A beagle who looks enchantingly at me with beautiful kohl rimmed eyes, winking in his characteristic way.

Sore triceps the day after training them.

Double digit temperatures, on the plus side of zero, in the last week of November.

posted by Wendy

So…

Chief is known to get the munchies early in the morning. We all know WHY he gets the munchies so lecturing him on laying off the chocolate or how diabetes runs in his family and his sugar is probably in the 40,000 range means nothing.

And because we all know why he gets the munchies, I told him that he had to keep his munchie-stash out of the kitchen. There is NO reasons for the kids to get the munchies other then their kids and munch. So if we want to prevent Spaz from getting so big that he can’t fit through the door, then the candy and the cookies and the mini pies can’t be in their reach.

So Chief keeps them in his night table drawer.

Yesterday, our really cool vendor that gives us really cool stuff at a really cool.. ridiculously low price delivered about four cases of Keebler Peanut Butter Chunk Chocolate Chip cookies.

I swear that Chief’s eyes rolled back into his head and his body quivered like a rookie actress in one of those low low low budgeted porno flicks. So I rolled my eyes “FINE” and grabbed a pack for home.

I smuggled them into the bedroom before the kids could see them and promptly forgot about them.

I’m not a cookie / cake / pie / ice cream person so once they left my hands they also left my conscienceness.

Fast forward to this morning.

Chief usually wakes up first :: rather, I usually kick him awake because he NEVER hears the alarm :: .. gets dressed.. takes the dogs out.. and promptly gives them a treat when they come back in.

Then he wakes me up.. leaves for work.. and I spend the next 20 minutes yelling at the dogs that are weaving themselves in and out of my legs that NO MORE! ALL GONE! GO LAY DOWN! JESUS CHRIST YOU ALREADY HAD A TREAT!

The funny thing is, Bella knows what the word “treat” is so when I say it, she tries to get up on her hind legs and dance in circles but she’s too fat and usually just tips over like a weeble.. all the while making this WHOO WHOO WHOO sound.

So the whole cycle starts all over again..

Anyway.. THIS morning, they kept on prancing around the night table. I didn’t think anything about it because in between yelling at them, I’m yelling at Bubba to get his ass out of bed and doing some serious clock watching.

He finally gets up .. I wake up Spaz.. We leave.. I return.. Walk into my bedroom and what do I find?

The night stand drawer is open.. the wrapper from the cookie package is shredded on the bedroom rug so it looked like a tinsel factory exploded and there’s and the empty plastic tray that USUALLY holds cookies is sticking out of the drawer.

Ernie, The Terrorist Puppy IMMEDIATELY dives under the bed for cover. Bella TRIES to do something but she’s too wide so she basically attempts to put the Sad-Dog face on and telepathically convince me that is was ALL ERNIE.. even though she had crumbs stuck to the fur under her chin.

So.. taking a deep breath.. I call Chief

ME: Hey.. um.. yknow those cookies I brought home last night?

CHIEF: Yea..

ME: You had them in your nightstand, didn’t you?

CHIEF: Whhhyyyy????

ME: You had them there, right?

CHIEF: Ok

ME: OMG! I’m not accusing you of anything I’m only asking if that’s where they were

CHIEF: Well, I don’t know.. I hate when you ask me questions that you already know the answers to because it’s like you’re going to holler at me or something

ME: I DO NOT!

CHIEF: Yes you do.. you get all like “Uh huh” “Uh huh” “yea, right”

ME: Tsk! Whatever.. that’s not the point.

CHIEF: Then what is the point? That I can’t keep stuff in my night table?

ME: THE DOGS GOT INTO YOUR NIGHT TABLE AND ATE ALL YOUR COOKIES

CHIEF: What?

ME: You didn’t hear me?

CHIEF: No. . I heard you but I had the drawer closed. They actually opened the drawer?

