Wednesday, January 18, 2023

Monday, January 16, 2023

Roy Rogers Restaurants Still Exist

 


Driving on the highway on Saturday, I see a sign saying that there was a "Roy Rogers in X Miles." I says, "There's an old sign that needs to be taken down." But once I reached my destination, I looked it up. It is real. Roy Rogers Restaurants still exist and there is one within 45 minutes driving.

I am a lazy man, by nature, but I'm saying now that I'm going to try to go there and report back.

When I was a kid we went to Roy Rogers all the time but I considered it an extinct franchise. It made me think, what other franchises might also be available. Here are some of the ones that came to mind.

  • Roy Rogers - Still exists, in a fraction of the country. They have a store if you want to buy shirts or hats.
  • Orange Julius - Also still exists! They were bought by Dairy Queen. The locations page on their website just yields an error but you can try google maps.
  • Little Caesar's - Still around, I think they're trying to make a comeback by making the cheapest pizza in the world. Not sure if it'll work. I was a huge fan but tried it recently and didn't real feel the old feelings.
  • Boston Market - Still hanging on. I was a fan and tried to support them and every time I do there are definite problems with quality and consistency. If they're not good enough to keep a hardcore fan like me, I don't think they'll last much longer.
  • Cinnabon - Still appears to be going strong. You have to figure their reliance on malls is putting a squeeze on their business. I have a plan that the next time I have something to celebrate, I'm going to do the most decadent thing I can think of: order Cinnabon delivery. Any day now...
  • Chi-Chi's - Fully extinct as a restaurant but they sell a line of food products online. I loved Chi-Chi's.
  • Ground Round - Went bankrupt, name was bought and trying to make a comeback. Only a few locations exist.
  • Pizza Hut - Of course it still exists, what I mean is: perhaps the most "of its time" restaurant I can think of is the sit down/dine-in Pizza Hut. Are those still around? They still exist but the closest to me is about an hour away and it's not the same without the old decor anyway.
  • The Sizzler - Still exists but only on the West Coast.
  • Ponderosa/Bonanza - They're the same company and they still exist. None around me.
  • Friendly's - They're still around. Similar situation to Boston Market - I love them, would gladly be a regular customer but I think the quality has slipped and it's hard to keep going back. Plus, I can't find anyone who wants to go to Friendly's with me and I don't want to go alone.
A few more recent notes. I was a huge Quiznos fan. Those are still around but I suppose the franchise is on the decrease. There isn't one anywhere close to me. I was also a huge fan of Moe's Southwest Grill, I think those are decreasing also but I'm not sure. Bennigan's is down to 12 locations in the U.S. and Applebee's is still around though I don't understand how.

Sunday, January 15, 2023

RIP Don West

 Don West passed away December 30, 2022. While not famous, exactly, Don was somewhat notable - Don West was the guy who would come on those Home Shopping channels and sell Baseball cards and the like. More recently, he became an announcer for pro wrestling.



He was apparently well-known enough to be parodied on SNL, even being portrayed by Will Ferrell. Though my favorite of these parodies isn't on youtube.

On another personal note, I've never understood this show's existence. They would always say that they were selling everything for way less than it was worth, and I, being really into sports cards at that time, thought I could confirm that they were telling the truth - everything WAS WAY more valuable than you'd get it there. But how or why would anyone do that? If something is selling for $100, why sell it for $10? Call me naive but it remains a total mystery to me.

And another funny aside about the nature of the brain. I know, in retrospect that all the cards are junk - the card market at that time was a bubble that has since collapsed - but even watching these videos in 2023 I still do get excited as if these are really precious items, as if I'm still in 1993.

Thursday, January 12, 2023

The Best Puzzle of 2022?

 


Is this the best puzzle of 2022? Sure. I don't know. I don't know puzzles but I know this is cool.

This kind of video is self-defeating. Now that I've watched it, there's no need to buy the thing. But I wouldn't want to buy if I hadn't watched the video. Maybe don't watch this. Or maybe start watching it, get a sense of it and stop. Maybe I could buy this as a gift?

The Charismatic Voice - Don't Give Up

 


I consider "So" (the album on which "Don't Give Up" appears) to be one of the few truly perfect albums. It mixes avante garde experimentation with pop music to a degree which few albums reach and is completely successful at both. It constantly goes for the weird, the strange, the unexpected and yet each choice seems to work. It's very rare that an album takes so many risks but it's 1 in a 1000 or 1 in 10,000 that also gets every experiment to succeed - one after another.

The music video also takes a risk, and I don't like it. The music video, as the kids say, is "cringe." But no matter, it's the music that counts.

I wonder if this song had any influence from "It's a Wonderful Life." They are both about despair, both involve the Depression, both involve contemplating suicide on a bridge (potentially) and the lyric "Don't give up 'cause you have friends" is eerily similar "No man is a failure who has friends."

Thursday, January 5, 2023

Popcorn in Bed - The Best Years of Our Lives

 


I first came across "The Best Years of Our Lives" when doing the IMDB 250. I was completely floored by it. Especially since I never had even heard about it until that list. It's criminally under-watched, under-seen and in all the years I've been recommending it to people, no one has listened. So glad to see it here. It's swell.