Requiem for Ibrahim Ferrer

R.I.P. Ibrahim Ferrer, 1927-2005.



The Buena Vista Social Club album is one of my favorites. I'm sure he's making heavenly music with Compay Segundo and Ruben Gonzalez right now.

Condolences to the loved ones of Peter Jennings, too.

There goes my pop culture street cred (and other stuff)

• Doing my daily internet reading, I came across an item saying that Carrie Underwood was voted PETA's vegetarian of the year. Now, I could give a flying fig about PETA, but my thought upon reading this was, "Am I supposed to know who Carrie Underwood is?" I had to Google her. Turns out she's this year's nationally televised karaoke contest winner. *Smacks head*
  
• "Stella" is this summer's funniest show. Michael Showalter on being in love: "I feel like a newborn baby lamb fresh out the womb, still covered in afterbirth." Absurdist humor, but hilarious.
  
• I caught FX's new comedies "Starved" and "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia". Not bad. I liked the latter more than the former, but my DVR cut off with about 6 or so minutes to go, so "Sunny" left me totally hanging.
  
• Thanks to my cousin Dustin for hooking me up with a copy of Microsoft Office long after the trial version expired on my laptop. Now I can write cover letters and tweak resumes anywhere I want.
  
• It's very hard for me to justify paying $50 for a video game (I've only done it twice: the Sims and the Sims 2), but I knew I should've bought Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas while I had the chance. Thanks, Hillary!
  
• Peanut butter is the food of the gods.
  
• Even though I would never pay to see the new Deuce Bigalow movie (fool me once...), I always laugh at the part in the TV spot where a woman says, "I want a man who's unemployed and went to a community college" and Deuce responds, "I am and I did!"
  
• I get a metric ton of free subscriptions, but I'd actually pay for Giant Magazine.
  
• I'm completely obsessed with the latest Rilo Kiley album.
  

"It's the feel-good class-action lawsuit of the summer!!!"

Well, it looks like Sony is going to pony up $1.5 million to settle the class-action lawsuit regarding movie advertisement blurbs by phantom critic David Manning. So, if you saw Vertical Limit, A Knight's Tale, The Animal, Hollow Man or The Patriot during their theatrical runs, you're entitled to $5 of your money back.

You know, I completely forgot about the existence of Hollow Man, much less the fact that I saw it in the theater, before reading this story. I wonder if Kevin Bacon feels the same way.

For info on how to make your claim, see this PDF file.

Credit due: Laughmachine.com

I'd like to teach the world to chill

I am totally digging the latest Coke commercial - the one that has G. Love (one of my faves) tweaking the classic "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing" commercial. Personally, I think he's the perfect choice for the summertime loungin' vibe that the commercial gives off.

You can view the "Chilltop" ad here (click on "Chilltop" -> "Commercial").

It looks like they may put the song online ("coming soon"), but in the meantime does anyone happen to have the audio to this?

Crushes of the Week: "Wedding Crashers" women

Due to vacation, I didn't have any Crushes for the past couple of weeks, so I'll make up for lost time. This week you get four: the women of Wedding Crashers.


"I got a Stage Five Clinger."

Isla Fisher is adorable and stole her scenes in the movie (and she gets bonus points for being engaged to Ali G). Rachel McAdams is cute (but I didn't buy her character's attraction to her jerk boyfriend). I am completely in love with Diora Baird, even though she was in the movie for about four seconds (but what a four seconds it was). And Jane Seymour (aka Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman) is the epitome of a MILF ("Call me Kitty Cat.").

As for the movie itself, I thought it was hilarious. The dinner table scene alone was worth the price of admission. Sure, there were some plotholes, but what do you expect from a raunchy comedy? Vince Vaughn (who is being stalked by a certain regular Micah World reader) owned the movie. Hollywood, please give him more work. And not that I'm complaining or anything, but I expected way more boobage in the film. Maybe for the inevitable unrated DVD...

Hopefully, the upcoming R-rated comedy The Forty Year-Old Virgin will be just as funny. Not...that...I'll be able to relate or anything. After all, I'm 29. :) (Sadly, though, Steve Carell's line "I just kinda stopped trying" resonates with me.)

Free Music Tuesday: Jude and the Postal Service

Two free tunes for you today. First up is "The Not So Pretty Princess" by Jude (from his 2001 album King of Yesterday, which I've been obsessed with lately).

The Not So Pretty Princess met a doctor with a knife
And he said there was a lot of ways that he could change her life
And with the nose of a reindeer, the skin of a plum
For now she'll be lovely, forever look dumb

Next up is "Nothing Better" by The Postal Service, in which Ben Gibbard and Jen Wood debate about whether their relationship is over:

He said:
Will someone please call a surgeon
Who can crack my ribs and repair this broken heart
That you're deserting for better company?
I can't accept that it's over
And I will block the door like a goalie tending the net
In the third quarter of a tied-game rivalry

She said:
I feel I must interject here
You're getting carried away, feeling sorry for youself
With these revisions and gaps in history
So let me help you remember
I've made charts and graphs that should finally make it clear
I've prepared a lecture on why I have to leave

This is simply the best male and female back-and-forth song since the Human League's "Don't You Want Me?" (While you're at it, go to the Postal Service's site and snag "Such Great Heights" - an excellent song).

I had originally planned on offering "Mexico or Bust" by New Kingdom, but I see that they offer it for free themselves on their site. That song is straight-up grimey. Go there and get it NOW.

So leave a comment requesting either or both songs, if you want 'em.

Well, there goes any chance of being productive

I see that Garden State and Shaun of the Dead are now in rotation on Skinemax. Sure, I've got the DVDs for each, but I'm telling you right now that you can add these two to my list of "Movies That I'll Watch Every TV Viewing That I Can Catch" list (which includes such films as Ocean's Eleven, Dumb and Dumber, La Bamba, and Shattered Glass).

In other pay cable movie news, I just may give Napoleon Dynamite another chance. Hey, I hated Super Troopers and Goldmember when I first saw them, but now find them funny. And it looks like I'll be able to check out Fahrenheit 9/11 without directly giving money to Michael Moore.

But who did Stryper date?

You're probably tired of me seemingly always pimping Patton Oswalt, so I'll pimp someone else: columnist/author Chuck Klosterman. Right now I'm on a total CK kick: I just read his Fargo Rock City and am going to pick up his new one - Killing Yourself to Live - from the library tomorrow. The following is a passage from the former:

Still we somehow managed to use a band's songs and videos - and more importantly, a band's social posture - to get an image of what kind of women they preferred (or appeared to prefer)...Here's a list of what type of girls the premier metal groups liked (or at least seemed to like)...

