Adventures in Window Treatments

When Robert and I bought our condo, it came with some pretty janky white plastic blinds. We didn't think too much about it until, about 4 minutes after moving in, we discovered they had no wand. The rope-pull was there to open and close the blinds but we couldn't actually rotate the individual blinds themselves. Eh, okay... we'll live. Or so we thought. We soon discovered that if we wanted any air to circulate in the house, we'd have to have the door open. Door open = blinds open. Which would normally be fine except the pool is right outside our patio. If we can see Fatty McMan-Boobs barbecuing and the amorous couple in the hot tub, they can see us, too. Me no likey. Robert didn't mind that so much but, luckily for me, he didn't like the clackity-clackness of the blinds so three years later, we decided to buy some new ones. Yeehoo!

(This was the best photo of the old blinds I could find...)

The weekend before Memorial Day we schlepped down to Expo to peruse their selection. Neither Robert nor I had warm fuzzy feelings for Expo after our last adventure there - buying our counter top - because they have the Worst. Customer. Service. EVER. Seriously. No one knows what they're doing and if by some miracle you actually find someone and drag them off to help you, they let you know that they're none to pleased to be there. But, they were offering some 12 months no payments/no interest extravaganza that Robert wanted to take advantage of, so off to Expo we went.

I won't bore you with (too many) details but needless to say, Expo's customer service was just as delightful as we remembered. Loverly. Robert had taken his own measurements of our sliding glass door and the el cheapo white blinds - and the woman helping us was not happy about that. She told us 492 times that "self-measured blinds can't be returned... other people have tried it and they haven't been happy... it's only $82 to get one of our people to come out, you know..." When Robert was quite firm in his assertion that he trusted his own measurements and was willing to take the risk, she wrote "SELF MEASURED!!!" in ginormous letters with stars and exclamation points on the bottom of the order form. Ugh. (Besides, the woman was retarded - there was a big sign on her desk indicating that the $82 promotion was only good if you bought 3 window treatments. Dumbass.) We carried on. Unfortunately, the woman couldn't find the type of blind we wanted in the catalog - Robert found it for her - and then she didn't know how to fill out the order form. She had to wander off to ask someone, which took 10 hours, and she still did it wrong - Expo called us the next day to fill in the blanks she'd overlooked. Both Robert and I were quite sure that whatever blinds arrived on our doorstep in 2-3 weeks would not be exactly what we'd asked for...

But they were! They were the right dimensions, they came with the type of wand we'd ordered, they were the right color and they opened in the middle like they were supposed to. Joy! Now the question was: could Robert install them properly by himself? I honestly had no qualms that he could figure it out; I also knew I didn't really want to be there when he did! ;o) But Robert was chomping at the bit to get the suckers up, so Saturday morning he started...

Robert was very diligent and methodical in his approach to the blinds installation, as I knew he would be. He only got as far as getting the brackets up before he had to quit for the day (we had an early Father's Day celebration at my parents' house that afternoon). First thing Sunday, he was at it again... only his first attempt came up a bit short, as you can see in the photo below.

Robert wanted to double-check the length of the el cheapo blind vs. the new blind...

He found his measurements were correct and just as he'd thought - but he'd been so nervous about making the blinds too low that he over-corrected and made them floodwater blinds.

So, we unattached the rod, he reset the brackets and tried it again. This time, however, the blinds were too low and rode the carpet (above). Again we removed the rod, he reset the brackets and... the blinds were still too low. I don't have a photo of me lying on the ground and covering my ears from the imminent onslaught of swear words but believe me, it happened. Robert took a break for a bit and then tried adjusting the brackets one last time. The third time was the charm (thank goodness!) and the blinds were just right.

So, we snapped in all the blinds and hung the valance...

Only to discover that the blinds wouldn't close all the way. I burst out laughing, I couldn't help myself! Robert actually handled it very well and calmly readjusted the blinds so that they would close completely.

Success! By 8:00 Sunday night, the blinds were done. Sweet.

The wand was rigged too tightly, making it "too erect." This made Robert chuckle, which brightened his mood a bit. (He was able to re-wicker it with no problem.)

You guys probably knew this already but new blinds have the coolest wands! I had no idea that companies made them like this, but the rope and the wand are all one unit now. It's awesome!

And thus concludes the saga of the vertical blinds. They are perfect and beautiful... and they work! The saleswoman at Expo should sleep better tonight knowing that Robert will not be coming back as an irate customer trying to return self-measured blinds after she told him he couldn't.

