Par-tay! Pizza Party!!

Does anybody remember the game Pizza Party? If you've no clue wtf I'm on about, go here: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/716 for enlightenment. Anyways a childhood pal of mine had Pizza Party and I played it a coupla times, but it was the PP commercials (and not the actual game experience) that have left a lasting impression on me. I can't remember the thing in much detail, but I remember it involved cartoon anthropomorphized pizza toppings and there was this song that went "Par-TAY, PIZZA Parrr-tay!" and possibly there were other lyrics but none of them memorable. Now, that commercial must be nearly 20 yrs off the air and still, to this day, every time I encounter a pizza-centric social gathering I am helplessly compelled to internally sing "Par-TAY, PIZZA Parrr-tay!" Now that's some powerful advertising! Although I have not done any extensive research in the marketing/business field, it seems to me that the jingle is powerful and underutilized advertising tool. Today companies are more inclined to buy some pre-existing pop song that is barely relevant to their product for use in their ads...as opposed to hiring some jingle genius (Uncle Jesse springs to mind as an example). But I think jingles are waaay more effective (at least to this consumer) I remember songs for Chiquita Bananas, Brill Cream, Mr Clean, Aqua Seltzer...all from ads that were airing looong before I was born! I tell ya, one company that knows what the hell I'm talkin' 'bout is WINDSHIELD WORLD. They don't really have a song, per se, but they sing their phone number in every ad. I know their phone number better than I know my own . Seriously. If ever I have a windshield emergency, there is absolutely no question who I will call. I know the damn number (1-800-639-0666) Well, also, I have 2 cousins who work for Windshield World so mebbe that gits me some kinda fam discount...

You might have suspected from the subject line, and from the mere fact that it is FRIDAY, that I am in the midst of an office pizza party. Very astute of you, that. We are indeed having a pizza party here. I don't wanna kvetch (out loud, that is, that's why you're about to be subjected to copious kvetching RIGHT NOW) but this is one of the lamest pizza parties on record. They brought us Domino's Pizza (which is mediocre, at best) plus the lady who did the ordering is a big fan of Domino's Steak & Cheese pizza so we have 1 whole pie that is that grody concoction. But what really burns me arse is that they (they=the pizza party powers that be or the ppptb) neglected to provide soda. Pretty f***ing shabby, folks! Yeah, yeah, I know I'm a mucho ingrate, and I also do realize that they're not called "Pizza & Soda Parties". But c'mon! Where pizza is consumed, soda is an accoutrement nécessaire! And we have a lotta tech support guys milling about and loitering in the vicinity of my cubicle. They're all really nice guys but when they congregate they tend to talk about work which is SUCH a snooze. So rather than be social (sit out there with my pizza, smile, nod, feign interest) I grabbed a slice and retreated to my desk to blog & net surf in isolation. To make clear that I was being resolvedly antisocial , I popped some earbuds in my ears and cranked up VH1 radio. Just a little aside in regards to 'net radio-- Accuradio is most definitely my fave site for online radio, but as of late my work 'puter won't play it!! (hence my using VH1 radio today) It's nothing so easy as a pop-up blocker issue, (that I woulda overcome in a matter of seconds) but I think some internet security settings have been changed. I will have to nose around on the system and see what I can monkey around with. While listening to VH1 radio, I got all stoked because I heard (and instantly recognized ) the beginning of The Cure's "Lullaby" but it ended up being some damn rap song (namely, "Snowflakes" by Just Jack...whoever the hell that is). Don't get me wrong, I like rap music and I'm not really anti-sampling in rap music. But this "Just Jack" bloke, he most definitely OVERSAMPLED. It's not like he just had a riff from The Cure that kept sporadically recurring throughout his song. Rather, it sounded like he was playing Lullabye and shut off Smith's vocals and just rapped over the whole song. And it felt like a bit of a dirty trick, as I really wanted to listen to the Cure after hearing that intro. I listened to the entire song thinking, "Just Jack, just SHUT UP so I can listen to mah damn Cure song!!" I have a Greatest Hits CD for The Cure and this whole rant reminds me that I want to relocate said CD to my car and listen to it more frequently. That one, and my Best O' Billy Idol CD. Billy Idol is the
cats jammies. I freeekin' love him. I saw him in concert once upon a time I did. I heard Billy's "Mony Mony " cover on the radio today (car radio, not 'net radio, that is). I can't quite recall what exactly my high school yelled during the Mony Mony chorus (at dances). It was either "Hey hey better get laid, get f***ed!" OR "Hey motherf***ers, get laid get f****ed!" Probably the latter, because WHS was full of real baaaaadasses. I am really interested to know who exactly originated that callback. That guy (I'm tempted to say "...IS A GENIUS!!" but that might be slighty too lofty a commendation) was pretty rad, esp. when you consider what a national friggen PHENOMENON that morphed into. That dude is a cultural innovator on par with the guy who first publicly recommended a crowd to throw their hands in the air and wave them with apparent indifference (or somethin' like that, right???). By the way, Billy sang "Hey motherf***ers, get laid get f****ed!" when he did Mony Mony in concert. Also by the way, Mony Mony is probably my least favorite Idol song . Not because of the profanity issue (are you kidding?? I LOVE profanity!) I actually do like Mony Mony but less so, I think because it's a remake and not truly one of Billy's songs. I think White Wedding is the popular favorite, but if ya ask moi (and you would, because you so immensely value my opinion on all things arts & culture, don't you my dears??) nothing tops "Rebel Yell". I love, love,
LOVE that song. Awwww , YEAH puddin'!!


