How do you describe someone in words whose not only your Dad but your hero and your best friend? My Dad taught me more that he’ll ever know. He taught me how to track, how to hunt, how to fish and how to find mushrooms in the wild even when it was still too dry according to the “experts”.  He taught me how to appreciate nature, how to appreciate your family and how to respect women. My Dad taught me the meaning of bravery every time the fire alarm would go off at the station and he’d run down the street pulling on his gear.

I hated that fire station when I was a kid. I was too young to understand exactly what and where Dad went to do when the siren went off, all I knew was it took my Dad away from me. I know he enjoyed what he did, and I can still listen for hours to his stories of the fires he fought. It still didn’t make it any easier when you were  young and you didn’t know exactly where your Dad was.

Some of my fondest memories are of things I’ve done with my Dad, be it fishing off the St. Joe dam for “the one that got away” or fishing out of the boat on Paw Paw lake with my sister, pulling fish in faster than Dad could take them off the hook and reset our worms.  I remember him taking me to the movies lo those many years ago to see a little movie called Star Wars and being blown away from the get go. Of course he also took me to see Dawn of the Dead and scarred me for life (or at least till I was a teenager and forced myself to watch it again).

My Dad is the one person I knew who would always be there for me, in good times or bad no questions asked, I’ve been lucky to have him in my life. I know I haven’t always told him how much I love him and how much he means to me but I believe deep down inside that he knows that. He’s always there with a hug and a kiss on your forehead whenever you see him. And no matter how many times I’ve heard his stories I love to hear them again.

I don’t know how much longer I’m going to have my Dad, he was diagnosed with terminal cancer recently and is having a hard time as of late. The one thing I regret more than anything else in this world is not having children of my own to appreciate what a wonderful man their grandfather is. I never knew either of my grandfathers growing up and I’m afraid that my children won’t either. I’ll have a ton of stories to tell about him and I know the rest of my family will too but all the stories in the world can’t measure up to the great man that my father is.

I don’t know that my Dad will ever read this, I hope that he will and that he’ll know how much I love and respect him. I hope that the day that I have to say good-bye is a long time coming because I want to cherish every moment I have left with him. If you are reading this Dad, I just want to say that I love you very much and I want to thank you for everything you’ve done for all of us. You’ll never know how much just you being there for the small things meant to us. There are so many more things I could say about my father, so many stories to tell. Maybe one of these days I’ll put some of them down here to share but for right now they’re mine.

I’m sorry this isn’t the light-hearted stuff that I usually put out but I want the rest of the world (or those of you that still bother to read my stuff anyway) to know how proud I am of my father and how much he means to me. I count myself lucky to have had a Dad that was involved in my life and cared enough to be there for me through thick and thin.

I love you Dad.

Your son,
Daniel

I felt guilty that I haven’t really posted anything for the Halloween season yet and as much as I’d like to blame it on the snow outside that’s not an excuse to not write something. I mean Halloween is one of my favorite holidays after all, how could I neglect it? So I’m gonna write about one of my favorite Halloween/horror subjects. That’s right kid’s it’s Zombie time!I guess the title did kind of give that away though didn’t it.

With Zombieland doing so well at the box office I figured I’d highlight some of the other Z-word  films out there.  I’m sure that at least some of my regular viewers have seen most of these but I’m betting there may be one or two that have slipped through the cracks that they haven’t. So without further adieu let’s get this show on the road!

Zombi 2: If you haven’t seen this one and your a Zed head you really need to put this in your Netflix queue, trust me you won’t regret it! I’m not gonna give you a plot summary, that’s what Wiki’s for but this movie is famous for two things and lucky for you I’m gonna show you both of them!

The first one…well I don’t know how to describe it without ruining the moment so go watch it for yourself. Go on, I’ll wait.

Well? What did you think? I’m still trying to figure out how they shot that particular scene! I dig it though!

This next one, all I’m gonna say is don’t watch it if your in the least bit squeamish, it’s pretty bad! Again I’m not gonna describe it for you because I don’t want to spoil it for those who haven’t seen it but here it is: (Don’t say you weren’t warned!)

That one makes me cringe just a little, not enough to stop watching but just enough to be uncomfortable.

