That said, it’s sometimes hard to find shows that are binge-worthy; my last binge was actually a re-binge of The Shield, because I wasn’t finding much else that seemed to justify my time – including Justified.

And then it was recommended that I watch The Wire.

Holy. Fuck.

How did I manage to miss out on this for ten years?

Now I spend my days waiting… waiting… until I can watch another episode.

The rest of you probably have no clue.

Either way, she makes pretty bitchin’ creations, like this Star Wars bag.

Granted, it’s a bag so it’s not like I would carry it around, I don’t do the man-purse thing.

Still, it’s pretty neato.

If you’re into that sort of thing, visit her site: sewbeckyjo.com

Obviously Andrew is down with what’s hip with the kids these days. In light of this, I’m composing and recording my own album, Hardly Worth It, about Groupon stock.

• …I quit drinking nearly a year and a half ago and my courage came out in my pee.
• …I’m too caught up in all the excitement over this new Star Wars Edge of Darkness 3D movie that’s coming out any minute now.
• …I get three paragraphs in and realize that I don’t remember how to write without relying on a plethora of meaningless descriptors meant to deceive you into thinking my I.Q. is over 100 when in fact I’m mostly just uninteresting.
• …Yahoo sold Geocities, leaving me without a website.
• …someone else already wrote something better about the same topic – proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that I’m not nearly as unique as I thought I was just 10 minutes ago.
• …my parents might read it, now that they know how to find my blog on the Google.
• …Firefox needs to restart and install an update.
• …I read Twitter and now my problems seem trivial in comparison.
• …no one likes to read anymore. But fear not, I have a Pinterest account where I’ve posted pictures of weed.

And now for something completely different…

It’s really never occurred to me to try a novelty iPhone case. It’s not that I don’t find them interesting; I guess I’ve just never thought of myself as the target market. Then again, given my laundry list of iPhone 5 case misfortunes (read the full sob story here), I’ve been pretty much willing to try anything – so why not take the opportunity to take the Toonish Black Cat iPhone 5 case ($8.00 at EZ Buys Direct) for a spin?

There’s something oddly amusing about being an adult male with a cute cat case. Yes, it screams “hey look at me, I’m an attention-seeker,” there’s no doubt about that. But at the same time, it’s sort of funny to watch people struggle with whether or not to ask you about it. Most don’t, but the few that do seem to get that it’s a gag and all in fun. Obviously if I were a teenager I probably wouldn’t get the same reactions – I’m sure cases like the Toonish Black Cat are common among younger age groups – but still, it’s been an interesting study in peoples’ reactions.

Aesthetically it’s cute, there’s no denying it. It’s so cute in fact that my 15-month old daughter has been relentless in her efforts to acquire the case and call it her own – even though she doesn’t have an iPhone (yet). I consider that a plus, believe it or not; my kid is picky and doesn’t obsess over just anything. Huge points scored there. It’s definitely a hit.

So it’s cute and it’s a little awkward for an adult male to carry around, that’s great; how well does it protect the iPhone 5? The short answer: extremely well.

The Toonish Black Cat case is made of silicone so it’s flexible and easy to secure onto your iPhone. Once fitted, the edges and back of your iPhone 5 are very well protected thanks to the shock-resistant design inside the case (see photo).

Like most silicone iPhone cases, the fit is a little looser around the screen itself, allowing for easy removal; this also means that you’re probably going to want to apply a decent screen protector to your iPhone if you use this case because, while it protects the screen from direct “flat” impact, it isn’t built to prevent a whole lot of screen impact. I can attest to the durability of the Toonish Black Cat case though, my daughter managed to successfully get a hold of my iPhone about a half dozen times while I was testing the case and my iPhone survived each time.

Now for the secondary test: how would my friend Sabrina like the case? Sabrina is sort of like Mikey – that kid from Life cereal. Sabrina will try it; Sabrina will try anything. And she can get away with carrying around a cute cat case a little easier than I can.

SABRINA’S COMMENTS:

Pros:

• It’s cute – I got two compliments on it right away
• It’s lightweight
• I liked the ‘feet’ of the cat – it made it a bit easier to grip
• I thought the ears would bother me sticking out as much as they do but haven’t had an issue with them.
• It would make for a great case for those with little kids – they can chew on the ears if they need to and not damage the phone.

Cons:

• It’s made of silicone so while it’s easy to grip, it collects everything. I put it in my pocket and it got fuzzies all over it.
• It makes the on/off button at the top a bit harder to get to. It would be great if it stuck out a little more like the volume buttons do.

CONCLUSION

if you’re looking for a novelty case for your iPhone 5 you could do a lot worse than the Toonish Black Cat case from EZ Buys Direct. It’s definitely a worthwhile case for those looking for something different or a conversation starter; and at only $8.00 it’s pretty hard to beat. Despite it’s obvious “cute” factor it provides pretty good protection, certainly more so than at least two of the iPhone 5 cases I’ve owned so far – both of which cost at least three times as much money.