Crush of the Week: Keri Noble

This week's Crush is singer/songwriter/cutie Keri Noble. I'm really digging her CD Fearless.


Piano chicks RAWK!

Talented. And easy on the eyes. Also a very nice person, I hear.

Scientology has made Tom Cruise a Level 5 Sith

This cracks me up. It explains a lot about Maverick's behavior of late.

Renee Zellweger is one lucky woman

Isn't country music supposed to be all about family, America, and God (Johnny Cash's hard-drinkin' gangsta-centric stuff, aside)? Tell me what you think about the chorus to Kenny Chesney's "Key Lime Pie":

"Not too tart, not too sweet
My baby loves to watch me eat her (pause) key lime pie"

Heh heh. An ode to his partner's culinary skills or a thinly-veiled boasting of the singer's cunnilingual prowess? You tell me.

Now that I think about it, I could go for some key lime pie, too. (I'm carnally frustrated and I've been South Beachin' it for months...interepret it how you may.)

Opus and Chilly Willy get their SAG cards

Left foot. Right foot. Left foot. Right foot.

Considerably absent in my Summer Movie Preview is the documentary March of the Penguins. It didn't make my list because it flew completely under my radar (bad pun fully intended).

A documentary. About the mating rituals of penguins. Narrated by Morgan Freeman. I'm soooo there. It's in limited release right now, but makes its way to Columbus on July 15th. And I'll be in line like a flightless water fowl getting his swerve on.

Free Music Tuesday: Keri Noble and the High & Mighty

To celebrate the Supreme Court's Grokster decision, I have some good music for you this morning.

First up is Keri Noble (definitely a future Crush). She reminds me a lot of Sarah McLachlan. This song - "A Dream About You" - is my favorite off of her 2004 album Fearless. The opening lines hooked me: "I had a dream about you last night/I dreamed that you were dead." She goes on to apologize for not being, as she states in the liner notes, "not the best version of herself" in a past relationship. Nice, mellow piano-driven stuff.

Next is a fun summer party jam by one of my favorites, the High & Mighty. This song, "Rock the House", off of the Philly-born/NYC-based hip-hop group's 2003 album The Highlite Zone, features backing by the greatest human beatboxer ever - Rahzel. Check it how he flips the Rocky theme at the 2:14 mark (I've seen the guy live and he just amazes me). Anyone get their new disc - The 12th Man? How is it?

If you want either or both songs, leave a comment with your request.

Requiem for Tigger

R.I.P. Paul Winchell, 1922 - 2005.


The wonderful thing about Tiggers...

Tigger just won't be Tigger without your voice. TTFN.

Trivia: Winchell was also an inventor with a patent for a prototype artificial heart he built in the 1960s in the same workshop in which he created his ventriloquist dummies, Blue Star said. He also created an "invisible" garter belt, a flameless cigarette lighter and an early version of the disposable razor.

And so ends Zombie Week

Well, it's been fun, but it is time for Micah World's Zombie Week to come to an end. Apparently, y'all enjoyed it, as well, because I hit 25,000 visits this past week (but that was due in large part to numerous searches for "Starbucks frappuccino girl" - look out Most Popular Search "Lindsay Lohan too skinny"!). A few odds and ends to tie things up:

-Land of Dead took in an estimated $10.2 million this weekend. Hopefully it will break even (movie's budget: $15 million), so that more zombie flicks will be made. DVD sales should be huge, so that probably won't be a problem. Reviews have been pretty positive, so that also bodes well for the perpetuation of the genre.

-There's a George Romero interview here. It validates some critics' likening of the Kaufman character to Bush, but I still don't really see it. Much of their basis for comparison has been tied to one statement the character says - "We don't negotiate with terrorists" - but that has been US policy way before W came into office.

-You knew it was going to happen: a zombie blog. For some reason, I find it endlessly humorous that each post's title is "Brains."

