Bizarradore Mash-Up Day

Blog, I am sitting here at home waiting for Milwaukee Water Works to shut off the water main, so Bobby the Plumber can repair our broken water valve.  In the meantime, no H2O.  I can think of no better way to cheer myself up than to combine the awesome concepts of bizarradore and mash-up, making an even more awesome concept, the Bizarradore Mash-up!

First up, let's combine Easter Island Heads (which are endlessly entertaining)

with eclipses!

No, not THAT kind of eclipse.  I mean when the moon blocks the sun and stuff.  Resulting mash-up:

This gorgeous photo brought to you by Astronomy Picture of the Day.  You should subscribe, it's fantastic!

I feel a little better already, Blog.

Now for a never-fail bizarradore mash-up.  Of course I bizarradore funny pictures of cats.  And likewise, I adore putting stuff on the heads of cats.  So of course life is even better when you have several funny pictures of a cat with stuff on its head!

From the awesome folks at ICanHasCheezburger.  Again, you should read it daily, like Blog and I do.  [ADDENDUM the next day:  For a ridonkulous number of fabulous pictures of this cat with stuff on its head, see this composite. Don't forget to click enlarge if your browser requires it!]

And lastly, what modern artist is more amazing than M.C. Escher...

Meanwhile, what toy is cooler than Legos:

Therefore, your head just might explode from this:

Now that is button.  But wait, there's more!  Let's mash-up the concept above with something even awesomer, like SPACE!  Then the result is this!!!

An Escher-style Lego space station!  It's the work of Alex Eylar aka Profound Whatever, publicized by Lego fans The Brothers Brick, and brought to my attention by the fab blog Great White Snark, which you should read daily for no other reason than that it has one of the coolest blog names ever.  Except of course for you, Blog.

Wow, thanks to the Interwebs, we have had a very day-brightening experience with this Bizarradore Mash-up.  Randometer is happy, Blog is happy, I am happy...and I hope you're a little happier too.

Let them eat cake...or cat grass

You know, Blog, I’m sure my weekend report will make our friend the Randometer proud. I watched Stanley Cup Finals hockey, went to a Pirate Festival, made a cake of polyclay and watched my cats eat grass. I’m sure even if you weren’t a disembodied yet anthropomorphized being, you couldn’t have done better, randomness-wise.

I want to report in full on this poly-cake business. I’m a participant in a monthly challenge by crafter June aka ACreativeDreamer, called the Creativity Invitation. Every month June comes up with a theme, and creative types from all over the Web contribute their creations. For the very first month, the theme is “Let Them Eat Cake.”

Well, it just so happens that for a long time I’ve wanted to make a polymer clay cake. Fondant is so much like polymer clay, you know, Blog? So June didn’t have to ask me twice. I decided as long as I was making a polyclay dessert, why not do it right and make it chocolate? So my little cake is covered in chocolate clay frosting festooned with chocolate clay roses from white to that kind that’s 80% cacao, woo, cacao! Ironically though, no clay fondant on this cake.

But not only is it a cake, it’s a box! Which of course makes it a cakebox! What a groovy mash-up, hey Blog? I used a small round box just shy of 3” in diameter, made out of stiff cardboard, which I got from the dollar bins at Michael’s awhile back. Since polymer clay bakes at 270 degrees, using a paper box like this is no problem.

Davie thought it looked like a Ding Dong until I put the roses on. One could make a polyclay Ding Dong if one wanted to, Blog. Umm, I could go for a Ding Dong right now.

To me my Chocolate Cakebox most certainly passes the litmus test of looking good enough to eat, which of course Alice tried to do, as you see here. Although to a cat like our Pookie, as she is also known, anything looks appetizing. Think the fact that it’s plastic will deter her? Remember, this is the cat who ate an entire pair of fleece pants.

But far more appropriate for cat dining is our new discovery, cat grass. As you know, Blog, when our cats are on the patio they can be tempted to leave the Permitted Concrete Zone by the succulent-looking lawn that lies beyond the hedge. I was thinking we should look into growing some grass in a nice patio pot so they wouldn’t have to break the rules in order to dine al fresco.

And last time we were at Stein’s, lo and behold, at the checkout counter Davie noticed a display of cat oats. I planted them in a basket on the patio and in a week or two the things were crazy thriving already. This weekend we finally had a dry day to let the felines out, and boy, do they dig this cat grass.

If our readers want to similarly treat their cats, I found some cat grass here for sale on Amazon. You may also be able to find it at your local garden center or pet supply store. Look for oats like this especially, as they are very good for cats (dogs too!).

I wonder if next month’s Creativity Invitation will lend itself so well to a mash-up weekend, Blog. We, and the Randometer, can only hope.

TV Mash-Up Party!

Blog, in honor of starting a fresh new week, I thought why not have a party? Just because it’s Monday we shouldn’t be festive? Hells no. So, in the great tradition of our fabulous mash-up parties, today we’re going to do TV show mash-ups! Wahoo!

Grab some cheese puffs and an amaretto stone sour, Blog, and listen to how we play: Imagine combining two TV shows as disparate in theme as possible, and write a fun episode description for the ensuing result. Upload to the online guide of your favorite cable or satellite TV affiliate and enjoy! Well, unless you’re a hacker of supreme skills, you’ll have to skip that last part. We’ll start with Davie’s idea (which started it all, so blame him), and take it from there.

