Officially the Weirdest Email to Go 'Round the Office Today.

Did you leave your trousers in my office??!! After a day away from the office (on Thursday) I returned and found a pair of black mens trousers in my office. Not having seen any of your walking around without your trousers I am not sure to whom I should return them. Please come and collect them if they are yours.

Thank you,
------------

Pig Out.

For more about British people and their seeming obsession with hog roasts, tune in next time...

Rugby.

So this world cup thingie is my first ever foray into the sport of rugby. Myoffice has set up a "pool" of sorts and I've been given the Italy team to support, whihc I'm happy to do, but having watched my first ever rugby match the other week, I just want to say that I never want to hear how violent American football is again. I mean sheesh. Ok, that is all.

Michael Sick

I've been really disturbed--even from "across the pond"-- about the Michael Vick dogfighting case and I'd planned to do a post about why. But really, all my reasons have already been mentioned by others: the cruelty, the insanity of such a rich guy trying to get even more rich by profiting off cruelty, the fact that he lied about being involved...but the simple fact is that I'm upset and angry because two of my major loves are dogs and American football and Michael Vick has abused both. And I know "let he who is without sin cast the first stone" and all, but I can't help hoping that he goes to jail. I'm sorry, but I can't.

Just a quick question.

Why aren't there screens on windows in the UK? Just wondering.

"ice Cream!" I Screamed

If you live in or near or nearish to London and you've never been to Ben and Jerry's Sundae on the Common, then let me see...how can I put this nicely...oh yeah, what is WRONG with you?! Seriously, free ice cream, decent bands (was v. fun to see The Proclaimers) and did I mention, free ice cream for the masses? No wonder everyone seemed so happy and mellow.

London Underground dinner party

Period Costume Dude at Basildon Park

actually uses the phrase "lust tiger"

Speaking of Dad...

He would have been wild about where I went today with Julie, Zoe and Nicole...to Basildon Park...where they filmed a lot of the Keira Knightley version of Pride and Prejudice (not my fave version btw, am I really supposed to buy Keira Knightley as a woman a guy would find unattractive at first? puhlease.) anyways...

Father's Day Shout Out

I love him and miss him and believe in him. And he has a heart the size of Jupiter. Happy Father's Day, Pops.

Riddle me this.

I'm having a hard time remembering when exactly we started caring about who was giving voice to animated features. It seems like every time a animated film is released these days we have to know up front which celebrities are lending their voices to the characters. Now, my problem with this is two-fold:

1. I've a great respect for voiceover artists and I bet a good number of them are getting screwed out of a job just so a movie can amp up the fact that some celeb is behind the talking frog or penguin or whatever. (I'm not talking about roles where versatility is needed like Robin Williams as the genie in Aladdin, etc. I'm talking about characters that just require a nice, pleasant voice, which brings me to part 2 of the two-fold problem...)

2. Part of the point of animation is that, well, it's animated; it's illusory. We are supposed to believe in the character and not be able to picture the person behind what's been fashioned so carefully on screen. It's actually distracting.

So there ya go.



(Truth be told, I have no idea who played Ariel and I don't really need to know, but whoever she is, I hope she hasn't lost her job to Cameron Diaz.)

20 days and counting....

20 more days until cigarette smoking is banned in UK establishments and forced out into the fresh open air where it belongs.

Texas accent, revisited.

Well, after years of trying to shed my Texas accent, I'm afraid that after seeing Vernon God Little at the Young Vic last night, it's rearing it's Southern head. Apologies all 'round, y'all.

Fwwwwt! Fwwwwwt! Swooosh.

(that would be the sound of me wiping dust off my blog.)

You can't make this stuff up.

A booth at the Christian Resources Convention I worked at today...

C'mon it's only Cornell...

As a writer/ editor and sometimes-proofer, this made me feel reel gud.

photo from www.ivygateblog.com

Yes I still find this funny.

I know this has been posted everywhere, but I still find it amusing so...

