Not so Lamer....

Went to see The Fright Gallery's Halloween show on Lamer St. and it was another fun and pun-filled evening. Since it was a "best of" revue from past shows, the cool part for me was seeing clips of past shows and hearnig some of the song parodies that I missed out on from those shows. I'm still in awe at how much work and effort is put into making the show. The production values are amazing. I wonder how they can keep it up...In any case, if you're in the L.A. area, check it out and make a donation! They certainly deserve any help we can give them!

After the show, we all went to the South Street restaurant on Victory near Olive. I had never been there before. WOW...they make some damn good Philly cheeseteaks and really good fries. And Tastycakes! Butterscotch Krimpets! MMMMMMM....

We all then returned to my house to catch up on some TV starting off with last night's episode "Lost." New theory: Locke is god. He's not human and is the island's deity. The other theory that I'm still holding on to: everybody is dead and the island is some sort of purgatory.

We then capped off the night with "The Apprentice." Reason is starting to return. Elizabeth's firing was great. Trumpy didn't even let her pick people to take with her into the boardroom. Yes, the whole military campaign wasn't her idea, BUT if she was a good leader, she would have put a kabosh on that theme from the get-go.

I don't know if I've mentioned it before, but if so, I'll mention it again. What's up with the voice-over dubbing on "The Apprentice?" It seems like of all the unscripted shows out there, "The Apprentice's" vocal redubs stick out like a sore thumb moreso than any other show!

If you haven't seen it yet...

Check THIS out...especially before the election.

122

Well, it looks like the past year (minus the few month hiatus I took during the summer) of going to the gym has been paying off to a small degree. Weighed myself last night and discovered that I had gained about 10 pounds. I'm about 8 pounds away from my goal. Woo-hoo!

Looks like the gang on Lamer St. are back with their Halloween show. I'll be checking it out some time before the end of the week.

Friendster has a new feature where it can scan your webmail address book to see if any people in your address book are on Friendster. It works fairly well...was able to add a few people to my Friendster list as a result.

Gonna start a new thing here on Mandelweb.com 2.0...Every couple of weeks or so, I'm going to do an "Ask Mandel" blog. Basically, E-mail me any questions you'd like me to answer about myself or really anything else. Every couple of weeks, I'll pick out a few questions and answer them here on the blog. So, if there's something you'd really like to know about me, here's your chance!

I'm on the hunt

Oh, "Manhunt," how I like you so much...Let me count the ways why...

A Japanese commercial screen test with liquid seaweed!

A farting model!

John O. thinking the "Irish" and "Scottish" are all the same!

Gratuitous shirtlessness!

My two faves surviving the cut!

And to top it all off, my number one pick of the bunch, Rob, coming out of the closet in next week's episode.

Yeah, make fun of me all you want for watching this show and liking it. We all need a guilty TV pleasure once in a while. :-P

And my friend Mike pointed out to me that Seth is #2 on the website's online rankings? C'mon! Seth?!? The lost Hanson brother???? Noooooo! At least Tate isn't in the top ten on the online poll. * shudder *

And the new "Amazing Race" teams are online. YAY! "Married pro wrestlers" Lori and Bolo?!? HOORAY!

And to think my parents are Republican...

You preferred Kerry's statements 89% of the time You preferred Bush's statements 11% of the time Voting purely on the issues you should vote Kerry Who would you vote for if you voted on the issues? Find out now!

In lip-sync...

OH, what can be said about Ashlee Simpson that hasn't been said yet? I did realize the one downside of being on the west coast. The "Saturday Night Live" feed we got had the Ashlee gaffe minus the phantom vocal track. BOO!

Thank goodness clips were on the web. Speaking of which, here are my favorite Ashlee-gate links (courtesy of my friend Mike):

The SNL footage

Ashlee Simpson's dad blames acid reflux disease for `Saturday Night Live' gaffe

The last is my favorite headline about this whole mess. Acid reflux? Yeah, whenever I have to lip-sync, I like to blame it on indigestion. It's called Rolaids...look into it!

Another fun link my roomie Ted showed me:

A clip of the video Scissor Sisters' "Mary"

It's a Don Bluth-animated sequence. It's "Xanadu" all over again! YAY!

28 X 30 and an early treat (or trick?)

Why is it that finding pants in this size whenever I go shopping is always a quest?? Everytime Doug and I go out shopping and we hit a clothing store and I search for pants, this size is almost never on display! Often, I have to flag down a salesperson all armed with a headset and ask him/her if the store has pants in 28 X 30. At this point, the salesperson radios somebody in the stock room. A second or two passes...and often I get the response, "Um, we don't carry pants in that size." Robinson's and May...no luck. Old Navy...no luck. Banana Republic...forget it! Armani Exhange...sometimes, but it's usually for a ridiculous price. Gap...once every few months I luck out and find something in that size, but it's always accompanied by ruffling through heaps of trousers. AARRGH...If there was ever an incentive to continue my pursuit for a few extra pounds at the gym, the continuing quest for the 28 X 30 is reason enough.

