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02/03/2008: Bud Bowl Sunday!

Hey, it's Super Bowl Sunday! You don't need to be a football fan to be excited about that, and Lord knows I'm not. (Well, I am rooting for the Giants, mainly because if my car breaks down near a dive bar tonight, I'd prefer that its tenants put happy drunken arms around me rather than beat me senseless with whiskey bottles in heated protest of a hometown victory gone astray.) Is it kosher to put sentences that long in parenthesis?

I made the mistake of skipping out on the many Super Bowl betting pools that came my way through the various companies I'm in league with, but the thrill of zillion-dollar commercials and potentially world-changing halftime shows is enough to make me regret the fact that the closest thing we have to buffalo wings in our freezer is…well, one of those Kryptonite Slurpees that I've absolutely refused to throw away.

Getting back to the commercials, let's face it: More than a negligible percentage of today's TV ratings will come from people who aren't at all interested in the game, but moreover just want to see which companies can turn a multimillion dollar investment into tomorrow's water cooler banter. For every success story (Monster.com's highly regarded black-and-white kiddy testimonial from several years back), there's a sad tale — like Pepsi spending four hundred trillion dollars to produce a Van Halen-boosted visual anthem for a crystal clear beverage that'd be immediately lampooned as liquid shit. Suffice to say, the commercial competition can be just as intense as the football games.

I'm not here to run through the history of Super Bowl ads, but I'll be damned if I don't at least pay some small tribute to the one campaign that could be counted on for unbridled awesomeness year after year after year: Budweiser's Bud Bowl!

Beginning in 1989 and lasting for far longer than I realized before looking it up just now, Bud Bowl was an absolutely brilliant series of interstitials featuring helmeted beer bottles squaring off for their own version of the Super Bowl ring, or trophy, or whatever the fuck the winning team gets when they kick the ball between those big yellow stick things.

From what I remember (and my apologies if the scope changed in later years; I'm only referring to the first few "seasons" of Bud Bowlage), the games took place in small slices, spanning across several commercial breaks during each Super Bowl. The teams? Budweiser and Bud Light, realized by fitting glass beer bottles with football helmets and angry curvatures. They'd play their games in packed arenas (usually filled with "can fans"), and though Budweiser took most of the victories, the scores were always close enough to where neither brand had to feel bad about itself.

In grade school, we talked about and bet on the Bud Bowl as if it were the true attraction of Super Bowl Sunday, and in an era without Tivo, I'd actually sit through the entire football game if that's what it took to see all of that year's Bud Bowl spots. The well-produced and comedic ads were wonderful, but since I usually had ten bucks on one of the teams (my entire bank account at the time), my interest was more than just speculatory.

If nothing else, the campaign paved way for one of my favorite crafty projects of childhood: Grabbing my family's empty beer bottles, fitting them with those cheap supermarket vending machine toy football helmets, and coaching my own teams of glass athletes toward championships of my own design.

Hard to say if any of this year's ad spots will inspire me to that degree, but since I'm now more prone to drink ten bottles of beer rather than turn them into action figures, anything is possible.

Click here to watch an old Bud Bowl promo. Click here to learn the story of the magnificent coconut crab.

I loved Bud Bowl. That kinda stuff is really the only reason I sometimes watched the games. The commercials have been getting worse the last few years though - and have you noticed, most of them you don't see again for 6 months? What's up with that? They need to bring back stuff like Bud Bowl.

That crab looks WAY too much like a spider, for me.

But I can't wait until Deadliest Catch comes back on.

I cant say that I ever watched the bud bowl with great intent……I did however find a way to really piss off my fiancee last year, which was to turn it on animal planet's "puppy bowl" while he wasnt looking. Still, in terms of the halftime show, I dont think anything can beat last year's Prince spectacular. Not even Janet Jackson's boob got me that excited.

I'm a huge Tom Petty fan, but I'm expecting to be let down by his halftime show, so I probably won't tune in. It'd be cool if teaser trailers were shown for "Indy 4" or "Incredible Hulk," though.

Hells to the mother fucking yeah! I lucked in on a new post when I was sure there would not be one. Nothings imposible in America! Ill be drunk by kick off. Go Pats, sorry Giant fans I want to see a record set that may go unbroken in my lifetime.

I miss the Bud Bowl commercials but at least Bud still has some of the more entertaining commercials during the Superbowl. I hope they keep it up for this year.

Man, screw coconut crabs so much. I just learned about the things a few months ago when I found out that picture of the giant alien bug hanging off a trashcan wasn't photoshopped. If I ever found something like that in my back yard, particularly if it was cracking a coconut with its claws, I would put all my money into shotgun shells and reinforced concrete.

The strange thing is that I'm generally a fan of most arthropods. Spiders and I have a fairly liberal truce (they stay out of my shower and I leave them alone) and I had a giant millipede for a pet when I was a kid. But there's something about coconut crabs that really make me want to volunteer for a mission to Mars just so I can put more distance between me and them.

Unfortunately the more impressive crab pics are actually photoshopped, not real.

Ah yes Bud Bowl. I loved that thing. Haven't decided yet if I will watch today. Does anyone know when it starts…and what channel it's on?

Oh yeah, super bowl time! I watch exclusively for the commercials….You mean they actually play football? I thought it was a celebration of commercialization.

I guess the whole "Bud Bowl" thing was a little before my time…but at least now I know what the Simpsons' "Duff Bowl" is referencing (and the folks at Moe's had a pool going on that).

Commander Awesome, I too am a Tom Petty fan, so I'm really excited that I actually get to see a band I like in the halftime show, at a point when I actually like them (for that to make sense, you have to understand that I got into the Beatles about a month after he did the halftime show, ditto with Melissa Etheridge when she was on the Oscars, I think it was).

Also, does anyone know if MTV still does "Celebrity Deathmatch"? I used to watch the Superbowl solely so that I would know when Halftime was, so that I could watch claymation celebrities beat the shit out of each other. I am fully convinced that this at least partly explains why I am so enamored of horror movies…

I remember being really psyched about Bud Bowl when I was a kid. Commercials have gone downhill the last few years, it seems to me.

