The Black Friday Rule

Having listened to the Dropkick Murphy's in my punk phase, I thought for a very long time that Black Friday was some obscure Irish thing I just knew nothing about. Then I figured out the Thanksgiving weekend version, where a lot of crazies skip lots of sleeping in an attempt to go save money by spending lots of money. The logic behind it seemed absolutely contrary to anything rational. And then I tried it.

My first Black Friday experience was last year, at Toys R Us. I wanted to get Guitar Hero for cheap, and I did. The whole ordeal was relatively painless- no huge crowds, just an orderly line with people who were friendly enough to one another. No mad rush for any one item, no one getting trampled, and no fist fights. In short, it was a disappointment. Kidding.

This year, I had a more desirable item in mind- the very computer with which I am sharing this story with you. The original target was a $200 Best Buy promotion. I decided to be one of the crazies, and got to Best Buy around 3:30 for its 5:00 opening. Failure. A full parking lot, and a line around the building. No way in hell I was sticking around for that, so I went to option 2- the Office Depot by my place, which about 23 total people know exists.

This was a much better scene. Two cars in the parking lot, including mine. After a nice little nap in my car, I got in line around 4:15. The beauty of this line is that it was 6 people long; the British would have been ashamed in the lack of a queue. It was so short that I was able to drag my dad out of bed to come get a computer for himself as well, at a remarkably good price.

The best part of the whole experience- the Office Depot manager came out around 4:30 with coffee for everyone. So, it can pay to be a crazy. You get cheap goods, and free coffee. And is that worth a lack of sleep? It wasn't then. It is, now that I've slept again.

Happy post-Thanksgiving, and thanks for reading.

Dis

Stealing Riha's Spotlight

Allow the title to be a shameless plug for my friend Riha, over at Riha Reviews, found here. He focuses mostly on pop music, which isn't quite my forte. But check it out.

Instead, I wanted to talk about the Band of Skulls album, entitled 'Baby Darling Dollface Honey,' which is also one of the highlight tracks. While the band sounds great, and explores a variety of sounds utilizing both male and female vocals, what has impressed me so much throughout listening to their album is the track ordering. The album begins upbeat, and slowly winds down as you approach the end.

The album gets in to the good stuff quickly, as track 3, 'I Know What I Am' has been featured as the iTunes single of the week, and is on the New Moon soundtrack. Death by Diamonds and Pearls, the preceding track, also has seen some radio play, and it is followed by Fires, another great track. The album is solid throughout, without any dull track of the 11 laid down on the album.

For fans of bands like Manchester Orchestra, The Black Keys, Glasvegas, The Kooks, even Granz Ferdinand or The Dead Weather, Band of Skulls is definitely worth a listen.

TFR,

Dis

I hope I wasn't this dumb....

A snippet from a real conversation on the shuttle this morning:

The scene: Guy 1 is holding a copy of Bridget Jones Diary (the book). It has a picture of Renee Zellweger's face on it. Guy 2 is oblivious to anything, ever. Guy 2 is asking Guy 1 about his morning classes.

Guy 1: ...yeah, I have British literature at 11:15. I have to go read the book, though.

Guy 2: What book?

Guy 1 (gesturing with his book): Bridget Jones' Diary. I've read all the books in the class so far, except this one. I couldn't do it.

Guy 2 (not joking): Yeah. Is that Victorian?

This just had to be shared.

Per usual, TFR.

Dis

Weddings

My last wedding post, about e-response cards (go take a look if you don't know what I'm talking about) drew a lot of response, the funniest of which was an e-vite to a wedding. A wedding I attended this past weekend, in fact.

It turns out, despite the lack of an electronic response card, that weddings (at least this one) are damn fun. There are a few key points that I think are relatively universal that I thought I would share.

1) People are happy.

Weddings are happy occasions. With the exception of perhaps a scorned lover of the past, everyone is pretty pumped for the couple getting married. Both families are thrilled, friends are gathered together, and everyone is in a pretty good mood. This really sets the stage for the rest of the wedding items to be even better.

2) The Open Bar.

Speaking of things that make weddings better...

3) The food.

