Top Ten Things That I Love in Pop Culture...

So fellas and ladies, I started thinking of things that I love about our ridiculous culture. I began to compile a list of items that quietly change our lives so here it goes:

10) Laser Disc Players: What would the early to mid-90s have been w/out Laser discs? They were the short lived equivalent to LP records. I remember watching Ghost on Laser Disc and thinking that Whoopi Goldberg should grow out her eyebrows.
9) The "Rudy" Clap: A sports movie moment that changed the cheesy inspirational sports movie genre forever. I still clap for him on 24.
8) The Double Guitar: Looks great with lean back, arppeggios, and Jethro Tull's Moustache. I love guitar/mandolin combos as well.
7) Teddy Ruxpin: It was cool when I was 6 and scary as hell now. Talking dolls were forever changed. Hey Tim, let's start a band called Teddy Ruxpin.
6) TI-84 through 97 Calculators: Didn't Math teachers know that not even one of us learned how to accurately graph geometric equations, but that we all became experts at Nibbles?
5) Raising the Roof: It had a very very short run in MTV culture, but out of touch white 50 somethings still use it today.
4) John Cougar Mellencamp: I don't know one individual who owns a John Cougar album, yet every radio station seems to think thier demographic still loves "Ain't that America". God bless the USA.
3) Silk Shirts: Between 91-94, Silk Shirts, parachute pants and sockless penny loafers could do no wrong. Despite the fact that the general populace realized that silk tops are essentially blouses, they can still be found among sound technicians, African nationals, and any actor who plays Theo Huxtable.
2) Rock Stars wearing only underwear: Flea from the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, the lead singer from Live, the drummer from No Doubt...whitey tightey have never been so exciting or puzzling.
1) Claymation: Think about it, some guys were in a musty garage eating Doritos and decided to created a clamation series around a group of raisins from California. Claymation is a dying art form that needs to be revived whenever possible.

Feel free to chime in.

That is so Nasty!

I have a question. Why is the mucus inside of my nasal cavity fine, but as soon as it leave's via nose, mouth, or other it is super gross? Why is it that when any non-solid substance inside my body leave's it is nasty nation. The only change is location. Why can my dad pick his ear with a with his car keys for hours on end and not be gross, but any form of nose picking make's little Suzy Hutchinson puke in her mouth a little bit? Is that paper covering placed over the toilet seat a guardian angel saving souls from mucus membrane's and bacteria's of doom?
The reason we should be so disgusted by contact with fluids/gels that are supposed to be internal is because they may carry diseases. The bottom line is, if you dive into a huge steaming pile of rhino poop then you'll probably get the west nile virus and a scorching case of herpes. How do we give each other colds you ask? By touching each other's mucus. If you decide to dive into a pool of Patrick Ewing's sweat you'll probably become covered with scabies's and mutate into a beastly form, that's what happened to Tom Petty.
I guess these blog doesn't have any real purpose. Thanks for reading.

Discovery safely home

Space shuttle Discovery made a picture perfect landing at Kennedy Space Center on runway 15 at about 8:15 this morning. Discovery and crew completed a successful mission, which elapsed over 12 days, and 5.3 million miles. The whole process of reentry went about as smooth as possible. There was a last minute change of runway as mission control decided just before 8 am to change from runway 33 to runway 15. The weather was overcast and cloud cover was the reason for the runway change. Just a quick fact that absolutely blows my mind every time I hear it but once again as I was watching the whole thing this morning I heard it again. At about 25 minutes prior to landing Discovery was traveling at Mach 24.9 or about 17,000 miles per hour. 17,000 to 0 in 25 minutes that is a quick turn around. I would like to congratulate the crew of Discovery and NASA for a great and successful mission, and of course a safe return home.

The next shuttle launch is just around the corner as it is scheduled for sometime in August. The shuttle this time will be Atlantis, and the mission will be STS-115.

Tensions Hot... Check

Tensions are intensifying in the Middle East as Israel and the terror network Hezbollah continue to trade blows. After Israel warplanes and ships attacked targets in Beirut which included the airport, and major roadways which run from Beirut towards Damascus (Syrian capitol). Israel has also focused their targets on known Hezbollah territories. Yesterday Israeli warplanes made an attempt to kill Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah who has come out urging Arabs and Muslims worldwide to support his guerillas. Earlier on Sunday Hezbollah launched a series of rocket attacks on northern Israel most notably on the city of Haifa. Israeli forces responded by launching another series of attacks in Lebanon.

