Ken's new look

MSNBC carried a story on Ken's new look. You know, the former Mr. Barbie? He looks a little like Paul Walker of post-before-this-one fame, but he looks a LOT like Dick Casablancas from Veronica Mars. Stay away, Barbie. Stay far, far away.

The Jean-Paul Belmondo of the New Preposterousness

The Austin Chronicle has a funny article on Paul Walker, star of many goofball B-movies like The Fast and the Furious and Into the Blue. A brief excerpt:

Characterized by vacant eyes, cheerfully bewildered mien, and a distinctly floppy carriage, tripping and bounding about the frame in a uniform of skater T-shirts and cargo shorts, the Paul Walker presence (at zenith in 2 Fast 2 Furious and nadir in Timeline) becomes the ultimate expression of the style through subversion so total as to push beyond any imaginable absurdity. Because no matter how slaphappy the narrative or psychotic the montage, nothing trumps the fugue state induced by seeing a badass action hero as played by a golden retriever puppy.

I haven't given huge amounts of thought to Paul Walker, but it's true that his presence in a movie is shorthand for "this movie is not precisely 'good', but it's probably fun with beer".

No more telegrams STOP

As of January 27th, Western Union has discontinued its telegram service. Here's the official announcement on their website. It's been a dying technology for decades, but I guess email finally killed it.

I have never sent or received a telegram, and now I guess I never will. Then again, I've never owned a girdle either. Did you ever send a telegram? Receive one?

Genetics

My great-aunt Joan sent my parents some photos of my Grandma Jerry, who died in 1980. I was only four then so I didn't get to know her very well, but I've always been told that I take after her a lot and that there was a lot of physical resemblance. One of the photos Aunt Joan sent was a newspaper clipping from 1941 of my grandmother's nursing school class. I haven't seen too many pictures of her when she was that age (about 20 in this photo), but I recognized her immediately when I saw the photo, even though she was in a group of 16 young nursing students in identical uniforms (and holding candles for some reason). I compared it to one of my wedding photos, where I'm heavier than her but wearing a similar expression. Yeah, she's definitely related to me. Can you see it, or is it just me?

Tagged!

I got tagged by Meredith. Here are my answers:

Four jobs you have had in your life:
-- Mad Scientist
-- Assistant Manager of a Movie Theater
-- Clerk in a Comic Book Shop
-- Marketing/Communications Assistant

Four movies you could watch over and over:
-- Dogma
-- Ferris Bueller's Day Off
-- Dazed & Confused
-- From Dusk Till Dawn

Four places you've lived:
-- Austin
-- Houston
-- San Angelo
-- Reading, England (for a summer) <-- this was Meredith's answer, but the same goes for me. I lived down the hall!

Four TV shows you love to watch:
-- Veronica Mars
-- Buffy the Vampire Slayer
-- Good Eats
-- Justice League Unlimited

Four places you've been on vacation:
-- England
-- Scotland
-- Colorado
-- The Bahamas

Four of your favorite foods:
-- The Elvis Presley Memorial Platter at Chuy's (3 enchiladas, crispy beef taco, rice & beans, and most importantly jalapeno ranch dip)
-- Chicken Parmigiana
-- Boneless Shanghai Wings at Chili's
-- Steak grilled by my father-in-law, the best steak on Earth

Four websites you visit daily:
-- IMDb (usually to answer a nagging question late at night)
-- Cute Overload
-- CNN
-- Newsaskew.com

Four bloggers you are tagging:
-- Mark Cuban
-- Dave Barry
-- Kevin Smith
-- Robert X. Cringely