tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90023189251257164972024-03-05T15:43:43.595-08:00a moonage daydreamAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11235537242677289786noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9002318925125716497.post-28368387201554975562016-04-21T15:41:00.002-07:002016-04-21T15:41:56.656-07:00Electric word “Life”, it means forever and that’s a mighty long time. <div class="MsoNormal">
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<span style="color: purple; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Today I heard that my favorite musician of all time, Prince,
died at the age of 57. I’ve never felt
the way I feel right now after the loss of someone I didn’t know. And I don’t know why. Maybe it’s because Prince, more than any
other figure, represents my home state of Minnesota. Maybe it’s because he is truly larger than
life in every way and to associate death with someone like that is difficult to
comprehend. Maybe it is nothing more
than the fact that his music is so amazing that I’ve grown a one of a kind emotional
connection to it. Maybe it is something
entirely different. I don’t know. But, I’m already struggling to envision a
world without Prince, and it’s been about 3 hours. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: purple; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">It would be impossible for me to pinpoint the first time I
heard Prince. I was born in 1981. Controversy came out that year, 1999 a year
later, and in 1984 Purple Rain was released.
To say that Prince was everywhere at that time would be an understatement. So from the ages of about 3 to 7 when a kid
is learning what music is, Prince was an ever present figure on the radio and MTV. So, As far as I’m concerned, Prince was just
always there. There was no first time.</span></div>
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<span style="color: purple; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">By the time I was old enough to start making my own
decisions about what kind of music I like, probably about 9 or 10 years old, the
decade of Prince was just wrapping up. Prince
was headed into a different direction with “Diamonds and Pearls” and the ‘Artist
formally known as’ era (an era I, admittedly, never liked much). Meanwhile, my musical tastes were headed down
the road of Pearl Jam and My Bloody Valentine.
Over the course of the next decade or so my journey through the world of
music was immeasurable. But through that time all those same Prince radio hits
of the 80’s like “1999”, “Purple Rain”, and “When Doves Cry” were still the
radio hits of the 90’s. Looking back on it, it’s amazing how much I still heard
those decade old hits on the radio. And
on every station. The Classic Rock station,
The Pop station, the adult contemporary station. All the stations. Prince
from the 80’s was still everywhere. More
than a decade later. Everywhere. And the thing about it was, I loved it. I’d hear “1999” or “Let’s Go Crazy” come on in
the car, and I’d crank that shit up every time.
But, not just me. Everyone. The thing about those songs was, liking them
was not a personal preference. It was
Universal. I simply can’t imagine
someone telling me they don’t care for “1999”.
It’s too good. All those songs
are just too good.</span></div>
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<span style="color: purple; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">It wasn’t until around the end of high school that I began
to dig into the music of Prince on more than just the surface level. Around this time I had purchased three albums
– <i>1999, Purple Rain, </i>and<i> Sign O’ the Times. </i>It was here where I changed from someone
that likes Prince songs when I hear them on the radio to a genuine Prince
fan. I would listen to those albums,
specifically <i>Sign O’ the Times, </i>repeatedly. There was a long stretch where every time I
got in the car, one of those albums was in.
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<span style="color: purple; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">While owning these albums, I began to notice a reoccurring theme
in the credits. “Prince – All Vocals and
instruments, except where noted.” And those
notations were few and far between. Prince
wrote everything. Prince played
everything. All the instruments. All the time.
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<span style="color: purple; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Prince’s multi-instrumental talent, combined with his over
the top eccentricities combined to create one of the longest running and hilarious
inside jokes of my life. One Sunday morning
my friend John and I were coming back from visiting a high school buddy for the
weekend who was going to school at Gustavus. One of us, in conversation askes the other, “What
do you think Prince is doing right now?” The answer, “I don’t know? Probably in his pajamas, eating breakfast, and
sprinting from instrument to instrument” provoked an hour straight of hilarious
gut-busting laughter between the two of us for the rest of the ride home. Now, I get that while reading this, this may
not seem like the funniest thing that you’ve ever heard, and the hilarity may
only be shared by he and I, but you have to admit that imagining the sight of a
tiny five-foot-two-inch man, dressed in eccentric jammies, holding a plate of
pancakes, and sprinting around his house to the point of exhaustion playing
thirty-seven different instruments is amusing to say the least. To this day, some ten to fifteen years later,
It would be difficult for one of us to ask the other, “What do you think Prince
is doing right now?” without cracking up.
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<span style="color: purple; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Prince was a lot more than his music, though. Prince had a style. Prince had a message. Prince was cool. Prince was cooler than anyone before him, and
Prince will be cooler than anyone that comes after him. If there is one thing that you can look back
on his life and learn, it’s to be yourself.
