Previews

Toast and I went to see The Dark Knight over the weekend. AMAZING!!! Absolutely wonderful movie - great pace, great acting, great development. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

But even before the movie started, two previews had me staring at the screen, mouth agape.

Quantum of Solace, the new James Bond movie looks incredible. I've read all the Bond books and Daniel Craig is the best. Bond. Ever. I shall never miss a one if he is in it. November 7, baby!

I first saw the original The Day the Earth Stood Still as a young teen and I fell in love with the storyline. This looks so well made that 12/12 can't come soon enough. Klaatu barada nikto.

I generally live life one day at a time (or one vacation at a time), but these two will be stuck in the back of my brain and every once in a while, I'll think, "Can't wait for November!"

Lawnmower Man?

(Kinda sorry to steal from my husband, but...) Overheard at Casa de Toast:

Me: (who often talks to herself)(upon exiting the shower and hearing a lawnmower out front, knowing that 3 out of 5 adjacent yard-owners mowed their lawns yesterday with one other not being close enough to confuse the sound and the other going for weeks at a time without their service coming) Oh, my husband's mowing the lawn!

Husband: (from office chair) What?

The Furious Meme

This looks like a lot of fun.

Start at the wikipedia page of the year of your birth, and pick the best (or your favorite) album from each year you've been alive.

1965 - Help! - The Beatles
1966 - If You Can Believe Your Eyes & Ears - The Mamas and the Papas
1967 - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band - The Beatles
1968 - The White Album - The Beatles (although it pained me to not pick Waiting For the Sun by the Doors, one of my first favorite albums)
1969 - Abbey Road - The Beatles
1970 - Pearl - Janis Joplin (American Beauty was also excellent)
1971 - Led Zeppelin IV - um, Led Zeppelin
1972 - Burning Love - Elvis
1973 - Tubular Bells - Mike Oldfield
1974 - The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway - Genesis
1975 - Born To Run - Bruuuuuuuce
1976 - 2112 - Rush
1977 - Never Mind the Bullocks, Here's the Sex Pistols - The Sex Pistols (left to my own devices, I would've put a semicolon instead of a comma)
1978 - The Cars - The Cars
1979 - Breakfast in America - Supertramp
1980 - Back in Black - AC/DC
1981 - Abacab - Genesis
1982 - Signals - Rush
1983 - I'm so sorry, but this is a tie and I cannot decide - 90125 by Yes and War by U2 (AND I was initially going to go with The Crossing by Big Country because In A Big Country is my favorite song ever)
1984 - Purple Rain soundtrack - Prince
1985 - Rum, Sodomy and the Lash - The Pogues
1986 - So - Peter Gabriel
1987 - Appetite for Destruction - Guns 'n Roses
1988 - Rattle and Hum - U2
1989 - Paul's Boutique - Beastie Boys
1990 - Shake Your Money Maker - The Black Crowes
1991 - Nevermind - Nirvana
1992 - Funky Divas - En Vogue
1993 - Exile in Guyville - Liz Phair
1994 - Evil, evil, evil meme, making me choose! It's not right! Goddamnit! I can't. It's a 3-way tie. I don't care. I can't choose. Superunknown - Soundgarden; Throwing Copper - Live; Under the Table and Dreaming - Dave Matthews Band
1995 - Sparkle and Fade - Everclear
1996 - Sublime - Sublime
1997 - Deconstructed - Bush
1998 - Devil Without a Cause - Kid Rock
1999 - Significant Other - Limp Bizkit
2000 - The Marshall Mathers LP - Eminem
2001 - Morning View - Incubus
2002 - Come Away With Me - Norah Jones
2003 - Speakerboxxx/The Love Below - Outkast
2004 - American Idiot - Green Day
2005 - Am I just old or did this year suck for music? Unwritten - Natasha Bedingfield
2006 - Future Sex/Love Sounds - Justin Timberlake (he's a fun guy - this year featured the Jonas Brothers and Paris Hilton, so cut me some slack - I'm not up on music like I used to be)
2007 - Back to Black - Amy Winehouse (I think this was released in 2006, but it was a best seller in 2007)
2008 - I plead the fifth. I just don't follow music anymore.

In retrospect, this was too much work. I'm not tagging anyone, although, if you read Furios' blog, you've already been tagged. Hah!

It's past the bird's bedtime now. Goodnight.

P.S. This exercise frustrated me. I forgot that in dealing with Wikipedia, you're getting what has been put in here by the general public. There were artists that would come up and I'd think, "Hey, that's not his first album, but this is the first year I saw his name listed! Damn!" That could explain things like 1992, 1997 and 2006 (I don't even know that album!).

