I really should be writing a post about my 8-day, 6-night, 3-country, 2-train-ride, 1000+-photo caper in Europe. For now though, I just want to give Fab.com a shoutout. You made my day. First with this real product called Ostrichpillow…
Then a great reminder for all…
Just admit it. You've wanted to say this many many times...
I got something from The Husband last night. Something I believe that will allow him to forget my birthday this year. Honey, you are already forgiven!
THE best baby book ever. Really. If you know someone who just had a baby, or who is going to have a baby, RUN, don’t walk, and order this book for them. They will love you for it.
And it is possible that you may be saving their sanity.
If you have gone through this, the so-called sleep training, you probably have said this, nay, SCREAMED this inside your head, many many time.
WHY won’t you just SHUT THE FUCK UP and GO TO SLEEP?!
Yeah. That.
Then you probably felt guilty for screaming inside your head at your kid.
Yeah. That too.
Well, I hope this book will help absolve the sense of guilt you feel from time to time. No. You are not alone in feeling this way.
The Husband and I also really bounded overnight by staging dramatic readings of this book. I have to say, he did an awesome job in expressing the frustration. I did not realize he’s a method actor esp. when he was saying all the F word in his reading. Very convincing. Mine? Not so much.
Just when I thought this could not have been even more awesomer. Guess what? They have an audio version of this. Professionally done of course. Go ahead and guess who is the narrator.
Guess!
Ok. Fine. I will give you a hint.
Get out of here! Right? For real? For realz.
Dear Internet, I love you. That is all.
Now… for THE. BEST. THING. THAT’S. HAPPENED. ON. THE. INTERNET. Since yesterday when the world was given NPH’s opening number at the Tony Award.
Now, you know what I am going to say right?
Yup. Imma gonna go the fuck to sleep myself.
Have you ever seen mean comments left by irate YouTubers for people who videotapes the television as a show was going on and uploaded the footage of that onto YouTube?
“Hey loser. Why are you taping your own TV and then put that on YouTube?!”
I am a loser so I take pictures of magazines that I read and I post them on the Interweb…
Rarely did I take one look at The Economist and burst out laughing...
The Economist can be raunchy, and it has a sense of humor. Who knew?!
Hey, at least they refrained from using the picture of the now famous "bulge"... The ending of this article titled, The Weiner War, (of course), once again showed The Economist can be raunchy, IF they want to.
"THE earthquake, tsunami and nuclear accident that struck Japan three months ago have revealed something important about the country: a seam of strength and composure in the bedrock of society that has surprised even the Japanese themselves."
“THE earthquake, tsunami and nuclear accident that struck Japan three months ago have revealed something important about the country: a seam of strength and composure in the bedrock of society that has surprised even the Japanese themselves.”
To me, this picture chosen by The Economist to accompany this article, says so much about what is quintessential and unique about Japan. From the “light-hearted” (as much as one could in this situation) reference to the ubiquitous 7 Eleven, to a quiet, subtle display of the much-vaunted attention to efficiency, adaptability, cleanliness, orderliness, and personal appearances (Notice how the mother looks much more put together than I am on a daily basis, and in such chaos and under such duress…)
And then read these two stories of exemplary spirits:
24-year-old Miki Endo, who used the loudspeaker system in Minamisanriku, a fishing port close to the focus of the 9.0 earthquake, to urge residents to do what they could to escape the incoming tsunami. She drowned at her post. Television footage shows the rising sea approaching, with her haunting voice echoing over the waves…
One fisherman tells of the four days he spent clearing the wreckage of his village, with no knowledge of the whereabouts of his eldest son. When his son eventually appeared, walking down off the mountain after a long cross-country trek to reach his parents, the two wiped tears from their eyes but did not say a word to each other. The son did not wish to disturb his father’s toil.
All the world is watching, holding their breath, especially their neighbors in Asia, because, as some commentators in the news media in China, India and Taiwan have said, If the Japanese people, with all their disciplines, their perseverance, their technological know-hows, their attention to details and rules, cannot pull through, we are all doomed when the same thing happens on our soil.
Yesterday April 26 was Shakespeare’s birthday, well, it was the day he was baptized. Nobody knows the exact date when he was born but traditionally it was celebrated on April 23. I can tell you that on either day there was no Google Doodle for him and “Shakespeare” was not on the Twitter trending topic list.
