There’s Always Been Something Sad About That King
Sometimes a funny product is introduced for a very serious reason. For example, Burger King now has “Unhappy Meals.”
The fast food chain is calling them “Real Meals” —they’ve also been dubbed “Unhappy Meals,” a counterpoint to McDonalds’s “Happy Meals” —that include the Blue Meal, the Pissed Meal, the YAAASMeal, the Salty Meal, and the DGAF Meal, with DGAF standing for “Don’t Give a…”, well, you can figure out the rest. The company explains that they’ve introduced the meals to coincide with Mental Health Awareness Month. The meals reflect “real” moods, and they’ve put the meals together because “not everyone is happy all the time.” They’ve even temporarily changed their slogan from “Have It Your Way” to “Feel Your Way.” Right now they’re only available as limited editions in cities such as New York City, Miami, Seattle, Los Angeles, and Austin, Texas.
There’s been a mixed response to the meals, with some people finding them funny and other people cringing over the connection to mental health awareness, a real and serious problem. The meals don’t come with toys, which might actually make people even more unhappy, though I guess these aren’t really for kids.
If the company hadn’t made the connection to mental health awareness, Unhappy Meals could have been a funny joke, a satirical response to their competitor’s product. Then again, they do seem like something this guy would endorse.
Was That a Coffee Cup on Game of Thrones?
We live in a world where photos and videos can be easily faked, but that coffee cup was real! No idea on why it was left in this scene from last week’s episode, though the show jokingly explained that it was a mistake: Daenerys had actually ordered an herbal tea.
I have another theory. Maybe there has been a coffee cup hidden in every single episode of Game of Thrones since it began and viewers have had to find them. Sort of like our Benjamin Franklin key.
The World Video Game Hall of Fame
That game you often play when your boss isn’t around has finally made the big time.
Microsoft’s Solitaire — the computer version — is on this year’s list of inductees to the World Video Game Hall of Fame. Other games honored this year include Mortal Kombat, Super Mario Kart, and Colossal Cave Adventure. I have no idea what Colossal Cave Adventureis.
Those games join others that have already been honored, including Pac-Man, Space Invaders, Doom, Donkey Kong, John Madden Football, and Oregon Trail. Those are great choices but I’m not going to take the Hall seriously until they induct Asteroids and Galaga.
RIP Peter Mayhew, John Llewellyn Moxey, David Winters, Rachel Held Evans, Barbara Perry
Peter Mayhew was best known as the original Chewbacca in the Star Wars movies, a role he played through 2015’s The Force Awakens. He died last week at the age of 74.
John Llewellyn Moxey was a prolific director of TV shows, including Magnum, P.I., Miami Vice, Mission: Impossible, Charlie’s Angels, The Saint, Hawaii Five-O, Mannix, and Murder, She Wrote. He also directed TV movies like The Night Stalker, The Cradle Will Fall, andIntimate Strangers. He died last month at the age of 94.
David Winters was an actor, dancer, and choreographer. He appeared in the original Broadway production of West Side Story(and also the film) and went on to choreograph Elvis Presley and Ann-Margret in Viva Las Vegas, variety shows like Shindig!and Hullabaloo,and other specials. He started out as an actor, appearing on such shows as Perry Mason, 77 Sunset Strip, and Burke’s Law. He died last month at the age of 80.
Rachel Held Evans was the author of several books that explored religion and faith, including A Year of Biblical Womanhood, Faith Unraveled, and Inspired. She died Saturday at the age of 37.
Barbara Perry was a veteran character actress who was the first person to play Buddy’s wife Pickles on The Dick Van Dyke Show. She also appeared on The Andy Griffith Show, The Hathaways, St. Elsewhere, Newhart,How I Met Your Mother, and a million other shows and films since 1933. She was also an accomplished stage actress and dancer. She died Sunday at the age of 97.
Headline of the Week
“Humans Will Eat Maggot Sausages as a Meat Alternative: Scientists”
Three thoughts about this news:
- No, we won’t.
- I’d rather eat the scientists.
- Now that’s an unhappy meal.
This Week in History
John Steinbeck Wins Pulitzer (May 6, 1940)
The author got the award for The Grapes of Wrath. He also won a Nobel Prize in Literature in 1962, though he almost didn’t.
President Harry S. Truman Born (May 8, 1884)
What did the “S” stand for? It was a compromise he made to honor both of his grandfathers. (And yes, you should always write it with that period.)
This Week in SEP History: Shopping for Mother’s Day (May 10, 1947)
Lots of gifts to choose from in that store window. This year, get mom a broom or a meat grinder. Moms love those!
Post Writers You Should Read: Roy Huggins
In the Post issue above is the fourth installment of the noir serial Too Late for Tears by Roy Huggins. Huggins wrote for the Postmany times in his career. Besides Too Late for Tears, his novel The Double Take and the short stories “Now You See It” and “Appointment with Fear” were also published in our pages. He started out as a novelist and screenwriter, but you may know him best as the creator of such TV shows as The Rockford Files, The Fugitive, 77 Sunset Strip, and Maverick. He wrote hundreds of TV scripts and stories. He died in 2002.
By the way, Huggins also wrote the screenplay for the movie version of Too Late for Tears, starring Lizabeth Scott, Don DeFore, and Dan Duryea. It was recently restored by the UCLA Film and Television Archive and Eddie Muller’s Film Noir Foundation.
Brunch!
Mother’s Day is one of those holidays you shouldn’t forget. You could probably forget Christmas and it wouldn’t be as bad as forgetting the day to honor your mom. So do something special for her this Sunday. Maybe even plan a special old-fashioned brunch with these ideas from a 1948 issue of The Country Gentleman.
Next Week’s Holidays and Events
National Train Day (May 11)
It was started by Amtrak in 2008, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t a worthwhile day to celebrate. Here’s a great piece by Post Archive Director Jeff Nilsson on why we don’t see steam locomotives anymore.
National Sea Monkey Day (May 15)
Do they still have ads for these things in the back of comic books like they did when I was a kid? Here’s what they actually are.
Featured image: Shutterstock
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Comments
Burger King IS trying out an all-natural, meatless, plant-based vegetarian version of The Whopper called the “Impossible Whopper” in certain large, key cities across the U.S. as an experiment. If it’s a hit, it should go nationwide. This is a good idea.
The “Unhappy Meals” described above with their unhealthy descriptions and foul-mouthed names is a bad idea. Do we really need a major fast food company sanctioning this ghettoized negativity in this already ugly, maxed-out ghetto culture? Too many Americans are already unhappy, angry, neurotic and psychotic on nearly EVERYTHING now as it is. I say be gone with it!
Unfortunately, I don’t know about the ‘Game of Thrones’ coffee cup incident either. Just guessin’ here it may have been intentionally done to create additional publicity/attention for it. As for the Video Game Hall of Fame, I don’t know what ‘Colossal Cave Adventure’ is either (and don’t care). Ask Troy about it; no doubt it may be material for another upcoming article.
I’ll have to look into Roy Huggins as you suggest for some good reading material. Thanks for the beautiful Post cover and the Mother’s Day suggestions. I may be getting dragged into something I’ll have to laugh and smile through on Sunday with my pseudo mother-in-law. Hopefully she’ll extinguish her cigarette outside, far away from me, and not inside (in the foyer), in one of the cupcake’s frosting!