Forgivable Five

I had to wait for Toast at the gym today as I got done a bit before him. I decided to put in some time on the bike while reading one of the gym magazines. I was perusing all of the Health's and Fitnesses and GQ's when I saw a headline that intrigued me on Vanity Fair's October 2007 issue - Meet the Real Stephen Colbert. I would absolutely lurve to meet the real Stephen Colbert, so I picked it up and went over to the bike.

I turned to the page listed for the story and this is what greeted me...



Goddamn he's hawt! I'm not really one to drool as I've married the man of my dreams, but there are just some men...

Which brings me to my Question - what five famous people would you want listed in the contract that your significant other had to forgive you if, you know, you just happened to meet them and you just happened to hit it off and they just happened to express interest in some hot, shallow monkey sex?

Mine.

1. Stephen T. Colbert. There's something about a smart, funny man that I find incredibly sexy. The mystery aspect of him always being in character only adds to the intrigue. Yow.
2. Eddie Vedder. Physically very attractive, creative, confident and there's that spark of "just a little crazy" in his eyes. Ooh, baby.
3. Peyton. Big, strong and doofy. Yeah, I like 'em like that, too. Sometimes a woman likes to feel tiny and girly.
4. A-Rod. Big and strong, but not doofy. However, the combination of him being in touch with his feelings and the smoldering Latino thing would definitely get him around the bases, if you know what I mean. Wheee.
5. I used to have Bill Clinton in this spot, but he behaved so boorishly during the primaries that he's out. I'm not sure now. There's got to be some movie star. Think, think. Johnny Depp? Yes, but no. Kevin Spacey? No, but yes. I know! Although he ain't all that anymore, James Spader used to be the man that all women found hot. It was universal. "Sex, Lies and Videotape"? Anyone? Anyone? Way.

Sure, this is a meme! I'm tagging Toast, Fridge, all the Howards, Angelos, Wilde, the god who is kona, Mike, Tart and maurinsky. Not Chemist, because he's newly engaged and it might be too early to start busting out such things. And, obviously, if your significant other doesn't have this particular type of sense of humor, you get a pass.

Ode to a Coach and a 'Keet

I have always been a huge fan of mnemonic devices, so when Coach started singing about Albania, I had a whole new set of facts to store with virtually no effort! If it goes with the timing, I can sing about many things to the ditty that he made up. For instance, there's this bird...

Fourth of July Meme

Courtesy of Toast...


1. Are you "proud to be an American"?
Not presently. Sad. Our president is an embarrassment. Our economy is leading the downward spiral because of our unchecked greed. But I think a lot of Americans are starting to see that our arrogance is unwarranted and maybe we'll stop resting on our laurels and start being a country I can be proud of again.

2. Favorite Founding Father?
Ben Franklin. Smart, funny, suave, fun-haver. I'd definitely hang out with him were he around today.

3. Favorite president?
It used to be Calvin Coolidge because he didn't really do much (back when I was an Objectivist small-government-loving Libertarian). And while he's no longer my favorite, he is from Northampton, Massachusetts and he was a funny fucking guy. I don't currently have a favorite.

4. Biggest "Patriotic Moment"?
Can't think of one.

5. Favorite patriotic song?
It's not really patriotic, but I love "American Girl" by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.

6. Favorite American cuisine?
New England clam chowder...mmmm, creamy goodness surrounding chewy clams. Heaven!

7. Happiest political moment of your life?
I never cared much about politics before hooking up with Toast and not much good has happened since then politically, so I'll go with Ned Lamont winning the Democratic nomination for Senate. I'll always hold a special place in the coldest, darkest part of my heart for that fuckwad, Joe Lie-berman, for fucking that all up. It started a grassroots movement, though, so not all was lost.

8. Best fireworks display you've ever seen?
I don't have a good memory for such things.

9. America's gift to the world?
Our attitude and our music.

10. Favorite Bill of Rights right?
The first, second and sixth all both great, but I'll go with a nice combination of the first and second.

"The people should never fear their government; the government should fear its citizens."

"Oh, how I wish our populace were educated about the concept of a General Strike! Combine the political possibilities of a nationwide shutdown with the communicative power of the net, and that might well be more fearful to a government than an armed populace. "

(Thank you, nightshift.)

11. Favorite American Holiday?
Thanksgiving. Turkey. Potatoes. Cranberries. Pie.

12. Favorite D.C. monument?
I guess the Lincoln Memorial. I haven't been to Washington, D.C. since I was a preteen, so I don't have a good recollection.

13. Your dream for America's future?
To learn from our myriad mistakes and come out all the better because of them. Lead the world in technology, space exploration, the arts, start a new Renaissance.