HNY

Hoping everyone has a spectacular New Year. I saw this photo of fireworks over English Bay in Vancouver, B.C., and it made me miss the West Coast a bit. English Bay is beautiful -- I love Vancouver. Maybe a summertime visit is in order.

No. What am I saying? If I'm going anywhere cool in 2008 it's Italy.

Pawleys marshes

Decided to head south this afternoon to check out Pawleys Island, a little resort town about 40 minutes down toward Charleston. The afternoon light was so pretty, so I went to the marshes to take some pictures and stopped at Huntington Beach State Park for some more. Actually, I was hoping to see the alligators on the freshwater side of the park, but they were not to be found today. I saw big blue heron and some brown pelicans, though. Gorgeous.

Also, finally found a place I would take visitors to eat. This little Italian cafe/pasticceria with panini, perfect cappucino and homemade, real Italian dolci -- sweets -- like a pastacciato, a tiny little pie with a dense, shortbread-style crust, and filled with Italian pastry cream. I'm making the yummy sound right now just thinking about it.

The Bear of Friday

Awwwwwwwwww. There are few things cuter than baby bears. Or really baby animals of most any kind. Not so much baby snakes.

So, now Pakistani officials are saying Bhutto died because she hit her head on the SUV's sunroof. Suicide bomb goes off, five shots are fired, but it wasn't an assassination? Just a stupid accident? I don't buy it. Alternately, the Pakistani government says Al Qaida is claming responsibility. I don't trust our own government to report the truth, let alone Pakistan's. I'm just saying.

The Dream Police

Robin Zander got me out of a speeding ticket this morning. I knew he had magical powers.

Betsey and I went for a drive so I could show her some of the places I've been house hunting, and I didn't realize the speed limit had changed, and, of course, there was a county trooper waiting. He came up to my window smiling and said "So, you'd rather be at a Cheap Trick concert?" He'd obviously read my license plate frame.

But then he said, "So, you'd rather be seeing Robin Zander than a cop, huh?" My answer, of course, was that I'd rather be seeing Robin than doing pretty much anything else, so, you know, no offense, but yeah.

It's unusual for anyone to know Robin. Usually when people think of CT -- if they ever do -- they mention Rick, sometimes even Bun E., but never Robin (not that I understand THAT).

Turns out I was quite a bit over the speed limit, but he gave me a warning and some real estate advice, to boot.

It's a Cheap Trick Christmas present!

I triple-dog dare ya...

...to have a great Christmas. Sure, I've created a slight breach of etiquette by skipping the triple dare and going straight for the sinister triple-dog, but hey, it's Christmas.

I hope everyone wins a major award and gets their holy grail of Christmas gifts.

Just don't shoot your eye out.

And don't forget to let your lamp blaze forth in unparalleled glory!

The Bear of Friday

I just had to share the Friday Bear. Don't you want to cuddle it? I do. Seriously, that makes me a little weak to look at.

I finished two interesting books this week -- one is "Thunderstruck," by Erik Larson, the man who wrote "Devil in the White City." I love nonfiction that's written like fiction. It's about turn-of-the-last-century England, Guglielmo Marconi, who invented the wireless, and a murderer who might not have been apprehended if not for the wireless. Marconi was an interesting, though selfish and socially inept, man. The other is "Dry" by Augusten Borroughs. What an incredible memoir. He's a great writer, and "Dry" is the story of how he nearly drank himself to death, lost most everything that was important to him and finally got sober. It's sad and poignant, and ends on a hopeful, somewhat happier note.

I'm so excited because Jen got me a Netflix subscription for Christmas. I can finally get caught up on all the stuff I've missed in the past 20 months, including "Shoot 'em Up" and "Gone, Baby, Gone."

Betsey's coming over from Columbia on Christmas Eve, and requested that I cook corned beef, which I used to do sometimes for her when we lived in Chicago. Certainly not a traditional Christmas dinner, but hey, it's company's choice. Though I'm thinking I'd better have a backup plan in case there are no briskets in the stores.

