JCD666

Wizard Video was a VHS video distribution company that was well-known for its detailed (and often lurid) box art, especially during the time that it sold videocassettes in larger than standard boxes. Los Angeles-based Wizard was a subsidiary of Empire International Pictures, a small film studio. Wizard's videocassettes were originally duplicated by L.A. based Sound/Video Unlimited. Between 1982 and 1987, Wizard released 96 movies on VHS, almost all of which are horror flicks and sex comedies.

Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future is a science fiction-action TV series that merged live action with animation based on computer-generated images that ran for 22 episodes. The story took place on Earth in the 22nd century in the aftermath of the Metal Wars, which led to the subjugation of humanity by intelligent machines. A small unit of human soldiers, survivors of the Metal Wars, lead an underground resistance against the activities of the evil Lord Dread and his monstrous creations, Bio-Dreads, designed to hunt down human survivors and digitize them. A toy line was produced that included unique interactive elements that allowed the toys to interact with a special segment in each episode.

Waddle's was a popular restaurant in Portland, Oregon that opened their doors in 1945. Located on Highway 99 opposite Jantzen Beach Park, approaching the Interstate Bridge between Portland, Oregon and Vancouver, Washington, the restaurant that was part drive-in and part dine-in was a landmark eatery. The Waddle's family opened two other Portland locations, but the original was considered the best of the bunch for nearly 60 years before closing in 2006.

Dynamite Magazine from Scholastic is another great reminder of childhood in the 1970s, an age before the home video and video game revolutions. The magazine, published out of Englewood, N.J. was a monthly publication that was filled with interviews with the hottest stars of the day and included fun features that could help pass the hours on a rainy Saturday. In magazine terms, Dynamite had a really good run, managing to stay relevant for almost two decades from it's first issue in 1974 to it's last in 1992.

Late Night with David Letterman was an American late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman. It premiered on NBC on February 1, 1982 and remained there until 1993 before making the jump to CBS where it was renamed Late Show with David Letterman and ran until Dave's retirement in 2015.

Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids was an American animated television series created, produced, and hosted (in live action bookends) by comedian Bill Cosby, who also lent his voice to a number of characters, including Fat Albert and himself. Filmation was the production company for the series. The show premiered in 1972 and ran until 1985 (with new episodes being produced sporadically during that time frame). The show, based on Cosby's remembrances of his childhood gang, centered on Fat Albert (known for his catchphrase "Hey hey hey!"), and his friends who routinely gathered in a North Philadelphia junkyard to play a song on their cobbled-together instruments.

The Love Boat was an American dramedy tv series set on the luxury cruise ship, S.S. Pacific Princess, which ran May 5, 1977 until Feb 27, 1987, plus, four three-hour long specials aired in 1986, 1987, and 1990. The series revolves around the ship's captain Merrill Stubing and a handful of its crew, with several passengers—played by various guest star actors for each episode—having romantic and humorous adventures. It was part of ABC's popular Saturday-night lineup of the time, which also included Fantasy Island until that series ended two years earlier in 1984.

"If you think prime time sitcoms and soaps are a snooze, and the movies bore you to tears, then watch the man who will excite you and incite you: Morton Downey Jr.! Weeknights at 9 p.m. on Channel 9!" Those are the word used in the original WWOR-TV spots to promote The Morton Downey Jr. Show back in 1987. Morton Downey Jr., an acerbic, chain-smoking commentator who previously worked in radio, was approached by a New Jersey television station to create his own show. What followed was a nightly talk show where Downey would interview known pundits, politicians, and plenty of wacky guests, all while being openly hostile to them. Hailed as the progenitor of 'trash television,' The Morton Downey Jr. Show aired from 1987 to 1989.

The Pacific Crest Trail (PCT), officially designated as the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail, is a long-distance hiking and equestrian trail closely aligned with the highest portion of the Cascade and Sierra Nevada mountain ranges, which lie 100 to 150 miles east of the U.S. Pacific coast. The trail's southern terminus is next to the Mexico–United States border, just south of Campo, California, and its northern terminus is on the Canada–US border, upon which it continues unofficially to the Windy Joe Trail within Manning Park in British Columbia; it passes through the states of California, Oregon, and Washington. The PCT was conceived in 1932, and received official status under the National Trails System Act of 1968.

