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Swag & Branded Target Confetti. (Uh huh.)

This was my first day back at work after a nice, long vacation, and as is always the case when you have to wake up and be responsible again after a nice, long vacation, I was just totally dreading the shit out of today. Course, the dread was pointless -- work was work, no better or worse than before. Eh, maybe it was a little better, because I got tons of presents.


A bunch of the companies I've worked with in the past year sent swag over in late December, but since I was out, walking into work today was like Christmas morning all over again. The loot included a few t-shirts/sweatshirts with logos for various companies you've never heard of on them, along with a few bottles of wine, an awesome black throw blanket that is logofied but not in an annoying way, a lava lamp (!!!), a Starbucks gift card, a big ass gold tin robot that's so unbelievably awesome that I had to try really hard not to prefix "awesome" with "fucking," and the ultimate prize -- a Mimoco flash drive that looks like a ghost!


Ahhhhhhh so great so great so great. I've received many complimentary flash drives in my day (virtually every company that has ever seen fit to reward my relationship with them gave me a flash drive), but I think this is the first one that I'll really find a use for. I'm in love with this thing. It comes with some kind of goth teddy bear costume (a protective sleeve), and it can hold a gig's worth of stuff that I'm not comfortable with putting on my office desktop! I love my Mimoco Ghost flash drive! Only 1 of 500 ever made! Site says so!


If you were watching Dick Clark's Rockin' New Year's Blasteriffic Clashband Partymart, know that my office is like twelve feet away from where Ryan Seacrest stood. I am privileged and rare. As such, the confetti from the midnight hour was still all over the streets. The sanitation wizards managed to clean up Times Square pretty darn well, but you can't get all of that crap up, and that totally works for me, because I never get anywhere near the city on New Year's Eve. Getting to stomp the party's official confetti made me feel like I was part of the action, however fashionably late.

Because many buildings in the area feature porous revolving doors, pretty much every store and office in Times Square had a lobby full of dirty party paper today. The picture above was actually snapped in a bank. When I looked closer at the shreds, I was surprised to find that it was...branded?


Yes, the confetti of the 2006 Times Square New Year's Eve bash was brought to us by Target. Okay, so on the one hand, maybe you could argue that branding confetti is going a step too far. I disagree, because it's very nice confetti. Some of the pieces had happy phrases; others were shiny and foily with stupid Target logos on them. Either way, it's all so much more noteworthy than random blank strips of yellow and lavender paper.

Bit by the materialism bug that comes with getting free shit from companies I barely know, we hit a few stores tonight to cash in on some of the gift cards we got for Christmas. A bunch of you fuckers told me to get Red Steel for the Wii, so I did. I haven't opened it yet, but now that I'm reading the reviews, I'm wondering why that certain bunch of you told me to get the most poorly rated game on the entire console. I exaggerate, but man. People aren't being kind to Red Steel. You have around 12 hours to convince me to play it or to exchange it. If you vote EXCHANGE, what should I get? (Catch: I played Rayman; it's awesome, but not the kind of thing I can foresee playing much by myself. Pick something else please thanks yes.)

Also picked up another Wii remote, which is excellent, because now, the poor souls who enter our apartment will only be charged with challenging me for the championship trophy in Wii Sports bowling, whereas they formerly could only watch me hone my skills in awe. Oh sure, you can bowl with two players on one remote, but that is so disgusting and cumbersome that I'm going to pretend you can't.

PS: If I haven't Wii friend coded or whatever the hell you call it back yet, it doesn't mean that I don't like you. It means that I haven't friend coded anyone back yet. I will get on that soon, and I look forward to having your Miis mingle with my Miis and perhaps create baby Miis which would make us related by some gorily nerdy stretch. We'll have times, you and I.

Posted by Matt on 01/03/2007. E-mail me!



Discussion Thread: 155 comments
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oh yes. the miis will mingle. target sure is hopping all over times square, after that whole david blane thing. Have you seen the giant froot loops yet? dang those things are gigantic.

Wii code: 5880 1161 5752 5548

(yes i know im being annoying but im really antsy about getting wii friends. I want to have more wii friends than actual friends, which wont be hard to acomplish)

Chestnuts roasted by asdfnick @ 01/03/2007 12:57 AM

Aw, but there’s no Wicket flash drive. That makes me sad. ;.;

Chestnuts roasted by Mystie @ 01/03/2007 12:57 AM

super monkey ball banana blitz or elebitz. and yes, those wii suggestions rhymed.

