By Kev
Posted on December 20, 1999 9:12 am, in News Byproducts
With the press going wild trying to build their looks back at the year, decade, century and millenium, we at News Byproducts thought we would take a look back at the best looks back of the past century. This is our retrospective of the century's best retrospectives.
We've got a well-rounded look at this century that is coming to a close. There are two entries from Almost Food Magazine, but otherwise we only had one entry from each source. In just ten items, we've touched upon sports, food, animals, war, television, movies, science and math, business, toys and more.
| 10. | Best Uses of Cheez Whiz in the 70s (Almost Food Magazine) - We especially liked #3: Cheez Whiz as emergency glue for platform shoes. |
| 9. | The Century's Best Numbers (Things To Do For People Who Are Not Exciting Enough To Collect Stamps) - The Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, And Everything is "What is #1 on this list?" The answer, of course, is 42. |
| 8. | The Millenium's Biggest Hair (The Hair Channel) - The runner-up was 1970's Nordberg (OJ Simpson) in the Naked Gun. The winner was the 1960's beehive. |
| 7. | The '90's Best Packaged Meat or Meat Byproducts (Almost Food Magazine) - Spam wins for the 3rd decade in a row. Hot dogs are staging a big comeback, though. |
| 6. | A Century of Boring Sports (Boring Sports Magazine) - this retrospective captures the lack of excitement and challenge in all of the most boring sports. Highlights include snail watching and Extreme Sand Castles. |
| 5. | Best Quill Launches of the '40s (Modern Porcupine Magazine) - Far and away the winner was a group of porcupines that held off the Germans for 20 days before the Germans decided to let them be and went around them. |
| 4. | Where To Invest, 1930 (BusinessQuarter Radio Program) - A mattress was a good investment, paying out a full 0% per year, and providing a place to sleep. |
| 3. | A Look Back: The Century's Best Retrospectives (News Byproducts) - The passage of time without retrospectives would mean that publishers would actually have to come up with something new to print. So, this retrospective honors the art of recycling. We are particularly fond of #3 on the list. |
| 2. | Game Shows of the '80s (Tillervizin Maggerzeen) - Highlights include Cash for Quiche, the show in which the first contestant to make a quiche wins prize money, and Junk Bond King in which contestants have five minutes to convince someone to buy bonds in a fictitious company. |
| 1. | A Century of Breakfast Cereal Toys (CerealToy Watch) - Full-color photos with descriptions make this retrospective a standout. Just imagine the glee of a child who just found the liquid nitrogen canister in the bottom of a box of Chilly Flakes, or the vial of truth serum in SuperSpy Cereal. |
Keep reading NBp, for the companion to this article... A Look Forward, The Best Predictions for the Next Century.