90's house on mtv premieres tomorrow night

It is like the real world but everything tech related in the house is from the 90's and everyone has everything from the modern day taken away such as phones. I look foward to it to see how people react to things like a pager or a vcr or a furby or a 90's pc. I should have applied to be on that show because I would do well. I grew up in the 90's without a cell phone or social media so I know how it is to be disconnected from the world. Hopefully it catches on and the show has a good run

Retro saturdays and say cheese and die again

Say cheese and die again is the sequel to say cheese and die and the 44th book in the goosebumps series but it also gives me a lot of nostalgia, see back in the 90's there was a mall in santa fe springs, california called the sfs mall and one of the anchor stores was a target that is still there. One cool evening in 1996 I went with my mom and dad and my mommy got me the newest goosebumps book which was say cheese and die again, it was a rare occasion so I of course treasured it and I still have that book. I spent 30 mins near the mall entrance with my mom just waiting for my dad and in the meantime I kept looking at the cover and tried to figure out what the book was going to be about and if there was a family dinner scene

The book itself goes back to the same house as the 1st book but now it's destroyed and main character greg finds the same camera because he needs it for proof for his teacher to give him a passing grade on his report on a evil camera. Greg accidentally takes a picture of his friend and himself and they get fat and thin and have to reverse the effects. One somewhat scary part is where greg also accidentally takes a pic of a kid who is part of the new family moving into the abandoned property(which is why the house is torn down) and he ends up getting a huge inches long nail stuck in his foot. It's described pretty gruesomely and it's still stuck in my mind

Retro saturdays and godzilla (1997)

The one thing I remember most from this movie is the taco bell tie in with the talking dog taunting the godzilla and new chalupas and godzilla toys at taco bell, there was also the spin off cartoon that didn't last long, oh I remember how hyped I was from trailer/commercial which you can see here because godzilla destroys the trex skeleton at a museum(a not so subtle jab at the lost world jurassic park) and I thought the movie would be so cool. I might be the only person that actually liked it as it had a cool big monster destroying a city. Anyways when it came out the posters were everywhere and it was cool to wear godzilla shirts and the movie itself was pretty cool

I didn't understand how something that big could live in the ocean undiscovered for so long then just pop out but it works. The movie is mostly everyone running away from godzilla while the army shoots missiles at it and a french guy(jean reno) get's the main character to help him out to figure out another way to get Godzilla without weapons

Retro fridays and skittles gum

If you haven't heard of skittles gum or don't know what it is, well it's ok because it had a short lived run in the early or mid 00's(I don't remember the exact years) and it was skittles gum. That didn't explain it well but skittles gum was more of a skittles looking taffy, it was gum in the loosest sense as you couldn't chew it for very long because it disintegrates into a weird dough or nothingness. It was common to chew 5 or 8 at the same time and the box itself didn't have much of them so they went fast. That's all there is to skittles gum

It may not have been here long but I do miss it

Retro fridays and crown bookstore

Crown bookstore was a video game store/arcade ok I'm kidding it was a bookstore. Think of borders but smaller and they only sold books, if you never been to a borders or don't remember it well I'm not sure what to say. Anyways there was a crown bookstore at the whittwood mall and it was my 2nd favorite store there after kb toys. I could spend hours just reading the latest magazines and checking out the kids books. I still remember the layout where they had the magazines then the kids books close by in a U shaped area and it had 2 separate entrances. In the summer I used to ride my bike and spend hours there, one of my favorite memories was when I went with my dad and brother and we went to kb toys first. I got donkey kong land 2 for $20 and some spice girls lollipops and sea monkeys and something else I'm forgetting. I got the 1st issue of pocket games magazine at crown bookstore and a tv guide at the sav-on drugs. It was a spendy day that has stayed in my mind all these years which is funny how the mind works

By the early 00's crown bookstore was in bad shape as they had more sales and lower prices and less inventory. I last remember going in 2002-2003 and getting self help books, after that I believe it closed down the a year later the mall itself closed then it got demolished and there is now a target and panera bread where crown bookstore used to be. I half expect the mall to still be there but it's only a dream

I got samus returns 3 days ago and it is worth it

Especially if your a fan of the previous metroid games but if your not then it's still a great must have/play game. I have played metroid 2 very rarely(which samus returns is a remake of) so this was almost a new game for me but what made it better was the graphics and the weapons from other metroid games and the mini map. If there's one thing that was sorely needed in metroid 1(remade into zero mission) and metroid 2 was a mini map like the kind in super metroid and metroid prime