This particular wedding featured the choice of fish, chicken, or a veggie option, all of which were downright delicious. How would I know what they all taste like? I got the fish, my sister got the veggie, and her fiance got the chicken. I promise that they even offered me bites without me having to swipe them. Generally, wedding food is pretty good. At a minimum, you get...

4) Cake.

When was the last time you had cake, and were upset? It doesn't count if you had cake because you were upset. Exactly.

5) Dancing.

Whether it be a band (awesome) or a DJ (still sorta awesome) or a crappy DJ (at least there is still music), weddings are a fun place to dance. And, dancing is always fun, even if you don't dance well, or if you are a naysayer who belongs in the town of Beaumont. Yes, that's a footloose reference. Deal with it.

While there are assuredly more elements of an awesome wedding, these five core elements pretty much guarantee fun. So, to the new happy couple who sometimes read this, a long and happy marriage. And to the rest of you- set up more of your friends, so you'll have more weddings to go to. Everyone wins.

Per usual, thanks for reading.

Dis

Community Service

Howdy, folks.

This weekend, I was up at 6 am. This is before the sun, and does not ever happen. The reason? A community project we've been working on for a few weeks for class. Saturday involved ten hours of general help with a local soccer tournament. The purpose of the weekend was to sign up the kids for a league that is forming within the community, to give the kids something to do outside of school.

While it was a long day, it had been an awfully long time since I had done any community service. It's time to do more. I'm going to guess that you, as my readers (since you have the internet) are also in a position to give back. It's something that is easy to talk about, but tougher to do once push comes to shove. I'm not talking from a place on high, here. One service project hardly puts me in a position to preach- I need to start doing more on a regular basis.

The point is, do what you can. Organize or participate in a project through work or school. You'll feel good giving back to the community.

Per usual, thanks for reading.

Dis

Best Coast

It's been a long debate. The East Coasters love their winters, and the West Coasters know the sun is better. It's a debate without an answer, and I will not argue that one is better than the other. That would be futile. But, with regard with one aspect of the issue, it's no contest.

Pacific Time is better than Eastern time, when it comes to television. Not only is prime time television at 8:00, just the same as the east coast, but we get sports three hours earlier. We get day baseball at 10:00 am, Sunday football at 10:00 am, but Monday night football ends at a reasonable time. The World Series doesn't go until 2:00 am. Advantage: West Coast.

Don't even get me started on Central time. Prime time at 7:00? Sure, it means the 10:00 shows come on at Nine. But who is home in time to watch the Office at Seven? Sorry, central time. You just offer very little in the context of the time zone argument. Same goes for Mountain; just not a lot going on.

I'm sure there are arguments that I am missing here. Go ahead, argue for your time zone in the comments. We'll review later.

Per usual, thanks for reading.

Dis

Timbaland is wrong.

It's not too late to apologize.

While my posts tend to be impersonal in nature, the subject of repentance has been on my mind as the Jewish new year and Day of Atonement draw closer. We all know that none of us are perfect, and that throughout the year we wrong other people (insults, for instance), as well as commit general wrongs against the world (littering). Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur (the aforementioned holidays, for the Gentiles out there) provide an opportunity to start fresh, and repent for the sins of the past year. It's like Catholic Confession, but once a year, and with actually going to the source. The people source, as well as the God source.

While the past year hasn't been anything out of the ordinary as far as sinning goes, something struck me this holiday season about the idea of being encouraged to approach others to ask for forgiveness. Our wrongdoings are not simply forgiven; it takes the thought and recognition that we have wronged others, and the courage to approach those we have wronged to recognize it to them.

It's hard to apologize. We all have this sense of pride that generally makes apologizing difficult; for me, it's always hard to admit that I've messed up. While it may be somewhat required during this season of repentance, we should try to carry the impetus to apologize when needed throughout the year, in a sincere, meaningful way. I think our relationships with each other could be improved simply be admitting to a friend that you have wronged them, and that you're sorry. While this doesn't mend the thing you did, it may help to get past it.

Finally, the new year reminds us that it is not too late to apologize. So while general apologies aren't preferable, I apologize to you, 17 readers, for my general lack of proper spelling and grammar, in addition to anything else I may have done to wrong you.

L'shana Tova, and per usual, thanks for reading.

Dis