Friday, March 31, 2006


MR. BUN

Tom Green sent this last week. Nothing else attached (i.e. text). I'm calling him Mr. Bun. Tom that is - not the rabbit.

I'll assume it has to do w/easter. You know - that catholic holiday where g-d's son is crucified and died for your sins? The one where three days later he rises in the form of a bunny and hides eggs and candy for everyone?

What? Am I somehow getting this wrong????

Thursday, March 30, 2006

NATIONAL DEBT

If you've never seen the National Debt Clock in NYC, it's quite amazing. Not in a good way - but in a car accident you just can't turn away from way. It's the way the numbers just tick away every frickin second.

The clock is built to have placeholders for 13 digits (the sign is 26 feet long!), which silly as it sounds, is only in the singles of trillions of dollars! Within the next two years, we will hit the 14 digit mark. Oddly enough, the clock is designed to run backwards if the chance ever was needed. Three more Bush years - I'm assuming we won't be seeing that feature anytime soon!

...and just an FYI - as of this writing, the debt is: $8,373,427,814,745.73 or each one of us owes $28,012.72. No personal checks, please!

side note: picture/debt is from July 2002!

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

I LOST ON JEOPARDY, BABY.....

Having more than once been called the King of Useless Information, last night I decided to take the first ever on-line Jeopardy. Normally try-outs are in-person, but the show tried something new. Participants had to pre-register and sign-on at least three minutes prior to the designated testing time. Gilmore Girls be damned - at 8:oop I was going to be on-line!!! (turns out it was a repeat anyway.)

50 questions in 10 minutes. The math would be: 12 seconds to read the question, type the answer and hit 'submit'. The cursor didn't automatically go back to the answer box so you had to make sure you did that as you were trying to read the next question. On the plus side you did not have to answer in the form of a question, nor did you have to have exact spelling.

Anyhoo...though they didn't give a score at the end, overall I did better than average or at least I think I did. I just couldn't get the answer for the Sanskrit category. Swear to g-d, I'm not making that up. I froze on a question regarding a peninsula in Mexico (after time ran out, of course Yucatan came to me!). The site will calculate scores based on how many people took the trial and then select people for real-live try-outs.

I really don't expect to even get that far, let alone to the show. And if I did, all I'd have in my head are two things:

  • The SNL skit(s) and Sean Connery asking for a clue in THE RAPISTS category
  • Me getting on TV and freezing like Cindy Brady

Tuesday, March 28, 2006

DIXIE CHICKS

You know - I really don't care if the song sucks donkey-dicks....I already love it (and I haven't heard a single note of it yet)!!! Ruckiry (not Jon's boss), I really do like the Chicks....or at least half the stuff they do.

A response song to an event that happened three years ago you might ask? But country radio, steeped in some warped right-wing/GOP tradition, hasn't forgotten their 'actions'- so why should the girls?

Billboard can come after me, but I completely 'borrowed' their review:

Not Ready to Make Nice
Producer(s): Rick Rubin Genre: COUNTRYLabel: Wide Open/Columbia (CD promo)
Dixie Chicks' lead Natalie Maines has never been the type to tuck her tail, but after an avalanche of combative censure of the trio at country radio following her 2003 criticism of President Bush, one might expect the Chicks' return to avoid ruffling feathers. Nothing doing. "Not Ready to Make Nice" responds to Maines' hurt and disbelief over the uproar: "They say time heals everything, but I'm still waiting/I'm mad as hell, can't bring myself to do what it is you think I should." The melancholy anthem, produced by Rick Rubin, is beautifully layered, melodically crafty and refreshingly impetuous. Sony is simultaneously taking the song to adult top 40, AC and country. Across all platforms, this is among the major releases of 2006.

