New episode every Monday, Wednesday & Friday!
sneaker
boot
pump high heel sandal
Raging Pencils by Mike "Sky High" Stanfill

Ducks in heaven.


Bookmark me Contact me



Raging Pencils is a heavenly conceit of:

Mike Stanfill, Private Hand
Mike Stanfill, Private Hand
IllustrationFlash AnimationWeb Design

www.privatehand.com



Today's mystery web comic is:
THE ABOMINABLE CHARLES CHRISTOPHER


start rant

Popology

"Come over to the dark side... we have candy" -   Anonymous

the prisonerDid you know that the oldest commercial shown on TV is for Tootsie Pops? Yes, the very one featuring Mr. Owl, which first aired in 1969. The original version was 60-seconds long and featured a cow, a fox, a turtle and the famous avian, but the current one only uses the last owlish 15 seconds.

We all have nostalgiac memories of our younger days, engaged in some juvenile endeavour with a cherry Tootsie Pop clamped firmly in one jaw,
but allow me to now recommend them as a new type of diet food.

Seriously.

The next time you want a big, fat slice of devil's food cake or a bowl of ice cream for dessert, reach for a Tootsie Pop instead. They're only 60 calories and can, if enjoyed judiciously, take at least ten or fifteen minutes to finish. Compare that to the 120 calories in a single cookie that's gone in seconds, only to be quickly followed by more of the same.

Pop's come in a variety of flavors and they're a dandy treat to sneak into the theatre as they're dead easy to conceal. ("Are you glad to see the movie or is that a grape Tootsie Pop in your pocket?")

I reacquainted myself with Tootsie Pops a couple of Halloweens ago when I bought a bag of the half-sized miniatures. Visitors were light that night so I had most of the bag left over the next day. I proceeded to happily polish them off, limiting myself to four or five a day.

Then I did some research and found there were several levels of quality within the genre, the lowest being those crummy miniatures. The next step up were the full-sized, bagged variety found in grocery stores. But the really good stuff are the singles sold in most convenience stores. You'll know them as they have a UPC code on the stick. These are generally larger and, thus, have more mouth appeal. Yum.

So I buy them in bulk now, 100 to the box, from various sellers on the net. I now have plenty on hand when friends drop by, and no one says no to a free Tootsie Pop.

The only problem I have is the relatively small selection of flavors, which gets a bit boring. It's basically the big five (grape, chocolate, cherry, strawberry, orange) and a few random weirdo flavors (blue raspberry, watermelon and pomegrante). But where is lemon? Or coconut? How about mocha, dark chocolate, banana or mango? The company's web site, tootsie.com, let's you vote on new flavors but so far I haven't got much response to my suggestions.

Finally, wikipedia has a page full of fascinating lore surrounding the humble Tootsie Pop and rather than quote it directly I encourage you to go check it out for yourself.

=mike=


end rant


Bonus Quixotica
The entire 60-second Tootsie Pop commercial.
(All this "licking" and "biting"... are we sure they're just selling candy?)



Extra Deluxe Confectional Bonus Fabulousness

tootsie pop lovers
Celebrate International Tootsie Pop week here.

Still hungry for real news and analysis? Try our selection of progressive nosh:
DailykosCrooks and LiarsThink ProgressTalking Points Memo

Today's Google Chow.
Duck in Heaven:
"Yea, it seems dumb to me, too, but rules is rules.""