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12/02/2006: If I stay up this late again I WILL DIE.

Despite a tornado warning today (The hell? I live in New Yawk.), this past week’s been a tribute to summer. Warm air, sunshine, T-shirts…I absolutely hate it. It’s December, damn it. You folks out west might be okay with having a BBQ on Christmas Eve, but I feel stupid gazing at electric displays up and down the roads when it’s warm enough to wear my tiki-print tank-top, formerly reserved for Independence Day and Independence Day only.

PS, I did watch A Charlie Brown Christmas on 11/28, and yeah, I mostly agree that it was a little too early for them to run it. It really wasn’t that that early, but I think I would’ve preferred to anticipate my yearly SHUT UP LINUS, GET TO THE TREE PART shouts for a little bit longer.


Actually, it was fun. We were watching two of my nephews, nephews whose combined interest in A Charlie Brown Christmas weighed in at a heavy point blank zero. They spent the hour fighting over who got the computer while I sat like an asshole, video recording Charlie Brown with my digital camera’s magic button. Every once in a while, though, they’d glance over and have to catch themselves being into it before stopping.

The special was loaded with Christmas commercials (and with commercials that the Kids of Now will someday associate with the 2006 holiday season, like let’s say, a Nintendo Wii ad), and the Peanuts peeps continued to shine. Never once felt like I was watching it just because I “had” to.

Did a little Christmas shopping tonight. The local TRU is already a madhouse, so much so that I had to pass on buying these really awesome light-up lollipops shaped like icy blue snowmen, because even that ain’t worth thirty minutes behind some bitch who “can’t believe she’s about to spend all this money!” I’ve had much more luck online. Found one of my nieces a “Baby Alive” doll, and everyone who finds this out freaks as if I’d stumbled onto a pit of oil. I swear, I’ve been getting the “We’re Not Worthy” bows and everything. Is Baby Alive really such a hot ticket?

The Advent Calendar has been updated for December 2nd. Side note: At 3:30 AM.


Posted by Matt. E-mail me!

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Discussion Thread: 48 comments

*cattle prod*

Ghosted by Mystie @ 12/02/2006 5:03 AM EST

Wow, lucky for me that I’m still awake. I get to enjoy some Advent Calendar fun. Knacks has become my new favorite Christmas character of all time.

What the hell is a Baby Alive doll?

Ghosted by Mr. Boligarky @ 12/02/2006 5:03 AM EST

Actually, it gets rather cold here in the West (California) in December. Ever since November 30th, it’s been much colder than usual, usually it’s about 80 degrees, but it suddenly plummeted to 45. Go figure.

Ghosted by Iscariot @ 12/02/2006 5:16 AM EST

Baby Alive… aren’t those the ones that you fill with water so they feel more realistic?

Went to Matt’s Mecca today (read: waded through a sea of toddlers up to my hip at Toys R Us) to look for an Advent Calendar and “life-sized” Charlie-in-the-Box. I didn’t find either, but I did find some awesome Peanuts toys. I don’t know if they’re new or what but each figure is about 7″ tall and they come with fun props. I may have to pick me up a set… after I find my Charlie-in-the-Box!

Ghosted by Special K (fka broomstickjockey) @ 12/02/2006 5:33 AM EST

Holy crap dude, your commitment to getting this calendar up on time is amazing, but don’t rob yourself of sleep over it. I easily could have waited til evening if not later, but I am glad I didn’t have to! :D This year is shaping up to be quite intresting, will Knacks take on the task of the Lego Advent Calendar? I am excited to find out.

Ghosted by Cap'n Ducky @ 12/02/2006 5:54 AM EST

Matt, I’m a little concerned that the character known as “Knacks” may actually be a refection of yourself -for his actions seem to parallel your own to a disturbing degree. By creating Knacks’s MySpace and maintaining it, you are vicariously living through your Lego man’s personae -an act of escapism …but from what? We know that you have associated yourself with Knacks, so it can only be assumed that you share his feelings of unworth, loneliness, and depression. Could his impatience for friend requests really be a metaphor for your impatience for blog postings such as this one? How much does the creator share with his creation? YOU MUST FIND YOUR WAITERBOT MATT! FIND IT AND DESTROY WITHOUT MERCY! KILL HIS WIFE TOO! RID YOUR LIFE OF ALL PHOBIAS! …before it’s too late.

Ghosted by Ponsonby_Britt @ 12/02/2006 6:32 AM EST

Bah, I’m ALWAYS up this late. Creature of the night, that’s me.

Ghosted by x @ 12/02/2006 6:43 AM EST

Special K- The dolls that you filled with water were called “Water Babies” if I’m not mistaken. Not a very original name, if you ask me.

