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February 28, 2005
Eye Candy Two-Shot
Madame Monet and Her Son
by Claude Monet
Boats Leaving the Harbor
by Claude Monet
Water Lilies is my favorite by Monet, but is not pictured. Usually I also provide a brief biography of the artist, but Monet has been done at least once and it's time you kids started to grow up and learn a bit more about the big guns on your own. Google on, you savages, I'm not going to be here to hold your paint-stained hands forever!
PS Monet is worth the effort of studying.
Posted by Dan at 06:56 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Another incident in what is becoming an uncomfortable epidemic.
Skunk on, um, man violence.
Full story here. (free and easy registration required)
Key Quote:
I think it's a Freudian typo, but in an e-mail to my newspaper Carol said, "This is when the hole disaster starts."
Most Uncomfortable Quote:
She's not trying to add insult to unspeakable injury, but she blames her husband and not Ozzie for this one. "He was playing rough with him on his lap, and Ozzie bit down on my husband's penis," right through his sweat pants, she said.
And I'm supposed to be sad because they snuffed the skunk!
Posted by Dan at 06:50 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Worth a link.
Any article with the sentence (given in a scientific context), "Cows look calm, but really they are gay nymphomaniacs" deserves a link.
Posted by Dan at 08:34 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
Nature scary.
Posted by Dan at 08:27 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Coming soon, no doubt to a Wal-Mart near you!
The name you can trust. Seems like a perfume (Eau de Hidey Hole?) is already in the works.
This will go great with my Mengele grill and my Pol Pot ice tongs.
Posted by Dan at 08:00 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
February 27, 2005
OF COURSE America's schools haven't gone off the deep end!
What's that? Rubber band?
Fun quote:
Rojas said she was shocked to learn that her son was being punished for a Level 4 offense -- the highest Level at the school. Other violations that also receive level 4 punishment include arson, assault and battery, bomb threats and explosives, according to the Code of Student Conduct.
Any of you teachers out there (Jay, Jim, Bonnie) defending this move?
Posted by Dan at 09:41 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack
Popping Cancer reflection: It doesn't take a strong person.
I got a compliment from a friend in email this week.
After I described my most recent chemotherapy treatment, she wrote back that I was such a "strong" person.
Looking back over the treatment I've done in the course of my lifetime, I would never have thought it possible that I could have survived all that, but the survival, in my mind, isn't necessarily what strength is.
Taking acts to preserve your life when the only alternative is death is not strength. Not if you want to live.
This last course of treatment added a new horror. My kidneys decided they didn't like being poisoned once and for all. They (my kidneys) said to themselves "let's get this junk out of here ASAP." And so, without even consulting me, they started a regimen of toxic drug removal. For days, I had to go to the bathroom every 15-20 minutes while I was awake, and at night I would wake up to run (yes, run) to the bathroom every 45-60 minutes.
On top of everything else, this was physically and psychologically quite a blow to me. Take three hours and just get up every 15-20 minutes, walk to the bathroom, and return. Then imagine that against your will, already weak and exhausted and ridden with other side effects. For three days.
Sleep comes only in half-hour bites and then only if you can find a comfortable position to sleep (remember, I am recovering from surgery on Monday as well).
Added to that task was the job of having to constantly be drinking water. Otherwise, the tasks above became, well, painful on top of everything else. Who would have thought that drinking water could be such a chore?
All the old familiar side effects with this one thrown in on top. And yet, what could I do? Nothing but suffer through it until it was over. Sleep when I could, avoid accidents, go back each day for more poison, which I knew would only extend it.
Because I suffered through this week of chemotherapy (I'm still in recovery, and am very, very weak still, but the worst has passed), does that make me strong? I don't think so. Maybe if I was taking it on so someone else could get well. Maybe if it was for a cause outside myself.
The way I see it, my choices are two:
1) take whatever suffering the treatment chooses to impose.
2) die.
Pretty clear to me.
