tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-320984722024-03-12T20:18:39.005-04:00Victor Sells OutA crummy world of plot holes and spelling errors.Victorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08017494724748754400noreply@blogger.comBlogger419125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32098472.post-20609395723335608632018-08-29T23:30:00.000-04:002018-08-29T23:30:04.322-04:00Victor's Ultimate Birthday "Meh"-ga Mix '18I was going to say I really slacked on posting the follow up to my best of Mega Mix this year but looking at the span of time between posts last year I might be slightly ahead of schedule. Bully.<br />
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Perhaps I should have gotten these out sooner since the task of culling out the bottom two tracks per mix should be 33% easier this year. I only received two mixes this time around instead of the usual three. Although I did have to come up with 4 personal songs I disliked to hit the minimum 8 needed to post an 8Track.</div>
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It's an interesting exercise trying to come up with songs you hate. It's easy to recognize a song you hate when it randomly comes on the radio or while streaming, but to sit down and intentionally list out a few is not an effortless process. One normally doesn't think too often about songs they dislike nor are they readily available; you have to do a little mental searching. Coming up with the four additional tracks wasn't a significant struggle or anything but I would have an easier time coming up with 100 tracks I loved versus 100 tracks I hated.</div>
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That's not to say I hated any of the bottom songs I got this year, it's all relative with them. I had to pick two. As for the four personal songs I added to the end, I would say they'd likely be in my 100 most hated tracks list if I ever sat down and thought about it.</div>
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Roll the ugliness!</div>
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<iframe height="400" src="https://8tracks.com/mixes/8829027/player_v3_universal" style="border: 0px none;" width="400"></iframe></div>
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<div class="_8t_embed_p" style="font-size: 11px; line-height: 12px;">
<a href="https://8tracks.com/victorsellsout/victor-s-ultimate-birthday-meh-ga-mix-18?utm_medium=referral&utm_content=mix-page&utm_campaign=embed_button">Victor's Ultimate Birthday "Meh"-ga Mix '18</a> from <a href="http://8tracks.com/victorsellsout?utm_medium=referral&utm_content=mix-page&utm_campaign=embed_button">VictorSellsOut</a> on <a href="https://8tracks.com/?utm_medium=referral&utm_content=mix-page&utm_campaign=embed_button">8tracks Radio</a>.</div>
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Victorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08017494724748754400noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32098472.post-33279526649217213782018-08-05T23:39:00.000-04:002018-08-06T00:08:08.204-04:00Victor's Ultimate Mega Mix '18Things tend to slow down as one gets older including the time it takes from getting mixes on your birthday (mid May) to actually putting together the yearly best of Mega Mix (early August).<br />
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On the plus side though, this isn't even the longest delay in putting out a Mega Mix. Just two years <a href="http://victorsellsout.blogspot.com/2016/08/victors-ultimate-mega-mix-16.html">ago</a> it took me until late August to get my post out. The worst of "Meh"-ga Mix came out in early September! So really I'm doing better than the spry young me of two years ago. Not too shabby.<br />
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This year's list on 8Tracks will literally be 8 tracks. The musical harvest was a little thin this year. I'm blaming it on Brexit, increased US trade tariffs, and of course those darn millennials. Still, while the quantity has lowered the quality still remains high.<br />
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Once again my friends' familiarity with my mix tastes (which I'm sure is influenced in no small part from my years of putting out these critical lists) make it harder and harder to make these cuts. It's something I say pretty much every year, but it is quite true.<br />
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I also just wanted to quickly note that I am a little bit surprised that 8Tracks is still around. When I saw all the restrictions and limitations they put on the site last year, it seemed to signal a MoviePass-esque death spiral into bankruptcy and oblivion. I'm glad that it (and I) are still here in 2018.<br />
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Let's pump up the jams!<br />
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<iframe height="400" src="https://8tracks.com/mixes/8829016/player_v3_universal" style="border: 0px none;" width="400"></iframe></div>
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<div class="_8t_embed_p" style="font-size: 11px; line-height: 12px;">
<a href="https://8tracks.com/victorsellsout/victor-s-ultimate-mega-mix-18?utm_medium=referral&utm_content=mix-page&utm_campaign=embed_button">Victor's Ultimate Mega Mix '18</a> from <a href="http://8tracks.com/victorsellsout?utm_medium=referral&utm_content=mix-page&utm_campaign=embed_button">VictorSellsOut</a> on <a href="https://8tracks.com/?utm_medium=referral&utm_content=mix-page&utm_campaign=embed_button">8tracks Radio</a>.</div>
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Victorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08017494724748754400noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32098472.post-41257132405729976582017-07-11T22:25:00.001-04:002017-07-11T22:25:29.748-04:00Victor's Ultimate Birthday "Meh"-ga Mix '17You probably thought I forgot about posting the follow up "worst of" mix tracks. Well, the jokes on you, I was merely procrastinating on posting the follow up!<br />
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I've obviously gotten real lazy when it comes to this blog but perhaps a part of the reason for my procrastination on this post was that these tracks weren't all that lousy and subconsciously I was feeling bad for calling them out.<br />
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I have to admit there aren't any true stinkers on here. My friends have been getting me these mixes for a while now and they usually know a dud when they see it. However, mix ranking is ultimately a zero sum game and for a top list there has to be a bottom list.<br />
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Perhaps down the line I will mellow with age and just eliminate this list entirely. Until then here are this year's bottom 7 songs plus a bonus track of a hit song I genuinely hate to fill out the minimum track count (hint: it's not another Ray Stevens track but it is a country crossover hit).<br />
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Unleash hell!<br />
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<iframe height="400" src="https://8tracks.com/mixes/8643436/player_v3_universal" style="border: 0px none;" width="400"></iframe>
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<div class="_8t_embed_p" style="font-size: 11px; line-height: 12px; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://8tracks.com/victorsellsout/victor-s-ultimate-birthday-meh-ga-mix-17?utm_medium=referral&utm_content=mix-page&utm_campaign=embed_button">Victor's Ultimate Birthday "Meh"-ga Mix '17</a> from <a href="http://8tracks.com/victorsellsout?utm_medium=referral&utm_content=mix-page&utm_campaign=embed_button">VictorSellsOut</a> on <a href="http://8tracks.com/?utm_medium=referral&utm_content=mix-page&utm_campaign=embed_button">8tracks Radio</a>.</div>
Victorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08017494724748754400noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32098472.post-49461853639978912002017-06-18T17:29:00.000-04:002017-07-11T22:26:46.284-04:00Victor's Ultimate Mega Mix '17<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Well, it looks like we've finally gotten to the point in the life of this blog were I only post 2 or 3 traditional entries a year. It seems to be going along the same life cycle as my other older blogs. I predict that eventually even those minimal entries will peter out (or the sun will run out of fuel and collapse into a black hole taking our entire solar system with it, whichever comes first) and this blog will finally go silent.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">However, until that day we still have the yearly Mega Mix posts!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">What can I say about this year's slate of mixes? It's another round of quality curated personal musical experiences. Having had birthday mixes made by essentially the same crew of friends for almost a decade now; it's obvious they have gotten pretty good at knowing what I like. Though I guess if there was any kind of complaint it would be that perhaps they know me too well and there are less experimental song choices. Consistency between mixes has been at an all time high lately which makes it hard to make the hard cuts for this list (and especially the bad list which I will still release later). Sure it's a more enjoyable listen overall but the appearance of true memorable,monumental stinkers are a rare sight. But really this is a minor, minor, pseudo-complaint. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">On a side note, it looks like 8tracks has made a bunch of bad changes to the service, most prominent being the addition of a 1 hour cap on free listening per week for users not signed to their monthly subscription service. LAME. I understand that running a streaming music service is expensive and they're trying to turn a profit, but man this is not going to keep a lot of the current users from leaving. I thought about it, but I still haven't found one that keeps the same mixtape set up. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Oh, I also wanted to mention that th</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">is year's compilation was posted way quicker (a little over a month from receipt of the mixes)</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> compared to last year where I didn't get these post out until late August/early September. So there's at least one part of my life that's not in decline with age!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Hit the music!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><iframe height="400" src="https://8tracks.com/mixes/8638850/player_v3_universal" style="border: 0px none;" width="400"></iframe></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://8tracks.com/victorsellsout/victor-s-ultimate-mega-mix-17?utm_medium=referral&utm_content=mix-page&utm_campaign=embed_button">Victor's Ultimate Mega Mix '17</a> from <a href="http://8tracks.com/victorsellsout?utm_medium=referral&utm_content=mix-page&utm_campaign=embed_button">VictorSellsOut</a> on <a href="http://8tracks.com/?utm_medium=referral&utm_content=mix-page&utm_campaign=embed_button">8tracks Radio</a>.</span></div>
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Victorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08017494724748754400noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32098472.post-88403259659998779522016-09-03T12:35:00.000-04:002016-09-03T12:38:09.037-04:00Victor's Ultimate Birthday "Meh"-ga Mix '16Summer's coming to an end, the days are getting shorter, the kids are going back to school. Soon all the leaves will start dying. Then winter will descend upon us, as unrelenting and inevitable as our own mortality.<br />
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So why not burn this fucker down with the ass end of birthday mix haul from back in May (remember way back when summer was starting and the world was full of hope and promise).<br />
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The dark side of the <a href="http://victorsellsout.blogspot.com/2016/08/victors-ultimate-mega-mix-16.html">Mega Mix</a> with 7 songs that I decided where not quite bangers, plus a bonus shit track to fit the minimum (fun fact: possibly my least favorite song to top the Billboard charts).<br />
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Happy Labor Day Weekend All!<br />
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<iframe height="400" src="http://8tracks.com/mixes/8251327/player_v3_universal" style="border: 0px none;" width="400"></iframe><br />
<div class="_8t_embed_p" style="font-size: 11px; line-height: 12px;">
<a href="http://8tracks.com/victorsellsout/victor-s-ultimate-birthday-meh-ga-mix-16?utm_medium=referral&utm_content=mix-page&utm_campaign=embed_button">Victor's Ultimate Birthday "Meh"-ga Mix '16</a> from <a href="http://8tracks.com/victorsellsout?utm_medium=referral&utm_content=mix-page&utm_campaign=embed_button">VictorSellsOut</a> on <a href="http://8tracks.com/?utm_medium=referral&utm_content=mix-page&utm_campaign=embed_button">8tracks Radio</a>.</div>
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Victorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08017494724748754400noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32098472.post-61823871328300156122016-08-26T17:04:00.002-04:002016-09-03T12:36:31.616-04:00Victor's Ultimate Mega Mix '16<div class="MsoNormal">
"Better late than never" has always been a
prominent philosophy in my life. Sure, your paper's gonna get docked half a
grade but hey, what are you gonna do, take the zero? <o:p></o:p></div>
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Just when you thought the yearly Mega Mix was done, just another
youthful affectation from my twenties that failed to make it all the way up
through my thirties; here it comes hobbling in three months late.<o:p></o:p></div>
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While I am only now getting around to posting it, I did
finalize the list about a month ago so I do wonder if it is no longer accurate.
