Late Show - Biff Henderson's Fun with a Stopwatch

 Biff Henderson uses a stopwatch to time things. It's "a fascinating anthropological pursuit."

Japan Snack Reviews #4

Reaching the end of the Japanese snacks and it's a lot of small individual candy items...

1.

Name: Ame Chan Candy (Hello Kitty)

Review:

Ame Chan candy comes with various different characters on the wrapper - "Hello Kitty, Pokemon, Anpanman, maneki neko..." Obviously, I got Hello Kitty. This one is a lemon hard candy and it's a strong lemon taste. Lemon candy like this divides me slightly. On the one hand, I think it tastes great. On the other hand, it is a bit like eating Lemon Pledge (housecleaner). But overall, a thumbs up from me.

2.

Translation: Couple O' Lemons. Lemon soda candy.

Review:

These are basically like Smarties. They come in different flavors but this one is lemon and, let me tell you, if it didn't say "lemon" on the package, I would never have guessed. It has some sort of fruity taste but it's only lemon if I really strain my brain.

They also dissolve in a weird way, I imagine that's where the "soda" part comes in. They're very slightly effervescent. Not bad, ok.

3.

Name: Beh (Tongue) Gum

Review:

It's blue gum. You know the flavor "blue," don't you? It could broadly be blue raspberry but the way I would describe it would be blue lemonade.

Japanese gum seems to be fundamentally different in some way than American. Firstly, the texture is much softer, it feels like it's going to dissolve or break apart but doesn't. And then also the flavor doesn't last as long.

The reason this is called "tongue" gum is because the gimmick is that it turns your tongue blue. And it worked. I didn't photograph the result but it wasn't pretty. Not bad, overall, but nothing too great either.

4.

Name: Maken Mini

Review:

Well I'm not one for reading Japanese labels but the one thing I can guess is that it's the first candy with an expiration and I missed it. I'm taking my chances and living on the edge. If you don't hear from me again, it was the Maken Mini that did it.

These are gummi candies that come in the form of hands that show "rock, paper or scissors." I got scissors - it looks like this:

The red color made me expect strawberry or cherry but it seemed to me to be cola flavored. In fact, it tastes like Haribo Cola Bottles. It's small, I don't know if or how you play rock, paper, scissors with it, but it's candy and it's pretty good.

5.

Translation: Apple Foam

Review:

This is a spherical hard candy that doesn't taste like apple but I think I can be generous and say maybe "sour apple." It tastes exactly like one of the flavors of Fiji Fruits - I don't know if anyone remembers them, they were possibly an obscure candy from the 80s.

Well, looking it up, one of the flavors in Fiji Fruits was "Island Apple" so I guess I have to give them the benefit of the doubt and concede. Fine, it's a valid apple flavor. I don't have to like it though.

And that's all for now. Next Up: Korean Snacks #5. Look for that in 2022!

Rad in Theaters: A Retrospective

 I was pretty sure I wasn't going to make a post about going to see Rad in theaters - I was sure I wouldn't need to talk about seeing a movie - but there were so many interesting things that happened, I have to now...

Some thoughts:

• Going into the theater a guy held the door for me wearing the same Rad t-shirt that I was wearing. Nice.
• In the theater, before the previews, there was Rad Trivia. I have to say I was stumped on a few.
• There was a commercial advertising that bikes exactly like Cru's Murray will be available next year.
• Before the film there was a trailer for the new cut of "Rocky IV" which was peculiar because that movie and Rad are both from around the same time, both coming back to theaters in 2021 and both star Talia Shire.
• The original Fathom announcement advertised: "fans will see for the first time 'A Rad Documentary – Inside the BMX Movie That Changed Everything.' ...the documentary gives audiences an inside look into the making of the film that helped catapult the extreme popularity of the 1980s BMX fad." It's amazing how misleading that statement is and yet it's not false - every word matters and is probably calculated. After the credits, they did not show a special documentary per se, they showed a sneak-peek at a Rad documentary that is coming out at a later date. Bad news, good news...Yes, a full-length "Rad" documentary is coming.
• I was surprised at how many people were laughing at parts of the movie which were not intended to be comedic. The art of serious cinema is just not appreciated these days.
• One person (who wasn't me) remarked that they should have played "The Dirt Bike Kid" trailer before the movie. That was the line of the night.
• In the restaurant where Cru works, there's an advertisement for strawberries and I think that's it. Just strawberries.
• With the large picture size, the difference between Sgt. Smith and his stunt man was pretty apparent. In fact, all the shots of stuntmen are pretty easy to pick out but Sgt. Smith is the funniest.
• The Reynolds Twins' criticisms of Cochrane are even more stinging on the big screen.
• The woman who has to get through the parade because she has cakes in the oven appears to also be handing out small American flags even as she's panicking. Watch it again, it makes no sense at all.
• With the enlarged detail, it occurred to me that every Rad shirt I've ever seen is inauthentic. It makes sense, in the movie, the logo is stenciled so there can be no totally enclosed empty space. The "R", "a", "d", etc have breaks in the lines.
• Cru should not be riding his bike into the river before the big race, he's risking injury. That's very self-destructive!
• Right before the first qualifier, someone's wearing a Captain's Hat. Nice:
• It really is a perfectly constructed movie in the sense that every plot twist is foreshadowed.
• The guy who works at 7-11 is wearing a shirt that has a "7-11" print. On VHS it just looks like a green shirt.
• I never noticed before (again, greater detail) that during Hell Track Becky is wearing a...like, a Pith Helmet.

