In my never ending desire to introduce you to artists that you’ve never heard of I bring you Stefanie Heinzmann.  Check her out whilst I give you a little background.

Ms. Heinzmann is a 19 year old Swiss soul singer.  Wait.  Swiss soul singer?  I didn’t even know that type of person existed.  Shows what I know, eh?  Anyway, her main claim to fame (so far) is that she won the Swiss talent contest SSDSDSSWEMUGABRTLAD which is an acronym for

*deep breath*

Stefan sucht den Superstar, der singen soll, was er möchte, und gerne auch bei RTL auftreten darf which, loosely translated means:

Stefan is looking for the Superstar who shall sing what she wants and may also gladly perform on RTL.

Yeah, right.  So, there she is.  Stefanie Heinzmann.  If you like her, you may also want to check out another song of hers - ‘Like a Bullet’ which, in my opinion, a better song but a worse video.  You be the judge. Happy listening, yo.

Oh, and a great big THANKS to my wife who is constantly finding great artists for me to fall in love with.

Now, I’ve never claimed to be a Greco-Roman Wrestling aficionado, but I’m pretty sure that this is a move that ought not to be attempted by an amateur.  I think it’s called The Sphincto-Face-Plant Maneuver and can be very dangerous.  Do not try this at home!  Well, not without a few drinks first anyway.

Jake Deitchler of the U.S. (in red) fights Armen Vardanyan of Ukraine during their 66 kg men’s Greco-Roman wrestling repechage round 2 match at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games August 13, 2008.
REUTERS/Dylan Martinez (CHINA)

That’s right, kids.  It’s Friday.  Eye Candy Friday™, to be precise.  And since you were all so well behaved this week (well, not YOU so much), I’ve decided to give you a real treat.  Something that you just don’t see every day.  I’m going to show you some of our female Olympians like you’ve rarely, if ever, seen them before.  Yep, it’s true!  I’m going to show you these girls....wait for it....wait for it....

DRESSED!

*your gasp here*

Now I love the scantily clad as much as the next dirty old man, but geez louise, yanno?  How much should we have to bare bear?  So, for a breath of fresh air, here they are.  Fully clothed.  Showing us all that when they put clothes on these kids they look just like you and me.  Only bigger.  And stronger.  And better looking.  Ok, they look nothing like us.  Shit.

Anyway, here they are, in (not) all their glory.  First up Jennie FInch from the USA Softball team:

Next we have Shawn Johnson, Gymnast:

And here we have Natalie Coughlin, swimmer extraordinaire:

Next up, Heather Mitts from the USA Soccer team:

And Heather’s teammate, Hope Solo:

And lastly, because I just found out that it is illegal in Pennsylvania to have any Olympic conversation without mentioning Michael Phelps, is Michael Phelps.  What a performance!

Oops!  That was actually Aquaman.  My bad.  Sorry.  Here’s the real MP:

Y’all have a great weekend.  And don’t drive angry!

Heya Statia!  Mariska and I just wanted to wish you a great big Happy Birthday!  Neither of us knew exactly how old you are but we figured 21 - 22.  Are we close?

The Summer Olympics in Beijing, China have recently got me thinking about, of all things, sports.  I love sports.  I’m one of those guys.  And it’s not just football, baseball, hockey kinds of sports, either.  I find myself getting emotionally involved with handball.  And Women’s Water Polo.  And Badminton.  Badminton, for christ’s sake!  Yep, there’s hardly a sport that I can’t get into.

But I’m not here to talk about me.  I’m here to talk about you.  No, not you, YOU.  Over there with the macramé.  Yeah, you.

Yes, I’m here to address those of you who “don’t like sports”.  Now, don’t get me wrong, I don’t think that there’s anything wrong with personal preferences, even if they disagree with my own.  (I actually DO think that there’s something wrong with that but allow me to just gloss over that fact for the time being.) My problem, and here is where I offend about half of my best friends, is when someone waves there distaste for sports like a flag.  They wear it like a crown.  They flaunt it like a boa.  They brandish it like a well earned scar.  They, well, you get the idea.  And you know the type, right?  They’re the ones that can easily have the following conversation:

Me:  Wow!  Did you see any of that Super Bowl yesterday?
They:  Super Bowl?  What’s a Super Bowl?  Is that something that you would eat Super Soup from?  Or maybe it’s something that you put your Sugar in?  Or is it that silly game where you roll a ball into some pins?  Haha!
Me:  *blink*
They:  Oh, you guys and your sports.  You think that your sports are SO IMPORTANT.  Ergo, you think that you are so important. 
Me:  Dude, I was just…
They:  I don’t really have time for your silly games.  See, while you were wasting your life, I was busy taking a class in knot tying.  I was doing something socially important.
Me:  Ok, but…
They:  Please.  I don’t really have the time nor the desire to talk about something so incredibly insignificant as a bunch of grown up boys running around in tight clothes chasing after a ball or a stick or whatever.  My life is much more meaningful than that.  Ergo (again with the ‘ergo’!), my life is much more meaningful than yours.  Now do you see how much greater I am than you?
Me:  So, I’ll take that as a “No. I didn’t catch the game”, then?
They:  *Turns nose*
They: *scoffs*
They:  *shows me a Marlinspike Hitch knot*
Me:  *Bows head in shame*

