Putt putt for the fun of it!

Spring is finally here, and I'm feeling a little homesick. It seems that when I'm homesick, I like to troll the internet for stuff that makes me even more homesick. There's a Youtube channel that I've talked about before, called Retrontario. They have all sorts of old commercials from Southern Ontario and Western New York. That channel is nothing but pure gold.

Now, if you love mini golf and catchy jingles, I have just the thing for you!


This commercial played over and over again for most of my childhood. I'm now 31 years old, and I haven't been able to get this stupid song out of my head. I'm not complaining, because it's a pretty great song.

Now, I'm no good at golf, be it mini or full-sized. I've always been fascinated by it, though. (The same applies to bowling.) I feel like it's something that I should like, because look at all those people in the ad! They're having the time of their lives! It's fun! The last time I played mini-golf was about two years ago. My wife was quite pregnant, and we had absolutely nothing to do that day. It was a fantastic day for a round of mini-golf. I did horribly, but my wife was actually pretty good.

I bet that putt putt course was the place to be on a Friday night in the towns of Tonawanda and Cheektowaga, New York back in the 80's.

Anyway, I really have nothing of any substance to add to this. It's a fun commercial with a fun jingle. Really, what more could you ask for?

FVA's Christmas Ad-Stravaganza - Part One of Hopefully More Than One

Hello, friends. It certainly has been a while. I feel like I've all but abandoned this place, but something inside me has called me back.

As I'm sure I've mentioned many times before, it's really hard coming up with new content. I have plenty of content, but I don't really have the means of making it available for this website. I spent the night trolling the Yoo-Toobs, looking for something to bring that spark back. I won't lie to you - it was hard. But friends, I think I have something now.


Back in the 1980's (and perhaps even before then?), this series of commericals for Hills Department Store played almost 'round the clock starting in November. Once you heard the sing-songy jingle, you knew that the holidays had finally arrived.

Look at the seemingly endless supply of toys! Look at the bad 80's animation! Look at the man-elf who's actually a woman! Seriously, what's not to like?

I think that I've been to Hills maybe once in my life... and even then, I don't think it was during the Christmas season. And honestly, I remember being pretty underwhelmed. I was maybe six or seven years old. We didn't have a Hills in our town, so we had to make a special trip into Buffalo.

Unfortunately, Hills went out of business in 1991. I'll never have the chance to go back, and that makes me sad. Not that I would even want to, really. I'm a grown man!

Anyway, this commercial won't mean nearly as much to you as it does to me. To you, it's probably just another commercial. To me, though, it brings up warmth and fuzziness.

I sort of have this facination with with now-defunct department stores, and I think that's something I'd like to touch on sometime in 2013.

I know it's a little early for Christmas, but I thought it'd be nice to give you a little taste. Just a little something to make your mouth water just a little.

It's been a while, friends. It feels good to be back, even if it's just for a while.

Does everyone really love Marineland?

It's that time of year again! The mercury in the thermometer is starting to rise, and students everywhere are rejoicing because school is done!

In Southern Ontario, the place where I was born and raised, there was one extra sign that summer was coming. Around this time of the year, we were bombarded with commercials for Marineland.

Here's one from 1995!



These commercials are pretty exciting... for about two days a year. You see, the problem with these commercials is that they've been using the same song for almost twenty years.

Here's one from 1998, which, if memory serves me correctly, is still playing today. (There's a close-up of a scary clown at 0:12. Don't let him frighten you.)



...and here's one from just a few years ago.



I want to say that there's a whole lot more of these commercials, but really, they just show the same commercials year after year after year after year. Even when Marineland comes up with a new commercial, it's the same damn song that they use over and over again.

Hate these commercials as I do, they certainly make me miss home. Now that I've got my fix, I can officially start enjoying the summer!