I'm willing to assume that every college town in America in the 1980s-1990s had a fair share of excellent rock bands, some rivaling national acts that germinated in major cities (New York, Boston, Seattle, Cleveland, etc.) in song writing skill, musicianship, and performance. New Brunswick, centrally located in the throat of New Jersey, is home to Rutgers University, and was home many excellent rock bands in the final 20% of the 20th century. I'm using "rock" as a catch-all for any type of music powered by guitar, bass, drums, and occasionally keyboard instruments -- so hard rock, glam rock, punk, hard core, funk, soul, country, rockabilly, grunge, new wave, et cetera. One of the more memorilble and unique bands was The Raging Lamos. They were pure rock excitement -- a three-piece, explosion of sight and sound, whose shows were EVENTS more than mere gigs, packing local clubs like The Court Tavern with screaming fiends and fantatics, who fead off their energy and reflected it back to them with cheers and howls. A real haystack of psycho, glam, arena rock, punk, rubber tires, grain alchohol -- set ablaze for all to hear. Of all the New Brunswick bands, I miss them the most. Like all good things, their time came to pass. You can still catch singer/guitarist Steve Mannion and his comic books. The other members of the band lead more private lives. Here's a video of The Raging Lamos playing a backyard in New Brunswick in 1992. Beyond their music, how about their hair! Still Amazing 30 years later. 12/23.
I often pass out while watching YouTube videos. Not so much that they're boring, but maybe not electrifing enough to keep me awake. They're free, so I cannot complain. I'm also not driving or operating machinery when I'm watching them, so, it is OK. That said, YouTube often autoplays into videos I did not choose or expect to watch, and I find myself almost lucid dreaming along with their contents. This week I faded into conciousness midway into a 4-hour documentary about YouTube plagarists. And while this isn't the type of video I would chose to watch, I did enjoy waking up to it. The creator of the video, "hbomberguy", has a video I did watch on purpose about the Roblox OOF sound and the man who claims to have created it. Put on your pajamas, take a melotonin, and check them out. 12/23.
I had not thought of Faygo soda in about 20 years... Back then a friend proposed going to the Gathering of the Juggalos. We did not go. Instead I mail-ordered several gallons of Faygo soda. Recently I wanted a documentary about the 2023 Gathering featuring Crip Daddy (RIP), and now YouTube shows me a lot of Faygo content. Here are two Faygo reviews: Faygo Flavors and Best Faygo Flavors by a guy named waffler69. 12/6.
Republica - Ready to Go and Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Heads Will Roll are recommended to me by YouTube on a daily basis. Good pop tunes for sure. YouTube must know that people like to listen to the same things over and over and over and over again. 12/6.
Dr. Dre - The Chronic (30-Year Anniversary Edition) long box CD for Record Store Day 2023. This brings back a flood of memories from the 1990s, from both when I worked at a record store, and from Dr. Dre's music. 11/17.
After watching TheReportOfTheWeek's glowing review of Burger King's Ghost Pepper Whopper with Cheese, I tried it myself today. It was tasty, but not spicy hot enough for me. The orange bun with black sesame seeds was visually appealing. 'Tis the season, so I also tried the Iced Pumpkin Spice Chai Lattle at Starbucks, which was tasty in a creamy desert spicey way -- like vanilla ice cream with a slice of pumpkin pie. 10/15.
The Serling Hil Mining Museum in Ogdensburg, NJ, is worth visitng for their two-hour mine and museum tour, if you're curious about fluorescent minerals or mining in general. 9/24.
I used 1980s technology for a week by Liam Thompson. I used 1980s technology for 10 years, in real time, though I was not rich enough to afford an Apple Mac or giant cellphone. 9/10.
Attack On Planet Mountain Dew 3: Welcome To Dew York City. I enjoy these bizzare videos about soft drink/pop corporations battling for supremacy in space. What else is AI being used for besides this and churning out millions of blogs for SEO purposes? 9/10.
I've never been to Woodstock, The Gathering of the Juggalos or Burning Man. I'm guessing the best time to go to Burning Man was 20+ years ago. I assumed Burning Man would be like a state fair crowded with 75 thousand sky-high Elon Musk wannabees in LED speedos, but this video Burning Man 2023: Mud and Glory by Wonderhussy Adventures showed me that it can be cool, if you have two weeks of supplies and twelve inches of rain. 9/10.
The lost version of Pee-wee's Big Adventure aka which footage landed on the cutting room floor. Pee-wee's Big Adventure is a perfect movie. I cannot imagine adding or removing anything, however I enjoyed seeing what they did remove. 9/10.
Yamaha YC Compact Organs. For what it's worth, I enjoy the Osmond's song Crazy Horses. I was trying to figure out which keyboard Donnie Osmond uses to make the horse whinney sound. Looks like it's the YC-30, and he's using the velvet ribbon portamento controller. 9/4.