ME: Yep.. the knobs are loose

CHIEF: OMG.. they actually opened the drawer. It was Ernie, right? Ernie did it? I guess so because Bella’s teeth would probably fall out

ME: I doesn’t matter which one did it.. THEY ATE A WHOLE THING OF COOKIES

CHIEF: Um. It wasn’t a whole pack. We were up at 2:30 eating them.

ME: We?

CHIEF: Um.. yeeaaaa.. me and the dogs

ME: Oh my fucking God. You ate cookies WITH them.

CHIEF: So that would explain it…

ME: Well.. you can do all that explaining when you have to clean up all the diarrhea and vomit that’s sure to happen.

CHIEF: They’ll be fine

ME: Yeeaahhh… guess you forgot about the time they ate a whole case of Reese cups huh?

CHIEF: shit

ME: Exactly

Um pouco de moda divertida para alegrar nossa terça-feira ensolarada!

Tirados daqui.

This is the true story of 8 Asian bloggers–wait, only 4–picked to be a part of an Asian American blogger gathering who are forced to sit together very closely on stage with about 15 other bloggers to find out what happens…Oh, who cares. Actually, do you want to know what happens when we get together in person?

This past Saturday, I got to meet up with Ernie, Jee and Christine (WHO CROSSED THE FRIGGIN BORDER FOR THIS) for Banana 09. It was pretty awesome to meet other bloggers face to face, especially those who’ve you disagreed with before and it was a good lesson to realize that the Internet does not equal real life.

It also reaffirmed my belief that all my friends on 8Asians are like the funniest, bestest and most awesomest (like totally) people ever.

Wow with these cute Google banners Sesame street is really gaining some adult popularity. Several people have been trying to relate the advanced psychological testing that goes into Sesame street with pop-blogging.

]]> http://blog.predicto.com/2009/11/20/will-sesame-street-return-to-video-games/ Fri, 20 Nov 2009 20:02:31 +0000 Predicto http://blog.predicto.com/2009/11/20/will-sesame-street-return-to-video-games/

If the names Big Bird, Cookie Monster, Oscar the Grouch and The Count don’t bring back memories that make you smile, you must have missed out on Sesame Street, the beloved children’s show. Either that or you didn’t have a TV when you were a child.

Created by the Sesame Workshop (or more fondly remembered as the Children’s Television Workshop) back in 1969, the show was built on the idea that television — long believed to be an entertainment device — could actually serve as an educational tool. Within years, the show would become a worldwide cultural phenomenon. It would be lauded for its ability to teach young people the basics of reading and mathematics, and promote good values among children.

The belief, as author Malcolm Gladwell wrote about was that “if you could hold the attention of a child, you can educate them.” That theory seems to hold water and a big part of the massive popularity of Sesame Street has been the characters in the show. Sesame Street is famous for the Muppets characters on the show, all created by Jim Henson. These puppets are a large part of the success of Sesame Street and characters such as Ernie, Bert, Grover, Kermit the Frog and more all have their own place in the collective memories of people everywhere.

This popularity has led to spin-off merchandising. Toys, clothes, lunch boxes, shoes and other accoutrement for children were all licensed and made money. This even extended to the world of video games, beginning with games such as Big Bird’s Egg Catch for the Atari 2600, and continued with Sesame Street: Big Bird’s Hide and Speak for the Nintendo Entertainment System, and Elmo’s Number Journey for the Sony PlayStation and Nintendo 64.

Formerly an entertainment medium for children, the video games industry now caters to older demographics. In recent times, video games were said to carry a certain social stigma, following high-profile media discussions about them exposing children to violence, sex and other mature themes. Games for children have floundered critically, not just because of the more mature tastes of players, but also because most games for children have been criticized as inferior gaming experiences.

As Sesame Street celebrates its 40th Anniversary, will the beloved children’s show make a return to the video game world by December 2009? Predicto.com’s users have weighed in and, as of today, 68% of respondents have voted with a resounding Yes!

