A rare event
It’s 9am on a Saturday morning and I’m not hungover.
15
Dec, 2012
14
Dec, 2012
Newtown, Ct Shootings
I don’t think I share the same reaction as everyone who decides to express their sorrow through Facebook. How people are sad and they ask God to bless people with strength to move forward. I’m not some cold bastard who doesn’t comprehend that this is a horrifying incident, that seems to be happening more and more, but what I don’t understand is how people continuously look to God to prevent this from happening. It keeps happening, your prayers aren’t doing anything.
I try to figure out why does this keep occurring? Are gun laws too loose that these lunatics just acquire weapons and go berserk? Why are these individuals figuring that their best way out of this world is to take out 27 other people with them? It’s such a sick thought. Are they trying to get their name in the history books? Are they so depressed that they just stop caring completely or are they mentally deranged? What’s happening isn’t just a once in a while deal. These mass killings are occurring multiple times a year. The world out there is starting to feel like Rick Grimes feels like in the Walking Dead. I feel horrible for what happened but I ask, “Is there anyway to prevent someone from doing this who has no reason to live?”
14
Dec, 2012
10 Greatest Songs. Ever.
10. Michael Jackson – Thriller
A quintessential party song. Nobody doesn’t like Thriller. It even has its own T-Rex arms to side to side dance. I’ve never really felt Michael was strong in the lyrics department and I this song doesn’t sway my opinion. That’s why it lands at #10 and not higher. Although I don’t necessarily think a video with the Walking Dead doing the Thriller dance can really has a lot of higher level meaning. It’s just a song about getting scared and being “thrilled.” Great jam though with over 126 million views on youtube.
9. Harry Chapin – Cat’s in the Cradle
“And frankly, this song scares me to death”. One of the only songs that can almost bring a tear to my eye. This is such a great story with the cold reality of how life can pass you by. There’s always the prolonging of the “we’ll have a good time then,” but then never comes. The very first verse ends with “I’m gonna be like you Dad, you know I’m gonna be like you.” In the last verse that comes full circle. I feel the message is that you take for granted what you have in front of you. The chorus is the passage of time. I also like how the son replies with “I love to Dad if I could find the time…but its sure nice talking to you dad.” It’s the same way his dad was treating him.
8. Elton John – Rocket Man
This song was produced by Gus Dudgeon who also produced Space Oddity. I like the idea that the occupation of an astronaut can still feel like a 9-5. The song flows at the same tempo throughout just like the guy is doing his routine job. I’m not really sure why he’s not the same man when he touches down. I suppose seeing the Earth from a space perspective changes your perception of everything. I find it easy to listen to as well.
7. Billy Joel – Piano Man
Who hasn’t been in a bar that is closing at 2am and Piano Man comes on as the final song. Billy Joel takes the role of the Piano Man as he sings about the lives of other bar patrons who are generally complaining. I think people relate to this song because the problems of the customers identify with their own life. And then you put yourself in Billy’s place and he just has to sit there and listen to their problems which he was actually doing at the time. I tend to find this song easier to listen to in a drunk, everyone having fun, environment than sitting by myself like I’m doing right now.
