Happy New Year!!

In this episode:

• a sing off: Eliza Dushku’s “Freedom” vs. Paul McCartney’s “Freedom”,
• Yoko Ono ruining the Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus performances,
• John Lennon in The Dirty Mac with Eric Clapton, Mitch Mitchell, and Keith Richards,
• Rob’s genius idea #1 (bomb scare to cancel a sports game),
• Jean-Claude Van Damme playing hockey in Sudden Death (1995),
• Rob’s genius idea #2 (everybody gets a free crime to commit),
• Tom Cruise hires people to be his fans in India,
• Tom Hanks posting pictures of his injured thumb on Twitter,
• our new Paunch Twitter account,
• Alec Baldwin gets thrown off a plane and makes fun of it on Saturday Night Live,
• the trailer for the upcoming movie The Three Stooges (2012),
• a remake of Gilligan’s Island starring the cast of Curb Your Enthusiasm,
• Unabomber Ted Kasinsky being tortured with CIA mind control,
• more incompetent bus drivers,
• What Ever Happened To? (comedian Bob Nelson),
• the new Modern Warfare video game making $4 billion in its first few days of sales,
• Hulk Hogan and Brutus Beefcake suing Hogan’s ex-wife,
• Miyamoto not retiring from Nintendo,
• our Lame Idiot of the Year award goes to Charlie Sheen,
• and the runner up is Kim Kardashian.

Here’s our take on the Curb Your Enthusiasm cast starring in a new Gilligan’s Island!

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In this episode:

• reminiscing about Macho Man Randy Savage,
• bad reviews for the new video game Duke Nukem Forever,
• Duke being able to throw human feces at his enemies,
• new versions of U.S. pennies,
• the Bitcoin internet money controversy,
• celebrity deaths (Jeff Conaway and Jack Kevorkian),
• Nintendo’s preview of its upcoming Wii U,
• custom made video game consoles (Ben Heck),
• our review of Super 8 (2011) directed by J.J. Abrams,
• our review of The Hangover 2 (2011) starring Ed Helms and Zach Galifianakis,
• George Lopez starring in a remake of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang,
• 4D movie technology Smell-O-Vision (article),
• going to school on super hot summer days,
• Nicolas Cage’s son Weston beaten up by Nic’s security guard,
• and Al Pacino.

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In this episode:

• Greg’s new Dell computer,
• sticking with Vista or upgrading to Windows 7,
• a Nintendo Entertainment System video game selling for $20,100 on eBay,
• our movie review of The Island (1980) starring Michael Caine,
• our movie review of Stay Hungry (1976) starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jeff Bridges,
• our movie review of Safety Last! (1923) starring Harold Lloyd,
• James Cameron’s Avatar (2009) vs. M. Night Shyamalan’s The Last Airbender (2010),
• Happy Feet (2006),
• the upcoming Independence Day sequels,
• the season finale of Curb Your Enthusiasm,
• Bob Einstein’s voice,
• Leon Black (J. B. Smoove) pretending to be Jewish,
• Michael Richards making fun of his 2006 incident,
• Rosie O’Donnell,
• the Seinfeld reunion,
• and celebrity deaths (Ken Ober and Soupy Sales).

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In this episode:

• the new Cobra Commander toy,
• an in-depth discussion of the original G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero mini-series in episode 19 of the Saturday Supercast podcast,
• the evolution of Chris Latta’s Cobra Commander voice,
• Orson Welles’s Unicron voice from The Transformers: The Movie (movie speed vs. normal speed),
• Eric Idle’s incomprehensible Wreck-Gar voice,
• 1980s cartoon insults,
• cliched cartoon plots and video game themes,
• the decline of the Star Wars franchise,
• our review of Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 with MotionPlus for the Nintendo Wii,
• and Famicom vs. NES video games.

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In this episode:

• special guest Joe in KY,
• the digitally remastered episodes of Star Trek,
• the Star Wars movies,
• After Hours (1985) starring Griffin Dunne,
• video games vs. action figures,
• board games (Mouse Trap, Electronic Battleship, etc.),
• old video game consoles (Atari 2600, Intellivision, ColecoVision, Nintendo Entertainment System, etc.),
• the horrendous state of arcades,
• Zork and text adventure video games,
• children’s TV shows in the 1970s vs. today (Sesame Street, The Electric Company, Battle of the Planets, Pokemon, etc.)
• Empire Records (1995) starring Liv Tyler,
• Rob being bored by The Dark Knight (2008),
• Bruno (2009) starring Sacha Baron Cohen,
• celebrity birthdays (Bill Cosby and Ringo Starr),
• a celebrity death (Billy Mays),
• Steve Martin’s filmography,
• our movie review of Henry Poole Is Here (2008) starring Luke Wilson,
• and Short Time (1990) starring Dabney Coleman.

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In this episode:

• listeners Paul and Juan is Missouri,
• Esteban quitting Please Save Me Robots,
• John Madden retiring and being sued,
• Keanu Reeves winning the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach,
• Coldplay being sued by Cat Stevens,
• celebrity deaths (Bea Arthur and Dom DeLuise),
• flat caps,
• the upcoming Ghostbusters: The Video Game,
• Nintendo Wii MotionPlus being released in June,
• a new Ghostbusters movie,
• watching internet videos on Verizon FiOS cable TV,
• and a guy acting like a maniac on the NYC subway.