Now, here's where strength comes in: What do you do with it? I try to get out when I can when I'm healthy (last time I had a cough and was mostly homebound). I even preached one post-chemotherapy week last time and I might do so again this week coming up if I get strong in a hurry. I try when I can to make poor Mrs. Popping Culture's suddenly impossible life easier. Once last time when she was sick I walked the dog. Seems like a small thing, but given my health, it was like I had cured, well, cancer.
I think strength is the ability to keep living your life as much and as well as you can despite the nonsense you HAVE to do. And we all have our own nonsense.
We all have, to put it in Christian parlance, our crosses to bear. What we do once we have those crosses on our backs is what makes us strong.
Cancer ends the lives of many more people than it kills. This is a true statement.
Posted by Dan at 10:10 AM | Comments (5) | TrackBack
February 26, 2005
What video game am I playing right now?
Well, I'm still pretty sick, so I'm going with something that has a little less impact:
Posted by Dan at 09:13 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
What movie makes you cry?
I watched Field of Dreams again today. As you know, I'm a very manly man, but this movie is my weakness. I can make it about 2/3 of the way through without tearing up, but then that little girl says "You don't have to sell the farm!" and, shortly after, James Earl Jones does his speech about the power of baseball as the players move in to listen.
Gets me every time. From there, it's a short ride to the girl falling and the Doc fixing her up (sniffle) Jones heading into the corn (sniffle), and Costner's dad (off the charts sniffles).
Anybody else have one movie in particular that always hits you that way, no matter what?
Posted by Dan at 09:09 PM | Comments (17) | TrackBack
Sorry to leave you hanging.
But I just don't link to stories like this. It's just not funny.
Posted by Dan at 09:16 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
February 25, 2005
Popping Cancer Update.
Not feeling especially well, which is of course to be expected.
Still, I'm starting to show signs of life again.
Thank you for your prayers and patience and enjoy the earth below!
Posted by Dan at 08:49 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Somebody emailed me the most amazing image ever. Enjoy.
Posted by Dan at 08:44 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Ryan Seacrest is more than just not talented!
Posted by Dan at 08:43 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Blogging is big.
But is it big enough for this guy to quit work and survive on it?
$30/yearly suggested donation.
Posted by Dan at 08:38 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Toys!
Not feeling well, but I thought you might enjoy reading about the new toys headed for market!
Posted by Dan at 07:32 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
February 24, 2005
Popping Cancer Update: Home Now
I'm home. It's gonna take a day or two before I start to feel good, and I'll probably feel worse before I feel better.
But I'm home.
I'm thinking by tonight I might be back on with the silly.
Posted by Dan at 02:34 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
Popping Cancer Update: day three begins
Long night. Going for treatment shortly.
Will post when I can... long day ahead.
Prayers, et. al., requested and welcomed.
Posted by Dan at 07:16 AM | Comments (8) | TrackBack
February 23, 2005
Popping Culture: the end of day two.
I think that the McDonald's story below will be the extent of my silly blogging this evening, if you don't mind. I am not feeling very well.
Tomorrow is day three, after which I will check in or have Mrs. Popping Culture do so.
Be well.
Posted by Dan at 10:12 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Worst. Bribe. Ever.
And I quote:
Steven T. Denton, 32, was charged with a felony count of attempting to bribe a law officer after he allegedly offered to spring for McDonald's cheeseburgers in exchange for his release.
Key quote:
The officer added, "He also stated that if I did not like cheeseburgers, he would buy me some chicken instead."
You just can't make stuff like this up.
Posted by Dan at 10:09 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
Popping Cancer Update: home from day two.
Yep.
I'm home and mostly in once piece. I'm alive, and while it feels like I'm not going to be happy about that fact for the next few days, I've made it this far. It's like my own watered-down version of being alive.
Tomorrow is day three.
Ooof.
Posted by Dan at 03:14 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
Popping Cancer Update: Chemo day two of three.
That about sums it up. Starts to get real today.
Health permitting, I'll post this afternoon to let you know I'm alive and stuff. If I can't post, I'll have Mrs. Popping Culture drop a note.
Be well.
Posted by Dan at 07:12 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
From Popping Culture's Nostalgia Desk.
The opening themes to 94 shows from your childhood. Or at least, your not-as-old-as-now.
