But the Freakazoid! DVD is slipping in the Amazon rankings. It was in the twenties, and it was number two among family animation DVDs. But they are losing ground.

I'd hate to have to shutter the blog because Freakazoid! didn't sell enough DVDs of the first season.

And, of course, I'm not promising that I'll publish a "deep cleavage" shot of myself if sales perk up, but . . . I most certainly won't if they don't.

Remember: every DVD you buy from the first season of Freakazoid! increases the odds that they'll release the second season, despite its containing—the way I got the story, and I might have it wrong— Copyrighted Music That Could Well Cost Money.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 10:12 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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1 Hmm...thinking deep thoughts and shallow thoughts... Shallow thought: Do they ship to Malaysia? Deep Thoat: Would that be deep 'upper' cleavage, or deep 'lower' cleavage? 'Cause one would cause me to evaluate the purchase in a 'help-friend-out' manner, and the other would cause me to whip out my plat cred card and buy NOW. Just so you know.

Posted by: Gregory at August 01, 2008 01:24 AM (cjwF0)

2 You know--your refusal to max out your credit card without any guarantee of any possible return whatsoever was . . . kind of hurtful to me. Can you hear me sniffling over here? I think I might start to cry . . .

Posted by: Attila Girl at August 03, 2008 04:18 PM (1q/ac)

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Comedy gold.

The guy is obsessed with race. Perhaps he doesn't think Condi Rice or Colin Powell are "Americans."

Here's a helpful metric: When he discusses race, he isn't really talking about race.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 02:32 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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It always takes ten years to get oil.

As a matter of fact, if I wanted to fetch some olive oil from my pantry tonight, I wouldn't really be able to sauté anything with it until 2018. At the earliest.

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1 Hej Miss Attila, I´m searching for some design-ideas for my own blog, that is planned to be on in about a month. And what I want to say to you: your blog is just beautiful!! really nice! do you use wordpress, blogger.com?

Posted by: Billigflug at July 31, 2008 07:25 AM (6jaFJ)

2 Because I am part of a blogging collective, I use a creaky old version of Movable Type. I'd really like to update to a better version, but then I'd have to get a "real site." Unfortunately, I've fallen out of touch with the woman who did this design. Her name's Julie, and she works from New York. I'll post it if I can find it.

Posted by: Attila Girl at July 31, 2008 01:29 PM (1q/ac)

3 Not the first to mention it, and read it around the blogosphere so no personal loss to me, but... Linky no worky.

Posted by: Gregory at July 31, 2008 04:57 PM (cjwF0)

4 CaucasiOns? Hmm. Eh, just having fun. It's Friday Night, And the feeling's right, Oh, yes, it's Friday Night O what a night! /not a lady //not even though my passport says so ///and it expires in 2 weeks anyways ////although having a pair of my own bazoombas might be interesting for a few minutes

Posted by: Gregory at August 01, 2008 01:31 AM (cjwF0)

5 How did THAT happen? That's a hell of a clerical error.

Posted by: Attila Girl at August 03, 2008 01:46 AM (1q/ac)

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In Hollywood, of course.

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I believe I can speak for my entire readership when I say, "kewl."

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Yippee!

Today (well, yesterday, strictly speaking) I was on a conference call with Senator Richard Burr (R, NC) and a baker's dozen of other bloggers about the energy crisis we're experiencing now (which, as Burr points out, is more or less a continuation of the energy crises of the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s).

I can't really do the discussion justice right now, so I'll have a fuller treatment tomorrow. Suffice it to say that this is a good time to keep the pressure on Reid and Pelosi, and to let them know that you're noticing which party doesn't want to solve the current energy crisis until after the fall election, at which point . . . lather, rinse, repeat. (We tap dance and try to kick the can down the road. But it'll be okay, if we've got Obama in the White House!)

Yeah, well.

I think it's clear to most multi-cellular organisms that we can't solve our energy problems with any one "silver bullet": it's a multi-faceted problem, and it'll need a suite of solutions.

