Happy Leap Day

Good Afternoon Ladies & Gentlemen,

A Merry Leap Day to all of you!!! An occasion that only happens once every four years…like the Olympics…or remembering to water the plants. A day that rarely exists. I'd like to wish a very special birthday to Jeffrey Atkins a.k.a. Ja Rule, who will be celebrating his 8th birthday today. Supermodel and actor Antonio Sabato, jr. is celebrating his 9th birthday. Comedic legend Dinah Shore was also born on Leap Day. Anyway, other than that, it's just an extra day to pay rent…which is good because I took care of it this morning. This also marks my 250th posting in this blog since I started about ten months ago. Good times. Basically, I've just been running around all morning, now I'm back home doing laundry and packing for the San Diego trip starting tomorrow night. A big thank you to my coworkers Mickey and the Mad Scientist for helping me get Easter Weekend off so that I can have a great time in Vegas. Other than that, I don't really have much to say, so I'm just going to talk out of my backside about some news, if that's okay with you. Hopefully I won't cause too much of a stink. (Rim shot)

Wolfman Movie Update - Not sure if I've mentioned this one before…but they're remaking "The Wolfman" made famous by Lon Chaney back in the silent movie days. Benecio Del Toro ("Usual Suspects", "Way of the Gun", etc.) is playing the Wolfman, Sir Anthony Hopkins is his dad, Emily Blunt ("Devil Wears Prada") is his love interest, and who is the man that will be hunting down the Wolfman? Hugo Weaving (Mr. Smith from "The Matrix") will be the hunter…or we he be the hunted? No definite word on the release (at least that I could find) but keep an eye out. It should be pretty good.

Ip Man Biopics in the Works - Do you know who Ip Man is? Don't worry. Very few people outside of Asia do. No, he's not an obscure comic book hero or anything like that…but rather the master of martial arts who trained and influenced Bruce Lee. Yes, THAT Bruce Lee. Well, there are currently two movies being made about the life & times of this martial arts master starring some of the greats of today's martial arts movies in the lead role. Donnie Yen ("Hero" & "Shanghai Knights") stars in one of them…and says that it's his most challenging role yet. "We all know that teacher Ip Man promoted Chinese kung fu around the world. He's also the teacher of my idol Bruce Lee. So when I took this role I put a lot of pressure on myself." Another film stars Tony Leung ("Hero" & "Hard Boiled") as Ip Man and also stars Sammo Hung. Ip Man was born in Foshan in 1893. He started training around 1903 and arrived in Hong Kong in the 1940s to escape the Communist takeover of mainland China. In Hong Kong, he started out teaching kung fu to restaurant workers but broadened his reach to hundreds of students, including Bruce Lee, before passing away in 1972. The movies should be interesting.

Kiss A Frog, Stay Forever Young - A fitting story for Leap Day, a team of researchers in South Korea say that they have found a strong anti-ageing substance for humans by isolating a peptide with antioxidant properties…from the skin of a bullfrog. Alpha-tocopherol, also known as Vitamin E, is traditionally considered as the most active antioxidant in humans and widely used in medicines and health supplements (and is the number one reason that I don't look like the Phantom of the Opera from my car accident a decade ago). However, because of the theory of supply & demand, the price of Vitamin E is rising like postage stamps. This new froggy peptide is ten percent more effective and according to Professor Kim Se-kwon "Because it is water-soluble, the substance may be consumed in much more diverse ways than the oil-soluble tocopherol. You may put it in soft drinks, for example." Delicious…but staying beautiful is a chore…at least so I'm told. So the next time you see a bullfrog…give it a little peck on the cheek. Best-case, you found yourself a prince. Worst-case, you get worts. Sure thing, you'll look a little younger…but probably have ass breath.

Spiders Play Dead for Sex - In experiments designed by the University of Aaarhus in Denmark, researchers set up date-and-mate opportunities for Pisaura mirabilis, a species of spider native to Europe. All the males sought to attract partners by offering a gift of food, held in the mouth (that's hot). But the ones that lay flat and motionless, even if meant getting dragged about by a female that had latched onto the victuals, wound up in a much better position, as it were, to engage in sexual activity (sounds like on the bottom). The hapless males that tried the direct approach wound up keeping the free meal but not getting what they were really after…sweet sweet thorax. Males that played dead were also allowed to copulate longer than males that did not, ensuring more eggs could be fertilized. Playing dead is a well-known defense mechanism in nature, but this is apparently the first time such behavior has been observed as a strategy for obtaining sexual favors. The moral of the story - Don't be too eager. Show her the goods…and if she's interested, she'll come to you. She knows where it's at. Also, don't be afraid to offer the chocolate on the tip of your tongue (victuals?), apparently they really like that.

Fowl Language On Billboards - A chain of convenience stores in Pennsylvania (Home of the Amish?), advertised on billboards that their fried chicken sandwich contained "Crispy Frickin' Chicken" and apparently use of the Frick word has upset some people. Spokeswoman for the chain Sheetz Inc. Monica Jones commented "We're kind of known for edgy, kind of brash advertising tactics, and we knew this would spark a certain amount of controversy. That said, we're proud of the campaign." In that case, I have a suggest for you, Ms. Jones. If you are looking to spark some controversy, go with my favorite slogan for chicken and say that they are simply "Finger F**kin' Good" chicken sandwiches. You claim your main demographic is young adults…and most know how good that finger f**king can be. Hell, I'd be curious. Damn, I'm gonna have to stop by KFC for dinner now. Oh yeah…and anybody who's offended by "frick", I'm truly sorry for that…but get the frick over it. Maybe they should just go with "Finger Frickin' Good" chicken…and then they may just assume that to frick a finger is like some conjunction of freely flicking. I don't know what else frickin' could be…but it sounds like fun.

Well, that's enough for an early morning entry because I have a lot of stuff still to do this morning. Again, thank you to Mickey & the Mad Scientist!!! Congratulations again to Bubbles & JJ!!! Also a congratulations to all my other coworkers out there with new jobs...and to Laquesse and her new growing family!!! The Wingmans, I'll see you tomorrow night. San Diego, here I come...well, probably one more post at work tomorrow before going. Everybody out there in cyberspace, you all rock!!! Thanks for reading...and be sure tell loved ones what they mean to you. Positive thinking is powerful!!!