‘Entertainment’ Category

  1. Monkey, monkey, YOU!

    April 2, 2008 :: 9:35 am

    Monday night, my stomach hurt from laughing for 2 solid hours. We saw Eddie Izzard’s show at the Majestic Theatre, and I think it was the very first stop on his pre-tour tour. His material was somewhat rough and he made jokes about “must… work… on… that… one…” (pretending to write in an imaginary notebook). He seemed to find his groove toward the second half of the show, and completely sucked us all in to that zone where you’re laughing so hard that you can’t stop laughing even though your stomach hurts and your face feels like it’s going to crack in half!

    For instance, did you know that Charles Darwin wrote a book, called “Monkey, monkey, monkey, monkey, monkey, YOU!”

    And that giant squid lived in the hold of Noah’s Ark, but were constantly asking for towels and trying to tune in “The Riches” on the telly? He said “My other problem with this story, is, ok. ‘Alright, tigers, there you go, hop on board, badgers, follow along, spiders, deer, more badgers?…. um, hey, who do we have on board now? ‘ ‘The tigers.’ ‘What, just the tigers?’ ‘Yes, just the tigers so far. They seem bigger!’”

    And the bit about God inventing creme brulee for the badgers and then hand-feeding it to them…. LOL. I guess you had to be there.

    He also kept whipping out his iPhone on stage to look up stuff on Wikipedia! It was really hilarious the first couple of times, until the audience started doing the same thing and finding the answers first.

    Last night Doc and I went to a cooking class at Central Market, to learn how to cook Moroccan food. The food was great. Our classmates were interesting. The chefs were knowledgeable. But I don’t think I’ll be back. It was way too expensive for the experience. I didn’t learn anything I didn’t already know, and I know how to follow a recipe, which is really all that we (sort of) did. I say “sort of” because we had printed recipe packets but the chefs kept saying “I don’t like the way they say to do this, let’s do it this other way.” And I was expecting more of an individualized experience. I thought that Doc and I would have our own station with ingredients, chopping block, stovetop, and we’d experience making all the dishes ourselves. Instead, we had a group of about five people and we all would find one little task to do… like Doc chopped some garlic. I grated the peel off an orange. Somebody put everything in the pot. It just felt very very basic. I wanted to learn about Morocco, the history of their food, what types of special ingredients they used, how they make phyllo dough, etc etc etc, and instead it was more like a lesson in how cooking almost never happens in reality: with 15 people in the kitchen getting in each others’ way and feeling like we’re not contributing.


  2. Good News, Everyone!

    March 25, 2008 :: 8:08 pm

    1820 to 1887: Golden Age Of Muttonchops.
    1973: Computers will double in speed between now and the year 3000.
    evening of 31st December 1999: Nibbler orders a pizza to be delivered to Applied Cryogenics, using the pseudonym I. C. Weiner.
    2012: War of 2012. Conan O’Brien loses his freakishly long legs.
    2063: Humanity starts dropping ice cubes into the ocean to counteract global warming
    2200: Pine trees become extinct
    2620: To end that stupid joke once and for all, Uranus is renamed… to “Urectum”.

    It’s the Futurama timeline! Constructed by nerdy people with too much time on their hands (love you, nerds!)

    Speaking of time-sucking nerdy pursuits, this guy made his own custom Lego set! Completely freaking awesome.


  3. Cake, or death?

    March 24, 2008 :: 8:55 am

    I was disappointed that I couldn’t get tickets to see Eddie Izzard’s performance here this coming June. Tickets sold out just a few minutes after they went on sale.

    BUT! Thanks to Brittney, I learned this morning that they have announced another performance date! Next Monday! And I got tickets!!!! And I don’t have to wait until June!!!
    I’m soooooo excited!!!!!! 

    I am an evil giraffe, and I shall eat more leaves from this tree then perhaps I should, so that other giraffes may die.

    There’s no Church of England fundamentalism. We can’t have Church of England fundamentalism. You know, like they have Islamic fundamentalism. Jihad!  Church of England fundamentalism is impossible because you can’t have: “You must have tea and cake with the vicar… or you die!” Tea and cake or death! Students with beards, “Tea and cake or death! Tea and cake or death! Little Red Cookbook! Little Red Cookbook!” You know, ’cause, “Cake or death?” That’s a pretty easy question. Everyone, anyone could answer that. 

