I have tried both of the 1893 pepsi colas

If your wondering what 1893 is, it is a limited edition soda released by pepsi as a way to celebrate the 1st pepsi cola ever made(it was whipped up in 1893 hence the name) and to capitalize off crystal pepsi. Hey the more limited edition sodas the better right? Anyways it comes in a smaller can and I am not sure if it is the exact same size as a red bull but it is very similar. There is the normal version which comes in a black can and there is also a ginger version that comes in a light brown can

I'll start off with the black can first, like any soda it is better chilled and this true here. The can lists kola nut as an ingredient and with the handwriting and commercials on tv, you would assume it is a sophisticated,classy drink that is meant to be sipped from campaign glass and that isn't what I did. If you have ever left out a can of pepsi for a few hours then took a drink well congratulations, you are drinking 1893 black can edition. That is exactly what it tastes like, it has less fizz and you can really smell and taste the cola despite all of the can's hype

The big difference is the ginger version. No it's not named after the redhead but the ginger root which I don't like. The soda has no ginger taste at all, if someone were to try it blindly they would think they were drinking a watered down pepsi(in a good way) however for some reason it makes your nostrils burn.  If you have a stuffed nose it will easily clear your sinuses. It's not a strong burn through, more of a lite tickle that is noticeable then you can't unfeel it 

Is it worth it? yes but only the ginger version or if you want to say you tried 1893 or if you want to collect the nifty cans

Retro saturdays and the weekenders

Unlike my other posts I have no idea how long the weekenders ran or for how long. I only remember watching it some time in the 00's and it was a great show

Anywho the weekenders like it's name suggests, is a kid's cartoon show about a group of friends that hangout on the weekends. That's the gimmick as 80% of every episode takes place on the weekend or friday afterschool. I don't remember the names of the main characters but it was a lot of pre teen drama and now that I think about it

The weekenders was pretty forgettable so I'm not sure why I remember it or I think it's because it was on in an era of weak saturday morning cartoons

Retro saturdays and recess

I can't believe I haven't retro'd about recess yet but I figure I'll do it now before I forget. Recess was a show that ran on abc 7, it was a kid's cartoon that revolved around the lives of 5 or 7 friends(I don't remember off the top of my head) and most of the episodes took place during school during recess hence the name wishmaster ok it's recess

The show was great and is worth a watch especially to see the dynamics of the core group of friends but also the minor characters such as the ashleys, the kindergardners(they act like literal savages) the 6th graders(act like they own the playground and they also have a king of the playground), randal the snitch, mrs. finkster and principal prikly

The one episode that stood out to me was the halloween one, the school has buried every generation of finksters under the cafeteria and on oct 31st they became zombies and burst out of the ground. That sure is nightmare fuel for kids

 

Retro fridays and 1979 by the smashing pumpkins

Why this particular song? well maybe it's the tempo and the music video or the fact it was played often when it was released(and still is) but it brings me strong nostalgia and very specific memories that other kids can relate or ones that were around in 1996 to 2000ish

When I was little I had a lot more friends then what I have now and no the point is not to make me seem like an awkward loner, anyways at the time laser tag was a hot game especially among kids and pre teens. Usually every friday evening me and some of the guys would meet up at our friend's house and his mom would drive us in her white 1992 ford taurus to the laser tag arena. On every drive we would hear 1979 on the radio without fail. It was that popular, so those friday trips built up my memories but what gives me even more nostalgia is the way back home


Usually the gang slept over at our friend's house and I am getting too far ahead of myself, so I'll roll it back a bit. On the way home from LT, of course 1979 came on the radio but what gives me the most joy even nowadays is hearing his mom say the almost magical words "do you guys want to stop by and get pizza?" which saying that to kids is a no brainer. We always stopped by pizza hut and got 2 stuffed crust za's and hi C juice boxes

