Swing your hips from side to side...

I had originally intended to share with you how much I loved this show as a kid:

and how every Friday I would run home but somehow always miss this segment of it:

but the internet wants me to tell you that there are way too many musicians with no direction out there (except maybe these guys).

The Darcy List: Baby Names

Editor's note: The views expressed in this post aren't necessarily mine, even though I wrote them. I was pretty tired.

I'm adding something to my Darcy List: silly baby names. Now, I realize that this might be something of a touchy subject. Let me assure you, I'm not talking about your baby's name. No no. Your baby's name is perfectly fine. It's all those other people who give weird baby names that I'm talking about. Anyway, now that we've got that cleared up...

I'm not a fan of the creative baby naming fad that seems to be so popular nowadays. Somehow I just can't bring myself to saddle a kid with a slap bracelet of a name. I could rant more, but this article does it better than I could, so I'll defer to it. I had planned on showing you some hard data about the rise of "creative" names, but I got lazy. You can go here and find all the data you want. It's actually a pretty fun tool to play with. Here's a small example though. I've always felt that us Mormons are especially susceptible to this phenomenon (c'mon, we've all met a Verl or a LaDean), so I'm going to hit you with some of the Utah 2007 highlights:

Boys:

• #7 Mason. Sorry, that's a surname.
• #28 Jaxon. x ≠ ck.
  
• #46 Jayden. Only if you're a girl.
• #51 Braxton. Another surname.
  
• #64 Gage. Sounds like rail thickness, but it's another doggone surname. Ugh.
• #74 Ryker. Was he born with a manly beard?
  
• #77 Boston. Lovely city, horrible name.
• #90 Bridger. Stop with the surnames!

Girls:

• #7 Brooklyn. Lovely borough, horrible name.
• #10 Madison. Lovely street... yeah, you got the pattern.
• #68 Aspen. Let's just chock that one up to bad memories.
• #69 Makayla. Nope.
• #70 Rylee. Nope.
  
• #81. Brinley. Nope.
  
• #85 Brynlee. Ditto.
  

Yeah, yeah. I guess I'm being a bit snarky. Now it's your turn to say snarky things about the names I like.

Boys:

• Jack
• Matthew
• James

Girls:

• Katharine (Kate)
• Margaret (Maggie)
• Caroline

And that's all there is folks, I'm going to bed.

Boring baseball trivia, with footnotes

I'm sure that I'll tell you more about this later, but while I was in Seattle I saw some baseball. I can't remember how I came across this map today, but I'm glad I did, since it is a fairly unique look at how baseball is laid out in the US and has got me thinking about how unique my beloved Mariners are.
Now, I'm sure that the boundaries are up for discussion. But that's not what I'm thinking about. You hear a lot (especially in Seattle) about East Coast bias, and though some of it is just West Coast Whining, some of it is justified - because most of the teams are in the East. St. Louis was for a long time the westernmost team in Baseball, so let's just draw a line of longitude through it (if you'd like, you can imagine me standing in front of the map, with a t-shirt over my button down, Picture Pages style). This leaves us with 12 teams. If we really want to talk about the West and use the Rocky Mountains as our line of demarcation, we're down to 8 teams. If we take the wayback machine to 1997, Arizona drops out, and turning the dial to 1992 removes the Rockies. In short, I can easily remember a time when there were 6 teams west of the Rockies, 5 of which were in California. Of those 6 teams, only 3 of them originated there, the Giants and Dodgers having arrived from New York in 1958 and the A's having passed through KC on their way from Philadelphia, finally arriving in 1968. Of those three native teams, the Mariners are the youngest (remember, we're back in 1992), arriving in the league in 1977*. Of those 3 teams, 2 were originally owned by entertainers - the Angels by army air force pilot and singing cowboy Gene Autry and the Mariners by the alleged homosexual, communist, draft dodger Danny Kaye**. It's probably why the Angels continue to kick our butts to this day.

