Crocodiles Rock!

Breaking News: I watched Rogue the other night.

It was exactly the kind of film that I almost always enjoy. A bunch of tourists in the Australian outback are terrorized by a big salt-water crocodile while they are on a tour boat in a tidal river.

They wind up stuck on a small island that only is accessible at low tide. Wackiness ensues.

It's a simple as hell formula that goes back decades, if not centuries. Bunch of people, remote location, big monster. Who will survive? This one has some decent scenery, solid performances, a not-so ridiculous looking monster and it rarely stoops to stereotypes even though it easily could have.

The film was a box-office flop.  In fact, I never even heard about it until a few weeks ago.  It's a shame because it was solid work from the director of Wolf Creek, which was a pretty decent slasher flick.   And it had an engaging cast including Michael Vartan, Radha Mitchell and Sam Worthington.  The last guy is now a bit more famous as he stars in the lastest Terminator film. 

Anyway, it ain't gonna win any Academy Awards.  It's not that kind of film.  But sometimes a simple tale like this is all I need and all I want.  It was a good film and that was enough for me.

Got me thinking about films with crocodiles and alligators as the big bads, and this one might actually be the best one I've seen. Lake Placid was pretty good because it never took itself too seriously. Yeoman's work from the cast on that one as well. Alligator from 1980 is highly underrated.  It was co-written by John Sayles and it had some great work by Robert Forster.  It also succeeded by making fun of itself and the genre.  Hell, it had a sewage worker named Norton.  I dig that.

Primeval was a crocodile film that didn't work as well for me, yet I still kinda enjoyed it.  It was based on a true story (like Rogue) of a killer crocodile in Burundi named Gustave.  My biggest problem with the film is how it was marketed.  They, the film studio, sold us a bill of goods by implying that the film was about a serial killer.  A bit of a stretch there.  This one was what Rogue might have been had the producers made the characters one-dimensional stereotypes.  It's serviceable, but certainly not a good film.

That's all I got.  I can't think of any more decent killer crocodile or alligator films.  Oh sure, Lake Placid and Alligator both had direct-to-video sequels.  But I'm talking about original films that were released in the theaters.  I see that Tobe Hooper did a film called Crocodile in 2000, but I haven't seen it.  Has anyone?  I'd like to make sure I'm not missing anything decent in the genre.

And that last sentence may be the saddest thing I have ever written.  Sigh.

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Note: Remember to play the Bug-Eyed Trivia Challenge every day. I remember when rock was young.  Me and Suzy had so much fun...

Dear Leader got skillz, yo!

This story is from a few years back, but I just heard about it the other day for the first time.

It seems that Kim Jong-il, Dear Leader of North Korea, fancies himself to be quite the golfer.  He only recently decided to take up the game, but he started off with a bang.  He shot 38 under par in his very first attempt on North Korea's one and only 18-hole golf course.  The round included a hole-in-one on five different holes.  Dear Leader was reportedly smitten with the game after that round. 

I can see why.

He supposedly routinely shoots three or four holes-in-one per round nowadays.  That is if you don't believe the rumors that he died a while back.  I'm on the fence with that one. 

Whether or not he is actually this good at golf (he's not...no one is), the guy has a fascinating life.  Dear Leader, in addition to his supreme golfing skills, has composed six operas and he enjoys staging elaborate musicals.  He is a self-proclaimed expert at, um, the Internet. 

Man, if this guy wasn't either batshit crazy or dead he might be my favorite World Leader of all-time.  But he is either batshit crazy or dead and his country has nucleur weapons, so I'm gonna put my Kim Jong-il tattoo on the shelf for the time being.

Too bad.  It was gonna be fucking sweet!

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Note: Remember to play the Bug-Eyed Trivia Challenge every day. "You have not heard the rast of Kim Jong-Il! I will return! You shall see. I will be back! [enters spaceship and launches out of the palace] So rong, Earthrings!"

Antici.....p...p...p...pation!

I saw this somewhere sometime last night while trying to keep myself awake for some reason. It is just so fascinating to watch. And it is only an two-minute excerpt. Check it out as Captain Kirk works himself up into a lather to spew his most famous line.

The clip is a short version of a 15-minute film that some hot shot made using only the few seconds before and after Shatner's famous outburst. Read the entire article about it here.

I've watched it about half a dozen times now. There is some fucking acting going on in those few seconds, my friends. Serious acting.

