DANDY FUN HOUSE PODCAST

DANDY FUN HOUSE PODCAST

Retro Pop Culture! Toys and Games, Retro Amusements, Arcade Alerts, Theme Parks and More!

  1. COWS IN SPACE Game Unboxing, Assembly and Review!

    FEB 16

    COWS IN SPACE Game Unboxing, Assembly and Review!

    watch the video below   listen to the podcast below Have you ever wanted to mooove through time and space? Well, you’re in the right place because in this episode of the Dandy Fun House, we’re going to unbox, assemble and play and review the game… COWS IN SPACE! Let’s step into the Fun House! Hello and welcome to the Dandy Fun House. I’m your host, Neil Dandy, and this is the place for your favorite retro pop culture, toys and games and all the fun stuff. And today we’re doing toys and games. Toys and games, yeah, yeah, yeah. What do you call it? a toy with a game, a TWAG! That’s what they say in the industry, baby! But first, I want to show you our Dandy Fun house t-shirts! They are woven from 100% heifer fur, and they’re guaranteed to keep you warm on cold nights, or at least lukewarm nights. So yeah, buy one or be square. We cut four holes in them, one to crawl your body into, two to put your arms through, and one to stick your pokey little neck out of. What do you want from me? I’ll tell you what you want from me! You want some of the new designs at the Dandy Fun Shop, that’s right. Like LED ROBSTER, BODY BY DONUTS, and of course, SODIUM SUBSTITUTE LIFE! Just get over to the Dandy Fun Shop today! Okay, COWS IN SPACE! Let’s take a look at it. Groovy box, baby. I’m liking this. All right, you got a couple of kids. They don’t look too young. They look kind of like preteens with grandpa over here. Grandpa looks kind of like me. What the? What’s going on with that? I’m not sure I like that, but anyway, the front, cartoony, colorful. It’s just popping real nice. Yeah, you see the game there. It shows it, and these guys are wearing headbands with flying saucers on it, and it looks like they’re picking up cows, I assume magnetically. And the sides are all the same. They didn’t really go hog wild on that. Nothing on the bottom. Let’s check out the back. Okay, we’ve got slimer aliens here, and they’re showing the game. “Use your magnetic UFO headband to quickly pick up cows from the spinning base.” Oh, the base spins! “It’s the best game in the universe, and out of it! The out of this world head to head race to capture as many cows as possible.” Now, what is it with aliens and cows and crop circles? I don’t get it. Motorized spinning base, we already know that, ages six plus… Two players… Ten plus minutes. How many rules could there possibly be to this thing? Oh, and What Do You Meme Family? So this game, even though it doesn’t really say the manufacturer… oh, it DOES say the manufacturer! I was looking all over for it, and I just now found it, and now it’s too late for me to research the company. Usually, I like to do something about the company that makes it, and apparently the company is, it says “RELATABLE” at the bottom for the brand. Very understatable, but somehow they’re affiliated with What Do You Meme apparently, but What Do You Meme is more of an adult-oriented game, but I think there’s a family version of it as well, to the best of my knowledge. Well, okay, we’ve had a look at the box. Let’s unbox it! UNBOXING I did PRE-slit the tape on it, just so I wouldn’t have to fumble with it. And… okay, there’s not much to see from the top there. Let’s just go ahead and do a big slide out. Oh, and you can see pretty much everything! You slide it out and there’s nothing left in the box, so we’ll just go ahead and lose the box. And this is what we’ve got. We’ve got the game itself, and you got the parts of the magnetic headband. You got the UFOs here. This looks like it’s going to be real simple. This might be a short review today. A “Cows in Space” instruction booklet. How many instructions could there possibly be? We’ll look at these if we have to. I’m thinking we don’t have to. I think this thing’s pretty self-explanatory. You got a bunch of cows in these little bags here, spotted on the top, pink on the bottom. Looks like you got seven in each bag, three bags, that’s 21 cows. And then we have a barn in a bag which apparently clicks right into the middle of the game field. Now I’ll probably never get the box closed again. Thank you very much. Oh, and the headbands! That means I’m going to have to take off my cool cow hat. It does look like the headbands are adjustable. And I guess I really only need one headband. There’s a little notch here, and you just kind of put your flying saucer link in there and kind of shove it down there. And then you adjust your headband and strap it on. It’s a plastic headband. It’s not stretchy or spongy, but that’s good because if it were stretchy, it’d be made out of fabric. And then you’d have everyone’s sweat building up in the fabric, and you’d have to wash it. Since this is plastic, you can just wipe it off and you’re good. So I guess I’ve got to lose the cow hat on my head so I can play this thing. THIS ladies and gentlemen, is why I make the big bucks. Oh, that–oh, wow. That most certainly is uncomfortable. The notch where you attach your springy-springy for the UFO? That digs into your head! And it’s obviously made to curl in this way, so that side’s supposed to be on your head. I’m going to opt for turning this thing around because I don’t think they thought that through very well. I’m going to go in reverse on this headband otherwise, that protrusion is going to dig into my forehead and leave a square dent. All right, how’s this? This is why I do this show. Okay, I need a couple of batteries for this game. My understanding is that this takes two AA batteries, and of course, they put a screw over the battery compartment. Why? Why make this difficult? You could just have a little finger release on there. But fortunately, I have a Leatherman tool right here on my person. I guess the object is to collect more cows than your opponent. And there are some different rules in the rulebook of different ways to play from the little tiny bit of research I did. And these two batteries should be enough to power it for at least a little bit for me to do this review. Oh, the barn is an on-off switch! Well ok! We’re ready to put some cows in our field and see if we can abduct them with our UFO! I don’t really like the term UFO. It’s a pet peeve, and I’ve talked about it on this show before, but… UFO doesn’t really mean an alien spacecraft. It just means that it’s a flying object that hasn’t been identified. Is it time for me to rethink my life choices? Well, without further ado, I believe these cows are ready for abduction. So let’s play some COWS IN SPACE! GAME PLAY One cow abducted. (…) Two cows abducted. I guess it’s a lot harder when you’ve got another person fighting for cows against you. (…) But yeah, this is super easy. (…) Maybe a little too easy.   But it’s just so absolutely absurd, though. This is like the stuff I live for. (Cows Mooing) All right, I’m going to keep going until I’ve got all these cows. And then I’m going to let you know my final thoughts. And I’ve got all 21 cows. Look at this.(…) All right, let’s do the wrap up here. FINAL THOUGHTS ON COWS IN SPACE Okay, COWS IN SPACE. What do I like about this game? What do I not like about this game? Let’s start with what I like about the game. It’s just ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous! Who could not love this thing? I mean, if this isn’t entertainment, I don’t know what is. I love the fun graphics all over the box. I love the whole cow abduction thing. This is just a whole lot of fun. What do I not like about the game? Well, I don’t like the fact that I have to turn the headband inside out in order to use it. You naturally want to put it on with the natural curvature, but I had to put it on in reverse because the thing that you put your sproingy doingy for the UFOs would otherwise dig into the middle of my head. Also, I would have liked for it to have been a little more prominent as to who makes it. I did look on the box and it’s just so understated. I overlooked it and I would have loved to have found out more about this company. But I’ll tell you what, you want to have a good goofy time? Get yourself some COWS IN SPACE! And watch your step! SUPPORT THE DANDY FUN HOUSE! By the way, if you like what we do here and you want to help me buy more stupid games like this, maybe I’ll do COWNADO next. Maybe I’ll do a whole cow theme! Maybe every game I review this year will be cow themed. Anyway, if you like what we do and you want to help me buy more stupid games like this, I encourage you to visit the Dandy Fun House website where you can visit our patronage page and support future productions! Supporters will get exclusive access to bonus features not available to the general public and… Super Supporters will get all that. PLUS, I’ll mail you something really special from right here at the Dandy Fun House Studios. But you got to send me your mailing address if you do that. Podcast Listeners can support through the donation button in their listening app of choice if the app offers it… and your five star reviews anywhere you can leave them always get my undying gratitude. All right. I’m going to play more COWS IN SPACE and we’re going to hit the outro right here at the Dandy Fun House where everything is always FUN AND DANDY! Neil Dandy is the creator of The Dandy Fun House and the alter-ego of Neil Smith, the Big Cheese at Neil Smith Entertainment, follower of Jesus, musician, Emcee, Paratransit Driver and Author. Aren’t you impressed?

    13 min
  2. WHAT'S HOT ON THE HORIZON FOR 2026!

