Why I love Bill Murray.

This article pretty much sums it up in a few ways. Murray’s approach, humor and candor in a rare interview are what makes him so damn interesting.

Click the photo for the GQ interview…

AND, I really want to see his latest film, Get Low.

Summertime: A Top 10 List

The last couple of days full of sweltering heat have gotten me to try to think more positively about summer. I mean, I love summer. It’s my favorite season next to autumn. But, well, it’s usually about this time of year and then later on into August that I tend to sort of fall out of love with this fun-in-the-sun season. I figured why not put together a list of things that are really, really great about summer. The type of things you can really only get or do during the summer (well, in Oklahoma anyway).

I was talking to my running partner, Vandroid, tonight and she mentioned having a feeling of nostalgia or deja vu recently about something from her childhood. I can relate because summer is that season that makes me think of all sorts of things like that. A certain way the air feels when a rare and welcome cool breeze blows through. The feeling you get from walking into an air conditioned house after mowing the lawn on a hot day. These are not very special things, but they are things that always remind me of earlier experiences.

My list is not necessarily full of just those types of things. Some of them are quite tangible and I’m sure very relatable for most. So, here goes. My Top 10 List for Summertime.

10. Tomatoes.

Anyone who appreciates a good tomato knows exactly what I’m talking about. Heck, I may as well throw in all fresh vegetables here, but tomatoes are the ones that seem to be the most popular and most talked about during summer. After picking through nearly impenetrable, baseball-hard, poor excuses for tomatoes for most of the year at the local grocery store, it’s a very wonderful thing to go to the farmer’s market and buy a few huge tomatoes that have been grown and picked less than 20 miles away from where you’ll be ingesting them.

It’s a tomato that tastes like a tomato. It’s red. Yes, it’s actually RED. Not a sickly looking near-pink or faded red. It’s red on the outside and red on the inside. I slice one up, drizzle a bit of olive oil over it, add a bit of shredded parmesan cheese and some salt and pepper and you almost have a fancy hors d’oeuvre. And then sometimes, I just slice it up and eat it as is. That’s the great thing about summertime tomatoes. They’re always good no matter what you do with them.

9. Frogs

I was driving home the other night and I had my windows down. I am normally listening to music in the car, but for some reason had it turned down or completely off for that matter. I stopped at a stop sign in a residential area and noticed a loud, but not too loud, chorus of frogs singing through the night. Living in a city, you don’t get to hear that very often. So when I do, I am taken back to my childhood when every summer night sounded like that. I used to keep my window to my bedroom open so I could hear the frogs through the screen and possibly the rain if a storm brewed overnight. The frogs singing is a beautiful sound that I don’t think I’ll ever get over in my lifetime.

8. Floating the river (with beer).

I did this once completely sober. It was still fun, but not like in the past. I can have a great time without drinking, but… I don’t know. There’s just something about floating the river with your friends and a 30-pack that just makes summer for me. I haven’t gotten to go yet this year, but I’m working on it. By the way, if you haven’t done this, you’re missing out and you need to look into it. Soon.

7. Fresh cut grass.

Not much to say about this one except that it looks, feels and smells completely awesome.

6. A cold beer.

Ok, I mentioned beer above with the river thing. I promise. I’m not an alcoholic. I just really like beer. A lot. And although there are some fantastic beers that are more suited for colder months, nothing beats a good, ice cold wheat beer on a hot day after work. I also would suggest trying a shandy (originally a ginger flavored beer) if you never have. Kilkinney’s mixes up a good one with Sprite and a Smithwick’s. Leinenkugel’s makes a very lemony flavored one that I tend to gravitate toward every year. The first version of the shandy I ever tasted was made for me by Mike at the Soundpony a few years ago. He used Sprite and Fosters. It was delicious and I’ve been a fan of them ever since.

5. Running.

I know. WTF, right? It’s hot, why would you prefer running in the summer over cooler months? Something about the warmer weather makes me want to get outside more (real original, I know) and be active. It can be 95 degrees and I’m still up for a run. Sure, it sucks until you’re used to it, but you feel great afterward and you sweat a lot more.

4. Swimming.

This one’s a given. Let’s move on.

