That's What She Said

This just made me smile for one minute and 49 seconds straight. I can't wait for new episodes of good TV!!!

Happy Birthday GMo!

Though Genevieve's Oscar picks last night didn't come in quite the way J-Wed's did, there's still reason to celebrate....today is GMo's birthday! Happy birthday....hope it doesn't turn into a case of the Mondays!

A Fun Times Conspiracy Theory - The Ring's Survivor Luck

Submitted for your review: alternate theory as to why the Rings do well in the Survivor draft.

For the first few Survivor: Fun Times seasons, the punishment for having your draftee voted off the island (or in the case of Survivor: China, voted off the gigantic land mass) was to supply dessert the following Thursday.

Since the Rings losing a player would result in a diabetic-friendly dessert (read: cardboard aftertaste) the following week, you all subconsciously hoped that we would do well. Those thoughts not only impacted the draft/selection process for players but also traveled back in time and around the world and impacted the players themselves as the played the game. The really is no force in the world like the collective will of the TNFT group (it's on par with the strong force... also transmitted as gluons).

This subconscious behavior has become habit, as is evident in our success so far (even though we are not doing the dessert thing anymore).

The Luckiest - Survivor Style

Does anyone else think the Ring luck is ridiculously weighted when it comes to Survivor?

Sheesh. Katherine loses a player and picks up a fantastic replacement.

Kevin has the best of the pretty people gang, somehow the least threatening fave who is smart enough to know when to keep his mouth shut.

I wouldn't be surprised if the Survivor producers try to thwart the Ring luck this week only to have Kathleen spend yet one more night on Exile Island, find the stupid idol and return to further strengthen the juggernaut.

Other non Ring thoughts, since I watched delayed version this week and couldn't discuss. Cirie is toast, there is no way her "alliance" lets her get to the merge and there aren't consequences for putting her foot down right now. Too early to make your stand. Are the faves sending Kathleen to Exile so she will find the idol and therefore stick around as a weaker player on the other team, or do they think she won't ever find it?

Congrats to Jenny!

My official congratulations to Weddel J for her victory at the Oscars Watch party last night. Who knew she had so much pop culture knowledge?! Well, I guess we all did, but isn't it nice when all the hard work of studying (reading mags and watching movies in this case) pays off in the end? I hereby crown you queen of Oscar Watch until next year.

Bummer for Atonement and Michael Clayton, both significantly nominated and surprisingly non-awarded. What was it, just one major award between them?

Thanks for the cupcakes, they were tasty!

Happy Birthday Danielle!!!

Woo woo!!

It's Go Time

The Survivor premiere is on Thursday, and we still need to decide how we're going to draft. I think we're all okay waiting for the numbers to dwindle until we'll just have two each. We can choose from the following options for the selection process:

A) Pick numbers to draft two Survivors
B) Randomly pick two Survivors
C) Draft one, randomly pick one

My vote is for C.

Also, Fun Timer and Nebraskan Kim will be making a special appearance at Grand Rapids Fun Times this week, so we will be watching the premiere in only two different places. That's a little better, right?

Barton Broke His Nose

Unfortunately, no, this is not the new title of my first children's book I plan to author.

Yesterday Barton did his best to protect me from rainy traffic patterns and ended up with a smashed hood and broken front fender. All in all, everyone is OK, but I certainly don't recommend getting in a car accident in the rain. I am reliving the stream of thoughts that went through my end in the bizarre circumstance of seeing a large passenger van careen from one side of the freeway to the other.

What is happening? Do I speed up or slow down? Where is that going to ricochet? Am I slowing down fast enough? If I break harder will I slide? Is that a true perpendicular angle? Is anyone behind me?

Needless to say, all of that was overcome with What just happened? and Is anyone hurt? (the answers to which are you hit the van and no, thankfully) but I am struck at how quickly the mind can work. After a few minutes getting cold in the rain, climbing into a tow truck and being rescued by my parents, the day was able to continue.

I still hate airbags and love seatbelts. I am now driving Big Behemoth, my affectionate nickname for my parents old Mercedes, at least until the insurance companies straighten things out and I can get a rental car.

Yikes! Thank goodness for safe Hondas and Chevy vans. It could have been so much worse.

Oh yeah, and boooooo Giants.

