The Best Of EverythingThe Best Of EverythingWhat\\\'s the Best of ... whatever? This humorous blog will compile nominations for the Best of anything and everything, so check in often and nominate your own categories! 
Articles
Those Babies! Are Expensive!
2008-03-14 14:14:00 Remember all the hub-bub a few years back about the changes in the bankruptcy laws and how they would affect people and what the fallout would be? The laws were changed -- depending on who you listen to -- to make bankruptcy more fair for creditors, to make bankruptcy more fair for debtors, to help end debtor fraud, to help lessen court congestion -- it seemed everyone had an idea about why Congress was doing that.And everyone had an idea about what would happen: they said more people would file bankruptcy, or less people would file bankruptcy, or more people would have to file in a way that made them pay back debts, or more creditors would be fighting bankruptcy.It's a little early, still, to tell the lasting effects of that law, but a few things have become clear: it is harder to get rid of your debts through bankruptcy now. Bankruptcy has always been one tool in the box for debtor's lawyers, but generally a tool of last resort. Now, it has become harder to file a "simple" bankr... More About: Babies
The Best Storyline in the Peanuts Comic Strip
2008-03-13 03:33:00 "Peanuts ," as highly regarded as it is, is underrated.People have always underrated popular or "easy" art forms.Not that comic strips are easy, mind you. I know they are not. I tried creating a comic strip once. It was called "Marooned," and was based on a concept of a guy who had washed up onto one of those desert islands that you only see in comic strips and Bugs Bunny cartoons, where it's just sand and a coconut tree. He would, I figured, interact with a shark and maybe another kind of fish, and a bird that would visit the island. That was as far as I got, because while it was -- is-- a great concept for a comic strip, I had no actual jokes, and no actual artistic abilities.If there are comic artists out there who want to take off with that idea, get in touch with me. Anything that puts me a little closer to living in Hawaii is for sale.But if an art form is (a) deemed to be easy or (b) deemed to be popular, or (c) both, it is dismissed by hoi polloi. And I'm using that correct... More About: Comic , Strip , Storyline
My wife won't let me date, so I'm mentioning this as a favor for you.
2008-03-12 22:34:00 It was hard to find that perfect person, or at least that perfect-for-right-now-person, before the advent of the plethora of dating services on the Internet. You had to go to school, or hope that you worked with someone hot (like I did) or get a hobby, or meet someone through church, or, God forbid, be set up by someone. Along comes the Internet, and that all seemed ready to change -- only it didn't. It made things harder because suddenly there were hundreds, thousands, millions, maybe of dating services. They promised everything, and anything: the perfect match. Someone hot. Someone local. Someone who shares your views on sex, or politics, or religion, or sports, or even technology. Some were free, some charged, some are free and then charge... it's bewildering for me, and I'm not even single. I can't imagine how it looks to someone single.Choosing the right dating service can be critical. Pick wrong and you'll waste your money and your time -- and you might end up wi... More About: Wife , Favor
The Best Decade For Style
2008-03-05 15:40:00 Who knew that The Boy had opinions on stuff & junk? Hot on the heels of a debate we had Sunday night (in which I confessed that I had picked Star Wars as The Best Star Wars Movie -- a debate that included us trading off key lines from the movies, and a debate which I think that I won by making two key points: (1) only the original Star Wars had that cool song from the Cantina that gets stuck in your head and you can't get it out...and (2), if it were not for The Empire Strikes Back, we would never have got to "Return of the Jedi" and the Ewoks.So those were two key points, and also it was a very entertaining debate -- the kind of debate that should be on TV. Hello? Important Hollywood Execs? If you are looking for a TV show that can be made cheaply and will be entertaining and does not involve any form of dancing, karaoke, or losing weight... call me.One example of why it would be so entertaining is that I am such an astute observer of culture that I have noticed our society ha... More About: Style
What did you think the sheep's heads were being sold for?