6. Rolling Stones – You Can’t Always Get What You Want
The lyrics outline the singer’s irritation with the increasing commercialism of the modern world, where the radio broadcasts “useless information” and a man on television tells him “how white my shirts can be – but he can’t be a man ’cause he doesn’t smoke the same cigarettes as me.” Jagger also describes the stress of being a celebrity, and the tensions of touring. The reference in the verse to not getting any “girl reaction” was fairly controversial in its day, interpreted by some listeners (and radio programmers) as meaning a girl willing to have sex. Particularly shocking to some people was a reference to a girl having her period (being “on a losing streak”). (Wikipedia)
5. The Beatles – Hey Jude
This song is in 2nd place for the song that has spent the most time at #1 on the Billboard 100, first being Mariah Carey with “One Sweet Day” (I’ve never even heard it). It’s a song about a guy being told not to be a pussy when it comes to girls. I love the line “it’s a fool who plays it cool.” Sort of a pump up song when you are looking to go after the girl you want. A little tidbit, “At 2:58 of the song, someone can allegedly be heard to say, “Fucking hell!” There is some dispute as to who said this, and whether it was really exclaimed at all. Sound engineers Ken Scott and Geoff Emerick claim the exclamation came from McCartney, and that it was Lennon’s idea to leave the mistake in the final mix. “‘Paul hit a clunker on the piano and said a naughty word,’ Lennon gleefully crowed, ‘but I insisted we leave it in, buried just low enough so that it can barely be heard. Most people won’t ever spot it…but we’ll know it’s there.'”
4. Pink Floyd – Time
The 4th song from Dark Side of the Moon that wakes you up with alarm clocks after the peaceful conclusion of “On the Run“. This song is about how time can slip by, but many people do not realize it until it is too late. Roger Waters got the idea when he realized he was no longer preparing for anything in life, but was right in the middle of it. He has described this realization taking place at ages 28 and 29 in various interviews (Wikipedia). “The Sun is the same in a relative way but your older, shorter of breath and one day closer to death.”
3. Free bird – Lynard Skynard
A total song. The guitar solo at the end is well known as a kick ass solo and it feels like this song just takes you on a journey as a freebird. It’s starts off slow like your flying along casually and continuously builds until your flying at high speed. Amazon.com music reviewer Lorry Fleming calls it “the most-requested song in the history of rock music.” “And this bird you cannot change”.
2. American Pie – Don McLean
The song is a recounting of “The Day the Music Died” — the 1959 plane crash that killed Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper (Jiles Perry Richardson, Jr.)—and the aftermath. An 8+ minute song that no one ever switches once it starts. Can music save your mortal soul? I don’t even think Weird Al’s parody is all that bad.
1. Led Zeppelin – Stairway to Heaven
It was the most requested song on FM radio stations in the United States in the 1970s, despite never having been officially released as a single there. “Stairway to Heaven” isn’t the greatest rock song of the 1970s; it is the greatest spell of the 1970s. Think about it: we are all sick of the thing, but in some primordial way it is still number one. Everyone knows it… Even our dislike and mockery is ritualistic. The dumb parodies; the Wayne’s World-inspired folklore about guitar shops demanding customers not play it; even Robert Plant’s public disavowal of the song—all of these just prove the rule. “Stairway to Heaven” is not just number one. It is the One, the quintessence, the closest AOR will ever get you to the absolute.” Truth.
12
Dec, 2012
Top 10 Best TV Shows. Ever.
10. Game of Thrones – I can’t think of one TV series that made me read 5 books that span about 5,000 pages because I wanted to. After watching the first season I remember feeling so intrigued that I went to the HBO website and began learning about all the characters and what families they belonged to because I was so fascinated with who was who and why they were treating each other why they were. Some of the plots are far better than others but the feeling that no one is safe always leaves great suspense. Peter Dinklage as Tyrion is a personal favorite. Jamie and Tywin also are up there. Even though HBO is only about to start season 3, this series will continue to shine because the story is that compelling. Reading the novels ahead of time in no way ruins the series.
9. Twin Peaks – An odd choice considering it only aired for 2 years and began in 1990 but there was something strangely appealing about the mystery behind Laura Palmer. Cooper was my favorite character but Ben Horne was equally great. I developed a nice crush on Audrey throughout. The music was absolutely fantastic. I’ll agree with most that the first season was better than the 2nd because some of the story lines in the 2nd were just sort of wacky. James with the woman and Cooper with Annie were kind of dumb so I think it ended before it really started to go downhill. Nevertheless, this was a very smart show.
