Happy Birthday Newbury Comics!

Newbury Comics is the name of a chain of retail stores in New England.  The chain currently has 28 stores in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Connecticut and Maine.  They do indeed sell lots of comic books and graphic novels and the like, but they offer a LOT more too: books, magazines, CDs, DVDs, Blu-rays, video games, t-shirts, posters and lots of toys, action figures and other goodies from all corners of pop culture: superheroes, Star Wars, Doctor Who (old and new), The Walking Dead, Star Trek, and all your favorite bands (just to name a few).

I just found out a couple days ago that Newbury Comics was celebrating its 35th anniversary on April 6, 2013.  To commemorate the occasion they had a giant one-day sale where nearly everything in the stores was 35% off (even sale items)!  I was never a very dedicated comic book reader, but always loved taking a trip to Newbury Comics to check out my favorite movies, music and other neat stuff.  A giant 35% off sale was a great excuse to make a trip to Newbury Street in Boston (the flagship store for the chain).

It seems hard to believe that Newbury Comics has been around for thirty-five years.  The store's not as old as me (I was eight when it opened, and didn't start patronizing it until my teenage years), but it's still hard to imagine.  In 1978 vinyl records weren't a neat and hip option for music--they were the main format for music.  When I first started going to the store the big format was cassette tapes.  Later on CDs came along.  Now the CDs (and the vinyl selection for that matter) have to duel with virtual adversaries like mp3s and iTunes.  Newbury Comics has also weathered the home entertainment revolution spurred by the video cassette recorder (VCR).  VHS (and Beta) tapes were eventually replaced by DVDs and Blu-ray (which have their own virtual adversaries online).

Despite being such a New England institution for so long and having 28 outlets, Newbury Comics still manages to feel like an independent local store rather than some giant cookie-cutter chain store.  Speaking of the big chains, when my friends and I used to travel into Boston to cruise Newbury street--and Newbury Comics--back in the 1980s this now-vacant building used to house a gigantic multi-floor Tower Records store.

Back to the sale.  I got to the store a few minutes before the doors opened at 10:00 AM.  There was a modest line of people waiting to get in.  Obviously word of the big sale had gotten around.  It was kind of funny watching the other Newbury Street shoppers walking by and trying to figure out why people were lined up in front of the store.

Waiting for the doors to open

Time to spend (and save) some money!

When the store opened the crowd moved inside.  It was relatively quiet at first, but in the approximately hour-and-a-half that I spent there, the store filled up with bargain hunters pretty quickly.  People congregated around their areas of interest (comic books, jazz CDs, t-shirts and other clothing, DVDs and Blu-rays...).  The most interesting group (to me at least) was the crowd of eager vinyl fans pouring over the record section.

Vinyl collectors (right), with posters and Doctor Who merchandise nearby

T-shirts and racks of CDs

Some of the comic books for sale in the store

a selection of superhero banks

It was hard to resist these Han Solo in carbonite ice cube molds!

While I spent most of my time browsing, I did manage to find a few things (four to be exact) that I just couldn't resist.  It felt odd not buying any music (or even a few comic books), but I still think I ended up with a pretty good representation of what Newbury Comics is about.  The first thing was a Ghostbusters t-shirt (that glows in the dark!), which I've been planning on buying since last October to replace an old one I have that has a hole in it.  I'm always looking for a bargain and find it hard to shell out $19.99 for a t-shirt.  With the 35% discount the Ghostbusters shirt only cost $12.99!  Guess it was worth the wait.

I also got a wind-up Doctor Who Dalek toy for The Little Monsters (and, yes, for me too I suppose).  This one had a price on it of $9.99, but with the 35% off deal it only cost me $6.49.

The last two items I bought were movies sets on DVD.  As it turns out they were both very appropriate choices for the day.  It just so happens that both of them were originally released in 1978--the same year that Newbury Comics opened!  First up is the four disc Special Edition set of "Superman: The Movie" (1978).  I have a bare-bones set of all four of the Christopher Reeve "Superman" movies, but couldn't resist what was probably the bargain of the day.  The price tag on this one was a more-than-reasonable $6.99.  But it was already on sale for only $3.99.  With the anniversary discount added it only cost $2.59!  That's well under a dollar per disc!

And finally, I also got the Ultimate Edition four disc set of "Dawn of the Dead" (1978).  This is a movie I already have on a single DVD, but to get this set for a ridiculously low price was a no-brainer (no zombie pun intended).In addition to the U.S. theatrical release (that I have on my older DVD) this set also includes the Extended Version and the European Version of the film along with a bunch of extras.

