Christmas Over!

I had a long, detailed blog about Christmas and what I got, but decided it was WAY cooler to go itemized.
Here's the short-list:

• Van Halen tickets
• room & board for the NHL Winter Classic
• about $200 (already spent, sorry thieves!)
• a much needed sweater
• as equally necessary pair of jeans
• a replacement Anchorman DVD
• a Dogma DVD (funny movie!)
• the book: I Am America (And So Can You!)
  by Steven Colbert
  
• various car cleaning products
• a collection of short Spongebob books
• a handy mini shop vac
• a scarf & gloves (the gift that warms my soul)
• lottery tickets
  

Surprising exclusions from my gift list are:

• 94% of my Amazon.com wish list
• a gift card of ANY kind
• the gift of satire
  (a comedic gift that would have played
  on one of my few flaws)
• a set of combs (i sold my hair to buy YOU combs...)

Up next: New Years. The new headliner image has been ready for a while now and will be uploaded... well, its already done! Enjoy the remainder of 2007 and here's looking forward to a ripping good 2008!

Scarves!

I can't believe I've been so shortsighted through the years. In the winter I'm always cold. Always. So I've been pondering new ways to keep myself warm during the long, cold drive to work. The heater in my car works well enough, but I like to be extra, extra warm. Eight years ago, I had gone through a "Man, I sure dig Scooby Doo" stage. So for Christmas during my sophomore year in high school I received many a Scooby Doo gift. Among those Scooby presents I had received were a TV remote control holder, a small pocketwatch ( now that thing was AWESOME - had it clipped to my bookbag for years!) and a set of Scooby gloves & scarf. I've been wearing the scarf for a few days now. It's the first time I've ever really worn a scarf (besides when I go sled riding) and I must say, this thing keeps me REAL warm. I couldn't believe what a difference it made! My issue is that this thing probably would have fit me well in 2000, not 2007/08. When I tie it, it kinda looks like a bib! I don't care. It keeps me warm.

So, I'll be adding a few more scarves to my wish list this year.

Know yourself.
Heat is expensive.
Scarve yourself.

Sounds good

I'm not much for music reviews, but I can certainly appreciate it when recording artists are inspired by other recording artists. It is only after spending several years with my best friend Chuck H. am I able to turn a keen ear to most music and notice when something is / isn't borrowed from Green Day's arsenal of albums.

Lately, I've been listening to a couple of songs by Sum 41. In particular "Walking Disaster" and "March of the Dogs". Vocally, they sound Blink-182ish. However, these two songs channel Green Day.

The first time I listened to "Walking Disaster", I immediately noticed similar guitar riffs to several songs from American Idiot. The guitars throughout the song are reminiscent of the chords in Green Day's "Letterbomb" as well as the second movement in "Jesus of Suburbia" (think: HEY!... <chugga chugga>... HEY!...) I'd say about nintey percent of the song is fast paced and can be interpreted in different ways. Personally, when I listen to the lyrics I think of New Orleans, hurricane Katrina and the aftermath:

"The city's buried in defeat.
I walk along these no named streets..."
The two movements at the beginning and the end of the song pull from "Homecoming" and is somewhat structured like "Wake me up when September Ends". Listen here: YouTube.(audio only)

Their second song, "March of the Dogs" takes me back to Green Day's earlier albums. It seems that Sum 41 took their guitars from the beginning seconds of "Haushinka" from the nimrod. album. The more I listen to it, the more I think that it also borrows from Insomniac and "Panic Song". The lyrics are probably aimed at Bush:

"Ladies and gentlemen of the underclass,
The president of the United States of America..
Is Dead!"

The story here is not unlike the one told in American Idiot (the song); president's a moron (no head means no brains), the whole damn system is filled with liars, etc. The end of the song comically swings to a style that borrows from the "Tales of another broken home" portion of "Jesus of Suburbia". Listen here: YouTube.(music video)

While I'm not saying that these songs are on the same level as Green Day or any of their albums. What I am saying is that it's good to hear how others take a good idea (American Idiot) and put their own spin on it (Sum 41).

While not nearly mastered as well as Green Day's American Idiot, it's a nice spin on it and definitely worth a listen.

Tickets, man!

After yet another successful year of concerts / events, I'll be rounding out the year in a "grand finale" style. Reese, Rollo, moms & I managed to hook up with tickets for BOTH the NHL Winter Classic (Pens vs. Sabres, outdoor game in Buffalo) and Van Halen.

 

On the Buffalo side of things, we'll be traveling up there the day before (New Year's Eve) so we can PARTY!@$#! We'll enjoy the game on New Year's Day, and return home later that afternoon. Thank god for "floating personal holidays" or else I'd be in some trouble.

 

Van Halen comes to us on a Friday. Finally, a concert that works WITH my schedule. Nary a thing on this earth, nay! birth of a child could keep me from this concert. How often does Van Halen do Pittsburgh? Oh, once every 30 years or so. By my count, you can have precisely 40 kids in that amount of time, if you fully dedicate yourself to the process. Not that I'm expecting, but damnit, this concert is important!

 

If you're planning to go to either / both of these events, LET ME KNOW! We'll do it up right!

I'm so festive

God bless GIMP.

It keeps me somewhat creative while preparing my blog for the holiday season. To spell it out, I added some Christmas lights to my headliner up top. Its Crocktoberfest's first Christmas, so I wanna do it up right. It wouldn't make much sense to do up the blog with Christmas spirit in mid-July, now would it?

Psssst. Mid-July is our wedding. Keep the 12th open.

I also threw a little "graphics by GIMP" below my EXCELLENT LINKS section. Turns out the little fox (dog? no idea what that thing is) character's name is Wilber. I personally think that Wilber would make an excellent mascot for my blog as well as GIMP, though I'd never try to steal him away from his current job.

I admire your work, Wilber.

Baltimore (no Billy Idol)

The Dan Band was amazing. We got to the venue a little early so we could get some great spots on the floor, and were three rows from the stage. Reese took some amazing pics! I'm sure they'll be facebook'd soon. The best part had to be when Dan called the "christmas ho" up on stage. He picked an old dude standing right in front of me to go up and dance with the backup dancers while sharing in the christmas spririt of being ho-ish. He did well as a ho. He even got a free "HO" t-shirt. Good for him!

Beer was $5 for bud light pounders. After a pre-show drink, we passed on drinking for the remainder of the evening. Two beers for $10? I don't think so.

The next day, Reese's sister took us around Baltimore and showed us the multi-million dollar mansions that we couldn't ever dream of owning. Some of these houses were the most massive homes I've seen in my life. One house had two full wings of the house covered in skylights. You know a house is huge when it has an east/west wing, but to cover them in skylights? That homeowner has some serious scratch to throw around.

The one thing I'll take from this trip is that Rollo & I can't navigate worth a shit. Reese is like our own personal Garmin.
(LaReese, LaReese, LaReese, LaReese, LaResa-Garmin!)