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The Pez Outlaw

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Re: The Pez Outlaw

#31

Post by nogayli »

pdw wrote: post #21
bliss wrote: post #19

I surprised myself by figuratively sitting at the edge of my seat reading this tale. The thing that interests me more though than the tale itself if the buyers. I'm not a collector. I can understand the shady dealings and the clandestine meetings to make cash selling these things, but I would love to read about the mind of the buyer of these things, that I consider junk. If I came across something in the attic that w…

Here's a short (and quite sad) documentary about a family of Beanie Baby collectors -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgDsyj5eLmo

People do some crazy things. It's hard to imagine spending $100k on beanie babies or pez dispensers. In the 80s it was comics. In the 90s it was beanie babies and pez. I'm not sure what it is now in a few years, after the crash, we'll be hearing stories.

Re: The Pez Outlaw

#32

Post by judk »

c3o wrote: post #30
JacobAldridge wrote: post #29

I delivered a Social Media session at a business conference many years ago (07? 08? Back when that was something novel), and ran a quiz on Website Logos with Pez Dispensers as the prize. I also wanted to make a point about hype and bubbles and evolving business models over time (what I guess we would now call pivoting). The Pez Dispensers were a way to discuss unbelievable bubbles, and e-Bay which evolved from a Pez…

(Just an aside: Wikipedia says "the frequently repeated story that eBay was founded to help Omidyar's fiancée trade Pez candy dispensers was fabricated by a public relations manager in 1997 to interest the media, which were not interested in the company's previous explanation about wanting to create a 'perfect market')

Wikipedia also has something to say about how the Tulip Mania was much less than has been portrayed. These fun stories tend to have a life of their own.

Re: The Pez Outlaw

#33

Post by judk »

nogayli wrote: post #31
pdw wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here's a short (and quite sad) documentary about a family of Beanie Baby collectors -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgDsyj5eLmo

People do some crazy things. It's hard to imagine spending $100k on beanie babies or pez dispensers. In the 80s it was comics. In the 90s it was beanie babies and pez. I'm not sure what it is now in a few years, after the crash, we'll be hearing stories.

It was real estate most recently.

Re: The Pez Outlaw

#34

Post by JacobAldridge »

c3o wrote: post #30
JacobAldridge wrote: post #29

I delivered a Social Media session at a business conference many years ago (07? 08? Back when that was something novel), and ran a quiz on Website Logos with Pez Dispensers as the prize. I also wanted to make a point about hype and bubbles and evolving business models over time (what I guess we would now call pivoting). The Pez Dispensers were a way to discuss unbelievable bubbles, and e-Bay which evolved from a Pez…

(Just an aside: Wikipedia says "the frequently repeated story that eBay was founded to help Omidyar's fiancée trade Pez candy dispensers was fabricated by a public relations manager in 1997 to interest the media, which were not interested in the company's previous explanation about wanting to create a 'perfect market')

Well there you go! I hate it when I find myself perpetuating urban legends. Thank you.

I'll just have to go back to advising audiences that changing their Facebook profile picture on a regular basis will help cure cancer, prevent child abuse, catch Kony, and either impeach or re-elect President Obama (I'm never quite sure which).

Re: The Pez Outlaw

#35

Post by Tomasoo »

"war-torn Eastern Europe" in Hungary in 1994? Looks like a parallel universe to me.

"the 100-mile-long freeway to Ormož was one of the most dangerous routes in Europe" In Slovenia in 1993? The war was in Bosnia hundreds of km away.

Thunder of rockets in ZAGREB?

When the easily verifiable stuff is fiction, one can assume a lot of the rest is also made up.

Re: The Pez Outlaw

#36

Post by pyk »

bliss wrote: post #19

I surprised myself by figuratively sitting at the edge of my seat reading this tale. The thing that interests me more though than the tale itself if the buyers. I'm not a collector. I can understand the shady dealings and the clandestine meetings to make cash selling these things, but I would love to read about the mind of the buyer of these things, that I consider junk. If I came across something in the attic that w…

>I'd honestly love to get into the head of collector types.

