Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Nickie Kidman's Moonlighting Role

I know I shouldn't trash Nichole Kidman. Someone told her this hideous get up looked good. You can bet it wasn't Keith Urban who swooped inside TootSuite. But really, don't you have a mirror.




I was going to trash Namoi Watts as well, for this hideous eyesore in off-yellow. But then I found out she is hiding a pregnancy - so she gets a pass (for now).

But the more I saw of Nichole, the more I wondered, where oh where I have seen this look before. Oh yes, Mars Attacks. Ack Ack. It is the plastic smile and oddly incorrect dress that sparks the similarity, not a real "separated at birth" thang.


Tuesday, February 27, 2007

My Love for Keith Olberman Contiues to Grow

( I know it is too many posts for today - but this is the kicker for me!)

Keith Olberman goes off on Condi Rice. Mainly for the incorrect comparrisions she makes, but then he gets to the meat of his beef.

If you want to compare what we did to Hitler and in Germany to what we did to Saddam and in Iraq, I'm afraid you're going to have to buy the whole analogy. We were an occupying force in Germany, Dr. Rice, and by your logic, we're now an occupying force in Iraq. And if that's the way you see it, you damn well better come out and tell the American people so. Save your breath telling it to the Iraqis — most of them already buy that part of the comparison.

“It would be like saying that after Adolf Hitler was overthrown, we needed to change then, the resolution that allowed the United States to do that, so that we could deal with creating a stable environment in Europe after he was overthrown."

We already have a subjectively false comparison between Hitler and Saddam. We already have a historically false comparison between Germany and Iraq. We already have blissful ignorance by our secretary of state about how this country got into the war against Hitler. But then there's this part about changing "the resolution" about Iraq; that it would be as ridiculous in the secretary's eyes as saying that after Hitler was defeated, we needed to go back to Congress to "deal with creating a stable environment in Europe after he was overthrown."

Oh, good grief, Secretary Rice, that's exactly what we did do! We went back to Congress to deal with creating a stable environment in Europe after Hitler was overthrown! It was called the Marshall Plan.

Marshall!

Gen. George Catlett Marshall!

Secretary of state!

The job you have now!

C’mon!

Twelve billion, 400 thousand dollars to stabilize all of Europe economically — to keep the next enemies of freedom, the Russians, out and democracy in! And how do you suppose that happened? The president of the United States went back to Congress and asked it for a new authorization and for the money. And do you have any idea, Madame Secretary, who opposed him when he did that? The Republicans!

"We've spent enough money in Europe," said Sen. Robert Taft of Ohio.

"We've spent enough of our resources," said former President Hoover.

It's time to pull out of there! As they stand up, we'll stand down!

This administration has long thought otherwise, but you can't cherry-pick life — whether life in 2007, or life in the history page marked 1945. You can't keep the facts that fit your prejudices and throw out the ones that destroy your theories. And if you're going to try to do that; if you still want to fool some people into thinking that Saddam was Hitler, and once we gave FDR that blank check in Germany he was no longer subject to the laws of Congress or gravity or physics, at least stop humiliating us.

Get your facts straight. Use the Google!

London with Mom and Nick

Well, as you know I took my Mom and Nick to London for a week. Here are the pictures (if you want to see them).

I haven't really talked about it here on Nincompoopery. It was a great trip. It was interesting to spend a week with my Mom. I haven't spent a week with her in ... oh about 39 years.
First, let me get the basics out of the way. Eddie and I had a great time. I think she and Nick had a great time. My friends in London thought it was a kick to meet her and Nick and they laughed a lot!

Two things pop out about the trip.

1. I was surprised (shocked) to see how much like my mom I am. I mean, I haven't lived with her since I was 8. It was funny to see how many things we have in common. Not just learned things but mannerisms, things we laugh at, things we are surprised at, tiny bladders - you important stuff. It was cool and funny and weird and surprising all at the same time. (I thought I was one of a kind!).

