I'm the dandy highway man

who you're too scared to mention.

This song brings me BACK.



It's so awesomely 80s with it's cheap art design, signature hair & makeup, low-budge effects, bare thread of a storyline, vague choreography, and some of the worst lip-synching I've ever seen. And that includes my own bathroom mirror. It even features a young Amanda Donohoe as the lady in the carriage! And this song is so dang catchy!

I totally remember watching this as a kid and thinking how absolutely foxy Adam Ant was. Seriously, I wish I could look as pretty as he does in makeup. If I were to watch this video half-asleep I would swear it's Megan Fox's head on top of Prince's body, wearing a pirate costume stolen from a local high school. And the best part? Adam Ant totally knows it--like when he's looking at himself in the mirror at the end of the video, you know his inner monologue is just muttering, I am so damn good-looking.

If we could all be Adam Ant for just one day.

Sorta here

From the New Yorker:

finally went to the gym

and exercised for the first time in weeks. Man, I love that feeling after working out.

Which is: God, I can't wait to stuff my face.

Kinda Here

From the New Yorker:

only 17 right

Didn't win the Oscar Pool. Someone actually got 20 out of 24 right. Ouch. There goes my movie street cred.

Last night's Oscars (hosted by an earnest and ridiculously likeable Hugh Jackman) was very inoffensive and fairly boring but had some moving moments--like when the previous supporting actor noms got to hear previous winners (who are now respected veterans) sing their praises, you could tell some were so touched and felt validation that brought some near to tears. There were some miscues: were some of the presenters ad libbing? Man, some of that chat was pretty awful. And what was up with the orchestra playing while some of the presenters were talking? It was like the music that hints they're supposed to wrap their speech up and it looked like it threw off Jackman a couple of times and Daniel Craig and Sarah Jessica Parker when they were presenting. The key highlights for me was when Jackman announced that the retiring president of the Academy wasn't going to give a speech and the Steve Martin & Tina Fey presentation of the screenwriting awards. If the rest of the show had the humor and wit of Martin and Fey, I wouldn't have felt bad for all my East Coast friends staying up late watching. But alas...sorry, guys.

On to next year!

My Oscar Picks

I'm running the Oscar pool this year. Here are my Oscar predictions for 2009:

Best Picture: Slumdog Millionaire
Actor, Leading: Sean Penn
Actor, Supporting: Heath Ledger
Actress, Leading: Kate Winslet
Actress, Supporting: Viola Davis
Animated Feature: Wall-E
Art Direction: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Cinematography: Slumdog Millionaire
Costume Design: The Duchess
Directing: Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire
Documentary Feature: Man on a Wire
Documentary Short: The Witness-From the Balcony of Room 306
Film Editing: Slumdog Millionaire
Foreign language film: Waltz with Bashir
Makeup: Hellboy II
Original Score: Slumdog Millionaire
Original Song: "Down to Earth", Wall-E
Short Film, Animated: Presto
Short Film, Live Action: Spielzeugland (Toyland)
Sound Editing: The Dark Knight
Sound Mixing: The Dark Knight
Visual Effects: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Screenplay, Adapted: Slumdog Millionaire
Screenplay, Original: Milk

Wish me luck!

Pranking in the name of love

So I have to confess that I pranked someone at work for Valentine's Day last Friday. I got a bit of "So I hear you hate Valentine's Day" from my post last year from this person, which I clarified was more about the annoyances of the greedy machinations of Valentine's Day (and Mother's Day for that matter), not the sentiment.

So in case she didn't believe me, I made my case. I got to her desk before she came in and I gave her the nice wood tag and re-arranged her keyboard to spell it out:

And I gave a sprinkles container filled with classic conversation hearts as well:

See? Does this look like the work of a Valentine's Day hater?

What I didn't know was that keyboard keys are fitted for certain rows and when she tried logging in when she got into work (because, of course, she didn't look at her keyboard), a couple of the keys got stuck. Apparently she was a touch annoyed and hunted down another keyboard to swap out. Eventually (at least I was told) she liked it.

Whew. Good thing I gave her the candy!

And I have to give sweetheart props to her--she brought me an awesome froyo-shaved ice-fresh fruit-mochi dessert when she got her stylin' haircut on her lunchbreak Tuesday. Man, I should have taken a picture, it was heaven in a big paper bowl. And yesterday she gave me some Pocky sticks!

