Mothers and daughters. They speak so fast but they speak so true.

I’m so mad at Lorelei right now I can’t even speak.

Scrubs: Best. Show. Ever.

As if I didn’t already love it enough for the Grey’s Anatomy comment, they pulled a Gilmore Girl reference in there. If there were any justice in the world this show would right now be the most popular show on Network television.

So the Mustard has returned. A week in Caribbean and I’m tan and wishing I was back there. Few notes:

Jamaica – Not all that impressed. Montego Bay had some good scenery but was no were near as nice as the other places.

Grand Cayman – Snorkeling with stingrays and moray eels over a coral reef. That was unbelievably cool. And that water. Talk about blue.

Cozumel, Mexico – Yeah, this was just one big party while sailing around on a catamaran. The snorkeling was somewhat disrupted by the sad fact that the last hurricane season decimated the reef there. I’m talking 90% of it was just gone.

Caught the Franz Ferdinand/ Death Cab for Cutie concert. Really bizarre pairing on paper that ended up just being an amazing concert. Franz Ferdinand was pretty much as you’d expect, just rocking the house down. Death Cab actually stuck to mostly older songs off the Transatlanticism album which was surprising though the opening song of Passenger Seat transitioning right into Different Name for Different Things was really cool. All in all if you can catch this concert, do it. Both these bands know how to put on a damn good show.

Almost caught up on everything from the week I was gone. Anyone else think that the sudden President-Logan-as-a-supervillian seems like a very bad twist? I mean it’s just so out of character for what he’s been the past 2 seasons. Now all of a sudden he’s gone from whiney little pissant to criminal mastermind. They better have a better explanation than what they’ve done so far.

Also just about caught up with Veronica Mars. Quite frankly it’s got the best storylines of any show this season that will be wrapped us this season (cause everyone knows Lost doesn’t really wrap up storylines). Also probably the most original death of a character that I’ve seen in a long time. Adios Thumper.

I actually caught the movie Slither in theaters a week back. No, it’s not a “good” movie but it’s a fun comedy/horror flick that I’d say definitely falls in to the same category as say Evil Dead II. And the cast is great. Michael Rooker. How far you’ve come since Cliffhanger.

News and Notes:

Eavesdropdc – in full swing and freaking hilarious.

Two weeks in a row with a Notre Dame reference on the Simpsons? Alright , what ND grad got on the writing staff and why haven’t they contacted me?

Wow, South Park absolutely tore Family Guy a new one last night. Plus adding Bart Simpson as Cartman’s co-conspirator was hilarious.

M-E-T-S Mets! Mets! Mets! 6-1 start! I’m so happy!

Rangers in the playoffs! Not sure how they managed that but I’ll take it.

Until next time:

“You know one of the reasons I divorced Perry was because of his last name.”

“ You don't like Cox?”

“Actually I love Cox.”

“Greatest conversation ever!”

“See, that's the problem.”

Good morning loyal subjects! Enjoy your day in Janitoria. Labor until you tire, and then labor some more!

Hi ho Mustard, away!

Can I just ask what the bloody hell is wrong with people in NYC where everyone was drinking Stella Artois on St. Patrick’s Day? I mean I don’t dislike the beer but I don’t think it’d make my top 10 beers and certainly not when there were a multitude of good Irish beers on tap. I mean come on, Stella?

But other than that bizarre aberration, New York was a good time. Had excellent seats to see “Wicked” which I thoroughly enjoyed and yes I’m determined to hunt down the book now. I feel bad for Erin who has read it haven’t to field all my questions of “did that happen in the book?”

Black 47… is there a better band to catch on March 17^th? Well probably but they were still darn fun.

So holy flurking schnit is my March Madness bracket totally shot to high hell. After last night I’m down to praying for UConn to run the table. Brilliant job of me to pick ‘Cuse to run to the finals. Momentum huh? Yep, I’m an idiot. But hey, all you Duke lovers got nothing anymore.

Shameless plug for www.emusic.com. If you want an iTunes for indie music, this is your poison. Great bands and it’s ¼ the price of iTunes. Plus you get 25 free songs for signing up. Yeah, the caveat is that you have to commit to at least $9.99 of music but that’s one album off iTunes and you get 4 times as much. It’s doesn’t have every artist. But if you’re a fan of any of the music on the O.C., Scrubs, Veronica Mars, Grey’s Anatomy I’d say you’ll find a good 75% of that music there. It’s nice to be able to greatly increase your music collection while still doing it legally.

If you haven’t seen V for Vendetta, go see it now. It’s the Batman Begins of this year. Dark, intelligent and fun. Natalie Portman gives her best performance, possibly ever (yeah, might actually be better than Garden State). And Hugo Weaving proves that Keanu really would have been completely useless in the Matrix movies if it wasn’t for him. Seriously, even with his face completely covered for the entire movie his acting is that good. And for all the political hullabaloo about this being an anti-Bush thing, it’s really not. It’s about a populace rebelling against a fascist state. Yes, there are definitely some jabs at the current administration but in actuality the source material was a commentary on Britain during the Thatcher regime. And I don’t recall hearing this much outcry when Good Night and Good Luck came out (and if you don’t think that had some commentary on the current US political situation you weren’t really paying much attention, were you?).

New and Notes:

www.eavesdropdc.com. It just keeps growing.

So after catching all up with Veronica Mars, I’ve forgotten to Tivo it 2 weeks in a row. D’oh!

Can I just tell you how glad I am that they moved Bones to Wednesdays at 8? Now I don’t have to flip the channels hoping something better than Freddie is on.

Prison Break and 24 back to back! Glaring… coincidence…overload! And it’s still the best 2 hours on TV. Until next year when Gilmore Girls and Veronica Mars go back to back. Come on CW! Do it!!!

I haven’t caught an episode of South Park since maybe it’s first season but holy crap, did I laugh my farging ass off at the death of Chef. Don’t blame Chef, blame that fruity little club that scrambled his brains.

Until next time:

“Aw things were going so good for me and Stewie, but now he hates me again. Brian what should I do to win him back?”

“That depends. Do you want my advice or are you just asking random questions again?”

“What's a hypotenuse?”

I AM A MAN!!!! A MAN DOESN'T WEAR A PURSE!!!!

Mustard… It’s madness I tell you! Madness!

So the time has come once again for all good boys and girls to stop working and start filling out their March Madness brackets. My Final Four could be one of the most bizarre ones around. First of Gonzaga. Cause for some reason I just really like the Zags so what the hell. Next up: BC. Why? Very simple. Cause every since my sister starting attending there I have had the distinct impression that reality has decided to bend itself around them for the sole purpose of pissing me off. Seriously, every ND/BC football game since then has just turned out in the exact opposite outcome of what I want and BC continues to win in basketball as the Irish enjoy the NIT tournament (hey, they beat Vandy by 10 last night. Go Irish.). So what the hell? Instead of fighting it, I’m going with it. Hell, they almost topped Duke for the ACC title. And my championship game? UConn vs. Syracuse. Cause I’m a dirty dirty Big East whore. Always have been even prior to ND. Syracuse is on a helluva role after that Big East tourney so I’m throwing my weight behind that momentum to run through Duke until they run into the Huskie wall and UConn takes home the title. Odds of that Final Four happening? Eh, why not?

You want a great new band to get behind? Try The Subways. Caught them here in DC a few weeks back and holy crap are they amazing live. They have a great alt-punk sound. I highly recommend picking up their Young for Eternity album. Rock & Roll Queen is phenomenal and the whole album will just get your blood pumping. But as good as the album is, they’re just that much better live.

