Uncle Crappy

January 9, 2012 New saturday morning.

We’ve been without television for a few days — thanks for that, Comcast — and have resorted to going through our DVD collection for entertainment in the interim.

We’re well-equipped for this. For instance, on Saturday, Mrs. Crappy pulled out our boxed set of Looney Tunes classics and popped them on for a traditional Saturday-morning slobfest.

This prompted the resumption of a long-standing debate in our house: “Rabbit of Seville” or “What’s Opera, Doc”?

If you’re of a certain age, chances are pretty good you don’t need any further explanation. But if you do: “Rabbit” is the Bugs Bunny episode where he is chased into the Hollywood Bowl by Elmer Fudd and proceeds to take over the production of “Barber of Seville,” featuring a complete makeover of Fudd.

“Opera” featured Fudd as a viking, chasing, and eventually killing, Bugs to the tune of Wagner’s “Ride of the Valkyries” (you know, the “kill the wabbit, kill the WAAABIT” one…).

Both shorts are undeniably classics, but Mrs. Crappy and I have never agreed on which one is best; I’m a “Rabbit” guy and Mrs. Crappy will forever stand by “Opera.”

So, of course, I asked Twitter.

And Twitter mostly agreed with me. I saw 10 responses to my question (Twitter poll: Rabbit of Seville or What’s Opera, Doc?); seven people were with me and the other three sided with Mrs. Crappy.

But while we discussed the results, Mrs. Crappy and I came up with another one that, if I’m basing this on the short’s ability to make me giggle and nothing else, that for me might top the other two. Astoundingly, it wasn’t included in the DVD set we own, so we watched it online.

Yep. Giggling like I was an 8 year old again.

Here’s what I want you to do: Guess the short in the comments. Two hints: It’s a period piece and Bugs Bunny does not appear. I’ll have a $10 iTunes gift card ready for the first person to get it right (including the correct title!). And if you want, I’d also like to hear your favorite Warner Brothers cartoon as well.

Go!

Tags: domestic bliss, history, sentimental goop

10 comments
Posted under I Have No Idea, Social Media, Uncategorized

January 3, 2012 by the numbers.

WordPress has done a bunch of tinkering in the last year, re-vamping the back end particularly in respect to how it displays stats. As part of that change, it emailed me a link to a year-end stats package that was fun to go though.

And I thought I would share.

Most Read: That was nickname, the post about the origin of the Uncle Crappy name. It was followed by did it again, a two-year-old post about the pizza party we hosted (more about that one in a minute) and flw,ftw, another two-year-old post about our visit to Fallingwater and Kentuck Knob (the one with the pictures I wasn’t allowed to post).
Commenters: You’re all awesome, but Becky is the most awesomest; she was the top commenter for the year. Ms. Hellohahanarf was followed by Large, Kewyson, Gina and RPM. Thanks, y’all.
How they got here, Part One: Twitter is how you got here, which probably means I should do a better job of linking new posts there (or, you know, writing more posts in the first place). Twitter was followed by Networked Blogs — the Facebook app that I just shitcanned a couple days ago because it sucks — WordPress, Facebook and Google Reader.
How they got here, Part Two: This is the fun one. I think of myself as having pretty good taste when it comes to food and especially drink. So when I looked through the search terms that brought people here most often, I was a bit surprised. Following “Uncle Crappy” (the most popular search term), the searches that got people here were for “Seagram’s Wine Coolers,” “wine cooler drinks” and “IC Light Mango.” There is an explanation here. The wine coolers references were part of the pizza party post, because Beth left a mess of them in our beer fridge (Um, thanks?) and, of course, I reviewed the mango monstrosity back in June in what turned out to be the fourth most-read post of the year.

Thanks, guys — that was a pretty good year, on your part at least. As for me, I’m going to find a way to muster more than the 106 posts I put up in 2011.

Tags: history, internet fun, yet another dreaded bullet update

7 comments
Posted under Social Media

December 31, 2011 swimming eve.

We all know the Yinzteam Polar Bear Plunge is tomorrow morning. For those of you who are joining us — swimming or support — here are the details:

* The Crappys — including my parents — will in the Mon Wharf lot by 8:30. As we’ve done the past two years, we’re going to park on the side closer to the Point, so head down that way when you arrive and look for the red Element.

* Haven’t been to the Wharf before? Best way is to approach from Wood Street at Fort Pitt Boulevard and look for the yellow sign, as seen in the pic below:

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* Make an effort to get there early. We lost some swimmers last year when they got stuck in traffic.

* Swimming usually starts after 9. We’ll go around 9:15 or something.

* The weather’s going to suck. Expect rain and temps around 40 when it’s time to swim.

* Bring: Towels, warm clothes, cameras, shoes you can wear in the water and others to change into after.

* Tip: It might sound counter-intuitive, but I’ve found it’s easier to make the plunge in just a bathing suit. You’ll have much less cold, wet clothing to remove once you get out — and trust me, you’ll be in a hurry to get the wet, cold stuff off.

* When we’re done? We’re heading to Piper’s Pub, 1828 E. Carson St., for beer and Irish boxty (or maybe that’s just me).

* Watch Twitter tomorrow morning for any updates. I’ll use the #yinzteamplunge hashtag for easy searching.

See y’all there.

Tags: beeeeer, holiday fun, i'm an idiot, weather freak boy, woo-hoo, yinzteam