LMNOP

Pancake's love of blue balls is well known, and two of my friends have gifted him with new ones in the past few weeks. In this picture, Pancake breaks in his newest blue ball, a gift from Auntie Em. You can see the other one in the background; that was mailed from Michigan by a former roommate. These two toys, along with his squeaky chipmunk, kept him extremely busy all week.

 . . . Obviously joking. This post is about puppies! And not just any puppies--PUPPY BOWL PUPPIES! The starting lineup for Puppy Bowl VII was announced today via adorable slideshow. I have taken the liberty of doing some scouting/analysis of the 2011 recruits; below are some preliminary awards/ recognition I have seen fit to bestow on a few of the pups. 

Dog That Is Most Worried About the Responsibilities Associated with Being in a Puppy Bowl

Booda

Don't worry, Booda. I've been watching Puppy Bowls for a long time, and I am pleased to verify that you have what it takes to succeed in this event.

Oh My God, Look at Those Ears-iest

Jack

I was seriously searching the page for an "Add to Cart" button when I saw this one.

Oh My God, But Look at THOSE Ears-iest

Max

And look at his fuzzy, fuzzy fur!

Most Likely to Have Me Write Fanfic About Their Adventures Together

 Big Red and

Little Red

BRB, writing Big Red and Little Red: The Post-Puppy Bowl Years.

Hahahahahaha

Charlie

Choosing to believe that this little scruffster was named after Charlie from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

Obvious Personal Favorite

Calvin

Calvin has the highest Pancake Resemblance Rating, so he is ca-learly my fave. Yay for terrier mixes!

There are plenty more puppehs in the full lineup, so obvi you are required to go check them all out and tell me your fave. Like, now.

Rando discovery of the week: Devon Sawa is on Twitter.

A list of common Android annoyances and how to fix them.

Hero of the week is Matt for sending me corgiaddict.com. 

This story about the creation/history of Oregon Trail is in my "to read" folder. Haven't gotten to it yet, but passing it on in the belief that it can't not be good.

Tumblr of the week: Fake Jeopardy! Interview Intros. (thx, Em)

These Pantone cookies look kind of amazing.

Five Emotions Invented by the Internet.

Did it really take the internet this long to mash up Willow Smith and Devo? I feel like this kind of stuff should appear instantly.

Word of the day of the week: concupiscible.

Longtime readers (hi, Mom) may be familiar with my occasional use of this site as a place to publicly state my goals/and or resolutions and hold myself accountable to them (lip gloss audits, anyone?). Now that the new year has arrived, I would like to formally (I am wearing a ball gown as I type this) announce my Official 2011 Resolution:

This is perhaps the most ambitious New Year's Resolution I have taken on in years--and yes, I realize what it means about me as a person that I am patting myself on the back for having the "ambition" to eat more waffles and omelets. However, let me just remind you that my resolution not too many years ago was to always have gum in my purse. This is huge by comparison.

Before I go into details about my First Brunch of 2011, here are a few parameters I've set for this resolution:

1. I will go on a minimum of 15 brunches in 2011. (This number seemed low to some people I discussed my resolution with, and high to others. I chose it because it seemed manageable without being overwhelming. If I exceed 15, all the better.)
2. I will track these brunches using an official Brunch-o-Meter, similar to the Ham-ometer.
3. I will also describe my brunches on my blog as a way of keeping myself accountable to this hallowed resolution.

Now, I already have my first Brunch Quarter loosely planned, with MUCH thanks to my brunchy godmother Andrea. But my first brunch of 2011 actually ended up coming about without any planning on my part at all, as my friend Amanda had a birthday brunch this weekend at CommonWealth Gastropub. I decided it was definitely eligible to count for resolution purposes, so here is my official first brunchcap of 2011.

 Brunch #1: CommonWealth Gastropub

For some background on CommonWealth, here's a review courtesy of my aforementioned brunchy godmother. I'm still not sure what angle my own brunch recaps will take, as I'm not much of a food writer. Oh, well--this one will be brief anyway, since I'm exhausted from explaining the parameters of this whole resolution. 

The brunch menu at CommonWealth has a lot of good options, and we had trouble deciding. Here are Kelly and Doug pondering their choices:

I was having, like, an emotional crisis deciding if I wanted a sweet or savory entree, so in the end I decided to get an omelet AND a popover.

Everything was gooooooood--especially the popover, which got passed around the table and was enjoyed by all. And yes, that is a mimosa, and it was yum. Mimosas were free with brunch purchase, which is great, but be warned: champagne corks were poppin' every two minutes in that joint. If you are easily startled (which I am), you will be constantly jumping out of your seat on free mimosa day.

I forget what Doug had, but when he was done, only its pinkish-purply sauce remained. I was trying to decide what it looked like (Muppet guts?) and eventually determined that it appeared as though Doug had slaughtered and eaten Birdo. Doug then posed for this picture and the table instructed me to Photoshop Birdo in:

Successful brunch. There is only one thing left to do: UPDATE THE BRUNCH-O-METER!

There's lots more brunching to be done. Any suggestions/recommendations?

The Golden Globes were last night, and they were pretty damn boring. It never ceases to amaze me that if you take a room and fill it with the most entertaining people of the year, all they end up doing is stunning everyone into complete boredom with the most awful acceptance speeches ever.

