Rudy! Theo!

I do love me some Bill Cosby. I mean, most people in my age demo grew up watching The Cosby Show so there's a real sentimentality attached to the man. As he gets older, he's really turning into a cantankerous hag but whatev. I guess old people get a free pass to act like assholes or something.

So someone made a cartoon called House of Cosbys wherein a guy makes a cloning machine and produces a bunch of Cosby clones for himself. It's way weirder than it sounds. Of course, cantankerous old man filed a cease and desist so the whole thing stopped but not before four very surreal and hilarious episodes were finished. So click here for all four on YouTube and when you're done watch this weird permutation that they did after the lawsuit which isn't as good but still next-level bizarre.

I Hate Plastic Bags

Okay, the photo does not do it justice. What we have represented here is 60,000 plastic bags, equal to the number used in the US every FIVE SECONDS. It makes me totally ill.

I am a fantastic consumer. Man, I sure take it on as my personal duty to keep the economy rolling with my fair share of shopping and consumption. Nonetheless, I am totally disgusted by the amount of waste we have in this country. I realize that it's completely hypocritical but a conundrum I am willing to face nonetheless.

Here's where I start: No more plastic bags. I refuse. I either bring another shopping bag or I am forced to figure out a way to jam all my purchases down into my purse. Cashiers mostly don't like or don't understand but I could give a rat's ass. When I say no bag, I freakin' mean it!

So the artist who made this photo made a bunch of others commenting on our consumption as a nation. It makes me dizzy every time I go to the website but it also makes me keep that thought at the front of my mind. They are awesome. Check them out.

Sorry About The Blog Silence

So sometimes my mind gets all serious and contemplative. I start thinking about, you know, real stuff. It makes blogging about pop culture sort of hard. I feel ridiculous every time I try to do it. I guess that's what has been going on the last two weeks. It doesn't mean I'm not still reading all the crazy junk on the internets and watching my ridiculously huge TV, it just means I went into blog silence. Today I am going to clean out the blog bookmarks folder. Ready? Here we go.

Rich White Bitchslap

Sometimes two spoiled, disgusting tornadoes run into each other and the effect is so awe-inspiring that I just have to share it with the people that I love. Enjoy!

And In Case You Were Feeling A Little Melancholy

I forgot all about this great video from Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip "Thou Shalt Always Kill" that I saw a couple weeks ago. I'm sure you'll have your own favorite little couplets. A couple of mine:

Thou Shalt Not judge a book by its cover/Thou Shalt Not judge Lethal Weapon by Danny Glover
Thou Shalt Not not liking a band just because they become popular/Thou Shalt Not question Stephen Fry

Elliott Smith's New Moon

Elliott Smith is a very big subject for me. It goes back to 1993 and Heatmiser shows for five bucks at La Luna. And later, when I was about to graduate from high school and this quiet little record called Roman Candle comes out and wallpapers my life. I really think that my love of Elliott Smith runs so deep and is so closely tied to my love of Portland that sometimes I wonder if I can tell the two apart.

After he left Portland, I never loved his LA records. They sounded, I don't know, hollow somehow. It was still him there but like a ghost of him. I would always listen to Figure 8 or From A Basement and try to think hard back to one particular time I saw him live. That magical show at The X-Ray Cafe when I brought my first love who had just broken my heart. Maybe 50 people there, tops, and all siting on the floor, cross-legged. It was like being with our Dalai Lama; we worshipped. He was so quiet and gentle and insanely talented and we just sent love in waves and waves. People left that show dazed.

Today I was having a blue day and I saw the new Elliott record up on iTunes. Lots of old stuff, b-sides and demos, etc. And there it was: Magical Elliott. I could hear that day when he played "Clementine" when I asked and remember what it's like when the music that makes you sad is also the music that has made you the happiest ever.

Plus, the cover art is great.

Happy Weng Weng Day!

Hello. Meet Weng Weng. He is a sort-of Asian Midget James Bond. Sounds impossible, yes. However, this incontrovertable truth is brought to you with rhymes and a kickass backbeat. Happy Tuesday, folks.

