The company has an affinity for the grotesque.

This is the story of "Bob," according to Quiznos:
http://www.quiznos.com/baby_bob.asp

But if you ask me, "Bob" is just an extension of Quiznos' need to bend
things into repellent forms. It began simply with clashing multi-tonal
flavor notes in its overrated sandwiches (I sent in a suggestion for
prosciutto and limburger on mint chocolate chip, but they didn't bite). Soon
enough, it morphed into a post-nuclear representation of some kind of
guitar-toting South American monkey that many interpreted as
postmortemly-animated rats. And now, Quiznos has had a baby.

It's a human baby with gigantic cheeks and a haze where the mouth and chin
should be, and lips that move like a Sardonic rictus.

I don't care what Quiznos says about this baby. I don't care that the
company says he's a grown man in an infant's body. I don't care how
frustrated he is that he doesn't have molars.

I do care that looking at this baby is like having a bad dream.

Perhaps my objection is rooted in the fact that I don't like bad computer
animation. "Bob" is bad animation. "Bob" is like the shining highlights on
the Coca Cola polar bears, and the determinedly uniform appearance of the
smokestacks on the sinking oceanliner in the film _Titanic_. Watching "Bob"
is watching poorly executed special effects. In fact, I don't just dislike
bad computer animation... I HATE bad computer animation.

I saw _The Road to Morocco_ the other day. Near the end of the film, there
is actual, hand-drawn animation superimposed over the faces of two camels.
The animation provides moving lips and teeth to represent speech, and voices
were dubbed in. In terms of technological and artistic skill, the talking
camels are for more interesting and more amusing to watch than is young
"Bob." And very likely, because it was hard and expensive to do film
animation in those days, they were done with more care. The parts of the
images that had to be distorted to add the animation were distorted
minimally and the appearance of the absence of integral parts of their
anatomy was avoided. Not so with "Bob." His jaws seem to have been erased
and a set of tight wriggling lips suspended in the void, strung between
otherwordly cheekpads. The lower part of his face is a smear, and I can't
get passed that.

And perhaps I'm also bothered by the fact that others don't mind this. The
people that created "Bob" don't mind, and TV audiences don't mind that his
image is eerie; that there is definitely something about it that's
undeniably wrong. Maybe they can see that there is *something* but can't put
their finger on just what it is. Maybe.

Or maybe they're overwhelmed by other factors. _Titanic_ was an awful movie,
but no one cared about that. It cost millions of millions of dollars to
crank out, so it must okay, right?

Maybe I'm too sensitive. Maybe I'm too opinionated.

Maybe. I wonder how much Quiznos spent.

"pennyaline" <nsmitchell@spamspamspamspamspamspamspameggandspam .com> wrote
in message ...

> Or maybe they're overwhelmed by other factors. _Titanic_ was an awful
> movie,

I think I made it through 20 minutes, what a piece of formulaic crap.
Happy to know I'm not the only person on the planet who hated it.

> Maybe. I wonder how much Quiznos spent.

Pay to get rid of that icky baby. I want the singing rats!

nancy

Nancy Young wrote:
> "pennyaline" <nsmitchell@spamspamspamspamspamspamspameggandspam .com>
> wrote in message ...
>
>> Or maybe they're overwhelmed by other factors. _Titanic_ was an awful
>> movie,
>
> I think I made it through 20 minutes, what a piece of formulaic crap.
> Happy to know I'm not the only person on the planet who hated it.
>
Now you know me... the ONLY reason I watched that film was the vintage style
gowns! And oh! what I wouldn't give for some of the originals from 1912!

Jill (earliest gown is 1932, dammit)

pennyaline wrote:

> Maybe I'm too sensitive. Maybe I'm too opinionated.

Maybe you were born before 1975.
You're no longer the target demographic.
Get used to it. It's a long road downhill,
and it doesn't get any better. :-)

"pennyaline" <nsmitchell@spamspamspamspamspamspamspameggandspam .com> wrote
in message
>
> I don't care what Quiznos says about this baby. I don't care that the
> company says he's a grown man in an infant's body. I don't care how
> frustrated he is that he doesn't have molars.
>
> I do care that looking at this baby is like having a bad dream.

