Good boy, Bubba!

For those of you who are easily distracted (not that I can relate - wait, let me check the weather...):

My favorite Christmas song:


A very close second...

Halleluiah, everybody say cheese:


And look what you can watch online now!!!

Season 2 Online Premiere - Flight of the Conchords (US Only) - watch more funny videos

The Blues Brothers one is now my favorite:

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

A message from the Big 3:
These guys have lots of other great shirts, but this is my favorite:
Vegetables can be fun:


and:

Check out Dictionaraoke.

A BeTaMaXMaS is so awesome.

Check out the great holiday music on the Christmas Lounge on SomaFM. You can find it on iTunes as well.

Oh, and Feliz Navivbla!

Cool video:

This Is Where We Live from 4th Estate on Vimeo.

Couldn't figure out how to upload a song, so you'll just have to go here.

"Christmas is the season of giving. So spread the holiday spirit by demanding that people give you things."
- Stephen Colbert

This just blew my mind:

Every Christmas, I look forward to Scared of Santa. Is that wrong?

It's here! The future we were promised!

If Christmas presents were honest.

Here's another cool fake fireplace.

Some non-Christmassy fun:



Hooray for sausage? At least I think that's what we're excited about:

Hamster On A Piano


...and another song.

...and one for the athiests:

Some thoughts on the new cabinet (in Toon Town).

Yosemite Sam is definitely a good choice for Homeland Security.

Some interesting TV yule log options this year:

Yule A Go-Go (the dreidel is the best)

Book burning yule log

This might be my new favorite Christmas song:

The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

A Colbert Christmas: John Legend

Colbert at Christmas
Colbert Christmas DVD

Green Screen
Bill O'Reilly Interview

You wanted to try to eat more vegetables today anyway, right?

I watched most of the parade, but it turns out I missed the best part - a live Rick Roll!

Gobble gobble gobble...

I think it's still too early for all this nonsense, but I thought this was funny:

wow!



I know it's fake, but it's still fun to watch.

from stephan.com (via John)

Someone likes John Williams:



I'm sure you've seen Sarah Palin standing in front of the guy slaughtering the turkeys after she's just pardoned one of the poor creatures... If not, look for it on the YouTube. Unless you like turkeys.

Colleen is (even more) famous! She's on a t-shirt (or a baby blanket or a hat or a thong...)

Here's her Six Word Memoir from Smith Magazine on a t-shirt (which would make a fabulous Christmas present, no?).

This phone looks really awesome. Too bad it's only available in Nova Scotia.

This is getting me in the Christmas spirit!



I can hear the baby Jesus crying, "Ho ho ho!"

I think my cat really wants one of these:



Tumbling!


Watch CBS Videos Online

Car made of cake:



Here are two of my favorite things - Stephen Colbert and Jane Austen (starts at 1:45):



"Where are you, Mr. Darcy?"

Thanks to John, I've had They Might Be Giants songs in my head today.

I came across this:


I love those knitted or crocheted puppets. Knuppets? Cruppets?

Speaking of Muppets, build your own here.

Here's a great script to follow when you get that next annoying telemarketing call.

Larry sent me this super cool site.

Calling all Sports Racers!

Last year, Luke the Runner set up a Secret Santa exchange on the ORG and it was so much fun!

Let's do it again, but this time let's exchange handmade items. So many of you are creative in so many different ways. It'll also be a great way for us to reconnect as a group.

I set up an exchange for us - The Duckie Handmade Christmas - on elfster.com

Here are the details:
We're all creative in some way*.

Art, music, words, food... Share your creativity with other duckies this year.

Register and create your profile. In the wish list section, enter any items that you would like that are handmade or that you could use in your creative endeavors (yarn, exotic ingredients, craft books, fancy paper, etc). You can even include links to the items online.

*If you feel you are indeed, not creative, but would still like to participate: instead of making something for your partner yourself, purchase something hand-crafted by someone else (6-year old factory workers don't count). Or you can give your partner something that will aid in his or her creative endeavor (this is where the wish lists come in). For example, if you're paired with someone who likes to crochet, you could send him or her a bag of nice yarn. Or if you're paired with a writer, you can send him or her a writing journal or a reference book. Or if you're paired with a painter, you can purchase a gift certificate for an art supply catalog... You will see his or her wish list to help guide you in your gift selections.

