Well…you gonna pull those pistols or whistle dixie?

 

Ok, this next post is a tribute to my favorite American hero, Mr. Clint Eastwood.  I watched ‘The Outlaw Josey Whales’ last night for the first time…I know, shame on me for not having seen it before now…although I don’t feel too much shame…my roommate hasn’t even seen ‘The Godfather’…for which I’m embarassed for him.  The Outlaw Josey Whales definitely made the top 5 westerns I’ve seen so far without a doubt…I don’t know if there has ever been someone to conquer an entire genre of movie like Clint Eastwood has with westerns.  The guy is amazing.  So at the same time this is a tribute, it’s also a top 5 list of westerns I’ve seen so far.  I know some of you will most likely disagree to the point of hitting me next time you see me, but no, ‘The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly’ did not make the top 5…sorry Sergio Leone. If you have any disagreements or westerns you suggest I see, leave them in the comments. Here are my top 5:

 

5. Lonesome Dove

OK, I know it’s not a movie, but you can’t mention westerns without mentioning Lonesome Dove.

 

4. 3:10 to Yuma

What do you get when you mix Christian Bale, Russell Crowe and a western remake?  One important train to catch.

 

3. The Outlaw Josey Whales

Tobacco spittin’, mean as a rattlesnake and nothing to live for makes for a memorable Eastwood performance

 

2. Tombstone

It’s everyone’s favorite I know…but it’s one of mine too.

 

1. Unforgiven

Hands down, no one can ever tell me different, the single best western ever made and probably ever will be. Regret, a spencer rifle and a blurred distinction between good and evil make this a truly unbelievable masterpiece.

Childhood Nostalgia

 

I don’t know what it is lately, but I’ve been constantly reminded about memorable events from my childhood that have made me feel all happy inside.  Even as I write this entry, I just happened to land on “Best Songs of the 90’s” on VH1.  I’m serious, they just played ‘No Diggity’.  Anyway, I’m going to talk a little about these little nostalgic nuggets in this next post, and if I leave any out, feel free to share yours in the comments.

 

1. Showbiz Pizza

Okay, my roommate Ryan shared an awesome video with me today.  I’ll be honest, those animals used to scare the crap out of me, and somehow managed to scare every other kid my age in the joint…not sure how those passed through the focus group of ‘fun’ things to do at Showbiz.  The fear of those animals almost single-handedly compromised putting Showbiz on my list, but this place reminds me of everything that is great about your birthday when you combine a ridiculous amount of coke, pizza and video tokens…. 

(Best Song of the 90’s update: Beck’s ‘Loser’ has just come in at #22)

2. Rodeos

I want one person to tell me they didn’t have a life-changing experience when they attended their local rodeo as a kid.  Rodeos almost had more of an effect than the movie ‘8 Seconds‘ on my lifelong dream of becoming a cowboy when I was 10.  I was driving around the other day and I saw a sign advertising the local rodeo in Blacksburg simply named “Ed Brown’s Rodeo“.  And no there isn’t a link for an image here. They can’t compromise their rodeo cred by having a web presence.  What are you thinking?  I’d like to think I had rodeo cred as a child.  I went every year, carried my gun sling on my hip, and lasso’d everything in sight; even other kids just to show them how awesome I was at lassoing.  But, when the bull riding portion of the rodeo arrived, I wasn’t moving out of my seat.  Bull riding is always the last portion of the event because of its excitement and danger.  I even worked with a guy here in Rock Hill who is a bull rider on the local scene; yes, enhancing my rodeo cred even more.   If you’re around the York County area on August 1st or 2nd, you can come hang out with us in Blacksburg where all my childhood rodeo memories will most likely come racing back to me.

(Best Song of the 90’s update: Dr. Dre featuring Snoop Doggy Dog’s ‘Nuthin’ but a “G” Thang’ at #13)

3. Fairs

I think one thing we may all have in common as it relates to childhood nostalgia is the fair.  Although, a friend of mine at work admitted she has never been to the fair.  When I heard her say this I immediately felt pity on her, even as she turns the table and reminds me that I wasn’t able to watch Saturday cartoons because my dad forced me to come hunting with him at 5 a.m. every morning.  Nonetheless, I constantly remind her how deprived she was of never having experienced (at one time mind you) candy apples, elephant ears, petting zoos, snake ladies, cotton candy and carnies and the unsafe rides they tended.  These are all things that quite possibly could have negative developmental impact on you as a child, but sure do make for one hell of a good night of fun.  And if you went with your church group, you were constantly trying to impress Rachel (my church group crush) by proving that you weren’t scared of the haunted house (which I actually was) and by not throwing up on the Pirate Ship (which I almost did).  If you ever shared a ferris wheel ride with a crush, you realize the special powers of the fair with all its lights and magic.  It ranks as the #1 nostalgic moment in my life.

