i haven't posted a darling in f-o-r-e-v-e-r, and i feel like posting something.

so this darling goes to this slate article, for introducing me to alan "a nude horse is a rude horse" abel, and to the documentary able raises cain. OMG +2Q!

As it involves sending and getting stuff in the mail!

I'm going to send a gift to the first five people who comment here (you'll get it most likely within a month, but that's just me). Put your snail mail address here:

Poll #1065563 snail mail!
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: None

what's your address?

The only thing you need to do to receive your gift is participate - be one of the first five to reply to this, and post a similar offer on your blog...that's it!

best promo ever!

i was listening to jess' james: the best of cd in the kitchen, and when it got to track 3 ("she's a star") i thought, "hey! it's 'torn'!" because i have no taste in music, and yes i did buy that natalie imbruglia cd.

but that got me thinking that it would be great to make a mix - not necessarily of rip-offs and their progenitors - but of songs that use the exact same hooks/beats/etc. in different ways. sort of a "who wore it best" for music.

does anyone have any suggestions?

the internet is amazing.

ahoy there! it be that time o' the anno again! time for piteously poor pirate jokes so bad, ye may find yourself wishing for a keelhaulin' so's to escape the poxy punch line.

so...
who's me favorite SNL guest host from the 2005-2006 season? (dennis_obell, i be lookin' at ye for the answer to this one...)

ahh, chicago. the windy city, city of big shoulders, second city, that toddling town, and now, the foie-less wonder. in the summertime, i know it best as ( the land of 10,000,000 sprinklers... )

so, anyways, sprinklers: poop on that!

from the summer movie guide, on the movie pulse:

Bell, who mixes humor, pathos on smarts on her TV gig, looks to follow the Katie Holmes example (i.e. jumping from “Dawson’s Creep” to horror films like “Teaching Mrs. Tingle”), let’s hope it leads her to roles that allow the same broad range in the future as her TV work does now.

for the fourth of july, nyquil_baby, japanesecandy and i went to the International House of Dave Pancakes (aka tinyprayers), watched movies, played with the kitty, toured crunk lake, and got some sweet, sweet frozen custard.

the highlight for me was watching zardoz, which i had never heard of, and which i totally should have heard of earlier because it's amazing. ( spoilorz )

so yes. watch it, live it, love it. hum the theme song quietly with coworkers, that sort of thing. it is well worth it, and netflix has it!

double darling!

the first is a bunch of sites with related themes: from beepolicy's most recent entry, a link to the realm of twelve, a site devoted to detailing and decoding the kryptos sculpture at the new CIA headquarters. i particularly enjoyed the shiny flash animations. this idea of encrypted artwork reminded me of being obsessed with kit williams' masquerade as a kid. so i googled it and found this great reference site, which revealed several more layers of clues (i only got as far as realizing every picture had a bunny in it and a secret word in red). did anyone else get into this book?

second, from jessypie, and guaranteed to disgust and delight anyone with a sweet tooth, it's pimp my snack! forget king size, it's all about pimp size!

how could i have gone this long and not given a darling to trader joe's yet? before there were tjs in the city, jess & i would routinely take treks out to the suburbs to stock up on all the cookies, munchies, and tasty prepared foods we could ever want, and then watch them all melt on the 45-minute trek home. (i still navigate the suburbs in relation to where the nearest trader joe's is!)

my trader joe's greatest hits list could go on and on: olive spread! trail mix! ginger bears! greek yogurt with honey! pizza dough! double-wide cat scratchers! really cheap larabars! anyone else remember when they had those delicious frozen chocolate tarts with liquid chocolate filling and that glaze on top? mmmmm, oh man.

so, for my money, it just doesn't get any better or cheaper than trader joe's...unless it's the newly expanded HarvesTime. and i learned today (from, where else, traderjoes) that tj's is going to be in nyc soon!

i thought jon stewart did a pretty good job as host last night! not pants-splittingly hilarious, but definitely worth having him host again. i dunno why msn is saying he didn't get laughs. and dennis_obell, you totally called the crash win.

so, jess and i were thinking of having a fonda fondue party soon...wherein we watch a couple movies with fondas in them, and eat delicious things dipped in other things. ( here is a poll about that! )

jungle jim's was a blast, as usual! completely exhausting, too. and the store has expanded! there's now a south (?) entrance, and (gasp!) chain stores like starbucks and maggie moo's. i think the monorail will never, ever be completed. i didn't get to see everyone i wanted to see, but this just means i have to go back to "cinti" soon. i did get to meet anna's formerly imaginary brother, so that was fun.