Also, I have an appointment to go see three houses tomorrow out in Conway, which is about 10 miles inland, over the Intracoastal Waterway. Homeowners out there pay much less for insurance because they are less likely to have hurricane damage. Plus, they are less likely to find reeking, vomit-soaked college students passed out in their front yards during Spring Break.

My geeky heart weeps with joy

Glorious be the day! Peter Jackson is making "The Hobbit," which means LOTR dorks like me everywhere have something to look forward to. Actually, two somethings, because it's apparently going to be two movies released in 2010 and 2011. Actually, can't they just start NOW? They still have all the costumes and most of the sets. It's not like the wilds of Australia suddenly became suburbs.

Maybe they're just planning to spend the coming year creating Smaug the dragon. Woo!

Yahoo news has a short piece on it here.

Unfortunately, there's no Legolas in "The Hobbit," but there's plenty of Gandalf. Please, someone protect Ian McKellen between now and then. Because if he's out for any reason, they'd probably replace him with Michael Gambon, who plays Dumbledore in the "Harry Potter" movies. If he replaced Ian McKellan, Gandalf would be as lame and boring as Dumbledore is now.

We should be called the Windy City

Today, at least. The wind woke me up this morning, it's so howly. It rained all night and the storm clouds are still heavy and moving fast. Obviously a little wind is nothing compared to the blizzards in the Midwest and north of here -- hope everyone is doing OK, staying warm and safe and having hot chocolate by the fire or space heater, as the case may be.

If you want to check out some nice photos, visit this photographer's site. I stole his awesome picture of Chicago and the blog says feel free to use his pics with credits and a link. I'd love to give him credit if I only new his name.

Must...have...coffee...

Merry Christmas, Bedford Falls!

It's officially Christmas time. How do I know? It's the one and only time of the year I can watch "It's a Wonderful Life." Wouldn't be Christmas without George, Mary, ZuZu and her petals, Clarence and of course, Mr. Potter, that rotten, black-hearted bastard. I always loved how Sam Wainwright doesn't ever seem to care that George stole Mary from him. He just hee-haws his way through the whole movie.

Only one person I know didn't like this movie -- our old news editor, Bob, in Fayetteville, who wrote a column each Christmas about how this movie is actually a very dark picture of someone going insane. Of course, Bob also talked his wife into believing the Nazi's get the Von Trapp family at the end of "Sound of Music," and once prompted us to write poetry about Soylent Green.

Merry Christmas Bob, wherever you are.

Now THIS is cool

OK, it might not affect people's lives directly, but it's still damn cool.

From the AP:
SAN FRANCISCO -- Scientists think they have discovered the energy source of auroras borealis, the spectacular color displays seen in the upper latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere.

New data from NASA's Themis mission, a quintet of satellites launched this winter, found the energy comes from a stream of charged particles from the sun flowing like a current through twisted bundles of magnetic fields connecting Earth's upper atmosphere to the sun.

The energy is then abruptly released in the form of a shimmering display of lights, said principal investigator Vassilis Angelopoulos of the University of California at Los Angeles.

Results were presented Tuesday at the American Geophysical Union meeting.

In March, the satellites detected a burst of Northern Lights over Alaska and Canada. During the two-hour light show, the satellites measured particle flow and magnetic fields from space.

To scientists' surprise, the geomagnetic storm powering the auroras raced 400 miles in a minute across the sky. Angelopoulos estimated the storm's power was equal to the energy released by a magnitude 5.5 earthquake.

Why is this news?

I don't get it. On CNN.com today, there's a video in the "popular news" spot with the headline "Jodie Foster Thanks Gay Partner." So what? Why is this news? If she thanked her husband for something, would that be news? There are plenty of attention-seeking whores out there who are happy to call the papers every time they go out for a frappucino or launch some wine-in-a-can-type crap -- can't the "news" just be happy with them? Or, here's an idea: How about we report on actual news. How many people are dead in Iraq today? What's that crazy Ahmadinejad up to? Maybe a little Kim Jong Il? Or something. Anything that actually affects people's lives. Grrrrrrr.

It's like a ghost town

The MB sure is quiet right now. The off season, the holidays -- driving down Ocean Boulevard to work today, I didn't pass a single other car for 17 blocks. If only people had known the weather would be so nice right now, I'm sure they would have made travel plans.