Where the memories were made was the nights spent staying up late playing nintendo 64 and eating pizza and just talking about whatever struck our fancy whether it be girls, video games, our parents or even something as small as mcdonalds toys. We bonded together over pizza and n64 and every time I hear 1979 by the smashing pumpkins it takes me back to those times spent in the car and the simple anticipation of what was to unfold that evening

Retro fridays and ace ventura when nature calls

When nature calls is the sequel to pet detective as part of the short lived ace ventura movie series. Starring Jim Carrey as ace, a man who has wave like hair and a strong affection for animals. The premises of the film revolves around 2 warring african tribes who are accusing one another of stealing a bat. At least that's what I think that's what the plot was about

I don't remember much of it because of ace venutra. He has a strong on screen presence that steals the show with his comedy that you can't help but laugh. For example my most favorite part is when a old rich guy is showing off a powerpoint and ace makes shadow puppets on the guy's chest. Oh and there's the whole simon sez scene with the chief and the going over the waterfall scene and the part where he tortures a man by poking his eyeball and making silly noises and the way he parks and the final chase scene

I can not forget the "you must be the monopoly guy" scene and of course there's a lot of great quotes in the movie. If you never seen it, I highly suggest you do and no you do not need to see the 1st one to understand the plot, as a matter of fact I didn't realize this was a sequel until wikipedia came along. It's a great movie that doesn't seem dated

Retro fridays and sister sister

Sister Sister was a show about 2 brothers and it aired on the WB. Ok I keed it's obviously about 2 sisters that were separated at birth(they are twins) and live with a single parent. That's just the theme song and the intro, it keeps going, one day(the 1st episode) the twins run into each other and their adopted parents so they all(the 4 of them) end up living together in the adopted dad's mansion(he's rich). That's the set up for the show

The premise of the show revolves around twin sisters tia and tamera and yes they pull off the switching places thing that sitcoms love to use. Oh yeah it's a sitcom with most of the comedy coming at friend roger's expense, other then that it's your typical teen coming of age sitcom only with single parents and the twins who make it worth a watch thanks to their different, often conflicting personalities

How I spent my bday yesterday

On friday the 19th, I was babysitting my sister when my good friend calls me on facebook messenger then asks what I am doing tomorrow on my bday. She hammered out the plan that she would pick me up and we would go somewhere to eat and/or to a park(not a fancy restaurant as I wanted to go to chik fil a). So I went from mopping about my bday to possibly being excited, however this same person also made plans last year and the year before about spending my bday with me and they have flaked both years

Therefore I was cautious at best about my birthday. Oh I forgot to mention that she made the plans for after 2pm on my bday ok now I set up the situation. On my actual bday I went to the swap meet early in the morning where it seemed to be 90's day and I got some 90's things such as 3 hot wheels from the early to mid 90's, 2 micro machines with one of them having a mini black rose inside the bag(I love black roses) among with a 1992 olympics kodak pin

I got myself a red velvet mini cake from albertsons among with 2 crystal pepsi's and I found a '66 adam west hot wheels batmobile. Then it came 2 pm and.............my friend did flake and I felt incredibly lonely and sang happy birthday to myself with no candles on my cake

Retro saturdays and tennage mutuant ninja turtles action figures

If you were around in the late 80's to early 90's and even the mid 90's you either owned any of these action figures or you knew someone that did. They were unescapable for kids as the tmnt fad was huge. I owned and still own a tmnt donatello figure, sadly it is  missing an arm, apparently shredder got to him or vanilla ice

My OCD makes me want to have them all and I have seen them at a swap meet but the seller wanted $50! for well played with examples. The leonardo figure had lots of scratches and bite marks and possibly other types of marks. Anyways back on topic, these were around 4.99 to 9.99 depending on where you went and I got mine at a yard sale I believe

It may have been kb toys since that store always had old stock for cheap(they never threw anything out) but I'm glad I still have it(will post pics eventually) and it sucks people think these toys are worth big money when they aren't even worth that much

