The music-about 90% of it- is taken from Alice in Wonderland, mostly from the "Seldom follow it" song, I believe, then mixed into this wonderfully trippy little number.
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Really?
Promise? It's a shame really, since liquor was probably these ladies' last, best hope for action.
Saturday, May 3, 2008
Monday, March 10, 2008
It has electrolytes
Ever since seeing Idiocracy, I wanted to try Brawndo. Why? Simply put: it has electrolytes. And that's what plants crave.
I got my chance today. Zach ordered a case. I am now drinking in (literally) the glory that is Brawndo. The can looks just like it does in the movie, touting the contents contained therein as The Thirst Mutilator in bold letters, and yes, it is bright green.
It tastes like a lightly carbonated citrus Gatorade. It's smoother than a monster, and lacks the sometimes slightly bitter aftertaste so common to energy drinks. It has a rather light finish, actually. I'm also getting a pretty decent buzz on an empty stomach. The best part though? It has electrolytes.
I got my chance today. Zach ordered a case. I am now drinking in (literally) the glory that is Brawndo. The can looks just like it does in the movie, touting the contents contained therein as The Thirst Mutilator in bold letters, and yes, it is bright green.
It tastes like a lightly carbonated citrus Gatorade. It's smoother than a monster, and lacks the sometimes slightly bitter aftertaste so common to energy drinks. It has a rather light finish, actually. I'm also getting a pretty decent buzz on an empty stomach. The best part though? It has electrolytes.
Friday, August 10, 2007
I know Kung Fu
Well, not really. I just signed up for a two week trial period that will be up on Saturday, and I fully plan on making the commitment to keep studying. I'm learning that I can, in fact, be somewhat graceful, even if I still wobble and catch myself at times (but Tai Chi will help with that), and I'm feeling muscles I didn't know I had. I'm toning and conditioning, and I'm already starting to feel better; I'm even sleeping better at night. Plus, they start out teaching you some good practical self defense moves. My belt's already gone in another notch, and it's only been two weeks.
I never realized how much I was missing by not doing this sooner.
I never realized how much I was missing by not doing this sooner.
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
At times, I do miss the record store
From roughly October 2004 to May 2006, I worked at a mall record store. It was one of the less dollar-intensive jobs I've had, but strangely, one of the most enjoyable. I was a manager, more or less, so I had a bit of responsibility and a modicum of authority, but not so as you'd notice.
We were a pretty tight crew. The difference between our store and others in the chain was, and still is, remarkable. Why? Most of us, especially management, really knew music. Between me and the other two managers, we had almost every genre (except modern country and gangsta rap) covered in terms of outright knowledge. What we didn't listen to we'd pick up on as people asked about it. You'd be amazed at how many songs we could identify without ever having heard them.
What we enjoyed was helping people find music, and sharing new music that we liked with people that we though would enjoy it. It made my day when someone came in and said they really liked that album we had suggested (and yes, you can still say "album." The medium on which the music resides may be a CD, but the collected body of work is still an album).
What I don't like about retail is, well, that it's retail. Retail, as most if us know, pays crap. And yet retail companies expect quite a bit from their employees. Dis-proportionally so, in my opinion. Companies stress good customer service, and going the extra mile, but will they do the same in relation to their employees? Will they pay them an extra few bucks so Joe Retail feels it's worth his time to go out of his way for a difficult customer?
Better yet, will they actually stand behind that employee if he's faced with a customer who is only out to scam the store? Most of the time? No. My managers were the exceptions. We always had each others backs, with customers and upper management.
Too bad the pay was so bad. I might still be there.
We were a pretty tight crew. The difference between our store and others in the chain was, and still is, remarkable. Why? Most of us, especially management, really knew music. Between me and the other two managers, we had almost every genre (except modern country and gangsta rap) covered in terms of outright knowledge. What we didn't listen to we'd pick up on as people asked about it. You'd be amazed at how many songs we could identify without ever having heard them.
What we enjoyed was helping people find music, and sharing new music that we liked with people that we though would enjoy it. It made my day when someone came in and said they really liked that album we had suggested (and yes, you can still say "album." The medium on which the music resides may be a CD, but the collected body of work is still an album).
What I don't like about retail is, well, that it's retail. Retail, as most if us know, pays crap. And yet retail companies expect quite a bit from their employees. Dis-proportionally so, in my opinion. Companies stress good customer service, and going the extra mile, but will they do the same in relation to their employees? Will they pay them an extra few bucks so Joe Retail feels it's worth his time to go out of his way for a difficult customer?
Better yet, will they actually stand behind that employee if he's faced with a customer who is only out to scam the store? Most of the time? No. My managers were the exceptions. We always had each others backs, with customers and upper management.
Too bad the pay was so bad. I might still be there.
Monday, July 23, 2007
Harry Potter and Unpopular Antiquated Notions
With all the buzz-- no, make that hysteria-- surrounding the recent recent release of the final Harry Potter novel (Hermione kills Snape), I have been thinking about my particular tastes in fiction and why I am singularly uninterested in the Potter series (Ron kills Harry).