The funny thing about this set was that the store had two copies of it on the shelf.  One was a used copy that had a price of $14.99.  Right below that one was a brand new copy for...$13.99.  Yes, I paid a buck less for a new copy!  Actually I paid quite a bit less, because with the discount added in it only cost $9.09.

Hmmm.  $14.99 used or $13.99 new?  Tough choice!

These four items would have cost me a total of $50.96 (without Massachusetts tax added) according to the price tags (and not counting the sale on the "Superman" set.  With the 35% anniversary discount it really felt a bit like time was rolled back and I was paying 1978 prices.  The whole mess, including tax cost only $32.30!

Here's a video I made about the Newbury Comics haul:

Happy Anniversary Newbury Comics!

And here's to the next thirty-five years!

Separated at Birth 6: Frank Asaro and The Bearded Who

Another in the continuing series dedicated to the Separated at Birth phenomenon.

So a few days back I was watching an old episode of the show "In Search of..." called "The End of the World" for a blog I was writing on the subject.  The episode came from the fifth season of the show, way back in 1981.

One of the experts consulted on the subject of various possibilities for the end of the world in this episode was a scientist from Berkeley named Frank Asaro.  Now, I can't say that I'd ever heard of Mr. Asaro before watching this old show, but for whatever reason there was something about him that seemed very familiar to me.

Frank Asaro: Scientist

I couldn't quite place it at first, but this familiarity seemed to have something to do with the epic beard he was sporting.  The first thought was that he resembled former U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop.  A case could probably be made that Frank Asaro and C. Everett Koop were indeed separated at birth.  They were supposedly born eleven years apart, but are certainly contemporaries of each other.

C. Everett Koop

Frank Asaro

But, as you've probably noticed, the title of this edition of Separated at Birth doesn't mention C. Everett Koop.  No, there seemed to be something else nagging at my mind when I saw Mr. Asaro.  I saw the "In Search of..." episode less than a week before Christmas and it felt like Frank Asaro's long-lost "relative" must have had something to do with the season at hand.  The answer was found in the old animated Christmas special "How The Grinch Stole Christmas"(1966).  This Boris Karloff-narrated show was alway a favorite of mine as a kid (and still is, as a matter of fact).

In the show, when the Whos of Whoville started singing the song "Welcome Christmas" there's a moment when a bearded Whovillian appears alongside some of his fellow citizens.  This particular Who had a very distinctive beard.  A beard not unlike...Frank Asaro's (and C. Everett Koop's too for that matter).

Now, note the resemblance between the bearded Who and Frank Asaro.  Similar Beard.  Similar hairline.  Throw some glasses and a tie on the Who and it's almost uncanny, right?

The Bearded Who

Frank Asaro

I can't say for sure that Frank Asaro and the bearded Whovillian were indeed separated at birth.  The fact that one is a human being and one is an animated character would seem to make it rather unlikely.  But then again, we have seen some rather odd pairings in earlier Separated at Birth installments: like Tim Tebow and Bigfoot, and Reese Witherspoon and Sister Bear (from The Berenstain Bears).  I suppose a less dramatic explanation could be that Mr. Asaro was simply inspired (consciously or unconsciously) by a viewing of "How The Grinch Stole Christmas".  Either that or (probably more likely) he was a fan of Abe Lincoln's style.

Abraham Lincoln

Frank Asaro

I don't know what ever became of the bearded Whoville resident in the years since he helped usher in Christmas by singing "Welcome Christmas" back in 1966.  Does anyone happen to know what the average life span is for a Who?  HIs bald head and white beard would seem to indicate that he was already an elder of the town, but I really couldn't say how old he would have been back when the special first aired, or if he'd be likely to still be alive today.

However, thanks to the internet we do have a better idea of what happened to Frank Asaro in the three-plus decades since his appearance on "In Search of...".  According to his Wikipedia page he's still "an Emeritus Senior Scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory associated with the University of California at Berkeley."  And according to Berkeley's Environmental Energy Technologies Division website he's part of the Sustainable Energy Systems Group.  Here's a more recent photo of Mr. Asaro from that site:

Note that after all these years he's still rockin' his trademark beard!

...Even if it is cropped a little closer these days.

