I won a contest on Twitter last Friday and have been awaiting my prize in the mail. This morning it came! I received an official Punxsutawney Phil Beanie Baby which is awesome. I also received a really cool magazine from Pa Great Outdoors in Brookville which hilites Elk, Clarion, Cameron, Jefferson & Forest Counties. Pretty cool.
It pays to tweet!
American Idol phenom, Carrie Underwood has been chosen to sing the National Anthem at the Super Bowl.
Don’t care about the Super Bowl since the Eagles aren’t in it but looking forward to hearing Carrie belt out the National Anthem!
You go girl!
Film Studio Miramax has closed. 80 people are unemployed and a half dozen movies will probably never be released.
Here is a link to a list of all the films Miramax produced:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_films_released_by_Miramax_Films
This is an interesting little factoid I found on the internet today.
Here are some numbers for last night’s shows on Fox:
American Idol – 24.75 million viewers
Obama – 9.74 million viewers
Fox had the highest number of viewers watch the State Of The Union Address of any network. Pales to Neil Patrick Harris and Joe Jonas being guest judges on American Idol. Seems like Mr. President should ask Simon Fuller how to get better numbers.
Just sayin’….
Looks like Snooki and company held out just long enough. The season one cast have all been signed to appear in season two of MTV’s reality series Jersey Shore for $10,000.00 per episode. The season finale attracted 4.8 million viewers which gave the cast some additional leverage.
There is a possible virus coming from a Facebook application called Mafia Wars. A friend of mine had some problems with his computer that are being traced back to Mafia Wars. The application is sending out spam to his friend list.
Is it just me or do y’all find this whole thing bizarre.
First of all, sex rehab in Hattiesburg, MS…not sure exactly where a sex rehab clinic should be… but Mississippi????
Secondly, what the heck is sex rehab, exactly? People are unable keep their zipper up and all of a sudden it is an addiction and not their fault they are a skank??? Are we enabling these people? First David Duchovney, now Tiger Woods.
Maybe I am just too old for all this nonsense but it all just seems too much to comprehend.
The last Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien had 8 million viewers, which was 1 million more than his début show.
Fox is in negotiations with Conan to bring him to the network in a late night capacity. Fox’s last foray into a late night show was Chevy Chase which was cancelled after 4 weeks.
Whoever gets Conan will capture the current wave of popularity his departure from “the peacock” has generated.
Everybody’s favorite fitness celebrity has made a new workout DVD at 72 years of age. Her market is older women. Should sell well on the cougar circuit.
This is rich!
Martha “ankle bracelet” Stewart has thrown her hat into the ring as a possible replacement for Simon Cowell next year. Sweet Mama! Say it’s not so. Martha said she is ideal because she is “fair”. Hmmmm… let me ask Rachel Ray about that and I’ll get back to you Martha.
Next…
I just watched, with some interest, the first 3 parts of the Neighborhood Schools meeting on the Mercury website.
This renovation plan that Tom has “cooked up” is throwing up red flags everywhere. Many board member have concerns about increasing PSD’s current $34 million debit and getting ourselves in over our collective heads if asbestos or mold issues crop up during window replacement and installation of geothermal heating equipment.
The savings are not enough to justify the cost.
Again, I will state the obvious. We have no money. We can not afford to take out a loan, even at zero interest, to pay for this. It is not cost efficient. Unless we get grant money that does not need repayment, this idea is out of the question.
Tom, please drive thru.
Next.
Caught Sony’s new flick Legion on Friday at the Fairgrounds Mall Cinema in Reading. Good crowd for an afternoon matinée.
Two apocalypse films in one week, LOL! Two very different films for sure. The premise for Legion is that God gets fed up with us again (imagine that) and he is going to wipe out human kind. Since He promised to never again flood the earth, he was sending his angels to do the job.
Dennis Quaid, Kate Walsh, Charles Dutton and Tyrese are the big names in the film. Interesting premise, good special effects and the story is good. I saw some not so good reviews but everybody has their opinion. Lots of action and the ending was cool.
I liked it. Maybe you might as well…hard to say.
Every week, my girlfriend and I go out for dinner on Friday and Saturday nights. Usually a cheap meal on Friday and a nicer meal on Saturday.