You’ll never be as cool trying to be someone one else as you will be by
being yourself. He did not dress, play,
act, or think like anyone before him. He
did not want to be the next Jimi Hendrix, he did not want to be the next John
Lennon. Prince wanted to be the next
Prince. You did not get the impression
that Prince was looking around the world trying to figure what people thought
was cool or hip, and then trying to emulate that. Prince never wanted or needed to copy anyone
else. He already knew what cool
was. It was the rest of the world that
didn’t know. He just had to show
us. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: purple; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Throughout Prince’s music, he also had a reoccurring message. One that today’s untimely passing only
accentuates. <b>Life is short, don’t forget to live it.</b> Whether it be in the overtly sexual lyrics of
songs like “Little Red Corvette”, or the apocalyptic “1999”, or every word in “Let’s
go Crazy”. Do what you want to do, be
with whoever you want to be with, live the life that you want to live and don’t
let anyone else tell you how to live it.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfbs-pYxNnXI6BCHUkcfsgI6ez94Vhh1DnyFprzW_u59gyBDs6dER5Wj0tD8uYBEgqXzvVum0G5Mf4Wg4_HN-cbMZS6onNgw83LR0dhT-x4Wj14fyWaWRJSolYgjLEnrrzxrRRAoheV_Y/s1600/Prince3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfbs-pYxNnXI6BCHUkcfsgI6ez94Vhh1DnyFprzW_u59gyBDs6dER5Wj0tD8uYBEgqXzvVum0G5Mf4Wg4_HN-cbMZS6onNgw83LR0dhT-x4Wj14fyWaWRJSolYgjLEnrrzxrRRAoheV_Y/s320/Prince3.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="color: purple; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I suppose, I never really got around to talking about my
favorite music of Prince’s, being everything off of the <i>Controversy</i> and <i>Dirty Mind </i>albums.
But, I guess we don’t have time to talk about everything here. If you wanna talk about those sometime, there’s
always a seat for you on our porch and a beer(s) for you in our fridge. Stereo is always on, come over any time you
want. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: purple; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">So, with that said, I’ll just leave you with the words of
the almighty Prince and be on my way. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: purple; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">We're all excited<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="color: purple; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">But we don't know why<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="color: purple; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Maybe it's 'cause<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="color: purple; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">We're all gonna die<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="color: purple; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">And when we do <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="color: purple; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">What's it all for?<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="color: purple; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">You better live now<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="color: purple;">Before the grim reaper come knocking on your door</span><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11235537242677289786noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9002318925125716497.post-16429383201428183222012-09-15T14:01:00.000-07:002012-09-15T14:01:37.773-07:00The pain of war cannot exceed the woe of aftermath<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Sup? Recently I found
myself, as I often find myself, In the middle of a Led Zeppelin binge. This
often happens to me because if I make a genius playlist that is based on a
classic rock song or a hard rock song a Zeppelin song will inevitably come
up. Once that happens, I usually decide
I no longer want to listen to this playlist and I just put on all
Zeppelin. They’re just better than
everyone else and their music stands out too much in any playlist, for me
anyways. Don’t worry, though, this
isn’t going to be a long article polishing Zeppelin’s knobs. I’m sure there are plenty of those out
there. I just have a question to ask
about whether they are cool or not. <o:p></o:p></div>
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So, anyways, to the point…
I am sitting there listening to Battle of Evermore. For some reason I
never really listen to the words of this song, I just try to sing along with
the chick parts. No idea why, don’t ask.
But this time I was listening to the words and noticed the line “The pain
of war cannot exceed the woe of aftermath” and began thinking about how awesome
of a line that is. About 10 minutes
later I am in my car still thinking about this line. Stairway to heaven had already passed and I
was on to Misty Mountain Hop. Then I
realized it; I have just been duped again by another one of their damned Lord
of the Rings references. I went back and
listened to Battle of Evermore again and realized that the entire damn song is
one big Lord of the Rings reference.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Chad%20Mil/Documents/Blog/5%20-%209-13%20-%20Zeppelin.docx#_edn1" name="_ednref1" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[i]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> Is this cool or is this the dorkiest thing
ever?? A lot of people think that Led Zeppelin is this dark spiritual
band. Many claim that Jimmy Page is some
sort of sadist. That he sold his soul to
the devil for his ability to play the guitar and blah, blah, blah. But then you start to realize that all their
dark lyrical references are not references to the devil or anything
spiritual. They are references to Mordor,
Sauron, the ringwraiths and the damned Misty Mountain. Now, I am not saying
it’s cool to be a Satanist or anything, but it does give the band a certain
supernatural feel, an inaccessibleness. That
is just one of many things the keeps them from having any real peers or
contemporaries. There’s no band that is
like Led Zeppelin, no band that you compare to Zeppelin. There is just Zeppelin. That’s not saying that they are better than
everyone else (though I think they are), but it does mean that they are
different than everyone else. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Battle of Evermore: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHJH0ETi8D4&feature=related">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHJH0ETi8D4&feature=related</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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So, the question is this; is Zeppelin really cool because
they can draw countless references from a fictional fantasy book and make it
sound cool and badass? Or are they super
dorky because they are strangely infatuated with a fictional fantasy book? I mean, would you think less of Tool’s
