Why yes, you can have a cheeseburger.

Despite the fact that to the right, the link has been up practically since the inception of this blog, I only made my first visit to icanhascheezburger.com today. I know pretty much what lolcats is about. And I do love cats. It was time.

I went to the site and found it pretty cluttered. Then there are pictures on non-cats which I wasn't too thrilled about either. I tried to search for my favorite one, the one that goes, "im in ur____, ___-ing ur ____" but I couldn't find any. Maybe I'm just blind and my techno-non-abilities are making themselves known. It was easier to just use Google Image to find those pictures. That was enough for now.

If Parker were into Facebook applications (we as a trio really aren't; I prefer clean elegant lines in my profile), she should add the LOLcats app.

That might be a good blog project: make our own lolcats pictures.

Checking up on Mr. Grace

This morning, doing my usual breakfast-and-gossip-blogs routine, I learned that it's Topher Grace's birthday. Then I wondered what he was up to, since I last saw him in that DVD of dreadfulness, Spider-Man 3.

We should do a series on Alacrity, Whatever happened to that young male actor that I used to fancy? Cough cough, Joshua Jackson, right Agent99? But back to Topher. So I went to the source of all things movies, IMDb, to see what was up with Mr. Grace.

He completed something called Kids in America. The synopsis doesn't sound very appealing.

Follow an aimless college grad who pursues his dream girl at a wild Labor Day weekend party. He, his twin sister and their best friend struggle with their burgeoning adulthood over the course of the night.

It has irritating Michelle Trachtenburg in it. That's all I need to know. Run away!

A project in production is Coxblocker. The title alone makes it sound winning.

William Cox (Grace) meets his ideal woman, only to find his advances continually blocked by her ex-boyfriend/current best friend (Scott), who is trying to find a way to win her back.

Seann William Scott? Ugh. Maybe Topher's doing these to pay the bills.

Last but not least is The Crusaders which is also in production.

A young lawyer becomes the only white member of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and works side by side with future Supreme Court justice Thurgood Marshall to outlaw segregation.

This sounds like a respectable project, and Terrence Howard is starring as Thurgood Marshall.

Oh Topher. I still like you, but you need to do some edgy things, like some indie movies or something. Marry me, and all will be forgiven. You're getting usurped by Michael Cera, not that it's a bad thing.

It's a big birthday day today, with Bill Cosby, Richard Simmons ("Smithers, release the robotic Richard Simmons!"), and my Broadway boyfriend Cheyenne Jackson all celebrating. Happy birthday!

Trendspotting

Lately I've noticed girls in my fair city wearing these weird gladiator sandals. Where did this trend come from? I'm baffled, but this is coming from a girl who eschews popular items. 300 came out a while ago. Unless it's inspired by my beloved Xanadu musical, then it would be okay, but I have a feeling it's not.

And also it seems as though there are a lot of bands popping up that involve the word "black" in their names. Like Agent99 recommended Black Keys, Black Angels, Black Mountain, Black Kids. And other acts The Black Heart Procession, Black Sabbath, Black Eyed Peas, The Black Crowes, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. It's cool to be black I guess.

Happy 4th

I hope everyone has a happy 4th of July day today. I plan to spend it the American way of drinking American beer, swimming, and grilling out! Happy Day!

Ocean's Olive

Agent99 loves herself the mouse books by Kevin Henkes (who can resist Lilly or my fellow worrier Wemberly?) so I was a bit surprised that Mr. Henkes had penned novels for older kids. One of his efforts, Olive's Ocean, was deemed a 2004 Newbery Honor Book, beaten out by The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of Thread by Kate DiCamillo which I haven't read at this point but will eventually. Reading the summaries for Mr. Henkes's other novels on his website, it appears as though they all deal with tragic loss.

That's a thread woven through Olive's Ocean. The protagonist, Martha, has her world jolted a bit when the mother of the recently deceased classmate Olive hands her a journal entry in which Olive writes about a desire to become friends with Martha. First off, I do not like the name Martha. It reminds me of Martha Washington, Martha Stewart, and a friend's mom. Just sounds archaic. I'll let Olive slide since I love to eat olives, and it was the name of the girl in Little Miss Sunshine. Ruminating on what could have been slightly mars Martha's family vacation with her grandmother on idyllic Cape Cod and gets the gal all mopey. Hormones, no doubt.

