I have a bit of a confession; I’ve become a fan of pop and other forms of music I never thought I’d like. Here are some songs I’ve been listening to over the last few months. Keith Urban? Harry Styles? Miley Cyrus? Yup, I wouldn’t have expected these either, but there’s something there for me! It’s a byproduct of a few things; I’m married to a huge pop fan, we have kids, and I get a lot of my music via the radio. I don’t hear the same music I did even 5 years ago. That’s not to say there’s stuff on there I wouldn’t have listened to anyway. The tracks by Childish Gambino and Thundercat would probably be in heavy rotation for me no matter what (and The Weeknd/Daft Punk collaboration isn’t a million miles away from those). There’s the nostalgia pick of my time in Ireland with Ed Sheeran’s ‘Galway Girl’ and a song from the show Nashville. There’s more than just the songs I’ve mentioned, so give my little list a listen! What have you listening to lately? What else should I hear?
I’ve Been Everywhere
Everywhere is a bit of a stretch, but it turns out I’ve been able to travel a lot in the last few years because of work. A friend I hadn’t seen for some time reminded me that when we first met my response to “hey, have you been to X place?” was inevitably “no.” And that wasn’t an exaggeration in my early twenties. Other than a few places in my home State of Maine, I’d been to New Hampshire, Boston, New Jersey, Florida, and Washington D.C.. Other than those few places, I really hadn’t been anywhere.
- Canada
- Atlantic Canada (2002?): 2500 miles in a Ford Focus through…
- New Brunswick
- Cape Breton
- Nova Scotia
- Prince Edward Island
- Campobello, New Brunswick (2016)
- Montreal, Quebec (2015)
- Atlantic Canada (2002?): 2500 miles in a Ford Focus through…
- Europe
- Ireland (1999):
- Cork
- Dublin
- Doolin
- Connemara
- Clifden
- The Burren
- London (1999/2015)
- Prague (2017)
- Paris (2017)
- Ireland (1999):
- US Travel
- New Mexico (2014)
- Albuquerque
- Santa Fe
- Austin, Texas (2016)
- Colorado (2012)
- Boulder
- Pueblo
- Denver
- Florida (1987/2016)
- Maryland (1992/2004)
- New York (2000, 2009, 2011, 2013)
- New Jersey (1987)
- Pennsylvania (2015/206)
- Lancaster (2004)
- Gettysburg (2004)
- Philadelphia (2015/16)
- Phoenix, AZ (2017)
- San Francisco, California (2016)
- Utah (2015/2016)
- Virginia (1992)
- New Mexico (2014)
- Other
- Aruba
With just a few months left to the year, I know I still have trips to Whistler, BC and Nashville.
Bonus Canadian version:
57 Channels (And Nothin’ On)
I realized back in 2005 that internet TV was probably going to be a thing. It wasn’t just that YouTube made it’s debut, but also Revision3 – former cast and crew from TechTV making free, professional, content delivered like a podcast. The format of the two were a little different with Revision3 offered high resolution versions of their shows; Systm (tech how-tos), Diggnation (tech/social news), Control Alt Chicken (cooking), and more. Fast forward twelve years and I find the majority of programming I care about doesn’t come from a standard TV network, but can instead still be found online.
Here are a few of my current favorites:
Welcome to the Basement/Blame Society
I originally found Blame Society back in 2006 because of their show Chad Vader: Day Shift Manager. Picture the loser relative of Darth Vader who works in a grocery store, but is just as power hungry as the Vader we all know and love. Turns out they make some pretty great (and hilarious) observations on film. Side note, Matt Sloane (voice of Chad) is so good at doing Vader’s voice that he now voices Darth Vader in most Star Wars video games. I rediscovered Blame Society while on a Brian DePalma kick – their video commentary on Phantom of the Paradise kept coming up in searches on his films. Now it’s a weekly staple in my video watching routine. It’s one of those shows where you feel like you get to know the hosts over time.
Screen Junkies/Honest Trailers
I found Screen Junkies because of Honest Trailers and now it’s something I look for every Tuesday. You’ve probably seen at least one – honest commentaries on films with more than a touch of humor and biting commentary. Screen Junkies News is also a great source of film and TV news, especially comic book and sci-fi genres. It started as a little YouTube channel with a few people riffing on movies and has grown into something resembling a laid-back pop culture news network.
Hot Ones/Food Grails
Hot Ones is spicy chicken wings and questions… that’s it. The challenge for the celebrities (or near celebrities, in some cases) is to keep focused on answering questions while eating wings with ever-escalating spiciness. Almost everyone is over confident on their ability to handle the sauces and hilarity ensues almost every time. TJ Miller was my first, but I’ve watched them all (some a few times).
Food Grails, also from Complex/First We Feast, documents little-known foods within cities and neighborhoods. From Atlanta’s lemon pepper wings to D.C.’s Mumbo Sauce, it sheds light on foods I otherwise wouldn’t know. I even bought a bottle of Capital City Mumbo Sauce out of curiosity – totally worth it!
