4 for Me

Inspired by a post on Betsy's blog, I wrote an email to a few people yesterday with an asinine little list game, of the email quiz ilk I spent countless hours completing and forwarding around age 15. But this one's in short form and pretty fun. Feel free to complete it on your own blog/leave your answers in the comments. Also, feel free to only answer some categories, or add more! In the words of a coworker, this weather is putting me in a "senior slump" of sorts. I have no interest in being at the office, only in being on a porch. Eating a hot dog. Drinking a keg beer.

4 movies you could watch over and over again

1. Fried Green Tomatoes
2. Dirty Dancing
3. Varsity Blues/most any sports movie
   
4. Little Mermaid
   

Yeah, so?

4 jobs you've had in your life

1. Outback Steakhouse, hostess with the mostess
2. Northern Virginia Hematology & Oncology, general office goffer
3. Worldstrides, Roamer (student travel company -- I was in charge of getting kids from the bus to the plane or vice versa)
4. TMP Worldwide, current job -- was on account service, now I'm moving over to be a writer
   

4 tv shows you watch

1. OC
2. Veronica Mars
3. Lost
4. Grey's Anatomy
   

4 websites you visit daily

1. http://www.zunta.org/blog/
2. http://dceiver.blogspot.com/
3. http://blogs.usatoday.com/popcandy/
4. http://theblathering.com/

secondary shout out to the websites i read and write for daily: this one and dcist.com

4 favorite foods

1. Italian water ice in Stone Harbor, NJ (best flavor: watermellon)
2. Crab (picking crabs)
3. Funfetti cupcakes
4. Anything my mom makes... pretty much ever
   

4 places you'd rather bet right now

1. On the dock at Stone Harbor with my cousin Kevin, circa 1990
2. In Charlottesville around 2002, on a spring afternoon, when DU decided to have a BBQ
   
3. In the Vienna Woods swimming pool, anytime growing up, mid-July
4. Playing flashlight tag with Diana, Bobby, Jeff, Justin (the neighborhood crew) around age 9
   

4 songs you listened to most recently

1. Walkmen, "The Rat"
2. Rosebuds, "Warm Where You Lay"
3. Richard Swift, "Not Wasting Time"
4. Flaming Lips, "The W.A.N.D."
   

4 types of candy you do not like

1. Black Liccorice
2. Warheads
3. Those peanut butter taffy things Becky eats around halloween
4. Peeps
   

4 things you got in trouble for as a child

1. The permanent marker/formal wear/high chair/anything within reach incident around age 2
2. Stealing candy at the grociery store (I think it was Starburst)
3. Temporary insanity anytime we ate at Busch's
4. Eating nerds/drinking kool aid in the living room (they didn't interact well with the carpet)

4 things whose absence would change your day to day life (the non-cheesey way of saying, things you couldn't live without)

1. iPod
2. Stinker!
3. DVR
4. the internets

4 celebrities/famous figures you think you'd actually get along with if you hung out

1. George Clooney
2. SMG
3. Adam Brody
4. Jon Stewart
   

4 things you wouldn't openly admit to liking, but really, really do (song/artist/movie/etc.)

1. The Hillary Duff song, "Come Clean"
2. The (recently ended) WB series, "What I Like About You"
3. Maroon 5
4. Justin Timberlake
   

Mommy's Alright, Daddy's Alright, They Just Seem a Little Weird

Is anybody else out there watching, and loving, Sons and Daughters? It's become Must-DVR-TV for me these past few weeks its been on. Between its partially improvised dialogue, and its family-centric subject matter, comparissons to Arrested Development are unavoidable. Sons and Daughters is centered around a 40 year old man named Cameron and his family (his estranged son from a previous marriage, his soul mate of a wife and their two small children, his drama queen sister and her hilariously strange husband and two kids, his half sister, her toddler son and his slacker father, and his parentsh -- mom and step dad).

Wow, that description sounded really formal. Anyway, it's hilarious and quirky and the characters are all really well shaped. The little rif that they play at the start of every show perfectly captures the its tone. It's relaxed and a little frenetic at times. But there's a real sense of love with this weird crazy family, and it comes through in every episode without giving you the feeling that Bob Saget is about to come in asking for a hug. And the theme song is "Surrender," by Cheap Trick. Which is an awesome, awesome song.

Seriously. Even if you don't start watching Sons & Daughters, go buy that song on iTunes or something. It's freakin great.

Please God No

What's worse than someone genetically predisposed to idiocy?

Someone nurtured into it.

Yes yes, I do still blog

It's probably no shock to those that have been coming here to find an utter lack of updates lately that I've been the mayor of Busyville for the past few weeks. I've got an exciting announcement about job stuff coming up soon, but for now, enjoy these pictures (courtesy of Shutterbug Santi) from Saturday evening's 2-generation girls' night out.

