Inauguration 2013: an ode to the photobomb

While watching the Inauguration on Monday, I was struck at the sheer number of photobombing happening.  There was Malia photobombing a picture of her parents that her sister Sasha was taking...

...then there was former president Bill Clinton photobombing Kelly Clarkson...

...but my favorite was first brother-in-law Craig Robinson photobombing president Obama.

Gotta love a good photobomb!

Television PSA

The West Wing is streaming on Netflix right now.  All seasons.  GET ON IT.

Also, there's a storm coming, so I think today might be the best day to watch all of season 1 and get started on it. 

12 Days of Christmas Music: Day 11

Yesterday I continued on my tour of old friend Christmas parties by heading to Worcester to embrace my college days.  Tim has been teaching at HC and living across the street from the campus, and he held an egg nog party for his friends.  It was really fun getting together and laughing about crazy old stories.  When we were getting into our cars, though, Jess and I both agreed that we wished that this was 7 years ago and we lived across the street from an off-campus party and didn't have to drive over an hour home.  Alas.

I asked Ricky what Christmas song he wanted, and that was Robert Smigel's Christmastime for the Jews, which was featured on SNL a few years ago.  It made him laugh so hard he cried.  Not a traditional Christmas carol, but definitely a good one for this.  And it's clay animation... who doesn't love that?!




Christmastime for the Jews from Bix Pix Entertainment, Inc. on Vimeo.

Obama 249, Romney 191: board is filling up

This was a good idea.

True moment during Parks and Rec...

"Jerry's like me, he checks all his websites by searching for them in Alta Vista!" ~Ricky

Ticky Tacky

If you watch Weeds (I do not) you probably recognize the song as the theme song.  I recently stumbled upon this song, and I'm in love.  The simple style, Malvina Reynold's voice, and the lyrics... all of it.  I've been listening to it on a loop for a few days now.




Also, I wish that when I grow old that I could look like her.

Skipping over the ocean like a stone

It's a cover, but it's still amazing.  I showed Ricky this week the documentary Who Is Harry Nilsson (And Why Is Everybody Talking About Him)? which he liked.  I think it's slightly biased and sycophantic-ish, but still worth checking out.  And it's been streaming on Netflix for months, so it's easy to access.  Ricky realized how much he liked Harry Nilsson's music, if nothing else.

Here's Everybody's Talking, from Midnight Cowboy, which is perhaps one of his biggest songs.



And here's One, which I used in college (both the original and the Three Dog Night cover) in a play I directed to try and set the tone of the beginning and end of the play.

Coo, what a sight!

I do promise I have several more favorite things to discuss, but I wanted to send a HUGE appreciation out to Robert Sherman.  The Sherman brothers pretty much wrote the soundtrack to my childhood.  There is somewhere out there a VHS tape of me and Pete jumping on the couch enthusiastically to Step In Time. 

When you read a list of all the Disney movies The Sherman brothers penned music for, you'll be amazed.  Mary Poppins.  Parent Trap.  Jungle Book.  Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.  Bedknobs and Broomsticks.  The Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.  And I'm just skimming the surface!

I highly recommend renting the Sherman Brothers documentary, because it's fascinating.  It displays all the songs they wrote together, but also shows the strained and complicated relationship the brothers had their entire adult lives.  It's amazing.

The passing of Robert Sherman yesterday seems to close out a "deaths from my childhood come in threes", with Jan Berenstain and Davy Jones last week.


Here's a favorite of mine from Mary Poppins:

MFT Day 20: Shaun the Sheep

I think at the end of this month, any "cool cred" I had earned will be long long gone.

We have Netflix, and sometimes it's fun to add random TV shows on there to watch when you feel like it.  We're making our way through a few series (Friday Night Lights, Doctor Who, The Wire) but then there are shows that are on there when we want to pick something up a little mindless (Cheers, Home Movies).

I've always liked Nick Park's work, and have a soft spot for Wallace and Gromit movies.  I noticed one day that they recommended I add Shaun the Sheep.  I decided to, because I liked that character in A Close Shave.

Shaun the Sheep is ADORABLE.  It shows Shaun on a farm with a flock of sheep, a sheep dog, a clueless farmer, some evil pigs, and a bunch of other characters.  There's no dialogue, which makes it like old slapstick silent films.  The sheep are super cute (I'm looking at you, Baby Timmy) and it's a fun show to watch every now and again when we have enough time to watch something quick before a program we watch on cable is on.