    “Cake or death?”
    “Uhh, cake please.”
    “Very well! Give him cake!”
    “Oh, thanks very much. It’s very nice!”
    [points] “You! Cake or death?”
    “Uh, cake for me, too, please!”
    “Very well! Give him cake, too! We’re gonna run out of cake at this rate. [points] You! Cake or death?”
    “Uh, death, please. No, cake! Cake! Cake, sorry. …”
    “You said death first, ahaaa, ahaaaa, death first!”
    “Well, I meant cake!”
    “Oh, all right. You’re lucky I’m Church of England! Cake or death?”
    “Uh, cake please.”
    “Well, we’re out of cake! We only had three bits and we didn’t expect such a rush! So what do you want?”
    “What, so my choice is ‘or death?’ Well, then I’ll have the chicken, please.”

     


  4. ROUS!

    March 7, 2008 :: 2:36 pm

    Rodents of Unusual Size? I don’t think they exist.


  5. Star Wars, explained by a 3-year-old

    February 26, 2008 :: 10:45 am

    Luke has to learn how to do his little light up sword and try to block the little pokey ball. Meanwhile, the shiny guy always worries!



  6. Aaaah! Real Monsters!

    February 7, 2008 :: 3:56 pm

    I miss Aaaah! Real Monsters! It was a funny, clever, and well-written TV show about young monsters in monster-training school. Krumm (at left) had the scary power of Body Odor, and held his eyeballs in his hands, which came in real handy when needing to peek under something or around a corner. Oblina (at left) scared people by pulling her internal organs out through her mouth. And my favorite, Ickis (center), LOOMED. He could grow to several times his own size, but had a hard time looming on command. People often mistook him for a bunny rabbit, which embarrassed him and made it even harder to loom.


  7. Best wedding first dance, EVER

    November 29, 2007 :: 3:43 pm

    Doc sent me the link to this freaking awesome video of the best wedding first dance ever:


  8. The most luxurious 2-screener in the southwest!

    November 6, 2007 :: 7:29 pm

    I found an old advertisement for the opening of the UA Cine theatre! I didn’t realize that it opened in 1968. For some reason it seemed older.


  9. Let me rock you Chaka Kahn

    November 4, 2007 :: 9:18 pm


  10. Goodbye, UA Cine

    November 2, 2007 :: 2:31 pm

    The old UA Cine theatre has not been in operation for years and years, and the building has stood empty. It’s back a little ways from the road and I hadn’t noticed how derelict it had become. It’s slated to be torn down in 2 weeks or so, according to the security guard who didn’t want me taking pictures on the property.

    It was a really cool old building with two huge-capacity theatres. The lobby was glassed in, if I recall correctly, and the doors to the two screens were just right there off the lobby… I think those were probably the 2 openings showing in the photo above.

    I don’t recall ever seeing the light-up “box office” pole in the top left corner of the above photo. Kinda neat. I have half a mind to hop that chain link fence and snag it. I’m sure that it’s sadly destined for the junkyard.

  11. Trivial Cahoots

    September 24, 2007 :: 9:32 pm

    Doc and I joined Leslie & Rich’s team last night at the Trinity Hall Pub Trivia competition. Every Sunday night a bunch of smart nerd teams drink too much Guinness, eat fish and chips, and scribble down answers to six rounds of random questions called out to the pub by the quizmaster.

    We’ve been meaning to go for a long time now, and finally managed to get to the pub last night. What fun! I think that Team Swizzlestixxx is normally at capacity, but Rich, Frank, and Guy couldn’t make it so Doc and I filled in as alternates on team Son Of Stixxx. I think that we did contribute marginally to the moderate success of the team. Lots of the questions were about movies, which I’m terrible at, and history and literature, which I’m also terrible at.

    Nevertheless, we had a great time, and we’re thinking of forming our own team…. Assuming any of our friends can meet regularly at the pub on Sunday evenings… Hmm….


  12. Space Maxi-Mountain!

    August 30, 2007 :: 10:11 pm

    I just saw the most BIZARRE advertisement on television. An animated maxi-pad with wheels zoomed up, down, around and sideways on a ROLLER COASTER TRACK.

    I have no idea what the point of it was, as I was too busy contemplating a Feminine Hygiene Thrill Ride to pay attention to the assuredly convincing argument being made by the voiceover.

    Perhaps the point was “Your Period: Like The Judge Roy Scream, Only Bloodier!”