Yet another reason Roger Ebert died too soon
He never got the chance to give a thumbs up or down to Sharknado .
I am, in truth, recommending that you watch the movie. Yes, all of you. And, yes, there must have been something in the eggnog over the holidays.
* * *
Thursday morning I awoke to this emergency e-plea from my intrepid if reptilian- podiatrically afflicted friend, SCM:
Are you interested in a semi-spontaneous lunch/pedicure outing tomorrow? My feet are crocodilian and something must be done.
I tried to reassure my friend that, as an appreciator of science, she must realize her crocodilian tootsies are worthy of photographic submission to Scientific American (that, or Ripley’s Believe It or Not), and not a scourge to be alleviated.
Her email caught me in the midst of my semi-annual submissions cleanup [1], a task slightly less pleasurable than trimming my nose hairs with a weed whacker. You’ll never guess what ensued.
And SCM’s feet? Not the least bit crocodilian-looking before the pedicure (IMHO) and certainly not afterwards. Even if she did opt for the BOLB [2] polish.
* * *
To celebrate my toes in all their purpleness I made a chickpea, roasted carrot, preserved lemon and chard stew for dinner that evening. While at the market rounding up the ingredients I chanced upon a biodynamic wine from California, whatever that is [3]. Some marketing doofus genius had decided to call the wine GroundSwell, which, of course, my mind immediately translated as GroundSwill…and so I had to get a bottle, just to see if it resembled swill of any kind. For $5.99, how swillish could it be?
Department of Really?
While reading an article on slate.com, my attention was diverted [4] by a sidebar headline:
Why is no one enraged about the New York Times redesign?
I copied the link for this post but had no interest in reading about the tragedy of the redesign. Moiself, the idea of being “enraged” about a change in a newspapers’ web design is annoying, petty, butt-crack-pickin’ stupefying – it is all these things, and more. However, I am not enraged about the perspective-free trivialization of an adjective that should be reserved for situations and actions that are truly infuriating.
The Darfur genocide; global indifference to global warming, Islamic morality police flogging girls who dare to go to school; Texas politicians forcing a dead woman to be an incubator against her family’s wishes – get your rage on, y’all! Having an aesthetic snit-fit over changes in a web site? Get your something-else-to-think-about hat on.
They changed the home page menu drop shadow? Abomination!
* * *
We Interrupt Today’s Blog Post To Bring You One of My Favorite Basketball Quotes [5]
“They say that nobody is perfect. Then they tell you practice makes perfect.
I wish they’d make up their minds.”
― Wilt Chamberlain
* * *
Dateline: recent past, out with family, having dinner at a local sports grill. We were [6]surrounded by wall-mounted big screen TVs tuned into various basketball games. On the screen nearest our table the play of a group of hyperthyroid-afflicted individuals lobbing a spherical object through a toroidal object [7] was interrupted by a commercial for a Christianmingle.com.
Belle, eyes a-twinkle, diverted her brother’s attention to the screen: “Hey, K, that’s the service for you!”
Indeed, someone seemed to think so, K replied, as his spam filter had recently been inundated with Christian hookup/booty call for Christ dating service ads. I said something about how I found that odd: considering the plethora of spam I’d been receiving, with a noticeable increase over the holidays, you think I’d get at least one religious match-making come on. Nope and nada.
Later that evening I checked my own spam filter. And there arose a great wail and gnashing of teeth as I discovered not one but four messages from Christianmingle.com .
Khhhhhhaaaaaan!
I accused My Dear Son © of somehow steering Jehovah’s Yentas ® my way. Not only did K deny having anything to do with it, he suggested my own reputation might be to blame.
“Well, Mom, I guess they figured you’re the kind of person who likes to “Do unto others…”
Ahem.
And may y’all ensue unto the hijinks what the hijinks ensue unto you.
Thanks for stopping by. Au Vendredi!
[1] As in cataloging and opening and closing of manuscript submissions to editors, agents and publishers…and shame on you and the S & M horse you rode in on for thinking otherwise.
[2] Boring Old Lady Beige.
[3] The biodynamic part, I mean. I know what wine is and I know what California is.
[4] Hey! Those things work!
[5] Didn’t know I had favorite basketball quotes, did you? I am a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma…and surrounded by cat hair.
[6] The CDC has determined that reading footnotes is as effective as homeopathic remedies when it comes to preventing the transmission of influenza viruses.
[7] Thank you, author John Green, for his contribution to the ultimate distillation of the game of basketball.
