Behind the whiil

I gots Mario Kart Wii this morning!


Picked it up this morning at Toys R Us along with three extra Wii Wheels. And despite all that's been said about the wheel by some critics, I don't mind it at all. Every now and then, my instinct is to hit buttons on the Wii Remote to steer myself, but I've gotten used to the new mechanism.

The game is pretty much the same with some new wrinkles...Bullet Bill, yay! Squid ink, boo! My friend Adam joined me in the Mario Kart purchasing this morning and we gave it an initial test drive. The best part is the online mode. I haven't done much online gaming as some of the hardcore gamers, but there's something inherently cool about the fact that you can throw Koopa shells at somebody in Sweden or Germany!

Giving the game a major test drive later tonight...more pics and maybe some video to come!

I Honestly Love These...

Ok...so the past few weeks have had yielded some new reality favorites for me...

First, there's VH1's "I Know My Kid's a Star." Stage moms + kids of varying degrees of talent (or lack thereof) + Danny Bondauce = gold. My favorite mom on the show, Rocky, may be gone, but Gigi and Alai are filling that void quite well. How about a new version of "Gypsy" starring Rocky and her daughter? Riiight?

Then, there's "Viva Hollywood," which searches for the next great telenovela star. Between the "muerte" card ceremony, Maria Conchita Alonso drinking it up at the elimination ceremony, the "death scene" eliminations, and the promised cameo of Charo, the show is a lock for a season pass on the DVR. And how dare the cast put up Geovannie for elimination. BASTA!

However...neither of these brings me the joy that MTV's "Rock the Cradle" has. What is it about this show that's got me hooked? Is it the cute host, Ryan Devlin? Kinda, but not really...Is it the classic battle between glam metal and yacht rock progeny Jesse Blaze Sinder and Crosby Loggins? Maybe...I favor Crosby myself...But, it's really all about Olivia Newton John's daughter, Chloe Lattanzi...Behold...

• MTV
• Music Videos
• MTV Shows
• Entertainment News

Oh, Peter Allen, had you only lived to hear this...

Chick-Fil-Lame

Grabbed some breakfast from McDonald's on the way to work Friday and encountered this:


It looks like Ronald McDonald's is trying to get up in Chick-Fil-A's business. Hmm...I dunno...It might be time to break out a taste test video blog soon!

Webpage weirdness...

Blogger's been wonky the past few days with my FTP settings. I was finally able to upload the blog that I intended to post Tuesday. More updates soon!

When Florida Meets L.A. 2008 (Day 3)

For Day 3 of the 2008 version of "When Florida Meets L.A.," I took the day off from work and took Albie and Joe to Disneyland and California Adventure.


Since it was a weekday and spring break is pretty much over, the crowds were pretty light with wait times hovering around the 10 to 15 minute range all day.

It only took us a 1/2 hour to get into the Nemo ride! There were a few things I learned while I was at Disneyland and California Adventure today.

Even though I took the day off work, I really can't escape reality...


Live zoetropes are really cool and I want one in my living room..


And now matter how many times I've been on it, I'll just never get a score in the six-figure range on the Buzz Lightyear attraction. Boo!

And Indiana Jones broke down while we were waiting in line for it. Double-boo!

Nevertheless, it was a very fun day for all of us. I added several more pics from today in the updated "When Florida Meets L.A. 2008" album.

Lastly...for some sick reason, we've all be obsessed about this set of sketches we saw on SNL this past weekend...


SCARY CHOCOLATE!!! AHHHH!

Tomorrow...shopping, a home-cooked meal, and karaoke, OH MY!

When Florida Meets L.A. 2008 (Days 1 and 2)

This has been a very busy and wonderful weekend for me as it has marked the visit of one of my best friends Albie. He and I have known each other since 1st grade and the last time he was in L.A. was five years ago!

He's traveled along with his great new bf Joe and Saturday night we did the West Hollywood thing first hitting up The Abbey...


A few friends of other met up with us there and it was fun until this white-jacketed hot mess popped up...


Doing some weird combination of vogueing, snapping, and sassing...It was a little confusing, amusing, and frightening all at once and it was also a sign that we needed to move to another venue...Fiesta Cantina...


...where I was very excited that the TVs were turned on to Fox Reality Channel.

Day 2...and the skies were really blue...


...we headed out to the beach...


...capped it off with dinner at my place and some "Desperate Housewives"-ing with the gang introducing Albie and Joe to my lovable dysfunctional L.A. family...

More pics from the fun weekend are here and will be updated throughout the week as Albie and Joe continue their stay here...

Tomorrow...Disneyland and California Adventure!

DuckTales...EW! EW!

So, I was a bit sidelined this week from a bad incident with some duck...

Tuesday night, I had dinner with my friend Edward who was moving to Florida the next day. We went to dinner at the Melrose Bar & Grill.

It's a cool small restaurant just near The Abbey in West Hollywood. It's got a neat vibe to it and the menu seemed decent without being crazy overpriced.

Now, had this dinner been months ago, I would have pounced on one of the steak dishes, but ever since the beef brouhaha last February, I've cut all beef out of my diet temporarily.

I honed in on something I had never tried before...a duck burger. I mean, I've had some duck in other forms, but never as a burger. I thought to myself, oh this could be good...and possibly healthier too than a regular burger.

I order the duck burger and asked them to leave off the gouda cheese. I figure, keep it simple as it's a new territory in burgerdom that I have never entered before.

The server brings us our dishes and there's my duck burger with cheese on it. BOO. I have it taken back. The duck burger returns to my table as I ordered it. No cheese. It's this thick burger-like patty sandwiched in this very nice roll with a leaf of lettuce and a dollop of cherry ketchup.

I take a bite out of it. Not bad...Not too spicy and the ketchup has a nice tartness to it. I get about 1/2 way through the burger, I feel a fit full. I call it off with the burger and just pick away at the fries for the rest of the meal.

I head over to Fubar to do some karaoke-ing. I grab a drink...fumble my way singing through "Bat Out of Hell" and I start feeling more tired than usual. This tiredness is accompanied by a hint of nausea which is a bigger hint that I need to head home...QUICKLY.

I rush home and hop into my bed hoping to sleep it off. Not so...within minutes, I get that throw-upy taste in my mouth, start sweating, and breathing heavily and I say to myself, "screw it...," rush to the toilet and let the floodgates flow from my mouth.

This wonderful process of vomiting and hopping in and out of my bed proceeded on a regular basis from 1 AM 'til about 6 AM. Needless to say, I didn't head to work the next day. Ugh...I recovered by Thursday morning and nursed myself with a steady diet of saltines and Gatorade. Woo...electrolytes!

And DAMN YOU, DUCKBURGER!!!!!