Or: You fucking morons.
This is simple as hell. This is a list of our favorite five Devil's Magics around. You know, different fun things that get blamed on the Devil that don't have much to do with spiritous vapors whatsoever.
No reason to drag this out:
1) Bernoulli's Principle
Spelled correctly, this one's pretty simple. Shit moving faster stretches out. You know, like the air on top of an airplane wing or the movement of hyd fluid as it goes from the reservoir to the tubing to the actuator to the cylinder. In the tubing, the fluid moves faster because the diameter is smaller. Then it gets into the cylinder and the cylinder is a lot wider. The fast moving stuff piles up in there building pressure and pushes against the cylinder moving the piston. That's why a little bitty hose can supply a big fat hydraulic system without blowing up.
Anyway, when this is happening in moving air, you can deflect the air to one side causing a low pressure area on the trailing edge of your deflection, whether it's the slat flap of a Tomcat or the back of your hand when it's stuck out of your car window. The air is lower pressured, but moves faster. It simultaneously pulls your hand into the low pressure area and the high pressure area pushes your hand away. Simple, right?
Right, GSR?
-...This is starting to make me think back to high school physics and chemistry. I was actually pretty smart back then, but I don't remember any of it now. Let me just say that as clever as Mr. Bernoulli was, I have always ranked his "principle" well below things like Planck's Constant and Avogadro's number. In fact, I love Avogadro's number so much that I usually take a moment for reflective thinking every October 23rd, and this year I will be sure to wish Casey a happy "mole" day.
Man this post is going to suck for me.
2) Google
Now I hope you aren't looking for me to explain how Google works. That is going to be Casey's role in this post - to explain things. I am going to continue to blame devil's magic for these phenomenons and remain blissfully ignorant.
I guess I see the "theory" behind Bernoulli's principle, but how in the world do you explain Google? The basic process is you enter in a word (any word!), click search, and you get back a kabillion responses. All of which have some type of connection to pornography, Paris Hilton, or Paris Hilton's pornography. The fact that Google can move so fast, make so many connections, and that is now widely recognized as a deity makes me very nervous. I honestly think Google is only two steps away from the world-dominating machines from the Matrix, but in the meantime I guess I will allow it to provide me with educational (read: pornographic) websites.
Don't even ask what came up when I searched for Bernoulli.
-Google. Is easy, it's a coven of Methodist crones who are driven to madness by the being half submerged in positronic media of some sort. Duh. Anyway, I have to agree that Google is indeed pretty much my go to source for all things porn. Now they have Google Scholar which is an extremely valuable source for even more esoteric selection of porn. I think my favorite part of Google is that I don't have all this bullshit political news and weather info covering up my image search "paris+hilton+lepidolite+chert+hidden+cam" like I do with Yahoo. If I wanted to know what the president thought of my porn tastes, I would ask him. I don't need to know about his stance on North Korean medium range ballistic missiles when I'm having an acute failure of imagination.
So, beyond internet porn:
3) Porn
What else is there to say? A bunch of individuals doing different things from standing there half naked to the complete other end of the pervert spectrum. Things I don't even want to type, because then I might have to attain some sort of visual and then I would end up with images of midgets, skydiving, and loose moralled hamsters stuck in my head. Damn.
Anyway, here is what is awesome about porn:
• Drinks at the bar → two people drinking ≅ $30.00
• Beer at home → internet access (prorated) ≅ $3.00
If the Devil is behind porn (HA!), sign me up for the first goat sacrifice. The world economy is pretty much about naked women, anyway, I figure I'm just giving some unfortunate and uneducated people lucrative work. I'm like a really creepy version of Santa Claus with a different color of bag.
Take it, GSR.
-Take it? You end by saying that the world economy is driven by naked women, and that all those involved in porn are uneducated...and then you say "take it?" That is like putting together a gigantic shit sandwich, complete with all of the trimmings (side of chips, toothpick with an olive, etc...) and then serving it to the guy next to you. Thanks man.
I will say this - my wife owns way more porn than I do, and she gets to claim that it is part of her "research." So while porn may be the devil's magic, I submit my previous statement as proof that there is a God.
4) Scott Baio
Can someone please explain to me how Scott Baio (who is 45 and single) still gets to have his own TV show, on which we learn young attractive women still swoon for him? It has to be Devil's magic, right?
And don't get me wrong, the Baio actually comes across as a likable guy on this show. I'm also sure that the amount of tail that he pulled while actually having a "hit" TV show is a normal phenomenon reserved for Hollywood celebrities. But to have hooked up with all of the hot/famous women, along with what I am sure are scores of unknowns.....and still be living it up? Sorry Mr. Baio - the only explanation I have for all of these events is that you made a deal with the devil him/herself.
I just can't decide if it was worth it.
-Huh. I have to confess to never watching Charles in Charge. That is the show, right? The only thing I know about him is from cultural osmosis. I also haven't seen his new show. He just seemed to reappear out of nowhere. So what does all this mean to me? Not much. Considering. So devil's magic? Sure.
Also I should point out that porn is not necessarily erotica, and erotica is not necessarily porn. So I'm sure there are beautifully done money shots on the face of doctoral candidates out there somewhere, but they just don't seem to pay the bills.
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Monday, July 9, 2007
Top 5 People To Trade Places With (EVER!)
Have you ever had one of those experiences where you look around, take notice of someone, and think, "Hey - that person is infinitely cooler than me. I wouldn't mind walking in their shoes for at least a day" ? Well, if you have, this is the post for you. And to be clear, I am happy with my wife, my life, and my jo.....er, wife. But just for fun, I think it would be great to trade places for a day with....
1) Tom Brady - Quarterback for the New England Patriots
Yeah, I know it is cliche' to want to be the quarterback of an American Football team (that was for you soccer fans...the only one you get). But this guy goes above and beyond being a cool mutha.
To start, he has three (3!) SuperBowl rings and he isn't even 30 years old. Even in the years and games that didn't involve winning a SuperBowl he was a badass on the field. He thrives under pressure, he knows how to lead, and he makes very few mistakes.
On top of being a great player, he is also loved by the ladies. He has had several high profile/hot girlfriends, he has been on magazine covers, and he even got a chance to host Saturday Night Live. As a side note (and this is important for you fantasy football fans out there), he rarely gets hurt. In fact, I think his most extensive injury was a severe case of chapped dick, which came from the deadly combination of living in the cold ass New England weather and lots and lots of sex with hot ladies.
To sum up, this guy gets paid millions to play a game where he is a stone cold killer and his season really only lasts 5 and a half months. In the off season he gets to date supermodels, go on television, and retain his badass status.
-While Tom Brady is more or less cool, even if he does play for the Patties, I really feel no need to trade places with him. Now, John Elway, that would be who to trade with. I mean, he's fucking cool. He pretty much lives life exactly how he chooses. He was a better quarterback than Brady will be in the foreseeable future. He gets hot ass Colorado mountain women, which anyone in the know would take over the duplicitous New Englander any day. He has god status in this state. I mean, the guy basically IS me. So, I mean, I wouldn't mind trading with him, but I wouldn't go out of my way. He probably doesn't get to mountain bike every day. I think he owns a couple bars. I could see that being pretty sweet.
Anyway, to get away from the man crushes:
2) John Otto
Yeah, the guy is more or less unknown. The point of all this is that he was a freelance (read: homeless) geologist who plotted out the extreme west end of the Uncompahgre Plateau canyon country when most science was in the throes of social elitism. He was an anarchist who lived his dream. Imagine nothing but field work every damn day. Shit, if mountain bikes had been invented, I would appeal to John Elway to talk to God about letting me do some quantum place taking back a hundred years ago. I know, more nerdy geology shit.
Look, I'm Casey, "Blah blah blah, rocks, blah blah blah tourmaline, blah blah blah anticline."
Figured I would beat you to the mocking, GSR.
-I highly concur. The Unaweep Canyon that is a part of the Uncompahgre Canyon is amazing. I mean, a canyon with two ends and no beginning? That is like a God's geological representation of bounded infinity. What a "rock'n" good time it would have been to be John Otto.
I'm just fuck'n with you. That guy sounds boring. But my next choice is...
3) Casey
Casey is pretty much the most awesome person that he knows. I would trade places with him for numerous reasons, but mostly I appreciate the way he can be rude, insulting, and charming all at the same time. He can simultaneously cut me to my core and make me laugh.
He is also pretty smart, and not just about rocks and pebbles. He knows a lot about a lot, he has been tons of places, and I have reason to believe that he is pretty strong. If I were ever able to trade places with him I would stay outside, get rained on, lift heavy things, and then drink bourbon. Essentially, I would kick ass and take names.
Oh yeah, he also has pendulous balls.
