04/05/2006 Entry: "I wish I could predict the future."

I was recently informed that people whet other people's appetites, and in fact do not wet other people's appetites. So, I'm whetting yours with something small until I have time for something bigger -- an update to the Strawberry-Falls Punch Kool-Aid tribute, which now includes a review and download of the one and only commercial that promoted the red berry beast. (Scroll near the bottom of the article for the update; you can't miss it because it says "UPDATE" in font size 450.)

As X-Entertainment continues its gradual shift to becoming an All Kong, All The Time site, I'd just like to point out that "The World of Kong: A Natural History of Skull Island" is an amazing book. A bit steep at the retail price of 35 bucks (which I paid, but have since seen it for around 20.00), there's just no resisting a book that reads, looks and smells like a legit animal encyclopedia but is, in fact, a work of fiction that fleshes out each and every creature on Skull Island. To give you an idea of the book's scope, they cover at least a dozen species of giant centipedes. It's really a tremendous and inspired work that will jump-start your imagination and sway anyone who thinks it'd be cooler to visit Jurassic Park onto the monkey's side. This is in no way a lame title blitzed through to make a few last minute bucks on a passing franchise -- the book takes the themes of Skull Island and gives you enough information on both its inhabitants and topography to start writing your own dinosaur/giant spider slash. I don't recommend things unless I'm sure you'll love me for recommending them to you, so buy it, baby, buy it.

Survey Says: Click here to visit Amazon. Assume you've got 20 bucks. Assume you're only allowed to spend that 20 bucks on one item. Assume that shipping and tax doesn't exist. What would you buy? (Feel free to provide links in the comments, but that's not a necessity.) Yeah, lame, but you can tell a lot about a person by what they'd blow money on. And that's why I'm here. To learn everything about you so I can later use it against you in a court of law.

Chestnuts roasted by TPStag @ 04/05/2006 09:47 PM EST

Book looks sweet.

Chestnuts roasted by Tommy @ 04/05/2006 09:48 PM EST

My one item to buy on Amazon.com is The Super Mario Bros. Super Show on DVD...$19.86!! I know I'm the second one to mention it, but that is literally the next thing I am buying from my wish list. I've been debating all week on whether to buy it...I might just go buy it right now. Thanks for the motivation to blow $20, Matt!!

Chestnuts roasted by LuLu @ 04/05/2006 10:06 PM EST

Who the hell sells kool-aid at a yard sale?

Chestnuts roasted by Rehsinup @ 04/05/2006 10:12 PM EST

Rampage: Total Destruction Even if the game ends up totally sucking, it's got the original on it.

Chestnuts roasted by dohopoki @ 04/05/2006 10:18 PM EST

and to add to that, I don't think it looks like it'll suck anyhow.

Chestnuts roasted by dohopoki @ 04/05/2006 10:24 PM EST

Batman Beyond: Season 1 ...Although I'm thinking of changing my answer. That Rampage game does look summarily awesome.

Chestnuts roasted by Rhino @ 04/05/2006 10:34 PM EST

Hmm...20 bucks? I'd probably get a DVD or two. Perhaps TMNT seasons 2 and 3....

Chestnuts roasted by Cameron T. @ 04/05/2006 10:38 PM EST

So getting that book. On a 20 budget my purchase of whimsy would probably be a new Sin City book (think I want The Big Fat Kill next) or whatever within-budget Kong related swag I saw first.

Chestnuts roasted by squee4242 @ 04/05/2006 10:41 PM EST

I don't know where you guys are finding some of this stuff in Matt's link. It's the toys section!

This is my pick. The 805-piece generic LEGO set. It will facilitate many more late-night adventure shows in my bedroom while my brother and I are supposed to be sleeping. Of course, he's married and grown up by now. Damn.

Chestnuts roasted by mtrox @ 04/05/2006 11:22 PM EST

I mostly want things that aren't out yet... the soonest release and the closest to $20 is The Venture Bros. DVD at $20.99. I know I'm 99 cents over, but I NEED that DVD.

But assuming it has to be something available now, I want a tiered cake tray for serving petit fours. I always make petit fours for Easter, but I usually serve them on a boring old flat plate, like some kind of apathetic loser.

And sure it's "whet", as in it sharpens your appetite like a whetstone sharpens knives. Etymology is awexome.

Chestnuts roasted by Welsh Rabbit @ 04/05/2006 11:26 PM EST

Just the words "20 bucks" throws me in DVD mode. There are so many I want right now though, I dunno which to pick! Memoirs of a Geisha? Chronicles of Narnia? Brokeback Mountain?

Ok, probably Narnia, or the Geisha movie...

