Webcam shut down due to excessive nudity.
 

The WeatherPixie

Hi, I'm a weather pixie. OK, stop laughing. I SAID, STOP LAUGHING, DAMN YOU. Click here if, for some ridiculous reason, you'd like to know more about the current weather conditions in Knoxville, Tennessee. 

   

 

Saturday, 11/25/06 -

NBC is taking the hit game show "Deal or No Deal" to the next level...

Soul or No Soul, with your host Howie Mandel

Friday, 11/24/06 - Black Friday?

I guess I must have been living in the woods for years because this is the first time I ever heard of, or taken notice of, the term "Black Friday" used to describe the day after Thanksgiving. What does it mean, anyway?

I told my son to go out to the stores and ask the people waiting in line outside if they were waiting for McRib sandwiches. He did and he said he didn't get any laughs... just angry glares from psycho bargain-hunting shoppers.

Okay, Michael Richards, best known as Kramer on Seinfeld, went off on a black heckler in the audience of a comedy club a week ago and called him the "N" word... repeatedly. That was quite an unfortunate incident for Richards and he has apologized for it and will probably continue to apologize for it.

Turn it around. Suppose a black comedian fired back at a white heckler with racist names such as "cracker" or "white boy." Nothing would be said about it and no apologies would be issued or expected.

Quite a few black comedians include white jokes in their routines. For some, it's about all they have to offer in their humor. Blacks can make fun of whites, but whites can't make fun of blacks. That's not quite right, is it?

Don't get me wrong, I don't condone what Kramer did. I'm just trying to illustrate the hypocrisy that is going on here. Racism will never go away until everyone, the majority AND minorities, stop with the ethnic jokes and insults.

Thursday, 11/23/06 - Happy Thanksgiving!

In the spirit of the holiday, I once again offer up this stupid photo of myself from several Thanksgivings ago...

Also, I've added a brand-spanking-NEW feature on the site... Change One Letter. The premise of this gag is that I spotted and took photos of a few signs and buildings around town and changed only one letter in their wording to hopefully create some kind of humorous result. This is an idea I've had for quite a while but just now got around to doing the work. There's not a whole lot to start off with, but I think the piece has some potential.

Take a look and see what you think.

Thursday, 11/16/06 - Huh?

Yesterday, news came out that O.J. Simpson has written a book titled "IF I DID IT," on how he would have committed the infamous murders that he was tried and acquitted of... IF he was actually responsible for the murders, of course.

What the hell??!!!???

How bizarre. I think this is a first. I cannot think of any other instance in history ever where an accused killer, who has adamantly maintained their innocence of any wrongdoing concerning a homicide, revisits the event and tells how they would have done it if they had been the "real" murderer.

Man, O.J. must be hard up for money and attention. What kind of a cruel bastard would want to put everybody through this again with this kind of hypothetical tease of a book? What's the point? Even the way the title of the book is designed is a tease with the words "I DID IT" standing out in red.

Is O.J. trying to tell us something? Is this his way of confessing?

Hmmm... maybe someone could make some money writing a book titled "HOW I WOULD KILL O.J. IF I EVER DECIDED TO DO IT, WHICH I NEVER WILL."

Chapter One: Staking out the Golf Course.

Wednesday, 11/15/06 -

Let's take a few moments and pay tribute to America's gays. I mean, they're everywhere.

Don't get me wrong, I really don't have anything against them. In fact, I recently voted (in vain) against the anti-gay marriage amendment to the state constitution which was on the ballot here in Tennessee in the elections last week.

Personally, I don't see any real harm in letting gays marry. I don't care so much for them having the right to marry (or have civil unions) as I am against one group of people choosing how another group of people can live their lives. We went through all of this before with the civil rights problems in the 50s and 60s.

I think most people are more confused than threatened by the idea of gays marrying. Think about the etiquette aspect of it. If two guys marry, whose father pays for the wedding? Are there bouquets and are girls or guys, or both, eligible to catch it when it's tossed? And everyone would be seated on one side of the church when asked if they're friends or family of the bride or groom.