-Interesting here. I don't know how to concur with you. I mean, you are right about everything you said there, but if I were to trade places with me, I think the universe would have an awesomeness singularity of some sort. The coolness of being me would wipe out all of existence in one flash of more or less furry corpulence. then who would be around to be cool? I know, I know, God and stuff. Whatever. What about me? How could I enjoy being so cool if I caused the end of all things including the coolness of me?
Or possibly my awesomeness is platonic in nature? Maybe I am indeed the fire behind the objects behind the viewer in the cave. The rest of existence's coolness is relative to the shadows cast by my presence. That makes more sense, but to make all this come one home, I nominate:
4) Anyone Who Dates Me
1) Tom Brady - Quarterback for the New England Patriots
Yeah, I know it is cliche' to want to be the quarterback of an American Football team (that was for you soccer fans...the only one you get). But this guy goes above and beyond being a cool mutha.
To start, he has three (3!) SuperBowl rings and he isn't even 30 years old. Even in the years and games that didn't involve winning a SuperBowl he was a badass on the field. He thrives under pressure, he knows how to lead, and he makes very few mistakes.
On top of being a great player, he is also loved by the ladies. He has had several high profile/hot girlfriends, he has been on magazine covers, and he even got a chance to host Saturday Night Live. As a side note (and this is important for you fantasy football fans out there), he rarely gets hurt. In fact, I think his most extensive injury was a severe case of chapped dick, which came from the deadly combination of living in the cold ass New England weather and lots and lots of sex with hot ladies.
To sum up, this guy gets paid millions to play a game where he is a stone cold killer and his season really only lasts 5 and a half months. In the off season he gets to date supermodels, go on television, and retain his badass status.
-While Tom Brady is more or less cool, even if he does play for the Patties, I really feel no need to trade places with him. Now, John Elway, that would be who to trade with. I mean, he's fucking cool. He pretty much lives life exactly how he chooses. He was a better quarterback than Brady will be in the foreseeable future. He gets hot ass Colorado mountain women, which anyone in the know would take over the duplicitous New Englander any day. He has god status in this state. I mean, the guy basically IS me. So, I mean, I wouldn't mind trading with him, but I wouldn't go out of my way. He probably doesn't get to mountain bike every day. I think he owns a couple bars. I could see that being pretty sweet.
Anyway, to get away from the man crushes:
2) John Otto
Yeah, the guy is more or less unknown. The point of all this is that he was a freelance (read: homeless) geologist who plotted out the extreme west end of the Uncompahgre Plateau canyon country when most science was in the throes of social elitism. He was an anarchist who lived his dream. Imagine nothing but field work every damn day. Shit, if mountain bikes had been invented, I would appeal to John Elway to talk to God about letting me do some quantum place taking back a hundred years ago. I know, more nerdy geology shit.
Look, I'm Casey, "Blah blah blah, rocks, blah blah blah tourmaline, blah blah blah anticline."
Figured I would beat you to the mocking, GSR.
-I highly concur. The Unaweep Canyon that is a part of the Uncompahgre Canyon is amazing. I mean, a canyon with two ends and no beginning? That is like a God's geological representation of bounded infinity. What a "rock'n" good time it would have been to be John Otto.
I'm just fuck'n with you. That guy sounds boring. But my next choice is...
3) Casey
Casey is pretty much the most awesome person that he knows. I would trade places with him for numerous reasons, but mostly I appreciate the way he can be rude, insulting, and charming all at the same time. He can simultaneously cut me to my core and make me laugh.
He is also pretty smart, and not just about rocks and pebbles. He knows a lot about a lot, he has been tons of places, and I have reason to believe that he is pretty strong. If I were ever able to trade places with him I would stay outside, get rained on, lift heavy things, and then drink bourbon. Essentially, I would kick ass and take names.
Oh yeah, he also has pendulous balls.
-Interesting here. I don't know how to concur with you. I mean, you are right about everything you said there, but if I were to trade places with me, I think the universe would have an awesomeness singularity of some sort. The coolness of being me would wipe out all of existence in one flash of more or less furry corpulence. then who would be around to be cool? I know, I know, God and stuff. Whatever. What about me? How could I enjoy being so cool if I caused the end of all things including the coolness of me?
Or possibly my awesomeness is platonic in nature? Maybe I am indeed the fire behind the objects behind the viewer in the cave. The rest of existence's coolness is relative to the shadows cast by my presence. That makes more sense, but to make all this come one home, I nominate:
4) Anyone Who Dates Me
Really, I am jealous of the women who are involved with me. I mean, I really have had nothing if not amazing women come through my life, they're great. On the other hand, I always feel robbed because while I am dating greatness, they are dating perfection. I feel like I'm maybe giving more than them in the long run, even though my overall awesomeness is pretty much effortless. How can these women not have twinges of guilt dating me and never quite giving as much? Especially with how really decent and kind all of them have been.
Sometimes I wish I could marvel at me outside of me. I know my perceptions of self are not skewed in any manner except possibly by simple over exposure to my own greatness. What if I'm not getting the true scope, the proliferating magnitude, of how completely perfect I am?
These are the things that keep me up at night. Did you ever hear the parable of the stonecutter who was granted the ability to become whatever he wanted? He eventually, after a series of objects he found to be less than all powerful, he became a mountain. Then a stonecutter chipped off his toe. I mean, that's my conundrum, here. What is better, being me or knowing me?
-Damn...I've got no response here. It sounds like you saying that you essentially want to fuck yourself, which is what many people have been telling you to do for quite some time. This is indeed heavy stuff.
So now I turn it over to you the reader(s). Who would you trade places with? Why?
And I'm sorry I already took "Casey" as an answer. I trust you will come up with something.
Monday, June 11, 2007
The Five Best Relevant and Current Bands We Currently Listen To EVER!
Yes, I know the titles are getting a sort of desperate stink about them. They strive and strive again to some how end in “EVER!” Eventually I foresee a post entitled The Five Best Things I’ve Ever Done With Broccoli Florets And Vegetarian Meatloaf EVER! Then you will know that the shark has been jumped. At that point, please read no more. Whatever coolness our powers combined can muster will have been drained onto the scorched plains of a sarcastic Ilium. We will utilize smileys. The very Earth will cry out for us to stop, but me and GSR will continue to put out complete crap. You should not support this behavior.
Instead, you should think of clever segues from one random subject to another equally random and totally unrelated subject OR listen to one of these five bands who are still currently relevant. And who doesn’t like relevancy? I never thought I would feel as socially irrelevant as I did with last week’s post.
1) The Black Keys
No, they are nothing like The White Stripes. It is an unfortunate similarity in names as one band is the last gasp of testosterone being unabashedly involved in the making of music and the other is a gimmick that should have died long ago.
The Black Keys are everything I don’t hate about rock. They don’t have long and boring neo-hair-metal guitar solos, they don’t have 18 different vocal tracks, and they don’t have any digital studio crap at all. They are simply the best rock band to come around in a long damn time.
Somehow they avoided the Nirvana scream and the Pearljam mumble that seem to have infected the last two decades. Instead, they manage to evoke something along the lines of the Kinks covering the less moronic aspects of Led Zepplin covering Mississippi John Hurt. What does that mean? I'm not even sure. I think it means you need to put down the Now That’s What I call Music 47! at the music store and pick up Magic Potion. Plug in your iPod (as you invariably will own an iPod, you bunch of goddamn sheep) and feel the lame washed out of you by strange desires and elevators.
Punk ass bitches.
-Okay, first let me say "Baaaaahhhhhhh." The iPod is the greatest modern invention (EVER!), but we can save that for another post. Second, The Black Keys are fucking awesome. Chulahoma was the first album that I heard, and that led me to go find everything that I could by the band. If you need a sample let me know as I should be able to get you one pretty easily.
2) Modest Mouse
This is a group that has only recently gotten popular, but they have been around for a while. The gripe against them used to be that they had this strangely dissonant music paired with the lead singers dissonant and atonal voice. Sometimes it sounded like he was wailing with excitement, and other times he would drop to a near mumble, but the early albums only appealed to a small population.
Things really changed with Good News For People Who Like Bad News when they released an album that had some catchy hooks and softer melodies paired wiht the same dissonant voice. This combination on a song like "Float On" seemed to catch a lot of people's attention, and the album as a whole was great. The newest album We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank is a continuation of what they started on "Good News..." Whether you are an original fan or a new fan the combination of music and lyrics doesn't disappoint. (p.s. to Casey - you owe me a "thank you" for resisting the urge to steal Cross Canadian Ragweed from you).
-Right, I'm going to recommend the Ragweed to this list. I probably would had I not made the qualifier of relevance a criterion of this bunch. Not that they are irrelevant, but I doubt that their relevancy would mean much here. Anyway, Modest Mouse rocks. I saw these guys a couple years ago (holy shit, that was five years ago) in San Francisco and I have to say you need to see them live. The experience elucidates a lot of the attitudes that are only hinted at in their amazing studio work. Still, I like them.
