Rick Springfield, David Bowie, and Duran Duran, all in one place!

It seems that everywhere I go lately, it's the 1980s all over again. While taking my daughter to her tae kwon do class this evening, we came across Rick Springfield singing "Jessie's Girl" on the radio. (Damn, Rick Springfield was hot.) And earlier today, at the gym, I heard both David Bowie's "China Girl" (a classic) and Duran Duran's "Hungry Like the Wolf" (ditto). So, I figured I'd share. (Btw, I don't know about you guys, but I miss the old MTV, the one that showed great and, okay, not-so-great music videos, and only music videos. I still love Toni Basil singing "Mickey" in that cheerleader getup.)





Note: I wanted to share the original video of Bowie singing "China Girl" (which you can watch here), but got the old "embedding disabled by request" message. So you'll just have to settle for this live version, from Bowie's "Serious Moonlight" tour, which I saw when it was at Madison Square Garden.



Got a fave 1980s video or song you want to share? Leave a comment (preferably with a link).

Why women have sex

Apparently there are other reasons -- 236 of them -- besides "to get him to help out more around the house," according to a new book out titled Why Women Have Sex: Understanding Sexual Motivations from Adventure to Revenge (and Everything in Between. (Though according to a University of Michigan study, 9 percent of women indulge in "economic sex." Hey, if it gets him to do the dishes and fix my computer....)

You can read a quick overview of the book, which reveals some of the authors' more interesting findings (it helps ease migraines!), at Newsweek.com.

You can also take this quiz to find out how much you really know about women and sex.

UPDATED: Forgot about this classic New Yorker cartoon friend of the blog "Vubbie" (aka "Anonymous") sent me a while back.

How to turn your bedroom into a sports bar

Thanks to the infinite wisdom (NOT) of Jets' management, the spouse and I had a difficult decision to make today: Jets or Giants? Or so I thought.

Yes, in theory, we could have gone to a sports bar to watch both games, which are being played, for the first time in over 20 years, at the same time on the same day (albeit in different stadiums) -- while drinking beer and eating lovely free nibblies. But our not-old-enough-to-stay-home-alone-for-three-hours child had a friend coming over, so we couldn't.

But that did not stop the spouse, a self-described geek. Oh no. Thanks to having not one but two Sony TVs (albeit previously in different rooms -- and only one of which is HD), a little coaxial cable, and a splitter, the spouse was able to have both the Giants (vs. the Tampa Bay Buccaneers) and the Jets (formerly the New York Titans*, who are playing the Tennessee Titans, formerly the Houston Oilers) broadcasting simultaneously... in our bedroom.















Add some beer, some nuts, and some chips and... voila! You, too, can have a sports bar in your bedroom!

For the record, the spouse tried to get the Jets game on the HDTV (left), but claimed it would only show the Giants game.

Also, for those who are thinking of trying this at home, a note of caution: Do NOT use the same brand of TV if you can help it. Because both of the TVs the spouse used are Sonys, and the remotes have the same codes, every time you use the remote on one, to, say, change the channel or raise or lower the volume, the other set changes too, so you have to do that stuff manually. It is also next to IMPOSSIBLE to watch two games simultaneously. John Madden is a god.

*A note about today's Jets -- or should I say "New York Titans"? -- game: WTF?! Again with the New York Titans uniforms?! Especially against the Tennessee Titans, I mean "Houston Oilers"? Way to go, Jets management! Even the poor commentators were/are confused, referring to Tennessee as "the Oilers" at least a couple of times.

UPDATED 4:08 PM: FINAL SCORES: NY Giants 24, TB Buccaneers 0; NY Jets/NY Titans 24, TN Titans/Houston Oilers 17. A most excellent day for NY/NJ football teams.

The sports bar is now closed... and we return to our regular bedroom.

Atone here! Sinners welcome!

In honor of Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, which begins at sundown today and ends at sundown tomorrow, I invite readers of all faiths and beliefs -- Jews, Catholics, Protestants, Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, Zoroastrians, Rastafarians, Pastafarians, Agnostics, Atheists, whatever -- to leave a sin (anonymously or otherwise) in the comments.

