Game Shows and Best Coast

I spent my formative years in Illinois. And Illinois in the summer is hot. And humid. I mean, seriously hot and humid, which means you do two things during the summer:
1) Go to the water park

No one does water parks like the Midwest. This is an actual picture of my local neighborhood pool.

2) Stay inside in the air conditioning.

On days I wasn't floating around the lazy river at Splash Country, my sister and I were watching game shows. No, watching isn't really a strong enough word. We were practicing for our shot at the game show title. It started at 9:00am with Price is Right. Sue Bee Honey? $2.19, you idiot! During the showcase we would each total up the prizes in our heads then compare to see who was closest. We were good.  Then we moved on to reruns of $10,000 or $25,000 or $100,000 Pyramid (whichever happened to be on). This was were the practice really started. We'd mute the TV then one of us would sit with our back to the TV and the other would give clues. We'd try to beat the people on the show. We usually did.

An egg! Your knuckles! A joke! Skulls of idiots who make terrible guesses!

When we moved to California, we discover that Pat Sayjak was one of the investors for my parents' summer camp. That meant Alissa couldn't go on Wheel of Fortune. Which was really a shame, because she's super good. Like 1-letter-on-the-board good. On the upside, my parents now have an autographed photo of Pat and Vanna in there house. In college I went to a taping of the Price is Right. It was everything I hoped for an more. Bob Barker is hysterical off camera, Barker's Beauties' dresses are just as awesome in person, and the set is just as colorful as you'd expect. Unfortunately, I didn't get to "Come on down!" but that was probably good for CBS because I would have cleaned up. And I didn't really need a dining room set.

This week's hot jam is Boyfriend by Best Coast. If I had a nickel for every time I've said, "That guy should be my boyfriend" (seriously or otherwise) I would be swimming in money like Scrooge McDuck.

I've mostly recently said it in reference to NASA's new golden boy, Bobak Ferdowsi and the boy I see riding a fat tire bike around town and The Lonely Man and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Maybe if I sent them all the video, they would get the hint?

Or this comic from A Softer World?

Love to Hate and Backyard Tire Fire

Usually I avoid writing about things I hate because that would be depressing. But there are a few things I LOVE to hate. I'm sure that says something about my psyche, but I don't care.

 1) Bananas - I hate bananas with the fire of 1,000 suns.  I hate banana flavored candy, banana bread, and bananas in my smoothies. If I was on a deserted island and had the choice to eat sand or bananas, I would pick sand. I haven't always had such a passionate hatred for bananas. They were never my favorite, but I could tolerate them. Then in 6th grade I developed a weird illness and the doctors thought it might be a potassium deficiency. Their prescription: eat bananas. A lot of bananas. I've never been the same. Thanks, pediatricians.

Enjoy this weird video someone made for Demetri Martin's banana joke

2) Twilight series - I'm fully prepared for hate mail on this one, but I'm steadfast in my dislike for this series. In theory, I should love this series. I love a good young adult romance, but even reading an excerpt made me want to claw my own eyes out.  I would have no problem with them if they were well-written, but they are TERRIBLY written. When I worked at the library and (mostly girls) came in to check them out, I always tried to get them to read something else. "Oh sorry, all 17 copies of the Twilight series are checked out. Have you read The Hunger Games?"

3) Internet-Speak - Being the mid-20something I am, I was around when the internet was invented. (Okay, not exactly. Researchers in 1972 blah blah blah ) I remember patiently waiting for this sound to finish so I could hear "You've got mail!" and see what sweet forwards and quizzes I had in my inbox. Sure, at the time I used my fair share of internet-speak, but I avoid it these days. BECAUSE I'M A GROWN UP. I make quick work of deleting facebook friends whose sTaTuS LOoKs LyKe DiS.

Don't say "C U laterz" Because you won't. Because you'll be on my dunzo list. C U neverz.

4) Baseball teams ending in Sox - Duh.

Go Tribe!

This week's hot jam is not something I love to hate, but rather something I love to love. It's How in the Hell Did You Get Back Here by Backyard Tire Fire. I have a soft spot for Backyard Tire Fire being the Illinois boys they are. (Ed and Matt Anderson grew up 30 minutes from me. Not that I knew them, but still). I like to support my fellow Illinoisans (except the White Sox, obviously) so it's about time they made the hot jam of the week. I love that this song sounds like it's being sung through a megaphone and all the random locals in the video. It looks like home.

Southern rock/alt-country is a genre with little room for error, it's really obvious when it's good, but it's also really obvious when it's bad. Luckily, Backyard Tire Fire is good.

Lower 48 Special and Miranda Lambert

So I just figured out that I've been writing for a year and I didn't even know it!

Life's been pretty crazy the past few weeks: baptisms, funerals, air travel, car travel, hotels, new jobs, life decisions, etc etc etc. But life's getting back to normal and I'm getting back to my regular schedule.

I had a bit of an extended spring break thanks to some full Alaska Airlines flights, which was nice because it meant spending more time in sunny, (unseasonably) warm weather with my family.

Including this guy- isn't he the cutest?

It also gave me some time to reflect on things I love about the lower 48.

So, the lower 48 special: (It's a little like .38 Special)

(Full disclosure- It's March. In Alaska. It's really cold and gross, so this is pretty much just an ode to summer.)

1) Thunderstorms - I wrote about these before, but I seriously love them. I got to see a couple while I was in TN/IL, and they were good ones - lots of lightning and thunder. There's just something about the drama and the danger, right?

