Knockoff Girl Scout Samoas?!

There is always some sort of solicitation going on outside of grocery stores here in Seattle. Girl Scout Cookie season is the part of the year that I look forward to giving my money to someone else other than Safeway on a grocery store run. According to the Girl Scout Cookie website, I have to wait another 114 days until I start seeing tables piled with colorful boxes.

I always look forward to blowing away any cash I have in pockets on Samoas, those delectable lug nut-shaped vanilla cookies encrusted in coconut shavings and covered in chocolate and caramel. They're also known as Caramel deLites, depending on the area. Two bakeries supply the Girl Scouts with their cookies, Little Brownie Bakers and ABC Bakers. Depending on the bakery, the cookie name may be different. Comparing images, deLites seem to have more chocolate stripes than Samoas. Samoas come from Little Brownie, while Caramel deLites are a product of ABC. Regardless of the name, these treasures only come in purple colored packages of 15, as opposed to 30 or 40, like Thin Mints or Trefoils.






















I was walking down the cookie aisle of Safeway during and I stumbled upon a purple package of Safeway branded Fudge Caramel Coconut cookies. Generic branded food usually is distinctly different tasting for the worse, but for a fraction of the price of name brands. At $2.50/ box during the offseason of Girl Scout cookies, I decided to give them a try.

Right out of the box, the most noticeable difference is that these cookies are completely covered in chocolate from top to bottom, no Fudge Stripe-like lines revealing the caramel and coconut. The configuration is slightly different, with coconut and caramel both on top AND under the cookie portion instead of being just on top. Upon taking a bite, there seems to be less caramel. Often strings of caramel will stretch out of a Samoa on first bite. I wonder if the chocolate covering has something to due with this: more chocolate, less caramel. Regardless of the lack of caramel, as well as coconut, the cookie taste remarkably similar. As I'm writing this I don't have a Samoa to directly compare the taste, but I cannot tell any glaring differences in taste.












Has Safeway found a way of making a profit off of a nonprofit favorite? Have they partnered up with one of the bakeries or have they figured out the formula. Comparing the ingredients on the box (nutrition facts: Samoas, Caramel deLites), the ingrediants for Safeway's FCC cookies are most similar to the Caramel deLites. While comparing nutrition facts, FCC share similarities with Samoas at 150 calories/serving (2 cookies) to deLites' 140 calories/serving but fits in the middle when it comes to sodium. Samoas are only 55 mg of sodium/serving, FCC w/ 80 mg, and deLites last with 85 mg/serving.

I can't seem to buy these cookies off of Safeway's website, so hopefully these weren't cookies that couldn't sell and are now, or soon to be, discontinued . I'd hate to have to clean out my local store of a hidden treasure.

Both Little Brownie and ABC share recipes featuring their famous cookies. I'm going to have to try the Fried Samoas Shrimp, but if someone wants to grant me a birthday wish it would have to be making me the Samoas Dream Cake.


What's your favorite Girl Scout cookie?


You guys want some cookies?


The Man Show Boy sells Girl Scout Cookies

Baseball vs Football

Football season has started this weekend with the NCAA's first full week of games. The NFL begins next Sunday. The MLB is nearing towards the end of the season, with the teams duking it out for those wild card spots. Here's the late George Carlin's take on both sports:

George Carlin's Take on Football vs. Baseball

Um..It's Like...Did Anyone See the Movie 'TRON'? We're Getting a Sequel?

Disney released at test footage of their sequel of their groundbreaking 1982 film TRON at Comic-Con in 3D. This footage is actually over a year old, as it was screened but not released to the public. Now you can see it online in glorious HD. The film will be called TRON: Legacy.

TRON: Legacy test footage

Alice in Wonderland Trailer Teases US

I haven't posted in awhile, I've got much to catch up on. Anyways, we see our first peak at Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, fresh from Comic-Con:

Alice in Wonderland Teaser:

Remembering the King of Pop

Bidding farewell to Michael Jackson, I reflect upon my memories I have of the Hoosier pop star. I don't think I truly appreciate his music until much older, but what I remember most growing up was his videos. No one has, or probably will, gain the status that he did to produce music videos (or short films) with that much production value. His films/videos were collaborated by the likes of Martin Scorsese, John Landis, Francis Ford Coppola, George Lucas, Stephen King, Stan Winston, and Rick Baker.

There are so many that are memorable, I've decided to include a few of the lengthy and possibly less visible ones - Enjoy

Captain EO (1986) - High production film that became a 3D Disney attraction for a number of years

*If you have 3D (red/cyan) glasses lying around, here's the original 3D video*




Moonwalker(1988) - 93 min feature length film with its most notable song Smooth Criminal. (features film split in 11 parts, ignore last video)


Ghosts(1997) - Co-written by Stephen King and played before his film Thinner



Bad (1987) - Classic song, classic video


Thriller (1983) - Video speaks for itself


Still not enough MJ? This link contains 81 videos (music videos, some redundant)

When Tim Burton Gets His Hands on Wonderland

Some images of Tim Burton's adaptation of Alice in Wonderland were released today from USA Today. It's usual Burton we all know and love - whimsically creepy imagery. He's got the usual suspects featured in his film - Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter, his wife Helena Bonham Carter as the Red Queen, Alan Rickman as the Caterpillar, and Christopher Lee as the Jabberwock. Mia Wasikowska is Alice, with Anne Hathaway as the White Queen. This film is slated to release (and conjure up nightmares in all of us) March 5, 2010.

25th Anniversary of Russian Fun

This year marks the 25th birthday of the iconic game Tetris. The puzzle game's addictive nature continues to proliferate to other forms of electronics and knock-off games after a quarter century. I have many memories of the original GameBoy and those falling monochromatic blocks set to that 8-bit Russian tune. Below I've got a short retrospective on Tetris' success after 25 years. If you want a deeper look into the making of Tetris, below is also an hour long BBC documentary on the gaming phenom.

Tetris: 25th Anniversary


Tetris: From Russia With Love(11 parts, all included in the playlist)