Nintendo, Creatures Inc And Game Freak Register "Monpoké" Trademark

Something about Pokémon 😴😴😴

"MON" Poké = "MY" Poké(mon).

I guess it's the return of the Miis but with and for Pokémon... ^^

If Pokémon is short for pocket monsters, monpoké could be short for monster pockets....

...a clothing brand...?

I’ll be choosing Kachupi as my starter

Apart form being something Pokemon related... who knows.

@AlexOlney
Sort of a catch-all subscription for people that want services outside of the games themselves?

Sounds plausible to me!

I am now fantasizing Pokémon in the context of Studio Ghibli’s Princess Mononoke. Princess Monopoké.

Mon = Gate in Japanese.
MonPoke = Poke's Gate ??

In Soviet Monpoke, monsters catch you.

@HobbitGamer You Soviet Monpoke, catchers monster in.

My first thought was some kind of Monopoly/Fortune Street style board game. Hopefully with some Pokémon battling in it to break up the tedium; as much as I enjoy Monopoly even I can admit the games tend to drag on.

@HobbitGamer
Don't catch me because i'm Genie in the Bottle.... i mean, Pokeball.

@AlexOlney
The Grand Guru has spoken. A centralised service it shall be.

Although it could also be a new type of game in the pokemon IP, like an MMO.

A world inhabited by sentient Pokemon in which you, playing as a foot-tall human, must constantly evade and escape being captured in one of their Mon-balls.

@Rhaoulos
"Although it could also be a new type of game in the pokemon IP, like an MMO."

So...
MONPoke = Massive ONline Pokemon ??

Bizarro world versions of Pokémon

@gcunit Or just a set of really large, detachable pockets.

I'll go with "Pokemon-skinned Nintendogs"

Some of my thoughts are:

The Pokemon run the world and catch humans.

Monpoke is a currency

Different colored poke balls meaning it's an app for customizing everything, from your trainer's and Pokemon's clothing, color schemes, poke ball colors, etc.

I also agree with it being a one stop shop for all online Pokemon affairs.

@Maxz For carrying your Switch in? Of course.

@Maxz Like, Villager-style pockets? Can I carry my couch in these?

@bratzdoll That is most definitely something I would pay money for

Monpoke sounds like the name of a sushi restaurant, so it's probably a Japan only restaurant chain serving Pokémon as food in bowls painted to look like Pokeballs. Everything will probably taste like Pikachu.

https://people.com/food/poke-bowl-food-trend-recipe/

@rjejr Electrifying?

@ThanosReXXX I'm sure they'll cut that part out, like the poison in a puffer-fish, those fugu sushi chefs are magicians.

@rjejr Hm... I guess he'll just taste yellow, then. Aka like (a) chicken.

@rjejr @ThanosReXXX Something says Pikachu would taste too gamey. I'd try a Taurus brisket, though!

I don't know what "Monpoke" means in Japanese but in French it's unspeakably filthy.

@HobbitGamer Hey! I'm a Taurus. Back off...

Could be the Pokemon Switch title name... But even I'll have to admit that that's a little farfetched.

This sounds like something to prevent trademark trolls from calling some other game ‘MonPoke’

MonPoke will have ChuPika and VeeEe.

@HobbitGamer @ThanosReXXX I'm pretty sure Pikachu tastes like chicken. Maybe turkey, but I can't really tell the difference between those two anyway. Though he kind of looks more like a pig, so he might make for a nice pulled Pikachu poke bowl.

Oh wait, he's officially a rodent type? Gross.

Oh wait again, capybara are apparently a popular food, so maybe they can open these restaurants in south America.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5341521/

Ok, I'll stop now, but I'll never see this logo again and not think it's the logo for a restaurant menu that translates to "My bowl of Poke(mon)".

Probably a clothing line or something...

Totally with @AlexOlney on this one.
(You beautiful peeeeeeeeerson.)

@rjejr Doesn't everything taste just like Pikachu?

