Silly Bandz: The Latest in a List of Mysterious Fads

DISCLAIMER (Videos/Photos NOT MINE)

Selling at $3 per a small pack, Silly Bandz are the newest rage among young collectors. These "recession proof" bands are so simple yet so coveted. It seems doubtless, however, that they're a pretty poor investment.



Anyway, this fad brings back memories of past ones.

Possibly the first fad of the '90s was pogs. Many people in their 20's probably remember owning a tube or two of them. But pogs were more of a mild, drawn-out fad...


I don't remember pogs as having the sort of obsession-giving power necessary to start up an acute buying hysteria. Such a distinction would have to go to Beanie Babies.

Some time in the mist of the late '90s, during the height of the Beanie Baby craze, Hershey Park had Beanie Babies in its gift shoppe; and amid the rides, arcades, zoo animals, etc., those Beanies were assuredly the highlight of many-a-visitor's day.

In the late '90s, every hobby shoppe had Beanie Babies. I suppose people bought them partly because they thought they'd go up in value. Moreover, the assumption was always that "you'd better buy them now before they're gone." Wikipedia has a pretty good explanation of why they became so popular.

Ultimately what drove Beanie Babies, I believe, was raw consumer demand. The '90's had been kind to people's wallets, and many people wanted something on which to splurge. Beanie Babies became that something, and people began to go to great lengths to buy them. To satisfy excess consumer demand, one merchant told me that he used to scour flea markets to get them from Chinese factory workers who had smuggled them out of the factory in China and into the US. As trite as it may seem, what made Beanie Babies so enticing was their red ty tags. Many sellers tried to make knock-off brands of bean-bag stuffed animals, even placing a tag with the knockoff brand's logo on it; but their beanies never had that ty tag of legitimacy--the "real McCoy" ty insignia. Most hilariously, because some Beanie Babies were counterfeited, the rare, most expensive ones today need to be "authenticated." In all fairness though, Beanie Babies were thoughtfully designed, with lamb beanies having a woolly texture, and lions and horses having manes.

Beanie Babies were quite a fad, but not nearly as hard-hitting or as multifaceted as Pokémon.

"I've never seen anything like Pokémon" says one hobby shop owner.

Pokémon originated in Japan and then spread to America, becoming popular in 98/99.

The Cards. I remember that during the cards' high point, the much-coveted holographic Charizard sold for almost $100 bucks. Those silly cards kept many a fledgling hobby store alive through the end of the millennium. Moreover, stores that were once obscure to the adolescent mind, such as a floral shop, could instantly become important if its owner had Pokemon cards for sale.

"I had nightmares from opening all those packages", says one dealer. "I went up to a wholesale show, gave $5,000 to each of my associates, and told them to spend it all. Afterward we drove straight to the shop, non-stop across the highways; we had thousands of dollars of merchandise in the car during a huge buying craze" said he. That merchandise was precious back then.

If a collector had a bountiful collection of Pokémon cards, he could impress his friends, but more importantly, he could impress himself. Maybe the cards' main appeal was that somebody really could "catch 'em all" (if his parents were willing to fork over the cash).

Perhaps the young collector enjoyed the thrill of possibly drawing a good card from a pack, or perhaps he hoped that one day, after his collection was complete, he could dominate in a Pokémon tournament (if he could ever find a local one).

Today, a holographic Charizard card is worth beans--about $7 to be exact. However, as some slightly hideous youtube videos* reveal, Pokemon cards are alive and well among small pockets of individuals. There have been introduced countless new series of Pocket Monsters and their respective card decks since Pokémon's overall decline, and I believe there are still even some tournaments held in obscure locations in the US.

Before there were Pokémon cards, the Burger King kids' meals, various figurines, and multitudes of other merchandise, Pokémon was a Gameboy video game, and probably one of the most addictive ever made. Red version, Blue version, yellow, etc; like any game in which the player has both freedom of choice and a sense of progression through the game, Pokémon on Gameboy became an adolescent boy's crack cocaine, and his escape from a mundane reality of school, etc.

In the modern world of 98/99, which often entailed boring, difficult, and sometimes effeminate schoolwork, Pokémon was a simple and instantly gratifying way to achieve a sense of accomplishment. But Poké video games got old fast, and although new versions of them still straggle on today, the great flame of their popularity has died down to a small ember. As fast as Poké fever spread, it fizzled out. By the debut of the Pokémon movie in the end of '99, it had already become old.

So, how long will Silly Bands last? They've got an unspeakably wide appeal: everyone from little tykes to high school students crave them. As unlikely as it may seem, silly bands will one day go the way of their predecessor fads, and perhaps end up as a point of reminiscence on some obscure blog as well...

All the aforementioned products are different, yet all have that something which catapulted them to the uppermost recesses of consumers' desires. Although in retrospect one might explain rather simply how they got to be so popular by, for instance, describing their marketing techniques and specific qualities, these fads were mystically alluring in their day; and they created whole new worlds for people to live in.