Veronica Mars Discussion Points

• Is it glaringly obvious to anyone else that Woody Goodman is the real connection to the bus crash, not Terrence Cook?
• It was also quite obvious that Kim "losing" her cell phone would play into the disappearance thing. But that's of much less importance.
  
• How much did everyone love the last scene -- "If true love comes looking for me, I'll be by the espresso machine." ((Enter Logan!))
  
• I'm slightly disturbed by the fact that Logan slept with Hannah... I think he does probabably does really like her, despite the fact that he's using her to get to her father. Nonetheless, sleeping with a girl whose first date you were? That really does "plumb new depths." Also, Hannah -- a little slutty, no?
  

Tech Question

Why can't I burn CDs from iTunes with more than 18 songs on them? The playlists are well below 100mb. My blank CDs are 700mb. I don't get it. The preferences screen for burning disks doesn't seem to have an option to change that setting. Any of you techy types have any light to shine?

One for the Books

So. St. Patrick's day. One of those big drinking holidays that more often than not turns out to be a big bust of the "wasn't this supposed to be the most fun ever, but all I did was wait around in long lines for beer all night?" nature. Well folks, 2006 will go down in history as the St. Patrick's Day that lived up to all possible expectations.

At the start of the night, I wasn't even going to go out. I'd been having major stomach pains all afternoon (which picked up where they left off and demobilized me for the rest of the weekend, but I got a repreive in the name of St. Pat), and as nobody has plans that seemed supremely fun, I'd more or less resigned myself to staying in. Perhaps seeing V for Vendetta. But when your mother calls and says she really wants to go out for St. Patrick's day but doesn't know who else to call, and the hopefully little lilt in her voice is so cute, well, there isn't much to debate.

We left our cars at home and took a cab up to the 4 P's in Falls Church. The line was massive, so we asked the cabby to keep on truckin into Clarendon. Got to Molly Malones at about 9:30, and there was no line and plenty of green-clad patrons, so we had a winner! We got a couple drinks, found a spot to stand, and set into crowd observation/chatter mode. It wasn't long before there was quite a commotion at the door as the Guinness team -- complete with a man-sized pint. One gregarious member of the engtourage, Gavin, started chatting mom and I up. This was the 26th bar they'd been to that day. Gavin introduced us to the Guinness brewmaster, straight in from Ireland. Yeah, he wasn't really. But that didn't keep us from calling him The Brewmaster the rest of the night. When they'd passed out a sufficient number of guiness light up button thingies, they were heading on down the road. But not without me and mom!

We all barrelled out of Molly Malones and into the stretch escalade, filled to the brim with free drinks. Inside were promoters from (obviously) Guinness, Harp, Red Bull (!), Miller, and more. But all I really drank all night was Harp. It was off to the Four Courts, where our entourage cut the line, got in for free, and drank for free all night. Not a shabby situation we'd wandered into.

The things I learned on Friday include: My mom and I are hot. My mom kind of made out with Stephen Stills once. It's really embarassing when a guy tells your mom he wants to "get down" with you. But she thinks it's hilarious. Bringing out your mom increases the number of men that hit on you by about 80% (seriously, random guys were coming up to me and out of nowhere asking me if I'd have brunch with them the next day, it was truly bizarre). Harp is really good! There are a lot of beer-related professions in Northern Virginia. Guys actually do use the confusing your mother for your sister line, and she really does eat it up. No giant pints are allowed inside Whitlows, but the pint's entourage is. It's really, really fun to go out with beer promoters. Slainte!

Next up: Cinco de Mayo!

The Internet is Fun

Thanks to Catherine for pointing me towards Spell With Flickr.



Go to DCist to see what I did last night, and some music news. I'm a busy lady these days, so my appologies for the blog laze. That sounds like a condiment.

No Jager Bombs After Midnight

IMG_1030.JPG
Originally uploaded by AMattos.

This is an actual sign posted at a bar (in a bowling alley) in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The same town where you can only buy beer in quantities of 24 (no six packs, no 40s...).

Alyssa....

...you got some 'splainin to do!

The Stick Prevails

Me: Hey Jenna, will you take a stick of butter out of the fridge?
Mom: You have a baby panda in your fridge?!

Oh Mylanta

Did anyone else just catch that "as the record plays, the sound of music makes the world go round" paintinG bit by Gideon on American Idol? I almost spat out my ruby red grapefruit juice.

On another Fox note, I apparently didn't record 24 on Monday. Despite having checked the DVR multiple times before bouncing 9:30-wards. I understand that it was a fairly eventful episode. As DCeiver hasn't seen it yet either, I'll have to sniff out a recap somewhere else.

