This is cool

How to make your own fresh evergreen wreath! Believe me, these are usually very expensive. Pretty, but pricey.

Big Wheel, Edinburgh, Scotland

Big Wheel, Edinburgh, Scotland
Originally uploaded by David Hall Photography.

This is from flickr. I'm going to be wasting way too much time on this site, I fear.

Welch Ave. Station

Welch Ave. Station, originally uploaded by r3dcurlz.

This was my bar of choice in college. Why? Let me count the ways....

1. Cheap
2. Dollar daiquiris on Thursday nights.
3. Easily manipulated rock-snob DJ's. I'm telling you, request the Spinners, and you're golden.
4. 'South Park' Wednesday nights
5. My friends were there.
6. The Pizza Pit, home of the world's best cheese bread? Upstairs.
7. I only vomited there once. Less humiliating glances from the aforementioned wait staff...

Awesome

Since it's getting to be Turkey Day time, I thought I'd post my friend, Jenn's Sour Cream Apple Pie recipe. It's truly killer. Make it, and try not to eat the whole thing. Yourself.

Sour Cream Apple Pie
Filling
2 T. flour
1/8 tsp. salt
3/4 c. sugar
1 egg
1 c. sour cream
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp nutmeg
little bit of cinnamon
3 cups of diced apples
9″ pie crust (unbaked)

Topping
1/2 cup flour
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
5 T. butter

Sift together flour, salt and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Add egg, sour cream, vanilla and nutmeg. Beat to a thick, smooth batter; stir in apples. Pour into 9-inch unbaked pie crust. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 and bake for 30 minutes. Mix flour, sugar, dark brown sugar and cinnamon. Cut in butter. Remove pie from oven and top with sugar mixture. Return to 400 degree oven for 10 minutes.

Friday Random Ten

On Thursday, that is....

1. Ugly- Sugababes
2. And So This Is Christmas- Lennon
3. Acquiesce- Oasis
4. Noise Annoys- Buzzcocks
5. Can't Knock 'Em Out- Lily Allen
6. Lido Shuffle- Boz Scaggs
7. Every Time I Roll the Dice- Delbert McClinton
8. Levon- Elton John
9. I Shall Be Released- The Band
10. Transmission- Joy Division

Bonus-
11. Rehab- Amy Winehouse
12. Long Hot Summer- The Style Council

Salon has a point

Okay, so The Clooney has been the Most Shaggable Man On Earth or similar before. I have to get behind their list, which includes:

Stephen Colbert
Alton Brown
Jon Stewart

and the Piece De Freaking Resistance-
Alan Rickman

A-freaking-men, Salon. A-FREAKING-MEN.

Several questions

Full disclosure here. Despite the fact that I am very open-minded, groovy and multi-cultural and everything, the Black-Eyed Peas (the musical group, not the lovely food) annoy the hell out of me. Specifically, Fergie.

I used to think that it was just the song 'My Humps,' but no, it's her. And I try, as a rule, to stay away from bashing females, because of the rampant anti-female vibe that often lies underneath said bashing.

Why does she irritate me? Because of crap like this.

The woman responsible for introducing “fergilicious” into our pop-cultural vocabulary recently sat down with Vibe and calmly explained that those who mock her voice mock God. “I may not have the type of voice you like, but I can sing,” the Dutchess reportedly said. “You can’t take that away from me, ‘cause singing is a gift from God, and when people say I can’t sing, it’s kind of like insulting God.”

Okay, why is it necessary to bring God into it? Also, if mocking her voice is mocking the Big Guy (or Girl- again, I'm very groovy and non-gender specific in the addressing of deities), then it wouldn't be a big stretch to say Fergie herself not liking her face would be disrespectful to the Person Upstairs. So why would you (allegedly) have massive amounts of 'work' done? Wouldn't that be against God's Plan? Hmmmm?

Buzzcocks On Tour

Yet another cruel reminder that I live in the Midwest. And have no $$ to go to the U.K. to attend concerts. Oh Shit.

The Buzzcocks have announced a special birthday tour to round off the year.

The tour “Buzzcocks 30” will also include a retrospective photo exhibition at the shows with classic shots from the 70s and 80s by Chris Gabrin and Kevin Cummins.

The exhibition will also feature the band’s original album artwork by pioneering graphic designer Malcolm Garrett. He was responsible for designing the eye-catching sleeve artwork for all of their early records including 1980’s “A Different Kind Of Tension.”

Oh, he brought sexy back a while ago

Articulate, amusing, handsome, knows how to work a tux like nobody's business.

And he's the Go Fug Yourself girls's intern!
(This would be in the same universe where I'm the future Mrs.
Noel Gallagher).

The 'Intern George' files. Works of comic genius.

Your Sexiest Man Alive, people. The Clooney.

OMG. Teh Cute.

The 'pupzilian.'


From Cute Overload, of courses.

