Every once in a while a movie comes along that sweeps the nation in a perfect storm of pop culture and merchandising. To some this is nothing more than the studios using in-your-face marketing tactics to suck every last dime out of your wallet. For me it’s about finding a way to keep the experience alive long after the movie is over.

Batman had always been my lifelong hero. I was a comic book connoisseur from the day I was born and followed his adventures religiously. The movie landscape was much different in 1989 – superheroes were still a small underground niche and not the Hollywood juggernauts they’ve become today. It took a real effort to seek out your heroes and…

The Copper Kid was a character on the cartoon Silverhawks. He was a mathematical genius from the planet of the Mimes who the Silverhawks kept as an extra-terrestrial mascot / pet. The Copper Kid spoke in calculated whistles and tones, kind of like the aliens in Close Encounters but a lot less adorable. The other human Silverhawks used to tease the non-terran by making him participate in endless astronomy lessons under the false pretenses that one day he’d be one of the team and…

Rockapella was the house band to the popular kid’s gameshow Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego, which in turn was based off the edu-taining computer game series of the same name. Rockapella would dare to blend modern rock and roll with classic acapella, creating a textured, polyphonic background score to the adolescent…

In 1995, two things represented the future: flying cars and virtual reality. One of those became readily available to the public thanks to Nintendo. I, of course, was the first in line to buy it. I prided myself in being a toy aisle futurist, always looking for that next big thing…

Scott Scanlon was a character on the first season of Beverly Hills 90210. Scott and David Silver were nerdy best friends until David became a social climber and pretended to actually be attracted to Donna…

An Excerpt From
BROKEN HEARTS AND BAYSIDE: A YOUNG ADULT NOVEL

Chapter 1

She road into town on her motorcycle. New school, new kids, new pressures. Tori Scott was a loner, used to packing up shop and moving around the country. By now all these places she once called home looked the same. This type of lifestyle didn’t lend itself well to making friends, let alone finding teenage love. On her first day of class, Tori met a boy who saw through her tough guy strut, her devil may care attitude, even the black leather jacket that she wore like a protective shell around her vulnerable heart. This boy was different from all the rest. This boy was special. From the moment they locked eyes she could see their future: sharing a mod in a college with their other high school friends, while gaining guidance from a former pro athlete, probably one who played for the San Francisco 49ers. After college she saw a wedding, somewhere tropical like Hawaii, where all their friends would be united one last time to celebrate their blessed union. In the halls of her new high school, Tori was sure, no positive, that she had met her soul mate. The boy she’d spend the rest of her life with. The boy noticed her staring at him. He lowered his giant cell phone and extended his hand. “Hey you must be new. I’m Zack Morris, welcome to Bayside.”

My love for cooking did not come from my mom. Hell, we knew damn well to stay out of her kitchen or we’d get smacked with a wooden spoon. No, my culinary passion can be traced back to a late 80s birthday gift from many years ago. The Chef de Parti to my Apprenti was none other than a mad scientist named Dr. Dreadful.

The Dr. Dreadful Food Lab was the male answer to the Easy Bake Oven (predating Creepy Crawlers by several years.) Your kitchen table instantly became your very own laboratory, where you would orchestrate a series of dishes that “looks gross but tastes great!” These varied from bubbling brain stew eaten straight from the shrunken skull bowl, to the homegrown and edible monster skin (I’m still not sure what it was made of.) I became mad with power, a gourmet Dr. Moreau, mixing and matching the various flavored powders and ingredients to create just the right gummy tarantula…

Dear Disney Channel,
Once upon a time you created original content not containing oversexed tweens in sitcoms with synergistic music deals. This was a glorious time. The bizarre yet incredibly entertaining Mother Goose Rock ‘n’ Rhyme was your crowning achievement. Now all I have left of this fish-eyed lens, rock-opera nightmare are fuzzy memories that still [...]

The Inhumanoids were a cartoon and a toyline and it had scientists who wore battlesuits and they fought monsters underground. The coolest toy from the line was D’Compose. He was the biggest toy I owned. He had rubber guts. In 1988 my mom got pregnant with my sister. This meant my parents didn’t love me anymore…

Lucas Barton is a character from the classic film (or 90 minute Nintendo commercial), The Wizard. Lucas is a rich asshole that lives somewhere in between the mid-west and “Ca-lee-fornya.” His weapon of choice is the Power Glove, which he uses to defeat Rain Man-like autistic children at Rad Racer. Lucas has a thing for redheads that grow up to be indie songstresses.