Resemblance...?

The pic was taken during shooting of El Cantante. I wonder if Ren was sent a royalty cheque or if there is some sort of hidden track on Marc's next disc. :p

Nude/Naked/Nekked

What's the big deal, you may be asking yourself. I was having a conversation with someone (an XX in genetic terms) recently and this person was describing a dinner engagement at a restaurant that I have been to before, but the person never had. Anyway, there is some wall decor that displays a nude in the female form (MUCH more detailed than the Picasso image I used for this post). This person lowered her voice when describing this to me like this, "...and on the wall above the bar was a naked women.." Her voice deliberately lowered when she said 'naked' and I replied with, "Uh...ok." She said, "Can you believe that?" And I said, "What's the big deal?" It's not like she was in a seedy adult bookstore or some nonsense like that. CONTEXT-CONTEXT-CONTEXT. I don't think her reaction would have been the same had she been walking through the halls of the DIA where there resides numerous nude paintings and sculptures. I'm not sure about what anyone else thinks, but I happen to appreciate the human body and find no problem with a nude painting or statue in a restaurant, city street or obviously an art museum. It's a celebration of the human form. We're not talking Cheetahs TaTa Bar or something like that. I know this is a facet of American culture where there is an aversion to the celebration of the body. I’m not saying I’m for nudist colonies and porn ads on TV, but I am saying that something like a nude body is to be appreciated and seen as homage to such a beautiful creation. I love the way in which the human form is celebrated in Puerto Rico, throughout the Carribean and in many parts of Europe. There is a much more comfortable acceptance.
There certainly is a difference between art and porn and my argument is that art taken out of context (from a museum to a restaurant or a statute on a city street) scares some people because there is just an overall uncomfortable-ness about talking about naked bodies outside of an object of sexual fulfillment and desire. I recommend everyone take a Human Sexuality class and then an Art History class and learn to appreciate the human form and stop being so prudish...

You know what an Earworm is even if you don't......

*For the uninitiated, here is the definition for you. Now you feel my pain because anyone who likes music tends to occasionally get an earworm...*

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!! It will not flee from my mind...Currently, ok, the WHOLE day has been nothing but...
"We show stoppin
We show show stoppin
We show stoppin
We show show stoppin
That's how we keep it poppin (hey!)
Make sure the bass knockin (hey!)"

That ridiculous Danity Kane keeps resonating in my brain....Someone please make it stop!!

Don't get it twisted...It certainly is not a guilty pleasure to listen to them. I will keep my guilty pleasure music to myself, but it seems as though the infrequent times in which I actually listen to the FM, that stupid Show Stopper song is on....Diddy, how could you do this to me?!!!

Sloppy 22nds anyone?

Ok, this happens everywhere, but it still troubles me to witness it. A department at work had an early morning celebration of sorts. No big deal. On occasion, things can be festive. That's fine. Nothing like a horrid work environment where everyone just grunts and every second of the day that passes is the longest of your life. Good thing I don't work in a situation like that....Anyway, this particular department had a pretty legit cake. It was large enough for like 30 people. It was a double layer, chocolate mousse cake. Well, as I said before, the celebration was in the morning and after the department did their thing, they left the uneaten portion in the general break room for the frenzy to begin. It usually does not take long for any leftover food to get eaten/taken. Well, this cake sat, sat and sat...Every few hours, I would walk into the break room to see more of the cake gone. To make a long story short, the last piece was devoured just before I left for the day. NINE HOURS this cake was sitting out and what is so great is that in bold letters on the side of the cake box was two bold words that read PLEASE REFRIGERATE. I am not ashamed to accept free goods, but when it comes to unrefrigerated food that has been passed around in another department, I’ll take a pass....I expect a spike in toilet paper consumption in the next several hours.... :p

See what I'm talkin' about......?

Eye see the point....
He's just a Brazilian with a vision...

How....

...does she cover her mouth/nose when she sneezes, shower, take an eyelash out of her eye, scratch her hamstring, roll two yin/yang exercise balls in her hand, give someone the thumbs up, brush her teeth, tie her shoes, get her mail, change a light bulb, eat a piece of pizza.....and thousands of other things the rest of us do.......?

Vengeance is mine sayeth...

...some idiots who feel that they are avenging the death of Steve Irwin by killing sting rays and trying to capitalize by making souvenirs of the poisonous barbs.

What a twisted way of thinking some people engage in to think that something so ridiculous could erase what happened to one of Australia's finest. The guy was a conservationist and now some ocean poachers would like to make a quick dollar or fill their home with reminders of what happened on that day when Irwin was killed. Sheesh...I don't get it.

