My DVD Collection - a partial list...

It's been suggested to me more than once that I try to get together a comprehensive list of every DVD I own, mainly so people can bug me to borrow stuff. So, at last, here is the beginning of said list. I'm nowhere near finished.


My DVD Collection at Listal

A rather unique list from Nerve.Com ...

You know how much I love lists. And I've been told how much you guys love having them so you can avoid doing actual work. I know, I know - I should wait to post this until tomorrow, so it can be used and abused on a Monday morning. But I have to be up at the crack of hell myself (and I don't get 'net access in my office, thankyouverymuch), so we'll have to get an early start on this one.

I stumbled across it quite by accident while signing up for a pledge to blog about an influential woman on March 24th (an entry about that is forthcoming), and while reading the short story that inspired "Secretary", one of my favourite movies. (That, too, probably merits its own entry. Or, possibly, a fundraiser to pay for the psychotherapy I clearly need.) It's a top 40 list of pop culture icons, all of whom we know but many of whom we've completely forgotten.





Click the photo to go to the complete list (I shan't be lifting ALL of it from Nerve.Com), but first have a taste of some highlights:


We've all been there. You're yukking it up at a party and someone cracks a one-liner about Kato Kaelin over their gin and tonic. A few people chuckle, a few more ask, "Who?" and you quietly wonder: what the hell happened to that guy? Nerve's got your answer with our exhaustively researched look at the forty greatest lost icons in pop-culture history. Come on in and catch up with the walking ephemera everyone's only mostly forgotten.

I don't know that I've ever been to a party where the guests are bourgeois enough to make Kato Kaelin jokes, but..sure. I've no doubt attended a few during which at least some of the remaining 39 "lost icons" have come up, and I imagine some of you have been at those shindigs right next to me. Hell, you might've been the one making the obscure cracks yourself!

Never in a million years would I have dreamed that some intrepid journalist would track down, for our information and to satiate our Need To Know, a whole whack of Barker's Beauties from The Price Is Right. Complete with video, no less! Maybe YOU could sleep at night without knowing, but not all of us are so fortunate.

One of my favourites is the update on Michael Fay, the American kid who...well, just read this:

Michael Fay was your average American teenager: hyperactive, bored, prone to defacing property. In the early 1990s, he touched off a geopolitical firestorm when Singapore officials sentenced him to six canings for vandalizing cars and stealing street signs. The punishment so shocked Western sensibilities, President Bill Clinton himself asked for clemency, succeeding only in reducing the sentence to four canings. So it was that on May 4, 1994, Fay was stripped naked, bent over on his arms, strapped to a trestle, and struck with a half-inch rattan rod. Fay has largely disappeared from the public eye since, surfacing here and there for assorted petty crimes: reckless driving, possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia, and sniffing butane (which he blamed on the Singapore ordeal). Four strokes clearly wasn't enough.

Remember him?? I wonder how long it took before he could sit down again.



And has it ever occurred to you to wonder whatever became of the baby who famously appeared on the cover of Nirvana's Nevermind album?? I bet it hasn't, but I know you're curious now. You've just gotta click to find out where Jessica Hahn and Joey Buttafuoco ended up. And the "Where's the beef?" lady. It's compelling stuff. Hard-hitting. Christiane Amanpour should watch her back.



Honestly, WHO THINKS UP THESE LISTS??

Whoever it is, I love them.



Enjoy your end-of-the-weekend dose of brain candy, my friends. Or save it for your dreary Monday morning. Either way, don't say I never gave you anything.

Freaky Friday - Serial killers galore! (NSFW)

In honour of my friend Helena, who I finally got to meet while she was in Toronto (visiting allll the way from Australia, no less!) this week, I thought I'd do a little morbid-yet-entertaining list. Everyone needs something a little bit warped to start the weekend off right, yes? Helena shares my twisted fascination with all things forensic, which turned a lot of heads while we were out for dinner (reading a book about serial killing) and later at her hostel (when we were approached by another traveller who just had to hear our conversation about sociopaths a bit more closely!). For that reason, then, I present to you...

Top 10 Unknown Serial Killers

(courtesy of AskMen.Com; it's a bit disturbing that it's filed under "Entertainment"...)

A word of warning: much of this may be NSFW (Not Safe For Work), so consider yourselves told! It's not full of graphic photos, sure, but it is deranged. Only the strong of stomach and the demented of mind should proceed.

• 10) Gilles de Rais: The Sadistic Aristocrat - Despite a staggering 80 to 600 body count, the man regarded by many as the prototype of today’s serial killer barely cracks the top 10. This is because historical records are unreliable and Gilles de Rais’ murderous statistics cannot be proven.
  
  De Rais was a wealthy and powerful 15th century French nobleman who once fought side by side with Joan of Arc. De Rais had a sick obsession with young boys and preferred victims who resembled himself as a child. The Sadistic Aristocrat, as he came to be known, lured blond-haired, blue-eyed peasant boys to his stately home where he and a few assumed accomplices raped, tortured and mutilated them. In 1440, the ecclesiastical court in Nantes hanged the monster before torching his body -- just to be on the safe side
  
  Seriously psychotic: De Rais would sit on the stomach of his dying victim and pleasure himself.
  
  
• 9) Carl Panzram: Rage Personified - Many serial killers often rely on charm to seduce their victims into their clutches, but very few had Panzram’s qualities: a sense of humor and a sense -- albeit sparse -- of some regret. Panzram’s commitment to mayhem was as disturbing as it was frank and unapologetic. After being sentenced to death for killing a man in prison, he threatened to kill anyone who tried to have his verdict overturned.
  