 I realize I left some out: Disney World, Maggie Valley, Myrtle Beach etc.  They are also great in their own right and I could go on and on and on, but for the sake of brevity I narrowed it down to three.  Maybe this post will ignite some of your own memories and remind you of the time in your life when you had nothing to worry about except for which ride to go on first, the Scrambler or the Zipper.

 

And coming in at #1 on VH1’s Best Songs of the 90’s, you probably guessed it, Nirvana’s ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’

Country Music: What happened?

My open letter to Nashville:
Dear Nashville,
You are giving country music a bad name! Stop it!

OK, that’s all.

I don’t really know when it started. You know, the slow downward spiral of mainstream country music into a world of greedy record companies that bust out gems like cowboy troy…and let’s not forget about Nashville Star, the tv show that mirrors American Idol but with a twang. American Idol is a whole other issue I won’t even get into right now…

Country music used to be about folks like Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, Hank Williams, Patsy Cline….These were mainstream musicians that were actually GOOD….where is that now?…maybe a few out there…allison krauss, dwight yoakam….Nashville has found a formula and stuck with it and that makes me sad…but it sells records right?..at least that’s their poor excuse…johnny cash, jerry lee lewis and elvis presley (yes i said elvis presley, he will always be considered a country musician in my book) once toured together for Sun Records back in the day….those three have very distinctly different sounds…GOOD sounds….and they shared the same stage…by the way, how would you have liked to been at one of those shows huh?…but you’d be hard pressed to find mainstream nashville musicians with that much diversity across the U.S. on any given night, much less the same stage…it just kills me that this genre of music (the mainstream form anyway) has gotten away from what made it so great…diverse quality music. I’m entertained to a degree when I listen to what’s out there on the radio now…kinda like being entertained by a soap opera…don’t have to really think about it much. This form of music that’s being played on the radio has caused us to devolve…it’s making us dumber every time we have to hear another song…it’s insulting frankly…and I’m not bashing simple lyrics, I think it’s important sometimes for music not to take itself so seriously and just let it ride…but do it in a way that’s original…not settling for the common formulaic rant about how your dog died and your sad cause your ex-girlfriend left you..

Everything’s not all gloomy though…there are still outlets where you can find some good country music It just won’t be on your standard country music radio station (Thank God for technology and iPods). There are some good bands on American Records, Lost Highway Records, Anti- Records, Rounder Records and several others. As a whole, the country music scene isn’t dead, but the direction mainstream country has taken is dreadful and hopefully will make its way back. Not holding my breath for anytime soon though…

Emmylou Harris from her own perspective on the state of country music in a Pitchfork Interview:

“But then, as it (country music) became sort of infected with a kind of virus of mediocrity, I didn’t really have anything to do with it anymore. I wasn’t being played on the radio. It was the kind of thing where– do you try and distance yourself, or do you say “if you want to call me a country artist then Wrecking Ball is a country record?” Just damn the torpedoes [laughs]. In the long run, when people look at my career, I hope they see that this can be country, because that is where she came from, that is where the beginning was. It’s like trying to change the place you were born. It’s always going to be a part of you. But there is some confusion now. I think genres are actually disappearing, more and more. Is there really rhythm & blues, is there really country music? More and more young artists are dipping into the pool of all these various forms of music and coming up with something that’s totally new themselves. Fortunately, we’ll always have the genre in their pure form, to go back to and to learn from and to steal from. To add to our stew.”

Country music is a place that I call home too…but I guarantee you that home ain’t Nashville’s brand, it’s the home that echoes ‘Angels Flying too Close to the Ground’ and ‘Orange Blossom Special’…that’s my home

This American Life

I want to take the time in this next entry to talk about my favorite FREE podcast. It’s called “This American Life” and it documents extraordinary events that happen to ordinary people. The show is usually presented in multiple acts along a common subject line. For instance, the last subject was Prom. Now, everyone usually comes up with the same things to talk about when they hear the word ‘Prom’. But, no matter how common the subject, ‘This American Life’ seems to always provide insightful storylines to seemingly played out topics. One of the acts in ‘Prom’ involved how a tornado ripped through a small town in Kansas on prom night, and recorded the students’ reaction to it all.

That may have been a bad example to introduce you to the show, but it just happened to be the last one I listened to. But, if you’re not into the whole podcast thing, ‘This American Life’ has been airing on Showtime the last few years to give you video-inclined folk the opportunity to actually see these provocative stories played out visually. You can rent the 1st Season on dvd from Blockbuster or Netflix to check it out.

So, if you’re into the whole Podcast thing, I would highly suggest this one. It’s my favorite by far and it really helps me pass the time when I’m driving long distances. If I’ve done nothing else accept bore you with a Public Radio show endorsement here, I hope I’ve given you a commendable option that you’ll try next time you’re looking for something to pass the time. And who knows, maybe it’ll stick like it did with me.

