Using my blog to try and make the world a better place. If I can make someone forget their troubles for a few minutes a day, it's all worth it.
Come back with me:
1973 (btw, is it just me, or do I look like Bobby Brady in this pic?????):
I watch the ripples change their size, but never leave the stream of warm impermanent sand. So the days flow through my eyes but still the days seem the same. And these children that you spit on as they try to change their world are immune to your consultations. They're quite aware of what they're going through.
Monday, January 09, 2012
A little "creative marketing" from Madison Avenue:
I thought they looked too creepy to ever want them. I'd heard they didn't look like that anyway. As I was looking at the ad yesterday, I saw the fine print at the bottom that said creatures shown not intended to depict artemia salina, so I googled "artemia salina". I had no idea until yesterday that's what they really were.
I knew they were a ripoff, but I got them anyway because I was that curious. I would have been happy with little plastic statues of the humanoid Sea Monkeys, now I'm just waiting for some enterprising Etsy seller to make some.
I had them when I was a kid, and a few years ago I moved into a really retro house, so my sister bought me some for a housewarming gift. After a while, I needed more food, so I went to their website, but you couldn't order off the site, all you could do was print out a form and mail it to the Transcience Corporation in Bryans Road, Maryland. So I did, and got back a hand-addressed envelope with the food packet in it. Leading me to conclude that it is always 1976 in Bryans Road, Maryland.
JSuss: You and Janet are the only people I know of who actually got them. I didn't want them because the picture of them on the ad kind of creeped me out a little..
Janet: So what exactly does artemia salina feed on??? On another note, I always wanted to turn one of my rooms into a retro room, and have shag carpet installed, and furnish it with only things from that period (artwork, furniture, etc.).
Seamonkeys! I inherited my uncles stack of Richie Rich comics in the late 70's, and was enchanted by the magical Sea Monkeys ads. I eventually got my mother to send in the slip, and we soon had a jar of Sea Monkeys. They were so tiny I didn't even bother to try to squint in there and see what they really looked like - as long as I could see them moving in there I was imagining something like the advertisement artwork. Unfortunately my mother shoved the jar of Sea Monkeys behind another jar on the counter one day, and by the time we re-discovered them they were long dead. :(
They eat a mysterious greenish powder. What is in it? Who can say. They seemed to swim around faster when you put it in the water, though.
If I remember correctly, you could/can also send in money for a different powder that makes the sea monkeys a bit redder, and somehow therefore better.
For all the silliness of the marketing, I will say that Sea Monkeys were *slightly* more interesting than Magic Rocks. :)
CTG: I think a nice lime-green shag carpet and some burnt orange and avocado-colored decor would be awesome. I'd probably pass on the dark imitation pine-paneling wallboard though
I was always curious about the sea monkeys from the ads in the back of comic books but never got them. It reminds me of the x-ray glasses and the super elastic bubble plastic ads, too.
There are places I'll remember all my life, though some have changed; some forever, not for better. Some are gone, and some remain. All these places have their moments with lovers and friends, I still can recall. Some are dead and some are living, in my life I've loved them all.
When I was a little boy (when I was just a boy) and the devil called my name, I said "Who do you think you're foolin'? I'm a consecrated boy, singin' in a Sunday choir". Oh my mama loved me (she loved me). She'd get down on her knees and hug me, oh she loved me like a rock. She rocked me like a rock, oh baby she loved me. She loved me, loved me, loved me, loved me.
Followers
I'd like to build the world a home, and furnish it with love:
Received one Christmas 1976 from my dad who was working for Texas Instruments at the time. I wore this out.
I belong on the shore hustling nickels and dimes...
... 'cause it 'ain't long before it's gone. You might as well have a good time.
The generation gap:
Mom was born in 1941, and her all-time favorite show is THE WALTONS. She could watch that show all day. I was born in 1967, and my faves are THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW and THE BRADY BUNCH. I could watch them all day. My brother was born in 1981, and his faves are HOME IMPROVEMENT and THE SIMPSONS. He could watch them all day.
Short on stamps??? Here, take two:
Of course, they're a little out-dated..
Rapunzel! Rapunzel! Let down your dreads!!!
When we're stuck in troubled days, we must learn to love each other.