3. Summer movies.

Yeah, yeah. The summers at the cineplex ain’t what she used to be. Movies pretty much suck these days and very few are actually good. However, it’s been a tradition of mine (as with many) over the summers to go see some movies on those hot days or nights. It seemed back in the day that the summer would yield a handful of good/great movies between Memorial Day weekend and Labor Day. Nowadays, we’re lucky if we get two. In the last few years, here are the ones that have made my summers a little better.

District 9

Moon

Star Trek (2009)

Iron Man

The Dark Knight

And this year, Inception.

(Predators was pretty fun too.)

2. Shorts and flip-flops.

I try to avoid the frat-boy look as much as possible, but sometimes shorts and flip-flops are just exactly where it’s at and they just say summer to me. At least I’m not throwing a visor on my head, bro.

1. Radishes!!!!!!

Ok, I kid. It’s not radishes. Sorry radish lovers. Actually, there really isn’t much point to a number one because these aren’t really in a particular order or anything. But, my number one is going to have to be…

Yes! Slip n’ Slide. Thank you, Wham-O. Although I haven’t been on one in years, this is chosen based on pure nostalgia alone. I remember when we got this as kids and slid on it nonstop. We even put dish soap on it (and I’m sure a lot of kids did that). We slid on it in our clothes, in our swimsuits, in the nude. We didn’t care. We were kids, darn it. Some of the best of my summer days were spent playing on a Slip n’ Slide. And then we left it out one night and our dogs chewed it up. Oh well.

Happy summertime, everybody!

PS: Big props to air conditioning too. We couldn’t do it without you, AC!

If you’re not listening to Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings, you are missing out.

I know I’m a little late on the bandwagon here, but I don’t care. I started hearing this music over the past year or so, but never got around to really seeking it out. Then I saw Sharon Jones on Saturday Night Live. She was singing with Michael Bublé (a singer I’m not particularly interested in) and I found myself wanting to know more about Ms. Jones immediately. Then, I rented the movie Up In The Air and noticed the song used in the opening credits was Jones’ fantastic soul cover of Woody Guthrie’s “This Land Is Your Land”.  So, now I am definitely a fan. I only have a couple of albums so far and they are GREAT! If you’re a fan of classic sounding soul/R&B, then you need to get your hands on this. Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings are on Daptone Records. Here’s a sample…

And here is Up In The Air‘s opening sequence

4 8 15 16 23 42…Execute.

In trying to get this blog back up and running, I figured I’d write about the finale I’m still reeling a bit from since Sunday night. Stop reading now if you don’t care. You’ve been warned.

First of all, I liked the finale episode titled “The End”. I say “liked” because that’s exactly what it was upon first viewing. Also, I was a little confused by it. That’s what happens when I’ve had a few Dharma beers and “secret Island punch” (made by a fellow LOSTie) during the show. I don’t mean I was inebriated. I was just trying to take it all in and sometimes I’m just better watching LOST completely by myself and without a drink or five. Not that I don’t thoroughly enjoy watching the show with my friends over the years. It’s been a super-rad experience doing that. I always tend to glean a bit more from an episode when I re-watch it alone.

And that’s exactly what I did last night. I had the house to myself for a few hours, so I sat back and watched last week’s episode “What They Died For” as a primer (Good sweet Jesus, I love DVR technology) and then moved immediately onto the finale. All of this while doing three loads of laundry, mind you.

I can now say that I loved the final episode of this crazy-ass TV show that mixed action-adventure, mysticism, science fiction, religious ideas and seldom ever solved mysteries. The fact that many mysteries of the show that have been opened on the show over the last six seasons, were not answered is pretty annoying to me when you consider the amount of energy put into some of them by the writers. However, when all was said and done, I “let go” and just went with it. At first I felt a little cheated. I think this was because I didn’t entirely get it upon first viewing. Then, after talking about it with a couple of friends and analyzing a bit more, I realized that there was not another way it could have ended (for me anyway) that would have been as satisfying on the emotional level.

A lead anchor on Good Morning America (why I watch morning news shows I do not know. It’s a habit from a very young age) started yapping about LOST in an “Around the Water Cooler” segment and she just flat out said, “and they were all in Purgatory…”  This was coming from a woman who works for the parent company (ABC) which produces LOST. So, it was evident that many people may not have gotten the gist of the ending of the last episode and not realized the sideways universe we’d seen all season was actually the Purgatory-like timeless realm where our departed characters had hung out in limbo until moving on to the real afterlife.

