and the hits just keep on coming...

It's the fifth day of Hannukah and Craig is concerned about the lit menorah on his counter.

"It's getting hot in here. Blow out the candles."

So much for the miracle.

The Year of the Podcast

Rachel and Todd are counting down their favorite moments of 2005 live on tape from the Grey Dog Cafe




On the show this week, Rachel and Todd discuss:

• why some cats like the movie Crash

• the Pros and Cons of the Brit.

• why Rachel wants to be taken the Candy Shop

• their favorite celebrity outbursts.

• and their love for their listeners.


As always, this, and EVERY, BEWARE OF THE BABYLON podcast can be automatically downloaded to your computer and transferred to your iPod through iTunes.

what do you expect, bitch? I made it out of clay!

I pulled out a dreidle last night for Craig (get your mind out of the gutter).

"Each side represents the first Hebrew letter of words in a phrase about the miracle of Hanukkah," I explained. "You simply spin the dreidel and depending on which side it lands on you take out or put in a certain amount."

"Of what?" he asked?

"Of whatever you are playing with. Raisins, coins, peanuts, what have you. It's like a gambling game."

"That's it?" He exclaimed. "No wonder you Jews are so jealous of Christmas."

merry michael christmas...

So there's this guy in Ann Arbor who impersonates Michael Jackson and I seem to either always be home when he's performing, or he's just always performing.

The spirit of Michael lives on today as I was able to capture this video of him in one of his usual hang-outs on Liberty St.

CLICK HERE to watch.

of the movies seen in 2005...

THE BEST
Munich
The New World
Batman Begins
Capote
Mad Hot Ballroom
A History of Violence
Everything is Illuminated
Brokeback Mountain
The Chronicles of Narnia
The Descent
Millions
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Good Night, and Good Luck
March of the Penguins
Red Eye
Land of the Dead
Match Point
Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

THE WORST
War of the Worlds
Fantastic Four
Casanova
The Amityville Horror
The Brothers Grimm
The Devil's Rejects

RANDOM FAVORITE MOMENTS
• Mother penguin steals another mom's baby in March of the Penguins
• Scott Baio as Scott Baio in Cursed
• Matt Dillion saves Thandie Newton in slow motion in Crash
• The Hazzard boys in downtown Atlanta in Dukes of Hazzard
• The quiet beautiful moments in King Kong
• A dead dog sniffs a live dog's butt in Corpse Bride
• Felicity Huffman's graphic pee break in TransAmerica
• Steve Carell is more Paul Lynde than Uncle Arthur in Bewitched
• Luck's nasty little tensions in Match Point
• "You smell like old people" - Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
• Paris Hilton's death scene in House of Wax

film 101, start 'em young...

Todd and Jake reenact a touching moment from Jaws...

click above for a larger view of the story

winter is magic, part two...

Thoughts of Sufjan Stevens' Greetings from Michigan as my plane lands in Detroit this morning. A glance out the window brings a view that King Kong's mate could only describe as beautiful.

beautiful what?

Read this sign from a shop on 9th Avenue and tell me it doesn't say
Beautful Dingo inside!

hitchhiker's guide to the transit strike...

New York City's subways and buses are NOT RUNNING. It's a strike, baby, and it ain't fun.

I walk to work anyway, so it doesn't really change much for me, but for all those people walking the Brooklyn Bridge this morning, I salute you.

do they know it's babylon at all?

And in our world of plenty
We can spread a smile of joy
Throw your arms around the world
At Christmas Time

Boy George
This week on the podcast we deck the halls, light the menorah and learn:

• our love/hate relationship with Santa

• how Judy Bloom ruined Christmas

• all about the holiday songs that matter

• what inappropriate animal-cruelty-in-the-name-of-fashion will come up

• just how "Chinese" is the Coffee ice-cream?

As always, this, and EVERY, BEWARE OF THE BABYLON podcast can be automatically downloaded to your computer and transferred to your IPod through ITunes.

dan made me do it...

