more on interests

carbonatedbabe, how do i explain my love for the pointer sisters that isn't completely self-evident? :) ok, ok, i only like 3 of their albums that came out in the 80s. i'm not, like, a full-time fan of their whole career. but those three albums were just such a huge part of my childhood. i listened to them both in the car and around the house. my mom really liked music with energy, and for a while, the pointer sisters were big. their more obscure songs are so bad and so good at the same time.

two years ago my dad ripped two pointer sisters albums off vinyl onto a cd for me. i was so excited. i knew all the words phonetically. i would listen at work and sing under my breath, bopping up and down in my seat. kareem was constantly laughing at me.

the pointer sisters make me happy. they make me feel entirely carefree.

katie asks about interests

ok, kaytay253, your first query is ridiculous. the muppets? who doesn't like the muppets? do you not like the muppets? you must be dead inside! :)

i don't know how to explain my deep and abiding adoration for the work of jim henson. i think everything he did in his lifetime was beautiful. i think his craftmanship is spectacular. i mean, how do you make puppets that are so physically appealing. i've always wanted to just run through a muppet workshop, squishing the faces of all the muppets on shelves. they just give off this warmth. and they're frickin' puppets! how does he DO that? his sense of humor was so pure. he created projects that parents and children could enjoy together. unlike much of my favorite childhood stuff, muppet things age very well -- they're still just as enjoyable for me to watch today. (this does not include any projects made after jim henson's death, because they're all very touch-and-go.) very few things make me happier than sitting down in front of the tv and watching something muppet-related. it just feels right.

oh, and...

strongbad is a character from the homestar runner website. he's a man in a mexican wrestling mask who lives with his two brothers, strongmad and strongsad, and answers emails sent to him in a humorous way.

do you remember the last episode of buffy when andrew and xander and amanda and giles are sitting around playing an RPG and andrew says something about trogdor the burninator? that's a strongbad email.

for elusis

casa di pizza was the pizza place a block away from my house. it's the best pizza in the world. no, seriously. sometimes i dream about it. when i go back to buffalo, it's often motivated more by the thought of eating casa di pizza than it is seeing my relatives. the pepperoni is toasted just so. the sauce has just the right amount of sweetness. and the cheese! my god, the cheese! so fresh! so gooey! ahhhh! segev can vouch for the pizza. he may not have quite the level of adoration for it that i do, but he admits -- it's some DAMN good pizza.

for narnee

flight of dragons is a wonderful animated movie from the '80s, loosely based on a book that tries to explain the science of dragon flight. the movie revolves around 4 wizard brothers in a magical realm, where magic is dying out because of the development of science. they bring a modern-day man back in time to help defeat the one evil brother, but some magic goes wrong and the modern-day man (peter) ends up in the body of a dragon (gorbash). and then, the quest begins! it's really quite good. it's one of a trilogy of fantasy movies that meant a lot to me as a child. the other two movies were the dark crystal and the last unicorn. all three of them still make me cry.

oh! apparently it's also loosely based on this book.