2004 Word of the Year

My first annual "Word of the Year" Award goes to.... (turn on your audio)"douchebag". Although it has been in existence for years, its recurring use in the media has been much to my amusement. Jon Stewart of The Daily Show used this word most effectively e.g. "Robert Novak--the douchebag of liberty." and the show also awarded Novak the Congressional Medal of Douchebaggery. It is with great pleasure that I give "douchebag" my first annual "Word of the Year".

Monet

You know that line from the movie Clueless about people's looks in relationship to the works of artist Monet?

Tai: Do you think she's pretty?
Cher: No, she's a full-on Monet.
Tai: What's a monet?
Cher: It's like a painting, see? From far away, it's OK, but up close, it's a big old mess.

The following news story is a living example of the above. In China, they held the Plastic Surgery Pageant where a 22 year old with cheek implants won the big prize. Use the link provided, read the story and then click on the photo---yikes!! Just nasty. Those cheeks will become part of her labia in another 10 years. There was a great article in Entertainment Weekly recently regarding major actresses whose plastic surgery is ruining their ability to get decent parts. The work they've had done distracts too much from the potential role. To make matters worse, a lot of these dopes are queens of denial. Case in point, 41 year old Nicollette Sheridan told EW's sister publication People in the Dec. 20 2004 issue that rumors of lifts to her face, eyes, and brow are "malicous and patently false". Her longtime friend and Beverly Hills plastic surgeon Dr. Frank Ryan examined her face and backed up her story by explaining that her more angular look is due to aging. What?! Just own up to it already.

The following has nothing to do with the above but in the spirit of the holidays, here's a gift to you. Someone has put together freely accessible Saturday Night Live transcripts. The site allows you to search for guests and characters. "Mr. Robinson's Neighborhood" was always a favorite sketch.

It's beginning to look a lot like Grimace...

I woke up this a.m. and realized that Christmas is only a week away!
Things have been funky at the workstead as of late. I'm a public librarian and our funding was endangered. Long story short, some of it was restored but not all resulting in an 11% staffing reduction. A lot of people at my location were either let go or reduced to part-time with benefits in hopes of retirements creating openings for those on the callback list. I feel very badly for these people. I was fortunate enough to keep my job but next year looks equally glum for library service. The public system has 52 libraries now but I guarantee there will be fewer in 2006. There are a number of people who are against consolidation. I hate to say it but these folks have a mentality that rhymes with light rash. They don't understand that economically, the System as it exists cannot survive. Their position is based on emotion and nostalgia with no research to back themselves up. In these trying economic times, feelings are easily crushed in favor of reality.

Anyway, with the up and down rollercoaster I've been riding, Christmas shopping was done cautiously as I feared the unenjoyment line. I guess now I can get to my regularly scheduled programming.

Much to my dismay, I found out that the ACLU is having privacy issues. The New York Times reports that the organization charged with defending civil liberties plans on using data mining to get a read on its membership's financial wealth. I'm deeply disappointed. Earlier this year, the ACLU registered for a federal charity drive that required it to certify that it would not knowingly employ people whose names were on government terrorism watch lists. Later they withdrew from this effort and joined other non-profits in a suit to contest the watch list agreement.

Pay for access programming is ubiquitous for television and now for radio courtesy of satellite radio but there are still some good freebies online. Check out
Air America for shows from Mike Molloy who is very entertaining. He's living in dangerous times being a southern based liberal who espouses some interesting conspiracy theories.

I miss hockey...

plain and simple. Most Buffalo peeps are down with football, but not me. I tried. Even when da Bills were in the Stupor Bowls. I had little to no interest. Football on TV is too stop and go for me. Hockey is where it's at--fast paced and always a chance for a throwdown. The season has been put on hold since the players and the NHL can't agree on new contract terms. Today marks day 88 of the lockout. However, there may be some movement on Tuesday as the players have submitted a new proposal that includes rollbacks on salaries. In the meantime, I'm seriously jonesing. No Hockey Night in Canada and no brawls. The closest I got was basketbrawl with the Pistons and the Pacers. I started trolling the Internet in search of hockey fight video and came up with some good ones. Here's a classic brawl from this past season. My hockey hero Rob Ray led the way by mixing it up with Philly's Donald Brashear. When all was said and done, the refs handed out 419 minutes in penalties (in one game) to an assortment of players, an NHL record. Check it out here!
This same site,which promotes itself as "tasteless humor for the unemployed", has a fight reel set to some cool music.
Big ups to hockeyfights.com one of my favorite sites. Let's hope Christmas comes early for hockey fans.