GUNS N' ROSES: Bisexual models; submissive women; girls who would buy them booze.
MOTLEY CRUE: Strippers; women who have sex in public (particularly elevators); lesbians.
RATT: Hookers with a heart of gold. Or strippers with a heart of gold. Or thirteen-year-olds.
WARRANT: Virgins who exhibited the potential to become nymphomaniacs.
DEF LEPPARD: Drunk girls; female vampires.
THE CULT: Female vampires only.
FASTER PUSSYCAT: GNR rejects.
W.A.S.P.: Magician's assistants; women with rape fantasies; lower primates.
AEROSMITH: Models, but not waifs; high school snobs; more girls who like having sex in elevators.
CINDERELLA: Gypsies.
TESLA: Farm girls; whoever they used to date in junior high.
SKID ROW: Nameless, faceless, top-heavy sex machines (with hearts of gold).
BULLETBOYS: Girls with particularly deep birth canals.
L.A. GUNS: Drug-addled hitchhikers who like rough sex.
BANG TANGO: Faster Pussycat rejects.
VAN HALEN: Party girls; bikini models; the homecoming queen; cast members of "One Day at a Time."
DAVID LEE ROTH (solo): The same as Van Halen, except with bigger boobs.
BON JOVI: The girl next door.
VINNIE VINCENT INVASION: The dominatrix next door.
SLAUGHTER: Girls who couldn't make the cut as Bon Jovi groupies.
WINGER: Whoever Bon Jovi groupies used to baby-sit.
POISON: Girls who liked to tease; girls from small towns; good girls gone bad.
KISS: Any girl who wasn't dead.
IRON MAIDEN: Dead girls.
JUDAS PRIEST: Boys.
METALLICA: None of the above.

Really, he's the only reason I keep my subscription to Spin.

And on the fifteenth day he came home

Just so's y'all know, I'm back in C-Bus now.



I can think of a few places I'd rather be (one place in particular - but I'll be there in a few weeks). Regular blogging content will resume shortly.

HHI: Last mango in Paris

Well, today is my last full day here in Hilton Head. I feel obligated to go to the beach, since I live in a landlocked state and don't see the shore nearly as much as I'd like to. But I'm just not feeling it. Maybe I'll take a stroll over there this evening.

Tonight's meal is the annual peel and eat shrimp dinner, along with crabcakes made out of crabs that my brother has been catching for the past two weeks (the crustaceans, not the STD).

One uninteresting note: despite the fact that I've titled all of my HHI posts after Jimmy Buffett albums/songs, I have yet to listen to a single song of his on this trip (and I brought at least six of his discs).

It's going to suck to return to normal life. Hopefully, there'll be some temp assignments waiting for me now that there are no more obstacles (other than that pesky "wanting to move away from the state" thing). And then there's Micah-palooza in Vegas, which is just about three short weeks away.

Plus, one of the first things I'll do when I get home is head to Best Buy so I can pick up the new Dane Cook CD/DVD combo. I swear, next to Patton Oswalt, he's my favorite current comedian.

HHI: Coconut Telegraph

Time's running out here in HHI. A very brief recap of the past few days: a murder mystery dinner (I was the killer), Christmas in July, and the biggest steak I've ever eaten.


Merry Christmas

Within two days, I finished my fifth book - Chuck Klosterman's Fargo Rock City. He gives heavy metal more analysis than the genre deserves, but it is hilarious. Run, don't walk to the bookstore to get it.

Last night, the whole damn family (all 20 of us) chartered a bus and took a trip to Savannah, GA, for dinner at celebrity chef Paula Deen's Lady & Sons. And it was a great buffet: fried chicken, fried ribs, mac & cheese, collard greens, cabbage, beef stew, and butter with mashed potatoes. The sweet tea had a sprig of mint in it. And I'm ashamed to say that it took me 29 years to get the chance to eat a hoe cake. Our waitress was the Southern Belle that I've been looking for except that she possesses one quality that removes her from my list: she currently resides in Georgia (this is not a slam on GA, but rather my finicky notion not to relocate for a girl).

What's on the beach house's playlist, you ask? Well, I'll break it down for you:
Heavy Rotation:
-Jack Johnson In Between Dreams
-Jude King of Yesterday*
-Donavan Frankenreiter
-Jimmy Cliff The Harder They Come (Deluxe Edition)
Medium Rotation:
-Coldplay's latest (my brother's a huge fan)
-David Bowie Changesbowie
Light Rotation:
-Beach Boys Pet Sounds
-Fountains of Wayne Welcome Interstate Managers
-Queen Greatest Hits
-Jon Brion I Heart Huckabees soundtrack

Also a quick shout-out to Bullfrog sunscreen. Every time I step out into the sun, I tend to burst into flames, thanks to the Clan Keith blood pumping through my veins. But I've averaged a beach trip every other day these past two weeks and I have yet to get a sunburn. I think's it's all about the Bullfrog. Big ups to Phil for recommending the stuff.

*Every now and then an album comes along that totally consumes me. This is the latest. It is one of those criminally overlooked records (I just got it this month and I'm a big fan of Jude's first two albums). It didn't help that it was released on September 11, 2001. But go and buy it. Your quality of life will certainly be raised if you do.

HHI: Volcano

My days have been extremely lazy, so there's really nothing for me to post about. How about a pic of a hot topless chick?


Put your hands together for Sarah Jane on the main stage.

My niece is going to kill me when she gets older.

Had more ribs tonight at Sticky Fingers. Two nights ago my brother, his chica, and I made crawfish etouffee for the clan. Scrumptious.

Catching up on my news, my heart goes out again to the people of London. And it sounds like W made the correct choice for his SC nominee. Power to the States!

It'd be really nice if we got OLN so's I could watch Lance Armstrong win his seventh consecutive Tour de France (added bonus: pissing off the French). Alas, I'll have to make due with the highlights. This is quite a departure from last year for me when I watched pretty much all of the television coverage. Of course, I failed the bar exam that summer. Thanks, Lance.

I'm determined to finish my second book tonight. Only have about 60 pages to go.

Currently, there's some heated family drama between my cousin and my uncle about the correct rules of Scrabble (seriously). Nothing like a meltdown over a board game.

HHI: Boat drinks

Nothing much happened yesterday except for reading, shopping at Wal-Mart (finally got a sweatshirt to wear in this COLD house), and playing Scrabble. Much to my brother's dismay, "uningrained" is not a word. Oh, and our renunion t-shirt was unveiled - I'll post a pic later. So, I thought that I'd give a treat to all of the functioning alcoholics out there - our family's recipe for that frozen concotion that helps me hang on: Sneaky Petes.

1 fifth vodka
1 12 ounce can frozen orange juice concentrate
1 12 ounce can frozen lemonade concentrate
2 cups cranberry juice
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 2 liter bottle of 7-UP

Mix all of the above together and freeze overnight. Spoon into tall glasses.

We make Sneaky Petes every time we come down here and go through several batches of the frozen goodness. Today just may be a beach day.

I've pretty much isolated myself from the outside world here. The DVR at home is recording all of my shows, so no need to watch TV. We don't get a newspaper. All of the magazines that I brought with me are old. So I am just now getting word that Bush nominated a guy for the Supreme Court. Hmmm...I'll have to do some reading up on him.

HHI: One particular harbour

My brother had to get stamps for some bills that he had to send out, so I tagged along with him and his girlfriend to the general store. As we were waiting in line, a stock guy pushing a loaded dolly tried to pass. The next thing I know crates of Gatorade and cigarettes are falling on my brother's chica, injuring her ankle. The manager of the general store rushed over, worried as hell. He offered her a free t-shirt (so she wouldn't sue), but she declined and gave assurances that she wouldn't be litigating. My brother did get his stamps comped, though (total value: $3.75). And in related news, I found a finger in my pina colada.


Beaches. Without Bette Midler.

