Ep 37: "Good Times"

 In this episode, we take another quick trip down memory lane, reflecting on the toys, music, and everyday moments that defined growing up Gen X. From classic favorites like G.I. Joe and Nintendo games to the sounds of 80s pop music, it’s a light, nostalgic look at the experiences that still connect the generation today. 

Intro and Outro music by Erin Garris and Khari Garris

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:14

Yo, yo, yo, what it is, what it was, what's it gonna be? Welcome. Welcome to the latest episode of the Gen Expertise Podcast, episode 37, entitled Good Times. We are your host, Maynard Rantz, aka your ambassadors of nostalgia. What's happening, brother?

SPEAKER_02 0:36

I'm good, man. How you feeling?

SPEAKER_00 0:38

I'm doing great, man. You know I saw that MJ this week on Friday, Sud. So you know.

SPEAKER_02 0:42

Oh, yeah, yeah. You did go see Michael. How was it?

SPEAKER_00 0:45

Yo, it was fantastic, man. It was fantastic. That's saying a lot. It's fantastic, bro. It's fantastic. It was two hours long. It could have been three hours. It's getting like what this year. But no, it's getting mixed.

SPEAKER_02 0:57

It's getting mixed reviews, man. Like, like I well, at least from the critics. I guess critics are saying, you know, it got like 27% on Rotten Tomatoes, right? Really? Something like 30%. I think it went up to 30% on Rotten Tomatoes. But everybody that I see like commenting about it online, and then yourself, you the people that went to see it are saying that it's great and you gotta see it in the theaters and they're giving it rave reviews. Yeah, everybody that saw it is g is giving it rave reviews, but I was confused because I'm like, okay, the critics are giving it, you know, the 30% on Rotten Tomatoes.

SPEAKER_00 1:32

Yeah, so I heard Rotten Tomatoes don't hit anymore. I heard it's something else. There's a um, there's another one that's like the new version of Rotten Tomatoes, and it's basically the people that really sat through the movie theaters and watched it. I think that's the new one because I heard Rotten Tomatoes is like they sold out now. They're corporate or something like that. So they're always giving bad movies.

SPEAKER_02 1:54

That makes sense. That makes sense.

SPEAKER_00 1:55

Yeah, there's a new one. I forget the name of it. I gotta find out the name. But yo, the movie, this is Rance's review. The movie was fire, son. Really? You know what I'm saying? Yeah. And I did hear some people, some of the things that I heard is just people nitpicking. You know, we live in an age where everybody wants to know every little thing about what happened here and there, every little thing. Part that actually, it actually takes place between um the years of I think it's 61 or something like that. He's like 10 years old till when he does the bad tour. When he goes to bad. So it's that stretch. So it's basically um off the wall, thriller, and then the beginning, the big the very, very start of the bad. So I heard they're gonna make a part two, so I think it's gonna carry over from there. But I think they did a very good job. First of all, his nephew looks just like him. Yeah. Um and the music was fantastic, you know, and I think they did a good job covering. Um, I heard some people were upset because they thought they should have covered more of Off the Wall. People know Off the Wall and they love Off the Wall, but Thriller is what he's known for. So Off the Wall, they put that out there and they built up, but Thriller, but Thriller, I mean, we had the discussion. Yeah, we had the discussion. But we're hardcore music, we're hardcore music lovers. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. So so there's a lot of people that love off the wall, like you and I.

SPEAKER_01 3:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:22

But I mean, thriller is the one that most people like, yo, I really want to, they want to see the process. Most people won't be mad at at seeing the process of thriller. It was just good all around the music. No, you're the right.

SPEAKER_02 3:35

Yeah, absolutely right about that. Cause we talked about that. Like Thriller was the one that really crossed him over.

SPEAKER_00 3:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:41

So it made him accessible to to like every audience because of some, you know, some of the songs that were on there and the and the way it hit, even um the way it hit MTV, the premiere of all those videos, um, was a big deal. So you're right.

SPEAKER_00 3:54

Yeah, how he got on, how he broke the barrier, the barrier and got on MTV. They showed that.

SPEAKER_01 4:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:00

Um, I think Domingo Coleman played Joe Jackson, he did a good job. Nia, Nia Long was the mother, she did a great job. I think it was good, man. I really enjoyed it. I really, really enjoyed it. That MJ O thing.

SPEAKER_02 4:13

I trust your, I trust your judgment. I trust your I trust your review.

SPEAKER_00 4:15

I think they did a good job of it, man. I think they did a really good job of it. And everybody that I know that's seen it, they said the same thing. But one of the things I had to go back and look, that thriller album, man, to date, this is just in the US alone. It's it's still, I think in the US alone, it's still triple diamond, so it's over 34 million sold.

SPEAKER_02 4:36

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 4:37

Yeah. Um 70 million worldwide global sales. So that's what seven times diamond, and diamond is ten million albums sold. And um so it's probably a record that's never gonna be broken. And total, so you have um physical, digital, and streaming a hundred and twenty-eight million, over a hundred and twenty-eight million years. Like, yo, that's insane, bro. Wow, that's insane. Like, I think it's safe to say, like, he's literally the mo was the most popular person on the planet, man. Between him and the other MJ, but MJ, MJ, yeah, he had it on Smash, bro. It's it was it's insane the numbers that he was putting up, man.

SPEAKER_02 5:25

Yeah, yeah. Absolutely. Um Yeah, that's incredible, man. I didn't know those numbers, but that's incredible. And I heard the um the movie actually at least broke even already, like in in one weekend. Like it's now three days. Yeah, it's it's it's already it's already crossed the um the point where where it it made you know the the cost of production, and then it needs to make I guess to to be considered successful, it's gonna it has to do like two and a half that I heard. Yeah. Um, but it's already on pace to to really break some records, right? It's I think it's the it's the it's the most watched, uh, it's the most watched debut of a biopit in in history. So it's already broken, it's already broken a record. So even even in death, you know, Michael Schrecky Jackson. Small records being broken. Breaking more records. Um it's pretty incredible.

SPEAKER_00 6:17

I don't think people understand, like, if you weren't there, you didn't experience like the younger generation, um, I don't think they understand just what type of a star he was. Like he would go, and you not only do you have females screaming and passing out, you have men crying, screaming.

SPEAKER_02 6:37

Yeah, I've seen I've only seen footage of that. I've seen footage of him just standing there, just screaming. Yeah, before he says a word, though. Like before he even starts singing or before he starts dancing. I saw footage of one performance where he starts out by just standing on stage, right? He's just standing there.

SPEAKER_00 6:53

Yo, that might have been, you know what? That might have been the Super Bowl performance. Because remember we talked about when when Keenan Ivy Wains and them snatched the ratings from the Super Bowl? Yeah. We didn't mention that in that episode, how the NFL came back the next year with MJ all day. MJ snatched it up.

SPEAKER_02 7:10

It might have been that, because I remember. And he just stood there for like a few years. Just from being there.

SPEAKER_00 7:20

Can you imagine? Can you imagine going to an MJ concert, right? Like you've waited your whole life basically to go to an MJ concert, and you get there, especially if you get front row, you get front row seats. God knows how much you spent for that ticket, even back then. And you get so excited you pass out, you miss the whole concert, and you wake up in an ambulance somewhere, I'd be tight.

SPEAKER_02 7:45

They gotta take you out on a journey.

SPEAKER_00 7:47

Son, imagine you get taken out of and you wake up like, yo, what happened? What happened? What happened? Is MJ? And it's like, yo, it's over. It's over. You passed out. We had to pull you out of there. What do you mean you had to pull the show's over? I'd be tight. You know, I'd be so mad, son. This is your moment. You waited for this. And you folded, son. You folded because you couldn't control your emotions.

SPEAKER_02 8:11

I'm sure, yeah, I'm sure there's multiple people that had that experience and thought of themselves.

SPEAKER_00 8:16

Yeah, man. You wake up, you wake up in that in the back room. Because you know they probably have a back room where they just throw on all the past out bodies. Like they're just sitting up in there. There's too many to kids, it's too many. Like they just have to wait, try to revive them. But imagine that.

SPEAKER_02 8:29

You wake up and imagine being that famous though. Imagine having that impact on people, though. Um, it's it's just uh, I don't know. I don't even know what what what that is or what to say about that.

SPEAKER_00 8:39

Yo, son, imagine the Gen Expertise podcast so big that someone just stops, screams in our face, and cries and passes out. I don't want that type of fame, son.

SPEAKER_02 8:51

That I'm just standing still, I just staring somewhere and just standing still crying, just crying and just looking at you, just crying.

SPEAKER_00 8:58

Man, screaming men, women, children, dogs, everything. You know what I'm saying? You know, everything. Can you imagine that level of fame? I can't, I don't want that type of fame, man. I don't want it, man. I don't want it. Just give me a little recognition here and there. Maybe you recognize me on the train or at the supermarket or something. You you understand what I'm saying? I saw something. So if you drop into work and somebody honks at you, like, you mean, me, me, roll down your window, me, man. Yo, I'm good with that.

SPEAKER_02 9:28

But I saw something recently. Well, I didn't know this, but I saw something recently where they were saying that that that Mike used to wear, um, he used to wear disguises. Yes. So he so he could attend certain events that he wanted to or go to like sporting events and stuff like that. He would wear disguises and and they they show they show pictures of the disguises. And I would have definitely never known it was her.

