A Comic legend has passed.

Let us take a moment to praise the comic legend that passed yesterday. Hardly a day goes by that I don't think back and laugh at this comic genius. The movie Grease is only the classic it is due to her. We will miss you Dody Goodman. Oh, and George Carlin also expired. I realize that half of my stuff came from Carlin.


oh, and Andy's birthday party has been moved to today......

Favorite rituals

What are your rituals during the day or week? By rituals, I'm not talking about obligations or routines (like going to work every day), but those brief moments that you look forward to for one reason or another. For instance, I have a long commute, so my first cup of coffee is brewed while I'm in the shower and drunk on the drive. But it's my second cup of coffee that I enjoy most, because I get it after I finish my morning's work, then walk to the coffee shop about a half-mile away, along a river walk and a bike path, where I've seen osprey, great blue herons, muskrat, beaver, huge snakes, deer and a variety of iridescent blue, green or red dragonflies. It's a small thing, but somehow vitally important in the context of a day.

During the week, I make sure to take a lunchtime walk at least once with my friend Gavin, who is hobbling like I am due to various ailments, preventing us from running. But the walk, usually along the sea wall and beach in Narragansett, or else on the bike path through the Great Swamp, at least gives us a chance to have better discussions than we could have when we were jogging. I've also enjoyed meeting Tom, Emlyn and Em's friend Steve for golf on Wednesday evenings - at least when the golf course has been open. On Saturday, when I'm in Rhode Island, there's the ritual pub lunch and catching up with my friends there. Sundays I put an hour or so into the garden. And every night that I'm home, I usually work on the laptop with the Red Sox game playing on TV.

Topic for Tuesday June 10

What are you listening to these days?

I find for work, either at the office or at home, I like listening to electronic house/trance/house mixes. The driving beat and limited lyrics keeps me moving and up-tempo. Check out djsteveboy.com for two podcasts that I listen to regularly. Podrunner is a good fixed beat mix good for exercise. Grooveelectric is more funky and I actually like this one better.

Last year I discovered North Misissippi All Stars and Andrew W. K.

Since I am a tight wad, I only have a handful of each of their songs, so I can't say I know their music well.

So let me know what's grooving you and maybe I'll find some new music to listen to.

Cheers,
David

Tuesday Topic for June 3, 2008

We will back-peddle a bit and start again. Feel free to comment or ignore if you already answered.

Name a few movies that you truly enjoy despite a critical or commercial drubbing (and always get a few minute pause when channel surfing)

Serenity Now

Another vote, this time for "Serenity," a fun, funny, if flawed science fiction flick by Josh Whedon that went mostly unnoticed. Whedon, creator of "Buffy, the Vampire Slayer" (and its spinoff, "Angel") also made a short-lived but intriguing sci-fi western TV series called "Firefly" that got cancelled before he could complete the first-season story arc. So this movie gave us closure - along with a few surprises for anyone with certain expectations after watching the series.

What is going on

Does this work. Why can't I blog?

Rob

Snarky

Doug just used the word Snarky to describe his comments. I just used the same word yesterday to describe our friend Darlene. She always leaves a snarky comment.


Good word Snarky. This blog, not so much

Still confused

I'm confused about this whole thing. Tom now wants me to twitter. Doug wants me to see if his posts made it (yes - the one about Bill Pullman) and I still don't see anything from Jay or Dave even though they are both listed as contributors. Will I be one too.

You Mean Like Kickball?

A co-worker found this on the net and said... "they're onto you and your friends, Tom." I am not sure if I should laugh or fire him but I have to admit he is right.

OK - so while we are geeking out, I strongly urge you to get on the Twitter bandwagon. Go here now, sign up, and let me know when your done. No messing around here - you will like it, it offers the following benefits:

• It is easy to use
• Takes 5 minutes to sign up
• My inbox won't get jammed up with silly Rob emails
• It's hip
• My inbox won't get jammed up with silly Rob emails

No excuses - not even from Jay. Just do it.

Zero Effect

Bill Pullman was the guy I was thinking of, playing a kind of modern Sherlock Holmes to a bizarre extreme in "Zero Effect." He's another guy who seems to show up in great cult movies. Pullman is terrific as (the first) jilted lover in the film noir, "The Last Seduction," which, to be fair to the original topic thread, was a widely acclaimed if barely watched movie. He was also the moronic boyfriend in "Ruthless People" and the lead guy saxophone player in David Lynch's bizarre but compelling (does he make any other kind of movie?) "Lost Highway." A quick wiki check reveals that he's yet another actor with a Massachusetts connection (that seems to be a prerequisite with me). He went to grad school at UMass.

Welcome to the new world

I am in but have nothing to add yet as I just got back from my tech/marketing conference at 3AM and have a stack of email to sort, answer and ignore. I'll be back!

Topic Tuesday

Boys,

Since we are having a hard time getting online together. I introduce "Topic Tuesday" where each Tuesday, one of us (just one) will introduce a topic to be mulled over, answered, considered, sworn at, confused by, etc. Any topic can be considered: entertainment, education , politics, maple syrup, breakfast houses, is 4 hours too long before calling the doctor, favorites, kittens...anything.

So I tried to figure how to decide who would go first and then in what order. But I ran into a few dilemmas: if we go by first name, Tom will be last; if we go by last name, Tom will be last; if we go by birth dates, Tom will be last; if we go by the names of our children, Tom will be last; if we go by town, Tom will be last. So in order to make it fair - Tom will go last.

I will go first, just to "get the ball rolling" then we will go alpha: Dave, Doug, Jay, Rob, and Tom. Of course if something comes up and you want to throw in a "bonus" Tuesday Topic, please do.

I'll start with a light (sorry, "lite") topic:

Name a few movies that you truly enjoy despite a critical or commercial drubbing (and always get a few minute pause when channel surfing). Feel free to comment on my and others selections

Robs: "Who's That Girl" with Madonna and Griffin Dunne
"Bring It On" - the original only please!
"Armageddon"

I'll probably think of a few more and will add them in the process.

Please enjoy Topic Tuesday and keep it alive!

--Rob