I've been surprised to learn recently that our town has no community theater. None. There are theaters in towns around here, but nothing in MB. The city's going to deal with a proposal to build a theater after the first of the year, but wow. I don't think I've ever lived in a city that didn't have a theater. Selfishly, I hope the city hurries, because I've been dreaming about getting back up on the boards lately and/or directing a show.

The other theaters don't have anything I want to -- or could -- audition for right now because they are doing musicals. But somewhere, someone's got to be doing a good old standard.

I hate to sound like I'm gloating...

...but this is the current snow-cover map for the U.S. I just had to use my car's air conditioner. I'm actually not gloating, because it doesn't feel like winter here at all, and I just bought a new scarf, dammit. It's 80 freakin' degrees outside. 80. Good day to go wash the car, though.

Happy Hannukah, Hanukkah, Chanukah, however you spell it

Betsey had an Irish-Catholic-Hannukah party Friday night in Cola (Columbia, S.C.) that was really fun. Cool to hear Ben sing the blessings in Hebrew, and fun that he brought an array of yarmulkes for everyone to wear. Mine kept slipping off while I was cooking latkes, though. It's bad enough that I'm not Jewish and a woman and wearing one -- I really didn't want to drop it in the latke batter. Not really sure where the Irish-Catholic part came in, other than that's Betsey's background. Maybe it was the red potatoes.

Betsey's giant cat Cow was the party favor -- everyone was trying to get Cow to stop being a bastard and let them pet him, but several people, including Ben, came away with scratched hands for Christmas. I know better -- Cow hates everyone except B.

Anyway, hope everyone's having a Happy Hanukkah. Here's my favorite Chanukah song:

Put on your yamukah
Here comes Hannukah
So much funnukah
To celebrate Hannukah

Hannukah is: the festival of lights
Instead of one day of presents
We have eight crazy nights

When you feel like/the only kid in town
Without a Christmas tree
Here's a list of people that are
Jewish like you and me:

David Lee Roth
lights the menorah
So do Kirk Douglas, James Caan
and the late Dinah Shorah

Guess who eats together at
the Carnegie Deli?
Bowser from Sha-Na-Na
And Arthur Fonzarelli!

Paul Newman's half Jewish
and Goldie Hawn's half, too
Put them together,
What a fine looking Jew!

You don't need to Deck the Halls
Or Jingle Bell Rock,
'Cause you can spin the dreidel
With Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock!

[Chorus]

O.J. Simpson [not a Jew]
But guess who is? Hall of Famer Rod Carew [He converted]
We got Ann Landers and her
sister Dear Abby,

Harrison Ford's a quarter Jewish
Not too shabby
Some people think Ebenezer Scrooge is
Well, he's not, but guess who is --
All three Stooges!

[Chorus]

So many Jews are in Show Biz
Tom Cruise isn't but I think his agent is

Tell your friend Veronica
It's time to celebrate Hanukkah
I hope I get a harmonica
On this lovely lovely Hanukkah
So drink your gin and tonica
and smoke your marijuanica
If you really really wannika
Have a Happy Happy Happy Happy Hanukkah

So cute you could just...

When I see things this cute, I just have to stop for a minute and stare. It's a baby tiger from China. Probably not hypoallergenic like the hybrid, bioengineered cat below, but who cares? And it has its own stuffed animal.

My day is made

Bob Cesca saw my blog letter to him and wrote me an e-mail. That is awesome of him. Wow -- Bob Cesca read my blog. How cool is that?

A brief note for Bob Cesca

Dear Bob --

You are The King of Snark. I wish you could write a new essay every day.

Sometimes I catch myself reading your blog and your essays three or four times a day. Is this getting to be a "habit?" I'm OK with that.

If loving you is wrong, I don't want to be right.

Adoringly,

Me.

The opposite of love

Obie just sent me a link to The Hatebook, where people can post their brief rants about work, bad Christmas sweaters, sucky music or whatever they are hating on at the moment.

The best one is "I hate that I have this crush on you and that you mistake my shyness for indifference..." Isn't that sweet?

