X-Entertainment.com X-Entertainment UGO
X-Entertainment is still feeling pretty bad about those lobsters.

« Yeti Puzzles & More Halloween Art! [Main Index] Reliving the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parades… »

10/31/2004: Monster Cereals & A Farewell To Halloween!

Well, it’s finally over. Halloween is here, soon it’ll be gone, and with it, we bid farewell to the X-E Halloween Countdown until next year. My brain says THANK GOD, but my heart yearns for more rubber bats and bloody wonder. This will all be forgotten in a week when I see Holiday Fruity Pebbles at Waldbaum’s, I’m sure. Speaking of something similar, the final entry on the Countdown takes a look at a decades-standing Halloween favorite, The General Mills Monster Cereals. I found a megabox containing all three varieties — Count Chocula, Franken Berry & Boo Berry — and it’s made Halloween actually feel like Halloween. A much needed boost, since it’s like 200 degrees outside and the kids next door are trying to set up an inflatable pool.

Had fun with the trick-or-treaters today. We gathered up all of the small toys and candy I intended to write about, packed ‘em in Halloween-themed Ziploc bags and continued the tradition of being the best loot-givers of the block, sure to be adored by every six-year-old in the neighborhood, at least until 9 PM or so. Oh, of the many things I didn’t have a chance to cover this season, I really didn’t want to let this one slide. Here’s a gallery of pics I took at our wonderful local mall’s Halloween store, which by now is probably selling reindeer that dance when you clap:




(click pics to enlarge)

Thanks for reading all month-and-a-half. Click “more” to see the final entries in the Halloween Art Expo, and check out the previous posts for more installments. Oh, and do me a favor — out of sheer megalomaniacal curiosity, I’d like for you to tell me which three entries on the Countdown were your personal favorites this year, in the comments. Don’t have to list reasons or anything. Hope everyone had a great Halloween! Think I’ll hop in the coffin now…

Ubu Rex lines his paper with madness…

Maramuray is a visionary of the most arguable kind…

Underdawg owes me ten bucks…

Dumpweed probably committed suicide soon after e-mailing this…

T. Walter’s pride is in his stomach…

James Smith doesn’t believe in God…

B-Dawg had the right idea…

Ferange perpetuates anorexia…

F.O.S. ends the Art Expo properly. With cats…

Happy H, all.


Posted by Matt. E-mail me!

Bookmark and Share


Discussion Thread: 140 comments

VOTE COBRA 2004!
http://www.somethingawful.com/articles.php?a=2463

Ghosted by Zad @ 11/02/2004 10:36 AM EST

is matt dead? or just hungover with halloweenyness?

Ghosted by turkeygirl @ 11/02/2004 10:37 AM EST

He’s taking a well deserved break. He’s probably so sick of sitting at his computer, typing and downloading digi pics that he did jump into his coffin and is sleeping the sleep of the dead. At least until the next Macy’s Day Parade.

Ghosted by trajeal @ 11/02/2004 11:38 AM EST

Go out and vote, fellow posties! Your vote might just be the one that causes chaos! Vote early and vote often! Exclamation points!!!!!!

Ghosted by my name is kingklash and I approve of voting today @ 11/02/2004 1:18 PM EST

Hey Matt!

Thanks for all your time and effort- I never knew how much I could look forward to reading about things I had never heard of… I thought I liked Halloween before- how little I knew!
Thanks a Bunch- & I’m already looking forward to next year.
My 3 faves were: Scary Shopping Contest (You… BASTARD!); Marcus the Carcass and The Power of Halloween Specials- (I’m an old, sentimental bastard..) Oh yes, with a shout out to every Candy article- Without them, I might not have put on another 5 pounds this season… (and just in time for Thanksgiving!)… Come to think of it- I’m even now contemplating the purchase of the 3-Monster Mega-Box of cereal… On second thought- Damn You Matt! -You Bastard!!!

Many Thanks & Happy Holidays!

Ghosted by TServo @ 11/02/2004 2:30 PM EST

my parents actually bought marcus the carcass. they put him in the front yard with a lawn mower in the middle of him. it was pretty cool

Ghosted by big jerm @ 11/02/2004 6:24 PM EST

Man, they Triple Monster cereal thing has been on shelves since August. I should know, i’ve had it under a shelf since then.

Ghosted by Dan @ 11/02/2004 7:50 PM EST

I voted. I’m tired of looking at Chris Matthews…So here I am….I thought this might be a good poll question for all of you in la la land. How did you find out about X-E? I stumbled upon it at my friend’s house at about 4 AM when I searched for My Pet Monster the Movie. I believe that was about a year ago. The rest is history…..

Ghosted by phunqsauce @ 11/02/2004 9:03 PM EST

Matt…
Awesome….simply awesome…
But I have to admit..it just didn’t feel like Halloween without…you know…MAD MATT!!!!!

