Archive for pop culture

Ordering “secret” fast food menu items

Posted in fast food, food, McDonald's, pop culture with tags , , on June 25, 2010 by Paxton

Fast food menus are constantly in flux. They will add and remove things as times and tastes change. However, since everything uses the same basic ingredients, it’s usually still within a fast food restaurant’s power to make these discontinued items if they are so inclined. This is how a “secret menu” is created. Items that have been discontinued but can still be ordered because they still have the stuff there to make it, they just don’t advertise it. Many of our favorite fast food places have these “hidden” menu items, and if you Google hard enough, you’ll find them.

Or, you can just have me do it for you.  Here are some of the “hidden menu” items you can still find at some of our favorite fast food places.

In n Out Burger
In ‘n Out Burger has the most well known of the “secret menus”. It’s most well known because they actually posted it on their website (thereby negating the “secret” part). You can get a grilled cheese, “Animal Style” burgers (mustard grilled burgers, cheese, grilled onions) as well as “Animal Style” fries (same toppings as the burgers) and burgers labeled like they were lumber; 3×3 (3 patties and 3 cheese slices) and 4×4 (4 patties and 4 slices of cheese).  They even go all the way up to a 100 x 100 burger which you need two friends to help you carry out of the restaurant.  And in a great reference to a Blues Brothers song (Rubber Biscuit) In-n-Out has a secret sandwich called a “Wish Burger”.  As the song says, a “Wish Burger [sandwich]” is the kind of a sandwich, “where you have two slices of bread and you, hehehehehe, WISH you had some meat!  Bow, Bow, Bow!”  The buns are piled high with lettuce, onions, double tomatoes and sauce.

Starbucks in Chicago
If you go to Starbucks there are a plethora of options for you to choose from that aren’t specifically on the menu. Tired of feeling hemmed in by the size choices and paying $5 for a small? Order the original small size (before Starbucks supersized their choices) — it’s called Short (currently the kid’s size).  How about a Cap’n Crunch Berry Frappuccino which involves a Strawberries & Cream Frappucino with a pump of hazelnut flavoring?  It supposedly tastes just like the cereal. For you caffeine cowboys out there order up The Red Eye which is a normal drip coffee with an extra shot of espresso. Want two shots of espresso? It’s a Black Eye. Don’t feel like sleeping the next two days? Try a Green Eye (3 shots of espresso).  FYI, if you want an extra shot of espresso at Dunkin’ Donuts it’s called a Turbo Hot Coffee.

McDonalds
According to the McDonald’s employee group at Live Journal, there are tons of creations you can order “off the menu”. How about a Neopolitan milkshake? It’s a mixture of the strawberry, vanilla and chocolate shakes.  Or the awesomely named McGangbang, which is a McChicken sandwich in the middle of a double cheeseburger.  If you think your arteries are getting a bit loose, try the Monster Mac which is a Big Mac with 8 burger patties.  That’ll harden up those loose arteries in no time.  Also try the Chicken & Waffles; it’s a McGriddle sandwich with chicken instead of sausage.  Or, if you want a sampling of everything, try the Land, Sea & Air Burger which consists of a hamburger patty, a Filet-O-Fish and a chicken patty stacked on top of each other, separated with cheese and between two buns.  See all the fun you can get into at Mickey D’s?

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Watching the EncoreHD Karate Kid marathon

Posted in 80s, movies, pop culture, reviews with tags , , on June 15, 2010 by Paxton

EncoreHD showed a marathon of all four Karate Kid movies this past weekend.  In preparation for the new movie, I sat down and watched the entire series.  From Crane kick to the new chick I endured the entirety of this series in one fell sweep (of the leg).

I originally saw the the first three movies in the theater.  I didn’t see Next Karate Kid until several years after it hit video mainly because it looked terrible and secondly, I’m a misogynist.  I remember loving the original, liking Part II but thinking it was a bit boring and really enjoying Part III.  When I watched Part IV on video, I thought it was as bad as I expected it to be.  Let’s see if my thoughts on these movies have changed over the years.

