Phantasmagoria Remembered

If you enjoy a good (or is that bad) haunted house/shack (and who doesn't?), than you are gonna want to check out this great new blog entry over at the Secret Fun Blog. Here you will be regaled with the story of the now departed Phantasmagoria of Bell's Amusement park, in Tulsa, Oklahoma. This is a seriously fun read! Click on over to the Secret Fun Blog and check out Kirk D's February 8th post!

Lake Erie Monsters coming ashore

While visiting the AHL (American Hockey League) web site tonight, I found a great new team called the Lake Erie Monsters who will join the AHL for next season.
The new American Hockey League team that will begin play for the 2007-08 season in Cleveland at Quicken Loans Arena. The Monsters will operate as the primary affiliate of one of the NHL's most successful franchises, the Colorado Avalanche.
The team name was selected after an extensive amount of research was conducted with focus groups made up of casual fans, high level hockey fans, former Cleveland pro hockey season ticket holders, and others. In addition, considerable research explored names that would have a fun connection to the region. The Lake Erie Monsters was the top preference from the focus groups.
The "legend of the Lake Erie Monster" or "LEM," brings a fun geographical folklore connection to the region. The logo art reflects the menacing, powerful nature of the creature and features the hot yellow glare of the Monster's eye. Primary team colors will be wine, blue, yellow and black.
The home jersey will be white with wine shoulders and black trim segments on the arm sleeves and will feature the secondary logo on the front. The road jersey will be wine with black and white trim segments on the arm sleeves. Both home and road jerseys will have the Monster from the primary logo on each shoulder. Player numbers will appear on each shoulder sleeve and on the back of each jersey.
Leading the design and name development process with the organization's senior management team was Tracy Marek, Cavaliers/Quicken Loans Arena senior vice president of marketing. The team worked with Cenergy Communications on all elements of the name and design development process.
"Cenergy Communications brought a great deal of specialized expertise and insight to the table for this project. They really helped us develop an identity package that we'?re confident will engage our fans-to-be with a fun, but aggressive, team image they can be proud of and connect with. Monster Hockey is going to attack The Q like no other hockey team ever has!" said Marek.
I love the name and logo, but would make one small change. I would add the word 'Lock' to their name, making them the Lake Erie Lock Monsters. I think they probably avoided this name though, as there was another team in the AHL that used to go by the name Lowell Lock Monsters. They have since changed their name to the Lowell Devils (they went from a great name and logo, to a pretty lame name and logo in my opinion).
As well as the Lowell Lock Monsters, there was also a UHL team about 10 years ago called the Madison Monsters. I really liked thier logo, but their jersyes looked pretty funny as they were white with black pinstripes, which made them look like baseball jerseys instead of hockey jerseys.
While looking for the Madison logo, I also found this logo for the Vermont Lake Monsters baseball team.
It would seem that the name Monsters, is not as unique as I first thought. Uniqueness aside, I can't wait to add some Erie Lake Monsters merchandise to my collection next season!

10th Anniversary Logo Survey

Tonight while surfing the net, I visited the Bakersfield Condors web site and noticed they were going to be celebrating their 10th anniversary next season. To celebrate, they had a contest to vote for the logo they would use during their 10th Anniversary season. There were 4 logos to choose from. I always love seeing the logo choices, and then seeing which one ends up being used.