Hmm. Perhaps I need to prank people more often.

Happy Birthday Paul

Happy Birthday to my sweet man Paul:


We celebrated over the weekend with some buffalo burgers from FuddRuckers and this marzipan cake (which we ate within 24 hours, just like last year).

Aaahhh, traditions.

Sick days

So we finished a 3 day weekend which I had put on some great expectations between doing stuff outside and getting organized but the girl was sick all weekend. I'm suspecting some flu-ish deal because she had a fever 3 days straight and pretty much spent the days in the living room with in our makeshift couchbed:

Which, truth be told, is where we all spent the weekend. Sigh. There are definitely worse things I suppose than near-complete sloth in front of the chattering cyclops, especially when someone is sick. But probably few things are less-productive. So unfortunately, this family cuddle-time is heavily laced with guilt of non-productivity. And unfortunately for me, stuffing my face with Valentine sweets doesn't count as productive either.

At least the girl is finally awake and upright, rather than pink-faced and passed out. And at least I read some books on getting organized.

A big fat Valentine's Day

Paul surprised me and Velina with Starbucks and doughnuts on Valentine's morning:

Lattes (and a hot chocolate for the girl) and a sweet pink box of Old-Fashioneds (and a frosted cake one special for the girl) made for an awesomely delicious and fattening Valentine's Day. Despite developing my third chin, it was such a sweet surprise. I loved it.


Old-fashioned doughnuts are my hands-down favorite. Back east, they're sometimes called Buttermilk doughnuts. I used to call them Oopsies because it looks like someone splatted the doughnut dough and fried them anyway. Feel free to call them that too.

I got a little crafty and made valentines for Paul and Velina:

For Paul's card I used some of Velina's fuse beads, which was a total pain in the butt--yeesh those beads are so tiny. I thought I was being so arty putting a little heart inside a balloon inside a bigger heart except when it was done I realized it looked like a sperm instead of a balloon. Paul was more disappointed that it wasn't candy when he felt the lumpy valentine. Velina's card has one of the few photos of me and her together (from Halloween).

Inside, beside some sweet babbling, I downloaded some vintage valentine images from here for the tagline of the valentine. Totally love those old valentines.

Overall a low-key Valentine's Day--the girl was pretty sick all weekend. I picked up takeout (and my old man surprised us AGAIN with a heart-shaped balloon for the girl and chocolate-covered strawberries for dessert) and the three of us watched Bedazzled, which is an okay-cute movie (I'd give it a B-) but kind of made me want to see the original with Dudley Moore and Peter Cook.

Still, a very sweet, sweet Valentine's Day.

Happy Friday

Yes, I got my hands on a wood card from here. Customized with an owl by Linda, customized with my profound sentiment by me.

For all of you on this happy Friday...the 13th!

Fidelity

The Courage Campaign has put together a video in response to Ken Starr's motion to nullify the gay marriages in California before Prop 8 passed. It still saddens me that so many used the argument of "saving marriage and families" to vote yes on Prop 8. Watching this video illuminates how voting for Prop 8 aims to do the opposite. I happened upon another scrapper/crafty mother's blog and as she's a gay mom, this post of hers brought that point home.

If you're not moved by this video, get out the paddles and scream Clear!--your heart has stopped working. If you're moved, sign the petition before Valentine's Day. The petition is voicing the unconstitutionality of Prop 8 as the California Supreme Court prepares to hear arguments on March 5.


"Fidelity": Don't Divorce... from Courage Campaign on Vimeo.

Crack that whip

My self-induced whiplash seems to be going away, so yes, I ditched going to a medical professional and again self-medicated with some more popcorn and MonsterQuest. It seems to be working. I'm now able to reverse my car and cradle a phone between my ear and shoulder without screaming (apologies to my AT&T rep, I was trying to multi-task).

As the pain ebbs away, I aim to be a lot more productive without the distraction and exhaustion that chronic pain brings. And coming out of my pretty pain cave I realized I've got a lot to catch up on.

Devo, hit it!

Stilling bugging me

It's been nearly a week and my neck is still bugging me. It varies day to day but yesterday was painful to go from sitting to standing as well as turning to my left. I tried Aleve and it had no effect. Skipping exercise to stuff my face full of popcorn and pizza on the couch is losing its healing powers. Perhaps it's time to see a medical professional but I'm reluctant to go. What could they possibly do that will actually heal my neck besides giving me stronger meds to deal with the pain? Yeesh, I guess I have to go and find out.