  In his autobiography, Panzram: A Journal of Murder, he employed a matter-of-fact tone in confessing to 21 murders and the rape of 1,000 boys, adding: “For all these things I am not the least bit sorry.” However, Panzram did express regret for one thing: being born. Since childhood, he considered himself so incessantly angry that he called himself Rage Personified.
  
  Seriously psychotic: After raping and killing a boy Panzram claimed: "His brains were coming out of his ears when I left him. I am not sorry. My conscience doesn’t bother me. I sleep sound and have sweet dreams.”
  
  
• 8) Bender Family: The Bloody Benders - Be it ever so humble, the Kansas shack that the Benders called home in 1872 was still a busy, inviting place open to the public as an inn for weary travelers. Wealthy-looking guests were always seated at the head of their modest dinner table, conveniently placed in front of a hanging canvas. John Bender’s beautiful and charming daughter Kate was effective bait and often told the guests their fortunes as her father, sneaking behind the large curtain, prepared to slam a hammer into their heads. Later, The Bloody Benders would strip the body of all valuables and bury the remains in their orchard.
  
  This family affair functioned with great efficiency for approximately one year before people caught on. However, it is said that the Bender clan got away and never actually faced justice. In fact, the family became almost mythical, and stories of various members popping up all over the U.S. persisted for many years.
  
  Seriously psychotic: As if a hammer in the skull weren’t enough, John Bender slit his victim’s throats for good measure.
  
  
• 7) Hélène Jegado: The Pious Poisoner - Jegado, a domestic servant in 19th century France, must have been an impatient woman: If someone irked her, she didn’t give them many opportunities to apologize.
  
  From 1833 to 1841, at least 36 people -- the vast majority of them employers or boarders who had the poor judgment to reprimand her -- wound up dead from arsenic poisoning. Because of her devout and sincere nature, authorities routinely ruled The Pious Poisoner out as a suspect. In 1851, when she hastily declared her innocence without actually being accused, The Pious Poisoner was arrested and convicted of at least three murders. A year later, Jegado’s neck met the guillotine.
  
  Seriously psychotic: Jegado’s first victims included a priest and her own sister.
  
  
• 6) Andrei Chikatilo: The Rostov Ripper - Poor little Andrei Chikatilo; his mother beat him every time he wet the bed, but it’s hard to blame her when you consider that she had to share the bed with him. The Rostov Ripper’s killing spree began in 1978 with the murder of a 9-year-old girl and continued unabated through 52 more victims across 12 brutal years. The Soviet government did their part by covering up the crimes they considered embarrassing and preventing parents from taking protective measures for their children. When word finally did get out, locals feared a werewolf was on the loose.
  
  Finally caught in 1990, Chikatilo spent the duration of his trial locked in a cage for his own safety. After receiving 52 death sentences he addressed the court, placing much of the blame for his crimes on the shoulders of the Soviet Regime. On February 15, 1994, The Rostov Ripper’s death penalty was fulfilled with a bullet behind his right ear.
  
  Seriously psychotic: Chikatilo ejaculated while stabbing his first victim, making him realize just how aroused he was by the prospect of murder -- hence the 12-year killing spree.
  
  Ehch's note: I actually do know all about Chikatilo; I've seen his Biography courtesy of A&E many, many times. If you ever come across the show, watch it - the guy's eyes will haunt you forever.
  
  
• 5) Gerard John Schaefer: The Florida Sex Beast - By definition, serial killers are loathsome folks, but Gerard John Schaefer was just downright despicable. As a boy, Schaefer’s hobbies included killing animals, wearing panties and peeping through windows. Despite his strange childhood activities, he eventually became a Florida cop. While on patrol, The Florida Sex Beast used his badge to abduct two teenage girls, but they escaped before he could rape and murder them. Claiming he was trying to teach the girls not to hitchhike he called his sergeant to say he’d done “something foolish.” Schaefer was fired and arrested, but while out on bail he raped and killed two other teenage girls. Police put the two incidents together and Schaefer was given two life sentences.
  
  A search of Schaefer’s home -- which he shared with his mom -- found evidence linking him to the disappearance of at least eight other girls. Ultimately, authorities believed they could tie him to as much as 30 murders, but Schaefer maintained his innocence. In prison, he kept busy filing frivolous lawsuits; he even tried to sue a writer for suggesting he was fat. As a former cop, a sex offender and a jailhouse snitch, it should come as no surprise that The Florida Sex Beast was stabbed to death in prison.
  
  Seriously psychotic: Committing the “ultimate betrayal” by using the badge is about as low as you can go.
  
  
• 4) Elizabeth Báthory: The Bloody Lady of Cachtice - The Bloody Lady of Cachtice, a sadistic 16th century countess, is still the most infamous serial killer in the history of Hungary and Slovakia. Inside her own Hungarian castle, Elizabeth Báthory functioned with virtual impunity. She lured peasant girls to work as maids and enticed the daughters of lower nobility with lessons on etiquette, snaring her victims under false pretenses.
  
  With the help of a handful of accomplices, Báthory enjoyed starving, freezing, and torturing her victims. The Bloody Lady racked up a significant body count -- estimated to be from 36 to as many as 200. The majority of her accomplices were put to death, but Báthory’s wealth and influence earned her the 16th century’s version of aristocratic house arrest: imprisonment in her own castle.
  
  Seriously psychotic: Elizabeth Báthory’s favorite pastime included burning, biting and mutilating the genitalia of her victims.
  