Choosing a Candidate

They say you should never discuss politics or religion, but here I am broaching the subject. We talked about candidate-picking quizzes a bit at Fun Times, and I went home and found several options (and took them all). I wanted to pass along the URLs....perhaps they will be helpful at the polls on Tuesday. I'll keep the results in the comments section, so if you don't want to know how much of a commie bastard I am, don't read the comments.

First is my favorite from the last election, from SelectSmart. It gets right to the issues and allows you to provide a priority level for each question: SelectSmart

Next up is the Electoral Compass, which not only shows candidate affinities but also places you on an economic left/right and social progressive/conservative spectrum: Electoral Compass

Next, from a small-town news channel in Illinois, is WQAD's Select a Candidate Quiz. Simple, but still surprisingly accurate.

Next up is my least favorite, USAToday's Candidate Match Game. I didn't really like the questions, but it includes every candidate, including those that dropped out long ago. It's also pretty fun, graphically.

Glassbooth asks you to prioritize the issues, then tailors the questions to the importance you place on each topic.

The last is perhaps the most interesting, and definitely the most unique. It explores the mathematical concepts behind voting in general, and demonstrates that an election result could be changed by the manner in which it's conducted. It's part of Mathematics Awareness Month.

Happy voting!

Celebrity Run-ins

One of my favorite celebrity encounters happened when Kevin and I were in New York. We had ducked into a stationary shop to pick something up, and as we walked back outside, Kevin wasn't looking where he was going and almost ran into someone. "Watch out, Kev," I said. "Don't run over Ethan Hawke." He looked cold (Ethan Hawke, not Kevin).

And, my freshman year of college, I was running on the track with my roommate. This was right after the summer Olympics when the US women's gymnastics team had finally beaten the Russians to win the gold medal. My roommate and I started joking about Kerri Strug, who had injured herself in the course of competition that summer. I started fake limping as I was running and yelling something about Bela Karolyi. We were cracking up about this -- I think I even fell down, clutching my ankle, at one point. And then we heard someone running right behind us on the track. We sort of calmed down, and then Kerri Strug ran past. I knew she had enrolled at UCLA that fall, but I hadn't seen her at all before that moment, and actually never saw her again. I think that was for the best.

I'm a big jerk.

First Class to Bel Air

Last week's Fun Times included an impromptu performance of the theme song for The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, because doesn't every meal deserve an early 90's TV theme? [Blog challenge: Pick an interesting meal from the past month and tell us what TV theme should have accompanied it.]

Anyway, the conversation drifted to the song's 'lost verse,' which was shown during the first episode only. Now, thanks to the series of tubes that make up the Internet, Fun Timers all over the country can enjoy this rare treat together.



PS- I didn't say that the additional verse was good, did I?
PPS- For an additional bit of trivia, stick around until the end of the credits to see who directed the first episode.

Mini-Me

Here's an outtake from a previous post on our other blog....D wouldn't let me post this to a broad audience. Though Willow is still confined to her kennel at night, we've been letting her come up onto the bed when she starts whining early in the morning. It obviously doesn't take her long to get comfortable.

More stalking pics

This is me spying on Mark Consuelos, Kelly Ripa's husband,on our Regis and Kelly cruise. It looks like I might actually be trying to talk to him here... but no I am just spying on him and watching other brave fans go up and say hi.


Here I am stalking Josh Groban- I got his autograph, but failed to say anything to him.


Ok, I didn't actually see Prince William but this is what it would've looked like if I got close enough to him.

Best Celebrity Encounter- Stalking Michael Ball

As many of you know, my favorite musical is Les Mis. My love affair with the musical began when I first saw the 10th anniversary special of Les Mis staring the best of the best from the previous 10 years. The highlight was first hearing Michael Ball sing.


He has the most unbelievable Broadway voice and from that point on I bought every album I could get my hands on. Trouble is Michael Ball is a UK sensation, but nobody has heard of him across the pond. I would go into stores and ask and most clerks would respond with "Do you mean Michael Bolton?" and I would once again leave empty handed.

I realized, though, after spending way too much money on import cd's that I really only liked him singing Broadway music as his gigantic voice seems a bit too much for normal pop songs. Think Josh Groban singing Matchbox 20.

Skip ahead 6 years and Jaime and I are planning our first trip to Europe. I wonder what the chances are that Michael Ball is performing when we are going to be there. As luck and destiny were to have it, he was staring in the new musical rendition of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Not the most challenging piece musically , but I was happy to take what I could could get. So we bought tickets and waited anxiously.

