Get Your Springfield On!


Dean is a clever fellow and the owner of the blog Springfield Punx. He creates Simpson-esque characters from TV, movies, comics, etc. The above pic is an example of his work. I highly encourage you to check it out, it's a lot of fun.

Work Break


Empire magazine--probably the best movie magazine out there--is celebrating it's 20th anniversary with a wonderful online game called "The Cryptic Canvas". The object is to find the FIFTY movie titles in the painting that have been released in the last 20 years.

So far, I've managed to find a paltry 25. There goes any hope for productivity from me for the week...

UPDATE: I did it! Holy Crap... this was not easy!

Bread. Butter. Cheese. Victory!

The Second Annual NorCal Grilled Cheese Invitational is coming to San Francisco on February 21... Anyone want to joing me for a sammich?

Life is for Sharing: Let’s Dance!

Normally, I’m opposed to corporations co-opting fun ideas to shill their wares, but T-Mobile did a great job with this one. Based on the Improv Everywhere Project (I previously posted their Best Game Ever video).

Feel free to get up and dance along…

Freakin' Adorable

47 Seconds Longer Than I Would Have Thought...

I could survive for 47 seconds chained to a bunk bed with a velociraptor

How long would you last against a velociraptor while chained to a bunk bed?

Melissa Etheridge & Me

On the 28th, my friend Jill took me to the Melissa Etheridge concert at The Paramount Theater in Oakland. We had a wonderful time. I would tell you about it, but I think Jill tells it best. She sent out a little story on the night... my pics are below.

Melissa
Melissa Jamming with Philip Sayce
Melissa rocking the house
Philip Sayce going wild on his guitar (he's an amazing player)

Jill's Story:

The Pick

I took Chris to see Melissa Etheridge last night at the Paramount in Oakland (for his birthday for the next 3 years -- the seats you get from her fan club are the best, but they come at a hefty price). He told me he'd love to go, he enjoys her, but wouldn't necessarily think to make an effort to see her.

He asked me as we are walking down the aisle of the theater where the seats were, adding, "I hope they aren't right in the front, I don't know if I am a 'right in the front' kind of guy."

We were directed into the front row, actually, the front row of "the pit" where there are only two feet separating us from the stage and nobody in front of us but Melissa and her amazing band. It took him only a couple of minutes to get on the phone to Scotty to tell him where he was sitting.

Fast forward, the show has started and he is totally getting into it, clapping, taking pictures with his new iPhone, standing up and doing a little back and forthing with his feet -- having a good old time.

There comes a time in all her concerts where security allows people to get up and stand against the edge of the stage. When it starts to happen, I figure, what the hell, let's do it, so I stood up, turned to Chris and said, "Get up, it's your duty to represent the front row & the few men in this audience! (or something like that)."

About 30 minutes later the show came to an end and she went through the thank you, thank you, thank yous & the handing off of the coveted guitar pick. She gave the pick to a guy who had been sitting directly in front of her for the entire show having a crazy good time. He was thrilled.

They came back for the requisite rock -n- roll encore and she did a rousing rendition of Piece of My Heart.

At the end of the song, she slide her guitar onto her back, walked directly to Chris, and handed him her guitar pick, shook the hands of the rest of us along the stage and exited stage left. There were 35 women (some of which had been yelling "I love you Melissa!" all night) and maybe 4 guys along the edge of the stage, and she chose him!

He was giddy, grinning from ear to ear, and babbling something about feeling totally thrilled to have come with me. Then he turned to me and said, "Here, you should have this" and gave me the pick. All together now, A-A-A-h-h-h-h-h-h.

He then whipped out his phone to call Scotty again, and like a 15-year-old girl who had just seen the Beatles live, blathered on about what had just happen. He pretty much collected himself before we left the theater, but there was clear hesitation in his step as he caught glimpse of the tour bus parked in the street next to our parking garage.

He was hilarious.

I guess Chris is a "right in the front kind of guy" after all. Who knew?

Who knew, indeed! It was pretty awesome. I just wish Melissa would stop calling me to 'hang out'...

"Ho, Superquiz!"

Years ago--almost 25 to be exact--my friends and I would kill the long hours of work by playing Superquiz in the morning paper. It was never planned... whomever was reading the paper would come across the section and shout, "Ho, Superquiz!"

Later, I adapted this to my printed 'zine and the emailed precursor to this blog. Well, it's time to bring back the Slap & Tickle Superquiz.

As the image below suggests, "can you guess all these movies from just these letters?" Click on the image to make it bigger.

There are 46 answers... you might win a prize if you get them all right.*




*but most likely not.

Marvel-ous

Marvel has a wonderful (kids) page on their website to create your own superhero character. Here is mine, I call him Chef Mayhem:



Naturally, I couldn’t restrain myself, and had to try for something a little more FABulous: Create your own superhero by clicking HERE.

Harder Better Faster

With Eight days to go until The Olympic Games begin, I feel the need to see some athleticism of a different nature (no, not that kind of athleticism). Enjoy…

Mmmm... Brains!

I saw this over at You Can See The Strings! blog:

50%

Created by OnePlusYou - Free Dating Sites

I just want you all to know that if any of you become a zombie, I won’t hesitate to shoot you in the head—I’m sure you’d do the same for me, but please don’t bother. I gotta feed and most of my friends are pretty smart, so I can only assume their brains would be mighty tasty! Which begs the question, does eating brains make you smarter? Can you ‘taste’ the knowledge? “Mmmm… Pythagorean Theorem —delish!

Anyhow, take the test and see how you’d survive a zombie apocalypse. Anyone over 50% should call me so we can work out a strategy.

All For Four

For any of you in the summer doldrums, here's something to make you smile:

Weekend Fun

This past weekend, Jill and I went to see Terese Genecco (and her little big band) at the Rrazz Room in SF this weekend. What a show! She’s fantastic! What a throwback to the days of showmanship and real entertainment. I spent the entire time with a huge grin on my face.

Her little big band is bigger than most bands—seven very talented musicians. What is amazing is that her band is not the same every night. She gets her friends to join her, so it’s always changing, yet it sounded like they’ve been playing for years. Her bass player, Danny (somethingorother… I forget)*, I met when I was in New Orleans in 2006. He’s very cool—you can see him groovin’ out in the background HERE. (He's cute... but tragically straight.)

The Rrazz Room, at the Hotel Nikko, is a new space, but it’s booked by the guys same guys who booked the now defunct Plush Room. If you’re in SF and want some late-night fun—the show starts at 10:30pm—then you definitely need to go.

[UPDATE: Danny's last name is Fabricant! Ms. Genecco commented... ain't THAT a kick in the head?! And we are SO going back on the 24th! You crazy kids in the area--join us!]

[Another Update: Congratulations to Terese and Her *Little Big Band* for receiving the 2008 MAC award for best recording at the 22nd annual MAC (Manhattan Association of Cabarets & Clubs) Awards in NYC!]

Crème That Egg

Check out Joseph Herscher's six month effort to create a Rube Goldberg-ish device to smash a Cadbury Egg.




Credit for finding this cool video goes to the amazing Towleroad