badassness if you found out down the road that the majority of their songs were
references to Lord Voldemort from Harry Potter? What if Black Sabboth’s music
was just about Game of Thrones? Or Nine Inch Nails were just constantly
referring to stuff they read in 50 Shades of Grey? What if Slipknot was just thrashing
riffs to the words of R.L. Stine’s Goosebumbs?<o:p></o:p></div>
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As I was thinking about this for the rest of the day, I
continued to listen to Zeppelin. Really paying attention to whether this is
just a few songs that reference LOTR or if this is truly an epidemic that has
infiltrated their entire catalog. Again,
I’m probably missing some, but I hear references to LOTR in: Ramble On (most
prevalent here), Over the Hills and Far Away, Battle of Evermore, Misty
Mountain Hop, and possibly Stairway to Heaven (though, indirect). Additionally, there are references to other
mythological figures (Norse, Greek, Celtic, and Roman) in the following
songs: Immigrant Song, Achilles Last
Stand, The Song Remains the Same, No Quarter, and Kashmir. <o:p></o:p></div>
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I guess as I delve further and further into this, I am
starting to come to the realization that when they wrote words they needed to
write about something huge and epic to go along with the music they were
writing. Their goal very clearly was to
create a sound that was larger than life and it just wouldn’t have fit so well
if they were singing about calling me maybe, backed by the music of Achilles
Last Stand. Led Zeppelin just had this
way of being completely over-dramatic and unrealistic to the point of being
foolish and still somehow making it outrageously cool. I don’t think there is a better way to
describe this phenomenon than to simply show a picture of Jimmy Page’s crazy
dragon jumpsuit. <o:p></o:p></div>
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He likes it so much; he also got one in white. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Zeppelin is kind of defined as Robert Plant and Jimmy Page;
the two musicians that were grandiose enough to play with John Bonham. Some bands
don’t need to show off and show their talent subtlety. This is not one of those bands. <o:p></o:p><br />
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I’m sure that if you took the time to read this far, you’d
probably like to hear some Zeppelin now. Here’s one where all four of them rock way
hard.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<object width="320" height="266" class="BLOGGER-youtube-video" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" data-thumbnail-src="http://0.gvt0.com/vi/yO_EgW1zxWQ/0.jpg"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/yO_EgW1zxWQ&fs=1&source=uds" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><embed width="320" height="266" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/yO_EgW1zxWQ&fs=1&source=uds" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></div>
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I couldn’t really decide, so here’s another. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Have a good one! <o:p></o:p></div>
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@chadmiller16</div>
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I’m pretty sure the Battle of Evermore is all about the last large battle in
return of the king. The one where
Aragorn comes to the rescue with the aid of all those ghost pirates. (god, that
sounds dorky). I gather this because of
the continuous references to “Ringwraiths ride in black” (Ringwraiths are the
black demons that ride on dragons (dorky, again)) as this was the only battle
in which they were present. There are a
few other references, but I don’t need to get into them. My current level of knowledge of this is
incriminating enough as it is. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11235537242677289786noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9002318925125716497.post-81353454567030884312012-08-17T12:20:00.000-07:002012-08-17T12:20:51.715-07:00Dear Olympics, Thanks. <br />
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I think, at this point, it’s pretty well known that I am a
fan of the Olympics. Duh. There is a distinct possibility that I've spent more
time in the past two weeks watching the Olympics than I will spend this
fall/winter watching either football or basketball and those sports last for 6+
months rather than the 2 weeks the Olympics lasts. I am acutely aware of how
incredibly dorky this is. I, frankly, don’t really care, though. I loved it.
I loved every minute of it. 4 years from now, I’ll love every minute of
it again. By the way, I am just putting it together right now that both the
2014 world cup and the 2016 Olympics are going to be held in Brazil. I sure hope that country has their shit
together. Well, without further ado, on to my final Olympic thoughts.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Because of the fact that every country in the world
participates in the Olympics, there is most certainly a probability that there
were be a slew of hilarious names. Guess
what? This one is no different. There
are enough hilarious names here to make a 12 year old school boy (or myself)
crack up for days on end. How these
stack up against former great athletic names such as God Shammgod, Dick
Trickle, and former English soccer player Dean Windass I’m not sure, but here
are some good ones. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Dong Dong –
China – Trampoline (HA! Double Dong!)<o:p></o:p></div>
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Karen
Cockburn – Canada – Trampoline (Dirty)<o:p></o:p></div>
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Destinee
Hooker – USA – Volleyball (At one point in the Olympics Bob Costas said “The
6’4” Hooker is taking on the whole team!” (I just made that up, but it
certainly could have happened.))<o:p></o:p></div>
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The XXX
Olympics – (yep, the 30<sup>th</sup> Olympiad could easily be mistaken for the
porno Olympics)<o:p></o:p></div>
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Fanny Babou
– France – Swimming (even more funny when you place the accent on the first
syllable of her last name.)<o:p></o:p></div>
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Kelsey
Titmarsh – Canada – Rhythmic Gymnastics (hehehe)<o:p></o:p></div>
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Endurance
Abinuwa – Nigeria – Athletics (yep, she’s a runner)<o:p></o:p></div>
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Yoshi
Takeshita – Japan – Volleyball (poop joke.
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Hillarious names aside, there was also some great athletic
events. Everyone knows that it’s awesome to watch the US hoops squad ball on
everybody. It’s sweet to watch Phelps and
the big swimming races. The gymnastics
(especially the women) are rad. Usain Bolt and all the other sprints are great.