Sign up by December 5th. After December 5th, will receive the information on your partner. Send your gift by December 17th (so your duckie partner gets it by Christmas).

Note: your personal information will remain hidden to everyone but your partner. If you don't want your partner to have your home address, you can use "Hold for Pickup" and indicate that you want your package sent to your nearest post office instead.

Open to international participants.

Let's start making stuff!

Play Super Obama World. It looks cute but I suck so bad I can't get past the lipstick wearing pigs.

Here's a really great article with some of the creators of MST3K. I miss that show...

Here's something Joel and Jim Hodgson did as a test in their post-MST3K days:


It's quite funny. I wish they'd been able to do more.

And here's a helpful educational film (not that you need it):


Oh, and the movie is out on DVD now, and there's also a 20th anniversary edition boxed set. They would make lovely gifts, no?

I couldn't resist.

Lots more here.

"you've got red on you", originally uploaded by cakeyvoice.

Not surprisingly, Simon Pegg has some strong opinions about zombies:

"Still, I had to acknowledge Dead Set's impressive credentials. The concept was clever in its simplicity: a full-scale zombie outbreak coincides with a Big Brother eviction night, leaving the Big Brother house as the last refuge for the survivors. Scripted by Charlie Brooker, a writer whose scalpel-sharp incisiveness I have long been a fan of, and featuring talented actors such as Jaime Winstone and the outstanding Kevin Eldon, the show heralded the arrival of genuine homegrown horror, scratching at the fringes of network television. My expectations were high, and I sat down to watch a show that proved smart, inventive and enjoyable, but for one key detail: ZOMBIES DON'T RUN!"

This is a cool project:



"17 years worth of taking 2 photos a day as my head rotates in sync with the Earth around the Sun. This is a non-dejittered, lo-res, highly compressed, preliminary version of a lifetime project."

from http://www.danhanna.com/ (lots of other fun stuff there, too.)

Thanks to Larry for the link to this site about Babies with Beards. The poor beardlings!

Hope wins!

Luckily something like this didn't happen (well, maybe in Ohio...):



Edward Winkleman has a really great post about the election and acceptance speech. This is my favorite part, though:

For anyone out there still unfamiliar with the term, I should explain what a "community organizer" is I suppose. It's a bit tough, actually, as the term is used more as a description of a belief system than any concrete sets of tasks or responsibilities, but I guess a community organizer is kind of like a small town mayor, except that a community organizer can actually change the world.

Things I won't have to do:

• Say I'm Canadian when I travel.
• Scrape off my bumper sticker in shame this time.
• Cringe every time our president speaks.

Thanks I can do:

• Be optimistic.
• Be hopeful.
• Be confident.

Yes we can!

I know you probably voted early and you're sick of hearing everybody tell you to vote, but this is so darn cute, it'll make you want to vote twice:



This might make you want to vote, too:



Thanks to Ursula for these!

click to see a bigger image

I love my bank. Credit union, actually.

Not only do they have free popcorn on Fridays, but they give a lot of money and support to the community.

So when we stopped in last Friday to make a deposit and score some free popcorn, it happened to be Halloween. So we also scored some free candy.

But the best part was that a few of the employees were doing "Thriller" shows throughout the day, and we just happened to get there right before the 5:00 show. They only did a short snippet (maybe a minute), but it was pretty great.

Oh, and here's a little silliness for the day:


Did you know there were cat ladders? Lots of them.

Today's squirrel fun:

If you haven't voted already, don't forget to vote tomorrow!

Who knew?



This doesn't look like it would end well:



Here's a very expensive cat toy:



Baby squirrel!

Here's something all Americans can agree on.

And here are 2 of my favorite things:

Yesterday Brent told me (after commenting on the sheer volume of emails I send with links to stupid stuff on the interwebs) that I "seem to have a very active digital life."