Chestnuts roasted by matty c @ 01/03/2007 12:59 AM

i kinda rushed past that fruit loops thing. they are collosal fruit loops. they are like 2 inches big. they are rediculously gigantic. you can find them here : http://www.americansweets.co.uk/index.asp?function=DISPLAYPRODUCT&productid=63

Chestnuts roasted by asdfnick @ 01/03/2007 1:00 AM

on the wii game, yes, i also agree that red steel sucks balls. if its an FPS your looking for, big up call of duty 3, its the best one for the wii, or so ive heard. Also, marvel ultimate alliance rules. other than that i dont really know :/

Chestnuts roasted by asdfnick @ 01/03/2007 1:02 AM

Matt,

With Red Steel, you can turn your Wiimote, and shoot ninjas gangster style. If that’s not badass, I don’t know what is.

Chestnuts roasted by Cotter @ 01/03/2007 1:03 AM

Return Red Steel, then get Elebits, its definitly one of the most addictive games.
its FPS mixed with insanity of being able to pick up stuff like fridges and cars and chucking them around everywhere, then mixed with the Pokemon style of collecting everything.

Chestnuts roasted by Crimson @ 01/03/2007 1:10 AM

Hey guys — don’t care if they were already posted above, but please keep all Wii code sharing to this thread. No biggie, but it can turn into clutter fast otherwise.

Chestnuts roasted by Matt @ 01/03/2007 1:12 AM

I’m in the “What other game should I get” connundrum myself, and I’ve ruled it down to Trauma Center and Elebits. I’m leaning towards Trauma Center, because I didn’t have that on the DS, and I think Elebits may go down in price in about a year or so. But it really boils down to what kind of game you might want. Trauma Center is supposed to be pretty hardcore at times. I don’t pretend to know your tastes in gaming, but just from reading X-E for many years, Elebits might be more your style. I mean, the whole point of the game is to pick stuff up and throw it. How can you NOT like that?

Can’t believe it’s Target brand confetti. Man, Target’s really the place to be these days….

Chestnuts roasted by Cameron T. @ 01/03/2007 1:14 AM

I am going through today what you went through the day before: The going back to work after a long vacation depression.
Hence, my theory is if I don’t go to sleep, tomorrow will never come (I give myself 15 minutes).
VISION: The Ghost flash drive makes a cameo into a Ghost With the Most story :)
That R2D2 one is out of control!!

Chestnuts roasted by The Manimal @ 01/03/2007 1:14 AM

Manimal — Sucks, right? Probably worse for you, too. If I remember your job correctly, you can’t exactly slump behind a desk until noon. (I actually hid myself with a TV cart until 11:30 today.)

Cameron — I might hop aboard that Elebits train. It seems like the kind of brainily brainless thing I’ve been searching for.

Chestnuts roasted by Matt @ 01/03/2007 1:17 AM

Glad you got such cool stuff from work, Matt. I came into the office and found a Diamond Aircraft pen set and pocket protector. Who still sports a pocket protector? I will. Sh*t I already wear short sleeve button down shirts with a tie so wtf?
oh yeah….got logo socks too. F me.

Chestnuts roasted by Bill @ 01/03/2007 1:17 AM

Oh yeah. There is no hiding or looking at entertaining websites on the company clock for the educator (well, the good teachers anyway).

Next couple of days will be a wank; students come back Friday (which will be another wank).
But then, KKK, Indian Wars, and THE GILDED AGE! May God have mercy on us all.

Chestnuts roasted by The Manimal @ 01/03/2007 1:21 AM

Luckily, my day job gives me a designated place to nap… it’s official name is the Medical Records Room. :)

Then my night job gives me a chair in a dark room and that’s all I need.

I remember seeing those Star Wars flash drives back in November and thinking of you, Matt. Just seemed like something you’d be all over.

By the way, I adore the little discussing smiley faces. Too cute.

Chestnuts roasted by Special K @ 01/03/2007 1:33 AM

Matt-
I personally am holding out until the 16th for Wario Ware. And I suggest you do the same =) Watch a video by clicking the website link– If I know anything about you, I know this will be your fave.

