Birthday Recap 2021!

I still love celebrating my birthday, but after all these years a little bit of the excitement has gone. Lucky for me, I have an amazing wife and kids that make sure each year's celebration is fantastic.

This year my wife made me a Simpsons cake. The cake was butter pecan flavored and my wife made a vanilla cream cheese frosting to make the Simpsons intro design. Needless to say, it was delicious!

After cake, it was time for presents. The family picked me up a copy of Black Widow, which I have not seen yet, the second season of The Goldbergs, my favorite current TV show and the complete series the Office DVD set. I love the Office and it became my bedtime watch when it was on Netflix. Now that the show has switched over to Peacock, I have not watched it as much. Only the first few seasons are part of the free package, so it was great to see this collection under the festive wrapping paper.

Next up are a pair of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle books I have been wanting for a while. The Official TMNT Treasury has been on my want list since it was first printed in 1991. It's a visual guide to a lot of the early TMNT merchandise. It's so cool to see everything from old toys to games to bath products that feature the Ninja Turtles. The TMNT Pizza Cookbook looks like a lot of fun to try at the next make your own pizza night!

My family has enjoyed the Exploding Kittens card game for years and it's pretty cool that they keep the game fresh by adding these expansion decks every once in a while. I know the name of the game may seem a little off-putting, but once you get past that, it's a really fun game!

Next up was this FREAKIN' SWEET Mini Stay-Puft container. These little cuties come "blind boxed" in a canister of imitation marshmallow crème. When I say this stuff was sticky, I mean it. Took a while to get it off my hands once the can was open, but that was part of the fun. I got this cool looking Mini Puft who is strapped to what looks like a rocket. Would love to get more of these. Only drawback was the stench from the sticky marshmallow. It stunk up my hands for a while.

Lastly, I received this Ecto-1 from the new Ghostbusters Afterlife movie. It's smaller than the Ecto-1 from when I was a kid, but it's actually really cool. I knew I was going to get this gift, since I was the one who picked it up at Target. There was a reason I wanted it though. I had my wife give it to me to gauge my son's excitement. You see, I picked my son up all the Ghostbusters action figures for his birthday and my wife didn't think he would want them. So I said, we can check how enthusiastic he is about the Ecto-1 and if he likes it, he'll get the GB toys. If not, I would keep them for my collection. Well, he loved the Ecto-1 and pretty much took it for himself after it was assembled. He even told us that he wished he put these toys on his birthday list.

Two days later, we have a nice set of Ghostbusters to play with and me and my son spent some quality time busting heads...in a spiritual sense of course. Now we can't wait for the new movie to come out. SO EXCITED!!! Not a bad birthday at all.

Oh, and we also had a Shaq-A-Roni pizza for dinner from Papa John's!

A Box of Deathwatch 2,000!

Continuity comics was started in 1984 by Art Adams as a way of gaining more freedom and money from his original creations. For about 10 years Continuity published some pretty solid comics including Bucky O'Hare, Captain Power and Samuree. In the 90's Continuity started riding the wave of variant covers, gimmicks and cross-over events. The biggest event in Continuity's history would have to be the Deathwatch 2,000 story. 

The story took place in the early 90's and spanned over 20 issues of Armor, Cyberrad, Earth 4, Hybrids, Megalith and Ms. Mystic. Classic even created a set of cards for the event in 1993. I had picked up a few of these packs back in the day and honestly, I thought they were pretty cool. The Adams style art and inserts kept me wanting more. 

Recently, I picked up a box off ebay for around $5. It contained 36 packs with 8 cards per pack. I was really hoping to score an Art Adams autograph card or one of the Ken Griffey Jr. or Shaq inserts.

Yes, Classic included these "Superstars" chase cards in random packs and this was my reason for grabbing this box. There also was a Manon Rheaume card in the set. If you don't know who she is, here is a quick history lesson:

Manon Rheaume, was the first woman to ever play in any of the major North American pro sports leagues. She signed a contract to be a goalie in the Tampa Bay Lightening system. She actually played in a few pre-season games for the NHL's Lightening in 1992-1993, but never actually played in a true season game. She won a Silver medal with Canada in 1988. She spent 5 years in the minor leagues and has since retired.

