A Little Weird by Andrew Goldfarb

 (http://www.theslowpoisoner.com/index.html, year unknown) This is a t-i-n-y, yet somehow squarebound, collection of creepy creatures that is crazy, kooky, courageous and visually cacophonous. Cool!

Pepsi Peeps

(PepsiCo) I wanted to try this but couldn't find any of the marshmallow flavored cola, and it's almost Easter. So instead of a review I changed it to pee-flavored Pepsi Pees. I'm HILARIOUS!

Dr. Brown's Cel-Ray

(Dr. Browns, 1868-present) I don't really drink much pop, let alone corn-syrup-infused gentile pop, but when Passover rolls around it is a great reminder that our Jewish-est pop (at least according to Jewish deli stock) is not only Kosher for Pesach, but comes in this delightfully unusual celery flavor, which you could not reproduce if you had all the celery and seltzer and sugar in the world. It's afi-un-common!

Glide Pro-Health Comfort Plus Floss

 

(Proctor & Gamble, 2020) That's some smooth floss!

Mel Tillis "M-M-Mel Live"

 (MCA, 1980) Tillis didn't hit until later in the 60s, so seeing an early 80s record in the thrift isn't as iffy as seeing a 50s or early 60s artist's MTV-era outing, but I was still skeptical. However, I was pleasantly surprised by this live album which is about 20% Branson-style comedy bits with some select stutters, but mostly slick Branson-style showband versions of his hits, of which "I got the Hoss" (with her, subsequently, getting the saddle) is gonna be a banger when Pam Tillis' grandchildren retire to Branson. Worth every dollar (one) I spent!

Mexican Coke

 

(Coca-Cola Company) It has sugar, not corn syrup, so it's Passover friendly, and for some reason the bottles looked totally different this week (I think they recycle bottles vigorously and we just got a shipment of bottles we've never seen before), and it's fun to drink out of a bottle. 

Trader Joe's Milk Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Pretzels

(Trader Joe's, 2021) Obviously Trader Joe's is the superstore of snack porn, but most of the stuff is copies of better known stuff, like a classy ALDI situation. But these freaking things are just amazing and original and weirdly light even though they are combining three heavy snack faves. Bravo you snack pornographers!

Coming 2 America

(Amazon, 2021) I got really excited when this was announced, then I got nervous about what it was going to be, but ultimately this decades-later sequel was a very satisfying approach to revisiting a beloved classic. Almost everyone was back, there were an absurd amount of callbacks, and the new cast members were fine. Most importantly, what made so many people really love the original was seeing the opulence of Zamunda, an African country with riches and glory and pride and no references to corruption or political strife or colonial oppression. So to have 2/3 of this new movie just be majestic, excessive Zamundan parties with superstar performers and the film's MVP Ruth Page creating unbelievably magnificent costumes seems about right. Wakanda is cool, but you are not going to get a full Gladys Knight song in a Black Panther film (and the 70s/90s/current Afrobeat mix of performers/music was great). The actual coming to America part was underwhelming this time, but that said, if the whole movie was elderly Jewish Eddie and his old man friends in the barbershop jabbering on for two hours I would not have kvetched. In fact, while actual Eddie looks magnificent, I think he and Arsenio and that other guy were even better old men now that they have some age on them.

Reese's Sticks

 (Hershey's) Reese's flavored Kit Kat is a GREAT idea! Apparently these have been around for over 20 years but I never saw them until the recent Reese's candy shelf takeover, with the pretzels and the big cups and the thins, etc. Good job, Hershey's.

El Ranchero Chipotle Tortilla Chips

 (El Ranchero) Purple bag...yes! Design easily moves this up near the top of the Chicago chip pile!