There is always the chance that my tastes have totally changed since then. A
surprising amount of stuff can happen in a month after all.<o:p></o:p></div>
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While I don't think my fondness for novelty story songs have
waned much in the past month, you'll have to treat the below 14 tracks as more
of a snapshot from a younger, less world wise, early 32 Victor as opposed to the
elder mid early 32 Victor. Though, frankly for those who know me I don't think
there will be that many surprises.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Block Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Hyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="FollowedHyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Document Map"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Plain Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="E-mail Signature"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Top of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Bottom of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal (Web)"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Acronym"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Address"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Cite"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Code"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Definition"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Keyboard"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Preformatted"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Sample"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Typewriter"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Variable"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal Table"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="annotation subject"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="No List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Contemporary"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Elegant"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Professional"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Balloon Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Theme"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" QFormat="true"
Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="41" Name="Plain Table 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="42" Name="Plain Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="43" Name="Plain Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="44" Name="Plain Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="45" Name="Plain Table 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="40" Name="Grid Table Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="Grid Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="List Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="List Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="List Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 4"/>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
Let us journey back to early summer:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<iframe height="400" src="https://8tracks.com/mixes/8223123/player_v3_universal" style="border: 0px none;" width="400"></iframe><br />
<div class="_8t_embed_p" style="font-size: 11px; line-height: 12px;">
<a href="http://8tracks.com/victorsellsout/victor-s-ultimate-mega-mix-16?utm_medium=referral&utm_content=mix-page&utm_campaign=embed_button">Victor's Ultimate Mega Mix '16</a> from <a href="http://8tracks.com/victorsellsout?utm_medium=referral&utm_content=mix-page&utm_campaign=embed_button">VictorSellsOut</a> on <a href="http://8tracks.com/?utm_medium=referral&utm_content=mix-page&utm_campaign=embed_button">8tracks Radio</a>.</div>
<br />
<br /></div>
Victorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08017494724748754400noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32098472.post-78169730071328533292016-07-03T16:44:00.000-04:002016-07-07T18:57:48.326-04:00Yesterday was the worst day of my life<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Note: Kind of weird posting it on here, but I needed some long form medium to spill my guts on.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">My father died. I can't believe I
just wrote that. I can't believe it is true. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">He suffered a heart attack early
Saturday morning. He was attempting to play some golf, an activity he never had
time for all the years he worked. He was trying to enjoy a newfound
freedom of semi-retirement: actual weekends off. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">He soon felt ill and was taken to a
hospital. By the time I arrived they were rushing him to another hospital to
try emergency surgery. They told me it was a seriously blocked artery. I followed with my mom. He never woke up.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">I originally had plans on visiting
him that day: catch up, run some errands together, grill some BBQ. I now found
myself planning his funeral.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">I get it, life isn’t supposed to be
fair. But did it have to drive that point home with such brutal emphasis? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">To lose him on a random Saturday
morning like is about as jarring and as nonsensical as if he was shot by a
stray sniper bullet.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">My father had no history of heart
trouble or cancer or anything else. He rarely got sick. And when he did get
sick he would apparently will himself to get better if only because so many
people relied on him. He was the youngest sibling in a family of the hardiest,
sturdiest, dogged group of workhorses imaginable (unfortunately I take more
from my mother’s more mortal side of the family) and they have all now outlived
him.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">What’s so cruel and unjust about
this whole thing was the timing of it all. He had worked himself ragged his
whole life: growing up in post war Korea into punishing poverty without a
father since age 9, coming to America and working nearly every day to run his own
business, taking what little free time he had to make sure his kids had
everything they needed to have a better life. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Few had ever deserved a break like
my father. He was finally going to take it easy. He finally had time to
properly work on the lawn. He finally had time to remodel the house. He finally
had time to travel with my mom. He was finally going to take a leisurely well-earned
victory lap enjoying the fruits of his labor with the company of the family he dedicated his whole life supporting.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">He was our foundation, he was our core, he was our rock. And now he is gone and it is devastating.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">It's unrealistic for me to tell you that you should always let their parents know how much they love them. That will devalue it. But just try to get one moment where you tell them how much they mean to you so it is confirmed and in the books.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">That’s all I really wanted say, the
rest is just a random, rambling list of observations and memories I wrote out
last night because I couldn’t sleep. I’m sure the language and grammar and
disjointedness reflect that:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<ul type="disc">
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">My dad never wore a nice pair of shoes, he bought the
cheapest brands from Walmart or wherever and wore them into the ground.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">My dad was decent. He was the most decent man I ever
knew. He was almost decent to a fault.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">He always gave a 100% at everything he was tasked with.
Even something as simple as sweeping the floor. He would sweep with full
dedication. When work had to be done, did it, no questions asked, no
complaints, never a moment of slack effort.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">He lived for his family. He had no time for hobbies or
personal interests, he had to work hard so we could live a better life. He
never wanted anything but to give back to his family. He was impossible
to buy presents for.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">It would have to be at gunpoint if he was ever going to
accept money from his children.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">I was really looking forward to seeing him slow down, to
finally have the time to take up a hobby. He tried to hide it but I could
see that he was fascinated with RC aircrafts and now RC drones; I was
finally going to nail him down with a present. <o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">He yelled a lot and wasn't the most open with his
feelings but you knew everything he did was from a place of love. He had a kind soul.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">As someone who grew up without enough to eat, he would
be overly preoccupied with his children eating enough. He would never
finish his meal and would always give us his food.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Like his shoes he wore his clothes until they failed.
Most of his daily wardrobe were either worn, had holes, or permanent
stains from work. He lived through the charity of whatever my mother would
buy for him.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">If I had a quarter of his work ethic, I might be a
millionaire.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">His hands were rough and weathered. I once wrote
a monologue for a college speech class about his coarse hands, worn
down by work and how my hands were so pristine by comparison.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">His feet smelled, because he was on them all day.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">He was incapable of sleeping in late.</span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">He helped me move into my new apartment; the last time
he visited it he actually complimented me on how nice a job I did in
setting it up and then threw in how it could have room for one more
occupant (never missed an opportunity to push the marriage issue on me).<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Whenever my sister caused trouble, he defended her more
than anyone. I think he saw a lot of himself in her.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">He fixed things: cars, the house, appliances, anything
you gave him. His countless tools are littered throughout the house.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">He was cynical and pessimistic about a lot of things in
life. He was wary of my mother’s church friends and he believed anyone in NYC
with an out of state license plate was cheating to get insurance discounts.
But when it came to his kids he had boundless optimism. When I was worried
about getting accepted into NYU, he literally offered to bet me money that
I would get in.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">He wore caps a lot, some still have his smell.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">He was the greatest driver I ever knew. He learned to
drive in the Korean Army. He drove everything from 18 wheelers to forklifts
to the family minivan. He could parallel park on a dime; one shot no
hesitation.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">He drove me through a blizzard to Albany at 5 in the
morning to get me sworn into the bar.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">He helped me install my air conditioner every year.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">To my friends he was always Mr. Lee. He intimidated all
my friends.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">And now I will never see him again.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">He was supposed to pick me up from the light rail
station after his golf game. Knowing him he was probably concerned about
that even when he was headed to the hospital.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">I was supposed to see him Friday night and I moved it
to Saturday morning. I would have seen him like an extra few hours tops,
but what I wouldn't give to have that time back. It’s best not to dwell on
such thoughts.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">I will miss:<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<ul type="circle">
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Our trips to Costco which would always involve us
window shopping the big screen TVs, the purchase of a rotisserie chicken
on top of anything else, and hot dogs and soda afterwards.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">Our trips to my apartment, driving down 1-9 talking about world events and complaining about traffic.</span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Our early morning Sunday trips to my grandmother’s
grave. We were the only ones who visited it regularly. It was our joint
ritual of grief. He was always so concerned about the state of the grass
on it, tirelessly worked to have it better taken care of by the staff. We
would say our peace and go home. He will be buried in the plot next to her. I now
realize I’ll have to make that trip alone to visit both of them and it
hurts.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
</ul>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">I was the designated flashlight holder when he was
fixing things, he would yell at me for not following his view.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">He barely drank. The only time he ever drank at home was when I came over.</span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">He would drink the worst coffee and at any temperature.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">I can’t recall the last time I hugged him.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">He taught himself to use the computer just so he could
watch Korean TV on the Internet. When I got home I saw his computer was
still on and queued to a video.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">When I picked up his car from the golf course, he had
managed to neatly place his bag inside the trunk and the seat was down to
where he reclined to wait for the ambulance. It took me a second to get it
together. <o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">There was always a language barrier between us so I
never got to have a deep conversation with him and vice versa. This is the
curse of immigrant children.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">He would get angry but would always feel bad about it.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">The one thing in the world that consistently made me
cry would be if I ever thought that I was letting him down. That's when
the waterworks would start.</span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Didn't care for church, not sure if he believed it. He
had lived a hard enough life to be skeptical.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Every time I prayed at night I would pray for my
parents to be healthy and happy; I can't understand why this would be the
response.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">He was my dad and he was my hero. Really he was.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">He hated filling out paperwork and was eternally
grateful when I did the monthly bills.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">He actually felt sorry for me that I was working so hard at my
job. What a joke.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">He would only brag about his children. He would show my
game show clips to anyone who was (or not) interested.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Said singing and dancing were his greatest
deficiencies.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Yelled at me for talking at the dinner table.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Was proud that I knew so many facts.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Always felt bad that he was never around enough growing
up, thought he let us down a little. You never did Dad, you never did.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Always wondered if there was something more he could