That’s the part that bothers me.  The part where I’m supposed to feel worse about myself because I like to watch something on TV that someone else doesn’t.  I really don’t think that because you don’t like sports, it necessarily makes you somehow better than me.  You truly may absolutely be better than me, but trust me, it’s not because you don’t like sports and I do.  And it’s weird because this type of activity (the superior acting for no good reason) doesn’t happen with anything else that I can think of.  I mean, I don’t see many people walking up to other people and saying

“You actually enjoy reading/writing/photography/pottery making/iron working/knitting?  Man, what a dolt.  I don’t like that thing that you like.  That must mean that you’re stupid.  Haha!  Stupid!”

Yeah, that never happens.  And it shouldn’t.  Like what you like.  I’ll like what I like.  And let’s not try to make each other feel bad for our preferences.  I think that’s fair, don’t you?

Oh, and this really isn’t about anyone in particular (ok, a little bit about my friend Jeff, but shhhhh).  If this particular shoe fits then wear it.  If it doesn’t then I must be talking about someone else. 

Now if you’ll excuse me, I think that I’m missing the start of the Fencing match between Djibouti and the Republic of Moldova.  Stellar stuff, man!  Stellar!

Here’s a big ol’ HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my ”one thing”.  I love you, honey! 

Party on!

Best Movie Ever

I’ve been giving this a lot of thought lately and I have come up with the following argument and conclusion.  You may be surprised.

While it is extremely difficult to nail down ‘Best Movie Ever’, I believe that it can be done.  I arrived at this conclusion after years upon years (upon years) of close, intense scrutiny.  And by ‘close, intense scrutiny’ I mean that I thought about it every once in a while.  So anywii, let’s get to the answer.  Now, I know that it’s cool to say that the ‘Best Movie Ever’ is Citizen Kane or The Godfather or, god forbid, Lord of the Rings.  While these are all fine movies in their own right, they are not the Best.  Why?  Simply because they do not have absolute appeal.  There are many people out there, you perhaps, that do not love these movies for one reason or another.  Probably another but that’s your business.  The movie that I have chosen is loved by all.  Everyone.  From children to old fogies.  From goth drummers (this is provable) to Celine Dion fans.  From democrats to republicans.  From sea to shining sea.  Absolute Appeal.  The movie?  You know in your heart that I’m right when I say

*drums roll*

The Princess Bride.

Yep, I can tell that you’re all nodding now and saying “you know? He’s right.  I DO love that movie.” And that’s ok.  We all know.  We know you love that movie because we love it too.  That’s what makes The Princess Bride the Best Movie Ever.  Everyone in the entire world, probably even people who haven’t seen it yet, love this movie.  The world became a better place in 1987 because of this movie.  You can now stop debating this issue.  You are welcome.

P.S.  By the way, The Princess Bride is not my favorite movie, it’s just the Best movie.  I wanted to be clear about that.

P.P.S.  happy birthday to me.  yay.

My good friend Jesse spent last week, as we say ‘round these parts, “down the shore”.  While he was down there, he spotted this, umm, interesting flavor of ice cream.  You know, I think I’ll stick with vanilla, thankyouverymuch.

Happy Monday, kids.

(click to embiggen the blast)

Ok, let’s see how we did with our wishin’ and hopin’ to turn this rather mundane Thursday into a bright sparkly Friday, shall we?

*sees how we did*

Oh bother.  It looks like we (and by ‘we’ I clearly mean ‘you’) just didn’t want it enough.  And I even gave you a mini ECF™.  Great.  Thanks.  Now I have to go to work tomorrow, too!

Crud.

Aww, crap on a biscuit!  I woke up this morning really too tired to go to work but I was able to convince myself to get a move on because, hey, at least it’s Friday, right?  So off I go. 

Yawn...stretch....brusha-brusha-brusha and off to the shower.

Somewhere along the way (I think it was around my kneecaps) I suddenly realized that OHMYGOD! It’s only Thursday!  I raised my head and arms to the sky and (for some reason) bellowed

KHA-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-N-N-N!!!!!!!!

This both excited and confused the cats but it made me feel a little better.  Depressed, I finished up my shower, got dressed and started my morning chores.  Then it hit me.  Friday.  Yes, I believe that with the help of all of you out there we can MAKE it Friday.  All we need is willpower, faith, a few fake-outs here and there and some cookies.  Ok, we don’t actually NEED cookies but man, I sure do love cookies.  Yeah, so anyway, let’s give it a shot.  You guys start believing, really hard!, that today is Friday and I’ll do the same.  Oh, and to seal the deal, I’ll throw out a couple of Eye Candy Friday™ pictures.  That oughtta do it.  I’ll check in at the end of the day and we can all dance and sing and generally be joyous over our accomplishment.  I’ll see you then. 

Here’s your ECF™ pics for today which is definitely FRIDAY.  Not Thursday, nope.

SMG

CF