It's funny, but as I was going over which features I still have in stock (now that Birthday Mad-Libs are over, I'm down to six and thus will have to come up with a new one before the Week of Features is out), Shuffleblog is actually the one that takes the least amount of time to write (about half an hour or so). Which is good, because Outgehangen has got me started on this a bit later than I'd originally intended.
And so, off we go.
#1.Nickels for Green-Eyed Girls by Polarboy
Nickels for green-eyed girls,
Empires built for the world.
All these things will fade away,
Yeah, yeah, yeah...
This song always reminds me of the Christian rock station that we used to have in Wichita, mainly because I don't think I've ever heard this band anywhere else in the world (save for the occasional showing of the In My Shoes music video on Christian video stations). I know Christian rock has a bad rap, and some of that is deserved, but there were some really great bands, especially in the late 1990's. Most of them were never heard by anybody outside of a very small pocket while a lot of groups that were really watered-down, both lyrically and artistically, became mega-huge. I think this is because the majority of the Christian buyers' market tends to like safe, formulaic entertainment, and that generally fights against most true artistic expression or spiritual exploration. Songs that really confronted some of the tougher questions of faith and doubt and suffering often took a backseat to songs about love and peace and. And, of course, the Bible speaks very loudly of these things. They're pretty much the book's central tenants. However, it never tried to hide the ugliness away to make the peace and love of God look more appealing. If anything, it was always the exact opposite: the ugliness and depravity of the world is what makes the light of the gospel shine.
Anyway, a lot of Christian artists became burned out by the "Christian music industry" and so some bands that really rocked and also challenged me unto growth in my faith went largely unnoticed by both the Christan and secular markets. And eventually, even the decent rock station in Wichita went that route as well.
There's another whole blog's worth of thoughts that could go into this topic. But the next song has already started.
2. Underwater by Switchfoot
She's underwater, she won't drown. She cannot believe it.
And everyone she meets feels just the same.
And just like clockwork, she'll climb down in her bottle,
Yeah no one down there cares to know her name.
Nothing to be; she's already been
Plenty of times, plenty of time, plenty of time...
What's that, you say? You've never heard of a song called "Underwater" by Switchfoot? Yeah, if you heard it you probably wouldn't recognize it as them, either. This is the third song of their debut album from 1997, and Jon still had his quasi-Kermit-the-Frog vocals going on in this album. (That's not a knock, either. I just always thought it sounded only vaguely Kermit-ish) I was fifteen when this song came out, so it took me a long time to realize exactly how sad it was because it was just so dang bouncy. This was actually the album I listened to when I was feeling alone, unloved, and generally emo. Or the album that would get me to that state in the first place. Not that it's really all that emo of an album, actually. However, I was fifteen, and I pretty much saw everything through the lens of that whole Why Do Nice Guys Always Finish Last phase.
I can admit it. I grew out of it. And I think I ended up doing okay coming out of it, too. Now I can listen to some of these songs and realize how comically I missed what was really there. Oh, fifteen-year-old Will, you were so self-centered and dumb.
3. I Am from !Hero: The Rock Opera
Sometimes it's hard
To do what you're meant to do,
These fires we must walk through,
Sometimes it's hard...
I have one of those machines that plays your iPod through speakers so you can listen to it from across the room and share the music with others. That's what I'm using for my shuffle, because I still don't have very much of my music in the new Lappy. (We'd have all Five Iron, Supertones, Les Mis, and Toddler Tunes on our Shuffle if I used the Lappy)That's all well and good. I like the machine (whatever it's called) and it even has a remote control. But here's the thing: THE REMOTE CONTROL IS CRAP! I mean, it really doesn't matter what button you press. The machine is pretty much going to do whatever it wants to anyway. You want to skip forward a song? Press the button. Maybe it'll skip ahead. Maybe it'll skip back. Or maybe it'll crank up the volume. Who cares that its' 2:30 and the rest of the house is sleeping? What's that? You don't want the volume to go up? Well, if skip forward turned it up, surely skip backwards will turn it back down. Wait, no. Skip backwards also turns the volume up. So pretty much every button turns the volume up. Awesome.
