Wednesday, April 30, 2003

We all scream...

What's up with all the free ice cream lately? Today, Baskin-Robbins is having a free scoop night and yesterday my friend Drew was telling me about Ben and Jerry's free ice cream day yesterday. Unfortunately, I was not near a Ben and Jerry's at any point yesterday so no dice there. However, there are a couple of Baskin-Robbins stores around the corner from my house. Woo-hoo!

Damn you, Apple for making a cooler looking iPod! It would make a great stocking-stuffer for Christmas this year...Yeah, it's still seven months away, but hint-hint...Heh...

The week has been chugging along quite nicely. Steve came over last night and hung out for a little bit. He's so awesome. The more time I spend with him, the more I really really like him. :-) He's quite the creative guy himself. He wants to work with me on this side project. Can't really divulge too much about it, but it will hopefully jumpstart the music side of brain that's been really laying dormant for the past five years. And if all goes according to plan, it'll get me back out there performing like I did in college.

X2 in just a couple of days. Woo-hoo!!! It totally snuck up on me. Last week, I saw Patrick Stewart on TV doing an interview and I thought to myself, "Wait, X-Men 2 is premiering next week!" I really liked the first one...Can't wait to see the new characters they introduce in this one.

The new snacky-snack that I've taken to is these Quaker Oatmeal Squares. It's like a 6-inch-by-6-inch block of oatmeal. It kinda falls somewhere in between an oatmeal cookie and those nutri-grain bars. Nummy stuff...

New something to be happy about..."Soap" IS coming out on DVD! Woo-hoo!

Sunday, April 27, 2003

Everything's All Right

Bwah, bwah, bwah, bwaaaaahh....

Finally took my car in yesterday to get that damage from my accident January fixed. It looks like the car got banged up a bit more than I had thought. Fortunately, the other party's insurance is covering the damage. Unfortunately, I'm without my car for a few weeks. But fortunately, I'm being provided with a rental. Unfortuantely, the rental is a big car...it's kinda like a town car, but just a smidge smaller. I swear, I'm an idiot when it comes to driving car that are not my own (as opposed to a moron when driving my own car). It took me forever to figure out how to turn on the headlights. YAY! Go me!

Last night, I went out with Steve (a guy I've been seeing from Planetout) to see Jude perform at the Largo. GREAT show...probably the loosest I've seen him. We had awesome seats too. Our table was front and center. We were about as close to Jude as you could get without touching him. It was a very fun evening. I think I've even converted Steve to the world of Jude. :-)

Oh...from the evil but oooh-it's-so-good food file...the Fuddrito from Fuddrucker's....A chili cheeseburger topped with corn chips. Mmmmmmm.....*BURP*

Here's the aforementioned deformed chocolate easter bunny...He's so sad...



I might just write a song about him...

And finally...the silence has been broken...'tis good...

Wednesday, April 23, 2003

Bok-bok-bok-bok-bok...

So I was doing my usual surfing of the web during some downtime at work and I discovered this article on x-entertainment.com (one of my favorite pop-culture sites) about Cadbury Creme Eggs. The article is one person's memories of the famed easter candy. Well, this article happens to have the best quote written about candy....EVER:

"The true wonder of the Cadbury Egg is it's luscious, sweet, sticky, slimy candy yolk. Nobody is really sure what to classify it as, but more people would be open to oral sex if bodily fluids tasted this good."

I love that site...

Pretty good week so far. Went to dinner Monday night with my friends Caleb, David, and Nate (not to be confused with Nathan) at the Elephant Bar. And apparently, the menu has changed for the Elephant Bar. My usual standard there (the cajun fried shrimp) has turned into the deep-fried shrimp. It's still pretty much the same plate but in addition to the cajun dip, there's also the standard cocktail sauce. How convenient. It's like..."ooh, I feel cajun with one shrimp....ooh, I feel like regularly friend with another...oooh, I'm writing about freakin' fried shrimp!"