*For those nitpickers out there, 1969 marked the arrival of the short-lived Seattle Pilots, who, after one solitary season of play, were moved to Milwaukee by none other than comissioner-to-be Bud Selig despite plenty of legal attempts to keep them there. For awhile it was unclear where the team would be for the 1970 season, and their gear was being held in Provo, oddly enough. Sound familar to other recent Seattle sports news? Problems with the Pilots stadium were even part of the problem. Let's just hope that ClayClay doesn't someday become the commisioner of the NBA, or else we're all screwed. Oops, might be too late (put this photo with this caption).

**Shocking, I know. I never accused him of anything.

Almost better than warm milk

Just back from Seattle and realizing that 5 days is just enough time to time warp my body 3 hours. Decided I'd try posting something since I can't stand warm milk. I suppose that I could give you the travel log, but I haven't passed the pics from the camera to the computer, so that will have to wait. What I can tell you is that I came home with a heavier bag than I left with, having stolen several things from my parents house and having been gifted others. And yes, I decided to steal from my parents' religious library and opted for Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith. I figured as long as I'm putting my soul in hock for this, I might as well make it worth it. See if you can figure that logic out. I'm afraid I can't.
I'm perhaps most excited about the fact that my parents lent me their copy of the HBO John Adams miniseries, which I have yet to see and which you all are welcome to join me in watching. I also received an antique harmonica, but I'm afraid that's not on the program. All in all, it was a good trip, that has left me with one of the queasiest stomachs that I've had in a long time and the inability to sleep. There goes that faulty logic again...

The Darcy List

If you've never heard of a Darcy List before, don't worry. Not many have. I only coined the term about a year ago. A Darcy List is a place where you can put all of those things that you consider to be undeservingly popular. Now, this isn't supposed to be a list of things that you simply dislike - there are other lists for that. There must be some aspect of them that you find enjoyable, well done or otherwise good for them to be on the list. So basically, you think they're good, but you don't understand why everyone thinks they're "fantastic!" Am I making sense?

If you haven't guessed already, the list is named for Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy, of Pride and Prejudice fame. For anyone who has spent any amount of time around the average Mormon female, you'll know that they have an unhealthy obsession with all things Darcy. I know, I'm generalizing here, but I cannot count the number of times that I've seen a girl go weak at the knees thinking of the man, claiming in some way or another that Mr. Darcy is the paragon of romanticism. Quite frankly, I just don't get it.

And it's not like I haven't tried. No, I haven't read the novel (Have you?). But I have seen the BBC version that seems to be the gateway to this obsession. And though I enjoyed it, I quite think that the appeal of Mr. Darcy lies somewhere between his £10,000/year income and Colin Firth's wet shirt. I know, I know. I'm going to hear about that one. I'm prepared. I've even tried pretending that I don't have a Y chromosome, but even then, I can't be sure why he resonates with so many girls I've met. The only things that I can be sure of are: 1) no matter what any female says, were I to act like Darcy, I'd be dropped faster than it would take to explain my good intentions and 2) with the wild popularity of all the versions of this story out there (the BBC adaptation, the 2005 adaptation, the LDS adaptation, pretty much Bridget Jones' Diary, etc.), I'm convinced that you could turn a profit on a version with 2 turds cast as the leads. And it's that conviction, misplaced as it may be, that is at the root of me creating this list.

So, what else is on the list? Here are a few items:

