Sammy Mac Online

In honor of the great Neil Patrick Harris, please take a moment to celebrate his 34th birthday today and remember your personal favorite NPH moments.  He's made us laugh, he's made us cry (from laughing) and he's taught us many things about how life should be (legendary, of course). 

 

For me, there are so many favorite moments it's tough to pick one.  After all, there's "phone five", "laaap daaaaance...", Barney's Top Gun Halloween entrance, "love stains in the back", snow-suit up!", "The Doogie line always works on strippers", "Swarley", "Yeah, it was a dick move on my part, that's why I'm paying for your meal"... the list goes on.  But, whatever NPH does is magic and I hope he's out there somewhere enjoying the crap out of his birthday.

So those of you who know me know that I go to Starbucks a fair amount.  (I know, that's a drastic understatment but I'm not ready to admit I have a problem, so get off my back.)  Anyway, if you've been to Starbucks recently you may have noticed some promotional posters, etc. that they have up right now promoting Paul McCartney's new album.  Now, I will give credit to Phil for this because he is the first who noticed it, but if you look at the picture, is there any way whatsoever that it isn't just McCartney doing his best Zoolander impression?  I mean seriously - it's egregiously Zoolander.  It kills me.  And every time I look at it I wonder if they knew that was what he was doing or if they had no idea and sincerely just picked that photo from his album shoot and went with it?

 

Don't believe me?  See for yourself.

 

 

So, I just finished watching the latest debate of presidential candidates for the Democratic Party from CNN last night (thank you, trusty DVR box, for keeping me informed when I'm clearly too lazy to watch things live) and will watch the Republican debates tomorrow as well.  Obviously, these debates are way too early in the election cycle to be meaningful or notably interesting to anyone but political junkies like me.  And I'll be honest, I'm having a hard time discerning who I would ultimately give a nominee pick to myself.  But it did get me thinking...

Regardless of who I might actually want as president, it struck me that in the meantime, I do feel like I at least have a good sense of whom, from all the presidential contenders, would at least make the best drinking buddies.  That's got to count for something, right? 

Some are clearly not contenders: Gravel, while I'm sure has drunk plenty in his life to keep him sufficiently warm in Alaska, clearly doesn't need any alcohol at all to be belligerent and scary and I cannot envision a scenario where he could show up in a bar and not ultimately get thrown out (and not in a fun way).  And I could not have a drink with Mitt Romney or Bill Richardson without spending the whole time pondering whether there is any way to beat the ‘vapid political windbag’ out of them… and alcohol probably wouldn’t help me restrain myself.  As as for Kucinich, bless his quaint little peace-loving heart, but I don't think I would want to get a drink with him unless it was St. Patrick's Day and he was dressed as a leprechaun (admit it, that would be awesome). 

This isn’t a partisan question – there are interesting drinking buddy contenders on all sides of the aisle.  (Though I will admit my rankings only include D and R options, since I don’t have sufficient exposure to 3rd party candidates to have a sense for who might be “pub worthy”.  So for any of my independent, Libertarian, Green or other friends out there – and you know who you are J - feel free to chime in with solid contenders that I’ve woefully overlooked.)

Here are my picks for presidential candidates I’d love to close the bar down with:

5. Fred Thompson – I guarantee that guy has spent years packing ‘em away and while I might worry about being able to keep up, I am sure it’d be fun trying – even for the Hollywood perspective alone if nothing else

4. John Edwards – I know, he presents himself as so squeaky clean he might not be everyone’s first pick unless you really got him plastered - but I think the conversation could be interesting regardless

3. John McCain – An obvious pick for a political junkie to want to drink with of course, but he’s got a ton of history I’d love to hear over a pint or two

2.  Joe Biden – He may have been a little shouty/intense in yesterday’s debates, but in a seemingly sincere passion sort of way and I think he’d be great for those deep ‘what does the world mean’ conversations that always come after the 3^rd-too-many drink of the evening

1.  Barack Obama – Thinking about Obama is how the idea of this list came up in the first place.  Whether you like him as a presidential candidate or no, he is both fascinating and a crack up and there is no way that you could have anything but a good time throwing a few back with the guy.  

Agree/disagree?  Let me know.  And in the meantime, in the off chance that any of you might cross paths with these folks at some point, feel free to give them my number.  J  Cheers!

I know that everyone else is talking about Gears of War, Call of Duty, Halo, blah, blah, blah... whatever the latest rage is for Xbox these days.  And I'm admittedly not much of a gamer, but I'm sorry, I still have to say that my hands-down, no-contest favorite Xbox game has to be Jiggle Ball.

 

Okay, the real name isn't Jiggle Ball, but it may as well be.  Dead or Alive: Extreme Beach Vollyball may well be the single greatest reason that Xbox was ever created... and as poor Danie knows, her spotting an ad for its sequel was all it took to get me to finally run out and impulse buy a Xbox 360.  http://www.strategyinformer.com/xbox360/deadoralivextremebeachvolleyball2/ 

 

All you stringent ultra-feminists out there should beware.  Forget about your Barbie-hating for awhile becuase Barbie's got nothing compared to the girls in this game!  :) 

 

Why do I love it so much?  Because it's so utterly ridiculous, how could I not?  And, true, the gameplay is terrible... but that's SO not the point.  It pushes past the limits of both physics and propriety without apology, creating barely-there-bikins and surf-playing scenes that look like the ultimate fanatsy of any teenage boy cybergeek... but is much, much sneakier than that, because underneath it all, it's actually a game for girls.  In the end, you spend the entire time shopping for accesories to make your perfect outfit for the day and bribing the other girls with presents so they will stay friends with you.  Brilliant.  It's like the creators of Baywatch and Clueless got together to make a video game, but lost all moral standards and went much much trashier. 

