Get Your Hoe Ready

The Cuckoo Show

Funny flash animation promoting a damn cereal.

Slangin' Coke

This is my attempt to compile all videos related to the mid-80s phenomenon known as New Coke (a product of the bloody Cola Wars.)

We begin with Bill Cosby introducing the New Coke formula:



And once again, Bill wants to reassure you that he *really* likes Coke. Even more so now:



The Cos was later replaced with '80s AI Max Headroom, who eyes the rival Pepsi in an almost sexual deviant way:



One thing you gotta love about the '80s - singing robots:



At the 1:55 mark, you'll noticed that Pepsi also had their own r2D2-like droid:



Pepsi enters the ring with the answer record:



And in another Pepsi ad, a fake Doc Brown/Indiana Jones hybrid finds a shocking discovery on the set of Blade Runner:



This was just another one of those typical '80s commercials showcasing the greatness of the product by means of song, dance, and good times:



And in the midst of the Cola Wars, peace mediator Ernest P. Worrell offers an alternate solution:

Kenny Scharf

Kenny Scharf is a name I wasn't really familiar with until I recently checked out his work at an exhibit featuring legends Jean-Michel Basquiat & Keith Haring at the Tony Shafrazi Gallery in Chelsea. This is the type of fine art that fits right in here at the Wastelands. We always welcome surreal images of the Flintstones and Jetsons.

It's The Muffler Man!

Here's an interesting site. Roadside America, a site dedicated to various oddities seen around the country. But more specifically, their section focusing on Muffler Men. Wikipedia defines a Muffler Man as "a term used to describe large molded fiberglass sculptures that are placed as advertising icons, roadside attractions or for decorative purposes, predominantly in the United States. Standing approximately 20 feet tall, the figures were originally designed to hold full-sized car mufflers at automotive repair shops. Most Muffler Men were constructed by International Fiberglass of Venice, California."

Roadside America begins with a guide on how to spot these creatures.



Here we have the main types (with the Halfwit looking conspicuously like Alfred E. Newman.)

Then there are a few others, although their status as true Muffler Men are brought into question, such as the Frankenstein



and the even scarier Harvey the Giant Robot.



And if you want to see if there's any of the hideous obstructions in your area? They also supply a tracker. I know you've already got your camera ready!

As much as these things are crappy eyesores, they also have somewhat of a chucklesworthy charm. Maybe they are relics of an age of innocence. Survivors trying to struggle in a nationwide corporate chain takeover. The country cousins to those giant blow-up purple gorillas seen at highway car lots. Or you could say they are just bizarre sights you pass by as you travel through some Middle American hellhole. Either way, I'll be pulling out my camera next time I come across one.

Bigger Than Big

How many penis jokes can you get from Gigantor, the 1960s Japanese cartoon series about a boy and his giant...robot?

First of all, just look at the title (and the name of the title character.) Can you make a penis joke out of that? Yes, I think you can.

The most obvious would be the name of the secret agent supporting character: Dick Strong! A name so blatant that even a porn performer would probably turn it down. In one episode, the narrator even mentions Mr. Strong "penetrating" through underground tunnels. Jeez.

One episode features a villain named Pisarro (piss-arro) and his robot gorilla named Tiny.

And the kid who controls Gigantor? His name his Jimmy Sparks. The J the I the M the M the Y.

Another main character's name is Inspector Blooper. If you want to make a penis joke out of that, that's up to you. I guess somehow "blooper" could be a slang term for ejaculation. The same could be said for the villain named Ungablob.

I guess this is really what you would call lost in translation.

Thanks to many of the words I used in this entry, I'm sure this blog will now be coming up in many interesting google searches. In that case, I'd like to welcome all my new readers out there searching the web for gay porn.

Animated Manhattan

Here's an interesting blog section that's been going on for over a year at Ironic Sans: Animated Manhattan, a series looking at the depictions of New York City in animated films and cartoons.