Is This The Left Hand Or The Right Hand?

Exxon Mobil Corp. posted record profits for any U.S. company on Monday — $10.71 billion for the fourth quarter and $36.13 billion for the year...Exxon's profit for the year was also the largest annual reported net income in U.S. history, according to Howard Silverblatt, a senior index analyst for Standard & Poor's. He said the previous high was Exxon's $25.3 billion profit in 2004. - STEVE QUINN, AP Business Writer

Here's the funny thing. I'm what you might call a business liberal. I'm all for running a business well and making money. But I have two standards that I doubt Exxon's business practices would meet.

1. Your business must do as little harm as possible while doing business. Exxon undoubtedly makes decisions hourly that create impacts on the environment and human life (including elderly dying in the cold because they can't afford heating bills) that I would find completely unacceptable.
2. The profits of your business should be used for good. And, just a hint guys, "good" does not include toys for the wealthy. I'm talking about the greater good.

One day I will, by gum, run the circus. Because obviously we can't leave these clowns in charge.

Random Monday

I'm going to try the alternate listing method of artist first to see how I like it.
Playlist: All Dat Good Stuff

1. DailyWav.com: "Sweet Jesus, Harry, you surely screwed the pooch last night, didn't you?" - [Charlton Heston, True Lies]
2. Shakira - The One
3. Kim Wilde - You Keep Me Hanging On
4. Matchbox Twenty - Unwell
5. Crowded House - Don't Dream It's Over
6. DailyWav.com:"Talk to the hand." - [French Stewart, 3rd Rock From The Sun]
7. Gloria Estefan - I See Your Smile
   
8. Sting - Send Your Love
9. Nickel Creek - Pastures New
10. The Corrs - Someday

Ok, I tried it. I don't much care for it.

Question of the MomentIf you spent the rest of your life in a movie, what movie would you choose?

I don't know why, but this question fascinated me when I came up with it. I mean, if I remain ME there are a lot of favorite movies that I wouldn't want to be in. I'm just not prepared for it. I love Serenity, but I have a powerful need to eat and I don't like shootin' much.

I know that Middle Earth would be fascinating so I'm going for Lord of the Rings. Do you know if Gandalf needs an accountant... er, scribe?

Mha-ha-ha-ha!!!!

Yes, that's my evil laugh. Via Cuteoverload I just figured out the whole Amazon Honor System/tip jar thing. How cool. I don't expect to get anything, but having a link called Money That Gets Stuck In My Bank was just too much fun to pass up. And I finally got to use this cool header that looks like the bastard child of Indiana Jones and Miami Vice.

Friday Random Ten

From La Taza!

Playlist: All Dat Good Stuff

1. "Ice, watch out. –Why? –Slippery. –Oh. –This message brought to you by the United States Department of Condescending Paternalism." - You Don't Know Jack
2. "I wish none of this had happened. –So do all who live to see such times, but that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us." - Frodo & Gandalf
3. Heaven - Warrant
4. Suerte (Whenever, Wherever) - Shakira
5. Take on Me - A-Ha
6. Unsigned Letter - Chris Gaines (Garth Brooks)
7. Told You So - Barenaked Ladies
8. Hold on Loosely - .38 Special
9. Que Me Quedes Tu - Shakira
10. I've Done Everything for You - Rick Springfield

Resistance is FutileYou Will Be Caffeinated

Scupper came up with a great new Word for 2006 - Borgbucks. Maybe you've heard it before but I never have. That's a good one.

Although my parents drank a LOT of coffee when I was growing up they didn't worship it the way we seem to do now. My Mom agrees with Hallmark's Maxine. "Sure I like flavored coffee, as long as it's coffee flavored." And she certainly wouldn't stand in a five minute line to buy $5 latte. Which, ashamedly, I have to admit I will. If time is money, what does that really add up to?

You'll have to excuse me, though. I wish I could post some more on this but I have an early morning coffee meeting so I should get off to bed. And no, I'm not kidding. La Taza is calling my name.

Random Random 10

In celebration of adding new music to the MediaPlayer.

Playlist: Fresh Tracks

1. Sweetest Perfection - Depeche Mode
2. Voulez-Vous Danger - Ace of Base
3. Break Your Heart - Barenaked Ladies
4. Off the Hook - Barenaked Ladies
5. No One in the World - Anita Baker
6. Hello City - Barenaked Ladies
7. Conventioneers - Barenaked Ladies
8. Come What May - Air Supply
9. Here I Am (Just When I Thought I Was Over You) - Air Supply
10. Dancer in a Daydream - Ace of Base
    

Question of the MomentWhat is your favorite irritation?