top 5 most exciting purchases from jungle jim's:
5. erin baker's breakfast cookie...mmm, cookies for breakfast! a dream come true.
4. castipan bocadillo de guayaba...twenty-four 1" x 1" x 2" units of guava paste! this is useful for me because i like to put guava paste and cheese on a cracker, but if i buy one of the big blocks of guava paste, invariably 3/4ths of it ends up sitting around forever. the way i slice it, 1 block = 3 tasty crackers.
3. terrapin ridge two cherry dessert squeeze.
2. not purchased by me, but osem bissli snacks! i think falafel flavor was my favorite, and the onion ones. i'm going to have to find a kosher grocery store in chicago that carries these.
1. lucien georgelin violettes, which according to the picture on that website must be the candy of choice of french grandmothers everywhere. many moons ago, my friend gail brought back these amazing violet candies from madrid, and they were so good, i've been looking for them ever since! well, turns out they have a similar thing in france. YUM.

( OH so much more... )

this serenity recap wins hands-down for favorite twop recap of all time. seriously worth the read if you're a firefly fan. i think i may have liked the recap even better than the movie - or maybe i should say that the recap made me appreciate the movie that much more. i was a little teary-eyed by p. 35, and not just from staring at the computer screen that long!

i subscribe to A.Word.A.Day, and i've sometimes thought about starting a scrabble-specific edition of the newsletter. umm, for obvious (juvenile) reasons.

so, here's two for the price of one today...

tmesis: i learned this one from quite interesting (which is ridiculously funny), it's when you insert one word in the middle of another word. sure, it won't get you a slammin' scrabble score, but isn't it a fan-flippin'-tastic word? from the greek word tmenein meaning "to cut" from which we also get the word atom!

then i got curious if there were any words that began with "mt". well, not so much, but there is one borrowed kiswahili word that made its way into the oed (which is our house scrabble dictionary whenever we play):

mtepe: a small sailing craft with a square matting sail (like this!), used on the african east coast.

( in other news... )

it is time for the Third Sesquiannual* Trip to Jungle Jim's! yay, i'm getting very excited about this. my goals for this year involve stocking up on flavored potato chips and doing an interpretive dance in sherwood forest. and stuff. i cannot wait.

also, i've started a community called happyteeth. i was inspired to create it today due to limelady's post with the adorable tooth painting. but mainly, one of my 2006 goals is to go around my neighborhood and photograph all the great dentist signs with happy teeth on them, especially happy teeth brushing or flossing themselves. i figured i'd make a community just in case anyone else on the internets is as amused as i am by self-cleaning teeth.

and, weird request, but if any of you see a dentist's sign around with a great happy tooth on it, take a pic and post it to happyteeth!


*thanks, pipu!

i don't know where i found this mash-up originally, but i think it hands-down wins for the best mash-up title: when i'm 25 or 64! i really like it, up until the end, when it does something odd.

top five additional mash-ups i would like to see:
5. nelly and nelly furtado - i'm like a bird (shake your tail feather)
4. amerie and amelie - la redecouverte d'une chose (the rediscovery of 1 thing)
3. go [kanye] west [neil] young man: and discover the heart of a gold digger
2. kelis and billy bragg - my milkshake of human kindness
1. paul wall* and paul simon - still tippin' after all these years

please someone, make #1. please please please.


*err, mike jones feat. slim thug and paul wall...but, you know.

i slept until 3:30 p.m. today. huh.

i forgot to ask this with the last poll:

Poll #631827 i'd like a holiday card!
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: None

what is your mailing address?

if you got the bastille day cards, then i have your address on file, but if you've moved recently, or if you really don't know me but just want a holiday card, then fill out the poll and i'll send one your way!

also, the tubey doll is pretty amazing.

i have to spread the news on this one...it's chronicle books' 40% off everything sale, from now until friday! (thanks to alineskirt for pointing this out!) lotta jansdotter, nick bantock, and many other adorable things! whee, holidays.

just minutes ago, i was giddy with glee at the thought of signing certain tolerant people up for obnoxious automated calls from target, but of course, they have a prank-proof authentication step. those bastards!

favorite combo: "sheep" tuck-in and "cheerleader" wake-up
runner-up combo: "boring guy" tuck-in and "mariachi band" wake-up

it will be a disappointing holiday for me now.

while i'm posting frivolously, i might as well award a darling to guitar hero, my favorite video game since that atari one with the guy swinging on the ropes. it's like DDR for your fingers! so incredibly addictive.