Archive | July, 2006

Happy Day!

13 Jul

According to a listing of unusual holidays that I have here at my desk, today is Embrace Your Geekness Day.

Apparently, according to Holiday Insights, it’s also Fool’s Paradise Day and Barbershop Music Appreciation Day.

And actually, this entire week is Nude Recreation Week too. (No, I won’t provide a link for that one.)

So no matter your interest or level of geekness, just wanted to wish y’all a Happy Day!

Crash

11 Jul

One year. That’s how long it took Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson to squander the goodwill they earned last July in Wedding Crashers. First Vaughn starred in The Break-Up, that unfunny romantic “comedy,” and now Wilson stars in You, Me and Dupree, a pretty awful comedy that really is no better than the trailer promised — which is to say, if you’ve seen the trailer, you’ve seen all the comedy Dupree has to offer. And what’s worse, this is another overly long movie (did all the editors in Hollywood take a spring break and not return?) that could have used some pruning. A 10-minute total running time would have been alright. Yeah, we get it: Dupree is a screw-up. It shouldn’t take 100 minutes of reminding us until he finally gets his act together. The only real redeeming thing about this movie is Kate Hudson; she looks great. The movie itself? That gets a D+.

Chill Out

11 Jul

Hi there.

It’s me again, your friendly neighborhood PSA.

Today is 7/11, so 7-11 is giving away free Slurpees.

Just thought you’d like to know.

Click on the links for the store nearest you.

It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like …

10 Jul

It may only be July 10, but to me, it’s the first day of the holiday season. Why? Because I received my first four (unsolicited) holiday CDs in the mail at work today. Nothing earth shattering — they’re last year’s releases — but what do I care? They’re new to me and I’m more than happy to get the ball rolling on the new A Very Marty Xmas CD. Now the hard part is deciding which of the tracks — if any — on Hanukkah Swings! and SantaMental will make it. (Not sure I’ll use the other two albums. I may even give them away.) Tough choices indeed. Last year’s mix set the bar so high that I need to start now if I’m going to top it this winter.

Like Rain on Your Wedding Day

10 Jul

I’m sure I’m not the first — and I know I won’t be the last — person to point out the utter irony of the Herald‘s front page today.

Juxtaposed right next to a photo of the chaos that erupted in the North End following Italy’s World Cup victory is the headline “Peace on Our Streets.”

Ha!

(And yes, I know “rain on your wedding day” is not ironic. So isn’t it ironic that the headline of my posting about irony is not actually ironic? Don’t ya think?)

Pretty Good

9 Jul

I needed a date for the weekend, so I went to see The Devil Wears Prada, where the ratio of guys to girls was, like, 1:7.

Nevertheless, though I walked out as single as I went in, I enjoyed the movie, so I guess it was worth it.

I mean, putting aside that some things are a bit far-fetched (like the fact that a modern job seeker — and an aspiring journalist — would not do her homework before an interview), I think Anne Hathaway gives a good performance, Meryl Streep is truly bitchy, and Stanley Tucci is fun, and the movie is light and easy to watch.

It’s hard to believe a boss could really be that much of a tyrant, but then again, I’ve been lucky thus far to have less demanding bosses than Miranda Priestley so I guess it’s possible somewhere. Continue reading

Hot Dog!

8 Jul

Got an email from a PR person yesterday alerting me that the Oscar Meyer Wienermobile will be in town next week for the company’s Sing the Jingle, Be a Star contest.

Come one! Come all!

From July 13-17, local residents will have their chance to sing one of the company’s famous jingles (the bologna one or the wiener one — in English or Spanish) for a chance to appear in a national television commercial.

I don’t know all the details (that was all she wrote), but I thought I’d post an announcement here just in case it was your lifelong dream to be a wiener. Wouldn’t want you to miss out on this exciting opportunity.

With a Name Like Manischewitz …

7 Jul

According to the New York Times, everyone’s favorite brand of kosher food, Manischewitz, wants to go mainstream. If I didn’t know Manischewitz, chances are no kind of advertising would convince me to buy its products when up against other brands. And since I do know Manischewitz, I’ll stick to buying their products only during Passover. But you tell me:

Would you buy Manischewitz products?
Sure. Why not?
Never.
Only if it tasted good.
If the price was right.
  
Free polls from Pollhost.com

Are You Bored?

6 Jul

My skin is starting to peel.

I tell you this not because I feel compelled to continue my sunburn saga or to share the gross details of my life, but because it’s National Anti-Boredom Month and I know how some of you feel about coming to this site and not finding anything new. So consider this posting my cure for your boredom.

Need something to do? You can click here and watch ESPN’s news coverage of Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest, which I wrote about yesterday.

Or, you can visit one (or both) of my favorite celeb gossip/photo sites: What Would Tyler Durden Do? or Celebrity Terrorist.

Or, you can read through my blog archives. For example, you could read my G.M. hire news story or my Aeroballoon experience or my “People Are Stupid” posting, which was the first one of my postings to be quoted in the Boston Globe.

Or you can go to Blogger.com and start your own blog. It’s quite easy, lots of fun, and quite time consuming. You might never be bored again.

So there you go. Happy National Anti-Boredom Month. (And a day early, happy Chocolate Day.)

Red, Red and Red

5 Jul

It’s not officially summer until I get a horrible sunburn, and I’ve returned to Boston with just that, all over my upper chest and around my neck. I suppose my face is burnt a bit too, but not as bad (though the area around my eyes apparently makes me look like I have allergies).

And yes, I did use sunscreen; it was the Coppertone Sport SPF 15 spray kind. So either the stuff is crap or I needed a higher SPF. Or, the sun in Florida was just that strong (temperatures were in the high 80s the entire time I was there). I’ll say the correct answer is a little of all three.

Either way, I was only a third prepared for the Fourth of July. I had plenty of red. I just needed some white and blue. And now I’m practically swimming in aloe.

Continue reading