Chestnuts roasted by BrianTone @ 01/03/2007 1:46 AM

Damn right, there was a lot of f*cking confetti on Timed Square. Our store doesn’t even *have* revolving doors and yet by some sorcery we ended up sweeping tiny piles of Target doom.

I gotta give the sanitation department or whoever cleaned that mess up props, though. There was apparently 75 percent more confetti coming down this year thanks to our subtle sponsors.

You get the biggest haul of awesometastic stuff, Matt. :D That USB drive is adorable AND sincere-looking.

I was hoping to get my DS Lite tomorrow, but looks like all of New York is SOLD OUT. Damn.

Chestnuts roasted by Maxwell, For Sale @ 01/03/2007 1:47 AM

Holy Gundams. Correction. Today is tomorrow. Happy Birthday to me.

Chestnuts roasted by Maxwell, For Sale @ 01/03/2007 1:48 AM

I got an Employee Culture Card at my desk today. At first I thought it was one of those Understanding “Other” Cultures type of pamphlets, but it’s actually discounts to museums and such around the city. Anything free is well worth my time.

Chestnuts roasted by the burro @ 01/03/2007 1:50 AM

If it were me, and given those specifications, I’d go with that Dragonball Z game. I have very little interest in the anime (or any anime really) but I like a good fighting game, or any game that has more than 100 playable characters. Unlocking and collecting are like video game crack to me.

Who’s the robot from? I want one.

Chestnuts roasted by RageTreb @ 01/03/2007 1:55 AM

Trauma Center. I don’t have a Wii, but I have it on my WEE pink DS lite and it rocks.

LET THE OPERATION BEGIN!

Chestnuts roasted by Julie @ 01/03/2007 1:56 AM

ELEBITS. You need it for your Wii or your life won’t be complete. Get rid of Red Steel ASAP.

Chestnuts roasted by Rukes @ 01/03/2007 1:56 AM

Elebits is a lot of fun, and it’s definitely something you would like, but there isn’t a whole lot of meat to the game. It can be completed pretty quickly, and after that there isn’t much to draw you back.

Go with Super Monkey Ball Banana Blitz. If you’re not familiar with the series, basically you are a monkey trapped inside a plastic ball and you need to navigate the various stages in the game. This version of course has you using the Wii-mote to guide your monkey through the stages, and it’s a lot of fun. Beyond the lengthy and challenging single player, the game also has 50 (that’s FIFTY) multiplayer minigames packed in as well. There is a lot of bang for your buck.

This is valuable information I’m passing along, so I expect you’re going to add my friend code posted in the other thread!

Oh, and when you finally get around to it, I’m here for you on what games to download from the Virtual Console (hint: NES Soccer is not worth $5).

Chestnuts roasted by Nick @ 01/03/2007 2:01 AM

I don’t post here enough because I’m a retarded lurker, but I will come out of the lurker closet long enough to state that I recommend Elebits.

It’s not as short as some will have you believe, and the game just works extremely well. There’ll be slowdown in a few of the later levels, but you’ll be having so much fun throwing donut carts and telephone booths…you won’t notice.

Chestnuts roasted by David @ 01/03/2007 2:02 AM

Nick: I’m really enjoying the Virtual Console so far. I’ve only bought a couple of games — Pinball, which is an old favorite, and Bonk’s Adventure, which I remember being this close to huge back in the day, but never actually had a chance to play it because I was Nintendo through and through. (I never caught it after it was ported from the T-16 to beyond.)  Even though the Wii Points cards cost money, they stop feeling like money once you buy them, and that makes it really easy to just get an itch to buy a game I’ll play three times and then resign to just another pretty rectangle on my channels interface forever more.

BrianTone: I’m sure I’ll get the Wario game, but this is burning a hole in my pocket and I don’t think I can wait that long. Based on everyone’s suggestions, Elebits is in the lead, followed closely by Super Monkey Sphere Thingy.

Chestnuts roasted by Matt @ 01/03/2007 2:08 AM

Sorry if I missed it and you already have it, but RAMPAGE! I love destroying buildings and eating people. Now THAT’S a video game.

Chestnuts roasted by JKM @ 01/03/2007 2:16 AM

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 3rd, 2007 at 12:48 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.