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10/14/2006: Great Pumpkin Snacks, Hayrides & Squid.

Yeah, it was pretty unforgivable of me not to post on Friday the 13th, during an October, no less, but that’s the way the chips fell. Saturday’s make-up Countdown entry takes a look at Great Pumpkin Fruit Snacks, which are themed more just in packaging than in actual snackage, but remain a worthwhile addition to the season.

Had a funky dream last night. Before bed, I was reading a book about “real monsters of the deep” — specifically a chapter about giant squid. Sure enough, I dreamt that I owned a giant squid, only in my dream, it wasn’t so much “giant” as “air-breathing.” We kept it in the bathroom, and if memory serves, it looked more like a gray octopus than a squid. I can only remember little parts of the dream, most notably that the squid ate one of our cats, only to spit the poor slimy thing out later, unharmed. At some point, I guess my mind was trying to process how the squid was able to breathe air. So, in the next “shot,” the squid was wandering the house in some kind of Aliens-esque exosuit. Hrm. No more Fiery Habanero Doritos before bed.


Earlier today, we went to some Halloween Fair at a big field across town, and remained there for approximately three seconds before realizing that there was nothing worth staying for. There were dozens of kids in costume doing sack races and painting pumpkins, and a few vendors selling pies, but they weren’t like, homemade pumpkin pies or anything — they were fucking boxed Entermann’s pies. I couldn’t help giving the old lady running that particular table a dirty look, and I’m usually so nice and polite to old ladies. But come on…the field is two minutes from a giant supermarket, and it was obvious that she just went food shopping before the fair and marked up whatever she could find. And this shit wasn’t for charity! She just wanted profit on store-bought pies! The nerve!


There was a hayride attraction with real horses, but the line was insanely, insanely long. We couldn’t justify waiting two hours for a quick stroll through the woods, but I’m really regretting that, because this seemed like just the type of “haunted hayride” that’d make good on the old low-rent hayride standby of having a guy in a gorilla suit running around the finish line.


The trail entrance for the horsey hayride was covered in phony spider webs, and God damn, we so should’ve bit the bullet and waited on line. I’m all for the super souped-up hayrides with electronic attractions and million-dollar theatrics, but there’s nothing like the old school versions that roll you through an otherwise normal dirt road while someone on the cart makes wolf noises at random intervals.

If you’re here for it, enjoy the Saturday Night Thread.


Posted by Matt. E-mail me!

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Discussion Thread: 100 comments

On another note: I think it’s a crime that the new Castlevania isn’t being released in time for Halloween. :(

Ghosted by Joseph Valencia @ 10/15/2006 12:18 AM EDT


Well, as this is my first chance to play it, I’m hella excited. I’ve heard glorious things about it, and the crown of best old-school FF is easy to win in my book. For me right now, from worst to best it’s: II, V, IV, I. So, it just has be beat out the original. And before everyone beats me over the head, VI is the transition between old-school and the PS era, and therefore its own slice of Nirvana.

Yes, I like to cheat on lists.

Ghosted by K- @ 10/15/2006 12:18 AM EDT


Nah, I think Final Fantasy 1 is the real 1, Final Fantasy 3 is more like the real 2. Sort of like Link to the Past is the real sequel to the first Legend of Zelda.

WS just told me to slow down cowboy. I didn’t post 15 second ago.

Ghosted by dohopoki @ 10/15/2006 12:19 AM EDT


Oh man, I just watched Great Pumpkin today (I bought it on DVD!) along with Garfield’s Halloween Adventure. It felt so good, so right. I have a really, really, really old VHS at my parents’ house that has both of those, a random episode of The Storyteller and about 8 billion Disney Halloween specials, including DTV’s Monster Hits. I watched it at least 20 times every October, and I’m really missing it right now. =/

Ghosted by Ariel @ 10/15/2006 12:26 AM EDT


I gotta say, I love the Bulbasaur. Not that I just noticed it now; I’ve always seen Bulbasaur, but hey, Bulbasaur rocks. I like how it’s an ultra-rare super-shiny Bulbasaur.

