The X-Entertainment Blog!

01/29/2008: I want a Choking Victim poster.

The afternoon seemed innocent enough. There I was, sitting in some shady Chinese food takeout place, waiting to, uh, take out my Chinese food. I sat there, happily staring at the floor, trying to avoid the usual awkwardness that comes with catching a cook or cashier in the eye and spending the remainder of the fifteen minute wait avoiding doing that again.

Casual, timed eye-darts across the loosely-termed "restaurant" would suffice to let me know when my shitty food was ready. I gazed to my right, ostensibly at a hot tea station, trying to see if my bag was on the counter from the corner of my eye. It wasn't. I continued staring at the floor, or alternatively, pretending that I had something important to do on my cellphone. In reality, I was just turning it on and off and acting like it was a work-related endeavor. Anything to avoid those awkward locked glances between customer and clerk.

A few minutes pass, and it's time to glance up again. This time, I stare straight ahead at the half-tiled peach sheetrock on the other side of the restaurant.

That's when it happened. What was only meant to be a segue into a short peek at the counter for my food bag turned into…something else. Something so much more important than Chinese food.

It was…the original "Choking Victim" safety poster. Shaper of dreams, object of my desire, bane of my existence, suitable for fucking framing. I've spent most of my life pining for one of these posters, and I really have no idea why. I'm honestly not the type of person who actively hunts for ironic art. It's got nothing to do with that. I just like the poster.

You can't see it clearly in the picture above, but surely, you have seen it. Unless you're like, twelve-years-old. The original "Choking Victim" poster both intrigued and frightened me as a child, with its chilling illustrations of a poor guy putting forth his best "adamantly upset" face while turning a deep shade of indigo in response to getting a fish bone caught in his throat. I didn't understand the slight exaggerations of these drawings when I was young, and every time my eyes met with this poster, I spent the rest of the week eating ridiculously carefully.

I loved that poster. I looked forward to seeing it. Then, at some point many years ago, a different style of "Choking Victim" poster made its debut — one that had a serious lack of the crazy-faced mouth-agape choking dude. I hated this new poster. Absolutely hated it. It had no charm and it had no style.

At first, I only spotted the criminally underwhelming new poster at select restaurants and takeout joints. Over time, it became the standard. These days, it's downright rare to find the original "Choking Victim" poster anywhere. Through the years, I've witnessed even the most unkempt eateries manage to swap 'em out for the new ones. Every time that happens, a piece of me dies.

For several years, I've carried the idea that I will someday muster the courage to either steal or make an offer on one of the original posters before it's too late. Clocks are ticking. It's only a matter of time before the "Choking Victim" poster of my youth exists without a single relic, and if I don't make good on my personal vow to own one before that happens, I swear, I'll strap bombs to my chest and turn my death into news.

I've gotta go back to that Chinese takeout place. I've gotta do it before the inevitable happens. Keeping one of our apartment walls bare in tribute to the original "Choking Victim" poster simply isn't enough. To effect change, there must be action.

Will I succeed? If you don't see my name attached to any "exploding man" newscasts…I just might. Pray for me. Clasped hands and all. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Choking Victim. Amen.

Sigh.

This is a classic in the making, Matt. It's the little things in life that always make the biggest impact.

Also, Brawl came out in Japan today, and not to repeat myself, but I posted the list of the nearly-complete unlockable roster in the previous blog.

Actually, there was supposed to me more to that, I hit "post" while trying to resize the bottom of my IE window.

Anywho, it's from an arcade deli thing and the characters are weird looking spacemen who look more like homosexual lovers than victim and hero. I found it at a swap meet at a stand filled with old motivational posters, menus, and other random framed posters and pictures.

"Through the years, I've witnessed even the most unkempt eateries manage to swap 'em out for the new ones"

I hope you realize this means that the kitchen from which your food came is probably worse than anything ever seen on kitchen nightmares.

Oh Matt.
If I knew where that place was, I'd totally lift it for you.
Me any my briny crew can lift just about anything from any place, so long as it ain't nailed down- we rescued a Newcastle Chalkboard from the Rush Inn with nary a blink of the eye.

You should buy a new choking victim poster and go to the restaurant and act like youre with the health department, and then tell them that they have to switch out the poster. give them the new one, and you get to walk away with the sheer pleasure known as the original choking victim poster…

On Matt's Mad Balls blog entry yesterday the animated smiley after the words "Moving on!" is named 7777helpplease.gif.

On a hunch I checked out the date of Easter this year, you know, the day of resurrection? It falls on March 23. 23. December 23rd. Box 23. Sound familiar?

I wonder if more shit is about to hit the fan. I think Amalthea is coming back from Hell, and I don't think she's going to wait for Advent.

