Funny and Odd Thoughts

A Personal Moment to Brighten Your Day

I really do try to keep this blog focused on things related pop culture and things that affect our cultural tastes, but once in a while something happens that I just need to mention somewhere…  I hope this makes you smile, knowing that there is justice in this world.

This morning on the way into work, there was someone driving a Nissan 350Z who clearly thought he owned the road and was easily doing 90 – 100 MPH and weaving in and out of traffic.  Your typical jackass who thinks he’s king of the road because he drives a sports car. 

Less than a minute later, a State Police Car comes barreling down the highway, and my only hope was that he was chasing after Mr. Nissan Z.  As I came over the next hill, there he was, with the Nissan Z pulled over, lights flashing… 

To the State Trooper who pulled over the speeding driver on 495 in Massachusetts this morning – thank you.  You made me feel alright this morning. 

Culture, Web/Tech, Weblogs, Wedding

Great Tool for Bloggers, Emailers and People Building Pages on TheKnot.com

After a frustrating day trying to get looooooong MapQuest URLs to work in theknot.com’s web page builder interface, I discovered a great free service called TinyURL that shortens ridiculously long URLs.  If you you’ve ever tried to figure out how to email a really long URL without it getting cut off, this is your solution.

Enter a long URL to make tiny:

It made the difference in being able to create the page I really wanted to have, with all the information needed for our guests.   As I said, I can see TinyURL being great for emailing and blogging as well.

Food and Drink

Flavor Trends

Just how much has the palette of American changed?  Here’s a listing of some of the flavors recently predicted to be among the most popular new flavors for food in 2008: acai, lychee, pomegranate, verbena, goji, noni, guarana, achiote, sofrito, ras-al-hanout, tandoori, chermoula, cumac, pandan and tamarind.  I wonder how many people could tell you what all of them are.   I wonder how many people could have told you that ANY of these existed ten years ago?  I consider myself a "foodie" and I have to say that I couldn’t tell you what all of these are. 

For those who are as ignorant as myself, here’s some links to help clear things up.  To start with, here are the "sweet" flavors that they say will be in the beverage, confectionery, bakery and dairy markets:

  • Acai (side note: Smirnoff just came out with a Strawberry Acai flavor of Smirnoff Ice)
  • Lychee
  • Pomegranate
  • Mint (I’m assuming you know about this one, but it is one taken for granted)
  • Blueberry (hopefully you know this one too)
  • Verbena
  • Goji
  • Noni (also known as "vomit fruit." awesome)
  • Guarana (not really new, but reaching widespread influence beyond energy drinks)

And here are the "savory" flavors predicted to become more popular in meat, condiments, sauces, soups and seasoning markets:

  • Achiote (tried finding this a few months ago – never did manage it)
  • Sofrito (this is a very interesting one – it is kind of like the Latin equivalent of the "trinity" in Cajun and Creole cooking or French Mirepoix) 
  • Ras-al-hanout (a tough one to define – basically a mix of high-end exotic spices, typically in the Moroccan or Middle-Eastern arena.  Don’t take this link as definitive, but exemplary)
  • Tandoori (yum!)
  • Tea smoked (I have heard of it, and have had food smoked with tea, but never done it myself.  Now I will have to!)
  • Chermoula (somewhat similar to ras-al-hanout in concept)
  • Cumac – I cannot find any information about this.  If anyone can help, please let me know!
  • Kaffir lime
  • Pandan
  • Tamarind (tasting tamarind for the first time is a mind-blowing experience.  I encourage you to pick up some tamarind paste and experiment with it)

One of the interesting things about this list is that many of the them, especially on the sweet side, have purported medicinal/health benefits as well.  Not only are we looking for more and different flavors – bolder, spicier, more challenging – but we’re looking to get health benefits from them as well.

Culture

Who The Smurf Knew?

While watching the weather this morning, trying to decide whether I was going to be able to make it into work or not, I saw something go by in the scrolling news at the bottom of the screen that I was puzzled by.  Today is the 50th anniversary of The Smurfs.  As far as I knew, that made NO sense, since the Smurfs were the creation of some corporate cartoon making machine back in the 80’s.  I watch the Smurfs.  I had Smurfs Colorforms and a huge collection of Smurf Cards (which I gave away to some girl I was crazy about back in high school… stupid, stupid, stupid!).  I know my Smurfs.

Or at least I thought I did.  Apparently they HAVE been around for 50 years.  Back in 1958, they started off as secondary characters in a cartoon book.  They then became toys and the figurines became popular in the US and then they created the cartoon series that ran for 256 episodes! 

The official Smurf website has a guide to The Smurfs, and it explains why there’s only one female Smurf.  I didn’t know she was a creation of Gargamel and was made into a hottie by Papa Smurf.  What a dirty old man.  Bet he didn’t consider what would happen when she was dropped into the little all-male community of Smurfs who hadn’t seen a female in 500 years.  The web site avoids the whole question of how they survived without females, or where the hell they come from.

Wedding

Doesn’t Matter How Many Silk Pillows There Are, A Tree Is A Bad Place To Sleep

Last week we spent a few hours going through the dozens (DOZENS!) of wedding-related magazines and catalogs we have accumulated.  They say that the wedding industry is a multi-billion dollar industry – apparently about half of that is from printing.

W04752_905lr_2 Anyway, while looking through one catalog in particular, Jean M., I saw a photo that I couldn’t help but make fun of.  Look here and here.

I hope you had the same reaction I did.  If you didn’t, you may want to calibrate your bizarre-o-Jmw06752_269lr meter, since a tree’s hollow seems like a really weird place to put some silk pillows. 

And I’m sure there’s been a few times that garters have ended up in trees, but not for reasons you would put in a wedding catalog.

Current Affairs

Hppy Annversy Txting! I <3 U!

This month marks the 15th anniversary of text messaging.  I remember seeing a text message feature on my old Motorola Startac phone but I didn’t have text messaging feature on my phone, so I never used it and thought that it was kind of silly – with a cell phone, isn’t it just easier to call someone.  Now I send and receive several hundred texts a month.

And in a totally unrelated topic, slot machines are about 100 years old, and are getting a make-over.  I’m not a gambling type of guy though I appreciate the simple brilliance of slot machines.  You win and lose just enough to keep you pumping quarters in there.  Adding other elements makes them even more addictive, since everyone likes a little healthy competition.  They industry is smart for changing now so that they can appeal to all those current Halo and World of Warcraft players who will eventually be little blue-haired old men and ladies sitting at the casino all day.