Saturday night, we had a big Halloween party. A Halloween party on the 23rd too early, you say? Well, we figured we'd avoid clashing into other Halloween parties next weekend. The theme for this year was the "Carnival of Cadavers." Think a carnival with a truly dark side where evil stuffed animals hang behind the midway of games....where fake blood stains the windows of a popcorn machine...where a gypsy orders you to play games like "Wheel of Torture" and "Lightning Reaction."

The party was a blast. What made this party different from the others is that it was a BIG team effort. Whereas parties we've thrown in the past have been mostly a Ted, Larry, and me affair...we were able to get some generous help from our friends Tim, Davy, Tony, Jim, Caleb, Kathy, and Raines. Without their assistance with setting up, getting supplies, letting us use space, etc. this party would never have turned out as well as it did! If you're reading this and you helped, THANKS! YOU ROCK!

The biggest surprise for me was how popular "Lightning Reaction" was. For those of you who haven't seeing this game, it involves four handheld buzzers around a pod. Each player takes a buzzer and the game starts. The pod lights up red...when the pod turns green, the players must buzz in. Last person to buzz in gets a shock. Yes, a real electric shock. Granted it's from 3 AAA batteries, but it does give a bit of a shock as was seen Saturday night. Despite the real shock, people kept playing the game! Maybe it was the booze that helped...who knows? In any case, it was the hit of evening. And this all sprung from me watching The Screen Savers do a segment on the game. Heeeee!

Anyhoo, you can find pics of the merriment in my Photo Album. Just look for "Halloween 2004." Enjoy!

Ben Folds Warp Five

2004 has been a great year in music. Two bands that had debut CDs this year are now two of my favorites: The Killers and Scissor Sisters. And Scissor Sisters' debut album is so far my favorite album of the year...one of the best albums I've heard in several years. It's been a while since a debut album had gotten me that excited about a band. In fact, the last time a debut album made me that giddy was Ben Folds Five...

It was back in 1996 that I read a blurb in Entertainment Weekly about this band called Ben Folds Five that said the Five had echoes of Elton John in his early prime (a comparison that would later be also attributed to Scissor Sisters). So, I went to Newbury Comics in Harvard Square and picked up a copy of the album. I instantly fell in love. After years of listening to long-time established artists like Elton John, Billy Joel, Queen, and The Beatles, I had finally found a band from my generation that totally clicked with me. Later that summer, I saw them live with my friends Mike and Albie in West Palm Beach's Carefree Theater. That totally sealed my love for the band. They had won a fan for life. As you all probably know, the band broke up in 2000 with Ben forging on with a solo career. Through all the ups and downs, I've stayed a fan buying every album, every EP, and going to every Ben Folds Five/Ben Folds concert I could go to (before last night, a total of eleven if I'm counting correctly: Carefree Theater in '96, Paradise Rock Club in Boston in '97, The Roxy in Boston in '97, the WBCN Christmas concert in '97, University of Rhode Island in '99, two El Rey shows in L.A. in '01, two El Rey Shows in L.A. '02, The Palace in Hollywood '02, and the Greek Theater in '03).

Flash forward to a month or so ago, I made a visit to the Ben Folds website (my first visit in a few months) and noticed a Ben Folds concert listing for Los Angeles. It seemed odd that he'd be making a stop at a kinda-major venue like the El Rey for a two-night run without a new album to promote. After some further research, I saw that it kinda lined up with the album release for the William Shatner he produced. Could it be? A Shatner/Folds show? At the show I saw Ben Folds do at The Palace, Shatner made do a cameo during Ben's encore and performed "In Love." However, when I received the tickets for this El Rey show, they only said "Ben Folds" on them. Still, I heard rumors that Shanter will be performing...If it was true, I wondered, in what capacity would he perform?

I arrived at the El Rey at 7 PM Friday night and there was already a line stretched to the sidewalk corner. I took my place at the end of the line next to a boy studying for his SATs. High schoolers listen to Ben Folds? Go figure...My friend Jon arrived around 7:30-ish and met me in line. The line at this point had extended around the block...A camera crew was walking down the line. Apparently, this show was being taped for a DVD. Hmmm...

We entered the El Rey around 8 PM. We made our way towards the front hoping to see if there were any tables and seats free in the raised level. But alas, the tables were removed. No worries though...there's an open nook towards the front of the raised area. We had a prime view of the stage, as you'll see in the pics below...