But what fascinates me is that almost every single event can be extremely
exciting to watch. Even the things you
would never expect to hold your attention such as horse jumping, archery, water
polo, and handball can be absolutely gripping if you pay enough attention. Below are a few of the sports that were
really came in way above my expectations on the awesomeness scale. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>The Decathlon</b> – It’s really hard to put into words just how
amazing these athletes are. They compete in 10 different events (100 meter
dash, long jump, shot put, high jump, 400 meter, 110 meter hurdles, discus,
pole vault, javelin, and 1500 meters). They do all of these events in 2 days
and compete in each event at an extremely high level. What’s amazing here is
that many of the events are nothing like each other. Obviously, being good at
running the 1500 meter (about a mile) race and throwing the shot put takes a
completely different type of athlete. These guys do all of them and they do it
well. This competition probably would have been a bit more exciting if Ashton
Eaton hadn’t beat the snot out everybody and pretty much put it out of reach
going into day 2, but, whatever. USA! <o:p></o:p></div>
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I also find it quite interesting that there is the decathlon,
which is 10 sports that anyone could play to test the best physical
athlete. And then there is the modern pentathlon,
which is the decathlon for rich people. Pretty much just 5 sports that only rich
Brittan and New Englanders play (pistol shooting, show jumping (yes, horses),
freestyle swimming, fencing, and a cross country run.) Needless to say, this
event is not quite as exciting.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Rhythmic Gymnastics</b> – So, I am watching the 2<sup>nd</sup>
and final day of the decathlon and after a couple of discuss throws they cut
over to rhythmic gymnastics. (if you are
unaware, this is the sport where female gymnasts do ballet stuff supported by a
giant ribbon, a ball, something that looks like nun-chucks, or a hula hoop). There I am, pissed that I’m not watching more
decathletes throw discuss, and all the sudden it happened; Some Russian chick
walks forward throws a ball (the type of ball that could only be described as
the same ball you find in a giant bin at Wallgreens and dribble around the
store for the next 10 minutes because you are either a 9 year-old kid or you’re
trying to piss of your girlfriend so she stops buying shit.) anyways.. where was I? oh yeah, She throws this ball as
high as she possibly can in the air, does 3 flips, and catches the ball (hands
free) in the small of her back, and then somehow does another flip without the
ball moving from the small of her back, then contorts her body somehow so the
ball rolls from her back up and over her head and back into her hands. At this
point you either don’t believe me or you don’t fully comprehend the series of
events I just described. But, I’m
serious. YouTube that shit. A) I am amazed.
B) I now know where all Cirque du Soliel performers come from. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>The 4 x 400 relay</b> – It is said that the 400 meters is the
toughest race a runner can do. It is a
full out sprint all the way around the track.
You can see that the 400 just kills runners. After the race, every time, there are
multiple runners laying on the ground on their backs trying to catch their
wind. So how does this get more exciting? Add a baton and have 4 runners run
this grueling race. The best part of it is the rules, though. They start on the staggered starting blocks
like the regular 400. The first runner must stay in his lane for the whole lap.
But, once the baton is passed, there are no lane rules anymore. So once the
baton is passed the first time it is absolute chaos. 8 runners all trying to
receive a baton and all trying to merge to the inside lane all at the same
time. As you can imagine, people
fall. And if you’ve ever seen a track
fall, it is not pretty.<o:p></o:p></div>
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There was another sport that caught my attention, and that
was the race walk. Not to say that this
was exciting to watch, because it wasn’t, but the endurance it takes for this
event is quite impressive. If there is
one sport in the Olympics that is the easiest to make fun of it is some strange
event where everyone is walking around like some combination of a turbo-charged
duck and a grandma at the mall. Apperently, though, this sport is extremely
taxing on the body and takes a serious endurance athlete. See here as some
Russian racewalker passes out mid-race and (allegedly) craps himself. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfPDrBpcYDI">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfPDrBpcYDI</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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For those of you that have managed to stick with me thus
far, here is your reward. Dutch Heptathelete
Nadine Broersen, Paraguayan Javelin thrower Laryn Franco, and Czech volley ball
player Marketa Slukova.<o:p></o:p></div>
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You’re welcome. <o:p></o:p></div>
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So there it was. The
2012 London Olympics came and went. It was the best of times, it was the worst
of times.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Chad%20Mil/Documents/Blog/4%20-%20Olympic%20Recap.docx#_edn1" name="_ednref1" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[i]</span></span></span></a>
It was something that I thoroughly enjoyed.
