Randy Savage Interview

I would like to think that Randy Savage would be a heck of a motivational speaker if he were ever, you know, motivated.

I'm posting this classic clip as sort of a nostalgic longing for the ol' days of pro wrestling, before the terrible stuff that's been happening lately but, really, I think Macho Man Randy Savage might be proof that there could have been a steroid/cocaine problem back in the '80's. I mean, look at this guy. Listen to this guy. What is he talking about?

But it doesn't matter. I mean, wow, I could listen to him all day.

Well, for three minutes, anyway.

Is the Price Right?

So Drew Carey will be the new host of the Price is Right. I guess that's okay and really, seeing as how I've never really watched the show much, it really doesn't matter to me. And, honestly, watching an entire episode of The Price is Right is pretty much a symbolic way of letting yourself completely go. An hour? You expect me to commit an hour to a game show? Everyday? But Drew Carey is the new host and, evidently, Rosie O'Donnell was considered. I've put together another list, of other people who ought to have been considered for the host of The Price is Right.

Wink Martindale -- I mean, come on, Price is Right, you've got a formula. You've been kicking it old school for, like, 60 years. Keep on the path. Just keep finding these old game show hosts and cycling through them. Wink would like the work -- he's been doing those commercials for that travel website or something. I don't know. I didn't pay attention. But, really, look at that suit. And maybe he cares about animals being spayed and neutered, too. Or...

Michael Vick, Atlanta Falcons QB. Y'know, shake things up. We've heard that "get you pet spade or neutered" thing from Barker for far too longer. I bet Mike Vick would have a different take. Besides, he might not be playing much this years what with all that bad press from the killing dogs thing. It's a risk, but he's got potential.

Jonathan Pryce, the well-respected British Actor. It'll give the show some class. And they can call it "The Pryce is Right" Oh man, what that'll do for ratings. Imagine there's a picture of him above this paragraph. It's really far more interesting when you pretend there's a picture of him.

This website lists the strengths of actor William Hurt as his ability to "go deep into character" and to "convey constrained emotion." I think that sounds like a good game show host to me. And, like Pryce, he'd be all classy and stuff. This is a solid choice. He might be busy, though.

Crispin Glover. I would watch this show. Every day. Period.

Well, okay, if Drew Carey has to be the host, Wayne Brady should be the "Come on down" guy. So he can hijack another show from Carey by being funnier, more talented, etc. but in a foolishly supporting role. Hmm...this could go on forever. It shouldn't. Any ideas? I'm all sexist and whatnot and didn't have a woman on my list. Kellie Pickler would be my first thought. Any others?

Bender Bites

Since I blogged earlier about Bender's morning habits, I felt it only right to post a picture of he and I together. Yeah, those are his teeth. And that look on my face is pain. But I did hold on long enough to get the picture.

Clockwork

Like clockwork every morning, Bender pushes open the door to my room with his face, jumps into my bed, and purrs loudly while pressing his head against me. Yeah, yeah, it's cute and if this is how he wants to wake me up, it's much better than the old "sitting in the hallway outside the door and meow 'till he gets up strategy" but what is most amazing about it is that every morning, when he wakes me up, I roll over to look at the clock at the time will be 6:01. Maybe there will be a minute or two difference occasionally, but usually not. He's very reliable. I wish I could set him ahead an hour, but that doesn't seem to work. He's on a tight schedule.

Also, I finished HP 7. Exciting stuff. I won't write anything about it since I'm not one of those spoiler-types. Well, I wanted to publish a spoiler, but I couldn't figure out how to do that thing where you can't see the words without highlighting over them, so instead I'll say this: I sometimes have hair like Harry Potter. See, this isn't a spoiler. I just have Harry Potter hair on occasion. It's good when I need to dress like Potter, which, oddly, has happened more often than it should. End spoiler.

And also, my friend Matt Browning has been working on a cool new site called rednow, a experiment in wonder. I would recommend checking it out--it's a neat idea really well executed. The site can be found here: http://www.rednow.com/

Dueling Dolans

So, the Emmy nominations are out today and, well, LOST wasn't nominated for Best Drama. But even when I felt that these Emmy nominating jerk didn't deserve any of my attention, I decided to check the nominees anyway. And, hey, Tim Daly was nominated for a best guest starring role for his work on The Sopranos. Why do I care, you ask? Am I such a fan of Wings that I long to see success for all of its former cast, from Tim Daly to Lowell to even that largish obnoxious mustachioed man that gave our Wings friends a hard time? Well, yeah, but there's more to it than that. See, Tim Daly played a character who was a writer/screenwriter named J.T. Dolan. Here is Daly as J.T. Dolan:

Now, at Western Michigan University, we have a member of our Creative Writing Faculty who has worked on screenplays in addition to his memoir Phoenix and his forays into fiction. His name, J.D. Dolan:

Hmmm. Perhaps J.D. will eventually shed some light on this "coincidence."

