Today, we look at some of the Cereal Mascots of the 80s. Yeah, I know there’s a ton. I ripped another Saturday Morning Cartoons VHS tape. I was able to find a ton of commercials. Here’s some of the Mascots and their cereal they prefer.

Sugar Bear

First up, we have Sugar Bear. He was the Mascot for Super Golden Crisp at the time. Of course, this cereal went through many name changes. It went from “Sugar Crisp” to “Golden Crisp” to “Super Golden Crisp”. It was definitely to take the emphasis off of the amount of sugar in the cereal.

Look, I’m just going to go out and say it. Sugar Bear was a dick. Every commercial would contain a new character wanting to have some Super Golden Crisp. But, instead of sharing, he just beat them up. Then, he’d smugly sing his song and go on his way. One of the aspects of the character was he gets his powerful punches from the 8 vitamins in the cereal. Vitamins? Yes, that’s what he said.

Jingle: “Can’t get enough Super Golden Crisp, It’s got the Crunch with the Punch”

Here’s a couple commercials:

The Bakers

Cinnamon Toast Crunch is definitely my favorite cereal, still to this day. The CTC Bakers were short lived, though. They appeared early on in the cereals life. If you didn’t know, their names are Bob, Quello and Wendell. They just danced around the kitchen and made CTC. They didn’t have the adventures that other mascots had. In fact, they dropped Bob and Quello in later commercials with Wendell manning the kitchen by himself. One of my fond memories of the bakers was a singing coin bank with the bakers on it. It’s a pretty common find on Ebay now.

Jingle: “Cinnamon… TOAST CRUNCH!”

Here’s a commercial:

Honeycomb Robot

Honeycomb was never my favorite cereal. But, back in the day they had Strawberry Honeyhomb which I thought was amazing. So, a little lore behind honeycomb. Kids built a Honeycomb hideout where the eat their honeycomb. Most commercials have a new person visiting the Hideout, only to be overcome by the big-big taste of Honeycomb.

The Honeycomb Robot was a simple robot that would let you know about the size and taste of honeycomb cereal. Other than that, he was basically a background character. They could of gave the robot so much more to do, but sadly, they didn’t.

Jingle: “Honeycomb’s big, yeah yeah yeah… It’s not small… no no no! Honeycomb’s got… a big big bite… Big Big crunch for a Big Big bite!”

Here’s a couple Honeycomb Commercials:

Sonny

There’s a song by the band, AFI called “Cereal Wars”. One of the lines asks the question “WTF is Sonny, Anyway?”. I researched this and found out he’s a cuckoo bird. There you go. There’s your answer. Sonny is pretty derivative of early Daffy Duck. Anytime this guy gets a bite of Cocoa Puffs, he goes nuts. This may be why my Mom never bought this for me when I was a kid. She thought there was truth in advertising.

Jingle: “I’m Cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs!”

Here’s a Cocoa Puffs commercial:

Trix Rabbit

The Trix Rabbit was always trying to get a bite of Trix Cereal. I guess, he couldn’t just buy it himself, he had to get it from kids. He would dress up in poorly made costumes only to be outed by the kids. And then they’d mock him and tell him that Trix were for kids.

Sometime in the 80s, though they actually had a vote to see if they should allow the rabbit to have some Trix. It was unanimous! The real kids had spoken, they wanted the rabbit to have some Trix. So, they actually shot a commercial with the rabbit happily enjoying a bowl. This was back when Trix was the little round balls instead of the fruit shaped debauchery that it is now.

Jingle: “Silly Rabbit, Trix are for Kids!”

Here’s a commercial for Trix:

Lucky

Lucky was a leprechaun. Instead of granting wishes, he “gives” you Lucky Charms cereal. You know, the commercials never had them capture him. Lucky would usually try to escape the clutches of the kids only to be hurt in someway. When he’s down, the kids get the Lucky Charms. Thinking back to this, the kids were pretty rotten.