More than I’ve ever enjoyed them
before. But, the only thing that was
different between this year and years past was that I paid more attention. I have found that the more that you immerse
yourself in the Olympics, the better they are. I love that every single event
has its own intrinsic value and yet, they are each a part of the games as a
whole. You would never catch me watching a rowing event or weightlifting event
on TV in some random occasion, but when those weightlifters and rowers are
competing equally to have made a difference in their country’s glory, I’ll tune
in all day long.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Speaking of a country’s glory.. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Final Medal Count: USA – 104, China – 88. Final Gold count: USA – 46, China – 38.<o:p></o:p></div>
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USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA!<o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p> -@Chadmiller16</o:p></div>
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<a href="file:///C:/Users/Chad%20Mil/Documents/Blog/4%20-%20Olympic%20Recap.docx#_ednref1" name="_edn1" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[i]</span></span></span></a> See
what I did there? Quoted an English writer in the recap of a London
event.. wordplay is fun, even when
obvious. Thanks, Chuck. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11235537242677289786noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9002318925125716497.post-24316523031853391472012-08-02T15:43:00.000-07:002012-10-05T06:18:34.858-07:00Olympics and The Bat Man<br />
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Hey there.. You seen the new Batman, yet? I have. And I've gotta tell you it was pretty sweet. Was it as good as <i>The Dark Knight</i>? Of course not, but how could it be? <i>The Dark Knight </i>was basically as good as super hero/villain movies get. But, when looked at in the context of a trilogy or one long story, this third and final chapter serves as an exceptional ending. I think ultimately, in time, The Dark Knight trilogy will be looked at in the same light as the original <i>Star Wars </i>trilogy which is currently thought of as damn near perfect. But even looking at those movies, was <i>Return of the Jedi </i>as good as <i>The Empire Strikes Back</i>? Nope. Not even close. But no one thinks of those movies in an individual context. Those movies, retrospectively, are looked as <i>Star Wars</i> and are lumped together as a whole. I think that, in time, this Batman series will be viewed the same way. Also, outside of the fact that the mask muffled Bane’s voice and made him sound like Sean Connery drowning in a pool with a megaphone, Bane was a pretty bad ass villain. Anyways, if you feel differently about the Batman, let me know in the comments. Otherwise, let’s get to this Olympic business.<br />
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<b>Bane: “Let the games Begin!”<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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I don’t know what it is I like so much about the Olympics, but they sure are awesome. Maybe it is the patriotism. I love the fact that Olympians are out there competing to bring home a medal for the pride of their country. It’s awesome. Did you know that the rings on the Olympic flag represent each of the five inhabited continents? And that the colors of the rings (blue, yellow, black, green, red) were chosen because every competing nation has at least one of those colors in their national flag? Pretty cool stuff, if you ask me. But.. maybe it is the individual excellence, the epitome of mastering your craft. Maybe it is the fact that in one night I can watch swimming, volleyball, badminton, ping pong, and archery and in each of these events, someone is going to win a medal that they train every single day just for the chance to compete for. I love the fact that I can watch these obscure sports and, for today, I care about them like they are the Super Bowl. I didn’t give a damn about women’s balance beam two weeks ago and two weeks from now, I am, again, not going to give a damn. But today, I know that little wobble after 6 back flips on a 4-inch beam is going cost someone a chance at something they have worked their entire lives to achieve. It’s Epic. It’s Dramatic. It is an event. Like no other, It is an event. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Roland Daggett: “You're pure evil!” <o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<b>Bane: “I'm necessary evil.”<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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It seems that for the past three or four Olympics there has been a bit of a lull in enthusiasm for the games (at least, in America). People get fired up for an event or two, but as a whole it doesn’t seem like people have had that unbridled patriotism that you are looking for. I think there is a pretty good reason for this, though. Since the fall of the USSR in 1991, the US has had no major rival in the Olympics. Technically, we lost the medal count in 1992 to something called the Unified Team (Former USSR), but no one really cared. They weren’t even a country and all that mattered in the Barcelona Olympics was how awesome the Dream Team was. After 1992, America went on a completely dominant ass-kicking run and everyone just felt like the Olympics were a forgone conclusion (though I think you’d be surprised to look back at the medal count at the 2000 games in Sydney.)<o:p></o:p></div>
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Conversely, let’s look at the 80’s. In 1980 the Olympics were held in Moscow. An Olympics that many western countries (including the USA) boycotted because we were opposed to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan (world has changed a lot since then, eh?). Without some of the world powers there, the Soviets displayed unbelievable dominance, hauling in 195 medals. East Germany was 2<sup>nd</sup> with 126. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Next up was 1984. Following the previous Olympics, where is the most dramatic place the Olympics could be held? Yep, you got it, right here in the US. But, the US boycotted the ’80 games in Moscow so, intern, the USSR boycotted the ’84 games in Los Angeles. Get a load of this; The USSR announced its intention not to participate on May 8, 1984, citing security concerns and "<i>chauvinistic sentiments and an anti-Soviet hysteria being whipped up in the United States.</i>" Seriously, read that again. Soviets hate Americans, Americans hate the Soviets. Shit was getting absolutely crazy. Without the Soviet presence, USA absolutely cleaned up, winning 174 medals to 2<sup>nd</sup> place Romania’s 53. American patriotism was absolutely through the roof and the USA-USSR rivalry was out of control. Guess when production started on Rocky IV? <o:p></o:p></div>
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[This story becomes even more fascinating when you go back and look at the medal counts over the previous two decades, but we don’t need to get into all that… I’m not writing a book here.] <o:p></o:p></div>
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So the stage was now set for the 1988 games in Seoul, South Korea. Everyone knew which two countries were going 1-2 in these games, just not which order. The running narrative throughout these Olympics starts off, incredibly enough, as live doves are released at the opening ceremony to symbolize world peace, only to then be burned alive by the lighting of the Olympic cauldron (you can’t make this shit up!). Amid accusations if institutionalized steroid use, the USSR dominated gymnastics, weightlifting, wrestling and an Arvydas Sabonis/ Šarūnas Marčiulionis led hoops team took the gold as the USSR won the medal count with 132 medals. Fellow communists, East Germany took 2<sup>nd</sup> with 102 medals and the US came in a disappointing 3<sup>rd</sup> with 94. The USSR was certainly not the only country that was marred by steroid allegations in that Olympics, though, as both Carl Lewis and Florence Griffith-Joyner of USA had very similar rumors surrounding them. Also, the Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson, who broke the world record in the 100m, tested positive for steroid use. He claimed it was all a mistake and that he was sabotaged, but he tested positive again in 1993. <o:p></o:p></div>
