Coffee Klatch

We’ve gotten used to someone singing the National Anthem before sporting events. Especially playoff games in the NFL. Today, before the AFC Championship game between Pittsburgh and Denver (winner goes to the Super Bowl), there was a trumpeter, Chris Botti, PLAYING the National Anthem. I can’t remember the last time I heard someone PLAY it on a nationally televised game. Granted, I often miss that part on NFL games, but then again, I’m not sure if they always show that part.

Here’s a group that many people have heard on Bob & Tom. If you haven’t heard of them before, or don’t recognize the name, you may have heard what is probably one of their most famous songs: “Title of the Song.” They’re an extremely talented and funny a capella group. Much of their music is original, but even the songs you know are treated in a new way that is quite enjoyable (and often better than the original).

As of now they have three CDs out. Here’s a brief overview:

Bendy’s Law: Semi-serious and semi-funny, this album debuts the group and shows off their tremendous vocal talent. Favorite songs include: Liposuction, The Joy of Pickled Okra, Sittin’ on the Dock of the Bay, and Blue Moon

The Life and Time of Mike Fanning: This one’s more original, which is evidenced by songs that are funnier and sometimes a little off color. It’s comedy, yet great a capella close-harmony music. Favorite songs include: Title of the Song, Secret Asian Man, Saggy Diaper Blues, and Kingdom in the Sky.

Brontosaurus: Even raunchier and funnier than the last one. I’ve seen more reviews that talk about paying attention to who else is listening with you, since the songs can be more off color. Still, the vocal quality and talent is continually praised as much as that from the other albums. Favorite songs include: Another Irish Drinking Song, The Gates, and the Uncle Buford Mega-Mix.

Every once in a while you’re watching a movie and see someone, usually a somewhat minor character, and you say, “Oh, HIM!” You don’t normally remember their real names, just that you’ve seen them somewhere before and you spend the next few minutes trying to remember what other movie it was. They’re often different for different people, because we remember actors differently.

Here’s a list of some MY “Oh HIM!” actors and some movies they’ve been in:

• Karl Urban: Bourne Supremacy, Doom, Lord of the Rings (Eomer)
• Michael Clark Duncan: Planet of the Apes (2001), The Scorpion King, Daredevil, A Night at the Roxbury (the bouncer)
• Bruce Spence: Matrix Revolutions, Return of the King, Dark City, Mad Max
• John Turturro: Mr. Deeds, To Live and Die in L.A., O Brother Where Art Thou? (Pete)
• Billy Drago: Pale Rider, The Untouchables, Delta Force 2, Tremors 4
• Alfred Molina: Dudley Do-Right, Ladyhawke, The Impostors, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Spiderman 2
• Billy Connolly: Muppet Treasure Island, Beverly Hills Ninja, Prince Charming, Timeline, Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events
• Roger Yuan: Shanghai Noon, Bulletproof Monk, Batman Begins, Syriana
• John Allen Nelson: Killer Klowns from Outer Space, Deathstalker and the Warriors from Hell, Quantum Leap, regular parts for a while in The Edge of Night, Baywatch, and 24
• Pete Postlethwaite: Alien 3, James and the Giant Peach, Dragonheart, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, Alice in Wonderland
• Al Leong: Twilight Zone Movie, Big Trouble in Little China, Lethal Weapon, Die Hard, Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure (Genghis Khan), Death Warrant, Scorpion King, Godzilla, The Replacement Killers
• Brendan Gleeson: Braveheart, The Village, Lake Placid, Kidnapped, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
• Thomas Haden Church: Tombstone, George of the Jungle, Spanglish, Spiderman 3 (filming)
• John Paragon: UHF, Airplane II, Pee-Wee’s Playhouse
• Neal McDonough: Star Trek: First Contact, Timeline, Walking Tall, Minority Report, Angels in the Outfield, Darkman

The Federal Department of Transportation has finally dictated how Indiana will divvy up the Daylight Savings Time controversy. And of course it’s more of a controversy now.

Ten counties in northwestern and southwestern Indiana have been on Central Time for quite a while. Seventeen different counties requested Central Time, but only 8 were allowed it, which brings us to a total of 18 now that will be on CST/CDT, while the rest of the state will be on Eastern Standard/Daylight Time.

April 2 is the date that everyone will be switching, and this will include Indiana for the first time in decades.

Representative Pat Bauer (always one to loudly complain about any decisions made that he doesn’t like) is filing a request for a statewide referendum to challenge the decision, because he’s an anti-administration Democrat who seems to automatically go against anything the Republican governor proposes, and because he’s from a county that got denied Central Time. So we’ll have to see what happens. I’m just happy that it sounds like it’s fairly settled now.

Current music: Seascapes, by Michael Jones

Okay, here’s another cool technology thing I’ve found recently. It’s in the category of Social Software (like the other links I’ve got in the category in this blog’s sidebar). It’s called CommonTimes.

CommonTimes is an interactive news website that allows you to select the top stories and add your own comments. You can create your own channel and also share stories with friends. You can even create/join groups of people with common interests and see what they are reading.

It’s a GREAT concept and works very well. There are several other news-related “community” programs out there, but I think this one is by far the best.

New stories get ranked by how many times they’re read, but you can also sort by most recent, most discussed, or most bookmarked (that’s when people have added the story to their own news “channel”). All the stories that you add or bookmark get added to your channel. You can add news stories from any web page you’re viewing, even blogs (including your own). The main site and all channels are full-text searchable and can have tags applied by anyone. The tags work like they do with Flickr or any other similar program, and each page has a tagcloud for that “channel.”