Ghosted by Brandon @ 10/15/2006 12:47 AM EDT


Brandon, you’re the first person who noticed that, or at least mentioned it. Tweaked Bulba’s colors to match the season weeks ago. :)

Man, I’ve developed a bad weekend habit. All I can think about on Sunday is how I don’t want the workweek to start up again, so on Saturdays, I try to stay up as late as possible, even if I’m not particularly doing anything, just because it’s still Saturday, and Monday feels far off. This is a fool’s game, because I end up staying up so late that I wake up well into Sunday afternoon, with just enough time to get my clothes together for work. Argh. Oh well, guess it’s time to play Zuma for three hours.

Ghosted by Matt @ 10/15/2006 12:49 AM EDT


Brandon, you’re the first person who noticed that, or at least mentioned it.

Oh I mentioned it weeks and weeks ago, but you didn’t notice, because it was in Bulbasaur-speak. You need to work on your translations, hun.

Ghosted by Mystie @ 10/15/2006 12:54 AM EDT


Man, I’ve got nothing to say but here I am doing the SNT thing.
Working on 3 ppts. for no apparent reason. I found a good James K. Polk video on YouTube that I will be using.

Ghosted by The Manimal @ 10/15/2006 12:58 AM EDT


“Halloween on Ice Starring Nancy Kerrigan”? That’s gonna be the scariest special EVER. I’m not watchin’ that with the lights off.

Like Matt’s nephew, I am also “waitinforwii,” though I also managed to nab a reserve.

Ghosted by Mars @ 10/15/2006 1:20 AM EDT


Okay, if anyone is here for SNT, I’ve totally worn myself out looking for the “spooky” tootsie pops. Where in the hell do I find those things?! There are plenty of huge bags of regular boring old pops, but I haven’t been able to find the ones that Matt wrote about earlier in the season. If anyone has any tips on where I can find them, I would be eternally grateful. Thanks for any help y’all.

Ghosted by Jem @ 10/15/2006 1:33 AM EDT


I found mine at a regular old supermarket. (Waldbaum’s.)

Ghosted by Matt @ 10/15/2006 1:35 AM EDT


I found the spooky tootsie pops at a Hannafords here in New England.

I’ve never played Zuma before this thread. I just wasted an hour playing it, and I suck so so bad. I could only get to level 3-3. The frog was mocking my ineptitude.

I also don’t really understand the correlation between Aztecs/Incas and popping similar colored balls? Oh well.

Ghosted by Bricker @ 10/15/2006 1:45 AM EDT


I had Great Pumpkin fruit snacks last year. I love ‘em since they’re low fat, but still kind of Halloween-y. I think I was munching on them through Thanksgiving, though.

I bought the movie on DVD because I’m always at work when it comes on. But I still might take the night off work this year just so I can watch it on TV. I think it’s something about the commercial breaks–no matter how many times you’ve seen it, those commercial breaks just heighten the suspense. Maybe this year he’ll finally get something other than rocks!

Has anyone ever searched the X-E archives for something, found it, found a mistake and wanted to correct it, but then realized the article is two years old? Yeah, that’s probably just me. :)

Ghosted by broomstickjockey @ 10/15/2006 1:46 AM EDT


Speaking of crappy hayrides, I went with my college to Great Adventure today for their annual Fright Fest Trip.

We were there from 3 til after 9 and I have to say this: Never, EVER go during Fright Fest! The lines were long for everything, except for many of the flat rides, especially Tango. Fright Fest itself was pretty alright, the group was with a girl that was actually scared of stuff.

I hung out with 4 other people and we only got in 2 rides: Medusa (which I rode for the first time, great), and Batman: The Ride (this one was actually better than the last time I rode it, and it was at night to boot!) Between them, we spent another hour getting & eating food. $13 for a freaking cheeseburger “platter” which advertised having lettuce, tomato & onion and not having ANY and they just think 3 pickle slices are enough along with curly fries, and a medium coke! Near the end of the night, we shared funnel cake and deep-fried oreos, which in my opinion is one of those things everyone should try once to say “I ate those, and I didn’t die!”

Is it sad that there are videos about James K Polk on youtube?

Ghosted by Invcader Norbert @ 10/15/2006 2:06 AM EDT


Thanks. I’ll keep my eyes peeled…it maybe that Phoenix just doesn’t believe in them.

