Archive for October, 2006
Happy Halloween from Cereal Buzz
October 31, 2006
In honor of the holiday, I present to you the only cereal mascot in history who was soooo damn scary, he had to be taken off the store shelves back in 1982:
Yeah, kids used to have NIGHTMARES about this guy. I never had a chance to try Fruit Brute cereal, but if it tasted anything like Yummy Mummy, then good riddance. BLEECH.
Technorati Tags: cereal, Halloween, Fruit Brute, Yummy Mummy, Reservoir Dogs
Posted by Randy at 12:00am
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Man killed, Tony the Tiger SUV stolen
October 30, 2006
How’s this for bleak news on a Monday morning?
27 year-old LaTrayl Parker was found shot to death last week at his home in Mobile, Alabama. The assailant(s) made off with his tricked-out candy orange Yukon, custom stenciled with the Kellogg’s logo and Tony the Tiger’s face on each side.
The SUV was later found abandoned at a nearby cemetery, shortly after the discovery of Parker’s body last Thursday.
From the Press-Register:
Parker had the cartoon character and Kellogg’s painted on his SUV because he had been eating Frosted Flakes since he was a child and he loved the character.
Damn. Now that’s what I call one hardcore cereal lover. It sucks that we had to find out about this dude and his crazy Yukon the hard way. You will be missed, my brother.
Screenshot courtesy of Fox Ten News.
Technorati Tags: cereal, kellogg’s, Tony the Tiger, GMC Yukon, SUV, murder, Alabama
Posted by Randy at 6:26am
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Blueberry Monster Crunch cereal review
October 28, 2006
Disney recently teamed up with the Kroger’s supermarket chain to release a line of “healthy foods” for children, including several cereals. One of them is Blueberry Monster Crunch, featuring the hairy blue guy from Monsters, Inc.
Before I review the cereal inside the box, I need to complain about the box itself.
Complaint: The box design is very cheap and 80’s generic. Check out the red and yellow colors and Corel Draw 4.0 font. It looks like Kroger’s had their in-house graphic artist design it on a Windows 3.1 machine, with no help or input from Disney, much less Pixar. Does Steve Jobs know about this?
Anyway, on with the review. I found this week’s cereal in the “new item” section at the Ralph’s in Castaic. When I first opened the box, I caught a whiff familiar to anyone who’s enjoyed an Eggo blueberry waffle straight from the toaster. I popped a few dry pieces into my mouth and thought, hey this could’ve been Eggo Blueberry Waffle Cereal!
The wheat and rice cereal pieces are identical in shape and texture to Cinnamon Toast Crunch, but instead of cinnamon sugar, they’re dusted with “natural and artificial blueberry flavor.” Also, instead of brown swirlies, the pieces have little blue specks (can’t tell if it’s real fruit or just blue dye no. 1).
After eating an entire serving with milk, I realized that blueberry flavoring isn’t so good in powdered form. The burning chemical aftertaste is pretty awful.
My advice: if you’re looking for blueberry flavored cereal, skip this one and try Blueberry Morning
Technorati Tags: cereal, review, Disney, Krogers, Pixar, Corel, Windows 3.1, Steve Jobs, Blueberry, Booberry
Posted by Randy at 4:52pm
3 Comments »
Three CEOs in three years for Kellogg’s
October 26, 2006
Kellogg Co. announced Monday that David Mackay would take over as CEO effective December 31, 2006.
The 51 year-old Aussie will be the cereal giant’s ninth CEO since 1906, and its third CEO since 2000.
Interesting, isn’t it? For almost an entire century, from 1906 to 2000, only six men had served as CEO of Kellogg’s. Now, just six years into the 21st century, they’re already at #3. Come December 31st, the company will have had three in three years time.
Carlos Gutierrez (2000-2005) quit in 2005 after he sold out and joined the Bush administration as Secretary of Commerce.
Jim Jenness (2005-2006) will quit at the end of the year because… well, we’re not really sure. But such a brief tenure would indicate it was due to high levels of suckage.
Hopefully Mackay will have a long respectable run, reminiscent of the classic Kellogg’s CEOs of the 1900s. Good luck, Dave. You can do it, mate!
Read more at the Battle Creek Enquirer.
Technorati Tags: cereal, Kellogg’s, CEO, David Mackay, Carlos Gutierrez, Jim Jenness
Posted by Randy at 8:37pm
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Breakfast of the Gods… Holy sh!t
October 26, 2006
Pardon my French, but I just discovered something quite amazing.
I know, I know. I’ve already written a couple of random bits about the use of cereal mascots as popular art. But I tell ya, this is the kind of stuff I love. So, here’s another example… and I gotta say, this one is the best so far.
Breakfast of the Gods is a series of three graphic novels (uh, that’s geek speak for “comic books”) cleverly written and beautifully illustrated by the multi-talented Brendan Douglas Jones.
Starting with Book One: The Last Good Morning, he has reinterpreted our favorite cereal characters and thrown them into a surprisingly dramatic and refreshingly violent storyline.
The Tiger, the Cap’n, Frank, the Count, the Cookie Cop, the Rice Krispies Elves, and many more are fleshed out and separated into two camps: the tortured heroes and the brooding villains.
Brendan has been posting his artwork page by page since May 2006. The latest installment, page 20, was just published this week.
Here are some of my favorite scenes.
Awesome. Check out the rest for yourself, and show Brendan some cereal love.
Technorati Tags: cereal, breakfast, gods, comic book, graphic novel, Tony the Tiger, Cap’n Crunch, Frankenberry, Cookie Crisp, Rice Krispies, Sugar Bear
Posted by Randy at 1:55am
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Colossal Froot Loops!
October 25, 2006
Looks like Cereal Buzz has the scoop on the latest reinvention of a Kellogg’s favorite…
COLOSSAL FROOT LOOPS.
Yes, in the proud tradition of Mega M&M’s and Super Size Fries, you can now enjoy a bowl of Froot Loops twice their original size.
Pictured here is the first known image of the over-sized cereal in comparison to a normal specimen, courtesy of Toucan Sam.
Discovered at FrootLoops.com, natch.
Technorati Tags: cereal, Froot Loops, colossal, Toucan Sam, Kellogg’s
Posted by Randy at 2:41am
1 Comment »
The Cereal Bowl: A year in review
October 24, 2006
The Miami Herald has published an excellent collection of articles chronicling The Cereal Bowl’s first year in business. The twelve part series began in October 2005 and concluded last month.
What’s The Cereal Bowl, you ask? It’s the latest in a recent flurry of “cereal cafés” to open up across North America, such as Cereality, The Cereal Cabinet, and Bowls: A Cereal Joint (some pretty awful names, I know).
The Cereal Bowl and Cereality are the front runners in this new business genre, and they’re both expanding as franchises. The competition is so hot, they’re trying to sue each other out of existence. Lame.
The idea of a cereal café is something I’ve dreamed about since the mid-90’s. Good ideas were a dime a dozen back then, and I did nothing with it. Oh well, I knew someday someone would make it happen. Still, no cereal cafés have opened here in L.A. yet. Hmmm…
Technorati Tags: cereal, The Cereal Bowl, Cereality, cereal cafe, Miami
Posted by Randy at 12:30am
2 Comments »
Gamefly teams up with Kellogg’s
October 22, 2006
From Gamefly’s October 20th press release:
GameFly, the leading online video game rental service launched a marketing partnership with Kellogg Company in which consumers will be offered a 30-day free GameFly membership via an on-pack promotion on 30 million Kellogg cereal boxes including Frosted Flakes, Apple Jacks, Corn Pops, Frosted Mini-Wheats and Smorz.
Dude, that’s one helluva long run-on sentence.
Hey, I forgot all about Smorz cereal. I gotta remember to buy some of that tasty campfire goodness.
Technorati Tags: cereal, Gamefly, Kellogg’s
Posted by Randy at 11:45pm
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Hemp Plus Granola cereal review
October 20, 2006
There’s something satisfyingly subversive about walking out of a grocery store with a box of cereal that incorporates lil’ green cannabis leaves into its package design. I bought it at Trader Joe’s in Valencia along with a half gallon of vanilla soy milk — you know, for the full healthy hippie experience.
HempPlus Granola Cereal
The back of the box features an endorsement from a REAL nutritionist that vouches for the safe consumption of hemp. Basically she says hemp tastes good, is good for you, and won’t get you high. Kellogg’s used to print a similar endorsement on the back of Sugar Smacks boxes in the 70’s. Just kidding, Kellogg’s.
The official Cereal Buzz verdict: Deeeelicious. It’s like eating a bowl full of nature, man.
Technorati Tags: cereal, granola, hemp, organic, trader joes, valencia, natures path foods
Posted by Randy at 10:07pm
1 Comment »
Cereal art from the pros
October 19, 2006
Check out these epic renderings of some of our favorite cereal heroes. These sketches were produced by the animators at Blue Sky Studios as part of their weekly Blue Sky Challenge.
Blue Sky was the animation studio behind the movie Ice Age
The Lucky and Count Chocula interpretations are so-so, but Tony, the Cap’n, and Dig’em never looked better.
By way of AdJab.
Technorati Tags: cereal, Tony the Tiger, Lucky the Leprechaun, Count Chocula, Cap’n Crunch, Blue Sky Studios, art, Ice Age
Posted by Randy at 6:19pm
2 Comments »
It's feedin' time