Been watching "Laugh-In" reruns on Trio and it's fun watching the show with people who've never seen the show before. My roommate Larry had this look much like the RCA dog during the first few minutes of the show. My other roommate Ted and I weren't far behind. It's been years since either he or I have seen the show. The last time I remember seeing it was when they aired the edited half-hour reruns on Nick and Nite. Even more jarring is that when you watch the show via TiVO, you can watch minus commercials which in effect leads to visual media overload. Oh, and now Ted wants to do a big party modeled after the cocktail parties on "Laugh-In." Hey, why not? We're next door to beautiful downtown Burbank. Hell, I think JoAnne Worley still lives in the area...

Did the usual "Idol" night last night. It's amazing that we all still get together to watch the show seeing how one can barely follow the show with all the catty remarks being thrown around. I swear, it's like a live version of what you read on the Television Without Pity website.

Next artist's CD I'm going to rush out and buy...Jason Mraz. I saw him on Regis and Kelly this morning. He kinda falls somewhere in between Jude and John Mayer...at least from the songs he did on the show and the clips I've heard on his website.

Monday, April 21, 2003

Zeroes and ones and zeroes and ones...

This weekend was a fun one. I said goodbye to Adelphia and moved into the world of the mini-dish. Ahh, it's so nice to be able to watch KCBS without white diagonal streaks running across the screen. And mmmmm..."120 Minutes." This was a Sunday night staple of mine on MTV while I was in college. Since then, it moved over to MTV2, which wasn't carried on cable in my area. What?!? Music videos?!?

It was a fairly busy rest of the weekend...I went to my friend Gigi's birthday party which was quite the rockin' hula hootenanny. Discovered a new drink in the midst of the partying...Mike's Hard Cranberry Lemonade...which essentially is spiked Kool-aid. Tasty! And today, I went out for easter dinner with Nathan, Larry, Ted, and Ted's parents. Speaking of easter, I've said it once and I'll say it again...Marshmallow Peeps are NASTY. And my chocolate bunny melted. Wah...It now sits in a box sitting behind a cellophane wrapper looking all deformed and depressed. It actually looks like what Picasso would have done if he made a chocolate Easter bunny.

If you have the "Family Guy" DVD, take special note of the episode where Death takes a holiday. Now is it just me or aren't some of the scenes in that episode are a bit eerie when you consider that Seth McFarlane was booked to be on one of the flights involved in 9/11? This especially holds true for the scene that takes place on the airplane where Peter has to kill off the cast of "Dawson's Creek." Yikes...

For those of you wondering why I haven't blogged much, a lot of it is because I've just been very preoccupied as of late. A bit of it stems from the "Silent Treatment" that I've often been referring to and that I'm still getting. Yes, it's one full month now. Though, in light of the recent "Away Message" war I was involved in with the "silent" party last week over IM, I'm not sure if it counts as a total silent treatment. And frankly, I can't believe that I got wrapped up in an "Away Message" war. The whole concept of one is ridiculous, yet it happened. And actually it wasn't really a "war" as more of a bit of passive-agressive internet verbal sparring. Ack...this whole "period of silence" I've been involved in has been quite ludicrous. But on the other hand, it's helped with putting things into perspective. Everybody whom I've spoken to about this in detail has said that something like this needed to happen and that this space between us is necessary. And the communication will resume whenever it does...I guess...

What else...what else...As I mentioned in an earlier blog, I'm taking baby steps back into the dating world. The one "potential" I had mentioned earlier didn't quite pan out. We had a talk a few days ago where basically he said that he just wanted to be friends, which is cool and all. I mean, it's better to get that out in the open early on than to let things linger in a sea of uncertainty. Also, I've had a bit too much experience with the latter and that's only served to make things worse in the end. But alas, we all must learn from our mistakes...Riiight?

Wednesday, April 16, 2003

I'm Still Standing

Yeah, yeah, yeah...My blogging mojo still hasn't kicked back into full gear yet. But alas, another list o' thoughs culled from this week...

- Oh look at you, clever, clever Clay with your version of "Tell Her About It" last night on "Idol." If I were a betting man, I would have pegged you to do "Uptown Girl!"

