Barack Obama Killed The Daily Show

Count me among the many Americans that voted for Barack Obama and that found relief/hope/inspiration with his election.

However, despite all of the good things that I believe Obama represents and all of the good things I believe he will do for our country, I've got to admit that I'm a little worried about his impact on "The Daily Show".

I say the program's golden era is over.  Can Jon Stewart be consistenly funny without George W. Bush?  Without Dick Cheney?  Will the studio audience full of leftward leaning nerds laugh at Barack Obama jokes the same way that they laughed at George W. Bush jokes?  I say no to all three.

I suspect that the show will go the way of the The Simpons and South Park - it will still be marginally funny...just not nearly as as it once was.  Hope I'm wrong...

My prediction?  Stephen Colbert becomes the new Comedy Central golden boy...that is if he hasn't already.

Top 3 Awesome 80s Movie Montages

As inspired by a Twitter exchange with Adam Covati.

#1.  Karate Kid - "You're the Best Around"

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fWvub_WBho]

#2.  Top Gun - "The Volleyball Scene"

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEA-jhwsoGc]

#3.  Revenge of the Nerds - "Poindexter on the Violin"

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkzAJs7NutM]

Honorable Mention - Rocky IV - "Rocky = Democracy" - submitted by Jeff

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDko7Utfqdg]

Honorable Mention - Teen Wolf - "Surfin' USA" (dubbed en Espanol!) - remembered by Eric

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cfx7V5e-8Q]

In Praise of Nerf Herder

iTunes just serendipitously shuffled to "Nosering Girl" by Nerf Herder, my favorite song from one of my most favorite bands from high school. Such a great song and great lyrics:
Yeah she had pretty hair and beautiful eyes.
and a dalmatian jacket...a dalmatian jacket.
And she was the kind of girl who you would give up eating meat for,
No more salami, no more steak or potatoes.
Yeah you would walk on down to the health food store
And buy hummus, and tabouli, and baba ghannouj, and
Ricecakes ricecakes ricecakes!

Nosering girl! I love you!

My high school band, The OHT, could pull off a pretty hot cover of "Nosering Girl" and "Annalee" - another great Nerf Herder song. Jacob - who sang lead on "Nosering" - always cleverly altered the lyrics to say:
As it turns out, she was the cousin of the ex-girlfriend of my good friend Eric, my very good friend Eric.

"Eric" instead of "Steve"! Lyrics and phrasing be damned!  Yes - We. Were. Awesome.

Though "Van Halen" was Nerf Herder's most "popular" and probably their best song, we never covered it because I wasn't good enough to pull off the two-hand tap guitar solo at the end.

How To Shoot A Basketball

Here's a video of a somewhat impromptu speech I gave on the first day of my Mgmt Communication class. We had to speak for 5 minutes about a multi-step process that would be interesting for our audience.

We could talk about whatever we wanted, so I chose to teach my class the "Modified BEEF Method" for shooting a basketball.

The ticking you hear in the background is my instructor taking notes.

Enjoy!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llfswd-5Fp8"]

Haunted House Photos

Kelly and I volunteered at the Durham Jaycees Haunted House last week. We were both "roamers" - which essentially meant we roamed about the house finding ways to spook the patrons.

I took the "hide in the dark, jump out, and roar in their face" approach, which worked pretty well.  Kelly just ran around screaming bloody murder during the climactic ending, which - according to the guides - really freaked out the guests.

Why? Because she was dressed as an un-dead cheerleader:


Putting on our make-up.



In full costume.


I definitely dropped out of character and started laughing when I heard someone shout "Oh my God! Its a crazy cheerleader!" as they went through the house.


Thanks to DJ Waldow for the photos.

Ric Flair Finance

At first I thought that this was a joke.

I mean, the "Figure Four Process"? The pink boa? Quotes like this?
Ric will provide you with a solution to purchase the car or home of your dreams or provide you with the cash you need to start living like the Nature Boy.