When I was in Florida I saw a bumper sticker that almost literally had me rolling on the floor laughing. "Marriage is finding the one person you want to spend the rest of your life driving crazy."

Ain't it just.

One of the ways that my husband and I are predetermined to clash is listening to music. Not just what music to listen to (he calls two of "my" bands Depressed Mode and the CommieNerds), but how to listen to it. I like surprise. Given a choice between listening to one favorite album or the radio I will usually pick the radio. If I have a multiple CD pack I will set it to random. Contrariwise, my husband likes to listen to his favorite album or song over and over and over and over...and over...and over... This showed up early in our relationship when we were out driving around all the time in his car (we were both teenagers). He had a tape of the Footloose soundtrack. I think that the tape was finally removed based on major threats and the use of my deadly sonic scream.

Because of that experience I hate Footloose for years.

And years.

And years.

We would laugh about how much I hated that album.

Then a funny thing happened. We got old and they started playing the title song every now and then as a Way-Back-Flashback on the radio. Usually I'm in the car alone when it comes on. I dial up my husband on the cellphone, crank the volume, and yell, "CAN YOU HEAR WHAT THEY'RE PLAYING IN MY CAR???" I still kind of hate the song, as much as you can hate any song that defines part of your adolescence, but I love the way it makes me feel.

It's important that I remember the outcome because last week my husband called me at work and said, rather urgently, "Can you pick up the Troy soundtrack on the way home? I realized that I'm watching the movie over and over for the music." Silly old me, I picked it up at Best Buy and brought it right home. And he proceeded to play the Groban track over, and over, and over, and over...and over...and over... I sat over here at my computer gnashing my teeth and reminding myself, "One day this will be a funny story, one day this will be a funny story, one day..."

So, how about you? Is there anything a parent, child, brother, sister, husband, wife, or significant other has done that drove you batty at the time but you now look upon with affection because it helps to define who they are to you and what you are together? What is your favorite irritation?

"I hang around on the edge of effectiveness." ~ Father Mulcahy, M*A*S*H 4077

(episode "Dear Sis" written by Alan Alda)

Finding Serenity

While visiting If I Ran the Zoo I became curious as to why Tom has posts in July 2004 then nothing until September 2005. Well, the pickup in posting seems to be related to Serenity. Cooool. He got a special press pass to see the film on September 27th. I was particularly entertained by this part of his review:

If you're a fan, I don't need to convince you; you've died and gone to heaven. If you aren't, then go see the most purely entertaining movie to come out of Hollywood in a long time.

And then buy the DVDs.

Although I was a huge Joss fan from back in the day I totally missed Firefly. It was the year that I changed jobs, bought a house and got married, so I was a bit distracted. Still, the fact that they somehow didn't reach supergeek me is a sign that there was something wrong with their marketing. But what Tom says there is exactly what I did. After seeing Serenity in the theater I charged into Best Buy wild-eyed and looking for the series. Fortunately a fellow geek who worked at the store intercepted me as I was bolting up the center aisle and asked what I was looking for.

"Firefly!"

"It's up here at the front," she said, taking me to the promo shelf at the front of the dvds. "Last copy," she said longingly. "I hope they get some more in soon because I really want to get one."

I could see the haunted look in her eye as I seized the last copy and beat a hasty retreat to the cash registers to redeem some of my Rewards Dollars. I felt a little guilty, but it's part of the Geek's Code. All's fair in collection and obsession.

p.s. Vic was just about to get killed AGAIN when the Black Whip came in just in time to save him. BUT WILL SHE HAVE TO REMOVE HER MASK?!?!?! You gotta love cliff hangers.

The Black Whip

Awhile back my husband got a boxed set of old 1940s serials. Zorro, Tarzan, Robin Hood, and Long John Silver. When I was checking the cases to make sure they all had our stickers in them I discovered something I'd never seen before. Zorro's Black Whip. Ever heard of it? It aired in 1944 and starred the "popular action star" Linda Stirling. I'm only a few minutes into the second episode of twelve but I can tell you this - the character is gutsy, athletic, and capable. She's already had to get her Fed buddy Vic (George Lewis) out of trouble twice. Yes, she's allowed to be the real hero, not just the girl in the mask.