SPEAKER_00 9:51

You would have never known there's him. The RB Chucky Booker. I saw an interview with Chucky Booker. Chucky Booker said he was behind the stage at a Lana Ritchie concert. Michael Jackson, some dude, some old man in suspenders was talking to him for like 20 minutes. Full makeup. MJ all day. Went in there. He said he didn't realize it until he said, I like the work that you did on uh on my sister's album. And he was like, What? He said, he said what? Who just said what what? Then he was like, yo, what's that? That's hilarious. It was too late, man. So I don't I don't want that, I don't want that level of fame, man. But overall, I would say go check it out and see for yourself. Everybody check it out, go see for yourself. But I'm giving it, I'm giving it the stamp, man. I'm giving it the stamp.

SPEAKER_02 10:37

All right. I might have to I might have to do that, man. I was really gonna wait for it to come on like Amazon Prime or something.

SPEAKER_00 10:44

Nah, son. I was hype. Watch it at home.

SPEAKER_02 10:51

Yeah, I bet.

SPEAKER_00 10:52

I've been listening to MJ.

SPEAKER_02 10:54

I might I might have to go go check that out, man. Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00 10:58

Yeah. So today, what we're gonna do, we haven't done one of these in a in a while. We haven't done a nostalgia um episode where we talk about some of our favorite things or things in the past, what our past is 80s and 90s.

SPEAKER_01 11:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:14

And we're just gonna talk about a few things. I already kicked it off probably with the MJ, yo. It don't get no bigger than that. It'll get no more. Yeah, like it's all downhill. It's kind of all downhill.

SPEAKER_02 11:24

What are we gonna talk about after talking about the greatest of all time, King of Pop?

SPEAKER_00 11:29

The king of pop, man. You know?

SPEAKER_02 11:32

All right. Well, let's wrap it up. All right, to our day ones. To our day ones and now our day 37s. There's nowhere to go from here, guys.

SPEAKER_00 11:47

But we are prolific. We are prolific. Grand opening, grand closing. Quickest episode ever. But seeing that movie made me reminisce because you know we're big music lovers. Sure. You know, so one of my one of my throwbacks is um the music stores, HM, HMV, Tower Records, Sam Goody, Nobody Beats the Whiz. Right. You know, that was a good one. Virgin.

SPEAKER_02 12:16

Remember the Virgin? Oh, Virgin Megastore. Oh, yeah, the megastore, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:20

Mm-hmm. Where you can literally go in and you can listen to the music. They had the headphone um towers that you can go in. And I never realized that the HMHMV stood for his master's voice.

SPEAKER_02 12:34

I had no idea. You just taught me something. I had no idea about that.

SPEAKER_00 12:38

Yeah, that was that was bugged out. But the tower records, the nobody beats the whiz, where you could actually go in and get a physical copy of a CD or a cassette. Um you know, that was a fond memory. That's one of my throwback memories right there. That's probably my first one up. Well, first one out the gate. And then there was another one. Was it oh circuit city too? Circuit City, Circuit.

SPEAKER_02 13:02

I forgot about Circuit City.

SPEAKER_00 13:04

Yeah. The last Star Worth is probably Best Buy.

SPEAKER_02 13:10

Yeah. Best Yeah, Best Buy is probably the closest to any to any of that type of that kind of genre of stores, so to speak. Um they're the last ones, I think, at least that I know of.

SPEAKER_00 13:22

Yeah. Um and that's when you had to you had to wait outside the record store.

SPEAKER_02 13:30

That's how big a record release was back then. Like you'd have to wait outside and you could be on the line. And then even you could have the the artists would show up to somebody's stores and do like an in-store. Like if they're about to release some music, do artists even do anything like that anymore?

SPEAKER_00 13:49

They'd go somewhere and like meet and they probably go I think they go straight to the airways.

SPEAKER_02 13:54

They go straight to like the morning shows and the but there's no place where they go to like meet and greet anymore.

SPEAKER_00 14:00

Maybe there's a mom, there's probably some mom and pop um record stores that are open still, but I don't know, man.

SPEAKER_02 14:09

Like I doubt it, man. Like I I I I doubt it. I can't even see a uh at least a big artist. I can't even see a big artist going to like a mom and pop. And then what would the what is the mom and pop even sell anymore? Like who who uses physical copies of of like the masters don't really use physical copies of anything anymore.

SPEAKER_00 14:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 14:29

Well, albums are making a a comeback, but but really, come on, like even it's it's very niche, right? Like, that's a niche thing. Like, I'm I know I'm not going out standing online or or searching for vinyl or or going crazy looking for CDs. Like, I'm I know I'm I'm not doing that.

SPEAKER_00 14:45

Everything is straight streaming digital now, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 14:48

Yeah, like it's too convenient to we talked about this before, I think, but but it's too convenient to just have everything on your, you know, Apple Music or whatever the case may be. Like whatever your Spotify, whatever your your streaming service of choice is, it's way too easy to get the music and just download it or stream it, right? There's no reason for me to be going to a store to to get music at this point, right? But that was a that was a great experience though at the time. Like the experience of opening up a CD and you know, we would look for like who produced the tracks and who's a guest on it, even down to like I remember looking at the notes, yeah. The notes and the thank yous. I remember I remember getting some sort of kick out of it. I'm not sure why, but I would get a kick out of like a if my favorite rapper shouting out other rappers on the thank you notes of the album cover. I don't know why. Like I just I just got a kick out of knowing that these rappers kind of know each other and that they're part of some, you know, I don't know what to call it. Like some super friends or something. I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 15:50

Some super music brotherhood.

SPEAKER_02 15:51

Yeah, it just felt like like, yeah, it just felt like like, you know, I was a fan of of one rapper, and then to find out that, okay, this dude is associated or friends with these other rappers that I'm a fan of. I don't know, it's just something cool about that. And then especially when I would I would have evidence of that by reading the the notes and in the album cover, saying like thank yous and seeing that that people produced for each other, you know, stuff like that. People that I'm a fan of actually were involved in each other's work. Um, I got a kick out of that just as a fan, you know. Um, so that was definitely part of the experience, just buying those albums and physical copies and kind of reading what the artists had to say about the album. Sometimes they would have some special note in there, some special thank you, um, some special kind of just line of poetry or something in it. Um special um artwork would be inside, you know, that you're not gonna see just on just by looking on the outside. So that's definitely an experience that's been lost and with the digital age. But again, it's just too convenient to just download a stream. Like I'm you know, the trade-off, I guess, is enough, right?

SPEAKER_00 16:55

And it's never sold out with digital and stream. I remember when I went to get that purple tape, that Cuban links.

SPEAKER_02 17:02

It's sold out.

SPEAKER_00 17:04

Sold out. So I'm online and nobody beats the whiz. I ask my father, like, yo, you can give me a lift down and nobody beats the wiz. We go to nobody beats the wiz. I'm there. I'm there when my man is putting a key in the door to open up, right? As soon as they open, I'm in there. As soon as I go in, I snatch my copy. I'm not hesitating, dude. I'm not hesitating. I snatch my copy, snatch it up. It's playing on all of he's putting the he's putting the music on. Oh, and they would always play the music in the store. So they would have the music playing in a boom box, they would play it, they would sample, so you can sample the stereo systems, and they would have the songs playing. I'm walking around with my Cuban links, I'm listening to the first song. I'm nodding my head. I'll just playing in the store. And as I'm walking through the store, they sold out.

SPEAKER_03 17:50

Right.

SPEAKER_00 17:51

As I'm walking through the store, they sold out, they sold out of that that Cuban links. And I remember guys coming in and like, what? What what what do you what do you what do you mean this this there's no more? I ran hurry, I hurried up and ran to the counter the paper mine. But just just in the time that I went, walked around the store, you know, you went and looked to see any other CDs or you listened to some things. You may put it on, listen to it on the headphones or something.

SPEAKER_01 18:15

Right.

SPEAKER_00 18:15

And they were sold out. So that was those were good memories. Yeah, those were good memories. And then to be the one on your block to come home with it.

SPEAKER_02 18:22

Oh, yeah, yeah. You were the man, like you were you were celebrated for a little while if you did that. If you came back and you let everybody on your block list listen to something like that.

SPEAKER_00 18:30

You got a king's welcome. A king's welcome, son.

SPEAKER_02 18:34

Yeah, definitely. You know what was good about that time too? That not only was there like Tower Records and and you know, Virgin Megastore and Nobody Beats the Wiz, but there was still local kind of mom and pops around too. And I remember there was a similar experience that was cool because they would even have sometimes like turntables in these little mom and pops, like where they'll be playing the record, or they they might even have somebody kind of kind of DJing in a way, but not really DJing, but at least the turntables are there, and they'll play, like you said, like they'll be playing the latest music through their speakers. And there was just a good feeling about going to those local places too, right? Like they weren't like the big mega stores and the big corporate stores, but they were just like the local stores where they weren't kind of known by every everybody anyway. So if it was sold out of like Virgin or Tower, you could go to the local place and they might have a you know, they might keep some in the stash, you know, like and then and if they know you and and you're you're cool, they might be like, Oh, I got one more, you know, like just one more quarter.

SPEAKER_00 19:41

Wait around until this person walks out. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Tell this person no, just just look around, act like you buy something. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 19:49

They'd be like, yo, just hold on a minute, you know. Like I got you, just hold hold on a minute, right?

SPEAKER_00 19:54

Yeah, man.

