10/27/2003 Entry: "New on the Countdown: Little Drac, GB Cereal, Spider Rings & More!"

Whoa oh oh, hey hey hey. The Countdown's back up to date with four new entries; a good mix of old and new crap. On the new side, we've got Mummy candies and plastic spider rings. Okay, so the rings are technically old, but I just bought 'em, so there. On the old side, check out this glow-in-the-dark box of Ghostbusters Cereal, and a look back at the mostly unpopular but still happily monstrous Little Dracula toys. The latter two entries both include commercial downloads, hooray. Time for me to get mah groooove on with the next movie review, so I gotta get going.

Chestnuts roasted by Cliff Turkish @ 10/27/2003 11:50 AM EST

Did you ever get toothpaste or a toothbrush? I got those a few times. I also got a few baggies full of pennies. I always hated those people.

Chestnuts roasted by megan @ 10/27/2003 12:00 PM EST

heheheh pennies?? seriously? thats hilarious (pobably wasnt to you at the time but you know...)

Chestnuts roasted by Scourge @ 10/27/2003 12:03 PM EST

I seem to have mislaid my alien mummy. This sarcophagus should contain the remains of Emperor Nimballa, who ruled Zubin 5 over 29 million years ago.

Hey Professor, great jerky!

My God, this is an outrage! I was going to eat that mummy!

Chestnuts roasted by klatubaradanikto @ 10/27/2003 12:11 PM EST

Stupid optic mouse.

I saw a girl credited with being on growing pains on "I love the 80's Strikes Back" and she looked pretty hot. Was that the fat nerd girl, or did they have a baby at the end of the run? I watched the show, but I don't remember.

Chestnuts roasted by klatubaradanikto @ 10/27/2003 12:16 PM EST

Little Dracula...Oh...My...Gawd. You had to bring that back from the dead, didn't you, Matt? Way back in the days of '91(I think), that lil' show and Darkwing Duck were premiering around the same time. I was opting to oust my bro by saying DW would premiere first, seeing as how he is indeed way cooler. I was wrong. Cue corny blood-thirst music. I like Darkwing Duck. I'm dressing up as a Necromancer for 31. The End.

Chestnuts roasted by Armagideon Time @ 10/27/2003 12:44 PM EST

Im dressing up as richard simmons, all i gotta do now is find and oversized wife beater with rhinestones and some canola oil. Oh yea and some of carrot tops pubes.

Chestnuts roasted by shoesalesman @ 10/27/2003 01:02 PM EST

A bag of pennies, you say? I do believe I can top that :)My brother and I were the only kids living on my street when we were lil...everyone else seemed to be 80+. Maybe one or two houses would keep their lights on, but the rest would hide out inside so they wouldn't miss Pat Sajak and have to deal with any "damn kids". Anyway, one year this old lady answered the door looking absolutely terrified. She said she had forgotten what day it was, and after waiting like 5 full minutes (of potential candy gettin' time) she smiled and dropped a gourd into my bag :)

Chestnuts roasted by Applesauce @ 10/27/2003 02:04 PM EST

Klats, that was Tracey Gold, the sister from Growing Pains. I forget her name, but I know she struggled with bulimia and anorexia during the shows run (she was "away at school" or something for a while). Anyway, Kirk Cameron in quasi-religious movies? Like what? I know Buddy (what was his name Willy Ames or something?) from Charles in Charge is now Bibleman, and that's just scary, considering how he was all about the getting laid (but never did).

Chestnuts roasted by Nemesis @ 10/27/2003 02:54 PM EST

I hated the toothbrush people. They were worthy of egging. Which I never did. But one can always fantasize.

Luckilly, the house next to the toothbrushers gave out King Size candy bars. That's like the motherlode right there.

Chestnuts roasted by Tony @ 10/27/2003 03:24 PM EST

Nemsis,

Kirk Cameron got all weird and religious toward the end of the show. Then he started doing the "Left Behind" series which is a series of books made into movies about the end of the world or something like that (hence, the quasi-religious label). If you look him up on imdb.com, his career looks very...strange.