As the tensions grow there are suspicions and reports about the involvement of Iran and Syria, countries that are known to have lent support to Hezbollah in the past. It is quite certain that the arms in which Hezbollah is using against Israel were provided by or purchased from Iran or Syria. Many of the fears from the west are the involvement of Syria and Iran. Syria has come out and been very vocal about their desire to be involved in any talks in the region. This is a growing problem that could become serious immediately if cooler heads don’t prevail. Look for more updates on this in the coming days.

On a lighter note, I am just wondering what Kim Jong Il thinks about all of this. He must despise Israel and Hezbollah as they have taken the world spotlight (that was momentarily on him) off of him. He launched a few test missiles got the worlds attention, and had an immediate upper hand when it came to apparent respect and the fear of some. He accomplished what he wanted. But a week later, he is a distant memory. For someone who has to compete with Hezbollah for airtime that is tough to swallow.

Control - Pedro the Lion

"Oh look you've earned your wings, are you an Angel now or a Vulture, constant hovering over waiting for a big mistake" - Dave Bazan

Pedro the Lion put out an album a couple of years ago that is a hidden gem of spiritual, musical, and American cultural genius. It is very rare today to find a new album that has a theme where each song make sense sitting next to the other. This is the sort of thing you find on the Beatle's St.Peter's and Radiohead's OK Computer. Control brings the listeners along a story of a man and woman than get married, find Jesus, struggle with life, cheat on one another, go through a mid-life crisis and finally die. The album is real about the modern American mind in a similar way that the file "American Beauty" is, and like American Beauty it is exaggeration to prove a point. The 1st song called "Option" is about falling in love and getting married with lyric's like "I could never divorce you, without a good reason, though I may never have too, its good to have options". When people get married these days they don't intend to get divorced, but it is also a reasonable option the second that there is a fire in the kitchen. No editorial or review could full explain this album, hence I highly recommend listening and discussing this album. It is a modern masterpiece that has not been discovered by the masses.

Patchwork Quilts Made Out of George Clooney's Beard and Matt Damon's Dimples

Hi there. Names Freebone. First time writer, long time reader. So I'm not exactly sure what department I had to cover on the BG. I think it was I who was to assume the mantle of move critic. True I do spend an exorbiant amount of time on my tucus, but I don't know that that qualifies me for anything. Still, since I watch a lot of films anyways, and my wife tires of my film diatribes, a new audience is just what I need. We begin our first film review in a far off land on the sand dunes of the Middle East...

Syriana is a story about greed, power, and the abuses of power. Set in the Middle East, Europe, and the United States, the film follows several story lines that all convene into one. The film jumps around more than a middle school kid without his "medicine", so I'll try to be as succint as possible:
Shady deals between U.S. oil companies and a country in the Middle East are suspected of foul play. They are investigated. Meanwhile, a fat George Clooney plays a CIA agent who is at the tail end of his career trying to make sense of it all and not get killed in the porcess. Confused? Good, you should be.
I rented Syriana via Netflix (both a boon and a curse that Netflix is) and I'm glad I did. Multiple times during the viewing I had to rewind it and play it again. There's a lot of fast dialogue and it's sometimes hard to keep track of all the different story lines. The film was directed by Stephen Gaghan, who also penned the screenplay for Traffic, a film about drug trafficking (get it?). If you're at all familiar with that movie, you should have a good sense of how Syriana unfolds.
Now there are several things that I like about Syriana with not much to complain about. The intent of the film (I feel) is not to be preachy about our dependency on oil. It's not exactly a secret that the U.S. is very dependent on foriegn oil. The film's main goal is to explore the issue while showing our (U.S.) dirty underbellies, while showing some of humanness in their (Middle East) world. It's pretty apolitical in my judgement. Which may be a problem depending on how you like your movies. If you like things to blow up, the good guy to get the girl, and the bad guys to go to jail, then you might not like this. It's kind of like one of those old quilts that's supposed to look like some type of picture, but you have no idea what picture it looks like, so you give up and just use the dang quilt becuase you're cold and your grandmas house has no heating in the upstairs because the house was built in the 1910's and it would cost too much to add more heating to the frigid upstairs. It's definately a thinking mans movie, and I know all here on the Breakfast Gravy staff love to think. (I should have thought of a better closing line, that sucked).
I give Syriana: 4 out of 5 Freebones.

