No time for real content today. Go amuse yourself at this amazing website:
Amazing because they apparently have EVERY tv theme song EVER! Or so it looks…
Listen to themes you’d forgotten, listen to themes you remember from shows you’ve forgotten, study the many nuances of how the DALLAS theme changes from year to year! Addictive.
Yeah?…And???
This story has been the talk of PGH the past two days. Basically some fuckup, while surrounded by cops, decided to take shots at a police dog. He killed the dog and the cops killed him. You start shooting at anything in front of cops, WTF do you expect to happen?
Anyway so of course his grieving fuckup family has been all over the media, wailing the quote above, rending garments, gnashing teeth, and issuing the usual statements about what a “good boy” their son was and how he’d “never” bring guns around. Yeah, well, the dog didn’t kill itself, did it?
So listen lady. Yes, they absolutely killed your son over a dog. And there is nothing wrong with that.
1. Anyone who shoots a dog deserves to be shot in return. Period.
2. This was a police dog. That means it was helping people and doing something valuable with its life, which is probably more than we can say for your son.
3. The dog had likely completed far more education than your son.
So deal. Hell, I’m an Anarcho-Socialist and am the first one to call out authority figures and uniformed psychos on their brutality, but I’m 100% behind the cops on this one.
Saw Iron Man last night. I think a lot of movie reviewers out there need to take some Xanax and settle down; it was good but it wasn’t THAT good.
But it was a hell of a lot better than I ever expected it to be, and more important, it has performed zillions of times better than I ever thought it would. I mean, we’re talking Iron Man here….he’s at best a second-stringer in the Marvel comics line-up…he has no name recognition, he never had his own 70s/80s cartoon show…who besides comic geeks give two shits about Iron Man? Nobody, until now. I’d almost like to take an exit poll and ask people why they went to see it. A lot of it must be that 2008 has so far been one festering bowl of pus, movie-wise. We’re all starved for anything that looks like it has even a small chance of not sucking. I know that’s why I went to Iron Man.
Is there also some vast, previously untapped well of love for RDJ out there that no one knew about? That’s the other reason I went to Iron Man.
Which is why this isn’t really a movie review because ultimately it doesn’t matter if Iron Man was really great or not, what matters is that RDJ is now the mega-star he deserves to be. Finally, someone we can put faith in to help stem back the looming Man Void we discussed last week. RDJ is smart, he can act rings around practically anyone, he has that rarest quality of being boyish without being a boy, and now he’s proven that he can be a name-before-the-title Star. He can’t fill the void all by himself, but at least he’s a start.
Though I have to admit I am deeply unsettled by the trend this year of starring Real Actors in comic book/popcorn movies. Why am I seeing gents of the caliber of RDJ, Bale, Eddie Norton, and my saints Gary Oldman and Tim Roth in trailers for the kind of silly summer smash-em-up fests that used to be the domain of ‘action stars’ like Ahnold and Stallone while the Real Actors were saved for Real Movies?? WTF is going on? What does it mean for the future of Hollywood? Does it mean that comics movies are now considered “prestigious” pictures? If so, then what the hell will happen to the real quality films? They will completely cease to exist, I guess. Or is it a good trend? If mass audiences learn to love Edward Norton in Big Summer Crap, will they then follow him to the next Real Movie he makes? I don’t know. There is much to ponder over. But as a pessimist I’ve a gut feeling that no good will come of this trend in the long run.
Pointless rambling over and out!
“America is the only country that went from barbarism to decadence without civilization in between.”
- Oscar Wilde
AwwwwRiiiight! Yeah, yinz guys, WE’RE NUMBER ONE! WE’RE NUMBER ONE! WE’RE NUMBER ONE!
Pittsburgh overtakes L.A. as nation’s sootiest city
A city outside California has, for the first time, been named the sootiest in the nation, one of the categories the American Lung Association uses to determine the most polluted cities in the country.
HERE WE GO! *frantically waves Terrible Towel* Whoooooooo-hoooooooooo! Pop open a col’ Ihrn City! Luv ya black and gold! Whooooo!