What do you think? Visit Predicto.com, speak up and be part of the Predicto Mobile community now!

… Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!!!!

Ernie, The Terrorist Puppy

You remember Ernie, right?

Ernie, The Terrorist Puppy???

Come on.. you know you do!

How could you not?

JUST LOOOOOOK AT THAT FACE!!!

Bleck!

Okay.. so last night I couldn’t sleep. Not at all. So about 1am, Bravo was showing Tabatha’s Salon Take Over and I’m all about the platinum haired, English bitch of all bitches going into hair salons and giving them a piece of her English bitch of all bitches mind.

Problem is.. if it isn’t on the History Channel or Syfy or has ANYTHING to do with aliens, Nostradameous or the end of the world.. Chief hate it and makes watching it so freakin’ miserable because he’ll make fun of everything while the shows on.

It’s one of things that you either conform around or break up about.

I’m not going to be the girl who breaks up a relationship over Tabatha’s Take Over Salon so I figured I would just go into the living room to watch it.

Because.. YOU KNOW!!!!.. no matter how hard he’s snoring he’s going to wake up the minute I put something he doesn’t like on television.

So I go out into the living.. get all settled in with my blanket and coffee and ashtray and start watching.

About 10 minutes go by and Ernie the Terrorist Puppy jumps on the “L” part of the sectional sofa and drops something from his mouth that falls right between the pillows.

Then he starts picking at it.

I look a little closer and OH MY FUCKING GOD it’s a mouse.

Jesus God in Heaven there’s a dead mouse stuck between the pillows ON MY COUCH and the damn dog is picking at it!!!

Now… as disgusted as I was, there is NO WAY in God’s green earth that I’m going to pick it up and dispose of it. No amount of paper towels is NOT going to let me feel it.

So I go into the bedroom and gently wake Chief up:

ME: Hon?………. Hon?……… Hey Babe?…………… Chief?…………… Hey Sweetheart?………….. Cheeeeeeeeeee-eeeeeeeeeeeeeeffffff?? ……… Honey? …… Hey, hon?????…… OMG WOULD YOU JUST WAKE THE FUCK UP??????

CHIEF: huh? wha? huh?

ME: Hey.. I’m sorry to wake you up but can you do me a favor?

CHIEF: huh?

ME: Yea. .um.. there’s a dead mouse on the couch. Could you get rid of it for me?

CHIEF: what?

ME: There. Is. A. Dead. Mouse. ON. Our. Couch. Can. YOU. Get. Rid. Of. It?

CHIEF: ok. ok. I’ll get it.

ME: omg, thank you! I’m so sorry to wake you up.

CHIEF: ’so kay

So I move away from the bed and then he starts to get up and then he rolls over and goes right back to sleep.

Are you FUCKING kidding me?

I go out into the dining room getting really, really PISSED OFF that he didn’t just jump out of bed and get rid of the mouse RIGHT THE HELL AWAY like I would have it he woke me up to pick up a dead mouse of the couch.

NOTE: And before y’all poo-poo that, let me tell you that he HAS woken me up in the middle of the night to kill a spider. So his spider is my mouse, okay?

So half my brain is really pissed and the other half of my brain is trying to figure out a way to be brave enough to do it my self and the other half of my brain is saying “… just go wake up Spaz. He’ll do it.”

Wait…

Half.. Half.. Half… Oh! Sorry. Not “half” of my brain… I meant the VOICES in my brain!! LOL

I was just about to get Spaz when Chief stirred and Mummy-walked out into the living room.. all wearing nothing but jersey knit shorts.

So he asks me where it’s at and I point to it and he tells me to get some toilet paper. Which was so unbelievable handy that when I handed it to him, he looked at me like I had some kind of HERO type powers of light and speed.

He turns on the living room light and goes over to the couch and says:

CHIEF: That’s not a mouse

ME: Of course it is

CHIEF: No. It isn’t.