    JAN 1

    WHAT'S HOT ON THE HORIZON FOR 2026!

    watch the video below:   listen to the podcast below: It’s time to close out yet another year of the Dandy Fun House. While all those “other shows” are slacking off and giving you retrospectives of everything they’ve already done in the past year, it is instead our tradition here at the Dandy Fun House to leave the past exactly there… in the past and instead look ahead to the brand spankin’ new year coming at us like Frehley’s Comet and take a glimpse at the coolest stuff we’ve been able to find that’s waiting for us in 2026! We’re going to look at theme parks, movies, pinball and of course the TOTY AWARD NOMINATION picks for the upcoming 2026 Toy of the Year Awards! Are you ready to get your kicks in 26? Then LET’S step into the FUN HOUSE! Hello and welcome to the Dandy Fun House 2025 year-end extravaganza where we wear the hats and blow our hooters about the very best in retro pop culture, toys and games and all the fun stuff! I’m your host Neil Dandy and in this episode we’re going to look ahead at WHAT’S HOT ON THE HORIZON FOR 2026 in the worlds of theme parks, movies, pinball and my personal picks for the 2026 TOTY AWARDS (Toy of the Year). BUT FIRST! I have to show you these amazing DANDY FUN HOUSE T-Shirts before time runs out! Perfect for swaddling the baby new year, They have a front and a back so you don’t get cold and we even cut 4 holes in them! One to crawl your body into, one to stick your head out of and two to poke your arms through! Find them in the Dandy Fun Shop at the Dandy Fun House website at dandyfunhouse.com before the Dandy Ball Drops! Alrighty, hold on tighty and let’s get right into what’s hot on the horizon for 2026 starting with… THEME PARKS! And up first is going to be UNIVERSAL STUDIOS, HOLLYWOOD (which isn’t actually in Hollywood, it’s in Studio City kind of like the LA Angels baseball team is actually in Anaheim and how they call the Embassy Suites here in Murfreesboro, Tennessee “Nashville South” which we absolutely are not. But anyway that’s a rabbit hole rant for another day.) Anyway, UNIVERSAL STUDIOS in the greater Los Angeles, California area is breaking ground on a new roller coaster where each individual car experiences its very own 360 degrees of rotation. The coaster is called FAST AND FURIOUS HOLLYWOOD DRIFT themed after the Fast and Furious movies obviously. This one is expected to peel out in 2026! And Legoland California is busy building the Lego Galaxy space-themed land including an indoor roller coaster. Over at Kings Island in Ohio they’re opening what they are calling a new “dark ride” in 2026 called “PHANTOM THEATER: Opening Nightmare.” It’s in the location that has most recently held an attraction called Boo Blasters but is apparently the site of a previous attraction also called PHANTOM THEATER and this is apparently the return of that attraction with some various upgrades. I went to the Kings Island website to get more information and there’s just a teaser video showing two girls walking into Boo Blasters and ending up in the Phantom Theater which appears to be a very loose sendup on the Phantom of the Opera. The cartoon phantom character they show in the teaser graphic is obviously based on the classic Lon Chaney silent film character, and visitors ride inside cars that resemble opera boxes. So… yeah. Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee (my neck of the woods kinda sorta) will be undertaking a $50 million expansion and also opening the world’s first ever hybrid indoor family coaster and whitewater river raft ride called the “Night Flight Expedition.” Then under at Sea World, Orlando Florida they’re diving into a new dark ride called SEAQuest: Legends of the Deep. If you don’t know what a dark ride is, it basically means it’s indoors and you get moved from scene to scene. It doesn’t necessarily mean it’s actually dark. Anyway, this new dark ride at Sea World Orlando will be what they are calling a suspended dark ride. The only information about this ride currently is that the rider will “discover dazzling ecosystems, legendary sea life, and breathtaking stories of resilience and wonder.” NEW MOBILITY DEVICE POLICY AT SEA WORLD! And speaking of Sea World, they have a controversial new policy which has been making the news lately that has just rolled out regarding mobility devices for the disabled. It appears that rollator walkers with seats are no longer permitted. The official updated policy from the Sea World website is as follows: “For the safety of our guests and employees, rollator walkers with seats on them are not permitted at SeaWorld Orlando. Alternative personal transportation options, including standard wheelchairs and Electric Convenience Vehicles (ECVs), are available. Walkers without a seat are permitted.” I’m guessing that more than a few guests were using their rollators like wheelchairs and it was causing some sort of safety concern in the parks. As someone who transports disabled people as my profession and handles mobility devices all day long, I can tell you from personal experience that a wheelchair itself is something you need to exercise caution with while pushing someone around. A rollator walker would be very, very easy to tip over if someone were attempting to use it as a wheelchair. So while I am disappointed at the inconvenience some disabled guests are going to face with this new policy, I want to be very careful not to demonize Sea World too quickly on this new policy. Guests can still borrow suitable mobility devices from guest services. Ok, time to work our flippers over to the world of PINBALL! Here are the rumored pinball releases expected in 2026 that caught my eye during the research for this episode. Please keep in mind these are only rumors… AMERICAN PINBALL is rumored to be releasing a CUPHEAD pinball machine in 2026 based on the wildly popular video game featuring some amazing vintage animation styles. I’ll admit I’m not familiar with the character or the video game but I do love this vintage cartoon style! SPOOKY PINBALL is said to be working on a MOTORHEAD pinball machine for 2026. NO offense to guitarist Wurzel or drummer Mickey Dee (now playing with the Scorpions) who were crucial to keeping the band going in its later years, but I’m really hoping it honors the original lineup of Lemmy, Philthy Phil and Fast Eddie! BARRELS OF FUN PINBALL appears to be cooking up some GOONIES pinball for the new year! RAMPS PINBALL will be coming out with LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS! Oh please let the carnivorous plant eat the ball! And last but not least in our pinball 2026 rumours we have PINBALL ADVENTURES bringing us SUSHI MADNESS! Ni Ohashi Kudasai ! And if you’re REALLY a pinball nut as we know you are, you’ll want to put March 20th through the 22nd on your calendar because that’s when Frisco, Texas braces itself for the annual TEXAS PINBALL FESTIVAL! Over 440 games. One incredible weekend! The website says tickets go on sale October 4th 2026. I have to imagine that’s a typo and they really mean 2025 otherwise only those with the ability for reverse time travel will be able to attend. There will be tournaments and challenges, special guests and panels, exhibitors, parts, memorabilia, new games and there will be a special tech day for those trying to upgrade and/or fix their own machines. That’s the TEXAS PINBALL FESTIVAL 2026! Rope you a ticket today! Yeehaw! Alright, I think we’re ready to “steer” away from pinball and “drive” this herd into… MOVIES! First I’ll start with letting you know a few of my favorite movies of 2025 before we get into what’s ahead for 2026: JURASSIC WORLD REBIRTH: Ok, it was pretty much par for the course but it had Scarlett Johansson carrying the entire movie on her shoulders alone and she pulled it off amazingly! MICKEY 17: This is a movie about a guy who signs on to do very dangerous grunt work in space for a corporation and every time he gets killed, the company just prints out a new copy of him with all his same memories. The crux is that the new copy never knows if he’s actually the person being reborn every time or if he really dies and the new copy just has his memories and merely thinks he’s the same person. Weird stuff. THE FANTASTIC FOUR: FIRST STEPS – After many fantastic fails at trying to make this work on the big screen, they finally got the Fantastic Four right! The retro future vibe was spot on and all the actors were perfect! SUPERMAN: I was really upset about losing Henry Cavill as Superman, but James Gunn came back with a fresh new fun feel on this one starring David Corenswet, even bringing in Supe’s dog Krypto! This movie was just a great time! More please! THE SMASHING MACHINE: Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson in a dramatic role co-starring Emily Blunt. It’s the story of Mixed Martial arts and UFC Champion Mark Kerr and how he conquered his biggest opponent: addiction. And finally in my roundup of my favorite movies of 2025 I bring you… BUGONIA! This movie was a crazy trip with some really wild twists and many moments of pure cringe and I loved it! Starring Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons who seems to be showing up in everything lately! It’s a story about two conspiracy nuts who kidnap a corporate CEO thinking she’s a space alien trying to destroy the Earth. This was easily my biggest delightful surprise of 2025. But before we get to 2026, I’d like to give a special nod to TRON: ARES because I always expect anything starring Jared Leto to suck eggs and this did not! And SPINAL TAP II: The End Continues… Rest in peace Marty DiBergi. MOVIES I’M LOOKING FORWARD TO IN 2026! THE ODYSSEY Expected Jul 17, 2026: After the Trojan War, Odysseus faces a dangerous voyage back to Ithaca, meeting creatures like the Cyclops Polyphemus, Sirens, and Circe along t

    34 min
  3. DANDY SPOOK SHACK HALLOWEEN SPECIAL 2025!

