Blogger Beware Reference Guide

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The Blogger Beware Reference Guide is a fansite that attempted to chronicle every reference in Troy Steele's Goosebumps reviews. It's sometimes referred to as Breeder Beware and was formerly called Crazy Ernie's Amazing Emporium of Total Blogger Beware Madness. (Yes, really.)

The site stopped updating on June 13, 2011, so it does not feature a list of references made in Steele's review of Revenge of the Living Dummy.

Background[edit | edit source]

The site was run by internet user "Morbidiculous". They were a fan of the blog who once joked, "I have been trying to get other people to feel unreasonable excitement with me about Goosebumps and Blogger Beware for years now – the only twist ending I have been getting is one with threats of violence from loved ones."

The blog's update schedule was pretty sporadic, making it the perfect homage to Blogger Beware.

Original references[edit | edit source]

Likely as an homage to Steele's writing style, Breeder Beware is chocked full of original allusions and references to pop culture. For instance, the website's mascot, a bee, is likely a subtle allusion to the "BEE THROWING" joke that Steele made in his review of You Can't Scare Me!. (The title of the website is likely an allusion to the practice of bee breeding.) The older title, Crazy Ernie's Amazing Emporium of Total Blogger Beware Madness, riffs on a quote from The Iron Giant.

Many of the posts on Breeder Beware contain an image at the beginning; these images are typically allusions related to the plot of the book. These images and their corresponding explanations are listed below:

Entry Image Filename Explanation
Be Careful What You Wish For... Kazaam poster.jpg Kazaam poster This is the poster for Kazaam, a 1996 comedy film about a genie (played by Shaquille O'Neal, natch) who inhabits a boombox and gives a Brooklyn kid three wishes once summoned. It was a financial and critical disaster, unsurprisingly.
Ghost Beach Chalmers.jpg chalmers Superintendent Chalmers, the strict head of Springfield's school district in The Simpsons. In the episode "22 Short Films About Springfield", Principal Skinner tricks Chalmers into ignoring a fire by telling him that the fire is the northern lights. A similar scene occurs in Ghost Beach; Brad tries to convince the protagonists that the light they saw in the cave was the northern lights.
Attack of the Mutant M-U-Thant.jpg M-U-Thant This is a mutant from the original Planet of the Apes film. You can guess why it was used here.
A Shocker on Shock Street Um-wrongstreet.jpg um-wrongstreet A very badly compressed image of the DVD cover to one series of Stella Street, a British comedy show (or "programme") about a number of celebrities moving into the same street.
The Beast From the East Beast from the west.jpg beast from the west The President of the United States has generally always had a car designed for him; this picture shows the one made for Barack Obama (president at the time the reference guide was compiled), nicknamed "The Beast". The filename plays off of the fact that the US and other non-Asian are generally referred to as "the West".
You Can't Scare Me! Bored-straight1.jpg bored-straight1 The cover for the famous 1978 documentary Scared Straight!, where a group of inmates attempt to terrify a group of troublemaking teenagers into acting appropriately. It was initially aired uncensored on television, but Morbidiculous clearly doesn't find it interesting (the filename is proof enough).
Go Eat Worms! Scary world of richard busy1.jpg scary world of richard busy Huckle Cat and Lowly Worm, the most famous characters from Richard Scarry's Busytown children's books. The filename is a not-quite-spoonerism on another name for the franchise, The Busy World of Richard Scarry.
Bad Hare Day Is this even a pun.gif is this even a pun R.L. Stine wearing his Easter best, a picture taken from his autobiography, It Came from Ohio! Given the filename it's likely a joke - Stine might put on a hare head because he's having a bad hair day. Care to groan?
Piano Lessons Can Be Murder Thehandshaveit.jpg thehandshaveit "The Master", the leader of a maniacal cult from the infamously wretched "horror" film Manos: The Hands of Fate. The Goosebumps book centers around a villain with a hand fixation, not dissimilar to this guy's clothes. The image name refers to the phrase "The eyes have it", of course.
I Live in Your Basement! Hushlittlebaby.gif hushlittlebaby An animated image (!) of a Deadite from the Evil Dead franchise, chained up in what is likely a basement. The image name refers to a traditional nursery rhyme.
The Barking Ghost Ghost of a chance.jpg ghost of a chance Buddy, the famous sports-playing dog from the Air Bud franchise. This one specifically is from the second installment - 1998's Air Bud: Golden Receiver. (The image name is presumably Morbidiculous taking a jab at the ludicrous premise.)
Calling All Creeps! Just the one creep.jpg just the one creep Moe Szyslak, the shady and lecherous owner of the local bar in The Simpsons.
The Haunted Mask Always check your mask first.jpg always check your mask first A still from Halloween III: Season of the Witch. In the film, the jack-o-lantern mask depicted here was part of a grander plot by a sinister corporation - at a specific time on Halloween, a microchip within the masks would activate, killing the wearer and releasing a swarm of insects and snakes.
The Haunted Mask II Cynical mask sequel.jpg cynical mask sequel A promo image for the universally reviled Son of the Mask, a sequel to 1996's The Mask (starring Jim Carrey). The image name appears to be drawing parallels between the movie and book (which Troy derides as having no reason to exist).
How to Kill a Monster A different kind of twist ending.jpg a different kind of twist ending The cover of the beloved Sesame Street novel The Monster at the End of This Book. The image name refers to the actual content of said story: Grover, having read the title, becomes fearful of the titular monster lurking at the book's end and attempts to prevent the reader from progressing any further. At the end, after numerous failures, Grover discovers that the monster in question was himself. This twist ending is nothing like the ones most Goosebumps books usually employ, as the image name notes.