Anyway, for the next contestant, I nominate:
3) Nickelback
That was for you Jill and Janet.
The real deal:
Queens of the Stoneage
I love this band. They have just enough weirdness not to lose a rocker and just enough rock not to lose the indie kids. They're also fun. I know that fun is not what a person is supposed to look for outside the genres of cartoon hip-hop and pop, but I can't think of a more apt descriptor of their songs. The songs have a tendency to be about fucking, drugs, and irresponsible drinking. I think that about sums them up, really.
I should mention that for all their bacchus tendencies, they never get stupid. They never get crunk. They never turn into Nickelback (I shudder) and they never descend into the bullshit angst that passes for thought in our modern times.
If you disagree with me on this, you are wrong.
-I'm not going to disagree on this one. I love Queens of the Stoneage. I was hooked when their first big track got released and it had Dave Grohl on drums. He is one of the few drummers that actually separates himself from the others, and the rest of the band kicked ass on the first track too. They have since gone on to have some consistently good albums, and I can't for the life of me figure out why they don't get more airplay.
Oh yeah - I think you need to apologize to Janet and Jill. There is no way ladies with such good taste like Nickelback....right?
4) Arcade Fire
Why do I have the sneaking suspicion that this could be our first disagreement?
This band kicked down the doors with their first major album Funeral, and then made their fans wait a solid few years before getting the next big release. Man was it worth the wait.
The current album (in heavy rotation with anyone who is cool) is called Neon Bible. The thing I like most about this album is that it is an honest to goodness album. It has a beginning, middle, and an end - and it is clear the band spent some time thinking about song order, tone, and theme. On top of that, the songs kick ass. You should go right now and listen to (Antichrist Television Blues).
-Well...
At least you didn't say The White Stripes.
And I'm out.
Instead, you should think of clever segues from one random subject to another equally random and totally unrelated subject OR listen to one of these five bands who are still currently relevant. And who doesn’t like relevancy? I never thought I would feel as socially irrelevant as I did with last week’s post.
1) The Black Keys
No, they are nothing like The White Stripes. It is an unfortunate similarity in names as one band is the last gasp of testosterone being unabashedly involved in the making of music and the other is a gimmick that should have died long ago.
The Black Keys are everything I don’t hate about rock. They don’t have long and boring neo-hair-metal guitar solos, they don’t have 18 different vocal tracks, and they don’t have any digital studio crap at all. They are simply the best rock band to come around in a long damn time.
Somehow they avoided the Nirvana scream and the Pearljam mumble that seem to have infected the last two decades. Instead, they manage to evoke something along the lines of the Kinks covering the less moronic aspects of Led Zepplin covering Mississippi John Hurt. What does that mean? I'm not even sure. I think it means you need to put down the Now That’s What I call Music 47! at the music store and pick up Magic Potion. Plug in your iPod (as you invariably will own an iPod, you bunch of goddamn sheep) and feel the lame washed out of you by strange desires and elevators.
Punk ass bitches.
-Okay, first let me say "Baaaaahhhhhhh." The iPod is the greatest modern invention (EVER!), but we can save that for another post. Second, The Black Keys are fucking awesome. Chulahoma was the first album that I heard, and that led me to go find everything that I could by the band. If you need a sample let me know as I should be able to get you one pretty easily.
2) Modest Mouse
This is a group that has only recently gotten popular, but they have been around for a while. The gripe against them used to be that they had this strangely dissonant music paired with the lead singers dissonant and atonal voice. Sometimes it sounded like he was wailing with excitement, and other times he would drop to a near mumble, but the early albums only appealed to a small population.
Things really changed with Good News For People Who Like Bad News when they released an album that had some catchy hooks and softer melodies paired wiht the same dissonant voice. This combination on a song like "Float On" seemed to catch a lot of people's attention, and the album as a whole was great. The newest album We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank is a continuation of what they started on "Good News..." Whether you are an original fan or a new fan the combination of music and lyrics doesn't disappoint. (p.s. to Casey - you owe me a "thank you" for resisting the urge to steal Cross Canadian Ragweed from you).
-Right, I'm going to recommend the Ragweed to this list. I probably would had I not made the qualifier of relevance a criterion of this bunch. Not that they are irrelevant, but I doubt that their relevancy would mean much here. Anyway, Modest Mouse rocks. I saw these guys a couple years ago (holy shit, that was five years ago) in San Francisco and I have to say you need to see them live. The experience elucidates a lot of the attitudes that are only hinted at in their amazing studio work. Still, I like them.
Anyway, for the next contestant, I nominate:
3) Nickelback
That was for you Jill and Janet.
The real deal:
Queens of the Stoneage
I love this band. They have just enough weirdness not to lose a rocker and just enough rock not to lose the indie kids. They're also fun. I know that fun is not what a person is supposed to look for outside the genres of cartoon hip-hop and pop, but I can't think of a more apt descriptor of their songs. The songs have a tendency to be about fucking, drugs, and irresponsible drinking. I think that about sums them up, really.
I should mention that for all their bacchus tendencies, they never get stupid. They never get crunk. They never turn into Nickelback (I shudder) and they never descend into the bullshit angst that passes for thought in our modern times.
If you disagree with me on this, you are wrong.
-I'm not going to disagree on this one. I love Queens of the Stoneage. I was hooked when their first big track got released and it had Dave Grohl on drums. He is one of the few drummers that actually separates himself from the others, and the rest of the band kicked ass on the first track too. They have since gone on to have some consistently good albums, and I can't for the life of me figure out why they don't get more airplay.
Oh yeah - I think you need to apologize to Janet and Jill. There is no way ladies with such good taste like Nickelback....right?
4) Arcade Fire
Why do I have the sneaking suspicion that this could be our first disagreement?
This band kicked down the doors with their first major album Funeral, and then made their fans wait a solid few years before getting the next big release. Man was it worth the wait.
The current album (in heavy rotation with anyone who is cool) is called Neon Bible. The thing I like most about this album is that it is an honest to goodness album. It has a beginning, middle, and an end - and it is clear the band spent some time thinking about song order, tone, and theme. On top of that, the songs kick ass. You should go right now and listen to (Antichrist Television Blues).
-Well...
At least you didn't say The White Stripes.
And I'm out.
Thursday, May 24, 2007
The Five Best Sitcoms from the 80's, EVER!
So Casey has once again turned the reigns over to me, and boy do I have a feeling he won't like this choice. Do I know he won't like it? No. But tell me this: Does Casey and his guitar playing, mountain biking, rock-nerding self come across as someone who spends a lot of time front of a television? Exactly - but I figure there is some chance that the younger version of Casey watched at least a little bit of television.
This week we are talking about the five best sitcoms from the 1980s (EVER!). During the 1980s there were many sitcoms that had people glued to their TVs. They were so popular that the mere mention of some of the titles will have more than a few people I know humming/singing the theme song. Cases and points - Silver Spoons (Here we are, face to face...), Family Ties (Sha na na naaaa), Full House (Whatever happened to predictability...).
Fast forward to 2007. The reality shows, the crime scene investigators, and the survivors of a plane crash are currently dominating television. While I am admittedly hooked into some of these shows, the sitcom as a genre has very quietly gone to shit. With the exceptions of a few notable shows (How I Met Your Mother, The Office, and 30 Rock), sitcoms are just plain bad. More noticeably, there aren't that many to choose from. With all this said, my first pick is:
1) The Cosby Show
This show is an all time favorite of mine, my wife, and my immediately family. It was funny, smart, and it managed to deal with both real life and family issues. Reruns of the show come on some late night cable station (Wife - which channel are you always watching?), and I am amazed at how just a few minutes of an episode will instantly trigger my memories of the entire show.
To break it down even further, Bill Cosby (possibly a less funny curmudgeon these days) was hilarious. Phylicia Rashad was great (reminded me a lot of my mom). All of the kid-actors were awesome (and my wife contends that Raven Simone was the best child-actor ever. EVER! Seriously). From the crazy intros, to the obscure jazz references, to the heavy-handed/heart-warming life lessons - this show was great.
-Um. I spent the '80s in a cultish. We never watched TV much unless the Broncos were playing. See, we only had the one TV and it was about the size of a tasteful microwave. And we had bikes, pellet guns, and, you know, activities. I did watch the occasional show, but I think whatever knowledge I have on this subject comes from some sort of generational mob memory. This statement will probably drive our readership into the negative integers tomorrow, but 99% of anything from the '80s is crap.
I remember this show, but I don't think I'm in near the danger of a steamy makeout session with Theo(?) Hucstable that you are. A lot of the show was just jokes lifted from Cosby's standup brilliance watered down for primetime. The show was OK. I remember stripey clothing and a lot of sweaters. I also think, in retrospect, that this was the first of a goofy genre of comedy.
