... of chalkboard goodies and geese?

In case you have the Animaniacs Vol 1 DVD handy, and you watch the episode entitled Cookies for Einstein... keep an eye out for some funny stuff on the chalkboard:H2O = WET
STP = OIL
[I only just noticed that yesterday when I rewatching that particular disc for like the 3rd time, I feel so ashamed, LoL!]

[There was also P=BM3 .. I wonder if it's got something to do with urination and bowel movements?]

And, of course, I do hope you've noticed that in the Pinky & The Brain intro, Brain scribbles THX = 1138 on the lab chalkboard? Would be funnier if it were George Lucas and not Steve Spielberg involved in this zany cartoon series, but what the hey.

= = = = on another note = = = = [ b flat? ] = = = =

Found this courtesy of Roberta:

Geb Engaging personality, sensitive, modest, occasionally narcissistic, but can rise above vanity. Colors: male: violet, female: rose Compatible Signs:Set, Horus Dates: Feb 12 - Feb 29, Aug 20 - Aug 31 Role: God of the earth Appearance: Green-skinned man, with leaves all over his body and a goose on his head. Sometimes he was shown laying on his side under his wife, the sky goddess Nut. Sacred animals: goose What is Your Egyptian Zodiac Sign? Designed by CyberWarlock of Warlock's Quizzles and Quandaries

... so don't be surprised if I goose ya next time I see ya, LoL!


= = = = = and now for something completely different? = = = = =

Wow has the weather turned! We had an unseasonably mild Thanksgiving week last week with temps in the 60's F ... and now we're going to be lucky to see anything as "warm" as 37F within the next 7 days! Yesterday it rained all day, and tonight we're expecting a major storm system that's gonna be throwing loads of snow our way. Wheee! I suppose it's high time to get real winter weather, eh?

Cheers, from the soon-to-be VERY Windy City!

no more grandparents for me!

So, my last surviving grandparent is no more.

She passed away peacefully in her sleep last night.

Didn't find out till an hour ago that she'd contracted pneumonia a few weeks ago and had been deteriorating rapidly since then: water in lungs, full of medication, all that jazz. Not fun.

I'm glad she's finally gone.

Some "portraits" of her can be found here and a little snippet here.

The last I saw her was during my short 2-week hop to Switzerland in October 2005;
the last time we spoke was a brief phone call placed when I arrived in the U.S. in July 2006;
the last written communication was the wedding announcement we sent in late September 2006;

The memory of her that I will keep with me is of a particular tradition / interaction we'd have when I was very young: 6 years old or thereabouts. During that time, we went to visit in Switzerland almost yearly, and always during wintertime, because that was when we'd have the long break between school years in Malaysia [unlike the long summer break in the western world]. So the weather would be quite cold, and my grandmother was worried we'd catch cold, what with us not being used to the whole winter concept and bundling up properly against the cold and all....

Her solution - Vicks VapoRub to warm the chest & lungs!

I looked forward to those "fricsionner" [sp?] sessions, where almost every evening before us kids went to sleep, she'd slather the stuff onto my chest and rub it in,,, then I'd turn over and get the same on my back. MmmmMmMmMMMMmmm! Good touches, given in abundance, contributing to a sense of being loved, of security, of simple happiness. Good times. Simpler times. Happy times.

But, like I said before: I'm glad she's finally gone. I hope she is now at peace, pain-free, perhaps even reunited with grand-papa who went beyond the veil almost 10 years ago.

Adieu, grand-maman.
J'espère que ta place préparé vers ton Seigneur Jésus est tout que tu a espéré qu'elle serait.

[more reflections on death later]

great Quotes & Catch Phrases?

So, it seems TV Land has compiled a list of 100 Greatest TV Quotes & Catch Phrases which it will reveal over 5 days beginning December 10th. Of course, the list is already available for our perusal. Go fig.

Anyways.

First, I gotta say that at least "they" are not myopically calling it the World's Greatest etc etc etc... and precisely because this reflects USA pop culture there are many on that list I totally do not know, or do not relate to. In fact, some that I do know are recent additions since getting to know Kosh - he and his deep well of tv "knowledge", LoL! Have I mentioned that if you're playing Trivial Pursuit or Scene It, you want him on your team??