“House Hunters” / “V”

Tyler and Lisa elect to join the “Live Aboard Program” and find a place together on the Visitors’ Mother Ship. Will they find a home with all the amenities they’re looking for?

“So You Think You Can Dance” / “Kate Plus Eight”

Auditions for the Top 20 continue; fresh off her gig on “Dancing with the Stars,” Kate Gosselin coaches the twins and sextuplets in the hopes they can flout the age requirement and compete.

“Clean House” / “American Pickers”

Niecy and the gang find a couple in rural Oklahoma whose marriage is collapsing under the weight of their hoarding of bicycles and oil cans. Mike and Frank intervene in the nick of time by buying their entire yard sale.

“Mythbusters” / “True Blood”

Adam and Jamie test the myth that a shapeshifter of average human size can turn himself into a fly; the Build Team experiments with how much vampire blood is safe to use to cure a gunshot wound.

“Breaking Bad” / “Bobby Flay Throwdown”

Bobby takes on the expert team of Walter White and Jesse Pinkman to determine who can cook the best crystal meth. Can he concoct a recipe that will please like the boys’ “blue meth”?

“Glee” / “Law and Order”

Mr. Schue takes the glee club on a field trip to Broadway, only to find them mixed up in the investigation of who was responsible for axing a famous crime show. The kids perform covers of Jerry Orbach’s hits including “Try to Remember” and “Lullaby of Broadway.”

“HDTV’s Design Star” / “Deadliest Catch”

The contestants have three days to do complete makeovers on the crab boats, while the deadly waters of the Bering Sea and wildly conflicting tastes of the captains threaten the survival of décor and designers alike.

“House” / “Ace of Cakes”

The Charm City Cakes crew is bummed when Duff succumbs to a mysterious disease that makes him gobble gum paste. House suddenly realizes the cause while making cracks about Geoff’s amazing Princeton Plainsboro Hospital cake.

“Holmes on Homes” / “Lie to Me”

When Mike Holmes recruits the services of the Lightman Group to help naïve Canadian homeowners, Cal helps a retired schoolteacher prove faulty insulation led to the death of her schnauzer.

“Mad Men” / “Lost” / “30 Rock”

Don Draper’s secret past as Dick Whitman is threatened when Jacob travels back to 1963 to urge him to admit his life is a lie. Ben turns the donkey wheel and the resulting time disruption propels Don to an alternative timeline in 2010 where he is now a handsome but dopey pediatrician named Drew Baird.

C’mon, readers, join in the TV mash-up party! We know you have an idea or two, so share them in the comments. Or challenge Blog and I to link your two fave shows in an awesome mash-up!

MAY 25 UPDATE

Glad to see Brewster Rockit is getting in on the TV mash-up fun:

Mash-Up Party!

Yes, Blog and I are throwing a Mash-Up Party today! Why? Because it’s a random Wednesday in March!

We first learned about mash-ups from “Glee,” in which Mr. Schuester (aka Matthew Morrison) teaches the glee club kids about combining two disparate songs into one interesting new blend. Let’s get this party started with his mash-up of “Young Girl” (Gary Puckett again!) and “Don’t Stand So Close to Me.” (Please consider the Spanish captions as just part of your Mash-Up Party Experience.)



Ooh, Schue, you mash my world. Anyway, let’s get our mash-up on. You may be thinking of some popular, commonplace mash-ups like CHEESE plus HAT equals CHEESE HEAD:

Or perhaps CHEESE plus HEAD equals HEADCHEESE:

But no, my friends. When Blog and I partay à la mash-up, we turn the dial way up on the Randometer. Blog and I mean CHEESECAKE plus HAT equals THIS THING:

Or, you may be thinking of BUBBLE GUM MACHINE plus COCKATIEL equals TOM SERVO:

But we mean TOM SERVO plus CROCHET equals THIS THING:

Is your head spinning yet? That’s because it’s A MASH-UP PARTY! So mix yourself up a wapatuli (that’s a little of everything in your liquor cabinet), fill your head with mashed-up thoughts, and join with us in the Mash-Up Party Song:

It’s a mash-up party, baby--ooh ooh ooh!
Join our mash-up party baby,
let’s mash up me and you!
The Randometer is off the scales,
and our brains are flying off the rails,
It’s a mash-up party, baby--ooh ooh ooh!

At our mash-up party baby, we’ll do a brand new twist,
We’ll scream “Cheese head! Headcheese! Cheese head!”
till the neighbors all get pissed!
The Randometer is off the chain,
We’ve got wapatuli on the brain,
It’s a mash-up party, baby--ooh ooh ooh!

SING THE BRIDGE!

When life has got us down,
And everything looks blue,
There’s a super easy way to cope,
Mix some red in with that blue
(AND GET PURPLE!)

And if that seems random--ooh ooh ooh!--
it’s a mash-up, baby, and you can do it too.
The Randometer will be your friend,
If you take two things and make a blend.
That’s a mash-up party, baby--ooh ooh ooh!


By George...Blog and I think you’ve got it! Keep that mash-up fever going! And to assist, just meditate on this, a little original concoction from me called AVOCADOS ON ACID!

And tomorrow, we return you to your regularly scheduled normalcy, here on my blog.  Normalcy.  Heh heh heh.