Part one:

Part two:

(Props to my brother, FunkyBlue, for the links.)

“Niles Crane” came out of the closet

I was moderately surprised when Doogie Houser came out just because my gaydar never went off, but this one I went “oh, well of course he is.” Not that I knew or anything, but come on, it was kinda obvious.

Have had a headache for the past couple days, feeling kinda rundown today, I think it’s the impending storm that’s headed here.

I realized I had posted links to the pics of the time we spent in Cheyenne, but not thoughts about it.

We ended up having quite a educational tour of the reservation/town. We did the extremely excellent Musuem of the Cherokee Indian and the very nice Oconaluftee Indian Village and both were really great to learn more about the people and their plight. White guilt ruled in the end so we went and promptly donated $200 to the tribe via the worst casino we’ve ever been to. (Almost NO table games!? WTF?)

But after going to those, the powwow was perhaps the most enlightening. We learned Powwows (which are just a dance contest with multiple categories and age groups) always start with a flag dance with the US, Tribal and POW flag. They are very very patriotic, and I was rather surprised by that. I kinda understand the POW flag, honoring fallen warriors and all that, but to us what seemed the strangest after all they’d been through they still proudly wave the flag of their oppressor who managed to steal everything they had, regarded them as little more than vermin, and killed about half thier population on a forced march… well it’s just not something I’d think of doing. I know it’s their country too, even more so than ours, but it was just thought provoking I guess.

Went to North Carolina on vacation. While we were breezing through Cherokee, NC, they just happened to be having a Powwow at the reservation (the whole town is the reservation). Wish we’d known before we left, I’d have bought that ipod card reader I’ve had my eye on. I only got 130 something shots, I could have easily trippled that.

Above is one of my favorites, but I took a BUNCH of nice ones.

You can see all my pow wow pics here or the whole vacation set with everything here.

I have to say, my 5 year old, 4.2 MP Minolta digital did amazingly well! I just set it to the action sequence mode and held down the trigger and shot in 3-5 frame bursts. I’m really happy with a number of them. I still would have killed for a digi SLR with a serious macro, but I think I did well for what I had.

Traveling across all these mountains is treacherous. On the way to Franklin two days ago, after breakfast – on some back roads that had tight curves (the ones like you only see in car commercials in my area of the country), roads that have no guardrails on 3,000 foot plunges off the sides of cliffs and switchbacks from hell – I got the most sick to my stomach I have ever gotten in my life.

I literally spent 2+ hours in various stages of discomfort/misery/hell with my eyes screwed shut about to hurl at any moment. When I did open my eyes and see the terrain whiz bby and the vistas below. It was like I was seeing though the eyes of some dude on a psychotropic mushroom trip. Severe vertigo. Swirling, rushing, fish eye lens crap that cinematographers get paid too much for. If I closed them it didn’t really improve as I has light coming through the trees hitting my face from so many angles a minute with the road curves that it was nearly as dizzying as having them open with the vertigo.

Did I mention there is almost no place to pull over on these 2 lane mountain roads? Never in all my life have I gotten that queasy from a car trip. I think part of it was altitude, as I’m really sesitive to it when we fly as well, but there were parts I was wishing I’d pass out. I really can’t express how messed up I was. OMFG. The day before we’d done some equally terrifying terrain and I was fine.

Mr Man, god bless him, stopped at Bridal Veil Falls rigt along the edge of the road thinking I would want a break and like to see it, but I didn’t have the legs to get out of the car on the edge of the mountain side quite yet. If I would have gotten out it would have taken him an hour minimum to get me back in so I just said “no, get me to the hotel” and bore through it as appropriate to my german ancestry. So no pictures, I’m a bad flickrati.

It took a two hour nap to get over it completely once I managed to crawl into the hotel bed. The next day, I was fine, something about breakfast that morning didn’t like that whole stunt driver thing… and looks like the way out of here to go home is more of the same, so Dramamine is the order of the day for Saturday. Just to be safe.

I shot some video of the roads on the way to Franklin, until I stopped it when I started to be overcome by nausea. I’ll be posting it to youtube in a sickening fast fareward version for you all to share my pain when I get back.

Honest! Just on vacation, be back Sunday early. We’re out and about in western North Carolina, doing extremely tacky tourists things. But it’s been fun despite the beds being awful (our bed is the pussy deluxe comfort plus plush pillowtop kind so we’re bed wussies.)

We’re in Cherokee, NC till Saturday afternoon. We didn’t know it when we booked it but this weekened is the Memoral day Powow, and since this it a Cherokee reservation its supposed to be awesome. So we’ll check out Sat and then head to the fairgrounds at 10 when it opens and and hang out till 3 or 4pm and start heading home.

One surprising gem we found in Franklin NC, a dry town, known for it’s tourist gem minining, wasn’t a ruby or a sapphire, but a french bistro tucked into the same building as a gas station. We had to park out back since there was a fuel truck blocking the spots in front, we walked through the door to this upscale french country resturaunt with 20 tables. They had a bunch of gourmet sandwiches, but the entree pages were filled with more french fusion fare.