Finally saw the beach today. Ah, it was nice. My brother dug a hole and sat in it. No sunburn...yet. And I saw parrots (not at the beach).


Smack is on me tonight, guys.

When most people think of Hilton Head, they think of two things: jazz and Thai food. We went to a jazz club tonight. There I had some excellent Seafood Thai Curry. And both my cousin and brother-in-law sat in with the band for a few songs (on alto sax and drums, respectively). They each did a great job. Really swingin' cats. It has been a long time since I've seen some live jazz. This club was devoid of smoke, which kind of killed the atmosphere. When I go to a jazz club, I fully expect to remove about 3 years off of my life expectancy. Bummer. But hearing the music, I was reminded of one of my favorite "Strangers With Candy" quotes, said by Jazzy - the hep jazz cat stereotype band teacher: "There's only three things I know that can cause a person to wail so mournfully: Lack of heroin, someone makin' off with your junk, and not havin' heroin."

Okay, here's another one: "Charlie Parker once said to me, 'Jazzy, shut up and give me some heroin.'"

HHI: Living and dying in 3/4 time

Day two at Hilton Head was a nice one. I finished one book (that I started yesterday) and started a new one. At the rate I'm going, I'll have to buy more books.

Due to some family members' preferences, this house is cold. Nova Scotia cold. And there's no use setting up camp at the other house because it's just as frigid over there (thanks to my mom). I'm freezing my baguettes off out here.

On top of that, something in the house is triggering my allergies. Someone discovered a cat bed here, so that's probably the culprit. I'd take copious amounts of Benadryl but A) I don't want to be doped up for the next fortnight and B) I don't want to risk pissing off Tom Cruise.

As I unpacked, I realized that I didn't bring my binoculars, which is too bad because there's an abundance of cute, toned sheilas at the tennis courts next to the house. Damn you privacy hedge! It's just as well. I'll be just that less creepy.

Uncle Chuck prepared tonight's dinner: ribs and beer can chicken. He's a veteran of four barbecue boot camps (Steven Raichlan even gave him his PhG - Doctorate of Grilling), so you know it was good. Capping off the meal was Uncle Mike's homemade ice cream. Good stuff.

HHI: Changes in latitudes, changes in attitudes

Just finished unpacking, getting all homey-like, and lo and behold - the house is equipped with high-speed internet (free, to boot!). We're rolling ghetto fab-u-lous. So you guys' aren't going to get the reprieve that you hoped for.

Got to the airport at 9 am, but had to wait around due to there being an air show going on there (cue: "Rock You Like a Hurricane"). After the F-16 jets did their belly rolls, we finally lifted off at 10:15 and arrived on Hilton Head Island at a little before noon. Private jets are the only way I'll travel from now on. This may provide a problem for my eventual DC workday commute.

When we got here, the houses were still being cleaned. So we had lunch at the Salty Dog. And then they were still being cleaned. I then went to the pool and read 100 pages of my Kevin Smith book. The Read-A-Thon has started, folks. A girl asked, "can I smoke here, sir?" One: I'm not a lifeguard (the "NO LIFEGUARD ON DUTY" sign behind me should've clued her in). Two: I am definitely not a "sir." Gray hairs, notwithstanding.

After medicating a splitting headache (brought on no doubt by a combination of exposure to the sun, ingesting more sugar this morning than in the past three months, and a change in pressure), I'm feeling pretty good now.

Just so you know, I am a walking dichotomy. I love the beach. Not really going in the water so much as just enjoying the overall vibe and environment. Yet, being the "relaxed fit" guy that I am, there is a perpetual layer of glaze over me whenever I step out into temperatures higher than 45F (2 Kelvin). Add to the fact that I seldom wear just a t-shirt as my sole upper level attire and you can imagine how this muggy, Vietnam-like atmosphere is for me. It's hot. Africa hot.* But I love the beach.

*Mad props to KPMD for reviving this quote and, thus, making it the official tagline for Micah World.

Gone fishin'

Well, folks, in about 7.5 hours I will be on a jet to Hilton Head, SC. A vacation from vacation, of sorts. So there may be no blog for two weeks. Although maybe I'll be able to locate a cheap (preferably free) wifi hotspot down there and do an update or two.

Look for me on the Salty Dog Cafe webcam. I'll likely be there most nights, as long as my brother's buying.

What's in my beach bag, you ask?
-sunblock because I burst into flames whenever I go out into the sun
-issues of Reason, Esquire, Men's Journal, and Blender
-Spider-man band-aids (I cut my finger chopping onions the other night)
-mp3 player
-lots o' water
-beach chair
-J.Crew beachtowel to let people know how I roll
-sandals (er, actually on my feet, not in the bag)
-hats (cowboy, Orioles, Nationals)
-binoculars (to look at...uh, wildlife)
-digital camera (to take pictures of...uh, wildlife)
-sunglasses
-Silent Bob Speaks, The Serpent and the Rainbow, Fargo Rock City, Arrogance, The Eyre Affair, Peace Kills, Dancing Naked in the Mind Field, The Making of a Chef, Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, and Sleeping With the Devil (I'm under no illusion that I'll read them all; it's just nice to have options)

I'll be talking to y'all in two weeks, if not sooner.

Snap back to reality (TV)

As much as I am loathe to say it, I am actually enjoying some of the vapid reality fare on TV this summer.

"Hell's Kitchen": Chef Gordon Ramsay is what our friends in the UK would refer to as an arse (Thanks, Donald Trump!). But it is fun to watch him turn up the heat. Dewberry, I miss you.

"The Next Food Network Star": Quite possibly the friendliest reality show ever. No backstabbing or two-faced plotting. No illicit hot tub hook-ups. No bitchy confessionals. How refreshing! My boy Eric was robbed.

"Average Joe: The Joes Strike Back": Always good to see the little guy get a shot at a hottie, but I recognize that this show is pure fantasy. The previous two editions showed that women are just as superficial as men (at least we admit it). This time around the babe (Anna) is cute, but not a stunner like the last two. But she does have the best rack. Well, she does. And a tip for my female readers: despite your best intentions, guys don't like to be called "sweet" - a word all too often thrown at the Joes before they are cast off.

"Beauty and the Geek": Oddly enough (or maybe not), this turned out to be my favorite of the four. Probably because it wasn't a dating show, but a "social experiment" (as it was billed). No forced hook-ups or awkward dates (well, I guess there were one or two of those). Truthfully, the women were attractive, but not the End All Be All of Female Beauty as the producers would have you believe. And some of the guys really weren't all that nerdy. Richard annoyed the hell out of me, though.

Despite watching the above, I still maintain my hatred of the reality genre.

The funniest thing I heard all week

On this week's "Reno 911!", there's a scene where the deputies put on an assembly for a bunch of kids. After their anti-graffiti song gets an indifferent response, an irate Lt. Dangle says, "Those of us who weren't raised by Grand Theft Auto, we applaud after we see something." Hilarious.

For relaxing times, make it Suntory time.

Slower, with more intensity.

Cool site alert: Japander.com. There you can see Hollywood celebrities pimp Asian products. Britney Spears advertises iced tea, Dennis Hopper shills for Nike, and Madonna plugs booze. Fans of "24" will dig one by Kiefer. And do yourself a favor and check out the Michael Jackson spot ("Love is my message") and the sublimely weird Arnold Schwarzenegger commercials.

