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11/21/2007: The 1991 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade!

Quick Note: I'm spending oodles of money on this year's Christmas/Advent wares, so if you want to help me recoup some of that, there's an easy way to do it. If you're taking advantage of Amazon's ridiculously good Black Friday deals this weekend, please do so using this link right here. I'll get a little referral fee, and that will let me buy more wacky-flavored candy canes without having to give up gasoline. Thanks!

Ha ha ha ha ha! Technically, I am NOT late! Up now, with like 10 minutes to spare before it's actually Thanksgiving, is my review of the 1991 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, filled with words, pics and video clips!

I must be honest with you: It's the least interesting of the parades I've reviewed, and nothing exciting happens. In fact, after struggling to make the article go for at least two pages, I ultimately consolidated it into one longer page. There just wasn't enough there. Next year, perhaps I should investigate things like this before it gets too late to pick a different parade.

On the other hand, it had Captain Planet, The Addams Family and, uh, Kelsey Grammer, and that's at least good for something.

A Happy Thanksgiving to all who will be celebrating it tomorrow. Eat the food, drink the drinks and bask in the glow of a holiday season officially begun. Now that the bird parade is out of my hair, it's time to paint this sum'bitch town red…and motherfuckin' green. Holla.

While I'm here, I might as well knock this out of the way. I'm not sure if there's anything to dislike about these neat little Play-Doh stocking stuffers, except for the fact that they're sold together in really ugly plastic bags. If you're able to convince yourself that they didn't come in such ugly, useless bags, they become flawless.Each pack comes with two holiday-themed Play-Doh containers. One is shaped like an undecorated Christmas tree, while the other is a rather befuddled and egg-shaped snowman. You get white and red Play-Doh, while the containers themselves each host a small Play-Doh "cookie cutter".

More interesting than any of this is the warning sticker on each container, alerting parents with allergy-laden children that Play-Doh contains wheat. This seems like a bold admission that most kids enjoy eating Play-Doh. Someday, they should just make outright edible, flavored Play-Doh and be done with it. We're going to eat it anyway…it might as well have a hint of cherry and an ad campaign behind it.

I'm so excited. With Charlie Brown Thanksgiving banished to last night, I need something to get me psyched for tomorrow's festivities! Tonight feels way too much like a normal Wednesday.

For some reason the picture of the Play-Doh containers made them look cookie jar-sized to me. Oh how my hopes were dashed when I clicked on the link to see how tiny they are in the bag.

Always look forward to these, even if Thanksgiving was a month and a half ago…

Actually, some kids are so allergic to wheat that just touching wheat substances can bring on an allergic reaction. Debbie Downer info aside, the holiday season has arrived! *does happy dance*

Matt: you're really kicking ass this season, thanks dude!!
Anyone else have trouble loading the blog for the last few days?
Happy Thanksgiving to all you yanks!

Matt! The links to the commercial videos don't work! They take me to the homepage instead!

"I don't remember much about Rock-a-Doodle, because the sight of a rooster in an Elvis jumpsuit did nothing to stir my preteen angst. Research tells me that it was a major flop of a motion picture that nearly bankrupt everyone ever associated with it."

You have no idea. This is the movie that makes Don Bluth fans cry at night. Up until a few minutes ago, I had no idea they made a float for it with terrifying costumes. Now i do and my life is the better for it. Great article as always.

And edible Play-Doh does exist! Sort of. (Click my name; it's the fourth item they talk about.)

I am so glad you added the whoa Joey guy. Does anyone else remember that awful "got nuthin my love cant fix" song he did about that time?
I also remember the Preferred Stock guy's picture in many of my classmates locker for years

Sorry for the DP, but I wanted to make a "#9" joke, if anyone gets the Beatles reference. Looking forward to seeing the new article, and Happy Thanksgiving to all!

I'm not so sure that the girl in the blue dress is really a guy. Actually, I think it's hard NOT to look like a drag queen in that wig and dress.

My mom was actually addicted to my Game Boy. She was late picking me up from school once because she was so busy playing Tetris that she lost track of time. When we were purging our video game stuff last month, my husband offered her his Game Boy Color and she just kept saying, "Really?!" in complete disbelief. I guess the Boy's still got it.

Wow, I have not been on here in a looooong time! I'm Canadian but my family (Husband, Me and kids) are having Thanksgiving anyway, I'm making the dinner for the first time ever!…On to some reading!

Just made an emergency run to Target because my air mattress (which I use as a regular mattress) got a hole in it. I was gonna try and just keep reinflating it until after Thanksgiving, but then I was asking my mom where the stuffing mix was and she was like "Oh we don't have any, just some breadcrumb stuff". So I decided to make the trip tonight.

When I got back, I discovered the "breadcrumb stuff" WAS the stuffing mix we needed. Le sigh.

Hoverbored: Haha, oh man, that song used to drive me crazy as a kid. I'd leave the room in protest whenever it came on. Now it makes me feel like I'm slowly descending into madness. The bad kind of madness.

Hooray for new parade review! I'm actually glad it's short, that way I get to read it tonight instead of tomorrow night after the real parade is long gone.

But, if the person who saved my Thanksgiving last year (by sending me a copy of the parade) is reading this, please E-Mail me again at TetsuDeinonychus@hotmail.com.

ALRIGHT!
Still looking forward to X-E's review of the 1957 parade in 2013 when Matt has run out of material

Not really on topic, but for those of you in the CNY area, the Auburn Wal-Mart has Christmas Crunch. I secured three boxes for myself the other day, in case I can't find any next year…

I remember this parade. Not mentioned in the article but interesting to note: In honor of the 65th anniversary, two balloons from the 1960s (Happy Dragon and Linus the Lionhearted) were brought out of retirement to march in the parade.

FYI Linus starred in a 1960s Saturday morning cartoon that featured mascots of Post Cereals–one of whom was the more well-known Sugar Bear.

Also the Tazmania float appeared in the 1989 and 1990 parades as the Looney Tunes and Tiny Toons floats respectively.