Well...in lieu of any actual knowledge on the issue, I will nominate:
2) G.I. Joe
This counts, right? I mean, they had drama and comedy and more intelligent dialogue than I remember on any live-action '80s show. You had goofy in-the-closet man friendships, you had the obligatory ball-busting feminist types with the shoulder pads in their suits, you had helicopters doing unrealistic things, and you had copious amounts of bright colors. This was like any '80s sitcom, only cool. It seems to me like there has been a steady campaign to remove testosterone from television that more or less started with shows like Full House. G.I. Joe tried to fight them off, but he just couldn't fight a tidal wave of crap. Now you know. And knowing is half the battle.
-Nice pull with G.I. Joe. It used to amuse me that in my part of the country G.I. Joe was followed by Ducktales. Talk about opposite cartoons. My strongest memory is of the character named Snake-eyes. He didn't speak, but was a pure badass when it came to bringing the pain. To go in a completely different direction....
3) The Wonder Years
This is a show that I didn't like nearly as much as a kid as now do as an adult. For anyone who may be unfamiliar, this show followed little Kevin Arnold as he dealt with growing up in the 70's. The show has some classic voice over narration, and it didn't back away from making you uncomfortable with some real life family issues/drama. It was a unique "sitcom," but often the show was intended to make you laugh.
What is funny is that now that I am older the show has as much potential to make my wife (and by "my wife" I mean me) get a little misty eyed. The relationships between the mom and the dad, the dad and the sons, as well as all of the supporting cast/neighborhood friends are solid. At least once a week while flipping through the stations my wife and I will settle on The Wonder Years and watch two back to back episodes.
-Interesting choice. I remember it now, the little kid from The Princess Bride grew up in this one. I remember he had a pretty hot girlfriend, and the show seemed real enough. Wasn't there an episode where he crashed his bike and put himself in a coma? I could have swore there was, but I just can't remember much.
Thank you, Wikipedia.
Right, so the show had a huge influence on my development. I can't overstate how much the Arnolds and their whimsical neighborhood brought into my adolescence. Remember the episode where Norma takes the pottery class? Magical.
4) Doogie Howser, M.D.
I like this one. This show occurred after our family had purchased a color TV set and we had sufficient antenna power to pull in stations from Albuquerque. In other words, I have at least some fucking clue what this one's about. There was a kid. He was a doctor. Hilarity ensues.
I mean, sure, you could ask, Wait, how the fuck is a 14 year old a doctor? You could indeed ask what hospital in its right mind would open itself up to so much negligence related litigation. Intelligent questions have no place in sitcoms. So stop it.
Anyway, the guy had a dumb friend. He also had a computer in his own room! By '80s standards, the kid was a freakin' pimp. The computer also added a nice little place for the writers to tie up loose ends and close the show with a handy PSA about some emotional crap or another.
-Casey, you forgot one of the most fundamental points of this show - Wanda (the object of Doogie's affection) was hot. HOT!
So now it is your turn 8 faithful readers. I want to know what you would add to the list of best sitcoms from the 1980s....just don't knock the Cosby show.
This week we are talking about the five best sitcoms from the 1980s (EVER!). During the 1980s there were many sitcoms that had people glued to their TVs. They were so popular that the mere mention of some of the titles will have more than a few people I know humming/singing the theme song. Cases and points - Silver Spoons (Here we are, face to face...), Family Ties (Sha na na naaaa), Full House (Whatever happened to predictability...).
Fast forward to 2007. The reality shows, the crime scene investigators, and the survivors of a plane crash are currently dominating television. While I am admittedly hooked into some of these shows, the sitcom as a genre has very quietly gone to shit. With the exceptions of a few notable shows (How I Met Your Mother, The Office, and 30 Rock), sitcoms are just plain bad. More noticeably, there aren't that many to choose from. With all this said, my first pick is:
1) The Cosby Show
This show is an all time favorite of mine, my wife, and my immediately family. It was funny, smart, and it managed to deal with both real life and family issues. Reruns of the show come on some late night cable station (Wife - which channel are you always watching?), and I am amazed at how just a few minutes of an episode will instantly trigger my memories of the entire show.
To break it down even further, Bill Cosby (possibly a less funny curmudgeon these days) was hilarious. Phylicia Rashad was great (reminded me a lot of my mom). All of the kid-actors were awesome (and my wife contends that Raven Simone was the best child-actor ever. EVER! Seriously). From the crazy intros, to the obscure jazz references, to the heavy-handed/heart-warming life lessons - this show was great.
-Um. I spent the '80s in a cultish. We never watched TV much unless the Broncos were playing. See, we only had the one TV and it was about the size of a tasteful microwave. And we had bikes, pellet guns, and, you know, activities. I did watch the occasional show, but I think whatever knowledge I have on this subject comes from some sort of generational mob memory. This statement will probably drive our readership into the negative integers tomorrow, but 99% of anything from the '80s is crap.
I remember this show, but I don't think I'm in near the danger of a steamy makeout session with Theo(?) Hucstable that you are. A lot of the show was just jokes lifted from Cosby's standup brilliance watered down for primetime. The show was OK. I remember stripey clothing and a lot of sweaters. I also think, in retrospect, that this was the first of a goofy genre of comedy.
Well...in lieu of any actual knowledge on the issue, I will nominate:
2) G.I. Joe
This counts, right? I mean, they had drama and comedy and more intelligent dialogue than I remember on any live-action '80s show. You had goofy in-the-closet man friendships, you had the obligatory ball-busting feminist types with the shoulder pads in their suits, you had helicopters doing unrealistic things, and you had copious amounts of bright colors. This was like any '80s sitcom, only cool. It seems to me like there has been a steady campaign to remove testosterone from television that more or less started with shows like Full House. G.I. Joe tried to fight them off, but he just couldn't fight a tidal wave of crap. Now you know. And knowing is half the battle.
-Nice pull with G.I. Joe. It used to amuse me that in my part of the country G.I. Joe was followed by Ducktales. Talk about opposite cartoons. My strongest memory is of the character named Snake-eyes. He didn't speak, but was a pure badass when it came to bringing the pain. To go in a completely different direction....
3) The Wonder Years
This is a show that I didn't like nearly as much as a kid as now do as an adult. For anyone who may be unfamiliar, this show followed little Kevin Arnold as he dealt with growing up in the 70's. The show has some classic voice over narration, and it didn't back away from making you uncomfortable with some real life family issues/drama. It was a unique "sitcom," but often the show was intended to make you laugh.
What is funny is that now that I am older the show has as much potential to make my wife (and by "my wife" I mean me) get a little misty eyed. The relationships between the mom and the dad, the dad and the sons, as well as all of the supporting cast/neighborhood friends are solid. At least once a week while flipping through the stations my wife and I will settle on The Wonder Years and watch two back to back episodes.
-Interesting choice. I remember it now, the little kid from The Princess Bride grew up in this one. I remember he had a pretty hot girlfriend, and the show seemed real enough. Wasn't there an episode where he crashed his bike and put himself in a coma? I could have swore there was, but I just can't remember much.
Thank you, Wikipedia.
Right, so the show had a huge influence on my development. I can't overstate how much the Arnolds and their whimsical neighborhood brought into my adolescence. Remember the episode where Norma takes the pottery class? Magical.
4) Doogie Howser, M.D.
I like this one. This show occurred after our family had purchased a color TV set and we had sufficient antenna power to pull in stations from Albuquerque. In other words, I have at least some fucking clue what this one's about. There was a kid. He was a doctor. Hilarity ensues.
I mean, sure, you could ask, Wait, how the fuck is a 14 year old a doctor? You could indeed ask what hospital in its right mind would open itself up to so much negligence related litigation. Intelligent questions have no place in sitcoms. So stop it.
Anyway, the guy had a dumb friend. He also had a computer in his own room! By '80s standards, the kid was a freakin' pimp. The computer also added a nice little place for the writers to tie up loose ends and close the show with a handy PSA about some emotional crap or another.
-Casey, you forgot one of the most fundamental points of this show - Wanda (the object of Doogie's affection) was hot. HOT!
So now it is your turn 8 faithful readers. I want to know what you would add to the list of best sitcoms from the 1980s....just don't knock the Cosby show.
Monday, May 14, 2007
The Five Best Ways To Immediately Improve Your Life EVER!
This blog is nothing if not an indulgent waste of time, and I feel guilty about that. I think I feel guilty about that, but I'm not all the way sure. My rural sensibilities of modesty tingle a little at the wastefulness of time and resources devoted to the blogosphere. When I hit publish, I feel a thousand eyes staring at me from the unfortunate souls of Earth who are more worried about finding their next bowl of rice as opposed to the next friendly person to kiss their cyber-ass and give them eProps or something else equally vacuous.