The Brady Kids is an animated television series spin-off based on the ABC live-action sitcom The Brady Bunch that aired from September 9, 1972, to October 6, 1973, and also spun off another animated series, Mission: Magic! This Saturday morning cartoon show saw the Brady Kids form a pop group and go on adventures with their newfound friends: two pandas, a shaggy dog, and a magical bird.

California Motor Express (CME) trucking was founded in the early '30s in Los Angeles, California. As their name might imply, they served all of California and California only. With their primary route being I-5 between SoCal and NorCal, and serving major cities in between, CME really did 'carry California.'

If you lived in Seattle in the late '60s, you probably remember the Emerald City's burgeoning counterculture scene that could be found in the U-District. Within this scene reminiscent of Northern California, numerous hippie run businesses sprang up, one of which was Morningtown Pizza and Subs. Tom Ninkovich, Warren Argo, and Bob Owen were friends who quit their jobs to make a worker-owned cooperative pizza parlor a reality, and Morningtown opened their doors on April Fools' Day 1969. Located in a converted garage at 4110 Roosevelt Way NE, the atmosphere was low-key with a folk music soundtrack, and a staff of hippies making some surprisingly food. The college crowd ate it up, as the U-District was lacking in food options in the '60s.

'Rusty But Trusty' is a commonly used phrase to describe a beater daily driver that may not look like much, but has it where it counts and is reliable as hell. We think this could just as easily apply to people... or at least some people.

Superdupont is a superhero from the French comic book series of the same name that is both a satire of French nationalist attitudes and a parody of mainstream American superheros. He is the son of the Unknown Soldier buried under the Arc de Triomphe. He is caricaturally chauvinistic and gifted with superpowers that help him to defend his country against a secret terrorist organization called 'Anti-France.' Anti-France agents are all foreigners and thus speak the fictional language 'Anti-Français.' The physical appearance of Superdupont is a superhero version of a stereotypical Frenchman (specially, as seen by the Anglophone world): he wears a beret, a striped jersey, slippers, a tricolor belt held by a safety pin, a long blue cape.

Pleasure to Kill is the second studio album by German thrash metal band Kreator. Released in March 1986, the album is widely considered a landmark thrash metal classic. The album played a considerable role in the development of many extreme metal subgenres, with many death metal bands citing the album as an influence. The lyrical themes follow those found on their first album, Endless Pain, containing descriptions of macabre scenes of death and horror. And just like that first album, Kreator was a three-piece band during the recording of Pleasure to Kill.

In a world that's filled with unsavory and tasteless people, it's good to be delicious.

The expression 'hair of the dog' nowadays means having another drink in the morning to quell a hangover, but the term originally came from a method of treating a rabid dog bite. Hair from the dog was placed in the wound to help seal the would and allegedly fight off the rabies. Hair of the Dog is also the breakthrough studio album by Scottish hard rock band, Nazareth. Released on April 3, 1975. The album was recorded at Escape Studios, in Kent, with additional recording and mixing at AIR Studios, London. Hair of the Dog was the group’s sixth album, best known, and highest selling release, with over two million copies sold worldwide.

Dragon Wars is a fantasy role-playing video game published in 1989 that featured a first-rate story and sophisticated graphics. The player starts the game with a party of four characters, who can be either the default characters or ones created by the player. Alternatively, the player could import characters from The Bard's Tale trilogy. The story begins with you and your party sailing across uncharted seas in search of a legendary paradise called Dilmun where the king has declared magic illegal. While docked at a harbor in Dilmun, you are arrested on suspicion of spell casting. Imprisoned and stripped of everything but your wits, you are sentenced to life in a cesspool called Purgatory. Magic is your only salvation.

