I went to the store this morning to get some beer for tonight, and saw a bottle of "Monty Python's Holy Grail", and the label says "tempered over burning witches"! I had to buy it.

Hi Aqua!

I just made a big ol' batch of homemade Chex Mix, and my wife made cookies, all for our party tomorrow night. But I had to "taste test" both of them, and have gorged myself a bit. Ugh.

Serve it up Mandy!!

Good to see you DBZ!!

^ Mmmm, Newcastle. You know, I've never been in the pub before, hey everyone!

I posted this on the old board, but this is my favorite scene, just brilliantly sharp dialogue... Arthur: Old woman! Dennis: MAN! Arthur: Old man, sorry. What knight lives in that castle over there? Dennis: I'm 37. Arthur: What? Dennis: I'm 37, I'm not old! Arthur: Well, I can't just call you "man". Dennis: You could say "Dennis". Arthur: I didn't know you were called Dennis. Dennis: Well you didn't bother to find out, did you? Arthur: I did say I'm sorry about the "old woman" thing, but from behind you looked... Dennis: What I object to is you automatically treatin' me like an inferior. Arthur: Well, I am king. Dennis: Oh, king, eh? Very nice. And how'd you get that, then? By exploiting the workers! By hanging on to outdated imperialist dogma which perpetuates the economic and social differences in our society! If there's ever going to be any progress- Dennis' Mother: Dennis, there's some lovely filth burning- [notices Arthur] Ooh! How d'ye do? Arthur: How do you do, good lady? I am Arthur, king of the Britons. Whose castle is that? Dennis' Mother: King of the who? Arthur: The Britons. Dennis' Mother: Who are the Britons? Arthur: Well, we all are, we are all Britons and I am your king. Dennis' Mother: I didn't know we had a king. I thought we were an autonomous collective. Dennis: You're fooling yourself. We're living in a dictatorship! A self-perpetuating autocracy in which the working class... Dennis' Mother: Oh there you go, bringing class into it again! Dennis: But that's what it's all about! If only people would realise... Arthur: Please, please, good people. I am in haste. Who lives in that castle? Dennis' Mother: No one lives there. Arthur: Then who is your lord? Dennis' Mother: We don't have a lord. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dennis: I told you. We're an anarcho-syndicalist commune. We take it in turns to act as sort-of-executive officer for the week... Arthur: Yes. Dennis: ... But all the decisions of that officer have to be ratified at a special biweekly meeting... Arthur: Yes, I see. Dennis:... by a simple majority, in the case of purely internal affairs... Arthur: [getting bored] Be quiet. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Arthur: Be quiet! I order you to be quiet! Dennis' Mother: Order, eh? Who does he think he is? Arthur: I am your king! Dennis' Mother: Well I didn't vote for you. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Arthur: The Lady of the Lake,... [Angel chorus begins singing in background] her arm clad in the purest shimmering samite, held aloft Excalibur from the bosom of the water signifying by Divine Providence that I, Arthur, was to carry Excalibur. [Angel chorus ends] That is why I am your king! Dennis: Listen. Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony! Arthur: Be QUIET! Dennis: You can't expect to wield supreme executive power just 'cause some watery tart threw a sword at you! Arthur: SHUT UP! Dennis: If I went 'round saying I was an emperor, just because some moistend bint lobbed a scimitar at me, they'd put me away! Arthur: Shut up; will you SHUT UP?! [Grabs Dennis and shakes him] Dennis: Ah, now we see the violence inherent in the system! Arthur: Shut up! Dennis: Oh! Come and see the violence inherent in the system! HELP, HELP, I'M BEING REPRESSED! Arthur: BLOODY PEASANT!! Dennis: Oh, what a giveaway. Did you hear that? Did you hear that, eh? That's what I'm on about! Did you see him repressing me? You saw it, didn't you?

Oh, and I almost forgot about the $4500 Kiss Kasket and the Kiss Coffeehouse chain...

