New Universe

I heart the Scopitone

The Scopitone was a video jukebox of yesteryear. Apparently to qualify for getting your video in the Scopitone you just had to create something totally awesome. As my friend Brad pointed out, if you want youtube to deliver better than average fare just type in "scopitone." Here are some favorites.

First up is the only one I'd seen before, my girl France Gall, breakin' it down with a lesson on love. Such a good song and as always I find her adorable.



The second selection is excellent because it has many of the typical features of the Scopitone video: scantily clad back-up dancers, obviously gay men being made to do something saucy with women (in this case comb their long pink, squirrel-like tails)and teens frolicking. I also like the song.



More of the same but with saucier dancing still and mockery of the English, in French.



"I only intend to have one little gin/why do I always end up on the tiger skin?" Sweet.



This I love because it shows that no matter how much pressure there is to act one way there's always someone ready to branch out into something utterly different. Here different involves being stroked by big fake hands and wearing a cheap silky vampire cape. Rock it, Stella! I respect you!



French maids, more sassy males trying hard not to look so bored by it all.



I find him oddly sexy. He reminds me of Patrick Fugit. If you don't know who that is here is a link to one of those creepy youtube montages so you can better understand my taste in men. He is basically my only real celebrity crush, so behold. Anyhoodles this video has a great vibe. And I like how he has to keep doing things like sitting in the claw and popping out of the trunk


And finally here's the campiest vid in our Scopitone minifest. The men really steal the show in this one. Especially the man painted to look like a snake.



Good times....

Thanks again, Brad. You have enhanced my experience of living through your fine knowledge of the internet.

Ninja Parade

Thanks to the Elster for this.


Ninja Parade Slips Through Town Unnoticed Once Again

Best Book Blurb Ever - The Day My Butt Went Psycho by Andy Griffiths.

I love seeing the faces of my young customers light up when I hand them this weighty tome:

"Zack Freeman is ready to tell his story... the story of a brave young boy and his crazy runaway butt. The story of a crack butt-fighting unit called the B-team, a legendary Butt Hunter's formidable daughter, and some of the ugliest and meanest butts to ever roam the face of the earth. A story of endurance that takes Zack on an epic journey across the Great Windy Desert, through the Brown Forest, and over the Sea of Butts before descending into the heart of an explosive buttcano to confront the biggest, ugliest, meanest butt of them all! It's a story you and your butt will never forget!"

Play the game here.

To Whartscape or not to Whartscape?

All the attitude around Whartscape is maybe enough to make me not bother buying a pass. They go on sale in ten, no seven, minutes so I better decide. They never posted a schedule and when I asked if paper tickets were on sale I was met with some pretty awesome condescension. I happen to be at home now but for those of us who have jobs being able to queue up for online tix at the exact moment things go on sale is not always a possibility. I know, I know. It's totally square to have a job in the first place- But I have a cat to support.

I'm already going to another non-Whartscape show that weekend. There are bands I want to see but maybe that money is better spent on food. Food never makes me feel like it thinks I'm stupid.

I love making mix cds

Clarence Thomas worries me

I don't just mean the consequences of his judicial decisions. I mean I am actually worried for him, because he's just getting loopier.

Lone voice against the Voting Rights Act, lone voice in favor of traumatizing and stripping thirteen year-olds.

Props to Justices John Paul Stevens and Ruth Bader Ginsburg who dissented from the portion of the ruling saying that Wilson (the asshole defendant) could not be held financially liable. But I find it more than a little odd that the rest of the court didn't seem to think along those lines. It's so out of sync with the times, given the general social climate in the schools, that anyone at all would think the family shouldn't get damages. An adult abused his authority to force a child to expose her genitals and chest and his excuse is that someone said she might have some ibuprofen? It makes me fear that not just one, but seven, of the most powerful judges in our nation are actually, actively stupid.

Rather than Thomas' worry (that we've let the cat out of the bag by revealing publicly that one can hide things in one's underwear) I'm concerned that the failure to hold the school system liable for their idiot abusive principal will lead other school systems and idiots within them to legally contest no-brainer cases like these. Frankly it baffles me that this poor family ran into enough dumb judges on their journey that the case made it to the Supreme Court at all. But I suppose the same could be said of many Supreme Court cases.

In any case (nyuk), Clarence Thomas reminds me of the person in every organization whom you can not believe ever got hired and appears to be sticking around forever. Except since it's the Supreme Court it is a real possibility he will be penning his progressively weirder crackpot opinions up until the very moment he keels over dead. Unlike some of the saner justices who have retirement ideas and other stuff to do.

Little Person + Big Sweater = Excellence

Cure for introspection: Kitten Swarm!

There's really nothing like a swarm of fat 'n tiny kittens rushing you and demanding noggin' scritchin' and belly rubs to cheer a girl up. This is Chairman Meow.

Another good local band to check out: Dr Tuborg

I just listened to the Dr. Tuborg Show here and now I'm really stoked to see them live. It's pretty and relaxing but with just the right edge of menace.

Remind me I wanna see AK Slaughter live.

In the meantime I can listen to them on Beatbots:

Fun Baltimore rap duo AK Slaughter Live at Joe Squared.

I just cooked and cleaned for 8 hours with no breaks

Because I'm a freak and it's all or nothing with me. I should feel proud but I just feel exhausted. I cleaned the fridge, organized the cupboards, did the dishes, took out the trash and made:

coffee

pesto (arugula, garlic, basil, almonds)
pasta
beets

for:

pesto pasta with beets

rosemary potatoes
extra potatoes

spicy black beans
sweet potato chunks

for:

black bean sweet potato burritos

salmon salad

stewed apples

strawberries n' cream popsicles

sugar snap peas

asian style beet greens

I guess I'll thank myself later, right?

Smart Girls at the Party: Sisters