Meeting of the....ummm...."minds"....at Denny's

Here are two friends having a breakfast skillet at Denny's who have absolutely, positively NOTHING to say to each other.

"I told you you could create your own skillet," one says.  Uh-huh.  Well, you were proven right, weren't you?  I wonder how many months this guy had to push his friend to give in and try the Denny's create your own skillet deal, and how many conversations included "man, I just don't believe you" and a frustrated walk-off.

"I've never had a combination like this"-- wow, who the hell wrote this dialogue?  So two friends go eat breakfast and the only thing either of them can think to say is something about...the breakfast?  Really?

And we finish up with some lame-ass comment about haircut styles.  "You got to try something new..."  "you've had the same haircut since seventh grade!"  Oh, the hilarity.  And YOU'VE had the same idiot, boring friend and the same total inability to make small talk since god knows when.

Seriously, what the hell is this?  If I found myself eating breakfast with a friend and engaged in a conversation which was 100 percent about that breakfast, I'd start to wonder what was wrong with my life.  Of course, I've never once tried to talk someone into getting breakfast at Denny's, so maybe I just can't relate.

Cheerios Commercial Rewrite

"Gracie, you know how our family has mommy.....and daddy......."

Gracie: "Don't condescend me.  I can count.  I'm not three, for chrissakes, daddy.  You are about to use another Cheerio to indicate me, so let's cut to the chase, ok?"

Daddy:  "Um, ok.....well....we are about to add another....."

Gracie:  "Oh crap."

Daddy:  "You and your mommy and I... I mean, you are about have a baby brother."

Gracie:  "Oh, crap.  Another baby in the house?  How the hell did this happen?"

Daddy:  "Well, you see, honey, when Mommies and Daddies love each other and Daddy gets a little drunk, sometimes mommies forget that we agreed to stop at one, and then suddenly Mommy tells Daddy that she 'forgot' to take her birth control...."

Mommy:  "Excuse me?  I was plastered too, dammit.  And there's no reason why you couldn't use a condom.  Why is it always my responsibility?"

Gracie:  "If I have to put up with a baby, I want a puppy."

Daddy: "Mommy and Daddy are talking right now.  Eat your Cheerios."

Mommy:  "We're talking right now? Oh really?  This doesn't look like talking."

Daddy: "You're complaining?  Last time we talked, we AGREED to wait."

Mommy: "THAT again!  Listen, sleep on the fucking couch and we don't have this issue."

Gracie:  "I want a puppy."

eHarmony's creepy "Granddaughter" ad: I don't want to imagine Show and Tell at this girl's school....

Maybe it's because I'm a teacher.  Maybe it's because I'm a particularly private person.  But I don't think so.  I think I'm perfectly justified in thinking that this kid's teacher has no business discussing his relationship status with his students.

I mean, think about it.  This awdowable pwecious wittle girl with the adowable pwecious speeth disowdah is not only aware that her male teacher has a new girlfriend, but that he met her through an online website.  She even knows that website is NOT eHarmony....shouldn't Teacher be, I don't know, TEACHING instead of discussing this with the class?

Then again, she knows her uber-creepy grandfather makes his living by operating a dating website that "has all the hot babes," so maybe she's used to having inappropriate conversations with old guys.  Still, I think a call to the school would be more than appropriate here.  BOUNDARIES, people.  BOUNDARIES!

Stufz? Someone call Child Protective Services on Chef Duffy!

This guy's enthusiasm for dead cow jammed with poisonous junk has spread to his poor daughter, whose "favorite" burger comes stuffed with macaroni and cheese.  Why do I suspect that bacon bowls are popular in this house too?

So the fattest, most unhealthy country on the planet continues to find more ways to kill itself with food.  We shouldn't be eating ground beef at all- it's a terribly inefficient protein delivery method, besides creating massive amounts of waste by causing its harvesters to dedicate millions of acres of land to its production which could be better used for the growing of grain.  It's fatty and heart-unfriendly and cruel.  Yet we are forever seeking new ways to ingest this life-shortening junk.

