#164 - 7/11.

we all remember 9/11. how could we forget it, really? it's a day where thousands of u.s. citizens were killed. even if we wanted to forget the date, there's the phrase that came with the day & was plastered on posters & bumper stickers all around NYC: "never forget." y'know, just in case mass death & the impetus for two wars & hundreds of thousands more deaths wasn't enough to make you remember. nobody really remembers 7/11 though. it's a date that's important not just because it's the name of america's most beloved chain convenient store. it's also a day jam packed with memorable, historical moments.

it turns out that 7/11's a pretty important day in literature. this year, we're celebrating the 50th anniversary of the day when to kill a mockingbird was released. it was the only book that author harper lee ever released, but for millions of folks who likely had to read it in school, it had an impact, even if that impact was "why do we have to read this stupid book?" on this day last year, we celebrated the 250th anniversary of charles dicken's a tale of two cities' publication. i've never read it myself, but it's the sixth largest selling book in history, just behind stuff like the bible & the koran, so it must be good. do you like talking animals? if e.b. white, the author of charlotte's web and stuart little was still alive, he'd be 111 today, meaning he'd likely be one of the wrinkliest authors alive.

e.b. white isn't the only one whose birthday is today. if you're a fan of new jersey hair metal, you're celebrating richie sambora's 51st birthday today. the late yul brenner, one of hollywood's most recognizable bald men, was born on this day ninety years ago. boxer leon spinks is 57 today. in the music world, andrew bird turns 37 today & "rapper" lil kim turns 35. it's inevitable that with birth comes death though. back on 7/11 in 1938, american composer george gershwin died. in a case of porn star tragedy, savannah, one of the industry's most popular stars at the time, committed suicide on this day back in 1994. three years ago, a different sort of lady, former first lady lady bird johnson passed away at age 94. finally, while he didn't officially die until tomorrow, on this day back in 1804, alexander hamilton was shot & killed by aaron burr after they decided to settle their differences with a duel. you just don't see enough of that these days!

way back in 1914, hall of famer babe ruth played his first major league baseball game, starting at pitcher for the boston red sox. today back in '79, after being abandoned, skylab, the first u.s. space station, burned up as it in re-entered the earth's atmosphere. as a reminder of our excessive human need to procreate, today is world population day, a day created to remember the day back in 1987 when the world population reached five billion people. oh...& also, four years ago today, bombers attacked the mumbai train system, killing 209 people & injuring 700. that's only like one-tenth of what happened to us on 9/11. plus, that happened way over in india, so we're not really obligated to remember the date, especially since 7/7 is the date of the 2005 bombings on london's transportation system. we can't be expected to remember every time a bunch of bombs go off & a bunch of people die, especially if those people weren't american.

snack: 7-select gummi blue sharks
drink: game day light

to mark this momentous date, i prepared a 7-eleven-inspired snack & drink pairing. for my snack, i got a bag of 7-select gummi blue sharks. 7-select's the product line that 7-eleven developed because, according to their website, "we want you to like us. a lot." i have an inkling that the actual reason that they made it was because by moving production in-house & cutting out the middle man, they're able to offer low prices & drive sales. i guess that sort of means that they want us to like them. the 7-select line's got all sorts of goodies, stuff like soda, juice, snack mixes, chips & donuts. if you make a mess whilst consuming any of these, there are also 7-select paper towels. you can get all sorts of junk for cheap & after all, as the website states, "who needs national brands when you can be BFFs with 7-select and have money left over to take us to dinner?" that's right, the folks at 7-eleven want you to take them to dinner.

as you can probably imagine, the 7-select gummi blue sharks are SUPER artificial. they're dual-colored, with each shark composed of a blue top side & a white underbelly. the blue side has a texture that's like most gummy candies, but while the white part is gummy, it's a little grainier, something like what you'd find on a gummy peach. both sides have pretty much the same taste, one that's overly sugary & slightly reminiscent of some unidentifiable, manufactured fruit. i was only able to eat a couple handfuls of them before putting the integrity of my teeth at risk, but i guess i enjoyed what i had. i mean, they're good but they're no gummy bacon. it's ok though. there's not much that can match the awesomeness of a candy that is both shaped like a pig product & made from a pig product (collagen).

no 7/11 would be complete without a tall, cool can of game day light, or as it's also known, "the 7-eleven beer." it first started appearing in 7-elevens a few months back, fresh off last year's addition of "yosemite road" (the 7-eleven brand wine) to stores. with the economy in an infinite downward spiral, 7-eleven figures that people are more inclined to get drunk & when they do, they're going to go for the cheap stuff. with that in mind, they developed a private label wine & a private label beer. for the beer, they looked to lacrosse, wisconsin's city brewery, a rather large brewery out in cheese country, to manufacture it.

surprise surprise...it's quite awful. it's akin to a coors light or bud light, as it has a light yellow, slightly-carbonated makeup & little to no flavor. it's about as watered-down of a beer as you can get & as a result, it's not only lacking in flavor, but it's lacking in alcohol (3.5% ABV). if you want higher alcohol content, you have to go for the regular game day, which comes in at a whopping 5.5% ABV. luckily it only costs $1.49 for a 24 oz can, so you can afford to get drunk off them & let's be honest...if you're drinking this beer, it's definitely not for the taste. it's because you're looking to get wasted. for 7-eleven, that's just perfect because once you're wasted, there's a good chance that you'll return to 7-eleven & get snacks like gummi blue sharks, snacks that you probably wouldn't purchase if you were sober...oh circle of life.