SPEAKER_02 19:54

And you just wait till till people that are not regulars leave, and they're like, All right, yeah, I got I do happen to have one more, quote unquote. There you go. Yeah, man. And no tax, you know, like no tax. I just pay the the 10 10 bucks or whatever it is.

SPEAKER_00 20:08

10 straight cash, and whatever it was. Whether it was the cassette, the cassette maybe was like six or five or something. Like, yeah, something like that. You got the tape and the CD, bro. Yeah, you asking for a lot, bro. You ask for a lot.

SPEAKER_02 20:23

Yeah, I never had enough to pay the tax.

SPEAKER_00 20:26

Well, yeah, so the old school record stores, man. That's my first entry into this.

SPEAKER_02 20:32

All right, I got one, it's all downhill from here. So, what I have here is a visual aid for us today. This is the Donkey Kong watch game. Oh, talk about retro. I don't know if you know about that. Rance, you gotta know about this. Please tell me.

SPEAKER_00 20:54

Absolutely, I know about that. One of my best friends, he had it, and when I would spend the night at his house, we would be playing that that Donkey Kong game until Yo.

SPEAKER_02 21:02

This is this is something that you had to protect, right? I would bring it to school. And you know how, like, back in the days, you might bring something to school and the kids get excited, and next thing you know, the teacher tries to take it.

SPEAKER_00 21:14

And put it in the desk with all the rest of the stuff. Like, you better call my mom.

SPEAKER_02 21:20

Yeah, I would bring it to school. Yeah, I don't even know what I would have done if the teacher would have tried to take this from me. Yeah, I don't know what I would have done, man. Like, that's that's what scares me is I don't know what I would have done. I'm not saying what I would have done, but I but what scares me is I'm not sure what I would have done, but I would have done something. I wasn't gonna let anybody take this away from me and put it in the drawer for the rest of the semester or or any of that. Like you're giving it back by the end of the day, right?

SPEAKER_00 21:46

Yeah, it still works too.

SPEAKER_02 21:48

Oh, yeah, this still works. It it uses why functional. Yeah, it's it's a little bit beat up over here. Like you can't really see, but but it still works, man. I had this since 1982. Oh think about that. Like I had This since 1982, it uses just little watch batteries. Two watch batteries go in it. It tells the time. You can set you could put an alarm on it, and you can play Donkey Kong on this man. So this was the game. I don't know. This is before Game Boy. This is before any of the like, you know, obviously any of the those those really fancy consoles. This was it right here.

SPEAKER_00 22:22

Didn't they have a Mario Brothers one too?

SPEAKER_02 22:25

Yeah, there was a there was there was a Mario Brothers one. There was a uh Donkey Kong Jr. Yes. I believe I'm I'm not sure about this one. Don't quote me on this, but I think there was a Pac-Man and maybe a Miss Pac-Man one. This right here.

SPEAKER_00 22:38

But I remember that was like the first, bro.

SPEAKER_02 22:40

This was the classic, classic, classic, man. And I just remember playing this for hours and hours and hours, man. And I can't even believe it still works. It speaks to like the quality of things. Remember, we talked like on the last episode, we were talking about um obsolescence. Yes, yes, the planned obsolescence. We're talking about the idea that things are meant to be to break and meant to be thrown away. But this is a tribute not only to the time and the game itself being kind of retro, um, but it's kind of a testament to the way they used to make things. If you think about it. Yeah, this this thing is made to last, right? Like it's it's it's like I said, I've had it since 1982. Like I dug this out of my, you know, my parents had a box of old toys that I had, that's stuff that they never threw away. And I happened to find this one day, and I'm like, oh, let me grab this. I went and got some watch batteries for it eventually, and I I tested it to see if it worked, and it still works, man. Even though it's kind of beat up and all that, but it still actually works. And I, you know, I let the kids play with it. They were fascinated. They were they couldn't believe it. They were like, This is the way you used to play games.

SPEAKER_00 23:46

A little two-bit, it's like a two-bit or a four-bit or whatever.

SPEAKER_02 23:49

It's a I don't know what bit. I don't even think it's I don't even think bits come into play with. I think it's just like like actual. I think the way it works is there's it's it's L C D, right? It's a liquid crystal display, right? So behind the scenes, there's like little pictures, and then that LCD actually, as things move, it's just kind of highlighting the light, just flashes. Yeah, it's just basically highlighting the pictures that are already there. Like so, so yeah, this is really old technology. A lit a liquid crystal display that tells the time, has an alarm clock, and you can play the game forever.

SPEAKER_00 24:25

And those original watch batteries that you would buy for them in '82 would probably last you till '84, son.

SPEAKER_02 24:31

Right. The watch batteries last crazy. Like, so this is like I said, it's it's not only the game is the point of this, but it's a kind of a testament to a to a time when things were kind of built to last. Like this isn't you talk about planned obsolescence. This is out, this is outlasted any iPhone, you know, this is this thing lasted longer than than anything I own, basically, uh, in terms of electronics, right? So um, yeah, shout out to whoever whoever makes this multi-screen. Oh, Nintendo, well, Nintendo's involved, obviously, but I don't I don't know who actually makes the the hardware for this. But this thing, you could drop it, you could throw it across the room. Yeah, crazy.

SPEAKER_00 25:12

Look, it has like the old school makeup case look where they it flips open.

SPEAKER_02 25:16

You think it's yeah, it flips open. It's like it's crazy too. Like, think about like the the the technology behind this, like where you're playing on one part of the screen, and then it's actually moving you up to another part of the screen at one point, and it's all continuous. This is pretty fascinating for the time, man. I'm still like kind of semi-impressed with this. The the way the gameplay is is still pretty, you know, it keeps you it keeps your attention for for an amazing amount of time for what it is. For it's it's a very simple game, but it's still extremely satisfying. Like you get to the top, you keep taking off these rings until Donkey Kong falls off like a little platform that he's on. You know, there's no princess in this one, it's just so like a his girlfriend. Mario's girlfriend is there. But and it's yeah, this predates even that whole princess and the toads and all that stuff. This predates all of that stuff. Like, this is Mario without Super Mario and without without without Luigi and all of the stars and all that stuff, all that stuff they need to take to enhance themselves. This predates when it was.

SPEAKER_00 26:24

One man jumping barrels.

SPEAKER_02 26:25

Jumping over barrels to save his girlfriend from a from a giant gorilla. No mushrooms, no stars, no fire flowers. Yeah, none of that. None of that. He wasn't going through on a mission. He wasn't going through no no pipes to get to get to to get 10 10 boards ahead. None of that.

SPEAKER_00 26:47

Wasn't doing no super jumps, no raccoon tail, fly racing, no cat suit, none of that, none of that. Yeah, man. Three characters: the man, his woman, and King. Donkey Kong, yeah. Donkey Kong, though. No Diddy Kong, none of that other stuff. You know, just regular Donkey Kong. Yo, I wonder how much you can get on eBay. That that yo, that's an eBay special right there. I have you did you check price check that out?

SPEAKER_02 27:16

I mean, I didn't not recently, but I probably checked like when I first got it back from my parents maybe a few years ago. And honestly, it wasn't it wasn't that that crazy. Like the price of it, it probably like a hundred bucks, something like that. Like probably at the most. The highest probably was like a hundred bucks.

SPEAKER_00 27:32

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 27:33

Because maybe I don't know why, but it's it's probably pretty niche. And then and then people have it open. It's not like it's in the box most of the time. If you see, if you do see it on eBay, it's not in the box. I don't I can't even explain like why it wouldn't be more more expensive or more like sought after um as a collectible. But but yeah, I I value it. I'm not selling it.

SPEAKER_00 27:53

Man always come through with the visual age with the toys, be the man from 1979. Probably has his first rattle.

SPEAKER_02 28:05

Did I say no? But it's but shout out to my parents, man. It's not even me. But my parents had a box where they just didn't throw anything away. Like, yeah, I had a bunch of stuff.

SPEAKER_00 28:17

Electronics plays right into it because I have one too, and this is big on electronics.

SPEAKER_02 28:24

Well, let's do it.

SPEAKER_00 28:25

Crazy Eddie Antar.

SPEAKER_02 28:28

Did you just give Crazy Eddie's last name his government?

SPEAKER_00 28:31

Yes, I gave his full government.

SPEAKER_02 28:34

He's teaching me something again, man. I didn't, I never knew Crazy Eddie's last name. You're giving out his government.

SPEAKER_00 28:39

Prices so low, they're insane, sir.

SPEAKER_02 28:45

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 28:46

Crazy Eddie.

SPEAKER_02 28:47

Is Crazy Eddie national? Like like is was that is that New York centric thing?

SPEAKER_00 28:52

He had 47 locations in total. I think he was ne he was nationwide nationwide, if I'm not mistaken, but he had about 47 locations. So Crazy Eddie was uh the first like big big mega electronic store with commercials, and Crazy Eddie was a guy, his name was Crazy Eddie Antar, which I just thought that he was, I didn't know he was the actual owner of Crazy Eddie. I just thought he was an a paid actor to do these really so crazy Eddie would get up there, remember? He'd be like, yo, we have we have uh we have radios, we have clock radios, we have this, we have that. Come on down to Crazy Eddie. Prices so low, they're insane.