The minimalist design and rounded sans-serif font....OMG it really does look like one of those trendy restaurants normal people don't eat in yet always seem full of early 20-something kids who's parents probably own 2 vacation homes but always complain how they're struggling. I hope the organic free range Bulbasaur and avocado salad in lemongrass vinaigrette is fair trade.

a $20 year subscription service that allows you to play Pokémon Red and Blue, but without cloud saves to prevent cheating.

@Anti-Matter Massive Online NultiPlayer Online Kanto Edition... I almost had something there

Just guessing here, not based on the name itself but on what is missing in the pokemon IP in regards to modern gaming standards.

A poke bowl restaurant.

@NEStalgia It's where UB40 would go after their concerts.

@rjejr Now that's some food for thought.

...It's the new Bank thing isn't it?

Speaking of eating Pokemon, I'm just gonna leave this here.

https://nintendoeverything.com/nintendo-announces-partnership-with-lunchables-for-super-mario-party/

@gcunit Exactly the reason Nintendo never used the name Pocket Monsters outside Japan.
(a '90s toy line called Monster In My Pocket, another obscure IP Konami turned into a decent but not great NES game.)

Can't wait for FoxStar and Troidme.

Who cares you're gonna whine about it anyways.

@rjejr That makes sense to partner a Mario contest promotion with the only food made from 100% real Labo.

@rjejr That is actually the most likely idea I've heard. They already have a pokemon cafe.

It's a new cryptocurrency for the purpose of buying exotic and rare Pokémon on Pokémon Go.

@hirokun Well if it is a restaurant it better be a poke restaurant. I didn't realize just how big those were until I got carried away with this article. 7th gen Pokemon even have their own chain.

@NEStalgia "100% real Labo"

Recycled of course. Green food.

@rjejr there was a piano but i eated it.

Pokemon is Pocket Monsters.
Monpoke is Monster Pockets.
Maybe they are licensing some 90's jeans?

@Cobalt no one asked you.

It's the new premium currency for Let's Go.

@rjejr How did that popular song go again? Oh, yeah.. I remember now: "I've got issues, you got 'em too... "

For the record: my first thought of Pikachu has always been that of a rodent, even more so, because he actually IS based upon a real life rodent...

@rjejr yeah Poke is pretty much just lazy people sushi in a bowl. Its less impressive, but cheaper. At least in the US, poke is catching on.

@ThanosReXXX Yeah the more I looked into poke the more I realized Pikachu is a capybara and capybara are the most eaten rodent in the world, or something. Capybara apparently tastes like a blend between pig and fish, and it sounds like it's usually eaten pulled like pork. So it all makes sense.

@hirokun When I was explaining poke to my wife last night at diner - she's walks past 1 every day on her way to work but had no idea what it was - she said "Oh, so it's just a rice bowl." She is so not the target audience for marketers.

@rjejr yeah I didn't know what it was until a friend who was obsessed with it made everyone go to one. Though to be fair they paid the meal so I was down to try it for free. Just imagine subway but with rice and fish.

@rjejr No, Pikachu isn't a Capibara, he's partially based upon a type of semi-squirrel that is called a Pika, an animal that can be found in various Asian mountain areas, and looks like a cross between a mouse and a hamster, but they are actually related to the family tree of rabbits.

I even have to correct myself, because I mistakenly called it a rodent, which it is not.

The misunderstanding from that may (or probably does) come from Pikachu being called a mouse type in the game. And then there's the other animal that Pikachu is supposedly based upon, which is called a Mountain Viscacha, which actually IS a rodent, and which has long ears and a tail, so if you mix the Pika and the Viscacha, and cartoonize them, you get a Pikachu.

None of the real life animals have anything to do with electricity, so no idea how they came up with that one. At most, you'd probably be able to stick a balloon to their backs, if their fur gets a static charge...