This brings me to the elements of the finale that packed the greatest punch. No, we didn’t get a lot of answers to much of anything. No more information about the Dharma Initiative. Nothing more about Walt. Why can’t the smoke monster travel past those force field pylons? Ugh, there are too many to list. What we did get was some great moments of enlightenment where our characters in the sideways universe finally became blissfully aware of their Island lives by being reunited with those they’d loved then. It all sounds silly and it is a little bit, but by golly, it worked and I loved it.

When Jack goes into the church to view his dead father’s body and discovers he is not in the coffin, we hear Christian Shephard’s voice behind him and definitely realize something is up and that Jack is now dead. He tells him that he is indeed dead and that many have died long before him and many after him. They are in a place beyond space and time. There is no time here. The sideways universe was seemingly formed from the collective subconsciousness of the Island’s castaways (and some others) who all interacted with Jack. He was told he needed them and they needed him. They were part of the most important part of his life. Everything that happened there did indeed happen. We didn’t get a “it was all a dream” or “the Island was a spaceship” BS cop-out. Some fans probably find this ending a cop-out, but I didn’t. I thought it was pretty much perfect.

The final scenes were pretty much the finest LOST has ever produced. It took us back to the bamboo forest where we were first introduced to Jack Shephard (and Vincent the dog). As Jack lay dying on the ground, he looked up into the sky to see the remaining castaways (those who chose to leave), fly away on the Ajira flight that emergency landed (crashed sort of) in season 5. Vincent runs up, licks him on the face and lays down beside him like a good dog does. At this point, I have become a blubbering idiot, by the way. Jack smiles and we get a close-up of his eye (an iconic LOST staple). The eye closes and we jump-cut to black. The End, indeed.

This show has been my absolute favorite for the last six years and I can’t wait to start it over and watch it all unfold again with a very hindsight 20/20 perspective. It’s my new Star Trek. So many great and wonderful things about it. I’m going to miss it, but very glad it’s done.

Just a heads-up. My birthday is only 5 months away…

Ahem… and I enjoy cake as well. Just puttin’ that out there.

This is a cake.

Thanks to the wonderful boingboing.net for the lead on this. Click here for the the original post.

Good advice for a new year (and the rest of your life).

My boss passed out copies of Harvey Mackay’s latest syndicated column today in a staff meeting. I occasionally read Mackay’s column and I have to say, it’s never cheesy, silly or patronizing. It’s a lot of common sense actually. He has a way of just breaking it all down. 

I thought this latest column was worth noting. It’s good advice and I just wanted to share. 

How to stay young as the years go by

By Harvey Mackay

Youth, it has been said, is wasted on the young. That would be a travesty if it were true. Fortunately, youth is not only a time of life; it’s also a state of mind. I stopped counting after my 39th birthday, but I still consider myself young. And I intend to stay that way!

Having a youthful outlook and attitude is possible at any age, just as being an old fogey can start at a very young age. As I said, I choose youth!

Want to stay young at heart? Here are some ideas to help you:

Keep only cheerful, positive friends. You can pick your friends, and I like to choose those who are positive and people who challenge me. They make me feel good. They don’t drag me down or make me angry at the world. Negative people see the difficulty in every opportunity, while positive people see the opportunity in every difficulty.

 Keep learning. I think Henry Ford put it best when he said, “Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at 20 or 80. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young.” I’ve always said that you should be in school all your life—never stop learning.

Enjoy the simple things. Don’t forget to take time to enjoy the things that you like to do—go for a walk or to the movies, read a good book, watch a favorite TV show, spend time with your family. You have to have a good balance in life.

Laugh often. Starting your day with a good laugh, or at least a big smile, is as beneficial to your health as it is to your mood. Scientific studies at Northwestern University and Fordham University concluded that laughter benefits the heart, lungs, stomach and other organs. It relaxes tensions, changes attitude, and increases the body’s natural painkillers. And it has no harmful side effects.

Stay in shape. Exercise is good for your mind as well as your body. Studies show that healthy employees have decreased absenteeism, better performance and improved morale. I’ve always felt that a healthy workforce is a productive workforce. The human body is the only machine that wears out faster if it is not used.

