Card #155 from the blue border (second) series set.
With this card, you really feel like you're there in the trenches. Kinda reminds me of a Life magazine war photograph.
Friday, May 21, 2010
TOPPS THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK CARD COUNTDOWN #10
Card #155 from the blue border (second) series set.
With this card, you really feel like you're there in the trenches. Kinda reminds me of a Life magazine war photograph.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK 30TH ANNIVERSARY: WELCOME TO EMPIRE WEEK
Forget Monday, Empire Week starts today and today is a Friday! Happy Birthday Star Wars 2! Or should I say Episode V? We’ll just say, "Happy Birthday Empire Strikes Back, you still look strong enough to pull the ears off a gundark!"
It’s hard to believe the sequel to Star Wars was released thirty years ago today and it still remains one of the most important movies from the 20th Century.
Three years ago I tackled a month long tribute for the 30th anniversary of Star Wars and I was hoping to give the same attention to The Empire Strikes Back, but time hasn’t been on my side. Yeah, I know I had three years to prepare, but I procrastinated and sadly Empire only gets a week and it deserves so much more.
There’s a ton of info out there on Empire and I doubt I can shed new light on the film. Really I’m not going to try, but instead I’ll enlighten you (or maybe bore you) with my own personal kid time Empire memories. Also, I’ll try to throw in some tidbits like mag scans, favorite trading cards, action figure photos and whatever I find along the way.
Come back later today as I’ll post about seeing Empire for the first time. In the mean time, be sure to visit John Rozum’s blog, as he’s been posting something about Empire every day this month. Start with May 1. (Oops, I noticed he started his celebration with the famous Vader in Flames sticker. I dug out my sticker too and made this gif and it's too late to make something else. Sorry John)
Also, visit Wonderful Wonderblog. Erik has also joined the Empire!
For more fun, go official with Star Wars.com as they celebrate the 30th!
Monday, May 17, 2010
EMPIRE WEEK STARTS THIS FRIDAY!
On the 30th anniversary of The Empire Strikes Back the town of Neato Coolville will be celebrating the best sequel in movie history!
Be sure to visit 2007's Star Wars 30 Days For 30 Years and then check back here on Friday.
Saturday, May 01, 2010
HAPPY 50TH SILVER DOLLAR CITY
Today marks the 50th anniversary of a 1880's city. Don’t worry, your math ain’t off ‘cause I’m talking about the 1880's Ozark frontier theme park known as Silver Dollar City. It was on May 1, 1960 when the Herschend family first opened the doors to Silver Dollar City in Branson, Missouri and generations of folks have many fond memories of the place.
Before I ramble on with my memories, you can catch a slew of old time memories at Silver Dollar City’s special 50th anniversary website featuring lots of photos, history, guest memories and music downloads. (Gotta love the audio download from the extinct attraction Rube Dugan's Diving Bell. It features the voice of the great Slim Pickens)
As far as I know, Silver Dollar City was the first theme park that I visited and the park made an impression as I’ve been a connoisseur of theme parks ever since.
Yep, that’s a little me getting ready for a ride in a stagecoach.
Below is a brochure and map from 1973. Click on the map for a closer view.
Most of my early memories blur together, so primarily I remember the atmosphere of the park. Hillbilly music in the background, being approached by Ozark characters, watching craftsmen work and the smells of down home cooking. Oh and the talking bucket!
A tradition that still continues (I think) is that most kids become Deputy Sheriffs when they’re given a five-point star badge.
I became a deputy back in the mid-70's and it looks like I’m very happy with my new responsibility.
My favorite ride/attraction is the Flooded Mine. A dark ride that houses a bunch of rowdy prisoners that have taken over the flooded mine. Kind of a poor mans Pirates of the Caribbean where you take a boat ride and view all the crazy antics of the prisoners. This ride always scared me when I was little, but I kept wanting to ride it over and over. Unfortunately, in recent years they turned it into an arcade style shooter ride, which takes away from the attraction. Still, I need to ride the Flooded Mine every time we visit Silver Dollar City.
