Stop Promoting Me Pastries
Today, I headed into the city to check out the mobile Pie Hole for the Pushing Daisies Touch of Wonder Tour. And I intended to post about it, but I realized I never wrote about my trip to the Kwik-E-Mart last year! You may remember that, to promote The Simpsons Movie, a dozen 7-11s across the country were converted into Kwik-E-Marts. Luckily, one of them was in Mountain View, and my brother and sister were visiting in July, so we went down to see the movie and visit the Kwik-E-Mart.
They could only let people in once people got out.
Make sure to click and look at the bigger versions so you can catch all the little touches. It was really fun.
Apu had to go and ruin the illusion.
Meet my brother and sister.
The first thing I saw was the checkout counter.
Kids are people too! Up to 7% goes to actual children!
Of course, we had to pose with our good friend Apu.
The whole place was full of Simpsons characters and merchandise. It was terribly amusing.
The following picture is reason #7,459 why I love my brother.
Then we tackled the real reason we came...
Mmm...forbidden donut...
I also ran into this guy:
And a sign for Moe's:
We also met Homer!
So of course we had to mess with him.
Throughout the store, Apu would give out helpful advice.
Finally, we needed to get something to drink with our donuts.
So of course we got a Squishee. The cashier rang us up. And...this picture has not been PhotoShopped:
It was a good time.
Today, Pushing Daisies invaded the Ghirardelli Chocolate Festival, and I braved Fisherman's Wharf.
I asked some girls with balloons where the rest of the stuff was, and they pointed me toward a booth in the festival.
Lo and behold, I discovered...a cute girl holding balloons!
She saw me taking the picture and made sure not to turn away. It was cute. I thought she looked Anna Friel-esque, which was appropriate.
They were handing out free stuff! Like a pie cutter/server and a stirrer thingie. Lookit!
They're pretty neat and don't look like they will fall apart if I attempt to use them. And now I feel like I should bake something so I have a use for them.
But, Sunil, you ask, what did you pose them on? A bicycle?
Yes. A bicycle.
It seemed they had run out of pie, and minutes after I arrived, they ran out of pie servers. I had gotten there around 1:15; the event was to have started at noon.
I hung around the booth looking for more excitement since I had made a special trip and wanted it to be worth it, even without pie. I noticed a reporter or something asking the cute girl some questions, notepad out. I wondered what sort of story he would be writing about this thing. She mentioned that they were going to L.A. next. I said that they were just in L.A., also. She misheard me and asked if I were from L.A., but I clarified what I had meant, saying I had seen on the website.
She was all, "Oh, you know what this is?" Which was funny because of course I assumed that everyone who came came specifically because they knew about it, but they had set up in the Ghirardelli Chocolate Festival, so the majority of the people were there for that. And in any case, it's a perfect place to market Pushing Daisies! These people will appreciate a show about pies.
I asked if there was anything else to it, since I had gotten the impression they had some traveling Pie Hole set inside the trailer or something, but she said that, no, it was just painted. Usually, they set up in front of the trailer, but they couldn't drive the trailer into the festival.
I grabbed a magnet from the booth since it was there.
I noticed a girl on the sidewalk holding a box with the Pushing Daisies logo on it, and I asked her what it was. It was the pie! The pie they were now out of. I didn't notice at first, but she was wearing a CafePress shirt that read "The Pie Maker" in Pushing Daisies font. And she had a bag that said, "Don't Mess with the Pie Ho's." Aw, a Pushing Daisies fangirl! She, too, was sort of hanging around and hoping for some excitement. Her mom walked up and asked if she wanted a picture of her in front of the booth, and she declined. "Mothers," her mom joked to me, "never get what they want!"
I asked the fangirl if she'd seen Wonderfalls. She said she couldn't find it anywhere. On YouTube and the like. I said the DVDs weren't that expensive, maybe twenty or thirty bucks. I described the show a bit to her mom, who hadn't heard of it. I also recommended Dead Like Me. The fangirl said she just needed to Google Bryan Fuller and watch all of his stuff. Then her mom asked, "Is that the one that starts out in an office and they all get assignments?"
"Yeah!" I said. "They go to Der Waffle Haus."
"I've seen that!" she said. The fangirl was all confused as to how her mom had seen Dead Like Me and she hadn't. She said she'd seen a couple episodes.
I walked around a bit. When I returned, the fangirl and her mom (and her dad and her sister) were still there. We noted that they now appeared to be out of blue stirrer thingies. And even magnets. It was about 1:45. Her dad said they'd run out of pie around one o'clock; when they first started, there was a huge line. I said that at least it was good promotion, but he said that they'd had trouble getting the banner up for the first hour. So they didn't even know what the pie was for! They just saw free pie and lined up. Alas.
