As the year closes...

It's time to put up the obligatory "favorites of the year" list! Here they are...

FAVORITE ALBUMS OF THE YEAR
5. Ben Folds - "Super D" EP
4. Keane - "Hopes and Fears"
3. Green Day - "American Idiot"
2. The Killers - "Hot Fuss"
1. Scissor Sisters - "Scissor Sisters"

FAVORITE SONGS OF THE YEAR
5. Scissor Sisters - "Laura"
4. The Killers - "Somebody Told Me"
3. Ben Folds - "Adelaide"
2. Keane - "Somewhere Only We Know"
1. Scissor Sisters - "Take Your Mama"

FAVORITE MOVIES OF THE YEAR
5. "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind"
4. "Spiderman 2"
3. "The Incredibles"
2. "Farenheit 9/11"
1. "Garden State"

FAVORITE TV SHOWS OF THE YEAR
5. "America's Next Top Model"
4. "Arrested Development"
3. "Lost"
2. "Desperate Housewives"
1. "The Amazing Race 5"

And so ends 2004 here on Mandelweb.com. Thanks to all of you for your support and for your kind E-mails and comments throughout this past year. I've done a last batch of updates to the photo albums for the year.

Have a fun and safe new year! And I'll see you all in 2005!

Coda

Quick post for the night...

So I've been alluding to some bumpiness in my life recently...I've decided to come forward with it...My relationship with Doug has come to an end. This was one of the hardest things I've had to go through, and I'm still feeling terrible about the whole situation. It's not really the easiest thing to explain, but we had basically come to a realization that we were having different wants and expectations of each other and it just wasn't going to work out in the long run.

That being said, the year I've had with him was one of the best moments in my life and I'll never forget the great times we had together.

Again, thanks to all of my friends who've given me advice and support throughout these difficult past couple of weeks. It made me appreciate even more what great people I know out here.

Broken English

So, our television in our living room has been acting up lately. The picture starts flickering and then drops out at random times and this usually happens once a day. On top of that the sound drops out before the picture goes haywire. Thankfully, the television is still under warranty.

Last week, I called up Best Buy to schedule servicing. The service guy came yesterday. I know this sounds terrible, but he could barely understand a word of English. It took me forever to explain what was wrong with the television. THE...TV...PICTURE...GOES...OUT...AT...RANDOM! "So it gets unplugged?" he asks. NOOOO! The picture goes out! The sound dies...then the picture goes out at random! "So the sound goes out?" he asks. YES! The sound goes out! AAAAAHHHH!

On top of this, the TV is acting perfectly fine for him. He says he can't do anything until he sees the problem actually happening. But he says he can wait. So we sit there and wait as a MadTV rerun plays on Comedy Central. And we wait...I fiddle around with the controls to see if that will get the TV to start acting up...no luck...We wait...A sketch about Howard Stern pops up...I fiddle around with more controls...no luck..

A half hour passes and he gets ready to leave saying that I should call back when the problem becomes permanent. What?!? He looks behind the TV to jot down the serial number and model number. Suddenly, the TV blinks...I tell the repairman. He looks at the TV and it's fine. DAMN YOU TV! He goes back behind the TV set. It starts blinking again. I tell the repairman again. He finally sees it! He says he'll order some parts and come back when the parts arrive. Phew...What a mess...

I wonder if they got Best Buy gave me this repairman after noticing my last name...oh well...at least it's going to get fixed.

I put up pics from the holiday party in the Photo Album section. Enjoy!

As I make myself useful...

Ahh...nothing like a lazy vacation...I have been vegging like crazy the past several days. In between vegging, I've found time to go to the gym and update the webpage.

The first big addition...A page dedicated to the big "Ted, Larry, and Mandel Holiday Special." If you want to link people to the videos (and please do if you haven't!), send them to the following link from now on:

http://mandelweb.com/2004holidayspecial.html

There you will find background on the videos as well as audio files, video files, a behind-the-scenes photo page, and full credits for the special.

Before the end of the year, I'll be adding outtakes and deleted scenes to the page.

Geez, it's 3 AM...I'm gonna get to bed...when I come back later today...a story about my dealings with the TV repairman. FUN!

HO HO HO!

A quick little blog here wishing everybody a Happy Holiday weekend!

Been taking it easy these past few days. I've been taking advantage of my time off to just veg and relax. The blogging will be back up to full steam next week along with some photo album updates and a page dedicated to the holiday my friends and I put together this year.

Thanks to all of you who've sent me holiday wishes! I'll be back here in a couple of days!

