Features, Food and Drink

A Foodie Goodbye To The “Big Mac” Daddy; Jim Delligatti Has Died (1918-2016)

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Foodies around the realm are having a Mac attack at the sad news that Jim Delligatti, the creator of the famous McDonald’s hamburger the Big Mac, has passed away. He was 98 and will forever be known for this incredible fast food burger. In honor of his passing, I paid a visit to my local franchise and ordered up a couple of them and a small fries. They were two for $6 in my neighborhood so I figured the indulgence would be worked off with all of the walking coming up in the next few days. I don’t eat these all that much nowadays despite loving the occasional hamburger at various pubs and clubs that I venture into for my PiercingMetal.com forays. Its a perfect blend of two whole beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun. Did you know there was actually a jingle for this way back in the day? There was. We even had a giant Big Mac as the policeman of a place called McDonaldland which many of you readers are far too young to remember but it was surely fun. Funnier still was that action figures existed of these characters and while I had them they have been long lost to the sands of time. They’re worth lots of money now too as well.

The history of the hamburger known as the Big Mac was quite interesting to read and you can learn about the famous hamburger on its Wikipedia entry below. Goodnight Mr. Delligatti, thanks for your creation and for increasing my waistline a little bit over the years. May you Rest In Peace.

Official Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Mac

Features, PiercingKen Says

The Nominees For The 2017 Toy Of The Year Are Unveiled

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Though I’ve been attending the American International Toy Fair event for several years as a member of press for my music and Pop Culture review site PiercingMetal.com, its only since about 2015 that I began expanding my event overviews using The Chronicles Of PiercingKen – Sure I mentioned that I would be in attendence at the industry event but that was it. Now there are lots of additional items that are widely different licenses and products from what you see on the other site. Those narratives can be examined on THIS LINK. Now the other day a notice arrived informing the press about the nominations for the 2017 Toy Of The Year and all the categories that are making it up this year. I cast my vote and what I am here to tell you in this narrative is that you as a consumer can also use your voting power and help select the very best from the companies that have been nominated. How cool is that. Check out the categories and the nominees – The voting link will be in my closing thoughts.

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Here Are The 2017 Toy of the Year Finalists – Listed In Alphabetical Order By Category

ACTION FIGURE OF THE YEAR
Toys that include action figures and their play sets/accessories
* DC Super Hero Girls™ Action Figure Assortment by Mattel, Inc.
* Fossil Hunter Lottie by Arklu, Ltd.
* IAmElemental Series 1/Courage Lunch Box Carrying Case With Complete Set of Action Figures by IAmElemental
* PJ Masks Headquarters Playset by Just Play
* Pokémon Throw ‘n’ Pop Poké Ball Duel Set by TOMY
* Stikbot by ZING
* Transformers Generations Titans Return Fortress Maximus Action Figure by Hasbro, Inc.

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ACTIVE/OUTDOOR TOY OF THE YEAR
Toys that are designed for active/outdoor play
* 3-in-1 EZ Fold Wagon by Radio Flyer
* Air Hogs Helix Sentinel Drone by Spin Master Ltd.
* Bunch O Balloons by Zuru
* Hot Wheels® Sky Shock™ RC Vehicle by Mattel, Inc.
* Nerf N-Strike Modulus Tri-Strike Blaster by Hasbro, Inc.
* Sky Viper v2400FPV HD Streaming Drone with FPV Headset by SkyRocket Toys
* VEX Robotics Zip Flyer by HEXBUG
* Xtreme Cycle Moto-Cam by WickedCoolToys
Continue reading The Nominees For The 2017 Toy Of The Year Are Unveiled →

Holiday Hijinx, Lifestyle

Happy Thanksgiving 2016 To All

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Hey there my readers, I just wanted to take a few minutes of your time to wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving if you are in a part of the world that celebrates this today.

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It’s a good day to reflect upon the things that make you feel thankful and I’d like to say that I am very thankful for the supportive parents that I have and my sweet feline girl Spooke. They make my personal world a whole lot better when it comes down to it. I’m thankful for my health and the friends in my immediate circle both real life and cyberspace wise. I’m thankful for a very interesting pursuit/passion that lets me celebrate the things I enjoy on a daily basis. I am also very thankful that you readers choose to come visit me here every now and again. It’s a pleasure to offer up some entertainment to distract from the occasional pitfalls of the day. Here’s a couple of things that you can do today to show some thanks and appreciation.