I can’t believe I’m still awake. G-D insomnia. Baby alive is the doll that you could feed “food”, and drink, and would excrete waste products. I never had one myself, being more into the boy-toys…however, I remember my ONLY female friend having one. I seem to remember the “food” coming as a powder and only in two colors. I want to say red and green, but that may be because of the season.

I really wouldn’t be surprised if the new and improved Baby Alive was a hot ticket. Even I thought that having a doll that pooped was cool. If I had a daughter, I’d get her one of the new ones…even if her eyes are freakishly big. Just to teach her that it’s okay for girls to poop.

Ghosted by MissJess @ 12/02/2006 7:01 AM EST

Maybe Knacks could hook up with Polly Pocket?

Ghosted by Jon @ 12/02/2006 7:31 AM EST

Dammit! This is the 1st time in forever I’m up early on Saturday, and the advent calendar won’t work for me! Nope- I keep clicking and clicking and nothin’. :( Sigh. Well, maybe it will work later…nice work yesterday though. Still can’t believe KNACKS beat me at getting a myspace page.

Ghosted by Muppet Baby @ 12/02/2006 8:28 AM EST

I spent ONE New Year’s Eve in Florida and that totally ruined winter for me.

And now it’s 40 again I HOPE YOU’RE HAPPY

Ghosted by Fireball @ 12/02/2006 9:28 AM EST

I’m loving it. I’ll admit, I was disappointed to hear about the lack of an advert calender this year, but this advent calender adventure is shaping up to be the best yet. The myspace profile is such a gread added dimension to it all.

I give you two kudos! (The maximum amount of kudos possible)

Ghosted by Jeff @ 12/02/2006 9:32 AM EST

Charlie Brown Christmas was waayy too early this year. It was like a week after Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, and it was warm enough for me to jog outside without a sweatshirt. That ain’t Christmas!

Ghosted by Jeff Mack @ 12/02/2006 10:11 AM EST

Hmmm…any of you people who equate Christmas with cold and snow can trade places with me in a heartbeat. The pure hatred of winter is all that got me through 2-1/2 hours of shoveling last night.

As an added bonus, I’ll throw in a car with the doors and windows frozen shut. Frozen windows especially rock when you light a cigarette and drive away before you realize they wont go down.

It’s 12 right now.

Not very whiny or anything…

Ghosted by MaryJane @ 12/02/2006 10:20 AM EST

It snowed last night here in Toronto! Dammit!

Ghosted by Laser @ 12/02/2006 10:58 AM EST

Legotron with the Biggie reference, awesome. And don’t fret matt it is nice and cold again (i’m in philly). According to our weather lady we might even get some snow monday!

And not to plug myself, but everyday during christmastime my blog will be featuring a classic christmas cartoon to d/l. I thought you would enjoy that.

Ghosted by Geoffinsanity @ 12/02/2006 11:23 AM EST

You should come to the midwest, Matt. It went from being in the 60s to the 30s overnight. I was supossed to go to this little town and perform in the Victorian Christmas Festival today, but I found out it would be for free, so I’m skipping out. It’s too cold for that.

Ghosted by Tommy @ 12/02/2006 11:24 AM EST

I knew, when I went to bed at 2 last night, I would be missing out.

They still make baby alive?

I’m looking for someone to blame for the weather. It was 70 degrees yesterday. What’s the point of living in New England if it’s 70 degrees in December?

Ghosted by Katherine @ 12/02/2006 11:57 AM EST

I had a Baby Alive doll when I was a kid. Basically, it’s one of those dolls where you feed it and it poops. I can’t really explain why that’s so entertaining to little girls, but it is.

The new dolls are freaky looking though. Click my name to see one – holy crap.

Ghosted by jazzy @ 12/02/2006 12:16 PM EST

Some day, I want an actual Christmas shopping experience. One where I have to go on a less-than-merry romp from store to store trying to find that one perfect gift, that unattainable Holy Grail that the last person on my list wants. Perhaps someday…

Ghosted by Mike P @ 12/02/2006 12:26 PM EST

Kuse has no love for the “Animated Standing Buck” and “Feeding Doe” decorations, I see.

Ghosted by Frostor @ 12/02/2006 12:40 PM EST

My friend had one of those Baby Alive dolls. The food was red and green, as said above, because when it mixes together inside the doll it will come out brown–pretty good special effects for such simple technology.

Ghosted by Maura @ 12/02/2006 12:57 PM EST

Hey Jeff, did you get that job?
Great work on the late night post Matt. Just one question. Do your buddies give you suggestions about articles and Advent plots or is there a no talking clause in the friendship about X-E?

