And so it begins

Coffee? Check.
Borrowed laptop? Check.
Tableful of fellow lunatics? Checkity-check-check.
Any clue of what I'm going to be writing about today? Um...working on it.

Blogathon is here.

Bring it on.

For the next 24 hours, I'll be right here, blogging in support of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. Every half-hour. Yes, it's as insane as it sounds. As an incentive to y'all, I will be creating, for each donor, a handcrafted, customized, (hopefully) professional-quality puzzle of your choosing! (One person who has taken the plunge since my last post is auntiegrizelda! Omigod, you rule all known universes, sweetie! Thank you!)

And now I'm going to post this boring first entry and dash off to take the blitz shower I should've taken before this thing started....


Blogathon 2007
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Current pledge total: $240

Bloggers on Parade. Yes, it's a damn filk.

So I've been writing songs since I was 15, and knew exactly two-and-a-half chords (D, A7, and kinda-G). And somehow, I managed to get through two decades without writing a filk. Last year, I blew my perfect record. Dammit.

Printing lyrics here because (a) it's quasi-appropriate, and (b) I left my guitar at home, ruling out an audio post:

Bloggers on Parade

Oh, I was lonesome and despairing
As I faced a world uncaring
And I felt like I could up and disappear
I could craft a deft opinion
Like a geek-boy Thomas Pynchon
But not a soul would even stop to lend an ear

But now I've got friends by the dozens
All my cyber kin and cousins
Oh, it's easier than falling off a log
Now my hope it springs eternal
Now that I've got my LiveJournal
You can just call me the New Kid on the Blog

Chorus:
So come join me, we'll do it my way
On the info superhighway
'Cause as long as we're dialed up, we've got it made
Be it Shakespeare, be it blather
You know, it doesn't even matter
We're the few, the proud, the Bloggers on Parade

( But wait! There's more! )

Thank you. I'll be here all week. Drive safely.


Blogathon 2007
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Scenes from a theme park

One nice thing about Blogathon is the opportunity to get caught up on all the posts I forgot to do earlier. Case in point: the recap of a trip to Six Flags Great Escape I made with boy-child Nikolas a few weeks ago:

1) The name of the ride "Raging River" is spelled correctly on the ride's official sign. On the don't-ride-this-if-you're-pregnant information sign, though, there's an additional G thrown in for good measure. I'm not sure if "RAGGING RIVER" is a typo or an editorial comment.

2) Graffiti of the Month: "I'm writing on the wall! Take THAT, society!"

3) Notable dialogue:
Nik: (about the gondola ride we're about to get on) Dad, I'm kinda scared.
Me: Don't worry. This one's a piece of cake.
Nik: [excited] Cake?! Where? WHERE?
Me: No, no, I mean it'll be easy as pie.
Nik: Pie?! Where? Wh- Oh. Wait. I hate pie.
Me: [splorfles]

Blogathon 2007
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A gazillion thanks to pledgers mgrasso and shadowwolf13!

(no subject)

mac_arthur_park asks: Tell me five albums I shouldn't continue to live without.

I'm on it:

1) World of Monsters, The Drovers I've been throwing this one at anyone who doesn't duck fast enough for the past...gads, has it really been fifteen years? The Drovers were the best live band I have ever seen, bar none; more miraculously, they managed to carry over that energy to disc format. Best of all, they're now offering it for free right over here. Go listen. No, I mean right now. We'll wait.

2) Recovery, Runrig Early 80's stadium anthem rock in Scots Gaelic. Yeah, exactly. For eons, it was only available in the UK, and not even very widely so there. Thank God for the Intarwebs!

3) Unhalfbricking,, Fairport Convention Greatest Album Ever Recorded. Full stop.

4) The Old Kit Bag, Richard Thompson Well, really, anything by Richard Thompson will do, but this album's the one that allowed him to break free of his overproduction addiction, and the stripped-down sounds does him a world of wonder. (One minor gripe: His guitar solos are mildly less incendiary here than usual. Hell with it: buy the whole back catalog.)