Aaaanyways... here are some noteworthy ones from this so-called 100 Greatest TV Quotes & Catch Phrases, to me:

• "Don't make me angry ..." (David Banner, "The Incredible Hulk")
  Heh, it goes on "You won't like me when I'm angry" ... I totally enjoyed that show when younger, although I bet it's sooooo dated I probably couldn't sit through one episode if it was on air right now. I'd forgotten all about the haunting music at the end [when David? Bruce? Banner is walking along the highway, trying to hitch a ride] until it was "reproduced" by Stewie in Family Guy. It sent shivers up my spine!


• "Oh, my God! They killed Kenny!" (Stan and Kyle, "South Park")
  LoL, I feel a weird sense of pride for Matt&Trey for this to be in the list! Yes, that's despite that Jared episode I caught last night that had an utterly disturbing liposuction scene that actually had me turning away from the screen. And it's a cartoon. Yup, it was that sick. Gotta admire their twisted genius :-)


• "Whassup?" (Budweiser ad)
  Ah, the power of the internet. When I left the U.S. in 1995, Budweiser was just using the frogs in their ads. I heard about, and got to watch, the whassup ads thanks to vids posted online. And all those spoofs! There's one Jewish one with everyone saying "Shalommmmmm!" that is as irritating and as funny as the original Bud ads. What a hoot!

When I started this post, I was going to point out other great catch phrases of mine that I supposed hadn't made the cut,,, when I realised TV Land's list was based on TV, duh! So here are a few other noteworthy quotes and catch phrases, not limited to TV:

MOVIES:
Rain Man : definitely, definitely, yeah...
LOTR: myyyy preciousssssssssssssssssss
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: he chose [pause] poorly


BOOKS:
From "A Stranger in a Strange Land" : thou art God and groc


TV - CARTOONS
From Family Guy's Chris Griffin: I'm turning you into poo!
From Family Guy's Stewie Griffin: Victory is mine! and, my absolute fave uttered by him: click click bloody click pancakes!

TV - BABYLON 5
Delenn: abso-fraggin-lutely, damn it

Plenty more, but my brain isn't cooperating.

What are *your* fave quotes / catch phrases from TV/movie/ads?

cutting down on laundry time?

Found this handy "how to fold a t-shirt in ~3 seconds" video sometime last week.



Pretty nifty, eh?

So, I played it a few times: studied it, if you will; and was confident I'd be able to reproduce it when I was next in the laundry room with all those dried clothes a-beggin for some foldage.

But.

When that time came... I just couldn't remember the "trick". So I had to still fold the t-shirts the "long" way. Bleh.

Reminder #1: you can't just watch something being done and assume you can do it - you need to try it out yourself!

So, on the *next* laundry day? You'll find me practicing with one t-shirt in front of the 'puter before heading down to tackle the many tee's that will be a-waitin for my attention in the dryer.

In the meantime - if this trick helps *you* out with *your* foldage duties - you're welcome! :-)

Cheers!

it's that time of year when ...

... having big thighs is a good thing;

... of course that actually refers to the poor dead turkeys [turkies?], but what the hey :p


Yup, I've been quiet - [no worries, Monsoon, I'm fine!] - it's just that Kosh actually has this whole week off, so my time on the puter is both limited and not as high a priority. Things'll get back to normal next week :-)

Oh, and guess what else happens next week?

Hint: it's wicked and green! :-)

Cheers!

it's written in the stars

Well, more like written in that email from astrology.com: "Mercury turns direct in Scorpio on November 17, it's time to incorporate everything you've learned during this Mercury retrograde period, which began October 28. Hopefully, you’ve done your research and are ready to forge ahead. Independent Uranus turns direct on November 19, bringing change and a desire to be totally true to yourself. Just what is that magical mixture that makes you unique? As you are contemplating that, Jupiter enters philosophical and travel-oriented Sagittarius on November 23 for the first time in 12 years. A new course must be mapped out -- are you ready?"

Heh. There you have it. Mighty active astrological activity around us,, have *you* felt anything? [ /end rolling eyes]

Anyways.

Thought I'd share with you a well-written post, by one of my admired bloggers, on Borat and how it holds a mirror up to the USA. Still doesn't change anything for me: I'm certainly looking forward to seeing it - on DVD.

