The X-Entertainment Blog!

05/05/2008: Planey.

I flew out to LA this morning for work, and in case there was any confusion, let me confirm that I loathe flying. Really and truly hate it.

It's not that I have any particular fear of flying; I've done enough of it to get over all of the jitters that formerly came with shaky takeoffs and random bouts of turbulence. I just hate the entire process. I'm aware that this is far from a rare lament, but I still think I hate the process of flying ten times more than normal people do. From getting to the airport criminally early, to being asked to take my shoes off to prove that I'm not going to kill anyone with a secret weapon, to being forced to trash any toiletries in my luggage that went beyond security's ridiculous allotment of "3.4 ounces maximum per container," I just hate hate hate it.

The 3.4 ounce limit on shit like hair goo and toothpaste is so absurd. I can't for the life of me figure out how a 4.2 ounce tube of toothpaste poses more of a ecological threat than a 2.3 ounce tube. But you kind of lose the will to argue with the security folks when they've got your luggage spread eagle in front of 500 strangers, plowing through your unmentionables with handheld sensors and rubber gloves. At that point, you just tell yourself that it'll be easier to buy new toothpaste once you land.

I had two hours to kill before my flight, leaving me with ample time to peruse the dozens of newsstands and gift shops peppered throughout the virtual shopping mall that is JFK International Airport. I actually enjoy that part of the experience: Trying to come up with the perfect mix of magazines and gourmet gummy bears to make a long flight more gummy bearable is an exercise which I feel I've gotten quite good at.

I never read books. Really, I don't. Not real books, anyway. Not novels. It only ever seems to happen when I've got a flight to get through, for as loaded as my iPod is with all the crappy music and TV shows that I like, flight time just seems to move faster when you read. On a whim, I picked up Stephen King's The Mist, no doubt because I liked the movie. I'm proud to say that I read the book from cover to cover over the course of this morning's flight. Might not seem like much of an accomplishment to you, but I feel award-worthy. Outside of Star Wars anthologies, I think the last novel I read was fucking Barnaby Rudge back when I was a freshmen in college.

The book was pretty great, actually. Much better than the so-called Bloody Mary pictured at the top right of that photo, which was flamingo pink in color and watery Tabasco in flavor. I never turn down a rightful opportunity to drink a Bloody Mary, but all told, I'm glad I had the foresight to order soda at the same time. Also shown is a random fruit & cheese plate that Delta charged me six bucks for. I thought it was going to be a losing deal, but I swear to you that there was a hunk of cheddar the size of a football in that plate. Factor in the dried apricots, and I ate myself a mile high bargain.

I'm staying at the Four Seasons hotel, which is pretty incredibly incredible and stuff. It's got the kind of mini-bar that I usually only get to dream about, stocked with an assortment of liquors large enough for me to indulge my recent penchant for pretending that I'm Wuher, the gruff-but-passionate cantina bartender who hates droids but loves making mantis blood daiquiris for aliens that look like giant brown feet.

My room is really nice — nice enough for me to avoid going to sleep right now, because I'm checking out in the morning and will in all likelihood never see this place again. I've got a great balcony that's nearly ground level but not to the point of feeling cheap, overlooking a sea of palm trees, almost-palm trees, and at least one California Republic flag, which has been noisily blowing in the wind for the entire time that I've been writing this. It's dark outside, but I'm pretty sure that the California Republic flag has a giant bear on it. I like flags with beasts on them. They make me happy.

All that's left for this evening is deciding whether I should go to sleep or order a PPV first. Like newlyweds christening every room of their new house, I feel that I've not done my duty in a rented hotel room until I've ordered a PPV. A quick glance tells me that I'm going to have to choose between Sweeney Todd and No Country for Old Men. Maybe I'll just go to bed.

First post =O
I Love the blog, but the recent huge gaps between posts has been a tad disheartening.
I still check back each day though =P
Personally I love flights, no clue why, it's just a great novelty for me. Is this strange?

Well, just so everyone knows if they haven't read the last post: I am planning to wither and die soon. The irony that the last post I made here was one of encouraging rock out willpower.

It's proof of my total wuss status, but I kinda liked the book's ending over the movie's. I actually managed to come up with some excuse to stop watching just before the end when I was watching the black and white version recently and have yet to go back and finish watching it.
Our flag does indeed have a bear on it. Sadly, that type of bear is extinct now

My state's flag used to have three baby pelicans sucking their mother's blood. The state government censored it later because they felt it was too weird or something.