Instead of going different ways, we must try to get together. Fly little white dove, fly, way up high; Spread your wings, sing out your cry 'Cross the universal sky.
I guess either way she's screwed:
'What sort of people live about here?' 'In THAT direction,' the Cat said, waving its right paw 'round, 'lives a Hatter. And in THAT direction,' waving the other paw, 'lives a March Hare. Visit either you like: they're both mad.' 'But I don't want to go among mad people,' Alice remarked. 'Oh, you can't help that,' said the Cat: 'we're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad.' 'How do you know I'm mad?' said Alice. 'You must be,' said the Cat, 'or you wouldn't have come here'.
Interjections show excitement or emotion...
... they're generally set apart from a sentence by an exclamation point, or by a comma when the feeling's not as strong.
He's got the whole world in His hands:
I believe in God, and i believe that He created it all.
1976 memory:
As a kid, I never got an allowance. That's something my folks weren't into. They were very generous with me, I never lacked anything, and usually when I asked for something they'd get it for me, but an allowance just wasn't going to happen. In '76, just before my folks split up, dad decided to give me a "job". It was sometime in January and the weather was pretty brutal, so he told me he'd pay me a quarter if I'd open the garage door for him when he got home so he wouldn't have to get out of the car and open it himself. We lived in a split level house (a raised-ranch), and the garage was in the lower level. The very first night, I was watching TV and I heard him pull in and stop at the garage door. I didn't want to leave my show, and it was pretty cold down there in the garage, and I was rather warm and cozy and comfortable sitting in front of the tv, so I basically ignored him. He honked. He honked again. And again. And again. Finally I heard him open the car door, open the garage himself, pull into the garage and slam the door shut. The way he slammed the door, I could tell he was angry and that I was in trouble. He came upstairs and just looked at me. Let's just say I lost my job that night, which didn't really bother me. A QUARTER??? I didn't get out of BED for that kind of money...
I was born in the wagon of a travelin' show, my mama used to dance for the money they'd throw...
... papa used to do whatever he could: preach a little gospel / sell a couple bottles of Doctor Good. Gypsies, tramps and theives! We'd hear it from the people of the town, they'd call us gypsies, tramps and theives, but every night all the men would come around, and lay their money down.
Brady Bunch coloring books:
My folks used to get me these brand new at our local convenience store back in the day. Back then they were about 35 cents. Now if you can find an unused one for less than 20 bucks you're doing good.
Lunchboxes:
I had the above back in the day plus a few more, but my all-time favorite was the Evel Knievel one.
Random:
When I was a kid, I loved to read. I probably had as many books as I did toys back then, if not more..
Question:
Where do I get a job like that???
Liquid refreshment:
How 'bout a nice, tall, tuna smoothie???
1969:
I still remember this coat. I COULDn't figure out why one day it just didn't fit anymore....
Like The Partridge Family??? Click on pic.
Book of dreams:
Book of nightmares:
The Ethel Merman DISCO Album. I'm NOT making this up, people...
It's true. I was.
.. and when the country was falling apart, Betsy Ross got it all sewed up. And then there's Maude:
"God'll get ya for that, Walter."
Fred G. Sanford:
The "Who's Who of Watts".
Good morning, Starshine, the earth says hello....
... you twinkle above us, we twinkle below. Good morning, Starshine, you lead us along: my love and me, as we sing, our early mornin' singin' song.
Good day sunshine:
I need to laugh, and when the sun is out, I've got something I can laugh about. I feel good, in a special way, I'm in love and it's a sunny day.
Iron-on decals were very popular back in the day.
You can't always get what you want,
but if you try sometime, you just might find you get what you need.
Every time I think that I'm the only one who's lonely Someone calls on me...
