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Funny and Odd Thoughts

Age Is Just A Number

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I was recently asked if I was tweaking out (that one is for you Meghan) over turning 30 this year.  While I’m sure many people do, I’m really not.  First of all, getting all freaky over reaching a certain age doesn’t do you any good.  Fighting it isn’t going to change anything.

Secondly, I’m only 30… what’s the big deal?  I still have some of the best years of my life ahead of me.  Yeah, my 20’s were awesome – lots of fun, concerts, experiences, and wisdom that I’ll remember forever.  And a few things that I still can’t remember, which is also good…

It isn’t a groundbreaking observation to say that we live in a society that is obsessed with age, with everyone trying to look younger, usually following the lead of Hollywood stars, so it doesn’t surprise me that people ask how I feel about turning 30. 

My answer is that I feel fine about it – somewhat indifferent other than looking forward to having some fun the weekend of my birthday.  If it has affected me in any way, it has been in a positive manner: it has caused me to get off my duff about some things I’ve wanted or been meaning to do, and I guess you could say that I have become more "self-aware" about who I am and what I want to be. 

I’m certainly not viewing it as "fun’s over, time to get serious" – in the last few months I’ve had a fair number of VERY late nights of partying (including for a friend’s 30th birthday celebration) and have done plenty of fun, spontaneous things.  At the same time, I’ve gotten into playing the stock market a bit more, taken some classes on topics of personal interest, and have tried my hand at bowling, and tonight, tennis.  I saw my first Red Sox game away from Fenway and I have tickets to see Beethoven’s 9th Symphony performed at Tanglewoods in July- two things I’ve wanted to do for years.

When people despair over leaving their youth behind, it is usually for one of two reasons: one, they just get so stuck in the idea of "I’m not young anymore, I can’t have any fun" that they simply don’t MAKE any fun for themselves and resign themselves to a life of boredom.  The second reason is that they forget what getting a little older can bring to you: usually a bit more money and a wider spectrum of interests. 

OK, so you don’t go to the bar every Friday night to get drunk and laid.  That was fun at the time, but maybe now you get to go out to a nice restaurant, experience a more expensive bottle of wine and share a great meal with someone special.  (You can still go home get some nookie!)  Or maybe it is the opportunity to go to a concert and sit in good seats, not in the nosebleed  section.  A microbrew instead of a 30-pack… a single-malt scotch instead of a shot of Everclear.  Etc. etc.

I’ll stop before I start to sound defensive, but to anyone out there turning 30, 40, 50, 60… whatever… don’t view it as a big problem, but rather as a big opportunity.  Its another 10 years of your live that you made it through and another 10 years of great experiences until the next milestone.

Food and Drink

So What If I’m French-Canadian, Eh?

Since this blog is called "Pop Culture Gangster" one would think I would stick to POPULAR culture, but why let conventions and norms get in the way of an interesting post?

Last weekend was Easter, just in case you didn’t make it out of your rock-covered cave in the last few weeks, and since it was Easter, that meant one thing: eggs in syrup!  Ahh yes, that fine French-Canadian tradition.  Or at least that’s what I’ve been told it is.  In all honesty, I’ve never been able to find any reference to it online or elsewhere, so maybe its just a family tradition, but it has always been passed off as a French-Canadian tradition. Photo_041506_001

So what is it?  Well, it’s eggs poached in real maple syrup.   Eggs… COOKED… in maple syrup.  You read that right!  I’m not personally a fan, but my parents are, especially my dad, as well as all of his brothers.   Kind of like Sushi, I just don’t  "get it." 

I’m sure that half of you are ready to gag and the other half are thinking "damn, I want to try that."  The pictures of the eggs cooking in the syrup should push you one way or another if you happen to be caught in a split decision.

