<?xml version='1.0' encoding='windows-1252'?><rss xmlns:atom='http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom' xmlns:openSearch='http://a9.com/-/spec/opensearchrss/1.0/' version='2.0'><channel><atom:id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352069</atom:id><lastBuildDate>Fri, 13 Jun 2008 19:35:14 +0000</lastBuildDate><title>GernLog</title><description/><link>http://www.gernworld.com/</link><managingEditor>noreply@blogger.com (Patrick)</managingEditor><generator>Blogger</generator><openSearch:totalResults>700</openSearch:totalResults><openSearch:startIndex>1</openSearch:startIndex><openSearch:itemsPerPage>25</openSearch:itemsPerPage><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352069.post-1890941072497621272</guid><pubDate>Fri, 13 Jun 2008 19:20:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2008-06-13T12:35:14.772-07:00</atom:updated><title>Separated at Birth</title><description>&lt;a href="http://www.marvel.com/catalog/?id=8909" source="_blank"&gt;Skrulls&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.gernworld.com/images/secretinvasion.jpg" /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047149/" source="_blank"&gt;Killers from Space&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.gernworld.com/images/killersfrom.jpg" /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I think I may or may not be on to something here.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;...&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Probably not.</description><link>http://www.gernworld.com/2008/06/separated-at-birth.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Patrick)</author></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352069.post-2601851042832005494</guid><pubDate>Tue, 08 Apr 2008 03:43:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2008-04-07T21:13:19.025-07:00</atom:updated><title>Updates? Sure...</title><description>Observant readers (all none of you) may have noticed a lack of updates. This is, simply, because I have other things I have been writing lately. Nothing personal, internet, but people are actually threatening to pay me for stuff. So my focus is elsewhere.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;That said, I am updating &lt;a href="http://www.twitter.com/patrickkeller"&gt;my Twitter page&lt;/a&gt; quite often these days. If you're genuinely curious about me, that's the place to find out what I'm up to AT THAT VERY MOMENT.</description><link>http://www.gernworld.com/2008/04/updates-sure.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Patrick)</author></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352069.post-8835250646759046521</guid><pubDate>Fri, 14 Dec 2007 17:04:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2007-12-14T10:05:45.289-08:00</atom:updated><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>sigh</category><title>When Crap Ruled the World</title><description>I can't decide whether &lt;a href="http://www.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/Music/12/14/music.billboard.top.ap/index.html?eref=rss_showbiz"&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; is evidence of the music industry's collapse, the cause, or some sort of snake-eating-its-own-tail Moebius strip of cause and effect:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;The "Idol" finalist's band, Daughtry, sold 3.2 million copies of their self-titled debut, making it the most popular album of the year, according to the trade magazine.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;The group was followed by Akon, whose "Konvicted" sold 2.7 million; the "Hannah Montana" soundtrack with 2.5 million copies sold; Fergie's "The Dutchess," which sold 2.4 million; and 2005's "American Idol" champ Carrie Underwood, whose "Some Hearts" sold 2.3 million copies.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt;I have not heard a single one of those albums, nor do I ever, ever want to. Does that make me old, or does it mean people have no taste?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Shit, it's probably both.</description><link>http://www.gernworld.com/2007/12/when-crap-ruled-world.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Patrick)</author></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352069.post-4581003917560612903</guid><pubDate>Wed, 24 Oct 2007 05:23:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2007-10-30T12:25:35.515-07:00</atom:updated><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>newsradio</category><title>...So, It's Not Adam West, Then?</title><description>Holy crap! &lt;a href="http://nymag.com/news/features/39593/?ftr-promo"&gt;They found Doobie Keebler&lt;/a&gt;!</description><link>http://www.gernworld.com/2007/10/so-its-not-adam-west-then.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Patrick)</author></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352069.post-230848880995523404</guid><pubDate>Fri, 19 Oct 2007 19:03:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2007-10-19T12:45:40.437-07:00</atom:updated><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>tmcm</category><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>shannon</category><title>Fantastic Shannon Wheeler Interview</title><description>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://thewrightopinion.files.wordpress.com/2007/10/wheelerphoto.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 215px; height: 156px;" src="http://thewrightopinion.files.wordpress.com/2007/10/wheelerphoto.jpg" alt="" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;Brendan Wright has posted &lt;a href="http://thewrightopinion.wordpress.com/2007/10/11/out-for-coffee-with-shannon-wheeler/"&gt;a pretty fantastic interview&lt;/a&gt; of my good friend (and I'm not just saying that in a phony, "showbiz" way -- he was at my wedding) &lt;a href="http://www.tmcm.com/"&gt;Shannon Wheeler&lt;/a&gt; over at his "The Wright Opinion" blog. Brendan manages to avoid all the clichéd questions that Shannon has heard a million times, and genuinely seems to be a fan of his work. I learned some things, and I've known Shannon for years now.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I can't remember how or even when I first came across Shannon's work, but I do remember meeting him for the first time at the San Diego Comic Con in 2000, and I think I knew of him before then. We chatted for a bit, and I picked up the inaugural issue of his &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Too Much Coffee Man&lt;/span&gt; magazine (the one with &lt;a href="http://www.bigredhair.com/"&gt;Anina&lt;/a&gt; naked, covered in coffee beans on the cover), and it's not hyperbole to say that that meeting and that magazine changed my life forever.