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Parliamentary Procedure RSS FeedsChad-Libya Border War - In the past two weeks, I've read two articles this month about the Libya-Chad war - in the NYTimes and New Yorker. Frank Jacobs wins this round as he not only uses the word "transmogrifications", but his article also contains the phrase, "byzantine history of these internecine acronyms". However, Anderson does get bonus points for re-telling a Qaddafi joke with the punchline, "‘The Armenian resistance—very strong.’ ”"The World’s Largest Sandbox" by Frank Jacobs- "King of Kings" by Joe Lee AndersonROCK....Feed Source: mookieghana.livejournal.com nothing if not redudant - When "The Daily Show" returned to television on Thursday, September 20, 2001, Jon Stewart had an emotional and memorable opening monologue. I watched it online shortly after it aired and I was transcribed the words. Comedy Central is kind enough to provide the video today: http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/thu-september-20-2001/september-11--2001JS: "Are you OK? And we pray that you and your family is. I'm sorry to do this to you. It's another entertainment show beginning with an overwrought speech of a shaken host and television is nothing if not redundant. So I apologize for that. It's something that unfortunately we do for ourselves so we can drain whatever abyss is in our hearts and move to the business of making you laugh - which we haven't been able to do very effectively lately."Like television, posting on LJ/Facebook/Twitter/etc. about your September 11 experience on the anniv... Shows that I watch regularly - 30 Rock (Thursday night Comedy!)Archer (new favorite animated show)Colbert Report (except the interviews) (on Comcast On Demand)Community (Thursday night Comedy!)CSI (on Comcast On Demand)Cupcake Wars (weekend fare)Daily Show with Jon Stewart (except the interviews) (on Comcast On Demand)Family Guy (watch it on Hulu)House (try to catch it on Mondays over Dinner)Iron Chef America (when I'm not too tired)Law & Order: SVU (always good random stuff)Modern Family (on Hulu) - still my favorite showMonk (on Netflix)Mythbusters (haven't seen this much, lately)Newsradio (on DVD, nightly)No Reservations (on Netflix)Parks & Recreation (Favorite Thursday night Comedy!)Psych (on Netflix)Resturant Impossible - my new favorite reality showThe Office (Thursday night Comedy!)The Soup - never miss a weekTop ChefWorst Cooks in Ame... Another AWF Christmas Party is Complete - Alissa & I successfully traversed half of the country, and drove 2,000 miles round-trip in my 2003 Pontiac Aztek to visit my hometown of Greece, NY over the Thanksgiving holiday. We had a stellar time. This year, we decided to bring our 50-pound poodle Scarlet - who is basically a large fluffy stuffed animal. She did tremendous on the trip and didn't seem to mind being couped in the backseat watching episodes of "The Wire".I got to see both my parents and my brother Matt's family (including our three nieces and baby nephew). They very much enjoyed having a dog running around the house. I had an opportunity to play some board games with my oldest two nieces including Clue, Jr. and Enchanted Forest which was particularly nifty.Besides Thanksgiving, the other awesome holiday tradition is the annual AWF Christmas Party - which true to form hasn't been held in December for quite some time. This year, we... WWF/WWE Wrestler Death Analysis Over the past 30 Years - I did some research which was published over at F4W yesterday. Here is an abbreviated version of that article.Analysis: Deaths of top performers in WWF/WWE over the past 30-years (8/31/2010) By Chris Harrington (chris.harrington@gmail.com) ... I still post on LJ. - Right now, my livejournal posts are being imported to my facebook feed, but I still use the good ol' LJ interface (just hit my nine-year anniversary in June - my epic first post contained a review of "Minority Report" which I described as, "it's like bill and ted meet vanilla sky meets along came a spider.") along with about five other people - ironically enough, two of which are named Jill. The other things that show up on my friends page - great movie reviews of bad movies from Scott Foy and Superstar Rob Schulz's Fantasy NASCAR updates. In other "conversations that Alissa & I had in the car yesterday involving Murphy Brown":* Candice Bergen's mother was technically "Mrs. Bergen" though she was known professionally as "Frances Westcott".