Put A Fork In It

Remember how 2008 started? When we had an Economy, magazines and books still existed, everyone was in a couple, Meet The Press was enjoyable, and Eartha Kitt was alive?

I'm looking forward to ringing in 2009 with some chums tonight, but in the meantime I'm going to thumb through my favorite issue of the NYT Sunday Magazine of the year.

Auld Lang Syne!

Family Ties, Holiday-Style

For all of you who were wondering how I spent my 18 hours with the family on Christmas...

First, I held a very cutie candy cane nephew of mine.

The best part was when he fell asleep on me - I finally found a Zach to curl up and pass out on my chest!

And here I am with the whole crew.

Happy Holidays!

Worker Bee Ennui

And so here I am at work! What a treat.

I can't complain, because I'm only working 2 days out of the final 2 weeks of December - last Monday, and today.

Today I am focusing on cleaning out my office, same as I did on a December day last year. The junk I have collected over the past year is massive.

Oprah and Peter Walsh tell me that my Physical Clutter turns into Emotional Clutter (and fat!)

Here are a few of the treats I've found so far, and I've only been at it an hour.

An Irish £10 note. Ireland switched to the Euro in 2001, and I'm not sure how much this would be worth even if it was worth anything.

This appears to be an Elephant Incense holder. I don't like incense, and while Elephants are fine and all, they're not my favorites anyway.

A ticket stub to a Willie Nelson concert I went to on November 17th 2005, at the Beacon Theater. Huh.

And last bit of the day from the desk drawer: a stuffed shark, a rosary, a "Keep This Coupon" coupon (I did!), a bandaid, and the business card of someone who retired.

Onward.

the ultimate >Kitt, E< cat

Heaven just a got a bit more purr-fect.



Rest in Peace, Eartha!

Happy Pawlidays!

As I prepare for a 24 journey to see my family, and Zach prepare for 24 hours alone in the house, we think back on all the blessings we do have - like programs, friends, and wine, and we're glad to we got to celebrate all of those on the Eve.

I wonder what the first ever LOLcat had to be thankful for on Christmas?

Anyway, no matter what, there can never be a better Christmas moment than "Fairytale of New York." This live version is pretty good, but if you're like me you'll have the regular version playing on repeat all day. Have a merry one!

Kevin in Charge

Every year for Christmas my friend Kevin and I get each other elaborate gifts. Last year he handmade a diamond studded collar for Zach, and I got him a brilliant velvet cape.

This year due to Economy we said "no gifts," but here's a Christmas Eve surprise for him: I got together four of my scruffy friends and we arranged an a capella treatment of his favorite TV theme song.

Enjoy, Kevin! And Everyone Else!

Thunder! Cats!

Yesterday was my only work-day this week, and I sure was a grump. I think the end of the year brings out everyone's Crazies, and the end of a bad year even more so.

Well here's one funny thing the end of the year has brought us.

For the most part I don't like going to the movies in NYC - most of the big theatres are filled with dummies who text during the movie, or talk, or otherwise disrupt the tableau vivant in front of me. And then the arty cinemas, which feature a lot of the movies I like, often have screens smaller than the one in front of my couch, or sound issues, or old men who grump about imaginary offenses, or all of these things.

But really, the best thing about seeing something on the big screen? The previews.

Here's a preview that some buddies cooked up for an imaginary big screen adaptation of The ThunderCats, the 1985 animated series. TC were a band of Kitty-Men and Women who would fight crime and injustice.

This here trailer takes bits and pieces of recent Over The Top Blockbusters and kitty-izes them. I think it's genius.



Thanks, Strange Copyright Infringers!

Snow Day!

Now, I took today off, but still managed to wake up before 8 like a dummy. On the plus side, I'm still in jammies and probably will be for most of the day - take that, worker bees!

I was going to spend the day doing all my Christmas shopping, but according to Amber's Weather Forecast that would just be too risky. Instead, I'm going to tidy up my apartment since my friend Tim is coming to stay with me tonight, and he probably wouldn't like stepping on all of Zach's corks on the floor or picking through leftover delivery food boxes in the fridge whilst hunting for orange juice.

While I do this, I'm going to spend some time listening to holiday music.

Now, we all know the best Christmas Song Ever is "Fairytale of New York" by Kirsty MacColl and the Pogues, but it's not the ONLY Christmas song, nor even duet.