Okay, enough of that! Let's open some packs! I divided the packs into 4 stacks of 9, so myself and my 3 kids could all partake in the fun. We opened each pack carefully hoping to find a Junior or Shaq...

In the end we did not get either of those cards and ended up getting 1 Rheaume card and one of the cool translucent Hybrid cards.

We also ended up completing 2 full 100 card sets. I can't say I'm disappointed, but for $5 and a few hours of fun, it was worth it.

After we finished opening and did not receive a Junior or Shaq, my wife said I could pick one up off of ebay. I did a quick search and the prices are crazy for the Shaq card! Cheapest I could find was $24!!! Junior was a bit more reasonable at $8. My best bet to get these 2 is to buy one of the 40,000 card sheets Classic had printed up. These can be found for around $2. I guess the hunt will continue!!!

Throwback Jam of the Week: 11/9/20

 Throw on your Reeboks, and grab some Taco Bell as we take you back to the 90s! Without further ado, here is the 20 Years Before 2000 THROWBACK JAM OF THE WEEK!

Artist: Shaquille O'Neal

Song: Shoot, Pass, Slam

Album: Shaq Diesel (1993)

Peak Billboard Hot 100 Position: N/A

Bonus Fun Fact: This song did not make the Billboard charts, but was part of the platinum selling album "Shaq Diesel" and was produced by Erik Sermon from the rap group EPMD!

It Came From The Closet! PART II

Jedi Mickey Windu

While stuck home during quarantine, one of the things my wife asked me to do is to clean out the back basement closet. When we had our kids a lot of my things were packed up and stored in this closet to make room for their stuff. I gotta say, even though cleaning sucks, it was fun to uncover some of these items that I haven't seen in years. One such item was this sketch of Mickey Mouse as a Jedi that I bought in a store at Downtown Disney in Orlando Florida. I chose this drawing because Mickey is wielding the bad-ass light saber of Mace Windu. This amazing art was done by Disney artist Monica Willis in 2006. I would love to have it framed and put on my wall.

 Kazaam on VHS

Not too much to say about this one. I bought it for a quarter at a thrift store and I've heard nothing but terrible things about the movie, but I can't see how a movie about a 7 foot rapping genie could be all that bad. Soon I will have to watch it with the kids and find out for myself. The movie almost made back it's 20 million dollar budget and features an appearance from Efren Ramirez aka Pedro, so it has that going for it!

 Tiny "Zeus" Lister Autograph

I had the chance to meet Mr. Lister (hey, that rhymes!) at the Chiller Theater convention in NJ around 2005. He was very cool and took the time to take photos, sign pictures and chat with each person who stopped by his table...all for a price, but still a nice guy from one of my favorite 90s movies "Friday"! Gotta get this back on the wall in the basement!

Whiz-Kid

I loved this toy as a kid. It came out in the early 80s and was, if I remember correctly, my first real exposure to anything that resembled a computer. The Whiz-Kid came with cartridges that you would insert into the toy and each cartridge contained around 50 games that could be unlocked by using the corresponding cards that came with the cartridge. Most of these were educational games that included math, spelling and shape & color recognition. I found this Whiz-Kid at a second hand store for around $5 and believe me it was well worth it. The sound this machine makes when you get a correct answer took me back decades and my kids also had fun plating with it too. Love this thing!

Bart Simpson from Burger King

These dolls were released in 1990 as a special premium at Burger King restaurants. For a mere $3.49 you could own either Homer, Bart, Lisa, Maggie or Marge...of course with the purchase of fries or the new BK mini-muffins. When I was a kid we owned the Bart & Homer dolls, so when I found this in package specimen at a local Goodwill for $2, I grabbed it! That's less than what it cost in 1990! Love the early 90s Simpsons stuff, brings back great memories of Simpson-mania! Below is a commercial from this legendary fast food promotion, ENJOY!

