Sierra Mist Cranberry Splash 2013!

Each time I go to the gas station I always make a quick pass through the soda isle. Limited Edition flavors and all around new beverages are a fickle thing, when you expect them to show up they never do... but as soon as you quit paying attention like eight of them spring up out of hiding. All vying for your attention at the exact same time.

Today, Sierra Mist Cranberry Splash has made its way out of hibernation and is once again ready to help usher in the coming holiday season. I've wrote about this stuff so many times that I've actually lost count, but much like Halloween Oreo's are among the first products to showcase the arrival of the Halloween Season... Cranberry Splash is always one of the first for Christmas Season. And to not write about them seems like such a shame.

So has anything changed for 2013? Nope. This is the exact same soda that we've had for years now... and I wouldn't have it any other way. The taste is great, it's still one of the few cranberry flavored drinks that I actually like. I'd even go so far as to say that I legitimately like this flavor and would welcome it year round.

I still think the package could benefit from more of a traditional holiday theme considering everyone pretty much views Cranberry Splash as the unofficial soft drink of holidays. I don't think I'd go so far as to stick Santa's fat ass on the front of the bottle, but a couple intersecting X-MAS tree branches .... convert those berries into bulbs and stick a few loose presents down towards the bottom and you'd be able to improve Cranberry Splash's seasonal looks by ten fold.

And it always hits right before the start of the Halloween Season too. Just when things are starting to get spooky and creepy Cranberry Splash shows up to remind everyone that in a couple short months we'll all be praising the return of Santa Claus and dashing through mounds of snow.

Halloween Radio!

Welcome to the 2013 Halloween Countdown! Year number four that I've ran one of these and by far the earliest that I've started. Previously I've kick off the festivities around September 1st but judging by the amount of Halloween merchandise on store shelves, The Great Pumpkin looks poised to make his return earlier than ever this season.

Along with the Halloween theme that I've dressed the site up in I've officially launched a little something I like to call Halloween Radio! You can find it lurking off on the left hand side of the page, just click on that image and it will take you to a little playlist I put together over on YouTube featuring over 100 of the best pieces (and parts!) of Halloween music you are likely to find.

It is my goal to make this playlist be the most extensive collection of Halloween inspired tracks on the internet. So what you see here is just the beginning. I'm going to be constantly working on adding new tracks and shuffling the order to make it flow perfectly.

I hope you guys give it a listen and be sure to let me know what you think! As for the countdown, you can expect all kinds of content to start rolling out here in the next few days. So stay tuned and stay spooky!

2013 Halloween Oreos & Other Halloween Pickups!

Click for Larger Image!

The 2013 Halloween Season has arrived! I don't care what the calender says, its time to kick off my annual coverage of all things spooky and creepy! Starting with none other than the glorious return of Halloween Oreo's for the season!

A cornerstone of the holiday and clear backbone to the season, my love for Halloween Oreo's will never die. Even when Nabisco hits us with a trillion other limited edition flavors like they've been doing in recent years, the Halloween kind will always feel extra special.

Perhaps its the orange frosting. Or the spooky package design. Whatever the reason may be Halloween Oreo's have became the defining item that I look forward to seeing at the start of every Halloween Season!

Click for Larger Image!

As you can see the look for this years package hasn't change from the prior years design. I still stand by my complains... not enough orange and far to much blue. It's one of the weaker looking designs Nabisco has created over the years but it still gets the job done.

I had hoped for an entirely new design but am honestly not that surprised to see a rehash of last years package. It's sort of became the norm for Halloween Oreo's to keep the same artwork for at least two years in a row before switching to something different.

Halloween branded Chips Ahoy Cookies have been around for a couple years now and quickly turned into a 'new favorite' of mine. Much like Halloween Oreo's they always seem to be one of the first bits of seasonal item to be released every year. Which is an approach they really benefit from.

One of the things I've learned about the Halloween Season of the course of running these countdowns  (of which I am entering my 4th year!) is that unlike the Christmas Season which starts a slow build in November and eventually reaches its peak on Christmas Eve is that Halloween tends to have a slow pre-build of excitement that happens right now before hitting a peak level of interest in early October before eventually burning itself out by the 31st.

I really don't know what the point of that last paragraph was supposed to be but basically what I think I was trying to get at is this: the time to gush and enjoy the smaller seasonal items is right now. Chips Ahoy and Oreo cookies that have been re-branded for the unholiest of holidays are a dish best served now rather than waiting until later.

And speaking of the right now, I've decided that sometime within the next couple days I will be converting the website over into its Halloween Theme! I hope you guys are ready because this years countdown is going to be bigger and (hopefully) better than ever before.

I'm super excited for this time of year to finally be back. It's no secret that the fall and winter seasons are my favorite. All you have to do is look at the number of articles I publish then and compare them to what happens during the summer months to see this is true.

In recent years I've stolen a phrase previously used to describe the Christmas Season and turned it into a more of a blanket term to define the Halloween Season through Christmas and just a little ways past New Years (when the last remaining bits of the holidays are swept away) ... I call this time The Most Wonderful Time of the Year and am so happy that its almost that time again!