RIP: Mitch Hedberg

Mitch Hedberg, my favourite stand-up comedian, has died. Damn, he was funny. Yes, he was. (Maybe you have to know his voice and delivery style to appreciate these.)

Superwolf: "Blood Embrace" part 2

I think I've found a likely candidate, using IMDb's character name search for "Cliff". "Rolling Thunder" (1977), written by Paul Schrader ("Taxi Driver"), has a hero, Major Charles Rane, who returns from Vietnam after seven years in a Viet Cong prison. ("I didn't know when you were coming back or if you ever would.") His wife has taken up with the guy next door. It has a Cliff. The only thing is that the man's voice doesn't really sound like William Devane. (Apparently, Quentin Tarantino named his production company after this movie.)

Okay, now when I Google "rolling thunder blood embrace", I find a page that confirms it. Why couldn't I find that earlier?

Superwolf: "Blood Embrace" part 1

Anyone know from what film this dialogue is taken? It's used in the song "Blood Embrace" off the "Superwolf" album by Matt Sweeny and Bonnie 'Prince' Billy.

Woman: Charlie... I've, uh... I've been with another man. Aren't you gonna say anything ? You're just gonna sit there? Oh Charlie, I didn't know when you were coming back or if you ever would. I tell you, the men around here don't respect anything ; if I told you all the guys that called me up...And then Cliff... He didn't make a pass at me. I mean he didn't even... do it at all, Charlie. I knew what he wanted, but... he never did anything about it. And then it just seemed like the two of us just had to.

Charlie: I don't think I'm up for any more of this. Why don't you go to bed? I'll work this all out.

Woman: What are you gonna do ?

Charlie: I'm just gonna sit here.

Hong Kong, Japan. Peru, Brazil. They're all the same.

Music: Ryan Adams

New song at Ryan Adam's place. Very Whiskeytown.

Advertising: Revlon

Has there ever been a better choice of celebrity spokesmodel than Kate Bosworth for Revlon's mascara? Ms. Bosworth has different-coloured eyes, one blue, one brown. Like David Bowie. According to Cecil Adams, the scientific term for this is "heterochromia".

Media: Local News Teasers

CBS 11 teased its evening news with: "OJ Simpson attorney Johnny Cochrane has died. What happened? Tonight at 10." Uhhh, he had a brain tumour. Are they going to give us graphic details of his suffering and death?

Music: Starflyer 59

New Starflyer 59 song available at their website. Sounds good to me.

TV: "The Shield"

Much as I enjoy "The Shield", there was a very clumsy bit of plotting on last week's episode. Vic is looking for a teenage boy who has become a crack addict. He knows the kid has a blonde girlfriend. Just then, word comes in that a female suspect has been shot trying to rob a convenience store. Immediately, Vic asks for a description of the girl. "Blonde, 120 pounds." So Vic rushes off to the crime scene, and sure enough, it's the girlfriend. There's nothing wrong with being pat, but that was a little too pat.

Feeble Attempt At Humour

They really ought to develop that "Purpose-Driven Life" book into a franchise (like the Chicken Soup juggernaut). Here are some suggestions to attract different demographics:

• For those who wish dolphins were shorter, stockier and had a rounded snout - "The Porpoise-Driven Life"
  
• For viewers who preferred the old "Blue Peter" presenters - "The Purvis-Driven Life"
  
• For TCU fans - "The Purple-Driven Life"
  
• For Native American babysitters - "The Papoose-Driven Life"
  
• For those who crave America's largest native fruit - "The Pawpaw-Driven Life"
  
• And for materialistic consumers - "The Purchase-Driven Life"
  

Oh, wait, they have franchised that book.

Song List: Covers "Chain"

The New York Times (registration required) writes about bands covering very recent songs (and even some songs that the original band hasn't released yet). I know some of my friends are disturbed by this trend but I likes it. Scissor Sisters do a great version of Franz Ferdinand's "Take Me Out" (mentioned in the article). REM covered Interpol's "NYC" nicely.

What is the longest "chain" of cover acts? (Artist A covers Artist B who covers Artist C...can't repeat an artist.) My first attempt (with help from The Covers Project):

1. Richard Cheese -> Beck ("Loser")
   
2. Beck -> Flaming Lips ("Do You Realize?")
   
3. Flaming Lips -> White Stripes ("Seven Nation Army")
   
4. White Stripes -> Dolly Parton ("Jolene")
   
5. Dolly Parton -> Johnny Cash ("I Still Miss Someone")
   
6. Johnny Cash -> U2 ("One")
   
7. U2 -> Patti Smith ("Dancing Barefoot")
   
8. Patti Smith -> Bruce Springsteen ("Because The Night")
   
9. Bruce Springsteen -> Byrds ("Ballad Of Easy Rider")
   
10. Byrds -> Bob Dylan (many, many songs)
    
11. Bob Dylan -> Townes Van Zandt ("Pancho And Lefty")
    
12. Townes Van Zandt -> Rolling Stones ("Dead Flowers")
    
13. Rolling Stones -> Bobby Womack ("It's All Over Now")
    
14. Bobby Womack -> Neil Diamond ("Sweet Caroline")
    
15. Neil Diamond -> Leonard Cohen ("Suzanne")
    
16. Leonard Cohen -> Pee-Wee King ("Tennessee Waltz")
    

Words: Slacker, White Trash

Watching Hitchcock's 1941 comedy "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" (no relation to the "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" coming this year with Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie), I was surprised to hear Carole Lombard describe an ancestor as a "slacker" who didn't fight in the Civil War. It seems such a modern word, but H. L. Mencken in "The American Language" from 1921 writes, "The word slacker, recently come into good usage in the United States as a designation for a successful shirker of conscription, is a substantive derived from the English verb to slack, which was born as university slang and remains so to this day."