It's a bit after nine (9:15 or 9:30...I forget...) and Ben hit the stage along with a drummer and bassist. Ben had a backing band this time! After two years of seeing him totally solo, this was quite a treat. And it's JUST a bassist and drummer along with him...it wasn't Robert Sledge and Darren Jessee, though. :-/ Needless to say, it was a bit weird seeing the instrumental makeup of Ben Folds Five, but not the same faces.

Here's what was played (to the best of my memory):

In Between Days
Zak and Sara
All U Can Eat
Hiro's Song (with maracas!)
New Song #1!! (the lyrics mentioned "I have you to blame for this" and "tattoos")
New Song #2!! (had "goodbye" in falsetto a lot in the chorus)
Gone
New Song #3!! (the lyrics mentioned "it's been too late for too long")
Carrying Cathy
There's Always Someone Cooler Than You
- band goes off stage -
Boxing
Gracie Girl
Where's Summer B? (audience backup vocals!)
Brick
Army (more audience backup vocals!)
- band returns while Ben demonstrates why he should do film scores -
Philosophy
Rockin' the Suburbs
Get Your Hands Off Of My Woman
Not the Same (three-part audience backup vocals!)

Really strong set of songs with a good sampling of all the different albums. Lots of early Halloween treats including hearing "All U Can Eat" and "There's Always Someone Cooler Than You" live with bass and drum parts. And of course, the three new songs. Does anybody out there have the titles to them? "New Song #1" had an awesome piano part. "New Song #2" was a great ballad with a little country twinge to it. "New Song #3" was a strong mid-tempo number. All of the new songs were really good..catchy, with good hooks and chord changes. What I noticed is that the songs seemed a bit more mature with a couple dealing with marriage, but each had little humorous twists in the lyrics without undermining the song. I have to say, I really hadn't given Ben Folds too much thought this year, but this concert really opened up my ears again and reminded me of why I love his music so much. It was like reuniting with an old friend you hadn't seen in a while. I'm so stoked to hear the new album!

Now...had the concert been all finished by this point, I would have been a happy camper. But noooo...after "Not the Same," there wasn't the usual encore...there was a bit of shuffling around on stage, because...yes...it was true...William Shatner was about to take stage with Ben. Not only that, Joe Jackson was joining them as well!!! Before we knew it, there they were performing the title track from William Shatner's "Has Been" album. But wait, there was more...four more songs from "Has Been" along with a couple of extra guests including Henry Rollins (!!!) joining the Shatner for one number and I believe Fleming of Fleming and John providing backing vocals on another. The last song performed from "Has Been" was the cover of "Common People" and it was AMAZING. The energy and intensity were mind-blowing. I never thought I would say this, but Shatner ROCKED. The crowd and I went insane. They left the stage after the number...but the house music didn't pop up.

There would be an encore?? What could they possibly do to top this? Another "Has Been" number? A Ben solo number? Ben and the band returned to the stage...along with Joe Jackson...and Shatner. Shatner shot his fist up in the air and proceeded to give everybody the finger. The crowd went wild again! What was going on here? Ben started playing the electronic keyboard. As he played the intro to the final encore...the notes sounded familiar...

OH...MY...GOD...

He was playing the intro to "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds." I think I'll repeat that again to show you that I am not joking...HE WAS PLAYING THE INTRO TO "LUCY IN THE SKY WITH DIAMONDS!!!" William Shatner was going to do "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds" as his encore! He recited the verses in a way that only he could. It was a bit off, but it was done with such gusto that you overlooked that. Joe and Ben popped in for the chorus. And in minutes, it was all over...This concert which almost flew under the radar for me was history. This concert which will go down as one of the most memorable concerts I've ever seen was through. Amazing...Truly amazing...

And now, I share the pics I took from the show...Enjoy...















Now, off to bed... :-)

Happiness is...

...seeing little Stacy get the boot on "The Apprentice" last night!

...hearing about the return of "The Amazing Race" to Tuesday nights next month!

...watching Charo get all pissed at Jordan Knight on "The Surreal Life!"

...counting down the hours to the Ben Folds concert at the El Rey tonight!

...the possibility that William Shatner will be joining Ben Folds on stage for the El Rey concert tonight!

...the weekend just being around the corner!

Kids these days...

I guess the whole philosophy of "No Child Left Behind" has been good for one thing...

Kids Pick Kerry to Be the Next President

:-)

A little over a month ago, I posted the following blog:

Got second one!