Cherish your health. There is nothing more important than your health. Stay in shape so you can improve your chance for good health. If you’re healthy, do what you can to preserve it. It your health is unstable, improve it. If it is beyond what you can improve, get help.

Be happy. You are responsible for your own happiness. We sometimes convince ourselves that life will be better after we get a better job, make more money, get married, have a baby, buy a bigger house and so on. Yet the accomplishment of any of those events may not make any difference at all. There is no magic secret to happiness. Happiness starts in your head.

Don’t stress out. You can’t escape stress, but you can avoid creating unnecessary stress. You just need to find a stress reliever. Mine is sports—going to a sporting event, playing golf, swimming or jogging. If the stress just won’t go away, then you have to make some changes in your life that might be more stressful in the short-term but healthier in the long run.

Don’t take guilt trips. Rather, take a trip to some location or maybe it’s just the mall, but escape occasionally. I remember a story about the worry tree. At night an accountant would go home from work and place all his worries on a tree in his front yard. The next morning he would pick up those worries on his way to work, but surprisingly, they weren’t as heavy the next day.

Visualize yourself as youthful and with endless energy. I learned years ago that visualization is the most powerful means of attaining personal goals. Visionary people can achieve whatever they want by determining a plan to attain it and expecting positive results. It doesn’t do the planning and it doesn’t anticipate the obstacles. It gives you a real idea of what is possible, if only you want it bad enough. Vision is not so much what you think as how you think. If you can visualize it, you can make it happen.

Mackay’s Moral: If you want to stay youthful, stay useful.

From Mackay’s website.

New Year’s Eve 2008

It was a blast. I’d seen the Flaming Lips in Tulsa at our D-Fest music festival in summer of ’07. This show was better. Mostly because I was a lot closer and well, it was New Year’s Eve!!  Definitely glad I made the drive to OKC on Wed night.

Behold the fun!

holidays…

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and all that. I got a few nice items from family members including a much needed laptop lap thingy to set my laptop on instead of using my legs or a pillow. It also does a little to help cool it. Got some clothes which I can add to my work apparel. I can always use more khakis and button-up shirts for my corporate whore outfit. 

An actual highlight besides the laptop holder is the Sound of the Smiths CD which my sister gave me. Now, I have most of these songs on other albums, but I never had them re-mastered to sound so lovely. 

Now, it’s on to New Year’s Eve! I’m quite excited about this one! Headed to OKC and hopefully this will be the imagery I’ll be privy to that evening.

I’ll be sure to take some of my own pictures and have them up on Facebook and blog ASAP afterwards!

R.I.P. Majel Barrett-Roddenberry

The original “Number One” (LONG before Riker), Nurse Christine Chapel, voice of the Enterprise’s computer for virtually every incarnation of Star Trek and Deanna Troi’s hot-to-trot Betazoid mother, Lxwanna Troi, on The Next Generation — these are the roles that Majel Barrett-Roddenberry played in the Trek-verse. Not to mention her real life role as wife of Star Trek creator, Gene Roddenberry. 

Barrett-Roddenberry passed away yesterday after suffering from Leukemia. She was 76. More info and a couple of clips at EW.com. 

Here was a great clip of Spock hitting on Nurse Chapel (in his oh-so-Vulcan way) from the original series. Gawd, I loved the original series.

My favorite albums of 2008 [Updated]

I didn’t buy every album that I wanted to this year. Therefore, I may have only listened to certain tracks from albums I never heard in their entirety. I wanted to list all of my favorite songs from this past year, but I don’t really have time. My favorite albums list will have to do for now.

So, here is the list of top 10 favorites (in no particular order) from this past year. Video bits provided!!

M83 – Saturdays = Youth /  Just discovered this band this year and I’m really liking them a lot. I may get to see them in Denver next month! Here’s the video for the single “Kim & Jessie”.

R.E.M. – Accelerate / Wow. After two self-admittedly underwhelming last albums, Michael, Peter and Mike are back in form with an album that sounds more like, well, R.E.M.   Here is “Supernatural Superserious”:

Santogold – self-titled /  I LOVE this album. It’s an amalgam of rock, new wave, dancehall, hip-hop and several other sub-genres. Definitely one to put on at a party. Here is the single “L.E.S. Artistes”.