The Karate Kid
The Karate Kid (1984) – This is a nearly perfect movie.  I enjoyed every moment of every scene.  Despite being just over 2 hours, the movie felt slim and trim.  It starts off with several good action scenes then it begins a slow burn with Daniel’s training finally finishing in a whirlwind set of scenes at the All-Valley Karate Championships.  Macchio is great as Daniel and Elizabeth Shue is cute and fun as Ali.  The best people in the movie, however, are Pat Morita as Miyagi, William Zabka as Johnny and Martin Kove as Kreese.  Morita is wonderfully subtle and humorous as Miyagi.  You always enjoy watching him on screen.  And his fighting scene where he kicks the Cobra Kai’s asses is perfectly done.  Zabka totally owns as the rich douche Johnny Lawrence.  As with his other “bully” roles (Just One of the Guys and Back to School) you almost feel like he enjoys terrorizing and harassing other kids.  And the collection of teens he hangs out with are just as good in their supporting roles.  In this, Zabka is sneeringly wonderful.  And what’s to say about the despicable John Kreese?  He sulks his way through this movie spouting macho platitudes about no fear and no pain and generally getting the audience to hate him.  And he does it well.  This movie most definitely still holds up and I can wholeheartedly recommend this movie even today.  I hope the new movie is as charming and funny as the original (a tall order, I know).

Karate Kid Part II
The Karate Kid Part II (1986) – Okay, like I said, when I originally saw this in the theater I thought it was only okay and a tad boring.  The first ten minutes which picks up immediately after the karate tournament is fantastic and may have set the bar a little high.  In that first ten minutes we see John Kreese and the Cobra Kais (yes, all five of the boys return in what is essentially a cameo) arguing about Johnny’s second place.  Kreese starts beating them up then Miyagi steps in and finishes it.  Totally awesome and pretty much better than the rest of the movie.  Anyway, after this, Daniel tags along, uninvited mind you, with Miyagi to visit Okinawa to see his dying father.  While there we meet Sato, Miyagi’s former best friend who now wants to kill him and that best friend’s mean and douchey nephew Chozen.  Sato and Chozen are kind of setup as John Kreese and Johnny Lawrence characters in that they terrorize Miyagi and the village.  This movie reveals an interesting fact about Miyagi’s karate; he enjoys punching people in the crotch.  There’s a scene in this movie where Miyagi teaches Daniel a move where you drop a rag (or something) on the floor and and when you pick it up you use your lower position to punch your opponent in the balls.  Daniel even uses this maneuver on Chozen later on in the movie.  If you remember in the first movie, when Miyagi is beating up the Cobra Kais he totally kicks Dutch in the nuts.  So, essentially, a “shot to the pills” is an official move in Miyagi-Do karate.  That’s good to know; if you ever fight someone taught by Miyagi then protect your loins.  Anyway, everything comes to a head during a hurricane, Sato switches over to the good guys and at the final festival, Daniel has to fight Chozen in a “death match” (why it’s Daniel’s job to fight in this death match, I have no idea).  The fight is slightly better choreography-wise than the first movie, but again it’s straining my own personal believability that Daniel would be able to beat Chozen.  I do like that Daniel actually tries to Crane kick Chozen and it gets blocked.  Makes sense because Chozen was taught by Sato who was taught by Miyagi’s dad, so that technique would be familiar to him.  But the “new” Crane kick, the drum maneuver, is dumb.  And I hate the nose “honk” at the end.  HATE IT.  So, I still think this movie is a bit boring.  I don’t honestly care a lot about the story, it’s not as personal to me as the first movie.  And I have trouble understanding why it’s Daniel’s responsibility to fight Chozen to the death.  Daniel has nothing to do with it.  For me, except for the first 10 minutes, this movie was mildly entertaining at best and boring at worst.

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Famous First Editions: A look at the origin of our most famous toys

Posted in Americana, nostalgia, pop culture with tags , , on June 4, 2010 by Paxton

There are so many toys that have become timeless. Toys your parents played with, toys you played with, toys your own kids will play with. As I’m soon to be a dad myself, I got to thinking about these toys that have become ubiquitous, that have spanned the generations to be enjoyed by different children in different eras.

Here are some of our most famous toys that have been around for decades and look to be around long after all of us are gone.

1st Matchbox car 1st matchbox car with box(Pics via darkens.net.nz)
Matchbox die cast cars – Matchbox cars were started in 1953 by British toy company Lesney Products. Co-owner Jack Odell created the idea for the tiny cars because his daughter was only allowed to bring toys to school if they could fit in a matchbox. So he decided to scale down one of their larger toys, the red and green road roller, and that became the #1 1A Diesel Road Roller (pic above), the first Matchbox car ever. A dump truck and a cement mixer would complete the first 3 cars in what would come to be known as the original “75 series” of Matchbox cars. The website darkens.net.nz is a great resource for pics and information on vintage Matchbox products.