Strangely enough, I remember the commercials better than the actual parade. I wonder what year they started the "touch and feel of cotton" commercials, though. Those are the ones I most associate with the Macy's parade.

Cotton was, in some form, all over the commercial breaks for most of the Macy's Parades that I've seen. In fact, there were a few different ones that aired during this parade.

I almost peed my pants when i read the line about spiderman doing some sort of "scat dance" seriously, i laughed for a good 5 minutes, and had to wipe tears from my cheeks afterward. on a side note, i AM making stuffed mushrooms woot woot. I was 6 when that parade was on, and i am going to force myself to watch the one tomorrow just to see how much it has changed (i havent watched the parade since 6th grade….I was too cool for that)

PS-when i am bored, i sing the captain planet song in my head. i always wanted to be a planeteer.

Ah Matt, my kids love to eat playdo…my wife bought some of the mini cans for trick or treaters and the leftovers became an afterschool snack……….

I agree with that, why DON'T they have flavored, Play-Doh that's marketed for eating?Everyone knows kids love that stuff.What Play-Doh, do you have too much pride?!Admit it Play-Doh, 'fore i smack the hell outta ya!

Once again….another awesome article matt! I hope you and your family have a perfect Thanksgiving tomorrow!!

By the way…if you have some muscle figures you want to get rid of….e-mail me at Ghostseeker1@Yahoo.com!

Wait… Christina Ricci hooked up with David Krumholz? Or Wednesday hooked up with Bernard? I'm confused.

And "head-rub sex" is now my favorite new phrase forever. I remember that commercial and how stupid I thought it was, like the commercial for Fancy Feast where the lady puts the cat food in a crystal dish. Whatever. My cats get paper plates.

Fantastic review, Matt! I hope everyone out there celebrating has an awesome day and enjoys their sugar-induced stupor as much as I will. Alone. Well, not alone as my parents and I are going to see family, but the fiance will be out of state at his family's and I'm going to be all alone… and without X-E because my aunt blocks websites she thinks are porn. *sniffle*

That "magic" intro by Harry Blackstone was the worst magic trick I've ever seen. I think, the lamer the parade, the funnier it is in retrospect. I was cracking up at this one, especially the line about Kermit being hungover from a night of drinking with Beaker. Also, chasing tequila with Sierra Mist Cranberry Splash isn't very good.

I would take that parade over any in the last 10 years.
I think the names of the video files were the highlight of the article. WELL DONE!
I wonder who would win in a fight between Scat/Spiderman vs. "Air humping" Dr. Doom of the 1986 (?) parade.

Matt, the link to the Play-Doh warning sticker sends me to the cookie cutter pic.
Also, you were 12 in 1991, not 11.

Special K, that blows. Wonder if you can sneak through using an anonymizing website.

I'm feeling pretty relaxed at the moment. I gave up making the stuffed mushrooms this year in favor of baby artichokes, but we couldn't find baby artichokes. Last night, I finally caved and bought 24 full-sized arties and 1.79 a pop. They're going to be a bitch to make, but ya gotta do what ya gotta do.

Manimal: I'm doing the math…hmm…I was 0 in November of '79. 1 in '80. 2 in '81. 3 in '82. 4 in '83. 5 in '84. 6 in '85. 7 in '86. 8 in '87. 9 in '88. 10 in '89. 11 in '90 — OHHHHHH SHIIIIT. Time for a ninja edit!

My personal favorite bit was how they spent, like, a full minute on still shots of Kermit from prior years. And just froze on that, without saying anything over it. Priceless.

I think that parade may have had some of the worst songs EVER. That Taz song is still stuck in my head. I consider it a punishment for some sort of Thanksgiving sin, like assembling the tree early or not having can-shaped cranberry sauce this year.

LOL…I wouldn't know how old I was in 2001 if you asked me.
So I guess articles aren't Windows Mobile friendly lately. They've been okay in the past. Luckily the blog's still fine

My mom had an edible play dough recipe (flavored with Kool Aid), but she almost never made it. Too much of a pain, or mess, I guess.
Our planned trip fell through, so now I'm left without anything to cook tomorrow. I should probably run out to the store before it gets too late.
Happy Thanksgiving everybody!!!

To Special K:
Have you ever tried explaining to your aunt that it's not a porn site.

FyarlGirl
A few years ago I listened to a mother on the radio talk about her son who was 18 at the time. He has a very severe peanut allergy if he literally smells the stuff he goes into shock. When he was about 10 years old he was walking down the hallway at school going to the bathroom and a class was having a party and they were all eating peanut butter cups and he went into shock walking past their classroom. He had to go to the hospital and they shot him up with some medication after that he carries it with him just in case. I remember the mother saying that she was trying to get a college that he wanted to go to to stop cooking with peanuts and take all of the steps to avoid peanuts on the campus and they thought it was ridiculous and she was terrified he was going to get severely sick or even die because of his allergy.

I am so glad I am not that kid, ever since I heard that I have tried to be grateful I am not allergic to anything (that I know of)

I'll be celebrating at a church tomorrow instead of with family (cat's health limited that). Too bad they'd look at me funny if I brought MP Screamer along!

Great article Matt, to all the Xers have a great Thanksgiving and a great start to the hollidays!

It seems to me that Matt's halloween rush got used on the blog posts and articles we had earlier this month… Ah well. Happy USican turky day.

I'm happy to know that even though I'm now 24 I still get a great big kick out of seeing that Game Boy and hearing "Brought you by Nintendo!" Hell Yes!!!

Did anyone else think the position of Santa's hat+poor video quality=Santa wearing a Samurai bandana?

Happy Turkey Day everybody! I'm going to miss most of the parade because we have to leave town to go to my Godbrother's, wife's parents' house at about 9am. Sucks. But I expect to live vicariously through you all by reading the comments later….

Man, I just got back from 18 hours of dropping meals for terminally ill cancer and AIDs patients. I have so much to be thankful for. New perspective on life.

