Pop some pop culture under your tree

Need a holiday gift? How about giving a childhood friend Brian Bellmont's and my two pop-culture books? The perfect present for the best pal who buried your Barbie out back, or fought with you over Shrinky Dinks, or shared a Marathon bar with you.

The books are "Whatever Happened to Pudding Pops? The Lost Toys, Tastes and Trends of the '70s and '80s," and "The Totally Sweet '90s," and I'd love for you to buy one or both.

Yes & No Books, for ages 7-77

Oh man, did I spend a lot of boring car trips engrossed in these invisble-ink yes and no books

They're no Minecraft, kids, but we old folks had simpler tastes. Get off mah lawn.

78-year-olds, sorry, you're too old for these. YOU KNOW THE RULES. THEY'RE RIGHT THERE ON THE COVER!

Home sweet 1968

If I had $1.2 million and a huge desire to pretend to be Carol Brady, I would buy this house in my neighborhood and pretend it's still 1968, the year it was built. 

NOTHING INSIDE HAS CHANGED. What a time capsule! The red velvety bathroom wallpaper! The gold velvety bathroom wallpaper! The bar! The curvy fireplace! The intercom! The bidet! The indoor BBQ! And is that a RECORD PLAYER built into the wall in the kitchen, of all places? They should shoot "Mad Men" here.

Every home I lived in with my parents had a built-in bar. Neither of the ones Rob and I bought had one. My folks even had a framed placemat with drink recipes for drinks like the Singapore Sling and the Pink Squirrel hanging behind one of the bars. (Says my friend Kim: "Like Sally Draper's Cheat Sheet!") Ladies and gentlemen, America's GI generation... Look, if you're going to be asked to storm Normandy/shoot down kamikazes (now a drink name...IRONY!) at Okinawa, you're going to develop a high alcohol tolerance.

My dad could make any drink in the world, and from a college job as a butcher (and, uh, a stint in the Marines during WWII) could carve up an entire cow. He would have been a good man to have around during a zombie apocalypse, it just now occurs to me.

Dad, in September 1973, looking off into the middle distance, while his youngest daughter (me) and first grandchild (Erin) are fascinated by ... something. Eggs from the chickens? I can't tell...

Miss you, dad.

Oh, the canvas can do miracles

Yes, even though his voice is kinda whiny, I LOVED Christopher Cross' "Sailing" when it hit big in 1980, me and about a zillion other Americans.

I never realized that he was not exactly the most photogenic singer in the world, though. I think I pictured him looking like Christopher Atkins, because "The Blue Lagoon" was also popular around then. Now I think I like him more that I know he wasn't a slicked-up Hollywood Ken doll.

Watch him here. Doesn't he look a little like John C. Reilly?

Rip. Off.

Oh people, are you KIDDING ME? They want to charge TWENTY DOLLARS for the little game we played with a piece of paper, a pen, fingers and our own brain cells?

Wikipedia calls it a paper fortune teller. I've heard it called MASH for Mansion-Apartment-House-Shack, and also Cootie Catcher, but this company sells it as Cahootie.

And if you are buying one, call me, because I will sell you accessories for tag, for hide and seek, and other childhood games that DO NOT NEED PURCHASED ITEMS.

Lip Lickers designer heard from!

If you're retro-minded like me, you probably knew and loved the Lip Lickers lip balm cases, the little tins decorated with old-fashioned flowers and fruits, that came with sliding lids. (Some offered two flavors per tin.)

I posted about them in 2006, and just this week, one of the people who designed those beloved tins posted on PCJM! I'm quoting his comment here so it will be seen by more people.

Thank you, Joel! What a great peek inside the history of one of my favorite retro products!

"I was one of the two graphic designers who worked on the tin designs. Sadly, I left them for what seemed at the time a better opportunity. They were a great company in their diversity of products. When we changed our name to Minnetonka, Inc. is was to look like a much more diversified company as we gained product lines. One was Calvin Klein Cosmetics we purchased from him. He retained creative overview, but one product that became real famous that i designed the logo for was Obsession. Too bad I wasn't a freelancer at the time. I could have retired by the early 90's. I designed the logo in 1979 after Bob Taylor (President) came to me to see if I could come up with logo ideas for the brand, because Calvin wasn't excited about the New York effort he had been getting. It really didn't mean anything at the time, because it was at the product's inception without any correlating advertising. Yes I sure miss those days. 3 of us over lunch went to a local flower shop in Chaska, MN and just after we walked in the door the owner asked us if we worked at Minnetonka, Inc. We asked how he knew, and he said the smells from our clothes were so strong, he just knew. As time went by our art department grew with a plethora of great talent, who eventually all had to go our separate ways. It was a private company which eventually went public. Thanks for bringing back the great memories.


Joel LeGrande

Ashland, OR "

Size 8 Cereal

Matt over at Scrubbles found this delightfully weird cereal commercial. Apparently in the 1960s there was a Post cereal called Size 8, trying to appeal to weight-conscious women.

