The End.

It's the last day of 2007, and I'm wishing all my readers all the very best in the new year.
My last post of the year will be a bit of a cop out.
I hate most commercials, so when people do parodies I generally think they're pretty funny.
The commercials I currently hate are the "Whopper Freak Out" ads.

That's why I find Whopper Freak Out: The Ghetto Version funny (NSFW)




Found at YesButNoButYes

I know this was posted here before, but it's too beautiful not to post again...

Sunday Click Around

I've linked to The Pioneers of Striptease before, but it's worth linking to again. You know who's missing from that list? Chesty Morgan. I met her once, She had some great stories...all told in a Polish accent.

While we're on Strippers, what would be next other than Pin Ups?
Here is the art of Gil Elvgren, and Edward Runci...as well as some girlie postcards.

Christopher Huet, Professional retouch artist...the photos are pretty fantastic.

How to walk like a runway model...you know, in case you're asked to stand in during Fashion Week.

Speaking of models, Heather Kuzmich was a contender for "America's Next Top Model", and I read that she got pretty far...I've never seen an entire episode, because...well, I don't care...but had I known that Heather had Asperger's, I totally would have watched, until she was voted off.

This church compilation made me laugh.

I have a girlfriend who has a potty mouth. When I say that, I mean that all of her conversation is peppered with the "F" word...and you know when they say that cuss words are filler for people who don't have a good vocabulary? That's not her...so, why she swears so much is a mystery. That's why I thought this guy's vlog was funny.

I love the art of Gustav Klimt, and here's a lovely website about his life and work....and a very expensive sea house in Ibiza that is for sale, called Klimt House.

Cats just talkin' on the phone.

Celebrity Face Lift is a site where you can do your own pretend plastic surgery.
While we're talking about plastic surgery, it's hard to believe that anyone would enter a contest to be Miss Ugly get plastic surgery....but then, we did have The Swan.

Here are some of the most dangerous roads in the world.

Here is someones opinion of the worst songs of 2007. Frankly, I didn't even notice most of them over the year.

I've linked to this before, but this kid has resurfaced recently: The Evil Eye.

If any of you remember I posted links to Catherine Tate in a previous click around, I can't find the Tempura skit...but I did find a newer one about Shitake Mushrooms.

Life in Drag, Special Poetry Slam...if you look on the sidebar, you can find many other recitals of poetry from The Special Poetry Slam.

Pizdaus, the pictures we like. For anyone who speaks Serbo-Croatian, the name "Pizdaus" is giggle inducing.

CBC News Sunday just did a short little expose on the Freedom Rider's Reunion.
For those of us who grew up in the urban north after The Civil Rights Movement, we don't really appreciate what people went through to secure those civil rights.
The idea that in many places, it would have been illegal for The Mister and me to marry...a mere 40 years ago, is hard to even imagine.
The fact that many of The Freedom Riders are still alive says it all.
Here are a few profiles of some of them.
Here is what comes up on Google Images when you type in The Freedom Riders.
God bless every single last one of them.

That's all.

This boy's story breaks my heart...

Marriage Confidential

Radmila: "How was your day?"
The Mister: "Ok."
Radmila: "Did anything interesting happen?"
The Mister: "Uh-uh"

Two hours later:
Radmila: "Whatcha doin'?"
The Mister: "Watching basketball"

45 minutes later:
Radmila: "Am I buggin' you?"
The Mister: "Yep"

12:15am, in bed

The Mister: "are you sleeping?"

Radmila: "Trying to"

The Mister: "Benazir Bhutto was assassinated. She was pretty bold, eh? She ran the Pakistan Peoples Party, a centre-left political party in Pakistan affiliated to the Socialist International. She was the first woman elected to lead a Muslim state, having been twice elected Prime Minister of Pakistan. She was sworn in for the first time in 1988 at the age of 35, but was removed from office 20 months later under the order of then-president Ghulam Ishaq Khan on grounds of alleged corruption. In 1993 Bhutto was re-elected but was again removed in 1996 on similar charges, this time by President Farooq Leghari.

Bhutto went into self-imposed exile in Dubai in 1998, where she remained until she returned to Pakistan on 18 October 2007, after reaching an understanding with President Musharraf by which she was granted amnesty and all corruption charges were withdrawn.

