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The Bear-ometer

Does this mean that the Bush administration is going to have to admit that Global Warming exists? Is the lame duck finally beginning to quack... er... crack? Like the ice?

Tags: global warming - Bush

Wind, Wind, and Fire

A round-up of weird stories, beginning with brussels sprouts being given as a Boxing Day treat to a turtle, and creating cause for (the) alarm! [LINK]
[turtle fart graphic from Bikinicat]

Second wind: a prisoner may get some extra time due to a similar offense. [LINK] I guess it's just cuter when animals do it.

Here's a followup to a story I found through MB. The Swedish Goat from Galve has survived after an attack... so far... but has yet to make it through New Year's. [LINK]

Unresolved Resolutions

Looking back at my last year's resolutions Urg! The results have been disastrous! See my current comments in italics:

1. Lose 5 pounds, just 5 stinking pounds. How hard can it be??? Now I need to lose 10 lbs. Still not technically overweight. One more cookie should do it.
2. Start going to those Happy Hours at the Continental Club. Nope. Just went to one. On my birthday.
3. Round up all this junk and sell it on eBay. Did I say junk? I meant to say rare collectibles in mint condition. Um. Nope. Made about a $5 profit on a CD.
4. Stop being such a workaholic and take a whole day off once in a while. Not happening. Nope. I work 7 days a week, with no holidays. Sometimes it's just a few hours, but that still counts.
   
5. Get a job that pays better with shorter hours. Got the shorter hours. Well, maybe not but now they're more flexible. Less stressful maybe, but definitely less pay. My benefits include spending more time with kitty-cats.
   
6. Learn Spanish. How hard can it be??? I'm just desperate enough to sign up for that class for people who've taken a class and still didn't learn Spanish, aka Conversational Spanish 101 dropouts. Que? No hablo espanol. If that's messed up, it's because I don't speak Spanish.
7. Come up with some really clever design that will be popular and sell it on Cafepress merch. Still a not-for-profit. I use Cafepress but just to make stuff for friends, and I don't mark it up.
   
8. Finish making those curtains. ha ha, see #9.
9. Fix the sewing machine, and then finish the curtains. Just got the needed belt and started fixing the machine Monday. I'm in my grubbies and ready to finish it now!
10. Sort the junk on those old computers and get_rid_of_them. errrr. Nope. Waiting for the computer museum to make an offer, I guess.
11. Dust that spot right over there. ...and it needs it again.

Maybe I should make a list of things I don't want to accomplish, and use reverse psych on myself. Does that work?

Movie year 2006

This list is rather skewed, because since I'm not a movie critic, I'm not forced to see stuff I don't think I'll like, such as Phat Girlz. My hub and I have almost the EXACT same taste in movies and TV shows, and that may be a little frightening but it prevents both of us from getting dragged to stuff we don't want to see and don't end up liking.

I already went over documentaries in another post, so here's the rest of the batch, best and worst. As I look over the lists in Oscarwatch, I see there are lots more still on my list to see.

Actor, drama (male): Leonardo DiCaprio, for The Departed or Blood Diamond. He was great in both of them, and he's my pick. Also, supporting Djimon Hounsou in Blood Diamond and Mark Wahlberg in The Departed.

Actor, drama (female): Adriana Barraza, the nanny in Babel. Also Meryl Streep in The Devil Wears Prada.

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Best dramas/action/adventure
The Departed, V for Vendetta, Casino Royale, Babel, Inside Man, Blood Diamond, Apocalypto (a Mel Gibson hurt-fest, but a good story that really puts you back in time)

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Comedies
Pirates of the Caribbean 2, Snakes on a Plane, Slither, Clerks II, Idiocracy, Happy Feet, Over the Hedge, Nacho Libre. Thumbs up for all of these.

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My Razzie picks:
Most overrated:
Little Miss Sunshine
It was OK and not crap, the very last bit was funny (**the dancing part**) and it had good characters, but still not high on the list. The general public seemed to just flip over this one. We didn't.