See more instances of people (and other things) that seemed to have been "Separated at Birth" below:

Separated at Birth: Kiefer Sutherland and Julia Stiles

Separated at Birth 2: Tim Tebow and Bigfoot 

Separated at Birth 3: Reese Witherspoon and Sister Bear

Separated at Birth 4: Luis Guzman and Trog

Separated at Birth 5: Lindsay Wagner and Julia Stiles

It's The End of the World ...Again

I'm writing this at a little after midnight, and December 21, 2012 is just getting under way.  Of course, December 21 started many hours ago on the other side of the earth, but that's beside the point.  Despite what many believe the ancient Mayans predicted, I have a feeling that December 21, 2012 will be a lot like December 20, 2012--and December 22, 2012 for that matter.  True, there are still twenty-four hours to go before I can safely say that nothing bad or "earth-shattering" happened on this date, but I feel pretty comfortable believing that the world is not going to end today.

The End of the World, Doomsday, The Apocalypse, Judgment Day, Armageddon and many other ideas about  how and when our planet will end have been predicted for centuries.  It seems like every couple of years we are presented with a new date for the end of the world.  Heck, it was only about a year-and-a-half ago that we were hearing all about Judgment Day and The Rapture (which passed very quietly).  Sometimes these dates are based on translations of writings/predictions from centuries ago.  Sometimes they come from some mystical cult leader who will somehow manage to convince a dedicated following that he/she knows what they are talking about.  With any luck these predictions will simply pass, the leader will be discredited and those poor souls under the cult's spell can try to get back to their lives.  Unfortunately, in some instances the leader's personality and magnetism are so strong that his/her followers might be led to believe that they must kill themselves to satisfy some need of the Gods or aliens or whatever crazy story the leader dreams up.

Predictions about the end of the world can come from biblical passages, from oracles and prognosticators of the future (like Nostradamus), from self-styled messengers of God (see cult leaders above) or many other sources.  While most of these predictions seem mystical and religious in nature there was also a very real threat of global destruction which for decades had the world teetering on the brink of disaster.  This was the threat of atomic and/or nuclear disaster known as the Cold War.  It's probably hard for someone growing up today to imagine how real this threat felt at the time.  From the late 1940s right up until 1989 there was a general sense of potential doom as the United States and Russia held a dangerous stalemate between them.  One bad decision or one small mishap or miscommunication could have ushered in a man-made disaster the likes of which had never been seen.  Over the years the two main combatants of the Cold War were joined by other countries which managed to develop their own nuclear arsenal.

Even though the Cold War is now over, there is still a very real possibility of all-out nuclear war.  While stockpiles of weapons have been lessened, I'm sure there are still plenty of them left to devastate large swaths of the planet if they were to be detonated.  And unstable governments like North Korea and Iran are still trying to gain access to the not-so-exclusive-anymore club of countries that possess those weapons.  Whether the end comes by way of nuclear weapons, a meteor or asteroid (or rogue planet), natural disaster, biblical prophesies come true, some form of Super Flu, global warming, alien invasion or even the Zombie Apocalypse, there are many possibilities to continue to worry about if one so chooses.  But at least we can say that, despite what Hollywood might have us believe (see movies like "2012" and "2012: Doomsday"), the earth should live to see the dawn of 2013 and perhaps beyond.

I'm no expert on this topic, but from what I've been reading it seems that the Mayan calendar responsible for all this December 21, 2012 stuff simply ends on that date, only to start over with a whole new cycle.  I suppose it's pretty boring to say that you just go back to the beginning to start that new cycle and it's more "interesting" to say that the cycle ends with death and destruction before a new cycle can begin ("re-cycle"?).

For a look at the Mayan civilization and its "predictions"--from a 1970s point of view--here is an episode from the classic TV series "In Search of..." from 1977 titled "Mayan Mysteries".

In Search of...  Mayan Mysteries

Interestingly, this episode says that the ancient Mayan calendar we hear so much about ends on December 24, 2011 instead of December 21, 2012.  I believe that this discrepancy is due to the fact that the Mayans didn't have leap years.  Thirty-five years after this episode we have finally reached the end of the Mayan Calendar.  Hopefully December 21, 2012 will end the same way as thousands and thousands of days have ended before it and we will live to see December 22, 2012.  Then perhaps we can finally feel safe again.  ...But, for how long?

Resurrecting The Past: Hostess Choco Bliss (Part 1: The Past)