The fact that Stirling's career was based on this sort of character in the 40s makes me think that there is more empowered-female storytelling out there. Where can I find it? Why has it been suppressed? This is the sort of thing that I would have eaten UP when I was a little girl. Horses, guns, saving your man, and kicking the bad guys butts! Give me more, even with the cheese-factor. (Come on, 40s serials are inherently cheesy.)

Aside from my own enjoyment of this sort of story, I'd like to point out that this is a 60 year old series that starred a woman and a Latino (Lewis was born in Guadalajara). They are the good guys, working together in 1889 to defeat corrupt cronies that are trying to keep Idaho out of statehood so that they can continue their wicked crony ways.

I'd write more about it, but Vic just got himself in trouble again and I need to see how the Black Whip gets him out of it. Otherwise he's gonna HANG for stealin' money.

Movie Review: Kung Fu Hustle

I figured I would find this movie fun, but I didn't realize that I would like it. You know what I mean? For me it was sort of Big Trouble in Little China meets Jay and Silent Bob, with something else thrown in that I can't think of a film to describe. Possibly because I've never seen a hero like this before.

Chow Sing-Chi, you rock.

Friday Random 10

1. Rock Lobster - The B-52's
2. "Don't tell me ya lost your sense o' humor already!" Roger Rabbit
3. I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me) - Aretha Franklin
4. "We are now entering Hell. Please keep your hands and elbows inside the car." Daria
5. Torn - Natalie Imbruglia
6. Standing Still - Jewel
7. Walk This Way - Aerosmith
8. Sacred Love - Sting
9. Ode to a Butterfly - Nickel Creek
10. Gypsy Woman (She's Homeless) - Crystal Waters

Can't get much more random than that...

Historical Non Sequitur

It's amazing what you can find out by checking your technorati trackbacks. I simply can't keep up with all of the bloggy goodness that my blogosphere friends dish up so I kind of go in phases of reading different blogs for awhile. Apparently I missed oyster hitting me with a meme back in OCTOBER. Sorry, dude.

Here's the deal:
1. Go into your archives.
2. Find your 23rd post.
3. Post the fifth sentence (or closest to it).
4. Post the text of the sentence in your blog along with these instructions.
5. Tag five other people to do the same thing.

Now, back in the day I shared this frontier cabin with Nevsky. Surprisingly enough the 23rd post on the blog was mine, called She Said on October 6, 2003.

My main criterion for a good McDonald's is that I can stop at one in any of the 50 states and get the same lukewarm cheap cheeseburger, moderately good fries, and a COKE.

Ah yes, the heights of political and social commentary we reach on my blog!!!

Tags go to:
Nevsky
sixthdoctor
"O" (aka NotoriousADB)
The Green Knight
Pam the Beancounter

If you waited for me to cough up my individual 23rd post, you had to wait until January 15, 2004. Since the post didn't go to 5 lines, here's the whole thing.

So What Are Ya Gonna Say About It?

Since my regular blog comment site is down I am trying a new one. Tell me how you feel about the new comments.

What is particularly amusing about that to me is that right before I drafted this post (and started researching to find those lines) I turned on the blogger commenting option. I've been thinking deeply about the opinions posted when Shakes Sis posted a question about comments and ultimately I have to agree that the fact that haloscan purges the comments after a short while, and the fact that the blogger comments become part of the searchable text of the blog, I really need to make the change. So.... whaddya gonna say 'boutit? This is the first post published with blogger comments turned "on."

Evo-lution

I had thought that it was possible the new Bolivian President Evo Morales might start something, but I hadn't even considered a fashion revolution. Although criticized by the fashionistas for going to Important Meetings (oh, say, meeting the President of France) in more casual attire than expected, he has accidentally started Evo Fashion in Bolivia.

I don't know about you, but I think it's pretty cool to dress comfortably. One of my husband's stated objectives is to be so well respected at what he does that he can always get away with wearing a t-shirt and jeans.

Rock on, Evo Morales. Wear those comfy sweaters.

It's a Kind of Magic

One golden glance of what should be.

My husband:



Me:




Take the "How Do You Use Magic?" test! Written by Brimo


Tip o' the tricorder to The Green Knight.