Speaking about DVDs... so with the Netflix and all,,, Kosh surprised me not just by insisting on getting Date Movie, but on pushing it up to the top of the queue. I mean, I *was* interested when I first heard about it, but as soon as I saw trailers for it, I knew it wasn't going to be worth a watch, even tho it stars my dear Willow. For some reason, Kosh had the impression it was really good [then again, he keeps saying Scary Movie 3 was great, while I felt the higher the Scary Movie number the worse the movie..] ... anyways, so the DVD arrived yesterday, and today we watched it. All I can say is don't do it to yourself, don't watch this movie, it's so not worth the time! I let out only two real laughs throughout. Now to see if I can get away with "accidentally" deleting Scary Movie 4 from the queue.... ;-)

And about Stephen King's Cell: while it was great to have a nice tale of King "horror" to sink my teeth into, the tale itself was just too much like The Stand, and nowhere near as satisfying. Don't buy it, borrow it from your library! [a proper review will hopefully be submitted to FWDT soon]. Now to take on Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five :-) no new DVD arrivlas till at least Monday, bummer!

Cheers!

Ups & Downs in mid-November

Down:
There are majorly strong winds a-blowin' out there; the Windy City is certainly living up to its name today. According to the weatherman, today is the cloudiest it's been in Chicagoland since 1992. Bleah.

Up:
So we signed up for a free trial of Netflix [2 weeks 3-at-a-time unlimited], to be followed by redemption of a 2month 1-at-a-time unlimited gift subscription.

And so I am finally on my way to completing my Buffy education [had only seen up to Season 5]. Devoured the first two discs of Season 6 in one day, whoohooo! Had so much more appreciation for both "Once again, with feeling" and "Tablua Rasa" episodes that Kosh had had me watch when all I knew was perhaps Seasons 1 or 2. Freak that I am, I would now love to get my hands [and ears] on the songs from the musical, and have added this to my wish list, LOL!

btw - other tv shows on the netflix list: Veronica Mars [caught one of the latest episodes a few weeks ago and was intrigued, so figured I'd start at the beginning...] and Battlestar Galactica [the "reimagined" version from the Sci-Fi Channel - wasn't impressed with the pseudo-pilot shown on NBC last year, but I've been hearing so many nice things about it from fellow bloggers who seem to have wavelengths comparable to mine,,, so... will try lah..].

Down:
The DVD player decided to crap out on us right when the DVDs arrived. At first I thought it wasn't regocnizing the disc because it was really really scratched, so I played it on the laptop instead. Then tried the second disc [looking much newer], which also was deemed "bad" by the player. Fine. Played that on the laptop too.

By that time, Kosh and I began to suspect it was the player. Tried our Bab5 DVDs that had worked fine a few days earlier : "bad disc".

Grrrr!

The "up" within this "down" is that Toshiba will replace the unit [surprisingly, considering the warranty is just a lame 3 month thing!] *and* will be sending us a shipping label thingy so that postage is on them too! But we won't celebrate teill we get that shipping label; send off the player *and* get the replacement! Might take a while....

... in the meantime, we are going to have to make do with laptop viewing, tho Kosh has already hooked up the "spare" laptop to our "system" so that we can at least view the next movies on a slightly larger screen :-)

more downs: the IQ vs lbs effort isn't yielding results at the moment. Sure, I delayed starting properly, then sabotaged myself food-wise all too often, *and* while I was good about the water drinking at first, I'm now barely doing 600mL a day; the only thing I'm doing relatively right is the exercise... but all by itself all it's going to do is help maintain where I am, not improve... *sigh*

Anyways, on a slightly related note: was surfing the net and got engrossed [and I do mean gross] reading the testimonials about this product. It's real easy to get sucked in. I'm now considering.... but will bounce the idea off of Dr Kosh first :-p This would make for some *awesome* photos, eh? LMAO!

Anyways - today I'm feeling lazy so probably no gym today.

Will probably finally finish reading Stephen King's Cell; all I can say right now is "omg Mr King how I have missed you! Yes, I loved the DT series, but,,, it's nice to sink mu teeth into a good "horror" tale that you are just excellent at producing!".

Cheers!

November's Bits & Pieces

Hi!! Missed me?? :-)

Here's a Bit:
So I went on the treadmill again today, this time hitting it at 3pm, which is a first - usually if I don't drag myself there in the morning I just ain't going... but today seeing as I *was* too lazy this morning then ended up not doing anything while waiitng Kosh to get back from rounds by noon [it's 4pm he's still not back yet] figured my having finished a pack of Golden Oreos *required* some effort on my part to make up for it. So i did the treadmill.

And funny thing - I'd swing my arms while walking on the 'mill, and occasionally I'd brush my hand/arm against the side/handle every so slightly, and yet it would hurt.

a tingly type hurt.

Kinda like I'd been.

Awww crap.

I was getting ZAPPED!!

Even worse was despite my figuring out I was building up static on that dang machine, I'd keep forgetting, so when I brushed against the sides, or, even better, when I gripped the handle prior to adjusting my speed/incline, I'd get one nice [read: nasty] zap.