I'm thankful for family, friends, health, freedom and X-E to remember where I came from. Happy Thanksgiving X-E'rs. I hope it is one to remember.

I read in a parenting book that peanut allergies are thought to be caused by being exposed to peanut products when you're too young. The immature immune system mistakes the protein in peanuts for something bad and then over reacts which can cause shock and even death.

MikeyD if that was true, you'd think it would happen a lot in Asian countries where they frequently use peanuts and peanut oil.

Oooohhh…. I got to go through a sobriety check on the way home from drinking! Thank God my driver never drinks, although she forgot her license. Oh what fun! I heard they now say the day before Thanksgiving is now the biggest drinking day of the year. I dunno about all that, though. What about New Years Eve?!

Captain Planet?! I used to love the hell out of that show (I was only three years old in '91 though…why do I remember it so clearly?). By the way Matt, I am now scarred for life after seeing Captain Planet's giant package.

After three straight days of dreary, rainy weather, it actually snowed enough to cover the grass here in northern Illinois. Hopefully this is a sign of things to come this season (Come on, white Christmas!).

(Of course, we got a foot of snow on December 1st last year and after that we didn't a single inch until a freak storm in APRIL!)

What I don't get is why with all the allergy warnings on everything, how come I still have to read through all the ingredients looking for monosodium glutamate. I've honestly seen noodles that put a wheat warning, but don't mention the MSG.
I didn't get to the store. Now I have nothing to make for Thanksgiving

I've heard that companies are now hiding MSG in 'spices' and 'natural flavors' and other generic ingredient label names.

I teach elementary school and have several kids in my class with wheat and peanut allergies. One kid's wheat allergy (celiac's disease) is so severe that if he gets the slightest speck of wheat dust on his hands and later into his mouth, his GI tract goes into shock and he's got instant diarrhea for 4 days.

I also read in Newsweek once about a girl with a peanut allergy who went into anaphalactic shock after making out with her boyfriend who had eaten peanut butter about 12 hours earlier. She died as I recall.

Allergies are freaky stuff. I have to keep an Epi-Pen (an epinephrine syringe encase in a tube that you stab into the thigh) on hand at all times in case my student comes into contact with any peanut products. I hope to God I never have to use that thing.

Sorry for the double post but how lucky is that kid who gets to ride in the TMNT cadillac?! Can't believe no one mentioned that. I bet he was championed as a god up until high school for that one.

Did anybody notice that Grandma Addams was referred to as "Grandma-ma"? I never knew that! I thought that term was only reserved for Larry Johnson in drag. Education is a cruel mistriss.

UGH. Motherfucking Rock A Doodle. This movie, Fern Gully, and some other crap on film were the three that made me want to do anything but my favorite past time (watching movies).

Also, does anybody ever watch Lupin III? There was a pretty good parody/homage to the Pink Panther in an episode from the Red Jacket Series. =P

Scat Dance Spider-Man! Comes with everything you see here: Spidey-Phonograph, Skins, and interchangable Jazz Hands!

The Turkey-As-A-Pilgrim is Tom Turkey, who has been in every Macy's Thanksgiving parade since before all of us were born. Speaking of which, I'm gonna miss tomorrow's since I'm gonna go to sleep immediately after posting this, so could someone fill me in on what happened?

To make some people feel old, if you think being 11/12 in 1991 was a lame time, I was only 4 at the time, yet all the content seems relevant when I was 6 or 7.

But I do call it a missed opportunity for not including Ghost With The Most in the Turkey Drawing. Perhaps a spin-off?

You know that Parade was hurting for ideas when they use a Taz-Mania Float. Even back then I don't think it was in the same Pantheon as TMNT and Captain Planet.

And on the whole Play-Doh thing…I'm pretty sure back in that blog post that listed the Hot Wheels Stocking Stuffer I mentioned eating Play-Doh and wondering why they haven't made the actual stuff flavored? Gotta give credit where credit's due

Sorry to double post, but I forgot to mention my experience with Rock-A-Doodle. I kind of liked it, but then again…I was like 6 when I saw it and haven't really seen it since.

I have yet to see Secret of NIMH, but the original All Dogs Go To Heaven, Land Before Time, and the 2 Fivel movies (there are only 2 of these, damnit!!) are my favorite Don Bluth movies.

Have a great turkey day Matt and all fellow readers! …..and when i fall asleep from dinner tonite ill be dreaming of a mare whinningham christmas!

Show some respect for the Taz-Mania float, people. I'm one of the few on Earth that own the series in its entirety (due to taping it when it was on Fox), and it's classic. Taz is in that odd suit because it's what he wore in his job as bellhop at Hotel Tasmania. And I want the Bullgator and Axl costumes.

And I found another mistake: Matt misspelled "Kelsey Grammer" in the article. "Grammar" is something different.

I don't want people to roll their eyes at me for mentioning joox.net too much but I wanted to tell everyone something I think is kind of important well in the world of X-E that is.

joox.net today (and I know they get stuff off of the stage6 server but it's a heck of a lot easier to navigate through joox and other sites that do the same thing) put up Ducktales the movie, and the Chipmunk Christmas from 1981.

Also while trying to find Charlie Brown Thanksgiving on youtube because I missed it (it's hard to watch tv on Mon and Tues because it's my best friend's day's off) and I found someone with a youtube account dedicated to uploading christmas specials of yesteryear. Most of them are easy to watch on ABC Family or some other channel, and some of them are pretty rare and are in good quality. Like Mickey's Christmas Carol (that I talked about last week sometime but this is a better quality version) a Flintstone's Christmas, The Muppet Christmas Carol, and others.

I hope you guys are soaking in Thanksgiving and everything, earlier I listened to a station called rock Christmas on yahoo radio earlier for a couple of hours (honestly that was all I could stand) and it was neat! I didn't know so many rock bands sang covers to classic christmas carols. Whatever. See you guys tomorrow!

I remember this parade quite vividly….It may have been the first year I sat through the whole thing. But watching that Gameboy commercial, I've got two questions.

