You Must Remember (But Didn't Know About) This...

I mention British comedy quite often. If you've noticed, I'm a little out there, so far as our American standards go. Why, just this afternoon, the radio was on, and Total Eclipse of the Heart started playing... well, I just couldn't help but think of this...
(Hey, it was the only HQ clip I could find...)


Switch gears with me... my absolute favorite TV show of all time is As Time Goes By, starring the fabulous Dame Judi Dench. It's a beautifully done series, endearing, funny in all the right spots, and how do you not form an attachment to the characters? I cannot rave about it enough, as you do with anything you love.
CASE AND POINT (I know, you thought I'd never get there...): From 1997 to '99, BBC Radio 2 (the same channel that Ol' Russ was on, actually) adapted As Time Goes By to RADIO!
Needless to say, I went looking through all kinds of archives to find all three seasons (and I have done, but in .torrent format, so I had to download BitTorrent 6.1.2, which has proven itself to be totally confusing for my peabrain), and am in the process of getting the first season (which is taking forever... really, I'm not just being impatient).

In other news, while looking for The IT Crowd season 1 DVD easter eggs (which only a computer genius can figure out), I found this fun website... if you're an IT Crowd fan, you'll have fun with this one, just remember DO NOT BE LIKE ROY!


In even MORE news (do you see what happens when I bottle up these posts?), have you SEEN the New Moon trailer?


I was pleasantly surprised when Jacob transformed (the little slimeball), they did a fantastic job with the wolf! Not like the Lupin/werewolf in Prisoner of Azkaban, all sickly. It was an anorexic, balled, abused greyhound. You have an astronomical budget, big enough to bring in exotic cattle and pick all the lavender in the Scottish countryside, but you can't make a bloody werewolf? The CGI on Lenny the Shrunken Head was better, and it wasn't even cannon. Preposterous.

Enjoy a random clip!

Queenie In Trouble!

Leave it to Graham Linehan to brighten up my day!


The Dogway Melody (spoofing the Broadway Melody) was one of a number of short films in the Dogville shorts from MGM.
The whole picture lasts some 17 minutes, and I'm working on finding the others in the Dogville series (no luck yet), but until then, this clip will just have to do.

Elders Of The Internet Need A BEATING...

If I could speak to the Elders of the Internet, I'd be giving them a piece of my mind! Or, more accurately, what's left of it after having to deal with Internet Explorer 8.
If you have a PC, you will most likely have had the "Do you want to install IE8?" box pop up on your monitor. Being the first in the family to be offered the update, I installed it happily. I was actually GLAD to have an update, hoping that it would fix the jumbled up text issue that Vista has. Well, I forgot that the update was coming from Microsoft, the culprits BEHIND the travesty that is Vista.
This blog post is actually just a public service announcement, telling you that IE8 WILL annoy the pants off you. You can't copy/paste, you can't disable any of the new and highly annoying features, and by the end of the experience, you're *THIS CLOSE* to chucking your machine out the window, heading to Best Buy, and getting a Mac, foreign OS or not.
I had to completely uninstall the update just to have the features I use every day. And some unfortunate people have trouble even doing THAT (Vista users, mostly... we suffer in silence until something doesn't go right... which, with Vista, it seems a constant thing. I suppose that would mean we weren't all that silent, but you get the point I'm trying to make).
The point is, stick with IE7. You can thank me later.

All this talk of IE8 has put me in a rotten mood. Perhaps this will help...

Moss Overload!

Firstly, I have to share my joy at the arrival of this little beauty!
Oh, to finally see the blooper reel in high quality! And without subtitles! All six episodes of the first season, too! Yes, life is good to me.
How, you may ask, can it be "Moss Overload" if there are only six episodes?
Introducing Man To Man With Dean Learner! (Spin off of Garth Marenghi's Darkplace...) My wonderful sister was kind enough to find all six episodes of Man To Man, and even better, she watched it with me! The best part? It was a MARATHON! Every episode, in order, back to back... needless to say, our brains had turned to purple mush in our think hatches by the end of it.
A small sample of our morning...


I have always been of the opinion that Richard Ayoade (Moss) is hilarious anyway, just hearing him speak can give me the giggles, especially if he's doing the Saboo voice...


Or, best of all, if he's singing!

(OK, now I'm just having fun with YouTube...)

The Magic Of Crochet...

