Gzorpe Photo Update

As I mentioned before, I did make those Kix®-based Gzorpe Goodies a couple days ago. When I brought them to work yesterday, they were all gone in an hour or so. I should have made a double batch. Before I left for work, I popped open the Rubbermaid® container and took a few enlarged-to-show-texture pictures, so you would know what they look like should you decide to make them for your Halloween party. Here's the best picture I got (click for larger version):

Gzorpe Goodies, Mofos!

Our work is having a Halloween food week, so I wanted to make these snacks I used to eat named Gzorpe Goodies. Long story short, these things are awesome. Rice Krispies® Treats can't hold a Snap-Crackle-candle to Gzorpe Goodies. I never liked nuts, so I always made them without, but they were always awesome. We would keep them in the fridge and they'd be gone before 24 hours were over.

After Google revealed to me that the internet holds no record of the best cereal-based snack in the history of the world, I had to phone home for my mom to send me this recipe off of the back of a really old (70s, I think) Kix® box. The box features 4 cartoon characters, I think they were all aliens, drawn in classic 70s cereal cartoon style, each with unpronounceable names (like Gzorpe) and their own Kix® recipe. I'm actually not sure if these below were really named "Gzorpe Goodies," but it is the only name I can remember off of the back of the box.

So, without further ado, I present to the world, the Internet's first known reprint of Kix® Gzorpe Goodies!

Gzorpe Goodies

• 3 Tbsp. butter


• 1/2 lb. (40) large marshmallows


• 4 cups Kix® cereal


• 1/4 cup coarsely chopped nuts


• 1/2 cup moist shredded coconut


• 4 oz. sweet or semisweet chocolate, melted

Melt butter and marshmallows over low heat, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Stir in Kix, nuts and coconut. Turn out into buttered 8- or 9- inch square pan. With piece of waxed paper, pat out mixture evenly in pan.

Pour melted chocolate over top; spread in a thin layer. Chill until set, 45 to 60 minutes. Cut into 2 x 1-inch bars. Makes 32 bars.

No More Jackin' O' Lantern

This will be our first Halloween after marriage. It's not as romantic as your first anniversary, and nowhere near as cool as your first Christmas (my favorite holiday), but we did get this humongous pumpkin from the pumpkin patch.

In case you can't make it out, it says "1^st HALLO-WEEN." You also might be able to make out some chunks in the shape of mole claw scratches missing below the second 'L' and below the first 'E.' These happened before I even carved the pumpkin. Yes, we have a mole problem.

We should be getting the candle for it today, so I'm excited about that. Unfortunately, neither of us will be around for trick-or-treaters, so I'll be toasting the kids as I devour their bags and bags of Milky Way® Midnight Miniatures(my favorite candy and also something you vegans can't enjoy [after all, nougat contains egg whites]).

Pumpkin Patch Adams

We went to the pumpkin patch a few weeks ago, but I neglected to put up any pictures. In the back of my mind, I thought of 's pumpkin background post last year, and I really wanted to find something that cool. I don't think I got exactly what I wanted, so I decided to present my favorite 2 shots for you here. I may post more alternatives tomorrow.

If you want to use them, click on the picture to download the images at 1600 x 1200 (485KB)

Should You? No.

Do I hate it when people answer their own questions? Yes.
Did somebody do it today at work? Of course they did.
Did it irritate me? More than anything.
Is it funny when I do it? Without a doubt, yes.
Will I continue to answer my own questions? Absolutely.

Where Entertainment News Comes First or Not at All

My friend dailygrant has posted a brief synopsis of the big three networks' current line-up for this season. If you were intrigued by my analysis of the three shows I watch... or even if you weren't, then this could have some relevance to you. As he says, "Essentially I just regurgitated what every other website has told you seventeen times already, but now you get it with spelling and grammatical errors!"

Where Entertainment News Comes First or Not at All

My friend dailygrant has posted a brief synopsis of the big three networks' current line-up for this season. If you were intrigued by my analysis of the three shows I watch... or even if you weren't, then this could have some relevance to you. As he says, "Essentially I just regurgitated what every other website has told you seventeen times already, but now you get it with spelling and grammatical errors!"

Star Wars Film Changes Comparison

DVDAnswers.com has a comparison of the original Star Wars: New Hope, 1997 Special Edition, and the new DVD release. The site is currently being Slashdotted, but I think it's an interesting read. It shows screenshots of each scene, and points out the differences and/or inconsistencies, as Star Wars fans love to do. I think it's funny how the author nitpicks at the slightest details throughout the article with great fervor, but he nver btohred ot splel chck ihs ow atricle.

Do You Like to Watch?

For those of you paying attention, two Sunday ago Aqua Teen Hunger Force listed Veronica Billingsley as the voice of stripper Dusty Gonzagas. Kids in the Hall fans will be happy to know that Scott Thompson performed Veronica's voice.

Also, apparently, the Big Reveal show of Last Comic Standing 3 got bumped off of NBC and put onto Comedy Central, but nobody knows the details of when the show will air. LCS Fans were treated with Father of the Pride, in its place. Don't worry, the official Last Comic Standing website announces that Alonzo Bodden was the winner, which is kind of sad for me. I think that there were better comics out there, but Alonzo had the best set on the finale, and that's all we can go on. I think the crowd hadn't been properly warmed for the first few comics, so that made it extra tough. By the time Alonzo took stage, they were ready to laugh. Personally, I think Dave Mordal from Season 1 should have won. He was the sleeper this season and he came up through the ranks to beat LCS1's champ Dat Phan and Ralphie May, both of whom haven't given an outstanding set since I've been watching. Oh well, on to the real post.