Monday, March 27, 2006

DOGGIES


I completely forgot to mention that yesterday we went to go look at the Geauga Humane Society to look @ dogs. Kind of getting our paws wet. I always assume they'll have tons and they didn't. Maybe a dozen or so. Some really cute - some weren't even up for adoption b/c they haven't been acclimated to people. Some were slated for adoption (Rudy and and a malamute who isn't on the site). Barkley seemed really really cute - but Barky should have been his name. MAN. He's gonna talk himself right out of an adoption.

The dogs were ok, b/c there wasn't anyone we wanted to take home. The Kitty Condo (as Pru might call it) was pure heartbreak. A few dozen cats (no kittens) - so many of them so cute. Tovah and Kylie would adapt better to a dog than another cat though.

The place was great. Extremely clean. It didn't smell like a shelter or rescue. Certainly didn't look/smell like Cat Welfare in Columbus.

So long story short - we didn't get a dog. But I think Denton feels even better about doing this. I'll keep everyone posted.

Sunday, March 26, 2006

iPOD PLAYLIST



Posting iPod playlist is the placeholder for blog postings. It's an easy-out. You get your posting in w/out having to actually think of anything to say. It's not that I'm quite to that point, but it's a Sunday - and who is really reading this on a weekend?

That being said - I do love my music. I've seen the Desert Island Disk lists and the opposite where people have disclose their most embarrassing music or guilty pleasures. I've got both. One man's embarrassment is another's favorite music - so who is to say.

My friend Josh told me a few months ago, he finds no music to be bad music. At first I discounted that theory - and still might (I have seen his entire catalogue). However, I learned years not to part w/ my music. At some point I'll want to play it, even for the cringe factor.

Another friend, Jon, talks about selling or donating his old CDs since his is all captured electronically. I've stored all mine this way as well, but can't seem to part w/the physical disks....at least yet.

So here we go - there is the last playlist I created. It's all over the place as most of my mixes and entire music collection tend to be. I think the oldest is Rickie Lee Jones' "Coolsville" (1979) and the newest being Rosanne Cash.

I Saved the World Today - Eurythmics
Let Go - Frou Frou
It Dawned On Me - Calla
Sorry - Madonna
Precious - Depeche Mode
4ever - Veronicas
Little Bombs - Aimee Mann
Further On (Up the Road) - Bruce Springsteen
Forever Lost - The Magic Numbers
Path of Thorns (Terms) - Sarah McLachlan
Coolsville - Rickie Lee Jones
Laid So Low (Tears Roll Down) - Tears for Fears
War Child - Blondie
I Told You - Thorns
Give Me Your Eyes - Cardigans
The Unforgettable Fire - U2
Borderline - Alison Krauss + Union Station
World w/out Dreams - Rosanne Cash
i remember - Damien Rice
Room w/a View - Marti Jones

Saturday, March 25, 2006

NIGHT OUT

Last night I went to a party for a former boss who was unceremoniously let go a few weeks ago. Normally I don't socialize w/my co-workers (or former ones). The place was a converted old theatre, turned into a sports bar (ugh!). Huge, but such a horrible conversion of great space. The movie screen was projecting March Madness. More than a few people laughed in the final 2 minutes of the BC/Villanova game (which lasted 15 w/all the timeouts and commercials) when I asked if anyone knew if 'Desperate Housewives' was on. "Who has the remote?!!!"

But I went b/c Nancy had been so good to me in the 9yrs I spent in my last department. Though we had issues now and again, she provided me many opportunities. ...and she is one (if not the) smartest persons I've ever met. The people who were there were similar to me in the fact that we were 40-ish and been mentored in some way by Nancy. Since there were about 65 of us - not much time w/the honoree, so there was a core i hung with whom things are just fun and easy.

Ok...except one. This person in ITD (who are always the life of the party! NOT!) said I must be happy in my new job (new? it's been 16 mos!) - that I seemed happy and that before I was a 'sourpuss!'. I laughed it off, but have been giving it plenty, or too much, thought since. I'm the guy who thinks everything is funny. Granted, I was the most hated man in my last position - but that's why it was given to me: b/c I could handle it. All 1100 doctors hated me. All 4000 nurses hated me. As did patients and families. Most support services disliked me. It was a no- win position except for the front office. Though a serious job, I was light-hearted about it most of the time or I would have slit my wrists. Oh well......the people at the bar I relayed the story to just laughed.