Biggest disappointment:
Superman Returns, seen in IMAX 3-D
Optimum conditions for viewing, but the 3-D was lame, and the rest would have been just a pointless re-hash if they hadn't tried to turn Superman into Jesus Christ. Give me a break. You're crossing the line, pun intended, however weak.

Most over-hyped:
The Da Vinci Code... or "Duh Vinci Code". I really enjoyed the book, but not because it was hard to see what's coming. It's just a good page-turner. There's a lot more mystery in a Harry Potter book. The movie didn't measure up even to the book, except for Ian McKellan who was wonderful.

Dull, except for the eye candy:
Underworld: Evolution
X-Men: Last Stand

Eye candy and/or closure is sometimes reason enough to see something, at least on video. There you go, my shallow opinionated movie roundup for the year 2006. That's all it's worth.

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Celebrity Deathmatch / Lifematch

Here's a site that will match you up with your best celebrity soulmates. You can pick your preferred gender. Here's my result:

Your best matches
Andy Kaufman 98%
Gerard Joling 96%
Miguel Ferrer 95%
Peter Stormare 94%
Dennis Quaid 94%

Ummm. My top choice died in 1984. Does that matter?

Gerard Joling is a Dutch singer. Never heard of him.

Miguel Ferrer, another actor, looks familiar.
Peter Stomare, actor, I know I've seen him in a bunch of stuff.Now we are talking. Actor (and sometimes musician) with a Grin that's worth a million dollars, Texan, visits Austin a lot. I brushed right past him at the Continental Club once. Even with the beard he was sporting for the movie "The Alamo", it's hard to disguise that grin. He is most memorable for me in the movie "The Right Stuff".

My female choices would have been:

Angela Bassett 98%
Madonna 98%
Jane Seymour 96%
Patricia Heaton 96%
Belinda Carlisle 96%

Good thing I don't prefer women because Patricia Heaton is on my list right now... the shit list.

Found via J-Walk

Oil Canned

Women said peer was 'demonically oppressed'

...Two women fired from UT-Arlington told supervisors that they prayed and rubbed religious oils on a co-worker's cubicle because they believed she was "demonically oppressed," according to personnel records the university released Friday...

What these women don't seem to understand is that it's actually OK if you want to pray in the workplace (but not aloud), but what's not OK is rubbing oil all over your co-workers' cubicle walls, whether they are there at the time or not. That's why they got fired and the man didn't.

Duh. Ask Jesus for some good sense next time.

And in a way, their prayers may have been answered. They don't have to put up with that demonically oppressed person anymore.

The music junkie tries to narrow it down

Best concerts of the year! It's a tough one coming from the "live music capital of the world", I logged in 56 concerts, but count a day at a festival as "1" so it's skewed on the low end, I could add another 50 or more shows if I counted each festival show.

I will try to narrow down some highlights, and there are too many highlights to bother mentioning stuff that didn't impress me or a "worst list".

Top of the list is being on the front rail for the Rolling Stones at Zilker Park. It takes the entire SXSW music week to equal the intensity of that one. The rest are in no particular order. A lot of what makes them the best is purely personal. Sometimes it's a band I know or work for, and sometimes it's just the quality of the experience, the venue, and/or all of the above.

Saw James Hunter twice, but I have to go for that short acoustic show at Waterloo Records sitting cross-legged three feet away from him and his abbreviated band. He is really growing on me.

The Greencards at Momo's for SXSW, I have never heard them play any better than that, it was just smokin'. Saw them a few times, but that's the pick.

Nickel Creek: they played unplugged behind Yard Dog for SXSW where the audience is about a foot away (back up or you might get a fiddle bow in the eye!), and that was awesome!! Neil Young was nearby in the audience. They also played a fantastic sold-out show at Gruene Hall a couple of days later, I never saw them play any better than that. They played until the house pulled power, get on home now. Fantastic. Click on the Nickel Creek label for more posts on this band.