So how do you do it?  Well, in a two quart saucepan you bring about a 1/4 inch of water to a boil, and then add the real maple syrup until you have about 3/4’s of an inch in the pan.  Bring this to a boil, then drop in the eggs – like any poaching, its easiest if you crack them into a small bowl and then gently let them slide into the syrup.  One thing to watch out for: this is maple syrup boiling away with a big mass of protein, so keep a close eye on it, since if it boils over, you’re gonna need a kitchen renovation. Photo_041506_002

Unlike traditional poaching where you want to keep the egg as intact and in one piece as possible, that really doesn’t matter as much with this, since you don’t drain the egg, you serve it in some of the syrup, usually in a small bowl.  You can cook the egg to your desired wellness, but usually it is still runny. 

So yeah, that’s it.  Out there for the whole world to see.  Maybe I’ll have a major influx of traffic from Canucks trying find their brethren who also eat this stuff, or maybe some scholar of French-Canadian-American culture will inform me that I’m out of my gourd and I can finally tell my family that yes, we are all nuts.

Film

Thumbsucker

Not unlike an earlier post about Layer Cake, the movie Thumbsucker got me thinking about how there’s a sort of sub-genre of movies similar to it.  I’ll call it "indie post-modern coming of age story" for lack of a better word. 

It usually involves a teenager fighting some symbolic ailment while dealing with a family that is dysfunctional to some extent.   The colors are usually somewhat muted and is backed by a lot of indie musicians playing heartfelt piano and acoustic guitar music.   The final conclusion – or a scene close to it –  is almost always filmed in slow motion.  And then there is the obligatory "scene review montage" that comes at the end, where over the aforementioned indie balladry comes quiet, character-less shots of the places where the story took place… the bedroom, the house, the school, etc.  Not every movie in this sub-genre has all of those elements, but they usually have some and have a similar feel.  It all results in a moody, slow-paced film that tries to evoke a lot of emotion from the viewer.  A lot of them succeed.

However, at this point, the genre has kind of been done again and again.  Movies like Donnie Darko (with a sci-fi touch), Napoleon Dynamite, Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums… and then even other films that go outside of the teen genre but still maintain that same feel: The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, Punch Drunk Love, and American Beauty, for example.

Since Thumbsucker has a familiar feel to it, but is trying to be so defiantly "indie," it doesn’t work that well.  It comes across as kind of pretentious and copy-cat.  It isn’t a bad film and probably would have been break-through a few years ago.  However, at this point, it results in a film with a lot of potential but ends up tripping over itself.

Food and Drink

A Cheater of A Post

I admit that I’m cheating with this post: I just put this up on Hot n’ Saucy Wings, but after I wrote it, I realized that it really does tie into pop culture trends related to food, so you’re getting it here too.

Even though it goes off into a discussion about how all sorts of ethnic foods are becoming more and more popular and common throughout the United States, this article in the San Francisco Chronicle starts off by saying "After decades of being satisfied with mild foods, it’s now craving bold flavors that pack a punch — hot and spicy, sweet and heat, and interesting combinations that add new meaning to kicking it up a notch" to which I say "god bless America!"

According to the article, 1,463 products with the word "spicy" were introduced in the last two years, as well as a 4.5 percent increase in "hot" and "spicy" items found on fast-food menus and a 2 percent increase at fine-dining restaurants during 2005.

So clearly Hot N’ Saucy Wings is right on track!

Music

Tipper Gore Isn’t Gonna Like This Blog Post…

The annals of rock n’ roll are full of incredible songwriters who produced lyrical works of poetry set to beautiful music.  Songs with deep meanings, sometimes hidden behind wonderfully symbolic imagery.  Some inspired greatness, others helped great causes and yet others brought enlightenment to entire generations.  Bob Dylan, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Brian Wilson, Pete Townshend, Neil Young, Paul Simon, Bruce Springsteen, Roger Waters…. so many great writers who wrote meaningful songs that have touched our souls.