Man - I only had 5 (or was it 6?) beers. Granted that is nothing compared to my past lives - my Poplar-life and my early working in Cleveland life. 5 or 6 were a warm up and I'm guessing that'd be 4 nights out a week. And I mean OUT.....til closing. Remember the days you could get home at 2:30a and still roll into work by 7a no worse the wear? Those days are gone for me. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy being 42 (and let's face it - who of us thought I'd live this long), but where did the stamina go?

My email group was discussing just yesterday how they wished we could go back to being burnouts. The reality is - we never were (well....I don't think....@ least since I've known them). Hell, I barely smoked pot....and isn't that where the term came from? It was so much easier to drink, or ingest and snort my drugs! This was a life before boyfriends, husbands, kids, mortgage etc. This is the same group who was here at xmas, and I believe we were all in bed by 12:30a. Ok ok ok.....YES, we started drinking at 4p, but that's not the point....or is it? Maybe there is no point.

Maybe the point is - I never thought I'd be standing in a bar watching basketball w/a bunch of mid and upper level managers...let alone BE one of them. Welcome to my life!

Friday, March 24, 2006

SpongeBob SoiledPants

Dith just doesn't get enough props in this blog. ....and if she continues in this vein, she might not!
On the other hand, it kind of made me laugh!

Thursday, March 23, 2006

SEPARATED AT....UM....UM.......

Is it just me - or are there really eerie similarities between The Kramer and the crappy phone-pic I took of Al Lerner's portrait?


Wednesday, March 22, 2006

Man in Custody After White House Scare

that was an AP headline a little while ago today.

Apparently it doesn't have anything to do w/the arrest of Shrub after he holds the country hostage from the WH for the last 5.5 yrs. ...it's a shame really.
Deep Brain Stimulation

I don't write about work a lot. I try to keep it off the blog for the most part. It seems the right thing to do. But now and again we get national exposure (in a good way) and I like to be proud of what I do and share the good work we actually accomplish.

CNN.com (this is not on any of their actual tv stations) is running an article on the chairmen of my department. The article, to the lay person (no offense to you readers), is only half as interesting as what we actually do here. As w/most media, they think they have to dumb stuff down to get talking points across to their readers/viewers. I don't subscribe to that thought - but I'm not in media relations.

It is a decent though not great article, but it the text isn't nearly as inclusive as what we actually do here.

Tuesday, March 21, 2006

HOWARD DEAN

The Daily Kos had a poll yesterday asking if readers approved of the way Howard Dean was doing business w/the DNC. I was a little surprised at the results (though I believe you can still vote).

Loyal readers (or new ones who are bored enough to read my archives) of Blobby's Blog know I was a huge Dean supporter prior to and during the 2004 primary season. I never saw the implosion coming. I still don't understand how one scream can take down a campaign (though I still blame a 24 new cycle who has nothing else to show). What I would have expected was his approach - almost non-political and pro-logic - to be his undermining. But it was refreshing to have him in the race.

After the Dems surrendered their spines and nuts to the president post-9/11, I stopped all $$$$. Every mailing they sent me I sent back w/an explanation on why there was no check enclosed. They didn't get it. When Dr. Dean became head of the DNC, I finally began contributing money to the organization again.

So, it pained me that I actually voted 'undecided' in the above poll. Clearly I'm in the minority (as always!). Dean, as usual, came out of the gates raring to go and controversial in his attacks on the current administration. Great!

What I don't see him doing it rallying the democrats to have more gonads than they have had in the last five years. Sure the Dems have their Feingolds (censure!) and Schumers (ports!) - but most fly under the radar just hoping to get re-elected.

...and it's a fine line, this re-election thing. I understand this. Needing to play it safe until 2008. But at what cost?

