If your BFF is a jerk, don’t hit on him

I’ve recently borrowed the first season DVDs of “That 70’s Show” from a friend. Here’s just one of the reason I love it so much:

Eric: …I’ve been friends with Hyde for years. I never put the moves on him!

Buddy: Yeah, well I don’t blame you. That guy’s a jerk.

Eric: Ye — well, yeah. But that’s not the reason! It’s because I’m not gay!

Buddy: Right. Well, I’m sorry for kissing you.

Eric: It’s okay. I mean it’s…let’s just forget about it.

Buddy (leaning over toward radio dials): Do you want to listen to the radio?

Eric: Hey! I told you I wasn’t gay!

My life according to N*E*R*D

Wynn posted this on her Facebook and I found it amusing so I thought I’d do it too! I’m supposed to use only song names from one artist to answer these questions (I’ll post about my trip home later).

Pick Your Artist: N*E*R*D

Are you a male or female? Baby Doll

Describe yourself: Rock Star

How do you feel: Happy

Describe where you currently live: Things are Getting Better

If you could go anywhere, where would you go: Wonderful Place

Your favorite form of transportation: Chariot of Fire

Your best friend is: Spaz

Check mate!

The room fills with the silence of multiple royal courts hustling noiselessly around checkered floors. While queens glide gracefully in every direction and knights gallop forwards, backwards or side-to-side on their ever-noble steeds, kings keep their movements around the floor to a minimum.

Men quietly observe the ongoing dance but this is nothing new. It is, after all, Tuesday night. The night the Noble Knights Chess Club takes over the Barnes and Noble café.

A man in a cowboy hat stands on the sidelines, eyeing the action. After a few moments he approaches the nearest table with a cautious curiosity. A game has just ended and it’s apparent he wants in. The two men at the table—who, like him, look more than a few years past retirement—sense his interest and invite him to play. The man in the cowboy hat is reluctant to accept.

“It’s been awhile,” he admits.

The two men assure him that’s okay and insist he play the winner: the man in a yellow plaid short-sleeved shirt. After a little more cajoling and some gentle coercing, the man in the cowboy hat finally accepts.

Rest in Peace, Your Majesty

Today, the music industry and the whole world over lost a great icon. I can go on about the late Michael Jackson’s career and his contributions to music and pop culture in general, but frankly, I’ve got to admit I’m not exactly an MJ buff. Plus, there are tons of people out there who would do a better job than I would. I’ll leave it to them.

Instead, I’ll just leave you with one of the best performances by the King of Pop, ever:

Inside a writer’s mind

At the end of every edition of “Inside the Actors Studio,” James Lipton asks his guests a set of questions he borrowed from Bernard Pivot, a French TV personality.

Here’s how I would answer them:

What is your favorite word?

• Expunge  – The definition (to obliterate/destroy/eliminate) really means nothing to me. But I just love the sound of the word. Go ahead and say it out loud. Expunge. It’s just fun to say. It’s the term my UW email uses to delete messages permanently from the inbox.

What is your least favorite word?

• No – It’s such a negative word and the use of it is almost always not good.

What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally?

• A sense of humor – I hate it when people take themselves too seriously. I used to be like that but eventually I learned life’s too short to sweat the small stuff. Just get over it, laugh it off and move on.

What turns you off creatively, spiritually or emotionally?

• Arrogance/cockiness – If a person’s confident about him or herself that’s one thing. But once they cross the line and become arrogant and cocky, that’s another thing completely. In my opinion, they’re just asking to be taking down a couple notches. And many times, I’d love to be the one to do it.

My latest obsession

In my latest bout of YouTubing, I came across this:

Ghostwriter was one of my favorite shows in elementary school. This was back when my cousins still lived with us. They were the ones who introduced the show to us. We were soooo into it. We even had the pens on a string and did the RALLY thing.

After watching a few episodes, I was reminded of how cheesy the writing was and how bad the acting was. Ahh…those were good times.

GHOOOOOOOOSTWRITER!!