It's no secret that I'm partial to a lot of the proposals that Zubrin puts forth in Energy Victory, and that I therefore think flex-fuel vehicles could be pivotal in achieving energy independence. And we must increase supply in the short-term with good, old-fashioned petroleum: we've got to drill like we've got a purpose, while looking to Brazil for ideas about the future. And building nukes and wind farms.

But in the meantime, I'd like to see the Zubrin ideas I'm so taken by—in particular, his notion of switching to an "Alcohol Economy" that leans hard on ethanol and methanol—compared to the Pickens plan. Or: the Pickens Plan.

So, discuss, please, my engineering-minded homies. And I'll have more thoughts for you tomorrow. Or at least more data.

Actual coverage of the discussion with Senator Burr, from those who didn't spend the day handling computer upgrades and buying furniture:

• Flopping Aces; and

• Betsy Newmark.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 02:17 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Do as you must, Jeff. And thanks for the memories.

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The bad news: the $50 iTunes gift certificate my sister-in-law got me a year and a half ago for Christmas has run out, and I now have to spend Actual Money for my music (other than physical albums, which I still buy because I like to go on musical journeys while I drive: full-on LPs albums; complete works).

The good news: Scars on Broadway is now available, so I was able to snag the non-radio version of "They Say," which is real rock and roll—it could fit into any decade. (I know: a bit nihilist, so perhaps the 1980s would be a better fit for it, vs. The Pepsi Generation.) But it does rawk.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 01:24 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Sadly, you can't choose the people you fall in love with.

—Al Stewart

Is that a cop-out? Discuss.

I saw him live, once. Mid-80s. It was fun.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 12:11 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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When he's good, he's good; but when he's bad, he's better:

This couple certainly is very taken with itself. The four-way sex with the Obamas and their throbbing, outsized egos must be pretty hot.

Just like Mae West, that one.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 10:04 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I'm having a small midlife crisis, but I'll try to make it brief. In the meantime, there are some badass bloggers listed on my sidebar, over to the right somewhere . . .

Posted by: Attila Girl at 08:48 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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is jumping over to join The Atlantic's blogging team.

Via McArdle.

Oh, sure: officially he's a lefty. But he's a commonsense, ultimately centrist kind of guy, and I enjoy his writing.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 03:49 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Help Paul Rugg get his body back; buy the Freakazoid! DVD:

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Just happened; nothing broke, and the power's still on, but it seemed to go on for a minute or so. It was one of those rolling types. Afterward, I suggested it had been five-something, but A the H insisted it was six-something.

'Course there's no way of knowing until we find out where the epicenter was, and how things were there. (UPDATE: Chino Hills.)

More later.

UPDATE: 5.8.

It's so funny, because the house in La Canada was always shaking—whenever a big truck drove by there'd be a bit of a shiver, since the place was built on stilts (well, I-beams and cables—it was eccentrically engineered, built more like a bridge than a house).

So for a split second there was this "is this . . .?" But of course it was: it wasn't just the shaking, but with a quake there's always this noise. The big ones set off car alarms, but this time it was only my martini glasses tinkling against my Waterford crystal. I remember vaguely hoping that if something had to break, it'd be a martini glass (or a cheap wine glass) instead of the Waterford. But nothing actually broke here. After a moment I got up, just in case it wanted to get worse—I'm from the generation that likes to get into a doorframe, or under a sturdy table, if things get intense, like they did in 1994—at least, I like to look around and make sure I'm not close to any windows or mirrors. The shaking still wasn't too vigorous, and I could tell it was that rolling type of earthquake, rather than the sudden violent spikey more-destructive kind, so I didn't imagine it was going to get bad.

But I wandered into the hallway; my husband had come out of the den, and we just sort of looked at each other for a moment.

"Everything okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, fine," I answered, but as I said it I mentally calculated how long it would take us to get to the two bathroom doorways if the shaking got more intense (it's usually best to have one person in each doorway, to be able to watch for the closing of any doors, though two in a doorway isn't horrible; it's about protecting one's head in case there's some sort of structural collapse or falling plaster).