I’m REALLY excited for tomorrow, when I’ll be attending a totally Halloweeny themed “farm.” And by “farm” I mean, not desert. According to the website there’s a big maze, hayrides, pumpkin pie eating contests….the whole works. As Arizona is not really known for its fall colors and pumpkins usually shrivel up and die in the sun out here, I’m freakin pumped to see something fally. Maybe it’ll be so cool, you’ll all want to travel across the country to visit it. Yeah, that’s how great it’ll be…

Ghosted by Jem @ 10/15/2006 2:17 AM EDT


Themed farms etc. are great. There was one in southern Ohio called Shaws farm that I ate up as a kid.

Anyone live in/know Vegas? I have a business trip there a week from today and I need to get some sort of fun plans made for the evenings.

Ghosted by Bricker @ 10/15/2006 2:22 AM EDT


Matt, about staying up on Saturdays to keep Monday from happening, I did that every year I was in school. Every Sunday would just involve me moping around hating the fact that it was Sunday. It’s also why I hate 3 day weekends that start on Friday, rather than end on Monday. Once you use up that Friday it’s back to the same old situation where as getting that extra Monday makes for good Sundays AND since the week is going to start on Tuesday you get to look forward to a short week coming off the long weekend.

Ghosted by dohopoki @ 10/15/2006 2:24 AM EDT


I’m kind of doing the late Saturday thing too, except its because I”m excited about going to a pumpkin patch farm tomorrow and when I’m excited I stay up really late and then get about 30 seconds of sleep. Oh, and listening to the Halloween Mega Mix on Matt’s Jukebox didn’t help much either. Weird.

Ghosted by Tommy @ 10/15/2006 2:39 AM EDT


3 AM. Still awake.

Ghosted by Matt @ 10/15/2006 3:08 AM EDT


Hey Matt, whats the weather like in your neck of the woods? I think we had frost here in Indiana last time I checked.

Ghosted by Tommy @ 10/15/2006 3:13 AM EDT


It got pretty cold this weekend. Finally to the point where you can leave in the morning with a jacket on and not look like a douche by noon when it’s hot out again.

Ghosted by Matt @ 10/15/2006 3:16 AM EDT


So I’m torn on what I should be for Halloween this year. I don’t even really have anything to go to, but I feel left out if I don’t go as something, so right now its between Ernest P. Worrell and an emo kid. Decisions decisions.

Ghosted by Tommy @ 10/15/2006 3:23 AM EDT


Indiana? In South Bend it snowed a day or three ago. weird. said it was the second earliest in 60 years.

Cold now but not overly so.

And the snow burned off.

I aggree about watching ‘em on tv. doesn’t feel real on dvd, but I bought em anyway just in case you know?

Incedentally videogames passed me after super nintendo. Playstation and 2 had some gems, but mostly they don’t offer what I’m looking for anymore. Oh, there’ll be titles that warrent a rental (if I own the system) and some may even be good enough to buy.

But the price for these things? The need to get em NOW NOW NOW? I din’t get my ps2 until like a year ago. And let me tell you it was cheap. I cant imagine buying ANY system right off with as much history of price drop and first off buggyness.

But hey, what do I know? But the Wii can wii right off, that’s for sure. Sorry Nintendo. Super nintendo was the perfect system for fun. Playstation 2 has everything else. Maybe I’ll own a 3 when it’s 100 dollars, 3 years from now (what am I saying, two or less, heh.)

Ghosted by spooky @ 10/15/2006 3:31 AM EDT


Yeah, ever since the middle school days of buying a Sega Dreamcast the week it came out and selling it a few months later I’ve tried to wait it out to see if it’s worth it. Oh and I’m in southern Indiana so luckily we haven’t seen snow yet.

Ghosted by Tommy @ 10/15/2006 3:36 AM EDT


Tommy, go as an emo kid, but have a black eye.

I’m going as either Liz from Hellboy (in her psychiatric ward scrubs) or just a regular mental patient. I’m really leaning toward the latter just because I want an excuse to spend an ungodly amount of money on (and own) a straitjacket.

Ghosted by broomstickjockey @ 10/15/2006 3:37 AM EDT


Haha good call. I was planning on at least going with slit wrists, but thats even better. I just don’t look forward to wearing super tight clothes.

How much is a straitjacket?

Ghosted by Tommy @ 10/15/2006 3:41 AM EDT


Seems like a lot of people on here have or are getting Nintendo DS, does anyone ever play online?