2. I don't think Nick or Mom were prepared for how much fun they had. They loved England, and were surprised by how pretty it was. We are all ready for the grey of the movies, but outside London proper, England is a really really green country. Nick took millions of pictures, and had a great time. And they both loved the Eurostar to Paris for the night.

I am including a couple of pictures and you can't help but see their smiles.



Nick and My Mom at "the Rocks" (Stonehenge)


Nick and Mom arrive in Paris via Eurostar

Conservapedi: Really?

Apparently conservatives have decided that Wikipedi is too biased against Christians. (Really.)So they have started Conservapedi. Which will tell the truth about abortions, faith and evolution.

Here is what they say about Feb 2nd.


February 2
Did you know that
faith is a uniquely Christian concept? Add to the explanation of what it means, and how it does not exist on other religions.


Two of the arguments that Wikipedia is liberally biased?

1. Wikipedia allows the use of B.C.E. instead of B.C. and C.E. instead of A.D. The dates are based on the birth of Jesus, so why pretend otherwise? Conservapedia is Christian-friendly and exposes the CE deception. (Scott's note: CE is used as Common Era - I don't think it is really meant anti-Christian. I think it is a little stupid, but not anti-Christian).

2. Wikipedia often uses foreign spelling of words, even though most English speaking users are American. Look up "Most Favored Nation" on Wikipedia and it automatically converts the spelling to the British spelling "Most Favoured Nation", even there there are far more American than British users. (Come on.. this is just a stupid argument. Wikipedia is a globally updated and shared resource. And, to be honest, most English speakers use English spelling (that country of India adds a lot of English Speakers). It isn't Anti-American to spell labor with an extra u in it.)

Well, like anything on the net, if there is a steadfastly and proudly conservative site, that calls anyone who disagrees with them anti-American (which Conservapedi does), then people will screw with you. And, Conservapedi is screwed with.

Witness the inclusion of the "Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus " as an entry.


Apparently, according to Conservapedi it is "Their habitat lies on the eastern side of the Olympic mountain range, adjacent to Hood Canal. These solitary cephalopods reach an average size (measured from arm-tip to mantle-tip,) of 30-33 cm. Unlike most other cephalopods, tree octopuses are Amphibian, spending only their earliest life stages and mating seasons in their aquatic environment. Because of the moistness of the rainforests and their well designed skin adaptations, they are able to keep from becoming dried out for prolonged periods of time."


Sunday, February 25, 2007

Apparently 19 inches of snow is not so pretty either

Well, I guess no matter how pretty it is outside, 19 inches of snow overnight is a pain in the arse. This was the view from Ed's brother's house (AFTER shoveling).

The New York Times has..

The New York Times, arguably a terrific paper, has one of the lousiest sports sections in the world. It is slim, boring and (most notably) hideously parochial.

UCLA, which played basketball at 6PM New York time, was not in the paper. Not as in "no article", but as in "no result available". The game ended at 8 PM!!!

And yes, I have the late edition (they have the results of the UConn Women's Team). What is on the front page of the Sports Section ; Well, top story -

"Interpreters Are More Visible as Baseball is More International."

Other stories:
"As March Looms, Winthrop Cannot Rest Easy"
"Pitcher Has Big Stats and Big Stature, And Little Chance of Making Yankees."
" Father Goes to Aid His Son and Duke"

Saturday, February 24, 2007

So much of our mood..


This is a beautiful home, but I am surprised by one of the side effects. We are much more effected by how the outside looks than we would be in a less "windowy" house. Take a look this morning out the window. Beautiful looking day. It is really cold, but it doesn't effect your mood when it looks pretty.
On the other hand, it was cruddy and over-cast last week. Even if it was warmer, it looked yuckier and felt yuckier.
We were the same way in LA (with big windows), but it was almost always sunny in LA. But during the June-Gloom (overcast in May or June) it effected our mood as well.

Friday, February 23, 2007

Did 'cha know...Eve Arden was on Broadway (a long time ago)

You see, I love Eve Arden. I always have. Not the horrible Grease and Grease II Eve Arden...