It's that time of year when the dirt is calling me. It's not sweltering hot every day, our courtyards are still shady, and all the flowers are blooming. Yes, it's a dangerous time, that time when I get so intoxicated by the beauty of nature, that I have to look for new little things to plant. I usually keep with my favorites, geraniums, violets, things I know I can grow (which, at present seems to be anything that isn't from seed).
Why do I share my own personal gardening demon with you? Let's just say, I thought this picture was too funny not to share.
However funny it is, you cannot deny that it took a bit of talent to make something like that. I also realize some people have black thumbs (Mr. Stripy, anybody?), but this person did know you can buy fake violets, right? Just checking.

In other news, my ongoing hatred of Twitter is being tested once again. Not only does Graham Linehan have one, but Chris Harrison, too? This is an OUTRAGE!
(Congratulations if you got the Mighty Boosh reference there...)

While we're in a Mighty Boosh frame of mind, have you seen this little beauty yet? Even if it is in R2, maybe some kind soul will put it on YouTube (or even MegaUpload) for us. Here's hoping! (I hear The Sugar Puffs Monster made an "appearance", as well as Tony Harrison... this should be interesting!)
Speaking of hoping for Booshy things (you can tell I'm not very good at this, can't you?), the latest rumor going around involves one Mr. Fielding on Never Mind The Buzzcocks... it could be like this every episode!...

Do you see what happens when I save all these things up for one big blog?

I Can't Go For That...

Have you SEEN the cover art for The IT Crowd Series 2 (R1) DVD? You have NOW! (Is it just me, or does Jen look exactly the same as on the series 1 cover?)
Ginger and I saw a copy of the first season at Best Buy today... oh, how easy it would have been to bring a set home with us!
Secondly, I only just found out Graham Linehan has a Twitter... fighting my hatred of Twitter, I went to have a peep, and I'm getting sucked in! Twitter = DANGEROUS!
And thirdly, ever since I heard "I Can't Go For That" over a loudspeaker a few days ago, I've been thinking of this video...

Oh, the joys of YouTube!

Haulin' Liquid Chicken...

OK, I'll admit it... I've never been that great at keeping records of my life.
Every so often, I get the feather up my arse to try and keep a diary (especially on vacation), but my lack of attention to this blog (where, just a couple of posts down from this very one I type now, I mention thinking I would share pictures, events, links, and video... I was obviously feeling very ambitious at the time) during the past two weeks has been appalling, and I hang my poor widdle head in shame.
At this point, it would be a hopeless attempt to try and fill you in on everything we've seen and done since my last post, however this particular link may be of interest, as it gave us something to ponder for nearly 1,000 miles on the way home.
As for the blog, I'm sorry to report it will continue running as normal (or abnormal, it's subjective at this point), the place where I can put down whatever is running through my think hatch for the day... starting NOW!

Went to Walmart today, where I happened to take a "detour" (ha ha ha) through the garden department. As my sister knows, it's a very dangerous thing to do, taking me to a garden department, and today was no exception... I came home with a BEAUTIFUL Delphinium Blue Mirror, which I have NO IDEA how to take care of, so I'm just going to wing it, and take any advice from Google I can get.
In other news, I felt compelled to put a video here (since it makes me happy), and this was the PERFECT fit for today!

Three Out Of Three Tourists...

Quite a lot has happened since I last did a post here. Admittedly, this is the first opportunity I've had to write a blog, since we've had nothing but late nights since then.
Firstly, as I said to my sister before we went, Colonial Williamsburg truly IS a tourist trap. I'm on the verge of not recommending it to anybody if they asked. It was interesting, and I'm sort of glad I went, but I certainly wouldn't like to go again.
On Sunday, we visited both Monticello (which had beautiful gardens, but the home was rather run down), and Montpelier (where I was asked to read the first six words of the Constitution in the very room President Madison wrote them) before driving into Alexandria (where our hotel is... about ten miles from DC).
We caught our first glimpse of Washington early Monday morning, our destination, being The Castle at The Smithsonian Institute, and we spent the afternoon in The National Museum Of American History (where we met Kermit the Frog AND Oscar the Grouch), and The National Air And Space Museum (where we saw the original Kitty Hawk!).
Today (Tuesday), we spent the entire afternoon at Mount Vernon, where we took a Potomac River cruise (a highlight of our trip!), and, of course, saw the beautiful mansion. Since everything closes around five o'clock around here, we're going to the monuments at night. This evening, we hit the Jefferson Memorial (which is HUGE), and, one that we had never known existed until this very night, the FDR Memorial (yes, they have one), which, I must say, was the most beautiful memorial I've ever seen. I shall rave of it for ages.
Tomorrow (Wednesday), we have a scheduled tour of The Capitol Building, and we plan on having lunch at President Obama's favorite eatery in the District, Ben's Chili Bowl (and I'm hoping to get a slice of the sweet potatoe cake, it sounds scrumptious!), located on U Avenue.
Why, you may ask, do I mention the street name? Well, ever since I heard where it was, I've been singing this song, which I shall leave you with until I can give a slight update (since this post was just to cover the highlights of each stop!) on our whereabouts...