Review: Our Endangered ValuesAmerica's Moral CrisisIntroduction

I received a copy of Jimmy Carter's Our Endangered Values: America's Moral Crisis for Christmas and thought that while I read it I would provide commentary and the quotes that strike my fancy on the blog. The assignment I gave myself tonight was to read the introduction and tell ya'll what's in there.

To sum up, in the introduction Carter says that our nation has years of admirable achievements and a history of open debate - which is all being ruined by religious and political fundamentalists. He says a few other things, but that's his basic thesis. Hopefully in the following chapters he'll tell us how to deal with that.

Some passages that struck me:

"Powerful lobbyists, both inside and outside of government, have distorted an admirable American belief in free enterprise into the right of extremely rich citizens to accumulate and retain more and more wealth and to pass all of it on to descendants. Profits from stock trading and income from dividends are being given privileged tax status compared to the wages earned by schoolteachers and firemen. To quote a Christian friend, the new economic philosophy in Washington is that a rising tide raises all yachts."

"As a private citizen, I will deliberately mix religion and politics in this book... I realize that may readers, even those who share a similar religious and political background, will find some of my opinions to be different from their own. Quite likely, many of them do not realize what is happening in America, and it may be beneficial to raise the issues to the level of increased debate."

Next installment: Chapter One - America's Common Beliefs - And Strong Differences

Liberal Values

Since I've buried this on my sidebar I thought I'd bring it up to a post to see if I can get some more comments to put in the update.

Liberalism: A political theory founded on the natural goodness of humans and the autonomy of the individual and favoring civil and political liberties, government by law with the consent of the governed, and protection from arbitrary authority. [Also a] 19th-century Protestant movement that favored free intellectual inquiry, stressed the ethical and humanitarian content of Christianity, and de-emphasized dogmatic theology.

Liberal Values Part I: Natural Goodness

Liberal Values Part II: Autonomy of the Individual

Liberal Values Part III: Favoring Civil and Political Liberties

Liberal Values Part IV: Government by Law with the Consent of the Governed

Liberal Values Part V: Protection from Arbitrary Authority

Liberal Values Part VI: Free Intellectual Inquiry

Quickie Meme

Found this new meme idea over at Frogs and Ravens. Jump on if you want to.

Hair: Up in a nearly Pebbles Flintstone ponytail. I've always liked to put my ponytails up high and a few years ago I read that the higher a woman's ponytail the lower her IQ is assumed to be. I'm blonde, too. Fine. Underestimate me.

Wearing: Red plaid Mickey Mouse pajama pants and a gray long sleeved t-shirt. Ready to go to bed.

Drinking: Ice water.

Listening: The Colbert Report. The one I had tickets to, but we couldn't figure out the whole dogsitting thing. I have to say, though, that if I'd had to see Andrew Sullivan live talking about blogging I might have stormed the stage and taken him out. So I have to thank God for small favors. Or not.

Reading: Right... now? What I'm typing.... Oh, you mean other than that? I'm about to start Carter's Our Endangered Values: America's Moral Crisis. I'm also still working on the Serenity RPG book for our game. I think that the last book I finished was a trashy romance novel that I probably couldn't pick out of a lineup. I read it in one sitting. I call them brain bon-bons. And I do have a weakness for bon-bons.

I Have a Dictionary

I love Al Gore. I really, really do. I always have. Since long before it was cool. Reading both his speech from Monday and StealthBadger's excellent report gave me the total happy giggles. But I'm a wonk, an egghead, an intellectual. So is Gore. We grok.

But as I was enjoying the speech for myself the practical side of my brain knew that it wouldn't appeal to the "average American." I mean, I keep the Word of the Day on my blog so that I can scroll down to it and reassure myself that I almost always know it, and he used some words that I had to look up. They were, of course, perfectly accurate in their meaning down to the most precise shading and historical usage. But my joy in such a thing (a leader whose intelligence and accuracy are great enough for me to admire) was probably rare. I was reminded of a famous exchange during Adlai Stevenson's run for President. During his 1956 presidential campaign, a woman called out to Mr. Stevenson "Senator, you have the vote of every thinking person!" Stevenson called back "That's not enough, madam, we need a majority!"

So while appreciating Gore's MLK Day speech for myself I was also reminded that Martin Luther King, Jr. was a communication genius whose "I Have a Dream" speech has echoed in the soul of America for over thirty years. Mr. Gore, wonderful impassioned wonk that he is, has informed us. Now can he make us dream?

