Monday, December 26, 2005

I forgot to tell you

I'm on vacation this week, traveling to see extended family. Christmas was good, and I'm really looking forward to having my parents and brothers meet little CBK Jr. for the first time.

Hope you are all having a great holiday season and getting time off work.

I may post random things this week, and will be back full-time on Jan 3.

See you all then.

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Thursday, December 22, 2005

Rocketboom!

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Found via Graculus.

It's a hilarious video blog/news program, and they update it every day. Check it out, if you haven't already.

In the interest of full disclosure, I am quite smitten with the host, but the content is also top notch.

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Caption This Picture

The models are getting thinner and thinner these days....

My entries:

"It's going to be a busy weekend."

and

"It's going to be a VERY merry Christmas."

The winner will be immortalized as the pop-up caption for this picture. Since mine are lame, they won't win unless nobody else submits any. So please, submit some in the comments.

And I'll preempt the inevitable "CBK's dirty little secret... exposed!" entry right now.

iPod: "Jesus Doesn't Want Me for a Sunbeam" by Nirvana.

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DVD Coup of the (Yester) Day

SWEET!!!

Wonderfalls, the complete series, found at Media Play's store-closing sale for 30% off!

I loved this show, and was so pissed when they cancelled it. A show like "Joan of Arcadia" becomes a surprise hit, and this show struggles? At least "Joan" nosedived in its second season.

iPod: "Quiet Crown" by Idlewild.

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Make a run for the (northern) border!

Reason # 36 why I love Canada:

Court OKs Group Sex in 'Swinger' Clubs.

iPod: "Welcome to the Occupation" by R.E.M.

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Tuesday, December 20, 2005

'A' for effort...

Jail for being bad, bad boys. These guys represent the best of American business: ingenuity, creative and environmentally-sound use of space, effective use of technology, cheap overhead labor costs, efficient production of in-demand goods. And what do we do with them? We put them in jail!

For those of you too lazy to click the link, the story is about some guys in Tennessee who set up a high-tech pot growing operation in a naturally occurring cave. Here are some excerpts from the article:

The cave was beneath a stylish A-frame home where authorities say three men were able to grow as much as 100 pounds of marijuana every eight weeks. "It's pretty amazing what they had under there - water for irrigation, special lighting, devices to keep the humidity just right." ... "They could grow in 60 days what it would take four and a half months to grow outside."

"The front of the cave used to be a hole that you'd crawl into, and it opened up into a pretty big room that was 20-feet high. They cut the side of the hill so you could just drive right into the cave."

To harvest the illegal crop, Thompson said the men would hire a half-dozen Hispanic workers in Arizona and drive them to Tennessee. For part of the journey the windows on the van would be covered so the workers did not know where they were.


Should we really be putting creative entrepreneurs like this behind bars? I say put them on The Apprentice and let The Donald rehabilitate them.

And special thanks to Lovely Wife for making the thickest ham and cheese sandwich I've ever had for my lunch. It was yummy!

iPod: No Sensitivity" by Jimmy Eat World, "Minuet" by Braid, "Absolute Zero Drive" by Hey Mercedes, "Standard Lines" by Dashboard Confessional, and "Drugs or Me" by Jimmy Eat World.

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Monday, December 19, 2005

Holiday Potpourri

I have some things floating in my head, but no real unifying theme of what to write. I'm also too lazy to get my links to open in a different window. Here goes:

- There is a lot of 80s nostalgia around, with a lot of now-silly shows, cartoons, and video games getting lots of love. The new big thing appears to be Thundercats. But there are a few things I loved that aren't getting a lot of press yet. Like MASK, and Voltron, and The Mighty Orbots. Lesser players, to be sure, but good stuff for a kid in the mid 80s. Of course, since there are web resources for these shows, someone is feeling the love; but it hasn't risen to the mainstream yet.