List

Because I provided no list for those who want to play along at home...

The Wikipedia listing for the 2007 top 100 movies list (and the original list) is here.

Obviously some of the movies that have been dropped are fairly indefensible, especially in terms of what replaces them. It's interesting to note that there are four movies made since the original list that are on here -- and they're Titanic, Lord of the Rings 1, The Sixth Sense, and Saving Private Ryan. Who would actually name these four movies as the four best American films of the last ten years? No L.A. Confidential? Wow.

Anyway, I don't want to linger on the larger list, because it is a discussion that would go on forever. So, I'll let you guys do it.

Movies

So, I decided I should watch a lot of movies. This is not a decision that came quickly or without thought. After much liberation and discussion (with me), I have decided to watch a lot of movies.

What movies, you ask? Well, the American Film Institute's recently updated Top 100 American Films of All-Time list, selected by a panel that consists, evidently , of Steven Spielberg and Jimmy Stewart, (okay, Jimmy Stewart's dead, but he's in a lot of these movies). I made this decision because, upon looking at the list (updated in 2007 after being originally developed in 1997), I realized I either hadn't seen as many of these movies as I should or it's been so long since I've seen them, I've all but forgotten their artistic/cultural/etc. value. So, I intend to go from 100 to 1 and watch 'em all.

So, I shall begin the 100 movies. Keep in mind, this isn't a 100 movies in 100 nights thing, either. This is just 100 movies in whatever nights. No pressure. And I've technically already begun. I am currently awaiting the Netflix arrival of movie #96.

Stay tuned to my blog where (really) I will write (hopefully not too) sporadic write-ups of these movies.

But enough talk, I've got a kickball double-header tonight. I need to get prepared. And by prepared I mean sitting in my bed and trembling at the thought of someone throwing the ball at me.

Crispin Glover on Letterman

I stumbled across this on YouTube and I dedicate it to all of you Crispin Glover fans out there. He's a genius. Or something.

The Tree that Didn't Fall

It could have been bad. Really bad. But ultimately it looks as if all the "worst case scenarios" were simply helpful experience for the coming zombie apocalypse or whatever else is on the brink of happening.

What was it, you ask? Well, it was something that could have been bad.

I like trees. But sometimes trees lose their way. This happened in my world because the tree outside our house begin to show some very realistic signs of wanting to fall. Like this:


And Jane (who owns the house) came and did this:

Which, as silly looking and orange as it might be, evidently saved us all. Some guys came to cut the tree out this morning and told us it was being held by a single branch and that the silly looking orange strap allowed it to stay in place. So, crisis averted. The tree didn't fall into the street and knock out power lines or fall into our house and knock out Roy and Mandie's bird.

Good thing, too. Because yesterday Kevin and I had a conversation -- wait, "conversation" -- with the strange old lady next door who told us that she would sue everybody if that tree fell into her house. And, oh, if that happened (which would, of course, also had defied every law of physics, but whatever) it would be like "when Grant took Richmond." Really. She said that. Like two or three times in the conversation. "If that tree falls on my house it'll be like when Grant took Richmond."

Fortunately, it was fairly peaceful. So Grant didn't have to take Richmond at all. Whew.

One last look? Sure:

Kevinfest Day #5

Kevinfest wrapped up with a trip to the world of professional academia, as Day #5 took us to the New Play Project and a series of plays that featured a play by one of Kevin's former students (he was my student too, but this is about me. He was my student twice, really, but again, not about me). So we went to support a student and rub noses with professorial colleagues like....

Steve Feffer, Kevin's prof, friend, etc. etc. He's my friend too, but y'know, not about me.
Steve's wife was there too. And, well, this picture is about me (and Laura). So there.

Here Chapel and Kevin stand in the lobby at intermission. I got locked out of the theater sneaking out to make a phone call after the first of two plays before the intermission. Served me right, likely.

Michelle and Kevin -- attending all five nights of Kevinfest. She deserves a gold star. Somebody give her a gold star.

Chapel can have a gold star too.

So, Kevinfest is a wrap and it was a rousing, exhausting success. Thanks to everyone who made appearances and who issued well-wishes. Day #5 continued after I left but I haven't spoken to anybody about what happened after the New Play Project, but I can speculate that Kevinfest continued to rock until the bitter end. Now, some sleep.

Kevinfest Day #4

After an exhausting night of clubbing at the Wayside, Day #4 of Kevinfest was, mercifully, a bit more low key. This penultimate day of the 'fest brought us back to the present day, a world in which bbq'ing and hanging out at Michelle's place are fairly commonplace occurrences. While waiting for the gang to arrive, Michelle, Kevin, and I watched an episode of LOST and if there's a better way to enact the current grade school life, I'm not sure what it could be. And from there, we went outside.

