Bottoms Up

Party til Le Claw strikes _{(two thousand)} 10!

I couldn't resist the invitation....

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I needed to find a date. So I decided to ask Google for a
comedian - musician - celebrity.

I should have been more specific...

And having seen that bunch... he's perfect:

1. He's exotic (from the UK)
2. He's got a fun accent
3. He'll never run out of something to say.

Enabling me to just smile, nod, and hog the bubbly.

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Now I've got the dress, and I'm ready to go:

See you in the 10's!

My Anti Year

`

Yes, 2010 will be my Anti-Year.

Why?... It all started when I read that alcohol is aging and that
'mixed drinks provide little to no nutritional value'. (Shocking, right?... Apparently those little olives and lime wedges just don't cut it.) Anyway, I thereafter resolved to add more antioxidants to my daily fare in 2010, just to balance those weekends out.

Luckily, I already like most of the top ones:
Red Wine
Dark Chocolate
Green Tea
Carrots
Apples
Unsalted Nuts
Berries

But the USDA declared that the # 1 antioxidant food is:
Small Red Beans


'Small red beans' ?!?... Huh.

Plus the USDA also says:
'Antioxidants work better in combination'

To that end I declare that my recipes in 2010 will contain as many antioxidants as I can fit in. And for my first attempt, and to ring in the new year, I decided to find a recipe that includes -all- of them.

Here goes... I give you:

recipe link: Chocolate Carrot Cake

Basically, to your fave devil’s food cake add:

1 cup shredded carrots
1 cup chopped walnuts
some cream cheese frosting
plus berries on top, for garnish

Remember to sub a bit of applesauce & green tea into the mix - to take the place of any oil, or plain water.

Now serve with a glass of red wine and
'Voila', we're in the top antioxidant zone*!

*provided we choke down a bowl o' beans first.

Lets toot in a Happy New Year !

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(sung to the chorus of 'Auld Lang Syne'*)

For antioxidants, my dear,
for an-ti-oxi-dants...
We'll take a cup of green tea yet,
for An-ti-Oxi-Dants!

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Pretty Fly

so fun: Video from onboard a toy airplane.
so fly: Letting kids shoot fireworks at it.

Didn't know you could aim bottle rockets that well.
btw, get ready to duck; the kids get amazing close.

link: 5 minute 'music video' version

Blythe Yule

A new spin on the holiday...

*...with some classical glass.

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Blythe Yule!

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* from Tchaikovsky's 'Nutcracker Suite'

Tinsel Toots

What happens if kitty sets off the metal detector at the airport? Do they x-ray the poor thing, send it home, or ...?

But just in case you don't care to worry about that,
here's one version of how tinsel first appeared:

The tradition of using tinsel when decorating a Christmas tree is said to have come from the story of a poor woman in Germany who had no decorations for the little tree she found for her children.

The tales goes that during Christmas Eve spiders in the tree wove webs around it and covered it with white strands. A local holy man passed by the humble home and saw the poor family's little tree decorated by the spiders. He said a blessing over it and the house.

By Christmas morning, the spider web strands had magically turned to silver and glistened on the sunlight to the delight of the poor woman and her children.

OMG, the plot for 'Tinsel Town's next 'Spiderman' movie.

;-)

Dances With 3D

Saw Avatar. My verdict:

It is 'Dances With Wolves' on an alien planet.
With brain transfers thrown in for fun.

Yup, the 3D and special effects were cool. But go to the late show so there will be fewer kids. Its PG-13, yet because of the toy tie-ins, and the colorful ads parents think its okay for tots... that is until the military action begins.

One poor kid (~4 yrs old) literally -ran- out of the theatre we were in. So, if you wouldn't bring your kid to 'Dances With Wolves', don't bring him/her to this. *If you need any further persuasion... the 6 previews made the entire show nearly 3 hours long.

Fun Fact: many sfx came via Weta of New Zealand

Ludicrous Hypocrites

`

That's what The Daily Mail called Prince Charles & Prime Minister Brown, plus a host of others, for taking separate private planes to get to the Copenhagen Climate Conference.

Too good for the train or the ferry, fellas?

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It looks especially bad for Charlie, because:

1.) He didn't have to be there,
2.) He's always touting the organic lifestyle, and
3.) His mum, the Queen, now rides the local:

Cheer up, Mum, you're saving the planet!

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*And don't get me started about my own reps...

Someday we'll get airships going across the ocean again.
Remember blimps? They carried 50 tons of cargo trans-Atlantic, and that was 70 years ago. Imagine what they could do today.

Google Fade In Fail

warning: rant ahead
people who don't use Google.com may safely skip this post!



Dear Google, don't add annoying 'features'!

I thought this 'test' of the fade-in would be over by now.

I'm tired of my 'quick' Google window, being delayed because of an unwelcome pause due to a silly fade-in. What're you thinking, Google.com, to make your homepage -less- efficient?!?


* Thankfully this guy shows some ways to circumvent G's fade-in (link in new window).

But why should these work-arounds even be necessary?

Hey Google! Phase-out the fade-in!!

/rant off

Energetic Art

Art, made with moving light.

E.N., in NYMag this week said basically that the most memorable art of the 00's will be niche tv, improved through consumer preference. Hm. I have to disagree. *(But I did laugh over her comment saying ''The New York Times pretty much lost its mind over The Sopranos...'' - so true)


As best new art I nominate 'Energy art' , made with either active light sources (bulbs, LEDs, etc.) or video, like Brian Eno's '77 Million Paintings'. (below)



I love the colors and the motion.

Hm. The sentence above actually makes it sound as if I'm just a simpleton who saw too many Christmas lights as a child - which may be true. Either way I think that active art is here to stay. (Of course the NYmag author could/would point out that her tv is just my art with the bonus of dialogue, but lets not get into that...)


So, your nominee for best new art of the 'oughts'?

Not Tiger Woods Mi$tre$$

Sorry I've been MIA recently...

_{photo: Contact Music}

... been shopping for a sensible outfit.

So I can deny my affair with Tiger, too.

Sigh. Its so tough to find a low-cut, crop top in winter.
Cuz when its freezing you need those matching gloves...

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“The perfect love affair is one which is conducted entirely by post.”

- George Bernard Shaw

Who knew the old dude kept a blog?

Too bad he didn't tweet that one to Tiger.

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Update:

There's talk in Hollywood about doing a made-for-tv movie about this, starring Cuba Gooding, Jr. (Daily Mail, Jan 2010)