First it was the Gilmore Girls and now Planet Dan has addicted me to another credible waste of time - online face recognition software.

Load your photo on to this one and find out though the magic of science what celebs you most resemble.

It's amazing how right they are too...

tomorrow on a very special tyra...

Every once and a while Tyra tackles those really important issues. Tune in tomorrow as Tyra tackles RACISM and trys to convince black women everywhere that they're not white.

This was of course sandwiched between her important episodes called "Tyra Banks Confronts Tyra Banxxx" and "Holiday Reunions."

You can watch all the promos by clicking on the photo above, but I highly recommend the eye-opening one for tomorrow's racism show.

time to unpack some adjectives...

Days are sunny or they're rainy
Boys are dumb or else they're brainy
Adjectives can show you which way
Unpacking a few today...



HAUNTING


IMPEDING


HUMID


CONTENDING


BYGONE

vader jumps the shark...

If anyone out there is writing a George Lucas biography, please be sure to feature this one in a chapter called "It's All in the Past Now, Money Changes Everything."

It's called The Sith Sense .

An interactive game of twenty questions sponsored by Burger King.

Try stumping Vader by thinking of a vagina. It really works. He knows everything. Even your dirty little wookie mind.

winter is magic...

not that we didn't know this already, but...

Ann Coulter may possibly be the dumbest person on the planet.

Heckled at a UConn appearance last night, Coulter decided to go right into the Q&A, of which this little gem of wisdom came...

Student: "What would you do if you had a child who came out as gay?"

Coulter: "I'd say, `Did I ever tell you you're adopted?'"

What the fuck is wrong with this woman? She's like the anti-christ version of Oprah. Sometimes, it seems like she vomits hatefull soundbytes faster than the press can catch them.

deep blue WTF...

Some people are scared of snakes.

Some people are scared of spiders.

I am terrified of fish. I am especially terrified of Jellyfish.

Thanks to the Times, I am now scared to the point of silliness by these giant Jellyfish taking over the oceans as we speak.

just a friendly reminder...

A ROBOT DINOSAUR

A POLICE DOG WITH HEAD-CAM

PERSONAL SEAN ASTIN BEDTIME STORIES

the lion, the witch, and the podcast...

A game of hide-and-go-seek takes Rachel and Todd on a trip way beyond R. Kelly's closet and into a world beyond your imagination.

Highlights include:

• Narnia - It's E.T. good.

• She bops a we bop

• Billy Joel's Italian secret

• Fear the glockenspiel, love the skin flute

• Peta approved podcast procedure


CLICK ON THE PHOTO ABOVE TO HEAR THIS WEEK'S SHOW ON YOUR COMPUTER
or use ITunes' new podcast feature to subscribe to all the podcasts
(just search for Beware of the Babylon and subscribe)

slow news day for the action news team...

These teens just have no respect for christmas lights, ornaments, nor the 'heck of a view of the Kiskiminetas River."

Click the pic to get the exclusive WTAE4 action news team in action.

you're learnin' the facts of life...

There's a time you got to go and show you're growin' now you know about the facts of life.

For example, we know that:


Edna Garrett was always a little off
actress Charlotte Rae was usually drunk


Natalie was a little overachiever
actress Mindy Cohn was aware this was the highlight of her career


Blair was a little ho
actress Lisa Whelchel was, in fact, a bible thumper

Lisa, who "gave her heart to Jesus as a ten-year-old girl" continues to inform us of the facts of life on her official website where you can...

Enlist as a Cyber Prayer Warrior
Learn how to write a letter to Jesus
Spread the gospel of homeschool evangelism
Discover Lisa's family dream trip includes lunch at Cracker Barrel, Dairy Queen Blizzards, and boondocking at Wal-Mart.
Now, I'm not a bettin' man, but I bet your childhood hard-on for Blair just went down a few inches.