For Big Lebowski fans

Via popwatch.com, Here's an essay Jeff Bridges wrote for the foreword to a new book on the Big Lebowski: Zen and the Art of Dudliness. If you're a fan of this movie reading this essay will make you like it even more.

It's about time...

...I updated my links, which you can find on the right side of this page. Like reading this blog? Perhaps you'd like to visit my links.

Of special note are two newly added ones, Mike's Bloggity Blog Blob and Common Errors in English. I have no idea who Mike is, other than through the close personal relationship we share from reading each other's blogs and commenting on them, but he's rather delightful and I think he loves TV as much as I do. Common Errors in English is not some clever blog title, it's actually a listing of common errors in English. If you would like to have sexual relations with me, write as many of these down on index cards and then take them and me to a bar. Quiz me on these common errors in English and pretend to be impressed with my vast knowledge. I'll be all, "Oh, I have to know this stuff for work..." but actually I will be getting high on how smart I think I am. Buy me three martinis, then pounce. Just FYI.

I also urge you to visit Mit Ach und Krach, listed under "What Makes Me Happy" over there, which contains some wonderful artwork by a dear friend of mine. If said dear friend was a gay man living in New Hampshire, her blog would look exactly like The Slam Pig. And if you're feeling angsty about work, you must visit the Meatgrinder Memos ASAP.

Top off your freetime with a visit to the Johnny Five Scrapbook, then zone out in front of Infinite Hasselhoff for a while. Then, of course, come back to anterias to obsessively check if I've posted again.

A Must-Watch

I recently stumbled upon the best documentary I've seen in a long time. From BBC2, it's about the Westboro Baptist Church, you know, the "God Hates Fags" people who have been protesting at soldiers' funerals. In it, Louis Theroux, who got his start in TV journalism on Michael Moore's TV Nation, goes and lives with the Phelps (the family who composes 90% of the church) for three weeks. There's lots of the bizarre in here——from "Gramps," the pastor, yelling "YER GONNA EAT YER BABIES!" during a sermon to the family picketing a hardware store that sells Swedish vacuums because the Swedish government had recently arrested a pastor who spoke out against homosexuality—and Theroux is the perfect reporter. Maybe it's because he looks like a slightly hotter version of Mo Rocca, is polite in that way only Brits can be, or because he adopts an air of sincere concern and bafflement throughout, but you can see that the family (the teenaged girls, especially) seem to really take a shine to him, even as they happily tell him he's going to burn in hell.

The best thing about this documentary, though, is that it goes beyond the "look what freaks these people are" angle to really examine cultures of hatred and how they can be passed down to children. When you watch the 7-year-old trying to explain what the "Fag Troops" sign his 6-year-old sister is holding means, or the girls say they don't have any friends or boyfriends and never will, it's easy to see them as victims of some kind of Philip Zimbardo–esque experiment on human cruelty. They believe because they've been conditioned to believe, and when Theroux tries to challenge their beliefs he's met with nothing but nonsensical argument. After finishing these videos (it's broken into a series of 7 on youtube), I just felt pity for these people, which released me from the hatred I've felt for them since the first time I saw the words "God Hates Fags" in the 90s. And that, I think, is the ultimate revenge.

The Most Hated Family in America (youtube)
An interview with my new crush, Louis Theroux (who, incidentally, is the cousin of sexy actor Justin Theroux, from Mulholland Drive and Six Feet Under)

Ah, the PO

Here's a post on gothamist of a guy freaking out at my local post office. I went there once and never returned. Now you can see why. I think this clip really embodies the spirit of NYC. At first everyone is kind of freaked out, and then they start laughing.

Pizzarolling

It's probably because I'm craving childhood, but what I wouldn't give for the sound of cheesy goodness escaping the confines of its crusty shell and sizzling on the baking sheet below it. As a child, I wasn't aloud to stick my hands in the oven (a good rule, I think), so I would monitor the pizza rolls carefully, then yell "Mom!!!! They're oozing, they're oozing!!" and she would come into the kitchen and take them out for me. Mom was always good like that—she'd come wipe my butt when I called, too.
So until I find some pizza rolls (and I'm not talking about those newfangled "chicken enchilada" kinds), I'll just have to make due with the most comprehensive pizza roll review I've ever seen (I can only imagine what part two is going to be like!)

Another link to keep you busy for hours

This website full of found items is great, this one is one of our favorites ("our" meaning me and my cubicle-mates, of course...what other "us" would I be talking about?)

Just Teach Me What to Do and What Not to Do (Found Magazine)

Mouse art

This will keep anyone occupied for hours.

Flight Patterns

While checking out my favorite website for finding flights for my yearly pilgrimage to Chicago this year, I stumbled upon this video of U.S. flights patterns. It's cool and strangely beautiful.

Pop vs. Soda

Since I grew up drinking pop, I always feel a little like I'm denying my cultural heritage by now drinking soda. But all those taunts in college for calling a soft drink by a name commonly used in the Midwest got to me. I was delighted when a friend emailed me this amazing pop vs. soda map, which proves that Easterners are in the minority!! And I was happy it didn't break down to some kind of red state/blue state thing. (Although...it's close)

So many NJ strip malls, so little time

I've always wondered who had the time to write reviews of hundreds of books on amazon, but this really blows my mind. I stumbled across this while looking for a Target on the way to Delaware. This is what the internet is all about: giving people a forum to display their photos and reviews of liquor shops and chain stores.

b1bob's NJ Shopping Tips

The Cubicle Revolution

If you've ever felt like an office revolt, check this out (click on the panels on the left-hand side):
Business Reply Mail

Kitchen of Love

Fabio's Kitchen of Love
This really made me think I should have my super come up and fix my oven.