Five States Later...

I'm sitting in a hotel room, after uploading some of my videos, and I'm plum tuckered!
These first two days have mostly been driving, but we've seen some interesting things along the way.
1 - We crossed the Mississippi River (again).
2 - In Tennessee we found out rain can fall straight down. (And that worms crawl out of the soil so they won't drown...)
3 - We passed through a sizable portion of the Smokey Mountains.
4 - We also went through a slice of the Blue Ridge Mountains.
5 - We saw one of the two covered bridges remaining in the state of North Carolina.
And now we're here, in Williamsburg, Virginia! (York County, to be specific... established 1634!) We'll be going to Colonial Williamsburg tomorrow, then into Jamestown for some sight seeing there, before we head off to DC.
I plan on uploading some video soon, and I might decide to share... nudge, nudge, wink, wink.
It's a long day ahead tomorrow, so you shall be spared from a strange video... consider yourself lucky!

Vacation Overdue!

I felt it prudent to mention this (more like to warn you), and only realized a few minutes ago that I haven't done it yet! (Silly me...)
The 'Parental Unit' and I are taking a vacation, so if you check back here during the next two weeks, it'll be like getting stuck watching somebody's holiday slides (since, in essence, you would be watching holiday slides)... you know the kind, just as you think you're going to be set free (after being stuck for two hours with "And here we are in front of this building... and here we are in front of the statue in front of the building... and here we are..."), they "miraculously" find the missing box of slides, and you're trapped like a rat on a glue trap.
My sister always likes a day-by-day account of our trip, so I figured I'd just post it on here instead of through email. It's an experiment, and it may not work out, but I'm going to try it, especially since I plan on taking video on this trip... and, in case you didn't know, we're taking a road trip to Washington DC!
We're all really excited about it, and we're feeding off each other's pre-vacation excitement, so we're all like topless puppies right now.

In other news...


And here's a final oddball thought, if you care to read it.
It's called email, and it makes sense... why didn't e-epistle ever catch on? It should have, but it didn't.

Edible Edward...

It's Edward, it's tea, life is good.
Yes, you heard me right, Edible Edward tea, available here.
Irish Breakfast, coconut, and caramel. Not what I'd choose, but I'm of the opinion that tea shouldn't be messed with. (As I type, I'm delightfully sipping my Barry's Gold Blend, and I need another cup!)
They also have a video of some feller doing a taste test of the tea, if you're interested.

In other news, I woke up singing this song this morning...

You haven't lived 'til you've heard 300 fangirls singing this at top volume at 2:30 AM...
By the way, if you ever go inside the St. Louis Arch, NEVER make pipe bomb jokes. (Don't ask...)

Buzzcocks Will Never Be The Same...

I just received this email from Simon Amstell...

Hello.
I am Simon Amstell. Here is some news, should you be interested in this sort of thing. I will not be hosting another series of the fun pop quiz, ‘Never Mind the Buzzcocks’.
When I first took on the role of hosting ‘Never Mind the Buzzcocks’, my only hope was to bring joy and laughter to the world and if I was lucky, put an end to war, disease and poverty. Now that I have achieved that, I plan to concentrate on my live work.
Thank you.
Please now continue to enjoy your life as best you can.
Good evening.

And now, let's take a moment to reflect on the good times we've shared.

Hair We All Are...

Before you read any further down on this post, I would like to make a disclaimer.
I don't often follow celebrities (except Apollo C. Vermouth, but you knew that). I try to keep clear of any Hollywood news, I don't know much about the modern pop stars, and I really could care a flying fig, considering most of them belong to the Hippity Hoppity Brigade (thank you, Stephen Fry).
That being said, you may continue.

Ol' Russ amazes again! Watch, enjoy...


Now, here's a video from a concert "BritBrit" performed last night in California...


This song says everything I could have, and it'll save you time.
Enjoy.

(As a side note, this song is one of my dad's favorites, so it's been sung several hundred times during every road trip I can ever remember being on. Really, ever.)

In other news, this isn't related to ANYTHING at all, but I've been chortling to myself (OK, it's more of a good old fashioned laugh) since I saw this, and I HAD to share it.