MMM Anchovies

In lieu of any other news you can use, I'm here to tell you that everyday tinned anchovies are the new high falutin' Chilean Sea Bass. Mmm...fishy salty goodness.

Seasonal Veggie Cookbook

Culinary pursuits: I've come to realize that I need to learn more about seasonal produce and would love to pick up a cookbook that focuses on letting the availability of fruits and veggies dictate meal prep (kinda like this one but without all the foraging), mixing basic dishes with more gourmet ones.



Amazon has scads of suggestions—any tips from the peanut gallery?

Marathon Heartbreak

Way to go, jerk.



While I generally support a person's right to protest, the Olympics are hardly the time or the place and the athletes are the last people who should have to be subjected to someone's folly, political or otherwise. But in this case, it sounds like the guy was just plain crazee.



The marathoner who was knocked out of the street and out of the gold medal race showed incredible poise and grace at the finish and afterwards, especially considering his assailant will not have to serve any time.

Moo Shoes

I know I can be hard to shop for, so here's a hint for those of you getting a jump on Christmas: Moo Shoes. I'm pretty sure I love everything, especially the shoes and bags.



Related: While not vegan myself, I did spend way too much money at Vegan Essentials on Saturday night, buying no less than seven kinds of soy jerky. Aside from food items, they also carry all kinds of cruelty-free and earth-friendly products. Use coupon code august2004a for 5% off. :)

Posthumous Wedding

Murder-Suicide Victims to be Posthumously Wed. Methinks that the woman—who also happened to be pregnant when her fiancé shot her dead—might not be too keen on that "gesture."

Metafilm

Metafilm: Cinema, deconstructed.



I can see myself wasting a lot of time here.

Cold Turkey

"Well, have you seen Big Brother? It's kinda like that except you're all chain smokers and you won't be allowed to light up. So which will it be, patch, gum or ballpeen hammer?"

Switched at Birth?

Switched at Birth?

  

AD Emmy Pursuit

Arrested Cast Commences Emmy Pandering: (their words, not mine).



Personally, I think that AD totally deserves both the Best Comedy, Comedic Writing and Comedic Casting awards and if you aren't watching, you make Baby Jesus cry.

[Lost Remote]

Iceland Review

The Iceland Review. Because after our honeymoon and the British Isles, it's the next place on my list (but not so much J.'s) to visit.

[TMN]

Dubya's Medals

He didn't throw these away, no sir: It's only August and I've already heard enough about the presidential candidates' military service to last several lifetimes but was intrigued when I saw this piece on GWB's war medals. Who knew that Dubya was into martial arts?



</sarcasm>

[Daypop]

Summer Squash Goat Cheese Custard

On last night's menu: summer squash goat-cheese custard. So yummy, just make sure you let it cool off a bit before digging in. It was only when someone (I'm not going to name names but his initials are THE MISTER) went back for much more delicious lukewarm seconds that I remembered that the dish is supposed to be eaten warm or at room temp.

Seafood Watch

Seafood Watch: Whether you're a omnivore or pescatarian, this site at the Monterey Bay Aquarium (best I've ever seen) will help you make educated choices regarding the fish you order out or prepare at home.



Me, I'm trying to stick to non-predator lake and river fish, since contaminants and tend to build up in the larger fishies.

Weekend Recap 040824

Weekend Recap: Yes, I've done it again, waiting until Tuesday to post the weekend low-down... but anyhow.



Friday J. and I struck out for the Naval base despite his terminal leave status for a little bowling action. Since we'd gotten there after 8p, it was "extreme bowling," which means they turn off the house lights and turn on the music. While this is usually the kind of thing I look down my nose at (with all the families and rug rats and teens), we had a really good time, and not just because I scored a 135 in my first game! Too bad this eventually disintegrated to 85 by the last game.



Saturday was cleaning in preparation for our DC friends to come down for a visit, which involved a huge late lunch of pizza, laying about, and drinking decent volumes of various beverages while I wore the shirt that they gifted me with.



Sunday was brunch and an attempt to do a little thrifting that was ultimately thwarted by the fact that the store had been torn to the ground, leaving only a pile of girders and rubble where one of my favorite local bargain centers once stood. It was rather traumatizing, honestly.



After our friends roared away in their cute and new little Mini, J. and I did some power lounging and I flirted with the idea of going for a run before going to see Garden State but wound up frittering away too much time on the ol' Interweb. Of course I could have gone running afterwards, but I was too tired from the sobbing to muster the energy.



Other than all that, things are good, J. is off for another interview/ride-along combo with a different company tonight, and it's finally cooling off a bit. I've also decided to stop being lazy and start capitalizing. It seems to be the appropriate 30-year-old thing to do. ;)

Garden State

"Niagra Falls, Frankie Angel." I've got a lot of weekend stuff to relay, but in the meantime, I have only this to say—go see Garden State, see it now, do not pass go, do not collect $200.



