Michael Jackson Was As Awesome as Gremlins, Smurfs and Pac-Man

I realize that I'm a couple of days late to post a Michael Jackson tribute on my blog, but I wanted to do something more than just mention that I liked him. Here at WWoB, I can go on and on about things from my childhood like Gremlins cereal, or Smurf figures but I've never once mentioned how much Michael Jackson played in my life at that time. When I was in the 5th grade is when Thriller became huge and Michael Jackson became the superstar that he was. I can remember buying my Thriller tape at Bradlee's with the money I won for selling the most candy bars at school. I listened to that tape a million and a half times and as every other kid my age, I knew the words to each and every song on that album. Of course for me, I couldn't just have the album...I had to show my appreciation for things by buying everything under the sun I could get my hands on related to Michael Jackson! I chose the picture above because I remember having a yellow sweatshirt from Ocean City - with Ocean City, Maryland written on the front and this picture of MJ sunscreened on the back. That was style, my friends.

In the good ol' days, nothing was a "thing" unless it had trading cards. I don't recall the Michael Jackson trading cards in my neighborhood being as big as Gremlins cards or Dukes of Hazzard cards, but I know I had a stack of MJ cards that let me read up on all sorts of fun facts about him and his career. Each pack of the cards came with a sticker...some of them are seen here. My official collecting rule is that you save the sticker cards with the rest of your cards, but doubles were open for using as stickers on whatever you wanted. I can still picture a handful of these purple babies on various items of mine.


I read this book, and a few others like it, a dozen or so times. These hack biographies spread 7 or 8 pages of information over 200 pages. I know often on a reread I would skip all the stuff about The Jackson Five and Michael's first album and just get to the part where Thriller came into the play. I can remember sitting around with some of the kids from the neighborhood and reading this aloud to them. Wow! That's strange, isn't it!?


Now some of your more die-hard fans went the "jacket route" to profess their love for Michael. I knew a handful of kids at school that had the "Beat It" jacket, which was red and had zippers all over. I managed to get my hands on a Michael Jackson jacket, except I had the "Thriller" model (as seen here). I don't think mine was quite as elaborate as this one, but I do remember that you could see me coming a mile away in my big leather V, and I think the whole Thriller boat had sailed a few years ago before I got this jacket. I think I wore it once or twice and then couldn't take the teasing anymore and retired it.

But no one could take away my Thriller View-Master reels. To this day, View Master gives me a little chill. I think it's just a great toy! When they came out with reels of scenes from the music video for Thriller, I was so there! The video for that song is still the greatest video ever made, and since I didn't have a VCR at the time - reliving the thrill on my View Master was good enough. As yes, more than one time, I used my View Master projector and played the song while I scrolled through the pictures. That's View Master artistry at the highest level!

And then we come to Captain EO. Michael Jackson was so cool he got his own Disney Theme Park attraction! Captain EO was a 3-D film that played in EPCOT and Disneyland. It was kind of a Michael Jackson version of Star Wars, with little creatures and odd aliens and a couple of musical numbers thrown in for good fun. The movie was even produced by George Lucas, for Darth's sake! None of it really made any sence but I always loved the music that was in the finale of the film! Captain EO opened in September 1986 and ran in EPCOT's Journey Into Imagination pavilion until 1994. Michael kept on dancing at Disneyland for another 3 years and closed up there in April of `97. (It also ran in Tokyo and Paris.) For some odd reason, MTV showed the film once after it had been removed from the parks...I taped it, and it's a treasured piece of my Walt Disney World memorabilia collection.

It's sad that in recent years, Michael Jackson's legal problems and odd tabloid stories became more popular than the music and entertainment that he provided. With this passing, it seems people everywhere are starting to remember what a special place he once held in our hearts.

Japanese Thomas Candy Wrappers

Today we feature these funky little candy wrappers from Thomas the Tank Engine candy made in Japan. I picked up the pack of candy back in March while I was at Walt Disney World. In the Japan pavilion at Epcot there is a large store run by Mitsukoshi, a four-century-old retail company. The stores sells all kinds of stuff like kimonos, housewares, and books but my favorite section is (of course) the food! They have all kinds of wild candy and snack items. My very favorite item (and it's become a tradition to pick some up) is Shrimp Chips! Yummy! Shrimp Chips are like a cross between Andy Capp's Pub Fries and Crinkle Cut french fries, except they taste like shrimp! Good Eats! I also like to pick up some Rice Candy which is also so very good. When we were in Epcot earlier this Spring, I also grabbed some Thomas candy, and something called Hi-Chew which was kind of like Starbrust but way better! I tell you what, if I ever went to Japan I wouldn't sleep in one of those hotels where you lay in a tube, but I would get my candy on...Godzilla style!

Hey Kids! Wanna Get a Picture with Your Nightmare?

When Disney opened EPCOT Center in 1982 they decided that Mickey Mouse and the gang were not going to be found anywhere in the park. There were no rides based on Disney movies, there were not Mickey t-shirts in the gift shops, and you couldn't find Mickey and Minnie walking around the park like they did at the Magic Kingdom. Instead the folks at EPCOT Center decided to have giant dolls from around the world (like this one to the right) three times the size of an average child roam the park for photo ops! Frightening...yes! Creepy....yes! Did I mention frightening!?

Little kids can get scared enough at a 6 foot tall Mickey Mouse standing in front of them, so I'm sure these 9 foot soul-less dolls prompted tears in many kids eyes. I'm not sure what country this dude is supposed to be representing except maybe Nightmareville! Is he supposed to be from England or Germany or what!? That's my younger brother and I in the picture with the mayor of hell, sporting our matching EPCOT Center t-shirts and bottling our fears long enough for the flash cube to pop on our parents camera. This picture was taken in December 1982, when EPCOT Center was barely three months old. The giant ambassadors of childish terror didn't stick around EPCOT all that long. When park visitors were disappointed that they weren't getting Mickey in a Disney theme park...they complained. Mickey and the gang eventually showed up in silver spacesuits with rainbows on them. I know I've got a picture of that somewhere...I'll have to dig it up for ya'll!