Winding down....

First of all thanks to all of you who've sent along kind words about the holiday videos my friends and I put together! It was so fun putting them together and I'm glad you had fun watching them.

Please, please, pass along word about the video to anybody you know who might be interested in seeing it. Just send them to this link:

http://mandelweb.com/2004/12/christmas-gaeity.html

Soon there will a full page dediated to the video with stills, outtakes, deleted scenes, and whatnot.

On a totally different note...Oy with the Jonathan on "The Amazing Race." I caught up with the show over the weekend and that SHOVE! Drew and I were talking about how we know how reality shows tend to overdramatize things, but still...that shove was clearly a shove. No excuse for it...no matter how stressed it gets...

Jonathan talked about it in his official blog and blamed it on Sarcoidosis, an inflammation of the body's tissues. I'd believe Ashlee Simpson's acid reflux moreso than his Sarcoidosis. Anyhoo...can't wait for tonight's episode!

Ahh...things are winding down here at work and I have to say work has been GREAT the past month. In fact, it's been the best it's been in a months. Funny how work tends to get really, really good when a certain area in my life starts to get iffy. Speaking of which, thanks to all my friends for you support and advice through my little dilemma. Still not sure how it's all going to end up...

Christmas Gaeity

So yet another holiday part comes to a close...It was quite a success with a great mix of people. At the risk of sounding mushy, no present could match having such a great circle of friends. I'll have the pics from the party up later this week...However, what I do have is something I've mentioned over the past couple of weeks. This year's holiday party marked the premiere of "The Ted, Larry, and Mandel Holiday Special." As some of you know in the past, our holiday parties have involved some presentation. Two years ago, it was a live variety show featuring performances by friends capped off with an original song called "The World is a Big Place (So Stop Hitting Each Other) by Ted, Larry, and me. Last year, Ted and I put together a live Christmas-Disco Medley featuring Miss Piggy.

This year, we decided to go with a pre-recorded piece...This special was put together over the past month. We tried to get as many of our friends involved with this project and in addition to turning out really well, it was a BLAST to put together. This is one of the proudest things I've been involved with. Because of the length of the show, I've split it into two parts.

First, is "Animagic," a two-minute stop-animation piece showing what happens when some elves get a little bit unruly in Santa's Toy Shop. This piece was primarily the result of Ted and our friend John's hard work. They painstakingly snapped pics frame by frame on a digital camera and with some computer magic...voila! Out comes an homage to Rankin and Bass.

Second, is "Keep Christmas Gay and Bright." Something Ted, Larry, and I have always wanted to do as part of our holiday parties was a music video. Ted wrote the lyrics to this first, and I wrote the music to put together with the lyrics. We then rustled up a few of our friends to lay down the vocal tracks over the instrumental parts I recorded on Garageband. And throughout the past few weeks, we've taped the visuals to go with it all. Throw in a couple weeks' worth editing on Final Cut Express and prestochango...it's a music video!

Here are the links to the videos (Quicktime required) and MP3s:


ANIMAGIC!
Directed by Ted Biaselli and John Ender
Voiced by Ted Biaselli, Mandel Ilagan, Larry Lawrence, Davy Reddish, and Tim Sheridan
Edited by Ted Biaselli and Mandel Ilagan
Musical score by Mandel Ilagan
Low res (2.0M) / Medium res (5.5M) / High res (13.6M)


KEEP CHRISTMAS GAY AND BRIGHT
Directed by Ted Biaselli, Mandel Ilagan, and Tim Sheridan
Music by Mandel Ilagan
Lyrics by Ted Biaselli
Choreography by Larry Lawrence
Edited by Mandel Ilagan
Low res (4.3M) / Medium res (11.9M) / High res (29.8M) /
MP3 Audio of the Song (5.7 M)

Hiatus

I haven't blogged for a few days and I'm going to put a hold on blogging for the rest of the week. At a point of re-evaluation of something in my life...My perception was wrong and I really have to figure things out. After a couple days of thinking about it, I'm still at a loss, unsure what to do, feel, or say...Argh, I know the old saying goes that what this is all about was never supposed to be easy, but I'd think that after six years of doing it off and on, I'd finally get this one right. But I ramble...

I'll be back with a blog on the 18th...Thanks for bearing with me through this...

Waxing musical...

Ok...this is starting to get out of hand...

It's Karate, Kid! The Musical

A number called "The Way of the Fisting?!?"

EEEEEEEE!

Nature calls...

