At this pace, we might not even need to watch the Big Game this Sunday.
Two of the commercials, featuring two pretty big stars are already out there for viewing. Today we get the full Ferris Bueller commercial and we get Jerry Seinfeld's infamous Soup Nazi back at it.
If you are so well read, why would you stick your face near a snake.
Here's the background to the weirdest story of the week:
A member of a Madison book club says she got quite a scare when she decided to pick up a 17-year old Ball Python that was resting in its aquarium at the home where the book club took place.
It latched on to her face and wouldn’t let go. Police and other emergency responders were called, but the snake wouldn’t let go until it’s owner returned home. No word on how long that took, but everyone including the snake walked away OK.
I'm not sure that this is the medical breakthrough that everyone was hoping for, but nonetheless, it is news.
Here's the story that Scott, Heather and I were talking about today. Just don't eat any food before, during or after reading:
Bacon cures nose bleeds? The bacon craze had already gone too far, but this latest finding suggests it will continue down that path of lunacy. A new study, printed in a real medical journal (Annals of Otolaryngology), found that using strips of cured bacon helped those afflicted with chronic nose-bleeds.
"Cured salted pork crafted as a nasal gauze and packed within the nasal vaults successfully stopped nasal hemorrhage promptly, effectively, and without sequelae" (or aftereffect of the condition), explains the study.
Apparently they used to do these sorts of the things back in the day, but bacteria caused all sorts of infection, so doctors stopped. Now that bacon's back in, there seems no better place to stick those delicious smelling sticks of fat.
Thanks to The Guardian.com for this story...I think.
My favorite aspect of Restaurant Week is the sampling of a restaurant that you've never been too. For me this week, it was trying out the authentic Italian flavors of The Continental Fitchburg.
I had been in a previous reincarnation of the building that now houses The Continental on Fish Hatchery Road some time ago, but my first impression was a far more upscale upgrade.
The prix fixe menu ($15 lunch/$25 dinner) comes with a salad, entree and desert option. I went for the Antonio’s Original House Salad consisting of mixed greens tossed with house green pepper flake, sweet & sour dressing topped with Roma tomatoes. The greens were pleasing to the eye and the pepper flake added a nice level of heat. My significant other required a Gluten Free option and was pleased with the house salad and balsamic vinaigrette.
Our entrees were something I would have expected to get on a fine dining night out. I ordered the Fettuccine Pomodoro with Shrimp, my date had the 10 oz. Tenderloin Steak topped with Portobello & cremini mushrooms sautéed in butter, extra virgin olive oil, minced garlic and onions. It was also served with baby red potatoes and asparagus spears.
Presentation was above par. The first bite of Fettuccine was delectable. The shrimp marinating in olive oil, pecorino cheese and fresh basil were perfectly cooked. The pasta was a happy medium between al dente and overcooked. The entire dish sat on a bed of capers, olive oil and basil that mixed with every bite. This was the first meal where I've actually enjoyed capers. My hat is off.
My significant other's steak was a beautiful medium rare. The cut had just the right amount of marbling, free of excessive fats, but flavorful. The simple pairing of baby reds and asparagus was sensible and tasty. The mushroom topping appeared to come from a can and left something to be desired.
I would rarely say that the meal tops the desert, but they were close calls. I sampled the fruit flavorings of a Key Lime Pie served with a mango sauce. The Key Lime was white, not green. Well done. My date's Caramel Apple Sundae had the slight hints of caramel with sauteed Granny Smiths and was worth the wait.
An enjoyable experience overall and worthy of a repeat visit.
Thousands of area residents make their way to support the local dining community by exploring the newest restaurants and hitting up old favorites. Mark your calendars for this year's Winter Restaurant Week! Sunday, Jan. 22 — Friday, Jan. 27, 2012 This semi-annual event is the perfect opportunity for food lovers to sample some of Madison's finest local offerings.
For $25 participating restaurants offer a prix-fixed menu with 3 courses and 3 options of each course. Some restaurants offer a reduced menu for $15 for lunch. No passes, tickets or coupons are required. Diners may simply visit their favorite participating restaurants throughout the week to enjoy the special menus.
It's is an easy call this year. Trust me, I have a pretty decent track record when it comes to picking who will be taking home the statues on Oscar night.
In the Top 5 Categories, here's who I think will win it:
Best Picture
* "The Artist"
Actor in a Leading Role
* George Clooney in "The Descendants"
Actor in a Supporting Role
* Christopher Plummer in "Beginners"
Actress in a Leading Role
* Viola Davis in "The Help", but I want Michelle Williams in "My Week with Marilyn" to win.
Actress in a Supporting Role
* Octavia Spencer in "The Help"
Animated Feature Film
* "Rango"
Directing
* "Hugo" Martin Scorsese
Here's the rest of the nominees...