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I became a charter subscriber of the magazine, and eventually befriended the editor at the time (read: begged him relentlessly to let me write something), a fantastic writer by the name of &lt;a href="http://www.tonysimon.org/"&gt;Tony Simon&lt;/a&gt;. I pitched Tony a story about &lt;a href="http://www.clearchannelsucks.net/"&gt;Clear Channel&lt;/a&gt; that ran in issue 17, the "radio" themed issue.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;A few months later, I got word that Tony was moving (back) to Atlanta, and Shannon was looking for someone to fill his shoes. I volunteered, and to my surprise he accepted. I edited the magazine for the next year or so, until a distributor bit the dust unexpectedly. The circulation hit was too much for us, and Shannon had to shut it down.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;It was terribly disappointing for both of us, even though I think we were both a little burned out. (At the time, I was working a day job, editing the magazine for at least 20 hours each week, and writing a weekly column outside of that. Plus I was freelancing and looking for a better job. I'm still a little stunned that I managed to do that much.)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I still think of it as something of a personal apex, and, even though it barely paid, it was as close to my dream job as I've ever gotten. Yes, those nights we were on deadline could be brutal, but, hell, was it &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;fun&lt;/span&gt;. Shannon and I really brought out the best in each other, I think. He definitely pushed me to do better work than I ever had before, and probably since.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;(Plus, I got to interview &lt;a href="http://www.mst3kinfo.com/satnews/brains/tmcm.html"&gt;Tom&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="http://www.mst3kinfo.com/satnews/brains/tmcm2.html"&gt;Servo&lt;/a&gt;!)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;But I'm getting ahead of myself. A few months prior to the expiration of the magazine, Shannon had recommended me for a copywriting job. I may never know for sure, but I'm fairly certain that it was my work there that got me my current job. And without this job, I doubt I could have persuaded my girlfriend to move out here. We're now married and own a home.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I think Shannon would probably dislike it if said that I owe it all to him, but he certainly made it all possible.</description><link>http://www.gernworld.com/2007/10/fantastic-shannon-wheeler-interview.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Patrick)</author></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352069.post-8531805600510768683</guid><pubDate>Fri, 05 Oct 2007 03:29:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2007-10-05T11:47:02.871-07:00</atom:updated><title>700</title><description>According to Blogger, this is my 700th post. And it's only taken me &lt;a href="http://www.gernworld.com/2002/02/this-is-test.html"&gt;about five-and-a-half years&lt;/a&gt; to get to that number.&lt;p&gt;That's because, unlike some bloggers, I only write about &lt;a href="http://www.gernworld.com/2005/12/please-carrot-dont-hurt-em.html"&gt;the important stuff&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>http://www.gernworld.com/2007/10/700.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Patrick)</author></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352069.post-3506339885746787824</guid><pubDate>Tue, 02 Oct 2007 06:00:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2007-10-01T23:05:04.539-07:00</atom:updated><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>Tech</category><title>Dear Sony:</title><description>&lt;a href="http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/ebook/sony-announces-updated-digital-book-reader-305929.php"&gt;No&lt;/a&gt;.</description><link>http://www.gernworld.com/2007/10/dear-sony.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Patrick)</author></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352069.post-3414500534884891683</guid><pubDate>Mon, 01 Oct 2007 18:03:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2007-10-01T11:18:50.583-07:00</atom:updated><title>Well, Good For Him... er, It.</title><description>&lt;a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7022787.stm"&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Hong Kong's Wang Wins Film Prize&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;Immature, I know, but I make no apologies.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>http://www.gernworld.com/2007/10/well-good-for-him-er-it.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Patrick)</author></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352069.post-6864783614239991777</guid><pubDate>Fri, 28 Sep 2007 03:34:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2007-09-27T22:30:43.729-07:00</atom:updated><title>Animals are Dumb</title><description>Of course, as a baby, I too &lt;a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=478026&amp;amp;in_page_id=1"&gt;believed a cleaning brush was my mother&lt;/a&gt;.</description><link>http://www.gernworld.com/2007/09/animals-are-dumb.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Patrick)</author></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352069.post-7018126234591304393</guid><pubDate>Tue, 25 Sep 2007 16:17:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2007-09-25T10:25:21.208-07:00</atom:updated><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>Disease</category><title>Elwood Blues Has Tourette's?</title><description>According to &lt;a href="http://health.howstuffworks.com/tourette.htm/printablehttp://health.howstuffworks.com/tourette.htm/printable"&gt;this &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;How Stuff Works&lt;/span&gt; article&lt;/a&gt;, Dan Ackroyd is one of a handful of famous people afflicted with &lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tourette_syndrome"&gt;Tourette Syndrome&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, former NBA player&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Dan Aykroyd, actor&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Pete Bennett, “Big Brother” reality-show personality&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;James Boswell, author&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Brad Cohen, award-winning teacher and author&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Jim Eisenreich, former Major League Baseball player&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Tim Howard, goalkeeper for Manchester United Football Club&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Samuel Johnson, 18th-century author of “A Dictionary of the English Language”&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Mozart, composer (this has been disputed, but it does make for good gossip)&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Michael Wolff, jazz musician&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;Hmm. Maybe "famous" should be in quotes, particularly when you have a teacher on the list. (Nothing against teachers, but the only "famous" teacher I can think of is the &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Mr. Holland's Opus&lt;/span&gt; guy, whose name escapes me at the moment.)