Here's the little buggers in action:

@ThanosReXXX According to Bulbaepida - the only source that matters for Pokemon info:

"Pikachu is a short, chubby rodent Pokémon"

So he's a rodent.

https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Pikachu_(Pok%C3%A9mon)

Pichu is probably based on the Pika, he kind of looks like a squirrel.

Fat ole Pikachu looks like a capybara to me.

@rjejr Rule no. 1: I'm always right. Rule no. 2: in any other case, see Rule no. 1...

But all joking aside, Pikachu IS based upon the Pika and/or on the Viscacha. I wasn't talking about what he is in the game, which is more or less an electric mouse with a tail, but what real-life animals he was actually based upon, NOT about which animals any individual, including you or me, thinks he looks like.

More importantly, when I post stuff like that, I'm not just pulling stuff out of my backside, no offense.

And personally, I really don't see the likeness with the capybara, even if I tried. The head is too big and bulky, and the capybara comes across/looks like a pretty dumb and lazy animal. It even has a dumb gaze.

Compare that to the literally electrifying personality and spirit of Pikachu, and there's a zero percent match there...

And I usually don't put too much stock in fan-created online encyclopediae, so to me, Bulbaepedia doesn't matter at all.

The info I posted, originally comes from interviews with the creators themselves, which trumps every other source.

By now, with the amount of Pokemon on offer, it's pretty obvious that they've used animals from all over the world to get ideas from, but initially, it would be most logical for them to have started with source material from their own area/surroundings, to get their inspiration to create Pokemon from, or to mix and match and partially base their creations on.

And seeing as Pikachu is a first gen Pokemon, it would stand to reason, that we have to search for the source material in Asia and/or Japan.

But the info where and what all the Pokemon are based upon, is actually readily available. Some examples:

P.S.

And apparently, the capybara hasn't even been tackled/used yet, in any of the games, according to this list that GamesRadar made a few years back, unless that has changed in the last couple of years:
https://www.gamesradar.com/eight-animals-pokemon-hasnt-tackled-yet/
Page two mentions the rodents...

@ThanosReXXX You know waaaaaayyyyyyy too much about Pokemon for a man your age.

@ThanosReXXX I don't see how that video can see Pikachu is based on Pika, show those adorable little near extinction mice, then show Ash holding this big fat creature that looks about the size of a capybara. No Pika ever in the history of the world is as big as that Pikachu Ash is holding.

I'm sure Pikachu was based on Pika, the way my kids drew stick pictures of Santa Claus. Santa is not nor has ever been thin as a stick.

@rjejr It's not so much about the video as it is about the source material. The color matches (sort of), it has the black tipped ears, it communicates by screeching "pi", and it is Asian in origin.

And besides, anime is always slightly over-exaggerated, unless it is a realistic anime, which Pokemon is obviously not.

As for me knowing too much: I know you're kidding, but I'll reply anyway: hardly, just common sense, even though I did once play all of these games. I even started with the original Blue and Red, but over the last 4, 5 years I slowly lost interest.

As for the capybara thing: while a real life pika may be too small in your view, a capybara is much too big to be sitting on someone's shoulder or arms, seeing as it's the size of a medium-sized pig or dog, so I think that it's safe to say that we can consider that point not really supportive of Pikachu being a capybara...

And then there's of course the GamesRadar article, which also supports my claims.

As for comparing it to kids drawings: another point to ignore, since save for the odd exception, kids couldn't draw realistically, even if their lives depended upon it...

@ThanosReXXX How can anything called "GamesRadar" be taken seriously? That's like saying your "gaydar" always knows who's hetero and who isn't. My gaydar used to be pretty good living in NYC, but it self destructed trying to turn into a LGBTdar.

@rjejr I don't think that "gaydar" really applies to us straight people...

As for GamesRadar: they've been around for longer than NLife, so I'd say they have a pretty solid rep. But even besides that, it's just a tally of which animals haven't been used yet, so hardly something that they can royally screw up, methinks...

@ThanosReXXX Wait, straight people can't tell if other people are straight or not? Well that seems highly unfair.

