12/07/2003 Entry: "Advent Calendar: December 5th & 6th!"

X-E's new catchphrase: "better late than never." Actually, I'm not really "late" with this, but hopefully by next week I'll be on a more proactive schedule. The Advent Calendar's up to date until December 6th, so as soon as I do today's entry, WE RECENT YO. On December 5th, we saw Super Mario become Santa Mario, along with two zany Christmas "Bellywashers" and a new sled for our pals from Playmobil. On December 6th, "Nerds" candy gets Christmasized, Nestle makes cookies, and Mista Snowman meets the cruel clone princess from last year's Advent Calendar feature. Longtime readers should be able to guess. Get worried -- she's back.

http://www.gotorion.com/orion/singles.php?t1=Nintendo%20Paper%20Models&t2=YBM&f1=miscfunny/papercraft.txt

Chestnuts roasted by Garrison @ 12/07/2003 01:17 AM EST

Wee! Today is wonderful. The return of Mare Winningham will go down in history as her best work yet! I had been sitting here, lamenting the 18 inches of snow on the ground and the heavy flakes still being tossed down from on high, waiting for the next box. Think - now Bird can ride on Mare's lap downhill on his sled! And Mista Snowman...well, I think he could have let Bird wear his hat for a bit. That's a nice hat and the color matches Bird. I can't wait until the next box...

Chestnuts roasted by Killer Duck @ 12/07/2003 01:20 AM EST

bellywashers totally suck. My daughter always wants them, but won't drink them because the juice is so horrible, so I end up drinking the damned things. (they're over 2 bucks here, no way am i wasting it) Anyway, no matter how alluring the top is do not fall for the bellywasher trap. Your tastebuds will never forgive you.

Chestnuts roasted by candybar @ 12/07/2003 01:21 AM EST

What's amazing here is that I'm not the 87th comment, but...around the 8th I believe. Not that it matters, just...I find it amazing that I've beaten at least 20 people to the punch. That's a satisfying feeling. Ah, the little pleasures in life are what matter the most. Anyway, HOORAH for Mare's return. What memories from last year. Anyway, Matt...yay-ZEUS have you seen the Christmas crap item, Chex Mix COCOA flavored?!? I saw that while walking by in the grocery aisle tonight and did a double-take. I was juusst a little curious to know if you've seen that. Take care!

Chestnuts roasted by alice1drland @ 12/07/2003 01:58 AM EST

Yay, Mare is back! This calls for some egg nog.

Chestnuts roasted by marioshoku @ 12/07/2003 02:06 AM EST

Ah, yes. One more thing. In previous blog entries I've seen talk of the Frosty the Snowman special. And hey, who doesn't love Frosty the Snowman. BUT...one sorry day I came across a hideous movie called Microwave Massacre. Sounds like Oscar material, no? I thought the main character's voice sounded awfully familiar. Lo and behold, it's freakin FROSTY! The movie is about a rapist/cannibal...and it has a CORNY feel to it! So here we have the voice of Frosty talking to his dead wife's head in a refrigerator, while he throws rape victims' body parts that are wrapped in Reynolds brand aluminum foil into the trash bin in plain daylight! *sigh* I don't know, but I think that after I've seen that, watching Frosty twirl around on main street while the cop swallows his whistle won't have the same charming effect as before. :(

Chestnuts roasted by alice1drland @ 12/07/2003 02:35 AM EST

Nerds... are... the... BEST. I'm kind of a nerd myself, so I feel like I have a special bond with the lil' guys. Okay, so it's sorta like cannabalism, but they taste so great I don't care.

Speaking of... Okay, not speaking of anything, I've been going to X-E for about a year now... I think. I KNOW I've been coming here AT LEAST a year, though, and I must say it's been great. You know, I've been doing a lot of things since about a year ago now, but I definatly can't talk about most of those things in public like I can of X-entertainment! Keep up the good work, Matt!

Chestnuts roasted by Paul Ortego @ 12/07/2003 02:40 AM EST

I just finished reading the Very Brady Christmas article, through one of the links. It's probably too late now to review this, but if you get a chance to watch the Father Knows Best - Home For Christmas, prepare for the worst acting in history.