The guy playing the Gameboy…Is it just me or does he look alot like Sam Lloyd, the lawyer from Scrubs?

I liked Snoopy and Woodstock! I like the Santa Claus is brought to you by Nintendo bumper!
Also, Abby Caddaby and Hello Kitty are my favorite new balloons!

I loved that parade! It was funny!
Can you upload the cotton "Fabirc of our lives" and Wendy's commericals?
Three balloons are retiring this year.
They are:
Spongebob (due to height and the show getting cancelled in 2008)
Big Bird (due to popuarity of Abby Caddaby)
M&M'S in Hot Air Balloon (due to incident in 2005,the balloon was upside down in 2006 and they had to be removed)
I am going to watch the parade this year!
Love,
Jillian Tyrie from Long Island,New York

Who is fucking PUMPED for Thanksgiving? Who is watching the parade in an hour?

The last month or so's been pretty shitty around here. Last month, my grandmother had a very small stroke which she's pretty much fully recovered from. But now my grandfather's health has spiked sharply. He was in the hospital two days due to feeling really sleepy and having pains along his left side.

Turns out, he's got some kind of mass around his left shoulder and there's something on his liver. He spent last night home, and my Aunt's down to help out over there, but still. We dunno how long he has. So the fact that he's made it to Thanksgiving is pretty nice. He's got alzheimer's, so… ya know. Kinda lose-lose here. :/

I've needed a lot of reasons to laugh lately, so I just wanted to thank Matt and the community in general here on the site for providing wonderful distractions. I'm not much for turkey and the like, I loves me some buttered rolls. Accursed weaknesses.

So whether you've got a ridiculously big family or are rockin' the Swanson's today, have a good one. I know mine'll be better now that grandpa's well enough to enjoy at least one last holiday with the family. That's my thanks right there.

Yeah, I'll talk to my aunt about that. Maybe show her some cat and lady head-rub sex commercial… oh, wait, that won't help my case any. hahahaha

I was going to watch the parade this year but I stayed up all night instead 'sigh'. The main reason I wanted to watch is because on of my online friends (not from here obviously) is actually in New York right now and went there for the parade. So kudos to her. See you when I wake up later today lol. My best friend works from 5 pm to 5 am so it's hard for me to keep a stay up days sleep at night schedule. I am not working.

Sadly, I don't remember that parade at all. That may be due to the fact that we rented a SNES and a couple of games over Thanksgiving in 1991, and I literally had to be pried away from Super Mario World to leave for my grandparents' house.

ChibiSoma: Sorry to hear your grandfather isn't doing well

I'm glad he gets to enjoy the holiday though.

dohopoki: Meeee! I'm counting down the minutes until parade time. I think I'm gonna be focusing on the CBS broadcast this year. I know it's blasphemous, but it's NBC's fault for showing nothing but broadway crap. Plus CBS has Neil Patrick Harris and the stuff they usually put him through is hilarious.

This past winter two online friends of mine sent me some of their mid 80's - early 90's tapes full with commercials. That gameboy commercial was featued during several eps of Simpsons, and I used to think that those WERE the original game boy commercials and gameboy was originally targeted to adults, thanks for clearing that up with me, Matt.

I wish just one of my 5 million CBS stations came in half as decent as my 1 NBC. I saw a bit of rehersals on NBC and they had what I think was Frankenstein fighting Pilgrims. That's pretty kick ass.

I'm guessing that would be scenes from Mel Brook's new musical version of "Young Frankenstein"

Ah. I'm not up to date on musicals (legally blonde, really?) but I did hear about Young Frankenstein.

Don't have much time online today, read the blog piece and will get around to the article sometime soon but would like to wish everyone a

Town's christmas lights and tree is being switched on tonight and in between that, thanksgiving day football and going out drinking after the light switch on i'm really looking fwd to it.

MTV has been showing the "Legally Blonde" musical lately. I caught it one time and it's actually pretty good. I have yet to see either movie, though.

Jazzy: I was thinking of doing the same thing for the same reason. I'll probably just flip back and forth between the two parades.

So far on CBS the only Broadway number I've had to sit through was from Spamalot. No complaints there. I'm disappointed that they're actually being nice to Neil Patrick Harris this year though. Not that I have any beef with NPH; it just isn't as fun if someone isn't miserable and stuck interviewing kids who scream HAPPY THANKSGIVING 87 times.

Giant Hello Kitty floating over New York shooting death ray beams out her eyes! Finally happened.

Young Frankenstein just opened a few weeks ago in New York, and Mel Brooks is involved. In fact, it's one of the only show running in New York during the stagehand strike right now.

Dinner is going to be interesting this year, as I've just discovered the turkey doesn't have the little pop-out thermometer thing. Also we had to improvise on the dressing because my mom FROZE the celery and thawed it. It was as droopy as a wet noodle so I had to throw it out, and we put onion in the dressing instead. I also added some boxed stuffing mix. I've always secretly hated our family dressing recipe, so I'm hoping this will actually be an improvement.

Coming out of my hiding spot on the blog to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving!!

Doho, that is funny!
The M&M'S float is on! After the parade is over,I will go to sleep for a few minutes.
Love,
Jilian Tyrie From Long Island

Up with people makes me think of Hooray for Everything on the simpsons first thanksgiving ep.

I loved on the sesame street song they managed to miss every solo shot. It's cool they got their own song tho.

Oh, come on. Rock-a-doodle wasn't that bad. It was a children's cartoon based around Elvis jokes and a Chaucer reference. Plus, the chicken characters were anatomically correct in that they don't really have a swallowing reflex. In that one scene where they were relaxing on the weird vine-chair, she was leaning her head back and he was just pouring drinks down her gullet. Great stuff.

I remember my friends and I would play with it outside and then eat it with dirt and leaves mixed into it cause we were like 3 and didn't know any better.

Well, I'm off. HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL.
*in John Ratzenburger voice* "I'm giving thanks, for all things bright and beautiful…"

Flippin awesome as usual. May your Turkey Day be filled with deflated turkeys, drunken uncles, and bad commercials. Keep it up!

