Peppered Thought – The Spice of Life

Vintage Polaroid via HulahoopVintage

Let’s see about this week, shall we?

-As you can see from the photo above, I have been searching for an inexpensive land camera lately. I finished my first roll in my Holga (after a mishap had to re shoot a roll that wasn’t properly secured), and have been thinking about trying several different formats to see which I like best. With all this camera talk I might have to sell some of my older, less used ones to make room for ones I actually like.

-I wandered through labyrinthine antique stores looking for a little bit of everything, for only a couple of pennies. I was a little disappointed that I couldn’t find anything in my price range, so went down the street to the Goodwill-style thrift store. Imagine my surprise and delight in finding an entire outfit for $6! I will do an outfit post next week about it, but rest assured, my brain is totally in fall mode with it.

gif via dashedlines

-Parks and Recreation and Community had their season premieres last night and I am just so happy to go back to some quality, hilarious TV time on Thursdays. (I could watch that gif FOREVER.)

-UFC 135 tomorrow! I love when there’s an MMA fight on Saturday nights, because 1) I love MMA and 2) we always get pizza that night. PIZZA!

photo credit

This press conference looks so classy and awesome.

Anyway, I will make this quick, because I am too excited to play around with my fancy schmancy printable fight card, courtesy of UFC.com.

Ah, Boston. Home of our nation’s forefathers, Bunker Hill, the original Tea Party, the Sox and some wicked crazy accents. I can’t get over Julianne Moore’s over the top one on 30 Rock, and I love when the guys on the sports blogs I read write in their accents.

Time for some fightin’ predictions for UFC 118: In the Hub (of the Universe).

Frankie Edgar vs. BJ Penn

They are both hungry for it, but I have to think Penn just might pull through. I’m not too big of a BJ fan, but I think he might have a grappling edge.

Randy Couture vs. James Toney

I’m not at all looking forward to this fight. You know in a show or a movie when a miscommunication or misread gesture makes you squirm with embarrassment? That’s what I think this will be like.

Demian Maia vs. Mario Miranda

Kenny Florian vs. Gray Maynard

Following Florian on Twitter, I know he has been training a long time to prepare himself for this fight. I hope he follows through!

Nate Diaz vs. Marcus Davis

This one I’m not sure. As much as I appreciate the mean mugginess, I am not convinced it can beat out the Irish Hand Grenade. But I’ll still root for him.

Joe Lauzon vs. Gabe Ruediger

Ruediger gave Lauzon a cake that says “sorry for your loss” at the weigh-ins. He won my heart with the funny, just like Tom Lawlor. But I like Lauzon, too. I’ll fence-sit this one.

The last four, we’ll see how they fare.

I am beyond stoked that Strikeforce will be coming (well, everyone is pretty much here already) to Phoenix this Friday for not only a hometown fight (Joe “Diesel” Riggs!) and Ryan Couture (a Bucky to Randy’s Captain America) but a female TOURNAMENT!
As a woman and an extreme lover of the sport, I could not be happier that one of the main events is this tournament. To see more than just a couple of high profiles, but to give everyone a chance in the spotlight is inspiring in this area of MMA. I know the women’s category has a ways to go to be comparable to the men’s, much less be interesting to the general public. But, you have to start somewhere, and I think this is a fantastic way.

On another note, the more into this sport I get, the more I have to say how impressed I am with its supporters and journalists. Esther Lin and Tracy Lee are phenomenal at their crafts and have a keen eye with which to capture the perfect moments, Ben Fowlkes not only writes with passion and knowledge, he is damn funny. Maggie Hendricks is a woman I admire because she holds her own when it comes to technical knowledge especially in wrasslin’) and Ariel Helwani is a fantastic interviewer, with an amazing style (Plaidest man on the Planet ftw!)

I feel very lucky to be able to talk to them via twitter and it fills me with hope that MMA will become popular not with just John Q. Public, but with erudites/hipsters/irony maidens/people who like watching Friday Night Lights too, and everyone can enjoy the beauty of the human mind and body that happens within the Octagon.

This day cannot compute. Spiraling into ____-ness. Come back tomorrow for our regularly scheduled optimism.