I remember seeing the first novel in B. Dalton's, and thinking it was a cute idea. It certainly taps into a common fantasy among grade-schoolers-- that their parents aren't their real parents, and that soon they will have a life changing moment in which their true lineage will be revealed and they will live a life far removed from the banality of the normal (in Morpheus' words, the "desert of the real"). This is not to say that they all think they're really a wizard, a rainbow unicorn trapped in human form, or a werewolf whose abilities will become evident at the onset of puberty (thank you, White Wolf). They may hope to be the long lost heir of an oil magnate who was put up for adoption at birth, and will now inherit lots of money to blow on comic books and action figures.
I digress.
What I can't quite wrap my mind around is the enthusiasm that many adult readers of the books exhibit. I'm not talking about the ones that simply read the book and enjoy it; I'm specifically referring to the ones who dress up in costume for the books release. The ones who are so involved in these characters' lives that a drive-by spoiling at the release of the last book caused cries of anguish from those waiting. Apparently there's video of this. I shall have to find it. (Fluffy kills Hagrid)
I can hardly imagine people dressing up as Frodo or Gandalf in 1955 to celebrate the release of The Return of the King, much less being devastated by finding out the ending prematurely. Of course, the title is in and of itself a spoiler of sorts, leaving little doubt that the nominal King is Elessar of Gondor. Anyone who'd been paying attention up to that point could pretty much figure that one out.
And I don't begrudge anyone their fandom; I just don't see the appeal. Zach has said that perhaps I am not disillusioned with the books, indeed, how can I be, never having read them, but that I am fed up with the hype surrounding them.
I find this point to be valid.
I must also point out that I am being a bit of a literary snob. I read Steinbeck. I prefer my fantasy epic. I am eagerly awaiting the next installment of the Song of Ice and Fire (Tyrion kills Voldemort... wait, what?). But what I enjoy most is pulp. Edgar Rice Burroughs. HP Lovecraft. And the father of Sword and Sorcery (and, in my opinion, the Grandfather of modern adventure fantasy), Robert E. Howard.
The pulps tell more than a story. They tell us about the time in which they were written. Howard and Lovecraft were unforgivable racists. Their casual callousness to issues of race astound modern readers and drive many away. When originally written, they reflected many current popular issues regarding race. When read now, they force us to hold a mirror to our own psyches and determine if we have indeed advanced as much as we like to think we have. Hopefully the answer for the modern reader is yes.
I remember seeing the first novel in B. Dalton's, and thinking it was a cute idea. It certainly taps into a common fantasy among grade-schoolers-- that their parents aren't their real parents, and that soon they will have a life changing moment in which their true lineage will be revealed and they will live a life far removed from the banality of the normal (in Morpheus' words, the "desert of the real"). This is not to say that they all think they're really a wizard, a rainbow unicorn trapped in human form, or a werewolf whose abilities will become evident at the onset of puberty (thank you, White Wolf). They may hope to be the long lost heir of an oil magnate who was put up for adoption at birth, and will now inherit lots of money to blow on comic books and action figures.
I digress.
What I can't quite wrap my mind around is the enthusiasm that many adult readers of the books exhibit. I'm not talking about the ones that simply read the book and enjoy it; I'm specifically referring to the ones who dress up in costume for the books release. The ones who are so involved in these characters' lives that a drive-by spoiling at the release of the last book caused cries of anguish from those waiting. Apparently there's video of this. I shall have to find it. (Fluffy kills Hagrid)
I can hardly imagine people dressing up as Frodo or Gandalf in 1955 to celebrate the release of The Return of the King, much less being devastated by finding out the ending prematurely. Of course, the title is in and of itself a spoiler of sorts, leaving little doubt that the nominal King is Elessar of Gondor. Anyone who'd been paying attention up to that point could pretty much figure that one out.
And I don't begrudge anyone their fandom; I just don't see the appeal. Zach has said that perhaps I am not disillusioned with the books, indeed, how can I be, never having read them, but that I am fed up with the hype surrounding them.
I find this point to be valid.
I must also point out that I am being a bit of a literary snob. I read Steinbeck. I prefer my fantasy epic. I am eagerly awaiting the next installment of the Song of Ice and Fire (Tyrion kills Voldemort... wait, what?). But what I enjoy most is pulp. Edgar Rice Burroughs. HP Lovecraft. And the father of Sword and Sorcery (and, in my opinion, the Grandfather of modern adventure fantasy), Robert E. Howard.
The pulps tell more than a story. They tell us about the time in which they were written. Howard and Lovecraft were unforgivable racists. Their casual callousness to issues of race astound modern readers and drive many away. When originally written, they reflected many current popular issues regarding race. When read now, they force us to hold a mirror to our own psyches and determine if we have indeed advanced as much as we like to think we have. Hopefully the answer for the modern reader is yes.
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