I saw this virtual Dubya game on the Channel 5 news the other night. (I think the newscasters were really looking for any story whatsoever that didn’t have to do with foot-and-mouth disease.) I was all set to snicker at the Prez’s expense, except that the story has started to sound very fishy. I mean, picture this: you’re the head of a crappy “software entertainment” company whose biggest claim to fame so far is designing the Pamela Anderson Tamagotchi. Hmmm, what would really drum up interest (and presumably stock prices)? Cashing in on an international crisis. Make up something that mocks America and then claim that two billion Chinese (red bastards) are downloading it ’round the clock. Get your company mentioned in every newspaper in the world. Retire a millionaire.
 
Or maybe I’m just getting jaded.

If you’re interested, I just posted photos of our house and the recent Korean Feast. The house photos are really for Snookums’s and my mothers, but you might get a kick out of seeing how us Brits live.

I am Bridget Jones.

Well, not really. But I did see the film today and I didn’t hate Renee Zellweger. In fact, I almost kinda-sorta related to her. But first things first: the movie was good. I was happy with some of the things they expanded from the book and disappointed by some of the things they had to cut, but overall I definitely had a good time. They really pared it down to a romantic-comedy and cut most of the girl-power, weight-obsession, Colin Firth references (for the obvious reason), and “Pride & Prejudice” overtones. And they completely changed the ending. (Actually, that’s probably for the best. That whole subplot about Bridget’s mom running away with “Julio” was a bit contrived.) I laughed a bit though, and I was sad a bit though, and I was happy when I left the cinema.

Renee Zellweger was wonderful. There, I said it. She looks great with the extra weight (she’d still qualify for “thin”, if you ask me, but at least this way she has boobs and a bum). Her accent was a little unsettling at first, but once I got used to it coming from her, it stopped sounding fake and just became Bridget’s voice. Her mannerisms and her facial expressions… they were spot on. You may never hear me say this again – given my eternal hatred for anyone who looks remotely like Jewel – but I like Renee Zellweger. Well, as Bridget anyway.

And now for the questions I know all you Americans are dying to ask. First off, no, I’ve never been to a Tarts & Vicars party. (Our Deviant and Diverse Party, while similar, still hardly qualifies.) No, there’s no way Bridget could afford that flat on her salary. No, I’ve never met Salman Rushdie. And most emphatically, no, it never snows that prettily – and thickly – in Central London. Satisfied?

I do this weird thing, where I read and watch things that I know are going to piss me off. Do you do that? For example, I just finished reading the latest “Dawson’s Creek” recap over at MBTV. It (the show, not the recap) enraged me, as I knew it would. Another example – I always read Victoria Hervey‘s column in the Sunday Times Style magazine, even though I know she’s a mindless name-dropping upper-class tart that’s just going to drive me up the wall. Another example – I managed to find a copy of the film Danny, the Champion of the World, which was based on the Roald Dahl book. Jeremy Irons aside, they completely ruin the story. They take out all the morally objectionable bits and replace it with Robbie Coltrane and a horrible plot contrivance. It never fails to completely appall me. And yet I watch it repeatedly. These things are my hair shirts, and I must be really penitent subconsciously.

In case you haven’t noticed, there’s a new poll over there in the left hand column. After you’re done voting, you might be interested in reading how I set it up. No database is required, and it’s a lot simpler than the comment system. (Which reminds me, huge apologies to those who wrote asking for assistance with the latter. I’ve been so busy moving hosts that I haven’t had much chance to really look at your e-mails. You’re my top priority though, I promise.) Oh, and in case you missed it, vote! 🙂

Let me tell you a story. This morning I was happily checking my new referrer logs when I came across a link to somebody’s personal page. I thought maybe they had linked to me so I fired up my browser to check it out. The site was the usual crappy Angelfire teenager personal page, but the design looked a bit familiar. In fact, it looked exactly like my friend Brigita’s site. EXACTLY. This person had copied her entire design, right down to claiming Brigita’s personality test statistics as her own. She even kept Brigita’s StorTroopers and relabelled them as herself and her boyfriend. Needless to say, this pissed me off. Not only was she ripping off my friend, but the StorTroopers were being hosted at my site – as a favor for Brigita – and thus my own precious bandwidth was being sucked away. (And y’all know how I get about that.) So I calmly sent this little fiend a letter, explaining that we were on to her and I’d appreciate it if she’d kill the image from my site. I didn’t get any answer, so I went back to the site tonight to see if she’d complied. What I saw was not pretty.

Am I being a bitch here? I really don’t think so. You’ll note that there’s no mention of the bandwidth issue… basically because there’s no excuse. As for her defense of “copying” – I wish I’d taken a screenshot so you could compare the sites. There’s a difference between viewing somebody’s source code (and maybe grabbing a few of their ideas) and co-opting somebody’s entire look & feel. Hell, I incorporate elements from practically every website I read here at web-goddess. I’m a big fan of that. I’m not a big fan of simply saving somebody elses HTML (images and all!) and calling it your own. I feel bad that this girl feels her “work” has been wasted, but given the disregard she showed for Brigita’s property, it’s her own fault. What do you think? Leave me your comments.

My mom and I were just chatting on IM and trying to determine which day my brother graduates from high school this June. While she was trying to phone the school corporation to ask, I entered “Lakeland High School Lagrange” into Google on a whim. And check it out! They have a website! There’s not much there, but I did get to see pages from some of my favorite teachers. Mr. Baumgartner’s freshman biology class looks as exciting as ever, and Mr. Schmidt sounds like he’s keeping busy. Mr. Hedstrom’s trivia question looks to be a stumper. (I’d guess Purdue, knowing him.) And what’s up with Mr. Baxla’s computer programming course? I don’t remember Lakeland offering that. I wouldn’t have minded taking it!

Well the standoff is over. Apparently that site I pointed to where you can apologise for President Bush got a bit out-of-hand, though.
 
Oh no… I’m becoming English! Did you notice how I spelled “apologise”? What’s more, I originally started out this sentence with the phrase “I just realised…” Next I’ll be writing “colour” and pronouncing “herbs” with a hard H! I’m turning into a pom!

Remember, May 2 is Free Cone Day at Ben & Jerry’s. Man, if I was in the U.S. I’d be all over that. Phish Food is the greatest ice cream ever.

Tons O’ REM News: A few days ago Ironminds featured a review of probably my all-time favorite REM album, “Out of Time.” If you’re a fan, the author does a fantastic job dissecting both the brilliance and the confusion of the album. (KRS-1? “Shiny Happy People”?) I’m definitely getting excited for the new album “Reveal“, which is supposed to be released on May 15. (Shhh! I got a postcard from the Official Fan Club the other day telling me that streaming tracks will be available at remreveal.com this weekend. It’s a secret!) And how fantastic is this? REM will be playing at the South Africa’s Freedom Day Concert in London on April 29! I’m going to call tonight and try to score tickets…