Saturday, May 24, 2008

Plastic Who?


Knowing I am a big comic book fan fellow blogger Booksteve has recently sent me a link to a blog where a man said that he called into a talk show one day where the question was asked who was your favorite superhero when you were growing up? His answer was Plastic Man. To his surprise they had never heard of him. From what I read he would not have thought anything of it if they were younger then him but they were about his age. So why haven't they ever heard of him? He had a hit show on Saturday mornings. While he hasn't had a hit comic book in years he has had attempts and mini-series. He was recently even a member of the Justice League. He was a long overdue addition I might add. I always wondered why they went with Ralph Dibney and not Plastic Man. Back then Plas was better known then Ralph. Ralph's addition increased his popularity as Plastic Man sank into obscurity. With so much entertainment competing for our attention this trend may continue. Some people in their 20's don't know anything that happened before they were born. They may know the Monkees produced music but are surprised that they had a sit-com. They may think that Paul McCartney has always been a solo artist and are surprised to find he was the leader of Wings or a member of the Beatles. Lets hope that this doesn't spread to other areas like world history. As the old saying goes "Those who don't learn from the past are doomed to repeat it." Can you imagine what would happen if the world forgot about Hitler? We could have another one on our hands. Perhaps our increasing need for vast amounts of entertainment may be what brings about the rise of the Anti-Christ. I know I made a huge leap with this one but who knows it might be true.

Friday, May 23, 2008

When I was a kid I drank soft drinks like they were going out of style. I was even worse in the summer. While I have cut back since then it isn't hard to understand that these commercials strike a certain cord with me. Swimming, comic books, soft drinks and bike riding mean summer to me. They always came together to make a good day in the summer.

Thursday, May 22, 2008

YMCA Summer Camp Commercial

Summer is almost here and starting today and through out the weekend I will feature videos that remind me of Summer. I never went to summer camp but some people I know did. Here is a commercial from Camp Ernst that was the camp they attended. Almost makes me wish I did go to camp.

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Pepsi Commercial


Here is a Pepsi Commercial I have never seen. It has Jimmy Fallon and Parker Posey in it.

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

1970's Mountain Dew Commercial


Here is another Mountain Dew Commercial from 1970's.

Monday, May 19, 2008

Mountain Dew...It'll Tickle Your Innards!

I was talking to some co-workers recently and some how, I don't recall how, but we started talking about the soft drink Mountain Dew. We'd already solved the problems of the world so we moved on to lighter stuff. Well at least one of them didn't know that Mountain Dew was really a nickname for moonshine and that a hillbilly was the logo for a long time. She sort of rolled her eyes and said "Whatever!" when I said their slogan was "It'll Tickle Your Innards!"
Anyway for others like her that aren't aware here are two commercials from the 60's that showcased their roots.

Sunday, May 18, 2008

Americathon: We Have Arrived

Anyone remember the movie Americathon? It came out in 1979 and the star was John Ritter as the President and Harvey Korman as a television star. The energy crisis had gotten out of control and the President order that Harvey host a telethon to raise money to get America out of debt. Gas cost so much that most people were not driving anymore. They lived in their cars and either walked, jogged, skated, or rode a bike to where they were going. Well that movie took place in the future. We must have arrived at that point as I am always hearing of people riding bikes to work. Yesterday I walked to work. It took a half an hour but I saved gas. I even walked to church this morning. Why waste gas if it is within walking distance?
I wanted to show a video of the movie here but couldn't find one. I did find a video of a Beach Boys song from the soundtrack album. It is called "It's A Beautiful Day." Why this wasn't a hit for them I may never know. It has one of the best vocals Mike Love has ever sung.

OOPS! That wasn't Mike Love singing the parts I liked best. It was Al Jardine. Man! They should have let him sing more often.