- I got the Sonic the Hedgehog collection for my Gamecube over the weekend. I forgot how fun the original "Sonic" was and how much I loved the "Sonic" music. I also forgot what a lame-ass I am at videogames as I floundered through the marble zone. Damn your shooting fireflies, Sega!

- "Family Guy" on DVD! HOORAY!

- "Silent Treatment 2003" enters Week #4! Woo-hoo! Will it actually get to a full whole month?!? Oooh, the tension is soooooooo not killing me.

- So it's gotten to the point where I watch "Whammy" episodes on GSN and I don't remember who won the game despite the fact that I was at every taping. Is old age finally setting in? In any case, it's helped to make watching the show that much more exciting. :-)

- Oh...random residual thought from a few weeks ago. I went out with my friend Nathan in to the Van Nuys In 'n Out to grab a bite to eat. As I stood in line, I saw John Tesh with his daughter. He was wearing stickers on his face. I quickly proceeded to walk forward in line and go about my business as I ordered my double-double.

- I think Nabisco is going overboard with the Fruit Newton cookie brand. I bought some of those Cherry Cheesecake "Snackable Dessert" Newtons...not so good...They left me with a "meh" taste in my mouth.

- Having a fire drill today in our building...I wonder if Lew Schnieder will show up...

- NBC is doing an all-CGI animated series about Sigfried and Roy's tigers. The show will also feature CGI versions of Sigfried and Roy. The best part...they'll look more human than the REAL Sigfried and Roy. Huzzah! That was the joke of the blog. YAY!

And as always...here's this blog's..."Something to be Happy About": A new Michael Jackson special on FOX! YAYYYYYYY!

Monday, April 07, 2003

* waves hello *

Hey everybody...I'm still here. But I'm still not in full weblogging mood yet. In any case...another set of random thoughts and musings from the past week...

- The quiz that I posted on the web is proving to be quite interesting. And less so for the scores than how people answered. I'm especially amused by the responses for the questions about who influenced my sense of humor and who most epitomizes my "type" of guy.

- Damn you, Nintendo for taunting my wallet with your new cooler-looking Gameboy! DAMN YOU!!!!

- Larry, I forgive you for throwing away the orange juice. :-)

- Tina Fey's Rosie O'Donnell joke on "Weekend Update" Saturday night ROCKED.

- The "silent treatment" enters its third week this week and yes, it still sucks. I just wish it would end and some level of civility could return...

- Is it just me or that new spokesmitt for Arby's Italian Beef Sub looks like the bastard stepchild of the Hamburger Helper hand?

- Went to Celebrity Bingo in West Hollywood on Thursday. Kathy Griffin was originally supposed to number caller, but alas she wasn't. Bruce Vilanch took her place to pull the balls and call out the digits. (Insert joke here) Of the eleven games that were played, I won ZERO of them. As I marked off the numbers while Bruce and a drag queen shouted out "B-2" or "O-69," I thought to myself, "Forty years from now, when I'm 60-something, is this what I'm going to end up doing...playing bingo in the heart of WeHo?" Heh...Actually, the majority of the crowd were people in the 30s and 40s. It was a really fun night. Plus, Jerri from "Survivor: Australia" was there, so woo-hoo....

- Did some CD splurging this week. The new CD I won't shut up about is Bleu's "Redhead." The hidden bonus track is worth the price of admission especially if you were a fan of Jellyfish. I also picked up Robbie Williams new CD over the weekend. Not sure what to make of it yet, but upon first listen, it doesn't quite grab me as much as his other CDs.

- Geez, those comments I made about David Bloom a couple of weeks ago about him taking too many risks proved to be a bit too true. As I mentioned him before, he was a reporter I remembered watching for years while growing up in South Florida. Really, really sad... :-/

Ack...sorry to end on such a downer....

Wait...I almost forgot! Here's this blog's "Something to Be Happy About": The "Family Guy" DVDs come out in a week! YAY! Now, if only "Soap," "Police Squad!" and "The Bob Newhart Show" could be released on DVD, I'd be a REALLY happy DVD collector. :-)

Thursday, April 03, 2003

Do you REALLY know me?

See if you do by playing "The Mandel Game 2003."

Click here to take the test.

Enjoy!