Ever hear of "Molser"?

Yeah, me neither.

Apparently it's a car company in Florida, and makes a car that does zero to 62 mph in 3 seconds, with a top speed of 211 mph.

Oh, and this poorly named "MT900 GTR XX" is not available in the US.


Wired.com told me all about it in "An American Supercar Unavailable In America".

The company said that while it's not for sale domestically, it is ready for sale in Europe and "United Arab Emirate countries”.

Hmm.

You know, a quick note to the folks at Molser: the UAE is actually one country. Perhaps you're confused because it's made up of seven different 'emirates'. But they're united, these Arabian emirates.

Perhaps you should think of them like states, like our united American ones. Granted, they're ruled by dynastic monarchs, but let's not get bogged down in technicalities.

Okay, let's just call them 'political territories' and move on.

I'd also work on the name.

"MT900 GTR XX" is quite a mouthful.

Here's a fun link - 21 Amazing Movie Posters Recreated with Lego [bricks].

It appears that different people submitted them, as some are way better than others.

But still, it's fun.

I don't know what it is about cold, dark weather, but it makes me want to bake. Good thing I don't live in the Pacific Northwest, or I'd end up one of those guys on the daytime television who needs a wall removed and a forklift to get out of his house.

Anyway, back in January I wanted to make Anadama Bread, so I started seeking out recipes. And where else do you go for Maine recipes than Yankee Magazine (no relation the New York Yankees baseball team, although I hear Jeter makes a great baked-stuffed lobster).

I finally made that recipe yesterday, and it was fantastic. So here, try Anadama Bread from Granes Fairhaven Inn up to Bath.

Today marks the end of Jay Leno's wasteful 17 years as host of The Tonight Show starring with Jay Leno.

I'm still not convinced that Conan O'Brien is the right person for the job, I think his sophomoric humor is better suited for a later, loopier crowd. But anything, anything is funnier than Jay Leno.

And quite honestly, I'm also a little upset that the show is moving from Burbank to the Universal Studios backlot.

Of course I know it's not even two miles away, and that it'll be a big draw for the Universal Studios Hollywood theme park, but after living in Burbank for three years and working there for six I oddly have lots of Burbank Pride.

I can't stand how it's mocked so openly around Hollywood, even on TV. Yes, Laugh In's "beautiful downtown Burbank" bit was seeped in sarcasm.

Either way, The Tonight Show's new era begins on Monday. Be there.

So it's been about 115 degrees (Fahrenheit, naturally) in Dubai the last few days. I mention this not only because my wife is over there, but also because the cat we brought back from there last year has been suffering the 45 degree weather over here the last few days.

He was all set for summer, heck, we all were after that 90 degree day, and now it's freezing again.

I think the cat'd prefer 115 to 45.

At this point, so might I ...

I'm glad that Slumdog Millionaire was made - it's a well done movie with a great story, and it brought all sorts of Westerners into a world they'd never seen before.


That being said, I'm a little conflicted about the responsibility the media seems to be putting on the filmmakers regarding the children actors from the film. Take this article from yesterday's New York Times: "‘Slumdog’ Filmmakers Meet With Actors’ Families".

I agree that the plight of these and all people living in shanty homes is tragic. But, as long as the producers and studio have fairly compensated everyone involved, then isn't the business agreement over?

Are the Hollywood studios and producers responsible for whatever actors do with the crazy amounts of money they're paid? Because if that's the case, they're the main cause of 99% of Los Angeles' expensive crashed cars, drugs and hookers.

Or because those are the so-called "victimless crimes" it's okay?

So are Warner Brothers, Legendary Pictures, Christopher Nolan and the producers of The Dark Knight at all responsible for Heath Ledger's tragic drug overdose? I mean, isn't it wholly possible that he was so into his psychotic role that it drove him to prescription pills? Shouldn't they foot the bill for his untimely death?

