Thursday, October 30

WILL EVERYBODY PLEASE WATCH NOW?

One of my favorite TV shows, 30 Rock, returns tonight. Despite winning a slew of Emmy awards, high-marks from almost every reviewer in the business, the show has low ratings.

Hopefully, the success of the show's star and creator on SNL recently will translate into bigger ratings... but I doubt it. The show is too smart, too slick for a a large chunk of the TV viewing audience.

But if you're here, reading this blog, you're smart/cool enough to get this show, so you should watch.

You'll thank me later, I swear.

Saturday, October 25

THE TIDE CONTINUES TO TURN

According to the Los Angeles Times, Apple Inc. donated $100,000 to the No On 8 campaign in California. "We strongly believe that a person's fundamental rights — including the right to marry — should not be affected by their sexual orientation," the company said in a statement, Friday.

The Cupertino-based tech giant joined Google, Qualcomm and Pacific Gas & Electric when it came out publicly (no pun intended) against the California Ballot Initiative.

I knew there was a reason I like Apple so much...

Thursday, October 23

THE TIDE IS TURNING

A recent poll shows California Prop 8 on shaky ground: 52% oppose, with 44% in favor (Public Policy Institute of California, VCS).

Now, I'm not going to get my hopes up - all those people have to go to the polls in two weeks for us to pull this off.

But this is the first poll I've seen in about a month where it looks like we might pull this off.

FLAMES EVERYWHERE

This photo, by Matt Schreiber (via The Ventura County Star) was taken in the western most part of Ventura County, at the site of a new fire. The last fire was to the east, and now its coming from the west.

If if isn't one thing, it's another.

Wednesday, October 22

GAME ON!

Early voting has begun in several states, and MSNBC is already reporting widespread voting irregularities. In West Virgina, early voting sites with electronic machines are spitting out messed-up voting receipts: People who pressed the on-screen button for Obama are getting print-outs that say they voted for McCain.

A coalition of voters' rights groups have banded together to from Election Protection, a watchdog and advocacy group. You can report voter fraud and disenfranchised voters on their site (here) or call 866-OUR-VOTE.

Tuesday, October 21

FRAUD... BUT BY WHOM?

MSNBC is reporting major voter registration purges across the nation. One major city, Philadelphia, has thrown out over 1600 new voter registrations for, "various reasons," after complaints from Republicans about Democratic-driven voter fraud.

1. If this is true, it would be voter registration fraud, not voter fraud.

2. Odd, how Philadelphia, a major city in a key state the Democrats need to win to take the election, is the site of a major purge, after the Republicans threatened to file suit against the city.

If you haven't already figured it out, this is going to be an ugly one, kids.

LEGISLATE ALL YOU WANT...

Here in California (or Kal-lee-fohrn-yah, if you're the idiot we elected governor), we have a hands-free cell phone law. Simply put, if you are driving in California, you must use a hands-free headset or speakerphone device, no exceptions. We were mailed reminders from the state, AAA and even my school sent me a reminder, once the law was in effect.

But has anything changed? Not really. I do see more people walking around outside their cars with Bluetooth sets on. And the number of old folks I know (parents, aunts, uncles, etc.), complaining about how their wireless devices, "don't work," is on the rise. (They just don't know how to work them, truth be told.) But the number of people holding their cell phones, talking while driving? It seems about the same.

In fact, I notice it more now, I think.

Just goes to show you, you can legislate all you want... but the reality of life doesn't always go along with the laws you've written. I also find it odd that we were so quick to pass and implement this law, but it took our state months (past deadline, no less) to come up with an operating budget.

SAY WHAT?

"640K should be enough for anybody."
Microsoft Co-Founder, Bill Gates

He said this back in the day, hence the old picture. For a couple of classic photos of Bill gates you just have to see, click here.

Monday, October 20

UM... EWW

Toilet paper wasn't invented (as a mass-produced product, readily available product) until 1857.

What did they do before that?

ALL HAIL FAIL BLOG

If you've never been to Fail Blog (here), it is one of the best sites I've seen in years... it is hard to explain, so here are a couple of examples of what they do:


THE SPIRIT

I saw W this weekend (actually, a decent movie, check it out), and we were bombarded with previews that didn't really fit the type of movie we were watching.

One such preview was for the new graphic-novel turned movie, The Spirit. Its from the director of 300 and Sin City, and has the same, great dark comic look to it. You can find plenty of versions of the trailer in a simple Google video search... which I highly recommend, 'cause it has some great man candy in its main star.

Gabriel Macht, the star of the film is shirtless for much of the preview. Oh, and there are some kick-@ss action sequences you get to see. But the tasty abs and pecs make it worth sitting through the whole preview. You can check out Gabriel's IMDB page here.