Ahem, I remember the Bud Bowl. I think I rooted for Bud Lite but I don't really know why.

I actually remember bud bowl commercials, one of those strange things from your childhood you have no idea why you remember. I usually only watch for commercials, and unless another channel can lure me away with promises of grand marathons, that's what I'll be doing this year.

I'm with Eddie about the puppy bowl, I'm watching it right now my puppy, it's a super bowl he can relate to.

*watching it right now WITH my puppy….it sounded a little strange the other way.

Actually, I'm making chili tonight. Never done it before, but my family always eats chili on Super Bowl Sunday.

Oh, and yay…I get to see Cloverfield on Tuesday now it's in the UK. We've had almost no hype, so it'll probably be quiet.

I personally hate football to the point where I can't even bring myself to watch for the ads. Can't say I'm a big Tom Petty fan, either. I wish I had a Superbowl party to go to, though. I want wings and beer

I'll be looking forward to the game in about an hour. I neve imagined I'd see a Super Bowl with so much on the line for either team. Being a Bengals fan I believe the Super Bowl should always stick with the AFC even if the Bengals are not in it (unless it's Pittsburgh or Baltimore).

Vanilla: They did bring back Celebrity Deathmatch last year on MTV2. Whether they'll renew it is anyone's guess.

So is there anything good to watch on TV now other than the Superbowl? Or do I need to start fiddling through my DVD collection?

I never saw a Bud Bowl as they happened, but I wanted to SOOO badly. Good to see someone has posted the commercials up on the interweb!

I wish WWE still did Halftime Heat during halftime of the Super Bowl! The first time that they did it, Mankind beat The Rock for the WWF Championship for the second time in an Empty Arena Match which is still one of my all-time favourite matches. They then did a Stone Cold Steve Austin interview and some other stuff I forgot the next year.

I wish Celebrity Deathmatch still did their "Deathbowl" during halftime of the Super Bowl too.

Normally, I'd root for the New England Patriots to have a perfect season, but I'm rooting for the New York Giants this year (Hey, I'm a native New Yorker. I don't care if I now live in Miami, I'm a New Yorker at heart!). So Go Giants!

Ben: If you've got any ale or stout in the house, pour about half a bottle into your chili before you simmer it. You can thicken it back up with a few tablespoons of cornmeal if you don't like it so juicy. It brings out the flavor of the chili powder a treat.

I'm sitting here trying to learn to pay attention during commercials, rather than watching the game. I'm kind of hoping for the Giants to win, but not quite paying attention.

i have snakes, lizards, toads, fish, dogs, bunnies, turtles, scorpions, and tarantulas…… and now i want a goddamn coconut crab.

These commercials are failing pretty badly. The only snicker I got so far was during that Bridgestone commercial, when it was doing a montage of animals, during the low squeal by that mantis thing. This game is intense though. Not as much as a blowout as everyone was predicting.

I am not even bothering to watch the game, just getting play-by-play on the web at nfl.com… From what I see here, I'm really not missing anything, commercial-wise. Instead, I'm watching old episodes of CSI:NY from last season that I hadn't caught when they were originally on, that I downloaded from the net.

Mystie, you can always watch Puppy Bowl IV on Animal Plant. I've been watching and waiting for dog poop on the 50. Oddly it wasn't happened yet. These are good dogs.

Yeah instead I seemed to have decided to do nothing for the past few hours. This seems to be becoming a habit. I just keep trying to think of things to decorate my desk at work with, but all that's coming to mind is either to do a pirate theme or just throw up a bunch of random crap. I really want to get some sea monkeys, but I spent the last of my money on tickets to Dracula's Ball.

I'm not really that into the vampire/Goth scene, or I would probably go… My brother and his family live just outside Philly, so I could always crash there.

I so want to be at the next Manning reunion, watching Peyton & Eli showing off their matching rings.

Strangely enough, the first thing that popped into my head upon seeing those crabs: "I've got a lov-e-ly bunch of coconuts, diddly-dee…"

Commercials weren't that great this year, I liked the clydesdale one and the one with all the animals doing a slow motion "noooooooo". 4th quarter was the best part game wise of course…

Brady sucks! WOOHOO- GO ELI!!!! I live in Knoxville, TN- saw the whole Peyton era- those Manning boys are like gods here.

What. A. Game! Go Giants! I thought the best commercial was the Coke one with Stewie and Underdog balloons fighting over a Coke. And YEA! Charlie Brown finally wins in the end!

I watched most of the game; it was amazing. Then again, I can't remember the last game I watched…but general consensus says the same thing.

Commercials: The Tide one was pretty great. Overall, I think too many of the "big ones" relied too much on cutesy or edgy effects and numbers that didn't tie into the product (or even a general product mantra) in any way whatsoever. Oh, and this one isn't exclusive to the SB, but it aired during it and it's phenomenal: The one where the guy photocopies his ass in lieu of providing a business receipt for a shitty meal expense.

I enjoyed the new Wall E trailer and the Charlie brown catches the Coke commercials. Otherwise….meh..

godjilla-What is that song from??? I know it, but I can't place it. It's stuck in my head now and I can't figure it out!

I saw the first half of the game; left with a bulging belly after Tom Petty (which reminds me, ought to give the "Greatest Hits" CD a spin) and thus missed the apparently amazing fourth quarter that allowed the Giants to win the game. I didn't find out until I came home and nearly fell off my chair when I saw the score. All this, and my Cocoa-Cherry Checkerboard Cake was a huge hit, even if I can't make icing to save my life. Congrats to Matt and all New Yorkers (and folks from northern New Jersey - we who live south of Trenton are Philadelphia Eagles people).

Yeah, I remember the Bud Bowl. My sisters and I loved the Bud Bowl. Don't know if we ever bet on it, but we looked forward to it, more than the actual game in some years. (I always picked Bud Light. I have a thing for underdogs.)

