This is not your practice blog

Carrie Fisher at the Berkeley Rep

Carrie Fisher is back at the Berkeley Rep performing her solo show, Wishful Drinking. I saw this show last year, and it's hilarious and brilliant. During the first act, she deconstructs her rather tangled family relationships -- her mother is Debbie Reynolds (3 marriages) and her father is Eddie Fisher (5 marriages)-- in a segment entitled Hollywood Inbreeding 101. I'm not that into Hollywood gossip, but this part of the show had me cracking up.

The second act focuses on Carrie's Star Wars years, with lots of snarky love for George Lucas, Princess Leia's infamous cinnamon bun hair, and over-enthusiastic Star Wars fans. As a geek, I loved this part of the show too. 

Carrie has performed Wishful Drinking around the country for the last couple of years, and according to her blog, the show is headed for New York City (and maybe Broadway) soon. If you're in the SF Bay Area I highly recommend checking it out. The show is playing the Berkeley Rep from July 9 - 23.

(You can find a few clips from the show on YouTube, but I couldn't find any with decent audio, so I didn't include them here. This is a promotional clip from a previous run.)

Paleontologists visit Creation Museum

The Creation Museum in Petersburg, Kentucky takes the Old Testament literally and throws out evolution. The museum supports beliefs that the universe was created in 6 days and is only 6,000 years old, and rejects and ridicules science that says the universe is much older. Recently, a group of paleontologists meeting in Cincinnati made the short trip to the museum. Here's what happened.

Silicon Valley Duck Race 2009

Last Sunday my family and I spent part of Father's Day at the Silicon Valley Duck Race. The race takes place every year at beautiful Vasona Park in Los Gatos, California. This year 15,000 rubber ducks were poured into the creek for the big race. We left before the race started, but I was there for the test run of 2000 ducks. Here's a video I shot with my handy new iPhone 3GS:

Unfortunately, I didn't win the million dollar prize.

VCR makes toast

Back in the dark ages before DVR and DVD, folks used to have "videocassette recorders", or VCRs, in their homes for time-shifting TV and watching movies. Now that we don't need such things any more, we can make VCRs useful again by converting them into toasters, according to this brilliant tutorial at Instructables. And yes, the toast really does come out with "VHS" stamped on it.

Disclaimer: I didn't actually try this. I'm assuming it's real. Don't burn your house down.

Recombobulation area

The next time you pass through security at General Mitchell International Airport in Milwaukee, you'll have to take off your shoes, take out your laptop, and show your baggie of approved liquids. But when you're done, you can relax and pull yourself together in the Recombobulation Area.

(Image stolen from 12th St David)

What you say?

In honor of the first day of school (in my house, anyway), it's time to learn to count.

Moscow High-Heels Race

The High-Heels Race is held in Moscow every year. Looks dangerous and/or painful.

Lightning passes through nose ring

A young woman in New Hampshire opened the garage door during a storm and was struck by lightning. Apparently, the lightning struck her feet and exited her body through her nose ring.

Invasion of the faceless aliens

Watch out for the faceless aliens -- they're EVERYWHERE!

Switch-hitter faces switch-pitcher

In baseball, switch-hitters are common, but switch-pitchers are practically non-existent. When switch-pitcher Pat Venditte joined the Staten Island Yankees of the New York-Penn league, he inevitably faced a switch-hitter. Here's what happened.