Blonde Joke

There's tons of blonde jokes out there, but this one I hadn't heard before. (Apologies to any blonde readers!)

A blonde and a brunette both board an elevator and push the buttons for their respective floors. On the next floor, the door opens and a businessman wearing a black suit boards the elevator. It's evident that the man has dandruff problems, because it can be seen on the shoulder of his suit.

Two floors later the man gets off, and the two women remain. When the door closes the brunette says, "Someone should give that guy some Head & Shoulders."

The blonde then responds, "How do you give shoulders?"

Paul Giamatti Was Robbed!

If you've ever seen Paul Giamatti on screen you know what an unusual and compelling actor he is. If you've seen the new film Sideways, you'll know that Paul Giamatti was robbed of an Oscar nomination since he delivered the best film performance by an actor this year, hands down!

Sideways is a great film. A funny, quaint, touching, thought-provoking, informative, dreamy, hopeful, scary, wonderful film. It is so fresh and pure, full of suprises, without gimmicks, tender, sexy, hilarious, and inspiring. The movie is filled with one great moment after another.

It's another terrific success for director Alexander Payne, who previously directed Jack Nicholson in Finding Schmidt, and Matthew Broderick and Reese Witherspoon in Election. This guy is a real talent and he is just beginning what I hope will be a long and successful career in the film business.

Oscar's golden light will probably shine down on one of this year's blockbusters, such as Million Dollar Baby or The Aviator (which I also loved), but for pure cinematic originality, Sideways is the Best Picture of the Year!

Mmm...Coffee.

For those of you who may be coffee lovers (decaf for me, please), here's a pretty cool website I stumbled across today.

Coffee Review

Brosnan Quits Bond

It's official: Pierce Brosnan's 10-year reign as James Bond is over. Brosnan recently confirmed via his website and a BBC TV interview that Eon Productions, the company that produces the Bond films, had decided not to renew his contract for the Bond franchise. This quells months of rumors that Brosnan would come back to the role if negotiations with Eon were successful.



Brosnan's statement:

"I would like to thank all of you who have supported me over the last year or so in regard to my playing Bond. It was a decade of my life that I will always hold dear to my heart and a time that will never be forgotten. And you dear friends stood by me throughout. Many, many thanks! But everything comes to an end, and one must accept this decision which cannot be dealt with in any other way but with some kind of grace and knowledge that I did the job to the best of my ability."

I for one am CRUSHED that Brosnan won't be returning. He was a great Bond and he brought a much needed breath of fresh air to the series. I was ecstatic back in 1986 when Brosnan was first offered the role, but NBC wouldn't let him out of his Remington Steele contract. I was thrilled for him a decade later when he finally assumed the role.

In related news, Eon Productions has confirmed that the 21st Bond film will be titled Casino Royale (the same as Ian Fleming's first Bond novel) and will be directed by Martin Campbell, whose last contribution to the Bond series was the smash success Goldeneye, Brosnan's 1995 debut as Bond.

The production has been pushed back a year to 2006 due to delays in securing a director and because of Sony Pictures impending takeover of MGM, the studio that finances and distributes the Bond films.

Naturally rumors are circulating about who will take over the role of James Bond, with names such as Clive Owen, Colin Farrell and Ewan McGregor being mentioned, but no official announcements have been made.

News From Outside The Bubble

Here's a story you probably didn't hear in the US media:

Pakistan, our "ally" in the War On Terror, recently paid over half a million dollars to several tribal leaders so they could settle their debts to....al-Qaeda!!

With friends like that, who needs enemies?!

full story here, from BBC News:

Rain Again

Yep, we've got more rain here in SoCal.



I love it, but it creates lots of headaches for commuters.



And sometimes it can destroy your entire world.


This was La Conchita, California

Ten people lost their lives in a few short seconds when the hillside above their homes came crashing down upon them.

New Medication

Finally a medicine everyone can use!!

Zach Braff's New Year's Resolutions

I just had to share these with you. If you don't know Zach Braff, he's the star of the NBC sitcom Scrubs and he directed and starred in his first feature last year (now on DVD) called Garden State , which has a very cool website.

Zach's new year's resolutions:

Forgo all exercise (including walking),
Learn to smoke (something thin like Capri's),
Take my loved one's for granted,
Stop washing my hands after twosies,
Laugh at babies who are late walkers,
Pull leaves off trees that appear to be flourishing,
Name the yet to be named voices in my head (something tough like Carl or Kyle)
Be less kind to bunnies,
Floss everything but my teeth,
Travel (but only around my yard and with a light carry-on)
Stop and smell the Rosens. (They're a wonderful family and absolutely compulsive about showering.)