5) To Bring You My Love, PJ Harvey The finest bad-day, car-moshing-and-screaming-along CD I've encountered. I think I'll be cranking this up around 4 a.m.


Blogathon 2007
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Genuflecting thanks to amethysta and mirrored_echo for your generous donations! *mwa!*

Phone company work = teh Evil

I've told this story before, but it needs retelling.

I'm in the habit of griping about my job as a telephone operator, which often leads to people asking me why I continue to work for the phone company. I tell them of the following call, which took place about six years ago:

The call comes in. "May I help you?" I ask.

"Yeah," croaks an elderly voice, propped by years of smoking. "It's raining out. Can you do something about that?"

I blink. "Um. No. I'm sorry."

"Oh." A pause. "Well, how about the police?" He puts the emphasis on the first syllable: "PO-lice."

"No. No, I don't think they can."

He is unswayed. "Well, what about the DA?"

I tell this story for this reason: The caller had a problem that could only be solved by parties with godlike abilities. In that capacity, the police came in #2. The DA was a distant third. The first person he called? Me. The telephone operator.

That's why I stay: The power.


Blogathon 2007
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Current pledge total: $285

Random thoughts for 11:30 a.m.

1) Mmmmm...donuts....

2) The good and the bad of the Sovereign Nation of Gojirawitziev during the summer:
Bad = poor air conditioning and ventilation
Good = lax clothing standards

3) mgrasso and mirrored_echo are doing an amazing job of helping us keep the proverbial home fires burning. (See also #1.)

4) Sonic screwdriver, meet the micro-Dalek. (The latter is SO CUTE!)

5) My, but this is a crowded dining table....

Blogathon 2007
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Current pledge total: $285
Correction on earlier post: Thanks are due to gardenfey! Thank you! *hugs*

Cat. Hat. In French, "Chat, chapeau...."

It's 12 o'clock, and the hats have come out to play. rafaela (blogging as star_barnkitty is wearing her Guinness cap, and mllelaurel and wired_lizard have been passing the Hat That Looks Good on Everyone between each other, in between discussions of the +1 Hat of Dominance.

felisdemens suggested that I write about the Hat That Looks Good on Everyone, in fact. There's really not much to it: Anna spied it at the local Salvation Army for all of four bucks, and insisted that I buy it. It's a weather-beaten old brown fedora, with a bit of a suede-like texture to it, battered, missing the cording on the brim, lining coming free inside. Since procuring it, it has been tried on by upwards of 100 people, and it has looks good on every. Last. Person. No exceptions. It's amazing: men, women, children, regardless of coloring, size or facial appearance, the thing suits them. Yesterday, theloriest begged me (again) to let her have it; today, I think mllelaurel is quietly threatening to walk off with it. (Don't blame her: it looks really good on her.)

At some point, it's likely to fall apart, and I will be deeply saddened. There's magic in this thing. That's not easy to find.


Blogathon 2007
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Current pledge total: $285

Carbonated goodness

Having just had the pleasure of introducing wired_lizard and mllelaurel to the joys of Cherry 7-Up, I hereby present my Top 5 Soda List (or Top 5 Pop List, if you're my sister in Chicago who goes all stabby if you call it "soda"):

1) IBC Root Beer: I was a fanatic of IBC even as a college student in Illinois, when getting the stuff meant sending someone on a run to St. Louis. One of the most bizarre conversations I ever had was in my friend Jon's kitchen over IBC, when we determined that we were all a figment of Jeff Pinzino's imagination.

2) Schweppe's Diet Raspberry Ginger Ale: The only thing suitable for drinking with homemade tacos, since it can cut straight through the grease and directly to the palate, where it somehow makes you forget that you're about to have a coronary.

3) Green River: Yes, I'm a cultist. Do they even make this stuff any more?

4) Stewart's Birch Beer: One of the reasons I don't think I'll ever leave the Northeast.

5) anything from Boylan's Bottleworks: Glass bottles, people. And cane sugar. You know: real.

And the worst? Moxie. Failure in a glass. It tastes like gorilla.


