2 posts in a day? how lucky ARE you?

www.catsthatlooklikehitler.com. Need I say more? Thanks to my hubby for finding the site.

Mel Gibson... What the Hell?

So apparently Mel Gibson is not only super-Catholic, he's super anti-semitic and a super alcoholic, too. I always thought Mel was a little too high on his horse. I mean, he's an old-school Catholic who thinks that communion doesn't actually become the blood/flesh of Jesus unless the mass is said in Latin. He's publically said before that he doesn't necessarily think that his wife is getting into heaven because she's an Episcopal. Sure, she's good enough to have a dozen of my kids, but heaven? Well, thems the rules, sweetie. Sorry 'bout that. The only way through THOSE pearly gates is through the Vatican. And not this Vatican, even, more like the Vatican circa 1200. The P.C. term for this is "traditionalist Catholicism". Click here for wikipedia quotes about Mel's view of his religion.

Speaking of which, I guess it shouldn't be a surprise that Mel is such an anti-semite, seeing how he claims that the Vatican II is responsible for the downfall of Catholicism, including Pope John Paul II's outreach to the Jewish community. He also blamed them on the rise of homosexuality and pedophelia in the Church. Oh really, Mel, are they responsible for your alcoholism, too?

Maybe I live under a rock, but I had no idea what a giant, closed-minded loser this guy was until is D.U.I. arrest over the weekend. I feel like Braveheart (which I loved cause it's about the Scots, gotta give love to my roots) is totally ruined for me now.

Rave: Is "Scrabblemania" A Word?

I'm in the middle of reading Stephen Fatsis' "Word Freak", which is an incredibly interesting book about the inside world of competitive Scrabble playing. OK, so I know it's incredibly dorky, too, but remember I'm the same gal that dragged my husband to see Word Play, so there you go.

During the course of Word Freak the writer, who started the book as a "journalistic" approach to the game, becomes increasingly obsessed with Scrabble. He ends up memorizing all the 2,3, and 4 letter Scrabble words, anagramming on the subway, and learning the Bingo word lists.

But the more I read the book, Fatsis' obsession becomes MY obsession. I don't want to admit it to anyone, but I am thinking about printing out all the 2 and 3 letter Scrabble word lists from the Hasbro site. I mean, I just beat my husband by a good 40 point margin on a Scrabble game and I'm still thinking about it.

So what's with my Scrabble obsession? Is it the same nagging feeling we get from Sodoku and cross word puzzles, that the human brain needs to be able to fill in the blanks that we see? Who cares. We'll just see if I can beat Mr. and Mrs. Prof. McRib (competitive board game players) the next time we're in the big D.

MST3K

So apparently the good, good people of Mystery Science Theater 3000 share my views of Andy Rooney. In Volume 8 of the MST3K series (1993), Mike Nelson engages the two robots, Tom Servo and Crow T. Robot, into an "Andy Rooney-off," where they talk about the quixotic nature of soup. Granted, I have not seen this myself, but it will now move to #1 on my priority list to get this from NetFlicks. Click here to see it reported on Wikipedia (under "Trivia").

See, I'm not the only one who things The Rooney ridiculous. And you know if they made fun of it on MST3K, it's gotta be legit.

Is Montgomery Burns Based on Andy Rooney: They Look Alike, They Think Alike, Sometimes They Even TALK Alike...

Could The Simpsons' C. Montgomery Burns be based on 60 Minutes' Andy Rooney? The idea first occured to me while doing research for my first entry about how much Andy Rooney grinds my gears. On the CBS/60 Minutes website, they have a link to transcripts of recent Andy Rooney tirades. One particularly funny one is on milk, where Rooney goes off about how there are too many types of milk "nowadays". Included is a snippet that we should really be calling it "skimmed milk" instead of "skim milk". This brought to mind a Simpsons episode where Mr. Burns tries ice cream for the first time and calls it "iced cream".

The look alike: Compare their pictures. Come on.

They think alike: The ramblings of Andy Rooney are obviously those of a man who wishes it were still 1950. He hates computers (Rooney does it typewriter-style), anything but whole milk, the metric system, stamps, and every president after Truman. He probably drives a hulking antique car that gets "40 rods to the Hogshead".

The talk alike: Besides the oh-so-obvious skimmed milk and iced cream reference, I'm sure if you called Andy Rooney, he would also answer his phone "Ahoy hoy" like Mr. Burns, and that he refers to his on-air ramblings that are featured on the "jumping box".

Basically, it's funny because they both think they are living in 1903. Click here for a hilarious wikipedia commentary on Mr. Burns' state of mind.

What the HELL is wrong with BLOGGER?

This post speaks for itself. I couldn't log onto blogger all day yesterday.

Where the Hell is Glenn Hollis?

OK, so my husband and I realized last night that our favorite late night radio show, "After Hours with Glenn Hollis," hasn't been on lately. In case you don't tune in to 97.1 Wash FM, or if you just won't admit to it, Glenn Hollis has the best dedications show. People generally call in, keep their comments short, Glenn will murmur his understandings and then either read a poem, play a song, or both. The really great thing is that it's local, and people really feel like they have a connection to him. He also hosts the Valentine's Day gala that Wash hosts every year.

Instead, they have been playing this "Delilah" crap, which is annoying for SO many reasons.
1) She goes by one name like she's Madonna, or Prince, or something. Come on, you're in RADIO.
2) She's syndicated, not local.
3) She carries out really long conversations with these callers. She might play 3 songs during the entire show. In the meantime, some yahoo from the trailor park is going on and on about how her daughter has moved in with an older man across the park with two illegitimate kids, and it's against god's plan, and she just doesn't know what to do about it.
3) Her song choice is utterly unpredictable and ridiculous. Like last night this woman called in about how great she thinks it is that her husband is going to medical school as a second career in his 30s. Then she plays "Love the Way You Love Me," a country song from like, 99/00 which has nothing to do with being proud, sacrificing, etc., but literally the way you love me. What?

So I did some research today and they CANNED GLENN HOLLIS. (click here for the link to a washingtonpost article about the firing). Apparently he has done this show here for 12 years and now he's gone for this syndicated Delilah bitch. What the hell? WASH FM, you are NOT the quality radio show I once thought you were. And to think I used to defend you when other people put you down...

Glenn, this message is for you (in case you ever google your own name)- I am still your fan and will never go to the Delilah Dark Side of After Hours. And no, I'm not a stalker.

What Really Grinds My Gears...

So I am always complaining, well, more like ranting and raving, to my husband about things that really bother me or are just plain bizzar. You know the moments, you've had them before- you're walking down the street, and you see a woman breast feeding her 8 year old in broad daylight at a bus stop. Those are the kind of things that make me stop and say, "in what universe is that ever acceptable?" These are also known as my "Family Guy" moments, based on an episode where Peter gets a job at a local TV station for an Andy Rooney-esque segment called, "You know what really grinds my gears?". This is possibly the funniest episode of Family Guy, and not only for the hilarious (but true) things that Peter complains about, but also because of the fact that I think Andy Rooney is the most ridiculous character on TV. As my husband would say, "he's an institution" (click here to see his blog and check out his entries about his fascination with local TV anchors) . I just can't can't fathom a man who gets paid to go on a 3 minute tirade once a week about how much he hates the sticker-style postage stamps. "In my day, we had to LICK our stamps ourselves. Are today's American's too lazy to use their saliva?"