I love the visual that I have of Matt very consciously trying to be cool and collected (don't make eye contact with the cashier, pretend to text someone on the phone, feign interest in the hot tea station) to pretty visibly loosing it and taking cell phone pics of the choking victim poster.

Matt - "deep shade of vertigo"? Is that intentional, or do you mean deep shade of vermillion? I'm confused.

I'm not a choking sign expert so excuse me when I ask, what makes this the original choking victim sign?

Chris, good looking out. As far as adventuring goes, I'm here and waiting! I believe we're also still waiting for that promised Advent-urer sidebar thread…

Chris, Candace, and others:
We're still here: (Box 23 Thread IV, with some new info. Head on over and get sleuthing.

Not to threadjack or anything, But I know that we have more than a few Cloverfield/Lost fans here. So just to give you guys something to chew on. The Dharma symbol appears at the beginning of the movie in the bottom right hand corner. And the shredded Statue of Liberty head is seen in the Lost ARG thats going on.

Mind Blowing indeed. The rumor flying around right now is that JJ Abrahms is connecting all media types as an experiment, so that the story is never truly over, just ongoing.

I do the exact same thing with my cell phone when I'm waiting for my chinese food. I once downloaded a game just so I would have something to do while waiting.

I was afraid of the choking guy for the longest time as a kid. I'm not sure why. Maybe it was the fact that he was blue. Or noseless. Or that he looked like he was going to puke all over me despite being made of paper and ink.

Anyway, Matt, if you're ever in Greenwich Village, check out Rivoli on Christopher Street. They've got one. It's a pretty small place, though, so I don't think you'd manage stealing it, but they might take your money for it. They're very nice there (the delivery guy waves when he sees me on the street. Yeah, it's a bit sad that he recognizes me, but it's nice.)

And as for Madballs, I was at TRU last night and didnt see any, Am I missing out on yet another awesome product due to my Canadian-ness?

A crap-ton of the local joints around these parts still have that poster. Maybe Jersey (I guess) is much more forward progressive than the mighty south

Amalthea could make an appearance for an Easter Advent Calendar this year. Wait, Advent=Lent. Amalthea could rise from the ashes. Lent…ashes. Ooooooh dear.

Matt, you've got to get something interesting on your phone for situations like that! Doesn't have to be YouTube, even a crappy game's better than nothing to convincingly fake it.
Jester, if you check out the Clover thread I posted a link to that Dharma logo screencap and a couple other LOST connections. I love how they're tying it all together, it's almost too much.

Speaking of funny band names, I was just up at the radio station a while ago and I was looking at the playlist from earlier today and apparently somebody played a track from a band called:

I think the album it came from was actually called "the worst album name ever". No kidding. I thought it was genius, albeit ballsy and bordering on novelty.

When I was in high school a friend and I were at the movies and he dared me to steal a "Face/Off" poster that was in the lobby. It was mounted on a giant cardboard stand-up display by way of plastic "screws" that ran up and down the sides of the poster. He was waiting out in his truck and I was supposed to snag it and quickly make my way out the lobby, throw it in the back of the truck and off we would go. Well, it proved much harder than I thought to get all those screws out, so I gave up on it. We left, got down the road and I decided that I wanted to have another go at it. He turned the truck around with a squeal and we shot off back to the theatre. I went back in and started just yanking the screws out. Keep in mind, the lobby's full of people. Suddenly a guy walked up who worked there and asked me what I was doing. Being the silver tongued devil that I am, I told him the manager said it was ok and that I had paid for it already. He started helping me take the screws out! I got it out, rolled it up and out the door I went.

But, there's a twist! I was working at Blockbuster at the time and it turns out some weasely little bastard that I worked with just happened to be at the lobby at the time. He saw the whole thing and was friends with the managemnt there. He squealed on me! A few days later, the manager of the theatre and 2 guys who I guess were supposed to be her muscle came to my job and asked me about it. She threatened legal action. Not surprisingly, nothing ever came of it. But about a week later, a couple of employees from the theatre came into the Blockbuster and told me I was a hero there. The story had gotten round and I had turned into a small time urban legend.

DJ D I am much more settled now. Also, you said something about the caffeine chemical structure being on something….its funny because i am doing an entire series of paintings for my kitchen with the chemical structures of some of the active components of food ( caffeine, capsaicin, vanillin, and MSG just to name a few) I have finally found a way to mix together my two loves in life: chemistry and art….Im such a fucking nerd

Leigha, Well, technically it wasn't me that said it. It was someone else (can't remember who) that was responding to one of my posts that brought that up, but anyway, that's a really cool idea. You should provide a link to some of those when you're done with them.

Oh, here's an announcemnt while I'm at it. It has to do with the reason I was at the radio station in the first place today. Ready?…Drum roll……..