Didn't say anything beyond that. It was a veiled reference to something I had received news on...What was that news? Well, last month, I pitched another pricing game to Roger Dobkowitz, one of the producers of "The Price is Right." The day I made that post, I received word that it was given the green light! I can't really say anything about the game yet except that it will debut sometime this seaso, but it is not the next game that's lined up to debut. As always, I'll keep all of you posted on the game's progress as much as I can...

Vegetative thoughts...

Some random thoughts as I sifted through my TiVO Tuesday evening...

Watched Monday's The Screen Savers on G4TechTV and watched in awe as they demonstrated the Sony QRIO robot. My friend Jim mentioned it on his blog a while back, but seeing it in a little movie on your computer desktop doesn't do it justice. This robot is awesome! I want one...I really, really want one...just as long as it promises to not kill me while I'm sleeping.

Tuesday night equals "Manhunt" night. YAY! I have a clear top favorite amongst the melange of men...that would be Rob. Not only is he damn good-looking, but he seems like he has a clear head on his shoulders. Two of my faves were given the boot: John and Blake. BOO! Though I have to say, Blake's pic was not really great. But still...Keeping Tate? And Kevin O.??? C'mon! And Kevin P. is the "embedded model?" Ahhh...it kinda makes sense since I always had the notion that I had seen him somehwere else.

Caught up on last week's "America's Next Top Model" as well...OH MY GOODNESS...I'm glad I held off until this week because had I watched it during its original airing last Wednesday (the day after "Manhunt's" premiere), I would have needed to check myself into the local hospital for recuperation. WOW...it was queer overload...seriously...the women had more testosterone flowing through them than the men. J. Alexander as a school teacher! The lovely Heatherette! J. Alexander barking out orders sounding like he was talking in slow motion when he really was in real-time! The return of Danilo AND Mathu (pronounced "Matthew"...no, really..."Matthew")! J. Alexander presenting the girls with a challenge to wear pink tube dresses! Amanda's spiral into outer space ("De-teeeec-tive! De-teeec-tive!")! Norelle's runway slip! OH, it's so wonderful! And this week's episode features what looks like Janice teaching the girls yoga! HOORAY!

Damn...I just got a paper cut on my toe. I'm not joking...Blood is coming out of my pinky toe. Grrr...This is the second foot mishap I've had in less than a week. Thursday night, I stepped on a stray thumb tack. Damn my big clunky feet!

A place where we all dared to go....

Just got back from the double feature of "Xanadu" and "The Apple" at the New Beverly Cinema in Los Angeles. Went with a bunch of friends and for this go 'round, we dressed up:



As always, it was great seeing the movies (especially back-to-back!), but unfortunately, the environment didn't foster much fun. Out of all the theaters we've seen old movies in, New Beverly Cinema is probably the least conducive to "cult" films. Now, I don't know whether it was a byproduct of there being not too many people, it being a Monday night, or the area we were in, but it certainly lacked the energy of the previous showings we've been to at other theaters and the "hey, let's have some fun watching some old cheesy movies" spirit that places like the NuArt or The Egyptian had. After tonight's experience, I'll say that the NuArt in Santa Monica's Friday midnight movie wins hands down when it comes to showings of old movies.

That being said, it seemed like there were a few pockets of people here and there who were on the same wavelength as us. And there were several shared chuckles amongst the fromage of film...

Some thoughts after seeing "Xanadu" on the big screen...oh wait, that's another thing, the screen at the New Beverly was quite small compared to the other old theaters. :-/

Anyhoo, back to "Xanadu" thoughts...I have never seen "Xanadu" on the big screen. Before, it had all been through the wonder of VHS, cable, and DVD. First, anybody get the feeling that Andy Gibb would have made a great Sonny Malone? Not to knock Michael Beck, but it would have been icing on the cake had the "Suddenly" scene been done by Andy Gibb and Olivia with both of them actually singing the duet as they skated around the soundstage. Next, have the songs during the finale medley (or as I like to call it..."'Xanadu' turns into the TV show 'Solid Gold!'") ever been released? I picked out three songs during the medley that weren't on the soundtrack (the electro-instrumental, the rock song with the leopard skin tights, and the country song). Finally, I've said it before and I'll say it again..."XANADU: The Stage Musical!" A real, full-blown stage musical with proper sets and all...Who's with me??

On a roll...

Was quite busy over the weekend...hence the lack of blogging over the past few days...

Saturday, spent the day with Doug moving from one end of the cultural spectrum to the other. We started out the afternoon by going to the MOCA, the Museum of Contemporary Art in downtown Los Angeles. It was um...interesting...I don't know whether it was the exhibit or just the nature of the museum, but both of us just didn't quite get into it. And I have been to art museums before (the Getty was the last one I went to and it was superb), but this one left me a little cold. Mounds of earth separated by mirrors as art? I dunno...there were a couple of paintings which I liked, actually one was quite amazing. I forget the name of it, but as a whole, we just weren't compelled by it.