Must-Have Product of The Day

If the Atari 2600 doesn't hold a special place in your heart, you just cannot say with any true conviction that you are a gamer. You can now take a little bit of that magic with you thanks to these Plug and Play Keychains. Not only do they look exactly like the old Atari joysticks and paddles, but they actually contain games. You can select from Asteroids and Millipede, Centipede and Yar's Revenge, or Pong, Breakout, and Warlords. Just plug in the included pocket-sized cables and enjoy!

Who works on Labor Day?

Me. This pic really does not do the reality of which I created for myself any justice at all. There are 15 lawn/refuse bags in that pic. In a block of several (more than 3, but less than 5) hours, I pulled up all the monster flowers on one side of the house, cleaned up about 90% of the garden and cut the grass 2X since I had to drop the mower one notch to begin getting my lawn ready for the winter.

I hope many of you were able to actually not labor on the US Labor Day.

Just stay home. It's safer for you.

So, earlier in the day, I went to the UofM game and it was a decent day. The Wolverines won. It was an ugly win, but that is a post for another day. My main reason for the post today was in response to several people I saw there...When you are in one place with 109,000 people, you are bound to see something out of the ordinary. Well, I did and what that was was about 6 morbidly obese people climbing up and down the stairs in the BIG HOUSE. I really should just say UP the stairs since they arrived before my boys and I did to our seats right around the middle area of the bowl on one of the end zones. The struggle for these people was just painful to watch. Up 1 stair...rest. Up 1 stair...rest. WHY would anyone put themselves through such a painful experience to then squeeze into a seat in which you are practically on the person's lap as an average sized person tends to be anyway? Why? Why? Why?! Another thing I witnessed was at least 3 elderly people with canes. The obvious pain was in their knees and/or hips. Again...WHY?! You have mobility issues and you subject yourself to an area deep into one of the largest college stadiums in the US and know that you will be paying for it for the rest of the day and even week....Sheesh. Stay home or get to a sports bar and I promise the stress to your heart, vascular system, knees or hips will be lessened. Unbelievable.

This is not a rant against obese or elderly people. It is just an attempt by my simple mind to comprehend why some people select to inflict pain upon themselves for a college football game...

Headset Phone Dork

I'm not sure if anyone reading this post has a bluetooth headset, but if you do, step back and just think about how dumb you look. You are not futuristic. You are not hip. You are not a übercool in any way. Honestly, I can tolerate most technology fads, but I just really think those headsets are the epitome of lame. I see people at my work with them and it just makes me want to throw a paper airplane at them and knock those stupid things off their ear. I understand it can give you an option for hands free whilst driving, but seriously, if you want handsfree, just peep the pic below and roll like that.......

Fantasy Product of the Day

Admit it — you've always pictured yourself sitting behind a huge stainless steel desk laughing maniacally about your threats to "flip the switch" unless $10 billion is delivered to your Swiss bank account in a very short period of time..... Or not. Well, here's the chair I'd be sitting in. The aptly named Villain Chair is an oversized, futuristic exaggeration made of leather, chrome, steel and aluminum — the hallmarks of an evil villain's office chair. What a bargain at $6,800.

Chewbacca as a baby?

There is an uncanny resemblance....

She did it for the Health of it.....

I was in my car shortly after lunch today and glanced in front of me and saw a gangly women walking towards her vehicle in the lot that my work is very near to. Basically, it is just separated by a plot of grass and curb that extends the length of the lot. She opened her vehicle door and proceeded to light up a cig; I'm sure my last post shed some light on how I think smokers are such intelligent people. I also noticed that she had a small plastic bag with what appeared to be a can of some sort within it. She proceeds to smoke like a chimenea and then out from the bag emerges a SLIM FAST. Unbelievable! This science project, female skelator-looking individual was sippin' on some SLIM FAST in one hand and a cig in the other...Sheesh. Some people never cease to amaze me. I suppose the cig allowed for more of a suppression of her appetite and the SLIM FAST allowed expression of more "gangly-ness" for whatever reason...Interesting. And, by interesting, I mean this women seemed to be not too concerned with health in any form.....

Cancer Alley at Comerica Park

L and I went to the Tigers vs Rangers game yesterday afternoon. M stayed with the in-laws and all was good and well. L has not been out of the house for more than a few minutes for the last month. The day was nice. We had nose bleed seats, but at least I can now say that I have been to the uppermost row in the Palace and Comerica Park...Ford Field is next...There really is not a bad seat in either place, but for $10 tickets, you cannot expect to see the perspiration on the players. It was a work outing and there was good company so the complaints are super-minimal.