2) Shorts- Everyone knows shorts are better than pants. I just wish I had more of a chance to wear them. Okay, I didn't actually wear shorts while I was on vacation,  mostly because I'm not really sure where my few pairs are. But in theory, I could have been rocking them like nobody's business. It's never really warm enough for shorts in Alaska, even in the summer. Sure, Alaskans might risk it a few days during the summer, but let's be honest, legs that don't see the sun most of the year, don't look very good in shorts.

This was actually last winter. I was going out to get the mail.

3) Warm Nights- I went out for ice cream one night when I was in Nashville. And we sat outside. And I didn’t need a coat. (I had whiskey and pecan ice cream, and it was amazing) Here in Alaska it’s not warm outside at night, even in the summer. In fact, I haven’t lived somewhere with warm nights in a really long time (California doesn’t have warm nights either). There is something so great about being outside after a long, hot day. It might not have been summer, but that didn’t stop me from getting Summer Nights stuck in my head.

4) Steak ‘n Shake- When my sister asked me what I wanted to do while I was in Nashville, my only answer was, “Go to Steak ‘n Shake”. You can’t get Steak n Shake just anywhere, and they have the best fries ever. (They are even better if you get them with cheese). It’s traditional diner food, but so much better. They make their burgers with ground steak rather than regular ground beef, and while they are delicious I prefer the Chili 4-Way, which isn’t actually on the menu. I guess technically it’s a Chili 3-Way with cheese or a Chili 5-Way without onions, either way it’s spaghetti topped with chili and cheese. It’s a delicious comfort food party in your mouth.

Since I spent nearly two weeks in Nashville, it seemed appropriate to pick a country song, so this week's hot jam is Kerosene by Miranda Lambert. I like Miranda because she's sassy, plays her own guitar, and writes (most) of her own songs. The video for this song is kind of dumb, so I suggest listening while you update or facebook status or tweet about how cool I am. Something like that.

Fireworks and Doobie Brothers

Thank you 10th century China for inventing fireworks, they are amazing. Fireworks turn everyone into a kid. It doesn't matter how old you are, as soon as the fireworks start everyone stares slack jawed up into the night sky.

4th of July 2009 - Jackson, WY

Here in Alaska we have fireworks in the summer, but they are somewhat of a disappointment, it doesn't ever get dark enough to make them look really cool and, for at least the past 2 summers, it's been raining on the 4th of July so they get lost in the clouds anyway. Not that that stops me from watching them.  We also have winter time fireworks, obviously, and according to my reports, (I'm always out of town) they are much cooler. No pun intended. Last winter the city lifted the fireworks ban (for the public) in Anchorage and apparently everyone and their brother went out and got fireworks. They city was lit up like...well, the 4th of July (in places it gets dark enough to be lit up)

Midnight 4th of July  2010 - Seward, AK

There is one instance of fireworks that I particularly remember. It was 4th of July, I was 10ish and my family and I went to watch the fireworks. At that time, they would shoot the fireworks off barges in the river, so we were down on the riverfront somewhere in Aurora. For those of you not lucky enough to have ever been in the Midwest in the middle of summer, there are a lot of thunderstorms. As the storm was rolling in the fireworks were just starting. It was an amazing mix of lightning and pyrotechnics. Everyone knows you shouldn't be out in an open field when there is lightning afoot, but it was so cool looking that nobody left.

The hot jam of the week is Black Water by the Doobie Brothers. I've always had a little bit of a hard time taking the Doobie Brothers seriously. Mostly because they chose to call themselves the Doobie Brothers. In 1970. A little cliche, if you ask me.

There is one reason I love this song: the a capella part at the end. I'm a sucker for a good a capella sing along and this one is great. AND it's good to clap along with. Clapping and a capella sing alongs? Hot jam for sure.

This video is from February 2011 when Doobie Brothers made their Grand Ole Opry debut. Not the best example of the sweet a capella section but it's still pretty great. If you want to listen to the original version, you can hear it here

Small Towns and 3Oh!3

Apologies for the delayed post, summer time is busy around here!

This week's favorite thing was inspired by my recent trip to Seldovia, AK for 4th of July. I love small towns and Seldovia definitely fits the bill. The year-round population is a little over 250 and it's only accessible by boat (although it's not an island, there just aren't any roads that go there.) I had a fabulous time. There are no stoplights, people mostly get around by 4-wheeler and everyone waves at everyone.

Did I mention it's also beautiful?

I think holidays in small towns are particularly amazing. Seldovia's 4th of July celebration included events such as a hula hoop contest (where I took 3rd place), fish toss, pie eating, rubber ducky races, canoe jousting, log rolling, tug of war, and a survival suit relay (which my team won!)

Canoe Jousting

This is a survival suit

Speaking of small town celebrations, my grandparents live in a small town in central IL and it features an amazing summer time festival called Old Settlers. There's carnival rides and games and pie and elephant ears and music and a parade and all sorts of other amazing things. When I was little we always went down to visit for Old Settlers and one of my favorite parts (besides the carnival) was the parade. My family would go claim a good spot along the parade route, watch the whole thing, then as soon as the last candy-tossing float went by, my sister and I would take off through the backyards and meet the beginning of the parade on the next block. Double parade viewing = double candy. Pure genius.

This week's hot jam is I'm Not Your Boyfriend Baby by 3Oh!3. 3Oh!3 manages to combine 3 genres of music into one song and still make it sound amazing. There's a little something for everyone. You like rap? Got it. Emo? That too. Techno? It's in there. Okay, maybe not something for everyone, but at least a lot of people.

This song is probably NSFW, unless your boss is down with some F-bombs.