The World Is Just Awesome

Possibly the best commercial ever. Just when I think I can't love the Discovery Channel any more. (Also, they've got a cool mini-site on it.)

Happy Friday, y'alls. I hope you're feeling like this. I know I am. 

(Thanks, Colin!)

Gerunds

For the last week, I've been moving, hiking, boxing, sparring, flying, baking, researching, budgeting, shopping, pitching, crying, theorizing. Work is busy, the home purchase is ongoing, and The Summer of Outdoor Weekends is going swimmingly. (A wine festival, two 5Ks, and two state parks in the last six weeks.)

The thing is, busy and outdoorsy are neither particularly conducive to blogging. So, in apology, I offer two videos (and three Matts).

The first, more just plain silly, is James Blunt on "Top Gear." He can drive a tank and he put his sister on eBay: what's not to love? And on the best show ever. Of course it's good: Matt was the one who told me I'd love it. Matt, who passed his check ride

And the second, more seriously and truly wonderful, "Where the Hell Is Matt"'s latest installment. As I said to Peter, this is the kind of thing that makes me love that I live at this point in history. That's a melodramatic sort of thing to say, but I do mean it. To be able to see that people are people all the world over, and you don't need a common language or nationality to connect. Joy is joy, whatever end of the planet you're on. And to see someone get that - share that - teach that - bring people together for that - is pretty fantastic.


(If you're keeping count, my third Matt is to ask Matt whether this might be good for your class, somehow? It's just so cool that I want it to fit.)

And Now for Something Completely Different

There is a lot of unhappiness and worry in the air tonight.

So here's 66 seconds of silly.

Count the ones you know... and when you are sad, just think of Lobster Judi Dench.

C'mon Get Happy

This afternoon I was grouchy.

But then a lot of things cheered me up.

...

Wow. Am I a storyteller or what?

Anyway, I thought I'd borrow a page from Karen and list my happy things. But the thing is, when I do that, I notice that the things that cheer me up are a little weird:

• Smelling the hyacinths mixed in with the daffodil beds as I walked out the door from work.
  
• Still seeing afternoon light even though it was after seven.
• Adorable neighbors saying hello as I got home.
  
• Unfreezing the DVD player after I was afraid it had eaten the putrid Ryan Reynolds DVD out of spite.
• Learning that I am to be the recipient of the Best Bridesmaid Gift Ever, the Ryan Reynolds Box Set, a threat/promise on which Maria cannot renege even if it has to be made with a shoebox and Scotch tape and a Sharpie.
  
• Turning on the TV to see Andy pitching (yes, of course the TV was left on YES).
  
• Realizing I don't need to make or decorate any more cookies for a little while.
• Watching Jon Stewart talk about being bitter, elitist and from western Pennsylvania.
• Making rice and beans for supper.
• Bailing on working out in favor of curling up for a geriatrically early bedtime.

Yeah, it's geeky, but it's that kind of night. You cheer up however you can in this world.

Weekly Roundup: Video Edition

This is all you need in one: the YouTube Video Awards. It's the magic vault of internet videos. Specially watch the Battle at Kruger. Truly amazing.

Guest Post: Middle-Aged Cartoon Men

A post which makes me suspect I am nothing more than a conduit between Sac and Jon:

Letterman Top Ten Lists by...

• Peter Griffin
• Homer Simpson

From the overworked, underappreciated Hot Republican.

Thank you, Pittsburgh, they were worth the callback.

Weekly Roundup: Monsters, Songsters, Actors, Flacks. and Tech Support

• Public relations is mostly just about being real. A breakthrough, that.
• Patrick Stewart as Macbeth? Ooooh, yes please.
  
• In Japan, March 3 is Girls' Day, or Hina-matsuri - "hina" meaning girl or princess. March 3 is my birthday, and "Sarah" means princess. (No point. I just liked that.) Also, Ronan Keating and I share a birthday. In addition to our soulmate connection, of course. (I digress.)
  
