2017 New Dews

These are the new Mtn Dew cans I acquired in 2017.

These have been out for several months, but this is the current can design for Mtn Dew.  Above I have the regular, diet, and caffeine free diet models.

I've done several posts regarding Mtn Dew and their Game Fuel promotions for various video games.  These cans came out to promote the newest console itself, the Xbox One X.

These are two holiday-themed cans that were released.  The first was Dew USA which came out around our Independence Day.  The second one is Holiday Brew which came out for this Christmas holiday season.

I'm sure there were other designs and promotions, but these are the ones I saw.  And now let's see what 2018 brings...

Christmas 2017

MERRY

CHRISTMAS

2017

Triple Shot

BANG!  BANG!  BANG!

An acquaintance of mine went on vacation over the summer and returned with three cans of BANG energy drink, a brand not found where I live in the Midwest.

But the can is clear to state the energy does not come from tons of sugar, which causes a metabolic crash when it wears off.  This drink boosts you with creatine, caffeine, CoQ10 (afraid to ask what this is), and branched chain amino acids.  You know, sugar actually doesn't sound too bad.

And the flavors sound fun: Cotton Candy, Sour Heads, and Star Blast.

So for a no-carbs, no-sugar, no-calorie, no-artificial colors energy drink made in the USA, you can't beat BANG for your buck.

pew pew

Too Cold & Too Hot

In 2016 Sprite unveiled its lyric cans.  I found a few cans here and there and then decided to buy a 12-pack to see how many different cans I could get at once.  We don't drink much soda in this house, so it took a while for us to make it through that 12-pack.  In fact, one can got buried in the fridge and was in there over a year.  When I discovered it a few months ago, this is what I found:

For some reason this can must have been in a really cold spot, the top had extended.  The soda inside was not frozen, I bottom-opened the can and drained it.  This one went in the Oddities Wing of the collection.

One morning over the summer I arrived at work and in my office sat a Coca-Cola can.  In fact, it was this one:

Where had it come from?  Later that day, our delivery driver said that can had been left in one of the delivery vehicles and the summer heat must have caused the top to extend.  I told him about the similar Sprite can I had at home.  So I bottom-opened this can, drained it, and added it to the Oddities Wing of the collection.

Whether a can gets too cold or too hot, the results are the same.  Now there's a science project for you, kids.

Double Left Hook

Someone I know recently returned from a car show in Daytona Beach, FL.  As a souvenir, I was given these two Left Hook energy drink cans from there.  I've never seen that brand here in the Midwest.

The first was a mango tropical can.  I was told this was the better of the two flavors.  Left Hook is distributed by RaceTrac, located in Atlanta, GA.

The other flavor was citrus.  The caffeine content is 77 mg/ 8 oz, and since these are 16 oz cans with two servings each, that's a lot of caffeine.  For reference, a regular Pepsi has 38 mg/ 12 oz.

I wonder if the name comes from the after-effect when the caffeine wears off... like you just took a left hook to the head.

Puzzling Coca-Cola Can

My parents went on a vacation over the summer and this is the souvenir they brought home for me.

And what makes this can so special? I thought as I removed it from the gift bag.  And then I noticed it was a puzzle.  I took the can out and removed the plastic from around it and the can looked remarkably real.  It even had a fake tab on the top.

I wasn't sure how a can could be a puzzle, but when I removed the first few pieces I saw the puzzle was just a shell around a central core.

Each piece has a recessed circle which fits snugly on the pegs around the core.  Although this puzzle only has forty pieces, it's still a challenge.  

As with any other puzzle, it's easiest to start with a border.  In this case, either the top or the bottom edge of the can.

Pepsi Skinny Can

The Pepsi "skinny can" was introduced in early 2011 during Fashion Week.  It was described as a "taller, sassier" version of the traditional can, made in "celebration of beautiful, confident women."

OF COURSE that was going to cause controversy.  Some critics said it promoted the idea that skinny is better.  The National Eating Disorder Association said the new can's image was "thoughtless and irresponsible."  Others complained it conveyed the message, "If you're confident on the inside, you'll be skinny on the outside."

Pepsi replied by saying, "We are sensitive to this interpretation, and that is definitely not our intent."  They said the can and its campaign were focused on design.

Blah-blah-blah...

Last week a co-worker handed me two new Pepsi skinny cans.

The patterns on the cans could easily be missed, especially on the blue can.  But I thought they were really interesting.

What will they think of next?  Skinny jeans?

Three Cheers

Ok, Three Cheerwines. 

