Busy day again, so not much, except this...

Once a nerd, always a nerd. ...a senior research scientist at the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research, asked 900 high school sophomores which of the five character types in the popular 1985 coming-of-age movie "The Breakfast Club" they most resembled: Jocks, Princesses, Basket Cases, Brains or Criminals.

Which one were you?

Check out the cast of The Real Cancun. I like checking out their favorite books, which include: "National Lampoon’s Truly Tasteless and Sick Cartoons", "I don't really read", "The Bible", "Charlotte’s Web", and "Anything with Calvin and Hobbes".

Free ice cream cone at Ben & Jerry's -- today only. I recommend the Chunky Monkey...

This is truly shocking. Moviegoers resoundingly reject reality of 'Cancun'. Honestly, I was secret afraid that people WOULD flock to it. (Note to self: put "The Real Cancun" on my Netflix list)

Hmmm. Pilots flying drunk doesn't surprise me anymore. But THIS? Pilots flying...

Let me call you slappy...

Where's that Simon guy from American Idol? View the new Apple ads for their newly launched iTunes music store, featuring Big Butts. This guy reminds me of Ben Affleck serenading his new bride. He used to have a little, now he's gotta-lot...

Error 404 -- File Not Found... er, NO, wait...

Who wants to be a Mullah? New Fox Reality Show to Determine Ruler of Iraq. U.S. General Jay Garner (Ret.) will host the show under the auspices of the Pentagon. The three celebrity judges, Darnell said, will be choreographer and former Chrysalis recording artist Toni Basil, internationally renowned hairstylist Vidal Sassoon, and television star Kevin Sorbo.

The 12 dumbest covers of American comic books. Hmmm. This looks like a fun new hobby...

Oh no... The next Enron? Audit finds problems in State Fair accounting.

Egads! What's YOUR fairy name? (I'm Marquin DustChin of the Sleepy Mountains). And, equally gay is this: What's your Smurf name? I'm Cujo Smurf. Grrr.

Interesting. Some people the grave of Jesus' brother -- Jimmy -- have been found. Mom?!!! Jesus took my sandals again!!!... JESUS CHRIST, would you stop bothering your brother?

Holy pigmentation, Batman! Albino robins sighted in Winona. (Must be a slow news day)...

Still looking for a gift for someone you don't like? Try this or this.

Interesting offer from Best Buy -- Get the Matrix DVD for $11.99, plus free shipping, plus a free ticket to The Matrix Reloaded, once it's released. If you're a Matrix fan or a Keanu Reeves fan, this is probably a good deal.

I'm still having a hard time with the new reality "movie" The Real Cancun. I mean, just watch MTV's Spring Break marathon's... Who really would pay $8 to see this stuff? Oh, wait... Nevermind.

The Mall of America is turning the Underwater World exhibit into Bikini Bottom. No, that's not a strip club. That's the home of Spongebob Squarepants. If you don't know who his is, you're probably not gay or under 10 years old.

David Byrne is making an appearance on The Simpsons. I hope he wears the big suit.

Well, I think I've FINALLY got all of my blogger issues resolved (I switched to a paid service, and of course that ended up breaking everything -- go figure)... Anyway, too busy this morning to post, but I'll be back later this afternoon...

Phoolish. Phoons.

Cartoons written on the back of business cards.

A male firefly's fluorescent flash is his way of attracting a mate. And it's sure cheaper than a Porsche.

Uh oh... DNA testing starts hitting State Fairs...

I probably posted this before, but it still makes me laugh. Read the Amazon reviews for The Best of David Hasselhoff.

And a couple more Amazon.com lists. Music so bad its...no its still bad and Gifts to buy for people you don't really like.

Oh, just to end on a truly hideous note -- a ventriloquist wedding. The wedding might not be so bad, but can you imagine the honeymoon?

Just a few pictures from my Easter -- big dinner out at Mom's. These pictures capture the essence of my adorable niece, my ferocious nephew, and my rather exhausted brother.

Of course, I'll give him some slack. They just bought a new house and... well, let's just say there are a new set of nephews on the way...