Anyhoo, most gays you see on television are usually involved in interior decorating, fashion, or hairstyling. Hey, that might be stereotyping, but it's basically true. Sometimes you'll see them other places. Just last night, I was watching a new game show called "Show Me the Monkey"... uh, I mean "Money"... hosted by none other than William Shatner. It was a fairly entertaining show, mostly due to the beautiful go-go dancing girls featured. It reminded me of a strip bar... not that I've ever been to one, of course. The very first contestant was a flaming, very excitable, gay guy who bounced onto the stage wearing a "murse" (man purse).

Check it out...

After that, my daughter showed me a few videos that she found that were created by an incredibly gay guy on MySpace. These have to be seen to be believed. Very funny stuff.

Monday, 11/6/06 - I'm 47 years old today.

Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday to Markie, Happy Birthday to meeeeeeeee.

I had a birthday party with a few of my bitches today...

A lot of you out there completely forgot about my birthday. That's all right, but from now on, here's a handy little reminder that I thought of that will prevent you from ever forgetting it again. Okay, here's how it works... take today's date, 11/6, MY BIRTHDAY, and turn it upside down...

IT'S SIMPLE!!!

Beautiful, isn't it? I'm sure you won't forget now.

11/6 - NEVER FORGET.

Wednesday, 10/25/06 -

I like living in East Tennessee, but hillbilly shit like this is just embarrassing...


Elwood Smooch's Ole Smoky Hoedown

More on this later.

Wednesday, 9/20/06 -

It's story time with Flavor Flav!

Saturday, 9/16/06 -

When they just won't stop crying...


Click for larger image

Tuesday, 9/12/06 -

God bless em all... including "etc."


Click for larger image

 

Monday, 9/11/06 -

This is what it has come to...

KHANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!

Sunday, 9/10/06 -

This afternoon, President Bush and the First Lady laid a wreath at the site of the World Trade Center in memoriam of the 9/11 tragedy...

President Bush and First Lady Laura Bush pay their respects to the memory of those killed on 9/11.

Tuesday, 9/5/06 - This boy has got some talent. Chip McCormick, a friend of my son, is a budding filmmaker and also a madman.

Witness a few of his films on Google...

Wild on Knoxville

Kill the Bill

Spence Line One

Funny stuff.

Monday, 9/4/06 - Crikey!

The Crocodile Humper at work

Steve Irwin, the "Crocodile Humper," was killed today after being fatally stabbed in the heart by a Stingray in Australia's Great Barrier Reef.

Irwin died while doing what he loved best... harassing animals.

I mean, really... he would go out of his way to pester and taunt the hell out of dangerous creatures for apparently no good reason. I'm sure he respected these animals in his own way, but a logical person's idea of respect would be to LEAVE THEM THE HELL ALONE.

I don't mean to sound cruel, but this was a long time coming.

Tuesday, 8/22/06 -

Hoff is hotter than Hell on a Saturday night.

Stop whatever it is you're doing and jump in The Hoff's car. (For his fans in Germany, springen sie in das auto des Hoffs).

And while you're at it, get hooked on der feeling.

Und! Und! Achtung, schweinhund wiener schnitzel!

But whatever you do, do not go here. Consider yourself warned.

Monday, 8/21/06 - After informing people many times using a very loud voice, I've finally come to the conclusion that no one actually cares to know "how I roll."

Sunday, 8/20/06 - One of my neighbors is an older guy who does nothing except mow his yard, set out his trash for pickup, walk his little rat dog, drink beer, and smoke cigarettes. But his main passion is the community swimming pool across the road that he maintains. He is so protective and obsessed with that damn pool, I think he would marry it if he could. But we all know that you can't marry any inanimate object in Tennessee unless it's your sister or brother.

