No, it's not the thing from Google.

I need a word to mean "glee that a problem is not yours this time, combined with sympathy toward the sufferer." Schadenfreude is not what I feel toward the folks in the DC/Baltimore/Delaware/Philly areas...that's too malicious.

There's no pleasure that it's *their* problem...just pleasure that it's not *our* problem. Does that make sense?

Bob Hope and James Cagney in one of the loveliest soft shoe bits in motion picture history, from The Seven Foys.

The BBC reports that Nigeria's vice president, Goodluck Jonathan, has taken over as acting president because of the illness of Umaru Yar'Adua.

My native city of Cleveland, Ohio has the worst winter weather (of major U.S. cities) in the nation, according to a Forbes Magazine poll. That is based on a combination of average temperature, annual precipitation, and annual snowfall.

So I moved to Boston, Massachusetts 25 years ago.

Hah!

Of course, Forbes' survey says Boston is #2...and some years, we try harder.

Via james_nicoll. :-)

...so live it large - with this 10' beach ball. Okay, it's $149. But it's wicked cool...and it will test your lung power.



Via Nerd Approved.

Marvin Gaye, singing the Star Spangled Banner, NBA All-Star Game, 1983. Oh, yeah.



Via Neat-O-Rama.

...is what a blog is all about. So, apropos of nothing at all, I was looking at IMDB and reading about the cast of Gilligan's Island. I'm not even sure why I started down this path of nostalgia (blame my migraine medicine).

Anyway, Jim Backus, who is best known to people of my generation as Thurston Howell III and Mr. Magoo, was almost doomed from the start to go into the movies. One of his classmates (in a Kentucky military school) was fellow future actor Victor Mature.

What's even cooler:

One of his teachers in grade school was Margaret Hamilton, who would later play Miss Gulch/The Wicked Witch, in The Wizard of Oz (1939).

But I'd want this one, who has seen 11 U.S. presidents during her reign.

Great pictures of Queen Elizabeth II.

( ...they're just really meaningful today. :-) )

BoingBoing points to a requirement in the state of South Carolina that, if you belong to an organization that wants to overthrow the U.S. or South Carolina, you now have to pay a $5 fee and register.

How much fun can we have with *that*?

Here's the registration form. Go get a stack of $5 bills and have a blast.

...or so they say. It's been pretty snow-free around here the last couple of weeks. We still have remnants on the deck and lawn, but that's because thawing has not been an option.

Probably upwards of a foot, if their models hold...although it may be worse south of the Pike and much lighter for us on the north shore. Not in the same league as a Snowpocalypse (or, as they called it last week in DC, "Snowmageddon"). I feel for the folks in DC/Baltimore...this one's supposed to hit them, too.

Did you know the president has his own snow plow? How cool is that? Do they call it "DPW 1"?

It's a good thing the game was engaging, because this year's Super Bowl ads left me lamentably flat. But here are the ones that I thought were well done (from an advertising standpoint):

Google's ad -- which I think I rate at the top of the heap -- was a delightfully product-centric ad with a clear narrative. Branding, amusement, and story-telling. You couldn't ask for better.

While I don't care for the organization's goals, the Focus on the Family ad featuring football player Tim Tebow and his mother was charming, droll, and heart-warming. Nicely done, and brilliant from a secondary point of view: all of the pre-game hype about the ad had people talking about the organization, trying to counter its (anticipated) anti-abortion message...and on the day, the ad said nothing its opponents thought it would. Very, very effective.

Snickers bars nearly always amuse with their ads (or at least they amuse *me*), and the spot featuring Betty White (now 88!) playing football...and ending with Abe Vigoda (also in his 80s) was really charming.

Bud Light offered several fun spots. One was a parody of the television show "Lost," and another featured a planet-busting comet about to hit Earth. Okay, but I really giggled about the beer fantasy that spoke to my fannish heart: the house made out of Bud Light cans.

Go Bud! While the usual Clydesdale ad was pleasant, it was the Budweiser "bridge" ad that just cracked me up. And, of course, the "building bridges is what we do" implication was also very nice.

Although competitor Pepsi didn't advertise this year (the first time in decades), the Coke invulnerable sleepwalker ad was very good.

Monster.com's beaver-playing-the-violin ad.

Cars.com's latest in the "even incredible people freak out when buying a car" series...they had me until the tiger midwifery.

The Denny's freaking chicken ads. Let's hope their Grand Slam breakfast give-away works out better tomorrow than it did last year.

I still hate the E*Trade baby ads. Yes, I know they seem to work, but they're creepy.

All of the Doritos ads. Every one. Oh, and they were stupid *and* violent.

The BoostMobile ad featuring one of the most annoying football players who ever played the game. He has not gotten any better years later. I so did not need to see that thong.

A MetroPCS ad, which was so insulting to anyone from the Indian subcontinent that I screamed. Fortunately, I was home alone.

Every GoDaddy spot. They were sexist without being at all sexy.

...especially since the Saints won. :-)

This is a time lapse of the first 12" of snow from the DC/B'more storm. The photographer got another foot, but his camera ran out of film battery power.

Click the image to see the time-lapse:

It is comforting that when I heard the news today about the death of Phil Klass, who wrote science fiction under the pen name William Tenn, I was among fans. Phil was a gentle, witty, sardonic, deliciously satirical man, and it was a very great pleasure and honor to count him among the guests of Noreascon Four. He and his wife Fruma were marvelous to be with, and my deepest sympathies go to her and all of their family and many friends and admirers.

In 2002, I was at dinner in Pittsburgh with Phil and Fruma, my husband Mike, and Jim and Laurie Mann, and I asked Phil if there was anything special he wanted to do as our Guest at N4. He honestly *twinkled* at me when he said, "Well, I've always wanted to dance naked on stage." Fruma gave him a look (a very well practiced look, one suspects), and I snorted. We moved on.

But never one to withhold a good story from my friends, I made sure everyone on the N4 committee (well, as many as I could) heard about his answer.

And when we needed a title for the book NESFA Press produced to coincide with his GoH appearance in Boston, I kept bugging Laurie (who edited the book) ("Oh, c'monnnnn...see if he'll do it...") with my choice. Eventually, Fruma rolled her eyes and capitulated, and the book was titled Dancing Naked. It joined the other two books NESFA had published by Phil: Immodest Proposals and Here Comes Civilization.

It was at the Millennium Philcon when Phil came back to Worldcon. We were delighted that our win in the Worldcon site selection there meant that "William Tenn" could be appreciated by a new generation (or two) of fandom. And it was there that NESFA had Here Comes Civilization available for the first time. Phil was to do a signing at the NESFA Sales table in the dealers room, and one of our people (I don't remember who...Jim, maybe?) was escorting him to the table. There was a long line of people lined up near the door of the dealers room.

"What are those people standing in line for?" Phil asked.

"They're waiting for your signing, Phil," was the reply.

Now that was a glorious day...when a man who thought SF fandom had forgotten him discovered how much he was missed.

And he will be missed. I think the Hebrew is alav ha-shalom.

This is an Armenian story, told in Russian, with English subtitles. Via Neat-O-Rama.

...and keep them next to your computer...and we'll all play Facebook Bingo! (Click to embiggen.)



Via Miss Cellania.

Don't try this in a live webcast.



Via Miss Cellania.

...to eat too much bacon.



Via Bits & Pieces.