I love karaoke, this is no secret to anybody who's met me for even a couple minutes. It combines many of my favorite things in life: Music, good friends, beer, being the center of attention, and in certain seasons, baseball games. I attend karaoke two times a week. Mondays, I go to my workplace, often with Cailin to play board games and do my best Lou Gramm scatting in the informal, nearly empty environment where I practically live. The others is Thursday at Old Mexico, where a large spattering of many of my friends hit up every week. This is a quick to settle many of my social needs.
I try not to sing the same song more than once. If I hear a song on the radio that day that gets stuck in my head, it'll probably be sung. Some Aaron karaoke stats:
Total number of different songs sung: 384 (that I distinctly remember)
Most Sung group: The Rolling Stones (this surprised me)
First Ever song: Locomotive Breathe by Jethro Tull
Most recent song sung: Wonderboy by Tenacious D
Favorite Group to Sing: Foreigner or Meatloaf
Best Songs: Tom Sawyer by Rush, Two out of Three Ain't Bad by Meatloaf
Favorite hated song to sing: With Arms Wide Open by Creed
Worst Song: In a Big Country by Big Country
Favorite Group to sing that doesn't work with my voice: Hall and Oates
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Idenity Crisis
This blog is going through an identity crisis at the moment. It just doesn't know what it wants to be. A year ago, in the midst of traveling in the strange upside down culture of Australia, the blog knew very clearly its role in the world: to tell stories of the road and gush upon some WTF moments abroad. After I returned to America, the blog took a new spin on the idea, traveling back to the United States and giving a similar treatment to America. This did not last long because the writer of the blog stopped noticing things very quickly after his speedy readjustment to American life. The blog kept chugging by, being home for Aaron's creative writing efforts, mainly a bunch of essays inspired by the change of seasons. Once winter hit, everything was White, as well as the inspiration. What was a blog to do? It decided to become a forum for weekly music review. This proved to me more of chore.
Then the blog took a nap.
Spring came early, and the blog woke up from his sleep in grumpy mood, mainly since Sandra Bullock won best actress in a great market of performances. What will the blog become now? I don't know. It has tried everything but putting on a dress. Maybe, it could be a home for unending optimism about the Minnesota Twins World Series chances. Maybe.
Then the blog took a nap.
Spring came early, and the blog woke up from his sleep in grumpy mood, mainly since Sandra Bullock won best actress in a great market of performances. What will the blog become now? I don't know. It has tried everything but putting on a dress. Maybe, it could be a home for unending optimism about the Minnesota Twins World Series chances. Maybe.
Monday, April 26, 2010
KFC's Double Down
Hold on to your butts people. You've had a sandwich right? Of course you have. I don't know about you, but I didn't think the whole concept of a sandwich could be improved upon. I mean, it's a sandwich...Well, that was until I saw a commercial for a revolution and not that crappy Decemberist Revolution of 1825...I'm talking the real deal here, the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution of Sandwiches.
What is better than sliced bread? NO BREAD!!
That's right. KFC has rejected bread. How did they do it you ask? They replaced bread, with two pieces of fried chicken. The Double Down: the Colonel's Sandwich Manifesto. Fried chicken, bacon, two types of cheese, creamy colonel sauce and then more fried chicken. This is better than sliced bread....it's a coronary.
What is better than sliced bread? NO BREAD!!
That's right. KFC has rejected bread. How did they do it you ask? They replaced bread, with two pieces of fried chicken. The Double Down: the Colonel's Sandwich Manifesto. Fried chicken, bacon, two types of cheese, creamy colonel sauce and then more fried chicken. This is better than sliced bread....it's a coronary.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
My review of the Trailer for the film the Blind Side
Ok, this is a long overdue blog. Not only has the Blind Side gone through its theatrical run, been released on DVD, and earned a Best Actress award for Sandra Bullock. but people have already forgotten about what appears to be the one of the most terrible movies ever made. At least that's what the trailer portrays.
At first glance, The Blind Side's trailer seems like a trailer for a million trite movies I've already decided not to see. It tells the inspirational story of an underprivileged youth, who was destined to be a football player, all he ever needed was somebody to believe in him. A touching story told with just the right amount of minimalist piano and strings to create tears in the stongest of viewers.
What makes this film look so terrible is not the fact that it has already been made many times. For some reason people crave stories of people who overcome the odds to become something great. Horatio Alger did the same thing over a hundred years ago. It is the fact that it is a racist trailer that seems to touch on a long tradition of how white people turn a Blind Side on themes that portray African Americans as helpless.
Here's a synopsis of the trailer:
It's the only world Sandra Bullock has ever known...
A successful career woman with an attractive, submissive husband and perfect kids lives in the White dominated suburbs of some Southern city, let's call it "Atlanta." She had everything she's ever wanted in this world, except a way to unload all of her white guilt from be descended from slave owning plantation farmers.
It's the only world Big Mike has ever known...