Ghosted by Bill @ 12/02/2006 1:08 PM EST

What kind of a jacked-up freakin’ omen is this for my X-Mas season? The peanut mill here in town caught fire and every home and business downwind had to be evac’d for several hours. They were afraid that there might have been some pesticide involved and toxic fumes from the burn would pose a problem. Nobody told us here at work to skedaddle. The Gallery and my house are in the foot print of the conflagration. Around 10:00 last night, we heard on OKC news that the all-clear had been sounded. No fumes, but the fire’s still going right now, and the north end of town has a peculiar funk to it. I can see the TV movie now: Anadarko: The Day Our Nuts Caught Fire.

The advent is, of course, a healing balm on any sour occasion.

Ghosted by kingklash smells like hot goobers @ 12/02/2006 1:33 PM EST

Most notable moment for me during Charlie Brown was suddenly recognizing the origins of a line they’ve used on MST3K (All I want is what’s coming to me! All I want is my fair share!). Ten points to any MSTie that knows the ep (not to be confused with a Mystie :) ).
Any gals remember Valley Girl Dawn from Babysitters Club and her 80 degree Christmasses? My sis & I still reference her when the weather is warm.
I’m jealous of y’alls snowmen, but that’s all. I can’t hang with shoveling nothing.

Ghosted by squee4242 @ 12/02/2006 1:42 PM EST

The Baby Alive doll seems like work rather than an actual toy. I guess I just don’t get the fun behind a toy that poops.

I saw commercial recently for this animatronic pony. It interacts with the kid based on how she pets him. It’s creative, but extremely creepy.

Ghosted by Dr. Acula @ 12/02/2006 2:08 PM EST

PS – Is anyone having trouble viewing the calendar? Explain the problem if you are. (May want to try hard-refreshing by pressing “F5″ first.)

Ghosted by Matt @ 12/02/2006 2:26 PM EST

Is Baby Alive really such a hot ticket?

I work in a KB that doesn’t carry it so…yes.

BTW, anyone who waited til december to watch Charlie Brown Christmas can either 1) click on my name in my first post in the last blog or 2) click on my name here to go to myspace page to see it there in its entirety.

Ghosted by Invader Norbert @ 12/02/2006 2:55 PM EST

No way, Baby Alive is back?? Those things were creepy THEN, with early 1990’s technology. I don’t even want to think about what they must have become now.

This is the bad omen Mare was talking about….

Ghosted by Mars @ 12/02/2006 3:04 PM EST

I am in heaven, not only is it December but Knacks is now my MySpace friend, hooray! We are so going to PM each other poorly written poetry and talk about math class. Hells yeah!

Ghosted by Darth Poop @ 12/02/2006 3:18 PM EST

http://www.shaveeverywhere.com/
What has the Christmas advertising agencies gone to. This is hilarious but what kind of Christmas present is this? Man-scaping? I miss the old McDonald’s commercials that make you cry or the TRU with Geoffrey the Giraffe.

Ghosted by Bill @ 12/02/2006 3:36 PM EST

Thanks jazzy, you’re right, that is creepy as hell.

Ghosted by Mr. Boligarky @ 12/02/2006 3:36 PM EST

Baby Alive goes all the way back to the 70’s. The “food” was just scented powder you mixed into a translucent goo that smelled vaguely like peaches and strawberries. My sisters didn’t have it, but their friends did. Oldest Sis didn’t care for those kinds of dolls, and Army Sis didn’t get them after the one with growing hair got a haircut, and Baby That-a-Way tumbled down concrete stairs at our apartment building. She was more into figuring how they work than taking care of them. She grew up to be a good mom, though.

Ghosted by kingklash @ 12/02/2006 3:47 PM EST

I’ll give you guys another reason to love the West besides our temperate winters: Spanish-language infomercials for car dealerships where women in fishnet stockings, red bikinis and Santa hats frolic in front of minivans to encourage you to buy a car. Or maybe you have those back East too?

Ghosted by squee4242 @ 12/02/2006 4:04 PM EST

Bill –

I got an email from the company that said due to budget restraints they can’t hire anyone until after the new year. That’s fine by me…I’m currently studying for my GREs to apply to a doctorate program at Florida State University.

Ghosted by Jeff Mack @ 12/02/2006 4:09 PM EST

Did he say “an extra optical inch to his ****” or is that the result of the choppy playback of my browser. I’m going to go with the latter, for the love of god.

Let’s just say I didn’t stick around to see if he ever dropped the robe.

Ghosted by K- @ 12/02/2006 4:31 PM EST

Lol, more guys are “body grooming” than you’d probably think. It’s like my #2 requirement in a man, right below being at least 6′ tall. I’m loving the two Christmas balls in the corner. Excellent touch.

Ghosted by Mystie @ 12/02/2006 5:00 PM EST

I was actually kindof shocked to see it up by noon. Wish I would’ve been online at like three. I was up, but chose to watch “Keys To The V.I.P.” while folding jeans….for some reason.

I believe this is the first year that I’ve been trying to keep up with calendar, and I must say its nice.