Whittling down "69 Love Songs" is the new whittling down "The White Album"

I've had 69 Love Songs by the Magnetic Fields on my listening pile for quite some time, but only recently delved into the 3 disc set. I like it a lot, but there is some filler, IMO. It could be an absolutely brilliant album if some of it was excised. So, like some music geeks (myself included) do with White Album, I pared it down to one excellent 80 minute disc. The sequencing is pretty much random except for the first and last songs ("Absolutely Cuckoo" is a great introduction and "Zebra"...well, it starts with a Z).

1. "Absolutely Cuckoo"
2. "Meaningless"
3. "Acoustic Guitar"
4. "I Don't Want To Get Over You"
5. "Promises of Eternity"
6. "All My Little Words"
7. "I Don't Belive in the Sun"
8. "Reno Dakota"
9. "Two Kinds of People"
10. "The Book of Love"
11. "Let's Pretend We're Bunny Rabbits"
12. "My Only Friend"
13. "A Chicken With Its Head Cut Off"
14. "Queen of the Savages"
15. "Washington, D.C."
16. "I Think I Need a New Heart"
17. "Luckiest Guy on the Lower East Side"
18. "It's a Crime"
19. "Very Funny"
20. "Long-Forgotten Fairytale"
21. "Busby Berkeley Dreams"
22. "Bitter Tears"
23. "Papa Was a Rodeo"
24. "If You Don't Cry"
25. "Abigail, Belle of Kilronan"
26. "Kiss Me Like You Mean It"
27. "(Crazy For You But) Not That Crazy"
28. "Wi' Nae Wee Bairn Ye'll Me Beget"
29. "The Night You Can't Remember"
30. "Zebra"

I'm not the only one doing this apparently. Stylus Magazine and The Believer both have features that whittle down the album (the former says that "Washington, D.C." is about a lesbian affair, but it seems pretty sexual orientation-neutral to me).

Positive feedback

I want to free up space on my DVR since I'll be gone for two weeks, so I've been plowing through a bunch of stuff that I've recorded. Tonight I watched CNBC's "The eBay Effect" - it was pretty interesting, similar to the channel's special about Wal-Mart. Now I've just got to fight the temptation to go to eBay and buy stuff that I really don't need (like a hula girl lamp). Anyway, I'm sure the program will get repeated often, so check it out.

Now all I really need to watch is the "CSI" finale (I'm not a regular viewer of that show, but Quentin Tarantino directed this particular episode), this week's "Hell's Kitchen," and the Showtime movie Possessed (about the real life case that inspired The Exorcist).

Beef Jerky Report: I made a batch of Louisiana Red Pepper beef jerky today. Tomorrow is Tequila Lime. Friday's batch will be Mesquite Lime. It's good to have a food dehydrator.

Crush of the Week: Rachael Leigh Cook

This week's Crush is actress Rachael Leigh Cook. Ever since I saw her get medieval with a frying pan in that anti-drug PSA, I knew she was all that.


Kiss me.

I haven't seen much of her lately. It looks like she's sticking with mainly indie stuff since the dismal Josie and the Pussycats. Someone call Freddie Prinze, Jr. stat!

Free Music Tuesday: Haynes Boys

I have several all-time favorite songs* and one of them is "Bitters Past" by the Haynes Boys (Tim Easton's band before he went solo), off of their excellent - and only - CD Guardian Angel. It is so great that it's the only song I'm offering this week. It has one of the best couplets ever ("I don't want to grow old drinking/But I want to grow old drinking with you")

So leave your request in the comments section and I'll e-mail the song to you. Also, check out Tim's site (linked above) - he's got a whole live show available for download. Great stuff. He recently played 4 shows in one weekend here in his native Columbus - I didn't go to any of them. That's living below the poverty line for you.

*"Dixie Chicken," "I Hope That I Don't Fall in Love With You"

I wasn't staring. I'm just hungry.

Mmmmmmm...Gummy

There's a new boob in town. One made of a gummy bear-like substance (link is clinical, but maybe not work safe). First bears, then worms, and now this. Gummy technology is grand, ain't it?

This is just the first step in the combining of George Costanza's passions: sex, food, and TV. It won't be too long before you can also catch the latest episode of "CSI" on woman's chest (as if I need another reason to stare). Or better yet, watching nekkid Skinemax chicks on a pair of breasts. Did I just blow your mind?

Credit due: We're taking bets that...

"I'm home" or "Pink is the new black"

Got in from DC not too long ago. The trip home took 7 hours and 10 minutes (as opposed to the 6 hours and 15 minutes it took to initially get there). The big difference was due mainly to 270 being a parking lot. Sitting there, listening to G. Gordon Liddy's radio show, the thought came to me that maybe I don't miss the area as much as I thought. Traffic this bad at 3 pm on a Monday afternoon? Turns out that it wasn't the usual hellish DC traffic, but the result of a 6 car pile up. Whew!

The free DC Metro Area apartment finder book is 3 times bigger than its Columbus counterpart. I think it must be the New International Version. My housing choices seem limitless. Especially since I haven't established what my budget will be.

Fun fact: a lightning bug still glows after smashing into the windshield of a car traveling at 80 mph.

My whirlwind trip has really got me yearning to move back to the District of Crack (well, actually Alexandria). The job search efforts must be raised...after my Hilton Head trip.

"Blogging on the road" or "Holla Back Boy"

I'm writing this from high atop the Alexandria Hilton, here visiting friends in the DC Metro area. Tonight we had our own G7 Summit at Clyde's. For some reason, the conversation mainly centered on two topics: Cisco and strippers.

I mentioned how I thought I should make my own version of Sideways, only this movie would be about a couple of wine cooler snobs. And then I learned of the existence of a magical drink called Cisco. Apparently, it is akin to Boone's or MD 20/20, only its 20% alcohol content packs a far bigger wallop. Possibly Illegal in Virginia; status unknown in Ohio. You can be sure that I'll be going on a quest when I return.

Then there are strippers. Do we even need an excuse to talk about them? Well, it stemmed from talking about the upcoming Micah-palooza celebration in Vegas (for my 30th birthday). Want a peek inside their world and have your illusions shattered? Then peruse the forums at Stripper Web - a resource for people in the industry. It's quite enlightening.

As for DC - it's hot. Africa hot.

If only all ads ended with a quick "SEGA!"

Just what you need to kill some time: an archive of old video game commercials, both domestic and international. Some of these really take me back to a simpler time (2004).

Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to go outside and yell "Mortal Kombat!" at the top of my lungs.

What should I read?

A week from today I'll be leaving for Hilton Head for two weeks of lazing around and sipping Kiwi Coladas (a vacation from vacation, of sorts). This provides plenty of quality reading time for yours truly. What's currently in my beach bag?



The Serpent and the Rainbow by Wade Davis. It's sort of like a real-life zombie book. And I have this strange fascination with voodoo.

Peace Kills by P.J. O'Rourke. A little funny libertarian food for thought.

Fargo Rock City by Chuck Klosterman. He's my favorite columnist (and the only reason why I still have a subscription to Spin). This guy's stuff is always a great read.