One other cool thing is that everything on CommonTimes has RSS feeds! So you can subscribe to channels that you’re interested in or share your own feed with others.

It’s a very interesting and fun way to read the news and share it with others. And since other people are sharing news stories that THEY have read, it’s also a great way to find out about news that you may not have heard about otherwise.

Getting started is simple.

1. Drag the Save to CommonTimes link to your browser toolbar.
2. Visit http://www.commontimes.org/ and sign up to create your own channel.

That’s it! Give it a try!

Oh, and once you do, be sure to add me to your list of “friends” on CommonTimes. I’m the bunny with the pancake on its head. If you click on him, you’ll get my channel and there’ll be an option at the top to add me as a friend.

In conclusion, here are “Ten Ways to use CommonTimes:”

Ten Ways to use CommonTimes

1. Keep up with the latest news throughout the day.
2. Share what you’re reading on the Web with other CommonTimes readers.
3. Create a channel with your favorite news clippings and share it with your friends.
4. Follow our most popular stories.
5. Follow news from a specific section or topic with our RSS feeds.
6. Share news stories with your colleagues, friends or affinity organizations.
7. Remix the News to your own liking.
8. Share interesting stories with friends via email.
9. Share your thoughts with other users on the news of the day.
10. Put headlines from your channel or our sections and topics on your Web site or blog.

Some more personality test results from BlogThings. Go ahead and take some of these yourself. Nobody’s looking!

You Are an Espresso

At your best, you are: straight shooting, ambitious, and energetic At your worst, you are: anxious and high strung You drink coffee when: anytime you’re not sleeping Your caffeine addiction level: high

Your Observation Skills Get A B+

Your senses are pretty sharp (okay, most of the time) And it takes something big to distract you!

You Are Pumpkin Pie

You’re the perfect combo of uniqueness and quality Those who like you are looking for something (someone!) special

Your Hidden Talent

You have the natural talent of rocking the boat, thwarting the system. And while this may not seem big, it can be. It’s people like you who serve as the catalysts to major cultural changes. You’re just a bit behind the scenes, so no one really notices.

You Are a Caramel Crunch Donut

You’re a complex creature, and you’re guilty of complicating things for fun. You’ve been known to sit around pondering the meaning of life… Or at times, pondering the meaning of your doughnut. To frost or not to frost? To fill or not to fill? These are your eternal questions.

You Are Ugly Underwear!

Comfortable and soft, more people like you than let on. But it’s very difficult for you to show yourself in public.

Gummy Bears

You may be smooshie and taste unnatural, but you’re so darn cute.

You Are Dasher

You’re an independent minded reindeer who never plays by the rules. Why You’re Naughty: That little coup you tried to stage against Santa last year Why You’re Nice: You secretly give naughty children presents.

The Golden Globe Awards were, um, awarded last night and I detected an interesting theme.

Brokeback Mountain, the “gay cowboy movie,” won four awards. Felicity Huffman won one for Transamerica, about a man preparing for sex-change surgery. Philip Seymour Hoffman won an award for his role as gay author Truman Capote in Capote.

Six of the highest profile awards (almost all the awards for movies that weren’t comedy/musical) were to homosexual/transsexual movies. That’s definitely a first.

I’ll be watching the Academy Awards from a different perspective, now, to see if this theme continues.

One benefit of having a wireless laptop again is that I can meta-watch movies. That means finding out more information about the movie or the actors while watching the movie. Tonight I was watching Hook and poking around the Internet Movie Database and I found that Glenn Close had a small part in the movie. If you’ve seen the movie, you know the pirate that she played. The one that got put in the “boo box.” Check out the pictures below and visit the site I got them from.

http://www.themakeupgallery.info/character/male/hookgc.htm

Currently watching: Hook

Even better than caller ID for screening phone calls is a FOUR-YEAR-OLD! Eve has been using Camber, our almost-five-year-old, to screen calls lately, and I just got a first-hand glimpse of Camber in action.

He answers the phone: “Pfitzingers.” [pause] “This is the Pfitzingers.” [pause] I think he said that one more time. Then “What’s your name?” He had to ask that twice also. I guess that’s his version of “May I ask who’s calling?” Then he asked: “Want to know the names of my family?” I think that’s where they hung up. When he meets new people, he often introduces the whole family, so it’s not like it’s something weird. For him it was perfectly normal. But even so, we all were sitting here trying not to laugh too loud as we listened to all this. What a riot!!

Ask Yahoo! has answered the question of how the phrase “three sheets to the wind” came to mean “drunk.”

Drink up, me hearties, yo ho! The sailing life gave us the intoxicating phrase “three sheets to the wind,” although “three sheets in the wind” came first.

Among nautical folks, a “sheet” refers to the rope used to secure a ship’s sail. On the square-rigged ships of yore, three sheets were needed to tie up the sails. So, if all three of the ship’s sheets were loose in the wind, the sail would flop about and the ship would go off course — rather like a drunken sailor staggering around on shore.

“Three sheets in the wind” was first recorded in 1821 by Pierce Egan in his work “Real Life in London.” In those days, sailors had a rating system for their inebriation. “One sheet” was merely tipsy, and it went up to “four sheets,” meaning unconscious. Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum, indeed.

Check out this and more interesting questions answered by Ask Yahoo! on their website.