Musings from the basement...

Beat is for Eric B and LL as well

May 2, 2016 5 Comments

It’s not often that music changes your life, but Public Enemy managed the trick for me. I quote the more famous “Bring the Noise” in the title, which was covered by metal/thrash band Anthrax, but the song and video (because during this time videos were a HUGE part of music) that really blew my mind was “Night of the Living Baseheads.” Check it out, and see how video could be seen as an art separate from song, but one that worked together with music to create something entirely new: To this day I can’t quite put my finger on what it was about this that shook me and awoke me. I think it was how explosively the video and song blew up the racial stereotypes accepted in the…
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Music, Videos

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5 Questions that should always be met with frothing incredulity

April 30, 2016 4 Comments

Look, if anyone asks you one of these questions, you ought to reconsider your relationship with them. Do you want butter on that corn muffin? Yes, of course I want butter on my goddamn corn muffin, do I look like a savage to you? This is so dumb I don’t even know where to start. Do you want cheese on your burger? The only people who should ever ask a question as stupid as this had better be people with fatal cheese allergies who just assume everyone else will die when they eat cheese, too, because CHEESE BELONGS ON EVERYTHING. Period. End of story. Another? Is that even a question? Of COURSE I want another! I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t want another! Life is miserable! The future is…
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Random Musings, Rants

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What I learned from watching all the Star Trek movies in a row

April 29, 2016 26 Comments

I was a pretty unlikely candidate to marathon all the Star Trek movies. As noted when I started this Trek-a-Thon, I’m a casual Trek fan at best. Star Wars is my star jam. Trek is that other thing I sort of respect and kind of know because you can’t run in geek circles without knowing at least some Trek, but despite having seen many original series episodes, most of The Next Generation on TV, and all the movies through Generations, I’ve never been able to call myself a Trek fan. Hell, I’ve playfully mocked it over the years because that’s what you do. All in good fun, but yeah. Poke poke. So I was the last person who should have been revisiting these movies. Yet…
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Films, Geek Stuff

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Star Trek: Nemesis is proof that fan recommendations aren’t worth much, because it’s way better than they say

April 29, 2016 12 Comments

Word of mouth and fan reaction can be a funny thing. Fans know their material more intimately than anyone, Trek fans especially, so when word on the street sets your expectations about a franchise, chances are pretty good they’ll be met. That has been evident throughout this marathon, when this Trek neophyte’s views have fallen almost exactly in line with Trek fandom’s. The one major exception has been with the very first Trek movie. And now the last. Because despite the middling reviews and lukewarm word of mouth, I think Star Trek: Nemesis was pretty outstanding and a fitting end to the Next Generation saga. Admittedly, it starts off rather questionably. Hints of The Undiscovered Country, with the Romulans now in the mood for peace…
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Films, Geek Stuff

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Speak & Spells, Scratch & Sniffs, and another foray onto Youtube with Hours in the Attic

April 28, 2016 0 Comments

Part of the fun of doing Hours in the Attic with Nerd Out With Me‘s Tig Carson is that you get to play with the goofy old shit you played with as a kid. And part of that fun is realizing just how damn lame that stuff really was. The Speak & Spell, for instance: Why was this a thing? I have no idea, as is clear from our all-too-brief video on the topic. Poor Tig. I’m sure he thought we were going to squeeze a lot more out of it than that, too. On the other hand, we had a lot more fun scratching 30-year-old scratch n’ sniff stickers and being reminded of grandpa smells. For real: Smelling old stickers. This is my life….
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Geek Stuff, Random Musings, Videos, Works by Eric

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