Exactly...D'oh!

Ah, X. X, X, x, X. The most complicated letter of them all. Due to X making the same sound as "ex," the latter is mostly used in words, so there aren't many words that actually start with X. Due to this rule, I will vow to not cheat and actually use words that start with X.

Whenever Sesame Street featured X, it was usually awkward. I remember one episode where X threatened to leave the alphabet due to it not being in any words. While everyone agreed that X didn't start many words, it got more love at the end, like in "Box," "Fox," and "Ox." It seems that O had gotten just as much love, but he didn't sponsor that day's show, now did he?

To further convince X to not commit suicide, Patti LaBelle wrote a love song about X:



You'd agree to not do anything drastic if Patti LaBelle was involved, right? X thought so, and it agreed to not deprive adult entertainment centers of its most important letter.

Here are some actual words that start with X.


XXX: It's a flavor of Vitamin Water. I don't remember how or why I was turned onto Vitamin Water, but it's good stuff. This flavor in particular tastes like drinking a Blue Raspberry Airhead. I've tried several others, but no Airhead goodness. I've always wanted to know what exactly the flavor was for White Mystery, but I guess we'll never know.

I've been drinking this stuff for months, but I haven't been able to conduct an orchestra to perform "In Da Club." Perhaps it's because I haven't tried Formula 50.

X'tapolapocetl: The name of the giant stone Olmec Head that resides in the Simpson's Basement. It was formally introduced in the 2nd season episode "Blood Feud," where it was given to the family by Mr. Burns as a "thank you" to Bart donating his blood to save Burns's life. Ever since that episode, every time we visit the basement in their home, the Olmec Head is seen in the background. It's a wonderful bit on continuity that only the Simpsons can give to their geekish followers.

This has been your "Random Simpsons Fact" of the day.

X-Entertainment: One of my favorite websites that I visit religiously. It's a site that's mostly about celebrating all things nostalgic. Since the site's humble overlord, Matt, is a child of the 80s, most of the topics are from the 80's. But this hasn't stopped him from featuring subjects from the 70's, 90's, and today.

There have been several upon several topics where I go "Hey, I remember that!" One of the best aspects of the site is that I also go "Hey, I'm not the only one who remembers that!" It's all thanks to a blog feature that's also part of the site.

While Matt's actual updates have been...sporadic as of late, but no one really cares because we know that he actually has a life, it's the "regulars" of his blog who are there daily. The people who regularly comment have given themselves lives of their own, offering to open the windows into their personal lives as well. At first, everyone comments about the topic at hand, and when 3 days go by, everyone is like "what now?" So the discussion becomes aimless and chat about why there are no Friday The 13th Movies playing on the actual Friday The 13th, who wants to play Brawl, what's on tv, etc. But when a week or two goes by with no update, anarchy ensues. Now this is rare, but the sanity would soon return when another "hey, remember this?" topic begins.

Hell, this site has even influenced how I see pop-culture. When I see something that Matt has highlighted, like Jones Soda, or Iron Man Slurpees, or even an Arby's in Penn Station, I say to myself "That's from X-E!" I once asked for a box of FrankenBerry from the blog, and someone actually managed to send me TWO boxes of it! Now that's power, folks.

The new thing among Matt's followers besides waiting for new updates on stuff we can unanimously remember is starting blogs. Several sites on your right have been started to emulate Matt...and I was inspired to finally start a blog because of X-E. We're all part of the cult, so join us...join us...join us...Sorry. That button gets stuck sometimes.



Well, aside from trying to think up some material for "Xylophone," that about concludes my ode to the Letter X. Maybe I'll go watch that Patti LaBelle vid again, there's not much more for X to do around here.






"This aint no Five X Whiskey, I can still see!"