Archive for the reviews Category

Those wily Japanese: Pepsi Ice Cucumber and Seafood Pringles! Release of Apple iPhone

Posted in Apple, food, humor, iPhone, Pepsi, random, reviews, soda with tags , , , , , , on June 29, 2007 by Paxton

Hey, guys, I’m back for another Friday update. I was hoping to get a full article out this week, but that didn’t happen. Instead you get this quick multi-level update. I would like to use these Friday entries to hit you with a veritable kaleidescope of items all at once…to “pepper” you with goodness on this last day of the week. Hope you enjoy.

iPhoneWell, today marks the birth of the single most awaited electronic gadget since the Motorola Razr was released back in 2004. Remember when the Razr phones were originally priced at $799 without a 2 year contract? Crazy, cause now you can get them for free. I’m on my second one. Anywho, Apple will finally release the iPhone to the sweaty, eager masses today at 6pm. The media blitz leading up to this release has been on overdrive. If the news isn’t talking about Paris Hilton, then it’s been talking about the iPhone release. People have been lining up at Apple and AT&T stores all week waiting to get their hands on this electronic slice of nirvana. However, I do wonder how many of these people that are lining up plan on actually keeping the phone or are they going to unceremoniously dump it to eBay with a 300% markup? Shades of the PS3, me thinks. The phone looks cool, but I’ll wait for the early adopters to test it out for me to see if I’ll like it.

Ice CucumberThose crazy Japanese. They have the strangest flavors of American food products over there. Sushi ice-cream. Really? WTF?! However, if I found that stuff here while I was at the grocery store without my wife, you can bet your sweet hind-quarters I’d buy it. I’m kooky like that. I most assuredly wouldn’t like it, but I’d try it anyway. Similar to this phenomenon, cucumber flavored drinks are becoming very popular over there. In fact, Pepsi recently released Pepsi Ice Cucumber in Japan to much fanfare. Thanks to the magic of the ‘inter-tubes’, I was able to procure a bottle of the mystical green elixir (you knew I would) and it’s ‘go-time’ for a taste test. If you are a regular reader of this site then cucumber soda shouldn’t be too big a shock to your system. Back in February I reviewed sodas that tasted like celery and chocolate fudge. How bad can this be, really…………oh sweet, Mary Francis this is worse than anything in that last article. I thought that ICE cucumber meant it was a cool, refreshing drink, but it actually means that there is a hint of mint in the flavor. Yes, MINT cucumber soda. Imagine making a cold cucumber salad, but instead of mayonnaise you soaked it in a bottle of Scope mouthwash…..and then puked in it. That’s what it tastes like. My lord, I think the soda is actually trying to fight its way back OUT of my stomach. Why do I do this to myself? The soda itself is a nice, pretty anit-freeze green color. It almost looks radioactive. It probably is.

Seafood PringlesWell, as if that self-induced bit of flagellation wasn’t enough, I also procured a can of Pringles from Japan. So what, I hear someone in the back yelling at me? Yes, I answer to that same non-believer. Pringles. Garlic Seafood Pringles. Go ahead, rub your eyes, shake your head, you read that correctly. GARLIC. SEAFOOD. PRINGLES. To further illustrate the point, there are pictures of shrimp and oysters on the can. Awesome. Okay bright blue can of seafood potato chips……”let’s do this”. The first taste of chip after going in the mouth is surprisingly mild. Not a hint of sea—-wait a sec, there it is. Shrimp taste hitting me now like a metal pole to the genitals. Oh lord, I’m getting nauseous. That’s not good. Man alive, I might be spewing seafood chips and cucumber soda all over my computer in a sec. Cripes, WTF is with the Japanese and their taste buds? Do they enjoy engaging their gag reflexes? I feel like I’m on an episode of Fear Factor. Makes me wish I would have opted for the Grilled Bacon flavored Pringles.