Movie Morsels 12.5 - Transformers 2

Hmm... well, there might be some good movie news this morning after all! After rolling my eyes at TunaFlix's Spider-Man 4 entry, I came across this tidbit o' news:

In an interview with MTV, Michael Bay had some good news for Transformers fans: Transformers 2 “is not a lame sequel.”

Ok… but what does that mean exactly? ” ‘You know how those sequels they do the second one so you go see the third one? [”Transformers 2″] is it,’ ” he said, indicating that “2” would be its own story free from the duel shackles of set-up or resolution. ” ‘First one was just introducing, setting up stuff, so we can go a lot farther.‘ ”

There’s nothing more annoying than waiting years for a sequel only to be teased by a To-Be-Continued ending, so it’s nice to hear Transformers 2 will be self-contained, no matter how it turns out.

Hey! That would be awesome! I haven't seen the first one - foisted that off on my brother-in-law to accompany Robert - but I'm always happy to hear that there's one less Michael Bay movie in the world. :o) Whee!

Movie Morsels 12 - Spider-Man 4

Ugh. I knew this was a possibility but I honestly thought that, with all the bad reviews and word of mouth about Spider-Man 3, Spider-Man 4 would remain just that - a possibility. A dream. A no-go. But noooooo... it looks like it's already taking tentative steps toward fruition. According to TunaFlix:

According to Sam Raimi, he’s waiting on James Vanderbilt’s script to decide whether or not to commit to directing the proposed sequel:

“Right now James Vanderbilt is writing the script, and he’s working on it, and I’m excited to read it. I think it’s going to be done in a few months. I’m hoping it’s as great as our discussions were about it and hoping it feels right for me, because I love Spider-Man, and I’m hoping I’m well-enough rested to, like, really embrace it and hoping that Sony wants me at that time to direct it. So if all those things come together, I would love, love to do it. But this is a lot of unknowns about the future.“

Cutting through all the usual PR double-speak about “ifs” and “whens”, the most telling thing here is that Vanderbilt and Raimi were able to brainstorm about the script together - and that’s as good a sign as any that the Evil Dead director will be back for Round 4.

But because Sam is a shrewd guy, he’s already set up not one, but three face-saving excuses in case he doesn’t come back: either the script is no good, he’s too drained, or Sony doesn’t want him anymore. He also was evasive about the idea of recasting Peter Parker or Mary Jane, saying “Well, I hate to recast anybody in the picture. I couldn’t imagine that.”

Take that for what you will, but it looks like this will-they-or-won’t-they game isn’t ending any time soon.

This bums me out. Big time. Spider-Man 3 was terrible!! I loooved the second one and wish the series had stopped right there. In fact, 3 was on Starz at the same time 2 was on FX yesterday afternoon and I chose to watch 2. Again. With commercials. Because 3 really was that bad. (I'm sure I'll have to buy the DVD sometime, just to complete the set, but it won't be anytime soon!) Granted, there are a lot of "ifs" that have to fall into just the right places in order for things to go ahead but I think Sony thinks 4 (and 5 and 6) will be such a money maker, they'll do their damnedest to get what they need together. Boo. Boo!! I don't think there's anywhere else for Spider-Man to go (unless they 'reboot' the series like Batman... but Batman waited a few more years in between cycles) but Sony is determined to run the series into the ground. Just like Warner Bros. did with The Matrix trilogy - and we all know how well that turned out.*

*Well, all of us but Robert. He won't watch them without me but I know what happens and I won't watch them. Poor guy. If anyone wants to volunteer to be his movie buddy, I'm accepting applications...

Random Round-Up 05

Fine. I have come to accept that, even though it's not 'officially' summer, gossip at this time of year is a drag. I guess it makes sense - TV shows are on hiatus and blah blah blah but movie people are still working! Throw me a bone, something, anything, please! Mew. It wouldn't be so noticeable if my own life was more interesting and I had personal anecdotes to share but noooooo... not so much. I will have some recital footage and photos within the next few weeks and once Biji comes to town I'll probably have a lot of pictures of him. Along with stories about him driving me nuts... he just sent me an e-mail that says "...it will leave me more time to spend with you guys! I know you can't wait for me to be bugging you every night to hang out. :)" And he will. Trust me. Still, I would much rather have him around driving me bonkers than in Iraq so it's definitely worth it! I'm pretty sure. Like 99.9% sure. ;o)

Anyhoo, since the Round-Up looks like it will now be a regular thing, I will make yesterday's rule a standing one: I'll update this single post multiple times a day, so you may want to re-skim it once or twice after your first pass.

