November 18, 1999
Greetings Accumulators!
It's pretty nippy in the Big Apple. Since we've had very mild winters
these past two years, perhaps we're in for a bitter one this time around.
FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF TURNING LITTLE KIDS INTO FANATICS
It seems the Pokemon craze is crazier than we thought. When the new
Pokemon movie opened, Warner Bros. came up with a neat promotional gimmick.
For every ticket purchased, the bearer got a Pokemon card. Well, the
response was so tremendous (they sold 52 million dollars worth of tickets
in the first week), theatres soon ran out of cards, and Warner Brothers had
to establish a ticket stub mail-in program, along with an 800 telephone
number, to avoid disappointing millions of children.
Meanwhile at Burger King, whose franchisees were offering Pokemon toys with kid's meals, supplies were exhausted almost immediately. Burger King says they're working hard to replenish as soon as possible (they say they're even chartering cargo planes to bring in more toys), but they claim that at least part of the shortage is due to collectors who are hoarding the toys, thus preventing the children from getting any.
And on the school front, it seems that Pokemon has turned some kids into little criminals. Reports abound of rifled backpacks and cards missing from friends' homes.
This brings to mind some earlier crazes. At least when it was Cabbage
Patch Kids or Tickle Me Elmo, it was only the parents who were behaving
like idiots.
JUST IN THE NICK OF TIME DEPARTMENT
There's an entertainment website and the people there are as unnerved as I
am by all this Pokemon mass hysteria. The site, TheThreshold.com has a new
show, called "Pokemon Must Be Destroyed". Every day, they kill a Pokemon
in a new creative way. Today's episode was called "Dig It". To view the
violence, go to http://www.thethreshold.com.
Ahoy There!
The greatest American maritime disaster ever (no it wasn't your Cousin
Seymour's attempt to change seats with your portly Aunt Sadie in a canoe on
the lake at Camp Wappanoksack on Visiting day) took place when the SS
Central America sank in 1857 off the South Carolina coast. All 425 people
aboard perished. The ship was carrying some of the gold from the
California gold rush and for 132 years, the gold bars and coins remained at
the bottom of the sea. Finally, they were salvaged, and are now being
auctioned on the Internet by Sotheby's. The auction will take place on
December 8th and 9th at Amazon.com. The largest of the gold bars weighs -
get this - 41 pounds!
Well, Accumulators, this is one week when I'm keeping my promise about a
short newsletter. Lots to do. Hope you enjoy your weekend. See you next
week. Happy Hunting!
Best,
Judith
© 1999 Judith Katz-Schwartz. All rights reserved.
Antiques and Collectibles Newsletter #106
U.S. Library of Congress
ISSN 1520-4464
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Your comments, as always, are welcome. If you have something to say, write to me.
If you like, I'll subscribe you to the free short weekly email newsletter.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
RETURN TO INDEX OF NEWSLETTERS