Retro saturdays and this teal design

In the 90's the color teal was everywhere among with this design. If it seems familiar that's because it's still being used today on paper cups that are usually found near office water coolers. However in the 90's it was everywhere, shirts, taco bell, paper, even on dogs. The color teal is also pretty retro with it's 90'sness apeal

I'm tempted to get the pattern on a shirt just for the sake of nostalgia

My birhday is tomorrow and I am not looking foward to it

I won't say my age because it makes me a bigger loser then I already am which is the main reason I don't like my bday. I am in a similar situation as a year ago which is depressing as it's one year later. I can even almost do the same things I did last year(go to 99 cents store and ralph's and big lots and apply there) only it's a year later and I don't have my job

The main difference is that the 3 friends from last year that made plans with me in 2015, they all decided to ignore me the past 2 weeks so there's no chance of them flaking if they don't even chat with me in the 1st place. These are my good friends by the way and I only have a little less then a handful of friends so it's not like I can invite people to spend my bday with me

It's too bad there's not site where you can pay people to be your friend for a day or a few hours or maybe that's what an escort is and all these years I thought they were hookers. I want to cry into a cupcake while singing happy birthday to myself like amy on the big bang theory(you can see it here) however I'm not sure what I'll do if anything, I'll pretend it's not my bday and roll with it

Retro fridays and the kb toys website from 1997

This picture is from literally a simpler time especially for web site. Take a long look at all the links and the layout. It's quick and easy right? did you notice anything missing? like say being able to purchase anything from the website. Amazon pioneered the e-commerce part of websites but until then, a lot of websites looked like kbtoys.com(that doesn't exist anymore)

You had a white(it loaded faster) home page with a few featured products and some links that were usually more information and the one I miss the most, the guestbook. I'm not sure what exactly it was since I never clicked on it but it has vanished from most websites as a relic of a bygone internet era. Sites couldn't be loaded with content as the internet speed was a lot slower back then(something I don't miss) among with slower computers

There isn't much to say about kbtoys.com other then that it makes you want to go to the physical store and spend hours there

Retro fridays and paris hilton

The name is familiar right? well try to think of the last time paris hilton was on a tv show or in a movie or did something noteworthy, it's hard right? The last thing I remember her for is stepping out of the car and showing her snizz(from south park) to the world

In the early 00's she was a huge star and all over the tabloids,the news, tv shows and even a brief acting and signing career(yes she was on SNL too). You couldn't get away from her even if you tried, it was like she was all seeing and all powerful

Paris was like how kim k is nowadays in terms of popularity but towards the later part of the 00's it went away and again I think it's due to keep up with the kardashians and paris not really caring. She is a nice person though and isn't a diva like her self aware persona

Hopefully she becomes relevant again and that's hot becomes a catchphrase again

Last saturday football returned to Los Angeles

I am old enough to remember watching a rams game in southern california and since then I been a fan of the rams. Well this past saturday on retro saturdays ironically, there was an NFL game played at the coliseum in south central los angeles

This wasn't just a side show, it was an honest to goodness LOS ANGELES HOME GAME, ok it was a preseason game but now my favorite team has returned home. I have a NFL team to root for that I can feasibly attend a home game

Sure the rams probably wont be good for awhile but I will show support for MY LOCAL NFL TEAM. It is extremely surreal as for the longest time teams threatened to move to los angeles as a way to get tax payers to pony up the money for a new stadium and not as a legitimate idea
 

Retro saturdays and 90's taco bell

Just look at this picture, the 90'sness of it is so strong I am this close to ordering a chalupa and a 1lb XL nachos bell grande with jalapenos and a mexican pizza with green onions on it because it is that tempting. What also gives it away as being from the 90's the color teal and other bright colors

I believe that taco bell changed their formulas for the meat in the mid 00's so things like soft tacos taste different then what I remember them in 1996-1999. Also I have strong nostalgia for the toys which I have already covered in previous posts. Nowadays taco bell goes over board on the purple and the restaurant looks a lot more modern similar to mcdonalds

