Rammstein to Release Box Set — with Six Dildos

German metal band Rammstein is issuing a special edition box set of their album Liebe ist für alle da, which was released earlier this month. It comes in a metal case and includes five B-sides, as well as six dildos, each of which corresponds to the member of each band... um...member. Also included: a bottle of lube and industrial-strength handcuffs.

Read the Exclaim.ca story

You Learn Something New Everyday

Jean Harlow was the first actress to appear on the cover of Life magazine.

Nutmeg is extremely poisonous if injected intravenously

Dirty Harry's badge number is 2211.

The book of Esther is the only book in the Bible which does not mention the name of God.

A full moon always rises at sunset.

My Eggplant Parmigiana

A friend recently put out a request for a recipe for an Eggplant or Zuccini Parmigiana and thought I'd post mine here. This recipe evolved from my Chicken Parmigiana recipe that I had learned from the tradition of the Basile family, one of the many Italian families that I grew up around in Brampton, Ontario.

I can say this recipe is world famous, as I have cooked it in at least eight cities on three continents.

Eggplant Parmesan
also works well with very large zucchinis.

1 large eggplant
Tomato sauce (I recommend using your favourite homemade sauce)
mozzarella cheese (shredded)
grated parmesan cheese
all purpose flour
3 eggs
bread crumbs
vegetable oil
dried oregano and dried basil (optional)
salt and pepper

Slice your eggplant into 1/2 inch thick disks. Salt and strain for about 20 minutes or so.

Set up a breading station:
First bowl: all purpose flour, seasoned slightly with salt and pepper
Second bowl: eggs, beaten
Third bowl: bread crumbs, seasoned slightly with salt and pepper, pinches of dried oregano and dried basil

Coat the slices of the eggplant, one at a time, in the flour. Then dip the eggplant slice into the egg and let excess drip off. Then lay the slice in the breadcrumbs, covering both sides. Repeat this process, adding more breadcrumbs as needed. If you fill the bowl with too many crumbs at a time, the crumbs will get sticky and chunky.

Add oil to a medium fry pan, but just enough to coat the bottom. Brown each slice; you can brown about 4-5 slices at a time. Don't overcook; just let them get crispy on the outside. Add oil as necessary; don't let the pan dry out or burn.

Transfer slices to a paper towel. Once all are browned, place a layer in the bottom of a rectangular casserole dish (approx. 9-11 inch dish). Cover the slices with a layer of sauce. A generous portion of mozzarella and parmesan should top each slice. I have experimented with adding mushrooms, red/green peppers, and/or onions to the sauce while baking. Cover with foil and put in a 375 degree oven until slices are tender but not mushy.

Add another another layer of cheese to each slice and broil uncovered until cheese is melted and slightly brown.

Serve with pasta, tossed in tomato sauce. Top with a light sprinkle of italian parsley, extra virgin olive oil and cracked black pepper.

R.I.P Soupy Sales

Soupy Sales, a comedian from the golden era of television, died October 22.

The rubber-faced comedian, whose anything-for-a-chuckle career was built on 20,000 pies to the face and 5,000 live TV appearances across a half-century of laughs, died at Calvary Hospice in the Bronx, New York

During the early 1960s, the comic's pie-throwing schtick became his trademark, and celebrities, from Frank Sinatra to Alice Cooper, lined up to take one on the chin alongside Sales.

"The Soupy Sales Show," with co-star puppets White Fang (the meanest dog in the United States) and Black Tooth (the nicest dog in the United States) made Sales one of the best-known faces in the nation, said his former manager and longtime friend, Dave Usher.

"If President Eisenhower would have walked down the street, no one would have recognized him as much as Soupy," said Usher.

Sales is survived by his wife, Trudy, and two sons, Hunt and Tony, a pair of musicians who backed David Bowie in the band Tin Machine.

Soupy Sales was 83.

Read the New York Times story.

You're not gonna put Charlie Parker in with the Rock n Roll, would you?

A scene from one of my favourite movies.

Addictions and Bad Dreams

My current obsessions, time wasters and indulgences, in no particular order, are:

NHL regular season
Flash Forward
Presidents Choice chips - Loaded bake potato flavor
The Nicholas brothers` Stormy Weather routine.
My niece`s seven teeth
antibiotics
scarves - the lingerie of winter outerwear
cranberry sauce, stuffing and pumpkin pie
TED.com

You Learn Something New Everyday

Some of the words that my computerized opponent used in Wordscraper today.

Fley –verb, fleyed, fley⋅ing. Chiefly Scot. to frighten; terrify.

Haar –noun Scot. and North England. a thick, wet fog along the seacoast.

Ogive –noun
1. Architecture. a. a diagonal vaulting rib. b. a pointed arch.
2. Statistics. the distribution curve of a frequency distribution.
3. Rocketry. the curved nose of a missile or rocket.

R.I.P Les Paul.

Les Paul, the virtuoso guitarist and inventor whose solid-body electric guitar and recording studio innovations changed the course of 20th-century popular music, died Thursday in White Plains, N.Y. He was 94

Read the L.A Times story.

R.I.P Bea Arthur

Beatrice Arthur, the award winning actress best known for her roles as television's Maude and the sardonic Dorothy on The Golden Girls, has died of cancer.

Arthur died on the morning of April 25 at her home in Los Angeles with her family by her side.