Or even back fifty years - James Dean - are Warner Brothers and Rebel Without a Cause director Nicholas Ray responsible for his death, what with putting him through the troubled teenage angst of Jim Stark?

Are these too far fetched because they involve adults (or, at the very least, people over 18) and because they involve death? That these Slumdog actors are children, so it's very different?

Because if that's it then I have a whole host of child actors who got pretty screwed up - Drew Barrymore, River Phoenix, Brad Renfro, Darlene Gillespie, Kelly and Jack Osbourne, Carl Switzer, the Olsen twins, the Coreys Feldman and Haim ... or how about the holy trinity of child actors gone wrong - Dana Plato, Todd Bridges and Gary Coleman?

C'mon, you don't think that Patty Duke's bipolar disorder come stem at all from playing both Patty and Cathy Lane in 1963's The Patty Duke Show?

I'm not trying to say that this Slumdog aftermath isn't tragic, but I can't help but wonder if the blame is being unfairly placed upon the creative people who just wanted to tell a great story, and take Westerners to a world they'd never seen before.

I saw this story weeks ago and forgot to mention it then. But it bears mentioning if only because has two things I'm rather interested in - Dubai and monorails.

Yes, the Palm Island in Dubai has a new monorail: "Palm Monorail: Dubai gets rail".

Luckily they were smart, and got a Singaporian company to engineer it all and run it and provide 100 employees.




The monorail is open daily from 8 am to 10 pm, it costs 15 dirhams ($4) for a one-way trip and 25 ($6.80) for the full monty.

Interesting. French Prez Nicolas Sarkozy is in the UAE this week, and while the New York Times focuses on the French art collection in Abu Dhabi the local Gulf News focuses on the French military base in Abu Dhabi.

Just different priorities, I guess.

After the Frank Lloyd Wright LEGO sets yesterday, reader B in Emeryville, CA pointed me toward this February article "LEGO and Disney in Deal for Toy Story, Cars, Prince of Persia Kits".

How did I miss that?!

Since November of 2002 Mega Bloks has had the license for construction brick toys, making Cars, Pirates, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Winnie the Pooh, Princesses and Power Rangers sets.

And honestly, they're crap.

(Especially the Power Rangers).

Before that deal, back a decade ago (in the days of the Soccer, Studios and "Jack Stone" sets) Disney and LEGO had a deal for Duplo Mickey Mouse and Winnie the Pooh sets.


It's good to see two companies with long histories of quality (and two of my former employers) back together again.

Just read an article "Survey: Most economists see recession end in '09".

Apparently the National Association for Business Economics surveyed an unstated number of professional economists, of whom 93 percent said this thing will be over by Jan 1.

My question - are these the same bonehead economists who didn't predict the recession in the first place?

'Cause right now I'm not sure their track-records warrants me listening to them at all.

(a/k/a Josh is So Very Jealous Right Now)

I really do enjoy corporate logos and branding, how an entire corporate philosophy is built around consumers' expectations of a product (or service) upon seeing a name, logo or even color.

But sometimes the brand creators and stewards go a little too far.

Sometimes a logo just looks neat.

Or at the very least, different.

Apparently back in February (although I just found about it today via @dbiello) Gawker posted a 27-page internal PepsiCo branding document extolling the new Pepsi logo (above) and likening it to da Vinci, the Renaissance, the Mobius Strip, the cartesian coordinate system, the Earth's magnetic field, etc etc.

Awesome.

Check out: "'Breathtaking' Document Reveals Pepsi's Logo is Pinnacle of Entire Universe".

File this under "holy awesome": they're making Frank Lloyd Wright LEGO sets.


Now you too can have a little plastic Guggenheim or Fallingwater.

Wow.

... is the unofficial start of summer, why in the world did it go it below freezing last night?

Bob Ryan at the Boston Globe has a good story today about the late start times of baseball (and other sports): "These times, they should be changing".

Amen, brother, amen.