What happened to him? Have those rats,roaches and spiders that were living in his festering body finally eaten him up?
The People WANT to know!

PS Three Best?
1. The Evil Snake Dude Anti-Drug PSA
2.The Growing Pains Halloween Episode
3.The Ghost With The Most (ALL, cause they ROCKED)

Again, well done, Matt…An absolute huge body of work has gone into this year’s Halloween!
And we all thank you for it!

Ghosted by Blakula2k @ 11/02/2004 9:25 PM EST

Not like anyone is reading this anymore, but I’ll answer phunqsauce’s question anyway.
A friend of mine and I were trying to explain Nads to my cousin, so we typed it in to Google, and up came one of my all time favorite reviews from the site, when Matt ate Nads. History is made.

Ghosted by Mara @ 11/03/2004 12:11 PM EST

http://www.bogleech.com/blather-sillyvampires.html

My site’s first article, illustrated badly by myself! It’s about goofy (and real) vampire myths!

Ghosted by Scythemantis @ 11/03/2004 2:34 AM EST

I found X-E when I was searching for 80’s commercials. I think it was the Encyclopedia Britanica one ("I always wondered where my mandibula was."). That was about a year and a half ago. Wow, time flies, huh?

Ghosted by trajeal @ 11/03/2004 6:25 AM EST

Hey, Scythemantis, you should add the penanggalan of Malaysia on there. Freaky creature.

Ghosted by trajeal @ 11/03/2004 6:34 AM EST

I have a friend who emailed me a link to the article Matt did WAY back on baking an Alf-shaped cake…..I have been coming here religiously since that moment almost 2 years ago!!

Ghosted by Muppet Baby @ 11/03/2004 7:26 AM EST

Yeah, I found the site about 2 years ago as well. A friend sent me a link to the Popples article. I’ve been reading religiously ever since!

Ghosted by 1drland @ 11/03/2004 8:05 AM EST

I checked out boredatwork.com (because I was) and the link to X-E was on there. As soon as I saw the 80’s commercial downloads I knew I was home.

Ghosted by Lori @ 11/03/2004 9:25 AM EST

I’ve been reading for almost 3 years. A friend sent a link to an article (it was so long ago, I don’t remember which one), and I have been hooked ever since. I have been on here at least once a day every day since.

Ghosted by Y2JB78 @ 11/03/2004 9:55 AM EST

I’ve been reading this site for almost 3 years now. I stumbled on this site while doing a search for He-Man. The rest is history. This is by far the best website, and one I look forward to reading everyday!

Ghosted by J-Dog @ 11/03/2004 10:04 AM EST

I actually didn’t start eating the Monster cereals until my teen years. I was not allowed to eat them as a child because my mom thought pre-sweetened cereals were dangerous (and the tool of Satan). Unbelievable. Anyway, Frankenberry is my fav of the three. But I don’t like the new artwork of Frank compared to his 80s rendition. It looks like he’s had one too many Red Bulls.

The cereals are all good. But does anyone remember the other Monster cereals that didn’t exactly succeed in the market? There was Fruit Brute (a werewolf), which came out around the same time as the first three but was discontinued around 1982-83. There was also Yummy Mummy, another fruit based Monster cereal that lived and died in the early 90s.

Ghosted by Bert Raccoon @ 11/03/2004 10:49 AM EST

I think I discovered this site about a year ago. A friend just sent me the link cause I was bored at work and he thought I’d enjoy it, and he was right. I don’t remember what article was the first I read, but the one that hooked me was the one about the Hulk Hands that talk. I still want to get a pair.

Ghosted by jhnnywalkr @ 11/03/2004 11:35 AM EST

http://www.cafepress.com/kerrylost

Ghosted by Capitalist @ 11/03/2004 1:49 PM EST

Election’s over, time to chill out. Click my name and feel the wind in you face, and the bugs in your teeth.

Ghosted by kingklash can't ride a bike @ 11/03/2004 3:14 PM EST

http://supereasthockey.com/PSU_04.html

Matt,

did you play hockey for Penn State?

Ghosted by J-Dog @ 11/03/2004 4:41 PM EST

Matt, I thought I’d just about read everything on this site, until I happened upon this little gem from waaaaayyyy back in April 2000 in which you interview a cocktail drinking, cigarette smoking naked doll. Weird stuff, man.

http://www.x-entertainment.com/messages/31.html

Ghosted by Pedro @ 11/03/2004 5:11 PM EST

One day after I had read all of Maddox’s articles I scrolled down to his links, Matt was one of them and now thanks to the halloween countdown I still obssessivly check x-e evertyime I get online.