PS - New beer review is up over at the Beer-Eyed Blog. Feh.

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Note: Remember to play the Bug-Eyed Trivia Challenge every day. Khhhhaaaaaaannnnnnn!!!!!!

Who Ya Got?

Just looking to stir some shit up here. Howabout a classic game of Who Ya Got?, this time featuring the two wonderful cities of Chicago and NYC.  Summer style!

Who Ya Got? New York vs. Chicago

Pizza
I don't think this one is even an argument, but there are some folks out there who claim that the deep-dish Chicago-style pizza is better than NY-style thin crust pies.  Those people are wrong.  Dead wrong.  While the deep-dish is delicious, it ain't pizza.  Not in my book.  It's some kind of pizza-like substance.  Gimme a nice thin crust pie from John's of Bleecker Street and I'm in heaven!

Winner: New York

Hot Dogs
While I love me a nice Nathan's hot dog or a handful of dogs from Gray's Papaya, I don't know if they compare to the Chicago-style dog shown in the mosaic above.  Pickle spear, celery salt, poppy-seed bun, onions, relish, hot peppers and tomatoes?  That's a good freakin' hot dog, y'all!

Winner: Chicago

Baseball Stadiums
Another blow to my city of choice here.  I haven't been to the new Yankee Stadium yet, I did see a few hundred games at the old Stadium and it was great.  Shea was a dump, but Citi Field looks nice.  But c'mon...Wrigley?  There is no contest.  Easily one of my favorite places on Earth.  And I have to say that I had one of my best days at a ballgame while at new Comiskey.  Great food and great people.  Chicago is a big winner here, I'm sorry to report.

Winner: Chicago

Baseball Fans/Mascots
Ronnie Woo Woo is a lot of fun at Cubs' games.  For about five minutes.  Then you realize that he is pretty much a crazy homeless dude who can yell really loud.  He's got nothing compared with Freddy over at Yankee Stadium.  I actually had the pleasure of sitting down and having a long conversation with Freddy once on a subway ride home from the old Stadium.  Nice guy and a great story.  Much rather listen to the pleasant sounds of a spoon on an old pot than Ronnie yelling "woo" at the top of his lungs.

Winner: Freddy "sez" New York

Hmm...so it's a tie after four heats.  A classic push.  Maybe I should have picked 5 topics, eh?  But that would mean I would have to edit my mosaic, and I ain't doing that.  Crap!  What other classic NY vs. Chicago battles could we include?  Steakhouses? Beer? Nightlife? Skylines? Subways vs The El? Native sons and daughters? SCTV vs Saturday Night Live?

To be continued?

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Note: Remember to play the Bug-Eyed Trivia Challenge every day. Freddy "sez" don't let the bastards get you down!

Get off yer asses!

In case you missed the tab at the top of this page or the footnote on the bottom of every fucking post I write, I host a Trivia game online. Today starts a new tournament so it is probably a good time for all you lurkers to join on in.  That is if you aren't a-scared!

May's winner was Limpy...again.

Limpy has won three months in a row (including a tie with me in March) now and he needs to be unseated. Do you think you have it in you? You probably don't, but I'm asking anyway.

I've changed around some of the daily topics for June and I am always looking for suggestions for Wednesday's custom trivia day. Everyone should get a shot at excelling at their own particular trivia speciality. RW is getting Baseball trivia from the Deadball era later this month and badgerdaddy is getting Premier League Soccer after that.

How about the rest of you kids? Suggest a topic that you and only you will excel at, for one day at least. Heff, howabout Playboy magazine? Avitable, what about Superman or Avril Lavigne? Slyde, maybe some Clay Aiken trivia? You know you would kick ass!

Monthly Winners thus far

May 2009 - Limpy 268 points (4 wins)
April 2009 - Limpy 282 points (6 wins)
March 2009 - Limpy 313 points (7 wins)/Me 313 points (7 wins)

February 2009 - Me 270 points (4 wins)
January 2009 - Me 243 points (3 wins)
December 2008 - Me 242 points (5 wins)

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Note: Remember to play the Bug-Eyed Trivia Challenge every day. You can't keep letting Limpy and I win it every single month, can you? ;)

Summer

Is officially here. I don't care what the calendar says.

