"Me? I'm a sort of scholar. And my major is you."

I've been really distracted (more than usual) for the last couple of weeks with social commitments, travel, etc. and my lack of focus had me avoiding the embarrassment of trying to string together a coherent sentence. But I'm giving up and you'll all have to suffer through this stream of consciousness-style post as a result. So without further ado:

The balance of darkness and light has been somewhat restored to the galaxy. The Daily Show is now available through iTunes. This almost makes up for Kosmo.com going out of business back in the day. I still haven't quite recovered from that blow. I even remember where I was when I heard the news--at work of course, because that's all I did back then. I was sitting at my desk and I just put my head in my hands and wept. Now if only Masterpiece Theater were downloadable....

Was there a better contest idea ever? Vote for your favorite Hot Scot and you could win a trip to Scotland. I was really torn between Stuart Duncan, Nick Pollacchi, and Tony Stone, but after much research (watching their videos multiple times, perusing their Q&As, etc.), I decided that I had to go with Stuart Duncan from Edinburgh (voted most romantic city in a Guardian UK poll and I happen to agree whole heartedly) because he makes Jedi jokes, likes sharing plates (ie. tapas), and is into gadgets. You know I have a soft spot for the tech geeks. (via Just My Cup of Tea)

On the pop culture front: I watched the Korean thriller Oldboy and although I was freaked out at every turn and found myself screaming "No Way!" "Gross!" and "Oh. My. God!" at my computer screen every few minutes, I kind of loved it.

Remember my post about Sebastien's FrenchPodClass way back in September? Well, he'd recommended the French film Le Diner de Cons (The Dinner Game) in one of his podcasts and it finally hit the top of my Netflix queue. I watched it while I was in LA last week and it's quite funny. It's based on a play by director Francis Veber and the "game" is a weekly dinner where each guest must bring the dumbest person they can find only, of course, this time the tables are turned a bit. You can watch the trailer here.

As for music, I "discovered" another great singer/songwriter that everyone else already knew about when this charming man invited me to see Robyn Hitchcock play at Slim's and I've rediscovered Nirvana's "About a Girl" on my iPod and can't stop listening to it.

Image: My friend Beej and I attempted to reach the fourth stage of Chocolate Nirvana via Recchiuti Confections at the Ferry Building a couple weeks ago. I think we reached about 3.0 and further research is needed. The Fleur de Sel Caramels were what threw us off. We were urged against our own instincts to purchase it by the friendly counter person who claimed it was their most popular chocolate (and Crash won Best Picture, so we know where popularity gets us). The Honeycomb Malt, Pearl Mint Tea, and Ecuador Variatel chocolates were divine.

Comments

[Vanessa]

I love love love Jonathan Richman. Saw him open for Morrissey five or so years ago. You should check out his DVD. I also voted for Stuart Duncan, he's a looker and interesting.

[LongOlga27]

I had a dream to begin my own company, but I didn't have got enough amount of money to do that. Thank goodness my close colleague told to use the mortgage loans. Therefore I used the auto loan and made real my old dream.