Ghosted by gimpy421 @ 11/03/2004 10:50 PM EST

I think my favorite things in the Halloween countdown were the examination of all Jason’s different faces, the Emeril cartoon, and I guess the review of the snake-drug dealer commercial, which I didn’t even realize was part of the Halloween countdown until I looked at the list just now.

Ghosted by Talia @ 11/03/2004 11:22 PM EST

Y’know what X-E needs? Another mystery to solve. I mean, we had the myster of Nathan Bitner, and the mystery of the disappearance of Slimer’s Ecto Cooler, and even the mystery of Boo Berry. What we need is something else to rediscover and uncover that has been missing since our childhoods, and still possibly exists.

Ghosted by The REAL Nate @ 11/04/2004 12:04 PM EST

Thank all of you who responded to my question!! I figured everyone else just kinda "stumbled" into this madness called x-entertainment. and by the way i can’t believe the video for Aiesha by Another Bad Creation is on TV right now. God bless VH-1 Classics!!!! Once again thank you Matt for doing the work of a million slackers like me over the years!!!

-Kevin

Ghosted by phunqsauce @ 11/04/2004 3:55 AM EST

wow i just read the "Mae Young" interview. Frrrrrrrrrrrrrreakayyyyyyyyyy!!!!!

Makes me wish i was hip to this many a years ago. It reminds me of something that me and my friends woulda done if we knew the meaning of effort back in the day.

-Kevin

Ghosted by phunqsauce @ 11/04/2004 4:09 AM EST

happy belated halloween, hope you had a good one.

my favourite articles is a tough question, I liked them all! If I had to pick 3 though, to take away onto a (haunted) desert island to read again & again I’d pick
1. grosser than gross party favors. I liked this because I managed to pick some up from a supermarket here in the uk, it made me feel a little bit more like a matt.
2. halloween costumes for pets, just because it’s always funny to see an animal dressed up.
3. many faces jason vorhees. we all like jason. He constantly reinvents himself, you know you have to keep up with the kids

looking forward to more x-e in the near future!

Ghosted by Gaz @ 11/04/2004 5:28 AM EST

trajeal–

Waitaminit, waitaminit. RoG was on VH1? Double-yoo tee eff?

Ghosted by freakachu @ 11/04/2004 7:00 AM EST

yeah, he was on Toyally Obsessed. He was on The Daily Show once, too. Cool, huh? We need to get Matt some gigs like that. All of this "behind the scenes" stuff at Nick is only secondary to actually seeing his mug on tv. Well, actually, working at Nick is way cooler than a tiny guest spot on tv, but it would still be a-a-a-awesome to see.

Talia, are you my sister? That’s my sister’s name and it’s not exactly common. :-)

Ghosted by trajeal @ 11/04/2004 7:54 AM EST

Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention – I love the Mae Young interview. Hee! That’s classic X-E. I like how Matt tried to disguise himself as someone names Alex Troi. Like we wouldn’t know!

Ghosted by trajeal @ 11/04/2004 7:55 AM EST

I think my 3 favorite enteries were 1. Cat costume, 2. Crazy Contacts, and 3. Ghost comics, but I have to put the Monster cereals on here, too. Count Chocula is the greatest and I cannot imagine what mixing the 3 cereals together would be like. It seems like it would be insane! :)

Ghosted by Andrea @ 11/04/2004 2:31 PM EST

I concur with the masses: Many faces of Jason and the cat costume. I also liked the Shocktober ad (even though I am not from the NY area by a long shot. It was just nice).
I know Halloween is over, but I wish you could make one last reference to all of the hoopla this year. The big AMC and BRAVO horror movie specials were 5 star. Just an idea……

Ghosted by manimal789 @ 11/04/2004 7:50 PM EST

Yeah, sweet Uatu reference, i hear they might be bringing "What if?" back.

Ghosted by alan smithee @ 11/05/2004 12:35 PM EST

There should be a book about the stuff that, under no circumstances, will not ever happen in any form of the Marvel Universe. It could be called "As If!"

Ghosted by kingklash @ 11/06/2004 2:10 PM EST

Your Halloween coverage is great! I always get a laugh out of your writing. Oh that isn’t a head clock on Frankenberry, it’s a pressure gauge! Keep up the good work,

Ghosted by Andy @ 11/07/2004 1:09 AM EST

Two years ago after many hours spent searching for Boo Berry, we happened upon it at a local target. I think I may have crapped a brick in the process, but I got it home and it sat around the house for a few days, the magic wearing thin. Then the idea between me and my fellows that we should create a trifecta, the holy trinity, the mother%$#!ing triforce of cereal.

We got all the boxes and poured ourselves a bowl, and then we realized we forget the milk. so we used mango juice.

Mmm cha-cha-cha-cha-cha Delicious.

Ghosted by Chris @ 11/10/2004 9:42 PM EST

Add A New Comment!


This entry was posted on Sunday, October 31st, 2004 at 7:11 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.