So there’s that.
I did celebrate yesterday by playing with this randomizer for Shakespeare’s insults: The Shakespearean Insulter
And I have been trying to memorize as many of the insults as I could. You never know when one will come in handy.
Idol of idiot-worshippers!
Be put in a cauldron of lead and usurer’s grease, amongst a whole million of cutpurses, and there boil like a gammon of bacon that will never be enough.
We leak in your chimney.
Thou cockered onion-eyed clack-dish!
Thou art essentially a natural coward without instinct.
Thou froward common-kissing scut!
Thou odiferous dizzy-eyed fustilarian!
Thou qualling elf-skinned foot-licker!
Thou puny lily-livered death-token!
Thou loggerheaded fat-kidneyed pumpion!
Thou roguish fat-kidneyed horn-beast!
Thou dissembling folly-fallen hedge-pig!
Thou bawdy earth-vexing whey-face!
Thou paunchy bat-fowling apple-john!
I will be getting up at 4 am to take the first flight out for yet another business trip. A pox upon thee!
While I am away, please try and memorize as many of Shakespeare’s gems and use them on each other.
For the Bard: This is one of the most revealing scenes about the power of theatre I have seen. (And it is from my favorite TV show ever Sports Night. I am still waiting for it to come back the way I am waiting for a chance to see Freddie Mercury live…)
I regard the theatre as the greatest of all art forms, the most immediate way in which a human being can share with another the sense of what it is to be a human being.
— Oscar Wilde, himself a gifted word master excelling at the art of insult
I know many of you have written about spam comments lately. Like the piracy industry, the spamming industry gets smarter and smarter each time we retch up our defense against it. I have been observing the improvement in quality in the spam comments I have been receiving and been amazed by how much I could learn from them.
Seriously. I have always had a hard time composing comments that go beyond, “AWESOME!” “I LOVE YOU!” “*LIKE*” and “Where is the *LIKE* button?” and “*LOVE*”.
I said all these things from my heart every time. And in all fairness (to me!) there is no reason why I would stop loving your posts so why should I stop saying “I love you!” just because I say it too many times? But sometimes I was indeed worried that you all may be a bit tired of these recycled comments and accused me of being lazy.
Below are some ACTUAL spam comments I have received that made me go, “Awww. Somebody loves me.” And then immediately when I realized I was being duped, “WTF?! So they did not really mean it? They just want me to go look for their puppy inside their van with them? Asshole!”
Here’s my theory: someone, or rather, some people from Hallmark are moonlighting as Spammers. Read the following heart-felt praises bestowed on this blog and tell me it is not plausible…
Let’s start with some short yet very sweet comments: (Are you ready with pen and paper to take notes?)
Excellent post I must say.. Simple but yet interesting and engaging.. Keep up the awesome work
Very nice and helpful information has been given in this article. I like the way you explain things. Keep posting. Thanks.
Thanks for sharing. Sharing is caring after all.
Then there are the comments where they are so grateful for the information they found here:
This is a smart blog. I mean it. You have so much knowledge about this issue, and so much passion. You also know how to make people rally behind it, obviously from the responses. Youve got a design here thats not too flashy, but makes a statement as big as what youre saying. Great job, indeed.
This is actually my first time here, really good looking blog. I discovered a lot of fascinating stuff within your blog particularly it’s discussion. From all the comments on your articles, it appears like this is really a extremely popular website. Keep up the good work.
I would like to start off by saying, thank you for supplying me with the information I’ve been searching for.I’ve been surfing the internet for three hours searching for it and would have given my right arm if I would have located your site sooner. Not only did I find what I was searching for, but found answers to questions I never even thought to ask myself. Thank you for your wonderful web-site!
I just discovered your web site on yahoo and see that you’ve got some fantastic thoughts in this post. I specifically appreciate the way you’ve been able to stick so very much thought into a relatively short submit (comparitively) which creates it an thoughtful post on your subject. IMHO you put a lot of good information in this submit not having all the filler that most bloggers use just to make their posts appear longer, that is ideal for a gal like me who doesn’t have a lot time cause I’m usually within the go. I often get so frustrated with so many of the final results in the major SE’s due to the fact they frequently seem to mostly be filled with filler content that frequently isn’t quite sensible. If you don’t mind I’m going to add this post and your weblog to my delicious favorites so I can share it with my family. I appear forward to coming back to read your future posts too.