ME: Then what the hell is it?

CHIEF: It’s dog shit.

ME: THERE’S DOG SHIT ON MY FUCKING COUCH?????????

CHIEF: Yep. Dog shit.

There are things worse then a dead mouse on my couch.. and dog shit would be one of them.

I start ranting and raving about where he could have POSSIBLY gotten dog shit because I had cleaned and scrubbed the basement and front porch earlier.. they can’t get upstairs anymore and there was nothing laying around anywhere else.

CHIEF: You may not want to hear this….

ME: It gets worse?

CHIEF: Um. yeah. Well.. the GOOD news is that you won’t have to worry about staining or smelling..

ME: …. and this would be beeeccccaaaauuuussseeeee?????

CHIEF: It’s.. um… stale?

ME: STALE?

CHIEF: Yea.. as in old.

ME: As in….?????

CHIEF: As in Ernie is a hoarder. He hoards poop. Obviously he has a stash of it somewhere in case he wants a midnight snack or something because this right here? Yea.. not fresh at all.

ME: OMG.. my dog hoards poop.

CHIEF: Call “INTERVENTION”. He needs rehab and we can’t afford it. The show will pay for it!

ME: Asshole

The babies are two days old and we don’t know what to call them. In the NICU they like to put a poster up in each baby’s incubator that reads, “Hi my name…” so that all the different doctors and nurses who work there can relate to the babies as people. Our babies are still “triplet 1″ and “triplet 2″.

I draw up a shortlist.

“I still like Walter and Albert,” says Rich. “No way, I say. “I am not having children called Wally and Bert.” “Why not?” says Rich looking genuinely disappointed. “It’s too comedy. We might as well just call them Stan and Ollie, Eric and Ernie.” “That’s a good idea.”

“No. I like Lorcan and Aidan for the boys. Or Thady.” “I’m not having all my children with Paddy names,” says Rich hotly. “Oi.” “I’m not being funny, but I’m not Irish.  Saoirse was bad enough.”

“OK. Well what then? Is the girl going to be Maeve?” “I don’t know she doesn’t look like a Maeve.” “I know. She’s more of an Orla.” “Yes Orla suits her.” “Lets call her that then,” I say, excited to have agreed on at least one of them. Naming a child is hard. So much of who you are and how you are perceived in the world depends on your moniker. Orla means golden in Gaelic, and since the slight jaundice is giving her a sort of all-over St Tropez tan, it seems to fit.

“Well my next favourite boy’s name is Frank,” says Rich. “As in Francis?”. “Yes.” “OK, one of them can be Francis, known as Frank. That’s nice. That will be triplet 2.”  ”And since you chose Saoirse and Orla, I should choose the boys. I like Reuben.” “No, sometimes as much as I have Jew envy, we are Catholic and Reuben is just too old Testament.” “All right, what then?” Rich hates this naming game. He has refused to to talk about it until now, but we must make a decision soon.

“I still like Thady,” I say. It’s the abbreviated form of the name Thaddeus, pronounced with a hard t as in Thomas.” I first heard it in Ireland years ago, but I don’t tell Rich that. I’m going to sneak another paddy name under the wire.  ”Thady… Thady,” says Rich trying it out. “Thady Bear… won’t he just get called Thady Bear?” “What’s wrong with that ? I like it.”

“OK. Thady, Frank and Orla”, says Rich finally.

Those Damn Little People – BYD & Friends 1989

Bill and Kat did this bit on the nobility of starving to death and filicide. Yes, upbeat, fun stuff! At least in their deft comedy hands.

But I digress, Here’s what fellow thespian and troubadour, Mark Haskins noted as his favorites when reviewing this fine video after 20 years…

“1) Bill covering the ears of the statue when he thinks there’s blasphemy about.

2) Bill’s delivery of the line “It’s all I’ve got, you know.” I don’t know why it always makes me laugh, but it does.