Caught the first episode of HBO’s tons of polygamy fun, Big Love. Must say, I’m really liked the pilot. They took what would normally be a relentlessly stupid gimmick on a modern sitcom, played it completely straight and built a pretty darn captivating show that I can definitely see myself checking out (yay, for on HBO on demand. As if my Sunday TV schedule isn’t crowded enough.).

News and Notes:

Headed on up to NYC this weekend for St. Patrick’s Day (will actually be catching Black 47 that night. Awesome). Also have tix to Wicked which I’m looking forward to seeing. Will probably need to read the book right after watching it though. Stupid obsessive compulsiveness.

eavesdropdc.blogspot.com – it just keeps getting bigger

Holy Veronica Mars cameos, Batman! First Teddy Dunn (Duncan) is on Gray's Anatomy then Tina Majorino (Mac) is on Big Love. It’s like after Buffy and Angel went off the air and all those alums started showing up randomly.

Until next time:

“Clearly I'm pushing some buttons here.”

“You couldn't push my buttons if you tried, in fact I have no buttons- please think of me as buttonless. All smooth, like G.I. Joe's nether regions, and by the by, this image has been brought to you by my son Jack who has been yanking the pants off of his toy soldiers and leaving them in provocative positions on my nightstand. It is just disturbing enough that, leaving the house, I'm cranky and less able to suffer fools, which brings me back to you, the fool. I'm done suffering you so go now, go, go before you can write a book entitled 'Help A Large Doctor is Beating My Ass “colon” The Lester Hedrick Story'”

“That was a mouthful. Anyway, if you need to talk just give me a call.”

“He seems strangely impervious to my threats. That annoys me.”

I'm gonna double-kill you! Then I'll bury you in a shallow grave! Then I'll dig you up and kill you again! THAT'S the beauty of a shallow grave!

Hello Mustard, Come into my life…

Little bastardized Super Furry Animals for you there. Hope you enjoyed it.

Alright, so we are done with the Oscars and for those of you keeping score at home: Martin Scorsese, 0 Oscars. 3-6 Mafia: 1. I love Jon Stewart. Best Oscar host in years. That ad-lib alone should get him back next year. So what did I think of the awards? Unless you count Crash as the HUGE SURPRISING UPSET that about 50% of the population were predicting, they pretty much went by the book. Also did anyone else notice they got the entire frat pack up there to present with lone exception of Vince Vaughn? Ben Stiller is a very strange man.

So, the Oscars are over which means it’s time to look forward to the summer movie season and so I proudly present the return of:

Jeff’s Top 5 Most Anticipated Summer Movies:
(in order of release)

V for Vendetta – So how take make me really look forward to a movie: Take a great Alan Moore graphic novel. Add the in Matrix’s Wachowski brothers (doesn’t matter what you thought of the sequels, they looked damned great). Cast Natalie Portman and Hugo Weaving. Commence drooling.

X-men 3 – So yeah, instead of Bryan Singer, we ended up with Brett Ratner. Yep, that’s a rather large step down. And there has been some questionable pictures sent out (with Colossus looking like a Halloween costume and Vinnie Jones looking a little stupid in that muscle suit. The jury is still out on the look of Beast). So why go see it? Great casting (Kelsey Grammar is perfect for Beast and Vinnie Jones, despite looking like crap, is the perfect attitude for Juggarnaut). And it’s still got Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellan. As long as those two are still in an X-men movie, I’ll go see it. (PS, yes, for those of you in the know or who paid attention to the trailers, I get the irony of that comment).

Cars – Yeah, the first trailer didn’t do much for me but I think that’s really just Pixar building a slow buzz. I think the final one will be much better and if nothing else, it’s Pixar. They haven’t missed yet and until they do, I’ll go to anything they put out.

Superman Returns – Bryan Singer doing Superman? Yep, I’m there. So Brandon Routh isn’t Christopher Reeves. No one will ever top Christopher Reeves. I’ve come to grips with that. But come on, it’s Bryan Singer doing Superman. That’s gonna be great.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest – Because the first movie was the biggest surprise I’ve had at a movie in a very long time. I mean I went into it with low expectations but damn, was I blown away. Now my expectations for this are a helluva lot higher but Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow is always entertaining and I love the look of the film. By the way, great job for spoiling the ending of the movie Wikipedia. Then again, I guess it’s tough to give the synopsis of the 3^rd one without spoiling this one.

Honorable mentions:

Mission Impossible III: Why? Cause it’s JJ Abrams and Philip Seymour Hoffman. I don’t care of Tom Cruise dies 2 minutes into the movie. In fact, that may help a little.

A Scanner Darkly: Why? Richard Linkletter doing an “animated movie” (which if you’ve seen Waking Life, you know what that entails) based on a Philip K Dick movie equals quality sci-fi entertainment.

Da Vinci Code: Why? Cause the cast astounds me even if Tom Hanks is horribly cast and needs to cut that hair. It doesn’t make him look younger, just really really creepy.

News and Notes:

Oh my God! You killed Edgar! You bastards! So I’m a little pissed at 24. Of all the people to kill off, Edgar? Not to mention oh look, Tony is back on his feet a whole 7 hours after being BLOWN UP! So why do I keep watching this show? Simple: They brought in Peter Effing-“Robocop” Weller!!! That right there is enough to make me watch it this year AND next. In fact I think next year should be all about him. I mean come on, Peter Weller or Kiefer Sutherland? Is it even a question?

A new book is coming out alleging Barry Bonds took performance enhancing drugs. Ya think?

http://eavesdropdc.blogspot.com – it’s gonna be huge.

Until next time:

“JD, I really don't wanna do this. Can't we just go home, and put on our PJs and watch "Grey's Anatomy"?”

“Oh, I do love that show. It's like they've been watching our lives and just put it on TV.”

When a woman gives birth to a crack baby you don't buy her a puppy!

Mustard: You’ve had it coming.

Ok, so another week another delightful entry. It warms my heart.

The Strip is done. Holy closure, Batman! Yes, almost exactly a year and a half after first doing a goofy panel in MSpaint one boring night, I’ve completed my opus #1. Ok, maybe it’s opus #2 if you count the earlier 5-man sprite comic I attempted way way back when which only lasted like 6 panels. But I don’t know what to feel. Yeah, a little sad that it’s done. On the other hand the prospect of not having to devote such a large amount of free time to it anymore is a definite plus. But either way, I’m happy how it turned out. Thanks to all my regular readers who encouraged me to keep it up as I won’t lie, I never really planned on keeping it up through 6 full episodes.

So what’s next for me? Well, I don’t really know. I’ll probably go back through and clean up a few things such as misspellings at some point. Also the idea of doing a commentary kind of intrigues me and wouldn’t take nearly as much time. Plus I might throw up a section for some of the “special panels” I did for things such a holidays and birthdays not to mention there’s the possibility of putting up the aforementioned “lost 5-man” strip. And no, I’m not going to resume that comic. It’s dead. I was nice while it lasted but I’m not starting it up again.

As for the possibility of a new comic? Who knows. I’ll admit that, while it did take up a huge amount of time, it was pretty fun making this one. And yes, I’ve had ideas for follow-ups. But nothing is happening with that anytime soon. I just want to relax. And as many people have pointed to me that I could probably have done something commercial with the comic had I not used sprites. Course the problem is that I have no artistic ability of my own, so it would be difficult for me to use anything but sprites. So who knows? For now I’ll sit back and enjoy the fact that I did manage to take a project like this and follow through with it all the way to the end. Thanks for reading.