Here's a little drawing I did in honor of my neighbor...

Click on the thumbnail for a larger image.

Saturday, 8/19/06 - Sometimes, things just seem out of place... like hearing Wham's "Wake Me Up Before You Go Go" playing on the sound system at Home Depot (where manly men buy hardware and wood), or drinking a margarita at a Chinese restaurant.

But, witnessing all the freakish miscreants at my local Wal-Mart while hearing Oingo Boingo's "Weird Science" being played on the sound system fits perfectly somehow.

Thursday, 8/17/06 - Today is my mom's 77th birthday. All hail mom!...

A photo taken of my mom... moments before she told me what she would do if she were me...

Tuesday, 8/15/06 - Is anyone out there missing a morbidly obese rapper?

If so, you might want to check the trunk...


Photo taken at a grocery store parking lot in Bomb Town (Oak Ridge), Tennessee.

Monday, 8/13/06 - This video from last year is so damn funny, it needs to be mentioned again...

Tom Cruise Kills Oprah. (Quicktime movie)

Sunday, 8/13/06 - Last night, my friend Greg Watters (who shall be referred to as "Greg Watters") dusted off our boogie shoes and went out to a nightclub and met the Bon Jovi girls... a trio of fun-loving ladies. I don't know if they'll ever read this, but thanks for sharing your company and having a fun time with us. But I think I should tell you that "Greg Watters" is pregnant now.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot. While at the club, we saw this bizarre-looking Road Warror-type looking dude who had tattoos on his face, but even weirder than that was his hairstyle, which seemed to be some kind of a reverse mohawk. How can I describe it? He was bald except for a couple of patches on the back of his head. Here's a sketch of what it looked like...

I also attended a "Disco Night" charity fundraiser last night. The emcee was a John Travolta impersonator whose white suit was a tad too snug on his pudgy body. During a dance routine he was performing, his pants split open at the crotch. Nothing sprang forth, but he immediately left the room and didn't return until later in regular attire.

I recently found this artwork when cleaning out some closets. I had it reframed and put it up in my house. I drew this way back in 1982 and it's my take on the movie poster from Urban Cowboy, which was quite a popular film at the time...

Click thumbnail for larger image

Monday, 8/7/06 -

FINALLY there's something worthwhile to watch on television again! I mean, until Battlestar Galactica starts back up in October.

I'm talking about the return of The Flavor of Love on VH1.

Yeah BOYEEEEE!!!!

In case you don't know what this show is all about, just think of The Bachelor reality show... ghetto style. 20 girls are vying for the affections of Public Enemy rapper Flavor Flav. A person should have more sense than to watch something this idiotic and mindless, but it's oddly fascinating to see... especially the GIRL FIGHTS!

On last night's season 2 opener, there was a major girl fight just minutes into the show. Plus, yelling matches that would make you cringe, light lesbian action, and the night's finale of one of the girls... a big one... letting loose and crapping all over the floor and staircase. I am not kidding.

If that's any indication of the rest of the season, it should be a pretty wild ride.

Wednesday, 7/26/06 -

Lance Bass: I'm amazingly gay and it's amazing

"It's fun being gay!"
What's the big surprise? Anyone can tell this dude is gay. I mean, LOOK AT HIM.

NEW YORK (AP)

The effeminate-looking Lance Bass, who formed 'N Sync with Justin "Wardrobe Malfunction" Timberlake, JC Chasez, Joey "The Fat One" Fatone and Chris Kirkpatrick, tells People magazine that he didn't earlier disclose his amazing sexuality because he didn't want to affect the group's popularity.

"I knew that I was in this amazing popular band and I had four other amazing guys' careers in my amazing gay hand, and I knew that if I ever acted on it or even said (that I was amazingly gay), it would overpower everything," he told the magazine. When told that everyone thought of the band as being totally gay from the start anyway, Bass drew a blank stare on his gay face.