Located in Castlewellan, Ireland, Mooney Bros. was one of the largest distilleries at the turn of the century, producing several brands of traditional Irish whiskey. St. Donard's, commonly reffered to as 'Donard Dew,' was one of their more popular labels. While the whiskey isn't recalled as being especially amazing, not many bottles of Donard Dew are left out there, so they remain on a lot of collector's grail list simply due to their scarcity.

Camp Thundercloud is a fictional summer camp that was first seen in The Bob Newhart Show S3 E23, Emily Hits the Ceiling, that aired February 22, 1975. The episode focused on Bob's wife Emily as she helps organize a summer camp for two weeks in July. This design is actually a double whammy, as it showed up again several years later on WKRP in Cincinnati, sported by none other than Dr. Johnny Fever. Small world, right?

Debut is the international debut studio album by Icelandic recording artist Björk, released in July 1993. It was Björk's first recording following the dissolution of her band, the Sugarcubes. The album departed from the rock style of her previous work and drew from an eclectic variety of styles, including electronic pop, house music, jazz, and trip hop. With a new sound came a new look and the 'CyberBjörk' style logo that would soon become emblematic of the singer's solo persona.

In 2000, Al Gore ran for President of the United States alongside his Vice Presidential pick, Joe Lieberman. Gore and Lieberman represented the Democratic Party, while George W. Bush and his running mate Dick Cheney represented the Republican Party. The electoral race was close and ended controversially with Gore not receiving a recount of the votes in Florida as Bush won the election in the electoral college, despite Gore winning the popular vote. The 2000 election is remembered not only for its controversial finish but also for its deepening of partisan politics in the United States in the early 21st century.

Doxxxology is a fictional washed-up metal band that found fame as a one hit wonder in the early '90s. The band makes an appearance in "Rest in Metal," the fourth episode of the first season of Poker Face. Ruby Ruin is the lead singer of dejected band, and after finding a new musician with a knack for writing songs, the band gets a taste of fame once again. Let's rock!

'Repeal POThibition' was a marijuana legalization rally that took place on July, 3 1978 in front of the White House in Washington, D.C. The rally's stated goal was to get Americans to defend their rights to 'smoke, grow, and share marijuana.' We have no idea if the event had any effect, as marijuana is still very much illegal at the federal level, but the good news is that decades later many states have implemented various legalization efforts of their own.

Everyone is a little burned out these days, but those that keep grinding are without a doubt still smokin'

Whether it's motorcycles, horses, or hang gliders, there is nothing quite like going fast with the wind in your hair.

When World War II ended, the United States was in better economic condition than any other country in the world as GIs bought houses and started families. Furniture manufacturers went into overdrive to furnish all those new homes. The bulk of those factories were in and around High Point, North Carolina, where an estimated 60% of all American furniture was produced within a 150-mile radius. Seeing opportunity, Dietz Motor Lines (DML) of Hickory, North Carolina was founded in the late '40s as a specialty carrier to the booming furniture industry. DML operated nationally for several major furniture makers, hauling product to furniture showrooms, warehouses, and direct to consumer in many cases into the early 2000s before being bought up.

The West Virginia Ordnance Works (WVOW) was an ordnance manufacturing facility constructed and operated by the US Army during World War II. Located just outside of Point Pleasant, West Virginia in Mason County, the 8,323 acre facility produced trinitrotoluene (TNT) based munitions. The facility had a design capacity of 720,000 pounds of TNT per 24-hour period, and operated 7 days a week, 3 shifts per day. TNT production was suspended at the facility in August 1945, following the end of the war, and the facility was transferred from the War Department to War Assets Admin. in late 1946. Now known as the 'TNT Area,' the land has been repurposed for public use, and is where the first known sighting of the "Mothman" occurred in November 1966.

Physical is the eleventh studio album by British-Australian singer Olivia Newton-John, released on October 13, 1981. Recorded and mixed in Los Angeles, Physical became one of Newton-John's most controversial and sexual records, and her most successful studio album. Musically, the album features considerable use of synthesizers, and it explores lyrical themes such as love and relationships, sex, kinesthetics and environmental protection. Upon its release, the album received positive reviews from music critics, many of them considering it to be Newton-John's best effort. The album charted high in several countries, including the United States, Japan and her native Australia, becoming one of the most successful albums of the early '80s.

