The POP-EXPOSE 

When the Cameras Stopped: How Crissy Moran Walked Away From Porn, Found Christ, and Made Her Past a Mission

There was a time when Crissy Moran’s face was part of an industry built to make people look larger than life. Beginning in 1999, Moran entered adult entertainment through the internet, initially posting ordinary modeling photographs online while looking for paid work. According to her later account to Christianity Today, offers for nude modeling soon followed. She initially refused them. After a painful breakup, however, she accepted one—and what began as modeling rapidly became something much larger. Moran eventually worked across several corners of the adult-entertainment business. She modeled, appeared…

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The POP-EXPOSE 

Speedy Gonzales at 71: Celebrating the Fastest Mouse in All Mexico

On September 17, 1955, a tiny mouse in an oversized yellow sombrero raced onto movie screens and straight into animation history. Seventy-one years later, Speedy Gonzales remains one of the most instantly recognizable characters to emerge from the golden age of Warner Bros. animation. Although September 17 marks the anniversary of the Speedy audiences recognize today, his story actually began two years earlier. Before He Was an Icon Speedy’s earliest incarnation appeared in the Merrie Melodies short Cat-Tails for Two, released August 29, 1953 and directed by Robert McKimson. That…

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The POP-EXPOSE 

September 17, 1951: Cassandra Peterson at 75 — The Woman, the Wit and the Wickedly Sexy Legacy of Elvira

For more than four decades, she has appeared every autumn like a glamorous emissary from some wonderfully inappropriate corner of the underworld: towering black hair, impossibly plunging gown, scarlet lips, dagger at her waist and a one-liner usually sharp enough to draw blood. But Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, was never simply a costume. Behind one of the most recognizable characters in modern horror stands Cassandra Peterson—a comedian, writer, performer, businesswoman and former Las Vegas showgirl whose improbable career carried her from Kansas to the Strip, across Europe, through Los…

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The POP-EXPOSE 

BUT DID YOU KNOW? Don’t Feed These Facts After Midnight: The Wild Secrets Behind 1984’s Gremlins

Few movies capture the wonderfully strange personality of the 1980s quite like Gremlins. Released on June 8, 1984, Joe Dante’s horror-comedy somehow managed to combine Christmas, adorable furry creatures, gruesome monster mayhem, dark comedy and Steven Spielberg-style adventure into one unforgettable package. You know the rules: keep them away from bright light, never get them wet and, most importantly, never feed them after midnight. But did you know the movie hiding behind those rules is packed with strange production stories and alternate ideas that could have made Gremlins a completely…

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The POP-EXPOSE 

This One is Truly Outrageous

By: R.A. Rayne The early ‘80s were dominated by space adventures, action films, and MTV. Boys’ action cartoons dominated the afternoons and Saturday mornings. While the Care Bears, My Little Pony, Strawberry Shortcake, and Rainbow Brite aired, they could not compete with the toy-driven G.I. Joe, He-Man, and the Transformers. Following the success of G.I. Joe and Transformers, Hasbro came up with a truly outrageous idea. They wanted to launch a new line of fashion dolls to compete with Mattel’s heavily dominant Barbie line. Hasbro planned to create a multimedia…

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The POP-EXPOSE 

Before He-Man Had the Power: Blackstar’s “Search for the Starsword” Turns 45

Before Eternia, before Castle Grayskull, and before the phrase “I have the power” became part of every 1980s kid’s vocabulary, Filmation took viewers to the strange and dangerous planet of Sagar. On September 12, 1981, Blackstar arrived on CBS with “Search for the Starsword,” a wild science-fantasy adventure that feels like a missing link between Thundarr the Barbarian, Star Wars, and the later explosion of toy-driven action cartoons. The premise gets right to the good stuff. John Blackstar is an astronaut from Earth who has been swept through a black…

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The POP-EXPOSE 

Why Were Halloween Costumes Like That?