NewsGaming

This is a really cool website I came across and an even cooler concept. It's a powerful simulation, especially the game named September 12th.

State of Dis-Union

I've decided to ignore Presidential politics for the next four years. Shortly after the election when I realized we were stuck with Dumb and Dumber for another term, I decided to take defensive action and bury my head in the proverbial sand.

I completely avoided the Inauguration last month and I will not watch the State of the Union speech tonight. I don't listen to Dubya's news conferences, nor do I read about him in the newspaper. When I see his face on TV, I change the channel.

And you know what? I feel a lot happier these days! I'm much more relaxed being blissfully ignorant than participating in the political process and being upset and angry all the time.

I think politics is bad for one's health. Politicians certainly are.

Cleaning Kitty

Is your computer screen a little dirty? Click here to let the kitty clean it for you!

Ebert Remembers Carson

Roger Ebert has a nice tribute to Johnny Carson on his website. He talks about his experiences being on the Tonight Show with Johnny.

Jimmy Kimmel

I was in Hollywood today with a group of my students and as I was walking down Hollywood Boulevard in front of Disney's El Capitan theater, I saw a video crew taping some kind of performance on the sidewalk. A young woman with a walkie-talkie stopped me and asked if I wouldn't mind stepping into the street and walking around their shot.

"Sure," I said with a smile, and as I made my way around the crew I looked back to see the action. It was Jimmy Kimmel, star of ABC's late night comedy/talk show Jimmy Kimmel Live. He was doing some comedy bit in a camping tent, which was erected on the sidewalk between the El Cap and the Masonic Temple where the show is taped every evening.



Apparently ABC's daytime talk show The View is preparing to visit Hollywood by taping in the El Capitan this month. Kimmel was doing some comedy bit about that. The camera poked its "head" into the tent where Jimmy was holding up fabricated products related to The View, such as "View Beer" and Barbara Walters gummy bears among other things.

Body Worlds

I had the most extraordinary experience of visiting the Body Worlds exhibition late last night at the California Science Center in Los Angeles.

You may have heard about this in the news. It's a world tour exhibition created by the German scientist Gunther von Hagens, and it features real human corpses on anatomical display. The bodies (all donated) have been treated by a process called "plastination" which replaces body fluids with clear, pliable plastic, making it possible to position not only cadavers, but internal systems such as blood vessels into dynamic poses.



This might sound exceptionally morbid, and I must admit a macabre interest in this sort of thing, but really the exhibition was incredibly tasteful and accessible to all. There were people there from all walks of life, every nationality, young and old, families with small children, and senior citizens.

The exhibition has been so popular (over 650,000 people have seen it in LA alone, 15 million worldwide) that the museum stayed opened 24 hours a day for the last weekend of the show. Tickets eventually sold out, but I was able to get reservations for the 9:45 PM entrance last night.

Even though it was incredibly crowded, I felt a strange sense of intimacy seeing the insides of real human beings revealed for all to see. It made me appreciate the human body for the exquisite and remarkable vessel that it is, and seeing the displays of diseased organs made me want to take good care of my body.



The exhibition now moves on to Chicago, but Angelenos who missed it or want to see more won't have to wait long. Body Worlds 2 opens for a two-month run starting next weekend!

Favorite Carson Memories?

Watching all the news coverage of the passing of Johnny Carson brought up a lot of memories of classic Carson moments on The Tonight Show.

I used to love the Great Carnak. They played one clip tonight that cracked me up:

Answer: "Yahoo! Serious."
Question: "What are the two stages of sex?"

What are some of your favorite Carson memories?

Neidstat Brothers

http://www.thehollandtunnel.com/

These guys are pretty funny.

Rock and Roll Quiz

How much do you know?

Encarta Rock and Roll Quiz

iPod's Dirty Little Secret

You may have heard about this before. I hadn't, and I don't know if it's true, but it's a cool little video regardless.

iPod's Dirty Little Secret

Brad and Jenn Split

So by now you've all heard the news that Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston have separated.



I think most of us were naively upset to hear the news. After all, to paraphrase SNL's Tina Fey, if these two people are tired of having sex with each other, what hope do the rest of us have?!

Summer In January??

As if the torrential winter rain storms weren't enough earlier this month, this week Los Angeles is experiencing summer-like temperatures with highs in the mid-80s!!

The end of the world is nigh.