The American Music Scene Messiah

My review for this week is Sufjan Steven's, Avalanche, which is a five-star effort. It's a B-sides and lost tracks album from highly acclaimed, Come on Feel the Illinoise release in 2005. The albumed is centered on the track one-side one title ballad The Avalanche and poetically moves from airy bluegrass to space rock, jazz inspired acoustica to falsetto-laden folk anthems. In a word, the album is brilliant, perhaps even more complete of an album that Illinoise was. Blasphemy...perhaps, but let me explain my reasoning. Someone recently asked me why I like Candian rock so much. You see, I literally stumble upon excellent music (Arcade Fire, Hawksley Workman, Broken Social Scene, Stars, the previously reviewed Sam Roberts) and later discover its Candian origin. It's a strange phenomenon. I'm drawn to these bands because of a certain ethos in the music. I feel the same way about Brit rock. Perhaps you've heard the new rock sensations The Arctic Monkeys. Yup, cool sound, but nothing special. What makes them cool is that they exemplify the British sound. If a Chicago band played the same songs the same ways, it wouldn't work. You can't fake style. Heck even France has a very distinct rock indy scene. What is American style though? The answer, well, it's confused. I myself don't like the fact that as an American music lover, I am assocaited with Nelly Furtado, the White Stripes, and Korn. Enter Sufjan Stevens. When I listen to Avalanche, I hear the fourth, and most complete, major offering from an artist who is thoroughly himself. He's not a British wannabe; he's a unique American musician. I haven't felt this proud to be an American music lover since Weezer Blue Album came out. Sufjan has a style all his own, and I hope that the American Indie scene continues to listen closely to him. He may be the Messiah of American Indie style. My suggestion, buy The Avalanche today, and keep it close by to remind you of where American Indie music should and could be heading.

Fourth of July launches

Congratulations to the people at NASA for a successful launch of Space Shuttle Discovery yesterday. It was the first Independence Day launch in NASA’s history. Everything from the initial observations of the launch seemed in great working order, and the crew will be able to see over the next few days if there has been any damage that needs repair before re-entry. I have to say that space travel is something that I know very little about, because my mind just does not think like that. Yet I am fascinated by it, and honestly can’t get enough of it. Just after take off yesterday, after the separation of the external boosters had been complete and the Shuttle had been airborne for about four or five minutes the shuttle was traveling at over 7,000 miles per hour or about four miles per second… Four miles per second!! That is so incredible to me. Look to Intelligent Confusion for updates on Discovery’s 13-day mission to the International Space Station.

Apparently Kim Jong Il is more nuts than ever thought possible before. North Korea tested more long-range missiles yesterday, including the infamous Taepodong II missile. North Korea got Japan’s attention by launching a missile into the Sea of Japan during a busy rush hour in Tokyo. Japan responded with cutting off transport and trade routes to North Korea via air and sea. China even responded with a late statement condemning the acts, but calling for peaceful and diplomatic needs in responding to the tests. I have to say that North Korea is dumber than I ever thought possible. They now have ticked off another major power in Asia, and China is not far behind. Japan and the U.S. want the U.N. to issue immediate sanctions against North Korea. There have been attempts in the past to sanction North Korea, but China and Russia have blocked such attempts. The U.S. is hoping that such actions will not happen this time. The funny thing in all of this is North Korea’s technology seems to be a bit lacking as the test of their Taepodong II missile failed, it crashed into the sea long before the projected aquatic target. Many say that this proves that North Korean technology is far inferior to that of their enemy counterparts. The thought is that this was more of a show on North Korea’s part than any strategic testing on the part of the North Koreans. They want to show the world that they have these missiles, and they are not afraid to launch them. I am not as concerned about North Korea as others because I think that North Korea is blowing a lot of smoke. Yet it is also valid to say that Kim Jong Il is so completely nuts that he would do something entirely irrational. I think that the best way to go forward with this is to continue the six party talks, and try and see if the U.N. is capable of setting appropriate sanctions. Kim Jong Il has said that any such sanctions would be an act of war, but if China, Japan, Russia, and America are all on the same side (along with others), than I like our chances.