Jingle: “Frosted Lucky Charms…. They’re magically delicious!”

Here’s a Lucky Charms commercial:

Well, there you have it. I’m sorry I wasn’t able to include the Cookie Crook, Count Chocula, Frankenberry, Toucan Sam, Tony the Tiger, Alphie the Wonder Dog, Snap, Crackle, Pop, Dig’em, Cap’n Crunch, or the rest. But, I hope you enjoyed this look back at cereal mascots.

+Greg

Happy

1 50 %

Sad

0 0 %

Excited

0 0 %

Sleepy

1 50 %

Angry

0 0 %

Surprise

0 0 %

Well, Christmas will be here before you know it. Santa will be coming down the chimney to bring you all the toys that you put on your list IF you were good this year. And, since I had a bunch of toy commercials ripped and ready to go, I figured I’d make this article Christmas-themed.

Slam Shifters (1982)

Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars were always a hot toy when I was younger. I probably had hundreds of them and lost about that many in the backyard. So, I was way into Slam Shifters when they came to the market. They weren’t Hot Wheel or Matchbox branded, but they were better. You would slam on a lever as hard as you could and the car would zoom across the floor. I actually had a few of these when I was a kid. They were pretty cool. However, the “slammer” was made of plastic. A few months of slamming broke the thing. But, what do you expect when you tell kids to hit something as hard as they can.

Dukes of Hazzard Power Cycle (1982)

When I was younger, a Big Wheel bike was always on my Christmas list. This one was branded like the General Lee from Dukes of Hazzard. My next door neighbor had a Knight Rider version of this same bike. You had the brake that would quickly turn your vehicle. I was later told when I got older why my parents never got me one of these. Apparently, they heard that many kids riding on these vehicles are so low to the ground that Real Cars can’t see you. Apparently, there were many incidents of kids getting run over. Since my older brother literally got run over by a car when he was 3 years old, I can see where their concern was. BTW, my brother Jeff is fine, I didn’t want to end this paragraph without clarifying that.

My Little Pony (1986)

Back in the day, if you even talked about My Little Pony, you’d be treated to some major bullying on the Playground. I didn’t need anymore than I already got from my Lloyd Christmas hairdo. Apparently, boys can’t like ponies, puppies or kittens. My little Pony was a line that I’m surprised is still around today. I think the whole gender lines have been crossed with this toy with many “Bronie” groups and collectors. I just don’t get it, but who am I to judge.

Trap Jaw from Masters of the Universe (1984)

Masters of the Universe was my favorite cartoon & toyline at the time. Even as an adult, I’ve continued following the lore with the 2002 animated series, comics, and I can’t wait for the Kevin Smith Netflix series. The 80s line will always remain dear to my heart. Almost all these toys used the same molds for these figures. That is why all these figures look like they workout at the same gym. A skull with blue muscles never made sense, but I didn’t care. The weirder the toy, the better. Trap Jaw was one of these toys that had so many things going for it. It had 3 interchangeable weapons that screwed into his arm socket. It had a mouth that actually opened and closed. And it had a ring on his head that you can use some thread in it to have it zipline across the room. He-Man was pretty lame in comparison.

Ritz Crackers (1984)

TIME FOR A SNACK BREAK!

While we’re talking about Christmas, and since I have nowhere else to post this commercial, I thought I’d put it here. I loved this time of year because my favorite snack foods are cheese, sausage & crackers. It just works so well together. This commercial makes these crackers so “fancy”.

When I was around 5 or 6 years old, my brother tried to give me something super gross. He took a Ritz Cracker, spread cheese on it, put a pecan on top and sprinkled Cinnamon and sugar on top. He gave it to me thinking it would be disgusting. However, I loved it. I asked him for another. I started making these “hors d’oeuvres” for myself all the time. My family thought I was crazy.