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In 1991 The USSR dissolved and with it went America’s animosity with the eastern European state both politically and athletically. The US was left without a major rival in the Olympics until… <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Bane: “I will show you where I have made my home while preparing to bring justice. Then I will break you.”<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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The 2008 Olympics came up and it seemed that all of the sudden a new age both economically and athletically had been ushered in overnight. It all started with a bang. In the most amazing Olympic stadium ever built came upon us the most amazing opening ceremony ever displayed. China, meet World. World, this is China. The Chinese didn’t just do it with sight and spectacle; they did it with their performance as well. Falling just short of America’s 110 total medals, China had 100 of their own including 15 more gold medals than any other country. It’s amazing how these types of events happen to coincide with the location the Olympics take place, isn’t it? <o:p></o:p></div>
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Welcome, America’s new rivals.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The Chinese are dastardly. The Chinese are deceptive. The Chinese are fighters. The Chinese are winners. The Chinese are Cheaters. From their scheming badminton team to their doping swimmers, this is a country that will stop at nothing to get a medal. It is wonderful. It’s brilliant. It is exactly what the Olympics needs. For there to be a hero (Michael Phelps) there must be a villain (Ye Shiwen). Ye Shiwen won her first gold of the Olympics by swimming her closing leg of the 400 IM in 58.23 seconds. How fast is that, you ask? Ask Ryan Lochte and he’ll tell you this, “<i>It was faster than my closing leg. AND I’M A DUDE!, THE DUDE THAT WON THE GOLD MEDAL!!</i>” So how does Shiwen react after blazing through the pool like some freaking robot-shark? She gets out of the pool and stares down the world like Ivan Drago did after he killed Apollo Creed in the ring. It was amazing. That chick is out for blood. Glorious, golden blood. <o:p></o:p></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVcFh7uQESp0fwtin0p_LWn3AZNSF9Yyyxsqr8Tb4lTBkyn19ag5UN716davPX6gDyYKC3RGXNRSWuKzgck7tys4XPaAm96N0DdFy_0oe-uEFJeIwueAUf9IGXeFDvngk3JTir8XEf5FU/s1600/Ye.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVcFh7uQESp0fwtin0p_LWn3AZNSF9Yyyxsqr8Tb4lTBkyn19ag5UN716davPX6gDyYKC3RGXNRSWuKzgck7tys4XPaAm96N0DdFy_0oe-uEFJeIwueAUf9IGXeFDvngk3JTir8XEf5FU/s320/Ye.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ivan Drago</td></tr>
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While we are on the topic of the Chinese’s underhanded tactics, let’s talk about their badminton situation. Badminton is set up where a set of round-robin matches played which determines their seeding for the knock out round. The Chinese have both of the best two parings in the world. Their number 1 pairing advanced to the top of the knockout round, easily. But their number two pairing had a slip up and lost to the Danes. Coming down to the number 2 pairing’s final match against Indonesia, their possible outcomes stood as follows: Win and they are matched up against the other Chinese team at the top of the bracket. Lose and they go to the bottom of the bracket and wouldn’t face the other Chinese team until the gold medal game. So, what did they do? They threw their match in epic fashion. They didn’t even attempt to make it look like they were trying. Just hitting serve after serve into the net and watching every birdie that comes their way fall to the ground. These are professional badminton players (the 2<sup>nd</sup> best pairing in the world, technically), how hard is it for them to make it look like they are trying? Just hit a few shots long. Drill some long spikes into the net. Whatever! But, alas, the Chinese don’t care about sportsmanship or gamesmanship or Olympic integrity. They care about winning. They care about medals. And that is what makes them awesome. No one wants a friendly rival. We want a villain, and the closer they are to Darth Vader on the evil-villain scale, the better. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Bane: “We both know that I now have to kill you. You'll just have to imagine the fire!”<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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So here we are, it’s 2012 and as I glance at the current medal count it is US 37, China 34, both with 18 gold. It’s a battle, and a battle that has only just begun. How can you not get fired up about this?!?! <o:p></o:p></div>
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Note: As I look back at this post, I notice this: Was this unabashedly American-centric? <i>Yep, sure was</i>. Did I unfairly villainize our chief rivals? <i>Probably did</i>. Do I care? <i>Nope, sure don’t.</i> <o:p></o:p></div>
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The International Olympic Committee states that the Olympics are about individual and team excellence supported by your home country, not about international bragging rights. Well, IOC, I happen to disagree.<o:p></o:p></div>
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‘merica. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>USA! USA! USA!<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;">Editor’s note: As usual, all facts were gathered from Wikipedia which, as we all know, is always correct. <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<h4>
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><b>@Chadmiller16</b></span></h4>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11235537242677289786noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9002318925125716497.post-35159045851804442592012-07-17T18:49:00.002-07:002012-07-17T18:49:56.322-07:005 underrated songs from my generation.. and I miss MTV<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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It’s interesting to refer to a particular time as my
generation. It is interesting because no
one has an exact frame of exactly when that is except for me. Obviously,
everyone that is about my age, give or take a couple of years, considers the
same period of time our generation, give or take a couple of years. But what exactly are we talking about when we
talk about our generation. I like to
think that it is the period of time when we really became cognizant of our
surroundings. But, at the same time, I
think that is different when you are talking about different for different
people and referring to different things. For example, when I think of
football, I would consider the 1990 Raiders-Bills AFC championship game that
the Bills won and subsequently went on to lose the Super Bowl as the beginning
of my generation. I pick this particular
game because I can vividly remember this game and everything thereafter, but
everything before this game is pretty foggy. I was 9 years and 3 months old
when this game took place. Baseball, I took to a bit earlier. I pretty vividly
remember the 1989 season that culminated in a devastating earthquake hitting
the San Francisco bay just prior to a scheduled World Series game between San
Francisco and Oakland. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Trying to classify my generation in terms of music is a bit
tougher, though. I mean, I vividly
remember rocking out to MC Hammer and Boyz II Men as a kid, but everyone did
that. I remember being in the car or on
a boat listening to The Boss when I was like 6 years old. I don’t think that during those times I
really had a good grasp on what I liked and what I didn’t like. I just sort of
went with the flow and jammed out to whatever everyone else around me liked. It wasn’t until the Pearl Jam album “Ten”
came out that I can really remember liking something because I liked it and not
just because everyone else did. That album was released in August of 1991, but <i>Jeremy</i> wasn’t released as a single (and
video) until the following summer, 1992.