So Oscars are coming up this Sunday. Should be an interesting night if for no other reason than Jon Stewart is hosting. Man, and they thought Chris Rock was irreverent? Anyways, I think I’ve failed on the mission to see all Best Picture Nominees. Just started too late this year and didn’t see any before the noms went out. But I did see both Capote and Good Night and Good Luck. I really liked Capote but I thought the performances (which were outstanding and Philip Seymour Hoffman should easily get the award) were better than the movie itself. Good Night and Good Luck I also really enjoyed with tight performances though a pointless subplot involving Robert Downey Jr and Patricia Clarkson’s hidden marriage kind of took you out of the main story. So we’ll see how this night goes off. But both those movies really aren’t in the running as all pre-Oscar buzz has essentially narrowed it down to Brokeback Mountain and Crash. So we shall see.

Oh and if you haven’t seen the Brokeback to the Future spoof, you’re missing out.

News and Notes:

Do you like to laugh at the stupid/silly/crazy things people say? Do you sometimes find yourself heading to Crowley’s blog to just cheer yourself up with a good laugh? Well then head on over to eavesdropdc.blogspot.org for some fun times at the expense of the residents of DC. Goods times or your money back guaranteed (disclaimer: moneyback guaranteed not valid).

Entourage coming back in June. Wait a minute, that’s 3 months away! Damn you HBO!

How bout them US and Canadian hockey teams? Oh, wait…

Until next time:

“Or, Mel Brooks is on and he is so funny, and you think, 'What a wonderful world we live in that there's a Mel Brooks to go to sleep to.”

”Mel Brooks is never on Charlie Rose, and when he is on he's talking about Nazis and then you go to sleep and you dream about Nazis and they all look like Nathan Lane and you're creeped out for days.”

Tomorrow night, Pinky, we will come up with a new plan. One that isn't foiled by the atomic weight of gold.

Holy schnike it’s a double dip of the Mustard!

Yes, folks I decided after not updating at all last week and possibly upsetting you by only posting a music review piece and insulting Madonna, that I’d toss in a few random thoughts your way.

First off if Arrested Development is finally over (it’s gone from Fox and probably 50/50 on whether it goes somewhere else), then by God it went out in such a glorious fashion it puts most other series finales to utter shame (yes, I speak of you Friends! And you Seinfeld!). The finale was just an ode to everything that is genius about the show without having to resort to a dumbass clipshow (I speak of you yet again Seinfeld!). Hell I’d rank it right up there as one of my top series finales, better than both Buffy (cause that series just ended with everything resolving in the last 5 minutes of the episode) and Angel (cause that wasn’t originally written as a finale. Damn you WB!). There are not many shows I’d say this but if it doesn’t come back I will be more than content with having those 3 seasons on DVD.

Scrubs has officially moved up to the top spot of my must watch list. Yeah, I kinda wish they had aired it starting the beginning of the year but hey, I haven’t minded a full hour every week. Any show that can make my wife start crying cause she’s laughing so hard by using Bel Biv Devoe’s Poison by automatically earns favorite show status. Donald Faison has just reached all new heights of comedic brilliance. Also very excellent for Scrubs’ fans is that, since his new show just got axed, Tom Cavanaugh is coming back this season as JD’s brother.

Never has a show disappointed me by blowing an enticing idea like Grey’s Anatomy did with the 2^nd part of its Super Bowl episode. I mean what the hell happened? Did the first writer suffer some horrifying injury causing them to be replaced with the writing staff of the O.C.? It was just so gimmicky and clichéd I was just expecting Oliver to walk in, miraculously disarm the bomb and start competing with McDreamy for Meredith’s affections.

Am I the only one who doesn’t like Chloe on 24? The character is supposed to be comic relief (I guess) but I feel like she’s only there to act annoyed in a way eerily reminiscent of Napolean Dynamite. “Just do what I tell you Edgar! Gosh!”

Veronica Mars has actually managed to surpass last year which is no small feat considering they had to slash their budget and cut way back on a lot of their actor’s screentime. But damn if they don’t currently have the best regular guest list on TV right now.

As for the strip, I’m making a bold prediction right now that it will be finished up by the end of next weekend. Now to see if I can follow up on this drunken boast…

Best Picture Nominee Count:

1/5

Rank:

1. Good night and Good Luck

Yet to see:

1. Brokeback Mountain
2. Capote
3. Crash
4. Munich

News and Notes:

Is it just me or are the Olympics barely interesting to watch anymore? Yeah, it was funny as hell when the American snowboarder tried to pull a showboating move off while way in the lead of her race and ended up crashing, but seriously who cares all that much about the double luge?

[Insert Dick Cheney Hunting Accident Joke Here]

Will something just friggin’ happen on Lost already?

Awww, Sammy Sosa might retire? I think I’ll cry about the injustice done to him when the best offer he could get was a half a mil offer from the Nats (Thank God he didn’t actually accept. It was bad enough having him 30 miles away in Baltimore).

Until next time:

“Pinky, are you pondering what I’m pondering?”

“I think so Brain, but Zero Mostel time anything will still give you Zero Mostel.”

I think there's a tchotchke in my bum.

Wow! I had mustard?!

Welcome back to that blog that is so near and dear to my heart that I haven’t updated it in 2 weeks. Hey, I haven’t updated the strip in that long either. I’ve discovered that I like to sleep.

So I’ve noticed that 1) the Grammy’s sucked…the 10 minutes I saw of it at least. Will someone please tell Madonna to go away. No, seriously, I want her gone. And this time kissing Britney Spears or doing a James Bond movie isn’t gonna help her back. 2) I haven’t done really any music reviews in a while and considering how much I’ve added to my collection I figured it’s about time so….

MUSIC YOU SHOULD REALLY REALLY BY LISTENING TO (tournament edition):

Electric President – Electric President

I’m kinda hooked on this album lately. It’s the closest thing to a new Postal Service album you’re going to get until the current Death Cab run slows down and Ben Gibbard finds himself with more free time. Expect this to never happen. So until pigs fly and Mr. Burns writes that check to the Springfield Orphanage, check out these guys. Good Morning, Hypocrite is a great way to kick things off building slowly to a smooth string infused finish. Insomnia is right now at the top of my favorite songs list, reminding me slightly of Elliot Smith lyrics set to a Postal Service beat. We Were Never Built to Last has a great frenetic beat while the lyrics and wailing guitar intertwine themselves as the song goes on. Seriously, only one other album is getting more playing time on the ol’ iPod right now and that would be…

The New Pornographers – Twin Cinema

Yeah, if I’m kinda hooked on Electric President, I’m full on, blown away by this album. The opening number Twin Cinema is just full on great rock n’ roll. Sing Me Spanish Techno has a great rocking beat to it throughout the verses before pulling hitting a great falsetto chorus. Streets Of Fire brings things way down for a fantastic acoustic number. But if you want the stand out number check out Bleeding Heart Show and I dare you to not have that ending refrain rolling through your brain for the next few hours. It’s just that gosh darn good.