1968 Sweet 16 Hot Wheels 68 cougar
Hot Wheels die cast cars – As seen above, Lesney dominated the small die cast car market from the time they introduced Matchbox cars throughout the ’60s. Mattel decided to throw it’s hat in the ring to grab some of that die cast money with it’s Hot Wheels line in 1968. That series of cars in 1968 has come to be known as the “Sweet 16” (see pic on left via Worthpoint.com). They were all released at roughly the same time, but the first numbered car was #6205a – The Custom Cougar (pic on right via Hot Wheels Wiki).

1st issue Barbie(via Dolls4Play)
Barbie – A Mattel executive’s wife noticed that all girls’ dolls looked like infants. There were no adult female dolls for kids to play with. When she brought this up to her husband he and the rest of Mattel were unenthusiastic about the idea. I mean, she was just a woman, what the hell did she know about dolls? Am I right? Anyway, on a trip to Europe the wife came across the German Bild Lili doll, which was an adult female doll based on a popular comic strip character. She bought three, brought them home to America and worked with Mattel engineer Jack Ryan to create the first Barbie doll which was named after her daughter, Barbara (see pic above). Barbie was introduced at the 1959 Toy Fair in New York.  Retailers were reluctant at first but within a year the dolls were selling out of stores across America.  Ken was introduced in 1961 (named after Barbara’s brother) and then Skipper in 1964 (no idea where that name came from).

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Back to the Future The Video Games

Posted in Back to the Future, movies, pop culture, video games with tags , , , , on May 28, 2010 by Paxton

Cavalcade Arcade

So, we come to the end of my celebration of Back to the Future Part III’s 20th anniversary this week. On Wednesday I looked back at the Back to the Future Fan Club which debuted late in 1989 and lasted throughout 1990. Now, let’s take a look at the video games that were spawned by these movies.

The first game we are looking at was released in 1990, the same year as Part III. It was The Back to the Future Pinball Game by Data East.  Here is a 1990 trade magazine ad for the Back to the Future Pinball Game.

BTTF Pinball

The graphics and images on this machine are awesome, but completely counterbalancing that awesome is the absolutely ridiculous looking models they used for Doc and Marty. W. T. F?!  They look like Abbot and Costello (or Costello and Costello…because they are both “fat”).  Is Doc wearing black, white and blue leggings?!  I don’t remember Marty ever wearing a ball cap…oh, except in 2010 when he was disguised as his son, but that hat was rainbow colored.  My eyes are watering just staring at this thing.  Horribly awesome.  That’s what this is.

Here are some pics of the actual, live machine without the ridiculous looking models.

BTTF pinball top BTTF pinball side
(pics via Pinball Rebel)

There are more pictures over at Pinball Rebel. Go check them out.

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Remembering the Back to the Future Fan Club

Posted in Back to the Future, movies, pop culture with tags , , , on May 26, 2010 by Paxton

Time Travel

It’s Back to the Future Part III’s 20th anniversary this week.  Let’s take a look back at the Back to the Future Fan Club and the Fan Club Magazine that also debuted in 1990.

Here is a very cool looking 1990 ad for the Back to the Future Fan club.  You could find this ad in magazines and comics in late 1989 and early 1990.

BTTF Fan Club ad

It entices you to join up with the promise of a “beautiful” membership kit which includes an 8×10 photo (of what?), a logo patch, stickers, pencils and a membership card. You also get a 1 year subscription to the quarterly fan club magazine, which was cool, except the magazine itself only lasted one year.  You also get a forwarding service for fan mail to cast and crew of the movie, which was actually pretty cool because more often than not that could result in autographs.  I obtained a lot of Star Wars autographs through mail by writing letters to actors (pre-Sept 11, though).

Like I said, the actual Fan Club magazine only lasted a year, and since it was quarterly that meant only four issues.  Let’s take a look at those issues.

BTTF Fan Club mag 1

Here’s issue #1 of the fan club magazine. It was released in Winter 1989, very soon after Back to the Future Part II was released. Needless to say, there were lots of news and reviews of Part II as well as upcoming rumors on the impending May 1990 release of Part III.  Also included is a nice interview with screenwriter Bob Gale and Neil Canton.

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