And anything is more reliable than NL these days. Heck if I could type Ntinendo I'd be better at covering this stuff.

Oh, flashback for a moment. About 2 months ago I fixed my air conditioner. There was a small piece of zip tie wedged under the round piece of plastic going around the fan blades. I couldn't see it until I really got in there with a flashlight and messed around. Took it out and it was fine. I had kept the piece to take a photo and show it to you how ridiculously small it was that I almost replaced my AC over, but I saw what looked like what appeared to be a roach next to it last night so I've been throwing out everything in my house that isn't nailed down. If I see anything else that looks like a roach I'm selling my house and moving, or I'll be committed into an insane asylum, had a problem with them as a kid, I'm scarred for life. Spent $30 on Target on all sorts of poison, I'll be drenching my home tomorrow after the kids go to school, too late now. Hope I can sleep.

@rjejr Of course, straight people can, but that's not gaydar. (what the hell did I get myself into this time?)

Anyway, enough of that. I've already got enough on my plate, dealing with NEStalgia's text walls in the Xbox 360/Xbox One thread...

Good detective work on the AC. I actually wondered how that story ended, but somewhere along the way, I forgot to ask you. I can relate to the roach story, although I'm not really scared off by anything smaller than me.

And besides; I'm a Mad Titan, so I'm practically a demi-god...

@ThanosReXXX Following up on the AC story, our dryer stopped spinning Thursday night and it wouldn't stay turned on. It was about 8-10 years old and we were ready to buy a new one but I took it all apart, found a $5 belt, spent the day replacing it, and it works. I know that's the way things are supposed to be but I feel like we live in a disposable world filled with unscrupulous repairman so I'm happy to fix things for $5, even if it takes all day. Not like I'm doing much else anyway. Well except the last 3 weekends wainscoting our living room. Would have been much quicker but those electrical outlet extensions were a killer. And my wife wanted to paint, so I had to wait for her to paint everything. Maybe I'll show you before and after pictures some day when it's done. I need to remind myself I'm alive some times.

@rjejr Ah... never to old to learn, are we? I had to look up whatever the heck "wainscoting" was. People keep forgetting I had already left the States WAY before I ever came into contact with such words..

Good thing you got the AC fixed. Is it also a heater, or is it just a "summer AC"? If it is both, I suppose you got it up and running in time for the harsher climate to come.

I'll be looking forward to the pictures.

At times, I've actually been thinking about getting a Twitter account, to make stuff like communicating outside of this site easier, but then I always end up coming to the conclusion that I don't have all that much to say myself, so then I think: "why bother?" and end up deciding not to...

@ThanosReXXX Wainscoting sounds to me like the most British thing ever, I can't even say it without an uppity royal accent, so I assumed it was over there before it was over here, my mistake.

Wiki seems to think it originated in Europe.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panelling

Twitter is good for some things, mostly b/c there's no censorship, but I wouldn't consider it a must have. Way better than Facebook, or Instagram, and I don't know much about whatever else is out there, Snapchat?, so it currently works for me.

I signed up for the FB group for my sons middle school, Prrnets and Teachers Who Care. I made one post asking if the kids were getting too much homework for 8th grade, my son ash about 2 hours a night, and the moderator deleted it. Then she said it was too long, but it wasn't deleted b/c that but b/c I used names, which I didn't. I started another thread thanking the 5 people who replied to me, but I'm done. I'm nto sure you can read it, I think the mad moderator has to let you in, but here's my 2nd thread, and my last.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/383304801795947/permalink/1850489728410773/

Here's the original post that got deleted if you need something to procrastinate from work.