This next clip comes from one of my personal faves, the original Dawn of the Dead. I’m sure most of you have seen this one but this part still cracks me up.

The best part about that clip is the zombie totally looks like my friend Curt! To this day we still call that one the Curt zombie.

Versus: I’m not sure how many of you have seen this one but it’s actually pretty good! It’s kind of a cross between The Usual Suspects & Night of the Living Dead with a dash of Kill Bill thrown in. Sounds weird I know but it actually works pretty well. See for yourself! (FYI – Zombie goodness around the 3:30 mark)

Flight of the Living Dead: I’m sure there’s a Wiki for this one but honestly this movies so bad I didn’t bother to look one up. I watched this stinker at my annual Zombie-thon last year. It was an hour and a half of my life I’ll never have back.

Undead: An Australian movie this time! This one isnt’ gonna win any awards but it’s not a bad movie. It’s one of two “horror/comedy” entries (you can probably guess the other one). Again I’ll let Wiki explain the plot for this one because it’ll do a better job than I can. Me? I’m just a clip whore. See?

One thing I do have to give to Undead, it’s the only movie I’ve ever seen where a man punches a zombie fish. Don’t believe me? Check this out!

Not sure why the fish sounds like a pig, maybe it’s an Australian thing. If any of my readers are Aussies, please feel free to correct me!

As long as we’re down in that neck of the woods, let’s take a look at……

Black Sheep: While not technically a zombie movie it was advertised as one to me, it’s an interesting little film from New Zealand. See for yourself.

Shaun of the Dead: Again I’m not gonna bother with a Wiki for this one. I’m fairly certain most of you have seen this one at least once. I can honestly say this is one of my favorite zombie movies ever. They obviously have a lot of love for the Romero films and you can totally tell with this one. The clip that follows is my favorite part of the movie, the clip itself however is less than spectacular. Sorry about that but it was the best I could find without really exerting myself.

George Romero paid back Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright in his movie Land of the Dead:

That’s them under all the makeup. So that’s my official Halloween entry for now. I’ll try to come up with something a little less video/wiki heavy next post but it’s late, I’m tired and cold so you take what you can get right?

Till next time kiddies, thanks for reading!

So I know it’s October and I should be doing  a Halloween themed article or something scary-ish (like my follow up visit to Clayton and my second visit with Mary) but I’m just not feeling it right now. It’s snowing outside as I write this and I’m just not feeling the Halloween vibe. Instead I’m gonna write about something that usually irritates me but in this case I enjoy. Commercials. Hang on, hang on! Don’t leave yet! If Deej can write a post about Shake Weights why can’t I write a post about singing snarky animals on planes?

I don’t know if they show these commercials outside of the Denver area or not but we have a local airline called Frontier here that features animals on the tail section of their airplanes. A few years back some genius got the idea to make a series of commercial featuring these animals in a day of the life situation. I don’t know if that makes any sense or not but maybe this will. Please to enjoy.

That’s Jack. He’s one of the regular animals that they feature in their commercials and that’s about the tone for the majority of the commercials they air. Jack has a thing for Foxy who’s, you guessed it a fox which they explored a little bit in this series of commercials.

See why I like these commercials?

Since it is snowing outside (stupid snow) I have to post this one. This one I have to say is one of my favorites, you’ll see why.

I gotta hand it to whoever’s behind these things, they’re pretty creative. Flip the dolphin campaigned  a few years back to go to Mexico or he was gonna go on strike.  There are a whole series of commercials about it but I don’t want to subject you to them so I’m just gonna spoil it for you, he got to go. Unfortunately for Flip it didn’t go exactly as planned.

The last year or so when fuel prices sky rocketed Frontier, like a lot of airlines, got into financial troubles and had to declare bankruptcy and there was some talk of them being bought out by Southwest airlines. Southwest would have probably have changed the look of the planes to their ugly ass logo but fortunately for Frontier some one else bought them instead and decided to keep both the Frontier name and the animals on the tail section which brought us the latest installment.

If you got a laugh or at least a smile out of these there are a ton more on the interwebs. I’ll have some more actual content up soon, I just gotta get outta my funk first. Maybe I’ll even finish that post about Mary.

