You choose the Crush of the Year

This blog is a cheertatorship, not a cheerocracy, but every now and then I like to throw my dear readers a bone. Usually during this time of the year, I reflect upon all of the previous Crushes of the Week and choose one women who best exemplifies what it means to be a Crush* and crown her the Crush of the Year. But for 2008, I'm going to let you folks select the CotY.

So, here are the rules:
1) Vote by leaving the name of your pick in the comment section to this post. No votes via e-mail, text, phone, other posts' comments, or other methods will be counted. I do this so there'll be a virtual paper trail of clear intentions**.
2) No write-ins.
3) You may only vote once.
4) Only the candidates listed below are eligible.
5) Should no Crush receive a plurality/majority of the votes, I shall choose the CotY (and I already have one in mind).
6) Voting ends when this post leaves the front page of the blog.

With that said, here are the eligible Crushes for 2008:

• Rebecca Gayheart


• Mary Elizabeth Ellis


• Julie Benz


• Marion Cotillard


• Marketa Irglova


• Marina (HotForWords)


• Lights (Valerie Poxleitner)


• Kym Johnson


• Alicia Witt


• Natalie (Big Brother 9)


• Kate Bosworth


• Alyssa Milano


• Megyn Kelly


• Amy Ciupak Lalonde


• Meghan McCain


• Liv Tyler


• Débora Nascimento


• Anne Hathaway


• Misti Traya


• Domenica Davis


• Christina Hendricks


• Amanda Seyfried


• January Jones


• Mid-90s Alternative Chicks


• Alicia Sacramone


• Stephanie Rice


• Jennie Finch


• Leryn Franco


• Gov. Sarah Palin


• Kerry Washington


• Amy Robach


• Brea Grant


• Mila Kunis


• The new Bond girls

So, go ahead and vote! Rally your friends, family, and co-workers to vote for your favorite Crush. Then check back in a week or so to see who reigned supreme.

*Don't ask me to verbalize exactly what those qualities are.
**This dimishes the potential risk of electing an unqualified sketch comedian to such a lofty position. But that's kooky talk. What kind of whacked out people would actually vote someone like that into office?

Song to get you through the weekend: "The Girl" by City and Colour

Well, I'm knee deep in '08 music, reevaluating what needs to be reevaluated before I post my list (maybe it'll pop up next week). One album that didn't totally grab me and probably won't make the Top 10 is Bring Me Your Love by City and Colour (sorry, SBN1). But I do love his song "The Girl" a lot and that'll likely make my Top Songs list. With the tempo shift midway through, it's like getting two songs in one!

Rock the Kwanzaa!

And have a lovely Boxing Day while you're at it.

My Charlie Brown Christmas

This has been around for a few years now, but I just discovered it last week. Funny stuff, especially if you're a "Scrubs" fan.

Merry Christmas!

Bonus Crush of the Week: Mug Shot Chick

This week's Bonus Crush is this lovely girl featured in the Smoking Gun's 2008 Mug Shots of the Year. Apparently, she was ejected from a Jersey bar and then "kicked, punched, and bit some cops."



Crazy chicks. You gotta love 'em.

Crush of the Week: Ashley Williams

This week's Crush is actress Ashley Williams, who I discovered this week when I watched the TV movies Snow and Snow 2: Brain Freeze.



I only tuned into those ABC Family movies because I'm a big Tom Cavanagh fan (ever since "Ed") and, honestly, they weren't all that great. But Williams is a cutie and worth tuning in for.

Happy Festivus!

I've wanted to throw a Festivus party for quite some time now. Maybe next year. I'll likely have even more problems with you people by then.

Note: Picture originally taken by this guy.

Happy Chanukah!

Got wassail?

This weekend was the 3rd Annual Jones Family Christmas Caroling Extravaganza, in which that family is kind enough to open their doors for some Christmas cheer amongst kith and kin. And this time I took some video (of our near-flawless take on "Jingle Bells").

Unfortunately, though, there were no D'Angelo sightings*. But a kid did get mauled by a dog.

I think it was a smart to move the party from July to December this year. There were too many puzzled looks and brandished shotguns by their neighbors last year.

*He reportedly lives in the same neighborhood as the Joneses.

It's good to be the king

Congratulations, Spiders. What a game!