I forget where I was going with this. Ah yes, making the world a better place. We will hand down, all Prometheus-like, some easy methods of making your life instantly better. Listed in the normal fashion and reached by the normal methods (fallacious fabrication and thoughtless speculature), are this week's Five:
The Five Best Ways To Improve Your Life Ever!
1. Listen
Specifically to Mike Watt's In the Engine Room (1a. Don't worry if you're citing sources correctly). This bass line makes me happy. I like major/minor key ambiguity almost as much as music nerd obscure references. Vapor lock, clock stop, time hangs limp. Yes, Mike Watt's healthy bass causes time to stop. What finals? What paper due in two hours? I don't care. A voice from the tube says the boat's gotta move/Can we dot it?/We can do it. When you're the left hand man of the boilerman, who gives a shit about anything, really? You know she's running true.
The removal of stress has to be an improvement. I feel like bobbing my head along with the steady 4/4 beat of this beautifully chaotic song. In the Engine Room! Hey-O!
What whimsy! What happiness! My life is not so bad now. And the song ends in the sounds of surf and shore birds. Thank you Mike, my life is better. Hopefully all twelve of our readers' lives will be better too.
-You know I'm not going to disagree with you when it comes to music. I only have limited experience with Mike Watts, and you've already got me ready to download more. The only thing I can add to Casey's advice of "Listen," is that it will also be worth your time to check out some early Ben Harper. I suggest Live From Mars, Disc 2. It is all acoustic, and if it doesn't help you relax and drift off to a better place you should seek help from a higher power. Or a bottle.
2) Read
In case you haven't noticed, Casey and I like the written word. I can't stress enough how important reading has been (and is) to me. The biggest reason why I am a reader is that books allow me to experience characters and situations that I will never meet in my every day life. At the same time books show me people/places that remind me of my family and fondest memories.
If you are looking for some specific books that might grab a hold of you and not let go, let me recommend:
Written on the Body by Jeanette Winterson
Wind Up Bird Chronicles by Haruki Murakami
The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Kundera
-Dude, you like to read, too? Awesome!
I would agree with this one whole-heartedly. In fact, I would expand it in two ways: 1. Read something you've read a hundred times already, or 2. Read something you'd never even try.
I started reading Uncertainty by David Lindley. While science fascinates me, I rarely delve into the more complicated aspects of physics without having a paper due. This one is kind of hard to explain. Imagine a twentieth century physicist soap opera. My life is better.
For the next one, I'll get even simpler:
3. Dip
Pretty simple, really. On a hot day, find a couple extra minutes along the pedal commute. Remove your helmet. Dip it into the flowing water. Replace helmet. That's pretty much it. My life is now better.
-Dude, I thought you were talking about tobacco here for a moment. I was prepared to strongly disagree. Little did I know you were referring to what I believe some people call "outdoor activities." I've heard of these. They sound interesting. I'm not sure how to get into them and keep my job right now, but I am pretty sure I'll try one sometime in the '08.
4. Drink
Yeah, that's right. Another "GSR is talking about drinking" moment. But in this case I'm not advocating going out and getting drunk (note: I do advocate going out and getting drunk). Instead I am referring to finding a nice cold drink that suits you for the summer. I've recently had iced-cold Lemonade mixed with Gin recommend to me (Awesome). Others have suggested a glass of gin garnished with watermelon or cucumber (Interesting). My personal preference will always be a bottle/can of beer that is so cold that I can barely hold it, but not cold enough that it has started to freeze. Honestly, at the end of a long day in the summer, walking home from the D.C. metro, there are few things better (my wife being one of them) that I would rather have greet me at the door. And sometimes that one cold drink is all you need (note: By "you" I actually mean you, since I need more than just that one drink).
-Sorry about the outdoor activity reference, I forgot who I was working with. Of course, you just talked about public transportation and I only vaguely recall what that entails. Smelly people and diesel fumes, I believe. Either way, gin reminds me of smelly people. And puking. I would recommend something more along the lines of good vodka, i.e. Stoli, mixed with lemonade. Also, grind some mint into the bottom of a glass, mix a standard vodka martini, pour onto mint. Add a splash of Cointreau. I usually throw some ice cubes in it. Seeing as how you're drinking a bitch drink, remember to hold pinky aloft.
Should you want to drink like a man, there is the glug down a good summer brew method. Around here, we have no less than six breweries, so I am a pretty lucky guy. Throw down a Palisade Red Truck if you're in Colorado, or if you're not, try and find a Springboard Ale by New Belgium (Fat Tire). It's good stuff. Beer makes me happy. So do bitch drinks. So does PBR. Or, well...anything.
So, there you go, the secret to happiness is to not be picky about alcohol. You would never have guessed without our little corner of the Internet. For five, same as always, you recommend something, we ignore you. I would nominate Hiking, Camping, or Fornicating (with protection). Possibly all three at the same time.
Either way, comment on how much you agree with us.
I forget where I was going with this. Ah yes, making the world a better place. We will hand down, all Prometheus-like, some easy methods of making your life instantly better. Listed in the normal fashion and reached by the normal methods (fallacious fabrication and thoughtless speculature), are this week's Five:
The Five Best Ways To Improve Your Life Ever!
1. Listen
Specifically to Mike Watt's In the Engine Room (1a. Don't worry if you're citing sources correctly). This bass line makes me happy. I like major/minor key ambiguity almost as much as music nerd obscure references. Vapor lock, clock stop, time hangs limp. Yes, Mike Watt's healthy bass causes time to stop. What finals? What paper due in two hours? I don't care. A voice from the tube says the boat's gotta move/Can we dot it?/We can do it. When you're the left hand man of the boilerman, who gives a shit about anything, really? You know she's running true.
The removal of stress has to be an improvement. I feel like bobbing my head along with the steady 4/4 beat of this beautifully chaotic song. In the Engine Room! Hey-O!
What whimsy! What happiness! My life is not so bad now. And the song ends in the sounds of surf and shore birds. Thank you Mike, my life is better. Hopefully all twelve of our readers' lives will be better too.
-You know I'm not going to disagree with you when it comes to music. I only have limited experience with Mike Watts, and you've already got me ready to download more. The only thing I can add to Casey's advice of "Listen," is that it will also be worth your time to check out some early Ben Harper. I suggest Live From Mars, Disc 2. It is all acoustic, and if it doesn't help you relax and drift off to a better place you should seek help from a higher power. Or a bottle.
2) Read
In case you haven't noticed, Casey and I like the written word. I can't stress enough how important reading has been (and is) to me. The biggest reason why I am a reader is that books allow me to experience characters and situations that I will never meet in my every day life. At the same time books show me people/places that remind me of my family and fondest memories.
If you are looking for some specific books that might grab a hold of you and not let go, let me recommend:
Written on the Body by Jeanette Winterson
Wind Up Bird Chronicles by Haruki Murakami
The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Kundera
-Dude, you like to read, too? Awesome!
I would agree with this one whole-heartedly. In fact, I would expand it in two ways: 1. Read something you've read a hundred times already, or 2. Read something you'd never even try.
I started reading Uncertainty by David Lindley. While science fascinates me, I rarely delve into the more complicated aspects of physics without having a paper due. This one is kind of hard to explain. Imagine a twentieth century physicist soap opera. My life is better.
For the next one, I'll get even simpler:
3. Dip
Pretty simple, really. On a hot day, find a couple extra minutes along the pedal commute. Remove your helmet. Dip it into the flowing water. Replace helmet. That's pretty much it. My life is now better.
-Dude, I thought you were talking about tobacco here for a moment. I was prepared to strongly disagree. Little did I know you were referring to what I believe some people call "outdoor activities." I've heard of these. They sound interesting. I'm not sure how to get into them and keep my job right now, but I am pretty sure I'll try one sometime in the '08.
4. Drink
Yeah, that's right. Another "GSR is talking about drinking" moment. But in this case I'm not advocating going out and getting drunk (note: I do advocate going out and getting drunk). Instead I am referring to finding a nice cold drink that suits you for the summer. I've recently had iced-cold Lemonade mixed with Gin recommend to me (Awesome). Others have suggested a glass of gin garnished with watermelon or cucumber (Interesting). My personal preference will always be a bottle/can of beer that is so cold that I can barely hold it, but not cold enough that it has started to freeze. Honestly, at the end of a long day in the summer, walking home from the D.C. metro, there are few things better (my wife being one of them) that I would rather have greet me at the door. And sometimes that one cold drink is all you need (note: By "you" I actually mean you, since I need more than just that one drink).
-Sorry about the outdoor activity reference, I forgot who I was working with. Of course, you just talked about public transportation and I only vaguely recall what that entails. Smelly people and diesel fumes, I believe. Either way, gin reminds me of smelly people. And puking. I would recommend something more along the lines of good vodka, i.e. Stoli, mixed with lemonade. Also, grind some mint into the bottom of a glass, mix a standard vodka martini, pour onto mint. Add a splash of Cointreau. I usually throw some ice cubes in it. Seeing as how you're drinking a bitch drink, remember to hold pinky aloft.