You know how someone will give you a soda that you don't feel like drinking at the time, so you put it in the fridge for later?  And then someone gives you another one and you put that one in the fridge for later too.  And then it happens again.  I recently took inventory of the sodas I've been given and discovered a nice little Cheerwine collection. 

One is a can labeled "Local Legends National Treasures" which requests stories of local legends be submitted to the Cheerwine website.

Another one is a glass bottle also sporting the Cheerwine Legend label.

The third one is a plastic bottle of Cheerwine Kreme, which is a combination of Cheerwine soda and a Krispy Kreme donut.  I haven't tasted it yet, but that sure does sound SWEET!

Three cheers for Cheerwine!!!

Assassin's Creed Origins

Back in September I wrote a post about an Assassin's Creed Origins Monster energy can someone gave me.  Here's an update...

The game released on Friday, October 27.  I had pre-ordered it for the Playstation 4, so when I got home from work that day it was waiting for me on my front porch.  I've put in several hours so far and I can say it's a great game!!!

And since my September blog post, the other two Monster cans in the set were given to me.

fronts

The 16 oz. cans were just advertisements for the game.  Each of the three flavors (above) featured a different character from the game (below.)

backs

But the larger 24 oz. can came with a code inside the lid.  I signed into my Playstation account and redeemed the code.  The next time I played the game I had a bundle of crafting materials waiting for me.  Those materials are collected and used to upgrade your combat abilities.

So if you are interested in ancient Egypt and want to be able to walk around and observe the daily lives of the Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans in that part of the world and see what the architecture possibly looked like when it was newer, grab a copy of the game and start assassinating.

And grab a couple of the larger Monster cans while you're at it so you can upgrade those combat abilities quicker!  It'll come in handy and it'll quench your thirst.

Sunkist Halloween

And for the final post in this Halloween season, we see a Sunkist holiday can out in the autumnal wilds.

And here we have a couple of pumpkin heads enjoying a flavorful orange drink.

A couple of smiles from orange BFF's.

The Halloween season is coming to a close.  It's been fun watching for seasonal backgrounds to use with  seasonal cans.  But there's a part of me that's ready to get back to featuring video game cans and new designs.  And before we know it...  Christmas will be here.

A&W Halloween

The sun was setting and I could hear the vampires preparing to come out for breakfast.

Tattered strips of cloth from careless mummies littered the dead branches and thorny bushes.

I stepped in a pile of green goo, only to realize it was the ectoplasmic remains of some ghostly party in the woods the previous night.

The old witch's hut was just beyond the hill dotted with grave markers of the sickly frontiersmen that passed through these parts 150 years ago.

And then I found the perfect spot to take pictures of this year's A&W Halloween can... deep in the Haunted Woods.

It may not have happened exactly like that, but it's what I imagined as I trekked through the nature preserve outside of town to take these pictures.  Besides, who could be scared with a can showing such a cute little wolf man and his jack-o-lantern?  BOO!  Less than two weeks away...

7Up Halloween

The leaves are changing color and falling.  The mornings and evenings are cool enough for a jacket.  The sun comes up later and later each morning, while setting earlier and earlier each evening.

And I got my first Dr Pepper Snapple Group holiday can yesterday.  Each fall their 7Up, A&W, Sunkist, Canada Dry, Welch's, and Sun Drop cans receive the Halloween treatment with designs featuring iconic monsters or other scary themes.

I've never completed a set, but it's still fun getting just a few.

October Loco

A co-worker gave this can of Monster energy drink to me last week.  It's one of the coolest cans I have now.  And in the spirit of taking pictures of spooky cans in autumnal backgrounds, I carried it with me today in search of the perfect background.  And I finally found it... a farmers market.

This Monster Juice is "mango loco" flavor.  I didn't get to try it, the can was empty when it was given to me.  But I was told it was very good!

On the back of the can is a short story about Halloween.  By the way, Halloween is only three and a half weeks away.  It'll be here soon...

October Is Here

Fall is here.  October is here.  My favorite time of year is here.  

This month I will be featuring some of my favorite Spooky/Halloween cans.  

The first can is Refresco de Los Muertos energy drink.  It means "Refreshment of the Dead" in Spanish.  Nice.  A friend gave this to me after he returned from a vacation in Dallas, Texas, this summer.

What better place to take a picture of the Refreshment of the Dead than a cemetery?  This is the cemetery where my grandparents, aunt, and uncle are buried.  This is not one of their tombstones, it was just an interesting one near the cornfield ready for harvest.