- Speaking of cartoons, my older son, quite out of the blue, decided to watch the Disney movie Hercules this weekend. I've decided that Megara from that movie is my "most attractive Disney heroine". I know they slutted up Esmeralda in The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and Ariel from The Little Mermaid is innocent beauty incarnate, but for some reason Meg "does" it for me more than the others. Feel free to vote for your favorite male/female characters from the Disney animated movies. And no, this is not at all creepy, so feel free to participate.

- Speaking of attractive women, I've been looking for a way to poll people on their favorite current TV women. The two women I find most attractive on TV right now are on shows I don't watch. Kristen Bell from Veronica Mars and Lauren Graham from Gilmore Girls. Who are your fave women/men?

- Speaking of TV shows, I have a theory that most family-centric sitcoms have an episode where the existence of Santa Claus is either affirmed or hinted at. It's a common theme, with one glaring exception: The Brady Bunch! I can't name another show starring children, and likely watched by children, that openly admits that Santa doesn't exist. As much as I owe to The Bradys for raising me, I can't believe, nor can I forgive, they did this. It's the episode when Carol loses her voice, even though she's supposed to sing a solo in church on Christmas Day. (BTW, this may be the only time the Bradys were ever in church in the whole series.) Cindy asks Santa for her voice back. Santa says yes. Mike goes to the Santa locker room and chastises the fake Santa for promising the impossible to a little girl. Before Christmas everyone tries to temper Cindy's optimism, knowing that there's no Santa to grant her wish. Then, miraculously, Carol can sing on Christmas morn. Sure, something unexplained happened, but they had already destroyed the Santa myth before that, so there's no wiggle room to imply it really was Santa who did it.

- Speaking of Christmas, I just don't get this whole "War on Christmas" thing. Why are people picketing WalMart to get it to restore the word "Christmas" in its ads? Tell you what, you open a chain of superstores, adamantly promote the trappings of your religion, and see how well you do. Make sure you take the offensive half of the music, movies and books out while you're at it. If you don't like what they've done, stop shopping there. But where in the hell do you get off EXPECTING a multinational corporation to endorse your religious views? No company has an obligation to do that, and you can't seem to understand that concept. Because you're stupid. Really, really stupid. I think these religious nuts just feel betrayed. I mean, they used to be able to count on WalMart to tear down small businesses, have discriminatory hiring practices, foster near slave-labor conditions for immigrants, and contribute heartily to the Republican coffers. But now the company has turned its back on them by removing the word "Christmas" from its ads. Thanks a lot, Judas!

- Speaking of Christians (the good kind), I've finally added Lisa the Knitter to my links. The trio of hipster Torontonians is now complete, with Rachel and the Sarcastrix. Lisa knits, but she's so much more! She's a PhD candidate in some heavy science-y stuff, likes cheesy movies, speaks fluent German, and has the foulest mouth of any devout Christian blogger I've ever read. And that's a good thing. I confess I've been reading her for a while, but never linked her because I wasn't sure if she liked me. It appears she likes my kids, though, so that's enough. I shouldn't deny you all the joys of her site just because I can be annoying on other people's sites. Check her out.

- And not speaking of anything related at all, Omega, by narrow popular demand, has posted one of his many short stories. It wasn't the one I voted for, but I really enjoyed it. And not because a stripper is the main character. Go read it here.

iPod: "First Day Back" by Braid, "So Excited to Sleep" by This Is Me Smiling, "Killing a Camera (live)" by Braid, "It's Been a Blast" by Hey Mercedes, "Hold Me Down" by Motion City Soundtrack, "Chachi" by Jimmy Eat World, "Every Turn" by Hey Mercedes, "Model H" by Jimmy Eat World, "For Holly" by The City on Film, "Knowing When to Stop" by Hey Mercedes, "Own Up" by Hey Mercedes, "Eeyore and Easel" by Braid, "Never Will Come for Us (live)" by Braid, "Bleed American" by Jimmy Eat World, "Everybody's Working for the Weak" by Hey Mercedes, "Give Me Good News" by The City on Film, "Game of Pricks" by Jimmy Eat World, "Do You Love Coffee?" by Braid, "We Lie Half the Time" by Hey Mercedes, "Screaming Infidelities" by Dashboard Confessional, and "I'd Rather Be Wine Drunk" by The City on Film.