I was running all around the other day and missed what would have been a very important anniversary. On Friday my brother's animation / web design company art-barn would have turned ten years old.

"Would have" because it's not still around, the four members are scattered to the wind (although geographically closer now than they have been in years).

Still, just wanted to point out the anniversary.

Twitter might be useful after all: "Boston Cops: No Lie on Zombie Attacks".

I hadn't seen this until today: "Green Day lashes out at Wal-Mart policy".

Apparently Wal-Mart's corporate policy is to not sell any CD with a parental advisory sticker?

Guitarist Mike Dirnt said: "As the biggest record store in the America, they should probably have an obligation to sell people the correct art."

God I hate Wal-Mart.

Wow, so I was off to my parents' house tonight and almost missed this story - luckily my father-in-law caught it.

Apparently Wayne Allwine, the long-time voice of Mickey Mouse, died on Monday: "Allwine, voice of Mickey Mouse for 32 years, dies".

Amazingly Allwine was only the third voice of Mickey.

The first, of course, was Walt Disney himself from 1928-1946, then Jimmy MacDonald until 1983 (I know the article above says 1977 but I would stake cash that Allwine's first gig was 1983 in Mickey's Christmas Carol).

In a weird, Disney-esque twist, his wife was the voice of Minnie Mouse (also Huey, Dewey and Louie, among others).

I know that it's probably a reflection of the times in which I was raised, but I would say that Allwine was the best voice of Mickey. I'm sure Disney has another fully passable voice ready for the next cartoon or theme park attraction, and that Mickey won't go silenced for long, but for me Mickey will always be Allwine.

Dammit!

Woke up this morning to find that NBC has cancelled one of our favorite shows, My Name Is Earl.

Argh! Why won't network TV just die already?!

I hate this - most of the shows which I like get shitcanned, and then Jay Leno keeps getting to be on TV. It's not fair!

Earl is a comic genius, if only because it looks like it's going to be a low-brow base show about trailer park trash, but really has a heart of gold and a very traditional moral center. Even if the language ... um, pushes the boundaries a bit.


Hopefully ABC or Fox will pick it up, as 96 episodes is far too few for this group.

And to NBC, which also cancelled Medium (another of Liz's favorites), good luck with Jay Leno and his foolish 10 pm talkshow. Not that Conan is ready for The Tonight Show, either. You've just replaced "the Dancing Itos" with "the masturbating bear". I think you went lose-lose on this deal. So good luck with that.

Remember back in September when I didn't have internet access and I was sending haikus to this blog via text message? (see Txt Msg Haiku 6, Txt Msg Haiku 5, Txt Msg Haiku 4, Txt Msg Haiku 3, Txt Msg Haiku 2 and Txt Msg Haiku).

Well I've decided that's how I'll use Twitter.

My first post was from the Maine Mall Apple Store earlier this evening. Check it out at: mainejosh on Twitter.

This is from a few weeks ago, but I just saw it now. Forbes Traveler called the Shipyard Brewing Company bar at Portland Jetport ... er, Portland International Jetport one of "America's best airport bars".

This is the kind of stuff that I hate about the internet.

For the last four years I've stored photos on KodakGallery.com. Pictures of my first trip to Dubai in 2005, all of our trips around the Middle East, our wedding album, etc.

Well the other week I had an email from the jerks at Kodak. Pretty much it read, "we've changed the rules, so come buy stuff from us or we'll delete all of your photos".

Three things - I hate being threatened, their online products suck, and their customer service is worse.


See, back at Thanksgiving I wanted some prints from photos that I had on their website. I saw there that you could have the pictures printed and picked up at any CVS drug store. I selected the photos, selected the drug store, paid ... and then was told it'd be a week and a half until I could pick up the photos.

Are ya kidding me?

The worst part is, when I contacted them to cancel the order they told me to call CVS - and CVS told me to call Kodak.

Argh.