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Interestingly, Wikipedia, that bastion of good research is unsure whether having Ackroyd on that list is accurate or not:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;Aykroyd described himself (in a radio interview with Terry Gross) as having mild Tourette syndrome that was successfully treated with therapy when he was a preteen, as well as mild Asperger syndrome. The diagnosis of Asperger syndrome did not exist in the 1960s, when Aykroyd was a preteen. It is unclear if Aykroyd received the diagnoses of TS or AS from a medical source, whether he was speaking in his role as a comic, or whether the diagnoses were self-made. It was an audio interview, so the audience could not see Aykroyd's facial expressions, but the interviewer indicated uncertainty about whether Aykroyd was kidding.&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;My interest in the subject, besides adding to the already-huge portion of my brain devoted to useless entertainment trivia is that I had a friend with Tourette's in college, a fellow named Robert. I was at a friend's party, when the guy next to me repeatedly rolled his head. "Stiff neck?" I asked, stupidly. No, he told me, without a hint of malice or irritation, he had Tourette's, and went on to explain exactly what that meant.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;p&gt;Of course, pop culture focuses on the sensational elements of the syndrome, specifically the random foul language (coprolalia, which I believe translates literally to "shit language"). And, look, I'm not going to deny that that sort of thing isn't funny, sometimes. Discomfort in social situations is always a rich vein of humor - like when a kid points out someone's fat ass at the mall. But for a disease that's surprisingly prevalent (it's estimated that 1 in 100 have Tourette syndrome, with varying degrees of severity), but only 15% of sufferers have that symptom, and the focus on that one symptom undoubtedly causes some stigma for all the people afflicted with the disease.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Robert described his Tourette's to me thusly: He has these compulsions to do things that he can't ignore. The head-rolling was just one. He had also plucked out a good deal of his eyebrows.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Thing was, as so often happens, the better I got to know the guy, the less I even noticed these his tics. He was just a nice guy to hang out with.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;I wonder what happened to him.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>http://www.gernworld.com/2007/09/elwood-blues-has-tourettes.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Patrick)</author></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352069.post-8417148834778827997</guid><pubDate>Thu, 20 Sep 2007 19:35:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2007-09-25T07:02:16.770-07:00</atom:updated><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>TV</category><title>A Crotchety Guide to the Fall's New Shows</title><description>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.gernworld.com/images/ollie_sylvester_sleep.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 234px; height: 175px;" src="http://www.gernworld.com/images/ollie_sylvester_sleep.jpg" alt="" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;Lately, I've been weaning myself off of TV. I used to watch it damn near constantly when I lived alone, but with a girlfriend and now wife in the house with me, not to mention a house to maintain, writing projects to tackle, and cats to entertain, who has the time?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Mostly, though, nothing from this year's crop has caught my eye. &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;The Bionic Woman&lt;/span&gt; caught my eye (in that obnoxious "The Twenty" that Regal runs before their movies) only because they seemed intent on making &lt;a href="http://www.zap2it.com/news/custom/photogallery/zap-photogallery-nbcupfronts-2007,0,3596781.photogallery?index=2"&gt;Michelle Ryan&lt;/a&gt; run around in tight, wet clothes for most of the preview. What else? I've heard rumblings about &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Reaper&lt;/span&gt;, and I used to be quite the Kevin Smith fan (he lost me around &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Dogma&lt;/span&gt;, honestly, although &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Clerks II&lt;/span&gt; was a nice return to form). But apart from those two, I know next to nothing about the upcoming offerings, I and I keep up on a lot of entertainment media.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;So, I'm going to scan through the &lt;a href="http://www.zap2it.com/falltvpreview2007"&gt;Zap2It Fall TV Guide&lt;/a&gt; and see what, if anything, catches my eye. Networks, take note.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;First, &lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;NBC&lt;/span&gt;:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Chuck&lt;/span&gt;: Cute premise, but McG gives me hives. I've always thought Sarah Lancaster was cute, in that "too damn attractive, no personality" cheerleader way.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Journeyman&lt;/span&gt;: Lord knows I'm a sucker for time travel stories. I might give it an episode, but this looks to be a &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Lost&lt;/span&gt;-type exercise in drawing out plot revelations over five years. I'm already three years into &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Lost&lt;/span&gt;, so I'm more inclined to see that one through to the end than add another.