 

 +

  

 +

 

Feel free to replace the Dickel with any kind of bourbon (Evan Williams, perhaps) or some rum (Pusser's is a good one, Hell...it was good enough for the British Navy!).  Use half a lime and a bunch of ice in a large cocktail glass.  It's kinda like a Moscow Mule, but I don't do vodka.  And with the rum it is kinda like a Dark and Stormy, but I don't really like Gosling's Black Seal Rum all that much.  So we call it the Ring-a-Ding, for some reason.

Repeat as necessary.  Enjoy! 

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Note: Remember to play the Bug-Eyed Trivia Challenge every day. Here's to swimmin' with bow-legged women.

Optical Illusion?

Ze Frank has been freaking me out on a very irregular basis for the past couple of years. And yet sometimes I go 6 months without checking out his stuff because I get tired of his act. And by his stuff, I mean his videos and, um, stuff. Perverts!

Anyway, this one made me laugh so now you can laugh too. See how that works?

HardTime :: Illusion from ze frank on Vimeo.

Happy Friday everyone!

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Note: Remember to play the Bug-Eyed Trivia Challenge every day. Crap! Now my finger smells weird.

But I want an Oompa Loompa now!!!!

You know what I hate?

When I can't find a video of something I really want to see anywhere on the Internets. I fucking hate that! In this day and age you would think that anything that has been filmed or recorded since the time of Louis Lumiere* would be online somewhere. And most of it is.

But every once in a while I search for something and barely find a mention of it, much less a video.

Case in point.

We have been obsessed with Harry Caray lately. For those of you who don't know, Harry was a baseball announcer with the St. Louis Cardinals, Oakland A's and Chicago White Sox. But his last job with the Chicago Cubs is what he is mostly remembered for. He passed away in 1998, but comedians like Will Ferrell are still doing impersonations of him. And the real Harry was often just as funny.

In 1998, Will Ferrell did an impersonation of Harry at the ESPY Awards. I tell people about this all the time. He rips into Tiger Woods and a bunch of other athletes, but it is his comments about John Elway that makes it legendary. Yelling stuff like "how come he doesn't get his teeth fixed" and such. It was sooo uncomfortable to watch Elway's reaction to it. Like I said, legendary.

Except the legend has apparently died. You can't find video of this bit anywhere on the web. You can barely find a mention of it. Some intrepid soul put the audio of it on YouTube a while ago, but it has since been taken down.  It should be available on ESPN somewhere, but...no, it isn't.

I'm stamping my foot and pouting about this right now. I want it, I want it, I want it, I want it, I WANT IT! Right now!

Come on, Internets! Get your act together!

*There is your obscure reference of the day.  You are welcome. - Earl

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Note: Remember to play the Bug-Eyed Trivia Challenge every day. Hey!  If the moon was made of spare ribs instead of cheese, would you eat it?  Simple question Norm.  Would you eat it?

Those 70's Films (continued)

Well, only really had one silly commenter yesterday who argued against the 1970's as the greatest decade for films. I said I wasn't going to argue the point, and I'm really not gonna. To me, it is just silly to argue against it. No other decade is even close.

But what I will do is pick a few genres and then pick five films from each. Five films that I think best represent the decade for that particular genre. Then I challenge anyone to come up with a similar list from any other decade that they believe is better.

Here are twenty-five films that I believe hold up against any twenty-five from any other decade.

Drama

1. The Godfather (I could include the sequel here too)
2. Chinatown
3. Dog Day Afternoon
4. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
5. Taxi Driver

Honorable mention: The Godfather Part II, The Deer Hunter, The Conversation, Deliverance, Badlands, Network.

Action/Adventure (including Science Fiction and Sports films)

1. Rocky
2. Star Wars
3. Jaws
   
4. The French Connection
5. Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Honorable mention: Breaking Away, The Warriors, Assault on Precinct 13, Superman (feh!), The Longest Yard, The Mechanic.

Comedy

1. Young Frankenstein
2. M*A*S*H
3. Monty Python and the Holy Grail
   
4. Annie Hall
5. Animal House

Honorable mention: Blazing Saddles, Manhattan, The Muppet Movie (seriously),  The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Being There, The In-Laws (a personal favorite).

Horror

1. Alien
2. Halloween
3. The Exorcist
4. Dawn of the Dead
5. Carrie

Honorable mention: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Omen, Phantasm, When a Stranger Calls, Martin (a personal favorite), Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Amityville Horror.

