Give up the ghost.
Just put up a new feature, detailing the evolution of Count Chocula across eight different cereal boxes from the 1990s. I’m especially fond of the holofoil wolf box.
I don’t like these little notices about new features to go to waste, so I colored you a Halloween picture.
See the little grey guy? That’s a haunted castle come alive. I don’t know why he’s so tiny. Maybe the other monsters are just really, really big.
The Icebusters Sno-Cone Machine.
Today, you’re going to see the spirits of the dead run a lemonade stand. TGIF!
Okay, so it isn’t a lemonade stand. It’s a snow cone stand.
The Icebusters Sno-Cone Machine, made by Lanard in 1985, was an incredibly strange attempt to steal shine from the Ghostbusters craze.
I’m not being a brat, right? This thing had to be inspired by Ghostbusters. Why else would they call it Icebusters? I understand that a snow cone maker technically does bust ice, but you really wouldn’t put it that way that unless you were trying to be Egon.
So we can agree that Ghostbusters was to blame. That’s freakin’ freaky. Some guy made the inconceivable mental leap from Ghostbusters to snow cones. I can only envision the steps between Point A and Z as a sea of disembodied animal heads, floating against a wall of wild, swirling colors. The existence of this machine was a complete slap in the face to 1985’s still-running “Just Say No” campaign, because damn, if drugs were gonna lead us from Ghostbusters to snow cones, inject me now and give me a lot. Read More…
Deadly Dollar Store Finds: 2012 Edition.
I had five bucks, and Dollar Tree was right there.
It’s funny. I’ve been doing the Countdown forever, and in years past, Dollar Tree was always my final resort. A last ditch effort to catch the Halloween spirit by way of frivolous spending, after every other store in a twenty mile radius let me down.
Well, no more. I don’t know what lit a fire under their ass, or asses, or maybe collective ass, but for the past few Halloween seasons, Dollar Tree has been killing it. So much good stuff!
The things I found today were wonderful with no asterisks. Not just wonderful in an “it’s only a dollar” sort of way. I think the fruits of my five dollar shopping spree (six if you count the background tablecloth) will prove it. Read More…
Vlog: Blurp Balls Toy Review.
His name is Count Heave-a-Heart.
He’s one of the Blurp Balls.
His ocular veins look like the letter “Y” repeated thirteen times.
Very rare toys with a cult following that just won’t die, the Blurp Balls arrived in 1991, and were essentially uber versions of Madballs. Get the whole scoop in a video starring me:
I made several errors in this vlog:
#1: I said that Blurp Balls came out in ’92. NO. It’s 1991.
#2: I called one of the Blurp Balls “Retch-a-Rat Cat Tomcat.” Actually, it’s just Retch-a-Rat Tomcat.
#3: I called another one “Bossy Tossteeth.” In reality, he’s Boney Tossteeth.
But I did get some things right. For instance, I said they were balls, and they are. Read More…