2008-03-05 15:09:00 The hardest thing I had to do when I was in Morocco was eat a sheep's eyeball.The second hardest thing to do was figure out a way to call home to tell everyone about that.When I was in Rabat on a foreign study program, for the first week I stayed with a family. I was immersed in a completely foreign culture and it was both an amazing learning experience and amazingly uncomfortable at times. But the family I was with was very nice. So nice, in fact, that they accorded me a special honor. The 'man of the house' was my host-student's uncle, since Nadia's father had died. At the end of the week, they put themselves out to make a special meal of sheep's head couscous, which is what it sounds like: couscous cooked around a sheep's head. Having been there a week already, I knew that they sold sheep's heads in the market. I just didn't know that they ate them.They do, and the best part, according to Uncle, was the eyeball, which he gave to me as their honored guest to eat.Eyeball t... More About: Sold , Heads
The Best Quarterback Ever.
2008-03-04 17:12:00 I was all set for a different topic today and then I turned on the radio and heard that Brett Favre was retiring.Brett Favre is The Best Quarterback . Ever. Period.I don't want to get into stats or Superbowls or all that junk. Yes, Favre trails Elway and Montana and some other guys in terms of Superbowls won -- playing in two, winning one, both relatively early in his career. Yes, Favre has thrown more interceptions than any other QB in history (but he's started more consecutive games than any other QB, too, so that makes sense.) That all doesn't really matter, because Best-Ness is not about stats.Best-Ness is about intangibles, and not the kind of intangibles that let you line up under center for every single game from the 3rd week of 1992 on-- the longest streak ever and one that will be hard to break.Intangibles beyond that make one The Best and Favre has those intangibles. I'll let you in on a secret: I didn't always like Brett. In fact, I thought it was a mistake to trade f...
It's the wide pedal in the middle! Oh, man!
2008-03-04 15:46:00 The Boy has just started taking Driver's Ed. I mention this because there are two things that concern me when the kids start driving.One is that I am the one to teach them, which means that I am the one who has to sit in the passenger's seat while they careen down a hill in our car at 40 miles per hour and ask me "Which one's the brake," and I have to answer that while also remaining positive and not biting my tongue clean off as I reach for the Jesus Handle.The other is that I have to pay for insurance, which, as that first problem tells you, can be a difficult thing to do when teens start driving. But you've got to have insurance -- most states require it, but even if they don't, not having car insurance can mean disaster after even a little accident, one that isn't even your fault. Good car insurance covers your repairs, covers some medical bills if you're injured in an accident, and, most importantly, covers you if you're the one who screwed up. An insurer will help sett... More About: Wide , Middle , Pedal
The Best Spoken Word Song
2008-03-04 15:45:00 I was driving to pick up The Boy the other day, and it was a rather long drive. I took the Babies along and played music as we drove, singing along with it, as is my usual style. In rapid succession, a couple of songs came on that are not so much singing as they are speaking, and I 'sang' those to the Babies!. The songs were, in this order, "Common People," then "Walk on The Wild Side."Yes, I sang both to the Babies! I don't believe in coddling kids. If they have to hear about Holly from Miami, F-L-A, it's better that they hear it from their dad. Plus, they don't understand the words. They're only 18 months old. My nephew, who's now 16 and turned out mostly okay, used to love the song "Diz Knee Land" by Dada, because of the chorus: I'm going to Diz knee land. But it's about the grimmest song you could ever hear:That nephew also liked the Jimmy Buffett song that had "We're off to see the lizard" as a chorus. I cannot find the CD for that song! No matter how hard I try! And ... More About: Song , Word , Spoken , Spoken Word
Your staff needs a Toon-Up
2008-03-04 15:32:00 Ever wonder why your training is not taking hold and things keep being done the same old incorrect way? It's because the way you're training your staff is ineffectively old-school. You and your employees are surrounded everyday by a wonderful world of entertainment: cellphones that play music and videos, plasma TVs, iPods, and, of course, the ubiquitous office computer, with its access to the Internet and all the videos, games, cartoons, and other attention diverters.Then, when it's time for training or updating skills, managers take us away from all that, put us into a small room with a table, chairs, and a large tablet on an easel, and talk for two hours. No wonder it doesn't work: it's boring. Tedious. Ineffective.Why not change that and give your staff a "Toon-up?" Marastar Communications has created animated training videos in dozens of areas ranging from customer service call center training to office etiquette to sales training. These videos will add some fun a... More About: Staff
Tournament of Pets 2008 Is Here!
