(To my surprise, I just discovered that I've used this quote twice before. Well, one last time won't hurt.)

Well, here we are, at the end of the year, and on the brink of starting the final year of the millennium. As I type this, Y2K is already underway in some time zones, and the world has mysteriously failed to come to an end. It's all very strange, really...

Incidentally, if anybody out there is still having trouble remembering the proper spelling of the word "millennium," it might help to keep in mind that there are two of each consonant in the word. (I can't help with the vowels, but it's the double letters that seem to trip most people up, anyway.)

No, no sarcastic comments here. Just wonder, and a slight amount of culture shock, that's all. I guess I'd heard about this sort of thing, but had always assumed the books were exaggerating.

'Course, the upside of not getting tons of presents is not having to give them. Beats me how seemingly everybody else is able to afford it... but I suppose the parts of the books mentioned earlier about people saving up for months to buy presents weren't exaggerating either.

When I found out that Madeline Kahn had died, a few weeks ago, I had no idea of who she was. Then I read an article about her death, and found out that she'd been in Blazing Saddles, which I'd seen for the first time a week or so before. And, yes, she was okay in said movie, but that was about it. (More on that later in this entry.)

And then, for unrelated reasons, I was looking through my Sesame Street records, and I discovered that I'd known her after all, even if I didn't know it. Madeline Kahn and Grover are responsible for the definitive version of "Sing After Me."

Others have tackled the song also; an amusing version with Garth Brooks and a bunch of monsters (notably Herry) aired recently. But the Kahn/Grover pairing is unsurpassed.

The premise of "Sing After Me" is that one person (in this case, Grover), is supposed to echo the words sung by the other (Kahn). Which is usually not a problem, but Kahn has quite a range, and she uses it to full effect in this song, from really low notes, to a "fiddle-diddle-deeeeeeeeeeeee!" that you'd need a crane to reach. Grover almost kills himself trying to emulate it, but eventually throws in the towel, just muttering "showoff" the last time around. It's great stuff.

I'm not sure why I feel the need to tell you all this. Call it a section in search of a neat punchline.

I had hoped that I was immune to that, but, alas, he's turned out to be right.

I watched the film alone, in the privacy of my room. And it was amusing, and I even laughed out loud two or three times, I think. But I didn't find it to be that funny. And I strongly suspect that the reason for this is that I was, in fact, watching it by myself.

This was further confirmed when I watched South Park again. I found it to be hysterical in the theatre. When it was playing in the background at Blockbuster late one Saturday night (with only two customers in the store, which explains how they got away with it, I suppose), it cheered me up immensely. Back in the privacy of my room... well, I still liked it, but it wasn't the same.

As somebody who (a) loves comedies, and (b) prefers watching videos himself, this is a disconcerting discovery.

(Incidentally, the interview mentioned before is well worth reading. It was originally published in Playboy, but I read it in my favorite anthology of humor, Laughing Matters, edited by Gene Shalit. Said anthology has my highest recommendations in general, also.)

With that having been said, this means I'm going to have to add another yearly page to the archives, and modify the monthly files accordingly. I think I'm going to be dropping the giant calendar format, though; I'm no longer sure it's worth the bother.

The redesign's theoretically around the corner, anyway, so I'm probably just going to put in a provisional page in the meantime.