Chestnuts roasted by Ryane @ 04/05/2006 11:42 PM EST

Gonna consider the Super Mario Super Show as "claimed" and pick something else...

The Giant Ant Farm. I mean holy fuck. I'm ordering it. Now.

Chestnuts roasted by Matt @ 04/05/2006 11:55 PM EST

Oops didn't click first. Toys, huh? Hmmm...
Hello Kitty: Victorian Dollhouse $24.99 I had something very like this as a wee child and it was awesome so I don't care that I'm over budget.
or Star Wars Revenge of the Sith Electronic Lightsaber: Jedi $19.99
or Disney Photomosaics Puzzle - The Jungle Book $9.99

Chestnuts roasted by squee4242 @ 04/06/2006 12:18 AM EST

I bought this awesome Sableye plush at Target tonight, so I'm actually pretty content. Plus it was only five bucks, not twelve! http://www.toywiz.com/pokemonplushsableye.html

Chestnuts roasted by Eddie Lightning Frog @ 04/06/2006 12:25 AM EST

http://tinyurl.com/p6hsx

Pretty sure that's only $20 now, since the X Collection came out.

Chestnuts roasted by Ragnarok @ 04/06/2006 01:01 AM EST

I would LOVE to get my hands on 2-disc DVD of either Constantine or War of the Worlds. Those things seem to be rare around here for some reason. Plenty of the single disc version in various stores, but I have yet to see the 2-disc version.

Chestnuts roasted by JLAJRC @ 04/06/2006 01:31 AM EST

Among other internet geekery, I'm a goon so I'm privy to buy me, and everyone else I know, a Nerf Maverick. Since i already have one, I'd just go with a Pure Awesome. "Pretending to mow the lawn has never been more fun" Seriously, it hasn't been.

Chestnuts roasted by Rutir @ 04/06/2006 01:40 AM EST

According to Capcom dot com, Megaman collection is infact 20 for the cube (I almost used this for my vote by the way).

Chestnuts roasted by dohopoki @ 04/06/2006 01:57 AM EST

$20....either Gremlins 2 on DVD (I'm ashamed to admit I still don't own this) or a cheap video game. Yeah, most likely Gremlins.

Chestnuts roasted by Mars @ 04/06/2006 02:24 AM EST

First of all, the recommendations get really weird a dozen or pages in. Apparently, they think that because I bought a Darth Tater, I'd like a box of cinnamon flavored toothpicks.

As for the survey, I’ll be getting some change back but I have to go with a pair of these bad boys. Thank god I decided to do a search for “He Man” before going with the toothpicks.

Chestnuts roasted by Jeff @ 04/06/2006 03:20 AM EST

I was gonna say South Park Season 6, but it's more than 20 bucks. So I'll go with the Thing Hands, and then some He-Man toys to add up to the 20 bucks.

On other news, went out yesterday and, browsing the bookstore's content found the following gem: Kong Reborn.

Acording to the cover, they find a splat of Kong's blood on the top the Empire State Building and use it to clone him. And after some hijinx in the big city, they take him to Skull Island. So it's like King Kong in reverse, but with clones!

Chestnuts roasted by Roddy @ 04/06/2006 06:59 AM EST

At $19.49 I will be purchasing the 3rd season of Full House...I know I know....Just shoot me now.

Chestnuts roasted by TC Falcon @ 04/06/2006 07:16 AM EST

As soon as I saw the survey I knew what to look for, and it's 19.99. The Easy Bake Oven which I begged for groing up and never got. Honestly, I don't believe my parents ever gave us commercially popular toys growing up. Although we got a few from extended relitives at Christmastime. They wanted us to play outside, so we had lots of bikes, and balls and pogo sticks, no Barbies or My Little Ponies. Maybe that's why I'm so addicted to XE.

Chestnuts roasted by kb @ 04/06/2006 08:01 AM EST

Matt: I see your giant antfarm and raise you one Ant Works Space Age Ant Habitat. It's the same price as the old-fashioned ant-farm, but it's filled with edible gel instead of dirt. It was designed for experiments on the space station to figure out how ants react to zero gravity. Short answer: they're pretty cool with it. I've been coveting this for months.

Chestnuts roasted by Jedoc @ 04/06/2006 09:27 AM EST

Hmm...$20 not much but I would go for some transformers or perhaps some new nerf guns like the maveric. Who knows, maybe one of each.

Chestnuts roasted by Tigerfan @ 04/06/2006 11:02 AM EST

Did anyone else notice those He-Man boxers? I Got the power!!???!!