Then there are the songs are still enjoyable for us to listen to, but are just shallow tid-bits of pure musical pleasure.  The marshmallow Peeps of the musical world: sweet, delicious and fleeting, but oh-so-good while they last.  Sometimes, though, songs can go one steep beyond to be more like a deep fried Twinkie: absolutely no redeeming value, but you can’t resist.  You know you shouldn’t be participating in it at all, but you can’t help it, since its just so bad its good.  I’ll admit that I’m a sucker for this stuff – songs with big fat juicy music hooks and catchy choruses.  Most people would say that I’m a musical snob, but I’m not above admitting that the Pussycat Doll’s "Don’t Cha" was one of my favorite songs of last year, though usually it is a basic guitar-driven rocker that gets my attention.

My newest piece of rock n’ roll decadence?  "Crazy Bitch" by Buckcherry.  Pure, unbridled sexual honesty from a bunch of old-fashioned tattooed and pierced rockers.  This is a song that would have had Tipper Gore asking for beheadings back in the 80’s.  Forget symbolic lyrics rife with analogies and similes – these guys get right to the wonderfully un-politically correct point: 

Hey
You’re a crazy bitch
But you fuck so good, I’m on top of it
When I dream, I’m doing you all night
Scratches all down my back to keep me right on

Please note: this is NOT a song about world peace or the struggles of third world nations to repay their debts!  However, just in case you missed the point, they end out the song with this oh-so-subtle play on words: "You’re crazy; But I like the way you fuck me."

I have to admire such straightforward prurience.  Now I’m sure that someone reading this will be all sorts of offended, saying that this is misogynistic and I shouldn’t be encouraging such behavior.  Well let me say three things: 1) These guys are living in the different world than most of us.  Check out the lyrics and you’ll see that they are referring to the wacky groupies that they hang out with.  Not that I feel bad for them or anything, I’m just pointing it out.  2) This is just a reflection of a larger trend out there – we’ve all seen the girls walking around with "bitch" or "slut" imprinted with sequins or rhinestones on their baby-doll t’s or camisoles.  Given the right airplay, this song could become the girl-power anthem of 2006! 3) Its a song.  Lighten up.

And its the music that makes this such a great song – if it was a crappy song I wouldn’t be writing about it.  But it is legitimately a good song with a catchy riff, a great guitar hook and a chorus which, while it may disturb some, finds a way to lodge itself in your head.  Which means I was wandering around CVS today quietly humming "you’re a crazy bitch… mmmm-mmm-mmm… but you fuck so good… mmm-mmm-mmm…" to myself.

Film

But What Would Mrs. Kong Think?

I can let go of a lot of reality when I watch movies.  Sure, I’ll believe that a radioactive spider can give a man superhuman powers or that travel through space at light speed is possible.  That is part of what is so much fun about movies: the chance to escape from reality. 

However, sometimes the lack of reality in small areas can undermine the effectiveness of a scene or an entire movie.  While watching the 2005 version of King Kong this weekend on DVD, I was willing to believe the whole giant ape thing of course.  As well as dinosaurs and giant bugs living on an undiscovered island.

However, during the scene where they fight off the giant bugs, after Jimmy suddenly becomes an expert marksman the first time he picks up a machine gun, he takes the gun and THROWS IT AWAY.  Now, I’m not 100% sure what I would personally do in that situation, but I would like to think that if me and my travel companions had just been attacked by giant cockroaches and flesh-eating swamp slug things, I wouldn’t get rid of the gun right away.  But maybe that is just me.

But what really did it for me is the scene in New York City after Kong escapes from the theater and Jack Driscoll draws him off by having the giant ape chase him by driving a taxi.  First of all, this is kind of a stupid choice: in order to save a single trolley car full of people, he leads King Kong on a rampage through the city that results in dozens of city blocks being destroyed.  Good job Jack!  Once the massive monkey catches the cab and Jack in it, they manage to wind up in a quiet residential area of Manhattan.  One that apparently doesn’t have any people living there who would be concerned that there was just a loud screeching car and the loud grunting and breathing of a 25-foot gorilla. 