    10/25/2025

    DANDY SPOOK SHACK HALLOWEEN SPECIAL 2025!

    watch video below!   listen to the podcast below! It’s scary season once again which means it’s time for the Dandy Spook Shack Halloween Special! This year we’re haunting the Spirit Store to see what’s new. We’ll also have a look at the new MUPPETIZED Monster Cereals with one very conspicuous absence and I will share my favorite fright flicks of 2025 along with what’s hot on the horizon! It’s alive! Halloween 2025! Let’s step into the SPOOK SHACK!  Hello and welcome to the DANDY SPOOK SHACK annual Halloween special! 2025! I’m your ghost, Necro Neil Dandy and in this season’s spooktacular, we’ll be visiting the Spirit Store to see what’s new this ghoul year. We’ll also talk about the most notable scary movies of 2025 thus far and the ones to watch out for on the creepy horizon. And last but not least, we’ll feast!… Our eyes upon the new box designs for the classic Monster Cereals by Jim Henson Studios with one very notable character that has apparently been given the deathly cold shoulder!  BUT FIRST! I’d like you to drink in these frighteningly fashionable DANDY FUN HOUSE t-shirts!  Woven from the threads of my dungeon spiders, you’re going to look drop dead fabulous. They come with fronts AND backs because nobody should be backless walking through the chill of a nighttime graveyard alone don’t you agree? Want to abscond with one for yourself? Simply visit the Dandy Fun Shop at the official Dandy Fun House website at dandyfunhouse.com and orders yours this evening. And if you’re watching closely watching on YouTube, we have a miniature Dandy Fun Shop set up there as well! Absurdity is Amplified at the Dandy Fun Shop!  Ok, let us begin with a visit to the Spirit Halloween store to see what’s freshly alive for 2025! SPIRIT STORE 2025 We visited the Spirit Store in Nashville’s Opry Mills where the legendary theme park Opryland used to stand… but that’s a story for another time. We wanted to see what was new for Halloween 2025 and we were not disappointed. As we entered, we noticed the centerpiece for this year was haunted subway system. Very original. Of course it was monster rat infested which was quite a shock to the conductor. Once we escaped the train we took in a little animatronic target practice on a decapitated clown. Mama’s not gonna like this! Scary clowns seem to be a thing this year. Moving on from the animatronics, we find an assortment of un-welcome mats for the front door including the Bates Motel complete with bloody footprints, Mars Attacks, with Killer Klowns and Pennywise keeping the clown theme alive. M3gan seems to still be holding her own with the young ladies (you know it’s the dance)! And for the little ones we have the cutesy line of dolls known as Tiny Terrors with adorable baby versions of Chucky, Frankenstein’s little monster and Little Mikey Meyers. Moving on to more costumes we find many food items like pizza and ramen which is about all you’ll be able to afford after blowing your paycheck in this place, hard tea and you can also make yourself a few fries short of a happy meal dress as a pack of french fries. For the couples you can be chips and salsa, plug and socket, peanut butter and jelly or milk and cookie Awww! There’s also a great assortment of inflatable costumes like the inflatable banana, penguin, alien abduction, blow up chicken, big rubber chicken so you can throw yourself at Svengoolie, chicken abduction and giant balloon animal! Also I didn’t realize that Spongebob was still so popular but there’s an entire wall with every sort of Spongebob Squarepants character you can imagine and you can even buy your own supersized spatula perfect for flipping your crabby pattys and also for scraping your carcass out the door and back into the mall once your cash has all run dry in the Spirit Store 2025! Ya know, every year I always wonder just how the Spirit Store is going to top itself from the previous year and they always do. The animatronics get better, the products overall get better and there’s always something new like for example, I don’t recall seeing the Terror Tots before this year and I just thought making those iconic movie monsters into cute dolls was just a really neat idea. And speaking of movie monsters, I think it’s time we have a look over…    THE MOST NOTABLE SCARY MOVIES OF 2025! Ok, now why am I calling this the most NOTABLE scary movies of 2025 instead of my favorites? Quite honestly it’s because, while I have seen my fair share of them, I haven’t seen them all. There’s just too many and when it comes to certain types of scary movies like vampires, zombies and themes that have really been beaten into the ground, it’s tough to motivate me to go see a show about a type of monster I have already seen a thousand times before. Therefore I’m going to do a rundown of the notable ones that stand out to me whether I’ve seen them or not and also give you my thoughts on the ones I have seen, then at the end I’ll let you know which upcoming scary movies I’m looking forward to in 2026! Sound good? Alright, let’s get started! SINNERS: I have not seen this one but it tops Rotten Tomatoes as the number one scary movie of 2025 and stars Michael B Jordan. It’s set in 1932 and revolves around a pair of criminal brothers who return to their hometown and find themselves confronted by a supernatural evil which turns out to be vampires. I’m sorry but I’m sick of vampire movies. I’m sick of zombie movies. I like the fact that it’s set in 1932 and has a great lead actor but come on, let’s do something more original here.  COMPANION: Ok, I haven’t seen this one either but after reading the synopsis, I’m intrigued and thinking I need to pull this one up at home and give it a watch! Companion is a science fiction thriller about a couple, Iris and Josh, who go on a weekend getaway with friends to a remote cabin. The trip spirals into chaos when Iris discovers she is a companion robot controlled by Josh, leading to a series of violent and shocking events as she fights for her autonomy! I like it! WEAPONS: I did see this one and I must say, it was pretty good! It’s about an entire elementary school classroom that goes missing except for one child. It’s an investigative part thriller , part horror movie involving witchcraft. The ending is fantastic and fantastically hilarious dark comedy.  28 YEARS LATER: I did not see this one mainly because it’s a sequel of a sequel of a sequel and I’m just over it, not to mention it’s just another zombie flick. The only reason I’m mentioning it here is because it has been a very successful franchise thus far so it is actually notable. I just have no interest in it at all.  THE LONG WALK: This is one that has been recently in the theatres and has a somewhat original plot in that there’s this group of people being forced to walk no slower than 3 miles per hour and whomever is the last one remaining is the only one who is allowed to live. Ok, it’s original. It’s just not interesting, at least not to me. I live near the historic trail of tears. You want to make a horror movie about people being walked to death? Make a movie about that because it actually happened! LONGLEGS: I saw this one which co-stars Nicolas Cage and revolves around an FBI investigation which turns up some very disturbing occult happenings. Nic Cage turned in an amazing performance as if one would expect anything less. By the way, if you’re wondering why Nic Cage has been turning up in a million oddball B-Movies as of late, it’s because he supposedly racked up a mountain of debts from living like… Nic Cage and he decided that instead of declaring bankruptcy that he would pull himself out of the red by taking on every oddball role he’s offered until he gets his finances back in the black. I for one am hoping he never gets his finances back in order because I am thoroughly enjoying all these whacked out mini productions he keeps popping up in! A QUIET PLACE DAY ONE: I saw this one and thought it was fantastic! If you’re familiar with the Quiet Place series of movies then you already know that Earth was invaded by blind aliens who hunt by sonar. SO if you want to live, you have to stay completely silent. There’s a terminally ill woman with a kitty cat and all she wants is to get across town for a slice of her favorite pizza before her time runs out, when the alien invasion happens. Along the way, she happens to team up with a young businessman who decides in the midst of sheer hell on earth, that he’s going to help this woman get her dying wish of achieving her favorite slice of pizza. I’d have to say, this was easily my favorite scary movie of 2025 even if it was the third installment of a sequel. Great original story line and fantastic acting.  SMILE 2: I’ll just say it, I didn’t care for the original so I didn’t bother with this one.  NOSFERATU: This historically was the silent film that Dracula was derived from and has many, many similarities. The only big name actor here is Willem Dafoe and he is mainly relegated to a supporting role. I suppose it’s neat in that they brought the original vampire movie to life for modern audiences, but my opinion is that they got the story polished and perfected with Dracula and while I can respect what they’ve done here, it’s just not really needed.  ABIGAIL: A little kid vampire who likes to toy with her victims. Once again, I’m sick of vampire movies so I didn’t subject myself to this.  ALIEN: ROMULUS: I saw this one. It was the same ol same ol. A bunch of people in space encounter the aliens. A bunch of them die and a couple of them make it out alive.  ARCADIAN: Here’s another one of those Nic Cage clawing out of debt movies! I saw it and it was decent. In a post-pandemic world a si

    20 min
  4. WILD WORLD OF WHAM-O!