Since we had a bit of time to kill, we walked around the Walt Disney Music Hall. WOW...what a cool building. Seeing a concert there has been added to the "things to do" list.

As evening fell, we did something a little less on the high-brow side. We went to see "Team America: World Police." We both really liked it. Lots of funny moments and a great analogy about people's places in the world told in a way that only Trey Parker and Matt Stone could tell it. The songs were hilarious and puppet sex never looked so hot...wait, that's wrong. Forget I said that. It doesn't quite get to the brilliance of "South Park: Bigger, Longer, Uncut," but then again, doing so would take a lot. Definitely recommend it...

Before we got home, we made a little pit stop at Best Buy to use a coupon I got in the mail. I went there with the goals of getting the "Aladdin" DVD, the "Taxi: First Season" DVD, and the "Team America" soundtrack. Alas, I was thwarted on all but one of those goals. They were out of the "Taxi" DVD and I guess "Team America's" soundtrack isn't out yet. I did end up getting in their places another Midway arcade collection for the Playstation 2 and...Katamari Damacy, a new game for the Playstation 2.

"Kata-WHAT?" you say? That's exactly what *I* was saying as I looked at the box with its serene illustration of a cityscape, a meadow with cows grazing, and a bright rainbow in the background...with a giant mount of random stuff including a squid, baseball stadium, and whale sitting amongst the city skyline. "Hmm...this game looks a little offbalance," I thought to myself. "I must read the back cover!" And just by reading the description and seeing the low price, I decided it. I didn't regret that impulse buy.

Katamari Damacy is one of the best new games I've played in a while. It follows the tenet that any classic video game should follow. It's simple and you can pick it up in a matter of minutes. This is a game that would have fit well with the best arcade games of the 80s. What's the premise? Just roll your sticky ball (or "katamari") over all sorts of shtuff and watch it grow bigger. And keep rolling and rolling and rolling avoiding things that will knock your ball down or get in your way. Hit the goal size for your katamari and voila...you've won the round and move on to the next stage. How can something simple-sounding be so fun? It is...OH, it is. The moment I rolled my katamari over and picked up a dog (at which point it started barking), I knew this was fun. I just wanted to roll over all sorts of stuff on the screen just to see what I could pick up! It's twisted, but oh so great!

Sunday was just as packed. Thanks to Todd Newton, I was able to sit in the audience for the finale of VH1's "Search for the New Partridge Family." It was a very fun show and Todd did a great job hosting as always. And I definitely agree with the audience's picks for the cast, especially for Keith. When I watched the Battle of the Keiths, there was just something about Leland Grant where you sensed that he had "it' after you saw him take the stage. Ahh...I just remembered...I have to empty the confetti from the big finale out of my jacket pockets. Heee... :-)

Closed the weekend out by getting together with John Sly and Marc Green (from Golden-Road.net) and a bunch of my game show cohorts for a little gaming. Good mix of games this go 'round from Press Your Luck to Pyramid to Price is Right to Password. (The essential "P"s of game shows!) Best moment of the night...Press Your Luck. That seems to fire up the room any time we play it. The worst moment of the night for me...When "MACRAME" popped up in the big money lightning round while I was giving clues...MACRAME?!? Needless to say, my partner and I were screwed.

Sooo tired...and there's work tomorrow! EEEEE! Gots to get to bed...

Fired up...

AAAARRRRGHH! Another favorite of mine on "The Apprentice" went to the chopping block tonight. Bye, bye John...Oh, how we'll miss you. :-/

So as to those DVDs I got from the Extinct Attractions Club. Wonderful! Thanks to them I was able to relive my memories of going to EPCOT as a child. Back when I was growing up in Florida, my family and I would go up to Disney World at least twice a year. One of my fondest memories was seeing EPCOT in its early years. Back then, there was less emphasis on thrill rides like "Mission: Space" or "Test Track." Instead, there were huge, expansive moving theater shows like "Universe of Energy," "Spaceship Earth," and "Horizons." And more often than not, these rides that sometimes clocked at over 20 minutes would be capped off by a "look the future's gonna be great!" theme song. "New Horizons" from the old "Horizons" pavilion stands as one of my all-time favorite attraction (let alone EPCOT) songs.

While watching the video, the one memory that was brought back to life was that of Communicore. I had forgotten how fun that area was with its cheesy (but cute) touch screen computer games like the roller coaster builder and the American flag assembly line game. And SMRT-1, the talking robot! I remember the first time I went up to the SMRT-1 exhibit at Communicore, I was so shy that I couldn't even talk into the phone to answer "yes" or "no" to SMRT-1. And the Stargate restaurant and fountain of information. Ahhh, how I miss thee...

