Where'd you go?

Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated. I just wasn't quite counting on grading 30 papers from my intro class to take that much of my time. It wasn't just the papers, it was a combination of all the other stuff I had to do last week. But, in good news, on Saturday, my wife and I had a lovely day at the Shedd Aquarium and the Adler Planetarium. It was the first time in a while that we'd really had a nice day out.

I didn't get to see Borat on Friday because the theatre was all sold out and he was too busy being installed as president of Kazakhstan.

In other news, I'm probably gonna do a bit of a scale back on the blog. Baseball bits is gonna have to go by the wayside for the time being. I enjoyed doing it, but I just don't have the time to fully develop it. (That section usually takes 30-45 minutes... maybe I'll just do a weekly update or something.)


Finishing up last week's theme:
Because there's no theme this week

Yeah, no theme this week either, because this week looks busy again.

My top five favorite music videos of all time.

To recap, #5 was Gnarls Barkley's, "Crazy", #4 was R.E.M.'s. "Daysleeper".

Number 3 -- Smashing Pumpkins, "Tonight, Tonight"

I'm not sure if it's just the warm, happy associations that I have with SP and this album in general (which is phenomenal!) The video was basically the culmination of the Billy Corgan as an artist before he became an ARTIST.

Number 2 -- Nelly Furtado, "Turn off the Light"

If I ever make a music video, I will have Sophie Muller (who directed this one) direct mine. It's so colorful and bright in a medium that usually wallows in the dark and grey. Except for McG. Plus, it was Nelly Furtado before she too became a Tarted Up Shetland Pony. For more on that, see below.

Number 1 -- A-ha, "Take on Me"

I am fond of saying this, and I will say it here. I consider this the greatest music video ever made, and I don't even need the qualifier "Given the technology available in 1986." If this video were new today, it would be a classic all over again. The pen and ink drawings were brilliant. The blend of live action with the animation was amazing. Hell, they parodied it in Family Guy. Plus, it's a song that you can warble at the top of your lungs. The very top. And it's grammatically incorrect.


Things my wife says:
"Tarted up Shetland Pony"

While watching a second-season episode of Gilmore Girls (what else?), my wife turned to me (yes, I was watching too) and said, "You know, I really liked Alexis Bledel before they turned her into a tarted up Shetland Pony."

It... stunned... me.

She pointed out that Alexis Beldel used to be just honestly pretty and then they layered on the makeup, tarted up the outfits, and I think the bangs are what brought about the reference to Shetland ponies. And, when you think about it, they've done much the same to some other celebs.

For example, I give you Federline Award-winning(?) singer, actress, and mother Britney Spears. Another example is everyone who's been on the show Seventh Heaven. Even the dad.

I think I've just added a new term to my lexicon: tarted up Shetland Pony.


On to the news:

Officer accidentally shoots himself
(Somewhere in the background, Lewis Black is screaming, "Because he's carrying, A GUN!!!")

You can get anything delivered nowadays
(What will they think of next?)

Dead blind dog gets army call-up
(What will they think of next?)


Bright, shiny objects:

Our Monday check of Engrish.com
(Hey, me too!)

The Mormon Church meets Reservoir Dogs
(Yeah, I know, now you wanna click it.)


Today's Random "Next Blog":

The "Love Blog"
(not sure what this is... a bunch of links involving love...)


Today's strange anniversary:

November 6, 1850 -- Hawaii gets its first fire engine. True story.


Fun fact of the day:

There are two credit cards for every person in the United States.


And finally:

Don't vote tomorrow. Not because it's a bad thing to do. In fact, if you actually like one or more of the candidates better than their opponents, go and vote for that person/those persons. Just don't go getting your hopes up that this will bring peace on earth. Two or four years from now, you'll realize that it's all the same bull and the people we vote in are just as crooked as the people we replace. I don't vote because I have more important things that I need to be doing.

I swore I wouldn't get political. Maybe if I have time, I'll liveblog the election night coverage.

Maybe.