Sufjan Stevens – Illinois

So full on rock isn’t on your plate today and you feel like something a little more mellow, possibily with without a doubt the most original track names of all time? Try out this one. The opening number, Concerning the UFO sighting Near Highland, Illinois is a gorgeous simple piano piece leading directly into the chorus infused, overture of The Black Hawk War… (seriously the title is just too long to write) which flows into what I have to label the opening number of Come On! Feel the Illinoise! as you can almost see the chorus being performed on stage or in a musical to set the scene of the rest of the album. John Wayne Gacy, Jr.‘s simple, single guitar acoustic sound is just beautiful, so much so that it took me almost two listens before I realized this song was actually about the serial killer. But the award for greatest song title ever has to go to They Are Night Zombies!! They Are Neighbors!! They Have Come Back From the Dead!! Ahhhh! which has a great marching beat with some wicked violins and chanting chorus invoking an old horror movie score.

Spoon – Gimme Fiction

While being a complete alt-rock album, you sure can see a lot of throw backs in this album to classic rock pioneers. The Beast and Dragon Adored (number 3 on my top singles list after Insomnia and Bleeding Hearts Show above) is a brooding, slow burn number but tell me you can’t hear a little John Lennon in the chorus or maybe a little Bob Dylan influence in the chorus of another great number, The Two Sides of Monsieur Valentine. And there’s definitely a Beatles twinge in the lighter rock number of Sister Jack.

Flaming Lips – Ego Tripping at the Gate of Hell [EP]

Ok, so this isn’t new and Yoshimi Battle the Pink Robots came out a while back but in anticipation of their new album coming out in April try out this EP. Rather than just giving you tracks from the larger album, this EP gives you 4 non-album tracks and 3 remixes. Seeing as how we’ve been referencing them so much today let’s start off with the Postal Service remix of Do You Realize??. The remix brings down the music to it’s basic elements, cutting back at just the right time to emphasize the strength of the lyrics. Assasination of the Sun and Sunship Balloons continue the trippy, light theme of the main album. My only real complaint with the album is the back to back remixes of Ego Tripping. It’s a great song and both mixes are excellent but being consecutive makes it too repetitive and I often find myself skipping the 2^nd just cause I’ve already heard the song. But I do recommend coming back and listening to both as they’re worth it.

Alright, so that’s a helluva lot of music thrown at you. All of which should be in your collection. So go try it out. There’s a lot of great stuff out there which you’re not gonna hear on the radio nor see on VH1’s top 20. And since MTV doesn’t do the music thing anymore, you’re better off just not going there. And there’s a lot of new stuff coming out. Josh Radin just put out a new album and Cary Brothers has a new EP. Rhett Miller has a new album out in a few weeks. And by the end of the year we should have some new stuff from Bloc Party, Guster, the Killers, Outkast, Travis, Rooney, hopefully a new Thrills and finally the new Shins album.

Until next time:

“Don't worry about it, baby. We'll just keep trying. Remember that magazine I read about how important it is for the man to have a high-protein diet?”

“Turk, for the last time, you are not eating ribs while we do it.”

“You don't let me have no fun.”

He's hurting! Hug him.. hug him now!

Mustard: for some reason I don’t mind it on McDonald’s burgers. What’s up with that?

Welcome back one and all for another edition of the Mustard. Hope you all had a lovely week as we lead up to:

SUPERBOWL SUNDAY!!!!

C’mon who’s not excited about Seattle vs. Pittsburgh? Ok, so a lot of people aren’t. But if America’s got one thing going for it, it’s that it can turn one little football game into a entertainment and marketing sports extravaganza the likes of which will only be surpassed by next year’s game.

Go Steelers!

Oh and the Rolling Stones? Honestly, you’re in freakin’ Motown and you go with the Rolling Stones. Have the Rolling Stones honestly been relevant to music in the past 20 years? I mean I’m not suggesting they should go with some pop teeny-bopper crapfest but at least get someone who’s only 10 years out of date. What’s REM doing?

Oscar noms are out and all I can say is: Zzzzzzzzzzzzz. Seriously, I can not imagine a more predictable and less exciting field. I’m not saying their necessary bad picks. But let’s face it, it’s been a crappy year for movies in general. There hasn’t been one single movie this year that I’ve thought was truly “great”. Last year I had both Garden State and Eternal Sunshine. Yeah, Batman Begins was excellent and Serenity was terrific but I didn’t walk out of them thinking wow, in 20 years that still might be one of my all-time favorite movies.

But a few opinions on the noms:

Congrats for George Clooney with 3 nominations. Is there honestly anymore just more likeable in all of Hollywood right now? He’s Cary Grant take II.

Fantastic picks in the animated feature category. Not one CGI film and TWO stop-motion. Guess the academy does still pay some attention to quality.

No special effects nom for Star Wars? The hell?

How did Sin City not get either special effects or cinematography or especially makeup (TOTAL BS that Cinderella Man got one over it)? Oh right, the Academy’s pissed at Robert Rodriguez for quitting so that he could give Frank Miller a co-director credit.

Kind of surprised Capote beat out Walk the Line for a best picture nod.

Hey Russell Crowe, next time don’t throw the cell phone. Then you won’t get snubbed.

Graphic Novels are starting to become a more respectable source of material between this year’s History of Violence and Sin City, such past ones as Road to Perdition and the upcoming V for Vendetta. Now if Watchmen could just get off the ground.

News and Notes:

The OC has been marginally better (haha, they killed off Johnny. Thought watch, he’ll just end up in a coma or something) but it’s still not a must see.

Veronica Mars is definitely a must see. Holy crap this show is good. Watch it people!

Rather slow week for notes.

STRIP

Until next time:

“Hey, Dr. Cox. You wanna put in for some lottery tickets?”
“Oh gosh, Carla! I would, I really would! But you see, I already set fire to a big pile of money just this morning!”

Inflatable-Five!

I’ve got a fever and the only prescription is more Mustard!

So another week come and gone and January is almost over. Thank God. I mean does anyone really like January? It starts off bad right from the bat as you spend the first day recovering from a hangover you earned closing out December. And though Martin Luther King Day is a nice holiday and everything, you usually don’t go nuts celebrating it (unless you’re Lauren and throw a party. And it was a mighty fine party let me add). But other than that it’s a month of crappy weather, no real fun holidays, usually not much else to go on. I’m depressing myself just thinking about it. Anyways…

So wow, Disney bought Pixar and Steve Jobs just simultaneously landed on Disney’s board and gave one more middle finger to Bill Gates on his quest to take over the world. Seriously, at this rate we’re headed for an apocalyptic showdown between Jobs and the ever expanding Google over the fate of the planet. This is pretty cool though as maybe Disney can become the kind of company people give a crap about again. Also the fact that Mr. Pixar himself, John Lasseter is going to be both Chief Creative Officer of the animation studios as well Principal Creative Advisor (aka new theme ride creator) is hope to be a little more optimistic about the future of the company that thought “Home on the Range” looked like a surefire winner.

And where the hell did the merging of UPN and the WB come from? And what does that mean for a lot of shows on those networks? Granted, aside from Veronica Mar and from, what I’ve heard, Everybody Hates Chris, the UPN hasn’t really put out anything halfway decent since Buffy moved there halfway through the series. But it will make for interesting matchups. Honestly, a Gilmore Girls/Veronica Mars night? Best night of TV ever! True, that might possibly interfere with Scrubs, but let’s face it the way NBC works, Scrubs won’t come back til halfway through the season. Stupid NBC.

