Before  being known as “McDreamy”on the hit drama series, “Grey’s Anatomy“, Patrick Dempsey had a few “heartthrob” movie hits in the late 1980’s. The best known is “Can’t Buy Me Love“, which took its title from the well-know Beatles hit of the same name.

The basic premise is this – nerd saves up all Summer to buy a telescope. Nerd sees cheerleader in distress (needing $1,000 to replace a ruined suede dress she “borrowed” from her mother) and comes up with a deal that will help both of them. The plan seems ludicrous, paying $1,000 to pretend to go out with a nerd for a month which he figures will get him in with the “popular” crowd? To her amazement (and not to the audience’s from seeing how shallow that crowd is), it works. His $1,000 investment got him a fast-track to “cool town”.

But then the newfound popularity goes to his head until it finally all unravels in mere minutes at the cheerleader’s New Year’s Eve party. The scene takes less than 5 minutes and to me is the saddest New Year’s Eve ever.

Sadly we lost Amanda Peterson this year to an accidental drug overdose. The movie still holds up, however, and the lesson is very valid today as it was back in 1988 – you can buy friendships and popularity, but it won’t last. True love & friendships, the ones you build over time, are the ones that will last forever.

This film was remade in 2003 with Nick Cannon & Christina Milian under the title, “Love Don’t Cost a Thing” and incorporated a few scenes from the original film.

If you want to see the entire movie (showing the full the rise and fall of “Ronnie Miller”), someone was nice enough to post a copy to YouTube.

This one has recently passed into the public domain and a quirky film at that. Also known as “Santa Claus Defeats the Aliens”, Santa is kidnapped by Martians and taken back to Mars because there is no one on the planet that delivers gifts to the good little Martian boys & girls. With a catchy theme song, this classic from 1964 will certainly make your holiday a little brighter… And to top it off, it stars Pia Zadora!

Someone was kind enough to post a semi-decent copy to YouTube for everyone to enjoy this holiday!

Last year, Junkiosity – The Pod gave you 2 Christmas gifts. One was our commentary to the 2-part “It’s a Bundyful Life” episode of “Married with Children” and MattyV stumbling through all five staves (chapters) of the holiday classic, “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens.

This year the gang couldn’t get together to offer up another commentary, but MattyV did manage to cobble together another classic holiday reading. Picked from the public domain, “The Gift of the Magi” should both warm your heart and help you to learn a lesson in the ways of gift-giving.

You can download the MP3 here and read the story for yourself here…

From all of us at Junkiosity – The Pod (MattyV, Dan the Man, & Jen the Intern), we wish you a Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

I happened to see these advertised as “GameStop Exclusive” in their Black Friday ad. These “Mystery” boxes from Funko are only available from GameStop and at a cost of $20 each, they claim to contain items that are worth double/triple/infinitely more than that. I plopped down a $20 dollar bill and took a chance. Let’s see what treasures await!

Obviously this box will contain Funko items, Pop! items, & ReAction figures. Sealed with a neat tamper-proof silver seal…

Promising…

Okay, first is a Batman Pop! Heroes figure from their Super Heroes line. This is apparently the 1989 movie version of Batman, you can tell from the costume. The sticker on the front claims that it is an EB Games exclusive (GameStop & EB Games are under the same corporation). The rear of the box shows the other figures available. Odd that Superman and Wonder Woman are listed when the other characters are from the Batman universe…

Here we have a “Game of Thrones” Jon Snow Pop! Pocket Keychain. With rumors that Jon will return in the new season, this may have some worth…

Listed as an “Adult Collectible”, this Pop! Pins Ironman pin is about the size of a quarter. There is no numbering on it, so apparently this is not a part of some specific collection.

ReAction Figures, for those who don’t know, are a line of 3 3/4″ figures meant to model after the early Kenner “Star Wars” figures. This company primarily releases figures for movies & television shows that didn’t get their own figures when they originally came out. Movies such as “Alien”, “Escape from New York”, & even “The Goonies” have seen their movie characters immortalized in miniature form.

