Foul!

I don't agree with the first round of eliminations on SYTYCD (they did a double round of eliminations tonight). Ryan was kept on, and they axed Melissa and Iveta. Okay, Melissa wasn't at the level of the others, so her getting axed made some sense. But Ryan should've gone with her. They shouldn't have ditched Iveta already. That kinda stunk. I was glad to see Melanie and Miranda continue, but figured they were safe, anyway. I agreed with their choices with the guys.

So You Think...

This week's SYTYCD was really good; they have a lot of really good dancers, just all-around solid people. Even the hip-hoppers are really adaptable and top-notch.

One of my favorite couples at the moment is Melanie and Marko...



That's from last week's episode. Melanie is pretty stocky, but has incredible dancing skill, great moves (she outdid herself on tonight's episode, but the above is representative).

I also like Miranda, hope she advances. We'll see.

One amusingly subversive thing they have in SYTYCD are all of the pairings where white girls dance with black boys and/or vice versa. I'm sure there are some retrograde nooks of the country where that can still rankle. You'd think we'd be beyond that in the 21st century, but noooo....

Anyway, good episode tonight. Great dancers, good performances. Even the Broadway one was interesting (typically, I loathe the Broadway ones, just because they're so stagey, but this one was artfully done).

Coolness

The righteous storms that blew through here last night mercifully lowered the temps a bit, making it less sweltering. I was glad to be able to bike to and from work without getting caught in the stormage. Plus, since it was cool and wannabe stormy, the shore wasn't packed. Saw a Latina with a perfect Gucci logo tattooed on her shoulder, with "Gucci" over it, just for added clarity.

Something else I was going to write, but I'm having blognesia at the moment. I'm thinking of catching "Midnight in Paris" again; it's rare for me to catch a movie twice on the big-screen, but I kinda feel the need to with this one, since it was such a good effort. Beats catching "Green Lantern." Baha!

Saw a thing today that talked about how, increasingly, the notion of multiverses is increasingly gaining currency among physicists. Cool stuff. Infinite possibilities in every moment, all of that stuff.

"Still Life."

Coolio

Ahh, the super installed my air conditioning, at last. Since it's a frickin' hot day, the timing couldn't be better (and since my sweat line is 74 degrees and up, it's not hard to cool off). Good bike ride home -- surprisingly, it wasn't too packed at the lake shore and the beach, but maybe because it's only Tuesday? Whatever the case, it was a breezy ride home.

Of course, as I cruised the fleshfest that is Bikini Boulevard, I couldn't help but notice that not having a tattoo puts one in a distinct minority, increasingly. I mean, this morning, on the elevator in, these two otherwise very Midwestern gals were amicably talking, and as they left the elevator, I saw that one had a star tattoo right at the nape of her neck, only visible because she had her hair up in a ponytail. Of course, a very safe spot, since she just has to let her hair down and it's covered, but all the same, kind of a surprise with somebody in professional attire, but then again, far more common than is once was. What might've been shocking in 1955 is commonplace in 2011.

Speaking of shocking and commonplace, I have seen a footwear trend that is ghastly and dismal (and I've seen reports of it in the South and on the East Coast, too). Bootie Sandals? Sandal Booties? I have taken to calling them "Floopsandals" because they look ridiculous, like somebody's wearing plucked Fraggles on their feet. These are somewhat representative, although I've seen far worse examples streetside...

Notice how the model has her feet up? It's because when a gal stands up with them, the Floopenfabrik bunches up at her ankles, created the Fraggle-like Floopeneffekt.

A still photograph is not enough to convey the sheer lameness of these sandals. I call'em Floopsandals because when one walks in these, it creates a kind of "flooping" motion, as the gratuitous fabric kinda flutters around. What might've worked with an 80s woman's bootie looks ridiculous with these sandals. This is the most dire fashion trend since UGG Boots. Seriously, you won't be able to miss the Floopsandals when they turn up in your neck of the woods, just because the monumental lameness of them just catches you offguard. These are so lame they make the gladiator sandals of the year or so before seem respectable and restrained by comparison. Beware the Floopsandal!