Darwin Award, Honorable Mention

A botched kidnapping ended with one of the assailants shooting himself in the groin, Wichita police said. The man had just stuck the gun back into his waistband when it fired, shooting him in the left testicle.

He cringed, causing the gun to fire again and strike him in the left calf.

When the shooting ended, the 23-year-old man managed to walk himself into the hospital for treatment, police said. He and his two accomplices, ages 18 and 20, were arrested for aggravated attempted kidnapping and conspiracy to obstruct justice.

The men were attempting to kidnap a teen in a dispute over stereo speakers, police said.

Stereo speakers? STEREO SPEAKERS?

McQueen, La Moss

Not a surprising choice of designer, but I would love to see the finished product. Provided the wedding actually comes off, mind.

Engaged British supermodel Kate Moss has called upon fashion designer Alexander McQueen to make her wedding dress.

Moss, who is engaged to Babyshambles singer Pete Doherty, has been friends with McQueen for several years and he is said to be honored by her request.

An insider claims the catwalk queen has plans for a $38,000 white dress with black lace, which is "traditional but with a modern unique twist -- typical of both Kate and Alexander."

Oh. My. GOD.

U.K. rock mainstay Paul Weller will celebrate the late January release of a career-spanning boxed set with a three-night stand at New York's Irving Plaza.

The four-disc "Hit Parade" is due January 23 via indie label Yep Roc; Weller will then play January 29-31 at New York's Irving Plaza, with the shows divided thematically.

Although each show will include music from his entire career, the first night will focus on the music of the Jam, while the second will feature the music of the Style Council. The third gig will cherry-pick from throughout Weller's discography. Tickets go on sale Friday; the thematic concept will not be repeated at any additional concerts.

Low Post

Hysterical. Matt Taibbi is quickly becoming one of my favorite political writers. Don't worry, Pierce, Walcott and Ms. Molly, you'll always be at the top of the list.

When I woke up in my hotel in Pittsburgh the morning after the elections there was a yellow legal pad and a Pittsburgh Pirates novelty pen ($4.95 in the Sheraton gift shop) splayed on the bedspread, the pad containing about nine pages of single-spaced notes. The night before, after coming home from Rick Santorum's concession speech downtown, I'd flopped in bed, popped a sleeping pill and started frantically taking notes from the various cable-news election spectaculars.

There is a lot of garbage and nonsense in these notes (i.e. "10:47 p.m. Chris Matthews' mouth always looks like it just had a cock in it/something about the way he moves his lips/creepy") but on the whole it is a fairly accurate representation of the long arc of depression I followed before finally falling asleep late in the morning:

Trial By Fryer

This is hysterical, and very much jibes with much of Tony Bourdain's writing....

There are people -- and as much as I'd like to distance myself from them, I once counted myself among them -- who think that just because they have a stove and a good recipe for duck they can open a restaurant. Because it's "only cooking," any hardworking, dedicated person could do it. What seems effortless -- you in the kitchen spooning reduced cider sauce over confited duck leg while your spouse hustles the front, overseeing the dining room with a warm touch and a glass of cabernet, just like the dinner parties you've been throwing in your apartment for ten years -- is not. The difference between being a good cook and being a good chef is as big as the difference between playing online Texas Hold'Em in your pajamas and holding a chair in the World Series of Poker.

Duane, 35 years on

Interesting point

No matter what the circumstances, deaths in the world of rock and roll tend to become romanticized over the years. It has less to do with the tragedy itself than it does with the warm memories that the music of the artists in question have continued to provide, and the sharp reality that there will be no more such music on the way.

What creative frontiers would Jimi Hendrix have explored if he lived beyond the age of 27? Where would Janis Joplin’s music have taken her if she didn’t pass away at 26? Exactly how would we have been entertained if Jim Morrison, Jeff and Tim Buckley, John Lennon, Freddie Mercury, John Bonham, Sid Vicious, Keith Moon, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Otis Redding, Berry Oakley, Kurt Cobain, Bob Marley, Gram Parsons and Frank Zappa, as well as many others, had been allowed to hang around a little while longer?

Vincent Vega lives?

Well, kinda. Possibly. Depending on Tarantino. Oh, Lord.

It's the film Quentin Tarantino fans have spent the best part of a decade waiting for. The latest word from Michael Madsen is that the proposed Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs spin-off, featuring Madsen and John Travolta as the Vega brothers, could be heading for production after all.

McQueen

One of the coolest movie stars, ever.

His collection of cars and bikes attracted high bids at Saturday's auction. A 1937 Crocker V-Twin motorcycle fetched $276,500, a world record for a Crocker, according to auction house spokesman Levi Morgan. The Persol sunglasses, sold to an anonymous buyer, are the ones McQueen is believed to have worn for the opening scenes of the 1968 film The Thomas Crown Affair. A Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow, which featured in the same movie, went for the same price. Sales from the auction totalled $2.9m.