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Life&lt;/span&gt;: Another Damn Cop Show (ADCS) with a cute gimmick, which means it may as well be&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt; Cop Rock&lt;/span&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;The IT Crowd&lt;/span&gt;: The original is one of those Brit shows on my ever-expanding list of "ones I need to watch" (&lt;a href="http://www.tmcm.com/"&gt;Shannon&lt;/a&gt; just added The Mighty Boosh this week, bringing the list to an even thousand). Graham Linehan (Zap2It hilariously credits him as &lt;a href="http://www.zap2it.com/news/custom/photogallery/zap-photogallery-nbcupfronts-2007,0,3596781.photogallery?index=6"&gt;"Graham Lineman"&lt;/a&gt;) has my semi-eternal allegiance for co-creating &lt;a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0262150/"&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Black Books&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, and Richard Ayode gets major credit for being &lt;a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0397150/"&gt;Garth Marenghi&lt;/a&gt;'s sidekick Dean Learner. And Joel McHale is nicely Kilbornian (that simultaneously engaging and repellant combination of smarm and witty sarcasm) on &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;The Soup&lt;/span&gt;. Still, the original is pretty broad, and regardless of the success of &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;The Office&lt;/span&gt;, Americans don't have the best track record with importing Britcoms.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Lipstick Jungle&lt;/span&gt;: Um, no. I'm happy to let the wife watch it, though, if it means she'll stop watching endless &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Sex in the City&lt;/span&gt; repeats.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;World Moves&lt;/span&gt;: I refuse to watch "reality" TV. If I wanted to watch "real" people be petty and self-centered, I'd go somewhere and interact with them.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;CBS&lt;/span&gt;:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;The Big Bang&lt;/span&gt;: For people who think &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Two and a Half Men&lt;/span&gt; is too hard to follow, apparently.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Cane&lt;/span&gt;: I get the feeling 90% of the episodes will end with Jimmy Smits looking out a window, with a pensive look. I would only watch this if &lt;a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0004801/"&gt;Nestor Carbonell&lt;/a&gt; will don his Batmanuel costume on a regular basis. (Wait, did I just read that Carbonell is going to be in &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;The Dark Knight&lt;/span&gt;? That's &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;awesome&lt;/span&gt;.)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Kid Nation&lt;/span&gt;: See &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;World Moves&lt;/span&gt; above.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Moonlight&lt;/span&gt;: &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Angel &lt;/span&gt;without the sense of humor. Or Charisma Carpenter. So, you know, &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;no&lt;/span&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Viva Laughlin&lt;/span&gt;: A reality show about &lt;a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0521753/"&gt;Uncle Joey's wife&lt;/a&gt;? Oh, sorry. That's Loughlin. Still, not terrifically interested.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Swingtown&lt;/span&gt;: A show about wife-swapping? With the guy from &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Coupling &lt;/span&gt;(the good, British one)? On... &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;CBS&lt;/span&gt;? I get the feeling that this will wind up being &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Thirtysomething &lt;/span&gt;with kinkier sex.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;ABC&lt;/span&gt;:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;Big Shots: &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Titus &lt;/span&gt;was funny, and Josh Malina has a lot of goodwill from &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;SportsNight&lt;/span&gt;, but the description ("&lt;span class="captionFlipbook"&gt;Four top executives have the world at their fingertips -- and all the same problem us working stiffs have: fidelity, fractured relationships with exes and kids, power grabs at the office.") sounds like &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Thirtysomething &lt;/span&gt;again. Or &lt;a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0457046/"&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Love Monkey&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt; without the guy from &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Ed&lt;/span&gt;. (God, I miss &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Ed&lt;/span&gt;. Where are the DVDs, dammit?)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;span class="captionFlipbook"&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Carpoolers&lt;/span&gt;: Without seeing any of the show (I said this was preliminary opinions, dammit), the title alone gives me visions of, I don't know, &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Yes Dear&lt;/span&gt;. But it was created by a &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Kids in the Hall&lt;/span&gt; alum, so it may have potential.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;span class="captionFlipbook"&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Cashmere Mafia&lt;/span&gt;: Jeez, the creators of &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Sex in the City&lt;/span&gt; should sue. Except they're producing this one. Same comments from &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Lipstick Mafia&lt;/span&gt; apply here.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;span class="captionFlipbook"&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Cavemen&lt;/span&gt;: I think it was Abe Lincoln who said, "That show gave me the &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;worst&lt;/span&gt; headache."&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;span class="captionFlipbook"&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Dirty Sexy Money&lt;/span&gt;: Why doesn't anyone know how to use punctuation anymore? Anyway, this looks like &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;The Firm: The Series&lt;/span&gt;. Despite Peter Krause (same &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;SportsNight &lt;/span&gt;goodwill applies to him as to Josh Malina), I don't think I'm interested, sorry. No matter how you look at it, giving up an hour of your life to watch people be angsty and mean each week is rarely worth the time.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;span class="captionFlipbook"&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Private Practice&lt;/span&gt;: Regardless of what all the women in America say, &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Grey's Anatomy&lt;/span&gt; sucks eggs. (As one friend put it, "It's &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Felicity &lt;/span&gt;in hospital scrubs.") This will, too. In ten years, kids will laugh at their parents for having watched it.