Thursday's This & That

As I'm spending a little time pampering myself, I can daydream about all the things floating around the internet...

Yay! The video game website play™ reports: "A new Guitar Hero-rival designed for kids has been revealed for the DS and the Wii by Disney. The new game will arrive in autumn." It's called Ultimate Band, and even though "the rhythm-action title is aimed at teenagers and younger kids," I still want it, because it's probably perfect for my skill-level...

And MSTK: The Movie (in widescreen, thankyouverymuch!) is available for pre-order from Amazon.com. "Normal view...normal view...NORMAL VIEW!!"

Well, my birthday's coming up... (*hint hint*)

P.S. Wow, my ass is really hanging out in this picture.

Starbucks' Great Lesson

Time stood still last night when every Starbucks across the nation shut down at 5 PM. Well this morning we finally found out what the wonderful god-like baristas learned, as quoted from one celestial coffee server:

"...We basically got paid to come in and do nothing for a few hours which was fine... until I got hungry. Then it sucked. We could have learned all that in five minutes at the begging (sic) of a shift. Because 'Don't serve a drink that you know is going to taste like crap' is a pretty easy guideline to follow. Although that would preclude us from serving the new Honey Latte, which tastes exactly like burned milk. What I don't get is who really cares that Starbucks closed for three hours? If you think the coffee is shit then... great it shouldn't have affected you. If you love it so much that you angrily bang on the door for a half hour... you need to discover internet porn or something." [source]

If they had only taught these techniques in preschool, there'd be no crime.

Crushing on Chris Young

Since I was a teenager I've been crushing on this guy. And he's still hot... and now he's all growns up as a director/producer. *sigh* If you don't remember who he is, here's some film clips of his:

Classic Clip: Harry James in "Bathing Beauty"

The opening musical scene of Esther Williams' premiere movie Bathing Beauty, featuring Harry James and his orchestra. This is what music videos were like in the old days. Harry truly rocks this orchestration of "Trumpet Blues and Cantabile."

Mee-Yow Friday

Gary Cooper was first up for the role of Rhett Butler in Gone With the Wind, but he turned it down, saying "'Gone With The Wind' is going to be the biggest flop in Hollywood history," and "I'm just glad it'll be Clark Gable who's falling on his face and not Gary Cooper."

Celebrity Look-a-Likes

"Va Va Voom" Star of the Day

Marilyn Monroe
[from my original post at Celebutaint]
Norma Jeane had a troubled childhood: she never knew her father, as her mother was widowed but dating around a lot. Allegedly her mother turned insane, abandoning her to a number of foster homes. She was almost smothered to death at two, nearly raped at six. She modeled on and off and signed with an agency. It was at this time that she had her hair cut, straightened, and lightened to golden blonde.

She didn’t find acting work until 1946 when she was discovered by 20th Century Fox. An exec suggested she take the name Marilyn (after Marilyn Miller) as her stage name, since Norma Jeane wasn't considered commercial enough. For her last name, she took her mother's maiden name. She was given minor appearances in 1947, but Fox decided not to renew her contract. She bounced back and forth between 20th Century Fox and Columbia, doing some B movies and small parts. When 20th Century finally gave her a starring role in 1952 with Don't Bother to Knock the reviews were mixed, but they claimed that it demonstrated Monroe's ability and confirmed that she was ready for bigger roles. 20th Century decided to give her a better contract.

Crushing on Jimmy Stewart

[Legendary Men MySpace page]

YAY!!

Wall-E is Coming...

With the release of Wall•E drawing nearer, the Buy n Large website we pointed to in a previous post is chock full of stuff now! It's like that whole set of Lost websites that gave you clues or something.

Tuesday's This & That

I'm just getting ready for Valentine's Day...so in the meantime, let's see what's going on around the internet.

Pixie sent me this really fun Advertising Slogan Generator. The first slogan that popped up for me was Get Busy With the Sweepea! Now how can I argue with that??

