Beverly Hills, 90210 Trading Cards #11: Cute Couple

Okay so I don't have much to say about this card, it's pretty typical and run of the mill. 

I do, however, have a related story. This evening I was watching an episode of Dinosaurs (more on that later) in which Earl is getting paid to give his opinion on new tv shows. One is titled "Pangaea Hills, Dino210". Dylan Damian is talking with Brenda Beth about how she might be "in trouble". What makes her think that? Well, she turns to the side and picks up an egg she had sitting near her. Ha!

What I Hope to Find Under the Tree

Some of these I asked for as a child but didn't receive, others I did own and regret giving away. If I found any of these under the Christmas tree tomorrow though, I would be so, so stoked.

Polly Pocket. It's embarrassing how much I still want these.

Precious Places. I never had enough to make the whole neighborhood, and that kind of pissed me off. Also, using the magnetic key to move people/animals along the sidewalk kind of pissed me off.

Puppy Surprise. My original comment for this was going to be snarky, but now I'm remembering how much I loved these. And how could we not??

Magic Nursery Pet. This one turned out to be a real disappointment to me. You'd think by now I'd have learned that the element of surprise is a huge marketing gimmick and I shouldn't get sucked into buying dumb crap, but I still do it. And end up with the buyer's regret. 

Quints. Anything that came in multiples was also irresistible.

Barbie Hamburger Stand. Omg, it's a place that sells burgers and is shaped like a burger!! Why did I get rid of this??

Littlest Pet Shop. Had a ton of these, then stopped caring about them just in time for my dad to give them to my little sister. So maybe there's hope they're still in the family?

Goosebumps. All of mine got donated to a library book sale. Maybe they're currently owned by another 90s nostalgia hoarder..

Delia's Holiday '96 Catalog

In December of 1996, my life revolved around ski club, Josta pop, playing Ice Hockey for Nintendo (why??) and probably being a general brat because I was 13. And one day this Delia's catalog arrived in the mail and I totally wanted everything in it for Christmas.

Of special note are the pages containing gift ideas to buy for your best buds:

Don't forget your 3 tins of Candy Kisses lip balm that come in a drawstring bag!

Have Yourselves a Very Merry 90s Boy Band Christmas

This playlist will most definitely give you some holiday cheer:

Hanson - "Little Saint Nick"

'N Sync - "Under My Tree"

Spice Girls - "Christmas Wrapping"

All-4-One - "Christmas With My Baby"

Boyz II Men - "Let It Snow"

'N Sync - "The Only Gift"

Hanson - "Run Rudolph Run"

Backstreet Boys - "Christmas Time"

98 Degrees - "This Gift"

Hanson - "Everybody Knows the Claus"

Boyz II Men - "Cold December Nights"

'N Sync - "Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays"

And hopefully you'll dream of sugarplums and not this frightful image :)

For Your Viewing Pleasure

My new favorite YouTubes are retail/restaurant training videos. This one for Blockbuster is from 1990 and takes us back to a magical time of videotape rental, baggy pleated front khakis, and VCPs. If you're like me, you might ask, what is a VCP and why would I want to rent one from Blockbuster? Well the VCP is apparently like a VCR but doesn't record. I feel pretty certain that everyone else just referred to those as VCRs regardless. But you could rent one if your personal VCR was being repaired!

Anyways, this video is mildly annoying but still a poignant reminder of the past to me. Sure, I can still find a brick & mortar location to rent movies, but really that whole experience is dead as a dinosaur to me. If I can watch practically any movie or tv show instantly at home, why bother? I'll just remember fondly my trips to the neighborhood Videojack, whose smell I still recall (sort of a mix between the video tapes and nacho cheese). Eventually they introduced a computerized catalog, which of course seemed pretty awesome at the time. RIP Videojack; the last building you occupied near me is now a dentist.

Celine Dion's Heartwarming Duet with... R. Kelly

Now that the holiday season is in full swing, it's nice to relax with some soothing music while reading a Chicken Soup for the Soul book. Why not choose "I'm Your Angel", a lovely track where Celine has partnered with R. Kelly, a man with a very nice voice. A man with a penchant for underage girls. A man who has this thing called a "panty gram" that you can send to your friends. Yummy!

This song debuted in 1998. It reached #1 on the U.S. charts, but I had no idea it existed until recently. Thank you Songza, your Worst Songs of All Time station has given me some real gems.

If You Were Drinking Kool-Aid in the 90s...

... and not in the metaphorical sense, then you may have chosen this totally dope flavor:

It's SUPER FRUITY! 

PurpleSaurus Rex is my favorite flavor illustration ever, but this is next in line. Kool-Aid Man and the Rock-a-Dile guy are having a jam session. They're getting so into it, there's "artificial flavor punch" splashing around!

This unopened packet was in my mom's kitchen for probably 15 years until I finally added it to my "I don't need this but I can't possibly throw it away" collection. We kept buying more flavors but for some reason never made this one. And now it's tucked away for all posterity, or at least until a day comes when I'm so desperate for money that I sell it on ebay for a couple bucks.

Gotta Get a Sharp Locker Mate

So this is what kids used before everyone had cell phones.... But in the mid 90s did they all use phrases like "parental units" and "hippest"? No wonder this product didn't appeal to me. Whoever wrote the copy for this ad may have been a little behind, but wardrobe was spot on for 1995!

Hot or Not #1

Name: Andrew Keegan

Occupation: Actor; Ernest P. Worrell impersonator

I Heart the Nineties Rating: Total Barney

At least the teddy bear is explained in the magazine as being a giveaway to win, but the rest of this is inexcusable. Outfit and hair: two thumbs down!

Barbie Girl

One of my weird collections that I absolutely cannot give up is McDonald's Happy Meal toys. I won't pay crazy amounts of money for them, but I do snap up whatever I can find at yard sales and flea markets. Maybe they remind me of a simpler time in my life.. a time when I could eat at McDonald's and not feel completely ill afterwards. Anyone else get nostalgic because they would eat there at least once every week as a kid? Ah, memories.

Anyways, I found a basket of assorted toys still in their plastic bags at an antiques mall the other day. There was a Barbie one from 1991, and lo and behold there was a mini catalog included!

Let's see what you could put on your Christmas list and force your parents to go look for:

Sleeping bags, ruffled socks, cheap cosmetics and even an exercise tape! I remember begging my mom to buy me that aerobics Barbie from the grocery store. It came with a tutu that folded up into a gym bag.

Art smocks!

Never played the Game Boy game, but my husband has the Nintendo version. It is surprisingly difficult.

Yes, that's a Rollerblade Barbie! Is that the one where the wheels sparked as you pushed the doll along?

The comic book made me feel bad about my lame wardrobe when I was 8 years old. That was the only lasting impression it gave me. Speaking of bad clothes, is that really appropriate to wear while milking a cow?

Birthday parties at McDonald's!!! Could it get any better than that?

Did you know Barbie had fun adventure books? Neither did I. And oh man, I gotta cuff my jeans to show off these hot socks!!

Now go listen to the song by Aqua and think about how pop music has changed since then.

Beverly Hills, 90210 Trading Cards #10: Terrific Trio

Fashion Aspiration

Nose job evidence aside, Quinn's fashion club rocked some pretty sweet outfits. Babydoll tees & dresses, shortalls, bare midriffs, striped shoulder athletic shirts, chunky heeled shoes, and those ponytail holders with big, plastic balls on them. Total betties.

Delia's Catalog - Fall 1996

Another classic Delia's catalog, this time for the fall season of 1996. Lots of chunky-heeled shoes, baggy skater clothes and space-dyed tops. Want all of it!! Okay, maybe not the camo pants.. but everything else, yes!

Full catalog on Flickr

Sneak Peek

I'm in the process of scanning the next Delia's catalog; should have it done by the weekend. In the meantime:

Corduroy carpenter pants from Bulldog!

Rescue 911: "Potty Peril"

This video is a full segment titled "Potty Peril" from the show Rescue 911. Hosted by William Shatner and featuring glorious amounts of re-enactments, it's definitely a gem of the 90s.

We begin by finding out a two year old has gotten her foot stuck in a toilet and no amount of dish soap is gonna make a difference. The mother calls 911, only to deal with a skeptical operator. Paramedics eventually show up but they're in need of an expert: a toilet expert, that is. While they wait for the fire captain to show up (the only toilet expert they can think of), they decide to unbolt and carry out the toilet and little girl in a huge crew to the driveway. This is deemed more professional than breaking the toilet inside the house. At this point I'm imagining what a scene it is for the neighbors, and then to do it all again for the re-enactment filming!

The father then shows up on a whim, with Bill Shatner saying: "The last thing he expected was to find his daughter stuck in the toilet." Once the captain shows up, he instructs his men how to approach and enter the toilet. What a line. Eventually the toilet is cracked open, little girl's foot is freed, and we're left with this timeless quote: 

"One thing that can be learned from this is never stand up in a toilet."

That is some sage advice, my friend. You are a toilet expert indeed.

This Just In

Platform tennies at Target! And they're on clearance!