• The credits end with a warning about kids not trying stunts. Never saw that before.
• Sitting there, waiting for the movie to start, in walks this guy:

It's Justin, of Cinemassacre Podcast fame. If you want to hear his thoughts on "Rad," here they are:

Convenient.

Finally, the people in the theater were all a pretty similar bunch: people who looked like me. But walking out of the theater I spied a lovely woman in a lovely dress. Then, coming out into the parking lot, I noticed she was not accompanied by a middle-aged schlub, or any schlub at all. What I'm saying, assuming it wasn't a hallucination, is that an attractive woman went to see "Rad" alone. There's a story and a mystery there more interesting than anything projected onto the movie screen.

Rad - In Theaters Tonight

Camera, curtains, lights!

This is it, we'll hit the heights!

Oh what heights we'll hit!

On with the show this is it!

Just a reminder that Rad is back in theaters for one night only and it's tonight. Even if you have your SATs tonight, I say this is more important. 

Korean Snack Reviews #4

 The last time I did one of these it was July. In fact, we're coming up on the 1 Year Anniversary of the start of this. This is not how it was supposed to go.

Well, anyways...

1.

Translated Name: Whale Food

Review:

These are light crackers, about the size of Goldfish crackers. They look like this:

They have a taste that's hard to describe but I would best reckon it as "seaweed." They're not for me, wouldn't recommend.

2.

Translated Name: Roasted Grain <Something>

Review:

I have a sneaking suspicion that the photo above is upside down but there's nothing I can do about it. This is a very light, airy crust surrounding a very light cream. It looks like this:

It's hard to describe because I have nothing to compare it to. And it's so light, it's almost like eating nothing at all. There's some salt, some sweet, some cereal taste, some crunch. Ultimately I wouldn't recommend it but it's so light, I can't have a strong opinion.

3.

Translated Text: Juice Made from Ground Up Pears

Review:

This is one of the snacks I've been looking forward to the most. Within the large box of various snacks, the one can of soda stood out like a sore thumb. It's an exotic soda and I'm all about exotic sodas. 

Now, although it was made of pears, I really felt a strong Macintosh apple taste. Very sweet and good. And they really sell the "real pear" thing because when you get to the bottom, there's grit and pulp particles.

And although it's maybe a little strange that it's pear and I think it tastes like apples, here's where it gets stranger still. I tasted in this drink a lot of Fanta Grape. I would never have connected pear or apple to Grape Fanta before this but I'm telling you the overlap is there. Very strange. Good stuff, I say.

4.

Translated Name: Sand Ace

Additional Text: Yogurt Cream. More Soft.

Review:

Vanilla crackers sandwiching vanilla cream. They're a bit like Vienna Fingers except crackers rather than cookies/biscuits. In fact, the crackers have a bit of a salty taste. Quite good.

5.

Translated Name: Green Tea

Review:

Fun fact: I can't try Green Tea because I have a weird allergic (or something) reaction to it. The only symptom it causes that I really wish to talk about is it makes me dizzy, causing the world to spin slowly and makes it hard to walk a straight line. It's like being drunk, in short. I still remember walking down the hall at work and stumbling back and forth, trying to get my balance. Very strange.

Needless to say I didn't try this one but I'm going to go ahead and assume that the Green Tea tastes like Green Tea.

And that's it. Next Time: Japan Snacks #4.

The History of Super Mario Bros 3

 

A 50 minute video about Super Mario Bros 3 might be too much for some but I really enjoyed it. It's an excellent work and it's fascinating how a game could be so hyped and so built-up and yet deliver exactly what it promised.

Sometimes I can still see that bright yellow and re-live the excitement of that time.