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Markers that look like syringes, and old salad dressing.

The only way I'm going to get out of this not-writing rut is by calling the shot and forcing my hand, so, I solemnly swear to post a new article by Tuesday night. It's going to be about the cruise, and chances are good that the article will be a big old mess. Unlike the Disney review, where every picture was worth a thousand words, here I'm finding that the pictures aren't worth more than seven words. Seriously, I've got pictures of neon blue martinis, and of people lining up for a taco buffet, and of poker chips on an ugly bedspread...and that's pretty much it. I'm going to have to scan my boarding pass just to prove that I really went on a cruise.

I also have another article that I started writing over a month ago and got about 65% finished. In the spirit of penance, maybe I'll gut whatever's outdated and finish that too. Not willing to bold tag any deadline promises on that one, though. Come to think of it, there's another article that's similarly half-finished and has been sitting that way for almost five months now. Maybe I'll do that too. Or maybe I'll spend the week painting wicker baskets with checkerboard themes. Life is full of surprises -- like free magic markers that look like syringes.


It was nearly impossible to resist buying Re-Animator on DVD, because aside from it being a pretty great movie featuring a scene where a disembodied head tries to rape a chick, the DVD also comes with a free, limited edition, exclusive, never-before-seen highlighter shaped like a syringe. It's been a while since I'd seen the movie in full, and it really holds up as one of the most must-see trash horror flicks of the '80s. You'll rarely find subject matter so disturbing and stupid approached with such passion. Re-Animator has a reputation, but it's not so immense that everyone' has seen it. If you're one of the skippers, stop it. See it once. Preferably if the opportunity comes with the side dish of a complimentary novelty highlighter. Can't wait to comb Moby Dick for the e-word.

Got this one at Best Buy, along with The Golden Girls Season 4. Carrying those two DVDs up to the checkout woman at least helped annihilate what might've otherwise been some underlying sexual tension between vendor and client.

In other news, I've slowly been planning a revamp to my office, because it is a fucking disaster area, and because now that I've gone freelance, more time is going to be spent at home. I can't bring myself to throw anything out, but at the same time, I'm picking up various things and can't help but wonder why I "need" to own them. Does anyone really "need" three incomplete "Bigfoot" board games from Milton Bradley? Maybe, but can you say the same for a bottle of salad dressing from 1987? Just you try it.


Yup, it's Kraft's "Creamy Cucumber" reduced calorie dressing, sealed, with an expiration date of 3/4/1987. (Which means it's most likely from 1986, but let's be conservative.) Incredibly, the gunk inside doesn't look at all soured, to the point where I'd be willing to tempt fate and smell the goods if there was a good enough reason to unplug the bottle. Personally, I find the fact that I've probably got the oldest sealed bottle of salad dressing on the planet far too attractive to unscrew the top on a mere macabre fascination with what the contents might smell like.

I know X-E has some younger readers, and if you're one of them, consider this: This bottle of salad dressing is older than you! Wow. Brainfreeze.

In any event, "Creamy Cucumber" dressing, especially a "lite" version of it, is pretty close to the most disgusting thing I can think of. I hate cucumbers. If I had a nickel for every tiny cucumber frisbee I've pulled from a salad bowl, I'd be king of the nickel people.

Sopranos finale spoiler: Everybody dies except Rosalie Aprile, who spends the final twelve minutes of the episode singing "Tainted Love" with an intentionally bad Irish accent. Word on the street is that this sets up the spinoff show, The Sopranros, which is a pretty clever title if you give it a chance.

Posted by Matt on 06/10/2007. E-mail me!



Discussion Thread: 130 comments

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This is my “first” first ever. I like cucumbers but making them into a dressing sounds diabolical. Where did you find a 20 year old bottle of salad dressing anyway?

Chestnuts roasted by mudogramx @ 06/10/2007 6:39 PM


I find that highlighter impossible to not own, but I never use highlighters. Being a person who hates clutter and attempts to live somewhat simply (while still using deodorant), I am way tempted by too many of your posts.
Have fun cleaning out your office, and welcome back to Freelance Writing From Home. I love it so much I’m taking the month off.

