Spank Bank Friday
Channing Tatum, Part II

For your spanking pleasure, the return of lovely, lovely Channing...

Storm Large

Vacation begins… enjoy some crazy-delicious tunes.

NSFW if you don't have headphones or an office. (language)

Spank Bank Friday

Meet Evan Monaco. I'm a fan of his on Facebook. I'm not sure who he is, other than a very pretty man... If anyone is looking for a birthday present for me--Evan would be it.

[Photos Removed by Request]

So Can't Wait for This!

Julie & Julia opens on August 7 and I can't wait. Only 5' 6" Meryl Streep could play 6'2" Julia Child. Fantastic.

Spank Bank Friday

I must admit to loving a bearded man... it's taken me forever to grow my puny goatee, so seeing a thick or full beard on a man makes me very happy.

I found the below gentlemen at All About Beards, where one can learn how to grow a better beard, check out styles, and get tips. Did I mention they have a smokin' hot gallery, too?

"yes, please."

While the guy below isn't bearded, this Australian beer commercial is muy macho:

Peggle Review
(Hysterical!)

Happy Fourth of July

Celebrate any way you know how... and if you look like any of these guys, do it shirtless--we'll all thank you.

Spank Bank Friday: Outside

I'm off for the weekend, so have a safe and happy Fourth of July weekend! Get outside and enjoy the sun (just like these guys).

“I’m an Actor…”

“Really…? That’s great! Would I have seen you in anything?”

“Commercials mostly…”

“National?”

“Yeah… well, one.”

“Wow! Which one?”

“Uh…”



I particularly like how he drops the ten tubs and then acts like it's some crazy drama you'd have to do every time you wanted to wipe your ass...

Stay classy, kids!

Brüno Ist Coming

Brüno is going to be great—Sacha Baron Cohen is hysterical. How he does this without ever breaking character is beyond me.

Bruno Conan O'Brien Interview
by yardie4lifever2

I must say, Conan did an excellent job setting this up and—for the most part—playing the straight man (heh... both literally and figuratively).

Human Nature

And it cuts like a knife
She's out of my life

I found out this week that an old friend who I had not seen in years had committed suicide. I was surprised at the sense of loss that I felt for someone I knew only through other friends and I’d not seen in several years. She had a great husband, a beautiful daughter and a thriving business. I wondered how her family could recover from their grief.

I've got to get stronger
And I won't give up the fight

When I heard the news about Farrah Fawcett’s death yesterday after her extensive—and quite public—battle with cancer, my thoughts on my friend’s death turned from sadness to anger. How could she throw away her life when there were so many people out there fighting tooth and nail just to survive?

It's Too High To Get Over
Too Low To Get Under
You're Stuck In The Middle
And The Pain Is Thunder

I can’t imagine how dark it must have been for her that she couldn’t see light. What a horrible and lonely place that must have been. To be in that kind of pain where she could not see her husband and daughter’s love is unimaginable. I feel guilty for being angry with her when she was in so much pain. I find myself waffling between anger, empathy, and sorrow for her that I wonder if I will ever be able to think of her without a broken heart.

Every day create your history
Every path you take you're leaving your legacy
Every soldier dies in his glory
Every legend tells of conquest and liberty

My feelings for Michael Jackson have never really waffled. I enjoyed his music when I was younger, but—truth be told—in the battle of the family bands of the 70’s, I preferred the clean-cut but soulless Osmonds over the urban and funkified Jacksons. I enjoyed the Jackson’s music—but I had a crush on Donny.

I loved Off The Wall, but never bought it. I finally bought Thriller after the fourth number one was released. I became a big fan of Michael’s music, but I was never really a fan of Michael Jackson the person as he never rang true for me. Dating Brooke Shields while carrying Bubbles the Chimp caused warning bells to go off in my head while the rest of the world tried to Moondance. His behavior became more erratic and Michael became less about the music and more about being a bizarre spectacle. Whenever there was a discussion of his behavior, we had to be reminded he was talented.

Beat me
Hate me
You could never
Break me
Will me
Thrill me
You could never
Kill me
Do me
Sue me
Everybody
Do me
Kick me
Hike me
Don't you
Black or white me

When I heard he was ill yesterday, my first thought was Michael was trying to get out of his tour in the most spectacular fashion he could devise. I was as shocked as the rest of the world about his passing. I was less a fan than ever, but he just seemed too famous to die. At least too famous to share his passing with another pop-culture celebrity.

I wondered to myself if I could ever hear his music and not think of the tragedy that was his life and early death. As I walked to the train station I turned on my iPod and searched for a Michael Jackson song, to my surprise there were four of his tunes. As the drums pumped through my earbuds at the opening of The Way You Make Me Feel, I immediately burst into a smile and started to tear up. In an instant it was just about the music and nothing else—everything else faded away.

Just promise baby, you'll love me forevermore
I swear I'm keepin' you satisfied
'Cause you're the one for me

Michael, Farrah and my friend are gone. Three lives ending far too soon. All that’s left are the memories and how they effected the lives of so many. I guess we each have to decide how we’re going to remember them. The good, the bad, or some mix of each. I’ve decided to remember them and smile.