What does this have to do with the song? Nothing. But Shuffleblog is pretty much a stream-of-consciousness thing anyway, and that's what happened when I clicked forward to this song. Grr.
4. Rent by Animal Couch
And this time, skip forward skipped to the next song. What'd I tell ya?
Here's another product of that awesome Wichita station. Animal Couch was an indie band from somewhere in Texas. They only ever released two EP's, and somehow we got a hold of them in Wichita, so they had a pretty big following up in ICT. I remember when they finally came for a concert (the other awesome thing about this station: it booked tons of concerts of the small underappreciated bands it played). All of "the regulars" came to the show, and man were we ever stoked. Not only did the band rock, but it had two girl singers! (Any band that had a girl in it was instantly awesome to us high school/college age boys back then. I wonder if that's still true today?)
Anyway, the band was actually pretty good. I still like to listen to their songs, though I don't think they're nearly as profound as they used to be. This song, for instance, is pretty much about how humans have trashed the earth, and going to heaven will be so much better. But it still sounds kind of pretty, in a rock-ish way.
This concert ended after they played all of their songs, but we called for a third encore anyway, so they started to replay songs, and a guy suddenly fell to the ground clutching his leg and screaming in the mosh pit. It was a small, intimate venue, so that pretty much stopped everything mid-song. It was a real mood-killer.
I hope that guy didn't do any permanent damage, because it was otherwise an awesome concert.
5. Don't Feed the Plans from Little Shop of Horrors
And the plants proceeded to grow and grow
And begin what they came here to do
Which was essentially to
Eat Cleveland, and Des Moines, and Peoria, and New York,
And this theater!
Feels like I've talked about this one before. Not on Shuffleblog, but on the blog nonetheless.
This is the "everybody dies" closing number to the musical version of Little Shop of Horrors. The script describes vines exploding from the stage and from over the heads of the audience in the lyrics quoted above. In my high school, we didn't have that capability. We actually had a glorified lecture hall for a theater: a raised thrust stage. Nobody had a good seat! We also had two concrete barriers that separated the three main sections of seats. So instead of plant vines exploding from the ceiling, we had the chorus cross onto those balance beams and toss trash bags full of green streamers on the people sitting immediately around them.
To be fair, when I saw the national tour of this show (with Anthony Rapp), this number was still pretty hokey. It may not have been streamers thrown in our face from two feet away, but they did have the principals in what I can only describe as big green sleeping bags trying to do some sort of choreography that just looked like someone had dropped itching powder into their tent during a campout.
6. Got to Get You Into My Life by the Beatles, covered by BUCK
I was alone, I took a ride, I didn't know what I would find there.
Another road where maybe I could find another kind of life there
Ooh, then I suddenly see you.
Ooh, did I tell you I need you,
Every single day of my life?
Is it just me, or is a classic Beatles song a great way to wrap up...well, just about anything?
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Thursday, September 8, 2011
v2, d411: Closing The Book
I'm sorry. It feels like this blog has become a bit of a downer lately. I'm lonely, tragic hockey player deaths, bad poetry. Just not a lot of cheer. And I know that, without my cheer, none of you would like me. (That was a joke) Thus, after today's doozy, I hereby declare the period from September 9th to September 15th to be the second ever Week of Features. Hopefully that'll inject some life into this place again.
*****
In two days, the Traverse City Prospects Tournament will kick off. Finally. The hockey world can start worrying about hockey again. This summer has been quite hellish for a lot of people, following the Boogaard accidental OD (here's Russo's latest excellent and harrowing piece on the matter, this one detailing the dangerous world of painkillers among pro hockey players), Rick Rypien's suicide, and Wade Belak's accidental (no longer considered a suicide) death last week. A lot of folks around the hockey community couldn't imagine things getting a whole lot lower.
Oh man, were we wrong.