As hard as it is for some of you to believe there are a few movies out there that I cannot force myself to watch. It’s not because they’re bad (ok that’s lie some of them are bad) but because they scare the bejesus outta me. Yes, that’s right I said they scare me. Ok they probably wouldn’t scare me now but they did when I was a youngster and well that’s good enough for me.

Dark Night of the Scarecrow

I mentioned this one over on Guises’s page earlier. This was a made for TV movie back in the ’80’s and while I don’t really remember all the details I know there is a Wiki entry for it. Reading over it now it doesn’t seem that scary but when your a kid living in a new town in the middle of nowhere surrounded by corn fields and scarecrows this movie will scare the living crap outta you!

There aren’t a whole lotta clips on YouTube  of this one which kind of surprises me. That’s the best one I could find and it doesn’t really convey how freaking creepy this movie truly was. There was one scene in a grain/corn silo that still creeps me out. Yes I’ve seen it since, not the movie, just that scene, and it’s not so bad now but when your 8-9 years old and hear stories about guys working in silos dying by suffocation or whatever it sticks with you.

Return of the Living Dead Part 2

Yes I know this is a zombie movie, yes I know it’s 20 years old and probably not that bad by today’s standards but I have yet to watch this thing a second time through. I saw (most of) it when it originally came out into theaters and it creeped me out so bad I haven’t been able to watch it again since. I put part one up for you, if you want more than that your on your own.
Why did it creep me out so much? Part of it is this guy!

I couldn’t even watch that whole damn clip he creeps me out so bad. I know that’s gonna cost me a lot of points with the Zombie loving community but how can you not find that guy creepy? Just the way he walks and looks…ugh!

I know there have been several sequels in that franchise since and I can watch those with no problems but part 2? No way in hell!

The title of that clip says the funniest scene from that movie, personally I don’t think it’s all that funny. The reason I posted that particular clip is because I couldn’t find the one that I really wanted that showed the half dissected ca (or maybe it was a dog) that came back to life and was barking and whining on the board it was pinned to. You can see in that clip the butterflies fluttering that are pinned to the board, just imagine that with a dog.

Okay enough about that one, I think I’ve devoted more than enough time/words to it as it is.

I do have a confession to make though, for a long time one of my now favorite movies would have been  on this list if I hadn’t gotten the nerve to actually watch it again.

Dawn of the Dead

Now I watch this one at least once a year for my annual Zombie-thon and it doesn’t bother me at all but when your five years old and your Dad sneaks you into the movie, it leaves a mark on you! Again I couldn’t find the clip I wanted for this movie but if you’ve seen this one it involves a motor cycle vandal and a blood pressure machine. If you haven’t seen this one, then I got nothing for ya.

My last entrant on this list isn’t so much scary that I won’t watch it again as it is just bad. And I mean bad in a bad way as in “what the @#$! where they thinking?” bad. It’s a shame too because the first movie in the franchise is one of my favorites! Hell even the second one wasn’t bad! I’ll even give a pass to part 3-D but there’s no excusing part four. Yes I’m talking about the movie that will make you believe a shark can fly, I’m talking about….

Jaws: The Revenge

You know what, I’m not even gonna justify this one with a review. All I’m gonna “say” is this

What the @#$! was that!?!?

So I had planned on having a full fledged new post up before now but as Deej once told me, “Don’t make promises about new posts. It never happens!” Turns out Deej was right. I had a couple of ideas for blogs even and they would have been spectacular but alas they didn’t pan out. I may still get around to them but I’m not gonna make any promises that may or may not happen.

What’s that? What’s the deal with the title? Well I’m glad you asked! You see as I write this I am in Clayton New Mexico! Why are you in Clayton NM/Where is Clayton NM you may ask? Well even if you didn’t I’ll tell you! I am in Clayton to meet someone halfway between here and TX. The real deatails aren’t all that important but needless to say that Clayton (from what I’ve seen) has an abundance of one thing. Flies. If I get the courage to stop back at the local gas station/hang out I’ll take a picture of the “Big Bag O’ Flies” I have no freaking clue what this thing was but was surrounded by and filled with flies. Lots and lots of flies.