The background graphics and music and even the sound effects remind me a lot of metroid prime, the get item jingle is the exact same from metroid prime 1 and I swore some of these backgrounds are from metroid prime 1 also. The controls are tight and quickly become second nature which is good because some of the metroids are extremely tough among with some unrelenting enemies. For example those wasp like flying creatures that will just charge you, luckily there is a new move that I call the knife. It works similar to the knife in resident evil games as it is a counterattack in close quarters. however in samus returns, the knife temporary stuns the enemies and you can quickly attack with a powered up beam and kill enemies in 1 or 2 hits, this seems like one of the few differences but it gives the game more of a frantic feel. I have had the time of my life playing samus returns and 30-50 mins seem like only 10 as you can easily get lost(not literally) but you get sucked into the experience

Toys r us is filling for chapter 11 bankruptcy and my childhood is going away

I have fond childhood memories of toys r us and now it is in bad shape. The thing about chapter 11 is that toys r us will have an extremely hard time bouncing back and I might as well start getting ready for the company to go out of business, it's sad to hear but I hope in the slim chance it does bounce back I will be there waiting with open arms. Toys r us has fallen on hard times and I will support it no matter what, I used to go there when I was little to look at the newest goosebumps books and to check out the super nintendo games. I remember looking at the new game boy pocket and wanting one among with a playstation and nintendo 64 and a mini super nintendo. It's where I got yoishi's island on launch day for $19.99 and they had the whole system with flaps. You would take a paper ticket and pay at the register then they gave you a receipt which you would take to a specific area and an employee would give you the game(s) your purchased. The little anticipation of waiting for him to go get it would make an kid develop a.d.d. but it worked and now it's part of the nostalgia. I also remember getting the january 1998 issue of nintendo power and reading it and re-reading it for the next 2 or 3 years(I still have it) I spent many happy hours at toys r us and now it will be gone soon

Kmart has been dying since 2005 and ironically it has outlasted both kb toys and toys r us and that makes me sad. Toys r us will be gone soon so I will take pictures of it while it's still around but it will not be forgotten

Retro saturdays and mcdonalds hey it could happen commercials

Back in the early to mid 90's mcdonalds had commercials aimed at kids called "hey it could happen" and most of them involved impossible stuff or something happening to a mean teacher or parent and they always ended with the hey it could happen because hey it could happen. I of course wish they would come true and they always made me crave a strawberry shake for some reason among with some fries. Ok I think I'll go to mcdonalds and get all that in my lexus as I'm not a kid anymore

There was no point to the commercials and I'm not sure if they worked but I still remember them

Link to a commercial

Retro saturdays and 101 dalmatian toys at mcdonalds

It seems like at least twice a year every year, there was 101 dalmatian toys at mcdonalds. I'm not sure if every time there was a batch there was 101 toys or if they was say 30 and it felt like a lot because of the variety. I would always get around 3 or 4 from that limited run and wonder how someone can get all 101 then forget about the toy. The movie was released in the early or mid 90's on vhs but that didn't stop mcds from releasing the toys whenever they felt like it. If you ever go to a swap meet or yard sale and wonder why you see a lot of dalmatian happy meal toys, well there are a lot of them in existence

I still have like 6 from my childhood that I accidentally kept but I wont forget the memories of hoping I get pongo or perdita as a toy

Retro fridays and pocket critters

There isn't much to pocket critters but they were extremely popular in the early to mid 90's then they all seemed to have vanished. They are a little oval shaped plastic toy with a clear window and little plastic animals and scenery, they were little portable dioramas you could take with you and that was that. Somehow they were everwhere and they are a product of a simpler time when all it took was a little plastic toy to entertain kids

Retro fridays and goosebumps a night in batwing hall

So why this particular goosebumps book? well it gives me a strong sense of nostalgia and I can't be the only one that gets warm fuzzy feelings when you look at the cover. A night in batwing hall is the 3rd book in the give yourself goosebumps series and therefore it has the shiny holographic cover. I first saw it when it was new at crown bookstore and I instantly wanted it but I didn't have money for it as I was a jobless little kid. I would see it often at super kmart when I went to check out the newest goosebumps books but it was too much money. I would see it a few weeks later in a schoolastic order form at school and it was 2.49 and this time it wasn't too much money, I placed an order and waited and waited and it felt like it would never arrive. On a cold rainy cloudy day, it finally arrived although I had to wait until school was almost over because they like to build anticipation. So while i was waiting for my dad's white 1989 f150 to pull up, I just had to look and look at the cover and it was amazing. Something about the furry bat makes it pop, I still have that book and it always takes me back to my childhood