• Cookie Monster on NPR. Fabulous.
• flickrvision and twittervision. Totally addictive mashups.
• Sirens magazine. Biting, funny, true.
  
• Running iTunes off an external hard drive is not working for me. I am afraid to investigate further tonight, but it appears the library is suddenly missing all kinds of random songs... again. If I have to copy the whole thing over from the backup external... again... I shall be displeased. It takes days to sort out the duplicates. Drop me a note if you can help/commiserate.
  

It's a Dish Better Served Cold

And by "a dish," I mean "Ben Affleck."
Best revenge ever. (via K)

Bridge and Tunnel, Indeed

Ever have one of those days where you do something that seems funny at the time, but later you cringe just thinking about it?

Next time you have one of those, just watch this. (Jalopnik via B)

You will feel so much better.

Apparently this is Jill Nicolini, and a Google reveals that... well, propriety may not be her strong suit. And she's not from New Jersey, thank you. But to be fair, she is awful pretty.

(Related, but confidential for Jon: your favorite.)

Can I Be Sarah Silverman?

Not only for the obvious reason here, of course. But also because I thought I loved Matt Damon plenty, till it became clear I wasn't loving him nearly enough. And for her part in that, I thank her.

Weekly Roundup: Because I Owe You One

• Quite a few friends have lost phones recently and made me remember how important it is to have a contact backup. I use Verizon's Backup Assistant.
• I got a Traveler IQ of 100 - that's through level 8 with 252965 points and a smug Naval aviator scoffing over my shoulder. How about you?
• Check out Scott Wade's Dirty Car Art.
• Most kids want to be a doctor or a teacher or a fireman when they grow up. I wanted to be a Thundercat. (I didn’t. As you may have noticed.) But I loved finding these outtakes ten years later. And re-finding them ten years after that.
• My new favorite artist is Elliott Puckette. I'm not usually a big abstract fan, but I love her work.

Dove Update

I owe a few real posts but here's a quick one in the meantime. I've posted before about Dove's "Campaign for Real Beauty" but it's been going on for years and it's just as good as ever. These two commercials are the latest I've seen, and they're great.

The Royal Channel

This is the coolest thing on YouTube.

Not just because I'm a ridiculous Anglophile, although there is that.

But truly, The Royal Channel is genius. It's a government really getting new media - and, importantly, one already in power, not just a desperate candidate.

(Which is not to take away from YouChoose - just to point out that there's less need for the monarchy to do it, and yet they are. I'm pretty positive there's no White House channel. The Office of National Drug Control Policy has one (which... yawn), but if you search for President Bush? Let's just say it's not flattering.)

But back to the monarchy, because frankly, I like them better. And moreover, they got this right. The execution is perfect. The design is in keeping with YouTube but representative of the monarchy. There's new content, but there's almost a century of very cool old footage and links to pre-TV transcripts. (The Queen Mother's silent-film wedding procession, with her getting into her carriage in her cloche hat - fabulous. As well as Princess Elizabeth and Margarets' message to the evacuee children at Christmas 1940.)

Watching the Queen's first Christmas TV broadcast in 1953 is not only interesting in comparison to her first YouTube-televised Christmas message this week - but also because of what she says about what the advent of a novel medium can do to a society. The more things change... you know?

But yes. This is a lot of thinking for a holiday week. So. If that's a little much, you can learn how to say "bra" in German with Posh! (Along with... which one was Geri?)

Three Weeks to Christmas

Okay, this has to be a new land-speed record for me contradicting myself - but some TV is wonderful after all. Like this.

"The Christmas Toy" is a Muppet special from 1986. It isn't available on DVD so I'm so glad it's on YouTube. Watch all five parts - even with the yucky YouTube resolution, it's still fantastic.

It's making my night happy as I curl up in my sweats and sniffle. (And write Christmas cards.)