As a previous Pez collector back in the 7th grade, or "Pezhead" (back in the 90s using my paper route money) who yes, attended several Pez conventions at the time, I can attest that the draw was in-part connecting with other people around a shared interest -- the community.

Although some of the email on the big Pez email list at the time [1] was buying and selling, a lot of it was joking around, organizing meet-ups, sharing stories about a great "find" at a garage sale etc...

For me, the ability to connect via email with people from around the globe talking about a subject like Pez was what stuck with me. Although my Pez collecting ended, that unifying aspect of the internet continued to inspire me through my formative years and continues to this day.

That said, here is an indie documentary about "Pezheads" if you are interested in hearing more about crazy collectors: http://pezheadsthemovie.com/

[1] http://www.pezlist.com/ The Original Pezheads Email List, online since 1995

Re: The Pez Outlaw

#37

Post by chx »

This is one shitty piece of work (beyond the laughable war torn Hungary others mentioned -- I was born Hungarian and back then I still lived there). There's an interesting start which never actually gets closure: we never learn what happened at that border crossing.

Also, “I pursued Patek across Austria in a car chase once" followed by "Steve bribed traffic cops with Pez dispensers stuffed with dollars." One, just how much money can you squeeze into a Pez dispenser? Two, bribing an Austrian cop? If this article said Hungarian, sure, bribing Hungarian cops was everyday business (pretty much everyone kept a conveniently large denomination bill in their driving license which at the time was folded not the credit card format) but have you ever tried to bribe an Austrian cop? Urgh.

Re: The Pez Outlaw

#38

Post by shiggerino »

BillFranklin wrote: post #26
oliwary wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is also a fantastic interview with Steve Jobs from playboy: http://longform.org/stories/playboy-interview-steve-jobs

>Playboy: Most computers use key strokes to enter instructions, but Macintosh replaces many of them with something called a mouse—a little box that is rolled around on your desk and guides a pointer on your computer screen. It’s a big change for people used to keyboards. Why the mouse? >Jobs: If I want to tell you there is a spot on your shirt, I’m not going to do it linguistically: “There’s a spot on your shirt 14 c…

Eben Moglen's response to that:

https://youtu.be/uKxzK9xtSXM?t=2m15s

Re: The Pez Outlaw

#39

Post by mmarx »

chx wrote: post #37

This is one shitty piece of work (beyond the laughable war torn Hungary others mentioned -- I was born Hungarian and back then I still lived there). There's an interesting start which never actually gets closure: we never learn what happened at that border crossing. Also, “I pursued Patek across Austria in a car chase once" followed by "Steve bribed traffic cops with Pez dispensers stuffed with dollars." One, just ho…

> we never learn what happened at that border crossing.

“So when the Austrian guards stopped Steve and Joshua at the Hungarian border and threatened to confiscate the toys, the Glews fled east to Budapest, bringing their Black Santas with them. Back in the U.S. the dispensers sold for hundreds of dollars each, and Steve vowed to return to Europe, next time with serious money.”

So they chose not to cross into Austria, but stay in Hungary and go to Budapest (and, somehow, to the US from there) instead.

Re: The Pez Outlaw

#40

Post by tripzilch »

lmm wrote: post #12
vinceguidry wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not. Playboy's articles have always been tremendous. When I was younger I had a t-shirt with a Playboy logo on it and the phrase "I read the articles". I'm starting to think we need a curation platform for long-form content. Preferably a subscription service that can solve the paywall problem elegantly. I don't use music subscription services because I want to keep the music, purchasing a file makes more sense. B…

If you don't have time to read a whole magazine once a month - or just the interesting-titled articles from it - then you're really not looking to read a lot. I find glancing through the medium.com homepage works pretty well if I'm just looking for one or two stories to read.

That confused me a little as well, but I'm guessing he intended to mean he doesn't want to read a whole magazine, just the few quality long-form articles in it. As most magazines contain a lot of fluff, shorter columns or perhaps just long-form stories on subjects that don't interest him. ... I'm guessing.
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