By the Wayside

Interesting how our immigration laws differ from places like Mexico & the United Kingdom…

First it was K-Mart. Then Toys’r’Us (although they are seeing a resurgency this coming holiday season in a few major cities). Now higher-end stores are starting close their doors due to more and more people doing their shopping online.

Under pressure from environmental groups, Coca-Cola will begin offering their Dasani-brand water in aluminum cans rather than plastic bottles. They are also experimenting with “hybrid” plastic bottles utilizing plant material & recycled plastic.

Door Dash changes it’s tipping model after backlash that it was using the tips to pad the driver’s guaranteed delivery payment…

“Amazon returns/liquidation pallets” are the latest get-rich-quick internet scheme. Thing is, it’s harder to make money at it than people realize…

Resale Rabbit on YouTube buys abandoned storage units, liquidation pallets, & entire store close-outs as a part of his business. He does admit that it can be VERY difficult to make money on pallets…

Just call them foreign “hobos” & “bums”, yet another example of how millenials think they are “entitled” to certain things…

Yes, Eddie Murphy is Rudy Ray Moore – better known as “Dolemite”…

Back in 1987, a little-know pilot television show would later get re-vamped and turned into a cultural icon that people of all ages still enjoy. “Good Morning, Miss Bliss” is an earlier version of the popular cult classic, “Saved by the Bell”. This particular episode does not feature any of the regular cast, they were replaced in later episodes with the familiar faces you remember.

In this episode, Miss Bliss (Disney’s Hayley Mills) helps a student going through a difficult time in dealing with the death of her brother.

The show dealt with a lot of issued teens were facing in the late 1980’s from sex to drug addiction.

Someone posted this rare, only-aired-once episode online for all to admire.

(Photo copyright reserved for copyright holder, used for illustration purposes only)

For the Love of Movies – “Dawn of the Dead” (1978)

It was the early 1980’s. The local college hadn’t taken over one of the downtown theaters, the Cold War was still raging, & George Clooney was on a sit-com called E/R. Our town had 3 video rental places, 2 “mom & pop” establishments and a chain store (Family Video). I remember when my dad got a VCR and hooked it up to our HUGE console 25″ television. We all headed to Video Today as a family to pick up some videos to watch.

I remember the building it was housed in, when it was originally built it was a plumbing supply store I believe from the turn of the century. You knew it was from the turn of the century because the building had a border of ceramic tiles of different colors & designs, one of the designs being that of a swastika. This symbol was a symbol of good luck/good fortune before it was appropriated by the Nazi party.

The photo above is the VHS cover I remember fondly staring at me from the video shelf. There have been many covers over the years, but this is the one that drew me into the world of George R. Romero’s zombie survival world.

Wikipedia has a great entry on the film, and the website WhatCulture has an article on why the film could be the greatest film of all time (a stretch).

As promised, here is a link to the full “director’s cut” of the film (with a running time of over 2.5 hours) that someone posted online.

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Bill Cosby up until recent years had been a beloved comedian, author, speaker, & champion for education. Having several television shows under his belt, “The Bill Cosby Show” from the early 1970’s has the distinction of being his first solo comedy television program and the first African American-led comedy series.

In this episode, Chet Kincaid (Bill Cosby) the high school gym teacher juggles teaching sex education, babysitting his brother’s kids, & trying to make a date with the new substitute teacher.

Someone posted this episode online so others can see the comedic genius that was Bill Cosby…

The Lost Patience

This week we’re down a podcaster yet again, but never fear. Today the discussion was on media being instantly available nowadays and how it has possibly affected society…

REMEMBER – once we get to 50 non-scamming 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!

ABC’s “After School Special” was a program that aired until the late 1990’s and was an educational program that portrayed problems and difficulties relating to growing up. From themes such as being gay, getting pregnant, divorce, the episodes were each self-contained so various directors/writers/actors were able to tell the story and not be tied to a specific storyline or characters.

In this episode, a young teen decided to “be themselves” by becoming a punk rocker much to the dismay of his parents (especially his mother, the psychiatrist). The moral of this story is basically be who you are, don’t let anyone tell you different…

Someone posted this episode online due to fond memories of seeing it when it originally aired…

At the Drive-In – A Documentary

“At the Drive-In” is a 2017 documentary that tells the tale of the Mahoning Drive-In theater located in Lehighton, PA. It is one of the last drive-in movie theaters in the country still in operation that shows 35mm prints on the last of the true Cinemascope outdoor screens.

Finding their niche in showing older 35mm prints rather than spending $50k on upgrading their equipment to be able to show current digital movie prints, the drive-in has survived bringing younger generations into the fold of drive-in experiences. They have the ability now to show obscure DVD & VHS releases in addition to 35mm prints that cost them less than $5k according to the documentary.

Checking their Facebook Page reveals “themed weekends” of obscure or cult favorites, with their “Camp Blood” weekends being the most popular (they invite movie-goers to camp over the weekend while showing horror movies).

If you have Night Flight Plus, you can access the documentary as well as a TON of other movies/documentaries/cartoons/original aired episodes…

There are other documentaries on drive-in theaters such as:

Drive-In Memories

Outdoor Movies: Now and Long Ago

Lost Americana: The Drive In Theater

Also people have digitized the old intermission and food ads that would have been seen at drive-in theaters:

A Night at the Drive-In Movies: Vintage Previews, Cartoons, Intermission, & Two Complete Films (so you can experience the approximation of a night at the drive-in)

1 Hour Vintage Drive-In Intermission Ads/Shorts, 1950s-60s

Drive In Intermission Giant Widescreen (4+ hours)

What amounts to a live-action Mr. Magoo, Rowan Atkinson’s “Mr. Bean” character has been a beloved character in Europe (and more recently the USA). Spanning many films and television series, his brand of slapstick comedy is a welcome relief.

In this episode, Mr. Bean goes back to school for orientation – hilarity ensues.

Mr. Bean himself made this episode available for everyone to enjoy!