Should you want to drink like a man, there is the glug down a good summer brew method. Around here, we have no less than six breweries, so I am a pretty lucky guy. Throw down a Palisade Red Truck if you're in Colorado, or if you're not, try and find a Springboard Ale by New Belgium (Fat Tire). It's good stuff. Beer makes me happy. So do bitch drinks. So does PBR. Or, well...anything.
So, there you go, the secret to happiness is to not be picky about alcohol. You would never have guessed without our little corner of the Internet. For five, same as always, you recommend something, we ignore you. I would nominate Hiking, Camping, or Fornicating (with protection). Possibly all three at the same time.
Either way, comment on how much you agree with us.
Tuesday, May 8, 2007
The Five Most Influential Books EVER!
This week we turn back towards the literary realm to discuss The Five Most Influential Books EVER!. This is also the first post that we have put up that is completely influenced by one of your comments.
During our first post Heather very correctly pointed out that to have a true discussion on the five best books of all time we needed to consider books from our childhood. She suggested books like Harold and the Purple Crayon and Good Night Moon, both of which could end up on the list. To define our thinking just a little bit (but Lord knows that there is only so much "definition" that can be applied to our collective thinking) we will be picking books that had an impact on our development as grown-people. Notice I did not say "grown ups." We would never be so bold as to make that claim.
1) Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
If you didn't read this book as a child I am sincerely sorry. It was a favorite of mine growing up, and it is the first one I bought for my friends who just had their first child. The story of the book centers around the main character, Max. Max is about 7(ish), and within the first few pages he gets sent to his room for making mischief. From this point in the story Max closes his eyes and drifts off to "where the wild things are."
The reasons this book was so great for me as a kid came from two key places: 1) Max was in charge the entire time, and wasn't scared of the Wild Things and 2) The pictures are amazing. I would literally listen to this story as many times as my dad was willing to read it to me, and it is one of the first books I can remember holding. As some of you already know, I am now a reading teacher. Anyone want to guess which book I taught to 1st graders on my very first day?
-This book is very deserving of number one. I loved it, even today as soon as I see one of those pictures, I recognize it immediately. Good times were had in my life around the time I first read this. The funnest memory of Where The Wild Things Are, and I warn you children and adults with sticks up their ass should not read this, was from a party where I was shrooming something fierce.
My buddy James was in a corner of the living room of the old house specifically decorated for just what we were doing. he had a giant circus ball on his head, and if he read this he might be offended, but I swear to God he turned into Moeshe. If you knew James, you would know why this was not an enormous leap for one's chemistry enhanced brain to take. Me and James were always into Stanislav Szukalski, so his morphing into a yeti was not as frightening as one would think. We had been expecting them to rise one day.
Even weirder was my friend Ash, who became one of those fucking Kangaroos from:
2) Horton Hears A Who
I know it's all politically allegorical, but I loved Dr. Seuss. I was lucky in my formative years that my parents made it a priority to get us to the library as much as possible. When I got my first library card, this was the book I checked out along with the Asimov's Norby, The Mixed Up Robot.
And thus I nominate myself to be mayor of Nerdton.
I don't even really have a complicated reason I think this is in The Five. I read it, it got me reading early and I loved it. My life-long obsession with reading had its start in this little critique on Roe v. Wade. I wish I had had the opportunity to meet Dr. Seuss. I feel he deserves some serious gratitude. The other day, my little niece came home with this book under her arm. I was very touched, I hope that someday my contribution to humanity can be half of what Dr. Seuss' is.
-Yeah, that Ted Geisel was a pretty clever dude. I also loved "Horton," The Cat in the Hat, and One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish. I do have to say that I never got into Oh The Places You Will Go. I saw so many people both give and receive this book during a college graduation that it made me vomit a little. But then again, maybe I am just a cynical bastard.
3) The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein
I can't say too much about this book or I will be crying salty tears on my keyboard. I remember my mom reading this to me and my brother when we were kids. I think that even as a child I knew that someday I would want to read this book to my own kids.
The plot is simple. It is about a young boy who falls in love with a tree. As the boy grows up/older so does the tree, and it is amazing how it affects people both young and old. I know that sounds like a pretty simple book, but if you've never read it you should take 5 minutes the next time you are in a bookstore. I won't predict or promise that you will cry, but if you don't think that it is a worthwhile book to read to a child you may have something wrong with your soul. Specifically, your soul may be missing. If that is in fact the case I recommend that you move over to the self-help section of the bookstore and start looking for some guided help.
-I remember my principal reading this to our class in first grade. All he told us about the author is that he was "an old man." After he read the story, he asked us what we thought the old man looked like and let us ponder for a minute. Then he showed us the picture on the back cover. The man was black! He asked all of us if we had any idea that he looked like that, and of course none of us did. The school had either poor, dusty country white kids or poor, dusty Navajos and Utes from the Res. I doubt most of us had seen a black person outside of cartoons. It was an important lesson that I don't think I fully understood for years.
Also, this book has interesting point/counter-point going with another Silverstein masterwork, A Boy Named Sue. Whatever you do, make sure you don't mention to an ignorant redneck that such a classic country song (and several others) was written by a black man.
Sort of a departure, but I really have to put in here:
4)White Fang, Jack London
You have to understand that this list is about personally influential books. I doubt this would make anyone else's list, and frankly I don't care. This might not even make my list, this is the last week before finals and I'm a little brain-dead. This list might suck because of me. I hate you all.
Um. The book is good. It's great, actually. I read both White Fang and The Call of the Wild the summer our family had to squat in an orchard. How much of the setting in which I read the books (no electricity, no TV, kerosene lamps, etc) effected the net influence on my life verses how much the books alone would have changed me. I tried to read some London a while back, but it was just too tough to focus. I have had the urge my entire life, and I place the blame square on London, to pack up all my belongings and move to the Yukon.
I owned a wolf once, he died. Talking about these books makes me sad, and arguably dumber. How do you conjugate stem-changing -ir verbs in Castille Spanish? Vosotros pedis ir al banco? Poor dog.
-Wow. Lots of info about you that I didn't know in there. I have nothing negative to say about White Fang. I will say that if you like books about wolves, and if you don't mind having your heart ripped out of your chest, you should check out The Crossing by Cormack McCarthy. Pretty good book if I say so myself.
So now it is up to you the reader. This week should be a lot of fun because we are looking for your contribution to our list of influential books. Be creative. Don't limit yourself to "kids books." And as always, chime in on what we've given you.
During our first post Heather very correctly pointed out that to have a true discussion on the five best books of all time we needed to consider books from our childhood. She suggested books like Harold and the Purple Crayon and Good Night Moon, both of which could end up on the list. To define our thinking just a little bit (but Lord knows that there is only so much "definition" that can be applied to our collective thinking) we will be picking books that had an impact on our development as grown-people. Notice I did not say "grown ups." We would never be so bold as to make that claim.
1) Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
If you didn't read this book as a child I am sincerely sorry. It was a favorite of mine growing up, and it is the first one I bought for my friends who just had their first child. The story of the book centers around the main character, Max. Max is about 7(ish), and within the first few pages he gets sent to his room for making mischief. From this point in the story Max closes his eyes and drifts off to "where the wild things are."
The reasons this book was so great for me as a kid came from two key places: 1) Max was in charge the entire time, and wasn't scared of the Wild Things and 2) The pictures are amazing. I would literally listen to this story as many times as my dad was willing to read it to me, and it is one of the first books I can remember holding. As some of you already know, I am now a reading teacher. Anyone want to guess which book I taught to 1st graders on my very first day?
-This book is very deserving of number one. I loved it, even today as soon as I see one of those pictures, I recognize it immediately. Good times were had in my life around the time I first read this. The funnest memory of Where The Wild Things Are, and I warn you children and adults with sticks up their ass should not read this, was from a party where I was shrooming something fierce.
My buddy James was in a corner of the living room of the old house specifically decorated for just what we were doing. he had a giant circus ball on his head, and if he read this he might be offended, but I swear to God he turned into Moeshe. If you knew James, you would know why this was not an enormous leap for one's chemistry enhanced brain to take. Me and James were always into Stanislav Szukalski, so his morphing into a yeti was not as frightening as one would think. We had been expecting them to rise one day.
Even weirder was my friend Ash, who became one of those fucking Kangaroos from:
2) Horton Hears A Who
I know it's all politically allegorical, but I loved Dr. Seuss. I was lucky in my formative years that my parents made it a priority to get us to the library as much as possible. When I got my first library card, this was the book I checked out along with the Asimov's Norby, The Mixed Up Robot.