When I print photos from Ritz Camera's website it takes all of three hours until they're ready at my local store. And the prints look better than Kodak's, too.


So needless to say, I'm not buying anything from Kodak, and have spent the last week migrating my photos (and the funny, funny words about those photos) to a new site that should be up and running very soon.

And if you have any photos at Kodak Gallery, you might want to move them soon. God only knows what rules they're going to change next.

I know it's a cultural difference, and I know that you could probably do the same thing in New York or LA, but the "Distinguished Number Plates Auctions" in the United Arab Emirates always baffle me.

Here's a Gulf News article about the recent sale, "Auction: Dubai plate fetches Dh1.3m".

That's $378,642.95.

For one license plate.

And it's not even "A 1".

It's "G 60".

Yeah, I got a plate for that guy:



You'll remember that a year and a half ago the World's record for biggest jackass most expensive license plate sold in an Abu Dhabi auction for $14.3 million.

Of course February of 2008 was in different economic times.

It was also license plate "1".

Longtime reader soon to be mother-of-two RN from Casco sent this one in: "Maine Is Whitest and Oldest State".

Huh.

Have you see that new single-camera comedy Better off Ted? Airs on ABC in a pretty prime slot between Scrubs and Lost?

No? Well it's pretty funny. Not quite My Name is Earl range, but close. It was created by Victor Fresco, who wrote for a while on My Name is Earl, who also created Andy Richter Controls the Universe.

Any of these ringing a bell?

Anyway, the season finale of Better off Ted was supposed to air on April 29, but that was the night President Obama gave his "100 Days" speech.

Which bumped Ted a week.

So Fresco made this fake commercial for the show's fake company Veridian Dynamics. It's pretty awesome (if you like the humor of the show which you might not, and then it might be confusing ... or lame ... or both):

Cleaning my computer of unneeded files the other day I came across the trailer for the last Star Wars movie, Revenge of the Sith.

I guess the one time I saw the movie I never noticed a building behind the Jedi Council on Coruscant that looks strikingly similar to the Burj Dubai:


And here's the Burj Dubai:


Odd.

Of course, the fact that those buildings are similar might just be a coincidence. But in 2005's Serenity they used Dubai's Emirates Towers (well, one of them) as reference in an establishing shot of Earth:


Here's the real Emirates Towers:


Fun stuff.

Today's Graduation at American University in Dubai. Since a bunch of my MBA classmates started after I did, and since my wife is actually there as an professor, I've been keeping close tabs on it.

Also guess who's the speaker? former Secretary of State Colin Powell!


Wow, so last year we had freakin' Margaret Spellings, Secretary of Education under Bush and author of "No Child Left Behind". What a rip-off!

Anyway, I'll post photos tomorrow. Of course, I won't be in them, but still, it'll be neat to see.

Hey, did you see the new Princess and the Frog trailer? That's Disney's new traditionally animated film coming out on December 11, 2009.

Here's a YouTube link:



In case that disappears soon, here's the official site.

So this is interesting. The trailer specifically says "After 75 Years of Magic". Now, the Walt Disney Company was founded 85 years ago - on October 16, 1923.

Are they saying that ten of those years aren't magical?

Do we get to choose which ones?

If Mickey Mouse's first appearance, Steamboat Willie, came out on November 18, 1928, then maybe the first five years don't count.

And oddly, the last traditional animated film, Home on the Range, premiered on April 2, 2004 - five years ago.

So I think what they're saying is:

1923-1928 - Not magic
1928-2004 - Magic
2004-2009 - Not magic

This is further confirmed when Mr. Narrator says, "In the tradition of Walt Disney's most beloved classics".

Chicken Little, Meet the Robinsons, Bolt, um, I think he's speaking to you.

Awww ...

Did you see this? "Amazon's Kindle can't say 'Obama'".

I feel that stamps should cost 22 cents. This is probably the result of the perfect trifecta of me hating change, forgetting how old I am, and being cheap.