By now, you've probably heard (at least in passing) of hockey's latest and greatest tragedy, because it made front-page news on CNN and BBC (though, interestingly, not on ESPN). A plane carrying the Russian pro hockey team Yaroslavl Lokomotiv crashed into a lake and exploded into flames immediately after taking off yesterday morning bound to the first game of the season. Forty-three of the forty-five people on board died instantly. The other two are still in critical condition and aren't exactly expected to survive. (The only surviving player was said to have burns covering 90% of his body and respiratory system) Eight of the players/coaches on board were former NHL players. You had the former Red Wings assistant coach embarking on his first head coaching job. Several older guys who decided they wanted to play one last year before retirement. A couple of guys wanted to play a couple seasons in their homeland before hanging 'em up. Worse, when you're talking a plane full of guys in their 20s-40s, you're looking at a lot of young wives, young kids, even young parents in some cases.
Believe it or not, when I first heard this, I didn't feel particularly affected. I don't know if it was because it was so far away or because it was so tragic it almost didn't seem real at first. However, my Twitter feed is filled with hockey analysts, beat writers, and players. And it was chaotic. I was trying to get information, because at first all we had heard was that the plane had crashed and just about everyone was dead. The quote from a team official was, "There is no hope. The team is gone." But then there were reports that this guy might not have been on the plane, that that guy may have been at home instead. One player hopped on Twitter immediately upon news of the crash to say that he wasn't on the flight. Maybe there were others? But my Twitter feed wasn't curious fans looking for info; it was guys trying to find out if their friends were dead or alive. And eventually learning, in every instance, that they were dead.
"Am hearing reports Rusty may have been at home! Anybody know if it is true?"
"They are saying Pavol is dead. Still hoping it's not real!"
"Is that official? Ruslan is dead??"
On and on and on. All day long, as hopeful tweets eventually gave way to mournful ones. It was terrible.
I think, looking back, the reason that Boogaard's and Belak's deaths had more of an emotional impact on me than Rypien's was that each had a connection to one of my two favorite NHL beat writers (Russo and Dater, respectively), so I got a more personal side of each story. Well, multiply that by just about everybody in the NHL. And then came fan reactions as word spread. It seemed like no matter who you cheer for, you lost one of your own yesterday. Fans of the Preds, Avs, Panthers, Stars, Ducks, Wings, Sens, Blues, Kings, Wild, Canucks, Hurricanes, Isles, Rangers, Leafs, Blackhawks, Jets, Coyotes, Bruins, Flyers, Flames, Whalers, and Devils all lost familiar faces. Impromptu memorials were erected by hockey fans across the continent outside of home arenas. International hockey fans wept, as some of these guys, while popular in the NHL, were absolute heroes back in Europe. Tributes from gifted writers to fan favorites and all-around-good-guy types that were suddenly gone too soon. And of course, the really sad stuff came in later, like the story about the player whose mother had a heart attack and died when she found out about the crash. Or possibly the saddest thing written in the hockey world, well, just about ever, a widely-circulated (and since-removed) blog post about the man who drove Karlis Skrastins' widow and two daughters (5 and 2) to the airport for the funeral. The girls still didn't know about the crash when he dropped them off at the airport; they were just excited to be going on a trip to see Daddy.
It's just too much, folks.
And I don't really have a "closing thought" to wrap this one up. I'm sure most of you don't care about the details about what happens now to the team, what happens in the Russian league. I can say that it's been reported that over 30 players have volunteered to play for the Yaroslavl team, and every KHL team has volunteered to offer one of their players to keep the hockey tradition in the town alive. And that's phenomenal for the town, because as unimportant as the game is in the face of something like this, it's also a huge step in the healing of that city. I can say that the two survivors have got a fighting chance if they can make it through the next two days. Apparently, men with this type of injury typically die in the third or fourth day since the accident. I can say that a lot people are now coming to grips with the reality of this situation and trying to figure out how they'll go on from here. I can say that the KHL is already taking steps to ensure safer travel accommodations for all teams (apparently teams were arranging their own travel, and this one found a cheaper option: a 1993-built passenger plane). I can say this is a summer that no hockey fan alive today is going to forget.