In the movie, someone else describes Lombard's character as "white trash". According to this article on "redneck", "white trash" was being used in 1833.

There's an online dating agency called White Trash Dates. Meet keels716 from Tulsa.

Sports: Barry Bonds, Coach K

Congratulations to the news media for finally bringing down Barry Bonds and his family. Especially his family. Can you go after Coach K next? His website is self-serving with many glaring omissions. And what's up with that unnaturally black, perfectly coiffed hair?

Flickr Postcard Browser - very cool interface. (I'm not even sure what Flickr postcards are.)

Words: Lozenge

Why is a cough drop sometimes called a lozenge? Because of the diamond shape. (Not Vicks, obviously - I presume they're triangular to reflect V for Vicks. Vicks Cherry Cough Drops are not recommended.) Someone tried to sell a cough drop discarded by Arnold Schwarzenegger on eBay.

Recently, the English tried to claim credit for inventing lasagna, based on the word loseyns in a recipe book from 1390, but this is an old form of lozenge, since the pasta was to be cut into diamond shapes.

TV: "The Office" (US)

Don't forget - premiere of the American version of "The Office" on NBC on Thursday, 8:30pm (Central).

Music Quiz

Pop quiz: Who are Crazy Janey, Wild Billy, Bad Scooter, Magic Rat, Jimmy the Saint, (and the more normally named) Mary, Eddie and Terry?

Brought to my attention by Shell, Who looks good and who looks bad on HGTV? I'm surprised they don't mention Paige Davis - she looks great on Home & Garden TV.

Celebrities: Gwen Stefani

What's up with Gwen Stefani's speech? She doesn't move her lower jaw when she talks - just her lips. Makes it hard to understand.

Roxy Music have reformed - that is, they've got back together again, not mended their evil ways.

Advertising: Adidas

I would have guessed that the new Adidas commercial was directed by Michel Gondry but it's actually by Spike Jonze. The music was done by Spike's brother, Squeak E. Clean, with vocals by the singer from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

Eric adds the following NFL Vegetables: Tomato Brady, Laveranues Coleslaw (bit of a stretch), Yamcy Thigpen.

Sports: Veggie Names

NFL All-Vegetable Team: Leon Lettuce, "Mean" Joe Green Beans, Brett Fava Beans, Daunte Redpepper, Brussels Sprouts Maryland. Um, that's it. Can you do better?

Feeble Attempt At Humour

Somebody ought to do a cover of OMD's "Enola Gay", but change the words to, "Amanda Peet, she's never ever going to wash her feet." It could be HUGE.

TV: "Family Feud"

Do you like the Feud? Sure, everyone likes the Feud. But why do they bother asking "Play or Pass"? Have you ever seen a family pass? Not me. (It was "Family Fortunes" in Britain. Those Brits - always avoiding confrontation. This site has a long list of funny/stupid answers.)

What do the following have in common? Bacardi, Nissan, Reliant Energy, Verizon, William Anheuser and Holland Coors. All have contributed to Tom DeLay's Legal Defense Fund. With new revelations each week, he'll be needing the money.

Sports: Appropriate Names

More sport-appropriate names.

Robb (who started this whole thing) says there's a basketball player called Fowler. My Google search only turned up a High School player and the Athletics Director for NC State.

The Texas Rangers have a promising pitcher called Thomas Diamond.

"Virtual" Two Ronnies shows.

Media: Peter Jennings

That Peter Jennings makes me sick. After a report on Bill Clinton's minor surgery today, he felt the need to comment, "Ah, but he'll play golf again." Ignoring the inanity of the remark, it makes one wonder if he would make a similar comment for a Republican politician. I hope that after Dick Cheney's next heart attack, Jennings has the decency to say. "Ah, but he'll be back eating babies soon."

Lyrics Quiz: One Word

A One Word Lyrics Quiz: "fantasia".

Celebrities: Single Hot Chicks

To celebrate International Women's Day, here are some hot chicks who are recently single. (All pictures taken from Bald Stars.)

• Katie Holmes
  
• Shannon Elizabeth (They didn't have Shannon but Jessica Alba is very similar.)
  
• Denise Richards
  

If you don't like these pics, you can create your own Google Montage.

Blogs: Dave Barry

Dave Barry's blog. Check out his photos of English signs.

Media: Bullshit

Don't you hate it when the news media generates its own news? Back on February the 25th, the LA Times suggested that Bono should head the World Bank. Then ABC's "This Week" asked Treasury Secretary John Snow if Bono was on the shortlist - to which Snow replied politely, "I am not going to review here all the candidates that are on the list. But I will attest to my admiration for Bono." Now every news outlet seems to be treating this as a real possibility. I can't believe the news today. Oh, I can't close my eyes and make it go away. How long, how long must we put up with this BS?

Good old Snopes reports on "Save Toby" - the PayPal account balance is a graphic.

Symbols: Swastika

Discussion of the historical origins of the swastika with R. He reminded me that it was a Hindu symbol. Here's a book, "Gentle Swastika", that tries to "Reclaim the innocence". Some racy items in the Table of Contents. He also mentions the Swastika Laundry which operated in Dublin until 1989.

I'm off to the ski slopes. Here are some swearwords you may wish to use.