Of the four choices, I would choose logo #3. I love the claws grabbing the large ten "X". I would like to see them make the claws look a little more 'rough' as they look in their actual logo. A few claw marks on the "X" would look good too! Second choice would be logo #2. This one looks good, but the "X" in this one gets a little lost. It would look better if they had used the same "X" from logo #3 for this one. I do not like logos #1 or #4. Both are a little too busy and I don't think they would look very good on a jersey, when you see it for a distance.
As far as which one will win, I am putting my money on #3.
While we are discussing the Condor's logo, here is their original logo, back when they were known as the Bakersfield Fog. This is one of my all time favorite logos. I even have a Fog jersey in my collection. When I emailed them to ask why they had changed their name/logo, they told me that they changed their name due to the bad connotations that were linked with the name Fog, due to the fact that Bakersfield is known for its dense fog, and that many people have been killed due to the fog. Too bad, because this is such a cool logo and name!
And lastly, something else I found on the Condor's site. A piece of merchandise that I have not seen a hockey team sell before... toilet paper! The product details on the web site state: "This is a roll of toilet paper that has the Fresno Falcon's logo on it and says 'Wipe out the Falcons.'" I wonder if the Falcons have Condor's toilet paper for sale on their site?

The Original "Battle of Alberta"

Before the NHL set up shop in both Calgary Alberta and Edmonton Alberta in the 80's, there was the Calgary Stampeders and Edmonton Eskimos of the CFL. This was the original "Battle of Alberta"

While perusing a used shop a couple of years ago, I spied this great cover in a glass case and had to have it! What 'it' was, a CFL (Canadian Football League Edmonton Eskimos game program from August 23, 1965. The game was between the Edmonton Eskimos and the Calgary Stampeders. I loved the cover illustration depicting an Eskimo at the top of an oil rig, about to pour a what looks like a bucket of crude oil down onto a quickly approaching cowboy. A great illustration, which somehow seems inappropriate by today's 'way to politically correct' standards.

As well as the cover, there are also some great ads etc inside. The first is a picture of the 1965 Edmonton Eskimo coaching staff. I noticed two things. First off, the combined age of these three looks to be well over 200! And second, I did not realize that just 4 years before landing on the moon, Neil Armstrong was coaching a Canadian Football League team in Edmonton.

There is an ad for CBXT Channel 5's coverage of all things Eskimos and CFL. Being the sports play-by-play junkie that I am, I loved the ad

Next up, is an ad proudly presenting the Canada Dry half-time shows, featuring; Canada Dry Sparklers - beautiful and talented dancers, precision Marchers - a colorful group performing precision drills for pre and half-time entertainment, Canada Dry Champange Girls - 50 marching and dancing girls, "Swinging Brass" Band - top flight entertainment featuring 14 trumpets and trombones, "Eilen Dodds" Majorets - colorful precision baton, flag and fire twirling, Ginger-Gymnastics by a remarkable acrobat, and many other acts. Wow... what fun. Don't bother heading off to the snack bar lineup or the bathrooms!

There is a full page ad for A&W's Chubby Chicken. This has nothing to do with football, but I'm a huge fan of the old A&W Drive-Inn restaurants and I love the name "Chubby Chicken", and the great logo that goes along with it. If you read the ad, it would seem that the little chicken mascot's name is actually "Chubby Chicken". Again, I doubt that this would have been created as a promotional character today with all our politically correctness.

Lastly, is an ad for the Hudson's Bay Company, and their "famous Canadian tradition... authentic Hudson's Bay Coats". I guess this sort of relates to CFL football, as the stadium in Edmonton is outdoors and you would free your backside off in November watching the Eskimos, so a "blanket coat" would be a must!
As a fan of logos and slogans, I always liked the promotional campaign of the late 90's which stated "The CFL - Radically Canadian!"

Sears Wishbook

What is my biggest memory of Christmas as a young child? The Sears Christmas Wishbook of course. When the Wishbook showed up on your doorstep some time in early October, it was time to get excited about Christmas! I can remember spending countless hours sitting with the Wishbok and a stack of various coloured pens to mark the toys I wanted, really wanted, and had to have! By the time Christmas day rolled around, at least half the toys in the toy section had some sort of mark beside them, with many having multiple marks, cross outs, new marks, and special notes to whoever might be looking at this before the big day!