1. Go to Google maps.
2. Click on get directions.
3. Go from " Atlanta " to " Paris , France ".
4. Scroll down in the directions to number 22.

Heehee

I admit, I'm a newcomer to Gallery of the Absurd, but this may make me a loyal fan:

Adverts

I think the statistic in America is that one out of every three commercials ("adverts" in the UK) is a car commercial. Here it seems like one out of every three adverts contains some sort of animation of something that should not have been anthropomorphized. Case in point, I recently had a chance to catch up on some television (i.e. TiVoed erpisodes of The Daily Show) and as I sped through the adverts I caught a) animated baked beans (cuz you know they so lend themselves to humanization), animated electrical outlets and animated toilet bacteria (the last of which was impetus for this blog post....I mean, toilet bacteria, really? Yeesh.).

Good food, good sangria and popping in to the House of Commons to watch a debate.

a.k.a. Tuesday night

To all those in the queue at Paddington Station who witnessed me losing my shizzy at the ticket seller....

...I apologise. Normally I'm very cool, calm and collected when I'm being treated like rubbish by a guy who obviously failed train ticket school.

Cadbury Eggs...smaller?

The very funny BJ Novak discussing a very important issue.

Fortunately in the UK the eggs have remained the same size...which is a good thing, even if Liz doesn't like them. :)

I think this is so interesting....

The onions may be a bit much, but still


The URL in case the link doesn't work:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/femail/article.html?in_article_id=447434&in_page_id=1879&in_page_id=1879&expand=true#StartComments

Happy Easter, Blogland!

Ironic story for the day:

British supermarket in gaffe over meaning of Easter

dpa German Press Agency
Published: Wednesday April 4, 2007



London- A leading British supermarket chain was left with
egg on its face when it got muddled over the meaning of Easter in an
advert to promote chocolate egg sales, the Times reported Wednesday.
The Somerfield chain, quoting a survey, said in a press release
that while Britons were planning to spend millions on Easter eggs,
many young people did not even know the meaning of the Christian
festival.

Handing out Easter eggs symbolizes "the birth of Jesus," explained
Somerfield in its original release, which was later corrected to read
"the rebirth" of Christ.

A final, third press release, drafted after consultation with the
Church of England, said Easter celebrated the resurrection of Christ.

"We spoke to the Church of England press office, who suggested we
use the word resurrection, in keeping with the Church's teaching,"
said a Somerfield spokesman.

Ben Wilson, from the Church of England press office, said about
the Somerfield release: "It was a genuine mistake, if rather
unfortunate."

© 2006 - dpa German Press Agency

"They call this war a cloud over the land. But they made the weather and then they stand in the rain and say 'Sh*t, it's raining.'"

This quote, from the character Ruby in Cold Mountain, pretty much sums up how I feel about the Sanjaya thing. Except of course that the quote was referring to the Civil War and not some crazytown reality show.

I've refrained from commenting on this until now for a few reasons: 1) I'm lazy, 2) I kind of feel like a bit of an AI poser, since this is the first season I've really watched (excluding of course viewing a few choice episodes at P*s house back in SF) and 3) I don't really need to comment; everyone else already has.

But the more I read quotes from AI producers and personalities, the more annoyed I get. Truthfully, I think their annoyance is feigned; I'm sure they are annoyed all the way to the bank, right? But to hear Ryan Seacrest tell a fan who was complaining about Sanjaya still being on the show, "Hey, you're doing it" and to hear Simon Cowell "threaten" to quit if Sanjaya wins--I have no choice but to comment, and my comment is this: YOU did it. The judges are the ones who advanced him to the top 24. YOU were the ones that gave him and his sister all that camera time, going back again and again to the fact that they were siblings. (Kind of like how YOU only put Anotonella Barba and whatshername through because they were best friends and good looking.) Eveyone else is supposed to spend their time and use up their text messages to reverse something that YOU started?

YOU made the weather.

By the way, I hope Melinda wins...though I do like the fact that Sanjaya rhymes with Jambalaya. Mmmmmm Jambalaya....

Thought for the day.

"There are an estimated 4.2 million CCTV cameras in Britain. That's one for every 14 people." --BBC

Dangit, I want my own.

Farewell, my Carbohydrates.

Passover begins tonight!

The Lure of the Gerrund

So I know that "dissertationing" isn't a word, but I decided to plunk it into dictionary.com just to see what would come up. The outcome? "No results for 'dissertationing' found. Dictionary suggestion: 'destitution'."

Yeah, sounds about right.

hate to admit it

i've always strongly disliked avril lavigne but j edward keyes was right...that "girlfriend" song is addictive...

oh and okkervil river's "the president's dead"...a must-hear. it's on myspace

Inte(red)sting

http://buylesscrap.org

As Tracy Flick would say, this is an "unconscionable travesty"

Copy and paste the link below to save Veronica Mars

Now.

http://www.eonline.com/gossip/kristin/blog/index.jsp?uuid=75a31622-f0e6-4166-be21-798de6671716

Banner wuz here.

When I came into work yesterday, this is what my chair looked lke. If anyone out there knows who tore my chair into four pieces, let me know. Otherwise I will just assume that one of my co-workers in the communications team is the Incredible Hulk.

The Seagull at The Royal Court Theatre

So very good. Kristin Scott Thomas is beautiful and Mackenzie Crook was excellent. Such a great production--it was like food.

A Tribute to Percy Pigs in Haiku Form

Open the package
(Mmmm best thing about Britain)
Gone in three minutes.

Can't.Turn it. Off....

OK so it's 12:22 AM and I'm still up watching red carpet coverage...Ryan Seacrest is so painfully awkward at times, it's almost mesmerizing. The best part so far was when he was interviewing Al Gore about "An Inconvenient Truth" and environmental issues whilst the camera was zero-ing in on Jessica Biel's arse. Boo, E!, boo! And yet I'm still watching.

1 AM is late, y'all.

The question is, am I enough of an Oscar junkie to stay up to watch the awards? I mean, the fact is I haven't seen "Babel" or "Letters from Iwo Jima" and I thought the end of "The Departed" was poop. On the other hand, I love Ellen and am still haunted by the Dench/ Blanchett performances in "Notes on a Scandal" plus I'm still holding out hope that Jackie Ealre Haley will snag a win for his disturbingly fantastic performance in "Little Children."

It's a toughie...then again, maybe that's why I'm so thankful to be born in the age of TiVo, or whatever they call it here.

A few words of advice

If you type "mojitos and port" (with the quotes) into Google, no pages will come up. There is a reason for this: I'm pretty sure--no matter how delicious these things are--that these beverages were ever meant to be consumed together.

I would just like to say

that I hope the Paris Hilton boycott effort is successful. Very successful. Since I rarely stay at a Hilton and I never wear FILA and I'd never ever ever see a Paris Hilton movie even if you threatened to rip out all my arm hairs one by one...there's not much I can do by way of activiely participating in this boycott. But I wish eveyone involved all the best because she is a SBBW.

Happy Valentine's Day.

Happy 32nd Anniversary, Mom and Dad!

I just read that the gift for the 32nd wedding anniversary should be a "gift of conveyance, i.e. an automobile." But considering some of the cars my family has had over the years, a list that includes a powder blue Ford Pinto, a purple Volvo station wagon and a tan-colored boat like vehicle that cost us $50 (£25)...I'd opt for another present. :) Plus, my parents have been known to try to patch a car radiator with bubble gum....:D

Mom and Dad, I love you both. And if you are reading this, shame on you...you should be celebrating!

Report back...