• Wicked - Saw it and enjoyed it. Thanks again Janelle. The final number of the first act was wonderful. But franky, I found the plot got a little preachy for me towards the end and lost me. It was good, but I've seen better. I find myself asking the question: if everyone had the same access to theater that New Yorkers do, would it be as popular as it is? I honestly think it wouldn't.
• Pinkberry - Oh boy. Here's a fun one. It's a nice idea, and the product is tasty, but not tasty enough to drop $6 on it. Also, I feel like a 14-year-old Asian teeny bopper when I walk in. Somehow I don't feel like that when I walk in to Beard Papa.
• Continuing on the dessert trend... cupcakes. Loved them as a kid. Still enjoy them. But I've never had a cupcake that "I'd die for." Probably never will. And I don't care if it's buttercream frosting or sour cream frosting or whatever other kind of frosting it is, I'm going to scrape 2/3 of it off, since they always put way to much of it on. Even though you might have heard me tell you that your favorite bakery's cupcake is "so good," I was lying. As long as they are moist and sweet I can't tell them apart.
• Should I complete the trifecta and mention Rice to Riches? Looks like I already did.
• Hiking the Y. Enjoyable the first time, and that was it.
• Michael Bublé. Talented guy. Nice voice. Sinatra was better.

That's all I got right now, and it's surprisingly dessert oriented. Odd. I'm sure that there will be more additions when it's not 2 A.M. and my mind is still thinking about the All Star game. In the spirit of hoping that this idea catches on, I'm recommending that you read Genevieve's blog where she created her own Darcy List. We coordinated that.

Public opinion poll - Desert Islands

Imagine you are stuck on a deserted island for an indefinite amount of time. Would you rather be stuck with your best friend (of your same sex) or a member of the opposite sex that you don't really know?

Feel free to answer via the sidebar poll and leave your reasonings in the comments section.

A few clarifications: Assume that you are single. You cannot choose the member of the opposite sex. Legitimate monogamous relationships can be formed, if needed.

Late breaking news - Shoelaces!

Spring is here, and with it returns the odd phenomenon of my shoelaces spontaneously untying themselves. This never seems to happen at any other time of the year. Anyone got an explanation?

Post Oscars Thought

From the desk in my room, I can see 3 movie posters: Vertigo, From Russia With Love and Octopussy. I'm noticing a progression in these posters: the newer the poster, the more information. The Vertigo poster is minimal with its info. Actors, director, screenplay and music. Fast forward 5 years to From Russia, and you add producers. Here's an example from 2007. You can see some significant poster inflation.

These people work very hard to bring us entertainment, and I know if it were me, I'd be thrilled to have my name on something everyone could see. But posters are advertisement, and as such, I ask the question - Has anyone in the general public ever decided to see a movie based off of, say, who the music supervisor is? How about because you like the producer? I ask in the spirit of curiosity - this isn't some kind of Seinfeldian rant. Comment away.

Northwest Junk

A recent post has me thinking about this:and this:
Aside from my family, these are probably the two things I miss most about Seattle - Thomas Kemper sodas and Tim's Cascade chips. When I moved to Utah for college, you couldn't get either of these locally. In fact, my Mom used to ship me Tim's, which I would treat like fine wine. Typically, I'd get two or three bags. One was strictly mine, the others were shared generously with other Seattleites and those found worthy of the experience. Ha! I was a bit of a nut. But with flavors like Coney Island (hot dogs and mustard) and steak and onions, so were they. Most of their weird flavors are gone, but I'm still convinced that some of these Seattle-based food companies (Jones Soda is another notable example) make their flavor choices during cannabis-induced cases of the munchies.
Luckily, product planners over at Thomas Kemper have generally avoided that trend, sticking to the classics: Ginger Ale, Cream Soda, Orange Cream Soda, Grape, Black Cherry, and of course, Root Beer. Mmm... their root beer. I wish I could buy you all a glass so you could try it. I've been drinking the stuff since the late 90's and my Mother makes a point of having a cold one in the fridge whenever I visit. Their ginger ale is more of a ginger beer, and really burns going down. It's taken me awhile, but I really like the stuff. Also, their black cherry is the best I've ever tried.
Thankfully, after I returned from Mexico, both of these were available at the Orem Costco (another great Seattle-based company), which makes me wonder if they can be had at one of the local Costcos. Either would certainly be worth the trip.