Chestnuts roasted by purplegirl247 @ 10/27/2003 03:33 PM EST

Yeah, Tracy Gold. God, those Gold kids couldn't act to save their lives: she's actually doing things related to pool-safety awareness because one of her children almost drowned in an ungated pool, or something, and only survived because she (or her husband, whose father murdered his mother, by the way) managed to resuscitate the kid before the ambulance got there. And the fact that all of that shit was floating around in my head disgusts me as much as it disgusts you. Kill me now. (But make me make my gym subscribe to something other than stupid entertainment mags before you do). Or make me your Trivial Pursuit partner.

Kirk Cameron, former teen-heartthrob stars in those "Left Behind" movies based on the book series. I know that one because I was raised as an evangelical fundamentalist (don't worry, I got over it and am now wallowing in scrumptious, delightful sin as a radical atheist) and we had to watch the early non-Kirk-Cameron movies which featured the evil heathens guillotining all of the non-saved-people after Christ took all of the good Xians up into da sky, yo.

I do have a local Walmart. And $3CAN ($0.0000001US). And a bus pass to get out to yon Walmart. Yay to the death of the dearth of spider rings which has plagued me! Yay, I say!

(Too little sleep: too much schoolwork).

Chestnuts roasted by Molten @ 10/27/2003 03:40 PM EST

I never thought Tracy Gold to be fat (considering she was bulemic) and the nerd thing . . . well her character was smart but not really a nerd. I found her attractive when I was a kid. Yes, Kirk Cameron does religous movies now, the Left Behind series which sound (wait for the pun) God-awful. I know they're trying to do a service by letting people know about the rapture and end-time stuff, but with subtitles like "Tribulation Force" how can you not laugh the stuff off.

I don't have anything to say about the articles but let's have three cheers for the Bucky O'Hare mention. I only saw a few episodes of the show, but they were damn cool. Lots of Star Wars style action with odd looking characters (how can you not love a green bunny rabit shooting a lazer at a monster made up of television screens?).

I caught a little bit of a movie that's right up your alley, Matt. Maybe you already reviewed it and I don't know. "Troll" starring Noah Hathaway from "Neverending Story." It's one of those horror movies for kids like "The Gate." You see the half alien girl from V-the Final Battle abducted by a troll, Sonny Bonno acting like a MacDaddy then getting turned into a green garden slug, then there was a dancing mushroom and a whole garden full of hand puppet monsters. Great stuff.

Chestnuts roasted by inkmage @ 10/27/2003 04:19 PM EST

I'm glad I was able to bring out the dusty career of Kirk Cameron for anyone else who cared.

Armagideon Time: Darkwing Duck would have had to be late '80s, around 1989, because I remember talking about it with friends in junior high.

Hmm. Bible movies. ArmaGIDEON? Someone is leaving a bible in our drawers, methinks.

Satan, give me spider rings!

Chestnuts roasted by Sean @ 10/27/2003 07:33 PM EST

Halloween penny-givers can go to Hell in my book!
We had this strange couple at the end of the block who would give out tennis balls with faces drawn on them & w/ slits cut in them to look like mouths. They filled these lil' bastards with 10 to 15 pennies.
Grrrrr! Still makes me mad...
I'd rather have a toothbrush. (at least you could use a toothbrush) What the hell are ya' gonna do with 15 cents? Buy 3 MaryJane's?

Chestnuts roasted by TheCleaner420 @ 10/27/2003 08:32 PM EST

i aslo hate people who give out bags of chips. no kid wants chips
they want CANDY!

Chestnuts roasted by Jared @ 10/27/2003 08:47 PM EST

Really? I didn't mind the chips. But then, I'm a starch fiend. And if I had my d'ruthers (and wouldn't rather fit into a swimsuit and still look halfway decent) I would have had more chips and less candy. Mmm. Starchy, sexy d'ruthers.

Chestnuts roasted by Molten @ 10/27/2003 09:12 PM EST

I know how many of you felt about trick-or-treating. I grew up in a seaside resort, where half the houses were closed for the winter. It wasn't that the elderly people who primarily lived there weren't so desperate to be giving out candy they gave out king-sized bars and bags of pennies and books(and many did). Because so many of the homes were already done for the season, my sisters and I often had to troop around half the town before we could even get a decent haul. We'd be completely exausted by the time we got home. I'd usually end up getting tired early and going home first, much to the annoyance of my sturdier sisters.