Other than the genuinely cute Clydesdale commercial (I have a WebKinz Clydesdale who looks like a stuffed version of the Anheiser-Busch horses), I didn't really see too many commercials that impressed me, though I remember a couple got some laughs from my dad and uncle's guests.

I have to say if Bud Light could make me fly or breath fire I'd drink it more often.

Nooo! How the heck could this have happened!? There is no. Freaking. WAY. that this could have happened.

Abigail was such an annoying puppy! After all those fouls, she was still the MVP!? Come on! Everybody knows Rascal should have gotten it! If not Rascal, then Jackson! Jackson and Abigail were tied in the poles!

My favorite commercial was the Lifewater one with all of the lizards doing the "Thriller" dance. That cracked me up.

JLAJRC: I just checked that commercial out on Youtube, because I had to see it. Wow, that is so awesome. I have no idea what it has to do with Lifewater, but any use of the Thriller dance automatically wins in my book.

Even after that commercial I wasn't sure what was advertised, there were too many water/gatorade style drink commercials for several different brands.

Hey Advent-urers: Anyone else getting emails from Hssxxlllo? Can someone help me with the anagrams?

Also, godjilla: One Tennessean to another, Eli Manning was the only reason I cared about the Superbowl this year. I felt a tug of loyalty to Peyton.

godjilla - Really? I live in Knoxville (recent transplant) and I had no idea they were big around here. Any reason why?

Knegative - WINS! I loove me some Dolphins.. even though they've consitantly disappointed me since Marino retired.

And sorry for the double post.. but Puppy Bowl? I *melted* when the beagle/half-beagle puppies were on!

Speaking of the 72 Dolphins, I just saw a commercial with them from Reebok. They're huttling around a front yard, old and trying to remember what positions they play and then Eli delivers them a football with note saying from Eli, enjoy the perfection for 1 more year. Then there's a town sign Perfectville population 1.

There was some special way to figure out which team would win each Bud Bowl - I think it was based on which team was winning the Super Bowl or something. I can't remember. It's late.

Nope nigel, I don't think they would have aired it during the game, had they not won it would have looked done. That said, it was funnier than most of the super bowl commercials.

Uhh I want to vomit so close to perfection. Ohh well got to give it to the Giants they played like the patriots normaly play. They shut down Brady. Thats the most dirt Ive seen on tom brady all season. My top two favorite commercials were the Coke one with underdog stewie and charlie brown, and the fedex one with the giant pidgeons. Not to mention the trailers for Iron man and prince caspian. Thats my post now Im going to go drink my self to sleep.

Have to admit when I first read the post title a different kind of bowl is what first sprang to mind, but then those shots of the helmeted little bottles jogged my memory.
I almost forgot about the Puppy Bowl this year! So freaking cute. Congrats Giants fans!

I'm with MickeyD That's a pretty bad photoshop job on those pictures. Ones that will all my skills could make.

Great Budbowl commercial! The quality isn't that bad, whoever recorded that tape had a pretty good vcr. Budweiser I have to admit hires some pretty good people for their advertising campaigns. I have always thought I would be a great person to hire to write advertisements. I am creative like that. I think as a kid I thought it was an actual thing, and not just an advertising campaign. Shows what kids know. But I think I remember thinking the bottles in the commercials weren't going to play but two human teams were going to play. Because the special effects can't go on for longer then the ad spots.

I liked the Coors commercials they played a few years ago. The ones that went coors something (don't remember, either sports or pizza LOL) and twins. SNL did a sketch about it. I would look it up on youtube right now but they are doing maintenance. And it tears me up inside.

I don't think I ever got tired of that commercial. Which is really saying something because some are so repetitive you can't wait until they movie on with another ad campaign. And I can't believe that was the only upload of that commercial on youtube that I found.

Goob - for some reason that reminded me of a WWE advertisment. I don't know what that means… but I'll leave it up to the other X-E'ers.

I always cheered for Bud Light even though BUD BOWL was frowned upon in my house.

Dohopoki - HAHAHAHAHAHA! that was grrrrrrrrrreat! thanks. I really got a kick out of that (obviously!)

Manimal - What do you mean?.. the owing Eli a medal thing?.. I'll go out on a limb and guess it's got something to do with the Super Bowl? but I'd politely disagree. The Pats really dug their own grave in that game. In my opinion, of course.

Nigel Chaos
The 72 Dolphins owe Eli a medal because since Eli's team won, the 72 Dolphins are still the only team to have a "Perfect" season.

Arggggggggggg……………Patriots! why why why why why why why why come on!……………
Congrats to the Giants. They did it they shut down Tom Brady. I followed this whole season for the first time, and thought that i may be a witness to history. But it wasnt to be.

dohopoki: Hah! I don't follow football much, but I know a good burn when I see one. I've got a friend who used to be a huge Dolphins fan. I'll have to send him a link.

Worst commercial of the broadcast- has to be those Sales Genie commercials. Talk about wasting millions, they ran 2 or 3 and each one sucked worse than the previous one.

Kudo's to the Coke commercial, Charlie Brown finally got his due although I'm kinda torn about anyone messing with the status quo of my cartoon icons.

Like that recent comic strip (forgot the name, some little girl character) that found the remains of Calvin and Hobbes in the woods (remember their final strip showed them going off exploring on their sled).

I am so sad that I missed the entire game. I was at dinner with my best friend, since it was her birthday. I was nice and sloshed, and I looked up at one of the TV's at the restaurant (which was on mute) and saw the lizards, and said "why are those lizards doing the thriller dance?" its pretty sad that the thriller dance is so engrained in my soul that I recognize it in any form. I'm glad that the giants won…woot woot.

Jenda: According to wiki, it was a novelty song from the '40s. It's been recorded by lots of people, including Monty Python, but I remember it from The Jungle Book.

Vanilla Fire: Hellz yeah! Any Manning is worth watching. Eli is the next best thing to Peyton and the Colts.

