He Was Delicious

Although the news today was filled with Gerald Ford retrospectives, Tom Brokaw has apparently been ready for this event for over 10 years...



In other news, here is my holiday special facial hair. One part political pirate, two parts civil warrior. General Ambrose Burnside-Era Civil Warrior, that is. The only thing I can't decide is whether it makes me look more greedy or grievous?

a tribute

friens,

happy holidays. in nicole's spirit of gift-giving, i offer a recap on my city's recent profiles in the press. you can now tour the house where 'a christmas story' was filmed and play with red ryder bb guns. after that, you can surf lake erie's "disgusting" waves with some other wack-jobs. then you can shop in a dillard's department store, even if it's on fire.

apparently clevelanders are the only ones who can't get the hang of voting. but some people participate in the political process a bit too much, this despite a vigorous fight against cocaine consumption.

survival rates for visiting are lookin up, though, since your chances of being shot by the coast guard went down (for now), and after all the cookies, casseroles, and hard liquor, you might not die of a heart attack.

was bethlehem this touch-and-go when it became the birthplace of a savior?

here's to hoping everyone rings in 2007 with appropriate aplomb.

a

My holiday gift to you

Ok all you party people. This is the funniest thing I've seen in a long time. Some of you may have already seen it -- the NY Times did a piece on it today (and those of you who are cooler than me probably got to it before the mainstream media). It's an SNL skit that had to be censored, and they put the uncensored version on the web site. Friggin hilarious. I mean, seriously.

This does NOT help matters with my secret Justin Timberlake obsession.

http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/uncensored.shtml

Happy holidays to everyone!

Victory is mine!

My courageous battle with PowerPoint, delayed flights, hostile empiricists, and my own shattered nerves has been won. As always, email me if you want the gritty details.

a (cleveland) crimmus story

i mean, is this seriously the most-emailed story on nytimes.com right now? yes, yes it is. thank god i can feel connected to the holidays at home (and to ralphie) even from far, far away.

ho ho ho in not-ohio

colombians are getting ready to celebrate the birth of baby j. or rather, they have been since immediately post-halloween (no thanksgiving to stave it off). the lights of the city have been lit, and crimmus carols continually piped into the grocery stores (including, delightfully, bing crosby). i mean, i thought midwesterners were obsessed. barring life-size yard ornaments from consideration in a competition, i think the bogotanos could hands-down take it. and frightfully, there seems to be polonium-like low amounts of cynicism and insincerity here in this urban center. maybe that's what creeps me out a little. my sincerely-full-of-crimmus-spirit roommate, before wrapping up her fieldwork here on coke's bottling plants (i affectionately called her señorita coca-cola -- hug her for me at steve's this weekend), left me with these little items of decor for holiday cheer. somehow she sensed i wouldn't bother to do anything about it myself. but i have to say that the glittery bunch of styrofoam gold balls (? i have no idea) and pint-size tree are just the right additions to the apt. now if only i could convince steve to vacuum seal some punkin pie and ship it down here, i'd be set...