Will Greg become an Emeritus Professor???

Greg "The Professor" Maddux, the greatest, coolest, most professional pitcher of all time (IMHO), is at a crossroads. The San Diego Padres don't want to pay the remainder of his (relatively) high salary; Greg doesn't want to be traded to BuFu Egypt (or the Yankees). Where will he go? Will someone on the west coast (the Dodgers? the Diamondbacks?) pick him up and allow him to rack up a few wins so he can pass Creepy Clemens on the all-time wins list before retiring?


I sure hope so. I don't want him to retire! It would be a crime! He's still so, so awesome!


Send good mojo, everyone. Send good mojo. (And think "Dodgers," cuz I wanna be able to watch him on TV, narrated by Vin Scully.)

SoCal Shaker!

Welp, as I'm sure y'all know by now, we had a bit of a shaker in this region this morning. A 5.4 to be exact, centered in Chino Hills, which is like 30 miles east of L.A. Even though that's pretty far from Northridge, it was enough to SRSLY rattle some nerves, especially at my library, which was severely damaged in the 1994 quake here!

We were evacuated as a precaution, and on our way out, my friend Diane and I snapped some shots of just a few of the many piles of books that leapt off the shelves during the quake:

BSG & MST3K at Comic-Con

Hi there, guest blogger fancylad with a Comic-Con update, as promised. Was it crowded? There were thousands of people, pushing and shoving...and that was just at Starbucks!

Speaking of Starbuck, I was at the Battlestar Galactica panel this year. As usual, Katee Sackhoff was the life of the party. She must have been in a hurry to get there, since she obviously missed a few buttons on her blouse.

Jamie Bamber (Apollo) has a surprisingly high-pitched natural speaking voice. Michael Trucco (Anders) just kept talking about how surprised he was that he had a job.



Tricia Helfer (Six) seems pretty down-to-earth, even with her huge mouth of perfect teeth!

Then it was time for a few hours with those rockin' Minnesotans from Mystery Science Theater 3000! There was the reunion panel on Thursday, which I didn't see...but Joel, Trace, and Frank all showed up later to sign autographs and chat up the crowd. Frank's hair has turned white, much like Charlton Heston's in The Ten Commandments.

Then, it was on to RiffTrax Live, with Mike Nelson, Bill Corbett, and Kevin Murphy doing a live riff along with the Ed Wood movie Plan Nine From Outer Space. Where's Mike? Could he be behind that center podium, obscured for the whole show? All I see are those...orange track shoes???

Oh, there he is. The show was extremely funny...these guys still got it!

So, that's the update. Was this post long enough for you? Because I could make it longer, and talk about even more people you don't know! No? Okay, good bloggin' at you all!

Are Those Thunderbirds In Your Pocket???

My spouse went to ComicCon in San Diego yesterday! He took some awesome photos, met a TV star from the '70s, and brought back a souvie for his missus: this neat sound-effects maker, featuring snippets of dialogue from the old BBC show, 'Thunderbirds'. As you may recall, the show featured crime-fighting marionette brothers, a drunken marionette chauffeur, and bitchen vehicles such as the vertically launched spacecraft (Thunderbird 3) and the submarine (Thunderbird 4). Now I can just press a button on my noisemaker to hear one of the Tracy boys yell out "F-A-B!" or hear Alan Tracy proclaim "Will not require runway -- coming in vertically!"


Perhaps at a later date, my spouse will guest-blog here and share more details of his ComicCon experience!

Modern-day (Video Game) Warriors

Backstage at The Colbert Report, awesome rock band Rush is invited to play one of their own songs on the video game "Rock Band". It's fun to watch them muddle their way thru Tom Sawyer, only to fail! Drummer Neil Peart seems to be treating the faux drum pads like real drums.

I applaud these fine Canadian boys for their good sportsmanship! Particularly Alex the guitarist, who occasionally goes bananas and assaults people when annoyed. (Just kidding, Alex!!! You know I love ya, Man!)