She was the eldest child of former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, a Pakistani of Sindhi descent, and Begum Nusrat Bhutto, a Pakistani of Iranian-Kurdish descent. Her paternal grandfather was Sir Shah Nawaz Bhutto, who came to Larkana Sindh before partition from his native town of Bhatto Kalan, which was situated in the Indian state of Haryana.

She was assassinated on 27 December 2007, by two gunmen as she was entering her sport utility vehicle after a gathering of the Pakistan People's Party. Shortly thereafter, a suicide bomber exploded in the crowd, killing 14 people and injuring many others. On December 28 it was announced that a member of Al-Qaeda was believed to have masterminded the attack (wiki)."

Radmila, wide awake.

Snoring from the other side of the bed.

Things that bug me: Episode 9,347

Back seat video players.
I know.
I know.

I know you don't want to deal with the kids arguing and all that incessant talking.

...and I understand if you're driving to Montreal, or Vancouver...but if you're driving to Granny's house 20 minutes away, can't your kids just look out the window and pay attention to the world that's spinning around them?
I dunno...maybe think about something.
Ponder?
Perhaps use their imagination a bit?

Do they have to be entertained 24/7?
There is some value and merit in learning to just sit with your own thoughts.
Who knows?
A kid might learn to entertain themselves.
Perhaps learn to converse.

God forbid.

Jews II Men

Posted Dec 19, 2007

Tyra learns that two of the members of Boyz II Men have converted to Judaism. And then she makes a joke.

Tyra Banks is stupid.

【Trans-Siberian Orchestra】
Christmas Eve Sarajevo



Found at Ectoplasmosis.

(Reminds me a bit of early Bijelo Dugme)

Sunday Click Around

The Picture to your left was taken by Piika in Spain. We got to calling him Mr. Fez. This little sculpture graced the door of someone's house. Mr. Fez appears to scrutinize anyone coming to visit from above the doorway. The reason I thought about Mr. Fez was because I saw this link to Intriguing Doors.

Boys will be boys...because if anyone is going to be in denial, your mother will be.

Would you like to learn how to save YouTube video clips on your computer?

Here are 10 Weird Psychological Studies....personally, I'm waiting to see how #2 pans out for me...and number 8 had to be initiated by a guy.

If anyone has ever doubted that being loved makes you glow, look at these before and after photos of adopted Russian children.

A Bitter Film, is a perfect example of how people feel when they've had some negative experiences with love. I'm not saying that the filmmaker hates women...I'm just sayin'.

A French Spanking blog. No. Seriously. I can't remember where I got this, but it was from a long list of links a person had on their blog.

Bible Rap...kinda funny. I think I might have linked to it before.

Didier Massard is a Photographer who does movie sets...I think. Some pretty interesting photos there.

Fashion Ads from Ebony Magazine 1970-76...is...I have no words. The seventies have to have had the most bizarre fashion ideas ever....ok, next to powdered wigs, tights and high heels for men....no wait...THIS has to be the most ridiculous outfit of ALL TIME...

Error 404 - File not found....a passive aggressive little ditty....speaking of passive aggressive, here's Passive Aggressive Notes. I've linked to this before, but it's just too good.

Found Magazine is along the same lines, and I found it on the Passive Aggressive link bar.

This Heineken commercial makes me laugh.

This animation is very Second Life-ish...even the music and sound effects.

Mascara Speed Painting...pretty amazing.

There is no such thing as an old junkie.

Let's have an 80's moment: Straight Up - Paula Abdul (with an Arsenio Hall cameo), Rapper's Delight - The Sugarhill Gang, and Glamorous Life - Sheila E.

A great simple and clean little Russian animation; The Wind Along the Coast.

...and last but not least, from Square America (I LOVE Square America) - The Party.
Found photos of some weirdo, strange party back in the late '60's? Early '70's.
Seriously, can you imagine these resurfacing 40 years later?

That's all

Sour Cherry and Apple Crumble Pie at Papamo

and...



Pepperpot at Papamo

Cellphone Tales

I've had the same cellphone number for a very long time.
But, that doesn't change the fact that I still get wrong numbers from time to time.