_____________________________

Haven't see anybody mention it yet - I did look - so here goes - Any other parents having a problem with all of the 8th grade homework, particularity honors social studies? I'm not opposed to homework, 10-20 minutes a class is fine when it's reading textbooks or novels, going over what they did in class that day, learning new math or science concepts, learning new ideas, but social studies is nearly 90 minutes a day, every day, for stuff anybody today could look up on their phone, or watch. I wasn't at meet the teacher night, my wife went while I cooked dinner, but my understanding is this excessive amount of homework is to prepare them for 2 years of AP world history in HS. And there was sometimes an hour of homework in that class, my other son completed the 2 years last spring. But there was also a 100 on the regents and 5 on the AP exam, which could save us several thousand $ in college loans. Is 8th grade SS helping us pay for or get into college? If my son ever gets sentenced to 2 years in prison I don't want him serving a prior year so he can see what prison is like. And 2 hours a night, every night, for homework, is like a prison sentence for some kids. If SS is so important, make it 2 classes a day like science, math or English, so he can get some of this done in school. We as a nation are moving away from excessive homework, this seems like a backwards punitive move with no measurable reward. My son isn't having difficulties with the class, he's been on the Principles list every single semester in MS, he doesn't need 2-3 hours of homework every night, it is not going to improve his grades. I'm worried it will potentially lower his other grades because all of this homework means less time for studying in other classes. It took him and my wife 30 minutes just to make this monthly calendar so he could tackle all of the homework for this month. And this is only what he knows about so far. He could have spent that 30 minutes actually doing a normal amount of homework instead.
So those are my thoughts. If everybody else is fine with it, I'm all for democracy, and I choose to live here, send my kid to this school and have him in honors SS. But man, so much homework at a time when the nation debates having any homework at all. https://www.edutopia.org/article/whats-right-amount-homework

______________________________________

Also, the AC is just AC, we have hot water radiators and baseboards fueled by a natural gas boiler. I was so happy to find a natural gas house, oil is nasty, and expensive. Gas stove is also so much better than electric.

@rjejr Gas is better than electric, for sure. Where it concerns cooking, anyway.

And wainscoting may be British, or European, but it most definitely isn't Dutch. They probably just use the regular word for it, so that would be the Dutch translation of paneling, or something similar.

Wouldn't know for sure, since I have never done that, nor have I got that in my house.

That's quite a text wall you've sent. I wouldn't even be surprised to hear from those teachers, that it was too long, because it does seem quite lengthy to me as well.

I always break text walls up into smaller bits. Makes it easier to digest, in most cases, unless the topic matter is of the heavier kind, in which case the difference is arbitrary...

I was not able (or allowed) to view that Facebook post, though. But never mind: I'll take your word for it, and I don't like Facebook anyway.

P.S.

No need for me to procrastinate from work, seeing as I currently (still) have no assignments, so I'm on an involuntary leave for now.

Considering my options, seeing as the last 1,5 year has been pretty fickle, or even abysmal at times, also due to all the things happening in my personal life, which most certainly did have its effect on my work as well.

So, besides assignments/contractors, I'm now also looking into going back to being an employee again, something I would loathe to do in most cases, but necessity is taking over, so my options are becoming more limited with every passing month.

Then again: I'm still living in a first world country, so things could most definitely be worse...

@ThanosReXXX Sorry about the job woes. I think I'm supposed to be looking but my wife has me wainscoting. Plus, she just got a nice promotion, effective in May, long story, even too long for me, so she may just keep me cleaning and remodeling and redoing the yard, it's a freakin mess, like my typing of Ntinedo. Gotta do what ya gotta do though, you're a smart guy, I'm confident you'll figure something out.

@rjejr Yeah, I've seen Almost Human. Too bad they cancelled it.
A problem that's almost typically American, seeing as because of the scale/scope of the target audience, anything below 12 million viewers is seen as bad enough to pull the plug out of a show, regardless of whether or not it has a dedicated fan base.

And I was just getting into Almost Human, and I could definitely see so much more to be had from all the story lines that were running, but apparently, the American viewer decided differently...

The worst thing is, that Dutch commercial channels will still buy these cancelled shows, probably because they're cheaper, and as such, we end up watching, growing to like and subsequently being disappointed by dozens of series.