My biggest problem with flying is getting nauseated. Is there a cure for this other than taking Dramamine? I don't find that gingerale helps either.

ok, this doesn't have anything to do with this post, but I gotta ask everyone a question about a horror movie I saw when I was younger:

Its fairly new, probably mid-90s, or maybe late 80's even, I beleive it was Japanese, it was really weird, it starts out as a detective story, than a plane crashes into a guy's apartment, than a guy gets attacked by a spider-lady monster, thats all I remember because I was a wimp and I stopped watching it after that…my dad I can't remember what the movie was called, anyone know? I've been trying to google but tot no avail, thanks to anyone who even reads this, I'm just stumped

14th!!! it's seven am and i've been drawing concept art, and writing the story for a comic that may or may not ever happen… i went to use the bathroom and caught a glimpse of my bloodshot manic face in the mirror… not a pleasant sight for anybody… i've been up for nearly 24 hours at this point (after an 11 hour stint at work)… Matt next time ask for a whiskey and water… even if its weak its hard to mess up…

p.s. i'll give 5 dollars to the first person who can get over here and just knock me the hell out (ala ren and stimpy)

the sun is up and i can hear kids arriving at school on the bus… i think its time for slumber land… but slumber land is just slightly out of reach still… wow… i can even smell the diesel fumes from the buses…

have fun on your monday everybody! wish me good luck on my comicy book style meeting tomorrow!

p.p.s-
goodguy "growing up" has nothing to do with dieing… unless of course you've grown up to be 85 years old and are on your death bed… I tend to think that "growing up" has more to do with not acting like the world has come to an end when things dont work out the way we would have liked them to… believe me, very few, things have happened in my life the way i would have liked them to… but i'm still here trying…

I fell asleep about 4:00 a.m . Just got up a few minutes ago and read this post. Now i'm goin back ta sleep. I'v never actually flied befor, but I imagine it would suck. Oh well, at least it's over now Matt. =)

Wow, I turn my back for a few minutes (by minutes, I mean days), and Matt up and posts 2 whole articles. I've been working loads the last few days and can't sleep tonight so I'm catching up on watching all the TV shows I've recorded over the weekend.

squee4242 and JoshC, I saw you guys were asking about the show the other day. I'm SO sorry I wasn't on last week. That night I honestly just wasn't feeling too well and couldn't be bothered to go. I very rarely miss my show, but after coming in from work and riding on very little sleep from the night before and feeling a little under the weather, I just wasn't up to it. But like I said, that's a pretty rare thing for me and I'll try not to let it happen again at least without making some kind of announcement. I really hate missing it.

There are some schedule changes happening at the station right now and I'm going to find out in the next few days what my new time slot will be. It most likely won't be the same one I've had the last few months (Friday mornings 2-4am) but rather one that's much more agreeable to me and most of the folks that listen–probably sometime in the early evenings around 6:00-ish on Mondays or Wednesdays. That's what I'm shooting for anyway. Either way, I'll post a bulletin up on MySpace and announce it here as soon as I find something out. Thanks for trying to listen though! Now I feel kinda bad that you went through the trouble to tune in and I wasn't even on.

As far as flying goes, I really dig it. I've always enjoyed it, but then again the last time I did it was in '99 so that was before everything got all crazy. From what I've heard from other people as well as here, it sounds pretty ridiculous now. It was pretty fun the last time I did it though. It was on a really big plane and the back of the seat in front of me had a little TV screen in it so I could watch movies and TV shows. It was kind of like a little PPV thing except it was "free." I'm sure you've all seen them. Anyway, I remember two of the movies to choose were The Avengers (the thing with Uma Thurman that was adapted from the old 60's TV show), and some other weird one with Christopher Lloyd playing an alien or something. They also had a few episodes of Seinfeld, Cheers, and Frasier, which I loved cause it was like if you took a few shows from all the incarnations of NBC's old "Can't Miss TV" Thursday night lineups, that's kind of what you would get. The only thing was, they had like 2 episodes of each show but just kept showing the same ones over and over. So, after the 45th time on a 7 hour flight of seeing Frasier and Niles (the 2 gayest straight characters ever on TV) get themselves into some kind of pickle over some weird miscommunication (isn't that the plot of every episode of Frasier?), it kind of lost its charm. The food was good though.

Yeah I drank nearly half a case of Jolt yesterday at my brother's video game expo, so needless to say, I wasn't sleeping too well myself. Fuck if I'm gonna pass on free caffeine!

As for the airplane thing, I haven't flown in a few years, but generally I'm pretty indifferent to the process. Not too much phases me anymore, mainly out of self preservation. Unless it directly affects my family, friends, home, or job, it's usually not worth me getting worked up about. I used to have panic attacks driving alone places I was unfamiliar with (see: no sense of direction) but thanks to the modern marvel that is GPS, I just turn that fucker on and follow blindly.

GloomyJack: I've never seen that sigil outside of a Catholic church. It's actually a pretty interesting symbol of charity and self-sacrifice, since real-life pelicans will actually draw their own blood to feed their chicks in times of famine. In New Mexico our flag basically just means "Hey, remember all those guys who used to own this land? Before we jacked it? Good times."

I actually like flying. Sure, it can be a pain, but striding confidently down those moving sidewalk things through a large airport just makes me feel dynamic and cosmopolitan as hell.

Happy Cinco de Mayo to all of my X-E amigos mas bueno!
I saw Iron Man this weekend and it is VERY good. Much better than I expected. If you go, be sure to sit through the credits for a little bonus at the very end!

I saw Iron Man yesterday and enjoyed it. Alas, something happened to the lamp powering the projector, so I was unable to see the last 5 minutes of the movie as well as whatever the "bonus" is after the credits.

I think it was a bad omen for the rest of the week, because since that happened, stuff just hasn't been going right.

Welcome to L.A. Matt, try not to get stabbed out here during the Cinco De Mayo festivities.

I've only flown once in my life and HATED it. Of course, I'm also a wimp who doesn't even like going on fast or tall carnival/fair rides.