Hat tip to Kimm.
Posted by Dan at 07:03 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
February 22, 2005
The Hilton sisters in proper perspective.
Ian Spieglman (who writes the gossip on the New York Post's Page Six) gets it right:
You take the Hilton sisters — you can brush 'em off as a couple of stupid rich bitches, and they might be that, but at the same time, they're like this American tragedy. They have everything. There's no reason why they shouldn't live a great life and do great things, but at the same time, they've had no parental supervision, ever. There's no one around who seems to care what happens to them, and so, every time you look at them, they're falling down. And as much as I dislike rich people, I have sympathy for what's happened to them, because they don't even know what's happened to them. They're just two girls who someone should've looked after, and no one ever did, and no one ever will. They're gonna go through guy after guy that they think could be Daddy. It's not gonna be Daddy. And they're going to abuse maid after maid . . . I mean, what connects me to Page Six is that these are human beings that we're talking about.
My book is about people who should've been watched at some point, somewhere when they were kids. And every day I write about people who someone should've watched, except that they're rich. And that, to me, is not a mitigating circumstance. It doesn't matter to me if you're rich; someone should've looked out for them. Someone should've looked out for Bijou Phillips ... all the kids I write about.
Interview (with saucy language) in full here.
Posted by Dan at 09:50 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
Another hard day ends on a happy note.
Sure, I have intense pain with virtually any movement thanks to surgery. Yes, they poisoned me today.
But it ends on a happy note once again.
You might ask why.
Because I'm in love?
Because I know in my heart of hearts that I did my best today despite it all?
Because of my enduring faith in God?
Nope.
Vicodin. Blessed, blessed Vicodin.
Strength of spirit, personal faith and the ability to deal with pain and still keep fighting are all wonderful and necessary, but when you need to get some sleep, none of them beat the big V.
I'm tempted to write a sermon.
Posted by Dan at 09:40 PM | Comments (7) | TrackBack
It could be worse.
We could all live in Sacramento:
Posted by Dan at 03:49 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
Christian fundamentalists add Shrek to the homosexual hit list.
Oh, good, more bigotted press for the Christians! It's a relief that there aren't any problems in the world bigger than which animated characters have questionable sexual preferences.
You know, even though Paul only brought it up once and Jesus never mentioned it at all, homosexuality sure has become fundamentalists' favorite sin. I'm thinking because (a) they think it's ickier than other sins (like the sins they are personally committing) and (b) it's an easy one to point fingers at.
Posted by Dan at 03:42 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
This is just great. I miss EVERYTHING.
Click here for the depressing news.
Posted by Dan at 03:37 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
The story below requires a free registration.
I have no doubt you will think the registration worthwhile when you hear the story title:
"Health officials use school cafeteria for cat sterilizations"
Key quote:
"It probably was not the best place to carry out that service in hindsight," says a D.C. health department official.
Posted by Dan at 03:26 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Popping Cancer Update: My day so far.
Well, I just got home from the first of three days of chemotherapy treatments. Now, I get to choose between icing down the swollen ouchie areas from surgery yesterday and popping anti-nausea pills. So many choices.
All is well. It takes about 5-6 hours all together to put in all the pre-meds and then the chemo drugs themselves, so you can expect not to hear from me for vast stretches of tomorrow and the day after as well.
Everything is still sore from surgery, but if I have to have surgery pain and I have to have chemotherapy, might as well get them over with at the same time, yes?
I met a lady today whose husband and father are both undergoing chemotherapy at the same time. In fact, her husband was leaving from treatment just as she arrived with her father. Cancer sucks.
I don't have any real reflections today, just bringing you up to speed. Maybe after I take a couple Vicodin something will spring to mind.
Peace.
Posted by Dan at 03:17 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
February 21, 2005
Popping Culture Update: The Big Ouch
Surgery is done. I just got home. The catheter is under my skin.
Not that you can feel it through all the swelling. The pain is just phenomenal, and I've felt some pain before. Every few seconds, a little more of the drugs they used to put me under for surgery wears off and the pain gets just that much worse.