We're definitely not in children's picture book land anymore, with the inclusion of parental MSB (morning sex behavior) and a Martha's brother referring to another teenage boy as a "prick." The foulmouthed sibling also uses the adjective "shitty." Scandal!

The writing is a bit choppy, and the sentences don't flow well. A couple of chapters are even less than a page long. Mr. Henkes, don't follow the Dan Brown method of book composition! Martha simply is not compelling and lacks character. She's about as exciting as cucumbers. Do we really care that Martha wants to properly pay tribute to a girl who she knows nothing about? Though I have fallen for a particular description used by wannabe writer Martha: "[The sparklers] were like white hot chrysanthemums dripping onto the sand." It's beautiful because it's true.

Black & White and Read all over

Birmingham has this awesome free paper called the Black & White. I like to pick up an issue when I'm out and about to read up on local venues, upcoming conerts, events, etc... The issue I picked up last night had an article about Marty's bar and the owner, Marty. My cohorts here at Alacrity and I went Marty's one night to support a local band whose lead singer is a fellow alum of our high school. Our verdict of Marty's? Total dive!!! The article is interesting, and tells us about Marty and how he got started with the bar business. He caters to a later crowd staying open from 4 pm-6 am. Probably part of why I thought it was totally skanky. The place is way too small and has too many smokers. Plus it is on some dark street off the beaten path, where you have to park in some sketch lot and have at least 2 other people with you to feel safe walking to the joint. Birmingham has way cooler places and way better venues!

Viral is like a virus

What's up with the word "viral" popping up all over the place to describe hot internet things? I don't like it and refuse to use it. It seems wrong. Maybe someone can enlighten old fogey me. When I see "viral video," I think about a video you can watch that will give you a computer virus. Am I the only one? Yeah, probably.

Getting Smart

Looks like the new Get Smart movie opens tomorrow. Agent99, are you going to be there opening night? I've seen the trailer a few times. Might be a case of all the funny bits being in the trailer and nothing new in the movie? Then I read that Steve Carell and bird-like Annie Hathaway have a romance? Ew. Apparently Annie Hathaway dumped her loser boyfriend recently. Good for her. So yeah, Get Smart only has a 52% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Our agent should take one for the team by seeing it, and report back.

More barely 20 boys

A pal invited me to a free screening of The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. The best part of this lackluster violent children's movie is the eye candy. The titular Prince Caspian is trying to work that Viggo/Aragorn thing despite utilizing a terrible Spanish accent. My personal favorite was the oldest boy Peter, played by William Moseley.

Exhibit A:

This lad is a reasonable 21 years old. And the English accent! Can't beat that.

The oldest girl is played by a young lady named Susan Popplewell. At first she looks a little homely in school clothes, but in Narnia, she looks prettier and begins to resemble the offspring of Angelina Jolie and Miley Cyrus, if two females could reproduce together. It's the full pouty lips and pretty blue eyes.

Agent99, I think Miley Cyrus is going to go the way of Lindsay Lohan. You defend her now, but just you wait! And I still find it wrong that I know so much about this teen despite never watching her show or listening to her music.

I read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe as a child and felt no connection. Similarly now, Prince Caspian was just a way to spend a hot summer afternoon in the cool comfort of air conditioning.

Some amusing pictures from the Iowa City flood

We're having an interesting time here in Iowa City. The worst of the flooding already hit Cedar Falls, Waterloo, and Cedar Rapids, but we are on a different tributary (the Iowa River while the others are on the Cedar River). This means that we'll have really horrendous flooding, too, but we're still waiting for the worst of it sometime between Tuesday and Thursday of next week. The pictures of Cedar Rapids under water have added a layer of panic to our preparations here.
So now some fun! I've collected a few amusing pictures from the coverage here (see the Press-Citizen site for a ton of pictures).

The local paper is getting a little overexcited:




Coralville (IC's sister-city) is a lake:




A creepy statue wades in the flood waters.



Our friendly Amish-like neighbors from Kalona chip in to protect UI's library:



The suggested detour to get to Cedar Rapids now that 380 is closed increases the commute from 28 miles to 280 miles!

And don't it make my brown eyes blue...

What do you think Inessa, are his eyes brown or blue? Zac E...total hottie hot pants, and he is half my age plus 7!

