Pop Culture Junk Mail

What I'm coveting at Amazon

2009-07-10T11:36:00.000-07:00

Not buying, right now, just coveting...

I have one of these wonderful necklace timers, but I want to keep at least one extra on hand. Seriously, it's the best timer ever, because it's not only small and easy to use, it's strung as a necklace so you can wear it around the house. Not sure why the white one is 41 cents cheaper than the black one.

"The Likeness" is a mystery recommended to me by a co-worker who knows my love for Donna Tartt's "The Secret History." A Dublin detective finds she's the virtual twin of a murdered woman, and then steps undercover into the victim's life with four "quirky, insular" housemates. It makes me want to read the other book by Tana French, "In The Woods," which features the same detective.

I'm also interested in "A Drifting Life," a Japanese work by the man who revolutionized manga in the 1950s there. A niche topic, sure, but fascinating.

Oh, and two items I just couldn't resist and did buy:

My crush on Guy Fieri continues unabated, so I picked up the companion book to his addictive show, "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives." With recipes!

And Mystery Science Theater 3000 came out with its latest four-pack of DVDs, the 15th collection. We started watching "Racket Girls," a weird film about women wrestlers, and were cracking up.

The Royal Tweets

2009-07-10T11:11:00.000-07:00

The British Royal Family has joined Twitter. Oh dear.

Although I wish Diana was still around. "Chaz out with Camilla again. ROTTWEILER!"

10 cars that brought down Detroit

2009-07-10T11:07:00.000-07:00

DAMN YOU, CHEVROLET VEGA!

Also, while Rob kinda liked the Pontiac Aztek, even though I have kind of a weakness for Pontiacs, I think it was one of the weirdest-looking cars ever.

I wish there was a tape-recording of the meeting where someone suggested it have a built-in tent because...lunacy.

Home sweet home

2009-07-09T15:52:00.000-07:00

I find this Home of the Week in the L.A. Times just breathtaking, and oh, so California. Photos #1 and #3 especially are like my dream home. I mean, that third photo looks more like a painting than reality.

Of course, I don't have $1.5 million to blow on it.

Farewell, Al

2009-07-08T21:32:00.001-07:00

Al's Bar in St. Louis Park, a dark spot for darts and Rob's favorite Bloody Mary ever, is closing down.

In the bit about its patrons, there's this: "There was the guy accused of killing his wife and leaving her in the trunk of a car in a parking lot; he spent the day at Al's while authorities searched his home."

Could it be referencing the Anne Barber Dunlap case?

Potniki spots are back

2009-07-08T21:11:00.001-07:00

Pass the sour milk: They're remaking "Alien Nation" for the crappily renamed channel that used to be SciFi and is now SyFy...

Channel name aside, that was a great show! Welcome back, Sam Francisco!

(Link via Metafilter.)

Hot dogs are good for you?

2009-07-08T17:44:00.001-07:00

Oscar Mayer III lived to age 95.

The tortoise and the plane

2009-07-08T17:27:00.001-07:00

"Sorry for the delay in landing, folks, but there are a ton of turtles on the runway."

The imp in your brain

2009-07-08T16:32:00.001-07:00

Oh yeah, sometimes I think of absolutely horrible things to do. I don't do them, but they flash through my mind. I'm happy to hear I'm not alone.

The King is dead, let's remember another dead King

2009-07-08T16:22:00.000-07:00

I love Bob Greene, but his piece on Elvis had really only the most tenuous relation to Michael Jackson's death. Odd attempt at a tie-in, New York Times.

Lunch crunch

2009-07-08T15:59:00.000-07:00

No one's denying the cops working for the Michael Jackson memorial service deserved lunch, but did they need to pay $50,000 and hike it in from 80 miles away, as opposed to paying $17,000 for boxed lunches from Subway in L.A.?

It's like the government's thousand-dollar hammer all over again...

Many levels of horror

2009-07-08T15:56:00.000-07:00

Here's a horror film that sounds fascinating: "The Hills Run Red" is about a young horror filmmaker who tries to track down a lost horror film and winds up pretty much living the film. Deliciously creepy!

