Retro RePost: A Salute To "Salute Your Shorts!"

My experience with summer camps is somewhat minimal.  My parents would never send me to one, not even the Day Camp in town.  I remember so badly wanting to go with my neighbor friend because he'd always come home in the afternoon with stories about the movie theater, theme parks, or museums.

Looking back, I'm glad I got to stay home every summer instead of going with him every day.  Rather than be bossed around by camp counselors, I have so many fond memories of doing whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted. 

My only experience going away for a camp is during middle school and high school, where I'd spend one week at a hockey training camp up in Boston right at the end of summer.  I have several fun memories from there, but it wasn't all fun and games as we did 2 a-days on the ice and several long, long runs and other training exercises.  

For the summers of 2001 and 2002, I worked as a counselor at the town Day Camp.  I have some excellent memories working there, but most of them are pretty lousy.  My good friend Chris, who later would get me my job at the airline, worked with me the first summer and hated it so much he refused to come back the second year.  It probably didn't help things that through some government employee loophole, I was making less than minimum wage due to the fact I got into all of these attractions for free.  My Mom, unbeknownst to me, called my bosses one day and complained about my wages.  So, yeah... that didn't make it easy for me at all. 

I was always fascinated with sleepaway summer camps, and our annual summer vacation in Maine drew my interest every year.  Directly across from the cabins our family rented every year, just on the other side of the lake, was a sleep-away camp that, from our boat, always looked so exciting.  Shows like Bug Juice on the Disney Channel made places like that seem so much fun, and as I got older, it seemed like a great place to meet girls.  

But no show better personified my view of fun times during summer camp than Salute Your Shorts.  Please enjoy this look back at one of my favorite articles, A Salute To Salute Your Shorts!

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE ORIGINAL ARTICLE

The original was first posted on The Retro Network and even gained the attention of one of the original cast members on Instagram! 

Retro Scans: 1989 Ghostbusters 2 Wax Pack on GB-2's 32nd Anniversary!

As we kick off a "Ghostbuster Summer" worth of advertising and special themed product tie-ins, I thought it appropriate to celebrate the 32nd Anniversary of "Ghostbusters 2."  As we wait for the next installment of the Ghostbuster series in November, let's take a look back at the less popular (but in my opinion, just as great) sequel to the original.

Debuting 32 years ago today, June 16, 1989, Ghostbusters 2 was produced by Ivan Reitman and written by stars Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis.  Also starring Bill Murray, Ernie Hudson, Sigourney Weaver, Rick Moranis, and Annie Potts, this movie was a direct sequel to the 1984 "Ghostbusters" smash hit.  Set five years after the first film, the Ghostbusters have been sued to death and out of business because of the destruction created by the battle with Gozer in the first film.  When new paranormal threats emerge, the team reunites to save the world.    

The script went through many iterations because of studio objections, as Aykroyd and Ramis wanted to portray the consequences of negative emotions caused by large cities.  The writers and studio eventually agreed upon paranormal events that fed off New York City's infamous negativity.  Filmed in New York and Los Angeles, with a budget of $40 million, filming took place between November 1988 and March of 89.  New scenes were reshot during March and April, just two months before its release.

The movie debuted to generally negative critical review.  At the time, most critics considered it a copycat of the first film that had toned down its adult dark humor for a family-friendly venture.  When Ghostbusters 2 debuted, it was the sequel to the highest-grossing comedy film of all time and was expected to dominate the box office.  Instead, it earned $215.4 million compared with $282.2 for the original film.  Columbia Pictures considered it a financial and critical failure, which was enough to convince Bill Murray to not participate in a third Ghostbusters film and stalling the franchise for over 2 decades.  Interestingly enough, the film's soundtrack hit single "On Our Own," by Bobby Brown, was a great success that spent 20 weeks on the United States music charts.  

While it may not have received the critical praise of the original movie, Ghostbusters 2 has since developed an audience following.  The film itself spawned merchandise like video games, comic books, music, toys, and even these trading cards.  