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;span class="captionFlipbook"&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Pushing Daisies&lt;/span&gt;: Okay, I take it back. I have heard good buzz on one show, albeit just a little. This sounds interesting and original. (Not always a formula for TV success, though.) I might give it a shot.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;span class="captionFlipbook"&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Samantha Who?&lt;/span&gt; The plot summary sounds like &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Regarding Henry&lt;/span&gt;, only as a half-hour sitcom. I'll pass.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;span class="captionFlipbook"&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Women's Murder Club&lt;/span&gt;: This would be a lot more interesting if the women killed people instead of solved crimes. The plot description sounds like &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Sex in the City&lt;/span&gt; crossed with &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Law &amp;amp; Order&lt;/span&gt;. (Where did all the &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;SitC &lt;/span&gt;ripoffs come from all of a sudden? Didn't that show end three years ago?) Reminds me of the old joke: Take two, totally different occupations and add the phrase "They're detectives!" to the end. "She's an obese nun from the future, he's a deaf-mute half-man, half-poodle. They're detectives!" (I'd watch that.)&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;span class="captionFlipbook"&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Eli Stone&lt;/span&gt;: Sounds like a genuinely weird take on &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Joan of Arcadia&lt;/span&gt;. It has "the chick from &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Species &lt;/span&gt;(or, as she's known to absolutely no one, Natasha Hentsridge), though, so it might be worth watching to see if she puts on the occasional bikini.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;span class="captionFlipbook"&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Miss/Guided&lt;/span&gt;: I don't do shows with punny titles. Doesn't Brooke Burns look like she was hatched from a pod?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;span class="captionFlipbook"&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Oprah's Big Give&lt;/span&gt;: You get a car! And you get a car! And you get a car! And I get a headache!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;Fox&lt;/span&gt;:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Back to You&lt;/span&gt;: The ads give the serious impression of yet another schticky sitcom. Don't care.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;K-Ville&lt;/span&gt;: The &lt;a href="http://www.zap2it.com/news/custom/photogallery/zap-photogallery-foxupfronts-2007,0,3255324.photogallery?index=3"&gt;Zap2It page&lt;/a&gt; references the (joke) &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Simpsons &lt;/span&gt;spinoff &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Chief Wiggum: PI&lt;/span&gt;. 'Nuff said.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Kitchen Nightmares&lt;/span&gt;: Shouldn't this be on the &lt;span&gt;Food Network where I can safely ignore it&lt;/span&gt;?&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Nashville&lt;/span&gt;: Do I look like a 13-year-old girl without access to to MTV to you?&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;The Next Great American Band&lt;/span&gt;: Well, I guess having bands of actual musicians is an improvement over the obnoxious oversinging contest that is &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;American Idol&lt;/span&gt;, but it's still reality TV, and most likely music I would hate anyway. So, no.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Canterbury's Law&lt;/span&gt;: Yet Another Lawyer Show (YALS). People watching TV outside of this country must think we're all doctors, lawyers, cops, or budding singers.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;New Amsterdam&lt;/span&gt;: Yet Another Immortal-Who-Solves-Crimes Show. &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;The Return of Jezebel James&lt;/span&gt;: Parker Posey, on TV? Interesting. Not interesting enough to watch, but still interesting. It's another Amy Sherman-Palladino show, which means two hours of dialogue packed into an hour. It will be mildly clever, but you will end up hating yourself for watching it.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;The Sarah Connor Chronicles&lt;/span&gt;: Anything &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Terminator &lt;/span&gt;without James Cameron, in all his pompous glory, is basically pointless.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Unhitched&lt;/span&gt;: &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Thirtysomething &lt;/span&gt;as a comedy. Who would have thought that, twenty years on, that show would be the most influential thing on TV? After &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Sex in the City&lt;/span&gt;, of course.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;Before I do &lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;The CW&lt;/span&gt;, I would like to point out that they canceled &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Veronica Mars&lt;/span&gt;, one of the better-written shows on TV recently, to put on a show about singing strippers. And not even real strippers, but the lame kind that don't actually get all the way naked. Admittedly, a show about singing hookers has some potential (&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;America's Next Singing Whore&lt;/span&gt; I might actually watch), but the Pussycat Dolls show sucked, and I didn't even have to watch it to know that. So I'm going to mark any shows on the network down by several points from the get-go. They would have to resurrect &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Arrested Development&lt;/span&gt; to win back my goodwill at this point.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p&gt;Anyway...&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Aliens in America&lt;/span&gt;: A show about a Pakistani Muslim attempting to integrate into American culture could be a truly groundbreaking show about national identity and all that crap, but most likely it will center on easy jokes about strange headgear and McDonald's.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;CW Now&lt;/span&gt;: Fuck off.