Now, they were reduced to passing out fliers, repeating over and over, "Watch the premiere of ABC's Pushing Daisies, October 1 at 8!" Over and over and over. And yet, their smiles never flagged, which was impressive. Also, notice that girl's Pushing Daisies apron, which was the reason I took the picture.
One time, the fangirl and I approached for some reason or another, and one of the girls noticed her shirt. "Look at her shirt!" she cried. "Where'd you get that?" I told her to show off her bag as well. And so the Pushing Daisies girls totally fangirled the fangirl and took a picture of her and her shirt. My "Go Pirates!" shirt was of no interest.
We retreated to the sidewalk once again, just hanging out. I asked her if she'd seen the season 2 trailer.
"It looks so bizarre! With the [garlic festival]!" she said.
"And the [flying monkey] being shot out of a [rhinoceros]!" I said. "And then they're disguised as [hippopotami]?" We were excited.
Earlier, we had heard that they had been doing Pushing Daisies trivia and awarding DVDs, so we were on the lookout. When we saw a girl with DVDs in her hand, we walked up, wondering if she were just holding them up to taunt people. Then we heard the snatches of a trivia question and then a couple people shout, "Synchronized swimming!" Which was the answer to the question we both could have answered if we had heard the question.
We asked the cute girl if they would be doing any more trivia. Two people had answered that question, and both of them had gotten DVD sets. The girl told us they only had five DVD sets to give away per location, and she thought they were all gone, but she'd check.
She checked, and they were indeed out, but she came back with a blue stirrer thingie for the fangirl. We thought they were out! "This is just because of your shirt," she said, smiling. "I'm not supposed to do this."
With the DVD sets gone, there wasn't any more reason to hang around. Soon, they would even run out of fliers. I asked the family if they were in the city. No, San Jose. Ah, I said, because if they were in Oakland, I would have let them borrow my DVDs.
As they left, the fangirl said, "Nice to meet you," even though we had never exchanged names. I responded in turn.
At home, I affixed the magnet to my refrigerator.
It adds a bit of color:
I...don't even remember where the cow came from anymore.
So the Pie Hole was not nearly as cool as I expected, but I suppose things never are. If you want to see it for yourself, though, you may be able to! If you're in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Denver, Dallas, Chicago, Philadelphia, or New York. Check the website, and get there early if you want pie!
They could only let people in once people got out.
Make sure to click and look at the bigger versions so you can catch all the little touches. It was really fun.
Apu had to go and ruin the illusion.
Meet my brother and sister.
The first thing I saw was the checkout counter.
Kids are people too! Up to 7% goes to actual children!
Of course, we had to pose with our good friend Apu.
The whole place was full of Simpsons characters and merchandise. It was terribly amusing.
The following picture is reason #7,459 why I love my brother.
Then we tackled the real reason we came...
Mmm...forbidden donut...
I also ran into this guy:
And a sign for Moe's:
We also met Homer!
So of course we had to mess with him.
Throughout the store, Apu would give out helpful advice.
Finally, we needed to get something to drink with our donuts.
So of course we got a Squishee. The cashier rang us up. And...this picture has not been PhotoShopped:
It was a good time.
Today, Pushing Daisies invaded the Ghirardelli Chocolate Festival, and I braved Fisherman's Wharf.
I asked some girls with balloons where the rest of the stuff was, and they pointed me toward a booth in the festival.
Lo and behold, I discovered...a cute girl holding balloons!
She saw me taking the picture and made sure not to turn away. It was cute. I thought she looked Anna Friel-esque, which was appropriate.
They were handing out free stuff! Like a pie cutter/server and a stirrer thingie. Lookit!
They're pretty neat and don't look like they will fall apart if I attempt to use them. And now I feel like I should bake something so I have a use for them.
But, Sunil, you ask, what did you pose them on? A bicycle?
Yes. A bicycle.
It seemed they had run out of pie, and minutes after I arrived, they ran out of pie servers. I had gotten there around 1:15; the event was to have started at noon.
I hung around the booth looking for more excitement since I had made a special trip and wanted it to be worth it, even without pie. I noticed a reporter or something asking the cute girl some questions, notepad out. I wondered what sort of story he would be writing about this thing. She mentioned that they were going to L.A. next. I said that they were just in L.A., also. She misheard me and asked if I were from L.A., but I clarified what I had meant, saying I had seen on the website.