Other than that...I don't really know what to say. We're all ready to learn what we can discover from all of these tragedies and then close the book on these past few months.
*****
In two days, the Traverse City Prospects Tournament will kick off. Finally. The hockey world can start worrying about hockey again. This summer has been quite hellish for a lot of people, following the Boogaard accidental OD (here's Russo's latest excellent and harrowing piece on the matter, this one detailing the dangerous world of painkillers among pro hockey players), Rick Rypien's suicide, and Wade Belak's accidental (no longer considered a suicide) death last week. A lot of folks around the hockey community couldn't imagine things getting a whole lot lower.
Oh man, were we wrong.
By now, you've probably heard (at least in passing) of hockey's latest and greatest tragedy, because it made front-page news on CNN and BBC (though, interestingly, not on ESPN). A plane carrying the Russian pro hockey team Yaroslavl Lokomotiv crashed into a lake and exploded into flames immediately after taking off yesterday morning bound to the first game of the season. Forty-three of the forty-five people on board died instantly. The other two are still in critical condition and aren't exactly expected to survive. (The only surviving player was said to have burns covering 90% of his body and respiratory system) Eight of the players/coaches on board were former NHL players. You had the former Red Wings assistant coach embarking on his first head coaching job. Several older guys who decided they wanted to play one last year before retirement. A couple of guys wanted to play a couple seasons in their homeland before hanging 'em up. Worse, when you're talking a plane full of guys in their 20s-40s, you're looking at a lot of young wives, young kids, even young parents in some cases.
Believe it or not, when I first heard this, I didn't feel particularly affected. I don't know if it was because it was so far away or because it was so tragic it almost didn't seem real at first. However, my Twitter feed is filled with hockey analysts, beat writers, and players. And it was chaotic. I was trying to get information, because at first all we had heard was that the plane had crashed and just about everyone was dead. The quote from a team official was, "There is no hope. The team is gone." But then there were reports that this guy might not have been on the plane, that that guy may have been at home instead. One player hopped on Twitter immediately upon news of the crash to say that he wasn't on the flight. Maybe there were others? But my Twitter feed wasn't curious fans looking for info; it was guys trying to find out if their friends were dead or alive. And eventually learning, in every instance, that they were dead.
"Am hearing reports Rusty may have been at home! Anybody know if it is true?"
"They are saying Pavol is dead. Still hoping it's not real!"
"Is that official? Ruslan is dead??"
On and on and on. All day long, as hopeful tweets eventually gave way to mournful ones. It was terrible.
I think, looking back, the reason that Boogaard's and Belak's deaths had more of an emotional impact on me than Rypien's was that each had a connection to one of my two favorite NHL beat writers (Russo and Dater, respectively), so I got a more personal side of each story. Well, multiply that by just about everybody in the NHL. And then came fan reactions as word spread. It seemed like no matter who you cheer for, you lost one of your own yesterday. Fans of the Preds, Avs, Panthers, Stars, Ducks, Wings, Sens, Blues, Kings, Wild, Canucks, Hurricanes, Isles, Rangers, Leafs, Blackhawks, Jets, Coyotes, Bruins, Flyers, Flames, Whalers, and Devils all lost familiar faces. Impromptu memorials were erected by hockey fans across the continent outside of home arenas. International hockey fans wept, as some of these guys, while popular in the NHL, were absolute heroes back in Europe. Tributes from gifted writers to fan favorites and all-around-good-guy types that were suddenly gone too soon. And of course, the really sad stuff came in later, like the story about the player whose mother had a heart attack and died when she found out about the crash. Or possibly the saddest thing written in the hockey world, well, just about ever, a widely-circulated (and since-removed) blog post about the man who drove Karlis Skrastins' widow and two daughters (5 and 2) to the airport for the funeral. The girls still didn't know about the crash when he dropped them off at the airport; they were just excited to be going on a trip to see Daddy.
