I shall return when the madness ends...

Hi Everyone!

I apologize for the returned lack-of-blogging, but I've started on a new venture that will keep my blogging priorities elsewhere for the next few months. To see what I've been up to, visit my other page at Raise, Run, Rock'N'Roll. Casey and I have signed up to participate in the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Team in Training (TNT) and have committed to fundr aising for a great cause - all while training to do the P.F.Chang's Rock'N'Roll Marathon & 1/2 Marathon in Phoenix, AZ in January. Check out the blog for all the information you could ever want (and more) about the event, our journey, and even how to make a donation!

This post only has 6...

For those of you who will miss me while I'm lying on the beach, drinking up rum and sun next week, I thought I'd give you a bit of food for thought. As a once-upon-a-time movieaholic, I was reading some reviews today, as well as the eulogy tribute Christopher Nolan wrote for Heath Ledger as I await the release of The Dark Knight, and stumbled upon this: The record number of times the F-Bomb has been dropped in a film.

That record belongs to a documentary film entitled “Fuck” about the origin and use of the word. Surprisingly enough the film has a “fuck count” of 8.86 “fucks” per minute of the 93 minute film. The honor of second place is currently held by the British comedy “Nil by Mouth” from 1997. In third is the Robert DeNiro starrer from director Martin Scorsese “Casino” which has a “fuck count” of 398.Here’s the list of films with the amount of times “Fuck” can be counted in each:

Fuck (2005) - 824
Nil by Mouth (1997) - 428
Casino (1995) - 398
Alpha Dog (2007) - 367
Twin Town (1997) - 318
Summer of Sam (1999) - 315
Running Scared (2006) - 315
Martin Lawrence Live: Runteldat (2002) - 311
Menace II Society (1993) - 300
Goodfellas (1990) - 300
Narc (2002) - 297
Harsh Times (2006) 296
Another Day in Paradise (1998) - 291
Made (2001) - 291
Dirty (2005) - 280
Jarhead (2005) - 278
Bully (2001) - 274
State Property 2 (2005) - 271
Reservoir Dogs (1992) - 269
Pulp Fiction (1994) - 265
The Big Lebowski (1998) - 260
Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001) - 248
Dead Presidents (1995) - 247
The Boondock Saints (1999) - 239
The Departed (2006) - 237
Empire (2002) - 236
True Romance (1993) - 234
State of Grace (1990) - 230
My Name Is Joe (1998) 230
Gridlock’d (1997) 227
The Devil’s Rejects (2005) - 224
Eddie Murphy Raw (1987) - 223
Suicide Kings (1997) - 222
Black and White (1999) - 215
American History X (1998) - 214
The Original Kings of Comedy (2000) 213
Layer Cake (2005) 210
Scarface (1983) 207
Spun (2002) 203
A Bronx Tale (1993) 200
Foolish (1999) 200
8 Mile (2002) 200
DysFunktional Family (2003) 200
I Got the Hook Up (1998) 197
Born on the Fourth of July (1989) - 196
Overnight (2003) - 191
Magnolia (1999) - 190
Monster (2003) - 187
Hustle and Flow (2005) - 186
Get Rich or Die Tryin’ (2005) 185
Formula 51 (2001) - 180
Flawless (1999) - 178
Superbad (2007) - 176
Poetic Justice (1993) - 175
Tigerland (2000) - 173
Bad Santa (2003) - 173
Donnie Brasco (1997) - 172
The Commitments (1991) - 169
Grindhouse (2007) - 169

[link to original web content here]

Teenage Wasteland

On my new route to work these days, I pass this little girl waiting for the bus. Some days, there's a large orange and white cat sunning itself next to her, or purring while she pets it. Judging by the time I drive by (approximately 8am), my guess is that she's in middle school... maybe 14 years old. She's a little bit of a bigger girl - certainly not "fat", but not rail-thin either - with thick, dark hair and glasses. Today when I drove by, she seemed sad. I'm not sure what gave me that impression... maybe it was the way she was carrying herself, or looking down at the ground. She reminded me of how excruciatingly painful that stage of life can be. I looked at her and thought of myself at that age, and I wondered if we ever know how we'll end up as adults. I was a painfully nerdy, awkward kid. Braces, glasses, I loved to read and play with animals... I don't know that I ever really thought I'd grow up to be the person I am today. I wonder if our parents see it in us - if we will one day see it in our own children... the glimmer of the potential human at the end of the long, awkward road.