*Ignore* Button

I've always had an affection for ice skating (those VHS tapes I packed up last week were primarily ice skating) and tonight we've caught the 2006 State Farm U.S. Figure Skating Championships. While listening to the commentaries... and particularly my husband's reaction to the commentator Dick... I came up with the idea that the next generation of TVs will have the same function that chat rooms do. You'll be able to selectively ignore the people you don't want to listen to. I mean, they have Peggy Fleming, Kurt Browning, and Katarina Witt for God's sake! Why do they need Dick? He's just being a Dick anyway. If my TV had an *ignore* button next to the *mute* button you can be pretty sure I'd be using it right now. It would keep us from yelling at the TV.

Everywhere and Nowhere

While sniffing around the blogthings website I found their "You Know You're From... When..." list. I checked every state I've lived in (long list), the ones I've spent appreciable time in, and even the ones that my husband has lived in, since over the past 18 years I think I may have absorbed them by osmosis. Although there were a lot of jokes/observations that I got I didn't find one set that I was like, "Oh yes, this is my place."

So how about you?

Militant Pacifist

I think I found a great gift for my Dad. One of my favorite stories is from when he and my step-mom were moving in the mid-90s. There were a few things that they left for last, to be carefully moved in the car. On the last trip my Dad starts coming out of the house will all of these rifles to put in the trunk of his Caddy. My step-mom looks at him and teases, "Honey, I thought you were a pacifist!" Without batting an eyelash he gives her a long, sad look and says, "That's why you don't piss off a pacifist!"

Not only is the phrase "Militant Pacifist" great for him, I thought that the natural fiber tote bag screams "liberal" in a way that few things can.

Oh, and the rifles? They were my grandfather's and great-grandfather's from back when they lived out in the country and hunted for dinner. My grandfather was an award winning turkey hunter and we have the newspaper clippings to prove it. One of my other favorite stories about my Dad (which I heard from my Mom) was the day he sighted a deer and realized that he just couldn't kill it, never to hunt again.

Don't Know Much About Science Books, Don't Know Much About That French I Took

You scored as Philosophy. You should be a Philosophy major! Like the Philosopher, you are contemplative and you enjoy thinking about the purpose for humanity's existence. Philosophy 100% Journalism 100% Sociology 92% English 92% Art 92% Mathematics 92% Engineering 83% Linguistics 75% Psychology 75% Anthropology 75% Dance 67% Theater 67% Biology 58% Chemistry 42% What is your Perfect Major? created with QuizFarm.com

Hat tip to The Green Knight for the link.

I've always said that if I got a PhD it would be in philosophy. Partially because I found the classes fascinating. Partially because I find the idea of a Doctor of Philosophy in Philosophy absolutely hilarious. Yeah, I'm that nerdy...

Three Things Meme

I tagged lucretius with the Four Things Meme but he was feeling his oats and came up with a Three Things variant with some different ideas. I've always liked lists of three because you can remember them more easily. You know, it's the first one, the last one, and the one in the middle. At least that's the way my mind works. I also like some of the subjects he came up with, so I'm going to indulge myself. Can you tell I'm addicted to memes? I think you can. Feel free to join in and link us all to your memey goodness.

Three favorite snacks
My husband can verify that I'm a moody eater and this is always due to change. But the current list is:

1. Hershey's Dark Kisses
2. Peanut butter crackers and Mt. Dew
   
3. Jello
   

Three bad habits

1. Eating out
2. IMDB
3. Biting my nails
   

Three things I was doing 10 years ago

1. Working at Sam Goody's
2. Experiencing a personal crisis (which sucked except that I dropped at least two sizes that January alone)
   
3. The movie I went to that month was From Dusk Till Dawn. That was ten years ago? Sheesh... I didn't realize that I'd disliked Tarantino this long.
   

The last subject was the one that really intrigued me. Over at Velociraptors on the Space Shuttle Matt pointed out that you really can't pick the Oscar worthy movies until ten years later. They sort of need to age. It's probably the best perspective to look at everything.

Stephen Colbert, You Rock My World. And That's The Truthiness of It.

Stephen Colbert Fights Back About 'Truthiness'

"The fact that they looked it up in a book just shows that they don't get the idea of truthiness at all," Colbert said Thursday. "You don't look up truthiness in a book, you look it up in your gut."