Steve Wynn and the Miracle Three are one of the best live bands I've ever seen. Check them out. Saw them several times at SXSW.

It was pretty sweet seeing Rosanne Cash at Waterloo Records.

Sonny Landreth and Cindy Cashdollar (with guest Redd Volkaert) at the Cactus Cafe. Great show in a great venue, and nice to chat with Sonny for a minute while he signed an autograph. A show at the Cactus is like seeing someone in a living room.

South Austin Jug Band, it's hard to decide between their show at ACL and the one right before at Mean-Eyed Cat in the drizzling rain. You get a dancing audience for them and it charges things up, mud, dust, sweat and all.

Clifford Antone's memorial at his club was about a 12 hour show and we only did 7-8 hours so we missed Eric Johnson (my favorite guitar player in the world) but did see an incredible heartfelt tribute. More here.

Eric Johnson, I have to pick the Antone's show with Ant B (a little extra jazz fusion flavor than usual), Mike Keller and Double Trouble, with honorable mention to a bluesier show 2 weeks previous with Keller, DT and Malford. Made extra special by having the opportunity to introduce Jeen Lilly to Eric. More here.

Calexico at Emo's, great venue for them, very up close and informal. They played Garden Ruin and more, and were super friendly at the autograph table.

Del Castillo... I'd have to pick the back-to-back nights at Antone's in July. Monte Montgomery strapped on an electric guitar and played with the electrified DC bros for the encore. I'll bet you never saw THAT before. Thought not.

You may find more pictures of these events here.

Tags: Music - Austin - Texas - Texas Music

People... in memory of, 2006

Another end of the year reminiscence, this time about people who died this year. First of all I think about people I met or knew in some respect. I think the toughest one to lose was ev brown (a.k.a. Jeen Lilly) (my posts: [1] [2] [3]), someone I corresponded with a lot online, and got to hang with a little after she moved to Austin. I really do miss her. Second there was Pat Cieply, who I knew through having done his band's cover art and from going to see them play a lot. Third was Clifford Antone (my posts: [1] [2]) who I saw so many times all over Austin, spoke with him many times just like nearly everybody else in this town has. He still seems like a ghost at Antone's -- when I go there I'm still looking for him to take the stage. I saw him at his visitation... no, I don't mean as a ghost. It was very sad. I think they should make him a statue, show him just standing there in Guero's Courtyard in his baseball hat and sport coat.

As far as losing more famous people, here's a site which has a picture of each person, and I find that sometimes I didn't recognize the names when I heard the obit, but the face was familiar. Here are a couple more. This one offers lots of links on the people, and this one has a longer listing.

Here are some that stand out with me. I edited down some of the descriptions taken from the second link in the above paragraph. Italics are my comments and afterthoughts.

EDIT Dec 25: James Brown -- only 73, too young. His influence on music is hard to measure. I think I still have one or two of his 45s from when they were still new. He was one of a kind with lots of imitators, but nobody close.

Lou Rawls (singer, philanthropist) -- "You'll Never Find, Another Love Like Mine", performed music for the Garfield specials, major fundraiser for the United Negro College Fund.

Shelley Winters (actress) -- Won two Oscars for supporting roles; exact opposite (in real life) of the bigoted mother in A Patch of Blue, married to Vittorio Gassman and Tony Franciosa (who died a few days after Shelley), wrote two tell-all memoires, played Roseanne's grandmother.

Wilson Pickett (singer) -- "In the Midnight Hour", "Mustang Sally".

Phil Brown (actor) -- An actor blacklisted during the McCarthy era, George Lucas cast him as Uncle Owen in Star Wars. Just playing Uncle Owen has made him memorable for me.

Don Knotts (actor) -- Barney Fife on The Andy Griffith Show, the TV repairman in Pleasantville.

Dennis Weaver (actor, philanthropist, environmentalist) -- Duel, Chester on Gunsmoke.

Darren McGavin (actor) -- The Night Stalker and the classic A Christmas Story.