Man, I could use a Silkwood shower after trying those. Pepsi Ice Cucumber may be the 21st Century version of castor oil. Grilled Seafood Pringles may be the 21st Century version of getting molested by your Uncle. STAY. AWAY.

Hope you have a good weekend. Me, I’m going to need the two days to get over the nightmares and full body heaving caused by the above two products.

See you on the other side.

Technorati Tags –

While the wife’s away, the DVD will play…

Posted in food, humor, movies, reviews, TV shows on June 22, 2007 by Paxton

The wife, while on summer vacation, has decided to embark on a road trip that is quite ambitious. For the last week she drove to Birmingham, AL to visit some friends and family and then drove to Atlanta to see more friends. She returned last Sunday afternoon, spent the next two evenings with her lonely husband only to leave on Tuesday morning to visit her parents in Ft Worth, TX. It’s an insane schedule and every chance I got I looked at her with the “crazy eyes” so she’d know what I thought of the whole fiasco.

Regardless of what I think, she’s forcing me into bachelorhood for a couple weeks. What have I been doing with this time? Well, I’d love to say I’d written several blog articles, mowed and trimmed the lawn, did laundry, cleaned up the house, showered or, at the very least, put on pants. However, I can’t say that, because it would be an “untruth”. What I can say that I did is sit my lazy ass on our couch, watch DVDs and eat. And pee (but not on the couch, obviously). So I thought I’d rip through some of my activities for the last week so you can see what a guy does when his significant other has left him to his own devices for over a week. Enjoy.

UndeclaredOne of the goals of my recently thrust upon “bachelorhood” is to watch stuff that Steph wouldn’t want to. So I decided to start with a set of DVDs I have of a TV show that I never got around to watching, it’s called Undeclared. The show aired about 10 episodes in 2001 and was created by Judd Apatow, one of the men behind many of today’s funniest stuff including 40 Year Old Virgin, Talledega Nights and the recent movie Knocked Up. Actually, that last movie is a reunion of sorts for many of the collaborators on the show Undeclared. This show is really funny and I didn’t realize how many current stars make an appearance within the 13 episodes. You’ll see Ben Stiller, Adam Sandler, Jason Segel (Marshall on How I Met Your Mother), Sarah Carter (Madeline on Shark), Amy Poehler, Tom Welling (Clark on Smallville) and Kyle Gass from Tenacious D. It’s shocking. This show deserved to run for a few more seasons as it’s funny and sweet and I really enjoyed it.

Doritos X13DWhat else? I tackled a trip to the supermarket without Steph. This may be dangerous, for everyone involved. If I am allowed to run un-supervised throughout the grocery, we wind up with things in our pantry that have no business being there. Yes, yes we need a giant jar of peanut butter mixed with jelly (no we don’t). And how does a normal, red-blooded American man say no to a carton of ice cream labeled “Fried Ice Cream”? How? I mean, the ice cream isn’t actually fried, it just tastes like it’s fried. GENIUS, and I have to have it. Soda flavored like caramel apples? Yes, please. These are the kind of things I’m forbidden from picking up when Steph is with me. Without her, it’s free reign for my wacky buying tendencies. This day will live in infamy, however, as I did procure a rather strangely labeled bag of Doritos. It’s an all black and white bag with Doritos X-13d flavor experiment scrawled across it. I’m suprised at this move from Doritos so soon after Smokin’ Cheddar BBQ won the last flavor gimmick. The contest challenges you to come up with a name for the flavor, yet they aren’t telling you the flavor. You have to guess. The only clue you get is on the bottom of the bag, they describe it as ‘An American Classic’. Well, I have tasted it my friends and it’s good. Real good. I couldn’t quite place the flavor at first, but when I looked at the clue again and tasted another handful it hit me……it’s a flippin’ cheeseburger. Yes, cheeseburger flavored Doritos. The heavens have opened and angels have released this wonderful bounty from the heavens….like rain….cheeseburger flavored rain. I love it. My neighbor, Dr. Mike, thinks they suck and was sure to tell me how much they suck. However, my hairless, military doctor friend, these chips ROCK. Cheeseburger flavored Doritos are the salve to this nation’s many wounds (take that, Dr. Mike).