Fuckin’ shithole.
Y’all know what a big Starbucks ho I am. But for the drinks, though, not the food. Their pastries look good, but 9 out of 10 times, they disappoint in taste. Except for one item that I ADORE: the reduced-fat banana chocolate-chip coffee cake. Oh, raptures! It’s sweet and banana-y and MOIST and dense and MOIST (”moist” and “dense” being my two favorite adjectives when it comes to baked things) and mmmm! For a while I’ve been looking for a recipe to replicate it, and keep the low-fatness of it as well.
I think I’ve achieved success! I found a low-fat ‘nanner muffin recipe on Recipezaar, and all the reviews raved about its moistness. So, with just a few teeny mods, I gave it a spin. Which is all just a long-winded way to say…omg, you gotta try these muffins!
Really nice insightful article from the UK (figures) about the sorry state of the Hollywood leading man. It even (very gratifyingly) acknowledges that Russell is the last bastion of proper screen manliness.
It’s hard to think of a male find under 40 who has the innate, old-fashioned ability to project “manliness” as a natural quality without the aid of steroid-boosted biceps. Where are today’s equivalents of the actors Hollywood once offered as symbols of effortless masculinity - John Wayne, Gary Cooper, Gregory Peck, William Holden, Burt Lancaster, Steve McQueen, Paul Newman and Clint Eastwood? Who even is there to step into the shoes of Harrison Ford, Mel Gibson or Bruce Willis?
Russell Crowe is still flying a lone flag for the macho hero … and Heath Ledger, the great white hope to project complex, Brando-like masculinity, is gone.
I’ve been pondering this very issue for some time now. When Denzel, Russell, and Harrison are gone, who are we left with? Looking at the 20-something actors of today, can you seriously imagine ANY of them as serious leading-man, movie-opening actors? It’d be laughable if it weren’t so sad. Even the few that I like (Ben Foster and James McAvoy), I don’t think have the “It”, or the manliness required. By “manliness” I don’t mean beefcake and steroids; I just mean the quality of being a serious, grown-up MAN. An ADULT, not a perpetual adolescent. No, the future of movies will be ruled by hipster pussies like Seth Whatshisname and the annoying Mac prat. I weep for it.
Have some gratuitous Burt…it’ll either cheer us up or make us sadder…
As part of my retro-luv, I have lotsa lotsa shiny things in my kitchen and dining room: chrome trim, brushed nickel stuff, and stainless steel fridge and oven.
Though I love the look, it’s been a pain keeping my stuff purty and shiny…especially the stainless steel fridge which shows fingerprints and smudges VERY easily. Most cleaners I’ve tried, even those that are supposed to be made just for stainless steel, don’t do the job. Or really…they remove the smudges, but then they dry all funky and leave big ugly streaks that look worse than the smudges did. (Method brand stainless-steel spray, I’m talking to you.) I’ve had more success with real stainless steel polish, but that’s hard to apply…you have to wipe it on, then buff it off…who has time?
Enter a product that has saved my neck: Pledge Multi-Surface!
It works! It claims to leave a smudge and streak-free shine on metal and glass surfaces…and it does! I got a free sample of it with a purchase of something else, and loved it at once.
Takes away fingerprints on my fridge, doesn’t leave a mess in their place, requires no buffing, and smells nice to boot. If you’ve got any SS appliances, I highly recommend.
Sunday BW had to study for a final, so even though I wasn’t feeling very well I decided to get out of his hair and go shopping. (And I had Filene’s coupons.)
It takes a long time to shop Filene’s thoroughly, so at one point I head up the escalator for a bathroom break. Preceding me into the Ladies’ is a pair of little girls…I’d guess they were 10, maybe 11, but it’s so hard to tell with sproggen these days. Both girls have their own cell phones. One is texting somebody, the other is chattering away. The talking one, from the “likes” and “yuhs” and general tone and content of her conversation, sounded 10 going on 21.
They go into the bathroom together, into the same stall, of course. (Girls. I’ll never understand ‘em. Didn’t get that shit in 6th grade, don’t get it now.) I’m in the next stall. They get a new call on the other one’s phone. This is what I overhear (emphasis mine):
“Um, hi!…Yuh, we’re shopping…we’re, like, *giggle* in the bathroom…yuh, we’re at the store…Mom gave us $200….huh?…oh, no, she gave us like $200 each…yuh…and $100 for lunch…”
Bloody fucking hell!! I’d already had a headache when I went into the bathroom, but about then my head just caved in from the pressure!
The insanity of 1. giving 10 year-old girls that much money to shop, and, 2. letting them run around with said money alone and unsupervised in a big crowded shopping area speaks for itself. The LUNCH is simply beyond the pale. I know the restaurants in that area and as an adult I couldn’t spend $50 on my lunch, even if I ordered 3 martinis with it! The hell?
Somehow I scrape the pieces of my skull back together, stick them under my hat, and go. FF to the Big Box Shoe Store. Clearance racks. Breeder With Sprog In Stroller is talking to Employee Stocking Shelf:
Employee: (looking at sprog) “My, what a precious one. Bet she’s a handful. What is she, about 20 months?‘
Breeder: “Oh no, she’s only 10 months!”
WTF people! SAY “TWO YEARS”!! SAY “ONE YEAR”!!! Jeebus 2 or 4 months either way in the life of your sprog does not….DOES NOT, I don’t care WHAT you think…have that much bearing on its development that you need to be so specific. STOP with the “months” crap, breeders, nobody cares but you.
Some days it just doesn’t pay to leave the house.
On Saturday we dropped by the Mini dealership to look at the Clubman. Didn’t think we’d get to drive it because of the whole “appointment” thing…turns out that the Mini people are much more accommodating than the Land Rover people. 
So we (meaning BW) got to drive around for about 20 minutes.
In a word: FUN!
In the plus column: great car to drive, BW does fit into it just fine, more room than a normal Cooper/at least some cargo space, and of course…sooooooooo beautiful!
Minuses: Absolutely no way that a passenger can fit behind BW, greatly reduced cargo space from the PT.
But, but, sooooooooooooooooo beautiful! And full of character!
That’s a toughie.
I’ll be hiding under the bed today, because I’m not allowed to vote in the primary. Instead I’ll just post this little nugget of Sad But Unassailable Truth:
“But now there are two and we’re facing Pennsylvania and whom are we kidding? This is an election about whether the people of Pennsylvania hate blacks more than they hate women.”
Read the rest of this article here. Then if you’re not a white man, please go vote.
You Are 89% Misanthropic |
 You are misanthropic to the point of being scary. In your view, people are a disease. You may want to lighten up a little - before you become a super villain! |
Because I’m almost but not quite done. Time for some aggro!
Now that’s what I’m talkin’ about! I’m motivated, aren’t you?
I promise, this is the LAST celebrity birthday for the month of April! But the last is the best..
SeanBaby!
While you celebrate, be sure to watch this classic over again,
and tell ‘em BOROMIR SENT YA!
(continued after the break)
Ask and ye shall receive?
Oddly enough, when we’d assumed our car choices were narrowed down, just yesterday we learned some good news: Volkswagen is retooling the Jetta into a Jetta SportWagen. It will boast 66 cubic feet of cargo space with the seats folded down (our PT has 64), AND will come in a new clean-burning diesel edition. Space, 50-60mpg with low emissions, and I’ve always, always, always wanted to own a VW. Enviro-socialoist-Euro street cred! W00t!
Definitely a major blip on the radar. Doesn’t come out for public viewing and consumption till Fall 08, though. But I’m looking forward to seeing it.
As I was saying, on Saturday we went out to test drive the Landrover LR2.
The first thing we learned is that at Land Rover, they don’t let you touch the cars without an appointment. Well.
So we didn’t get to test drive. What we did do was go on a ride (with the sales-lady driving) on a cool little off-roadin’ test track they had behind the shop. The point was to demo the LR’s awesome all terrain capabilities, and I have to admit, the sales pitch is no lie. It really was awesome off-road…it may well be the one “compact SUV” that actually performs like an SUV should, doesn’t just look like one.
Other impressive thing about the LR2 was the interior. My, it was so luxe. In fact, it may have been a little too luxe. I’ve rarely ever sat in, let alone pondered owning, quite such an obvious “luxury” car. High-end is good, but this was…maybe….a tad…too much. I felt a smidge uncomfortable. Can’t really put my finger on why, it was just one of those “demographic” things. Like the car wasn’t quite hitting the right psychological “target market” chords with me or BW. Nothing tangible, only a feeling.
Another strike against it…
The car USED to come in this beautiful orange color:
But like everything else I like in this life, from TV shows to sodapop flavors, that color has since been discontinued. 
*sigh* What IS it with car makers? I’m tired of the onslaught of Boring Ass colors! Are they taking their cues from the Apple computer company?! Cripes.
White, black, blue, red, silver, beige-metallic.
White, black, blue, red, silver, beige-metallic.
White, black, blue, red, silver, beige-metallic.
As far as the eye can see….AUUUUUGGHH! Enough already. Get out a box of Crayolas and learn that there are more colors under the sun, people!
Seriously though, the orange color was one of the things that attracted me to the LR2 in the first place. Without it…ermmm…dunno. There’s no doubt it’s a fabulous car, and we may go back for a real test-drive, but it has definitely been moved down on the list since Saturday. Also, its gas mileage blows chunks.
To be continued….?
Our beloved PT Cruiser is seven years old soon. It still is running great, and because we aren’t trashy breeders, he’s still clean, shiny, and in great shape. But still…he’s seven years old and sadly, they don’t make cars to last very long anymore. So we’ve been trying to brace for the (inevitable?) day when something major breaks that won’t be worth the cost to fix….we’ve been trying to think about if we HAD to buy a new car, what should we get?
Let me tell you, it’s hard. We’re spoiled with our car; he has a unique appearance, a visual personality. Looking around, there are virtually NO other cars that have that anymore. All the automakers seem to be trying their best to make indistinguishable products these days. The only other critter out there with a soul is the Mini Cooper.
We don’t want to get another PT. We *heart* our car so much, that somehow replacing him with a replicant would seem like a betrayal. Yeah, I know, weird. We also want to try to keep some of the space we have for toting and hauling IKEA furniture, boxes, and whathaveyou. But we do NOT want a big SUV.
Which pretty much leaves us stuck in the category known as “crossover SUVs.” Cars with storage in the back…they used to be called “station wagons” back in the good ol’ days…but now they design them to look like li’l SUVs, but usually without any of the off-roading ability.
Our short list to consider are:
Yeah, the Mini will kill us on the space, but the Clubman model is a tad bigger, and that “soul” thing is so important.
We’ll be trying to test-drive some of these over the summer. We looked at the LR2 on Saturday, will give my impressions later in the week.
Let’s get psyched up for spring cleaning!
(Bonus — Contains one of my absolute favorite gay 80’s songs!)
Whew! All those birthdays were tiring! And so is everything else.
There’s just been so much junk going on lately; I’m trying to work on my spring cleaning, but Stupid Job keeps getting in the way. I need to take some days off to get Real Life accomplished. But I can’t because Stupid Job is just too busy lately to blow off. :( Elsewhere, BW’s classes are coming to a head…lots of homeworks due and finals just around the corner, so he’s in no position to help. We’ve both just been drowning in busywork.
If you don’t see me around for a while, it’s because I’ve passed out.
The Lawd created…
And He looked upon His creation, and He called it GOOD.
30-something. Childfree. Misanthrope. Geek. Tedious Movie Prick. Foodie. Retro-loving. Cat person. Gamer. Medieval history freak. Socialist, Commie, Pinko Anti-American and Proud. Pro-Abortion. Anti-Dubya.