1. I found this on filmonic.com, via imdb.com:

click me!

One good thing? At least LOTR didn't have an extra scene after the credits like so many other movies do these days... yeesh. Once I saw the cast sketches roll, I was outta there!

2. This just sounds awful. According to EW.com:

Keira Knightley is in talks for the updated remake of My Fair Lady in the works at Columbia Pictures, according to Variety. Though the studio has reportedly declined comment on any casting, the trade paper reports that the actress is in negotiations for the starring role as Eliza Doolittle, the simple Cockney flower girl who is able to transform into a proper lady under the tutelage of Professor Henry Higgins. Duncan Kenworthy (Love Actually, Notting Hill) is producing along with London theatrical producer Cameron Mackintosh. The project is being described as an update, though it will use the musical's original score and retain its 1912 setting.

Say wha? Huh? Why oh why is Hollywood remaking, updating and/or sequel-izing everything?! Pleh. I actually have never seen My Fair Lady so I can't say for certain whether or not it was so awesome it needs to be introduced to a new generation... but isn't the point of a "classic" that it doesn't need reintroducing? No one's re-doing Gone With the Wind, Casablanca or West Side Story, you know?

3. That's a nice girl. This really encapsulates the joy that is Top Chef's Lisa.

Robert probably can't click on the link at work, so here's the meat of the blurb:

Oh no, I don't read the blogs—you couldn't pay me to read the blogs. I don't want to know what people who can't even afford to eat in my restaurant, let alone know how to cook have to say about me, and the few comments I did read on Eater.com a few weeks back because my job asked me to read 'em. The best they could come up with was that I was ugly.

Enchanting. The woman is enchanting. If only I felt like 2nd rate, sloppy, soggy Asian-inspired cuisine more often!

4. This will probably not interest anyone other than maybe Wade, but since there were 4 hours of SYTYCD again this week, I thought I'd throw him a bone! ;o) Actually, I thought the article was interesting myself and there's no harm in passing it along, eh?

In last week's issue of Entertainment Weekly there was a two-page article on why superheroes have ruined summer movies. This article is a point-by-point rebuttal of that article - and it has some interesting stats to back it up. Stats like

...the best selling comics sell in the neighborhood of 100,000 copies. Iron Man has made $276 million to date. There is quite a discrepancy there. Even if every comic book collector in the world went to see Iron Man twice, it wouldn't add up to half of what its earned.

I am not a comic book junkie (does Calvin & Hobbes count? 'Cause I have all of those...) but I've seen quite a few superhero movies. (Well, except The Fantastic Four films but c'mon, they're kind of B-list heroes, right?) And not just because they have hot, ripped men in them - though that doesn't hurt. I've even seen Hulk and Hellboy, for crying out loud! And y'all know Ron Perlman is no one's "mane" man but my mother's! Granted, I'm not a girly-girl to start out with but I still don't think superhero movies are solely directed at 18-to-35-year-old dudes. I also don't feel totally overwhelmed by superhero movies - yet - though I could've done without Spider-Man 3. However, with movies like Thor, The Green Hornet,The First Avenger: Captain America, (not to be confused with) The Avengers, and Ant-Man all in the pipeline over the next 3 years, my attitude might change. (And those don't even take into account Iron Man 2 [current release date: 04/30/10], Batman 3 [likely but not yet set in stone] and Terminator 4 [already filming] and their possible sequels...)

5. This video of Ricky Gervais 'interviewing' Chris Martin was posted to Ricky's site a while back... but it's new to me so it's new to you, too. Watch it!

Random Round-Up 04

Seriously, this has got to stop being such a regular feature!! I promise to try and be more interesting the in the (near) future, honest. Until then, here's the usual... I'll be adding to it throughout the day I expect so you may want to look it over once or twice after your first perusal.

1. Here's a recap of last night's Top Chef. Robert and I haven't officially seen it yet so I can say no more. Just know that I'd really like to.

2. The 6 Most Unrealistic Movie Workouts. An amusing way to kill... about 16 minutes or so. Plus, it has the hot Batman Begins scene where Christian is topless and getting hit with sticks so I had to include it! ;o) Suddenly, Thursday's not lookin' so bad.