DOANext, I went to see a movie called DOA: Dead or Alive. Check out the wacky trailer here. That trailer doesn’t begin to describe the mind-numbing stupidity of this movie. Don’t get me wrong, though, I thoroughly enjoyed myself. This movie has 4 of the hottest women I’ve ever seen traipsing around in bikinis and fighting each other with crazy, slow-motion martial arts. It’s amazing how well edited this movie is because every one of the chicks in this movie looks like they are a bad-ass martial artist, which is good because not one of the chicks in this movie looks like even a moderately good actor. If you see this movie, and I think you should, see it because it’s fun, completely wacky, and makes little to no sense. You won’t find Dame Judy Dench or Meryl Streep in this movie, and trust me, you wouldn’t want them to be.

Well, that’s what I’ve been doing this week. Tomorrow morning, EARLY, I leave for Ft. Worth, TX to visit the in-laws. I’ll be back on Sunday, so maybe I’ll have some good material to write about on Monday. We’ll see.

Have a good weekend everybody.

Holley….OUT.

I’m back…

Posted in Coca Cola, personal, reviews, soda with tags , on May 22, 2007 by Paxton

I’m Back!Well, I had to take a forced sabbatical last week. Work is just one giant inconvenience. We are in the middle of this giant project so time is (and will continue to be) scarce until the end of the year. I will do my absolute best to keep things updated here.

Part of the problem was that I had nothing prepared. Normally, on any given day I have 3 or 4 articles in various states of completeness. When time gets tight, I can just finish off an almost completed article and voila, an entry. This past week I have like 10 titles of articles, but nothing else. So I had no time to complete anything. I’ve worked on a few though, and I’m building back up my buffer. Things should be back to normal for a bit. I promise.

Anywho, just dropping you a note to let you know that a real article is coming….probably tomorrow. The bulk is written, I just need to procure images and do some copy editing. I’ve been in a cartoon kick lately, so I’m probably going to have a few articles based on cartoons. And some movie reviews. I haven’t done one of those in a while so I’m going to remedy that situation.

Before I go, I wanted to mention ANOTHER new soda I came across the other day. I had no idea this one was coming out so it was a surprise to find it in my local market. Say hello to my little friend: Coke Vanilla Zero

Coke Vanilla Zero

Steph and I were shopping for our weekly groceries and we passed an end cap of this and I did a double take. Coke had just released Coke Zero Cherry so I was really surprised to see them release another flavor extension so quickly. Well, I grabbed a 20oz bottle and tried it. Not bad. Not bad at all. I really like the vanilla flavoring they use with this. It matches very well with the Coke Zero. I enjoyed the entire bottle. I will definitely drink this again. Very, very good. It reminds me (as it’s supposed to) of a Coke float with vanilla ice-cream. Coke has been bringing it with its flavors lately while my boy, Pepsi, has been screwing the pooch (I’m looking at you, Pepsi Summer Mix).

Well played, Coke. Well played.

Technorati Tags –

New Doritos…oh, and my birthday

Posted in food, holiday, personal, reviews with tags , on May 10, 2007 by Paxton

Happy Bday
Well, yesterday was my 33rd birthday. Yay! My age finally matches Larry Bird’s number. How cool is that? I say, “Very.” My wife says, “Not so much” (what does she know?).

I had a good birthday. My wife got me a Polar Running Computer which is a running watch that also monitors your heart rate and times your intervals for you. I love it and can’t wait to use it. I also got some work clothes and some really cool gift certificates to my favorite stores. One of my friends and regular readers sent me a package of Garbage Pail Kids. Man, that was an awesome gift. I might turn that into a blog article, so stay tuned. For food, the wife and I grilled filet mignon and ate dinner just the two of us. Lots of fun, lots of wine. Typical Holley birthday. Thank you.