Though slight, the difference of Colbert's definition and the OED's is essential. It's not your typical truth, but, as The New York Times wrote, "a summation of what (Colbert) sees as the guiding ethos of the loudest commentators on Fox News, MSNBC and CNN."

Colbert, who referred on his program to the AP omission as a "journalistic travesty," said Thursday that it was similar to the much-criticized weapons of mass destruction reporting leading up to the Iraq War.

"Except," he said, "people got hurt this time."

Thank you, "JAKE COYLE, AP." You may work for the biggest threat to our Nation, but at least you "get it." All those other journalists may be all fact and no heart, but you see the truthiness in the situation.

Resident Blonde Reports

Heh-heh. Best blonde joke ever. Really.

Movie Review - Narnia

Pretty.

Truthiness Makes History

"The normal make a living, the deranged make history. " ~ Christopher Titus

Congratulations Stephen! Truthiness is Word of the Year for 2005! And even though Heather Clark tried to rob you, some of us knew immediately the... truthiness... of the situation.

Is Albert Brooks Actually Funny?

I'm just asking because the emotion he elicits for me is best described as irritation. He annoys me. Deeply. Like a burr under my saddle.

Yeah, he's on The Daily Show right now and I'm finding myself annoyed again. Since he has conditioned me to be annoyed by him just hearing his voice is annoying.

And don't tell me that he's a smart person's funny because he strikes me more as someone who thinks they're smart instead of actually being brilliant.

Monday 10

Playlist: All Dat Good Stuff

1. Back in the High Life Again - Steve Winwood
2. House of Tom Bombadil - Nickel Creek
3. "I'd love to stay, but the world needs my light." ~Luna (Bear in the Big Blue House)
   
4. Sister Moon - Sting
5. "I am the Terror that flaps in the night! I am the raspberry seed you can't floss out!" ~ Darkwing Duck
6. Main Street - Chris Gaines (Garth Brooks)
7. "'Scuse me while I whip this out." ~ Sheriff Bart, Blazing Saddles
8. "Security alert, all decks." ~ Star Trek
9. Avalon - Roxy Music
10. Peanut Butter & Jelly - Brian Regan (stand-up)
    

Leaving a Light On

Life takes weird paths. Tonight I twisted and turned through many writing blogs, breezed through Whedonesque long enough to hear Joss accuse Nathan Fillion of smelling like turnips, and somehow ended up on Tom Bodett's blog while looking up the pet policies for Motel 6. He just started in mid-December but I have to say that I can hear his "voice" through his writing. He seems wry and sweet and homey, just like his vocal work. I figure anyone who can make me tear up and laugh out loud within his first three posts deserves a link and some quoting.

On 2005
That's life. Like a story. Like a road. Like a year -- it ends. My intention for 2006 is to live life like I know it ends. I waste too much time. I don't show the people I love that I love them often enough. I keep thinking there will be a better time to do the things I've always wanted to do than right now. There won't be.

On Motel 6 Podcasts
Motel 6 has just released for the holidays the Top 6 reasons to stay at a motel over the holidays instead of with your family. I'm sure you can probably think of about 29 reasons of your own without taking a breath, but would they have pleasing background music packed into a tidy little downloadable MP3 package?

I Spy With My Little Eye...

Back in March I posted a graphic about All The States I Love Before, based on a list I had made while complaining that someone should make an easy tool to map the places you've been. Well, someone did.



create your own visited states map
or check out these Google Hacks.

Hat tip to Toast at Two Glasses for the link.

The Big Empty

The Rude Pundit has a series on his visit to southern Louisiana this past week.

Katrina Plus Four Months, Part 1
Katrina Plus Four Months, Part 2 - Riding Through Slidell
Katrina Plus Four Months, Part 3 - Chalmette
Katrina Plus Four Months, Part 4 - Essay in Black (and White)
Katrina Plus Four Months, Part 5 - In Conclusion

Movies, Movies Everywhere

Pam from Beancounters says that really, I need to put a picture up to document my claim of 400 dvds. In response I sent her the results of a handcount (supplemented by a guess of what's on the bottom shelf behind the box of vcr tapes that are being packed up for storage). Since I don't have a speedy way to take and post pics I'm going to do a wee bit more documentation to hold me over until I get the pics working. You can't tell WE'RE bureaucrats, now can you?