  Ehch's note: You can't call yourself an "amateur expert" on murder (or vampires!) without knowing the name - and proclivities - of The Countess. This list must be for amateur amateurs only. [/forensic snobbery]
  
  
• 3) Friedrich (Fritz) Haarmann: The Butcher from Hanover - Fritz Haarmann, an unassuming and sympathetic-looking man, used his friendly manner to serve him well as both a police informant and a sexual sadist. Over six years he murdered at least 24 vagrants and male prostitutes -- killings he considered an act of love. Haarman only wanted to bring peace to his victims. It all came to an end when the discarded skulls of his victims began washing up on the shore of the river Leine.
  
  The Butcher from Hanover had a strict preference for boys he found handsome. In fact, in 1925, while in prison awaiting his execution (by beheading), he was shown a photo of a missing boy whom the police believed Haarmann had killed. After one look at the ugly boy’s picture he scoffed at the idea of killing such an ungainly kid.
  
  Seriously psychotic: Haarmann insisted he was “driven by beauty and sensuality.” Instead of letting a young boy’s allure bring him to tears, he would bite his victim’s Adam’s apple and chew through their throat.
  
  
• 2) Karl Denke: The Ziębice Cannibal - Everyone knew and seemed to like Karl Denke. He was a good Christian who played the organ at church. Denke supported himself with a small business selling a variety of goods door to door, from leather belts and shoelaces to boneless pork. He was held in such high regard that he was known affectionately as Papa Denke. But this was all before he jumped off the deep end.
  
  In December of 1924, a man stumbled into police headquarters claiming Denke had attacked him with an axe. Although police initially found this impossible to believe, Denke was arrested and put in jail. As authorities went to search his home, he committed suicide. This should have been their first clue to Ziebice Cannibal’s murderous history.
  
  The body count, composed mostly of beggars and journeymen extended the courtesy of a place to stay, reached anywhere from 20 to 40.
  
  Seriously psychotic: Inside Danke’s home authorities found belts and snaps made of human skin, shoelaces made from human hair and jars of pickled human flesh -- his famous “boneless pork.”
  
  
• 1) Javed Iqbal: The Boy Hunter - Hailing from Punjab, Pakistan, Javed Iqbal could well be one of the most detested men in history. Iqbal went to great lengths to surround himself with young boys. He opened video arcades, schools, aquariums, and gyms. He also married the older sister of one boy to keep him close by, and he married off his own sister to another boy to keep him close by. Iqbal was arrested a number of times on charges of sodomy, but his father’s money always got him off.
  
  In his eventual confession, The Boy Hunter claimed to have killed 100 boys in only five months, preferring to drug, rape, strangle, then chop them into pieces. Iqbal would then either store the bodies in a vat of acid near his house or dump them into the sewer.
  
  When the judge sentenced Iqbal to death in 2000, it was suggested that he be strangled in front of the victims’ families, his body chopped to bits and finally, stored in a vat of acid just as he’d done to his victims. Officially, he committed suicide while in prison, but an autopsy suggested he may have been murdered. It was irrelevant to his family who refused to collect his remains, claiming that he had died to them the day he confessed.
  
  Seriously psychotic: The Boy Hunter was said to have declared in his confession: “I am not ashamed of my actions... I have no regrets. I killed 100 children… It cost me 120 rupees ($2 USD) to erase each victim.”
  
  

So! There's your cheery Friday morning list! You'll notice, too, that where possible I added a link to each of the killers' names, so you can further pursue their sordid stories on Wikipedia. Because I know there are some of you who are just as revolted and yet hopelessly fascinated by this stuff as I am.

And no, you can't see my Serial Killer Trading Card collection.

(If it makes it easier to think I'm kidding, please do feel free.)

TGIF, eh?

Monday linkspam, my lovelies!

Another week begins (and this one marks the start of Charmaine's new job, so everyone should wish her luck!). In order to help us all get through it, then, I've opted to bring to you a collection of your favourite kind of linkspam: LISTS. This lot was easy to compile, since they all presented themselves to me once I'd posted that horrifying article on The 50 Worst Movie Sex Scenes on Facebook. (I just knew we'd see "Monster's Ball" [NOT SAFE FOR WORK!!!] on there; my god, I had to look away, and I was alone when I saw it). So give thanks to Nerve.Com for the following collection that should provide you at least an hour of amusement... (Be warned, as usual, that there's a 99% chance that most of this is NSFW. Just because it's Char's first day doesn't mean it should be anyone's LAST at their job, just for reading my blog. I do have some conscience. Sort of.)

• The Top 20 Viral Videos of 2007 - I see that the featured one is that lovely Miss America "a lot of kids don't have maps!!" clip; having not yet looked at the rest, I can only imagine...
  
  
• The 20 Hottest Music Videos Of All Time - am I seriously the only one who finds Fiona Apple's "Criminal" more disturbing and repulsive than sexy?? I fail to see what an emaciated young woman crawling around in her underwear is meant to offer us by way of...well, anything. Actually, this list is, in my opinion, TERRIBLE. Aside from Shakira, Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears and David Bowie (and who'd have thought I'd ever name them in the same sentence??), the rest of these choices are a complete miss. I mean...Rick James? Seriously?? And "Hot For Teacher" is just asinine. Bad song, bad video, lousy band. And NOT HOT. I think I need to do my own list (and make 25 of them Nine Inch Nails videos...).
  
  
• The 50 Best Date Movies - there are some seriously weird choices here ("Donnie Darko"??? On a DATE??), but everyone knows that "Say Anything..." is gonna make this list. How many of the 50 are you willing to admit you saw? (I'm still counting.) Extra points for putting "Heathers" on the list, but...I'm not sure what kind of date that would make for. More bonus points for the brilliant "Me And You And Everyone We Know"!
  