Blogathon 2007
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Oy, my brain...

Okay, we need to establish this now: Harry Potter + tentacles = PROBLEM.

Quote from wired_lizard: "Mmm, sensory deprivation. Tastes like chicken!" She said this somewhere in the vicinity of singing, "...and the Cabots talk only to Cthulhu..."

It's entirely too early in the proceedings to be having these sorts of conversations. I shudder to think about what 3 a.m. is going to be like.

Meanwhile, pizza is being mildly discussed, yendi has been dispatched to collect supplies (skim milk et al), and mgrasso is deathly amused by it all (and arguing against the above Harry Potter thesis). Life, as they say, is good. I think I'm going to go fetch another donut.

Blogathon 2007
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Play at 11

I made a mix for this weekend, specifically for 3 a.m., when energy has vanished (I labeled it "FOR EMERGENCY USE ONLY"). Here's the track list, and yes, I know that large chunks of it is stuff almost no one has heard of:

1) "Smoking Johnny Cash," The Blackeyed Susans
2) "Johnny Cash," Sons and Daughters
3) "The Ballad of Old Joe Blind," Meic Stevens
4) "War," Edwin Starr
5) "When the War Came," The Decemberists
6) "Count Five or Six," Cornelius
7) "Animal Wild," Shudder to Think
8) "Tir An Airm," Runrig
9) "Bite Me Hard," Jim's Big Ego
10) "Don't Take My Guns Away," The Elvis Brothers
11) "Flick It Up and Catch It," Jim Sutherland
12) "Turn Up the Radio," The Masters Apprentices
13) "Flaming Red," Patty Griffin
14) "Work It Out," Brassy
15) "Joy," Bettye LeVette
16) "Blue Monday," Orgy (shut up)
17) "Beware of the Boys," Panjabi MC
18) "Meet Ze Monsta," PJ Harvey
19) "All This Could Be Yours," Jennifer Trynin
20) "Dad's Gonna Kill Me," Richard Thompson
21) "Hay Wrap," The Saw Doctors
22) "It's the End of the World As We Know It," R.E.M.


Blogathon 2007
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Current pledge total: $290
An enormous armload of thanks to issendai! *smooch*

Kick-start this thingy

Many, many thanks to everyone who has donated so far! The trouble is, pledges have slowed somewhat, and I don't know how to draw the rest of everybody into the fray.

Let me take this opportunty to reiterate what's happening.

I am blogging for 24 consecutive hours in support of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, a very worthy cause. As an incentive for anyone who pledges, I am offering a personalized, handcrafted, one-of-a-kind, professional-quality puzzle with the feel of genuine hand-tooled leather of any sort you like, be it a crosswordy-thing, a logicky-thing, a mazy-thing, or whatever. Sky's the limit, kids.

Just click the "Sponsor me!" link at the bottom of this post.

In other news, the recently-arrived rainstorm is making life a thousand times more tolerable in the Dining Area of Gojirawitziev. *purrrrrr*


Blogathon 2007
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Current pledge total: $290

12-step programs welcome

Suggested by rafaela/star_barnkitty: Top 5 Reasons Why BPAL Is a More Expensive Addiction Than Crack

1) Crack doesn't come out in exciting new varieties on a monthly basis.

2) Crack doesn't deliver.

3) Crackheads don't go around asking other crackheads to smell them.

4) Crack doesn't offer fantasy and horror tie-in promotions.

5) 'Song doesn't push crack on any and all friends who sit still for too long.


Blogathon 2007
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The Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dork

domani suggested that I write about my first kiss.

Oy.

Honestly, I don't even remember her name. It was a cast party for a dinner theatre production of Biloxi Blues I was in as a high schooler. I played Arnold Epstein; she played Daisy Hannigan. I was 17; she was 26. It was a classic "no meaning behind it whatsoever" thing, almost as a joke, and I had no clue of how to handle it. My friend Nic almost fell down the stairs, he was laughing so hard when I told him.

The second kiss, I don't even remember. Or the third. I just know that they were inconsequential and awkward. Yay, puberty.

