Starting With What We Already Know

Garrett!

2008-06-20T12:22:00.001-07:00

This is what I found so far.

Too Much Beatles

2008-03-20T00:04:00.000-07:00

Here's a couple random Beatles lists of my picks...

TOP 10 Songs:
1. "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" - THE BEATLES
Just their best song, I think. I really can't get too much deeper than that - this is as good as it gets when it comes to The Beatles. You just know it sometimes.

2. "Taxman" - REVOLVER
Rocky and even revolting, it effectively kicks off one of the most important albums of all time.

3. "Let it Be" - LET IT BE
It's Paul and his piano, and it's as sweet as The Beatles get, right here.

4. "Nowhere Man" - RUBBER SOUL
One reason why I think Rubber Soul is the group's best album is because of songs such as "Nowhere Man." Things were becoming different.

5. "A Day in the Life" - SGT. PEPPER'S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND
As daring as it is, it's a great rock and roll song. I still hear the perfectly out-of-tune orchestra in my sleep at times. It's haunting as it takes off every step of the way.

6. "Hey Jude" (single)
A simple song from the band's more complicated era. It was considered too lengthy to be a hit, but it's captivating. Naaaa, na na na naaaa .....

7. "In My Life" - RUBBER SOUL
This would be sappy if the lyrics weren't so well-constructed. The Beatles showed here that if they could be sharp and sad, things were changing.

8. "Blackbird" - THE BEATLES
Bare-bones guitar and soul here. A song impossible not to hum for days.

9. "The Long and Winding Road" - LET IT BE
The "naked" version of this song is better, but "The Long and Winding Road" is so honest that hardly a Beatles fan can dislike it."

10. "Across the Universe" - LET IT BE
It's so eerie. This is as eerie as non-"White Album" as the group gets. The song asserts itself, though, and you love it for doing so.

TOP 5 Albums:
1) Rubber Soul
2) Revolver
3) Abbey Road
4) Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
5) The Beatles

And, what the heck, here's a scene from "I am Sam," which made me weep like an infant.

A Musical Discussion with Avery

2008-02-24T16:51:00.000-08:00

MarkMan21Foo (4:47:59 PM): do you like John Mayer?

aves286 (4:48:06 PM): no

aves286 (4:48:43 PM): do you?

MarkMan21Foo (4:49:08 PM): he's OK I guess

My Top 5 Favorite Elvis Costello Songs

2008-02-19T15:41:00.000-08:00

5. (What's So Funny About) Peace, Love, and Understanding?

Album: "Armed Forces" (U. S. edition)

4. Oliver's Army

Album: "Armed Forces"

3. Stranger in the House

Album: "Almost Blue" (Bonus Tracks)

2. No Dancing

Album: "My Aim is True"

1. Radio, Radio

Album: "This Year's Model"

God Bless StumbleUpon - Ukulele Girl

2008-02-19T14:37:00.000-08:00

Despite having psychology and weight training classes on my slate today, I just couldn't get my sorry self to sleep.

Maybe I was still too excited from SJSU's thrilling 70-67 win over Utah State a few hours before. Maybe I got a little too pumped over a couple of rousing games of NCAA Football 2007 on the PlayStation 2. But for whatever reason, I found myself, at 5 a.m., using StumbleUpon with the hopes of discovering some random entertainment.

If you don't know, StumbleUpon is a downloadable program for your internet browser that allows you to randomly "stumble" on websites based on your preset interests, or based on pages that other StumbleUpon users with similar settings like.

So, at some point in my Stumbling, I was linked to a YouTube video of a gal playing ukulele and singing "Keep Fishing" by Weezer. I have to admit that I was pretty freaking impressed with her. She's a very good singer and the fact that her videos are simply her playing a ukulele, along with spliced-in segments of her singing backup vocals to make the performance incredibly smooth, makes me a fan.

Her name is Julia Nunes and you should definitely check out at least a few of her videos.

Keep up the good work!

Josh Quotes (All)

2008-01-07T12:30:00.001-08:00

Here's a list of the random things my friend Josh has said over the past couple years.
No offense intended here, just random, out-of-context hilarity.

1) "I'm just going to sit in the shower for 4 hours."
2) "I don't really get pee-shy. It's a real thing - it's like stage fright."
3) "Smells like cigarettes and... Trix."
4) "Yeah, in some cases like Tommy Lee, where he has an 11-inch penis."
5) About penises: "Well, I guess if you get attacked by 20 of them at a time you'll be afraid."
6) "I didn't jack off Patrick Swayze."
7) "They bring nothing but hatefull clowns and horrible marchmallow peanuts."
8) "One of my friends told me that if you bare-ass fart on someone's pillowcase you can give them pink eye."
10) "Damn it fan, you oscillated too quickly. Plus, I'm not tall enough to fart into a fan."
11) "I don't get hard on gays."
12) "His iPod is a phone. It's not an iPhone though."
13) "What's with you and Bam Bam Biggelow?"
14) "You know what I never found hot? Those African girls with the buzzed heads."
15) "Yeah, but is 'Mark' in The Bible?"
16) "Why would you dress slutty to a wedding unless you're the bride?"
17) "Give me a loaf of-hey what's up?"
18) "Bitch, I need porn."
19) "I needs my porn. Shakespeare's got to get paid, Josh has gots to get, well, laid, I guess."
20) "My dad wasn't high! I needed to get him high."

21) "Europe is probably way more sexually active than I was."
22) "Who cares? I'm not going to remember the name of a fatty."
23) "I just wanted to touch Bob Broznan for some reason."
24) "Stupid George Forman, on the ground for some reason."
25) "I touched ass and titty of a sweet, white Pollack."
26) "I'm tired of beating off in the library."
27) "That Asian guy was a horrible John Elway."
28) "I gotta find out where I saw that gay guy before."
29) "What's that Italian place we ate at here? The Flying Caballeros?" (Buca di Beppo)
30) "I'm not football illiterate.""
31) "Not gay ENOUGH."
32) "Hey, a black girl."
33) "If I was having sex with anyone, the last person I would want in that room is Abhishek."
34) "I got soul but I don't eat soul food."
35) "I don't know why - it wasn't black hat day."
36) "I could masturbate to, like, Jurassic Park."
37) "You've never met Luigi Figeroa."
38) "I've never met anyone's parents."
39) "I hope so. She's my favorite girl in the world."
40) "If I had a little market, I'd have a sign out front that says, "Hot Dogs: 3 for $8, or something."