Cabbage Patch Kids figures (1984)

I remember riding the school bus to school in the morning to see a bunch of people lined up in front of the K-Mart we passed by regularly. I found out from other kids on the bus that these were people waiting in line to get a Cabbage Patch kid doll. I didn’t really get into them like some people. Once I saw the lines of people wanting to get one, I wanted to get my hands on one to sell it for a profit. Back then I wanted an Atari. I never was able to get one to turn over to get my Atari. But, I still remember the craze. This commercial shows the figures that came out soon after the dolls. I’m sure some kids got this figures since the parents couldn’t find a doll. And I’m sure the kids were disappointed.

Toy Chest Store (1986)

Remember Toy Stores? Yeah, It’s hard to believe there was a time there were many toy stores around. I remember several where I live: Toys R Us, KayBee Toys, Childrens Palace, and Toy Chest. Toy Chest was a St. Louis Regional Toy store. There’s something about a toy store that kids are missing today. This commercial spotlights Lite Brite and Get in Shape Girl. I just looked it up and I’m surprised that Lite Brite still exists today. It’s an LED battery powered version, but it’s basically the same toy. I remember buying lite brite from my neighbors garage sale for $1 dollar. In fact, I’m sure it’s still sitting in my parents basement somewhere.

Thank you for reading my take on vintage toy commercials,

+Greg

Happy

0 0 %

Sad

0 0 %

Excited

0 0 %

Sleepy

0 0 %

Angry

0 0 %

Surprise

0 0 %

The year was 1992. I loved playing with the family camcorder to make films with my old toys. Skeletor & He-Man starred in a bunch of videos.

Halloween was my favorite time of year. I would put on a mask and make my own little “Fan Film”. I don’t think I actually ever watched a Friday the 13th movie in its entirety in 1992. But, I knew that the latest movie was Part VIII. So, I made my own Part 9….

You can see this was a high budget production, with one actor and limited costume changes. I was able to figure out how to dub audio from an old 80s Halloween Haunted Sounds effects cassette tape.

I could of wore something more appropriate for a serial killer. But, I opted for a Hard Rock Cafe shirt, Umbro Shorts, & some LA Gears. To complete the ensemble, I wore a backwards Colorado Rockies hat. I looked more like a tourist at Disney World than someone who would slash your throat.

In the background, you can see some old couches which made their way to my first apartment. My friend, Josh still had the love seat in his basement up to a few years ago. You can also see a birdcage in the background which housed my parakeet, Happy. He used to copy everything he heard on TV, and would be quite annoying when trying to watch a movie.

It was kind of weird for Jason to wave at the camera. But, my take was a more friendly and approachable serial killer. On the front door I see some old Halloween decorations that I remember having way back in the early 80s. I believe my parents still have them to this day.

The victim (also played by me) has a kitchen towel as long hair. He enjoys some snacks while watch MTV. Weird thing is how long he sits in the chair scared before you runs away. You can see the editing budget for this short was non-existant.

The entire point of my “fan film” was to show off a Cut off Hand prop that I got at the local party store, Zam’s. I still have the thing, and it still gets many laughs when I break it out. It’s probably the best $6 I ever spent.

I didn’t end up becoming Adam F Goldberg, but I still hope you enjoy checking out my 3-minute Friday the 13th video from 1992.

+Greg

Happy

0 0 %

Sad

0 0 %

Excited

0 0 %

Sleepy

0 0 %

Angry

0 0 %

Surprise

0 0 %

I was looking for commercials though my boxes of VHS tapes. In doing so, I started to notice I had a lot of video game commercials. Some commercials are actually for video games. Other commercials look like a video game or based on a video game. So, here’s a small collection of some “Video Game” commercials.

Bubblicious Bubble Gum – 1982

Back in the early 80s, Video games were all the rage. Unlike today, arcades were crowded with kids pumping quarters into the machines. So, what does Bubble gum have to do with video games? Absolutely nothing! However, Bubblicious decided to do an 8-bit video game looking commercial.