But what does that have to do with deer and antelope?  Well nothing actually. I did pass some antelope on the way out here but they’re abugger to catch on a camera phone. I did however catch a picture of the Capulin Volcano! Can’t upload it though, I can’t send the picture to my email because I have no cell phone service! I do have broadband though which is a bonus!  Of course the owner/manager of the hotel could possibly spring through the door and kill me at any time! You ever see that movie Vacancy? That’s about what this place is like!

AKA The Mary Motel

Why the Mary Motel? Because that’s the name of the owner/manager of this “fine” establishment. She scares me!  She’s about 157 years old, about as tall as a yard gnome and has the personality of that hedge in the picture there. Thankfully it’s just for one night but if you don’t hear from me after today, look for my disfigured corpse in Clayton NM.

I'm so scared!!

OK I know I’ve been gone for a fair bit but I promise I will return sooner than you think! I have been keeping up with my blog roll on a fairly sporadic basis but I have been keeping tabs on all of you. You know that creepy homeless looking guy that you always think is following you? Yeah that’s me!

All kidding aside, real content coming and pretty darn soon!

Okay I’m gonna do something a bit different with this post and I hope you guys will humor me while I do it. I’ve toyed with the idea of writing actual stories for a long, long while and with this whole Swine Flu thing I got what I hope is a really cool idea for a story. I’m gonna post a little bit of it here and I want you to be honest with me and let me know what you think of it. I trust my readers and value their opinions so without further adie here is the first part of what I hope will be a much longer story. As always thanks for reading and for any feedback you feel like providing.

If your reading this then that means that I’m either dead or….or one of them. If I am one of them then please do me the favor of putting a bullet in my head, I’ve done enough killing as it is and I don’t want any more blood on my hands.

This is my personal journal, all entries before the start of the outbreak have been redacted, what follows is my account of the zombie outbreak. I hope that if your reading this things have improved to the point where the zombie menace has been contained and not due to the fact that I’m one of those mindless things.

Sincerely,

Alex Prescott

Monday April 27, 2009

Seems like you can’t turn on the news nowadays without hearing about this Swine Flu outbreak. I guess it started in Mexico or something like that and is now in New York, Kansas and California. I’m not sure how many people have died from this but I know there have been quite a few. As long as it stays there I’m not gonna worry too much about it, better them than me right? I got enough on my plate to worry about as it is.

Tuesday April 28, 2009

More Flu outbreaks on the news today, I guess now it’s spread to Canada and even to New Zealand. They say this thing has an incubation period of three days or something like that. Kinda scary if you ask me.

Wednesday April 29, 2009

Well they haven’t officially closed the border to Mexico but they have moved in the National Guard. Not sure what that’s all about. I guess they’re moving the Guard into the cities that are hit hardest with the infection too, something about riots or violence. I didn’t catch what it was for exactly I was brushing my teeth. I’ll watch the news tonight and see if I can figure out what’s going on.

Thursday April 30, 2009

This flu is spreading fast!! We have our first confirmed case here in Colorado today, I hope I don’t get sick!

Saturday May 2, 2009

This flu is hitting Colorado hard! They have more and more new cases each day the hospitals are getting over loaded.

Saturday May 9, 2009

I’ve started stock piling supplies to minimize my contact with the outside world. I don’t want to be a shut in but with this flu thing hitting so hard and people being attacked I’ve decided it’s better to just stay inside. I don’t understand what’s going on with rise in violence lately, it’s on the news almost as much as the stories about the outbreak of the flu! The Guard is supposed to be here in the next day or so. If it helps quell the insanity then I’m all for it. Think I’m gonna head up to my folks and get a gun tomorrow though, just to be on the safe side.

Sunday May 10, 2009

Decided to go ahead and go to Greeley to get my gun. It’s kinda creepy, there are roadblocks all over the place. I was pulled over on my up to Mom and Dad’s and questioned by the Guard. They asked me if I’d noticed or been involved in any unusual activity lately. I told them no but while he was asking me questions there was another guy scanning me with some…I don’t know what it was, looked like something out of Star Trek. They let me through with no issues but I could swear the guy in the car behind me was dragged out of his car and taken into a trailer. Things are getting pretty scary.

