I’ve always thought that Chia Pets were kinda cool, in their own retro white-trash infomercial sorta way. Turns out that they are also a good food source.
Looks Like King Missile Had The Right Idea After All
This is the best news story I’ve read in a while: the headline simply reads "Penis Theft Panic Hits City." Let’s be honest here – if that doesn’t get you to read a story, nothing will.
Apparently a bunch of people in Kinshasa, the capital city of the Republic of Congo, believe that some sort of gold ring-wearing witch doctors are touching them on public transportation and either stealing their penises or shrinking them. Obviously, this isn’t REALLY happening, and there is a quote in the article that got "But when you try to tell the victims that their penises are still there.." which brings up a great image of someone at the police station with his pants down insisting that his penis isn’t there any more.
The only people excited about this news story are the men in Kinshasa who aren’t very well endowed. Now when they hook up with a woman, they can just claim that it was witchcraft that gave them the tiny tools.
Cool Web Sites
Want to share a couple of web sites that I’ve recently found and thought are interesting enough to share:
Food411.com – A great foodie site, in a traditional portal format, with links to lots of other great food and drink-related sites and articles
First I heard about True Mom Confessions which led to True Office Confessions and True Bride Confessions and True Green Confessions. The blog roll on the front page makes for quick, easy, and addictive entertainment on all of them.
My bride-to-be and I are starting to think about cleaning up and cleaning out our old stuff, trying to sell off whatever we can, and any old electronics are probably going to be sold via Second Rotation.
And last but not least, to satisfy your inner paranoid freak in all of us, visit 72 Hours which helps you with planning for an unexpected disaster. Of course, if you’re planning for it, is really unexpected, and wouldn’t it be better to have all the information in hard copy format, since if a disaster is really hitting, chances are you won’t be able to get online to view the site… The site is actually San Fransisco-focused, but the information is good for anyone.
That ‘Ol Disney Magic
For this week, most of my blogging activity will be happening over at The Johnson Family Vacation Blog, which is part of the overall Johnson Vacation web site.
However, I did have some thoughts while walking about Disney’s Animal Kingdom this afternoon – how could a Pop Culture Gangster not after all? – and wanted to share them before they snuck out of my poor tired little brain.
It has been about 10 years or so since I’ve been to Disney, and since then I’ve been fortunate enough to travel many places and have a great number of experiences: from dancing in a New Orleans parade, to attending a Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica; from walking the Sunset Strip in Los Angeles to strolling along the streets of Vancouver. Whether I’ve traveled for work or business, I’ve sought out authentically local experiences, from food and drink to culture and pastimes.
When you go to Disney, they try very hard – and succeed mostly – to give you a taste of a different world. It may be weird mix of Dinosaurs and Americana as is the case in Dinoland in the Animal Kingdom, or the very cool Tibetan/Asian vibe that the area around the Everest ride has. That was probably my favorite part of the park – I thought they did a great job with the decor and extras, as well as with the smells of the food and little touches in the waiting lines that gave you a taste of the country that you’re supposed to feel like you’re in. Not that I’ve ever been there, so I guess more appropriately, it feels like what I think it is supposed to feel like.
Which brings me to my main observation: Disney is incredibly good at creating remarkably realistic imaginary tableaux that make you feel like you’re elsewhere, but when you turn around from that, you’ll still surrounded by vendors selling Coca-Cola and McDonald’s fries, ice cream carts and souvenir stores every ten feet. It is a delicate line that they tread: educational vs. fun, experiential vs. simply being an amusement park. I think it is that attention to detail and Disney’s unique ability to take the harsh Nepal terrain and make it family-friendly that drives so many to their parks.
However, like anyone else who looks at these things with a critical eye – and Disney certainly has their fair share of critics and analysts – one hopes that it doesn’t REPLACE the real experience, or that it forces the real thing to become more Disneyesque to meet the false expectations set by the fake thing.
I’m not going to give you any big insight here, partially because it is 1:00 A.M. and I’m pretty friggin tired. But because I haven’t quite figured it out. Tomorrow is Epcot and its pavilion of 13 countries. Maybe that will help me pin it down. I know that it isn’t a complaint, but it is something that makes me want to experience the real thing; to see a trading post in Nepal, to see a 60’s-style roadside Dinosaur exhibit or eat Chinese food in China. It makes me appreciate how realistic they make the Disney experience but yearn for the real thing. Maybe I’ll be able to answer why by the end of the week.