That's right. Twins. Due around Aug. 1st.

Time to upgrade my camera to a bigger media card, I think...

Here's one of the reasons why I dislike this "slash and burn" budget cuts that the Pawlenty administration is pushing: case in point, the Minnesota Film Board. As this story in City Pages notes, that in the end, the board estimates spending some $2 million to draw more than $57 million into the state's economy. In other words, just by "not funding" this organization, you will not get big movie projects coming to town to spend money in the local economy -- on movie crews, hotels, rentals, restaurants, taxi's, etc. It's just stupid. This thing makes money for the state and they're gutting it. Dummies!

And yet more insidious movies coming out. This time... a remake of The A-Team. I pity the fool who pays to see this.

Wausau. W... A... U... S... A... U... An insurance company. Also, a place where they attack the easter bunny.

Interesting interview with Mo Rocca. If you don't know who he is, you probably don't watch The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

It goes to 11

Last night I went to see the opening of A Mighty Wind at the Uptown.

It was supposed to be a big night out movie-watchin' with my writing group, but some of them opted to go watch hockey instead (*cough*losers*cough)*. Anyway, at least a couple of us diehards made it. A Mighty Wind is the continuation of mockumentary/ensemble character improvisations first started by Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, and Harry Shearer. This film re-unites the cast of Spinal Tap with Guest's more recent forays into this genre -- Waiting for Guffman and Best in Show. While it was good, and I laughed, I don't think it holds up quite as well as the previous films. Still, it beats this. It really makes you appreciate the fine line between being... clever... and stupid...

And, speaking of which, this story reminds me of one of my favorite Spinal Tap tunes -- Sex Farm Woman.

One of the best ads I've ever seen. Isn't it nice when things just work?

This sounds more like a Wile E. Coyote bit. (don't worry, no animals were harmed)...

Kids, how many times do we have to go over this? Don't drink and drive. ESPECIALLY if you're Amish and racing horse-drawn buggies.

I can't believe it was almost 90 degrees yesterday... Whew! Still, sitting outside and having lunch at my favorite restaurant, and then having a margarita after work on First Ave... S'wonderful. My favorite exchange at happy our was with the bartender.

Me: So, what's the happy hour special?
Zeke: Everything's half off...
Me: Everything?
Zeke: Everything.
Me: Even bottled beers?
Zeke: Even bottled beers.
Me: Excellent! I'll have a Corona...
(Zeke's face goes blank and he pauses...)
Zeke: Errr... everything except Corona...
Me: Doh!!!

Then some lame excuse about the beer guy not showing up. Pffft! Anyway, the margarita was tasty.

I'm sure people in California never get that giddy sense of joy of jumping around like a 4-year-old. "It's almost 80 out!... It's 83 degrees! It's... It's... 86 degrees now. 87!!! 87!!! Can you believe it?... Ahahhahhhhaaaaa..."

Scientists reveal that every workday should include a nap. And that's why meetings were invented...

Mahnamahna.

What do you get when you take roughly 20 Software Engineers, 225 meters of blue duct tape, 240 beer coasters, 4 America Online CDs and far too much free time?

Try this English lesson.

Or play a game of battle chips.

Monday feel good story. Remember Cheetah from the old Tarzan movies? Well, he's still alive and doing fine in Palm Springs... Rumor has it that he's gunning for the office of NRA President, unseating the somewhat less coherent Chuck Heston. Get your paws off me you damned dirty ape! And that's coming from Cheetah...

Design your own O'Reilly book cover! Like this one.

This weekend I cleaned my grill (which was pretty gross). But, afterwards, I took it for a test drive with some marinated chicken and dill potatoes. Mmmm. Nothing like grilling outdoors. The best part was walking out of the house every few minutes to turn and flip the chicken, and feeling a little breeze... And it was a warm, summer wind. Even though the lanscape was mostly brown, my lilacs are starting to bud, and the grass is just starting to appear greenish... Finally, I think spring is here...

Read Kim Jung Il's Livejournal -- especially the chats with Bush.

Or, read the poetry of Donald Rumsfeld.