^ Music is product, yes. All bands sell records, and sell some posters and t-shirts. It's the relentless whoring out that Kiss does that gets on many peoples' nerves. It's the cologne, pinball machines, dolls, bottles of wine, etc. And as far as being "jealous", I really doubt that Zeppelin or anyone else who loves making music is very jealous of Kiss' merchandising prowess. It's like being the "fastest child molester", it's an honor no one is competing with you for... Are you fucking kidding me??-

I've already said it was cool that Paul had some good things to say about Jimmy and Zep, so that's that. But on the subject and Kiss' artistic merit, it's important to remember that Gene Simmons himself is quite upfront about the fact that he doesn't care about the music, he wants to make as much money as possible, and brand as much merch for his fans to buy as possible. That's where their "questionable artistic integrity comes in". Here are some quotes from Simmons, and this is just from ONE INTERVIEW: And now in the '90s and the 2000 era, we've got over 2,500 licenses: There's a KISS Broadway play on the way with Rob Roth, who directed Beauty and the Beast, a KISS cartoon show with the people who do Transformers and Beast Wars. In other words, there are KISS comic books in the works. Superman meets KISS. That's going to be the kickoff of the new Superman, uh, rather, the new KISS comic books series. So we're going everywhere. I can be on the cover of Playboy magazine, and I can sell comic books and bubble gum to younger fans. And it's all good. And instead of being in a rock and roll band -- who the hell wants to do that? I don't -- I want to be in a rock and roll brand. I want to be Disney without the overhead. And I'm on the way. when asked about his makeup pattern on his face: A banker's pattern. When you look at it, it says, "Boy that guy's got a lot of money." I will contend, and you try to disprove it, that the most important thing as we know it on this planet, in this plane, is, in fact, money. But getting to the money part, money is the single most important thing on the planet, including the notion that uh, love gives you everything. That's a lot of hogwash. I believe in my heart that anyone who gets up there and says what they're doing is art is on crack, and is delusional, and that in point of fact, what they really ... their modus operandi initially -- perhaps it changed when they started to question their sexuality, but clearly, initially -- it was to get laid and make lots of money. And anybody who tells you otherwise is lying to you. And my favorite obnoxious, money-grubbing, completely devoid of any artistic integrity quote: No one -- and that includes the Beatles and Elvis -- can touch our (KISS') merchandising and licensing. Nobody. Outside of the music world, it's only Disney and Lucas. But in the music world, they can't shine our shoes.

I'm not a big Kiss fan (I HATE Gene Simmons), but Paul seems like an alright guy. Good insight from him.

I really want to go see Juno this week, Roger Ebert picked it as his best movie of 2007.

Wasn't alive yet, but I have a Zep boot from the day after he died (9/19/70 show at Madison Square Garden) where Robert addresses the crowd and talks about it onstage.

Weren't there around 60,000 remaining when he came on Monday morning? Sucks how many people lost out on seeing him...

Wait, whaaaaat???

The Stones' output from 68-72 is perhaps the greatest 5 year stretch from any band in rock and roll history. Beggars Banquet/Let It Bleed/Sticky Fingers/Exile On Main Street is an unbelievable quartet of albums. Throw in Get Yer Ya Ya's Out, and that's a 5-album set that's hard to beat. It was clearly their creative apex, and they've clearly remained relevant for 35 more years since then, but they haven't (hell, NO ONE has) approached that again. Now that I'm thinking of it, I might start a poll of the best 5 year output between the Stones 68-72, the Beatles 65-69, and Zeppelin, but not sure what 5 year period...69-73? 71-75?

Are you referring to "She Who Can Never Be Seen"?

Uh oh, how long until Scratch shows up?

I Was Right On Time, by Buck O'Neil. A great book by a great man, about his years in the Negro Leagues and the racial divide in this country and in baseball.

I saw them in concert on their reunion tour here in Detroit at the Palace of Auburn Hills a few months ago, it was a great show. Sting's voice still sounds great, he hasn't lost anything.

Me and my little Tiger fan!

Always respect the boobs. Always.

Yep, you know all about this trio...

Yeah, that would be 6 including the pets

Here are some holiday pics of me and the familia...