He didn't mean it this way, but I interpreted it to mean that I need to get a real life. And it's true.

I'm not sure how to do this. Perhaps I could leave my house on occasion? Interact with humans in the real world, or "meatspace," as all the cool kids call it? Join a gang?

But I will promise to cut down on the stupid emails. I'm going to try to post all the stuff I find here. And probably occasionally on Twitter. So while this won't really cut into my digital life all that much, it will lighten the load in your inbox. And it will force me to keep this blog more up to date.

Oh, and Happy Halloween!

See more funny videos and Funny Videos at Today's Big Thing.

Stolen from Colleen...

If you read this, if your eyes are passing over this right now (even if we don't speak often or ever) please post a comment with a completely made up, fictional memory of you and me.

It can be anything you want - good or bad - but it has to be fake.

When you're finished, post this little paragraph in your blog and see what your friends come up with.

FYI:
My mom took me and Colleen to the Shaun Cassidy concert in Kansas City. We ditched her while she was waiting for nachos at the concession stand and we pretended we were groupies so we could sneak backstage. His public image was always so wholesome... But I'm still haunted by the things I saw back there. And the things we did. I always wanted to ask her - where did she learn to do that? I guess having older sisters was an advantage in that arena...

Get down and get with it, indeed:

Me and Jeff*, all dressed up for the prom, 1984

I've also been reading a book called Cringe: Teenage Diaries, Journals, Notes, Letters, Poems, and Abandoned Rock Operas. It's hilarious.

Here's an explanation of the project from the author, Sarah Brown's website:

The first inklings of Cringe came about back in 2001, when Sarah Brown found her old diaries at her parents’ house, and decided it would be a good idea to send the most painful excerpts to her friends in a weekly email. Two years later, she moved to Brooklyn and told roommate Liz Schroeter about this endeavor, prompting Liz to dig out some old teenage zines of her own. The first Cringe Reading Night was held April 6, 2005, at Freddy’s Bar and Backroom in Brooklyn.

And the readings are still going on there, and in other cities, too.

The book includes things from other people, and I think the best parts are the commentary or explanations about the entries. Of course everybody's embarrassed by them, but a running theme seems to be, "I haven't changed at all."

This, of course, inspired me to get out my own diary and read through it. I've always been a sporadic journal keeper. This one is no exception. I started it December 25, 1981 and the last entry is January 26, 1985. And it's just over half filled. Sometimes there are months between entries.

I wrote mostly about who we saw at the mall, what albums I bought, and which concerts I went to. There was some friend drama - I felt left out a lot. Lots of people were "babes" back then. And lots of stuff was really "bitchin'" and "ex." And apparently I spent way more time and energy than I remembered obsessing over a certain someone.

I ended most entries with something like, "Well, it's really late. I need to get to bed."

Then there's typical teenage angst:
"I wish I knew who or what I was. I mean, I'm not doing anything, I'm just kind of here, doing nothin'."

And in the "I haven't changed" category, here's something from December 31, 1982 (I'd just turned 16):
"I wish I could act naturally at school, but I just can't. Everybody probably thinks I'm stuck-up or something. Oh well, that'll be my New Year's Resolution. To act more myself at school & to make some more friends. That seems fair. Well I better jam!"

It cracks me up how I would write about how sad, hopeless, and depressed I was and then say, "Oh well. Then last week we went to see The Beast Within. Gross movie."

But this is my favorite line of all (from January 7, 1982 - I was 15):
"School sucks, but it's been going pretty good because my hair is looking slightly better."

At least I had my priorities straight.

Anyway, it's really late. Gotta jam!

*not the one I obsessed over. Although he did rock that maroon tuxedo, no?.

I'm reading When You Are Engulfed In Flames by the brilliant David Sedaris.

