It’s Time to Play ‘Sheen, Beck, or Qaddafi?’

It’s Time to Play ‘Sheen, Beck, or Qaddafi?’

This is harder than you think. In my opinion, Qaddafi (one of the myriad of spellings of his name) comes out better than expected and Sheen is just plain fucking nuts.

Royal Invitation

Look what HM got in the mail today. She is not sure if she is going, as she can't stand Camilla, would not be able to see anything and the date conflicts with her own 12th birthday celebrations. She is a good friend of the Bride, so she may end up in London for the weekend.

A Bit of Fun

I thought I would end the year with a bit of fun. This is a graphic video representing the world's airline traffic in a 24 hour period. Note the sun rising over Australia and Asia, sweeping over Europe then to the Americas.




HAPPY 2011 FROM PUGGINGHAM PALACE!

Happy 4th

This is more true than we wish to think:

Happy 4th of July

Electric

Testing how much you remember from your science classes:

Coffee Spill, BP Style

How BP execs deal with a coffee spill

Coupl'a Things XXXVI

1) RIP Yvonne Loriod, French pianist and wife of the late composer Oliver Messiaen who died Monday, May 17, at the age of 86, after years of poor health.

Loriod was born on 20 January 1924 near Paris. She had piano lessons from childhood, as did her sister Jeanne, four and a half years younger. Jeanne Loriod, who died in 2001, became a leading exponent of the electronic instrument the ondes martenot. Long regarded as a brilliant pianist, Yvonne giving monthly recitals as a young girl and by 14 she knew the whole of Bach’s “Well-Tempered Clavier” and all 32 Beethoven sonatas.

Yvonne was Messiaen's second wife. He had fallen in love with her when she was a teenage student of his at the Paris Conservatoire and she was his muse for five decades (they only married in 1961 after the death of Messiaen's first wife, in a sanatorium, after many years of mental illness). Loriod's playing was the inspiration for music from the gigantic cycle Vingt regards sur l'enfant-Jésus, for solo piano, to the piano parts of orchestral pieces in the Turangalila Symphony and Des canyons aux étoiles. She also specialized in modern French piano music, being a leading proponent and performer of the piano works of Pierre Boulez.

2) Happy Birthday to Overland Park, KS! On May17th, 1960 voters in the Mission Urban Township approved the motion to form a city, which was made official on May 20th. Just 50 years ago, this sprawling suburb was mostly farm and field. Now it is the second largest city in Kansas behind Wichita with over 175,000 people. When it officially incorporated as a city, it had less than 29,000. Despite the late blooming, it quickly overtook older suburbs such as Olathe, Prairie Village and Lenexa and passed by state capital Topeka and Kansas City, Kansas in population.

We would sometimes like to, but we could not live without you OPKS? Maybe we could with out many of your drivers who never seem to know how to signal or what "one way" means and some of your politicians as well. You are vital to the area and you know it. So enjoy your birthday. Are they serving cupcakes? (inside joke to KC area people.. we sometimes call OPKS and its county "Cupcake County")

Anyway...many more!

3) Move over Susan Boyle, 80 year old Janey Cutler is this year's sensation from Britain. What is with these spunky Scottish ladies and their singing? Must be the pubs and scotch.

Janey Cutler - Britain's Got Talent 2010 - Auditions Week 4 @ Yahoo! Video

Mardi Gras 2010

HAPPY

MARDI GRAS 2010

LAISSEZ LES BONS TEMPS ROULER!!

Vive La France!

God Bless the French, they have few, if any, hang ups over sex. Can you imagine the nut case right wing Religo-Nazis in the US allowing this???

Not only that, it gets the point across.

Hallelujah II

Another Hallelujah!

Well, it IS Different

For the Sunday before Christmas, we offer this little snippet of a most widely performed work, the Hallelujah Chorus from "The Messiah" by Handel.



Kind of interesting in a Charles Ives way.

A Christmas Joke

My friend Jerry sent me this:

Three men died on Christmas Eve and were met by Saint Peter at the pearly gates.

'In honor of this holy season' Saint Peter said, 'You must each possess something that symbolizes Christmas to get into heaven.'

The first man fumbled through his pockets and pulled out a lighter. He flicked it on. 'It represents a candle', he said.

'You may pass through the pearly gates' Saint Peter said.

The second man reached into his pocket and pulled out a set of keys. He shook them and said, 'They're bells.'

Saint Peter said 'You may pass through the pearly gates'.

The third man started searching desperately through his pockets and finally pulled out a pair of women's panties.

St. Peter looked at the man with a raised eyebrow and asked, 'And just what do those symbolize?'

The man replied, 'These are Carols.'

Olé!

In my post of yesterday, I used the expression "olé" a couple of times. That reminded me of a funny story I heard from a friend several years ago. The story was told to me second hand, and thus I am not able to confirm its veracity 100%. But knowing both men involved, I can assume it has a modicum of truth.

