Silly Site o' the Day

Well, that's it. The Olympics are over. We got up at 4 AM, lord knows why, and were able to watch the closing ceremony live on Hulu without commercial interruption or commentator inanity, so there was that. But, you know, pandemic and subdued and just plain tired. I've still felt off today, both NY baseball teams lost as well, I think I just need a few days of non-sports viewing. Not to mention I will be happy if I never see women's beach volleyball again. You know, if every other Olympic sport were framed like that...

Silly Site o' the Day

So yeah, synchronized swimming is still A Thing at the Olympics. Which I don't think it should be, as it's only women. As promised a few days ago, here are Harry Shearer and Martin Short in an old SNL bit demonstrating the inherent silliness in the "sport":



Overall I'm quite enjoying this year's Games, despite NBC's always-jingoistic and micromanaged coverage. Love that the Brits are in third place medal-wise! Now back to the Stupid Bikini Sport; I liked beach volleyball much more in the colder weather.

Silly Site o' the Day

Welcome to "number 9, number 9, number 9..." and the official release date of the remastered Beatles catalog (oh, and incidentally, a Beatles version of something called "Rock Band," whatever that is). And so far, the absolute best and funniest review I've read of these albums comes from the Onion AV Club's Chuck Klosterman (via Robin). It's like reading a parody of a Usenet-era know-nothing and, after all, today is as much about nostalgia as anything else.

Oh, and by the way, it's also the Day Without Cats, for those of you who are Aware Of All Internet Traditions:



Via Laura. The saddest thing is, I recognized almost all the references they make in the above video.

Marking the Day

Bibi announces that today is the third annual BlogDay:



Here are the BlogDay posting instructions:

1. Find 5 new blogs that you find interesting
2. Notify the 5 bloggers that you are recommending them as part of BlogDay 2007
3. Write a short description of the Blogs and place a link to the recommended Blogs
4. Post the BlogDay Post (on August 31st) and
5. Add the BlogDay tag using this link and a link to the BlogDay web site

Today, sayeth the site, "bloggers from all over the world will post recommendations of 5 new blogs, preferably blogs that are different from their own culture, point of view and attitude. On this day, blog readers will find themselves leaping around and discovering new, unknown blogs, celebrating the discovery of new people and new bloggers."

So I did it using Blogger's "Next Blog" button, and here are my five, although I won't be notifying the bloggers that I'm mentioning them (let them get your hits as a nice surprise!):

1. Vörös Liliom, a very pretty Hungarian blog of which I cannot read a single word but which contains beautiful photographs accompanied by what appears to be poetry. Probably worth it if you can read the language or want to go through Babelfish.

2. On the Tombstone of Luis Casati, who says, "I seem conventional only to myself presently, which is most inconvenient. Sometimes." In this fairly new blog, Luisa chats about her daily life, passes along YouTube videos, and discusses books and music. This may be a keeper.

3. Princesa says, "Soy una pequeña princesa que no hace otra cosa que estudiar para unas oposiciones que parece que no acaban nunca. Mi reino...la patria perdida que espero encontrar algún día." The princess' royal diary seems by turns upbeat and contemplative, but my Spanish is por merde these days so I could be wrong.

4. Really Nothing To Say. I love this concept, it's quite perfect for our blog-obsessed culture. In turn it led me to The Very Silly Blog, "the second silliest blog on the planet." Maybe I have the silliest because of my Silly Sites? I have to count these two as one.

5. Lastly, a blog for the Italian football club AC Fiorentina, in Italian of course, entitled 1529 FV QVI CHE NACQVE IL CALCIO. I have no idea but, um, Go AC Fiorentina! Lots of YouTube highlight videos; mercifully violence-free.

Also, PSoTD asks his entire blogroll, "What should the federal holiday 'Labor Day' mean to America? And how should we appropriately honor the day?" Didn't he do this last year? Yes, yes he did. But that was slightly different, as it was oriented more toward the personal than the political. Politically I believe Labor Day should be commemorated as first and foremost the Workers' Holiday, the one celebrated on May Day throughout most of the rest of the world. It should no more include CEOs in the celebration than Secretaries Day should morph into Administrative Professionals Day and suddenly even someone who isn't a secretary or receptionist is getting taken out to lunch or flowers or whatever and no, I'm not bitter, not much. See what happens when you ask me these things, Wayne?

Tagged Again, Grumble Grumble...

I spoke too soon, didn't I? But it's Elaine, and she's hard to resist. The game is, "Tell five things about you that no one knows."

And like I said, I have a hard time thinking of anything that I want folks to know that they don't already. So I'd have to modify the premise to something like "five things about you that you're pretty sure most of your blog readers don't know and that you wouldn't mind them learning." Anyway, here goes:

1) I used to play piano, flute and guitar. My paternal grandmother was a concert-level pianist, and my dad's cousin-once-removed still plays professionally in Europe, as far as I know. My own skill level? Not so good.

2) However, I do still occasionally hum to myself the melodies of songs I wrote in college. And I think I sing and harmonize pretty well. Alto, in case anyone's wondering. As I call it, "the Arty part (as in Art Garfunkel, not anything particularly artsy)"...