She was all, "Oh, you know what this is?" Which was funny because of course I assumed that everyone who came came specifically because they knew about it, but they had set up in the Ghirardelli Chocolate Festival, so the majority of the people were there for that. And in any case, it's a perfect place to market Pushing Daisies! These people will appreciate a show about pies.
I asked if there was anything else to it, since I had gotten the impression they had some traveling Pie Hole set inside the trailer or something, but she said that, no, it was just painted. Usually, they set up in front of the trailer, but they couldn't drive the trailer into the festival.
I grabbed a magnet from the booth since it was there.
I noticed a girl on the sidewalk holding a box with the Pushing Daisies logo on it, and I asked her what it was. It was the pie! The pie they were now out of. I didn't notice at first, but she was wearing a CafePress shirt that read "The Pie Maker" in Pushing Daisies font. And she had a bag that said, "Don't Mess with the Pie Ho's." Aw, a Pushing Daisies fangirl! She, too, was sort of hanging around and hoping for some excitement. Her mom walked up and asked if she wanted a picture of her in front of the booth, and she declined. "Mothers," her mom joked to me, "never get what they want!"
I asked the fangirl if she'd seen Wonderfalls. She said she couldn't find it anywhere. On YouTube and the like. I said the DVDs weren't that expensive, maybe twenty or thirty bucks. I described the show a bit to her mom, who hadn't heard of it. I also recommended Dead Like Me. The fangirl said she just needed to Google Bryan Fuller and watch all of his stuff. Then her mom asked, "Is that the one that starts out in an office and they all get assignments?"
"Yeah!" I said. "They go to Der Waffle Haus."
"I've seen that!" she said. The fangirl was all confused as to how her mom had seen Dead Like Me and she hadn't. She said she'd seen a couple episodes.
I walked around a bit. When I returned, the fangirl and her mom (and her dad and her sister) were still there. We noted that they now appeared to be out of blue stirrer thingies. And even magnets. It was about 1:45. Her dad said they'd run out of pie around one o'clock; when they first started, there was a huge line. I said that at least it was good promotion, but he said that they'd had trouble getting the banner up for the first hour. So they didn't even know what the pie was for! They just saw free pie and lined up. Alas.
Now, they were reduced to passing out fliers, repeating over and over, "Watch the premiere of ABC's Pushing Daisies, October 1 at 8!" Over and over and over. And yet, their smiles never flagged, which was impressive. Also, notice that girl's Pushing Daisies apron, which was the reason I took the picture.
One time, the fangirl and I approached for some reason or another, and one of the girls noticed her shirt. "Look at her shirt!" she cried. "Where'd you get that?" I told her to show off her bag as well. And so the Pushing Daisies girls totally fangirled the fangirl and took a picture of her and her shirt. My "Go Pirates!" shirt was of no interest.
We retreated to the sidewalk once again, just hanging out. I asked her if she'd seen the season 2 trailer.
"It looks so bizarre! With the [garlic festival]!" she said.
"And the [flying monkey] being shot out of a [rhinoceros]!" I said. "And then they're disguised as [hippopotami]?" We were excited.
Earlier, we had heard that they had been doing Pushing Daisies trivia and awarding DVDs, so we were on the lookout. When we saw a girl with DVDs in her hand, we walked up, wondering if she were just holding them up to taunt people. Then we heard the snatches of a trivia question and then a couple people shout, "Synchronized swimming!" Which was the answer to the question we both could have answered if we had heard the question.
We asked the cute girl if they would be doing any more trivia. Two people had answered that question, and both of them had gotten DVD sets. The girl told us they only had five DVD sets to give away per location, and she thought they were all gone, but she'd check.
She checked, and they were indeed out, but she came back with a blue stirrer thingie for the fangirl. We thought they were out! "This is just because of your shirt," she said, smiling. "I'm not supposed to do this."
With the DVD sets gone, there wasn't any more reason to hang around. Soon, they would even run out of fliers. I asked the family if they were in the city. No, San Jose. Ah, I said, because if they were in Oakland, I would have let them borrow my DVDs.
As they left, the fangirl said, "Nice to meet you," even though we had never exchanged names. I responded in turn.
At home, I affixed the magnet to my refrigerator.
It adds a bit of color:
I...don't even remember where the cow came from anymore.
So the Pie Hole was not nearly as cool as I expected, but I suppose things never are. If you want to see it for yourself, though, you may be able to! If you're in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Denver, Dallas, Chicago, Philadelphia, or New York. Check the website, and get there early if you want pie!