Coldplay – Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends /  I gotta hand it to Coldplay. They always deliver. This time with the help of producer Brian Eno. Here is the alternate version video for single “Viva La Vida” directed by Anton Corbjn. He also directed a certain Depeche Mode video that it bares a striking similarity to. Nice touch.

Rilo Kiley – Under the Blacklight /  I’ll be honest. I would have preferred another Jenny Lewis and Watson Twins album this year. Oh well. We can’t have everything. This album seemed to meld the best of Rilo Kiley with lead singer Jenny Lewis’ best moments from Rabbit Fur Coat album with the Watsons. Here is one of my favorite throwback tracks from the album, “Silver Lining”.

Cut/Copy – self-titled In Ghost Colours /  All I’m gonna say is this CD stayed in the CR-V’s CD changer all summer and then some. Video for “Hearts on Fire”.

Crystal Castles – self-titled /  GREAT alt dance album!!! Here’s the video for “Courtship Dating”.

TV On The Radio – Dear Science /  I was introduced to TVOTR through their last album, Return to Cookie Mountain. So far, I’m liking this album better. The songs are faster and tighter and overall I think they’re onto something better. Here’s “Golden Age”.

Headlights – Some Racing, Some Stopping /  What a great discovery! I really love this band a lot. Can’t wait to hear more from them soon! Please come to Tulsa soon!! Here is the video for “Cherry Tulips”, one of my favorite songs of the year as well.

Mates of State – Re-Arrange Us /  Ok, this one is definitely my favorite for the the year that was!  Much like Bring It Back, I can’t get enough of this album. It’s another CD that played almost endlessly in my car’s CD changer this year. Here’s “My Only Offer”. This one also made it onto a couple of my run mixes.

UPDATE:

Honorable Mention: New Pornographers – Challengers (To be honest, I completely forgot to put this in the top 10 where it belongs. What can I say? I’m not a professional music critic. I have some semblance of a life.)  AND Hot Chip – Made in the Dark. LOVE IT!

I wanted to list a few of my favorite songs from 2008…

T.I. – Whatever You Like

Vampire Weekend – Oxford Comma

MGMT – Electric Feel (album technically was released in ’07, but I do believe that the single was released in ’08. So sue me if I’m wrong. The song got noticed this year!)

Estelle w/Kanye – American Boy

Kanye West – Flashing Lights (I know. 2007 album.)

R.E.M. – Hollow Man

Santogold – Lights On

New Pornographers – Challengers

Cool Kids – Delivery Man

Duffy – Warwick Ave

Worst rapper names of all time.

Andrew sent me this and I had to put it on the blog. Simply, hilarious.

69 Boyz, Lil’ Scrappy, Bubba Sparxxx! They’re all here. Enjoy!

From Cracked.com.

Chamillionaire

 

Bubba Sparxxx

Three things I’m thankful for this year.

A chimp in overalls. Segways. Japanese television. 

 

Clip found on EW.com’s PopWatch Blog.

Thanksgiving is next week…

Spend it with those you love.

One of them is the gay cousin who moved to Coruscant and never looked back!*

 

*Yeah, it’s a decidedly nerdy Star Wars reference.

Sexy Trekkin’

The second trailer is finally here and it’s better, prettier and (shock!) sexier than I ever expected. I’m impressed thus far and can’t wait for May 2009. Click the pic for a link to the Quicktime HD trailers for the revisionist treatment of Star Trek.

Sorry.

Found this on the HOW Blog: 

The creative geniuses at Aesthetic Apparatus recently released a series of posters inspired by OPEN/CLOSED signs. Hang one of these in your window and see what happens.

What began as a never-produced poster idea has propagated itself into a series of 9 mock OPEN/CLOSED signs. Double-sided yet possibly commercially-useless, these signs will relay to passers-by and potential customers that you’re not really into categorizing your availability in such limited definitions like “open” or “closed.”

I think my favorite one is “Sorry, we’re erect”. Ah, if I had a nickel…

 

 

 

 

 

Bound for Austin, TX.

On Friday, I’m loading up with Libby and heading to FunFunFunFest in Austin, TX! Monika, Tony, Katy and Jack are also heading down from Tulsey Town. It should be a great time. There are lots of bands I want to see and it’ll be tough to make decisions since it seems they’ve scheduled a lot of them at the same time on different stages. Ugh!

