Big Pickles

Melissa asked me on my way out the door this morning if I had any good ideas for Cub Scouts tonight. I suggested "Steal the Bacon."

"I don't know that game."

"Google it."

I Googled it today, just to see what she would find if she took me up on my awesome suggestion, and I found this website with like every kids' game know to man.

Well, boy.

And girl.

Labels: games, nostalgia

What did you call the "S" weapon in Contra? We always called it "Spread," but in this article, the author refers to it as "Spray," which I've also heard. I think it's officially called the shotgun, but I don't know anyone who ever called it that.

Other great games mentioned: Double Dribble, Tecmo Bowl, Pro Wrestling, and of course, Mike Tyson's Punch-Out. I still have every one of those games.

Labels: games, nostalgia

First, watch the commercial to get the jingle stuck in your head. I'll wait.

Now then. In the mid-eighties my parents bought my little brother one of these things. I don't know that he ever got all that attached to it, but he seemed to like it enough. What I do remember about My Buddy was that my older brother and I beat that thing mercilessly.

I still don't know what it was about that toy that caused David and I to succumb to violent tendencies we never knew we had. We never abused any of my sister's toys like that. (Sure, Super Grover spent more than his fair share of time up on the roof, but he was supposed to fly.) All I can tell you is that there was nothing more cathartic than grabbing My Buddy by the ankles and smashing his head into the metal bunk bed frame. Over and over and over...

I'm sure it started as a way to annoy my little brother. You punch his toy in the face, he gets mad, a good time is had by all. But it grew into something much bigger. Maybe it's because he really was indestructible--and he was the perfect size for such manhandling--so we took it as a challenge to see if we could really damage him. (I don't think we ever did.) Or maybe there was just something about his face that provoked our wrath.

Anyway, I was reminded of all of this by a blog post that claimed that My Buddy was for kids whose parents thought GI Joes were too violent. I had plenty GI Joes, but they never once inspired the kind of blood lust that My Buddy did.

Labels: nostalgia, violence

Someone out there has a blog devoted to anthropomorphic food characters. Huh.

Anyway, if you don't recognize the Del Monte Country Yumkins, it's probably because your mom fed you generic canned green beans instead of the good stuff.

Don't feel bad, I'm sure they were just as healthy.

Labels: nostalgia, plush collectibles

So I signed up for some Facebook. Everyone else needs to sign up now so I can have some friends.

It's a pretty slick interface, far superior to MySpace, as far as I can tell. I'm still not sure about the whole social networking thing, though. It's clearly geared toward kids who are still in school, so I find myself thinking about old friends I haven't contacted in years.

Still, Steve was asking me about a way to aggregate everyone's blogs, photos, videos, etc. this summer. Something like Facebook would be very useful in that regard.

Labels: internet, nostalgia, social networking

I wasn't a big sticker collector or anything when I was a kid, but most of these are surprisingly familiar. In fact, I can almost smell them.

Labels: nostalgia