Located near Santa Monica and Venice Beach, the infamous Marina del Rey Skatepark couldn’t have been in a better location as skateboarding was hitting its fever pitch and pool skating was all the rage. The initial park consisted of three pools, a 10’ half pipe, two intermediate bowls, a beginner bowl, a 230 yard slalom, and a large freestyle area with gentle banks. Unlike most parks at the time, the common areas between runs were finished, so you could literally skate the entire park, not unlike skating around in the 720°arcade game. During it’s relatively short life between 1978 and 1981, Marina del Rey Skatepark played host to countless locals and visitors alike, as well as big name, big money skate and BMX competitions.

The Spider (a.k.a. Earth vs. the Spider) is an independent 1958 American black-and-white science fiction horror film. The film focuses entirely on a small town being terrorized by a giant spider whose origin is never explained. The Spider was released by American International as a double feature in different film markets with either The Brain Eaters or The Screaming Skull. The story starts with a man not making it home one night, so his daughter and her boyfriend go out searching and encounter a giant spider in a cave near the man's wrecked car. Coming back with the Sheriff, the spider is seemingly killed by DDT, and the body is hauled for storage in the high school gymnasium. However, a loud dose of rock music by a teenage gararage band.

TigerSharks is an animated children's TV series developed by Rankin/Bass in 1987 about a team of heroes that could transform into amalgams of human and marine animals. The series lasted one season with 26 episodes and was part of the show The Comic Strip, which consisted of four animated series: TigerSharks, Street Frogs, The Mini-Monsters, and Karate Kat. The TigerSharks are an underwater salvage team that take on the task of defending world of Water-O. Using a device that allows the team to change to half man, half fish, they are able to thwart the evil plans of T-Ray and Captain Bazarlie. If TigerSharks looks and feels like the more successful ThunderCats or even SilverHawks series, that's because Rankin/Bass developed all three.

Lenderink Transport was founded in 1917 in Zwolle, Holland as a horse and carriage carrier. Over the years, Lenderink grew into an industry-leading trucking company with top-notch drivers and well maintained late model equipment operating throughout Europe. Lenderink's primary customers were in the marine engine industry, though also maintained customers in the automotive and heavy equipment space as well. Despite being one of the strongest trucking firms in Europe, as a result of the global economic crisis in 2008, loads slowed to the point that the company was forced into bankruptcy in July 2009.

Skate Rags was a Southern California based clothing company that operated from the mid-1980s to early 1990s. Their tagline was “To Fit and Survive” and as such, marketed their apparel as being a bit more durable, though not sure if that was just marketing BS, or if there was any truth to it, I just know my SR gear didn’t fare much better than any of my other stuff. Nonetheless, Skate Rags had some cool designs and built up a great following, but as the skateboarding landscape changed in the 90s, they struggled to find their place and folded. Their team riders included Mike McGill, Tom Groholski, Monty Nolder, Sam Cunningham, Ben Schroeder, Mark Partain, and Rob Mertz, to name a few. Rip it up!

The Rusty Pelican first opened their doors in 1972 on Newport Beach's Mariner’s Mile. Named after a pelican spotted on a jetty one afternoon, The Rusty Pelican has always been about fresh caught seafood. In the early days, fresh fish including swordfish was caught from local waters and brought into the restaurant’s back doors. Eventually, the local catch was joined by fish from waters off of the coast of Hawaii, South America, Alaska and the South Seas, all of which was delivered fresh within 24-hours.

A rat race is an endless, self-defeating, or pointless pursuit. The phrase equates humans to rats attempting to earn a reward such as cheese, in vain, so the term is commonly associated with an exhausting, repetitive lifestyle that leaves no time for relaxation or enjoyment. This '80s design celebrates being active participants in the rat race in pursuit of the American Dream.