This is a Batman-free zone...

I am so frickin sick of talk of that frickin Batman movie. The best thing I can say about it is I hope Aaron Eckhart's career gets a boost. #1 on IMDb. Shut. The. Fuck. Up.

I'm grumpy.

Once again, the Emmy voters have screwed up and have not bestowed on The Wire the countless Emmy nominations deserves. One nomination for writing? That's it? Five years, and two nominations? Inexcusable. Boston Legal is better than The Wire? Uh, no.

Okay, so what good came out of the nominations? Not much...

Zeljko Ivanek--I can't say that I've actually seen any episodes of Damages, but Zeljko always does good work.

Stephen Dillane was nominated for his turn as Thomas Jefferson in John Adams. So were Tom Wilkinson (Ben Franklin) and David Morse (George Washington)--in the same category, so I hope their votes don't split. Honestly, whenever I saw David Morse in his GW makeup, I kept thinking of that Aqua Teen Hunger Force episode in which Shake's attempts to clone dollar bills wind up "reincarnating" our first president.

"Inner City Pressure" and "The Most Beautiful Girl (in the Room)" give Jemaine and Bret the honor of being called Emmy nominees, but I would imagine that they don't have a chance in hell against Sarah Silverman and her catchy little ditty "I'm F***ing Matt Damon."

Other thoughts:
Save FOTC, I don't watch any of the comedy series nominated. Come to think of it, I also don't watch any of the drama series (gave up on House and Lost).

Hmmm, what the heck do I spend so much of television-watching time on?

Anyway, my next Guys I Dig entry comes from that show those Emmy voters shamefully ignored.

#7--Aidan Gillen


Part of the fabulous Wire ensemble, Irish actor Aidan Gillen, previously seen on UK television on the original Queer as Folk and on Broadway in Pinter's The Caretaker , was convincingly Baltimorean (is that the correct demonym?) as Tommy Carcetti, ambitious city councilman turned mayor.

Next up: a role in the new Renny Harlin movie. With John Sena? Uh...


YouTube of the day: World Party, "Ship of Fools"

Silly Name, Great Song

Okay, I've had to rearrange my list, so the next entry will appear shortly...but not in this entry.

YouTube clip o' the day: Seona Dancing, "More to Lose"
Ricky Gervais fans know he's reluctant to talk about his new wave past. Based on the quality of this song, I have no idea why. This is freaking fabulous!


Apparently, this song was HUGE in the Philippines. You can read about it on Wikipedia, dear readers. And Ricky, the next time you're interviewed and you squirm when the interviewer mentions Seona Dancing, think about YouTube commenter MoChua had to say:

"This was good (as with most "new wave" hits of the 80's). Sad to say that Ricky seems quite ashamed of this phase of his young(er) life. Nothing to be ashamed of, Ricky. A lot of 80's teens made out/lost their virginity to this song."

As promised, my "pre-Rudy G. NYC anecdote"
Trips to the great metropolis of NYC were not that common in my childhood even though I grew up in the state of New York. I try to explain to people, especially those who think New York State and New York City are one in the same, that NYC was hours away, and if we wanted a trip to a big city, we'd head up to the much cleaner, much friendlier Toronto (suck up alert--hey Yummers).
So, one summer, when I was about eight, we took a trip to the Big Apple. My parents were trying to figure out in which hotel we were going to stay. The discussion turned into a bit of an argument when my dad suggested we stay in a place that my mom said had cockroaches. Now as an inquisitive kid who had never seen a cockroach, I didn't find this bit of information disgusting. In fact, I wanted to see one. But for whatever reason, so I kept my mouth shut. Dad won the debate, and we wound up in the lobby of the hotel that (supposedly) had cockroaches, but they were sold out of rooms. When I heard this news, I squealed, as eight year olds do, "Awwww, I wanted to see a cockroach!!" Um, let's just say that my parents hauled ass out of that lobby.

Having lived in the South, I know that cockroaches (and their kin, palmetto bugs) are, well, to use an informal term from the 80s, grody.

Picture of the day:


I finally got a printer in my office and what happens? The stupid thing leaked all over my hands. :( This was my hand after a half-hour's worth of washing.

My favorite Muesli-eating Kiwi...

#8--Jemaine Clement


First of all, I like Jemaine, but probably not as much as this lady:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3hPZdfmaUQ

Source of dig: Flight of the Conchords, more specifically episode 2's Pet Shop Boys takeoff, "Inner City Pressure"
Where else I've seen him: Eagle vs. Shark, which, unfortunately, was quite bad
Favorite Jemaine FOTC moment: In "Yoko," when Bret tosses a sandwich at him, he exclaims, "A sandwich hit my face!" A perfectly absurd reply that encapsulates all of that show's quirky humo(u)r...
Runner-up: "Bret, You've Got It Going On"

Somewhere I have a list of favorite FOTC moments from season 1. I'll post it one of these days.


A dialogue I had with a McDonalds employee the other day:
Me: I'd like a large order of french fries
McDonalds employee: Do you want a drink with that?
Me: No, but I would like some packets of mayonnaise
McDonalds employee: [scrunches face] EWWWWWW!!! For your fries?!?!?
Me: Yep.
McDonalds employee: [continues face scrunching]

I'm not really sure what to say at this point to stop her face from scrunching, so I just explain "it's the European way." She tossed the packets in the bag and handed the bag over like a dirty diaper. Uh...okay.

Okay, enough about my lunch habits. Here's some YouTube goodness:

I had plans to have a Simple Minds-themed entry a few weeks backs ("Simple Minds and the bands that sound like them" or something...). Here's an abbreviated version.

Simple Minds, "Waterfront"
One of my favorite song openings is the bassline that begins "Waterfront."


Then Jerico, "Muscle Deep"
Wore out my First (The Sound of Music) cassette, saw them live past their prime. Mark Shaw put lemons on his chest.


So, "Are You Sure?"
Those of us who lived where Hurricane Hugo made landfall in 1989 have our memories, some quite odd. My family fled the storm and made our way to Atlanta, where we stayed for about five days. On the way back home, we went to some suburban sprawl mall, and like most malls in the late 80s, there was a music store. My parents bought me this cassette and I listened to it on our trip back, a trip that was almost as scary as the one leaving Charleston. We didn't know if we had a house to go back to. We did--but with a tree through my bedroom and the furniture ruined because water had come through the light fixtures. I associate this song with that moment in my life. Anyway...