Story by @GIJoeRepairShop Jerry Seinfeld famously said about Halloween costumes: “Cardboard box, self-made top, mask included. Remember the rubber band on the back of that mask? That was a quality item there, wasn’t it? That was good about 10 seconds before it snapped out of that cheap little staple they put it in there with. You go to your first house: ‘Trick or…’ Snap! ‘It broke. I don’t believe it!’ … So I’m going out trick-or-treating but the mask’s rubber band keeps breaking and keeps getting shorter. I’m fixing it, it’s…

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The POP-EXPOSE 

37 YEARS OF PAIN: BLOOD, SWEAT, BROKEN GLASS AND THE MAKING OF VAN DAMME’S KICKBOXER

By the fall of 1989, Jean-Claude Van Damme was no longer simply another martial artist trying to break into Hollywood. Bloodsport had made audiences notice him, but Kickboxer helped turn the “Muscles from Brussels” into a full-fledged action star. What makes the movie even more fascinating today is how much of Van Damme’s own personality, athletic background and creative influence ended up on the screen. Kickboxer was produced by Kings Road Entertainment, with Mark DiSalle producing and sharing directing credit with David Worth. Van Damme was far more involved than…

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The POP-EXPOSE 

“Billie Jean Wasn’t His Lover—But She Wouldn’t Go Away”: Inside the Bizarre Paternity Claims and Stalking Case That Followed Michael Jackson for Decades

Few songs in pop history have inspired as much speculation as Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean.” Its story of a woman insisting that a superstar fathered her child sounded so specific that listeners naturally wondered whether Billie Jean really existed. Decades later, one woman became publicly associated with that nightmare in an extraordinary series of lawsuits, trespassing cases and paternity claims. Her name was Lavon Powlis, also reported as Lavon A. Muhammad and later Gabriella Jamilla Jackson; she repeatedly called herself “Billie Jean Jackson.” One important fact must come first: there…

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The POP-EXPOSE 

The Chaos and Joy of 1970s and 1980s Family Feud

Story by @GIJoeRepairShop Before Steve Harvey brought a whole new generation to it, before Ray Combs brought it into the 1990s, Richard Dawson’s run as the original host of Family Feud will stand out as a chaotic and joyful first run of one of America’s most-loved television gameshows. Richard Dawson was not unknown to television viewers when Family Feud started in 1976. The half-British, half-American actor was one of the stars of the wildly-popular show “Hogan’s Heroes,” which ran from 1965 to 1971. Richard Dawson spent much of the early 1970s…

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The POP-EXPOSE 

When the World Gets Heavy, Hold On to What Makes You Smile

There are mornings when you turn on the television, open your phone, or simply look around at the people you know and wonder how much more the world can take. Someone is grieving the loss of a parent. Someone else is fighting an illness nobody can see. Families are watching wars unfold thousands of miles away while other families are living through them firsthand. People are working harder than ever and still wondering how they are going to pay the electric bill, buy groceries, or make the next mortgage payment.…

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The POP-EXPOSE 

F-19: WHEN MICROPROSE ALMOST UNVEILED THE FUTURE

By @Kingmakeress The premise of F-19 is much different from that of most flight simulators and also deceptively simple: Fly to the objectives, accomplish your mission, and fly back to base .. undetected. This last word epitomizes not only the nature of the game, but also years of secret aerospace engineering research. The development and deployment of working air radar at the late 1930s, beginning with the UK’s Chain Home system, meant that aircrafts no longer could approach targets undetected. (Fun fact: Radar is not a word, but actually a…

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The POP-EXPOSE 

To Vlog or Not To Vlog

By: R.A. Rayne Over the last few years, a trend that began during COVID has turned into a pop culture frenzy. What is that trend, you ask? It’s simple: vlogging. Vlogging started as a way to keep a video diary and share it online. It has now become a means of delivering, sharing, and informing the online community about our favorite hobbies. Whether it is politics, movies and television, toys, sports, or the theme parks, you can find a dozen or more channels posting daily content. But is the content…

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The POP-EXPOSE 

Review: Guns N’ Roses 2026 World Tour

Story by @GIJoeRepairShop On August 12, 2026, I visited MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey to experience Guns N’ Roses 2026 World Tour. You might expect a sexagenarian hair band to play for an hour or an hour and a half, bow, and then leave the stage for some rest. But, no one would ever expect that of Guns N’ Roses. The set started with a high-energy rendition of “Welcome to the Jungle” (the first song from their first album) and never looked back. Over the course of more…

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The POP-EXPOSE 

The COMPLETE History of M.A.S.K. !

Today Ken from ToyKennections gives us a look at the iconic 1980s toy line M.A.S.K.! Check out the video below and share your thoughts with us in the comments. As always be sure to subscribe to ToyKennections channel on YouTube for all of Ken’s latest videos!

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