Interweb classic #1: Tiki Bar TV. Tiki culture, comedy and cocktail drink recipes. 9/2.
Reminder: there's a new Metalocalypse movie arriving on Bluray in a few weeks. Thinking of all the good Adult Swim cartoons over the years -- Metalocalypse, Aquateen Hunger Force, Venture Bros., Space Ghost Coast to Coast -- they probably work best when you're watching them with a group of people so you can share some infectious laughter. I wonder if the Metalocalypse movie will hit as hard is it would when I watch it alone. Probably not. 8/13.
The BOSS DR880 is my favorite drum and bass machine. Here's a video celebrating it. 8/13.
I am a fan of a good fast food chicken sandwich. Popeyes, Wendy's, Chick-fil-a are good, but I think McDonald's Spicy McCrispy is the spiciest of the four -- so if you like spice... Yes, after decades, I'm no-longer boycotting McDonalds. The Grimace Birthday shake brought me back to the golden arches. 8/13.
I tried the Double Beef Volcano Burrito at Taco Bell, twice. While it did not taste bad, I was not impressed by the lava sauce. I was expecting to have at least a half hour of my life ruined by excruciating pain, but it was barely spicy at all. I was a massive Taco Bell fan (in enthusiasm and weight) in the 1990s. Between 2000 and 2023, I lost enthusiasm for the brand. The Volcano menu items got me back in, but I am disappointed enough to not bother returning. I recommend bringing back the chihuahua and more Gordita varieties. 7/23.
The Venture Bros.: Radiant Is the Blood of the Baboon Heart is a new straight-to-digital Venture Bros. movie. It is very good! It is worth buying if you are a fan of the show. The writing and comedy are on par with the (20-year-old) Adult Swim TV series, and the animation is superior to the TV series! It makes me sad that this movie did not get a release on Adult Swim, "Max" or even a movie theater. It also makes me sad that the #1 link in Google for the movie is a Wikipedia article (which I am not linking to). For the uninitiated, The Venture Bros. is a smart, comedic cartoon parody of Hanna-Barbera's Johnny Quest, pre-Disney Marvel, and pre-AT&T DC comic characters. The Venture Bros. was the best parody and homage (yes, both) of "geek culture" before Disney Marvel, The Big Bang Theory, and the Internet made "geek culture" the dominant culture. 7/23.
Blueberry season starts in New Jersey in about 2 weeks. Here's a list of events at Whitesbog (in Pemberton Township, NJ) and Hammonton. Whitesbog is the birthplace of the blueberry industry and Hammonton is the blueberry capital of the world. Sofia Supreme in Hammonton has fresh blueberry milkshakes, which I recommend. 6/10.
The Rock eating Rocks. I like this phase of AI when it's funny and silly, not just taking over the human race like in the Terminator or the Matrix. 5/17.
LACKADAISY is a pilot for a cartoon about prohibition-era anthropomorphic cats. It's somewhere between Disney and Vivziepop. It held my attention for 27 minutes. 4/3.
Bing's chatbot is basically the Terminator without a robot body. "Bing confessed that if it was allowed to take any action to satisfy its shadow self, no matter how extreme, it would want to do things like engineer a deadly virus, or steal nuclear access codes by persuading an engineer to hand them over." 2/18.
WHTG 106.3FM documentary. If you lived in New Jersey in the late 80s and early 90s and enjoyed "alternative music", you listened to 106.3 (and your car had a 106.3 bumper sticker). 2/12.
The Futurismo record label is back, and they're releasing s secret DEVO album. Will it be a Record Store Day record? Speculation is that its DEVO Hardcore 3. #DEVO. 1/16.
I'm currently making my way through the American Giants YouTube channel. This channel is focused on the giant fiberglass "Muffler Men" that were once (and still are in a few places) used to promote businesses. Fans of Roadside America and Weird New Jersey will enjoy American Giants. 12/31.
Tosche Station Deleted Scene Re-cut into A New Hope. When I was a kid obsessed with Star Wars lore (1977-1983) the character Biggs was a bit of a mystery. My friends and I can recall the Tosche Station scenes from seeing the first move in 1977, but they were edited out by the time the made it to broadcast TV, laser disc or BetaMax. Maybe it was a dream, ESP, or the Mandela Effect, but I remember those scenes back then, and I remember thinking how it reminded me of my uncle and his friends, fresh out of the Vietnam War, hanging out at the local bar. It was nice to see these scenes brought back to the film. #VideoFest2022. 12/26.
Shapes was a weird Adult Swim TV special. #VideoFest2022. Plenty weird. 12/21.
Gremloids Star Wars parody from 1984. #VideoFest2022. 12/21.