-Here's a fun short film titled When Zombies Attack. It gives a "Cops" take on the genre and follows a routine night in the life of the P.M.A.C. (that's the Post Mortem Animation Control). "Zombie tipping" - hey, you gotta love it.

-While writing a screenplay, comedian Patton Oswalt exposes how the zombie movie fits into the Nerd Trifecta in his always hilarious blog:

So, this thing I'm trying to finish is number one in the three-card deck of the Nerd Movie Tarot. The first card being the Future Dystopian Action Flick. This is where you've got heavily-armed scavengers wandering through a war-blasted desert, fighting other scavengers and mutants. Nerds - especially teenage nerds - love this card because, when you're a teenage shut-in like I was, you have so thin a grasp on how the world works that it makes writing easier if you simply wipe out civilization with a Long-Ago Nuclear Holocaust, and then have dudes galloping around shooting one another.

The trick to the Future Dystopian Action Flick is, you've got to really work out where you think the future will go wrong, and then how that'll affect human behavior. You've also got to remember, a Future Dystopia probably won't seem like a Dystopia to the people living in it. I mean, show anyone from 1905 - fuck anyone from 1945 - our present, and they'll think several apocalypses happened. Which puts me in a double-bind, as far as my pathology, to wit: it's bad enough to have whatever I'm writing affect my ongoing life - but now I'm mapping out how it will affect my future. Or, at least, this is how I think of it in my diseased brain.

(By the way, the other two cards in this deck? The Zombie Flick and the Space Opera. Future Dystopian Action starts with our present world long reduced to cinders. With a Zombie Flick, you've begun to realize how the world and the people in it work, but you've decided you want them killed by the walking dead. And, by the time you hit Space Opera, you've decided you can actually depict how the real world works - but it bores the living shit out of you, so let's go to Planet Zoomba and fuck a 30-foot woman with nine boobs).

So, there you have it. This week has been fun. Any ideas for future theme weeks?

The best kung fu/Yakuza/samurai/zombie movie I've ever seen

It's been sitting there in my DVR for about a month, but I finally got around to watching the Japanese film Versus last night.



I recorded the movie off of Showtime, so I had to put up with some really bad dubbing (at least it was in its OAR, though). It's a low budget movie, but I found it quite enjoyable. It was just all over the place: kung fu, the Yakuza, samurais, John Woo-style gunplay. And zombies. Good times!

It has Land-ed

Darth Vader couldn't do it. Batman couldn't do it. Even Angelina Jolie in a bustier couldn't do it. What is "it"? Getting me to put up with the (rude) crowds and go see a movie on opening day.

But I am going to see Land of the Dead today. And no, I will not be dressing up like a zombie. In fact, it'll be quite the opposite, since I started using Crest Premium Plus White Strips yesterday.

EDIT: So, I went to the theater today. In line in front of me were two boys (about 12 years old, I guess) who bought tickets to Mr. & Mrs. Smith. Guess who sat right in front of me at Land of the Dead. It's nice to see that the system still doesn't work. :)

The movie rocked. It totally flew by (running time's about 90 minutes). Full of Romero's patented social commentary. Plenty of gore. And Dennis Hopper picks his nose. Not that I didn't fully enjoy the Dawn remake, but it's great to see slow, lumbering zombies on screen.

I missed Shaun's Simon Pegg and Edgar White as zombies (afterwards I did find a pic of zombified Simon here), but there is also one HUGE zombie cameo. Well, huge if you are a Romero fan. And if you aren't a fan, you'll know who I'm talking about when he comes onscreen, as the fanboys in the audience will be cheering.

Prepare for the impending zombie apocolypse

My nephews' birthdays were last week and I made them a "zombie box." In it, I put DVDs of Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead ('78 and '04), and Shaun of the Dead. I also put in a copy of the Dawn score CD (composed by Goblin) and the Zombie Survival Guide: Complete Protection from the Living Dead. After all, I've got to maintain my rep as the Cool Uncle.


Rule One: Aim for the head.