My brother is both luckier and not quite as lucky. My parents now live in a smaller, more suburban-esque neighborhood, where people actually live year-round. It only takes my brother an hour to get what took us two or more, but he doesn't get stuff that's as good, no huge candy bars or bags of pennies.

Chestnuts roasted by starwenn @ 10/27/2003 10:04 PM EST

bags of pennies? Lucky kids. There was a house that gave away A penny, as in singular, as in 1 cent,stapled in a piece of construction paper. Why even waste the time to hand something out if that's all you're gonna do. Last year one house I took my kids to gave out Jack Chick tracts with a piece of candy.

Chestnuts roasted by candybar @ 10/27/2003 11:52 PM EST

Ahahaha. I'd give out Jack Chick tracts.... but then I'd get egged. :(

And killed. :(

Chestnuts roasted by Melanie @ 10/28/2003 01:03 AM EST

Damn those slasher minis are awesome. Legos? And do they only make those three? Granted those are the best three. Jason's sign was well saved for the end.

Chestnuts roasted by inkmage @ 10/28/2003 05:06 AM EST

Wow -- slashers in Lego medium. The surprises keep coming. Excellent mini-drama (even though I'm too pussy to go see The Texas Chainsaw Massacre lest it be really scary and I end up pulling that blanket-up-to-the-nostrils, eyes-sweeping-the-perimeter-of-the-bedroom thing all night. This was better. Much more my speed).

Chestnuts roasted by Molten @ 10/28/2003 06:10 AM EST

I, too lived in a neighborhood with many elderly people that didn't give out candy. However, they gave it to me and my sister. One house around the block gave us entire pail of candy each one year. That was sweet. I think it had something to do with my dad being an electrician and doing work for just about everyone sometime during my childhood.

Chestnuts roasted by TOP1214 @ 10/28/2003 09:28 AM EST

Wow, I just realized that "Sammy" in the lego article is one of the Dukes of Hazzard action figures I used to have as a kid. I had competely forgotten about them.

Chestnuts roasted by AlfonsoTheBat @ 10/28/2003 10:18 AM EST

Sammy looks a hell of a lot like Bo Duke there pal.

Thanks everyone for the updates on Tracy Gold (really sounds like a pron name).

Nemesis We old folk remember Willie Aames from "Eight is Enough". You see, back in the 70's when there were only 3 or 4 channels, kids had to watch crap like "Eight is Enough", "The Waltons", and "Little House on the Prairie". We watched them (and "Hee Haw"), but we hated them.

The networks got smarter in the late 70's by making fun shows for the coveted 'Kid and Mouth- Breathing Trailer Dwellers' Market like "CHiPs", "B.J. and the Bear" and "Dukes of Hazzard", but they got greedy and went for the 'Kids and Mouth-Breathing City Dweller' market with shows like "Knight Rider" and "Manimal".

The whole thing crumbled when "Miami Vice" mixed Ferrari's, speed boats and alligators with drugs, sex and a black guy handsome enough to make Atticus Finch redundant.

Chestnuts roasted by klatubaradanikto @ 10/28/2003 10:47 AM EST

Right on with the slasher Lego (or are those Minimates?) skit, Matt. Now, if we could only get a few scantily-clad, silicone-enhanced, 29-pretending-to-be-17 generic female Minimates, we could have a real party...

By the by, Matt, did you really hate "Jason vs. Freddy," or was Leatherface not channeling you? Granted I've never seen any of the other films in either series (yeah, I was a wuss as a kid), but I thought it was pretty entertaining.

-D

Chestnuts roasted by The Lucky One @ 10/28/2003 11:33 AM EST

Admittedly I really liked freddy vs jason, and I'm not sure why. Most of those movies are "the blow" but that one I liked. Oh and I actually scored some chocolate marshmellow bats. Been looking forever. May have to save them for the special night.
Where can I get me some of those lego slasher figures?