I don't recall getting zapped the other times I've been treadmilling.

The new/different factor for today? I used my beloved Nikes instead of the cheapo Power pair. Hmmm. Of course, my ever-curious mind will dictate that on my next gym trips, I'll try to figure out if my Nikes indeed cause static build-up.

Here's another Bit:
Yes, I generate/build-up static very easily. Tis the season for me to dread getting out of the car and then closing the door, because, well, ZAPPPPPP! It HURTS, okay?? :-(

Here's a Piece:
Corny lyrics alert:

We know what to say
If you stand in our way:
"Don't stand in our way"

brought to you by Meat Loaf's In the Land of the Pig, the Butcher is King, written by Jim Steinman, and, cool beans, featuring Steve Vai on guitar :-)

And another piece:
Remember the mystery that was what song from BatIII did Meat sing at last year's concert? I don't know how much of this is "reconstructive memory" or whatever, but I'm pretty sure it's the song "Cry Over Me": after listening to the album numerous times [that's an understatement, btw] I can pretty much visualise the sight & sound of that particular song onstage. As far as I'm concerned, mystery solved. But I would like to know if the lyrics got changed between concert & actual album, because I *swear* the song did include "it only hurts when you feel"!

Oooh, another piece!:
Haven't blogged in quite a while. Why? Meat Loaf. Really. All I've wanted to do these past few days has been to curl up and immerse myself in the album. And by immerse that means not only having the album play over and over and over while I pretend to do other stuff, but also while I study the CD booklet and sing along with the songs, trying to set into memory some of the more memorable songs & lyrics.

Speaking about memorable songs: Have I mentioned that they have pretty much grown on me, such that even It's all Coming Back to me Now is extremely listenable, and Marion Raven's voice which earlier I'd thought was just plain flat and mismatched in that song now seems strangely complementary to Meat's own voice. It helps that I've always liked that song [and always thought it a pity that it was Ms Dion who'd sung it,, even well before I knew it was a Steinman creation]

What a difference a few spins of the CD make!

And one of my many favourites [I think every day a different song speaks to me more] is "Alive", such a large self-affirming song... at one point I listened to it like 4x in a row, and at the end, I'd sing out loud at the top of my lungs, with arms outstretched, head thrown back: Let the end of the world come tumbling down; I'll be the last man standing on the ground; And if my shadow's all that survives, I'm still A L IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII VE!

I may return to regular programming in a day or two.

Till then -

And I know that I'm gonna be like this forever
I'm never going to be what I should
And you think that I'll be bad for just a little while
But I know I'll be bad for good"

If it ain't broke...

... break it!

Whoohoo I've found my workout anthem :-)

Song #10 on BatIII sets just the right pace for me to work it work it work it on the treadmill without activating my shins, enabling me to totally immerse myself in the music and emerge unscathed from the workout 45 mins later [not that I listened to that one song for 45mins lah, but it came on as I was hitting my peak and that totally helped me go beyond what I would normally do, especially considering it was the treadmill {of which I am NOT a fan!} and not the elliptical thingy!]

btw - BatIII is definitely growing on me :-) Heck, even The Monster's Loose isn't that bad now that I've heard it like 10 times.. maybe it *was* a good choice for an opening track after all?

BUT: I have yet to identify the song from the concert. That's because I don't remember it or the lyrics while I'm actually listening to BatIII. Nvm, today I will get to the bottom of that mystery.

I leave you with some awesome lyrics from Song #2: Blind As A Bat

And I wish I could give you
Something in return
For the precious time you wasted
On the tears I never earned
For reaching out to help me
'Cross the bridges I have burned

On a humourous aside: part of the song also goes

Your love is blind
Blind as a bat
The way that you're leading me
Home like that

... but me being me, expecting a "you gone done me wrong" type song, I keep filling in my own lyrics, and laughing at myself everytime I catch myself. This is what I tend to sing instead:

Your love is blind
Blind as a bat
The way that you're lea*V*ing me
*COLD* like that

Okay so it's funny to me. :p I freely admit and acknowledge I'm a freak when it comes to Meat Loaf, k? :-)

P/S> Song #4 Bad For Good, apart from being a true-blue Steinman song, also sounded suspiciously like a Queen song in some places... and whaddaya know, that's Brian May on guitar!

[My previous post with first rxns to BatIII here]

where British comedy, cartoon songs and real life collide...

"You have big harrrmmh, may I touch?"