'N Sync is known for a string of gay hits including "Bye Bye Bye" and "It's Gonna Be Me." The band went on gay hiatus in 2002. Bass has also made headlines for undertaking astronaut training in Russia for a trip into space. However, he was escorted out of the training camp after his insistence on performing a gay docking procedure... repeatedly.

Bass and The Fat One, 29, are developing a sitcom pilot inspired by the screwball comedy "The Odd Couple," in which his character will be... drum roll, please... gay. Tony Danza is considering playing the role of the gay matador in the show.

"The thing is, I'm not ashamed -- that's the one thing I want to say, other than the fact that I'm gay, gay, gay," Bass says. "I don't think it's wrong, I'm not devastated going through this. I'm more liberated and happy than I've been my whole gay life. I'm just happy. I think I'll go shopping for a big flowery leotard and feather boa. I'm amazingly gay."
 

Tuesday, 7/25/06 - Rock the Vote

Sooooooo, as I was saying before I was interrupted, we're having election primaries on August 3, and the big item up for bids is the U.S. Senate seat from Tennessee being vacated by Senator Bill Frist... a.k.a. comic impressionist Rich Little in his longest performance to date.

(Notice how I just started back up with no mention of my 3 month absence from posting? Pretty clever, eh? That's the way I roll, beyotches.)

Anyhoo, as I was saying, the primaries are August 3. There are 3 guys running against each other in the Republican primary. They are...


Ed Bryant

Bob Corker

Van Hilleary

Now, actually, I could care less about any of these guys since I vote Democrat, but I could care especially less about Van Hilleary with his helmet hair. Never trust anyone with hair like this because they're either politicians or evangelists, both of which are full of the shite.

Little Eddie Bryant has been running TV ads that state "I stand by President Bush." Ed, you ARE trying to WIN the election... right?

Bob Corker, the former mayor of Chattanooga, is expected to win the Republican primary. He's a corker, that Bob! (I've been waiting for some time to say that).

Van Hilleary's ads never fail to mention his military service during Desert Storm where he was responsible for the sharpening of all pencils for the Air Force. When asked about health care or enforcing our country's borders, Van is quick to point out that a very important check box was checked off on a very important form using one of his sharpened pencils 15 years ago during the war against Satan.

The Democratic candidate is Harold Ford Jr., illegitimate son of Ford Motor Company CEO Bill Ford. Ha, ha, ha, just kidding... OR AM I?


Harold Ford Jr.

This is the guy I'm voting for. I don't know what his views are and I don't care. If the reality of a black man being elected U.S Senator pisses off the redneck population of Tennessee, then I'm all for it.

I'm Mark Longmire and I approve this message.

(Interesting note: While writing this post, I accidentally misread the address of Harold Ford Jr.'s campaign website and typed http://www.fordforsenate.com. Type it yourself and click the link to see what you get. Very tricky, Ed. That right there proves you're a deceptive and manipulating bastard.)

Friday, 4/28/06 - Barnes and Noble

So, just to kill an evening, I drove out to my local Barnes and Noble bookstore tonight to read and look at stuff without paying for anything. I'm not really a book reader, so I ambled over to the magazine racks and picked out a few publications dealing with model building, action figures, Photoshop, movies, art, and even a Martha Stewart home decorating magazine. Hey, I'm a multi-layered kind of guy.

So, I have this armload of magazines and now I'm looking for a place to sit down. All of the soft cushy chairs are taken except for one, which is right next to this woman sitting in an identical one. She has her hippie denim purse draped across the arm of her chair and the arm of the empty one I have my eye on. Knowing my chances of snagging this seat were slim, I asked anyway. "Is anyone sitting there?" She replies, "Yes, my husband is." I say okay, and walk away to sit in a hard wooden chair with the rest of the poor unfortunates. But all the while I'm looking at my magazines with one eye, I'm also keeping a watch on her and that empty chair with the other eye. The "husband" never appears even after about 30 minutes. Then the woman gets up and leaves. LIAR! Why would someone do that? That's cold. I had half a mind to follow her out to the parking lot and cut her skull... but I'm a gentleman and I don't do that anymore.