Chestnuts roasted by spazzamatic @ 10/28/2003 11:45 AM EST

I did a little looking around, those figures are called "Cinema of Fear Mez-itz" do a search on yahoo and you can find em..

Chestnuts roasted by spazzamatic @ 10/28/2003 12:29 PM EST

those figures were creepily realistic on the blood splatters and smears. Not that I would really know what it would look like if there had been a crazy killing rampage, but still...

Chestnuts roasted by allicat @ 10/28/2003 01:07 PM EST

yay! another "talking toy" strip! i love those entries

Chestnuts roasted by 'tin man @ 10/28/2003 01:58 PM EST

I actually had two of those Little Dracula figures as a kid (Twin Beaks and Werebunny). Rather than keep them around and try to sell them, though, I just introduced them to paint and garage tools in my backyard a few years ago. RIP

And boy do I love those toy photo comics! The extended time between each of them makes them all the more special. By the way, Matt, were those freebies from the toy company ala the Marvel MiniMates?

Chestnuts roasted by BS @ 10/28/2003 02:57 PM EST

Sean: Whoops! Sorry 'bout that. Guess I just remember things differently. Whatever it was, DW far outweighs LD. Best thing ever got for Halloween: Ninja Turtles Leonardo Figure. Go figure. HAHAHA. Anywho, sorry 'bout the date screwup, Seanny boy. I got some research to do, via Disney Afternoon. Fare thee well!

Chestnuts roasted by Armagideon Time @ 10/28/2003 03:48 PM EST

What the f*** are Jack Chick tracts?
& why would anyone go through the trouble of hiding pennies in stapled construction paper?
I'd rather get crappy black licorice...YUCK!
:(

Chestnuts roasted by TheCleaner420 @ 10/28/2003 11:23 PM EST

To answer your questions Cleaner:
1) Jack Chick tracts are bunch of "Christian" tracts written by a fundamentalist named Jack Chick, who is annoyingly legalistic. Hell, I'm religious and I don't even share half of his views.
2) I don't know, but talk about workaholism.
3) I surpirsingly love black licorice. But then, I also love beer, jalpenos, and cigars/cigarettes, so black licorice should be no surprise

Anyway, on the fake spiders, I recall a funny story inolving one of these rings and my grandma. Anyway, my brother and I always had such trinkets lying around, and so it's no surprise that a spider ring happened to be sitting on the arm rest of the couch in the TV room. Anyway, my grandparents were over, and my grandma was sitting right near the plastic monstrosity, watching TV. Just then, she happened to notice the little shit out the corner of her eye and immediately gave the plastic spider a good thwack! It freaked her out, but she was fine and ended up laughing about it. She always had a good sense of humor.

Chestnuts roasted by Nate @ 10/29/2003 03:01 AM EST

THANK YOU, NATE! This is the third time today I have either heard or read the name "Jack Chick". Having never heard of him before today, I'm getting a little freaked out. Should I be scared? Just in time for Halloween?

Chestnuts roasted by sweet polly purebred @ 10/29/2003 07:17 PM EST

Nate,
1)Do these "tracks" (Jack Crick)pertain to Halloween in any way?
2)Is this something only canadians know of? (I'm asking because it seems 90% of the peeps here are canucks)
3)I have enjoyed cigs. for 10 years (no more...I recently quit)
& I luv Jalepeno's! (just about any hot peppers)
I prefer wiskey to beer (Jamesons)
But I'm sorry black licorice...Eeewww! (red I can bear)
Black licorice tastes like death! even those sugar coated Good & Plenty's. My grandfather used to eat this rancid stuff called "Sen Sen" (you'd problably love it)

Chestnuts roasted by TheCleaner420 @ 10/29/2003 07:44 PM EST

I ask of these "tracks" because I'm not religious either but had went to 13 years of Catholic School (K through 12) & I never heard of them.

Chestnuts roasted by TheCleaner420 @ 10/29/2003 07:47 PM EST

Here is the halloween Chic Sheet from Chic's web site
http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/0032/0032_01.asp

It's pretty damning, but nothing compared to the awesome ones I pick up at Mardi Gras.

Chestnuts roasted by klatubaradanikto @ 10/31/2003 10:44 AM EST