Before I packaged it up, I leafed through the book and found it to be pretty interesting. And for a book that seems to be a parody of those Worst Case Scenario-type tomes, it is pretty thorough and doesn't seem tossed-off. I requested that my nephews bring it to the beach (when I see them next) so I'll actually be able to read it. I hope that they remember.

Trivia: It is written by Mel Brooks' son.

"Shaun of the Dead" soundtrack giveaway

For very anal retentive music geek reasons (a "gapless" recording in iTunes is not truly gapless), I have an extra burned copy of the Shaun of the Dead soundtrack. It's a great CD, put together like a mix disc, with movie dialogue snippets and blended songs.


"It's not hip-hop. It's electro. Prick."

I have even "improved" it by adding two songs not on the original soundtrack: "Orpheus" by Ash (which was in the movie) and "Pretend We're Dead" by L7 (which was used in the US trailer).

How can you obtain this CD? Be the first* to leave a comment, giving the correct answers to the following two questions:

Shaun and Ed try to incapacitate two zombies in their backyard. What identified vinyl records do they throw at them? And what records does Shaun forbid Ed from throwing?

Not counting the electro record that Pete threw out the window the night before, there are four identified "throw" records and three "don't throw" records. Please provide the artist name/album title (where available) for 3 and 2 of them, respectively.

Mini-rant: It is absolutely criminal that this CD wasn't given an official domestic release. Import prices suck. That is all.

*Open only to US residents. Postage costs money!

Crush of the Week: Kim Poirier

The Crush for Zombie Week is actress Kim Poirier (what - you thought it'd be a zombie?). She played one of the survivors in the Dawn of the Dead remake. Yep, she gets nekkid. And torn in half by a chainsaw. Spoiler alert!


Oh, Canada.

Obscure enough for you? I thought Sara Polley was too obvious a choice.

A quick zombie primer

For those not caught up on their zombie lore (KPMD, I'm looking at you), there are a couple of great resources on the internet:

-Homepage of the Dead focuses mainly on Romero's films.
-All Things Zombie covers, well, all things zombie.

And then there's this:


Chart created by Groucho at DVDTalk

Between the chart and those two sites (and their myriad of links elsewhere), you should have all of the information necessary to carry on an intelligent zombie conversation at your next cocktail party.

Free Music Tuesday: Undead edition

I'm offering two free mp3s today:

-"Night of the Living Dead" by G. Love & Special Sauce, taken from their album Electric Mile.
-"The Gonk (Kid Koala Mix)" by The Noveltones. This song is one of the goofy pieces of "mall music" from the original Dawn of the Dead, given the turntablist treatment by Kid Koala and appears in the end credits of Shaun of the Dead (taken from that movie's excellent soundtrack).

I'd make it the trifecta and offer "Zombie" by the Cranberries (or perhaps something by The Zombies), but I don't own that song. Such is life.

Anyway, if you want a copy of either or both songs, leave me a comment and I'll e-mail it/them to you.

It's Zombie Week!

To commemorate George Romero's first zombie movie in 20 years (that'd be Land of the Dead), this is Zombie Week at Micah World. Yes, this week will be chock full of zombie goodness (provided I can think of enough zombie-related things to blog about).

First up, if anyone would like to buy this shirt for me, I'd be mighty grateful:


More important than LiveAid.

Or maybe you can pick me up an "I Got Wood" shirt so Shamrock and I can be Shaun and Ed for Halloween.


What does "exacerbates" mean?

Or you can at least point me to where I can pick up either shirt.

I'm a little bit country. You're a little bit German hardcore techno.

Not much to blog about today, so I'll show off my new cowboy hat. I'm feeling a bit of a poseur vibe, like Dave Gahan in the "Personal Jesus" video. At least I'm an American, so I have a little more of a right to wear a cowboy hat than him.


Man, I need to trim the 'burns.

I get 10 music geek points by declaring Revolver to be the Beatles' best album. +/- 2 points for doing so via T-shirt, depending on your attitude about such displays.

Requiem for D.A. Jim Trotter III

R.I.P Lane Smith, 1936-2005.