Another time, I was in B&N (that's what we city folks call Barnes and Noble) and sat down to read magazines for free when a woman near me just carried on a loud conversation on her cell phone without a single regard to anyone around her. Now I consider bookstores to be sort of like libraries where the quiet rule applies also. I couldn't concentrate on reading with this woman sitting there mindlessly flipping through pages while arguing with someone on her phone. After a while, I just put my reading material down, sat forward in my chair and stared intensely at her. She sensed my glaring eyes and after a moment said to me "What are YOU looking..." She never got the word "at" out before my patented backhand slap sent her flying out of her seat and into the Gay and Lesbian Studies section.

Anyhoo... that reminds me another incident that happened in that very same store a few months before. I had a Saturday afternoon with nothing to do, so I decided to go to the bookstore. Kind of like this evening as I described earlier with the chair liar but it was a Saturday afternoon instead of a Friday evening and there wasn't any chair liars present, at least none that I was aware of.

So, I changed my routine and actually picked out a book to peruse. It was comedian Bill Maher's book "New Rules." I started reading it, got really into it, and a couple of hours later I actually finished reading it right there in the store. That was a first for me... to actually read an entire book in one sitting while in the bookstore! To celebrate, I threw the book against the window and yelled out, "FINISHED IT!"

A hush fell over the bookstore. Some people even paused for a second during their cell phone conversations.

My fellow patrons didn't seem to share my joy in this achievement and you could say that they even looked somewhat annoyed by my sudden outburst. I thought they would be proud of me. Their look of annoyance turned to confusion when I followed up my exclamation with "Uh... well, at least I didn't lie about saving a seat for my husband!"

Damn book-reading-caffe-latte-sucking snobs.

Sunday, 3/19/06 - Geez... I think I'm watching too much network television. From a sound sleep early this morning, around 3 a.m., I suddenly sat straight up in bed and screamed out "NO DEAL!!!!!"

If you don't know what I'm referring to, you're better off.

Saturday, 3/11/06 - I was petting my dog the other day when she let out this long, lonely-sounding fart and promptly left the room. Then, to my amazement... besides the amazement of the fart itself, I noticed there was a shiny new penny on the floor where she had been sitting. Wow! A dog that farts money! I think I've stumbled upon a gold mine.

Thursday, 3/9/06 - A special shout out goes to my daughter Ashley who turns 18 today! That means I'm the father of two adults now (my son became 20 last month).

Thursday, 2/16/06 - A belated HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY to everyone!

I gave Valentines to my mom, my daughter, a coworker, and a Valentine's Day "Action Pack" to my special new lady friend, Sandi. I promised (threatened) I would mention her on the site. Hi, Sandi!

Anyhoo, Valentine's Day can be a touchy thing. Oh, it's great if you're happily married or happily dating, but if you haven't a significant other it can be the loneliest day of the year. I've been there... it feels like an elite club that you're not a member of.

And it can be a cruel day, too, if the recipient of your valentine and affections doesn't return the favor (or doesn't even acknowledge it)... or if you bestow gifts upon a loved one and it's not good enough for the gold-digging bitch. Pardon my French, but it's a proven fact that some women are bitches. I think they proved that in a lab somewhere... in France.

Valentine's Day puts a lot of pressure on men to deliver the goods, be it flowers, candy, jewelry, dinner, etc. Hell, we (men) can be doing just dandy all the other 364 days of the year, but if we come up short on VD day, it is never forgotten. It's a day that sets you up for failure.

It really is a day for women. The only day truly dedicated to men solely is Father's Day... and even that involves the previous participation of a woman.

Hey, but what do I know? DON'T ANSWER THAT.

So, I hoped you survived Valentine's Day intact. Hopefully, it will be outlawed some day.