The fellow involved in the story is a United Methodist clergy. As is custom with the Methodist Church, a pastor is moved from church to church in an appointment process. Usually, younger, less experienced pastors are placed in smaller churches, often in smaller towns. Thus this city reared boy found himself pastoring a church in a small town in south central Missouri.

The town boasted a spanking new and shiny Mc Donald's by the interstate exit. It was his routine to go there (about the only place in town that was clean enough to frequent, he moaned) for a morning coffee which he would take to his office. Upon approaching the counter, he was enthusiastically greeted by a "dull eyed, but eager" young lady; the type that feels a job at Mickey D's is the pinnacle of success. Our hero ordered his coffee, but in a moment of feeling superior and a bit devilish, he asked for a "café au lait". The young lady dutifully went to the coffee machine and poured the exact amount into the waiting cup, as she had likely done hundreds of times.

Slapping a lid on it, she turned and handed him the cup. Flashing a big smile and proudly holding the perfectly poured cup of coffee she exclaimed....

"Olé"!

Comedy at its Best

Last Saturday, the Kinsey Sicks, a self styled "Dragapella Beautyshop" quartet of drag performers, performed their show "Wake the Fuck up America" at my church, which is a story in and of itself.

Their performance did make me laugh and more often made me wince and shake my head. Let us just say the word "fuck" flowed freely and they had no shame.

Which contrasts to this gem



Now this is pure comedy. Sid Caesar and Nanette Fabray from the 1950's, probably from Caesar's own show. Pure improv, no teleprompters and 100% live. In this thankfully preserved clip, Caesar and Fabray mime a married couple arguing to the first movement of Beethoven's famous 5th symphony.

This sketch is absolutely a masterpiece of subtle humor and flawless acting; the timing and action are impeccable. I have watched this a hundred times and still find it fresh and hilarious.

Probably can't say the same about the Kinsey Sicks.

Hump Day Funnies

I was walking down the road today and saw my Afghan neighbor, Abdul, standing on his fifth floor apartment balcony shaking a carpet. I shouted up to him, "What's up Abdul, won't it start?"

Hey Kids!!

You can have your VERY OWN counterfeit, bogus and oh so obviously fake Kenyan Birth Certificate!!

Kenyan Birth Certificate

I got mine...




It is free, it is easy and it is Birther Approved!

Police Chase!

What a hoot. True story, this 7 year old stole his dad's car and led police on a chase (pretty good driver too) all to avoid going to church.

I think these parents have their hands full!

ʇxǝʇɐdıןɟ

ɯoɔ˙ʇxǝʇɐdıןɟ˙ʍʍʍ

uʍop ǝpısdn ɹo 'pooƃ ǝɹɐ noʎ sıɥʇ pɐǝɹ uɐɔ noʎ ɟı puɐ

˙ʞɔɐןq ƃuıɹɐǝʍ ǝɹoɯ ou 'suɯʎɥ puɐ sɯǝɥʇuɐ ʎǝʞ ɹouıɯ ǝɹoɯ ou 'sɹǝʍoןɟ ɟo sʇoן 'ɔısnɯ ɟo sʇoן 'ɥɔɹnɥɔ ʇɐǝɹƃ 'unɟ sɐʍ ɹǝʇsɐǝ

˙ɹǝuǝǝɹƃ ƃuıuɹnʇ sı pןɹoʍ ǝɥʇ ˙ssɐɹƃ puɐ sʇuɐןd ƃuıʍoɹƃ ɟo sʇoן ʇnq 'spnoןɔ ɟo sʇoן 'uıɐɹ ɟo sʇoן ˙ǝɹǝɥ punoɹɐ ʎɐp sʍǝu ʍoןs ɐ uǝǝq sɐɥ ʇı

Lost At Sea

Two Irishmen, Patrick & Michael, were adrift in a lifeboat following adramatic escape from a burning freighter. While rummaging through the boat's provisions,Patrick stumbled across an old lamp. Secretly hoping that a genie would appear, he rubbed the lamp vigorously. To the amazement of Patrick, a genie came forth.

This particular genie, however, stated that he could only deliver one wish,not the standard three. Without giving much thought to the matter,Patrick blurted out:

"Make the entire ocean into Guinness Beer!"

The genie clapped his hands with a deafening crash, and immediately the entire sea turned into the finest brew ever sampled by mortals. Simultaneously, the genie vanished.

Only the gentle lapping of Guinness on the hull
broke the stillness as the two men considered their circumstances. Michael looked disgustedly at Patrick whose wish had been granted.

After a long, tension-filled moment, he spoke:

"Nice going Patrick!
Now we're going to have to pee in the boat!

The Fall

In case you have not figured out, this is a series of Irish jokes for St Patrick's Day. Of Irish decent myself (mother's family were named Cloney) I have license to do so:

Murphy was staggering home with a pint of booze
in his back pocket when he slipped and fell heavily.
Struggling to his feet, he felt something wet running down his leg.

"Please Lord," he implored,
"let it be blood!!"