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Showing posts from March, 2008

Hater, vol 2 epilogue

Special to James Blunt: If you're going to stalk someone, take a cue from Lionel. It's a lot easier to stalk a blind girl. Heck, you can stand behind her and practically touch her and she doesn't even notice. Note to everyone else: I am SO going to start calling people and singing, "HELLO! IS IT ME YOU'RE LOOKING FOR" and then hanging up. There's a lot you can learn from Lionel Ritchie. Except maybe parenting.

Favorite quote of the day

I was just reading an interesting article in Time online about Ron Paul's threat to the GOP , and they made this observation: In fairness, though, another reason RedState's directors got tired of the Paulistas was that so many of them seemed — what's the polite word? — nuts. Paul's supporters aren't all black-helicopter paranoiacs, but the black-helicopter paranoiacs sure do support Ron Paul. Having met a few Ron Paul supporters, I must admit they have a point. And they're damn gutsy to put it in print...dive for cover, Time...you're due a blitzkrieg of comment-bombing from the tinfoil hats, and that's if you get off easy. But you're right, and frankly it had to be said.

Perspective

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I know gas is expensive in North America, but it could be much much worse. This morning I paid the equivalent of $100 to fill the tank of my Audi A3, which is basically the car above except in blue. That's $8.25 per gallon.

Easter Dinner

1) Preheat the oven to 400F. Take an organic free-range chicken, put half a lemon and some salt in the cavity, rub the skin with butter and olive oil, sprinkle on some salt, and roast that bad boy until it's done. While it's resting, squeeze the other half of the lemon on it. 2) Boil some new potatoes (cut them in half if they're big new potatoes because they should be bitesize.) Put them in a bowl. Add some chopped up spring onion. Fry some bacon until crispy, drain on paper, get most of the grease out of the pan but leave the bits. Turn the heat off but while the pan is still hot add some wholegrain mustard and some white wine vinegar and some pepper to it and stir it around. Then toss the potatoes and the spring onions in and toss around to coat. Set aside until dinner is ready and crumble the bacon in right before you serve. 3) Put some olive oil in a pan, add some snap peas and some cut up asparagus and saute until just-done. Salt, pepper and a little chili flake m

Hater, vol 2

Jame Blunt must be a really bad boyfriend. Not to mention a bit of an obsessive stalker with no sense of humor. James, I'm sorry no one loves you, but please stop writing songs about unrequited/lost/tragic love and watching girls breathe. I'm sick of hearing it. No imagination, just lots of creepy mood music. Just like I'm sick of the same song with two sets of lyrics that Scouting for Girls call "She's So Lovely" and "Heartbeat". Alright, already...she's beautiful and sassy and she makes you weak in the knees. We get it. And you like that whole effect of manic stopping and starting mid-song to convey your exuberance. Good for you boys. Now go write something new. People like variety. The only reason Coldplay gets by with writing the same song over and over is because Chris Martin mumbles so much that people just assume what he's saying must be deep and touching some universal truth, and they don't want to seem shallow by suggesting

Mark your Calendars

Eurovision 2008 is only a little over two months away! Saturday, the 24th of May will come sooner than you think. You'd better start looking for cheap fares now...any city in Europe will be showing it on TV so you can take whatever you can find, and if you come to the UK you can even attend my Eurovision 2008 party! I think they show it in Canada, too, but you won't be able to vote. America, you have no idea what you're missing. Seriously. No. Idea.

Just Like Heaven

Ah, to be 22 and able to leave work early the day before a four-day weekend to go see the Cure with your friends. Or, to be 42. That works, too.

Obama v. Clinton - a UK perspective

I woke up this morning to BBC Radio 4 as always, and the news was all aflutter with the primary race results. And then I heard THIS . Doesn't that piss you off?!

Hater, vol 1

I can't stand Tina Turner. I mean, I admire her...I realise she's had some pretty nasty life experiences and has proven herself a survivor and all. I've seen What's Love Got to Do With It . And Tina Turner has managed to keep her figure longer than any human on record, to my knowledge, which is shallow but also impressive. For these things, I say, "Go, Tina, GO!" But I don't like her music. I don't like "Proud Mary," or " Nutbush City Limits," or "River Deep, Mountain High," and I REALLY don't like "Private Dancer," "We Don't Need Another Hero," or the theme from the aforementioned movie. Sometimes I think I'm going to have a seizure when I hear her sing. I also am not particularly fond of her hair or her dress sense, but I don't want to seem petty. You're a role model, Tina, but no, I'd prefer not to see you do the shimmy again if it's all the same to you, thank you very mu

Argentinians are wimps

Sure, they're long waisted, but gnomes aren't THAT creepy . Macho my ass. Suck it up, boys.

Geek, vol 385

I am a geek. A pitiful, nerdy geek. I hate that I am, but I can't help myself. One of my geeky obsessions is commercials that feature animals doing human things or behaving in a silly manner. And this one is making me belly laugh every time I see it. I know. I know.

Questionnaire

I applied for two jobs last weekend with a well known consulting firm, and today their UK HR team sent me a diversity survey because they profile applicants to understand who applies to their firm. It is supposedly NOT tied to me, but even if it were I don't really care so I filled it in. It was the standard stuff. Gender, ethnicity, age, sexual orientation. I did, however, find the sexual orientation options a bit odd. They were: Gay man Gay woman/lesbian Heterosexual/straight Bisexual and Other Other? Seriously? I mean, what else is there? You'd think that they'd at least ask, "other, please specify"? (And before you all start listing post/ pre -op transsexuals , that was in the Gender section, so it wasn't an orientation option.) Between that and the demand to know my religious background if I was from Northern Ireland, I found the whole thing very odd.

Abandoned

Hi there. Remember me? I bet you thought I'd abandoned you. Nope. Just been very busy. And a little preoccupied. My trip to New York was outstanding. We arrived on time, though with a bit of a thrill. We were on our descent, the landing gear was deployed, we were over the runway and about to touch down, and suddenly the 777 I was on had the nose pulled up and we sharply went back up into the sky. Seems the plane in front of us didn't get down fast enough and so we weren't allowed to land behind them for fear we'd run into them. I'd never been in that situation before, but I hear it happens a lot. Second time round the landing was fine. Taxied into the city and had Mexican food and margaritas at a bar next to our hotel. Friday it snowed. Like 8 inches. New York is always a trip when it snows. We went to Balthazar for breakfast/brunch, and then headed to Century 21 to look for deals. I got funky going out top/dress thing that has already run red all over itself so i