So I'm here at the hotel in Palm Springs and I notice in the bathroom there's a phone next to the toilet. I just don't get this concept. What phone call could be so important that you'd have to take it while you're taking a dump. My cell phone has rung a few times in my pocket while I've taken a number two, and I just let it slide...the phone call, that is. Nobody needs tso be talking to me while I'm doing my business! C'mon...it's just weird!

Caught a little bit of "John Mayer Has a TV Show" on VH1 this morning before I joined the rest of my coworkers for dinner. Hmm...interesting show. I was a tad disappointed in his second album, but after seeing him on "I Love the 80s" and now this show, I gotta say, I have regained respect for him. Wonder how long it will be before "Jason Mraz's Happy Fun Show" hits the air, though... :-)

P.S.

Hello from Palm Springs...Just arrived here for a work conference. I've never been here before...it's quite nice. My hotel room has got quite a view of some mountains. Snowcaps! EEEE!

Had a nice night last night with Doug. He made a great dinner and we watched the last "Lost" before the new year and "Project Runway." I totally thought there was going to be a full-blown death on "Lost" since the show isn't going to have a new episode until January. I guess I was half-right. As I hate to say, I'm placing my bets on Boone being the next character to bite the dust. :-/

I'm really liking "Project Runway." What I really like about the show are the challenges. My faves so far...Austin and "den mom" Wendy.

Okey-doke...have to head to registration for the conference...more later!

Boobs...

Oh "Amazing Race...with your coda of Gus manboobs in the final few minutes...Okay, what's up with Adam? The high-pitched voice...the whininess...the drama...Rebecca referring to him as her "girlfriend." PING! PING! PING! Yay for Kris and Jon! And yay for a non-elimination...really didn't want to see Don and Mary Jean go.

Watched "The Real Gilligan's Island" for the first time last night. Here's my issue...Gilligan Chris, the guy who ended up being Gilligan is too good-looking. I'm sorry, but when I think of Gilligan, I don't think of somebody in a cute-he-could-be-on-WB way. I think of a clumsy, awkward boob who breaks stuff. Gilligan Gooner (and that's the only time you'll ever see me type those words in this blog), the tall goofy guy, was sooooooooooooo much more Gilligan than Gilligan Chris. All right, I'm using Gilligan as an adjective to describe a person...I've blogged too much for today...

Shabu...shabu....la-la-la, la-la-la, la-la-la-la

No, it's not the song from the Japanese version of "Clue: The Movie." It's what I had for dinner last night.

Went out with a few friends including my friend Eddie who was visiting from Florida at the shabu shabu place in Hollywood and Highland. The food was good, but I am such a mess when it comes to using chopsticks. Don't EVEN go there...Seriously, I lost so many noodles over the course of the evening. They'd either disappear in the pot of boiling water for cooking the food or they'd drop on the table en route to my rice bowl. It was a very, very sad display of Asian utensil inadequacy. Nevertheless, fun times all around...

One day until Clay Aiken's christmas special. Hooray! A full hour of Christmas merriment! Yipee! And Barry Manilow and Megan Mullaly are appearing! Hmmmm....

* pokes my eyes out *

Ok...I thought the following link was the most ridiculous thing I'd seen today:

Calling all Fockers

...until I found the following link a few seconds later:

Hasselhoff meets Spongebob

No, it's not from the movie trailer...that's MILD compared to the link above...

Too much to title...

So many things to talk about in this blog...I really couldn't come up with a fitting title...

- Thursday night watched "The Apprentice" and "Nick and Jessica's Christmas Special" Ahh...I think TV's broken new ground by having Nick Lachey do a sketch about lickable underarm deodorant complete with a demonstration. Hooray!

- How about the craziness on "Lost?" The question I have is if Ethan is crazy "been-on-the-island-for-sixteen-years" woman's son!

- Went to The Cheesecake Factory on Friday night for my friend Adam's birthday. This was the one in Beverly Hills. I never knew how quiet the 90210 could be on Friday evening. Found parking on the street without a hitch and while there was a wait for our table it was still nowhere near the wait that the Cheesecake Factory at the Galleria in Sherman Oaks has. Mmmm...Tiramisu cheesecake...mmmm...Quite a fun dinner though I made many a visit to what is known as "comedy jail" amongst Jeff, Jon, Adam, and Keith. Note to self...must cut down on the bad puns...ESPECIALLY the one about putting sugar substitute on your lawn and calling it "Splenda in the grass."