Other (just because I wanted to pick five more)

1. A Clockwork Orange
2. The Sting
3. Dirty Harry
4. Cabaret
5. The Outlaw Josey Wales

Honorable mention:  Paper Moon, Patton, The Last Picture Show, Marathon Man, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, Grease, All That Jazz, Eraserhead, Soylent Green, Logan's Run, etc...


So whaddya got?  You think you could pick five films from these genres that are superior to the films listed above?  Go ahead and try.  You may even change my mind*.

*You really won't.

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Note: Remember to play the Bug-Eyed Trivia Challenge every day. Just being stubborn here.

That 70's Film

We love Netflix.

Got the Roku player for the TV so we can watch anything on our Instant queue anytime. Got our regular DVD queue for newer flicks and anything that isn't available instantly.

And a lot of our queue space is being used for the greatest of decades when it comes to American film, the 70's. Don't even argue that point. You would be wrong and you would sound stupid. The best decade for movies was the 1970's. Period.

Today (Monday) we watched William Friedkin's follow-up to The Exorcist. A nifty little ball of tenseness called Sorcerer. It was an ambitious project. Filmed on four continents with an international cast headed by Roy Scheider. It ultimately failed at the box office, but fans of the 70's and Friedkin are enjoying it to this day. I know we did.

It's a tale of four men running from something in their criminal pasts.  They each wind up in a small oil town in some third world country in South America.  Each man volunteers to transport leaky boxes of dynamite across the jungle so that the oil company can use it to stop an oil well fire.  But the dynamite has been sitting around for awhile and it is "sweating" nitroglycerin.  Any little jiggle or wiggle could cause the whole batch to go ka-blooey.  Lucky they only have to transport the stuff 218 miles over rugged terrain.  In big ole clunky trucks.

And so begins the dance.  Little sub-plots galore, including the back stories of why each man is running and why each of them have nothing to live for anymore.  Except the paycheck. 

Franky, I can understand why it failed at the box office.  It was a bit slow and it was a bit methodical, but it was brilliant.  It did okay business the first week in the theaters, but word-of-mouth spread pretty quickly and the audiences failed to come around after that. 

Although it was a remake itself (of a French film called Wages of Fear), I can see it being remade sometime in the near future by someone eager to tell a good story.  Hollywood is nothing if not derivative of itself.

How about you?  Got any forgotten favorite films from the 70's you love?  We are always looking for suggestions.

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Note: Remember to play the Bug-Eyed Trivia Challenge every day. I don't care what Friedkin says, Roy Scheider is the fucking man!

Happy Memorial Day!

So I was first woken up by the cats at 5AM this morning as they decided to have a wrasslin' match on my head. Then about an hour later, as I had just fallen back asleep, my nephew started texting me using his mother's phone. Important stuff like "Your butt smells". Then the cats started up again.  This went on for a couple of hours.

I finally was able to fall back asleep when our neighbor began shooting his cannon...yes, his cannon...over the harbor in remembrance of the men and women who served this country and lost their lives.  They were blanks, in case you were wondering.  Loud-as-fuck blanks.

And here I thought Memorial Day meant you could sleep in late on a Monday in early Summer.

Happy fucking Memorial Day!

UPDATE - What the fuck?  I never thought I would see the day that the Yankees would wear red caps.  This was mandated by MLB, by the way.  Every team is wearing red caps today.  No way Team Steinbrenner makes this choice on their own.  Feh.

"It's just one of those days when you don't wanna wake up.  Everything is fucked, everybody sucks, you don't really know why but you wanna justify ripping someone's head off!" - Fred Durst

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Note: Remember to play the Bug-Eyed Trivia Challenge every day. Kittens and texting and cannons, oh my!

Terminator: Salvation - SPOILER ALERT

UPDATE - Spoilers in the comment section, so beware.

No, I'm not going to give you any spoilers for this film. I don't have to.

The studio did it for me.

If you've seen a commercial, an online trailer for it or a preview in the theater than you have already seen the major spoiler in the film. I had seen it, many times, and I thought it was odd that they would give away such a major plot point in the trailer. But I also didn't really care. I figured the movie was gonna suck and that it probably wasn't going to be a big deal in the film anyway.

I was wrong on both counts.

The film was highly enjoyable. It stayed true to the Terminator mythology. The actors all did outstanding jobs. Everything about the film was kinda cool. In my opinion, of course. I've seen a bunch of negative reviews, and I could see some of their points. But I also loved the The Sarah Connor Chronicles, and a lot of Terminator purists hated that as well.

