Remembering Fast Food Glasses

Back in the 80's & 90's every fast food restaurant had an array of high end glasses for sale in an attempt to get customers to saunter through their doors in hopes that they would keep returning to finish the whole set and buy some food & drink while at the establishment. Some of the most fondly remembered of these glasses include Star Wars, E.T., The Muppets, Garfield and of course Batman! On the rare occasion that my parents would take us to one of the restaurants, I always fawned over these sweet looking glasses with amazing artwork, but alas, we never ended up taking any home! Recently, my wife was at a community yard sale and found some of these glasses for a fairly cheap price. She picked them up thinking the kids would love them, little did she know that I would be the one who would be using them every night during dinner! Below you can view the small collection of glasses that currently hang out in our kitchen cabinet.

Care Bears from Pizza Hut (1983)

Pizza Hut gave us all one heck of a deal with these Care Bear glasses. You could get 2 glasses for 99 cents with the purchase of any Pizza Hut pizza! That is a freakin' steal! There were 4 glasses in total and the set included Funshine, Tenderheart, Grumpy and Cheer Bear. I just need 1 more to complete the collection!

Peanuts "Camp Snoopy" from McDonalds (1983)

These glasses were 49 cents with the purchase of any Coca-Cola drink at McDonalds in the early 80's. There were 5 in total and I have 2 of them. The glasses are nice and as the commercial says, they were designed by Peanuts creator Charles Shulz himself, but the real star here is a brand new animated Peanuts commercial featuring Snoopy, Charlie Brown, Lucy & Sally. We need more great promotions like this!

Smurfs "Happy Smurfday" from Hardee's (1983)

Hardee's went all out with this promotion and dubbed July 25th as "Smurfday"!. The glasses were available until September 4th at their restaurants, but they also offered a new drink just for the occasion! This drink was called "Smurfberry Punch". I have no idea what it tasted like, but it looked like a fruit punch sort of drink. Wonder if we'll ever see this return?

Comic Book Pick 3/30/22

 The comic book I am most excited to read this week is...
TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES #127

(W) Sophie Campbell (A/CA) Pablo Tunica
Who is Dr. Jasper Barlow, and is he friend or foe? As the TMNT regroup from their battle with the Punk Frogs, the doctor makes some of our heroes an offer they may find hard to refuse, and reveals a most startling creation he calls... VENUS. Plus, a tense situation between the Utroms and Triceratons goes from bad to worse!
SRP: $3.99
Synopsis Provided By: PreviewsWorld.com 

Throwback Jam of the Week: 3/28/22

 Throw on your best swag wear, and head to the disco as we take you back to the 80s! Without further ado, here is the 20 Years Before 2000 THROWBACK JAM OF THE WEEK!

Artist: The Sugarhill Gang
Song: 8th Wonder
Album: 8th Wonder (1981)
Peak Billboard Hot 100 Position: N/A
Bonus Fun Fact: This song was featured on their second album that was produced by Sylvia Robinson!

Ever Buy a CD off TV?

This past week, I posted the music video for the song "Nuttin' But Flavor" by Funkmaster Flex as the 20 Years Before 2000 Throwback Jam of the Week. This song reminded me of this "Hip Hop Mix" CD that is currently in my collection. I dug around and found it and myself and my daughter have been listening to it every morning this week as I drop her off at school.

Me and my brother had quite a few of these compilation CDs back in the day. You see this CD was released in 1995, which was about 4 years before Napster was launched, so the only other way to get your favorite songs without all the filler was to pop a blank tape into your jam box and hope your favorite radio station plays the best jams so you could record them for later listening pleasure.

This CD was originally only offered through a television commercial campaign (evidenced by the "As Seen on TV" graphic on the cover) that involved a chunky, bald man getting ready for his untimely demise in an electric chair. Lord knows what that had to do with anything, but it really caught the teenage eyes of me and my brother. Especially my brother. I tried searching the interwebs, so I could post that commercial here, but I was unable to find it anywhere! At least the commercial is sort of represented in the cover art for this disc.

The Hip Hop Mix was more than just a really weird commercial, it actually featured some bangin' jams like "Safe & Sound" by DJ Quik. "Funkdafied" by Da Brat and "Tootsie Roll" by 69 Boyz! My brother ordered the CD and after his interest in it wavered, I grabbed it and still have it to this day! That got me thinking about all of those "Only Available Through This TV Offer" tapes and CDs that were being advertised to us back in the 90's? Did anyone ever buy any? Below are some examples of those classic ads featuring some great songs from back in the day!

When was the last time you saw one of these? Do they even do this anymore? If you did buy one of these CDs, please feel free to let us know what you purchased in the comments below! I'll leave you all off with a video from another hit song off the Hip Hop Mix album..."Tukka Yout's Riddim by Us3! Enjoy!

Comic Book Pick 3/23/22

 The comic book I am most excited to read this week is...
GODZILLA vs. MIGHTY MORPHIN POWER RANGERS #1

(W) Cullen Bunn (A/CA) Freddie Williams II
From IDW Publishing and Boom! Studios, two titanic powers collide in a cross-company collaboration event you never expected . . . but makes complete sense! When Rita Repulsa uses an ancient artifact to transport herself to a universe without Power Rangers, she finds herself on a world with aliens, kaiju, and . . . Godzilla! Hoping to annihilate this new foe, Rita hurls her own terrible creatures into battle. But she never expects that the Rangers have followed her to this alternate reality! Now, the Dinozords themselves are going head-to-head with the King of the Monsters! Written by superstar scribe Cullen Bunn (Godzilla: Cataclysm) and illustrated by artist extraordinaire Freddie Williams II (Batman/TMNT)!
SRP: $3.99
Synopsis Provided By: PreviewsWorld.com 

Throwback Jam of the Week: 3/21/22

 Throw on your Hot 97 shirt, and head to the turntables as we take you back to the 90's! Without further ado, here is the 20 Years Before 2000 THROWBACK JAM OF THE WEEK!

Artist: Funkmaster Flex feat. ODB & Biz Markie
Song: Nuttin But Flavor
Album: Nuttin But Flavor Single (1995)
Peak Billboard Hot 100 Position: N/A
Bonus Fun Fact: Funkmaster Flex released 3 compilation albums for Loud back in the late 90's, but this song was one of his first recorded original songs!

Wax Pack Revolution: Baseball Edition

Over the last few years, I've been collecting old wax & foil packs of trading cards from the 80s & 90s. When you would buy one of these packs you would tear it open and throw away the wrapper. Never giving it a second thought. Seeing these again brings back memories of feeling the slick paper in your hands, seeing the simple artwork and the smell of bubble gum. In celebration of the return of Major League Baseball after the great lockout of 2022, let's dive into a few of these packs that I have on display and celebrate a few of my favorite players from my #1 team...the NEW YORK METS!

1988 Donruss

1990 Topps Traded

1991 Donruss

1991 Fleer

1992 Topps Stadium Club

Thanks for taking a minute to look at some old packs of baseball cards and humoring my die hard Mets fandom. I hope whoever you cheer for has a great season and you can enjoy the game to the fullest! If you feel like checking out the classic 1985 broadcast of the Mets vs. Cubs game, feel free to watch the Youtube video below. Now let's PLAY BALL!!!