1. Finally seeing "Notes on a Scandal" -- eh, didn't happen.
2. Haircut at Taylor Taylor -- very pleased. and my favourite part (hee hee "part") was when I asked Mr. Superstylist if he's ever jabbed someone in the eye with scissors while cutting their fringe, he responded with, "No no no, but I have accidentally yanked some eyebrow rings out...and I just say to them, 'sorry, guess the 90s are officially over.'" :)
3. Making pumpkin pie -- delish and enjoyed by all.
4. Trip to Absolute Vintage -- fantastic, but only if you like rows and rows of fabulous footwear at amazing prices and racks of supercute dresses and hats from decades gone by.
5. Staying up until the creakity crack of dawn to watch the Super Bowl -- totally worth it. But I need a coffee the size of my head.

Things to look forward to this weekend.

1. Finally seeing "Notes on a Scandal"
2. Haircut at Taylor Taylor
3. Making pumpkin pie
4. Trip to Absolute Vintage
5. Staying up until the creakity crack of dawn to watch the Super Bowl

As predicted...

I was mortified yesterday to see two people at two different times skateboarding through the tunnels at the tube station. Yes. Skateboarding. Why do people insist on making me want to hurt them? On the bright side, there was a great female singer busking at Bank. She sounded like Juliet Turner.

Sometimes...or The Most one can Hope for when Commuting

Sometimes a complete stranger follows you off the train...to give you the glove you unkonwingly dropped.
Sometimes you get a fantastic cup of coffee...from the crappy old stand at Walthamstow Central.
Sometimes it's gray and rainy when you descend into the tube station...and bright and cleary and sunny when you emerge.
Sometimes on the train you look over...and see a little girl doing the most beautiful needlework.
Sometimes a person leaves a copy of The Economist on the seat when they leave...or better still, Vogue.
Sometimes someone gives up their seat for you.
Sometimes you get to give up your seat for someone who needs it more.
Sometimes none of these are true...like Monday, Monday will probably make me want to push someone onto the tracks.
But today, today I got three out of seven...
Which ain't bad.

I can now let go of my grudge.

My cynical nature suffered a big time blow this morning.

For a long time now I've held a bitter grudge against the producers of such films as Bridget Jones' Diary that have led me (and no doubt countless other Americans) to believe that it snows in London when--come to find out--that's not the case. I've even gone so far as to label it false advertising.

Well, this morning it snowed!

Don't get me wrong; it's not the huge drifts that suerpskinny Colin Firth and trouser-less Renee Zellweger stand and embrace in...but it is snow nonetheless.

Wow, perhaps you can believe that real life is like the movies after all.

There must be some irked Canadians out there.

I've noticed lately that, upon hearing me speak, people tend to sort of timidly ask, "Are you from North America?" or "Do I detect a North American accent?"

This leads me to believe that at some point, Canadians in the UK must have gotten so fed up with being asked, "Are you American?" that they started punching inquirers in the face.

My thoughts on being home sick, or "poorly" as they say here.

I have this theory about being home sick and that is this: there is no point in being home sick from work if you are in fact too sick to enjoy it. If that's the case you may as well be at work. The best time to be home sick is when you are just sick enough to justify staying home but not too sick to enjoy your being-at-homeness. You know, when you can drink tea and read in bed and catch up on great films you've been meaning to watch. The kind of sick I am right now, when you are coughing every 4.5 seconds and can barely get motivated to lift the remote...and where blogging this short paragraph has taken waaaaaay too long....this kind stinks. I may as well be at work.
Ok that's my theory. More on why Grand Marnier is better than Nyquil later.

FINALLY!

This calls for a second blog post!

2007 so far...

...is odd. I submit the following as evidence of its oddness:

My computer at work keeps randomly re-starting itself.

Most played CD so far this year: "King" by T.I. (yeah, the rapper).

I'm strangely extremely bothered by a recent mistake at work (something about a photo in a publication that was labelled Mt. Kenya when it was actually in Nepal).

I'm also strangely *extremely* bothered by the fact that no sooner had 2007 rolled in that I got an email from Illuminations advertising their Valentine's Day candles. Seriously, on 1/1/07

I've imbibed more tea than coffee.

I actually enjoyed "Clerks 2" more than "Clerks."


So there ya have it.