Cleolinda everywhere

Mom's doing our now-weekly amateur steaming of the carpets, and the dogs are upstairs hiding with me. Also, Lucky is trying to dig through the hall carpet outside my door. I kind of dread breaking it to him that China's not under there.

(Question: If I were to write a bio of myself, like one of those quickie back-of-a-pamphlet kind of things, what would I say? I don't know if it's just writing a 5000-word parody in 30 hours that fried my brain, but I have seriously been of no use since Wednesday, and I can't think of a thing to say. What does one say, really? There are so many things I think I could tell them, but that they wouldn't want to know. "I'm glad that you enjoy collecting tarot decks, Cleo, but we really don't care.")

Courtesy many, many people: The 100 most popular LJ users. Apparently I am #38, and it's kind of blowing my mind. However, as theferrett and I discussed, we're both still less popular than two goats and an abandoned web comic. So... keep it in perspective.

(Wait, am I exactly one slot above Poppy Z. Brite? That ain't something you see every day. My mind, she is blown all over again.)

Wank breaks out over the TBS (basic cable station) LOTR ads. Link to "Secret Lovers" clip included--it's worth it for the Gandalf reaction shot, I promise.

Prince to Perform on 'American Idol'? Sweet Lord. If, through some act of rebellion and/or breach of security he broke out "Gett Off" or "P Control," I would die and be bodily assumed into heaven at that point.

My Little Pony, the RPG. Sadly, I would actually buy this if it were real.

So, yesterday was my mother's last day at her old job, and she doesn't have a new one lined up yet--the one she was interviewing for turned her down. Because she was overqualified. So... there's that. She's talking to a headhunter now about some opportunities they know about, but she'll basically be at home for at least a week, if not longer ("Looking for a job is my job now!"). Which on one hand could be really fun, because we'll probably go to a movie (I'm all but bribing her to go with me to V for Vendetta) and go out to lunch, probably at Panera while Sister Girl's on duty, at least once. On the other hand: Micro. frickin'. management. So it is in my best interest to get her out of the house and back into a job tout de suite, so I will be focusing all my Good Thoughts powers on getting her a new gig.

Another reason we need her back at work: for the money (duh), in no small part because the pool guy came and removed the tarp and it is scariness. ( What do you make of those marks? )

Y'all have got to hear this Unplugged version of "Wicked Game" that I nabbed off audiography. If nothing else, I finally understand the background vocals. (Let me know if the download runs out and I'll reload it.)

Pete Doherty is a hoax?  What?

Record jackpot winner laying low:

Even when the lucky individual or group realizes [that they've won], they might not leap into the public eye. "We have found ... that they tend to wait until they have sought legal counsel or financial counsel," Jim Haynes, acting director of the Nebraska Lottery, said of large jackpot winners.

Whoever it is, U-Stop store clerk Stacey Carey has a message for them. "If I sold the ticket to 'em I hope they'd share in the winnings — at least, even one-tenth of a percent would suit me just fine," Carey told AP Radio in a telephone interview.

And now you know why they're laying low.

kosher_jenny: "With all the fuss about about the NBC/youtube thing, people might not have noticed that a Midwest response to the Lazy Sunday feud has been released. And it is hilarious."

Federline says he's ready for backlash. I thought, in order to have a backlash, people had to like you in the first place...?

Hunter S. Thompson's widow starts up Woody Creeker magazine.

Belated valentines.

Looking for a new blog to read? Try the Blogebrity A-List.

The Onion on Frank Miller's Holy Terror, Batman! ("A cartoon targeting the Muslim world. I bet that'll go over great").

McSweeney's: I came for The Five Most Dangerous Children's Books Ever Written, According to Sean Hannity and stayed for When a Stranger E-Mails and The Elements of Spam.

Leonard Pitt (a columnist I used to really enjoy reading, back when I read actual newsprint newspapers) on losing our liberty:

The scene is the Little Falls branch of the Montgomery County Public Library in Bethesda, Md. Business is going on as usual when two men in uniform stride into the main reading room and call for attention. Then they make an announcement: It is forbidden to use the library's computers to view Internet pornography.

As people are absorbing this, one of the men challenges a patron about a Web site he is visiting and asks the man to step outside. [My note: keep in mind that nowhere is it stated that this particular man was actually viewing porn.] At this point, a librarian intervenes and calls the uniformed men aside. A police officer is summoned. The men leave. It turns out they are employees of the county's Department of Homeland Security and were operating way outside their authority.

[A]n agent of the government literally read over a man's shoulder, Big Brother like, and tried to prevent him from seeing what he had chosen to see.

dailydigestnews

The End of the Internet? I linked something similar before, but it's worth reading again. "If Americans are to succeed in designing an equitable digital destiny for themselves, they must mount an intensive opposition similar to the successful challenges to the FCC's media ownership rules in 2003. Without such a public outcry to rein in the GOP's corporate-driven agenda, it is likely that even many of the Democrats who rallied against further consolidation will be 'tamed' by the well-funded lobbying campaigns of the powerful phone and cable industry."

Here's what you can do about it (and if you can, write your own text; it'll mean more).

In more news of internet-related greed: Licking this postage stamp may be a problem.

Syrians Torch Embassies Over Caricatures.

Teen Wanted in Gay Bar Rampage Is Caught.

Red Sea ferry survivors say captain fled.

Two Kidnapped Girls Found, Returned to Dad.

Feminist Author Betty Friedan Dies at 85.

Arson suspected in Alabama church fires.

Jon Stewart explains the difference between Oprah and news. Hint: only one is willing to call out a liar.

E! previews the Super Bowl - the music, the commercials, the movie trailers. There may also be a sporting event in there somewhere.

Schools grapple with policing students' online journals - and whether to police them at all.

Kay Nielsen at the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive. I had no idea Nielsen worked on Fantasia! I love his illustrations for The Twelve Dancing Princesses (shown at link), and have even used them as writing inspiration. Someday, I have got to track down the book they're in.

From 5000 different people: Brokeback to the Future.

I have word, from a friend of a friend of a friend of a friend of a security guy, that [GIANT LOST SPOILER] ( Read more... )