It's all greatness, especially "Monster Mash," where he talks about his obsession with death. This is my favorite part:

"As a young man, I saved up my dishwashing money and bought a seventy-five-dollar copy of Medicolegal Investigations of Death, a sort of bible for forensic pathologists. It shows what you might look like if you bit an extension cord while standing in a shallow pool of water, if you were crushed by a tractor, struck by lightning, strangled with a spiral or nonspiral telephone cord, hit with a claw hammer, burned, shot, drowned, stabbed, or feasted upon by wild or domestic animals. The captions read like really great poem titles, my favorite being "Extensive Mildew on the Face of a Recluse." I stared at that picture for hours on end, hoping it might inspire me, but I know nothing about poetry, and the best I came up with was pretty lame:

Behold the recluse looking pensive!
Mildew, though, is quite extensive
On his head, both aft and fore.
He maybe shoulda got out more."

And here he is on Letterman reading an essay about the stadium pal (which is also in the book):

I'm not sure why this makes me sad:



Sometimes I get excited when people remake movies but sometimes it makes me mad or sad.

This time I was mad - how could someone remake such a great movie? And seriously, Keanu Reeves*?

I was expressing my disgust and Sam was wondering what all the fuss was about, so I showed him the new trailer and then found the old trailer:



My intention was to show how awesome the original was, but I realized quickly that the old black and white, low-tech one looks really cheesy and old fashioned compared to the new one.

I did really want this geekily obscure t-shirt:
But not any more, knowing that soon everybody will get it.

So maybe that's why I get snobby about things like that - it bothers me that something that a small group of us understand and appreciate (the "It-Getters," as Stephen Colbert would say) suddenly becomes part of the mainstream. Like when your favorite indie band "sells out" by getting a record deal.

So I'm going to focus on the fact that people like me will force their kids to watch the original (superior) The Day the Earth Stood Still and know that while most of those kids will roll their eyes, a few will "get it," too.

*The only movie I like him in is Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure. To me, he'll always be Bill. Or was it Ted?

Well, it's been a busy summer so far.

Sam starts school next week but we're going to go to Austin for a short visit tomorrow. Hopefully it won't be too hot there. We got a weird but welcome reprieve from the heat with a few days of mild temperatures. It's heating back up, though, unfortunately.

Thought I'd post a few recent finds for your interwebbing pleasure:

Cake Wrecks:
http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/

It's Lovely! I'll Take It!
http://lovelylisting.blogspot.com/

D-Listed Decor:
http://d-listeddecor.blogspot.com/

Must See Like New!
http://www.mustseelikenew.com/

First Books:
http://www2.firstbook.org/whatbook/your_favorites.php

Everything Should Taste Like Bacon:
http://baconsalt.com/

Fan videos are usually pretty lame, but this one makes me smile:

I know it's been a long time since the last post...

Went out of town, got back, now battling the heat.

Oh, and I've been watching Dr. Horrible:

So I bought these shoes at Target yesterday. I was looking for cheap, comfortable casual shoes that would be good for walking this summer. These were on clearance and I thought they looked kinda cute.

When I put them on I immediately thought of Racer X.

Then I thought, "I'm a grown woman. I can't wear shoes that look like Racer X."

But I bought them anyway. They were only $11.48...

When Sam got home from school, I put the shoes on and asked him what they reminded him of. He said, "Racer X."

So I'm going to cut the white things off.

Confession: I've always had a crush on Racer X.

This is Betty. Isn't she just lovely?

John helped me pick her out. And my economic stimulus check allowed me to buy her.

I love her.

a page from my bicycle book

OK, it turns out that I can't keep up with the Daily Show and the Colbert Report online. I'm way behind.

I blame it on Scrabulous.

Make yourself a muxtape.

I did:
enchiladaplate.muxtape.com

Well, I survived 5th grade camp! Barely. I was chaperoning 9 boys all by myself. Yes, 9.

I figure my job was to just keep everybody alive. And not kill anybody.

Mission accomplished.

But I wish I had a dollar for every time I yelled, "Walk!"

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Thinking about voting.

I'm excited to actually be able to vote in a primary. I know I could have always voted in the primaries, but it never really mattered before. By the time the Texas primary rolled around, the nominees had been chosen.