Twinkies, the de facto face of the Hostess company

The Hostess company has been getting a lot of press lately for threatening to go out of business.  It seems like every year or two we hear new reports about the demise of the maker of Twinkies, Hostess Cupcakes, Ho Ho's and many other confectionary treats.  It looks like this time it might actually happen.  I actually regret not buying one last box of Twinkies before they all disappeared off the shelves.  It really didn't seem possible that I could walk into a store and not see Hostess products for sale, but that is the way things are at the moment.  It would seem that Twinkies have become a victim of the times.  People are more health conscious today.  Yes, there will always be people who will buy Twinkies and other fat, sugar and cholesterol-laden treats, but nowadays there just aren't enough of them to sustain a gigantic company like Hostess.  I'm as guilty as anyone for the company's downfall.  I have a huge sweet tooth and admit to still loving the taste of those golden, creme-filled cakes that have been rumored to be able to outlast cockroches after the apocalypse.  Yet, even though I could probably be happy eating a package of Twinkies a day I do realize that's not a good idea.  Just to get a taste of them I'll buy a box or two a year.  That's not going to keep Twinkie The Kid from joining the ranks of the unemployed.  I have no doubt that we'll see Twinkies again one day--when another company swoops in and buys the reicipe and name from Hostess (or whatever legal title owns the rights at the time).

Hostess Choco Bliss

Anyway, I thought this would be a good time to talk about another in the long line of Hostess products: the Choco Bliss.  This fabled snack was introduced back in the mid-1980s--a time when I was a youthful teenager with a taste for sweets.

Choco Bliss were billed as a "Chocolate Lover's Dream", and it was hard to argue with that description.  Check out the expressions on the faces of these kids and adults from the only two commercials for Choco bliss that can be found on YouTube.  They may be staged, but looking at these ecstatic expressions you can get an idea of what the experience of diving into a Choco Bliss was like for a chocolate lover in the 80s.  I won't mention anything about the apparent use of vague sexual imagery used in these ads, other than to acknowledge it.  Judge for yourself.

So, what made Choco Bliss a "Chocolate Lover's Dream"?  Well, the cakes in a package of Choco Bliss were larger than Twinkies.  From what I remember they rivaled the size of Hostess' other giant snack cake, Suzy Q's.  Granted I was only a young teenager at the time and they might have seemed larger to my not-yet-fully-grown hands, but  did eat Suzy Q's at the time so it should be a valid comparison.

Like Suzy Q's, a Choco Bliss consisted of two oversized devil's food cake sticks with a creamy layer in between.  While the Suzy Q had (and still has) a white creme center Choco Bliss had a chocolatey middle layer.

Then, just to cement Choco Bliss' place in the heart of dreaming chocolate lovers, another layer of chocolate icing was applied to the top, making a total of four layers of chocolate (three completely different ones) in a single snack!  The two non-cake layers were different from each other too: the top one was a denser, frosting-like covering or icing with lines running the length of the cake while the middle layer had a creamier consistency and a lighter color.

Unfortunately, the Choco Bliss went the way of the dinosaur a few years later.  I don't know exactly when they stopped being produced, but can't recall seeing them on shelves in the early 1990s.  It seems like they had a rather short heyday compared to gray-beards like Twinkies, Hostess Cupcakes and Hostess Fruit Pies.  Chocolate lovers everywhere must have lamented the demise of Choco bliss while diabetics probably rejoiced.

Image from Choco Bliss ad that could just as easily be a tombstone for the long-gone snack

Back in the 1980s I was a fan of most snack treats made by Hostess and other companies like Drake's and Little Debbie.  I don't recall having a favorite.  Sometimes I would get Twinkies.  Other times it would be an Apple or Chocolate Pie, Cupcakes or Suzy Q's.  It all depended on what I felt like that day.  About the only thing I wouldn't eat was Snowballs because I don't like coconut.  While I might not have considered Choco Blss to be my official "favorite" I had a friend who swore by them.  He frequently called them a chocolate lover's dream and I actually thought he made the line up himself until I realized it was on the packaging of the cakes.  All these years later we still recall those heady days when you could buy a quick overload of chocolatey goodness at the corner store whenever the craving hit.  There are plenty of chocolate-based sweets available in stores today, but nothing really seems to compare to what Choco Bliss offered a hungry, snack-seeking world.  A lot of this feeling can be attributed to the fact that Choco Bliss hasn't existed for so many years.  A nostalgia for the "good old days" and looking at the past through rose-colored glasses might add some extra goodness to what Choco Bliss actually was, but it does seem true that nothing has really come along in the ensuing years that really compares to them.

Here are the two commercials for Choco Bliss from the 1980s that have provided most of the photos for this installment of of Resurrecting The Past.  The first one is geared toward kids.  Check out this post about the ad from the site X-Entertainment for an absolutely hilarious moment-by-moment dissection of the commercial.

The second commercial shows that Choco Bliss cakes weren't simply kids' stuff.  A man and a woman in this ad can't hide their excitement as they partake of the embarrassment of chocolatey riches provided by their beloved snack cakes.