2008-03-04 15:20:00 Every year, since last year, I have run "Tournament of Pets ," a contest on Gather to choose The Best Pet of the year. Last year's winner was Casey: Gather gives you "points" for posting and collecting content. My points earned during Tournament of Pets go to help Ryan and Angie Shaw, and their two great little boys, Mateo and McHale: Mateo and McHale were born conjoined twins and have gone through a whopping number of medical procedures in their short two years of life. They had a 5% -- 5%-- chance of surviving at birth, and here they are now, almost two years old and loving life!If you're not a member of Gather, you can help one of two ways: go there and join and vote in Tournament of Pets 2008 (or enter your own pet!) , or send a contribution directly to Mateo and McHale at:The Mateo and McHale Shaw Irrevocable Special-Needs Trust,c/o Kohler Credit Union, 850 Woodlake Road,Kohler, Wis., 53044
Think of all the money I'll save in chiropractor bills!
2008-03-04 15:11:00 Here's how I carry my boys: I pick up Mr F, who's the wigglier of the two and who needs to be properly secured. Then I have Sweetie hand me Mr Bunches, who's smaller and can fit into the niches that Mr F leaves. Then I stagger around until I find a place to put them down or someone helps me. I have an unshakeable faith in my own competence. Unshakeable in my mind, not in Sweetie's.There is a better method, one that every parent should use: baby slings.Baby slings from Slingling.com can be safely used for kids up to 35 pounds, and fit over either shoulder. They securely hold the baby in a comfortable position that allows your little guy or gal to see you and the world around you -- which is what kids want. It leaves your hands free for navigating around the house, the park, the zoo -- wherever you want to take your little buddy. Slinglings.com has baby slings in a variety of sizes, fabrics, and colors. Plus: You are my loyal readers, so I know that you (like me) love free stu... More About: Money , Save , Bills
The Best Band That Captured Exactly What It Feels Like To Be A Teenager (Ev
2008-02-29 17:46:00 I'm not a baby boomer, so I'm not the most self-obsessed person in the world. I'm a Generation X-er, making me the second most self-obsessed person in the world. And I am a real Generation X-er. If you turned 18 after 1990, you are not a member of Generation X, so knock it off. Generation X members liked Nirvana but not all that much and we didn't know about them until after they got big. Generation X members owned Duran Duran record albums and cuffed their pants and were the same age, more or less, as Molly Ringwald and Andrew McCarthy and that guy from Sixteen Candles whose name I couldn't remember at first but now I did (It's Anthony Michael Hall), when those movies came out.Generation Xers, like me, had for the most part decent childhoods. Our families were reasonably well-off. Not rich, but not poor. We had cars we could borrow and sometimes our own car. We had above-ground swimming pools and schools that had good basketball courts and a track team. We were healthy and li... More About: Band , Teenager
Now, when someone says "You're a card," you really could be.
2008-02-29 17:08:00 For a long time, I've been moving away from using cards on holidays and birthdays. It started to seem to me to be a whole lot of nothing -- I'd go select a card, but they were all kind of generic and didn't say anything I really wanted them to say, and they cost a lot of money, and then when I gave a card to someone, they skimmed it and tossed it away.So I began just giving presents and no card, but I missed giving a card with a little message, especially when you're mailing the present. So I looked around to find something I could use, and I found photo cards.You can get photo cards made to order at Card s Direct, combining their quality cards and covers with your own photos to create something that's unique to you and the person you're giving it to. No more standard-issue-roses on a Mother's Day card, or jolly Santa wishing someone a merry Christmas; instead, send a picture of yourself, or your family, or a cherished memory, in a card.And they offer the same services for bus...