And while you're at it, check out writer and director Zach Braff's blog.



There's a new crush in town.



Addendum: Magoo!

ND vs. KKK

ND vs. KKK: apparently, in 1924 the Klan planned to hold a week-long "Klavern" (ie, rally) in South Bend since they they saw Notre Dame as "a symbol of rising Catholic power in America." too bad the students caught wind of this and were at the train station to meet and greet hand out beatdowns.



the police and later priests and Rockne himself intervened on the Klan's behalf as they tried to restore order and keep Domers from beating the living piss out of the hatemongers.



my question is, how did i go four years there without hearing this story? it's just good to know that, while ND might be a few shades away from lily white, but it's always had [a] soul.

[The Backer]

Communion Wheaties

He said "do this in memory of me" not "eat your Wheaties." it's official, the Catholic church is totally and completely insane.

An 8-year-old girl who suffers from a rare digestive disorder and cannot eat wheat has had her first Holy Communion declared invalid because the wafer contained no wheat, violating Roman Catholic doctrine.

i think this would even make Jesus mad enough to spit nails.

Tyler Hughes

welcome to the world, Tyler!







and many congrats to the exhausted but thrilled parents, HH and Gordo. we can't wait to meet your undoubtedly darling (and soon to be sarcastic-as-hell) son!

make your own ¡Mucha Lucha! wrestler.

Medal Table

who's done what to whom:







get your own Olympic medal tally table.

[The Backer]

Server Too Busy

this? is beyond unacceptable. here's an idea: buy some more gaddang servers!

Peeves, Part Un

a list of things that bug me to no end that probably don't bother most:

• drinking coffee out of a glass mug.
  
  
• the smells of pencil shavings and cauliflower.
  
  
• when people begin statements of gratitude with "i just want to thank..."

more as they occur to me.

Life Aquatic

best pairing since Hot Tamales and buttered popcorn: Noah Baumbach + Wes Anderson = The Life Aquatic*, starring Bill Murray, Owen Wilson, and Cate Blanchett.

Eccentric oceanographer Steve Zissou (Murray) and his motley crew—Team Zissou—find themselves in troubled waters when they attempt to track down the mysterious "jaguar shark" that ate his partner while filming a documentary of their latest adventure. Zissou must also contend with a beautiful journalist (Blanchett) assigned to write a profile, and a new member of the team who might possibly be his long-lost son (Wilson).

counting the days until December 1^st!



*i'm leaving out the With Steve Zissou part since everyone's going to refer to it by the first half of the title anyhow.

[whatevs]

Wal-Mart on NPR

Wal-Mart goes public:

Ms. [Mona] Williams [a Wal-Mart spokesperson] said the company sought the demographic that National Public Radio listeners represent. The goal is to "reach community leaders and help them understand the value that we bring to their areas."



"We want those folks to know that having a Wal-Mart in their town is a good thing," she said.

riiight. because that's why i gave myself doubletake whiplash the first time i heard their underwriting sponsorships ads on NPR.

Nav Bar

despite the whole "not broke" thing, there's been some fixin' goin' on: the next blog function of blogger's new nav bar is really messing with my referrer list.

TiVo-tee

i am a TiVo-tee! i was wondering how long it would take TiVo to set up some kind of rewards program. i mean, i love testifying about the glory of TiVo to relatively disinterested parties as much as any fundie, but i'd be even more enthusiastic about spreading the good news if there was something in it for me, you know?



so, if any of you out there have been thinking about signing up for the magical televisual experience that is TiVo, please drop me a line and i'll pass along my super secret other e-mail so you can use me as a referral. :)

Home Again Home Again

i might feel like i've been hit by a train, but at least i can feel that crappy in the comfort of my own home. ahh.

Stampy

you gotta lick it before you stick it:







...or sumthin like that.

[freakgirl]

Birthday Week Wrap Up

birthday week wrap-up: so here's the latest. i had a wonderful birthday day, filled with friends and roses and smooches and computer print-outs of gift to come (they came and OH are they beautiful!), having dinner at the aforementioned asian tapas place Bardo, followed with PBR at the Ghent Inn. good stuff.



the rest of the week has been a little stressful here at casa de brigita. the Mister has been working feverishly to get some good job opportunities lined up, with his #1 company inviting us up to Cleveland for the weekend. after initially assenting to making the trip (via car since the co. won't pay for my ticket), i realized that two huge pieces of the travel puzzle—my job and Cleo—hadn't really been ironed out.



yesterday's yoga class was spoiled by the news that our favorite kennel (which is way out in the sticks and has lots of room for the pups to run) was all booked up, so i spent much of the day oozing cortisol (the stress hormone, right?) and trying to figure out what the hell we were going to do.



