popplers

They're dwarves, Hank…

Last year and again this year, in what has become an annual Christmas tradition in our household, we watched the Venture Brothers special, A Very Venture Christmas. It hadn't occurred to me that the Krampus actually was Germanic in origin, and that Dr. Orpheus' retelling of the story (and the cartoon depiction of the Krampus itself) was pretty much spot on:

[…] The tradition is primarily an Austrian thing, although it spread erratically around Europe. There are two takes on Krampus, one being a secular humanist approach and the other being a magic tradition angle. If you put any two Austrians in a room, they'll soon get into an fistfight about which interpretation is correct. […]

Exit, stage right

I love The Onion: U.S. Troops Draw Up Own Exit Strategy.

[…] In a striking rebuke of the assertions of the Pentagon and the White House that a swift exit is neither practical nor possible, soldiers of varying rank have outlined a straightforward plan of immediate disengagement, dubbed "Operation Screw This." […]

I'm right there with you, Jade.

PvP nails it once again. Today's topic: still more Christmas shopping.

Awww… Part II

Get Slide for your own webpage

Have you seen this chicken?

Slightly longer article, with more info on Toga, the missing penguin.

[…] Toga, a baby jackass penguin, is missing, believed stolen from his home in a zoo on the Isle of Wight. Because Toga is still reliant on his mother, Kyala, for a daily diet of regurgitated fish, he may die if not reunited with her by Christmas.

Meanwhile, Kyala and her mate, Oscar, unable to comprehend what has happened to their offspring, are restlessly trundling around their enclosure, going in and out of other nestboxes in a vain search for Toga. […]

What is this world coming to?!

Penguin-nappers!

Weekend political and science quickies, with some humor thrown in the mix

• A few months after 9/11, President Bush authorized the NSA to eavesdrop on Americans in the US without having to obtain court warrants. Bush supporters argue that the president's actions "make sense, regardless of their legality." (That screaming you hear is me.)
• The Onion on the Patriot Act: "I'd really like to tell this damn government what I think, but thanks to the Patriot Act, they already know."
• Apparently SNL got funny while I wasn't watching. This ad for Woomba cracked me up.
• Who wouldn't love to find a shoggoth hair toy in her Christmas stocking?
• Don Wise on Incompetent Design: "Look at the bones in your face. They're the same as the other mammals' but they're just squashed and contorted by jamming the jaw into a face with your brain expanding over it, so the potential drainage system in there is so convoluted that no plumber would admit to having done it! So is this evolution or is this plain stupid design?"
• I can't read this headline: Researchers: Mother squids nurse eggs without thinking of "squid milk." An extremely cool photo accompanies the story.

Penguins with personal trainers

BBC News headline: Japan zoo walks portly penguins.

[…] Penguins at a zoo in northern Japan have been taken on their first walk of the season in an attempt to keep them trim during the winter.

Asahiyama Zoo on the northern island of Hokkaido take its King Penguins on a 500-metre walk twice a day to stop them getting too fat during the cold months. […]

Eat, Poppa— nobody likes a skinny penguin.

Marsupials gettin' it onnnn.

Wombat love: more amusing than I realized.

A complicated dance, a bite on the rump and ferocious backward kicks are all part of the wombat's lovemaking repertoire, a new study has revealed.

Until recently, there were no recorded observations of mating between wombats.

But the director of Nocturnal Wildlife Research Ltd, biologist Clive Marks, found wombats were more likely than the average Aussie male to emulate moves from the Kama Sutra. […]

The final sentence in the article cracks me up: Mr Marks says he hopes his study will solve the sloth-like image problem of the common wombat, making the furry marsupials "the symbol of Australian male sexual virility".

Awww…

Cute Overload offers "an overwhelming amount of cuteness to fill your daily visual allowance." The commentary cracks me up.

If you feel yourself slipping into insulin shock, go read The Book of Bunny Suicides until you're better.

Sunday photo gallery

• Snow pix from Friday's storm
• Nifty latte art (I particularly like the bunny)
• Fantastic wildlife photos (winners of the National Wildlife's 35th annual photography competition)

Arch-villains and Giant Monsters beware!

Shadowhunter
Originally uploaded by popplers.

Played for a bit today, and got my clock cleaned by Nemesis and the danged Carnival of Shadows. More debt, more fun.

A trip report, in lists

Three things that I like about Midwest Air:

1. Extremely comfortable, leather Recaro seats with adjustable footrests. The aircraft was a Boeing 717 with only 4 seats across, so you're either next to the window or on the aisle— no getting scrunched in the middle.
   
2. The crossword puzzle in their in-flight magazine was from Games Magazine.
   
3. No packets of peanuts. Instead, they give each passenger two still-warm chocolate chip cookies.

Three things that I love about staying in a hotel:

1. Fluffy white towels.
   
2. Someone else makes the bed.
   
3. Trying out the tiny little bottles of shampoo and conditioner. This hotel stocked a Bath & Body Works orange-ginger concoction that made my hair smell like Lemon Pledge. I actually kind of like the smell of Lemon Pledge, so this wasn't necessarily a bad thing, just odd. (Note: unlike many other trips, I didn't bring the half-used bottle home to use up.)

