FOODIE FRIDAY for April 29, 2011

Is anyone else wondering who Great Mack is and what he's doing listed on a menu?

Here's hoping the eats are better than the spelling at this restaurant...

Thanks to JOHN B. for spotting this one!

Spelling mastery? Not so much...

I'm guessing whoever wrote this headline was so blinded by Hamels' beauty that he or she made this funny typo.  That's really the only logical explanation I can come up with.  That being said, this picture isn't one of Hamels' best pictures--why the writer was clearly so distracted by this one kinda baffles me.  There are much prettier pictures of Hamels out there that don't show him in some goofy-looking pitching-related pose...

Thanks to fellow Phillies fan GREG for spotting this error!

HUMP DAY GRAMMAR for April 27, 2011

Yikes!  This error wouldn't be so egregious except that it came from a Phillies blog.  This writer mistakenly referred to the Phillies' catcher, Carlos Ruiz--otherwise known as "Chooch"--as Cooch.  Which he isn't.  Our catcher is not a cooch.  I could understand some silly fan of another team either making this mistake honestly or making this mistake purposely/snarkily, but when Phillies personnel make errors like this?  Unacceptable.  It's not like we're the Nationals, who I'm pretty sure have more spelling errors associated with the team than they have fans of the team.

Thanks to Mama Grammarphile for spotting this funny, baseball-related Hump Day error!

MISSPELLING MONDAY for April 25, 2011

When it comes to mistakes on checks, "each" isn't what I'd prefer to see messed up.  I'd much prefer to see a "misspelling" of the dollar amount on the check...specifically, the next check I receive, I'd like to see a few more zeroes and an additional comma in the Total section of the check.  ;)

Thanks to AMELIA from Lovely Little Lexemes for spotting this one!

"Girk" just makes me giggle.

Who takes their girks with them to dinner, anyway?  I don't know what a girk is, but it sounds like something that should be left at home, possibly hidden in the back of a closet or tucked safely away in a drawer...

On a totally unrelated note, I feel like doing some shameless self-promotion...

* I'm the NY Beauty Products Examiner for Examiner.com.  If you enjoy reading articles about beauty and health, please click here to check out my work.  And if you really love what I write, consider subscribing to my posts so that they're automatically emailed to you each time I publish one.  ;)

* If you want to become an Examiner yourself, it's easy, free, and fun--you get paid to write about the stuff you love!  (That's why I write about beauty--I'm a bit of a product junkie.)  If you'd like to get started writing for Examiner, click here to apply (please use that link so that I get credit for referring you).

* I'm on Twitter!  If you enjoy this blog, follow @redpeninc; I tweet out Red Pen, Inc. article links on that account.  You can also follow my personal Twitter account, which is @red_stilettos...I tweet a lot about baseball and beauty there.

Have a happy Friday, everyone!  :)

Musey musings and writing rants.

OK, kids, it's time for a bit of a rant.

I'm a Muse fan.  That's the understatement of the century.  I'm a super-fan.  I tend to get really moody if I haven't listened to enough Muse during the course of a day.  I've freaked out on numerous occasions when I thought I wouldn't be able to get tickets to a Muse show because I was convinced said show would sell out too quickly (luckily I've always been able to get tickets).  I've met the band, and damned if I don't have a mini-shrine to them in my apartment (my Muse autographs are safely tucked away in a box that's painted like a Union Jack).  Most importantly, their music has served as the biggest inspiration for the book I've been writing for the past three years (which, by the way, I'm about 80% finished).

I have a ton of respect for Muse's singer Matt Bellamy.  There hasn't been a moment when he's failed to impress me--he's a musical genius, a kickass songwriter, and a nice person (he was friendly and polite when I met him, and I've heard he's a pretty cool guy in general).  He's my writing muse, and I don't throw that term around lightly.

Which is why it pisses me off that a) people seem to have a lot of hate for Kate Hudson, Matt's girlfriend, and b) it took him dating her for a lot of people in the US to start wondering who he is.  These people ignored Muse's five amazing studio albums to date and only started caring about Matt when he knocked up Kate Hudson.  *sigh* 

I don't know much about Hollywood types, but I've always liked Kate Hudson; Almost Famous is my favorite movie, and I thought she was perfect as Miss Penny Lane.  She seems like a cool chick, she's talented, and now she's dating a really kickass guy (he's way cooler than her last boyfriend, freakin' A-Rod).  People seem to think she's a skank, which baffles me; I only ever hear about her having actual relationships with guys (ie, not just sluttin' it up with the first cute male that walks by her).  And even if I knew nothing about her, I'd just assume she's cool.  Matt Bellamy seems to be pretty choosy about whom he dates, and he doesn't seem to go for skanks (his last relationship spanned nearly an entire decade, and the woman wasn't even a Hollywood type).  He's a smart dude, and if he's dating her, I'm going to assume she has plenty of redeeming qualities.  And from every interview and article I've read, the two of them seem really happy--so why's there so much Kate hate going on (especially from fellow Muse fans)?  It drives me crazy.

You know what else drives me crazy?  Silly errors in magazines.  I'm pretty sure Kate should be referred to as "her," not "the," in the sentence pictured...

On a related note: Kate Hudson should really think about bottling up some of her mojo and selling it.  She attracts genius musicians and baseball players.  I'd buy a gallon of that mojo at pretty much any cost, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who would...