Best Picture
* "The Artist"
* "The Descendants"
* "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close"
* "The Help"
* "Hugo"
* "Midnight in Paris"
* "Moneyball"
* "The Tree of Life"
* "War Horse"
Actor in a Leading Role
* Demián Bichir in "A Better Life"
* George Clooney in "The Descendants"
* Jean Dujardin in "The Artist"
* Gary Oldman in "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy"
* Brad Pitt in "Moneyball"
Actor in a Supporting Role
* Kenneth Branagh in "My Week with Marilyn"
* Jonah Hill in "Moneyball"
* Nick Nolte in "Warrior"
* Christopher Plummer in "Beginners"
* Max von Sydow in "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close"
Actress in a Leading Role
* Glenn Close in "Albert Nobbs"
* Viola Davis in "The Help"
* Rooney Mara in "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo"
* Meryl Streep in "The Iron Lady"
* Michelle Williams in "My Week with Marilyn"
Actress in a Supporting Role
* Bérénice Bejo in "The Artist"
* Jessica Chastain in "The Help"
* Melissa McCarthy in "Bridesmaids"
* Janet McTeer in "Albert Nobbs"
* Octavia Spencer in "The Help"
Animated Feature Film
* "A Cat in Paris" Alain Gagnol and Jean-Loup Felicioli
* "Chico & Rita" Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal
* "Kung Fu Panda 2" Jennifer Yuh Nelson
* "Puss in Boots" Chris Miller
* "Rango" Gore Verbinski
Directing
* "The Artist" Michel Hazanavicius
* "The Descendants" Alexander Payne
* "Hugo" Martin Scorsese
* "Midnight in Paris" Woody Allen
* "The Tree of Life" Terrence Malick
Margarita, oh how I love thee... (just don't tell my girlfriend)
A new bar manager's survey found the Margarita remains the most popular mixed drink nationwide.
For the boozehounds out there, here's how the rest of their sauced up list:
Most Popular Mixed Drinks
1. Maragarita
2. Martini
3. Rum & Coke take
Most Popular Top Shelf Liquor
1. Absolut Vodka
2. Grey Goose
Best Selling Import Beer
1. Corona
2. Heinekin
Most Popular Craft Beer
1. Sam Adams
Unfortunately, the sucky survey didn't fill in the rest of the blanks. I say who cares. As long as your juice has the right flavor, I say go for it. I'm just glad about the creation of the vortal bottle neck. There was a clear need to get beer in your body faster.
This may be the craziest story in the news this week.
It's so fantastic, that I just can't believe it to be true without more evidence. In any case here we go perpetuating the story.
There have been reports that Celine Dion's song "My Heart Will Go On" was playing while the Costa Concordia cruise ship ran aground off Italy's coast. What's more is that one of the passengers that survived the Costa Condordia are also saying that they had relatives that were on the 1912 sinking of the Titanic.
Too incredible to be true? Maybe. Stranger things have happened.
Has the American Idol boat sunk? This isn't a poor reference to the cruise ship run aground in Italy, but since were on that subject...have you evern heard of a Ship's Captain falling overboard. Me neither. I digress.
Once again we're looking at another season of American Idol getting underway. I didn't watch the opener, but I still follow the show to see if anything big happens.
I don't think a lot of big things really happen on the show. Scott and I were talking this morning about how "joke" contestant William Hung is now a CSI guy in Los Angeles. I'm not sure what other Idol contestants are doing these days, but I'm guessing the majority of them are not making a living off of their singing skills.
Here's a blast from the past though. Remember these Idol winners and their first auditions?
You Said What? by Adam Elliott,posted Jan 18 2012 10:41AM
Remember that scene from the movie "A Christmas Story" where Ralphie is holding the hubcap filled with lugnuts. His father slips and hits the hubcap, the lugnuts go flying and Ralphie says "Ohhhhh. Fuuuuuudddddgggeeee."
Hilarious! Maybe one of the funnier family movie scenes there is ....right?
That's why I don't get all the buzz that the TV show Modern Family is getting. On tonight's episode, the running gag will be that the youngest child, 2 year old Lily learns the F-Word and repeats it on the show.
The show will be bleeping it out. The word that Lily (Aubrey Anderson-Emmons) actually used on the set was "Fudge."
Sure this brings up bigger debates about explitives on television, safe TV watching times and censorship, but the kid didn't actually say anything. The implication is that she said it, and this is not a situation like a live telecast where a rock star turns off their filter.
This is premedatated. This seems like a ploy to draw attention to the show. I like Modern Family. It's got good writing and great actors. This seems a little too much attention grabbing and is a bit low brow.
Are you getting the feeling that you’ve seen that already? In the movie biz in 2012, that feeling of déjà vu may be truer than you think. The industry as a whole needs a boost, especially since 2011 was one of the worst box office takes in around a decade.
Not everything that’s coming up this year is great. But there are a few things I am looking out for.
There are a ton of sequels/prequels/remakes. I count 25!