You know what else is really bugging me? Those stupid Mercury car insurance ads about getting it "both ways" (I can't even remember the both ways they're actually pitching)--it usually features a hidden camera with some idiot asking for a bagel "both toasted and untoasted", or a shirt "both starched and unstarched", or a cab ride that goes "both downtown and the airport". I was plagued with these commercials this weekend. It was my weekend Sophie's Choice--the maddening annoyance of watching those commercials or the literal pain of turning away.

I know. It's a sign to go to the doctor finally.

A Detour

My neck is feeling a world better. I guess skipping exercise and stuffing popcorn and Red Baron pizza in my face instead is just what the doctor ordered. There is still some pain there and when I drive my car in reverse, my turned head has a frozen pained expression where it looks like my mouth is yawning arrrgghhhh. But I believe I'm on the mend.

Hey, you know that Cars.com commercial? It's the one where a couple is happily closing a deal on their terms and the wife expresses relief that she didn't have to resort to Plan B, which was having the salesman eat a pan of brownies that she had secretly prepared with horse laxatives. The camera pans down showing that a square is already missing and it cuts to the husband who has surprised face with brownie-eating evidence around his mouth. His stomach gurgles and he races off to the bathroom as the wife resignedly sighs, "my husband kind of has a sweet tooth."

Well, we got a message on our answering machine. It was a recording from Costco saying that the maker of Detour protein bars are voluntarily recalling all their bars due to the possible peanut butter used to make them. Of course, my head slowly swivels to the box of Detour bars on our counter where they have all been eaten except for the last one. My mind alternated between dang, those were so good (for protein bars, at least) and hey, does salmonella cause neck pain?

My neck is killing me

Seriously? I can't believe I screwed up my neck from essentially turning my head. I was so uncomfortable at work, I was ready to scream. Or drown my pain in a grande Starbucks latte. Miserably, I did neither.

Please, please, please let me wake up with a better neck in the morning.

Expecting

This beautiful couple, my friends, Julio and Vero:

are expecting a baby!

And they let me take their pictures, including this one I dubbed the "Pregnant Prom Pose":

But my favorite pictures are the ones in between the poses:

Because I don't always have to "say cheese" to get a moment that makes me smile inside:

Thanks Julio and Vero!

Not tough enough

I tweaked my neck last night hauling buckets of coal. NOT! I tweaked it reaching for shampoo in the shower.

I hate getting old.

Now that's a pretty good weekend

What a great weekend. The ACTION workshop on Saturday was wonderfully enlightening. Dr. Jorge Rodriguez explained the history and science of HIV and AIDS and the medicines out there that has literally given folks with HIV and AIDS a new lease on life. I can see why he'll be appearing on The View on February 13 to share similar information--he's funny, encouraging, and educational. The most moving part of the workshop was hearing from four CarePartners (the folks with HIV receiving a CareTeam community). There were two women and two men and, against the "Gay Cancer" stereotype, only one was a gay man. They were different ages and personalities with different stories of how they acquired HIV, but bottom line, they all were affected by the stigma, rejection, and isolation. To hear their stories moved me to tears. And to sign up.

The day ended on another high note as my man, Georges St. Pierre, beat BJ Penn in the UFC Welterweight title fight. It was a great fight and demonstrated what an amazing athlete St. Pierre is. I watched a special on his training last Wednesday and it was crazy rigorous and focused, right down to keeping a schedule on Vegas time (where the fight was held) in Montreal (where he was training). Besides his skill and dedication, he's one of my favorite fighters because he's brings a level of class and honor to fighting. He doesn't trashtalk and wears a suit when arriving to the event. I hate the stereotype that people who love MMA are all bar-brawlers who do it for the joy of hurting someone. It takes major skill and I appreciate that it's being recognized as a legitimate challenging sport more and more. The other great fight for me was the Lyoto Machida/Thiago Silva fight. I was in the camp that thought unbeaten Machida was a skilled, yet boring fighter, reticent to be agressive. But his awesome KO of Silva in the first round convinced me to join the team clamoring for a title shot for him.

And the final topper: the Steelers won the Super Bowl! And I even won $40 in my SuperBowl Squares. Hooray for me!

The only thing that could have made this weekend any better was a third day where I got everything organized, but I'm not complaining...I'll take a weekend like this anytime.

Happy Monday everyone!