41) "Cheeseburgers are just as juicy as soda."
42) "And you're not supposed to hold a baseball like a penis either."
43) "The paper today had broig articels."
44) Mark: "Silly-bo-billy-banana-fanna-fo-filly."Josh: "Kill yourself."
45) "Oh, I never put deodorant on today."
46) "I don't want to grow up, I'm a Toys 'R' Us kid - molesting young boys is all that I did."
47) "Just because it doesn't seem like a big deal - but now it's one of those things that I say I've done it, so i can know what I'm talking about ... like sex at 17... that's not real."
48) "She's a woman, she has no class."
49) "Some day, I want to drink liquid cocaine... I heard it's good."
50) "Like, you know when i kept losing? How i was complaining? Imagine a Jewish, New York school girl times 10 added to how I was complaining."
51) Josh: "What is it, the E. Honda thing from Street Fighter?Mark: "It's the Tibetan flag."Josh: "I was close."
52) "I think I want to do two nose hairs..."
52) "You've been down too long, on a man."
53) "I just wet your bed."
54) "I got hit by a midget down there."
55) "I want to give a stripper tips in coins."
56) "I was doing homework also. But I stopped because Mexico sucks."
57) "My butthole has never been opened in a shower."
58) "When I was little I used to want to live in Disneyland."
59) "I'm just going to promote white power."
60) "I already saw Mark without his shirt on..."

61) "It's funny, because 'Baywatch: The Movie' did come out a couple years ago... to a gay audience."
62) "I've had so much Dew, I'm out of sperm."
63) "Yeah, I'm listening to some dumbass Mejicans talking...you know, from Mejico."
64) "It's a baseball belt. I used to use them to choke girls with."
65) "Whenever I used to think of Erika from Athletics, I would think of gorillas."
66) "I'm people, look at the color of my skin!"
67) "So I was spanking it into a Dixie cup..."
68) "Oh well, it's just meat spin again."
69) "Break free and get AIDS?"
70) "The best ending would have been getting semen all over your face."
71) "George Washington Carver, the inventor of peanuts..."
72) "I need a penis inside me right now!"
73) "Well i mean, its like, my friends and my other friends. I try to keep them apart, but that damn Biggie Smalls brings them together."
74) "So I'm thinking of trying a chocolate exlax. You know, just for fun."
75) "It's gonna be more like this: 'Ma'am, open up your purse, I need to see if you stole anything'... 'I DIDN'T'...'that's a raping.' And then... I rape them."
76) "I wonder how much one makes for working in the gay industry."
77) "I'll have to tag team with Alan. And yes, I'm aware of the words I just used."
78) "Is it Kelly Clarkson, like you had on yours, you faaag?"
79) "So I went to this place in Corona called Pole Position... guess what it WASN'T."
80) "And do you give them the nickname because they can't give you a (expletive) well?"

81) "So you drove a car like a Mexican? Except it was all one color, and registered under your name?"
82) "I do have a good imagination... I have masturbated without a TV anywhere around me."
83) "I would have sex with that girl... and then have sex with Hellen Keller."
84) "I want to be a plastic surgeon just so i can mess with people's vaginas."
85) "Come out and get gaaayyys."
86) "That's like a 17-foot penis... hold on, I'm not done looking at it!"
87) "Suicide is awesome."
88) "I like Chris Angel, I like, I like Chris Angel."
89) "You know, other people can walk on water."
90) "I used to watch a lot of porn... oh, wait."
91) "Girls like Rambo, dont they?"
92) "Butt-Pirates of the Carribean? Or The Notebook?"
93) "I was thingking of fag-dragging all day."
94) "It doesn't say 'Christ' in my Bible."
95) "Your guy is in the middle of a four-way black orgy."
96) "That was picked like a nose."
97) "You can never have too many Hitlers."
98) "I tried Candy Man and Bloody Mary when I was a kid... I got DRUNK as hell!"
99) "Yeah, I was complaining when your penis went into me..."
100)"Anyway you want it, that's the way you need it, anyway you want it!"

101) "Hey squirrel, hey squirrel, you look like a rabbit."
102) "Magneto would be the worst gynocologist ever."
103) "I've always had a crush on the Pink Ranger."
104) "I just stripped down to my boxers for about 30 bitches. Why did you call me? Wanna go to Starbucks?"
105) "Buttsex. Arm bands? Like those livestrong ones? I dunno."
106) '"I don't like these orange pants. I get lost in their dazzle."
107) "Bless the blacks, bless the Jews, and why the hell not, bless the Chinese too."
108) "How long do you think it would it take for me to go in there and rape every one of them?"
109) "I stabbed myself in the leg with a fork. Well, not a fork, a pencil."
110) "I want to move to Ohio and buy a steamboat. Do you see where I'm going with this?"
111) "He's been in school for 12 years, and that's just this year."
112) Mark: Inner-ear infection? Josh: "No, not my stomach."
113) "I have to piss like a Japanese mailman… or a pregnant Jewish horse."
114) "I don't hate Asians that much."
115) "You're the only person who lives here whose name doesn't begin with an 'M'." - Josh, talking to me about myself and my three roommates: Alan, Ahmed, and Arya.
116)"So, what's your major?"
117) "That's the gayest thing you've ever done. Draw on my legs with pen and hold my ankles."
118) "That's why I want to be a peer mentor. You get a free Apple Computer. Screw helping the kids."
119)"I had six Easy Macs today. I had an Easy Mac, and then was like 'now what should I do?' So I had an Easy Mac." 120) "Ok, bring in the Weekly World News. We'll use the first three articles, except put the words 'Former Spartan' in front of 'Alien has baby with Britney Spears' unborn dad'."