Back then, there were 2 “soft” bubble gum brands in a heated competition. They were Bubble Yum and Bubblicious. They were so similar in packaging and taste, no one had brand loyalty to either one. They both had crazy wild flavors. However, in researching, my favorite flavor back then was Cherry Cola. That flavor was from Bubblicious. So, I guess I was a Bubblicious fan.

Tetris Blast / Game Boy – 1996

I know there’s been several variations of Tetris along with many different clones. Puzzle games were perfect for handheld devices. Nintendo knew this, and that’s why they included Tetris with the original Game Boy. What a strange thought by today, including a game with your video game system.

Unfortunately, I never played Tetris Blast, but it basically adds bomb blocks that destroy surrounding blocks when a line is completed.

Donkey Kong Jr Cereal – 1984

Back in the 80s, Pac-Man & Donkey Kong were household names. In fact, both of them had their own cereal. If you watch Stranger Things Season 3, there’s an episode where there in a grocery store. You’ll start to notice some of these cereals in the background.

My favorite of the video game cereals was Donkey Kong Jr. It had banana and berry flavored pieces. I would love to have this cereal today. Someone get a time machine and bring me back some of this and some Smurfberry Crunch.

Qix / Game Boy – 1990

Qix was an arcade game from 1983 that was ported to the Nintendo Game Boy in 1990. It’s a pretty simple game. There’s a weird line looking entity called Qix, floating around the screen. Your job is to box the thing in. That’s it. The “Qix” gets faster and more unpredictable the further into the game you get.

Reeses Peanut Butter Cup – 1982

In this commercial, 2 kids appear to be playing an Intellivision or perhaps a Collecovision. You can tell by the controllers the kids are using. I don’t really understand the game they are playing. They appear to be trying to avoid running into each other. However, a collision between the chocolate and peanut butter result in Peanut Butter Cups. You know, even 37 years later, this commercial works, because I really want a peanut butter cup now.

Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy Kong’s Quest / SNES – 1996

When the 16-bit wars started in the 90s, I got a Sega Genesis instead of the Super Nintendo. While the Genesis had an amazing lineup of games, there were still some exclusive Nintendo titles that I didn’t get to play.

My first experience with the Donkey Kong Country series comes more recently. I got to play them when I got my SNES classic mini a couple years ago. These games were so much fun. I was especially fond of the Mine Kart levels. Also, rumor has it that Universal Studios in Orlando will be creating a Nintendo Land in their new “Epic Universe” theme park. The big rumor is there will be a roller coaster there based of the Donkey Kong Country Mine Karts. I hope this comes true!

Well, there you go. I hope you enjoyed today’s look at old “video game” commercials.

+Greg

Happy

0 0 %

Sad

0 0 %

Excited

0 0 %

Sleepy

0 0 %

Angry

0 0 %

Surprise

0 0 %

As far back as I can remember, McDonald’s has been serving the Shamrock Shake during March. It’s obviously a nod to St. Patrick’s Day. I look forward to it every year. It’s basically a green vanilla shake with a hint of mint.

The picture above is from 2008. McDonald’s introduced the McCafe beverages in their restaurants at the end of 2009. Since then their shakes included whipped cream and a cherry.

Shamrock Shake commerical – 1974

This is the earliest commercial I could find online. The Shamrock Shake was introduced in 1970.

Uncle O’Grimacey – 1977

Uncle O’Grimacey became a common McDonaldland commercial starting in 1977. He was Grimace’s uncle and would arrive in March to sell Shamrock Shakes. Don’t ask me where he was the rest of the year.

He was seen on several McDonaldland merchandise in the late 70s and 80s. And then he wasn’t heard from ever again.

Shamrock Shake Commercial – 1980

In 1980 they tried their luck with a Shamrock Sundae as well. Apparently, it did so poorly, they didn’t even attempt to try to bring it back again.