This special was made in 1977 but I seen it for the first time about 10 years ago. I was very painful to watch. Bad timing and characters laughing at their own joke, bad bad bad bad bad.

One scene has the father [sorry, I never seen any of the original episode, so I do not know or remember any of the names] talking with a neighbour about a upcoming snowstorm (it's a major part of the story) and he had the audacity to blame the storm on Canada. It's not like we have a storm generator and let loose storms to to blanket America in snow.

Anyhoo, I just want to finish saying that I am really enjoying all the holiday articles and commmericals.

Chestnuts roasted by Liquidduck @ 12/07/2003 02:47 AM EST

You know, with all this talk about great Christmas specials, it makes me think of the most bizarre Christmas cartoon I've ever seen, which is ripe for an article one of these Decembers.

I can't remember what it's called, but I saw it on Cartoon Network last year. It's supposed to be the origin story of Santa Claus and how he came across his powers and ways. Only it's not like Superman, where they toss all of his powers into one bag of explanation. Here, they take every single ability from Santa's gimmick and spend about 10 minutes each to explain them. Meanwhile, some rock monsters, who seem to be some henchmen Skeletor forgot he had, scheme about ways to ruin Santa.

But what I found really odd was the ending. Santa's been doing the Christmas thing for several decades and he's finally dying of old age and/or a massive heart attack. Some gods debate on whether or not he should be granted immortality. They agree that he should and at the very last second, Death herself is told to keep her hands off. But to me, it doesn't sound like a very happy ending.

Okay, so Santa's immortal. But he's forever locked in a point where he's physically an inch away from death. And once a year he has to push himself to deliver all the toys while singing the most abysmal Christmas song EVER written (not even that one Smurfs song could contend with it). Sure, Santa may be smiling and somewhat happy that he's spreading joy, but under that, I'm sure he's in the middle of a living Hell. He's kinda like Walken's sidekicks from The Prophecy movies.

Poor guy.

Chestnuts roasted by Gavok @ 12/07/2003 05:02 AM EST

Check this shit out

http://www.northpolesantaclaus.com/video/snowmiser.wav

http://www.northpolesantaclaus.com/video/heatmisersong.wav

Chestnuts roasted by Chris @ 12/07/2003 05:55 AM EST

That special, Gavok, is "The Life And Adventures Of Santa Claus," which I commented on in another blog entry. I haven't seen the whole thing, but I have a copy of the book it was based on, which says that when they laid the Mantle of Immortality on Claus, he felt just like a young man again.

The rock monsters are called Awgwas, by the way. In the book, they kidnap Santa, and a group of fairies foil them by whipping them with magic whips that transform them into dirt clods. Fugyeah!

Chestnuts roasted by G'Tron @ 12/07/2003 08:49 AM EST

that was interesting how they did the mario commercial.the story of all of the playmobile characters each day is really entertaining and i come back each day to see what will happen next

Chestnuts roasted by Romo @ 12/07/2003 08:50 AM EST

The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus was always one of my favorites because it was so weird. They actually made two versions of it, the old classic stop animation and the new cel animation. The old one wins hands down. I think it was based on a book by L. Frank Baum. Come to think of it... did i take the time to read that book? I dont remember.

Chestnuts roasted by allicat @ 12/07/2003 09:41 AM EST

You just recently watched "The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus"? Well, that's the problem. You had to catch it back in about 85-86, then it all would make perfect sense.

Speaking of specials, did anybody catch Pinnochio's Christmas yesterday? That lightning song had to be nominated for something, somewhere. Agreed?

Chestnuts roasted by Matt (#2?) @ 12/07/2003 10:14 AM EST

I know people want the link for the last advent calander, so I'm gonna give em what they want!
http://x-entertainment.com/xmassy/

Chestnuts roasted by brandon @ 12/07/2003 11:35 AM EST

A bunny salad...my moment of zen. More Mare's than one could hope for. The fence in last year's calendar was far nicer than this year's. I still have hope, though. I mean, Bird, Mista Snowman and Mare Winningham 2003 need more than just acessories.