SPEAKER_02 29:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:40

Radio, record players, everything. It's a classic. So and then you knew someone shot that crazy Eddie because it was the big yellow but yellow bag with like it was almost like the Nervous Records guy, the Nervous Records, and his hair was standing on, and he was just this bugged out dude looking like he was on meth or something. And that was the Crazy Eddie bag, and that's where people dudes bought their first Nintendo from there, probably. Um, your first boom box, your radio, your uh tape player, record player. Yes, yes, Crazy Eddie, man.

SPEAKER_02 30:16

Crazy Eddie was it you taught me something, a couple of things you taught me just now. One, his his government name, which I didn't, you know, it's interesting, it's pretty satisfying. I didn't think I needed to know that, but now I feel I feel good that I know it. But the other thing you just taught me is the number of locations, and I I always thought Crazy Eddie was local. For some reason, I thought it was local to us. Like I thought it was just in the Bronx or something. I I don't know. That's that's I don't know, that's pretty naive or self-centered, but I really thought Crazy Eddie was a New York thing. And even for a look for a long time as a kid, I thought Crazy Eddie was only in the Bronx.

SPEAKER_00 30:52

Yeah, I thought so too. Maybe I maybe at best with 47 locations, he had to at least hit the tri-state area.

SPEAKER_02 30:59

Yeah, like of course, like with 47 locations, I'm I'm sure it was it was he was he was he was all over the place. But yeah, I never knew that. I really thought it was just a New York thing, and then for a little while, like I said, I got thought it was a Bronx thing.

SPEAKER_00 31:10

Yeah, man. That was the that was the spot. But the craziest thing about Crazy Eddie is that they the read there was a reason why the prices was so insane because Crazy Eddie was cooking the books. Really? Oh, you don't know this story?

SPEAKER_02 31:26

No. Okay, you're giving a lot of crazy eddy history.

SPEAKER_00 31:32

So Crazy Eddie went out of business, they went bankrupt. I think in 1989, I think they ended up filing for bankruptcy and they cost um they cost their stockholders about 200 million dollars. So Crazy Eddie was basically a front, a money laundering front from the jump. So he realized, yes, it was a family-owned business as well. So Crazy Eddie realized that if he um would skim money off of the off of the top, you know, he would get to pay less in taxes, and it was just this whole fraud thing. He even got his family in there. I think his cousin went to accounting school and came out of accountant and came out to run to run the business. So what they were doing was they did a classic was called the pump and dump where they were skimming millions of dollars of cash. So come to find out they were skimming about three million dollars per year in cash.

SPEAKER_02 32:33

Right? And what's the 1989, three million, dude?

SPEAKER_00 32:37

And you're talking about like 87, 86, yeah. Um, they end up getting caught in a securities fraud. So what they were doing, they was falsifying inventory to boost the stock value. So what he realized it was privately owned, and he was like, you know what? We can we can make way more money if we go public. So he went public. So the reason to the buildup to going public is that they stopped skimming. They stopped skimming, taking like stealing like three million dollars a year from their own company, and they cut it down to like less than less than like a million dollars, probably even less than that, to make it look like the the the business was super popular uh popular and profitable so they can go public. They end up going public and they sh sold a bunch of shares at eight dollars. Right? So they just kept making millions and millions and millions of dollars, so much they even call it the Panama Dump, where his family would take money to themselves, fly to another country, unload the money in their accounts, and then send the money to Panama to clean it and then bring it back to the United States.

SPEAKER_02 33:52

Whoa.

SPEAKER_00 33:53

And business was a booming, man.

SPEAKER_02 33:56

Yeah, that's incredible. This is an incredible story. I don't know how this got happened. I've never heard this. Yeah, yeah. I've never heard this about about Crazy Eddie. That this is amazing.

SPEAKER_00 34:05

This is crazy. So how he end up getting busted was he kind of got scared because first electronics industry was taking a dive. They weren't making as much money as they used to. Things come, things go, you know, ups and down, ups and down, ebbs and flows. So what he decided, he started to get nervous and think and realize that they were doing so much stealing, like eventually someone was gonna come and look at the books and realize what they were doing. So he had the brilliant idea to try to take it back and go private again. But what he did was he decided he was gonna go private and buy everything back at seven dollars. Seven dollars a share. But a hedge fund group got wind of it and they saw that crazy Eddie is trying to buy back everything, they were like, this must be profitable. If he's trying to buy it back and go private, they must be making so much money that that it that we gotta get in on this. They bought at$8. They bought at$8, took the whole company over. So now you have a corporate takeover, and the corporate takeover happened in 1987. They got rid of the whole the whole uh Antar family, they got rid of all of them with the corporate takeover. They were rubbing their hands, they thought they had made the biggest windfall of their of their hedge fund careers until they looked at the books and they realized there was 45 million in merchandise missing. So once they opened the books, they realized there was something funny going on. And my man Crazy Eddie went on the lamb. So that's how he got busted. Yeah, he went back home. I think he was from Israel. So he went back, he ran to Israel in 1988 or 89. He ran. Or maybe it was 1990. Once they the the business filed for bankruptcy and cost the shareholders 200 million, but then he got extra expedited back to the states two years later, arrested, and he did about 16 years in jail for securities fraud.

SPEAKER_02 36:14

Oh my goodness. Yeah, that's incredible. Yeah, that's an incredible story. I had no clue about that. Wow, crazy Eddie. Eddie really was crazy.

SPEAKER_00 36:25

Eddie Eddie was really crazy, son. About that life.

SPEAKER_02 36:29

He was crazy in business, crazy about electronics, crazy about prices. Yes. That is crazy. That whole story is wild.

SPEAKER_00 36:39

And if you go to YouTube, you can see some of their commercials, some of the vintage crazy Eddie commercials where the prices are low, they're insane. You know? And he got nervous. He got nervous and decided to buy, and he got outbid by one dollar from a hedge fund.

SPEAKER_02 36:56

That's an interesting story, man, for sure, man. Like that is that's really like it's it speaks to like he was he was a crazy character, man.

SPEAKER_03 37:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 37:04

Even like doing those commercials and and like taking it that far with with the company and then skimming all that money off the top, stealing from his own company. That's really wild, man.

SPEAKER_00 37:15

Yeah. Yeah, man. He was falsifying the inventory to boost to boost the stock value. So by falsifying his inventory, he made once the IPO hit, people were like, oh my gosh, look at that the profit these guys are are are turning. So they were all in at$8 a share. You know,$8 a share in what 1982 or 85, whenever they went public, that was a lot.

SPEAKER_01 37:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 37:41

That was a lot back then. And it was amazing. And he was rolling. He was rolling until until you know, like he realized, like, I'm if I keep going like this, he tried to get out. Try to get out, man. He got outbid by a hedge fund. It was just too good. It was so good he attracted the real sharks.

SPEAKER_01 37:59

Right.

SPEAKER_00 37:59

Do you know?

SPEAKER_01 38:00

Right.

SPEAKER_00 38:01

And and they thought they were getting over. They thought that we're gonna snatch this right from under him, and they did.

SPEAKER_01 38:08

They snatched a lemon.

SPEAKER_00 38:10

They slashed a lemon. They didn't kick the tires, bro.

SPEAKER_02 38:13

Yeah, they snatched a lemon from Crazy Eddie. That is wild.

SPEAKER_00 38:16

Crazy Eddie Antar. He passed a he passed maybe 10-15 years ago, but he did 16 years for securities fraud, man. And that's the story of Crazy Eddie.

SPEAKER_02 38:26

Wow, man. It feels like in today's day day and time, like he wouldn't even do time for that. Like he would get a slap on the wrist or dogs. He would be pardoned or something.

SPEAKER_00 38:35

Or he would get an ankle monitor or something.

SPEAKER_02 38:37

Or he have to pay back a fine or something. Like it just feels like the times have changed so much, man. It feels like he would definitely just pay a fine and go on vacation or something. Just lay low for a little while. Or get pardoned. Yeah, he that's a he seems like a perfect candidate for just getting a pardon and just laying low.

SPEAKER_00 39:02

Crazy Eddie, man.

SPEAKER_02 39:04

Oh my gosh, man. Wow, it really is downhill from here, man.

SPEAKER_00 39:07

You got the I throw out the big gun.

SPEAKER_02 39:10

Yeah, that's that is a story, man. Like I didn't expect that one. No, I I appreciate it though. Like I that's a good one. Yeah, it was on Fortum Road. It was on Fordham Road. So growing up, I just I just thought of him. I associated him with the Bronx. I associated him with Fordham Road. So I always thought of him as just a New York centric thing, right? And and when I was a kid, we didn't really I didn't really leave New York much, right? Or like I didn't even really leave the Bronx. I just took it for granted that this is a Bronx thing, you know, until I until I learned better, you know. But um, yeah, that's interesting, man. Well, well, I have one that's not as exciting, but may jog your memory. Do you remember the highlights subscriptions?

SPEAKER_00 39:59

Oh, yes, sir. So my first introduction to reading.

SPEAKER_02 40:03

Yeah, it was my first introduction. That's what I was about to say. Man, like I thought about this, and I'm like, wow, my my parents used to subscribe to this, and like I don't know what the cadence was. It felt like it felt like books were coming on like all the time, right? Like, like I was getting books, I was getting magazines, you know, those little digest type of things.

SPEAKER_00 40:22

Kids was it kids, was it in like a kids' digest or something?

SPEAKER_02 40:26

Yeah, something like that. I don't remember exactly yeah, the boys' life magazine or something like that. And certain books I remember, man, like that was my introduction of like Paddington Bear.