Oh how I wish the following comments were really meant for me. “Every other blogs suck. You are the best!”
Too often bloggers take the time to write quality detailed posts like this and people fly back, absorb, and move on. I want to thank you for sharing this in depth knowledge with us. Hope you can keep up your blog and not fall into the 80% who eventually abandon their blog.
What a wonderful blog. I spend hours on the internet reading blogs, about tons of different subjects. I have to first of all give kudos to whoever created your theme and second of all to you for writing what i can only describe as an post. I honestly believe there is a skill to writing articles that only a few posses and frankly you have it. The combination of informative and quality content is definitely extremely rare with the large amount of blogs on the internet.
Then there are the “Story-telling” comments with so many details that make me wonder whether some out-of-work screenwriters have also got into this trade as well. I almost wanted to track the spammer down just so I could let them know how much I enjoyed the stories. One of them has got to be titled “Thanks for Lunch”…
I knew I was right. My friend and I placed a bet about which web site was superior. I thought your webpage was much better created, but she believed this post on trendy style ideas was much better. We rounded up 5 family memebers who had not seen either website prior to to read them each more than. Majority chose your site. Thanks for maintaing a great site.
Excellent read, I just passed this onto a colleague who was doing a little research on that. And he actually bought me lunch because I found it for him smile So let me rephrase that: Thanks for lunch!
My FAVORITE so far is this comment that made me go, WOW. Honesty is indeed the best policy!
This guy just came right out. Said it like it is. Called a spade a spade.
He is if nothing an honest spammer. You’ve got to respect that.
This is sort of like a repost. I created the Blog Advisory System last December when I realized that my eclectic rambling style may catch people off guard.
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Blog Advisory System: Don't say I didn't warn you!
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Today is GREEN. Short and sweet.
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"Do you feel lucky, punk?"
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Or maybe it should be…
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Ah Jimmy Kimmel. My favorite Late Night Show host. (Sorry darling Wicked Shawn. I know you have the super hots for the other Jimmy. Although it pangs me to disagree with you, I believe that THIS Jimmy is so much funnier as a talk show host… Well, now we won’t fight and each have our own Jimmy to jimmy with… )
My Jimmy decided to take on Facebook, the giant that just became a behemoth now that Facebook is offering a form of uber-email @Facebook.com that aims to keep all our young hooked on Facebook and never have any reason to go anywhere else. The thing with Facebook is that You and I and Jimmy are not Mark Zuckerberg’s target audience: he went straight to talk to high school students when they were designing Facebook email. This is where social media is like shopping on Rodeo Drive:
If you have to ask WHY, it is not meant for you.
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Jimmy Kimmel is trying to save Friendship (as we know it) by urging folks to unfriend friends that are not really friends on their Facebook. He calls today, November 17, the National UnFriend Day, aka NUD.
NUD is the international day when all Facebook users shall protect the sacred nature of friendship by cutting out any ‘friend fat’ on their pages occupied by people who are not truly their friends.
[And more importantly] Without guilt or retribution.
In one of his tongue-in-cheek skit, Jimmy suggested this method to see who one’s real friends are: “Update your Facebook status to say, ‘I am moving this Friday and I need movers”; those who that show up are your real friends.”
The fact that I am undercover as far as this blog is concerned, that I have two Facebook accounts and I update one account a lot more often and with more candor, that I maintain two Twitter accounts and I clearly identity with the one where I am not using my real name, points to the other fact that I have a very different definition and interpretation of “friends” from what Jimmy is based on for his new holiday.
Nevertheless, hilarity (has) ensued and I have been enjoying the comedic aspect of it.
From William Shatner (of course!), Danny McBride, Dr. Oz, Lisa Kudrow (“I know friends. I used to be one.”), Wolf Blitzer,
And there is some truth to what Jimmy presented in one of his fake tirades:
All men were not created equal. Some of them are very annoying!
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The most brilliant, most awesome thing, up until now, that came out of this fake NUD holdiday is the holiday theme song by WAR, called, you guessed it, “Why can’t we UNfriend?”