He was da bomb in My Cousin Vinny, yo.

The (new) way to salvation

To coincide with Katie Holmes' Maverick-influenced "englightening," Annika has started her own religion - Practology. Hey, it worked for some science fiction writer.

See Riddick pop and lock

This is probably old news to everyone else, but I saw the videos of a young, perfectly coiffed Vin Diesel breakdancing for the first time yesterday. Fresh!

Crush of the Week: Starbucks girl

This week's Crush is the woman in the Starbucks commercial. You know the one: she drinks a frappuccino and suddenly every man in her vicinity turns into a serenading Michael Buble. (This guy is reading waaay too much into the racial overtones of the commercial.)


Come fly with me.

Yeah, mostly it's the glasses. Ah, the Dirty Librarian Fetish. You gotta love it.

3rd Grade humor

Heard a new (old) joke this weekend.

Q: What's Helen Keller's favorite color?
A: Corduroy.

It's amazing how something so stupid can make me laugh so hard.

Jesus Juice for everybody!

The moon landing. JFK's assassination. 9/11. Now you can also tell your grandchildren where you were when a freakish white woman was cleared of molestation charges.

Me? I was at Anderson's buying a cowboy hat.

I watched this movie so you wouldn't have to

When you read the words "world premiere" and "Sci-Fi Channel" in the same sentence, you know that you're in for a world of hurt. Being on a zombie kick lately, I DVRed the Sci-Fi Channel exclusive movie All Souls' Day this weekend, quality be damned.


"Honey, you got real ugly."

Starring the Frommer's boy from EuroTrip, this movie was painful to watch. It wasn't Manos: The Hands of Fate terrible, but it wasn't good, either. The story was dumb. The script (if there was one) was chock full of wooden dialogue. The direction was pedestrian. The make-up and effects were laughable. And the acting was bad (Chuck Norris bad). In the pantheon of zombie flicks, this ranks pretty low.

The only redeeming quality was this one actress who provided nice eye candy (her 1950s WASPy teen character's name was "Lily White" - har har!). But she didn't get nekkid. Boy, do I sound like Joe Bob Briggs or what?

When discussing this movie with my cousin, he speculated that it couldn't be any worse than Spring Break Shark Attack, but I don't know. That TV movie seemed to have a "this is really cheesy, ain't it?" vibe to it. This one tried to be a straight-up horror film with pitiful results. To learn more about All Souls' Day go here or consult your local library.

A lil' summer cleanin'

I finally cleaned up my Blogroll - 86'ed some dead blogs, got rid of some of the ones that I don't really frequent anymore, and added some others. I also fully reciprocated with those that have me on their Blogrolls (I don't feel like such a jerk now). So give these new blogs a gander. That is all.

You aren't your freakin' khakis

But you are everything else you own (sorry, Tyler Durden). A few months ago, I sang the praises of DVDSpot. Recently, I discovered a new site: MediaChest. There you can catalog not just your DVDs, but also your books, videogames, and CDs. I was really digging the site until I realized that it may have been abandoned (no CDs from 2005 and late 2004 are in the database; no posts from the admins since October '04). Oh, well.

Anyway, here's my profile there, albeit incomplete. (There are a few hundred CDs, as well as some books, DVDs, and games not listed).

Mad props to the law fairy who had a similar post, but trust me: I thought of it first.

I Read a Book!

"Every now and then I'll read a book, I'll be so proud of myself. I'll try to squeeze it into conversations. People are like, 'Hey, Jim. How are - ' 'I read a book! 198 pager.' 'That's great. What was it about?' 'No idea. Took me three years, but I read her.'" - Jim Gaffigan

Several of them over the past couple of months, actually.



The Rising (Brian Keene): The best zombie book I've ever read. Also, the only zombie book I've ever read. It's been ages since I plowed through a novel this quickly (5 days). Thoroughly engrossing. I am more than ready to read the sequel (see my reading pile). Can't wait for the movie and videogame.