I haven't seen a Sears Wishbook for a few years now and had almost forgotten about it until a Sears Wishbook CD showed up at our house this year. It got me to thinking about all the fun I used to have as a child sitting with the catalog for hours ogling all the toys! unfortuently with this new format, kids today won't be able to sit in their rooms, pens in hand, making marks on all the stuff that catches their eye.
I still have all of our old Wishbooks, and still get a kick out of flipping though them and seeing all the marks I made in them, not to mention seeing all the great old toys that I still have fun ogling today!
For those of you who would like to relive the magic of flipping though an old Wishbook, you can check out this great Sears Wishbook 1979 - photoset on Flickr. Have fun, and Merry Christmas!

A Very Retro Merry Christmas

Hello and Merry Christmas... Yes you heard me, Merry Christmas! I don't know about you but the whole politically correct/non offensive Christmas thing has spun out of control. If you want a good laugh, check out the song "Kung Pao Buckaroo Holiday (Featuring The Kung Pao Buckaroos)" by Brad Paisley (I got my copy at the iTunes Music store online) in which they bleep the word Christmas and any other word that could be considered offensive - of course by the end of the song, its just one long beeeep!

Anyway, while checking out all of my favorite blogs, including the Secret Fun Spot Blog, which has a great "The Twelve Years of Christmas" photo run, I have seen lots of old Christmas morning photos, which got me curious to dig up some of my own.
Here are 3 Christmas day photos I found. The first one is Christmas day '67. The other two did not have dates on them, so I had to make an educated guess as to the years. I am going to say that the second photo is Christmas morning 1972 and the third photo is 1978.

Not much I can say about this photo except, wow, what a neat looking race set!
Here are a few great things about this photo: 1) the orange and blue fuzzy slippers I am wearing, 2) the great tractor and wagon I received, 3) the even greater wind up plane I received, 4) the fake present on the tree was my 'costume' in the school Christmas play, 5) the really cool old black and white TV with the jumbo knobs, at the right edge of the photo.
A few things about this photo: 1) The same Christmas tree as the last photo (the same tree we had until we stopped putting up a tree, 2) The brand new color TV with space age remote control, 3) you won't see it in the photo, but the carpet I am sitting on is green 2 inch shag carpeting, 4) the magazine rack on the left hand side of the photo is stocked full of old Sears Christmas catalogs!

O yeah... and one last thing... Merry Christmas!

Wranglers Midnight Madness

What were you doing at 11:59 pm Monday night (Dec 18)? I am enjoying my 4th annual Las Vegas Wranglers Midnight Madness hockey game via the net! Isn't the internet a wondrous thing? It's been marked on my iCal for months now, ever since the Wranglers released their 2006/07 schedule back in August. I stumbled upon the Midnight Madness game 4 years ago, and have looked forward to it each year since. Unfortunately for me, the way things work this year, I don't start my Christmas vacation until next week, so unlike the previous 3 years where I didn't have to work the next day after the Midnight Madness games, this time, I have to go to work the next day, and I don't expect this game to be over until some time around 3 am.
But I wouldn't miss it!... A woman bared her breasts on the big screen at the Wranglers' Midnight Holiday Roundup two years ago and tribute band "Mini Kiss" stole the show at last season's game. About the only thing one can count on at this unique promotion is that the game will go into overtime or a shootout, as the first three midnight games have at the Orleans Arena. We'll have to wait to see how the one turns out in a few hours.
Las Vegas president Billy Johnson came up with the idea to become the first pro sports team to play a midnight game. "I went to school at the University of Kentucky back when it was one of the first schools to do 'Midnight Madness' for the basketball program and it's the first time I've had an opportunity to be in a market to do something like that," he said. "It's definitely a top-five promotion for us, it's so unique. The funny thing about promotions in minor league sports is people like to take ownership of it."
Johnson said the Wranglers have averaged close to 5,000 fans per midnight game.
"I think it's a neat idea. It's something unique to our organization," he said. "We don't mind playing them. The guys get a nice Christmas break after them. It's always the last game before Christmas. And it's something to talk about with your kids or wife someday, that you played a midnight game until three in the morning in Las Vegas.
Here is a great sound bite from last years game, which occurred some time in the third period - around 2:30 am. The game announcer used one of my favorite hockey phrases after a goal... "He put it up where Grandma keeps the cookies", only, he was so tired that it didn't exactly come out as planned. It had me laughing for the next few minutes!