Sunday May 10, 2009

Okay I’m not sure what the hell I just saw but if I’m right I just saw someone get….I don’t even know what to call it…kidnapped maybe? I heard these people fighting outside but by the time I got up to see what was going on it was too late to do anything. One of the guys was holding his arm like he’d been bitten by the other guy and had this look of pure and utter shock on his face. I started to go out the door to make sure he was okay but by the time I got outside there was already a…not really a police truck but something similar to it taking the guy who was bitten inside and beating the other guy down! I asked what was going on but was told to mind my own business and get back in my house and lock the door. My momma raised me well enough to not argue with guys with guns so that’s what I did. Something seriously wrong is hitting the fan, I think I need to start getting better prepared for whatever it is.

So since I lack a dependable internet connection at home lately I’ve been dependent on the free connection at the library. I don’t know how long it’s been since some of you have been to the library but they’ve changed quite a bit over the last few years. For starters there are specific sections now just for teenagers which happens to be the area where the tables are for  people to set up laptops on.

I’m not sure at exactly what  point I turned into a cranky old man but the kids that were at the library that day were loud and obnoxious as hell!

Well let me rephrase that, they were loud and obnoxious until this man showed up!

Okay, that’s really accurate but the guy looked an awful lot like him. Keep this picture in mind when you read the rest of this post.

I know that most of the people who read my blog also read the others listed on my blog roll and are familiar or at least know about Guise. Guise is a wonderful person, he really is! I can’t tell you how much I’ve enjoyed the packages of goodies he’s sent me but don’t let him fool you, Guise is an evil, evil man!!