So, last Friday I bought (at Family Dollar) a cheap-o generic Magna Doodle (hey, what the hell, it was payday, ok?). and I hung it on a hook on my outside cubicle wall ( the wall facing the public, in the vicinity of my name plate) for people to leave me pictures or notes or whatever. You see, I prefer this to actually talking with my coworkers. My original intention was to wear this around my neck and be like Anthony Hopkins' Legends of the Fall character at the end of that flick. But the faux Magna-D was a bit unwieldy and clashed with a good deal of my wardrobe so I nixed that notion. Of course I'm kidding about my ill communication skills , not only am I content to converse with my officemates (usually) there are some days that I just CANNOT shut my yapper. But the Magna Doodle purchase is a historical fact and it does indeed hang where I toldja. I didn't want just a blank slate hangin' there, but I didn't know what message I wanted to put out there so I wrote a big "YOUR AD HERE". And Lisa(who may well be the corniest damn person in this galaxy ) then wrote beneath that: "1+3=4" Hardy freakin' har har. So I erased it and told her to quit being a dumb dumb loserface or something like that, and she asked me "Well whaddya want me to write?" And I requested that she write me a sonnet. Well the faux Magna-D is rather smallish and after a quick refresher course on what precisely constitutes a sonnet, I figure you probably can't fit one on there. A sonnet is 14 lines in iambic pentameter. Now, because I wish to be a fair diva, and not insanely demanding, I tried to write a sonnet. I wanted to see if I could and determine if I was being too hard on poor, corny Lisa. I say I "tried to" but I actually did produce a sonnet. It had all the basic sonnet criteria--14 lines, in iambic pentameter. It even rhymed (specifically, it had an ABAB CDCD EFEF GG rhyme scheme). I thought writing in iambic pentameter would be the tricky part, but once you do a stanza of it, the I.P. really just flows outta ya. No, the fatal flaw of my sonnet was not structural...it was how it devolved into melodramatic hokeyness when that was never my intent. I should not blame that on the sonnet format, since I ALWAYS (really, without fail. it's pathetic) fall prey to hokeyness whenever I attempt poetry. I should quit it for good....stick to semi-coherent, stream-of-consciousness blogging, eh?


Is there anyone else out there, besides moi, who has perused the grocery store produce department and mused: "Mesculin does NOT sound like healthy, leafy greens. It sounds like baaaad news illegal drugs that are quite possibly administered via filthy needle" No big plans for my weekend, beyond picking up my car tomorrow a.m. Yep, the ride has been tinkered with and is now again in primo condition (supposedly). I got the grand total when I talked to that nooganooch Tony on the phoney today. It wasn't as bad as I'd prepped myself for. So maybe I will go and see Clerks 2 this weekend after all (since I'm not, y'know, destitute) I just need to find somebody else who's jonesin' to see it.

Ciao for now, my little chickpeas!!