Schittzengiggles

Good Afternoon Ladies & Gentlemen,

This weekend was pretty good. I worked out a bit, went on a few adventures like up to Sierraville (population 130) which was fairly pedestrian…but I did also get these pictures around Donner Lake…

Also got to hang out with my roommate for a bit. We watched a classic movie from now-Academy Award winning director Kathryn Bigelow. He had no idea that she was the director of this timeless classic, nor James Cameron an executive producer until we saw the opening title sequence. What marvel of modern filmmaking are we referring to? Why “Point Break” of course. Oh yeah. Now you know why it’s so damn good. I wonder if “Hurt Locker” has bank robbing surfers & FBI agent quarterbacks. No? Then how could it possibly be her best work? Oh well, I’m sure I’ll find out when I watch it someday.

I also watched “Soul Men” starring Samuel L. Jackson, the late Bernie Mac & the late Isaac Hayes (“I tell you it’s CURSED!!!”). The story is about two former R&B singers who go back on the road when the third member of their trio, The Real Deal, dies…and is going to be honored at the Apollo Theatre. Now, they haven’t been stars in 30 years…and apparently it ended when one ran off with the other’s wife…so obviously there’s a little tension…but hey, there’s money to be made. Honestly, I’m a huge fan of R&B and some of the musical numbers…but even I thought they said “mother lover” and “negro” a lot…even for a movie where the stars are Samuel L. Jackson & Bernie Mac. I mean…it’s not like there were any snakes in their Cadillac. That language is uncalled for. Still, it had its moments…and you know what you’re getting into when you watch a movie like this. We also watched a few movies that he’d never seen & I hadn’t in a while like “Beerfest”, “Wedding Crashers” and caught up on “Spartacus: Blood & Sand” while enjoying Thai food. Good times.

Other than that, just been chatting with friends & family online & excited for my mom coming to visit on Friday. It’s gonna be awesome. So without further ado, here’s some news…

Sandra Bullock – Anybody catch the Oscars last night? Neither did I…but I caught up with them this morning. I personally liked that Sandra Bullock won both an Academy Award & a Razzie in the same year. Granted, I think that she only won the Razzie because she said that she’d accept it in person (because seriously, “All About Steve” is the greatest title for a movie EVER, it can’t be that bad). Regardless, good for her in taking it all in stride & with a sense of humor. Bullock became one of the few Razzie winners ever to collect her trophy in person, showing up at the ceremony Saturday pulling a little red wagon filled with DVDs of "All About Steve" for the audience there. Where will she keep her Oscar and Razzie? "They'll sit side by side on a nice little shelf somewhere. The Razzie maybe on a different shelf. Lower," said Bullock, who was a great sport throughout awards season, joking about her worst-actress Razzie nomination. "You take the good with the not-so-good." Also, big ups to the Dude for finally winning Best Actor. The Oscar marks a career peak for Bridges, a beloved Hollywood veteran who had been nominated four times in the previous 38 years without winning. Describing his long career, he borrowed some lines from one of his most endearing and enduring characters, the laid-back bowler the Dude from "The Big Lebowski." "Ups and downs. What does the Dude say? Strikes and gutters, man," Bridges said backstage. "I'm big on the Dude. I love him." We all do. Oh…and Christopher Waltz, big ups for winning something for “Inglorious Basterds.” I was sure they were going to get completely hosed (as usual with Tarantino films) but congratulations to all the winners…and even some of the losers.

The Whites of Their Eyes – In Owensboro, Kentucky, a woman in jail for public intoxication was accused of assaulting a jailer by squirting breast milk at her. WYMT-TV reported that a 31-year-old woman was arrested Thursday on a misdemeanor charge of public intoxication. But as she was changing into an inmate uniform, she squirted breast milk into the face of a female deputy who was with her. The woman now faces a felony charge of third degree assault on a police officer (really?). Her bond was set at $10,000. That’s right. Ten grand for a little spilled milk (ba-da-tsssh). So yeah, apparently if you spit at an officer, you can be charged with third degree assault. What if I give him or her “The Sh*t Eye”? Would they consider that assault with a deadly weapon & then beat me? I wonder if they’ve had to enforce this with projectile vomit. I mean…she was intoxicated. However, I’m hoping that there’s a YouTube video out there or something for it. I can imagine somebody being checked into their new uniform, “Okay, turn around, arms up.” “Watchoutnow!!!” SQUIRT!!! “What the (gurgling)?” That’s when a hot, fierce, slippery, milky struggle breaks out between a voluptuous naked woman and a soaking wet blinded Officer Nasty, who must feel her way to restrain the prisoner’s wrists once she tackles her to the ground, rolling around in their bodily fluids. Sigh… Okay, I realize that I’m picturing it a LOT hotter than it actually was…but dammit, this imagination keeps me warm at night. And I’m not the only one with an overly active imagination involving the police…