The Best Celebrity That I Don't Want To Get Sick Of So Will He Please Just
2008-02-29 16:33:00 This is a horse race between two guys: Will Ferrelland Steve Carell.Steve Carell first made me laugh when he did an expose on beating the heat on The Daily Show. That was only a couple of years ago. He made 4 movies while still with that show. Since 2005, he has made or is making 10 movies, including voice-overs for cartoons, and has also appeared on Saturday Night Live a lot and of course stars in The Office. Now, he's remaking Get Smart and has listed the unpromising-sounding "High T" movie in the works. I have never heard of it before but from the title alone I am going to guess that it's about a rapper who becomes an English gentleman of some sort, and Steve has to help teach him how to behave.Now, I just went and Googled it, and found that I was not even kind of close. Here's the exact description:Up and coming star Steve Carell has signed on to star in new comedy "High T", the story of a weedy guy who takes testosterone shots to become more macho. Unfortunately he takes so ... More About: Celebrity , Sick
If the jewelry could be chocolate, that'd be awesome!
2008-02-28 20:05:00 We're doing it! We're really doing it! Finally, I am going to get to go on vacation. It's been years since I was able to plan a vacation, but this year we're going to load up the kids (babies and all) and take them down to Orlando for some well-deserved R&R.Of course, I wouldn't have had to wait so long if I'd known before about the ability to book cheap airfare or discount hotel reservations with Orbitz, Expedia or Travelocity over on #1 Coupons. You would think that someone as dedicated as I am to saving money -- meaning get stuff for cheaper-- would have known long before now about #1 Coupons. Well, I didn't, okay, but I do now and because I know about it, I can go back to living the high life without paying the high prices. Have you, for example, seen the cool holiday decorations you can get at Oriental Trading? I love them, and with #1 Coupons I can right now get up to 70% discounts on that stuff. Worried you'll have to go through St. Patrick's Day without b... More About: Jewelry , Awesome , Chocolate
The Best Web Comic
2008-02-27 20:26:00 I gave you, yesterday, a little insight into how my mind works. (Technically, this whole blog is about how my mind works, excepting those nominations from intrepid readers who dare to disagree with me.) Today, let me give you an example of how my job works.As a lawyer, most of the day, I spend sitting around suing people. But suing people is boring and a lot less dramatic than Sam Waterston would have you believe. Yesterday, it involved me driving 2 1/2 hours, one way, to question a witness, only to have him refuse to answer questions. So I drove back home. Today, I spent 3 1/2 hours reviewing rules about garnishments.So those times that I'm not in court, I need, occasionally, a break from the tedium of statutes and the like. And because my work is pretty easy for me, my mind tends to wander during those breaks. It will sometimes roam back into Memoryville, and I will remember being a geeky young teenager who liked Dungeons & Dragons, liked it so much that I used to buy Dragon ... More About: Comic
Don't just sit there staring at the girl.
