Christmas in Kentucky

Christmas in Kentucky
Posted by: codos.

What a welcome! Nearly two feet of snow and I've still got lots of Christmas shopping to do.

Loving it!

From the Headlines...

FDA Defends Approval of Poison

After weeks of criticism and charges that the federal agency is “broken”, the Food and Drug Administration came under attack again today for acknowledging its approval of Poison as a pharmaceutical.

“In our studies, takers of poison suffered many side-effects, ending in either permanent neurological disorder, coma, or death,” an FDA staffer reported. “These kinds of consistencies are promising. We stand by our approval of poison and feel its manufacturers have produced a product that does exactly what it claims.”

Consumer groups, including the American Medical Association have called the approval “outrageous and irresponsible” and are petitioning Congress to reverse the poison approval. -More-

Thoughtlets V: Electric Boogaloo!

Every now and then, there's not enough to fill a whole blog entry -- just half-thoughts and observations.

- I had ordered a John Kerry T-shirt back in October. Today it arrived at work and I put it on. A guy came up to me at the Yard House and said it was the coolest shirt ever and that I should wear it everyday. I agree!

- Today I went to BodyWorlds for our scout (see December 8 entry). I wasn’t too creeped out, but thought it would be appropriate if they put a barf bucket at every exhibit. Oh, and I was wrong about LA being the only city that would take it, apparently it’s headed to Chicago.

- Not only did one of my fav 90’s groups, The Ocean Blue, come out with a new album, I completely missed their concerts at the Troubadour in October. Damn, I gotta be more on the ball!

- I deleted the Tag Board from the blog the other day. Maybe this means I’ve grown up. Maybe this means people will be forced to post comments in that special place that says “Comments.” Then again, maybe no one will ever comment again….

- My roomy convinced me to watch EarthSea last night on Sci-fi Channel. Uch… I gave it 40 minutes and had to turn it off. And the lead guy looked too much like Danny Masterson from "That 70's Show." Dude, where's my bong!? And where are the “Angel” and “Buffy” reruns?

- I must apologize for this weeks’ Link of the Week. Looks like Bernd now has till Easter before he’s given the axe. Totally cheating. The rabbit man is a chicken! In fact, I’m bringing in a second-string Link of the Week right now…

- Wait... you don’t think the aforementioned guy at the Yard House was pullin’ my chain about the John Kerry shirt, do you?

A Los Angeles Christmas

So last night I went to a Christmas party hosted by my manager, John.

(I should mention that John has never gotten me any work. Then again, I haven't written anything new since he signed me either. By not dumping me, he entertains my fantasy that I'm still in the TV business)

I wore black pants and red turtleneck sweater to the party. What was I thinking? One of the guests was wearing a Philadelphia Eagles jersey. And one guy was even wearing shorts.

Merry Christmas! God, I love this town!

We mostly stood around the chips and cocktail sauce talking about football.

Then one of my manager's new clients entered. So blonde and 20-something, he looked like he'd just fallen off a billboard for the WB. It was then explained that he'd been in Los Angeles only two months but had just gotten cast in a supporting role in a new Jake Gyllenhaal film.

Merry Christmas! God, I hate this town!

18 Days, 9 Hours, 44 Minutes...

No, it's not another Tangental Universe collapse, it's the countdown to Save Bernd!

Send some Euros to this guy's account or Bernd will be his New Year's Eve dinner!

Everyone is Talking About It

The Psychology consultant where I work mentioned it over a month ago. Then, someone started talking about it after a meditation group. It came up again at the Thanksgiving party I attended.

Every time I hear about it, I am both squeamish and intrigued...

I'm talking, of course, about the BodyWorlds exhibit at the Science Center in downtown Los Angeles. It's got the whole city abuzz.

BodyWorlds is an exhibit of human corpses, stripped of flesh, and in various degrees of dissection. Some are skeletal, others are nothing but veins, but all have been plasticated--encased in plastic and put on display for science. It is, of course, a controversial display. I heard that LA was the only city in the United States that would take it.

We're hoping to get some footage of the brain and central nervous system displays for our documentary series, so I've secured a pass for myself, my boss, and the director of photography for next Tuesday. Meanwhile, the BodyWorlds presskit arrived today and included a DVD, so I grabbed an intrigued coworker and sat down to take a look.

Together, we watched the German scientists artists plasticate a man, then use a saw to cut him down the middle to create an inch thick cross-section of the corpse from head to toe(s). The result was a life-sized, human-shaped doormat.

With intestines.

The DVD also included lots of footage of people attending the exhibit and studying the displays. Displays such as a man, tendons and muscles flexing, holding up an entire "coat" of his own flesh. And a nude, plasticated man atop a (nude) plasticated horse. I was surprised that all these tourists appeared so open and interested in the displays. I don't think the cringe ever left my face for the entire video.

I thought it was also disturbing that these plasticated men were all "hung" better than me. These dead guys were hung like dead horses!

And don't get me started on the dead horses!

I'm insecure enough in the lockeroom, can't I go to a science museum and look at dead plasticated corpses without feeling inferior?

Hopefully I'll get my own pictures on Tuesday, then we'll return with crew in January. The display heads off to Japan by February.

Eurobad '74

I may not be the most frequent blogger as I'd like, but I'm pretty proud to say that, rain or shine, I'll have a new Link of the Week up every Sunday.

This weeks is a real gem. Eurobad '74 presents the worst European interior design from the year 1974. I didn't think the first couple were that awful, but keep clicking cause they just get better and better worse and worse!

People often ask me, "Codos, where do you find such funny slash unusual weblinks?"

"Oh, different places," I'll say sheepishly.

Then they get very serious and don't want to drop it. "No, really. Where do you find them?"

The answer is: I'm not telling!

Neener neener, poo-poo pa doo!