3. According to OK! magazine, here are the top 10 bad accents that happened to good people:

10: Elijah Wood in The Lord of the Rings

9: Gwyneth Paltrow in Sliding Doors

8: Ben Affleck in Shakespeare in Love

7: Kevin Costner in Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves

6: Madonna [for her real-life "patchy" English accent]

5: Natalie Portman in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace

4: Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins

3: Keanu Reeves in both Bram Stoker's Dracula and Much Ado About Nothing

2. Britney Spears [for her Adnan-era British phase]

1. Scarlett Johansson in both The Girl With the Pearl Earring and The Prestige

Seriously?! I'm fine with OK! including 'real-life' accents but omitting the WORST British accent known to man - unforgivable! I love Ever After but Drew Barrymore's "accent" is absolutely atrocious. In fact, there aren't words to describe how awful it is - it almost makes me want to watch the movie on mute with closed captioning. Or with pencils in my ears. Don't believe me?

Yikes. Not that OK! had much credibility before but overlooking Drew's 'awe-fuhl' enunciation just cost them their last shred in my mind... ;o)

4. According to JustJared, the next Transformers installment has been titled Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen. Check out the Wikipedia entry here.

5. Whooooooooooa. Check out these hair hats:

They really are hats that make your hair look as though it's styled into an animal's face. Too weird! They're quite realistic, though, aren't they? I mean, some more than others, obviously, but as a whole they're not too shabby. If you want to check out a few more - like goat hair - click here. God only knows if real people would actually have any occasion on which to wear these but they're fun to look at! I especially enjoyed the walrus hat... [The hats are the creation of Japanese artist Nagi Noda; I came across them on jezebel.com.]

6. I came across both this and #7 on neatorama.com. The kid in this video is an 8-year-old boy who lost his left left to cancer when he was one. Now he plays football and baseball without a prosthetic - and he's darn good! He runs from home to first without crutches and even slides into the bases... it's amazing!

You can read more about Adam Bender here.

7. This is much less inspiring than #6 but I thought it was kind of clever.

They're called 'mini cushion rings' and were created by Downstairs Studio. I'm actually surprised no one's thought of this sooner. Several people commented that they'd prefer the pillow to their greasy, bony fingers to save their chins from breakouts... which is true enough. :o)

More Digging for Porcupines

Okay, you guys are probably so sick of my Man vs. Wild posts that you're ready to poke me in the eye. Apologies in advance, then, for this post. :o) Well, when I was chatting with Robert last night about the porcupine video, I mentioned that I'd come across a bit more behind the scenes footage of the de-quilling when I was on YouTube. Robert sounded excited and told me I should've posted that, too, so at least he could see it and you guys know what an obedient girlfriend I am so... Heh. Obedient. Makes me laugh. :o)

Anyway, the video isn't quite as in depth and behind the scenes as I may have led Robert to believe but it's still sort of interesting, so here goes:

Inglewood, Always Up To No Good

Here's a cool story about Target that I thought would be a good space- or time-killer... !

My boss, Rhonda, went down to southern CA this past weekend and got her purse stolen while shopping at a Target in Inglewood. Apparently, she was trying on shoes and set her purse down for a moment in the aisle; when she turned back around, it was gone. She immediately reported it to security and, a little while later, they located the purse in the electronics department. Rhonda was happy to see the purse - it was an expensive one she'd just recently purchased - and relieved to find her house (and work) keys still inside. Of course, her wallet and checkbooks were gone but at least she had something. She got on the cell phone right then to start canceling her accounts and had managed to cancel three before security approached her again - they had picked up a suspect and needed Rhonda to stick around a bit.

Turns out, the stupid woman who'd stolen her purse continued to shop for 40 minutes afterward! After Rhonda gave security her statement, security immediately asked how long ago they'd entered the store. They then went to review the security tapes right then and there and found the woman who dropped the purse off at electronics. The woman was still in the store at the time and Target security nabbed her while she was trying to check out. When they handcuffed her, they found all of Rhonda's checkbooks, cards and cash still on the woman's person... can you believe that?! Dang.

Why on Earth the woman first ditched the purse in the same store and then proceeded to hang around and shop I do not know. But I guess it's pretty awesome that she did because Rhonda was obviously able to get everything back. (I've had my wallet stolen three times and I never got anything back! Sucks.) Still, it's pretty fantastic that the security team acted so quickly (I can't believe they review the security tapes so immediately) - Rhonda is going to write a nice letter to Target's corporate headquarters and buy those involved little gifts (she goes down to L.A. at least once a month). I'm quite impressed with Target I must say...

