FOX-O-RAMA

Back in 1994, the 8 year old Fox network brought the world FOX-O-RAMA, a 2 day event filled with all kinds of new television innovations including 3-D, Aroma-Vision, Grumble-Vision and Sheneneh-Vision. 7-11 stores all across the US sold the FOX-O-RAMA kits for just 33¢ plus tax. Each kit contained everything you needed to experience FOX-O-RAMA; 1 pair of 3-D glasses, 2 Living Single scratch 'n Sniff cards and 4 Nerds IV: Nerds in Love scratch 'n sniff cards.
Schedule of Events: Sunday, May 8, 1994: Martin (Sheneneh-Vision) [I have no idea what Sheneneh-Vision was], Living Single (Aroma-Vision), Married... With Children (3-D), and The George Carlin Show (Grumble-Vision). Monday, May 9: Revenge of the Nerds IV: Nerds in Love (Aroma Vision and 3-D scenes).
Being a huge fan of Married... With Children since the very beginning, I was very excited that the eighth season episode "Assault and Batteries" (May 8, 1994) was going to be in 3-D. Since they were not selling the kits here in Canada, I had to drive down across the boarder to pick up my kit (and a pile of extras for all my friends). The episode was pretty good, but the 3-D was just OK. The end credits featured Al and Peg wearing 3-D glasses and looking at the names scrolling by on a screen, and Peg says "I don't get it." The George Carlin Show featured GRUMBLE-VISION, which was nothing more than George reading some of his fans gripes on the air at the end of the episode. I also watched the Nerds movie which had a few 3-D scenes in it, as well as 4 AROMA-VISION scenes. The cards said, enclosed are 8 AROMA-VISION cards. You will be able to experience smells as they happen on TV! Just have your cards ready during Living Single & the Nerds IV: Nerds in Love movie. During the programs, a circle with a number will appear in the lower left corner of your TV screen. Find the matching card, scratch the circle and you will experience AROMA-VISION!!! Remember, don't scratch until you see the number on your TV!
I still have a bunch of unopened FOX-O-RAMA kits and I plan on having a FOX-O-RAMA party some time in the not to distant future. Hopefully the cards haven't lost their Aroma!

Mmmm... Crunchy Marshmallows

Ok, I'm not a big fan of crunchy marshmallows and I don't like my milk to turn funny colors while I am eating my cereal. But, I do love the artwork on kids cereal boxes. I started collecting cereal boxes almost 20 years ago, and at the height of my cereal box collecting, I was adding up to 20 new boxes a month to my collection. I was even a subscriber of Flake Magazine, a print fanzine dedicated to cereal box collecting. You could always count on General Mills and Kellogg's to produce limited edition cereals featuring current hit movies, TV shows, etc. A trip to the cereal isle in any grocery store would always produce a plethora of new, "limited time only" treasures. As a collector, I like to keep the boxes which have the great artwork. The cereal however is a different story. I can't stand most of the stuff inside these boxes - as I said, hard crunchy marshmallows are not something I look forward to at breakfast time. Since I don't eat the cereal, I started opening the boxes as carefully as possible and removing the unopened bags of cereal and then giving them to my mom to drop off at the local food bank. It must be a little strange for some kid who is used to getting food from the food bank and getting nothing but generic corn flakes and Cheerios, to receive a package of mystery cereal with tiny marshmallows or cereal that changes the milk to green sludge!
I have hundreds of great boxes in my collection, and am always on the lookout for something new on the grocery store shelves. The two most recent additions to my collection are the Disney Pirates of the Caribbean cereal, and Pixar Cars cereal.
A few of the kids cereals that I have enjoyed eating over the years are; Strawberry Shortcake, Sugar Crisp, Cap'n Crunch peanut Butter Crunch, and Cookie Crisp.
Pictured above are two General Mills cereals; Count Chocula & Franken Berry, and below are the two newest additions to my collection.

Capyboppy

From Amazon.com, an anonymous review of the 1966 Capyboppy book by Bill Peet: "This book was my favorite as a child. Capyboppy is so cute and lovable what child wouldn't like him? Every time we went to the library, I'd beg my dad to check it out and read it to me."
I thought I had written this review until I realized it was my mom, not my dad, that I would beg to check it out for me. I must have taken this book out of the library more than any other book. As a young child, I was enthralled with the story of this large rodent from the Amazon (wow... I used the word Amazon twice in one blog!) jungles becoming the pet of a young boy in a suburban neighborhood. And the drawings, although just black and white pencil drawings, were so captivating! When I got older I started collecting all of Bill Peet's books, and I started with Capyboppy. Most book stores carry a few of Bill Peet's books, but usually just the soft cover variety, so I always special ordered the hard covers for my collection. I have also been lucky enough to be friends with someone at my local library who always lets me know when any Bill Peet books are being discarded, and I am able to add it to my collection. I bough a copy of "Bill Peet, An Autobiography" and was thrilled to see that it was done like one of his childrens books, with large print and filled with those great pencil drawings. It was in this autobiography that I learned that Peet had spent many years working for Disney animation and was responsible for designing many of the characters in Sleeping Beauty which happens to be one of my all time favorite Disney movies.
Some of my other favorite Bill Peet books are; "Cyrus the Unsinkable Sea Serpent", "Farewell to Shady Glade", "Fly, Homer Fly" and "Merle the High Flying Squirrel".