"Dark Entries: The Goth Show" w/ DJ D
Goth, Industrial, Death Rock, EBM, Horror, Sci-Fi!
Thursday nights 2-4am Eastern US time
90.5 WUSC fm–Columbia, SC
Streaming live at: http://wusc.sc.edu

I'll be updating my MySpace page in the next couple of days with a new flyer and bulletin announcements and what-not. The time slot isn't the best, but since I just moved back to town and the spring schedule's already been made I had to pick from what was left over. I'll be getting a much better one in the summer.

Doho: As dumb as that Wendy's campaign was, it is still MILES ahead of EVERY Burger King ad from the last 5 years. Especially the current one.

dohopoki
Did that ad campaign offend you that much? I mean, sure, I thought it was pretty stupid, but then again, I don't rely on marketing campaigns to influence my fast-food eating habits…

JLAJRC, You got that right. The only thing more annoying than that stupid Burger King character is this McDonalds "I'm lovin' it" crap. When are they going to let that go?

Well JLAJRC, I never really cared for the King much so yes those commercials do suck and those whopper freak out ones are so staged and stupid. That said, I never cared to even remember any burger king commercials with the exception of "big buckin' chicken" cause it really really sounded like fucking.

Wendy's on the other hand did once have Dave Thomas in there commercials and I think they've been curses since his death. From those stupid raccoon to that annoying random whistle in the background that had no rhyme or reason, every Wendy's commercial has sucked. The latest are maybe the worst. So yes Old Jim, they did.

D JD, I haven't heard I'm lovin' it in a long time, are you sure they didn't let it go already?

no, Dohopoki They still apparently "are lovin' it". They just don't do those vapid singsongy jingles.

And I really liked the Wendy's Wig commercials… They're so surreal and they amuse me.
Like…Tim and Eric ASGJ, just in 30 second snippets that I can tolerate.

To join in, my fiancee and i have a burning hatred for the "dollar menuaires" commercials. everytime one of them comes on adult swim, if i see it first i tell him his favorite commercial is on, if he sees it first, he tells me that my favorite commercial, and then the lewis black level ranting begins. to think about it is pretty hilarious, but i dont think anyone knows how much we really get pissed over those goddamned commercials.

In my work there is a poster hanging up that has something to do with choking and such, but it's from another country and is hanging there as a joke. I should scan it. It is hilarious.

Doho: I honestly don't remember the other Wendy's ads you cited. To me the current campaign is at least sorta memorable.

The worst commercial currently on the air to me is from a fast food, but a movie trailor for "Strange Wilderness." At first it just looks like a forgettable dumb comedy, no big whoop. But then for some reason at the end they keep showing the scenes of shark with someone laughing like Ed McMahon on crack over it. This goes on for about a minute and is INCREDIBLY annoying, even ear-piercing.

Hmm…. I honestly don't think I know this poster. The one I've seen everywhere has a blue guy and a green guy. The green guy is doing the Heimlich maneuver on the blue guy, and at one point it looks like a blue torso has green arms.

Matt, I will give you my own personal confidence booster. You need that poster, and I need to see it up close. If this doesn't get you pumped up, I just don't know what will. It's my secret weapon.

Oooooh, I want to play too. What ads do I hate… Well, those Wendy Wigs ones were pretty bad, but have any of you seen the "This is my Wendy" thing that failed to launch? They got a few artists to make their own rendition of their mascot, and it basically sucked hard.

Any commercial that shows people dumber beyond human capabilities always bug me. Like the Sonic one where the guy says there are 46 letters or something, or this AT&T (I think) one where the guy doesn't know where China is so he rips the map off the wall. There's no way anyone can be that dumb. Unless both are illiterate, which is highly unlikely in this country, they're too impossible to take seriously.

I miss McDonald's Arch whatever commercial where the kid is eating the adult sandwich in the attic and freaks out when his parents find him. That one commercial got me off Happy Meals.

Sorry to triple post, but I also forgot to mention my absolute favorite fast food ad of all time!

The Lyme Disease poster in my elementary school's nursing station freaked me out way more, I have to say. Every time I got a mosquito bite I'd be like "AAH! The target! It's lyme disease!" and get overheated.

I remember that poster. I sincerely hope you get one Matt, I REALLY TRUELY do !!

Leigha, I never understood why Mcdonalds tries so hard to inform us that poor people eat there.

Oh Ben!I loved that commercial too!Again with me Loving the Surreal crap, eh?
I'd always say
"hey Look! It's Darius Rucker!"
And people'd be like "Who?"
And then I'd remember that I'm weird for remembering famous people, and then fix it by saying
"hey Look! It's Hootie!"
And then people would go "ohh yeah."

