Words with Friend Alec Baldwin

Welcome to another Shameless Plug edition of J-TWO-O! Today's shameless plug: My stepfather's new book, Eye Rhymes (pictured at right -- and a steal at only $9.95).

What are eye rhymes? Also known as "visual rhymes" or "sight rhymes," eye rhymes are verses based on words that look as if they should rhyme but don't (e.g., bomb, comb, tomb). And the book Eye Rhymes is filled with 47 of them, all written by my stepfather, wordsmith and cryptic puzzle creator John de Cuevas, and illustrated by his friends Sara Ferguson and Janet Young.

And what, pray tell, does this have to do with Alec Baldwin? I'm so glad you asked!

Alec Baldwin -- along with master thespian Blythe Danner -- narrate the online version of the book, which you can listen to (and read along with -- for free) at http://eyerhymesplus.com/. (But would it kill you to buy a book?)

And while I am shamelessly plugging books, it's not too late to purchase a copy of my mother's children's book, Polarity Bear Tours the Zoo: A Central Park Adventure!

Okay, my work here is done.

Oscar Preview (Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin to host!)

For those who haven't yet heard, the producers of this year's Academy Awards (aka the Oscars) have tapped actor/comedians Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin (who co-star in the upcoming flick It's Complicated) to co-host the 82nd Academy Awards, which air on March 7, 2010.

I think the Martin-Baldwin pairing is inspired, and has great comedic potential. Though I have to admit, I'm a little bit worried that Alec Baldwin is an alien and is just using the Academy Awards, which will be beamed to millions of homes around the world, as a way to further soften our brains.



And what better way to further soften our brains than with banjo music? Even better, Steve Martin playing all of this year's Academy Award-nominated songs on the banjo (preferably with Muppets).



GENIUS. Evil genius. But still genius.

UPDATED: H/T to friend of the blog AVW for reminding me of this classic Steve Martin SNL sketch. I am actually not a big fan of the Oscars, but I would watch -- even pay money to watch -- the Academy Awards just to see Martin and Baldwin (filling in for Dan Aykroyd) as those two wild and crazy guys, the Festrunk Brothers: