If it weren’t for Instagram I might be living alone in a rented storage locker on the outskirts of town among piles of vintage action figures procured from eBay. Allow me to clarify. I spend a significant amount of time looking at photos of vintage action figures on the internet
Like most kids of my generation, I was a devout follower of the teachings of Jim Henson. As it is was for most, it started with Sesame Street and shifted to The Muppet Show when I became old enough to recognize Sesame Street for what it really was: school dressed up in plush, feathers
Halloween came in a box when I was growing up. Or at least, most of my Halloween costumes did. The moment the first leaf rusted on the branch, I’d beg my parents to take me to K-Mart, Bradlees, or Zayre so I could pick though the stacks of boxed Halloween costumes. This was very impor
It’s no secret that I’m fond of revisiting my past. Recently, this temporal wanderlust was prompted by my taste buds. A sudden craving for one particular childhood foodstuff lured me to an aisle of my local grocery store that I don’t normally frequent these days. I narrowe
American media is riddled with sales pitches that promise immediately gratifying health, happiness, and satisfaction. As intended, this kind of manipulation certainly worked on my malleable child brain. I actually believed the commercial that suggested I’d be able to tear my Manglor t
Sometimes, as I fade off to sleep, I revisit settings from my childhood. I’m able to conjure up places where I’ve lived with such clarity that it almost feels like I’ve traveled back in time. I walk from room to room with meticulous recall: the wood paneling in the k
My household was late to the cable television game, so in the late 1970s and early 80s I took what I could get cartoon-wise. While waiting for some of my favorites, like Looney Toons, Scooby-Doo or the Flintstones to flicker across my screen, I’d make do with the sociopathic antics of
Stave One When I was about five or six, I found myself in handcuffs on the day after Christmas. I blame the ghost of Jacob Marley. After big holiday gatherings with my mom’s side of the family at my grandmother’s house, some of us usually stayed the night. It was at her house that I a
When channel surfing, Jaws is one of those movies that always knocks me off of my surfboard. No matter how far into the movie it is, I’ll usually stop and watch it to the end. I can’t say how many times I’ve seen Jaws, but I’d venture to guess that I’ve seen it more than a
In the lean days before home video releases of the Star Wars films, television appearances by the folks from the galaxy far, far away were pure magic for me. Having missed the Star Wars Holiday special during its one and only broadcast, I was sustained by brief guest appearances by St