The first French kiss, however? That was Jenny, two years later. She would later become my first girlfriend. Much more pleasant.


Blogathon 2007
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Current pledge total: $290

Since the pizzas have just arrived....

By mgrasso's suggestion: Top 5 Pizza Toppings

In no particular order, and not all at once:

1) sausage
2) mushrooms
3) ham & pineapple (counts as one item)
4) garlic
5) green peppers

Honorable mention: barbecue sauce (this was the specialty of Grog's Home of Chow in Champaign, IL, and no, I'm not kidding)

This was followed by mllelaurel's suggestion: Top 5 Pizza Toppings You NEVER Want to See

Again, in no particular order:

1) fudge
2) Chicklets
3) yak
4) Nathan's Tasty Herring Tidbits
5) naugahyde

Oh, heck, this is fun enough that I'm gonna keep going:

6) phlegm
7) pickled okra
8) chicken tongues
9) thumbtacks
10) carbon offsets

Um, yeah. Did I mention not sleeping well last night?


Blogathon 2007
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Current pledge total: $290

Le Bad

shrijani has suggested that I write about bad movies. In that capacity, I suppose this is a good time to make this announcement, in the secret hopes that it'll be lost in the shuffle and forgotten.

Those of you who read this journal: Remember the big enormous huge mondo gigantimous movie brackets I was doing several months ago, wherein I had y'all voting on which movies you prefer in pairings, with the winners advancing March Madness-style? Remember how I posted immediately after that I was never ever ever ever ever doing this again?

You saw this coming. I've prepared a new bracket. This time, we're going for the worst movie evar.

It's only about half as big as the last one (256 titles in all), but it turned out to be a lot harder to fill. I think that's because I set myself two limits: 1) only one title per series (thus, Superman III or Superman IV: The Quest for Peace, but not both (and yes, I went with IV)); and 2) only truly bad and/or reviled movies, not just mediocre ones. Much harder than it looks. I also wanted to avoid reallllly obscure stuff, but I had to waver on that one a bit.

Still, there's a small handful of titles that are weaker than I'd like, so I'm open to any suggestions. What movies do you think are deserving of Truly Bad Movie status?


Blogathon 2007
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Current pledge total: $290

*zonk*

"This is kind of like a LiveJournal filibuster." --wired_lizard

Yes. Yes, it is.

We've successfully navigated the first quarter mark of this thing, and already the loopiness has begun to set in. There has been much discussion of breasts. ("We live by the tits. We die by the tits." --shadesong) There has been the passing around of chocolate frogs. There has been much head-holding and hair-pulling and what-am-I-gonna-write-about-now wailing. And we've got better than two-thirds left to go. Dear gods, someone send a life raft and a case of Lambrusco, will ya?

In other news, the brewing thunderstorm sadly went away, and took it balmy breezes with it, which means we're back to sweating. mgrasso has obligations, as did mirrored_echo, so both have gone, although Mike has promised to return at some point or another. The Cherry 7-Up supplies are running dangerously low, and the cats keep insisting on rubbing against my bare legs, to make sure as many cat hairs adhere to them as possible.

Oh, and Tori has taken to wearing Frank the Blogathon Mascot Rubber Chicken on her head.

*checks watch* Aiee....


Blogathon 2007
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So not my kink.

Another suggestion from the lovely mllelaurel: Top 5 Rejected Titles for Laurell K. Hamilton Novels.

*rubs hands with glee*

1) Vermillion Transgressions
2) A Smattering of Daleks
3) Bloodlusty Bloodlust
4) Necrophilic Pretensions
5) I Wonder If His Penis Is Undead, Too

(mllelaurel: "Oh, no, not the yeti!")

(Also:
Me: "The line between Hamilton and Harlequin? Very, very narrow."
Anna: "No, it's perforated.")

Thank you. Carry on.