Hollywood, Interrupted: Insanity Chic in Babylon - The Case Against Celebrity (Andrew Breitbart, Mark Ebner): Celebrities are freakin' nuts. An interesting read.

South Park Conservatives: The Revolt Against Liberal Media Bias (Brian C. Anderson): While this book dealt mainly with liberal bias in the media (paging Dan Rather) and the emergence of its conservative counterparts, I thought it would spend more time on the concept of South Park Republicans (ideology summed up by Matt Stone: "I hate conservatives, but I really fucking hate liberals."). They seem to be more in line with libertarian thought than the GOP hardline and I would include myself with the former. It covered the growing conservative leanings of Generations X and Y (jeez, I hate those terms), but not enough. So, in that respect, the book was a bit of a disappointment.

My Immediate Reading Pile:




City of the Dead (Brian Keene): The sequel to Keene's The Rising. More zombie goodness. I can't wait.

If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B Movie Actor (Bruce Campbell): Memoir from our nation's, nay our world's greatest living thespian.

Opus: 25 Years of His Sunday Best (Berkeley Breathed): "Bloom County" has long been one of my favorite comic strips. I look forward to revisiting these Sunday strips. Hilarious stuff.

Batman: The Complete History (Les Daniels): Just to get me reved up for the upcoming movie.

Mere Christianity and The Great Divorce (C.S. Lewis): The former I had been wanting to read for ages; the latter just seemed interesting. So I bought them both. A little light summer reading. :)

I guess the library's not just for copying CDs anymore.

"Boxing's been good to me, Howard..."

I went to see Cinderella Man this afternoon and it got me to thinking: what would be my nickname if I were to engage in the sweet science? Unfortunately, the adjective "marvelous" has already been taken (Marvin Hagler). And nothing rhymes with "Micah." The only thing I could think of was "Marzipan Micah M____." And I'm not even a huge fan of marzipan.

Oh, and bonus cool points for those that can name the song this post's title came from without Googling it.

Crush of the Week: Natalie Imbruglia

This week's Crush is Natalie Imbruglia. I can't say that I'm a huge fan of her music (I do like "Torn" a lot, though), but recently I saw a Saturday Night Live repeat featuring a perfromance by her and I was reminded of just how darn cute she is.


She's so spritely!

Plus she gets a few indie street cred points for her hit being a cover of an Ednaswap song.

Watching "Sitting, Waiting, Wishing"

Image courtesy of Yahoo! Music. Holla!

I just now saw the video for Jack Johnson's "Sitting, Waiting, Wishing" for the first time (I know: where have I been?). Really cool. There seems to be a "making of" on his official site, but I haven't checked it out yet (go there just to hear his "Welcome to My Website" song - it's funny). And after only one viewing, I can safely say that it's my favorite current video, next to "First Day of My Life" by Bright Eyes.

I think Henry Rollins goes to my gym

And if that's him, he's gotten all of his tattoos removed.

Desperately looking for friends

So I joined the new hip site MySpace a while back. I kind of feel like the old man at the club, since it seems like most of the people there are young 'uns (22 and under). And all of them are seemingly from California (direct quote from this.heartbreak.shall.endure: "it is a scientific fact that California and Texas provide our nation with the lion share of its HHC or Hot Human Capital"). So, I've amassed quite a few "friends," yet I only personally know and interact with one (heartbreak). And half of them are musicians (although, it is cool that I've been in correspondence with a favorite of mine - Gerald Collier). Any loyal Micah World readers on MySpace? Let's be friends.

P.S. For those wanting a gander of your favorite photo-elusive blogger, I've got pictures in my profile.

"I know my calculus, it says U + Me = Us"

Say it. Don't spray it.

I miss 2gether.

