Happy October

I'll be honest, September was the absolute pits. Between nearly losing my job and as I currently write this my wife has been in the hospital since last Thursday in downtown Cincinnati with low potassium levels. We're all hopeful that she'll be able to get released tomorrow sometime as she's shown major progress since Thursday night. Because of all this, I've barely been able to enjoy the first part of the Halloween season at all.

That being said, I'm glad to see September disappear for another year and now October, my favorite month of the year, is officially upon us! It's the month of baseball playoffs and the start of hockey season. On the Halloween front, it's the month of monster movies, Halloween parties, pumpkin carving, fall festivals, and trick-or-treating! I'm really going to try to stuff everything Halloween I can into this month.

One seasonal candy I did have the chance to try amidst all the September chaos was the Cookies and Scream M&Ms available at Target. Now, if this bag doesn't ... ahem, scream ... Halloween then I don't know what does. It's dark, it's purple, and you've got Red absolutely terrified of something. 

The M&Ms themselves are shaped just like any other M&M. Some of them are coated in a white dust, some aren't. That's no design flaw, they're just supposed to be like that as it helps with the flavor. Speaking of which, these take just like anything you would find in a cookies and cream ice cream. Between my wife and I, we polished off a whole bag of these in an afternoon, they're that good. So, if you find yourself at a Target, I recommend picking these up.

On the card front, I've got a hanger box of Heritage High Numbers, a random value box of 2009 Upper Deck, a jumbo pack of O-Pee-Chee hockey, and a trade pack I got last week all coming up later this month once my wife gets back home from the hospital and things get back to normal somewhat.

Card Shop Chronicles: Lebanon Candy and Sports Cards

It's not often that a new card shop pops up these days so when I heard about Lebanon Candy and Sports Cards at the most recent Nutter Center card show, I knew I had to stop in and check them out. 

Situated right off the main drag through downtown, the place reeks of nostalgia, right up to the signage on the windows. If they were going for a rustic feel, then they definitely nailed it. There are actually two doors as you walk in, the one on the right goes to the card shop, the other to the candy shop.

Here's the view of the main counter. Suffice to say it's absolutely loaded with packs, boxes, blasters, and all kinds of stuff. The shop itself it very small but they've made really good use of the space. According to the guy behind the counter, the place used to be an antique shop and judging by the old display cabinets and the polished hardwood floors, I can see how that would be. 

Besides sports cards, they have tons and tons of gaming cards like Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh, etc. They even carry the big Pokemon boxes that Wal-Mart and Target carry.

Here's more boxes and packs. This is more recent stuff including loads of Series 1.

But wait, there's more! You want board games? They got 'em!

Here's a really cool thing right in the middle of the shop. It's an old fire call box that was used to alert the local fire departments. Seeing that Lebanon is an old historic city, it makes sense. As you can see, hidden behind the box is part of their Funko shelf.

Here's just a portion of the Funko's that they carry. They've got everything from Street Fighter to Dr. Seuss to Walking Dead figures. 

I nearly missed these old school motorcycles when I walked in. They definitely add a touch of character to the place, as if it didn't have enough already.

Next door is the candy portion loaded with anything and everything you could think of candy wise. There's a complete wall full of Jelly Belly dispensers, the counter is loaded with chocolate candies of all sorts and there's even a section full of pop culture candies.

Of course, it can't be a candy shop without having pop (or soda if you will) by the bottle. There's craft sodas such as Avery's and Jones Soda along with other brands such as Ale-8-1, IBC Root Beer, and Virgils. The other refrigerator has your standard Coke products but they're in glass bottles!!

Speaking of Coke, look at this awesome old school vending machine. I'm not sure if it's operational but the price on it says 25 cents. Too bad I didn't have a quarter on me to try it out.

As for my purchases, I grabbed three more packs of Donruss racing, two packs of Opening Day, and two packs of the new Pokemon for my son. 

Here's what I got out of the racing packs. I did manage to get two of the nickname variations including a Bill Elliott gold. The best of the packs was the Chase Elliott press proof numbered 23/99.

