Stumble Upon of the Day

I recently discovered a website called stumbleupon that randomly takes to websites based on your interests. I was thrilled today when I came across an image of Charlie's lyrics to Day Man from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

What you gonna to do now?

I'm going to listen to these jams, eat Mr. Beef for lunch, and clean my place before my folks arrive in Chicago. Happy Friday!



The Raconteurs - Old Enough (featuring Ricky Skaggs and Ashley Monroe)
White Stripes - Truth Doesn't Make A Noise
Snuffy Walden - Friday Night Lights theme Because it's Friday, it's the second to last episode of season 4, and it's the best show on TV.

Sorry Boss But These Jams Are Pumping!

I'm posting this Thursday night; however, I can imagine you sitting in your desk and cubicle just waiting for the time to go by. You're itching for five o'clock to drink and party. Jam with your friends, dance, and fist pump! So in the meantime, apologize to your boss and jam these tunes. These aren't the best tunes per se, but they get you pumped for a Friday happy hour!




Atmosphere - You
Fyfe Dangerfield - When You Walk In The Room
Thao with the Get Down Stay Down - Cool Yourself
Ida Maria - Queen of the World

A Thursday Where I Think Back...

I don't regret many things about my life.

However, there are a few times where I think about a situation where something happened and I wonder..."what if I would have done that differently?"

So as I write my first post to this blog, thanks friends for inviting me to this conversation, I want to ask all of you: What would you have done in this situation?

I will set the scene....

A young handsome man, sometimes confused as gay but really happily married, enters the crowded Chicago Brown Line train headed south towards the Loop. Excited to see his cousins who recently arrived for the weekend to run the Chicago Marathon, the man steps onto the train with confidence, showing his fellow passengers that he knows the city. The young man grabs hold of the vertical handlebar with his left hand and casually leans up against the plexiglass barrier. From across the aisle-standing directly in front of the young man, a strange yet non threatening middle-aged man catches eye contact with the young man as he looks up from his iPod. The young man acknowledges him with a slight head nod realizing two strangers have just made eye contact. As the train moves south past the Armitage Brown Line stop, the wheels beneath the young man's feet shake his body and he readjusts to calibrate his balance.

At this moment of recalibration and comfort shifting, the young man looks down at his iPod in his right hand while his left still grips the handlebar. Looking for the perfect song for a beautiful Chicago fall day the young man experiences a strange occurrence. The left hand that is currently grasping the handlebar for steadiness is now not alone. A sweaty, clammy, larger hand is now engulfing the young man's hand.

Stirred by this surprising occurrence the young man looks up in an instance from his iPod and realizes the same middle-aged man that he recently acknowledge with a head nod is now standing right beside him with the sweaty hand over the top of his. Frighten by this event, the young man quickly readjusts his entire body so that his back is now towards the strange middle-aged man without looking up at the facial expression.

Knowing that the train is coming upon the Brown Line station at Chicago and Franklin, the young man quietly stands still waiting for the train to stop and an opportunity to dodge the strange man and fall into anonymity among the crowd.

As the train pulls to an stop, feeling as it is in slow motion, the young man feels the awkwardness of the strange man still standing behind him. As the doors to the rail car open in the sliding motion the body heat from the strange man becomes existent to the young man. Knowing something is about to be exchanged the young man's head slightly turns to his left, eyes moving in the same direction. Right as the young man's eyes and head get set into position to say the first words of "Do you need something," the strange middle-aged man moves his head and mouth 2 inches in front of the young man's left cheek and blows a puff of air, as if he is blowing out 40 birthday candles from atop his cake while non-verbally saying "I would like to do bad things to you."

Completely surprised and infuriate by this action, the young man feels a rush of rage and embarrassment. Without any thought of reacting the strange, now creepy, middle aged ass-wipe moves off the train and onto the platform - and out of the young man's life forever. The sliding doors close and the young man is left on the train with his iPod, a feeling of rage and a hot nasty smell of breath across his face.

And scene...

As I think back on this situation I always wonder...what would have happened if I would have pushed him or even punched him? I was completely caught off guard in that situation as it was one of the strangest moments on the CTA.

My question to you...what would you have done if someone blew a puff of love into your face?

Between Two Ferns

This is a great way to start the day. The newest Between Two Ferns with guest Steve Carell.

Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis: Steve Carell from Between Two Ferns

Hey Utah, Give Me Two!