Song to get you through the weekend: "Christmas in Hollis" by Run-DMC

How can you not like a song that includes the lines, "I approached very slowly with my heart full of fear/Looked at his dog, Oh, my God, an ill reindeer"?

Incidentally, this song his my current ringtone, so get used to it, people around me in public. Ain't no half-steppin' on this Christmas.

Another forgotten Christmastime birthday

Sorry that I've been pretty lax around these parts this week. Several things have contributed to my absence: the Christmas rush, writer's block, illness, injury, re-evaluating tons of '08 albums, and a general sense of malaise.

One big thing that I've overlooked this month, though, is that on December 2nd this lil' blog turned four!

According to the National Network for Child Care:

"Energetic" and "imaginative" best describe the 4-year-old. Often impatient and silly, they discover humor and spend a great deal of time being silly and telling you "jokes." A 4-year-old's language may range from silly words such as "batty-watty" to profanity. Loud, boisterous laughter may accompany such language.

Underpants! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!

Now all I need is a dog to fetch 'em

For my entire 33 years on this planet, I have always been a wear-socks-while-in-the-house guy (my footy pajamaed toddlerdom excepted). Wearing shoes while safe within the confines of my own home has always been an anathema to all that I hold dear (i.e. comfort). I've always seen slippers as shoes' less-durable cousin, so wearing them has never even been a consideration.

That is, until I talked to a friend a few weeks ago. Somehow, our conversation steered toward the topic of slippers and he extolled their virtues, namely that they have all the warmth of socks, but they provide more comfort when standing (like when one cooks dinner or does the dishes) than socks. That intrigued me.

So, after a period of comparison shopping, this weekend I bought my first pair of slippers (pictured above*) from Target, which, of course, went on sale the day after I bought them. But I've got to say that I'm now a slippers fan. In addition to the whole standing comfortably thing, I also find them to be less confining than socks. The traction that they provide is nice, too. Gone are those unsightly elastic marks around my ankles and shins!

While I am not going to be ditching my socks any time soon, consider my comfort paradigm shifted.

*For anyone curious as to what my sheets look like, there you go...ladies.

Song to close out the weekend: "Fairytale of New York" by the Pogues with Katie Melua

Katie's no Kirsty MacColl, but she does a capable job. And Shane looks...rough. But, hey, it's Christmas.

Bonus Crush of the Week: Laura Silverman

This week's Bonus Crush is actress Laura Silverman, from "The Sarah Silverman Program" and the late, great "Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist."



She's former Crush Sarah Silverman's real life and TV sister. Unlike her sister, though, you can probably take her home to meet mom.

Crush of the Week: Jennifer Aniston

This week's Crush is actress Jennifer Aniston, widely known for her work in Leprechaun.



I'm not really the biggest fan of her work, but she does look smokin' in her new GQ layout. That said, I doubt I'll ever see Marley & Me.

30 rock tumbler

Tonight's new episode of "30 Rock": "Christmas Special"

The Christmas spirit takes over as Liz attempts to fulfill children's wishes.

Discuss.

Office chatter

Tonight's new episode of "The Office": "Moroccan Christmas"

A Moroccan-themed holiday party goes up in flames; Dwight corners the market on the hottest toy of the season.

Discuss.

mistleTunes and Holly

I've strung the last bit of tinsel on this year's edition of A Very Micah Christmas and now a big, warm mugful of Christmas music is ready for download. Like usual, it was a lot of fun to put together. Since I've been doing this for nine years now, a lot of the seasonal standards have already been used, but luckily new classics seem to come out every year.

Songs that you'll (hopefully) be enjoying this Yule:

