The Barry Manilow Fan Club Kit

Not too long ago I attended a Barry Manilow concert in Philadelphia. I know, I'd make fun of YOU if you went, but still I have no problem admitting that I went, I had a good time and I joined his fan club.

The fan club membership was free with purchase of the concert tickets, but hey, I had to fill out a card, mail it and open the envelope when it arrived.

It's not easy being a member of the Barry Manilow Fan Club, but someone has to do it.

Here is what I got:


All this AND your undying jealousy. I am a lucky, lucky man.

What a big bunch of fun stuff. I spent, literally, 10 seconds looking at this stuff before stashing it my hope chest.

Wow.

Let's take a close look at that stuff:

This is a small glossy picture of Ellen Degeneres. I am not sure why they sent it.

I am also not sure if that was an Ellen joke or a Manilow joke.





Then there is this:

This gigantic thing is supposed to be a membership card. It's cleverly shaped like a diner place mat. I am going to need my extra large purse to carry it.





This was my favorite item:

The "For A Good Time Call..." sticker. This one scared me. I think it might be some kind of weird Barry Manilow phone sex thing. Maybe if you call it he sings Copacobana without pants or something.
I didn't know what to it at first. So I stuck it on my Rosie O'Donnell doll:

Then I stuck it to my Little Man poster:


In the end I just stuck it to the back of some dude's pants. Then I laughed and laughed.





I also got an ad for the Manilow Christmas album:


This is probably my twelfth favorite Christmas album (falling between Larry the Cable Guy's "Very Larry Christmas" and Ken Patera's "Christmas is for Wimps."




I don't remember what this was:





Then there was this:

A nice little Manilow Fan Club pin. It is equally good for wearing to concerts, formal events or for popping a blister on your foot.




Finally there was an ad for a Manilow Visa:



It's got his picture on it. Maybe I can get one and charge a new plasma to Barry's account.

Photo of Guy Hutchinson

Photo of Guy Hutchinson

Pictures of Mike Tyson taking pictures

Mike Tyson. Former IBF, WBF, WNBA, WGN and IRT heavyweight champion of the world. Currently he is best know for having a tattoo on his face. My grandmother loves his tattoo because she has the same pattern on her couch.

Tyson the shutterbug.

Could you imagine trying to explain how to turn on the "flash" to Mike Tyson? Or to The Flash.
You know, the superhero... THE FLASH.
You would say "make sure to turn on the flash" and he would say "Oh, I am." and then he would put his hand on your knee.

Mike Tyson once told another boxer he would eat his children. I bet he meant that they would eat up space on the memory stick of his camera after he started snappin' candids of them. Kids on the swings, kids wearing Halloween and kids taking a bath (oh, they will be embarrassed one day when Uncle Mike shows THAT pic to their prom date.)

I have no idea what Mike is snapping pictures of. God, I hope some museum does an exhibit of Tyson's pictures. That would be awesome!

The only thing funnier than Tyson with a camera would be a camel with a camera. I like the word camel. If I smoked I would smoke Kools... because I think camels are Kool! My favorite figure skater is Dorthy Hamel because her name sounds like "camel."

TYSON!

My Name Is Earl hotel

Being a fan of the NBC sitcom My Name Is Earl I decided to hunt down some of the filming locations from the show.

My Name Is Earl is a bit unusual because they film much of the show's footage outdoors and on location. Because of this Earl's rural Camden County looks a lot like Los Angeles.

After fining out all of the locations I could I decided the best place to go was "the motel." I am not sure what it is called in the show, but in the real world it is The Palm Tree Inn.

You gotta love a motel that announces on their sign that they have CNN.

The Palm Tree Inn is in person just what it appears to be in the show... a run down motel that most people would avoid visiting... unless they were a hooker. Are most people hookers? I'm not sure (note: insert joke about the way women dress at the mall before posting this.)

I arrived at the hotel October 23, 2007 and I was stunned to find a camera crew setting up to shoot... Gilmore Girls (note: insert joke about the Gilmore Girls being hookers before posting.)


No, I kid. They were there to shoot My Name Is Earl. (note: insert joke about someone shooting the Gilmore Girls with a gun... try not to make it too morbid.)


I drove by the motel a bunch of times and tried to sneak a few photos:

The next day I returned to find that the film crew was gone. Here are some photos I was able to take:

This first one shows the pool, which is often showcased in the show. I remember hearing on the DVD commentary track that they have to "muddy" the water in the pool with some dye so the pool looks extra dirty.

That doesn't explain the set of toilets next to the pool. I wonder if they ALWAYS have toilets by the pool. That would be rather convenient.

Perhaps they should put that on the sign instead of CNN.

I think Earl's room is the third door down in this photo:

They only shoot exteriors here, so the inside of the hotel probably looks very different.

Here is another photo:

It's not very helpful because Earl's room is on the other side and this part has probably never been shown on TV. Stupid Gilmore Girls.