121) "I love the Renaissance."
122) "Macbeth is Shakespeare's Hamlet."
123) "I will go out of my way to sleep on a leaf that looks particularly crunchly?"
124) "He used to be a panther. And then he became a black guy."
125) "My dream is to become a stripper in Hawaii."
126) "What swear starts with a C and has thirteen letters?"
127) "Oh Asian, oh Asian, why ya treat me so mean? You're the dumbest old Asian that I've ever seen. But if your last name is Oh. You gotta hit the road and go."
128) "Your name is highness, I got some things... it might be marijuana."
129) "This girl was like, 'Man my woman's studies class sucks,' and I was like, 'Duh'."
130) "Whenever I talk to things like dogs or babies..."
131) "Something happened to me today in English class that has never happened before. My penis fell asleep."
132) "Get out of Ohio."
133) "Earl Warren was a prosecutor and a prostitute..."
134) "World War I is over?"
135) "There's no water in Arizona; anywhere."
136) "Well I was talking about the sumo wrestler, and I had never seen a hairy Asian before."
137) "I went to a lesbian house party yesterday."
138) "Manatee? What the heck are you doing here? Oh, wait, not manatee... sting ray! Sting ray, what the heck are you doing here?"
139) "You don't put your mouth on this thing, ya know?"
140) "I hope they all fall and die."

141) "Too homosexual or too racist..."
142) "Intercourse, ahh."
143) "How can fat people be good guys?"
144) "I got to take a picture of that guy's head."
145) "There wasn't a KFC there, but there was hot dogs and nachos there."
146) "If we end up #3 in the nation, I'll do something that involves Eiffel Towers."
147) "All food is good... well most of it."
148) "Go into the girl's bathroom and get your own hot dog."
149) "I still wanna know how wood gets up there."
150) "I was like, damn that bitch is bangin'."
151) "Body hair and underwear."
152) "It should be frozen beans!"
153) "Ok peanut butter, it's time to put you away."
154) "Those are Saturnights. I'm talking about Saturdays."
155) "That is a hot, hot man."
156) "I didn't ask 'Why did you buy those two Vietnamese strippers?'."
157) "If I was in prison, I'd kill someone... I mean, like if you went to a fancy hotel, you're probably gonna steal stuff... because you're never gonna be there again, and... that's not a very good analogy."
158) "I mean, I've read a book, but not a Harry Potter book."
159) "Yeah! If you're workin' at the... the uh.. oh what is it called... damn it."
160) "You better move all those surfers out of the way to make room for Non-Employee of the Month... (You mean customer of the year?)... Oh yeah that's what I meant!"

161) "He's a mix of Van Wilder, and, you know what I like about high school girls?"
162) "Bubblegum cigarettes are the awesomest"
163) "Just like pogs. Pogs are coming back... I hope."
164) "I had a crush on someone in first grade."
165) "I like vienna sausages, but they have to be crocker-potted for while."
166) "Look at all these naked indians."
167) "My mom asked that big apple for directions."
168) "I don't really care about cancer, or black kids, or Lance Armstrong."

Why I Love Sports - Part 1

2008-01-07T08:18:00.001-08:00

Have we figured out what planet Tiger Woods is from yet?

Saying Woods is the world's best golfer today is as far from news as it gets, but sometimes I just can't get over how much this guy makes me actually care about watching golf. And about how much I care about sports in general.

Sure, I'm usually a fan of the underdog, but whenever Tiger plays I root for him to win. Sometimes to dominate, other times to edge past an opponent in a playoff. Why? I don't know, honestly. I guess there's just something about Tiger, something bigger than just a game. There's something in me that wants him to be greater and greater with each passing year.

When he golfs, I watch because I assume something great will happen. As CBS broadcaster Verne Lundquist asked, "In your life have you seen anything like that?" I doubt I'll see another Tiger Woods.

I love watching him play - even if he did go to Stanford.

Regarding all the old, re-used posts to start off:

2008-01-07T06:07:00.000-08:00

HEY.

If you're one of the few people I linked this site to and you've noticed that all my posts so far are just re-posts from my old blog, then, well, thanks for even knowing I had an old blog.

The new one felt empty so I moved all my posts from the old blog to this one.

It's better, don't you think?

Anyways, here's to some thoughtful posting. (Though it will most likely be pretentious rants).

Wait a Minute, Mr. Postman

2008-01-07T05:58:00.000-08:00

NOTE: This blog originally appeared January 1, 2005

The Energizer bunny kept going, and going, and going, and was eventually no longer the main focus in the battery company’s television ads.

Energizer commercials still contain the beloved bunny, but now feature more human-oriented topics in promoting their product. The latest one portrays a mailman, trudging through the rain and slush down a neighborhood street, seemingly determined to deliver each letter and package to its rightful destination.

At the ad’s conclusion, viewers are told that they “deserve a battery that works as hard as [they] do.”

With this most recent ad, Energizer reiterates on a common societal, and “All-American,” theme of hard work, determination, and being given recognition for never giving up. If these ideas sound like clichés, it’s because that’s what they are, and the message that the ad is trying to serve to consumers is not complicated.

The mailman works hard, every day, just like you. And the only way to give proper respect to someone who works hard is to reward them with a product that works just as diligently as they do. As a postman, the neighborhood relies on you. As a hard working American, your family relies on you. Therefore, as a battery, Energizer is the most reliable choice for you.

This concept is not new, however.

For decades companies have proudly displayed “Made in the USA” tags on products and appliances, hoping to strike even the smallest chord of patriotism. All the chords may have already been struck, however, as an “it’s-been-done-before attitude” arises from the commercial.

But, after all rain or snow, sleet or hail, the postman always delivers the mail, right? Yeah, and there’s no way the Dodgers will ever leave Brooklyn.

Silly Energizer, your ads are for rabbits.

First Steps from Last Fall

2008-01-07T05:55:00.000-08:00

NOTE: This blog originally appeared January 12, 2005

The first of three debates for the 2004 presidential election ignited, and flamed out last Thursday night, and the most common question was “who won?”

Kerry won, right?

The Massachusetts senator spoke the most daggers this side of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, and received 45% of the vote in an ABC News poll (compared to Bush, who garnered just 36% in the poll following).

What about a Bush victory?

The incumbent president acted as calm as he could in the face of his opponent’s allegations, and let his point sine through. One thing is without debate however. There was no shortage of media aftermath, complete with constant analysis and arguments over which candidate was the stronger of the two, or which candidate “won.”

ABC’s George Stephanopoulos reported that Kerry was the one who gave “substantively calm confident responses.”

Mark Halperin, the Political Director at ABC News, commented that Bush was the one who “looked angry.”