long story short, turns out our kennel is only booked for saturday, so they're going to put her in a crate for that night but she'll get a regular sleeping space for the rest of the long weekend. i've also pretty much decided to take Monday and Tuesday off since there's little chance of me getting any real work done, laptop or no.



finally, please join me in congratulating J. on nine long years of service with the United States Navy. he reported to o-call this morning and snuck out shortly afterwards. now begins the process of throwing out worn-down steel-toed boots, numerous pairs of holey uniform socks (black tops with white feet), and separating his uniforms into two piles: keep and give away.



i can't believe that this day is here!!!



oh, and we're planning to celebrate his separation as well as our birthdays tonight with a schmancy dinner at Todd Jurich's Bistro, the fancy-pants restaurant in town and supposedly tops in the HR!

Hammer v. Nail

sometimes you're the hammer, sometimes you're the mother-effing nail. :(

Catfish Gator

swimming for your dinner: here's the world's most pissed off catfish and happiest alligator.

Anti-Fat Toon

another cobblestone for the road to hell? next week, Nick Jr. will launch LazyTown, a cartoon designed to promote a healthier lifestyle among kids.

LazyTown follows the adventures of eight-year-old girl who is caught between a charismatic, health-conscious superhero and the world's laziest bad guy. Other characters living in LazyTown include Pixel, who wants only to play video games, candy-loving Ziggy, Stingy, who finds it hard to share, and rule-breaker Trixie.

so they're going to promote movement and activity to preschoolers by getting them to plop down in front of the boob tube for 30 minutes a day? at least their heart is in the right place.

Big White Tees

those oversized white T-shirts explained. well, sorta.

BVS and FCC

it would have been different if he'd had a soul: did you know that an indecency complaint has been filed with the FCC re: Smashed, ie the Buffy ep where she and Spike get. it. on?



yeah, me neither. doesn't really matter though since they recently turned down the claim by a 5-0 vote.

H2G2 Teaser

H2G2 teaser. not bad, but they should have used this guy at the end.



related: play the text adventure game here. long live Infocom!

[Daypop]

Raiders Remake

my one birthday wish—other than peace on earth and all that blahblah—would be to see Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation, the shot-by-shot remake of the Spielberg original done by a bunch of kids over the course of six years. check out the trailer that was put together for its world premiere.

[NPR, two months after the fact]

related: the remake vs. copyright law.

TiVo Goes on Offensive

Like Apple, TiVo Faces a Struggle in a Market It Helped Create. the company which has become the Kleenex and Xerox of the DVR world is changing its marketing strategy, halving the price points and expanding the distribution of its hardware in addition to changing its slogan from "TiVo is TV your way," to "You have a life. TiVo gets it."



interestingly enough, the new campaign will run ads in print, radio and online.

"Customers say, 'TiVo makes my life better,' but you can't say that openly to prospects because they'd think you're insane," Ms. [Susan] Cashen [TiVo VP for marketing] said, laughing. "So we're presenting the TiVo story in the context of their passions instead of the context of television."

very clevah, although i would think a commercial which sent the message "if you had TiVo, you'd have skipped this ad by now" could have been particularly effective.

[workwire]

Annapolis the Movie

"Herndon was a lot greasier my plebe year..." i hadn't even heard of it until now, but the upcoming Disney film Annapolis won't be filmed at Annapolis. it looks like this is going to be a perfect example of a movie that drives The Mister [and i, to a certain extent] crazy since he/we know way too much about the subject matter. even the plot outline looks a bit suspect:

Set against the backdrop of boxing at the Naval Academy, centers on a young man from the wrong side of the tracks whose dream of attending Annapolis becomes a reality.

considering you need a letter of recommendation from someone in Congress or the H of R if you haven't been recruited for sports, this already smells a little fishy. aside from that, i wonder how they plan on representing Mother B, the world's largest [and the campus' only] dorm.



in other Disney/Navy news, Disney Channel’s Tiger Cruise airs tonight @ 8pm. 9/11 is a backdrop to the made-for-cable movie, inspired by a real “tiger cruise”—a regularly scheduled week when the U.S. Navy invites families of personnel on board an active duty ship—that was en route from Hawaii to San Diego when the terrorists struck. Tiger was shot on two working aircraft carriers with

real Navy staffers in each shot.

Pooch Pillow

greatest gift of all: kudos to mom and my sis for having the fortune to stumble upon and judgement to purchase this borderline tacky but totally awesome throw pillow:





Cleo seems to like it, too.