Here's Kevin. He's even wearing a WMU shirt to signify the fact he attended WMU. Man, those actors. Always in character.


Cindy, a night removed from breaking hearts at the Wayside, gives the camera a stern look. For the record, the camera used for this photo shoot was Michelle's. Hence the datestamp in the lower corner.

Bob arrived. And he decided to dig a hole in the backyard.

Which looked like fun, so I helped.

See, Kevinfest is about friends working together to make things like...

a barely visible hole in the ground.


Meanwhile, darts were played. Eventually Michelle brought out new darts that would actually stick to the board. That helped with the enjoyment of the game.

Linda. Maybe she's thinking about darts. 'Cause she and Kevin won.

This picture might not seem very interesting, but when I was taking pictures of everyone, the camera wouldn't let me take pictures of Bob. Not sure why, it just wouldn't. Maybe Bob was in a spot of bad light, something, but the camera wouldn't acknowledge him. Finally I got this picture. Kevin's theory is that the camera has one of those "face recognition" deals and Bob was too horrific to photograph. That's silly, of course. Though of the pictures I've shared, not a one of Bob actually features his face. Hmmm.

Anyway, I was too tired to stick around for long, but the night evidently continued on much like this. So, there's grad school night in a nutshell. Tomorrow, Kevinfest concludes with a trip to the future. It's "professional" night. Or something.

Kevinfest Day #3

For night #3 of Kevinfest, we decided to pay tribute to the undergraduate college years by going to the Wayside. For those not in the know, the Wayside would not be a common destination for our group. It was described by a friend who declined the invitation to go as a "cesspool." But fortunately, we survived the cesspool. Here is a photo documentary of our night at the Wayside.

Man, pictures of people dancing in dark places is hard. Still, I gave it my best.

Kevin may or may not have been moving when I took this picture. But he was holding a drink. That's fairly undeniable.

There was some shaking going on.

I believe at this point, Beth was describing the significance and wonder of tequila. She was quite passionate about this point.

This is Cindy. She's a dude magnet.

Here's the crew after being asked to leave the dance floor area. We rocked too hard. And they were closing up.

Adeena was appalled.

Here's a picture of everyone. My spirit is here since I'm taking the picture and all. Immediately after this, we were asked to leave. Yes, we stayed at the Wayside until close and had to be kicked out. Man, that's not something that happens everyday. And then Adeena got in a fight with some guys in the parking lot and told them to call "1-800-Get-a-Soul." Really. Just a typical night out, really.

Kevinfest Day #2

If you saw yesterday's photoblog, dear reader, you know that for Day #1 of Kevinfest, we played minigolf and laser tag as a symbolic representation of the beginning of a person's journey through life. For Day #2, we took that symbolic journey though high school. By recreating a version of high school that likely none of us had ever experienced. The journey began by meeting the group over at....

The Harding's parking lot. That's where fun lives.
So we sat on our cars and stuff, trying to figure out what we should do.


Kevin got some guy to buy him beer.

For the sake of the high school theme, Roy and I pretend to be awkward. Yeah, pretend.

As the sun set (thus proving that we actually did hang out at that parking lot for a while) we met up with some of our other friends and decided we should go....


To Steak 'n Shake. Roy is excited. I should have gotten a better picture of the sign.

This is the inside of Steak 'n Shake. Michelle knew the girl that worked there so we got a good table.

So we ended up back at my place.

And Kevin made a circle of cards in a game that took a long time.


But everyone was happy!

Join us tomorrow for snapshots of whatever it is that happens tonight....when we attempt to recreate undergraduate college life. Yay?

Kevinfest Day #1

Kevinfest is a five day long event in commemoration of the successes of Dr. Kevin Drzakowski as he moves on to his new job in Wisconsin. Each day of Kevinfest has a unique theme that symbolizes a step in the journey of a person's life. For the first day, we went and played mini-golf and laser tag and bumper cars and all that. I don't have any pictures from the bumper cars and laser tag (since I was too busy bumping and shooting), but I have plenty of pictures from other stuff. Behold! Kevinfest, Day #1

Michele likes Quiznos! Maybe not, but she's in front of the sign anyway.

There are only so many way to photograph mini-golf. You should see all of the pictures I took that were golf legs and a golf ball. Actually, you shouldn't see them. They were boring. That's why I didn't post them.

But I did post this one. Which isn't particularly exciting either. Though you might wonder where the golf ball is, I guess.

We had loot bags with fun stuff in them.

And cupcakes.

Chapel and I shoot simultaneously to save time.

Linda and Michele at the Pizzazz-a-Rama.


Kevinfest Day #1 was dramatic indeed. For those wondering, Kevin won the mini-golf. Chapel dominated the Laser Tag. Kevin and Linda did well at the bowling. And I won the Bumper Cars. And no one can prove I didn't.