Mrs. Popping Culture is off getting blessed Vicotin. I'm going downstairs under the electric blanket to mutter and whine for the night, but I thought I'd let you savages know that I am alive and reasonably well.
Chemotherapy is scheduled for the next three days but may be pushed back a day if the swelling around this port is not down enough. That's pretty much it for now.
If you ask me, it's enough. Still, happy to be alive, every day is a gift, etc.
Posted by Dan at 06:23 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
Hope.
Posted by Dan at 11:41 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
It has to be somewhere near time for Armageddon...
...when my only response to this story at 9:40 a.m. is "Oh. Another woman-cuts-off-man's-penis" story.
When did this particular form of retaliation become standard operating procedure?
PS Here's a new twist (pardon the word choice): for flushing his dismembered member down the toilet, the woman was also charged with "tampering with evidence."
I'll say.
Fun quote:
The man wanted to break up with Tran, but the woman resisted that idea, Shell said. The two were arguing about the issue sometime before midnight Saturday, but at some point they decided to have sex.
Posted by Dan at 09:41 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
Starbucks to sell liquor.
Yes.
Now you can head to work twitchy AND drunk.
Posted by Dan at 09:37 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Popping Cancer Update: Surgery, Coughing
Well, today's the big day: surgery to implant a Port-A-Cath.
I'm a little worried by this cough. It's better, but I still have coughing fits when it's cold or when I lay down. So, of course I'll be going into a cold operating room and laying flat on my back. My hope is that they can give me something to stop me coughing (or even put me under). I'd hate for the surgeon to be threading a tube into a vein near my heart when I started coughing.
I go in at about 1 p.m., roughly 4 hours from now.
My other concern is the IV. Last time we tried chemotherapy, it didn't go because my veins kept blowing out at inopportune times. That's why we're putting in the catheter. So they'll have to start an IV line in order to do surgery and here's hoping it goes well.
Finally, for those of you keeping track of things to worry or pray about, depending on which part of the Interweb you snuck in from, there's a chance of swelling around the port. We need any swelling to go down quickly so we can use the thing for chemotherapy tomorrow. Got it?
Fun, fun, fun. I have the most interesting days.
Posted by Dan at 09:19 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
From Popping Culture's Fashion Desk.
Wear it in good health.
Posted by Dan at 09:16 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
February 20, 2005
It is what it is.
Posted by Dan at 10:23 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Prayer changes things.
Suck on this, God-haters:
"A priest known by locals as the Fishing Father was praying the Magnificat as he was ice fishing one cold afternoon last month. He makes a point of praying whenever he fishes, whether he catches anything or not.
On. Jan. 4, it turned out to be quite an intercessory prayer: the Rev. Mariusz Zajac pulled in a world-record walleye, 18.3 pounds."
Looks like you chose the wrong week to be an atheist.
(site requires free registration)
Posted by Dan at 12:45 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
It, uh, wasn't us.
"During the six-month period that ended Tuesday, 3,896 prank calls to Chicago's 911 emergency center were placed from a pair of phone numbers at a single West Side address."
Hard to play that one off. You can blame the dog once or twice, but not four thousand times.
Posted by Dan at 12:40 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
What video game am I playing right now?
Well, with the chemotherapy coming, I've had to play lower impact games.
Still, this one looks like fun!
Posted by Dan at 12:37 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Popping Cancer Update: vacation's over
Not that it has been much of a vacation. Instead of feeling stronger every day, I've been laid up by this obnoxious cough.
Still, tomorrow it's go time again. Surgery tomorrow to implant a Port-A-Cath (presuming they can give me something to stop this cough), then three days in a row of chemotherapy.
Sure it sounds rough, but you should hear the alternative.
Posted by Dan at 08:40 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
February 19, 2005
Hey! You could put a cat's eye out with that thing!
Ara takes a break from running down all the beliefs I hold dear to give us this absolute gem involving a cat, a video recorder and a laser pointer.
Fun!
Posted by Dan at 10:12 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Kimm comes through with another link.
Posted by Dan at 10:04 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
I promised myself I wouldn't sully Popping Culture with the Robert Blake case.
But seriously, crack-smoking monkeys?