- Saturday hung out with my Dougie and we did a lot of Christmas shopping. Just have a couple more things to get and I'll be done. YAYYYYY! Thank goodness, I'm going to have to get back on expenses after the beating I took getting my car fixed Saturday. Oh well, I've had the car for five years, so I guess I'm do for some major servicing on it. And better safe than sorry before I drive to my work retreat in Palm Springs later this week.

- Closed out Saturday by going to see Neko Case at the El Rey. It was a pretty good concert. Not super familiar with her music, but it was good stuff. I just wish the folks at the El Rey had closed the entrance doors to let keep the heat in the theater. Arrrghhh...cold weather. And for some reason, cold weather makes me sleepy. I know, it's the opposite of the norm, but it just does. 'Caused to me to nod off a couple of times during the opening acts...Eee!

- Sunday was quite packed as well. We did quite a bit of taping for the holiday video. Just a few more shots and this thing is ready to go. Again, keep your eyes on this webpage on the evening of the 18th to see the debut of our big music video! I'll most likely be putting the video up in Quicktime format. Just finished some major editing. It's shaping up to be quite a fun one...Just making it has been a blast. Again, I'm just amazed at how talented my friends are!

- Caught up on some more TV as well...Got a new fave on Bravo..."Project Runway." Ahh, who knew that corn husks could make such a nice outfit? And "Next Top Model." I'm placing my bets on Eva and Amanda emerging as the final two. Still not quite getting why Ann is still there though...

Tickled...

...ivories. Well, last night I made my "L.A. stage debut" (of sorts) playing piano for "Christmas Evie" at the Comedy Central Stage in Hollywood. It went quite well. It was quite a lot of fun. Hanging around backstage in anticipation of show's start brought back many a memory of getting ready for my various performances in high school and college. I was a bit nervous before it all considering that it had been years since I'd done any sort of onstage performance of this scale. Those nerves went away as I hit the stage. It was a very cool expereice to perform again. On top of all that, the cast and crew were so nice. Got to meet a number of people whom I'd seen before on movies and TV including Coco Peru and Tom Lenk. And if that wasn't enough, a good number of my friends turned up to see Ted and me in the show. Just a great evening overall...and it's looks there will be more piano performances to come, something I've been eager to get back to doing again in a LONG while!

yay and YAY!

Tuesday night provided much fun...Before we delved into the offerings from the TV gods, I tickled the plastic ivories to prep for this stage show in which I'm playing this evening at the Comedy Central Stage in Hollwyood. I'll be playing piano for "Christmas Evie," a Christmas stage show featuring Evie Harris from "Girls Will Be Girls." Evie is a character played by Jack Plotnick whom some of you may know from "Buffy," "Ellen," and "The Jenny McCarthy Show." It's going to be a funny show. It's been so much fun getting ready for it!

Since I had the keyboard set up in the living room, as some of the early birds waited for the rest of the gang to come over, we played a little "Name That Tune." Actually, to be exact, it became a game of "Stump the Elton fan" between me and Tim. Nothing like a selection from "Reg Strikes Back" to throw off an Elton fan. :-)

Once we all arrived, the viewing began...

yay to John Johnson winning "Manhunt" last night. I would have much preferred to see Rob take home the title of the America's most gorgeous male model, but John served the title as well. Anyhoo...last night marked the end of a staple of recent Tuesday TV nights. Thank you, "Manhunt." It may have not been brain surgery, but it was a lot of fun. Goodbye Tate and your bizarro Scott Baio-ish looks...Goodbye Kevin O. with your eerie Zoolander-meets-John Kerry face...and Goodbye Hunter with your Ashton Kutcher-meets-Chippendales moves...and Goodbye top ten models with your dumbfounded, confused looks when Kevin Peake revealed he was the "embedded model." Goodbye "Manhunt"...oh, how we'll miss you!

YAY to "Amazing Race!" The IKEA Detour was AWESOME. Oh why, oh why, oh why, would one want to even venture counting all those items especially knowing the sheer volume of items to count and the fact that there would be a bunch of other teams around you counting out loud as well! And what an ending...oh what an ending...

DO NOT READ ON IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE EPISODE YET

S
P
O
I
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Oh how the dread of seeing Lori and Bolo or Don and Mary Jean get eliminated was setting in towards the end, but what? Lena and Kristy struggled for EIGHT hours to find the clue in the hay bales?!? Oh, how I love this show and how anything can happen. And how I want to visit the Ice Bar in Norway. And how I'm loving how well Kris & Jon and Hayden & Aaron are doing. And is it just me or are Jonathan & Victoria making Colin & Christie look like saints?

And finally, where are you Fast Forward??