No, I love the wise-cracking, funny Eve Arden. I think about this because she was only nominated once for an Academy Award (for Mildred Pierce).



In Mildred Pierce (above with Joan Crawford - who won, and Ann Blythe - who later sold Hostess Twinkies) she played Ida Corwin. She had two great set of lines in one scene.

First:
Joan to Eve: "You've never been married, have you Ida?"
Ida: "No, when men get around me they think big-sister type. You know, 'Good Old Ida, you can talk it over man to man with her.' I'm getting awful tired of men talking to me man to man, I think I'll have drink too."

Second:
To Mildred (Joan C) about her daughter Veda (Ann B):
"Veda has convinced me that alligators have the right idea, they eat their young."

She was great in the movie and should have won. I meet her during a book signing and told her so, and she was touched by my comment. She was a gracious funny woman. I liked her.

Well, in bumbling around the Internet, I found that she was on Broadway with Bob Hope in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1936. He sang to her on stage. The picture below was autographed to Bob from Eve. No big deal, I thought it was cool.



Thursday, February 22, 2007

Gratuitous Speedo Shot

Stanford Water Polo Team in Speedos. Have I no shame?


The answer is no I don't and here is a link to a larger size version. Go Stanford Robber Barrons (their offical voted on mascot).

Wednesday, February 21, 2007

I knew it reminded me of something.

So Ed's mom sent some old pictures of Eddie in his youth. Ed's mom (a generally wonderful woman) did show a slight predilection towards dressing him up. Kind of like Malibu Ken.




The picture above really got me. It triggered something. It was familiar.... It reminded me of something, but what?

Well, it took a while, but I figured it out. Ed's company ruined the movie, and yet look - he could have been an extra. Thunderbirds Are Go!!!



Well, that was depressing


So, here is the poop-ski. Since about August I have been working at an office on Park for a guy on a Strategy team. I have been doing my normal job, plus helping him out.

Yesterday he was in the office (after my vacation) and told me he was transferred to London. It turns out he is in charge of integration with Egg (we bought Egg Bank in London). That sucks. I may have to wear a tie everyday, but it has been nice to have a friend.
He is from LA (even though an SC fan) and it has been nice to have someone to talk to. In fact, since I don't work for him directly - he has been a really nice sounding board and someone to talk to without worrying about office politics. He is really high in the company, but we have become kind of friends.
So, now he is gone. I went and closed out the few things I have in my office. A phone charger, the PC power cord, a picture of Ed and Hastings. It is a bit of a sad day.

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

So how are we going to debase marriage again?

Tom Brady and Bridget Moynahan are having a kid - no marriage thank you. Because raising kids in a healthy committed gay relationship is evil, but being a drunk, knocked up c-list actress/part time mom is.. you guessed it... perfect for the kiddies.
Britney Spears is in the middle of ending her second marriage and is celebrating by shaving her hair (on her head this time) and getting tattooed and drunk without the kids.

And you know what any of the people above could have 4 shots of Tequila and get married tomorrow in Vegas.

Maybe Groucho Marx was right and I don't want to be a member off the club that would have me.

Sunday, February 18, 2007

Back at home

Well, we got back today (Sunday). I am really glad Monday is a holiday to get relaxed. It was a great trip and I will give more info later. And a huge thank you to John and Sue for grabbing my Mom and Nick for dinner in Minneapolis. They change in plans by the airline meant a huge layover in MN - and they saved them from hours and hours in the airport.

Eddie and I are happy to be home and Trevor is happy to have us. He is crashed now. He played, walked and is a sleepy content pupster.

Yeah.

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Tuesday Night

So, it is Tuesday night. We spent yesterday up in London, a fine town - and then visited Lisa's new flat. The new flat is twisting and turning, up in Clapton Junction. It is so very Lisa (and me too I guess). There isn't a 90 degree conor in the place. It is all just off-center enough to be really comfortable.

Tomorrow we are off to Paris for the night (maybe dinner in the Effiel Tower). It will be great fun.