Retro saturdays and 90's chocolate bars

These are all familiar names nowadays and they are instantly recognizable but they still seem off since these are all from the early 90's.  The one that has changed the least is snickers. Everything else is like a bizzaro version of it's modern day later part. The m&ms feel off too and I would love to have a bag or 3 of them

There isn't much else to say so here's a picture

Retro saturdays and 3rd rock from the sun

Besides having a catchy and unique intro and theme song, 3rd rock from the sun is a different sitcom. How so? the main family are aliens that crash landed on earth and spend the series trying to get back home.However they assimilate to human life and fall in love(dick with mary albright). What makes it funny is dick(john lithegow) and harry and how the whole family reacts to various earth things and situations

It used to be on weekday evenings on channel 13 I think or actually I don't remember the channel, I just remember that it was on after I finished my homework and I didn't need cable to watch it. I didn't understand a lot of the innuendo between jane curtain and john lithegow when I was younger but now I do and this show was pretty smart

 If you never seen it, it's worth a watch as it still holds up very well thanks to the excellent writing and acting

Today is A-rod's last game and thus ends an era of baseball

He first played in the major leagues(MLB) in 1994 so he has a lot of history and pitchers in his mind that he has seen. Yeah I worded that weird but you'll get it. Anyways I'm sad to see him go especially in the way he is going out with joe making excuses why not to play him. After tonight's game he will be released and is free to sign with another team so it may or may not be the last time we see him in a game

For me A-Rod symbolizes the yankees of the 00's even though he joined them in 2004, he was the guy you loved to hate even when players such as robinson cano got better then him and were more to blame for the yankees woes in the playoffs(maybe that's why robinson went to the mariners are he can't handle playoff pressure) with his retirement there is one less 90's player left (cue another one bites the dust). To give you an idea of how long he has been playing, since he made his debut in 1994, all players that debuted in 1995 and 1996 have all retired. The soon to be oldest player in baseball(bartolo colon) made his mlb debut 3 years after A-Rod made his

Ironic that he is retiring on a retro friday which I look back on the 90's and here is a 90's icon's last game 

Retro fridays and fruit by the foot

Ah fruit by the foot, despite it's namesake it never felt like it was a foot long, innuendo aside it always seemed like it was a lot shorter. Ok I'm done with those puns now let's move on, it was a thin waxy paper with a long square fruit candy stuck on then rolled up like you would roll up a hose. Yes that was the best example that came to my mind

The paper sometimes had little puzzles or facts or fun designs like watermelon seeds. The candy itself was sweet and quickly nomed and it was bad for your teeth but it sure was yummy. I'm not sure if the fruit by the foot is still made but it was fun while it lasted especially on the playground where kids always wanted a piece

Retro fridays and hannah montana

For those that don't know or don't want to remember, Hannah Montana is the alter ego of miley stewart aka miley cyrus. It was a tv show that ran from 2006 to 2010 but it felt like it was a lot longer then that. What I most remember is how popular hannah became and how quickly her fame rose. Also this is why miley cyrus is a singer/actor. Ok back on point, the show revolved around her life as a normal girl and a huge pop singer aka the double life, Naturally this leads to some moments where she has to be 2 places at once

Her best friends are lilly(emily osment) and oliver meanwhile her and her brother live with their single dad on the beach. As in their house is on sand. The show was pretty generic now that I think about it and it seems weird to look back at it now after what miley cyrus has become but it is still worth a view

There was a lot of girls that had hannah montana everything, I wonder where they all went or if they pretend they never liked her because all the merchandise seems to have vanished and no one admits to watching the show. Oh the theme song is the best part among with jackson making fun of miley/hannah (everyone makes mistakes everyone has those days)

I got hi C ecto cooler and crystal pepsi

I just love how things from the 90's are coming back and this week has been retrotastic. I purchased 2 cases of the juice box hi C ecto cooler and a bunch of crystal pepsi. I had to hunt down both of them but it was well worth it for a tiny slice of the 90's and part of my childhood

