The Collecting Compulsion

 In: Rave > 2000
 Posted: 2000
 Staff: Al Sjoerdsma (E-Mail)

I finally got around to eating my can of Chef Boyardee Spider-Man Pasta with Meatballs in Tomato Sauce. I'd had it for a couple of years and the can was getting a little rusty so I figured it was time. As it tells you on the can, the pasta comes in three different shapes. Spider-Man himself (which doesn't look anything like him), Spider-Man's face (which looks a little bit like him) and a Spider Web (which looks pretty good). What did it taste like? Well, what does anything put out by Chef Boyardee taste like? It's all about the same.

Now, I know what you want to ask. "Did you keep the empty can?" Well, yeah, but not because I'm a big collector of such things. Well, yeah, there was that time when I was in an Ameristop convenience store in Cincinnati, Ohio buying a newspaper. The slightly large gray-haired lady behind the counter had a name tag on that said (I kid you not)..."Tiny". Next to the cash register was a display of Spider-Man Pez candy and dispenser. (Two lemon candy packets, one orange candy.) Cost: $1.39. Well, how could I resist giving up such a paltry amount for the privilege of buying Spidey from Tiny? I had to do it.

But that's really about the extent of it. After all, those Spidey refrigerator magnets were a gift and I collect empty cereal boxes of all kinds so having one of Spider-Man cereal is not unusual. Yeah, I bought the Spider-Man figurine mounted on a solid cherry wood base but that was designed by John Romita! And the posters came free from a comic shop and I don't even know where the Spidey and Dr. Octopus action figures came from and I had to buy the Ditko Spidey t-shirts, right? But that doesn't mean I'm a sucker for anything Spidey, right? I don't collect this stuff. I mean, I can take it or leave it. Most of it just sort of showed up, right? It's not like I had to have it. After all, it was... I mean, it... oh, forget it. Anybody know where I can get one of those cool Spider-Man pinball machines?

 In: Rave > 2000
 Posted: 2000
 Staff: Al Sjoerdsma (E-Mail)