Politics: Moonies

That "Peace Awards Banquet" held in the U.S. Senate Building in March was pretty bizarre. Attended by "multi-faith religious leaders" and a dozen Congressmen, the event honoured the Rev. Sun Myung Moon with a "Crown Of Peace". Some Utahns distance themselves from the event, where Moon "told the dinner audience that in the spirit world, Marx, Lenin, Hitler and Stalin found strength in his teachings and have been reborn." Here's the blogger, John Gorenfeld who first exposed the event. He questions the credentials and motives of those "religious leaders". But what's truly bizarre is that Moon owns the Washington Post. I had forgotten that.

TV: "Joe Schmo 2"

I like that Ingrid Weiss on "Joe Schmo 2", but they made a big mistake in picking her as the female dupe. (She has a bachelor's in Political Science from University of Washington and a master's in International Relations from Syracuse University.) She has quickly picked up on the ridiculousness of the show, with its "Pearl Necklace" eviction ceremony and a challenge involving eating from the contestants' "boxes" and "sacks". Plus they brought back the same actor to play the Host. I hope they put her out of her misery soon - or bring her in as part of the joke.

TV: "Crossballs"

MSNBC reviews "Crossballs" - a show that debuts on Comedy Central on July 6th. I had an idea for a show like this about 15 years ago but no one listened to me. The fools. (The official site.)

Alliteration: Texas Rangers

Irish Web site for Bus Enthusiasts. Be sure to check out the latest news from Dromoland Castle and the Dublin Bus Fleet Pie Chart. (Thanks to Jim for the link.) What sad, sad people with their meaningless obsessions.

Anyway, here are alliterative Texas Rangers players and coaches:
Alvin Airoso (minor leagues only), Buddy Bell, Cris Carpenter, Danny Darwin, EE, Frank Francisco, Gary Gray, HH, II, Jonathon Johnson, Kevin Kennedy, LL, Mark McLemore, Nelson Norman, Omar Ortiz (minors), Pat Putnam, QQ, Rick Reed, Scott Sheldon, TT, Ugueth Urbina, VV, Wilbur Washington (minors), XX, YY, ZZ.

Alliteration: Football Players

Alliterative football (soccer) players (with links). Some missing letters.

Arthur Albiston, Billy Bremner, Carlo Cudicini, Damian Duff, Erik Edman, Frank Farina, Gabri Garcia, HH, II, Joe Jordan, Kevin Keegan, Larry Lloyd, Mick Mills, NN, OO, Predrag Pazin, QQ, Roberto Rivelino, Steve Staunton, Tony Taylor, UU, VV, Wille Wallace, XX, YY, Zinedine Zidane.

Alliteration: TV Actors

Alliterative TV actors: Alan Alda, Bruce Boxleitner, Chuck Connors, Dustin Diamond, Erik Estrada, Fyvush Finkel, Grant Goodeve, Harry Hamlin, II, Joshua Jackson, Ken Kercheval, Lorenzo Lamas, Martin Mull, Nick Nolte*, OO, Paul Petersen, QQ, Robert Reed, Scott Speedman, Tom Tully, UU, VV, Wil Wheaton, XX, YY, ZZ.

*Nick Nolte was in the mini-series "Rich Man, Poor Man".

Alliterative TV actresses: AA, Barbara Bain, Charisma Carpenter, Dana Delaney, Erika Eleniak, Faith Ford, GG, Helen Hunt, II, Janet Jackson, Kitty Kelly, Lucy Lawless, Megan Mullaly, Nanette Newman, OO, Pat Priest, QQ, RR, Suzanne Somers, Tiffani-Amber Thiessen, UU, Vivian Vance, WW, Xuxa, YY, ZZ.

Can you help fill the gaps? Coming next: football (soccer) and baseball players.

Sports: Baseball Double Entendres

Heard on the Texas Rangers warm-up show tonight: Victor Rojas was interviewing Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News. At the end of the piece, Evan said, "Next time we do this, let's stay out of reach of Steve Smith's balls." Victor replied, "I'm not touching that."

There's plenty of double entendres in Baseball. "Low and inside". "Down in the dirt". "Choking up on his bat." "Mickey Mantle".

Words: OED In Limerick Form

This chap is trying to rewrite the Oxford English Dictionary in Limerick form. Good luck to him.

TV: "Beat The Nation"

Shame! Tim Brooke-Taylor and Graeme Garden are doing a quiz show on Channel 4 (Beat The Nation) without Bill Oddie. (But you can play online.)

Demo from Austin band Spoon. (More Spoon mp3s here.)

Cryptogram: Current Events

Fairly topical cryptogram:


VB BLO EYKITERDXLS HRXKEVKCSHGPZ,

LF-GSLDVMLBX NHTLD LFIRDLD AKS

MVDCSHILARY LFXSH-NHSVXHY DLF:

"PHWL ZKR LWLS DLLB NZ OVAL ?"

Politics: Hitchens v Moore

Christopher Hitchens lays into Michael Moore on Slate. Sample excerpt: "I never quite know whether Moore is as ignorant as he looks, or even if that would be humanly possible."

Proverbs: Guests And Fish...

Who first said that guests and fish stink after three days? A Google search shows it claimed (variously) as a French/Dutch/Danish/Spanish/Portuguese Proverb. Other sites attribute it to Benjamin Franklin, Samuel Johnson and John Lyly. Lyly lived the earliest (1554-1606) so we'll give him the credit for writing down the proverb first.

The best dimples in Rock? Nina Persson out of The Cardigans.
(I highly recommend their latest CD, "Long Gone Before Daylight", which has just been released in the US with a bonus DVD.)