What really makes them mysterious is this: What if you asked someone before pogs hit if he could ever imagine the cardboard things in bottle caps becoming a marketing sensation? What about stuffed animals each having a red heart-shaped tag and selling for up to $50 and over? Or imaginary creatures that could be stored in palmable red and white balls called pocket monsters? How about rubber bands that come in the shape of a dinosaurs and just about anything else that sell for $3 a small pack? If you brought up any of these things to someone before they hit, he'd say you were crazy.

That's what makes the fads mysterious.

PA Politics Makes Strange Bedfellows

When Tom Corbett made motion to challenge the Obamacare overhaul, he annoyed many Pennsylvania leftists.

As Tom Corbett dodged debate with Sam Rohrer, got the unfair endorsement before-the-primary, subpoenaed his Twitter critics, sent out disingenuous attack flyers about Sam, looked the other way regarding Reed Smith's potential involvement in Bonusgate, and said the Constitution was a 'living document', he made very many Pennsylvania Republicans angry. Most of those angry Republicans support Sam Rohrer.

So, strangely enough, Corbett has enemies on the Left and the Right. And some people of each persuasion--mostly Rohrer supporters and Obamacare supporters-- have joined a Facebook group "Tom Corbett Must Resign."

Indeed, in this group, people on the Left and Right in Pennsylvania who would normally be growling at each other are uniting, pointing to Corbett, and saying "Let's get him"--and for completely different reasons.

Corbett's Nemeses
The ACLU has come to the defense of Twitter users CasablancaPA and bfbarbie. It's understandable that Corbett would want to go after CasablancaPA: afterall, CasablancaPA has had the drop on Corbett's Bonusgate dealings since September of 2008--so Corbie may have gotten frustrated with the Casablanca blogger such that he rashly decided to go after him. But only preponderant ineptitude could have motivated Corbett to go after bfbarbie.

Imagine, the arch-enemy of Tom Corbett is bfbarbie...

An End to Robo Calls in Sight?

Disclaimer: I had nothing to do with the crank robo calls; I merely find them amusing.

Everyone seems to think robo calls are annoying: you know, those recordings one hears on the eve of an election that tell one how to vote. One fellow I talked to said he received 6 in one day and so he gave up answering the phone.

Perhaps the recent news of individuals making prank robo calls may scare power hungry political wannabes away from robocalling.

From the Citizen's Voice

The calls apparently used a service or software that allows caller ID spoofing. The service or software allows phone calls to come up on a recipient's caller ID with any identity and number the buyer of the program chooses.
So, for example, some calls showed up on caller ID as Friends of Jim Wansacz and showed the phone number for Wansacz campaign headquarters. However, the recorded voice proceeded to trash Wansacz's candidacy.

If everyone's candidacy were subjected to prank calls, then no candidate would robo call anymore for fear of someone confusing a prank call for a real one. And, because in such a situation all the robo calls would be pranks, they'd likely be funnier and more entertaining than current robocalls put out by real candidates... and perhaps more truthful.

Commentary: The Day After

For election returns go to the PA state website here.

GOP Primary Results
Although Republican underdogs Sam Rohrer (for Governor) and Peg Luksik (for Senate) lost last night, they both got many votes. Peg, in particular, impressed as she got 151,734 votes (or 18.5% of the total). This is especially impressive because many of the people I spoke to at the Sweet Valley polling station hadn't even heard of her. Peg performed relatively well in Luzerne County, getting nearly 4 percentage points higher there--22.4%.

Rohrer did decent on the state-wide level, garnering 31.3% or 266,389 votes. Many thought that the miserable icy cold rain storm yesterday boded well for him because his supporters tend to be more die-hard and thus more willing to brave miserable elements. I had expected Rohrer to do better, considering the fact that he has 7,300 Facebook fans to Corbett's 5,700*.

However, F&M polls prior to the election revealed that Corbett had a heavy advantage. He also had all the money that he took from gambling interests, unions, etcetera, with which to propagate his misleading promises (scaling back 17,000 state vehicles) and and his mischaracterizations of Sam's salary. Furthermore, most Republican outfits like Luzerne GOP did all they could to promote the endorsed candidates while giving no publicity to either Peg or Sam. If Corbett hadn't received the state committee's endorsement, dodged debate with Rohrer, expressed all the right platitudes, and put out deceitful attack flyers (see below), then he may full well have lost. It is commonly known that Rohrer was much more popular with the tea party crowd--at least the one around me. But those with the money and power wanted Corbett, as did the GOP establishment and political pragmatists who thought Rorher was unable to win in the fall.

A disingenuous yet hilarious bit of GOPaganda

Sadly, former chiropractor David Madeira and Snyder county official Malcolm Derk lost to former DeNaples lawyer Tom Marino. 'Casino Marino' had the cash to send out campaign flyers. He also has a lot of contacts, having been a factory worker and a janitor before going to law school. Plus, he had notoriety from being a federal prosecutor. Doubtless, Marino's past association with DeNaples will be a burden on him in the fall. Madeira and Derk have endorsed Marino, so we'll see if their endorsements are enough to help Marino overcome the powerful Carney/DNC machine.