– If your parents are still with you and you’re not seeing them make a phone call. Not an email or text. No one is too busy for that.
– Spoil your pet if you have one. Extra treats, move away from the space that they want on the couch and added love to let them realize the special that they bring to your day.
– Text people you don’t see all that often and wish you did. Not a group message mind you but a quick thought from the heart. I feel that this goes a long way. I know I love those when I see them but definitely not the group message stuff since no one likes those anymore.
– Use your social networks in a positive fashion. No arguing politics or state of the world affairs. That stuff can wait for a day IMHO but chiming in with good words on other friends posts, that is best done a lot today.

That’s all I have to say but as usual with a post like this, I might add a photo of some of the food that was enjoyed today when that time comes. It’s not bragging, I just like taking photos of food 🙂 Enjoy your day.

Features, PiercingKen Says

Happy Metallica Day :)

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“Happy Metallica Day” my friends! Okay, so while it’s not really an official holiday of any kind, the music sites all around the web are celebrating the fact that Metallica has a brand new album that was released today. It’s been eight years since they released anything so its kind of cool. Anyway, today there was a fun logo generator that you could create your name or band or whatever the heck you wanted to do and have it look like a Metallica logo. I thought it would be fun to generate a logo for this website and you can see that below.

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Of course since this site name is pretty much my name in reverse, I thought it would be cool to do my name as well so here it is.

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Now I should stress that I actually did this for my main music site first and even changed the sites logo to reflect this new design. I changed it to black with white letters and will probably keep it up on the site as our logo for the next few weeks. Its fun and I think it looks cool. Do you like it? I hope so.

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That’s all I have with this one, just a little side distraction to get the thoughts out of my head. You can get your own “Metallica” styled logo by clicking HERE. Check out the new album as well since its really, really good.

Features, PiercingKen Says

Get Out And Vote In Election 2016: Trump Vs. Clinton

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Yes the Big Day is here and its time to make your voice count as a citizen of the United States (provided you have registered to do so which I really hope you have if you are of legal age). I don’t generally soapbox this kind of thing and I shall not get political at all but will say that despite what you think about the process, your vote does count and your voice as well. The Presidential Election this year is surely one loaded with a lot of drama as we have seen in the debates and in the press as Donald Trump goes head to head with Hillary Clinton. I hit my local voting center (a nearby school) a little while ago and when you sign in they hand you the ballot and this massive folder to protect your decision.

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Here’s a part of the ballot where you see the names of Trump and Clinton along with some Independent Party names like Jill Stein and Gary Johnson. I’m voting for one of the main two but will not disclose in this narrative and I honestly feel that in this case a third party candidate or a write in is not the best course of action to take. Many of us are torn with what to do in this one since both candidates have been considered quite unpopular among the people despite having their strong support side. If you are frozen into what side you should vote perhaps view it as the one that you like just a tad more than the other one. Each has some good ideas and each has some truly “out there” ideas. I’ll be honest and say that I don’t like either of them but I am not staying home and avoiding my chance to vote. I always do this no matter what the outcome is. I only hope for the best.

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In addition to the nominees for the presidential race there are a bunch of Senate names and some court justices. Take a stand on those as well since some directly affect your community. I filled out every possible item on the ballot but only snapped the single shot that you see above. After you have finished with your choices, you go to a scanner and load the ballot into it and give the person watching the process that big folder. There is no more punching cards or pulling the giant lever. Technology has won out. Once you have voted you get one of these stickers and its the perfect snapshot for your Instagram or Facebook timeline since that is what people seem to do with them nowadays. Oh or Snapchat. Everyone is doing things in Snapchat as well now.

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I did my part and got my sticker to prove it. Some friends have reported on their Facebook status that the stickers were gone which surprises me since its still early. Just make sure you do it since its your right. Let’s hope for the country’s best since this is a big job to do. I’ve never been so nervous before about a decision and with that I say see you next time.

THIS JUST IN: It’s just about 2AM as I add this note in and I’ve just gotten home from the Marillion show that I had attended. Since I had WiFi access I was watching the numbers tally over the course of the night and shared it with some of the fans I was near. I started following the known results a little after 9PM and Donald Trump was ahead of Clinton by some leaps but as Yogi Berra used to say “it ain’t over till its over” and the bigger Electoral College numbers hadn’t come in yet. That was different at 2AM and it was pretty clear that Donald J. Trump was going to be the next President of The United States. When I left the show around 12:30AM I would come back up into Times Square and there were thousands of people assembled and all glued to overhead screens flashing the latest news. It was fascinating to observe the level of actual quiet present despite all of these masses. Let’s hope for the best.

Interesting Weblinks:
Electorial College: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electoral_College_(United_States)
Republican Party: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_Party_(United_States)
Democratic Party: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Party_(United_States)
Donald J. Trump: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Trump
Hillary Rodham Clinton: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillary_Clinton