Nigel Chaos: Are you kiddin' me? Peyton has been a hero in this city since his days at UT. Any brother of Peyton kicks ass by default (although Eli is awesome in his own right). You're forgiven for not knowing since you're a transplant. Welcome to K-ville!

I spent all of yesterday sick due to food poisoning. No work, no parties, no internet.

I did manage to watch the game though, and was reallly happy during that 4th Q with the Giants. My mom also won some kind of spread with a 7-4 Giants/Pats box.

It seems I managed to see all the aformentioned ads except for the Lifewater one. The one where all the animals were screaming was awesome, as was the Coke Balloon one. And it seems that the Clydesdale ad won "Best Ad" according to CNN just now.

This was sort of post-game, but there was also this 4th-Wall breaking Geico Cavemen ad having the Cavemen comment on their own show.

The strip MikeyD was talking about was Lio, about a odd Addams-esque little boy. That strip was about the anniversary of the end of C&H. It was better than the one passed around the 'net where Calvin is taking Ritalin.

Not too many ads impressed me. The SoBe Lifewater Lizards were cool. Stewie vs Underdog was neat. But tonight on Firebrand (that again?) There's supposed to be a wrap-up about the best ads. Last week, all week, they had "Road to Firebrand Monday," with highlights each night covering certain aspects of SB ads. Hot Babes, High Cost, Groundbreaking Effects, stuff like that. Give ION a bit of a chance, it's a bit edgier than PAX was.

Advent-urers, anyone getting emails from Hssxxllo should go here to discuss.

I am so not cool with coconut crabs. That one crawling on the trashcan will be in my dreams tonight.

I was kinda surprised there were no fast food ads last night. It seemed like the theme of the Superbowl was "health" and "Internet." We got plenty of "healthy" drink ads (Gatorade, Lifewater, Amp) and websites(E:Trade, GoDaddy, Salegenie).

Okay folks, I need help.
This is way off topic from anything else everyone's been talking about here, but now I'm convinced only X-E'rs can possibly help me.

Now this either happened and such a product existed at one time, or I completely dreamed it.

Some time in the early 90's (most likely before '93) I bought two canisters of a purple slime toy (at World of Values, if anyone is from western PA. Christ that place was brutal for a young boy to be dragged around in).
The size/shape of the can and consistency of the goop were pretty much exactly like Ecto-Plazm, but I recall this being made by Tonka and marketed as some kid of "mud" or "dirt". Did this exist?
I'm not hopeful that anyone will remember this product, because I doubt anyone here is as dorky about slimes/oozes as I am, but I still gotta ask.
Anyone? Anyone at all have the slightest idea of what I'm talking about?

Was anyone following the T-800 versus Fox Football Robot fight? The T-800 was kicking the crap out of the poor Fox Football Robot. The last one I saw had two more robots showing up that looked like the might also be Fox Football Robots, then I didn't see any more of those. Did I miss a couple? I felt bad for the Fox Football Robot. He was all deckd out in his Lombardi-Trophy finish, and T-800 had to go and be a dick.

Am I crazy, or was there one year, where Ditka was coaching one of the teams, but the other Bud team brought in some huge unstoppable bottle, and Ditka was all, "You can't use him!"

I only saw one of the Terminator vs Football Mascot segments but I thought it was a good fight.

I also found out there's apparently a alternate version of that Perfectville commercial for if the Patriots had won but I can't imagine it would have been nearly as good.

I cant believe no one has mentioned the Amp commercial where Donkey Lips stuck jumper cable clamps to his nipples…what the hell????

I didn't even see the '72 DOLPHINS love when I posted yesterday (I guess I should have read

).
Anyways, great commerical, Doho!

Also, I am still surprised a CGI Bud Bowl has yet to make an appearance. I mean, if they are going to bring back KNIGHT RIDER (WHy? Dear God make is stop) and AMERICAN GLADIATORS, then surely there is room for Bud Bowl.

I thought that was Donkey Lips! It's good to see he's got work, but it's bad to see that it's this…

godjilla - Ah. I didn't know he used to play for UT. I was without cable or any real TV for about 2 or 3 years and I'm trying to catch up on everything now.

And Re: Eli deserving a medal.. DOH. I should've known that. See what beer does to you?

Ah yes…
rudy and I were going… "uhm… eew…" And I said… "hey. Isn't that… DONKEYLIPS?" and Rudy stared a sec and said… "Yeah. It is."
And then we "eew"ed in unison.

Ok I'm confused, I saw the commercial and know what your talking about but who is Donkeylps?

Been a longtime since I commented here (been busy with school), but the FedEx commerical this year was funny but not as funny the previous year with the caveman.

I'm guessing you weren't an early 90's Nickelodeon kid? Donkey Lips was a character on a show called Salute Your Shorts, it was about a bunch of kids at summer camp. Donkey Lips was the token fat kid.

Who would upload that? Is there anybody that missed the Superbowl that REALLY wanted to see it and is really upset right now because of it? There is one every year I am pretty sure of it.

The tornado sirens are going off…and no one is reacting. Our school is weird…

I actually have a few episodes of Salute Your Shorts that I got off bittorrent a while back… the quality of the rip is crap (due to it being off an old vhs), but it was fun to see what the shows were like back then…

Seriously the only thing I care about in football. Every year I feel so relieved when the last team bites it. Even if it was COMPLETELY NERVEWRACKING, this year was so special, BECAUSE we had to wait til the bitter end

Also, I read a review of the diet Dr pepper cherry chocolate soda and they described the flavor tastes exactly like cherry flavored Tootsie roll pops. And that is EXACTLY what it tastes like! So if you haven't tried it and have always dreamed of a soda that tastes exactly like cherry tootsie roll pops then definitely pick up a case.

There is one every year I am pretty sure of it.
But they are rarely good enough to talk about beyond Monday. This one will be talked about for our entire life times.

So I tried to vote for Waiterbot, but the damned ballot didn't have a place for write ins! So instead, I voted for who I deemed as the more worthy opponent for Waiterbot.