    09/22/2025

    WILD WORLD OF WHAM-O!

    watch the video below!   listen to the podcast below!                                                                       Hula Hoop. Slip n Slide. Frisbee. Super Ball. What do these names mean to you? To many, these are just the names of some fun toys from years gone by. But to others, these names all culminate into just one… WHAM-O! And in this episode of the Dandy Fun House, we’re going to tell their story, have a deeper look into some of their most iconic products and discover what’s on the horizon for this epic company! Bam-O Slam-O let’s dig into WHAM-O! And let’s step into the FUN HOUSE!  Hello and welcome to the Dandy Fun House Video Show, Podcast and Blog! This is where we slam right into the very best in retro pop culture, toys and games and all the fun stuff. I’m your host Neil Dandy and in this episode, we’re going head first into the world of Wham-O!    But first! I want to stick your head into one of these slammin’ Dandy Fun House t-shirts!  Woven from the leftover strands of recycled superballs, you’re gonna look like a million bouncin’ bucks or no money back! They’ve got a front and a back because winter’s on the way and we very thoughtfully cut four very strategically – placed holes in em! That’s right! One to crawl your body into, one to stick your head out of and two to poke your arms through! How much would you pay for luxury like this? It really doesn’t matter because we’re not changing our price! Just head over to our Dandy Fun Shop located inside the Dandy Fun House website at dandyfunhouse.com and see for yourself! And if you enjoy this show on YouTube, we have a miniature Dandy Fun Shop set up there too! That’s the Dandy Fun Shop where we have Absurdity Amplified!  OKAY! WHAM-O! Where do I even begin with an enigma like this? Wham-O is THE toy and sports product company responsible for such instantly-recognizable products such as Frisbee, Slip ‘N Slide, Hula Hoop, Hacky Sack, Super Ball, Boogie Board, Trac-Ball, Silly String and many, many more! You might think of Wham-O as a classic novelty company from the 70s and 80s but their history actually goes back farther than that. MUCH FARTHER!!!!! The year is 1948 and two eager upstarts freshly graduated from the University of Southern California named Richard Knerr and Arthur “Spud” Melin who were friends found themselves frustrated with their post-grad occupations and decided to team up and start of all things a business making extra-powerful slingshots out of Richard’s garage. Why slingshots you ask? Both being falconry enthusiasts, they would use slingshots to shoot food up into the air for their birds. They called their line of slingshots the WHAM-O Slingshot and it was made from ash wood. They promoted and sold the Wham-O Slingshot  by visiting various sports clubs and holding demonstrations. Both men were very skilled slingshot marksmen and their product quickly popular amongst these clubs for competitive target shooting and small game hunting.  DANDY FUN FACT! The name Wham-O was derived from the sound of a slingshot hitting its target! Knerr and Melin quickly outgrew the garage and rented their first proper business location on S. Marengo Avenue in Alhambra, California where they remained until 1955 when they once again found themselves in need of a location that could handle and even greater capacity of manufacturing. So they relocated to the neighboring town of San Gabriel, California where they would remain for the next 3+ decades. With a greater capacity for manufacturing in place, they began looking to expand beyond the business of slingshot-making and came across the idea of re-branding the Australian bamboo exercise hoop, producing them from a type of plastic called Marlex and trademarking the name these hoops had been loosely called by since the 18th century “Hula Hoop.” And the rest is history. Within 4 months of releasing the Hula Hoop onto the world it became literally the largest toy fad in history, catapulting Wham-O to 25 million units sold. Within 2 years, sales of the Hula Hoop would exceed 100 million units. Hula Hoop mania continued to rage through the end of 1959 and by the time the world stopped spinning, the 1950’s came to a conclusion with Wham-O netting a staggering $45 million (which would be around $500 million today). These two college friends who just a few years earlier were making slingshots out of a garage found themselves riding into the 60’s on a gravy train with biscuit freaking wheels! Not ones to rest on their laurels, as the Hula Hoop fad was beginning to wane, Wham-O was looking for their next big thing and they found it in 1957 when they purchased the design of a plastic flying disc called the Pluto Platter from an inventor named Fred Morrison, quickly changed the name to Frisbee And once again, Wham-O had another hit on its hands! ANOTHER DANDY FUN FACT! The name Frisbee was adopted by Wham-O after learning that this was the name students were using for the Pluto Platter on the east coast in a reference to pie tins from the Frisbie Pie Tin company which the Pluto Platter closely resembled in shape.  ANOTHER ANOTHER DANDY FUN FACT! As the Hula Hoop fad waned and the Frisbee literally took off, Wham-O found itself with warehouses full of unsold Hula Hoops. So what did they do? They melted them down and made Frisbees! They were recycling before recycling was cool! Wham-O also released some rather questionable products around this time which would probably never even be considered for production and marketing to kids today. We’re talking about such products as the Apache Throwing Tomahawk “An Ancient Indian Weapon For Killing Game.” The Borneo Hunting Blowgun “Kills Without Poison” and the Throwing Dagger “A Powerful, Silent Weapon that can split a 1” board from a distance of 30 feet!” In 1961, Wham-O released the Slip ‘N’ Slide which was invented by an upholsterer. The Slip N Slide as we all know is a long sheet of plastic which gets lubricated by water from a garden hose and then you run, jump and slide onto it and get hurled into the patio furniture and bird baths. Here in the South where I live, you actually haven’t lived until you’ve almost lost your life at a Summer party experiencing a redneck slip n slide which is basically a long sheet of industrial plastic, usually what they install as a moisture barrier underneath homes, run it down a hill, throw the hose on it and then a bunch of suicidal idiots take turns injuring themselves on it or they don’t take turns and just injure themselves enmasse. It’s really quite a spectacle. Almost as interesting as Cat-Fisting! The Slip N Slide was indeed taken out of production once lawsuits started springing up over serious injuries including one death and two broken necks over people above the recommended age the product was intended for using it in very unsafe manners. Yes, idiots ruin everything! As the 60’s further took hold Wham-O released yet another smash hit  in 1965 called Superball which was a high-bouncing ball created by a chemical engineer supposedly by accident from a hard elastomer polybutadiene alloy called Zectron. This elastomer alloy held a very interesting trait whereas it held a 0.92 coefficient of restitution when bounced on a hard surface. Basically it could bounce really, REALLY high! The Superball became wildly popular, sold 20 million units throughout the 60s. In fact, the Superball became so popular that the NFL renamed it’s championship game, the Super Bowl after the Wham-O Superball! ANOTHER DANDY FUN FACT! A bowling ball-sized Wham-O Superball was once accidentally dropped from 23 stories high during a demonstration where after hitting the ground, it bounced back up an amazing 15 stories! That’s a lotta bounce! It unfortunately also landed on someone’s sportscar parked below. No word on who was made to pay the damages.  Now while they had quite a few successes, as we all know, success is the result of a series of failures and boy did Wham-O have some failures! And none of them failed bigger than INSTANT FISH! It was the early 1960s and Wham-O founder Arthur “Spud” Melin was on an African Safari where he learned of a special fish that would lay it’s eggs in mud during the dry season and when the rains eventually came, the fish would hatch overnight. Arthur had the brilliant idea to turn this into a Wham-O product consisting of an aquarium tank with fish eggs and mud. The product flopped miserably and the only one ending up in the mud was Mr. Melin. And they never let him out again. Another Whamtastic flop would be the EGG RAKE which was designed to help a person sift out small pieces of eggshell from a cracked egg. I can’t imagine why the fabulous egg rake didn’t rake off! Just kidding. Wham-O’s marketing strategy was simple: Maintain a handful of basic, inexpensive products like the Frisbee, Super Ball and Hula Hoop while developing new products for trial runs. Retire the products as they wane in popularity. But since the products were simple and fairly inexpensive they could be carried almost anywhere from big fancy departments stores to small mom and pop shops. And this was a huge key to their success! As the 70’s disco’d onto the scene, Wham-O stayed true to it’s core with such products as Silly String, Super Elastic Bubble Plastic, Magic WIndow and Trac-Ball which was a lot of fun. Trac-Ball was and still is a racket game where the players each have an oversized scoop-shaped racket with a plastic basket of sorts built into it and a trac with small teeth on it. As you use your racket to throw the ball, the track puts an excessive amount of spin on it which causes the ball to travel in a crazy curve.  As Wham-O wound up in the 80’s, it released the Roller Racer and introduced Ma

    17 min
  5. JURASSIC WORLD REBIRTH MOVIE REVIEW and RAVENOUS RAPTORS GAME REVIEW!