Here's a fun one that came out this year by Cyndi Lauper with this Swedish Band, the Hives:


Another great wintertime duet is "Baby It's Cold Outside." There are so many versions, but here's a clip from its debut performance by Esther Williams and Ricardo Montalban in Esther Williams' multi-million dollar aquamusical, Neptune's Daughter.


And finally, here's Miss Grace Jones on Pee Wee Herman's Christmas Special, from 1988. This may be my fave at the moment.

Death Star Search

If I had more faith in humanity, I might not believe this was real. I found it trolling youtube for Carrie Fisher videos, but this is indeed good as gravy.

Be sure to watch the whole thing. It's not as good as the Miss South Carolina Thingy from earlier this year, but it's entertaining.

This is especially for Ben & Chris, my two friends who used to work at the Skywalker Ranch.

The Penguin Suit To Beat All Penguin Suits

WHAT a little cutie Pierre is.


Pierre first came to my attention this summer, when Sarah shared his story at Cape Cod Club.

Pierre is not just another pretty Penguin Face. He's a 25 year old African Penguin who lives at the California Academy of Arts & Sciences. Yep, that's right, the same CAS that Sarah and I visited back in November.

Well, a few years back the CAS was closed for its big renovations, and Pierre and all his chums were moved to a temporary facility. Sadly, Pierre didn't adjust so well, and his nervousness at the new digs manifested itself with bald patches all over. Now, you may recall from Penguin Class that their waterproof feathers are what keep them warm and buoyont in the pool, so this was more than an aesthetic problem for our buddy - he wouldn't be able to play any of regular Penguin Games, which clearly wouldn't do.

So what happened? Well, some nice lady who worked with him called some nice company, and they created a one-of-a-kind wetsuit for the little buddy!

He used the wet suit for a few months, and lo and behold he calmed down and all his feathers came back!

I just think this is just the sweetest story I've ever heard. God Bless you, little penguin buddy!

Me & Mrs Jones

I know, I know, I already blogged about Cleopatra Jones. And I've sure written about Miss Shelley Winters before. It's just that this movie has so much entertainment to offer!

And, to be sure, people find my blog every now and then by googling "Coco's Revenge."

This little clip though - it's just too good not to share. She really should have won her third Academy Award for this tour-de-force.



Careful though, she uses cuss words, and says some other horrible things that weren't funny then and aren't funny now.

Cats Burglar

What's up with the Bad Kitties?

You may have read this article here about Frankie, the British Kitty who steals things. In the last year or so, Frankie has snuck out his cat-door during the day and stolen about 35 stuffed animals / cat toys from the neighbours.

My favorite line:

'He's been going out of the house and coming back with all these toys for pretty much as long as he's been allowed out. 'They're all soft toys for cats I think. About 15 of them are all the same leopard. He doesn't really play with them. He dumps them down and goes out looking for something else.'

Who keeps buying the same leopard for his/her cat even though it's now gone missing fifteen times?

And then just a day after was this story here, about a bobcat mauling Santa!

I mean, really? You have a bobcat for a pet? AND you take it to Petsmart to get its picture with Santa? And it attacks him? And you FLEE?

It makes me a little wary of Zach these days. I sure hope he never turns Evil.

'Tis The Season

It's time!

Amber, Kevin, & Diana helped me put my house in the Holiday Spirit last night.

Amazing what a little tree from Nova Scotia and some holiday music can do.

Ho ho ho!

The Supremes vs. The Supremes

You know what happened On This Day In History?

This is the day that the 2000 Elections were decided by the Supreme Court. Yep, that's right. So remember back to Election Night this year? With the hooting and screaming and tears of joy and all that? And now think to today? That's how long it was.

Crazy Times.

Anyway, here's some other Supremes. I think I like these ones better.

Wunder-Garr!

Today we wish a very happy birthday to Miss Teri Garr. I recently had the great pleasure to read her memoir, Speedbumps. According to a really funny interview in the The Onion, she apparently wanted to call it Does This Wheelchair Make Me Look Fat?, which is pretty much the humorous way she talks about her experience having multiple sclerosis, and later a brain aneurysm. To paraphrase my friend Buffy Summers, at least it was a funny aneurysm.

Anyway, she tells stories about being a dancer in Elvis movies, filming one of my faves, One From The Heart, teaching Al Pacino how to drive, Tootsie, and more.

Oh, and Zach liked it too.

Many happy returns, Teri!

!El Oso Mas Fantastico!

I love this little bear. He's the mascot for Caja Madrid, one of Spain's larger banks. I'm guessing it's like the Citibank or Chase of Spain, because their signs are all over the place. I have many pictures of the logo - I think I love it so much because it looks like this cutey bear is standing at the ATM, taking money out of his account.