Finally saw the 40-Year Old Virgin. Honestly, I was a little disappointed. I mean I enjoyed it and it had some pretty funny moments (Age of Aquarius? So random. So hilarious.) but I don’t know. Maybe it was just a little over-hyped. I might also enjoy it more with subsequent viewings as with Anchorman which I was also very disappointed after seeing it the first time but which I enjoyed much more having seen it a couple more times.

Also caught Memoirs of Geisha. Beautifully shot movie. Great score by John Williams. Good performances. Quite frankly, it just didn’t do it for me. I mean it just seemed to move a little slowly. And the super terrific happy ending didn’t exactly thrill me. I mean I don’t need to have every movie end in tragedy but this just seemed a contrivance to make everyone happy. I’ve never read the book so I can’t comment on the source material, but this just wasn’t the greatest movie I’ve ever seen.

News and Notes:

100^th episode of Scrubs = awesome. Making Toto role in the Wizard of Oz to be the band Toto was comedic genius. 101^st episode of Scrubs = Ostriches are freaking hilarious.

Strip – still going. Seriously, we’re heading towards the end and I just don’t know what I’ll do with all my time. *tear*

I saw March of the Penguins. Other than “penguins are cute” and Morgan Freeman narrating, I do not see the draw here.

I’m caught up to of all my shows! Yay me! Also starting watching Season 2 of Entourage. Ralph Macchio cameo was brilliant!

Oscar nom come out next Tuesday. Expect the next blog post to rant.

Until next time:

“I just want to say something nice about him that's actually true!”

“You go do that and I'll go, find God, quit drinking, get in touch with myself emotionally and we'll meet right back here at half past impossible.”

Betrayal-Five!

Mustard: Who knew?

Alright, so I’m starting to run out of football teams to root for. Seriously, every team I’ve gotten behind has just dropped out of the running faster than I can pick a new one. At this point I feel too bad about cursing them to root for anyone new.

So the Golden Globes have come and gone. The only difference between them and the Oscars/Emmys is that for one, the Hollywood foreign press is basically 90 people pissed that they don’t get to vote in the “real” awards and two, instead of just being the industry all patting each other on the back, the Golden Globes get everyone drunk and then have them all pat each other on the back. But Steve Carrell’s acceptance speech was hysterical.

Also I know the pre-shows are all big cause you get to see what everyone’s wearing but can’t we get some interviewers who aren’t complete jackasses? I mean holy crap, was I the only one who almost spit out my drink when Isaac Mizrahi told Charlize Theron that she always looked like a “buck-toothed dyke” in all her movies? Granted, I hate the idiot pandering that most interviewers do (*cough* Star Jones *cough*) but holy crap man, it’s called tact, learn to use it.

Doesn’t look like Arrested Development is coming back on Fox though Showtime seems to be the favorite new home. And being the douches they are, Fox is supposedly airing the final four episodes in one 2 hour block on a random Friday night. Damn you Fox!!!

Ok, so I have no idea if anyone is actually listening to these but here's week 2's contest:

What do all these songs have in common

http://webjay.org/by/hibbleton/week2

Yeah, this probably won't be so hard for most of you, but give it a whirl anyways. You might like it.

Music You Should Be Listening To:

Stars – Set Yourself on Fire

Imagine Ben Gibbard of Death Cab teaming up with Imogen Heap. Perfect match I’d say. Starting off with excellent Your Ex-Lover Is Dead, which seriously could have come right off Death Cab’s Transatlanticism, the pace starts off slowly before jumping up a notch with Set Yourself on Fire which is more than a little reminiscent of the Postal Service. The album just makes excellent use of strings and piano while adding in a little electronica to make things interesting.

Patrick Park – Loneliness Knows My Name

A little Old 97’s-esque alt-rock, some of the songs almost have celtic twinge to them ala Carbon Leaf. Both Your Smile’s a Drug and Something Pretty have such a ridiculously catchy tune to them you almost forget they’re about heartbreak. This album may not be the most upbeat all the time, but man is it just so easy to listen to.

News and notes:

Currently reading “Lamb” by Christopher Moore and holy crap it’s hilarious. And you thought Dogma was irreverent?

24 is back and man, they are just killing off major characters left and right. Awesome.

I’ve decided Lost is basically about throwing in as many complicated twists and red herrings as humanly possible in order to show that nothing much actually happens in an episode. Now that that’s said, I’m going back and watching last night’s episode 50 times to find all the clues.

Scrubs makes me happy. ‘Nuff said.

Until next time:

“What if our daughter wants to get her ears pierced?”

“Irrelevant, we’re not having a daughter!”

“Well what if our son wants to go dancing while all his other friends are going to play football?”

“He can dance if he wants to. He can leave his friends behind. ♪ Cause his friend don’t dance and if they don’t dance, then they’re no friends of mine! ♪”

Jason, when you're filling out a female patient's exam report, her breasts can be healthy or unhealthy never 'bangin' double D's'

Mustard: why not?

Welcome back people and I hope all your recoveries from the holidays have been restful. In the past week all I’ve done is watch the good majority of Season 4 Gilmore Girls, Season 2 Scrubs and Season 1 Entourage. It was glorious.

So let’s just not speak of the Giants.

Interesting NFL draft coming up with both Vince Young and Lendale White declaring. Both of which looked better than Reggie Bush in the championship. Think Matt Leinart is wishing he went last year when he was the 'it' person of the year? But these departures mean 3 things: USC losing Leinart, White and (probably) Bush is going to drop their preseason ranking way the hell down. The loss of Young might actually send Ohio State into the preseason number 1. And Brady Quinn just shot to the top of the heisman candidate list.

By the way, how ridiculously exciting is that Sept 9^th game against Penn State gonna be next year (and good luck getting tickets might I add)?

Trying something new here. I don’t know how long this will last due to yahoo recently purchasing the company and the fact that these music file locations could change at any time (I at least make sure they’re all working at the time I create the list) but:

Jeff’s Playlist of the Week:

In honor of my top 10 albums of 2005 a few weeks back I’ve put up a playlist with a song from each one of them. Just click on the link and click play page (select windows media player for the easiest way to listen. Itunes doesn’t load the full playlist).

http://webjay.org/by/hibbleton/week1

If people actually like this I’ll try and do different things every week. But feedback would be appreciated.

News and Notes:

How happy am I that Scrubs is back? I didn’t stop laughing between and 9 and 10 last night.

I never thought I’d say it but I’m actually kind of excited about the new season of 24 starting up. I’ve just been hearing a lot of good things.

Trying to catch up with the OC but my God it’s been like pulling teeth. Now they’re recycling a storyline on one character before they even finish it with another!

With Oscar time approaching I’m sure I’ll be catching up on movies soon.

The Strip: who doesn’t love a shameless plug?

Until next time:

“I honestly believe in hospitals, there's like this balance, you know? It’s like when one person dies, another person gets a chance to live. I like to call it the circle of life.”
”Oh my God! You must stop watching "The Lion King".”
”I like that baby lion cub. What's his name?”
”Simba.”
”Trick question! You like it too!”

Okay, Lindsay, are you forgetting that I was a professional twice over— an analyst and a therapist. The world’s first analrapist.

Mustard: so tasty you’ll resort to begging to get more of it.

Please tell your friends about this show.

Ok, if you don’t get that joke, start watching Arrested Development. Monday’s episode had me rolling on the floor laughing and that’s immediately following a Fiesta Bowl which had me reaching for a gun I don’t even have.

