Writing hasn’t been easy for me lately. In lieu of many significant life changes, including but not limited to divorce, back surgery, and the clustered deaths of friends and family, including my father, I’ve felt my need to write extinguished by the inkless dark vacuum of writer’

Last October, my dear friend Dena Rosenberg came over to the Junk Fed laboratory, asked me a bunch of questions, and filmed my responses. I found it strange at the time, but it turns out she was putting together a short documentary on the Junk Fed origin story. Seriously though, it wa

On this eggnog-flavored episode, I’m joined by one of my favorite artists, the brilliant and prolific Alex Pardee. We share some of our favorite Christmas memories, including Santa’s toy counterfeiting ring, sweaty Christmas carolers, boys wanting girl toys, dolls made out

In childhood development, transitional objects provide comfort in difficult or unique situations. We’re joined by Stacey Rader, of Adventures of a Geeky Vixen, to discuss some of the toys that helped us through some tricky times growing up and into adulthood. We laugh,

Last June, I wrote about how I’d found a new hobby in mutilating action figures in my basement. I’ve spent the months since diving deeper into this questionable behavior, hacking apart old toys and reassembling them into new mutations. I’ve been surprised to find tha

A 12″ tall Parker Stevenson action figure lived in my toy box when I was young. To be fair, it was less of an action figure than it was a doll, and felt to me like it might prefer the company of Barbie and Ken over the citizens of Eternia. He came from the Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew

Someone once told me that freshly baked bread begins the process of going stale the moment it leaves the oven. I don’t remember who said it, but have to wonder what kind of person would share such a bleak notion with a child. A nihilist baker perhaps. I suppose there is truth in the c

Before becoming a household name, Mr. T grew up in the Chicago projects, served in the US Army Military Police Corps, worked as a bouncer, a bodyguard, and boxer. He emerged in the neon age of colorful personalities and self-stylized eccentrics who defined the trends and fads of the e

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

Aside from the presence of the Ewoks in Return of the Jedi, most of the unrest in the Star Wars universe is generally attributed to the 1997 re-release of the altered versions of the original trilogy, the subsequent revisions made to the original trilogy, and the release of the “prequ