Stephanopoulos and correspondent Terry Moran both agreed that the Bush campaign machine came in cool and confident, but did not deliver the “knockout blow” they were looking for. Kerry is gaining ground on the president, which was the consensus at some outlets, even CBS. Imagine that.

Democratic senator Joseph Biden, speaking with anchorman Dan Rather, claimed that Kerry revealed his important points and outlooks involving homeland security and foreign policy. Republican senator John McCain was also welcomed by Rather, said that Bush has dealt with “grave responsibilities”, and the story he told involving the widow of a fallen soldier was a touching look into the president’s psyche.

Not all too different from the president’s motto of “compassionate conservatism,” during the 2000 election. Many media outlets came to the conclusion that the debate was actually a draw.

But, whether it was a tie, or the fact that nearly 70 million viewers tuned in, one thing is for certain: this presidential debate had drawing power.

Employee of the Year(s)

2008-01-07T05:51:00.000-08:00

NOTE: This blog originally appeared February 26, 2005

I can remember riding in the car with my dad; I couldn’t have been much older than eight or nine, when what should have been just another classic rock song on just another classic rock radio station, came on.

The music was so vibrant, so much larger than life and it caught my ear. The singer belted the tune with so much force, yet so much agony as if it were carried straight out of his soul. And it jumped straight into mine. Though I only caught but a few phrases, something about “runaway American dreams” or being “born to run,” I had to have a name to go with this musical discovery.

“Dad,” I asked. “Who is this?” “Son,” he answered. “That’s The Boss.” The Boss? I later came to know The Boss as Mr. Bruce Springsteen.

Springsteen made quite a trek to rock and roll stardom from the backstreets of Freehold (his birthplace) and Asbury Park, New Jersey. He grew up in a family similar to many normal middle class clans around America, which would later become his staple for songwriting. But Springsteen never had to fabricate any of his stories that were made into songs.

He lived every one.

That was another reason I have almost all of The Boss’s albums. His sense of down-to-my-side-of-the-globe realness is a factor of why Springsteen has a place on my wall back home. No other poster comes close to touching it. Springsteen, although he was old enough, never went to Vietnam.

I thank God he didn’t, because in the turbulent early 1970’s Springsteen was laying down the tracks that would start his triumphant stand as “Rock’s Savior.” I know full well he saved what little relationship my father and I had together. As an eight or nine year old boy, when my father and I were alone, it seemed we didn’t have much to say to each other. I guess we just didn’t relate on many things. But all that was needed was for my dad to pop in his cassette version of “Born in the USA,” and that got us talking.

Home, and my dad, are hundreds of miles of road away. But with The Boss at hand, he’s never more than a couple tracks off.

One good thing about my car

2008-01-07T05:49:00.000-08:00

NOTE: This blog originally appeared September 4, 2006

One man's trash... usually ends up in my car.

When my dad sold me the family's black sheep - a teal, 1995 Chevrolet Corsica with well over 100,000 miles under its hood - it would be an understatement to say I was skeptical. But I wasn't skeptical of the price of the car (one dollar), nor was I skeptical of the car's strange, lingering stench that seemed to combine maple syrup and cats (it's gotten a little better). And most of all, I wasn't skeptical of the CD player. Mainly because there wasn't one. There still isn't.

But I'm not bitter. Thanks to rummaging, I've been able to listen to music I never would have discovered had I not been stuck with the CD player's half-wit younger brother, the cassette tape deck.

Do you have any idea what its like to go into a music store and ask to see if they have any cassette tapes? Actually, it brings a smile to my face. If you don't know what cassette tapes are, give Google a try before reading further.

Thanks to this blessing in the form of technology lacking, I've been exposed to some of pop music's greatest achievements.

Here are a couple of my personal favorites from this past summer:

"Purple Rain" - Prince and the Revolution (1984)
Purchased: Goodwill Industries - Bakersfield, CA
Cost: $1.75
Personal All-Time Rank: #3

In all honesty, I bought this tape as a joke when I was home for a couple days. "Prince has been a weird guy," I thought. "This will be good for a couple laughs." But one June day while delivering a pizza for my current/former (it's complicated) employee Pizza My Heart, I figured I had nothing to lose and popped the supposed 1980s legend into my tape deck.

No less than 25 times did I listen to "Purple Rain" that week, and I've probably listened to it close to a hundred times in about three months. It's that good. It's over-poppy and it's that good. It's too-80s and it's that good. It's uber-embellished, super-sexual, ridiculously-raunchy, and sometimes grossly-pretentious.

And it's that good.

Good enough to jump from "Prince is stupid," on my all time list to the number three slot in about 40 minutes.

What makes it so good? What makes it so good is that it is a perfectly balanced album, book ended by the secularly religious (and extremely fun) "Let's Go Crazy" and the opus of the 1980s in the album's title track. "Let's Go Crazy" teases the listener before leading them into the stunningly different "Take Me With U", which contains the best vocal arrangements on the album.

"The Beautiful Ones" took me the longest to fall in love with, but the work's third track epitomizes how Prince could lay down one song after another, all of them good, and all of them different. "Computer Blue" and "Darling Nikki" close out the first side (remember, tapes here) and the songs are eerie, raunchy, and outright disturbing on some levels. I love both of them.

Undoubtedly Prince's most famous song, "When Doves Cry", opens the second side, setting the mood that takes the listener from the album's younger, nastier, yet somehow more innocent side, into a depressed and jaded-by-love side, where we all say things we don't mean and just want that one special person back. (Emo alert).

The song too famous to quote in this blog is followed up by absolutely my favorite song on the album, and that is "I Would Die 4 U". My favorite line: "I'm not your lover/I'm not your friend/I am something that you'll never comprehend." Amen, I've been there too Prince. This song is so good, I am willing to look past the lame 1980s pre-text message text message titling.

Almost by osmosis, the song seeps into "Baby I'm A Star" which stands as the album's rollercoaster, taking the listener all over the place before rolling them into the station to hear the album's title and closing track. "Purple Rain", the track itself, is grippingly reflective, and after listening to it, time and time again, I ask myself whether or not the album's sullen character will ever find what he's looking for, no matter how far he has to drive on his motorcycle to find it.

And while I am asking myself this, the tape has already switched sides back the beginning. "Let's Go Crazy" revs up again.

"I wonder what's going to happen this time," I often think.

