Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Crouching Convertible, Hidden Roof

A few 12 second videos featuring my new car. I'll post some real photos of it one of these days.

Thought... who wouldn't buy a GPS unit that had William Daniel's voice? "Hello Michael, turn left in 100 yards."





Life's Little Conundrums

I have actually asked this very question, and the Onion tackles the issue on my behalf.

How does Radio Shack stay in business? I occasionally stop at the one in my neighborhood, mostly because it is close to my house and sometimes you need an extension cord or a coax cable really fast. There is never anyone there. The salespeople manage to either ignore you, be rude to you or are just plain ignorant. And there are never less than two of them, regardless of the fact that there are rarely customers around.

Money laundering? Vanity business? CIA front? Just askin'.

Friday, April 20, 2007

Oxymoron?



Building on the San Jose State Campus.

Gee, our old LaSalle ran great

In my household quiz shows were a contact sport with everyone yelling at the screen, especially for Jeopardy, but Password and College Bowl were also favorites. What's my Line and To Tell the Truth and the erszatz quiz show, You Bet Your Life were often on the tube, a 25" RCA in a massive wooden cabinet. Some of these I saw in reruns (like You Bet Your life, which was canceled before my birth) and others I watched in prime time with my parents and sisters. So when I heard that Kitty Carlisle Hart had passed away, it brought back quite a few childhood memories.

I was glad to see I am not alone in remembering those golden days. Terry Teachout eulogizes Kitty Carlisle Hart, the widow of the Moss Hart, she always seemed like a classy lady and part of a bygone era.

I also discovered that Terry and I both played Beverly Carlton in productions of The Man Who Came to Dinner. He in college, me in High School.

Thursday, April 12, 2007

God Bless You Mr. Rosewater

Saddened to read this morning that Kurt Vonnegut has passed away. The world is a poorer place without him.

Poo tee weet.

Update: I logged this early yesterday, upon my first shocked reading of Vonnegut's passing. Since then the blogs have been filled with eulogies far more eloquent than I could muster. Friend George at Fool in the Forest expresses many a shared sentiment.

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Julie Andrews!

Via the permalink free DVD Journal (scroll down to the April 9th disk of the week), is a glowing review of the original version of Bedazzled that has just been released on DVD. Not to be confused with one of the most useless and irrelevant remakes of all time, the 1967 version stars Peter Cook and Dudley Moore in fine form as the Devil and his unwitting Faust, featuring Raquel Welch as what else but, Lust.

As DVD Journal rightly points out, what makes this film so classic is not the extended flights of fancy as Stanley Moon (Moore) attempts to achieve his dream of marital bliss with his love interest Margaret (Eleanor Bron,) only to be repeatedly thwarted by the Devil's trickery, but instead the scenes of dialog between the comedy duo of Cook and Moore. The final scenes of Peter Cook railing against God are hilarious as well.

And by the way, Julie Andrews is the Devil's magic incantation by which he grants Moore his ill fated wishes.

Monday, April 02, 2007

Guilty Pleasures

First of all, before I begin my rant, I've got to admit to a couple of things. My wife and I are American Idol viewers. Secondly, as if you did not already know this, I am addicted to political talk tv, Olbermann, Matthews, MTP, etc. etc. Now of late, political talk TV, Joe Scarborough being the worse culprit, has turned into American Idol TV and my guilty pleasures have intersected.

The advent of Sanjaya Malakar, he of the insane hair and less than stellar singing ability, has prompted a virtual nightly segment on a number of these shows in which serious and not so serious people discuss the completely unserious topic of whether Howard Stern and the website Vote for the Worst are "corrupting" the voting process. I wish they spent that much energy on the Florida recount.

To this, I have one thing to say, any process that allows people to vote multiple times, only limited by their obsession and speed dial is already corrupt.

I now return you to your regularly scheduled program.