MISSPELLING MONDAY for April 18, 2011

There's a spelling error (should be adage, not "addage"--"addage" actually isn't even a word) in that article about the Twins, so I had to post it, mainly because it would give me a good excuse to post this:

Because really, every morning should begin with a pretty picture of Joe Mauer. 

Also, I dare you to listen to this and not have "there's a man with an ox in the batter's box" stuck in your head today.  Which is really much less annoying/more charming than it sounds, I swear...

Can you tell I'm excited about the fact that the Twins actually won yesterday?  ;)  Happy Monday, everyone!

Copyeditors Needed Now strikes again!

Yet another thing I just love about living on Long Island: We have a serial killer, or perhaps even more than one.  It's not bad enough that this crazy island is home to people who drive like maniacs, people whose accents make my ears hurt, and freakin' Mets fans, but now there's a serial killer on the loose, too.

In related news, at the Copyeditors Needed Now offices, there's an idiot on the loose.  I get what that idiot was trying to say--that aerial imaging was being used in investigating the serial killings.  But that line of text could have been written better because as it stands now, it looks like aerial imaging was used in the actual serial killings--as if one of these poor victims died due to aerial imaging as opposed to dying from strangulation.

I get that headlines on the web have a character limit and that writers are pretty limited in what they can fit into the one line of text they're allotted for that headline, but I really feel like the writer could have done a little better thinking up some text that wasn't so misleading and silly-sounding...

Those Yahoos are at it again...

The silly Yahoo who made this goofy typo is most definitely not winning.

Hallelujah, it's raining men!

I have no idea why, but whenever I look at this picture, "It's Raining Men" gets stuck in my head and it won't go away.

Anyway, this picture is hilarious.  Because, like, OMG, we can buy men!  This company is selling women's apparel, handbags and accessories, women's shoes, and men.  They weren't selling men's apparel...from the way this is worded, it looks like they're selling actual men...and they were even on sale!

I didn't click through to find out how much these men cost or if any of them were actually attractive (the possibility of buying another Marc Jacobs handbag on sale won out over the idea of buying a man), but looking back, I kinda wish I had.  The sale is over now, and I'm very curious to know whether they had any Cole Hamels or Cliff Lee lookalikes.  If they did, I probably should have bought one, especially since the men in my area of New York are not generally very cute...

FOODIE FRIDAY for April 8, 2011

I'm thrilled to know that these sandwiches are made fresh.  It's the "tosasted" stuff that really concerns me, though...

Thanks to JOHN Z. for spotting this one!

Happy Hump Day...and Happy 1400th RPI Post!

I haven't done a Hump Day post in a while, and since I knew this post would be number 1,400, I knew it had to be special.  

And it's special, all right.  Because it features the holy grail of errors.  That's right--for Hump Day, and for Red Pen, Inc's 1400th post, we have a public/pubic error.  A freakin' public/pubic error!  Yes, I'm a total nerd.  I live to find these sorts of errors.

Of course, I can't take sole credit for this one--this hilarious error was sent in by my friend and fellow Phillies fan KELLIE.  Thanks, KELLIE, for spotting this one!

To all the readers who have stuck with me through 1,400 posts, thank you.  I wouldn't write this blog if you weren't reading it, so I appreciate you stopping by, commenting, and sending me instances of bad grammar.  Also, a special thank-you to Mama Grammarphile, since I know she really has read all 1,400 posts--she's my best, favorite, and number one reader.  For those of you who haven't been here for all 1,400 posts, enjoy reading the previous 1,399 of them; there will be a pop quiz tomorrow.  (Kidding!  Maybe...)

Happy Hump Day, everyone...and happy 1400th post day!  The party's in the gutter, along with our minds...  Come join me there; I've got cake and party favors!  (Well, sorta--I've got Tastykakes and a red pen.  Does that count?)

These girls are not so swift...

Oh, Taylor.  Your young fans are adorable and artistic...but they're not particularly skilled when it comes to writing.  They seem unaware of how and when to use commas, and they're apparently fond of egregious homonym errors.  Could you maybe take a quick break from singing poppy love songs and write a song about grammar?  I bet these young ladies would listen to it and learn something...

Thanks to ERIN for sending in this picture!

Happy Opening Day!

I know that for many of you, baseball's Opening Day was yesterday.  But since I'm a Phillies, Twins, and Rangers fan, in that order...*my* preferred Opening Day is today.  I only marginally paid attention to yesterday's games, and that was only for fantasy baseball purposes; I was pleased to see that Mo got me a K and a save and that Werthless got me one measly hit.  Hopefully my favorite baseball teams as well as my fantasy team (which is packed with Twins) will all do well on Opening Weekend.

Anyway, Deadspin did all the work for me today--no need for me to go crazy trying to find a baseball-related grammar or spelling screw-up since they already found a couple spelling FAILs made by Washington Nationals personnel.  Click here to check out those amusing errors.

Yes, that's all the Red Pen, Inc. you're getting for today.  I'm too busy being giddy about, and therefore totally distracted by, a Halladay/Myers pitching matchup, a Twins Opening Day that involves Morneau AND Mauer for what I think is the first time since June (baseball sideburns!!! *swoon*), and CJ Wilson on the mound for Texas.

Happy Opening Day to all my fellow baseball fans (especially the Phillies and Twins fans who read this blog)!  :)