These were the first packs of Opening Day I think I've ever opened. These Reds cards came out of the first pack. I really, really like the picture on the Billy Hamilton card.

The inserts from each pack, a Brewers Opening Day card and a Jayson Werth Superstar Celebrations card.

This card will go towards my throwback uniforms collection. The 1970s style Pirates uniforms are always a hit with me.

I know this is a parallel but I'm not quite sure what sort of parallel this is as it's not numbered on the back. Regardless, I'll set it aside for my "shiny card" collection.

This is a shop I'll definitely be back to, despite the fact that the card shop portion felt a little bit cramped. The pack prices are more than fair and I love the nostalgia factor and the uniqueness of a card shop and candy shop all in one. 

Palmer Pumpkin Spice Cups

I hadn't planned on reviewing these but I'll be damned if these weren't literally haunting me from my pantry.

A little backstory first ... if you watched some of the Halloween videos I posted at the beginning of the month, you'll see that my friends and I have a love/hate relationship with Palmer and their candy. We loved it when we were doing our videos as it was cheap candy but we hated it because it was exactly that, cheap, generic candy. This particular bag set me back only a dollar at the local Dollar Tree back at the beginning of September. I stuffed it in my pantry after getting home that day and promptly forgot about it, until now that is.

I was filling up the trick-or-treat bowl and found them. My first though was that I'll just dump them in the bowl and be done with them. Then I realized I couldn't do that without trying one and knowing what I could potentially be unleashing on unsuspecting trick-or-treaters.

Here it is out of the wrapper. It looks pretty normal, just like any other knock off Reese's cup.

Before trying it, I dissected it to see what it looked like on the inside. Pretty generic if you ask me. Knowing how bad Palmer's candy has been in the past, I took a bite with much trepidation. It was exactly as I expected ... a super artificial flavor in the pumpkin spice filling, fake generic chocolate that was unnecessarily and overly sweet, and a horrible aftertaste that lingered an hour after taking one bite.

This is the stuff nightmares are made of.

The 2014 Halloween Special

The 2014 (and final) Halloween Special!

Here it is, the final Halloween special that I filmed with my friend Brian and Tim. On this special, my wife actually joins in the fun with a bizarre baking segment. There is also some Halloween hot sauces, Tim making a homemade knight costume, Palmers chocolate, Halloween lunchables, and lots more. While I was editing this, I had a feeling it would be the last one so the intro is a nice highlight reel of fun stuff from years past set to creepy music.

I really hope everyone has enjoyed these videos I've put up this past week. It was a blast sharing them with you and a fun way for me to kick off October. There's still a ton more Halloween fun to come this month!

The 2011 Halloween Special

The 2011 Halloween Special!

This special is absolutely crazy and probably one of the best ones we ever did ... there's a lab experiment, Tim reviewing a DOS PC game called "Hugo's House of Horrors", all kinds of different candy, props, decorations, and readings of Halloween poetry and fan fiction. Enjoy!

The 2010 Halloween Special

The 2010 Halloween Special!

In this special, Brian and Tim review everything they can get their hands on in terms of Halloween goodies including, but not limited to, Pop Tarts, gobs of candy, more Halloween baking with Tim, reviews of old VBOX video games, and the first ever Halloween "Bag of Crap", a fun skit that date's back to the original form of Brian's website Review the World. Hope everyone enjoys the video!

The 2009 Halloween Special

The 2009 Halloween Special!

This particular special happens to be one of my favorites we ever did. Everything seemed to click perfectly and we had great stuff to review. In this special, Brian hangs out in downtown Indianapolis, Tim bakes Rice Krispie treats, and there's a cameo by Tim's friend Joseph. All in all, a great hour of Halloween fun! Enjoy everyone!

The 2008 Halloween Special

The 2008 Halloween Special!