Posted by Dan at 04:53 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Tiger Woods, y'all
Tiger can regain the number one ranking in the world with a fourth-place or better finish in this weekend's Nissan Open.
Right now, he's tied for fifth during a rain delay. Note that this will change as he plays today. Maybe by the time you click the link, he's in third. Or first. Or disqualified. Exciting, isn't it?
Posted by Dan at 09:37 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Cyber Potatohead
Thanks to Kimm for this amusing link.
Posted by Dan at 09:22 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
February 18, 2005
Yay! Something new to worry about!
Posted by Dan at 08:53 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Nice.
Posted by Dan at 08:49 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Popping Cancer Update: estimated time of Complete Head Hair Loss (CHHL): 8 p.m.
Much-coveted locks of your gentle host's hair will be going on sale in short order.
Posted by Dan at 03:53 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack
See? The trick is to know your audience.
Racist group to recruit at NASCAR race.
They just now thought of this?
Posted by Dan at 11:57 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Popping Cancer Update: It seems that I have cancer.
Last night I woke up at around 1:30 a.m. drenched in sweat. The sheets were drippy and so was I, head to toe. If you identified this as a sign of recurrent disease, proceed to paragraph two.
Sure enough, this morning my hair started falling out in handy clumps. It would appear, my friends, that this has not all been some elaborate practical joke at my expense.
Maybe this time around I'll go with skullcaps instead of bandanas. Then again, last time around, Bonnie's mom made me some bandanas that were pretty sweet. I think a black skullcap would be appropriate for church, though.
Hair. Everywhere.
For some folks, losing their hair is a traumatic part of the cancer experience. It is a sort of visual confirmation AND it sets them apart from others leading normal lives in an undeniable way. Again, however a cancer patient reacts to cancer is appropriate. Let them feel how they feel.
I mostly don't care about my hair. My theory is along the lines of "anything that hides a face this pretty cannot be a good thing in the long run."
What I don't like is the initial day or three of tossing out hair clumps. Stuff gets everywhere.
It could be worse, I guess. Chemotherapy could make you lose fingers, or I could be watching SportsCenter and my head could just roll off. As side effects go, this is the least important to me.
Posted by Dan at 08:18 AM | Comments (9) | TrackBack
February 17, 2005
Two more are fine...
...but you just cannot give this woman enough Grammys for my taste.
That's Norah Jones, you savages.
Posted by Dan at 10:38 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
Eye Candy
Once again, because it's a favorite:
Nighthawks
by Edward Hopper
1942
Biography from artfacts.net:
22.7.1882
Born in Nyack, New York (US)
Edward Hopper is considered to be one of America's greatest modern painters.
Son of Garret Henry Hopper and Elizabeth Griffiths Smith Hopper, initially attends a private school and then the local public school, Nyack High School
1899 - 1900
With his parents’ support, studies illustration at the Correspondence School of Illustrating
1900 - 1906
New York School of Art, studies illustration with Arthur Keller and Frank Vincent DuMond, then painting under Robert Henri, William Merritt Chase, and Kenneth Hayes Miller. Painted [Solitary Figure in a Theatre]
1905
Employed as an illustrator by C. C. Phillips & Company, a New York advertising agency
1906
Visits Paris, painting city streets in an Impressionist manner and watercolour caricatures
1907
Participates in his first exhibition, organised by fifteen of Robert Henri’s students in the old Harmonie Club building, 43-45 West Forty-second Street, New York
1909 - 1910
Visits Paris twice, painting out-of-doors along the Seine frequently
1913
During winter exhibits in the International Exhibition, the Armory Show and sold his first canvas there, Sailing 1911. Moves to top-floor studio at 3 Washington Square North, New York, where he lived until his death
1915 - 1924
Learns to etch and concentrates on printmaking, producing an outstanding array of etchings and drypoints. Including: American Landscape 1920
1920
Solo exhibition of paintings, principally of his Paris years at the Whitney Studio Club, New York. None of the paintings sell, and at thirty-seven, still dependent on commercial illustration to earn his living, Hopper begins to doubt whether he will achieve success as an artist