Monday, March 20, 2006

SPAETZEL OR RICE????????? (or more Shopping w/Blobby!)

You're there in line at the grocery just thinking you'll get both. Then the shopkeep comes up and tells you that you can only have one. Which one will it be? WHICH?

CHOOSE NOW!!!!!!!!

NOW !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sunday, March 19, 2006

A YEAR WORTH OF ENTRIES

....and it's only taken me 3 years.

Obviously I haven't been blogging daily. Lately I have - but in the past it's been hit or miss. I had been doing really well around election times and things like that - but if I had to rely on my random thoughts, I stymie myself. It's great to be funny and insightful all the time, if you can pull it off - but I'm probably not that guy. Let's face it - the subtitle of the blog is 'stuff & nonsense'.

Becky is probably right that doing this daily makes you a better writer - and maybe eventually that will come. Readership is up..and I guess that makes sense. The more consistent I do an entry - the more reason to come back. It's not so random. I've actually branched out from my four original readers - and average maybe 3-4 dozen hits per day. Yeah - it's not gonna win me a Bloggie or anything, but.......

I guess in the coming weeks, I will (should?) expand my blogroll. There are a number of good and/or funny blogs out there. Ones that I read daily. Would it be wrong for me to hold out putting them on my site unless they put me on theirs??

Saturday, March 18, 2006

BLOG CLOUD

I thought this was a kind of neat thing. Below is my Blog Cloud. The site is a bit intrusive, as it searches through my already written blog entries and pulls out words here and there. You can actually go in and delete/substitute words you don't want to show up, but I like the randomness of it all.

I did not, however, pay $22 to get a t-shirt made of image. (the words cheap, crowbar, miser do not appear in my cloud!)

Friday, March 17, 2006

ST. PATRICK'S DAY - Who Cares????

This is where I'd normally put a link or quote from Kent Brockman on his commentary on SPD. But I'm fairly sure that most folks I know are tired of me doing it year-in/year-out.

The above is something Kris L-S-R-H sent my way the other day. It's as close as to anything Irish that you'll see here. (You can visit all the related products just where you think you might: sweetjesusihatebilloreilly.)

Being part Irish I can say this: St. Patrick's Day, to me, less of a holiday Arbor Day. Parades to me are one step away from circuses. And Blobby hates a circus.

Sure it gives anyone who thinks they might be Irish (or who maybe once saw an Irish person) the opportunity to drink green beer, get drunk and puke. But who needs a special day for that? We call that our teens and 20s. Possibly early 30s. (full disclosure: I think I have only puked once twice from drinking. I'm good at holding my liquor.)

Thursday, March 16, 2006

WWND (what would Nick do)

Jessica Simpson snubs Bush

Love her or hate her (ok....I'm kidding on the former!) you have to love the story lead-in.

'It's never been a problem for Bono,' NRCC spokesman responds

LOS ANGELES, California (Reuters) -- Concerned about politicizing her favorite charity, singer-actress Jessica Simpson Wednesday turned down a invitation to meet with President Bush, a snub that left Republicans dismayed.

This girl has been pretty much a media whore (Jessica, not George........well....ok...George too), so you kind of have to applaud that she turned down a White House invitation on so many levels.
I'm sure the Swift Boat ads against her music (if that's what one calls it) are in production as we speak.
CNN Headline Follow-Up

Deaf beauty queen was text-messaging when hit by train

I think it's safe to say that she wasn't talking on the phone when it happened. Ok - she could have been talking on the phone, but it'd pretty much be a one way conversation as far as she was concerned - no?

(Evil on the rise!)

Wednesday, March 15, 2006

Censure Shrub

My blog entry from March 1st seems have gotten some momentum. Ok, not my blog entry - but then again, maybe it was! You have to love bloggers and the internet (no....really......you do!).

Many a site have popped up - and many a political organizations have stepped up to the plate. FINALLY. ...and it provided me w/that little banner at the top o'the page.