Retro saturdays and cheesehead string cheese pizza flavor

Yes I know cheesehead brand string cheese is still around but back in 1996-1998 they released a flavor that I wish it was still around. Branded pizza flavored, it was a string cheese with an injection of marinara sauce down the middle of the whole tube giving it the pizza flavor. It was a unique flavor that hasn't been replicated in the string cheese market. I miss it dearly and wish it would come back. I would always eat one when I would get home from school and watch the animaniacs and goosebumps and mighty morphin power rangers on tv. I seem to be the only one that remembers the pizza flavor which is weird as it was extremely popular

Retro saturdays and the lost world jurassic park watches

These watches were only sold at burger king after the the lost world:jurassic park movie hit theaters or on video. At the time I pretty much only went to bk so it worked out well for me. Anyways there was 3 watches that were made to cash in on the movie, I believe they were $2.99 or $3.49 or maybe more with any purchase that was $5 or more or a kids meal purchase. I used to own the raptor's eye one as I thought it was so cool, I also had the one with the oil in it that made the little vinyl dinosaur float around and the one with the little plastic dinosaur. I was so cool for a week at school then they lost there luster and my dad put them in a milk crate that got ruined when it rained hard one day

They are a nice piece of nostalgia that I hope to reacquire

Retro fridays and night and weekend minutes

For those of us that had a cell phone in the early to as recent as the late 00's, you will remember night and weekend minutes. See back then it was a different cell phone world, texts were limited and were brought in packages of say 500 texts per month or you could splurge for unlimited texting(which I had) and that made you a big balla. Calls were limited too as many providers had minute plans such as 300 minutes a month or 500 minutes a month, unlimited calling was rare and expensive. To make up for this, there was nights and weekends free, this meant that you have unlimited calls on weekends and nights(most started at 9pm) and lead to more competition. I think it was cingular wireless that started offering nights at 7pm then it escaladed from there

I remember waiting until 9:01 pm just to be extra sure before I called a girl and friday nights were the best as you had the next 2 days with unlimited calling. I would get so many calls from different people and I would call them too. It was a more social-able time as people actually did talk on the phone. I'm not quite sure when unlimited calling became more common place but it makes talking so much easier that ironically people talk less on the phone now. I remember all those nights I would call my girlfriend at the time to see what's new or to catch up on my gossip. Now it's a remnant of a previous time

Retro fridays and planet lunch points

Planet lunch points or ploids as they were edgly called, were a small square number(usually 1) that were on the back of chips in the mid 90's. You would clip them out and pretend to save up for something big like a bike or a nintendo 64 or tv but you would usually lose like 5 ploids somewhere and your mom would throw out a couple so you had to settle for a watter bottle or maybe a shirt. These were the first time I realized that life isn't fair and you had to lower your expectations. Thanks dorritos and frito lays

I ordered photos from cvs back on august 15th

I decided to make a physical portfolio of my pictures since I have the money now(a far cry from 2015 or even last year) so cvs had a 100 prints for $9.99 offer that I couldn't pass up. I ordered 100 prints then clicked the option to have them shipped to a local cvs store where I would pick them up when they would arrive. The next day they were printed out and shipped to california so things are so far so good. Well the UPS decided to transfer them to a post office that's somewhat close to where I work and that's where it started. That post office(15421 Gale Ave, City of Industry, CA 91715) has had it since then with no progress on the tracking. I have contacted cvs about it and now I kinda want to take this usps to small claims court

I havent posted in awhile because of the weather

It has been really hot here the past 5 days especially at night. The lows are in the mid 70's which is high for california. Yes I know that's normal texas weather but here in california the normal summer low is in the mid 60's so houses are built without central air or ac. I don't have one and neither do my neighbors but we all have a window ac. I have been busy with work and work related duties(going yesterday to sing happy birthday to my co worker and getting her presents) plus I put my laptop on crotch and it is not cool on a hot day. I have some ideas for blog posts so I'm not running dry. Stayed tuned there's more to come soon