I’m definitely going to catch The National and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah!  Oh, and Girl In A Coma is playing one of the after-parties at Mohawk! Woo hoo!!

Also on the list are Bad Brains, The Dead Milkmen (in what is supposedly their last show – and I will TRY to get a Milkmen t-shirt for you, Andy), Atmosphere and many, many other indie and punk bands. I’m tired of putting links in this post. If you want to know more about those bands, you know how to use Google. 🙂

R.I.P. Mr. Crichton

The man single-handedly reinvigorated my love of dinosaurs when I read Jurassic Park in the early 90s. Then, the film version made me feel like a kid again (with some help from Spielberg and Co). Other books were very interesting, but didn’t translate well to film. Nonetheless, you’ll be missed, Michael Crichton. I think I’m going to go rent Westworld.

Oh what a night!

Grant Park, Chicago. Nov 4, 2008 (photo from Gawker.com)

I don’t care what your politics are. Dem. GOP. Ron Paul lover. Whatever. You can’t deny that yesterday and last night weren’t something grand. I’ll admit, I wasn’t onboard with either candidate for a long time. I didn’t wait until the last minute to make up my mind, but I was never completely “at ease” with my choice. I never drank either of their batches of Kool-Aid, but I did want to down a whole pitcher of Obama’s at one point. I’m always that way with candidates though. It’s just how I am. I don’t trust them. I want to trust them. Badly.

Anyway, I wish I could’ve been in Grant Park last night. Absolutely amazing. Gawker sums up the longing to be part of a crowd on a rare occasion such as this. 

Well America, here we go. It’s a new day and the beginning of a new political era. Let’s watch our politicians closely and make sure they try to stay at least somewhat true to their words. 

Election Day 2008

 

 

 

I trust everyone else did too.

My new toy!

I took the plunge and bought the “old” Macbook Pro (15″ model). I wanted the new one, but just couldn’t justify the price for what I wanted. Instead, I got a great laptop with the speed I want and storage capacity I need for considerably less than the brand new model. So, I’ve pretty much been playing on it nonstop since I got home from Best Buy.

LOST season 5

I know I’m a little late out of the gate on this one. Apparently, this promo started running last week. Well, I’ve been busy. I just got back from my New York City trip and I’m a little behind on things. Anyway, even though they don’t show a whole lot (what a rare thing for Lost, heh), it does elicit some excitement from me for sure. It’s just about three months until my obsession shall start again. Boy, will I have things to blog about. I wish I could give EW’s Jeff “Doc” Jensen a run for his money, but who has that sort of time? Plus, he gets PAID to theorize and write about Lost. I AM IN THE WRONG BUSINESS. 

Anyway, here’s the promo:

Looks like everyone’s locked and loaded and ready to go!

Heading to New York City

It’s 5:40am and I would rather be sleeping. I can do that on the plane. I have a connection at DFW that I will unfortunately have to make a mad dash for since it leaves from another gate and there’s not much of a window.

I’m excited about my trip though! I can’t wait to see Anita, Sandy, Carolyn, Kate, Erin, Heather and Joey! Hopefully there’s time to see everyone.

I may or may not be updating much the rest of this week/weekend.

Hope everyone has a good one!

I know this picture is BAD, but I did mention it’s an ungodly hour.

Funny item of the day: Dream vacay with AC360!

Oh my! This is funny. And kind of pathetic. But it’s more funny than pathetic. And actually, in a weird way, I kind of admire this guy a little. A little.

From Gawker.

Just in time for Fall, something to jump-start that Winter weight gain.

Alright foodies, I’ve got your item of the day. How good does this look? I love cheesecake and I like pumpkin pie. Put them together and it’s one of the better Autumn / holiday desserts. Click the image to go to recipe!

 

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

 Thanks to JoyOfBaking.com for the recipe!

It is a sad mutha-f*ckin’ day.

RIP Dolemite (link to Gawker story).

Quote of the day (from David Sedaris!)

Picked this gem up from Gawker today. Leave it to author David Sedaris (a personal hero of mine) to give some clear perspective on undecided voters in the upcoming Presidential election.

“To put them in perspective, I think of being on an airplane. The flight attendant comes down the aisle with her food cart and, eventually, parks it beside my seat. ‘Can I interest you in the chicken?” she asks. “Or would you prefer the platter of shit with bits of broken glass in it.'” — Humorist David Sedaris on supposedly ‘undecided’ voters. [The New Yorker via Cynical C]

Here’s a link for more quotes.