    07/19/2025

    JURASSIC WORLD REBIRTH MOVIE REVIEW and RAVENOUS RAPTORS GAME REVIEW!

    watch the video below!   listen to the podcast below! Death, Taxes and new Jurassic Park movies. 3 things that apparently are certain to continue forever. In this episode of the Dandy Fun House, I’ll be giving my thoughts after seeing the new Jurassic World Rebirth movie starring Scarlett Johansen while I simultaneously unbox, assemble and review the Jurassic World version of Hungry Hungry Hippos where the hippos are replaced with Velociraptors entitled RAVENOUS RAPTORS! That’s right! It’s all things Jurassic today! Let’s step into the Fun House! Hello and welcome to the Dandy Fun House where we get all archeological on retro pop culture, toys and games and all the fun stuff! I’m your host Neil Dandy and today we’re doing something special: It’s a movie review intertwined with a game unboxing, assembly and review! And there will be some Dandy Fun Facts along the way… BUT FIRST! How about we DIG on these Dandy Fun House t-shirts! Woven from 100 percent fake dinosaur hair, you’ll not only feel extra toothy but JURASSIC gonna look great! And you’ll help put my kid through community college. Want one? Just head over to dandyfunhouse.com where you’ll find the Dandy Fun Shop with tons of other absurd designs because the Dandy Fun Shop has ABSURDITY AMPLIFIED! Oh and FYI – there’s also a mini Dandy Fun Shop on our YouTube channel if that’s where you like to enjoy the show. That works too! OK, let’s start with the new movie (at the time of producing this episode) JURASSIC WORLD – REBIRTH! Starring Scarlett Johanssen whom I must say is still in absolutely incredible shape. Not only that but she’s also a great actress which is important when your profession is acting I suppose. Unfortunately she is THE ONLY big name actor listed. I won’t give any spoilers about whether there are or are not any special cameos that one might expect but Scarlett is indeed the only A-list actor being promoted. But honestly, when you have Scarlett Johansen, do you really need anyone else? Let me know your thoughts. I will give away the very first line of the entire movie however and this will be the only real spoiler I’ll share so cover your eyes and ears unless you’re driving. The very first line of dialogue in the entire movie is someone saying and I quote: “How many times are we going to keep doing this?” Which I thought was hilarious seeing how this is what the 5th or 6th sequel of the franchise??? It was like they uncovered the wooly mammoth in the middle of the room right off the bat and I respect them for that! We’ll dive into the movie some more as we go along but let’s go ahead and start having a look at this game of RAVENOUS RAPTORS. I usually like to a littly blurb about whomever produces the games I review on this show but in this case, there is no toy or game company listed, just the JURASSIC WORLD branding. So I guess we’re skipping our history of the manufacturer for this one. Looking over the box, the front has cartoon velociraptors from the movie looking sort of Saturday morning breakfast cereal looking. They’re sort of smiling which raptors never do. But whatever. Looking at the little picture of the game on the front, it’s obviously a version of the classic HUNGRY HUNGRY HIPPOS game but honestly in the picture, the raptors look more like alligators to me. It’s like they made an alligator farm version of the game, scrapped the idea and repurposed the molds for this. It also shows the Jurassic World logo in the center of the game field which is nice touch as well as some metallic fencing reminiscent of the habitats from the movie. On the back, there’s a picture of a couple of older kids playing it and very oddly they are both sitting on the exact same side of the table. I mean there’s not much more to say here since it’s really just a retooled version of HUNGRY HUNGRY HIPPOS, but there is a QR code on the box that takes you to a video on how to build and play the game. I find that also very thoughtful. Now upon clicking the QR code it takes you to a 1:08 YouTube video on the ToyMonster channel, (so now we know who makes it) which very concisely explains how to do exactly what it says. It shows you how to unpackage, prepare the pieces, how to set it all up (which appears much simpler than when I reviewed Hungry Hungry Hippos) and even the added bonus of how to properly pack the game up when you’re all through. That last one is something I NEVER see a game manufacturer pay any attention to. It’s so frustrating to set up and play a game and then you can never get it back in the box. THAT is amazingly helpful. THANK YOU TOY MONSTER! JURASSIC FUN FACT! in Jurassic Park, the Lost World, the Japanese tourists running from T-Rex in San Diego are saying in Japanese, “I left Japan to get away from this!” An obvious hat tip to Godzilla. Ok, back to the movie. Product placement? Yep! Lots of it. Mainly Snickers and Altoids. In fact, a littered Snickers wrapper actually causes a person’s death! UNBOXING RAVENOUS RAPTORS! I’m gonna pop the tape on this. Doesn’t look too complicated. I will tuck the little adhesive thing. And hopefully there’s no more tape binding us. Good, good, good. And not much to see once you open the actual box. So we’ll just start pulling things out and showing stuff. So I’m gonna go ahead and toss the box, because that’s what we do. And hopefully not have to look at any instructions. The video that explained it all looked pretty simple. Okay, so we’ve got the game field here, and it’s got the little Jurassic dinosaur logo right there, which I like a whole lot. The Velociraptors and the ball pits, they’re all one piece, which is really super nice. They’ve made it very convenient to set up.(…) We’ve got four Velociraptors here. They’ve all got names. I don’t really care what their names are. If you wanna look them up, you can. Here’s the fences for it. And then we got the balls. I think this is gonna go fast. VELOCIRAPTOR NAMES: Well, let’s go ahead and figure out what their names are. Okay, as long as we’re here, Delta, Charlie, Blue and Echo. So Delta is the teal one. Well, let’s get them out of their packages and we’ll identify them from there. You do have to kind of stretch the neck out.(…) You have to kind of stretch the neck off there. There it goes. And then you snap it in. And I think that’s all there is to it. Here we go like that. Oh, okay, okay, okay. The front of it snaps in, okay. That nice and easy. Okay, I like it. I like it. They snap very, very easily into place. I think we’re gonna be up and playing in no time at all. This isn’t gonna take millions of years or anything. Okay, bag for the fence pieces. Okay, it’s not sealed, but it is taped, which is as good as sealed, which means I gotta bust it open. I don’t care. We’re just gonna toss it all back in the box when we’re done anyway. Four fence pieces and I think we’re ready to play. I think it’s just that easy, folks. Ravenous Raptors. And I think we’re gonna raptor this thing up pretty quickly, to be honest with you. Dump the balls in the middle and raptor away. And it works like a Jurassic charm. And of course, there’s different ways to play. And that’s it. That’s the whole game. I just played an entire game of Ravenous Raptors. What do you want from me? ANOTHER JURASSIC FUN FACT? Okay, you got it. Velociraptors, they were real, but they were smaller feathered dinosaurs, closer to the size of a turkey or a wolf. And they resembled nothing close to what’s depicted in the Jurassic movies. Ok, back to the movie again! The visuals are amazing as they always are in these movies. The script is also very formulaic and predictable. You have your corporate sleazebag who doesn’t care about anyone but himself. And if you’re one of those people who like to predict who is going to die in a movie, I promise you’ll be 100 percent correct throughout this entire flick. Literally every single character I thought would die absolutely did. It also has a bigger, badder apex predator dinosaur which you don’t see much of until the climax. It’s a great popcorn movie if you don’t take it too seriously. If you’ve seen one Jurassic movie, you’ve seen them all, just not with Scarlett Johanssen. Did I mention she’s fantastic!? Predictable, formulaic script. It’s really just a Summer spectacle popcorn movie and if you come at it from that angle, it delivers! As far as the game of RAVENOUS RAPTORS goes, I’ve already review the classic Hippos game and this is just a repackaging. The classic is a classic for a reason. It’s lots of fun and if you’re a fan of the whole Jurassic movie thing, this is just icing on the cake. ToyMonster took some of those extra little steps with the QR code and the very simple video for assembly, game play and I really like the instructions on how to put it away. I’m disappointed that ToyMonster got no love at all on the packaging. They deserve it. Also the raptors look more like gators to me but I guess there’s a practicality at hand where the functionality comes into play. Mainly the fact that they have to be able to successfully grab the game balls. Overall, I think they did a wonderful job with the whole thing and for that reason, I’m giving high marks to the game as well. Both the movie and the game are worth your hard-earned money in my opinion. SUPPORT FUTURE PRODUCTIONS OF THE DANDY FUN HOUSE! And speaking of hard-earned money: If you feel we have earned your patronage today, please PAY a visit to our website at www.dandyfunhouse.com where you’ll indeed find our Patronage Page where you can support the production of future episodes of the Dandy Fun House because Community College ain’t entirely free! You still have to buy pens and pencils and stuff. Supporters gain access to exclusive bonus f