These cards were a little warped with age, and several of them were pretty dirty and dusty.  I cleaned them up the best I could without ruining the images, but I apologize if it shows in the scans; but what do you want for 32-year-old trading cards?  The brittle piece of gum included in the pack was also stuck pretty good to the card, which may obscure the image on the back of the Ray's Bookstore card.  

All in all, these were a great collection of trading cards that I know for sure as a kid I enjoyed combing through back in the day.  The pack included a good collection of film images, some from iconic scenes like the courtroom, and even a "behind-the-scenes" image of them filming the underground sewer-of-goo scene.  The sticker of the Scoleri Brothers is a great image and may or may not already be headed towards my workshop in the garage, where I have a collection of some of these stickers.   

Five Movie Theater Memories Summer of 2003

One thing that always makes me think of summer?  Going to a movie theater to see new movies! 

I love the entire experience.  The smells, sounds, excitement, and anticipation... even the funky black and neon carpet.

Growing up, we had a small 2 screen theater, but when I was in high school, they built what was at the time the second-largest mall on the East Coast only 15 minutes from my house.  On the 4th floor, there was a giant 25 or 30 screen Loews Cinema (at the time) but it is now an AMC.  It really was the first of its kind in our area with reclining seats, stadium seating, and a snack bar that was more than just popcorn and soda.  There was nothing available like the gourmet meals some places serve today, but a step up from just stale popcorn and flat soda at the other places.

Pluto TV Summer "Popcorn Movies" List

Free television and movie streaming app Pluto TV is launching its summer celebration by airing all-new (to Pluto) movies during June, July, and August.  In what they are calling the "Popcorn Summer Movies" marathon, they kick off summer with big blockbuster films of summers from YesterYear like The Hunger Games, Shuttler Island, and Forrest Gump.  

They promise movies from every genre - thrillers to cult classics.  

Here are some of the highlights of the summer movie schedule, and what channel you can find them on.

June 2021:

The Hunger Games series (Pluto TV Action)

Charlie’s Angels (Pluto TV Action)

Scary Movie & Scary Movie 2 (Pluto TV Comedy)

Pulp Fiction (Pluto TV Crime Movies)

Double Jeopardy (Pluto TV Crime Movies)

Minority Report (Pluto TV Spotlight)

Total Recall (Pluto TV Spotlight)

Runaway Bride (Pluto TV Romance)

Shutter Island (Pluto TV Thrillers)

The Last Airbender (Pluto TV Fantastic)

Forrest Gump (Cine Premiere)

July 2021:

Face/Off (Pluto TV Action)

Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events (Pluto TV Fantastic)

Kingpin (Pluto TV Comedy)

Clue (80s Rewind)

Rain Man (80s Rewind)

Grease (Cine Premiere)

The Addams Family (Pluto TV Comedy)

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (Cine Premiere)

Total Recall (Cine Premiere)

August 2021:

The Matrix (Pluto TV Action)

Center Stage (Pluto TV Romance)

Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist (Pluto TV Romance)

The Silence of the Lambs (Pluto TV Thrillers)

Fargo (1996) (Pluto TV Crime Movies)

Project Almanac (Pluto TV Fantastic)

Summer Vacation Starts Now!

Memorial Day is already over and summer is unofficially here! 

 
Where I grew up in New York, our schools wouldn't let out for Summer Vacation until about the 15th or 20th of June.  We'd then have all July and August off before returning for the new school year after Labor Day.  

These days, summer is the busy season at work, and getting time off for vacation or even a backyard BBQ is hard to come by.  It seems people want to fly places during their summer vacation and I guess that means we have to fly them there!  In our house, our Summer Vacation has to wait until September or October when travel begins to die down and time off at work is more plentiful.  It works out though because there are often great deals to be had during the slow time of year and the airports, cruise ships, and campgrounds aren't crowded! 

With all that said, I'm thinking some summer-themed posts are in order to celebrate our version of Summer Vacation of 2021!

I've been planning some summer-themed articles about some summery stuff that I hope you'll enjoy!  We'll cover some summer-related pop culture events, some of my own fun summer memories, and some summer "Retro Scans" that feature some of summer's big blockbuster movies! 

Hopefully, these things put you in the mood for some warm weather and summer fun as you take the road trip down memory lane with me into the Summers of YesterYear.