Anyways I'll start off with crystal pepsi, it tastes very similar to normal pepsi and not like sprite or sierra mist therefore it'll throw off some customers but that's not why most people will buy it. I bought it because it's from the 90's and it came back, hopefully it inspires more 90's things to come back even if it's for a limited time. The bottle design is snazzy and plays well with the clear soda. Yes this is a soda and as such it has 69 grams of sugar just like the normal pepsi. I rarely drink soda so I have 1 opened to save and 1 unopened to also save. Usually the crystal pepsi is in a small cardboard display proclaiming it's back however it is also in the refrigerated aisle next to it's darker and much loved cousins pepsi and cherry pepsi

I only got the juice box version of ecto cooler and not the can version so I can't compare both but I have  tried various flavors of hi C throughout my short life(mostly at mcdonalds) and I can say that it is a let down. Well sorta, it's not some magical flavor that is soooo yummy, it's just orange and tangerine or a less sweet version of the hi C mcdonalds sells. It is still worth a try just for the unique box and the 90's factor of it

Another 90's MLB player down

In case you missed the announcement, Alex Rodriguez will not play for the yankees anymore and he will become a mentor type figure for other players. He is still employed by the yankees but not as a player. He is the one that has the most history with his first MLB appearance being way back in 1994

Just think of 1994, you had players like tony gwyn and ken griffey junior and the braves big 3 and barry bonds and krby puckett and frank thomas. All of those are retired and some of them are even dead but Arod was their in those times playing against them(except for juinior) Just imagine all the things he has seen in his MLB career

I already miss him and I feel bad that he got a lot of the blame for the yankees woes in their last postseason appearance when by that time it was mark teixera and robinson cano that were better players and should have been LOLed at

Retro saturdays and hot shots basketball

I got one at toys r us when I was little and I quickly understood what the term hype meant. The box hypes it up as being as fun as an arcade basketball shooting game but the actual toy is more of a let down. There's only about 3 or 4 small balls that get lost easily. The shooting knob thing flings the ball with enough force to bruise a kid that is nearby so obviously the ball rarely goes into the net

What I did was get rid of the net and chase kids around(I was a kid too) on the playground while flinging plastic bballs at them with randy johnson like velocity. I got a lot more enjoyment out of hot shots that way

Retro saturdays and the whacking crocodile game

I'm not sure if they are alligators or not but semantics aside, this game plays a lot like whack a mole. You have a big black foamish hammer and you whack the crocs as they come out. Yeah it's pretty simple but it gives me a lot of nostalgia

I mostly played this at chuck e cheese in my childhood and haven't seen it since

Retro fridays and myself

Since today is retro friday I figure I take a picture of my retroness, I have a vintage 1996 chicago bulls hat(let's go bulls) that what the kids nowadays call a snapback. Only back then it was just called a hat because the majority came like that

Next up is my most favorite part, the 1994 bugs bunny shirt which I believe I already covered in a retro friday or saturday post. Back in the 90's, looney toons shirts were "gangsta" to appeal to kids and teens and they sold well really well for something that is just cartoon characters wearing baggy clothes and jewelry

Selena's last concert

I was watching this earlier and besides it being retro, it is also extremely touching. Mostly the way she says how you doing houston to her purple dress and heels to the way she dances

I think the light catches her just right that she looks like a heavenly figure at times. It is depressing as her life was cut short. Anyways you can watch it here

There are only a handful of 90's MLB players left

With players retiring and what not, there's not that many MLB players that have played in 1 season or more in the 90's left. Off the top of my head there's david ortiz(although he's retiring), alex rodriguez(arod), a.j. pierzynski,joe nathan and bartolo colon. That's 5 players that have played in the 90's and are still playing today

I think bartolo will be the last 90's player to retire but it's weird how baseball players usually have longer careers compared to an NBA player. Arod has a lot of baseball history through him(that sounded weird) and I also hope he doesn't retire soon as he has seen some stuff throughout his years