China Girl

Song on the radio=the above by David Bowie. I'm not a big David Bowie fan, but this song always reminds me of The Wedding Singer. My favorite David Bowie work would have to be Labyrinth, that movie is hilarious. It's one of those movies that I think would have scared the crap out of me as a child, so I'm glad I saw it for the first time in college. However, the tightest of Mr. Bowie's pants in that movie is just a little much. He's a scary man.

This will probably be my last post until sometime next week, I'm leaving tomorrow for vacation in California. I will be on celebrity watch as much as possible. My friend Patrick, who I'm visiting, has had recent encounters with Adam Brody of O.C. fame, Nicole Richie, and Ed McMahon, but I'm just hoping to see Mr. Belding. I don't know what Dennis Haskins is up to these days, but it would be pretty awesome to find out.

In recent "out on the town" news, went to Heroes with Shannon and Joe on Thursday. It was a very slow night for Heroes, and nothing too exciting occurred. I felt bad that Hollywood Bob's last night (or so he claims) did not have a packed dance floor, but oh well. Friday night was a somewhat bizarre chain of events. The evening began as Angie and I met Melanie for a drink at Bedrocks. Yes, Bedrocks. It was actually busy and fun! Who knew this could occur? I had a discussion with an acquaintance over our Lance Armstrong Livestrong bracelets, and the fellow was sporting another rubber band in red, white and blue. He said it was to support the USA, but Melanie asked him if it was for admission into the Bedrocks nightclub "The Cave," which was awesome. After stopping to purchase some beverages (and laugh at the Shorewood t-shirts) at Jewel, we headed over to a party a friend of mine was having. Alas, when we got to the door, noone answered. As Robert Palmer would say, "The lights are on, but you're not home." I left a voice mail with the MIA party planner (who informed me later that the party came to a halt due to angry neighbors), and after Melanie headed home, Angie and I decided to do a bit of bar hopping. In the mood for amusement, we headed to Gippers. I had only been there once before on a VERY brief trip with Megan, and I was disappointed that the main "appeal" of Gippers was gone: their dirt floors were no more. We had a drink, people watched, and noted how many men were drinking big blue drinks. Very strange. Afterwards we headed across the street to Grapevine, only to leave as soon as we got in as it was a ghost bar. We ended our evening at Samy's, where we were amused at the sight of a couple guys hanging out at one of the picnic tables outside Toys R Us. Samy's featured nothing too entertaining, but I don't think of them too much as a Friday night bar (FYI Journey's on the radio--"Stone in Love," one of their odder songs).

Saturday during the day I babysat for my neighbors. We decided to go to a movie, and their choice was "Anacondas." Though I was not thrilled at the concept of a snake movie, I agreed, and it was actually quite entertaining. Absolutely terrible, but entertaining. Highlights included every scene in which the anaconda swallowed someone, a monkey who seemed to have a sixth sense of when danger was approaching, as every time something was about to happen, the film would cut to a shot of the monkey looking frightened, and the closing song over the credits, which was called, "Chapow! Part 2." For sheer entertainment, I'd give Anaconda 2 1/2 stars, but on actual quality film value, 1/2- 1 star. Just went out to dinner with my family on Saturday night, and ran errands for most of Sunday, but Sunday evening Angie and I went to St. Joe's. If last week was a "Festival of Swollies," this week I would refer to St. Joe's as a "Mustache Joint."I've rarely seen so many mustaches in one place. It was also a night for tapered jeans and red vinyl miniskirts. I have no idea who the band was, but they were great. All bands need keyboardists just so they can play Journey, and this band played "Separate Ways" with a femal e lead singer, which was surprisingly good. I was also happy to hear Eddie Money's "2 Tickets to Paradise," also known as the theme song from dearly departed reality show of yesteryear, "Paradise Hotel." By the time we got there, the food count was low, but you could still get 16 ticket chicken dinners. I opted for a slice of Cemeno's pizza. On the way home from St. Joe's, we drove by Carnival Foods and decided it was time to finally find out what was going on there. We got out of the car and looked in the window, but as was a theme of the weekend, the lights were on but noone was home. The menu looked half finished, as it did not feature corn dogs or some of the other "treats" featured on the front marquee. As we got in the car, we saw a mulleted man emerge from the depths of the establishment, but we felt it would be better to flee than to ask questions.

That's about it for now, have a wonderful Labor Day weekend and I'll have more news next week! Oh, before I forget, Melanie just emailed me a very interesting news article regarding the sex lives of penguins. Enjoy, and contemplate whether this has anything to do with Santa saying "Ho, Ho, Ho!"

Penguin Sluts
In 1996, Cambridge (England) University researcher Fiona Hunter, who studied penguins' mating habits for five years, reported that some females apparently allow male strangers to mate with them in exchange for a few nest-building stones, thus providing what Hunter believes is the first observed animal prostitution. According to Dr. Hunter, all activity was done behind the backs of the females' regular mates, and in a few instances, after the sex act, johns gave the females additional stones as sort of a tip. [BBC News, 2-26-98]