He comes off as a mild mannered, polite Brit but in actuality Guise will try to get you killed by Creepy Child Molester Man at the first opportunity. I know the blog has been kind of rambling up to this point but what follow is the transcript between Guise and I on one of my reent trips to the library.  *Some names have been left out just because I can.
Me (3:00:51 PM): My connections not even safe at the library!! XD
Guise Dugal (3:01:52 PM): heh, revenge of the tweeners
Me (3:02:28 PM): Undoubtedly so!!! Little bastards were waiting for me to be in the middle of something and then sabotaged me!!!
Me (3:03:15 PM): although “Creepy child molester man” just scared all the tweeners off!!
Guise Dugal (3:03:33 PM): like all kids, just waiting to lull you in to false sense of security
Guise Dugal (3:04:23 PM): “creepy child molester man”, now there is a superhero gimmick…”Quick, to the Molestmobile!”
Me (3:05:23 PM): LMAO!! I’m serious he’s creepy as hell!! he’s wearing a suit and tie but carrying a radio and went straight to the kiddie section of the library!!
Me (3:06:01 PM): his exact words (I kid you not) were “What’s up guys? You remember me?”
Guise Dugal (3:06:39 PM): his molester-senses were tingling…and he frequently gets that tingling sensation…
Me (3:07:54 PM): I think you may be right!!  And even better? Guess who he decides to set up shop by?
Guise Dugal (3:09:13 PM): heh, just remember “With great molestation comes great prosecutionability”
Me (3:10:02 PM): XD!! That’s too funny. I guess I don’t have to worry too much though, I’m a little old for him
Me (3:10:39 PM): He looks kind of like Martin Short, it’s really creepy!!
Guise Dugal (3:10:55 PM): is it too light out for him to see the MolestSignal in the sky…a silhouette of a hand holding a bag of candy…
Me (3:11:22 PM): your gonna get me in trouble!! he’s decided to talk to me and I’m trying not to laugh!!
Guise Dugal (3:12:02 PM): “so…is that spandex costume dry clean only…?”
Me (3:12:37 PM): XD your an evil, evil man!!!
Guise Dugal (3:12:57 PM): “…not a lot of men can pull off multi-coloured polka dots and gold y-fronts and booties..you amongst them”
Me (3:13:43 PM): If you don’t hear from me after today, tell the police to look out for Martin Short in a suit and carrying a boom box!!
Guise Dugal (3:14:19 PM): that’s one hell of a secret identity
Me (3:14:31 PM): indeed it is!!
Me (3:15:17 PM): God help me!! He’s just weird!!! I just hope I don’t feel a strange hand anywhere on me!!
Guise Dugal (3:16:02 PM): it’s a good thing he’s not a villain…I mean, what if his molestation powers be put to evil…The Fiddler…
Me (3:16:37 PM): You are so gonna get me killed!!
Guise Dugal (3:20:53 PM): “oh no, there are children in the kiddies section reading books without supervision, this looks like a job for… ” yes, mild-mannered Martin Short impersonator by day, but once he plays his magical boom-box he turns in to the superhero “…Creepy Child Molester Man! There isn’t a moment to spare, I just hope I packed enough pocket-warmed jelly babies!”
Me (3:21:57 PM): Yep, I’m a dead man!! I totally lost it on that one!! He’s giving his best Martin Short WTF look right now
Guise Dugal (3:23:26 PM): does this make you an arch-nemesis?
Me (3:24:28 PM): Hmmm what would my villain” name be I wonder?
Guise Dugal (3:25:41 PM): hm, the dastardly, the insidious…Innocent Bystander!
Guise Dugal (3:27:54 PM): Innocent Bystander and Creepy Child Molester Man, locked in constant turmoil as they each try to win the heart and soul of the Library
Me (3:29:19 PM): I just hope he’s not standing over my shoulder reading this with binoculars from the check out counter
Me (3:29:36 PM): Uh oh!! CCMM just made another move on the tweeners!!
Guise Dugal (3:31:05 PM): that’s not just the check out counter…that’s his secret lair…where he ‘checks out’ the citizens to ensure that his special molestation powers are not needed…
Me (3:32:21 PM): He’s back and insisting on talking to me!! I think he’s trying to figure out if I’ve caught on to his plans or not
Me (3:32:38 PM): I would take a picture with my phone but I’m afraid he’d kill me!!
Guise Dugal (3:32:55 PM): maybe he wants to make you his sidekick and not his enemy!
Me (3:33:38 PM): 0_0
Me (3:33:45 PM): that’s wrong on so many levels!!!
Guise Dugal (3:34:05 PM): his old sidekick may have been killed or moved on to become a hero in his own right, he’s just looking for a new Indecent Exposure Boy
Guise Dugal (3:36:24 PM): phew, still alive
Me (3:37:02 PM): I think his previous sidekick may have ben arrested!! I kid you not he’s at a table with two pre-teen girls chatting them up!!
Guise Dugal (3:37:48 PM): …are there no adults supervising?
Me (3:38:20 PM): there’s an occasional appearance by the cute librarian but other than that no.
Guise Dugal (3:43:46 PM): “well, gee golly Creepy Child Molester Man, it must be sure fun being a superhero,” “why yes, it is…but it’s also a lot of hard work, in fact, the only way I can keep my molestation powers up are to take my vitamins and drink my milk” “gosh, I never knew it was so important…I want to be just like you when I’m older, Creepy Child Molestation Man!” “Well, why not come out to my van in the parking lot, I’ll show you some of my super powers…by the way, do you like tootsie-rolls?”
Me (3:44:44 PM): He’s literally standing at the head of the table with his leg up on the chair right next to them. Oh and his name is Joseph!  (help me!!)
Me (3:58:43 PM): He’s back!!!!!
Guise Dugal (4:00:13 PM): yeah, but you are still alive…which is a huge relief, I think XXXX might be a little miffed at me if I was to get you killed or violated…I mean, I’m sure she’d understand eventually, but I’m not sure how I’d break it to her
Me (4:00:27 PM): Gee thanks!
Guise Dugal (4:01:51 PM): “There was an incident at the Library involving Dan…a costumed character with molestation superpowers…and a copy of the book ‘The Very Hungry Caterpiller’…I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.”
Me (4:02:36 PM): Evidently he’s decided to try his powers of persuasion on me now. Despite the fact that I have headphones on.
Guise Dugal (4:04:50 PM): no-one can resist the Master of Molestation, the Forefather of Fiddling, the Dynamic Diddler…
Me (4:05:38 PM): Remind me to hurt you for this when I see you.  He’s giving me the stare again.
Guise Dugal (4:06:29 PM): sure that’s not him practicing the superpower ‘x-rated vision’?
Me (4:06:43 PM): Ewwww!!!!
Guise Dugal (4:08:37 PM): …yes, Creepy Child Molestation Man’s x-rated vision allows him to see through clothes, no matter how many layers to whatever undergarments his mind puts you in or even to just bare skin…with this ability he’s able to seek honesty and see the naked truth
Me (4:09:04 PM): He still lives with Mommy too!
Guise Dugal (4:09:23 PM): stately Short basement?
Me (4:09:47 PM): Undoubtedly!!
Me (4:13:16 PM): He’s a bible thumper too evidently. He’s a molester for God!
Guise Dugal (4:14:07 PM): Diddling for Jeebus?
Me (4:14:23 PM): that’s what it’s sounding like
Me (4:17:26 PM): Oh how I wish you were in the States, I’d call you and let you hear this.
Guise Dugal (4:18:27 PM): would you really, really want me on the phone right now?
Me (4:18:44 PM): XD probably not!! We’d both end up dead!!
Guise Dugal (4:20:33 PM): heh, yeah…pretty sure it’d be a death warrant, and with me dead too who would tell XXXX what happened…she’d never know the truth…or she might become a villain herself to exact revenge on CCMM
Me (4:21:04 PM): The Mad Texan!!!
Me (4:22:52 PM): He’s back to Tweeners now. Thank Jeebus!
Guise Dugal (4:31:11 PM): martin short as mad hatter scares me…scares me baaaaad
Me (4:31:39 PM): And honestly that’s what he kind of looks like!!! The teeth and everything!!!
Guise Dugal (4:31:46 PM): oh man
Me (4:32:07 PM): I was gonna reference that but I wasn’t sure if you’d seen it or not
Guise Dugal (4:33:47 PM): heh, well…i know it now, wish i didn’t…
Me (4:34:33 PM): at least you don’t have the real life version staring at you across the table!!
Guise Dugal (4:41:31 PM): well, I’m gonna try and get a bit of sleep…you be careful and take care, hopefully catch you soon
Me (4:42:14 PM): Thanks! I hope you get some rest and get to feeling better. I think I’ll be leaving here soon myself, not crazy about the company!!
Guise Dugal (4:42:32 PM): but the company sure is crazy!
Me (4:42:45 PM): You got that right!!!
Guise Dugal (4:43:08 PM): take it easy, all the best to XXXX…get out of there alive and unmolested!
Me (4:43:26 PM): I’ll do my best! Cheers!
Guise Dugal went away at 4:43:40 PM.