1923
Begins to paint with watercolours, one is bought by the Brooklyn Museum. Awarded prizes for etching in exhibitions in Chicago and Los Angeles. Exhibits at National Arts Club, New York, in the Humorist’s Exhibition
1924
Marries the painter, Josephine Verstille Nivison. Approaches Frank Rehn who offers him his first solo exhibition at a commercial gallery; all eleven paintings sell and five more are sold from the back room, enabling Hopper to give up commercial illustration work and encouraging him to paint in oils again
1925
Exhibits at the Pennsylvania Academy in Philadelphia, they purchase an oil painting. Visits Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he paints seven watercolours
1927
Paints Automat. With sale of Two on the Aisle for 1,500 dollars buys first automobile, a two-year-old Dodge. He is able to paint in remote places in both Ogunquit and Gloucester
1929
Included in MoMA’s second exhibition, Paintings by Nineteen Living Americans
1930
Paints Early Sunday Morning. During the summer, Hopper and his wife rent “Bird Cage Cottage” in South Truro, Massachusetts on Cape Cod
1933
At age of fifty-one, receives his first large-scale solo exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, New York. Exhibits twenty-five oils, thirty-seven watercolours and eleven prints
1934
In July Hopper and his wife move into the studio/house that he has designed in South Truro (where they spent most of their successive summers)
1935
Paints House at Dusk. Awarded Temple Gold Medal, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and the First Purchase Prize in watercolour, Worchester Art
1940
Paints Office at Night
1942
Paints Nighthawks, purchased by the Art Institute of Chicago, and is an overnight success, becoming signature work for Hopper and an iconic American image
1945
Awarded Logan Art Institute Medal and Honorarium, The Art Institute of Chicago
1950
Retrospective at the Whitney Museum of American Art, touring to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and the Detroit Institute of Arts. Awarded honorary degree, Doctor of Fine Arts, by the Art Institute of Chicago. Paints Cape Cod Morning
1952
Hopper was one of four artists chosen by the American Federation of Arts to represent the United States in the Venice Biennale. Paints Morning Sun
1953
Awarded Honorary degree, Doctor of Letters, Rutgers University. The Metropolitan Museum, about to open new American wing, purchases Office in a Small City
1955
Gold Medal for Painting presented by the National Institute of Arts and Letters in the name of the American Academy of Arts and Letters
1956
Awarded Huntington Hartford Foundation fellowship and stays at foundation’s headquarters in Pacific Palisades, California for six months
1959
Solo exhibition at Currier Gallery of Art, tours to Rhode Island School of Design in December and Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut
1960
Receives Art in America Annual Award. Paints Second Story Sunlight
1962
October-November, The Complete Graphic Work of Edward Hopper, runs at Philadelphia Museum of Art
1963
Receives award from the St Botolph Club, Boston. Retrospective Exhibition at the Arizona Art Gallery, in South Truro. Paints Sun in an Empty Room
1964
May, protracted illness keeps Hopper from painting. Awarded M. V. Khonstamn Prize for Painting, The Art Institute of Chicago. September-November, major Retrospective Exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art, which travels to the Art Institute of Chicago and is well received by critics
1965
Retrospective tours to the Detroit Institute of Arts and the City Art Museum of St Louis. Awarded honorary degree, Doctor of Fine Arts, Philadelphia College of Art. July 16, death of Hopper’s sister Marion in Nyack, New York. Paints final work Two Comedians
1966
Awarded Edward MacDowell Medal
1967
Edward Hopper dies in his studio at 3 Washington Square North
1968
Jo Hopper dies on 6 March
Posted by Dan at 10:27 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
In case you missed it....
....Bill Clinton won a Grammy on Sunday.
His second.
Posted by Dan at 03:35 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
I bet this guy's pizza always gets there in 30 minutes or less.
Posted by Dan at 12:08 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Not a bad idea on the face of it.
Via Dave.
Posted by Dan at 09:30 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
This may be the end of Popping Culture.
Yes.
When two "dogs playing poker" paintings sell for nearly $600,000, there isn't really much reason to keep up the illusion that there's much culture left out there to comment on.