Also, I feel privilaged to have heard this joke in person before it went on Wonkette. Viva Jason!

News from Orange County

Straight from the horse's mouth, Anna will be returning to The O.C. this month. Now, O.C., you know I love you. You know that I do. But you're stirring the pot quite enough with all of the Marissa/Ryan troubles of late. If you cause trouble in Seth & Summer land, we're gonna have words. Four-letter words. Got that?

It really is hard out here for a pimp

"Two Efforts Target D.C. Pimps" (WaPo)

It's a sad, sad day in Washington

I knew it was coming... but that doesn't make me any less upset about it. Goodbye, Lavar. The rest of the fans and I will miss you. A lot. Yeah yeah, I hear the complaints that he hasn't been the athlete he used to be for few years. But he's still a play maker, and he still is a Redskin. Not an NFL player, but a Redskin. He loves his team, the fans, the city. And those types of players are few and far between these days. Best of luck to my favorite #56!

Oscar Commentary as Jack Nicholson Takes the Stage

Me: What do you think he'd have been if he weren't an actor?
Mom (without missing a beat): A bookie.

Go Read the Scientology Article in Rolling Stone

Because, if you're like most people I know, what you know about Scientology scares you, but the most in depth knowledge you've ever gotten about it was from South Park (that episode, by the way, as a result from pressure by Scientologists, will never be aired again). This article's got a lot of really fascinating information. The writer got unprescendented access to some people and places, and took a lot of different approaches to shed light on different angles. I'm certainly just as, if not more, offput by Scientology than ever, but it's good to know that it's not unfounded. Here's a little sample:

Discussion, as some academics like Kentnote, isn't encouraged in Scientology, nor in Scientology oriented schools. It is seen as running counter to the teachings of Scientology, which are absolute. Thus, debate is relegated to those in the world of "Wogs" -- what Scientologists call non-Scientologists. Or, as Hubbard described them, "common, ordinary, run-of-the-mill, garden-variety humanoid(s)."

The Scientologist lexicon might be the most fascinating part of the article. I mean seriously -- they've got a word for Muggles. Oh yeah, and, that Tom Cruise can manipulate inanimate objects with his mind, trying to leave Scientology sounds like the most frightening process possible, and if you're a bad little scientologist, you get sent away to boot camp. Among other things. That's what happens when you're religion is invented by a science fiction writer. Anyhow, go check it out, it's worth a read. (In issue 995, March 9, 2006, with the red headed snow boarder dude on the cover.)

Grammar Issue

One of my periphery duties at work, and main duties at DCist, is to edit. I make paper bleed left and right, all day long. There is one glaring error that I see so often that I even begin to question myself. Then I remember that it's a rule I've known since about the 3rd grade. Punctuation goes inside quotation marks. INSIDE! For example,

"Can I give you a foot rub?" Matthew McConaughey asked Amanda.
She blushed, and giggled through answering, "yes."

It's causing me to use the little transpose symbol far more often than I can comprehend. Why don't people remember elementary school? Or high school, or college, or books they read, or anything else in the world that would remind them -- punctuation goes inside quotation marks? There are exceptions to the rule (of course, because English is wildly confusing), but for the most part, keep your punctuation inside your quotation marks, if for no other reason than to ease my heartburn on the matter. Thank you.

Creepy as Hell

The description of the movie sounds interesting, but the trailer for Bubble is creepy as all hell.

One Mo' 'Gain

I just remembered about this little frappr map I made a while ago. Hey, that was neat! It's a map for all of my readers to plot themselves out on. So, hollar at me! If you do, I might stop saying things like "hollar at me." Go forth and frappr! Get your frappr on! Frap me up! Enjoy a cool refreshing frapus t r e t c ho!

I'll stop now.

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PLUGINSPAGE="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer">

The Future Freaks Me Out

The bottom line is that today, if you wanna communicate with the youth, you gotta get into social networking. The only other way that I know is... Emo rock!

Anybody else catch the frightening and funny bit about MySpace on TDS tonight (Thurs)?

On the down side they're loaded with sexual predators. On the up side, they're loaded with sexual prey.

The future freaks me out. Longer opus on the effects of the internets on the world's youth to come. The future freaks me out.

And so does Aaron Echols. I was just watching some V.Mars (while suffering from a complete lack of motivation to be anywhere but my couch). He is one hellacreepy dude.

Why Didn't I Think of This?

The Onion AV Club's latest awesome feature is called Random Rules, and consists of artists letting their iPods go on shuffle, and commenting on songs as they come up. This is SUCH a great idea. And considering that this activity is how I spend the vast majority of my nonsense time at home, it so easily could have been mine. Anyhow, cool new feature! Go check it out!