Words: Malapropism

I'm sure you know what a malapropism is, and that it derives from the character Mrs. Malaprop in "The Rivals" by Richard Brinsley Sheridan. But I didn't know until recently that Richard stole the character from his mother, Frances Chamberlaine Sheridan. Her play, "A Trip To Bath", has a character called Mrs. Tryfort who also mangles the English language.

Combos: Supreme Court Justice & Baseball Player

Here's a fun game to while away those long family road trips. Combine the names of U.S. Supreme Court Justices and Major League Baseball players. I'll start you off with two: Babe Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Earl Warren Spahn.

Hot Babes

Yes, I've already blogged it at Jigglefest, but here's a direct link. Could be used as an ad for Coke's new "C2" beverage.

Advertising: Web Ads

Did you see the news story about a lobster in England that was found guarding a barnacle-encrusted watch? When Robb read it on the Dallas Morning News web site, the story was accompanied by an ad for Red Lobster. I can't find it there, but this Seattle Post-Intelligencer version has mini-ads for Maine Lobster. Newsday.com gives me an ad for Microsoft's fancy watch.

Sports: Ballpark Jerks

Eric points out that this article about the "Foul Ball Jerk" refers to him as "a married, 28-year-old landscaper and former youth minister", and goes on to say "The man and a woman with him left before the game was over." Are they implying he was with someone other than his wife? Wouldn't that be a funny way to get caught cheating?

Lyrics Quiz: Cars

Which songs mention these cars?

• Stutz Bearcat
  
• Studebaker (will also accept)
  
• '85 Delorean
  
• Cutlass Supreme
  

You thought my criticism of Reagan was harsh? Try this. (Thanks Robert!)

Real-life Pac-Man in New York.

AdCritic readers are split on the Cointreau ads.

Misleading photo of Jennifer Connelly (thanks Robb).

Sports: Ballpark Jerks

Helpful diagram from the Dallas Morning News that shows the jerk at the Texas Rangers game yesterday. Robb thinks there should also be arrows for "The Wimpy Dad Who Did Nothing" and "The Cruel Girlfriend Who Wouldn't Let The Jerk Give The Ball To The Kid".

Celebrities: Paris Hilton

Don't forget - Paris Hilton is on the Late Show with David Letterman tonight.

Football: France v England

Incroyable! Translated by Babelfish:

Incredible scenario this Sunday evening enters France and England. Whereas the Blue ones were impaled irremediably in the wall drawn up by the British, a player named Zidane spouted out. The tricolour leader offered to his formation the victory by transforming in the stops of play an honest blow and a penalty. Unimaginable!

English and French could not thus be satisfied with a null match this Sunday and did not imagine a second an unspecified forgery not at the time of the match at the top of the Group B. Like often, a confrontation between Britanniques and Tricolour the chronicle during last days had enormously defrayed. The daily newspapers on the other side of the channel had broken out often showing a humour very "british". Of what to launch the hostilities!

Launched in-depth, the attacker high-speed motorboat of Everton (Rooney) sowed the disorder in the rows tricolour and Woodland (Silvestre) was obliged to make the irrevocable one: fault, yellow paperboard and especially penalty. Barthez gave again hope with the supporters blue, white, reds while leaving striking Beckham but the end of meeting showed sorrow. The Blue ones did not find any solution and fell into a play typically british. The long balloons rained and the defense of on the other side of the channel was regaled. Incompetents to pack the meeting, the Blue ones ran towards an inescapable defeat.

France however has in its rows a player of exception, a leader of play which makes dream all planet. Large Zinedine Zidane equalized of a superb honest blow of 25 meters with starts stops of play (91e, 1-1). James was going to seek depity the balloon at the bottom of his nets but the gatekeeper of the English could not imagine that the conclusion was going to prove even more terrible. On engagement, Steven Gerrard, feverish, tried to prolong towards its guard and Henry benefitted from the offering. The star of Arsenal was mown in surface and Zidane offered on penalty an unhoped-for victory (93e, 2-1). A true exploit, an unimaginable performance which launches the Tricolour ones ideally.

The enchanting Lena Headey. (Her IMDB entry.)

Cuba may back-pedal on anti-Reagan rhetoric, but I never will!

The Simpsons: Advertising

"Simpsons" Japanese commercials. Unfortunately, they're in Quicktime format, and I loathe and despise QT.

Pharmaceuticals: US v England

Saw an ad in an English newspaper for Zirtec and Clarityn. In the U.S., they're Zyrtec and Claritin. Why is that?

Sad news - Robert Quine has passed away. I first heard of him when he played on Lou Reed's "The Blue Mask" album.

Is there a better print advertising campaign than Cointreau's Be CointreauVersial ?

Lyrics Quiz: One Word

More one-word lyrics, courtesy of Shell:

• Pompatus
  
• Havering
  
• Semolina
  

And some from me:

• Lumbago
  
• Strategically
  
• Isolation
  

Sports: Basketball

I don't like basketball but I switched over and saw what I thought was a cyborg playing. Richard Hamilton of the Detroit Pistons - he wears a face mask, apparently, since he broke his nose. Wuss. Anyway, while searching for a photo online, I came across this news story:

The Indiana Pacers equipment manager was arrested Tuesday at a Birmingham hotel and charged with indecent exposure. 'Apparently he was proud of his equipment,' Birmingham Police Chief Richard Patterson said. 'He wanted to show it off.'

Lyrics Quiz: One Word

Fun parlour game for the whole family. Try to get the other players to guess a song by just giving them one word from the lyrics (and it can't be in the title). Some examples:

• silhouetto
  
• Abdomen (pronounced Ab-dome-en)
  
• Guadalajara
  

How come all these articles about Ronald Reagan's wit don't mention that most of his quips were the work of speechwriters?

Neil and Tim Finn are back together again.