... And every now and then I spend my time in rhyme and verse, And curse those faults in me. And then along comes Mary, And does she want to give me kicks, and be my steady chick, And give me pick of memories - Or maybe rather gather tales of all the fails and tribulations No one ever sees? When we met I was sure out to lunch, Now my empty cup tastes as sweet as the punch. When vague desire is the fire in the eyes of chicks Whose sickness is the games they play. And when the masquerade is played and neighbor folks make jokes As who is most to blame today. And then along comes Mary. And does she want to set them free, and let them see reality From where she got her name? And will they struggle much when told that such a tender touch as hers Will make them not the same? When we met I was sure out to lunch, Now my empty cup tastes as sweet as the punch. And when the morning of the warning's passed, the gassed, And flaccid kids are flung across the stars. The psychodramas and the traumas gone, The songs are left unsung and hung upon the scars. And then along comes Mary. And does she want to see the stains, the dead remains of all the pains She left the night before? Or will their waking eyes reflect the lies, and make them Realize their urgent cry for sight no more?? When we met I was sure out to lunch, Now my empty cup tastes as sweet as the punch.
Hold you in his armchair you can feel his disease:
Here come old flattop he come groovin' up slowly. He got joo-joo eyeball he one holy roler. He got hair down to his knee, got to be a joker he just do what he please.
Barry Gibb:
I don't know where this guy had more hair: on his face, or on his chest...
Fact: I never order anything without fries. That's the rule...
Another fact: I've never had a Big Mac. Not once. That whole "special sauce" thing has always been a major turn-off with me.
I had the Hamburglar doll back in the day. They cost $1. I snagged the below on ebay for $5:
I miss my Hamburglar glass. Actually, I miss the days when you could buy these at McDonald's for a buck, instead of paying some scalper on ebay $50 just because it's a "collectible"..
And now a word from our sponsor:
"I'd like to build the world a home, and furnish it with love; grow apple trees and honeybees and snow white turtledoves. I'd like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony, I'd like to buy the world a Coke and keep it company."
10 comments:
This is one thing from the 70s I never had. I always wanted to order them out of the back of the Archie Comics, but never did. :(
I thought they looked too creepy to ever want them.
I'd heard they didn't look like that anyway. As I was looking at the ad yesterday, I saw the fine print at the bottom that said creatures shown not intended to depict artemia salina, so I googled "artemia salina". I had no idea until yesterday that's what they really were.
I knew they were a ripoff, but I got them anyway because I was that curious. I would have been happy with little plastic statues of the humanoid Sea Monkeys, now I'm just waiting for some enterprising Etsy seller to make some.
I had them when I was a kid, and a few years ago I moved into a really retro house, so my sister bought me some for a housewarming gift. After a while, I needed more food, so I went to their website, but you couldn't order off the site, all you could do was print out a form and mail it to the Transcience Corporation in Bryans Road, Maryland. So I did, and got back a hand-addressed envelope with the food packet in it. Leading me to conclude that it is always 1976 in Bryans Road, Maryland.
JSuss: You and Janet are the only people I know of who actually got them. I didn't want them because the picture of them on the ad kind of creeped me out a little..
Janet: So what exactly does artemia salina feed on??? On another note, I always wanted to turn one of my rooms into a retro room, and have shag carpet installed, and furnish it with only things from that period (artwork, furniture, etc.).
Oh my hell, Joe! When that room is finished, I want an invitation to come see it!!!
Seamonkeys! I inherited my uncles stack of Richie Rich comics in the late 70's, and was enchanted by the magical Sea Monkeys ads. I eventually got my mother to send in the slip, and we soon had a jar of Sea Monkeys. They were so tiny I didn't even bother to try to squint in there and see what they really looked like - as long as I could see them moving in there I was imagining something like the advertisement artwork. Unfortunately my mother shoved the jar of Sea Monkeys behind another jar on the counter one day, and by the time we re-discovered them they were long dead. :(
They eat a mysterious greenish powder. What is in it? Who can say. They seemed to swim around faster when you put it in the water, though.
If I remember correctly, you could/can also send in money for a different powder that makes the sea monkeys a bit redder, and somehow therefore better.
For all the silliness of the marketing, I will say that Sea Monkeys were *slightly* more interesting than Magic Rocks. :)
CTG: I think a nice lime-green shag carpet and some burnt orange and avocado-colored decor would be awesome. I'd probably pass on the dark imitation pine-paneling wallboard though
Brooks: that's so sad...
Janet: I bet it was algae, or something like that
I was always curious about the sea monkeys from the ads in the back of comic books but never got them. It reminds me of the x-ray glasses and the super elastic bubble plastic ads, too.
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