do.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Great worker but unlucky at times in business. At least
twice in his life he had to close a store and start all over again. If
there was ever evidence against the idea that hard work alone would lead
to success it was him. <o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Really pushed me to become a lawyer. I am willing to
forgive him for that, his heart was in the right place, he just wanted me
to make good money and have a secure job.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">He once told me he would be a wonderful grandfather and
how awesome he was with children; when I jokingly told him how I don't
recall playing with him much growing up - He told me he was too busy but he always wanted to.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">He was the guy who hooked up the video game systems.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Any bit of practical sense in me is from him.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">He would have been a great engineer if he ever had
the opportunity to go to college.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">He loved his mama. I loved my grandma. We bonded over
that.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Kept giving me tons of PBA cards even when I didn't
drive anymore.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">I will always associate Korean curse words from him.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">His stockpile of Commerce and TD Bank pens will last
the next generation and beyond.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">I inherited his ability to sweat but not much of
his ability to earn a sweat.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">He once knocked down a house of cards I spent hours
making when I was 10 and I got blindingly mad at him. The next morning I
woke up and I found that he had reassembled it before he left for work at
like 5 in the morning. I was still mad so I knocked it down.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">He used to drive trucks at 3 in the morning.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">I can't believe he is gone.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">What the fuck happened?<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">He was relentless on getting me to marry. It was
terrible, but in keeping with his character he only pushed it because the
idea that such a catch like me would be single was due to me rejecting
everyone I met.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">He won't be there for my sister at her wedding.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">He would fall asleep in the living room. He would snore
if he was really tired.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">He liked fishing. He always wanted to see Alaska.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">We once had a long conversation about driving that big highway in Key West<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">There are only 2 people I know for sure in the world
that love me without reservations and I just lost one.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Whenever I helped him with a computer problem or
reading a document that he didn’t quite understand he would thank me and tell
me “what will I do without you?” Now I ask myself what will I do without
him?<o:p></o:p></span></li>
</ul>
Victorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08017494724748754400noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32098472.post-36922053588670072822016-01-16T13:45:00.001-05:002016-01-16T13:45:26.785-05:00Wrestling With History<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I think we all had a nice laugh this week following the absurd story of the small upstate New York village of Whitesboro and their vote over changing their probably racist, definitely ridiculous <a href="http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2016/01/12/whitesboro-village-seal/">town seal</a>; which depending on who you you ask depicts a friendly wrestling match between town founder Hugh White and a native Oneida Indian or a white guy strangling an Indian. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Given the name of the town to go along with the seal, I kind of see it as good news that the town overwhelmingly voted to keep their controversial seal; lest we lose this real life version of <a href="http://www.details.com/gallery/nbc-inappropriate-parks-and-recreation-murals">Pawnee, Indiana</a> (as a brief aside: I've been rewatching the final season of "Parks and Recreation" on Netflix recently and was reminded of just how frustratingly saccharine the show got by the end. By the last episode every character ends up falling in love, finds their true calling in life, and literally lives out all their dreams. It can be considered almost reactionary in their underlying theme that everyone has to get married to truly be happy. The only way it could have further driven home that point would have been for the finale to show the relationship wary outcast early series Mark Brendanawicz slowly dying destitute and alone in an alley because he never did marry is true love. I could write a whole other blog post about this, but I probably won't).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyhow, whenever I hear the phrase "white guy wrestling an Indian" of course my mind goes directly to the 1994 mid-card level feud between between proud native american wrestler Tatanka ("<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TviyOtAHtSE&list=PLg0WJCUbfJNdcEmthYsp5RV_MVt5olh_A&index=8">Buffalo!</a>") and evil tax collector Irwin R Shyster aka IRS (get it?). In my memories this was a much bigger, longer, and far less petty feud than I later found out it was. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As a kid I just thought IRS was going after Tatanka because he was a bad guy and bad guys arbitrarily go after good guys like Tatanka solely on the fact that they are good and not bad. However in reality the whole reason IRS was going after Tatanka was that he claimed Tatanka owed gift taxes on a ceremonial headdress that was given to him by Chief Jay Strongbow, an older retired Native American themed wrestler. This is why I love wrestling. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As an adult who graduated from law school and technically passed a tax law class, I now notice that Tatanka received the gift in early 1994 and would have had until April of 1995 to pay the tax, not April of 1994 as IRS was demanding. Also, there might have been separate tax issues related to him being a Native American and whether he lives on a reservation or not. I'll have to check with my wrestling accountant. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Spoiler alert, due to no one really caring, the feud fizzled out after a couple of months without even a proper blow-off match on TV.</span><br />
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Victorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08017494724748754400noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32098472.post-10319159634366935232015-07-05T20:06:00.004-04:002015-07-05T20:06:49.131-04:00Victor's Ultimate Birthday "Meh"-ga Mix '15It's been a week since the 2015 edition of the <a href="http://victorsellsout.blogspot.com/2015/06/victors-ultimate-mega-mix-15.html">Mega Mix</a> dropped so as tradition dictates, here come the misses. As I write this post up during the waning hours of a delightful three day weekend, I find the timing to be utterly appropriate. We had our highs, we had our fun but now it's time to experience the other side of the coin.<br />
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It's probably a good thing right? For there to be light you need darkness? You can't have the sweet without the sour or something like that? I didn't see it, but I think that's the lesson of "Inside Out"? I mean, the message can't be that you can't let the joy part of your brain run your whole life right?</div>
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Half baked pseudo-philosophical questions aside, I do want to point out that it's kind of an honor to be chosen for the "Meh"-ga Mix. They'll be remembered years down the line over another generally pleasant but ultimately unnotable track. At the very least, they are interesting; and for me it's always better to be interesting than just plain fine.</div>
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One note about this year's mix. Since I only take two tracks per original mix given to me, plus just one track from the theme mix I got, I found myself with only seven tracks. Since 8tracks requires a minimum of eight tracks (imagine that?), I threw in Ray Stevens' chart topping 1974 hit "The Streak"; one of the my least favorite songs I can remember (which is odd since I usually love ridiculous songs from <a href="http://victorsellsout.blogspot.com/2008/08/sheding-some-light-on-night-lights-went.html">the</a> <a href="http://victorsellsout.blogspot.com/search/label/Story%20Songing">70s</a>).<br />
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Roll the ugliness...<br />
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<a href="http://8tracks.com/victorsellsout/victor-s-ultimate-birthday-meh-ga-mix-15?utm_medium=trax_embed">Victor's Ultimate Birthday "Meh"-ga Mix '15</a> from <a href="http://8tracks.com/victorsellsout?utm_medium=trax_embed">VictorSellsOut</a> on <a href="http://8tracks.com/?utm_medium=trax_embed">8tracks Radio</a>.</div>
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Victorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08017494724748754400noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32098472.post-37417877660585626122015-06-28T01:22:00.002-04:002015-06-28T01:24:40.356-04:00Victor's Ultimate Mega Mix '15Happy New Year everybody!<br />
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Seriously, I can't believe this is first post of the year on this once bustling blog. You know things are bad here when my ancient livejournal until now had more posts on the year (1 to 0). In my defense I've actually been crazy busy this year with getting a proper adult job and all, but I have to admit there's some laziness involved. There's always some laziness involved.<br />
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In any case, the old VSO is back, at least to belatedly celebrate my birthday.<br />
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Yes, it is indeed that time again when I shine the spotlight on the standout tracks that I've culled from my yearly birthday mixes. On the whole 31 was a slightly underwhelming haul, quantity-wise, not quality wise. The final tally was three official mixes plus a bonus theme mix. Hey we're all getting older and getting busier right? Plus, I am and most of my friend are now coming into our early 30s, which apparently is the time when we stop <a href="http://skynetandebert.com/2015/04/22/music-was-better-back-then-when-do-we-stop-keeping-up-with-popular-music/">listening to new music</a> and become our parents.<br />
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Given that depressing bit of news, I think it's more critical than ever that we continue to maintain healthy mix making habits well into our music taste calcifying thirties and beyond. It doesn't even have to be new music in the sense of contemporary music, any kind of exposure to music you haven't heard before is probably good for the soul. It is only through the regular practice of pondering, seeking, and exploring new music to compile and gift to a friend do we keep that passion for novel music alive. We keep the fire burning as we burn our mixes.<br />
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Additionally, what's good for the mixer is just as good for the mixee. The time around my birthday is when I get exposed to most of the new music for the year. Seeing as how busy this year's been going it may well be the only time.<br />
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So thank you to all my friends who give me mixes and let me craft mixes with them. You keep me young (although not in any kind of physical sort of way, I'm still falling apart day by day).<br />
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Mixes away!<br />
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Oh and before you think I'm getting soft. The "misses" will be following shortly.Victorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08017494724748754400noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32098472.post-45853343993669636412014-12-11T02:11:00.000-05:002014-12-11T02:11:22.253-05:00Choose From One Possible Ending<i>Note: I know this post is almost a month out of date, but it's all part of my goal to hit as many lingering post topics as I can this <a href="http://victorsellsout.blogspot.com/2014/11/advent-ture-time.html">month</a>. So start getting your Thanksgiving travel plans in order and pretend that you're in early November.</i><br />
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A big part of my childhood, and no doubt the childhoods of countless others, author R.A. Montgomery recently concluded his own <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/20/business/ra-montgomery-publisher-of-the-choose-your-own-adventure-series-dies-at-78-.html">adventure</a> the other day. As anyone who knows me can attest, I was a massive fan of the Choose Your Own Adventure book series growing up. I would probably say that the series has a whole (of which I read clear over a 100 entries, the overwhelming bulk of the series) was the most influential piece of literature I ever read. They instilled in me an early love of reading and writing that continues to this day (despite how infrequent I update this blog). They where my first exposure to literary genres like <a href="http://www.gamebooks.org/gallery/cyoa004.jpg">science fiction</a>, <a href="http://victorsellsout.blogspot.com/2008/02/aint-that-fucking-coincidence-cocksucka.html">westerns</a>, <a href="http://www.gamebooks.org/gallery/cyoa009o.jpg">mysteries</a>, and <a href="http://www.gamebooks.org/gallery/cyoa021.jpg">metafiction</a> (I could write a whole post alone about what a mind fuck"Hyperspace" was to an 9 year old). Plus they provided me an unflinching introduction to my own <a href="http://youchosewrong.tumblr.com/">mortality</a>. However most importantly the CYOA series, with their trademark second person narrative and ability to choose different story tangents, taught me to view the world with a different perspective; that everything didn't have to follow an ordered linear narrative, and that many things you thought were impossible or you never even considered could become reality if you would only make the effort to choose.<br />
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Considering how many of these books I've read, R.A. Montgomery and CYOA creator Edward Packard are from a pure numbers view the authors I have read the most in my life. I suppose that's the case with children's book series with many people; I'm sure if you were a hardcore Goosebumps or Fear Street reader growing up, you've read more books by R.L. Stine than any other author. It's just a matter of quantity. Still, it felt like kind of a big deal for me when I heard that one of the authors of whom I so prodigiously consumed their bibliography had passed. So I figured as a little tribute to one of the main architects of the CYOA series and of the game book genre itself, I'd try to recall my top 5 most memorable Montgomery books.<br />
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A word of warning, I haven't read any of these books in about two decades and childhood memories could sometimes be unreliable, so if you're some CYOA expert or a modern day kid who just read these books for the first time please forgive me if I get a detail or two wrong or I miss out on some important plot point:<br />
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<b>5. House of Danger</b></div>