Enter "Big Mike" a big black kid who somehow was allowed within ten feet of her child's suburban school, despite being a homeless, yet kind-hearted inner-city youth. We know he's one of those nice black folks, because he gives Sandra Bullock's son props on the playground. One night, while Big Mike is walking home in the rain with just a t-shirt, Sandra Bullock drives by and sees a perfect opportunity to show the world that she isn't a racist. By merely saying, "Don't lie to me!" Sandra Bullock is able to tame the wild, homeless black man and get him into her car. Because ultimately, even 350lb black men need to be submissive to little white chicks.
Even though little girls run away from the giant because he's big and black (actually, he's more yellow, if he was really dark, there'd be no hope for him), Sandra Bullock sees something special in the young man. All she needs to do is give him the only thing he's never had in his short life, a bed. One gentle rub of the 1200 thread count sheets and suddenly Big Mike has all the inspiration he needs to realize his true potential. Being a large, African American male, Big Mike is unable to become a doctor or a lawyer, thankfully, he has other options for getting ahead in this world, becoming a linebacker for an NFL team. Sandra Bullock shows him the way, by helping raise his grades to an acceptable 'C' average so he can get into a college on a football scholarship and major in "general studies" or something like that. Thank goodness Sandra Bullock is there to change this young man's life. Wanna know what's the best part? He changes her life too, cause if she ever finds herself clutching at her purse at night in the inner city or if she calls the cops on some darkie that has lost his keys in the car, she knows that she's still not racist.
Is the film that bad and that racist? Most likely not. I'm sure there is a genuine desire to help the life of this young man. Ultimately, though the trailer is perfect White person bait, cause it paints a picture of how non-racist white people perceive themselves. The trailer plays on 5 general racist assumptions: 1. Black people only look scary, but really, a couple of them, (unlike the card playing, drug-dealing gangsta from the trailer) can be nice people. 2. Black people are inherently lost, helpless and cold. 3. White people ultimately have the ability to give Black people the power to overcome adversity. 4. Black people are submissive too and must trust the giving hands of White People. 5. That said, even with proper guidance, Black People are only able to succeed at sports.
At first glance, The Blind Side's trailer seems like a trailer for a million trite movies I've already decided not to see. It tells the inspirational story of an underprivileged youth, who was destined to be a football player, all he ever needed was somebody to believe in him. A touching story told with just the right amount of minimalist piano and strings to create tears in the stongest of viewers.
What makes this film look so terrible is not the fact that it has already been made many times. For some reason people crave stories of people who overcome the odds to become something great. Horatio Alger did the same thing over a hundred years ago. It is the fact that it is a racist trailer that seems to touch on a long tradition of how white people turn a Blind Side on themes that portray African Americans as helpless.
Here's a synopsis of the trailer:
It's the only world Sandra Bullock has ever known...
A successful career woman with an attractive, submissive husband and perfect kids lives in the White dominated suburbs of some Southern city, let's call it "Atlanta." She had everything she's ever wanted in this world, except a way to unload all of her white guilt from be descended from slave owning plantation farmers.
It's the only world Big Mike has ever known...
Enter "Big Mike" a big black kid who somehow was allowed within ten feet of her child's suburban school, despite being a homeless, yet kind-hearted inner-city youth. We know he's one of those nice black folks, because he gives Sandra Bullock's son props on the playground. One night, while Big Mike is walking home in the rain with just a t-shirt, Sandra Bullock drives by and sees a perfect opportunity to show the world that she isn't a racist. By merely saying, "Don't lie to me!" Sandra Bullock is able to tame the wild, homeless black man and get him into her car. Because ultimately, even 350lb black men need to be submissive to little white chicks.
Even though little girls run away from the giant because he's big and black (actually, he's more yellow, if he was really dark, there'd be no hope for him), Sandra Bullock sees something special in the young man. All she needs to do is give him the only thing he's never had in his short life, a bed. One gentle rub of the 1200 thread count sheets and suddenly Big Mike has all the inspiration he needs to realize his true potential. Being a large, African American male, Big Mike is unable to become a doctor or a lawyer, thankfully, he has other options for getting ahead in this world, becoming a linebacker for an NFL team. Sandra Bullock shows him the way, by helping raise his grades to an acceptable 'C' average so he can get into a college on a football scholarship and major in "general studies" or something like that. Thank goodness Sandra Bullock is there to change this young man's life. Wanna know what's the best part? He changes her life too, cause if she ever finds herself clutching at her purse at night in the inner city or if she calls the cops on some darkie that has lost his keys in the car, she knows that she's still not racist.
Is the film that bad and that racist? Most likely not. I'm sure there is a genuine desire to help the life of this young man. Ultimately, though the trailer is perfect White person bait, cause it paints a picture of how non-racist white people perceive themselves. The trailer plays on 5 general racist assumptions: 1. Black people only look scary, but really, a couple of them, (unlike the card playing, drug-dealing gangsta from the trailer) can be nice people. 2. Black people are inherently lost, helpless and cold. 3. White people ultimately have the ability to give Black people the power to overcome adversity. 4. Black people are submissive too and must trust the giving hands of White People. 5. That said, even with proper guidance, Black People are only able to succeed at sports.
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