I hadn't thought of Caja Madrid in a long time, but recently they sent me an email. I'm not quite sure what it says, or if it's spam, but it sure is cute.


Gracias, Caja Madrid, for the good times.

Murder, I Blog

I *love* Murder, She Wrote. I love everything about it.

I love Mrs. Jessica Fletcher and her busy-body ways.

I love Cabot Cove, Maine.

I love that supposedly both Jean Stapleton and Doris Day turned the role down until Angela Lansbury stepped in.

I love the cross-over episode where she and Magnum, P.I. solved a crime together.

I love the fact that she traveled the world for 12 years visiting nieces and nephews and former college roommates in far flung places, and each time a murder would take place.

I love all the sophisticated guest stars from the golden age of cinema, Broadway, and vaudeville, not to mention the up-and-comers. Everyone from Sonny Bono to George Clooney to Rue McClanahan to Mercedes McCambridge to Leslie Nielsen to Lynn Redgrave to heaps more - and not certainly least Miss Nina Foch.

One I watched recently even featured Maxwell Caulfield from Grease 2 putting on an Irish brogue as a stablehand - rather eerily similar to the time Humphrey Bogart put on an Irish brogue to play Bette Davis' stable hand in Dark Victory.

I love the exposition lines. "Jessica, we may have been roommates in college, but..." and "Jessica, you remember my fiance, the son of daddy's rival in the race-track business?"

I guess what I like about them is how cozy the mysteries are - kind of like the ones that Rita Mae Brown writes where her cat helps her solve crimes.

And the bestest part? Each ep opens with Miss Angela Lansbury intoning "Tonight, on Murder, She Wrote..." as we watch scenes from the episode we're about to watch, just so nothing takes you by surprise. How cozy and great is that?

Here, enjoy the opening credits, if you haven't in a while.

Zach, Jr.

It's official: I'm an Uncle, Family-Style.

Little Zachary John popped into the world last Thursday night, ten fingers and ten toes.

Why do babies come with hats?

I like this one here, with the newly-minted Grandparents.

And here's our first meeting.


I'm not sure why they named him after Zach, but little Puss Puss is looking forward to meeting his cousin.

Prop 8: Cha Cha Cha

Now, I dunno how much folks are paying attention, but there was this Proposition that went down wrong in California.

If you're not up on current events, here's a musical version of what happened. A few people have shared this with me, so maybe it's Old News now. Anyway, it's cute, and you can play spot-the-celeb. Kathy Najimy! Miss Jackie Washington! More! Cheers!

See more Jack Black videos at Funny or Die

The Game of LIFE

Here's something really cool I just discovered.

Google is digitizing all of LIFE Magazine's photo archives - as of now they're apparently 20% of the way there. Most of the pictures have never been published. It's an amazing archive.

You can search the archives here, or when googling you can just type "source:life" after your keyword.

Here's my fun finds:

Doris Day in a pretty yellow top. With a poodle!

Ooh, my fave. Miss Shelley Winters with a book. So publishing! I printed this one out and tacked it to my bulletin board.

Hee hee. Here's Miss Charlotte Greenwood caught in the act of showing off her pisketti-legs.

And Miss Barbara Stanwyck, staring at a painting of herself which makes me think she was in a re-make of Picture Of Dorian Gray.

Happy searching! And please share anything cool that you find.

A Great Winters, Barr None

Now, I'm really good at accents and impressions, but hats off to Rosanne Barr for this impersonation of Miss Shelley Winters from the Actors Studio.



Thanks hulu. You complete me.

Le Couche Tard

So while David and I were in Montreal, we figured we'd just learn French the same way Madison the Mermaid learned English - from street signs and TV shows. How hard can it be if a fish did it, right?

Turns out it was a little harder than that. The best phrase we learned? "Winking Owl." We learned this from the sign for the All Night Bodega:

Now, if you use your knowledge of Pop Song French, you know that Voulez-vous coucher avec moi? means "Will you sleep with me?" And if you use your high school Spanish you know that tarde means late. What does that get you?

Yep, Winking Owl. And a phrase that's so much fun to say you just can't help yourself.

Couche-tard!

The Less I Seek My Source For Some Definitive

Once, I thought that David had abandoned me. I remember walking on the beach and seeing just one set of footprints in the sand.

"David," I said, "why did you forsake me?"

David replied: "it was then that I carried you."

Or, when he harmonized with me.

God Bless, Friends. And thank you too, Canada.