Of course, this is all very convenient since at the same time, Ann Darrow arrives on the scene, even before the cops and the military, even though they had shown up in Times Square moments after the problems started.  She managed to beat them all to the place where Kong has run to even though she was on foot and in a light dress in the middle of winter. 

So we end up with a girl wearing a showgirl dress beats the police and the military chasing a giant monkey across New York City into a residential neighborhood where no one seems to care that there is a 25-foot monkey confronting a taxi with the roof torn off.  That’s perfectly believable, no?

And what is up with the whole love affair between Ann and King Kong.  I know that the connection is one of the basic elements of the story, but isn’t it a bit much to say that Ann would be in LOVE with the Monkey?  At least to the extent that they show her in this version.

In the end, the little unbelievable moments make the big fictional basic elements of the story less entertaining.  The special effects aren’t quite as good as I had hoped – that scene in Central Park was clearly fake (not to mention another unbelievable moment…. shouldn’t that ice have cracked?) and there were several other blue screen scenes that weren’t as seamless as we’ve grown accustomed to.  I’ll be sticking with the original, thanks.

Food and Drink

In a Good Rutt

I know that I made fun of hot dogs in a previous post, but that doesn’t mean I don’t like them – I had several on a recent weekend trip to Baltimore.  Most of them were traditional ball-park franks, doing the little round hot treadmill thing or grilled, but I tried one cooked in a manner that all those at-home specialty machines left out: deep fried.

I’m sure that there are some who already know where I’m going with this:  Rutt’s Hut in Clifton, NJ.  Yes, a deep fried hot dog is their specialty and it is everything you would expect or fear it would be, depending on your point of view: crispy on the outside, slightly greasy and quite different. 

We stopped as a lunch break after making it past the George Washington Bridge on our way to Baltimore.  I had heard about Rutt’s on the Food Network years ago, though I couldn’t remember the name of it. A quick search for "deep fried hot dogs" revealed it easily enough and it was close enough to the highway to be a convenient quick stop.  Apparently the concept of a deep-fried hot dog had lodged itself in my memory and now it is lodged in my arteries. 

So what did I think of it?  It was good.  The hot dog was good and the deep frying gave it a different texture, but I can’t honestly say it was quite as groundbreaking as I thought it would be.  Maybe I waited too long to try one after hearing about it and I had simply built it up too much.  I would go again if I found myself in the area, but wouldn’t go too far out of my way either.

I also wouldn’t say that Rutt’s is a defining food for the area.  Hot dogs in general may be a definitive food for the NYC and NJ area, just as coffee milk is for Rhode Island, chili is for Cincinnati, cheesesteaks are for Philly, deep dish pizza for Chicago, etc. etc., but Rutt’s is one of those pleasantly quirky oddities that you experience when you keep your eyes, ears, and mind open while traveling.

Food and Drink

Almost Exciting Enough to Make You Wet

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A recent article in Forbes spoke to the proliferation of bottled waters.  I can’t criticize the trend, since I have a bottle sitting on my desk as I type this and pretty much always have one in the car, at home, in the office, on the plane, etc. 

But there are times that I experience a weird mix of pride and shame when it comes to being a professional marketer.  Pride since we certainly seem to have successfully taken over the world and everyone’s opinions.  Shame for… well… pretty much the same thing, since we sometimes go overboard.   My first time experiencing this was going through the gates at Fenway a few years ago and seeing that there were ads on the turnstile bars.  I was both impressed that someone thought of that but also a little depressed that we had reached the point where marketers started to do stuff like that.

Anyway, along the lines of marketing run amok, this article on water has a link to a slide show of the "nine most interesting waters on the market" (or you can go to the bottom of the article for the link).  You will see water for good skin, for losing weight, one that raises money for the environment, with peppermint for freshening your breath, and a super-purified one that takes 13 hours to make (its WATER! I can make some in a split second by turning on the faucet).

There is also something called "glacial milk" which sounds absolutely disgusting, water from 2 miles below the earth’s surface, and water that is described as "molecularly separated and then condensed through a vapor distillation that removes dissolved solids, inorganic minerals and other elements found in water." 