Keeping My Cool

I was irked, as my a/c still hadn't been installed; it's been almost two weeks. I gave the building management some time, figuring "They must be really busy" last week, and with the temperature drops, I would "weather" (ar ar) the absence of the a/c, but it's warming up again, and so I went downstairs to find out what the deal was, whether they'd lost my form, misplaced my check, or what. Anyway, I was fortunate that somebody was down there, although the guy was "busy" with two comely chickies, one of whom talked almost nonstop. He was a skinny, balding, pale geeky kinda guy, so I thought "Shit, this is going to be  awhile." So, I waited for a few minutes, hoping for the chatty gal to pause in her talking to take a breath, or at least for the guy to interrupt her to ask me what I needed. I wasn't going to be rude, I just waited until it was clear that, whatever these gals wanted or were doing (and I'm sure it was somehow apartment-related, from what they were jabbering about), it had basically been attended to. I piped up, asked the guy what the deal was with my a/c, and he looked it up. Both gals were good-looking in that bland, midwestern way. Well, one was; the other wasn't so great facewise, but had a really nice body. The talkie one had torn an ACL while skiing, and was talking about all she had to go through with that, and what she'd have to go through once she got the cast/splint removed (casts are looking so high-tech these days, it's hard to tell a cast from a splint, but this thing was like for her whole leg). I thought "Yeah, you'll have to be shaving that leg, too, when you get that thing off." *shudder* Anyway, the other gal looked kind of like a particular 70s actor, whose name eludes me at the moment. Tom Atkins. Yeah. That's who she looked like (truly), with bleached blonde hair. But her body was magnificent. The guy finally dredged up the forms, and it turned out that they has screwed up -- they had processed my form, cashed the check, and somebody had cleared the form like the job had already been done. The guy apologized, and I didn't lose my cool, although I was miffed. I left the guy with the chicks and went on my way. They're supposed to install it today. If they don't this time, I'll be pissed.

Of course, me being me, I wondered which if the two gals I would have gone after, as a kind of philosophical man-problem -- the chatterer was genuinely good-looking (looked like a blend of Virginia Madsen and Nicole Kidman), and seemed intelligent, outgoing, and personable. But she truly never stopped talking; like, the entire time I was there, she was talking; I honestly don't know how she breathed. That's like the near-equivalent of someone with an annoying laugh -- it's one of those things where you think "Could I put up with that for long?" The gal with the killer body was, of necessity, quieter (she did get a few words in edgewise, in the monologue tsunami going on), so her personality wasn't nearly as apparent as the more talkative one. But then, the quiet one likely didn't have to talk much -- her assets were immediately apparent. The proper Dave-answer, of course, is "Both."

(Don't worry, Joel Grey didn't harm Captain Janeway; he just employed a technique to induce an orgasm in a woman by way of nerves in her wrist)

Snicker

Amusing exchange between these two 20-something artgals on the bus (one of whom looked kinda like Kevin Bacon's baby sister, if he even has one; the other one looked kinda like Jason Segel, if he was a girl):

Bacon: We should go.
Segel: I don't do cosplay.
Bacon: I could go as Zelda.
Segel: Then I'd be Link. That would rock!
Bacon: Thought you didn't do cosplay.
Segel: I'd go if you went. It'd be a performance piece.
Bacon: Huh.
Segel: You know who I had a huge crush on, like when I was younger?
Bacon: Who?
Segel: Sean Connery.
Bacon: Yeah?
Segel: I mean, like before he was all leather handbag-faced. Way too much tanning. But everybody would make fun of me for my crush on Sean Connery.
Bacon: Huh. I liked Jimmy Stewart.
Segel: Yeah, Jimmy Stewart was like nice, but he could also be a badass.
Bacon: One time, I had a sore throat, and I sounded like Jimmy Stewart.
Segel: Wow. You know who else I like?
Bacon: Who?
Segel: Bill Bixby. But, like, nobody knows who he is, past a certain age. He was in 'The Incredible Hulk.'
Bacon: (grunts)
Segel: But I like him from "The Courtship of Eddie's Father." Like from that era.
Bacon: Wow.

That's all I heard, as I was getting off the bus. But I was amused. I hadn't thought about Bill Bixby since my childhood in the 70s, and these gals were at least 20 years from being born. Let alone them thinking about Jimmy Stewart and Sean Connery. It was amusing.

Nom!

My mushroom risotto came out great! I wolfed it down...

I've got enough left over for days. Obviously, risotto's best on that initial serving, but ah, well; I'm happy to eat it as a leftover. Especially this one, which was just so good.

Lazy Sunday Afternoon

I baked a key lime pie this morning...

It came out nice, as you can see. It's hard to jazz up a photograph of a key lime pie, so I went in close with it. Those are white chocolate shavings I put on the top of it, which go well with it.

I'm going to make a mushroom risotto this evening, use up some of those oyster and shiitake mushrooms I bought yesterday. Don't worry, I'll take pix of that, too. Baha!

I took the boys out to one of the parks today, so they could get some playtime/outside time in. B2 was pretty feisty today, as he often gets when he's tired -- he wore himself out chasing his big brother, was conking out.