Smash Up Derby

"You can hoot and holler, cause you ain't seen nothing yet!" I remember the commercials I would see during my favorite after school cartoons for the SSP (Super Sonic Power) Smash Up Derby set. They made these things look so amazing, as they would jump the ramps and smash into each other, causing car parts to fly everywhere. What kid wouldn't want to own one of these things? Luckily for me I found one of these in the original box about 10 years ago in a junk store, and finally I was able to live the dream of being a smash up derby driver, just like in those commercials from the 70's. I love dragging these out of the closet for parties. Those old enough to remember them, can't wait to get one of those T-handle power sticks in their hands to drive their car off the ramp and into an oncoming car to enjoy the carnage the ensues. Then put it back together, to do it all over again, and again, and again!

Riverboat Club member

Continuing with yesterdays restaurant theme, I found my Captain George's Riverboat Club card from the 70's. The two things I remember about the Captain George's Family Restaurant was; 1) the outside of the restaurant looked like a big pink paddlewheeler ship, and 2) they had a "make it yourself" desert bar where you could dispense your own soft serve ice cream and then add all the toppings to your hearts content - a pretty amazing treat for a 7 year old kid back then! This membership card certified that I, Ronnie, was a member of Capt. George's Riverboat Club, and entitled to a free Sport Cola, Rooti Root Beer, Bubble Up, or C+ Orange anytime I bought a sandwich, snack or platter at any Captain George's Family restaurant, and was valid until 1980. The Captain George's restaurant that we went to, closed some time in the early 80's, and the building remained unused for many years, leaving just the shell of a large pink paddlewheeler to drive by everyday. The building has since been converted into a 7-11, but I'll always remember the big pink boat and the all you can eat ice cream!

The Great A&W Root Bear

When I think of A&W, I think of the Root Bear and his trademark tuba music, in television commercials showing strange characters falling in step behind the bear down deserted country roads with the slogan, "Follow the great Root Bear to A&W."
I have always loved fast food, and A&W was the top of the fast food chain when I was a kid. Going to a Drive In A&W was always a real treat. I also remember the first sit down A&W in my area. It was about a 45 minute drive, but it was worth the drive, because as well as being able to eat in your car, this A&W had a huge dining room with a fireplace right in the middle. We used to drive the 45 minutes out of our way just to eat at the 'dine in' A&W, because it was something special. Then in the 80's as they started closing most of the drive in restaurants and converting them into dine in only restaurants, we started going out of our way to visit the remaining few drive in restaurants. The last remaining A&W drive in was in Langley, BC, and happened to be just a short drive from the Hillcrest Drive In (our last remaining drive in theater), and it was always great fun to have dinner at the A&W drive in and then take in a double or triple feature at the Hillcrest. They finally closed the last remaining A&W drive in about 8 years ago (we were there on the last day). I sure miss that cool tray they would hang on your window with all your food on it! I started collecting A&W memorabilia many years ago. It started with the mugs and then moved on to just about anything I could get my hands on. Here are a few photos of my collection. The two items I really want to add to my collection are; 1) one of the trays that hung on your car window, and 2) one of the A&W Root Bear portraits that hung in every restaurant in the 70's and 80's. Every restaurant had the same photo of the Root Bear, in an oval frame and beveled glass. As a kid I remember thinking that these pictures looked so cool and sophisticated.

Popular Computing Circa 1983

I love collecting magazines and magazine ads, and I am a huge fan of Apple computer, so when a coworker told me he was tossing out a garage full of old computer magazines, I asked if I could have them. He thought it was a little strange that I would be interested in old computer magazines, but really, it's no stranger than having a garage full of old magazines is it!? He brought two large boxes of magazines to work the next day and I tucked them under my desk. That night, I got home and opened up my two boxes of treasures and was thrilled to find not only a bunch of great old computer ads for my collection, but some great magazine covers such as this March 1983 Popular Computing issue with the Apple Lisa on the cover!