The last time I was at EPCOT was Christmas time of 2003 and while "Mission: Space" was nice, there was a weird feel to the theme park especially Future World. It seemed to be lacking a unifying voice to the area. Back in the 80s-era, Future World's pavilions all centered around the hopes and dreams of the future with the occasional demonstration here and there of future technologies (as "The Land" and "World of Motion" did), but now, the area just seems like a mishmash of neat attractions that are loosely tied to the future. This will ring especially true when "Soarin'" hits "The Land." Don't get me wrong, the new additions have been nice, but it seems like a patchwork quilt...like "oh, let's try to fit this into EPCOT and see if it works." I'll be very curious to see what if any direction EPCOT takes in the next few years especially as its 25th anniversary looms closer and closer...Any other classic EPCOT fans out there?

If you can dream it, you can do it...

Quick blog with details to follow later today...

Got some DVDs from the Extinct Attractions Club featuring vintage EPCOT attractions from the early-to-mid 80s. They are AWESOME...such a great flashback to the Future World of past...

The one thing that I especially noticed...the original EPCOT ride-through attractions were LONG. They were essentially long, moving theater shows all topping the 10-minute mark (some even longer than that!). You never see ride-throughs with Audio-Animatronics of that scope anymore. Ahh...making memories...making memories...taking pictures is making...whoops...slipped into an EPCOT song there...

More later tonight!

Caught the fish...

...and threw it back!

All righty...In an earlier post, I made a mention about Van De Kamp's recent line of creepy fish ads.

Well, I've found them online. Now, you can see what I mean. They're part of their "Get comfortable around fish" campaign:

Swing set
Racquetball

I can't think of anything that's made me more UN-comfortable around fish than these ads. Eeee...Make it go away! Make it go away!

Model behavior

WOW...

No, really...WOW...

Where to start with Manhunt...

The prevalence of body waxing...

The parade of abs...

Bad spontaneous model poses...("Look like your dog just died!")

A former model yelling like a drill sergeant at other men to take off their clothes...

Men taking off their shirts in the middle of an Armani Exchange to try on other shirts...

A drunken groupie girl falling over in the hallway of The Standard...

No...I have it...Men in underwear tandem skydiving to the strains of "It's Raining Men!"

OVERLOAD! OVERLOAD! OVERLOAD!

Yes, this brilliant show outgays "Queer Eye" and "Queer as Folk" combined! Only "America's Next Top Model" with the presence of Danilo (handlebar mustache and a pink suit?!? Yeesh!) comes close. I said it earlier but I'll say it again, BRAVO to Bravo and to Stuart Krasnow for treating us to this wonderful hour.

Yeah, yeah...laugh at me all you want for loving a show that's a bevy of beefcake, but ya know what, it's a fun show! Consider it "season passed" with three thumbs up on the TiVo! Woo-hoo!

My faves at the moment: Blake, John, Matt, and Rob

Not-so-good Earth

Totally forgot about this incident from a couple of days ago...

Last Sunday morning, Doug and I went out to brunch at The Good Earth in Studio City. It was the first time either of us had been there and the food had a healthy, organic vibe to it.

The decor was a bit plain save for a few tropical trees randomly scattered around the restaurant and a giant half-filled aquarium with fish and more foliage in it. What was missing was the all-imporant cleanliness letter grade. It was nowhere to be found! It wasn't on any of the windows. It wasn't in front of the cashier. It wasn't even on the damn aquarium. Nowhere! I broke my own rule and continued with brunch there.

Perusing the menu, things looked pretty good. Lots of "ten-grain" foods and egg whites. It was time for us to place our order. Doug ordered the harvest pancakes and I told our server that I wanted the French toast. To which she asked, "Have you had the French toast before?" I said, "No." She then said, "Don't order it." I switched to the banana walnut pancakes...And not a single word more about French toast after that.

How weird...How awful could the French toast have been for her to just say "don't order it?" I mean it's French toast! Even the worst French toast I've had has been passable for food. Was the French toast made of French people? Was "French toast" code for something else...like "the chef's mind-altering delight?" Was there some evil hazing ritual involved with the French toast?!? I was intrigued...very intrigued...For a split second, I thought of changing back my order, but I figured could deal with banana pancakes. And alas, they arrived along with some turkey sausage ordered. And they were pretty decent banana pancakes. Slices of banana popped into the pancake batter so they were still intact in the cooked fluffiness of the pancakes. Mmmmm...I'd still take IHOP's pancakes (or French toast for that matter) over what I had that day, but it wasn't awful. It was just unmemorable...