"The B52's" - The B52's (1979)
Purchased: Streetlight Records - San Jose, CA
Cost: $2.50
Personal All-Time Rank: #27

You know what bugs me a lot when I bring up The B52's in a music discussion? Two words: "Love Shack." To a lot of people, it's the only song the band has ever done. Let's be honest. That song sucks. Every single song on the band's debut album is 100 times better than "Love Shack."

That being said, this B52s album speaks to me in a lot of the same ways Prince did. Unique songs in their own right, with each one complimenting the other. "The B52's" is also great because it doesn't take itself too seriously. It just has fun.

Take the album's fourth track "Rock Lobster." In all its silliness, the song's opening guitar riff and accompanying bass line would be a sub-heading under the definition of "awesome" in the rock 'n' roll dictionary. Juxtaposing a bit of rock and punk with absurd lyrics is something they do really well.

I can't tell you how much I still laugh every time Fred Schneider screams, "Watch out for that big killer whale!" Haha, you have to hear it.

All the songs on "The B52's" are good, but two more are great.

"6060-842" and the guitar strokes that this track contains caught me off-guard. In a good way. I don't know a whole lot about guitars, but I do know that I haven't heard these kinds of axe riffs in any other song. I haven't even heard songs by Hendrix, Clapton, or Vaughn that contain these types of guitar sounds.

I'm not saying these three aren't as good as the B52's, I'm simply stating that if you want to hear a guitar riff you've probably never thought of playing before, chances are it might be on "6060-842".

"Lava" opens side two of the tape and its a constant, easy to follow rock song that even makes you feel healthy just to sing along to it. The song contains my favorite line in the whole album: "My body's burnin' like a lava from a Mauna Loa/My heart's crackin' like a Krakatoa." Has there ever been a better song about the metaphorical relationship between one's desires and liquid hot, magma-filled volcanoes?

I haven't found one yet.

"Raising Hell" - Run DMC (1986)
Purchased: Streetlight Records - San Jose, CA
Cost: $1.50
Personal All-Time Rank: #24

I am white.

Before he died, Buck Owens and country music ruled my town.

I grew up in Bakersfield, the seventh most conservative city in America, and the most conservative in the state of California. Unfortunatey, one of the grand wizards of the Ku Klux Klan lived adjacent to my neighborhood when I was 10 years old. I have never been to Harlem.

And I absolutely love "Raising Hell" by Run DMC.

Now, I'm not trying to make race too big of a focus here, but I mention it because it shows just how important Run DMC was to popular music. The Civil Rights movements took off and eventually won because not only did black Americans gain support of their own people, but were able to convince many white Americans to wake up and fight alongside their fellow man for justice.

Ok, so I'll get off my soapbox for Civil Rights and back onto my soapbox for why "Raising Hell" speaks to me.

A friend of mine from high school named Stephen Albritton asked me if I liked any rap at all. I told him I liked Run DMC somewhat. He laughed. "All you white people like Run DMC. I guess you guys just aren't threatened by it."

And you know what, I'm not. I recognize the societal situations Darryl McDaniels raps about and I almost feel socially responsible. But at the same time, I see him as a friend while I listen to it. When it comes to the songs themselves, they can be angry at times, but overall it is enjoyable to listen to.

"Peter Piper" opens the album and is the group's way of saying "Yeah, we're here. Get ready." Pretty good cruising song, I must say. Me being an expert on cruising and all. Anyways...

I sometimes skip the second track, "It's Tricky," only because I heard it before I ever bought this album. Don't get me wrong, it's still an awesome song, car volume level on high is necessary for this one.

"My Adidas" is my favorite song on the album, and one of my life goals is now to memorize it, and sing it at a karaoke bar some day. I'll give everyone a heads up if that ever does happen. Video cameras ready, people.

I found myself singing "Is It Live" in the shower the other day, and the tape's title track is probably the second most powerful song on the album. The most powerful? "Proud To Be Black" ends the album, and it's a history lesson within music. I actually learned some things about black American history I never really understood before I heard this song.

Seriously. Here’s a sample from "Proud To Be Black":

There was a man - an inventor - who invented so well
He invented a fortune - for a man named Bell
George Washington Carver, made the peanut great
Showed any man with a mind, could create
You read about Malcolm X - in the history text
Jesse Owens broke records, Ali broke necks
What's wrong with ya man? How can you be so dumb?
Like Dr. King said, we shall overcome!

And not to brag at all, but the other day I turned to my friend and said, "The name's McDaniels/It's not McDonald's/These rhymes are Darryl's/And these burgers are Ronald’s." He had no idea what I was talking about.

How cool is that?

Who does Mike Krukow think he is?

2008-01-07T05:45:00.000-08:00

NOTE: This blog originally appeared on October 3, 2006

Sorry for the rant, but…

Current San Francisco Giants color commentator Mike Krukow has some nerve.

He is a complete homer for the Giants and rarely has anything unbiased to say regarding the game he broadcasts.

I have one documented example out of many:

The Giants are playing the Dodgers on September 29, 2006, and Krukow comments on a pitch thrown by the Giants which was clearly inside and a ball.

Play-by-play announcer John Miller says that the San Francisco pitcher just missed the plate.

Says Krukow, however, “He didn’t miss it, he just didn’t get the call.”

Nice Mike. Way to not let your emotions about a sucky Giants season get the best of you, again.

Later in the game, the Dodgers were awarded a called strike while pitching, which was not to Krukow's liking.

“They just got a gift… pitcher’s strike,” he said regarding Los Angeles and the plate umpire's call.

In the 9th inning, the Giants blew a 3-2 lead, the winning run scored by the Dodger's Russell Martin on a wild pitch from Mike Stanton.

Krukow, in his own disbelief, turns on his team.

“Unbelievable,” he says in a slightly condescending fashion. He would say it again a couple more times.

"Unbelievable."

Actually Mike, coming from you, I can believe it.

A Mourning with Haynes Johnson

2008-01-07T05:42:00.000-08:00

NOTE: This blog originally appeared on November 20, 2006

Back on October 12, 2006, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Haynes Johnson stopped by the Journalism and Mass Communications lounge at San Jose State.

Johnson sipped some orange juice, nibbled at a blueberry muffin, then sat cross-legged as he talked to SJSU journalism students and faculty about politics and journalism. Two realms he is very familiar with. I can't say I admire his demeanor, but he is obviously a respected figure in the field.