It's just too much, folks.
And I don't really have a "closing thought" to wrap this one up. I'm sure most of you don't care about the details about what happens now to the team, what happens in the Russian league. I can say that it's been reported that over 30 players have volunteered to play for the Yaroslavl team, and every KHL team has volunteered to offer one of their players to keep the hockey tradition in the town alive. And that's phenomenal for the town, because as unimportant as the game is in the face of something like this, it's also a huge step in the healing of that city. I can say that the two survivors have got a fighting chance if they can make it through the next two days. Apparently, men with this type of injury typically die in the third or fourth day since the accident. I can say that a lot people are now coming to grips with the reality of this situation and trying to figure out how they'll go on from here. I can say that the KHL is already taking steps to ensure safer travel accommodations for all teams (apparently teams were arranging their own travel, and this one found a cheaper option: a 1993-built passenger plane). I can say this is a summer that no hockey fan alive today is going to forget.
Other than that...I don't really know what to say. We're all ready to learn what we can discover from all of these tragedies and then close the book on these past few months.
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
v2, d410: Paint
Okay, I'm feeling a little blue tonight, and that often leads to irresponsible blogging. Discretion being the better part of blogging, I've decided not to write from the heart and instead share something that always serves as an effective pick-me-up when I'm in a funk:
A Mario Paint Composer playlist.
You're welcome.
And of course, my all-time favorite:
That actually helps. A lot. G'nite, folks.
A Mario Paint Composer playlist.
You're welcome.
And of course, my all-time favorite:
That actually helps. A lot. G'nite, folks.
Sunday, September 4, 2011
v2, d409: Goals
Okay, here are the goals:
First draft of next script done: End of Sept.
First round of book revisions done: End of Oct.
New NaNoWriMo project done: End of Nov. (obviously)
These are ambitious goals, and there's a really good chance I'll fall short on at least one of them. Especially if/when I find a part-time job in the evenings. After all, it is Labor Day. Stores will probably be hiring holiday help sometime next week.
Feel free to ask how I'm coming with these as the months roll by. Not in an obnoxious, Hey-Are-You-Working-On-That sort of way. But in a "Hey, how are you coming on your writing projects? I'm really looking forward to seeing what you come up with!" And maybe a high five.
I may never "make it," but dangit, it won't be for lack of trying.
First draft of next script done: End of Sept.
First round of book revisions done: End of Oct.
New NaNoWriMo project done: End of Nov. (obviously)
These are ambitious goals, and there's a really good chance I'll fall short on at least one of them. Especially if/when I find a part-time job in the evenings. After all, it is Labor Day. Stores will probably be hiring holiday help sometime next week.
Feel free to ask how I'm coming with these as the months roll by. Not in an obnoxious, Hey-Are-You-Working-On-That sort of way. But in a "Hey, how are you coming on your writing projects? I'm really looking forward to seeing what you come up with!" And maybe a high five.
I may never "make it," but dangit, it won't be for lack of trying.
v2, d408: RAAAAAAAAAAAAIN!!!!!
Okay, this post has nothing to do with rain, but still, WE GOT RAIN! THANK YOU, LORD!!!! It wasn't a ton, but it was far more than we've had, and too much rain would really ruin the place after the drought we've had. I ain't complainin'.
Also, I don't think I've mentioned on here that my parents are in town for Labor Day Weekend. Have I mentioned that? Well, they are, and it's awesome. You might be thinking, But wait, Will, didn't you just have a guest LAST weekend? Yes, yes we did. And Kim's parents are coming in next weekend as well. Why is this? Because of a strange little phenomenon known as "The Strange Phenomenon About Will And Kim's Visitation Schedule That Has No Actual Name," or The SPAWAK VS THNAN for short. (My money is totally on Th'Nan in that battle) According to SPAWAK VS THNAN, we usually go months at a time with no visitors, and then everybody comes at once. Please note, I'm certainly not complaining at all, because we love out-of-town visitors whenever we can get them. It's just odd that it always seems to work out this way consistently enough that I can officially (by FOMW standards) brand it a phenomenon.
