Life imitating art, Part 2

My last post was about life imitating art, specifically The Simpsons. Now there's another example.

Back in 2000, there was an episode that looked into the future, when Lisa Simpson is President of the United States. In it, they make reference to Donald Trump's disastrous term as President.

Now Donald Trump is considering running for President.

My theory that we live in a world secretly ruled by Matt Groening is gaining traction.

Life imitating art

So Fidel Castro is admitting that communism isn't working in Cuba. Didn't this happen on The Simpsons once? If a rich American and his doofus employee hand Castro a trillion-dollar bill, saving the communist system, then I'll know we're all living in The Matrix. Or a world that's secretly ruled by Matt Groening.

Love isn't blind; it's myopic

"That's what you do when life hands you a chance to be with someone special. You just grab that brownish area by its points and you don't let go no matter what your mom says."
--Buster Bluth after he found love with his glasses off

Making fun of Stephane Dion

"I didn't know Celine Dion had a sister."
--John Stewart talking about Stephane Dion

Why it's great not having cable

I haven't seen a single American election commercial on TV, but I still get to watch them make fun of the candidates on Saturday Night Live.

Fun with expired coupons

Peter Griffin isn't the only one with a good story about an expired coupon. Yesterday I was at my weekly Ultimate game (the last one of the year), and afterward we decided to go to Dairy Queen. We usually go out for some food after the game, but it's been a while since we went to Dairy Queen. I found some DQ coupons in my house a while back (probably at least a month ago) and I've been bringing them every week, but this was my first chance to use them.

We got to DQ and I started reading off the coupons to see if any of my friends wanted to use one or split a 2-for-1 coupon. One coupon was for $3 off a cake, so someone suggested we get an ice cream cake. After being indecisive for a few minutes, we became decisive. We got a Reese cake. But someone looked at the expiry date on the coupon. November 4. We didn't have much time left to use the coupon. Then I noticed the expiry date was November 4, 2007. D'oh!

We got the cake anyway, and we asked for plates or bowls to eat it from. They had small plastic bowls for us, and they handed us some plastic forks and knives too. Someone asked if they had a metal knife for cutting the cake, and they did. They even let us use it!

And it's a good thing they had the metal knife. Apparently you're supposed to let the cake sit outside of the freezer for a while before eating it. They aren't really meant for eating in the restaurant. It was tough to cut that cake! Three of us took turns and after several minutes of hard work, we cut the cake into five pieces. (There were only five of us at DQ this time.) They were big pieces, and of course quite tough to eat with a plastic fork. But we persevered! That cake didn't know what hit it. By the time we left, there was just one piece left (because the two girls shared one piece).

I guess that's not as exciting as a fight almost-to-the-death with a giant chicken, but it wouldn't have happened without that coupon. But maybe you had to be there.

Hockey Night in Canada song

So there was a big uproar when CBC decided not to renew the rights to the Hockey Night in Canada theme song. It looked like this could get bigger than that time they weren't going to renew Ron MacLean's contract.

On the way home from work today I heard that CTV/TSN got the rights to the song. When I got home, I checked my email and found out that someone invited me to a Facebook group called "Boycott CBC until they bring back Hockey Night In Canada's theme song!" Umm. It might be a little late for that. I don't think CBC can legally get it back for a while.

I think I know how the Conservative party can win a majority government. Just get Don Cherry fired and make it look like Liberals pulled the strings.

Funniest part of the debate

I watched Thursday's debate between the leaders of Alberta's biggest political parties. I suppose I could comment on what I thought of their policies and leadership abilities, but instead I'll just tell you what I thought was the funniest part of the debate. Maybe I'll comment on policies and leadership another time.

One time when everyone was trying to talk at once, Ed Stelmach interrupted and said, "One at a time. You have had your chance. This is not the Legislative Assembly."

Better than Hasselhoff?

(By the way, I put a couple of links to David Hasselhoff videos in this previous post.)

Update (May 16, 2012): It appears that this copy of The Urkel Dance has been removed from YouTube. You'll have to find a different copy yourself.

Reminiscing about politicians

The years 1993 to 2003 were special years for Canada and especially for Alberta. No, I'm not saying this because of economic growth or paying down the government's debts. One reason I miss those years is this: we had hilarious political leaders at both the federal and provincial levels. I've seen Jean Chrétien (Prime Minister of Canada from 1993 to 2003) and Ralph Klein (Premier of Alberta from 1992 to 2006) on TV in the last two days, and it's had me reminiscing.

Chrétien was known for trying to strangle a protester, defending himself against an intruder with an Inuit carving, and most of all, for bungling the English language. Hardly a week went by without a gem in the news. Like the time someone asked him about the increased drug traffic across the border and he said, "It's more trade." (He thought they'd asked him about increased truck traffic.) Or the time some protesters got pepper-sprayed and he said, "For me, pepper, I put it on my plate."

Ralph Klein was known for his drinking (which he cut back on after the infamous homeless shelter incident that most Albertans probably remember) and for speaking without thinking. He accused eastern creeps and bums of driving up the crime rate in Calgary. He said dinosaur farts caused the ice age that killed the dinosaurs.

Stephen Harper and Ed Stelmach just aren't that funny.

(In case you're wondering, Jean Chrétien was on TV having lunch with Rick Mercer, and Ralph Klein was on TV giving horse racing advice to Lynda Steele, a local news anchor. If you want to see the Jean Chrétien clip, click here, navigate to Season 5, Episode 7, and click on "Mercer: At Harvey's with Chrétien.")

"I'm telling you, it feels good to get up without a hangover."
--Something Ralph Klein learned in his third term as premier