He talked about his book Age of Anxiety: McCarthyism to Terrorism and how the government uses fear to exploit their enemies for poltical purposes. Johnson claimed that his book shows "what fear can do to American life."

I don't know if I agree with him 100%, but I do like the fact that he is not a September 11 conspiracy theorist (I tend to have little respect for those who do).

"9/11 was real. Sure it was," he said, as several faculty members nodded in agreement.

Johnson also had some advice for the student journalists in the room.

"Ask tough questions," he said. "Examine it over and over again."

"The role of journalism is to shine a light on soceity."

Johnson said that journalist should be accurate and just give their opinion on topics or events. There must be context and perspective, according to Johnson. Numnber one, it happened. Number two, why did it happen?

George W. Bush was also a topic of interest during Johnson's visit. He compared the younger Geroge to his father, whom Johnson referred to as "sophisticated" and "versatile," and rehased on his CIA involvement.

"George Jr. never left the U.S. before his presidency," Johnson said. "Except going to China."

I thought that was a little bit funny, though I may be miscontruing what he said. Stupid pen and paper notes.

During the Q&A, I was able to get a question out, asking Johnson if he thought newspapers would one day fade away.

Johnson said that newspapers will continue to exist in the online realm, "as long as the standards are there."

He didn't seem to adress the possibility of the death of the hard copy newspaper.

QUOTE OF THE MORNING: "This is the most important time to be in journalism." - Haynes Johnson

Scoble Gets Blogged Down in Technology

2008-01-07T05:37:00.000-08:00

NOTE: This blog originally appeared on November 21, 2006

Robert Scoble was never going to finish the barbeque chicken sandwich he had just ordered from the menu at Gordon Biersch.

He was hungry enough to eat the whole thing, but the world’s most famous corporate blogger couldn’t avoid talking about weblogs for more than a couple bites.

Not bad for a guy who never actually graduated from San Jose State, the rumor being that he failed to pass one class on Shakespeare.

“It’s worse than that,” Scoble said while fighting with laughter. “I was one final paper away (from graduating).”

Scoble, now Vice President of Media Development for PodTech, first started blogging back in 2000 when the subject was brought to his attention at a web developer’s conference.

After firing up his first blog, he had reached a pinnacle of only 18 readers. Things have changed over time.
According to Scoble, there are roughly 60 million blogs worldwide.

And according to the Technorati top 100 most read blogs list, Scoble’s ranking floats in the 15th-30th most-read range every week.

To San Jose State Assistant Professor in Advertising Lilly Buchwitz, Scoble truly is a celebrity.

“It is the equivalent of seeing U2 play at one of your local pubs,” Buchwitz said.

Is Scoble famous? He doesn’t seem to think so.

“I’m not Britney Spears,” Scoble said. “Whenever someone does come up and talk to me it’s another geek. It’s usually someone I want to talk to.”

There are benefits as well as drawbacks to having a significant online presence, Scoble believes.

“I get invited to better parties,” he said. “But I get too much email; hundreds every day.”

Scoble has friends in “every city in the world” and was even greeted personally by a crowd of 120 people upon showing up to London for a party. He’s been invited to ski down the Swiss Alps by a few high rollers in his day.

But Scoble never strays too far from his SJSU roots, which include Journalism and New Media lecturer and friend Steve Sloan. The two have known one another about 15 years, Sloan said.

And Sloan remembers when the “gifted” Scoble would get into a little bit of trouble for tinkering with school computers back in the early 1990s.

“Robert would load Beta programs onto the computers,” Sloan said. “And they would crash.”

Though his intentions were anything but sinister, Scoble and his antics eventually led to his nickname: the Scobleizer.

“Robert had played around with a professor’s computer and the professor stood up and said ‘My computer’s been Scobleized!’” Sloan recalled.

So what does a person with an online presence such as Scoble’s have to say about the future of blogging?

“As far as I know, there are two truckers that blog. But in a year that means there will be 10.”

On the heels of this simple example, Scoble says that the blogging pool doubles in size every six months, and will certainly add depth to the assortment of credible blogs found online.

With so many other people blogging, Scoble may finally find time to sit down and finish a meal for once without having to blog or discuss blogging.

Right?

“I have to blog a few times a day. Just today I was blogging from my car in the parking lot of Hitachi Data Systems,” Scoble said.

Please, somebody get this guy something to eat.

Girl to class: "I hate it when guys say they're gonna pull out and then they don't."

2008-01-07T05:35:00.000-08:00

NOTE: This blog originally appeared on December 4, 2006

WARNING! - Possible conservative attitudes portrayed ahead!!!

Read the title of this blog... ok, now I'll explain.

So I got invited to attend a Public Relations class at San Jose State this afternoon. It was a battle of the sexes discussion in class, with males offering their likes and dislikes regarding women, and the girls turning the tables with their own suggestions for the boys.

It started out innocently enough.

"I like it when guys open the door for you," one girl said.

That's nice, chivalry might not be dead after all.

"I like how girls smell," one bearded young man said.

Hmm, yeah I'll agree, girls tend to smell nice.

"This might sound bad...," one girl began. Hmmm. "...but... ( Uh oh.) ...I hate it when you fool around with a friend, and he thinks it’s something more than it is."

Annnd here we go. There was pretty much no turning back once sex became the official topic of discussion. As both sides tended to fire off their pros and cons about the opposite sex. Emphasis on SEX.

"I hate it when a guy gets sex on the first date but doesn't call you the next day. What's up with that?" asks a blonde girl.

Perhaps too much info, but come on, we're all adults here, right?

"I also hate it when a guy pretends to put on a condom right before sex," chimes in a brunette.

Umm...

"I hate it when guys say they're gonna pull out and then they don't," she continues. Riiiight. Well, I hate to rush to judge, but if her goal was to make everyone in that class proud of her for being vocal about her sex life, she did it.

At least she was basically alone on this. Right?

"Yeah, what's up with not pulling out," another girl says.

Do you two know each other? Anyways, the professor was extremely tongue-in-cheek about the whole process, but she never resisted throwing in a sexual comment.

On the subject of girls taking too long to get ready: "Guys, once a girl is married, that won't happen. She will be able to take a shower, do her hair and make up, get dressed, and whack her husband off, all in 15 minutes," she said.