3) When I was younger I used to pretend there was always a camera on me, like in The Truman Show. I still do sometimes. The above-mentioned college-written songs are part of the soundtrack.

4) I have a few OCD-type habits, one of which is that, when climbing or descending stairs, I prefer to end on my left (dominant) foot. If I've miscounted and end on my right, it doesn't feel correct to me.

5) I get disproportionately frustrated when I forget a word I want to use, or when someone jokes with me and I don't pick up on it.

I am not, repeat NOT, going to "tag" anyone else with this game. I don't like tag, and it was hard enough for me to "play" as it was.

I'm Crushing You, I'm Crushing You All!

Via Bora, today is Reveal Your Blog Crush Day. On whom do you majorly crush? I love so many of you, but for sheer "oh my god I wish I were this blogger and we have so much in common and I really really want to meet them" ookiness, my vote has to go to Melissa at Shakespeare's Sister. Hey, the woman married a Brit and reminds me physically of my all-time favorite writer/friend Anna Ackner (someday maybe Anni will have a blog), what can I say...

Eight Amazing Nights Things

Here's my attempt at playing the game of "find[ing] or creat[ing] images of eight things I find amazing in picture form." Tagged by Donna, not going to tag anyone in return so rest easy. (Okay, I'll retroactively tag Kathy, since she's done hers.) Picture credits given where I could find them.


c. Neil Smith

English robins are very different from the American varieties. Ours signal the coming of spring; theirs herald wintertime and thus often adorn Christmas cards. There are lots of other differences between the two nations "separated by a common language," and I'm learning more about them all the time thanks to my amazing marriage to a very English Robin.



This is the train station in Lewes whence I first visited my future in-laws. I've loved England pretty much for as long as I can remember, it's a magical land to me. I've always been interested in traveling but haven't really had the money to do a lot of it. I quite enjoy traveling through England by train, and would like to do it someday without us toting so much luggage.


c. Cindy Royal

It's pretty amazing we even found each other in the first place. We met, as do so many nowadays, via the Internet. The progress of technology is dizzying; I only wish it were matched by human social progress.


c. Joe Tucciarone

Which it may very well be, someday. The human imagination is limitless, and all it takes to realize its amazing potential is for us to be a little kinder to each other day by day.


c. S. Wolin

And I think we'll make it. Humans are amazingly resilient creatures. We can face down all manner of adversity and come out the better for it.


c. NASA

Even the planet on which we live is pretty amazing. It's the only one we know of so far which supports our kind of life. Who knows how many more are out there? Even the concept of "out there," the idea of the vastness of space, enthralls me.



And our planet offers us so much amazing beauty, both fleeting and never-ending at the same time.


c. jleighb

And such an amazing variety of sustenance! Some of which I'm about to sample at a New York blogger gathering (although I don't think sushi will be on the menu), so it's time to go!

Obligatory Misnamed "Meme" Response

Yesterday was The Truffle's birthday, so I'm actually going to answer her "tagging" me with the latest blogospheric pass-around, the Book "Meme." (For the record, a series of questions passed around among blogs is not a meme. This is a meme.) I'm going to try to say it with pictures and links.

A book that changed my life:



A book I've read more than once:



A book I would take with me if I were stuck on a desert island:



A book that made me laugh:



A book that made me cry:



A book I wish had been written:



A book I wish had never been written:



A book I've been meaning to read:



I'm currently reading:



Whew - at least I didn't have to talk about books, I still have half a dozen review copies sent to me over the last couple years whose covers haven't even been cracked. I miss being able to lift hard covers...

Time-Waster Times Four

Oh crap, Maru tagged me. I'm really bad at these things:

Four jobs you’ve had in your life:
Day camp counselor
Substitute teacher
Mortgage processor (temp job)
Secretary

Four movies you could watch over and over:
The Wizard of Oz
Star Wars: A New Hope
Young Frankenstein
Brigadoon

Four places you’ve lived:
Bronx, NY
Roselle, NJ
New Brunswick, NJ
Brooklyn, NY

Four TV shows you loved: In chronological order growing up:
Bewitched
The Partridge Family
M*A*S*H
Fernwood 2Nite/America 2Nite

Four places you’ve been on vacation:
London
New Orleans
San Francisco
San Diego

Four websites you visit daily (that aren't on the bloglists):
Other than Bloglines (i.e., my blogroll), I tend not to visit other websites on a daily basis - not enough hours in the day!

Four of your favorite foods:
Sushi
Latkes (as I just made some)
Sushi
Sushi... okay, um, sashimi?

Four places you want to be:
Vancouver
Manhattan (during the work day)
San Francisco
Lewes area (visiting Rob's relatives)

Four books you could read over and over:
No time for book-reading any more, I'm afraid, but pretending there was enough time, the 14 Oz books, the complete works of Shakespeare, and my dozen Lang fairy tale books, which is plenty more than four.

Four songs you can't get tired of listening to:
Solsbury Hill (Peter Gabriel)
Chords of Fame (Phil Ochs)
A Trip to the Fair (Renaissance)
Closer to Fine (Indigo Girls)

Whew - don't worry, I won't tag any of y'all...