I took advantage of the relative quiet to sort laundry; I still need to clean up the living room, too. Busy busy busy.

Right now I'm watching USA v. Jamaica in the soccer quarterfinals. Fairly sloppy game at the moment.

Saturdave

Blimp over the city today; B1 is loving that. Nice weather today, good stuff. I dropped by the local farmer's market and got some good stuff...

And made a righteous omelet using said components. Nom!

I biked downtown and back. I usually avoid biking along the lake shore on the weekend, because it's pretty busy, but it was mid-morning, so while it was busy, it wasn't crazy-busy. Good to see everybody out and enjoying themselves, and the weather was perfect. I snapped some shots with my camera, although nothing was jumping out at me today, despite the good light.

Hard to believe it's Father's Day tomorrow; my own father died this year. We had a terrible relationship -- my parenting success is based on doing the opposite he did with me, and it's worked out well with my boys.

Weekend Warrior

Work was busy today. Edited edited edited. What'd I do? I edited! It's what I do!

Bike ride home was festive -- the wonderful weather (and today was glorious -- great light, cool temperatures, sunny and lovely clouds) brought everybody out to the lake, so there were plenty of folks about. Peacefest was being waged in part of the park, which leveled a marijuana smog layer throughout the park. I ran into Exene in the lobby, wearing her triathlon racing gear, and the pot smoke had definitely leached into her racing jacket, which was amusing. She said "All I did was bike through the smoke." and I said "Yeah, that wicking fabric must've just soaked that right up." Amusing.

I was going to go bike to run some errands, but the city's crowded with suburbanites out to flock to the lakeshore; in times like these, we urban locals just hunker down and let the hordes do their thing. It's just easier. That's the one drawback to living in the city -- in summer, the 708ers just come in droves (calling them 708ers is a willful anachronism of mine, since I remember when there were only two area codes for Chicago -- and the 708 area code was for the suburbanites, hence the term).

I'm going to work on one of the books this weekend, at long last. I've had it stewing in my head for awhile, but am going to dive in on that, see how that goes. Once I begin, it'll just go.

I want to get a starter tennis racquet for B1; I think he'll enjoy the game. B2 will want to play, but he's too young -- he gets to be ball boy, which I'm sure he'll hate. The key'll be getting the racquets and for B2 NOT to try to bonk his brother with'em. Trust me, I know this dance.

Mmm, bucket o' crayons!

Strong Performances

I am amused, every time I see Mark Strong in the role of another villain. He is making a killing (so to speak) as a movie villain. I first remember him as Pinbacker in "Sunshine" -- the villain who didn't need to be in the movie. But despite that, Strong's good delivery made him memorable. Then I remember seeing him as Lord Blackwood in "Sherlock Holmes," and was like "Wasn't that the same guy who was Pinbacker?" and, yes, it was, and he was entertaining in that role, too. Then I was him as Frank D'Amico in "Kick-Ass," a role he nailed. Now, most recently, I see he's Sinestro in the new "Green Lantern" flick. Perfect choice. Strong is good in those roles -- he's kind of the Basil Rathbone of this century, a go-to guy for villainy.

Dancers

Alright, I'm back. SYTYCD was good as ever. Lots of great dancers, as ever. I am particularly amused by Lithuanian ballroom dancer, Iveta Lukosiute, who, at 30 years of age, is staggeringly dancer-old to be on the show, although she's very, very good. I liked the juicy Miranda Maleski and Missy Morelli and Melanie Moore (so many M's -- I'll call'em the MMMMMMs), who were all very good, some of the "Beasts" as they are calling them (is this a new thing?) -- the term they call the dancing chicks who apparently have it all, in terms of skill, athleticism, performance chops, technique, showmanship. There seem to be a lot of Hip-Hop dancers among the guys, although everybody seems very good, adaptable, all of that.

Iveta Lukosiute, the Lithuanian Hammer.

Miranda Maleski, one of the MMMs.

Dis-n-Dat

Looks like the next couple o' days are gonna be rainy, but it can't rain all the time, right?

I set up some online bill pay stuff, which is pretty great, I will admit. Chicago's postal service is legendarily hit-or-miss, so it's nice to know that I can bypass that by paying bills online. I'll likely fold everything I pay into that, just for the sake of convenience and reliability.

There was a strip of road that was flooded, and cars kept blasting through it at high speed, showering the sidewalk. *SHHHHHPLASH* What was kind of amusing to me was how people kept trying to brave it. Total crapshoot! *SHHHHPLASH*

Whoops! SYTYCD is on! I keep forgetting that it's on Wednesdays!