Sunday, 2/12/06 - Tonight I and my friend and coworker Greg Watters, who shall be referred to as "Greg Watters," went to a bar that was hosting...

MIDGET WRESTLING

You might be asking yourself, "Why would you want to see midget wrestling?"

A better question would be, "Why would anybody NOT want to see midget wrestling?"

Besides, if we didn't venture out our homes to see fine entertainment such as this... well, then the terrorists have won.

We had been planning to see this for a while since I first saw an ad for it in the newspaper. The day of the wrestling, I called the bar to see if it was still on. It was and I was informed that it started at 9:00 pm.

Note to self: always add an hour to the start time of any event held in a bar. They always delay the show so that the patrons drink more while they're waiting.

So, at 10:00 the show finally gets started with the "Andrew Dice Clay of the midget world" who promptly tells the audience that he is not a midget, but is a dwarf and demonstrates the difference by sitting down next to a normal sized person. Their heads are level with each other which proves that dwarves torso and heads are normal size and it's just their arms and legs that are small. Midgets, on the other hand, are more proportional to normal sized people, only smaller.

See, we've learned something already.

Anyhoo... the dwarf then proposes to demonstrate something else when he picks out a woman from the audience, gets her into the ring and proceeds to dry hump her. I AM NOT KIDDING. While he's doing this, he evens drops his pants in back and moons everyone. Ask "Greg Watters" if you don't believe me. I have a camera with me, but I am too stunned to even take a picture.

At last the wrestling gets started and I get a couple of good video clips (all clips are best viewed with a Quicktime player)...

Suddenly, the midgets' female handlers get pissed off at each other for some reason and start fighting...

Then it was announced that in the next match the midgets will be taking dollars from the audience and stapling them to each other.

"Greg Watters" and I wisely decide to leave at this point. We had seen enough already to psychologically damage us for a long time to come, plus the crowd was turning ugly and demanding blood. And we both stunk of cigarette smoke.

You might still be asking "Why would you want to see midget wrestling?"

And now I can answer you... "Because I am stupid."

Never again. (Yikes... I can still picture that dwarf's ass.)

Sunday, 2/5/06 - You may have seen those "Farting Preacher" videos that people have done that feature clips of evangelist Robert Tilton with sound effects added. I always thought those were genius and I started creating one of my own from video I had recorded from a few of his broadcasts (which, by the way, now air on BET, of all places, in the wee hours of the morning). As I got started, the religious ramblings and symbolic phrases he uttered gave me an idea for a different themed video... based on a combination of common e-mail spam that we all get.

So... here is my take on Rev. Tilton's pitch for...

"Enlarging, enlarging, enlarging, enlarging..."
Christian Penis Enlargement
(wmv file, 5.4 mb)

Please don't send me hate mail, OK?

Friday, 2/3/06 - This morning as I prepared to shave, I accidentally spread toothpaste all over my face instead of shaving balm, probably because they are both in similar-looking tubes. Hey, it was an honest mistake... and I was drunk.

Speaking of drinking, new rule: no more drinking at home.

I usually don't drink much at home, but the last two times I have, there has been a mishap.

The first incident occurred when I was lying on my bed drinking a bottle of beer. I fell asleep and was soon awakened by the sound and wet sensation of spilled beer foaming on my crotch. I jumped up immediately and narrowly avoided getting my new bedspread stained. I stood there, stunned, with my loins totally soaked.

The next incident was when I was enjoying some wine that I had gotten for Christmas. I was drinking it out of a plastic drinking glass as I watched TV. Sure enough, it turns out the glass had a crack on the bottom of it and I once again wound up with a soaked crotch.

My crotch has always had magical powers (ask anyone), and now it seems to attract alcoholic beverages. I'm learning new secrets about my tenders everyday.