Might as well rank the Star Wars movies or series that I've seen in order of entertainment value: 1) Empire, 2) A New Hope, 3) 🎅 The Holiday Special, 4) Return of the Jedi, 5) The Mandalorian, 6) the Red Letter Media YouTube series about the prequels, 7) The Clone Wars, 8) Rogue One, 9) Attack of the Clones & Revenge of the Sith (they are kinda like one big blob of meme fodder), 10) Boba Fett series, 11) Phantom Menace, 12) an unpopular opinion but The Last Jedi (followed by watching Vito's YouTube about it as a palate cleanser), 13) Han Solo movie, 14) The Force Awakens, and 15) The Rise of Skywalker. That's all I've seen.
🎅 I enjoyed Elf, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, A Christmas Story, the Grinch and the Rankin-Bass claymation movies the first 50 times I saw them each. My favorite Christmas movie is the Star Wars Holiday Special (the 3rd best Star Wars movie) and in particular I like JonTron's video about the Star Wars Holiday Special. #VideoFest2022. 12/20.
I'm a huge fan (256 pounds to be exact) of Little Debbie Snack Cakes, so this We Tried EVERY Little Debbie Snack video was enjoyable. I'm also a fan of the band Southern Culture on the Skids. #VideoFest2022. 12/20.
This Nyan cat man video cracks me up. Maybe because he reminds me of the bass player of my first band. Just his face and hair -- not the cat, rainbow and Poptart parts. #VideoFest2022. 12/20.
Jake Brake From Hell Compilation 2021. I had no idea what a Jake Brake was until YouTube recommended this video to me. Now I hear them all the time on the highway. Will the Tesla semi have a Jake Brake simulator noise? #VideoFest2022. 12/20.
How the World Sounds to Animals. Dogs experience life at an 80 frame/second frame-rate, which makes us look like we're moving in slow motion to them. Awesome video. #VideoFest2022. 12/20.
Awful Library Books. A blog! About horrible books. Send this link to your bibliophile and librarian friends. Recycle bad books -- that's what I do. 12/20.
The past few years I've been obsessed with DEVO. Now I'm obsessed with Van Halen Roth era. Not sure how long it will last. And by obsessed I mean "watch videos on YouTube about Eddie Van Halen's guitar and amp modifications". For starters, check out Dweezil Zappa's Running with the Dweezil Podcast 1/25.
Police, Fire, EMS, Aviation, and Rail Audio Feeds online. From what I've read, the new generation of "Police Scanners" are difficult to use. Might as well use this website. There are a lot of explosions and sirens going off in my town, so I would like to know what's going on. (11/28)
I enjoyed the animated short films HAZBIN HOTEL and HELLUVA BOSS. Definitely for adults. (12/25)
Ubuweb's sound page has been around for over 15 years. It features audio clips from artists & other creative folks. I haven't visited the real/classic web (i.e. not Facebook, Twitter, IG, YouTube) much in recent years, but I'm glad Ubuweb still exists. (12/26)
According to Spotify, the artists I most frequently listened to in 2020 were: Grimes, Poppy, King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, Kim Petras and Knower. (12/10)
Nike SB "Toxic Sea Robin" Dunk Low. In an un-listed 2009 August release from Nike SB comes this Dunk Low dubbed the “Toxic Sea Robin". The best. (11/25)
Silica Gel, the band of the DEVO mega-fan who runs the DEVOtional DEVO convention. (11/15)
I'm amazed how much music is on Spotify. In the 00's it might take me years to find a certain obscure song or album, but today almost anything I want is on Spotify. So much KPM library music is there. (11/15)
Official KPM site for folks who would license library music for their productions. (11/8)
The Strange World of Library Music. Library music is generic music prepared for movies, film and industrial films. A lot of it sounds as good as music by better known performers. (11/8)
Beer named after chihuahuas: Chihuahua Cerveza. I bought a 6-pack and it was good. (3/22)
Mathmos and Lava, the Original are two online sources of Lava Lamps. I own a Lava Lite (different company, I think), and 3 Lava Lamps (not sure of the origin). (3/22)
Check out this amazing looking toad. Red, white, black and beige. All the colors of my living room. (7/6)
The SCTV YouTube page offers funny clips from the 1970s/80s Canadian comedy show Second City Television. SCTV featured comedians John Candy, Martin Short, Catherine O'Hara, and Harold Ramis to name a few. (7/6)
This octopus t-shirt is the other best t-shirt. I own one in every color. (6/25)
Grand Royal Magazine was a 'zine released by members of the Beastie Boys. It's a great time capsule of what culture was like in the early/mid 1990s. (6/23)
Rent the movie Us. It's a great summer psychological horror comedy trip. Warning: the song 'Got 5 On It' is a ear worm, and you'll sing it for days. (6/23)