Today let's head back to 2008 for the second Halloween special that my friends and I did. As with all the specials, they're hosted by my friends Tim and Brian (since I'm most decidedly camera shy). On this special we looked at a lot of decorations, candy, and a pretty awesome electronic face ripping statue. This special also contains of the best intros we ever shot. Enjoy the video!

The 2007 Halloween Special

I mentioned back in my introduction to Project Halloween that my friends and I used to make hour long videos to celebrate Halloween every year. Beginning today and running through Oct 9th, I'll have a new post up each day with a link to each special, all the way up to the last special we did in 2014.

First up is our original Halloween special from 2007. It stars my friends Tim and Brian (with me popping up occasionally throughout the video). I'll be honest, it's not my favorite as we popped in some sophomoric and shock humor on occasion, something I'm not very proud of now. However, for 2007 I think it's pretty good. 

A few of my favorite segments in this are the intro with the fog machine, the Creepy Crawlers segment, and the fake Rap Snacks commercial. Enjoy the video!

PS: If it doesn't work let me know.

The Most Amazing Halloween Aisle Ever

This caused quite the stir on my Twitter page over the weekend. Of all the retail establishments I've been to so far this season, this one aisle at my local grocery store is by far the absolute best of all of them. As I said on Twitter, this aisle take me right back to a 1992, perhaps somewhere in a corner drug store. This particular grocery store looks like it hasn't been updated since then either, with outdated lettering atop all the different departments and old tile floors that seem to be the original floor. This was the only good picture I could get as the store was busy and I had to take this somewhat sneakily so the guy at the meat counter wouldn't give me a suspicious look. Anyway, let's take a look at some of the highlights of this ...

This is one of the best M&M displays I've ever seen with Red dressed as a vampire and surrounded by mountains and mountains of M&Ms. I would wager a guess that when the store is closed he swims in these bags like Scrooge McDuck swims in money. I mean, just look at the mounds and mounds of candy that surrounds him, wouldn't you be in heaven too? Also, not to be forgotten in this shot are the giant cauldrons, presumably to be used for some sort of witchcraft shenanigans or to be used as a Halloween candy bowl. The possibilities are endless!

Towards the back of the display, we have a scarecrow and a crazy tree sprouting all sorts of candy. The scarecrow is your typical cutesy fall fare for those who want to play it straight. That's not really my style. I like the crazy Halloween candy tree. Also, if you look very closely in the back you can see  part of an old school circular department store rack covered with costumes. Very 1980s-ish.

These look like they're supposed to be ghosts. I'm down with that. What is the white stuff they put on them, was it paint of some sort? This looks like a crazy high school arts and crafts project and I can so dig that.

It's the trick or treat monster and he's coming to steal all your candy! Not really, but this sign is really, really cool. The monster kind of that that reaction like Tweek on South Park does, like he's perpetually petrified. Also, what is that coming out of his left side? Is it a bolt? An arm?

You can't have a retail Halloween display without and inflatable graveyard scene that nearly touches the ceiling.

There are more inflatables and a lamp post that I very nearly bought as it was listed at 20% off the sticker price. Also, any store that has so much Halloween candy that they have to sort it into big bags and monster bags, is tops in my book.

The thing that makes it for me is while this aisle may look clean, it's also meant to be messy, which brings me back to my drug store analogy as all drug store Halloween aisles were always a bit unkempt. This one aisle takes everything that is awesome about the Halloween season and packages it neatly in one semi-neat ball that doesn't take itself too seriously.

Thank you grocery story Halloween aisle. Thank you for being you.

Five Cheap Trick Or Treat Bags

I'll come right out and say it, these bags are really cool, even cooler considering they were nearly a steal at 20 cents each. Yes, you read that right, they were 20 cents each from the local grocery store. Cheap Halloween goods like this were what the original Halloween videos my friends and I did were based upon (side note: those will be posted up come October) so this will be like going back to my roots as I review these. Quick aside, there were actually six different designs to choose from, however the sixth one contained a giant spider on the front of the bag. Since I want nothing to do with spiders in any form, be it cartoonish or otherwise, I opted to leave that one at the store.