Here are a couple of extra pictures of Gabriel, just for fun:

Sunday, October 19

I LOVE GOOGLE, BUT...

when you're on Google, searching a term, and it starts suggesting terms, I get kind of annoyed. Usually, whatever I'm looking for, if I've resorted to a Google search, is on the obscure side. My last two searches: the origin of the title of The Name of the Rose, and what decade the William Brothers originally sang Hold That Tiger (Tiger Rag).

And Google tends to offer the most popular search results (The Dark Knight and Tiger Balm, respectively) before I've finished typing, which is a little irksome.

Don't get me wrong: Google kicks @ss, and I love most of their services (especially the image search, and the way they correct your spelling when you goof-up). But I wish it didn't "suggest" things while I'm talking.

HOW MUCH DOES YOUR SEARCH ENGINE SUCK?

I was on Netflix, adding movies, and I decided to add Sex & The City: The Movie. I entered the term, "sex and the city," in the search box, and hit return.

In the search results: Sex & The City: The Movie, various seasons of Sex & The City and Waterhorse: Legend of the Deep.

I'm sure there's some joke at Samantha's expense here (she's the waterhorse who goes deep... dunno), but my sense of humor is overwhelmed at how crappy the programming for this search engine must be to return such strange, off-topic results.

Saturday, October 18

BUFFALAXED!

Strange... I know they're not saying it, but it looks like they are. (Thanks to Laura, my older sister, for sending me this video.)

Friday, October 17

LIKE, FER-SURE

from GraphJam (funny site for nerds, math lovers and all-around smarties, here)

THE FINAL (FINAL) CHAPTER BEGINS

The Sci-Fi Network announced the return of the final season of Battlestar Galatcia. The show will return for 10 final episodes, starting Friday January 16, 2009.

YOU SO CRAZY, GIRL

I love watching Comedy Central - that's not a secret - but my one complaint concerns all the rude, angry (and not-that-funny) white men they feature. Yes, from the shows to the stand-up specials, guys rule the roost at Comedy Central.

But every so often, they feature a rockin' female comic talent. (You can read about one of my faves here.) One such woman is Lisa Landry. She's a truly funny gal and her material is always as funny as it is topical and relevant to everyday life.

You can check out her funny site, LisaLandry.com or check out here contributions to US magazine's "Fashion Police" segment here.

If you get the chance to see her stand-up special on TV, or see her live, I highly recommend the experience.

PLUMBER'S CRACK

I know everyone and their cousin is blogging or talking about how Joe The Plumber isn't a real plumber; or how Joe would actually get money back under Obama's plan; or how Joe actually owes back taxes. But one thing jumping out at me is the way McCain is trying to spin this.

McCain, on several campaign stops yesterday, looked at the crowd (with that crazy-eyed grin he's been sporting as of late), and saying, "I think the winner of the debate was Joe The Plumber."

Nice. No, really. Because this statement implies that in the final presidential debate, if Joe won, McCain came in 2nd or 3rd.

Way to paint yourself as a winner, Senator McCain.

Thursday, October 16

HOW DO YOU SAME 'LAME' IN SPANISH?

So I just go a text from Verizon Wireless saying, "It's Hispanic Heritage Month! Did you know you can get your bill, online services and phone services in Spanish?"

Um, yes, I did. But I've been with you since the late 90s - when you were AirTouch Cellular - and I've never asked for services in Spanish. And it took you this long to figure out when Hispanic Heritage Month was?

And lastly, did anyone at Verizon ever consider that some of us darkies find the term 'Hispanic' offensive?

Sheesh.

YOU JUST DON'T GET IT, DO YOU?

Also-ran, largely last-place network NBC has seen a bump in ratings for Saturday Night Live this season. But According to Entertainment Weekly, the bump is only temporary - people are tuning out (in droves) as soon as they see the new Tina Fey/Sarah Palin skit.

So what do the geniuses at the peacock network do? They roll out: Saturday Night Live Thursday: Weekend Update, a new, condensed version of the show, running the Tina Fey (and other) skits.

First of all, how can Saturday Night Live be on Thursday? Call it something else, morons. And secondly, why "Weekend Update" when (again) it's only Thursday?

Idiots. Or should I say, idiots desperate for any slice of the ratings pie they can get their stupid hands on.

Wednesday, October 15

YUCK

Thanks to the multiple fires, everything smells like this:
And I mean, everything: my clothes, my car, school, inside buildings, outside buildings, everything.

THIS IS WHY WE CAN'T HAVE NICE THINGS!

So I was bad student, and I had a couple of overdue library books this week.