If Edward Packard was the father of the CYOA series, then R.A. Montgomery was the weird uncle. Truth be told, going by total body of work Packard is my overall favorite CYOA author. However, while Packard cranked out solidly plotted, fun, interesting stories, his stories never went off the rails or took crazy risks (with the exception of a few standouts like the previously mentioned "Hyperspace"). His stories were usually based around standard genre narratives like solving a murder or searching for buried treasure or landing on an alien planet. Montgomery in contrast would have some of the most straight up bizarre setups, which sometimes would come at the cost of making a coherent or fair story . Case in point is "House of Danger". Just look at that dogeared cover and try to figure out what the hell is going on here. There's a sadistic Confederate general, crazed apes, murderous neanderthals, a runaway stagecoach, a modern home, and a cut rate Scooby Doo team. As I recall all these things do show up in this book. I believe the general idea was that you and your friends investigate a mysterious house that has rooms that lead to different times and dimensions. I also recall that this was a brutally difficult game book with very few non-death or generally successful endings; which was sort of a Montgomery trait.<br />
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<b>4. Trouble On Planet Earth</b></div>
It's like "House of Danger" but everything is set to 10. Instead of some mystery house on your block, you and your friend who kind of looks Paul from the Wonder Years meets Shock G get involved in a bunch of potential conspiracies that threaten the entire Earth. I know there were some plots that involved aliens and the Pyramids and often times you would end up abducted on a spaceship. The grotesque fat and his buddy Joe Biden were part of some other story line where they reveal themselves to be from some sort of secret Illuminati-type society with plans of world domination. I would also say that I can't recall ever getting a good ending in this mad fever dream of a book. This was Montgomery at his absolute craziest. It's not the best written CYOA adventure but it's one of the most unique.<br />
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<b>3. Journey Under The Sea</b></div>
R.A. Montgomery's first book, and the second book ever in the CYOA series, Journey Under The Sea is one of his most straight forward books (and possibly his best plotted). One of the great things about the early CYOA books were the high volume of endings they contained. With most long running series the writers just had more ideas early on. Some of the later CYOA books started to repeat stories and barely contained double digit endings. At a whopping 42 possible endings, this may be the most prodigious book in the series. The story was pretty straightforward, you are some underwater explorer searching for treasure and new underwater discoveries (think Bill Paxton in Titanic). I think the main victory story line involves finding the lost city of Atlantis. I recall you might also fall in love with a mermaid. Of course there are plenty of grim drowning deaths also waiting for you.<br />
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<b>2. The Race Forever</b></div>
Another fairly straightforward effort by Montgomery. The premise is you're a race car driver competing in two different marathon races in Africa. There's an off road race involving jeeps and a faster 24 hours of Le Mans style race with smaller race cars. The first decision you make is choosing which race to enter then which one of two cars; and assuming you're not gored to death by a rhino or your aren't immolated when your car bursts into flames you get to do the other race afterwards. In fact, you can technically put yourself in an infinite loop of races by always choosing the other race after finishing one (I always suspected that's why the title was called "The Race Forever"). Here's a spoiler: the car you choose totally determines if you win the race. In the jeep race pick the Toyota over the Land Rover and in the small car race I think it's the Saab over the Lotus. You're not guaranteed to win with those cars, but at least you won't be guaranteed to lose as is the case with the other cars.<br />
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<b>1. Escape</b></div>
One of my all time favorite CYOA books and probably my favorite Montgomery contribution. Escape takes place in a dystopian America sometime around the mid 21st century. The United States is split into three separate nations (kind of like the Hunger Games) and you are a member of a group of spies from the one democratic state who have to escape the hostile territory of the evil totalitarian state to warn your state of an imminent attack. This was most likely my first introduction to dystopian fiction and the idea of a book set ever so slightly in the future rather than a distant Buck Rogers rocket ship future. I remember the first page had an alternate map of the US split into three and the whole idea fascinated me. I recall plenty of action and surprises in this one and overall the book had a sense of suspense given the high stakes and dangerous situation. You never knew who to trust (potential spoiler, I believe the guy with the glasses in your party turns out to be a double agent) or which path to go as you tried to make your titular escape. Interesting note, this is one of the few CYOA books to have a sequel, the not as memorable "<a href="http://www.gamebooks.org/gallery/cyoa061.jpg">Beyond Escape</a>". I think with a few tweaks this story could be modified into a successful modern teen dystopian trilogy.Victorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08017494724748754400noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32098472.post-3216284161780398492014-11-30T23:16:00.000-05:002014-11-30T23:16:15.789-05:00Advent-ture Time<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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November is just about over and I just realized I haven't written anything in this old blog since the end of August when I was writing about the commercials I kept seeing during the <a href="http://victorsellsout.blogspot.com/2014/08/guarantee-void-in-tennesee.html">Simpsons Marathon</a> (ah memories). Seeing as how 2014 is almost up and given my natural inclination to do everything last minute I figured I'd attempt to use the next month to prop up the end of the year post numbers. Not counting this post, my year end tally stands at an anemic 10 and by all indications it looks like I'll be falling way short of the record year end low of 27 posts, which occurred twice in 2013 and 2010.<br />
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So in the hopes of avoiding a sad new low or at the the very least attempting valiantly to avoid a sad new low, I'm going to dedicate the following month to emptying the "to-do" bin of post ideas that have been piling up in my notes and in the back of my mind. This means that I'm freeing myself to address all my backed up topics regardless of how irrelevant or outdated they may have become. My predictions on the upcoming Broncos/Seahawks Superbowl? Sure, why not? My Oscar picks? Come on down. What's the deal with all these ice buckets? Well, here's my take on it.<br />
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And those are just from this year! I've got stuff about a random local ad I saw in 2012. Obituaries to long dead celebrities. Not to mention the usual esoteric nonsense I tend to write about anyway (remember that random sketch from that 1996 episode of SNL when Danny Aiello hosted?).<br />
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Additionally this is also kind of part of my New year's resolution to write overall. I figure you start most of your resolutions a month early, avoid the rush in January (plus if you fail in December, you get another reset when the real New Years comes; pretty slick). Now will I end up going on some kind of blogging tear, posting a piece a night like some sort of twisted blogging advent calender? Probably not. However I would like to hit at least double digits from now until the end of the year, get a few lingering post ideas off my chest (oh that Danny Aiello sketch post is coming), and not have this place turn into my old Livejournal. I think these are pretty reasonable goals.<br />
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Get ready for a long December, folks.<br />
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Victorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08017494724748754400noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32098472.post-75009542554231269962014-08-31T23:59:00.000-04:002014-09-01T01:36:55.008-04:00Guarantee Void In TenneseeHard to believe it but as of this writing we still have a full 24 hours left of FXX's record breaking Every Simpsons Ever marathon. And if you're still watching these season 24 episodes with the same level of enthusiasm as the Simpsons fare from last week I have to at least admire your fanatical dedication to the series (or maybe you were born in 2000 and you just don't know any better). Much like most "classic era" Simpsons fans I for one have transitioned to an increasingly casual viewing schedule since about season 10 or so wrapped up, popping in sporadically to experience the odd novelty of watching a totally unseen episode of the show (though I am surprised at how many later era episodes I have actually seen). For me this whole marathon has kind of been like Homer's experience with eating his inherited 10 ft <a href="http://tinypic.com/player.php?v=w20nko%3E&s=8#.VAPYF_ldVq8">hoagie</a> from "Selma's Choice". I eagerly consumed it for about the first week until its quality began to turn. Then despite it getting into a state far past its sell by date I still kept sneaking in a couple of bites. Eventually some of the episodes left me feeling a ill. However in the end I could not continue to stay mad at something I loved so much.<br />
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Laughter and tears and some mild laughter aside, my other lasting memory from this wild 12 day run would be the commercials, oh my goodness those commercials. Hours upon hours of Simpsons binge watching also comes with it the terrible, irritating price of being exposed to the same group of advertisements over and over again to the point where you wish you had the short memory of an NBA great like Charles Barkley. I cannot recall any other situation where I was exposed as many times to the same limited number of TV ads in such a brief span. The repetitive spots you get while watching playoff sports have nothing on this marathon.<br />
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So I figured just for the fun of it, and perhaps in a possibly futile effort to exorcise them from my subconsciousness, I'd list a few of the highlights that many of you fellow marathoners may be all too familiar with.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCSLr3X3p-h79JDjzxRWgeshtMSN4sv4jo-km-LjFhioQhP2aWj5gyeiZrob3M1a3IgRgO1H2GH2xzjZQb0ot0nlitzYzJUmPftGPnAaUl8MXjBLW5qwkNhaKEZG5kiBS9fUAqsw/s1600/hanes_kittens.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCSLr3X3p-h79JDjzxRWgeshtMSN4sv4jo-km-LjFhioQhP2aWj5gyeiZrob3M1a3IgRgO1H2GH2xzjZQb0ot0nlitzYzJUmPftGPnAaUl8MXjBLW5qwkNhaKEZG5kiBS9fUAqsw/s1600/hanes_kittens.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.ispot.tv/ad/7ryZ/hanes-comfort-blend-t-shirt-softer-than-a-kitten">Hanes Kittenblend Shirts</a></div>
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This spot was the undisputed king of the early third of the Simpsons marathon. Fortunately these have sort of faded away at this point. There were commercial breaks where it ran twice! My opinion of it? It's pretty awful. I found the shirt guy unsettling, his couch buddy overly condescending and that third guy who doesn't talk superfluous. Additionally his "punchline" ("but I got it off SkyMall) is a lame non-joke. I only later found out that this was the shortened 15 second version of the original ad. The full 30 second <a href="http://www.ispot.tv/ad/7koH/hanes-kitten-softness">spot</a> is actually a little better; they give the third guy a line and long time Hanes pitchman Michael Jordan makes a random cameo (though I'm not entirely convinced that he's not just a figment of Kitten shirt dude's warped mind). Still, I'm sticking to Fruit of the Looms.</div>
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<a href="http://www.ispot.tv/ad/7qMw/pulaski-and-middleman-risperdal">Gynecomastia!</a></div>
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Don't say you never learned anything while watching this marathon. I don't know about your TV market but the first week or so of this marathon dropped some serious knowledge on me about the horrors of Risperdal and gynecomastia courtesy of the firm of Pulaski & Middleman. Actually it is quite frightening that a drug meant to treat a mental disorder could lead to such an unexpected and bizarre side effect like making boys grow female breasts (they really emphasize the "female breast", I suppose big male breasts won't cover it). This must be a huge source of litigation, I found dozens of similar <a href="http://www.ispot.tv/search?qtype=ads&term=risperdal&offset=24&limit=24">legal ads</a>; with various "sad teenage boy" stock photos. Of course when I hear boys with breasts I immediately pictured <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwSOtGNT600">Homer bullying Uter</a> (note: weird edited clip).</div>
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<a href="http://www.ispot.tv/ad/7rp5/draft-day-digital-hd">Football, Football, Football</a></div>
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The NFL continues its undisputed dominance over all forms of American culture, including the Simpsons marathon. Between round the clock commercials for <a href="http://www.ispot.tv/ad/7rVF/gamestop-xbox-one-madden-nfl-15-bundle-future-deluxe-stadium">Madden 15/GameStop</a>, the digital HD and Blu-Ray release of Draft Day, and the countless ads for the new season of "The League", football related ads may come out as the biggest commercial presence of the whole marathon. The Madden ad's one note joke would have been okay a few times around but did not hold up to its excessive replays. At this point the ad have thankfully mostly gone away. Draft Day sneakily continues to be played at basically the same rate as when the marathon began, which is ad nausem. The ad makes it seem like the movie is 60% archival footage of the actual draft. I still have a hard time believing this movie isn't just an SNL parody. As for "The League", it continues to be pushed hard. I do have to give it some credit for having at least a variety of spots, though they're all not that funny. Truth be told, I have seen a few seasons of the show and it's really not that bad, but none of the ads give any indication of that.</div>
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<a href="http://www.ispot.tv/ad/7jua/foot-locker-short-memory-pt-1-ft-james-harden-charles-barkley">Do You Remember?</a></div>
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Of all the ads I've seen, this is probably my favorite. Despite the overplaying I still find it unobjectionable, funny even. James Harden's role in all these Footlocker ads is kind of interesting. He plays everything so unbelievably deadpan. There's no change in emotion or anything coming off him, all the humor is derived from other g<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xAfuotFMd0">uest athletes</a> or by his straight faced reaction to an exceedingly bizarre <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_k0Xf25r-mY">situation</a>. I imagine there might be a much darker side to Barkey and Pippen's short memories like Memento where they have to rely on a complex series of self written notes and mementos just to get through the day. Despite historically playing second to Jordan, Pippen comes out on top when comparing their respective Simpsons marathon commercials.<br />
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<a href="http://www.ispot.tv/ad/7RUb/microsoft-windows-phone-siri-vs-cortana-happy-anniversary">OK Computer</a></div>