Chestnuts roasted by Rhino @ 04/06/2006 11:08 AM EST

For whoever doesn't know,The people who made the 2 recent Godzilla games for Atari split from Atari,and since they had a game "engine" about giant monsters,but had no giant monsters,(Atari still owns Godzilla rights) Midway hired them to make Rampage.
My point being-all signs point to Rampage being awesome.

Chestnuts roasted by Kid Nicky @ 04/06/2006 11:11 AM EST

$20.00 spent! (Actually $39.99, but close enough right?) on The A-Team Season 4 on DVD. My God! Hannibal parachuted off a building in the season opener! And, by the end of the episode where do they end up? That's right, a cruise ship. And do you know why they were on a cruise ship? Cause B.A. "Ain't gettin' on no plane, sucka!"

Chestnuts roasted by Michael @ 04/06/2006 11:16 AM EST

Any of the wrestlers from the wwe classics collection. Well not ANY. Maybe a ric flair or doink the clown or vader. Anybody that I would remember from the 80s and 90s. See I kinda collect those. Now you know my shame.......

Chestnuts roasted by Sense @ 04/06/2006 11:35 AM EST

The "I got the power" boxers and the "Mario scored with the princess" boxers.

Chestnuts roasted by kingklash @ 04/06/2006 11:42 AM EST

I would get The Long Winter (book from Little House on the Prarie) on CD for my daughter, the next one in the series that we don't have yet.

Chestnuts roasted by Matt Brand @ 04/06/2006 11:58 AM EST

$20 worth of Play-Doh - I've been longing to play with it for weeks.

Chestnuts roasted by Jessica Marie @ 04/06/2006 01:26 PM EST

I'm not sure why, but I'm totally drawn to those small Disney-themed tents. I always coveted them when I was younger and bitterly built my own little forts out of boring blankets and stuff.

Chestnuts roasted by Lizzy @ 04/06/2006 01:43 PM EST

20 1$ gift vouchers

Chestnuts roasted by Scott @ 04/06/2006 02:04 PM EST

Jessica Marie: It's not much of a substitute but there are absolutely gobs of recipes online for play dough recipes, from Kool-Aide dough to flour-free dough for the gluten intolerant and everything in between.

Chestnuts roasted by squee4242 @ 04/06/2006 02:15 PM EST

Those "scored with the princess" boxers CAN'T be licensed, can they? If they are, I'm selling my game cube and buying 7 pair right now.

Chestnuts roasted by dohopoki @ 04/06/2006 02:18 PM EST

I only skimmed the blog entry, and then I went all excited to read the "new" Kool-Aid article that seemed really familiar. I thought it was odd that you could get two packets the very same way.

Chestnuts roasted by kb @ 04/06/2006 03:02 PM EST

Ahh, it's gotta be the literary classic Everyone Poops, and with twenty bucks, I can get it in both paperback AND hardcover.

Chestnuts roasted by Scottish_fly @ 04/06/2006 04:09 PM EST

Alright, so I went in through my wishlist instead of Matt's link. But since a fair number of people don't understand the specially italicized part about ONE ITEM, I can break this rule without worrying.

I want the Sleeping Beauty DVD, but it's 99 cents too much. So, wanting the most bang for my buck, I chose the thing closest to $20 - The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Essential Oils: The Complete Guide to the Use of Oils in Aromatherapy and Herbalism (Illustrated Encyclopedia S.).

I realize that this has nothing to do with XE at all. So choice C is Wee Sing in the Big Rock Candy Mountains, anyone else have that as a kid? Seems a little different speed than most of the nostalgia here, but I'd like to think I'm not the only one.

Chestnuts roasted by Mara @ 04/06/2006 04:54 PM EST

Mara:

We had a bushel of "Wee Sings" on cassette when we were little. I'm sure it drove my parents mad.

Chestnuts roasted by mtrox @ 04/06/2006 04:56 PM EST

We had a ton of the "Wee Sing" tapes when I was growing up. And also tapes of other weird songs like "I know an old lady who swallowed a fly" (one of my personal favorites.)

Chestnuts roasted by LuLu @ 04/06/2006 05:11 PM EST

You can't go wrong with Dr Satan ($9.99).

Chestnuts roasted by jrh @ 04/06/2006 05:17 PM EST

"Nobody Poops But You."

Chestnuts roasted by Jedoc @ 04/06/2006 05:49 PM EST

$20 worth of Jolt Cola.

Buy me some, if you please.

Chestnuts roasted by Invader Norbert @ 04/06/2006 05:50 PM EST

Matt, you do know that the original Berry Blue is still produced, right? It's not called Berry Blue anymore though, the current Berry Blue is terrible. It's called Ice Blue Raspberry Lemonade. That's the true Berry Blue. It's my favorite. I just bought 10 packs yesterday. Yum!