I still hesitate to vote, though. Even though I've always voted Democratic, the thought of having a party label stamped on my voter registration card bugs me. I like to know that I have the option to change my mind at the last second and vote for anyone I want to.

I don't know if that's the way it even works, but that's the way I've always imagined it.

I'm leaning towards Obama. Sam wants me to vote for Hillary. When I ask him why, he says it's because she'll be the first "girl president." I love that.

Either way.

So I got a call today from MoveOn urging me to vote for Obama. They let me know when to vote and asked if I knew that I could vote twice. Apparently you can vote in the primary and then go back in the evening and vote in the caucus. Weird.

So I guess the saying is true: Vote early. Vote often.

I killed my television.

Well, not really. I downgraded my cable to local channels. I've been thinking about doing this for a while, but when I really thought about how freaking expensive it is, I just really can't justify it. I really only watch the local news in the morning, and then The Daily Show and the Colbert Report at night. And then occasionally a few minutes of Dave, Craig, or Conan... And then random stuff.

Except for The Office, I don't watch any prime time TV. I do like Project Runway but haven't been watching it regularly since they took a break for the holidays.

So it seemed ridiculous to pay $80 a month for about 20 hours of cable. I really wish you could pick the channels that you want to receive.

Having a DVR and access to so many TV shows on DVD and even online, I had decided that watching TV was kind of annoying, anyway. I would purposely start watching after it started so I could fast forward through the commercials. And even having to do that was annoying.

But I'm actually excited that I won't have all that distraction. Now I won't feel bad about wasting an hour of my life watching Celebrity Rehab or The World's Most Smartest Model or anything with a Brady...

Sam's another story. I didn't really let him watch all that much TV, but he's very upset. I know he'll get over it. And he can watch at my mom's and at his dad's, so it's not like he'll be completely deprived... And we do have a gazillion DVDs...

So I'm going to be watching my precious Daily Show and Colbert Report online.

I'm also going to cancel my home phone. I've also been thinking about doing that for a while. It seems silly to pay for 2 phones that nobody calls me on!*

*No pity calls, please.

This one's for Jack.

I had lunch the other day with Amy and Stephanie and got birthday presents! Stephanie gave me a bag of thrift store goodness but it all paled in comparison to a postcard featuring the above image of "The Squirrel's Dinner Party." Stephanie actually saw it this summer at the Elizabethan House Museum in Great Yarmouth, England, her hometown.

This, of course, brings up several obvious questions.

First of all - What. The. Hell?

Did someone say, "I've got 15 dead squirrels. I think I'll get some dollhouse furniture and pose them as if they're eating dinner!"

Anyway, it's my new favorite thing.

I promised movie reviews. So I'm not really good at writing reviews but I'll try.

The Savages - Loved it. Philip Seymour Hoffman and Laura Linney (who are great) play siblings who are dealing with their aging father. He was never around and they're suddenly forced to care for someone who didn't really care for them. It was real and sad and funny but not overly emotional or manipulative.

The Kite Runner - Beautiful. I really loved the book. It was beautifully written and very descriptive. They did a great job translating the book to film. It was very moving and beautifully done. They did leave out one part of the book, but it happened to be a part that I thought was a little manipulative, so it was a good thing. Beautiful opening title sequence, too (can't find it online anywhere...).

Juno - I loved it. It's quirky, funny, cute, and touching. The actors were really good and I loved all the witty banter and teen slang. Also had a great hand-drawn opening title sequence. The music was great and I can't wait to get the soundtrack.

I would recommend all of them!

----------------
Now playing: Buffalo Tom - Postcard
via FoxyTunes

Mourning the ORG

During the year that Ze Frank was doing "The Show," his daily online video program, he created an online social network called the ORG. It was a place for his fans (with various nicknames like Sports Racers, Duckies, The Flock, or members of the League of Awesomeness) to congregate, celebrate their love for Ze, contemplate why he never blinked, show off their creative work, and collaborate with each other.

I had been contemplating writing a post for my art blog about online social networks for artists and I was going to mention the ORG. I don't see the point for most of the networks - I join them (myartspace.com, 723.com, artscuttlebutt.com, indiepublic.com, etc), post some images of my artwork, look around at other members for a while, log off, and forget about it until someone posts a comment or friend request.