  
• The 40 Best Celebrity Rumours Ever - because some people still think that Richard Gere has a special place in his...heart...for his gerbil, and that Marilyn Manson got his start on Mr. Belvedere. Sigh.
  
  
• America's Top 10 Political Sex Scandals - how timely! I can't wait for someone to catch Obama doing something that isn't as patently dull as everything he's said and done so far.
  
• The 50 Greatest Comedy Sketches Of All Time - yeah, it's probably just me, but I think Christopher Walken's most recent appearance on SNL, in which he plays a gardener with a fear of plants ("I always knew it would be the ferns!"), should have made this list.
  
  
• The 50 Greatest Commercial Parodies Of All Time - self-explanatory. Some commercials are just so easy to spoof.
  

Now get on with your blue Monday, folks. (I'm blue because I SHOULD BE IN FREAKIN' WALES INSTEAD OF HERE, but that's another story.) I hope everyone still has their jobs after that whole bad sex scene list. I for one am still shuddering (and for the first time am glad my office doesn't have 'net access).

Scotland, and how my blogs are "graded", plus LINKSPAM!

I've had a couple of people ask me when I'm going to post in this public forum about my recent excursion across the pond, and...well...the answer is: I'm not. There are a few reasons for this, the principal of which being that I have posted an awful lot about it already, but have done so in my Very Private Blog, and if you could see how bloody long those entries are you would immediately understand why I don't feel like I can rewrite the whole thing (or scrub it up enough to have it be fully public). I do come bearing an offer of compromise, though, for the Very Interested (and I won't even ask you why you're Very Interested). I have a mirror blog that acts as something of a second-tier privacy module, if you will. Yes, I have three blogs, and yes, they all share some of the basic posts, but they each have varying degrees of privacy. It's kind of like the CDC, and how they classify deadly viruses.

• Biosafety Level 1 is PrettyH @ Blogger (You Are Here). It's open to the public and is searchable on Google. Anyone and everyone can read what I write here; I don't censor or edit posts, and I welcome unmoderated comments. If you're A-OK with just getting my occasional topical rant or a collection of bizarre links every so often, and never having to see any of my more personal stuff, this is where you wanna stay.
  
• Biosafety Level 2 is PrettyH @ InsaneJournal. It acts as a mirror journal to my Level 3 blog, meaning I transfer the less controversial or disturbing or objectionable entries there, still giving a fairly good glimpse into The Real Thing but without the worry of any sensitive info getting into the wrong hands. I tend to set up accounts for people I trust and give them the passwords to allow them to read at will; if you want to do the same, or if you want to make up your own account, GO HERE, then add me as a friend, and chances are - if I know who you are - you'll be admitted without hesitation. (I'd suggest you get a username that I can figure out, or comment here or on my IJ to let me know you've arrived!) There are a few very specific people I'm actively keeping out, which is really the only reason I have it locked down at all.
  
• Biosafety Level 3 is PrettyH @ LiveJournal. I have an established Friends List there, complete with filters for various subjects, and as a rule I no longer add people to that list. I've developed a degree of trust with those who read my near-daily posts (and whose I read daily as well), and the balance is good; I don't wish to allow any further additions lest I err in my choices and find my private business being splashed all over the 'net. It contains details about everything from my boyfriends to my job to my family to my strange adventures and experiences, and it is therefore locked down like a prison during a riot.
  
• Biosafety Level 4 is my actual, physical, paper journal, kept since I was 9 or 10 to the present, which gets read by NOBODY (although a small handful of you know about two other secret locations where I occasionally transcribe the deep, dark stuff that usually comes first from my pen).
  

My point in telling you this? I know there are a good number of you who have this blog on GoogleReader or on their RSS feed, and some folks have emailed me asking why A) I don't update this one very often, and/or B) this blog is so...surface, most of the time. Now you know. And the invitation to step up to Level 2 is there for you now, should you wish to take it. That is where all of what I've written thus far about my time in Scotland is located, so it's there, if you're willing to reach for the key to open the lock!

Meantime, I can and will gladly share my photo album, at the very least, with anyone who's interested (and who isn't on Facebook already): Ehch's UK Trip 2008 in all its glory can be viewed at your leisure.

And I'd love it if you'd leave a comment here and direct me to your blog, if you have one, because I like keeping up with my friends' lives (and those of strangers, too...)!

Now to the fun stuff (because, here in Canada, we're just coming off a long weekend for Thanksgiving, so this is technically a Monday for us in terms of the work week - BLARGH - and you know how I like to amuse you with twisted links on Mondays). Long live the time-sucking glory of my lists! (Note that some of these links may contain mildly NSFW material, so don't go clicking away while your boss is standing behind you or anything.)

• The 11 Most Awkward Imaginable Moments - I don't know how these people had enough time to devote to these photo manipulations, but a couple of them made me laugh aloud.
  
  
• 7 Music Trends Whose Return Must Be Stopped - I am unaware of any up-and-coming mass celebrity Christmas songs in the works, but I do think that Hair Metal is a threat about which we should all be vigilant. (Also worth noting: Level 42 escaped mention in the "Bands With Numbers 4 Names" segment. I think I'd have boggled if they hadn't.) "Dudes As Ugly Chicks" made me spit out my drink.
  
  
• 5 Bizarre Ways The Weather Can Kill You Without Warning - because, apparently, terrorist alert levels aren't enough; now we need to live in ph33r that Mother Nature is gonna bust a cap in our asses for no good reason.
  
  
• 6 Horrible Lessons Movies Like To Teach Kids - even if I've mentioned this one before, it is so worth reading again. The Creepy Recluse is Actually the Nicest Person on the Block gets me every time. It's so true. HOW DID WE NOT ALL GET KIDNAPPED?!?
  
