Month: June 2002

More on Britain

Ashley BischoffLeave a comment

In a comment to the “Fifty ways to love America” post, Mike writes:

What's with you and Britain all the time? I thought you grew up in Pennsylvania.

Well, Mike’s right — I did grow up in Pennsylvania, specifically Pittsburgh. However, though my parents are now American citizens, they grew up in South Africa, which was formerly part of the British commonwealth. So, like Australia or other former-commonwealth countries, South Africa has many of Britiain’s customs and culture.

At any rate, maybe that’s why I score “40% British” on the “How British Are You?” page ;).

Mary Lou Retton, Tea

Ashley BischoffLeave a comment

I was in the kitchen at work yesterday when I noticed that, on their Lipton Tea box, there's a picture of Mary Lou Retton with the caption saying:

“I’ve always loved the ‘Brisk’ tea taste of Lipton and now there’s great news about its role in a healthy lifestyle. [...] ”.

Man, she must be into her 16th minute by now

As far as tea, though, Lipton is all right, but I prefer other teas. Specifically, my tea of choice is “Tea, Earl Grey, Hot”. Fortunately, I also discovered Julie Catanzaro’s Earl Grey reviews. And, that lead me to my current favorite, Earl Greyer from The Republic of Tea (with extra oil of bergamot, woohoo!). As I drink two to three pots of tea a day, I was glad to see that The Republic of Tea also sells Earl Greyer in bulk (about $30 for 250 tea bags, available in regular or decaf). Or, if you only drink tea occasionally, smaller quantities of Earl Greyer are also available.

50 Ways to Love America, a British Perspective

Ashley Bischoff1 Comment

Matthew Engel, a writer for The Guardian writes about “Fifty ways to love America” from his British perspective. As you may expect, some of the items such as “baseball” (#10) and “Michael Jordan” (#48) are unsurpring.

What fascinated me most, though, was the whole British perspective on life in America. For instance, #47 is “barbecues” — don’t Brits have barbecues? I mean, doesn’t everyone have barbecues?

And, for that matter, would it be correct to negate the items to get the British equivalent? I mean, #17 is “walk-in closets” but, what, Brits don't have walk-in closets? And, they don’t have much hot water (#17), either? In the end, though, #37 is probably my favorite ;).

Buffy

Ashley Bischoff3 Comments

Well, as planned, I recorded Buffy the other day. I made sure to record an episode from UPN so that I'd get the current season (as opposed to syndication).

I recall that the episode was “After Life”. And, near as I could tell, Buffy had been buried in a cemetary, cast to hell, but then somehow she returned to Earth. And, she then gets back with her regular pals. It's been 147 days since she left, so she's a bit out of it and she doesn't talk much. Err, and some demon “hitchhiked” with Buffy when she returned from hell. So, there’s this bad-CG demon running around the place, and through walls and such.

Confused? Yeah, so was I. I felt like I needed a Buffy-HOWTO. I made it through 37 minutes of the episode, but couldn’t get much further. But, I haven't given up on the series yet. Maybe it was a “bad episode for Buffy-beginners” or something. So, if someone can recommend a good starter-episode to look out for, I’m all ears.