Buck Owens (singer) -- "Act Naturally", co-host of Hee-Haw, died hours after performing in his club. It's hard to magnify Buck Owens' influence on country music, and rock music too.

Gene Pitney (singer) -- Wrote "24 Hours from Tulsa", died while on tour.

Scott Crossfield (pilot) -- Died in a small plane crash. First pilot to break Mach 2, he helped train pilots for a re-enactment of the Wright Brothers flight in 2003.

Senator Lloyd Bentsen (politician) -- Democratic senator from Texas, Dukakis' running mate in 1988, Treasury Secretary under Clinton. You're no Jack Kennedy!

Billy Preston (singer/songwriter) -- Performed with The Beatles ("Get Back", "Let It Be"), wrote "Nothing from Nothing". I got to see Billy playing up close at Clapton's Crossroads Guitar Festival in 2004.

Arthur Lee: Leader of the '60s rock group Love, their most famous album was "Forever Changes". I was a big fan of this band. I am old.

Bruno Kirby (actor) -- Ed in City Slickers, Jess in When Harry Met Sally. I will always think of him as the Frank Sinatra-obsessed limo driver for Spinal Tap. He has a larger role in the deleted scenes that you will have to see on the DVD. Those are just unforgettable.

Steve "The Crocodile Hunter" Irwin (TV personality/zoo director/conservationist) -- Popular host of "dangerous" nature series, bitten in the leg by a croc. I believe this is the celebrity death that grieved me the most. It took me at least 2-3 weeks to get over the pure sadness of it.

Ann Richards (commentator/politician) -- The only deliberately amusing Texas governor of recent times, she famously said of George H. W. Bush's gaffes, "Poor George. He can't help it. He was born with a silver foot in his mouth." I wonder if they make them like her anymore. I hope so.

Ed Bradley (journalist) -- Longtime CBS correspondent, on 60 Minutes for 25 years.

Jack Palance (actor) -- Won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for City Slickers; scary in Shane.

Robert Altman (director) -- Brilliant, innovative director of The Player, Nashville, M*A*S*H, and Gosford Park.

Peter Boyle (actor) -- The father on Everybody Loves Raymond, and in Young Frankenstein as The Monster. To me he was even more memorable as Clyde Bruckman on the X-Files.

Joseph Barbera (cartoon creator) -- Creator of Quick Draw McGraw and Top Cat, partner of William Hanna.

Painting is Death in the Sickroom by Edvard Munch, c. 1895; Oil on canvas, 59 x 66 in; National Gallery, Oslo

Friday Cats and Mistletoe

I always get a kick out of that little cartoon (above), and if you are checking out at the supermarket (and who isn't doing that a lot these days?) look for the Weekly World News. Sorry for this small thumbnail, it's all I could find on their website, but the picture is hilarious: "World's Fattest Cat Saves Christmas".

We've needed a little cheering up over at the Texas Oasis. Duncan is seeing a lot of the vet these days, at least once a week, which he really hates. Today he got an X-ray to check for fluid buildup in the lungs, and there was some but we are going to hope the medication helps it. He has been pretty tired and not eating as much as we'd like. We have pills to help his appetite, but there's that four-letter-word: P-I-L-L. Even the vet had a terrible time getting a pill in him. Almost too stressful to be worth it. Poor little sweetie... this is his mellow, "I love you but I want to sleep" look, and he's got the perfect sunspot there too.


Henry is still jealous about not getting as much canned food as his sick bros, but he's been snuggling up with Duncan a lot. Henry knows his little buddy needs some extra care.


Tags and links: Friday Ark - Carnival of the Cats - This week's carnival is at IMAO - Cats - Catblogging -

Documentaries in 2006

I like to do year-end lists. It's as though I have nothing better to do. I'll probably do other best/worst movies, concerts, events, and 2006 people in other postings. This one is just about documentaries we saw. This first batch are politically oriented and often shown at free screenings or in some cases available for download.