I was about 7 and there was a disability conference going on in Memphis, Tennessee. I live in Iowa. When we first get to the airport we learn the stopover flight to Minnesota was delayed by about six hours. Yea, I'm sure that was fun keeping me occupied for six hours.

Then we get on the plane and it was fast and noisy and I hate heights, so I grab onto my mom's arm for dear life crying. We stop in Minnesota and had to run to the next plane because it was about to take off. Another crying/turbulance/holding on for dear life fiasco. I think she still has marks on her arm to this day from me.

I will say that Memphis was incredibly fun. We went to Graceland and the thing I remember most was that in one room he had five tv's side-by-side. I also enjoyed staying in the hotel we were in and the activities that were planned to keep the kids like me occupied.

Also, you must be a pretty fast reader, or the book mmust be short or the flight very long, because there is no way I could read a novel in one day. I'm probably a slow reader.

As for flying…I haven't flown since July of 2001, so I am really not aware of all the changes since then, but I'd probably be pretty annoyed at it.

ooh i bought 'the mist' from an airport too, nashville international. thought it was good, but never did see the movie.

and i would say 'sweeney todd' and 'no country' are great- but don't know if i'd want too see either for the first time on tv in a hotel.

On a flight home from New Orleans a couple of weeks ago, my husband and I ate a pile of dramamine (highly recommended for flight haters!) and then ordered that precise fruit and cheese plate thing. !!!.

Delight! As soon as I got home and sobered up, I went on the urgent mission of purchasing all those same cheese and apricots and grapes and crackers and shit. They just don't taste as great in my kitchen without a gut full of dramamine and wine. They also don't taste as good when they come on a plate instead of a plastic tray.

No telling how long I can net-surf right now. My provider is still having hiccups from the lightning strike.

Y'kow, I am the only member of my family who has never flown anywhere. But I have a weakness for prepared meals like TV dinners and hospital food, so airline cuisine is a bit of a holy grail of bad comestables to me.

matt, i don't care if you right about what you had for dinner or the billboards you saw on the way home. i love to read posts! keep up the great work and hang in there.

Weird, I just flew to LA just last week to camp at Coachella. And yeah, I hate how planes feel like flying deathtraps during takeoff and landing.

I have never been near a plane in my life. Not that I'm scared of flying but I've never gone anywhere that required flying. I have never taken a "real" vacation in my lifetime but I think that about to change this year because I have actually been responsible with saving money. There's one place I'd love to go in New Mexico that is basically a fully furnished apartment style hotel room built inside of a cliff. Three of my friends went out west a couple of years ago and that was one of their stops. Its like 300 bucks a night (not per person) so I would definitely have some friends with me to party it up.

Growing up has nothing to do with death. Never said it did.
It's accepting that dreams are just that, and we should just let go and settle for anything.

Sounds like a pretty cool place phunqsauce ! Hopefully you'll have enough money to go there.

DJ D: no worries man, I was just wondering if that was your show or not(didnt think it was) I'll definetly be listening whenever you get back on the Air.

And to go with what everyone else has Already said(im so trendy) I loved No country, definetly worth checking out.

good job on the book man, the first "novel" I read cover to cover was teenage mutant ninja turtles. The one that was from the first movie. I know what you mean by sense of accomplishment. If you ever deiced to pick up another book try. "A Game Of Thrones" every one I recommended it to loves it enough to read the rest of the sereis.

Who ever these trolls are on here picking on Matt's articles…I would like to know where you are the rest of the time…funny a stranger should just pop in and be all like, your article isn't good and update MOAR! I say to you trolls LURK MOAR! we don't need people ruining the good happy karma that is X-E

I had insomnia til about three in the morning (Central time) last night. How did I miss this. Ah well. I have mentioned before, but I hate flying, cause I am a wuss.

Tomorrow morning I'm flying to Oklahoma to help my brother move out of his apartment. I absolutely love flying. No sarcasm here. Pre-flight sucks, but actually flying is awesome. My handy-dandy GameBoy (whichever version is current, i.e. my DS at the moment) keeps me company, so that's how I'll enjoy my 40 minute flight tomorrow and all the time waiting beforehand. One question though: If I have my over-3 oz of fluid in my actual bag and not my carry-on, will I not get it thrown away? It really sucked to get to my brother's apartment and not have any stuff to clean my contact lenses…

I've never been on a plane. I've been to the airport to pick people up and stuff, but I've never gone anywhere. Maybe one of these days I'll get the chance.

So I went to X-E's favorite hangout, Target today, and found this most awesomely awesome toy:

HAHA I totally photo-messaged Taters of the Lost Ark to DJ D when I saw it on Thursday.

Hmm, I know I don't need that indiana jones mr. tater head, but I STILL want it !!!

I flew a lot when I was a child and my dad and stepmother lived in Florida, but now that Dad lives in a few blocks away and I don't have a job that requires travel, I have no reason to. When I visit my best friend in western Massachusetts, I just take a couple of Greyhound buses. She doesn't have to drive into Boston to pick me up, and I don't have to endure buying my toiletries there and people invading my luggage. Really, unless you absolutely, positively HAVE to get across the country, flying these days seems like more of a pain than it's worth.