I tend to be a little more flexible when it comes to source material that uses time travel, killer robots and a war against the machines as plot points. As long as it's fun. But that's just me.

Oh, and that spoiler I was talking about? It was handled really well in the film. In fact, tt was handled so well that I began to get pissed about that trailer. REALLY pissed!

Even more so a day after seeing it with Slyde. He felt the same way, I think.

So, if you've seen the trailer and you are planning on seeing the film I think you may be disappointed. If you are planning on seeing the film and you haven't seen the trailer, try to avoid it at all costs.

I probably would have figured it all out before the great reveal, in fact I'm sure I would have. But I like to have that option for myself. And for some unfathomable reason, the studio fucked that shit up. Feh!

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Note: Remember to play the Bug-Eyed Trivia Challenge every day. There's no fate but what we make for ourselves.

Walker told me

Of course everyone has seen that clip or a mashup of that clip by now. Still funny after all these years. It just got me wondering what other bad news Walker might have delivered at some point or another.

Lou Gehrig - "Walker told me I have Lou Gehrig's disease. I should have seen that coming."

Michael Vick - "Walker told me I am being sent to Hell when I die and Satan is a pitbull. Fuck my life."

The Octomom - "Walker told me that one of my kids is gonna kill me someday. It's like a Greek tragedy. Starring Chuck Norris as the Oracle."

Ryan Seacrest - "Walker told me that I was gay.  But I think he misunderstood me when I asked to him if I could give him a hand job.  I meant as a hand model, um, on my show.  Sheesh!"

Rush Limbaugh - "Walker told me I was an asshole.  He obviously wasn't the first."

President Barack Obama - "Walker told me about all the hard times I would face as the leader of our great nation.  The war on terror, the slumping economy, our nation's diminished role on the world stage.  Then he told me he was gonna endorse Huckabee for President.  Phew!"

Alex Rodriguez - "Walker told me that I would be outed by Selena Roberts as a steroids user.  But I was too busy kissing myself in the mirror to really give a damn."

Paris Hilton - "Walker told me that I'm a no-talent, slack-eyed, loser of a whore.  That's hot!"

Donald Trump - "Walker told me that my hair looks ridiculous.  Hello, pot!  This is the kettle.  You're black!"

And finally,

Slyde - "Walker told me that I've always had a secret man-crush on Earl.  I told him that if loving Earl is wrong, then I don't wanna be right! Wooo-gaaah!!!"

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Note: Remember to play the Bug-Eyed Trivia Challenge every day. Chuck Norris doesn't just take the quiz, he knocks it on it's ass with a roundhouse kick.

The Amazing Human Race

Gia and I had one of our longest and silliest semantic conversations/arguments last night. We were talking about the lack of black players in baseball today or, to be more specific, a report I had read about the low number of black players in baseball today.

Let me explain that a bit. According to racial statistics, there are less black players in professional baseball today than there were 30 years ago. Now that might seem like a fallacy considering the overall number of "brown" faces in the league today, but many of those men are considered to be Hispanic or Latino. Not black.

I called bullshit. And I am the whitest white dude ever to walk the face of the Earth, so that means that I am most likely wrong and possibly even a bit racist. At the very least I will probably sound a bit stupid, but here goes anyway.

My argument to Gia was that while I agree that there seems to be less black players in the game than there used to be, there are still plenty of black players in the game today. On the Yankees, look at Robinson Cano or Melky Cabrera or Mariano Rivera. I believe that racially, all of these men could be considered to be black.  Not making any judgements on them, just stating my opinion on their race.

She countered that by saying that both Cano and Cabrera are from the Dominican Republic and Rivera is from Panama. They all speak Spanish as well, so that makes them Hispanic, not black. I don't really get that. Since when does where you are from (in the Western Hemisphere at least) and what language you speak help define your race?

I guess the question of race is an ambiguous one today anyway. How does one define race? Is it an anthropological distinction or a cultural distinction? I dunno, but the real crux of the argument over the lack of black players in the major leagues was the lack of African-American players in the major leagues. Aha! Now we are getting somewhere. That goes toward a more societal question of why young Black men in this country have stopped playing baseball.  And I don't have a real good answer for that.