Just hours away from the premiere of Manhunt! YAY!

Bravo, BRAVO!

Oh dear, my head is going to explode...

"Manhunt" review from Bravo

My favorite line: "Special congrats to the casting directors who found the blond, studly Brett, whose resume includes stints as an air force pilot, Mormon priest, Chippendale's dancer and, at present, Las Vegas real estate agent."

Wha-wha-whaaaat?!? Oh this could be really good or really bad (but good because it's bad)...In any case, I'm in!

Syndicated?

Heh, it looks like my blog is being syndicated to Livejournal. If you're on Livejournal, I think you can add my blog to your friends list.

Pointing fingers...

Put up some pics from this year's red-shirt day at Disneyland in the photo album. You can find them in the "RED-SHIRT DAY AT DISNEYLAND 2004" section.

Went to see a taping of "ALF's Hit Talk Show" this evening. Tom Green was one of the guests. The coolest part was after the taping when Paul Fusco, the creator and voice of ALF, was introduced to the audience...Definitely not what I had envisioned...

On a bit of a G4-TechTV kick lately...Discovered a show called The Screen Savers which has a fun team of hosts. I've always found smaller cable talk shows their personalities to be charming. Comedy Channel (the channel that merged with HA! to form Comedy Central) and the original fX (oh, Breakfast Time how I miss you) had several shows like this.

On one of the other shows I caught over the weekend, the hosts talked about this Japanese video game called Boonga-Boonga. I think I'll let the link speak for itself...

In the blog, Bob!

Last night, I went with my friend Gary to the Barnes and Noble at the Grove for the Bob Eubanks book signing. It was very cool. Before people lined up to have their books signed, Bob told a number of great stories. In addition to stories about getting the "Newlywed Game" job and a practical joke he played on Bob Barker, he also had several about his days as a concert producer and artist manager. Being a bit of a Beatles and classic rock fan, this was an added bonus to an already fun evening.

Skimmed through a little bit of the book while we waited for Bob's arrival. It's chock full of funny anecdotes...there are a number of neat pics as well.

Spotted amongst the crowd at the bookstore were Frank Gorshin, Fred Wostbrock, and Rich Fields. I got a chance to talk to Bob when I got my book signed and he was quite gracious and charming. I was fortunate to get a pic with him as well..



As with the other game show signings I've been to, this was a blast. It was great being able to meet another legend in the biz which somehow I've managed to sneak my way into!

While also at the Grove last night, I stopped by the Apple store. OHHHH, how I want the new iMac G5 even more!

Ketchup night

Back in elementary school, we'd have "ketchup" day...which really was "catch up" day, but my teacher Mrs. Fraticelli would draw a bottle of ketchup on the board to symbolize "catch up" day...

Last night was [Insert Heinz bottle here] night for TV. Got back up to speed on "Lost" and "The Apprentice."

Very intrigued by the the characters on "Lost" especially the bald creepy guy who found the boy's dog. One thing...how in the hell does Ian Somerhalder look so damn pretty even after a devastating plane crash?!?

And "The Apprentice"...Ohhh..."The Apprentice"...Poor, poor Pamela. Trumpy, why did you fire her? Are you not seeing the evilness of the original Apex girls?!? GRRRRRRRR!!!! And please, no more Raj running around in his boxers! PLEEEEASE!!! Big props to Caroline's feistiness this season! And again, big mouths in the boardroom are proving to be people's downfall. Oy...Oh, and last week's use of John to gain points in the restaurant? BRILLIANT!

Just FOUR days away until the premiere of Manhunt! Woo-hoo!

Something fishy...

Has anybody seen the new Mrs. Paul's (or is it Van De Kamp's?) commercial where there's this giant fish on a swing set? There's also a family staring in horror at the giant fish. The little girl tries to touch it, but the mom pulls her away.

What is with these creepy commercials as of late?!? It's as if the fish came from the same place creepy Burger King-face man came from. :-/

I don't understaaaaaaand!

Last night was day two of my return to the gym routine. I'm still feeling the burn in my arms. Grrrr...But it seems like there have been residual effects from my going to the gym (despite the several months period that I didn't go). I stepped on the scale last night to discover that I have gained some weight in the past year. Whether this is a byproduct of the gym or my metabolism finally getting to some semblance of normalcy we shall see...but it's still encouraging.

Just FIVE days away until the premiere of Manhunt! Woo-hoo!

