The PopCulteer
December 10, 2010

Cereal Entertainment

Today’s PopCult Gift Guide suggestion is a bit unusual. Giving food is an age-old holiday tradition.  Cheese, meat, wine, pasta, cake, candy and cookies are just some of the foodie treats that people give as gifts this time of year.  But there’s one cool food item that is rarely given as a gift, and it’s not only perfect for the holiday season, but it’s also easy to wrap.

I’m talking about breakfast cereal. I mean the good stuff, the kind you ate as a kid, not anything healthy or flaky.  If you give cereal as a Christmas gift, it’d better have a high sugar cnntent. You don’t want to give anybody anything like corn flakes or bran. That would be like giving them underwear and socks.

They're always after this, you know

The PopCult Gift Guide suggestion for today is a box or two of hyper-sweet cereal with cartoon characters on the package. It can be an old classic like Captain Crunch or Lucky Charms, or you can venture online and order something really cool like Quisp.

RFC Big Shot Melanie Larch surprised me with two boxes of Quisp last year and I proposed on the spot. I tend to do that several times a day anyway, but I was really flabbergasted by the wonderful gift of the most fantastic cereal ever created by God or man.

If you know someone’s favorite childhood cereal, surprise them with a box of it. They will thank you profusely while simulatneously covering you with cereal spittle from where they crammed a fist-full of the sugary goodness in their pie-hole.

Alien Life found at Kroger!

If you just want to give a goofy gift, check out some of the lesser-known store brands. I found a real gem at Kroger. It’s their “Alien Cereal,” with fruit-punch flavored oat cereal and star-shaped marshamallows.  It was cool finding this throwback to the glory days of original-equity cereals like Freakies. In fact, the packaging and design of the Alien characters reminded me a bit of Freakies, but the cereal is much better-tasting.

There are three shapes and colors of the oat cereal–tan “moons,” purple “flying saucers,” and blue “aliens,” along with the aforementioned marshmallow stars.  Being a house brand, this is cheap–less than two bucks for a 12-ounce box. A mere eight quarters can buy your way into a blissful sugar-induced coma.

There’s all kinds of weird house brands of cereal floating around out there. If I could find something this weird and cool at Kroger, imagine what might turn up at Aldis, Wal Mart, Sav-A-Lot or Foodland! Or you can sitick with an old chestnut like Count Chocula or Cookie Crisp. It’s all good.

So there you have today’s Gift Guide pick–a box or two of good, old-fashioned, cartoony, bad-for-you, jolly, candylike cereal–part of a complete nutritious breakfast!

Weekend Music

There’s lots of live music in town this weekend.

Friday, the RFC cameras will be on hand as New York’s Linfinity invade The Empty Glass, with infantry support from RFC 100 guests, The Nanker Phelge. The show kicks off around 10 PM with a $5 cover.

Also Friday, Happy Minor with Dennis Hopper’s Army will be perfoming at Sam’s Uptown Cafe. They will also be playing later in the evening, and the cover will likely be four dollars.

RFC faves, The Diablo Blues Band will bring their blues magic to the Capitol Grille on Friday night, starting at 9 PM, with a four-dollar cover.

At the Blue Parrot tonight, Dinosaur Burps and the new Concept will rock the stage beginning at 10 PM, I’m guessing the cover is five bucks.

Comparsa will be around the corner at The Boulevard Tavern, with a four-dollar cover, beginning at 9 PM tonight.

Saturday sees the return of RFC 112 guests, Crossroads, playing their first gig since frontman Jeff Mangus underwent heart bypass surgery in October.  They will be at The Empty Glass, with Virginia Street coming in from Morgantown for support.  The show starts around 10 PM, with a five-to-eight dollar cover.

That’s it for this week’s PopCulteer. Keep reading PopCult next week as our 2010 Gift Guide continues with even more great gift ideas.