Today we went to Brookland. It was the first banked track in England. Nick loves racing (particularly NASCAR, but anythign that goes fast). Parts of the track are still there as are a number of racing cars that set speed records, as well as early early Formula 1 cars and some very recent formula 1 cars.

They also built places on the grounds later (for the war) and we saw some old bombers, a Harrier and the Concord. It was a good day.

Sunday, February 11, 2007

Lovely Day at Windsor

Well, it was a lovely day in Wngland today and we went to Windsor. It was quite cool because 1) It wasn't raining and 2) the queenie was in residence. I don't know if I have ever been there with her hiny the Queen, but it was fun.

Mom and Nick quite liked parts of it, I think. Tomorrow it is up to London.

Thursday, February 08, 2007

Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid

What do you get when you combine the bombastic shook of Les Miz and the scary footwork of Riverdance?

The Pirate Queen, stomping into Great White Way.....



And I quote:

THE PIRATE QUEEN is a spectacular musical adventure celebrating the legendary Irish Chieftain Grace O’Malley. Based on her real-life story, THE PIRATE QUEEN tells of a compelling, inspirational woman; a heroine who led an extraordinary life as a pirate, chieftain, lover and mother in 16th Century Ireland. Commissioned and produced by Moya Doherty and John McColgan, the producers of Riverdance, this new musical combines classic storytelling and a sweeping score, with the powerful, vibrant traditions of Irish dance and song, to create a modern musical event that is both an historic romance and a timeless epic.

Change in Mascot as I go...

Well, Eddie was not enamoured with Bucky Katt as Mascot, and so we move to the ever popular Tommay Haas. I know I don't normally change simply due to pressure from without, but it is Eddie, and I have to pretend to listen to him.




Tommy is a spunky little German player. He is a great guy. He has won in LA a couple of times (beating the likes of Rafel Nadal and Andre Agassi). His favorite tournament is the Australia Open because he likes the city and weather. Here he is enjoying the weather.




He has a cool web site, and he seems like a nice guy.



I am impressed often by tennis players. It seems like a game anyone can play, but to see them do it and then walk outand try to hit he little ball is tough. I spend much of my time running around the fences picking up the balls I missed.

Wednesday, February 07, 2007

I think I have to turn in my gay card

I hate to have to turn in my gay card, but can I just say - Fashion Week is a bore. I know we are suppose to be enthralled by it, but really... It's silly. There I said it.

I meanlook at this. She can't hail a cab on a one-way street. She looks she hasn't slept in days and that Frau Bulcher did her bun too tight. And who straps her back in after a trip to the toilet. Maybe that is why women have to go in pairs.

Why it is no fun to bitch about the weather

We all know how much Scooter enjoys a good complaint (whine, what-ever you want to call it). But I have been (for me) fairly reticent about la weather. You at home may be asking yourself why? Why, since it has been in the 80's in LA is he so quiet about the teens in New York.

I will tell you. Two reasons.

One. Superstition. I am afraid if I bitch, it will just get worst. Complaining about it being 11 with a wind chill of -2 will only bring temps of 9 and a wind chill of -7 the next day. Never say it can't get worse, because it will.

Two. Ed's family lives in so much worse weather. Really. This is the forecast from the Minneapolis Star Something.



It just seems extra whiny to bitch about + temperatures when they are hovering in the minuses all the time.

Monday, February 05, 2007

Yes! Yes! I am freezing - happy now?!?

How do people live like this!

One hestiates to judge...




One hesitates to judge the appearance of others. Particularly when one's own style, such as myself, gravitates towards shorts and Hawaiian shirts. (I think I was the model for the Charlie Sheen character's wardrobe in 2 1/2 men).


And yet, at times one must render an opinion. In the picture at the left, you see Lisa Cabrera. She of Fox News Channel 5. She looks, in this picture, reasonably good.


This is false picture. You see Lisa is the motivator, and prime example of news-think gone awry. Lisa is now BLOND, with big long dark roots. Kind of like Heather Locklear during the "bad corporate executive" years in Melrose Place.

