Bill Gates wants you to switch to a Mac. Hahaha!

We drove the car
To the top of the parking ramp
4th of July
Sat out on the hood
With a couple of warm beers
And watched the fireworks
Explode in the sky
— Ani Difranco, “Independence Day”

Man, am I homesick. This is the third “Fourth of July” I’ve been out of the country, and for some reason this one’s the worst. It’s not that I’m a big gung-ho patriot or anything; it’s more what the 4th of July represents. Sun, family, barbecues, fireworks, the Taste of Chicago, floating in a pool… and here I am, sitting in an apartment thousands of miles away. *sigh* Okay, I’ll try not too get to maudlin on you. Just suffice it to say that I wish I was with all of you Yanks right now. So when you’re watching the local fireworks tonight, pick out a pretty one for me, okay? I wanna hear all about it in the morning. 🙂

• Australian Big Brother ended last night, and it did not disappoint. The final two were Marty, the Western Australian farmboy, and Peter, the East Coast IT guy. I wasn’t sure who to support. Peter was the sentimental vote, since his parents died and he has to raise his younger siblings. But Marty was the fun vote, since he was rude and funny and unafraid to shag in the house. The Australian public, though, decided they couldn’t turn their backs on a family of orphans. Thus Peter won the $250,000. The best part came while he was in the house all alone waiting to be brought out, and Big Brother announced one last surprise for him… and his little brother came running in. Seriously, you guys, we’re talking tears here, okay? It was beautiful. My faith in humanity is redeemed.
• Of course, after Big Brother was the much touted premiere of The Osbournes. I thought it was amusing, but not as “pissing-myself-funny” as you Yanks had let me to believe. I think part of it has to do with the accents. To Americans, anybody with an unintelligible British accent is funny. I can just picture y’all cracking up every time Ozzy says “wobbler”. It’s a lot less funny if you use that word on occasion (as I do). I’m not saying it wasn’t good, though, and I’ll definitely keep watching. It’s just that I didn’t think it was the greatest TV show ever or anything.
• And finally, the Snook and I watched the “two-hour premiere” of Smallville tonight. (Well, really, it was just the first two episodes run together.) Lots of cheese – and Bo Duke – but it wasn’t terrible. We had fun pointing out all the clichés that had been pulled from other teen shows. “Ooh, the meteor shower means that weird shit will always be happening in Smallville! How very Hellmouth.” “Lana Lang doesn’t have any parents, and all the guys love her. She’s obviously Joey, and Clark is Dawson. But instead of a creek between them, it’s a cornfield.” And dude, I didn’t even need TWOP to point out the potential for slash fiction. Lex is bald and beautiful. Thanks to everybody who recommended it!

Damn I need a Tivo. 🙁

The Top Ten Films of All Time, as chosen by Ali G. I kid you not. My favorite bit is the last one:

10. Jaws 4
Altho’ da first few Jaws flims ain’t all dat, by da time dey made da fourf dey woz really gettin’ dere shit togetha. Me still has nightmares about da bit where dey iz in da sea and den, completely hunexpectedly, dis big shark appearz and den if dat weren’t bad enuf it only goes and eats people. To dis day, me swear me never goin’ swimmin’ in Hollywood where dese attacks ‘appened and instead would choose places on da ovver side of da world like Ostaralia.

I’m still laughing. Ma Snook, you’re gonna love these. 🙂

Roger Ebert has become a full-fledged fight prognosticator. This time he’s assessing Batman versus Shaft. Is there anything this man can’t do? 🙂

Happy Birthday to my Mom! (Technically it was on June 30, but I’m trying to adjust for the Australian time difference.)

Question: Do you guys prefer comment windows that pop up, or comments listed on an archive page? As you know, my site uses the latter. It’d be pretty trivial to bring pop-ups back on the home page, though, if people want them. (The archive pages would still remain as they are.) Whaddaya think?