Unusual, Funny, Odd Little Things
I was in the grocery store the other day and saw a box of Underberg Bitters for sale. I had no idea what they were, but for about $4, I figured why not. Inside were three tiny bottles wrapped in brown paper, each about the size of my pinky.
Germans created it as an after-dinner digestive aid, and in some kind of parallel to the mysterious rise of Jagermeister, it’s become a bit of an oddball fad — supposedly it has had fans like MF Doom and Amon Amarth, although who knows if that’s just marketing. It has an odd, herbal and anise flavor, just what you would think a German bitter would be like.
So Let’s Talk Novelties
What are some weird little things you like, or that you remember, or that you laughed at?
Fidget spinners were a fad for elementary school kids about ten years ago. They were, of course, banned in some classes because a few kids ruined all the fun.
Someone came up with the idea of clever screensavers back in the days of bulky monitors. Why just have a screen go black to avoid pixel burn in, when you could have animated Star Trek characters materializing and fading away?
Novelty banks have been around forever.
Clocky is an alarm clock on wheels that rolls off your night stand when the alarm goes of and forces you to chase after it in the morning to turn it off. Steve Martin’s character Navin Johnson in The Jerk invented the Optigrab, which turned out to be a passing fad.
So Deadsplinteryoyos, got any novelty items you want to discuss?
I love Moxie, which is a soda that tastes kind of similar to Jagermeister.
So that’s what it tastes like. I’ve seen lots of references to it, but never to what it actually tastes like.
I always wanted to try a Moxie and Jagermeister cocktail. I’ll bet it would be incredible.
My local beer place has Underberg & I have done it a few times. Some of the hardcore beer drinkers are really into doing them to settle your stomach during a session. One of the beertenders almost lost his job because he drank one with the customers when an undercover liquor board guy was in there.
Underberg apparently never got banned during Prohibition on the grounds that it was a digestive aid and not booze. I guess sort of like vanilla extract was OK.
That’s kind of how he got off & the bar wasn’t fined.
I wanted Sea Monkeys when I was a kid but my parents wouldn’t let me have them. So when my daughter asked for them I said sure. It took a couple of weeks to get big enough to see them. One of her little friends came over and said,”Ooh, snow globe” and turn it upside down dumping all the little brine shrimp on the floor.
I’m guessing they never looked like the ads in the comic books.
Aren’t they just brine shrimp?
Anyone who lived through the 70s spent the entire decade chasing one fad to another. Pet rocks. Mood rings. Pukka shell necklaces for boy and girls. Streaking. Designer jeans. Barracuda jackets. Velour sweaters. Wrap dresses (which have made a big comeback.) Dorothy Hamill haircuts or the Farrah Fawcett. For the men, center-part haircuts with feathered sides. “Porn ‘staches.” A certain brand of sneaker, Adidas maybe? Monochrome three-piece suits with impossibly wide cuffs at the leg. Leisure suits. Rugby shirts. Earth shoes. Clogs. Claddagh rings. As a teenager toward the end of the decade I saw it all and had a lot of it.
You forgot Magic 8 ball.
I still dress like this, with the apache scarf. I get a lot of looks from the ladies.
I really don’t understand what’s happening with those slacks.
I have so much respect for this.
I really wanted a Polly Pocket as a kid but my parents said no because they thought the toys were too many small pieces and assumed I’d lose them.
A cousin had lawn darts, do those count?
Also, pogs. Except you had to go to the flea market to get the good metal slammers, so I was never that invested as my parents weren’t driving all the way to the flea market just for me to get some toys.
Fucking lawn darts! I almost got hit by one as a kid. Also, fun trivia, POGs started in Hawaii. It is Passion Orange Guava & the caps were on bottles of that juice.
A couple of years before fidget spinners, my son had some Bakugans which were some kind of cheap toy tie in to some kids anime show. There was supposed to be a game sort of like Pokeman you could play with them, but as far as I know they just sort of fiddled with them.
What were those fucking gyro things my kid had that would do battle in this plastic arena that you could buy?
Battling Tops, maybe? I think I had that.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battling_Tops
Come to think of it, there was a more recent version, wasn’t there?
Might have been Beyblade?
Beyblades, that was it. I think kids even got those confiscated at my son’s school for getting too distracted by them.
Devil sticks!
Didn’t that end up becoming some kind of Deadhead thing?
Yes, and then there was that thing with the rope between two sticks and a yoyo-type thing that walked the rope and you could throw it up in the air and catch it with the rope and shit. Fucking Deadheads, I had my fill of them in college.
I knew you were good people!
I briefly aspired to be a Deadhead, but then the real ones I met turned out to be some of the most pretentious, narcissistic and hypocritical people I’ve ever met. Since then I’ve found any so-called “jam band” that isn’t the Allman Brothers to be unbearably tedious.
@lemmykilmister
Thank you for explaining why I don’t tell people I’m vegan because I’ve never had the words.
I’ve been guilty of wearing fedoras (I have a collection) at the least of opportune times (is there even an acceptable time to wear one? no matter to me) for the sake of fucking with the community in which I’m immersed and I don’t regret a thing.
Everyone should either dress like it’s 1930 or dress like @luigi-vuoto.
I don’t care what anyone says.
i dress like a 90s metalhead..combat boots..cowmooflage cargos..metal tee of some variety and a trench coat… you know..when i can be bothered to dress myself properly…has the added benefit that the junks around here leave me alone
but often as not i just go for comfort coz im not going anywhere important anyways and its sneakers,track pants and an oversized fleece sweater of some variety…sooo…90s methhead
paired with my ever present back pack the junks either think im peddling or at least can point them to someone who does…
Absofuckinglutely not.
Bras are waaaaaaay better for comfort now than in ye olde days.