Now when I said above that ReAction primarily does action figures for movies & shows that didn’t get their own characters at release, I show this figure as a part of a recent movie release that apparently toymakers didn’t want to bother with. Another recent show, “Breaking Bad” has their own set of figures as well.

Well, that was all that was in the box. To give comparisons as far as “value”, I went on both Amazon (retail) and eBay (resale) to get the “true” cost of the box.

If you purchased all the items from Amazon, you would expect to pay roughly $44 for the lot with Batman commanding the highest price at $21. eBay, on the other hand, is slightly lower at around $31 with Batman again commanding the most money at $14. That’s on the low-end for the figure, sold listings fluctuate between $14 and $30 for just the figure in-box.

Technically, this box did deliver a double-value promise if you bought the items individually. Unfortunately the Young Frank figure is virtually worthless, the bubble had come loose inside the box and ripped part of the card so resale value of that figure is zero.

If you’ve got $20 to burn and want to gamble, I am sure GameStop has a ton of these left. I say gamble because some boxes have been found to contain gold & patina variants of the Pop! Vinyl figures which are fetching some pretty good coin on eBay (a patina variant of the Batman figure sold for a whopping $182!).

On second thought, I might suggest putting that $20 towards a Loot Crate or Nerd Block. Those seem to have much more value on average since most of the time they contain a t-shirt.

Follow us on Twitter at @junkiosity, once we get to at least 20 followers we will draw for our box o’ cool crap! I think Young Frank might find his way into the box for one lucky follower! Check us out on Facebook too!

Eat On

Never heard of it but sounds amazing. Rhode Island’s culinary claim to fame is “coffee milk”, a mixture of coffee-flavored syrup and milk. Only available in Rhode Island and Louisiana apparently…

A gentleman was stopped at an LA airport with 450 pork tamales in his luggage. Tamales are a popular holiday treat, but with issues of sanitation and disease  these treats went right in the dumpster and the traveler fined…

Who says you can’t go anywhere with a college degree. At Manchester Metropolitan University, you can get a degree in pizza! The Yum! brands company is teaming up with the college to offer a degree that will entail both coursework and actual hands-on experience in a restaurant. Only 1500 degrees will be available for the program. What’s next, making Busterburger U a reality?

Some teachers in Detroit got a little more than they bargained for when they ate some brownies left in the lounge…

A Michigan farmer was forced to dump gallons of unpasteurized milk and dozens of eggs because he didn’t have a license to sell food. The farmer had co-op contracts with people for “shares” of milk/eggs/cream/cheese.

Here’s J $taxx’s video, “My Hoverboard”(NSFW!!!)… Crazy Canuck…

Only available in the UK, these donuts could get you drunk! Whisky-infused cream filling, whisky glaze, om nom nom!

Need a little pick-me-up with your pot edibles? Someone has written a cookbook on how to create all sorts of marijuana drinks using infused liquor, coconut oil, & clarified butter (these help to release marijuana’s THC content for the drinks).

Dan the Man could weep, SABMiller in Australia has recalled over 1 million bottles of beer because of possible glass contamination. This at the beginning of the busy holiday season…

REMEMBER – once we get to 20 twitter followers there will be a drawing for a mystery box of cool stuff! So follow us and get your friends to do the same! Win free stuff!

Check us out on Facebook & on Twitter! We post random stuff that doesn’t get seen here!

Until next week Junkies

I found this movie while searching for obscure, non-mainstream holiday movies to share with our Junkiosity audience. The basic premise of this craptacular movie is 90 minutes of Bam abusing his friends both in the states and in Finland (where supposedly Santa lives). From “antiquing” (throwing flour on people) to forcing one of the members of his crew to get a bad tattoo of Finland on his stomach, it just seems like Bam is trying to continue the tradition of “Jackass” but in a much more deviant & sick vein.