Can you tell I made an "Emo" playlist on my iPod?

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Friday, December 16, 2005

Real Beautiful Women - DC Edition

I must confess I was a bit disappointed at how few I found in DC. My former home not representin' too well on Yahoo Personals.

Real Pretty
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Real Cutie
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Real Hottie
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Image hosted by TinyPic.com

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Oh, all right!

I'll post some pics of the kids. I can't think of anything else to write about today, and if I don't get something up by noon, no one will read it because it's Friday. So here are some shots of the boys at their "Holiday" card photo shoot. Enjoy, and have a good weekend.

Look out, Ladies!
This is my high school yearbook glamour shot.
I hope Little Brother likes his present.
Whatever, I know it's only onesies.
Did Mommy just lift her shirt?
I do smile a lot, just not to cameras.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, everyone!

In some browsers you can hold the pointer over a pic and a silly caption will pop up. Give it a try.

iPod: "I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire" by The City on Film, "Sweet Ride" by Belly, "Auctioneer (Another Engine)" by R.E.M., "On Fire" by Van Halen, "Ghost Rider" by Rush, "Mixin' up ADJectives" by This Is Me Smiling, and "The Last Hour" by Elliott Smith.

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Thursday, December 15, 2005

I'm not buyin' it!

Although he IS mentally ill.

According to this article, Nancy Grace has a stalker. An amorous stalker. I know, I can't believe it either. According to court papers filed by Grace, he is "apparently obsessed with Ms. Grace, believes that he loves her, insists that she can solve all of his problems and will help him to meet with Osama bin Laden."

For what purpose he wants to meet with Osama, the article does not elaborate. It does say that he has been "confined in a Manhattan hospital's psychiatric ward since Dec. 2." Things are starting to make more sense now, but I'm still skeptical about the love part. More likely he thinks Osama's offering a bounty on her head and he wants to collect.

In case you're not familiar with Ms. Grace, here she is:
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And it only gets worse when you hear her speak. Nancy's a legal analyst for CourtTV and CNN. She's a former prosecutor who is tough on crime and criminals, and I don't even care about her ideological views. She's just infinitely fucking annoying. It's such a shame that Melanie Hustle is no longer with Saturday Night Live, because she would be perfect for some prime Nancy Grace mockery. (And that's all she'd be good for, since she was HORRIBLE!)

Funny aside, while searching for a pic of Nancy, Google Images produced this photo:
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The likeness is uncanny!
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iPod: "Like Egypt Was" by Michael Penn, "Omaha" by Counting Crows, "Available Memory" by Soundtrak, "Shipbuilding" by Elvis Costello, "The Fez" by The Dead Milkmen, and "Steve's Last Night in Town" by Ben Folds Five.

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Wednesday, December 14, 2005

The Good and the Bad

1. Checking Sitemeter and finding out one of our client's employees innocently stumbled upon this site:

That's good.

2. Getting upset at my wife, laying into her about her behavior, and having her laugh in my face:

That's bad.

iPod: "Forgiveness" by The City on Film, "Jimmy Go Swimmer" by Braid.

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Tuesday, December 13, 2005

Whew, that was a close one!

It's a good thing that I don't practice law, because I think I would probably be a bad lawyer. A bad contract lawyer, anyway. Hopefully I can make enough money being a non-lawyer to pay off my obscene law school loans. That's probably ironic, but I'm not sure.

For all you Miss Czech Republic fans out there, here are a couple more pictures of her I stumbled upon, and that will bring my Miss World Objectification Project to a close.