Shamrock Shake commercial – 1983

I found this commercial, but it almost appears to be a local area commercial instead of a national McDonald’s commercial.

Shamrock Shake commercial – 2012

This is the latest incarnation of the Shamrock Shake, complete with Whipped Cream and a Cherry.

In 2017 the introduced a few different flavors in addition to the Regular Shamrock Shake. They were Shamrock Chocolate Shake, the Shamrock Chocolate Chip Frappé, the Shamrock Mocha, and the Shamrock Hot Chocolate. Again, these flavors weren’t brought back.

This shake comes back every year, just like the McRib. So, don’t miss out, get it while you can!

Thanks for Reading!

+Greg

Happy

0 0 %

Sad

0 0 %

Excited

0 0 %

Sleepy

0 0 %

Angry

0 0 %

Surprise

0 0 %

The year was 1988. Our Sunday St. Louis Post Dispatch Newspaper arrived. Normally, I’d check out the funnies and look at the toy sections of the ads for things that I wanted. This morning was different. There was a cardboard record attached to a McDonalds promo Ad. A Free Record? This was unheard of! In fact, I never saw a record printed on cardboard before this.

I popped the record on the record player and this is what I heard:

The US Menu Song

The concept for this promotion was simple. If the people singing on your record sang the McDonald’s Menu song all the way through, you would win a Million Dollars. Unfortunately, There was 80 million of these things distributed, and a woman in Virginia won the grand prize.

The record was super flimsy. If you didn’t set a weight (a coin or bottle cap) on the edge of the record the needle would spin the record in the wrong direction. Over 30 years later, I still have my cardboard record. It looks a little rough, but it does still play. However, my record player is missing a rubber gasket, so it won’t spin anymore.

US Menu Song Commercial

It all started with these commercials airing on TV. It was such a ridiculous thing for someone to list every item on the McDonald’s menu. Then, we got our own copy of the song. Now I can play the thing over and over and memorize the thing myself. I never once went to a McDonald’s and sang the menu song to the cashier. However, I’m sure several people did. Every McDonald’s employee at that time had to of been annoyed with it.

Employee – “Hi, Welcome to McDonald’s, Can I take your Order”.
Customer – “Yes, I’ll have a Big Mac, MCDLT, A quarter pounder with some cheese……”
Employee – “How clever! I’ve never heard that one before! HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHA!”

Reunion – Life is a Rock (But the Radio Rolled Me) – 1974

The song is actually a parody of a 1974 hit, “Life is a Rock(But the Radio Rolled Me)” by Reunion. I never really heard it. It did hit the billboard charts.

So, I’m sure you’re wondering the lyrics. Well, here they are:

Once I started doing research for this article, I found out that there were different versions of the Menu Song for different Countries. Here’s the Canadian version:

Canadian Menu Song Commerical

Canadian Version Lyrics:

One of the recognizable items on this list is the McChicken. The US had the McChicken in the 80s, then was discontinued when the Chicken McNuggets were released. This eventually came back, which became one of my “go to” dollar menu sandwiches for a long time. There’s also something called a “Omelette McMuffin” and grapefruit juice.

The Australian version of the Menu song is a more condensed version. The one item on this menu I’ve never heard of is McFeast. Also include is Marmalade.

Australian Menu Song Commercial

Australian Version Lyrics:

Do you remember the Menu song? Let me know in the comments below.

Thanks for reading.

+Greg

Happy

2 33 %

Sad

1 17 %

Excited

1 17 %

Sleepy

0 0 %

Angry

2 33 %

Surprise

0 0 %

I’ve talked about McDonaldland before. In the 70s, McDonald’s used a fictional place called McDonaldland in their tv commercials. It was where all the characters like Ronald, Grimace, Hamburglar, etc. lived. In the 80s they redesigned the some of characters and kept Ronald in the real world instead of the trippy McDonaldland.