Ahh, nothing like coming to XE. Can always count on Mandy or Mystie to give me a chuckle, or to write something interesting. Did my last finals today, so I'm basically free from grad school. Graduation Friday! Woohoo!

2 summers ago, flying back from Denver to OKC, I got randomly selected for a security screening. It totally sucked, but meh, I went along with it. The only thing that wasn't 100% kosher for me was when the guard had me roll my shorts down as far as I could and then hike them up.

Feliz cinco de mayo a todos mis compadres sin vidas! I'm two margaritas, two beers, and one free chips and queso happier today.

Congrats on graduating Terror Claws, I'm doing so myself, although it's just my bachelor's and I still have a ways to go before I can start making real money in my field. What's your degree in?

As for flying, for me it was cool the first few years (then again everything was under age 10), but after flying became more frequent, I started traveling alone, and I started to notice how the seats were getting musty and worn and weathered and chewing-gummed…it sucks now.

Master of Divinity. Ready for a church somewhere, hopefully Oklahoma so I can hang with Kingklash. Where's he been?

Man, I wanna go on a cruise…I just finished reading the cruise article again from last year. I love free food.

I saw sweeney todd and I almost didn't make it through. I just couldn't take all the singing. Not a fan of musicals.

I have to say I agree with Mandy about trolls, although I dont think anyone said anything too horrible. I loved the post and am happy to see X-entertainment pop up on my feed reader. The farther matt advances in his career the less time he has for X-E, It's simple math. But I dont care, shit the archive alone will take you weeks to get through if not longer. Write when you can Matt I'll always read it as long as you do it. Because I figure the free ride wont last forever, and we will be paying for your wit through whatever project your career brings, but hey you deserve it. Your a true talent who has made hands down my favorite blog on the net.

[b]flabslapper[/b]: You might be thinking of Wicked City –http://www.stomptokyo.com/movies/w/wicked-city-1992.html

Bit off topic, but sort of related to the sporadic postings on X-E, and how there are so many X-er's out there who always need their Matt fix

Whenever I'm wading through the archives, I click on a random article from the home page, then immediately just type in some other 3 digit number into the web-address and see what I'll stumble upon. It's like letting the nostalgia gods guide your hand to the hidden wonders of X-E

divechaz, I've never done that but it sounds like a good idea. I really haven't explored the old articles near as much as I would like, but I know there will always been some good reading there for me if I need it. I didn't start seriously reading until almost 2 years ago so there's like 4 years of articles before that to check out. I'm really glad for that. I have to say I have a sort of order that I read all my regular blogs in and this is at the top of the list. I don't know what I would do without my daily X-E fix and I hate it when I get really busy and don't have time to check in as much as I would like and end up missing an article with some really good blog discussion that I could have joined in on. But, that's a good idea you got there.

Speaking of that topic, a few months ago someone had posted that they had noticed that in about 75 more articles, Matt would reach his 1000th (not counting the Advent Calendars I think). That started a discussion on what he should do for his 1000th and we all had some pretty good ideas. Anyway, has anyone else looked at that and seen where it is now? I wonder how much closer we are to the 1000 mark. I guess I should have taken a look before I posted this, but I'll do it in a second.

Well, unless I'm looking at the wrong thing, it looks like the Madballs article from back in January was #1111, so that might answer that. I could have that wrong though.

OH THANK YOU ANON!!!! You guys always come through for me, whether it be obscure cartoons from the very late 90's (I had a question about Cyber-Six a few months back and all the info I had was 'woman in latex crashes through a factory ceiling window' and someone here knew what I was talking about! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!

Wow :p take a few (5) months off of X-E to satisfy your addiction (WoW) and you get to catch up and read quite a bit

Matt, I used to love flying but ever since the post 9/11 crackdown I hear and feel your pain. I've left countless amounts of deodorant, toothpaste, shaving cream, etc behind in the hotel garbage because I couldn't find my toiletries in travel size before or after landing. With a slow ass laptop its even worse "turn it on." "But i'm late and it takes 10 minutes to boot up!" "turn it on sir" "Fuck".

What are you doing in LA, Matt? I know it's buziness, but what kind of business? Should I be excited for some super-dope updates?

By the way, please check out my website - it's the worst, but I got Bill Cosby so I must be doing something right. Thanks

The last time I was on a plane was about 21/22 years ago and I was 6. I don't remember much of the flight, only that my ears were popping so I got have my gum. We went to Disney World for like 2 or 3 days I think. I can't remember either airports or the hotel or pretty much everything about the trip. I only remember a wave pool, a small amount of rides and the fact the 10,000 leagues under the sea was closed for repairs. Funny enough in reading stuff about Disney rides online, it was closed for good just after I visited. There is one ride I will always remember and I am not sure if it was at Disney or not. It was a ride were all the people were in this auditoriums and there was a guy on stage talking about who knows what and then the seats turned to the right and the one wall opened up and it was if we went back in time and went by all these animatronic dinosaurs in their "natural habit". Does anyone know what I am talking about??

My parents (who were on the ride with me) don't have any recollection of that ride and since I only remember parts of it, I have no clue where we would have gone on this ride other than at Disney.