But that's not nearly enough reading material for me. If the books are interesting, I can easily burn through 4 or 5 in two weeks. Stealing an idea from Kate, I turn to you - my faithful readers - to give me suggestions for good beach reading. I usually prefer non-fiction (humor, politics, history, biographies), but am open to fiction. Keep in mind that I will be getting any suggestions from the library, so I'll need to put in a reserve request post haste in order to get them before I leave.

Free mint julep with purchase

Oh, cruel fate. Here I am without any disposable income and today I get an e-mail regarding a Jos. A. Bank sale. Why am I lamenting this? Because I could get a seersucker suit for $143.20 if I act by Monday. To paraphrase George Costanza, I've always wanted to be ensconced in seersucker, but never had the nerve to buy an actual suit. That and the whole "livin' in the Midwest" thing - not to mention being under 50 - doesn't really cater to that type of outfit. But I am planning on moving back South sooner rather than later. And in my head I'm a Southern Dandy. This is a great buy - almost worth going into (more) debt for. But I think I'll just wait until next time. Now I need to figure out something else to wear to the premiere of the "Dukes of Hazzard" movie.

I hope she remembers to beat someone up on her first day inside

Lil' Kim has been sentenced to 366 days in jail for perjury. Keepin' it real!

On a totally unrelated and serious note, my thoughts and prayers go out to the people of London today.

Crush of the Week: Cheryl Hines

This week's Crush is Cheryl Hines, who plays Larry David's wife on "Curb Your Enthusiasm."


I'm her caucasian.

We'll just forget about her participation in that dreadful "Father of the Pride" cartoon.

Free Music Tuesday: Tour de France edition

To coincide with Lance Armstrong claiming the yellow jersey and Team Discovery Channel's dramatic victory in today's team time trial stage of the Tour de France, I've a couple of cycling-related songs for you.

The first song is Queen's "Bicycle Race," naturally.

Next is John Tesh's "Road Made for Animals" off of his 1990 Tour de France: The Early Years album. I vividly remember watching CBS's Sunday coverage of the Tour with my dad and brother, back in the day. This music was the soundtrack to fast-moving images of Davis Phinney, Raul Alcala, Andy Hampsten, and Greg LeMond. It would also be played over the PA system when the Tour de Trump (later called the Tour DuPont) would have a stage or two in Richmond. So you see, my reason for having this CD is purely nostalgic. You don't have to give me crap for owning a John Tesh album.

As always, if you want either or both of these songs, leave a comment requesting them.

Hooray for America!

Happy 4th of July! Grill out some hotdogs, watch some fireworks, chill with the fam, and enjoy some All-American entertainment. May I suggest some music, a movie, a TV show, or a book? If you don't enjoy those, you're a Communist.

(For some reason, I have a renewed interest in Captain America lately, despite a current flaw with the character and the fact that I've always found his boots to be a bit fruity. And does this restaurant remind anyone of AmericaTown from "The Simpsons"?)

Help wanted. Must have own robe and steel-toe boots.

How's this for a coincidence? I'm in dire need of a job and it just so happens that there's now an opening on the Supreme Court. I think I'll send in a resume.

The Nerd Uprising has begun...

Look at any period in history where a group of people have overcome oppression and you'll see that each uprising started with a lone incident. Well, comedian Patton Oswalt has struck the first blow for geeks in the face of the tyranny of the Beautiful People. This brave act occurred while he was doing a stand-up performance in London. I know you're probably sick of me pimping out his blog, but this a riot. Ladies and gentelmen, the Nerd Uprising is not far off:

[I] had one of the best insult battles I've ever had with a group of three stunning hotties in my front row at my Friday show. They sat, arms crossed, checking their cell phones for text messages, all through the first twenty minutes of my set. One of them said, loud enough for only me to hear, "Let's GO already".

"Are you guys okay?" I asked.

"Too much fucking CURSING," came the non-ironic reply.

"Are you...you're kidding, right?"

"It's not clev-AH, the way you're just cursing."

I wish I'd been recording that show - the next twenty minutes were PURE GOLD. Firstly, all three of these girls were the kind of beautiful that spends its life in a non-stop IMAX movie of people agreeing with whatever it says. Even if said beauty never thinks twice about what it says, how it feels about anything, or if it even likes what it likes or hates what it hates. The Paris Hilton gene, which is spreading like the Spanish flu.

Secondly, it was so much for for me to watch their escalating, verging-on-panic reaction to my questioning - IN FRONT OF ALL OF THESE OTHER PEOPLE, ALL OF WHOM SHOULD BE AGREEING WITH THE HOTTIES - their opinion. Guys who look like me do NOT question these girls or their opinions - EVER. One of the hotties kept looking back angrily at the audience every time they'd laugh at something I said. I kept giving them every chance to leave, but they were determined to stay, and win.

Of course, "winning" in their world consisted of saying, "You don't know me, so fuck off." Like that would end the argument. Probably, every day of their lives up to that point, it did. When I wouldn't stop (wouldn't stop = didn't take "Fuck off" as the end of the argument) they almost started screaming. Weird, non-verbal shrieking, all together. I wanted to book myself and them at Edinburgh, and the show would be them sitting on stage, and saying something like, "Jennifer Lopez has awesome songs," and then me saying, "No, she sucks." And then they'd start screaming, and I'd hold up a delicate glass, and their screaming would carve sonic shapes into the glass, like at the end of THE TIN DRUM.

They finally left. And, according to one of the theater ushers, walked up Dean Street, one of them screaming, "I'm not THICK!" Which, now that I think of it, isn't something you should ever have to say, out loud, about yourself.

Don't say you weren't warned.

Crush of the Week: Keri Noble

This week's Crush is singer/songwriter/cutie Keri Noble. I'm really digging her CD Fearless.


Piano chicks RAWK!

Talented. And easy on the eyes. Also a very nice person, I hear.

Scientology has made Tom Cruise a Level 5 Sith

This cracks me up. It explains a lot about Maverick's behavior of late.

Renee Zellweger is one lucky woman

Isn't country music supposed to be all about family, America, and God (Johnny Cash's hard-drinkin' gangsta-centric stuff, aside)? Tell me what you think about the chorus to Kenny Chesney's "Key Lime Pie":

"Not too tart, not too sweet
My baby loves to watch me eat her (pause) key lime pie"

Heh heh. An ode to his partner's culinary skills or a thinly-veiled boasting of the singer's cunnilingual prowess? You tell me.

Now that I think about it, I could go for some key lime pie, too. (I'm carnally frustrated and I've been South Beachin' it for months...interepret it how you may.)

Opus and Chilly Willy get their SAG cards

Left foot. Right foot. Left foot. Right foot.

Considerably absent in my Summer Movie Preview is the documentary March of the Penguins. It didn't make my list because it flew completely under my radar (bad pun fully intended).

A documentary. About the mating rituals of penguins. Narrated by Morgan Freeman. I'm soooo there. It's in limited release right now, but makes its way to Columbus on July 15th. And I'll be in line like a flightless water fowl getting his swerve on.

Free Music Tuesday: Keri Noble and the High & Mighty

To celebrate the Supreme Court's Grokster decision, I have some good music for you this morning.