Really, the main attraction is visiting all the craftsmen shops and watching them create amazing pieces of art just like folks did in the 19th century. They always say never to take a wooden nickel, but here's one that my dad picked up in the 1970's from the Ozark Mountain Woodcarvers shop.
Whenever anyone brings up Silver Dollar City, my dad shares his memory of when the family entered Grandfather’s Mansion, a spooky themed gravity house. As all the adults struggled with their balance, I walked thru the mansion without any problems and apparently I didn’t know what was wrong with all the crazy adults. I have no memory of this since I was just three years old.
I was flipping thru the family photo albums and found these snapshots that my dad took back in the late 1960's.
After looking for stuff for this post I realized I have enough items for a flickr set on Silver Dollar City and you can visit that here. I'll be adding more SDC stuff in the next day or two.
If you plan a trip to Branson, be sure to visit one of the friendliest theme parks in the world. It still has the charms of yesteryear and at the same time caters to the modern theme park trends.
For more info visit these sites -
Official Facebook group
Fan Site
Flickr group
Wikipedia
Before I ramble on with my memories, you can catch a slew of old time memories at Silver Dollar City’s special 50th anniversary website featuring lots of photos, history, guest memories and music downloads. (Gotta love the audio download from the extinct attraction Rube Dugan's Diving Bell. It features the voice of the great Slim Pickens)
As far as I know, Silver Dollar City was the first theme park that I visited and the park made an impression as I’ve been a connoisseur of theme parks ever since.
Yep, that’s a little me getting ready for a ride in a stagecoach.
Below is a brochure and map from 1973. Click on the map for a closer view.
Most of my early memories blur together, so primarily I remember the atmosphere of the park. Hillbilly music in the background, being approached by Ozark characters, watching craftsmen work and the smells of down home cooking. Oh and the talking bucket!
A tradition that still continues (I think) is that most kids become Deputy Sheriffs when they’re given a five-point star badge.
I became a deputy back in the mid-70's and it looks like I’m very happy with my new responsibility.
Really, the main attraction is visiting all the craftsmen shops and watching them create amazing pieces of art just like folks did in the 19th century. They always say never to take a wooden nickel, but here's one that my dad picked up in the 1970's from the Ozark Mountain Woodcarvers shop.
Whenever anyone brings up Silver Dollar City, my dad shares his memory of when the family entered Grandfather’s Mansion, a spooky themed gravity house. As all the adults struggled with their balance, I walked thru the mansion without any problems and apparently I didn’t know what was wrong with all the crazy adults. I have no memory of this since I was just three years old.
I was flipping thru the family photo albums and found these snapshots that my dad took back in the late 1960's.
After looking for stuff for this post I realized I have enough items for a flickr set on Silver Dollar City and you can visit that here. I'll be adding more SDC stuff in the next day or two.
If you plan a trip to Branson, be sure to visit one of the friendliest theme parks in the world. It still has the charms of yesteryear and at the same time caters to the modern theme park trends.
For more info visit these sites -
Official Facebook group
Fan Site
Flickr group
Wikipedia
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Wednesday, April 07, 2010
PLAYGROUNDOLOGY
School is in, but today’s classroom will be held during recess at the new blog, Playgroundology!
A treasure trove of all things playground from vintage to current is what you'll find on Alex Smith's well written and researched blog. Playgroundology gives attention to something that is often overlooked, but has been part of many generations of children worldwide. I don’t believe there’s a physical playground museum out there (yet), so Playgroundology is the closest thing we have and I’m thankful that Alex has taken the time to become the curator!
As anyone who follows Neato Coolville, either in blog form or flickr form will know I have a special fondness for vintage playground equipment.
So it was only natural for me to be thrilled when Alex contacted me for a chat about playgrounds for his post about flickr playground photographers.
Today's post, The Playgrounds of Flickrville, (I dig the title!) is filled with links and info about flickr photographers who snap pics of . . . Can you guess? That’s right, playgrounds! You’ll even get to read a few snippets from our visit along with a few of my snaps. Be sure to follow Alex’s links as he’s found some amazing photos, many that I haven’t noticed before.