I gave Gia three men who have all played baseball either currently or in the past.  Alex Rodriguez, Fernando Valenzuela and David Ortiz.  Then I asked her what race she would categorize each of them as.  She chose Hispanic for all three men and I went nuts again.  Sure, culturally they are all Hispanic.  A-Rod and Ortiz are both Dominican and Fernando is Mexican.  But the common tie of language is all that they share.  What would be more accurate is to say that all three men are of mixed race.  A-Rod clearly has some European features while Ortiz could be classified as being black or African-Dominican.  And Fernando shares a lot of traits with the indigenous people of the Americas.

I just don't get how a person of African descent who lives in the Dominican Republic is Hispanic, but someone also of African descent who lives in the USA is black.  And yet that is how some studies classify those groups.  

She also couldn't believe that I was saying that I could determine someone's race just by looking at them.  I countered with the argument that the only way to determine someone's race is by looking at them.  Physical characteristics define race, on an anthropological level.  But she is looking at race on a more cultural level.  So who is right and who is wrong here?  I dunno.

So we continued arguing about whether or not being Hispanic was a racial sub-division and we both became too tired to really give a shit about it eventually.  Honestly, there is nothing I find more uncomfortable than a form that asks you about your race.  White, Black, Asian, Hispanic, Other.  We spend so much time defining one another, categorizing ourselves that it might contribute to actually keeping us apart.  Who really gives a crap, anyway?  And yet there I was arguing about it with the woman I love.  And here I am writing about it the next day.

What does it all mean and when is it all gonna go away?  People have pride in their backgrounds and where their family comes from.  I have a tattoo of my family's traditional crest from Ireland on my leg.  And yet in other ways I don't care about that shit at all.

One of these days down the line, maybe hundreds, maybe thousands of years from now, we are all going to belong to the same race.  The Human Race.  If we don't fuck it all up first, that is. 

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Note: Remember to play the Bug-Eyed Trivia Challenge every day. OK...I guess you can't tell what race Michael Jackson belongs to just by looking at him.  I'll give you that.

The Wolf, the Ram and the...Alpha?

I was pleased to discover that a new website was launched over the weekend based upon universe created by Joss Whedon*.

*It really isn't, but fans of Angel and Dollhouse will get that joke. - Earl

It is called WolframAlpha and it is a computational knowledge engine. I don't know what any of that means, but it sounds really cool.  Have any of the nerdlier of you nerds tried it out yet?  I know I've been playing with it for a couple of days.  Fascinating stuff for the inner geek in all of us.

It was launched on Friday, so one of the creepier searches/questions you can ask it is "How old are you?"  It will answer a specific number of days, down to 3 decimal points, from when it was launched/became aware. Or just simply say "hello" to it.  It will respond with a chilling "Hello, human".

:: shiver ::

Or ask it the meaning of life.  It will tell you.  The answer is 42, of course, but you knew that already.  Well, the nerdlier nerds amongst you knew that already.  Right, Slyde?

Perhaps the funniest/creepiest feature of WolframAlpha is the error message that it uses when it exceeds it's maximum test load.

Be afraid.  Be very afraid.

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Note: Remember to play the Bug-Eyed Trivia Challenge every day. Resistance is futile.

The Modern

Ate here tonight.

Had this tonight:

• Rock shrimp risotto with wild ramps, fine herbs and hijiki.
• Lemon dusted veal sweetbreads simmered in "vin jaune" with chestnuts and roasted heirloom cauliflower. 
• Chocolate tart, chocolate cremieaux and chocolate sorbet.
• A lovely cocktail with George Dickel No. 12, lemon, maple syrup and mint leaves.
  
• Six Points Paul Saison Farmhouse Ale. (More than one)
  
• Michter's Small Batch Bourbon.
• Bulleit Bourbon.

Very, very happy and stuffed right now.  When you go, and you will go, ask for Jason.  He is one of the managers of the joint and he fucking rules!  Hooked us up with some very rare and very cool beer that I will be reviewing at some point on my beer blog.  When I get to it. 

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Note: Remember to play the Bug-Eyed Trivia Challenge every day. All the fat bastards are doing it.

Just curious

I was just a little curious about a few things pertaining to the daily trivia quiz I have been hosting.

• Do I need to keep reminding everyone about it via the footnote down there on every one of my posts?  I'm pretty sure someone said they were using that as a reminder, but I also have a tab for it on the top of my header pic.  I have it set up as a template, so I'm not typing that or cutting and pasting it everyday.  So it isn't a big deal to keep it there.  I was just wondering.
  
