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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