That Diet Chocolate Cherry Dr. Pepper is the worst flavor of soda I have ever tasted. You would think chocolate in a soda would be good, after all, we have various vanilla/cream sodas and even that caramel Pepsi Jazz one and they're all pretty good. But I couldn't even choke down one can of this stuff, it was so nasty.

Its probably the 'diet' sweetener that makes it taste nasty. Is there any chocolate in the ingredients?

Happy Birthday, Matt! Thanks for X-E and all you do! Hope this year is the best one yet.

That's it. Everyone needs to stop being born between the last 2 weeks of Jan and the first two weeks of Feb. I only have so much space on my calendar squares.

So, given the day, is anyone going to have a showing of the EVIL DEAD trilogy to celebrate Ash Wednesday?

I read that it is Matt's birthday? Well, in that case, happy birthday Matt! You deserve thanks everyday for keeping this site in order, and for all the work you do, but today is a good day to say it again.

Oh, Goob: I think the reason people would upload a video file of the Super Bo… err, I mean, the "Big Game" (don't want to get sued for trademark infringement) is because many of the people who watched it would like a copy for themselves to keep. Sure, burning a DVD from a divx file is not nearly as cool as having an old-school VHS copy (

), but I can still understand the motivation. It was quite a game after all.

Also there were quite a few people nationwide, in different locations, that lost their cable signal for significant portions of the game. I saw more than one news story on this on various news sites. So if I were a big football fan in one of those places I would be thrilled that someone uploaded the game so I could check out the parts I missed.

I get it Magic Toy it's just if I were into sports I think I would only want to watch the game once. I used to watch a lot of basketball growing up, my Grandparents have to watch every portland trailblazers game on tv, but it's like certain movies once you know the ending what's the point of watching everything else.

dohopoki I have heard dvd flick is a good piece of software to burn a dvd in order for it to play in a regular dvd player. It's open source software. I haven't tried it yet. I just burn my dvds as data form, I can get an average 6 movies on a disc. We are actually wanting (my best friend and I) to buy one of those phillips dvd players that plays divx formatted movies w/ dvr included and a dvd burner. That would be ideal for us.

And a topic of conversation. A few hours ago, I watched the movie pirates of silicon valley. Man Bill gates is a weasly little prick. It was like he took the rug right out from under Steve's feet without him noticing and then sold it for billions. Richest man in the world and Steve is practically begging for pennies on the sidewalk. Ipods are what are keeping the doors open over there, and Bill Gates is getting a slice of that pie too (he owns a part of apple, they begged for his money to stay afloat in '97) well according to the movie that is what happened (it might be just a wee bit slanted)

And paint shop pro is on my last nerve for some reason it keeps on getting stuck in pan mode (the cursor that is a hand, like in adobe reader) and it won't get unstuck. This has only happened off and on for a few months. I know how to use paint shop pro, adobe photoshop I do not and I like it that way. Any help on if I am doing something wrong please tell me. I reset the comp, it works for 20 mins then nothin'. If I do things by right clicking on them it works but that is very limited. I googled for an answer nothing about this bug.

I also made a piece of art to list that is in an 80's style. When I take pictures to list I'll show you guys. You'll like it I know you will.

I'm a huge fan of Pirates of Silicon valley, it's one of my favorite made for TV movies of all time. You really have nothing bad to say about Steve Jobs after watching it? You went for Bill?

Goob
"Pirates" is a great movie, but not necessarily the whole story. I have sort of an infatuation with early computer history…You might read "Fire in the Valley," which is what the movie got it's story from. Most of the little things that happen in the movie are true, but certain details were changed.

Also, I believe MS has since sold most (if not all) of its Apple stock. MS didn't save Apple in 97–Steve did that. And though the iPod has helped, the Mac is really starting to fly, and I wouldn't say that iPod is the only thing "keeping the doors open" at Apple…

They really should make a sequel to that movie, because so much has changed in the last 11 years…

Moony: It's not the diet sweetener that makes it nasty. I drink diet pop on a regular basis, even the other diet dr. peppers. They're pretty good. It's the actual chocolate flavoring that's horrible. I think we found the one thing that chocolate can't make better.

Happy Birthday, Matt! And, in your honor:
Giant Ape Juice!
Giant Ape Juice!
Giant Ape Juice!

Happy Birthday to Emperor Matt, Demigod of the Web, Master of the Stuffed Mushroom, Home of the Whopper, King of the Seven Seas, The Ape in Giant Ape Juice, the inspiration for "Love In An Elevator", Pedicurist of the Magic Toe, both a Heffalump and a Woozle, and an all-around Good Egg.

Matty-Matty-Boomba-laddie!
Happy Birthday to the most creative man on the internet!
Giant Ape Juice!

Hey, I'll hop on the bandwagon, and wish you, Matt a very happy birthday. I hope it is full pf merriment and wonder!

I've been sick on and off the past few days. The worst was sunday, and recovered on monday. I felt a bit better yesterday, but I pretty much realized that I have some sort of stomach virus. Note: Never eat a Big Mac when you think you have a stomach virus and/or food poisoning. Basically, I spent most of last night & this morning on the toilet. Not fun, when stomach pains made me want to wish death at one point.

But earler today, just as I was starting to feel better…my girlfriend calls me up to break up with me. It seems that it wasn't sudden, but mostly she said that she loved me, but not "in love" with me, and and that she basically broke up on good terms.

I don't what to say or feel right now, but I feel as though my heart had been ripped from my chest. Seriously, this girl made me look forward to Valentines Day next week…and I had never felt that way before!

Invader Norbert: Damn, I'm really sorry. I've spent a lot of Valentine's Days lonely, myself, and I know how hard that can be. But just think about this: eventually you'll find somebody who'll make you forget all about days like this.

And to the TN people who were talking earlier - I lived in Knoxville for the last 10 years and never really knew that many people who had a particular affinity for Eli. Peyton's a god there, for sure, and I'm sure some people like Eli by association, but I honestly can't say I know any Vol fans who are that crazy about the guy.