  6. Top Ten Weirdest Roadside Attractions In America!

    06/01/2025

    Top Ten Weirdest Roadside Attractions In America!

    watch the video below! listen to the podcast below!  America the beautiful! Home of the brave! Home of the free! And most certainly Home of the weird! With summer on the way (at least at the time of this production), gas prices going down and Summer break on the horizon, we can expect road trippers to be loading up the ol Winnebago and rolling across the country in record numbers! And they’re gonna have to make at least a few stops along the way! Some of these stops will be mundane. Others, not so much. And others yet… downright weird! Therefore, we find it prudent to dedicate THIS episode of the Dandy Fun House to counting down the Top Ten Weirdest Roadside Attractions in America! Let’s step into the FUN HOUSE!  Hello and welcome to the Dandy Fun House Video Show, Podcast and Blog! I’m your host Neil Dandy and this is where we seek the strangest retro pop culture, toys and games and all the fun stuff you can whack yourself out on!  In this episode, we’ll be counting down the Top Ten WEIRDEST ROADSIDE ATTRACTIONS IN AMERICA!  But first! Bend your bean brain around these abnormal DANDY FUN HOUSE T SHIRTS! Specially woven from beard trimmings, we promise you’ll look amazing! But that’s not all! We’ve even cut 4 “special holes” in them for added entertainment. 1 to crawl your body into, 1 to poke your head out of and two to stick your arms through! Want one? Just head over to www.dandyfunhouse.com to get yours or if you’re watching on YouTube, we have a mini fun shop set up there too!  10: WORLD’S LARGEST BALL OF TWINE, Cawker City, Kansas This one grabbed my attention because I’ve always loved the song by Weird Al Yankovic, Biggest Ball of Twine In Minnesota. So naturally I assumed that the world’s largest ball of twine would indeed be in Minnesota, but… no. Apparently it’s just the biggest ball of twine in the STATE of Minnesota because the actual World’s Largest Ball of Twine resides in Cawker City, Kansas! The full and proper name would be the World Largest Ball of Sisal Twine which was started by a man named Frank Stoeber in 1953. After dedicating 4 years of his life to enlarging this twine ball, he got it up to 5000 lbs and a height of 8 ft! Once a year in August the residents of Cawker City get together and have a Twine-A-Thon where everybody adds more to the ball. So it gets bigger every year! The World’s Largest Ball of Twine currently weighs in at over 27,000 lbs! 9: BIG IDAHO POTATO HOTEL, Boise, Idaho This is exactly what it sounds like. A giant potato in Boise, Idaho that you can book as a hotel room. What!? Why? How!? I have so many questions! It’s 6 tons of steel, plaster and concrete placed in the middle of 400 acres of farmland with a custom-built queen-sized bed and a small seating area inside and air conditioning! The restroom and shower are in a nearby converted grain silo however.  But why? Well… in 2012 the Idaho Potato Commission COMMISSIONED it’s construction as it’s main attraction for the 75th anniversary of the founding of the Idaho Potato Commision. It then traveled the country on the back of a large truck for 7 years spreading the gospel of the Idaho Potato for all of America to hear and see! Upon the end of it’s 7 year journey, Potato Commission employee and tiny home builder Kristie Wolfe took charge of the large spud and put it to good use in the middle of some prime Idaho farmland, transforming it into a destination accommodation that spud lovers from near and far come to drift away to starchy dreamland in.  8: WORLD’S LARGEST CEDAR BUCKET, Murfreesboro, Tennessee Ok, this one is in MY hometown of Murfreesboro, Tennessee! Home of the Dandy Fun House Studios! The World’s Largest Cedar Bucket lives in a quaint recreation of a pioneer town known as Cannonsburgh Village.  The one currently on display is actually a replica of the original which was built in 1887 by the Tennessee Red Cedar Woodworks Company which was the only company in America making cedar buckets at the time. It was created over the course of an entire year as a promotional attraction for the company who took it on tour to fairs around the country winning a blue ribbon at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair as well as the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair who filled it with beer as one might expect in St. Louis. 1,566 gallons of it in fact.  In 1950, a man named Charles White purchased the bucket at an auction and later donated it to Cannonsburgh Village in Murfreesboro, Tennessee in 1976. The bucket was partially destroyed in 2005 due to a fire but was lovingly crafted back to life by the Rutherford County Blacksmith Association and rededicated back to Cannonsburgh Village in 2011. DANDY FUN FACT! Did you know that Murfreesboro, Tennessee is the exact geographical center of the state!? We have an obelisk that says so! (an obelisk is basically a tall, pointy pile of rocks erected to signify something of perceived importance) 7: FUTURE BIRTHPLACE OF CAPTAIN JAMES T. KIRK, Riverside, Iowa True Trekkies know that in the original series, Captain James T. Kirk’s birthday is March 22nd, 2228 in the town of Riverside, Iowa. In the year 1985, a local Star Trek fanatic in town suggested to the city council that they erect a proper memorial in the Captain’s honor. The council agreed and it’s been a destination for Trekkies worldwide ever since! 6: CORN PALACE, Mitchell, South Dakota The Corn Palace is a multi-purpose facility and event arena located in the lovely city of Mitchell, South Dakota. While that isn’t exactly anything very impressive, the fact that the entire building is completely covered in “crop art” meaning all the designs and artwork are made from corn, various grains and other decomposable organic materials very much IS! Because the architectural designs and external artwork is continually breaking down, an entirely new design is created each and every year making the Corn Palace almost an actual living, breathing event venue! Over 500,000 people visit it each year to behold it’s corniness and the town of Mitchell celebrates it’s biggest attraction with the Corn Palace Festival during harvest time.  5: MYSTERY SPOT, Santa Cruz, CA According to the Mystery Spot’s website at mysteryspot.com “The Mystery Spot is a gravitational anomaly located in the redwood forests just outside of Santa Cruz, California. It is a circular area of effect around 150 feet or 46 meters in diameter. Within the Mystery Spot you will be stunned as your perceptions of the laws of physics and gravity are questioned.” Discovered in 1939 by a group of surveyors and opened to the public in 1940, what it actually IS is a gravity hill, tilt-induced visual illusion resulting from a tilted environment. This causes misperceptions of the height and orientation of objects including balls rolling uphill and people leaning farther than normally possible. Of course there’s no actual defying of gravity. It’s just that everything in the immediate surrounding area is all tilted in the same direction and to the same degree causing your brain to misinterpret the true horizon. Regardless, the place is a total mindfreak and is absolutely on my list of places to check out should I ever dare venture again to California.  4: SPAM MUSEUM, Austin, Minnesota Did you know that Minnesota has an entire museum dedicated solely to Hawaii’s favorite breakfast meat? That’s right, the city of Austin, Minnesota is home to the one and only SPAM MUSEUM! Best of all, it’s completely free! Even better, their SPAMbassadors give guided tours to groups of less than 10 people and virtual tours are also available. I don’t really know what they mean by virtual tours though. I’m not sure if you can simply do that through the internet from wherever you are or if it’s simply a recorded guide you listen to while you follow a predetermined route in person while visiting. They also hand out free SPAMples. I’m at a loss for words here but if you’d like to visit the SPAM museum or just learn more, you can visit their website at Https://www.spam.com/spam-museum  but please refrain from emailing unwanted solicitations to them.  3: HAINES SHOE HOUSE, Hellam Township, Pennsylvania The Haines Shoe House is a five story house built in the shape of a work boot by Mahlon Haines who owned a shoe business. It was basically created in 1948 as a marketing stunt and was rented out exclusively to elderly couples and newlyweds in the beginning. In more recent years it has been a museum, ice cream shop and also an Air BnB. This oddball attraction received a historical marker from the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission in July 2023 and is visible when driving down US Route 30! 2: IGLOO CITY, Cantwell, Alaska Igloo city is a giant 4 story building in the shape of an igloo which was created in the 1970s for the initial purpose of being a unique destination hotel sitting almost exactly at the halfway point between the cities of Anchorage and Fairbanks. Unfortunately due to repeated failures at getting the unique structure to adhere to required building codes, Igloo City was never opened. Ownership has changed hands many times over the years but it has largely just sat abandoned all this time. The most recent ownership change occurred in 2023 with the new deed-holders announcing plans to turn it into a distillery.  1: AL JOHNSON’S GOATS ON THE ROOF, Sister Bay, WI This is bangin’ or should I say Baaaaa-ngin’ Swedish restaurant that just so happens to have a grass covered roof with goats on it! The restaurant itself is famous for being the greatest of all time at making delicious lingonberry pancakes. But how did a bunch of goats end up on the roof?  Well… Mr. Johnson had a friend named Wink Larson who put a goat named Oscar on the roof one year as a birthday prank. It was so well received that Mr. Johnson decided to go ahead

