Blog Day

Today is Blog Day. I guess I'm supposed to go out and find new blogs and recommend them here, but since I have never talked about other blogs on here before, I'll do that. In no particular order, let's go.

1. Blahmerica - run by four comedians poking fun at the "blah" things in life. I don't know any of them personally but I have seen/performed with (once) Chris D'Elia and think he's incredibly funny and talented. All four writers are great and the topics they pick are highly worth being mocked.

2. Tied to the '90s - a blog about music and bands from the 1990s. It offers looks back at things as well as updates of what some of these musicians are doing now.

3. Long Winded and Proud - by Adriana. It's a mix of personal posts, funny stories, recommendations and such. I like the way she writes and she's a friend of mine, so double bonus.

4. The FAIL Blog - because anonymously laughing at other's misfortune and mistakes is fun.

5. Kitchen Hell - a cooking / recipe blog, courtesy of my friend Kristen. I have yet to make any recipes from there but everything on there looks good. Her photos make me frequently hungry at work.

BlogDay2008

My Two Dads

The classic 1987 television show My Two Dads came up as a topic of conversation the other day with friends. My fiancée wasn't familiar with it, so I had to fill her in on the premise - a teenage girl's Mom dies and she goes to live with two guys, one of which is her biological father. She never finds out which one is, so they raise her together. One is the cool, hip artistic Dad (Greg Evigan) and the other is a more white collar worker (Paul Reiser).

What a great way to remember your Mom - that she was a whore who doesn't even know which guy got her pregnant. And what a way for two guys to become best friends and roommates - they both slept with the same woman! Sadly, the comic hilarity lasted for only 3 seasons.

I actually appreciate the silly concept of a show that could be solved with a DNA test in 3 to 10 business days. Sadly, I don't think TV could produce shows like this, or Gilligan's Island, these days. I kind of miss that campy quality about TV, although I don't think My Two Dads was meant to be. They're trying to make TV so smart these days. How dare you, Hollywood.

What Not to Wear

For some retarded reason, one of the headlines on Yahoo! last week was an article entitled 9 Things You Should Never Wear to a Wedding. I'll save you from clicking on the article by just posting the list here:

1. White
2. Shorts
3. Short miniskirts and bustier tops
4. Coattails
5. Anything gold / sequins / glittery
6. Leather jackets, skirts or pants
7. Baseball hats
8. Western wear - bandannas, cowboy boots
9. Jeans

This has to be one of the dumbest articles I've ever read as every single point they make just states the obvious. I hope they publish an article next week called 9 Reasons Not to Drink Bleach.

Zuma Nesta Rock

Which of the following statements is the most ridiculous?

A) That MSN consulted "baby naming experts" to comment on Gavin Rossdale and Gwen Stefani's new son, Zuma Nesta Rock?

or B) That people are out there actually proclaiming themselves to be baby-name experts?

I'm definitely going with B on this one. I feel dumber for having read that article, and MSN should feel dumb for putting that as one of their top Entertainment headlines last week.

Only kind of ridiculous is that MSN fails to get two out of three domain names correct in the article, listing them them as ThePerfectBabyName.c om, BabyNamingCentral.co m. Whoever wrote that article got a little bit too happy with the sp a ce bar.

Joo-know!

Yeah, I know I'm late in seeing this but finally watched it last night. I'd give it 3 out of 5 stars. Overall, it was pretty good for a science fiction movie. Parts of it were cute and funny, but it left out so much of the emotion of teenage pregnancy. For the entire movie, it's like no big deal that Juno is pregnant. "Oh, I'm pregnant. I'll just keep going to school and give the kid away." There was very little struggle or emotion with that decision, and Juno seems so matter-of-fact about everything. She's sixteen!

Which brings me to my next critique - no sixteen year old talks like that! Even weird, indie "unique" ones in Minnesota! Plus, I highly doubt any kid these days would be dropping a Thundercats reference, let alone know what Thundercats is. Overall, an okay movie but nothing I would rave about or put on my Top Ten list like so many critics did.

Definitely the funniest part of the movie is when Juno is thinking about the prospective parents for her children and says: "I want something a little edgier. I was looking for, maybe, a thirty-something graphic designer with a cool Asian girlfriend who kicks ass on the bass guitar, but I don't know, I don't wanna get too particular."

I'm a 30 year old graphic designer with an Asian fiancée that kicks ass at Guitar Hero. If we were in the market for a baby from a 16 year old Minnesotan in a science fiction movie, I'd know where to look.

The Clogginator

Holyyyyyyyy crap! Even though this came out last year, it was a featured ad on MySpace today.