Willard Scott yessssss. We're making 25 (!!!) full-sized artichokes while watching the parade. Must say, that Care Bears float looked purdy good.

That Foster's Home float was the most spectacular thing I've witnessed in a long time. I nearly peed myself.

Did anyone else get really emotional over the Virginia Tech marching band, or am I just a sap?

Were it not for a renegade sweet potato that refuses to get done, we might have had dinner ready before the parade was over. That isn't allowed to happen or the world will explode. Thank you, rogue tuber.

We haven't started dinner and I only earlier realized how much of it I'm supposed to be cooking.

Am I the only one a little disappointed that Kermit isnt sagging over the crowd for old time sake

I bet santa still looks over his shoulder every year for joey lawrence to pop up and steal his thunder.
Wow this is a lively Santa.

Highlights: the Rockettes, of course…and I woke up just in time for them! And Dolly Parton, so sue me I love her

Manimal, "Last Christmas" has been no great shakes for me since it's been overplayed the last few years, so whatever. There were worse covers the HSM starlet could do IMO.

Were there any Broadway performances? I didn't see any on NBC, and thought there would be none because of the strike and all.

Matt, trivia question: has Mario ever been in a float/balloon? (I ask after seeing the SMGalaxy commercial) Also, did I say my cousin's wife was actually in one of the parades you reviewed? I need to check which.

Finally, did I see CHUCK NORRIS on the Celebrity Apprentice commercial????????!!!!

"Inside the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade" is on the History Channel right now!

Hi-ho, bloggers! Happy Thanksgiving from an unusually warm Southern New Jersey, just outside of Philadelphia (and to the Canucks, who had their turkey last month).

There are some advantages to staying in the area for the holiday. My mom and stepdad are moving next month, so I opted for dinner with my biological father and his girlfriend instead. I spent the morning making gingerbread cookies and watching the parade. Yes, for the first time in at least three or four years, I got to see the full Macy's Thanksgiving Parade with no stepdad-induced interruptions or fights for dominance of the remote control.

Also, that strike may have ground much of Broadway to a halt, but ironically the one number they CAN show is the one that would most interest almost everyone here, "Always Look On the Bright Side of Life" from "Spamalot." Come on, you know you wanted to see grimy Monty Python knights doing a kick line with women in skimpy yellow raincoats first thing Thanksgiving morning.

I side with what everyone said about this year's parade. The Care Bears rocked the house, the Hello Kitty balloon was the coolest thing I've seen in years, and I'm not a big Cartoon Network fan and I even was impressed with the Foster's Home float.

(Speaking of Care Bears, I finally got a Santa Oopsy Bear last week - found him, Rudolph Cheer, and two others Matt didn't have at the Rite Aid in Westmont. Unlike Matt, I wasn't lucky enough to find them cheap, but sweet little Oopsy was such a charmer in his red suit, I couldn't resist him.)

I may have seen the 1991 Parade in passing. I have vague memories of the Barbie float and the Adams Family float. It's more likely I watched the Philadelphia parade, which I was devoted to throughout most of the 80s.

Okay now that it's over, some one please tell me they also saw a tickle me elmo commercial talking about elmo's "consealed secret" and showed a blocky censor graphic over his crotch.

OK one more comment or two: is it just me, or did anyone else like the descriptions of the balloon characters by the commentators? Just seemed old school to me, like how they'd explain to us as kids who these guys were. Guess it made me feel like a kid, actually, which is what this is all about.

Mimitchi: I sense some sarcasm about Abby Kadabra there. (wow, a clumsy magician? Orko should sue. And what, did the Amazing Mumford get fired for the holidays?!!?) Well at least they didn't do what we all know they would want to do and replace Big Bird with the Red Nightmare

Shrek balloon needed more Puss in Boots. Or Fairy Godmother…Jennifer Saunders rocks

First of all, watching the Foster's Home cast performing that song was disturbing; Brian May should use his Doctorite power to do something about that (seriously, he does have a degree and a professionally published report in the UK).

Also, that Abby Kadaver character is pretty darned ugly. Of course, my main impression of Sesame Street is that it's a cash grab. People do watch PBS for free you know!

Thanks for the new parade report. There is a problem I have though; at the end of the Pink Panther routine they talk about the Best Band in the Land. I assume they're talking about the marching band from The Ohio State University. What, you can't refer to them as the Best Damn Band in the Land like you should?

I liked the parade review this year, because the few things you covered were pretty good. I went to see Rock-a-Doodle at the dollar show, and it was pretty terrible. Haven't seen it since, though, so who knows. I was also the only person I knew who ever liked Captain Planet, so that was a fun inclusion.

Reading the comments on this year's parade makes me wish I got up to see it.
I'll be working tomorrow.

First time I ever leave my house on the day after Thanksgiving and I've got to work it. Wish me luck so I don't die.

mjf: I'm a huge Queen fan and I loved the Foster's Home float. I guess it helps if you're a fan of the show and familiar with the character Cheese. As for Brian May, he has a history of being pretty liberal with supporting various uses of Queen songs, so I doubt he'd have much to say in protest

I loved the Care Bears float!
I am going to my cousins' house for Thanksgiving dinner.
Love,
Jillian Tyrie from Long Island

I just tuned in, and I have no idea what I've missed and what's still coming up. I really wanted to see Hello Kitty, but now I want to see this Foster's float too.
It's really weird to know everybody's getting ready for a big dinner and not be cooking anything. We roasted a whole duck yesterday, and I thought we could build a meal around the leftovers but my brother just informed me that he hated it, so now I'm back to square one.
The Foster's float just came on! "Blue, you're my best friend!" Adorable!

I feel good about how that article went. Better than this years crap parade for chumps. Happy T-Day to all!

Manimal is he actually dead? 'Course, if hearing 'Last Christmas' in Engrish didn't make him spin something at least, then he's unspinnable.

Or tour bus at least. JEW pwned that song. Who are we talking about sung it, anyway.