I can only imagine how the Pac-10/12 conference discussions go. Every Athletic Director give evil looks to commissioner Larry Scott while he tells everyone how great the last year of the Pac 10 will be.

INT. CONFERENCE ROOM - DAY

TEN MEN SIT AROUND A ROUND CONFERENCE TABLE STARING INTENTLY AS A MAN (LARRY SCOTT) HIGHLIGHTS COLORADO'S ATHLETIC ACCOMPLISHMENTS. A SINGLE PICTURE OF KORDELL STEWART IN A STEELERS UNIFORM IS ON THE OVERHEAD PROJECTION.

MAN #1
This sucks. You blew it. Texas and OU are staying.

LARRY SCOTT
I did even better. I got Colorado and Utah instead!

AN AWKWARD SILENCE. SOMEONE COUGHS. A MAN IN USC POLO GETS A TEXT AND STARTS CRYING. THE TEXT READS "WE'RE BUSTED"

MAN #2
2011 is going to blow. This year is a wash. Why not add them this year?

LARRY SCOTT
We have another year (of mediocre football and basketball). Come on! We have another year!

MAN #3
I'm going to call Kansas. They are going to beat us in basketball but at least we'll be on t.v. in primetime.

LARRY SCOTT
Don't you dare! All I ask is you wait to make that phone call after you play in the Coors Event Center. If you aren't impressed, I'll dial Self's number myself.

According to my sources, that's exactly how it happened. Or, exactly like this (Imagine Pac 10 commissioner is Gary Busey and Keanu Reeves is Utah's AD):

From the Mrs.

One last music suggestion for this Wednesday and it comes from the wife. That also starts with W. This theme I have going is a weak one, I need better ideas.

Happy Wednesday!

As we all know, Wednesday is the best day of the week. I clearly don't need to list the reasons since we all know them. However, Tory's earlier post got me thinking. Or should I say 'wishing' (wishing starts with a double u). A game we like to play is thinking of great spin-off ideas. Or wishful thinking.

(side note about wishing or what if's: ESPN is currently airing on College Football Live a segment called 'What If." Ex: what if Nebraska made the field goal in the Orange Bowl and beat FSU and Bowden's career tumbled after that. Lame I know. Just another horrible attempt to make something into nothing. I play a game called "what if 'the decision' never happened?" Works great for both ESPN and me, for ESPN could of saved credibility in the journalistic community. Read here.)

Anyway: great spinoffs:
-Ben Linus from Lost as a school-teacher (however that idea actually came to fruition. So clearly a great idea. However, Sawyer is his roommate). Called: Softly Spoken

-Alfred from Batman: what does he do is his spare time? Sounds like a prime-time show to me. I'm guessing solve crimes like Castle on Castle. Called: Not Past Me

-President Bartlett from West Wing: the show chronicles his days following the transition in which Pres. Santos took over. Easily Emmy bait. Called: I'm Not Done

These are just a few. What are your wishful thinking spin-offs? You know, with all this wishful thinking going on, there is really only one song to play now. Plus, it gives me a very straight reason to play it!

(Author's note: take my suggestions at heart, Frasier Crane wasn't even in my top five choices for a spin-off of Cheers. First, Carla then Paul)

Your Move Big XII, or is it Big X? Texas Football Network Conference?

The Pac 10 recently unveiled it's new logo and when 2011 season rolls around they will officially be known as the Pac 12. This gives me hope that when Nebraska and Colorado depart from the Big 12 they will also rebrand (I've always hated how the Big 10 went by that name but had 11 teams). My advice, go by something without a number in the title, it's only a matter of time before the conference expands or is broken up again. My top choice, the Texas Football Network Conference.

Read More

It's a W Wednesday

The most creative thing I could think of for this hot and muggy Wednesday was give you a playlist where every band's name starts with...you guessed it, W! Here are a few songs by some of my favorite double u bands.



Additional Songs to get you to lunch, or dinner if you're listening later
The White Stripes - Jolene
Wolfmother - Cosmic Egg
White Rabbits - Percussion Gun
The Walkmen - Canadian Girl
Weezer - Say It Ain't So

Back By Popular Demand: Throwback Tuesday!

You asked for it, so here it is! Today we remember the early 90's. Throwback jams to get you through the day and to remember times when the Oakland A's had the bash-brothers, biggest movies weren't sequels, Mel Gibson was known for his intensity on camera, and I was eight. So grab your cassette player, headband and hit the free-weights with these jams! Jam, Jam, Jam it up!