Of course, to some of my readership, dogs playing poker ranks right up there with velvet Elvis as the very pinnacle of art culture.
Posted by Dan at 09:10 AM | Comments (5) | TrackBack
February 16, 2005
This is what happens when you give a Billy Joel fan access to flash software.
I was happy to sit through the whole thing, if only to see the pictures and because the creator of this site spent hours putting it together.
Hat tip to Kimm.
Posted by Dan at 10:49 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Googlebattle results: Daniel Champion rules your world.
Here are a few humbling Googlebattle.com results:
Battle #1
Daniel Champion 2,090,000
Joel Caris 113,000
Battle #2
Daniel Champion 2,090,000
Jim Cartwright 375,000
Battle #3
Dan Champion 3,250,000
Ara Rubyan 13,900
Battle #4
Jesus 48,100,000
The Beatles 12,200,000
Numbers don't lie.
Posted by Dan at 10:27 PM | Comments (7) | TrackBack
From the kitchens of Popping Culture.
I have recently perfected this recipe, which should help with both my constant dry cough AND my lack of sleep.
Ingredients:
-An adult dose of Nyquil, measured out into that cute plastic cap
-Some more Nyquil
Preparation (2 minutes):
1) Pick up the carefully measured adult dose of Nyquil. Drink it.
2) Pour out some more Nyquil into the plastic cap, to taste. Don't worry if some overflows the top.
3) Drink that as well.
4) Find a place to lay down. Quickly.
Posted by Dan at 10:18 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
I gotta take a break from this Pirates! computer game.
This keyboard is becoming more and more attractive:
Posted by Dan at 04:41 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
From Popping Culture's "Pranks of Questionable Taste" Desk
You know, I'm just sure I hold political views fairly opposite of whoever played this prank.
Nevertheless, I have to give props for the effort. Not an easy stunt to pull off, and I gotta admit it made me chuckle for a second. Um, until I was outraged, of course. Sort of shows how political discourse has been replaced by venom these days.
***UPDATE: I've received a few emails about this. Apparently, despite my own words, a few folks out there think that by drawing attention to something, I am endorsing it. My thought-out, reasoned response is this: Read my words. Lighten up. That is all.***
Posted by Dan at 12:18 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
Remember Jenna Elfman?
She played space cadet Dharma of Dharma and Greg sort-of fame?
Well, the show may have ended, but she's keeping the space cadet gear.
Key Quote:
“I intend to make Scientology as accessible to as many people as I can. And that is my goal,” Elfman said. To do this, she says, it is my “duty to clear the planet.” By “clearing” she means to rid the world of “body thetans” — aliens who Scientologists believe inhabit the earth from a nuclear explosion 75 million years ago.
Neat.
Posted by Dan at 12:11 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
Popping Cancer Blood Test Results: OW! OW! HEY, OW!
My bloodwork came back nearly fine, except my hemoglobin was down. They gave me a shot of ProCrit, which I think I've seen on the television.
The nurse, as she was sticking the needle into my arm, said "this will burn a little bit." What an appropriate thing to say. At first, I thought she had set me on fire.
Ouch!
If it was torture, I would have told the secret plans or sold out little Timmy or revealed Mr. Wonderful's fatal weakness - whatever they wanted.
Still, it looks like we're set to go for chemo next Tuesday - Thursday, presuming all goes well with the surgery Monday.
Posted by Dan at 11:48 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
Popping Culture: Once more unto the vampires, my friends!
Yet another blood test today, this time to determine if my blood can handle surgery and another round of chemotherapy. I'm confident.
I'll let you know how it goes.
Got a bill today for almost $20,000 after insurance. Neat. It's cool though, I have until the end of February to pay it.
Posted by Dan at 09:03 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
Here's a reality show I'd watch!
Pimp my bike.
Posted by Dan at 09:02 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Monarch Update
I would just like to point out that my alma mater, Old Domininion University, is putting together quite the season. Usually, the only way for a team from the CAA to get into March Madness is to win the tournament.
With numbers like these, the Monarchs might even pull off an at-large bid.