Three things that didn't particularly impress me about this hotel:

1. Toothpaste splotch from previous guest still in sink. Ick.
   
2. No Comedy Central (and, therefore, no Daily Show).
   
3. Guest, one floor below, playing what sounded for all the world like in-room paddle-ball at 10:30 p.m. WTF?

Three excellent restaurants, and what I had for dinner at each one:

1. Plaza III Steakhouse (Kansas City, MO): Grilled Atlantic salmon, Lyonnaise potatoes, fresh asparagus (steamed), and sauteed mushrooms in seasoned butter. Wine: a very nice Australian red. I didn't order it, so I don't remember what it was. Dessert: crème anglais with fresh berries.
   
2. The Melting Pot (Kansas City, MO): Cheddar cheese fondue (served with raw veggies, Granny Smith apples, and pumpernickel and white bread cubes), mushroom salad (with Parmesan Italian dressing), Mojo Fondue (a vegetable broth seasoned with garlic, orange juice, and lime juice) - Seaside option (lobster, shrimp, scallops, ahi tuna, salmon, portobello mushroom). The Mojo/ Seaside fondue is served with veggies (red bliss potatoes, yellow squash, broccoli, mushrooms) and a plethora of sauces: "angry cocktail sauce" (lots of horseradish), curry yogurt sauce (fantastic with the lobster and shrimp), teriyaki (didn't try it), barbecue sauce (it is Kansas City, after all), herbed butter, a sour cream/ chive-y concoction (good with the potatoes and mushroom caps), and a port/ gorgonzola dressing. Beer: Boulevard Wheat. Dessert: chocolate fondue (of course!) with a splash of Chambord… served with pineapple, strawberries, bananas, brownie chunks, marshmallows, pound cake, and (saints preserve us!) cheesecake. Mooo.
   
3. Bristol Bar & Grill (Leawood, KS): Excellent hot biscuits. Beer: Guinness. Sampled appetizers including bruschetta, lump crab cakes (heavy on the crab), calamari fried with jalapeños and carrots, remoulade sauce. Grilled tuna (seared on the outside, cool on the inside— perfect), served with roasted Yukon Gold potatoes and steamed asparagus. Dessert: chocolate birthday cake.

Three books that I read during my trip:

1. Simon Clark's Vampyrrhic: I'm not a big Anne Rice fan, but this was gory, creepy, smutty vampire fun. A good airplane read.
   
2. John Hodgman's The Areas of My Expertise: John Hodgman was recently on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart (clip available at areasofmyexpertise.com). He is a very funny man, and he has written a very funny book. I think his style of writing is contagious: this "writing in lists" thing is a lot of fun.
   
3. Ruth Reichl's Comfort Me with Apples: More Adventures at the Table: I really want to like this book more than I do. I'm having difficulty identifying with (or sympathizing with) any of the characters so far. But it is an interesting story, and I loved reading about Alice Waters and Chez Panisse. Recipes are interwoven within the chapters, and I very much want to make Dottie's Spinach.

Three nice things about coming home:

1. The view from the airplane as you fly into Logan, especially around sunset.
   
2. Sleeping in your own bed. Cliché, but it's true.
   
3. Staying home, drinking tea, and watching the snow fall, instead of being stuck in an airport in the midwest.

Ruh-roh.

On Friday night, Chris and I went out to see Acme Theatre's production of Anton in Show Business. Afterward, we went to the Coyote for drinks with the gang. As we walked home, we were talking about various movies that are coming out in December, and we made our Tomato-meter predictions for Aeon Flux. I guessed that it would come in with a 27% rating. Chris predicted 38%. (He was going to rank it higher than that, but bid lower due to the lack of prescreenings for critics— usually a bad sign.)

Current rating on Rotten Tomatoes: 13%. (When I checked it yesterday, it was at 11%, tied with all-time stinker The Musketeer!)

Serenity quickies

In celebration of the soon-to-be-released Serenity DVD (only 17 more days!), here are a some Firefly quickies. Some are well-aged, some are newer, but I only learned about them in the past week or so.

• CulturePulp Comic #28: 'SERENITY' NOW! (No spoilers.)
  
• The Hand Puppet Movie Theatre Presents: Serenity. (Contains many, many, many spoilers. It's the whole movie.)
  
• CulturePulp Q&A with Joss Whedon himself. Very interesting, looong interview, with lots of pix and links to cool Firefly sites.
  
• Spiff Serenity retro posters: Share and enjoy.
  
• Feel like spreadin' the word of Joss to the masses? Commandeer the copier at work, and print out some 'guerilla' Firefly poster art. Also good for decorating your office/ dorm room/ bulletin boards/ coffeeshop/ etc.

Fried gold

Via bOING bOING: Shaun of the Dead reenacted by "knitted minions."

Grrr. Arrgh.