And the new trend seems to be to find ways to jam as many calories as possible into the smallest area.  Bacon bowls. Bread bowls.  Stuffed hamburgers.  KFC Double-downs.  Cheeseburger pizzas.  "Conveniently," consuming a huge amount of fat doesn't take a huge amount of food anymore.  Yay....

I'm surprised they didn't burn the place down...

What the hell?

This guy's son/daughter whatever stopped by the house for a minute- and proceeded to turn on the TV, all the lights, and the water?  Jesus, what happened- did they run out of time before they had a chance to microwave a potato, leave cigarettes burning in the living room  or start a turkey going in the oven?

And I don't care what kind of phone you have- what kind of forgetful doofus feels it's necessary to rig up his house so he can turn off the freaking water?  Who leaves the water running?  Like I just wrote- WHAT THE HELL?  What if these morons hadn't shown up at the cabin for another three or four hours- wouldn't that made it a little too late to shut things off before major damage was done?  (Which brings me to another observation- the dad with the SuperPhone didn't receive some "your kids are assholes and put your house at risk" message- if he didn't KNOW they are assholes and they hadn't TOLD him they had stopped by the house and felt COMPELLED to check* on things, the homestead would have been in freaking ruins when he got back....)

Oh, and where's the "hey dickweeds, you didn't turn off the lights or water or lock the door, what the hell is the matter with you?"  This guy just doesn't care that he's raised a thoughtless, clueless clown, because his magic phone erases the messes he makes?

One more thing- what if the door had been left OPEN instead of just unlocked? Or windows had been left open?  I'm going to ASSUME that the toilet is unflushed, because jeesh.....

*the moment Dad learns that the kids stopped by the house, he whips out his phone.  He knows these kids.  He KNOWS they can't be trusted with anything sharper than a rubber ball.  Great spawn you got there, Dad.

"Signature Look?" Ok, I admit it. I have no idea what that means.

I am trying to imagine growing up in a family which features

1.  A freaking palace of a living room (or maybe this is a rec room?  I really don't know.  I just know it's a freaking palace.)

2.  Half a dozen people who are obsessed with the amount of music they can download on to their phones, and who think that the ability to download a lot of music to their phones somehow makes them or their lives better.

3.  Parents who are thrilled at any new offering which allows their kids to use their phones more often.  I have to say, this is the one that always throws me.  I'm trying to picture my parents seeking out ways to allow us kids to be attached to phones as much as possible, and struggling with the "problem" of excessive charges in a way other than announcing "you are using the phone too often.  Stay off the damned phone."   I am not sure exactly when modern parents became eager, willing handmaidens to their kids desire to talk, text, download and stream 24/7, but I am quite certain it was not when I was a kid.

I'm also trying to imagine my parents measuring their self-worth on having a "signature look" centered around their phones.  Seriously, what the hell?

The rest of this Doritos ad seems to feature a girl riding a dog. I didn't bother.

Am I really the only person who watched this ad and couldn't get over the first ten seconds- when asshole dickweed douchenozzle worthless scumbag kid responds to his mom's plea for help with the groceries by sneering "I don't know, can you?" while keeping his eyes frozen to his cell phone?

Am I really the only person who felt legitimately nauseous when mom responded with "guess you don't want Doritos?"  Um, excuse me?  I wasn't the greatest kid in the world, but I'm pretty sure I never had to be bribed by my mother to ACT LIKE A FUCKING DECENT HUMAN BEING AND HELP HER WITH THE GROCERIES.  And I'm POSITIVE that if I ever DID not only refuse to help, but handed her a sassy quip while otherwise ignoring her, she would not have responded with "guess you don't want your favorite snack."  It would have been more like 'your dad's going to hear about this later- and guess what?  He's not going to be bribing you with a snack, either."

You know, I didn't even bother with the rest of this awfulness after that first ten seconds, because years after I thought I had gotten used to seeing jerk kids treat their parents like something they just scraped off their shoe, the absolute obviousness of this kid's need to have that cell phone taken away RIGHT NOW and his internet connection unplugged RIGHT NOW and needing to be put to work doing chores RIGHT NOW and being taught Basic Manners 101 RIGHT NOW really took me by surprise.  Well, what do you know-  you can still pull this off, Doritos.  I'll give you that.