Yummy Morsels For All You Stoners Out There

I just watched something so disturbing and wonderful over on YouTube. Some techno geniuses (and major pot smokers, I must surmise) have superimposed the faces of Muppets over the actors faces for the complete Pulp Fiction trailer.

Pulp Muppets. Well, it got me thinking. Do you think they could superimpose Beaker's face over Bruce Willis' for the new Die Hard movie? The movie looks alright but man, is Bruce looking bored. At least that tired old "yipee kay ay" line might sound fresh comin' outta Beaker's mouth.

Bookmarks

Today, kids, we are going to explore the exciting world of bookmarks. Not the rad cardboard ones you used to have (back when you read real books and the internet was just a gleam in Al Gore's eye) but the newfangled ones that let you go back to the same place on the internet that you went before! Ain't technology grand?

I have been bookmarking funny stuff for a couple weeks and now I lay out a tasty sampler for your enjoyment.


1. Clive Owen Speaks
A random iTunes search yielded something totally frickin bizarre. First off, who knew Clive Owen even has a podcast? Quick link over to the website and... woah. Really, this is like fifth-level genius. I truly have no idea if this is him or someone punking and honestly: That is the best part. (That or "My Chest!")

2. Peeps!
Okay, so Peeps are totally disgusting to eat. Once I watched a show on Food Network on how they are made and that was totally fascinating but I hope to avoid eating them at pretty much any cost. Once every five years, maybe. But I digress. The Washington Post ran an inspired contest using Peeps and it turned out to pretty much kick ass. Plus, anytime you can get a group of people to make dioramas, I am so there!

3. Bitchin' videos by Feist and The Shins
I loved Feist when I saw her with Kings of Convenience a couple years back but I felt like her album was way over-produced after seeing how good she was low-fi. Then I watched this video and fell in love with Feist again. Good to be back. Also included is the video for The Shins "Australia". My love for The Shins runs deep, only encouraged by the fact that they are now a Portland band.

4. Christopher Eccleston Fans Only
As with The Shins, my love for Christoper Eccleston runs deep. He also tops my own personal "Freebie Five" (don't tell the boyfriend) in spite of the fact that he's sort of odd looking. He is in a video for a band called Kloot and the song's okay but the video is... well, okay, the video is uncomfortable. It is a slow zoom in on only his face for the duration but I'm telling you, those last 30 seconds are totally worth waiting for. Makes my day every single time. Sigh.

5. Can't Wait for July
A new movie and the final book?!? Can my heart stand it? I still get a little choked up when I think about Dumbledore. Don't get me started. The trailer for the movie got my heart racing faster than 20 minutes on the elliptical.

6. Funny Song About Zach Braff
I mean, c'mon, we all know Scrubs is genius.

The "Go To" Song

You know how when you turn on your iPod or get in your car, you have that moment of choice where you think "What will I listen to first?" I know that I often choose the same song (especially when playing through iTunes on the laptop). Hence the "go to" song.

Right now my "go to" song is Rockwell's "Somebody's Watching Me". Yes, it's totally true and not in a hipster, ironic way. No, I think this song is so hot I can't get enough of it. Refresh yourself and get back to me.

I couldn't find a picture of Rockwell, so I posted one of Sam Rockwell instead. Close enough, and equally kickass. I mean, have you seen him dance?

Made My Week

The best news of the week (not the new episode of Heroes although that was awesome) is that Fletch is finally being re-released on DVD.

Here's how much I love Fletch:
1. I named my cat Fletch
2. I made my friend Rich watch the rollerskating scene no less than 15 times in one night. And it was still funny.
3. I still have my VHS copy of Fletch. Mind you, I have not had a VCR for three years. Can't get rid of it.

Then this week I noticed that Fletch had mysteriously moved from the Saved section of my Netflix queue to the list. Holy frak. Now I've ordered my very own copy, along with the DVD of Robocop, which will make a kickass if incongruous double-feature at the homestead next weekend. I am so excited it's embarassing.

How I End Up Watching Some Really Weird Shit

The other day I watched the last hour of The Fast and the Furious 3: Tokyo Drift. I remember giggling in the theater when I saw that trailer more than a year ago and I just sat and watched it for a full hour.