* Eldin was the name of the house painter.Looking at Wikipedia, I found it unbelievable that Murphy Brown was still on TV in 1998.As I alluded to in some Status updates, Wednesday was a rocky day... So, here's what's going on! - It's been awhile since I really wrote a LJ entry that was just a blog - not some distilled version of an wrestling numbers analysis or oddball economic rant.Today is August 13, 2010. Local TV Station WCCO's website says that it's 73 degrees F with Humidity of 78%, Dew Point of 66 and 10 miles of Visibility. I've had my new job (Senior Consulting Analyst) now three months and I'm really enjoying it. It's been a great experience learning some new skills - developing strategies for retail marketing and polishing my consultantese. If there's ever been a job where my improv skills come in handy, it's this one! One thing that's really nice is that we're based on Lake Calhoun - so my commute is shorter than when I was working in Minnetonka and the view is far prettier!Speaking of improv, I've had an eventful summer where I've pulled back on the performing and done some more teaching. Most excitedly, I'm involved with a new improv school based out of Coon Rapids (... How does WWE in 2009 make more money than WWE in 2001? - Someone asked, how does WWE make more money now than they did in the boom period? So, I was going through their annual reports and selecting like financial attributes that could be isolated. WWE made some reporting changes over the past decade - they became more transparent on the actual financials (for instance, reporting the actual licensing money they brought in that year instead of just how much more or less it was compared to the previous year), they changed their fiscal year (moving to a calendar year ending in December as opposed to a April end-date), they stopped selling their own ads for TV (except in Canada) but they got a large TV rights fee increase, they altered how they reported on certain segments (for instance, Venue Merchandise and WWEShop and WWE.com have all been split into individual categories, but in some earlier reports are lumped together) and so forth. Additionally, WWE has additional streams of income and costs that have come & gone - The World, WWE Films, XFL... Vince Russo Arrested - In response to this article, I wrote this:NASHVILLE - Vince Russo, the former Vic Venom, has been indicted and arrested by house show agents in connection with being a terrible booker. His replica WCW World Heavyweight Championship was not taken, but he is now in custody of the Powers that Be, being detained at the Karen Angle's half of Jeff Jarrett's house.Russo, 49, of Long Island, was arrested after an investigation into years of ridiculous angles that went nowhere. The investigation first came to light ten years ago when Steve Williams beat the crap out of five luchadores in a "$10,000 check in a piñata on a pole" match on November 15, 1999.The indictment charges Russo with incompetence and erratic driving (constant swerves). Russo is scheduled to appear on Sunday at 9 p.m for a preliminary indictment. However, instead of goin... "The cheaper the crook, the gaudier the patter, eh?" - Alissa & I have started our new project - collecting 52 weeks worth of classic movies. We already had a few titles (some Marx Brothers films, for instance) but we're really trying to branch out and get enough of the acclaimed films to have a year's supply. So far some of the titles we've nabbed include: Singin' in the Rain, North by Northwest, Vertigo, The Big Sleep, The Maltese Falcon, Double Indemnity, The Postman Always Rings Twice and Dial "M" for Murder. (Avid viewers might recognize the subjectline as a Sam Spade quip to Wilmer Cook's "Keep on riding me and they're gonna be picking iron out of your liver." threat.) Recommendations are always welcome!(Alissa & I were talking about what kind of roles that I could ever play. Alissa thinks that my beady eyes would be good for Peter Lorre-esque work.)Otherwise, our home has been a constant state of re-organization. This weekend I moved all of my photographs into some IKEA boxes, we built a display with glass s... Memorial Day UPDATE! - Ten Grand Things about Last Weekend1. Played BOARD GAMES~! Apples to Apples, Mindflex and BALDERDASH. I made my improv teachers proud and managed to win. KEY LEARNING: "ONE BORN EVERY MINUTE.." - Debut of Liz Taylor as the daughter of a PUDDING MAKER who must RUN for MAYOR. Must see! Somehow, I remembered that TOFC = Tony Orlando Fan Club.2. Watched "Singin' in the Rain" for the first time. I have seen clips before, but never sat down for a start to finish watching. I think I understand why Baz Luhrmann is on the DVD commentary. Love songs between the leads tend to be the slowest part of musicals, don't they?3. Cleaned the House. At least the first half of the house. We have a clean dining room table and a clean living room (suitable for rounds of FURNITURE TETRIS!). It's never fun cleaning, but it does feel good to have wide open spaces. ... Whizbangboompowkapowzoom! - After 3 1/2 years at Stevie Ray's, I performed what will probably be my last show (at least for awhile) with the troupe. It was a bittersweet experience but compared to some of my other troupe "lasts" (IBTL, Geva) - it was not nearly as emotional at all. Maybe it's because I'm still in town, not "graduating" anything and that I'm still teaching improv classes on Tuesday (and currently also Monday) nights. What's been a lot more emotional has been teaching. My students have been giving me a lot of feedback in 2010, and it's really helping me learn how I can be a better instructor. I'm encouraged by what they have been telling me and I certainly recognize that improv teaching is as much or more of a passion for me than improv performing, at least in many ways.Adam & I submitted for the Improv-a-go-go lottery again. For the nth time (4<n<7), we were rejected. This time we had a good tagline: "Genny Lite & Yuengling: Two Beers they don't get in Minneso... Bad Economic Journalism - I know there is a growing movement which calls out examples of "Bad Science Journalism". Is there a similar group for "Bad Economic Journalism"?I thought about this today while I was listening to Bob Collins' on MPR (Minnesota Public Radio) during his Newscut Blog segment. Today's "story" was about fees and basically being indigent that companies charge them. His prime example doesn't seem so ludacrious to me - Spirit Airlines is willing to sell you a one-cent ticket, and then tack on a bunch of specific charges to it - including (and this was the kicker for the radio personalities) carry-on baggage charges. Having just took a trip last week, all I can say PLEASE REGULATE CARRY-ON BAGGAGE. I saw so many people bring ridiculous amounts of luggage (3+ pieces) on the plane and try to cram it into overhead compartments, leave in on their lap (hence provoking an argument with... FIVE INTERESTING WEB LINKS - #1 : ANTI-ENERGY DRINKS (alissa tried lean apple)http://www.dailyfinance.com/story/company-news/anti-energy-drinks/19182909/#2 : BONO IS WORST INVESTORY IN AMERICA (owning 25% of palm isn't lucrative)http://247wallst.com/2010/03/24/bono-becomes-the-worst-investor-in-america/#3: ADULT LUNCHBOXES (find me better choices!)http://www.slate.com/id/2249249/#4: WORLD'S STRANGEST TAX LAWS (i've had moonpies!)http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/03/26/the_worlds_strangest_tax_laws?obref=obinsite#5: SQUEEZE PLAY (all of these tenyo... WM Review - I haven't read any reviews or feedback on Wrestlemania, so I wanted to write down my thoughts before I might be influenced by them!(a) Ten matches in Four hours. The card was definately not too crammed, which I liked. However, more than 3 hours of wrestling always burns you out.(b) ShoMiz vs Morrison/R-Truth = right finish to keep the titles on Miz & Big Show. Match was fine, but Morrison's starship pain to no one just looked silly because they moved out of the way so early. Before the show, we watched Andre the Giant vs Stan Hansen from New Japan. It was awesome.(c) Orton vs Rhodes vs Ted DiBiase. You could make a drinking game out of when someone was going to say, "descention in the ranks". Orton is a weird face. Rhodes was wearing goofy orange trunks and his white Triforce boots. DiBiase was just there and tan. Who gets over in this fued?(d) Swaggers win the MITB match. I'm SO glad it wasn't Drew. I was pulling for either MVP or Swagger. Do... Butterscotch Pudding with Goats Milk does taste Good - Good Songs I used to hear on the radio from 1990s AlbumsPeter Murphy - Deep (1990)7. "Cuts You Up" Pearl Jam - Ten (1991)1. Once 2. Even Flow 3. Alive 5. Black 6. Jeremy Spin Doctors - Pocket Full of Kryptonite (1991)1. "Jimmy Olsen's Blues" ? 4:38 3. "Little Miss Can't Be Wrong" ? 3:54 7. "Two Princes" ? 4:18 9. "How Could You Want Him (When You Know You Could Have Me?)" ? 4:59 Stone Temple Pilots - Core (1992)2. Sex Type Thing 3:383. Wicked Garden 4:05 7. Creep 5:329. Plush 5:10 The Cranberries - Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can't We? (1993)7. "Linger" ? 4:34 The Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream (1993)3. "Today" ? 3:19 6. "Disarm" ? 3:17 Bush - Sixteen Stone (1994)1. Everything Zen 4:38 4. Little Things 4:24 5... WCW Saturday Night 15 - A number of years ago, someone was selling a bunch of VHS tapes in the WO daily update. I bought some random comp tapes with helpful names of "WCW Supermatches 15" for a few bucks - this weekend, I finally finished cataloguing what was on there! 12/13/97 ? WCW SATURDAY NIGHT 1. Dean Malenko / Juvi 2. Ray Traylor / Curt Hennig WCW PRO ? 12/14/97 3. Steve Regal / Dave ?Fit? Finlay 12/20/97 ? WCW SATURDAY NIGHT 4. Glacier / Billy Kidman 5. Meng/Barbarian vs. Steiner Bros. 6. Buff Bagwell / Lex Luger 12/27/97 ? WCW SATURDAY NIGHT 7. Renegade / Goldberg 8. La Parka / Dean Malenko 9. Psychosis / Ultimo Dragon 10. DiBiase & Steiners & Ray Traylor promo 11. Chris Benoit / Saturn 12. Bobby Eaton / Curt Hennig 13. Public Enemy / Steiner Bros. 14. Scott Hall / Ray Traylor WCW PRO ? 12/28/97 15. La Parka /... Miss me? - This morning on Minnesota Public Radio, Bob Collins from the Newscut Blog came on to discuss the mysterious "Miss me Yet?" billboard. Apparently the story became a big deal on the web yesterday as Huffington Post, Drudge Report, MSNBC and Fox News all linked to the article as well as contacted Bob for interviews. He took great pride in blaming the "24-hour news cycle" for this - which seems strange since last time I checked, we didn't have a public internet back in 1985 to circulate things like thing and fluff pieces have been around as long as news have been running. In fact, IMMEDIATELY following Collins' critique, what was the next story on NPR? About a Dog that "rescued" a family from a burning house by barking and the cat that knocked over a candle whic... Retromercial: Frankenberry and Count Chocula - The cat makes it.... Royal Rumble Weekend! - On Friday night, Alissa & I went out to dinner at Heartland restraunt to celebrate our third anniversary! It's a really nice place hidden away in Saint Paul which has a new menu every day and uses lots of local ingrediants. We had a Woodinville Sirah called Novelty Hill which was superb. I had Rabbit and Veal for dinner while Alissa had lamb and pumpkin ravoli! The dessert wasn't anything special but the rest of the meal was spectactular. We rushed back to Bloomington and caught most of the Stevie Ray Improv show. Afterwards, we all went out for drinks at TGIF to celebrate Adam's birthday.Saturday, the power cord on our laptop stopped working (again). Alissa & I managed to beat PIKMIN on the Wii and we ate pizza and watched Battlestar Galatica. There were no bears or beets.On Sunday night, I decided that I'd order to the Royal Rumble. This is always easier said than done because our "On Demand" Digital Cable is all fouled up. So, I couldn't order the P... Royal Rumble Stats - I started thinking about this on Monday. After listening to the B&V audio yesterday it really solidified in my mind: "What was the most star-studden Royal Rumble?"So, to start, I looked at the rumbles from 1988 to 2009. I called someone a star if they held the WWF Title, WWE Championship (RAW), World Heavyweight Championship (SMACKDOWN) or the WCW World title: Under this critiera, these people would be "A-stars":André the Giant, Batista, Bob Backlund, Booker T, Bradshaw, Bret Hart, Brock Lesnar, Chris Benoit, Chris Jericho, CM Punk, Diamond Dallas Page, Eddie Guerrero, Edge, Faarooq (Ron Simmons), Kane, Goldberg, Hulk Hogan, Iron Sheik, Jeff Hardy, Jeff Jarrett, John Cena, Kane, Kevin Nash, Kurt Angle, Lex Luger, Mick Foley, Randy Orton, Randy Savage, Rey Mysterio, Ric Flair, Rob Van Dam, Scott Steiner, Sgt. Slaughter, Shawn Michaels, Sid Justice, Steve Austin, ?The Big Show, ?The Great Khali, ?The Rock,... Danny DeVito Action Figures - At lunch today, Adam & I were discussing whether various people would have action figures of themselves. DANNY DEVITO:As the Penguin (from Batman Returns)As Herb Powell (from the Simpsons)In a DVD screenshot, where he's in a snowglobe for "It's always Sunny in Philadelphia"Others: * A lunchbox from TAXI!he was IN ... Michael Finney = Epic Mullet - (I wish I could find a scan of the Feb MAGIC cover where he has a much more epic mullet - in the year 2010!!!!)Besides the Wrestling Observer/Figure Four, there's four other magazines/periodically that I regularly purchase:For me, there are four: Esquire (US), GENII & MAGIC and MENTAL FLOSS. I discovered Esquire when I was in High School. I had a job at public library as a "page" - basically, I shelved books when people returned them. In our periodicals section, I found an issue with a cover story by Tom Junod called, ... Post-Birthday Recap Smackdown - How's it going?It's been a good weekend. Yesterday, I received several dozen well-wishes from my friends and family which was really stellar. As I often do, I performed some shows down at Stevie Ray's Comedy Cabaret which was a lot of fun. Maureen baked an awesome cherry chocolate cake. Wooo!Alissa was up in Northern Minnesota from Thursday to Saturday, so the best birthday present was coming home from the show and my wife was finally home!! She brought me back some awesome chocolate-covered potato chips. Mel & I are happy to have Alissa back home!!Adam & I went to Muddy Pig (St. Paul equivilant of Old Toad) yesterday for lunch and then watched the He-Man & She-Ra Christmas special. Wow - that's all I can say. The manchines are ridiculous - I didn't realize there was an entire level below Go-Bots. Tomorrow I go to RAW in Minneapolis. I've been to a number of live WWE events in Rochester, Syracuse and Buffalo and the Fan Axxess u... Impact/RAW Review - Last night, I sat down and watched the 3-hour Impact and 2-hour RAW going head-to-head. I imagine more eyes were watching pro-wrestling last night in a long time, but I can't say either show was really amazing.Well, Impact was "amazing" - but largely for the wrong reasons. The first hour was limo-tastic followed by Hulk Hogan coming out and saying he was "in the back" the whole time. Huh? Ric Flair showed up (which is a huge positive) but barely seemed to be a focal part of the TNA show. Instead, Orlando Jordan had more screentime to talk. Huh? The giant red cage of unfilmability that ends in DQ and has Jeff Hardy give Xavier-lite a wicked chairshot. Huh? Mick Foley was BANNED from being inside the Impact Zone YET management hates him SO MUCH they gave him his own show to host. Huh? I felt like the Kurt Angle/AJ Styles match was a skipping record because they did the same spots several times.Meanwhile, RAW was a lovefest. Or a fake lovefest. Long HB... Add your link - Submission Guidelines Copyright © 2012, Home Business Software. All Rights Reserved. |