SPEAKER_00 40:37

The highlights. Yeah, the highlights. That's actually dogs. That's actually a good one. I'm not gonna lie, because that brought me back, because that was also like one of my first pieces of mail. Yes, exactly.

SPEAKER_02 40:50

You felt important almost when you got that highlights because it because it was addressed to the kid, right? Like, so your parents would sign you up, and it and the books were addressed to you, though. So so when you got that package, it was for you. So yeah, I remember that feeling of getting that mail. Yeah, I forgot about that feeling.

SPEAKER_00 41:09

I'd be sitting in my room, my father would come in, knock on the door. You got mail.

SPEAKER_02 41:13

I was like, we got mail, yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_00 41:16

Me? Yeah, I opened that booklet so they had the little mazes where you can draw the mazes and stuff, the highlights. Yeah, they had puts, I think they had word puzzles, little.

SPEAKER_02 41:26

Yeah, in the in that little digest in the in the magazine stuff, but but also like that was my first introduction to, like I said, um Paddington Bear, like reading those books. Um The Berenstein Bears. Yes. That was my first introduction to reading those books, right? Um, Frog and Toad. I don't know if you remember that.

SPEAKER_00 41:45

Frog and Toad are friends. Yeah, yes.

SPEAKER_02 41:50

Yo, I'm glad you remember this. I thought it was just me. Like, I'm like, I still have the frog and toad book somewhere.

SPEAKER_00 41:57

I'm sure I do.

SPEAKER_02 41:58

I'm sure I got a frog and toad book somewhere for my kids. But um, but I have forgot about this for a while, and I thought back, I'm like, wait a minute. Like, we had these subscriptions, and like you said, it used to be such an exciting feeling that when my parents would tell me, Oh, you got mail, and it was actually addressed addressed directly to me. Yes. Um, and I would get these books, and it felt like to me, it felt like those books were flooding, like they were coming all the time. Like, I'm sure it was just a cadence of like maybe once a month or something like that, if that. But to me, it felt like they were coming all the time. So I felt excited that I was getting mail like that. And like I said, that was my introduction to reading. I I think that that feeling of excitement from that subscription service, sending you books, it felt good, and it it actually encouraged me and motivated me to read more, right? Yes, because I'm like, oh, I'm getting these books in the mail. This is cool. It felt important for some reason because it was coming in the mail, and I would actually be encouraged to read from that, right?

SPEAKER_00 42:55

And I would read those things. I would read I'd sit in a little corner. I'd I'd I must have read the magazines until the pages came off. I would read them at least 10 times.

SPEAKER_02 43:03

Yeah, exactly. That's the other thing. I would read all these things over and over and over, like even the books that they came, like Paddington Bear, I would just keep reading those books over and over, right? Like um, like the Baron Stane Bears, I would read those until, like you said, like until the pages ripped or or until the you know they came out of the book. Yeah, man. Yeah, Frog and Toad, stuff like that. And they still have it. Like that's the funny thing. I I think this has been going on since like since the 40s. Like I think 1946, um, highlights started.

SPEAKER_00 43:34

Really?

SPEAKER_02 43:35

And it's still going on, like and they're still in publication? Yeah, you can still get it. Yeah, you can get um I think there's like some the I think there's books for like beginning readers too. Like the one about the puppy. Um Biscuit. Oh, biscuit, actually. Biscuit the puppy.

SPEAKER_00 43:53

I don't know if you're familiar with that, but um I do I am familiar with Biscuit the Puppy as well.

SPEAKER_02 43:57

But but yeah, you can get biscuit books. Like those very first readers, um, for like really little kids, like so you're encouraging them. This just has like one sentence per page and it shows biscuit doing all of these these different things, like learning um different tricks of sleeping or you know, eating or whatever the f whatever the case may be, right? But um but yeah, they're they're still around. Um which I thought was insane. But again, like to me, this all speaks to the the longevity of things that were started back in, you know, years and years and years ago. They were kind of made to last, and they were made with like some forward thinking in it, right? Um it wasn't like the planned obsolescence that we have today, even though it's not a product per se. But it just if it feels like certain things were just made with more of a plan with longevity and how this is gonna last and the value that it's gonna add. But highlights has definitely been added value for a long time because even some of the books that we got as gifts, when I think back on it, those books came from highlights, like the people that came to us.

SPEAKER_00 44:57

Um, now that I think uh think about it, they must have gotten those books through through the subscription because wasn't it that stamp wasn't it the stamp order sheet too where you would like peel the was it was that did that was that how you ordered like books off there? They wouldn't have to be able to do that.

SPEAKER_02 45:11

I don't remember, man. Like that that I'm not sure. Like I I thought it was like something where you just check off like the little like check off the little box. Yeah, there would be like a little box next to like all of these choices, and then you would you would check off the the sheet and then send that in, and then they would send you the books after you after you fill out the sheet, and you just do a check mark next to the ones you want or X next to the ones you actually want. Yeah, you know, you put your money order or whatever thing. Yeah, C O D or your money order, and um, and yeah, you would get the ones that that you select that way. Um but yeah, that's that's my that was my thing, man. Like like that's I think that's what what got me into reading um at first. That and my parents kind of standing over me, being like, hey, read this, you know.

SPEAKER_00 45:56

Yeah, my parents could get me anything. So I had boys life highlights, anything that I would read, I would they would they would get me like some type of subscription for. You know, and then I I I remember one of the big things also was to get that as a birthday present. Like you got the little the little like card that's saying that you've been subscribed to highlights or to Kid Magazine or whatever what else is this yo, that's a good memory for me, man.

SPEAKER_02 46:23

I feel like if if you could still do that as a gift, like people should start doing that again.

SPEAKER_00 46:29

Yeah, man. Make literacy a forefront again, man. Yeah, but that's crazy because we we got the two for one here because you know what I had, I had the scholastic book fair, son.

SPEAKER_02 46:42

The scholastic book fair.

SPEAKER_00 46:44

So we got the two for one action on this one, man.

SPEAKER_02 46:47

The scholastic book.

SPEAKER_00 46:48

They started in '81. And that's when you would, yeah, you couldn't wait for that in your school.

SPEAKER_02 46:54

That's an interesting one because if you didn't have much money, that could be a that could be a bad day for you. That's a rough day walking through that that book fair, and you don't have enough money to buy anything because they don't just have books now, they have like little toys.

SPEAKER_00 47:09

Boulders, it's still around.

SPEAKER_02 47:11

Yeah, it's still around. My kids, my kids have that the the the book fair still.

SPEAKER_00 47:15

Yeah, the scholastic book fair. I did not know it was still around.

SPEAKER_02 47:18

Yeah, they asked for money, and it's it's pressure, man. Like they they go in there and they need enough money to get a book, a couple of books, a pencil, a ruler, whatever little toy they got in there. My my my little furry thing. My kid got a a calculator that would smell like chocolate. It was like a like I don't, you know. Yeah, like a chocolate calculator. You're like, yeah, I need the chocolate calculator. I'm like, all right, well, how much is it? Yeah, it's it's pressure. They gotta go in there with with some bread in their pocket, you know?

SPEAKER_00 47:48

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_02 47:48

Or else they're gonna go home disappointed and or just watch their friends go in there.

SPEAKER_00 47:52

There was always that one kid that had like everything.

SPEAKER_02 47:56

They got you got kids that are going there. Pulling out dollars. But don't let the parents show up like before it shuts down. If your parent, if your if your mom shows up, yeah, you're good.

SPEAKER_00 48:05

Like you're gonna walk in out with banners and pennants. Yeah, you got banners and pennants, you got all types of stuff.

SPEAKER_02 48:10

Yeah, you're gonna leave there with a poster, ten books, like all types of stuff. All the pencils and erasing.

SPEAKER_00 48:18

You would get like a my they would have like Michael Jackson pictures when we were kids. You would have like a Michael Jackson.

SPEAKER_02 48:23

Yo, speaking of Michael Jackson, you just jogged my memory. I'm sorry to cut you, but before I forget, do you remember the Michael Jackson doll?

SPEAKER_00 48:31

The one did it have the silver pants on it, like and it had the interchangeable clothes?

SPEAKER_02 48:38

No, like like well, it would like it sort of kind of, right? But they had several versions of this thing, right? Like it had the one from the Grammys, they had the beat it one, they had the thriller one, like so he would have on the clothes that he had on, like, like you know, remember in the Grammys where he was dressed like Captain Crunchy had the Captain Crunchycre. Yeah, he had the like the the kind of glittery military jacket on and the big shades, and and um I think he brought Emmanuel Lewis to that one with him and Brooke Shields. Yeah, um I think he had bubbles with him. That was a crazy time. He might have had bubbles with him, but I think he he definitely had like Emmanuel Lewis as a guest with him.

SPEAKER_00 49:18

Yeah, because he was carrying Emmanuel Lewis around like he was a real baby, so yeah, there's several pictures where he's with Emmanuel Lewis and they're and they're kind of funny.

SPEAKER_02 49:26

Like, shout out to Emmanuel Lewis. I'm not trying to make like I didn't mean to make fun of, but but there's several pictures of him and Emmanuel Lewis hanging out that are kind of funny. Like, and I mean funny ha ha, like they're funny. Like if you see them, you're like, what is he doing hanging out with Emmanuel Lewis? But yeah, I think he brought Brooke Shields with him as a date. He had Emmanuel Lewis with him, and he might have had Bubbles the chimp with him at the time too. Dressed like Captain Crunch. For like the younger generation, whoever's listening to this that doesn't know, but he used to walk around, he used to have a chimp, like a pet chimp that I used to hang out with, and he used to actually carry this chimp to events with him. And it was just, I don't know, it's crazy. In retrospect, that's really crazy too, because chimps are like what how many times stronger is a chimp than a like eight to ten times stronger than a human.