Supergirl has a really solid story line, with many references to the other shows, and to Superman as well, who also appears a couple of times. Believable and fitting acting as well, for an (for me) completely unknown actor.

As for Humans: that's now in it's third season, and it's as strong as ever, probably because it's a British product. They tend to NOT let shows deteriorate after the second season...

But seriously: give it a try, it's a REALLY good series. I kind of have to detox now again, after having binge-watched the second season, and now with the third season being broadcasted one episode per week, I'm kind of going cold turkey...

And NCIS, no matter which one, was never a spin-off or whatever from Law and Order. CSI was a show I never got into, mostly because it was a bit too over the top in most areas.

I like NCIS because a large number of the cast are actors that I grew up with, and who also have a long track record playing cops in other shows, so they bring some added value to the table.

Time to delete stuff, so comment #77 is out. You might wanna remove or edit your reply to that one, otherwise it'll look like you were talking to yourself...

@ThanosReXXX "it'll look like you were talking to yourself..."

That would be one of the most sane things I've done on here. I could be a fanboi of myself.

I like watching shows when they are over, so let me know when Humans has it's last season. Right now I'm watching Orphan Black, 1 episode to go first season, then I'm signing up for Netflix tomorrow to watch Iron Fist season 2 and Daredevil season 3. Also thinking about signing up for Hulu to watch season 2 of Preacher while season 3 is still free on the app. And DC Legends and Flash with my wife on the CW app. Meanwhile I'm playing 3 hours every night of Dragon Quest 11, I just hit 80 hours last night, probably another 50 hours to go.

So I think that's all I can handle for now.

Have we had the car inspection discussion before? I feel like we have. New York state requires a car inspection every 12 months, it's $37 and takes about an hour. My wife and I went to drop her car off yesterday at a place about 11:00AM on our way out to brunch. They told us we couldn't leave the car, we had to wait. We said no. Went back there this morning at 11:00. Guy who does th einspections wasn't in until 2:00PM. Woman told me to go to another place in their chain a couple of miles away. On the way there I stopped off at the place I went to last year, I found the receipt in the glove box. Guy there told me to come back tomorrow b/c he was all out of stickers for the window. At the place the woman told me to go to b/c they have a guy their every day the guy wasnt' in on Tuesdays, I should come back on Wednesday. Stop at Target to buy milk, no milk. Stop at the gas station for milk, it all expired 2 days ago. Go back at 2:00 to the first place. The guy is there but he's busy, and he has someone waiting, so I have to come back at 4. I did go back at 4, called first, and it's done, but damn I wasted my whole day for this stupid bureaucratic nonsense. I'm pretty sure I'm living the Gran Torino life today.

I'll delete 77 or whatever, thanks for the reminder.

@rjejr So you're more of a binge-watcher, then, or did I misread that?
Humans is a very successful show, so chances are, it's going to run for another season or two, at least, unless the story simply ends.

It's one of those conversions of a Scandinavian to English series (the original Humans was Swedish), and I don't know how long the original show has run.

Didn't know Preacher had ended, and if it hasn't, then it doesn't really seem to qualify for you, considering your preferences. Over here, I've only seen one season so far, and there aren't any signs of any channel starting the second season any time soon.

And seeing as I'm no HBO, Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Watch (or whatever it's called) guy, I'm just going to have to settle for whatever the local commercial channels decide to broadcast, because I'll be damned if I'm going to pay extra for all these subscriptions to be able to see all the shows that I would like to.

I'll download them when they're put online somewhere...

P.S.

You've really outdone yourself with the deleting. Now it looks like it was ME, talking to myself, so I had to remove a couple more as well, which actually wasn't necessary, because most of them were harmless. I just don't like the more personal ones to stay online.

Oh, well. I guess all is fine in Nintendo Life world again, except for the car inspection woes, of which you have indeed told me before, but I don't mind.
Get off your chest what you need to. If anything, I can do you the courtesy of listening...

@ThanosReXXX Once I start deleting I can't stop.