Back in the 80s, McDonald’s heavy used their characters on Saturday mornings during cartoons. Here’s some commercials that I ripped from VHS in my collections

McDonalds / Wild about Cheeseburgers – 1984

I remember these type of commercials when I was a kid. There was nothing better than seeing the Misadventures of Ronald and his friends. In this commercial, the Hamburglar decides to scare Ronald to get all his hamburgers. Of course Ronald is on to him, because he’s changing right in front of him. Also, he puts his cape and hat on after he dresses as a bear. Yeah, the hamburglar was never very smart.

McDonalds / Cheesburger Chorus – 1984

Speaking of the Hamburglar not being smart. Here he is again. Stealing burgers again. The thing is, he always gets caught, and never gets punished. Ronald basically buys him lunch after he tries to steal the burgers. That’d be like a robber that robs a bank and the police catch him. The police decide that what the hell, let’s give him the money he stole anyway. I wonder what the official policy is if you steal a burger at McDonalds. Someone let me know.

McDonalds / Little Engineer Happy Meal – 1987

McDonalds Happy Meals would have great toys and bad toys. Sometimes, you’d get a Hot Wheel car, mini lego set, or Disney toy. Then there were other times where McDonalds didn’t have a sponsored toy and they’d make their own. These were sometimes just awful. Here’s an example. I guess this was better than nothing. But, you received a plastic train car. I’m sure these cars are worth a fortune now since the toys were lost on the car ride home from McDonalds.

McDonalds / Daydream – 1987

I can’t say that I ever daydreamed about hanging out with Ronald and his friends. But, I had dreams of going to McDonalds. It was a game changer when Chicken McNuggets were added as a menu option in the early 80s. I ate them every time we went to McDonalds. I remember getting a Chicken McNugget happy meal before it was even on the menu. I don’t think I branched out to burgers until I was a teenager. However, I never had specific dreams of giving Grimace a hug or having Ronald push me on a swing. But, perhaps, I’m the rare one here.

Well, there you go. I hope you enjoyed checking out 4 old McDonald’s commercials from the 80s.

+Greg

Happy

0 0 %

Sad

0 0 %

Excited

0 0 %

Sleepy

0 0 %

Angry

0 0 %

Surprise

0 0 %

I’ve been running this website since 2005. I’ve been trying to post at least one new article a month. In March 2019, I’ll be posting a little more often. I’ll be posting all McDonald’s themed articles. There’ll be everything from Happy Meal Toys, Food items, Commercials, promotions and more. I’m calling it March McMadness! And here’s the promo video I made for the event…

Happy

0 0 %

Sad

0 0 %

Excited

0 0 %

Sleepy

0 0 %

Angry

0 0 %

Surprise

0 0 %

For those that know me, I quote a lot of TV. I mean A LOT! Most of the time people don’t even know I’m quoting something and it goes right over their heads. They think that I may actually be clever. Well, that’s not always the case because 90% of the time I’m quoting something from the Simpsons or Seinfeld.

I’ve watched the entire run of Seinfeld multiple times. It’s pretty annoying watching the show with me, because I’ll probably be reciting the lines of the show out loud. I do the same thing when watching Back to the Future.

Once you’ve seen the show over and over, you start noticing things in the background. I’m talking about things like discontinued beer advertised in store windows, Notes on Jerry’s fridge, Candy on the counter at the coffee shop, or things hanging out on Jerry’s bookshelf.

Today we’ll be looking at Jerry’s bookshelf. The things on the shelf change from season to season. But, I tried to compile as much as I could find here.

Early in the show, the bookshelf actually just had some books on it, and some non-commercial vhs tapes. There’s a bunch on unrecognizable books and some VHS tapes that seem to have been recorded. Perhaps they were recordings of his TV appearances. There really isn’t many things on the shelf that are recognizable.

(photo above from this reddit post)
Later on in the show, We were able to start recognizing items on the shelf.

