Super Bowl Predictions

<---Peter Griffin of Family Guy fame represents Eli "The Other" Manning

OK...here are my Super Bowl Predictions...

1) Patriots Win (shocking)

2) Wes Welker scores the first TD for the Pats

3) The Giants will lead the game at the Half by 3pts

4) While the Pats will win...the Giants will cover the 12 1/2 point spread.

5) Randy Moss will set a Super Bowl record... just not that sure which one!!

So it is written....so it shall be done!

Next Great Thing?

What will the internet come up with next? First there was YouTube, video on demand...now I have been directed to a site that will allow you to search out pretty much any song and stream it to your computer!



The wonderful world of internet music has just gotten a little simpler.

All you have to do is input a song or artist into their handy dandy little search engine and the magic elves at SeeqPod go find the music and bring it back to your loving arms!

Mmmm Warm...

With another cold snap on the way...stop by Gizmodo and check out what the Japanese have come up with now!!! So simple...but so nice!

D-Bag of the week....

I was going to call this the Nancy Grace Award...named after THE most annoying person on TV... but decided that by doing so I would probably have to preclude her from winning the award from time to time....so D-Bag of the Week it is...

This weeks winner? This guy!

Icebreaker (Drug) Pacs?

Hershey's is now in full damage control mode after announcing that they will no longer be producing their "Pacs" line of breath fresheners.

The main concern with the product is the fact that it resembles "nickel" bags of meth.

Now I was sceptic about how much a candy breath freshener could look like street drugs! Until I found the candy on the shelf of my local gas station....
At first glance there seems to be no problems with the packaging.

Really the only problem I saw with picking up this item is the fact that I had to shell out $2.49 for 18 "pacs"

So I tore into the outer wrapper and got to the source of the complaints.

Now I am not a "drug guy" I haven't really had a wide exposure to that type of culture. I know people who use, but they know that I don't and so the subject never really comes up when I am around....but you don't have to be a rocket scientist to see why parents and law enforcement officials are up in arms!!!

I am not the brightest bulb in the pac....but that does look a whole hell of a lot like a nickel back of funk...err...drugs.

I now understand the problems that could arise from this product being widely available...BUT....

If your main argument is that a child could ingest a bag of meth or some other drug thinking that it is one of these Icebeaker "Pacs"......there are bigger problems going on in THAT house then mistaking drugs for candy...like the fact that there are drugs around!!

According to the article linked at the top of this blog... Hershey's is going to see through the product they have produced...then that's all she wrote!

The real sad thing is that this is really a good product! The cool mint is great and the Orange flavor is better than average!

Review: RAMBO

So it was a very eventful weekend, movie wise, for me…I finally broke out of my shell and went to TWO count them two movies.

Not that it really counts since the first movie I took in was a second viewing of Cloverfield ….which only got better the second time around. I didn’t even really mind all the set up work. But, that’s not the movie I was really excited about seeing this weekend I was looking forward to a little Opus known as RAMBO (Rambo #4 for those scoring at home).

Going into the movie here were the areas of concern for me:
1) It was starring Sylvester Stallone
2) it was written by Sylvester Stallone
3) it was produced by Sylvester Stallone
4) it was directed by Sylvester Stallone
5) SYLVESTER STALLONE IS 61 YEARS OLD

But, I am a twenty something male who owns and loves the other three movies so it was really a given that I would show up to the theatre for this one too. Plus, it has one of my favorite actresses in the form of Julie Benz (Old school Angel Alum, and current Dexter hottie).

Stallone has said in interviews that the violence in this movie is ramped up to bring attention to the plight of people in Burma….since day in and day out these are the situation that they have to actually deal with!

As for said violence...Carrie Rickey of the Philadelphia Enquirer referred to it as “a slab of action Porn”. Not really sure what that means? Maybe it has something to do with the fact that we all love it but hate to have other people know we love it!! Or, I could be way off base.