Season 3 of Preacher just ended on whatever channel it's on, AMC maybe. I watched season 1 last year. Season 3 is on the app but I hadn't seen season 2. Also a lot of these apps have shows for free but you need to be subscribed to a cable package to watch them, which I'm not. Which makes things even more irritating than a car inspection.

My son and wife, and to a lesser extent I,w ant to watch the new season fo Dr. Who which just started. But the BBC app doesn't have the episodes for free, nor does the paid for service Britbox, so I'm stuck with paying for a streaming service just to watch episodes of Dr. Who, which is really frickin' annoying. I did 1 week free trials of Philo and DirectTV Now. DirectTv sucked, Philo is ok for $16 per month but it only has the BBCA channel I want to watch, so that's $4 per episode of Dr. Who, which I can buy for $3 from Amazon and not have to sit through 15 minutes of commercials per episode.

This morning I ordered a remote control for my PS4 for $30 bc/ ti comes with a free month of PS Vue, Sony's streaming service which costs $45 per month. I figure if I am going to pay for streaming might as well at least get a remote control out of it. PS Vue is supposed to be really good, but it's expensive, so I'll quit after my free month and figure out how to watch the last few episodes of Dr. Who then.

Way to much effort for 1 TV show, but I have to keep my wife and kid happy, and me happy doing it as cheaply as possible.

I'm singing up for a free month of Netflix today or tomorrow for Iron Fist and Daredevil, can't go wrong with free. But first I need to go food shopping, b/c I never got there yesterday, so it's time to go.

@rjejr It does indeed sound like too much trouble, but you're still doing it anyway. For me, the line would have been drawn with the conclusion of it being too much trouble. The family can go and pay for it themselves. Have the kids do paper routes, or weekend work in a shop or a bakery or whatever, and the missus has a decent job, if I remember correctly, so she could treat herself to any channel she would like to watch.

I'm being harassed by all kinds of services through my cable/internet and also my mobile phone supplier on a monthly basis, to take additional services, indeed also with "enticing" offers of 1 or 2 months free of whatever service, but so far, none of them have even come remotely close to triggering me, let alone even consider taking a subscription.

All I have is Spotify, which is a music streaming service, which came as a free gift with the premium version of the interactive TV & internet bundle that I have subscribed to, so that's the only reason I have it, but I hardly ever use it, even though the account is linked to my TV, PC and smart phone, so it actually is kind of convenient, but I've got my own albums and mp3's on any device that matters, which excludes the TV, because I don't play music on the TV...

@ThanosReXXX I still haven't' used any music service besides Pandora. It does have commercials now, but it's set up to do what I want so that's that. I say "Alexa, play Pandora" and she does. And our wireless speaker works anywhere in my house, backyard and front yard when I'm doing yard work.

And of course my wife pays for everything, I haven't' had a job in 16.5 years, but it's my job to manage the money so my wife isn't ripped off by unscrupulous companies. It's why we use Tracfone even though they are a horrible customer service company. It only costs us $31 per month for all 4 phones. I did have to pay for the phones outright, but they were all $70 or less and we usually get 2 years out of a phone. It's my reason for being. If only my son wanted to watch Dr. Who he could pay for it himself with his $5 weekly allowance, but since my wife and I do watch it as well, well I'm not making him pay for it. He pays for enough video games that I play as it is.

My wife makes enough to survive, but her weirdo company is having a spin-off next spring where she'll be promoted 2 levels and get an appropriate 2 level raise, about 25%, so we'll be good then. I may not even get a job, though I should to get me off of NL.

Oh, new NY law, college tuition is free in state for families making under $125,000. My kid starts in 2020. Getting a job now so he'll have to pay tuition, ie we'll pay his tuition, hurts my brain. Why work to pay tuition that could be free? Doesn't take much to persuade me from job hunting. Though a job would be nice for a decade or so so I can retire. Can't retire from doing nuthin.

I'll probably remember to delete this one.