Also, on ads. What's with showing the superbowl ads online weeks before the game? I can't even express how stupid that is.

You know, Kittymao, the first time I saw that commercial I went on AIM immediately and got a message from one of my friends that said something like "Darius Rucker is in a new Burger King commercial!" And I responded with, "So is Hootie!" Then one of those "…" followed by "…Oh right, Darius Rucker is Hootie. Wasn't that commercial awesome!?" Etc.

Dohopoki, it's probably for people like me that will most likely forget about the Superbowl. I didn't know it was this Sunday until last night when my roommate was watching the Daily Show. =P

Personally, I don't understand the mindset of those who watch the Super Bowl just for the commercials… I mean, sure, there are a lot of them, and *some* of them are fairly creative, but more are just uninspired, and anyway, they will be replayed ad nauseam between now and April, anyway.

My advice is: watch the game if you care about football, or if you care about one team or the other, or even if you have a family member on either team, or watch the halftime show if that's your bag, but don't make the excuse, "I only watch it for the commercials."
(/rant)

Hey now, the commercials used to be solid back in the early 90s. But I'm watching this year to watch the Patriots lose. If they don't lose, I only watched it for the commercials.

I'm one of those "watches Superbowl for the commercials" people. Granted, there are some stinkers, but companies usually pull out the stops for them during the SB. Plus, the SB is usually a great excuse to pig out.

Speaking of commercials, did anyone else catch the series "Mad Men" on AMC this fall that was about an ad agency in the early 60's?

I used to be a Giants fan, like, 20 years ago, but these days, I don't know what it is, I just can't get into it like I used to. Also, my brothers both got married and have families in distant towns, so we don't have the Super Bowl parties we used to have with our friends in the late 80's and early 90's. These days, I have to settle for splitting a 6-pack and a couple of bags of chips with my dad, and eating dinner during the halftime show.

I've never seen one of these choking victim signs, but I'm very glad that I'm not the only person who feels so awkward waiting for takeout.

I remember when I was a kid I had to go to a local clinic to get some vaccination or another, and they had a poster of all the rashes that different childhood diseases cause. Measles, rubella, chicken pox, scarlet fever, etc. I have no idea why I can remember this, but it both alarmed and fascinated me.

kittymao, Tim and Eric seem to alternate between being really funny and "what the hell did I just watch?" The segments that I think are the funniest are the Uncle Muscles show with Casey and his brother, and the married news team thing, with Brules Rules. Otherwise, I don't know what the hell's going on. I get what they're trying to go for though. Some guys at work think they're the funniest thing ever. Apparently in interviews they've said the entire point is to create as many awkward situations as possible. The whole point of the show is to make you uncomfortable.

Hootie actually is from my city and went to my university (USC). They hang out down here all the time. I don't care for their music at all, but for the most part they're nice guys. I've sat in on interviews with them at the radio station down here. The drummer, Sonny, is a really cool guy and fun to talk to. Darius is a bit of a jerk though. Oh, I forgot, Kristin Davis (Charlotte from Sex in the City) is from here. Her dad's a professor at USC. She used to date a guy I used to work with. He was interviewed on the Sex in the City True Hollywood Story thing.

I usually just watch the superbowl as an excuse to get shit faced on a sunday night. i was too busy puking into the toilet during the fateful janet jackson nipple flip. c'est la vie. also, i usually really hate the halftime show, but last year's show was awesome….i have a thing for prince

Oh, for a minute there, I thought that the "Choking Victim" poster was in regard to the former Crack Rock City band Choking Victim, based in NYC.

For a moment, you were the coolest person I'd never met. No fear though, you're still pretty cool

jazzy, Yeah, thanks loads. I'm pretty jazzed about it (no pun intended). Now I've just gotta get on making a flyer. I might stay up late tonight doing that and working on giving my MySpace an overhaul.

Belated congratulations, DJ D
I'm not usually a fan of goth or death rock, but I like horror and sci-fi soundtracks (I presume that's what you meant?) so I'll give your show a listen.

Old Jim, Yeah, pretty much. I use a lot of samples from horror movies and play little snippets between songs. I also announce new movies coming out and occasionally give my review of them.

Leigha: Oh man, I tuned in last year just for the halftime show, and I was not the least bit disappointed. Prince kicks such major ass, man.

DJ D
How do you define Goth? Are you referring to classic Goth like The Cure and Bauhaus, or more recent stuff, like Marilyn Manson? Because I like the older stuff, not so much the newer - although I do like Evanescence, but are they even Goth? They seem too mainstream…

If we're talking goth, we're talking Sisters of Mercy and Fields of the Nephilim.

I too remember when the commercials were way better than the game; back before these internets and the game was the way to see big movie commercials and such for the coming year. Now it's all online days before.