Apparently first class stamps were 22 cents back when I was 8 years old and didn't go up until I had just turned 12.

And now today it's going to take 44 cents to mail a letter.

Wow, I feel old. Stamps have doubled in my lifetime. Actually they've gone up threefold since I was born and they were 13 cents. They've doubled since I can remember!

In 1985 Time Magazine's cover price was $1.95. Now to buy it on the newsstand it'd cost you $4.95! That's more than doubled in the last 24 years.

Yep, everything seems to cost a little too much these days. Did you see that the national edition of the Sunday New York Times is going up to $6 in June?

Six dollars for a newspaper! Shoot, you could mail thirteen letters with six dollars!

So did I mention that Liz is over in Dubai for the next seven weeks? She left Thursday, and will be back on June 25. Guess I didn't mention that with the move and all.

Anyway, this morning I decided to read up on the news in Dubai, and besides our former employer throwing a hissy fit over not being able to raise school fees, not much seemed to be happening.

Then I ran into this story.

It seems this woman from Los Angeles moved to Dubai last year, but didn't like it so she quit her job, and now they've confiscated her passport and she can't leave the country: "Terminated yet an absconder?"

The money quote?

"Stupid me to think that Dubai would ever make any sense."

Sounds about right ...

After a second reading, I think she made several glaring mistakes and/or omissions in her story (for example, why if she was terminated in November is she still in Dubai in May?) But still, you've got to feel bad for her - foreign land, foreign rules, foreign customs.

Insha'Allah she will get her passport back and get out of there soon.

Argh! I hate Conservative pundit Ann Coulter so much!

I mean, I know that she, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and the rest of that gaggle exist. I just try and stay away from those loons. But then she has to go and write a column in the mainstream media - oops, sorry, I mean the Obama-loving, God-hating, Liberal Media - and it's like she took a crap in my corn flakes.

The poop in my petit dejeuner today was her Sarah Palin bit for Time's Most Influential People. "Palin is a threat to liberals because she believes in God and country and family - all values liberals pretend to believe in but secretly detest." Shit like that. You know the drill.

But then she crosses the line with her next sentence. "There's a reason there's no 'Stop Olympia Snowe before it's too late!' movement."

Argh! Are you serious?!

Olympia Snowe, of course, is a Republican Senator from Democratic Maine. My Democratic Maine.

And right there, shouldn't that say something? A Republican senator from a Democratic state? Ms. Snowe isn't partisan and Maine's not partisan - for the last fourteen years we've sent the best person for the job to Washington, regardless of party affiliation.

But that's the problem with these Conservative pundits - they want politicians who toe the party line with blind allegiance. Guns good, abortion bad, war good, gays bad ...

You know, like Sarah Palin. Someone who's down with shootin' but not abortin', someone who's all faux-folksy in her thousand dollar suits.

Snowe's not folksy, and I'm pretty sure she's never shot a moose. She did, however, vote to acquit Clinton in his impeachment trial. She also supports stem cell research and gay marriage, but endorsed John McCain for president of the United States last year. She is a wild card in that she does what she thinks is right.

Does that make her a RINO ("Republican In Name Only")? A "Rockefeller Republican"? Or maybe just the best person for the job?

I think Ann Coulter is just upset over Snowe's New York Times Op-Ed piece two weeks ago ("We Didn’t Have to Lose Arlen Specter"): "Ideological purity is not the ticket back to the promised land of governing majorities - indeed, it was when we began to emphasize social issues to the detriment of some of our basic tenets as a party that we encountered an electoral backlash."

Ahh, the logic! It stings! It burns!!

And Ann Coulter would rather incite than unite.

That, and fudge in America's Fruity Pebbles.

Did you see this? "Top flu expert warns of a swine flu-bird flu mix".

I say, yeah right, when pigs fly.

Get it?

Flying pigs!

Hahahahahaha!