Random Round-Up 03

Holy crap, people... I am REALLY struggling this week! I have no good personal stories to relate and there is absolutely nothing of interest happening in the gossip blogosphere!!!!! I keep looking, looking, looking, hoping for anything to spark my interest but nada. Bupkis. The big donut. *sigh*

I can't live like this. I'll go crazy! I. Need. Gossip. Or spoilers. Or something! Wah. Here is the non-news I've gathered so far:

1. Metallica will be the focus of the next Guitar Hero.

Robert and I didn't buy the Aerosmith GH but instead pre-ordered Rock Band for the Wii. I just didn't think I could stand staring at Steven Tyler's CGI'd fish face for an entire game... woof.

2. Seth Rogen will be the new Green Lantern.

I had heard Seth would be writing the new Lantern a while back but didn't think he'd play the lead. The dude is cute in the chubby/funny guy way but he doesn't exactly have the chiseled physique of your typical superhero. Maybe he'll bust out some Preparation H... I'm sorry, was that unkind? How unlike me.

3. Thinking of buying a gossip rag in hard copy form this week? Check'em out before you buy - here's the week in tabloids.

4. Tony Hale is joining the cast of Chuck:

Per the Reporter, Hale will arrive at Chuck's store, Buy More, as a corporate efficiency expert who steps in as the new assistant manager. Once he sees how poorly things are run at the store, he decides to stay on for a while — and will no doubt wreak a little havoc in the meantime. [tvguide.com]

I seriously thought this dude was already on the show. He totally looked familiar!! I had to look him up... I think I'm remembering him from Andy Barker, P.I. Dang. [Speaking of Andy Barker, I'm purchasing the one and only season from Amazon Unbox and burning a DVD... any takers? :o) ]

5. This has nothing to do with anything but I was talking about it with my parents the other night and thought my dad might want to check it out:

Now, I don't particularly enjoy the fact that Bear's roughing up an animal but I must admit that I did find the entire process rather fascinating. I never knew porcupines hissed!

6. Here's a sad sort of story for you and it involves Robert and I being perfect for one another once again. How so? Well, we're both incredibly spiteful people in certain arenas and this time, unfortunately, it sort of bit us in our respective asses (but if it'd worked, it would've been so awesome!). The story goes a little something like this:

Robert and I are completely whipped. Last week was a short week (with the Memorial Day holiday) but we were on the go every night... we only watched two TV shows in 5 days, so you KNOW we were busy! :o) I had left trying on my recital costumes until the last minute and discovered on Tuesday night that my pants were too big. So, Robert and I headed to Target and then treated ourselves to dinner out. Wednesday night I had my dress rehearsal - 3 hours and 45 minutes for a stinking 90 minute recital! Because, of course, everyone has to go over things 900 times and the time adds up. As such, I didn't get home until 10; we ate, showered and went to bed. Thursday night we were home but Robert was busy working and I was busying readying my stuff for the following night's recital, so we watched 1 show, ate, showered and went to bed. Friday night was performance #1 and Saturday afternoon was performance #2.

Technically, we should've been able to catch up on some zzzs on Friday night... but we went to the movies after the recital. We totally shouldn't have and we knew it - we were EXHAUSTED - but we needed to stick it to my sister, Melanie. Way back in April, Robert and I met up with the my sister and brother-in-law and chatted about all the summer movies we wanted to see. They wanted to see them, too, so I went home and drew up a list of all the major releases and their dates and e-mailed it to everyone. I heard nothing. For a month. I resent the e-mail (with a mini nasty-gram attached, natch) and told them that Robert and I were going to see Indy 4 over the Memorial Day weekend come hell or high water so if they wanted to join us, they'd better hop to. Still I heard nothing. Robert and I were pissed. We knew Mel and Wade were coming to the recital on Saturday afternoon and Friday night was the last night we could see Indy... and rub it in their faces that we saw it without them. HA! We knew they would ask us to see it with them after the recital and we wanted the pleasure of pointing out to them that they'd had their chance and blown it! You snooze you lose, you know?

But oy, were we tired. I'm not a fan of the Indiana Jones movies anyway so it was a real exercise in drudgery for me but even Robert had a hard time making it through. It was only two hours long but we could only see the 11:30 showing and after previews and driving home and getting ready for bed and blah blah blah, we didn't get to bed until 3:30. I think we fell into a coma. And then we had to get up early for the darn Saturday recital! Sucked.