• Does anyone out there notice that I change the second sentence in that footnote on every new post?  I put almost no work into it, but dammit I want to know that someone notices!
  
• Is anyone interested in taking over the hosting duties for the month of June?  The site allows the administrator, me, the option of turning over that responsibility to someone else.  I still enjoy doing it, but if anyone else wants to run it for a month, please let me know.  It's not very hard.  All you have to do is pick the daily topics and, with the help of suggestions from the madding crowd, a custom topic for each Wednesday. 
  

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Note: Remember to play the Bug-Eyed Trivia Challenge every day. Is anyone reading this?

Music Video Fridays - The White Stripes

It's getting harder and harder to find bands that enable the embedding of their videos on Youtube. They are there for viewing, but they don't want anyone putting those videos on their sites. I don't really understand that, frankly. Anyone out there have a clue as to why they do this?

Anyway, The White Stripes (or the record company) do allow embedding. And that is one of the reasons that you are seeing them here today. Another reason is that they are a damned good band. Jack and Meg White (and their ambiguous relationship) are a force of nature. While their sound has graduated from their garage rock revival roots to a bit more of a polished product in their more recent efforts, they still bring it in a consistent manner.

Like a lot of folks, my first introduction to the band was their White Blood Cells album in 2001 and the single "Fell in Love With a Girl". The video became pretty famous as well. An early American effort from French auteur Michael Gondry. I like the Legos.

The next video is from their massively successful Elephant album from 2003. "Seven Nation Army" is a song that will always remind me of my father who passed away that year. He was in the hospital for about three weeks there at the end, and every day that I would visit him I would hear this song on the radio on the way there and on the way back. Sometimes twice as it was a pretty long ride. It's a pretty good song too.

The last video today the opening track from their 2005 album, Get Behind Me Satan. Which is a pretty badass title for an album, if you ask me. "Blue Orchid" is one of my favorite songs that the Stripes have produced to date.  The video is pretty badass too.

Have a great weekend everyone!

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Note: Remember to play the Bug-Eyed Trivia Challenge every day. Meg White says do it to it.

So, Paris looks like fun

Make The Girl Dance "Baby Baby Baby" ( official video )
by placeblancherec

Courtesy of the kids at GorillaMask.

Did I hear Ethan Hawke's name in there someplace? Oui?

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Note: Remember to play the Bug-Eyed Trivia Challenge every day. All the naked French models are doing it.

Pick me, Indy! Pick me!

The worst hack on the web* is reporting that Harrison Ford and Calista Flockhart are looking to adopt.

I'd like to officially put myself on their radar as a candidate.

Mr. Ford, here are a list of my qualifications:

• I'm 42 and you are 66, so you actually could be my father.  
• We both share rogue-ish good looks, so (again) you actually could be my father.
• I've secretly been calling you "Dad" for a while now anyway.
• I look good in a fedora, so those weekend father/son fedora getaways wouldn't be a problem.
• I don't have much of an interest in carpentry, but I am willing to learn.
• By "willing to learn", I mean that I can hand you a hammer or fetch you a beer while you build us a porch to hang out on.
• Although I've never been to Jackson Hole, Wyoming where you own a ranch, I have been to the Jackson Hole Diner in Queens and I love the burgers there.  Pretty much the same thing, right?
• I probably could have talked you out of making that last Indiana Jones film.  But it did add a substantial dollar value to my eventual inheritance so who is to say you made a wrong decision.  Certainly not me, Dad.
• I've never been a fan of ridiculously skinny women, so there would be little to no chance that I would fall for "Mom".  I can't promise that she won't have naughty feelings about me as I have already mentioned my rogue-ish good looks.  But I would never let her play dirty mother/son games with me.  Unless you really wanted me to, Dad.  I know keeping up with her must be a bit of a chore for you these days.
  
• I like to fish.  I don't know if that means anything, but I'm throwing it out there.
• I promise never to mention Hollywood Homicide.  Well, I promise never to mention it again.

 So what do you think?  If you are interested, please leave a comment down below.  Thanks, um, Dad?

*OK...there are probably many, many websites out there worse than Perez Hilton.  I just can't stand the guy.  And I don't read his stuff normally.  This article was referenced on another site I read.  Pffftht!

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Note: Remember to play the Bug-Eyed Trivia Challenge every day. I've seen all of your movies, Mr.Ford.