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Microsoft left their mark on this marathon with a pair of commercials promoting their new products via dissing on Apple. In the ads supporting their <a href="http://www.ispot.tv/ad/7jUQ/microsoft-surface-pro-3-power">Surface Pro 3</a> they employed Wendy's girl level passive aggressive dumping on Apple, basically showing off how their tablet is superior to their laptop (in whatever white room Apple used during their Mac and PC campaign). It seems Microsoft is really picking their battles with their tablet, since they can't actually compete with other tablets they pit their tablets against other laptops. The second ad showing off <a href="http://www.ispot.tv/ad/7RUb/microsoft-windows-phone-siri-vs-cortana-happy-anniversary">Cortana</a>, Microsoft's answer to Siri, made me wonder what kind of absentminded husband needs his phone to remind him to tell his wife happy anniversary and to give him alerts whenever he passes ANY flower shop? Why bother even remembering his wife's name when he can command Cortana to remind him whenever she is around. This ad gave me an idea or a possible sci-fi screenplay where a man falls in love with his phone and plots with it to kill his wife; like a film noir "Her".</div>
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<a href="http://www.ispot.tv/ad/7MwR/destiny-launch-gameplay-trailer">Games?</a></div>
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I still have no idea what this Destiny game is all about. It looks like a fancy version of Halo to me. Given the excessive amount of advertising, this game must have some serious hype. The ad for the PS4 release of Blizzard's <a href="http://www.ispot.tv/ad/7jyJ/diablo-3-reaper-of-souls-coming-to-ps4">Diablo 3</a> comes off totally like a movie trailer. If it weren't for the bumper at the end I would have never known. On the whole I'd rather be playing <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ac9Z6CN14Gs">Lee Carvello's Putting Challenge</a>. </div>
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<a href="http://www.ispot.tv/ad/7Rvh/dairy-queen-chips-ahoy-blizzard-treat">BLISS FROM A BLENDER!</a></div>
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Speaking of Blizzard (see that slick transition there?) Dairy Queen's ad for their Chips Ahoy Blizzard has been coming on strong in the later seasons. Maybe it's just me but every time I tuned in for a later era episode, I had cut-rate Alexander Skarsgard giving me his two cents on how to properly get the chocolaty word out. I don't mind the commercial that much. The irritating, over-the-top, English soccer announcer (shades of the Simpsons take on hyperbolic international soccer <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1aaXGYzRFE">announcing</a>) kind of grew on me ("MAGISTEEERIAL SOFT SERVE!"). My only problem is why is the guy imagining all this in an empty stadium? From what we gather, this man's fantasy is eating the Blizzard in an empty soccer stadium while a football announcer watches and commentates. Where are these roars coming from? How is eating the Blizzard in an empty stadium a good way to get the word out? </div>
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Victorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08017494724748754400noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32098472.post-59173238357598848262014-06-12T19:10:00.004-04:002014-06-12T19:10:40.271-04:00Victor's Ultimate Birthday "Meh"-ga Mix '14I know, I know. You've been jamming out non-stop all this week to the blissful tunes of this year's edition of the <a href="http://victorsellsout.blogspot.com/2014/06/victors-ultimate-mega-mix-14.html">Mega Mix</a> and the last thing you want is the harsh buzzkill of the Ultimate Birthday "Meh"-ga Mix. Well, listen up joy boy, life is all about the highs and the lows, the sweets and the sours, the season 4 Simpsons and the season 24 Simpsons. It'd be against the laws of nature to just have the hits, one has to recognize the misses.<br />
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As much as this year was the most difficult yet in terms of picking the top four songs, it was even harder picking the bottom two. After three previous years of mix making, my friends are getting annoying good at this business. The overall quality improves every year and picking the duds is becoming increasingly a game of inches. At this rate I may have to give some consideration to dropping the category all together (although one or two tracks still usually come along each year to renew my commitment to this mix). Perhaps one day there will be a haul of mixes where the task of culling the worst would be too difficult to attempt, but until then enjoy the blah.<br />
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Victorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08017494724748754400noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32098472.post-4295105668726363912014-06-08T17:12:00.000-04:002014-06-12T18:30:33.670-04:00Victor's Ultimate Mega Mix '14It's been just over a month since that bleak day in May when I turned thirty. I am still waiting on that wisdom and insight stuff that supposedly comes with old age. In the meantime I have an assortment of birthday mixes to keep me entertained.<br />
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I know I say it pretty much every year, but this year's haul of five mixes have been the strongest group yet. I don't know, maybe it's because of the milestone year, but I felt that my friends really put in an extra effort here. Great job everyone; though this is setting up the mixes for my 31st birthday to be quite underwhelming (I guess the silver-lining would be a really strong class of "<a href="http://victorsellsout.blogspot.com/2013/06/victors-ultimate-birthday-meh-ga-mix-13.html">worst of</a>" mix songs). Bonus kudos to everyone for not kicking a sad man when he's down and loading up the mixes with depressing tracks about aging. I know I definitely would have if the roles were reversed (and I most likely will for your milestone birthday mixes; I even keep a running stockpile of those kinds of songs to use on all birthday mixes).<br />
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Before I get to the big reveal I just wanted to note a few interesting observations about the mixes this year; actually these sort of coincidences happen every year but I never bother to make a note of them. In the case of tracks repeated across multiple mixes, the simultaneous track of the year award goes to "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHguy4xHGSg&feature=kp">Move That Dope</a>" by Future featuring Pharrell, Pusha T, and Casino. I really did enjoy this fantastic piece of coke rap and it fell just shy of making the top four in both mixes. Another song appeared twice but under two different versions. The original 1982 version of "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lepx24flhaI">Mama Used to Say</a>" by Junior made it to one mix while a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNxDk4UUP7w">2009 cover</a> by the group Jupiter made it to another. I enjoyed both versions (it really is a sneaky good birthday song) and it was hard cutting both of them from their respective top 4s. Finally, I had two different songs by Chance the Rapper on two different mixes. My quick review on him is, interesting style and lyrics and hip-hop is all the richer for having a unique artist like him, but I find his voice fairly irritating. <br />
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Speaking of irritating, remember to keep an eye out for the "worst of" mix in the next few days.<br />
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Victorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08017494724748754400noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32098472.post-88624841931596557412014-05-10T11:23:00.000-04:002014-05-11T16:05:45.212-04:00Twenties Victor, 2004-2014Twenties Victor Lee, 29, of mostly New Jersey and sometimes parts of New York, passed away at midnight May 7th, 2014 on the Hudson Bergen Light Rail en route from Hoboken, after a long battle with aging. <br />
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Twenties Victor was born May 7th, 2004 in New York, NY at Lafayette Hall where he was residing in the waning days of his sophomore year at New York University. He was the only child of Aughts Victor and Teens Victor, who very much loved him and worked tirelessly and selflessly to support him in everything he did. Through them he learned much of the world and all the wonderful knowledge that helped shape him to be the man he was. To them he would be forever grateful and he always hoped to have made them proud.<br />
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His life like many lives was a mixed bag of joyful highs, disappointing lows, and a whole bunch of fairly average everyday stuff in between. He only hoped that through it all it would be at least an interesting mixed bag. Among his experiences in his brief decade long journey: he learned to drink (and proudly claimed he never vomited once), he traveled a little (though too little in his estimation), somehow became a barred attorney, and took way too long to get his wisdom teeth out. He never met a sandwich he didn’t like or a bag of jerky he could not finish in one sitting. He savored every brunch, volunteered for every road trip, and agonized over every mix CD.<br />
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He gained love and lost love. Managed to lose touch with old friends and made unlikely new ones. He won a small fortune over four game shows and accumulated a slightly larger debt over two colleges. In work he wore many hats including aspiring adman, E list game show celebrity, “Lockhorns” comic paradoist, and terrible lawyer; though he never found any of them all that comfortable for too long. Late in life he developed a curious interest in romantic comedy films and proudly completed his first feature length screenplay in 2013. At his passing he was working on his second one. It was one of his wishes that Thirties Victor would complete it in a timely manner.<br />
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Victor never married and had no children…to the best of his knowledge. He is survived and mourned by his friends both real and facebook, and Thirties Victor who will especially miss him but hopes to carry on his legacy and spirit. Wherever Twenties Victor may be in the Great Perhaps, he is most likely wearing a comfortable hoodie, reunited with his favorite cap that he lost on that fishing trip when he was 14, sipping a bloody mary and reveling in the fact he doesn’t have to get up early for work anymore. Services will be held this Saturday evening at numerous bars around the Lower East Side, perhaps maybe a brunch the next day, but that’s up in the air.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Twenties Victor in 2013</td></tr>
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Victorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08017494724748754400noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32098472.post-82025255573145706432014-04-29T16:33:00.002-04:002014-04-29T16:46:53.326-04:00Card Subject To Death<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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This post would have been a lot more relevant about three weeks ago, but I since I have some time now, why not knock out a backlogged post before the end of the month?<br />
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If there was anything more shocking than the end of the Undertaker’s undefeated Wrestlemania streak at Wrestlemania 30, it was the announcement of the sudden passing of the Ultimate Warrior only two days later. He had returned to the WWE after putting aside decades of bitter acrimony with the company to be inducted into WWE Hall of Fame that Saturday and appeared on Monday Night Raw the day after Mania; the following day he would be dead of a heart attack.<br />
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The Warrior’s sudden passing was reminiscent of the unexpected death of another wrestling icon of 80s and 90s, the Macho Man Randy Savage in 2011; also from a heart attack.<br />
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Thinking back I was filled with much sadness upon realizing that everyone involved in their famous match at <a href="http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xjsmjc_ultimate-warrior-vs-randy-savage-wrestlemania-7_sport">Wrestlemania VII</a> was now dead: Ultimate Warrior, Macho Man, Macho Man’s valet <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherri_Martel">Sensational Sherri</a> (drug overdose, 2007) and Macho Man’s former valet <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miss_Elizabeth">Miss Elizabeth</a> (drug overdose, 2003) who would reunite with Macho Man in the ring after the match. Given the circumstances of their separation two years earlier and fact that Macho Man's loss meant he had to retire from wrestling (spoiler: he didn't), the reuniting at the end was pretty much the most dramatic moment in Pro Wrestling history (though I heard a lot of those shots of crying fans were planted).*<br />
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Even sadder than the grim legacy of this match is the downright ludicrous death toll of the rest of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WrestleMania_VII#Results">card</a>:<br />
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<li>Both wrestlers from the second match of the night, the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerry_Von_Erich">Texas Tornado</a> and “Canada’s Strongest Man” <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dino_Bravo">Dino Bravo</a>, would be dead by 1993. Tornado would take his own life (becoming one of the five <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Von_Erich_family">Von Erich</a> wrestling brothers out of six that would tragically die before their father) while Bravo would (as bizarre and as sordid as it sounds) be murdered by Canadian mobsters relating to his involvement an illegal cigarette smuggling scheme.</li>
<li>Both wrestlers from the Intercontinental Championship match, The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Boss_Man_(wrestler)">Big Boss Man</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curt_Hennig">Mr. Perfect</a> would pass away within a year of each other; Mr. Perfect in 2003 from drugs and steroids and Boss Man from a heart attack in 2004. Mr. Perfect’s manager <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Heenan">Bobby “The Brain” Heenan</a> was diagnosed with throat cancer since 2007 but is fortunately still hanging in there.</li>
<li>The<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Davey_Boy_Smith"> British Bulldog</a> Davy Boy Smith, who defeated The Warlord, would die of a fatal heart attack in 2002, possibly related to past anabolic steroid use. Both wrestlers were absolutely roided up to the gills during this period, just <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gs009-TMtj0">massive</a>.</li>
<li>Monster heel <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Tenta">Earthquake</a> (who broke into the WWE with Dino Bravo) who defeated the ever unimpressive Greg Valentine in a squash would pass away from bladder cancer in 2006.</li>
<li>As for tag teams, one half of the tag team Demolition, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Adams_(wrestler)">Crush</a>, who lost to the team of Genichiro Tenryu and Kōji Kitao, died of possibly steroid related causes in 2007. </li>
<li>The Legion of Doom demolished Power and Glory but both teams would later lose a member within a year of each other. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Road_Warrior_Hawk">Road Warrior Hawk</a> of LOD would pass away from a heart attack in 2003 while <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hercules_Hernandez">Hercules</a> would also die of a heart attack in the following year.</li>
<li>As for non-wrestlers: commentators <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorilla_Monsoon">Gorilla Monsoon</a> would pass away in 1999 at age 62 and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Hayes_(wrestler)">“Lord” Alfred Hayes</a> passed away in 2005 at 76, both were due to generally declining health. Monsoon’s son, referee <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joey_Marella">Joey Marella</a> would sadly die in a car accident in 1994 at age 31. In contrast, of all of the celebrity guests only <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Steinbrenner">George Steinbrenner</a> (2010) has passed away so far. Some are still going strong in their 70s (ring announcer Alex Trebek, Chuck Norris), and 80s (national anthem singer Willie Nelson, guest commentator Regis Philbin). Although I do always worry about Macaulay Culkin’s health these days.</li>