I wish Bud would do cool stuff like this ad now, but the ads have gotten worse over the years. All they did this year was a dumb ad that talked about Bud letting you breath fire.
I'm not screwing with you.

Norbert, that totally sucks, I feel for you buddy. Right before Valentine's, and over the phone, no less. I'm sure she's a lovely girl, or you wouldn't have been with her, but that's pretty harsh. Keep your head up, we're here for you

Happy Birthday, Matt. Hope that you remember most of it through the haze (and if there is no haze, then there's not that much to remember)!

Thanks for the support, and the reason why she did it over the phone was that I wasn't able to be with her in person because I was home sick today.

And I just a good pick-me-up: I just saw Eli Manning say "I'm Going To Disneyworld!" Ahh, I haven't seen that in years.

Happy Birthday, Matt! Hopefully I'm not too late. But it's Carnaval, so I've been away for about a month.

dohopoki Yes the whole saying your gf's baby isn't yours was pretty bad, but Bill Gates in that movie silver tongued Steve Jobs pretty good.

Steve Jobs was all like, what is this thing windows you are working on?!? And Bill was like oh it's just a hobby nothing more then that. And then BOOM Windows makes a ton of money and Steve suffers. That is kind of what happened with the Sega Master System and the NES. Nintendo monopolized the industry. And I heard the Sega games were better, the ones that were made and released anyway. I want to get a Sega Master someday.

Invader Norbert Tough break dude

I think it sucks more when you totally don't know that the relationship is failing you think it's thriving. I know I was getting to know a girl online, she had a 3 year old kid and was living with a married couple while she was looking for work which she did. The wife and her were best friends and talked on the phone daily for years before she moved in with them. Well over the weekend the wife and husband fought a lot and the guy moved out. This girl I was talking to and the wife decided that weekend to start dating after hours of talking (they had sex too, I asked) and I was crushed. We talked on the phone two times for about 5 hours per time. I know that is quick to jump but we were already finishing each other's sentences already and totally got along. That hasn't been the first time with me. I am learning to tread more carefully.

I have been getting girls that "wink" at me on a certain dating site lately, about once a week so we'll see. I think if I had a gf I would be more motivated to work and stuff because it wouldn't just be for myself it would be for her as well. Most of the girls around here are ugly looking (missing teeth, ew) or they are married and just want a threesome.

I didn't try to twist it around to get sympathy I just wanted to tell you that story Norb to tell you that it happens to all of us. In order to feel good you have to feel the bad too, if you don't feel the bad then your numb and that is no way to be. Hugs.

Happy birthday, Matt.
We share a birthday month.
Along with greats such as Brandon Lee, Lisa Marie Presley and Home Improvement's Richard Karn.

Invader Norbert
How long were you together? It's never fun to be broken up with, especially right around Valentines day. My HUSBAND, back when we first started dating, gave me my Valentines day gift the day before V-day, then did a complete 180, by the time I left that night he said he wanted to break up. He said he was just completely stressed out over life, and it wasn't my fault. I didn't feel awful, I knew him well enough to know he would be back. The day after V-day he decided how stupid he had been and wanted me back. He's been a good boy ever since, and learned to control his stress. Every valentines day we joke about it, since we're odd like that…

Hi all, thanks for the well wishes! Had like the worst work day ever…you've made me feel better!

How did everyone get to know that it was matt's birthday? i have been busy lurking around in the archives for the past few days. if i knew it was matts birthday, i would have made a cake….but i didnt, so all i have is beefaroni. other than that, Matt Happy birfday, and also, thanks for the wonder known as the review of The Breakfast Club….seriously, I reread it probably 6 or 7 times…it is my favorite movie, and now it is even more so my favorite movie (that probably made no sense)…. I'll quit rambling now

Heza That was so nice of him to give you a present before he broke up with you. That came out weird but you know what I mean. He didn't have to give you a present so that was really nice of him. And most of the time when people break up and they both realize they can't live with each other they get back together.

That really sucks, man….I'm having a heck of a time with the girl I'm trying to develop a relationship with….I have to go out of town on Valentine's day (the whole week, actually) for business and I'm pissed that I can't do anything with her for it…it would have been my first Valentine's day where I wasn't alone…But hang in there, man, things will change for the better…

Goob
Yeah he didn't have to, but it was more that he had no intention on breaking up until about 30 minutes before it happened. At the time I was used to him being just that crazy. When he came back a whole 1 and a half days later, he said it gave him all the confirmation he needed. He'd never had a relationship that actually worked, so it kind of freaked him out, I guess leaving me for a day was his way of pinching himself in a dream. We've had no real problems ever since, even after moving 1200 miles away from home and getting married all within the last 6 months.

Leigha You want to make him a cake? Who would eat the cake? I'm sorry that sounds like a funny thing to say about someone on the internet. Oh it's your birthday? And you go to the cupboard and try to choose between the spice cake mix and the yellow cake mix, frost the cake, take a picture, upload it, send them a picture of the cake, and then unbuckle your belt and binge on cake in front of the tv. I'm not trying to insult you Leigha I like you but that is the picture I came up with in my head. Also you reminded me of the episode of Seinfeld when Elaine had a fight at work about them having a storebought cake at work everyday for birthdays and various holidays and they insisted she ate a piece everyday. Get well get well soon I want you to get well.

Heza I get it. I have lived with my best friend for 7 years and our relationship is stronger then ever. We miss each other when we aren't around each other. I can't STAND it when I hear wives (mostly wives, but I don't talk to the husbands that much though so that's why) say seeing their husband is fine sometimes but they can't stand it when it's vacation time and they see them all day everyday for a about a week.

At the end of the week they are pulling their hair out they want their space. I understand that, but also it bothers me they can't stand their husband that much. They got married for the wrong reasons IMO. They love being able to not work and have kids while their husband does them an unbelievably huge favor by working fulltime and paying 100 percent of the bills.

I heard the Sega games were better, the ones that were made and released anyway. I want to get a Sega Master someday.