BBQ, Beer, oh yeah… and the Soldiers

It’s Memorial Day today, and while everyone is out drinking, boating and having a good time, I feel compelled to honor our troops in some fashion, so I am writing about it…The whole idea of writing about patriotism and such on Memorial Day seems kind of cliche, but actually knowing what our military is doing right now overseas is making me feel very guilty as I make plans to go out to the lake in a few minutes. It seems kind of backwards doesn’t it?, that WE get to celebrate with a day off and festivities, while THEY are in harms way right now as I write this meaningless blog entry…I don’t know, it seems like our soldiers are getting the raw end of the deal…so, I hope today, they can find the time to kick back in the desert on a lawn chair, crack open an ice cold brewskie and locate some good ole Iraqi BBQ. Because after all, Memorial Day isn’t about us, it’s about them and those who bravely lost their lives.

P.S. - 4,082 deaths and counting, below is a profile of the latest soldier who died for me.

Pvt. Branden P. Haunert, 21, of Cincinnati, Ohio, died May 18 in Tikrit, Iraq, of wounds suffered when his vehicle encountered an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, Ky.

Wow it’s been a long time….

Ok, so it’s been over a year since I’ve last posted anything on here…but ryan said he would link my blog to his, and people may actually read it…so…i am making an effort to update this more regularly…

This entry is going to be a very pop culturey entry because i happen to be interested in that stuff, and since this is my come back, i have to make it somewhat readable…(i.e.-no one wants to read about something boring or mundane like my job the first time they read my blog)…I’m using a tactic here used by church youth groups nationwide called bait and switch…i’m sure most of you are familiar…

So, anyway, where do i start…oh….i know….how bout with crack, or what some refer to as a television show called LOST…If you haven’t watched this show and want to waste away valuable days of your life in front of a television, i recommend it…i fell victim when i first decided to watch the pilot of the first season a friend let me borrow….and watching the pilot of LOST is kind of like trying a gateway drug that will lead you down a path of worst drugs….”really, how good could this show be?”…so i think what i’m trying to say is, if you don’t want to be addicted to LOST, don’t smoke pot…

Moving on…

Scarlett Johansson just released her first album, a cover album, “Anywhere I Lay My Head”. Now, some of you may know about my infatuation with this woman…I happen to think she is great, and I would happily take her hand in marriage if and when she asks…but I was a little skeptical of this new venture of hers…until I heard the album. I’m no music critic, and I don’t really like music critics anyway(I think they hyper-critique music entirely too much in a way that usually sounds pretentious and self-serving, when they should just take it for what it’s worth), but I really enjoyed the music on here. I feel kind of guilty liking her songs better the Tom Waits originals, like it’s a musical sin or something, but I’ve just never been able to get into Mr. Waits, mainly his voice. That could change as my musical palette matures, but right now I’m sticking with my future wife….

Now to movies….Now, I know everyone’s been talking about Iron Man lately, but I want to talk a little bit about a movie I feel unjustly slipped through the cracks last year…“Charlie Wilson’s War”…For fear of building this movie up to much, Ryan, if you are reading this, just stop hear until you’ve watched it…but for everyone else, keep reading…

I’m not sure why this movie didn’t receive more accolades, but it happens to be one of the best movies I’ve seen recently…at first, I was hesitant, because any movie with the word ‘War’ in it, I question the possibility of it being overly political. But, this was very objective, and actually didn’t cover many topics that were very polarizing at all. The movie stars Tom Hanks, Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Julia Roberts. It’s based on the book, Charlie Wilson’s War, that documents how a Texas Congressman financed the largest covert war in American history. Although the movie does not flatter him, the real Charlie Wilson admits it was a very accurate depiction of what went on during that historical time frame. For me, it was highly entertaining, funny and insightful. I would recommend adding it to your queue or going out to rent it.

OK, this is getting long…time to wrap up. I’m headed to the lake now, even though it is 67 degrees outside…that’s ok though… to borrow a quote from my favorite show on television, “it’s a sacrifice the island/lake demands”…

See yall next time

The Holidays

Ryan and I just got Jim Gaffigan tickets and I dont care if you hate us now.  I’m about sick of driving….Got to go to my dad’s this weekend for new years with all the country club folk..i have to wear a tuxedo and talk like i’m a very successful person which is fun because sometimes i just make up stuff.  Then, next weekend i’m driving back to the corner for an engagement party….hmmmm oysters

Why are you reading this?

Hello, what’s going on “whoever’s reading this”  Just joined this blog….kinda bored…..but we’ll give it a shot….i figure i should have some goals set for this blog…..i will try to make you laugh a lot…..so maybe that will work out….in order for you to get to know me better, i figured i would get started with introducing you all to my family….this is my family’s portriat