Blogathon 2007
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Current pledge total: still $290

In the Land of the 'Thon

I have been horribly, horribly remiss in mentioning others who are participating in Blogathon this year. These people are working their hindquarters off in support of some very worthy causes, and are very much worth your attention:

mllelaurel is blogging in support of Planned Parenthood. Sponsor her here!
mnfiddledragon is blogging at dragonsfordvs in support of the Dakota Valley Symphony. Sponsor her here!
rafaela is blogging at star_barnkitty in support of Shangri-La Theraputic Academy of Riding. Sponsor her here!
shadesong is blogging in support of the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center. Sponsor her here!
shadowwolf13 is blogging in support of Spiral Scouts. Sponsor her here!
spoothbrush is blogging in support of Doctors Without Borders. Sponsor her here!
wired_lizard is blogging in support of the Heifer Project. Sponsor her here!
yunatwilight is blogging in support of the AIDS Research Alliance. Sponsor her here!
zarhooie is blogging at llama_go_mooo in support of the Heifer Project. Sponsor her here!

Gads, I feel horrible that I'm not able to donate this year. Part of the problem is that there are so many people I want to give to (as you can see), and it's hard to leave people out. To all whom I've listed, I promise you that I will support you to the best of my abilities, as finances allow. I love you guys!


Blogathon 2007
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Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU to chaoticmatter for your donation!

Random thoughts for random times

1) Once again, I am the oldest person in the room. Whee.

2) excursively has arrived in Gojirawitziev, bearing supplies. Yay!

3) The above supplies includes fruit salad. It's already been picked down to a cupful of honeydew melon chunks.

4) Thunder!

5) And with it, bad Internet connections. *pthpthbthbth*

6) Belly-dancing and Monty Python's "Eric the Half a Bee" go surprisingly well together.

7) More thunder! This is going to be interesting....

8) And it's still frickin' humid.

Blogathon 2007
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Gee, Adam, where'd that forehead-shaped dent in your desk come from?

rubian77 suggested that I write about my puzzle-writing process. (Reminder: All donors will receive a one-of-a-kind personalized puzzle according to their specifications.) If it's a variety crossword, or a variety cryptic (especially a variety cryptic), it goes something like this:

1) Find a sheet of graph paper, a pencil, and an eraser the size of Portugal.
2) Come up with an idea.
3) No, seriously, come up with an idea.
4) C'monnnnn, ideas....
5) Finally settle on an idea.
6) Fill in the first few entries, the ones everything else will be built around.
7) Start filling in the rest for 20 minutes, until it is discovered that the original entries won't work where they are.
8) Use the eraser the size of Portugal.
9) Repeat steps 6 through 8 at least four or five times.
10) Dislodge pencil from desk where it has been accidentally lodged (with the accidental help of the author's fist.)
11) Finally find a starting arrangement that more or less works.
12) Fill in the other entries one at a time until the first difficult tangle appears.
13) ...
14) ...
15) F*cking pile of....
16) ...
17) Sigh. Erase about half of what has been done and try again.
18) Continue filling until it's down to one piddling stupid little rat-bastard corner that WILL NOT YIELD A SINGLE DAMN THING unless one settles for nothing but governmental acronyms, obscure foreign expletives and ancient Sumerian harvest gods, using the eraser the size of Portugal until it's down to a friggin' nub, then cuss, and cuss again, and....
19) Finally finish the final corner, sort of. Make a point of not looking at what has been written, to avoid stomach ailments and weeping.
20) At long, long last, settle in to write clues and prepare the puzzle for submission to the editors.
21) Discover an unfixable spelling error.
22) Commit hari kiri.

Your mileage may vary.


Blogathon 2007
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Heavy breathing made simple

And now, the Top 5 Movie Sex Scenes With No Sex in Them:

1) The first dance between Gene Kelly and Cyd Charisse in Singin' in the Rain. I'm amazed that the Hays office let them get away with the way she wraps her leg around his waist. And that look she gives him....

2) I'll admit it: Kevin Costner painting the toenails of a tied-up Susan Sarandon in Bull Durham. Adam's kink awareness started right about there. *low whistle*

3) Sister My Sister has its share of sex, but there's a scene before the maid sisters, um, indulge, when one is changing clothes while the other keeps her eyes downturned, that is absolutely lip-biting. I think I nearly passed out the first time I saw it.

