We all have our favorite moments in movies, books, and games, moments that stay with us long after the story is over. This column is my attempt to examine my favorite moments and see why they stick with me.

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The Commercial

Why it’s great

As a fan of the Alien franchise, there’s a lot to love here:

*The alien itself running around your typical early 90’s alley full of trash that randomly explodes

*Telephone poles that explode

*Soda dispensers that explode(?)

*Seeing the alien catching a can of Pepsi

But the biggest draw of all, the reason this commercial is great, is because it gives us the one thing we have never seen a xenomorph do before or since: burp.

Wait. I should probably have a better explanation of why I like this commercial other than the fact that a xenomorph burps.

There’s something funny and fascinating about seeing big, evil characters or creatures doing non-evil, everyday things, better known as the Villains Out Shopping trope (and the heroic counterpart, Heroes Gone Fishing). We always see villains or monsters at the worst, but finding out what they do when they’re not killing innocents or doing dastardly deeds is a fascinating mental exercise. Here are a few to ponder:

*What does Leatherface do to relax?

*What does Darth Vader do in his spare time?

*What does Jason Vorhees do on days when there’s no one at Camp Crystal Lake?

While the xenomorphs don’t do anything to relax or take away from building hives and building their numbers, it’s still amusing to see them doing normal, everyday things, or being introduced to normal things people do and enjoying them, which can add some great humor to stories.