  
• 6 Famous People Who Pissed Away Their Fortune - because it's fun to laugh and point at the Have Nots who did it to themselves. Greedy bastards. Yes, I'm talking about you, Ed McMahon.
  
  
• The 5 Most Clearly Insane Public Figures Endorsing McCain - I would've enjoyed this more if they'd also done a Top 5 list of Obama-llamas, too. If anyone happens to find one, please do share! Still, I did get a chuckle out of the GW pics, like this one...
  
  

And now, to wrap up, a few of the newer (and funnier) urban legends hitting our beloved Snopes.Com lately:

• Doll Talk - A Fisher-Price doll utters phrases such as "Satan is king!" and "Islam is the light!" Where can I buy one of these??
  
  
• Spare Ribs - a collection of photos that show a woman who had her lowest ribs removed so she could look extra faboo in that corset.
  
  
• Dolphin Rings - a video apparently showing that dolphins can make bubble rings and actually play a game with them. That's smarter than a lot of humans I know.
  
  
• Why English Teachers Die Young - a list of hilariously bad metaphors that would probably be enough to drive any teacher to suicide. (If that doesn't work, try reading a Laurell K. Hamilton blog entry. WORDS IS HER BUSINESS.)
  
  
• Obama Sex Video! - I cannot believe there are enough people who would want to see such a thing that this would be an effective way to spread a computer virus... Eugh. But I do love the text of the email, which ends off so eloquently with, "Obama it's not right choice!!" Poetry, I tell you.
  
  
• Strawberry, QUICK - so we're just getting over the whole Jim Jones Kool-Aid business, and now we have to wonder if there's meth in our Quik?? Is nothing sacred??
  

Hope that helped you kill some time at the start of our short week, fellow Canucks. To everyone else...well, you're just as close to Friday as we are (hell, some of you Aussie types are even closer!), so... Wait. What was I talking about?

This is what happens when I let myself blog before sunrise. Hardy har.

I'm sure my next entry will have a little more substance than this one did. We can hope.

Mishmash: Linkspam, Terry Fox Run, and Mom's MRI!

Where to begin? I think I should first send out a HUGE thank you to everyone who's pledged in my name for the Terry Fox "Run" I'm doing in 6 days. You guys are amazing! I'm really, really grateful to all of you & I promise I'll make the donation worth your while. I also plan to thank each of you personally after I've accomplished this feat (it being a big deal because of my feet - ha!), but for now I must at least acknowledge those generous donors who've supported me thus far: Jerri, Stacey, Tierney, Matthew, Ian, Vanessa, Kathryn, the McCluskeys, Sara, Dale, and my Mom... I hope I'm not forgetting anyone! I'll make sure each one of you gets to see a wrung-out, gimpy photo of me after the fact. ♥ You've all outdone yourselves!!

Speaking of my Mom, many of you know she's been having a pretty rough time, health-wise, since January, and that she had a much-dreaded MRI this morning (her claustrophobia had prevented her from getting the first one done back in April - it's shockingly common for people to freak out and not get through this test). Well, SHE DID IT, and I applaud her bravery. Even without some of the comforts she'd been promised, which were taken away from her at the last possible second (i.e. me being allowed to go into the room with her; an extra-powerful sedative that she chose not to take after all), she kept it together and we're all so relieved that she can finally relax...and maybe this MRI can tell us more about why her health has been so bad for the past 8 or 9 months. YAY, MOM!! No-one should ever underestimate the guts she has.

Okay - it's MASSIVE linkspam time again! I love getting all those half-amused, half-enraged messages from you guys that blame me for you not getting anything done on the days when I post a bunch of weirdly fascinating links. But, hey, it's Monday! Who wants to accomplish anything on a Monday?? (I know; I use that line for every day of the week. Case in point: last Wednesday's endless list of urban legends!) So sit back and start clicking:

• TIME: Top 10 Scandals of 2007 - These range from U.S. politics to Michael Vick's pit bulls. One highlight reminds us of that totally whacked-out astronaut chick who stalked her fellow NASA dude across the country while wearing diapers. Makes you wonder what the 2008 list is gonna look like, doesn't it??
  
  
• TIME: Top 10 Break-Ups of 2007 - ...and they're not all what you think! Sure, Justin Timberlake was bound to make the list, but George Dubya and Karl Rove? Aww. I never knew they had a widdle womance goin' on. (This IS coming from TIME Magazine; they had to keep things at least a little political.)
  
  
• TIME: Top 10 Viral Videos of 2007 - If you feel the need to hear that alien-boy shrieking LEAVE BRITNEY ALONE! just one more time, this is the list for you. My favourite? DAFT HANDS!! I'll never stop being amazed at that.
  
  
• TIME: Top 10 Awkward Moments of 2007 - I don't mean to hassle the Hoff, but, dude, that drunken hamburger-eating video defines awkward. Hearing Alec Baldwin's infamous "rude little pig" voicemail to his lovely daughter gets a nod, too. Oh, and the one that made #6? None other than...
  
  
• Britney's Jaw-Droppingly Bad '07 VMA Performance - God, it gets more painful every time I see it. I figure it's timely that I post this video once more, since she barely made a ripple last night *yawn* when she kicked off the show with one whole line. Gimme gimme more, Brit. Srsly.
  
  
• Anderson Cooper Doesn't Care About Scientologists! - Someone call Kanye! Oh...wait...never mind. Anyway, I love seeing my TV boyfriend ruffle people's feathers. Especially INSANE PEOPLE. Which brings me to...
  