1. "White Winter Hymnal" - Fleet Foxes
2. "It's Beginning To Look Like Christmas" - Shane & Shane
3. "All My Bells Are Ringing" - Lenka
4. "Rudolph, The Red-Nosed Reindeer" - Dean Martin
5. "Let It Snow" - A Fine Frenzy
6. "The Christmas Song" - The Raveonettes
7. "Wake Up! It's Christmas!" - C.W. Morris
8. "It's Christmas So We'll Stop" - Frightened Rabbit
9. "Why Can't It Be Christmastime All Year" - Rosie Thomas
10. "Jingle Bells" - Rev. Horton Heat
11. "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" - Dustin Kensrue
12. "Toy Packaging" - Sara Groves
13. "Baby, It's Cold Outside" - C.W. & Laura Morris
14. "Holly Jolly Christmas" - Bon Voyage
15. "A Cold, Cold Christmas" - Stephen Colbert
16. "River" - Sixpence None The Richer
17. "Home For The Holidays" - Perry Como
18. "It Really Is (A Wonderful Life)" - Mindy Smith
19. "Are You Coming Over For Christmas?" - Belle and Sebastian
20. "Winter Wonderland" - Ella Fitzgerald
21. "I'll Be Home For Christmas" - Tony Bennett
22. "I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm (Psapp's Lady Remix)" - Les Brown And His Band Of Renown
23. "We Three Kings Of Orient Are" - Stan Kenton
24. "O Come All Ye Faithful" - Faith Hill
25. "Silent Night" - Frank Sinatra
26. "My Dear Acquaintance (A Happy New Year)" - Regina Spektor
27. a surprise!

Conveniently grab a .zip file of the whole shebang here.

I'd love to hear what you think of this Christmas mix. Go ahead...leave a comment.

Unlike last year, I got off of my duff and actually tagged the songs correctly so that they will appear as one album when loaded into your iTunes, iPod, or what have you. Also, all songs are in mp3 format (you're welcome, Zune owners), but the volume level varies from track to track. Sorry 'bout that.

I'd like to thank my nephew Hunter for his invaluable assistance in helping me with the CD artwork and my brother and sister-in-law for their contributions (tracks 7 & 13). Friends and locals should recognize some of the imagery in the former song.

Unfortunately, my contacts - or I should say spydrz's contacts - at the Corner Cafe have dried up, so there currently aren't any plans for the usual "CD release party." But if you have access to a bar or restaurant's PA system, hook me up and I'll give you a CD and my gratitude.

The coolest t-shirt ever? Yes.

Though I'm only a casual reader of webcomic Questionable Content, I just had to buy its "She Blinded Me With Library Science" t-shirt when it was brought to my attention. It took the folks behind the comic/merch site over 2 months to actually fulfill my order (just in time for winter!), but it was well worth the wait.

Is there anything wrong with wearing my fetish* on my (short) sleeve?

*Well, one of my fetishes.

"The beard stays. You go."

Well, it's time to put an end to Beard Week. What better way than with one of my favorite Kids in the Hall sketches?

Song to get you through the weekend: "A Shogun Named Marcus" by Clutch

While doing some research for Beard Week, I read a joking suggestion from some random person on the internet that if one's going to start growing a beard, one should also start listening to Clutch. Better them than, say, the Spin Doctors, I guess.

While Clutch's lead singer sports a long beard nowadays (see this video), my favorite song from them is 1993's clean-shaven "A Shogun Named Marcus." When I really want to rawk out in my car, this is one of my tunes of choice.

It also reminds me of a service that I subscribed to in the early 90s. Each month this company would send me a VHS tape full of alt rock videos and this Clutch song was featured on one edition. Ah, memories. I'm going to have to dig out those tapes some day.

Requiem for the weird British man who lives next door

R.I.P. Paul Benedict, 1938-2008.



You're now truly in a deluxe apartment in the sky*.

*I reserve the right to reuse this line when Sherman Hemsley, Marla Gibbs, and Ned Wertimer each pass away.

Micah World Bearded Awesomeness Hall of Fame

Originally, I had planned on recognizing a litany of people who have achieved excellence in facial hair and life*, but then realized it all boiled down to the yin and the yang of bearded awesomeness: Ernest Hemingway and Jim Henson.



One was tough, rugged, manly to the Nth degree, and a literary master. The other was funny, sensitive, good-hearted, and a master of puppets. Both are two of my favorite people that have ever walked the Earth.

I doff my beard and raise a glass to you, good chaps. Although you were two very different people, both you and your beards made this world a better, more bad ass place.

*Rick Rubin, the dude from Iron & Wine, Uncle Jesse, Moses, 2/3 of ZZ Top, Katie Holmes, Jasper from "The Simpsons," Santa Claus, Willie Nelson, Gandalf, Stonewall Jackson, etc.

30 rock tumbler

Tonight's new episode of "30 Rock": "Reunion"

Liz goes to her school reunion, but has to take Jack due to bad weather. Don Geiss finally wakes up from his coma and shocks Jack with his announcement of who the new CEO of GE actually is.