Choosy puppehs choose Jif.

Yesterday,

...we went for a hike in Placerita Canyon!


Everyone had a great time!

But wait -- what's this?! That young man doesn't look like HE'S having fun!

Let's take a closer look:

No, indeedy! It turns out young Master Siegel was *not* having a good time. To be fair, it was an unusually buggy day in the canyon. Kelsey loved it, tho! And we got some nice pix.

Another blogger in the family!

Honestly! How much Siegel-family online ranting can the Interwebs take?!

http://thefancylad.blogspot.com/

Srsly, check it out, cuz The Fancy Lad is, like, *way* amusing.

Tour of Cool Valley Haunts, Episode 1

Having lived here my whole life, I'm a huge fan of "the old Valley." Those of you who've been here a long time know what I mean. Not only are there beautiful, old, under-appreciated neighborhoods here in the San Fernando Valley, but there are also extremely cool old restaurants and dive bars! I'm sorry to say, I've only had the pleasure of visiting a handful of these places in my life. I'm gonna make it a point to go to more, before they're all torn down!


Just last night, me and the fam tried out one of these classic places for dinner: Valley Ranch Barbeque in Van Nuys. This place, and its decor, have been in the same place for at least 30 years. The food was good; the ambience was FREAKIN' FANTASTIC!!! I hope if you're ever in the area, you'll check it out. I had a pork sandwich; potato salad, and a nice iced tea.

Thrift-store Treasure

Knowing how much I LUUUUVS me some fine Judaica, my husband procured for me this awesome teapot/teacup combo at the Jewish thrift store today! OY! It's SO beautiful. My man -- he is *such* a great thrift-shopper! Our house is full of thrift-store/yard-sale treasures, thanks to his keen eye ... and willingness to shove aside the weak, feeble, elderly and/or infirm in order to procure stuff he wants. :-)

This Week's Wine/Fish Pairing:

This week's wine and fish pairing featured a delightful Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand's Marlborough region: Brancott. The Brancott has a zingy lime flavor -- with a splash of minerality reminiscent of the earth from whence the grapes came. I paired this delightful quaff with a beautiful tuna pâté of sorts: it was a mixture of egg, ever-so-firmly boiled; celery, sliced finely; and the tangy zip of Miracle Whip. This was skillfully smooshed together and spread upon a slice of Milton's Multi-grain bread, lightly toasted. Delicious!

I daresay, this was one of my most successful wine/fish pairings to date.

Kiss My Grits, Rachael Ray!

Gorgeous Day @ The Beach!

Today we spent the day at the beach! We like the strip of beach just south of Zuma. (Not sure what it's called, even tho I've been going there my whole life...) It was a lovely day! E.M. can play in the water for HOURS, it's amazing.



Mom shows off her sexy Gilligan hat! (I love that The Boy is visible frolicking in the background.)

Mom admires a disembodied noggin she came across in the sand. ;-)

Closeup of disembodied noggin:

Mom tries to kiss disembodied noggin:

What would a day at the beach be without an annoying neighbor of some sort?! This was our guy -- we named him Smoky McIphone. He alternated between lighting up Marlboros and calling people on his "awesome new iPhone" to tell them "what a great time he was having".

And finally, we were treated to a bitchen flyover by LA County's finest rotorheads!

Éireann go Brách

My blog was recently visited by an Irish person! (Or, a person whose ISP resolves to Dublin, anyway.) I'm very excited, what with my maiden name being Flanagan and all. These are my people! Welcome, Irish people!

Happy Birthday, America!

Our family had a lovely 4th of July -- hope yours did, too! We spent most of our day in Ventura, enjoying their cool weather and lunching at The Habit. On the way back home we made a few stops -- once for Evan to stick his feet in the ocean, then later at the Camarillo Outlet Mall so Mom & Dad could squeeze in a spot of shopping.

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph Smith!

These outfits can be YOURS! Just click here to start shopping.