Ghosted by dohopoki @ 10/15/2006 3:44 AM EDT


Just got back from a totally lame party. There were only like 7 or 8 people there, and I felt sorry for the hose. It was supposed to be a highlighter party (you know, highlighters, t-shirts, and later on no shirts). The worst part was when this drunk girl showed me her boobies. Now, don’t get me wrong- I LOVE boobies. But she was only 19, and I wasn’t really into her anyway. I mostly felt embarassed for her, and dirty for looking.

On the plus side, I got to see some boobies.

I’m invited back for Halloween, but it’s a costume party. I have no idea what to wear, and I have to wonder how good the party is going to be. Any good ideas for a somewhat simple Halloween costume? The “It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown” ghost sounds funny, but I don’t know that people will get it.

Ghosted by spaz307 @ 10/15/2006 3:50 AM EDT


doho-

I don’t play online with my DS. Of course, I mostly play it on the bus, so it’s completely useless online. I have played wirelessly with a friend a few times when we were doing second shift work.

Anyways, Nintendo makes it too damn hard to meet your friends online to make it worthwhile. Stick to Xbox Live- it’s still the best service out there.

Ghosted by spaz307 @ 10/15/2006 3:54 AM EDT


I don’t mind friend codes and all that if that’s what you mean because I’d rather just play online with people I know/sort of know from a blog field. I had xbox live and my experiences with it weren’t too great. I like what they’ve done with the silver account stuff though.

Ghosted by dohopoki @ 10/15/2006 4:09 AM EDT


Tommy, the slit wrists are a good idea, but then people might just think you’re a suicide and that’s not as funny. Definately go for the black eye and make sure to wear a shirt that says “Emo” or something. That’s sure to get some laughs.

A costume, cheap-y straitjacket (complete with Hannibal muzzle, which I wouldn’t use) is $25. But a REAL straitjacket is up in the $150 range. I’ve always wanted a straitjacket and I got a $200 Halloween bonus from work (yes, my boss sent me a check that said “Halloween bonus”), but I’m not sure I want to spend it all on that. I’m hoping to find a better-looking fake one for about $50.

Ghosted by broomstickjockey @ 10/15/2006 4:22 AM EDT


Awesome, and thanks for the advice.

Well I officially need to go to bed. I get to pick pumpkins from 20 acres of pumpkins tomorrow, so I need my rest.

Ghosted by Tommy @ 10/15/2006 4:30 AM EDT


I’m late to the party tonight…I was going to post earlier but I had to go see some second cousins that I really feel like I should be getting “aunt” rights with considering I’m as old as their parents. We decorated cupcakes, with orange and black frosting and spooky sprinkles, so it was a good time.
My roommate just bought an Xbox 360 yesterday, along with LOTR Battle for Middle Earth II, Dynasty Warriors 5 (fuck yeah!) and Lego Star Wars II. Played the Battle of Hoth earlier and it was soooooo the shit. I’ve been seriously considering getting a PSP, not for gaming purposes but for surfing the web (most importantly this here blog, of course). The lack of available keyboard is a big negative, but I already tested out whether I can still post using the PSP key entry, and it’s slow but reasonable. And I realize that anything that slows done my rate of posting probably isn’t a bad thing, so I think I’m going for it. ;)

Ghosted by squee4242 @ 10/15/2006 5:30 AM EDT


Re: PSP

If Crises Core ever pops its head up, I might bite. It’ll be a while though. Although, I like that they are revamping Chain of Memories for the PS2, to be sold with the Final Mix of Kingdom Hearts II. But as far as I know, it’s still just a planned Japanese release. Wish they’d revamp portables more often, so I didn’t have to buy new handhelds. But I know that isn’t always cost effective, although Liberty City Stories seems to be selling pretty well on the PS2, despite critics obviously attacking it for being just a port.

I don’t mind owning a GBA, and I’m excited about owning a DS, but PSP just makes me so very leary for some reason. And I’m the local Sony fanboy. Perhaps this is why the XII spin-off will be on DS and not PSP.

Ghosted by K- @ 10/15/2006 11:47 AM EDT


Does anyone have Tetris DS and want some online action? I have it… but havent played anyone online yet with it. I used to be awesome at Tetris…

Ghosted by kittycatgirl2k @ 10/15/2006 12:38 PM EDT


So,

The great pumpkin snacks kind of suck. That’s too bad.