Dulce de flouride

Call me a brand whore but I picked up a tube of Vanilla Mint Crest toothpaste (as featured on "The Apprentice!"). It's not as bad as it sounds. In fact, I think I'm going to buy another tube of it when I run out. The odd thing about it is that it looks like dulce de leche ice cream in toothpaste form. Anyhoo, me likey...I give it the THUMBS UP!

Saw the movie "A Dirty Shame" last night...Despite a few funny moments, I honestly didn't get it. I don't know if this is because I'm not a hardcore John Waters fan, but I walked away from the movie perplexed. Also, I take issue with their defintion of "otter" in the movie. I was also hoping to see a little bit more of Johnny Knoxville in the film. Felt a 'twee bit cheated there...I give it the THUMBS DOWN!

For some reason, I've got the "Buck Rogers" theme (ya know, from the late 70s NBC show with Gil Gerard) stuck in my head. AHHHHHH!

Does Dick Cheney EVER smile? I think if you look up "curmudgeon" in the dictionary, you'll see his pic next to it. I didn't get that warm and fuzzy feeling in the several glimpses I got of him during the debate. It was a very interesting moment though when the topic of gay marriage came up and there was the mention of his gay daughter.

Let's get physical

Tonight, I went to the gym after having not gone for several months...and boy, can I feel it! :-/

I hope I can get back into the groove with this and start making this a regular habit again.

All right...what's up with Elton John?

Elton John Takes Blasts Madonna for Lip-Synching

Why is he so angry nowadays?

Speaking of piano men, I may have two mezzanine seats (D 205 and D 206) up for grabs for this Saturday's performance of "Movin' Out" at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood. Waiting to hear from this one person if he can take them, but if he doesn't, they're up for sale. Anybody interested if they go up for sale? E-mail me if you're interested.

Well red

A quick post to cap off the weekend...

Went down to Anaheim with a bunch of friends yesterday for the annual "red-shirt" day at Disneyland. Despite the a few E-Ticket rides being closed down and Tomorrowland looking more like a Construction-site-land, the crowds weren't too bad this year. As has been tradition with red-shirt days, we checked out the Haunted Mansion Holiday. And this year, we had a dozen in our bunch...a record I think for our group. At one point, we took up one whole car at the Indiana Jones attraction. Hee...An added bonus this year was that we had some Disneyland virgins in our bunch. It's too bad the Matterhorn and Space Mountain weren't open for them to see...The biggest bonus of them all, though...I got to spend red-shirt day with Doug! :-)

Amongst the red sea this year was Reichen Lemkuhl, one-half of last year's winning team on The Amazing Race. We also bumped into Vince Rimoldi, one of the cast members of "Camp." Also in the park was Michael Phelps who was there with the "Swim with the Stars" tour. But alas, we didn't bump into him. D'oh!

Took several pics of the fun this weekend...the photo album should be up by next weekend...

Added another new fall show to the season pass list..."Desperate Housewives." By far, my favorite new show of the fall season.

Attempted to do a little shopping with Doug at the Camarillo Outlet today, but alas, there was nothing to be found that piqued our interests. I still need to get a couple of new outfits...grr...Beverly Center here I come...

OH! Totally forgot...Whilst at the Avalon last week for the Scissor Sisters concert, we spotted Farrah Fawcett and Danny Pintauro amongst the crowd. Danny I can understand, but Farrah?!? Whowouldathunk?

Banging away...

A hodgepodge of thoughts as I bang away on my keyboard this morning...

Listened to the presidential debate on the radio while driving home and it further cemented my choice for the election this year. It was very frustrating to hear Bush stammer his way into answering the questions last night. And I'm very glad to say that I'm not alone in this feeling. Hopefully, this continues into the next debates...

Well, it looks like one of the first electronic games I received as a child went through TOY SWAN:



It's mini-Merlin! Ahh...the red telephone-shaped game of beeps and boops is back. As you can see, it's received some reduction surgery and it features actual buttons as opposed to those touch-sensitive circles on the original. It still plays all the same games and the sound effects are the same. One bonus is that it uses 3 "AAA" batteries as opposed to the 6 "AAs" that the original would eat up. The addition which I'm not terribly keen on is a voice for Merlin. Yes, Merlin now talks to you asking which game you want to play. Can a pint-size version of "Dark Tower" be behind?

In another one of those weird coincidences, I have a connection to Merlin's creator, Bob Doyle. Bob was an advisor to Harvard TV and was a key person in the creation of HRTV's studio and post-production facility.

Here are the Scissor Sisters pics I took from their performance at the Avalon Wednesday night...as with any Scissor Sisters show, there's plenty of topless Jake to be found. :-)







Gots another new toy last night...Donkey Konga. Didn't play too much last night, but I can see this being addicting especially as a head-to-head game amongst the roommates. Ricky Ricardo, watch out!