HSN Soviet Style

Happy Thursday!

I totally stole this from the Shadowplay blog, but it's too good not to share with those of you who don't read it...

Super-Doodle

Here's a doodle of Superman I did while talking on the phone to Beebo just now. I was looking at tour times for Graceland, so it started out being Elvis-inspired. Other regular phone doodle subjects include Batman and Casper the Friendly Ghost.

Revelation

I'm listening to George Soros on NPR right now, and I realized he sounds just like Triumph the Comic Insult Dog.


"Yes, it's a very good laissez-faire economic philosophy...for me to poop on!"

Which actor from the Original Ocean's 11 are you?

Tough to choose isn't it? Are you most like:

Norman Fell?

Cesar Romero?

or Akim Tamiroff?

E-O Eleven

In anticipation of my first trip to Vegas in late April. Yippee!

Sex Kittens Go Crazy

I just "won" a movie poster from Ebay from a relatively unknown fifties movie starring a minor actress/pin-up model from the time. This starlet was never thought of as a great actress, but is fondly remembered for being in movies where she screamed and helped fight against a giant spider, a giant scorpion, and a giant flying turkey. (really)

After I'd already paid for it, I got an email from Ebay saying that the listing had been removed due to it either 'not fitting their guidelines' or violating copyright laws. I found this weird and emailed the seller to ask what was up, and he replied that he would send me the poster and said "[former starlet] has no legal right to stop this sale".

Apparently she (or some family member) has gotten the idea that any old poster or image with her photo on it (even an old poster from 50 years ago) is her intellectual property. Now, this isn't true, because then no one could ever sell any old photo or poster or magazine with anyone's picture on it. However, she's got her own website, where she sells autographed photos of herself, and has probably gotten a little greedy. I think this is one of those cases of 'a little knowledge is a dangerous thing', or at least a semi-dangerous thing.

One final funny detail--the main picture on the poster is a painting of a girl in a scuba mask--it's not even a recognizable photo of [redacted]!

p.s. It wasn't Debra Paget.

p.p.s. I checked my old emails and saw she did the same thing when I tried to buy the same poster last May! At the time, I just thought the seller flaked out...and since I hadn't gotten to pay for it yet, I had no motivation to pursue the issue.

Best Amazing Race challenge ever

Last night, we were watching my favorite reality tv show, The Amazing Race, and they had a 'Detour' that actually looked pleasant to me, even though several of the racers were bitching and moaning about it.

The episode was set in Hamburg, Germany, and after some bungee jumping (not my thing), the racers had the choice of trying to kick soccer balls into five targets in a net, or sharing a big plate of sauerkraut, trying to finish it before a folkloric band finished a song. Now, I love cabbage, and eating a big plate of kraut doesn't seem at all bad to me, especially if I had the help of Beebo the Human Eating Machine. But a few of the people on the show ate daintily and one of them even held her nose while eating (see photo).

The second task (post-kraut or football) was to go to a place called the Haifischbar and share a boot of pilsner beer. I think that would be a total treat after eating a big plate of pickled cabbage, but there were even worse reactions from some of the racers, as if they had to drink a pitcher of bile or something. One young dude actually went out on the sidewalk and barfed. A sad performance. Only a couple approached the task with appropriate gusto (again, see photo).

Considering that the eating tasks in the past have included things like eating a giant ostrich egg omelet and eating four pounds of offal, this was a tasty walk in the park!