Ghosted by DayTripperID @ 10/15/2006 2:00 PM EDT


i saw those at kroger a couple weeks back and, as i was walking toward the line, checked to see what flavors the snacks were. that’s when i saw that there was nothing spooky about them and put them back. :/

Ghosted by Eddie Lightning Frog @ 10/15/2006 2:13 PM EDT


After doing those sterotypical “sexy” costumes for the past few years, im finally doing the costume iv been dying to go for ages, charlie browns ghost costume, my friends are annoyed im not going with their theme this year (sexy animals) but whatever, charlie brown is so much more kickass

Ghosted by Pinky @ 10/15/2006 2:40 PM EDT


Damn, all this talk of The Great Pumpkin really makes me wanna drive out to Camp Spooky and see the Peanuts gang in their Halloween garb. Hm. There’s gotta be someone I can sucker into going with me…

Ghosted by Mystie @ 10/15/2006 4:03 PM EDT


My (possibly wrong) theory:
We (those of us in our mid-late 20’s) did not have cartoons at night time. We did not have 25-50 Cartoons on Vhs and DVD. Also, in the early to mid eighties, not everyone had cable. When there was a children’s program on at night time, it was an event. This whole weekend, there has been halloween themed cartoons and movies on all of the “kid’s” cable channels. Kids now have more specials than they can even watch.
Pinky Charlie Brown IS so much more kickass, good for you.

Ghosted by kb @ 10/15/2006 4:09 PM EDT


kb- I like your theory- you’re right- back in the day, it WAS kind of awesome when a cartoon came on at night time. Aside from Nickelodeon, and the Wonderful World of Disney, it was strange to see a cartoon on at night. Plus, it was great to see the cartoon special hyped on TV for like a month in commercials before it actually played. I always felt like I was watching AN EVENT, as you say.

Ghosted by Muppet Baby @ 10/15/2006 4:51 PM EDT


Anybody in their 20’s should have seen the Great Pumpkin, i have it on a 100 year old tape of old ass holiday specials my mom taped off tv. Hey you can get stickers of the Great Pumkin that look exactly like those cutouts at Target!

Ghosted by Lurch @ 10/15/2006 5:15 PM EDT


Hell, I even REMEMBER when Nickelodeon, Cartoon Netowork & Disney Channel actualy showed Halloween episodes of shows in marathons, instead of showing blocks of “scary” like Courage and Billy & Mandy every night or those really crappy halloween-themed movies with really bad cgi.

What’s even more rare are the Christmas blocks, especially on cartoon network! They used to show them in July as well, and they don;t do that anymore either! :(

Ghosted by Invader Norbert @ 10/15/2006 5:47 PM EDT


Matt, I saw the promo for this and though you might need a good chuckle:
True Life: I’m A Staten Island Girl
October 17th at 10 p.m. ET/PT on MTV

Ghosted by Him @ 10/15/2006 9:33 PM EDT


psp is dope, i’m not a big game player though. my main things on there are grand theft auto, burnout and infected. it’s so cool to have around tho cuz i’ve got movies on there, rips of the original ninja turtles cartoons, like 100-200 nes & genesis games, several hours of music, etc.. i also use it to transport files from my work computer to personal computer, i’m sad to say it’s become kinda like my little buddy, the thing is dope as hell

but word, i never got into the charlie brown thing. i vaguely remember the great pumpkin being on but not sure if i ever looked at it. it seems like garfield had a halloween special with a lot of singing in it? regardless of the singing that was the one i used to look out for

Ghosted by drbong @ 10/15/2006 10:36 PM EDT


Sorry kittycatgirl2k, no Tetris.

Ghosted by dohopoki @ 10/16/2006 12:36 AM EDT


Peanuts is a bad joke that needs to end.

Ghosted by jrh @ 10/16/2006 2:38 AM EDT


ummm…i’ve been trying to e-mail matt for the past 2 weeks with a question about those boxes of stuff and i keep getting the e-mails returned saying that they couldn’t deliver them. does anyone know if there’s something wrong with his e-mail?

Ghosted by erin @ 10/16/2006 10:55 AM EDT


“|||||| || |||||.”

LMAO that was priceless. I don’t think Charlie Brown will live long in the same universe as “Fairly Oddparents.” Peanuts are just depressing in all incarnations. Lovable in a sad, depressing way.

Ghosted by Melanie @ 10/24/2006 4:29 PM EDT


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