(Parenthesis represent the sequel number)
1/20 - Underworld: Awakening (4)
2/10 – Journey To The Center of the Earth 2: The Mysterious Island
2/17 – Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengance (2)
3/30 – Wrath Of The Titans (Clash Of The Titans 2)
4/6 – American Reunion (4)
4/20 – Scary Movie 5
5/4 – The Avengers (I consider it a sequel)
5/25 – Men In Black 3
6/8 - Madagascar 3: Europes Most Wanted
6/8 - Prometheius – (the Alien prequel)
6/29 - GI Joe: Retaliation (2)
7/4 – The Amazing Spiderman
7/13 – Ice Age: Continental Drift (4)
7/20 – The Dark Knight Rises (3)
7/27 – Step Up 4
8/3 – Total Recall
8/3 – The Bourne Legacy (4)
8/3 – Diary Of A Wimpy Kid: Dog Days (3)
8/17 – The Expendables 2
9/14 - Resident Evil 5
10/5 – Taken 2
10/19 – Paranormal Activity 4
11/2 – Red Dawn
11/16 – The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2
12/7 – Les Miserable
There are a bunch of re-releases of old movies, now in 3D
1/13 – Beauty & The Beast
2/10 - Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace
3/6 - Titanic
9/14 – Finding Nemo
10/5 – Texas Chainsaw Massacre
There’s TV shows/board games becoming movies
3/16 – 21 Jump Street
4/13 – The Three Stooges
5/11 - Dark Shadows
5/18 – Battleship
Then there’s the movies that I’m actually looking forward to
3/23 - Hunger Games – Based on the bestseller book.
6/22 – Abraham Lincoln- Vampire Hunter – Awesome title
9/28 – Looper – A mob hitman in the future realizes that he’s supposed to whack his future self.
11/9 – Skyfall – the new James Bond with Lord Voldemort as the bad guy.
11/21 – Gravity – A new George Clooney space thriller.
12/14 – The Hobbit: The Unexpected Journey – I just want to hear Gandolph’s voice again.
And of course The Dark Knight Rises and The Avengers. Duh.
If there's something the world needs, it's more republican presidential debates...and possibly another awards show.
The 2012 Producers Guild Award nominees are out, and I'm only paying attention to this lesser award show, because they're a little more credible than say....the Hollywood Foreign Press, who hand out Golden Globes.
The Producers Guild Of America is actually a trade group of people that work in the "production" side of the biz. Consider them the behind the scenes people who I think deserve some credit. They often provide clues into potential Oscars winners. Over the past 10 years, six of the PGA top feature film winners also scored the Oscar for best picture.
Here's their nominees. The ones in red are my guess for winners.
Best Picture
"The Artist"
"Bridesmaids"
"The Descendants"
"The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo"
"The Help"
"Hugo"
"The Ides of March"
"Midnight in Paris"
"Moneyball"
"War Horse"
Best Animated Film
"The Adventures of Tintin"
"Cars 2"
"Kung Fu Panda 2"
"Puss in Boots" "Rango"
Best Documentary
"Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest" "Bill Cunningham New York"
"Project Nim"
"Senna"
"The Union"
Television Comedy
"30 Rock"
"The Big Bang Theory"
"Glee" "Modern Family"
"Parks and Recreation"
Television Drama
"Boardwalk Empire"
"Dexter" "Game of Thrones"
"The Good Wife"
"Mad Men"
Live Entertainment & Talk Television
"The Colbert Report"
"The Ellen DeGeneres Show
"Real Time with Bill Maher"
"Saturday Night Live"
The 64th Annual Tony Awards
Competition Television
"The Amazing Race"
"American Idol"
"Dancing With the Stars"
"Project Runway"
"Top Chef"
Non-Fiction Television
"30 for 30"
"American Masters" "Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations"
"Deadliest Catch"
"Undercover Boss"
Sorry, but I'm afraid the Mayan calendar and all those "2012 end of times" predictions are wrong. How dow I know this?
Easy.
Michael J. Fox as Marty McFly time-travels to Hill Valley on Oct. 21, 2015 in the Back to the Future trilogy. There are hoverboards, flying cars, Nikes that lace themselvs and even the clocktower still stands. There you have it. Proof positive.
Need more proof?
All of the Star Trek films take place between 2273 and 2293. Just try to argue the future doesn't exist with a Star Trek fan. Go ahead. I dare ya.
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Two questions for this person.
I'm not sure that this is the medical breakthrough that everyone was hoping for, but nonetheless, it is news.
My favorite aspect of 
Has the American Idol boat sunk? This isn't a poor reference to the cruise ship run aground in Italy, but since were on that subject...have you evern heard of a Ship's Captain falling overboard. Me neither. I digress.
Remember that scene from the movie "A Christmas Story" where Ralphie is holding the hubcap filled with lugnuts. His father slips and hits the hubcap, the lugnuts go flying and Ralphie says "Ohhhhh. Fuuuuuudddddgggeeee."
Are you getting the feeling that you’ve seen that already? In the movie biz in 2012, that feeling of déjà vu may be truer than you think. The industry as a whole needs a boost, especially since 2011 was one of the worst box office takes in around a decade. 
If there's something the world needs, it's more republican presidential debates...and possibly another awards show. 