Wee bit of documentation? The titles from the first shelf:

13th Warrior, The A-Team Season One, The A-Team Season Two, The Best of Bud Abbott and Lou Costello Volumes 1 through 3, The Musters (Papa John's promo dvd), The Abyss (Special Addition), Ace Ventura Pet Detective, Africa Screams, Air Force One, Airplane!, Alice in Wonderland, Aliens, Aladdin, America's Sweethearts, Antitrust, Apocolypse Now, Apollo 13, The AristoCats, Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Austin Powers, Austin Powers in Goldmember, Babylon5: The Complete First Season, Back to the Future: The Complete Trilogy, Bad Company, Battlestar Galactica (the original movie), Battlestar Galactica: The Complete Epic Series, The BeastMaster, A Beautiful Mind, Beauty and the Beast, Bedazzled, Bellydance: Fitness for Beginners, Beverly Hills Cop, Beverly Hills Cop II, Bicentennial Man, Big Trouble in Little China, Lewis Black Unleashed, Black Beauty, Black Hawk Down, Black Hole, Blade, Blade II, Blazing Saddles, Blown Away, The Body, Bourne Identity

I Need Me Some Truthiness

I've been sitting on this info for about a month.

I got tickets to The Colbert Report!!!

January 17th, the same day that Titus Season 2 comes out. What a great day.

Unfortunately I requested three tickets and was only emailed about two. They ignored my follow-up email. So now we have to figure out if the third person will go up to New York with us and luck into stand-by tickets.

But.... I GOT TICKETS TO THE COLBERT REPORT!!!!!!!!!!!! WOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I've Been Memed

I've already done the Meme of Fours once, but when Pam tagged me she had a couple of questions on hers that weren't on the one I did before. And this also gives me a chance to make more comments.

Jobs: Want four more? I can probably do that in the mall alone. Bookstore sales for Waldenbooks, shoe sales for StrideRight, nuts and candy sales for Morrow's Nut House, and import crap sales for World Bazaar (where you got papasan chairs before Pier 1 and World Market existed). Every time I hear the BNL song Never is Enough I get a little nostalgic for "eating in a food court with the old and the bored..."

Movies I can watch over and over: Since I didn't point it out last time, I want to make this clear. Serenity, Serenity, Serenity, Serenity. I also liked Pam's choice of Dogma. That movie kicks &$@ and I love Kevin Smith (even though he has a potty mouth).

Places I've lived: Want four more? I just stuck with states last time to cover as much territory as possible. Let's look at some of my Mississippi towns of residence: Nicholson, Picayune, Hattiesburg, Diamondhead. Yes, it's like a Katrina hat trick and an extra point.

Shows I love to watch: Firefly (you can't take my show from me, I now have a dvd...), Titus (season 2 is out on dvd January 17th! and his stand-up will be on Comedy Central this weekend), Stargate SG-1 (yes, I have science fiction addiction, although I'm less enamored now that Stargate has become Fargate... bonus points if you get that joke), and Star Trek (the original series)

Places I've been on vacation: Greenbrier County West Virginia, Los Angeles, New York City, St. Augustine Florida

Websites I visit daily: mine, Google News, IMDB (pro version - what else would the girl with 400 dvds want?), dictionary.com

Favorite foods: yogurt, sushi, black bean burritos, and the mighty potato

Places I'd rather be: working for Mutant Enemy (grrr, argh!), at a cabin in the mountains working on my fiction, chillin' on a sailboat in the Caribbean mon, or anywhere my sweetie wants to be

Albums I can't live without: Just FOUR??? Oh, the humanity!! Nickel Creek's self-titled album, Brian Regan Live (yes, it's comedy, your point?), Shepherd Moons by Enya (Marble Halls was my wedding march - it was perfect for a sweet little medieval wedding), Nothing Like the Sun by Sting

Put That in Your iHole

You may have noticed that I'm a Joss Whedon fan. Via fireflyfans.net I found this article Joss wrote for TV Guide on what we have to look forward to on TV in 2006. Pretty much every part of the article put me on the floor, but my favorite line is:

Also, the constant slew of cable mergers will result in the creation of CinePax, a channel that's just very confused about its morals.

Go forth and read the Jossy goodness already!

Break!

I don't know about you, but I had a very satisfying winter break. Mostly I just stayed under the radar and rested. I didn't realize how much I needed that.

Happy New Year!