retro entertainment since 2001
Plants, trees, vines, and vegetation of all sorts have played an important part of pop culture since pop culture first existed. From The Garden of Eden to The Sherwood Forest, plants big and small have influenced literature, TV shows, and toys from all generations. This list started out as kind of a joke but the more I thought about it, the more I totally dug the idea. Plus any chance I have to write about Kooky Spooky Trees is worth … read more
NOTE: This is an interview I did with Robert Graysmith back in 2007 right when the David Fincher film based on his Zodiac book came out. Inspector David Toschi has since passed away in 2018 but is referred to in the present tense in this piece.
I picked up Robert Graysmith’s Zodiac when it first came out in 1986. I was a high school senior in the Bay Area of California, right in the heart of where the actual crimes … read more
Arcade games have been around since the early 1900s. From ball rolling pastimes like Skee-Ball and Fascination to the burger joint stand-bys like Pinball, America has long had a fascination with dumping coins into things to get a thrill (including that movie I saw with your mother last night!). But in 1971, a 26-year-old named Nolan Bushnell who worked for Nutting Associates with the then bizarre job title of “Videogame Designer”, invented a new type of arcade game called Computer … read more
When I was given the opportunity to interview Sherwood Schwartz, I jumped at the chance! I’m a certified Brady Bunch junkie and have easily seen each episode more than 3 times. At 87 years old, Sherwood is still sharp as a tack, incredibly busy, and has a ton of projects he’s still actively involved with.
Sherwood’s wrote for Bob Hope’s radio programming in the early 30s, and was there for the dawn of television, writing and producing shows like “The … read more
In 1975, The Six Million Dollar Man was one of the most popular shows on TV and his action figure was a top seller. Hasbro, whose GI JOE line was fading and needed a shot in the arm, came out with their own cyborg style dude, The Atomic Man! As you can see from the catalog photo above, he was a stylin’ dude who proudly showed off his freakish “atomic-powered” limbs with no shame whatsoever. But how did he get … read more
When I was in first grade, we had a small bathroom next to the closet. It was nothing fancy, just a sink and a toilet, but it got the job done. A reversible sign on the door had a red STOP and a green GO to let you know whether or not someone was inside. Of course, our high society humor would call for switching the sign to GO while someone was inside and let the hilarity ensue. One day, … read more