New DoritosBeing lucky because it was my birthday, I finally found the two new Doritos flavors that are fighting to be the newest addition to the ever present Dorito lineup. Click the image to the left to go to the “Fight For the Flavor” website. At this website you can vote to see which of the two flavors to the left are going to be the newest flavor of Doritos chips. The two flavors are Wild White Nacho and Smokin’ Cheddar BBQ. Let me tell you one thing, they are both GOOD. It’s going to be tough seeing one of these go. I probably like both of them better than Cool Ranch, but not as much as regular Nacho. However, if I have to pick a winner, in my own mind Wild White Nacho is the Rocky Balboa to Smokin’ Cheddar BBQ’s Ivan Drago. Wild White Nacho is almost as good as the saintly Nacho Cheese. And that’s saying A LOT. However, rush out and try some on your own, they are worth it.

Hostess Cup CakesYou know what else I found today? Hostess Apple Spice cupcakes. I thought they only sold these around Christmas time. Holy crap-in-a-hat these are divine. These things are like little apple-spice tears from heaven. Fluffs of clouds that have been lightly spiced with apples and frosting. It doesn’t get much better than this. If you can find these…GET THEM. So. F’n. Good.

Anyhow, I’ll probably have a more traditional article for you next week. I’ve been somewhat lazy because work has been kicking my butt and it’s been my birthday (which, in my mind, lasts a week). So, I’ll work on that article and get back with you early next week. Sound good?

Good.

PEACE!!!!!

Gettin’ ready for Summer with Pepsi Summer Mix

Posted in Pepsi, pop culture, reviews, soda with tags , , on May 4, 2007 by Paxton

Sodapalooza

Pepsi Summer MixI told you in the Diet Coke Plus article here that Coke and Pepsi are going to be releasing many new and remixed flavors for the coming summer. I’m anxiously awaiting the Mountain Dew: Halo 3 edition. However another flavor remix has just arrived and I found it today at Wally World (Wal-Mart, for those in “the biz”).

Check the picture to the left and you can see that, yes, Pepsi Summer Mix has arrived. If you click the picture you can visit the official website. What is it? Well, the label says it’s a mix of tropical fruit flavors and Pepsi. Which tropical fruit flavors? No clue. Pepsi declines to mention that little nugget of info. How’s the taste? Not bad, but not great. Imagine drinking a bottle of Pepsi while eating a mouthful of regular Starburst candies. THAT is what this soda tastes like. Soda mixed with candy. It should be called Pepsi Starburst Mix. Or Pepsi: The Candy Edition. Not something I would label as tropical fruit, nor do I think I’ll drink it again. Pepsi Tropical ChillIt’s hard for me to remember, but I think this Summer Mix tastes extremely similar to another Pepsi flavor called Pepsi Blue.

Did you know that in the early ’90s Pepsi released another Pepsi version with tropical flavors? Look to the right, Pepsi Tropical Chill was released to test markets in the US to see if it would sell. It was accompanied with its brothers Pepsi Strawberry Burst and Pepsi Raging Razzberry (yes, Pepsi misspelled raspberry, not me). The three flavors were bundled into one promotional package and were collectively called The Wild Bunch. Peep the group pic below.

Pepsi Wild Bunch

These three “wild and crazy guys” were also available in 6packs and 12packs for a limited time in certain test market supermarkets. I guess they didn’t sell well because they never made it out of the testing stage. Too bad (or not since Strawberry Pepsi seems too similar to Wild Cherry Pepsi and Raspberry Pepsi just sounds like ass-berry Pepsi).

I heard there might be a diet version of Summer Mix coming, but I don’t think I’ll hold my breath.

Thanks to X-Entertainment and Steve Tanner for the pics in this article.

Technorati Tags –