Pop Culture Blog: Music, Movie and Humor
Leveraging low-hanging synergies outside the vertical fruit box since 1999.
I have to ride in the back again? I’m calling Sharpton.
Yes, she resembles a retarded Mogwai. Or may also be the result of a genetic experiment which crossed a piglet with an adult male bullfrog. But little Pixie Pye is all mine – and I loves her! She’s fitting in well with the family and I can’t wait for her to meet Janet and Rhuby next week. The Three Fugsketeers will come together at last!
It’s my favorite day of the week again, kids, and your live Quizzlet questions are once again required. Off to a bit of a late start today due to a drywall delivery – but it’s time to get this thing started. Please leave your inquiries in the comments and I’ll answer them as I get them. Update: Got what I needed. Some of you should seek help immediately.
Appetizer: What, in your opinion, is the most quotable movie of all time? – Jennie SMASH
First of all, great to have you back, Ms. SMASH. Or is it MISS? We all have our favorites, and for me it’s a toss up between Blade Runner and Goodfellas. Quoteable movies are contextual for me though, in that the flicks I ape depend heavily on the people I’m with. One of my favorites from Blade Runner is the entire soliloquy from Roy’s death scene. Although this guy almost did it better. Almost.
Time… to die.
Goodfellas is full of them, but I think my favorite scene is when they stop off at Tommy’s mother’s house, with ‘whackee’ Billy Batts in their trunk, because they need a butcher knife to finish the job. Not only does Momma (Scorcese’s real Mother) refuse to let them leave without feeding them, but she insists on showing Jimmy and Henry her latest painting.
One dog is going East and the other one is goin’ West. So what?
“Looks like somebody we know” says Jimmy as he notices the man in the painting’s uncanny resemblance to Batts. Kills me every time.
Soup: What would you do now if you could have any job ? – Dana G.
I would have loved to have been a professional actor, and I think I could have been if I’d had the drive when I was much younger. Stand-up comedian is also high on the list. Back down on Earth where reality reigns, the answer is undoubtedly: Homicide Detective. Intrinsically I have always hated watching people commit and get away with horrible crimes and I know that bringing peace to families that have lost a loved one must provide a satisfaction unseen in any other profession. Or maybe I just read too many Encyclopedia Brown books as a child. Granted, there’s a big difference between the Case of the Disgusting Sneakers and a triple home invasion gang blackout suicide pact.
Salad: Are there, apart from 7&7 and crown & ginger, any Canadian cocktails? – Joanna A.
It’s technically a shooter but my University days are littered with memories of the infamous, and very Canadian, Prarie Fire. There are several variations but the one you see up there is a normal sized shot of tequila adorned with several dashes of Tabasco. The amount of hot drops you get usually depends on who ordered it for you, how they feel about you on that given evening and whether or not it’s your birthday. If you’ve been a dick to someone recently, it’s your birthday, and that person is headed up to the bar for a round of shots – kiss your ring goodbye. Figuratively and literally. I hear that’s actually possible if you’re heavily into yoga. Also look into Swish. And then immediately wish you hadn’t.
Main Course: What is the most heart-wrenching song ever recorded? – Lauren N.
That is easy. I made the mistake of having my iPod on shuffle and subsequently hearing “The Drugs Don’t Work” by the Verve. Normally that wouldn’t be a big deal, but my Mother had been dead for less than two hours and I was driving back from the hospital. I had always thought that tune was incredibly sad, but let’s just say I’m lucky I was able to keep the car on the road that morning.
Dessert: What is the best tech advancement of the last 10 years? And where are my keys? – Scott W.
The continued evolution and societal importance of the internet, hands down. As for the keys, they’re in a brown grocery bag under your sink. You dropped them in there because you needed a free hand for a box of cat litter, and then stored the bag without removing them. You’re welcome.
Just caught myself saying this to the dogs after they bumrushed Boss the cat for no apparent reason:
“Please leave the kitties alone. They are not quarry. They are family.”
So now, not only am I talking to the dogs as if they were humans on a way too regular basis – I’m speaking to them as if they were learned English thespians. Perhaps soon they’ll start lifting their pinkie toe-fingers whenever they lap from their water dish.
Needless to say at this point, I’m very much looking forward to the human company that the May 16th Bonnie Pye memorial brings with it. Tally ho.
An Irish friend sent this video to Monster last night and he sent it to me. It floored me like a car bomb, I was laughing so hard. The kind you drink. Basically it’s just a scummy drunken Irish couple arguing in the street, but the unmistakable Emerald Isle dialogue is absolutely brilliant. Warning – drunk Irish people swear. Sometimes both creatively and profusely:
“Why do you like ridin’ hippos?!”
“He’s foookin’ good lookin’ fer a knacker!”
“It went all the way up my gaol and it’s foookin’ big!”
Somewhere, Brendan Behan is beaming with pride.
In an attempt to better utilize my new Apple-flavored device for work-related tasks, I am attempting to transfer my email universe completely out of Outlook and into Gmail/Calendar. Last night I installed Remember the Milk on the phone and also added plugins for it to Gmail and GCalendar. This quad-fecta should conceivably connect my task list, calendar, email addresses, phone numbers, email accounts and all in a mobile-friendly manner.
There is, however, a problem. I’ve been using Outlook for over a decade and I’m having a really hard time envisioning GMail ever having the fanatical level of organization that I’m used to and require – lest I lose the plot, tear off my shirt and go sit at the end of my dock for the rest of the business day.
There are no folders. Filters can replace Outlook rules, but there are no folders to sort mail into. I don’t like the way the conversation threads have the most recent emails at the bottom of the page. Having all 7 of my frequently used email accounts aggregated into GMail should be convenient – but I don’t like having it all bundled together on the same screen – even with GMail’s “labels” attached to each separate account. Am I doomed to return to Microsoft’s diabolical fold? I’ve attempted similar transformations in the past.
Here’s what I’d like. Nay – what I’d love. Share your systems. We all have one. Especially if you use GMail. Share your personal processes and workflows here in the comments and list any online or application based tools you depend on to get the job done. How does everything talk to each other? Phone syncs? IMAP? POP? Let’s get it all out on the table. I’ll get the ball rolling with some specific items to address:
Take it from there, if you dare. You’ll feel better, I’ll blatantly steal your best ideas and we may all learn something useful in the process. You make me want to be a more productive man.