Obscurity Knocks

Earnest, empathetic, industrious, unpretentious, gay Virgo in Milwaukee with a great life, amazing friends, and a wonderful family.

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

What American accent do you have?

What American accent do you have?
Your Result: The Inland North
 

You may think you speak "Standard English straight out of the dictionary" but when you step away from the Great Lakes you get asked annoying questions like "Are you from Wisconsin?" or "Are you from Chicago?" Chances are you call carbonated drinks "pop."

The Northeast
 
Philadelphia
 
The South
 
North Central
 
The Midland
 
The West
 
Boston
 
What American accent do you have?
Quiz Created on GoToQuiz



My results are as I expected, considering I was born in Wisconsin and have lived here most of my life. I think that I have less of a Wisconsin ("ooooooh ya") accent than most natives since I lived in Omaha, Nebraska from 1974 to 1982, formative years for my speech. Omaha is considered to have the most "correct" form of speaking in the nation, which is why so many call centers are located in Nebraska.

"Inland North" isn't really a region of the United States if you ask me. I'd also note that a Minnesota accent is completely different than an eastern Wisconsin accent, and a Wisconsin accent is different from a Nebraska accent. And that said, I'm probably influenced by the fact that my mom grew up in northeastern South Dakota while my dad grew up in Wisconsin, so I never had the true Wisconsin accent that my friends (especially Anne D. and Mark W.) have.

I've never called soda "pop," but my Minnesota and South Dakota cousins sure do.

I wouldn't divide the nation into the Midland, the Northeast, the South, Philadelphia, North Central, the West and Boston! This quiz is, as Nathan would say, "cracked out."

Friday, March 14, 2008

Taylor Hanson





Um, the top photo is a picture of Taylor Hanson, who is celebrating his 25th birthday today. He's in the band Hanson, of "Mmmbop" fame. Wow, what's happening here? Taylor looks like George Michael circa 1988 with a bit of David Bowie and Austin Scarlett from Season 1 of Project Runway thrown in.



How can be Taylor 25 and married, and I can't even find a date? Well, no one ever promised that life would be fair.



David Hernandez



Is it wrong that I sort of have a crush on American Idol reject David Hernandez? And it is wrong that the fact that he used to be a stripper who got totally nude at a gay bar makes him even more appealing to me?

His performance of "I Saw Her Standing There" this week was bad, but it wasn't anywhere near as terrible as Kristy Lee Cook's terrible country rendition of "Eight Days a Week."

True, David Hernandez had no chance of winning, and I didn't want him to win. But he was better this week than both Kristy Lee Cook and audience favorite David Archuleta, who couldn't remember the words to "We Can Work It Out." True, David is congenial and he smiles a lot, but he butchered "We Can Work It Out" this week. Chikezie, on the other hand, did a tremendous job with "She's a Woman."

David's overly-waxed eyebrows make him look way too feminine. But he can still be my private dancer anytime. And I loved how you could see hair stubble on his chest on my HD television on Wednesday's elimination show.

Netflix

Sometmies my Netflix queue makes me nervous. It presently contains 105 films. The reason for my nervousness is how long it will take me to get through all 105 of these movies. Will years pass by the time I get to #105? My goal will be to enjoy the journey. At home right now: "Michael Clayton," "Once," and "La Vie En Rose."

Sunday, March 02, 2008

Animated characters


As she proved previously, Lesley isn't as kind to animated characters as I am.

Pacific Wheel







While walking in Santa Monica, Lesley and I took a spin on the Pacific Wheel on the Santa Monica Pier. We both noticed that the safety standards on the Pacific Wheel are not particularly high. It would be easy for a person, particularly a child, to fall or jump out of the Ferris wheel cage. Oh well, we survived!

Sunny day in Santa Monica





Lesley and I took a walk in the warm sunshine in Santa Monica. As I write this, it's cool and grey here in Milwaukee, and I wish that I was back in Santa Monica.

Not hot enough


While dining at Le Pain, Lesley sent her two soft boiled eggs back to the kitchen because they weren't hot enough. I love the receipt because it actually says "NOT HOT ENOUGH." There have been many, many guys who have said these same three words to me.

Curves and canned ham



Lesley has curves. I am skeptical of canned ham. BTW - these are photos that Lesley and I can't help but find amusing, yet we know that it's likely others do not!

Le Pain



One of my favorite places to go with Lesley is Le Pain, a bakery/restaurant. They have amazing fresh bread and lots of other delicious food. My usual order at Le Pain is a big honking baguette that I divide up and spread with their three accompaniments: berry jam, apricot jam, and praline-style peanut butter. In these photos, you can see that I ordered hot chocolate. It came in two parts: a mug of hot steamed milk and a small pitcher of melted chocolate that I poured into the steamed mild. It was excellent. Our waiter was a would-be actor who was one of those guys who was too attractive for his own good. He knew he was hot, and I did enjoy checking him out throughout our meal.

LACMA, part 2



Two more photos from the LACMA grounds.

LACMA






Lesley and I visited the LACMA: Los Angeles County Museum of Art. The museum's collection was interesting. Here are a few photos from our walk around the grounds. While not pictured, we saw some tar pits. In one of the tar pits, there's a sculpture of a female mastadon stuck in the tar, sinking, and about to go under to her death. Her male mate stands by on solid ground, looking on, doing nothing. Lesley dryly commented, "Well, that's sure typical. The man stands idly by while the woman goes down." In the third photo, I can't tell what kind of animals those white things are that are fighting. The fifth photo is some kind of large slug, I think.

There's a large boy looking over your shoulder


Lesley discovers that there's a chubby boy looking over her shoulder. She always feels like somebody's watching her.

Big Boy part 2






More photos from our yummy Big Boy experience. I'm grateful that Lesley was willing to make my Big Boy dream come true. Thanks, Lesley! I'm craving another Big Boy hamburger and chocolate shake right now.

Big Boy






When I was growing up in Manitowoc, Wisconsin (we moved to the Milwaukee area in 1987), we made regular visits to Big Boy for lunch. The Big Boy in Manitowoc was located downtown and was always busy. The Marucs Corporation, which operated the Big Boy restaurants in Wisconsin, closed all of them in the late 80s. Why they did this I don't know, but I've believed that the Marcus Corporation is evil ever since they made that terrible decision to deprive Wisconsinites from eating at Big Boy. The original Big Boy hamburger accompanied by a chocolate shake is one of my all-time favorite comfort foods.


When I visited Lesley, I asked her if it would be all right if we ate at a Big Boy, since they still have them in Southern California. She was happy to oblige. I was giddy as we drove into the Big Boy parking lot in Lesley's Saab. It had been well over 15 years since I last tasted a Big Boy hamburger, and it was well worth the wait. Two small patties, lettuce, special sauce, Big Boy seasoning salt. All served up by a kind waitress. Delicious!

Wisconsin primary follow-up

Unfortunately, Sam McGovern-Rowen didn't make it through the primary in the race for City of Milwaukee District 3 Alderman. The run-off will be between Patrick Flaherty and Nik Kovac. I'm not sure who I'm voting for. As I mentioned previously, I feel some obligation to vote for Flaherty since he's a 'mo like me. But he's smug and pretentious. I don't know much about Nik Kovac other than what I heard him say at the debate I attended a few weeks ago. It looks like Flaherty will win. Given what I've written about him, I hope that he doesn't raise my already sky high property taxes if he wins.

I was glad that Senator Barack Obama won the Democratic presidential primary in Wisconsin. Tuesday should be interesting with Ohio, Texas, Vermont, and Rhode Island voting.