Why, Rudolph! What Magnetic Skin You Have!

Every year, people like to complain about how early Christmas stuff gets put up and/or sold. Unfortunately, stores like The Christmas Tree Shop exist, and they sell holiday crap every day of the year. My personal peeve is the Christmas Countdown movie specials all over TV. The movies themselves aren't the problem, it's the advertising that goes into it. For the past few years, ABC Family has had a countdown to the start of their Christmas season, which itself is a countdown to Christmas. What we have here is a countdown to a countdown.

Mmm... nothing like beating a dead horse!

I'm in no way a Scrooge. I enjoy holiday music, I live off of holiday goodies, and I love holiday movies (are you really gonna sit there and pretend that you aren't a fan of Love Actually? Because you need to stop reading my blog if you are). I just think that the commercializing of the holiday is a bit out of control, and some people need to take a chill pill.

This brings me to the heart of today's blog post: Cars with reindeer antlers and rudolph noses. It was (maybe) cute the first time I saw it... five years ago. As I've said before, I already assume everyone else on the road is going to, wittingly or not, attempt to kill me while driving. Now, I see that the idiot next to me has ANTLERS on his car? It's a huge fail on so many levels.

You no longer get any courtesy on the road. You need to get into my lane? Feel free to find a spot behind me. You're trying to yell at me from your car because you think I did something stupid? Clearly you haven't looked in a mirror. You're sitting in the parking lot with your turn signal on, waiting for my parking space? I think I need to stay here and rock out to the next song that comes on the radio. (Woooo! Yes! I love... Michael Bolton? DAMMIT. *changes station* Ah, Ke$ha... that's better!)
There are a number of holiday "traditions" that I could do without. Fruit cake is one of them. Reindeer antlers on cars is another.

Looking For An Ego Boost In All The Wrong Places

I recently (read: three days ago) received Karaoke Revolution: Glee as a gift. I’ve always been a fan of video games that incorporate singing (like Rock Band), but I’ve never owned one myself.  So, naturally, I did what any excited twenty-something would do… I waited for my family to leave for New York and started trying it out when I had the house to myself. For whatever reason, I can perform on stage without a problem, but singing in front of a handful of people is an issue. Go figure.

Now, I’ve been listening to the music from Glee for quite a while… I was a little over-zealous when the first two CDs came out, and bought them both on the days they were released, and both then became staples in my car CD player. On top of that, I knew most of those songs from hearing the originals on the radio (yes, any random readers I get who were born after 1990… songs on Glee were real songs first!). Because of both these facts, I figured the game should be a piece of cake. I turned it on to a random song, which just so happened to be the biggest, most downplayed song the show ever did, “And I’m Telling You I’m Not Going.”

Yes, I have my diva moments. Moving on.

Here’s how I thought I was doing:

In actuality, this is what happened:

Luckily I kept my composure better than this girl, and finished the song. The way this karaoke deal works is that there are the notes you sing, and those notes are broken up into phrases. To do well, you need to get a certain number of notes correct per phrase. You get scores on accuracy (percentage of correct notes) and phrases (how many phrases you “completed”). While I had hit 85% of the notes, I had only completed 30 of the 69 (tee hee) phrases. Both of these, in my very humble and unbiased opinion, were just not true. So I decided to try an experiment.

I sang the entire song on “ooo.” I thought of that at one point in the song, when I was holding a particularly long “me” that the game said wasn’t even near the correct pitch. I changed to an “ooo” while holding the same note (which, yes, means I had to "meow" while singing), and I was magically correct!

The result of my experiment? 96% accuracy, 65/69 (... tee hee) phrases.

My conclusion? Ghosts would do very well with this game. Also, I’m too much talent for Karaoke Revolution: Glee to handle. And, really, isn’t that what the game, like the hokey pokey, is what it’s all about?

Covers: The Best and The Worst, At the SAME TIME!!

YouTube is awesome for so, so many reasons. Aside from all the goofy videos, you can listen to all the songs you normally hear on the radio, and other songs by those artists. This is one that I've been listening to recently:



Grace Potter and the Nocturnals is a personal favorite. (Vermont pride!) I highly recommend you check them out... they're on the rise!

Obviously I'm not just writing to plug one of my favorite bands. My absolute favorite part of YouTube is the fact that anyone can upload their own covers of great songs, such as this one, pretty much turning YouTube into the Promised Land of Judgement for someone with strong opinions about music, like myself. Here are two extreme examples:

This video is an example of a great cover. The girl who posted it learned the song and has the skills to warrant posting a video. Videos like this are appreciated because they show that there are plenty of talented individuals in the world who could probably blow the likes of Miley Cyrus and Nickelback out of the water.

This video is the exact opposite. The girl doesn't know half the lyrics and she has a... lovely (and unexpected) key change near the end (around 1:50). Seriously, I've never opened my eyes so widely in horror while listening to a YouTube performance as I did while hearing her attempt to squeak in this rendition. I'll give her a B for effort, though, because she's clearly into it, but not enough to make me want to listen ever ever ever again.

If it's on Facebook, it MUST be true!

Judging Rant: Facebook "Activism"

Let's be honest, Facebook is the worst. If it didn't serve as a great catching up/procrastination tool, I would get rid of my account. Still, I'm on there and get to witness things like last week's Child Abuse Awareness campaign, where people put up pictures of their favorite cartoon from when they were kids in order to raise awareness of child abuse. This raises multiple questions in my mind:

1. To whom are you trying to raise awareness? What exactly is the message? That you yourself are aware that child abuse exists?

2. What do you hope to accomplish by raising said awareness? Suppose that this campaign reached every person with a Facebook account. Would the creator say "Yaaaay! Everyone knows that child abuse exists!" and then call it a day?

3. Why did I not see a single Rugrats character?

I saw the term "Slacktivism" today on a blog I subscribe to, and there really isn't a better way to describe what this is. It would be like some old guy having a heart attack in the mall, and instead of helping him, everyone pulls out their phones and changes their Facebook profile pictures to their favorite picture of a heart to show solidarity with the dying man. Nowadays, awareness is really the last thing that these larger issues need. Do you actually want to make a difference? Donate money to a non-profit doing real work in this area, or go and volunteer with a local group. GET OFF FACEBOOK AND DO SOMETHING REAL.

A Silent "Hello"

A Moment in Judgement

It's difficult coming up with blanket topics to make judgements on as often as I want to post on here (thinking makes me tired...), so I thought I'd try a new segment called "A Moment in Judgement." It's nothing elaborate, just a quick story. Hopefully this'll allow me to post more often and not stare at a blank screen with writer's block.

Side Note: I've decided I need to live blog an awards show. Get excited.

The story: I've developed the habit of smiling and nodding at passersby when I'm walking around. It seems like the nice thing to do once you've made eye contact with someone. A quick smile, a nod, maybe a quiet "hey" if I'm feeling generous. Everyone has some mechanism like this for when they pass by strangers. More outgoing people might give a full-out "Good morning, how are you?" only expecting a response about 50% of the time. More introverted individuals might quickly divert their gaze or stare at the ground. That three second window of opportunity for a social exchange can tell you a lot about a person.

A few weeks ago, I was at work, walking down a hall by myself, and I happened across an older man walking in the other direction. When we got close enough, I gave him a smile and a nod. In exhange, I got a smile, followed by him mouthing a full conversation starter to me. I think what was "said" was "Why hello there! How are you?" I really can't categorize this greeting... it's a combination of introvert and extrovert. I decided to just give him an "A" for effort and keep moving.