If you have kids or like this kind of animation, I highly recommend checking out Shaun the Sheep.  You're probably thinking I'm crazy right now, but it's definitely endearing and grabs you.

MFT Day 14: The Westminster Dog Show

Since I was but a wee thing, every February has been marked by two intense days of showmanship that I have literally dropped everything I am doing to watch.  I am, of course, talking about the Westminster Dog Show.

At this point you may be thinking "wait, you just spent all day yesterday ranting about how you should adopt mutts and strays from shelters" and you are right, but hear me out.  I do really really love dogs.  And I love seeing all the different breeds.  And I love how slightly inherently nerdy all of it is.  And I love how all the people who are involved in it -- announcer David Fry, that lady who does color commentary for women's tennis, the handlers, and the dogs themselves -- are so devoted to this sport and so excited and happy to be there.  They're just so gosh darn happy to be showing the height and caliber of every breed.

I also like Best In Show, because it does mock the people and the proceedings, but it's also an easy target.  And I think they're doing it out of a loving mindset.  

Every year, my mum and I root for the Weimaraner to take it all.  Sadly, this hasn't happened yet.  A few years ago, it won it's group which the people at Westminster called an upset*, but it's never won best in show.  I'm hoping beyond all hope that this year the Weimaraner takes it, obviously for Millie.  We used to also joke that in a crazy alternate universe if Millie were competing for the breed and she came waddling out.  Then the entire garden would grow silent at the sight of Millie, who while quite pretty... was definitely never up to the standards of the breed.  But maybe this year the dog will be a little short, a little heavyset, and have beady eyes.  Again, dare to dream.








*I say that's bullshit, Westminster people.  Weimaraners are awesome.

MFT Day 12: TLC's Four Weddings

This is definitely a guilty Friday night pleasure for me and Ricky.  It's this show we stumbled upon on Friday nights on TLC.  Four girls who are having weddings compete against each other to see who can throw the best wedding (based on reviews by their peers) and the winner gets a free honeymoon.

This description doesn't do this show justice, though.

What makes it great is seeing not only how the weddings look, but also just how catty some of these girls can be.  And judgmental.  Also seeing either how amazingly nice or slightly low rent the weddings are.  We also end up rooting for the sadder sacks or the sweeter girls, and then hoping against hope that the preachy girls who don't serve alcohol or food at their wedding and bitch about all the other weddings lose.  (this last statement is based on the worst wedding we've seen to date.  Fortunately, the girl lost)

Without a doubt, the Florida weddings are usually done on the cheap or involve weird things like a party boat, the New York weddings are a mixed bag but usually quite intense, and the Chicago weddings are generally nice.  But there are some universal rules and trends from episode to episode.

--No one cares what you wear to your wedding unless you change dresses for the reception to something slutty.  Then they super care.
--The #1 thing that can ruin your wedding is bad food.  The #2 is lack of dancing.
--Releasing butterflies after your ceremony is always a bad idea. 
--Cute children saves anything.
--Be true to yourself.
--Good drinks helps. 

If we don't have anything to do on a Friday night, Ricky and I will order in and drink quite a bit of wine while watching the girls duke it out.  It's so great.

Name that tune

Today an ensemble was playing a song in the room next to my office, and it got stuck in my head.  I knew the song, but couldn't place it.  I then spent about 15 minutes googling various things to try and find it.  I knew the following things:

--It was from the late 60's/early 70's
--It was used in an old game show
--It was also used in an old meme this girl Chloe I went to high school with used to love when we were in high school.

And (not) surprisingly, it was hard anything on the internet using all of those criteria!

After lunch, I decided to try to find it using the instrument that I heard playing it -- marimba -- and lo and behold, I FOUND THE SONG.

Spanish Flea by Herb Alpert.  You will also recognize it as the bachelor music from The Dating Game:




Note:  I changed the video, because I found a better one in all its 60's television music spot glory.

And... in tribute to everyone's favorite fake WWI Vet who's also a fake Korean War Vet

It's been real, Harry Morgan.

The Doctor is in

I recently listened to a TBTL episode that was a tribute to some of the best "I Love You, Chunk" spots.  The last one was about Doctor Who, the longtime British science fiction series.  I've been curious about Doctor Who for awhile now, probably since I saw the Freaks and Geeks where Bill dresses up as The Doctor after surviving eating a peanut.   My friend Jess also named her two cats after the show (Rose and The Doctor).  Ravelry also has tons of patterns on how to make that scarf pattern.  But hearing two people wax poetic about how great the series is -- that and having a Saturday night to myself to start working on Christmas knitting -- sealed the deal, and I rented the most recent series on Netflix.

