Friday Favorite: Stories from a Pop Culture Past: Stand By Me

Originally published in June 2007
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Two for Flinching. Those were words I grew to loathe with my entire essence in grade school. TFF was a concept that hadn't hit my school until 1986, and I can thank one particular movie for bringing this form of torture into my life: Stand By Me.

Now this game really sucked for me because, like Jerry O'Connell's Vern, I was overweight and I always flinched. I mean, always, so my arms between my elbows and shoulders were purple at the end of a school week from getting wailed on every single day. And when your arms are purple, well, getting punched full bore hurts like hell. And given the fact that in addition to two for flinching, there was also the deadly game, and I can tell you, you really don't want to move your arms.

In adult life, well, if someone or a group of people were doing that to you, well, you probably flat out deck them, but when you are a kid, you play by those stupid rules. If I had been smarter and braver back then, I should have hit someone in the face and when they got pissed at me, told them that they should have flinched. It could have worked. At least in my mind it would have.

Of course, I am very hard to bruise now... I could probably get hit in the arm with a sledgehammer and have just a little light bruising. Not that I want to put that to the test mind you, but I've taken a lot of hard shots to the arms in the past 15 years, and really haven't bruised... so perhaps all that punching did toughen me up.

And with some of the other things that happened in that movie... like I could have gotten a leech stuck in my underwear like Wil Wheaton, or have a huge fat kid barf blueberry pie all over me, because let's face it, those two things would screw you up for life.

Tags: game, two for flinching, stand by me, wil wheaton, 1986, movie, bruising, pop culture, past, corey feldman, jerry o'connell, river phoenix

Adventures in Nostalgia: Fun Dip/Lik-m-Aid

I've thinking lately about the things I enjoyed as a child, and I've been wondering how they've held up, and if I can still like them as an adult.

So in a series of recurring posts, I am going to go back and look at some of the things that I loved as a child/teen and see if they've held their appeal.

I thought it would be nice to start with something most kids love: candy.

Unfortunately, most of the candy that I ate as a child I've had as an adult, so there was no great shock when I kept rediscovering them every few years.

However, there was one confection which I haven't had in about 15-20 years, and that is Wonka's Lik-m-Aid, which is also known as Fun Dip (pictured below).



I ran across some of them when I was at a dollar store recently, and I thought it would be an interesting experiment to document what happened when ate it again.

And last night, I documented my experience eating it.

First 10 seconds: That is a nice intense flavor. It is like someone took some pixie dust and smashed some Sweettarts into it.

30 seconds: That is a strong cherry flavor. Is this what is it like to eat ready to mix Koolaid from a packet?

45 seconds: I think I can actually feel my teeth rotting.

75 seconds: Should my tongue be hurting? Is this too much flavor?

100 seconds: Yeah, this isn't good. It feels like I've been licking sandpaper for a few minutes now.

180 seconds: Oh good, now I can't feel my tongue. Wait, yes I can. Ow.

300 seconds: OK, I have to stop now. It is official. The Fun Dip has beaten me.

Looking at the remaining powder, I can tell I haven't even made a dent in either flavor, and with my tongue feeling like steel wool, I don't plan on finishing this treat. So I would say that no, the Fun Dip is no longer fun.

In retrospect, I don't know what I ever saw in this candy. I know I was hyper and everything, but surely there were better ways of getting sugar.

Tags: adventures in nostalgia, fun dip, lik-m-aid, wonka, candy, recurring feature, tongue, burn

Franken Berry/Boo Berry coming back?

About a year ago, I did a guest post over at Apropos of Something about how much I missed Franken Berry cereal.

I know, I know I'm an adult and I shouldn't be that nostalgic for a sugary sweet cereal from when I was a kid, but man, I've been jonesing for some for quite some time.

But recently someone I know was shopping in the States and they were on the look out for it and the stockboy told them that Franken Berry and Boo Berry are going to be coming back in a big way. How awesome is that.

