You know who's looking hot these days?

(I mean, besides Spouse. And Neil Patrick Harris. And of course Brett Favre.)

Dr. J, that's who:

Oddly enough, I love this!

Today, Spouse looks at me for a moment at the breakfast table and says, "You look pretty today. Wait, that's not the right word.... You look ass-kicking."

It's on like Donkey Kong

Peyton Manning AND Oreos? I'm so there.

Late October

I've got a bunch of random stuff to throw in here. This might as well be a "random bullets of" post.

• I voted! It felt really good.
  
  
• The foliage is magnificent this week. The commute has been lovely.
  
  
• A couple of bumper sticker/roadside signs to report: "Jesus for President" (shall I point out why that is constitutionally impossible?); "McCane Reigns" (you spelled reign right, but misspelled the other part? WTF?)
  
  
• My kids are back after a visit to their grandparents. I'll admit it. I missed them.
  
  
• My spouse is back too. I missed him a LOT. (And not just 'cuz I'm reading those addictive, sexually frustrating -- and yet totally awesome -- Stephenie Meyer vampire books!)

You Might Think

So, yeah, I needed a little cheering up after the Anne of Green Gables: The New Butchering rant. And I found my bliss:



Three cheers for YouTube mash-ups!

Happy Days Are Here Again

Anybody got the summertime blues? Anybody need a little pick me up? I give you the solution to the world's ills: Neil Patrick Harris.





And while they don't allow embedding, check out his appearance as the shoe fairy on Sesame Street.

I mean, seriously, how can you be sad when this man exists? Even when he's not riding a unicorn, he is awesome. Despite his lack of interest in me or my kind, he's fast making his way toward the laminated list. He has definitely earned himself a "lusty wench" tag.

h/t APL for the Sesame Street link

Yes, please!

DQ is registered to begin soccer in the fall. As such, I'm on the mailing list for the local youth soccer organization. And they sent me a very interesting email recently. The gist: they're hosting a soccer camp and tournament with their sister club in the UK. And they're looking for volunteers to host visiting soccer players and coaches from across the pond.





Do I have any space available?

ETA: for my loyal readers who fancy the ladies:

I love legitimate theatre!

We went from the Ridiculous to the Sublime.

Cruel Irony

Spouse is working the night shift tonight, so I ordered takeout from the Happy Lucky Panda Garden for me and kids. After a lovely meal, we broke into fortune cookies. Mine read: "Romantic opportunities abound tonight."

You lie, fortune guy.

Summertime and the living's easy, part II

Non-academic issue. Since I'm not teaching this summer, I also have lots of non-school-related projects to work on. First and foremost, it's late June, which means I have to turn on Wimbledon and take naps. It's like the law or something.

Although when Marat Safin is playing, I don't think I'll be napping too much. Go Big Sexy Russian Man!



Other projects:

Crochet. Finished the Tudor blanket (crocheted while watching the Tudors, coincidentally). Pictures to come.

Get back into a schedule of working out.

Read some fiction, dammit!

I'm here.

I'm just a little burned out and overworked (grading, prepping for classes, etc.) and blogging has taken a backseat to sleeping and/or watching The Tudors on my Netflix queue.

Hopefully, I'll be back more often come summertime.

I don't get it (aka I'm old)

I recently rented Hairspray. I like the original Ricki Lake version, and I saw the Broadway version a couple of years ago, so I was intrigued to see how it would translate to film.

It was ok. But I had one major problem. This guy?



Neither cute enough, nor talented enough, to play Link. Compare him to Michael St. Gerard, who played Link in the 1988 version. Dude looked like Elvis. Seriously.

So I eventually looked up this "Zac Efron" character, and came to realize he's the star of Disney's High School Musical franchise, and therefore the hottest thing to hit 12 year olds since, well, the Coreys. I don't get it. Which means...

I'm old.

I would say it, but why reinvent the wheel?

WKW over at Shakesville says pretty much my thoughts on the matter:

Brett Favre: One seriously hot guy retires from the NFL

Scenes from a Duke Game on DVR

Evidently, to raise awareness about the environment, people handed out green T-shirts to the Cameron Crazies prior to the game.

Spouse: "Nothing says I care about the environment more than a cheap T-shirt you're going to throw away." At halftime, down by 9 to NC State, many Duke fans shed their t-shirt and toss them into recycling bins at midcourt.

-----

Announcer Len Elmore notes that Duke is slapping the floor in a show of increased defensive intensity. Camera pans to assistant coach Wojo.

Len: "And there's the guy who started it."
Quinn and Spouse (in unison): "No he didn't!"

Pause.

Spouse: "I miss Dickie V."
Quinn: "Welcome to the dark side."

-----

Artist's rendition of Cigarette Guy:



(Yes, he kind of looks like Jon Scheyer. Not spookily so. But close enough.) I ran into him on campus today. He couldn't get away from me fast enough.

-----

We won. Some fantastic plays. I love DeMarcus. Way to go, Paulus!

What goes around comes around

Well, no new developments with Cigarette Guy, but I think I may have stuck my foot a considerable way into my mouth in that very class.

We were discussing things we liked about the class and things that could be improved, so it was a fairly informal conversation. One of my students, for whom English is not his first language, suggested, "We could do some role-playing."

I replied, without thinking, "That could be fun." And one of my students lost it. Laughed for the better part of five minutes. I guess he read a little more into the exchange than either I or the other student meant.

Oops. Guess it happens to the best of it.




ps. I wonder what that would look like? "This time I'll be the pirate and you be the lusty wench!" "I'll be the despotic ruler and you be the helpless peasant!" Or simply, "It's good to be the king."

Why Peyton Manning is Still the Best

Priceless Pep-talks, with Peyton Manning. I especially recommend the one on having a gut.

Sports Shorts

1. Go Sox! By the way, K-lyn or Julie or whoever out there follows baseball, what's with Coco Crisp?

2. Spouse was watching football and disparaging pretty-boy model-impregnator Tom Brady. I agreed, saying he was too pretty.
Quinn: "I like a little bit of grit, like..."
Spouse: "Like Brett Favre."
Quinn: "Yeah."

I'm so glad Spouse gets me.

The Damon Factor

Matt Damon is infiltrating my life in all aspects... not that I'm complaining. This is way better than when Mobutu was chasing me around!

We've Netflixed the first two Bourne films, in anticipation of the unlikely event that Spouse and I will actually make it to the theater to see The Bourne Ultimatum. This spurred of course by seeing the preview while out with K-lyn (herself a Damon fan if only for the Red Sox connection), when I mentioned that "nobody carries a backpack like Matt Damon." She responded, "He's bringing sexy back. Pack."

The kids are currently into Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, narrated by none other than Matt Damon. If it weren't for the painfully earnest Bryan Adams soundtrack, I'd give it a good recommendation.

He recently guest-starred in an episode of Arthur, which is fast becoming the most tolerable children's program out there.

There was considerable discussion (and much sighing) over Damon as "feminist crushworther" over at Shakesville not too long ago. It is politically correct to adore that boy! Plus, if he took you home to meet his family, you might run into Howard Zinn. Always a plus.

Shane Battier Rocks my World

He can't sing, but then, neither can I. We're perfect for each other.

h/t to my most fun friend and former roommate. Love ya.

Bruschetta?

No, I'm not doing one everyday, but here's a gem that's not in rotation these days.