No biggie, right? I just braved the fires (everywhere, now, thanks), the smoke-filled air and bad-parking and made my way over to the liberry, all prepared to square this away. I owed a whopping $2.30 in fees, so I whipped out my wallet to pay, and I was told, "no."

No? What do you mean, no? I owe, I should pay... isn't that how this works? That's how it works everywhere else (just ask CitiBank). I was promptly informed the university forgives all student fees under $4.00 at the end of the semester. "So as long as you don't rack-up any more fees, you're cool," the young desk clerk told me.

No, that's not how it works. (Right?) So they sent me over to the "Fees & Fines Window." (Nice, that's more like it.) I surrendered my student ID, and got out my $3.00, all ready to pay the fine for having overdue books.

"No, man... you're cool," said that slack-jawed, young(er) desk clerk at this new window. Why yes, yes I am... thank you. But I'd like to pay my fee now. "No, man... I mean, you're cool. Don't worry about it."

I had him call over a supervisor, who explained that it costs more than $4.00 to collect fees, so anything less than that was forgiven at the end of the semester. Yes, I get that. I'd like to pay this fee so as to prevent me from reaching that $4 limit... the semester is far from over.

Long story short(er): they would not take my money. School-funding crisis? What school-funding crisis?

Tuesday, October 14

CRUSH OF THE MONTH: October

My crush of the month is on Bravo Top Design hunk Preston. I love watching him on the show (with and without the sound on). He's hunky, dreamy and pretty talented, too.



For an older post about him, click here. For more pictures (safe for work) click here. You can read his official Bravo profile here.

GUILTY PLEASURE #301

I have to cop to this now: I've been watching Bravo's The Real Housewives of Atlanta. And I'm way into it after just one episode. (Not like Charm School Rock of Love, which I'm sure I'll will lose all interest in after a week or so.)

And I have to hand it to Bravo: they brought the funny and the drama, after just one show! (You can check out the show site here.) The brewing feud between Sheree (far right) and NeNe (right next to her, in the fierce orange gown) is just plain awesome. First of all, I'm so on NeNe's side. Secondly, Sheree shouldn't even be on the show, as she is so obviously a man, and thus, not a real housewife. Thirdly, if I had to be around any of the wives, it would be NeNe and her BFF, "black woman in a white woman's body," (her words, not mine), Kim. (Guess which one she is in the photo.)

I hated (and yes, I mean hate - a word I don't usually throw around) The Real Housewives of New York, because those bitches were just plain ol' lame. But these Atlanta women rock.

YOU MAKE ME SICK

Since the horrible train accident a while back, tons of commercials have been airing, touting the legal prowess of local attorneys. They are all, obviously, trolling for business... which I find kinda, no - make that really gross.

Monday, October 13

THORRY

I haven't posted in a while, 'cause I've been under the weather. Now that I'm up and around again, I find I have a ton of work to to... oh, and the city is on fire, yet again.

More to come, soon.

P.S. Welcome to my new readers, and thanks for the comments!

Monday, October 6

MENUDO!

I'm not posting music lists anymore (no time!), but here's a track that's been running through my head ever since I saw the video:


MusicPlaylist
Music Playlist at MixPod.com

OKTOBER SPAHM

Here is a sampling of actual email subject-lines from my Yahoo! account:

Nationwide beer survey – earn $500
If beer surveys actually paid, somehow I think it would be lower than that

Your military experience could earn you up to $900,000!
Really? So that Marine I fooled around with in San Diego could actually pay off?

Unhappy Married People want to have an affair
Of course they do! The happy ones are already having affairs!

Would you meet me tonight if I was spicy or sweet?

Why choose? Just head to Taco Bell and get both!

Instant diet, from Your Colon

My colon is emailing me... and spam, no less

Woman raping a dog
That reminds me of a joke they tell in Alaska...

Suck’n’fuck dog
Geez, what is it with this dog?

The Golden Ticket to one night stands

I though Golden Tickets were for chocolate!

Claim your FREE baby clothes and diapers here

Alright, but something tells me they aren't going to fit!

Are you fat? Get sexy and skinny

Sure, just pop a handful of whatever Rachel Zoe gives to the Olsen Twins!

Thursday, October 2

SAY WHAT, NOW?

"I don't think I'm straight. I don't think I'm bi. I just think I'm slutty... where's my parade?"
-Comedian Margaret Cho

Wednesday, October 1

WHATTAMAN


At last count, George Washington's name has been given to at least:
  • 1 state
  • 7 mountains
  • 8 streams
  • 9 colleges
  • 10 lakes
  • 33 counties
  • 121 towns
across the entire world.

It's amazing, the influence and admiration once carried by U.S. President's no?