4) Jack Nicholson placing Susan Sarandon's cello between her knees (her again?) in The Witches of Eastwick. It's only about 3 seconds of footage, and it's Jack Nicholson fer crissakes, but ye gods, does that hit happy buttons.

5) And speaking of cellos, any number of scenes of Emily Watson playing hers as Jacqueline Dupre in Hilary and Jackie. Sex for one, perhaps, but unmistakable.


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Thank you so much, Neva! (Is that your LJ name, or is it something else?

From the Idea Factory

A while back I posted a poll, asking folks for suggestions as to what I should blog about. I got some really good ideas, and some...well, let's just say that they won't be happening this evening. For example:

From jenphalian: "Describe the epic battle between the mermaids of Cavendish Point and the snorkeling snow ants of Northern Burgoyne." I have the feeling that the entry would consist of the word "*squish*" and not much else. Sorry, hon.

From featheredfrog: Slash among the other team venture members... Um, later. Not saying I'm not gonna. Just...later. *looks around furtively*

From spoothbrush: recipes! This is actually a great idea (I did it last year), but sadly, I left all my recipes at home. Maybe I can fake something.

Beyond that, we're still plodding along, carrying on. I'll throw this out to the masses again, though: What should I write about for the remaining hours?


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1phish2phish, you rule all known universes. Thank you!

Juggler's griping

Okay. Remember that video of juggler Chris Bliss that was making the rounds? I got directed there via links and e-mail at least six or seven times, always with a tag to the effect of, "Omigod, this is the most amazing juggler ever!"

Um, no.

See, when you're a juggler, you realize that the non-jugglers in your audience have some very skewed perceptions of what is difficult and what is not. For example, you could present a well-rehearsed, polished and technically difficult five-ball routine, and the audience would only be mildly impressed, not realizing the high level difficulty of the "numbers game" (i.e. going for more than three objects). But if you go out and eat an apple while juggling, they'll go absolutely nuts. Look, people: eating the apple is ridiculously easy. Juggling isn't as fast-paced as it looks, and your hands are sort of moving in the direction of your mouth anyway.

So let me lay it out where Chris Bliss is concerned, from a juggler's point of view: He is technically competent, and certainly worthy of getting on the stage and performing. But the Beatles' routine is simply not that difficult. Moreover, his styling is a bit on the awkward side, and his transitions aren't terribly smooth. He is widely praised for choreographing his movements to the music, but although he's rhythmically pretty good, his choreography isn't even close to what a sizable number of professionals do.

You know who makes my jaw drop? Anthony Gatto. He's a true prodigy, juggling better at age seven than 99.999% of jugglers achieve in their entire lives. And now he's an adult, and doing things that no one, no one else is doing. Here, here's the bit he's been doing for Cirque du Soleil lately:
Part 1
Part 2
Go watch. You'll not be sorry.


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And WHY do I know that Slaughter grew from the ashes of the Vinnie Vincent Invasion breakup?

And here I thought I'd escaped the 80's intact. Apparently? Not so much.

"Every Rose Has Its Thorn" by Poison is playing.

And I know all the words.

*holds head in hands* What's wrong with me?

*sigh*

*sings* Just like every cowboy sings a sad, sad song....


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It's all downhill from here. I hope.

Nine p.m. Half over.

What have we learned today?

1) Shirts are overrated.
2) Six laptops running simultaneously kick up a lot of heat.
3) Jasmine-tinged BPAL is death in liquid form.
4) As ready as you think you are for Blogathon, you aren't.
5) As many ideas as you think you have for post ideas, you don't have enough.
6) We rise and fall by the quality of our snacks.
7) Slashfic is a much-varied thing.
8) I have the bestest friends on the planet.

Hm. Yep, that about sums it up.

Thank you all for donating. Thank you all for even reading this far. You make it worthwhile. We shall carry on.


Blogathon 2007
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Mom

I just got off the phone with my mom.

