Pop Culture Junction

Pop Culture Junction offers everything you never wanted to know about nothing important.

Monday, October 30, 2006

One More Day 'Til Halloween: It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!

Can you believe that neither ABC or CBS will be showing It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown! tomorrow? Maybe I missed it and it was on another night in the past week, but it certainly wouldn't be Halloween without it!



Not only did my brother and I watch this in during the Halloween season, we were also big fans of Garfield's Halloween Adventure(AKA Garfield In Disguise). There was this part where Odie & Garfield were running away from some scary dude, and they are chanting, "Run, run! (I'm afraid!) Run, run! (I'm afraid!)" My brother & I still say this occasionally when it fits into conversation. Most people have no clue what we are talking about! When he was very young, my brother called Garfield "Garford". Tee-hee!



Did you know that Lorenzo Music, the guy who did Garfield's voice, died in 2001? I remember hearing that and it made me kind of sad. He also did a lot of other voice-over work, including the I Can't Believe It's Not Butter commercials. Remember those? They only showed peoples hands with the butter. They always kind of annoyed me, actually.

Sunday, October 29, 2006

Two More Days 'Til Halloween: It's Snack Time!

My favorite treat on Halloween was always the Reese's Cup. In fact, it still is my favorite, as long as it is fresh. There is nothing worse than a stale Reese's Cup!

The best Halloween treat ever? A FULL SIZE CANDY BAR!

The worst? A stinkin' toothbrush. True story. Thanks for nothin', cheapskate.

Wanna know more about my favorite snack?

The H.B. Reese Candy Company began manufacturing a product made with specially processed peanut butter and HERSHEY'S Milk Chocolate in the 1920s. Introduced as simply peanut butter cups, the popular candy item is known today as REESE'S peanut butter cups.

The name REESE'S has a unique heritage established by Harry Burnett (H.B.) Reese, a former dairy employee of Milton S. Hershey, founder of Hershey Foods Corporation. Reese was so inspired by Mr. Hershey's success that he left the dairy business to make his living in the candy industry.

While that decision inevitably developed into something truly unique in America's food industry, Reese experienced much adversity before building a company that thrived on the manufacture of a single product.

Born in 1879 on a farm in Frosty Hill, PA (York County), Reese was not very fond of farming. As a youth, he took a variety of jobs including country butchering and oil burner selling before moving to Hershey, PA, in 1917.

Following ventures in nearby Hummelstown and Palmyra, where he had some success with Johnny Bars and Lizzie Bars (caramel-like molasses and coconut candy), he moved back to Hershey, a few blocks from the already famous Hershey Chocolate manufacturing facility.

During the mid-twenties, Reese began selling his peanut butter cups in five-pound boxes for use in candy assortments. Ten years later, Reese added the cups which were sold for a penny a piece to the assortment line. Conditions during World War II prompted him to discontinue his other lines to concentrate on peanut butter cups, "a product that both the young and old alike can eat and enjoy..."

Distributed through wholesale jobbers, vending machine operators and syndicated stores, the peanut butter cups, in their familiar orange, yellow and brown wrapping, continued to gain popularity on a nationwide scale during the '40s and early '50s.

By mid-1950, it was evident that a larger manufacturing facility was needed. A tract of land on the western edge of Hershey was selected and ground was broken for a modern, extensively automated plant. The 100,000 square-foot facility, built along Chocolate Avenue, opened in August 1957.

Six years later, in 1963, the H.B. Reese Candy Company, Inc., was sold for $23.5 million to the Hershey Chocolate Company, currently known as Hershey Foods Corporation, its chocolate-making neighbor. (Source)

Wednesday, October 25, 2006

Now Hear This: Everything Old is New Again

I love to dance. I don't do it too much anymore since I'm a workaholic, but I revel in the memories of when I was a young teenager and would go to local teen dance clubs to boogie down.

One of my favorite songs of that day was L'Trimm's "The Cars that Go Boom". Well, lo and behold, doesn't Miss Gwen Stefani give them a shout-out in her new song, "Wind It Up"! Not only that, but she makes The Sound of Music cool again. You can listen to both now!