And thus I nominate myself to be mayor of Nerdton.
I don't even really have a complicated reason I think this is in The Five. I read it, it got me reading early and I loved it. My life-long obsession with reading had its start in this little critique on Roe v. Wade. I wish I had had the opportunity to meet Dr. Seuss. I feel he deserves some serious gratitude. The other day, my little niece came home with this book under her arm. I was very touched, I hope that someday my contribution to humanity can be half of what Dr. Seuss' is.
-Yeah, that Ted Geisel was a pretty clever dude. I also loved "Horton," The Cat in the Hat, and One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish. I do have to say that I never got into Oh The Places You Will Go. I saw so many people both give and receive this book during a college graduation that it made me vomit a little. But then again, maybe I am just a cynical bastard.
3) The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein
I can't say too much about this book or I will be crying salty tears on my keyboard. I remember my mom reading this to me and my brother when we were kids. I think that even as a child I knew that someday I would want to read this book to my own kids.
The plot is simple. It is about a young boy who falls in love with a tree. As the boy grows up/older so does the tree, and it is amazing how it affects people both young and old. I know that sounds like a pretty simple book, but if you've never read it you should take 5 minutes the next time you are in a bookstore. I won't predict or promise that you will cry, but if you don't think that it is a worthwhile book to read to a child you may have something wrong with your soul. Specifically, your soul may be missing. If that is in fact the case I recommend that you move over to the self-help section of the bookstore and start looking for some guided help.
-I remember my principal reading this to our class in first grade. All he told us about the author is that he was "an old man." After he read the story, he asked us what we thought the old man looked like and let us ponder for a minute. Then he showed us the picture on the back cover. The man was black! He asked all of us if we had any idea that he looked like that, and of course none of us did. The school had either poor, dusty country white kids or poor, dusty Navajos and Utes from the Res. I doubt most of us had seen a black person outside of cartoons. It was an important lesson that I don't think I fully understood for years.
Also, this book has interesting point/counter-point going with another Silverstein masterwork, A Boy Named Sue. Whatever you do, make sure you don't mention to an ignorant redneck that such a classic country song (and several others) was written by a black man.
Sort of a departure, but I really have to put in here:
4)White Fang, Jack London
You have to understand that this list is about personally influential books. I doubt this would make anyone else's list, and frankly I don't care. This might not even make my list, this is the last week before finals and I'm a little brain-dead. This list might suck because of me. I hate you all.
Um. The book is good. It's great, actually. I read both White Fang and The Call of the Wild the summer our family had to squat in an orchard. How much of the setting in which I read the books (no electricity, no TV, kerosene lamps, etc) effected the net influence on my life verses how much the books alone would have changed me. I tried to read some London a while back, but it was just too tough to focus. I have had the urge my entire life, and I place the blame square on London, to pack up all my belongings and move to the Yukon.
I owned a wolf once, he died. Talking about these books makes me sad, and arguably dumber. How do you conjugate stem-changing -ir verbs in Castille Spanish? Vosotros pedis ir al banco? Poor dog.
-Wow. Lots of info about you that I didn't know in there. I have nothing negative to say about White Fang. I will say that if you like books about wolves, and if you don't mind having your heart ripped out of your chest, you should check out The Crossing by Cormack McCarthy. Pretty good book if I say so myself.
So now it is up to you the reader. This week should be a lot of fun because we are looking for your contribution to our list of influential books. Be creative. Don't limit yourself to "kids books." And as always, chime in on what we've given you.
Sunday, April 29, 2007
The Five Best Things You Can Do With Meat Ever!
Get your minds out of the gutter, people. This post refers to removed pieces of animal, not metaphorical chunks of anatomy.
I am aware that some people do not eat meat, and I am also aware that those people believe they are all going to some type of sustenance-related heaven where they meet Oprah or something. It's been awhile since I updated my subscription to Veg!, so my knowledge of your cult is a little vague. Regardless, I should mention that eating meat in no way makes one superior to the chlorophyll swillers of Earth and that eating of meat has nothing to do with masculinity.
Regardless of my respect for those who do not partake of animalia, I am staunchly embroiled in the hobby of improvisational carnage related culinology. No need to run that sentence by Dictionary.com, it means I like to cook meat. Further, I probably cook better than most of humanity and feel I should help out those less fortunate.
Anyway, I am starting this post up right, the order is 1-5, the subject is carne:
1. Braised to Perfection
Rub it with olive oil, salt (not too much), pepper, sage, a touch of cumin, and chile caribe. Sear it on six sides in a hot pan. Deglaze with a 50/50 combination of broth and bourbon, and for the love of God use the cheap stuff (cheap broth, not cheap bourbon). You should probably first drink some of the bourbon to make sure it's still good and hasn't spoiled. After you've scraped all the vulcanized goodness from the bottom of the pan, braise (fancy word for simmer) the meat and a good selection of carrots and onion in the liquid until the meat is tender. The liquid will reduce into a savory bourbon candy glaze coating the vegetables and meat. Note that chicken broth should be used with poultry or pork.
I have cooked just about every chunk of meat I can think of from one of those creepy lumps of deboned turkey to elk ribeye with this method and it always turns out somewhere between "really damn good" and "one night with Keira if she put on twenty pounds."
Caution should be used in selecting guests when this is on the menu. I conceived of this dish as an easy date meal for those occasions I decide to treat a romantic interest to a cooked meal instead of a purchased one. I tried it out on a casual fling figuring it would be safe, but became increasingly alarmed as she named our future children after assassinated presidents. I mean, the history nerd thing kind of got me horny, but the leachy infringement on my future of single living gave me the heebies.
Note: Do not let dinner guests smear you with the bourbon glaze while it is still hot, they will burn their tongue.
-So Casey has a lot more cooking knowledge than I would have guessed. I mean, I figured he could kill animals with guns, arrows, his bare hands...whatever. And I assumed that meant his killing would be followed by some kind of "roasting over a spit." Casey has that whole, "I could have been an Eagle Scout but they kicked me out for burning down a tent" thing going on. So who knew he was a pseudo-chef?
2. Only flip it once, and make sure it bleeds
If you have ever accurately cooked a steak, you immediately knew where I was going with this after reading my title. As a drunken friend once declared in a crowded restaurant - "Holding a raw steak is amazing." Cooking a steak is a subtle art form.
You have to begin my marinating the meat in some kind of concoction. If you only use something pre-made and out of a bottle you are cheating. I recommend using your favorite brand of Worcestershire sauce, a healthy dose of season salt, and a good bit of steak seasoning. Let the raw steaks sit in that for about a half hour (longer is fine too), and be sure to get both sides covered.
After the marinating, throw the steaks on a grill (or put them in the oven if you live in an apartment....in this case I suggest a pre-heat of 325 degrees), and cook them approximately 7 minutes on each side.
Only. Flip. Them. Once.
Will the steaks be bad if you flip them twice or more? No. But you will be. This is an age old art form that should be respected.
If you have done your job successfully the steak will bleed a little when you cut into it. If it doesn't bleed you have ruined a perfectly good steak.
If you don't like my directions you can follow the wisdom of my good friend Chuck : Walk the cow through a warm room and start cutting.
-Absolutely. The only way to cook a steak is somewhere between mooing and vociferously objecting to being cooked. I can say that anymore, I forgo the marinating, but I still appreciate when others do so. I also agree that buying marinade is like paying for a massage. You may end up with something OK, but extraordinary pleasure is a reach exceeded by monetary grasp.
I would argue for preheating to 400, but that is subjective opinion.
3. Campfire Perfection
Most of my enjoyment of the fine art of campfire cooking probably has to do with the fact that by the time dinner rolls around I am figgity-fucked-up. If you do not understand gettin' figgity (yo!) out in the woods, I probably would not associate with you. This is because you suck.
Back in my golden god era, which most archaeologists agree occurred throughout most of the early 2000's, I camped out as often as possible. I would write something here about camping being an escape from California, but all my writing on the Golden State descends into vitriolic scatology with some haste. Point is, take a chunk of something red, any chunk really, slice it into one inch sections, slather one side in honey, one side in Wild Turkey, roll the fat edges in some salt and black pepper (garlic powder for game meat). Lots of black pepper. Throw that shit over a fire (I usually take the grill mesh out of an old BBQ with me camping), and wait just until you see the fat, sealed with the pepper, start to bubble. Your meat, of which I prefer cow elk, is done. At least done enough. That shit is good. Especially if your camping with me since 1) we are already drunk 2) I've already broke out the harmonica and guitar/mandolin/banjo and the Bob Marley. Things are good when you have music, food, and serenity.
Serve steak on a stick. Make out in the tent. Wake up hungover and mountain bike. You are a badass.
-Mmmmm, steak on a stick. And don't let anyone call it "satay" neither. If I enjoyed camping I am sure this type of thing would be my highlight. Unfortunately, I was raised "wussy" with the idea that "camping is pretending you don't have a bed."