Bag #1 - Jack O'Lantern: Here's the first bag, pretty simple if you ask me. Just nothing more than a jack-o-latern pattern with a generic orange background and a black bottom. These bags have the same feel and are about the same size of a small popcorn bag that you would pay about six dollars for at the movie theater with no refills. To be honest, there's not much else here to talk about aside from this bag serving as a good model to use when carving your pumpkin this fall.

Bag #2 - Haunted House: Someone really put some effort into this one. On the front alone, you've got a mummy, a giant jack-o-lantern, a ghost, a super creepy mansion, a dark sky, the outline of a creepy old tree and presumably bats flying above the mansion. Now if just looking at this bag doesn't get you in the Halloween spirit, I don't know what will. After I took the picture, I noticed the side of the bag has pumpkins running all along the side of it. I definitely give this one a top score for creativity.

Bag #3 - Happy Monsters: I have no idea on if "Happy Monsters" is the official title of this design or not, I'm simply calling it that because these creatures seem incredibly thrilled to be plastered on the front of this bag. It's just got this fun, happy, Monsters Inc. feel to it and I'm sure any elementary school kid would be proud to carry this around during trick or treat.

Bag #4: Party Favors: Need some cheap, generic Halloween party wallpaper or something funky to decorate your work cube with? Then go grab yourself some of these! This one definitely gives a vibe of a Halloween party with jack-o-lanterns, evil looking suckers, tiny bats, and generic candy in the form of Tootsie Pops. I'd say this one is probably my second favorite behind the haunted house bag.

Bag #5: Squiggles: Here's the last bag, a simple Happy Halloween graphic centered on top of some black, white, and orange squiggles. While not exactly the most inspiring design, it definitely has more character than it's cousin, the plain orange jack-o-latern bag we started things off with. Heck, even the pumpkin looks thrilled to be part of the proceedings.

Overall, I'd say for 20 cents a piece, you definitely can't go wrong here. I'm hoping I can find some other cheap goods to pick up during the season as these were great!

Pecan Pie and White Boo-tterscotch M&Ms

Oh, M&Ms, you never cease to amaze me with the crazy seasonal flavors you come out with. Last year, it was Pumpkin Spice Latte and Candy Corn flavors, this year its Pecan Pie and White Boo-tterscotch flavors. The concept is good, but let's see if they really work.

White Boo-tterscotch

I heard about these via some of the foodie websites my wife frequents and to be honest, I was pretty excited. My favorite dessert at Thanksgiving is the butterscotch pie that my aunt makes so when I heard about these, I knew I had to make a beeline to the nearest Target. These were positioned right in the middle of the main aisle with a bunch of other standard M&M flavors like peanut and peanut butter in the requisite fall packaging as was just about the only Halloween related thing Target had out. I like the package with Red getting all scared and ghosts abundant all around

Here's what they look like out of the package. Three different colors, brown, white and tan. I tried one of each color and then all three colors together. The inside is white as it states on the package and the butterscotch flavor is pretty strong but captures the flavor perfectly. They're also pretty sweet and after just having the small amount in the bowl, I feel like I could run about 10 laps around the block. If you're a fan of butterscotch flavored stuff, then these are definitely worth a try.

Pecan Pie

The other offering from M&Ms this fall ... Pecan Pie. I've never really been a big fan of pecan pie as pecans covered in gobs of karo syrup never really looked all that appealing to me. The packaging on this is very enticing with Green sitting on some haystacks offering up a big slice of pecan pie topped with whipped cream. Hopefully these will live up to the lofty packaging standards in terms of taste.

Again, here's what they look like out of the package. They're a bit darker than the butterscotch. As for how they taste, they're a bit underwhelming honestly. I was expecting a blow away flavor of pecan pie like I had with the butterscotch ones but there wasn't any of that. These tasted exactly like regular M&Ms with the slightest hint of pecan in the aftertaste. Not exactly my favorites so these will be pawned off on others. 

I'd definitely get the butterscotch ones again but the pecan pie ones I'll pass on.