DJD: I was the one who came up with the 1000 article thing. He's still at about 975. The last official article he wrote was the 1991 Macy's Parade review in November.

Of course, I don't count advent calendars or blog entries as official articles. Maybe some of you guys do.

There is something very appealing about that name, I just can't put my finger on it.

Fairly sure the attraction you are talking about is/was "Universe of Energy" at EPCOT center.

On the topic of flying, I've only been on a plane trip once to florida. I'm going to depart for Iowa (via Omaha and a 3 hour drive) by plane in about…..im not sure….like a week. I have no idea about the security stuff, it kind of freaks me out. I remember crossing the canadian border when i was nine and freaking out…not because i was hiding anything, but because i didnt want the mounties or whatever going through my underwear….

I think the Gallery's 'net connection has settled down a bit, so I am back. Saw Iron Man over the weekend. Good movie. In tribute to how much it didn't suck, I bring you a favorite McCartney tune:

Okay, I've heard nothing but good about this Iron Man thing, so I need to check it out as soon as possible, methinks. I hope it doesn't turn out to be one of those situations where somehow everyone else on the planet was watching a different movie than me. Like Finding Nemo. People worship that movie, but I was thoroughly unimpressed.

The Mist author, Stephen King's latest novella is going to be released exclusively as an audiobook. The Gingerbread Girl is read by none other than Mare Winningham.

yknow…I have had it UP TO HERE!!! with friggin Homeland security…now look what the A holes have come up with …canadians need to see this too

Anette - Let me put it this way…I really did not like most of the comic book related movies released in the past 8 years or so but I enjoyed Ironman. I'm not gonna get on a soap box and proclaim it as the greatest thing since toilet paper but I really enjoyed it. I agree that there's nothing worse then a movie/music group/album/tv show that is extremely over-hyped and turns out but be a giant turd!

mandy_Reeves I totally have to email that link to my grandmother. She's always concerned with the way the government oversteps it's bounds!
:-)

In 2002 I flew to Las Vegas on Alaska Airlines, and had the unfortunate experience of getting my bag checked, and I had to take off my shoes (it was still optional back then), I swore I would never fly on an American flight again. In 2003, I went to Vegas on a charted Canadian flight, and I bypassed all of that inspection business, as Canadian flights have their own terminal. So, I would recommend flying on a Canadian plane, if possible.

I have rode on Amtrak from Seattle to Eugene 2 times and I loved it.Try taking rail instead of flying.

Albert- I went from Seattle to Minneapolis round trip twice on Amtrak. It is a great way to travel. I loved it.

I still kinda like flying, actually. Not the irritating security, but being able to see the earth from high up, the feeling of going somewhere far away, and talking to strangers about where you're from, where you're going, and where you've been.

I have to fly outta Dulles back to New Orleans Sunday. That should be interesting. Haven't been back in 5 years… going from Cherry Blossoms to Spanish Moss.

The Gingerbread Girl is being released in a new collection of short stories also, but it doesn't come out until the late fall. That said, I'll have to get the audiobook also just to here our lovely Mare doing the reading!

Ya know, i REALLY like the idea that a couple people brought up in the posts from saturday…An XE chatroom would be killer.

I'm getting ready to go on a business trip to Orlando. Guess what! No Dinsey. I get to stay in a hotel room and watch that hot girl talk about all the fun things to at Disney and I will be in meetings the whole time. When did this happen?

Kid Nicky -
Thank you! I knew I wasn't going crazy and it was an actual ride. I have been trying to find out info about it online, but haven't had any luck.

Bill: C-? I'll shoot your eye out. Also, when I was looking for a cab at LAX, I was incredibly saddened watching all the Disneyland buses drive on by. I feel your pain, especially because Disney World is 10x more awesome. Tell Stacy I said hi.

The last time I was in Orlando, the only other thing on TV besides the 24 Hour Disney Propaganda Show, was an informercial for something called APPLIANCE DIRECT. I couldn't believe how great this was, and watched it on loop. If someone can confirm that this is still broadcast somewhere, I will make that person a delicious spam and green pepper on raisin pumpernickel sandwich. With extra pig jelly from the can!

Hey, is anybody on the blog from New York that just happened to send me one of those Taters of the Lost ark things via amazon?

I missed you by a week! I was in Cali last week for a girls only trip to Disneyland. Thankfully the Small World ride is down for the year so I was able to successfully dodge that speeding bullet but the rest of the park worked overtime to make up for it. I came back home and promptly caught a 24 hour flu because my immune system was worn down by all the Disney merriment. Random bit for anyone who cares but they are gutting Star Tours later this year. They are making a new space port and the ride will have a new desitination so no more Endor Moon trips. Also there will be a live action Indiana Jones Stunt show at the park soon. An employee at the park actually admitted to us they were doing things to Small World because of the "growing size" of Americans. The boats were bottoming out and they were escorting more and more people off of the ride due to weight issues so they are deepening the canals and adding wheels to the bottoms like the Pirates ride has. Oh and they are adding "characters" to some parts of the scenery as the cover story! He could not confirm however that they also used to give you a gift cert for a churro if you were taken off the ride so that one is still just a rumor I heard.

I rather enjoy flying but I can't stand the new size standards for liquids. Do those assholes have any idea how hard it is to find sunblock in such a small fucking size? Side note…I also rather enjoy earthquakes or at least have never been bothered by them growing up in California.