Someone posted this turd-fest for others to “enjoy”. I only add it to the Sunday Cinema roster so you can judge for yourself whether or not this is “funny”…

I’m sure you’re watching all the classic Christmas movies that people tend to turn on around this time of year. From flying reindeer to poor, unappreciated Christmas trees, these movies instill in us the wonder and enjoyment of Christmas. On the flipside, there have been movies released that aren’t true “Christmas” movies BUT do involve the holiday. Today we’re going to share our top five (in no particular order):

“Invasion U.S.A”

Chuck Norris plays retired CIA agent Matt Hunter who is brought out of retirement due to multiple terrorist attacks all over the southeastern United States. From blowing up homes decorated for the holidays to a massacre in a shopping mall filled with Christmas shoppers, this movie is “technically” a Christmas movie. Check out the trailer HERE…

“Lethal Weapon”

A burnt-out cop and one with just a few days to retire (“I’m gettin’ too old for this sh*t”), this unlikely duo come together to stop a maniacal former military man-turned-drug dealer. Taking place yet again during the Christmas season, be sure to check out the Christmas tree lot/drug deal scene with Anthony Kiedis’ (of Red Hot Chili Peppers fame) father (he’s the one in the red flannel).

“Gremlins”

I have no idea why movie studios release obviously-themed Christmas movies in the summer (it was originally released in June of 1984). This movie revolved around a Christmas gift that a failing inventor gives his son that he picked up in Chinatown. Only 3 rules, 1) Don’t expose it to bright light 2) Don’t get it wet 3) Don’t feed it after midnight. I can let you figure out what happened to the rules…

“Batman Returns”

This was the most-anticipated sequel for comic book fans the world over. We were wowed by “Batman” and couldn’t wait to see what other villains would grace the screen. Another summer “Christmas” movie, this one was generally accepted by critics but were a bit disappointed by the choice of villains. Many compared DeVito’s Penguin to Nicholson’s Joker and found the former to be less terrifying and even less funny. Here’s the trailer that made us wet our pants…

“Die Hard”

Now this one has gotten many memes as of late (“It’s not Christmas until I see Hans Gruber fall 40 stories” et al), still another summer blockbuster that takes place in December. This is the film that launched Bruce Willis’ action hero career as well as many memorable lines (here’s a scene with 2 of them).

Well, we hope you enjoyed our top five. Rent them from your local video store or Netflix!

Money for Nuthin’

Sorry for the poor audio quality of this week’s episode, MattyV tried to salvage what he could…

Finland is planning to eliminate their welfare program and instead giving every eligible citizen 800 Euros a month in the hopes to get rid of unemployment and homelessness. The flaw comes in when reading the constitution in Finland, every citizen is considered equal. So a millionaire would get the same amount as the single mother with three children.

Contests like the Publisher’s Clearing House need to be made illegal. People are scammed out of millions of dollars each year by thieves claiming to be from the contest and telling them to send in money to cover taxes and legal documentation. This senior lost $16,000 by one such scam artist. How many more seniors are scammed and don’t say anything out of embarrassment. No legitimate contest will require you to send money up front via Western Union…

The voice actor who voiced Charlie Brown in all of the television specials was arrested and will be serving 2 years in prison for making threats against the manager of his mobile home park and others…

Kickstarter is good for indie artists to get their wares before a larger crowd. It’s also good for fans to help creators get projects made that studios passed on. But there are risks, especially when it comes to physical products. People are still waiting for their smart cups and party coolers…

First he f*cked over people by raising a medication’s price to $1500 a pill, he’s now prevented the world from hearing the new Wu-Tang Clan album…

What a load of horsesh*t. Macy’s is being sued for not only racial profiling when it comes to shoplifters, but also coercing false confessions, and on top of that making the detainees pay a $100 cash-only fine for the privilege…

Victory is sealed for those wanting to sing “Happy Birthday” publicly. Warner Music is conceding and allowing the song to go into the public domain. This was a $2 million a year cash cow for them…

F*cking scary, this article about someone who works for a free-to-play gaming company reveals how they tailor the game to you in order to get your money. Yikes…

REMEMBER – once we get to 20 twitter followers there will be a drawing for a mystery box of cool stuff! So follow us and get your friends to do the same! Win free stuff!