Discuss.

Office chatter

Tonight's new episode of "The Office": "The Surplus"

A budget surplus causes factions to break out in office over how to spend the money; Angela and Andy visit Schrute Farms.

Discuss.

Deck the cube with a tree that just needs a little love

I may be a blockhead, but I did adorn my cubicle with a nice tree.

My cube's Yule decorations are nice and simple. My work neighbors' cubes? It's what I would imagine Burl Ives would see if he was on a bad acid trip.

Note to self: name my first born son "Burl."

I'm a very metro mountain man. And also a pirate, I guess.

In years past, I would just grow my beard out all willy nilly. I'd trim it every now and then, but leave it at that. This year I'm going to do it right, though. Official Friend of Micah World SBN1 suggested that I follow his lead and give Bluebeards Original Beard Saver and Beard Wash a try.

Product...for beards? At the risk of introducing an element of douchebaggery to my facial tresses*, I splurged.

Although I've only been using them for a week, I'm digging them thus far. The lime and aloe in the Beard Wash does indeed leave my beard feeling clean (go figure). And the Beard Saver is doing whatever it does, I assume. I didn't use any of it over the long Thanksgiving weekend and was plagued with an intense itching fit on Sunday night. After resuming use of the Beard Saver on Monday, I've had nary an itch on my face. It could all just be a coincidence, but I'll give the beard cream (ewwwwwww!) the benefit of the doubt.

So, I guess this is what it takes to be a 21st century suburban mountain man. There are some other beard care products that I'm curious about, but I'll wait until I use up (or tire of) what I've got now.

*Yes, I do use some product in my hair, but if I didn't I'd suffer the wrath of the cowlick from Hell. Plus, you can't really tell.

Everybody's heard about the beard. Beard beard beard. Beard is the word.

It's that time of year again, when the harsh winds and biting cold force me to become all woolly.

Traditionally, I wait until Thanksgiving day to start growing my winterbeard, but I decided that this year I wanted to get a jump on my bearded awesomeness and started it a week earlier than usual.

To commemorate this most joyous time of the year (for my face, at least), I figured that I'd proclaim this Beard Week at Micah World. The test will be whether or not I can stretch this theme out for a week's worth of posts. I doubt it, but we'll see.

I invite all of my readers - well, just the male ones, I guess - to join me in this endeavor. Need a good reason to do so? How about ten very good reasons?

"Train don't run out of Wichita unlessin' you're a hog or a cattle. "

It's not Thanksgiving without a viewing of Planes, Trains and Automobiles.

PETA makes preparing your Thanksgiving meal tasty fun!

Play the game here.

I don't think this game had the intended effect PETA was looking for, as I had fun playing it.

EDIT: Much like PETA itself, this flash game is super annoying. It would load automatically with the blog, playing loud screams and music. So I just linked to it.

"As God as my witness, I thought turkeys could fly."

Happy Thanksgiving!

Just the recognition that I'm better than almost everybody else is its own reward

Well, after some high hopes last week, I ended the ESPN College Pick 'Em season ranked 4th overall. So no Xbox 360 or Circuit City gift card for me. But considering my picks were based more on luck than expert analysis, placing that high is quite an accomplishment.

So, now the question begs: are you bitches ready for me to totally dominate the next Oscar pool?

Note: I blacked out the full names of all those participating in my league, reasoning that they wouldn't want the public humiliation that would inevitably come with the knowledge that I totally laid the smack down on them.

Song to get you through the weekend: "Wild as a Turkey" by Hayes Carll

It's almost Thanksgiving! What better way to (almost) kick off the week than with some good music? Searching through my iTunes, this is one of the few songs that have "turkey" in the title. And nothing really stuck me as Thanksgiving related (except for Adam Sandler's "Thanksgiving Song," but that's a bit too obvious).

I'm preoccupied with getting all my Christmas music in order right now, but once that's done I intend on immersing myself in my 2008 music rankings. Without using my usual scientific determination, it looks as though Hayes Carll's Trouble in Mind may crack the Top 10.



Okay, upon further reflection, Thanksgiving's really all about family and cranberry sauce. Duh.