The boats were bottoming out and they were escorting more and more people off of the ride due to weight issues so they are deepening the canals and adding wheels to the bottoms like the Pirates ride has.

You know, it doesn't happen often, but there are times when I'm honestly embarassed to be American.

I love flying…I think it's because my parents never took us anywhere as a kid but I always envied the kids in my class that got to go to the airport and fly places. I've been all over the world now and it never gets old.

Also, I love reading. I guess I should since I'm a writer but a beach, a beer, and a book is pretty much my favorite way to afternoon.

I'm never embarassed to an american. If the world doesn't like me, my culture, the way I think and talk, then they can kiss my ass. =)

Do the un-fat Americans have to be embarrassed? Also, should I be embarrassed of alcoholics cause there's Irish in my blood?

I'm never embarrassed, I lost my sense of shame years ago. Fucker was always holding me back.

Rev.BackItOnUp there's nothing on Earth better than a Spam sandwich with extra pig jelly!

Trust me on this. Turn on SciFi. I've seen this show and it scared the shit out of me. If anyone believes or does not believe in ghosts, you just have to watch. It's pretty compelling.

I still haven't seen the mist, the video store thats a 5 minute walk from my house hasn't even heard of it and I'm too lazy to drive to a good one.

JoshC…go to any of the movie sites on the net and it should be there…(Joox, filmhill.com, tv-links.cc…etc…)

My allergies are making me fall asleep at really strange hours, and waking up in the middle of the night all energized…this time i fell asleep at 7 pm and woke around 12:10 am….geez im like fully rested, hopefully a shower will make me a little tired…

The Appliance Direct show comes on almost nightly really late here. The spokesguy alone makes it worth watching. On the way to WDW, I passed by the actual store and was very, very tempted to go in.

The Mist didn't really work for me either. I was so glad to read your post here since I think I was the only person to not sing the film's praises in the previous blog post. Conflict between characters works much better when each is actually a somewhat well-rounded person - not a cardboard cutout of whatever "annoying trait" they are supposed to represent. The creature design was pretty good, but the paper-thin characters kept me shaking my head in confusion wondering how Frank Darabont - who I think is incredibly taleneted - could be responsible for this.

Still, curiosity might get the better of me when it comes to watching the black & white version. That does sound cool.

I'm watching Juno right now for the first time and I'm so in love with Ellen Page right now. To make things better Christina Ricci (my future wife) was on Jimmy Kimmel earlier. I don't really watch his show cause I don't think he's too funny, but I had to flip over to see her there. The only thing that would make this better was if after the movie I caught Natalie Portman on TV somewhere. Tonight's just full of the loves of my life all over the TV screen.

This is way off topic, but I was wondering if you might consider doing a five year anniversary article about Photog/Bitner, Matt? I can't believe it's been that long but according to wikipedia it has!

Andy: You just made my heart soar! I am so glad Appliance Direct guy is still airing! Does he still have that little girl screaming I LOVE APPLIANCES! every 15 seconds?

For those who haven't seen it, this is the most brilliant informercial ever made, and I consider myself a bit of a connoisseur. The guy has an unbridled enthusiasm for dishwashers that makes me feel he must be a blast to spend time with, because if you can muster that kind of passion for clean dishes, imagine how you'd feel about life's many other pleasures.

Cameron T - Thank you SO much for that link!! This was such a cool ride. When your 6 the fact that a regular looking theater changes into a ride and you go through a wall.. well it just blew my mind back then.

I like this infomercial with this bearded guy who's selling this special kind of cleaner. It's said to be by the guy the strongest cleaner ever. Or at least one of the strongest. It's for cleaning floors, walls, cabinets, pretty much anything you want to clean. They guy just has the most enthusiastic sincerity about the product. You can't help but be sucked in buy it. lol.

JoshC, that's the one ! Iv'e NEVER seen somebody so excited over cleanser. You can't say he didn't try to sell it. =)

You're welcome! When I read your description I couldn't remember exactly what it was but given the date that it happened, I knew it had to be EPCOT. After reading the description, I remember the ride now, too. Sounds like at least part of it still exists, though it's been revamped and they threw Ellen into the mix…

So I was at work yesterday and the boss was out at a meeting as usual. We started having this very serious discussion about genital piercing and the 19-year old chickie that sits in the cube in front of mine says she has a friend that does piercings. She calls him and asks is he has his manhood pierced and he's like, "oh yeah, 5 times," and I snort and yell over to ask him for a picture message. 2 minutes later I hear her yelp and drop her phone and when I run over and pick it up, sure as shit, there's a picture of this guy's johnson pierced through 5 times.

omg Mystie…the worse I ever saw was a guy who had his nipples pierced…and I got to touch em! woo!

I wish I could do a tounge piercing or my nose, but in the medical profession i'm sure its a huge no-no.
As it is…i'm gonna have to cover up this dam tat on my wrist.

Depends on where you're working in the medical profession. I work for the hospital, but not actually AT the hospital (I'm in the billing office on the other side of town) so we have a few people with facial piercings and visible tats. I'm sure everyone in the area is comfortable to know that a freak like me has complete access to their name, address, medical records, and social security number.