But the ORG was different. It wasn't an art social network per se, but a lot of the members were very creative in some way - artists, musicians, poets, writers, photographers, filmmakers, designers, illustrators, etc. And others were scientists, engineers, students, and self-described geeks and nerds. The thing that brought everyone together was a desire to connect with other like-minded people and create something new.

ORG members could post photos, videos, writing, and links to their blogs. Members were encouraged to leave short, positive comments. You could also send messages to members via the ORG's message system. Oh, and I don't think I mentioned what I liked most about it - it looked really good. The complete opposite of MySpace, which is so full of ugly (on many levels) that I can't even begin to describe my loathing...

And it all seemed to develop and grow organically. It started very basic but as people commented on the features and functionality, new things were suggested, added and tweaked all the time. It was fun to watch it grow.

One of the collaborative aspects of the ORG were the projects. Any member could create a project and invite other members to join in. Some were based on things Ze mentioned in his show and others just came out of nowhere and got a life of their own. Often someone would post a photo or video, other people would connect with it, play off of it, post something else, and something new and wonderful would be born.

I have to admit that I wasn't as active an ORG member as some. I don't know how to do video (and quite frankly don't want to see myself on video!). I mostly posted some photos, perused the photos that people posted and commented on them. I would "quack" at people (I guess it was the ORG's version of a nudge, wink, or friend request). I would read some of the blogs and occasionally watch a video. There was one young guy from New York that posted some beautiful poetry... Oh, and I really enjoyed the Secret Santa project this Christmas...

OK, so why am I in mourning? Because when I tried to log in to the ORG on New Year's Day, I saw this:
... and it never went away. And I was sad.

It had became a real community. I felt like I had some friends there. I was a fan of many members and looked forward to their contributions - dangeramy, oldgrimy, viscousplatypus (still the best username ever), astropixie, imagine, blissee, awed job, snooge, ohkatherine (incredible photographer)... So many! A bunch of the ORG members are planning a get-together in Chicago this March, QuackerCon 2008...

Luckily I had some ORG member emails and some ORG contacts on Twitter and Flickr, so we were able to stay in contact while we figured out what happened (in fact, I've been enjoying our Twittering these last few days...)

Some of the more industrious (and smart) ORG members are scrambling to create a new place to meet. Right now it's called PostORG. ORG members are coming together and offering their talents to help create something new.

There was discussion on the forum about trying to get the code for the ORG to bring it back up and have someone else maintain it. But I love the idea of us creating something new. And of course by "us" I mean all those smart people who know how to do that sort of thing...

So if you were a member of the ORG and want to reconnect with it, go to PostORG or send an email to explodedorg@gmail.com.

Or if you want to be part of something new and awesome, watch The Show first, and if you like what you see, then hop on board.

And if you do join, look me up. I'm enchiladaplate, of course.

I missed you!

Colleen and one of the boys - from our visit back at Thanksgiving. I finally processed those photos!

A couple of images from the Bloch Building - the recent addition to the Nelson Atikins Museum in Kansas City. Colleen and I went there back at Thanksgiving, too. Her job was to keep me from licking those walls.

Oh! That reminds me. There was an episode of Firefly - now I have to look up which one - Objects in Space - where this kind of off-balance bounty hunter sneaks onto the ship to steal the crazy girl that the government did experiments on. Anyhoo - he talks about how he appreciates the design of things. He walks out into their cargo bay and admires the way it looks. Then he licks a post!

We had a good Christmas. Went to New Mexico the day after Christmas and did some snowy stuff. Maybe I'll post those pictures before St. Patrick's Day!

Sounds like this might be movie weekend. I'm going to see The Savages with Jenna tomorrow, maybe something with Trish tomorrow night, and then maybe the Kite Runner with book group people on Sunday. Woo hoo!

Movie reviews soon...
----------------
Now playing: Lyle Lovett & His Large Band - South Texas Girl
via FoxyTunes