My boring room

I have to admit that my sister outdid herself this year in picking me out a present. I've been wanting to get something to cover the walls of my room for some time now, and she picked out a couple of things to get that started:
Two James Bond posters! Most excellent. As you can see, my room is in need some sprucing up:

I took those photos when I moved in, and if you've been over to my place lately, you'll know that the only thing that has changed is the amount of books on my shelf (and I replaced my stereo). Now, I love my room, but the place is pretty sterile - kind of like an Ikea showroom without the charm (hmm...). I'd like to personalize the place a little bit. So, after a trip to the local Swedish modular furniture mart, and a few hours scouring art.com, I've come up with a few ideas. First of all, I need more light in my room. As is, I have three light sources - a floor lamp and a table lamp (seen in the first bedroom photo) and a second table lamp on my desk (seen on the desk). Maybe another floor lamp? Where would I put it? And what about getting rid of all the white in my room? What color might work? I'm kind of hoping that one of you might be able to help. Yeah, wishful thinking, I know, but I'm not about to refuse any kind of suggestion.
At the very least, I've come up with some ideas about what to put on the walls. I figure I should start with the things that I like, which means heavy on music, movies and photography. I've already got the two Bond posters, so that's a start on the movies, but I figure that I've got to class it up a bit so that my room doesn't look like a college dorm. Luckily, I found these:


Aaaah, Vertigo. What a great poster. And I love the little splash of blood on the last one. As far as music is concerned, I got this great idea, but I'm not quite sure how to fund it. Basically, it would hang over my bed (being roughly the same width) and look something like this:
Those are all album covers from Blue Note Jazz albums. The artwork is pretty easy to come by, but I don't really know about the frames. Anyone know where to get a bunch of 9x9-ish frames cheap? Well, this may never happen, but I think it would look pretty cool. Now for a few more things I'd like to have on my walls:


I love that Louis Armstrong poster. These next two fall into the NYC category. The first one is cool, but way beyond my price range:

I really like the Hopper, and strangely enough it's cheaper on the MoMA website than it is at Art.com. Maybe the MoMA store is more of a bargain than I think it is. Then again, maybe not.


These are the kinds of photos that I'd like to be taking. Unfortunately, my new camera hasn't magically made me a better photographer, so it might be a little while before I'm framing anything that I've taken, but I guess that will just give me more time to save up for that frame. But, I can't resist sharing a recent photo that I took a couple of weeks ago:
Well, I hope you all are having a great Holiday Season. Merry Christmas (late!) to you all!

Photos that are making me happy... for now

Except that my scanner didn't get the awesome fluorescent orange of the letters, and I'll be darned if I can't make it in Photoshop.

I miss Arrested Development. I miss SNL being good.

Rachel Weisz as Snow White. Did I mention I might be going to Disneyland for the very first time ever in my life?

Bill Murray as Elvis. He also answers the Tiger Beat survey inside.

Too bad I already have a costume...

...and I'm not a kid, oh, and I don't want to be a delivery person for Halloween.

Found in a recent email was an offer FreshDirect for a kids FreshDirect delivery person costume. Don't get me wrong, the FD delivery men (never seen a woman) that come to my house are really nice, but I don't think any self-respecting kid is going to go for this when they can be... pretty much anything else.

Check it out for yourself over at FD.

Revenge of the Granola Guru

This may easily be the least popular post I've ever done, but that's not really saying much.

When I was living in Utah, one of the things that bugged me the most was the general disregard that the people had for the environment. Yeah, so I grew up in Seattle, so I'm probably a bit over-sensitive to this subject, but still - I seemed to run into my fair share of people who figured that since God had given them this land, they could do whatever they wanted to it. Personally, I take exception to this view. During a bioethics course at BYU, a professor told us that the biblical injunction, "let them have dominion over... all the earth," (Gen. 1:26) might better be translated as, "let them have stewardship over... all the earth." I don't really know where this comes from, and I wouldn't even imagine teaching this in a Sunday School lesson, but I do think that the idea fits with the teachings of the LDS Church very nicely. Therefore, it is my personal belief that I should be as good a steward when it comes to things of this earth, being responsible in what I use and how I use it, as I try to be in all other aspects of my life.

