Pop Culture Blog: Music, Movie and Humor

Leveraging low-hanging synergies outside the vertical fruit box since 1999.

Friday’s Quizzlet: Quick And Definitely Dirty.


in Monday's Quotelet

Appetizer: Describe your week in one word.
Paradoxical.

Soup: Tell about a funny practical joke that you’ve played on someone.
At Vermont Academy, the boys dorm was located right beside the main classroom building. Fuller Hall also had an auditorium and – most importantly – a bell tower. The tower could be accessed by climbing a spiral staircase which was located off a locked prop room in the auditorium. We brow-beat one of the band geeks who had a key to this room until they ‘lent’ it to my friend Mark. After morning-meeting, Mark unlocked the prop room and took a rope up into the tower. He tied the rope to the bell pull, dropped it out of the steeple, and we all began a long school day worrying that our little prank-in-progress would be discovered. But nobody noticed the dangling rope, and after lights-out we dropped a similar rope out of our third floor dorm window. Then Mark snuck outside (an expellable offence) while the rest of us played lookout on various floors. Mark darted across the lawn between the two buildings and eventually tied the two ends of rope together – providing us with full bell-ringing access from the comfort of our own room. We waited until about 3 a.m. and started ringing the bejeezus out of the damn thing – waking the entire campus. Eventually we noticed the maniacal headmaster sprinting towards the scene of the crime. We simply dropped the rope out of the window and went back to our respective rooms. As a variety of teachers started bursting through doors in an attempt to catch the culprits, 5 naughty schoolboys giggled furiously into their pillows. Jesus that last sentence sounds filthy.

Salad: – Name someone you had a crush on when you were a kid.
A Mississauga girl named Michelle. The crush teetered precariously on ‘morbid obsession’.

Main Course: If you were a member of royalty, what would your title be?
Duke, Duke, Duke, Duke of Earl. Or maybe Little Lord Fauntelroy.

Dessert: What colors are the clothes you are wearing today?
Dark blue jeans, cobalt blue jumper, pink thong. What are you wearing, dear readers? And will it be wrong to print out your descriptions so I can masturbate to them later?

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Chris And The Big Sixy-Deuce.


in Movies

Happy Birthday to the crown jewel of American cinema. Walken is 62 years young today! In celebration, have a quick peek at this list of facts and trivia from his fascinating life. Among my favorites:

  • Always tries to work a jig (dance) into his movies.
  • Jerry Lewis influenced Walken to make show business his career.
  • Was George Lucas‘s second choice for the role of Han Solo in Star Wars
  • Worked briefly as a lion tamer in a circus at age 15.
  • Was on Natalie Wood‘s yacht the night she drowned.
  • Only Oscar-winning actor to portray a 007 villain, in A View to a Kill.
  • Along with Alec Baldwin, he has a standing invitation to host “Saturday Night Live” (1975) every year.
  • In his 35 years in film, he has acted in well over 90 films. He rarely turns down a part, under the belief that making movies (whether they turn out good or bad) is always a rewarding experience.
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The Video Cassettes Of Our Lives.


in Reminiscent

I have a couple of old friends in town who are staying at my apartment this week. They’re more like family, actually – Terry is my father’s friend whom I’ve known since I was 5, and Josh is his 13 year old son. I lived with them during my time in England and we all try to get together at least once a year. When they asked if they could come visit me, I didn’t hesitate for a second. ‘No,’ I said. Not really.

Those of you who have been to my apartment can imagine how tight the quarters have become. I borrowed a futon mattress from a friend and put it on my bedroom floor. So what happens is, the door is pushed open halfway (the mattress blocks it) Terry jumps in to the right and lands on my bed. Then Josh jumps in to the left and lands on the mattress. There’s no floor space to spare, and I’m cutoff from extra-curricular computer activities for the week (which may be a good thing). But they both claim they’re extremely comfortable, and we’ve been having a hoot. Couch city ain’t so bad, either. The gurgle of the fish tank is better than a sleeping pill.

When I got home from work yesterday, Terry had a great bottle of wine, stuffed peppers, bread and smoked proscuitto waiting for me. Terry is a bit of a gourmet, and he obviously loves the North End like you wouldn’t believe. We had a great chat about life, the universe and everything while Josh hacked away at my guitar downstairs. Think musical prodigy. Terry was the landlord of the pub I worked at during my 14 months in England, so his social group became mine. I met many multitudes of interesting characters, and I think we must have discussed them all. Then we got to talking about one guy in particular, who died recently, and I remembered all my damn videotapes.

I probably have 4 hours of video from those days – special events at the pub (New Years Eve, Burns Night, Weddings, Wakes) my trip to Stonehenge, my leaving party, etc. And Terry literally could not believe his eyes. We watched the whole damn thing, and it got pretty emotional at times because a lot of people on those tapes are dead, relationships have since failed, people have fallen out of touch, etc. People used to kid me during the years when I constantly had my camera out. But I always knew that someday they’d prove useful. Someday they’d make people very happy. And that day was yesterday.

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Loving Queens Of The Stone Age Right Now.


in Musical

Yes, it’s true – I’m officially a QOTSA convert. Monster and I went to the show at the Roxy last night, and I thoroughly dug the Christ out of it. Them boys can rock.

The new album is their best yet, and the loss of founding member Nick Olivieri hasn’t been the disaster that everyone dreaded. If anything, they’re better than ever and continue to evolve with each new record. The concert was amazing – I didn’t think the acoustics at the Roxy would be anything to write home about, but everything sounded great. Normally I associate the Roxy with house music and bridge and tunnel steakheads, but it’s a nice little venue. Josh Homme has cultivated a really unique guitar sound that really stands out from the pack, and their use of brass and piano completes the audio steroid package. Big fan.

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