Kidz Bop

Watching the Thanksgiving parade today made me realize how much kids crap there is out there. I'm a child of the 80's, which I think was the beginning of the abundance of kids products, generation. My older brothers were children of the 70's and I know that they were not inundated with as much consumer crap as I was. And I know that in the 60's and 50's it was just tinker toys and dolls, generations before that, there were sticks and stones. What I think sucks the most is the lack of good music!
For example, Yo Gabba Gabba, which is variety show on Nickelodeon. While they try to introduce children to beats and catchy songs, I think for the most part they fail. Take Yummy in my Tummy. This songs just sucks. I get and appreciate the concept of teaching kids to eat nutritious things, yet why does it have to be produced in such a way that trains kids to sound like annoying high pitched robots? And then, there's Kids Bop. Oh, Kids Bop. Suddenly hip hop is safe for kids as long as they're signing. The scary day that I end up with spawn, I'm determined that they will listen to Motown, The Beatles, and The Beach Boys.

Songs that literally will make your ears bleed

I literally stumbled upon this story a few weeks ago and it really made me re-think American torture methods. While I think that torture can be a barbaric act, I am not 100% against using torture methods to retrieve information from sources that are associated with terrorist acts. Although water-boarding might be too extreme, something along the lines of music as a form of torture, I'm okay with.
This article addresses certain musicians that were used a a means of torture for detainees in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay. One thing they mentioned was not so much the content of the music, but the non-stop noise, as the means of torture. I understand that because I can't imagine not having a few moments of silence to be able to gather your thoughts. I thought it was funny that the musicians were banning against it, because I think it's a blow to the ego to know that your music sucks so bad that it is used to literally make people go crazy.
And then, there's getting a taste of your own medicine. I saw this story last year and I think that it is a pretty clever idea to solve noise ordinance problems. My favorite part of the story was that you could literally see the agony in the offenders faces. It made me think about what music would drive me crazy. Number one for sure would be Nickelback. Oh dear God. And then I think a close second would be Hoobastank. What would be on your list? Would it also be the great Manilow?

Oh the weather outside is frightful

It's the end of Thanksgiving Day and as I recovering from a tryptophan coma, the weather is getting quite chilly. I hope that this song can keep me warm.

Cruisin with the windows down

I'm a major fan of fresh air. Probably one of its biggest fans. Nothing beats Florida fall weather, when it's a perfect seventy something degrees, not a cloud in the sky, and the humidity is almost non-existent. Rolling down your windows and blasting some good tunes is what I look forward to most when I take my car (also known as Remington Steele) for a ride. I have been really interested in a new commercial for the new Verizon phone, Droid. One of the reasons why I like it so much is because the song is very catchy. I looked up the song on the beloved Youtube and stumbled upon this music video. My first thought: all of that fresh air and such a cute song to go with the beautiful day, I'm so jealous! Ever since watching that music video, I have been on beautiful driving weather watch.My beautiful driving day came last Sunday.
My current state of mind has been pretty mixed up, considering I am months away from graduation and feeling pretty excited and anxious about the real world that awaits for me. Originally, my thoughts came to this. I'm not sure if it was my heavy thoughts, or that I was preparing to make the trek to Super Wal Mart on a weekend. But, I had to snap out of it! Why was I worrying about something that was out of my control? How could I waste this wonderful opportunity to take a cruise with my windows down, hair flying everywhere, driving underneath shady canopies. Why would I listen to something that could taint my experience. I decided that it was not the time or place. So I listened to this instead. Much better. Today is the day. With my windows down, a beautiful day, and inspiring tunes- I can do it.

Hey Good Lookin', Whatcha got Cookin'?

I enjoy cooking a good meal just as much as I like eating a good meal. My roommates know that it's a sign that I'm about to conduct some major business in the kitchen when I plop down my ipod and speakers onto the kitchen counter. Last month, my friends and I started SNDC (Sunday Night Dinner Club). It's very hush-hush among us because we do not want any moochers to infiltrate our new Sunday ritual. The rules are very similar to Fight Club, the first one being, we do not speak of SNDC outside the confines of our apartment walls. Every Sunday has a theme and the first SNDC had a Southern Comfort theme. My contribution was mac-n-cheese, courtesy of Southern cutie, Paula Deen.
Richard Simmons enjoys sweating to the oldies, but I prefer to cook to the oldies and the classics. I normally blast The Big Chill Soundtrack, because I like to envision myself in the movie dancing with my friends in the kitchen (sans the whole reuniting because of a friend's suicide thing). Other people that frequent my culinary soundtrack are Aretha and Nat King Cole. Listening to Respect with a knife in your hand creates a whole new meaning to the song.
As I was making my mac-n-cheese my roommate's peach cobbler was baking (and yes, it was a 12 on the yummy scale). Unbeknownst to us, the peach juice goodness was too much for the poor cobbler to take and it began to overflow in the oven, causing an icky ooze to burn on the bottom of the oven. We immediately took it out and contemplated taking a break from cooking to deal with the near catastrophe, but there was no way that I was going to have a spill stop my mac n cheese from baking.
The goo began to cool and we stuck the cobbler back into the oven, so it turn a golden brown, so beautiful it would make you tear up. Until- bad news bears-a small burst of flame began popped up. In short, the flame was contained, oven cleaned, and mac-n-cheese and cobbler were safe and sound.

I guess in the beginning of my story, I demanded Respect, but in turn I almost Burned One Down.