To make it easy, let's just stick with the basic Seven Deadly (or Cardinal) Sins, which are:

Lust
Gluttony
Greed
Sloth
Wrath
Envy
Pride

I myself have succumbed to three or four of these this past year* (and no, rooting for both the Jets AND the Giants is not a sin) -- but hope to get my sinning down to just one or two categories in the new year. (Hey, no one is perfect.)

And because laughing is not a sin (at least not that I know of), some Yom Kippur humor for your viewing enjoyment.

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Atone Phone - Emmy Awards
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Protests

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Atone Phone - Larry King Calls
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Protests

*While confession is good for the soul, it's not always so good for the marriage or friendship.

An open letter to the NFL re this Sunday's Jets, Giants games

I cannot believe you scheduled the Jets and Giants games for the same time -- 1 p.m. ET -- this Sunday. WTF?!

And don't give me the Yom Kippur excuse. I know Yom Kippur begins at sundown this Sunday, September 27, and goes until sundown Monday, September 28. For chrissakes, everyone (OK, almost everyone) knows that.

Hello?! Yom Kippur has been going on for over 5000 years! Get a calendar. Not like you can't Google "Yom Kippur" and find out when it occurs for, like, the next hundred years. But every time Yom Kippur falls on a Sunday, you guys (yeah, I'm talking to you NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and/or whomever does the scheduling) manage to screw things up. And we New York Jets and Giants fans are fed up.

And why just reschedule the Jets (to the 1 p.m. slot)? What, there are no observant Jews in Buffalo, Seattle, Cincinnati, San Diego, or Phoenix? Are you kidding me?

I am very, very annoyed -- as, I am sure, are a lot of Jets and Giants fans.

And to those of you who say, "J., why don't you and the spouse just go to a sports bar to watch the games?" I would LOVE to go to a sports bar, but we have a kid, whom we can't leave alone for three or four hours. And I'm not sure it would be kosher to spend the Day of Atonement in a sports bar.

Underwear for the left-handed man -- a cheeky idea whose time has come

I didn't realize that men's underwear was biased towards righties, but apparently the (left-handed?) designers and marketers at Hom have a better grasp of this (ahem) issue than I do, as well as the balls to rectify the situation.

Per an investigative report in the London Daily Telegraph, "While boxer shorts usually have a central opening, Y-fronts and trunks traditionally have a right-handed opening, making it potentially more tricky for left-handed men when they are standing at a urinal" (or need to whip it out for some other pressing reason).

To which I say: Who knew?

But thanks to Hom's new underwear, now lefties everywhere can whip it out the way God intended them to. Southpaws rejoice!

(Btw, you can pick up a pair of the Hom H1 Original Maxi Trunk or Hipster for lefties online at BeCheeky.com and at other fine stores.)

UPDATED: "Be twice the man in Y-front"?! Anybody care to explain?

"Cougar Town" is one town I do NOT plan on visiting

Why are Hollywood and the tabloids suddenly so obsessed with stories of older women dating younger men anyway? More to the point, why do all these shows and the tabloids make the idea of an attractive (or not) woman of a certain age dating a younger man so creepy and cringe-inducing? (Btw, for the record, I prefer the term MILF to cougar, even though they are not synonyms.)

The reality is: Women come into their own later in life than men. Women live longer (and men die younger). Middle-aged (and older) women are far more interesting and experienced than younger ones. So what the heck is wrong with a woman dating or marrying a guy a few years younger? Why does the media have to make it so... so... ICKY? Guys date or marry younger women all the time -- often MUCH younger women, young enough to be their daughters or granddaughters. Now THAT is creepy.

So NO, I will not be watching Courteney Cox (who, while I am in catty mode, I would like to note is older than I am, though still looks damn good) in Cougar Town this evening.

Instead, I will be watching Glee, on FOX, which promotes good old American values, such as promiscuity, adultery, and lying -- but (at least currently) does not feature any cougars.

Oh, and that song, "Stacy's Mom"? Totally OFF my playlist.