Retro Ad of the Day - Diet Pepsi

Some of the most innovative ads of the 80s and 90s were a result of the cola wars that waged between industry giants Coca-Cola and Pepsi. This bitter rivalry started in the late 1800's (talk about retro!) and continues to this very day.

Soft drink origins date back when herbal cola syrup mixtures were sold in pharmacies as cure-alls and brain tonics. Colas back then actually contained coca extract from the kola nut that is better known today as cocaine. Needless to say people liked to get their cola fix but found the stuff too hard to drink straight so pharmacists began mixing it with water at first and eventually soda water which many people found be a very pleasant tasting beverage. Fast forward 100 years, the cocaine is no longer an ingredient, but we're still sucking the stuff back like it actually does a body good. Hardly.

So here's a small tribute to some of the Pepsi ads from back in the day. Why Pepsi instead of Coke? It gave me an excuse to post an ad with a young Cindy Crawford.........that's why.

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R.I.P Corey Haim (1971 - 2010)

Canadian born actor Corey Haim was found dead today in his mother's apartment in Oakwood, California of an apparent prescription drug overdose. Wow this blog is really turning into a retro obituary column but it really sucks when you're writing about someone who didn't need to die. Corey Haim was one of the two Corey's, who along with fellow child star Corey Feldman, starred in many films in the 80s and early 90s like The Lost Boys, License To Drive, Murphy's Romance, Dream a Little Dream and Lucas. He later became a reality TV star on A&E with Corey Feldman in "The Two Corey's" as the show chronicled the comeback attempt of both Coreys. Tragically it only showcased the spiraling descent that eventually claimed Corey Haim's life. Corey's Full Page Ad in Variety Magazine Feb 2008 Although he was working, none of the films or appearances were able to recapture the fame that his early career brought at a young age. This is what kept him turni...

Steven Tyler Hopes To Walk This Way Soon

Steve Tyler, the lead singer of Aerosmith was showing his age the other night when he fell off the stage while doing his little dance during a performance at the"Buffalo Chip Campground and Trailer Park" - What the hell did I just type? A campground? My how things change. How do you go from playing the Superbowl to a campground? The 61 year old front man was air lifted to hospital after suffering minor head, neck and shoulder injuries after falling off a catwalk of the stage onto some fans. Back in the day that was called crowd surfing but at 61, that's just falling into a crowd. The clapper can't be too far behind at this point.

Yo Quiero No More

Sadly, we lost one of the most popular advertising dogs in recent years today. Gidget the Taco Bell Chihuahua died of a massive stroke (no relation to eating Taco Bell I'm sure) and has moved on to the big taco stand in the sky. She (yes it was a she) became part of our pop culture in 1997 with the now classic "Yo Quiero Taco Bell" ad campaign which had all of us mumbling the phrase whether we really wanted Taco Bell or not. Other catch phrases this pint size pitchman drilled into our collective heads included "Drop the Chalupa!", "Viva Gorditas!" and the classic, "I'm thinking you, me...... burrito!". Honestly could you ever imagine a time in your life where you thought you'd ever have the need to utter any of these phrases? Yet, we did. Even SportsCenter was hooked on the Chalupa phrase for a while. And oh, how we laughed. One company that didn't laugh to loudly though was Taco Bell themselves. It seems they ripped off the idea ...

Retro Mixtape of Love - A Cassette Retrospective

Ever find yourself getting upset that your current mp3 player can only hold 1200 songs or that the battery is only good for about three days on a single charge? I can't say that I feel your pain. Reason is I grew up before we starting storing our songs on memory chips. Back in the 70s, 80s and better part of the 90s, society had to get by with the cassette tape. This miracle that followed the 8-track and reel to reel concept allowed people to record their vinyl albums and put only the songs they really wanted all onto one handy, dandy portable medium just slightly larger than a cigarette pack. That was pretty tiny in those days. You could record up to 120 minutes of your favorite tunes on one single cassette. It allowed you to create the perfect blend of tunes to keep that party going or to offer up as a token of your love to that special someone with groovy titles like, "Midnight Love Mix Pt1" or "Fantasy Voyage of Love". With the proliferation of audio cas...

Furniture Inspired by Vintage Video Games

If you grew up in the 60s and 70s, and you wanted to build furniture inspired by you're favorite games, chances are you'd have to settle for a Scrabble couch with a matching love seat. If you grew up in the 80s and 90s, you'd have a whole new set of games to get inspiration from because chances are, you were a gamer. So when you finally had enough to build your dream house, you considered your options and looked at different plans and eventually settled on a design you could really relate to - a house shaped like an NES gaming console. So now you move in and arrange all your nic-naks neatly on your Tetris shelves but still it's not enough. Sure, you have Atari coat hangers but honesty, you'll never be comfortable without more furniture. Lucky for you, there are many more pieces of furniture that will fit well in your decor and match the shelves and hangers. Click the hanger below to see more video game inspired furniture. You know you want them.

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