If your gonna get a tattoo, make sure you REALLY want it. If you get one and later regret it, it can be costly and painful to remove it. lol.

Mystie id rather it be you with access to all that than some right wing conservative tight ass that thinks everyone with tattoos or peircings is a criminal or drug user/dealer

He was in a dream I had one night a couple of years back. He was pitching the Gopher II to me (which doesn't exist) and I thought it was awesome that he was just as enthusiastic in person as he is on TV.

The Gopher is the claw grabber thing, the Gopher II he was showing me wasn't any different, but he sure made it seem new and improved.

I saw a sign in the window of the local BK. It seems they have something called "Burger Shots". I have a feeling they are probably like the Burger Buddies of yore. I am duly intrigued but since I don't really like meat together with bread I'll likely take a pass.

Hey, just dropping a line for you listeners of my show to let you know that it won't be on tonight (it would normally be starting in like 15 minutes) cause the new summer schedule goes into effect today. Sorry for the last minute notice but I just found out while I was at work tonight and I just got in. Anyways, the new time slot is Monday nights/Tues mornings 12am-3am. I won't be on this coming Monday cause I'll be out of town but will return to the airwaves on Mon. the 19th. Tune in at midnight that night. Here's all you need to know:

Dark Entries w/ DJ D
Monday nights/Tues morning 12am-3am
WUSC 90.5fm Columbia, SC
Streaming live here
On air DJ phone: 803-576-WUSC
On air DJ AIM: wusconair
Goth, Darkwave, Death Rock Industrial, EBM, Horror…

PRSense Hey! I'm a right-winged conservative (well, I'm not a tight-ass, but I'm working on it at the gym!) with tattoos and piercings with access to very sensitive information (I work for the District Court).

I would buy anything Billy Mayes sells. He could sell me a deer heart in 15 seconds.

Cameron T Yea, your wiki link had a link to info about how it was turned into Ellen's dream ride or something like that. I guess they still have some of the dino's still.

Oxi-Clean! or it could be Ka-Boom… that one is great. All the people in the commercial are either shouting it, or saying it like kaaa-boommm where their voice gets higher at the end. It cracks me up to no end.

Piercings.. I've got my tongue done and I dated a guy who had his mr pierced twice. A guy I used to work with years ago had piercings and when ever a new girl would come to work there he would just whip it out and show it off, usually to the unsuspecting girl who just went in the back to do some work or to get something. Didn't matter who was around or anything. So pretty much everyone there guy or girl ending up seeing him in all his pierced glory at least once. He had a vertical one as well… yea that was a little weird.

I'm sorry but as a guy just the thought of having anything pierced down there is extremely painful. I don't know how anyone could do that….And what if it gets…you know…caught on something…Seems like that would be the most painful thing in the world…

Don't get me wrong, I got no problem with freedom of expression–if you want to do that, go for it….But man.. OW…..

Cameron I agree with you 100%! I can't even imagine how bad the piercing would hurt much less getting that caught on something! Thanks but no!

I am as sweet as Hello Kitty but I've got a pretty mean tattoo. It stays covered up for the most part, but if you're seeing it, we're either good friends, or my alien benefactors have arrived and we're on the rescue saucers. No call for modesty at that point I can tell you.

There's no way anyone's piercing anything of mine "downstairs". I mean, if you're into that, knock yourself out but keep my nether-bits out of it.

All this talk about Billie Mays convinced me its a good time to bring up again my idea of the Billie Mays Alarm Clock.

It would be in the shape of his head, and when the alarm went off, it would scream "TIME TO WAKE UP! YOUR ALARM IS RINGING! TIME TO WAKE UP AND USE SOME OXY-CLEAN!" or some such thing.

And since it's Billie Mays, you wouldn't just buy that one, it would come with several of them with different sizes, watch size, maybe some Mighty Putty to repair it, etc. And for added creepiness, maybe one model would be a hybrid with that one alarm clock that rolls off the table and you have to go find it to turn it off.

The comments I got from friends were actually along the lines of "That's brilliant!" I'd buy that!" etc.

I need to preface this by saying there is no way I'd ever buy that - I wake up surly enough anyway, and my anime face is in a miserable scowl until lunchtime at least. However, I must commend you on a brilliant idea - this is how As Seen On TV empires are built! I think it should also come with a "special" sponge to help you apply the Orange Glo.

This product makes me want to harness my day with the amazing power of oxygen. For a guy who sells cleaning products, Billy Mays sure is greasy and sweaty.

I'm kinda addicted to the SHAMWOW infomercial basically because of the pitchman.

Billy Mays is the bearded oxy -clean guy right ? I like the other ones he's in too. He's a great pitchman

I love X-E ! The discussion starts out about airplanes, then goes on to theme park rides, then ends up at infomercials selling cleanser with charismatic pithcmen lol.

Hey all! My school year is wrapping up and I'm taking a night off to (finally) chill a bit….can't wait to get back into the conversation - I've been back reading when I could and I've missed some great ones

And yes, Iron is VERY good; considering the source material, one of the best comic book to movie adaptations - definitely in my top 5 of all comic movies….

Not long after I posted my last comment, I saw a NEW ad with Billie Mays…he's pitching Health Insurance.