Oh, and, this sounds like it was Tyler (who's psuedonym we've decided will be (nickname)) or Paul doing the commentary: "I really think Lee Ann Womack has an amazing voice, and I was really disappointed when I found out she was a Republican."

I'm really glad that I'm not an active member of the UVA Greek-system right now

Why? Because without a smidgeon of uncertainty, I can say that the song I just heard on the radio will be more ubiquitous on dance floors surrounding the mad bowl than any ODB or Nelly hits were back in my hey day (hay day?). At this point you may be wondering, what could make her so sure that a song will be both wildly popular at UVA, and massively annoying? Well, let me clear things up. The song in question has a refrain that frat boys across the land will identify with so inappropriately, that they won't be able to stop themselves from making it their battle cry. That refrain is, ladies and gentlement, "Ever since I can remember I been poppin' my collar.' It's followed with something about ownin them ho's or something of that line of thought, which of course, will be greeted with cackles and fist pounds ad nauseum. I bet I know one place the song won't overcome. I'll stick to my dens of hipsterdom and steer clear of this one.

Amazing

The world, the blogosphere, and DCist are lucky to have Jason Linkins. Last night, he and Kyle took a huge one for the team. They went to see Scott Stapp. Kyle's photographic magic illustrates the genius that springs forth from Jason's fingers. Do yourself a favor and go read it.

Then think of a nickname for Tyler.

Brain Drippings

• In discussing Spoon's awesomeness, I've decided that Tyler needs to start a band called Lamp, so that people can legitimately say "I love lamp!," and not be quoting Anchorman.
  
• Another crucial band name I thought of (last week): Cheney's Shotgun. First album: Covey of Terror. I've also always wanted to have a band so we could name our first album The Night Before The Morning After (a nod, of course, to this awesome installation piece I saw at a museum in London, by Gilbert & George, I think), but I just googled it and discovered that some bastards already took that idea. Oh yeah, and I have no musical talent whatsoever.
  
• Last night at the Shell station, Tyler pointed out that they have signs all over the place that say FuelStretch. I'll take this as a personal greeting, so, hello to you too, Shell station!
• Drew is funny: "I think working from home is a sign of clinical depression. I don't even want to get out of bed today. And if I didn't have dinner at my grandmother's tonight, I could totally pull that off."
• I'm hungover. You know that kind of hungover where you're not nautious, you don't have a headache, but you're just slow? Not even so much tired, as just really freaking slow (in terms of reaction time, attention span, productivity, actual physical motion...).
  
• My away messages/profile at work won't be so much fun anymore, as more and more professional contact types are using it to communicate with me, and, while I'm sure they'd find me terribly charming, they probably don't need to be tipped off to things like, the state of my hangover, or the link to my blog. Drew, Tyler & Liz had to call off the intervention when I let them know, because hum drum "I am away from my computer right now" have historically been a warning sign that something's up in s t r e t c hville. No longer. Now I'm just plain boring. Yick.
• I made a really good salad last night. I wish I had more of it to eat right now. For anybody that wants a really good salad, might I suggest: arugula, romain, apples, grapes, gorgonzolo cheese, walnuts, salt, pepper, oil and vinnegar. Is it weird that those are things I almost always just, have in my kitchen? Anyhow, bon appetit.
  
• Seriously, Spoon is so good. Anybody would love them. It's not possible not to. And I love each album pretty much equally. So, if you don't have a Spoon album, go out and get one. You won't be sorry. I'm listening to Girls Can Tell right now, and my quality of life has gone up a couple points.
  
• The new season of Real World blows goats. Seriously. It was on when T and I got back to my place after baring with Sam, Weed, Gwain & Stacy. As far as I can tell, not a single character (note that I say "character, not "person") is at all interesting or sympathetic or, ya know, smart. This whole eating disorder plot line is insipid. And the gay guy, is he trying to not be gay? I don't get it. I was BORED in a big way about 5 minutes into watching it. I do not anticipate an improvement, and therefore will include this season of Real World into the crappy mundane "let's see how much sex they'll have and how drunk they'll get" category of reality tv. And probably won't watch it. Well, unless it's a weekend morning and Best Week Ever isn't on, or Goonies isn't being syndicated somewhere.
  
• I said "T" up there because I've dropped Tyler's name like a bajillion times in this post already. It's a shame he doesn't have his own blog that I can link to, or some pseudonym for me to use alternately. Your mission, commentors, should you choose to accept it: give Tyler a pseudonym. I'm rejecting T-Bone at the outset, so don't even try it. Oh, and if you don't know him, his name is Tyler Hardy Cash. He plays the piano really well. And stuff.