I thought about the girl the whole way to work this morning. She seems tall for her age. My guess is that as she grows up, she'll lose her teenage awkwardness and become a pretty stunning young woman. If she survives middle school, that is. I wonder if these are the kinds of things our parents saw in us as we battled through our painful teenage years? More importantly, when she finally does become that person, what will she see when she looks in the mirror at 27, at 30? Will she see the woman she has become, or will she see herself at 14? I know there are many days when I still see the teenager, and often wonder how other people can possibly see anything else. Does that ever truly fade, I wonder?

Top 10 ...

Things That Piss Me Off In The Gym:

10) The old guy who talks incessantly at me from the other side of the room and insists on having the same conversation about how the world is going to hell every week.

9) Anyone who insists on watching Fox News.

8) Charlie, who sticks his head in the door to tell me I'm "wasting away to nothing" every single day.

7) The 'emergency stop' cord on the treadmill.

5) The super-skinny, gorgeous, friendly, 22 year old who runs 10 miles and doesn't break a sweat.

5) The 59 year old guy wearing jewelry who thinks he's a qualified personal trainer and tries to give me unsolicited advice.

4) Crappy satellite TV instead of normal cable.

3) The 59-year old guy's chain-smoking, whiny, fat, loud girlfriend/wife/sister who bitches (loudly) after every rep.

2) Your crappy music that I can hear from your headphones over all the machines AND CNN.

1) People staring at my chest and pretending like they're not - there are MIRRORS EVERWHERE, GUYS!

Ode to Buffy

more graph humor and song chart memes

Newsworthy

Check out this article from Salon.com.

That is all.

My goodness, my Guiness...

Ladies and gentlemen, friends and... everyone else... I present you with an ode to the summer before us and, by extension, our favorite pass time:

• 32 Things You Can Do With Beer

• Beer With Benefits

• 6 Tips for Cooking With Beer

Of course, after all of this fun, you might need to check out the following:

• Hangover Helpers

Now, if only they could do "32 Things to Do With Captain Morgan", I'd be in heaven. Bottoms up, everyone!

Jerks of the Internet

An article I stumbled upon on MSN today - I found it particularly relevant of late. This is the first paragraph of the article:

We've all run into obnoxious people on the Internet. But these are the kinds of idiots who make you feel like logging off permanently.

Scammers, stalkers, online antagonists ready to pick a fight, folks who are just plain mean -- what is it about the Web that turns people into jerks?

One expert says the anonymity of the Web makes everyone behave as if they were in Palm Beach in April. "Think about spring break, when people are feeling anonymous and acting in ways they wouldn't in their hometown, where they run into their neighbor," says Nicole Ellison, assistant professor of telecommunications, information studies and media at Michigan University. "People are less inhibited, and they then will engage in things they would want to do all the time but wouldn't normally because it would be frowned upon in their social circles."

A New York University study found that subjects were more likely to express their true selves on the Net rather than in face-to-face interaction. If that's the case, the stories we've collected here may make you despair for the state of humanity. Meet just a few of the Web's aggravating trolls and irritating idiots.

Glass houses are rarely bulletproof

Could someone please explain to me how an elected official who has founded his public persona on fighting corruption (and, ironically, busting prostitution rings in NYC) gets caught hiring a prostitute while in office and ALREADY under scrutiny?! [Never mind it was the day before Valentine's Day - try keeping it in your pants and renting some porn, buddy. Maybe send your gorgeous wife some flowers.] Seriously? Seriously. The guy's got a beautiful wife and three daughters, and he goes and does this? He's not some George W. Bush dipshit halfwit in need of a personal assistant to remind him to zip his fly - Spitzer has been gunning for the White House for quite some time, he's smart, and he's ruthless. This isn't something that was hiding in his closet either - something that happened 20 years ago that could be brushed off. It happened a month ago! Yeah, he's had a rough year, but for a guy who knows the processes, know what a federal investigation looks like, and knows what goes on in politics, wouldn't you think this could be the absolute dumbest thing he could do? As far as I'm concerned, there's only one possible explanation: extreme mental illness. Wait, there's one more: he actually was tired of being governor, and decided he'd rather resign in disgrace to become a full time stay-at-home dad.