  
• The scariest Tom Cruise video ever - How bloody annoying is that awful Mission: Impossible loop in the background??? AUGH. You've probably already seen Cruise Control's video, but have you seen the brilliant spoofs done by Craig Ferguson and Jerry O'Connell? I'm amazed they're still with us. And that allows me to neatly segue into...
  
  
• "SAVE KATIE!" group buys tickets to her Broadway show - And from the sounds of it, they're the only ones. (Does anyone really think they can rescue Katie - oops, sorry, KATE - from Xenu??)
  
  
• David Duchovny Screwed Around A Lot - REEEEALLY?? *eyeroll* I don't think anyone actually bought his "no, I swear, I was only addicted to internet porn!!!" protestations as he slunk off to rehab. I say no, no, no.
  
  
• Robert De Niro says F*#K OFF to film - ...and here's hoping that spells the official end of Mel Gibson's career!
  
  Now to finish off with a few more entertaining lists ('cos I know they're you're favourite)...
  
  
• 5 Cheap Tricks TV Shows Use To Keep You Watching - No surprise that the first photo you see is from LOST.
  
  
• The 5 Most Obviously Drug-Fueled TV Appearances Ever - I don't know...I think Crispin Glover is really just LIKE that.
  
  
• The 6 Most Gratuitously Cleavaged Women on TV - While I'm pretty sure "cleavaged" isn't a word, there really isn't any better way of putting it.
  
  
• The 7 Most Unforgivable Grammy Snubs Of All Time - I'm still gritting my teeth over #6. What the hell??
  

All right. Enough. It's probably Tuesday by now. I hope you found some entertainment in that mixed bag o' links, 'cos if you didn't...well, cripes, they were the best I had at the time!!

I'll close out by saying that, if you were still planning to pledge a couple o' bucks for my Terry Fox Walk-Don't-Run (only 6 days now...egad!), I'm still gratefully accepting donations! You can do it one of three ways:

• If you see me in person (though I admit it's rare to see me in the wild), I have a pledge sheet and an envelope!
  
• You can DONATE AT MY TERRYFOX.ORG SITE & they'll send you a receipt.
  
• If you hate using your credit card online, but you have a PayPal account, feel free to transfer funds to me (prettyh@sympatico.ca) straight from your bank account! You can even use this handy button, which immediately puts your money into my Terry Fox Fund.
  

THANK YOU, AGAIN!!

Avoiding seriousness and going straight to Snopes.

I've already practically set my LiveJournal aflame with my unpleasant "anti-Obama" rant this week (which was not, really, what it seemed - long story short: I was called a bigot by someone who barely knows me simply because I said I would choose not to vote for Obama, were I an American citizen; that led to me flying off the handle and writing a scathing post that puzzled many of my actual friends, but it's all water under the bridge now. Anyone who knows me is smart enough to know that I choose not to live my life being racist, and I would certainly never dislike a political candidate - or ANYONE! - because of his heritage!). For that reason, I'm staying light and fluffy today. It's Wednesday, a.k.a. Hump Day, and we all know that there's nobody who doesn't need amusing linkspam when faced with that dreaded Middle-Of-The-Week fatigue.

Today's theme revolves around a collection of my favourite urban legends. On the very off chance there are some of you who aren't familiar with the Snopes.Com website, I shall enlighten you. Snopes is, arguably, the largest database on the 'net for urban legends of every kind, proving or disproving the authenticity of those annoying email petitions we all get forwarded to us, discussing age-old rumours about Richard Gere's "gerbil experience", debunking myths about 9/11 (and in some cases shocking us by proving they're true)... It's a goldmine of fantastic trivia and interesting information. If you've ever wondered, say, if Jane Fonda was in fact anti-military during the Vietnam War, Snopes is the place to go to find out the whole story, and from whence some of our most pervasive and accepted-as-fact urban legends really originated.

Enough of my blathering. Let's get to the list! (Note: Each link will open in a new window, just FYI.)

• The Rabbit Test - why do we use the phrase "the rabbit died" when referring to a positive pregnancy test?
  
  
• Facebook vs the FBI - the truth behind whether or not your computer can become infected with the Storm Worm virus via Facebook.
  
  
• Charlton Heston's Basement - just how many guns did they pry from his cold, dead hands?? (Poor taste. I know. Sorry. Couldn't resist!)
  
  
• A Teacher's Assignment Saves A Suicidal Student - this is among my favourites, and every teacher reading this should take note. You only think you're not getting through to them.
  
  
• Is That A Condom In Your Hair? - There's a possibility that your new hairband is made outta rubber(s), folks.
  
  
• Palatial Prison - If there really IS a prison that looks like a 5-star hotel, I'll confess to anything! Jail term = spa day!
  
  
• Getting The Point(s) Of Canada's Flag - Someone took the time to count the points on our maple leaf and then announce that each one of the total 11 represents one of our provinces/territories. Can't say it ever occurred to me to study our flag that closely!
  
  
• Angry Golfer: A Bad Sport, Indeed - There's a story going around about a golfer who got so angry about his lousy shot that he threw his club...and it hit him. Dead. Buh-bye.
  
  
• Dear Google: PLEASE HIRE ME - Check out the amenities afforded to the staff of Google. Can these photos possibly be legit? Read and find out. (I know someone who works for Google. I wonder if they ever have Take A Friend To Work Day...?)
  
  
• A List Of Old Wives' Tales - If you ever thought your grandmother was pulling your leg about certain things - like the "no swimming for one hour after eating!" rule, or the idea that bubble gum takes 30 years to digest (I myself was traumatized by this one for years) - you'll want to see where these adages originated, and whether there's truth to any of them.
  
