Jason Kronenwald likes words that begin with the letter "b" - specifically, blondes and bubble gum. Combine your two passions, and what do you get?
Of course! Portraits of iconic blonde women made entirely out of chewed bubble gum. (Why...what were you thinking? Weirdo.) Kroenwald has minions of gum-chewers at his disposal, but says he prefers Trident when it comes to personal chewing. He claims that there are no paints or dyes used, and that "the mixing of color takes place in the mouth during chewing." Hmm...so kinda like Willy Wonka, then?
You remember: she's the chewing gum fanatic in Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory who broke a world record by chewing one stick of gum for three months straight. And we're guaranteed that Maurizio Savini would be her hero.
Savini's chewing gum sculptures have getting a ton of press lately, probably less for artistic merit and more for pure gawking value. For the record, all of the gum he uses is un-chewed, and according to a bio on nonprofit art foundation Pastificio Cerere's site, Savini chose gum as a medium for its barrage on our senses and because it reminds him of childhood.
Check out more of his sculptures here, and then give us your opinion.
Bubble Yum bubble gum has a new flavor coming out starting in early December 2006, Hershey's Chocolate flavored Bubble Yum. This brings the flavors up to 16 for the first soft bubble gum, which was first released by Lifesavers back in 1975. I remember buying my first pack and being able to blow huge bubbles. Then having to get my mom to freeze, cut, and pry the gum out of my hair and eyebrows. Man was that fun, especially when she accidentally clipped my ear and I bled like a stuck pig.
Sales were pretty big back then, especially in the NY area, and Bubble Yum was the gum to chew. Then in 1977 rumors flew about how there were spiders eggs in the gum and sales plummeted. So the company took out full page rebuttals in the NY times and dozens of other newspapers across the country. Well, I guess sales rebounded and now it's one of the best selling bubble gums with several imitators. So much so that Hershey's bought the brand in 2000 and of course Hershey's Chocolate flavor Bubble Yum was a sure bet. Thinking back I seem to remember some other soft chocolate bubble gum that I tried as a kid but I can't just can't pin down the details. Maybe Bubbilicious made a chocolate flavor?
I'm not quite sure why this list is up at ESPN, though it's part of their Page 2 and pretty much anything goes there.
They want to know what your favorite Halloween candies are. Are you a chocolate person, or do you like things like Twizzlers and Air Heads? For the record, I checked off Almond Joy, Dots, Goobers, Heath Bar, Hershey Bar, Hershey Kisses, M&Ms, Milk Duds, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, and Riesens.
Of course, this does have a sports twist to it: check out the Candy Bracket, various candies and candy bars going up against each other like it's March Madness. Call it Fall Madness. The candies are separated into four categories: Classic, Convenience, Movie Theater, and Trick or Treat.
The Wrigley gum company is on a mission to prove that gum is not something to be chewed for fun and
to annoy teachers. After years of the underappreciation of the value of its products, the company has turned to science
for some answers. The Wrigley Science Institute was founded to discover whether gum can actually aid in weight
management, stress relief, or in boosting concentration, all claims that have been made and passed along by gum chewers
over the years. If the Science Institute can find sufficient evidence, the company can then claim the health
benefits of the product on the products' packaging or in ads.
Just think back to all the elemantary school teachers who told you not to chew gum in class. If the Wrigley Science
Institute is right about some of their theories, those same teachers could be passing out sticks of gum before
tests!
Cadbury Schweppes is
putting its money where its mouth is, as I learned while skimming Confectionery News this morning.
The company has plunked down $40 million for a gum laboratory that it just opened in Hanover, N.J. The candy
powerhouse, whose gum brands include Dentyne and Bubblicious, is aiming to maintain the growth in global gum sales,
which Cadbury now pegs at seven percent a year. The press release on its Web site is filled with a lot of stat-based
marketing puffery: it takes up to 70 ingredients to make each of the 65 billion delicious pieces of gum Cadbury churns
out. Scrolling down revealed a wad of truth from a bona fide expert, gumologist, Jessie Kiefer. "We've come a long
way since the Greeks chewed on resin from the bark of the mastic tree to sweeten their breath."
It looks like school
teachers aren’t the only ones realizing that gum can be a multi-purpose vehicle. In fairness, it has been
used as a non-cigarette nicotine delivery system for several years now, but the US army is putting it to more uses.
Stay Alert is a caffeinated gum
developed by Wrigley’s. The cinnamon flavored gum has 100-mg of caffeine per piece, equivalent to a 6-ounce cup
of coffee. Dr. Balkin, from the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research isn’t worried about the possibility of
abuse, though people have been known to abuse caffeinated products such as No-Doz in the past, because “the stuff
doesn’t taste that good.” There are other brands of caffeinated gum that college students have been using to
say alert for some time now. They include Jolt Gum – which has half as much
caffeine as Stay Alert – and Penguin Energy Gum.
The army is also in the process of developing a plaque fighting gum for use by
soldiers, who are sometimes unable to have regular opportunities to brush and floss due to the duties of combat. This
seems like a product that the dental industry could really get behind, once it has completed testing.
Who didn’t hear the phrase “Don’t chew gum at school!” when they were growing up? Of
course, this sort of instruction always encourages a few people to flout the rules and chew gum even more frequently.
The main reason that gum chewing was frowned upon was that students would probably stick the used wads under the desk
or on the floor, where other unsuspecting students might come into contact with them. For some reason, though, the
teachers always claimed that the reason was that students couldn’t pay attention while chewing gum. This was a
ridiculous excuse since people are more than capable of engaging in other activities while they chew, like walking, for
example.
Bubble Yum bubble gum has a new flavor coming out starting in early December 2006, Hershey's Chocolate flavored Bubble Yum. This brings the flavors up to 16 for the first soft bubble gum, which was first released by Lifesavers back in 1975. I remember buying my first pack and being able to blow huge bubbles. Then having to get my mom to freeze, cut, and pry the gum out of my hair and eyebrows. Man was that fun, especially when she accidentally clipped my ear and I bled like a stuck pig. 
I'm not quite sure why this list is up at ESPN, though it's part of their Page 2 and pretty much anything goes there.
The 
Cadbury Schweppes
It looks like 
Who didn’t hear the phrase “Don’t chew gum at school!” when they were growing up? Of
course, this sort of instruction always encourages a few people to flout the rules and chew gum even more frequently.
The main reason that gum chewing was frowned upon was that students would probably stick the used wads under the desk
or on the floor, where other unsuspecting students might come into contact with them. For some reason, though, the
teachers always claimed that the reason was that students couldn’t pay attention while chewing gum. This was a
ridiculous excuse since people are more than capable of engaging in other activities while they chew, like walking, for
example. 
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