Don't get me wrong, I still have some wasteful practices, and I'm not encouraging anyone to sell their belongings and move into some geodesic dome populated by hippies and hempsters. No, I guess the purpose of this post is to make sure you all know that there are some really easy things that each one of us can do to make things a bit greener (cue sappy music and after school special title card). I'm sure most of you have heard about these things, and maybe you do them. If so, good for you. If not, well, give one or two of them some consideration. So, without any further ado, here's my list of simple things to help the environment:

• Go fluorescent. I'm sure most of you have heard about compact fluorescent light bulbs. If not, here's the deal. They cost about 3x-10x more than a regular bulb, but last 5x-15x longer and use about 75% less energy than regular bulbs. The new ones even create an incandescent-type light so you won't have to deal with the fluorescent fuglies. Also, because they are more efficient, they run cooler. That won't really make much of a difference in a small apartment, but possibly in a larger home it could translate into lower heating/cooling costs. Here's a tip, though- since CF's contain trace amounts of Mercury, you'll need to recycle them when you're done with them (easy enough to do, trust me). You can find CF's pretty much at any hardware store. I got mine at Ikea.
• Along with that last one, don't forget to turn off your lights when you don't need them! Thanks Dad.
  
• Get a bag. If you're like me (young, single, handsome), you don't make many big trips to the grocery store, but rather smaller, more frequent ones. I guess that NYC lifestyle has gotten to me. Well, why not get a reusable shopping bag? Most girls I know are looking for a good excuse to get a new bag anyway. There are plenty of places to buy them, and you can even go super fancy and custom build one over at timbuk2.
• Get a bottle. Honestly, how much better does bottled water taste than the tap? OK, so sometimes it really does (talkin' to you Utah). But you can save a whole lotta plastic if you just get some kind of reusable water bottle. I thought it was a laugh when San Francisco outlawed bottled water in government buildings, but the more that I think about it, the more it makes sense. We already have the infrastructure to bring water to us pretty much anywhere, why does it have to be trucked across the country? Refilling your old Poland Springs bottle (or Dasani, or whatever) is a good step in the right direction, but since you can't clean it out, you'll eventually have to replace it. Why not just get something reusable in the first place? You don't have to get a Nalgene, just get something. Oh, and if you don't like the taste from the tap, get a filter. I'm not saying don't buy bottled water, I'm just saying a little bit of planning can make an impact.
• Consider public transportation or carpooling (not really applicable to New Yorkers).
• Recycle your old batteries/tech gear. What do you do with old technology? Most of the big box vendors now will accept old computers/gear for recycling. Honestly, do it. Also, consider rechargeable batteries for around the house. Though they still can be a source of heavy metals entering the environment, recycling them can reduce this risk. Plus, you will use less batteries over the course of a year.
• Turn off your computer at night. Yeah, this one can save you some money over the course of a year. Perhaps you are like me, though, and use your computer as a wake up alarm (yeah, I'm that nerdy). Well, consider putting your computer to "sleep" for the night. It uses less energy than if it were on, and most good alarm programs out there have some way of waking the computer up (I use Awaken, which does the trick extremely well). If you are feeling really nerdy, you can program your computer to actually turn itself on in the morning. Excellent.
• Refill or recycle your ink cartridges. Refilling saves you money, but if you don't feel like it, recycling your ink cartridges is super easy. Lot's of places will take them, and HP even includes an envelope for mailing old cartridges back to them for recycling.
• Last but not least, consider pen refills. OK, this one is admittedly a bit dubious. I don't really know how much of an environmental impact this one will have, but consider this. I spent $9 on a stainless steel pen in the Summer of '05, and I'm still using the original ink cartridge 2 years later. So, I must admit a certain bias here, as I collect pens. I have had some pens for almost 10 years now, and I keep using them. I know that some people have a tendency to lose pens, but those are the type of people that I don't care to mix with (ha ha! just a joke!). Seriously, give it a shot. I'd be willing to bet you that if you put as much effort into not losing a pen as you do in not losing your keys (and really, how much is that), you'd probably keep it for years.