Crushes of the Week: the new Bond girls

This week's Crushes are the latest Bond girls: Gemma Arterton and Olga Kurylenko. I'd seen the latter in the dreadful Hitman last year, but this was my first time seeing the former in anything.



While I was not really a fan of Quantum of Solace, at least it delivered the eye candy that we expect from this franchise (Grace Jones excepted).

"Are you now or have you ever been involved in douchebaggery? Remember, sir, that you are under oath."

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

30 rock tumbler

Tonight's new episode of "30 Rock": "Gavin Volure"

Liz meets one of Jack's friends, the eccentric businessman Gavin Volure, who becomes enamored with her. Also, Kenneth invests his money in Gavin's business. Meanwhile, Tracy fears that his children, Tracy Jr. and George Foreman Jordan, are trying to kill him.

Discuss.

Office chatter

Tonight's new episode of "The Office": "Frame Toby"

A mysterious person in the office has made a huge mess in the microwave and will not clean it up.

Discuss.

Sunny day

Tonight's season finale of "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia": "The Nightman Cometh"

Charlie writes a musical that the entire gang partakes in performing.

Discuss.

You can now refer to me as Micah the Greek

So, this season I've been making my college football picks in ESPN's College Pick 'Em game, concentrating on the league that I started and completely oblivious to the bigger picture. Well, the other day a friend pointed out that I'm ranked #6 in the nation (the world? the universe?)!

How the heck did this happen?! I don't claim to have any keen insight when it comes to sports. My system for picking winners is only a step or two above "I like their mascot better," for Pete's sake. I guess it helps that I'm realistic about "my team" (the Buckeyes can't win every game). Also, I switched from relying on the odds at Yahoo! Sports to the ones on Vegas.com, merely because Yahoo! drastically changed their layout, making it more confusing to a gambling neophyte like myself.

Now that I know my status among the gaming elites, the pressure's on. Winning an Xbox 360 would be swell. The other prize is a Circuit City gift card, which may be totally worthless when it comes time for it to be awarded. ESPN might as well have put up some Best Products or Service Merchandise funny money.

This week in food porn

For those looking for a new food porn fix, a friend recently referred me to the most hardcore site on the net: Smitten Kitchen. Lock the kitchen door and enjoy.

It's been quite a long time since I baked anything, but this weekend I dusted off the ol' KitchenAid and made a batch of that site's pumpkin swirl brownies. Pumpkin AND chocolate in the same recipe? Yes! I admit that it wasn't quite the taste revelation that I had anticipated, but they still turned out to be pretty tasty. I'm going to make another batch for my work's Thanksgiving lunch on Thursday*.

*In addition to being known as that iPod guy, I anticipate being referred to as that guy who cooks by my co-workers.

Quick movie review

Quantum of Solace: Bourne. James Bourne. That pretty much sums up what this entry of the 007 series is all about. It's not a James Bond movie, but a flat out Jason Bourne copycat. "Dark" government agent gone rogue, motivated by revenge? Check. Confusing, extremely tight and overly shaky camerawork during the action scenes? Check. There were several good spots (the opera scene, an allusion to Goldfinger), but they were few and far between. Casino Royale was a good reboot for the character, and Solace would've been a great place to update and reintroduce some of the things that made this series fun to a new generation. But it didn't and director Marc Forster merely made a generic action movie. I miss the gadgets. I miss the cheesy one liners. I miss our hero bedding EVERY woman (whose names are silly double entendres, I should add) that he meets. I miss James Bond.

Note: At least, after being M.I.A. in Casino Royale, the nekkid babes are back in the opening credit sequence. And Jack White and Alicia Keys' song was okay. But don't get me started on this movie's dumb title*, lack of the "Bond, James Bond" line, and the placement of the opening iconic gun barrel shot at the very end.

*Yeah, I know there are only a handful of unused Ian Fleming titles and this is the best of that meager lot, but still...

Song to get you through the weekend: "Humble Bee" by John Wesley Harding

Just because John Wesley Harding is one of my all-time favorite artists and deserves a bigger audience than he currently has. Wes's got a new album coming out early next year and I'm really hoping that his inevitable tour makes a stop around me. When I go to a show I love to hear witty stage banter and interesting stories, and he delivers those in spades*.

*It probably helps that he's also an author.