Friday we went to Arby’s on Shoemaker Rd. for our fast-food meal. All was going well except there was this hyper kid running around like a nut while we were waiting for our order. The restaurant wasn’t busy. There were tons of empty tables but, of course, they had to sit right behind us with spaz-boy. The kid is jumping up and down on the seat, batting at the light fixture etc… while the parents are doing squat to stop him.
As usual, I finished way before Dawn. While I am talking to her as she is eating, she makes this face, lays down her sandwich and says “I can’t eat any more”. Wanna know why????? Because spaz-boy hurled all over the table, the floor, the seat etc… She had taken one bite of her sandwich. We went back to her house so she could finish her meal.
Saturday night we had a coupon for Friendly’s on Shoemaker Rd. They have some new menu items and we decided that sounded good. They seat us in front of a family with two children. We order. We get our soup. Dawn takes about three bites, lays down her spoon and says “Not again”. Wanna know why??? The one kid hurled all over the table. God pity the people who were directly across the aisle. They couldn’t finish their dessert. So the mother stands up and announces that she is going to the restroom to wash the “puke” off….. OMG did you really have to say puke while people are eating all around you.
WTF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So they left and the staff cleaned up the mess pronto. Dawn was fortunately able to eat after that. I had my back to it both nights. She said this wasn’t as bad as Arby’s, the night before, thankfully since we hadn’t even gotten our entrees yet!
Can you even believe the luck????? Be afraid. Be very afraid!
I saw The Book of Eli this afternoon. My friend and I were the only people in the theater, which was awesome!
The movie was nothing like I expected, but nonetheless it was awesome. The story is totally compelling and Denzel Washington is outstanding as the main character. Great supporting cast!
The movie is being compared to Mad Max (by some) but other than the fact that it is a postapocalyptic setting, the similarities end there.
The ending is mind-blowing and a major plot twist.
Loved this movie! Hope you do to!
I had the pleasure of eating at Dolce Ristorante in Oaks this evening. A friend of mine was treating me to a belated birthday dinner.
The restaurant is located near the Regal Cinema and right behind Max and Erma’s, off 422. We arrived around 6:30 p.m. after our movie was over. The restaurant was not very full but Tuesday night is not a big “dine out” night.
We were promptly greeted and seated. Our waitress was quick to come to the table and take our drink orders. She also told us about today’s specials.
My friend Chris took advantage of one of the specials, which was a mixed grill. The mixed grill featured a rib eye steak, two lamb chops and a chicken breast ($19). Included with that was a choice of soup, salad or pasta. My friend ordered the soup which was Pasta Fagioli.
I decided to go strictly old school and ordered Veal Parmigiana ($18). I ordered a side of pasta with that, of course.
While we waited for our entrees, we were severed some bruschetta which was quite delicious along with a basket of fresh bread.
Chris’ soup came out fairly quickly. It was a BOWL, not a cup. It was light in color but despite the appearance being different from what we are used to, she said it was delicious.
Our meals were served an appropriate length of time after Chris finished her soup. Excellent timing!
Both portions were generous. Chris’ mixed grill came with grilled squash and egg plant. My veal was beautifully presented and fork tender. Just enough breading and mostly veal…the real deal too! My side of pasta was penne. Chris said her meat was all perfectly prepared, juicy and tender.
I asked for some cheese for my pasta which caused a commotion in the kitchen. I do not speak Italian but when she told the chef that I wanted cheese, it sounded like somebody wasn’t thrilled with my request. It took a while to make its way to the table.
Neither of us had room for dessert. We skipped appetizers as well. I did notice that it is mainly ala carte. The prices were typical for our area. I did not see the dessert prices but based on everything else, they are probably what you would expect to pay as well.
The décor is nice, upscale Italian. If you have Facebook you can check out their fan page:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Oaks-PA/Dolce-Ristorante/166951746007?v=wall
There are pictures of the interior along with the hours, telephone number, address and some basic information.
I recommend this restaurant.
Tell ’em Roysrants sent you!
Out of twelve thousand people only 13 gold tickets were given. What a vast wasteland of talent last night. Guess that’s why it was only an hour. BORING!
I hope the actual show is more exciting than the auditions so far with the exception of Pants on the Ground. Now we know why they left that in LOL!
Team Conan
Team Leno
Team Letterman (seems he is taking an active role in the war)
Team Who Cares
Thoughts on the late night war???
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