Chez PLJ

So a couple of weeks ago we were decompressing at the cottage, enjoying some DVD sets loaned to us by friends: Reid loaned us the second season of Battlestar Galactica, and Erik loaned us the first and second seasons of Corner Gas (to make sure we’d seen all of them). (Thanks everybody!)

I blame a vacation after a stressful and deadline-filled spring, but at some point, we started getting distracted by how similar the voices and manners of Corner Gas’s Oscar and BSG’s Colonel Tighe were. Then we realized that every character in BSG has a corresponding Corner Gas character.

And from there, it was all downhill, as we were suddenly putting new lyrics to the Corner Gas tune over a sink full of suds and dirty dishes.

Sung to the Corner Gas theme, Not A Lot Goin’ On:

You can tell me that machines made by man
Blew up your worlds and that they have a plan
And now you search for Earth
In a fleet of old tin cans…

There seems to be a lot goin’ on
Every second person’s a Cylon
Not to mention that psychotic blonde
And the plot just keeps goin’ on and on…

Tamo was in town for 24 hours on a stopover as he heads down to Chile to snowboard during their winter. Just enough time to hang out, dine on the Danforth and compete fiercely on the Wii.

Tamo realizes Jon’s playing style isn’t so random

At the airport I briefed him on Jon’s unorthodox playing style: for instance, in bowling he shakes the controller as though preparing a cocktail, but the ball is generally on target. As Tamo started bowling against Jon, he chatted with us casually. After Jon got two spares in the first two frames, conversation died down as Tamo pulled out his chair, and focused on the game. Have fun in Chile, Tamo!

Jon keeps Tamo sharp in Wii Golf

This is definitely not what you usually think of when you thinks of a whippet. Turns out this whippet has a genetic mutation that causes it to become “double-muscled”—a mutation that’s been found in other animals, including humans. In racing dogs, one copy of the defective gene can bulk up their muscles enough to increase their running speed; two copies of the gene and you end up with Hulk dog.

(Now that Jon’s two-week summer daycamp is over we’ve got him back doing journal entries. This was done completely independently; no help from us.—L)

Yesterday was Friday and I had a barbecue. After the barbecue I watched the slideshow in the gym. The slideshow had a lot of pictures. It had music too. When the slideshow was done I had a dance.

Jon

Amusing collection of movie clips containing the sound editor’s in-joke called the Wilhelm scream. And here’s the history of the scream.

The opening of last night’s Colbert Report is a pretty accurate recreation of our household from 1:00 am Saturday morning until Sunday evening.

I’ve always been a sucker for heroic medical stories, where people accomplish amazing cures or rescues under hard circumstances. Here is a doozy, first reported in 1942, involving major surgery, a non-medic, and a wartime submarine. What could be better? (via Neatorama)