And jazzy Prince always kicks ass; he just kicked them at a rate of a million a second last year

It's in the 60s again temp wise tonight down here again, while a week ago it was in the 20s and most of the rest country freezes. I swear, it's madness….

This kind of makes me want to draw my own choking sign. Not to replace oh no no no but to pay TRIBUTE to this one. Because isn't that what adulthood is about? Paying tribute to everything you did in your childhood?

Old Jim and 7., I don't consider bands like The Cure, Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Smiths, or Depeche Mode goth, but I do play them on my show quite a bit because they all have large segments of their fanbase that are gothy types and there is a lot of crossover there.

As far as genuine goth, yes I do play quite a bit of Bauhaus, Sisters of Mercy, Fields of the Nephilim, Sex Gang Children, Specimen, and Alien Sex Fiend to name a few. That's if you're talking the old school stuff. Newer bands that get a lot of play are London After Midnight, Rasputina, Switchblade Symphony, The Birthday Massacre, stuff like that. But, I venture into other territory like industrial, darkwave (which often gets lumped into goth), ebm, and even some dark, folksy, celtic type stuff. The goth audience often has very disperate tastes and I try to cater to all of them. Even if a few of the bands I'm playing certainly aren't goth bands, I know my audience by now to know what else they're into, so I'll throw that stuff in there too occasionally. I've even been known to play stuff like Kate Bush, Tori Amos, Bjork, and King Crimson on my show.

On a hunch I checked out the date of Easter this year, you know, the day of resurrection? It falls on March 23. 23. December 23rd. Box 23. Sound familiar?

I'm also one of those "watch the Super Bowl for the ads" guy. I've been invited to a Super Bowl Party with my frat, as well as a "Not Super Bowl Party" at a friend's house. Hmm…decisions. My friend has Wii, but the frat likes watching the ads too…

I'm reading some of the Brawl message boards…I'm getting a huge laugh out of the nerds who are still clinging to some hope that Ridley may be playable (He's not, he's a boss in Subspace Emissary)

I'm turning 23 this july, does that count for anything? Also, DJ D if you would like I can give you a link to my facebook pictures so you can see my last painting and other paintings that I have done (and anyone else who would like to look is more than welcome) :http://kent.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2162338&l=9392f&id=23301862 that is a link to the last painting I did (i gave it to my best friend as a housewarming gift) http://kent.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2132492&l=cdd42&a... and that is a link to my previous paintings that are still in my possession. sorry if this is annoying to anyone

Advent-urers!
Earlier tonight I received a short chat line with Hssxxlllo on Gmail! It was as follows:

(BTW, I am not a football fan, so whenever I watched the Superbowl, it was for the commercials.

)

Leigha Cool Paintings! It kind of reminds me of Rosie O' Donnell's Paintings she splatters paint around and glues pictures and article clippings on her paintings. You should check it out if your interested on her site Rosie.com and then click on photos and then click on Rosie's art.

My store I want to make some Valentines this week to sell but I think the ideas I am thinking of aren't different or original. Maybe I am just being hard on myself. Oh well.

Leigha, Looks good. I especially like the one with the greenish and blueish swirls on it, splattered with red.

Ben, Holy crap! I'm going to have to renew my membership for the Advent-urers club. I was a brief member early on into the Box 23 business, but because of some internet connection problems, honestly couldn't keep up with it all. Maybe this will be my chance to get in on a new Advent-ure from the ground up. Next to recieving the news that my radio show is back on the air this week, this might be the most exciting thing that's happened to me all night.

Ben, when I looked briefly at that message, the brackets looked like J.J. maybe it is an ode to J.J. Abrhams and Cloverfield…..or maybe J.J. Walker because he is DY-NO-MITE. hahaha, I am ridiculous

DJ D: I'd say fun. This has been a boring week following a short, post three-day-weekend week. Seeing that when I got back from work was an awesome pick-me-up.

Leigha: I did respond, even though he was offline. I thought it was a short version of :]. He seems happy after all the stuff that went down, don't you tihnk? …JJ Abrams sounds more plausible. =P

Yeah, I thought it was JJ too. If it turns out that it is, I like the fact that he didn't come right out and say it. He's got us working and guessing already.

If there is going to be an Advent-like Easter event, Lent would be when to do it. And that starts NEXT WEDNESDAY believe it or not…

Holy crap! Advenster? Eastent? Who cares! I've been having the Advent-ure equivalent of a nic-fit this whole month, and this was my first one! I really really REALLY hope there's an Easter event! I needs my Waiterbot and Knacks fix!

I just read it was announced today that Michael Bay is producing a remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street. It's supposed to restart the franchise the same way that he's doing it for Friday the 13th. I'm assuming they're going to recast Freddy. I'm dreading this already.