First up is Keri Noble (definitely a future Crush). She reminds me a lot of Sarah McLachlan. This song - "A Dream About You" - is my favorite off of her 2004 album Fearless. The opening lines hooked me: "I had a dream about you last night/I dreamed that you were dead." She goes on to apologize for not being, as she states in the liner notes, "not the best version of herself" in a past relationship. Nice, mellow piano-driven stuff.

Next is a fun summer party jam by one of my favorites, the High & Mighty. This song, "Rock the House", off of the Philly-born/NYC-based hip-hop group's 2003 album The Highlite Zone, features backing by the greatest human beatboxer ever - Rahzel. Check it how he flips the Rocky theme at the 2:14 mark (I've seen the guy live and he just amazes me). Anyone get their new disc - The 12th Man? How is it?

If you want either or both songs, leave a comment with your request.

Requiem for Tigger

R.I.P. Paul Winchell, 1922 - 2005.


The wonderful thing about Tiggers...

Tigger just won't be Tigger without your voice. TTFN.

Trivia: Winchell was also an inventor with a patent for a prototype artificial heart he built in the 1960s in the same workshop in which he created his ventriloquist dummies, Blue Star said. He also created an "invisible" garter belt, a flameless cigarette lighter and an early version of the disposable razor.

And so ends Zombie Week

Well, it's been fun, but it is time for Micah World's Zombie Week to come to an end. Apparently, y'all enjoyed it, as well, because I hit 25,000 visits this past week (but that was due in large part to numerous searches for "Starbucks frappuccino girl" - look out Most Popular Search "Lindsay Lohan too skinny"!). A few odds and ends to tie things up:

-Land of Dead took in an estimated $10.2 million this weekend. Hopefully it will break even (movie's budget: $15 million), so that more zombie flicks will be made. DVD sales should be huge, so that probably won't be a problem. Reviews have been pretty positive, so that also bodes well for the perpetuation of the genre.

-There's a George Romero interview here. It validates some critics' likening of the Kaufman character to Bush, but I still don't really see it. Much of their basis for comparison has been tied to one statement the character says - "We don't negotiate with terrorists" - but that has been US policy way before W came into office.

-You knew it was going to happen: a zombie blog. For some reason, I find it endlessly humorous that each post's title is "Brains."

-Here's a fun short film titled When Zombies Attack. It gives a "Cops" take on the genre and follows a routine night in the life of the P.M.A.C. (that's the Post Mortem Animation Control). "Zombie tipping" - hey, you gotta love it.

-While writing a screenplay, comedian Patton Oswalt exposes how the zombie movie fits into the Nerd Trifecta in his always hilarious blog:

So, this thing I'm trying to finish is number one in the three-card deck of the Nerd Movie Tarot. The first card being the Future Dystopian Action Flick. This is where you've got heavily-armed scavengers wandering through a war-blasted desert, fighting other scavengers and mutants. Nerds - especially teenage nerds - love this card because, when you're a teenage shut-in like I was, you have so thin a grasp on how the world works that it makes writing easier if you simply wipe out civilization with a Long-Ago Nuclear Holocaust, and then have dudes galloping around shooting one another.

The trick to the Future Dystopian Action Flick is, you've got to really work out where you think the future will go wrong, and then how that'll affect human behavior. You've also got to remember, a Future Dystopia probably won't seem like a Dystopia to the people living in it. I mean, show anyone from 1905 - fuck anyone from 1945 - our present, and they'll think several apocalypses happened. Which puts me in a double-bind, as far as my pathology, to wit: it's bad enough to have whatever I'm writing affect my ongoing life - but now I'm mapping out how it will affect my future. Or, at least, this is how I think of it in my diseased brain.

(By the way, the other two cards in this deck? The Zombie Flick and the Space Opera. Future Dystopian Action starts with our present world long reduced to cinders. With a Zombie Flick, you've begun to realize how the world and the people in it work, but you've decided you want them killed by the walking dead. And, by the time you hit Space Opera, you've decided you can actually depict how the real world works - but it bores the living shit out of you, so let's go to Planet Zoomba and fuck a 30-foot woman with nine boobs).

So, there you have it. This week has been fun. Any ideas for future theme weeks?

The best kung fu/Yakuza/samurai/zombie movie I've ever seen

It's been sitting there in my DVR for about a month, but I finally got around to watching the Japanese film Versus last night.



I recorded the movie off of Showtime, so I had to put up with some really bad dubbing (at least it was in its OAR, though). It's a low budget movie, but I found it quite enjoyable. It was just all over the place: kung fu, the Yakuza, samurais, John Woo-style gunplay. And zombies. Good times!

It has Land-ed

Darth Vader couldn't do it. Batman couldn't do it. Even Angelina Jolie in a bustier couldn't do it. What is "it"? Getting me to put up with the (rude) crowds and go see a movie on opening day.

But I am going to see Land of the Dead today. And no, I will not be dressing up like a zombie. In fact, it'll be quite the opposite, since I started using Crest Premium Plus White Strips yesterday.

EDIT: So, I went to the theater today. In line in front of me were two boys (about 12 years old, I guess) who bought tickets to Mr. & Mrs. Smith. Guess who sat right in front of me at Land of the Dead. It's nice to see that the system still doesn't work. :)

The movie rocked. It totally flew by (running time's about 90 minutes). Full of Romero's patented social commentary. Plenty of gore. And Dennis Hopper picks his nose. Not that I didn't fully enjoy the Dawn remake, but it's great to see slow, lumbering zombies on screen.

I missed Shaun's Simon Pegg and Edgar White as zombies (afterwards I did find a pic of zombified Simon here), but there is also one HUGE zombie cameo. Well, huge if you are a Romero fan. And if you aren't a fan, you'll know who I'm talking about when he comes onscreen, as the fanboys in the audience will be cheering.

Prepare for the impending zombie apocolypse

My nephews' birthdays were last week and I made them a "zombie box." In it, I put DVDs of Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead ('78 and '04), and Shaun of the Dead. I also put in a copy of the Dawn score CD (composed by Goblin) and the Zombie Survival Guide: Complete Protection from the Living Dead. After all, I've got to maintain my rep as the Cool Uncle.


Rule One: Aim for the head.

Before I packaged it up, I leafed through the book and found it to be pretty interesting. And for a book that seems to be a parody of those Worst Case Scenario-type tomes, it is pretty thorough and doesn't seem tossed-off. I requested that my nephews bring it to the beach (when I see them next) so I'll actually be able to read it. I hope that they remember.

Trivia: It is written by Mel Brooks' son.

"Shaun of the Dead" soundtrack giveaway

For very anal retentive music geek reasons (a "gapless" recording in iTunes is not truly gapless), I have an extra burned copy of the Shaun of the Dead soundtrack. It's a great CD, put together like a mix disc, with movie dialogue snippets and blended songs.


"It's not hip-hop. It's electro. Prick."

I have even "improved" it by adding two songs not on the original soundtrack: "Orpheus" by Ash (which was in the movie) and "Pretend We're Dead" by L7 (which was used in the US trailer).

How can you obtain this CD? Be the first* to leave a comment, giving the correct answers to the following two questions:

Shaun and Ed try to incapacitate two zombies in their backyard. What identified vinyl records do they throw at them? And what records does Shaun forbid Ed from throwing?

Not counting the electro record that Pete threw out the window the night before, there are four identified "throw" records and three "don't throw" records. Please provide the artist name/album title (where available) for 3 and 2 of them, respectively.