The worst part was that Mel and Wade never even got my frickin' e-mails! So they had no idea that I was boycotting them and Robert and I didn't need to kill ourselves to see a crap movie. It seems awfully fishy that neither e-mail would make it to either e-mail address, but they both have sbcglobal.net accounts, so maybe it's possible. They did, however, seem genuinely distressed by the turn of events and even went so far as to e-mail me at 3:00 in the morning when they got home Saturday night to tell me they'd double-checked all their folders and my e-mails were not to be found. So, I guess I'll give them the benefit of the doubt. I guess. Needless to say, Robert and I were a bit bummed to learn all of our efforts had been for naught. Plus, we ended up having to see Iron Man again because there wasn't anything else of any interest to see! But I like that movie and my brother-in-law was excited we talked my sister into seeing it so I guess we did a nice thing. :o) Boo.

Random Round-Up 02

This week is shaping up to be a bad one, gossip-wise. Both yesterday and today have been devoid of any interesting news warranting a post and I've been busy at work both days! Who woulda thunk? (If I ever get a 'real' job, my gossip mongering will really start to suffer...) Anyway, I scraped together a few bits and here they are:

1. I have never heard of the Japanese game show Human Tetris (where have I been?!). Luckily for me, Fox is making an American version to be called Hole in the Wall and - wait for it - you can audition! If you live in L.A., Atlanta or New York. (I don't know if they make giant-sized holes, though, Christina so don't get too excited...) Hooty hoo. I guess it's, like, a huge hit on the Web and I just am so far out of the loop it's not even funny. I have my own YouTube channel - how can I be out of the know?!! Mew.

2. Here's something interesting I came across on photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com (via Jezebel):

This is an actual photo of two magazine covers, side by side, featuring the same photo of Lily Allen. Clearly, there's some Photoshopping going on here - but who did more? What color is her dress really? And her lipstick? And just how thin is her head? The actual photo is below:

Weird! I know photos are manipulated but I never think that seemingly innocuous photos like the one above are morphed quite so much, you know? Why does her dress have to be yellow or her lipstick tan? And why is her arm further from her body in the fixed photo? I gotta tell you, I'm not buying either issue, thinner face or no...

3. Dang. Another Christmas gift for Robert SPOILED.

Preparation H: It Gets You Shredded

A Slow Day

I am actually working today! You're shocked, I know. Not only that, but I (unfortunately) made a stupid mistake and am now scurrying to rectify it before I leave today. As such, I don't have a ton to post... but I didn't want to leave you completely empty-handed so here goes:

1. Supposedly, Bryce Dallas Howard is in talks to replace Charlotte Gainsbourg as John Connor's wife in Terminator: Salvation. Noooooooo!!! She is not pretty enough to be Christian's lady! Not to be shallow but there you are. :o) Christian deserves the best and the stinky ol' Lady in the Water just isn't it! Bleh.

2. Snow Patrol's new album is reportedly delayed due to a colony of bats inhabiting the studio. You can read frontman Gary Lightbody's blog about it here. Basically, this is only the first week of recording, so it's not like the CD is too far off the rails...

3. Among the things lost in the Universal fire - the sets for Monk, House and Ghost Whisperer. As long as J. Love's boobs are still intact the show will be fine, trust me.

4. Hello, World? Please stop spinning - SJP wore a used dress to the SATC NY premiere! Not only did what's-her-name wear it first; LiLo wore it in a Harper's Bazaar photo shoot back in Frebruary! Holy crap - I don't even know how to keep going today. UPDATE: TVGuide.com has a statement from SJP.

5. The inventor of the Pringles can has passed away. Pause a moment to honor and appreciate Dr. Fredric J. Baur's invention by watching an old Brad Pitt Pringles commercial.

6. Speaking of Brad, with Shiloh's 2nd birthday having passed on the 27th, it's a virtual Shiloh-palooza on the Web! USMagazine.com leads the pack, though, I think. Just in case you can't get enough of the Chosen One (I'm probably only talking to you now, Mel), here are a couple cute slide shows:

• Brad's Little Lookalike
• The captions in this one are absolutely ridiculous but I have always contended that, despite everyone's assertions that she's a mini-Angie, Shiloh actually looks an awful lot like Brad. Sweet vindi-ca-shee-ohn!
  

• Shiloh Turns 2!