Thursday, 2/2/06 - Well, it looks like we're in for another six weeks of winter... since the groundhog came out and saw the shadow of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Monday, 1/30/06 - I took my mom grocery shopping this past weekend. I won't say which local supermarket we went for fear of reprisals, but, man, this store must be where all the ugliest rednecks in the county shop. People who look like they walked right out of Deliverance.. and I swear I could almost hear banjo music coming from somewhere. We finished her shopping and were behind one woman and her daughter in line. An argument started between the two of them that kept building and building and finally climaxed with the mother screaming out, "I SAID TO GO GET ME A BIG CAN OF KRAUT!!!"

Speaking of stores... have you ever stopped in a convenience store and had this happen?.. You're standing in line for the cashier and the person in front of you (usually an elderly person) currently making a purchase is taking their sweet time concluding the transaction: making small talk with the cashier about the nephew of someone they both know, sorting their cash very carefully into their wallets, making sure all the bills are face up and without bent corners, and in the case of a woman, putting her change into a change purse or wallet, and then putting the wallet into a purse... and then (sigh) zipping or snapping the purse shut. All of this occurs in super slow motion as you look on helplessly.

Then this person suddenly turns their head and gives this startled look. I know you've seen this happen before and you know the look I'm talking about. They are genuinely surprised that a line has formed behind them and that there are actually other people that exist in the world that shop at this same store, at the same time that they do. This momentous event shatters their previous belief that the store was built and stocked for the sole purpose of serving only them.

This is also true at ATMs. You get the same look.. "You mean to tell me that I am not the only person that uses this machine? There are others out there with bank accounts?"

Another thing about the convenience stores. I don't know about where you live, but here in Knoxville we have a chain of convenience stores called Weigel's. Every Weigel's consists of a cashier and an elderly guy hanging out, standing at the unmanned side of the cashier counter, smoking a cigarette. That is the smoker's only function. I've never seen them do anything else. They are not in uniform like the cashier, so I assume they are civilians and are there to assist the cashier in case some vital information such as a recent ball game score is needed during a conversation between the cashier and the person mentioned previously holding up the line.

I was going through this web site editing a few pages when I saw a post I had made back in July of 2003 concerning the then recent death of comedian Buddy Hackett. Curious, I went back to his web site, BuddyHackett.com, and clicked on the "Where's Buddy?" button and got this answer...

"Buddy's taking a nap... and he's a VERY sound sleeper."

More like a dirt nap, huh? Geez, you'd think that the webmaster of a site concerning a big celebrity such as Buddy Hackett would have updated it by now with a memorial of some sort. I think I have found a webmaster that's even lazier than ME.

Saturday, 1/28/06 - A couple of weekends ago, I went to see Walk the Line (which is an excellent movie, by the way). As I was waiting for some friends to arrive, it suddenly dawned on me that here I was, a guy all by himself, leaning against a column in the lobby... right in front of the entrance to a showing of Brokeback Mountain. My friends Susan and Al arrived and I greeted Al with a wink and a "Hello, cowboy!"

Friday, 1/27/06 - EVEN MORE MORE fun with video...

Okay, this one doesn't make much sense, but here it is, anyway...


Birth of an Engineer
(wmv file, 1 mb)

Sunday, 1/22/06 - EVEN MORE fun with video...

This morning I played around again with adding audio to a video clip. The victim this time is a scene from Planet of the Apes. Check out these two different versions...


The Hunt-1
(wmv file, 1 mb)


The Hunt-2
(wmv file, 1 mb)

Friday, 1/20/06 - More fun with video...

I've had this idea for quite a while and finally got around to doing it this morning when I unexplainably woke up at 4 a.m. and couldn't get back to sleep.

A few months ago , I was transferring some old VHS tapes to DVD when I came across the 1984 movie Flashpoint that I had taped off HBO eons ago. In the movie, there is one tough-talking scene with some priceless dialogue. I started wondering what this scene would sound like with a laugh track and sound effects added. The results are kind of bizarre, hopefully hilarious... it makes a mockery of the whole scene and changes the drama into a sitcom.