Strange Noises - A woman in Germany phoned police after hearing "suspicious noises" in her apartment. The noise was so loud and strange, even over the telephone, that police in Bochum in western Germany decided to send a patrol car around to the "scene of the crime", a statement said. They looked around the premises…and then "Daringly, and with the occupier's permission, one of the officers opened the drawer of a wardrobe where the noise was coming from. Underneath some clothes he found a very personal, battery-operated object which had obviously switched itself on... The tenant's face abruptly changed color." Police then "wished her a nice evening and left". That’s right. The police were called to investigate a strange noise…that ended up being a vibrator. That’s like the power going out…and as you try to find matches or candles, you hear “It’s okay honey, I think I found something. Do we have any batteries? I don’t think they’re working in this” and then the power kicks back on…and your girlfriend is holding your Fleshlight. Then again, nobody’s going to file a report about that on the way back to the station. Then again, this may just be a rouse. Seriously, who is going to call the cops with “There’s a strange humming noise coming from my underwear drawer. I think something exciting may be in there. Bring your handcuffs…and backup.” At least this story from Germany doesn’t involve feces. Those are rare nowadays.

Happiness Update - If you're trying to buy happiness, you'd be better off putting your money toward a tropical island get-away than a new computer, a new study suggests. The results show that people's satisfaction with their life-experience purchases - anything from seeing a movie to going on a vacation - tends to start out high and go up over time. On the other hand, although they might be initially happy with that shiny new iPhone or the latest in fashion, their satisfaction with these items wanes with time. The findings, based on eight separate studies, agree with previous research showing that experience-related buys lead to more happiness for the consumer. But the current work provides some insight into why. Among the reasons:

• People are more likely to mull over their material purchases than they are experiential ones, second-guessing themselves about whether they really made the best choice.



• We tend to think of experiences more on their own terms, rather than in comparison with other things.



• It's easier for us to decide on an experiential purchase than a material one.



• We're more upset if we learn that someone else got a better deal, or that a better option exists, for a material purchase than for an experience-related one.
  

Satisfaction with a purchase could also come down to mindset. When participants in one study thought of material purchases, such as a music CD, as an experience (many hours of enjoyable listening), they were more satisfied than those who viewed the purchase as just a material item. In another study, 142 participants were asked to think about either a material or experience-related purchase they had made that cost at least $50. Then, they answered questions about: how difficult the decision was to make; how concerned they were that they made the right choice; and how satisfied they were with the purchase initially and at present. The people who thought of a material purchase were significantly more likely to report feeling concerned about the buy and less satisfied with their choice at present than those who had recalled an experiential purchase. A third study involved 164 participants who were asked how they felt about a hypothetical situation in which they had made a purchase, but later found out that other, superior choices existed. They imagined either buying a material good, such as a wristwatch, laptop, MP3 player or a pair of jeans, or an experience, including a meal at a restaurant, a movie viewing, a New York City show, or an island vacation. Subjects who imagined a material purchase were more likely to be disturbed by the availability of better options, and in turn, reported diminished satisfaction with the buy, than those who imagined an experiential purchase. And participants were more likely to be jealous of a rival's superior purchase if the item in question was a possession rather than an experience. Since materials are more easily compared with other things than experiences are, material buys bring more concern and less happiness than experiential ones, the researchers from Cornell University say. The point? Life & happiness is all about experiences. So get out there & have some fun, see the world, and spend it with those that you Love.

On that note, I’ll call it a day. Hope you all enjoyed it…at least for the pretty pictures. Have a great day everybody!!!