I had braised pork loin in puff pastry with carmelized apples in a swedish ligonberry reduction. Mr Man had crab bisque and a plate of soft shelled crab over rice and other fancy stuff. Just amazing. We were in shock. How does a place like this end up tucked in the same building as a gas station convenience store? Mr Man who didn’t eant to go thinking it was only a sandwich shop, kept asking that during dinner.

We got to find out. We were finishing and a guy in those funky chef clogs comes out with a drink and a smoke. I ask him if he is the chef, and he was. I promptly asked him if he was hiding from the mob or something to end up in the middle of tourist dirt country with this fancy place in a gas station. He laughed and said he for twenty something years has been a corporate chef and twelve of that working in the area in the high priced country clubs and resorts in the area then decided he wanted his own place. Three years he’s been in the gas station and he said when tourist season is in full swing he’s usually packed. Of that I’m glad.

So if you go to Franklin, NC, go to Caffe REL, in the Hotspot gas station. You will NOT regret it! They have an page in the Phonebook’s menu section if you forget the name.

Check the flickr account for pictures, look in the upper right side of the page. I’ll post them as I can!

Be back in a few days!

Regular readers ignore, I’m SCA troll sniffing…

Remember I said that they were making a series of the Gieco cavemen?

ABC TUESDAY 8/7c
Over the last hundred thousand years, mankind has evolved from primitive creatures to sophisticated beings, except for a small minority who unfortunately didn’t evolve physically at all. Now three sophisticated cavemen (who already have a fan base from their popular GEICO commercials) are living in modern-day Atlanta, where they are at odds with contemporary society as they struggle to overcome their physical appearance and the accompanying stereotypes.

Oh yes, there’s a video clip.

Somehow I doubt even the right wing creationists will bother to protest this show as I predict it’s destined shelf life is 3 episodes before ABC cancels it in shame.

I mean it’s not easy to find such abhorrently bad TV anymore, and that’s saying something with all the reality TV lighting up the screens. So hell yeah I’ll watch at least the first ep – it will have a historic level of suck that I must witness.

(Note to self: I should name all my posts about friends with titles like “Friends”.)

So, Saturday I went to my pal Bev’s house and helped her cull the monster wardrobe. She moving into another friends place temporarily and as a result she has too much stuff. But then she has too much stuff for most houses.

Her culling the wardrobe is a good thing. All her working wear was being donated to a charity that gives working clothes to underprivileged women who are referred from various other community help and outreach organizations.

I was asked to be the sole judge and jury for her closet, aka “fashion show”. She’s a bit of a clothes horse, and her mother keeps giving her tons more and teamed with a pat rack instinct it made for a dubiously large amount to go through.

It went something like this:

Me: No, it doesn’t fit across the hips (bust, arms).
Her: But I can tuck it in!
Me: No. You want clothes that fit. And you don’t tuck in shirts like that anyway.
Her: But-!”
Me: No! To the ladies!

(We started calling the pile to go to the working charity “the ladies”

Me: Oh god no!
Her: That bad?
Me: Take it off before I burn you in it.

Me. No, we talked about this, you only get to keep two black blazers. One fitted straight line and the double breasted. Those both fit you awesome. You don’t need more than that.
Her: But I like this one!
Me: It doesn’t fit as good as the keepers on the rack over there. No.
Her: But-”
Me: To the ladies!

Me: (Give it to) Goodwill.
Her: But it’s pretty! I want to look like a girl!
Me: Okay, okay. I know I dress like a giant lesbian, but I’m telling you that is too tight across the boobs. And No. You get no veto on this one.
Her: (sighs) Okay.

All in all the stack to go to the charity was over 4 foot high, and there was a VERY large garbage bag of clothes for Goodwill. And that was just her closet, we never even got to her dresser. I even managed to make her a couple very girly office outfits (Hot pink! Flowers! Skirt!) out of stuff she didn’t know she had, or wasn’t going to keep at all. So that’s cool.

During the whole thing off and on I was imitating Kelly from “The Office” by clapping and chanting “Fashion show! Fashion show! Fashion show at lunch!”. She doesn’t watch the show so it was lost on her.

But it was therapeutic I think for her to get rid of so much stuff that she really didn’t need and help so many in the process. And really help someone who really needs it to make a new life, not just give it to Goodwill to sell. I encourage everyone to grab your bluntest friend and do the same.

I dunno how someone makes the mental choice to get three of their friends to demonstrate their individual humping ’skillz’ atop an giant ottoman to some R&B music… then put it on youtube!

One commenter said it best. Three Puffs and a poof”.

I’d rate it NSFF (not safe for furniture), and not extremely comfortable to watch that poor ottoman get gang raped.

Dirt Mall encounter
I nominated it for best of…

Where have all the viewers gone? The TV industry is finally paying attention to DVRs and viewer fatigue. And they are scared.

As an avid TV whore here’s my advice to them (hey, they might get google alerts or something)…

No reruns.
Don’t stretch the same 20 eps out for 52 weeks (they are getting better about this). It’s boring as hell.

