Colored Tapes Mean New Content.
Sadly the video won’t play, but you can watch it on YouTube if you like. The free credit report song is so catchy and super funny. I’m not sure why more companies can’t come up with fun commercials. One thing I think is funny about this commercial is that later versions have “offer applies with enrollment in triple advantage.” That’s because they got in trouble for saying that the credit report wasn’t free unless you paid for there credit monitoring service. I guess it’s true what they say, there is no such thing as a free credit report or lunch.
Yet another catchy jingle commercial. I really liked having the ketchup bottles spinning like a record. Overall it was a fun commercial.
Golly, I didn’t remember just how violent this was. The humans are just monsters. Poor poptarts never stood a chance. I haven't had a poptart in a long time. Is it bad that I want one now? :’)
Introducing “The Radio DJ Transmitter From Wild Planet”. It was a toy that allowed any kid to start their own AM radio station that you could listen to from any AM radio. This thing was super cool! Granted you could only broadcast a few yards. So your mom could listen, but I doubt even your neighbor could pick up the signal. We are talking about AM radio here.
This is one of those toys that I don’t think could be appreciated by kids today. When was the last time you listened to radio? For me, it’s been a while. I bet there are a lot of kids who don’t even know what a radio is these days. Listen to me sounding like an old geezer XD. Though if you ask me it’s a lot safer to give your kid something like this instead of a TikTok account.
The Radio DJ came out in the early 2000s, and comes with a cassette deck. It’s funny to me that they chose not to use a CD, but this makes a lot of sense. It’s a lot easier to make your own songs and record them to tape, then to burn your own CDs. It may also have been cheaper to include the cassette deck. It also came with a microphone and 4 premade sound effects. It gave a young wanna-be radio DJ everything they needed. It was also only mono, but as a kid I couldn't tell the difference.
Unfortunately my old one was lost many years ago, but I hope to buy another one soon. I got the image from a YouTube video that talks a lot more about the toy. I’ll link it here if you are curious.
VWestlife's Awsome Video!
Game Boy Advanced Video is one of those toys I always wanted as a kid, but never got a chance to have. It’s also an item that I have no desire to buy today.
The early 2000s were a different time. Watching TV and movies on the go was not as easy as it is today. I remember when I rode in a friend's car that had a portable DVD player builtin. It was super cool! Little laptop devices that played DVDs did exist, and there was also the “Video Now” devices too, but I didn’t have any of those. I did however have a Game boy Advanced. The idea of playing episodes of Pokemon on my GBA was too good to be true.
And It turns out it was too good to be true. The Game boy Advanced wasn’t exactly a mini TV. Its resolution was fine for games made for it, but not so much for TV shows. The Resolution was really low, but on such a small screen it wasn’t too bad. I’m not sure if I would have been disappointed if I got one as a kid. I might have binged the same episode over and over again, who knows?
As much as we might laugh at the GBA Video today. It was an affordable option to get kids full video on the go. And I can’t imagine it was a simple task to develop. Plus, who knows how hard it was to get the media distributors to give them the licensees for their shows. For better or worse these little game boy advanced cartridges were the Netflix of a generation. Which is funny because Netflix existed back then, they were just DVD rental through the mail only.
Here is the GBA Video Commercial
It’s like a mini portable DVD player, but it sucks! This is another one of those toys I never had, but I always wanted. I didn’t have a TV in my bedroom as a kid. So the idea of being able to watch stuff in my room or when I was out was a really cool idea. I think a lot of kids back then could relate.
Mini DVD players did exist, but they were expensive. So the video now attempted to make a cheaper DVD player. Cheap enough so you could sell it as a toy. The player didn’t use regular DVDs and couldn't read normal ones. Video now had their own proprietary disks that could only hold 25 minutes of video.
This thing was outclassed by Gameboy Advanced video in every way. Not only in storage capacity, but GBA video was in full color and the GBA could do more than just play videos. It also didn’t have a backlight and its resolution is worse than the Gameboy Advanced. To be fair the original Gameboy Advanced didn’t have a backlight either, but the SP did. Oh and I forgot the best part, this thing had no skip protection. The tiniest little bump would cause the video to jump ahead. Good luck using this in the car. If It were the early 2000s I’d say get Gameboy Advanced Video.
Video now would release a second player like a year after launch. Probably because they realized how bad the original was. This one used larger disks that held 30 minutes of video. Had a higher resolution, full color and a backlight. This player was a lot more comparable to the Gameboy Advanced Video.
I go back and forth if I want to get a Video Now Player or not. It’s a cool piece of tech. Even if I’d only ever use it once. I’m not sure if the colored video now is better than Gameboy Advanced video. I guess you’d have to see what shows were on offer. Now that I think about it, GBA video had Pokemon and Shrek, so I think I prefer that one.
I have no memory of these things. I didn’t learn about them until they were mentioned in a random YouTube video I saw a few years ago. So why am I talking about them now? Because I think they are cool!
Hit clips was a popular music format from the early 2000s. You’d buy the hit clip player which was a small plastic toy that was usually designed to look like something else, like a boombox or walk-men or whatever. There were tons of little players made.
The Hit clips themselves were little cartridge keychains with some art on it. You could put your whole collection on your book bag and look like you had way too much pocket money. The hit clips were like little SD cards that barely had any storage. A hit clip would hold one song each, and it didn’t even have the full version. This of course, was marketed as a selling point. It only had the “best parts” of the song. I feel bad for the artists who had there art chopped up, and part of there song (probably the chorus) labeled the good part, with the rest (the bad part) being thrown out.
Despite the poor audio quality and overall poor build quality of these devices I still think they are fun. In an age before the IPod tons of people were trying to make their own music formats. Hit clips were collectable cheap and an easy way to get popular music for kids. They are time capsules of their era. Showing off all the good and bad of 2000s pop culture. And for kids the limits of the system weren’t a problem. Today they stand as little relics of a simpler time.
Ever want to learn the history of Hamburgers? Nope? Well too bad in 2006 The history channel would take a break from World War II documentaries to share the story of a bunch of old ladies who just couldn’t find any beef.
American eats was supposed to be a Docu about the history of American quinze, but it turned out to really just be a compilation of advertisements for fast food and snacks. This show really helped me understand why Americans are all fat.
This show was just fun. I don’t know how else to put it. The fast-paced video editing, great sound design and energetic voice over just makes me happy. It’s a nice change from talking about torture methods and body counts to talking about a demon who gives away a free chip. Although lets be honest Ronald McDonald has a higher body count then Vlad the impaler.
Watch the Docus On YouTube!
This was a short-lived show on Animal Planet That Aired from 2011-2012. It has an 8.1 on IMDB, but I never hear anyone talk about it.
I loved the show as a kid. It followed John Fulton, the host of the show, who traveled all across America to meet cat owners and their feline friends. He met all kids of cool people and cats. Ranging from A cat rock band to, a guy who turned his home into cat nirvana to a cat who stole stuff. Along the way John Fulton would write songs and sing about the cats he met.
The show was super charming, I don’t know why we don’t get more shows like this. It made me want to take a summer road trip across America.
I’ll link to one of my favorite songs from the show on YouTube.