Chestnuts roasted by Jessica Marie @ 06/10/2007 6:42 PM


I was cleaning out the pantry at the grandparents house and found a bottle of BBQ sauce that was a proud sponser of the 1988 Olympics. I wish I kept it but that was before I knew someone would actually want it.

Chestnuts roasted by Bill @ 06/10/2007 6:45 PM


I love cucumbers, but I dunno about a dressing made out of it.

Hehe… I like how you didn’t clean the dust off of it. :D

Chestnuts roasted by Ryane @ 06/10/2007 6:48 PM


I finished XII, Ryane!

Chestnuts roasted by K- @ 06/10/2007 6:50 PM


It’s funny, my mom has pudding mix from 1978, seven years before I was born… I still love to have it around, it’s like some kind of guardian or big brother to me, maybe I’ll even eat some of it sometime.

Chestnuts roasted by Adam @ 06/10/2007 6:50 PM


I have the same question as the first poster: Where did that bottle come from?
Cucumber dressing does indeed sound disgusting, but then I thought about delicious gyros. The white sauce you put on those is basically cucumber dressing, right?
Oh, and the phrase “king of the nickel people” cracked me up. Better copyright it, Matt, or Disney will have a full-length animated feature based on it before you can day “Darby O’Gill.”

Chestnuts roasted by Thorzul @ 06/10/2007 7:02 PM


That Salad Dressing’s only a year or two younger than me. Wow. I have no idea why I felt like I needed to mention that.

One time I found a decade old can of X-men pasta in my mom’s pantry. I kind’a wish I had kept it. I don’t really know why I needed to mention that, either >.>

Chestnuts roasted by Duskull @ 06/10/2007 7:03 PM


Looking forward to the new articles. Also I was inspired by the article on the horror convention to get to the one in Dallas at the end of the month. A lot of big names will be there, but I’m really going to see all the merchandise.

Chestnuts roasted by Rusty @ 06/10/2007 7:04 PM


way cool highlighter, the movie rocks, but I still havent seen the sequels. Oh well.

Good to hear/see your voice/words Matt. The absence of articles is sad, but at least you still WANT to keep doing them, right?

Don’t do it for us…do it for you. Do what you like. Even with no new articles, I’m still hear every day.

Anybody seen “In a Galaxy Far Far Away”? Its like the movie “Trekkies” but not as good. It was obviously done on a camcorder with no external mic hooked up…but that’s not the reason I don’t like it. It didn’t give you one character that you could totally hate, like that kid in Trekkies. Although it did make Jimmy Kimmel and Adam Carolla look like dicks. So that’s cool.

Chestnuts roasted by kidneyboy @ 06/10/2007 7:06 PM


I was six when that dressing came out. Five if it came out in 86. Gross.

You have to try it.

Chestnuts roasted by Jessica Marie @ 06/10/2007 7:06 PM


Adam Corolla is a god. Well, demi-god. Adam Sessler and Mr. T are better. Corolla has nostalgia appeal. I used to listen to Loveline religiously. I stopped after he left. Imagine that.

Chestnuts roasted by K- @ 06/10/2007 7:10 PM


I guess I’m that one poster that says that the dressing is older than I am. Granted, its expiration date was 19 days before I was born (March 23), but like Matt said, it is probably from 1986.

Speaking of old things in a pantry, I still have 2 1.5 Liter bottles of Vailla Coke that expired in December of 2005. Now that they’ve resurrected it…I guess there’s no sense in keeping them anymore, but I might keep one just for the old label (but I’ll probably either empty or drink the contents eventually).

Also…when is the main page going to be updated? I’ve known that you’ve owned 3 Leopard Sharks for literally 3 months now. How are they doing, anyway?

Chestnuts roasted by Invader Norbert @ 06/10/2007 7:16 PM


What is this main page you speak of? :P

My bookmark comes straight to the blog.