After the show (PS British people go nuts over the theme song.. it was a bit embarrassing) we left and saw a bunch of people over by the stage door. They were waiting for the cast to come out. Anyway to make a long story short (I know, too late), we didn't get his autograph the night we saw the show and neither of us can remember why.

The next night we had very little to do so Jaime suggested going back over to the theater and trying again. I didn't want to at first(thought that might be a bit stalkerish) but then changed my mind. I realized though that we had to get dressed up again so we looked like we had just been to the show.

So down we went and out he came. I wish I could tell you that I said something brilliantly witty or wished him a happy birthday (his birthday was the previous day- don't ask how I knew that). I think I just handed him my program and mumbled thank you. I get very, very shy around famous people.This time I got my autograph and still have the program to this day.

Jaime even managed to get me in a shot with him. This style of shot has become a running gag with us. I think I have one similar with Josh Groban. I am too petrified to ask for a shot together so I position myself near the star and Jaime snaps away. Yes, I realize this makes me an utter coward, but C'est la vie.

A Michael Ball exclusive

I found this video amongst our pictures from Europe. Jaime took it as Michael walked towards him. He had passed me long ago; fortunately, Jaime was in position further down the line.

My favorite part is after the woman in blue asks for a picture. Michael puts his arm around her and turns and looks directly at Jaime. He did this because Jaime had been taking pictures and filming him the entire walk through the crowd. I don't even want to know what he thought Jaime was doing or why he was so interested.

What's your best celebrity encounter story?

Mine was back in 2002 or 2003, I was living in New York and had just gone to a performance of The Producers. It was later in the run so Nathan Lane was in it but Matthew Broderick wasn't. It was still very fun and I'm glad I went. I remember that the show was very popular that I had to buy tickets like four months in advance. After the show, my friend who had gone with me and I walked over to the Toys'R'Us that's in Times Square. For those of you who have never been, it's a neat store: three stories with a ferris wheel in the middle.

We get there and we're walking around and in the section right next to the Lego section we notice an area that's been cordoned off and set up with a stool-like chair and a bunch of floor pillows. Looked around but there weren't really any signs explaining what was going on so I asked a store employee (for the sake of the story let's pretend that I asked Geoffrey himself). Geoffrey bent down and told me that Dr. Ruth Westheimer was doing a promotional reading of her new children's book. "Wow," I thought to myself, thanked Geoffrey for his help, fed him some leaves from an Acacia tree, and decided to stick around for the reading.

So we stood and listened to Dr. Ruth read her story to a bunch of kids that had materialized from out of nowhere (I think it was the understudy cast from the production of Annie that was playing down the street). I don't remember what the story was about but it wasn't about sex (the kids all kind of looked disappointed). Afterward, Dr. Ruth worked the line of spectators shaking hands and signing autographs. When it came to be my turn, I took the only piece of paper that I had which was my playbill from The Producers and bent down toward her (she is tiny!! I mean short, really short! Like Webster short!) and asked,

"Will you sign this: 'To Kevin, my best friend, never stop dreaming! Love, Doctor Ruth'?"

She looked over at me, hesitated for just a second and in her thick German accent, coldly said,

"No."

It was awesome.

I don't think Kevin knows Lyla as well as he thinks he does

Lyla's a part of the Patriot's fan club. I'm cutting the sleeves off of a tiny sweatshirt as soon as I finish typing.

LET'S GO BOLTS!!!

Katherine's sleeping right now and I'll probably get in trouble for this, but here's who Lyla and I are rooting for:

Go Chargers Part Deux!

This is a blurry picture of Benjamin, wearing his Chargers uniform, pumping his fists in the air because he is PSYCHED to beat the Patriots this weekend. Samuel totally agrees, but he was wearing his Broncos jersey during this particular photo shoot, and that just wouldn't make sense. His aunt is currently wearing her #32 Weddel jersey, but she can't take a picture of her back. Not for lack of trying. And no, no one is here in my office to help me.

And this is what I will be singing (with verses) all weekend long: San Diego...SUPER CHARGERS! San Diego...SUPER CHARGERS---CHARGE!!

San Diego Super Chargers- Beat the Patriots!

Hey all you Charger supporters out there. I found this on the VH1 Best Week Ever blog website and thought it was a perfect warm-up for the big game this weekend. I know we are going to lose, but a girl can dream can't she. And just think about how much the entire country would love us!!!