  
• Inboxer Rebellion: Enough With Those Stupid Forwards Already!! - I doubt there's anyone with an email address who hasn't gotten at least ONE message saying something like, "Forward this to 25 people, and Bill Gates will send you $1,000!" This Snopes entry explains just how dumb you have to be to actually believe those claims, and why.
  
  
• Disarmed - Two guys take their arm wrestling a little too seriously, and...well, it's all fun and games until someone loses a limb. This can't possibly true...or is it??
  
  
• This Goes Beyond "Break A Leg!" - How many actors have died right while they're performing in front of an audience? (And did the patrons get their money back?? What a rip-off!)
  
  
• The DARWIN AWARDS - I love these. This link shows the 2003 list of honourees (for those who don't know, Darwin Awards are "given" to people who died/got injured/were arrested because of something incredibly stupid they've done; these morons prove Darwin was right about "survival of the fittest"). You can also find several other years' lists here, along with an explanation of which are real and which are not. Phony or legit, though, they're almost always hilarious. (Or maybe I'm just demented.)
  
  
• Completely Freakish Tales - These stories range from things like the lawyer who fell to his death from a highrise building while doing a presentation on the safety of its windows, to a story about a kid who died from trying a new dance step (I assume it wasn't the Macarena, as I fail to see how that could be fatal), to the reported cases of people literally laughing themselves to death.
  
  
• 9/11 Rumours - We've all heard them. Muslims being warned to avoid Lower Manhattan on September 11th. The winning numbers for the New York State Lottery that day were 9-1-1. Starbucks had to pull an ad campaign that was creepily reminiscent of the planes hitting the towers (and also charged rescue workers $130 for bottles of water). The people of Gander, Newfoundland flung open their doors and welcomed thousands of stranded Americans. A Canadian police officer was suspended for helping out at Ground Zero. Osama bin Laden is the owner of Snapple. So what's true and what isn't?? You'll be surprised.
  
  
• Jack Benny's Eternal Gift - Is it true that the actor/comedian/musician arranged to have a single red rose delivered to his wife every day after he died?
  
  
• A Little Boy's Gift Of Life - I admit, I cried the first time I read this (not knowing whether it was true or not; I don't think it matters, really). A little boy agrees to donate blood (or is it bone marrow?) to his very sick little sister, and mistakenly believes it will kill him to do it...but he does it anyway.
  
  
• The "Glurge" Collection - I strongly recommend you read all of these, actually. "Glurge" is a term used for stories that are sickeningly sweet, or that have a heavy-handed moral to them. Again, though, you'll be surprised which are true and which are not.
  
  
• Another One For The Teachers - A story about how one teacher's assignment still affected her students decades later.
  
  
• Film Follies - Read about all of your favourite gossip that has swirled around people like Richard Gere, Marilyn Monroe, Jack Nicholson, Charlie Chaplin and more; get the truth about whether or not the set of "Three Men And A Baby" was haunted by the ghost of a dead child; find out if Toronto's cleaning crew managed to ruin a movie set that had deliberately been strewn with garbage...
  
  
• HALL OF HORRORS! - The freakiest urban legends, some horrifyingly true, can be found here. Cannibalism? Check. Zombies? Check. Be prepared to laugh, and then shudder.
  
  
• Risqué Business, Baby - All of the steamy, kinky, and often embarrassing tales passed down over the years are listed on this page. You can even read all about Mick Jagger and the famous Mars Bar incident. Might want to shield your screen if you're at work, though. (Especially if you read the bit about the vending machines in Japan that sell the already-worn panties of schoolgirls. Gah?)
  

How d'ya like DEM apples?? I could have gone on for hours, but now that you've been introduced to the wonderful world of Snopes, you'll be able to find your own way around. It's an easy site to get lost in, believe me. And you can always start your journey with the oft-changing Top 25 Urban Legends; I guarantee it'll lead you into hours of entertainment!

Feel free to leave me a comment here if you find one that I failed to list & is worth noting. You can also ask me about your Need To Know urban legends, and I'll do my best to find out how much of it is true! In the meantime, I hope I've provided a bit of amusement for you. 'Tis my mission, after all, to be The Entertainer.

Levity comes with linkspam!

I get serious for a while, and then I lay an entry like THIS ONE on you. Prepare to laugh, shriek and possibly hate me for life, because I've been a-bloggin', and that means mining for links. A couple of friends have already been lucky recipients of some of these treasures, but I made sure to hold some back for the sake of full impact.

Ready?

(Oh, and...in case I have to actually warn you ahead of time - like you couldn't tell from the titles?? - a whole lot of this is NSFW [Not Safe For Work, newbies!] and in some cases NSFL [that would be LIFE]...so don't blame me if you wind up in therapy or get fired for looking at Cynthia Plaster Caster's creations online.)

Begin linkspam!

• The 6 Most Terrifying Foods In The World - You know, I thought watching Fear Factor for the first couple of seasons would have prepared me for this, but I was so, so wrong. Probably safe for work, but not for the weak of stomach. Then again, I won't even eat goat cheese, so maybe I'm not the best judge of Scary Foods.
  
  
• The 6 Most Terrifying Things That People Actually Collect - Something may be wrong with my circuitry here, but I didn't find all of these "terrifying", per se. Warped, to be sure, but terrifying? Not especially. Go back to that Mice Wine and THEN we'll talk about terror.
  
  
• 6 People Who Just F*cking Disappeared - More than anything, I love the title of this list. Please also note that I lined up my three 6s so I can commune with Teh Devil Nao, OK?? (I forget sometimes that my usual blog readers aren't the majority of who's reading this; just ignore anything that doesn't make sense.)
  