She wanted me to say thank you to you all.

See, she's the reason why I'm doing this in the first place. She was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis several years ago, and has been fighting every step of the way: following every scientific breakthrough, keep on top of her own medical care like a hawk, participating in the MS Walk in Chicago every year until she was physically unable to do so. She has been fighting this disease tooth and nail. She is not going to let it beat her.

It doesn't surprise me. She takes after her parents. My grandfather will by 91 this year, and is still a powerhouse. When he was diagnosed with cancer not too long ago, the prognosis was poor, and many of us feared the worst. We needn't have worried: he went through the treatments, flirted with the nurses, and kept right on truckin'. This is the Sampsell family stock, and the Sampsell family stock isn't going anywhere until it's damn good and ready.

A donation to this Blogathon, a donation to the National MS Society, is a donation that keeps my mom fighting. That's why I'm here.


Blogathon 2007
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Current pledge total: $325

From my never-gonna-be-finished Book of Movie Lists

This is from memory, so bear with me:

7 Movie Sequels and Prequels That Aren't What They Say They Are

1) Surf 2: There was no Surf 1. Title is a joke. Ha, ha.

2) Loaded Weapon 1: See #1. Actually, they did plan on a part 2 (tag line: "Oh, come on, you knew it was coming"), until the original tanked. Oh, well.

3) Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter: Not even close to being the last movie in the series; there have been at least seven more since.

4) Rambo III: More accurately titled First Blood, Part III, but since everyone referred to part 2 as simply Rambo (which was far more successful than the original anyway), the alternate title was used to draw viewers.

5) Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins: And ends. All sequels were canceled following the film's lackluster business.

6) History of the World Part I: A Mel Brooks in-joke, with no sequels planned or intended (despite a "coming attractions" gag at the end).

7) Leonard Part 6: According to the film's conceit, parts 1 through 6 were classified as Top Secret in the interest of national security. Thank God.

Blogathon 2007
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Time flies when you're broke

20 Things I Cannot Afford Right Now, Dammit

1) an octave mandolin
2) plane tickets to Chicago/Madison/St. Louis/etc.
3) new Mac of any variety
4) A whole bunch of Wustof-Trident knives, to go with the ones I have
5) A new kitchen to put them in
6) a better car
7) a copy of the Codex Seraphinianus
8) a copy of the OED
9) a double set of Renegade European-style juggling clubs
10) lots and lots of Vosges chocolates
11) dinner at Charlie Trotter's/French Laundry/Adria
12) all the games on my wish list at Funagain
13) a better life for my loved ones
14) a college education for my kids
15) the luxury of taking a different job
16) an iPhone
17) a wine cellar
18) wine to fill said wine cellar
19) sixteen-track recording equipment
20) a nap (at least at the moment)


Blogathon 2007
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Driven to verse by the sleep dep

There once was a fellow whose bloggin'
Was taking a toll on his noggin
But he said, "Though it's late,
I've got all of this straight:
First the typing, then sleep, then the snoggin'."

Adam you did not just type that, did you? (In my defense, there's not much that rhymes with "bloggin'.)

*checks clock* Another ten hours, huh? Yeah, this is going to be in a state of freefall from here on out. Fans of absurdist humor and train wrecks, please stand by.

How's everybody else doing?


Blogathon 2007
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Current pledge total: $325

Counting blessings

I seem to be solidly in list mode, which means I don't need to correctly parse sentences. I'm thinking this is a plan.

Things I'm thankful for right now:

* Beef with wine, mushrooms and cherries
* "Jump Around" by House of Pain
* half-naked redheads wielding rubber chickens
* air conditioning
* Bennington, VT
* Harry Potter fans
* BRAAAAAINS!
* discussions about the metric system
* the possibility of posting random lists to avoid having to come up with real content
* the Hat That Looks Good on Everyone, of course
* showers
* gas stoves
* underwear
* Pennsylvania
* migrating apostrophes
* Australian slang

I have no idea what I'm saying.


Blogathon 2007
In support of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society
Sponsor me!
Current pledge total: $325