Book 'em, Danno...but not at this hotel

2009-07-08T14:39:00.001-07:00

Hotel seen in "Hawaii 5-O" is shutting down.

Now I have that totally addictive theme song stuck in my head. Dah dah dah dah dah DAH...dah dah dah dah DAH!

But it's not Google, but it's not bad

2009-07-08T14:37:00.000-07:00

The New York Times points out some ways in which Bing.com is actually better than Google. Huh. I don't use it, but I'll give it a shot.

Best iPhone accessory ever

2009-07-08T09:56:00.000-07:00

Rob bought me this, and I love it. It's a soft shell you slip on your iPhone when the battery is in the red. It gives you a full charge to use AND charges your phone at the same time.

Best iPhone accessory ever!

Seattle police and fire

2009-07-06T21:49:00.000-07:00

The Seattle cops and fire department now both keep blogs.

How awesome. How many times have you heard a siren in your neighborhood and wondered what was going on? I'm sure these won't always answer those questions, but they're interesting anyway.

(Via Seattle P-I)

Why chicks cry

2009-07-06T19:47:00.000-07:00

So many, many reasons.

Some of them: Birds. Gaining weight. Getting braces caught.

(Via Metafilter.)

Those meddling kids!

2009-07-05T23:39:00.000-07:00

GraphJam always has great pop-culture graphics, but I especially loved this one: A pie chart ranking the contributions of the various Mystery Gang members.

Trippin'

2009-07-05T12:15:00.000-07:00

The L.A. Times has a great photo slideshow of bizarre destinations around the world.

I would really like to eat at this restaurant 16 feet below sea level. As long as the walls held, that is ...

Imagine going to swim laps in the world's longest swimming pool.

When we were in California once, friends raved about Glass Beach, and we talked about going there, but ended up not stopping. When Kelly's a little older, I bet she'd love it.

My friend Chiara is living in New Zealand these days. Maybe she can dine at this treehouse restaurant.

It's on like ... Frogger? Kangaroo?

2009-07-04T12:25:00.000-07:00

There's a heated debate going on about who originated the vitally useful and too-silly-to-be-stupid phrase "It's on like Donkey Kong."

Born on the second of July...

2009-07-04T12:11:00.001-07:00

So we all should really have been celebrating Independence Day two days ago? Whoops.

Viva la French dip!

2009-07-04T12:00:00.000-07:00

It's as if the junk-food gods heard my call: Rizzo's French Dip, a place that only makes French dip sandwiches, and makes them in the style of L.A.'s Philippe's which invented the sandwich, opened just minutes from our house.

They don't have the choices Philippe's does. Rob and I went there once and I recall they had lamb and turkey French dips and other varieties ... but the buns are awesome and the sandwich a delight.

Speaking of Philippe's, there's another L.A. restaurant that claims IT invented the French dip, Cole's Pacific Electric Buffet. Obviously now that we've been to Philippe's, we need to hit Cole's the next time we visit Rob's family in L.A.

Star-spangled Rice Krispie bars

2009-07-04T11:56:00.000-07:00

Here's what I made for our July Fourth celebration.

I did the colors, but no way am I cutting them out into stars and putting them on sticks, because that would mean a pan of several dozen bars would be reduced to 12!

Not that eating the leftoverparts in between the stars wouldn't be just as yummy, but still.

Kellogg's actually has a giant list of variations on the standard Rice Krispie treats. Banana nut, butterscotch, cherry coconut, chocolate pumpkin ... the list goes on. How much fun would it be to work in their test kitchen?

Twin Cities

2009-07-03T15:08:00.000-07:00

I either took a writing class from or went to a reading by Carol Muske-Dukes when I was studying in Minnesota. She has a poem called "Twin Cities" in the new New Yorker.

I bet the convent school her friend was expelled from was Vis.

BEechwood-45789

2009-07-03T15:01:00.001-07:00

Here's an ad from 1962 in which the phone company tries to prepare Americans for all-number phone numbers.

"America's telephones have been outgrowing the alphabet!" the ad explains.

It also teaches you to dial 1 first for a long-distance number. What a brave new world we were moving into!