The only thing Quiznos cares about is that you remembered the name. Look at
all the publicity that is generated here in the past couple of days.


> And perhaps I'm also bothered by the fact that others don't mind this. The
> people that created "Bob" don't mind, and TV audiences don't mind that his
> image is eerie; that there is definitely something about it that's
> undeniably wrong. Maybe they can see that there is *something* but can't
> put
> their finger on just what it is. Maybe.


>
> Or maybe they're overwhelmed by other factors. _Titanic_ was an awful
> movie,
> but no one cared about that. It cost millions of millions of dollars to
> crank out, so it must okay, right?
>
> Maybe I'm too sensitive. Maybe I'm too opinionated.
>
> Maybe. I wonder how much Quiznos spent.

But have you bought their product? I've not had one yet, but I probably
will try one out of curiosity if nothing else. There are very few in this
area so far and I'm not curious enough to drive 30 miles for the closest
one.
--
Ed
http://pages.cthome.net/edhome/

Edwin Pawlowski wrote:
> The only thing Quiznos cares about is that you remembered the name. Look
at
> all the publicity that is generated here in the past couple of days.

Hmmmmm.

I may be losing it in my old age, but I haven't seen anything here about it.


> But have you bought their product? I've not had one yet, but I probably
> will try one out of curiosity if nothing else. There are very few in this
> area so far and I'm not curious enough to drive 30 miles for the closest
> one.

I've been repulsed by Quiznos since I first saw their early ads. The mix of
flavors and textures that they described in the ads were off-putting, not to
mention good old overkill.

Nope, I've never purchased from Quiznos. And their ads of late serve to
drive me even further away.

On 2005-01-31, pennyaline <nsmitchell@spamspamspamspamspamspamspameggandspam .com> wrote:

> Nope, I've never purchased from Quiznos. And their ads of late serve to
> drive me even further away.

They opened one a couple blocks from me. I went in once to check it out. It
actually stank, as in smelled bad. I left. It went out of business within
6 weeks of opening.

nb

"pennyaline" <nsmitchell@spamspamspamspamspamspamspameggandspam .com>
>
> I may be losing it in my old age, but I haven't seen anything here about
> it.
>

Must be. You're a part of it every time you post in this thread. See that
name in the header? Q u i z n o s Cheap publicity.

Wandering along the edges of rec.food.cooking, I found the following bit
of electronic flotsam written by "pennyaline"
<nsmitchell@spamspamspamspamspamspamspameggandspam .com> in
:

>> But have you bought their product? I've not had one yet, but I
>> probably will try one out of curiosity if nothing else. There are
>> very few in this area so far and I'm not curious enough to drive 30
>> miles for the closest one.
>
> I've been repulsed by Quiznos since I first saw their early ads. The
> mix of flavors and textures that they described in the ads were
> off-putting, not to mention good old overkill.

I, for one, have bought from Quizno's and will gladly do so again. I have
bought the Black Angus Steak sandwich on numerous occasions. I think it's
great stuff.

Edwin Pawlowski wrote:
> "pennyaline" wrote:
> >
> > I may be losing it in my old age, but I haven't seen anything here about
> > it.
> >
>
> Must be. You're a part of it every time you post in this thread. See
that
> name in the header? Q u i z n o s Cheap publicity.

Would it be worth it to... oh never mind

<makeup!>

Mark Thorson wrote:
> Maybe you were born before 1975.
> You're no longer the target demographic.
> Get used to it. It's a long road downhill,
> and it doesn't get any better. :-)

With uphill so damned hard nowadays, downhill must be better.

<just no sharp dropoffs, please>

Nancy Young wrote:

> Pay to get rid of that icky baby. I want the singing rats!
>
> nancy

Ditto! Where are the rats?