In case you hadn't guessed, this post is about college football. This was the first weekend of the new college football season. As you know (unless you've forgotten), I had previously decided that this was the year I was finally going to care about college football. I kept going back and forth over which team I should claim allegiance to from this point forward. (My college actually didn't have football, in case you weren't aware) At first I was leaning toward Alabama because a good friend of mine down here is a huge Crimson Tide fan, and he's probably more passionate about college football than anyone else I know. However, I have a friend on Twitter who's a big Arkansas fan, and I'm afraid she might block me if I started posting "Roll Tide!" and the like. And of course, I can't take Arkansas because I'll never say "Woo Pig Souiee" while cheering my team on. My heart really wants me to take one of the Big XII teams, but not only is that conference now in mortal danger, but I found myself so over-exposed to both obnoxious Texas and Oklahoma fans in college that I just can't line myself up with either program. I can't go with Oklahoma State, either, though my friend Sarah is a fan, because that would put me in bad with Kim's grandfather. And the two Kansas teams...well, I'll always be happy to see them doing well, but I grew up around them and they were never really "my" teams then, so it'd be tough to claim them now.
Basically, I wanted a team that I could make a legitimate claim for that wouldn't ostracize me from any of my friends and family. Finally, I decided I'd just go local and root, root, root for the home University of Houston Cougars. I caught most of their game against UCLA on TV this afternoon, and it was really a fun game to watch. Kim says she can get discounted tickets to one of their games, and since they're not a mega-franchise like UT, I may actually be able to afford a discounted ticket before the season is up.
I think just about every team that I'm aware of one of my friends following got a win in week one, so that's kind of cool. Nobody (that I know) has to be mad, which is great because it's such a bummer to spend an entire year looking forward to a new season only to be let down by your guys.
So welcome to college football season, everyone. Boomer Sooner, Roll Tide, Hook 'Em Horns, Sic 'Em Bears, Rock Chalk Jayhawk, Woo Pig Sooie, and It's Either A Kind Of Prickly Nut-like Thing Or Else A Delicious Candy.
I think that covers everyone's rally cry that I know.
Hey, do the Cougars have a rally cry? *goes to look* Okay, here's what I found at uhcougars.com:
"Traditionally, the stand cheer has gone: Eat 'Em Up! Eat 'Em Up! Rah! Rah! Rah! Not surprisingly, some fans erroneously chanted Raw! Raw! Raw! at the end of the cheer. However, in 2000, the cheer was changed to Eat 'Em Up! Eat 'Em Up! Go Coogs Go! At a minimum, this should be less confusing for everyone."
Heh...yeah, those idiots, changing "Rah" to "Raw." Wait...how could they tell???
Also, I don't think I've mentioned on here that my parents are in town for Labor Day Weekend. Have I mentioned that? Well, they are, and it's awesome. You might be thinking, But wait, Will, didn't you just have a guest LAST weekend? Yes, yes we did. And Kim's parents are coming in next weekend as well. Why is this? Because of a strange little phenomenon known as "The Strange Phenomenon About Will And Kim's Visitation Schedule That Has No Actual Name," or The SPAWAK VS THNAN for short. (My money is totally on Th'Nan in that battle) According to SPAWAK VS THNAN, we usually go months at a time with no visitors, and then everybody comes at once. Please note, I'm certainly not complaining at all, because we love out-of-town visitors whenever we can get them. It's just odd that it always seems to work out this way consistently enough that I can officially (by FOMW standards) brand it a phenomenon.