L'Trimm - The Cars that Go Boom

Gwen Stefani - Wind It Up


Another tune that brings me back to Reeboks, leggings and IOU sweatshirts? JJ Fad's "Supersonic". I can still remember the video. Alas, it was to be a one-hit wonder. But it obviously had something going for it, or Fergie wouldn't have borrowed the beat for her rap on her new single, "Fergalicious". Check them out!

JJ Fad - Supersonic

Fergie - Fergalicious

Tuesday, October 24, 2006

One Week Til Halloween: The Worst Witch is in the house!

I was privileged enough to grow up with HBO. It has definitely evolved since the early 80s, what with it not going off the air and only playing about a dozen movies per month.

There were two things you could count on with HBO: at Halloween they would incessantly repeat The Worst Witch and at Christmas they would incessantly repeat Emmett Otter's Jugband Christmas. (We'll hold off on the Emmett Otter love until Christmas time.)

The Worst Witch starred Feruza Balk as a young witch at a witches academy who can't seem to do a damn thing right. Also starring Tim Curry and Mrs. Garret (Charlotte Rae), there are a few catchy tunes and shades of Harry Potter abound. One of the best songs is this one, sung by Tim Curry, called "Anything Can Happen on Halloween." It's so awesome!!!

And you gotta love YouTube! Here is a brief clip from the show.

Monday, October 23, 2006

Scary Now See This: Ghost Story

Looking for something scary to watch over the next week in anticipation of Halloween? Check out Ghost Story, the tale of 4 old men whose past comes back to haunt them. It will definitely give you goosebumps!

Friday, October 20, 2006

Spooky Blast from the Past: Tales from the Darkside

Man lives in the sunlit world
of what he believes to be reality.
But, there is, unseen by most, an underworld,
a place that is just as real,
but not as brightly lit...
A DARKSIDE.




Growing up, I really loved horror movies, books & shows like Tales From The Darkside, the 80's weak version of The Twilight Zone.

My favorite episodes?

"Inside the Closet" definitely comes to mind. And wouldn't you know, you can watch the whole episode on YouTube! (Google hasn't f-ed it up yet!)

A young woman in grad school rents a room in the huge old house of a strict college professor. While moving in, the girl discovers the small closet in her room contains....well, you watch and see.

PART ONE


PART TWO


My next favorite episode is "A Case of the Stubborns." Grandpa dies at home in the middle of the night, and as the family grieves him, Grandpa comes downstairs, announcing he decides he really isn't dead. As his grandson (played by a young, non ass-grabbing Christian Slater) tries to prove to Gramps that he is, in fact, a goner, Grandpa's body begins to stink and rot. What does it take to convince Grandpa he really croaked? He blows his nose and his nose falls off into the hanky. Sorry, Pops!

I would love to see Tales from the Darkside come to DVD.

The Darkside is always there
waiting for us to enter,
waiting to enter us.
Until next time,
try to enjoy the daylight.

11 Days Til Halloween: Help Me Out and Win Stuff!

I am going to a SCARY-OKE (Costumes & Karaoke) Party on October 27th and need some help with some costume ideas!

Post an idea and your email address in the comments and I'll send one of you a $5 Amazon.com gift card! (It's ain't much, but it's somethin', right?)

So put those thinking caps on your skulls and tell me what I can be for Halloween!

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

13 Days Til Halloween: Scary to Some, Hilarious to Others

In honor of Halloween, one of my favorite holidays, I will be posting some scary stuff over the next few weeks.

I always laugh when people get scared and double laugh when people fall. You can imagine my amusement after watching this video.

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Ear Candy: Rogue Wave - Eyes

Not only is Heroes my new favorite show, but last night's episode opened with one of my favorite songs, Eyes by San Fran band, Rogue Wave. Enjoy!

Monday, October 16, 2006

Time to bust out the Freezy Freakies!

It has been cold here in this neck of the woods (Western PA) and my husband and I have been gathering up our cold weather gear. This took me back to some of the cold weather gear I rocked when I was a young chica and the fabulous FREEZY FREAKIES that I wore in 3rd grade.

Freezy Freakies were these awesome gloves that revealed "cool" designs on them when exposed to cold. Mine were cream colored and when they got cold they had multi-colored hearts all over them with "I Love Snow" in big letters. My brother had a pair that read "I Love to Ski" with a dude on a slope design. Here is a happenin' princess pair.



Remind me to tell you one day about my silver Atari jacket.