You could see them on http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/ but now I can
not find them. As I recall, they were not listed as Quizno's.

Becca

Becca wrote:

> Nancy Young wrote:
>
>> Pay to get rid of that icky baby. I want the singing rats!
>>
>> nancy
>
>
> Ditto! Where are the rats?
>
> You could see them on http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/ but now I can
> not find them. As I recall, they were not listed as Quizno's.
>


http://www.rathergood.com/moon_song/

HTH, :-)
Bob

zxcvbob wrote:

> http://www.rathergood.com/moon_song/
>
> HTH, :-)
> Bob

Thanks! My cat Louie and I are dancing to the tune right now.

Becca

I'll throw in a contrary opinion about Quiznos. I think they make an
excellent sandwich. I've been eating there for years and will continue
to. Much better than Subway, for the most part. Certainly not as good
as a real deli sandwich, which is hard to find in Denver.
As for "Bob", that asinine ad is not worth the time and trouble to say
it's asinine! I much prefer to ignore the negatives than to give up
time out of my life to excoriate them! Having said that, I agree that
this one deserves the criticism richly. If I were not already a
customer, I'd probably avoid the place based on those ads alone...

>From: Becca

>Ditto! Where are the rats?

The Spongemonkey's please. LOL....and here they are.
http://www.rathergood.com/moon_song/

Ellen

>From: "Edwin Pawlowski"

>But have you bought their product? I've not had one yet, but I probably
>will try one out of curiosity if nothing else.

As research I worked for a Quizno's for three days. Learned everything I needed
to know in one 6-hour shift. Clean operation - no deep fryers, mostly freshly
prepared food (soups/chili come from the Quizno's vendor). I was pleasantly
surprised. Easy to understand why it is one of the top five hottest franchises
today.

The contrast of toasted bread, melted cheese and warmed meat with cold
vegetables is nice. The "hot salads" are good, particularly the hot steak/blue
cheese/red onions on mixed greens including spring greens with balsamic
vinaigrette.

Baby Bob is lame. Totally yesterday. At least the spongemonkey's were
relatively original - if British.

Ellen

On 2005-01-31 18:03:59 -0500, "salgud" > said:

> I'll throw in a contrary opinion about Quiznos. I think they make an
> excellent sandwich. I've been eating there for years and will continue
> to. Much better than Subway, for the most part. Certainly not as good
> as a real deli sandwich, which is hard to find in Denver.
> As for "Bob", that asinine ad is not worth the time and trouble to say
> it's asinine! I much prefer to ignore the negatives than to give up
> time out of my life to excoriate them! Having said that, I agree that
> this one deserves the criticism richly. If I were not already a
> customer, I'd probably avoid the place based on those ads alone...



And they don't skimp on the meat, which is nice. I find them very
tasty and certainly prefer them over Subway.

SKW

SportKite1 wrote:

>>From: Becca
>
>
>>Ditto! Where are the rats?
>
>
> The Spongemonkey's please. LOL....and here they are.
> http://www.rathergood.com/moon_song/
>
> Ellen

Thanks for the link. I hope the Spongemonkey's pardon me calling them rats.

Becca

salgud wrote:
>
> I'll throw in a contrary opinion about Quiznos. I think they make an
> excellent sandwich.

I like some of their sandwiches but not others. It's
mainly the quality of the meat. The chicken chunks are
okay but the sliced turkey tastes like bad deli turkey loaf.
Blecch!. I like the fact that they're toasted as here in
Pittsburgh baked hoagies are the thing and I freak out
if I go to a hoagie place and they don't bake them. Sheesh!
What are they thinking? The other thing about Quizno's is
the bread. It tastes fine but it doesn't have much body
to it. I like nice dense bread, not the airy-fairy kind.

> I've been eating there for years and will continue
> to. Much better than Subway, for the most part.

Well, what isn't? Subway is horrid!

Kate

--
Kate Connally
“If I were as old as I feel, I’d be dead already.”
Goldfish: “The wholesome snack that smiles back,
Until you bite their heads off.”
What if the hokey pokey really *is* what it's all about?

