#12 - Weekend Wine Game

OK, I have been slacking this week. I want to tell you guys about this weekend's wine game, but really it is just an excuse to post this picture of Carrie. (The wine game - where I pour the wine and Carrie has to guess what wine it is.)

The first wine we had was an Alsatian Pinot Gris, because it is our favorite style of wine at this point. Surprisingly, it only got an 82 from WS, because it wasn't that bad. Carrie thought about it, and nailed it. Very impressive.

Wine #2 was a bottle of Italian Pinot Grigio that we already had, that Carrie bought because she swears that we had it and loved it when we had it before. We actually opened both wines at the same time - we drank the Alsatian first because we actually liked it. This one - not so much. Probably a different vintage or she just had the name of the wine wrong. But, the very first thing she said when she had it was, "well this isn't the Italian". So she was 1 for 2 at this point.

Third bottle - red, Bordeaux. The 2005 Chateau du Moulin Rouge. It was just so so, but it was a 2005, and it rang up about $5 less than the price, so I felt good about it. Carrie - totally guessed that it was a Bordeaux. 2 for 3!

Last bottle - please keep in mind that this was from about 6:00 in the evening until 3:00 in the morning. We are bad, but not that bad. Well, I grabbed the newest Seghesio Zinfandel, 2006 maybe? Carrie thought it was the Thorn Clarke. So kind of close.

But still - 2 for 4! She is back in the game! Also - that is maybe my favorite picture of Carrie ever.

#11 - Giant Cullen

#10 - The Millfill Immediate Family

#9 DragonForce

Ok, so in case you haven't ever heard this song or seen the video, HERE. Apparently this song is the expert level of Guitar Hero 2 or something. But still, please take 5 minutes to enjoy, and let me talk about it.

OK - had this song come out in 1991, it would TO THIS DAY be the greatest song that has ever happened. I think now that if my mom were to hear this song right now, she would insist that I used to play this every time she drove carpool and that Jim and I used to try to play this on guitar. All of my high school friends would meet every year and have a party to commemorate the first time we heard this song. It would have been the #1 song on Dial MTV for more weeks than Metallica's One and Bon Jovi's Living on a Prayer combined. George Bush Sr. would have been elected to a second term based solely on the fact that it came out during his presidency. Peace in the Middle East - you get the point.

Instead, it comes out some 15 years after when it would have worked. But still, so much to love about this song and video. First of all, the lyrics. It seems like a poem that someone wrote during smoke breaks at a Dungeons and Dragons tournament taking place at a Renaissance Fair. Really - the guys from Iron Maiden heard this song and were like, how come we never wrote this?

Also, the guys in the band - the lead singer totally looks like Weird Al. Then, the Asian guitar player - his lack of emotion and soul makes Paul Gilbert blush. But his hair! Holy crap, his hair! It goes to his waist and it looks like it is so soft that it would make silk feel like sandpaper by comparison. It makes Crystal Gayle want to move somewhere more humid just so she can keep up. Then, the other guitarist, who obviously isn't as fast as the hair guitar - he could easily be the lead guitarist for any other band, but has to play second fiddle to Speedy McGee. It has driven him to drink!

That leads us into the guitar solo. What can I say? Please, if you started to watch it and stopped, go back to 3:22 of the video and just enjoy. Every metal band should be forced to go to a 2 guitar system like this - bring in the one guy to spell the other. I am convinced that this video led to most NFL teams going to a 2 running back system in their offense. Genius. I mean, the hair guitar guy - he is totally coming at the fretboard from the top down at times when he doesn't have to, just to show off. He isn't even hitting every note, but at that speed, who cares? When he needs a break, cool beer drinking second guy comes in. I hope first round pick Rashard Mendenhall is able to work this well with Willie Parker in Pittsburgh next season. Plus, the way they just single out the guitarists during the solo with closeups of their hands - brilliant. I really feel like I am watching something special here.

A couple of "cool" moments to watch for during the video - close up of Weird Al's eyes at the beginning, which is just goofy; when hair guitar picks up his guitar with the whammy bar, a la Steve Vai; do a shot every time someone wipes the hair out of their face - just try it; then all the random slow-motion clips, the lighting, the "directing" including random camera shakes when the song is kicking ass. Seriously - are they joking? Is this parody or some sort of satire even?

So yeah, this is totally a guilty pleasure for me. Really, the whole thing is surreal - is this really happening? Did this video really come out in 2006? It isn't even like The Darkness - there is no sign that this band is in on the joke. Which makes it more awesome.

Sometimes I think that corporations control music, and that sometimes we go away from trends in music prematurely just to fit some sort of agenda or something. For instance, was anyone really ready for grunge to end? Did the grunge era even last 5 full years? But then think - how many of the top 50 songs of your lifetime come from the grunge era? Was music really only that good for 5 years, or did economic prosperity of the 90s lead us away from the angst which defined grunge? Come back, grunge!!!!

Then there is this song - were we really ready for hair bands to go away completely? I mean, I see Sebastian Bach on Gilmore Girls, Brett Michaels has his own TV show, CC Deville is on the Surreal Life - it didn't need to go away. Sometimes, we need a band to come along to show us that we still love this crap - that is what this video is for me. Hair bands rule!!!

