This post is a part of the A to Z Challenge. This year I have decided to go themeless. Each day I will post about whatever topic pops into my head. The result of this spontaneity is anyone's guess. Thanks for coming along for the ride.
Gremlins. They're not cute, they're not cuddly, and they wreck everything they come in contact with. The first written use of the term was in the 1920s in England. Gremlins are tricksters that like to mess with mechanical items, especially airplanes. They were blamed for a number of malfunctions and even crashes of British Air Force aircraft during World War II. Many pilots claimed to have seen them on the wings right before experiencing mechanical trouble. The term was later spread farther when Royal Air Force veteran and author Roald Dahl wrote The Gremlins in 1942. Gremlins have made appearances in various forms in books, magazines, TV, and movies ever since. One of the best-known examples is The Twilight Zone episode "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" starring a pre-Star Trek William Shatner. Another is, of course, the 1984 movie Gremlins.
I say all of that and give all the background to say this: Who the heck thought it was a good idea to use the name Gremlin for a car?!
This post is a part of the A to Z Challenge. This year I have decided to go themeless. Each day I will post about whatever topic pops into my head. The result of this spontaneity is anyone's guess. Thanks for coming along for the ride.
F is for two things that I like that have been done two different ways. I'll explain.
First is Fandral in the movies Thor and Thor: The Dark World. In Thor, Fandral is played by Josh Dallas, who replaced Stuart Townsend due to "creative differences". Townsend had replaced Zachary Levi who was unavailable due to a scheduling conflict. I liked the way that Josh Dallas interpreted the character. Very Errol Flynn.
In Thor: The Dark World, Josh Dallas had a scheduling conflict and was replaced by original choice Zachary Levi. I have mixed feelings on this one, as I am a big Zachary Levi fan (go Chuck!) Unfortunately, I think he overplayed the role a little. I don't know if he was trying to out do Dallas's Fandral or if he just didn't pull off the character properly, but it didn't seem quite right. I'll withhold final judgment until after Thor: Ragnarok. Then I'll decide which, if either, I prefer.
Second is the song "Friends in Low Places" by Garth Brooks. Everyone knows his version of the song. It is truly a classic. It's what got me listening to country music during college. It probably helped that I went to the same school as Garth. Go Pokes! Twenty-six years later, it's still one of his best songs.
That brings us to the second version of the song. Home Free made an a cappela version on their newest album Country Evolution. Now anyone who has read my blog before knows that Home Free is one of my all time favorite bands. I absolutely love just about everything these guys do. They can (almost) do no wrong. That's why I have an issue with their version of "Friends in Low Places." They put their own spin on the song that many people have raved about. Unfortunately, it falls a little flat for me. I don't really care for the stylistic choice. I think it's a rare misstep for them. That's not to say that it's bad. Like I said, it's a stylistic choice, and thus an issue of personal preference. Though I will admit that Tim Foust (the bass singer and lead for this song) knocked it out of the park as usual.Watch the video below and let me know what you think.
This post is a part of the A to Z Challenge. This year I have decided to go themeless. Each day I will post about whatever topic pops into my head. The result of this spontaneity is anyone's guess. Thanks for coming along for the ride.
E is for eggs. As in, we have way too many of the darn things. My wife decided that we need to raise chickens. My dad has had chickens for a while now and she decided she wanted some, too. So we now have 15 chickens.
I like eggs. They are great scrambled, boiled, and deviled. Not all at the same time. The eggs we don't need, I sell at work. (Got plenty available. Reasonably priced!)
Did you know chickens lay eggs every day?! Not every one of them most days, but enough. We get over a dozen eggs a day. Every day. And we're about to get 20 more chickens from my dad. Yep. 20 more chickens. We're going to have close to three dozen eggs each day. Did I mention we sell eggs?
This post is a part of the A to Z Challenge. This year I have decided to go themeless. Each day I will post about whatever topic pops into my head. The result of this spontaneity is anyone's guess. Thanks for coming along for the ride.
Today we're talking about dance. From the Charleston to the Funky Chicken; from the Hokey Pokey to the Hora; from the Electric Slide to Electric Boogaloo, dancing has been a part of every culture since before there was culture. And let's face it, culture might as well be my middle name. Since it's not any other part of my life.
Let's get this out of the way right off the bat. I dance like a white guy. That's why I only dance in church and at country bars. Anyone can line dance without looking like an idiot. And at church, if they're judging my dancing, that's their issue instead of mine.
I actually dance quite a bit at church. I have been a co-leader and choreographer for our congregation for several years. That's about all the dancing I really do. I used to line dance in college, but I haven't done much of that in years.
Any other dancing, I'll leave to the professionals and people with better moves than me. How about you? Do you dance? What kind of dance? Let me know in the comments.
By the way, the best name of a computer controlled character in any game I've played is Dance Monkey. I got to shoot him with a grenade launcher. Good times.
This post is a part of the A to Z Challenge. This year I have decided to go themeless. Each day I will post about whatever topic pops into my head. The result of this spontaneity is anyone's guess. Thanks for coming along for the ride.