New Years has come and gone and Crowley has fallen! Sure it took a little help from his friends (right now Crowley is saying “jerks” and flipping me off). But damn if it wasn’t fun. Booter’s Buffy Power Hour = Awesome. Killing the keg in 27 hours = Also awesome. Having a Battle of the Sexes questions which actually asked: In cooking, what do you beat until stiff? = Priceless. And we even managed to not send my sister running off screaming into the night. For more priceless quotes, please visit Crowley’s blog.

So three things from the fiesta bowl:

1. Wow, Ohio State looked pretty damn good

2. Wow, Notre Dame got its ass handed to it.

3. Wow, Brent Musburger needs to be taken out back and shot because holy crap, his commentary actually had me cheering for the clock to run out on ND. That was the absolute most inane commentary I’ve ever heard. Oh, and did you know that Brady Quinn’s sister is dating OSU’s AJ Hawk? I think I might have heard Musburger mention it once or twice during the game.

Super quick reviews;

King Kong – Love it. Crazy fun adventure that still stays true to the original.

Family Stone – Decent enough romantic dramedy. Though excellent shout out to Royal Tenebaums at the end. Craig T. Nelson working to keep the career alive after The Incredibles.

The Producers – Pretty much the Broadway show. Good for being that but the original is superior. Will Ferrell is pretty damn funny though. Stay through the credits for the best Ferrell song since “Dust in the Wind”.

News and notes:

Scrubs is back! Holy crap those were hilarious episodes last night. When J.D. loses one of his “Man” cards because his urinalysis comes back positive for birth control pills, I almost peed myself.

Giants in the playoffs! Woooo!!!

Lazy Sunday. Yeah, everyone’s seen it. See it again. It’s the best the SNL has done in the last decade. And it might be another decade before they do another this funny.

Strip updates coming back online.

Seriously watch Arrested Development. It’s funnier than the King of Queens. I promise.

Until next time:

“Couples therapy is killing me.”
”I don't know how you do it! Make love with your lady in front of some old dude who's filming you?”
”That's not couples therapy, Todd.”
”Then what did I do?”
”You did amateur porn!”
”Sweet.”

Would you like me to call you a cab, or should I just whistle and have the flying monkeys bring the broom around?

Time to get a whole team of lawyers who will dine on Mustard flown in from the Orient.

So Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat. Seriously, isn’t that a little disturbing? I mean not only are we killing the bird for Christmas dinner we have to sing about it? Damn morbid Christmas carols. Moving on…

So the Grammy nominees were announced. Hey look at how many times Mariah Carey was nominated. Thus further cementing the pointlessness of the Grammys. Though perhaps if she doesn’t win anything she’ll have another meltdown. Is that horrible of me? Anyways…

Though I will say it was nice to see the Gorillaz get some recognition. They’re album Demon Days is excellent despite that really weird song with Dennis Hopper reading a fairy tale.

U2 got a helluva lot more than I expected. I mean I love U2 but their last album didn’t exactly flatten me.

If Rob Thomas’ “Lonely No More” beats out Jack Johnson’s “Sitting, Waiting, Wishing”, someone might need to be gravely gravely injured.

Can I get an explanation on how Maroon 5’s “This Love” gets nominated for this year’s awards? The song is like 10 years old.

Someone want to tell me how the ONLY Alternative music category is best alt album? This “Alternative” Field (basically meaning well hell, it’s not the Pop rock like the teeny bopper bands and it’s not rock music like Green Day and it’s not Kanye West so we have no idea where the hell to put it) has nominees of Arcade Fire’s Funeral which I’ve heard is great, Beck’s Guero (in my top 5 albums of the year list), Death Cab for Cutie’s Plans (number one in my top 5 albums of the year), Franz Ferdinand’s new album (Their Do You Wanna single is great) and the White Stripes’ Get Behind Me Satan (I don’t know if it’s in my top 5 but it’s got some great great songs. Oh wait, for some reason they nominated one of them, Doorbell, in the Rock performance category. How the hell does this work?). That’s a pretty good list. SO HOW THE HELL DOES THE EFF-ING POLKA FIELD HAVE MORE CATEGORIES IN IT!?!?!?

You know what, screw it. Ladies and Gentlemen

MY TOP 10 ALBUMS OF 2005:

Death Cab for Cutie – Plans
Jack Johnson – In Between Dreams
Ben Folds – Songs for Silverman
Beck – Guero
Gorillaz – Demon Days
Weezer – Make Believe
Bloc Party – Silent Alarm
Bright Eyes – I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning
Shout Out Louds – Howl Howl Gaff Gaff
White Strips – Get Behind Me Satan

Note this list is only for albums that came out in 2005. Some songs got big in ’05 but came out last year (The Killers, Keane) so they’re don’t make the list.

So between Narnia and Syriana last week, King Kong and Geisha this week, Producers and Munich next week, I have crapload of movies I need to catch up on. King Kong is getting done this week. Seriously.

News and Notes:

The strip. Is coming. Along. Very. Slowly. I know. I’m averaging about a panel a day. But what can I say? It’s the holidays and we’re all suffering.

Latest rumors is Arrested Development is being courted by both ABC and Showtime. Damn you, don’t move to Showtime! I don’t have it!

Scrubs is almost back!

The Grinch was on the WB the other night. So good. Why did they have to ruin it in the Jim Carrey evil muppet edition by giving the Grinch a reason to hate Christmas?

Until next time:

“They're actually arresting someone for stealing pudding and toilet paper?”

“No. They found twenty bottles of Vicodin in his backpack. Did you steal pudding and toilet paper?”

“What? No! I hate pudding, and I don't use toilet...paper. I have one of those French things that shoots water up your butt.”

“Bidet?”

“Bidet to you, sir.”

This is how The Todd gets his self-esteem on

Hey hey, it’s the Mustard.

So tis the season, is it not? You can tell by the marked amount of HOLIDAY SUPER SALE spam I’ve been getting in my inbox. And all of it is pure crap. But the nip is in the air and the apartment is decorated up.

Erin and I celebrated the momentous occasion of getting our first tree (last year doesn’t count because the tree was under 6 feet). It was a wonderful Christmas Sunday involving a tree, a lot of my ornaments scaring Erin (yes, our tree has Darth Vader speaking when you plug the lights in), wine, Christmas Vacation and It’s a Wonderful Life, and a whole lot of sap. Life does not get any better.

It’s been too long since I’ve fully watched It’s a Wonderful Life. It’s really a phenomenal movie. Sure it’s a little saccharine, but it’s never pandering. And it’s not all about the final scene which can melt the heart of any cynic. It’s got some excellent performances and some great dialogue (see Mary yelling upstairs to her nosey mother that George is “making violent love to me”).

So the big TV news is: SCRUBS IS BACK!!!! Starting Tuesdays at 9 in January NBC is running back to back Scrubs episodes. It’s starting out as back to back new episodes though how long that will go remains to be seen. But by god newbie, it’s been way too long.

As far as new TV shows, this season has been pretty disappointing. The only ones I’ve actually gotten into have been Prison Break and HBO’s Rome. Well both of those are over for the season (Prison Break runs it’s 2^nd half starting March). I’ve starting catching My Name Is Earl which is definitely getting funnier as it goes along. Last night’s Christmas episode was classic though damn Brett Butler has gained some weight.

With the decline of the O.C., the only real remaining must see shows for me are Gilmore Girls and Lost (and the Simpsons and Family Guy but those are pretty much just permanent fixtures). I have been catching up on Veronica Mars which is again proving that UPN is run by a bunch of nimrods for putting on against Lost. This show could clean up on a weaker night. Joss Whedon’s cameo = hilarious.

