Annoying Kansas

Seeing as Forgetting Sarah Marshall opens today, I might as well repost the mighty Blanking Blank list of "gerund + proper noun" movie titles. We're up to 54* now:

Americanizing Shelley
Becoming Jane
Being John Malkovich
Being Julia
Being Ron Jeremy
Bleeding Iowa
Boxing Helena
Capturing the Friedmans
Chasing Amy
Chasing Holden
Copying Beethoven
Deconstructing Harry
Dreaming Lhasa
Driving Miss Daisy
Drowning Mona
Eating Raoul
Educating Rita
Feeling Minnesota
Fighting Tommy Riley
Finding Forrester
Finding Nemo
Finding Neverland
Finding North
Finding Preet
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Forgiving Dr. Mengele
Forgiving the Franklins
Guarding Tess
Introducing the Dwights
Killing Emmett Young
Killing Zoe
Kissing Jessica Stein
Knowing Richard Black
Leaving Las Vegas
Leaving Metropolis
Outing Riley
Raising Arizona
Raising Flagg
Raising Helen
Raising Victor Vargas
Regarding Henry
Robbing Peter
Saving Grace
Saving Private Ryan
Saving Silverman
Seducing Dr. Lewis
Serving Sara
Stealing Harvard
Surviving Christmas
Teaching Mrs. Tingle
Undertaking Betty
Waking Ned Devine
Winning London
Wrestling Ernest Hemingway

*There are about 50 Finding... entries alone at IMDB.com, but most are either shorts or so limited in their release that no one can prove they exist.

Strung Out

Sorry for the seven-month break between posts: Wal-Mart had a closeout on musical accessories, and I've been restringing every guitar in the house.

STC SAWA RECHARGE RIYADH SA

I'm hoping that nasty headline might draw in some other people who've had $80 charges for Saudi Arabia cell phone service show up on their bank statements recently.

I caught four $80 transactions to STC SAWA RECHARGE RIYADH SA today before they were posted. And I'm not the only one seeing these: check this thread if you haven't already. Here too.

Handy notes: This can't be a World of Warcraft thing, cause I don't know WoW from Pong (although I did recently swipe the old debit card at GameStop). Online merchants I've done business with include GoDaddy, PowWeb, NetFlix, iTunes, Beatport, TracFone, and Ohio.net.

Post your clues below.

What Seems to Be the Problem?

Well, doctor, for one thing, it appears a rather large, slovenly man in the waiting room has eaten three of your patients.

G8 Protesters Amuse, Enlighten...Each Other

I didn't know there was a G8 protest going on. I had just popped into Borders Express to pick up a Captain Underpants book for my son and check out the "Out of Office Countdown" desk calendar and "George W. Bush Voodoo Kit" by the register. The usual.



But in Public Square I stumbled upon what I'm guessing was a G8 protest, or might one day be a G8 protest when it grows up. Twelve or so protesters (yes, I counted) had set up a tiny amplifier and mic (whose mighty 15 watts reached, somewhat symbolically, almost beyond the group membership itself). They'd hung a decorative paper globe from a mic stand and G8 flags around their necks. Each, in turn, would praise his or her country (in sub-Burger King drive-through sound quality; e.g., bzzztt global warming mmmwwwaaa bzzzt billions zzzzzt) and then have at the globe with a yellow whiffle ball bat. Gently, mind you: I think their budget required them to return it to Hallmark after the protest. Two old bags worked the periphery and handed out the usual communist newspaper to those who wandered into the generous Moonbat/Reality Buffer.

That's it. All in all, a non-event. It seemed like a bit of work to attract, well, me and one girl who stopped to watch (the smoking area outside DeVry, in contrast, attracted six times the audience). I like the second photo, because it gives an idea of the true scope of the, erm, event:



I should also mention that Lunch Hour Jesus Boy, as usual, was just across the way with his acoustic guitar and pwned them with his mighty PA system. Time for the commies to apply for a grant from the local arts council.

When Irish Guys Are Stalking

I had to take a short detour to do it, but I just had to walk past the Celtic Woman tour busses this morning, on the off chance that one of those lovely wee faerie sprites slumbering within should happen to spot me, jump out of the bus and propose marriage.

Ah, my heart is singing this morning just knowing I was that close to my one true love, Mairead, Maev, Orla, Lisa, and/or Chloe.

Surefire Studio Greenlight

Mad-Libs style: "Hi, [name of movie producer in room], I have a killer idea for a film. It's called [gerund] [proper noun] and it can't fail! Now let's go snort this line of [type of powder] off of this hooker's back."

It's worked before; these are just the ones that come to mind right off the top of my head. Please add more as you think of them:

• Americanizing Shelley
• Becoming Jane
• Being John Malkovich
• Being Julia
• Boxing Helena
• Capturing the Friedmans
• Chasing Amy
• Chasing Holden
• Copying Beethoven
• Deconstructing Harry
• Driving Miss Daisy
• Drowning Mona
• Eating Raoul
• Educating Rita
• Feeling Minnesota
• Finding Forrester
• Finding Nemo
• Finding Neverland
• Forgiving Dr. Mengele
• Forgiving the Franklins
• Introducing the Dwights
• Killing Zoe
• Kissing Jessica Stein
• Leaving Las Vegas
• Raising Arizona
• Raising Flagg
• Raising Helen
• Raising Victor Vargas
• Regarding Henry
• Saving Grace
• Saving Private Ryan
• Saving Silverman
• Seducing Dr. Lewis
• Serving Sara
• Stealing Harvard
• Surviving Christmas
• Teaching Mrs. Tingle
• Undertaking Betty
• Waking Ned Devine
• Winning London

Update: I just remembered Eating Raoul, which, being released in '82, diplaces Educating Rita ('83) as the oldest one I remember. The Blanking Blank glut didn't really hit until the mid-'90s, though.

Update 2: I don't know how I forgot Finding Nemo, or how I remembered Stealing Harvard.

Update 3: Many thanks to Barb the Evil Genius for her contributions, and enjoy the new alphabetized list, which reveals Finding and Raising tied for first, closely followed by Being and Saving. And let us not ignore the ripple effect on television, including "Breaking Bonaduce," "Shooting Sizemore," and "Saving Jessica Lynch."