BWE SPORTS: Top 10 Reasons Why We All Want The Patriots To Lose

I’m at the VH1 corporate retreat for the day, likely receiving motivational speeches from James Carville and/or Susan Powter, so I’ve turned my title of “One Dude On The Site Who Cares About Sports” to Josh Lay, one of our Best Night Ever producers. Take it away, Josh:

Pa•tri•ot n. one who loves, supports, and defends one’s country. Or one who was, are, and will be unbeatable in the 2007-2008 NFL football season. I mean, honestly, can anyone beat the New England Patriots? Sure, the Jaguars kept it close for a few quarters, but whoopty freakin’ do, they still lost. Let’s not kid ourselves — no one can stand the idea of the Patriots going undefeated and winning the Super Bowl more than anyone can stand listening to Jessica Simpson’s “A Public Affair.” Why do we want them to lose so badly? Here’s a list of ten reasons:

10. Picked last in kickball syndrome. We’ve all been there. Team captains are chosen. One by one, classmates side with their best friends and the superior third-grade athletes until you and the handicapped kid are the last two remaining. And because they feel bad for him, you’re the last one chosen. Thus, you are a loser. What? You’ve never been there? Then you probably play for the Patriots, and I hope you lose.

9. Junior Seau’s haircut. It looks like Thriller-era Michael Jackson meets Kid ‘n Play. And no one with that kind of haircut deserves a Super Bowl ring. Perhaps his own ’80s sitcom or barbershop named Silly Seau Cuts but definitely not a 2008 Super Bowl victory.

8. You have a crush on Gisele. As long as Tom Brady keeps winning, Gisele will keep dating him. Which means your secret Gisele crush will never come to fruition. Not that she would date me—I mean, you—anyway, but it’s the principle. At least I can keep my fantasy relationship and Google her till my heart’s desire. Wait, did I just write that? I blacked out.

7. Boston wins at everything. Tea parties, rotisserie chicken, baseball, and now basketball. So what if Boston Market offers easy on-line ordering and convenient take-away meals for all occasions? I can’t stand bandwagon Red Sox fans and the fact that the Celtics are actually good again. No one city should win that much. And having a losing professional hockey team doesn’t count. Please, Boston, at least let us have our football.

6. You’re a fan of any other NFL team. There are 32 NFL teams, 14 of those teams played the Patriots (Jets, Bills, Dolphins played them twice). If your team was one of those 17 victories for the Patriots this year in the regular season and/or post-season, your team lost. That simple. You want revenge.

5. Head coach Bill Belichick’s plethora of hooded sweatshirts. Admit it. You can’t stand ‘em. No one should a) have that many hooded sweatshirts, b) wear them that often, or c) cut the sleeves off. All I’m asking is for a classic polo or maybe even a nice team-branded tee. But no, it’s always gotta be the sweatshirt. He has more hoodies than my grandmother has Christmas cat sweaters. And that’s saying something.

4. They already have three Super Bowl rings. Honestly, do they really need one more? Their fingers are already loaded: wedding ring, high school ring, college ring (I know you still wear your Marshall ring, Randy Moss), three Super Bowl rings. C’mon, don’t be that kid that wears them on his thumbs.

3. They cheated. Sure, we’ve all done it. But we weren’t winners; we were just trying to maintain a C average. The Patriots may have the most explosive offense and hold every record on the planet, but they were accused of stealing hand signals from opposing teams. That’s enough for me to root against a team I already don’t like.

2. The mustache of Larry Csonka could disapear forever. As a pro football Hall of Famer and running back for the ’72 Miami Dolphins (the only team to go undefeated and win a Super Bowl), Csonka and his stache made history. If the Patriots win the Super Bowl this year, there will be no reason to keep ol’ Csonka around. There will be a new sheriff in town. No more Csonka. No more magnificently flowing mustache. Sure, we could still catch Csonka hosting North to Alaska on the OLN network, but I don’t think I even get that channel. Do I?

1. Tom Brady. Seriously, could he be any hotter or more talented? No. He is a prime athlete, la creme de le creme. And I’m a straight guy. Of course, I’m sure he could have me batting for the other team. After all, he’s Tom Brady. I mean, Bridgette Moynahan is his baby momma, and he’s still shacking up with Gisele. It has got to stop. Granted, if he loses, he’ll just host another night of SNL and pose for a cologne ad. But for that one moment when he loses, he will be human. And that will be enough to soothe our bitter souls.