Chestnuts roasted by K- @ 06/10/2007 7:18 PM


I remember a girl in elementary school bringing a tupperware container of cucumbers and this dressing every day to school. Not that I am sure it isn’t good, but when you are nine you want snack packs and fritos in a bag, not that.
Looking forward to the articles. :)

Chestnuts roasted by kb @ 06/10/2007 7:37 PM


I have a pen shaped like a syringe (won it during a scavenger hunt) it’s filled with bright blue liquid. I used it to scare my housemate when he pissed me off too much.

That salad dressing scares me. It seems so unnatural now. I didn’t know that creamy cucumber (calorie reduced or otherwise) was supposed to be brown O_O;

Chestnuts roasted by Cutie Kitsune @ 06/10/2007 8:04 PM


Very often when I go out to eat and they stick cucumbers in the salad I have some temporary mental block where I can’t remember if I like cucumbers or not. So I have to bite into one and spit it out then go back to cutting my cherry tomatoes in half. I can’t stand having cherry tomatoes blowing up in my mouth.

My room’s getting cleaned up, and there’s three huge boxes full of stuff sitting out in the living room now. Some of it is marked for storage like my collection of Peeps merchandise but most of it is shit I’ll need to get back in here somehow. I might need to knock down some walls and build a secret storage room for plushies and Hugga Bunch goodies.

Chestnuts roasted by Mystie @ 06/10/2007 8:05 PM


45 more minutes (though the time stamp will probably screw me). I’ll be back, with SPOILERS and rants in tow.

Chestnuts roasted by K- @ 06/10/2007 8:14 PM


Good deal, Matt.

Just hope you can continue with your Halloween tradition. I’m sure motivation will kick in by that time.

Chestnuts roasted by Me @ 06/10/2007 8:18 PM


I think that I might have to get that DVD just for the high-lighter. Sure I’ve had my eye on some Starcom stuff on eBay and I owe my mom around sixty dollars but man, that’s one cool highlighter. And yes, that damned creamy cucumber salad dressing is older than me… fuck you creamy cucumber salad dressing! Think you’re so cool…

Matt, I look forward to these coming articles with great anticipation. Now don’t worry if you don’t make the Tuesday deadline, I’ll still love you and I pray no negative Nancy’s swoop down upon you. Be strong Mathew, be strong…

Chestnuts roasted by Darth Poop @ 06/10/2007 8:25 PM


Can’t believe The Sopranos ends tonight. I remember watching this show with friends I haven’t seen in years. I remember watching the famous Pine Barrens episode up in Maine just before the most hideously long car ride trip home ever. I remember delighting and annoying all with my stunning recreation of the “Melfi rape scream” at least a hundred times while drunk. I remember the ten thousand appearances of lower-tier stars at local stores and restaurant openings, since many of them live nearby. And I’ll always remember, even during shitty seasons, that little rush of adrenaline that came whenever Tony got out of his stupid car in the opening credits, signaling that I was about to sit through another sixty minutes of God knows what.

This season (well, this half of a season) has been really good, too. All cylinders are a go.

Me: Oh, definitely. I’m clearing my freelance calendar in October and December. Though I have to admit, it feels almost dumb to write so much during October and so little during the rest of the year.

Chestnuts roasted by Matt @ 06/10/2007 8:26 PM


I’m not a cucumber fan ever. However, in my very Polish family, several people enjoy mixing cucumbers with sour cream and making them into a salad. I think it’s sour cream anyway, I’ll hope to God it’s not mayo because that would be even worse somehow.

The one Polish resturant we sometimes go to also offers this ‘treat’ as a side. For my part, I always go with salad, and pull the little veggies out :)

Chestnuts roasted by Skywalking @ 06/10/2007 8:32 PM


For “ever” read “either” yeah…

Chestnuts roasted by Skywalking @ 06/10/2007 8:32 PM


That dressing expired two years before I was born!

Chestnuts roasted by Brett @ 06/10/2007 8:49 PM


I must be weird; I like cucumbers. Of course, I like most vegetables (except olives), so take that as you will. That salad dressing didn’t sound like such a bad idea to me in 1987. Now…it’s still a good idea, but not one I’d actually open.

Chestnuts roasted by starwenn @ 06/10/2007 8:52 PM


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