It was one of the kids from High School Musical. I thought it was an okay rendition. I liked it better than the Jimmy Eat World version, anyway.
Did I miss something earlier in the parade or did they really not let Willard say anything?

Great article, I remember seeing this one. Looks like you messed up the links on the pictures a lil bit. Happy Turkey Day.

LOL Kneg I actually reworded that to be as diplomatic as possible. I wasn't really trying to diss Jimmy Eat World

I knew your opinion on JEW's version from last year. I actually counted on you being the one to respond, and with tact, as you did.

Has anyone else noticed that, they're REALLY shoving this "High School Musical" crap down everyones throats?

All of Matt's parade articles makes me wish that Canada could celebrate Thanksgiving in November, also. Its nice to have all the colorful leaves in October for Thanksgiving, but Oct. already has Halloween, and November only has my birthday, which is not yet a national holiday.

So… is anyone else really, really bored today? We didn't go anywhere, my mom just wants to sleep, dinner was over by 12:30, and the friends I usually IM constantly are all off celebrating. I spent most of my day playing SimCity. The original, ancient, boring one. Boo.

Up with people makes me think of Hooray for Everything on the simpsons first thanksgiving ep.

They also appeared in "Selma's Choice", The duff Gardens episode. Speaking of which, doho, I don't know if it aired by you, but my FOX channel aired "Bart Vs. Thanksgiving" just now. Even if I could just pop in the DVD, I'm too tired to do so.

Happy Turkey Day, all. That Tryptophan is starting to kick in, and no Charlie Brown Thanksgiving to make funnier. I guess I'll just stick in the Garfield Thanksgiving DVD in instead, that'll work.

And thanks to all who commented on the parade today. Like I said, slept through it and missed it. I wish I could've seen the Hello Kitty Balloon of Death appear.

George Michael is still alive. I was just paraphrasing (aka stealing) a Homer Simpson line about John Williams (who is also still alive). Didn't mean to set off a firestorm of ill-will.

Sorry to double post but looks like Invader Norbert and I are on the same page (again) because I just watched BART VS. THANKSGIVING and now I am watching the Garfield T-Giving special while I bust out the Christmas decorations. Interesting.

So every year we go to my step-sister's house for dinner. This year was like all others: usual family 'sitting around and trying to come up with stuff to say' stuff. But this year, there was something different…disturbingly different.

See, each year we always have way too much food. I have lots of friends who don't have a big family or their family is too far away so I pack up the leftovers and then deliver them around town. I've been doing it for almost 5 years on and off now. But for whatever reason, my step sister's husband's parents (wow, that grammer probably sucks) decided to inform me they didn't like me taking the leftovers to other people. And they did it in a very bitchy way, right in front of my parents and everyone.

It's not like I took everything. In fact, I waited until everyone packed up what they wanted and then took the literal scraps; things that were going to be thrown away anyway. But for some reason it was "wrong" in there eyes this year.

It didn't piss me off or anything, it just made me feel like some people just do not get the reason for holidays….

Actually, I really was just wondering if he actually was dead ’cause I don't watch much entertainment news. Sorry…:(

Shuanfu - screw 'em. What you were doing was really nice, and I think you should keep it up.

We got back about 3:30 and I got home about 5:30 and lit a fire in the fireplace and started getting out the Christmas decorations. I've just spent the last hour pretending I'm eight years old, sitting on the floor near the fire and playing NES. Hell yes…

Thanksgiving was good but kind of uneventful, good food, football and sleep (along with garfield thanksgiving. We then went to see Hitman and came back for turkey sandwitches. Over all not a bad first married Thanksgiving.

Am I the only one that thought when I saw that new Silver Rabbit balloon that he was holding a butcher knife instead of carrot? I slasher flick staring a rabbit might be interesting.

I'm kinda surprised Mighty Mouse doesn't have his own movie yet. They gave one to Underdog, so why not MM?

Happy Thanksgiving all. Had the traditional dinner with my parents and brother followed by watching old MST3Ks. Watched I Accuse My Parents, Manos the Hands of Fate, and some of the best shorts. Manos has to be the worst movie of all time. Bad plot, bad dialogue, bad acting, bad directing, bad music…bad everything.

Now it's onto Black Friday. Anyone gonna try to brave the crowds tomorrow? I thought about going to Target sometime late morning for a couple of tv DVD box sets, but I found them for a better price on Amazon. Matt, sorry I didn't see your update sooner. Would have used your referral link.

Hey all! Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving and that the leftovers will be plentiful.

I drove back to the parent's house today and got spend some time with my brothers and nephews as well. The nephews live a few hours away, and are busy with their high school lives, so it is good to see them the few times of the year I can.

I also got to bring home some leftovers so I definitely am considering digging in for a second meal in a few minutes. The lady is staying over at her parent's house tonight so that she can help her mother put up Christmas decorations tomorrow, so the house is all mine tonight!

I've got some vodka in the freezer, Transformers on DVD (from Netflix — along with Live Free or Die Hard & Amelie — decisions, decisions), and leftovers in the fridge. Life isn't great, but it could be much, much worse.

Again, whether you celebrate the US Thanksgiving or not, here is to hoping everyone had a great day, wherever they are.

Oh man I had a such a nice Thanksgiving. Celebrating a full day of sloth and gluttony. Oh yeah. Sleeping, watching TV, eating a big dinner with the family, taking a nap, and then spending time with friends. I went over to my friend's house and was like, "I brought Garfield Thanksgiving," and we wound up watching all 3 of the holiday specials. Then Disney Scene-It. Now I think it might be time for leftovers…

Wow, what a great night. Has everyone had a nice and safe Thanksgiving? Appears some of you have.

I spent my day at my Mom's house. We put the tree up, the Christmas lights on the house, I finally tried peppermint Peeps, I had my first glass of egg nog of the season (I refuse to drink it before Thanksgiving), and when I went to Wal Mart to buy spare bulbs and a pack of fuses, I found 13.5 oz Coca Cola bottles shaped like ornaments. I bought a couple, they're fun to drink out of, and I plan on buying more as they'll make a good stocking stuffer.

