I’ve always had an internal rule of thumb, there’s nothing Christmas before Thanksgiving. No movies, music, decorations, any of it. It just seems like we’re short-changing Thanksgiving. Besides, of all of the major American holidays and with the exception of the Fourth of July, what could be a more American holiday. Think about it: you get for family together, eat lots of food, and generally have a good time. Aside for the cooking, it’s a pretty low stress holiday.
Now, secretly, I think that I might actually dread the coming of Christmas every year. It’s not the religious aspects of it; actually, that’s a pretty solid highlight of the time. Instead, I think it has more to do with the pressure and changes that occur during December. Now, I don’t want anyone to think that this is a Christmas is too commercial post (although it is). It’s something else instead.
During December… Well, actually November, people start to act crazy. There is magically a must have toy of the season. They start moving around furniture, hanging decorations, and using all together too much electricity. In fact, people just go nuts.
You would imagine that it this time of year would bring out the humanity in people, but instead, just look at folks acting a fool at Black Friday sales. (On a side note, the sheer fact that they have an official name for the day after Thanksgiving sales makes me sad.) It’s so bad that a terrible, terrible movie was made about it.
So, secretly, this all stresses me out. I think that I would rather take the whole Christmas thing one day at a time. Spending time with family and friends in a no pressure situation. Giving loved ones gifts that they want/need, and generally having a good time. I’m going to try my best this year to dodge all of the scary stuff, but then again, I think I make that promise every year…
So, I just caught a look at this and had to pass it on. I’ll admit that I am both a fan of the Muppets and Queen, and it’s definitely two great tastes that taste great together. Hope you enjoy it!
My alternate title was: Why does no one blog on the weekends?
I know it seems weird to wax philosophic about blogs, blogging, or anything along that line, but I’ve had to spend some time thinking about this recently. (That and apparently I have a lot of free time.) I’ve been in the process of talking about the blog that I’ll help writing for my job, and I’ve had several conversations about the whole blogging process:
How often? 3 time a week.
What about? Broad variety of topics related to the department.
How long? Between 200 – 300 words.
What days will you post? …
Yep, the webmaster and I had a pretty in-depth conversation about what days to post on. We went back and forth, and decided upon Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Why those days? Plain and simple, because people don’t read blogs on the weekends.
I’ve been writing this blog off and on for the a little over a year, and I’ve discovered that the post out on the weekend don’t get read as quickly or as often as those posted on Monday through Thursday. Now, I completely understand that writing/reading blogs can be tough, and I try to keep up with the ones that are really important to me.
I do have a theory on all of this, and I believe most people would agree with me. Blogs don’t great read/written on the weekends (Friday – Sunday) because of the work factor. That’s right, people are reading and writing at (or after) work. On the weekends, we don’t need the distraction. Let’s face it, there’s plenty to do that in our down time. Trust me, I have a full TiVo and a stack of movies to prove it, and who knows, I might even try to get outside every once and a while.
However, that’s my theory, dear reader, but I would love to know your thoughts/theories. (That, and I’m over 300 words.) Leave a comment below.
So, let me start by saying, this album has been out for a couple of weeks now, and this may not be anything new. However, dear reader, I do want to share my thoughts on it.
For those of you not familiar with The Avett Brothers, they are the space where indie rock meets blue grass. I imagine that if you’ve never heard them before, it would be easy to say that those two sounds would never go together. The group is from Concord, North Carolina, and that’s some of my old stomping ground. If you’re familiar with the area, it easy to see how rock and blue grass could mash-up.
I and Love and You, it the groups most recent studio release. Many of the songs on the album, are wonderfully complex with harmonies and instrumentation. There’s something appealing about three-part harmony and banjos (and no, that’s not sarcasm). There are lots of meaningful and personal lyrics, which (with the exception of January Wedding), pull you into the moment and provide wonderful insight. Now, depending on the song, some have more of the more of a blue grass feel than others.
All in all, the Avett Brothers have made a wonderfully complete that can be listened to from start to finish. I would recommend checking it out, I promise that you won’t be let down. In a time when it feels like there’s not a lot of create music, I and Love and You feels different. Not to mention a little bit of producing by Rick Rubins.
I have to confess that I and Love and You isn’t the Avett Brother’s first album. As a matter of fact, it’s far from their first, but it’s the first that I started listening to them. So, needless to say, there are several other albums you can check out.
That’s right, I said it, I hate it. It just doesn’t seem right, and its way overhyped. But, I’m getting ahead of myself…
So, the other day, I was reading an entrainment magazine. Now, before you tell me, “what more should I expect from them?”, I would like to say that there are a lot of great reviews in there. Now, I don’t mind an article on what movies are going to come out for a specific movie season. Actually, I consider it a little like the pre-season for football.
What got under my skin was the fact that they were already talking about who was the most likely to win which Oscar. I can’t believe that there are movies that haven’t even come out, that haven’t been measured and weighed by the general populus, that are considered front-runners. Call me crazy, but I do think that public opinion does carry some weight in this conversation.
Let tell you a little about a movie from a couple of years ago. It starred a major Hollywood star, that had just come off of a string of massive hits. Not only was there one star, but I line up of many other Hollywood A-listers and legends in the genre of the film. The writing included timely and classic pop culture references, and there we plenty of plot twist. It had a huge budget, special effects, and was set to be a massive hit. That movie: The Adventure of Pluto Nash.
Yep, when that movie hit the main stream, it stunk so bad that I think it brought other movies down in its wake. Oh, and if you haven’t heard, this is often listed in the top 10 worst movies of all time. So, let’s see what the public thinks, we might just be surprised. So until then, let’s keep the Oscar prognosticating to a minimum.
Hello, dear reader, remember me? That’s right, I promise I haven’t completely forgotten about the blogosphere. Instead, I’ve been doing some moonlighting on a couple of other blogs. It’s on some topics that I don’t normally talk about on this one, so it’s been a nice change-up. However, I will always have a deep ceded love for pop culture, and so, I always think about this blog. (Don’t let the calendar fool you, I really do think about it.)
A lot of stuff has gone on out there in the world, and I’m working on gathering my thoughts. Surprisingly, that’s taking me longer than I would have imagined. There are some great albums I want to write-up reviews, talk about some movies, and all of that good random stuff. I promise that I haven’t forgotten about the requests that I got earlier. I’m going to follow through with them.
On a strange twist, I’m about to start a “professional” blog. No, I don’t mean that I’m going to be paid for it, but I suppose in a round about way I am. Instead, I’m getting to start a blog for my department at work. A couple of months back, we were looking at what we could do to extend beyond the walls of the hospital, and the idea hit me for the blog.
I work for a department that is really a joy to be a part of, and it seems like an easy thing to be able to share all of that with the blogosphere. The only thing that is odd is that I won’t be using good ol WordPress. (The following is not a commercial, I promise.) I’ve gotten so accustom to this format, that it is strange to think about what I will be working with. However, I am thankful because I now have around 20 other writers (i.e. staff in my department) that will have to… I mean can, write posts. I’ll let you know when it launches.
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