SPEAKER_00 50:12

So basically, and they're aggressive.

SPEAKER_02 50:14

Yeah, basically, if a chimp kind of gets mad or s or they get scared, they could rip your they could lift the face off. Remember that that that lady that they ripped the lady's face off, yeah, ripped the face. Like, not that you know, like I it's not funny, but like it's absurd to me. But but the chimp rips the lady's face off. She's taking care of this chimp, and the chimp rips, not not bubbles, by the way. This is a whole nother chimp. But but that story comes out later, right? The lady that that actually literally got her face ripped up by the chimp, and she had to have all sorts of plastic surgery to just reconstruct a face for her because her face was completely destroyed by this, yeah, by the strength of this chimp. And in retrospect, like the fact that Mike was walking around with a chimp all the time is just crazy to me, right? I think the chimp had a diaper, like he was a rescued animal too.

SPEAKER_00 51:06

And little fact is that he actually did have to get rid of him. He did because as he got older, he started to become an adolescent, an adult, he started to get like violent. So Mike had to get rid of him, man.

SPEAKER_02 51:18

Yeah, I could imagine, man.

SPEAKER_00 51:20

He started get they get ultra aggressive, man. That's like I don't know what would make somebody want to have that as a pet, but you know, they you he didn't do his research. He didn't do his research, they're cute as babies, yeah. But as they get it, they get to adulthood, they get very territorial and it's super strong, man.

SPEAKER_02 51:37

Super strong, man. Anyway, so so but but the thing is like with these Michael Jackson dolls, I think I was like eight or nine years old, and I had I forget I'm even forgetting which one I had. I think I had the beat it one. Oh, with the red jacket and the yeah, they were really for the time I'm and we're talking about like 1980s, like probably maybe, yeah, maybe it was like 1989 or so. Like whenever Thriller was out was when these be we these were popular, right?

SPEAKER_00 52:01

They came 80, I think that's like 87, right? 87? That's yeah, something like that.

SPEAKER_02 52:05

Don't quote me on the date, but like like around that thriller time was when this was all out, right? Like, so I had this thing, and it was like uh it came with a stand, so you could like put them in this stand that went around his waist, so you could stand them up and put them in different poses.

SPEAKER_00 52:18

Oh, you can pose them.

SPEAKER_02 52:19

Yeah, you could pose them, and he came with like shoes that came off, like you know, little penny loafer type of shoes. He had the glittery socks, he had the glittery glove. Um, it was like amazing. Like it so you could get the either the beat it one, you could get the I think he had they had one for the Billy Jean outfit, the one for thriller, and then they had one where he was dressed up like he was at like the same outfit he had on at the Grammys. And I remember I don't know what like there's nothing you could do with it except for like kind of pose it.

SPEAKER_00 52:46

But at the time sit it on the dresser, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 52:48

At the time it was, it was that was amazing to have a Michael Jackson kind of it was a doll too. Like, I didn't know I want to call it an action figure, but you know, who am I fooling? It was a doll. Like it was a doll, but it was but it was articulating like a like an action figure, and I'm sure they still I'm sure on eBay they still have these things, right? Like I'm sure, and I'm sure that they probably re-released a couple of times, but I'm talking about this is me at like probably like nine years old. I had one. Like, I think I was eight or nine years old. So this has to be like 1984 or something, like 1984, 85, that I had this thing. Wow. That's a good one. And you could take and and everything came like you could take the glove off, the shoes came off, the socks. Like I think you could interchange his outfit, right?

SPEAKER_00 53:30

He had hats too.

SPEAKER_02 53:31

I remember it being interchangeable, like yeah, it was it was interchangeable, but I only ever had yeah, I only ever had one, so I you know, like he just he stayed with the same outfit on the whole time.

SPEAKER_00 53:41

You just changed the pose, you just changed his pose every day.

SPEAKER_02 53:44

Yeah, I would just change the pose, and I was a big Michael Jackson fan as a little kid. So to me, that was amazing just to have like that type of realistic doll. Because it was very realistic, like it was articulated. Yeah, the face for the time. Um like when I think about that.

SPEAKER_00 53:58

It was like handcrafted, everything. Like the expression in the face and everything, the eyes were like dug out.

SPEAKER_02 54:05

Yeah, for the time period, it was really impressive how realistic looking it was, like, you know, and the way they did the clothing, man. Crazy. I remember kids, some kids had the glove. Like, I don't know where they got it from, but I remember going to school, and some kids in my class, they would have like a glittered glove. A glitter rhinestone glove. And I used to be mad, yeah. Like to have a have like a white rhinestone glove. And I remember asking my parents for one, and they were like, Come on, man.

SPEAKER_00 54:29

He's like, Man, you need to stop. You need to get it. Yeah, like with that doll on top of your dresser, go post your doll up.

SPEAKER_02 54:34

Cut it out. I remember asking if I could get a curl in my like a like if I get my curl, like my projects.

SPEAKER_00 54:42

With the baby hair laid down on your forehead.

SPEAKER_02 54:45

Yo, my parents was a thought I was insane. Like, like eight or nine years old, asking if I could get my hair permled, or whatever it was. I'm like, yeah, I want to curl like Michael Jackson. They'll probably be like, get if you don't get out of it.

SPEAKER_00 54:57

It's like, man, listen, you better go. The best you're gonna get is a scholastic book fair poster. So you gotta go in there and get you a scholastic book fair poster, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 55:06

Nah, but I was a huge fan. I had I had Michael Jackson posters, I remember in my room. Like I shared a room with my brother, and I kept, you know, I obviously kept it on my side of the room because he wasn't into it. But um, but I remember having Michael Jackson posters. They were when the magazines remember the magazines would have have posters you could unfold. I forget what magazine I used to get posters out of out of the magazine.

SPEAKER_00 55:28

I don't know if it was Word Up or Word Up or the Um Like 17, the girls were 17. It wasn't it was it definitely wasn't 17, but it was like Word Up Word Up magazine, I believe.

SPEAKER_02 55:38

It was something like that. It was like Word Up or one of those magazines where you could take in the center. Yeah, they would have like the poster in it and it would advertise, like, oh, Michael Jackson poster inside or whatever the case may be, right? And you could pull it out, like if you pulled it out carefully, you could unfold it and it's a huge poster, right? Some of them were double-sided too.

SPEAKER_00 55:56

Through the staple, the staples you didn't want to pull it out, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 55:59

Like they would have double-sided posters inside the magazines, like where you could just choose which one you like, which which artwork you want for him. And I, you know, that that was crazy for for a live for a kid, that was high quality, you know. Yeah, that was quality stuff, man.

SPEAKER_00 56:18

So we had highlights and the scholastic book fair with a little more MJ sprinkled in between, right?

SPEAKER_02 56:26

And I got some more, just as a uh special shout out to He-Man. Um, the movies come in. Oh, the movie's on its way. So so I got this from my parents again, like they didn't they never do this out, but this is a battle armor He-Man.

SPEAKER_00 56:41

Um, that's the one where you can crash, you can like bust the chest.

SPEAKER_02 56:47

I don't know if you can see that, but you hit him in the chest and and he gets like damage, he gets battle damage on his um battle armor, right? So this was a cool toy at the time. Um, I don't have all the pieces of it. It used to have like a little zip thing that would that you could pull out of here and it would it would make yeah, it would it'll make this vehicle go across the room. And he had like a battle axe and a shield and a sword, but I don't have any of the I don't have any of the accessories for this. But you know, shout out to my parents again, man. They didn't throw much away.

SPEAKER_00 57:17

Um, so did you have a castle gray skull? I always wanted a castle gray skull. You never had a castle gray skull, man. But they was like, yo, yo, hold hold up on that, bro. Like, you got you asking for a lot.

SPEAKER_02 57:29

I never had a castle gray skull. I always wanted one, obviously. Like, that was like the holy grail of He-Man toys. You know what else I never got? I had a lot of G.I. Joe at the at one point, right? But you know what the holy grail of GI Joe was? The aircraft carrier. That big aircraft carrier. That joint was like the size of I I don't even I can't even compare it to any toy. It was almost like the size of like a like a small bike. Like it was so it was so long.

SPEAKER_00 57:59

It was like a a 2,000-piece Lego set build. Yeah, like how those 2,000-piece Lego sets are huge, that's how big that air can be. That's how big it was.

SPEAKER_02 58:09

That's how big it was. And they still, I'm sure you you know, you could go on eBay and get them. They're selling for like thousands of dollars, I think.

SPEAKER_00 58:15

Yeah, they probably was like 40, 40 to 50 dollars back then, which was absurd.

SPEAKER_02 58:20

Probably like probably closer to$100. That's probably why nobody had it. Because I think that even at the time, and this is we're talking about in the 1980s, I think it was like$100 for that. And I think that's why nobody I knew had it, right?

SPEAKER_00 58:34

Yeah, I didn't know anybody with that. I didn't know anybody with that. I don't know. I had one friend with this castle of gray skull, and the biggest thing I had, I had a Millennium Falcon from the Star Star Wars. I actually that's a big one.