(In case you're wondering, "The Nature Boy" Ric Flair is an 80's professional wrestling icon and this is evidently how he lives.)

Turns out that Ric Flair Finance is legit.

Thanks to John for the link and this quote:
Apparently, (Flair) wants to take on Hugh McColl for the heavyweight lender champion of the world.

Wooooo!

The Tree Brains

I just ordered my Tree Brains t-shirt from http://thesneeze.com.

Who/what are The Tree Brains?
The Tree Brains are an imaginary band that anyone can be a part of. No musical ability is required to join. The band will never play anywhere because it only exists in theory. There is no initiation into the band. If you want to be in it, you're in it. You may lay claim to any instrument or job in the band you would like. The style of music The Tree Brains are known for is "Theoretical Rock."

Here's the real (and hilarious) story behind the band.  In addition to playing spoons for the band, I'm also the group's Executive Rock Theorist, Southern Culture Liaison, and CEO for The Tree Brains Foundation, our philanthropic arm.

I can't wait to rock my new shirt.  If you don't read The Sneeze, you should.

Kelly Lets The Truth Slip

Because my hairline economy is mired in an unfortunate recession, I've started keeping my head buzzed.

I've gotten a little fuzzy and Kelly has been begging to give me a fresh clipping, so I let her cut my hair tonight. When she finished cutting, she cheerfully exclaimed:
There! Now you look more like David Beckham.

I was not amused.

Take Your Unemployed Husband To Work Week

Now that I'm temporarily unemployed, I've come to work with Kelly the past couple days. She has thusly coined this to be "Take Your Unemployed Husband To Work" week.

Aside from her ongoing "I'm the breadwinner!" taunting and "Hurry up, Eric - you're going to be late for school!" faux-mothering, it has been an enjoyable experience. I'm about a third of the way through "Atlas Shrugged", I'm almost done with my pre-Italy planning, I've caught up with some old friends, and plan to catch up with more. Heck, I've even sent a "get the ball rolling" message to my high school classmates regarding our 10 year reunion which is over a year away. (Numerous people have asked me about it over the past few months, but - yes - I'm that bored.)

What's more, I have done all of this in what has to be one of the coolest offices on the UNC campus. Kelly shares the entire 3rd floor of the recently renovated Campus Y building with one other person. Her window overlooks the main quad, the South Building, and Old Playmakers and I have my own desk with a window that overlooks Gerrard Hall and Memorial Hall. The 1st floor has a study room with huge windows, hardwood floors, and leather chairs and the basement has a small cafe that brews good coffee. For the time that I'm not in Italy and China this summer, I suspect I'll be sitting here, doing my best to stay productive.

The "going to work with someone" experience has caused me to think back to the excitement of going to work with my mom or dad when I was a kid.

Going to work with my Mom as a youngster wasn't much fun. She's always worked in a doctor's office or hospital - BORING! When I was in high school, she actually "hired" me to match medical records from her office to those kept in a 150 degree storage building 15 minutes away. Not a bad deal, except that I had to take my 8 year old brother along. The $8/hour was not worth the time I spent shuffling medical records and wrestling Evan in an God-forsaken storage room oven on Franklin Blvd.

Going to work with my Dad, on the other hand, was a rare treat. He is in the NC Air National Guard and works on a super cool military base in Charlotte. My memories of visiting his office as a child include:

- The salute from soldiers armed with M16s as we entered the front gate.
- Touring the base in a golf cart and riding it up a REALLY steep hill.
- Playing Minesweeper for the first time.
- Playing ping pong and shooting hoops in the hangar.
- Firing blanks with an M16 on Family Day.
- Sitting in the cockpit of a C130.
- Watching a C130 dump thousands of gallons of water on a runway in a demonstration of the Guard's forest fire fighting capabilities.
- Visiting the top of the air traffic control tower at Charlotte-Douglas airport.

Aside from the stench of stale coffee everywhere, a trip to Dad's office was like a trip to Disney World. Plus, he never gave me a hard time about not having a job.