#8 - Raccoon Showdown

So, tonight I am taking out the garbage in order to get the apartment all clean for when Carrie gets home tomorrow. Sadly, we are still throwing out boxes from the big wedding extravaganza. Plus, I have 3 full bags of trash to throw out. See, this goes back to apartment living - the trashcan is a little bit of a walk, so we usually make sure we have a full load before we take out the trash. Kind of the same way that we get the mail every other day, because that is a long walk to make, and if you go get the mail and it is just some junk mail flyer from that State Farm guy again, well it just pisses you off. That, and we are just lazy, lazy people.

Back to the story - I grab a couple of boxes and go to the dumpsters. Normally, I go to the second one because the first one fills up quickly. However, tonight it was like whatever, I just opened the top and threw the boxes in the closest one and went back for part 2. Once I get back into the apartment, I just decide to take the other boxes and all 3 trash bags, because I don't want to make 2 more trips (the lazy thing again). So, I am walking out to the trash with 3 bags in my left hand, and 3 or 4 boxes stacked up in both hands. The long walk start to irritate me, because it is all getting heavier, so I just have my head down, trying to ignore the strain.

Well, I look up at the dumpster, and suddenly the hood pops up and a pair of eyes is staring at me. It comes out about halfway, and I was like, oh crap - it's a raccoon. I was only about 10 feet away, so I immediately retreated to get some sort of distance. But I'll be damned if I am going to take all this trash back up to the apartment. I decided to wait until he left - I mean, animals will run away, right? Squirrels do it, why not raccoons? But he just stares at me, halfway in and out of the dumpster. It occurs to me - this sucker was more than likely in there just a second ago when I threw away those other boxes. Great - I will never ever be able to throw stuff away in that dumpster without thinking that I will be viciously attacked the moment I open the hood.

Then another thought occurs to me - I have absolutely no idea if raccoons will attack humans. Am I really in danger right now of that thing charging me? Is this one of those things where I shouldn't be making eye contact? We really are having a staring contest right now, should I be running instead? I am sure raccoons will protect themselves if provoked, so I don't want to provoke. Luckily, I have some distance to react just in case he does decide to charge me or anything. (I did set the trash down, btw.) Then, he crawls out of the dumpster (hopefully no one is offended by my assumption that it was a male raccoon - it could have been female, whatever) and turns and climbs up the top of the dumpster. That is when I realize that this frickin' thing has to weigh 30 pounds at least. Dude was huge. Then, he just sits down on the top of the dumpster, and turns and just stares at me again. I guess he was just protecting himself, but the act of sitting on top and staring at me was like, "your move, punk." So I grabbed a couple of rocks, thinking that maybe I can throw them in his general direction and scare him off. Seriously - I really just want to throw away the trash, I'm not looking for a trip to the emergency room for a rabies shot or anything.

Then he gets up and walks to the back of the dumpster, jumps to the fence, and jumps down behind the two dumpsters. Well played - I have no idea where he is, and I'll be damned if I am gonna walk up if I can't see him. I walk around to see if he is coming out the other side, then I walk back to where I had been standing - and he is standing there in front of the dumpster, a little bit closer than before, just staring at me! I was like, I'm gonna back up some more now. Then - he left. Finally. But dude - that thing in motion - that was a ginormous raccoon. He slowly made his way across the far sidewalk, and I am thinking, what if someone walks out of their apartment right now and sees this thing? That would make me jump 10 feet off of Beale if I opened the door to walk to my car and saw that thing crossing my path.

But, he is gone now - I can finally complete the simple task of throwing out the trash...when I heard some rattling coming from inside the dumpster! WTF? It was daylight! Why all the raccoons? I throw one of the rocks and hit the dumpster - will the rattle make the new raccoon run off? Apparently not. So I say to hell with it, and walk all the way over to the other dumpsters at our apartment complex, the ones that are a ways away. You know, over by all the birds that hate me and are swarming in mass numbers tonight...

Post script - after I made it back, I decided to go see if the other raccoon ever made an appearance. I picked up a rock , just in case - again, trying to avoid the rabies at this point. But she was there in the parking lot, just as plain as day (this one can be a she). She was not nearly as big as the first dude, but still.

From now on, the simple task of taking out the trash will come with some form of trepidation on my part. Great. Hopefully no nightmares of opening up the trash can and getting my face attacked like the movie Alien or whatever.

Wow - that was a lot of typing for such an insignificant moment in my life!

#7 - My Season Pass List

Just for fun, here are some of the shows on my season pass list on TiVo that you might be surprised that I watch, or ones that you should be watching too. (Yes, I know that I need to rent The Wire, BSG, and Mad Men).

