything I’ve done online for the past 15 years. If it’s indeed on its way back, I thought now would be the perfect time to walk you through the (mostly) complete history of this magnificent, galvanizing beverage…
(The first edition of the juice box!)
Hi-C Ecto Cooler was born in late 1989. While most have attributed this to the success of The Real Ghostbusters, the drink’s arrival seems equally linked to the theatrical debut of Ghostbusters II. In any event, between the animated series and the live action sequel, Slimer’s popularity was booming. (You’ll notice that Ecto Cooler was promoted more as “Slimer’s drink” than a “Ghostbusters drink.”)
Less known is that this actually wasn’t some wholly new flavor from Hi-C. In fact, Ecto Cooler was merely a rebranding of their existing Citrus Cooler Drink, which looked and tasted exactly the same, and was even spotted in television commercials mere months before Ecto Cooler hit the shelves! Read More…