Mean Time

You’re reading this because no other posts have gone up in several days despite my
best efforts and profound desires to the contrary. I haven’t done much commenting on other folks’ blogs lately, either, so the following pretty well exhausts my supply of word-verification witticism for the nonce. Those of you unfamiliar with this exercise are directed to the master list of definitions, which explains the idea and collects the contents of all such material to date.

arrater — [ahr ay tur] n. Someone who decides that movies have too much sex, violence, or profanity for G, PG, or PG-13.

bousnext — [booz nekst] phr. The way the maitre d’ at a tacky Halloween-themed restaurant greets folks in line.

boyawk — [boy awk] n. A young male bird of prey.

cathopi — [kath oh pye] n. A flexible tube 3.14159 mm. in diameter inserted for bladder relief.

conesses — pl. n. 1. [kah neh siz] Lady tricksters. 2. [koh ness iz] Men sharing the lead role in The Untouchables.

dreeabl — [dree ah bul] n. Southern dribble.

Filetro — [fih leh troh] Arch-criminal known for boning his victims. (You know what I mean.)

gewse — [gyoos] n. A very British goose.

Grank — [grank] The 2035 installment of Jason Statham’s Chev Chelios franchise.

Quick Hits, Continued

Picking up where I left off yesterday…


Image © 2010 and characters TM Bryan Lee O’Malley.

“Scott Pilgrim vs. the Animation” is a flashback to events not depicted in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. The short video first aired as part of Adult Swim, Cartoon Network’s late-night block, when SPVTW opened back in August. Michael Cera and Alison Pill reprise their roles from the live-action feature, voicing the title character and high-school girlfriend Kim Pine. It was produced by the production company Titmouse and is visually based on creator Bryan Lee O’Malley’s art in the Scott Pilgrim graphic novels.

Quick Hits

To all who read this — whether observing the day as a holy one, based on cultural tradition, or merely with bemusement — I wish you a sweet year to come full of health and happiness.



You can get the lowdown on Rosh Ha-Shanah at www.jewfaq.org, a.k.a. Judaism 101, via Tracey Rich. I like the site because it’s concise; it’s non-judgmental — written, as the home page says, “from a traditional perspective in conversational language you can understand”; and it’s possessed of a domain name that makes me giggle.

What the F---?

I spent long enough playing with yesterday’s Google logo when it came up — just screwing around, initially; then attempting to see, like, how much you could mess up one letter without moving the balls in the other letters — that I forgot what I had opened the page to search for, and in my head I let loose a silent “F---!”

And that reminded me of a couple of recent items I’ve been meaning to share:

• Cee-Lo Green’s “F--- You”

The official video for the song has come out since I first bookmarked it, so that’s for that, although the original placeholder has its own charm.

• RacheBloom’s “F--- Me, Ray Bradbury”

Her object of affection is described rhymingly as “the greatest sci-fi writer in history” and he celebrated his 90th birthday a couple of weeks ago. While the lyrics are crude, in the sense of not particularly inventive as well as scatological, the song definitely has its moments.

I’m not big on swearing. But I curse a whole heck of a lot more today than I did as a young man, for a variety of reasons. And as I’ve said before, I see the appeal and I’m perfectly willing to laugh at filthy dialogue or comedy routines if they’re funny.

The Doodles Abide

Google’s logo of the day is a weird one. I wish you luck clicking on it to find out what it represents...



There have been a few articles speculating on its meaning, but I suspect we won’t hear anything from official sources for a while yet.

Knives, Chow

I spent a throwback night at the movies on Saturday. A friend in need of distraction opted for Machete, and things got even more indulgent when times didn’t add up. We’d each already had a snack in anticipation of going to dinner after the movie, and were talked out from the night before, so we splurged for a double feature kicked off by Piranha 3D. The last time I’d been to the multiplex for a dose of retro was just a couple of weeks ago to see The Expendables, which didn’t even have the courtesy to meet my low expectations. Saturday night was all right for fighting, though, and not that bad for screaming or biting either.



Piranha 3D is no classic, let’s be clear.