Supernatural - Yes, I love Sam and Dean. Not necessarily a show that everyone would enjoy, but I have it in my top 10 on TiVo. And now you know.
Reaper - Just getting Carrie into this show. I mean, it's not Lost or anything, but it is fun, and the cast is great. Also, the chick on the show is way too hot to be working at Lowe's.
Bones - Seriously, I won't be happy until Booth and Brennan end up together. The cast is great here as well. I say to give it a chance, although they got rid of one of the best cast members last season for no real reason.
Subterranean - MTV2 show that makes me feel like I am somewhat caught up on the indie music scene. Hey - this is where I found Band of Horses, Silversun Pickups, Peter Bjorn and John, and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.
Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles - Yeah, everyone should put this on their season pass list for the fall. Really awesome show, adds a lot to the Terminator fiction. The chicks are hot too.
The Daily Show/Colbert Report - There is no reason why everyone doesn't watch these shows. TDS is still better, but Colbert is crazier.
Gossip Girl - Really one of the best shows that you're not watching. Cullen's got my back here - it isn't a chick show. I think TWOP graded most of the episodes as an A+.
Family Guy/American Dad - Yeah, I still love this stuff. It isn't for everybody.
Top Chef - Seriously, if you enjoy fancy food in the least, you should watch this show. Period. It is the best show out there for foodies like myself.
Saturday Night Live - OK, we still tape this show and watch it drunk. It has about 15 good minutes a month, but it is still fun. If it is funny, it will be on collegehumor.com the next day. If it is a really bad sketch, you can just fast forward. Too many repeats during the season though.
Nova/Frontline - PBS bitches. Frontline is the last bastion of great journalism, and Nova is just fun for the science geek in me. You can cherry pick which ones you want to watch - really, Nova had like a 3 week thing on the history of ice this year. I mean, it was great, but really - ice. One week it can be a so-so history of fireworks, but then the next it can be an enthralling story of people trapped on Mt. Everest, or an incredible telling of the battle to teach evolution in public schools. (Whoops - I guess you Memphis folk couldn't have watched that one if you wanted to.)
30 Days - Still a good show, and we pause it to discuss many times when we watch it. Good stuff if you want more than just mindless entertainment.
Psych - I love this show, but probably not for everyone. Tiffany and Mark are literally the only other people I know who watch this show.
South Park - It disgusts me that you guys don't still watch this show. The quality never dipped.
Survivor - Still awesome, though not always as good as season 1. But sometimes it is even better.
Eli Stone - Again, we love the cast and would recommend the show. Although, the chick he will end up with is super annoying.
Chuck - Please watch this show. Adam Baldwin, bitches.

The sad part about this list is that it isn't even half of our season pass list. Then again, we do have our own shows that we don't watch together - notice I left The Real World, Beauty and the Geek, and Lipstick Jungle off this list - the shows on here are ones that I watch. I am always open to suggestions though.

#6 - Life on Mars

This fall, one of the new TV shows will be Life on Mars, which is a remake of a British TV series. It is about a guy who is a cop and gets hit by a car and wakes up in 1973, and you don't know if it is a dream that he is having while in a coma, if he has really gone back in time, or if he is crazy and has been in 1973 the whole time. British shows have been remade into US shows before, with The Office for instance. This one is unique for me because I actually watched the British version before it was remade. Really, Life on Mars and MI-5 are about the only two British shows that I have ever watched around the time they originally aired. But it makes me feel cool, especially because I absolutely loved the show. However, that is what worries me too.

See, when The Office had its American version, I hadn't seen an episode of the British version (and still haven't!), so I was able to judge the US version on its own merits. I read a lot about how it wasn't as good as the original - Steve Carell was no Ricky Gervais, and the British version had a finite number of episodes to tell their story. I was ready to defend the US version though - I thought it was great, and I loved the cast.

This time, I am worried that I will be one of those people who don't judge the show on its own merits, because I am married to the British version. Really, I can't imagine falling in love with the cast and the story the way I did with the British show - the guy who played the lead character Sam Tyler was awesome, as was the guy who played Gene Hunt. The chemistry was just good stuff, everyone got along. The female lead was cute but not drop dead gorgeous or anything. Plus, for some reason on the BBC, they can just say "shit" whenever they want and not get bleeped. There was even nudity!

With the American version, I am already wary of the guy playing the lead. The guy who plays Hunt seems like a good casting decision, but the female lead looks to be really hot, which for the first time ever seems like a negative to me. Like, that was part of her appeal was that she looked normal, not "Hollywood". Then, Christopher Moltisanti was just added to the cast. Now, that almost seems to work for the character he is playing, but it is someone I will be familiar with, which just makes me seem apprehensive.

Also, the British version had 16 episodes. Total. It was enough time for the characters to develop their awesome chemistry, but also just enough time to tell the story. The last 2 episodes wrapped up the series perfectly. It was all a neat package, and I worry that the US version will lack that neatness. I am trying to go into it without any preconceived notions. But it will be difficult - like hearing a remake of a song, you always compare it to the original.

Then again, the advantage of being on American TV will be that there will be potentially SO many episodes. When Life on Mars ended, I really wanted more. I wanted to see more of DCI Tyler and the "Guv" and Annie and the whole crew. I liked the locations - 1973 just seemed so real in Manchester. I hope the US version will pull it off - we'll see. It is going on the TiVo season pass list for sure. Just don't be surprised if I am that annoying guy who says that the original was much better.

PS - I know I should watch the British Office, as well as Torchwood and Dr. Who and all. Maybe down the line.