Super Spike V’Ball – NES
Tetris – NES
Sim City – NES
World Cup – NES

There’s 4 NES titles on Jerry’s shelf. I would assume that Jerry has a Nintendo Entertainment System connected to his TV, since we don’t really get a decent view of his TV. We also never see him playing it. There was 2 versions of Tetris made for the NES. One was made by Tengen until a cease and desist from Nintendo was made because they didn’t own the copyright. The 2nd version was made by Nintendo themselves, and that’s the copy sitting on the shelf. The copy of Sim City on his shelf didn’t exist. Well, it didn’t except as a prototype. There was supposed to be a port coming to NES, but the SNES was just coming out, so Sim City was made for the SNES and not the NES. The other 2 games are World Cup and Super Spike V’Ball. The interesting thing is, you can buy an NES cartridge out there with these 2 games titles on it.

Wired – VHS
Copacabana – VHS (Groucho Marx)
Benny Hill’s Video Follies – VHS
Arachnophobia – VHS

On the side of the shelf with the NES Games are a few VHS tapes. I can see Jerry having Wired, Copacabana and Benny Hill’s Video Follies since they both have classic comedians (John Belushi, Groucho Marx, and Benny Hill. Arachnophobia was marketed as the first “Thrill-omedy”, which after watching the movie, you can see that it’s barely a comedy. It’s like any other horror/thriller movie with a couple comedy bits thrown in there.

Superman Statue

This statue is seen in almost every episode of Seinfeld. I heard a rumor at one time that there’s a Superman reference in every episode of Seinfeld. Well, I wouldn’t say this counts as a reference. And without that, there’s probably only about 5 episodes where they mention Superman. An interesting thing about this statue is that in the “Bizzaro Jerry” episode of Seinfeld there was a Bizzaro statue in Kevin’s apartment.

True Colors – VHS
Pretty Woman – VHS
The Crying Game – VHS
Child’s Play 2 – VHS
Back to the Future III – VHS
Goodfellas – VHS
Hunt for Red October – VHS
Driving for Distance (golf video) – VHS
Saving Par from the Sand (Golf Video) – VHS

On the other side of the Superman Statue are more VHS tapes. I remember there was one episode where George saw his father without a shirt on. He mentioned it was his own personal “Crying Game”. There’s a couple Golf videos here as well. I don’t remember Jerry golfing so much, but Kramer did. Child’s Play 2 is also there which I think is the best in the series. Also, Goodfellas is there, which is one of my top 10 movies of all time.

Look closely, and you can see that Jerry has a ton of board games on top of the shelf. I tried to compile as many as I could see. These board games seem to change from episode to episode.

Taboo
Scrabble
Battleship
Clue
Jenga
Yahtzee
Rummikub
Adverteasing II
Doubles Chess
Risk
Stratego
Channel Surfing

There were a few episodes where Jerry is playing Scrabble at the table. There’s a great episode where Newman and Kramer are playing a game of Risk that goes over the course of a few days. They end up “finishing” the game on the Subway when a Ukrainian man destroys their game board. There was also an episode with Jerry & Elaine playing Battleship. Jerry insists that Elaine makes an explosion sound when her Battleship is sunk.

When I was researching for this article, I found that IMDB have a few VHS tapes listed that I didn’t have. I know that for the most party the VHS tapes would stay the same. From episode to episode, they would add a couple more to the shelf. The other VHS tapes I saw were:

Against All Odds
Betrayed
Leolo
Secret Games II (The Escort)

The one video that sticks out in this batch is the movie, Betrayed. There’s an episode where Elaine rents movies from the video store. She always rents one of “Vincent’s Picks”, which is a Video store clerk. Kramer convinces Elaine to rent a “Gene Pick” – “Weekend at Bernies 2”. The next day, the movie “Betrayed” is under “Vincent’s Picks”.