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Gossip Girl&lt;/span&gt;: The &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Veronica Mars&lt;/span&gt; connection has me intrigued, but it looks like a fictional version of those awful MTV reality shows where spoiled brats cheat on their boyfriends. It would only be worth watching if they took a page from &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Heathers &lt;/span&gt;and incorporated the occasional ironic murder, and even then I would probably still rather just watch &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Heathers &lt;/span&gt;again.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Life is Wild&lt;/span&gt;: 7th Heaven with lions? Bite me, CW.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Online Nation&lt;/span&gt;: I said &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;fuck off&lt;/span&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Reaper&lt;/span&gt;: Well, there you go. I might actually watch this.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Crowned: The Mother of All Pageants&lt;/span&gt;: I swear to God, I'm going to hit you.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Farmer Wants a Wife&lt;/span&gt;: Christ, if you would have told me Survivor was going to spawn all this bullshit, I would have spent my youth inventing a time machine so I could go back and smother Mark Burnett in his cradle.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;That's it for the networks. Fortunately, we still have cable, and the few remaining good shows that weren't axed by overzealous network executives between heaping helpings of cocaine.</description><link>http://www.gernworld.com/2007/09/crotchety-guide-to-new-fall-tv-show.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Patrick)</author></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352069.post-4780860734745521208</guid><pubDate>Thu, 20 Sep 2007 14:58:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2007-09-20T12:01:28.189-07:00</atom:updated><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>We're Doomed</category><title>Twice the Size of Texas</title><description>Good lord. &lt;a href="http://science.howstuffworks.com/great-pacific-garbage-patch.htm/printable"&gt;This&lt;/a&gt; has to be one of the most depressing bits of environmental news I've heard in a long time:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;blockquote style="font-style: italic;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In the broad expanse of the northern Pacific Ocean, there exists the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre, a slowly moving, clockwise spiral of currents created by a high-pressure system of air currents. [...] The area is filled with something besides plankton: trash, millions of pounds of it, most of it plastic. &lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;It's the largest landfill in the world, and it floats in the middle of the ocean.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The gyre has actually given birth to two large masses of ever-accumulating trash, known as the Western and Eastern Pacific Garbage Patches, sometimes collectively called the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. The Eastern Garbage Patch floats between Hawaii and California; scientists estimate its size as &lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;two times bigger than Texas&lt;/span&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt;When we moved into our house last November, Jana discovered that Portland participates in a &lt;a href="http://www.masterrecycler.org/plastic-recycling.php"&gt;"Master Recycler" Program&lt;/a&gt;, where they collect all the plastic that curbside recycling can't (or won't) take. So we started socking it away in the garage. Currently, we're weeks away from the next event, and we have eight good-sized boxes full of the stuff. Stuff that we would normally have to throw away.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Now multiply that amount by about 110 million (the number of households in the US, give or take), and ponder that probably 1% have access to programs like this (and, I would imagine, a fraction of that percentage actually uses the program). The rest of it has to go to the landfill. Or, I guess, into the ocean.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Most people don't think about where their trash goes. I certainly try not to, although I try my damnedest to minimize what I do consume. Still, I'm no angel, and I love shiny gadgets (which come in plastic packages, of course) as much as the next American. But the majority of the plastic we create, use, and throw away doesn't go away. Not on any time scale humans can appreciate.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Plastic is cheap and convenient. I get that. But we're thinking in the short term here, and we can only dodge the bullet for so long.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;What can be done? I would venture this: Nothing. Not that we shouldn't try. But, damn, when you have huge islands of plastic floating in the Pacific, and you see people pitch the crap out of car windows without a second thought, you have to wonder.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Nihilistic? Absolutely. But how can you read this sort of thing and not be?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eScDfYzMEEw&amp;amp;mode=related&amp;amp;search="&gt;A little Carlin&lt;/a&gt; (although that video will probably be gone before anyone reads this) to brighten up an otherwise abysmally depressing post:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;The planet will be here for a long, long, LONG time after we're gone, and it will heal itself, it will cleanse itself, 'cause that's what it does. It's a self-correcting system. The air and the water will recover, the earth will be renewed, and if it's true that plastic is not degradable, well, the planet will simply incorporate plastic into a new pardigm: the earth plus plastic. The earth doesn't share our prejudice towards plastic. Plastic came out of the earth. The earth probably sees plastic as just another one of its children. Could be the only reason the earth allowed us to be spawned from it in the first place. It wanted plastic for itself. Didn't know how to make it. Needed us. Could be the answer to our age-old egocentric philosophical question, "Why are we here?" Plastic...asshole.&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/span&gt;</description><link>http://www.gernworld.com/2007/09/twice-size-of-texas.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Patrick)</author></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352069.post-8691177777991728087</guid><pubDate>Tue, 11 Sep 2007 18:45:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2007-09-11T11:56:17.620-07:00</atom:updated><title>Good Morning, Pingpong</title><description>I just wanted to welcome Seth Rogan's (fake) adopted baby &lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Seth_Rogen&amp;diff=next&amp;amp;oldid=59525764"&gt;Pingpong Applesauce Rogen&lt;/a&gt; into the world. Mostly because the name makes me laugh every time I read it.