I don’t know about you, but If I need to pull out my high school chemistry book to drink a bottle of water, then I ain’t drinkin’ it.

Sports, Travel

ROAD TRIP!

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As part of my ongoing effort to bring the most fascinating material to you, my loyal readers, I made the great sacrifice of spending a weekend in Baltimore with my girl watching the Red Sox win two baseball games against the Orioles.   I know, I know… the sacrifices I make, huh?  It’s, like, Ghandi, Mother Theresa, and then me. 

Anyway, as a testament to what can happen when spontaneity gleefully interferes with personal responsibility, late on Friday afternoon Meghan and I decided that it would be fun to go see the Red Sox play the Orioles in Boston one weekend this summer.  Her sister lives there, so we had a convenient and cheap place to stay.  However, a look at the Red Sox schedule revealed that the only weekend which would work for us was that weekend.  So we got tickets and went!

A long drive down on Saturday thanks to rain and traffic got us down there a few hours late, but luckily the game was on rain delayed so got in there by the third inning, but not after a huge hassle of trying to get our will-call tickets.

If you are a baseball fan, it is worth the pilgrimage to Camden Yards.  As a life-long Red Sox fan, I never thought I would want to see a stadium other than Fenway in Boston, but I have to say that Camden Yards makes a pretty good argument for it.  Beautiful facilities, comfortable seating, plenty of open spaces and sitting areas and great views of the game all around.  Camden_yards

A few interesting observations: first of all, Red Sox fans made up at least 70% of the crowd.  I don’t know who would have been there if the Sox fans hadn’t been there.  Maybe the O’s fans stayed away because they knew there would be a lot of Boston fans there, but it was a really weak showing for them.  The fact that there are so many Red Sox fans willing to drive at least 6 hours – more like 8 for us – from the Boston area to Baltimore just to see their favorite team plays speaks to the sheer lunacy of Red Sox fans.  We’re sick and we love it.

However, there were enough O’s fans to scare the daylights out of us during the national anthem.  It is apparently a tradition of theirs in Baltimore to SHOUT "O!" during the second to last line of the Star Spangled Banner: "O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave"

This was my first time seeing a baseball game outside of the Boston area, so it was interesting to see the stadium have to put up requests for the home crowd to make more noise and to simply see a stadium that wasn’t sold out.  Never experienced that at Fenway and even not that often at McCoy stadium.

Besides seeing the two games, we also hit the local Hard Rock Cafe real quick – just to pick up a few shirts and pins.  We ate dinner at the Wharf Rat (wing review here) on Saturday night, trying the traditional Maryland crab cakes.  Basically a ball of crab meat barely held together by some bread crumbs with plenty of Old Bay seasoning.  Perfect!

A road trip can be such a great experience and this one was.  In 40 hours we drove to and from Baltimore, watched 2 Red Sox Games, went to the the Hard Rock Cafe, ate at a Brew Pub, tried Maryland crab cakes, had breakfast at Denny’s, ate deep-fried hot dogs, and laughed a whole lot.  It was a ton of fun and so glad that we we spontaneous enough to do it.

Web/Tech

Vindigo + Me = BFF

If your cell phone is capable of carrying Vindigo, I have two words for you: GET IT!!  Especially if you spend a lot of time in a big city or traveling or will be traveling to a large city. 

Instead of carrying around scraps of paper and maps and books in our pockets all weekend in Chicago, I just had my Treo loaded with Vindigo and looked everything up on there, including walking directions, addresses, etc.  Three times I was able to tell the cab driver where something was that he had no clue about (of course, one of those was Buddy Guy’s Legends, which doesn’t say much for the cab driver).  It seriously made the weekend easier, more fun and more spontaneous.

Vindigo gets the first Pop Culture Gangster Seal of Approval!  (not that there is really such a thing or that if anything else will get it ever again, but just go with it)