Now I'm just looking through bfads.net for that irresistible offer, but I'm finding nothing impressive or anything I can't find any time of the year online.

Somehow, I'm in an odd state where I'm completely full but somehow really hungry… Has anyone else ever experienced this phenomenon?

I've been eating whenever it feels like I have room. But, when I don't, I feel like I'm waiting to eat again.

I know this year the "science" is saying Turkey doesn't make you sleep but none of their explinations can properly explain the sleep I just had, which was early, tremendous, long and unusually straight. I have not had a sleep like this in a year.

It's snowing! The weatherman said it wasn't going to, but we showed him. I should've known. The cattle have been dropping calves all week, and they generally know better than Doppler Dave.

That Uno Attack commercial where it sounds like it says the girl gets AIDS is back on TV; it's almost as bad as the cleaning product commercial where the kid whispers "I play with my balls in the bathroom"

Oh, and a friend just called me to ask if I wanted to go out shopping in a bit. Who the heck do they think they called?! I would not be caught dead in a store today….

Hello, and happy shopping! The parade, or what I saw, was pretty fun, but I missed out on the Foster's Float for Imaginary Friends because me and Ma went to T'Giving lunch with my Uncle and Aunt.

Now, thanks to Matt, I can't see Ted Turner's eco-hero without calling him "Captain Package" from now on.

Woo-hoo superhero Hello Kitty! (Hero Kitty?) I have a niece in Wahington state who just adores Little Miss Sanrio, and now I need to find out if there's a version in plush to send her for Xmas.

The BC Clark ads have started here in Oklahoma, so the Season is totally underway now. Have any of your local traditional ads started yet? Wal-Mart has been running the Hershey's Kisses bell ads on the in-store monitors for a while now.

So I found the fabled christmas mix tape that my mom made for me. I finally dated it at 1991 after just watching the commercials. The best commercial for me, hands down (because it is the funniest) was an Irish Spring soap commercial where some alleged irishman slices the top off of a bar of the soap and gives it a nice whiff. I almost pissed myself laughing after seeing that. Also I really liked that there were previews on for the news later that night, apparently in december 91' a baby went through the x-ray machine at cleveland-hopkins airport. HAHAHA maybe they thought it was a bomb….probably not though. Also I did not realize that it was CBS that played my favorite saturday morning cartoons at that time. They had TMNT, muppet babies, the Bill and Ted cartoon, an d Garfield and Friends. Alos, I forgot to mention that there was a Ragu commercial on the tape and Ben Stiller's wife is the main character in it. HAHAHAHA

My ex was a huge Hello Kitty fan (we had HK toasters, sandwich makers, coffee makers, juicers, lamps, alarm clocks, and countless other HK craps throughout every room of our house). Target is a good place to look locally, since they shut down that shop in Northpark Mall. Also, dreamkitty.com has a ton of stuff, even though they're a bit expensive.

"I'm kinda surprised Mighty Mouse doesn't have his own movie yet. They gave one to Underdog, so why not MM?"

Don't give them any ideas…considering how true to the source Underdog was, and how awful other cartoons-to-live-action movies are….no. Just no.

Hey Matt, I think you said something about your nephews wanting south park seasons in an earlier post on an earlier blog. Amazon's got many of them today for like 18 a piece.

OMG! Menudo is back!
What's with all the Rock a Doodle hate?
I luv that movie. Brian Mays son is marrying an internet friend of mine. She is Freddy Mercury's god daughter. Rock n Roll inbreeding FTW!

Happy Belated Thxgiving to all of my fellow American XE'rs. Hope Black Friday was good for yawll, we don't have any cool shit like that up here in Canada! Come to think of it, that's probably a good thing!

Brian Mays son is marrying an internet friend of mine. She is Freddy Mercury's god daughter. Rock n Roll inbreeding FTW!

This statement has single-handedly turned my brain into some sort of useless, gelatinous substance.

He just got appointed chancellor of a university. He has a Ph.D. in Astrophysics. Just part of a long standing tradition of rock Ph.D.s

I can't think of any of the others right now, but hey Milo and Brian are cool enough

Matt: I, too, dug the Care Bears float muchly. Did anyone notice how many singers were missing their lip syncing cues? Priceless!

kingklash: I caught my first BC Clark commercial on the radio coming back from my aunt and uncle's last night. I was SO HAPPY! I sang along as obnoxiously as humanly possible.

Well, Black Friday has successfully beaten my ass into a pulp. We left my parents' house at 3:30 am, got home at 5 pm. After only getting an hour and a half of sleep prior to leaving for the sales, I'm exhausted. But loads of awesome finds.

P.S. 20Q Television Edition completely sucks! I grabbed one whilst standing in line at a store and it couldn't get I Dream of Jeannie or Bewitched, two of the most classic classic tv shows of all time. Whatev.

For anyone who missed the Foster's Home float yesterday and wanted to see it, it's now on Youtube:

We were in need of paper plates and Febreeze so I went out to Target, and stopped to check out Best Buy too. The only really super deals I saw were a cheap camera at Target and 50% off HBO DVDs at Best Buy. I was really tempted to pick up the Rome sets, but I'm needing to watch the funds lately, thanks in no small part to previous Best Buy DVD runs. I would have bought the 6FU series box set regardless at 50% off, but the little headstone was missing.

I think I am going to "do" Black Friday" next year. I never have, and the idea of doing all the shopping in one day is alluring. I always end up working, as I did today. I literally had to walk over large bags and boxes to get peoples trays to their tables. But they all looked to be having a good time.

im on my psp. Think im gonna watch Holy Grail UMD movie I got today. 4 bucks! Portable Python ftw!

Okay now that it's over, some one please tell me they also saw a tickle me elmo commercial talking about elmo's "consealed secret" and showed a blocky censor graphic over his crotch.

kb: I'm not completely sure why, but your little story about having to step over people's shopping bags made me feel all fuzzy inside. Perhaps I shopped too much today or perhaps it made me think of Bing Crosby singing "Silver Bells." Either way, thanks!