4. Jerk it out
If you are looking for specifics on how to turn beef into jerky you are going to be disappointed. I am sure I could look it up, but I actually prefer to have this dried salty goodness remain a mystery, because there is some chance that the "mysterious quality" of jerky is part of what makes it delicious.
Beef Jerky is the ultimate snack. You can take on any type of trip, it would survive a nuclear bomb, and it involves copious amounts of salt and meat. And, aside from all of the sodium, you can get some great protein from a snack of beef jerky which is more than I can say for my tube of Pringles. The truth be told, I will eat anything that is in jerky form. Chicken? Yup. Pig? Pig is great. Alligator? Tried that too - tastes like chicken. If you have ever avoided jerky for any type of aesthetic reason I encourage you to push through it, pay your money, and enjoy the salty-goodness. Just make sure you keep yourself hydrated.
-GSR, jerky rates right up their with smoking in my pantheon of meat-related deity. Covered in salt, loaded with protein, no fat to speak of. This stuff and a good stout has been proven by scientists* to be the best workout recovery combination possible. I do wish the jerky makers of the world would back off a little with the "lemon-grass teriyaki" and "mandarin-creole BBQ" nonsense. It is meat that is dried, fancying it up accomplishes nothing.
The last entry here will be for all of you to decide. I would like to see something along the lines of bacon, or sausage, and don't forget to be all the food snob you can be. I should mention here, that several preparations of meat came close to my favorites including the Buried In The Ground With Hot Rocks method and the very pleasant Smokehouse process.
Have fun kids, and stay away from the tofu, it lowers sperm count.
*I routinely hear this from the scientists I keep as friends. They may be geologists and hydrologists, but I assume they have at least some knowledge of physiology. Don't argue with science!
I am aware that some people do not eat meat, and I am also aware that those people believe they are all going to some type of sustenance-related heaven where they meet Oprah or something. It's been awhile since I updated my subscription to Veg!, so my knowledge of your cult is a little vague. Regardless, I should mention that eating meat in no way makes one superior to the chlorophyll swillers of Earth and that eating of meat has nothing to do with masculinity.
Regardless of my respect for those who do not partake of animalia, I am staunchly embroiled in the hobby of improvisational carnage related culinology. No need to run that sentence by Dictionary.com, it means I like to cook meat. Further, I probably cook better than most of humanity and feel I should help out those less fortunate.
Anyway, I am starting this post up right, the order is 1-5, the subject is carne:
1. Braised to Perfection
Rub it with olive oil, salt (not too much), pepper, sage, a touch of cumin, and chile caribe. Sear it on six sides in a hot pan. Deglaze with a 50/50 combination of broth and bourbon, and for the love of God use the cheap stuff (cheap broth, not cheap bourbon). You should probably first drink some of the bourbon to make sure it's still good and hasn't spoiled. After you've scraped all the vulcanized goodness from the bottom of the pan, braise (fancy word for simmer) the meat and a good selection of carrots and onion in the liquid until the meat is tender. The liquid will reduce into a savory bourbon candy glaze coating the vegetables and meat. Note that chicken broth should be used with poultry or pork.
I have cooked just about every chunk of meat I can think of from one of those creepy lumps of deboned turkey to elk ribeye with this method and it always turns out somewhere between "really damn good" and "one night with Keira if she put on twenty pounds."
Caution should be used in selecting guests when this is on the menu. I conceived of this dish as an easy date meal for those occasions I decide to treat a romantic interest to a cooked meal instead of a purchased one. I tried it out on a casual fling figuring it would be safe, but became increasingly alarmed as she named our future children after assassinated presidents. I mean, the history nerd thing kind of got me horny, but the leachy infringement on my future of single living gave me the heebies.
Note: Do not let dinner guests smear you with the bourbon glaze while it is still hot, they will burn their tongue.
-So Casey has a lot more cooking knowledge than I would have guessed. I mean, I figured he could kill animals with guns, arrows, his bare hands...whatever. And I assumed that meant his killing would be followed by some kind of "roasting over a spit." Casey has that whole, "I could have been an Eagle Scout but they kicked me out for burning down a tent" thing going on. So who knew he was a pseudo-chef?
2. Only flip it once, and make sure it bleeds
If you have ever accurately cooked a steak, you immediately knew where I was going with this after reading my title. As a drunken friend once declared in a crowded restaurant - "Holding a raw steak is amazing." Cooking a steak is a subtle art form.
You have to begin my marinating the meat in some kind of concoction. If you only use something pre-made and out of a bottle you are cheating. I recommend using your favorite brand of Worcestershire sauce, a healthy dose of season salt, and a good bit of steak seasoning. Let the raw steaks sit in that for about a half hour (longer is fine too), and be sure to get both sides covered.
After the marinating, throw the steaks on a grill (or put them in the oven if you live in an apartment....in this case I suggest a pre-heat of 325 degrees), and cook them approximately 7 minutes on each side.
Only. Flip. Them. Once.
Will the steaks be bad if you flip them twice or more? No. But you will be. This is an age old art form that should be respected.
If you have done your job successfully the steak will bleed a little when you cut into it. If it doesn't bleed you have ruined a perfectly good steak.
If you don't like my directions you can follow the wisdom of my good friend Chuck : Walk the cow through a warm room and start cutting.
-Absolutely. The only way to cook a steak is somewhere between mooing and vociferously objecting to being cooked. I can say that anymore, I forgo the marinating, but I still appreciate when others do so. I also agree that buying marinade is like paying for a massage. You may end up with something OK, but extraordinary pleasure is a reach exceeded by monetary grasp.
I would argue for preheating to 400, but that is subjective opinion.
3. Campfire Perfection
Most of my enjoyment of the fine art of campfire cooking probably has to do with the fact that by the time dinner rolls around I am figgity-fucked-up. If you do not understand gettin' figgity (yo!) out in the woods, I probably would not associate with you. This is because you suck.
Back in my golden god era, which most archaeologists agree occurred throughout most of the early 2000's, I camped out as often as possible. I would write something here about camping being an escape from California, but all my writing on the Golden State descends into vitriolic scatology with some haste. Point is, take a chunk of something red, any chunk really, slice it into one inch sections, slather one side in honey, one side in Wild Turkey, roll the fat edges in some salt and black pepper (garlic powder for game meat). Lots of black pepper. Throw that shit over a fire (I usually take the grill mesh out of an old BBQ with me camping), and wait just until you see the fat, sealed with the pepper, start to bubble. Your meat, of which I prefer cow elk, is done. At least done enough. That shit is good. Especially if your camping with me since 1) we are already drunk 2) I've already broke out the harmonica and guitar/mandolin/banjo and the Bob Marley. Things are good when you have music, food, and serenity.
Serve steak on a stick. Make out in the tent. Wake up hungover and mountain bike. You are a badass.
-Mmmmm, steak on a stick. And don't let anyone call it "satay" neither. If I enjoyed camping I am sure this type of thing would be my highlight. Unfortunately, I was raised "wussy" with the idea that "camping is pretending you don't have a bed."
4. Jerk it out
If you are looking for specifics on how to turn beef into jerky you are going to be disappointed. I am sure I could look it up, but I actually prefer to have this dried salty goodness remain a mystery, because there is some chance that the "mysterious quality" of jerky is part of what makes it delicious.
Beef Jerky is the ultimate snack. You can take on any type of trip, it would survive a nuclear bomb, and it involves copious amounts of salt and meat. And, aside from all of the sodium, you can get some great protein from a snack of beef jerky which is more than I can say for my tube of Pringles. The truth be told, I will eat anything that is in jerky form. Chicken? Yup. Pig? Pig is great. Alligator? Tried that too - tastes like chicken. If you have ever avoided jerky for any type of aesthetic reason I encourage you to push through it, pay your money, and enjoy the salty-goodness. Just make sure you keep yourself hydrated.
-GSR, jerky rates right up their with smoking in my pantheon of meat-related deity. Covered in salt, loaded with protein, no fat to speak of. This stuff and a good stout has been proven by scientists* to be the best workout recovery combination possible. I do wish the jerky makers of the world would back off a little with the "lemon-grass teriyaki" and "mandarin-creole BBQ" nonsense. It is meat that is dried, fancying it up accomplishes nothing.
The last entry here will be for all of you to decide. I would like to see something along the lines of bacon, or sausage, and don't forget to be all the food snob you can be. I should mention here, that several preparations of meat came close to my favorites including the Buried In The Ground With Hot Rocks method and the very pleasant Smokehouse process.
Have fun kids, and stay away from the tofu, it lowers sperm count.
*I routinely hear this from the scientists I keep as friends. They may be geologists and hydrologists, but I assume they have at least some knowledge of physiology. Don't argue with science!
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