Whatever happened to the prequel with Robert Englund? He said in an interview not to long ago that it was in the works.

Five years ago I was in North Carolina and stole one of those posters from a Burger King. It was a daring heist and I got away clean. Unfortunately I have no idea where the poster is now.

I definitely know what you mean, Matt, about the awkwardness of waiting on take out. I don't do it anymore but there was a time I used to take out every day. Between the floor, the wall, and looking at other people there just long enough so it's not considered staring without looking autistic, it was sort of uncomfortable for a shy kid like I was.

I'm still sort of the same way but glad I'm mostly over my younger, shyer years.

So that game I posted about yesterday has gone live. You've got to download a plug-in, but a spyware scan on my computer has come up clean. Plus, it's a chance to run down velociraptors in a jeep for free. And in the end, isn't that what really matters?

As for ads, my favorite series will always be the 7-UP campaign they ran in the late 90s. My best friend in high school had a "Make 7 UP YOURS" T-shirt that was the envy of everyone we met. Of course, Red Stripe beer also has some awesome ads.

At the moment, the commercial that makes me want to destroy humanity is the birth control ad they're running every five minutes on Comedy Central to the tune of "We Ain't Gonna Take It." Death.

I still have my Make 7, Up yours shirt. I remember these choking posters used to hang in every mom and pop food place. Now, if we can only find some Mr. Yuck advertisements….

Matt, I know exactly what you mean about the awkward waiting-for-takeout situation. I also hate when I'm at a fast food place (last night: Chik-Fil-A), and I've placed my order but have to stand around and wait for a bit. In these cases you've already got the drink: you're just waiting on the food. So even though it's pretty clear that you've already ordered, it seems like everybody that comes in the damn restaurant from that point forward has to ask you "ARE YOU IN LINE?" And then you just have to say "no, I'm just waiting."

And the absolute worst is when some stranger tries to strike up a conversation with you. Listen, people: If I'm at the fast food place, it's because I want it fast. And it usually means I'm there either at lunch or after work, in which case I don't want to talk to you, and I don't want to know what crazy things are going on in your life.

Oh, count me amongst the "Watches Super Bowl for the Ads" people. You mean there's a football game, too?

I just read it was announced today that Michael Bay is producing a remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street.

Sigh. I really wish news of new Nightmare and Friday the 13th movies would make me happy. But nothing. Just dead inside. (Well, and slightly annoyed).

DJD, congrats on the radio show! I wanna listen, but I have no internet at home, so no streaming. You should post the play list on myspace, though.

Between talk of your show and the depressing remake news you've officially inspired me to spend the morning drinking coffee and listening to Trisomie 21…

In the airport I saw a choking sign and it was pretty indepth. There was the choking guy, of course with the universal sign of choking, but then there was instuctions for a pregnant lady and the "self Hymlick maneuver" with a chair. (I'm sure that wasn't spelled correctly)
The poster also had a spanish translation so it was all together about 3'x3' and hard to miss.

For those of you distraught over the Elm Street and F13 news, you can always read the current and EXCELLENT Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash mini from Wildstorm. They took the actual proposed movie script and just turned it into a comic. In fact, horror in general seems to be making a comeback in comics, as there is also a Halloween one-shot coming out in February sometime.

Ben, I wanted to let you know that the Box 23 discussion is still going on in the last thread, as was pointed out to me earlier. See you there!

And here I am reading the title of the blog and thinking that for some reason, Matt started getting into the hardcore punk band Chocking Victim!

I'm still praying Geno will be in Brawl even though I've seen the full unlockable roster several times now. lmfao.

I hear ya, Brett. I've been praying to God and Shigeru that MegaMan will somehow make the roster, even if it's in a patch/update.

-Marth
-Ness
-Capt. Falcon
-Luigi
-Snake
-Sonic
-Mr. Game & Watch
-Gannondorf
-Jigglypuff
-Lucario
-Falco
-Toon Link (aka Phantom Hourglass Version)
-Wolf O'Donnell
-R.O.B.

Before everyone gets upset about clones, there are vids of the "clones" in action and it seems that characters like Gannondorf, Falco, Wolf, Toon Link) are in the "Luigi-fied" category, meaning that while similar to the originals, their movesets are (slightly) different.

Thought you all might be interested in this; it's a DVD called Monster Kid Homemovies.

"Monster Kid Home Movies is a collection of 8mm movies made by Monster Kids from the 50's to the 80's. This collection features not only these fun films but audio commentaries by the filmmakers plus lots of extras including biographies and photo galleries."

hey all, long time reader, rare time poster lol, the boyfriend and i are thinking of going down to atlantic city for valintines weekend, any suggestions for places to stay, we def wanna stay in one of the casinos

i had the 7up shirt too…it said show us your can with a guys butt crack i think

Timewaster That would be a great joke on Family Guy. A kid steals the choking poster just to say an FU to the establishment and then right after he leaves someone instantly starts choking and they are clueless as what to do because the reliable choking poster has disappeared.

