In Which I Condone the Objectification of Men...or at least one man...

Jamie Bamber is yummy.

China Beach

I can never get enough of pop culture countdowns, but this one was pretty mundane: best tv shows of the '90s, Seinfeld, Friends, yada yada yada. Then, it surprised me by including China Beach, a show I thought nobody but me even remembered! I loved that show and am really looking forward to the day it comes out on DVD.

The Evolution of Language

I've always been interested by uses of words, like Band-Aid, Kleenex, and Xerox, where the brand name has come to represent the thing, regardless of the actual brand being used. If this kind of thing interests you, then it's especially fascinating to live in our times, where Googling not only exists, but the world "Googling" also exists. So, imagine my delight in coming across this Web site on the wiki for my social software class. When I was born, blogs didn't exist (nor did wikis or online grad school programs, either) and now, here we are 27 years later with an entire language used to discuss them. Crazy.

SherbeRt?

An interesting article about the evolution of a word:

Sherbet with no R-tificial ingredients.

I thought this part was particularly interesting:

In spite of what many people believe, dictionaries are supposed to follow the language, not the other way round. In fact, that's exactly how dictionaries are made: by observing and recording how people are using words. Every time you say or write a word, whether it's cursing or a three-page letter or a one-line e-mail, you are casting a vote for how language should move. You are marking a ballot for what a word should mean and how it should be pronounced.

EW's 18 Sexy Trips to the Library Stacks

Happy National Library Week!

In celebration, here are Entertainment Weekly's 18 Sexy Trips to the Library Stacks.

Ken Jennings gives Rustic a shout out

Yes, Ken Jennings the Jeopardy guy. In his blog, he listed the best band from each of the 50 states and he chose my very own favorites the Rustic Overtones as his choice from Maine. :)

Check it out.

I think we all know that now that I've brought up my very favorite band in the world who just happened to reunite within the past year, I'm about to bring up another favorite of mine that has also happened to reunite...in the last week: NKOTB. Yes, it's official. Yes, I'm freaking ecstatic.

R.I.P. Jeff Healey

Sometimes, I find that I am surprisingly upset by the death of a celebrity. I know I'm not alone in this, but it's kind of a strange phenomenon that we grieve so much for people we don't know.

First Roy Schneider, and now this:

http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003718419

And yes, I'll freely admit that the only reason I'd even heard of Jeff Healey is because I love the movie Road House, but that movie did make me a fan.

If you weren't previously aware of my Patrick Swayze or Jaws obsessions, now you are.

Funny 'cause it's true...

A little marching band humor for you.

http://xkcd.com/389/

Just for the heck of it...

I figured I'd go ahead and post since it's been two months since the last time. Despite the fact that I haven't been posting, I have been partaking in the pop culture. I've seen some movies (Lions for Lambs was horrendous, as was I am Legend; National Treasure 2 was surprisingly enjoyable), read *lots* of books, and have pretty much given up on TV (due to a combo of a lack of time, the strike, and Heroes sucking this year). I tried American Gladiators, but the nostalgia factor was just not enough to overpower the cheese factor. At least Psych starts again tonight. Gus and Shawn are my favorite relationship on TV, followed by Ned and Chuck, JD and Turk, and Len and Bruno. ;) Oh, and speaking of, I know I failed to do my weekly DWTS posts during the fall, but I'm glad Marie Osmond didn't win. I thought Mel B. was the best dancer, but Maks' choreography for the finale was awful. That's my $.02 on that.

Most of what I've been reading I won't bother posting about (historical romances, I kid you not; I'm addicted to them.), but I did read a cool collection of short fiction that I got at the Texas Book Festival called The First Line. All of the stories in it start with the same first line. There are four issues a year, check it out: www.thefirstline.com.

PS I've recently discovered Google Reader. An excellent way to stay on top of the million or so pop culture blogs I like. :)

One last thing: http://thesuperest.com/archives/2007/10/16/k01_unopposinator/
A couple of friends draw "superheroes," each one bested by the next. An excellent time-waster. (Thanks to Pop Candy for linking to it!)

Truth is Stranger than Fiction

"Dick in a Box" was nominated for an Emmy.

Princess Bride

You may recall that in an early post in this blog I reviewed the book version of The Princess Bride and wondered what Cary Elwes was up to these days. ABC News has the answer and the accompanying photo is not pretty.

Sacrilege!

Is using the term sacrilege for anything that's not actually sacred, strictly speaking, sacrilegious in itself? Did that even make sense?

I digress.

I failed to mention that the closing number on the DWTS Tour was to Footloose (big yay!), but that helps me segue nicely into this bit of news that I find unnecessary:

Zac Efron Brings Home the Bacon in Footloose Remake

And how awful is that title? Oh, TV Guide...

Ewww...

According to Old Spice, Austin is the seventh sweatiest city in the country:
http://www.livescience.com/health/060621_sweaty_cities.html

Not sure how the tree hugger is going to feel when I have to shower three times a day. Thankfully, libraries are notoriously chilly places...

100 Words

100 Words Every High School Graduate Should Know

Jejune? Really? Some of these I've never heard of and others I think you should probably know before they let you graduate from high school...

awww...

Two sites I will never grow tired of:

www.cuteoverload.com

www.icanhascheezburger.com

So amused.

Fruity Cocktails Count as Health Food?

Fruity Cocktails Count as Health Food, Study Finds

I'll drink to that.

The Time Traveler's Wife, the movie

This news really excites me: http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117963263.html?categoryid=1959&cs=1

The tidbit at the end there also reminds me that I want to add The Other Boleyn Girl to my reading list.

Broomball

Why Broomball Rules (The answer to why broomball rules reminds me of the days of watching Red or Purple Reign with Frank J. Busso, Jr.)

Alanis and the Black Eyed Peas

Alanis Morissette Ironically Covers My Humps

Hilarious.

Thursday Morning Miscellany

First, American Idol. So far I have not called a perfect "bottom three," though I did get two out of three this week. However, I'm three-for-three in that each week one of my bottom three actually goes home. Next week's theme: Tony Bennett songs. I actually even like Tony Bennett, but seriously, I have yet to see LaKisha or Melinda do a song that was recorded in the last twenty years. I'd like them to get on that.

Also, what I think may be a fun link: http://tmastc.blogspot.com/2007/03/one-shining-moment.html.

It's all of the "One Shining Moment" montages (which they play each year following the men's NCAA basketball championship game) from the last ten years. I haven't had a chance to actually watch them, yet, but I'm looking forward to it.

Pat and I watched The Illusionist last night. Once again, I was sucked in to a movie by the cast: Edward Norton and Paul Giamatti (okay, Jessica Biel is also in it, so I guess that should've been a giant red flag). And, once again, the movie fell flat. It wasn't bad (unlike Man of the Year and American Dreamz). I'd even give it three out of five stars on Netflix. But, it also wasn't great. And, I honestly don't even have much to say about it. The accents were horrendous and I figured out the plot twist all on my own. Also, I really liked the story idea, but thought it wasn't executed as well as it could've been. This movie falls short of its potential. But don't we all?

Finally, an article from The Boston Globe about superstitious baseball players: http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/articles/2007/03/29/quirk_of_fortune/.

Being mildly superstitious myself, I enjoyed it.

Happy Thursday!