I'm no saint. By no means. But was she done interjecting with her wit? By no means.

One girl brought up the subject of female orgasms.

"Why don't you guys let US finish?" she basically pleaded.

Prof. Sex interjects: "Yeah guys. Just because you are limp, doesn't mean you're not getting us off. You've got 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 - 10 fingers! - to help us out with that."

Hahahaha... I laughed progressively less and less, by the way.

The subject turned to hygiene. Far away from sex, right?

"Why do we have to go down on you, but you won't go down on us?" one girl says, followed by a small chorus of cheers.

"Because," retorts one of the guys. "First you gotta clean your situation down there first."

At this point, "Professor G-Spot" interrupts again. "All right, I think we should all take a bath... together! And show one another our techniques," she says proudly.

As funny as this class was (and it was), I at least need a shower after it.

And no, not a cold shower.

Kasturi becomes citizen

2008-01-07T05:13:00.000-08:00

NOTE: This blog originally appeared December 26, 2006

Abhishek Kasturi leaned over the railing of the front row in the student section at Spartan Stadium. The big game against Fresno State was still about half an hour away, but the SJSU electrical engineering major couldn’t just couldn’t sit down. He leaned a little further.
“Don’t stand up on that,” one of the security guards admonished, his rough face slightly hidden behind stark sunglasses.
Kasturi, 19, slunk backwards toward his seat.
“But he just became a citizen!” someone said, interjecting themselves into an argument that never got airborne in the first place.
“Oh, well congratulations,” the security guard said. “But now the real question is, now that you’re a citizen, what are you going to give back to us? What are you going to contribute to America?”

***

What was he going to contribute to America? What hadn’t Kasturi already contributed since his family moved to America from Hyderabad, in southern India? Was it enough that he was put in English-as-a-second-language classes while attending middle school in Houston, even though he had been speaking English since kindergarten?
“They put me with six or seven other kids,” Kasturi said. “And made us do really degrading assignments, which I was able to do well. I could speak the language fine. I just had a bit of an accent problem, so they stuck me there.”
Was it enough that Kasturi got all of his questions right in his citizenship test, and that even he was annoyed with how poorly the test administrator spoke English?
“She couldn’t speak that clearly,” he said. “Sometimes I couldn’t understand her.”
Kasturi described the test, that was administered by San Francisco Citizen and Immigration Services, as “a joke,” and that the test administrator had test information and material on her desk during the oral exam.
One of the questions, Kasturi recalls, was “What was the Declaration of Independence?” Kasturi responded by saying that it was a document drafted by the colonists to separate from Great Britain.
The test administrator just started at him, Kasturi said.
“I wasn’t really sure what she was looking for, so I just said ‘life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness’”
His answer passed, clinching for him the exciting ordeal of earning United States citizenship. And Kasturi had truly earned everything to that point.
“I roomed with Abhishek freshmen year and I’m happy for him that he became a citizen,” fellow electrical engineering major Heindrick So said. “It’s quite a milestone.”
Kasturi left India for America on August 15, 1997, ironically on the anniversary of India’s independence. He arrived with his father Mani, mother Sukanya, and younger brother Anudeep, after years of traveling. Sukanya became a citizen the same day her oldest son did, and Mani’s test is coming up as well. Anudeep automatically becomes a citizen thanks to his family’s accomplishments.
Kasturi’s father is a computer engineer, and his work brought him and his family all over the globe. In turn, it put his eldest son in schools that few people may visit in their lifetime: Malaysia for kindergarten, Singapore for second grade, and Canada the very next year.
The family’s first U.S. stop was a brief one in Atlanta, then infamously in Houston, before moving out to the Bay Area. Before finally finding an apartment in Fremont, the family lived in a hotel in Oakland for what Kasturi called “the longest week of my life.”
“We never went out.”

***

By the time Kasturi had lost his native accent, he was attending Washington High School in Fremont for two years before finally attending Livermore High, where he graduated with honors for academics as well as tennis. Despite staying at one school for, to Kasturi, quite a long time, hectic days were far from over.
Kasturi, his green card now three years old, was set to pick a college. University of California-Berkeley was his number one choice. However, just as his dad never became a Golden Bear, Kasturi was the victim of his own “b*ll-sh*tted essays” and never made it to Cal.
Disappointment aside, Kasturi still had his pick of colleges that included University of California schools Davis and San Diego, Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo, and SJSU. He settled on SJSU in a last minute decision when housing plans at Cal Poly fell through, among other issues.
“I don’t know if it would have worked out at Cal Poly. It’s not that diverse. Plus, I can’t live without curry,” he said, laughing.
Even after this, however, Kasturi says he prefers the college system in America to that of India.
“Getting into any university (in India) is hard as is,” he said. “Imagine the equivalent of 10 million people taking an SAT test, but only about one million seats available at all colleges in the state.”
“And it’s not like the SAT, you don’t really get a score. They rank you. And you’re pretty much screwed if you rank lower than the hundred-thousands.”
Kasturi said that students in India often redo grades 11 and 12 in hopes of achieving better placement for higher education.
“Like my cousin who lives back in India, for example: she’s a sophomore (in college) and she’s 22,” he said. “I’m only 19 and I’m a junior.”
The lucky ones are the ones who make it, at least somewhere.
“If people don’t get into a college (in India), they’ve wasted three years of their life,” Kasturi said.
Wasting time is something Kasturi just doesn’t do. He’s used his time to develop quite a few favorites in the world of pop culture; many from his native culture, and many he has simply learned to love.
His favorite movies are Dil Chahta Hai and Star Wars. One is Indian, one is the first movie he saw in English as a child.
He likes A. R. Rehman and Led Zeppelin. Shaan and Black Sabbath. Alisha Chinoy and The Beatles. Ashe Bhosle and AC/DC. Lata Mangeshkar and The Doors. He’s found of Adnan Sami and The Who. Lehmber Hussainpuri and The Rolling Stones. Mehsopuria and Green Day.
He likes to play Bob Dylan and Jimi Hendrix songs on his guitar.
However, the eclectic Kasturi is aware that he might have strayed too far from his original Indian heritage.
“That’s one of the bad things about living in the U.S. I feel like I’m losing my culture,” he said. “My brother is totally white-washed by now and I’m pretty far away from anyone other than my immediate family.”
Kasturi, however, does not believe he could ever move back to India completely. He has changed so much.
“I feel at home whenever I go to India,” he said. “But I’m accustomed to American life so much now that if it went back I know I would not fit in with other people. I would be hazed so badly.”
Australia and England are possible future destinations for Kasturi, who said he only applied for citizenship in America to please his parents and gain access more easily to foreign countries.
“Honestly, what does being a citizen mean to me?” he said. “Nothing, ha-ha. I mean, the only thing I’m really excited about is voting and that’s about it.”
Kasturi said he will become and educated voter won’t take the process for granted like some people who “don’t vote then complain.”
“Abhishek’s a pretty smart guy. I’m glad he became a citizen,” said Marlene Elizalde, behavioral science and sociology major.
Staying in one spot for too long is not something Kasturi is used to, and he plans on moving somewhere else in the world in two, three years tops. But for now, he’s in America. And for now, the real question is: what now is American going to give back to him?