As expected, Jim Cawley won the Lieutenant Governor primary, but he received only 23% of the total vote. Naturally, all the Lt. Gov. candidates not endorsed by the PA GOP state committee (except Jean Pepper) were more conservative than Cawley. There should have been a mini-primary to get the best man (in this case) to oppose Mr. Cawley.

Also to be noted, "Butch" Moderno Rossi lost the Luzerne County state committee election despite the fact that he sent multiple people out in the elements to campaign for him at the polls. Linda Urban and Kathy Dobash were elected to the state committee. This is good for Rohrer supporters because Linda has vowed to oppose the premature endorsement and Kathy has attended events of Sam Rohrer. Comically, Stephen E. Urban may have been elected because many voters thought he was the popular Republican county commissioner Stephen A. Urban. This was just as well, though, since Stephen E. Urban was/is a decent candidate.

Reckoning
Despite Rohrer's loss, true economic and social conservatives need not give up hope yet. Rohrer may still be nominated if Corbett is revealed to be involved in a scandal or something--but then again, the state GOP may just roll out another human product to sell to the people, and the people may buy it again. Also, word around the campfire is that Rohrer may run as an independent conservative.**

But if Corbett sticks around and Rohrer drops out***, conservative voters disenfranchised with Corbett's weak stances and lack of substance can check out Robert Allen Mansfield--a principled conservative running on the Independent ticket. What Mansfield lacks in experience and knowledge he makes up in strong principles--qualities that Corbett could use.
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*These were rounded numbers at the time this blog was written. Since then, Corbett's tightly controlled fan page has gone up to over 8,000 fans.
**Since the writing of this blog, many Rohrer supporters have vowed to write in his name in November.
*** Rohrer has since stated that he is no longer campaigning for governor but he never said he would mind if someone wants to write in his name in the 2010 general election.

Rohrer Explains Plan to Eliminate School Property Taxes

Graphic from the Pennsylvania Taxpayers Cyber Coalition

Sam Rohrer is famous for introducing Housebill 1275 in the PA House; the bill that would eliminate school property taxes. An end to school property taxes is a central issue for gubernatorial campaign. Critics of his bill say that it would direct control away from local school districts to the states (in this case, Pennsylvania state government). I asked Sam about this tonight at his townhall in Scranton, and he said that for all intents and purposes, the state already has so much control over school districts that the shift away from school property taxes to a state-run flat tax would be merely financial, not control-based.

For instance, he said that it's impossible for a school district to fire a crummy teacher or to approve a text book without approval from the state.

I think Mr. Rohrer may be slightly exaggerating, but I also believe that those who think eliminating school property taxes would be a huge power shift to the state-level government are exaggerating. Both arguments are tendentious.

However, I like Rohrer's overall plan for PA (at least he has an articulated one, unlike his opponent). Sam stressed the need to end scandalous PA state regulations which allow bureaucrats to give special deals to their friends and to give unconnected entrepreneurs a shake-down; indeed the need to end such practices is of extreme importance to PA's future.

Rohrer really seems like he'll be a good steward of his constituents' money. Sam's talk this night was really educational and enlightening. That's a good sign in a candidate; that he or she offer truth and light to the electorate rather than platitudinous speeches in which the only things said of real substance are attacks on opposing parties.

If Rendell's socialist utopia agenda (the harmful effects of which were shrouded by borrowing) had a chance, perhaps Sam's idea of school choice and elimination of property taxes ought to be given an equal chance. Regardless of how Rohrer's plans to cut back taxation pan out, in Rohrer, voters will have a candidate who is committed to individual liberty, family values, the integrity of the constitution (state and federal), and beholden to no interests other than preserving the individual's God-given rights.

Rendell: "I like Tom Corbett"

At 4:20 through the video, Ed Rendell says "I like Tom Corbett; we've had a pretty good working Relationship." He goes on to say that Corbett challenged the health care bill for political purposes and that Corbett has "always been a fairly moderate person in his approach to things."

Rendell does not necessarily mean that Corbett is politically "moderate." What he means is that Corbett is just plain wimpy and compliant with Democrats. In other words, Corbett may profess conservative principles, but when it comes to getting things done, he might as well be a moderate. Notice also in this video that Rendell reserves contempt for tea partiers, promotes big government, yet says he likes Tom Corbett...

PA Republican Royalty and Wind Chimes

In the days of yore, the King's word was not to be questioned. He didn't need to give reasons for his proclamations because he had absolute rule.

So also, the ruler of the Pennsylvania GOP, namely Rob Gleason, believes he needs no explanations for telling Republican voters by email to vote for Cawley and Corbett. Well, no explanation other than that he thinks they're the best candidates.

Lord Gleason, that is.

In other news, Corbett has a cockamamie radio ad running in which he says he'll save the state money by doing something with some cars or something. It's irrelevant. He is a fiscal moderate, and his site seems to indicate that he supports joint government-private ventures.

That aside, Corbett's campaign ad begins with the sound of wind chimes and a corny track plays throughout the ad. The music suggests the voter will reach a point of Nirvana if he votes for Corbett. But in reality, he'll just get an establishment moderate nominated. Governor Tom II. (An allusion to moderate Tom Ridge being succeded by Tom Corbett.)

A pictographic representation of Tom Corbett's campaign ad: