Lesson #1: Don’t ignore the baby.\
The baby monitor in the kitchen isn’t usually on anymore because of some newly acquired static. The static is probably caused by one of our neighbors having recently setup their own baby monitor (the pain of living close to lots of people). So this morning when I woke up before the boys, I snuck downstairs to have breakfast in peace. A few minutes later, Max ambled on down. Over an hour later I realized Brian was still sleeping, and yay and hallelujah! because this means I will eventually get to sleep in when the weekend rolls around. Except, Brian wasn’t so much asleep as I just couldn’t hear him since the baby monitor was off. Oops.\
Lesson #2: Don’t watch un-previewed material with the baby nearby.\
After our morning walk, I settled in to watch an award winning short film, The Plight of Clownana, knowing nothing about it. I was pleasantly amused to learn that Clownana is a half-banana/half-clown, ice cream store mascot who likes to dance. Brian came over when the groovy music started to watch the dancing Clownana. Who can blame the kid? He loves to dance. Just about that time, Clownana’s rival makes his debut: Dildo Man, the mascot for the adult bookstore located across the street. The two mascots proceeded to have a… you guessed it, a dance-off. And of course Dildo Man would use streamers as Props! We’d expect nothing less from him. Oopsy again. At least Brian can’t talk yet, so he can’t tell on me when Kevin gets home! This is seriously one of the funniest shorts ever. I won’t spoil the ending for you, but I nearly busted a lung laughing so much. You too can watch Clownana
Category: entertainment
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Bad Mommy #36,189
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Haggis Virgin
Until last night, I’d never tried haggis and never really wanted to. But, we went to a lovely Scottish restaurant last night (“we” being Arun, Bert Bos, Chaals, Chris Lilley, Shawn, Carolie, Richard Ishida, Thomas and Liam – they were all here for the W3C AC Rep meeting), and they had haggis as an appetizer. And well, that was the opening. We all convinced each other than it was OK to try it as an appetizer because it would be a “wee little haggis.”\
So, we got it, and shared a few. Shawn and I were “haggis hosts”, and Arun and Thomas were our “haggicytes.” And you know, it was actually quite good. It’s really rich, but the barley gives it a kind of weird texture. I don’t think I need to eat it again, but I’m no longer a haggis virgin. My haggishood has been taken by a charming wee chunk of barley and sheep organs. Yum.\
Dinner was a lot of fun. I love hanging out with really smart people, and these guys fit the bill. They’re all brilliant, and terribly funny. We laughed a lot (I think the whiskey and wine helped), and told a lot of embarrassing stories about ourselves. Good times.\
Today, it’s conferencing, which probably means less fun (and wouldn’t you know it, it’s not raining today). -
Edinburgh Day One
It’s cold and rainy in Edinburgh and the hotel wi-fi sucks. I think I’m almost done with my presentations for this week and I’ve already registered for the conference and hit a grocery store (disappointingly, they didn’t have Smarties, Kinder Eggs or orange Lilt). I watched Top Gear on real TV and caught the UK version of Big Brother. Hats off to you, Channel 4. You guys really know how to pick a cast! I’ve been a fan of the US version since it launched a few years ago, just because it’s really funny how stupid people get when they’re cooped up with strangers. This version? They’re not only stupid to begin with, they’re all pretty much insane in some way (and it doesn’t help that the UK version is much crueler than the US one). You’ve got:
- Richard, the self-labeled “sexual terrorist” who dresses like a cross-dressing nazi youth cowboy (yeah, really)
- Shabaz, the “Paki-poof” (he said it himself), who reminds me of Mario, this guy I used to work with in Tucson who was the first person to make me realize that being gay’s not a “choice”. Mario couldn’t be anything else if he tried, and neither could Shabaz.
- Pete, the rock-n-roll Tourette’s guy who says “Wank!” at the top of his lungs every couple minutes.
- Bonnie, who can’t even say her own name.
- Lisa, the Chinese girl from Manchester who has the most AMAZING accent you’ve ever heard.
- Glynn, “the sexiest lifeguard in North Wales”, who went into the house in a big red swimsuit, is actually really scrawny and kind of gawky, and who has the second most amazing accent you’ve ever heard.
- and little Nikki, who’s life ambition is to marry a professional footballer.\
There are others, but they’re the pretty filler to keep people looking for nudity all summer.\
I’m only a little jet-lagged. I got a solid 8 hours last night, and am only slightly in need of a nap right now. Time for a Dr. Pepper! Oh, and cobblestones? I could really live without them. They’re kind of daunting to a guy who’s paranoid about twisting an ankle.
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What about a Pop Tart in the dryer?