News and Notes

Yeah, the Greece blog and the strip have fallen behind. Sorry people, I’ll get to them. Really.

Wow, was that painful watching the Caps beat the everloving hell out of the Rangers Saturday night.

Is it just me or should Congress have better things to do than getting involved with the BCS selection process.

Go Irish!

Until next time:

“Cliff, come on, you owe me.”
”I owe you? Who unconfiscated all your fake college IDs?”
”Who got the Lincoln out of your ex's name?”
”Well, who helped put that lien against Lee's Walk-In Donut?”
”And who proved that stripper was color-blind?”
”Okay, who am I calling and what am I giving them?”

The next time I shoot you, it won't be digitally. Unless I hit you in the finger and then we'll have a big laugh about it

M is for Mustard, that’s good enough for me.

Happy week after turkey day. Hope everyone went out and ate much more than was healthy for them. I know I did. It was good to see the family and Erin was introduced to our family tradition of yard football on Thanksgiving day. It used to be so much more fun to cover my brother before he grew 5 inches taller than me. Now it just causes me to be in extreme pain the next day. Our team was triumphantly taking down Erin’s when my little cousin going out for the game winning touchdown pass was chop blocked by a flower pot and ended up taking a nasty spill on the porch steps. That kinda killed the game quickly. But at least he’ll have a good story to tell.

So my blood pressure is still slowly settling from that ND game. Fiesta bowl here we come. Let all the ND bashing commence for them “not deserving” to get a bowl game. Life’s a bitch until the BCS works for you.

Good freakin’ gravy this was not my week for kickers. First Fitzpatrick misses an extra point and two field goals forcing Quinn to show his stuff and take the team down the field for a touchdown with under two minutes to go. Then the Giants lose in overtime to the Seahawks after Feely misses three freakin’ field goals at the end of regulation and overtime. What the hell man?

Well the Mets are making some hardcore moves. Piazza and Looper gone. Delgado and Wagner in. Bring in Molina as catcher and this team should suddenly jump to one of the favorites in the NL East.

Caught Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (midnight shows are all sorts of fun until work the next morning). I enjoyed it, probably more than the first 2 as far as the movies go. Yeah, there are a lot of glaring omissions from the book but then that’s how things are going to be for all the future movies. You just can’t fully adapt 700 page books to 2 hour movies without cutting a lot. The positive points though were the actors are really getting good at what they do. Daniel Radcliffe most especially had several scenes where I just noticed his acting ability has grown from kid trying his best to real full blown actor. Ray Fiennes, holy crap did he nail Voldemort. He plays him as subdued and menacing rather than over the top villainy and it’s excellent. The style of the movie falls somewhere in between the first 2nd and the 3^rd one. Not quite as stylized as Prisoner of Azkaban but also not as playing it safe as the first two. The more I watch the first two and then can compare them to the later ones, the less they hold up. I’m not saying I don’t like them, I’m just saying they don’t age as well. Sorcerer’s Stone has that magic of wow, they didn’t screw this up and Chamber of Secrets was made more interesting than the book. But as you watch them they just seem a little vanilla compared to the 2^nd two (and yes, the books are better but that’s just about always the case). I’m very interested to see how things go in the next one with relatively unknown (at least in the States) David Yates at the helm.

Slooooowly catching up with TV shows. Almost done with Prison Break which I just can’t help but get sucked into. It’s very 24-esque in that it’s completely preposterous that so many things could just fall so perfectly into place but damn if it’s not entertaining. Also need to catch the final episode of Rome. I love that whole period of ancient Roman history and they really do a great job of bringing it to life while adding a little soapiness to it all. Hell, it’s better than Gladiator (someone still wanna tell me how that won best picture?).

Also on DVD I’m plunging through OC Season 1 and Scrubs Season 2 while managing to add Entourage and Arrested Development Seasons 1 to the queue. And while I do all this, I like to whistle a jaunty tune.

News and notes:

New Years weekend begins one month from now. Get ready for some insanity.

Strip updates back on track.

Producers on Broadway was a great time though I personally still prefer the original Zero Mostel/Gene Wilder movie. But I can’t help but be intrigued by Will Ferrell playing Franz Liebkind in the new movie.

No I didn’t not go buy an Xbox 360. I’m not the kind of guy who rushes out and buys every new technology the second it comes out… especially when the price will drop a good hundred dollars in a few months when PS3 comes out.

Until next time:

“They never invited their priest over to try to talk you out of having sex.”

”Five times! And on the last one they triple teamed me with a Priest, a Rabbi, and a Morman Missionary. I made so many jokes that night I should have had a microphone and a brick wall behind me.”

Honey, animals don't feel death. That was proven by the scientists at Black Angus.

Mustard: the other burger condiment.

So I know I know, let the screaming begin. Dude, you took two months off, started the strip and now you haven’t updated in forever! What the hell man!? Well the hell man involves my laptop dying due to unforeseeable circumstances this weekend. Luckily I managed to grab all the strip stuff off the dead hard drive but I’ve been without my means to properly work the strip. I should be getting a new laptop today so I can continue the strip back up soon. Really, I will. I promise.

In totally BS news, it looks like Arrested Development is done. This is total crap and just destroys all my faith in humanity. Well at least their choice in television. 7^th *&%^#@ing Heaven!!!!! More of these nimrods are watching 7^th oops, the cute kid got too old so let’s replace them with another cute bleeping kid Heaven than Arrested Development?! And don’t even get me started that these morons made Wife Swap the highest rated show of the time slot. Honestly, anyone who watched Wife Swap over Arrested Development needs to be ejected from society and force to live a Gollum-like existence underground away from sunlight and electricity. And that’s my rant of the day. Thank you.

Honestly, I just hope that HBO picks it up as rumors are pointing to. That would be fantastic. Put Arrested Development and Curb Your Enthusiasm together? Funniest hour on TV by far.

In good news, Martha Stewarts Apprentice cash-in, oh sorry, “spin-off”, has not been renewed. Honestly, who the hell actually wanted to work for Martha Stewart in the first place? But the reason this is good news is that the more NBC shows that get canceled, the more spots open up for Scrubs to come back. C’mon NBC. Bring back your only comedy that was nominated for an Emmy. Will & Grace doesn’t count. It’s not funny.

Yeah, I still haven’t seen a movie in 2 months but that changes tomorrow when I’ll be at the midnight showing of Harry Potter and Goblet of Fire. Which will lead directly into Friday morning and my inability to function.

A funny thing I’ve started to notice is just how few people have actually seen the original King Kong. Oh, sure everyone knows who King Kong is and that he falls off the Empire State building, but it seems like very few have actually seen the movie. I noticed this when people starting talking about how the trailers for the new King Kong movie make it look like the movie is ripping off Jurassic Park cause there are dinosaurs in it. People, Jurassic Park ripped off King Kong. King Kong had dinosaurs surviving isolated on an island in modern times long before Michael Crichton was even born, let alone made a bazillion dollars on his novels/movies/toys/video games/breakfast cereals/etc. So I’m starting to think that with the upcoming release of the original Kong on DVD, I might have to catch people up and make a night of it. Yeah, the special effects are ridiculously primitive compared to even the most low budget special effects of today but back then it was a revolution. Plus the movie is pretty darn good too.

New and notes:

Really, the strip will be back up soon. I promise.

The Greece blog will also be updated with day 2 shortly.

Caught the Lighnting/Caps game last night. It’s amazing when the beer costs more than what I paid for the ticket.

Go Irish.

Until next time:

“I can't even go in my own kitchen. Bart's in there right now eating frosting off my egg beaters.”
”Don't worry dad, I'm saving one for you. I'll just leave it here in the dog's mouth.”
”No, Bart! That's a really bad storage area!”

Wow, Oliver Twist just asked for more gruel and you just kicked him right in the junk.

This Mustard is brought to you the by the letter “S” and may contain adult situations.

Do you hear that sound? It’s the sound of things calming down. It’s a beautiful sound. True, there’s still lots of things to be gotten for the apartment but this is the fun part. Spending money. And catching up on all those shows I’ve missed.

First off I can’t even remember when the last time this happened but all of my sports teams are doing well! The Giants are rocking as Eli is coming into his own. The Rangers are actually somehow in first place in the East. And Notre Dame continues to look like it may have something good going here. Now knowing I’ve just jinxed all three of these teams I plan on spending the next 3 minutes knocking on wood…………..done.

So I haven’t seen a movie in like 2 months and I’m starting to get antsy. There’s tons of them out right now I want to see (yes, I want to bloody see Chicken Little but only in the 3-D version. It’s supposed to be amazing new 3-D technology that we’ll be seeing a lot more of in the future) but I just never seem to find the time.

I have been catching up on my TV shows however. As we enjoy this month of sweeps I have a few thoughts:

Gilmore Girls has truly owned this season. I mean the last time I was laughing this hard at a show (see the title of this entry) that’s not really a comedy was during the Buffy/Angel heydays. That’s really the best compliment I can give.

Arrested Development just had one of the greatest shows ever where through the most ridiculously convoluted turn of events the family managed to piss off Japanese investors being mistakenly re-enacting a bad Godzilla movie complete with miniature city. You have to see it to believe it. Seriously, the writing on this show is pure genius.

I’m slowly catching up on Veronica Mars but this season is just getting even better than last years. Consider how highly I regard last season. Well the jump in quality this year is akin to the jump between season one and season two of Buffy. It’s that good.

Lost is just ridiculous now. I mean I seriously have no idea how the hell these writers are gonna keep pulling it off but this is either going to be the most ingenious show ever or the most spectacular trainwreck in the history of television. Either way, I can’t wait.

Then there’s the O.C. Wow. I mean, it’s just been painful. Thank God they’ve finished with that crust old Dean Bitterman bit. Seriously, I was just waiting for the damn bra bomb to go off and Seth to be made Secretary of Partying Down (nothing like an obscure Simpsons reference to confuse the crap out of everyone but Crowley. I’m proud of you Crowley).

Music You Should Be Listening To:

Eels – Shootenanny!

Great album that pretty much runs the gamut of musical styles. Saturday Morning is the big rocking out, windows down song of the album. The Good Old Days slow things down with a Pearl Jam-esque ballad. Love of the Loveless has this light-hearted funk beat to it that’ll get your head bobbing in time. And Lone Wolf just has a great, catchy, low tempo that just builds throughout the song.

Phantom Planet – The Guest

Good ol’ California rock. California naturally is the O.C. theme song and the big number on this album as well. Check out Lonely Day and Anthem. If you like sound of Rhett Miller or the Old 97’s less countrified albums, check this one out. Uptempo, good music.

News and Notes:

Since I realized it would be pretty big, I’ve created an entirely new Greece blog to detail all the events and craziness that happened through the week.

Well you asked for it and here it is. The Strip: Episode VI. The end is near. Sorry it took so long to get out but I think you’ll enjoy it.

New Years plans are set. Let’s get ready to party.

Alright people until next time:

“So, who's your favorite player?”
“Ummm..”.
“Tell him. Be honest.”
“It's Johnny Damon, isn't it?”
“He's so pretty.”

Glowing like the metal on the edge of knife

The Greek word for mustard is: μουστάρδα. And no, I have no idea how to prounouce it.

So holy cow, it’s been a while an in the meanwhile I managed to get married and spend a week in Greece and move into a new apartment and buy a new car battery. One of these things is not like the other.

Alright, well I’m going to be doing some different format here for the next few entries. To start with I’m tackling the wedding weekend with this one and then after that I think I’ll do a series of quick entries detailing the days in Greece. Cause there’s just a whole lot write about and if people ask how everything was I can just say, why don’t you check out the Mustard? Course people might look at me funny if they ask how Greece was and I say read the Mustard. Ah well.

Anyways:

THE BIG WEEKEND:

So I owe so many people for coming through for me for the wedding. The whole thing was absolutely fantastic and I hope everyone had as good a time as I did.

My Groomsman: You guys ruled. Great job keeping me all calm and collected. Crowley breaking out a bottle of whiskey at midnight the night before was almost as classic as Tom drinking it out of the mini coffee pot from the hotel room. Booter and Crowley did great getting me the flower petals even if they got back from McDonalds about 10 minutes before we needed to leave for the church. But then they wouldn’t be Booter and Crowley if they weren’t running in at the last minute.

Best Man: Tom you saved my ass. I would’ve probably had an aneurysm in the back room waiting for the wedding to start. But you got me through it while managing to take care of everything else that needed to be done.

Family/Friends: You all know how to party. And it’s amazing having such good family and friends to celebrate with.

So highlights of the night:

ND destroying BYU (oh, come on, if they had lost it would’ve been a bit of a bummer).

Borden grabbing a waiter’s tray and carrying the entire wedding parties drinks into the main room (and there were a helluva lot of drinks on that tray).

Me being right about Postal Service’s Such Great Heights being the perfect introduction music.

The fact that upon the introduction of Sean Griffin my entire family screamed out “Booter!”

The choice of Billy Joel’s To Make You Feel My Love setting off a huge debate over who’s song it was and my cousin Joey’s triumph in knowing.

Two amazing toasts by Ashley and Tom.

The food being amazing and Booter being able to eat it (seriously, watching people run around to be sure that he wasn’t allergic to it was pretty funny).

The total klutz that is me stepping on and ripping off Erin’s train.

The total klutz that is one of my uncles doing the exact same thing moments later.

Meatloaf’s Paradise By Dashboard Light being one of the best renditions ever.

Erin’s family not running screaming out of the room after my family’s rendition of said Meatloaf song.

An awesome Conga line through the hotel lobby and back through the kitchen.

One word: Journey.

Watching certain people get very very wasted.

Eerily hearing about how hot my brother was all night.

Leaving to room to the ND fight song.

Highlights of the morning:

Crowley’s voicemail on my wedding night asking for Lauren and Anne’s number as they got into a taxi with a sketchy blonde (who later turned out to be Chris Myers. That’s funny).

Borden naturally doing a knock knock run run at 2 am.

The next morning looking more awake and refreshed than anyone else.

Hearing who was passed out while watching Chris Rock and the noticable omissions therein.

Hearing who was “asked to leave” by the hotel bar.

The fact that Crowley spent the night telling my sister how I was up in the room doing “naughty naughty things”.

(See here for more quotes this weekend)

What a weekend folks. Thank you to everyone who was involved. I couldn’t have asked for a better wedding and reception.

Yes, and to my bride: I love you. You’re wonderful and I could not be happier being married to you.

And yes I fully plan on hearing it for the rest of my life for losing it during the ceremony. So all of you can just shut up.