In case you hadn't guessed, this post is about college football. This was the first weekend of the new college football season. As you know (unless you've forgotten), I had previously decided that this was the year I was finally going to care about college football. I kept going back and forth over which team I should claim allegiance to from this point forward. (My college actually didn't have football, in case you weren't aware) At first I was leaning toward Alabama because a good friend of mine down here is a huge Crimson Tide fan, and he's probably more passionate about college football than anyone else I know. However, I have a friend on Twitter who's a big Arkansas fan, and I'm afraid she might block me if I started posting "Roll Tide!" and the like. And of course, I can't take Arkansas because I'll never say "Woo Pig Souiee" while cheering my team on. My heart really wants me to take one of the Big XII teams, but not only is that conference now in mortal danger, but I found myself so over-exposed to both obnoxious Texas and Oklahoma fans in college that I just can't line myself up with either program. I can't go with Oklahoma State, either, though my friend Sarah is a fan, because that would put me in bad with Kim's grandfather. And the two Kansas teams...well, I'll always be happy to see them doing well, but I grew up around them and they were never really "my" teams then, so it'd be tough to claim them now.
Basically, I wanted a team that I could make a legitimate claim for that wouldn't ostracize me from any of my friends and family. Finally, I decided I'd just go local and root, root, root for the home University of Houston Cougars. I caught most of their game against UCLA on TV this afternoon, and it was really a fun game to watch. Kim says she can get discounted tickets to one of their games, and since they're not a mega-franchise like UT, I may actually be able to afford a discounted ticket before the season is up.
I think just about every team that I'm aware of one of my friends following got a win in week one, so that's kind of cool. Nobody (that I know) has to be mad, which is great because it's such a bummer to spend an entire year looking forward to a new season only to be let down by your guys.
So welcome to college football season, everyone. Boomer Sooner, Roll Tide, Hook 'Em Horns, Sic 'Em Bears, Rock Chalk Jayhawk, Woo Pig Sooie, and It's Either A Kind Of Prickly Nut-like Thing Or Else A Delicious Candy.
I think that covers everyone's rally cry that I know.
Hey, do the Cougars have a rally cry? *goes to look* Okay, here's what I found at uhcougars.com:
"Traditionally, the stand cheer has gone: Eat 'Em Up! Eat 'Em Up! Rah! Rah! Rah! Not surprisingly, some fans erroneously chanted Raw! Raw! Raw! at the end of the cheer. However, in 2000, the cheer was changed to Eat 'Em Up! Eat 'Em Up! Go Coogs Go! At a minimum, this should be less confusing for everyone."
Heh...yeah, those idiots, changing "Rah" to "Raw." Wait...how could they tell???
Saturday, September 3, 2011
v2, d407: You've Changed
I'm talking to you, blogger. You changed on me. You moved everything around, you put all the buttons in different places, you took all the fun and color out of my log-in screen and replaced it with...with...CHANGE!!
Obviously, I don't like it, because people on the Internet always have to hate it when you change anything. I always love it when Facebook changes something. Everyone goes absolutely ballistic. It's fantastic. And then people create pages on Facebook about how they hate the changes to Facebook. And then everybody pretty much gets over it and goes back to making pages claiming they need a "Dislike" button. I also remember when Twitter changed, and for what seemed like months it said you had a choice between using "New Twitter" or sticking with "Old Twitter" for a little while longer. I can't actually remember what the difference was.
Now, I do remember being a bit hacked off when Youtube would only let you log on with a Google account. In fact, Youtube and Blogger are both jerks for that. Especially since Blogger attached itself to my work email account rather than my personal one without asking. About a week ago, that became a problem, because suddenly I can't be logged on to either Youtube or my email while logged into Blogger, because Blogger wants my work email log-in info.
Anyway, our Internet sites change on us all the time. And the changes really aren't that big of a deal most of the time. I'll figure out where you hid all your buttons and features, Blogger, and we'll get along just fine.
But if you ever start playing commercials with sound that randomly start up while I'm trying to blog, so help me I will end you.
