Friday, February 27, 2004

Okay, I feel like I must weigh in on all this brou-ha-ha concerning Mel Gibson's new movie--of course, I'm talking about The Passion of the Christ. I don't really have anything against the film, I just don't feel a strong need to be subjected to Mel Gibson's "vision." From what I've read, he's not really bringing anything new to the table, aside from the violence shock factor. I attended Sunday school growing up, had four years of Catholic school, and I still go to church, so I think it's fair to say that I'm familiar with the story of the crucifixion. I don't need the star of Bird On a Wire to explain it to me.

Tuesday, February 24, 2004

Happy Fat Tuesday!

Here are some links:

KiKi makes and sells quirky, retro items ranging from jewelry to journals to toilet seats. I want the space girl toilet seat so bad I can taste it! It takes all of my willpower not to whip out my credit card and buy, buy, buy! I'm totally serious. When I have a little more money in the bank, that toilet seat is mine.

One-hit wonders! Ever 'wonder' what happened to 'em? This site has an extensive list of one-trick ponies and their songs, arranged by decade from the '50s to the '90s. While the lists are impressive, they need to do a little more research on the artists to provide more bio information (many of them have none available). Still, it's fun to look through and see how many you remember. One conspicuous omission, however, is Martika's Toy Soldiers. Okay, I admit it, I kinda like that one. The site more than makes up for it, though, by listing artists that are a lot more obscure, like Alison Moyet, Regina, and Hipsway. It scared me when I realized how many of these I remember.

Click here to go to the animal rescue site and make a free donation. Good site, good cause, and it's free.

The corporate trainer at work ordered pizza today for the sales class. After lunch, I ventured into the kitchen to scope out the leftovers, and was disgusted to find the remaining slices of pizza piled high with pepperoni, sausage and other assorted pigstuff. Which brings me to this wonderful site, which is chock full of information about becoming a vegetarian, the health benefits of going veggie, and even highlights the different types of vegetarian diets, (ovo-lacto, vegan, etc.) so that you may choose the lifestyle that's right for you.

Take this quiz and see if, (based on your vernacular), you are more Yankee, Dixie, or somewhere in between. I scored roughly 60% Dixie--pretty typical for someone from Indiana, I think. Of course, it could also be the influence of all the Dixie Chicks CD's that I listen to in my car. :-)





Monday, February 23, 2004

Edited to add....

Read someone else singing the praises of About Last Night.


Tuesday, February 17, 2004

It's link day, so here ya go. And I'm running out of ideas on this, so if my regular readers (and you know who you are) could send me some links to post, I'd be much obliged.

I'm not sure how accurate some of the stuff on this site is, but it's entertaining anyway. The section on weird laws is my favorite. Apparently, in my adopted home state of Minnesota, it's illegal to mock a skunk. This begs the obvious question--how would one go about mocking a skunk? By painting a white stripe down your back and farting a lot? I guess I could see why it would be a bad idea to piss off a skunk, so maybe that's the rationale behind it.

Here are some more bad movie sites that I've come across Oh, The Humanity! and The Stinkers. Neither are as good as Jabootu, but I was pleased to see that both sites mentioned The Forbidden Dance, which is fast becoming one of my favorite bad movies of all time (well, it's probably in my Top 5, anyway). Speaking of which, I might have to do another bad movie review, stat. I'll need to ask Marcus for his input, though (hint, hint).

Okay, this is apropo of nothing, but who the hell is this little Clay Aiken butt-dart, and why is he famous? I mean, I know he came in second place after the fat guy on American Idol, and ordinarily I'd take this opportunity to make a cheap joke about how he must've blown that snotty British judge, but...he didn't even win. So, again--why is he famous? Is he considered talented? Attractive? I mean, is this what the little girls are drooling over these days? If so, then the whole Justin Timberlake phenomenon is starting to make a little more sense. Not much, but a little. And speaking of Justin Timberlake, I heard one of his songs today on the crappy internet radio station at work. I don't know the title (and I'm not looking it up), but I know it features a "rap" with Nelly and a sample of AC/DC's Back In Black. This guy is trying really hard to convince everyone of his "street cred" now that he's supposedly finished with the pussy Boy Band scene, but I ain't buying it. He was on the Mickey freakin' Mouse Club. He does MacDonald's commercials. Okay, you could make the argument here that I'm old and I just don't "get it." But come on, already. The guy looks like Screech. Seriously.