    16 min
  7. PICKLEBALL BLAST - Game Review, Unboxing and Assembly

    04/26/2025

    PICKLEBALL BLAST - Game Review, Unboxing and Assembly

    watch the video below!   listen to the podcast below! The Game of Pickleball! It seems like a fairly recent phenomenon the way it’s been sweeping the land by storm doesn’t it? It seems every community is building Pickleball courts at breakneck speeds but still can’t keep up with the demand! If you’re having trouble fighting the rabid crowds of pickleheads just to get on the courts and wish there was a way to enjoy the game at your own home, at your own kitchen table where you can wear your favorite pickle costume without being ridiculed, I just might have the answer you’ve been looking for! It’s the tabletop game of PICKLEBALL BLAST by Moose Games! And in this episode of the Dandy Fun House, I’m going to unbox this sweetly sour barrel of fun, show you how to assemble and play it, give my honest thoughts and also share the history of the game of pickleball! Time to pucker up and step into the Fun House! Hello and welcome to the Dandy Fun House video show, podcast and blog! I’m your host Neil Dandy and this is where we scrape the bottom of the pickle barrel to bring you the juiciest retro pop culture, toys and games and all the fun stuff you can dill with! Today I’ll be doing a full-on unboxing, assembly and review of the game PICKLEBALL BLAST while also bringing you the history of the game of pickleball. BUT FIRST! I wanna marinate your cucumbers in a jar of these puckerrific DANDY FUN HOUSE T-SHIRTS! They might not come in a jar but they ARE crunchtastic and WILL make all your friends GREEN with envy! Manufactured by the briniest of sourpuss garment printers on the planet, everyone will instantly know that your taste is pure bread and butter. And I’m not just gherkin you around when I tell you that we also cut four specially designed holes in each tee for your comfort and practicality! One to climb your torso into, one to squeeze your head out of and two to poke your green little pimply arms through! Want one? Just head over to the Dandy Fun House website at www.dandyfunhouse.com to spin the lid off one of your own! And while you’re there, check out our other amazing designs including our COFFEE BADGER tees, mugs and bags of harshly ground french roast! If you like to badge in, caffeinate and badge out, then the coffee badger is your roast! Once again, head over to www.dandyfunhouse.com and get cranked up today! Ok! THE GAME OF PICKLEBALL! Maybe you’re like me and you’re wondering what all this recent hubub is about surrounding this game with the weird name, Pickleball! I just started hearing about this a few years ago. Everyone buzzing about playing it, every community installing courts in every recreational facility and absolutely nobody would explain it to me. It’s like everyone else knew what this was and I had to figure it out on my own. So I went down to my local park and saw these weird little miniature tennis courts with people holding giant ping pong paddles whacking whiffle balls back and forth. And I said to myself… This is pickleball? Where’s the pickle? Why is it called pickleball? When did all this happen and why am I the only person they didn’t tell? This prompted a bit of research on my part and I was very surprised to learn that while the current pickleball craze is a fairly new phenomenon, the actual game itself was invented in the 1960s! 1965 to be exact, on Bainbridge Island, Washington by a man named Joel Pritchard (who would one day go on to become a US Congressman as well as Washington’s Lietenant Governor) and his two friends Barney McCallum and Bill Bell. Together they devised the game and established the rules. The name Pickleball is inspired by the pickle boat crew where the oarsmen were chosen from the leftovers of other boats. Whereas the game of pickleball is sort of an amalgamation of the court from badminton, the paddles from paddleball, a whiffle ball and the net height of tennis. They decide to establish Pickle Ball Inc. to market the game, bring it to the masses and of course, sell the necessary equipment. By the mid-70s, pickleball tournaments began springing up around the country and by the early 90’s became a feature of the Senior Olympics. The Pickleball Hall of Fame opened in 2017 and two different professional tournaments became established in 2019. In 2022 Pickleball became the official sport of the state of Washington, signed into law on the very court the sport was first devised. DANDY FUN FACT! Did you know that the game of Pickleball even has it’s own tv channel? That’s right! PickleballTV is co-owned by the Tennis Channel and the United Pickleball Association. You can find it at pickleballtv.com as well as on a variety of streaming services. Ok, I don’t really want to get into all the rules of Pickleball because that’s not really what we’re here for! What we ARE here for is to dig into this game of PICKLEBALL BLAST by Moose Games! So here we have our box and we’re gonna have a good look at what we’re working with here! Good design here. It’s got a pickle flying through the air and it’s getting whacked by a paddle from a seated position and there’s these white things with flippy lids I think those are supposed to be pickle barrels. I think it’d be better if the white things kind of looked like pickle barrels but it says blast the pickle into the pickle jars. The pickle smackdown game! The hottest new paddle sport Step one: blast the pickle! Two: slam the pickle jars! and Three: flip the lids to win! Alright. Well not much more to go on for the packaging. I really like the fact that they incorporated pickles into the packaging. That means a whole lot to me. But let’s go ahead and open this thing. I’ve already popped the tape on it, but that’s all I’ve done So I haven’t personally had a look here. And on the inside there’s a bunch of nothing to see. There is some printing on the inside. They did good with the packaging. They didn’t really cheap out on it. They’ve got the assembly instructions in the lid. We’ll look at that if we have to. This looks pretty straightforward though. This must be the game field. Oh, we’re seeing the underside of the game field! So let’s have a look here And they’ve made it easy. Look the the pickle barrels are already mounted and the flippy lids Look at that. Okay. Okay. All right. All right, so there there’s not gonna be a whole lot of assembly here. We’re gonna get to the game plan pretty darn fast. This is going to be a pretty quick episode. Okay, you got different colors on different sides and you flip the lids and you reveal the pickle image. And the court itself is a big pickle. You shoot the pickle across you try to get it to land in one of the pickle jars and flip the lid. That’s pretty self-explanatory. So let’s see what we’ve got here… It’s a little cardboard spacer in there. Okay, and We have our whack paddles and is That the(…) Pickle or is I don’t know what this thing is Oh, that’s the net and there’s something that waves back and forth and does it try to keep you from Doing what you’re supposed to do. I don’t know what the heck is okay So we got the net and there’s some kind of weight here and there’s something flying around the top… Oh… It’s the pickle! Oh So the pickle doesn’t fly across the court on its own. You’re just not shooting a pickle. It’s actually tethered to a metal rod and there’s a weight at the bottom that makes it behave properly and kind of keeps everything in check. Okay, that’s that’s kind of cool. That’s kind of genius. Okay Not really sure how that’s going together But now we’ve got to get our paddles separated out of here and there’s some other little thing like in white parchment paper So we’ll look at the instructions if we need to but in the meantime I’m gonna get these paddles out of here and I’m not really sure how(…) They’re supposed to . The paddles have thumb flippy doos to operate the paddles with. Not really sure what’s going on there, but let’s open this parchment paper and see what we’ve got here… We have these little clips which I guess have to be used to Keep the court together. They go underneath. Oh, we’ll start we’ll start underneath and see if it likes that. And I think these are just little scorekeepers and then you just hold the paddles with your hand. I really think that I think we got it here guys I think we’re ready to play some Pickleball Blast! I Don’t really think we need to read any instructions here. I think we’re pickleball blasting! Look at that. I already already flipped a lid there… So there are two images on the little flippy lids; One is a white one and it looks like the label from a barrel of pickles and when you hit it it flips it over to show the picture of the cartoon pickle going “ow I’ve been hit in my pickle head!” (Neil continues to play) How much how long can you do this and have fun with it? I really don’t know. I guess you’d really have to be playing with another person to determine it but okay, well, I mean that I don’t really know what else to tell you that’s pretty much the game of pickleball blast it’s It’s a fun distraction, I mean look at this pickle… It’s a fun concept. Is this gonna be hours of fun? I don’t think so but was it fun to put on a pickle costume and tell you all about the game of pickleball while I Whack this thing around and do my thing? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it’s fun. You know kids will like it. They’ll have fun with it. Is it the greatest game I’ve ever reviewed? No Is it is it neat? Yeah, am I glad I got it and did this review? Yeah on a scale of one to ten pickle jars I’ve got to give this game of pickleball blast… Six and a half pickles! And if you’d like to help keep ME from scraping the bottom of the financial pickle barrel, please con

    19 min
  8. SOUPY SALES - Behind the Slapstick!