So Guise recently posted a new post about his experiment with new chip flavors exclusive to the UK. After reading his post and seeing the new flavors they’ve introduced it makes me glad that he sent me the “normal” flavors. Granted he sent me these in ‘08 but I’m hoping he’ll forgive me for not posting my write up until now.

Salty AND Vinegary!!

Granted these are no “Cajun Squirrel” but I gotta admit that the Salt and vinegar flavor are a personal favorite of mine. You’d think that they flavor of the vinegar would be more pronounced with these considering the UK’s love of fish and chips with vinegar but these are a lot tamer than some of the American versions I’ve tasted. Overall I’d give these an A-.

Yes you read those right, Turkey and Stuffing and Roast Chicken

You know aside from Thanksgiving and the occasional TV dinner I don’t have Turkey and Stuffing very often but these “Crisps” were actually not too bad! They actually do taste like what they say they do. I have to say though of all the ones I received this one was sadly not in the top three. They were tasty to be sure but just something about Thanksgiving on a chip didn’t seem right to me. I’d give these a B- overall.

The Roast Chicken however would be one I’d buy for sure if they came out here. I’m not sure how we’d go about getting Walkers (Lays here) to bring them over but dang it we totally should.  If you’ve ever thought about eating chicken while munching chips..err crisps then these are right up your alley. Final grade A.

Sorry for the lousy picture

Mmmm….Prawn Cocktail!! Now I know it sounds weird, shrimp cocktail chips and all but these things are awesome!!! These are by far my favorite of the batch. I can’t describe the flavor to you adequately, it’s really one of those that you have to try for yourself but trust me these things are yummy!! These babies get an A+!!

Ham and Mustard, well that’s pretty much what they taste like. They were good and definitely a unique flavor sensation but they just didn’t stand out like some of the others did. I wish I could say more about them but what can you say about Ham and Mustard crisps that hasn’t been said? Overall grade C+.