Thursday, February 12, 2004

I am happy to report that I've now seen several episodes of The Surreal Life, thanks to the marathon that the WB ran the other day. I knew I'd love that show. It's got to be one of the greatest programs ever created. I mean, it's not in the same league as Mystery Science Theater 3000 or anything, but it's a damn sight better than whatever passes for comedy on the networks these days. It's just so durn entertaining. I'm actually not ashamed to admit that I find Vanilla Ice sort of attractive, despite his frequent tantrums. (Well, okay--I'm a little ashamed). And is it wrong that I'm developing a strange affinity for Tammy Faye Bakker? I guess that's the whole point of the show--to brainwash you into caring about people that (on the surface) aren't all that likeable. It makes me wish I'd seen the first season, when Webster and Corey Feldman were on. I can't wait to see who they'll put on next season. You just know that Pauly Shore will wind up on it at some point. Unlike Vanilla Ice and Tammy Faye, who I couldn't have cared less about in their respective heydays, back in like, '90-'91 I really dug Pauly Shore. I thought he was hot. And I watched Totally Pauly on MTV every day during summer break. Of course, I also watched Beverly Hills, 90210 each week (without irony) and thought Married...With Children was hilarious, so that should give you some idea of my mental state at the time (or lack thereof). Ah, the nineties. Thank God they're over.

But seriously, watch The Surreal Life. It's brilliant.

Tuesday, February 10, 2004

Links for today....

I can't get enough of this crazy shit. It's a good thing the internet is so chock full of this sort of weirdness, otherwise, what the hell would I do all day? And I've only made it through the Halloween cards and the Valentines. While this is my favorite in the latter category, this one looks eerily familiar to me. I think I got it from one of my exes. Seems appropriate, anyway.

You know those stupid "Successories" posters usually found adorning the walls of soul-crushing, cubicle-filled hellholes? Someone else hates 'em, too.

I was going to post more about Lost In Translation, but I need to go home before the cleaning personnel kick me out of the building.


Monday, February 09, 2004

Okay people! Listen up! I have an announcement. Are you ready?

Here it is: Go see Lost In Translation. It's still at the dollar movies, and it might be out on DVD--uh, now, actually. It's brilliant. See it. Now.

I'm serious.

Go!

(More tomorrow on this, BTW)...

Wednesday, February 04, 2004

Okay. I can't sleep, so I'm having a bowl of Rice Krispies and drinking Chamomile tea and trying to make myself drowsy without resorting to stronger chemical substances. I'm browsing through The Onion and some of my other usual haunts, and I suddenly get a wild hair up my ass and decide to look for solid proof that I did not hallucinate a '70s Saturday morning cartoon that I've been trying to convince people for years really existed. (awkward sentence, I know, but I'm getting tired--I think the tea is finally kicking in). Seriously though, I've had this come up in conversation so many times, usually when engaging in intellectual discussions with fellow Gen-Xers regarding Scooby-Doo, Josie and the Pussycats, Land of the Lost, and other compelling evidence that the people behind children's programming in the '70s were high, high, HIGH. And I'll be like, "You guys remember Goober and the Ghost Chasers?" And everyone invariably just responds with blank stares and a lot of "huh?"s. And I go, "Yeah, it was like a Scooby-Doo rip-off with a big ugly green dog and these kids that went around solving mysteries and, y'know, chasing ghosts." And everyone's like, "Nope, never heard of it." And the conversation usually turns back to the old "Shaggy and Scooby toking up in the Mystery Machine" and the sexual orientation of Velma. (or is it Thelma? I can never remember). So, the point of this post is this: There really was a cheap Scooby-Doo knock-off called Goober and the Ghost Chasers.

See? Told ya!

Now maybe I can get some sleep.

Tuesday, February 03, 2004

Nice, juicy, delicious tasting links.

A cool one I just found in the last week is Bitter Waitress. It's a fun site overall, but if you click on the gossip button at the top left, you can read stories submitted by restaurant workers who dish the dirt on celebrities they've served, and whether or not they were assholes and/or lousy tippers.

T-shirt hell rocks! And I know first-hand, because I'm the proud owner of one of their sarcastic tees. Can you guess which one?

The Book of Ratings is brought to you by half of the duo that created brunching.com, which was one of my favorite sites ever. (I say "was" because, sadly, they are no longer updating it, although you can browse the archives here).

Whenever you come across any odd or interesting links, forward them to me. If I end up posting them, you'll receive....um, a gracious and heartfelt "thank you." I promise.

Monday, February 02, 2004