Binging with Babish
Ever wanted to sample foods from your favorite TV shows? Andrew Rea experiments with recipes, usually trying the accurate recipe first from a classic TV episode. If that doesn’t work out then he attempts to make a tastier version based around the original concept. Seinfeld’s chocolate babka, The Moistmaker from Friend’s, the foods of South Park, the and many, many more are covered on the show. The foods can range from something simple (carbonara or fish tacos) to the outrageous (SNL’s TacoTown taco or Big Night’s Il Timpano).
Cinefix
You know those internet countdown lists? They’re everywhere, but this one has a twist… it’s really good! It’s a masterclass in filmmaking in the form of short YouTube videos (and I’ve taken three film courses, so I know 😉 ). Some picks may seem arbitrary on the surface, but there’s always a method behind their madness.
Kaptainkristian / Nerdwriter / Lessons from the Screenplay
These tree YouTube channels are not related, but they share a very similar structure… deep dives into a single subject. Kaptainkristian pulls ahead as my favorite of the group, but are all equally interesting and thought provoking.
Song referenced:
An American in Paris
The Game
I first noticed David Fincher’s work as a music video director in the ’90s and it really stuck with me. How bid of a fan am I? I’ve probably seen Alien³ and The Game more than Fincher has. Despite having followed his career from almost the beginning, I was a bit taken aback by this video, which details his subtle usage of VFX in his film.
Here too are a few favorite videos:
Everyone loves a little Walken in their music video.
This is literally the Citizen Kane of music videos.
Quentin Crisp on MTV, who would have thought it possible?
Author’s note: Aerosmith is terrible, but the video is another story.
You can also see the influence of David Fincher in the music videos of Michael Bay.
Where’d the Cheese Go?
Anyone who knows me knows that I love foods like milk, cheese, and chocolate. Unfortunately, it came to my attention a couple years ago that I could no longer consume dairy products of any kind. I’ve always had some sort of unexplained health issues and have tried a few things over the years – cutting out gluten (yeah, yeah), beer, peanuts, etc. I went so far as getting tested for celiac and a few other food allergies, but I had no luck finding the guilty party. A couple years ago I tried lactose-free products and lactose-inhibiting pills (e.g. Lactaid). I know they work for some people, but not me. My theory is that it isn’t lactose that’s the culprit, but casein – an ingredient in all milk products.
As a result of these discoveries, I’ve been avoiding cow’s milk for some time now. Despite being an inconvenience, the good news is that I feel a lot better! So what does a milk-aholic eat and drink when they can’t have milk products? I was using soy milk for cereal, chai, and other dishes and drinks, but I’ve switched to unsweetened almond milk. Trader Joe’s and Ben & Jerry’s have some excellent ice cream products, as does Tofutti, who also make a decent faux-cream cheese. Daiya make a cheese substitute that’s great for pizza and tacos/nachos. Are they as good as the real stuff? Absolutely not! They’ll do in a pinch though.
At restaurants, I try to figure out options before I order and not announce the allergy. I do get some curious looks when I request a pizza with bacon and chicken and vegan cheese.
In a lot of cases there are food where that contain dairy that you never would have thought of. Most fried chicken has buttermilk, a lot breads have it for no reason, and lunch meat uses it for filler, especially turkey and sausage.
Although it’s been an adjustment, it’s been worth feeling better on a day-to-day basis.
Hair
After two years of growing out my hair, I finally got it cut.
I’d been lazy about cutting it for a few extra weeks and discovered it was more curly than expected. Upon realizing this I decided to see what it would look like longer. Two years and almost twelve inches wasn’t exactly what I had in mind when I started, but it was a fun experiment.
For this round of hair growth I’d discovered a high school friend and his wife had grown out their hair for donation. He too had lost family to cancer (for him it was his sister, for me it was my father) and seeing their photo sparked the idea to do the same.
As I near 40, I’m starting to see more and more friends and acquaintances impacted by cancer and chemo – people all younger than me. Whether it’s aplastic anemia, stage 2 Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, successfully fighting tumors for seven years, or, in one case, not winning the battle, it just felt like the right thing to do. The hair will be going to a program run by Pantene for women with cancer.
It turned out to be a bigger commitment than I realized. I can’t say my wife was a fan. While she was supportive of the idea of donation, having a husband with curly footlong hair was not anticipated. I remember a specific conversation just before we started dating nine years ago about her disdain for men and long hair.
Beyond that, there were some logistical issues as well. With a newborn in the house, I quickly discovered long hair gets pulled and straight into his mouth.
My wife and daughter similarly have long hair. Our floors started looking like tumbleweeds blowing through the desert. It was constantly getting caught in my laptop bag strap.
Then there were the looks. I found people either didn’t care or were very intrigued by my hair. A woman walked up to me at an event and told me I had “beautiful curly hair.” In a hardware store it was more of a “what’s up with this person?” sort of look.
While I don’t think I’ll ever get the support to do it again, I at least now know what it’s like to have significantly longer hair. I may sneak an inch or two extra from where it is today, but it’s doubtful you’ll see me with hair past my shoulders again anytime soon.