Three Oh

on this day in history, the atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki (1945), Sharon Tate was killed by the Manson Family (1969), Nixon left the White House (1974) and i was born.



that's right, today is the 30th anniversary of both Nixon's resignation and my birth. i'm thirty. three-friggin-oh, people. the thing of it is, i really don't care, not in the sense of "arrgh! i'm so ooooooold!" i feel like i'm supposed to be all bothered by this birthday, as if i'm going to start lying about my age since it marks the end of my youth or something, but that's a gigantic load of hooey designed to increase my purchases of "age-defying" makeup and the like.



in actuality, i feel like my 20's ended a long time ago and i'm ready to grow up some more (but only the teensiest bit). i also look damn good for my age—i guess all those years of living under a permacloud (ND and seatown) have finally paid off!



no real big plans for the day, just dinner with friends and a possible after-tapas drink at the Ghent Inn, one of the dive-ier dives i've ever had the pleasure to plunge. if i remember correctly, they don't serve liquor and only have beer in cans and the walls are covered with framed divorce certificates.



so if you should think of it (or just want an excuse to do so), raise a pint glass or coffee mug and send a little happy my way, making sure to save some for yaself. Sláinte!

I'm Rick James!

RIP, Rick James, we hardly knew ye...outisde of Chapelle's parody, that is.

[NPR]

TDS DNC Coverage

apparently i'm not the only one who [hearts] Jon Stewart: The Daily Show's DNC coverage drew 1.3 mil.

4 Minute Gym

now with 12 second abs! i've neglected to mention that a 4 Minute Gym opened up in a local storefront a few months ago. the facility claims that its cross-training machine delivers an excellent cardiovascular, strength and flexibility exercise in only 4 minutes per day.



this "gym" only has a handful of these miracle machines, and yet their monthly membership exceeds that of my kick-ass Y, which has more free weights and cardio machines than you can shake a stick at, not to mention tons of other facilities and services.



i've already started the clock on how long it will take for this place to go under.

Woo HOO!

because dark, musty spaces don't make for easy breathing: a big shout-out and belated congrats to someone near and dear to my heart for having The Talk with his parents. you know who you are and we love you!!

No More Years!

a sphincter says what? if you needed more proof that this country needs a change in leadership, here you go.

Oh, You Meant Shot

have they changed the rules recently? Iverson made the game-winning what against Germany?



screen shot of original.

Pissing Calvin

how i plan to make my millions: as one might imagine, there are a lot of pick-up truck drivers in this part of the country, and one of the more popular accessories for said truck seems to be those "pissing calvin" stickers, with him relieving himself on a Ford or Chevy logo, depending of course on the make of the truck in question.



i've also spotted a few non-excretory stickers, with calvin praying before a cross or giving a thumbs up next to a cross or whatever.



so here's my idea: i'd love to see a sticker of calvin urinating on...a pissing calvin, who in turn is peeing on another calvin similarly relieving himself, ad infinitum. because i love calvin [& hobbes) but hate Hate HATE those damned stickers.

TZOO

time to cash in on that free lunch: remember way, way back when Travelzoo was giving away free shares of stock? now that it's trading above $20 (TZOO), i have to ask: did you register your shares?

Chapelle Contract

"I'm rich, beeyatch! Comedy Central signs Chapelle for two more seasons with season three kicking off early next year.

Cruelty-Free Dog Food

attention dog owners: does anyone know of a commercially available cruelty-free dog food? i've been doing a little research (i'm up to the Ks) and am specifically looking for a non-vegetarian (i mean have you seen their teeth?) dry food since i'm not down with this whole cook-for-my-dog thing that a lot of the purveyors seem to think is totally normal.



related: wanna be grossed out? check out what these guys sell.

Dog News

i'll take a dog over a diamond any day: Dog News.

[Daypop]

Rain Rain Go Away

i like the rain and all (honestly!) but this is getting riDICulous.

ETA: and now this.

Product Placement: Stone IPA

and now a word from our sponsor:



what i lack in sophistication for not knowing (or, to be honest, caring) the first thing about wine [i like to think] i make up for in my intense pursuit of scholarship of all things related to yeast and hops.



speaking of the latter, i'm a big fan of a beer with a pronounced hop flavor, meaning i tend to lean toward IPAs vs. pilsners, brown ales, etc.



The Mister and i recently sampled Stone IPA at a local pizzeria and were fortunate enough to find the San Diego label available at our local wine superstore (which we semi-mockingly refer to as the Wine Barn).



i strongly recommend picking up a six pack if you're looking for something along the lines of a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, something clean and almost bracingly-crisp, but not quite as hoppy as a Tupper's Hop Pocket. because that? is all hops.

Come On Corddry!

"come on, Corddry!" definitely one of the top five funniest bits from last week's convention coverage by TDS—Rob Corddry's Boston.

Light Ain't Right

if something seems too good to be true—and in this instance i am referring to the use of light butter in baking chocolate chip cookies with the hopes of creating an equally delicious dunkable taste treat with half the fat since the box didn't indicate that the butter shouldn't be used for baking—it probably is.