And then, of course, it was over in another moment, just as I'd suspected it would be. And we made our best guesses about where it had placed on the Richter scale—naturally, I was right, because that's the sort of thing I'm right about.

Now let's all locate our flashlights and our candles and our lanterns and our backup canned foods, shall we? And buy a few extra gallons of water to keep around the house, mmkay?

Posted by: Attila Girl at 10:48 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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Okay; I don't know what she was doing instead, but even the WaPo asks "If drilling opponents really have the better of this argument, why are they so worried about letting it come to a vote?"

No; I do not think that drilling on the OCS is the most important part of the set of solutions we need to deploy against our energy problems; after all, the East Coast and the West Coast have less provable oil than ANWR does; only the Gulf is competitive with ANWR in its longterm potential.

But showing that America is serious about developing its own domestic alternatives is one of the actions we can take that will help in the short- and medium-term. (Along with increased use of methanol and ethanol, the mandating of flex-fuel technology in all vehicles, even for hybrids, and a handful of other measures, including increased use of natural gas, clean-burning coal, wind farms, and more nuclear reactors.)

Back to the WaPo:

WHY NOT have a vote on offshore drilling? There's a serious debate to be had over whether Congress should lift the ban on drilling in the Outer Continental Shelf that has been in place since 1981. Unfortunately, you won't be hearing it in the House of Representatives -- certainly, you won't find lawmakers voting on it -- anytime soon.

Instead of dealing with the issue on the merits, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), a staunch opponent of offshore drilling, has simply decreed that she will not allow a drilling vote to take place on the House floor. Why not? "What the president would like to do is to have validation for his failed policy," she said yesterday when asked that very question. "What we're saying is, 'Exhaust other remedies, Mr. President.' . . . It is the economic life of America's families, and to suggest that drilling offshore is going to make a difference to them paycheck to paycheck now is a frivolous contention. The president has even admitted that. So what we're saying is, 'What can we do that is constructive?' "

If there is an explanation buried in there about why that makes offshore drilling off-limits for a vote, we missed it. Ms. Pelosi is correct that drilling is no panacea for the nation's energy woes. The short-term effect of lifting the moratorium, if there were any, would be minimal. That doesn't mean the country shouldn't consider expanded drilling as one of many alternatives. There are legitimate concerns about the environmental impact of such drilling -- environmental concerns that, we would note, exist in other regions whose oil Americans are perfectly happy to consume. But have technological improvements made such drilling less risky? Why not have that debate?

When they took the majority, House Democrats proclaimed that "bills should generally come to the floor under a procedure that allows open, full and fair debate consisting of a full amendment process that grants the Minority the right to offer its alternatives." Why not on drilling?

Meanwhile, the dispute has snarled progress on spending bills for fear of having drilling amendments attached. Citing "the uncertainty in how the oil and gas drilling issue is currently playing out on the Senate floor," Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.) called off committee consideration of spending bills on which Republicans were threatening to offer drilling amendments. The result threatens to be the first time since at least 1950 that lawmakers will go home for the August recess without either chamber having passed a single appropriations bill.

Have the vote, Pelosi. It's called "Democracy," and it is (as Martha would say) A Good Thing. Just ask Leonard Cohen

Posted by: Attila Girl at 01:51 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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And she should be spanked.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 01:18 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Well, you know: as long as I'm pimping, I might as well really pimp:

Okay. That's it. No more animation-blogging from me for, um . . . 48 hours. All right?

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I dunno. Ask his wife.

In the meantime, here's an oldie-but-goodie from Darrell:

Posted by: Attila Girl at 04:34 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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But first, buy me a drink. Dirty martini, Tanqueray, extra olives. Light on that vermouth.

(Warning: this is a minor resurrection of the old "are women underrepresented in the blogosphere?" issue. Proceed with caution.)

Posted by: Attila Girl at 04:07 PM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
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X-Box provides some fun coverage of the Freakazoid! and Tiny Toons panel at Comic-Con 2008, which should help to promote the upcoming release of the Freak! and Tiny Toons DVDs. (Both first season DVDs come out on July 29th, but you knew that—right?)

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