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Oh, and the same goes for &lt;a href="http://www.mattfraction.com"&gt;Matt&lt;/a&gt; &amp;amp; &lt;a href="http://www.kellysue.com/"&gt;Kelly Sue&lt;/a&gt;'s new (totally real) baby, Henry. Welcome, little man.</description><link>http://www.gernworld.com/2007/09/good-morning-pingpong.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Patrick)</author></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352069.post-3609206769102614837</guid><pubDate>Mon, 13 Aug 2007 15:39:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2007-08-13T08:47:10.597-07:00</atom:updated><title>Mike Wieringo Passes</title><description>I just wanted to mark the passing of comics artist &lt;a href="http://www.newsarama.com/Chicago_07/Ringo.html" target="_blank"&gt;Mike Wieringo&lt;/a&gt;. Amidst the deaths of Ingmar Bergman, Michelangelo Antonioni, and Merv Griffin, his sudden passing will probably not get much attention in the press. But his work was a bigger part of my life than any of theirs, I have to say, so I wanted to make sure that I raise a proverbial glass here for him on the site.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;That's really all I wanted to say.</description><link>http://www.gernworld.com/2007/08/mike-wieringo-passes.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Patrick)</author></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352069.post-7059446355937829222</guid><pubDate>Tue, 20 Mar 2007 20:12:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2007-03-20T13:17:35.223-07:00</atom:updated><title>Did Anyone Think This Through?</title><description>From a Metafilter discussion of the current imbroglio of the Bush administration's idiotic firing of federal prosecutors:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;blockquote style="font-style: italic;"&gt;If I want a nice smooth ride, I antagonize the crap out of aggressive go-getters with a enough of a chip on their shoulder about justice their whole lives they ascend to the top levels. Yeah. The guys who aren’t in it for the money with loads of expertise who know everything about how government law - specifically your government law - works? &lt;a href="http://www.metafilter.com/59593/The-Plot-Thickens#1627331"&gt;Yeah, those are the guys you want to screw over.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.metafilter.com/59593/The-Plot-Thickens#1627331"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.metafilter.com/59593/The-Plot-Thickens#1627331"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;Well put.</description><link>http://www.gernworld.com/2007/03/did-anyone-think-this-through.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Patrick)</author></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352069.post-3878435631657830953</guid><pubDate>Tue, 13 Mar 2007 21:30:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2007-03-13T15:56:31.052-07:00</atom:updated><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>Resurrection</category><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>new gig</category><title>Back from the Dead</title><description>The server on which this blog is generously hosted went down for several months, as can probably be told by the complete lack of action here for far too long.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;However, in the meantime, I recently secured a gig writing for the newly resurrected film blog &lt;a href="http://www.screenhead.com/"&gt;Screenhead&lt;/a&gt;. Why not check it out sometime?</description><link>http://www.gernworld.com/2007/03/back-from-dead.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Patrick)</author></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352069.post-116422307892664751</guid><pubDate>Wed, 22 Nov 2006 19:12:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2006-11-22T11:17:58.946-08:00</atom:updated><title>Best Entertainment News Headline Ever?</title><description>I don't know, but it's certainly in the running:&lt;blockquote&gt;&lt;i&gt;"Hilton Vomits While Attempting To Sing Own Song"&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/i&gt;Said story summarized: The walking representation of everything that's wrong with America got up to lip-synch some "songs" from her album after drinking a lot of vodka and promptly threw up. &lt;p&gt;Sadly, there does not appear to be any video. Yet.</description><link>http://www.gernworld.com/2006/11/best-entertainment-news-headline-ever.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Patrick)</author></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352069.post-116380010881818452</guid><pubDate>Fri, 17 Nov 2006 21:43:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2006-11-17T13:49:16.326-08:00</atom:updated><title>Hello, Apocalypse!</title><description>&lt;a href="http://news.yahoo.com/photos/ss/events/sc/111606catbirthdogs"&gt;Cat gives birth to puppies&lt;/a&gt;. No really. "&lt;a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061117/od_uk_nm/oukoe_uk_brazil_dogcats_1"&gt;[The owner claims] Mimi's offspring [were] born with dog traits last Friday&lt;/a&gt;, three months after mating with a neighbour's dog." Boy, I hope they caught that one on tape...&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;So, did anyone bother to check 'em for horns?</description><link>http://www.gernworld.com/2006/11/hello-apocalypse.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Patrick)</author></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352069.post-116232888530634375</guid><pubDate>Tue, 31 Oct 2006 21:07:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2006-11-01T07:27:48.726-08:00</atom:updated><title>Marmaduke Explained</title><description>In the spirit of Shannon's new "Garfield Isn't Funny" shirt, I present to you &lt;a href="http://marmadukeexplained.blogspot.com/"&gt;Joe Mathlete Explains Today's Marmaduke in 500 words or less&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;blockquote&gt;&lt;center&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.gernworld.com/images/marmaduke.jpg"&gt;&lt;/center&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;i&gt;Marmaduke is chasing some dog catchers, and not the other way around. That little "pop" you just heard was your mind being TOTALLY FUCKING BLOWN.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt;If you don't laugh at &lt;a href="http://marmadukeexplained.blogspot.com/2006/09/marmaduke-chased-that-squirrel-into.html"&gt;this one&lt;/a&gt;, then you have no soul.</description><link>http://www.gernworld.com/2006/10/marmaduke-explained.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Patrick)</author></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352069.post-116196743249527721</guid><pubDate>Fri, 27 Oct 2006 16:43:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2006-10-27T09:43:52.520-07:00</atom:updated><title>Gah!