SPEAKER_02 58:46

That's a big one.

SPEAKER_00 58:47

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 58:48

Yeah, that's another one of those big boys for for Star Wars. That was like that. That was like a holy grail type of item, you know.

SPEAKER_00 58:54

And I had an at too, you know, the thing that the thing that I had to do is that's the other thing. Those are grail items.

SPEAKER_02 59:00

You know what's funny? I can't remember ever. I don't I didn't have any Star Wars toys as a kid. Like, I don't know why. Like, I had a lot of stuff. I had I had all sorts of Transformers, I had G.I. Joe, all sorts of He-Man figures. I had Go Bots at one point. Um yeah, I had a couple of Go Bots when Go Bots was, you know, kind of still competing with Transformers. Um I never ever had a Star Wars toy as a kid, like none of them. And when I used to go to school, like all the kids used to have them. They had like Luke Skywalker with the little retractor. The lightsaber of the retract. Yeah, the lightsaber, like yeah, they had the little button.

SPEAKER_00 59:34

I had Darth Vader, I had uh uh uh Luke Skywalker. Um they used to come, you know what was it, Mattel? I think Mattel made them. I think it was Mattel in the little. No, Kenner. Kenner? Kenner Kenner? Kenner, Kenner. Yeah, yeah. They were in the clear package and you would get a home rip ripped them open. If hindsight was 2020, I would have threw those things in a trunk and threw them downstairs in the in the basement or something. And those things are worth so much money right now.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:00

I think I think the most valuable one that I've that I've seen, like the uh uh, you know, that that old school collectible is um boba fett. Yeah, because they only made uh there's there's one that there's one that's imperfect, too. There's a there's one that like it shoots the actual like rod of the back.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:19

Yeah, the fact that he shoots out, and they had to discontinue it because of um for choking hazards. Yes, yes, for choking hazards.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:27

They discontinued that one, and that one is worth a lot of money. That's the holy grail collectible. Yeah, that's the colour.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:32

That's like the Honush Wagner baseball card. That one right there, that joints the holy grail, b.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:37

Yeah, that's a that's the holy grail of Star Wars toys for sure. Um now, but the Millennium Falcon is still up there. That's that's that's good.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:45

Yeah, it made the noise, it had a little button on the side. Yeah, that was.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:49

I used to work with like when I when I used to I used to work with somebody that that kept the Lego versions of these things in his office. Like he had like some shelves. I remember going to his office when I was a technician, and when you looked in his office, he would keep them at the top of his shelves, these huge Lego sets that he that he would bring from home. Um he had the Millennium Falcon, I forget which other ones. He had, oh, he had the Star Destroyer, he had a Millennium Falcon. Um a couple of things, man. Like I just remember, oh, I think he had a Death Star too.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:22

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:23

Yeah, he had these, and they were huge. Like he had whatever, you know, whatever he was spending. I don't know what he was spending on these things, but they were huge. And he would finish them and then bring them to work and have them like on top of his shelf.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:34

He was like, he was like Will Ferrell, Will Farrell in uh uh Lego movie. Yeah, yeah. He brought him in the office so his kids wouldn't mess with him. Yeah, yeah. You know, Mr.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:46

Mr. Business.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:47

That's that's crazy. Yeah, those are those are some of the toys, man. We went back with that one, man. That He-Man, the Star Wars, the Castle Grayscole. That was pretty good. Yo, you know what? I meant to what I just thought about with the book fan too. Did you read? Remember the like the girls always bought what was it like the Sweet Valley High and the Babysitter Club's books?

SPEAKER_02 1:02:11

And and we would get too there's still babysitter's club books too. Like like my my daughter had a had a couple of the babysitter's club books.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:19

Uh-huh. And then we would have like the Judy Bloom books, um, with like Tales of the Fourth Grade Nothing and the the Super Fudge books and all that stuff. I I remember we would buy those at the book fair, so but you know, we read a lot back then.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:34

Yeah, and I and I think that yeah, it's still going on. I I think the kids are still into that, man. Like, and I think the book fair makes it fun. Um, it gives it it makes it an event, which is kind of the point, and it makes it exciting. So it's like, you know, it encourages them to read. Um, yeah, my kids are still still doing that. At least my son is right now. He's he's the younger one, but um, he's still asking for money for the book fair. Yeah, man. So it's still happening. Yeah, it's still going on, it's still going strong.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:02

I have another one. I I don't have any visual, but remember the garbage pail kids? I would I I went looking all over to see if I had any garbage pail kids, cards laying around.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:12

I remember I used to go to this one, this one grocery store, and whenever I got any little extra money, like and whenever my parents would give me anything, I would go to the store and get garbage pail kids. I mean, me and kids at the school used to have stacks, like stacks of these cards. And if you had any doubles, or if you had yeah, you would trade them like if you had any that you didn't want, or you had doubles of anything, you could be trading those all day. And they just had the most disgusting and crazy names. Like Scabby Abbey. Yeah. Um it was like a direct parody on on the cat the on Cabbage Patch kids.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:48

Yeah, they sued them.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:49

Did they?

SPEAKER_00 1:03:50

Yeah, the Cabbage Patch. It was a little bit too close.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:52

Yeah, I was very like when you think about it, like yeah, they looked they looked exactly like Cabbage Patch kids, but they just had like disgusting names, and they would have disgusting depictions of of them on their own. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:04

Yeah, they were disgusting cars, but we would keep them by the stacks. We would have the little bicycle bags, girls would girls would put out pull out like hundreds of them at a time, and you'd be trading them. They were like the Pokemon cards before the Pokemon cards, and if you had doubles and triples, you would trade somebody. So it would be like the same picture but two different names.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:25

And they got sued, and they got bad, they actually got banned from schools because of they were such a distraction because kids were trading them in class.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:34

Right, right.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:35

And I found out too that not only did they get sued um by the cabbage patch kids because they because they were too close of resemblance, but they're banned in Mexico, and they're banned from being imported to Australia. Mexico has a ban where it repres because it says it represents minors in a degrading or ridiculous manner. So they like they're banned in Mexico up there.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:59

Man, shout out to Mexico for that for protecting the youth. Yeah, if that's their reasoning, then shout out to them for that. Because that that kind of makes some sense.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:09

Yeah, and they got so popular they made a ridiculous movie in like 1989. Yeah, did you see that movie? Yeah, I saw that ridiculous movie, man.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:18

I didn't I didn't know there was a movie until recent years. Like I just happened to stumble on on a preview or something for it, or or advertisement for it. And but I never knew in 1987 I didn't know there was a whole garbage pill kids movie. I had no idea. And it looked this what I saw, the preview looks insane. Yeah, but they were it was disgusting. It made me so glad I didn't see it as a kid. I'm like, this is terrible, man.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:43

Yeah, man. It was gross, man.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:45

It is bad. Like, I'm like, this is bad. I'm I'm so glad I didn't see that as a kid.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:51

Yeah, it's one of those like cult cult favorites now.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:53

It almost looks scary. Like, like I was looking at the preview, it looks scary. Remember the dark crystal?

SPEAKER_00 1:06:00

Um yeah, the Jim Henson movie, the Dark Crystal with those big weird pigeons. Yes, it gave me a lot of things.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:06

It gave me that same kind of feeling as when I saw the Dark Crystal, which I actually saw the whole movie in the theater. And I remember being really mad at my parents for taking me to see the Dark Crystal. But that's the same feeling I had when I saw the preview for um the trailer for the garbage fail kids. I'm like, wow, this is this gives me that same like disgusted feeling that I had when I when I sat through the Dark Crystal. I don't know what Jim Henson was on to make that. Yes, and he was doing that. They said every detail of that that movie is practical effects too. So it's all puppets. There's no special effects going on.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:43

It like starts off with those like six foot tall, seven foot tall vultures. Yeah, yeah. Like fighting.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:49

Oh man.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:50

They like fighting, like sword fighting it over over like who's gonna be the leader, and the dude loses, and he gets stripped of all his feathers, and he's a little skinny bird underneath these these this this huge plumage of feathers that he has. It was it was that movie was creepy, man.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:05

And they were kidnapping the those those those people and sucking the energy out of them. Yeah, that movie was creepy. That was really crazy. I don't know what Jim Henson was on to make that, man. Yeah, he was arming, yo. He was on. Yeah, like why would you go from the Muppets to this? I felt betrayed. To this day, I haven't seen it, I've only seen it once. I've I've never watched it again. Like I'm excited.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:28

It pops up every now and then, like on the YouTube, and I don't I never it is ahead of its time, though. It is ahead of its time with the way that but it was before when it came out, it was like wow, but it I was scared of that movie, man. It was scared of it. Yeah, I was I was shook.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:42

It was creepy. I was absolutely shook. Like it was creepy, man. I was mad that my parents took me to see that. That and E.T. For some reason I was scared of E.T.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:52

Oh, I didn't want to go see E.T. I took I begged my mother not to take me. She was taking me. I was like, I don't want to go, I don't want to go. I thought I was gonna be scared. I ended up loving it, but I remember her taking me to going on a train to go see it.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:04

At the time I loved it, right? So I wanted to go see it. I wanted to go see it, right? I sat through it and I thought I had a great time. I loved it. But when I got home and like the lights had to go out, it was time to go to bed. I'm like, oh man. Like I it, you know, just the the the picture in my head was of this, you know, a little short, ugly, wrinkled alien. And I couldn't get that that sight out of my out of my mind. And I'm like, oh man, now I'm scared. I can't believe they took me to see this. Yeah. Now I can't go to sleep. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:37