I suggest you visit/read/show support/contribute whatever you can do. Will it do anything? Probably not. But hell, Clinton had a higher approval rating when he was censured. Let's take away W's political capital he thinks he earned in the last election. Let's make this lame duck a dead duck....along w/all his cronies.

G-d bless Russ Feingold for making this not go away.

Act For Change
DNC - Stop Attacking Russ
Impeach Bush
John Conyers Jr.
Move On
United Coalition of Blogs for the Impeachment of GWB
Your Representative

Tuesday, March 14, 2006

Headline from CNN (today)

Miss Deaf Texas struck by train, killed

Ironically - her 'cause' was safer railroad crossings!!! No....No......I kid!

(what? My evil score just sent to 48% you say??)

STARF'INBUCKS

I am not a coffee drinker myself. Sure - I'll eat coffee ice cream anyday, but drink it - nah, not for me. But the idea of Starbucks escapes me. Maybe the coffee is actually better there than at the Stop N Go - but how much better could it possibly be.

The guy in this video drops the f*bomb once or twice. (ok...maybe a few more times than that!) I found it funny.

*Probably shouldn't be playing in an office where anyone offended by 'that word' might hear. Visually - nothing inappropriate!

Monday, March 13, 2006

POSTSECRET

I have yet to submit one (though I still think we all should!), however, this one kind of spoke to me. Don't ask me why. I'm such a Leo in so many ways - but so squirmy at other times when attention is bestowed upon me.

Sunday, March 12, 2006

VOTE QUIMBY CHANDRA

I met our new next door neighbor(s) yesterdee. They actually closed on their house the week after we did last year. Not sure the deal they actually struck - but the old owners didn't move out until maybe November - then so much of the house was gutted. Dumpster after dumpster was hauled away. I'm guessing the carpeting and everything was a part icky and part not the new owner's taste.

So the wife come over yesterday w/her triple stroller!!!! Yes, you heard right. Triplets. 24 mos old (or in non-parent terms: 2yrs old!) Two identical...one not. Cute little kids. I mean - for kids. Kids who are not related to you in anyway shape or form.

Meena is the wife's name. Her husband is Subodh. They are both lawyers - she being a civil rights attorney, he is running for the Attorney General of Ohio as the democratic candidate!!!! YAYYYYY. Someone has to beat that wench Betty Montgomery! My fear is: this is Ohio. What chance does a minority (Indian) have a chance to win this thing?

Since she had the stroller and the three kids - I didn't really invite her in, though we stood and chatted for maybe 20 min. She'd already seen the house though. She and her husband and put in a bid on it months before we did. They got turned down (obviously). But we have in common that we think the previous owners were douchebags. Meena admitted that they low-balled the offer, as did we. However, they were like the 4th couple to low-ball them. I think that's what got the previous owners to get it into their heads that they were being unrealistic about price.

Both Meena and I agreed it will be good to have nice neighbors (I don't know where Denton disappeared to, but he didn't get to meet her).

The good news is - we have nice neighbours. Possibly 'connected' neighbours. And most important - democrats as neighbours (but let's be fair: this is Cleveland Ambler Heights. How many republicans do you think actually live here?

Saturday, March 11, 2006

BLUE POST

Not 'sad'. But blue. Like off-colour humour. So, not to read if you offend easiry (not a typo).



I found the entire 'memo' (above)hilarious on so many levels:
  • That they'd had to draft it (and you know it wasn't the first draft) in the first place
  • That the university can identify the possible culprits to do DNA testing on them
  • That the university has funds to conduct DNA testing (I see an increase in student fees!)
  • That the university provides alternatives/suggestions to self-love (and care for their student's comfort!)
  • ...and finally, that the university thanks them

But most of all, I find that the university fails to address the sub-standard plumbing system. Let's place blame where it is due! Please look in the mirror you - the dept of Estates and Buildings!!!

For SHAME!

Friday, March 10, 2006

DIGITAL DOWNLOAD

It simply amazes me that record companies can be so far behind in their thinking when it comes to their business models. Maybe I shouldn't be. They've never really been proactive in anything other than price-hikes.