Iraq for Sale
Very important and informative. Teaches you some things I'll bet you didn't know about the corporations and private enterprise involved in the war business. Could have been longer, but they get the point across.

America: From Freedom to Fascism
Much more than I expected! It's actually 2 movies in one and I think that weakens it. It's basically about some little known facts about the Federal Reserve and the IRS. Very important stuff! Then in the second half it goes off in many directions so that your head is spinning. You need to have a clear head about some of these things. Also, I think the title of the movie is misleading and sensationalist -- but this is worth seeing.

An Inconvenient Truth
Al Gore as we've never seen him before, and some very important stuff that you need to hear. You know what it's about already.

The next batch is ear and eye candy, a way to visit places that you can't really go.

Neil Young: Heart of Gold
Just a really delightful concert and backstage movie, with a refreshing editing style that's very natural for watching a performer like this.

IMAX Deep Sea 3D
This is the documentary to see at the IMAX in 3-D, or even just rent it, we loved it. Fascinating and the 3-D was sensational. It's a WOW.

IMAX Walking on the Moon in 3D (from 2005, but still may be playing in your IMAX theatre)
Kind of a cool informative show on the lunar space program, mostly for kids. 3-D is just OK but they are working with the old scratchy moon films.

Still plan to see:

Deliver Us from Evil,
Jesus Camp,
Shut Up & Sing

37th Street and beyond

We had our last warm night for awhile before the chilly air moves in, so we went down to 37th Street to see what people have put up this year. I heard a piece on NPR today about a display called Tacky Lights, but believe me, these people may be tacky in putting up too much, but on 37th Street they put up too much and it's also a creativity contest. Also it's always got a lot of political and cultural themes. This year, Dick Cheney seemed to be the most popular victim. See the totem on the right for a start (and I made most of these pics small for loadability -- click to enlarge).

The most famously decorated house on the block is a bit different this year because the house changed owners. I wrote about it last year. The old residents left the new ones a few strings of their artful homemade lights (like the medicine bottles) but they put up their own unique thing. For one thing, here's a wonderfully hellish nativity scene! The angel pic at the top is Condi (and I thought I was angelic!)


Here's the rest of the nativity. Rummy (looks good in orange, yes?) and Cheney with his gun. We were walking past this later and a boy (young teenager) picked up Cheney's toy rifle and pretended to fire it point-blank right at the manger baby's head. I was so stunned I didn't even get a picture of it!
EDIT Dec. 28: Here's an Austin Chronicle link on the display and the spectacle in general.

Here's another display at the same house. The sign says "Kinky '06 for Santa. HHO HHO HHOY VEY" That's fine, at least he's not the gov. That would have been as bad as... it still is with Perry. Oh well...

Here's one that's been there awhile. It's a peace angel made from auto parts and other metallic salvage.

Dinosaurs were another theme I saw. Here's a big foil T-Rex or Godzilla or something.

Another little dino group that was part of a huge display representing oceans and islands and not sure what all. Blue light beds for water and Nemo lights and mermaids and sea monsters.

There's an antique stove that's always decorated with different action figure themes (like Harry Potter or Star Wars) and this year it was Pirates of the Caribbean, Dead Man's Chest. My picture didn't turn out. :-(

This one was easier to see with the flash on, even though you can't see the effect of the lights. It's a Free Tibet major theme with lots of other elements. This yard was absolutely full of different creations.

Looks like Father Time is taking a break. The 37th Street experience was a bit different this year. The "major" house is gone, but it's still really great to see what people have done, plus it growing down into the other streets. It's nothing short of amazing, and of course it's absolutely free for the viewers (unless you feel like tipping the homeowners, and many of them do have tip jars. This much electricity ain't cheap.)

Here's one taken right in our neighborhood. What embodies the Xmas Spirit more than Old Homer J.? D'oh! D'oh! D'oh!

Dear Jeebus, please take away Dick Cheney's gun.

Tags: Austin - Xmas