Matt, I was wondering if you’d watched A Charlie Brown Christmas, but figured that you had. I have to say, Christmas Time is Here is by far my favourite Christmas song (carol?). I’m irritated by the fact its rarely covered on like…Heart and America’s Christmas records.

In any case, I plan to buy the soundtrack when I make my $300 dollar excursion to HMV next week. Maybe try and get some sheet music too.

Does anyone else think “Baby Alive” looks like the baby dionosaur from “Dinosaurs”?….. “Baby”.

Ghosted by Tutsuro @ 12/02/2006 5:05 PM EST

Good for you Jeff. FSU is warmer anyway.

Ghosted by Bill @ 12/02/2006 5:53 PM EST

squee4242: I totally remember the Babysitters Club. I don’t really remember Dawn talking about 80 degree winters, but then we have them here in Florida sometimes, so it wouldn’t have fazed me enough to be worth remembering.

Ghosted by jazzy @ 12/02/2006 6:37 PM EST

That ‘pony’ thing is actually creepier in person.

I used to have a black Baby Come Back, even tho I’m Heinz 57 white…I thought she was much cuter than the white version of the doll. Of course, I did live in a small Midwest town at the time, so I did get other kids asking about my doll using the n-word. She unfortunately ended life in a landfill after some batteries leaked inside her. :/

BTW, Baby Alives don’t do well when you feed them chocolate chip cookies. :D Yeah, I did that to my sister’s! Same year I accidentally locked her in our bedroom by using a hairpin as a ‘key’… Boy, when I was four, I was a little stinker! :D

Ghosted by Moony @ 12/02/2006 10:05 PM EST

OMG!!!!!!!!! BABY SITTERS CLUB!!! They were my best friends through my friendless adolescence…
Kristy Thomas
Mary anne Spier
Claudia Kishi
Stacy Mcgill
Dawn Schafer
Mallory PIke
Jesse Ramsey

I had about 8o of them i think? don’t know how many were made though……omg…what i would’nt have done for those girls to come to life and take me back with them to Stoney Brook Conneticut

I used to dream we were all friends and stuff…im actually tearing up as I type this because they were SUCH a pivotal part of my life growing up….you have no idea how it is to be lomely and no friends slightly over weiht with glasses and a love for books.

Ghosted by mandy_Reeves @ 12/02/2006 10:57 PM EST

Mandy, I was also a big Babysitter’s Club fan in the early 90s. My reading ability actually grew out of them before I did. I could read two a day, sometimes three. I stopped reading them when I got sick of my mother fussing over my not reading more “difficult” adult books, but I’ve since regretted bowing to her wishes. Whether or not they were too “easy” for me, I really liked those books and the girls themselves.

I didn’t watch “Charlie Brown Christmas” on ABC, but it’s not a huge loss, as I have it on DVD. I do miss those once-a-year-with-commercials events sometimes, but not enough to get cable for one.

And the Advent Calender is still brightening my frustrating day. I feel so much better knowing Knacks, Kuse, and Mare will be questioning the meaning of today’s gifts after a hard day of listening to 2,000 obnoxious Camden families and old people whine because the sale they wanted ended yesterday.

Ghosted by starwenn @ 12/02/2006 11:19 PM EST

Back around Halloween I mentioned how they were playing It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown on the video screen before a Carolina Hurricanes game here in Raleigh…well, I was at tonight’s game, and they were playing a Charlie Brown Christmas on the screen before the game.

Oh, and the Canes won. :) Have you ever seen Rod Brind’Amour on a bubble gum card? I’ve never seen Rod Brind’Amour on a bubble gum card. Have you? Hmm?

Ghosted by mjf7583 @ 12/03/2006 1:28 AM EST

Yes, Baby alive are a hell of a hot ticket, I should know because i work a Toys r us in los angeles and have the displeasure of telling customer after annoying, needy and helpless customer that “sorry we’re all out, and no i don’t know when we’re getting any more”.

why the ugly toy is so popular is beyond me. I don’t even know what it does.

Ghosted by Ash @ 12/07/2006 4:42 PM EST

I’ve killed it. Everything I touch gets ruined…

Ghosted by Mal @ 12/08/2006 7:45 PM EST

This is one of my christmas favorites.

I mostly just wanted to take the time to Thank you Matt for bringing us this great website. It’s one of my favorite websites on the whole internet and you’ve done a great job with it. It’s the closes thing to a real time machine that we may ever see.

Thanks for the public service you’re doing here and for giving us back our childhood memories. In the nostalgia there is a recapured sense of the magic that a person loses over time as they become an adult that deals with the pains of life wich can force cynism into ones personality.

So I really just wanted to say, Thank You. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. May you be blessed!

Ghosted by DJ @ 12/20/2006 3:33 AM EST

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