Ronnie @ Disneyland 1977

While digging though some old boxes of photos I found a couple of photos from my first trip to Disneyland back in 1977 with my mom. Here I am sitting in an Autopia car. I was so excited that I got to drive my own car! I don't remember much about this trip, but I know that I must have really liked it, because my mom took me back to Disneyland just two years later in 1979. I didn't get to Disneyland again until '90 when I went with Sara for a summer vacation. By this time, both Sara and I were hooked, and managed to visit the park at least once a year for the next 10 years. We celebrated New Year's Eve 2000 at Disneyland, Sara won a trip for 4 to Disneyland (filling out all those entry forms at the mall can really pay off!), and we got married at Disneyland! We can't wait to take Kaden on this first Disneyland trip when he gets a few years older.

Godzilla Desktop

Here is a Godzilla desktop I made for myself a few years ago. I had taken a few photos of one of my BanDai Godzilla 2000 action figures to show to a friend. I liked one of the photos so much that I decided to turn it into a desktop for my Mac. See a photo of the action figure I used here. Now you too can have Godzilla adorn your computer desktop! And while I'm talking about Godzilla, let me introduce you to G-Fan magazine. If you love Godzilla and other giants from Japan, then check out G-FAN.com. As well as being a really cool magazine, it is produced in Canada!

Skyline Drive In

Here is a cool photo I took of the Skyline Drive-In marquee. I used iPhoto to change the photo to black and white to add a little bit of a retro feel to the photo. I love Drive In theaters and every summer my friend Andrew and I take a mini vacation to hit a few more Drive Ins within a days drive from home. The Skyline is in Shelton, WA, and yes, they are open again this summer. There is also a Drive In right here in my own neck of the woods called the Twilight Drive-In. Interestingly enough the Twilight was built just two years ago! More on the Twilight in a later blog. Make a point to visit your local Drive In this summer, its a great way to spend an evening under the stars watching some of the summers big block buster films right from the comfort of your own car. If you are not sure if there is Drive In in your area, check out Drive-Ins.com and use their online database to find one near you.

Haunted Mansion personalized postcard

Here is a neat little Disneyland collectible that I picked up on one of our trips to the park some time around 1999 or 2000. There was a booth/kiosk inside of Star Traders in Tomorrowland that let you take your picture and add it to one of the postcard designs they offered including this Haunted Mansion one. They printed it out on a color printer while you waited. The quality of the image looks less like the regular post cards they sell at the park, and more like something you would print on your own home printer. The postcard is a standard 4 x 5 1/5 inch postcard with the words Post Card on the back and space for a stamp. Being that I am a huge collector of Haunted Mansion memorabilia, I had to buy one. It now sits proudly in my Haunted Mansion display case in my office.

Philips Momento snow globe

I picked up the May 29, 2006 issue of Fortune magazine today at the library to read the article on "Pixar's Magic Man John Lasseter". When I opened the magazine, the first ad I saw was a fold out ad for Philips, with the tag line Philips "Sense and simplicity", and an ad for a product called the Momento. What is it you ask? Well, the ad states: "a snow globe that holds a new way to treasure your past? Momento lets you relive cherished memories over and over. When you shake Momento, a video clip will begin to play. Shake it again and the video breaks apart into tiny animated snowflakes that morph into a new clip. It's a simple way to keep your favorite moments close at hand". I thought wow, that sounds cool. I would buy that. I headed to my Mac and googled "Philips Momento" but didn't find much other than a few blogs talking about the Momento. After doing some more searching, I realized that this was a concept product that was not yet for sale. Upon relooking at the magazine, I found there were a number of products shown, all of which are concept products, and not yet for sale. too bad, because the Momento snow globe looks really cool!

Let me introduce you to Monkey & Penguin

Who are Monkey & Penguin? They are our kids (well... OK our stuffed kids), but they love to travel and are very photogenic. Monkey was actually adopted from the "Tropical Imports" shop in Adventureland back in 1995, and Penguin, well... he just sort of showed up on our doorstep one day. Our son Kaden loves them and asks to hug them each day. This is one of my favorite photos of Monkey & Penguin taken at Disneyland in front of Its a Small World. I liked it so much that I had it blown up into a large poster. If you want to see more of Monkey & Penguin, you can check out thier web site in my Links.

Jedi Kaden

Here is a photo I took of my son Kaden Blaze and his friend Eric. Eric brought over his lightsaber the other day and Kaden took to it like a fat kid to a smartie. I tried to get a perfect photo of Kaden by himself holding the lightsaber, but at 15 months, he is not the best at standing still for a photo. I took the photo into Photoshop 3 (that's right, I'm right on the leading edge of technology) and whipped up this neat-o black and white photo for your viewing pleasure.

First post

Hey there! Well, now I know its true... anyone really can have a blog! I decided it's time to share some of my Big Pile of Stuff with the world, and that's just what I'm gonna do here at Ronn's Big Pile of Stuff.