2008-02-27 20:16:00 Although I am easily cool enough and hip enough to be a skater -- more than cool and hip enough, especially when you consider that I know it's "skater" and not skateboarder-- I am not one. I am not one because as cool and hip as I am, I am also amazingly uncoordinated and have no sense of balance whatsover; those two traits added together means that for me, skating = broken leg. A cool, hip broken leg, but a broken leg nonetheless.Not all cool, hip people are as uncoordinated and unbalanced... that doesn't sound right, does it? ... as me. Many of them are more than coordinated enough to be skaters. And those people, if they are even 1/2 as cool and hip as me, should be using Sector 9 Skateboards , and they should be getting those Sector 9 boards from Warehouse Skateboards.Warehouse Skateboards offers a great website that lets you pick out your Sector 9 Skateboards and wheels and offers free shipping on orders over $150. The site has awesome photos of the boards and wheels availabl... More About: Girl , Staring , The Girl
The Best Postseason Sporting Event
2008-02-26 22:09:00 Here's some insight into how I pick topics I'm going to write about.I was staring at the screen, thinking What Best Thing Do I Like Today? and I looked at a list of ideas I keep handy, things that start out popping into my head while I'm driving, then get written on my hand, then get transferred to a post-it note in my wallet, and then typed into a list titled "TBOE topics." Here is that list, as it exists right now:TBOE Topics:The best spoken word song (Long long time Guy Forsyth)The best commercial jingle?Best use of candy hearts in a story line (Futurama or “Arrested Development?”)Best comic strip I think I could have drawn but didn’t (Jim’s Journal)The best web comic (Girl Genius)The best Dickens’ book (David Copperfield: traddling and cried.)the best Newhart seriesThe best version of “lion sleeps tonight video”TBOE best capturing of teen angst:VF first album (we think as teenagers that life should be like Paradise by the Dashboard lights but really it’s more ... More About: Event , Sporting , Postseason
Turn The Tables On The Dealer By Having Good Information!
2008-02-26 19:39:00 This is sweet: There's a new Lease Tool from the people who run ShrewdLease.com. One of the problems I've always had with leasing, rather than buying, a car, is that I have no real way of calculating what I'm getting, of knowing how smart the deal is. When I buy a car, I get a breakdown that tells me what the car is worth, what I'm spending, all that, so I can look and see the true costs of the car and know whether I think a deal is an okay one.Leasing always held some appeal to me; get the use of the car for a period of time, and then either trade-in or buy it outright. Like an extended trial period. But I didn't know how to assess a lease deal. The payments seemed lower, but the down payment seemed higher. And how to factor in the cost of buying the car at the end? I didn't know, and so I've been reluctant to lease.Now, ShrewdLease.com will do the homework for me. All you have to do once you become a member is go to their site, enter the basic information about the... More About: Information , Tables , Good , Dealer , Turn
The Best Playground Toy
2008-02-25 15:24:00 We have three playgrounds within about 1 1/2 miles of our house, and we have a major, really fancy, extravagant playground across town, and not one of them has a Merry-Go-Round.They all have slides. They all have swings. They all have those stupid wood chips that are supposed to be safer for kids but which dig into your knees when you fall and which slip into your Crocs when you walk, making them worse than just ground or dirt. But they don't have The Best Playground Toy, the Merry-Go-Round.I'm sure it's because Merry-Go-Rounds were deemed unsafe, and I'm sure they were deemed unsafe because of how we used them when I was a kid, back when dinosaurs roamed the earth.The park down the street from our house was, when I was a kid, called "Castle Park," a name we gave it because it had a stone castle in it. According to this informational website -- there's an informational website about the parks I played in as a kid. I'm not sure what to make of that -- "Castle Park" was 4.2 acre...
Mentally, I'm on the beach most of the time anyway.
2008-02-22 23:36:00 I can almost feel it in the air. It's February 22, which means we're not too far away from the time that I can stop working out on a dumb exercycle at the health club and can start working out by biking around outside, the great outdoors, fresh air, sunshine, the wind in my hair, the sights and sounds.I love biking outdoors. My only regret is that because I live in Wisconsin, I don't get to do it all year round, and I don't get to bike on and around beaches all that much. Wisconsin is big on cheese, small on beaches. And that brings me down for a couple of reasons. First and most obvious is, who wouldn't want to be on a beach if they could?And the second is that I have less of an opportunity to get a cool beach cruiser bike like this:Or maybe I don't -- just because I'm not near a beach all the time doesn't mean that I can't ride in style and comfort, right? Why should Wisconsinites have to suffer with dowdy, boring bicycles just because we are not Malibu?When spring ... More About: Beach , Time , The Time
The Best Variation on "Dramatic Look."