On Sun, 30 Jan 2005 10:40:47 -0700, "pennyaline"
<nsmitchell@spamspamspamspamspamspamspameggandspam .com> wrote:

> His jaws seem to have been erased
>and a set of tight wriggling lips suspended in the void, strung between
>otherwordly cheekpads. The lower part of his face is a smear, and I can't
>get passed that.
>

i know some of you wonderful folks remember 'clutch cargo.'

your pal,
blake

On 31 Jan 2005 04:57:54 GMT, BookWight >
wrote:
>
>I, for one, have bought from Quizno's and will gladly do so again. I have
>bought the Black Angus Steak sandwich on numerous occasions. I think it's
>great stuff.

i thought it odd they didn't have crushed red cherry peppers for the
steak sub. but sliced jalapenos are o.k., i guess.

your pal,
blake

CLUTCH CARGO!!! What fond memories...
When I was in 10th or 11th grade, a bunch of the students wanted a long
weekend, petitioned the school to give us a Fri off after a Thurs
holiday (way back when holidays were celebrated on the actual day) and
were turned down. My friends and I had access to the school's
mimeograph machine (unauthorized, of course). Clutch was all the rage
at the time, so we declared it "National Clutch Cargo Day" and had one
of our artsy friends draw a good likeness of Clutch. We ran off
hundreds of flyers encouraging kids to ditch school that day. Over a
third of the student body skipped! Will always remember dear old Clutch
for getting us the day off.
Of course, the school threatened dire consequences if we took the day
off, but what could they do, discipline 1/3 of the students? There is
safety in numbers.
Thanks for the mammary!

"salgud" > wrote in message
ps.com...
> CLUTCH CARGO!!! What fond memories...
> When I was in 10th or 11th grade, a bunch of the students wanted a long
> weekend, petitioned the school to give us a Fri off after a Thurs
> holiday (way back when holidays were celebrated on the actual day) and
> were turned down. My friends and I had access to the school's
> mimeograph machine (unauthorized, of course). Clutch was all the rage
> at the time, so we declared it "National Clutch Cargo Day" and had one
> of our artsy friends draw a good likeness of Clutch. We ran off
> hundreds of flyers encouraging kids to ditch school that day. Over a
> third of the student body skipped! Will always remember dear old Clutch
> for getting us the day off.
> Of course, the school threatened dire consequences if we took the day
> off, but what could they do, discipline 1/3 of the students? There is
> safety in numbers.
> Thanks for the mammary!
>

http://members.aol.com/PaulEC1/clutchstory.html
http://www.toontracker.com/clutchcargo/cargo.htm

Funny. When I saw "Clutch Cargo" in your post I was drawn. Must have been
related to Jay Leno.. at least the chin line. One of those early serial
cartoons with minimal animation and background art.... now the norm. Little
moved on Clutch beside his lips! Nothing at all like the expressive detail
found in the early Fleischer toons like Betty Boob or original Popeye.

http://www.toonopedia.com/fleischr.htm
http://www.toonopedia.com/famous.htm

On Fri, 18 Feb 2005 04:20:29 GMT, "zuuum" > wrote:

>
>"salgud" > wrote in message
ups.com...
>> CLUTCH CARGO!!!
>
>http://members.aol.com/PaulEC1/clutchstory.html
>http://www.toontracker.com/clutchcargo/cargo.htm
>
>Funny. When I saw "Clutch Cargo" in your post I was drawn. Must have been
>related to Jay Leno.. at least the chin line. One of those early serial
>cartoons with minimal animation and background art.... now the norm. Little
>moved on Clutch beside his lips! Nothing at all like the expressive detail
>found in the early Fleischer toons like Betty Boob or original Popeye.
>
>http://www.toonopedia.com/fleischr.htm
>http://www.toonopedia.com/famous.htm
>
what made clutch fascinating if not gruesome were the filmed human
lips imposed on his face for dialog. it marked some of us for life.

your pal,
blake