8. Curb Your Enthusiasm – This show could go places where Seinfeld couldn’t. It was on HBO so no topic was off limits. Larry could be more animated and the profanity laced tirades were always welcomed. I believe this could be described as situational comedy with many sub plots joining together at the conclusion. Aside from Larry, I’m not a huge fan of any of the characters (Leon! Funk!), but it didn’t really matter, Larry made the show. An adult version of Seinfeld.
7. Seinfeld – I don’t need to waste my time with a write up about Seinfeld. Any show that started in 1989, was syndicated, and is still being shown in 2012 has already gone down in history. It always amazed me at how hot the girls were that Jerry pulled in the show. I’ll also say that I never really got Kramer. When Elaine describes him as “…a tall, lanky dufus with a bird face and hair like the bride of Frankenstein” that sort of sums him up in my mind. I also thought that later seasons weren’t as good as the story lines started getting a bit wilder and lost touch with reality.
6. Family Guy – I know people who don’t like Family Guy. I understand why they don’t like it and it’s because it’s so far over their head. They don’t get the jokes because the jokes are far too intelligent for them to pick up on. Most people think Family Guy and immediately think of dumb humor. It’s not. I know some parts of unbelievably stupid and maybe aren’t that funny but I can’t think of a show that I laugh harder at on a consistent basis. It’s not Seinfeld funny. It’s an off beat, let yourself laugh, take in the humor kind of show. Forget plot and story. You watch to catch the inside jokes and their hilarious references to things you probably have never heard of but if you do, you know they’re funny. Brian and Stewie sub-plots are the elite characters on the show with Peter a close second. Everyone else is secondary (besides Quagmire).
5. Dexter – I think this is one that may be a bit too high for this list. Mainly because I don’t think the show is as good as it has been in the past. I think it peaked with the Trinity Killer which was season 4. Season 1 & 2 with the Ice Truck Killer and the Bay Harbor Butcher were seasons that were so original that it just made Dexter an instant hit. The 3rd season with the Skinner (they just pulled him out of a hat) wasn’t all that great but then season 4 with the Trinity Killer topped the chart. RITA!!! Lumen and Jordan Chase were pretty crappy and then season 6 with Travis Marshall was decent but still lacking that punch. This season with La Guerta tracking Dexter and the odd love interest of Hannah Mckay is not bad but not as good as this show has been. Plus reality has been thrown out the window (why the hell did Estrada jump in the water and not call out to the police!). I think the strength of this show was found in the beginning seasons and then Dexter started getting to get, for lack of a better word, redundant.
4. Arrested Development – If you weren’t aware, Arrested Development will be coming out with 12-15 more episodes available through Netflix. An absolute brilliant move by Netflix to get diehard fans of the show to subscribe. Seriously brilliant. The reason this show takes the cake in terms of comedy is because it combines the story of Seinfeld and the humor of Family Guy. It’s just a wonderful combination of unconventional humor and hilarious story lines. Buster is my favorite character which I’ve noted before but Gob, Tobias, and even Lucille crack me up. This show even got me to start liking Jason Bateman which is saying a lot. Plus after watching it once through you can pick up any episode and feel like you know what’s going on. At 22 minutes long, it’s the perfect show to just watch in a jiffy.
3. The Sopranos – I feel like this show just gets nominated as a great show and that’s that. I just watched all the seasons (100+ episodes) in the last year and it really lived up to expectations in my mind. The Pauly and Christopher episode where they are in the freezing cold chasing after a Russian mob member was my absolute favorite. I couldn’t stop laughing when they were eating mustard packets. Anyway, the reason this show if so good is because it feels real. It’s like getting an up close look at how the mob operates. I’ll be honest though, I didn’t really like many of the characters outside of the members of Tony’s gang. Meadow, Aj, and Carmela were serious buzz kills every episode. Even with their boring story lines, this show lives up to the hype.