30 rock tumbler

Tonight's new episode of "30 Rock": "The One with the Cast of Night Court"

Liz's former roommate from Chicago, Claire Harper, comes to visit her and Jenna. She develops a stalker-like obsession with Jack. Kenneth is unhappy with the new page uniforms so Tracy decides to cheer him up with the help of Night Court cast members Harry Anderson, Markie Post and Charlie Robinson.

Discuss.

Office chatter

Tonight's new episode of "The Office": "Business Trip"

Michael brings Andy and Oscar on a business trip to Canada, while Jim counts down the days until Pam gets back from art school.

Discuss.

Sunny day

Tonight's new episode of "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia": "The Gang Gets Extreme: Home Makeover Edition"

The gang give an extreme home makeover to an ill-fated family, and they hope to receive good karma in return so that their own dreams will come true.

Discuss.

This video raises more questions than it answers

What are they saying? Who is the guy dancing like Joe Cocker on crystal meth? Why is he only allowed to rise from the floor during the choruses? What kind of instrument is that other dude playing? Where can I get one of those sports coats? And that guy with the pane of glass...WHY?!

I'm so confused.

Credit due: wh1skeylover. Thanks for providing an opportunity for me to stare into the abyss.

Quick movie review

Zack and Miri Make a Porno: This is the first non-"Jersey Trilogy" Kevin Smith film that I've seen (though I would like to see Jersey Girl someday). Going in, my expectations were very high and, unfortunately, the movie didn't meet them. That's not to say that this isn't a very solid comedy, because it is. But you've got to judge a comedy on the big laughs that it provides and it just didn't deliver as many as I'm used to with a Smith movie. He's matured as a director and a writer, though. The dialogue is less like a series of monologues and much more natural (probably due to Seth Rogen's insistence that the director greatly easy up on his "no improv" rule). And "the scene" between Rogen and Elizabeth Banks is expertly shot and probably the most well-crafted one of Kevin Smith's entire oeuvre. It doesn't hurt that Banks' O-face is the sexiest thing that I've seen all year. That alone is worth the price of admission.

Song to get you through the weekend: "I'm Walking This Road Because You Stole My Car (Don't Go)" by Fascinoma

So, I was watching the most recent episode of "American Dad" - a show that started out pretty badly, but has improved greatly - and I had a reaction I'd never thought that this cartoon would provoke: I got a tiny bit choked up. There was a scene where Steve has a "powerful, powerful wet dream" in which he is bonding with a stray cat that he found earlier, but then abandoned. What's going onscreen was funny, so I pretty much determined that the sentimentality of the scene was due to the beautiful song being played over the montage.

After a little bit of AltaVistaing, I found out that the song is "I'm Walking This Road Because You Stole My Car (Don't Go)" by Fascinoma and is available for download on Amazon. It just so happened that Amazon stuck in 5 Pepsi Points - just enough for a free song download - with my order last week. I immediately snagged this song and have been listening to it constantly over the last few days. (Honestly, I would've plopped down the $.79 for song if I didn't have the points.)

The above video doesn't have much to it, but at least it plays the whole song. There's a snippet of the band playing it live here, but their drummer's a tad too enthusiastic during the performance (thankfully, she's not on the studio version).

My Autumn Mix 2008

The leaves have turned and the temperatures have dropped (well, except for today), so why not listen to some suitably chill music in my Autumn Mix?

Unfortunately, Muxtape has been shut down by the RIAA (and will reopen later with an entirely different focus), so I couldn't post this one there like I've done with previous seasonal mixes. Luckily, I discovered imeem and, unlike Muxtape, it lets you embed your playlist. Sweet!



But imeem doesn't have all of the music that I included on my Autumn Mix CD. The missing songs are as follows (YouTube videos provided where available):

The Cure - "2 Late"
Greg Garing - "Safe Within Your Arms"
Lights - "February Air"
Steve Earle with Allison Moorer - "Days Aren't Long Enough"
Hotel Lights - "Amelia Bright"
Mazzy Star - "Halah"
Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan - "(Do You Wanna) Come Walk With Me"

Notes:
- The only version of "The Drugs Don't Work" available on imeem is a live one, but the one that I put on the CD is the studio version.
- The mix of "Everybody But Me" above is different than the one that is on my CD. I think the one on imeem is a demo.