From an acting perspective….Stallone knows his range and stays there…and for a character who really has no true emotions left…it works well. I was actually pleasantly surprised to see a senior citizen move as well as he did in his return to the role. I was also happy to see that when the final climactic battle gets underway….Rambo shows his age a little…enough said.

I also thought that Julie Benz played the damsel in distress roll well. She was the obvious moral compass of the movie. I would have loved more screen time for her. I thought that maybe she would get John Rambo to open up a little bit…could have been interesting.

But, overall I would say that if you are looking for a good action movie (and Stallone still knows action) with a ton of shooting, killing, exploding heads (thought I was watching a George Romero zombie flick there for a second!) this movie is the guilty pleasure you have been waiting for.

No motion sickness issues like with Cloverfield, no indepth emotional storyline to worry about…no distracting best acting award winners to make you think…just John Rambo, a bow and arrow, some guns and a lot of pissed off Burmese soldiers!!

In fairness of equal time...

Wondering who you should endorse in the next Presidential election?

Take a cue from Chuck Norris....

Found this picture on the LA Times website.

Let's face it, if the world's greatest human is all about the Huck why aren't you?

Only thing more unstoppable than Mike Huckabee with the support of Chuck Norris?

CHUCK -N- HUCK '08

Think about it? Chuck Norris' beard is actually third in the line of succession to the Office of President....check the Constitution.

On a side note....he Mustache is second in line for the Throne of England......

On a Lighter Note....

The question is....

I have always found it strange the way the universe seems to work. Here we are almost 24 hours after learning the news of the passing of Heath Ledger and tons of questions still abound.

In this age of digital media we get reports non-stop: He was at Mary-Kate Olsen's place, pills were "Strewn" around the apartment, CNN is reporting no illegal drugs, but other sites are hinting at drug use.... but that's not really where my question lies.

Why is it that we always seem to lose guys/girls who are, by all accounts, great people with few or no problems....

But These two are still around! Pete Doherty and Amy Winehouse -- WTF? Seriously? What the

ever loving FUCK?

While I won't deny that both are talented....why have then not died yet? It's kinda like looking back on guys like Keith Richards.

The amount of drugs that Keith has been reported to have done over the years is mind blowing! Granted I am happy to say that Keith has found some redeeming social worth over the years. A goal that I don't see either Pete or Amy getting to accomplish.

The list is long on artists who died in their prime....Hendrix, Joplin, Belushi, Gram Parsons, Chris Farley. Looking back on it though it's not really a big surprise that drugs contributed to their demise.

Maybe what is so shocking about Heath Ledger is that he wasn't your usual Hollywood party boy....at least not in the general public's view. While Lindsay Lohan is getting busted for , possession and DUI, Nicole Richie-Paris Hilton-Kiefer Sutherland-Michelle Rodriguez-Nick Nolte-Mel Gibson and countless other celebrities are also in the DUI/drug boat....Ledger was never one who had the public persona of a "troubled" star.

In the end we have to wait to find out the FACTS of the case for Heath Ledger. If hard drugs did play a part then there will undoubtedly be those who will say, "well of course they did...he was a Movie Star!"

While he was a movie star, he was also human. This fact can't be lost. As it has been stated many times over the last 24hours, by many people, he was someones son, brother, friend....and Father.

R.I.P Heath Ledger

The New York Times online, CNN News, and other outlets have confirmed that 28 year old actor Heath Ledger has been found dead in one of his Manhattan residences.

Ledger, star of a Knight's Tale, the critically acclaimed Brokeback Mountain, just finished shooting the upcoming Batman sequel: The Dark Knight.

REVIEW: Cloverfield

Cloverfield the new monster movie that took the weekend box office by storm (a reported $41 Million) is a fun movie...pay no attention to what my father thinks!

I hit up the movie theatre this weekend for a long overdue movie night. Not a lot out there that I wanted to see! But, low and behold, what has a 01-18-08 release date (happy birthday to me) CLOVERFIELD.

