That's News To Me

Someone has brought to my attention that my stuff's getting a little too sporty, for lack of a better term. So here's what I've been doing over the past couple of days:

1.) I bought Guitar Hero. There are not words to describe how fun this game is, even when you're not hitting any notes on Medium level. I find myself: a.)laughing at all the songs that I've not heard in a while or looking at them in a new way--"More Than a Feeling" by Boston is a really fun song to play, and b.)getting a little too into the game. Mandy came home from school one afternoon and saw me standing in front of the TV playing as if it were a real guitar. "Do you always play standing up?" she said. "Well yeah--the guitar is too little to rest your arm on like a real guitar, so by standing up, I can get to the notes more efficiently" was my response. She just gave me a blank stare and walked away, and I continued my "Ziggy Stardust" solo. Loser? Perhaps, but how many people can honestly walk around calling themselves "Guitar Hero" (even if it's at the "easy" level)?

2.) Stayed after work on Wednesday night and watched Alternative Comedy Night at Sweeney's, hosted by and starring Sam Grittner. I work with Sam, and he'd been telling everyone who walked through the door to come and check it out, so I went. First off, I had no idea what exactly "alternative comedy" was--I was thinking that it would be jokes about therapy while wearing a flannel shirt and having a quirky stage name like "Ned's Atomic Dust Bin". I was pleasantly surprised to learn that all it really is is utilizing "fuck" a lot (which is something I can appreciate) and being generally offensive in a way that everybody can both understand and laugh at. The show featured Tommy Ryman, Shwin, a surprise guest whose name I can't remember, and Sam as the headliner. It's now almost a week later and I don't remember the detail of each act, but I can tell you that it was very worth the $5 cover, and I encourage all to attend next month. I'll get the date from him and I'll bring a notebook along to take notes so I can give a nice fluff-piece review of the December show. Good times.

That same night I also got to hang out with Sung Sook and her friend Kyle. We had a nice time, I swiped a free pitcher of tasty Miller Lite for us, and she gave me my birthday present: Sid Hartman's Great Minnesota Sports Moments. I love this book, even though I can't stand Sid as a writer or a person (his ego has no match). So thanks, baby!

3.) I saw Talledega Nights: The Legend of Ricky Bobby on Thursday night at the cheap theater in Roseville. I sat outside the theater hemming and hawing between that or Beerfest. I now wish I would've seen the latter. Ricky Bobby was a funny movie, but....maybe it's because I don't like NASCAR, maybe I was holding expectations too high, I don't know. It made me laugh out loud several times, but it just wasn't what I thought it would be. I can't really put a finger on why. One interesting thing I noticed (and I'm sure I'm not the only one, because I'm not that smart) was the parrallel between the movie's two main characters (Ricky Bobby and Cal Naughton Jr.) and their real-life counterparts (Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly). I don't want to give away too much of the plot, but here's the thing: in the movie, RB and CNJ are best friends who end up on the same racing team and CNJ always helps RB win races, completely playing a back-up role. I kind of feel like Reilly is like that in real life: horribly funny, but always the undercard to Ferrell's or Carrell's main event. One of these days, John C. Reilly is going to do a feature comedy written by whoever writes Anchorman and 40 Year-Old Virgin and Old School and all those others and it's going to be hysterical.

4.) I traded in my Jeep for a 2003 Dodge Durango. Now I just need to sell the mini-van and I'm all set.