<li>The Undertaker, who made his Wrestlemania debut and started his famous streak with a squash win over Jimmy Snuka was technically already dead to begin with.</li>
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While some of the deaths are unforeseeable disease, other natural causes, or random accidents, this is way beyond the standards of any actuarial table. Unfortunately, Wrestlemania VII isn’t just a grim statistical anomaly, pretty much every Wrestlemania up to the death of Chris Benoit (which really become the ultimate example of the horrifying <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Benoit_double_murder_and_suicide">physical consequences</a> of the profession) has had someone who died. I can’t imagine that sort of death toll when thinking back at all the Super Bowl teams or World Series participants. Things seem to have immensely improved in the modern WWE with wellness programs and awareness of medical issues like concussions (the 80s and early 90s was sort of a perfect storm of hard partying, institutionalized steroid use, and ignorance of long term health affects.) but wrestling still often extracts a brutal cost to those who choose to make their living in the squared circle. <br />
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*I also want to note that it was a complete and utter travesty that the Ultimate Warrior got up after Savage nailed him with FIVE CONSECUTIVE diving elbow drops. Imagine someone getting up after five Shawn Michaels Superkicks, five Stone Cold Stunners, five Attitude Adjustments. There was no need to make Macho's finisher look so weak or Warrior that outrageously strong.</div>
Victorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08017494724748754400noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32098472.post-85723469991181061712014-04-23T21:59:00.002-04:002014-04-24T08:53:33.750-04:00That's Rickdiculous!<div style="text-align: center;">
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Since “<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_and_Morty">Rick and Morty</a>” wrapped up their fantastic first season last Monday, all I can do is spend my new “Rick and Morty”-less Monday nights thinking way too much about previous episodes of “Rick and Morty.” If you aren’t familiar with “Rick and Morty”, like <a href="http://www.zap2it.com/blogs/rick_and_morty_season_1_finale_first_look_clip_the_gear_wars_are_bad_party_talk-2014-04">Gearhead</a>, I envy you. When it premiered I thought it the show was just going to be a one season affair, squeezing mild amusement from riffing on the legitimately strange dynamic of Doc and Marty from "Back to the Future." Eleven episodes later it's become my new favorite thing; it's dark, twisted, hilarious, at times sneakily profound, and hands down the most purely creative half hour on television.</div>
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That being said, I recalled a slight issue I had with a scene from the season’s eighth episode “Rixty Minutes.” In the scene Rick and Morty are watching TV vis a vis a cable box Rick modified to receive television broadcasts from every known reality. The show they're watching, is an alien version of “Garfield” called “Gazorpazorpfield,” which as Morty mentions appears to be from the Planet Gazorpazorp which they encountered in the previous episode (I also wanted to mention I have had that exact conversation in the past about Lorenzo Music and Bill Murray voicing each other’s characters; seeing that conversation make it on to an actual episode of a TV show made me fall in love with this show all the more). Now it appears “Gazorpazorpfield” differs from our earth’s Garfield in a few subtle areas: the extra appendages, different days of the week, love of enchiladas instead of lasagna, and a propensity towards hurling relentless verbal abuse at Jon (also I guess he can directly communicate with him, which I don't think Garfield actually does). In this episode he concludes his harsh, improvisational cussing out of Jon by calling him a “piece of human garbage”. <br />
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The insult is a bit incongruous since it’s been established that they are aliens from the Planet Gazorpazorp. Shouldn't Jon be referred to as a piece of Gazorpazorp-ian garbage or its equivalent? Now if the show was originating from another dimension with alternate earth based humans like the commercial by “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBvV1miNoA8">Ants In My Eyes Johnson</a>” or the alternate dimension <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3wnIJuN4tM">SNL</a>, the use of human would be more acceptable. Boy, I really hope somebody got fired for that blunder.<br />
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Of course this little bit of silliness is nothing when you realize that the episode is literally half improvised. It’s kind of crazy watching a show’s two leads spending the A plot doing nothing but sitting on the couch watching what appears to be animated versions of the voice actors just making up <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ziXpIPAhD4">TV shows</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39R9YLACjJY">commercials</a>. Rick and Morty even make a meta comment on the whole thing by stating how alternate reality TV has a “looser feel” and “an almost improvisational tone.” As crazy as it all sounds the really amazing thing is that all this randomness works and comes through by the end of the episode as Morty helps his sister Summer deal with the existential angst she suffers after viewing how much happier her alternate realty parents would have been if she wasn’t born by explaining how he lives every day with the knowledge of his own corpse buried in the backyard (see episode 6 “Rick Potion #9”) reflecting "Nobody exists on purpose. Nobody belongs anywhere. Everybody's going to die. Come watch TV?" <br />
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I’m telling ya, get on it (and I didn't even really mention the great <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T200b1EquG0">Meeseeks</a> episode).<br />
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<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Gtc4DHYvc0">RICK AND MORTY FOREVER AND FOREVER A HUNDRED YEARS Rick and Morty..</a>Victorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08017494724748754400noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32098472.post-31526278234374704302014-03-23T00:46:00.000-04:002014-03-23T00:50:31.340-04:00Odd Future<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Despite what your idiot friend posted on Facebook, today (or yesterday, or a week ago) is not the future date Doc and Marty traveled to in "<a href="http://www.avclub.com/article/troll-friends-and-lose-twitter-followers-back-futu-201547">Back to the Future II</a>." The real date however, October 21, 2015, is not that far off. It's a date that I've had on my mind for most of my life and for me it'll be a pretty surreal experience when it actually comes around. It's a rare thing to be able to have the singular fan experience of existing in the exact same date as a favorite film or TV show. Star Trek is in the distant future, Star Wars is in the distant past (and a distant galaxy), we're about 60 years ahead of Indiana Jones, and I don't even know if the Lord of the Rings even takes place in our reality. I guess X-Files and Terminator fans could lay claim to experiencing a near future date set by their creators, though since they both involve the end of the world I imagine it wasn't quite as fun (in the case of Terminator fans <a href="http://terminator.wikia.com/wiki/Judgment_Day">Judgment Day</a> just keeps on getting moved up like the predictions of a really lousy cult leader).<br />
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October 21, 2015 unfortunately will also likely bring the BTTF fan many disappointments when it comes to predicted advances in technology. I even found an <a href="http://victorsellsout.blogspot.com/2007/04/friend-of-mine-recently-called-me-out.html">old post</a> in the archives listing my top 5 things I'll be disappointed in the distant year of 2015 if they didn't exist (it's quite disturbing that the post is almost 7 years old) and it seems only one item, <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2014/02/17/power-laces-back-to-future/5549043/">power laces</a> from Nike seem to be a possibility.<br />
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While the likely lack of future wonders like hover board technology, delicious hydrated Pizza Hut pizza, automated dog walkers, and dust resistant paper (you know for all that paper media we use) is a bummer, I started to consider maybe there were some things from the Hill Valley of 2015 we are better off not having. Here are a few things:<br />
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<li>The US Weather Service. Sure it seems awesome that meteorological science had advanced to the point where weather could be predicted to the <a href="http://youtu.be/rUGZf_lvumA?t=1m4s">second</a> (alas the Post Office is apparently still a mess in 2015). This is assuming that this is how the Weather Service works. Consider the possibility that the Weather Service isn't predicting the weather with deadly accuracy but rather controlling it. Now the name takes on a much more ominous tone, like the arm of some powerful totalitarian Big Brother. Having absolute control of the elements would go a long way in maintaining a subtle but complete control over a society. Could the world of 2015 Hill Valley be a discreet dystopia?</li>
<li>Hyper Inflation. When Doc gives Marty instructions on how to pretend to be his future son, he tells Marty to order a Pepsi at the Cafe 80's and gives him a fifty. Now it could just be that Doc only has large bills on him and doesn't care if Marty's going to look like a jerk going into a restaurant to order a soda and pay with a fifty dollar bill, but then later on Marty is solicited by a volunteer on the street asking to donate $100 to save the clock tower as if it were spare change. I know that our economy's been pretty rough so far this decade but our currency hasn't lost that much value.</li>
<li>No Lawyers. Marty reads a newspaper article about his son being arrested, tried, convicted, and sentenced to 15 years in the state penitentiary within two hours. When he asks Doc how all that could be done in 2 hours, he explains that "the justice system works swiftly in the future, now that they've abolished all lawyers." Contemporary society's hatred of lawyers aside, do we really want to live in a future where lawyers are abolished and long prison sentences are determined in a matter of hours? How are these "trials" conducted? Isn't that how the justice system works in North Korea? This sort of goes back to my suspicions that BTTF 2015 is actually a harsh authoritarian dystopia.</li>
<li>Handheld Roofie Devices. Doc uses a convenient handheld "sleep inducing alpha rhythm generator" to immediately knockout Marty's overly inquisitive girlfriend <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUGZf_lvumA">Jennifer</a> and later Marty's son so Marty could take his place. Call me crazy but such a device may have potential for some abuse. Is this some black market good or just the contemporary version of pepper spray. I really hope Doc had to buy it from some shady drug dealer in some dark alley rather than just purchasing it at the nearest CVS. Fortunately, for the foreseeable future, would be date rapist will have to drug victims the old fashion way. </li>
<li>Creatively Bankrupt Film Industry. Sure Hollywood is guilty of leaning too heavily on sequels and adaptations of established franchises while taking as little risk as it can in terms of novelty and creativity, but I don't think it'll ever get bad enough to the point where a 19th Jaws movie is <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nxsmuie8y4">produced</a>. Going by the historical decline of the series from the classic original to universally panned Jaws 4: The Revenge, I shudder to think how absurdly terrible the 18th sequel would be, in hologram form no less (even the Saw movies stopped at 7). By contrast the movie industry is in much better shape in reality than in this fictional 2015. </li>
<li>Japanese Hegemony. The film's future seems to be reflecting the fears of the 1980s that the surging Japanese economy would eventually come to dominate <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Km6bFBSVty4">America</a>. I suppose fortunately for us, that the Japanese have been in an economic funk for the past decade or so and however poorly we're doing they're doing just as poorly or worse. American workers won't have to kowtow to their angry Japanese corporate overlords who regularly monitor their personal video calls and instantly fires them via mass faxes (I love how there's a fax machine in every room of the house). Tying it back to my dystopia theory, maybe it's the Japanese that are running the show as if the U.S. was conquered by them sometime between 1985 and 2015. They could now be running America with an iron fist, controlling our weather, abolishing our adversarial judicial system, wrecking our currency, manufacturing rape devices, and hamstringing our movie industry Hmmm...sounds like a potential YA franchise.</li>
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Victorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08017494724748754400noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32098472.post-14589777309119200252014-01-30T00:00:00.002-05:002014-01-30T00:00:49.880-05:00Double TakeFor about the last year or so I've occasionally come across ads from Discover Card's "We Treat You Like You'd Treat You" campaign while watching Hulu (they were probably on regular TV too). The ads are meant to show how friendly and superior Discover's customer service is and how their customer service people will treat you like you would treat yourself. To demonstrate the point they have the same actor playing both the caller and the Discover employee explaining to the call how great all their features are. The characters are varied from <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RI6v9ayqWfc">sassy black women</a>, to <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtiQ6A0outQ">paranoid private investigators</a>, to <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUKWIofF_Hs">unhappy mothers</a>, and <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-U1SOxHwnI">bewildered spouses</a>.<br />
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I never really paid much mind to these ads. These weren't exactly all that memorable but I suppose there were way worse :30 adverts out there. However I have to admit that I was legitimately surprised by the most recent one:<br />
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Every other so far has been presented as visual representations of Discover treating the customer like the customer would themselves, but here it turns out they are literally twins. I did not see that coming. Although now that I think about it, shouldn't the sister who was working for Discover have figured out that she was talking to her twin when she pulled up her customer information? </div>
Victorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08017494724748754400noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32098472.post-1793275440842691282014-01-11T13:43:00.002-05:002014-01-11T13:45:09.044-05:00Three Below<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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As I write this post it is 58 degrees and drizzling. It's nobody's ideal weather situation (I don't know maybe northern seals might like this?) but compared to the deep freeze most of the country was in earlier this week, it's a heatwave. I know most of us have terrible goldfish memories when it comes to extreme weather but I certainly couldn't remember ever feeling a pile driver cold like that waiting for the bus. I had a few random observations that were tangentially (and really these are quite tangential) related the past deep freeze, none of them had enough substance to justify an entire post but I figured if I cobbled them together into an ungainly Frankenstein (or perhaps Human Centipede) there would be just enough content for a proper entry: <br />