I am convinced he's the one man we can send to congress and successfully lobby Universal Health Care. Because he can.

Woohoo! What a day. After waiting about a month, my wasabi Doritos finally arrived from Japan. Also, cleaning out my truck I found $130 I put in there a couple of months ago and completely forgot about.

There's something weird about it, though. 10 years ago I was a junior in high school delivering pizzas for a local pizzeria. Being the only driver, I would make awesome tips. Every now and then I'd take some of my tips and put the cash under my passenger side floor mat. I did this over a few months. About 4-5 months after I quit, I decided to do a thorough detail on my car, pulled up my floor mat and found $130.

Maybe in 2018 I'll find another $130. Maybe not. Oh well, always nice to find your own money you didn't even know you were missing.

nork, finding hidden money is always amazing. It's only ever been a few dollars at a time for me, I can only imagine how rad it would be to find over a hundred. XD

nork that is what my mom would call "untapped reserves". I had something like that happen to me once….only it was me cleaning out my closet, and getting rid of all of my server shit. i decided that i was never going to serve tables again, and i was going through my aprons and found about 200 bucks in my order book. i dont know how i didnt know it was there, but it was a great day.

I find money a lot of the time when I'm doing my laundry and I'm always puzzled as to where it came from seeing as I'm usually broke.

Wasabi Doritos = wasabi + doritos, exactly as you'd expect. They come in killer Japanese Dorito bags, though, and the box was stuffed with Japanese newspaper. Double prizes!

Anybody catch Home Alone on FX this evening? I was getting a hail damage estimate from my insurance company and missed the first half of it. It's nice to see a great Christmas movie at random like that.

I've started a series on my blog that I call "Soundtracks For Summer," basically highlighting songs that define the word "Summer."

So what I'm asking is what songs define summer for you? It's an absolute shame that the Summer Jukebox isn't up anymore, it would've helped immensely, since I don't remember most of the tracks.

I already covered the theme to "The Enchanted Tiki Room" and "Under The Boardwalk", and here's what I'm planning to cover so far:

-Vacation (GoGos Version)
-Vacation (Vitamin C version)
-Summer in The City
-Wipeout
-School's Out For Summer
-Various Beach Boys songs (Kokomo, I Get Around, etc)
-Walk The Dinosaur (you guys would all kill me if I didn't cover it, I'm sure of it)
-Rock Lobster
-Love Shack

Yeah i caught home alone on fx. i just love it when the burglars get there . lol.

I saw that Billie Mays health insurance commerical before I went to work today and thought it was hilarious. He pitches it the exact same way he does Oxy-Clean. I half expected him to include a double sized tub of Oxy-Clean with every insurance purchase. But only if you call in the next 10 minutes of course.

Invader Norbert, How about "Oh What a Night" by Frakie Valli. Everytime I hear that it makes me think of summers at the beach when I was a kid.

I didn't catch Home Alone but last night I went to see Jeff Dunham live. He's the Ventriloquist that does Amhed the dead terrorist. Anyway, he has to film a Christmas special in June, so all the material he had was about Christmas. Hilarious stuff….

Not exactly an infomercial but played during the same wee hours in the greater Cleveland area. Behold the "legendary" Marc Norton (this is just a link to a youtube search string thats loaded with lots of Norton goodness.

Speaking of seeing people live: I'm so stoked to be seeing Glen Hansard and {the women} from "Once" play live this Tuesday; became such a huge fan of their since the movie…..

And "Runnin' Down a Dream" always makes it feel like driving in summer for me….

phunqsauce I'm from NE Ohio and I effing love the norton furniture commercials. I dont know if any one else has seen it, but there is one where a lady pretty much denies the sex to a guy because he has bad credit. oh god i love them. there is another one where there is a creepy clown slinking around in the background. at first i thought that it was just a dream, and then i saw it again the next night, so i knew it was reality. seriously check out the link that phunqsauce posted because i cant believe how popular those commercials have become. My name is Leigha, and you can count on it!

Leigha: I'm from Kentcuky and iv'e seen these commercials befor MANY times !!! Theyr'e hilarious and creepy at the same time ! =D

Cameron T.: I LOVE Jeff Dunham! I bought his two DVD specials just last week on DVD: "Arguing With Myself" and "Spark of Insanity." I first saw him on an old Showtime Comedy Special, "Johnathan Winters Traveling Show" many years ago that I have on tape somewhere. Anyway, he was funny then but it seemed he was doing the same routine on all the comedy shows he was on. His material now is much funnier, and I like the different puppets he uses now including Ahmed the Dead Terrorist. Of course, no one is more funnier than Peanut or Walter, and of course the talking Jalapeno on a Steeck!!!! I knew he was going to be in Texas, I just didn't know he already came. Wish he was performing closer to Killeen, or even better, come right on Ft. Hood like the Harlem Globetrotters do every year!

I just had an 8 hour shopping bender, and nooowww I'm going to go crash. Wake me when it's SNT.

GloomyJack, the Louisiana flag actually ADDED three drops of blood to the mother pelican in 2006. It used to have no blood.

I too have read "The Mist" and enjoyed it, but I read it as part of Skeleton Crew, one of King's short story collections. And I too hate flying, haven't done it since 1994.

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