Don’t get me wrong here, though.
I’m not suggesting that everyone in the world didn’t like <i>Jeremy, Black, </i>and <i>Alive</i>, they did. Everyone
did. As a matter of fact, that is
probably the sole reason why had to bug my mom go out and get this hard rock
record by some band called “Pearl Jam.” But, what happened with this record was
something that I don’t really remember happening before. I began to explore the
record. I found songs on this record that I actually liked because I listened
to them. Songs like <i>Release</i> and <i>Oceans</i> and of
course <i>Porch</i>, which opens with the
phase “What the fuck is this world coming to”, a phrase (and a particular word)
that is sure to catch the attention of any eleven-year old kid. So, I guess
when I refer to my generation, in terms of music, it would be everything from
the summer of 1992 and on.</div>
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Speaking of kids being drawn to things that are a little too
grown up for them, this song was on the soundtrack to the 1995 movie <i>Kids, </i>A movie about teen-age sex, drugs
and violence which we all saw for the simple reason that it came attached to a
notorious NC-17 rating. At a time in life when one of the most fun things to do
was sleep over at a buddies house, drink mountain dew until your eyes cross,
and watch MTV until the wee morning hours, this song got the very occasional
airplay. I think that was one of the main reasons that I liked this song so
much when it came out. It was a time
that was very different from now. This
song would play on MTV or I’d hear it on REV105 and it would leave me clamoring
for more. Today if that happens, you just hop on the computer and tapitty-tap,
clickity-click you can listen to it until you are so sick of it you never want
to hear it again. But, in 1995 you only
had a couple of options. You could head
to the record store and buy the CD with what is left of your extremely limited
funds or you could just wait until it comes on MTV again. Well, I never believed the band Folk Implosion
had much more to offer than this song, so they just simply weren’t worth
spending my last $10 on their CD. So, I heard this song infrequently until,
soon enough, MTV and the radio stopped spinning it and it slipped from my mind
completely. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Strangely enough, this song made a triumphant return, and
one that put it in my music collection for good. I am watching AMC one night
and they have this bit going called “long live cool”. It was basically just a bunch of Steve
McQueen and Robert Redford movies playing for a weekend. Reason enough for me
to tune in, I suppose. So I’m watching
and at each commercial break there is a promo that shows clips of the movies
and Steve McQueen standing by cars and looking awesome showing you what movies
are coming up. Guess what song is used
as the promo music? <o:p></o:p></div>
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This song may have been a bit more popular than the last at
the time it was making a brief stint on MTV, but, nonetheless, faded into
oblivion every bit as quickly and completely. Sucked Out, interestingly, never
really faded away for me. I really have
no idea why, because its not that great or anything, but I just always kept it
in the back of my mind that I would like to pick up this album some time. I never got around to it, but it does now
have the distinction of being one of the first songs I ever spent like a half
hour downloading once I learned about napster. <o:p></o:p></div>
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yeah, yeah, yeah..
no need to judge me. While this
song may not be a cool alternative rock song and would probably be considered
something more along the lines of adult contemporary, you gotta admit that it
is a pretty good adult contemporary song.
The song itself is really quite catchy and Harriet Wheeler has a pretty
awesome voice. Also, I totally had a big
crush on her when I was like 13 years old.
So, there’s that. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Coming off of sixteen stone, an album that pretty much
everyone I know either owned or, at least, knew very well, it was really
interesting to see how they would follow it up.
In all honesty, I never really got into sixteen stone all that
much. Glycerin and comedown were cool,
machinehead rocked and there was other decent stuff, but I never owned the
record and just never really felt that burning need for it. But, I can vividly remember after that album
everyone thinking Bush was the next big thing and the release of razorblade
suitcase was hotly anticipated. This
song was the first single off that album and was followed up by greedy fly and the
insanely disturbing video attached to it.
After these two awesome songs came out, I liked Bush way more than I
ever had before and they had some really awesome momentum. Frustratingly, there was no other single off
the album and the rest of the album really wasn’t all that good. As a matter of fact, I can’t name another
song off the album and I own it. Anyways,
it didn’t really matter. Around the same
time some dorky kid from Chicago let us all know that the world is a vampire
and completely owned this genre for the next year. Also, Oasis.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Speaking of Oasis, have you ever noticed that in the video
for “Don’t Look Back In Anger” Noel Gallagher plays lead guitar AND sings while
Liam just stands around looking like a big douche? I had never noticed that
until just this moment. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Meandering a little bit further down this old memory road, I
just came a cross another one hit wonder.
