Sentimental Valium

Another milestone boys and girls: we have surpassed 400 visitors to the site. The past 2 days have been real busy here--thanks!! I'll try and keep stuff more updated so there is a reason to keep coming back!

So a British researcher has 'discovered' the perfect marriage equation. Evidently, a 32 year-old man marrying a 27 year-old woman stands the best chance in marriage. Dennis Lindley, a professor at London's University College (which sounds a bit a redundant and repeitive doesn't it? ummm.. i mean just redundant??) I'll let him explain his opinion:

"...it [his formula] will save marriages and reduce the divorce rate. If men and women know the optimum age at which to stop playing the field and start settling down, then they won't marry too soon or wait too long and be doomed to a loveless life."

He has a whole approach to arriving at the numbers, including a logarithmic formula (SICK!) and a few other propositions... All things that interest me about as much as most of the Home and Garden channel. (Which I can only watch about 48 seconds worth most of the time.) But what DOES interest me is this: I HAVEN'T MISSED IT!!

As I slowly creep up on the thirty threshold, I have to admit that I think about the whole marriage thing all the time. But thanks to some mathematician turned love counselor, I can rest assured because I have yet to hit the optimum age for getting hitched!

New featured artist for you. Recently my friend a2 (also known as "The Symbol formerly known as Aaron) told me about a fellow musician I kind of know who got plugged into a Chicago band. Turns out, the band, The Redwalls is signed to Capitol Records' Chicago based label "Undertow Records". Their record is REALLY fun and is a great homage to The Beatles, but not a rip-off. They have taken that influence and made their own sound. This is a record, playing as I type, that just makes me smile. This is definitely a record to blast during the summer as the windows are open in your car (or with the windows open as you are cleaning your house--for those of you who do anything like that....)
So check out their website (links section) and you can check out two mp3s in their "Sounds" section. Support a few young guys and then go out and buy the record! (And see them when they are in town!)

posted by -tr0y- @ 5:41 PM

Remember the big deal about Playboy's issue featuring "The Women of Starbucks"? (I still haven't seen that issue..... ummm... not that I have seen other issues of that magazine...I mean.....) Well the "big" news now is the newest move around corporate America: "The Women of Walmart."

Now, the last time I visited a Walmart, I remember seeing an amazing representation of the geriatric community.... I was greeted, close to 70 times, by a fleet of elderly men and women. A slow-moving and soft-speaking fleet, but their number was impressive regardless. And now Playboy is featuring "The Women of Walmart?" Is that a good idea? Does anyone else worry about catching a glimpse of that issue? And if I am being naive (quite possible, since I have never personally looked at an issue.... or touched one.... or known anyone who has seen or touched one.... or even seen a magazine at all... I don't even know how to read!!) and the women feature are NOT going to be a snapshot of a Ft. Lauderdale wading pool just before the second buffet of the day, then I need to be shopping at Walmart more. Forget Target or Meijer! I need to seek out one of these Walmarts and avoid the "Express Lanes" and take EVERYthing I buy back the very same day I buy them initially!

Hap-Hap-Happy Birthday to Mia Hamm (32). Easily the most recognizable female athlete in the US for about 28 seconds, you were the hero of a handful of young soccer-playing girls. (And a few guys I knew in college who had posters...) Rob Lowe turns 4o today--still as sprite as ever--along with Gary "Lt. Dan" Sinise (49) and Kurt "I haven't had any work since Carter was president" Russell (55).

Musicians we celebrate being born: Caroline Corr, the drummer of the Corrs, EASILY the hottest female drummer I have ever seen, John Sebastian, the mastermind behind The Lovin' Spoonful, and Paul Kanter, member of a band I hope never dies: JEFFERSON STARSHIP!!

Lastly, if he were alive today, Shemp Howard would be celebrating his 109th birthday. I remember being soo sad when I watched a Stooges episode and he was on instead of Curly. This is my "tribute" to all those times and feelings I had. I'm sorry Shemp--wherever you are!

posted by -tr0y- @ 9:28 AM

Recently finished a book that ended too quickly.
Chuck Klosterman's "Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs" had me laughing and thinking about society and pop culture. I connected with the spirit of the book and his age I suppose (as I am on the threshold of my 30s.....), but it seems that virtually everyone I have shared portions of the book with has had the same reaction. It's impossible to try and summarize the book--it really does traverse all over the pop culture subject landscape. But, as a teaser, I thought I would give a few quotes from his chapter on reality tv shows (primarily, "The Real World") and then add a few other spots in future posts. If you are looking for a really fun and SMART read, this book is a good one. You will laugh, you will cry, it will become a part of you. (Well... maybe not cry......)

"...when people tell you that you should be on a reality program, they're basically saying you're crazy enough to amuse total strangers."

"Perhaps more than anything else...the ultimate accomplishment of 'The Real World': It has validated the merits of having a one-dimensional personality. In fact, it has made that kind of persona desirable, because other one-dimensional personalities can more easily understand you."

"Basically, the only reward [for appearing on a reality show] is that people will (a) point at you in public, and (b) ask you about absolutely nothing else until the day you die, when your participation in a cable television program becomes the lead item in your obituary. You will be the kind of person who suddenly gets recognized at places like Burger King, but you will still be the kind of person who eats at places like Burger King."

"I fear that 'The Real World's' unipersonal approach will become so central to American life that I'll need a singular persona just to make conversation with whatever media-saturated robot I end up marrying. Being interesting has been replaced by being identifiable. I guess my only hope is to find myself an Alabama Julie, whose wonderfully one-dimensional naivete will be impressed by the unpretentious way I vomit out the window."

posted by -tr0y- @ 12:45 PM