Not really, the Master System had one of the worst controllers of all time and a sound chip that would make you wish you were deaf. There was a few games worth mentioning but nothing compared to what NES had going for it. The system did fine in Europe anyhow.

Back to Steve VS Bill. Steve was living a financially sweet and yet wouldn't give any money to his Ex, despite the relatively small amount they were asking for. He names a freaking computer Lisa on top of all that. He gets careless with his company and lets Bill take the rug from under his feet, not fully defending Bill but not putting the full blame on him either.

Jobs loses his position at Apple for a time and eventually does the right thing with his daughter. Now, had he continued his success and had Mac been the computer everyone has today, would he have changed? Maybe, maybe not. There's a failed copyright suit against Microsoft and they go on to be the dominating computer software company of the world.

Bill Gates becomes a multi-multi-billionaire. Bill also would end up donating billions and billions of dollars of his fortunes to various charity and be Times Man of the Year 2005 as "The Good Samaritans."

Steve Jobs is still living a financial sweet life and always has been. He came back to Apple and kept them alive to this day. Macs are still sold and don't forget he once owned Pixar as well. Steve probably doesn't remember what a penny even looks like.

I'm not sure if I conveyed it, but I love my hubby, I love living with him and I love seeing him every day. I don't really understand the people who hate seeing their significant other, but I guess that's why the divorce rate is so high. For the longest time I was the one working while he stayed home, now we're both working and I'm in college, and don't see each other as much as I would like. We're both quite content with one another. The biggest fight we've had this entire time was "Get a dog, don't get a dog". He was hesitant, but now he loves his little buddy ^_^

I'm not late; it's actually February 5 and the rest of you were early. BECAUSE I SAID SO, that's why it's true!

Right, so I'm kind of late to the party I guess. I've been super, duper busy the past couple of days. Can I get a day off from work? Anybody? Anybody got a day off laying around they can give me? Cause if I don't get a day off from one of my 2 jobs (3 if you count the DJ'ing thing) I'm going to climb a tower with an assault rifle and start thinning the herd. I'm just sayin'.

Anyway, I know it's been said already, but HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MATT! You seriously make my days easier by everything you do. May you have all the Ninja Turtle Pies your heart can desire. Giant Freakin' Ape Juice to you.

As far as the Super Bowl went, I was at work that night till about 3:00am, so I missed the whole thing. Funnily enough, I was on the computer the whole time and could have just popped on over to one of the zillion sites that was following the whole thing, but just completely forgot about it. I'm really not a football guy at all, but from what I heard this sounds like it was a kickass game.

dohopoki, I agree. Despite whatever trouble Steve Jobs might have had in the past, I think he's doing just fine now. I doubt he's got much to worry about.

Invader Norbert, Man, I'm so sorry to hear about that. I had something like that happen to me once. One day everything was great and the next she was done. Didn't see it coming. Turns out it wasn't much of a loss in the long run though. She's got a bit of "reputation" these days. Probably best I got out when I did. No telling what kind of cooties I could have ended up with.

Leigha, Matt reviewed The Breakfast Club??? Holy crap! I gotta go find that right now. How come nobody told me about this sooner. You people are supposed to keep me updated on this stuff. Wasn't that the agreement? Well, that's how I remember it.

Oh, so one of the reasons I've been so busy is cause I'm getting stuff ready for my radio show to return to the airwaves tomorrow night. That's right kids, you too can tune in to hear DJ D make his triumphant return to the radio. Click my name to find out all you need to know (it'll be streaming over the interweb btw) and to check out my newly overhauled swanky MySpace page. I'll buy that for a dollar!

Oh, and just to blantantly brag, I drew the flyer that's my default picture on my MySpace. Yeah, that's right.

dohopoki
The reason why they didn't have many games to their system is because Nintendo made the companies they were doing business with sign a contact stating if they did business with them they couldn't do games for other companies. They monopolized the industry. That is why you only heard of the system in Europe and I heard Mexico and perhaps Canada but definitely not the US and there was a law put in place that you can't do that, but by the time the law was put in place it was too late, everyone in the US had an NES and no one had a Sega Master System. I only heard of the console about 4 years ago.

I have an HP laptop I hate Mac's with a passion. Growing up we had an Apple II that my Grandma got at a yard sale. That was the first experience I had with a computer then in middle school they had these brand spanking new toaster macs. That movie just told me more about the beginning of household computers.

It's funny I was just catching up on Tom Green and Kathy Griffin was on. She said that her and Steve talks and they went out a couple of times to eat. He saw her live stand up and tried to get in contact with her because he thought she was funny. Well she said she couldn't figure out what he was talking about the entire time she talked to him but he's very smart. Also he has no perception of money. No idea what the value of the dollar is nowadays.

And you talked about charity the celebrities I admire that give to charities are the ones that don't do it for the publicity they do it to feel good about themselves. They are out there. Bill Gates makes so much money it's not even funny. Rosie O' Donnell has a Charity that you rarely hear about. All the profit from her site goes to her charity and the profit from her book. It's called Rosie's Broadway kids they put poor kids (cliche I know) through school that are talented. Like singing, dancing, all that stuff. Several of them have gone to college and it's all thanks to the program. They developed the experience and were good enough to get scholarships. I know that's not as bad as hurricane Katrina and other things that are worse (she has built a daycare in new Orleans) but dancing and acting is better then drug dealing! IMO at least.

I don't think Bill does it for the publicity. You don't have to donate more than anyone else in the world for publicity and you don't need publicity when you're neither a politican nor a celebrity.

Back to Steve, Steve's rich. The difference between being Steve Jobs rich and Bill Gates rich or any other kind of rich, isn't much to fuss about. When focusing soley on the spans of their life that was covered within the movie, Bill was an unethical business man and Steve was an asshole of a person. You can get sued for unethical business practices but you can't purchase away being an asshole. Steve's worked away those demons to my understanding and good for him. Bill's been sued and I can barely care. It's just money and at least a lot of his (multi-billions of it) goes to various charities.