30 rock tumbler

Tonight's new episode of "30 Rock": "Believe In The Stars"

To get out of jury duty, Liz flies to Chicago only to be sat next to Oprah Winfrey on her return flight to New York. An argument between Tracy and Jenna leads to a "social experiment" to prove who is right. Kenneth challenges Jack's morality after an "Olympics snafu".

Discuss.

Office chatter

Tonight's new episode of "The Office": "Customer Survey"

Dwight and Jim are shocked when they get the results of the annual customer survey report.

Discuss.

Sunny day

Tonight's new episode of "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia": "The Gang Cracks The Liberty Bell"

The gang fudge history by claiming that Paddy's Pub was responsible for cracking the Liberty Bell in an attempt to turn their dive into a Philadelphia landmark.

Discuss.

The afternoon after

Yes, the next four years seem kind of dire. Media censorship, an even bigger government, higher taxes, dissent squashed with cries of racism, an increased welfare/nanny state, the end of secret union ballots, socialized medicine, a curbing of our Constitutional rights, and a threat to the life of our most innocent are all possibly looming on the horizon. It's looking pretty grim, folks, but luckily I am able to see at least some bright sides to what happened last night:

• We can start putting race behind us. While racism has been a blight on this country for centuries, Obama is now The Man. That says a whole lot about how far we've come. Let's put an end to the Race Baiting Industrial Complex. Give Jesse, Al, et al. some pink slips.


• The GOP may get back to its roots. The party's been taken over by neo-conservatives, those big government liberals who have a hard on for the military. Maybe party leaders will see that they've hurt the party more than they've helped it and kick them out. Then they can get back to their basic principles of smaller government and fiscal responsibility.


• The Democrats likely won't get a supermajority in Congress. That just makes it a little harder for them to railroad their damaging policies through the legislative process. Shooting down Obama's more outrageous spending proposals will make the Republican's "fiscally responsible" tag legit, setting them up for gains in 2010. Here's to the GOP growing a pair.


• The trivial minute-by-minute Sarah Palin witch hunt will end. Folks, the irrational hatred of this accomplished woman and her family got really old really quickly.


• A new generation of libertarians are born. Once some of those young wide-eyed idealists and "history voters" see how much the government will weasel it's way into their lives and rape their paychecks, there's a chance that disillusionment will breed rationality. Viva la revolution!


• "The Daily Show" will (hopefully) refocus. For too long they've stuck to the "we're-not-biased-we-just-make-fun-of-the-party-in-power" line. Well, suddenly the Democrats are the sole party of power. Now it's Jon Stewart's time to walk it like he talks it. Maybe those woefully misinformed kids who rely on this show for their news will see a different side. I'm skeptical, though. Stephen Colbert gets a pass because he's always hilarious.


• The bar is set extremely low for the Presidential qualifications. A junior first-term Senator who spent the bulk of the last two years campaigning rather than doing his job? Seriously, people? That's it. Tomorrow I set up my 2012 exploratory committee.


• The world's view of the US may improve. Ceding our country's autonomy to the UN and the World Court would be extremely unwise and I pray that we don't go down that route. But I'm optimistic that the world's people will be nicer to us and I won't have to adopt a thick Scottish brogue when traveling abroad.


• The Anti-Bush Merchandising Industry will not go bankrupt. They'll just have to transition to an anti-Obama model. Yes, you can!


• Schadenfreude, schadenfreude, schadenfreude. The next four years of seeing Obama's fans get upset because he can't possibly deliver all of the sunshine and lollipops that he promised will be absolutely delicious. When he doesn't pay their mortgages or fill up their tanks, they will be weeping out of disappointment and frustration, not joy. Oh, the tears of unfathomable sadness! Yummy!


• Palin 2012. Some may not want to acknowledge it, but with this election she planted the seeds of a fervent base. I was at the rallies. I saw them. You can't stop this woman. You can only hope to contain her.

The next four years will indeed suck, but it won't be that bad. It may not be what Obama had in mind, but his presidency does give me a little bit of hope.

How I'm coping with this historic night

Oh, sweet elixir, please tell me it was all a dream.

Obama: "Look in my eyes. What do you see?"

I swear that I came up with the idea of setting Obama footage to Living Colour's "Cult of Personality" before I saw these YouTube videos, but I lack the necessary editing skills to actually make it happen. I still think it's a clever - if rather obvious - idea.