After you’re done with The Playgrounds of Flickrville post, give yourself a treat and snoop around at Playgroundology’s earlier posts for some running, jumping and knee scrapping fun as you go on a journey into simpler times.
A treasure trove of all things playground from vintage to current is what you'll find on Alex Smith's well written and researched blog. Playgroundology gives attention to something that is often overlooked, but has been part of many generations of children worldwide. I don’t believe there’s a physical playground museum out there (yet), so Playgroundology is the closest thing we have and I’m thankful that Alex has taken the time to become the curator!
As anyone who follows Neato Coolville, either in blog form or flickr form will know I have a special fondness for vintage playground equipment.
So it was only natural for me to be thrilled when Alex contacted me for a chat about playgrounds for his post about flickr playground photographers.
Today's post, The Playgrounds of Flickrville, (I dig the title!) is filled with links and info about flickr photographers who snap pics of . . . Can you guess? That’s right, playgrounds! You’ll even get to read a few snippets from our visit along with a few of my snaps. Be sure to follow Alex’s links as he’s found some amazing photos, many that I haven’t noticed before.
After you’re done with The Playgrounds of Flickrville post, give yourself a treat and snoop around at Playgroundology’s earlier posts for some running, jumping and knee scrapping fun as you go on a journey into simpler times.
Sunday, April 04, 2010
CROSS OF PEACE AT BALD KNOB MOUNTAIN
A giant cross sits atop an Ozark mountain named Bald Knob, in Southern Illinois and it has been standing there since 1963. Known as the Cross of Peace, this mid-century marvel has inspired generations of people including myself when I saw it for the first and only time almost fives years ago.
It was a special time for me as we toured parts of Southern Illinois with my grandma (who is now 96 years young). She wanted to share with us some of the places from her youth.
Besides snapping photos of the cross, I happened to have my video camera and so I shot a few minutes of the cross. After some quick edits and some overtly dramatic music I give you this short vid for your Easter viewing.
After our trip we headed back to my grandma’s house where she dug out a Cross of Peace postcard, brochure and booklet. She picked ‘em up sometime in the early 1960's before the cross was completed and you can see these souvenirs below.
The postcard and booklet both have the same artwork by the original architectural designer Victor J. Kunz.
Be sure to click on the brochure for a closer look!
The displayed plaque is in memory of Wayman R. Presley, the visionary behind the cross and in my opinion a modern day Noah. Can you imagine someone trying to accomplish something of this magnitude in today's world?
Since 2005 when I visited the cross, it has unfortunately fallen in disrepair. Early in 2009 folks have rallied to try and restore the cross. You can visit the official website for information on the Bald Knob Cross of Peace.
Have a safe and happy Easter!
Thursday, April 01, 2010
COCOA TRIX - EPIC FAIL
Back in the mid-90's when the internet was still young a popular urban legend made the rounds, but it was debunked and quickly forgotten. The legend stated that General Mills once sold chocolate flavored Trix. The cereal was quickly canceled because customers were utterly disgusted, not by the flavor but from the pairing of the mascot and the chocolate puffs. I now have proof that this urban legend was true and it was one of the greatest epic fails in the history of advertising!
In the early 1960's General Mills needed to develop a chocolate cereal to compete with Kellogg’s popular Cocoa Krispies. Already, General Mills had a popular selling product in Trix, a cereal that consisted of fruit flavored puffs.
It was only natural to make the puffs chocolate flavored for a new brand. Trix had become popular with children due to the fact the brand had a successful mascot in the form of a silly rabbit. The idea came about that the new chocolate cereal should be called Cocoa Trix and the rabbit mascot would also appear on the boxes. It was a perfect idea as in theory children would notice their old Trix rabbit friend and talk mom into buying Cocoa Trix instead of Cocoa Krispies.