Does anyone else have a weird hang up about Christmas? For instance, I can't put up the Christmas tree unless I'm watching Fiddler on the Roof. I know it's not a Christmas movie in the slightest, but, for some unexplainable reason, it was always on when my parents decided to put up the Christmas tree, so now my inner child associates "If I Were a Rich Man" with putting lots of ornaments up on a fake tree. So I rent it every year and watch it while I decorate. Right now I'm sitting at home with a little bit of a cold and I want to decorate, but I can't get in the spirit, so I think I'm going to have to go to Blockbuster.

Special K, there's something ironic about feeling the need to watch a movie about Jews while you're putting up Christmas decorations.

I always have to put on Christmas music while I wrap presents, otherwise I'm not inspired enough to do it. It's such a tedious task, but for some reason Christmas music makes it feel like a festive holiday activity. I always have to put on the Charlie Brown Christmas soundtrack when I'm trimming the tree, too.

I think the only major ritual I have is the order in which things go on the tree. First the angel goes on top (it's a big angel so it has to go first so I know how much of the tree top will show), then the lights, then the garlands/strings of beads or whatever. Then anything where we have several of the same thing, like bows or gold balls. Then finally all the other ornaments can go on, with a little gold bird being last. The bird is a tradition from when my grandma was alive, because she'd never really want to help decorate the tree, but we'd always have her come out and put the bird on as the last thing, since she loved birds.

I used to always love putting our presents under the tree a few at a time throughout December, but starting last year we had a destructive puppy and a kitten who likes to climb the tree (he still does this as an adult cat, despite weighing over 10 lbs) so we can't do that anymore

Lori: I know! This became such a family tradition for us, I honestly didn't know the movie was about Jews with absolutely no Christmas-related topics until I was in high school. I don't even think they celebrate Hanukkah in the movie!

Yeah, wrapping presents is kind of a long process, but I actually enjoy it. It's kind of zen or something. I put the Christmas CDs on, pour a glass of egg nog, put in Christmas Vacation with the volume turned down and drive right in. An hour or so later, I'm all done and then I get to look at that pile of shiny paper under the tree, which is such an awesome moment.

Well, first off Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Black Friday (even though it's technically over) to everybody. And, to Bill and Shaunfu, way to go with being so giving and generous. Who cares what anybody has to say about it.

My Turkey Day was fairly interesting this year. Unfortunately it started off me with completely sleeping through the parade. (D'oh!) My mom came knocking on the door, telling me to get up and get ready cause we had to leave in like 15 minutes to get to my cousin's house. Somehow she had also tripped a circuit or something in the kitchen, completely frying the coffee maker and shorting out the refrigerator. Luckily, there's like 3 guys in my family who are contracters and electricians and such, so after dinner was over, my cousin came over and took a look at it and got it sorted out. Anyways, we raced over to where the dinner was and made it just in time. I ended up leaving kind of early and it's too bad I did cause apparently after I did something went down with a couple of little cousins of mine and one kicked the other one in the nose so hard he got a nose bleed. Nothing like mild violence with 8 year olds on Thanksgiving to bring in the holiday season. Too bad I left. I could have had dinner and a show. As far as the meal, my cousin Billy, who hosts this shindig every year cause his house is pretty big (we have like 65 million, trillion people in the family), decided to go the fried turkey route this year, as opposed to traditional baked. I've never had fried turkey before, but I gotta tell you, this thing was AMAZING. He had two of them, and they were freakin' huge, and seasoned really well. It made me rethink my notions of turkey. I might be a fried turkey guy now.

Later that evening, my cousin and I went and saw The Mist. Highly recommended. It's always been one of my favorite Stephen King stories. The end will mess you up.

Matt, the article was great. Nice to see you got it in there just in time. But, no matter which Thanksgiving article I read, I don't think anything will ever top the image of John Ratzenburger singing in the that one review you did. I don't remember the year, but that was at the same time hilarious and kind of uncomfortable.

I spent today at work, so no Black Friday shopping sprees for me. But, even if I hadn't, I don't get up at 4am to go shopping for anything. It just ain't happening. I'll take my chances in a couple of weeks.

Leigha, I totally remember that Irish Spring commercial. Actually, that's my favorite soap. I've never cut it open and took a wiff though. I'll leave it to the professionals.

Oh, and for the record, in my opinion Christina Ricci is the most gorgeous thing to ever walk the face of this earth, ever, ever. Natalie Portman brings up a very close second.

I had it once. It was good, but not fantastic. It didn't give me anything I didn't get from the traditional roasted Turkey (which is much healthier, I might add).

Oh man, this thing was great. I'd never had it before, and honestly always thought the idea of it was kind of gross. I mean, I like fried chicken, but I always thought fried turkey would just be greasy and that it would kill the flavor. I don't know if it was just the seasoning or what, but yeah, it was pretty close to heaven. I guess you gotta be careful cooking it though cause we had a problem at first with both of them turning out undercooked. He kept having to put them back in a few times till we were satisfied that it was cooked properly.

And I know this is kind of weird and nitpicky, but every year we've had dinner someone else has always made the turkey, sliced it and put it into a giant plastic bowl for you to get pieces of before I ever got there. This was the first year that I actually saw an entire turkey sitting there (two of them!), and actually saw them slicing giant slices off of it. Somehow that made it that much better. Getting a giant, wide freshly sliced hunk of turkey, with the seasoned skin still on instead of chopped up little pieces in a plastic bowl…man, that was good stuff. I had leftovers for dinner tonight, but I'm missing it again now.

I'm watching Christmas Vacation and just realized that the kid who played Russ now plays Leonard on The Big Bang Theory which is my new favorite show! Tres awesome!

But, I still prefer my bird roasted. Slow roasted over a period of several hours, basted at just the right times.

It's gotta be cooked for however long it takes until the body starts to fall apart and for the skin to become crispy and turn a nice golden brown.