Oh my awesome!

Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder and former Red Sox crybaby Manny Ramirez was suspended for 50 games yesterday after failing a drug test.

Reportedly the drug used by Ramirez is human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), a women's fertility drug used by steroid users to restart testosterone production after a steroid cycle.

In a woman's body, hCG is made after conception by the developing embryo. It's actually what those home pregnancy kits test for.

Yes, the 2009 Dodgers were brought down by a $15 Clear Blue Easy test kit from Rite Aid.

Of course, Manny isn't going softly into the night. He blamed the result on medication prescribed to him by a doctor for a "personal health issue."

Um ... who ever thought I'd be saying this ... but maybe Manny Ramirez is really pregnant?

What if Junior is his favorite movie? What if he wants to get knocked up like Schwarzenegger?

Homeboy is rich enough to make that happen. And at 36 years old, he's not getting any younger ...

But in all seriousness, what are the chances that he never doped before July 31, 2008? To be fair his 2008 Dodgers career was outstanding - a .396 batting average, 17 home runs, and 53 RBI. But this seriously taints the Red Sox in 2004 and 2007.

I think, out of retribution, Manny should have to name the baby "Theo".

Huh. Yesterday was the fifth anniversary of the end of Friends. The TV series finale that aired on May 6, 2004 was the fourth most-watched finale in television history, after M*A*S*H, Cheers and Seinfeld.

Yes, 52.5 million American viewers watched to see just how far Monica had castrated Chandler, how much of a joke Ross had become, and how cute Jennifer Aniston still was.

Amazingly, it was also the last time anyone in America watched a sitcom.

Friends was survived by its still-born red-headed retarded stepchild, Joey.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Warner Bros. Studio, 3400 West Riverside Drive, Burbank, CA 91505.

I've been told that today's date, 5/7/09, is one of only six this century that will feature three consecutive odd numbers.

So the others must be: 1/3/05, 3/5/07, 7/9/11, 9/11/13, 11/13/15?

Then it's a loooooong wait for the next one ...

a/k/a Proud to be a Mainer

Damn this intermittent internet access! I so wanted to write something about this about 9 hours ago. Oh well.

Today our governor John Baldacci signed into law a bill allowing gay marriage making Maine the fifth state in the union to allow same-sex marriages, the fourth in New England.

Now let's see if my idea about Hollywood will come true (see Maine, Gay Marriage, And Hollywood).

Either wayI'm very, very proud to be a Mainer today.

Welcome to May - the month where TV and movies collide. Yep, May brings the end of the television season and the beginning of the summer movie season - which means that we get both small-screen cliffhangers and big-budget popcorn flicks.

I've been pretty disappointed with this TV season, to tell you the truth. The only new show we've watched with any frequency is The Mentalist. You know, the a crime procedural with Simon Baker as an ex-fake psychic. It's amusing, nothing revolutionary, but amusing.

The other new show I've tried to watch, and actually had high-hopes for, was J.J. Abram's Fringe - a/k/a X-Files: The Next Generation. So far, it ain't much. I miss Mulder.

So hopefully this year's crop of movies will be better. On Friday we hit the ground running with Wolverine (well, technically X-Men Origins: Wolverine but that's the worst title ever).

But then something struck me - all three of these projects have Australian leads.

Anna Torv who plays Olivia Dunham on Fringe, the aforementioned Simon Baker on The Mentalist, and Huge Jackman are all from Down Under.

Weird.

Throw in Isla Fisher from Confessions of a Shopaholic, Without a Trace's Anthony LaPaglia and Poppy Montgomery as well as Mel Gibson, Russell Crowe, Nicole Kidman, Eric Bana, Heath Ledger, Toni Collette, and you have lots of Australians in Hollywood.

But the weirdest thing of all is that the one Australian who actually plays an Australian - Emilie de Ravin, Claire from Lost - has been totally missing in action this season.

Weird.