There are other videos here and here.

And I would've never connected the first term junior senator from Illinois with Cake's "Comfort Eagle," but somehow it all makes sense...



And lastly, it's the reeeeeeeemix!



Children just love Dear Leader!

Micah World endorses Skywalker/Soup Nazi

One defeated the Empire. The other makes a mean mulligatawny. 'Nuff said.

My second date with Sarah Palin

Well, it's been a little over a fortnight since my first date with Gov. Sarah Palin. And while at least I had a good time then - I can't vouch for her - I hadn't heard from her since. Did I tick her off somehow? Did she see the Slate and NPR podcasts on my iPod? Was it the unsavory Blue State company that I keep? The fact that I hate Power Country?

It turns out that I was over thinking her silence, as I'm unfortunately wont to do. She e-mailed me again last week to set up a second date for Saturday!



This next date was a nighttime one, which was a good sign. I didn't quite "get" why she wanted to meet at a high school, though. I'm fifteen years removed from my school, she much more from hers. But, hey, I went along with it, though I also questioned why she wanted the date to be outside. Those are great for springtime walks through the park; not so much for standing still while the temperature drops. I just chalked it up to that being how they do things in Alaska. In a budding relationship that has so much potential such as this one, it's best not to second guess yourself, lest you screw things up.

So, there was a lot of waiting around for her. I knew she had to run some errands in a couple of other states that day, but I showed up early anyway. Just as I was ready to leave, she showed up, looking as beautiful as ever.

Like last time, she did most, nay all of the talking. Some of the conversation (if you could call it that) was just her repeating stories from our last date. And lots of talking about her old man again (I'm starting to think that she's got daddy issues). But she did have some new stuff to talk about. Something about clean coal and a looming dangerous monopoly of the federal government, I think. Again, I was too busy swooning, like when Elaine dated "The Wiz" on that episode of "Seinfeld."



Our date was all too brief, though. Since it was getting late, she had to get going. I was hoping that she'd invite me in for "moose burgers" (or "coffee," as we call it in the Lower 48), but no dice. On the bright side, I guess that's a good indication that she's not a slut.

Unfortunately, this may have been our last meeting for a while. See, if she doesn't get that big promotion tomorrow, she said that she was just going to go back to her folks' place up north and get her life in order. But she left open the possibility of another date in, say, four years. I wished her well, we tearfully said our goodbyes, and that was it.

I don't know, man. If she doesn't get that promotion, it's going to be a long wait. In the meantime I'll have to hit eHarmony or CPAC.



It's a shame, too, since my sister hasn't liked any of my previous girlfriends, much less cheered and waved signs when she hung out with them. There's just something special about Sarah.

"Like the back of a Volkswagen?": my Halloween costume that wasn't

I spent Halloween doling out candy at my sister's house, so both she and her husband could take their kids out trick or treating. Since I wasn't out making merry (read: getting drunk), I didn't bother dressing up. But what would I go as if I had gone out?

One of my cinematic heroes: Brodie from Mallrats.





The similarities are striking, no? Granted, I didn't have a Dixie cup or bag of chocolate-covered pretzels*, but I would've acquired those items had I officially dressed up for the holiday.



And just for the heck of it, here's another Mallrats picture. This one always makes me chuckle.

Mallrats is probably my favorite Kevin Smith movie (a view that pretty much only I hold) and has a special place in my heart. The day after a bad break-up with a college girlfriend, my school was showing this movie and I went...and laughed my butt off. Then I went back and watched it again the next night. And the night after that one. I know that it's weird to find such solace in a movie consisting solely of dick and fart jokes, but it got me through a really bad time.

So that's my Brodie Bruce outfit. I've had a different costume in mind for the past few Halloweens now, but have never actually assembled it. I'm still going to keep mum about what it is, but hopefully, next year it'll come to fruition.

*They'd be a little bit melty, but damn exquisite.

Song to get you through the weekend: "Halloween" by Stephen Lynch

Because Halloween's not over until the stores run out of heavily-discounted candy.

Why I love Halloween Part IV

Giving thanks for the one day a year that otherwise non-slutty women are given a license to dress like prostitutes is becoming a Micah World tradition.

Bonus: zombie pin-ups!

Credit due for the last link: SBN1