Board Game Mania

Recently I picked up a book called Celebrating Board Games by Nina Chertoff and Susan Kahn. It was only a couple of buck and had some great photos of some nifty Disney board games I hadn't seen before. The same week, I also picked up an old Trouble board game from my local thrift store. I didn't think much about it, until later that same week I happened to see a short time filler on the Space Network. They have a show called "It Came From the Basement" which they show off peoples collections. It usually comes on after a movie etc to fill space before the next show. On this particular episode they went to a guys home that collected board games. He had a few shelves in his living room with some pretty neat looking old board games. I was surprised when the show host asked him questions about a few games, and he said he had no idea what those games were? Then when asked how many games he had in total, he said, "I must have almost 100 games." First off, I could not believe that someone who collected board games would have some in their collection that they had never opened and looked at - he had no idea what the object of some of them was! And second, I thought, "gee, 100... I don't really consider myself a board game collector, and I have almost 100 of them!". Some of my favorites in my collection are: Tank Battle, I Vant to Bite Your Finger, Battling Tops, Park and Shop, Abominable Snowman, Mad Magazine game, Walt Disney's Tomorrowland, Haunted Mansion game, Inner Circle and Clue. And, just for the record... I have played them all!

TV Guide Pulls the Plug

I just picked up the Nov 4-10 edition of TV Guide Canada, and was semi-surprised to see a full page publisher's letter stating that TV Guide would be ceasing publication of the printed edition of TV Guide with the November 25, 2006 issue. I say semi-surprised as I guess it saw this coming some time ago.

Here is the actual letter:
"Dear Reader,
As you may have already heard, the Nov. 25, 2006 issue will be the last issue of TV Guide as a print publication. Instead, TV Guide will be produced as a web magazine starting Nov. 29. Allow me to explain...
TV Guide is a 53-year-old brand that has seen many changes in television though the decades. In TV Guide's early days, there were fewer than 10 channels on television and TV signals were adjustable with rabbit ears. Today, there are nearly 700 channels for our entertainment and we have invited HDTV, PVRs, and cable and satellite signals into out homes.
Times have changed. So, too, has your TV Guide. Now, TV Guide is evolving to take into account how we, as TV watchers, have changed how we choose what to watch on television.
Recent research has shown us that the demand for instant and more detailed TV listings continues to grow as technology permits. Today, on-screen TV listings though digital or satellite services and the Internet have changed people's habits when makings TV viewing choices.
On that note, I am pleased to announce that our investment in www.tvguide.ca will allow you to continue to enjoy all of TV Guide's articles. More importantly, you will be able to access the highest quality detailed TV listings, by community, FOR FREE. This new and exciting website will launch Nov. 29, 2006.
On behalf of all the hard-working staff at TV Guide, I would like to thank you for choosing to have TV Guide delivered to your home. We enjoy creating your magazine just for you.
We thank you for your readership, and we look forward to continuing to serve you at www.tvguide.ca.
Yours truly,
PAMELA MASTER, PUBLISHER"
I had a subscription to TV Guide for years, but didn't bother to renew my subscription once I got digital cable and was able to get an onscreen TV Guide with days in advance listings, search function etc. I did purchase the 3 issues in September which were their annual Fall TV Preview issues (I actually looked forward to those every year!), but since then, I only purchased two issues, an issue with the full NHL TV schedule in it, and the current issue, because it had a cover story on the new show Heroes. I guess its impossible to compete with online TV listings which are free!
As someone who grew up with TV Guide, I will miss seeing it on the news stands each week, and I will certainly miss their Fall TV Preview issues. Its a shame to see yet another thing in my lifetime become outdated and fall by the wayside due to progress. I guess the next thing I will miss will be physical music CDs when they stop selling them altogether in favour of digital downloads only.
TV Guide says they are going to move their magazine online. Will I bother to check it out... probably not.