Technology has driven changes in music formats. If left to the record companies - we'd still be playing our 78 rpm acetate disks. The two biggest shakers in the last decade have to be Steve Jobs and Shawn Fanning (not necessarily in that order).

Napster (I won't hyperlink - since it's not that Napster to which I refer) completely changed the way music is record, distributed and played. Except for Edison, who can say that? Jobs, at least to date, as pretty much invented the ultimate player(s) and legitimate digital music store.

So it floors me that in yesterday's New York Times, I see this in an article on music downloads:

Breaking from the music industry's current custom, the singer's label — Island Def Jam — decided not to sell "So Sick" as an individual song before Ne-Yo's album hit stores last week. Label executives worried that releasing the track too early might cut into sales of the full CD — a fear that figures heavily in the music world's lumbering entry into the digital marketplace.

Are they kidding? I don't know anyone who buys an entire CD for one song. A disk has to be pretty damn good, or an artist w/a consistent reputation for me to buy a full disk. Either way - this isn't the 70s. The market is way different. Why go back?

"The labels are shooting themselves in the foot," said Tim Quirk, executive editor of the Rhapsody music service. To the labels, Mr. Quirk advises, "every single track that you are worried about is available for free whether you want it to be or not."

"You need to take advantage of every possible opportunity for people to pay in legitimate ways," he said.

At least someone in the industry isn't totally blind...though to be fair, Rhapsody is a digital music outlet. Do the record execs not realize that Napster flourished b/c of the buying public's frustration w/music distribution? They focus on their dying retail market - whereas 5 yrs ago it was piracy. What goes around comes around.

My g-d, last month iTunes sold their 1 billionth song. I've never purchased an entire disk of music from iTunes. It has always been individual songs. Though I've never seen any stats on it - I would venture to guess I'm no different than the majority of their consumers.

Even Stevie Nicks said in a recent interview that she does not see putting out another album as has been done traditionally. It is more to her advantage to release a few good tracks via services like iTunes than put out a mediocre album (and it could be argued that she's only put out mediocre albums). Oh - and she's gotta be 60 - right? Or pushing it. How is it someone in the grandma age-range has more insight to how business should be done than an MBA?

Thursday, March 09, 2006

SITE OF THE MONTH

Hey! I'm not even waiting until my blog-clock ticks out to add the site o'the month for March!

Denton turned me onto the Flash Mind Reader - and it's weird. Creepy Weird. I have done it maybe a dozen times - and it gets it right every single time. I mean - it's not like I say my answer out loud so the guys who are hiding behind the screen on the internets can hear me!

To quote/paraphrase that old thermos joke: "how it know?"

Though there are 100 numbers, there are only 23-24 symbols. So there must be some mathematical equation behind it. As if taking two numbers, adding them, then subtracting them isn't enough to tax the mind (yes Morty you heard me - we have to do math!).

....but still........the right answer every single time? There! There!!! It just did it again!

Wednesday, March 08, 2006

SHOPPING W/BLOBBY

I had no idea that vegetable broth is what was used to make the gals have fuller looking lips. If you axe me, I think plastic surgeons/dermatologists are way overcharging their patients.

Tuesday, March 07, 2006

I'm Not Nearly As Bad As All You People Think!

You Are 44% Evil

You are evil, but you haven't yet mastered the dark side.
Fear not though - you are on your way to world domination.

Monday, March 06, 2006

Post-OSCAR

Ok - except for Ang Lee and Reese Witherspoon, I pretty much struck out on my award winners. ...and at least Wallace & Gromit won.

The awards will officially end my posting of Brokeback parodies. Well, the two below actually end the postings.

Brokeback Island is LOST entree and not too bad either.

But the best of the bunch - and I do mean all of them that I've posted - the one Becky sent me last night is the stand-out. And it is the shortest and is done w/animated bunnies.

