Come On Up Here, I Wanna Scare the Cabinet

Don't look now, but there's one man too many in this room, and I think it's you...

Greetings, one and all! (How's that for enthusiasm?) It's me... Dave... you know... "Dave"... as in, the addle-pated gassy wonder that writes this daily slice of hot air... as you know, I normally try and infuse this daily blast of hot air with various aromas... like the old "stone soup" joke...

Meh, it's a living...

Today was a simmering pot full of odds and ends... work, play and entertainment, all rolled into one pulsating blob of barely-noteworthy blog-fodder. I worked on the Rug Care Central site again - no surprise there. But what might be a surprise is that I made significant strides on Wagnervana as well! Yay for me! I added 5 more plays to my Theater Piece archive, and I added a sample chapter of my Novel-in-progress The Master's Program. If you're so inclined, you can read it here. It's the very first chapter... and it's rather lengthy. But if you're up to it, by all means, give it a look and bombard me with feedback, good bad or indifferent, and I will eagerly gobble it up.

Funny Picture Time:

Yes, I know, I've posted that pic before, but it was so long ago, the only people that might remember it are Havah and my dear, sweet mother. It's too cool to stay buried. I laugh every time I see it...

And now, a lesson in how to torture little children...

Hey, I try to cover all the bases in this blog... although I believe marshmallow torture is mentioned in the Geneva Convention...

I watched a couple episodes of a new (to me) show today, which many (maybe most) of you already know about... called No Reservations, hosted by a guy named Anthony Bourdain, which is part travel show, part food show - nothing original there. But really, it feels unique, and it really is fun to watch. The only season Netflix has available to Watch Instantly is Season 6, so I watched a few eps... I don't even remember who recommended it; I think it was someone from this blog. Anyway, it's fascinating, funny and well done. It's like a geography, history and food lesson, all rolled into one. I watched episodes on Mexico City, Venice, Washington DC, the Azores, Chicago, the Philippines... very entertaining. It's a nice way to learn new stuff.

Speaking of food, I read an articles recently that listed America's Unhealthiest Restaurants (restaurant chains, really), that was interesting. The authors of a book called Eat This, Not That analyzed the menu's of almost 70 different chain restaurants, to see which ones balanced out the "bad for you" items with some healthy options... You can read the full article if you'd like, but here's the list, along with the grades they rated them...

These places all rated D's: Carls Jr., Denny's, Ruby Tuesday's, Chili's, Uno Chicago Grill, Chevy's, On The Border, Macaroni Grill, Baja Fresh, Baskin Robbins

And these all got F's: Appleby's, IHOP, Outback Steakhouse, TGIFriday's

They discuss each place and offer a "survival guide" for you, if you must eat there, describing how to go about eating the least offensive way possible there. Kind of self-righteous, true, but hey, it made for interesting reading. I happen to have eaten at every place on the list before, and I pretty much like them all - especially Outback, where I once had the best steak I've ever eaten, hands down. It was a ribeye, and it was heaven.

To balance things out, they have another article about the best fast food places to eat at...

These all got A's: Chick-fil-A, Subway, Jamba Juice, Au Bon Pain

and these got B's: Boston Market, Cici's Pizza Buffet, McDonald's, Taco Bell, Wendy's

Awfully surprised to see both McDonald's and Taco Bell on that list... I guess they've both worked hard over the years to change their image as colon-slamming pig-trough fare... I've eaten at most of those places, too, at one time or another... you can read the articles if you'd like more detail.

I mentioned in the Director's Cut of one of my posts the other day that they are gearing up for a fourth Pirates of the Caribbean flick - which is actually supposed to start a new trilogy of films. As painful as that news is, it's not as painful as the news I read today that they are finished with a script for Indiana Jones 5. When will the pain end? My lower intestine can't take much more of this news! Please, have mercy on my digestive tract! Sequels, sequels everywhere, and not a frame to watch! They're doing the same thing with comic book movies, of course... coming soon to a theater near you are (among others), Iron Man 2, another reimagining of Superman, two Green Arrow films, a Green Hornet film, a Captain America film, a Justice League film, and of course, a new Batman film, once Christopher Nolan finishes his "I'm sick of Batman for now and want to do a different film" break by making Inception with Leonardo DiCaprio.

Ah, well... no one's putting a gun to my head and forcing me to watch, thankfully... that Green Hornet film will have as the villain Christoph Waltz, the same guy that knocked it out of the park in Inglorious Basterds as the Jew Hunter Col. Hans Landa (a future Oscar winner, I think). So that might warrant a peek...

You know what? I think I'm done for today. I'm sure there was more, but now, my brain is empty. I need to get some sleep. Until tomorrow, remember, I sold a code and two pair of plans...

Current Book: The Final Empire (Mistborn book 1) by Brandon Sanderson
Current Game: Bioshock
Current Movie: Frost/Nixon
Current TV: Generation Kill, No Reservations
Current Haircut: Raggedy