3) Kathy McKitty. She’s a friggin’ genius, and I wish we’d started working with her at some point before we were about to graduate.

I also love the bumper at the end of the sketch. What are Ernie and Bert saying to Bill in the hallways of Newhouse II? We are denied an answer, but I bet it was filthy…”

It was, Mark. It certainly was.

Enjoy.

Image by COG LOG LAB. via Flickr

You probably know that this week marks the 40th anniversary of Sesame Street including the Muppet characters created by Jim Henson, such as Animal, Cookie Monster, Kermit, Ernie or Bert.

What you maybe didn’t know (unless you have read Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point) is that some of the Muppets were originally created for television ads for products like coffee , meat or bread.

From YouTube, here are three of the best: Munchos, Wilkins Coffee and La Choy Chow Mein!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA
*dies

Sesame Street is Awesome.

Cookie Monster in particular. And Oscar. And Kermit. Though I think Kermit’s originally from the muppets? *shrugs.

Hate big bird and the hairy elephant though. Snuffleupigus or smth like that?

HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY SESAME STREET!

Posted by Audiegrl

Four first ladies have been on the children’s program over the years: Mrs. Obama, Laura Bush, Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barbara Bush. But Michelle Obama, born on Jan. 17, 1964, is the only who was growing up as “Sesame Street” turned America on to Big Bird, Cookie Monster and the rest of the gang.

Daily Politics/Lynn Sweet—Today in a pre-recorded segment, Mrs. Obama joins Elmo and Big Bird to mark the 40th anniversary of “Sesame Street.”

The first episode of the new season on Tuesday hits exactly on the anniversary of the show’s premiere in 1969. You may know, as avid followers of the first lady, that this is Mrs. Obama’s second “Sesame Street” appearance; she was quite excited in May about meeting Elmo at the show’s studios in Astoria, Queens, to tape a public service announcement.

“I never thought I’d be on ‘Sesame Street’ with Elmo and Big Bird and I was thrilled. I’m still thrilled. I’m on a high. I think it’s probably the best thing I’ve done at the White House,” she said then.

She also taped her segment for the anniversary show during the same visit. In that skit, Mrs. Obama is back at plugging gardening and health eating with three children — an African American boy and two girls — one Asian American, the other white. Together they plant tomato, cucumber, carrot and lettuce seeds in a makeshift garden box, with Mrs. Obama kibitzing with the kids, Elmo and Big Bird.


More @

Three of Fred and Alta’s boys served in our military forces.

Major hostilities of World War I were formally ended at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918 with the German signing of the Armstice. In America, Veteran’s Day, as a national holiday, began in November 1919 when President Wilson proclaimed November 11 as the first commemoration of Armistice Day with the following words: “To us in America, the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country’s service and with gratitude for the victory, both because of the thing from which it has freed us and because of the opportunity it has given America to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of the nations….”

I would expand to say that it is a day of gratitude for all who have served our country in the preservation of freedom. And in particular in memory of my family…I always knew that my dad was in the Navy, my uncle Bill (Fishley) was in the Submarines, my uncle Ernie was in the Marines (the three of them in WWII)…and my uncle Virgil in the Navy (Korean War).

USS Chandeleur

My dad, Louis, joined the Navy in June 1941, a month after high school graduation. He trained in San Diego and then arrived in Hawaii 7 days after Pearl Harbor was bombed on December 7, 1941. He spent 2 years at Pearl Harbor and Kaneohe Bay. From May 1944 to Oct 1945 he served on the USS Chandeleur (AVA 10), a seaplane tender. The ship ran sea plane rescue and patrol on many of the battles in the Pacific. The USS Chandeleur was in the fleet that was sent to the northern end of Japan at the signing of the Peace treaty.

