There are times that I marvel over Our Modern World. Other times, I take it for granted.
Last night, as I video-chatted with my brother and his family about 1,000 miles away, I admit to being a little amazed that it’s so easy for us to do this.
Fortunately, she’s still marrying me
Amy: Have you given any thought to what sort of wedding ring you want?
Gil: . . .
or maybe . . .
I mean, I figure that Legion flight-ring’s going to be a tough find this season. . .
I guess they call it “Ultimate” for a reason…
This is not on my Amazon wishlist. Check out the “Number of discs” line and laugh over the idea that it’s TWO-HUNDRED AND TWELVE DISCS!
That said, I do know people who would likely fork over the dosh for it. All $2,800 or so.
Duke Goes Gonzo
Sorry about the lack of updates, witticisms, etc., dear readers. I’ve been swamped with work on the year-end issue of the magazine and taking care of wedding details, while Amy & I have been adjusting to our new living-in-sin work schedules. I oughtta be back on track in a week or so.
Part of the reason I haven’t posted is because my head was blown off by the news that David Duke, Klansman and former representative from Louisiana, spoke at a rally in Damascus to support Bashar Assad.
I thought, “There’s no way on earth this story is real. Sure, it’d make for a great ‘Anti-Zionism Leads to Strange Bedfellows’ headline, but come on.”
Amy, a Louisiana native, asked, “Do you think he hates Jews more than non-whites?”
I opined that he probably doesn’t hate non-whites so much as he doesn’t want them in America. As long as they stick to Syria, I bet he’s fine with the existence of Arab people. In principle.
So I finally sat down last night and tried to source the story. First thing I found? Why, “The Official Website of Representative David Duke, PhD”! And it’s filled with links and soundclips from Duke’s visit to Syria! Enjoy!
(And I’ve determined that it’s okay–despite all the hardships that hurricane Katrina has inflicted on people–to laugh about the fact that it also dropped a tree on Duke’s house.)
Recipe-blogging
A lot of bloggers like to recipe-blog. I’m not one of them, because I’m a terrible cook. Maybe I’m not terrible, but I refuse to even try, so there’s no way to find out if I’ll ever be good at it. My only food-making abilities involve great scrambled eggs, a perfect PB&J, and good steak-grilling.
Fortunately, the official VM fiancee likes to cook. For Thanksgiving, she made this tasty number.
That’s right: bacon-wrapped dates with goat cheese. They were tremendous, combining the saltiness and texture of the bacon with the sweetness of the dates and, um, the glue-like nature of the cheese, which helped the little almond bits get stuck in our teeth.
And, that’s right: there’s actually a site called “iheartbacon.com“.
I’ve heard of product tie-ins, but…
Watching the Giants-Seahawks game on Fox right now, and I’m just wondering: given that Washington state is currently searching for a couple of convicts who busted out during the weekend, maybe the Fox guys could stop promoting Prison Break so heavily during the broadcast.
Living in Sin
Just as my last night of bachelorhood wasn’t exactly filled with strippers and belly-shots, our first weekend of living in sin was pretty laid back. Our main activity was watching flicks, leading to this truly bizarre assortment of Hollywood offerings:
We moved all of Amy’s stuff here on Friday, so now we need to sequentially unpack (and, of course, make room for stuff). I can’t wait till we get to the point where we finally figure out what to do with our two copies of the Stanley Kubrick Collection DVD set.
Is it racist to call it Black Friday?
I don’t know the answer to that question, but if you’re looking to buy me stuff and avoid going to a mall, you oughtta go to my wish list on Amazon! It’s worth checking out, just for the novelty factor of having the Metamorpho collection followed by Jane Jacobs!
The official VM fiancee isn’t much more coherent in her tastes, as you can tell from her wish list. She’d sure be happy if someone got her that Complete Buffy DVD set. (On the other hand, I’m convinced she only put this on her list because it might get her closer to Ed Hochuli.)
It’s been a great year for smart comics, so if you’re looking for gify-buying advice for other geeks, you need to check out Tom Spurgeon’s Black Friday and Beyond Shopping Advice For Sophisticated Comics Fans 2005!
We spent Thanksgiving down in Holmdel, NJ, at the parents of Amy’s buddy Scott. Highlights (besides the food) included a college student who was like an idiot savant of the behind-the-counter dynamics of fast food (accent on the ‘idiot’), and a conversation at the other end of the table about how terrible “drugs” are.
We got home and watched the first part of Kill Bill, which probably won’t become a Thanksgiving tradition, but was a lot of fun.
Happy Thanksgiving!
The official VM fiancee moved in yesterday, and we celebrated with a double-feature of So I Married an Axe Murderer and Showgirls! I got a light dust of snow to fall during the night, so she woke up to a peaceful view of our suburban future.
“Wow,” she said. “The only thing we’re missing is a monkey butler to serve us coffee.”
And you wonder why I’m getting married!
In other news, I posted another set of pix to Flickr. There’s about 100 snaps from my October 2002 trip to Paris, including some good “celebrity” shots from Pere Lachaise.
I figured out some neat Photoshop automations that should help me process a whole ton of other shots so I can post them up there, too. The big set from New Zealand will likely be next.
I hope you all have a great holiday weekend.
(Update: posted the NZ pix (11-12/03) and the California coast drive pix (6/04))