As I said a few weeks ago, for a movie with little, or no, traditional advertising....I was looking forward to this movie. Now...if you haven't seen the movie yet you may want to stop reading now.

SPOILER ALERT!!! SORT OF!!

Let me start off by saying that I truly enjoyed this movie. But!.....I know a lot of people will not agree with me. First off the camera "work" is a little hard to watch at times.

The man on the street approach is a very convincing style choice here. I think that it even works better than it did back in 1999 with The Blair Witch Project. But, like that movie Cloverfield does have a few short comings.

With the handheld home movie look you get a lot of times that the screen is unwatchable, especially if you have motion sickness issues. But, for the most part the feel of the movie is dead on.

What I really enjoyed was the point of view take this movie gives you. In the past "monster" movies were all about a battle between the unstoppable monster and the main characters....this time you get the view of the everyman just trying to get out of the monsters way...and stay alive in the process. Because of this fact we really only get a few really good look at the main monster itself. (don't want to give away too much!) This movie does a good job of showing the chaos at ground level for the average Joe!

The cast is made of up "mostly unknown" talent. But, if you have been watching a little TV over the last year or so you will recognize a few faces: Lizzy Caplan (from "The Class"), Michael Stahl-David (Black Donnellys), and Jessica Lucas (four episodes of CSI from this year) are the most recognizable faces in the cast and they all do an outstanding job.

A major distinction between Cloverfield and Blair Witch is that Cloverfield was scripted. Some of the dialogue is hokey...but when is a movie totally believable? Some of the best line in the movie come from T.J Miller (Hud, A.K.A. the Cameraman) While you really have to be paying attention to the dialogue rather than to the action....he has some killer lines.

My only true knock on the movie itself is that it spends too much time setting up the quasi-documentary feel. We get about twenty-minutes of setup footage of the going away party before the monster attack begins, and this is 20 minutes out of the total 88 minutes of the movie. I understand the overall reason for those 20 minutes...but I also don't need to get the full run down to get "emotionally attached" to the characters. The whole set up could have been done in 10 minutes and not lost it's effect.

All in all I would say that, while it won't win any awards, it is well worth seeing. If you were not all that impressed by Blair Witch...you may want to sit this one out. The same goes for those people who suffer from motion sickness...

On a final note...stick around, not a big deal..but you may want to just for fun....also, if you are going to see the movie for the first time....or a second time for that matter! Pay attention to the Coney Island Footage near the end of the movie! If you don't have the patience, or money, to go back to the movie....check this out...it's audio from the very end of the credits. If you listen to the audio in the theatre it is supposed to sound like "help us" but if you play it backwards you get....well listen to it for yourself.

AD #10 (with Bonus Features!)

I was going to try to find the best ad possible....but I decided to go with a fracking ton...

What is it that every man knows? Beer and ............MAN LAWS!!!

AD #9

I don't have a clue why it is that I find Peyton Manning so damn funny, but I do!

Ad #8

Wow...hard to believe that Larry had any endorsement deals. Granted MJ Does carry this one!

Ad #7

Another Terry Tate spot...GOD I LOVE THIS STUFF--

Ad #6

While I am in a "Sports" mood I thought I would throw this gem out again.... this is the Long form, UN-EDITED, version of one of the best ad campaigns of all time...every Super Bowl I hope for a new spot from:

TERRY TATE: OFFICE LINEBACKER

Ad #5

Had to do a tribute to Sports Center...the originator of Funny...

Ad #4

I wonder why it is that Condom Ads are the best out there!? Maybe they make them funny so you don't notice the fact that they are only like 98% effective. Or as Ross from Friends once said...."But, I used a condom....they have to work, their ONLY job is to work!"

Ad #3

Possibly the Best Condom ad EVER....

Ad #2

Not an official ad...but pretty damn funny!

Commercials I love...

So I thought about an easy weeks worth of blogs here...I am going to post a few of my favorite commercial spots of all time. I got thinking about this the other day after finding the MacGyver ad on YouTube.

First up, another MasterCard ad from a few years ago:

Need I say More...

THANK YOU MASTERCARD!!

Gone, But Not Forgotten

Reading Things JK Eats the other day got me thinking about a few food/drink items from that past that I really miss...or maybe would just like to see one more time.

JK brought up the fact that we need a revival of the Taco Bell "Bacon Cheeseburger" Burrito. I would have to concur. Especially with the recent surge of Bacon related products. Just look at a Hardee's menu and you can get a Bacon Cheeseburger, Bacon Cheddar Fries, and most of the monster line has bacon.

Not since the Pork, "The other White Meat" ad campaign have I seen this much pig! But I will move on.......

First up in the Soda Category....Crystal Pepsi!! That's right...the greatest soda to ever disappear from the face of the earth is one that I would like to see get a revival!

Not really sure what it was that I loved about "the Clear Choice" but as long as I am not totally blocking out my childhood....this stuff was good!

If you don't believe me that we may have gotten rid of the cure for world hunger, the single greatest invention of the last 25 years....check out the commercial below and tell me I am wrong!

I dare you to find one fault with the below tv spot, great music, a naked baby, and the center piece, Crystal "MF" Pepsi.
P.S Youtube is great!

Now that you have seen the proof on my first choice for missing soda...the silver medal goes to another favorite from about 10 years ago....Surge .

Kinda of like the Vault of the mid 90's. Again not really sure why I liked this green pure sugar drink so much, maybe it was due to the fact that the gas station I worked for while at Illinois State never sold the stuff so when it went out of date....i got to take home CASES of the stuff. Free will always cloud one's judgment! I do think that the Surge formula was recently revived for the Simpson's Duff Energy Drink, but I may be wrong!

I would come up with the bronze medal winner but I really don't want to think about this all that much...so the fact that you can't find JOLT cola everywhere gives it the edge. (preference to Grape)

Food Category:

1st place Gold Medal- Taco Bell Bacon Cheeseburger Burrito (as mentioned above)

The genius of this little food item was that on those hard days when you couldn't choose between the drive thru at McDonald's or Taco Bell you could get the best of both worlds in one convenient location....a burrito. I won't elaborate but it was God Like in its goodness.

2nd Place Silver Medal - The KFC Chicken Little


Nothing beats a mini chicken patty sandwich. Just chicken and a dab of mayo made this little "for a limited time only" menu item stick around for YEARS. I do believe that the sandwich has now gone to college, dropped out, and returned to KFC as the Snacker!

After the time away the soft little sandwich man has grown up and gotten tough, coming back "crispy" and "spicy" depending on how you like that kind of thing.






3rd Place Bronze medal - McDLT

I think it is more the Environmentally "UN-friendly" package that I miss on this one...Remember when Styrofoam was the be all end all of food storage devices?

Keeps the cold side cold, and the hot side hot! Those were the day's it even marked which side was which...you know in case you were shocked to see that your meat was hot and your lettuce and such was cold!

I believe that the Big Mac came in a similar device for a time!...Those were the days!

The Four Greatest Letters: K.I.T.T.

Need more proof that if you keep anything long enough it will become cool again? Well one of the greatest shows of all time is making it's triumphant return to NBC . On the heels of an updated version of Bionic Woman we get another update of classic NBC fare......

This time around it is a little show about a man and his car, and if we are lucky his car's evil twin!

KNIGHT RIDER is BACK

Coming in February, from the network that brought back American Gladioators, comes the continuation of the Knight Rider Saga......

Now I really don't have high expectations for this show. Granted the previews look Totally BA. Really all I am looking for is something 100% better than the joke that was Team Knight Rider, and just barely better than Knight Rider 2000.

But really, did it get better than seeing K.I.T.T in a 57 Chevy...and giving a full body shock to James Doohan (Star Trek's Scotty) who is playing himself? Classic!