No Interim CEO's Allowed!

Today I was given the job of tossing a bunch of old magazines into the recycle bins at work. Presented with 3 boxes of magazines, I did what anyone would do. I stopped working and starting leafing though the magazines looking for cool ads!
I found this short article on the last page of the July 20, 1988 TIME magazine: "What does Steve Jobs have to do to get some respect? Apple's co-founder is finally back at the core of the company and beginning to put a bite on its decline, but he's still a nobody to security guards. Following his keynote address at the Mac World convention in New York City, Jobs suddenly found himself barred from the main show floor by a zealous young security guard who observed that Jobs didn't have the appropriate pass. When the many Appleistas with him offered him theirs, the security guard threatened to confiscate the passes and call the state troopers. Despite the flurry of frantic cell-phone calls and cries of "Don't you know who this is?" the guard refused to budge. Jobs had to retreat and find a generic pass with which to enter his own convention. Maybe the guard was a Windows user."

Oops! My Streak Comes To An End

Ok, so my experiment to see how long I could go with posting a daily entry has come to an end after 75 days. My first post was on July 30th, and since then I have posted an entry every day... until yesterday when I totally forgot... Oops!
Don't worry though, I do still plan to continue blogging, and I have enough stuff to keep this up forever!

The DEATH Car

One of my favorite movies is "The Car", a 1977 "B" movie about a possessed car. There were others that tried this formula such as Christine, but this was the original. I remember seeing it at the Drive In when I was young and being pretty scared by this large black car that drove around mowing people down. One of the best scenes in the movie occurs at nighth, and as the car driving right though the second story window of a house, with the just the sound of its horn blaring as it crashes through the house! It scared me then, it makes me smile now.
I loved this quote from one of the review of The Car on Amazon.com, "The Car is so extravagantly cheesy as to be almost surreal. To really understand the greatness of The Car, one must compare it to John Carpenter's Christine, another haunted car film based on one of Stephen King's weakest novels. I've seen Christine once and really don't care to view it again. I've seen The Car many times and will watch it every chance I get. Accurately noted by several reviewers, "The Car" is really "Jaws" on land. This souped up automobile is a sleek black Lincoln possessing a fog horn and a bumper the size of Wilford Brimley's mustache. It runs over bikers, hitchhikers and tuba players with hungry ease, tormenting the local yokel police force with demonic glee."

I recently found this painting of a toy truck sitting on the last step of a staircase. I love the title above the painting. Although it has nothing to do with the movie, every time I see this, it makes me chuckle as I imagine someone coming down the stairs and placing their foot on this toy truck, and woosh, the same results as in the movie!

Fast Food Tray Liners

Tonight I bring you yet another of my favorite items to collect... Fast food tray liners. You know, those pieces of paper that fast food restaurants place on your tray to keep your food from touching the tray - and to get you to stare at their advertising. Since I love fast food signage and advertising, it was just natural that I would start taking home the tray liners. I started collecting them over 20 years ago and am always happy to add a new one to the collection. I just love some of the great graphics and slogans that can be found on a good looking tray liner.
Here is something I found about tray liners on a web site that prints them: "A properly executed tray liner quietly provides more marketing punch. It re-enforces the image of freshness and quality on each tray with every order, and is a visual tie-in to your advertising and radio campaigns"
unfortunately for my blog, tray liners tend to be larger than the scanner bed on my scanner, so it means I must do two scans of each tray liner and then stitch them together. So this may be the only tray liner I display on my blog unless I can find an easier way to get them into my computer.
And just in case you think its strange that I collect tray liners... how about this The Original Condiment Packet Museum. And YES, I do have a bunch of these in my possession!

