The one where I'm famous

SethG's hit the big time!

I've bored you before with crossword puzzle talk. Well, The JimH Crossword Blog is required reading for all serious crossword nerds afficionados. Jim and I have exchanged some notes in the past, and he liked the neutrino joke I told him.

Long story short (actually! my first time ever!), Jim published a short profile of me Friday night, then I was his guest blogger today, writing about today's puzzle and Jewish holidays.

Now I can just sit back, relax, and wait for the crossword hotties to start beating down my door!

The one where you can play along at home

"Mustang, this is Voodoo 3. Remaining MiGs are bugging out."

You remembered that this was Merlin, Tom "Maverick" Cruise's RIO in the final battle scene in Top Gun. But did you remember that Merlin was played by Tim Robbins?

Thank you sir, may I have another?
Do you know the Kevin Bacon movie game? The goal is to connect KB to a given actor in the shortest number of movie links. For example Robin Watts was in Juno with Jason Bateman, who was in Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium with Dustin Hoffman, who was in Sleepers with Kevin Bacon. So Robin Watts' Kevin Bacon number is 3.

Well, from the people who brought you FishWar, I'd like to announce a new SethG creation.

How it works in my mind...
Some day I'll actually get seated next to Kevin Bacon at a dinner party. Well, I'm coming prepared. We'll be talking, and I'll ask "And what do you do?" When he says he's an actor, I'll look at him for a second, and as the look of recognition slowly dawns across my face I'll say, "I know you...you're that guy from...{something}!"

The question is, what should it be? My idea here is to pick an actor who's famous, and a role for which he is very much not famous. And for Kevin, I've got the perfect one in mind. I'm sure he gets recognized every day, but how many times have people remembered him from his role in Pyrates, in which he co-starred with real-life wife Kyra Sedgwick?

When they met on a crowded dance floor, it was a combustible experience and the fire has continued. Everywhere they make love, they start a fire. Clubs, closets, even in a tepee. They leave a smoldering trail wherever they go. Not even ice can keep this hot couple from burning down the town.

Yes, they made a movie about a couple whose attraction to each other was so intense that things would spontaneously combust when they got it on. The movie's actually decent, but let's just say it's not the role for which he's known best.

The game has its roots in the spring of 1996. I was sitting in my apartment, watching Vision Quest (the 1985 Matthew Modine wrestling movie) with Laura and Helena. And I stared for like an hour at the woman who moved into his house, and it was driving me crazy that I couldn't figure out who she was. Finally I got it: It was the same woman who played Sasha in Gotcha! (the 1985 Anthony Edwards spy thriller). Later I looked it up: turns out, it was Linda Fiorentino. Who at the time was much more famous for her work in Jade, The Last Seduction, and Unforgettable. And we owned a copy of Pyrates, and the rest is history...

And, as the Kevin Bacon game, sometimes called Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, is named after the concept of six degrees of separation, we'll pick something that rhymes with obscure. Got it: Julianne Moore!

And she's perfect--Julianne Moore is a celebrated actress who's starred in many Oscar nominated and winning films and been nominated for four acting Oscars herself. But before that she had a bit role in Body of Evidence, about which all that can be said is that it wasn't Madonna's worst film. Just something to keep in mind when you run into her.

The Julianne Moore Movie Game! Pick up a copy today!

The one where I'm it

Whit tagged me on his blog, (my first!), so I guess it’s my turn to do a little post. Here are 8 Random Things about me.

1. When I was maybe 12 we saw a hit-and-run accident in Philadelphia. Dad said "Seth, remember this license number", so I did. It was PTG 704.

2. Russ, who runs the Math Skills Center at Carleton, retired my name tag ("Officer Seth") after I left. It usually lives in his desk drawer, but when he thinks one of his tutors shares the qualities (?) he associates with me they have a ceremony and he grants them the use of the tag until they graduate. I do not know if there's a current holder of the Officer Seth Name Tag.

3. (Semi-)recent Halloween costumes have included Rollergirl, David Bonior, Mini-Me, Jared, a Seven-Card Stud, and The Milkman.

4. Snu and I were given free sundaes once to pose for pictures for an ad for Paces, an ice cream place, because our red hair was so cute. The ad appeared, in black-and-white.

5. Matt Bahr, who won a Super Bowl ring when he was a rookie kicker with the Steelers, once signed my stomach.

6. I name things. My first car was a 1989 silver Dodge Shadow named Big Bertha. Then I had Blue, now Roberta (but you can call her Bobbi). My flash drive is named Gordon. I have computers named Erdos and Ricki on my household network, Mortimer.

And I always bowl under H-names--Hank, Hal, Hubert, Herb...

7. If you count all words, not just the ones no one else had, I scored 250 points on a boggle hand this morning.

8. I'm an ordained minister in the Universal Life Church (of Modesto, CA). My credentials are on file with the State of Minnesota, and I will soon officiate at my third wedding ceremony.

I've also been awarded a Doctor of Metaphysics degree, for which I paid the church $20.

You can call me Reverend Doctor Seth. I'm Jewish.