Now this is only a "Backdoor Pilot". What that means is that we are going to get a two hour movie to just get a taste of the new Knight Rider. If it does great...or if it just doesn't suck...there is a chance that later in the season we may have a new show take up space on the trusty DVR. If it bombs....well just be glad that a childhood memory is still cool enough to make it back to TV, even if it is only a two hour movie!

Next up....I want a new MacGyver series. Makes me wonder what ever happened to the long rumored Young MacGyver series that was forever in the works? Even a "update/remake" would work for me as long as you got Richard Dean Anderson involved in some aspect! But, that's a topic for another day!

"Killer" Show Coming to CBS

Dexter, the Showtime show about the serial killer, with a heart of gold....well maybe not a heart of gold, but atleast a good solid moral system, is coming to CBS.

With the writer's strike moving into its ninth week networks are struggling to find "new" content for their viewers.

NBC has unleashed the beast that is American Gladiators, and I for one am in LOVE! Also, NBC will start showing new episodes of Monk, Psych and former NBC regular Law an Order: Criminal Intent.

Now CBS will roll the dice and bring Dexter to the masses. Personally, I think it is an amazing show. But, I have to admit that I am a bit skeptical about how the move to network will work.

It's kind of like watching reruns of the Soprano's on A & E. Still great stories, but something is just missing.

Granted there are some sex scenes that will have to be dealt with, but they can be edited down and not really lose the character insight (in Dexter's case) of the scene. The funny part will be listening to how they re-edit some of the dialoge....especially when it comes to Deborah, Dexter's half sister. I am not saying she has a mouth on here...but Fu*K me!!

All in all, I would say that if you want the full Dexter Experience, buy the first season and subscribe to Showtime to catch up on the second season (just finished) and future seasons.

Book Review (well, more of a book report)

I wanted to start off with a review of Chuck Klosterman's "Killing Yourself To Live" since I just got done reading that, it was a Christmas gift (thanks Ryan). But, I decided to go a little off the beaten path for this review.


I was digging through an old box of books and found something that I hadn't thought of....let alone read, in probably close to 18 years!


The book I am speaking of is one of many in a series. Actually it is the combination of two of the greatest childhood book series of all time....if you have a guess make it now! Any idea? Well, if you guessed the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew you would be right!



Now this was no ordinay Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew crossover book. No, this was one of the greatest literary inventions ever... to steal the phrase from the originator.....this was a "Choose your own adventure" style novel. I think the phrase they used was "Be a detective" novels.


These were the books where you would read a few pages and then have the choice of: "If you want to follow Nancy Drew to the movie studio, turn to page 98"...."if you want to follow Frank and Joe to Silicone Valley, turn to page 121"..."if you think the detectives should look into the shady gardener, turn to page 22"


The great thing about these books was the fact that there were a ton of different endings to each story.


In one choice the gardener would be innocent in another he would be a "master thief".


Reading this again the other night brought be TONS of enjoyment! I really loved the whole Hardy Boys series, both the old books I got from my parents, and the "new" casefiles series! I'm kind of sad to see that this series hasn't seen a comeback of recent years.


Nancy Drew had a brief return with the Emma Roberts film of the same name. And to some respect...Veronica Mars.


Listen up Hollywood...once the writer's strike is over...I want a new Hardy Boys Series/Movie! PLEASE!!!!

What are your kids playing with?

Tainted toys from China....violent video games...and Spongebob?

Hard to believe that I am about to write about a Spongebob toy! But, over the weekend I got a number of questions about this toy:

I will say that the person asking had NO clue about the whole Spongebob "thing"....

So, what could be wrong with Spongbob? Other than the obvious fact that its creator was high on copious amounts of Drugs!

Well....here is the question I kept getting: "what is the joystick supposed to be?"...."It LOOKS DIRTY!"

Dirty you say?.....look closer and firmly plant you mind in the gutter.

I wish I could say that I wasn't so dirty that I didn't see the loose resemblance to a certain male organ. It's just that I have seen this toy hundreds of times before I got the questions this weekend and never once saw anything wrong.....now that's all I can see.

I can't even look at the game without a chuckle now.

