6 More Random Things About Me

Calvin, from his Canadian Cave of Cool, tagged me for the "6 Random Things" meme.

The Rules
1) Link to the person who tagged you.
2) Post the rules on your blog.
3) Write six random things about yourself.
4) Tag six people at the end of your post and link to them.
5) Let each person know they’ve been tagged and leave a comment on their blog.
6) Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

1) Last book read: Unfriendly Fire: How The Gay Ban Undermines The Military And Weakens America, by Nathaniel Frank.

2) Peter David, fine writer of books, films and comics and a columnist for the Comics Buyer’s Guide, once found a line I wrote funny, and asked permission to quote it in his column.

3) I have never, ever played any role-playing games. Tried once or twice, as I had friends that gamed, but just found the whole thing too absurd.

4) I've never done any illegal drugs, either.

5) I think this record kicks major ass.


6) I'd like to see manga eradicated from the face of the earth.

I tagged Jen at The Continuing Saga of Jeopardygirl
I tagged Lady F at Fillyjonk
I tagged Bill at Pop Culture Gadabout
I tagged Sarah at The Vintage Doctor
I tagged Darren Daz Cox at his Fine Art Blog

Actually, when I think of my nephew, this would explain a lot

As god is my witness, I have no idea how I feel about this

I kind of like Kathy Griffin, in that I find her stand-up specials fun to watch. I'm less interested in her "D-List" series. Especially as I have come to question just how long one can stay on the D-List with two Emmys and a multi-milliondollar book deal.

I have all the reverence for Paris Hilton as I would for a low-class whore. (I leave it to you to decide whether that means I have little reverence for Hilton, or a lot for whores.)

But I have to admit, given I know from watching these specials that Griffin has, on occasion, had some...well let's just call them less-than-sensitive things to say about Hilton, I was a little surprised to find that they're now apparently shopping BFFs.

Speaking of shows I watch and regularly plug on my blogs...

When I say everything, I mean...

Ahem.

You're familiar by now with my "Everything is connected" theory; in fact, if you've grown tired of it, you might want to skip this entry. If not...

On tonight's episode of Life--which incidentally was the best episode in months*--there was a minor, red herring character named Jimmy Ellison.

James Ellison is the name of a character on Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles.

Everything is connected. Absolutely everything.

*It's going to get good again just in time for me to miss it when it goes, like Veronica Mars.

That's a pretty dick thing to say considering how supportive Britney's been of the GOP agenda

As you may have heard--it's making the rounds of the papers and blogs and such--while President Obama was giving his press conference yesterday, House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) was watching...Britney Spears hosting one of her pants-off dance-offs.

One House GOP leadership aide said Cantor went at the request of a fundraiser. "If suffering through a Britney Spears concert will raise one more dime to help Republicans take back the House, then I'm glad Cantor's willing to do it."

Suffering?

Does that strike anyone else as an very...ungentlemanly thing to say, given Britney's having

demonstrated her fealty to President Bush in 2002, when she told Carson Daly: “Honestly, I think we should just trust our president in every decision that he makes, and we should just support that, you know, and be faithful in what happens.”

Boys and their toys

Ashton Kutcher "Tweets." Recently he "Twittered" a snapshot of his wife, Demi Moore, bending over in her underwear.

Kutcher is hardly the only celebrity Twitter fan. Stephen Fry likes it so much that he even Twittered when he was stuck in a lift. Think about that for a second. Hugh Laurie is a big American TV (and now, with Monsters & Aliens, movie) star. And Stephen Fry is Twittering from a broken lift.

Meanwhile, it's claimed the reason Jennifer Aniston finally kicked John Mayer's ass to the curb is because he was spending too much time Twittering instead of twittering, if you know what I mean and I think you do.

Should anyone be wondering:

I do not Twitter.

I do not have any plans to Twitter.

Dear Ryan Reynolds:

Your wife is having an affair with Marilyn Manson.

Well I'll be damned.

For some of us, this is exciting.

Bitty Schram has finalized a deal to reprise her role as sidekick to Tony Shalhoub's obsessive-compulsive detective during Monk's eighth and final season, sources confirm to me exclusively.

Schram left Monk midway through the show's third season reportedly due to a contract dispute. Producers, however, insisted at the time that they simply wanted to take the show in a different direction. Whatever triggered her exit, it's apparently water under the bridge.

I mean, between this and Shawnee Smith returning as Jigsaw's apprentice Amanda in Saw VI...

Following up on Bill O’Reilly's following, and feelings on, females

Two things.

One:

Apparently concerned we'd need more proof of his idiotic misogyny, O'Reilly decided to declare that women need to stay home with the kids while the men go out and make all the money.

This is 2009, in case you'd forgotten.

Funny thing is--unquestionably because I am the result of a single parent upbringing--I happen to think a child does need two parents. An extended family of friends and relations doesn't hurt either.

I get a little crotchety whenever I see the "You don't need a partner to raise responsible, emotionally healthy children" meme which sometimes goes on out there. I think you do.

But, I don't think that in such a pairing, the woman must be the one to stay home. I don't even think it must be a man and a woman, it could be a woman and a woman, or a man and a man.

Two:

That blogger he ambushed went on the Keith Olberman show today to discuss it.



Hey, O’Reilly? Punks jump up, to get beat down!

No argument here.

You Scored as Jedi

You scored as Jedi. You are a follower of the Light Side of the Force, a loyal member of the Jedi Order and someone who knows the Jedi Codes and philosophy. You also use the Force to help others, not for conflict. You hold great knowledge indeed...

Which Kind of Force Practionner are you (Star Wars)?

Let's get retro-ful

Shalamar Dancing in the sheets
Uploaded by chilavert

Here's another "This could be good, but we'll see."

Peter Krause and Maura Tierney are coming back to network primetime with a new pilot. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Peter Krause and Maura Tierney are in talks to play the leads for Parenthood.

Krause and Tierney will play roles that Steve Martin and Diane Wiest made famous in the 1989 Parenthood film the pilot will be based on. The pilot was written by Jason Katims, the creator of Friday Night Lights

Peter Krause is probably most known from Six Feet Under, or more recently Dirty Sexy Money, but I know him best as a cast member of my beloved Sports Night. Maura Tierney is TPWFMA. Friday Night Lights is one of the best shows on TV.

Yes, this could be good, but we'll see...

Well, finally we know what the Bush supporters consider to be an impeachable offense*

In two words: Helping others.

Good to know.









*I mean, apart from the oral sex.

This just in: Bill O’Reilly is a disgusting bully

Yeah, I know, I was shocked, too. Most recent example: Ambushing a blogger from Think Progress when she was on vacation. Read for yourself, it's pretty sick-making.

Nothing against Judy Garland, and you know how I feel about Anne Hathaway, but I'm not seeing it*

Hollywood starlet Anne Hathaway is in talks to play her movie idol Judy Garland in an upcoming film based on Gerald Clarke’s biography, Get Happy: The Life of Judy Garland.

A Tinseltown insider says: ‘Anne dearly wants to do a musical and this could be her chance.
'The big attraction is that it really will be her singing, not recordings of Judy. She is determined to do it justice.

'If she nails the part, she will be a shoo-in for some big awards.’

*By "not seeing it," I mean that I have difficulty imagining Ms. Hathaway in the part, not that I wouldn't go and see such a film, were it to come to pass.

C'mon, Fox. Move the damn show.

From the i09 site...

Terminator's Survival Instincts Kick In
This Friday's rise (0.15 million viewers) may have been small, especially in comparison with the previous week's 0.5 million, but the week-on-week gain is notable not only for its rarity, but also the fact that this second gain came on a night when everyone expected the audience to drop, thanks to CBS' NCAA Basketball coverage (Dollhouse's ratings dropped this week, slightly, most likely through a combination of the basketball and running opposite BSG's finale). If this rise continues, even so slowly, the combination of this with the DVR additional viewership for the show gives weight to the argument that Fox should keep the show around for a third season... but maybe on a different night.

Like, say, Tuesdays or Thursdays...

A day of fond memories

My pal Corey Klemow* sent me an email alerting me that Turner Classic Movies is doing a "spotlight" on one of my favorite artists this Tuesday: Toonmaking great Chuck Jones.

That link leads you to the schedule; it'll include a new documentary containing one of his last filmed interviews, and many of his greatest Looney Tunes, including What's Opera, Doc?

I kinda wish they'd found room for one or two more rarities, like his version of Dr. Seuss's Horton Hears A Who. No one seems to know this as well as their Grinch (which should also be included, but at least isn't exactly hurting for rebroadcasts), but I remember it very fondly.

Here's a short clip WB put on YouTube to promote the DVD release.



On the subject of rarities, they are including his film of The Phantom Tollbooth, which I've long thought is way-cool. Along with the book (by Norton Juster) on which it's based, it was the inspiration for this blog's original title, Dictionopolis in Digitopolis.

Here's about 10 minutes from near its beginning.



I want a deluxe edition DVD of this bad.

*AKA The Beaver. AKA a star of Spiders.