Some of them have been pretty funny.
Like the time I was in a grocery store and my phone rang.
I answered, and the person said in Serbian:

"Pa, gde si? Vec te nema 3 stata"
(Where are you? You've been gone for 3 hours!)

I was confused for a second, for obvious reasons...when he realized he had the wrong number, we both laughed and hung up.

Another time, I got a text from someone named "Richie".
The text was a long message about how we met last night and that he couldn't "get over" me. That he was at the airport and to please call him...pleasepleaseplease.

Just for fun, I texted that I was married and not the cheatin' kind.

He texted back that he figured that was the case, but that I should still call him.

I called to put him out of his misery...I left a message telling him that he had the wrong number...that I wasn't the person he was looking for.

He called back and left a long message telling me that I didn't have to pretend, it was ok...he was boarding a plane to Vancouver and just wanted one last conversation before he left.

I shook my head...

Then, my phone rang again and it was him....talking to me for a few seconds helped him to realize that I wasn't Anastasia or Annabella...or whatever her name was.
...and we both laughed. He was one number off.

Have you ever had a strange wrong number on your cell?

What are "Human Rights"?

I always thought that human rights were about discrimination.
You know....the right to rent an apartment, get a job, and be protected from discrimination due to race, religion, or sexual orientation.

It would be foolish to assume that people in power don't skirt the law by behaving in a politically correct manner...while still discriminating.
Finding loopholes or other excuses for not giving someone a job, or an apartment, or any number of things.

Opportunists are resourceful, and always have been.

I suppose that once the commission was formed, jobs
appointed...and discriminators properly scared shitless by the existence of the commission...clear cases became fewer and further between.
Meaning that perhaps, re-defining human rights is in order to justify it's existence.
Or maybe lines and logic become blurred when lawyers and bureaucrats get together to  feed at the trough of endless public money for tribunals.

Who knows?

I read this article by Ezra Levant on Censorship in the Name of Human Rights.

He says:

"Few human rights complaints still fall into those categories. A quick canvass of Alberta’s cases over the past few years, for example, reveals not a single complaint from someone denied rental housing based on race. The most common cases seem to be employees quitting over squabbles with other staff — a female back-hoe operator claimed her rights as a woman were violated for being called “honey” and other locker-room talk on a construction site; a male hair stylist claimed his rights were violated because the girls at salon school called him a “loser.” Another common complaint is sick or injured people being dismissed for not being able to do their jobs anymore, claiming that they have a “human right” not to be fired. In 2004, Albert’s Family Restaurant in Red Deer was ordered to pay $4,900 to a kitchen manager who was fired because she had contagious Hepatitis-C — illegal discrimination based on disability, said the commission."

This is something I'm confused about.
What about the "human rights" of all the customers and other employees of the restaurant who don't care to contract Hepatitis-C?

The guy in the hair salon school...was this really worth a tribunal?
Couldn't this be handled by Labour Board?
Or a stern talking to of staff and students during a meeting?
Is this what "human rights" have been boiled down to?

So, apparently...you can file a complaint with the commission if you're pissed off or unhappy...or if your feelings have been hurt by your employer.

Who knew?

Damn.
What's the statute of limitations on that shit?
I've got some filing to do.

Just for good measure, here's a horror story about how a hard working immigrants life was ruined by a hidden agenda, and the human rights commissions role in his financial and emotional ruin.

Tales of the Insecure and Screwed Up.

I read this article about Alycia Lane the TV Anchor Charged With Assaulting a NY Cop.

Now, I've never heard of Alycia Lane, but it sounds like she's pretty successful.
It never ceases to amaze me how some people manage to make a successful life for themselves, and then proceed to screw that shit up.

She was in the news just a few months ago for sending provocative photos of herself to married NFL Network Anchor Rich Eisen.
Photos which his wife intercepted, that were leaked to the media.


Good looking.
Smokin' body.
Successful Anchor.
...bad judgment in personal affairs.

Is it drug and/or alcohol problems?....Or just batshit crazy?

Is even bad publicity good publicity?
Even if you want people to take you seriously?

I'm shakin' my head.

