Cavalcade of Awesome

Just over a year ago I wrote an article discussing the release of iPhone version UNO plus two crazy Japanese items; Pepsi Ice Cucumber and Garlic Seafood Pringles. In what I believed to be a fortuitous situation, today I was supposed to acquire the newest version of the iPhone to go along with the new Pepsi summer release in Japan, Pepsi Blue Hawaii. It was going to be glorious. I could shadow that article from 6/29/2007 and review both of these items today. So I went to my local AT&T store to verify that the planets were all aligned (Pluto included, screw you scientists!!) and that AT&T was ready to toss me that touch-screen slab of AWESOME (aka iPhone) much like The Lady in the Lake did for Arthur and his Excalibur. Instead I found out that I can’t get the subsidized price, $299 for the 16Gb, until August 9th. If I want to get the iPhone today, I’d have to pay the full price, $499. $499 bucks?! Who am I, Rockefeller? So I have to wait 4 more weeks to be completed in body and soul. Until then, I have to look longingly at Engadget.com and try not to cry as it posts story after story of people buying the new iPhone 3G. Thanks a lot suits at AT&T and your stupid upgrade “rules”!!!

Anyway, while at the AT&T store the other night I took the opportunity to get my wife a new phone. She has been resisting this for months (nay, YEARS) because she loves her little phone she is currently using. I don’t know why. It’s an eyesore. It’s the cell phone equivalent of an abacus. It’s embarrassing to a tech/gadget guy like myself she carries this thing around. Seriously, this phone is so old it’s powered by a steam engine. You have to start it by turning a tiny crank on the side like one of those ancient farm tractors. Despite all of this and my constant badgering, she wouldn’t get rid of it. I mean, the thing didn’t even have a speakerphone. That’s right, NO SPEAKERPHONE!! I mean, what are we, in the Dark Ages?! She had some insane fascination with it. Well, this past weekend she flushed it down the toilet while at her uncle’s house in New Mexico. And to answer the question I always get, no, she wasn’t drunk (yet). Needless to say, this made me very happy. First thing through my mind? “YES!!!!!!” First thing I said to her? “Awwww, hunny, I’m sorry.” What surprises me about the “flushing incident” is that the phone itself didn’t get stuck in the hole, it actually went down the pipes. Her uncle is going to have a wicked plumbing bill soon. They even tried to call it to see if they could hear it ring. LOL…yes, they were actually calling the phone like it was lost in the couch cushions, not body surfing it’s way to the Rio Grande via Albuquerque’s metropolitan sewer system. I’m dying laughing thinking about it right now and I’ve heard the story three times. My wife, what a mess.

Well, after much soul searching and cajoling my wife picked out her new phone. She really took this search seriously. It was like she was at the end of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and she had to choose the correct Grail from fifty different choices. If she chooses wrong, she dies a most horrible death. Her choice? The Samsung SGH-A737. It’s actually a pretty cool slider phone that comes in many colors, so she picked red.

She seems happy with it so far. I hope so. Unlike her last phone, you don’t have to tap out the phone number in Morse Code to make a phone call. It’s somewhat nice when I have to borrow it. Oh well, whatever phone she has, it will never eclipse the sheer mind-blowing awesomeness of the iPhone I will have…come August 9th (Thanks again, AT&T!!!).

Oh, I almost forgot about the bottle of Pepsi Blue Hawaii sitting right next to me. Here’s an ad for the Japanese only Pepsi flavor.

If you remember from that article last year I also discussed the Pepsi Ice Cucumber as well as the iPhone. Well, it seems that every summer, Pepsi Japan keeps releasing special soda flavors. Last year was that hideous Pepsi Ice Cucumber and this year they released Pepsi Blue Hawaii. I love the graphics in that ad above and Blue Hawaii makes me think of Elvis’ movie of the same name.

This time the soda is a pineapple and lemon based drink that looks very much like the old Pepsi Blue. On paper this sounds pretty good so far. I actually had a 20oz bottle of Pepsi Blue (from 2002-2003) sitting around I hadn’t cracked open yet so I tried them together to see if Pepsi was just repackaging an old formula.

The verdict: they are completely different drinks. Aside from the color, there are no similarities. In case you don’t remember, Pepsi Blue tastes more like one of those Windex Blue Otter Pops. I’m not sure what the flavor was supposed to be, maybe raspberry? Checking the Otter Pops website it is, in fact, blue raspberry. So Pepsi Blue was a type of blue raspberry flavor. It’s okay, not great, but okay. The Pepsi Blue Hawaii is a LOT sweeter than I expected. I think after tasting Pepsi Blue again I was expecting something completely different. It’s really almost too sweet. Frankly, I’m a bit disappointed because I thought the mixture of lemon and pineapple would be better than it is. Maybe they should have added some orange or lime to the mix. I don’t know. Well, I got three bottles of the Blue Hawaii to finish so that should be an interesting challenge. I can only wonder what next summer’s Japanese flavor will be.

Pepsi Fire Carrot Juice, anyone?

This entry was posted on July 11, 2008 at 1:00 pm and is filed under Apple, iPhone, Pepsi, pop culture, reviews, soda, technology with tags Apple, iPhone, Japan, Pepsi, soda, sodapalooza, technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.