Ploughmans and Worcester Sauce

Worcester Sauce, not just a condiment any more!! These were my other favorite flavor. Now I know what your saying “Dan, Worcester Sauce is used for flavoring not on chips, I mean crisps!” and you’d normally be right but if you’ve never had it on chips, grab yourself a bag of plain chips and a bottle of Worcester sauce and give it a go! Ok not really, that would probably taste really nasty, but if you can score a bag of these then give them a go instead! Another solid A+.

Ploughmans….you know I’m not sure exactly what these were supposed to taste like but they were good. They didn’t really stand out like most of the others did. I suppose if I had a frame of reference for these I’d have enjoyed them more.  I’ll give them a B just because I can.

Cheesy and Steaky with a hint of Onion

What can I say I’m a steak and potato kinda guy (Get it?  Steak flavored potato chips? Oh c’mon that’s funny!) Ok bad pun aside this flavor rounded out my top three easily. The onion flavor on these two is pretty mild but still noticeable which makes these damn tasty no matter who you are. Well I suppose they wouldn’t be tasty if you were a vegetarian but what would a vegetarian be doing eating steak flavored chips? Overall grade another A.

The Cheese and Onions are the one I’ve had the most exposure to. After Guise had sent me the ones above another friend of mine went to the UK and while I asked for more Prawn and Worcester Sauce flavored I got these instead. Not that I’m complaining because cheese makes anything taste better, or it does to me.  I like the Cheese and Onion well enough but when you’ve got a hankering for Prawn Cocktail they just don’t make the grade.

So while my crisps weren’t as exotic as the ones he subjected his victimneers to I think I had a better experience. I can say for sure that when I tried my “crisps” there were no breaks to run to the loo.

So thank you to Guise for sharing and I apologize that it took me so long to put up my take on your generous gift. I know I didn’t review all the things you sent me but I’ll keep that between you and I.

So after talking with Deej I’ve realized I’ve been a bad,bad blogger! For what it’s worth though things have really conspired against me. I know that’s a lame excuse but things really have been rough lately, I won’t go into details because it’s not relevant but I promise to try to update more often and with “real” content instead of filler or updates. Some would argue that the majority of my stuff is filler and I wouldn’t disagree with you but you take what you get right?

So anyway I was talking to Deej earlier and after much discussion of movies, board games and culinary adventures I decided I’d throw up a new blog because…well I miss you guys!!! Besides that Deej said he had like 50 new posts planned and I’ll be danged if I’m gonna let him show me up!!

So I was out running errands earlier this evening and found myself at my local 7-11 store and noticed the were advertising the new Mountain Dew Voltage Slurpee. As frequent readers may remember I tried the three new Dew flavors over last summer and Voltage was my second favorite of the three, I much preferred Super Nova but that’s just me. If your not familiar with Mountain Dew Voltage it’s a Windex blue colored version of Montain Dew flavored with blueberry, ginseng and some other stuff that may work as a soda but does not work well as a Slurpee!

Looks better than it tastes!

You can’t really see the blue at the bottom but there was no way I was gonna get an entire 524 oz. Slurpee with a flvor I may or may not like, in hindsight this was a good decision because the Voltage Slurpee tastes disgusting!! To me it tastes like the Buttered Popcorn Jelly Belly’s and to play on a theme I don’t want to think about  buttered popcorn when I’m drinking a Slurpee. Now I know there are those of you saying “But Dan how can you tell what it really tastes like when you mix all the flavors?”  Fair enough, two ways I can tell. First of all the blue gunk was at the bottom of the cup so it was the first thing I sucked up when I took a drink and if you look real close at the picture you can also see a little bit of blue on top which I also tried solo. I’m just glad I mixed in regular Mountain Dew and Cherry on top because if I had just gotten blue I honestly don’t think I would have bought it.

My trip to 7-11 wasn’t a total bust though, I also spotted these babies!

Everyone knows red is the best flavor!!

These sport all your favorite red flavors Cherry, Strawberry, Watermelon and one I’ve never tried before Fruit Punch (which is damn tasty!) So if you see these bad boys while your out and about give them a shot, if you like Starburst that is.

Well kiddies I know it’s not much of a post but it’s better than nothing right? I have a few new posts in mind I just need to sit my butt down and type them out. I’m hoping that happens sooner rather than later but we’ll see. Anyways, thanks for sticking with me during my prolonged absence and I should be back soon.