This Is Why I Don't Watch TV

Thoughts Pondered While Catching Up on "Heroes", Vol. 2

• If your evil alter egos kept trapping you behind your full-length mirror... wouldn't you just stay away from that mirror?
  
• Elle may never have gone on a date, but she does get around.
  
• Also, Elle's five years less creepily young than Claire. Ahem, Milo.
  
• (However, Kristen Bell is so not 24.)
• I have no idea what did or didn't happen, or when any of it happened, or what I thought happened but didn't actually - and it is making it really hard to care when someone dies.
  
• But still, would you please stop killing D.L.?
• Seriously, Milo Ventamiglia really must have a shirtless clause.
• Thank goodness for the miraculous blood of NPH, because the Pasdar is awful pretty.
• That is a very stupid-looking nose bandage thing.
• Hayden's mascara is much too gloppy.
• "These guys were involved in some organization back in the 70's." "...Like a disco?" Hee.
  
• NPH exists at every moment in all of history. Let that be a lesson to us all.
  
• Holy hell, Nissan.
  
• ...ARE YOU KIDDING?

Duckies!

Ze Frank is back, and I am happy.

Questions Pondered While Catching Up on "Heroes"

• How far can a "two men raising a little girl" setup go before the inherent homoeroticism has to be discussed? How about when they have a middle-of-the-night argument about who has the bigger "daddy issues"? Maybe then?
• Is there a "frequently shirtless" clause in Milo Ventimiglia's contract?
  
• Is it creepy to watch a girl sit in high school classes when you know she's dating a (frequently shirtless) 29-year-old?
• Or, is it just creepy that an 18-year-old is dating a 29-year-0ld?
  
• Is the gaijin hero actually NPH, or does he just look distractingly like NPH?
• Does "Heroes" employ the use of the VERY worst green screen in televisual history?
  
• What kind of name is "West"?
• Did they even wonder what an Irish accent sounded like before rolling camera?
• Exactly how much did Nissan pay NBC, anyway?
• Will I ever again be able to look at a guy with stubble and heavy eyebrows without worrying that he might want to slice my head in two?
  

What Did YOU Do at Work Today?

(via PCJM) You have to look closely at this photo to see that it's not, as Brian Williams put it, just some weird "silvery Stonehenge".

It's the 12 members of Engine Company 22 deploying their fire shelters. Which sounds very technical and powerful.

But what it really means is that they were trapped - as the photographer put it, in a chimney - at the top of a hill. They didn't have water, so they were digging to try to block the fire. And it got around them. The fire shelter is the very last resort. They don't use it unless there are no other options.

So, as the ground they were crouching on reached 300 degrees, they were squirming into giant metallic bags. Ever bake something - fish, a potato - in an aluminum-foil jacket? Like that.

Go watch the NBC Nightly News piece here. It's really worth seeing.

"Heroes" is a word that gets thrown around so much that it's lost its meaning. So I won't use it. I'll just say that this story made me cry. It made me very grateful that there are people like those twelve guys. And it made me remember that most of what I worry about isn't important at all.

Also, to be media-geeky for a second, I love that the photo was so memorable that it was the impetus for the TV report. I hope Karen Tapia-Anderson from the LA Times wins the Pulitzer she deserves.

Art History, and Also, Damp Rats

This is just the coolest thing - it's a super high resolution online image of the Last Supper. It's detailed and has all kinds of little tour-guide points to notice. So even if you don't happen to find yourself in Milan (and why not?), you can still stare yourself silly and learn a bit.

However. If you're like me, it will put you in mind of "the big arms thing" and then you will have "Dress to Kill" immovably stuck in your head.

And that will make you go look for the clip online (although you will only find the transcript).

And that will make you find the "Four Yorkshiremen" sketch, which you will then have to watch, because Eddie Izzard laughing makes you laugh, and Alan Rickman is the best deadpan there is.

And that, my friends, is how my train of thought works.

Now if you'll excuse me, I think Jesus has just come in.