I don't remember how I got to this page, but teeheehee I just had to link it :-) I had lots of LOLs, and the last [#1] skit was soooo painful to watch and yet I had to keep watching... like a trainwreck... which is how I would describe just about every Borat skit I've seen anyway. Yes, click here for Cracked's 10 Best Borat Skits of All-Time.

Now, when the hype for Borat was starting to be heard about a month ago, I caught sight of the character and wondered why it/he was so familar. Took me a while to realise/accept that this was the person I knew as Ali G! Not that I liked that character either - he uses a brand of humor that's not quite up my alley. But his interview with Posh & Becks for Comic Relief was classic - "so do you want little Brooklyn to grow up and be a footballer like his dad, or a singer like Mariah Carey?" LMAO! The little bit about sarong/ so wrong is what has stayed in my mind for the longest time. Thanx to YouTube I managed to refresh my memory. It's a 10 min thing, and the audio doesn't quite match the video, but stick with it ... the sarong thing is right at the end, at about 9:30 or so. Check it out here.

After watching those 10 clips of Borat, I've decided that i will not be watching the movie in theatres - I'll be more than happy to watch it as a rented DVD, where I can divvy up exposure to Mr Cohen into small doses :-)

Once more thing: I don't know if it's intentional or just coincidental, but I vaguely remember that people in the Northern area of Malaysia [Perlis / Kedah] use a term sounding suspiciously like "bo'rat" as a colloquial for, err, harrrmmph. Any orang utara who can confirm/deny?

= = =

And since I was reminded of random British comedy... here's a Star Wars Episode One spoof by French & Saunders. Watch out for random teletubbies roaming around the marketplace. You'll cheer at Gui-Gon Jinn telling "Jar-Jar" to "piss off! piss off!" Again, the ending is the best "before you go, master, answer me this one last big question... do I grow up to become Alec Guiness?"

UPDATE Tuesday 1050am; here's another F&S SW:I 2min clip: watch for the changing Padme makeup! L.M.A.O.!

= = =

And this is related in the way that they all indicate the weird things that tweak my fancy... compare the following verses:

we like sweets a lot
but they make our insides rot
so remember it's your body
and the only one you've got

vs

we like sweets a lot
so give us all you got
and we'll stuff 'em in our bodies
till they make our insides rot

That's quite a bit of difference, eh?

Recognize the lyrics? It's the end of the Animaniacs song Be Careful What You Eat where Wakko, Yakko and Dot sing out the ingredients that make up candy bars and ice cream [pistachio almond fruit fudge butterscotch delight], yummy yum!

Now, I've had the Animaniacs audio CD for over ten years, and the CD has had loads of playtime over the years [having a 10-disc player in the car is one of the best ways to forgot you're stuck in a friggin traffic jam in KL, lemmie tell ya!], so while I may still stumble over the lyrics that are sang way too fast, I certainly know how the songs sound. And Be Careful What You Eat is one of my faves [heehehe I couldn't tell you right now which is NOT my fave, they are all nice and zany LOL!]

So it was a bit jarring for me to hear the alternate ending on the DVD [Vol 1].

I wonder if they re-recorded and re-worded the song to be more "responsible" on the CD?

I'm used to the responsible version, but the "original" is definitely more in line with the attitude that is Wakko, Yakko & Dot, don't ya think?

= = =

A self-update: The self-sabotage is going extremely well! Never have I so craved cookies as I have in this past week [damn you, Golden Oreos!], and I seem hard-pressed to drink even a bottle of water a day! So of course, the 5 or 6 small meals a day plan has been totally out the window for quite a while now. Grrrr! I've still managed to hit the gym about 4x a week, which is probably the only good thing for the moment.

Nvm, tomorrow is a brand new day.

No, wait, TODAY! It *is* past midnight, after all!

And I'm still nursing my caffeine-laden Coke Zero.

Gee, I wonder when I'm actually gonna sleep? Of course, actually getting to bed might help :p

Ciao!

Tuesday = Election Day

I will be *SO* glad when it's Wednesday.

It's been horrendous watching any little bit of tv over the past month, especially the past few weeks: as soon as it's time for commercials, they've been nothing except smear ads against other candidates! X would "seriously consider raising taxes"! Y has ties to the mob! Z was best friends with the disgraced governor! B supports illegal immigrants! C supports banning books by Dr Seuss! D is in cahoots with the NRA! etc etc etc.

Bleah.

Anyways, for those who will be voting tomorrow, here's something to keep in mind:

More Meaty Updates!

... but first: did you hear about this important pice of news?

A British company is developing computer chips which store music, to be implanted in women's breasts.

This is viewed as a major breakthrough as, up until now, women have complained that men were staring at their breasts and not listening to them.

Okay, that's not for real lah... but on a related note... guess what I'm listening to while typing?
BAT OUT OF HELL III!
[thanx Kosh hunny!]
So far is ok lah: I *am* just at song #4 right now... it's titled "Bad for Good", it's one of the Jim Steinman songs, and, well, it's obviously a Steinman song - very recognisable typical style *and* unfortunately it has whispers of other, better, Steinman songs from Bat II. We'll see how the rest of the album goes. Right now all I can say is it's not resonating like CHSIB did: heck, that resonated with me on so many levels that my hair was standing on end at my first listen-to!

Anyways.

I am gong to surf aimlessly while letting the music wash over me.

Cheers!

= = = =
UPDATE: decided to do a sort of "live blogging" thing while listening... here are my first rxns to the songs.

Track #1: The Monster is Loose = eh. NOT a song that hooks you, not the best thing to start the album [esp compared to BatI, even BatII]

Track #2: Blind as a Bat = definitely singalongable... but some lyrics seem totally lifted from older songs!

Track #3: It's All Coming Back To Me Now = yes, that song by Celine Dion is a Steinman creation, here sung as a duet with Marion Raven. I hate to say it, but this doesn't seem as stirring as the Celine Dion version. Bummer. I had such high hopes for this one!

Track #4: Bad for Good = reminds me of that song from Dead Ringer [I think] that goes how do you do it let me count the ways, how many hours baby how many days. Also reminds me of springsteen's baby we were born to run at one point! Actually *SO* many whispers of songs here! I'll have to reserve judgement on this one.

Track #5: Cry for Me = singalongable. Kinda sappy and slow :p

Track #6: In the Land of the Pig, The Butcher is King = wow that reminds me of an Iron Maiden like song, LOL! pretty cool :-)

Track #7: Monstro = a short little pseudo-instrumental orchestral blurb. eh. better than some of those interludes on Neighbourhood.

Track #8: Alive = a-ha! this sounds more like a track I'd play over and over :-) "I'm a runaway train on a broken track i'm the ticker on the bomb that you can't turn back..."

Track #9: If God Could Talk = also another that definitely clicks with me, melody-wise. Lyrics too.

Track #10: If it ain't Broke Break It = reminds me of a song or two from BatII, but y'know what, I don't care, this is one of them fun anti-establishment type songs, great beat rhythm guitar riffs too :-)

Track #11: What About Love = heh this sounds like a typical commercial pop type song. Oh okay nvm, it picks up @ 2:50 or so. Not too bad. Having Patti Russo as a counter-voice is nice too.

Track #12: Seize the Night = a-hah! This sounds like the operatic [?] song I've come to expect from Mr Loaf. of course, the guitar riff is totally lifted from BatII

Track #13: The Future Ain't What It Used To Be = another singalongable that's right up my alley. But the voice supplied by Jennifer Hudson doesn't complement Meat's like Patti Russo's does.

Track #14: Cry to Heaven = mega-slow, perhaps it's supposed to be inspirational, but it set me laughing my a** off "cry like heaven,, if it doesn't do it for you, go ahead and cry like hell!" Okay maybe I'm weird :-)

Just an observation: BatIII doesn't have any of them fun mono-/dia-logues like the "blood of the guitar was Chuck Berry red" thingy in BatII, "i bet you say that to all the boys" in Bat I, and there's something similar in Dead Ringer too. Pity - that's something I really enjoy on those albums.

And it's kinda disappointing that the artwork isn't by Michael Whelan like it was for BatII. The cover sure looks like it - at first glance only. The inside pix are rather disappointing.

So: the bottom line? Definitely worth replaying many times over just to really familiarise myself with its contents. however, only time will determine where BatIII will rank against the BatI, BatII & CHSIB albums.

Cheers!

P/S> I "owe" Kosh a game or two of Magic now. Urgh.

P/S#2> According to this playlist of the Concert we attended last year, it looks like "Only When I Feel" was the song from BatIII that Meat Played for us. However, that particular title doesn't exist on the album. I'll have to listen again to figure out which one it was, and what the title got changed to... or whether that song ultimately got dropped from the final song selection. omg am I a freak! :-)

signing out @ 6pm

Friday Frag

An excerpt from an email of supposed Maya Angelou quotations:

"I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."

This is particularly true for me.

= = = =

Am again at the borderline of a cold.

Yesterday Kosh and I kept turning the thermostat higher and higher because omg was the apartment collllldddddd! Despite wearing lined sweatpants *and* having a wifebeater under my sweatshirt, I was as cold as a block of ice, and you wouldn't have been able to thaw me to save your life!

Having an entire wall comprising floor-to-ceiling glass doors really does make this apartment lose heat fast!

But good news! It seems we are going to have warm [like, highs almost reaching 60F!] weather for about a week - yay!

= = = =

While trying to find an alliterative word for today's post, scifi's version of the F-word popped into my head. In Battlestar Galactica, it's FRAK. In Babylon 5 it's FRAG. As in "abso-fraggin-lutely". I can still picture Delenn's mischievous smile when she used that on Sheridan, teeheehee!

= = = =

So last night we caught an episode of South Park on channel 26. Early on in the show, I was all like "Hey, this is *so* Children of the Corn!". It turned into something very Lord of the Flies-like too... and closer to the end of the show, it was Kosh's turn: "Hey, I recognise this ... this is from an episode of Star Trek!!".

So of course, we turned on the internet* and hunted around till we found confirmation: South Park episode 416 "The Wacky Molestation Adventure" parodies Children of the Corn, Logan's Run, Lord of the Flies, Pet Sematary, Risky Business, Army of Darkness, Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome and especially the Star Trek: The Original Series episode "Miri" according to wikipedia.

Kewl!

Gotta love the 'net :-)

= = = =

turned on the internet* = an inside joke for Kosh & me, and perhaps anyone else who had the misfortune of catching that one case of two feuding sisters on court tv recently: "she turned on the internet so that the call I was expecting couldn't come through".

. She may have turned on the computer.
.. She may have dialed up to get on the internet via the computer.
... She certainly did NOT "turn on the internet"!!

That phrase was so absurd we loved it!

= = = =

Okay, I just sneezed all over the keyboard. Bleh! Time to go out and soak in some sun.

Cheers!

Thursday Three

ONE
Had me a hysterical gigglefest last night: so me & Kosh were talking sleepily, and I dunno what I said but I musta said it funnily cos this dialogue ensued:

Kosh: Why'd you use that accent?
Me: Huh? What accent?
Kosh: You spoke like, ummm, ummmm, [obviously searching for the right word],,, like Scotty.
Me: Eh? You mean a Scottish accent?
Kosh: Urgh. Dammit. Yeah.

Okay so it doesn't come out well in the typed form. Lemmie just say that I could barely breathe I was laughing so hard at the absurdity of being able to identify Scotty but not his Scottish accent. Clarifying that it wasn't actually a joke, that he actually hadn't tried to be funny, he actually did draw a blank... all that contributed to my lack of breathing for a while, LOL!

Oh, and for the record, Kosh has said I sometimes sound like Wakko. Of course the one time he calls me on it, he says Yakko, no Wakko, so we waste some time figuring out which one he actually meant, so by the time I ask him to repeat what I'd said in Wakkoese to see if I remember/agree with him, he's forgotten what I'd actually said, LOL!

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TWO

Another of those cool coincidences: So yesterday I moaned about the R&RHoF nominees, and last night I caught that PBS special about music as a medium of protest & awareness ["Get Up, Stand up"] again; even tho I'd seen it once before, I didn't mind catching it again. And thanks to that I re-encountered Patti Smith, and maybe this time around I might remember Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five as one of the early hip-hop/funk/rap artistes. Made watching the show kinda cool, because I now recognised a few *more* groups/artistes, y'know?

= = = = = =
THREE

So I can't go about committing any crimes here,,, or at least none where I'd be leaving fingerprints behind! At least, before, all "they" had on me was prints of both index fingers and a retinal scan [and that's bad enough already!].

But this morning I went for my "biometrics" appointment, and got majorly fingerprinted. All ten digits. And boy was it a comprehensive session! First the four fingers together; then the thumb; repeat other hand; then the individual digits, slowly rolled across the scanner to capture the entire upper finger, each one done at least twice.

I'm surprised they didnt ask me to spit / take a mouth swab for a DNA sample *rolls eyes*

Oh, and the funniest thing? I handed over this form we were given to fill up; the checker looked at it and said, with feeling, "Oh, thank you!". I was like "Huh? She talking to me?" After all, she didn't look up and say it... but then she did look up because I didn't way anything I guess, and repeated the thanks... turns out that it's really rare for anyone to fill the form up correctly and completely.

Wow.

Scary.

It was a *simple* form. I'd think that anyone intending to stay in the U.S., no matter what their background & upbringing, should have enough of a grasp of basic English to be able to fill up such a simple form.

Then again, I've been brought up speaking primarily English, so I'm at a huge advantage compared to others in that aspect.

And it helps that I believe it's important to assimilate oneself into the culture/environment you are in: doesn't mean I bend over backwards and abandon all cultural identity... but neither do I clutch to that identity at the expense of being able to communicate and interact with the rest of the community. [yeah yeah, I know many would argue I don't have much of the Malay/sian culture to hold on to in the first place, and they wouldn't be too wrong... but still...]

All too many people/communities put this cultural (and/or religious) identity above and beyond practical realities of functioning properly within a foreign environment.

I understand the desire of such communities to not lose/forget themselves/ their roots/ their heritage... but you can't [well, you shouldn't] create such an exclusive community such that people brought up within it just can't function "out there"!!?

Then again, maybe I'm the odd one who feels I bring my culture with me, *in* me, because it is part of who I am; there's no need to assure myself of my Malaysianness by sticking to a Malaysian community here.

Eh.

I've always been different. This is just one of the many aspects of the proof.

Cheers!

Who were you in your last life?

Found this past life diagnosis courtesy of SnglGuy.

I found it eerily accurate:

Your past life diagnosis:
I don't know how you feel about it, but you were male in your last earthly incarnation.You were born somewhere in the territory of modern Bulgaria around the year 675. Your profession was that of a sailor or shoemaker.

Your brief psychological profile in your past life:
Inquisitive, inventive, you liked to get to the very bottom of things and to rummage in books. Talent for drama, natural born actor.

The lesson that your last past life brought to your present incarnation:
Your lesson is to learn discretion and moderation and then to teach others to do the same. Your life will be happier if you help those who lack reasoning.

Like I said - eerily accurate... especially considering the "... software is only slightly more sophisticated than an electronic fortune cookie" according to the disclaimer, LOL!

p/s : it's 940am - still haven't gotten to the gym let alone the other things on that to do list, grrrr!!

Meat Loaf Update

Bat out of Hell III was released yesterday [on Halloween, how appropriate!]. The song titles are already extremely intriguing, and I can't wait to get my hands on this album.

No, I don't have it yet [surprise, surprise!]: am holding off getting it for myself so that it will be an easy gift at the end of the year for whoever wants to give that to me :-) [Ditto for the Animaniacs Vol 2 that's coming out Dec 5th 2006, teehee!]

But, back to Mr Loaf: I can't believe he's being overlooked/ignored YET AGAIN for induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame!

This year's nominees [based on this Yahoo! article]:

• Van Halen
• R.E.M.
• Chic
• Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five
  
• Patti Smith
• Dave Clark Five
• The Ronettes
  
• Joe Tex
  
• The Stooges

I have only heard of like four of the above. Ugh. None as great as Meat, IMO.
[If you are curious who has made the cut before, you can click HERE for past inductees]

"To be eligible, artists must have issued a first single or album at least 25 years prior to nomination."

Hellooooo, Bat I was released in 1977!
[Okay, so technically his debut was a duet with Stoney in 1971; either way, he is definitely eligible from that perspective!]

And looking beyond the release date: Bat I alone has sold over 35 million copies worldwide; Bat I is one of only two albums that have never exited the Top 200 in the UK charts; and Bat I is also the biggest-selling Australian album of all time.

Sure, he's had more misses than hits since Bat I, but he's certainly got staying power :-) And hey, Bat II was a huge commercial success *and* considered one of the best comeback albums evah!

And his fan base is NOT just aging bikers, okay?

Anyways - I discovered a fascinating writeup on Meat over at wikipedia, so anyone who wants to read more about him just click on over there. I am reminded that I do want to pick up a copy of his autobiography one day.. preferably at another concert and get it autographed by the man himself?? Oh, on a related note: it seems that his health insurance refuses to let Meat perform more than 1hr 45m as a result of his on-stage collapse 3 years ago... gee if I'd known that before going to the concert last year, might have helped me not feel the whole thing was too short! :p

Anyways..

I've been awake since about 430am; it's now almost 8am. Will be hitting the gym soon. Followed by meditation. Then cleaning out the kitty litter box. Shower. Food. and *then* start catching up with some errands and tasks that have been on my to do list for a week :p

[one of them: a thank you email to HW in London for the excellently hilarious wedding gifts - thanx gal!]