If you would like to see what was found in "It Came From The Closet! Part I" click HERE.

Throwback Jam of the Week: 9/16/19

Throw on your Orlando Magic jersey and head to Newark, NJ as we take you back! Without further ado, here is the 20 Years Before 2000 THROWBACK JAM OF THE WEEK...

Artist: Fu-Schnickens feat. Shaquille O'Neal

Song: What's Up Doc? (Can We Rock?)
Album:  Nervous Breakdown (1994)

Peak Billboard Hot 100 Position: 39
Bonus Fun Fact: This was Shaq's first commercially released single. The song originally included a sample of Bugs Bunny saying his famous line, but Warner Brothers would not clear it. The video was filmed under the Manhattan Bridge in NY.

Throwback Jam of the Week: 1/28/19

It's that time of the week again here at 20 Years Before 2000...It's time for the THROWBACK JAM OF THE WEEK! These are the jams currently on my trusty Creative ZEN MP3 player and they encompass everything from Motown R&B classics to hip-hop and rap from the 90s! I would like to share them with you in the hopes that they can get you on your feet and bring back some sweet nostalgic memories! So throw on your Reeboks, cut your hair in the fresh baldy style and grab some Pepsi & Taco Bell as we take you back! Without further ado, here is the 20 Years Before 2000 THROWBACK JAM OF THE WEEK...

Artist: Shaquille O'Neal feat. Def Jef

Song: (I Know I Got) Skillz
Album: Shaq Diesel (Released 1993)
Peak Billboard Hot 100 Position: 35

Bonus Fun Fact: This is Shaq's only song to reach top 40 status on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The single reached Gold status in the US for selling over 500,000 copies and was featured in the movie Pineapple Express!

The Original Man of Steel

Following the shocking Death of Superman in January 1993 the now classic "Reign of Supermen" story line began. This is where we were introduced to Cyborg Superman, Eradicator aka "Last Son of Krypton", Superboy aka Connor Kent and Steel!

John Henry Irons also known as the superhero Steel made his first appearance in the Adventures of Superman #500 and what a huge impact he made in the comic universe.

John Henry was a weapons engineer for AmerTek Industries, but when he found out that his weapon the Toastmaster BG-60 fell into the wrong hands and was responsible for many innocent deaths, he faked his own death to become a construction worker in Metropolis. While on a job John fell off a skyscraper and was saved by Superman who told him to "Live a life worth saving". When Superman died at the hands of Doomsday John built a suit, took up the mantle of Steel and tried to live up to that creed.

The character proved popular enough to spin off into his own series that lasted for 52 issues. At the height of Steel Mania a movie was produced featuring acting great Shaquille O'Neal.

 

The movie was extremely cheesy and used none of the elements that involved Superman at all. I understand that they tried to make this a standalone movie, but it definitely would have benefitted from the ties to Supes. Not even Shaft himself, Mr. Richard Roundtree could save this super hero movie.

 

I recently found a VHS copy of the movie at a second hand store for $0.50. I hadn't seen it since it was released back in 1997 and man, it is not good. It honestly could have been a good movie if the script was less cheese and more grit like the comic.

I think the biggest set back was the suit. How ridiculous is this thing. Do you really expect me to take it seriously? Needless to say the movie was a bomb!

Yes, there was a line of toys produced by Kenner. 

In my opinion the best thing to come from this failure of a movie was the Steel motion picture soundtrack! It had some big names on it including Blackstreet, Mobb Deep and Tevin Campbell. But the best track on tha album was "Men of Steel" performed by Shaq, Ice Cube, B Real, Peter Gunz & KRS-One. I blasted this track for a while. Take a listen to a sampling of the songs below.

 

 Maybe one day we will see a Steel 2? It couldn't be any worse than what WB is putting out now, could it?