I know, I'm a little late posting this one today. I had all kinds of grand plans to have it written early and scheduled to post at midnight per usual. Obviously, that didn't happen. Why? Because life has a habit of getting crazy. As in crazy busy, crazy weird, or crazy awesome. Sometimes all of the above. So today, we're talking CRAZY!
Crazy busy - Yep, got that one covered. Sometimes. Other times I just don't feel like doing everything that I have to do. I can admit it. And yes, I feel guilty about it afterwards. Sometimes, not always.
So, how busy? Let's see. Work at 40+ hours per week. Teaching at the synagogue at least twice per month. Running the services at the synagogue each week. Planning special events at the synagogue, such as Passover. (Coming up in 18 days!) Helping to home school four children. Raising chickens (15 right now, plus 20 more later this week.) Filming and co-writing (when I have time to do so) episodes of the ever popular web show Torah Puppets. Mowing and other maintenance of seven acres. What were we thinking when we bought this place? Took the kids to a birthday party at the zoo yesterday. Six hours outside in Oklahoma springtime sunshine. Yep, I'm extra crispy today. Oh, and attempting to keep the blog updated and telling myself that I will get back to my writing at some point. I really need to get back to the writing. I guess that about covers it, so let's move on.
Crazy weird - Kids... need I say more? Just kidding, they're great, but they can definitely be weird. I'm not sure whether to be proud or scared that can understand about half of what they say.
Also, animals. We have two dogs that randomly bark at themselves in the middle of the night. One will wake up and bark - usually at her own tail, foot, ears, or whatever. That will get the other one to wake up and bark because the first one did. The first one then barks louder at whatever the second one is barking at. Lather, rinse, repeat.
Did I mention chickens? Well apparently my second daughter is the chicken whisperer. If we need to get them back into their pen, she just has to call them and they will gather around her. They will follow her anywhere she leads. She will also usually be carrying one of them like a baby as she wanders the yard. They love it.
Although the weirdest animal situation is that I am the turtle whisperer. We have two red-eared sliders. The older one, Lance, is very skittish around most people. When we have to take her out of the tank to clean it, she panics a little. She tries to bite people and will scratch everyone pretty badly while trying to escape the clutches of the scary giant creatures holding her. Unless I talk to her. Then she relaxes and will extend her head and neck far out of her shell to allow me to pet her neck. It even works if she hears my voice on the phone. I just tell it, I don't explain it. Crazy weird.
Crazy awesome - Actually, this section is just about things with Crazy in the name that I like. First is Crazy Life, the first major label album by country a capella group, Home Free. I've mentioned them here before. If you haven't checked them out yet, what are you waiting for? They're awesome. We saw them in concert last year in Oklahoma City. We're seeing them again in twenty days in Tulsa. Can't wait. They put on an amazing show.
Second, just for fun, is Crazy Train by Ozzy Osbourne. Why? Cause it's just that awesome.
This post is a part of the A to Z Challenge. This year I have decided to go themeless. Each day I will post about whatever topic pops into my head. The result of this spontaneity is anyone's guess. Thanks for coming along for the ride.
B stands for Big Boat. Why a big boat? Because this year is my 25th wedding anniversary, of course. You didn't get that? Fine, I guess I'll explain.
My wife and I were trying to figure out what we wanted to do for our anniversary this year. I don't know about you, but I think the 25th is a big deal. Before we made any decisions, we got a call from my mother-in-law. My wife's parents decided that they wanted to send us on an Alaskan cruise for our anniversary. This is one of those moments when the answer is a resounding "Uh... yeah!" I've wanted to go to Alaska for a very long time. I've wanted to take an Alaskan cruise ever since my parents, brother, and sister-in-law went on one a couple years ago.
This is the type of room we'll have. That's a balcony outside the double doors.
We'll be staying in a veranda room on the very back of the ship. I'm really looking forward to it. Now comes the hard part. We've got to figure out what shore excursions we want. Whale watching? Bear sighting? Sea otters? Eagles? Zodiac boat across the bay at 50 mph? OK, I think we have a winner. Take a big boat to get on a small boat. Yep. I'm in.
Anyone taken an Alaskan cruise before? Any suggestions for activities? Let me know in the comments.
It's time to kick off the A to Z Challenge. As I said in my introductory post yesterday, there is no theme this year. I'm themeless and lovin' it! So let's jump right into it.
The letter A is for "ACK! THBBFT!"
If you don't understand that reference, I can only weep for you. You have missed out on one of the greatest comic strip characters of all time. Those who do recognize the quote know that I'm referring to the one and only Bill the Cat from Bloom County, by Berkeley Breathed. Never before has a dead cat added so much life to any art form. I must say that Bill was surprisingly active for a dead cat. I guess no one ever told him he was dead, so he just kept on living his life the way he wanted. Hey, he's a cat. What do you expect? They do what they want, when they want, how they want. Death? Merely an inconvenience.
The Cat is dead! Long live the Cat!!
After looking this over, this would have probably been a better post for B. Oh well, then I couldn't have emphasized ACK!
And that's it for the letter A. We'll see you again tomorrow when I wander off the rails into B territory with no map, compass, or GPS.
