LotD

The Facial Hair Society -- just... well, no words.

Hulu

So I'm liking hulu.com more and more. I've watched several different shows, including Morgan Spurlock's "30 Days", which I've always been interested in, and Battlestar Galactica. I also found episodes of "Remington Steele" and "The Facts of Life" on there, but haven't had a chance to watch them.

You do have to register to use Hulu, but it's free, and it's actually got a neat perk -- you can "subscribe" to shows and they automatically load into your account when the latest episode becomes available. Of course, I logged in today for the first time in more than a week and was just overwhelmed by how many episodes were in the account (anything more than 2 shows seems like a lot to me; I'm kind of one show/one night kind of gal. Actually, more of a 1 1/2 show, if you count the first 12 or so minutes of the Daily Show).

They have movies on there as well, most of them fairly old, and lots of documentaries. But what I like is that I have access for the first time to some shows on cable that I'd heard about but was never able to see. Now if I could just get "What Not To Wear" online*, then that would be just awesome and I'd have everything I'd ever want in my couch potato life.

*I'm looking for legal, free episodes only

Money, money, money

I got my piece of the stimulus package today -- the $40 coupon for the converter box for the switch from analog to digital. Actually, I don't know if the recent arrival was part of the extended funding for the switch (and was tucked in the stimulus bill) or if someone's coupon expired and I got another one. Either way, I finally -- after several months on the waiting list -- got my coupon. And perfect timing too. My free service, provided by the apartment complex, ended last week and now I'm back on local only. So getting the coupon this week so I can make the transition to rabbit ears was really good timing.

Incidentally, hulu.com is pretty decent when it comes to providing television shows. I recommend "Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog" -- very cute 3-parter from Joss Whedon and singing! Good singing! Good lyrics. So yeah, I don't actually miss cable because I can get Battlestar on scifi.com or hulu.com the day after, and the Daily Show is now on hulu.com so I don't have to deal with Comedy Central's funky player. All in all, not a bad deal. Definitely a good option if, in these tough times, you're looking to cut costs -- you can still get most of your favorite shows online for free with minimal commercial interruption.

Twelve step program?

Yes, I'm on Facebook, but thankfully, I didn't say yes to any of the questions in this article about How to Identify Facebook Addiction.

Definition of a fan

This article about the Chris Brown/Rihanna thing from last week made my jaw drop, especially the quote at the end of this paragraph:

A source close to the investigation told E! News that Rihanna told police Brown threatened to kill her and then choked her until she lost consciousness. His camp never responded to repeated requests for comment on the allegations.

But Clinton Brown predicts that Chris' true fans will stick by him through what could understandably be thought of as the beginning of the end of his rampant popularity.

"If you are on his side, you are on his side," he said. "Just because someone trips, if you are truly a fan, you are not going to demonize him instantaneously."

But he added, "This music industry is very unforgiving when it comes to having indiscretions. He will continue to be a good person. He loves people. And like most of us, most humans, things will occur. And hopefully a person won't be judged simply on that alone."

Just to be clear, we're talking about an alleged threat of murder and the infliction of severe injuries that landed Rihanna in the hospital for 5 days. We're not talking about a minor misjudgment here, not the same likes as Hugh Grant or any number of other idiotic things celebrities do. Sheesh. I can't imagine still wanting to be a fan of someone who threatened to kill someone else. Well, OJ does have fans, so I guess it's possible. Clearly, Clinton Brown and I have very different ideas on what the impact of this 'indiscretion' will have and really what it shows about a particular individual. Thanks, but no thanks.

Shakespeare has a lot to answer for

Romeo and Juliet are a pair of knuckleheads. These two have launched a thousand fics and movies, and through various media, the idea that these two are the world's greatest lovers, star-crossed and all that, has survived. In truth, we're talking about two teenagers who fell in lust love at first sight, gyrated their way through hormonal-fueled angst, and then they impetuously died over a misunderstanding. This is an adolescent romance that lasted all of, what, 24 hours? Even Britney Spears' first marriage was longer than that. Weirdly, all this translates into the World's Most Romantic Romance Ever (tm), enough so that someone wants these two on their wedding invite*. Or maybe you'd like a "Romeo and Juliet" themed wedding? If you happen to attend such a wedding, I'd recommend staying away from the cocktails.

* Also, apostrophe abuse, which is just unconscionable

Bill sez

Email circa October 2004:

"Now, one of Clinton's laws of politics is this," [Bill] Clinton said. "If one candidate's trying to scare you, and the other one is trying to get you to think, if one candidate is appealing to your fears and the other one is appealing to your hopes, you better vote for the person who wants you to think and hope."

Whoozers

Seriously, nothing more painful than downloaded 6,345 pieces of email, spanning more than five years, and many of them really ill with viruses. On the upside of this, I think I've finally figured out where all of my email has been disappearing to. On the downside, I'm seeing emails/addresses that I really didn't want to see again. But that's another story entirely.

PSA

I just realized that the Top Sekrit (tm) email account is malfunctioning. I'm not receiving email there. I didn't realize that the credit card on the account had expired -- the last emails I received were on January 30 -- but I'm still getting a moderate amount of spam and my website is up and running, so clearly it hasn't been completely turned off. I've paid the hosting charges for this month, but just be advised -- if you sent an email to the Top Sekrit (tm) account recently, I may not have received it.