New Year's Eve with Harry and Sally

My sister used to play this clip at my grandmother's house every New Year's Eve, so even though it's incredibly sappy, it always makes me think of my family and of my childhood :)




Celebrate New Year's on YouTube!
And do everything else on YouTube, too - just like I do!!

New Year's Rockin'Eve
Dick Clark will NEVER, EVER die. He's amazing.

Celebrity New Year's Parties
Hmm... Does Weird Al Yankovich throw a party? I'd go to that.

Escape From Christmas!

Yesterday, I escaped from Christmas for a few moments and sped off in my brother's car (if you're reading this, Steven, I didn't really speed ... really) while listening to Beethoven's 9th Symphony. I rolled all the windows down and blasted the stereo, and my hair whirled around in the wind and the music, and it was. just. wonderful.



I'm very conscious of what I'm eating today, since yesterday I gorged, of course, on tamales, Spanish rice and my father's amazing homeade bread. But we ordered Sonic at work today, and I had to do some research to avoid getting any fatter than I already am. If you're interested, here's some calorie info :) ... Not that I'm counting calories or anything like that (ahem).

Jalapeño Cheeseburger
610 calories 280 from fat

Jr. Cheesburger
380 calories 180 from fat

Grilled Chicken Sandwich
420 calories 180 from fat

Grilled Chicken Salad (no dressing)
300 calories 120 from fat

And save yourself 270 calories - don't order the fries! I'm just sayin' ...

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Más sleep = better heart!
I knew it!

Create your own stamps
My dream come true!

Wal-Mart to sell iPhone
I really don't care - I love my Centro!!

The Dingo Ate Your Baby!
Why are people so crazy???

Read The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Girl Talk
Most awesome awesomeness

Let's play some games!

And RIP Eartha Kitt and Harold Pinter.
We lost two legends in two days.

Kitt sings Santa Baby:


Pinter on the invasion of Iraq:
"an act of blatant state terrorism, demonstrating absolute contempt for the concept of international law."

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Listening to: Andre Rieu's Tuscany

I want an official Red Ryder, carbine action, two-hundred shot range model air rifle!

No! You'll shoot your eye out!

Merry Christmas!!!

Regarding the Precambrian :)

Kenton Stufflebeam ... what a name.

My fave story of the year:

Fifth Grader Corrects the Smithsonian!

You go, Kid.

Woo Hoo!!!

I am so incredibly excited. I need to take deep, long breaths to calm myself. After months of living as a recluse, my best friends are all in the city. AT THE SAME TIME. I barely know what to do with myself. I'm pacing and I just wolfed down a cheeseburger, and I don't know. I think I need a tranquilizer or something.

Anyway, in other news, I am thrilled about the holidays (have I mentioned this fact yet?) and that doesn't help any with my heart rate. Is it possible to be too happy? It worries me because I come from a long line of pessimists, who believe that when things are going very well, this means they are about to get very, very wrong. I hope that lifelong belief doesn't apply to my current situation.

www.savagechickens.com

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Will Smith's New Movie is Lame

I dislike most Will Smith movies. Except Six Degrees of Separation; he was fantastic in that one.

Franke Potente on Soderbergh's Che

Love Franke.

Love Soderbergh.
Love Del Toro.

Pretty please, Santa, let it be good. I behaved this year ... mostly.

Sarah Palin Time Mag's Runner Up Person of the Year. Really? No, Really?

Iraqi Government Says 'Get Out'

At least they didn't throw any shoes.

Warner Music, You Bunch of Stupid Old Farts Remove your content from YouTube - fine. But realize that you are simply shooting yourselves in the foot (feet?). YouTube is a phenomenon, a vast sharing site that connects styles, tastes and interests all over the globe. I use the site often to listen to and discover new music - THEN I BUY IT. The audio quality is typically terrible, so I'm not going to use YouTube as a listening service or to steal your music or some such nonsense. I use it when I'm curious about an artist. God, Warner, GET WITH IT.

On a related note... Music Industry is Going to Stop Suing Small Children and Old Ladies.

Thank God.

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www.leeds.ac.uk

The Man Who Invented Christmas

Standiford's good at finding the small detail, the bit of color that a substantial Dickens biography might overlook. He catalogs how Scrooge has become "common cultural property" and how "Carol" is so thoroughly embedded in our collective mind that, were all copies destroyed, the story "could be written again."

Listening to: Los Campesinos

Gold Diggers of 1933

1:49 - 2:30 specifically. This is one of the greatest things I've seen on film, and I can't quite explain why. Ginger Rogers' face is just remarkable - I love it.

I can't wait for Christmas!!

And to celebrate I force upon you the Star Wars Holiday special.



My brother Dean sent me the link to it - I LOVE IT. Almost as much as my Centro.

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Someone finally threw a shoe at Bush.

Obama appoints yet another member to the DC Justice League!

Caroline Kennedy seeks Senate seat.

The biggest fraud in history?
Bernard L. Madoff's billion dollar scam.

From Russia with love.
Russia's Miss Consitution Pageant is a hit!

Susan Sontag's journals.
Can they possibly be as spicy as Anais Nin's?

Phone, you are my monolith.

Look at me, gaze upon my awesomeness!

So I have a new phone, and I am completely, irrevocably in love with it. I haven't been so much in love with an inatimate object since I purchased my laptop at Best Buy with 6 months no interest. When I look it at it I hear 2001's Thus Spake Zarathustra pulsating in my head. It's magic ... and this probably means I'm more of a materialistic person than I once thought.

In other news,

Tonight ABC airs the documentary Drama High: The making of a high school musical.
Wherein kids fight over roles in The Wiz. I have a feeling this will bring back memories.

Then Tuesday night, ABC airs A Charlie Brown Christmas.

Click Here to listen to Vince Guaraldi's amazing score.
and here to read or listen to NPR's great 2006 commentary on it.

Wednesday, NBC airs A Muppets Christmas: Letters to Santa.
I will watch anything involving Kermit the Frog. ANYTHING.

I've put together a list of movies I really want to see in the next few months (if I can get my lazy arse out to the theatre):

1. Milk

2. Rachel Getting Married

3. Synecdoche, New York

4. The Wrestler

5. Cadillac Records

6. Slumdog Millionaire

7. Australia

7. Wall-E

8. Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist ...

Wait, some of these aren't even in theatres anymore, are they?? {Groan} I'm so out of it.

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Oh, and this is my favorite blog of the day - well, my favorite thing today period .. next to my phone: Citizen Kane posted an event ... and nobody came.

Listening to: Vampire Weekend