According to the urban legend, in 1962 the first wave of Cocoa Trix boxes were stocked on supermarket shelves all across the nation. After the first week, complaints came pouring into the General Mills office from disturbed parents outraged that the cereal looked like rabbit droppings. One parent who owned a rabbit farm wrote, “Why release a cereal with a bunny character that’s serving a big heaping bowl of bunny rabbit poop? Now my seven year old child is too disgusted to eat cereal of any kind as she was traumatized by the idea of eating rabbit droppings.”
Quickly, General Mills recalled all the boxes and destroyed all evidence that this blunder ever happened. Months later General Mills would release Cocoa Puffs with a wacky cuckoo bird character named Sonny.
As a collector of old cereal advertising I’ve never put much faith in this story and it’s always been a running joke among the cereal collecting community. I guess I need to change my thinking because here is a scan of the original box.
Wow, what were the ad wizards at the Big G thinking back then? C’mon! A rabbit trying to sell puffs of chocolate cereal that looks the same as rabbit droppings. Really?
I found this box at my local thrift store filled with old lady hair curlers for the bargain price of a buck!
Ok, scroll down for more amazing info on this amazing cereal find!
^
^
^
^
^
^
^
^
^
^
^
^
^
^
^
^
^
^
^
^
APRIL FOOL’S!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ok, sorry folks I just couldn’t help myself. This box doesn’t exist, nor has it ever existed as this was made up by your’s truly for some tasteless fun.
Apologies to General Mills. Please don’t send the Trix Rabbit to punch me in the face. Really, I love your cereals and this was more of a homage than a bash.
A Big G thanks to pal Dan Goodsell for letting me use his scans from his cereal box collection!
Happy April Fool’s Day, everyone! Have a fun and silly day filled with zany pranks!
In the early 1960's General Mills needed to develop a chocolate cereal to compete with Kellogg’s popular Cocoa Krispies. Already, General Mills had a popular selling product in Trix, a cereal that consisted of fruit flavored puffs.
It was only natural to make the puffs chocolate flavored for a new brand. Trix had become popular with children due to the fact the brand had a successful mascot in the form of a silly rabbit. The idea came about that the new chocolate cereal should be called Cocoa Trix and the rabbit mascot would also appear on the boxes. It was a perfect idea as in theory children would notice their old Trix rabbit friend and talk mom into buying Cocoa Trix instead of Cocoa Krispies.
According to the urban legend, in 1962 the first wave of Cocoa Trix boxes were stocked on supermarket shelves all across the nation. After the first week, complaints came pouring into the General Mills office from disturbed parents outraged that the cereal looked like rabbit droppings. One parent who owned a rabbit farm wrote, “Why release a cereal with a bunny character that’s serving a big heaping bowl of bunny rabbit poop? Now my seven year old child is too disgusted to eat cereal of any kind as she was traumatized by the idea of eating rabbit droppings.”
Quickly, General Mills recalled all the boxes and destroyed all evidence that this blunder ever happened. Months later General Mills would release Cocoa Puffs with a wacky cuckoo bird character named Sonny.
As a collector of old cereal advertising I’ve never put much faith in this story and it’s always been a running joke among the cereal collecting community. I guess I need to change my thinking because here is a scan of the original box.
Wow, what were the ad wizards at the Big G thinking back then? C’mon! A rabbit trying to sell puffs of chocolate cereal that looks the same as rabbit droppings. Really?
I found this box at my local thrift store filled with old lady hair curlers for the bargain price of a buck!
Ok, scroll down for more amazing info on this amazing cereal find!
^
^
^
^
^
^
^
^
^
^
^
^
^
^
^
^
^
^
^
^
APRIL FOOL’S!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ok, sorry folks I just couldn’t help myself. This box doesn’t exist, nor has it ever existed as this was made up by your’s truly for some tasteless fun.
Apologies to General Mills. Please don’t send the Trix Rabbit to punch me in the face. Really, I love your cereals and this was more of a homage than a bash.
A Big G thanks to pal Dan Goodsell for letting me use his scans from his cereal box collection!
Happy April Fool’s Day, everyone! Have a fun and silly day filled with zany pranks!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)