“Mad Men” third season will happen!

It’s a go! Go Don! Go Betty! Go Peggy! Go a$$hole… uh, I mean Pete! Go Sal!

From Variety.com

 

How can you not love Don?

I’m a winner.

I went to the second Art Directors Club of Tulsa meeting last night to hear designer Michael Osborne speak. What a great guy. His company, MOD, in San Francisco, not only includes clients like Target’s Archer Farms, but also tons of wine companies for which he and his designers get to design wonderful labels. He also started a non-profit which does pro bono design for other non-profits related to children’s health issues. 

If I could do that sort of work and still support myself, I would do it in a heartbeat. I told him that too when I met him. 

Now to the part where I’m a winner. They had a drawing and I won a $100 Apple Store gift card! Woo hoo! I’m now $100 closer to my new toy!

The NEW Macbook Pro. Yum.

Run, Runner!

I have steadily upgraded my run challenge to 10k for each outing and it’s going really, really well. Hopefully, in a month I’ll be at 15k. As the weather is getting cooler, it gets a little easier and a little tougher depending on how “cool” it actually is. Plus, I may have to start running in the mornings. I like to run in my neighborhood and the surrounding neighborhoods, but it’s starting to get darker earlier. Last night I had a couple of drivers not see me and I thought I was going to get hit. This was about two blocks from my house in a relatively quiet and low-traffic residential area. 

So, mornings may be a better option. It’s just tougher to get going at 5:30 AM. 

Fortunately, I have one of the greatest motivational tools I’ve ever come across (thanks to Adam). It’s the Nike+ for iPod. I don’t want to sound like a commercial here, but I love this thing. It keeps you going when you may want to quit and you can log all of your runs on the Nike+ site. Also, another relatively new function is the Nike+ Mini-you which lets you create a cool avatar and load to your Facebook profile. Once you update your run info onto the Nike+ site, it automatically updates your Facebook the next time you log-in. Here the link to my avatar. Yeah, I know. He’s cute.

EW’s Inside Scoop on the new “Trek”

Ok, I know the world of Trek involves special FX, but this Photoshopping is out of control!

Admittedly, I am kind of a nerd. Ok, maybe more than kind of. I’ve loved this series since childhood and have pretty much always been into anything sci-fi, weird, fantasy, etc. I’ve blogged about this before, but now I feel like I have something worth posting on it. Entertainment Weekly has posted a new article about the new Star Trek movie from JJ Abrams. These are the first real photos released that are stills from the film or are actual publicity shots. And they look GRAND! I can’t wait to see the actual interior of the ship and finally, we get to see a shot of the uniforms! I like love it! See, I told you I was a nerd. 

Here are a few pics I pulled from the article. You can view it in its entirety + more pics HERE.

Kirk is the only one who’s a Mac Genius (because he’s wearing black!)

“I got your Vulcan death-grip right here!”

Is that an escape pod?

AWESOME!

Peggy and her geigh.

JEZEBEL.COM put up a post about last Sunday’s GREAT episode of Mad Men. This show is SO GOOD! If you’re not watching it, get out there and rent season one and get back to me! I can’t rave enough about it.

Anyway, I just wanted to repost the post. LINK!

Oh. Snap.

Palin/Fey. Fey/Palin. Possible insanity at SNL very soon!

CLICK HERE! for some MSNBC scoopage.

It would be great if they can keep this under wraps until the big reveal.

My Drive Thru (I heart this video)

My Drive Thru by Santogold, N.E.R.D. and Casablancas

VEEP BINGO just in time for tonight!

From the HOW Design Blog. This is pretty funny! I can’t believe “PTA” isn’t on there!

Veep Bingo

The presidential LINGO debate cards proved so popular that illustrator Bob Staake created a new set of cards for the vice presidential debate tomorrow.  

Posted by Megan

Grocery e-list

I saw this on Apple.com today. It’s a new app for the iPhone called Grocery IQ and it enables you to easily do an organized electronic grocery list. Just another wonderful function that is helping me ruin my penmanship. Yea, technology!

 

Just another reason to be on your phone ALL THE TIME!