Pete Rock and C.L. Smooth - They Reminisce Over You
Rakim, Nas, KRS-One, Kayne - Classic (yes, not a throwback, but KRS-One is a must)
A Tribe Called Quest - Oh My God

Throwback Tuesday (Photo)

Does this count as a throwback? 1989, Roger Dorn, Jake Taylor. I think so.

Welcome Welcome, Follow me Everywhere

Hello, all! Just wanted to take a moment to share with you that besides here, I have begun writing for a website called 100%ofnothing.com and hope you make your way there and leave some comments in my posts! I will write on film and television and hope you all enjoy.

My first post wasn't too exciting, but I wanted to show the masses I'm in tune with big-budget sequels.

Anyway, Mondays are no fun and always make you feel like you're in chains, chains, chains...

Monday Morning Music

Good News! We Have a Mystery Author!

After a long and closed-door meeting with my business partner, we have begun interviewing candidates to join our team! After a handful of interviews - over pop-a-shot - we have narrowed our list to one (it helped only one person applied for the position). So keep a lookout for another author to join our team. He or she will contribute once a month over random things. Most notably good gas prices, how to cut off a ball from the outfield, top 40 hits and favorite Atlanta Braves of the past.

I imagine our new author listening to this song while he/she got the phone call to become apart of our blog. He/she threw down the phone, ran out to the streets, somehow immediately started carrying lots of shopping bags up and down the street while skipping!

Congrats.

Dipping into old Material

As mentioned in an earlier post, TV is on summer break and there is nothing on TV. When nothing is on TV I find myself surfing the hundreds of movie channels I pay for and never watch. The other day I came across Face Off and learned two valuable life lessons.

1. Don't take off your face
2. Children are replaceable

I wonder what hidden messages I'll find in Con Air?

Food is not listed in the tagline...

The other day at work I came across the newest issue of Chicago Magazine that rated the top 25 pizzas in Chicago, and today I went to one of my favorite restaurants in the city for lunch. It got me thinking, where would I tell people they had to go if they were visiting Chicago? Since I normally like to order the same thing at the same restaurants over and over, here is my small list of recommendations or just places I love to eat (in no particular order).

Big Star
The things I would do to the pork belly taco if it wasn't frowned upon.

Piece Pizza
Giant pizza and and great microbrew.

Kuma's Corner
Best burger and the most uncomfortable i've ever been after a meal. Totally worth it.

Stella's Diner
My favorite breakfast spot in the city.

XOCO and Frontera
Top Chef Master, Rick Bayless!

Hot Doug's
Anthony Bourdain has this on his list of 13 places to eat before you die. I've eaten at two of them. Heyoh!

Smoque BBQ
The first time the wife and I ate here we did it in complete silence. No words were exchanged during our feeding.

Tango Sur
It's steak and it's BYOB. A win win situation.

Rose Angelis
Best Italian food I've ever had, plus, I ate here the night I got engaged.

This list got me thinking about beer for some reason. That list may be coming soon.

Roll Down the Windows and Jam

A little mini-playlist for the weekend:

Sleigh Bells - Tell 'Em
Scissor Sisters - Running Out
The Chemical Brothers - Das Spiegel
Fang Island - Daisy
Fool's Good - Surprise Hotel

It's best to roll down your window, crank your computer speakers or jam on your headphones and enjoy the cuts - while wearing cuts.

Some Tunes For Friday

Here's a new band named Hey Rosetta! that I discovered on NPR. Great song to start this hot as shit Friday. Supposed to feel like 105 today! Enjoy!



Also, a little John Butler Trio. I saw them play this song about five years ago at the Park West in Chicago. This was by far my favorite song they performed that night.

Speaking of Good Television (Continued)

I do miss Vic Vinegar and Hugh Honey. Sunny starts back on Sept. 16. Office is losing me, but if they replace Steve Carell with David Cross, I'm back on! In response, I start off with Community then Parks. Great ensemble casts and writing overlooked by the Emmys (just like me being overlooked in basketball tryouts - clearly the best one out there but feel bad for Two and a Half Men). I was thinking though once you posted that great clip of Arrested Development. We always talk about how great Newsradio was. I couldn't help but think that Newsradio would probably do much better (ratings, awards - only won one award for costume design!) today compared to the mid-90's. Instead of being filmed in the traditional three-camera setup and laugh tracks, Newsradio being filmed in a single-camera format like Arrested. Because I was thought the laugh track took away from the rhythm of the dialogue and quick beats.

