Oh My - Middle Eastern Simpsons

Best Week Ever had a very disturbing post earlier this week.

"The Simpsons are going to the Middle East! Except their names will be the Shamshoons:

The Simpsons fans in the Middle East
reacted with skepticism when MBC, an Arabic satellite channel,
announced it would begin showing culturally modified, Arabic-dubbed
versions of the iconic animated show. The Arabic dialogue laid over
existing shows is actually fairly faithful to the original script.
Nothing seems censored, but episodes such as those featuring Homer's
gay roommate or the visit to the Duff brewery are unlikely to be chosen
for translation. And many of the more American inside jokes are simply
glossed over.

Ned Flanders, the devout Christian
neighbor, is now merely annoying -- with no hint of religion. And
needless to say, the relationship between Mr. Burns and his assistant,
Smithers -- make that Salmawy -- has become strictly professional.

Some other changes:

Bald, chubby underachiever Omar
Shamshoon works each day at the local nuclear power plant owned by
vulture-like millionaire Mahrooey Bey. Every evening, Omar comes home
to a family that includes his blue-haired wife, Mona, hyper-smart
daughter, Beesa, and troublemaking son, Badr.

Now that’s winning hearts and minds."

Link from Best Week Ever

Who thought this was a good idea????

Damn You, Kristin Chenoweth!

I've wanted to go see "Wicked" since it opened.  Unfortunately with school and everything, I haven't gotten to see it yet.  And I generally don't like to listen to Musical Cast Recordings without having first seeing the musical.  But I was listening to NPR the other day in the car and they were playing "Popular" from Wicked.

Any followers of musical theater will know that Kristin Chenoweth plays Glinda in "Wicked".  "Popular" is a song in which Glinda (the villain in "Wicked") very obnoxiously makes over Elphaba (aka the Wicked Witch).

And anyone who has ever been in the room with me when Kristin Chenoweth has been on tv knows that she annoys the crap out of me.  Yes, she has a good voice.  An awesome voice, actually.  But she is so over the top treacly!  It makes me want to gag whenever I see her.  She pretty much ruined what could have been a good version of The Music Man (with Matthew Broderick) and one of the 4th of July shows on the Mall.  And then she had to show up on the West Wing.  Puke.

When I heard "Popular" on the radio, I realized what was wrong.  Kristin Chenoweth, you were born to play the villain.  No one wants to see you play Marian the Librarian.  And I actually like you as a villain.  You are great as the person everyone loves to hate.

Does this mean I might actually have to say I like Kristin Chenoweth now?

I'm Going to Kansas City, Kansas City Here I Come

Just found out I'm going to Kansas City for work in a few weeks.  Good barbeque, here I come. 

Last year on this project the most exciting place I went to was Buffalo...in March.  Unfortunately, I had the opportunity to go to Wyoming this year too, but it conflicted with my class.  Bah!

It's just a one two three four, five six seven eight nine - wooooooooooooooooo!

Sometimes Go Back to What You Love

On a whim, I was listening to "Beatles for Sale" the other day and I realized how much I really like that album.  It had never been one of my favorites in high school or college, but it's really a pretty awesome album.  Even Ringo sounds good on "Honey Don't" (more than I can say for later Ringo efforts).  I'm still not a huge fan of "I'll Follow the Sun", but there are some really rockin' tracks on this album.  I should add it to my driving playlist. 

Ugh - back to school

This week marks my first week of classes.  Boo-hiss.  Back to actually doing schoolwork on the weekends.

Silver Spring

We've been spending more and more time in Silver Spring recently.  Tonight we went to see Syriana at the Majestic and had dinner at the ever popular Macaroni Grill.  We spent some time in between walking around downtown Silver Spring, which has gotten to be really a pretty awesome weekend destination (way better than downtown Rockville - I don't even remember the last time we went to the Rockville Regal).  The only real downside is the lack of an easy way to get there on Metro (build the purple line already!). 

If I get into (and go to) UMD perhaps we will end up with a Silver Spring address. 

This is hilarious! WW recipe cards from the 1970's

Just read through these if you need a laugh.  I was actually laughing so hard it hurt while looking at these. 

http://www.candyboots.com/wwcards.html

Just for the record, I do WW now and believe me, their current recipes are a lot less disturbing.  A lot.