ABC Family is becoming so artistically progressive lately, I tell ya! A couple hours ago, I turned on the TV and was flipping channels when I came to rest on what appeared to be 7th Heaven, and I was hearing some kind of voice-over. It looked like they were doing one of those effects where time stops briefly and we hear the thoughts of the character before they unpause time and we continue. And then the voices kept going, and the video (that shot on the side there) stayed still. For 30 seconds. Then a couple minutes.

Then the scene (in his mind?) changed, and went on for awhile. If this was Space Ghost, I wouldn’t have given it another thought, but as far as I know Space Ghost hasn’t crossed-over with 7th Heaven. Then the voice-over changed again and said, “New Johnsons’ Soft Lotion is for grown-ups!”

At this point I realized that something was seriously wrong. I said, “Steph, look at this!” Her response was a simple, “Oh yeah, it’s been like that since yesterday.”

Yesterday.

Wait, let me flip back there now and… yep. Still stuck. Now he’s staring at the floor, holding his pool queue, and wondering, “How did we get the Government’s highest safety rating?” Either someone at the station has locked themselves in and is having a little fun, or the guys running that place are morons. I wish I knew which it was.

I first heard Kid A recommended in the narthex at my church. I bet not many people can say that. Because they don’t know what a narthex is. Anyhow, a group of people were talking about Radiohead, and I said that I owned and liked OK Computer, and didn’t have their other stuff. One of the guys in the group, evidently the most Radiohead-friendly, seemed just a little bit disappointed by this. He encouraged me to check out Kid A as quickly as possible, and so a couple weeks later (after listening to a streaming copy at work) I picked it up at Wal-Mart while visiting Minnesota.

Continue reading “Kid A (New Yorke, New Yorke)” →

It’s coming out in June. Before I saw the trailer, I had such high hopes. This may be the nail in the coffin for that comic. If I had Garfield stock, I would sell.

The guy who regularly does Garfield’s voice (Lorenzo Music) isn’t even helping out with the movie. I can’t blame him, since he died in 2001, but it’s still disheartening because we all know what Garfield sounds like, and it’s just not him. Like Kermit, except that the new voice isn’t even attempting an impersonation.

Still, the animation is pretty decent. And the good news is that Bill Murray is the new voice of Garfield. So I’m trying to hang on to hope that it won’t totally bomb. I hope I have to eat my words come next June.

We were at a Christmas party last night where the hosts decided to throw in a Simpsons Trivia Quiz for the “ringers” in the crowd (that being Stephanie and me). I got 24 of the 29 questions right, and took home the prize!

If you do the math, that means I missed five. I’m a little embarrassed that I missed some of these (some on technicalities, but hey, I remembered the name of Marge’s bowling instructor), but here they are for you to attempt, if you like. None of them are trick questions either, so you can take them at face value. And no peeking on SNPP!

• What is Bart’s middle name?
• What is the name of the Simpson’s cat?
• Who played Radioactive Man in the Radioactive Man movie?
• Who was hired to stop the smuggling of illegal alcohol?
• What was Lisa’s first word?

Get your answers in your head before opening the comments. Let’s hear it, Peanut Gallery!

Zeldman posted this today, and I think it’s hilarious. If you don’t get it, I might be able to explain it to you. It’s totally true.

Thanksgiving night was not only spent on consuming as much food as is healthy (read: possible) but also spent playing one of the best board games I’ve ever played in my life. I don’t know whether it’s fair to call it a board game or not, because it’s not really a conventional board. As you can see, it’s made up of hexagonal tiles, and every time you play the game, those tiles are in a different place, thus adding some randomness to the game.

I’m not going to go into the rules at this point (because that would be a ridiculously long entry) but as complex as the game is, it’s extremely fun. We were first told of it by an Australian friend of ours named Andrew. He’s big into games of all different kinds, and he introduced us to the German-invented Settlers of Catan. We actually didn’t play it with him the first time, though. He spoke of it and said we ought to try it, and our friend Brian Davenport (who teaches at Hyde with Steph) played it with us the first time and taught us how it worked. We’re very thankful he did. It’s a ton of fun. If you’re in Minnesota and you’ll be seeing us over Christmas, it’s possible we might be able to have a game with you.

(For those of you who know how to play, in the linked picture I’m orange, our friends Matt and Aimee are blue and white respectively, and Steph is red. It was a close game, but Steph won.)

Well, it’s an interesting phenomenon, but why does it seem so dirty to me? Is anybody else getting that?