No reason for this pic, other than it made me feel slightly better.

He he. That title means I think I’m a clever smartass. But this picture? This picture PROVES it.

Helwani always gets the cool (and in this case dangerous) interviews. He got the Predator to talk about his invisible cloak strategies.

This one will be quick, because I was a little ashamed at how little I guessed incorrectly last time. I don’t want to put as much thought into it, but I still like guessing for fun.

Rampage Jackson vs. Suga Rashad Evans

As much as I love Ra-shawd and his impersonations, I have a feeling Rampage might take home the cake in this fight. Although, with the weight of a movie coming out, he might choke under pressure. Either way, he’s driving the A-Team van around the Charlotte Motor Speedway Sunday.

Michael “The Count” Bisping vs. Dan Miller

Bisping needs to prove his jaw is no liability.

Todd Duffee vs. Mike Russow

This one could be interesting because Duffee himself said it could be a “very long, sloppy fight.”

Little Nog vs. Jason “Hitman” Britz

Go Nog! That is all.

Diego Sanchez vs. John “Hitman” Hathaway

I think Sanchez, despite being smaller, might have a bit more muscle on him, and that might help his game. We’ll see.

(-Editor’s Note: Seriously-there’s two guys on one card nicknamed ‘Hitman?’ They need to read this and come up with something better. They need to retire nicknames like athletic jerseys. So long “Pitbull,” “Hitman” and any sort of assassin.)

Amir Sadollah vs. “Stun Gun” Kim

As much as I admire Sadollah’s impressive skills, I love Stun Gun not just for his clever nickname, but his heart and his skeeeells.

Efrain Escudero vs. Dan Lauzon

As much as I love Lauzon’s mom, I really have to root for my hometown guy this time. Which I don’t usually do, but we’ll see how this one pans out. Don’t burn me on Tempe, effy.

The undercard fight I hope they televise:

Melvin Guillard vs. Waylon Lowe

I heart Guillard. I love pronouncing his name, I love that he fights out of my favorite MMA training facility. I don’t like his bleached hair (BLARRRRRG), but I might let it pass if he wows me.

Me and Philip’s best (only) glasses. See explanation below.

In the spirit of Gala Darling’s Carousel, CagePotato’s Link Dump, FilmDrunk’s Friday Free for All and Warming Glow’s Weekend Preview, today I will be Taking Five to appreciate the instantaneous joy that is internet linkage.

• This post is really old (in Internet time), but I love it. As The Beau said, “to me, this is the new face of homosexuality.”
• Not only does this ad make me want to travel, it makes me want to cut out this ad and hand it to the boarding lady.
• Oh hey, something current, Jess! Nice Job! Shut up, sassy readers, or I won’t tell you about how drinking Gila monster tears is the best thing ever.
• If Phillip Marlowe and I had a crumbling motel room together, this would be the only nice thing we would own.
• Betty White’s going to be on SNL tomorrow. Very cool. Here she is playing beer pong with Jimmy Fallon.
• But the most exciting thing I will be watching this weekend will be UFC 113. Shogun-Machida re-match, and Semtex and his swinging-for-the-fences hands. Hoo-rah!
• I am slooooowly going through Dragos Rua’s 100 Ways to Live a Better Life. I’m not going linear, so right now I’m working with #38.
• A big fan of embarrassingly awesome memoirs (I’m on the library waiting list for The Bedwetter, of course!), I really enjoy reading Hyperbole and a Half. Even this interview entertains me!
• I’m also a big fan of “what liking ____ says about you” lists. I particularly like this one because I love Kurt Vonnegut, agree with the Cormac McCarthy, and severely dislike Lauren Wesiberger.
• Grilled Cheese Academy. Since my friends know about my love of grilled cheese, HH sent me this link and I got so embroiled with all these ideas that The Beau and I created Toasted Cheese Tuesday, in which we will make a new one of these each week. First on the list was The Marco. I am so excited to try the Sgt. Pepper.
• Here is my post from last year about Mother’s Day Ideas. I would like add a couple new ideas and a mom to that list.

What are some links that are blowing your mind this week?