by Chris Jones

Did you know that the Bay Area is home to one of three museums dedicated to Pez, the candy treat that tastes so neat and teaches kids that popping "dolls" is good times? No? Well, it's totally true. The Burlingame Museum of Pez Memorabilia is located just ten minutes south of SFO, where for 14 years it has displayed an example of each of the more than 550 Pez dispensers ever created, including the world's largest dispenser of Pez, shaped like a cheerful snowman.

Well, now that you know if you're planning to visit this shrine to the ubiquitous late 20th century confection, you had better hurry. The Pez Candy Company out of Linz, Austria has slapped the museum with a fat law suit, demanding that the museum be shut down. They also want the owners to hand over all the museum's profits for the last 14 years and they want that happy snowman Pez dispenser melted down into a pool of plastic. Boo! One would think that a candy company based out of a country whose contributions to world culture have included old men who like to imprison their daughters in moldering basements and Hitler, would be a little more sensitive to how they're perceived on the global stage.

Alas, the Pez Candy Co. can't really control the vagaries of American trademark law, which demands obnoxious defense of one's trademarks, lest they lose them forever to the public domain. Buh bye, giant snowman Pez dispenser? We'll see how this plays out in court...

While perusing the colorful aisles of Walgreens this afternoon -- because nothing sooths the soul and an ADHD-addled mind like a trip to Walgreens -- we came across Pez's take on the election. It took us some time to dig through all of the elephants to find a donkey, but we did.

Rainbow Grocery should have it's own Green version available soon, we hope. Maybe a Pez-dispensing gray whale, a Nazi solider, or something annoyingly pedagogical like that.