Uncle Ernie enlisted in the Marines in November 1944. He was injured in March 1945 when the tank he was in drove over some land mines during the Battle of Iwo Jima. The mines blew the tank up and both his legs and feet were filled with scrapnel. He was bothered with these injuries for the rest of his life. He received a medical honorable discharge in December 1945.

USS Whiteside

Uncle Virgil joined the Navy shortly after high school graduation in 1951. He served during the Korean War on the USS Whiteside (AKA-90). We spoke recently about his being in Korea and Japan. I reminded him that was I a little girl when he brought raw silk home to me, my sister Betty, and our mother Marty.

USS Sculpin

And I must mention my mother’s brother, Bill. He served in the Navy submarine division. He was on the USS Sculpin (SS-191) prior to an attack on a Japanese convoy in the Central Pacific. Cousin Cliff, Bill’s son, had the following to say, ” He was transferred off the Sculping just before it went on the its final patrol.”

USS Plaice

The USS Sculpin was fatally damaged and was submerged. He then served on the USS Plaice (SS-390).

Uncle Bill in the Pacific

Uncle Bill told me the story of how he met my dad, his future brother-in-law when they were both in the Pacific. Uncle Bill knew that Dad’s ship was close by and he made arrangements to be “boated” from his submarine to dad’s ship.

Aunt Rosalie tells me that her husband, Uncle Billy, was drafted and stationed at Camp MacArthur in San Pedro, CA for a short period. He became ill after he got there, was in the hospital for some three months and subsequently released on a Medical Discharge.

I knew I was proud of their service, but I am sure that I never fully appreciated what their service to their country meant to our freedom. Now, I am forever grateful to my family- uncles and cousins who served in WWII and Viet Nam – to “my Bill” who served in WWII,  and my school friends who served in Viet Nam….. and to all our veterans.

Thank you.

WJM "Bill" Boot Camp Leave

Digos Road The Phillipines

The great children’s learning channel is 40 years old!…..congratulations and keep going……

Note: Back in the day, when I was in Brooklyn College…Joan Ganz Cooney came to visit my Ed. class….

Here’s a list of Characters…….you know, like Ernie, Big Bird, Kermit, Elmo, The Cookie Monster, etc……

This brought me untold amounts of joy.

Ernie (&Ducky), I love you.

I’ve been thinking a lot about the concept of the Uncanny Valley, which (if you didn’t know) basically states that as anything (robot, stuffed animal, cartoon) appears more human, our natural response is to have a greater amount of empathy towards it, EXCEPT right before it looks completely human, it actually CREEPS US THE HELL OUT.  Here’s a graph to explain the concept:

The X axis represents the degree to which something appears human, and the Y axis represents empathy.  The dip where Lady Gaga, Zombies, and all of Tom Hanks’ characters in Polar Express exist, is the lonely place known as the Uncanny Valley.  It’s why we’d run from the  Terminator but act chummy with R2D2 and C3PO.

What I’ve been trying to wrap my brain around recently is that it’s possible that this formula can be used to explain various other cultural phenomena as well.  Perhaps it’s why immature retorts (“Your Mom”, “Your Face“, “That’s What She Said”) are increasingly funny up to a certain number of repeated uses, then become extremely annoying, then become funny again…

Another possible use of the formula can be applied to the relationship between one’s enjoyment of a film vs. it’s quality.   Specifically, as a film’s quality becomes progressively worse, one expects to enjoy it less and less UNTIL it becomes so bad that it’s laughably terrible (e.g., Night of the Lepus).  Of course, if you increase the terrible factor a little more you will lose even that sense of ironic enjoyment and return to hating the film. 

I’ve demonstrated this inverted Uncanny Valley (Uncanny Mountain?) formula using Nicolas Cage movies to simplify the argument:

In this example, the red line signifies enjoyment.  Notice how right before it reaches the supremely terrible degree of a film like Con-Air it reaches a place where the enjoyment factor spikes again.  This is where a movie like The Wicker Man resides.