The Foodie Trend Runs Amok
I’ve been hanging onto this picture for a while now, meaning to make a post with it. It was taken at a Burger King in Massachusetts in February, 2008. I know that America is becoming a nation of "foodies" but pairing carbonated soft drinks with the food selections at Burger King? Things are clearly out of control and/or someone at Burger King has way too much time on their hands.
They Finally Understand Why People Travel
Today must be the day when the travel industry realized how and why people travel. First, there’s airport security lines according to your travel expertise, and now there’s a hotel in England that will have a sex toy "mini-bar" in their rooms. There’s the WHY people travel!
Let’s hurry up and get in the expert travel lane so we can get to England!
If You’re Wearing A Flowered Shirt and Shorts, Stay Away From Me!
As I’ve referenced before, I’m a pretty frequent flier. Unfortunately, I fly a lot around in the Northeast US, so while I’m often on a plane, I don’t rack up a lot of miles, which means that my frequent flier mileage doesn’t necessarily reflect how much of an experienced traveler I am. But I am an experienced traveler – I’m the guy that the TSA agents like… I make sure I pat myself down before going through the metal detector, know that I have to take my laptop out of my briefcase and always take off my shoes. I even know that I need to move down to the end of the x-ray belt and what order things need to go through the x-ray so that I can get my shoes on, put my laptop in my briefcase, put my quart bag of toiletries in my rolling suitcase, and then put my briefcase on my suitcase and then put on my jacket so I can go tie my shoes away from the line of people trying to get through security.
OK, so I’m a bit "type A" about going through security, but it works and it makes it much less stressful.
So what drives someone like me crazy is getting stuck behind "amateurs." If I’m not in a rush, I find it humorous, like the time a TSA guard asked an older gentleman to take off his shoes and he responded by asking "why?" Here’s a hint: when the nice man with the gun/taser/mace spray/ability to lock you up tells you to take off your shoes, you simply take off your shoes. One of my all-time favorites is the couple that didn’t quite understand the way that the carry-on liquids rule works. Not only did they not have a quart bag, but in the bag they DID have, they had large containers of hair gel, shampoo, etc. I actually heard them arguing with a TSA agent, saying that there was two of them, so couldn’t they have a 6 ounce bottle of shampoo? You’re allowed 3 ounce containers per person, so why not a 6 ounce container if you’re traveling together? Why not indeed?
I’ve often wished for an "expert" lane at airport security. A lane where the frequent travelers – usually identified by a briefcase, a rolling carry-on, and a quart bag filled with generic travel sized toiletry containers written on with a black Sharpie – can do their thing and not get frustrated by the family of four that hasn’t flown in 5 years, didn’t bother to read what they are supposed to do before getting on the plane and are now in their third pass through the metal detector.
Turns out I’m not alone – Logan airport in Boston is considering such a plan, and apparently it is being tested in Denver and Salt Lake City. Reading that Denver article is interesting – it says that the last thing families want to do is hold up people in the line. I am sure this is true, and I’ve seen very apologetic people if they are messing up the security line, and I appreciate the apology. But I’ve also seen people that are completely ignorant of their surrounding and fellow travelers. Those are the people who REALLY bug me. Maybe we should have these three lanes: 1) Know what you’re doing and care about getting through quickly 2) Kind of know what you’re doing and don’t mind waiting with others 3) No clue and ignorant of anyone else.
Record Shop Day – Cool Idea! (I Think)
Even even I do have an iPod now and could never buy another CD for the rest of my life, I’m not about to give that up. I still love the experience of getting a new CD, reading through the booklet and listening to the music with the book in hand, trying to figure out what the lyrics mean, and trying to figure out what the artist is saying in both the music and the artwork.
Just as I still love that tactile experience, I still enjoy going to an actual record store and browsing around. Sometimes I have a goal in mind – a particular album I want to get – and other times I just go in and see what catches my eye and ear, sometimes using a listening station if there is one available (why there aren’t more of these, I don’t know!). The number of independent music stores continue to dwindle. In my area, Newbury Comics is the leading independent record shop, and I love them, but I still miss In Your Ear records on Thayer Street in Providence.