Now, it would be bad enough if Lisa had kept this terrible cross of dark roots and the "Racheal Cut" (circa 1994) to herself. But, like Bird flu, it has spread throughout the Channel 5 news rooms. Red hair, blond hair, all with dark roots and cut in that too cutsey face framing way (which requires ton's of hairspray to keep back, and still with about 10 minutes to go on the newscast, has fallen in front of the face, prompting the casual hand wipe or head flip).
This cut, oh so 8 years ago, is even more disastrous in the field. As the reports cover "fashion week" in the wind, the hair, roots and all, rush to the front of their face. And if you trash the girls of fashion week, you deserve to be judged yourself. Judge not, least you be judged, sayeth Tyra Banks.
There, I have said it. I feel better.
Gayer, but better none the less.
Speaking of gayer, when I was young I had to watch swimming and diving for the taboo thrill of the accidental speedo outline. Now track and field is the place to be. This is Romain Barras, a french decathlete. What has happened to the clandestine thrill?



Sunday, February 04, 2007

Okay - I was wrong about Prince

There, I said it. I thought Prince would Capital S, Suck. But he was really good. It was actually a really fun half time. Go figure.

Feb 07 Mascot: Bucky Katt



Bucky Katt is a mean, nasty cat who torments poor Scatchel the dog. For some reason I love him. It is probably because he is so delusional.





But he isn't just mean. That would get old. No, Bucky is blissfully unaware of the pitfalls of his antics. Once he committs to a patch, he follows it, no matter how asnine the results. Last week he was busy pulling desk filler into a utility belt.





So, you go Bucky Katt. Fly free.




Burr...

So this week-end Eddie is Iowa at his Grandma's 90th birthday. I am in New York with the Pupster. Just so you know, it is way cold in both places.

I would love to get out of the house, but it is butt freezing cold. I get all bundled up to walk Trevor and both of us can barely wait to get back into the house. We are both a little house cooped up. And a little bored.

But it is all sunny outside so it throws you off. It should be nice. But then I see the ice on the roof tops. No snow, but any water is all frozen. It's not pretty anymore.

Thursday, February 01, 2007

Be afraid, be very afraid

Remember how - just yesterday - the Iranians were causing us problems in Iraq. And remember how the government was going to give us the details today.

From the LA Times:

WASHINGTON — The Bush administration has postponed plans to offer public details of its charges of Iranian meddling inside Iraq amid internal divisions over the strength of the evidence, U.S. officials said.

U.S. officials promised last week to provide evidence of Iranian activities that led President Bush to announce Jan. 10 that U.S. forces would begin taking the offensive against Iranian agents who threatened Americans.


Thank goodenss we never go to war on faulty intelligence.

A funny liberal says good-bye


Molly Ivins passed away yesterday. She lost her fight against breast cancer (a diesese I am beginning to take very personally). She was one of the good ones. A funny liberal who made a point without seeming bitter.

From MSNBC: “The trouble with blaming powerless people is that although it’s not nearly as scary as blaming the powerful, it does miss the point,” she wrote in a 1997 column. “Poor people do not shut down factories ... Poor people didn’t decide to use ’contract employees’ because they cost less and don’t get any benefits."

From Salon: If Bush does make it to the White House, he and Laura should have Ken Starr over for dinner. If Starr hadn't so abused the power of his office, Congress might have reauthorized the independent-counsel statute, leaving the door open for a court-appointed prosecutor to investigate a president's son who flipped his oil companies faster than a Texas S&L can daisy-chain a Dallas condo; as a corporate board insider, unloaded his company stock shortly before its price plummeted; and walked away from the whole mess with more money than Bill Clinton ever dreamed of making on a little real estate deal now known as Whitewater.

Her picture may not be what you remember. Here she is as most would rememer her.


In her last few columns she railed against the war. Maybe that is her liberalism finally getting the best of her. Or maybe it was the cry of a woman with little time left fighting for the lives of people with their whole life ahead of them.

In any case, she will be missed.