Sunday Click Around

Remember how clever Sesame Street was?
I do, and there are a lot of Sesame Street songs that come back pretty quick when you hear them start up. Here's The Sesame Workshop, where you can watch lots of old Sesame Street clips..."C" is for Cookie, that's good enough for me....

Some strange photoshopped pictures that makes everyone in them look like anime characters.

This Japanese video of "The Village of Windmills" has a band at the end that sounds pretty similar to an Eastern European Gypsy Band.

Child labour in America. Some pretty great pictures.

Here's the Scottish Drink Test.

Porn for Girls. Not what you think.

Irish Bank Robbers...I thought it was funny.

Scottish Star Trek.

...and since it's coming on to Christmas....

Ok...I know this week the click around sucks, but I was sick as a dog all week long.
I've been on Buckley's all week, and I still haven't fully recovered.
I haven't been able to sit up long enough to find any good stuff.

SPECIAL NEWS REPORT: SNOW IN TORONTO

Should Animals Be Doing More For The Animal Rights Movement?

Mature Conversations that go on at our house:

Me: "I'm going upstairs to change"

The Mister: "Into what?"

Me: "Into a beyooootiful princess"

The Mister: (eye roll)

Sunday Click Around

The picture is from Dark Roasted Blends Collection of Chicks and Cars. Some great shots there...and while we're on Chicks in adverts, here are some old magazine ads that show you how far women have actually come in a relatively short time.
Let's face it, a hundred and fifty years ago, you could buy a wife...ok you can still buy a wife...never mind.

Since we're talking about politically incorrect things...last night I happened to catch the movie Blazing Saddles for the hundredth time. I was really, really pissed to realize that it had been edited. Entire sentences were removed....entire screamingly funny sentences!
Here is Madeline Khan's (Lilly VanShtup) performance of "I'm Tired" from the movie.

It got me thinking about all the old politically incorrect but hilarious movies, of which Blazing Saddles is one of the classics. Here is someone's list of politically incorrect movies.
While looking at that list, I was reminded of a scene in the movie Airplane.
A little while ago, a friend sent me an email with "You, as a little girl" in the subject line. This video was attached. Laugh? Yes, I did.

Last night I also saw a commercial featuring Cuba Gooding Jr. He makes me sad.
What happened to him? He had such promise.
He was making good choices in films...and then all of a sudden, he committed suicide, careerwise. Now, when I see him in anything that he made after "As Good as it Gets" (and that role wasn't great...just not horrific), I cringe.
Here's someone's open letter to Cuba Gooding Jr.

Ever wonder what Joe Piscopo looks like now?
Did you think that he would end up looking like the President of the Liza Minelli Fan Club?

Celebrity forclosures. Yeah, I had to look.

I know this child is way overweight for his 8 months...but holy crap! He's friggin' adorable! I could just squeeze him.

Skarabej is a website dedicated to old photos of the Eastern European sort. A pretty fascinating collection of photos. This photo reminded me of the people who lived across the street from my grandparents. They had the funeral coach in their yard. The top of which could always be seen above the Kapija. It was a thing of curiousity for me as a child.

After posting GGM's Indian Santa the other day...I went on a GGM search to find some of my favourites to post today.

Here they are:

The Queen is Indian.
Dance Like the Vind.
Very Bad.
Arranged Shag.
The 3 Wise Men were Indian.
English Wife.

Ok...that's just about all.

Look.

I'm sorry...but I absolutely had to.

No.
Really.

Laugh?
I thought I'd die.

Oldie but a goodie

So, there I was lined up at the bank in a certain neighbourhood, where there are lots of a certain nationality.

There was an elderly lady who was having trouble understanding the Teller, and the one Teller who was there that spoke her language was busy with another customer.
The elderly lady was getting frustrated because her Teller could only speak her language in a limited way.

There was a lady in line in front of me, who turned to me, shook her head, and said something to me in a language I can only assume was the language of the elderly lady.
I shrugged my shoulders, and didn't say anything.

When I got to the wicket, my Teller told me that the woman that spoke to me had been pissed off that there was only one person there who could speak the language.