Well, that's my post for the day. Yeah, that last one was a bit of a rant - deal with it.

I'm undecided on Halloween

For the last while now, my free time has been dominated by a search for the world's most awesome Halloween costume. Oh, I've tossed around several ideas, and tossed just as many out, but I've still only come up with semi-awesome ideas. Nothing truly... Awesome. For a while, I was considering something that involved this,
a fake gold chain, and a spray painted badminton birdie, sunglasses and a headband, but in the end, I felt the idea of "Italian Badminton Champion Enrico Ferrari" was maybe a bit too esoteric. Plus, I couldn't get the suit in my size (for a reasonable price). One of my other leading ideas,
Matlock, probably wasn't going to be recognizable enough, and I didn't want to spend the evening in conversations like this: "You remember. Matlcok. Andy Griffith? Simply country lawyer who rarely lost a case?" So that one has been passed on. For awhile I also considered going as Steve Zissou, but I thought perhaps that was a little too 2005.

So, what does this all mean? Well, two things really. One, I'm really open to suggestions right now, and two, I'll probably just be a baseball player again. For like the 5th time.

Sanity?

On my way home from dinner tonight, I briefly considered giving a homeless man the half-empty bottle of salad dressing I was carrying. I am quite possibly nuts.

A ton of useless information

Here's a collection of random facts and events that have been a part of my life lately:

I think my new cell phone is sexy, but it has serious T9 problems, which led me to restoring it to factory presets, and being mildly amused at the following message.
A few years ago, this Seattle building did not have a picture of Ichiro on it. In fact, this is where I confronted the Giant Head of Donny Osmond. It was as big as Ichiro.
You can buy "Space Noodles" at the Space Needle.

They even kinda-sorta look like the Space Needle.
Apparently that Peruvian band that is always in Times Square has a franchise in Seattle.
Seattle also has a Todai. Nothing better than all-you-can-eat sushi!
This is the jersey that I recently bought off eBay. Why do I love jerseys so much?

In other news...

There's just something really funny about this picture (taken from this article in yesterday's Seattle Times).

Non-quasi-classical soundtrack awesomeness

I recently created a playlist with that name, and it contains, among other things, the version of "Hey Jude" played at the beginning of The Royal Tenenbaums. Can I just say that that song makes me really happy? Especially the part with the trumpet when they start singing the nah nah nah's.

Yes, I'm that guy.

A few years back, I remember seeing the headline in The Onion that went a little something like this, "Person actually buys Photoshop." Well, today I became that person.

You see, in the scientific world, it is common practice to get together in large groups and drink beer. Now, any large group of people can do this, so the scientists have decided that they will set themselves apart and share their research while they slowly get sloshed. I guess it makes sense - scientific research is dull*. Being a young graduate student, I will have to prepare many of these posters over the next several years, and by mandate of the higher-ups they all must created using Adobe InDesign. I guess the rest of the story becomes obvious, and today I picked up a copy of CS3. Well, there you have it - proof that someone actually bought Photoshop.

*In all fairness, not all poster sessions involve beer - only about half of them. Scientific research, however, is almost always dull.

Stats

This morning, I checked my site stats, for laughs, you know. Now, I never planned for this blog to be anything special or highly read, so I keep my expectations low and am usually very pleased. But yesterday, I experienced the Briggie Bump. Is that some sort of new dance craze? If only! No, unfortunately, it's something a little more self-explanatory. Here's what the bump looks like:


That's right folks, 30 visitors! Easily my best day ever. Unfortunately, this crazy ride into stardom has to end sometime, and I think my last post helped a lot in that regard. No complaints, though. You only get 15 minutes, right?