I've never met anyone who has seen the movie and felt Steve was a victim of anything he didn't bring on to himself and felt that Bill was the lead bad guy.

Goob I totally meant the cake thing as a joke, and I like that you got a funny mental image from it. I thought it would be an absurd statement that might be looked at with a quizzical stare by someone, so I said it anyways. Besides, Beefaroni owns the cake anyday of the week. Also, congrats on the Seinfeld reference….still one of my favorite shows….oh well….My pure sarcam doesnt always come through well in text form.

G4's Attach of the Show used your Crossfire commerical (by way of Retro Junk) yesterday for their segment about stuff from childhood now sucking.

Leigha
I know too well what you mean about sarcasm not translating well in text form - I have always thought that there should be an emoticon (smiley) just for sarcasm, in the same way

means "just kidding".

Old Jim: I've been on a couple of forums that have an emoticon smiling while looking shiftily to one side. I think it conveys the spirit of most sarcastic remarks.

The space shuttle should be going up in about an hour. If you've got a secondary monitor or just want to run a video in the background, you can catch a live feed here. It's a bit cloudy, but the announcer seems cautiously optimistic that it'll go off on time.

well, couldn't you just use a dead pan blank face?
as in:
Oh man, that was just the BEST BURRITO EVER.

How do you do the straight line smiley? I tried colon, dash, pipe; colon, dash, forward slash; and colon, dash, backslash - but none of these worked.

I liked POSV, and I think both Jobs and Gates are typical genius-types. Believe you me, as somebody who is a Gifted Class Drop-out, I can tell you that sometimes, even two whiz kids in a room can be too many.

The one person who I thought was really portrayed as a major sleazebag in POSV was Steve Ballmer.

You know XE'ers are bored when Steve Jobs/Bill Gates become a topic in the blog.

I just watched the women's wrestling documentary "Lipstick and Dynamite" on DVD. Very good doc with some great stories.

I've been screwing around today at the Discovery and IMDB boards and for some reason there's this weird hatred for the new "Smash Lab" show. Yea, it is basically "Mythbusters" lite. But I find it an entertaining way to waste an hour. Plus, it's actually coming up with solutions to problems (although probably none of them will be implemented).

Hey, who else around these parts has a February birthday? Mine's on Saturday. I'm not really looking forward to it all that much since it means I've been on this planet 25 years and haven't done a fucking thing. But…at least I'll get one present and a good meal out of it. XD

Mine's on February 25th. (And I'll be 25, also). Steve Jobs is Feb. 24th (just because we've been talking about him..) I've got several fraternity brothers with Feb. Birthdays, too. I guess the lusty month of May is a good month to get it on…

Leigha I kinda figured you weren't going to actually literally make a cake for him. And I am glad you enjoyed the Seinfeld reference not 100 percent of the population are fans of the show.

I just mentioned that I saw that movie and I know a bit more about what happened. My birthday is March 7th.

Fuck'n eh, I am 30. (sigh) Oh well…Shit happens.
I am going to Will. I think I may change my X-E name too. I am thinking "Big Splasher".

So, I'm headed up to the station as soon as I'm done typing this to do my show. It'll start in an hour. (Midnight here on Eastern time). You guys should tune in. You can listen streaming live at:

You can IM me while I'm on the air at: wusconair
Click on my name and check out my blog to find out all you need to know.

Thanks Shuanfu! Yeah, it's a little early for a mid life crisis but then again, if I kick the bucket at 60 I am right on time.

Sorry I haven't been on in a while! Happy Birthday, Big Splasher! It's good to hear from Matt again. His last couple of posts were great, especially the pick-your-own-adventure book one. I got one called "Murph the Monster" at a book fair around fourth grade or so. (I apologize if this is a bit late.)

So, the DJ's who were on before me didn't show up and didn't bother to call me so I can't get into the station. Since I'm new, I'm not registered with campus police so they won't let me in, so I can't do the damn show tonight!!

So sorry for talking up the show and telling everyone to listen. I feel like a total idiot right now. My apologies to anyone trying to tune in right now. I promise I'll be on next week. The thing that sucks the most is if someone had just called me before they left and locked up the place, I could have been on 2 hours earlier. I could have done a show for 4 hours or more if I could have just gotten in. Now there's no DJ's at all up there and the computer's running thing. Meanwhile I spent the last couple of days telling everybody about it an announcing it all over MySpace. Now I look like a jackass because I can't get into the goddamn station.

If there was an emoticon for rage that I knew of, you would be seeing it right now.

What is up with you Will everytime I don't support a change with you it motivates you more? Eh I'm not your mudda.

I am waiting for my show to come on, after 11 hopefully you guys won't see me the rest of the night (I'm going to try to get some artwork done) so yay because I know you guys aren't enjoying my messages one an hour on the hour.

I'm sticking with Bill for X-E. Too much history. Still like Big Slpasher though.

Here you go, DJ:

Though to truly convey rage I think

might actually be more appropriate. Better luck next time!

I was just reading a SNT blog from 2005. It almost made me misty eyed….ahhh the memories!

Bill, you're such a hot fucker, even if you are 30. Seriously, if I'm single next time you come to Philly, I am so hunting you down and making out with you. And no, you don't get a say in the matter.

Old Jim I'm thinking of getting a slutty low-cut black wrap top, cutting the sleeves off and replacing them with striped sleeves. Kinda wanna make a skirt… like get a knee-length black skirt, make a slash across the front and put grommets across it and hook it together with some kind of metal hardware. But that's mainly cuz I wanna wear fishnets. If I can't finagle it, I'll just put on bondage pants. Then, of course, my ass-kicking boots, fangs, and goggles.

Thanks, squee. I have no idea how to do emoticons, but I think the one with the devil horns pretty much summed it up.

Someone earlier mentioned Matt's review of The Breakfast Club, and since I'm on my lunch break at work, I figured I would head over there and check it out. Brilliant! I think he summed it up perfectly. Alison was always m