    03/11/2025

    SOUPY SALES - Behind the Slapstick!

    watch the video below! listen to the podcast below! Once upon a time there was a man who perfected the art of the pie in the face. This man hosted a 1950s and 60s children’s show where one day he got a wild hair encouraging the kids to steal money from their parents and send it to him in the mail promising a post card from Puerto Rico in return. This ill-advised stunt got the man in lots of trouble as you might imagine but also made him notoriously next-level famous almost overnight. So, in true show business fashion, he was allowed to keep his job. Throughout the decades to follow, he went on to appear in countless television, movie and music productions keeping his unique brand of silly humor and slapstick alive all the way into the 2000’s earning his rightful place in the pantheon of comedic legends. In this, the BIG 50th episode of the Dandy Fun House we’re going to tell his tale and learn some amazing Dandy Fun Facts along the way about someone you might think you know. Oh, his name! Milton Supman. But you might remember him better as… SOUPY SALES! Let’s go behind the slapstick and let’s step into the FUN HOUSE! Hello and welcome to the Dandy Fun House video show, podcast and blog! THIS is where we slurp a mega-smoothie of retro pop culture, toys and games and all the fun stuff! I’m your host Neil Dandy and in this BIG episode number 50 we’re going to take you Behind the Slapstick and into the story of SOUPY SALES! THIS is a show I have been wanting to do for a very long time! But not as long as the longing you’ll feel once you check out these soup-a-riffic Dandy Fun House t shirts! Designed by yours truly and expertly modeled by stock image personalities, you’re going to love the way you look, I guarantee it! We even cut 4 holes in them. One to crawl your body into, one to stick your head out of and 2 to poke your arms through! Act now and get zero percent off! This deal WILL last long so hurry! As long as we’re shirt-talking, we might as well get jacked up on some COFFEE BADGER harshly ground french roast coffee! As well as our Coffee Badger t-shirts and mugs! Badge in! Caffeinate! Badge Out! Find all our amazing stuff in the Dandy Fun Shop located within the Dandy Fun House website at www.dandyfunhouse.com . We also have a mini Dandy Fun Shop at our YouTube channel. Just search for Dandy Fun House and that’ll getcha there! Alright! SOUPY SALES! If you’re really old, you’ll probably remember this comedian from his 1950s and 60s children’s show LUNCH WITH SOUPY SALES where he pulled an infamous stunt that almost ended his career but ultimately brought him additional fame and notoriety. If you’re just a little bit old, you’ll likely remember Soupy Sales from his countless appearances as a panelist or celebrity participant in multiple game shows in the late 60’s through the mid 70’s. Then in the late 70’s through early 80’s as a full cast member of the hit tv show, SHA NA NA. And all the way into the 2000s as a radio show host, recording artist and author. With roots firmly in vaudeville and slapstick the tale of Soupy Sales goes back farther than you might think… MUCH FARTHER! CHILDHOOD The year, 1926. The town, Franklinton, North Carolina. A little boy named Milton Supman was born to Hungarian immigrants Irving and Sadie Supman. His father a dry goods merchant. He had a couple of older brothers named Leonard and Jack who had some wacky nick names like Ham Bone and Chicken Bone. Milton was dubbed Soup Bone and later shortened to just Soupy. Catching the performing bug early in life, he found himself auditioning for and acting in a variety of elementary school plays. Moving on to high school Soupy attended Huntington High in Huntington, West Virginia where his performing continued, his popularity grew and he was even voted Most Popular Boy In School. MILITARY SERVICE Upon graduating from high school in 1944, Milton Supman enlisted in the US Navy serving honorably aboard the USS Randall during the latter part of World War II and becoming known amongst his shipmates for commandeering the PA system with comedy routines hoping to keep up morale while at war. During the Battle of Okinawa the ship was under constant kamikaze attack. His time in the service instilled a fear of flying stemming from his being assigned to “clean up duty” following a fatal plane crash at the San Diego Naval Base. SOUPY STARTS HIS POST-MILITARY CAREER After exiting the Military, Milton Supman completed his college education at Marshall University earning a Masters Degree in Journalism. While there, he further honed his performing skills in nightclubs as a comedian, singer and dancer. Upon graduation, Milton managed to land a job as a script writer and disc jockey with WHTN Huntington, West Virginia, choosing the stage name Soupy Hines, in part to disguise his Jewish heritage which is something many Jewish performers did during that era. Charles “Chic” Sale However, there arose another concern around confusion with the food company Heinz especially since Soupy was already a food-related name, so shortly after launching his DJ career the choice was made to change the latter part of his stage name to Sales in honor of vaudeville legend Charles “Chic” Sale. And thus Soupy Sales was thrust upon an unsuspecting post-war world, or at least the local listening audience in Huntington, West Virginia. SOUPY MOVES TO CINCY! Always determined to take his career to the next level, he soon followed an offer to relocate to the larger market of Cincinnati, Ohio where he became a morning radio DJ and regular nightclub performer. Soupy Sales eventually became popular enough around town that he was offered his own local television show on WKRC-TV as the host of Soupy’s Soda Shop which is regarded as television’s first ever teen dance show and soon thereafter adding a second late night comedy variety show called Club Nothing. LUNCH WITH SOUPY SALES But the show that really launched the version of Soupy Sales that became known and loved the world over was his kid’s show LUNCH WITH SOUPY SALES. It debuted in 1953 from the studios of WXYZ-TV in Detroit, Michigan. It was originally-albeit-briefly called 12 O’Clock Comics and was filled with celebrity special guests, slapstick comedy, jokes galore, smart aleck puppets and lots of what would later become Soupy’s hallmark, pies in the face. And it wasn’t just a pie in the face, this was developed into a full art form with variations such as a pie on top of the head, pies to both ears from behind, being thrown into a pie. In fact, over the span of his 50+ year career, Soupy Sales estimated that he and his guests had been hit with over 20,000 pies! PIE-RELATED INJURY! In one notable pie-related incident, Soupy was knocked to the ground and injured when an enthusiastic young fan threw a pie by surprise at him. It turned out to be a frozen pie, hard as a rock which caught Soupy in the neck and sent him down to dirt-kissing town. The pie police swooped in and now that young fan is about to be released from Pie-rison to live out his final days as a crusty… filling… station… clerk… That’ll teach him! THE SOUPY SHUFFLE! And there was also the signature dance… the Soupy Shuffle which was basically a cute little move where Soupy would sort of hop back and forth dragging one foot on the ground while singing the song “Do the Soupy Shuffle!” SOUPY’S ON! In addition to all of this, Soupy also hosted a late night show in Detroit called “Soupy’s On” where he featured Detroit’s jazz performers who would often sell out their own shows after appearing on his. Louis Armstrong   Duke Ellington   Billie Holiday   Miles Davis Some of his most notable jazz guests included Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday and Miles Davis! SOUPY GOES NATIONAL! CAPTAIN KANGAROO In 1955 Lunch With Soupy Sales went national when it was picked up by ABC television to run on Saturday mornings in direct competition with the Today Show and Captain Kangaroo. SOUPY INVADES LOS ANGELES! (and gets canceled) In 1960 after 5 succesful years, Soupy relocated to Los Angeles where the network was based, but just one short year after relocating, ABC canceled the show and poor Soupy was sent to the soup lines with the exception of KABC which kept him on as a local program. SOUPY SALES BECOMES A TONIGHT SHOW HOST! SOUPY SALES with JERRY VAN DYKE In 1962 Soupy Sales became an official-albeit-brief guest host of the Tonight Show during the period between Jack Paar leaving and Johnny Carson taking the helm. THE SOUPY SALES SHOW! Then came 1964 through 1966. WNEW-TV in New York City picked up the Soupy Sales Show and syndicated 260 episodes to local stations outside the New York market. FRANK SINATRA Get A Pie In The Face! This would mark the pinnacle of popularity for Mr. Sales and he would host such top Vegas talent as Frank Sinatra, Tony Curtis, Jerry Lewis, Judy Garland and Sammy Davis Jr. whom all lined up with bells on just begging for the status symbol of getting a pie in the face! During this time he would also contribute his writing talents to the TV series “Here’s Edie.” DANDY FUN FACT! Soupy was more famous than the President! During the mid 1950s through the mid 1960s Soupy Sales had become so famous that it was said he could walk down the street next to President Eisenhower and more people would recognize Soupy! ANOTHER DANDY FUN FACT! Soupy offered $10k to anyone proving he worked “blue.” Urban legend had it that Soupy Sales would sneak off-color or “blue” humor… (dirty jokes) into his kids show for the amusement of adults (and apparently his adult following was quite sizable!). Although the allegation has been repeatedly disproven as completely false, the rumors persisted to the point where Soupy once had a stan

    29 min

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