Englishman River Falls

No time tonight, so here is a quick photo of myself at Englishman River Falls on Vancouver Island some time in the early 70's. This used to be my favorite place to vacation every year. I went back many times to have my photo taken at the same spot. Nothing else to say except, wow, look at the cool sweater I am wearing in the photo.

Supreme Shock Sensation of Our Time!

1n 2004 I read on the internet about a movie called The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra. It was a 2004 movie, but made to look like a 50's B horror movie. I just had to see this movie , but unfortunately it was being shown at a select few movie houses around North America. To my delight it was showing at Tinseltown in downtown Vancouver. I hopped on the skytrain and headed downtown to see this movie. I was not disappointed! It was everything I had hoped it would be and more... terrible sets, goofy lines, cheesy music, and a talking skeleton with wires making it move. What wasn't to like. I liked the movie so much that I joined the Lost Skeleton of Cadavra Yahoo group, and bought the DVD the day it was released. I also made this desktop for my computer using all the fake merchandise they pictured on their official web site. If you still have not seen this movie and you need to get a hold of a copy and see what you're missing!

It looks like we've got another mystery on our hands

I blogged previously about the fact that Coca Cola BlaK had finally arrived on store shelves in my area. And then yesterday I mentioned that I got a bunch of free samples of Coca Cola BlaK at the cranberry festival in Ft. Langley. Well, tonight I noticed something curious. The original bottles that I purchased say "Cola Coffee Fusion Beverage" on them, and the bottles I got yesterday say "Carbonated Fusion Beverage". Everything else about the bottles is exactly the same.
I used to love playing the game "Clue" where you had to solve the mystery of who done it, in what room, with what object. I also used to love watching Scooby Doo (actually I still do) as they solved all those great mysteries. Well gang, it looks like we have another mystery on our hands.
Let's pretend this is the end of the game and/or the end of the Scooby episode. Here is my explanation of what happened:
First, Coke came up with the brilliant idea of fusing Coca Cola with coffee, two of the most widely consumed beverages. What could be better than mixing them together to make one super money making drink. Next they came up with the packaging, a nice Coke shaped bottle with the name Coca Cola BlaK, and the slogan "Carbonated Fusion Beverage". They then started shipping them to store shelves. As consumers began to find these bottles in their local shops, they began to wonder just what fusion had been added to their beloved Coca Cola? After some initial confusion as to just what this new Coca Cola BlaK was, Coke does a quick tweak to the packaging, and "Cola Coffee Fusion Beverage" bottles begin showing up on store shelves, to which consumers happily buy up all the bottles of this new coffee cola concoction. That explains why Coke was giving away the original bottles of "Carbonated Fusion beverage", to get rid of the remaining stock of non "Cola Coffee Fusion Beverage" bottles, and also why they had the 'Coke Team' there to hand them out, and answer everyone's questions of "What is this stuff?".
And there you have my friends, mystery solved... or is it?

Caroline's Winter Holiday

Today we went to Ft Langley to check out the antique mall there. It turned out to be the cranberry festival in Ft Langley and the streets were packed! We spent some time checking out all the activities and obtained a bunch of free stuff including a bunch of free bottles of Coca Cola BlaK (which I blogged about a few days ago). We then had lunch at a little 50's burger dinner, and then finally it was off to the antique mall. I found a great booth with bookshelves full of books. I picked up a couple of great books including "Walt Disney world" 1981 hardcover, "Since the World Began" 1996 hardcover, and "Caroline's Winter Holiday" 1973 hardcover. All three books were under $5 each, a bargain to be sure! The two Walt Disney World books are full of great photos and the Caroline book has more of Pierre Probst's wonderful drawings!


Check out my blog about my first Caroline book "Caroline at the Ranch".
I also picked up a bunch of WDW postcards, mostly from Epcot's World Showcase, as well as an old "The Bobbsey Twins in the Country" novel as a present for my mother who used to read the Bobbsey Twins books as a young girl.
There really isn't anything more fun that spending a few hours rummaging though an antique mall looking for treasures to add to your collection.