Obviously, I don't like it, because people on the Internet always have to hate it when you change anything. I always love it when Facebook changes something. Everyone goes absolutely ballistic. It's fantastic. And then people create pages on Facebook about how they hate the changes to Facebook. And then everybody pretty much gets over it and goes back to making pages claiming they need a "Dislike" button. I also remember when Twitter changed, and for what seemed like months it said you had a choice between using "New Twitter" or sticking with "Old Twitter" for a little while longer. I can't actually remember what the difference was.
Now, I do remember being a bit hacked off when Youtube would only let you log on with a Google account. In fact, Youtube and Blogger are both jerks for that. Especially since Blogger attached itself to my work email account rather than my personal one without asking. About a week ago, that became a problem, because suddenly I can't be logged on to either Youtube or my email while logged into Blogger, because Blogger wants my work email log-in info.
Anyway, our Internet sites change on us all the time. And the changes really aren't that big of a deal most of the time. I'll figure out where you hid all your buttons and features, Blogger, and we'll get along just fine.
But if you ever start playing commercials with sound that randomly start up while I'm trying to blog, so help me I will end you.
Thursday, September 1, 2011
v2, d406: Following up
Here. This is the best thing I've read after the Wade Belak tragedy from yesterday. (Police confirmed today the he was found hanged in a hotel room. No suicide note, no suicidal tendencies whatsoever) And I've read a lot about Belak's death and what this past summer means for hockey, for fighting, for fighters, etc. Adrian Dater knocks it out of the park here, relating how most NHL tough guys really never wanted to be NHL tough guys, but that's the price they pay to do what they love for a living. Combine that with Greg Wyshyski's round-up of post-Belak sentiments from around the Mainstream Media and you get a pretty tragic picture that shows not only the way many of these athletes live their lives, but also potential emotional and psychological plane crash that comes when life suddenly kicks you to the curb. Whether you're an athlete whose career is suddenly over, an actor whose fifteen minutes of fame are up, or even just the guy who loses his job of ten years and finds himself staring at his living room walls for hours on end, it can be a rough adjustment to try to make. There are a lot of folks in this world who wake up one day to realize their dreams aren't all they thought they would be. "I only wanted a family, so why don't my spouse and kids satisfy me?" "I knew I'd be in movies, but I never thought I'd be stuck with the boom mic." "I wanted to be a writer. I did not want to spend the rest of my life writing copy for crappy Internet travel sites." "I wanted to be successful, and I am. I didn't realize I'd have to pay the price in meaningful relationships." And so it goes.
It's like trying to buy a car, but when you get home you realize what you drove back from the dealer is not the same vehicle the salesman sold you. Sometimes, even your dreams aren't all they were cracked up to be. And it sucks when that happens. And I'm not saying that so that we'll look at Belak and Rypien and say, "Yeah, it happens to everyone. Deal with it." I'm only saying that, when put into this kind of context, I understand a lot more of where these guys are coming from. Which, obviously, doesn't mean I'd condone the act of suicide. Not at all. But it's probably time to realize that, whether we like hockey or not, whether we even care about sports at all, whether we have the potential to earn 1-2 million bucks per year for nine months of work, we're really not all that different from these guys. In their hearts, they were really just chasing their dream, and in a way, it turned on them. Turns out, there's something in these guys' stories that I can relate to after all.
It's like trying to buy a car, but when you get home you realize what you drove back from the dealer is not the same vehicle the salesman sold you. Sometimes, even your dreams aren't all they were cracked up to be. And it sucks when that happens. And I'm not saying that so that we'll look at Belak and Rypien and say, "Yeah, it happens to everyone. Deal with it." I'm only saying that, when put into this kind of context, I understand a lot more of where these guys are coming from. Which, obviously, doesn't mean I'd condone the act of suicide. Not at all. But it's probably time to realize that, whether we like hockey or not, whether we even care about sports at all, whether we have the potential to earn 1-2 million bucks per year for nine months of work, we're really not all that different from these guys. In their hearts, they were really just chasing their dream, and in a way, it turned on them. Turns out, there's something in these guys' stories that I can relate to after all.
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