Go, Blue!
Posted by Dan at 08:59 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
February 15, 2005
Because I love you, another poem by Wallace Stevens
The Emperor of Ice-Cream
by Wallace Stevens
Call the roller of big cigars,
The muscular one, and bid him whip
In kitchen cups concupiscent curds.
Let the wenches dawdle in such dress
As they are used to wear, and let the boys
Bring flowers in last month's newspapers.
Let be be finale of seem.
The only emperor is the emperor of ice-cream.
Take from the dresser of deal,
Lacking the three glass knobs, that sheet
On which she embroidered fantails once
And spread it so as to cover her face.
If her horny feet protrude, they come
To show how cold she is, and dumb.
Let the lamp affix its beam.
The only emperor is the emperor of ice-cream.
Posted by Dan at 10:14 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Caption this!
Posted by Dan at 09:54 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack
How are your hands working? How about your eyes?
Now, can you coordinate the two?
PS let em go for a while and watch what happens!
Posted by Dan at 09:38 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
Ah, the good old days.
2 meg RAM, 20 MHz engine... all for UNDER $9,000.
Posted by Dan at 12:53 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Popping Cancer: Our Story So Far
I've gotten a few questions from recently-inducted readers of Popping Culture about my current health. Maybe it's time to recap:
-I'm 36 now. When I was 18, I was diagnosed with late-stage Hodgkin's Disease, which I beat over about 8 years on-and-off with chemotherapy, radiation and a bone marrow transplant.
-Ten years after the bone marrow transplant, in fact the week before Thanksgiving last year, I noticed a big (maybe chalkboard-eraser sized, but not as long?) lump on my upper left shoulder. This turned out to be a sarcoma (a rare cancer) caused by the radiation treatments from my first cancer experience.
-Before you could say "innumerable trips to Cleveland Clinic Hospitals in the snow," the sarcoma had spread into my chest, near my lungs. There is a big lump near my aorta and about 5-10 smaller ones throughout my chest cavity, this as per my last scan.
-Radiation is not an option because the cancer is in my blood (metastisized). Surgery is not an option. So we're doing chemotherapy. The chemo is complicated by the fact that the lead drug, adriamicin, is the drug I used primarily back in the day to defeat Hodgkin's. It damaged the muscles near my heart pretty severely (I beat out about 30-35 percent of the blood in my heart with each beat - you normal folks get up near 55 or 60 percent). Using adriamicin could make my heart, you know, stop. So we're using alternate chemo drugs.
-I just finished the first couple treatments and I'm gaining strength for the next cycle. A normal chemotherapy cycle is three days of chemo (back-to-back-to-back) followed by three weeks off. I have a relatively minor surgery Monday, Feb. 21, then my next chemo cycle hits on the 22nd-24th. At the end of the next cycle, we will re-take the scans to see if the chemo has made a difference. If not, we juggle some drugs, I guess.
That's all I can really think of right now. Feel free to post any questions you might have in the comments box and I might actually answer them.
Posted by Dan at 08:35 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
Love, or whatever, is in the air!
Do these names sound familiar?
Yes, there's a chance the registry is fake. Still, let's just hope those crazy kids can make it work.
Posted by Dan at 08:22 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
Once again expanding Popping Culture's appeal.
Don't mess with Popping Culture! It's not all culture highlights and cancer updates: Popping Culture has a rough, streetwise side, too, y'know. To prove it we present:
Biker Chicks.
Deal with it.
Posted by Dan at 08:13 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
February 14, 2005
Popping Cancer: Coughing Up The Update
I have another blood test Wednesday. This one is to make sure my body can handle another round of chemotherapy next week.
Maybe we'll also get a handle on what's causing this annoying cough. It is non-productive and comes straight from my lungs.
I cough much more when one of the following conditions are met:
1 - I'm cold.
2 - I exert.
3 - Aspect changes (I sit down, lay down or stand up)
SO annoying. And it looks like it will keep me from a hoped-for visit to Rochester on Friday. I feel like I might be gaining strength, but coughing ALL DAY is exhausting, so who can say?
Posted by Dan at 03:44 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack