weddings

I have never risen to such heights, but I understand that when men decide they will propose marriage to their beloved, they try to make it memorable.

They wonder whether the ring should be buried in the creme brulee or the butterscotch pudding. They debate whether to go down on the left knee or the right. They agonize over whether the ring should be larger than two knuckles or three (especially in Texas).

However, a fine young Minnesotan called Chad Clay decided that his exquisite, lovely, wonderful flower of a girlfriend deserved something magical and revolutionary. Well, almost.

He created a fake iPhone ad (embedded below) and had it screened at the movie theater at which he and his life-partner had enjoyed their first movie together.

I go down on one knee to the St. Paul Pioneer Press, which revealed the intimate details of this moving proposal, made during a screening of "Going the Distance," a movie about a long-distance love that, well, goes.

The Press says that Chad's opening line to Vy Luong was one that I know many readers have turned to in a moment of passion: "Would you like to see my comic-book collection?"

From this tiny acorn, a tree of love grew.

According to Clay's own posting on YouTube, Luong had always wanted him to write a song for her, "a Top 40/Club type song." However, given that he doesn't possess George Michael's vocal cords, Clay allowed technology to hold his hand and his throat through the whole four-month process of creating his love song.

"I found it very convenient that AutoTune is very popular in this genre. Ha! I recorded and mixed everything in Pro Tools. No loops were used," he declared.… Read more

"Bringing a date to a wedding is like taking a deer carcass on a hunting trip." Des Moines from Shane left us one of the best voice mails we've listened to in a while, so thanks for the advice, dude! On today's episode of The 404 Podcast, we're looking at some of the most inappropriate Halloween costumes of all time. Plus, a preview of the upcoming Sonic 4, and a list of catchphrases every 404 fan should use at least once a day!

Sonic the Hedgehog is one of the most recognizable titles of all time, right up there with Mario and Tetris. Even an anti-gaming Luddite like myself can appreciate its simple objective: to run as fast as possible while decimating anything that gets in your way. Also, coins.

The next evolution, Sonic 4, is a throwback to the original games but this time with HD gameplay, so look for it in stores for the Nintendo Wii, Sony PS3, and the Xbox 360, and it'll be featured on a future episode of CNET's PreGame as well!

The next story in the daily rundown is a public Twitter booth spotted in Russia, but it'll have to wait until tomorrow because we'd rather talk about the most inappropriate Halloween costumes of all time. Watch Wilson's head explode and follow along as we show off a couple controversial costumes, including the sexy Finding Nemo, the Suicide Bomber children's outfit, the "Shocker," and one other play on word costume that brings Wilson to tears- don't miss this segment!

We spent the first half of yesterday's show talking about the disturbing world of Renaissance faires, and I told a story about a young fan of The 404 who spotted me in attendance but couldn't stay long to talk with his mother in tow.

Well, he actually called us up with a voice mail that illustrates exactly how bad my sense of observation is--sorry dude! Come to our Meetup at The Frying Pan this Thursday, October 7, and I'll buy you a drink! If you're not a member of our Meetup Group, sign up for more details and RSVP if you can make it!

Here are the meetup details.

I am always suspicious that those who design surveys are looking for particular, amusing answers.

So I am delighted that those who designed a gadget-conscious study for PC Tools chose to offer respondents some very cerebral choices.

Essentially, PC Tools was looking to see just how deeply the need to be plugged in online had penetrated human psyches. So they willfully probed into scenarios from which others might have shied, which, coincidentally made for a searing analysis into the state of the American nation.

Here is the state of society, neatly encapsulated in one single finding: more people believe that … Read more

Honestly, we didn't expect Jeff to show up for work this morning after his weekend excursion to Montreal for his bachelor's party, but he's back and divulging zero details about what happened abroad, because that conversation is better suited to giggling whispers in private cubicles.

For now, let's just assume that Jeff had a delightful time skipping across the city and supporting local hole-in-the-wall establishments with a handful of his closest friends.

Without our listeners (yes, you!), The 404 would be nothing but three semi-educated post-adolescents shouting into a box, so to show our appreciation we're throwing a contest with JetBlue Airlines to fly you anywhere in the U.S. and Caribbean for a week! Yep, the grand prize is a seven-day unlimited All You Can Jet pass to feed your wanderlust anywhere on JetBlue's map, and another lucky winner will receive a complimentary five-day pass for the same deal!

Two winners will be chosen at random and here's how to enter: simply  follow The 404 Podcast on Twitter, retweet the phrase "Follow @the404 and RT this for a chance to win 1 of 2 #AllYouCanJet @JetBlue passes. Rules: http://bit.ly/dodRKs #AYCJ" and you're done!

The contest is over on Tuesday, August 31, at 3 p.m. ET and winners will be announced by 5 p.m. ET, so hurry for your chance to win one of these two amazing prices, courtesy of our friends at JetBlue!

After some serious contest pimping, we're dropping two big announcements about our favorite movie "Back To the Future." As if the idea of a modern remake of the film wasn't bad enough, it turns out that no one's favorite tween pop star Justin Bieber is rumored to play Marty Mcfly. *Pause for "Noooooos"* The child star has yet to comment on the horrific gossip, so keep your fingers crossed.

Now for some good news: the wait is finally over, and BTTF fans might finally get the chance to don Marty's famous Nike "powerlaces" sneakers, thanks to a patent from Tinker Hatfield and the dudes at the Nike Innovative Kitchen.

The initial blueprint of the shoes look nearly identical to the '80s-style super high-top in the film, replete with the parallel lacing and a separate charging system below. While you're there, be sure to check out NiceKicks' brief history of Nike's BTTF-inspired shoes!

Good luck to everyone entering the Jet Blue All You Can Jet Giveaway!

We've featured our share of geeky marriage proposals (and even weddings) on Crave over the last couple of years, but they generally revolve around the unique, geeky ways the asker asks the askee the big question. Not much attention has been paid to the physical element of most proposals: the ring itself.

Thankfully, we've found this Ivy Carat multimedia ring box. It's the size and shape of your normal ring case, but it has 128MB of storage, a 2-inch full-color LCD screen, and a small speaker. When opened, the box displays a short video or photo on … Read more

With wedding vows a little less lasting than the extended warranty on an HDTV these days, it's probably not a good idea to tattoo your commitment to each other onto skin. A better way to symbolize your love, as artist and groom-to-be Luke Jerram did, is to design a wedding band that comes with a built-in mini "projector" to display portraits of the couple. Though whether this makes the ring awkward to wear is beside the point.

Jerram, working finger-in-hand with British jeweler Tamrakar, developed a bespoke projector ring with a tiny lens and a miniature slide … Read more

One might speculate as to whether there will be a prenup. There will, however, definitely be a tweet-up.

For one avowedly committed, socially-entwined couple has decided to show that their commitment to each other and to the ever-flowing life-stream, cannot be devalued like the euro.

I am grateful to the romantics at ReadWriteWeb, who seem to have a divine hotline to Paul O'Flaherty and his bride-to-be, Sara.

Paul and Sara are to be married Saturday. But this will be no ordinary wedding. This will be the union of socially destined lovers.

The two run a Web site that Sara … Read more

If you listen to me on The 404, you may already know how I hate weddings. But the wedding mentioned in Monday's morning episode of Loaded is tolerable for this geeky killjoy.  

The couple in question was wed by a four-foot robot named i-Fairy. Even a romantic curmudgeon like me has to admit, this guy is cute. 

This is your first of two editions of Loaded today. We are broadcasting a morning and an afternoon edition of the show Monday through Friday, starting today! You may notice the show will be quite a bit shorter. We hope … Read more