So, there you go. Next time you watch Seinfeld look at the background, and you’ll see some of these items floating around on Jerry’s bookshelf.

Thank you for reading,

+Greg

Happy

5 100 %

Sad

0 0 %

Excited

0 0 %

Sleepy

0 0 %

Angry

0 0 %

Surprise

0 0 %

I just recently found a video of my family opening presents on Christmas morning in 1988. Today, I’m going to compare the presents I got to what my brother received.

Back in 1988, I had a Commodore 64. Most of my friends had the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). Well, my Mom would never get me a video game system because it wasnâ€t educational. The thing was, all I did on the Commodore 64 was play games. Iâ€m sure I asked for an NES that year then later years – a Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis, Playstation, etc. etc. After awhile I stopped even asking, I had to save my money and buy them myself. I got my NES later in 1989 after saving up allowances, birthday cash, and other found money.

That Christmas, I got Double Dragon and Who Framed Roger Rabbit for the C64. Double Dragon wasnâ€t a great port on the C64. I remember spending a lot of quarters on that game at the local candy shop. Who Framed Roger Rabbit was amazing, though. I played the crap out of that game. The only thing is there were questions in between the game, if you didnâ€t answer them correctly, you couldnâ€t play. The questions came straight from this “Acme Gag Factory Catalog”. If you ever lost the thing, you were screwed. Guess what happened? Yep, it was lost a couple weeks later.

I got a Bash Brothers poster. I was a huge fan of Mark McGwire and Jose Canseco back then. I collected a lot of baseball cards and these guys were worth the most money. Itâ€s not like I watched a lot of Oakland Aâ€s games, except for the World Series that year. But, collecting and trading baseball cards were huge. Also got what I refer to as “Baseball card junk” and an Ozzie Smith Folder.

If you look closely, you can see my old Spuds Mackenzie shirt.

I’m glad there’s video evidence of this. Otherwise, no one would believe me. My brother, Jeff didn’t do so well for Christmas. Well, maybe it was stuff that he wanted. Maybe it wasn’t. I just talked about a few of items that I got for Christmas. Let’s see what Jeff got.

Jeff was 8 years older than me. So, he would of been 19 at this time. I was 11. I can still remember back when I was 19, and I never in my wildest dreams would of wanted a briefcase. But, that’s what he received. I don’t remember Jeff being a lawyer or business executive back then. So, I wonder why he would need this. Maybe he kept crackers in there.

He also got Data Manager – productivity software. WHAT?! So apparently before Microsoft Office, Google Docs, etc., you had to get some sort of Productivity software to create documents and spreadsheets. Did he actually use this? I was on the computer pretty much 24/7 playing Jumpman Junior, I have no idea when he came downstairs to write a spreadsheet. When you watch the video, it’s pretty hilarious how while Jeff is opening the Data Manager software, you hear me shout “DOUBLE DRAGON!”

It’s true. Jeff got Odor Eaters for Christmas. It’s at this point, re-watching this video that I realize either my parents were just punking my brother or he’s just been a jerk all year. What other reason could there be? This is why you always make a Christmas list. Otherwise you end up with this stuff.

Anyway, I found out pretty early that there was no Santa Claus. Older kids on the playground would always say it. Also, my parents just weren’t that sneaky. I never admitted to my parents that I knew that there was no Santa Claus. I figured, if I didn’t believe in Santa anymore, I’d stop getting toys and start getting Odor Eaters and Productivity Software.

If you want to check out the full video below where you can hear my 11 year old voice still squeaky and awkward. And also watch my Dad be surprised that they make “Stylish” jeans for guys like him. I put this video up a long time ago, so I’m not positive where the actual VHS is to upload a better copy. But, it’s still watchable.

Enjoy,

Merry Christmas!

+Greg

Happy

0 0 %

Sad

0 0 %

Excited

0 0 %

Sleepy

0 0 %

Angry

0 0 %

Surprise

0 0 %