Sunday, March 05, 2006

Growing Up

This morning the phone rings at 7:00a. It's Sunday. I see almost no scenario where this can be good news. No one is calling to arrange dinner at 7:00a. ....and it wasn't.

My father was being taken by squad to the emergency department w/chest pain. The call was from one of my sisters. He had been working alone doing some water plant business. Physical work. Way too physical for an 85+ yo man. He knew enough to get home, take aspirin as if he was having a heart attack. And both he and my mother were smart enough to call 9-1-1 and not try to navigate the hospital transport on their own.

As it turns out the docs ruled out an MI, but they're keeping him overnight....at least one night. The staff was great - much better than @ my hospital.

Nothing makes you feel more grown-up than taking care of your parents to whatever degree. A car, house and job don't do that. Making your own will, becoming your parent's power of attorney or navigating them through the healthcare system thrusts you into immediate adulthood. Anyone who knows me will easily admit that I am grounded in my adolescence.

In the last few months, as morbid as it sounds, I've envisioned the situation where I'd be the one who would have to deliver a eulogy at the funeral or either of my parents. Not only do not think my sisters wouldn't do it - I don't think they could. Of course, this would go along w/having to make all the arrangements. I'm a realist this way: my parents are in their late 70s and mid-80s. Time is precious - yet limited. Something my sisters have trouble realizing and struggle with. Even if my parents live to 100, I swear my sisters will have never seen it coming. (a somewhat funny side note: I had no desire to call my other siblings to fill them in - but promised my mother I would. I attempted to get my younger sister to call one an older one - which nobody would want to do. I told her I'd pay her a dollar. Her response was, "sure. times one million!" I made the call.)

I've had this conversation before - but how did the seemingly 'black sheep' of the family become the responsible one? Maybe I seemingly deal with these things ok (maybe not - we really don't know yet, do we?). Maybe it is my work background. Maybe it is because I'm a realist.

....or maybe I'm just finally an adult.

Saturday, March 04, 2006

OMG

Not that I had ANY desire to see Hairspray - the musical....since I heart the original movie so much, but I reallllllllllllllly have no intention of seeing the new movie of the musical (ala The Producers). Just read this tidbit from Billboard:

Queen Latifah and John Travolta (!!!!!) are the first stars cast for New Line Cinema's film adaptation of the smash Broadway musical "Hairspray." Latifah will portray Motormouth Maybelle, while Travolta will transform into the lovably large Edna Turnblad, a role originated by female impersonator Divine and updated on Broadway by Harvey Fierstein.

The exclamation points after Travolta are mine - not the magazine's. At least Divine and Firestein could play Edna a little tongue in cheek and not for the paycheck. But the bigger question is 'why Why WHY???? !!!!!!!!!!!' Hell, throw a muumuu on Kirsty Alley (well...you'd almost have to!) - and she could pass for a man dressed as a woman. Sure it still has that weird Scientology angle....but swing a dead cat in Hollywood and you'd hit one of those. Can't be avoided. (of course w/Travolta you still get that weird gay vibe!')

At least we'll always have the original movies w/Debbie, Sonny , Ricki and the guy who played Corny Collins! Do yourself a favor - buy it!

Feel free to use the Comments section to cast the other roles in the movie. LL Cool J or Chris Rock to play Seaweed? Anyone? Anyone???
OSCAR Predictions

Ok - so I haven't seen all (or many) of the movies up for Oscar contention. Does that mean I can't make predictions? The hotly contested races won't even be televised ....like who will win Best Best Boy or Key Grip?????? As it turns out - they're not my predictions of who would win - but who i'd want to win.

Picture - Brokeback Mountain
Director - Ang Lee
Actor - Heath Ledger
Actress - Reese Witherspoon
Supp Actor - Matt Dillon
Supp Actress - Michelle Williams

Friday, March 03, 2006

As the Oscars approach...

(this morning's song in my head upon waking was "Romanticide". For the life of me I don't know who did it - and it's not really worth Goooooogling.)