Jedoc My cousin that was around my age had one of those shirts. He actually borrowed it from a friend and never gave it back. He eventually ripped the sleeves off, but he's fit so it didn't look too redneck or gross.

Ty I was totally shy and awkward in school. I finally grew out of that after I graduated. I bet we would of been good shy friends together but then you would of awkwardly of asked me out and I would had to awkwardly told you I wasn't interested in you that way then you would of felt bad and been unable to talk for a month after that to any girl. You would of been down to 1 word answers for about a month before you bravely came slightly out of your shell again.

But really, I remember I would be part of a conversation (I was sitting in the same room) and I only spoke up if I felt my info or thoughts were REALLY important like life or death to the conversation. Now it's not as important I have confidence that my words are just as important as everyone elses. Online I've always been outgoing and confident, but I could have the conversations I have online now IRL if I wanted to and not feel bad.

Can anybody recommend some decent/reliable job search websites.
Monster.com is crappy.

I'd be lying if I said that I didn't immediately go onto eBay trying to find one of these posters. No dice. I suppose I lucked out as the lady told me there's no accounting for taste, but I digress.

I just got back from Goodwill, there were a couple of things they were selling I wouldn't mind having but I bet after I bought them there they would sit. One was an NES powerpad (I've never owned one before!!!!!) and a nintendo 64 game shark for like 4.50.

And right when I went in there there was this fat girl mid to late 20's begging her bf I am assuming to buy her these three big binders. A woman I am assuming a friend or sister was saying about how much profit she could make and stuff just that guy would have to let her borrow some money for these things well when I went over there I started looking through one of the binders.

Of course they were random trading cards, some were home improvement trading cards from the first season or so, some were mcdonalds trading cards and some were for something I have never heard of they looked like a magic the gathering game or something, with dragons and what not. Another binder had spiderman trading cards, and another she was looking through and I couldn't see it that well. They were all about 18 dollars a piece and filled up with pages of the things. I don't know anything about trading cards mind you.

Anyway I commented and said probably someone died or something like that for these to get here because they obviously spent a lot of time putting them in pages and buying them and everything, they definitely didn't just donate them.

And she said and some are from the late 90's! In a very optimistic tone. I said yes but that doesn't mean they are valuable. She did this awkward pause like I have NO CLUE what I am talking about and that was the dumbest thing that could of escaped my lips. The rest of the visit I was thinking God watch a bitch. I looked on ebay of course, I see some buy it now auctions but nothing too appealing. Even though I can't look at completed auctions I don't have an ebay account. I think the only cards that anybody could make a profit from is Garbage pail kids cards if they bought them cheap enough. I know this last summer I saw some for 30 BUCKS got boxes and binders filled with them. She said that she estmated at least 1500 of them. Wow!! Imagine one of us with 30 bucks to blow finding a collection like that.

I just thought I'd tell you all. What a fat bitch. Her bf was like a weasily redheaded skinny pale nerdy guy. I feel sorry for him to have such a low self esteem that he thinks that is the only girl that would be with him.

What did I get? Well I got a package of 30 colored tissues you put in gifts for .77 cents, one of those small ironing tables with the little stubby legs on them for 1.50, a box of assorted colored pencils and crayola pens that probably belonged to some kid for 1.00, a shirt, and a blank comp book for .50

Anyway I'll go now

One more thing, my best friend got the call we were waiting for about this house we want to move into. We got in! We just need to borrow about 500 bucks or so from a trusting mark I mean friend to move in by the end of this week or the beginning of the next. They want us to move in in the beginning of the month unfortunately it's right now. Too bad we don't have 2 weeks (2 paychecks) between us and moving. So we are going to be starving and if you don't see me here for a while it means we don't have internet yet.

2) I remember the "Make 7 up Yours!" t-shirt & ad campaign. Someone in my middle school wore it in the cafeteria, and one of the cafeteria workers almost got offended because she only saw the "Up Yours!" part.

Statements like that really do make me feel like the oldest person on this site…

Have you tried career builder or craigslist? I live in SW Florida currently and we've got a site called SWfloridajobs.com…maybe your area has something similar like (insert area here)jobs.com

I got my current job from Monster, and the other 3 I mentioned I didn't like as well as Monster, but maybe you'll like them more. It may also be useful to note I also hate my current job

Manimal
Are you looking to stay in education? I don't think that Monster would be a good source of education jobs - probably a regional site like, for instance, in New Jersey, where I live, has nj.com, which provides one-stop shopping for the jobs-wanted listings for about seven different local newspapers…

Velouria_78, Yeah, I'll definitely be posting the playlist every week, as well as playlists from club gigs and such.