This time from that period in time when MTV was really starting to be
taken over by shows, but for a brief period VH1 carried the video playing torch
for a while. I never really did get this song, but it never really
mattered. It’s still a jam. This song
was also one of those interesting songs that finds its way onto more than a
couple different radio stations. -- I remember
this summer quite well. It was the
summer that I was 15 years old and I had just gotten my first ever job at the
local Taco Johns. Probably the most fun
job I’ve had to this day. I worked there with a couple of buddies and outside
of Taco Tuesday (when I’d call in sick) and a couple busy rushes we basically
had zero customers. All we did was create our own tacos, eat potato ole’s and
jam the radio. Sadly, that Taco J’s no longer exists. I assume it was because they had, like I had
mentioned, zero customers. Funny, I blew
that summer’s savings buying a sweet new bicycle. The following summer I got my first car and
that bike I spent a summer working at Taco John’s for laid dormant and
useless. Welcome to the work world. <o:p></o:p></div>
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anyways... whether you remember any of those or not, I hope at least one of them is a jam for you. </div>
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Until next time..
Peace Out!<o:p></o:p></div>
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-@chadmiller16</div>
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<br /></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11235537242677289786noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9002318925125716497.post-10873834843684538282012-07-13T16:30:00.001-07:002012-07-13T16:30:23.496-07:00Let me introduce myself to.. uhhh... yourselves<h2>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">So…</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">here we are, writing/reading a blog. As </span><span style="background-color: white;">I write this,
I am already finding myself wondering two things; 1) why do I always over-use
commas and already doing it (not to mention the attack of the parenthesis,
which is sure to come soon) and 2) why is it called a blog? Well…
the first part, I really have no answer for. I guess I’ve never really taken the time to
learn how to write conversationally without the use of such crutches. I am sure some teacher taught me at some
point but I was probably too busy trying not to drool on my desk during what I
believed to be naptime. The second
question, though, can be answered by the good old dependable Wikipedia, which
we all know has the answer to everything and is never wrong. </span><a href="file:///C:/Users/Chad%20Mil/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/Temporary%20Internet%20Files/Content.Outlook/SQZ7T0CL/Blog%20Intro.docx#_edn1" name="_ednref1" style="background-color: white;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">[i]</span></span></span></a><span style="background-color: white;">
Blog is short for Web Log. I get the
feeling that this is common knowledge to most people, but it is news to
me. Upon learning this, I can’t really
decide how I feel about the word. It’s
kind of a clever way to shorten and already short phase and ranks higher on the
creativity scale than most professional athlete’s nicknames, but at the same
time, blog is kind of a lame word and reminds me more of a shart than a short
essay. What’s a “</span><a href="http://lmgtfy.com/?q=shart" style="background-color: white;" target="_blank">shart</a><span style="background-color: white;">”, you ask?</span><br />
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So what exactly is going on here? I, apparently, am just blogging about my blog
which, up to this moment, seems to be about blogs. Kinda sounds to me like the worst episode of <i>Seinfield</i> ever. But, I suppose this serves the purpose of an
introduction as well as anything else. Hey,
I’m Chad. How’s it going? <o:p></o:p></div>
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Now that we’ve gotten our introductions out of the way, I
think it’s a good time to lay out the general guidelines of where we might be
headed with this this. To find a bit of direction here, I think I need to
answer one question: <o:p></o:p></div>
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Chad, why do you care to have a blog? <o:p></o:p></div>
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Well.. this might be
an indictment on myself and my conversational abilities, but of all the
conversations that I have in my daily life, the percentage that revolve around
the weather or my job is increasing at a very alarming rate. I suppose this is my attempt to flip the
script on that a bit and talk about things that are more interesting to
me. Even if it is just a one sided conversation
with me talking to a faceless internet. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Now that we k<i>no</i>w
what not to expect, let’s try to dive in to what we should expect. I would say that my favorite topics of
conversation in no particular order are sports, movies, music, TV, food, the
internet, social media, myself and ranking stuff (I assume said rankings will
be related to the previous categories).
I could imagine that there will be some reoccurring posts such as me
reviewing TV shows, movies or me just dinking around on YouTube and writing
about the cool things that I find (it really is an endless vault of cool shit). I occasionally write for the fantasy baseball
website <a href="http://www.fantasybaseballcafe.com/">www.fantasybaseballcafe.com</a>,
but that can get a little too dorky for the general audience, so I’ll probably
keep that stuff away from here. I’ll
drop a link when I write there if you want to read any of that. I’ll try to keep the sports stuff limited to
slightly more accessible topics. Long-and-short of it, though, is that I’m
writing for my own enjoyment, but hope that you enjoy some of the same things I
do. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Well, that’s it for now.
Quick and painless intro and I even managed to get a poop joke in
there.. tune in for much more of the same (more or less).. <o:p></o:p></div>
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For your enjoyment, here’s a video of cookie monster singing
call me, maybe. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="file:///C:/Users/Chad%20Mil/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/Temporary%20Internet%20Files/Content.Outlook/SQZ7T0CL/Blog%20Intro.docx#_ednref1" name="_edn1" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">[i]</span></span></span></a> If
at some point you are ever looking for a reference for anything I write, it
probably came from Wikipedia. Deal with
it. <o:p></o:p></div>
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</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11235537242677289786noreply@blogger.com0