Pop Culture Files: Case Number 001

You might remember the totally heinous album by Stone Temple Pilots called Purple.

What you might not know about the cover art is that it was nicked from a Chinese red envelope given to children during Lunar New Year.

The Girl Who Spelled Freedom

When I was in 6th or 7th grade, I really related to this movie. It's about a girl from Southeast Asia who comes to America and becomes a spelling bee champ. I'm not FOB, but I am Asian and I did win some spelling bees in my day.

These Things Actually Happened to Me

While in Italy, a trio of Italian strangers asked if they could have a photo with me in front of the Spanish Steps. They obviously thought I was another famous movie star...ha!

Joe's off kilter uncle, upon meeting me, asked me what the exchange rate with the yen was nowadays.

A complete stranger attempted to speak Chinese to me at a bar, in front of a bunch of people. I had the dubious honor of telling him I had no idea what he said.

A crazy guy on a bike stopped me during my lunch time walk to ask me whether I was half Mexican.

Those Germans Have the Right Idea

While beer may be regarded in the USA as a drug just a few notches down the intoxicant ladder from heroin, it is more or less considered a soft drink in Germany.

Witness the hearty German construction worker knocking back a can of Pilsner on the underground on the way to work, having another with lunch, then celebrating the end of the working day with a third (brought along, with admirable foresight, in his knapsack) on the way home.

Expatica

Movie Review: The Station Agent

This was a good movie Joe and I rented thru Netflix and we were pleasantly surprised. It's about a midget named Finn who inherits an abandoned train depot. He tries to live a quiet life but ends up meeting a hot dog vendor and an unhinged artsy lady. That's about all I can tell you, there isn't really much more to the movie than that. But don't take it as though it's a boring movie, it's actually very good and you'll grow to like Finn as a person instead of treat him as a novelty.

This movie gets 4 eggrolls out of 5.

Random Shite #6

Harrisburg is the capitOl of Pennsylvania. Not the capitAl. That misspelling is all over Harrisburg (yes, even highway signs) and it drives me nuts!!!!!

I'm changing my movie review ratings. After hearing a story from Joe about Sirius radio's Wiseguys, I'm going to start using eggrolls to rate movies. Stay tuned for my review of The Station Agent.

MySpace is a bunch of crap! And yet there are a lot of people that use it. They just don't know the true power of Blogger. On a side note, I've added Joe's MySpace site to my links. Eh, go and see for yourself. Crap I tell you!

I have off for Martin Luther King Jr day and I plan to help Jules move apartments. If she so wishes for me to help her, that is. Other than that, possibly snowboard on some patchy hills and hopefully not bust my ass again. I took a nasty face plant on Monday.

Also, I'm blowing the cover and letting everyone know that there's a surprise birthday party for Manoni on Sunday. Expect a motley crue of folks coming by and partying on a Sunday night. I just noticed how old that makes me feel.

Sophalopalus, From A to Z

A is for Age:
27. I don't know how that happened.

B is for Booze of choice:
Bailey's on ice. But I drink cap'n'coke more often.

C is for Career:
Copy and Paster, frequent Button Pusher and Mouse Clicker.

D is for your Dog's name:
Dog's name would be Pibber, if only he existed.

E is for Essential items you use every day:
Couch. I can do just about anything on my big cushy couch.

F is for Favorite song at the moment:
Seriously? [Sigh] Uh, the first thing that popped in my mind is MCR's "I'm Not Okay".

G is for favorite Games:
I like Texas Hold 'Em a lot. But if I had to go old skool, I'd choose Centipede.

H is for Hometown:
York

I is for Instruments you play:
No instruments.

J is for Jam or Jelly you like:
I don't eat jam that often but if I had to choose, I'd pick strawberry.

K is for Kids:
No kids.

L is for Last kiss:
I'm sick so it had to be before Wednesday. Probably New Years Eve.

M is for Most admired trait:
Most people say I have the shiniest hair.

N is for Name of your crush:
Crush? Ha, that's just silly.

O is for Overnight hospital stays:
No hospital stays.

P is for phobias:
Drowning.

Q is for quotes you like:
"Let's get plastered and modify stuff".

R is for biggest Regret:
When Coach asked the class who doesn't want a class song, I should've raised my hand.

S is for Sweets of your choice:
I like fruity gummy candy.

T is for Time you wake up:
Alarm goes off at 6:30. I get out of bed at, like, 8:00.

U is for Underwear:
What's the question?

V is for Vegetable you love:
Cucumber

W is for Worst Habit:
Jittery legs.

X is for X-rays you've had:
My arms once. My upper and lower back multiple times. I have a lot of bone deformities.

Y is for Yummy food you make:
Egg rolls and ribs.

Z is for Zodiac sign:
Cancer

Review: Bubba Ho-Tep

It's about a nursing home that's haunted by a mummy who's looking for souls to suck through the butt. Who's gonna bust the living dead in this Texas home? Well, an elderly Elvis, of course. He's mistaken as one of those Elvis impersonators but the only person who believes he's really Elvis is a black man... who happens to think he's JFK.

The movie is sort of funny. The funniest bits are when the black man explains how he could possibly be JFK. They dyed him black to protect him from the assassins looking to finish him off and he's got a bag of sand for a brain.

If you're not into that kind of humor, this is probably not for you. But this one is worth renting.

Stabby McKnife

This year, I promise to do the following...

1. I'm going to start posting pictures. For real. I know, I've actually posted blogs referring to pictures that aren't even there. But for real now, in 2006 I'm really going to post pictures.

2. I'm going to start a fan page for these guys at Cutlery Corner. C'mon have you seen this show??? You don't know what you're missing. PAXTV channel 76 in my area at about 2:30 in the morning on Sundays. Where the hell else are you going to get something like this????

Cutlery Corner

Not only do you get this sweet sword but you get all the knives behind Tom for TWO BUCKS!!!! and they throw in genuine leather sheaths for free. FREE, people! Get your asses online and load up your arsenal. You won't know who you were without it.