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Happy birthday to Jack in NJ!

In this episode:

• the March NAVA meeting at the Digital Press video game store in Clifton, NJ,
• The Celebrity Apprentice starring Tom Green and Andrew “Dice” Clay,
• the horrible Heroes season three,
• finally watching the 3D episode of Chuck,
• Willie Aames’s garage sale,
• Corey Haim selling his teeth on eBay,
• Jack in NJ’s 40th birthday,
• Greg’s trip to Dave & Buster’s,
• the value of paunchstevenson.com on websiteoutlook.com,
• Google Earth vs. Microsoft Live Search Maps,
• Microsoft’s WorldWide Telescope,
• Vegas Vampires (2003) starring Fred Williamson, Richard Roundtree, and Daniel Baldwin,
• Greg’s favorite vampire movies: Underworld (2003), From Dusk Till Dawn (1996), John Carpenter’s Vampires (1998), Blade (1998), My Best Friend Is a Vampire (1988), etc.,
• Late Night with Jimmy Fallon,
• the upcoming movie The Three Stooges (2010) starring Sean Penn, Benecio Del Toro, and Jim Carrey,
• gun stores and shooting ranges,
• an old recording of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg using racial slurs,
• pointless extracurricular activities in high school,
• and celebrity deaths (Natasha Richardson and Paul Harvey).

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I can’t even imagine what this would be like:

Supposedly, the Bob Ross Wii game is still in the works, too:

IGN – Bob Ross: The Joy of Painting (Wii)

I attended Nintendo’s Mario Kart Wii promotional event in New York City at 12:00 this afternoon and recorded a video:

I also snapped some photos:
Flickr – Mario Kart Wii promo event, NYC 4/24/08

Based on my experience with other Nintendo events in NYC – the Nintendo World grand opening in May 2005, the debut of Nintendogs with special guest Shigeru Miyamoto in September 2005, and the debut of Super Mario Galaxy in November 2007 – I anticipated a huge crowd, but when I got there, it was just me and one other guy standing in front of the Sheraton hotel on 7th Avenue waiting for Mario. Oh well. When Mario finally walked down the steps, the other guy and I surrounded him and were taking tons of pictures like idiots.

Eventually, a small crowd gathered and children were genuinely excited to see Mario walking down the street. I was surprised by how many adults asked to take a picture with him. It was cool.

The point of this event: Nintendo’s new racing video game Mario Kart Wii debuts Sunday, April 27, 2008, in the U.S. To promote it, Mario walked back and forth along the sidewalk holding the steering wheel that’s included with the game and hailed taxi cabs for people. Steering wheel…racing game…taxi cabs…it sort of makes sense, right? As a bonus, Nintendo paid $10 toward each fare, including mine. Thanks!

Being a video game fan and a Nintendo fan, I knew what the event was for, but I don’t think people walking by did. As you can tell by my video, this was an incredibly quiet publicity event. Mario didn’t talk, but neither did the woman who was with him. She should’ve been belting out, “Hey everybody, Mario Kart Wii is coming this Sunday! It features twelve-player online fun and a motion-sensing steering wheel! Who wants a cab ride? The first $10 is on us!” She wasn’t. There weren’t even any signs or free keychains.

I realize this event wasn’t really necessary because several million copies of the game will be bought automatically by Nintendo fans like me, but still, someone should’ve been handing out buttons or fliers letting people know what was going on. If you’re reading this and work for Nintendo, please consult me for your next game publicity event.

Our trip to Houlihan’s in NJ with special guest Dennis in CA!

In this episode:

• dealing with ridiculous customers at former jobs,
• PSEG’s upcoming Global Green Expo 2008 featuring Ted Danson and Ed Begley Jr. (www.nj.com/globalgreen),
• a truck accident in California releasing eight million bees onto the highway,
• The Swarm (1978),
• meeting Dennis at the Digital Press video game store in Clifton, NJ (www.digitpress.com),
• Thai-style calamari at Houlihan’s in NJ,
• the North Carolina Tar Heels,
• Esteban in South Dakota (pleasesavemerobots.blogspot.com),
• a guy in Texas who accidentally received Rob’s UPS package instead of the robot he ordered,
• Bicentennial Man (1999) starring Robin Williams,
• Will Ferrell,
• Be Kind Rewind (2008) starring Jack Black,
• Definitely, Maybe (2008) starring Ryan Reynolds,
• Explorers (1985) starring Ethan Hawke and River Phoenix,
• celebrity deaths (Arthur C. Clarke),
• Patrick Swayze’s pancreatic cancer,
• After Hours (1985) starring Griffin Dunne,
• GameStop’s midnight release of Super Smash Bros. Brawl for the Nintendo Wii,
• Guitar Hero: Aerosmith,
• moronic families on Family Feud,
• Tom Selleck as Indiana Jones,
• Epic Movie (2007),
• and Arnold Schwarzenegger prank phone calls.

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