Of course, today, size 8 is considered gargantuan in Hollywood -- it would have to be dubbed Size Double Zero.

But the best thing about it is not the odd name, but that it was sold not in a traditional cereal box, but in a mod paisley swirl patterened round cylinder. No, really.

Game over? Nyet!

The Museum of Soviet Video Games. A fascinating photo tour.

(Via Metafilter.)

I'm a Pepper...

Remember those Throwback versions of Pepsi and Mountain Dew, that had sugar instead of high-fructose corn syrup?

Now there's a Throwback version of Dr Pepper, Retroland reports. Hooray! I love it when companies get all nostalgic.

King Kong straw

Heh, this could also go on Gen Xtinct, but I'm putting it here: Have you ever seen this King Kong drinking straw, from Mego?

As you drink, the little Kong figurine gets pushed up to look like he's climbing between the late, great Twin Towers.

Kiss me deeeeeeadly

OMG, you guys, Kissing Potions, minus the "Maybelline," are back!

I should probably be posting this at GenXtinct.com, but had to share it here: Remember Maybelline Kissing Potions, clear, syrupy sweet lip gloss in funky-mod roller-ball dispensers? We lacquered it on as if our lips would fall off if we left even one sad centimeter exposed, but since we were too young for kisses, we ended up just pretty much eating the stuff ourselves anyway.

Anyway, that defender of old-school products, the Vermont Country Store, has it! In three flavors! Looks like Maybelline got dumped from the name so I'm not sure who makes it for them, but I just may have to order some.

Apparently this is a young Kim Basinger in their ads.

People at Retroland are sharing their Kissing Potion memories, and I am completely in agreement with the girl who said she had Farrah hair and if she went outside on a windy day wearing Kissing Potion, the wind would blow her hair across her face and it would get stuck on her greased-up lips. Sister, me too,

Whew!

Thankfully, Susan of "Sesame Street" is OK.

X-rated Atari games

X-rated Atari games.

Wow, and I thought the creepy "Custer's Revenge" was the only one. Was I wrong. The art is so primitive it's really hard to even see what's going on in half of these. No, in ALL of these.

Shh, don't tell

Secrets only two living people know for some reason.

Yes, they include KFC's original recipe, the formula for Coke, and for some reason, something about Sea Monkeys. Sea Monkeys? Yes, Sea Monkeys. Maybe I should double-post this over at our GenXtinct blog.

Dancing Dawn and her dancing friends!

Remember Dawn dolls? Here's a five-minute film, apparently prepared for sales people, showing what was new in Dawn's world for 1971.

Fancy Feet! Dancing Dawn and her dancing friends! And to absolutely no one's shock, Dawn wins the beauty pageant!

Sunny days

"Sesame Street" is 40! Which makes sense, since I'm 41 and we grew up together.

I may have to buy this DVD set, "Sesame Street: 40 Years of Sunny Days," and watch it with Miss Kellington. She's already engrossed by the new episodes.

The DVDs apparently offer 360 minutes of iconic moments, big guest stars and the like. Sounds like a walk down Memory Lane I really should take.

It's out next week, but you can preorder now.

Is it "V," or "Five"

Please, people. Like the new "V" will ever have a scene to rival this:

Ruuuubik! He's our frieeeeeend!

I found an awesome retro blog, Bubbledog, which features the most amazing page about scratch-n-sniff stickers that I think I've ever seen.

Trend brand were my favorites, the little roundys with the amazing repertoire of scents.

But what I had to share from Bubbledog was this cartoon intro from the long-forgotten cartoon, "Rubik, the Amazing Cube." I can't help but think of the poor screenwriter who was told "we got the rights to this square twisty game thingie...write us some cartoon where it talks, will ya?"

The voice of Rubik? Provided by none other than HORSHACK! The show had three young Hispanic protagonists, and in the opening credits below, the cube falls off a stagecoach. I don't know. It's like they just played MadLibs and came up with an ethnicity, a mode of transportation, and a 1970s washed-up TV star. It could have just as easily been three African-American kids who find Rubik after he falls off the space shuttle and his voice is provided by Greg Evigan.

Pee-Chee defacement for fun and profit

I just discovered Retroland, which is an absolutely awesome nostalgia site and community.

There's so much fun to be had there, but first I had to point out this great paean to the art of drawing on your Pee-Chee folder.

I've definitely heard other folks discuss this brand of folder, but never had one myself. Still, the art just cries out to be, uh, accented by bored schoolkids.

Hostess Choco-Bliss, the home game

Remember when Hostess had a product called Choco-Bliss? It consisted of chocolate, layered with chocolate, frosted with chocolate, and probably dipped in chocolate...

Anyway, King Arthur Flour has a recipe for a cake that really does seem to resemble the now-longer-available Choco-Bliss. Their step by step photos make it look kind of difficult, but I don't really think it is.

King Arthur's blog also has replica recipes for Drake's Funny Bones (not sold in the Midwest when I was growing up, but they look pretty good...chocolate cake with a peanut-butter filling) and Twinkies.