Was this planned? Is is "just a jellyfish"? Or was this the weekend that every drug taker in Champaign County came out to look for toys for the kids? either way I think that Spongebob Square Pants has now been tainted for me!

Best E-bay Item EVER

I stumbled across the BEST E-BAY Item EVER today! Check it out...pass it on...

OK...I am a total WHORE..it is Me...but Still!

Help Spread the word...Send me to the GOLDEN GLOBES. The campaign starts here!

Who cares about the Presidential Race and who is going to the White House...Send me to LA and the Globes!

The First Rule of Illegal Downloading....

The First Rule of Illegal Downloading is.....YOU DO NOT TALK ABOUT ILLEGAL DOWNLOADING!!

Well, actually everybody talks about it! I just don't think it is a good idea to talk about it when a State Trooper is standing in line behind you!!

Sometimes I forget how stupid people look when talking on hands free head sets! Then someone comes along and reminds me why I only wear/use my Bluetooth in the car.

The other day I was at a gas station at like 12:30am and the guy who was checking out was on his headset talking about the "box full of illegal DVD's" he had in his trunk. Usually this is a subject that you wouldn't want to talk about in public....and never a good idea when there is a cop standing right behind you!

Not sure if anything came out of this little exchange or not? My guess is that at that time of the morning the cop didn't want to deal with the Mountains of paperwork that would come along with a "Illegal DVD Distribution" arrest.

But, this situation reminded me of two things:
1) If you have a TON of illegal ANYTHING in your trunk....don't talk about it!
2) No matter how cool you think you look...a Bluetooth head set makes you look like a Giant Douche (that's coming from someone who, from time to time, wears his headset out in public)

The Problem with Society...Amazon?

I'm not really sure why this bothers me the way it does...but am I the only one who sees a problem with being able to order your groceries at the same place you can order a copy of the Bob Guccione classic Caligula?

But, if the eternal question burning in your life right now is how to obtain art house porn and a few pounds of coffee...Amazon is your new friend.

I am not really sure at what point in time the nexxus of the food and video world collided but I think that this may be one of the biblical signs of the apocalypse. Not sure if a plague of the insane was actually in the bible...but if anyone saw it coming!

I stumbled across this while reading the ads on Things JK Eats, I was shocked that if I felt the need to get a wholesale size box of Pop Tarts I could....but to make matters worse (depending on how you look at things) I could also have the order automatically re-upped every 1, 2, 3 or 6 months.

Now I like Pop Tarts as much as the next guy but, is it ever necessary to have 12 8count boxes on hand EVERY MONTH.

OK to re-up every month automatically:
Grandpa's heart Meds
....ok....any Medication
THAT'S ABOUT IT.... MEDICATION

Not necessary:
POP TARTS
GO-GERT
Dwight Yoakam's Chicken Lickin's Chicken Rings Afire (check out the previously mentioned Things JK Eats if you have doubts)

Again, not sure why this bothers me...but it does!!

Now if you want to buy a grilled cheese sandwich with the face of the Virgin Mary on it....that's another food story!

Thanks Kirk!

Proof that the writers strike has a far reaching effect!

Kirk Herbstreit Quotes:

On Juice Williams: If you are a fan of College Basketball, Juice would be your point guard

OR: maybe if you are a fan of College Football…he would be your quarterback!!

After USC jumps out to a 14-0 lead….. : If you are an Illini fan this is not the start you were hoping for!

REALLY: I was really hoping that the Illini would start off being down more! Jackass!

On the Illini starting the second half down 21-3.... "I think the Illini have put themselves in a very DISCOMFORTABE position."

OK: Two things: 1) is DISCOMFORTABLE a real word? 2) I think the llini really think they have the upper hand down by 18 points!! again...Thanks JACKASS!!

After a 79 yard Touchdown run by the Illini..."Illinios and Mendenhall have gotten USC right back into this game, the Illini really have a chance to comeback and win now!"

SIGH.....is he getting paid!?