Is it wrong of me to tell the Teller: "She's lucky anyone speaks her language in the bank...considering she's not banking in (the country of the language she spoke)"?

Listen, I'm all for multiculturalism, and making the effort to help those that don't speak the language...what I have a problem with is the expectation that everyone in that bank should speak it.

Back in the day, you had to make an effort to learn to speak English.
Apparently, you don't anymore.

Gilson Lubin



So, the other day, I linked to the above video of Toronto Comedian Gilson Lubin.
I thought his set on Comedy Now was so funny, that I wanted to see him live.
I went to his website, and found that the section giving us tour dates was out of date.

I used the "Contact" e-mail to inquire.

I was expecting some computer generated, cut and paste, auto-reply...with the obligatory "please do not reply to this e-mail" type thing.
To my surprise...Gilson himself replied.....and not just once.

Here are his upcoming appearances:

Dec 9th - Toronto
(Diesel Playhouse,
56 Blue Jay Way) - 416 971 5656
Dec 13th - 15th Montreal (Comedy Works on Bishop south of St. Catherines)
Dec 21st - Halifax (Gingers)

Now, I've got to see him live...what a mensch!

More Money Than Sense:
The 'Are you $&*#^@  serious?!?' Edition



It never ceases to amaze me what people will spend money on.
I'm not saying that people shouldn't live well if they have money, but there's a point when it becomes either just damn stupid or downright obscene.

If you remember a while ago I did this entry on Bling H20...designer water with Swarovski crystals clinking around on the bottom of the bottle...I think that this falls into the 'stupid' category.

...another that falls into the stupid family of things is hiring people to do stupid shit. Like hiring a Nameologist. That's right, for $350 you can hire someone to choose a name for you or someone that you love.
$350 is just cheap enough for aspiring idiots to engage in entry level frivolous spending.

How about building a catapult in your backyard?

How about putting Lamborghini doors on your Cavalier?

Once you get to the big leagues....here is Canadian Business Magazines'

"Top 10 must haves for today's multi-million dollar homes"

Elevator car lifts? Indoor car wash? Concierge?

Just in case you wanted to know how the other side lives....

Skeletons in the Washing Bucket

I was reminded the other day about second families... but, not the "blended" or "step" families that we're used to talking about.

I was thinking about past, or secret families.

Let me explain.

I remember when I was about 17, talking to a friend of my third stepmother, Nada.
Her friend Ljubica was a rather large woman, who was clearly of peasant stock.

She was in her 50's back then, and was loud, and masculine.
She smoked like a chimney, cursed like a Russian Sailor and sometimes sucked her silver eye tooth loudly...and she didn't give a crap if you didn't like it.

She looked like she could kick the shit out of a man...I was pretty sure she could, even though I had never seen it happen...but, she also had the biggest heart.
If she liked you, you could do no wrong and she lavished you with as many endearments as she did homemade pastries.
She was a brutally honest graduate of the Sledgehammer School of Etiquette.
I shouldn't say "was"...I think she's might still be alive and living in Scarborough somewhere.

Anyhow, Ljubica was a cleaning lady, and she did industrial cleaning for my father. One weekend (yeah, I tried working for my father for a bit) I was paired with her to clean some apartments in a new complex close to the A.G.O., and over lunch sitting on the floor of an empty apartment with the radio on, we got to talking about pro-choice or pro-life. Ljubica told me that during the war, she had performed "many, many abortions", and she didn't see what the big deal was...she also told me that she left a family behind.
Two children, and a husband, and she didn't know where they were or what happened to them.

She told me that her story wasn't unusual, that many lost family in the camps and had to start over...move along with life.

Get over it.

There are so many things that are connected to war that we don't really think about, but when someone says it...you say to yourself, "Of course. It would have to be like that wouldn't it?"

I thought about her the other day.
I don't know why I'm telling you this story...I just am.

Last night, the neighbours kids built a snow woman...as you can see, she's ready to walk down the isle.

This morning...she was headless.

Sunday Click Around

Why don't you MagYourPic too?

Since it's coming on to that time of year...here's Ali G's Christmas confusion.