Help me sing it, ma ma se, ma ma sa, ma ma coo sa


Lyrics by Michael Jackson:
She's Out of My Life
Scream
Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’
HIStory
They Don’t Care About Us
The Way You Make Me Feel
Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’

Spank Bank Friday

Meet Benny Feilhaber, US Soccer Team player, with the most stunninly beautiful eyes. I happened upon him while watching the US Soccer Team beat the number 1 ranked Spain.

click for a LARGE pic

Ed McMahon: First Rate Second Banana

Ed McMahon passed away at the age of 86 [obit]—he had been ill as of late. It’s another bit of my childhood that’s gone away. His infamous “Now he-------re’s Johnny!” takes me back to when I would covertly stay up late to watch The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. I would try SO hard not to laugh out loud and alert my parents to my presence. Rest in Peace, Ed.

Losing Ed makes me wonder “who’s next?” Now in the old days, I would say that Delores Hope would be out in the Rolls trying to knock off other celebs to keep Bob Hope alive… someone told me that they don’t get the joy out of celebrity deaths since he died. Does that make them an asshole or me for making fun of it so much?

I’m going to say “me” because since celebrities die in threes, my first instinct is start a list of potential candidates. In no particular order, they are:

Walter Cronkite – 93 and apparently rather ill.
Annette Funicello – she got MS in the 90’s and has been blind for the last few years… I had to Google her to see if she was still alive.
Elizabeth Taylor – Dear Lord, she’s looking like those shrunken apple heads from the 70’s…
Karl Malden – Jeezo, he’s freakin’ 97!
Patrick Swayze – I’ve seen the cover of US Weekly, he should be lucky to make it through this post.
Kirk Douglas – I know what you’re thinking, “He’s still alive?” He’s in his 90’s…
Ernest Borgnine – I’ve been waiting for him to die ever since I heard that he died in the arms of an underage hooker back in the 90’s.
Nancy Reagan – 80 something… She was at the White House recently. Looked like a twig
Mickey Rooney – 105 (I’m guessing, but I can’t be that far off), Again: “still alive? Really…?”
Delores Hope – 100 (Seriously... she's 100!), At this point it is just a matter of time.

Farrah Fawcet – Thanks to Cav for reminding me... after her TV special, how could I forget?

Mama, Don't Take My Kodachrome Away



Kodak announced it is killing off Kodachrome color film, which I thought had already been done by digital film a while back.


As much as I love digital pictures, there is something magical about the color film process that I think we're going to lose. Sure, the digital pictures are flawless--or can be made so with Photoshop--it's the imperfections that sometimes make the shot more interesting, much the way vinyl records added something to music. With only a limited number of frames to shoot, one either had to get the shot, or lived with the imperfect shot. Today, I can shoot 200 frames and either pick the best, or morph several inferior shots into one perfect image. Perfection isn't romantic.


Most of my childhood memories are relived through photographs--many of them stamped with the Kodachrome mark at the bottom. (For those of you too young to remember: we took the pictures, and then sent them out to be printed, and got them back weeks later with a white border around our small 3x3 picture... and we liked it! Then Polaroid came out with their instamatic and photography went to hell...). I feel for those people that love their film and won't go digital, what will they do now?


Truth be told, I haven't bought film in years... and even then I used Agfa film (it was European and so much cooler if you were a photography student...).


Life moves on, but we still have Paul Simon's song...

Fast-Talking Funny

Below is a commentary on video games by Yahtzee, "a British-born, currently Australian-based writer and gamer with a sweet hat and a chip on his shoulder. When he isn't talking very fast into a headset mic he also designs freeware adventure games and writes the back page column for PC Gamer." All I know is that he's damn funny--even though I can't understand half of what he's saying!

What the Hut?

Pizza Hut has had declining sales of late--gee, who hasn't?--and, in order to beef up sales have decided to 'rebrand' themselves as The Hut.

No shit.

They took the best part of their name and dropped it for the worst part of their name. The Hut.

What the fuck is wrong with people nowadays? I only ate at Pizza Hut on two occasions in my almost 45 years... wanna know why? Their pizza sucked. I'll have no problem avoiding The Hut...

Wow, that name just rolls right off the tongue, doesn't it? It actually makes me hungry just saying it... anyone got the number for Roundtable? Cuz that's some good f'ing pizza!

Long Life, Short Reign

Meet British World War I veteran Henry Allingham, 113, now the World's Oldest Living Man. The previous record holder, Tomoji Tanabe of Japan, died this week... he was also 113. If the title comes with any coupons or prizes, he'd better claim them quickly... tick... tick... tick...

Spank Bank Friday

This is Kerry Degman. Pretty amazing, right?

Right!

The Revolution Will Not be Televised...

...it will be Twittered. Twitter announced that it was rescheduling it's preplanned maintenance so as to assist (or not hinder) the ongoing protests in Iran. Twitter has been essential in the communication with the dissadents and the planning of protest rallies.

We live in very interesting times, don't we?

The Day the Music Stopped

Seventy years ago today, Jazz and Swing great William Henry “Chick” Webb died.  Only 30 years old, he was the first “King of Swing” band leader.  He introduced the world to Ella Fitzgerald.  Ella continued the band until her solo career in 1942.

You may never have heard of Chick, but you have felt his impact.