...of all the gin joints in all the cities in all the world, she had to walk into mine... but don't be fooled by the rocks that she's got... she used to have a little, now's she's got alot... Cause she's still Ginny from the block... Ben Affleck and J. Lo are remaking Casablanca. Sigh... Sam? Don't play it again. Ever.

I'd much rather watch this reality show -- Kato Kaelin's Houseguest. The premise of Kato's show? "Basically, I'm dropped off somewhere in America," the 44-year-old explains. "I knock on doors and I have my luggage with me, and I ask people if I can live with them. Some people slammed the door, some people said yes."

Looking at a thing in a bag... with HomeStarRunner... (also, check out his 404 error page...)

Last night I saw one of the most disturbing documentary shorts on HBO, called "DELUSIONS IN MODERN PRIMITIVISM", where a Dallas youth who has grown bored with his vast collection of tattoos decides to go for the ultimate expression of body art: a gunshot wound! It took me a little while to realize that it was actually a mockumentary. I'm pretty gullible sometimes...

Making up for lost time... Just a collection of old links today.

The Village Voice's list of the 100 Best Films of the 20th Century.

"The unfolding of all phenomenon is a manifestation of the miraculous activity of the divine."-Steven Seagal. What this means, I have no idea, but the web site is pretty cool, in a "huh?" kind of way...

Make some sand art. Or squiggles...

Or just play some Trivial Pursuit...

Today looks like it's going to be pretty spectacular, sooo... enough of this stuff. I'm going to pick up the house and go do something fun. (I took the day off).

Testing testing...

Yay! My blogger thingie is back up and running... Whew! More new stuff starting tomorrow...

NOTE: I'M EXPERIENCING TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES WITH MY BLOGGING SOFTWARE. I HOPE TO HAVE THIS CORRECTED SHORTLY, BUT POSTS MAY BE DISAPPEARING OR CHANGING OVER THE NEXT SEVERAL DAYS...

This stinks. My web site blogging software is still down, so I'm doing this manually. I shouldn't complain too much since I've been using the free version of Blogger for a couple of years. After this little fiasco, I decided to pony up and get the "pro" version -- but, now I'm still waiting to have this fixed. Oh well... Hopefully I'll be back in business soon...

Speaking of dull blogs... This one has me beat, if only barely.

Landmark Theatres, my favorite movie chain, is upgrading all their theaters to Digital.

U.N. to Set Standards on Use of the Term "Elite".

Hang in there... I'll be back with full progamming shortly (hopefully)...

I'm back. Remote updating wasn't terribly feasible on this trip. Oh well...

One of the "buzzy" things at the VON (voice on the net) show was a company called Vonage. You can basically get rid of your local phone service (and long distance) and run all of your phone needs over an existing broadband connection. It offers more (unlimited long distance, voice mail, call forwarding, etc.) and it's cheaper than my local basic phone line from Qwest. I might give it a try.

Dave Eggers has launched a new magazine called The Believer. Looks pretty good. The debut issue has a conversation between Salman Rushdie and Terry Gilliam. I might have to check this out...

Some really twisted things to do with Legos.

Looking for something fun to do on a Monday. Call up your co-worker and use the Sling Blade Soundboard.

More later... Still getting back into the swing of things...

Well, I'm anxiously awaiting the opening of the Starbucks right now. I'm standing at an internet kiosk in the San Jose Convention Center. Still being on Minnesota time, I've been up since 4:00am and I'm going crazy without my coffee. C'mon, Starbucks dude... Open UP!

Trip so far was pretty uneventful. I got stuck in the window seat on the trip out here (a torturous 6 hours of planes), but I have to admit, the views were simply spectacular. It was sunny and clear and there is nothing quite so exhilerating as having you plane bank at 35,000 feet, and having your face pressed against the window as you look straight down at the Rocky Mountains. Just one pane of glass separating you from the most incredible ride of your life. It freaked my out momentarily, but then I was distracted by a bag of pretzels.

So, I guess that's it for now. From your roving correspondent -- this is Peter Arnett, signing off...