Some Swell Greeting Cards

I wish it was my birthday, so that I could send myself some of these neato birthday cards I found at a thrift store a few years ago. I am guessing that some little old lady decided to get rid of her box of cards under the bed. These are some great old vintage cards with some really nice artwork. There is no date on the cards, a few of them do have the "Wishing Well Greetings" logo on the back as well as "Made it USA".
I originally bought these as gag cards that I was going to send to my friends for birthdays etc. In the end I liked them so much, that I never ended up giving any of them away!

Saludos Amigos

Here is a really nice piece of artwork from the Disney anamated film Saludos Amigos (1942). It is a puzzle from the Jaymar Speciality Co. Inc in Brooklyn New York. Unfortunely there is no date on it, but my guess is its from the 50's or 60's. I picked it up a few years ago at an antique mall in Portland, OR. It was well worth the couple of bucks it cost, as I absolutly love the artwork, and Donald Duck and Jose Carioca are a couple of my favorite Disney characters.

Pluto's Dream House

Recently I was watching a few of my Disney Treasures DVD and I happened to watch a cartoon titled Pluto's Dream House (1940). While watching the cartoon I was especially taken by a shot where they show the blue prints for Pluto's new dog house. I remembered that I can use my screen capture application to save anything on my screen, so I decided to turn the shot from the cartoon into a picture that I could just as a desk top for my Mac.

While I was at it, I also copied the title card for the cartoon. I have always loved cartoon title cards & posters - many times they are the best thing about a cartoon! They are often done by a different artist than the cartoon, and many times it looks like they have spend way more time and money on the title card and poster than they did on the rest of the cartoon.
I like title cards so much that a few months ago, I made this desktop using a bunch of title cards from some of my favorite classic Warner Brothers cartoons.

Coaster Mania

Today I was listening to the current Coaster Radio episode "#223 - All Good Things..." in which the hosts were talking about that fact that they were thinking of ending the show after two seasons of weekly podcasts.
I know how hard it can be doing something such as the podcast for such a long time - I did Firehouse Magazine for 18 years! Although I will miss the podcast for which I have become accustomed to listening to each week, I can understand that nothing can last forever. The fact that they could do a weekly podcast (for free no less) for two seasons is to be commended.
If you have any interested in roller coasters and/or theme parks, you will want to check out their site where you can download and listen to the current show as well as all the past episodes.
If you don't know what a podcast is, in simple terms, its a like a radio show that you can download to your computer to listen to any time you want.
And speaking of things that don't last forever, the Scream Machine coaster that was here in Vancouver at Expo 86, was removed shortly after the Expo was over. The Scream Machine was moved to Six Flags St. Louis and is now known as the Ninja.
Here is a great photo of the Scream Machine coaster from a promotional kit I found a few years ago.

A little bit of trivia: The Scream Machine was used for the establishing shots in the "Terror on the Hell Loop 2000" episode of Get A Life, one of my all time favorite TV shows.

Coca Cola BlaK

Tonight at my local 7-11 I picked up a new addition for my Coca Cola collection called Coca Cola BlaK. It says its a 'cola coffee fusion beverage'. I don't know what that is, but since I don't drink coffee, I don't think I will enjoy this drink. I do plan on trying it just so I know what it tastes like, but not tonight, as its too late at night to be trying some cola coffee fusion beverage.
It comes in a cool classic shaped glass coke bottle, which has a plastic covering over the entire bottle. The only place you can actually see the glass bottle, is at the very bottom where there is no plastic covering the bottle. It has the traditional Coca Cola logo with the name BlaK, and a brand new logo which looks like a leaning zero with a small swoosh / slash through it.
If this is like most other odd ball flavours Coke has come out with, this will become a great collectible in a year or so, as it becomes yet another soon to be forgotten flavoured Coke product.