If I had a choice between…

My mind wanders a lot. I’m not going to lie. Sometimes it seems like I’ve got a mean case of ADD. Here’s what today’s wanderings were about:

If I had a choice between:

1. Superman or Clark Kent, I’d go for Clark, no contest. It’s my love for the underdog as well as the geeky guy. Lois Lane can keep the man of steel. I prefer his journalistic alter ego, thank you very much. Plus, it’s hard to resist a guy in glasses.
2. Harry Potter or Ron Weasley, I’d pick Ron all the way. Sorry Harry. You’re a great guy but I’ve always been a fan of your BFF. He’s got the best one-liners and I feel I have my moments so it’d always be interesting with us. Besides, you’ve got Ginny. We’ll settle to being in-laws, what do you say?
3. Batman or Bruce Wayne, I’d actually go for Batman. It’s the wealthy playboy thing that turns me off.

Sammi’s ultimate playlist

Since I started this 30-day challenge, I’ve been doing a lot of lists. I’ve done my goals for the year, my dream interviews…okay so I guess I’ve only done two. But I’m adding another one so here’s list number three: my ultimate playlist.

Here’s a list of songs I don’t think I’ll ever get sick of listening to (in no particular order):

1. “Lapdance” by N*E*R*D* – It’s such a deliciously dirty song. With lyrics like “Chicks nickname me ‘Pilot,’ they get high off my dick/I take ‘em home, they call it the ‘Cockpit’”, you can’t help but feel a bit naughty. You’d think my feminist sensibilities would be all offended but they’re not. Contents of other rap songs offend me but this one doesn’t.
2. “Frontin’” by Pharrell – This song is so chill. It’s all about admitting to putting up a front to impress people and pretending you’re cool when you’re totally sprung over someone. Something I’ve done in the past.
3. “Forgot About Dre” by Dr. Dre ft. Eminem – This song takes me back to the eighth grade. They played this at a dance and I can still see my friend Michelle doing Dre’s part. Me, I had Slim’s. I had it memorized at one point but not so much anymore. I’m working on it.
4. “Don’t Ever Fucking Question That” by Atmosphere – My favorite song by them. It’s just full of irony: “I love you–don’t ever fucking question that/That’s why we’ll probably never get along/If I was better at finding the right words to say/I wouldn’t need to write these mother-fucking songs.” Well, for my listening’s sake, I hope he doesn’t get better because I love their music.

Move over Cera, the next Superbad star is born!

I’ve recently joined 20 Something Bloggers as a way to up my traffic and find new people to read. Part of the site, like Facebook, are groups you can join and meet people online with similar interests. Well, I joined one for Arrested Development (honestly, one of the best shows of all time). On one of the discussion boards, the question of which Bluth family member you would be was asked. I took the quiz and here are my results:

Congrats! You’re George Michael! Timid, hard working…but that’s okay, becuase everyone loves you.

I guess it could be worse. I could be a George Senior and turn to a life of white collar crime and be wrongly accused of light treason, G.O.B. (George Oscar Bluth), who’s an awful magician with wicked stage music or Lindsay, the spoiled princess of the family who rarely remembers she has a daugther.

Being an awkward teenage boy who’s in love with my cousin who may or may not be related to me isn’t so bad. I mean, I’ve already got the awkward part down!

If I had that kind of pull…

A few months ago I read this book where one of the main characters was a journalist. As the story goes on, she ends up getting fired from her job because she kept pestering this other woman for an interview and the other woman ended up complaining to her editor.

When I read this, I just thought what kind of editor is that? It’s been my experience that editors prefer it when you go for the hard-to-get interviews. Those usually end up being the best stories.

So, I stopped to think about who I’d want to interview. Here are my top picks (and yes, I do realize some of these people are fictional):

1. Author’s roundtable with J.K. Rowling, Jasper Fforde, Christopher Moore and Diana Wynne Jones - Rowling created the ultimate battle of good versus evil; Fforde takes nursery rhymes and turns them into nursery crimes; Moore wrote the story of Christ’s life; and Jones can created the Related Worlds. Can you imagine what it’d be like to have all of that creative genius in one room?
2. Harry Potter – Come on, he’s The Boy Who Lived! The Chosen One. That in itself has got to make for a fascinating interview. Although, I’ll admit it’d be a bit difficult landing one since his experiences with Rita Skeeter have probably soured him on journalists–both magical and muggle.