The fashion wasn't very exciting, either, which is an even greater shame. I did what I could in terms of a recap, but I wish there'd been more to work with.

MICHELLE WILLIAMS

This dress is ugly, but more than that, it's disappointing. Michelle Williams know how to look cuter than this. Like, talk about a Venn Diagram with no middle:

I'm sure there are other opinions, though. 

JANUARY JONES

This fringed boob-showcaser was perhaps the most controversial dress of the night: it was on just as many Best Dressed lists as Worsties. But one thing we can all agree on? January Jones = Hottest. Sea anemone. Ever. 

Sorry, other sea anemone.

JULIANNE MOORE

I could almost, almost, alllllmost live with a dress that has one of MC Hammer's legs for an arm. But the damn thing is wrinkled. That ruins it.

Tilda Swinton

After the 2009 Oscars, I described Tilda's style of dressing as "Things That Would Not Shock a Time-Traveling Pilgrim at All." I feel no need to update this assessment. 

HELENA BONHAM CARTER

How I imagine Helena's thought process, in four steps:

1. I know! I'll wear a red shoe and a green shoe! So wacky.
2. But . . . crap. How will colorblind people know my outfit is bad?
3. [Selection of dress, sunglasses, hairstyle ensue.]
4. Good to go.

But, at the end of the day, is there really any point in putting Helena Bonham Carter on a Worst Dressed list? No. There isn't. She doesn't care. So I say: well played, HBC. Well played.

SANDRA BULLOCK

Did you know "Sandra Bullock" is an anagram for "Skull and Cobra?" I do now, because I was trying to figure out an anagram that contained the word "Sad" in the hopes that said anagram would help me describe this dress a little better. Because Sandy B is not really working it in this, and she looked way more subdued than usual last night. Unfortunately for my anagram. this has nothing to do with skulls and cobras.

EMMA STONE

HOLY MONOCHROMATIC DISASTER. To be fair, I think this photographed worse than it actually looked. To be unfair, she looks like a finger.

KATIE JOEL

True story: I was flipping through red carpet galleries before I went to bed last night, and this dress was one of the last things I saw before I fell asleep. I then had a dream that I was eating candy corn.

ANNETTE BENING:

Lastly, I like Annette Bening as much as the next person--actually, I probably like her more than the next person does, unless the next person is, like, Warren Beatty--but this made me laugh really hard:

This is the "pretending to be sad" act Pancake puts on whenever I am temporarily ignoring him to paint my nails or do some other important thing.

Black-and-whited for extra emo, natch.

 Just a few links this week:

Ebert's Best Documentaries of 2010. I really need to go tend my Netflix queue.

Every 30 Rock Character from Least Funny to Funniest. I don't agree with the ordering, but it's worth a look.

This picture cracked me up so hard.

. . . As did this special, animated Cyanide & Happiness strip.

Baby Drinking Grapefruit Juice will surely go over well with those of you who enjoyed Babies Eating Lemons for the First Time.

Yes, you can now file "oven that's actually a lounge chair" in the "things that exist" folder.

These kinds of things just sprout up when you leave the internet to its devices for a while.

So, a long time ago I signed up to get these Word-of-the-Day e-mails from Dictionary.com. I've never unsubscribed, because getting a new word sent to you each morning is great. One of two things happens:

1. You already know the word, and you get to feel smug and smart (best outcome!); or
2. You learn a new word (consolation prize).

I also watch the various seasons of Bravo's Real Housewives franchise a lot. I know most people think the housewives are awful and the show is terrible, but they are only half right: the housewives are awful and the show is awesome. The current season (Beverly Hills) may, in fact, be the most awesome yet (although New Jersey Season 1 is tough to top). 

How do these two topics relate? Well, at some point in the past week or so, I decided I could better justify my enthusiasm for this awful, superficial show if I could also use it to learn my daily vocab word. So now, each morning when I receive my e-mail from Dictionary.com, I try to make myself use it in a valid, Real Housewives-themed sentence. Here are a couple of examples:

chatoyant

 \ shuh-TOI-uhnt \  , adjective;

1. Having changeable lustre; twinkling.

 2. (Of a gem, esp a cabochon) displaying a band of light reflected off inclusions of other minerals.

SENTENCE: The chatoyant tinsel extensions in Adrienne's hair cast a reflection on the wall as she argued with her plastic surgeon husband about whether to order turkey chili.

katzenjammer

\ KAT-suhn-jam-er \  , noun;

1. The discomfort and illness experienced as the aftereffects of excessive drinking

2. Uneasiness; anguish; distress.

3. Uproar; clamor.

SENTENCE: Camille's cuckoo friend Allison must have been experiencing some serious katzenjammer the day after the infamous dinner party from hell.

 

sockdolager

\ sok-DOL-uh-jer \  , noun;

1. A decisive reply, argument.

2. Something unusually large, heavy, etc. 

3. A heavy, finishing blow.

SENTENCE: Kyle seemed to have the upper hand in her fight with Camille, until Camille issued a real sockdolager: a text message with the news that Kelsey Grammer would no longer be using Kyle's husband as his real estate agent.

This method has significantly increased my retention of new vocab words over the past several days. I encourage you to give it a try.