  
• The 5 Creepiest Death Rituals From Around The World - This one lives up to its name. I already knew way more than necessary about Tibetan Sky Burials from my friend Jess, who was researching a novel abroad and got to witness an event in person (and has never fully recovered). But some of these? My mind is broken.
  
  
• 7 People Who Cheated Death (& Then Kicked It In The...) - Well. You get the idea. And these stories are amazing. I'd only heard a couple of them, and not in that much detail, actually, so even though I just saw Final Destination 2 on TV last night, I now believe that DEATH CAN BE CHEATED! The Grim Reaper is made of fail.
  
  But I've saved the...best?...for last. If you have ANY functioning brain cells left, allow me to present to you...
  
  
• The 25 Most Disturbing Sex Toys (NC-17, people!!!) - So, now...let's just get this over with. If someone could please explain #18 to me in the comments section here, that'd be swell. (Maybe that's a bad word to use.) In my estimation, the ones that are too far beyond disturbing to be on this list are #3 (WTF?!?), #14 (ouch ouch ouch god no...actually, that could be applied to #15 as well), #7, and the almost completely inexplicable #1 (that one reminds me of those magnetic mustache toys people gave their kids to shut them up during long car trips...but NOT). On the flipside of that, though...
  
  
• The OhMiBod iPod Vibrator is actually kind of brilliant. Especially since you can get one to match, so the colours won't clash.
  

Aren't you glad you're my friend?? Say what you will about me, but I'm almost never boring.

(An addendum: Some of you have gotten these mailed rather mysteriously to your inboxes before; technically you have to request a subscription, but I do know it's gone to a few random contacts, on and off Facebook, in the past! Don't panic. I think I've got it all straightened 'round, or will have once I see where this one ends up. And if by some chance you want to be notified when I make these posts, comment below or email me & I'll deliver the goods. I've maxed out on my "full-entry-to-inbox" subscribers - why only 10, Blogger?!? - but I can set it up to email you links when new posts are up. Make sure you browse through the other entries at Ehch's Space to see what I write about first, though, to ensure it's your cup o' tea. IF YOU DARE.)

Want to send these to your friends, or submit them to Digg, or post 'em on Facebook? Use the button:

A random set of links to LISTS.

Considering I've been rather...serious...in this here blog lately (In Memoriams, talk of the Air India case, the sadness over broken friendships that cannot be fixed... Aren't you glad you don't see what goes into the private blog??), I thought I'd take a moment to add some levity in the form of linkspam. Because, really, life is so much more fun when you've got someone like me to point you to the weirdest sites and news features on the 'net, is it not?

Below you will find a remarkable collection of LISTS. I love lists. Even the ones that throw me into a blind fury, like the AFI's Top 100 Movies Of All Time, which gets it wrong every damn year. It's still a list, and I like 'em. I hope you do, too, 'cos that's what you're gettin' from me today.

• 25 hysterical er, Historical Events As Depicted By 5-Year-Olds - and no, I don't care that they weren't really done by 5-year-olds. They're bloody funny all the same...and some of them took me a minute to get. What does that say about me??
  
• 6 Famous Songs That Don't Mean What You Think - I, for one, take issue with "Angie", because that's exactly what I thought it meant.
  
• 6 Absurd Phobias (And The People Who Actually Have Them) - They totally ruined whatever credibility they had when they mention a fear of clowns and then they include a picture of freakin' PENNYWISE THE CLOWN from "Stephen King's IT"!!! What kind of soulless psychopath must you be if that guy doesn't scare the hell out of you???
  
• The 5 Most Unintentionally Scarring Music Videos Of The '80s - I'm in agreement on these ones. I will never again hear Bonnie Tyler singing the lyric "...turn around, bright eyes..." without shuddering.
  
• 5 Terrible Life Lessons Hollywood Loves To Teach Us - Am I the only one here who thinks that a future full of Agent Smith clones doesn't really sound that bad? Hell, I took the red pill a while back; I'm ready for anything!
  
• 7 "Based On A True Story" Movies That Were Complete Bullsh*t! - Wait...what? They lied to us about Rudy?? Ugh. Nothing is sacred anymore. The world is a hopeless place. As one of my uncles often says, "Armageddon can't come fast enough for me." Well...it's something like that. I think I have the gist, anyway.
  
• 11 Movies Saved By Historical Inaccuracies - I take this to mean that telling the real story would have resulted in the movie being a steaming pile of cow dung. But then we're back to the Rudy issue, are we not?? Oh, I'm so confused. (But I would like to point out that 2 of the first 3 on the list are Mel Gibson movies, so that makes me laugh. Because I hate that guy. And because I think it's hilarious that a Revisionist would end up in multiple factually unsound strips of celluloid. GO, MEL.)
  
• Wikipedia's List Of Unusual Deaths - It's a dazzling array of the weirdest ways to check out, EVER. Hell, it goes all the way back to 458 B.C.! Apocryphal or not, this is one entertaining list.
  
• Wikipedia's Look At Conspiracy Theories - You had to know this one would be close to my heart. I'm still not sure about that moon landing. But this page is actually quite fascinating, even touching on things that aren't as widely known (but are perhaps as bizarre) as the Magic Bullet Theory. The Tuskegee Experiments are worth looking into, if you ask me. Which you didn't, but you're reading my blog, so...you see my point.
  
• Best Movie Endings Ever - SPOILERS AHOY! I haven't looked at this one yet, but if Se7en only made it to the very bottom #20 spot, I cannot even begin to imagine what other goodies they'll have on there.
  

So...this didn't really count as "blogging", did it? I think this was actually more like "cheating". But I am le tired, and besides, I know you will all find at least one or two of the above lists highly entertaining.

And I live to entertain you.