No Hiatus.
Run 20 eps, back to back week to week. No 3 month long gaps. (You LISTENING TO ME NBC/SCIFI????)

Increase online viewing
If someone has missed four eps they are less likely to try to hop on board, keep more than one or two eps online. Keep a whole season.

Kill the “fall season”.
When one shows ends a new one begins. Make repeats available online if anyone misses one. Make some shows run in spring, some in summer , some in fall, try out some new “different” series in the winter.

Stop the new/repeat cycle. Run new shows all year.
Anymore it’s hard to tell if you’ve seen the ep or not when four weeks are new, next three weeks are repeats, then two more new ones, etc… we don’t want gaps. We want our shows in a huge streak. We know you are trying to stretch 20 eps over say 40 weeks, but we hate the “new till the end of the season!” junk.

Think shorter. Take more from BCC than their shows
Some UK series (programmes) are two seasons (series) long. Some are ten episides. Not all fascinating stories need to drag to for years and years. Have a one year long series tell a really pumping story instead of dragging out answers over many years. The “syndication” excuse was the cry of old, but now DVDs are where it’s at. DVD sales on TV shows are making more than syndication so shorter series might mean more DVD sales. Shorter series let you plug more into the schedule in odd times of the year – like summer.

(A Why can’t you syndicate a short series anyway? Sell them in ‘packs’ with other shorter series to local stations for airing.)

DVRs are here to stay, like it or not. Find new/Old ways to advertise instead of the 30econd spot
Sponsorships like putting the brand name before or after the brand like they did in the 50’s. Hell, I’m all for product placement, mostly because I tend to notice faked up/taped over brands like a flashing light. Just do it naturally, no posed shots or actors licking their lips afterwards.

Anyone else have any suggestions?

Local Cincinnati restaurateur Jeff Ruby refused service to OJ Simpson on Derby weekend at his Lousiville joint.

Of course, OJ is suing for racial discrimination. Race had nothing to do with it, moron, unless being a murderer is a race.

I’ve been to one of Jeff Ruby’s places. One of Mr Man’s vendors gave him a HUGE gift card after a hig project at work, so we went and tried to blow it all. (Didn’t) I wasn’t terribly impressed with the food or service personally (or decor, the guy seems to have a thing for the gangsters and the 1930’s). But then it’s possible I’ve been spoiled by Vegas where I’ve had better everything. We’ve eaten at some world class steak houses in Vegas, we don’t go cheap on food in that city.

Anyway, we still have about $80 on that card, we might use it up soon in support.

They had me sign in when I got there, then I went out and started wandering with the camera. A few minutes later one of the IKEA guys I met during the accidental meeting approached me saying they wanted me to have a media kit. I was smooth but inside I was squealing ‘They WANT me to have a kit! I’m REALLY media!’

I tried to stay out of the way of the pros, hung out on one wall shooting pictures of the people there as much as the IKEA folks. I got some nice pics as a result but some I missed good shots for trying to stay out of the way. If I had a better camera I could have tried acting like I was a big shot, but my 3+ year old minolta (4mp! still good!) wasn’t lying to anyone.

Once in a while someone would see the shirt and place me as “that woman with the website” and I’d reward them with a magnet. I apologized to a few people I got in trouble (oops! But I told them it was for the site!) but largely just hung and wooted (softly) during the speech at the right spots.

I have some more over on OHIKEA… but it was a fun day! I couldn’t get the pictures online fast enough.

I didn’t sleep last night much either.

Today is the IKEA groundbreaking. I’m actually nervous. Last night I tossed and turned with visions of IKEA in my head.

I made up the gift bag (baskets don’t flat pack for travel, and it wasn’t an IKEA basket anyway). I’m going to look like a huge dork, but that’s okay, I am a huge dork. At least I won’t be misrepresenting myself.

Saw Spiderman III tonight. Thought it was a little long, litlte slow to get rolling, but otherwise really good. I think I liked 2 better, though this one definitely has it’s points that I really liked.

Driving home I commented to Mr Man that all the bad guys have some tie to Peter Parker. He’s some kind of viral villian carrier. Watch out for that Mary Jane, soon she’ll knocking over liquor stores with her super bitch powers. And Aunt May, she’s got potenial moonshiner all over her.

This Ain’t It Cool News review pretty much sums up exactly what I thought the series would be like when I heard about it… ouch. I like the commercials, but the idea of a series makes me shake my head.

Microsoft CEO Claims iPhone Will Be Bust so therefor the opposite must be true since everything he says about Apple is wrong because he’s a ignoramus.

Of course it won’t get significant market share! No cellphone has that! too many models, makers, etc. I rarely see more than two people with the same phone. The Razr cost the same when it first came out, and some others still are, so it’s not like it’s unheard of.

Announcing the birth of Urhines Kendall Icy Eight Special K – never has the arrival of a future dead rapper been so heralded from on high. It’s almost as if the clouds of heaven parted and the angels puked onto earth.

I guess the momma never read this site.