2008-02-22 18:05:00 I am a deep thinker. You can tell that simply by counting the number of entries here that reference either candy or Star Wars. But sometimes, I just like to let my hair down and like things without philosophizing about them. Things like "Dramatic Look:"Which I found hilarious and love to watch over and over. (Deep thinker, that's me.)"Dramatic look" appears to have, for a while, conquered the Internet, and has spawned a cottage industry of "Dramatic Look" interpretations, some good, some bad. And I've watched, I believe, all of them, and have selected this one as The Best Variation On Dramatic Look:You know what does it? Not just the hat and monocle -- but the fact that the monocle flies off. Genius. Click here to see all the other topics I?ve ever discussed!
Climb above the bottom line
2008-02-22 17:54:00 I was talking with my boss the other day about overhead and costs of running a business -- as I continue to climb the ladder in my firm, I have to pay more and more attention to the bottom line, because the bottom line increasingly determines how much I'm going to make.Overhead is a huge burden on a business, and not just from employee salaries and benefits. Stop and think, once, how much your business spends on office supplies. I've got tons of pens, pads, paperclips, tape, and minutiae like that all over my own office, let alone around the firm. And those are the small items. Bigger items like furniture, computers, and file cabinets really cut into profits.But they don't have to do so. OfficeDeals.info can help save my -- and your-- business money and improve the bottom line. They have, right on their website, helpful articles that can get your business credit it needs, and other tips for running a business effectively.Spending money on supplies is taking money out of your pock... More About: Line , Climb , Bottom
The Best Celebrity That I Think I Could Hang Out With
2008-02-22 16:44:00 Celebrities, as a whole, do not strike me as real people. For all I know, they may not be real. I've never met most of them -- although I have met my fair share of phenomenally-popular celebrities, including Alan Thicke.You may, for a moment, ponder how cool it is that I met Alan Thicke.Done? Okay. Like I was saying, I have met some but not all celebrities (I'm using the term loosely, here. For a definition of who might not be a real celebrity, check out what I think of gossiples.) I might have even met more than I think, since I never recognize celebrities when I see them in public. It's one thing to recognize Simon MacCorkindale when he's on the big (or little) screen.What's that? Sure, you know him. He starred in "Family of Cops," which was, so far as I can tell, about a family of cops. He also was Manimal: It's one thing to recognize him when he's manimaling around. It's another thing to recognize him when he's the guy who's paying the cashier for his scratch-off lotte... More About: Celebrity , Hang
The Best Thing About Winter
2008-02-16 22:41:00 ... is that it ends.Ha!This could have been the shortest nomination ever, but I am feeling wordy as I sit here, on February 16, 2008 (that date is there for you people who go back and read this months -- nay, years -- from now) as I sit here, on February 16 and look outside at the snow and the cold and think about the promise of the snow and the cold. (And if you are reading this, person in the future, I hope that you are doing so on a warm day. Look outside. Is it sunny? If so, think back in time to me, sitting here typing this and looking at feet and feet of snow.)I had to run an errand today. I had to pick up Oldest's TV from the repair shop. As we brought it outside, the repairman, in a t-shirt, said "It's not so bad today," and I agreed that it was not, in fact, so bad.It was 9 degrees.Such is life in Wisconsin. Life in Wisconsin means that you don't think it's that bad when it's 9 degrees. In fact, you wear t-shirts at that temperature.I continually wonder, all winte... More About: Winter , Thing
The Best Video on Youtube That You Can Find By Searching for “The Best Vi
2008-02-09 18:29:00 The Best Video on Youtube That You Can Find By Searching for “The Best Video On Youtube.”The babies are finicky eaters these days.I have a laptop.Those two facts do not seem to go together at first, but they do when I add in that the babies eat better if I let them watch cartoons and the like while they eat—it distracts them so I can get some food into their mouths.I use the laptop for that; I park it near their chair and look up stuff on Youtube for them to watch. They primarily like “Mahna Mahna” and “Laughing Baby” – these two:You can see how much Mr F, at least, likes Mahna Mahna here:But I get bored just watching those over and over again, so I throw in other things that I think they might like – mostly nostalgic videos from when I was a kid. But the plethora of stuff you can watch got me wondering – what would be considered The Best Video on Youtube?And how would you find it? I don’t want to work my way through 10,000 “dramatic look” reinterpretations...