From the great Newsradio episode - "Public Domain"

Speaking of Good Television (Continued)

Since it's summer my Thursday TV usually consists of watching Wednesday night's programming. I will watch Parks & Rec since I'm a late bloomer to this show, I started watching half way through season 2. I will then follow up with last nights Top Chef and possibly an episode of Work of Art. I like to watch the art kids act like they are changing the world with their public art installations. Don't get me wrong, I love art, I got my degree in fine arts, however the participants on this show all act like tortured artists and it's quite amusing to watch. One guy had to take a nap because he was "over stimulated" by taking a drive through NY to an Audi dealership. All episode I wanted to punch his stupid face.

If it wasn't summer and all Thursday shows were new, here is the order I would watch them:

Its's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
30 Rock
Community
Parks and Rec

(Eat Dinner)

The Office (This show has entered Entourage status with me, they ran out of material seasons ago)

Since most shows are on summer break, here is one of my all time favorite TV scenes.

Speaking of Good Television

Since "The Decision" isn't on every night - and I wish it was - I have to watch something else tonight. Luckily, it is Thursday. Out of the four NBC comedies tonight (Community, Parks and Rec, Office, 30 Rock) what do you watch first on your DVR? I know this is tough but just like going to South Beach, it must be done. Community and Ron Swanson's Parks and Rec take home first dips. Also, did you know that if you mash-up all of CBS's comedies (rules of engagement, how I met your mother, big bang theory, two and a half men) you get the title "Rules of How I Bang Two and Half Men." That sounds brutal in every sense of the meaning (double entendre included). What you watching?

Enjoy!

What would you like to do today?

Ever since Chad told me about his idea to use Lebron's announcement as a pickup line at bars or a way to break awkward silences on a first date, I've tried to channel LBJ in my everyday decisions.

"I think we should go on a trip this Fall, where do you want to go?"
"This Fall, man, this is very tough"

"Do you want to take the train home or see if there are any deals on Southwest Flights?"
"I'm going to take my talents to South Beach"

"It's really nice out, what do you want to do today?"
"Join the Miami Heat"
"The Miami Heat?"
"That was the conclusion I woke up with this morning"

Anyway, here is a great article looking back at LeBron's free agency.

Eric Roberts + Shark + Octopus =

Rizzoli and Isles are The Event

I could of told you that prior to you wasting five minutes of your life. I think Donnie is happy to be working because the only thing people remember from "The Sixth Sense" is the ending, not his performance, and he is still bitter. However, I think we possibly might have two more drinking games to go along with the brilliant Dallas game you invented and we enjoy to this day. How many times they say 'Rizzoli' in the show, or how many times people say 'the event' in NBC's new show The Event , we take a drink. (We'd have to get more Bacardi Dragon Berry though for sure.) Clearly, we'd have to watch both shows and neither show sports a shirtless Patrick Duffy like Dallas. And try as he might, but Blair Underwood is no Patrick Duffy. It being late I'll add a night-time song. Nothing too rocking.

Tory to Chad

Don't watch Rizzoli & Isles. It's bad. I watched less than five minutes last night while Megh was working, and "Rizzoli" was said over 20 times. We get it, Angie Harmon is Rizzoli! I didn't watch long enough to get the details but I believe Donnie Wahlberg plays their chief, I kept imaging what his real life reaction was when his agent called and told him that he had landed the role. Also, Entourage is very rapidly becoming one of my least favorite shows. Why does Turtle have a story? When Turtle gets a story line it's time to call it a series. I think I'm about to add that show to the list of shows I've become bored with. Hung recently joined that list.

Syllabus

Welcome!

Break out your four different shades of pink highlighters and highlight the important dates! We don't know what those are yet, but we will get there. We is myself, Chad, and my older brother, Tory. The first question is: why not "A conversation between brothers" well, because my first choice backed out and I already titled the blog. But our conversations are highly entertaining to our friends, family, waitresses and girls at bars who overhear us and I don't act. During our time together we will touch on music, tv/film, design and unfinished brilliant ideas Tory and I have thought of.

I would like to start by offering up a song to start. Flosstradamus - Overnight Star



Please enjoy and hope you laugh and enjoy our conversation!