From The Salon article about The OC finale: every scene with [Mischa Barton] in it had a way of reminding you that you had a Pop Tart in the toaster or laundry in the dryer.\
I have absolutely no idea what this means, but I kind of love it anyway. Mischa has been soooo bad on this show, it makes me want to gouge my eyes out with a spork. (Thankfully I stopped watching a long while ago, so no sporking needed.) What I really want to know is, what happened to the wonderful young actress first noticed on Once & Again?\
Here is a blurb about The CW from some tv critic: the combination alone of Veronica Mars, Smallville, Gilmore Girls and Supernatural guarantee the single best network schedule since the amazing, never-to-be-equaled, 2000-01 WB season that included Buffy, Angel, Dawson’s Creek, Felicity, Gilmore Girls, Roswell, Popular and Charmed… (emphasis all mine)\
I guess I don’t have to be that embarrassed to watch The CW then! Though, to keep my cool points from totally plummeting, I must say that HBO is the second-most watched network in my house. Well, not counting Nick, Jr. 🙂 -
TV is cooler than real life
Studio 60 Preview looks awesome! Slide over, Grey’s Anatomy. You’ve got some competition headin’ your way. Too bad there are four decent things on Thursdays at 9pm. Can’t The Powers That Be spread out the good shows a little? Sheesh.\
The CW video montage looks like a big pile of teen cheese. (And can you believe they renewed 7th Heaven? What was with the big finale commercials I saw for a month?) Those 7th Heaven clips really don’t belong in there. But neither does Veronica Mars, which is actually a great show, nor Supernatural, which is just the right kind of awesome cheese (unlike One Tree Hill and Smallville). Honestly though, I think The CW will be the network I watch the most. Good thing I am not lactose intolerant! Hee. (I bet Kevin regrets ever deciding to work late those many years ago, which is when I discovered Dawson’s Creek on The WB.)\
Seeing The CW come together has been kind of interesting. I wonder how things will shake out this next year. -
Yippee-Skippy, Howdee da Doooo!
Veronica Mars was renewed for season 3! Let’s do the dance of happy, happy, joy, joy:\
It’s just a jump to the left\
And then a step to the right\
With your hands on your hips\
You bring your knees in tight\
But it’s the pelvic thrust that really drives you insane,\
Let’s do the renew dance again!\
If you people don’t start watching though… Well, then you’re all dead to me. Especially you young, hip, cool ones in the targeted demographic! -
Bloggin’
Now that the TV-season is over, whatever will we chat about? And no, don’t say baseball.\
In super happy news, Kevin came home at a decent time last night. Whooo. It’s like crazy-time is over! YAY!\
In other, almost desperate news, there is only one Diet Dr Pepper in the house! Eeeep. -
Weekend Update
Max had another soccer game on Saturday. He has so much fun there, I have to recommend it to all parents of young children. It is so much more interactive and physically demanding than tee-ball or little league. (It’s practically non-stop running for an hour, instead of standing around waiting to bat or for someone to hit the ball your way.) It’s kind of hard to watch though, because he tends to stop paying attention. Which is fine since he is only 6, except I want him to pay attention and get better. But I don’t want to be one of those overzealous parents you hear so much about. In practice all of the boys seem to be getting better at the basic skills, but come game time, they just kind of do a “Lord of the Dance” imitation when they get near the ball. If the teams kept score, you’d note that they are relatively high-scoring though because 1) we don’t use goalies and 2) once a kid makes a good kick, he can usually follow it through to the goal because there is almost no defense on the field.\
Yesterday was the first day in nearly a week that I didn’t have a horrible headache plaguing me all day. Also, Kevin only worked 11 hours. Coincidence? I think not.\
Tonight is the series finale of 7th Heaven. Sniff. Let’s all take a moment to reflect on this horribly written and horribly acted show. The fans will miss the many non-interesting story lines filled with hypocrisy, manipulation, backstabbing, and outright lying. I guess they’ll just have to pay more attention to the Bush Administration to get their fill from now on.\
In Brian news, he has been wearing only one sandal for almost 2 hours. I don’t know why.\
Kevin told me he gets teased by coworkers about my numerous Veronica Mars posts. Hmm, I guess this means I shouldn’t post my thoughts on under-wire bras. -
TV rec
The Supernatural finale last night was so awesome! It had everything a great finale should: angsty confrontations, emotional realizations, demon-y exposition. Dean’s raw rage was so palpable it was scary. “I LIED!” Eeeep. That freaked me out, and he is the good guy.\
The TVGuide.com reviewer agrees with me. YAY! For some reason, I get immense pleasure in being validated by professional critics. I am not sure why that is. Probably because I wasn’t allowed to watch The Three Stooges as a kid.\
Last year, I revealed the wonderful pleasures of Veronica Mars to you. This year, I give you Supernatural. Go forth and enjoy, my little kiddies. (It is on The WB/ new network CW.)\
Speaking of tv, how much do I love that Starbucks and the like are taking down the Mob? So much! Hee.\
ETA- Someone just emailed me that they watched the Supernatural finale after I mentioned it and THEY LIKED IT! Yay for my first convert. -
99 cents is the price of love
Apple Computer will continue to charge only \$0.99 for music through iTunes.\
YAY! I love iTunes. Since I have discovered it, I have gone from spending \$15 once a year for an entire CD to spending \$60 (or more, hee) a year for only my favorite songs. While my spending has increased four-fold, my enjoyment has increased 100-fold.\
Awhile ago I downloaded Eminem’s “Lose Yourself.” I love this song, but I didn’t want to pay full price for the whole CD just for one song. And this is the beauty of iTunes. Just buy what you actually want to hear. In the last year, I also bought some Killers, Soft Cell, Ivy, Will Smith, Rick Springfield, Taxi Doll, and Fiona Apple. I am a total poser when it comes to music. I mean seriously- Eminem, Nitty, and Will Smith in my collection? But now I can be as poser-y as I want to be, for less than a dollar!\
I can also buy all of the songs played on my beloved Veronica Mars with ease. (Have I recently mentioned how awesome their music is? It is award-winning. Literally!) Lately I have really been enjoying the cheesy fantastic tv show Supernatural and the mullet rock that goes with it. Just yesterday I made a CD for the car, full of the most head-bangingiest classic rock around.\
So in closing, YAY for iTunes and its cheap prices! If you are an iTunes user, what are the last three songs that you bought?