I am hooooooooooked.

I've watched six episodes so far.  Right now I'm watching the 9th doctor, but I think in about five episodes David Tennant shows up.  I like how there's an overarching story and history to the series, but that each episode can also stand alone.  Ricky compared it to Quantum Leap a bit, which I can see.

I'm also a fan of all the jokes about his identity that travel from episode to episode right now.  Like what's his name and if he's an alien why does he have a Northern British accent (because every planet has a north).  I'm glad that I picked it up, and that I have something to watch while knitting.  I don't think I'll go back and watch the other series, only because that's a lot of programs to catch up on, but I'm fine with that.

I definitely recommend checking it out, especially since it's streaming on Netflix.  Also, here's some classic Doctor Who for some audio for this post.

Old school theme from Tom Baker-era (the doctor with the long scarf that Bill dresses as):



Who doesn't love that theme?  It's so retro feeling and also epic!

Happy Thanksgiving from...

...me, Charlie, Jed, Leo (briefly), The Butterball hotline, Toby, Joe Bethersenten, and the person sou chef to the king of... auto sales in Fargo.

Blogger fail AGAIN

I was going to post something last night after dinner and before bed... but then I got sucked into Diane Sawyer's special on the recovery of Gabrielle Giffords after her shooting last year, and was reduced to a crying puddle by 11pm.  There was no way I was in a state to blog or blog well.  It would have been a lot of phrases and pauses and probably a sad song by Coldplay.

It was inspiring and she's doing amazingly well for being shot in the brain, but it's clear that many of her goals -- furthering her work in Congress, having children with her husband -- will probably not happen now.  But considering she was shot in the brain 10 months ago, she's astounding.  Ricky and I were both crying in bed watching it.  Me more than Ricky. 

So this just means I'll be posting twice today.

Happy Birthday to Sinbad... and Tracy Morgan... and Pete

Today is Pete's birthday.  (there are a lot of family birthdays in early November)  When we were little, we joked that the only famous person that shared Pete's birthday was... Sinbad.



Whenever we'd talk about who shared our birthdays, Pete would joke that we had awesome people share our birthday... and he had Sinbad.

I recently discovered that he shares his birthday with another black comedian... Tracy Morgan!




So a big happy birthday to Pete and to the two black comedians I now associate him with in my head.

Blogger FAIL

I made it six days in NaBloPoMo before forgetting to post.

Six.

THAT'S IT???  Booooo me.

Last night at about 5am, I woke up realizing that I didn't write anything.  I had every intention to do so, but instead spilled an entire bottle of iced green tea in my bag, ruining a lot of paperwork in it and probably the bag itself, ate tacos at a Mexican restaurant, watched last week's Up All Night and snorted I was laughing so hard (I have a feeling I'll be dropping the quote "All my family talks about is football and Regis!" and mentioning a memorial montage involving one photo and someone's W-4's on a regular basis), knit for awhile, and then went to bed.  If you notice, none of those things are "posting on my blog about something".

I had every intention to do so, but it just didn't happen.  So I'll have to more than make up for it.  Perhaps with better and more interesting posts today.  I don't even know.

And yes, I realize that posting twice in one day isn't the same as posting one thing every day.  But it's how I decided in my mind that it'll compensate.  No judging.

Also, remember to vote today in your local elections.

If I had a box just for wishes and dreams that had never come true, The box would be empty except for the memory of how they were answered by you...

Ricky and I have been watching the original Muppet Show on Netflix.  We just watched the Edgar Bergen episode (kind of awkward/painful, watching the two forms of puppetry try to find a common ground) but one moment I had forgotten about was the Muppet Show version of Time in a Bottle.  It was a quiet, sweet, and certainly wistful moment for the show.  I sometimes wonder if Henson knew that no matter what, there wouldn't be enough time for him to do everything he wanted to do and accomplish in his lifetime. 



I think I may even like this version more than Croce's version.






Also, giant shout out to my mom on her 50th birthday.  I just got back from a party for her with all my family, and took photos, but I will post them tomorrow.

While watching Top Chef Just Desserts On Demand last night...

Ricky and I came to two conclusions:

1. Everyone on that show (other than Gail) needs to be told that their shit does, in fact, stink.

2. Orlando looks just like Montel Williams.





















AMIRIGHT?!?