The one thing we did complain about was after the game. We decided to take a different way out of the stadium just for shats & giggles. It is basically a series of cement ramps that many of the vendors would push up and down carts of food or other things. Many people took that way down towards the end of the game as we did. Anyway, we get down to ground level and there were like 80 people smoking various cancer sticks and watching several monitors of the game still in progress. This way out of the stadium is basically outdoors, but the GREAT WALL of CARCINOGEN almost knocked L and I out. Sheesh man! Since we were kind of at a standstill for a few minutes, our lungs had no choice but to breathe that crap in for a few seconds since much of the time was just holding our breath. We kept just looking at all the nicotine fiends and just shaking our heads as they just shortened their lives with each inhale. At one point, I said louder than a whisper, "What is this? Cancer Alley or something." To which, I received a few dirty looks and just shook my head and kept walking out of there. It's nice to know that a portion of my paycheck will be going to the care of many of these smokers in the future as they rot in a hospital bed... Smoking stinks!

Just because...

I will probably have nightmares tonight...

This is not your father's Segway

Here you have the new all-terrain version of the ultra-geeky, two-wheeled machine. The x2 features cross-terrain tires, a wider track and higher ground clearance. It's equipped with protective fenders with built-in lift handles. The x2 has a top speed of 12.5 mph and can travel up to 12 miles on a single charge of its lithium-ion batteries.

This can all be yours in Sept. for $5,500; a bit too steep for me, but Christmas is not too far away if anyone would like to know something to buy me. :p

On this trip to the deli....

There is a local specialty store that we frequent just about every weekend to get deli meats/cheeses, Italian bread, rapini, olives or the occasional Euro confection. Anyway, this place has been in business for a pretty long time. It's family owned and super-authentic in the decor, food and just about everything. Well, I went in to get some deli items and the older lady that was helping me was someone I am familiar with and we just did some small talk and I was watching this new chick interact with some of the other workers. I may be going out on a limb, but I can confidently say this chick may be working at a deli, but did NOT grow up eating authentic deli meats/cheeses and the only exposure to another food culture outide of hot dogs and fast food was in this store and she was pretty much blonde hair, blue eyes and clueless. Not that blondes are not cultured because every culture has blondes within it, but this chick fell out of the American Gothic painting. Ok, let me just cut the crap...she was a WHITE CHICK (who was true to the stereotype). Anyway, the chick was trying to look busy and was actually sipping coffee in a mug and setting it on top of the deli counter. That is unheard of in a deli setting...at least this one since they are really clean and pissing off an old ethnic person will easily get you ripped a new one should they feel you are tarnishing their imported prosciutto or anything like that. So, this chick had her plastic gloves on and did a benign (outside of a deli, of course) wiping of her nostril and minutes later put three fingers in her hair to place several strands behind her ear. Soon after that, an elderly Italian man approaches the counter and requests a pound of bacon. Blondie leans into the deli cooler (curved glass case so that customers can see and request items) and proceeds to grab a lb of bacon with her hair marinated hand and weighs it up for the gentleman. I am screaming inside since just before the man arrived to the counter, she asked me if she could get me anything while the lady was slicing some of my meats/cheeses. I declined her assistance since I figured her out very quickly with the whole coffee mug on the counter issue before. The older lady helping me finished up my several items and I was on my way out and once again just small talking with one of the owners and his grandson. I told them that if Blondie would have done what she did to me, I would have refused my items and requested someone else handle it correctly. I had confirmed to them what they had heard several times within the week (she was only at the job one week) with the greatest example they told me about being that a woman ordered a lb and a half of salami and Blondie decides to just stack the sliced meat rather than layer and place wax paper betwixt each row of meat as is down for EVERY other meat. One of the greatest things about this place is how they slice and package the deli items.

She probably will not be there when I go next weekend.

Flying was fun......in the past

Here we go again. I am sure everyone has heard the news about the foiled terror plot in the UK and the recent ban on all "beverages, shampoo, sun tan lotion, creams, toothpaste, hair gel, and other items of similar consistency."

I remember a nicer time when getting on a plane was actually fun. Don't get me wrong in that being safe should be a major priority, but it makes one feel a sense of nostalgia.

I'm sure the future will not be better... :(

Ridiculous Product of the day

For your next rave (or early 90s party making fun of raves), this glove-like device features five different colored beams of light, a black light, and strobe light. Twenty different pre-programmed light show patterns make entertainment effortless or hackers can mod it to sync with the song of their choice.

If you love this, get it here.

If you see me walking down the street with two of these things on, drop-kick me.