I love Penn & Teller's Bullshit espisodes.
There used to be a link on google video where you could watch the entire episodes, but I suppose Showtime didn't appreciate it as much as I did.
Here are a few clips from some of my favourties:

Bullshit: PETA
Bullshit: Bottled Water
Bullshit: I got tired of looking for the Feng Shui one...

It's too bad the full episodes aren't online anymore.

Gallery of the Absurd showcases art that magnify's celebrity flaws.

Earlier this week, I was hearing all this uproar about Kurt Kauper painting hockey legend Bobby Orr as he imagined him naked, as well as Cary Grant..and a few other celebrities. It was such a big deal...I had to see it.
Meh.

Caligynephobia: The Fear of Beautiful Women.  
(I'm pretty sure your mom has something to do with this.)

I saw Toronto Comedian Gilson Lubin recently, and I love him. Too bad the entire episode isn't available.

Everyone loves to make fun of government employees...Here's a Government Employee Trick and The Problem with Government Employees.

Here's Italian Spiderman.

Pets in Uniform...kind of like those paintings of the dogs playing cards, only you can put your own pet in the picture.

Related to yesterdays post: Being Poor. (Thanks Chris)

The 20 Most Intriguing Billionaire Heiresses...I can only imagine.

The strange photo gallery...is strange.

Ice Road Truckers...the virtually unknown occupation of ice road trucking, considered to be one of the world's most dangerous jobs. I can't even imagine.

Beautiful pictures of Iceland.

People need things to believe in...but some of them are super strange. Here is a list of Bizarre Religions and Cults.

Band Name Origins...pretty interesting.

Pimp your fridge. People are nuts.

K...that's it for today.

What is Poor?

I was over at a blog commenting on The Definition of Needy.

And while the blogger makes a good point about video games, or cellphones not being items of the "needy", there is a big point being missed.

We live in Canada.
Poor here is not like poor somewhere else.
Our poor live better than a large percentage of the rest of the world's middle class.
"Poor" is gauged by the society we live in.
We cannot compare a poor child in say, India or Afganistan to a poor child in North America.
We just can't. We don't have the same standard of living.

I've worked with "the poor" for some time now.
And while there are some families who take advantage of social services, there are others who do not qualify for welfare or choose not to be a part of it.
The working poor, with no medical and dental...and who scrape by on their wits and hard work.
I've worked with them, and I would be lying to you if I told you that the inequity didn't boil my blood.

There is a school of thought that the poor should be just grateful for anything that they get, and years ago, I would have agreed.

I work with shelter families, and the shelter does not take your old clothes, and used items.
Shocked?
I was...but, we shouldn't be.
I've sorted through the things that people donate, and thrown a lot of it out.
Is it not enough that a family is in crisis, they have to wear your discarded old underwear, and dirty ripped clothing?
Garbage that is disguised as a donation.
Food drives where the food donated is shit you've had in your cupboard past the expiry date?

Please.

I realize that this is not what the blogger's post was about...it was just that the general tone of the comments made me think about what I've written above, and rather than start a misunderstood riot on the bloggers entry, I'm doing my own.

Far be it from me to say that a kid needs a cellphone, or XBox or whathaveyou.
But, this is a society where most kids have everything.

The problem is that when we're asked to participate in a toy drive, or adopt-a-family for the Holidays kind of thing...we don't get to assess the poverty level of the family.
A social service does...and children will submit a "wish list". It's up to you whether you want to fulfill that wish.
The issue appears to be "the nerve" of the child to submit their wish.
Children are children, and they wish for things...and if wishes were horses, beggars would ride.

The assumption that a Canadian child in a crisis situation should be happy with "food and clothing" is a tad superior. We're talking about children. Children who are surrounded by others who have so much that it's sickening.

I was one of those children...and my mother was too proud to ask for help.

That kid you're donating to may be living a life that you wouldn't wish for your own children in a million years.
There are thousands of people in this city who have no business being parents...and they have children.
Children who have no choice but to follow their abusive, mentally challenged, mentally ill, drug addicted, or merely poorly skilled, or refugee parents through life.
There are millions of different situations, and each "poor" family is unique in their reasons for their poverty....that's not even including the children in foster care, or in the custody of 
social services.

Would it be so horrible to give a kid something they wish for?