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Sunday, December 11, 2005

You Pick Miss World - The Results!

The votes have been counted, and the winners are in!

Fourth Runner-up is:

Miss Costa Rica, Leonora Jimenez Monge with 11 points.
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Image hosted by TinyPic.com

Third Runner-up is:

Miss Canada, Ramona Rina Amiri with 13 points.
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Image hosted by TinyPic.com

Second Runner-up is:

Miss Mexico, Dafne Molina Lona with 22 points.
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Image hosted by TinyPic.com

First Runner-up is:

Miss Iceland, Unnur Birna Vilhjalmsdottir with 23 points.
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Image hosted by TinyPic.com

And the Blog Miss World is:

Miss Albania, Suada Sherifaj with 40 points.
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Image hosted by TinyPic.com

Thanks to everyone who voted. I was pleasantly surprised at the level of participation. And special thanks to Graculus for supplying me with the list of contestants and for promoting this little contest on his site.

In case you didn't hear, the winner of the ACTUAL pageant in China this weekend was:

Reggie Bush, of USC with 2,541 points.
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Actually, it was Miss Iceland.
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Congratulations to her and to those who championed her in this vote.

Turkey was robbed, man. Robbed!
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Image hosted by TinyPic.com

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Thursday, December 08, 2005

You Pick Miss World - The Finals!

Well, the results have been tabulated and the winners from each group are:

South Europe - Miss Albania
Americas - Miss Canada
Asia Pacific - Miss Australia
Caribbean - Miss Martinique
Africa - Miss Ethiopia
North Europe - Miss Denmark

Instead of breaking ties and only taking the top two from each group, I've decided to include all the women tied for second in each group (except for the Caribbean group, where Miss Martinique was the only contestant with more than one vote). The reason for this is that I checked out the contestants' photo pages on the official Miss World website. Seeing multiple pictures can make a big difference in elevating or lowering a contestant's chances. To be fair, I wanted to give you all the opportunity to incorporate those images into your judging process before you vote on your final choices. Unfortunately, it's late and I don't have time to post the pictures here, so you'll have to click the links to view them. I recommend that you do, because your opinions may certainly change once you see more.

Before I introduce all the finalists, let me be clear about how the voting will work in this round. Vote only ONCE! That means only one comment. In your comment list your top five, numbered 1-5, in the order you would like them to finish; with 1 meaning first place and 5 meaning fifth. The places have weighted point values. A 1st place vote is worth 5 points, 2nd is worth 4 points, 3rd is worth 3 points, 4th place is worth 2 points, and 5th place is worth 1 point. The contestant with the highest point total will win the title Miss World (at least on this blog). In the event of a tie we will have a lightning round vote between the tied contestants only, with a winner declared by simple majority vote.

Here are the 18 finalists, in alphabetical order. Make sure you click the links for additional photos.



ALBANIA
Suada Sherifi

Additional photos


AUSTRALIA
Dennae Brunow

Additional photos


CANADA
Ramona Amiri

Additional photos


COSTA RICA
Leonora Jimenez

Additional photos


CZECH REPUBLIC
Lucie Králova

Additional photos


DENMARK
Trine Lundgaard Neilsen

Additional photos


ETHIOPIA
Seble Mekonnen

Additional photos


GREECE
Katerina Stickoudi

Additional photos


HONG KONG
Tracy Ip Chui Chui

Additional photos


ICELAND
Unnur Birna Vilhjálmsdóttir

Additional photos


INDIA
Sindhura Gadde

Additional photos


MARTINIQUE
Sarann Moana Robinel

Additional photos


MEXICO
Dafne Molina

Additional photos


PHILIPPINES
Carlene Aguilar

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POLAND
Malwina Ratajczak

Additional photos


SCOTLAND
Aisling Friel

Additional photos


TURKEY
Hande Subasi

Additional photos


UGANDA
Praise Juliet Akankwasa

Additional photos

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