I figure I'd leave you with a few more Brokeback mash-ups. I'm assuming they'll be my last ones - but I've said that before. Clearly they are being run into the ground.

Brokeback MountDoom
Clearly could have been funnier. In my own mind, I'm playing all three LOTR movies in my head - and there are way more 'brokeback' type scenes between Frodo and Sam than what is represented here.

Brokeback to the Future
eh. It's just ok.

Star Wars: The Empire Brokeback
see: Brokeback MountDoom

Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Brokeback
Yes, similar title. Different trilogy.

Brokeback Top Gun
...as if the original movie wasn't homoerotic enough!

Brokeback Dumb and Dumber
Guess what? I never saw the original movie. I've got nothing to say about it.

Thursday, March 02, 2006

OH NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

H.R. Pufnstuf died!!!

If they truly go in threes - I can only imagine that Sigmund is next....followed closely by someone in the cast of Lidsville.

(btw....I was never a fan, but when it was played a few years ago on Nick@Nite, I happened to catch a few minutes of it. My first thought was - 'man that was some acid trip Sid & Marty Krofft were on. Turns out Morty saw the same thing at the same time and thought the same thing!)
Another Nail in the Shrub Legacy

Is it wrong to internally gloat at W's misfortunes? During Congressional hearings the administration tried to play down what they knew, when they knew it and the importance levee at which they knew it.

In a government video briefing the day before Hurricane Katrina struck on Aug. 29, Bush didn't ask a single question during the final briefing before Katrina struck on Aug. 29, but he assured soon-to-be-battered state officials: "We are fully prepared."

Whooops!

"I'm concerned about ... their ability to respond to a catastrophe within a catastrophe," Brown told his bosses the afternoon before Katrina made landfall.

For all the flack we have given Michael Brown as being a doofus (and I'm not convinced he isn't) I think he was definitely being made THE scapegoat.

The White House and Homeland Security Department urged the public not to read too much into the video footage. "I hope people don't draw conclusions from the president getting a single briefing," presidential spokesman Trent Duffy said, citing a variety of orders and disaster declarations Bush signed before the storm made landfall. "He received multiple briefings from multiple officials, and he was completely engaged at all times."

Umm....doesn't this make Shrub's ignorance inherently worse?

If he was completely engaged - which I doubt - his lack of understanding and compassion have sunk to a new level. I also find it laughable in this 24 news-cycle-world that a few weeks earlier the White House can refute the things Brown was saying under oath and that this wouldn't eventually surface....and that months before that, an aide was quoted as saying he had to beg Bush to watch news reports of what was going on down in New Orleans.

A very overlooked news clip of the week: Bush will have 5,000 people protecting him on his trip to India. FIVE THOUSAND. If that doesn't say: the most reviled man alive today, I don't know what does.

(I couldn't let these timely news pieces pass and seem like an after-the-thought blogger. Unfortunately, my funnier post will have to wait.)

Wednesday, March 01, 2006

In Like A Lamb

Mostly just ramblings today.

It's somewhat sunny out today. Chilly, but sunny. No storms. The leg doesn't hurt so much (but it predicts a shift in weather in the next 24-48 hrs). So this is the lamb - right? Meaning end of month should be a doozy.

I woke up w/"Lily of the West" playing in my head. I believe it's a Dylan song (Bob - not Thomas), though I've only heard Johnny Cash do it, then his daughter, Rosanne. By the time I got out of my car @ work, the song in my head morphed into "Troy" by Sinead O'Connor. This is what still resides in my grey matter.

Though I'll try to get the banner up in my blog (and it seems to take up a lot of bandwidth - making it slower for you to reach the sunny destination which is Blobby's Blog!), The United Coalition of Blogs for the Impeachment of George W. Bush is in full function.

The above is a noble, albeit doomed, endeavors. No republican congress is going to impeach one of their own. And even IF they did - at least Agnew resigned before Nixon was gonna get tossed. Giving Cheney the reigns (officially) would invariably be worse.