You can find creepiness anywhere.

Like today I came home from work, and THIS was on my TV... 

....yeah. Just...there. 

Like I was in 1984. Only with Elmo. 

Of course it was just a paused episode of Sesame Street that Dominic was watching on Netflix. 

That still doesn't change the fact that this image will haunt my dreams forever. 

A vague sense of unease

Yesterday we got a new bath toy for Dominic: 

Pretty simple, right? Just some plastic thing. Take another look: 

And another....

Nothing much to see, right? Just some plastic scoopy-thingy, roughly the size and shape of a gravy boat. Nothing sinister or potentially dangerous, right? Right? There's no POSSIBLE way this plastic thing could possibly hurt ANYBODY, right?

Are you sure? 

Then WHY did it come with a paper full of warnings and scary images? 

And, worst of all...why are NONE OF THEM IN ENGLISH??? 

Aargh..... 

Sometimes I hate being a parent. 

Sweet Company

It's been a while since I posted any song videos (at least it seems a while to me) so I recorded this over my lunch break today. I personally like this song but I'm not sure if I have the pipes for it... you be the judge. 

"Sweet Company" dates back from 2001, when I was living in the projects in Steubenville, just graduated college, and covering high school sports for the the Steubenville Herald-Star. Crazy, optimistic and unsure time in my life - engendered a LOT of songs.  This song especially was hopeful - that strange, trembling, unsure hope that might leap up into happiness, or (more likely) fall down into despair. Which is a melodramitic way of saying that this song was quickly followed by a sad or angry song. Ah, youth. 

The most haunting image from the DC Quake

Screenshot from twitter.com  20 minutes after the earthquake:

Regarding earthquake: 2

Regarding other natural disasters: 1

Regarding bizarre, inconsequential crap: 7 

Revenge Fantasy

Writing this post  yesterday led me to rediscover one of those "gems" of the internet: xkcd.com, a brilliant little webcomic by Randall Munroe. Sort of like the Far Side for geeks. Take a look: 

 

...or don't. Because it's a little too brilliant. Brilliant enough to suck 12 hours out of your life. Like it just did for me. 

So I've concocted a little revenge fantasy, involving online stalking: 

Those stick figures are harder to draw than I expected. 

The best statement on the Londan Riots I've heard thus far.

From British historian Max Hastings. Harsh words but true.

They are essentially wild beasts. I use that phrase advisedly, because it seems appropriate to young people bereft of the discipline that might make them employable; of the conscience that distinguishes between right and wrong.They respond only to instinctive animal impulses — to eat and drink, have sex, seize or destroy the accessible property of others.Their behaviour on the streets resembled that of the polar bear which attacked a Norwegian tourist camp last week. They were doing what came naturally and, unlike the bear, no one even shot them for it.

Twitter and Earthquakes

Well twitter's good for something, after all (although I take back nothing I said previously): when the earthquake hit, the first place I went was there.

This sums it up: 

Bummer

I'm usually opposed to the idea of favorites. Whenever somebody asks me "What's your favorite (fill in the blank)" I find myself at an impasse. I mean, how can you narrow it down? How can I pick just one Beatles song, or ice cream flavor, or animal I'd like to eat (or be eaten by)?

I did, however, have a favorite word: diphthong. I just thought it sounded cool: "dip-thong!" I'd work it into conversation, or I'd just say it at random breaks in the conversation. Nothing fills up that awkward pause like a good old "DIP-thong!" Preferably said in a loud and high-pitched voice.
But that's all over now. Katie, in her time-honored practice of spoiling EVERYTHING, challenged me to look up "diphthong" in the dictionary. She said she didn't think it was really a word.
Well, I did: and I found out that I'd been saying it wrong. It's not "dip-thong." It's "diff-thong."

Sheesh. Where's the fun in that?

So now I gotta find a new favorite word. Luckily I got a rich pool of candidates. I think I have it narrowed down to either "caboodle" or "verisimilitude." Hmm. Not bad. But they just don't compare.

Thanks a LOT, Katie.

This happens every time.

To be honest, I'd make the same choice as him.

4 years is here!

Now on iTunes! Plus, as a bonus, there is an extra song that never made it on the CD because of money issues at the time. Track #13: "Unsent Letter."

I got the gift of dance! (And she doesn't)

Some of us have joy in our hearts and express it through graceful body movements. Some of us have no joy. No joy at all. 
Song is "The Cheat is not Dead" from homestar Runner (http://www.homestarrunner.​com/sbemail68.html)

Pronunciation wars

There are many things I don't understand about my wife. One of them is how she pronounces "banal":buh-Naaal. Of course it should rhyme with (pardon me) "anal," as every sensible person knows. Another one is how incredibly offended she gets at my pronunciation of the word "leisure" (rhymes with pleasure, of course).

And what's with the whole "Aunt" thing? Why does she (and so, so many other people) pronounce it "Aaaaaahhhhnt" and not the way God intended it: "ant?"

Oh, well.

An "Uh-oh" moment

Hey, where are my keys? 

Jamming with Grib

Last night my buddy John Gribowich came by for dinner - then we played some songs. John is quite simply remarkable. Enjoy!