JLAJRC, I believe Clive Barker's writing the Hellraiser remake, but not directing it. No word yet if Doug Bradley's involved.

There's also a Chucky comic book series running now, but I don't know what company's doing it. I don't remember if it's Wildstorm or not. I thought the Friday the 13th and Nightmare books that Avatar put out a few years ago were pretty good too. I guess Wildstorm bought the rights. I agree, the current Freddy vs Jason vs Ash is great stuff.

Toxikfoxx, I've got a Mr. Yuck t-shirt I got at Kohl's a while back. My wife won't let me wear it in public, she thinks it's stupid.

Yeah, Invader Norbert, I remember the Make 7 Up Yours from 7-9th grade. My middle school had such a strict dress code that we weren't allowed to wear those shirts, not even when they were tucked in! With a belt! Those were the good* old days…

I knew this kid in high school he had a shirt he always wore and in small writing it said get the fuck away from me the teacher ALWAYS told him to go to the bathroom and turn it inside out. He said he just forgot and he didn't look when he put on a shirt that morning. Like where can you wear that shirt? He had an afterschool job, so I think buying that shirt was a waste of money for him. The shirt doesn't offend me it just seems like a shirt he shouldn't of bought.

I've seen that shirt! Not in real life, of course, but in one of the greatest catalogs in history:

I still want the shirt that Stiles wore in Teen Wolf, that says, "What are you looking at, Dicknose?"

I also want the one that Sean wore in Monster Squad that says "Stephen King Rules".

Ben I had that catalog. I forget what happend to it, but I had it a long time ago. I ordered this huge joke book out of it and I still have the joke book. I never ordered anything else out of it though.

So, it's about 5:36 in the morning, and since I don't have to be at work till 4:30pm, I just stayed up watching a bunch of crap on YouTube, including episodes of the Ghostbusters cartoon…..while eating Frankenberry cereal.

For a second there I couldn't tell if he was sporting a mustache or not, then I realized he had no nose and I was a little freaked out.

You know, I'd never seen the choking posters before I moved to NY - they're not required everywhere. So I've never seen the original.

kittymao, If he hasn't yet, he needs to get on that. It's only one of the greatest movies of the 80's ever.

If anyone knows for sure that he has reviewed it, and can find the link, hook us up!

I'd love to see a closeup of that poster. I'm 33 and I've never seen a choking or heimlich poster in a restaurant, but maybe we don't do that here in Canada. But I'm all for the "safety graphics" as a laugh, and as an example of retro cool deisgn. I have a whole fantastic book called "Design for Impact: Fifty Years of Airline Safety Cards. In Case of Emergency, Remove from Shelf." And I acquired those cool Star Wars barf bags from Virgin airlines a couple of years ago. Plus for years I've been trying to figure out how I could get the "electrocuted guy" sticker off a public power box. I dont' know if they're the same in teh US, but here they depect a silhouette of aguy (more detailed than a washroom symbol guy" and he's falling back with mouth agape for having touched (or tried to wrench open?) the electrical box. It's simultaneously horrifying and funny.

Thanks, kittymao. I don't think I could have summed that up much better myself.

DJD, never saw the Stephen King shirt, but you can get the Dicknose shirt at 80stees.com.

BEN - I, too loved the Wendy's Tender Crisp ad. Since nobody mentioned it, I wondered if you knew that song Hootie sings is a parody of Big Rock Candy Mountain. Great song. If you want to hear it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iLD6ewxp8Q

I was a kid back in the 70's and I remember a tv PSA for poison. A bunch of muppet pills sang
"We can make you delerious- delerious"
"But…We're not candy!..believe us!"
or something like that. It was hilarious. I would pay to see that again - I'll have to check You Tube.
Later

A dude named Jason Little did a pretty cool parody of the original, it's for sale as a print somewhere on here- http://www.beecomix.com

We always got these handouts all through middle school that depicted an infant and a golden retriever. In big scary block letters, it warned

We always used white-out to make it say STOP BABIES! and drew mohawks, eyepatches, scars, chains, earrings, nose rings, black eyes, horns, wings, and goatees on the baby and the dog.

I always liked the guy on the "Neighborhood Watch" signs in neighborhoods growing up. He just seemed so shady and though he was up to no good. (I guess that was the intent.)

I'm glad that I'm not the only person who ate really carefully after glancing at a choking victim poster.
If you like that poster, you might like the Indian educational posters that I found.
Chekkit out @: http://www.mcphee.com/items/11128.html

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