Happy birthday, dear Michael!

Alacrity's favorite young actor, Michael Cera, is turning the big 2-0 today! Let's come together and wish George-Michael Bluth a superbad birthday!

The shades? The headphones? Let me pass!

I love my neighborhood, but I've had the experience frequently of being harassed on the street. OK, harassment is a strong word, but I don't like when people stop me to ask me to donate money/join an organization/sign a postcard/give directions. This seems to be happening more lately. Even if I have sunglasses on and my headphones in, I've been getting stopped. The kind lass I am at heart, I've stopped anyway and have ended up frustrated. No, I don't want to give you money for your basketball team to get uniforms! I dislike basketball anyway. And bothering me when I'm late to meet someone doesn't score points with me. Bah.

Please change diapers in private

A woman was changing her baby on the bench right in front of my building. I thought that was inappropriate, but my roommate didn't think so. I still think that was wrong, but maybe I'm wrong, but I'm still going to think it's wrong.

There used to be a lot of (and probably still a lot of) controversy about mothers breastfeeding their babies in public. I'm not particularly hip on that either, but the millions of mothers in my neighborhood would tend to beat down on like-minded folk. Somehow breastfeeing doesn't seem quite as bad, probably because dirty diapers and poop and pee are not involved. Yes, I have a pottymouth.

Lukewarm on Coldplay

I had no clue that Coldplay had a new single and album out (mid-June) until I read that on Yahoo! That just goes to show how out of the loop I am. Then again, the last Coldplay album left me cold, so to speak. Easily the weakest out of their releases.

"Violet Hill" is lacking. And every time I see Chris Martin, I think of him as the guy who is willing to procreate with Gwyneth Paltrow, and that's just plain ick to the nth degree.

Bands tend to tire me when they get too big, playing arenas, known by every man woman child in the US. I have a case of ADD (self-diagnosed) and want to keep looking to new things. But I still have wonderful memories of seeing Coldplay with Agent99 back in 2003. I chatted with the opening act, and he said Coldplay were such nice lads. Aw.

Here's the "Violet Hill" vid for you to check out. It's nothing mindblowing either. If that's what you want, check out the video for "Talk." Just focus on the eye candy of bassist Guy Berryman though. Forget Chris Martin, he's the hottest in the band.

It's a small world after all

Eons ago when I was in college, I took a Japanese class with a boy who I took notice of because he was in the realm of attractiveness (glasses!) and had an unusual last name. That was it really.

Fast forward to present day. I live in a place seven states away from where I went to college. My coworker's friend is getting married. Through the magic stalking power of Facebook, I deduce that the bride is marrying the boy I took a class with.

Sometimes big cities just aren't big enough.

The Right Stuff Commentary

I must say that I'm rather amused by the return of the New Kids on the Block. I wasn't huge into the New Kids back in the day. I did have one cassette tape though. My favorite song was "The Right Stuff." I didn't have the sheets or the sleeping bag. I remember feeling like I was missing out on something when everyone else had all the gear at a girl scout sleepover one time. It didn't motivate me to go out and get the gear though. So now that I'm older, and they are too (they have new kids themselves), I find myself intrigued and DVRing the concert on the Today Show and watching videos on You Tube. I think I'll stay away from the sheets and sleeping bags on Ebay, and just leave it at You Tube. Thoughts on the NKOTB return??

Our breakup

Gmail told me I could listen to the new Weezer single here: http://weezer.com/discography/default.aspx/pid/2615

and I did, and I wasn't blown away right off the bat. The ditty would probably grow on me, but I am too uninspired to keep at it. It pains me slightly to admit it, but I think Weezer and I are over. We'll always have the blue album and Pinkerton, but we've just grown apart. It's not you, it's me. Uh, I guess it's you too.

Old as the Hills

Check this out...things younger than John McCain....hahahahahaha!

Julie & Julia

Excitement for today consists of me stumbling into craft services on the set of Julie & Julia, a movie starring Meryl Streep and Amy Adams. Unfortunately I was not able to catch a glimpse of these ladies, but I did watch some extras being filmed outside of a restaurant. "Why are there large trailers in this residential neighborhood? Why is there a table with teabags on it? Oh, it's a movie!" A worker guy mentioned it was set the 50s and there was filming going on inside the restaurant. Someday I'll achieve my dream of being an extra in a film.