My work schedule prohibits me from being a TV devotee, as I'm getting home well after 9:00 pm. However, through the means of what I like to call "delayed TiVo," I don't have to miss the shows I like. Here are some new shows that caught my attention:

1. The Venture Brothers
2. Drew Carey's Green Screen Show
3. Desperate Housewives

The Venture Brothers was created by Chris McCullough, a former writer for The Tick animated series and the short-lived live action show. Ten episodes into the series, I believe it is one of the strongest performers in the Adult Swim line up. It's a like double parody of Jonny Quest and the Hardy Boys, and you'll be hard pressed to find a better parody. It stars Patrick Warburton as the voice of Brock Samson and has already seen Stephen Colbert as a guest voice. It's tough to pick out any one thing that makes this show funny. It could be the twin brothers who, despite having the show named after them, do nothing substantial and are complete idiots. It might be they way the super arch-enemies adhere to protocol in their evil doings and their casual life. Maybe it's Patrick Warburton's hilarious deadpan delivery. Across the board, though, this show is the most watchable thing on television, I think.

Drew Carey's Green Screen Show is a spin off of Whose Line is it Anyway?... oh, whoops, that's not the WLIIA site... I don't know what that is... let me see here it is. Anyway, if you like Whose Line, statistics show that you probably won't like Green Screen. I have no idea why. The show mixes the classic improvisation with supplemental animation added later. I love Improv, and I'd love to be in an Improv troupe some time. The Green Screen Show is just like Whose Line, without Ryan Stiles or Wayne Brady, but it still has Colin Mochrie, Greg Proops and many other frequent cast members. What many people fail to realize, is that Colin was the real gem in Whose Line. Ryan is funny, but needs Colin for a lot. Wayne is like a snowball, and is just popular for being Wayne. Green Screen gives the other members a chance to shine, without the crowd catering too much to Ryan or Wayne. The animation did not at all hurt the direction of the show. I believe it works, because you really don't notice it after a while. Animators do a spectacular job providing environments, costumes, and props later on. The biggest issue with Green Screen are the two words preceding it, "Drew Carey" (we're leaving off the apostrophe and the 's' to save space). I liked Drew's role in Whose Line because he was off to the side, not performing improv except at the end, and just laughing. On Green Screen, he's on the stage like everyone else, performing improv, and still laughing. I don't think he's as quick-witted as other cast members, either. But, after watching the show, if he didn't get up on stage, he would just be a producer. Still, this show has a lot of potential, assuming it can beat back the fans of Whose Line, who are this show's biggest critics.

Desperate Housewives is not the show I thought it was going to be. The name conjured up pictures of a trashy, Melrose Place-y show where adultery was rampant. Instead, it's a very funny show that casts the nuances of women in many different lights. As someone I work with put it, "It's quirky." I didn't think I'd be sitting down to watch it on Sunday night, but I am. I think it deserves a watch from you.

All in all, I'm surprised by what each show has delivered. I had just about given up on TV, but now... I like to watch.

Stupid Human Tricks

I thought of this bumper sticker yesterday. Turns out, Son of the Beach beat me to the punch. By the way, I'm now subscribing to the "Marcus Hart Border-Every-Image-you-use-with-1-Pixel-of-Black" school of thought.

I was looking for a program to use at work to do the following:

1. Open TIFF files that Windows Picture and Fax Viewer and Paint Shop Pro can't, for no reason.
2. Batch convert those same TIFF files to the format of my choice.

My answer came back: Unidream Power Batch. It converts any image format to any image format, applying basic resizing, watermarking, or other effects in the meantime, and renames the files, too. It also includes a built-in FTP client. It was also able to open up the multi-page TIFF files that Windows and PSP couldn't. Oh, and it's freeware.

All Rise, the trial of Freddy v. Jason will begin, the honorable marcus132 presiding

Oh man, you totally will not believe what I just found on eBay! It's a Freddy vs. Jason Halloween costume!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5526912705#ebayphotohosting

That's so crazy, isn't it? Buy it.

I Dream of Cleaning

After we got married and moved into our house, we needed a vaccuum cleaner. We hadn't registered for anything prior to the wedding, because it wasn't something we thought much about. On our flight back from the honeymoon, the in-flight magazine had story about James Dyson creator of the UK-based Dyson vaccuum cleaner. The article talked about how after he invented the cyclone technology and how companies like Hoover basically ripped it off before it really hit America, or something to that effect. Before producing a final design, the Dyson went through hundreds of prototypes, resulting in a feature-filled vaccuum. We were so excited about the vaccuum, but we hadn't yet seen the Dyson anywhere. Coincidentally, when we were completing our registry we saw a Dyson among all the other vaccuums and decided to use the extra money we had from returning stuff for that.

It was one of the best things we got. It's extremely versatile and practical and is (strangely) fun. The handle detaches to become the hose and extension attachment. The hepa filter is washable. The connectors near the motor are detachable for easy clearing. It's also bagless and easy to empty. Everything just works, and that's a very nice feeling to have. When we replace our washing machine, assuming it's available then, I'd like to get the Dyson washer.
Oh, and while I was digging around the Dyson website, I saw they have a cool telescoping flash game you can play. What other vaccuum website has that?