The Baconator from Wendy's - two 1/4 lb. beef patties, two slices of American cheese and SIX strips of bacon! I wonder if they did product testing and the most common feedback they got was "Not clogging my arteries fast enough. Suggest adding more bacon."

There is a Wendy's within walking distance of my office, but I think I'd have to walk the 18.3 miles home to burn off even half of this thing.

Guitar Zero

Check out this story of Blake Peebles, a 16-year old who dropped out of high school to focus on playing Guitar Hero. Apparently, he bugged his parents to let him quit school, and they "couldn't take the complaining anymore." Wow, great job, parents.

Where did I put my Parent of the Year ballot form again?

Let the O' Go

Nearly everyone I know (myself included) refers to this steaming hot instant ramen noodle thing as Cup O' Noodles. But look at the package, it says Cup Noodles. Whenever I point this out to people, they are either flabbergasted or astonished (pick one).

I researched it on the Nissin website but came up short, so I sent them an e-mail. To my astonishment and flabbergastiment, they wrote me back hours later with a response!

Apparently the O' was added for the US market. It was dropped at some point in order to unify with the Asian market and the trademarked name of simply Cup Noodles.

So, there you go...information you didn't ask for. Stop using the O. Also, check out the Wikipedia entry to see some other Cup Noodles flavors from around the globe - Italian Tomato (Brazil), Spicy Duck (Thailand) and Beef Marrow (Philippines)!

Olympics

There's a little more than a week left of Olympic action, so I better get these two thoughts out.

1. Beach volleyball is sooooooooooooo frickin' boring. Why is it on during prime time?

I think this second thought was actually my friend Rick's idea, but I fully support it.

2. They should have average people compete in every event for comparison's sake. When you have several people finishing within hundredths of seconds of one another, I think it loses a little something. Let's see how fast Joe Blow from Chatsworth can run the 400m hurdles. Then it'd be even more impressive.

Company

Now that I work in a much larger company, it's kind of cool to get to know so many people and their different backgrounds. I won't reveal any personal information about myself or my employer, but after working here a year, some of the people I have found working here include:

- A guy who drummed for a band that won the Dutch equivalent of a Grammy
- A brother and sister that are the children of a professional wrestler
- Someone whose cousin is a movie / television star
- An athlete who almost made the Olympics 4 years ago, and is going to try again for 2012

Fairly cool, if you ask me. I wonder about the rest of these peeps.

Tropic Third

I'm sure no one will believe me, but a few weekends ago, I predicted Kevin Costner's newest flick, Swing Vote, would open at #7. I was wrong, but close. It opened at #6 'cause it looked like a steaming pile of monkey crap.

Tropic Thunder opens up tomorrow. Is it just me, or does Tropic Thunder look derivative of Galaxy Quest which itself was derivative of Three Amigos? Hey, look - actors think they're in a fake situation but then get caught in a real one! Stiller's career has been really hit and miss, so I'll definitely pass on this one. Still, I will predict that it opens up at #3 at the box office this weekend.

I'll check IMdB sometime late Sunday to collect my non-existent winnings on this non-existent bet.

Dear Netflix

Dear Netflix,

Sometimes you know me so well. You recommend some excellent movies based on other movies I have rated and enjoyed. I am indeed a huge fan of comedy, as noted by my enjoyment of Triumph the Insult Comic Dog and Jerry Seinfeld: I'm Telling You For the Last Time.

I am not a huge sports fan, but I don't recall the 2007 Fiesta Bowl or the Chicago Bulls Dynasty of the 1990s to be particular funny.

I thank you for your recommendation but feel I must pass on these two.

Sincerely,
Chris

Anthem - NOT!

In 1999, the band Silverchair released a song called "Anthem for the Year 2000." Ironically, it was not.

The Prophet of Yonwood

I finished reading the The Prophet of Yonwood, the third part in the Books of Ember series and it was disappointing. It's a prequel to two previous books in the series, but not really until the last few chapters. The majority of the book is based on mishearing a prophet. Yeah, that's right. The whole town is following the advice of a prophet no one can understand clearly. The entire book is based on that premise, which is quite lame.

I know this series is aimed at young adults, but the following passage towards the end made me laugh out loud: "She'd fallen in love with a dog instead of a person. But that didn't matter. It was still love. She'd apply it to a person later on."

Riiiiiiight.

Because pouring a bowl of dog food and flea baths are exactly like cooking for your spouse and buying shampoo at the drug store.

Nonsense

Sadly, I started another blog. Why? Because so many people rip off of the Got Milk? campaign and it annoys me that much. It will mostly be a photo blog, but feel free to check it out. I don't know how long I'll keep it running but it seemed like a good idea at the time.