Yes, General Mills has been making these cereals the entire time, but in very limited quantities over the years. There were still markets that had the cereal year round, and in other places, Franken Berry and Boo Berry would appear on the shelves around Halloween. And it was also available from Amazon.com. However, Count Chocula was the only cereal of that product line that was available everywhere.

But now it looks like that may be changing so all us children of a certain age can get our berry-flavored fix.

This is certainly one rumor I hope turns out to be true.

Tags: franken berry, general mills, boo berry, count chocula, cereal, nostalgia, amazon, apropos of something

Stories from a Pop Culture Past: Stand By Me

Two for Flinching. Those were words I grew to loathe with my entire essence in grade school. TFF was a concept that hadn't hit my school until 1986, and I can thank one particular movie for bringing this form of torture into my life: Stand By Me.

Now this game really sucked for me because, like Jerry O'Connell's Vern, I was overweight and I always flinched. I mean, always, so my arms between my elbows and shoulders were purple at the end of a school week from getting wailed on every single day. And when your arms are purple, well, getting punched full bore hurts like hell. And given the fact that in addition to two for flinching, there was also the deadly game, and I can tell you, you really don't want to move your arms.

In adult life, well, if someone or a group of people were doing that to you, well, you probably flat out deck them, but when you are a kid, you play by those stupid rules. If I had been smarter and braver back then, I should have hit someone in the face and when they got pissed at me, told them that they should have flinched. It could have worked. At least in my mind it would have.

Of course, I am very hard to bruise now... I could probably get hit in the arm with a sledgehammer and have just a little light bruising. Not that I want to put that to the test mind you, but I've taken a lot of hard shots to the arms in the past 15 years, and really haven't bruised... so perhaps all that punching did toughen me up.

And with some of the other things that happened in that movie... like I could have gotten a leech stuck in my underwear like Wil Wheaton, or have a huge fat kid barf blueberry pie all over me, because let's face it, those two things would screw you up for life.

Tags: game, two for flinching, stand by me, wil wheaton, 1986, movie, bruising, pop culture, past, corey feldman, jerry o'connell, river phoenix

Stories from a Pop Culture Past: Life

There are those pop cultural moments and movements which just sweep an entire nation or continent up in their wake, and like anyone else, I've been the victim of quite a few of them, and I thought I would start sharing the tales of how I got to this point of being both an ally and enemy of pop culture. Yeah, that latter designation hasn't really been explored here at Culture Kills... though the title alone should suffice in proving my case.

My childhood was changed forever by a simple slogan from a breakfast cereal commercial.

You see, when I was a kid, I went by my middle name, which is Michael, but everyone called me Mikey. And for those of you who are of a certain age, as soon as I said that name, you know exactly what commercial and product I am talking about.

And if you don't, here is a shorter version of that particular Life Cereal ad.

Yes, that kid robbed me of a little bit of the joy that I may have had as a child.

I was a little bit chubby then, Rubenesque even, and well, at first being told every time you eat something that "Mikey Likes it!" is funny a couple of times, but trust me, it becomes damn near soul-destroying after about week 3 when people say it about everything... and then it just keeps going year upon year.

I mean, I hated that kid, and I had never even met him. And by the time I was 10, there was another Mikey commercial on, and the whole thing started all over.

And at the time, I thought it was weird that some of the other kids wanted me to eat some Pop Rocks and then drink a Coke, but now I know. For shame, for shame.

Why couldn't that character have been named Petey, Sven or Abdul huh? Why Mikey? And why couldn't the Mikey stigma have changed into a post-Goonies thing... who wouldn't have wanted to be Mikey Walsh?

So to the good people at the Quaker Oats Company who, through their advertisement took a little more of the joy out of my young life, and only left me with one little anecdote for that pain: I hate you, though I will still eat your oatmeal, but that's only because of Wilford Brimley.

Tags: life cereal, quaker oats, mikey, pop rocks, goonies, coke, urban legend, rubenesque, hate, wilford brimley, oatmeal, commercial