How does this happen? I'll tell you: It's called HDTV. If a movie is on on an HD channel I'm probably 4 times as likely to watch it. So if, like, Croupier (a good movie I always mean to watch) is on versus a movie I never actually meant to see... I really have to think about it. HDTV on a disgustingly, embarassingly huge television like ours is like a whole new addiction that I haven't yet learned how to control.

Woah.

I don't care if you're a sci fi geek or not. This is totally. freakin'. awesome. Yes, that is a hot air balloon. Funny stuff.

Kinda Makes Me Wanna Watch Fear Factor

So I had heard a little bit about this whole feud going down between Joe Rogan and Carlos Mencia a while back. Supposedly Mencia, who I have always found to be tired and boring, is a bit of a joke stealer. Joe Rogan, fellow comedian and erstwhile Fear Factor host, is unwilling to let the stealing go by unnoticed.

Then one day I looked at this clip on You Tube. Man, that Mencia is even more completely jackassed that I originally guessed. Then I spent about and hour and a half reading Joe Rogan's blog and watching clips on it. Click here and scroll down to February 13th and start there. Very interesting and funny stuff. Makes me even more glad I've never wasted a minute of my life watching Mencia's show. Or should we be calling him Ned Holness?

If You Ain't Seen It Yet, You're Missing Out

Step 1: Remember how insanely funny Shaun of the Dead was.
Step 2: Watch this trailer.
Step 3: Guess what I'll be doing this weekend.

A Belated Easter Greeting

Pope Johnny 5 blesses you.

CSPAN Is On More In Our House Than Maybe Even Ninja Warrior

I was just watching Oregon's Senator on CSPAN addressing the Treasury Secretary (played today by a very tense Henry Paulson, to be inevitably dramatized by Terry O'Quinn) in a Finance Commitee Hearing. Woah, Ron Wyden is pissed off about tax code. Sure doesn't look like the Republicans want to take him seriously, though.

I adore Ron Wyden. He's worth checking out here

The OC Lament

I managed to catch this little show when it was stuffed into the end of a summer season. I sort of just kept up for the middle of it, which I guess is the meat of the show when you think about it, but I really plugged in last season after we got it all hooked up with the DVR. And suddenly it was the most insanely guilty watching-it-when-the-boyfriend's-working pleasure I could think of. The show was even awesome and not resorting to campiness to achieve said awesomeness. Awesome as in say, maybe, Ugly Betty awesome.

And they cancelled it. Those frickin' idiots.

But blessings be upon those quackers at Soap Net because now it is syndicating every weeknight. The best little icing on this for me is the only reason I found out it was repeating was from Ira Glass telling the story of how he and his wife sing the opening theme together every week. I have just outed myself as and NPR nerd and so be it.

Super Secret Girl Crush

I will admit I only checked out Lily Allen because I was loving her snark British celebrity escapades on Perez, and I think she is wicked hot. Really. I have no girl on girl aspirations IRL (as the kids say) but she is too cute.

Owing much to my iTunes addiction (more on that eventually) I listened to her album and it is so frothy and delicious. It made me so happy I think I gained five pounds. Truthfully, it's the album I think Gwen Stefani was trying to make but didn't. I love me some Gwen, but I think her hot chickiness might be the thing I like more than her music. But Lily is different.

Now she's gone and cancelled a major portion of her "breakout" US tour, blaming exhaustion and possible descent into raging alcohol consumption. I say good for her. I think it would be a bitch to do that for over a year. I bet she needs some serious napping in the afternoon. It makes me love her a little more that she didn't worry about being some big US crossover (Ahem, Beckhams). Plus, she dares me to ask the question: How would I look as a pimped out bride??

Shia LaBeouf Is Suddenly The Shit

Not that I didn't know this when I was watching Even Stevens to check him out. Okay, not in a gross pervert way because he was just a sweet, innocent thing then. But really, he was great. Then, he was even better in Holes, which could have been okay without him but was frickin awesome with him.

So anyway, I just saw him in Disturbia. Movie was so-so, kind of standard but enjoyable for my movie dollar. (And, BTW, I felt like a dirty mama watching little Shia all grown up and kissing with a lot of tongue!) Now we're all well aware that Shia is in the next Indy movie which just switched it over into the Movies I Want To See column. Thanks for bein' you, Shia.