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Shana Halligan and Kiran Shahani are the genius behind the music of Bitter:Sweet. I stumbled across their latest album while browsing on MySpace and I have never been happier to find a band in my life. Instantly, I added them to my page, e-mailed my cohorts in music greatness and ran to Waterloo Records and acquired my prize.

Their latest album, The Mating Game, is a sensual mix of trip-hop, lounge, and lush grooves that is making a powerful statement in their hometown LA scene. Having met through an ad on Craigslist, this duo blends a mix of old school 70's and 80's influence with modern electronica, horns and the voice of a sultry songstress into a perfect concoction that left me feeling intoxicated and wanting more from my very first hear. Recently featured in The Devil Wears Prada soundtrack, in episodes of Entourage, Nip and Tuck and Grey's Anatomy, their music is making its mark in pop culture while still maintaining the feel of staying true to the cool underground.

Shana and Kiran were kind enough to sit down and answer our 20 Questions while in the midst of their busy touring schedule and, with my many thanks, here is what they had to say...

Let's name the great comedy duos of the last century: Laurel and Hardy, Abbott and Costello, Lewis and Martin. The list could go on and on. But if you want to narrow the list down to comedy duos that have influenced the popular culture in recent years, Cheech and Chong would have to be at the top of that list. The west coast rap personas of Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg and movies like Half Baked and Friday all pay homage to the comedy of Cheech and Chong. Even the television show "That 70's Show" had direct references to Cheech and Chong before Chong graced the show with his iconic stoner persona.

But being an icon has had a negative effect on Chong's life as well. In 2003, Chong was arrested as part of a nationwide sting called Operation Pipe Dreams that the Drug Enforcement Agency launched against bong manufacturers. Tommy was the face for his son's bong company, Chong Glass, and didn't run the day-to-day business of the company. Facing a tough uphill legal battle, Tommy chose to go to prison instead of risking his wife or son spending time in jail. But rather than dwell on it, he chose to view his time in prison as research or as a religious retreat. And out sprung the inspiration to his new book, "The I Chong: Meditations From the Joint."

In recent years, there have been rumblings of a Cheech and Chong reunion movie, something that Chong has described as a “Grumpy Old Stoners” type story. But they are just rumblings. Both men rarely see or speak to each other anymore and the likelihood of the movie coming to fruition is pretty slim. But there are reasons that these rumors persist. The comedy of Cheech and Chong has stood the test of time. Their movies and albums are just as funny today as they were in the 70’s and 80’s. Is it because the stoner culture is still in full-force today? Sure. But great comedians are timeless and cross generational boundaries. I dare you to go to any university in the United States and not find a granola stoner that could be a real-life cousin to the characters played by Tommy. Plus, my 65-year-old father-in-law, who happens to be Hispanic, enjoys watching Cheech and Chong movies as much as I do. That speaks volumes about their influence and legacy.

Do you feel the urge to reveal your deepest, darkest secrets? If you do, you are not alone. Thousands of people have revealed their secrets on a web site called PostSecret.com. According to Technorati, PostSecret.com is the seventh most popular blog on the internet as of August 1, 2006. What is PostSecret? It’s a web site that invites you to anonymously reveal your secrets. The directions are simple:

“Each secret can be a regret, hope, funny experience, unseen kindness, fantasy, belief, fear, betrayal, erotic desire, feeling, confession, or childhood humiliation. Reveal anything - as long as it is true and you have never shared it with anyone before.”

One of the best compliments you could receive as a cartoonist, besides being showered with millions of dollars, is being called original. Take it from me; I'm an unoriginal cartoon hack myself. But Ruben Bolling is an original, in spades. Take some of these premises from Tom the Dancing Bug, a weekly cartoon that appear in some of best alternative newspapers, such as The Dallas Observer and The Village Voice, as well as daily newspapers, such as The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times: God-man, the superhero with omnipotent powers; Charley, the australopithecine, an ancient ancestor to humans who lives in modern times; or Harvey Richards Esq., Lawyer for Children, who has the balls to respond to a judge with "liar, liar, pants on fire!" These characters reside in the hilarious alternative universe of Tom the Dancing Bug.

According to Universal Press Syndicate, "Ruben Bolling started Tom the Dancing Bug while a student at Harvard Law School, from which he graduated in 1987. He launched the strip professionally in a small New York City newspaper in 1990 and was self-syndicated until Universal Press Syndicate signed it up in June 1997 ... The cartoon has won critical raves -- Rolling Stone magazine named it “Hot Comic Strip of the Year,” and Details magazine called it “a rarity among alternative weekly comic strips: well-drawn, laugh-out-loud funny."

Mike Patton is a pretty prolific guy. Best known as the lead singer of Faith No More, he has also handled lead vocals for Mr. Bungle, Tomahawk, Fantômas, and a number of solo projects and collaborations. But here and now, he's fronting Peeping Tom (pictured pimping in the white suit), a collaborative effort with the likes of Nora Jones, Kool Keith, Massive Attack, Dan "the Automator" Nakamura, and more. Six years in the making, this disc contains elements of many of Mike's previous work with his other bands as well as digital beats and some awesome surprises. The song "Kill the DJ" would make a perfect companion to any of the songs on Massive Attack's "Mezzanine" or "100th Window." And hearing Nora Jones utter "The truth kind of hurts, don't it, motherfucker?" will give you goose bumps.

Jenn Garrison gets around. Jenn's first film PrizeWhores (a feature-length documentary) premiered at the prestigious South-by-South-West film festival in 2001. Currently she is developing a feature film, creating a pilot for a TV show and editing a new documentary about a music fan described as the 'Rain Man' of women's music. She won the Special Jury Award at the Bologna International Women’s Film Festival for her short film, Standing Up. Jen is also a DJ at 107.1 KGSR in Austin, Texas. And, oh yeah, she appeared on MTV's The Real World 16 as a consultant to the cast. Her resume is a mile long. On her web site, she's quoted as saying, "I am drawn to stories about how people who don't fit into mainstream culture take elements of that culture and make it their own." That also seems to sum up what we do here at Quirkee.

We asked Jenn to answer our 20 Questions. And here's what she had to say.