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vl-kYbgCsI
I went to an actual Brick-and-Mortar bookstore today. This is a rare occasion ever since Amazon.com was founded in 1995. (I still remember when I first heard about it. “What a stupid name?! Who would buy books online?! And why would I want to buy their stocks?!”)
I do enjoy going to the book stores in real life: I love looking at the book covers, discovering new books via the store displays, getting a taste of what’s garnering the attention of the masses, detecting the harbingers of the next big thing.
Sometimes I simply like to read the clever titles and corresponding designs on the book covers vying for your attention.
“Pick me! Pick me!”
Sometimes I simply enjoy picking them up, caressing the book spines, feeling the weight of words in my hands.
And sometimes I do get a chuckle.
Since I have an iPhone with me now, anything that makes me laugh simply HAS to be photographed. (OK, I admit, having a blog is another reason…)
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Actual page from George W. Bush's memoir. Notice that he's using WMD as an excuse to justify going into Iraq?
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Guess which book is going on my Christmas list?!
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What is Fascism? "that thing someone else is doing that I disagree with. Not communism. The other one."
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It takes a comedian to provide the best explanations for communism, socialism and fascism...
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Raise your hand if you feel like crying because it is Monday? Raise your hand if you could use this book? Raise your hand if you believe that enforcing the said No Asshole Rule requires a good ol' can of Wupass or at least the threat of it?
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Sigh.
These boots are nice, right? But I am not showing them because they are sexy. These boots were spotted 2 hours into a mountain climbing route...
This is what most of the paths on those mountains look like...
And this is what the mountain peak looks like...
Here is something that amused me for an entire hour the other day:
Go to google map, search for Directions from China to Taiwan.
Take a look at Direction Number 55.
Here, I have taken the liberty to show you a composite screenshot. I am awesome like this.
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Before you sneer at how easily I am amused (even though it is true!) please know that you cannot do this for trips between say the U.S. and Europe. google will not allow you to swim in the Atlantic Ocean. Whereas trips to Asia? Google says, “Be my guest!”
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This is why, ladies and gents, we do not complain about air travel...
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This is why, ladies and gentlemen, we should never complain about air travel.
Looking at this 38-day, 10,000 mile trip in which I have to kayak, jet ski and swim across the Pacific Ocean, I now feel much better about my 2-leg 16-hour-in-middle-seat one-day trip to Taipei.
Perspectives. The cure for whining.
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On an unrelated note, I think I may partake in NaBloPoMo again. National Blog Posting Month. I did it last year: I was crying uncle and said NEVER AGAIN! when I emerged from the darkness called “Blogger’s Block aka I ran out of shit to write about on the third day”. Call me compulsive masochistic nuts. At this moment, I thought I’d give it a go simply because they have a category “Psychotic Ranting/Anonymous Foaming”; I simply need to be part of something this awesome.
Yes. NaBloPoMo looks and sounds very similar to NaBloMoFo, and believe me, by the end of this month, I’d be calling it NaBloMoFo. When your spouse complains about your even crazier blogging obsession, erratic schedules and the unfed children, just tell him that next month could be NaBloJoMo if he pipes down, and oh, does the laundry (by laundry, we mean “folding the goddamn clothes too”. Thank you).
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Something that really made my blood boil today and I think we all need to read this excellent investigative reporting by NPR. Please take a look at this and be outraged. As a nation, we need to be outraged by this: Prison Economics Help Drive Ariz. Immigration Law
… What he was selling was a prison for women and children who were illegal immigrants … That’s because prison companies like this one had a plan — a new business model to lock up illegal immigrants. And the plan became Arizona’s immigration law.
NPR spent the past several months analyzing hundreds of pages of campaign finance reports, lobbying documents and corporate records. What they show is a quiet, behind-the-scenes effort to help draft and pass Arizona Senate Bill 1070 by an industry that stands to benefit from it: the private prison industry.
The law could send hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants to prison in a way never done before. And it could mean hundreds of millions of dollars in profits to private prison companies responsible for housing them.
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What Laura Sullivan and NPR uncovered gives an evil spin to the catchphrase “It’s the economy, stupid.”
Here is my silent scream, something I wish someone in a position to do so could actually confront Arizona state Sen. Russell Pearce with, invoking the famous retort by Welch against McCarthy:
“Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?”