In 1978 Arthur began playing Maude Findlay, an outspoken liberal living in the affluent community of Tuckahoe, New York. The revolutionary show, which won Arthur an Emmy, was a spin-off from All in the Family, on which Arthur had appeared a couple of times in the same role, playing Edith Bunker's cousin, a feminist, and antithesis to the bigoted, conservative Archie Bunker.

In 1978 She then went on to play Dorothy Zbornak in the hit sitcom The Golden Girls, co starring Estelle Getty, Betty White and Rue McClanahan as four older women sharing a home in Miami Florida

She is survived by her sons Matthew and Daniel and grandchildren Kyra and Violet, he said.

She was 86.

Read the Post-Gazette story

Addictions and bad dreams

My current obsessions, time wasters and indulgences, in no particular order, are:

My veggie hummus/provolone wraps at work
hosting brunch
Junction neighbours -- I'm meeting a whole bunch of them
sinking 30-foot chip shots
my new bike seat
the start of golf and bocce season
watching three Japanese girls with stilettos trying to play keep-ups in a parking lot
no sleep, no sleep

Bill Mahar's New Rules For April 24

HBO television show Real Time with Bill Maher's New Rules segment for April 24. This week: Beauty pageant contestants, Somali pirates, Kenny Loggins, Kentucky Fried Chicken, the American conservative base.

Math - Bunker style

A classic television comedy moment with the cast of All in the Family and the Jeffersons.

Tofu License Plate X-rated

A Colorado woman's love for tofu has been judged X-rated by state officials. Kelly Coffman-Lee wanted to tell the world about her fondness for bean curd by picking certain letters for her SUV's license plate. Her suggestion for the plate: "ILVTOFU." But the Division of Motor Vehicles blocked her plan because they thought the combination of letters could be interpreted as profane.

Read the Associated Press story

Watch the AP video story

You Learn Something New Everyday

There are 2,598,960 five-card hands possible in a 52-card deck of cards.

A 'jiffy' is an actual unit of time for 1/100th of a second.

Pinocchio is Italian for "pine eyes."

On Sesame Street, Bert's goldfish were named Lyle and Talbot, presumably after the actor Lyle Talbot.

You would have to count to one thousand to use the letter "A" in the English language to spell a whole number.

Rescue Shelter Boys?

PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) placed a request to pop band Pet Shop Boys to change their name to Rescue Shelter Boys because the organization wanted the British duo to “help raise awareness about the cruelty involved in the pet trade.” However, since Pet Shop Boys have been using the name since 1981 — making them only one year younger than PETA — they have politely declined, even though they admit it “raises an issue worth thinking about.”


Read the Exclaim.ca story

Billy Bob Goes off on the Q

While appearing on the April 8 edition of CBC radio program Q with his touring band The Boxcars, Billy Bob Thorton became upset with host Jian Ghomeshi's references to Thorton's acting career by being vague and/or unresponsive to questions.

In my personal opinion, BBT should be grateful that he has a successful acting and directing career, because if he hadn't, his band would probably not get the exposure the get. If any other bottom-to-mid-level band (which The Boxcars are, essentially) did this on CBC radio, they would have gotten cut off as soon as BBT started acting like a spoiled brat.

Get over it!

Read the Canadian Press article

New York Times Co. to Close Boston Globe?

The Boston Globe, one of the most acclaimed and profitable U.S. newspapers ever, may be closing down.

Analysts say the 137-year-old Globe, which was bought by the New York Times Co. in 1993, has been a money-loser in recent years and the Times, now $1.1 billion in debt, is threatening to shut down the Globe unless it gets $20 million in union concessions. The company was in negotiations with the union as of April 6.

The threat to the Globe, announced April 3 on the Globe’s website, has shocked some industry insiders, who say it shows no one is safe in the troubled economic times.

Stay tuned.


Read the Marketing Magazine story

'Lap Dancing Nun' to Perform for Cardinals and Bishops

A former stripper from Italy, who is now a nun, will be performing a form of "mystical" choreography, which she calls "Holy Dance", in front of senior Catholic clerics next week at one of Rome's best known churches.

Anna Nobili, 38, spent two decades dancing for men in Milan but then decided she wanted more from life and joined the Sister Workers of the Holy House of Nazareth order. And now she is putting her past life as a dancer to use as a 'ballerina for God' in a show for cardinals and bishops called Holy Dance dedicated to episodes from the Bible. She turned to a life of spirituality in 2002 after being 'inspired' during a visit to the shrine of St Francis at Assisi.

The dance programme is called La Bibbia Giorno e Notte (The Bible Night and Day).

Among the guests expected to attend will be Archbishop Gianfranco Ravasi, who is in charge of the Vatican's Cultural Department.

Read the Daily Mail story.

Bill Mahar's New Rules For April 3

HBO television show Real Time with Bill Maher's New Rules segment for April 3. This week: Protesters, Michelle Obama's wardrobe changes, awful clothing designers, Glenn Beck, trash in space and the ocean.

His Airness headed to Hall of Fame

In an announcement that suprised no one, NBA legend Michael Jordan has been elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame. The announcement was made in Detroit on April 9, site of the men's Final Four. Fellow players David Robinson, John Stockton, Utah Jazz coach Jerry Sloan and Rutgers women's coach C. Vivian Stringer are the other memebers of the class of 2009.

Induction is Sept. 10-12 in Springfield, Mass., home of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

Read the TSN story.