The two funniest things I heard this weekend

1) Doug Benson on VH1's "Best Week Ever": "Paris Hilton is engaged to a guy named Paris. In related news, I'm in love with a lady named Doug." (you really need to hear his delivery of the line)

2) On the "Super Dogs! Super Jocks!" episode of "Cheap Seats" (like an inferior MST3K for odd sports clips), the interviewer in the clip says, "you know, as a former football player myself, just in college..." and one of the guys continues: "It wasn't a major college. D3. D4, really. Actually it was JuCo. Not even, it was a league. Well, not a league, just a group of guys that got together. It was flag football. I was 10. 11, maybe. And it wasn't football. It was kickball. I used to go with my dad. Well, I went alone. He dropped me off. My parents were divorced. My mom worked three jobs. I get sad when I see parents hugging their kids. But enough about me. Nice frisbee toss."

Mmmmm...free doughnut.

As much as I love Krispy Kremes - and free stuff - I'm going to have to pass. I've made too much progress on the diet (18 lbs. thus far) to screw it up for some doughy goodness. I'd much rather screw it up with alcohol. Y'all have fun, though.

Retro Crush of the Week: Belinda Carlisle

This week's Crush is actually the first ever Retro Crush, a blast from my past. The honor goes to singer Belinda Carlisle. I classify her as a "Retro Crush" because I haven't seen what she looks like lately, although if she still looks like she did in her 2001 Playboy spread, she's still got the goods. But man, I had a huge thing for her when I was younger.


Mad about her. Lost in her eyes.

Oh, what the heck. Here's another:


Ooh, baby. Do you know what that's worth?

Posing Rule #26: When you use wine, scotch, or a cigar as a prop, you automatically look even hotter.

Micah World summer movie preview

Any excuse to put a pic of her up.

Memorial Day has come and gone, so that means only one thing: no more mattress sales until Labor Day. And summer movie season has begun! I've compiled a list of movies that I wouldn't mind handing over good money for (ranked in order of anticipation):

1) Land of the Dead (June 24): I loooooove zombie movies. This one is written and directed by the master of the genre, George Romero. The buildup for another zombie movie from him has been 20 years. I may be outing myself as a total geek, but this is definitely the summer movie that I want to see the most (next to Sith). Of course, everyone already knows of my geeky tendencies.

2) Batman Begins (June 17): I've been wanting to see a good Batman flick for years now. Clooney and his bat nipples are out. American Psycho is in. I'm buying Sno-Caps.

3) Untitled Mike Judge Project (aka 3001) (August 5): The comedic genius behind Office Space, "King of the Hill," and "Beavis and Butthead" finally makes another movie. No description is necessary.

4) War of the Worlds (June 29): Well, the trailer kicks butt. Cruise and Spielberg's last sci-fi effort (Lawnmower Man) was pretty good.

5) Mr. and Mrs. Smith (June 10): Hot damn! Angelina Jolie has never looked more radiant. Add some explosions and my man-crush on Brad Pitt and I'll fork over my $6.50 (no, I am never going to get rid of my student ID).

6) Fantastic Four (July 8): Next to the Punisher, Superman and Spiderman, the Fantastic Four were my favorite comic book heroes (again: geek). The Commish/Vic Mackey as Ben Grimm? Yep!

7) The Wedding Crashers (July 15): Vince Vaughn. Owen Wilson. Christopher Walken. A raunchy comedy. I'm there.

Honorable mention: Herbie: Fully Loaded (June 24). I doubt I'll watch this one in the theater, but it'll be nice to take a trip down Memory Lane to when Lindsay Lohan had schnoobs. Misty water-colored memories...

A Wash: The Island (July 22). I love Scarlett Johansson and Ewan McGregor. I don't like Michael Bay. I have no clue what this movie's about. A little more research is needed on this one.

Oh, Dear Lord, Why?: The Honeymooners (June 10). Cedric the Entertainer as Ralph Kramden. This one should be sent to the moon.

Most Anticipated Movie That I Thought Was Coming Out This Summer But Is Indeed Coming Out This Fall: Strangers with Candy (October 28). I absolutely love the now-defunct TV show. If the strong un-PC humor is kept intact, this ought to be hilarious.