I really enjoyed working on this. I hope you like it...

"The Fixer"
(wmv file, 2 mb)

Thursday, 1/19/06 - Witness the horror of my evil daughter in this pair of video clips she created on her own (best viewed using a Quicktime player)...

Evil clip 1

Evil clip 2

Wednesday, 1/18/06 - Man, I just saw the stupidest commercial on TV. Maybe you've seen it, too. It starts with this older doctor talking to a group of young interns tagging along with him as he walks through what looks like a medical facility. The doctor is telling the interns about this brand spanking new medication called Zetia. The weird thing is that as they enter this one room, the interns suddenly know all about Zetia and there are even flip charts and signs that are somehow, magically, already prepared with graphics and information to help illustrate their talking points. At the end of the commercial, as the group exits the building, one intern starts telling the doctor about the possible side effects of the drug... when moments before he didn't even know it existed.

Incredible.

Hey, I've been awarded a Slackie!

And now, seen for the first time anywhere, are some random photos I took during last year that I never got around to posting...


My daughter celebrated her 17th birthday last March.

 


Taken just before Christmas last year.

 

 


A shot of my son (singing) and his band, Greta Garbo's Thighs, as they perform in public for the first time early last year.

 


My favorite parking space at the mall. Hey, it's not a real law like a handicapped space or something!

 

 


Yes, those are legs sticking out of the ground on the left. This is near the Ciderville Music Barn on Clinton Highway just outside of Knoxville, TN... not far from my mom's house.

 

 


Knockin' shells at the Knoxville Zoo.

 


Now, this photo was actually taken during my visit to Memphis in the fall of 2004, but it hasn't ever been posted for you, the public, to see. And it's timely too, since this past Monday was Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday, and the Lorraine Motel was where he was fatally shot. And I noticed something in this photo for the first time today... the word HEADSHOTS on the marquee. I DID NOT add that. I don't know what it pertains to here, but it's kind of weird, isn't it?

Thursday, 1/12/06 - Why hello, there. Fancy meeting you here. What's up? How have you been? You're looking good.

Let's talk about last year for a minute.

Hmmm… let's see... how can I sum up the year 2005? Let me think…

It sucked.

I MEAN, IT REALLY SUCKED.

The misfortunes started when my girlfriend of 3 1/2 years suddenly decided to call it quits with me. It was quite an emotional blow to me because I thought we were quite happy and we had planned to live the rest of our lives together. We had been engaged for 7 months.

That was just the start of a truly wonderful last 6 months of 2005.

Soon after, my mom got sick with a colon infection that landed her in the hospital 5 times in almost as many months. She's fine at the moment, but the sickness keeps coming back after she concludes rounds of antibiotics.

Other things happened one after the other like dominoes falling. Some were my fault caused by my own stupidity. Some were just bad luck.

But, I had to keep in mind that all of my problems were nothing compared to the monumental losses suffered by the victims of Hurricane Katrina, to use as an example. That horrible event helps me keep my little hardships in perspective.

So, I was looking forward to New Year's Eve so I could take 2005, slap it in the face, give it the middle finger, and kick its ugly ass out the door at the stroke of midnight. Good riddance. I think a lot of people feel that way. It was a lousy year for most everyone I know. Personally, it now officially joins 1990 (the year I went through a bitter divorce) and 1995 (the year my dad died) as one of the worst years of my life.

Surely, SURELY, 2006 has got to be better. And it already has been so far. I've got a good feeling about it. Things are looking up.

I hope 2006 is a great year for you, too. HAPPY NEW YEAR!

At just six minutes after midnight on New Year's Day, I heard a police siren. Amazing.

Later in the day, I saw my first stupid thing of the new year. A redneck's pickup truck with this phrase written across the top of the windshield...

OVERNIGHT MALE.


©2006, Mark Longmire, The Wonderful World of Longmire