Mini-rant: It is absolutely criminal that this CD wasn't given an official domestic release. Import prices suck. That is all.

*Open only to US residents. Postage costs money!

Crush of the Week: Kim Poirier

The Crush for Zombie Week is actress Kim Poirier (what - you thought it'd be a zombie?). She played one of the survivors in the Dawn of the Dead remake. Yep, she gets nekkid. And torn in half by a chainsaw. Spoiler alert!


Oh, Canada.

Obscure enough for you? I thought Sara Polley was too obvious a choice.

A quick zombie primer

For those not caught up on their zombie lore (KPMD, I'm looking at you), there are a couple of great resources on the internet:

-Homepage of the Dead focuses mainly on Romero's films.
-All Things Zombie covers, well, all things zombie.

And then there's this:


Chart created by Groucho at DVDTalk

Between the chart and those two sites (and their myriad of links elsewhere), you should have all of the information necessary to carry on an intelligent zombie conversation at your next cocktail party.

Free Music Tuesday: Undead edition

I'm offering two free mp3s today:

-"Night of the Living Dead" by G. Love & Special Sauce, taken from their album Electric Mile.
-"The Gonk (Kid Koala Mix)" by The Noveltones. This song is one of the goofy pieces of "mall music" from the original Dawn of the Dead, given the turntablist treatment by Kid Koala and appears in the end credits of Shaun of the Dead (taken from that movie's excellent soundtrack).

I'd make it the trifecta and offer "Zombie" by the Cranberries (or perhaps something by The Zombies), but I don't own that song. Such is life.

Anyway, if you want a copy of either or both songs, leave me a comment and I'll e-mail it/them to you.

It's Zombie Week!

To commemorate George Romero's first zombie movie in 20 years (that'd be Land of the Dead), this is Zombie Week at Micah World. Yes, this week will be chock full of zombie goodness (provided I can think of enough zombie-related things to blog about).

First up, if anyone would like to buy this shirt for me, I'd be mighty grateful:


More important than LiveAid.

Or maybe you can pick me up an "I Got Wood" shirt so Shamrock and I can be Shaun and Ed for Halloween.


What does "exacerbates" mean?

Or you can at least point me to where I can pick up either shirt.

I'm a little bit country. You're a little bit German hardcore techno.

Not much to blog about today, so I'll show off my new cowboy hat. I'm feeling a bit of a poseur vibe, like Dave Gahan in the "Personal Jesus" video. At least I'm an American, so I have a little more of a right to wear a cowboy hat than him.


Man, I need to trim the 'burns.

I get 10 music geek points by declaring Revolver to be the Beatles' best album. +/- 2 points for doing so via T-shirt, depending on your attitude about such displays.

Requiem for D.A. Jim Trotter III

R.I.P Lane Smith, 1936-2005.



He was da bomb in My Cousin Vinny, yo.

The (new) way to salvation

To coincide with Katie Holmes' Maverick-influenced "englightening," Annika has started her own religion - Practology. Hey, it worked for some science fiction writer.

See Riddick pop and lock

This is probably old news to everyone else, but I saw the videos of a young, perfectly coiffed Vin Diesel breakdancing for the first time yesterday. Fresh!

Crush of the Week: Starbucks girl

This week's Crush is the woman in the Starbucks commercial. You know the one: she drinks a frappuccino and suddenly every man in her vicinity turns into a serenading Michael Buble. (This guy is reading waaay too much into the racial overtones of the commercial.)


Come fly with me.

Yeah, mostly it's the glasses. Ah, the Dirty Librarian Fetish. You gotta love it.

3rd Grade humor

Heard a new (old) joke this weekend.

Q: What's Helen Keller's favorite color?
A: Corduroy.

It's amazing how something so stupid can make me laugh so hard.

Jesus Juice for everybody!

The moon landing. JFK's assassination. 9/11. Now you can also tell your grandchildren where you were when a freakish white woman was cleared of molestation charges.

Me? I was at Anderson's buying a cowboy hat.

I watched this movie so you wouldn't have to

When you read the words "world premiere" and "Sci-Fi Channel" in the same sentence, you know that you're in for a world of hurt. Being on a zombie kick lately, I DVRed the Sci-Fi Channel exclusive movie All Souls' Day this weekend, quality be damned.


"Honey, you got real ugly."

Starring the Frommer's boy from EuroTrip, this movie was painful to watch. It wasn't Manos: The Hands of Fate terrible, but it wasn't good, either. The story was dumb. The script (if there was one) was chock full of wooden dialogue. The direction was pedestrian. The make-up and effects were laughable. And the acting was bad (Chuck Norris bad). In the pantheon of zombie flicks, this ranks pretty low.

The only redeeming quality was this one actress who provided nice eye candy (her 1950s WASPy teen character's name was "Lily White" - har har!). But she didn't get nekkid. Boy, do I sound like Joe Bob Briggs or what?

When discussing this movie with my cousin, he speculated that it couldn't be any worse than Spring Break Shark Attack, but I don't know. That TV movie seemed to have a "this is really cheesy, ain't it?" vibe to it. This one tried to be a straight-up horror film with pitiful results. To learn more about All Souls' Day go here or consult your local library.

A lil' summer cleanin'

I finally cleaned up my Blogroll - 86'ed some dead blogs, got rid of some of the ones that I don't really frequent anymore, and added some others. I also fully reciprocated with those that have me on their Blogrolls (I don't feel like such a jerk now). So give these new blogs a gander. That is all.

You aren't your freakin' khakis

But you are everything else you own (sorry, Tyler Durden). A few months ago, I sang the praises of DVDSpot. Recently, I discovered a new site: MediaChest. There you can catalog not just your DVDs, but also your books, videogames, and CDs. I was really digging the site until I realized that it may have been abandoned (no CDs from 2005 and late 2004 are in the database; no posts from the admins since October '04). Oh, well.

Anyway, here's my profile there, albeit incomplete. (There are a few hundred CDs, as well as some books, DVDs, and games not listed).

Mad props to the law fairy who had a similar post, but trust me: I thought of it first.

I Read a Book!

"Every now and then I'll read a book, I'll be so proud of myself. I'll try to squeeze it into conversations. People are like, 'Hey, Jim. How are - ' 'I read a book! 198 pager.' 'That's great. What was it about?' 'No idea. Took me three years, but I read her.'" - Jim Gaffigan

Several of them over the past couple of months, actually.



The Rising (Brian Keene): The best zombie book I've ever read. Also, the only zombie book I've ever read. It's been ages since I plowed through a novel this quickly (5 days). Thoroughly engrossing. I am more than ready to read the sequel (see my reading pile). Can't wait for the movie and videogame.

Hollywood, Interrupted: Insanity Chic in Babylon - The Case Against Celebrity (Andrew Breitbart, Mark Ebner): Celebrities are freakin' nuts. An interesting read.

South Park Conservatives: The Revolt Against Liberal Media Bias (Brian C. Anderson): While this book dealt mainly with liberal bias in the media (paging Dan Rather) and the emergence of its conservative counterparts, I thought it would spend more time on the concept of South Park Republicans (ideology summed up by Matt Stone: "I hate conservatives, but I really fucking hate liberals."). They seem to be more in line with libertarian thought than the GOP hardline and I would include myself with the former. It covered the growing conservative leanings of Generations X and Y (jeez, I hate those terms), but not enough. So, in that respect, the book was a bit of a disappointment.

