Gardens and Eagle-Eye Cherry

This time last year I was writing about baseball, and I’m tempted to do it again, but I won’t. (But if you’d like to (re)read my opinions on the sport, you can find it here)

Instead this week is going to be all about gardens. It seems appropriate as spring as finally sprung (if you will) and the record-breaking snow is melting here in Anchorage. Granted, planting won’t really start until May, but spring is nevertheless upon us.

Every year I think about starting a container garden on my porch and every year I don’t do it. But this year is going to be different! I’m really going to do it! (So I say now.)

I think there is something really calming about gardens and gardening. The smells, getting dirty, and the methodical work create a sort of calming trifecta for me. (Minus the fairly constant worry of getting stung by a bee.) Not to mention, after days or months of hard work you have something to show for it. Toiling away in the spring brings things like strawberries and fresh herbs and beautiful flowers later in the summer. Well worth it, if you ask me.


I think there is a serious lack of respect for music of the 90’s. Yes, Nirvana, blah blah blah, but there is a whole host of artists that are completely overlooked. Music from the 90’s isn’t old enough to be cool again, and generally doesn’t offend anyone, so it’s played in places like dentist offices and elevators. It’s hard to validate a song that you hear while getting a filling, but I’m up to the challenge. This week’s hot jam is Save Tonight by Eagle-Eye Cherry. Save Tonight was the only real hit for Eagle-Eye Cherry (who is just one guy, not a band, and was actually named Eagle-Eye Cherry by his parents) and I love a one hit wonder. The best part of Save Tonight is one line: There's a log on the fire/And it burns like me for you. Pure genius. It’s such a cheesy line, but so amazing. Of course, I would roll my eyes if a gentleman ever said that to me, but I would appreciate the reference.

This video is super weird, but would you expect anything less from a man legally named Eagle-Eye? It very easily could have been done in a slow jam-style, all bear skin rugs and roaring fires, but it's not even close. In fact, if there was an opposite to slow jam-style this might be it.

Teen Movies and Tupac

Most of the time Netflix thinks I'm a 60 year old gay man with small children. It suggests things like Columbo and Transamerican Love Story and Dora the Explorer. Yes, I realize the suggestions are based on what I watch, so maybe I'm a 60 year old gay man with small children on the inside, but that is totally beside the point.

Anyway, Netflix must have had a flash of genius the other day because I literally gasped with joy when I saw that Drive Me Crazy starring Melissa Joan Hart and Adrian Grenier was available for streaming (finally!)

This 1999 gem stars Melissa Joan Hart as a high school socialite and Adrian Grenier as her slacker-with-rebel-tendencies neighbor. They come up with a scam to get their respective love interests back, makeover ensues, and you can probably guess what happens in the end. (Spoiler: K-I-S-S-I-N-G)

I have a soft spot for teen comedies from the late 90's. They remind me of sleepovers and eating Warheads and giggling in somebody's basement. There is nothing quite like a middle school girls' slumber party.

This is actually from my going away party in 8th grade, not a sleepover, but it's what most of our sleepovers looked like too.

Teen movies have very few story lines: makeovers, modern-day Shakespeare remakes, prom, graduation. That about covers it. You know what to expect from teen movies, there are never plot twists.

You think, "Oh, I wonder if those two are going to get together?!" Are they the main characters? Is one a nerd and one in the popular crowd? Is the world trying to keep them apart? Then yes, yes they are. Cue the credits.

Teen movies are the cotton candy of the film world. Soft, airy, and fabulous. Sure, binges on teen movies would probably make you barf but a little never hurt anyone.

Keeping with the 90's theme, this week's hot jam is Changes by Tupac. Released posthumously in 1998, Changes is a Monster Ballad of the hip hop world; a little more radio-friendly, a little more accepted by the masses (and the Catholic church.), and a little less police violence. It address some serious issues and probably would have been used in some sort of Save the World celebrity fundraiser if it was released before Tupac was killed. Normally, I wouldn't consider any Save the World songs hot jams, but this one is by Tupac, and let's be honest, everything he did was a hot jam. Pour one out and turn it up.