Chestnuts roasted by Killer Duck @ 12/07/2003 12:12 PM EST

yesterday was my b-day. so hungover. go packers.

Chestnuts roasted by naturekid @ 12/07/2003 01:31 PM EST

Boo packers. Go Bears.
(I hate sports)
Holy mother of Mario!!! Every Christmas Eve we either go our cousins house or they all come to our house. Well one year they came to ours and and my mom bought a crap load of Pepsi cases. Literally it was like 24 cans per person and they was like 16 of us. So we had had lots of soda for months after Christmas. So my brother and I got are fill of Pepsi all of them Mario Pepsi. An entire corner of our house was filled with Mario Pepsi. Infact my brother is still addicted to Pepsi today so many years after.

But does anyone remeber the real Mario soda. They were small cans each character had their own flavor. Mario, Peach, Luigi, Toad, Yoshi.

Chestnuts roasted by Yankee Clipper @ 12/07/2003 01:48 PM EST

Damn strait Matt.
All in favor of starting a cult that worships the second choice of music for Tetris say, eye!!!

Chestnuts roasted by Yankee Clipper @ 12/07/2003 01:58 PM EST

I remember the Mario soda Princess Toadstool and Yoshi were my fave flavors. I wonder if Matt will review those *hint hint*

Chestnuts roasted by pikachulover @ 12/07/2003 03:35 PM EST

Mario soda...mmmmmmmmm. :)
Yoshi Apple, Princess Toadstool Cherry (I find that hysterical), Luigi Berry, Mario Punch (get it? He's punching a block on the front HAR!). So much Mario so little time:
http://www.smbhq.com/media.htm
(I'd be better off if I knew hoe to post a link instead of just the URL).

Chestnuts roasted by Killer Duck @ 12/07/2003 05:58 PM EST

Well roast my chectnut! It made itself a link...enjoy!

Chestnuts roasted by Killer Duck @ 12/07/2003 05:58 PM EST

Well roast my chestnut! It made itself a link...enjoy! D'oh I can't spell for s***

Chestnuts roasted by Killer Duck @ 12/07/2003 05:59 PM EST

I never had Mario soda or enjoyed pepsi, but I do like the second choice of music for Tetris. Come to think of it I liked the 2nd (or maybe it was third) choice of music for Dr. Mario too.

Three cheers for alternative video game soundtracks. :-D

Chestnuts roasted by Spiffy McKracken @ 12/07/2003 06:37 PM EST

I remember those nerd shaped containers from before, had to be sometime in the early 90's, but these didn't have sunglasses and other cool accessories, they just had a hole in the bottom that made you feel like you were sucking their life's blood out of their asses. Kinda creepy, but fun

Chestnuts roasted by blastendedskrewt @ 12/07/2003 10:17 PM EST

Correct me if I am wrong, but isn't the Tetris music just Classical Russian music? I know at least one of the songs is based off of Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite.

Of course, the Tengen version had different music altogether.

Chestnuts roasted by Cameron @ 12/07/2003 10:51 PM EST

the gameboy version had different music too.

Chestnuts roasted by heeloyd @ 12/07/2003 11:03 PM EST

mmm....mario soda...used to pop over the boarder just to get some...then it came to Canada, oh happy day...now it's gone :(

Chestnuts roasted by Xen @ 12/07/2003 11:16 PM EST

Teehee. Snowy Ewoks. Now where's todays?!

Chestnuts roasted by Evin @ 12/08/2003 05:32 AM EST

Haven't seen the Christmas Nerds, but now, I must have them. I've seen the Ropes but have never tried them, either. Ah, Christmas is the season for faith, and with so much good stuff around, why not put my faith in something different?

And I, too, am enjoying the daily travails of Mista Snowman and his entorage. None of our advent calendars at my parents' house were ever this much fun. A lot of times, it was just my brother slapping Christmas stickers on Mom's calender so he wouldn't ask her when the big day was so much.

Chestnuts roasted by starwenn @ 12/08/2003 08:50 PM EST