Just you wait, Henry Higgins!

I've never been confused, linguistically, with the vast majority of my Parkville family members. Be that what it may but, Eureka! style, it looks like I'm a midlander at heart.

This is absolutely fabulous but the YouTube links are a bit wonky. Check it out.

Courtesy of Rick Aschmann

Blackberrys, Apples, and, Wait for It. . .

Absolutely wonderful at the 1'50" mark and then at the end.

An apology may be in order

Apparently, we weren't supposed to laugh. Sorry, Jon. Even worse, my mind and mouth automatically placed a 'vs.' in between the two nouns. (I still think it's funny and that's likely due to the fact I'm not aware of the conceit.)

Judge for yourself. I was laughing at the end of the trailer and I know I wasn't alone. Heck, I just watched it again and still snickered.

Help Cookie Monster Host SNL

Why?

Perhaps the better question is, "Why not?"

Just how big is Africa, anyway?

I don't know about you, but I didn't realize it was *this* big. Link here to source.

Mmmmm; bacon.

I'm not sure if my favorite factoid deals with St. Anthony 'the Great' or the 2% of us who consume it as a snack. Perhaps the Danes can decide for me.



Via: Online Schools

Worth the Read

If you've never read Atul Gawande it may be due to the following: 1. Gawande is a medical doctor; 2. You don't particularly care for healthcare articles; or, 3.) You don't like the New Yorker. (Shame on you if it's 3.)

I don't particularly care if you read an Atul Gawande article again in your life provided you take the time to actually read this one. Please do it.

How I Survived the Various Apocalypses

My favorite is the 'Game Show Host Apocalypse':

Game Show Host Apocalypse

Got cornered by several of these fiends in an underground parking garage. Thought it was the end for me, but instinctively I recited a bio including my name, occupation, hobbies, and a tedious anecdote. I ran off to safety as they debated among themselves whether to eat my face or give me an all-expenses-paid trip to the Bahamas. 

Thank goodness for the National Guard. Many more here, courtesy of TMN. 

It was a dark and stormy night; or, really bad opening sentences to imagined novels

This year's overall winner of the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest (he of the 'Dark and Stormy Night' fame) is Molly Ringle. Her submission:

For the first month of Ricardo and Felicity's affair, they greeted one another at every stolen rendezvous with a kiss--a lengthy, ravenous kiss, Ricardo lapping and sucking at Felicity's mouth as if she were a giant cage-mounted water bottle and he were the world's thirstiest gerbil.

More examples here. Our favorite is the winner of the Detective segment. Do your best to read this without thinking immediately of Guy Noir; bet you can't!

She walked into my office wearing a body that would make a man write bad checks, but in this paperless age you would first have to obtain her ABA Routing Transit Number and Account Number and then disable your own Overdraft Protection in order to do so. 

"My bad" attributed to Manute Bol?

A linguistic mystery possibly solved and pinpointed to New England and a speaker of a Saharan language. Could it be true?

Thanks to language log.

How to win at Monopoly in 21 seconds

If only our games at home would be this quick. . .

In case you want to know how to do it right

'Nuff said.

Novelists, anyone?

For Jody: 'Are You Absolutely, Positively, and Wholeheartedly Ready to Publish Your Novel?'

Courtesy of the good folks at Chart Porn.

Pixar Characters Drawn to Scale

Courtesy of Juan Pablo Bravo's Flickr site:

Who knew Randall was so big? I wonder who would win in a battle of Randall vs. Mr. Incredible. Also, I didn't think Kevin was that tall. (Ooooh - Steve Buscemi vs. Craig T. Nelson, eh? Kind of like an even weirder Fargo scene or something like that.)

Solar System Music Box

Pluto is especially beautiful, but you have to wait for it.

Juvenile? Absolutely. Funny? Absolutely.

Student Detention slip - That's what she said.


Link here: 

If I Wrote the Cards

Valentine's Day, in our household, is met head on with a birthday. As a result, there are more cards in our household at this time of year than any other (except Christmas).

And, sometimes, the cards are a bit hard to swallow. I'm sure not all of the cards that graced our house made it to production without a few rough drafts and I've uncovered some of the early ideas that didn't quite make the cut. I hope you enjoy.

Each 'final' card is followed by one that wound up in the circular filing cabinet but lives on in this post.

Brilliant Idea: Terrible Execution

Disney's 'Give a Day Get a Day' promotion is fabulous and its use of the always wonderful Muppet franchise has been brilliant. That said, their newest promotion feature is so poorly executed I wonder when they'll change it.

The idea is below:



Unfortunately, the site to create the video (http://disneyparksgive.com/spread-embed.php#embed) doesn't allow you to use your blog site name at this time, and it limits your blog name to 15 characters, with no spaces.

Not smart, Disney. Go figure it out or beat the crap out of your marketing partner, Culture Buzz.