Gilliam's handywork

Have you seen the movie Brazil? If not, I highly recommend it. It's one of Terry Gilliam's finest movies. It features several unexpected cameos by Robert DiNero as a rouge heater mechanic (that's the best way I can describe it).

If you've seen the film you know it features many "pipes". Pipes seem to be one of Gilliam's themes. Shortly after DiNero appears on screen, he is examining a pipe and comments:

Now that's a pipe of a different color.

He says it so quietly it's almost hard to hear (I have to rewind the DVR several times to confirm). But sure enough, it's an Oz reference.

p.s. The cover of this film used to freak me out when I was younger.

Colbert's guest

Stephen Colbert's guest was Dr. Mehmet Oz. The show's intro made a reference to WoO. The interview was downright hysterical. At one point Dr. Oz asked Stephen what color his urine was and Colbert responded "Colbalt Blue."

I don't watch as much TV as you're thinking

Now I know it seems like I watch hours and hours and hours of television. I'm telling you, it's not true. I have a handful of shows to which, for varying reasons, I'm very loyal. The good shows I enjoy are The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, South Park, The Office, 30 Rock, and a few others. The bad shows I enjoy are American Idol, America's Next Top Model, Hell's Kitchen, and a few others. That's about it.

I record those shows in our DVR, watch them quickly without commercials, and get on with my evening.

So don't judge me because a number of my recent references have been television-related. I'm not as bad as you think.

America's Next Top Model contestant Anya did a semi-Wicked Witch impression as she described herself on a photo shoot: "I'm melting! Melting!"

Let's hope my next Oz reference is from a source that's a bit more ... elevated.

p.s. I don't see the Anya appeal...

Hell's Reference

Tonight on "Hell's Kitchen" the chefs were cooking for a girl's Sweet 16 party. I wrongly assumed that the birthday girl would be an uber-spoiled, snotty L.A. teenager (see MTV's "The Hills"), but it turned out the girl actually seemed pretty sweet and normal. Shocker. On the other hand, Mom was the one who came off as uber-spoiled and snotty. There were obviously times when daughter was repressing the urge to tell her mom to shut up or suck it up. She bit her tongue.

At one point, however, one of the chefs referred to Mom as "the Wicked Witch of the West". So that was a nice Oz reference.

Also one of my co-workers mentioned The Wizard of Oz at lunch today, but I can't remember the context.

Ozword puzzle

I was doing a crossword and the clue was "Oz author".

If you don't know the answer, shame shame.

What the hell is wrong with people??

There was just a story on the news that someone stole the bronze plaques off the statues at Oz Park here in Chicago. Seriously??

Utterly ridiculous.

Wiggs' shirt

The gentleman we affectionately call "the Wigs" at work was wearing a shirt that said "Follow the Yellow Brick Road" on it today. I asked my friend Chris to take a picture of it for posting here, and he agreed, but alas, the day ended with no picture. Since I have no photo, my hand was forced.

Here's a picture of the Wigs:


I was going to post a picture of Chris, but it appears he deleted his myspace profile. Typical, jumping on the Facebook bandwagon. Weak.