Mark Powell went to New Mexico and all he had was a good time

2008-01-07T05:00:00.000-08:00

NOTE: This blog originally appeared December 26, 2006

First of all, Merry Christmas to everyone! Hope your holidays are going well.

Well, I got back from New Mexico yesterday and I have to say that if anyone here has not been to a bowl game that their very own school is playing in, pray you get the chance to go.

This was the proudest weekend of my life and not a soul ever mentioned that it was “JUST the New Mexico Bowl.” Both teams were treated great by the city of Albuquerque and I hope the New Mexico Bowl lives on forever! I wouldn’t mind going every year.

The Lobo fans and officials were all wonderful.

Ok, so some notes about the trip:

Because I work for SJSU as the leader of the student booster club the Spartan Squad, I had my flights, hotel, and meals all paid for! Thank God.

This being the case, I was only asked, in return, to help the SJSU Cheer Team whenever they needed assistance (lunch, baggage, etc). Hey, it was worth it for a free trip!

Hanging out with the cheer team AND a free trip?!

We arrived in Albuquerque a few hours before the big night rally for both teams in the downtown plaza. The place had hundreds of New Mexico and SJSU fans and it was a good, fun atmosphere to meet everyone and just talk up some football.

Our band played, their band played (it was pretty much consensus that our band OWNED the Lobo band. Sorry New Mexico).

I even got to chat with New Mexico wide receiver Jason Caprioli, whom I have known personally since 4th grade! Great guy, #3.

Me and Jason, even though he's a lobo, he' still a friend!

Before we all knew it, Saturday had arrived, and with it the big game! Kickoff was not until 2:30pm, but I was up at 7:00am with the Cheer Squad to eat breakfast. Soon, we were ready to get over the stadium to warm up.

Not a bad way to start a Bowl day.

I helped the cheer team with some practice routines like the Spartan Spell (hard work, seriously, don’t let anyone tell you cheerleading is not tough). And they rewarded me by giving me a field pass!

As kickoff neared, the cheer squad needed a place to practice tumbling, so we ventured over through the tailgates (nice people there, honest) to The Pit, UNM’s basketball arena. Let me just say, I am also a HUGE college basketball fan, and The Pit is, of course, the site where the 1983 Men’s Final Four was held. NC State fighting Jimmy V's upset Phi Slamma Jamma Houston Cougars. History, baby.

THE PIT!

I even did some break-dancing on the UNM logo! We were a confident bunch that day.

SPIN-a-ROONIE haha

And the game came. And what a game! The Spartans beat the Lobos, 20-12! And we Spartans went NUTS! We didn’t care how much we were outnumbered, we rushed the field. Sure there was only 1500 or so of us, but who cares!

SAN!

JOSE!

The Faithful Squad that made the trip!

All in all, it was an awesome trip! I hope to go to a bowl game next year! We also had a sign that got a lot of attention. "Don't Shoot, I'm Not a Recruit!" Haha, ooooh so bad.

Additional Pictures:

Dinner with the cheer girls, post-game.

Me with Offensive MVP James Jones!

It's cool to be a Spartan.

New Year's Eve: Do you have to kiss someone?

2008-01-07T04:41:00.000-08:00

NOTE: This blog originally appeared December 31, 2006

It's interesting how New Year's Eve can be a benchmark in a person's life. When I reflect on New Year's, most vividly I remember counting down the new year with Nicktoons marathons hosted by the Petes from Nickelodeon's The Adventures of Pete and Pete.

This was not recent obviously. And obviously, the years have gone by and the focus has changed a bit.

So let's examine one of the major variables that come into play every New Year's Eve in the years and years following puberty: the kiss at midnight.

Is the New Year's kiss, coming precisely after the stroke of midnight, a mandatory occurrence? Simply put, tonight is New Year's.

Will you be kissing somebody?

"Only people who aren't worth the air they breathe don't kiss at midnight on New Year's Eve," David Rosenblatt, 20, said.

Justine Geiszler, the city of San Jose's number one hockey fan, thinks similarly.

"You should kiss someone on New Year's," she said. "It's a fun way to start off the year."

Why else should you have to kiss someone on New Year's?

"It makes the new year more memorable," Bakersfield College golfer Dana Arneson said. "That's why."

There are some that dissent however. A simple New Year's kiss, however innocent or non-commital it may be, might just be a smidge overrated. So you have no one to kiss, is that such a big deal?

"I've never had anyone to kiss on New Year's and I've lived," Maigon McGaffin said. "It's just a stupid superstition so people can get laid on New Year's."

Ex-baseball player Arya Mozaffarian had a simple answer when asked if he thought it was important to have someone to kiss at midnight.

"No," he said.

How blunt.

Jeannette Minster, Mat Kearney's "fiancee", isn't a kiss-and-tell kind of people but offered her own insight on New Year's kisses.

"I definitely don't think you have to kiss someone at midnight," Minster said. "People like to make it a big deal, but what's the point if it's not with someone special or important?"

"I mean, don't get me wrong, it's nice if you have someone you want to share it with."

One's views on the midnight kiss aside, what would you do if that moment came this New Year's and the opportunity presented itself?

"I'd probably kiss him, in the spirit of New Year's," McGaffin said. "It's only one kiss, not a commitment."

"You don't have to do anything, but it takes away from the fun," Webster Lincoln added. "I'm down for almost anything."

And I'm down for a Nicktoons marathon. Excuse me, while I kiss the sky.