2. Breaking Bad – Walter White is terrific. His supporting cast is outstanding. Hank, Jesse, Mike and Saul are the best supporting cast ever assembled. Skyler is a huge bitch… Gus was such an intelligent bad guy that you almost had to like him. Walter’s development was also exhilarating to watch from season 1 to season 5. He went from learning how to sell drugs to becoming the kingpin. This series was intense throughout and every episode was worth watching. Rarely a feeling that the show was coming together slowly. AMC is starting to shine with their productions. See Walking Dead below.
1. The Wire – I watched all 5 seasons in a row about 5 years ago. I honestly haven’t seen an episode since and nothing ever strikes me as being as good as I remember this show. This show felt like real life. You actually felt like you were getting a look at the streets of Baltimore and how the cops tried to catch drug dealers. McNulty, Bunk, Herc, Daniels…. Omar, Stringer, Avon, Bodie, Marlow, Snoop, Chris…. and that’s only touching the tip of the characters. From the streets, to the docks, the campaign, the school and the newspaper and everything in between, this show had it all. I remember that I started ordering Jameson at bars just to be like McNulty. Just awesome.
Honorable Mention:
Freak and Geeks – Tons of stars (Seth Rogen, Jason Segal, James Franco, Busy Philipps, Martin Starr, Linda Cardellini) as young adults. This was just a beautifully scripted show with great story lines that appealed to high school life.
Californication – A personal favorite with David Duchovny as Hank Moody. Runkle is unrivaled as a sidekick. A fun show with great fun involving a dysfunctional family, drugs, sex, partying, and writing novels.
6 Feet Under – I still have 20 episodes to finish but a show that brings death to the surface.
Entourage – Who says this isn’t a good show? It doesn’t have depth of course but that’s not why you watch it. It’s just interesting to get a view into a life that will never be yours.
Walking Dead – Just watching it as I type and I find this show pretty addicting. It’s hard to say it’s the greatest with all the walking zombies, but it’s certainly entertaining.
12
Dec, 2012
Storage Wars Fake
Taken straight from Barstool.
MSN – “Storage Wars” star David Hester says in a lawsuit filed Tuesday that he was fired after complaining that the reality show is staged. In his lawsuit, Hester contends that the producers of the hit A&E series routinely plant valuable items in the storage lockers seen on the show. Competitors place bids on the lockers without knowing what is inside them, hoping to come across forgotten treasures. The lawsuit pulls no punches, alleging that “nearly every aspect of the series is faked, even down to the plastic surgery that one of the female castmembers underwent in order to create more ‘sex appeal’ for the show …” The lawsuit says the surgery was paid for by the show’s production company, Original Productions. Hester also contends in the suit that Original Productions manipulates the outcome of auctions by placing bids on behalf of “the weaker castmembers who lack … both the skill and financial wherewithal to place winning bids.”
Of course Storage Wars is fake. Duh. Anybody with a brain knew that. There is just no way Darrell Sheets can always know what everything is that he finds in a storage locker the instant he sees it. Dude is the biggest idiot on the planet yet somehow he knows what everything is. Oh that’s a 18th century record player. Oh that’s the type of steel that is used to make titanium rods for peoples legs. Oh that’s the inside of a movie projector from the 60’s. Shut up Darrell. There is no way you can know all that shit unless somebody told you beforehand and there is no way you have a friend who specializes in that shit either. Fake as can be. Don’t get me wrong I still watch it from time to time, but I just suspend belief. Now Antiques Roadshow that’s a different story. That’s my joint. And if that ends up being fake I’ll probably just kill myself Royal nurse style.
