Monday, March 7, 2022
Musical Monday with Metallica
Sunday, March 6, 2022
Signature Select's Double Dutch Chocolate
Kate Moss is standing in for the Little Dutch Boy today. (He's not old enough to smoke, nor drink coffee.) |
Friday, March 4, 2022
Wednesday, March 2, 2022
The Evangeline Lilly Quarterly
In 2021, we brought you pictures of British singer and actress Jane Birken every three months. This year, we bring you Canadian model and actress Evangeline Lilly, as we look ahead to 2023 and the next Ant-Man movie!
Recently, Lilly caused quite a stir when she suggested that the iron-fisted ruler of Canada, Justin Trudeau, should talk to citizens upset about his tyrannical Covid-19 "safety measures" instead of having them thrown in prison while seizing their financial assets and property.
There was much gasping in horror, swooning on fainting couches, and shrieks about how she was setting a bad example and encouraging those who weren't trembling in fear at the might of Trudeau and his enforcers. We think it's a bit much to say she's setting a bad example. It's not like she's smoking in public without a shirt on.
Um... well...
Tuesday, March 1, 2022
Notification about a new outbreak
While Covid-19 is fading as a dire and global threat, we're dealing with a new, even more insidious threat here in Slaughter Valley, where the Shades of Gray offices are located. We recommend you postpone any planned visits until we tell you the danger has passed.
The video embedded below explains everything that scientists know about the current situation so far.
Is she infected? Signs point to 'yes' |
Monday, February 28, 2022
The greatest terrible mini-musical you'll ever see!
Starring: James Haven, Jennifer Haworth, Oscar Torres, and JoJo Henrickson
Director: Kurt Kuenne
Sunday, February 27, 2022
Bones Coffee's Bananas Foster Blend
While the pot was brewing, a delicious aroma of bananas wafted from the kitchen to my office, causing my anticipation to build. I was not disappointed.
This blend is tasty straight from the pot. Although banana is the dominant smell as it brews, the dominant flavor (aside from coffee, naturally) is rum. You can still taste the banana, but it's more of a background sweetness than the aroma would indicate. I also think I tasted some brown sugar and vanilla in thereadds sweetness to the blend, and I think I also tasted a some vanilla in there--which is appropriate for a blend with this name--and both these secondary flavors seem to get a little stronger when I drank a cup first with some almond milk added, and then with creamer.
If you can't make it to Mardi Gras, the Bananas Foster blend brings the party to you! |
Thursday, February 24, 2022
'Laundry Blues' may not be for youse
If you answered "yes" to those questions, you should NOT watch the cartoon embedded below. We here at Shades of Gray tend to roll our eyes whenever someone starts bitching about how problematic and racist everything is... but even we found ourselves somewhat shocked by this... um... Chinese-themed cartoon. And "shocked" is not an overstatement.
Seriously: If you see racism in all things and/or find yourself gasping and looking around for the fainting couch when you encounter racist stereotypes, don't watch "Laundry Blues". By the time its 8-minute running time is over, you will in a fetal position on the floor, blubbering incoherently. (If all the Oriental racism doesn't get you, the random out-of-left-field Jewish gag will.)
Actually, even if you aren't overly sensitive to issues of race and stereotypes, you might want to skip this one. Even if you try to set aside the societal changes that have taken place in the decades since "Laundry Blues" was released, this is one of the weaker efforts from the notoriously inconsistent quality-wise Van Beuren animation department. There's no plot to get in the way of the barely amusing, not terribly creative gags. The animation is okay--and there's a little more effort put into backgrounds than in many Van Beuren cartoons--but there's nothing that's particularly memorable. There isn't even much of the surrealism that often elevates Van Beuren cartoons in this one... plus, it's yet another one that features that creepy bit where multiple singing characters merge into one being via their mouths. (Why, John Foster? Why did you love that "gag" so much?)
All in all, "Laundry Blues" is a cartoon that time may have left behind. Like most Van Beuren efforts, it's got some great music, but sometimes it's hard to enjoy even that because what's on screen is so outrageous when viewed through 21st Century eyes. (Heck, even in 1930 there must have been some people in the audience who thought this was a bit much.)
Wednesday, February 23, 2022
The Milla Jovovich Quarterly
Mask mandates are being lifted left and right, but many out there are still terrified of catching Covid-19, and they are even more terrified of those who may be spreading it. We feel for you, we want to help you. We want to make sure you fit in.
With that in mind, we here at Shades of Gray have created the Safety Sweater! It's fashionable, and it'll keep you and others safe when there happens to be filthy, disease-bearing peasants about and Safe Social Distances can't be maintained!
Here's Milla Jovovich demonstrating how easy it is to use the Safety Sweater. All you have to do is turn the turtleneck of the Safety Sweater into a facemask that provides all the protection of those things you've been wearing around for the past few years. And when the danger has passed, you just roll it down again.
Tuesday, February 22, 2022
2/22/22 -- Return of the Doppelgangers
Doppleganger (2007)