My Immediate Reading Pile:




City of the Dead (Brian Keene): The sequel to Keene's The Rising. More zombie goodness. I can't wait.

If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B Movie Actor (Bruce Campbell): Memoir from our nation's, nay our world's greatest living thespian.

Opus: 25 Years of His Sunday Best (Berkeley Breathed): "Bloom County" has long been one of my favorite comic strips. I look forward to revisiting these Sunday strips. Hilarious stuff.

Batman: The Complete History (Les Daniels): Just to get me reved up for the upcoming movie.

Mere Christianity and The Great Divorce (C.S. Lewis): The former I had been wanting to read for ages; the latter just seemed interesting. So I bought them both. A little light summer reading. :)

I guess the library's not just for copying CDs anymore.

"Boxing's been good to me, Howard..."

I went to see Cinderella Man this afternoon and it got me to thinking: what would be my nickname if I were to engage in the sweet science? Unfortunately, the adjective "marvelous" has already been taken (Marvin Hagler). And nothing rhymes with "Micah." The only thing I could think of was "Marzipan Micah M____." And I'm not even a huge fan of marzipan.

Oh, and bonus cool points for those that can name the song this post's title came from without Googling it.

Crush of the Week: Natalie Imbruglia

This week's Crush is Natalie Imbruglia. I can't say that I'm a huge fan of her music (I do like "Torn" a lot, though), but recently I saw a Saturday Night Live repeat featuring a perfromance by her and I was reminded of just how darn cute she is.


She's so spritely!

Plus she gets a few indie street cred points for her hit being a cover of an Ednaswap song.

Watching "Sitting, Waiting, Wishing"

Image courtesy of Yahoo! Music. Holla!

I just now saw the video for Jack Johnson's "Sitting, Waiting, Wishing" for the first time (I know: where have I been?). Really cool. There seems to be a "making of" on his official site, but I haven't checked it out yet (go there just to hear his "Welcome to My Website" song - it's funny). And after only one viewing, I can safely say that it's my favorite current video, next to "First Day of My Life" by Bright Eyes.

I think Henry Rollins goes to my gym

And if that's him, he's gotten all of his tattoos removed.

Desperately looking for friends

So I joined the new hip site MySpace a while back. I kind of feel like the old man at the club, since it seems like most of the people there are young 'uns (22 and under). And all of them are seemingly from California (direct quote from this.heartbreak.shall.endure: "it is a scientific fact that California and Texas provide our nation with the lion share of its HHC or Hot Human Capital"). So, I've amassed quite a few "friends," yet I only personally know and interact with one (heartbreak). And half of them are musicians (although, it is cool that I've been in correspondence with a favorite of mine - Gerald Collier). Any loyal Micah World readers on MySpace? Let's be friends.

P.S. For those wanting a gander of your favorite photo-elusive blogger, I've got pictures in my profile.

"I know my calculus, it says U + Me = Us"

Say it. Don't spray it.

I miss 2gether.

The two funniest things I heard this weekend

1) Doug Benson on VH1's "Best Week Ever": "Paris Hilton is engaged to a guy named Paris. In related news, I'm in love with a lady named Doug." (you really need to hear his delivery of the line)

2) On the "Super Dogs! Super Jocks!" episode of "Cheap Seats" (like an inferior MST3K for odd sports clips), the interviewer in the clip says, "you know, as a former football player myself, just in college..." and one of the guys continues: "It wasn't a major college. D3. D4, really. Actually it was JuCo. Not even, it was a league. Well, not a league, just a group of guys that got together. It was flag football. I was 10. 11, maybe. And it wasn't football. It was kickball. I used to go with my dad. Well, I went alone. He dropped me off. My parents were divorced. My mom worked three jobs. I get sad when I see parents hugging their kids. But enough about me. Nice frisbee toss."

Mmmmm...free doughnut.

As much as I love Krispy Kremes - and free stuff - I'm going to have to pass. I've made too much progress on the diet (18 lbs. thus far) to screw it up for some doughy goodness. I'd much rather screw it up with alcohol. Y'all have fun, though.

Retro Crush of the Week: Belinda Carlisle

This week's Crush is actually the first ever Retro Crush, a blast from my past. The honor goes to singer Belinda Carlisle. I classify her as a "Retro Crush" because I haven't seen what she looks like lately, although if she still looks like she did in her 2001 Playboy spread, she's still got the goods. But man, I had a huge thing for her when I was younger.


Mad about her. Lost in her eyes.

Oh, what the heck. Here's another:


Ooh, baby. Do you know what that's worth?

Posing Rule #26: When you use wine, scotch, or a cigar as a prop, you automatically look even hotter.

Micah World summer movie preview

Any excuse to put a pic of her up.

Memorial Day has come and gone, so that means only one thing: no more mattress sales until Labor Day. And summer movie season has begun! I've compiled a list of movies that I wouldn't mind handing over good money for (ranked in order of anticipation):

1) Land of the Dead (June 24): I loooooove zombie movies. This one is written and directed by the master of the genre, George Romero. The buildup for another zombie movie from him has been 20 years. I may be outing myself as a total geek, but this is definitely the summer movie that I want to see the most (next to Sith). Of course, everyone already knows of my geeky tendencies.

2) Batman Begins (June 17): I've been wanting to see a good Batman flick for years now. Clooney and his bat nipples are out. American Psycho is in. I'm buying Sno-Caps.

3) Untitled Mike Judge Project (aka 3001) (August 5): The comedic genius behind Office Space, "King of the Hill," and "Beavis and Butthead" finally makes another movie. No description is necessary.

4) War of the Worlds (June 29): Well, the trailer kicks butt. Cruise and Spielberg's last sci-fi effort (Lawnmower Man) was pretty good.

5) Mr. and Mrs. Smith (June 10): Hot damn! Angelina Jolie has never looked more radiant. Add some explosions and my man-crush on Brad Pitt and I'll fork over my $6.50 (no, I am never going to get rid of my student ID).

6) Fantastic Four (July 8): Next to the Punisher, Superman and Spiderman, the Fantastic Four were my favorite comic book heroes (again: geek). The Commish/Vic Mackey as Ben Grimm? Yep!

7) The Wedding Crashers (July 15): Vince Vaughn. Owen Wilson. Christopher Walken. A raunchy comedy. I'm there.

Honorable mention: Herbie: Fully Loaded (June 24). I doubt I'll watch this one in the theater, but it'll be nice to take a trip down Memory Lane to when Lindsay Lohan had schnoobs. Misty water-colored memories...

A Wash: The Island (July 22). I love Scarlett Johansson and Ewan McGregor. I don't like Michael Bay. I have no clue what this movie's about. A little more research is needed on this one.

Oh, Dear Lord, Why?: The Honeymooners (June 10). Cedric the Entertainer as Ralph Kramden. This one should be sent to the moon.

Most Anticipated Movie That I Thought Was Coming Out This Summer But Is Indeed Coming Out This Fall: Strangers with Candy (October 28). I absolutely love the now-defunct TV show. If the strong un-PC humor is kept intact, this ought to be hilarious.