 

Anyway... it's shallow and hilarious and I love it.  :)  And if you haven't played it, you should.

So, this year's Halloween show with Dudley Manlove turned out to be no less of a draw for drunken crazies as years past, maybe even more so.  I'm sorry, but once you are no longer able to hold your drink in your hand well enough to drink more of its contents than you spilled on the stranger next to you, THAT'S OFFICIALLY CUTOFF TIME PEOPLE!!!  And I don't just blame the annoying drunk people themselves, but their friends and the folks at the bar that should be able to tell that when someone can't hold their liquor - either in their hand or in their system - then it's time to send them packing (in a cab, of course - safety first, my friends  ). 

 

Now, anyone that has been on the town with me before knows that I'm all for having a good time, but I'd still rather not have to wade knee-high in sticky nastiness all night or be wringing out my costume with gallons of 'random drunk girl's' last six beers.  This goes doubly-so when my super-cute-but-not-so-sensible shoes for my costume relegate me to standing barefoot for a good portion of the evening.  Who knows what was on that floor... and if it wasn't for Phil's skateboard from his cosutme to give my feet some blessed refuge from the dangers below, I may have ended up in the emergency room that night getting my feet amputated from whatever gangrenous foot diseases I could have contracted from that disgusting swamp of party fouls and mystery goo that I would have had to stand in all night.

 

Actually, come to think of it, my feet were in so much pain, amputation may have been a welcome relief at the time.  :) 

 

Anyway... Other than the drunkies and the mind-blowing foot pain of the evening, the show itself was really good.  Dare I say, one of Dudley's best Halloween shows I can recall.  How can you resist a band clad in Prince-and-the-Revolution costumes singing not only Prince covers, but also Milli Vanilli, Def Leppard and more?!?!  And I also have to give props to everyone in my posse for going above and beyond on their costumes this year - nice work, all.

 

In the end, it truly was tragic when we had to leave early for sheer concern that my feet and legs were about to buckle underneath me thanks to the hours spent balancing alternatively on my tip toes and on a skateboard that I had absolutely no business being on.  But thankfully, we did at least get some good pics to remember the evening by... complete with my bare feet on the skateboard.  If you're interested, you can check them out on Phil's site at http://phloston.spaces.live.com/ - along with some shots from costume night of trivia at the Jones the following evening. 

 

Enjoy... and, for all of you that aren't too drunk already, cheers!!   

 

 

 

 

So I'm sure you all thought that after months of not updating my Space, that I had just abandoned it... but I'm BACK!!

 

To begin, I've updated my photo gallery with some new pics so it doesn't continue to make me look like "Crazy Cat Lady".  (No snide comments from any of you, thank you!)  I've added some highlights of our recent trip to Oahu, though as always, Phil's space has a heck of a lot more shots of our travel adventures for your viewing pleasure at: http://phloston.spaces.live.com/PersonalSpace.aspx?_c02_owner=1

 

Okay, speaking of Hawaii... Pop Quiz!!  Do you know how a pineapple grows?  Be honest, because I'll admit it wasn't until we were touring Dole Plantation that it occurred to me that I myself didn't actually know.  Here, I'll cut you some slack and give you some time to think about it and won't give you the answer until the end of this post.  (No peeking now, cheater!!)

 

In the meantime, maybe I'll tell you some stuff about our trip to keep you in the Hawaii frame of mind.  Oahu was great.  I think the only thing that might have been better than the glider trip we took up in North Shore was the helicopter trip we took around almost the entire island.  It was awesome.  As many of you know, I've always thought about becoming a pilot, but I'll tell you, that helipcopter trip make me start to rethink what kind of crafft I'd actually want to learn to fly.  The feeling of skirting right over the top edge of the beautiful Hawaiian mountain ridges and then looking out at the valleys and waterfalls below... It was just incredible.

 

Let's see... Other than that, what else can I tell you about our trip?  We found the Magnum PI estates and let me tell you: Miami Vice can kiss my butt - I can't wait for the new Magnum PI movie to come out!  :) 

 

Oh, and speaking of discoveries... For all you Lost fans out there, not only did we find the beaches where they film the crash site and campsite shots, but we also found the actual plane wreckage from the show!  That's right, we found the actual Oceanic flight 815, along with it's engine from the crash that ate that guy on the beach and the other smaller yellow plane that fell off the cliff and killed Boone.  The best part of all?  Both the wreckage and the beaches where the survivors are supposedly 'stranded' are not only situated right next to a major road in the North Shore, but are right next to an airstrip!  How's that for irony?  :)  If you look through the Oahu photo album, there are some pics of the wreckage plus shots of the beaches both from the ground and from the air during our glider ride (the ride we took right from that aforementioned airstrip).

 

 Alright, so what were the downsides of this lovely trip, you might ask?  For that, I only have two things to say:

 

Phil and I have both been getting asked time and again whether we'd ever get around to posting our pictures from our vacations... You've finally broken us!!  Phil's posted a ton of pictures on his blog at http://spaces.msn.com/members/phloston/PersonalSpace.aspx?owner=1 so you all can leave us alone about it now!  :)  Enjoy.