11
Dec, 2012
Much Improved
When you’re a one man show it’s hard to keep up with blog duties when you aren’t feeling 100%. Yesterday was a bit of an odd work day because we were helping out with one of my dad’s pet projects. He tore down a lot of “rubble” for lack of a better word from the upper floors of our building in the city. We rented a 30ft dumpster, which was also a process getting a permit (which we didn’t use), and I think the discussion of making this happened took weeks. So this process consisted of us filling barrels to somewhere between 50-100 lbs and then lugging them down flights of stairs and dumping them in the dumpster. This work was absolutely filthy and labor intensive. After the first hour I had sweat through my sweatshirt and I Jeff claimed “I looked like a raccoon or a drunk girl who’d been crying a puking and whose makeup was running.” This was coming off of a few days of drinking and after the work was completed at 5:30pm, let’s just say I wasn’t feeling great.
I came home, showered, and passed out for a few hours only to wake up and watch the Sixers and the end of the MNF game. My BarStool fanduel team was 1 point away from cashing for another 100 bucks. I’m up $317 in 2 weeks of playing with a strategy that has performed well in the past two weeks. I was having a hard time sleeping last night and awoke today feeling pretty yucky. I got through the day and just woke up from another 3 hour nap where I can say I’m feeling much better. I’ve been drinking tons of water and my eating schedule is almost back on track. To say that blogging was not a priority would be an understatement. I know the blog suffers from this but I don’t have much of a choice with a staff of one. Moving forward I should be able to get back to a more normal routine.
10
Dec, 2012
Long Time No Post
I’d say I had an above average weekend even though my body isn’t exactly agreeing with that sentiment. On Friday I hung out with Laura and Brookes which was good conversation. Saturday I watched some Walking Dead’s and then spent some time with the Shee. We met up with the Baker crew and headed to Cavanaugh’s and then the Irish Pub. I don’t really see a need to get into the exact specifics of my every move but it was still a pretty good time.
On Sunday I woke up and headed to Millers in Willow Grove to watch football with Bud and Ck4. I’d say the experience was more than enjoyable and that is excluding the fantasy playoff match up between Bud and I which proved to be 1st (or 2nd) best game of the year. Before we started I said it was going to be close and it literally came down to whether Matthew Stafford could get it done in the last few minutes (he couldn’t). I also won my playoff game in Steve’s league but lost in the pro league which has me down to 2. I won a 5 man 50 dollar fanduel, got 2nd in 10 dollar 10 man and still have some chances in a 55 dollar, 555 man which has me in about 200th place with 2 guys to go in Andre Johnson and Hernandez. I was spot on with the Seahawks defense which is giving me a nice week.
Other than that, things are shaping up another week.
7
Dec, 2012
Intramural Championship
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
7
Dec, 2012
Jeff Learning to Ride a Bike
A couple of classic things in this video. The look on Jeff’s face at :33 seconds is priceless. A few seconds later when he is about to fall, it’s pretty obvious he’s practiced that foot out landing technique multiple times. JC’s attire is fantastic as well. Talk about a guy lounging around.
6
Dec, 2012
Repeat, No repeat
I had to get to get a tooth filled today. The dentist is always asking me if I’m flossing like I’m committing a crime if I don’t. Fact of the matter is that I actually am flossing but he’s obviously not seeing the improvement he’d like. After getting my mouth nice and numb he was reviewing the X-Rays and decided to not just fill one tooth, but 2. What an easy way to make money. Classic bait and switch. Get the idiot in the chair, numb his mouth, and tell him the price of the treatment is double because he decides another tooth needs to be filled. Repeat as necessary.
So during the filling process his assistant starts some small talk with how she is deciding to watch Nip/Tuck again and she is starting from the beginning. While my mouth was open and filled with cotton balls and a strange instrument, I wasn’t able to give her my opinion but I can’t think of anything that I actively repeat watch. Once I watch a series, I just don’t watch it again. The first time through is the best time through and I’m not into digging deeper into the minutia of every episode. This allows me to watch many series and have a greater scope of what’s out there instead of being an expert on a particular series. I know Sam can watch the same movie 10 times and not get sick of it but I just have a thirst for new material. I almost consider it wasting my life repeating things I’ve already watched. This especially applies to rinse, rather, repeat. Fuck repeat.