I don't have a crush, so I'm going to add a rant about the redneck bumpersticker I saw this morning telling me that "Gun Control Means Using Both Hands."

A little poem by our fearless leader

This is a short poem sent to me by one of my best editors, Patty F. It's made up entirely of actual quotations from George W. Bush. These have been arranged, only for aesthetic purposes, by Washington Post writer Richard Thompson.


MAKE THE PIE HIGHER

I think we all agree, the past is over.
This is still a dangerous world.
It's a world of madmen and uncertainty
And potential mental losses.

Rarely is the question asked
Is our children learning?
Will the highways of the Internet
Become more few?

How many hands have I shaked?
They misunderestimate me.
I am a pitbull on the pantleg of opportunity.

I know that the human being
And the fish can coexist.
Families is where our nation finds hope,
Where our wings take dream.

Put food on your family!
Knock down the tollbooth!
Vulcanize society!
Make the pie higher!
I am the Decider!

Just like these views...

I found these tonight and just liked them so much I wanted to share them. They were all taken in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, and I've been preparing my Scotland pics to post on this blog in a slideshow, so I started looking at what others have done.

Anyway, enjoy...

Mee-OW

This is one sexy beast. It's an Ashera, a hybrid mix of African serval, Asian leopard and domesticated cat bred by a California biotech company. It's a mere $22,000 for the standard model, or $28,000 for the hypoallergenic type. I'm only slightly allergic, so if you have an extra $22K hanging around and you're wondering what to get me for Christmas, I can tolerate the basic kitty. I would name him Slinky.

An early Christmas present from YouTube

Maybe only Joel will appreciate this post, but this is what happens at midnight when someone sends me links to vids on YouTube.

I wish I had been in Tunica, Miss., a couple weeks ago for what looks like a damn fine Cheap Trick show. But thanks to the magic of YouTube, I can still enjoy it, and so can YOU! Whoever filmed this did a really good job with the sound, and is clearly a Robin Zander fan. She hardly ever films anyone else. I don't blame her. He might be somebody's dad, but he's still woohoo (except for the stupid hats and, sometimes, the leather pants). Plus, he looks like he might be having a good time again.

Forgive me rhapsodizing over Robin, but it must be done from time to time.

I defy people not to like The Flame once they've heard it live. This isn't the absolute best version I've ever, ever heard, but it's got to be in my top 10. I love how enthusiastic the crowd is when Robin rips a little near the end. I love it when they do it slow and acoustic the best. I like this one, from 1988, if I don't look at Robin's hair. It looks like there could be something living in that nest.

If You Want My Love sounds great -- I had gotten way over this song, but the arrangements they've been playing with the past few times I've seen them have got me liking it again. Whatever Robin was doing at the very beginning (the video cuts in after he already started) -- I hope he does it again when I see them next year.

Still playing I Want You To Want Me as fast as possible, but now with a punky little German countdown at the beginning.

Ain't That a Shame is rockin', you get a few minutes of Rick's five-neck on Surrender but then it's right back to Robin and his long blond hair (yay!), or this one, complete with Robin's infamous "hand gestures." It must be those leather pants need some adjusting. And what show would be complete without the Dream Police?

Here are some Canadians enjoying my favorite band, and it's Dream Police again, but the sound is good, even if the video is boring. Auffie still rocks, too.

Fun version of Goodnight Now.

And, someone's tribute to my favorite lead singer in the whole wide world. Yes, this song is actually available on an album by a band called The Breakup Society. Check out all the different incarnations of The Hair. Man, some of those do's were don'ts. But I love the old clips from the late '70s. Flawless.

But Sweet Nancy Moses, what the hell is this? Cheap Trick plays a band called "Pandemonium" on some crap TV show with a message? This is so bad it's delicious! Robin plays Jack Stone, who has lines like "And you're fired, you little poser." It's so good, especially when they party like rock stars.

Here's hoping I can squeeze in eight shows in 2008 and make it an even 50 Cheap Trick concerts. Maybe they'll finally play Way of the World for me, or Speak Now or, well, anything is fine, really.