To prepare yourself for Valentine's Day, check out our post from last year romantically entitled WTF is with Valentine's Day? It's sure to lift your hearts and inspire your spirit. Or it's just something to read for a minute or two.

And in the spirit of our first Valentine's Day post, here's the other valentine from the same Simpson's episode.

Crushing on Steve McQueen

[Thanks to the Legendary Men MySpace page for the picture! I love their web address, too..."Cutie-patootie actors"...haha]

Happy Birthday, Lana Turner!

" A successful man is one who makes more money than his wife can spend.
A successful woman is one who can find such a man."

“I would rather lose a good earring than be caught without make-up.”

“A gentleman is simply a patient wolf.”

“Trash is something you get rid of - or disease.
I'm not something you get rid of.”

(Also see the article I wrote about Lana on Celebutaint.)

Dreams Almost Squashed

Clark Gable
Failed his first screen test at Warner Brothers because Darryl F. Zanuck thought his ears were too large.

Clint Eastwood
In his early days he was told his speech was too soft, he was too tall, he squinted too much, and his teeth needed capping. "That's all still true today," he says, "but the attitude is a little different now."

Cary Grant
A casting director once informed him that he was bowlegged and that his neck was too thick.

Fred Astaire
The report on an early audition read, "Can't sing, can't act. Dances a little."

[source]

Since When...

...is watermelon a citrus fruit?

Tuesday's This & That

Once again, I'm sick. Why do germs always seem to find me? It's like every month I have a cold. Every time the weather changes, or there's a lot of wind, or someone sneezes, I seem to catch a virus.

So are you gonna vote today? I guess I should. Women sacrificed a lot to allow us to vote. Not to get too political (because I hate the subject), but I don't like any of the candidates. I just can't agree on anything that one guy is saying over another. It's like one guy will stand for something I like, but another guy will stand for something else I like. Especially living in a state as large as California, I barely feel like my one vote counts. But I guess it's my duty as an American. Maybe if I was feeling better I'd be more pumped about it.

I've been watching a lot of old movies again. I cracked open my Esther Williams collection and showed Dyno the magic of "Bathing Beauty" -- my favorite of Esther's. Dyno liked the comedic parts of Red Skelton. I had to tell him the importance of the swimming scenes; how Esther revolutionized synchronized swimming and was a huge success every time she dove in to a pool.

Oh yeah, and I'm probably moving this summer. I've decided to find some new digs...I'm sick of my manager, the apartment's too small, and they raised my rent. The place never had the right amount of drama as the last place. No character.

Well, off to make some more tea with honey and then pretending to work...

Got Nightmare Fuel?

With all the great and not-so-great Super Bowl commercials on last night, I thought I'd remember this commercial I absolutely always HATED!! Scares the bejeebus outta me!!

...especially this frame:

Friday's This & That

Well we're still doing a bit of redecorating around here, so pardon the dust. Until we get things straightened up, why don't we take a look around...

Thanks to Matthew for correcting me in the previous post...DVD's of Cinematic Titanic are available NOW! And speaking of Cinematic Titanic, the other half of the former MST3K crew (led by Mike Nelson) has been putting together RiffTrax: downloadable "riffs" that you can synch up with a movie to get that MST3K experience in your own home. Go to their site to see some great examples; there are also a lot on You Tube (just search under "rifftrax").

And for more fun at the expense of movies (or, as Dane Cook calls them "Cinematic Adventures"), go to The Trailer Mash for...well, mash-ups of trailers, obviously.

And lastly, for all those of you who read this blog regularly but haven't yet signed up to be my friend on The Lounge MySpace page...here's a reminder to do so: SIGN UP TO BE A FRIEND OF THE LOUNGE FOR PETESAKE. (Sheesh.) You'll be able to see many more slutty pictures of me and you'll hear some awesome tunes. Can't beat that, right?