Many months ago I got to thinking about Hostess Choco Bliss once again.  I was trying to think if there was anything out there that was similar to them.  A less-than-exhaustive search provided three contenders, but none of them could measure up (literally or figuratively) to Choco Bliss.  I'm not a cook by any means, but I decided that the only choice was to make an attempt to recreate (in some small way) the magic that Hostess had captured during the short but sweet reign of the Choco Bliss.  Part Two of this blog will detail that mission.  Stay tuned and stay hungry...

Seven Years of Monster Dad

Seven years?  Really?  Well, no.  The blog Monster Dad has actually only been around for about two-and-a-half years.  But, my Little Monster was born seven years ago today!  While the term didn't exist yet, on that day I first became Monster Dad.

I didn't start inundating The Little Monster with all the old monster movies and other interests of mine that I've shared with her until she was a couple years old.  At first she was simply a baby, and I was simply a new father who had no idea what to do or just how much life was about to change.  Fatherhood has been a real "adventure" and a true life-changer (naturally).  Of course a few years later we just had to do it all over again and now have two of these Little Creatures underfoot.  The whole experience has at times been much scarier than some of the monster movies I love, but it has also been rewarding too.  And it definitely helped that The Little Monster was willing to indulge some of my interests--and even seemed to enjoy many of them herself.

Watching "Star Wars: Episode IV" together at my 40th birthday backyard drive-in party

Preparing to watch "Ghostbusters" on the big screen last month

Preparing to watch "Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein" at the local library

Now that she is seven we are starting to really see evidence of her "growing up", and I don't like it one bit.  The Little Monster recently lost the second of her two front teeth.  The Wife informed me told me that she asked her if the Tooth Fairy was real after she found her tooth replaced by a five dollar bill (inflation is a real killer!).  While certainly a valid question and concern, it was the first time The Little Monster has questioned the reality of something that most little kids simply accept as the truth.  I wonder if Santa is next?  Yikes!  Luckily, she still has some of that innocent side in her.  She still asks me "Daddy, is this real?" pretty much whenever we see anything even slightly scary in a movie or TV show that we watch.  She's growing up, but I still love to see that childish (not in a negative) sense of imagination that allows her to be frightened by stuff that in reality isn't all that scary!

I know that as The Little Monster gets older and older we'll have less and less in common as far as my geeky interest in all the old and childish things that have captivated me since I was a kid myself.  But I'll always cherish the time we've spent together and all the things we've watched, read and experienced as Monster Dad and Little Monster!  How many kids of the 2010's have an appreciation for not only Barbie, Disney Princesses and Spongebob Squarepants, but also old Godzilla movies, Mystery Science Theater 3000, Abbott & Costello, The Three Stooges, Bigfoot, The Abominable Snowman, The Loch Ness Monster, Tom Baker-era "Doctor Who", Styx's song "Mr. Roboto", old (1960s-70s) cartoons like Spiderman and Scooby-Doo, and even classic old-time-radio shows like "The Dark" and "The Chicken Heart"?

Here's "The Dark" and "The Chicken Heart"

in case you are interested in hearing them

Here are a few more of the many special moments from the past seven years:

The Monsters watching "A&C Meet Frankenstein" last year

The Monsters watching "The Berenstain Bears Meet Bigpaw"

Godzilla preparing to go for a stroll with Finz

Hanging with Penny Dreadful and Garou of the show "Shilling Shockers"
(Note Witch Barbie)

Passing an old Abominable Snowman children's book of mine on to a new generation

Watching "The Incredible Shrinking Man" for the first time last year

The climatic tarantula scene from "The Incredible Shrinking Man"

While I wouldn't try to say that these things will serve her well as an adult in her pursuit of an education and a successful career, I can't help but think that she'll be just that much more well-rounded as an individual (even if it's only in some small, weird way) with all these odd things enjoyed in her childhood.  I could be wrong, but I'd like to think that I'm not.  Only time will tell...

Which reminds me...  A long time ago I wrote about the problems I have with Time and the passage of Time (in Monster Dad vs. Time).  Looking at my Little Monster as a seven-year-old and seeing how much she's grown up has only reminded me of just how cruel and uncaring Time really is.  What happened to that little baby who would fall asleep in my arms as I read books to her at bedtime?  Where is the little girl who fit into that tiny dragon costume she wore at Halloween a few years back?  How can it be that she is now in first grade, learning so much and growing so much every day?  Before I know it she's going to be older than I was when I first discovered all the wonderful things of my youth that I've been sharing with her.  I was about to suggest that maybe someday she will be sharing some of those same interests with her own children, but THAT thought would be the ULTIMATE terror for this particular Monster Dad!

HAPPY 7th BIRTHDAY LITTLE MONSTER!