</title><description>&lt;img src="http://www.nashvilleistalking.com/archives/Rapist%20Search.jpg"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Heh. Awesome.</description><link>http://www.gernworld.com/2006/10/gah.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Patrick)</author></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352069.post-116196296571269858</guid><pubDate>Fri, 27 Oct 2006 15:28:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2006-10-27T20:52:12.590-07:00</atom:updated><title>Halloweenie</title><description>For most people, this weekend is the celebration of Halloween which means that...&lt;p&gt;&lt;center&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.gernworld.com/images/asteroids.jpg"&gt;&lt;/center&gt;&lt;p&gt;SWEET JESUS! What is that? It looks like the world's worst case of hemorrhoids. I think I'm going to be--&lt;p&gt;&lt;center&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.gernworld.com/images/smallwonder.jpg"&gt;&lt;/center&gt;&lt;p&gt;Gah! It's like a Jon-Benet Ramsey fantasy doll. I'm--&lt;p&gt;&lt;center&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.gernworld.com/images/villagep.jpg"&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/center&gt;... &lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;Ooookay.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, there's lots more &lt;a href="http://www.retrocrush.com/costumes/"&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;. You've been warned.</description><link>http://www.gernworld.com/2006/10/halloweenie.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Patrick)</author></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352069.post-116182062023066691</guid><pubDate>Wed, 25 Oct 2006 23:55:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2006-10-25T16:57:00.230-07:00</atom:updated><title>Buffalo Eight</title><description>In researching the previous post, I came across this, and I can't stop laughing:&lt;i&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_buffalo_Buffalo_buffalo_buffalo_buffalo_Buffalo_buffalo."&gt;Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt;</description><link>http://www.gernworld.com/2006/10/buffalo-eight.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Patrick)</author></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352069.post-116182051971883959</guid><pubDate>Wed, 25 Oct 2006 23:54:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2006-10-25T16:55:19.750-07:00</atom:updated><title>Six-Word Stories: Brilliant, Aren't They?</title><description>Using Hemingway's six-word story ("For sale: baby shoes, never worn.") as an inspiration, the editors of &lt;a href="http://wired.com/wired/archive/14.11/sixwords.html"&gt;Wired asked a bunch of different writers for their own takes&lt;/a&gt; on brief storytelling. Some of my favorites:&lt;blockquote&gt;&lt;i&gt;It’s behind you! Hurry before it (Rockne S. O’Bannon)&lt;p&gt;The baby’s blood type? Human, mostly. (Orson Scott Card)&lt;p&gt;whorl. Help! I'm caught in a time (Darren Aronofsky and Ari Handel)&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt;Some of them seem more like first lines than actual full stories, and there's a lot of Bush bashing (not that I'm entirely opposed) and jokey ones in there, but it's still a pretty clever exercise. &lt;p&gt;So, think you can do better? Here's mine:&lt;blockquote&gt;&lt;i&gt;The world: Gone. My pants, too.&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/i&gt;</description><link>http://www.gernworld.com/2006/10/six-word-stories-brilliant-arent-they.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Patrick)</author></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352069.post-116050999827953016</guid><pubDate>Tue, 10 Oct 2006 19:50:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2006-10-10T12:53:18.313-07:00</atom:updated><title>Why I Hate Batman</title><description>&lt;center&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.pvponline.com/images/batman/00.gif"&gt;&lt;/center&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I admit, I went through a Batman phase for a while there, not coincidentally right around the time when the first movie came out. It's understandable: I was 14, a comic book fiend, and secretly wished I could be intense and mysterious so girls would like me. Eventually, however, I came to my senses and realized that suspension of disbelief is damned near impossible in Batman's world. Never mind that DC's writers can't make up their mind whether Bats is a mythic creature of the night that no one has ever seen (in his own titles) or a well-known public figure (when he appears in the Justice League). &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Whatever. That's all pretty much the standard continuity baggage that comes from popular characters in sprawling superhero universes. No, what bugs me about Batman is he's &lt;i&gt;so damn humorless&lt;/i&gt; Even if he is the ass-kickingest guy ever, his character seems so one-dimensional that I could never bring myself to care about him. (Although, oddly, I did find &lt;i&gt;Batman Begins&lt;/i&gt; easier to take because they didn't make him the greatest-crimefighter-slash-detective-slash-billionaire "perfect at everything" fantasy that he usually is, but rather the new kid trying to figure things out. Still, it was almost unbearably grim. And I can't see Katie Holmes without thinking "nutjob" anymore, but that's hardly their fault.)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Which is why this &lt;a href="http://www.pvponline.com/images/batman/"&gt;Batman parody by Scott Kurtz&lt;/a&gt; of PvP tickled me so much. He manages to sum up the trouble with Bruce Wayne in about 10 panels.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;That said, in a cruel bit of irony, I'm probably taking all this a bit too seriously, aren't I?</description><link>http://www.gernworld.com/2006/10/why-i-hate-batman.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Patrick)</author></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352069.post-116044021724518245</guid><pubDate>Tue, 10 Oct 2006 00:29:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2006-10-09T17:30:17.266-07:00</atom:updated><title>First the Breakup with Ken</title><description>Now Barbie has to &lt;a href="http://barbie.everythinggirl.com/activities/btv/as_seen_on_tv/"&gt;clean up dog poop&lt;/a&gt;. (Click on the picture of Bar with her dog underneath the main movie.) We're a long way from the Dream House, Tanner...&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Coming soon, GI Joe Field Surgery Kit!</description><link>http://www.gernworld.com/2006/10/first-breakup-with-ken.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Patrick)</author></item></channel></rss>