The Best Candy Bar To Eat In Sections
2008-01-31 15:38:00 Why can't you buy a Peanut Butter Twix in the candy aisle or at the gas station anymore?I know, they're not "gas stations," they're "convenience stores." But I only go there to get gas, except when I have to get milk and don't want to wait in the lines at the grocery store just for two gallons of milk. Although we need more and more milk every day now. We go through milk faster than I go through gas, and a fair amount of the gas I use is used going to get milk.Must focus. Peanut Butter Twix. Must focus. Peanut Butter Twix.Only the most-tired of you out there will be in doubt as to what The Best Candy Bar To Eat In Sections is by now, but I will spell it out for you in case there are some readers who did not begin their day, as I did, with a giant cup of coffee and Mika's "Love Today" on CD in the car. The Best Candy Bar To East In Sections is "Peanut Butter Twix."Now take a moment to watch "Love Today." Really crank up the sound. Your boss won't mind. Not once he hears the son...
And now a word from the rest of me
2008-01-31 15:34:00 Hey, everyone! Did you know that in addition to The Best Of Everything, I write four other blogs? If you didn't, here's a sample of what you've been missing:BABIES! BABIES! PETS! PETS! This is another picture from the weekend of all the kids; we took them all to the local zoo, too. The younger ones were not very impressed by the zoo at all. My theory is that to Babies!, everything is all new. We grown-ups are used to seeing trucks and houses and things, so to get us excited, you've got to put a giraffe in front of us. But to Babies!, a giraffe is no more or less exciting than a Volvo. Mr F, shown here, did like the little turtle that was swimming around, and tried to touch it.The title of this post refers to the brief argument/bet Sweetie and I made this morning. . . . read more Babies! Babies! Pets! Pets!____________________________________ _________________________Nonsportsmanlike Conduct: Tired of the failed MVPs? I know, like me, you never get tired of making fun of people wh... More About: Word , Rest
The Best Music Video
2008-01-28 15:38:00 I was alive when MTV first came out. I remember watching MTV with my uncle (who was just a little older than me -- those crazy Catholic families!) and my older brother (also just a little older than me) when I was about 16 or so, and MTV had been around long enough that the novelty had worn off.This was long before I noted the trend in music videos that lets you instantly know, even with the sound turned off, what kind of music you're watching.I just re-read that sentence, and had to stop and think whether it made sense. But it did. Imagine if you could go back in time say to Mozart, "There will come a time when you can use the phrase "what kind of music you're watching" and it will make sense. I bet I know just what he would say:Ich bin traurig, spreche ich nur Deutsches, also verstand ich Sie nicht, verrckte Person von der Zukunft.(Which is German for "I'm sorry, I only speak German, so I didn't understand you, crazy person from the future ")My theory on music videos is this,... More About: Video , Music , Music Video
The Best Movie Monster
More articles from this author:2008-01-24 16:08:00 You kids, with your Cloverfield and your... other giant monster movies that will probably be made (or re-made, given that all of today's pop culture consists of remaking previous eras' pop culture so that people will feel comforted by the sight or sound of the familiar names and faces. The same personal idiosyncrasies that make us buy ?Mountain Dew Code Red? when we would not have bought ?Code Red? because ?Code Red? is scary and new and possibly dangerous, while ?Mountain Dew Code Red? is comforting, make us also go see ?Star Trek 315: The New-est Generation? when we would not, say, go see ?Firefly? or ?Serenity,? whatever that movie was called.)I checked: It was ?Serenity,? the movie that was based on the TV series ?Firefly.? But at least I watched it, even if I didn?t, a couple of years later, remember the name of it.Cloverfield aside, giant monster movies are not new, as anyone can tell you. And they did not begin, either, with the unfairly-panned ?Godzilla? that starred Matth... More About: Movie , Monster , Mons 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 |
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