ricky gervais :: depending on what you believe, gervais either thumbed his nose at the entire assembled hollywood elite or pulled off the greatest publicity stunt in the history of entertainment. the man himself has pointed out that he wasn't exactly revealing any great secrets (robert downey jr. has had drug problems? seriously? i never knew.) and anyone who's seen gervais do stand up knows that he has a reputation for offending just about everyone, but the evening was still a welcome respite from a lifetime of awards shows that are to entertainment what ambien is to energy. it obliterated the fact that the awards themselves were utterly predictable. besides, anyone who has harvey weinstein hiring a posse of guys to take him out has to be doing something right.
(the following clip is probably not safe to play in front of your coworkers, your family, or even yourself if you're easily offended. you have been warned.)
new additions :: sure, everyone thinks i've lost my damn mind, but there are two new furry faces in my life.
one of the most fascinating things about having my own little pride of lions about is that my inner anthropologist gets to observe feline society in the making. there is a developing social hierarchy, as well as a nebulous network of allies based on who is getting along with whom. i'm also wondering whether or not i can use them for strength training, lifting each of them to give myself some weight resistance. i figure i can start with the siamese and work my way up to the maine coon. cuddling as exercise. leigh-ann white :: aka, my deep tissue massage therapist. i know what you're thinking- massage is a luxury, not really therapy. i'm guessing that if you are thinking that, you've never had back problems. i've had them for many years and no one has ever been able to do anything useful for me until i met leigh-ann. the difference is that, with her, not only do you get a better sort of massage (filled with good hurt), but you also get someone who knows a lot about anatomy, how things get messed up, and how to undo the ravages of time and neglect. of course, at the moment, my back, neck and shoulders probably hurt more than when i first went to see her. the difference is that i don't feel like my breathing is restricted, i don't have numbness and weird tingling in my arms and i can feel things gradually starting to loosen. if you have back problems, get yourself a good massage therapist. if you live in montreal, get leigh-ann!
fluevogs :: ok, i always love fluevogs, but this week is special because the first set of designs for 2011 were unleashed upon the public.
and sure, i probably have enough shoes to last three lifetimes, but can i help it if he just keeps coming out with such awesome designs? best of all, this is one of those times where one has the choice of what's new and what's affordable, because a lot of outgoing models and colours are on sale. i already have a list of springtime choices picked out and it makes for very good motivation to get myself back in the workforce, pronto.the rebellion against post-literacy :: this isn't something new, but since i started following GRAMMARHULK on twitter, i have at least some hope that there are people out there who are trying to resuscitate the english language from the near-death state in which the last years have left it. yes, you can still send text message asking if your friend has arrived at the restaurant before you with whole words, not with : u r in restaurant? (come to think of it, that reads like it might be kind of disgusting.) current opinion holds that, with computers to check our spelling and online resources to provide synonyms, antonyms and translations, the need for individuals to be literate is passe. i hold with the always-wonderful "the oatmeal" that people who use words without knowing what they mean, or who can't spell simple words just look dumb.
so what's making you happy this week? or, if you've had a rough one, what would improve the things that are vexing you? personally, i'm waiting for blogger (hello? hello google overlords?) to come up with an iphone app that will allow me to use this space from wherever my adventures take me. then you'd never shut me up!
what i'll be watching this week :: egypt. sure, we all thought that the first revolution and coup of the internet age was going to happen in iran. remember, we all changed our twitter avatars green for a week or so? you don't remember? well it doesn't matter, because now the first revolution and coup of the internet age is absolutely, positively, without any possibility of doubt (ahem) going to happen in egypt. it's the same sort of story, but the work of internet interlopers wikileaks and the cloud of mystery that still surrounds mubarak's rise to power and the assassination of his predecessor anwar sadat make for a potentially explosive variant.