Check us out on Facebook & on Twitter! We post random stuff that doesn’t get seen here!

Until next week Junkies

Since 1942, Bob Hope had always been in support of US troops stationed overseas and spent much time in the USO doing tours to bring laughter and cheer to boost their morale.

In the 1960s, NBC began airing his annual Christmas specials which showcased his travels all over southeast Asia with his comedy pals and musical guests. He continued this tradition up until the Gulf War in 1991. Today’s particular selection showcases some of the famous people of the day such as Raquel Welch, Barbara McNair, Phil Crosby, and of course Les Brown and his Band of Renown.

The USO still books comedians, celebrities, & musical acts to entertain the troops overseas, but rarely do they get any television airplay.

For a little taste of military & comedy history, someone was kind enough to digitally transfer this special and upload it to YouTube. Do a search for “Bob Hope Christmas Special” and you’ll find many more of these historic gems…

Weird Christmas

This week the guys did a rundown on the weirdest Christmas traditions from around the world while playing Munchkin Loot Letter:

The Caganer – In southern France and Spain, nativity scenes often have a special character in amongst the shepherds, wisemen, & baby Jesus. The figure is of a man (or sometimes woman) squatting while sh*tting! The myth states that feces were found near the place of Christ’s birth, so someone must have taken a sh*t while visiting the Son of God! There are traditional Caganers, but this website is where you can get all sorts of figures from the famous to political – everyone squatting with a perfectly coiled turd. A mall in Barcelona even puts up a GIANT Caganer every year!

Christmas KFC – If you want to eat at a Kentucky Fried Chicken in Japan on Christmas, you better make your reservations now before they are all booked up! Started as a marketing campaign in 1974 (“Kentucky For Christmas” = KFC), the Japanese grabbed onto the campaign and made it an annual tradition. And it’s true, they take advanced reservations for Christmas…

The Pooping Log – Catalonians are crazy when it comes to Christmas traditions. There is a tradition of filling an actual wood log with treats and goodies (“feeding it”) and on Christmas Eve beating it with sticks and commanding it to poop out the goodies. There are songs the children sing to get it to poop, asking it to poop good stuff and not salted herring(?)…

The Krampus – Before it was a Hollywood movie, the legend of the Krampus goes back many years in Austrian & Germanic lore. Krampus is the evil twin of Saint Nicholas who is charged with punishing bad little boys and girls. His use of switches and in some cases placed in burlap sacks and carried to hell scared little children into being good for fear of a visit from Krampus!

La Quema Del Diablo – In Guatemala on December 7th, people clear out their houses of junk & debris and piled it up in the middle of the street. Adding to the pile is an effigy of the devil himself as well as tons of firecrackers & gasoline. At the appropriate hour, the entire pile is lit and people cheer and dance at the destruction of the devil, making way for the Virgin Mary and clearing homes of bad luck for the upcoming new year.

Yule Lads – In Iceland, Santa has helpers to deliver gifts to good children. The Yule Lads are magical beings that descend from the mountains and deliver gifts into the shoes of good little Icelandic children who leave their shoes on the windowsill (the bad kids get potatoes!)…

Spider Web Tree – In the Ukraine there is a story of a poor family that grew a Christmas tree from a pinecone they found. The children dreamed of the decorations they would place on it when Christmas came. Being poor, when Christmas did come they did not have money to decorate the tree. In the morning, however, they found a spider had decorated the tree with beautifully-spun webs that shown like gold and silver in the sun. The Ukraine people decorate their trees with spider webs and spider ornaments for good luck and fortune…

That’s enough holiday weirdness for this week!