I think that the character for E.T. they didn't they use a kid with no legs inside of the costume. I think it was a kid with no legs inside of the costume, and he like moved around on a skateboard or something.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:49

I've heard that. I don't I I I can't I can't confirm it, but like I have heard something like that.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:54

E.T. didn't have legs. He just like kind of like with his arms. Well, no, no, he had those little T had those little stumped legs, but his body was like sitting on top of it.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:03

Yeah, his body was pretty much like that. So he waddled from side to side. Yeah, yeah, he definitely had legs. Yeah, don't don't don't put that on E.T. Don't put that on East.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:13

He's a body and a pair of feet.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:15

Yeah, don't put that over E.T. He had he had legs and feet, but they were just short. Facts over Fourney, my brother.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:23

Facts over to Funny, so we're gonna get we're gonna get called. We're gonna get people DM us talking about, yo man, E.T. did so have feet, bro.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:31

He did have feet pictures of E.T.'s feet. We're gonna get pictures of E.T. feet. You're gonna get DMs of just E.T.'s E.T. feet picks. E.T. feet picks. E.T. feet picks is crazy.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:52

Oh man.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:53

Some people out there got E.T. feet.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:02

Nah, let me start. I take that one.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:06

That was mine. The garbage peel kids. That was my final entry.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:19

Oh man. That was a good one.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:22

Oh man.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:24

Alright, I got one more honorable mention. All right. This is the Rubik Snake. At least it started out as the Rubik Snake. But this is not the Rubik Snake. This is a reasonable facsimile of the Rubik Snake. But back in the days, this used to be a popular, popular toy, man. Kids in school would make I can't I still can't make much out of it.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:49

Like, but kids would make you could never make I could never make anything out of that but like a letter S and a box.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:56

Kids kids would make the box or the ball, like you know, like whatever that that kind of square ball out of it. They would make a cobra. Like one kid had had when he made a cobra out of it. Like like I'm like, how you do that? Some kid made a dog out of it. I I never learned how to how to really truly manipulate this thing, but this was really popular when I was a kid. I don't even think I had one. I think this is one of those things where I would borrow one from, you know, when you used to borrow stuff from like, let me take it home. Let me take this home overnight. I'll bring it back tomorrow, I swear. And tomorrow this is one of those things. Yeah, this was one of my like, hey, I'll bring this back tomorrow, I swear, type of toys. Like I never owned this as a kid, but I used to borrow it from people from time to time. If you brought this to school, I was definitely gonna borrow this from you. I'll bring it. I would bring it back though. Like I was, I was I had honor about my my borrowing. Like if I if I told you, you're just gonna like just let me keep it for one one day, I would bring it, I would bring it back.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:55

You got the green and white one there, they had the blue and oh, they had blue and white, red and white.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:59

I think they had a yellow and white one. Yeah, this came this came in colors. Like this definitely came in colors. You could definitely rep with this.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:06

It looked like a little garden snake. Little cute little what's the um what's the ship?

SPEAKER_02 1:12:11

And they were wider. They were they were wide, like you could get like a they were kind of wider, they were much wider than this, like the original ones. Um little Minecraft snake. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So yeah, just throw back memories. I saw this, like my kids had a bunch of like a whole box of like different types of fidget toys. And I saw this, I'm like, wait a minute, this is the snake. And I know Rubik's made one, but there were many imitations. Like this, this was like all those little stores that were like stationary stores where you could get bags and toys, they all had this thing, right? This and a fake, you know, like I shouldn't say fake, but there was like reasonable facsimiles of a of a Rubik's Cube and different variations, yeah, very different variations, lesser priced variations. Yeah, lower price options than Rubik's was probably given at the time. But like, but yeah, this would be in all your kind of like your little stationary stores and convenience stores. This was there, right? Um so yeah, that's my my last entry. And I had a like one thing I wanted to talk about real quick. And this is not as like PG, I guess, but remember when people were like when you first started drinking, like I'm sure, you know, like like to be honest, we started experimenting like early, like like in our you know, late teens, kids were drinking like Bartles and James, and um, and then as we got a little older, we started graduating to like golden champagne and pink champagne.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:40

Oh, champagne, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:42

Remember champagne? Yeah, I don't know. I don't know why this came to my head like as a nostalgic thing, man.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:46

But I remember champagne because that was one thing like during New Year's Eve, my mother or my father they would let me take a sip, a sip of champagne. It came in, they had the pink champagne, yeah, and golden champagne.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:01

Yes, yeah, I'm glad you remember that.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:04

Aluminum foil top.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:05

Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:06

You know, that was the hood champagne, son. Yes, yeah, man.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:11

Yes, indeed.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:11

You know, I was like, yo, can I get can I get just a loose? But go ahead, just take a little sible, one quick sible. Yeah, a little sible. The champagne, son. Some people called it shampiple.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:22

Remember, um, remember MD 2020, the Mad Dog 2020?

SPEAKER_00 1:14:26

Oh, that was like college days. That's the banana red.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:30

Yeah, it came, it came in like almost like a like a like a bottom. It looked like a glass flask. Yes, that's what I was trying to think of. Yes, thank you. Thank you. It looked like a glass flask the way it was shaped and the size of it and everything. And and that mad dog would get you.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:48

Yeah. If you was in college in the 90s, that mad dog 2020 and that boons farms, the girls would like to drink that boons farm.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:55

Yeah, I forgot about that. The wine. That boons, the strawberry, strawberry boons, and all that stuff. Fruity wine. That fruity wine, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:02

That stuff that would just destroy your stomach.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:05

That and like somebody reminded me about 99 bananas. You ever had 99 bananas?

SPEAKER_00 1:15:10

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:11

That was some stuff.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:12

They made they made 90, and then they tried to make a spin-off of like 99 apples too. But the 99 bananas was, yeah, man. This is like 90s, 90s alcoholism, right here.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:22

Yeah, that that was like putting us on the wrong path, man. Like 99 bananas. Just the cheapest, whatever you could find type of liquor.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:31

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:31

Oh my goodness, man. But anyway, that was my little nostalgic moment for that too. Like, because I was like, wow, forgot about that. I forgot about some of these things, but I'm like, yeah, we used to try to drink as as young people. We were drinking like just the cheapest, the cheapest stuff, worst quality.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:49

You'd be sitting, you'd be sitting in the dorm or something, eating like, remember the Del Monte fruit cocktail? You'd be just mixing all types of crazy stuff. Yeah, you'd be eating eating fruit cocktail and drinking cheap liquor.

SPEAKER_02 1:16:01

Even the even like like experimenting like drinking malt liquor for a while, right? Like where you would put at first, kids would put juice in it, right? Like when we were young, they would put like Hawaiian punch, Hawaiian punch in the say nides in the say nides, right? And then say nides got hip that we were doing that, and they came out with the special brew. Remember that? Every rapper, every rapper had a commercial for special. I don't know if we talked about this last episode. It feels like this feels like deja vu, but but maybe if we talked about it, hey, forgive us. Yeah, everybody, everybody, ice cube, yes, Snoop. Anybody that was anything, like you know, like um Snoop had one. Um what's his name? The the the other dude that was down with the West Coast. Um, the regulator.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:45

Was it Warren G? Warren G.

SPEAKER_02 1:16:46

Warren G. Warren G. I'm sorry, Warren G. I forgot your name for a second, but yeah, Warren G. Definitely. Warren G had a good commercial for it. Um, and Biggie had a good one. Wu Tang Clan had a good one.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:58

Talk about attraction marketing.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:00

Yeah, that was that was crazy. That was direct marketing, like direct, yes, directed to us. Yeah, the same eyes with the juice, and I can't even believe they got hip to it and started making a special brew that that was fruit-flavored malt liquors.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:17

Fruit-flavored malt liquor.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:20

Wow, just kill us, just come to the hood and kill us. Why don't you? Yeah, just go why beat around the bush? Just come right in the neighborhood and hit us in the head, you know? Why play games? No.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:36

Oh man. So this concludes our tripped out memory lane.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:43

You gotta end with a bang.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:46

We started with a bang and we ended with a bang, son. Hopefully, we brought back some good fond memories for you guys on this one again. Um, but this concludes our episode 37 of the Jet Expertise Podcast. Shout out to our now day 37, our day ones, and everyone in between. And as usual, and as always, shout out to our day one, day one. Absolutely. And you know what, babe?

SPEAKER_02 1:18:17

Since we are prolific.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:18

That's right, my brother. Since we are prolific, we will be back same gen next time, same gen next place. Go watch that, Michael, if you get an opportunity. You know what I mean? Go buy that ticket, go see it in the iMacs so you can fully experience that music and enjoy. Play those tunes. I'm probably gonna play some MJ when we get finished with this. You know what I mean? Play a little MJ. I've been I'm probably gonna be playing MJ all week, man.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:48

Make sure you play that off the wall album, though. Yes, let's keep it.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:52

Absolutely, absolutely, absolutely. You gotta play that off the wall. You know, thriller is cool, but you have to appreciate the artistry of off the wall with the drop-down album cover, too, if you have it, you know. And the glowing white socks when Michael still had his nose in the afro. You know? So we'll see you guys next week in power to the podcast.

SPEAKER_01 1:19:18

Power to the podcast.