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<li>In my recent attempts to be more competitive in my pop music fantasy league I got myself into Spotify in an effort to try and get hip to what the young people were listening to these days. So far though I've just been using it to listen to a lot of classic country music story songs (maybe I'll eventually work my way up to listening to contemporary country music story songs). Of course no discussion of classic era country storytelling would be valid without the mention of "The Storyteller" himself <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_T._Hall">Tom T. Hall</a>. The song for me that that really captured the bleak oppressive cold of the past few days and become my unofficial theme was "<a href="https://myspace.com/therealtomthall/music/song/it-sure-can-get-cold-in-des-moines-32227-41028">It Sure Can Get Cold in Des Moines</a>". It appears to be an album cut and definitely not one of his more well known songs (that myspace link was the only place where I could find a streaming source. Youtube only had a few cover videos), but I just really enjoyed the sad, simple mood he invoked in the tune. Most of his big hits are broad, often comedic, somewhat cheesier fare (which I still enjoy thoroughly) so I enjoyed this style change. One thing it did have in common with most of his big hits was that it took place in a <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FU_TuwM2Dw">bar</a> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFKdXV63_Cc">or</a> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WzbefdGyqk">involved</a> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sx5te3VkTtQ">drinking</a>; I suppose it's no surprise coming from the man who wrote "<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8i5k4I1AOEI">I Like Beer"</a>. </li>
<li>The recent cold also seemed have proved too much for our ailing home boiler. It's in the stage of its life where it's broken but annoying not broken enough to justify getting it replaced. Like an aging ballplayer it's capable of stretches of quality work with occasional flashes of its former brilliance, but it's obviously not the player it once was and is prone to bouts of ineffectiveness. I suppose if I wanted to continue the metaphor I would be better off getting rid of it a year too early than a year too late. Anyways it's nothing serious, but sometimes it'll forget to switch on when the temperature hits a certain level and you have to physically do some light finagling to get it going again. Of course any incidence of boiler finagling will remind me of that scene from "Peep Show" where Jeremy tells Mark to "<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXmIOub22qI">trick</a>" their boiler into heating the apartment up faster. I know Jeremy is supposedly in the wrong here, but I can't help but follow his logic. If you set a higher goal temperature for the boiler I think it would work harder to get there than a modest goal temperature. The same goes for the heat in my car and preheating ovens.</li>
<li>My final point really doesn't have much to do with the cold weather. I was watching last Monday night's "Old School" themed episode of WWE Raw (to the unfamiliar it's basically like old timer's day where they bring back bunch of former wrestlers and celebrate the past). One of the returning old timers was the tag team faction "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Too_Cool">Too Cool</a>" (see cool, cold, cold weather, huh, huh?). I actually don't know much about them because their entire run on WWE fell during my wrestling hiatus from the beginning of high school, 1998, to 2013 when I got back into things after going to Wrestlemania 29. Too Cool doesn't have the most compelling of gimmicks, I guess they've got a kind of clownish, fun loving, vaguely hip hop related, theme. I think they would have actually fared just as well in the modern, kid friendly PG era of WWE. One of the members "Scotty 2 Hotty"'s entire career is basically predicated on his overly theatrical finisher "<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ar7vkKi6Obk">The Worm</a>". No matter what he does in the ring, the people expect him to break out <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNyjZ8AJOeQ">the Worm</a>. Having witnessed the Worm in action, it might well be the least efficient finisher in WWE history. As fans there is a certain degree of suspension of disbelief (isn't it odd that no one ever ends up awkwardly hanging in the middle ropes except against <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrpQ09Mqv2M">Rey Mysterio</a>?), but the amount of time the opponent just lies there while Scotty sets up his ridiculous routine all for a pathetic chop drop makes even the most dedicated mark strain. It makes the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPwqPdqMcZk">People's Elbow</a> look unpredictable and devastating. Still, fun to cheer along with I guess.</li>
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Victorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08017494724748754400noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32098472.post-90901958058958257302014-01-03T19:52:00.001-05:002014-01-05T22:39:58.137-05:00Crunchy Numbers: Dispatches from My 2013 Journal<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Over the last few years I've developed the habit to keeping a small journal around me to take notes and write down random ideas and observations. If you spent any significant amount of time around me you may have noticed that small black leather bound notebook (it's actually a <a href="http://piccadillyinc.com/products/notebooks">Piccadilly</a> plain small essential notebook. They look exactly like the famous Moleskine notebooks but cost about half. Unfortunately it's become a lot harder to find them since Borders shutdown) I often have on me. Content-wise I'd say it's like an extremely casual version of the sort of daily notebooks former Senator <a href="http://www.sptimes.com/2003/02/23/Floridian/Dress_in_gray_suit__d.shtml">Bob Graham</a> keeps, Most of it is really just a jotting down of the mental kipple that my life generates. I keep certain running lists like movies I've seen and books I've read but I make actual entries on average maybe every three or four days (I noticed there are a lot of Thursday entries). </div>
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So I figured with 2013 firmly in the rear view mirror I'd share with everyone to a quick look back at some of the stats and entries:</div>
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<b>Books</b></div>
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Overall I've completed 37 books in 2013. This might be a personal record of mine as an adult. I probably read more as a kid but it's hard to compare; you can go through like four Choose Your Own Adventure Books a day. This number would have been impossible without the aid of audio books which where a mainstay of my commutes (and sometimes slow days at the office). Of the 37 books I've read 23 of them were audio books (I know some purists would say I didn't technically "read" them, but whatever). 10 of the books I read where physical books while I polished off 4 e-books or whatever the kids are calling them these days on my Nexus 10. The first book I completed this year was an audio reading of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paper_Towns">Paper Towns</a> by John Green (1/9) and the last book was David Mitchell's autobiography <a href="http://www.amazon.com/David-Mitchell-Back-Story/dp/0007351720">Back Story</a> (12/31) read by Mitchell himself, which I think makes for a superior experience over reading print.</div>
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<b>Movies</b></div>
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Counting movies I saw in their entirety; I'm talking sit down, watching at least 95% of the thing, not just catching the last half of "Anchorman" on Cinemax, I saw 53 films in 2013. Of that number I only saw 9 of them in theaters (and really like half of those were <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RiffTrax#Live_shows">Rifftrax Live</a> events). In terms of physical media I saw 4 movies on DVD and 1 movie on VHS (1931's "<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0022279/">Private Lives</a>" for esoteric rom com research). The other 39 films were streamed online (Netflix, Hulu, Youtube, etc.), the future is now. First movie I saw "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruby_Sparks">Ruby Sparks</a>" (1/2) which I got from a Redbox machine (one of the 4 DVDs I saw that year) and the last film was "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delirious_(film)">Delirious</a>" (12/21) which I streamed online. I also want to note that I finished my years long goal of seeing all 100 movies listed in Billy Mernit's "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Writing-Romantic-Comedy-Billy-Mernit/dp/0060935030">Writing the Romantic Comedy</a>" (also I finished my first draft of my own rom com) the personal rankings of which I may eventually publish on this blog.</div>
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<b>Eating</b></div>
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I didn't keep some kind of thorough list of everything I ate or places I ate but I have verified that I ate at least 12 times at a New Jersey dinner (though it certainly felt like more). Also, I don't know how to explain it but somehow I ate at California Pizza Kitchen at least 5 times, all outside of California. I also made 3 confirmed trips to Fuddruckers which is not nearly enough in my opinion.</div>
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<b>Haircuts and Grades</b></div>
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<ul>
<li>3/24 - B+ "Decent, short, really took care of the sideburns"</li>
<li>6/8 - B- "Slightly longer on top, sideburns undercut"</li>
<li>8/25 - A- "Even cut, I liked it, best I can probably hope for"</li>
<li>11/16 - B "OK cut, slightly longer, mostly focused on side and back"</li>
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I should probably find a place that doesn't average a B but they're close, friendly, cheap, and we've come to the point where I don't have to really explain to them how I want my haircut.<br />
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<b>Karaoke Songs</b></div>
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With the friends I run with, it's always important to have a steady list of songs you want to sing mapped out so you don't waste valuable time at the karaoke place pouring over sticky songbooks looking for something to pick. 3 songs I got around to doing for the first time this year were:</div>
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<ul>
<li>George Jones - "<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXKn8BBPfr0">White Lightning</a>" (RIP George Jones. Super fun song to sing. Though it's a 50s country song about brewing moonshine, the lyrics could easily be about cooking meth)</li>
<li>Robert Palmer - "<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-xQkO2iX0I">I Didn't Mean to Turn You On</a>" (The sexiest song about telling someone you don't want to sleep with them.)</li>
<li>Dinah Shore - "<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cir159kTrO0">Buttons and Bows</a>" (I had recently seen that classic "<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvAWUJCjgQE">Frazier</a>" episode where he does an embarrassingly inept rendition of the song on TV and I just had to get it out of my head) </li>
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<b>Five Random Excerpts</b><br />
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<ul>
<li>1/31 - Thurs. - "Last episode of '30 Rock' aired tonight; I didn't know that it was airing until this morning. Fantastic final season. I'm really going to miss that crazy show. My Thursday night line up is crumbling."</li>
<li>4/4 - Thurs. "It would appear that my Casio watch died after midnight around 12:03. Sad. It might be too cheap to replace the battery."</li>
<li>6/14 - Fri. "Technically it's past midnight so it's the 15th but who's counting?"</li>
<li>9/7 - Sat. "Now: The house is currently out of seltzer. I must take my leave to the Shoprite."</li>
<li>12/9 - Mon. "Icy mess this morning, fell on my ass twice while heading to the bus. Surprisingly not as much damage as I expected. It's one way to get the morning started."</li>
</ul>
I never said I was Anne Frank.<br />
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<b>Five Really Random Things I Just Jotted Down And Now I'm Not Entirely Sure What They're In Reference To</b></div>
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<ul>
<li>"Distaff = Female"</li>
<li>"Men's Werehouse, for fashionable Werewolves"</li>
<li>"William Melater aka Bill"</li>
<li>"One hit wonder or magnum opus?"</li>
<li>"Dialog: Remember the time we met Willy Wonka but it turned out to be a bum in a factory?"</li>
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2013 in a nutshell everyone!</div>
Victorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08017494724748754400noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32098472.post-928373192809018862013-12-23T00:50:00.000-05:002013-12-23T06:40:49.197-05:00Number 12 Looks Just Like You (Twilight Zone Series, #137)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I want to start off with a confession: I am currently in the midst of a serious Young Adult novel kick with no potential end in sight. Specifically as of late I've been reading up (though to be technically accurate I've been listening to audio books) on the monstrously popular dystopian/post apocalyptic end of the YA spectrum; the kinds of stories, usually told written in trilogies where tough but vulnerable teen girl protagonists are put through horrifying and gruesome amounts of trauma all while falling in love with some hunky boy. It kind of started after I saw the second Hunger Games film (which reignited my interest in the books which I got through last year) which in turn compelled me to power through the entire <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divergent_(novel)">Divergent Trilogy</a> (short review: it really is a poor man's Hunger Games). Side note: bet heavy on the star of the upcoming film adaptation, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shailene_Woodley">Shailene Woodley</a> she looks primed to follow the Jennifer Lawrence path to world domination (or at the very least be a respectable poor man's version of her). I'm currently reading though "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-5th-Wave-Rick-Yancey/dp/0399162410">The 5th Wave</a>" (the first of a planned trilogy) which trades in future dystopia for modern post apocalypse. So far I'm digging the brisk pacing and the setup; plus I'm quite surprised at the horrifically detailed description of a decimated planet earth where 97% of the population has been killed off, shades of Cormac McCarthy's "The Road". It's tailor made for a film adaptation and I would be surprised if one isn't announced soon.<br />
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It's just in my nature to go off on these random pop culture obsessions for indefinite periods of time. I think this time last year I was seriously in an all things <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Mitchell_(comedian)">David Mitchell</a> British comedy hole in which only now am I starting to recover from. Then there's my long time on again off again infatuation with the romantic comedy genre which finally peaked with the completion of my own rom-com script (still waiting for that call Hollywood!). So yeah that's the state of affairs with me, Victor is now into YA novels. This whole thing might blow over quickly like a 24 hour bug or it might settle into a long term condition, I don't know.<br />