So when I heard about "National Record Day," I naturally got excited! I went to the web site and immediately got a banner to put here on my blog:
While come over here to write this post up, I figured I should know what it is all about. The site doesn’t really have much information for consumers on it; apparently all the indie shops are getting together to create an event at each of their stores on the same day and use their collective power to get freebies and more attention from the record labels.
The irony here is kind of obvious – these are "indie" (that’s "independent" for you non-hipsters out there) stores (known for their fierce individualism), joining together, combining their power, to fight against mega-stores and discount stores that are stealing business from them. Because those guys are big and put their power together to get more attention from the record labels.
D’oh!
Of course, I realize that there is a greater good here, but I still find it a bit humorous. I do hope that it gets people into a new local record store though, and maybe they will find some great music that they wouldn’t have found at their local Wal-Mart or Best Buy. You don’t have to wait until April 19th to do it either – these stores are open between now and then, doncha know!?!?
Roger Williams Park Botanical Center
I almost hesitate to share this with everyone, lest it gets overrun with people… this weekend we went to the Roger Williams Park Botanical Center. What a great, relatively unknown oasis in the great little city of Providence!
Open only about a year at this point, the Botanical Center is three massive greenhouses, two of which are open to the public and filled with a wide assortment of tropical flowers, plants and orchids, all arranged around beautiful fountains and ponds. The other greenhouse is used for lectures and classes.
A highlight is the carnivorous plant exhibit (brought to you by the New England Carnivorous Plant Society) which allows you to see all those cool plants that trap and digest insects (and rodents!). If you find yourself with an hour to spare after checking out the Roger Williams Zoo, for $3, you can’t go wrong at the botanical center.
Technology Update
Among friends, family and co-workers, I have gained a reputation as a tech-savvy person; someone who is always in on the latest gadgets and technologies. I admit that I do like technology and I tend to be pretty comfortable with it, and I do like gadgets, but I’m hardly an "early adopter" or obsessed with technology. Most of the time I just want my computer to not crash, my laptop to start up within a reasonable amount of time and the GPS unit to send me to the right hotel. Other than that, I’m not all about upgrading everything every year.
However, in the last few months, I’ve acquired a few pieces of technology that have greatly impacted my life and my entertainment options.
First was an iPod. I know I"m a few years behind on this one, but I’ve always put it off for a few reasons: first it was because of price and because the iPods weren’t big enough to hold my music collection. Then their storage capacities got bigger and it because an issue of price and being frightened by how long it would take for me to rip my music collection (1500+ CDs) to iTunes. But I always wanted one, and finally I was given one for Christmas and I haven’t stopped using it since. I use it on planes and in hotel rooms while traveling and listen to it nearly all day long in my office through a small speaker system. And even with XM Satellite Radio and a CD player in my car, I find myself using it there as well. I knew it would have a major impact on my music habits, but even I underestimated how much the brilliantly simple device would change how I "consume" music. I’ve listened to a wider variety of bands than I have in years, since I don’t have to haul around so many CDs. Getting all of my music collection onto it continues to be a daunting task, but I am picking away at it and enjoying getting to reacquaint myself with old albums that I had forgotten about.
Shortly after the iPod came the Nintendo Wii. Let me start off with a little context: up until last spring, the last video game system I bought was the original NES. Then after a little taste of Guitar Hero, I found myself in possession of a PS2. However we never moved any further than Guitar Hero – in fact, with one exception of about two hours when a neighbor brought over a Spider-Man game, I don’t think any game other than Guitar Hero has ever seen the inside of our PS2. So basically, it is a Guitar Hero console.
Then this past Christmas came when we got to try the Wii
The most recent technological development – one that is only a few days old – is TiVO. Yeah, I know, I’m even more behind on this one – the iPod came out in October of 2001, the Wii in September of 2006, but the TiVo launched in March 1999! Nearly 8 years later, I feel like I wasted a lot of time running around with VCR tapes and actually trying to be home when a TV show is actually on. If you don’t have a TiVo
So that’s my tech update. Check back with me in anywhere from 2 to 7 years to see if I’ve jumped on the Blu-Ray bandwagon!