Chestnuts roasted by Tom No Like @ 04/06/2006 06:07 PM EST

Yay!

I am not alone in my Wee Sing love.

Chestnuts roasted by Mara @ 04/06/2006 07:13 PM EST

For only 10.99(a Boy Scout ist thrifty) I can buy the King Kong Skull Island board game. Ha ha, King Kong check
lisenced board game check
awesome check
also Amazon suggests its better together w/ the Creatures of Skull Island toys for only $20.98 yeah

Chestnuts roasted by mrjayberry @ 04/06/2006 07:36 PM EST

"Tom and Jerry - The Spotlight Collection" Vol 2 for $19.89, please! I need some good cat-and-mouse games for my birthday.

Chestnuts roasted by starwenn @ 04/06/2006 08:21 PM EST

Re: Jolt Cola.

Seems like everyone knows Jolt, but does anyone remember Nitro Cola, and is it still around?

It might have just been a regional thing, but I can't recall seeing the stuff anywhere since roughly 1995ish. It tasted awful, came in a glass bottle, and had the exact color of piss. Also, I'm pretty sure it had even more caffeine than Jolt, because Jolt never managed to hop me up the way Nitro did. Drink a couple bottles of Nitro (and that's all you wanted, because the shit tasted terrible) and you'd get the shakes. In other words, it was effin' great.

Chestnuts roasted by lugnut @ 04/07/2006 09:16 AM EST

I can only say one thing about that book:

Giant ASS spiders.
Arachno-Claws jump out of animal rectums.
Thank you "World of Kong" for informing me of that little chunk of nightmare fuel.
-jared

Chestnuts roasted by ohgodtherats @ 04/07/2006 10:37 AM EST

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles S.W.A.T. Set

'nuff said!

Chestnuts roasted by Review the World @ 04/07/2006 11:15 AM EST

Batman Utility Belt, no question. If there is one thing that is missing in today's workplace its batarangs. Imagine the looks you'd get at the meeting when you produce your report from the accessory storage pouch. If thats not a sell consider this, its also a survival tool in case you are trapped in the office for long hours without food:

"This toy contains foam parts which can be broken to pieces and swallowed."

Chestnuts roasted by Mark @ 04/07/2006 01:57 PM EST

I would by any cd or dvd for my chemical romance. I am so totally obsessed with there music it isn't even funny anymore. Now I have 2 reasons to love visiting New York, knowing that is where x-e was born and that the band lives in Brooklyn.

Chestnuts roasted by brookelynn @ 04/07/2006 04:46 PM EST

I took the chance to explore the kids
section to heart. I got all nostalgic and started looking for a cheap pottery wheel that I used to be addicted to when I was younger. I used to always make such a mess with all the clay that my mother demanded I use it in the bathtub while wearing a swimming suit so she could just hose me off.

Chestnuts roasted by Venus's vixen @ 04/08/2006 08:25 PM EST

I found one for 19.99, by the way.

Chestnuts roasted by Venus's vixen @ 04/08/2006 08:26 PM EST

Well, I wanted to say I would buy Legend of Zelda: The Minnish Cap, but it was too expensive. ($33, Jeebus!) That left me with a choice of Kingdom Hearts for the GBA, or enough LOTR action figures to add up to $20. I have a HUGE collection of those, including Shelob's Lair and The Defeat of Sauron. *cough*geek*cough*

Chestnuts roasted by Kieran Alexis @ 04/09/2006 01:03 AM EST

I was looking at Transformers and was going to say Depth Charge, just because he has a freaking "shark launcher"! But then I saw the Simpsons set with future Burns and Bobo. Dancing Bobo Smithers almost made me spit out my toothpaste (yes, I often brows the web while I brush my teeth, brushing seems less boring then). But then I remembered I really want the Adventures of Pete and Pete season 2. That's what'd make me really happy.

Chestnuts roasted by Mad Cow @ 04/09/2006 01:43 AM EST

A reference to bananas and Gwen Stefani, woohoo.

Chestnuts roasted by flygrl358 @ 04/10/2006 02:16 AM EST

That should go with the previous blog entry, oooops.

Chestnuts roasted by flygrl358 @ 04/10/2006 02:18 AM EST

$20 for Gwen Stefani? Sounds about right.

Chestnuts roasted by johnny @ 04/10/2006 07:11 AM EST

I just got back from Borders, World Of Kong in tow, and wow. What an awesome book. I would recommend this to any Kong fans. A great read.

Chestnuts roasted by Reid @ 04/12/2006 05:17 PM EST

Giant Ant Farm!

Chestnuts roasted by Matt @ 04/13/2006 07:40 PM EST