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I think a big part of what drew me to rom-coms is what currently attracts me to these YA books. They're both genres with strongly established, almost rigid rules and conventions. I find something attractive in that, the idea of being creative in a more narrowly defined space and with certain preconceived expectations by the audience established from the start. I've found that I'm paradoxically way more apt to be creative myself when given restrictions. I also dig that both genres have a certain loose formula to follow, though the best examples are by no means formulaic, and that both types of stories are escapist fantasies that almost always end in a crowd pleasing manner (though obviously one has a much higher body count than the other). Who knows, maybe once I really sink my teeth into the genre and get a through understanding of its ins and outs I might even try my hand in writing my own; the barrier certainly isn't all that low. That's another thing rom-coms and YA dystopian series share, for every stand out example there is a flood of <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/18008.The_Hunger_Games_Similar_Books_Series_Ideas">derivative</a> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/22354.Vampire_dystopian_novels_list">follow ups</a>. For every Love Actually you get a New Years Eve. For every Hunger Games you get <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Testing-Joelle-Charbonneau/dp/0547959109">The Testing</a> (that's right it's Hunger Games meets the SATs).<br />
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Anyways I had to do that longish set up to get to my main point and that's how I've come to notice that the Twilight Zone episode "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Number_12_Looks_Just_Like_You">Number 12 Looks Just Like You</a>" has all the elements of a solid dystopian YA novel. The plot of the episode is that in a future society everyone at age 18 undergoes a process known as "the Transformation" where their face and body is altered into one a of a small section of models. Everyone becomes generically beautiful while becoming more resistant to disease and living far longer. Apparently ugliness has been the sole cause of societies ills since it's implied that since the transformation system was established there is no longer any crime or war or suffering of any kind in this world (it's a good thing too since I'd imagine identity theft would run rampant considering everyone looks the same and you're only distinguished by your name tag).<br />
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The main protagonist Marilyn who is scheduled to for the transformation is a nonconformist type who has grave misgivings about the procedure and doesn't want to go through with it, much to the dismay of her friends, family, and those in charge of the transformations. Obviously it turns out there is more to the transformation than just a change in physical appearance and things like individuality and free thought are conspicuously missing in this utopia. We later find out that Marilyn's deceased father, who was a free thinker himself and gave her banned books to read, committed suicide because he couldn't deal with his transformation. Though Marilyn struggles, in the end she is forced into the transformation and becomes just another unidentifiable pretty face; one of the sadder Twilight Zone endings.<br />
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There obviously needs to be a few tweaks to the plot but essentially you can convert the story (an adaptation of a short story by acclaimed TZ writer Charles Beaumont) straight into a solid modern trilogy. Even after almost 50 years the major themes still resonate with today's teens: society's obsession with beauty, the importance of being yourself, the dignity of being human, thinking forself is beautiful, etc. The lost parental figure is a common trope (it could be revealed that the father was actually alive as a twist in the second book). I would probably add a cute little brother or sister that the protagonist is always looking out for. Of course the original ending would have to change. She would run away before her transformation and maybe find some secret underground anti-transformation movement living in the fringes of society and they'd teach her of the "old days" when everyone looked different and aged naturally. There she might meet some handsome (maybe give him a small flaw like a scar since we don't want him to go against the story's theme) boy with whom she falls in love with...at least until she meets the other attractive teen boy transformation escapee that she knew from high school who shows up later in the book to complicate matters. Two books of bloody civil war between the evil leaders of society and the insurgents where she watches a bunch of friends get brutally killed, suffers a bunch of painful but ultimately non-lethal flesh wounds, impales the malicious leader of the future society with a shattered mirror (because symbolism), picks a boy after an excessive amount of anguished first person contemplation, and society is once again free to be you and me. Call up Elle Fanning to helm the film franchise, watch the millions roll in.<br />
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Note: As I found out shortly after writing this post, there actually was a YA dystopian series "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uglies_series">Uglies</a>", published between 2005 and 2007, with similar plots and themes. So I guess my instincts were correct. Maybe for my next post I'll write up a treatment for a YA adaption of the less than classic episode "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Leather_Jackets">Black Leather Jackets</a>" about an alien invader who unexpectedly falls in love with a young girl and decides humanity is worth saving.Victorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08017494724748754400noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32098472.post-60188564645131268092013-12-03T22:45:00.001-05:002013-12-03T22:45:44.982-05:00Live Más<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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A sad bit of new I read earlier. The apparent driving force behind the creation of Taco Bell's Doritos Locos Tacos, a 41 year old Little Rock, AR resident named <a href="http://www.today.com/food/man-who-led-crusade-doritos-locos-tacos-dies-2D11687785">Todd Mills</a>, passed away from cancer today. According to the article, Mills, who had no ties to Frito Lay or Taco Bell, was just a dedicated dreamer who doggedly pursued the epiphany of creating a taco shell made of Doritos after watching a Doritos commercial while eating a taco in 2009. After launching a one man facebook crusade, he eventually got the attention of Taco Bell in early 2012 and the rest is nacho cheese encrusted, low grade, beef filled, history.<br />
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While there's no information on how long is battle with cancer was, I'd like to imagine a heroic narrative in my mind along the same lines of Kurosawa's 1952 classic film "<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mLrLHDdXHI">Ikiru</a>". Like the protagonist of the film, after being given a terminal cancer diagnosis, he struggles to find meaning in his life and finally resolves himself to accomplish one worthwhile achievement with the time he has left (in the case of the film it's a simple neighborhood park for children and in this case the greatest innovation to stoner cuisine since in invention of Combos). Highly unlikely scenario I know, cancer is more often than not pretty damn unromantic.<br />
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Though he never received any compensation for the idea that went on to sell a $1 billion worth of tacos, his remarkable legacy lives on throughout the world. It's an inspiring testament to the power of following through on your dreams. Victorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08017494724748754400noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32098472.post-85206924875279320452013-11-24T21:47:00.000-05:002013-11-24T21:55:23.417-05:00Movies at 8: TwinsI have always said that if I ever wrote an autobiography there would be an entire chapter devoted to watching the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbLjjKqiUcA">8 O'Clock Movies</a> as a kid on the old WPIX 11. It wouldn't be a huge chapter or anything. It would cover about the first 2/3rds of the 90's up to my middle school years before my parents got cable and WPIX phased out its nightly movies for original programming after becoming WB 11 (and now CW), a time when the nightly 8 o'clock was my main exposure to the medium of film.<br />
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The movies I saw then, a pretty good mix of mainstream blockbusters (though they did play "Howard the Duck" quite often) generally from the 80s to the early 90s (I think maybe 1991's "Terminator 2" was the most recent movie I ever saw on there), are the movies that will forever be burned into my mind; the ones I will remember 50 years from now. I also can't help but think they had a big, although indirect, affect on my artistic sensibilities. Anyone who knows me will attest that the kind of art I enjoy (music, TV, film, literature) and create myself (hey, I've been known to create a little art here and there on rare occasions) steer towards the mainstream, the populist, the generally crowd pleasing. You know, for all its negative consequences I think we're better off that "Jaws" and "Star Wars" killed New Hollywood. It's not to say I'm against thing high culture, I like smart, original work but really most times I rather be entertained than challenged, be clever than intellectual.<br />
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Where was I? Oh right, 8 O'Clock Movies, they were great, I watched a ton of them. I figured I'd go back and give some impressions on some of my favorite films of the era. I don't want to jinx this by calling it a series, given my history of not posting for weeks at a time. I would like to revisit this topic again in the future but also don't be surprised if this turns out to be one of one.<br />
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So without further interruption I present tonight's feature presentation: "Twins"<br />
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"<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EXZF5rcli8">Twins</a>", the well known 1988 comedy film directed by Ivan Reitman and staring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito is the 8 O'Clock Movie I remember seeing the most. Maybe the distribution rights were cheap or something but it just always seemed to be on; especially during the weekends when they'd throw in an extra movie in the afternoon. <br />
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As a kid I found the movie to be straightforward fun. The juxtaposition of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito as twin brothers is so extreme in every way that it can't help but be at the very least amusing. Thinking about the plot of the film now however as an adult, I realize that it's batshit insane!<br />
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For those of you not familiar with the movie, just viewing that linked trailer, what would you think this movie was about (at this point I suppose I should drop a 25 year old spoiler alert)? That intro is pretty strange right? Some kind of government created perfect man (Schwarzenegger) finds out he has a weird little brother, they meet up, hangout in matching suits, and beat some guy up. It gives no insight at all into this film with the broad title "Twins".<br />
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The trailer makes it look like this film is a 105 minute sight gag, sort of like a feature length movie version of that picture of <a href="http://www.thetallestman.com/images/manutebol/manutebol.jpg">Manute Bol and Mugsy Bogues</a>. To the filmmakers' credit there is much more to this movie than that, in fact the film has so many disparate genre elements that it becomes a fascinating Frankenstein of a story...in a mostly good way.<br />
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Let's start with how the titular twins came to be. Yes, instead of them just being wildly disparate, natural fraternal twins; their existence is due to a top secret U.S. government experiment. Off the bat you have a science fiction movie, an extremely terrifying sci-fi thriller even, about the U.S. government developing a highly unethical eugenics program where they attempt to engineer a perfect man using sperm from multiple donors (given Arnold's background and accent, it might have made more sense if we was a German product). We later find out that after the experiment concluded Arnold was sent off to be raised on some freaky Dr. Moreau island, DeVito (essentially the unexpected leftover crap from the experiment) was tossed into an orphanage, and their mother was told they both died at childbirth, so yeah that's horrifying.<br />
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When Arnold finally learns about his brother, he catches up to him in LA where he's some kind of shady conman with a side business in stealing cars. From their initial meeting until DeVito ends up stealing a car with an extremely valuable MacGuffin (more on that later) it becomes a buddy picture with fish out of water elements involving the sheltered Arnold being introduced to modern 1980's American life (like driving a car and using microwave ovens) by the street smart DeVito. Along they way Arnold beats up some loan sharks who are after DeVito. Some love interests are thrown in with a pair of blonde sisters falling far the two brothers (the one that's into Arnold is played by Kelly Preston).<br />
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Now this could have been the whole movie and it would have been perfectly adequate, but "Twins" doesn't stop there. The second act of the story and the main conflict begins when DeVito discovers some kind of stolen prototype fuel-injector engine thing (that MacGuffin I mentioned) in one of the cars he stole. As it turns out is was supposed to be delivered to some shady industrialist in Houston (the late great Trey Wilson playing basically the same character he played in "Raising Arizona" the previous year ). DeVito negotiates a deal with him to deliver the thing to him for a cool $5 million. Unfortunately he's forced to bring along Arnold who wants to stop over in Los Alamos to track down one of the original scientists and possibly locate their mother. The girls tag along too for fun I guess. So now it becomes a road picture.<br />
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Things get even more complicated when the original delivery man, Webster (Marshall Bell who would memorably star with Arnold in his next film "Total Recall" as <a href="http://i672.photobucket.com/albums/vv84/paulbg2000/kuato-1.jpg">Kuato</a>), a remorseless professional killer/MacGuffin delivery man, starts to track the group down. The movie starts to oddly resemble the 2009 Best Picture winner "No Country For Old Men". They both involve a long chase through the American Southwest in the 1980s between an unsuspecting holder of stolen millions and a psychopathic hitman (Bell's character actually has a code of killing any associate who has seen his face, you would never guess that this movie has a body count of at least 5) bent on retrieving his lost package. Plus, in both cases the hitman is hired by an industrialist in Houston. This turns into an action/chase/thriller with maybe a little suspense thrown in.<br />
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To make a long story short (too late?) Arnold saves Devito from Webster, they do the right thing and return the stolen thing to the original owners, meet their long lost mother, and simultaneously marry both women who (of course) both give birth to TWINS! Nothing in a innocuous looking movie poster hints at the kind of intense cinematic experience one would experience. It's no wonder it took four people to write this thing!<br />
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Also, if the insane rumors turn to be true, there may be a sequel in the work "<a href="http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/twins-triplets-arnold-schwarzenegger-danny-devito-eddie-murphy-306026">Triplets</a>" with Eddie freaking Murphy playing another long lost twin. Considering the obvious race and age differences I don't know how it could be explained (alien? robot? alternate dimension?) but when it comes to "Twins" I have learned that there are no storytelling boundaries. If it does happen I eagerly await whatever new genres get modified and combined to form a perfect sequel.Victorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08017494724748754400noreply@blogger.com0