Ah, Easter. The biggest candy bonanza this side of Halloween. My dentist is going to be so disappointed in me tomorrow. But, hey, that's tomorrow. Today, I'm reviewing enough chocolate eggs to send anyone into sugar shock.
Candy Review: Easter Creme Egg-stravaganza
Use the US Postal Service, Luke
The USPS is dressing mailboxes up like R2-D2.
(via Scribbling.net)
2007 Twin Cities Metro Spelling Bee
So, after finishing up some research at the MN History Center, I discovered that the 2007 Twin Cities Metro Spelling Bee (apparently some sort of division of the National Spelling Bee) was going on in the auditorium. I swung in to take a look and ended up staying through the end. When I got there in Round 4 or 5, a good 50% of the 28 contenders had already been eliminated and each subsequent round took one or more spellers down. Once we hit the final three (Megan Alsleben, Jonathan Liu, and Lucy Zhang), things slowed down as these three spelled word after increasingly-obscure word.
Finally, Alsleben went down to garnishee in round 16. Liu & Zhang battled it out for five more rounds and I have to say that Zhang got the short end of the spelling stick, getting words like jussive and dermonecrotic, while Liu got much more familiar words like facsimile and bombardier (ok, he also got fistiana, but overall, he got more common words). The awesome part was that she got them right and just kept on going, albeit with a somewhat surprised look on her face.
However, in the end, it was epicurean that got Zhang. Liu spelled bouffant correctly and finished her off and is now going to the Scripps National Spelling Bee.
As for me, I learned several new words. Also, I learned that the correct English pronunciations of sashimi and mikado make use of the schwa. I find this very weird.
So, congratulations to Jonathan Liu! And to Lucy Zhang: you held out longer than anyone else in the room probably could have, and that's pretty darned impressive.
Posted March 20, 2007 11:03 PM
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Words for All Occasions
Brain vs. Zed pointed me to this site fantastic collection of onomotapeia from the old Batman TV series. My favorite is "ZGRUPPP!". I need to find a way to figure it into casual conversation. All the time.
WTF, AP?
Checking My Yahoo! today at lunch, the AP, Esteemed News Wire that it is, presented me with the following "Top Stories":
What the hell?? Was noontime today really that slow, news-wise? I mean, were there so few interesting things occurring anywhere on the PLANET that I had to be notified post-haste about Hillary Swank's love life and Suzanne Somers' house? I mean...that's just...oh, I can't even talk about this any more.
More pluggin'
Something to contemplate on election night
In Your Face, Elmo!
Itsy Bitsy Spiderman. He sings! He dances! He's throwin' the horns! You owe it to yourself to watch the demo.
(via seebelow)
Pluggin' My Pals
Amazing! The Sci-Fi Channel did something right!!
Mike "Creator of Hellboy" Mignola's The Amazing Screw-On Head was a bizarre little one-shot comic that was weird, even for him. It told the story of Screw-On Head, a robotic secret agent with interchangable bodies working for Abraham Lincoln, and his battle versus the evil Emperor Zombie.
It was awesome.
The Sci-Fi Channel recently made an equally weird half-hour animated special out of it, with the potential for a series, I think. It is possibly even more awesome, thanks to Paul Giamatti and David Hyde Pierce lending their vocal talents to Screw-On Head and Emperor Zombie, respectively.
You can watch the whole episode online here. Watch it. Love It. Fill out the survey and ask for more.