Coca-Cola Zero Sugar

I read about this several weeks ago, but it wasn't until last week that I saw the can.  The can came in a trash bag full of cans someone gave me to be recycled.

If you were a fan of Coke Zero, get  ready for change.  Coca-Cola Zero Sugar has replaced original Coke Zero.  What's the difference?  Coca-Cola claims the new version tastes more like regular Coca-Cola but still has no sugar and no calories.  Why the name change?  People knew Coke Zero had no calories, but many didn't realize it contained no sugar, so the new name makes it clear the drink has neither.  

Back to the can... the front is iconic Coca-Cola red with white lettering, yet behind the red is black from the Coke Zero design.  I think it's an awesome combination of the two brand designs.  It should really stand out on store shelves.  

Will this be a success?  It can't be worse than the public outcry over New Coke back in 1985 when they fiddled with their flagship drink's formula.  Time will tell.  I haven't tasted it yet, but I don't consider myself a "soda connoisseur" so generally if it whets my whistle it's fine for me.  But there are exceptions.

Cucumber and Seaweed

  

What a strange post title, but it'll make an even stranger snack some day...

Last weekend I was driving around the area and found a different Big Lots to check out.  I've mentioned Big Lots before as a good source of new cans for my collection.  And this time I found a can I certainly didn't have, a Cucumber Lime Rockstar energy drink.  It sounded so strange that I had to get it.  And I'm curious to see what it tastes like.

And then we saw something that sounded more foul than a cucumber/lime drink... roasted seaweed.  So I picked up a package of that too.  I know it's going to be one crazy snack when I get around to having it.  

Later we went into an ALDI grocery store and I saw a new Gridlock energy drink can I didn't have yet.  This was in a cool chrome can with light blue frosted/textured printing.  And it was a flavor I didn't have yet, Ultra White.

So it ended up being a pretty good outing.  Two new cans, one new snack, and a date with a bottle of mouthwash when I get around to trying this cucumber/seaweed combo.

Assassin's Creed Destiny

Do you play video games?  I do.

Have you played any Assassin's Creed games?  I have.

Are you excited about the upcoming Assassin's Creed Origins set in ancient Egypt?  I am!

So I was filled with joy when a coworker brought this Monster can to my office and asked if I had one like it yet.

Usually a can like this promoting a video game will have a code you can redeem which gives you some kind of experience boost or cosmetic item within the game, but this is just an advertisement.  A very cool-looking advertisement.


The game launches on October 27, so seven weeks from now I'll be playing it on my PS4.







But until then, I'll be in Destiny 2 traveling throughout our solar system defeating the evilness of Dominus Ghaul.

By the way, there is a 3-can set from Rockstar energy drink for Destiny 2, so I'll be watching for those.  But that'll be another post...

Black & White

Black & White

Veteran Cans

Mom called the other day and said she and Dad were at a store that had veteran/military Coca-Cola cans.  She asked if I had them yet.  Nope.  So they picked up a set of the tall 16 oz cans for me.  One side of the can shows the Coca-Cola bottle in the design of the USA flag.  They also picked up a Diet Coke can with the same flag-bottle design.

The reason these are so important to me is because Dad served in Vietnam.  He's proud of it, too.  He has info about his division and where they served framed and hanging in their front hallway.

He received two Purple Hearts while there.  When I went by their house to pick up the cans, I asked him to get the medals out so I could include pictures of them in this post.

He also brought out some of his other medals.  He has more, but they are buried a little deeper upstairs.

This post may have been more appropriate on Veteran's Day or Memorial Day, but it also goes to show you don't have to wait for those two days each year to honor our military and veterans.  Any day is a good day for that.  

My thanks to all who have served!

Total Solar Eclipse 2017

It's almost here!!!

In case you haven't heard (haha), there's going to be an eclipse on Monday, 8/21/17.  It's the first total solar eclipse in the continental US in 38 years.  Everyone in the continental US will at least be able to see a partial eclipse and those lucky enough to live along the center line will enjoy the total eclipse.  And who lives along the center line?  Me.

They predict MANY thousands of people will be flooding Southern Illinois to watch.  I will be at my sister's house out in the middle of nowhere, away from all the traffic and crowds.  I should probably sit back with a nice cool Pepsi on Monday to enjoy the show, but it'll probably be a Diet Coke instead.  Why a Pepsi?

A few weeks ago I found this discarded can lying on the ground.  I was excited to see it was an advertisement for the eclipse.  It's a fun piece of memorabilia.

* Side note - this is the 400th post on this site.  Yay.