These come in weird sizes (who wears a 5/6 for an actual shoe?), but they're decently 90s. Available in black, white and leopard.

Ace Ventura Follow-Up

I've finished watching Ace Ventura and filed away the VHS tape, but I had to do a quick post about some pretty sweet 90s outfits Courtney Cox was rocking in the movie. This type of floral print dress has been showing up in stores again, and I am totally down with that. Now where can I find the hat in image 2?? I would swap out the shoulder bag for a mini backpack though.

Beverly Hills, 90210 Trading Cards #9: Head of the Clique

Alllllllrighty Then

1994 was an excellent year for movies. Lion King, Forrest Gump, Speed, Airheads, Reality Bites.. all of those ruled. However, something very magical happened: the triad of Jim Carrey awesomeness that started with Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, continued with The Mask and concluded with Dumb and Dumber. 

The character of Ace Ventura is how I always think of Jim Carrey (close second would be Fire Marshall Bill). In recent years I have to admit I find it harder to recognize him in movies because I'm just expecting him to bust out with an "Allllllrighty then!", and when he doesn't, I just feel sad.

Some of The Mask's phrases were "Sssssmokin'!" and "Somebody stop me!" This film really started to give us a feel for the Jim Carrey flair of over-emphasizing back then, which inspired a local car dealer in my viewing area to produce a terrible commercial. As you can imagine, they advertised their sales as ssssssmokin' and ssssssizzlin'. At 11 years old, even I realized that was lame. And this just makes me giggle:

Dumb and Dumber is an all-time fave of mine. I am way thrilled that there's going to be a sequel (Dumb and Dumber To). Fingers crossed for a good script!

Alloy Catalog - Fall 1997

Since my Delia's catalog scans were a hit on BuzzFeed, I figured I should get moving on my need-to-scan pile. Today's feature is the very first Alloy catalog I received. Just like Delia's, this brand morphed over time to meet the interests of the next generation. So, kids don't wanna be skaters any more?? What's up with that? I don't think Alloy sells any guy's clothing at all now either, and yet back then they wanted everyone to dress like dudes. And it totally reeled me in. I had the huge wide leg jeans, baggy striped sweaters, skate shoes, wallet chain, pixie-cut hair, and of course a Dickies mini messenger bag. Here's my embarrassing secret: I didn't even own a skateboard nor know how to ride. And while I was part of my school's ski club, I was too chicken to try out snowboarding. Feels good to admit it after all these years! Haha.

Catalog is located here on Flickr.

90s Problems: No Change for a Phone Call

As awesome as it is to basically have instant access to any tv show or movie I feel like watching, I still think back and sigh about the "good old days of tv". You know, when you actually watched commercials, or looked in the TV Guide to see what Saturday night movies would be on. I could still do those things, but puh-lease! I'm a Netflix and Hulu junkie now. Plus I don't have cable tv and dealing with poor digital channel reception is totally annoying. Instead I waste time watching old commercials on the YouTubes.

1-800-Collect has conveniently wrangled up a collection of their own gems. Oooh David Spade, tell me more about saving money on collect calls! I also enjoy that the 1-800-Collect site is like an homage to the internet of yore.

Don't forget that 1-800-Call ATT gave us their version, starring Carrot Top:

Can't remember the last time I made a collect call, but I do remember abusing the system like many others have done. Mostly this was to save the 25 or 35 cents which I was probably feeding into the vending machine instead. And then there were the times we used it for prank calling, when we'd see if anyone accepted the charges to speak with God or perhaps the Wyld Stallyns. Sometimes they did, and we'd hang up in terror and confusion.

Beverly Hills, 90210 Trading Cards #8: California Girl

A Note on Why the BSC Costume Designer Rules

Why does the costume designer for the Baby-Sitters Club tv show deserve an award? Mostly because of all the turtlenecks topped with baggy v-neck sweaters, highly-saturated colors galore, scrunchies, neon sunglasses and a smattering of acid-wash denim. But then there's this:

That's right, Kristy is wearing a shirt with a giant truck on it.

Troll Dolls

Troll dolls were a fad item that had a resurgence in the 90s along with other seemingly "hippie-ish" things like mood rings and lava lamps. Although I've seen them being sold recently at Barnes & Noble, I'm betting (or maybe just hoping) they don't make another comeback. Mostly that's because of people like this:

Doesn't that make you feel better about your own parents?

Beverly Hills, 90210 Trading Cards #7: Silver's Gold

I wish my job was to write the copy for collectible trading cards. Obviously it doesn't take much skill or time to slap these things together!