The Annekenstein Monster

For the longest time, I’ve actively disliked ‘urban’ music. It didn’t speak to me, it wasn’t produced for me, it had nothing to offer me. I wasn’t going to expend any effort in trying to understand it, because for the most part, the stuff I heard was stuff I didn’t like.

However, over the past decade in particular, it’s become impossible to ignore the influence that hiphop (for lack of a better all-encompassing descriptor) has had on popular music, and I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that hip hop is, right now, totally dominating the music charts. As I continued to ignore it, I just assumed that this domination was because the general public has such awful taste in music. As proof of that theory, I’ll just say this: I lived through the ’80s.

Then, in the last year in particular, I started to regularly hear hip hop that I actually liked on the radio. Recently, I began to read end-of year ‘best of’ lists from various sources, and many of the critics were lauding hip hop albums and songs that I never heard or heard of. One critic in particular wrote something that stuck with me. She (I think it was a ‘she’ but I sadly don’t remember where I read it) said that not since the era of The Beatles was music being made that is, at the same time, leading the way in artistic expression and innovation, and on top of the popular charts. Hmm, ‘artistic expression and innovation’? In hip hop? Isn’t it just black guys putting down women and talking about gang-shit and jewellery?

Sure, there were some catchy songs, but I began to wonder: What was I missing?

So, I made a decision last week to dive into the genre. The first thing I did was discover *cough*download*cough* a bunch of singles that were on a bunch of ‘best singles of the year’ lists.

So far, I’m really liking what I’ve been listening to. I’ve discovered some fantastic songs that I’m pretty sure will be permanently stored in my library. I doubt that I’ll totally immerse myself into the music, and I’m pretty sure I’ll not succumb to the bling bling of the culture. But I’m kind of excited about the idea that my mind is now open to the notion that hip hop music perhaps does have something to offer to me.

Unlike a born-again Christian who tries to get everyone around him to ‘see the light’, I’ll not inundate you with ‘you gotta hear this’ posts.

However, I will offer this: if you’re like I was, and unsure if all this noise is worth getting into, just listen to one song. Try “Danger! High Voltage!” by Electric Six for starters. If you like that (and I can’t possibly imagine anyone not liking that), then try another.

Oh, and please, start calling me “Rob Boi”

Apparently, I enjoy Probability Mathematics.

Here’s one that came across yesterday:

You are on a gameshow, and there are three doors. Behind one door, there is a car. Behind the other two are goats. You are asked to pick the door you hope the car is behind. You make your choice.
The host then shows you what’s behind one of the other doors. Naturally, he shows you some goats. Now there are two doors left, one of which is the door you picked. Behind one is the car, behind the other, goats.
The host gives you the option of sticking with the door you picked, or switching your choice to the other door.

Now, it seems as if this chance to switch would be fairly inconsequential. It seems as if, with two doors left, it’s a 50/50 chance that you are right, so what’s the point of switching. Or, what’s the harm of switching?

But it’s not a 50/50 proposition.

In fact, if you do switch, your chance of winning the car increases to 66%.

So, if you’re ever in situations like this, always choose to switch and you’ll be right 2 out of 3 times.

Ever since I first discovered them years and years ago, I had simply assumed that the band was called Camper Van Beethoven, with the “Van” belonging more to “Beethoven” so that it would be Camper (slightest pause) Van+Beethoven.

Yesterday, I had a thought. What if it’s Camper Van Beethoven, with the “Van” belonging more to the “Camper”, so that it would be Camper+Van (slightest pause) Beethoven?

Or perhaps each word should be given equal due?

How will this uncertainty affect my life?

Every weekday, I drive to work and I hear on the radio a selection of jokes from the previous night’s Tonight Show with Jay Leno monologue.

I gotta say that, based on these daily comedy bits, there are some comedy writers out in LA who are making some pretty easy coin.

In terms of quality of content, I kinda equate The Tonight Show with the Air Farce: both are shows designed to appeal to The Greatest Common Denominator and/or grandmothers. Very safe comedy. Read: boring. It’s greatest sin is that it tries to trick us into thinking it’s comedy-on-the-edge. The sad thing is that so many people fall for the trick. It’s not on-the-edge. It’s repetitive and simple and mean. I like comedy that’s mean, but to me, mean comedy must also be smart. Jay Leno jokes are not smart.

People, if ever I fall into a coma, please, oh please get a television and a dvd player sent to my hospital room. Then play the movie The Master of Disguise.

I vow that this will cause me to rise out of my coma, get out of bed, and turn the damn thing off.

…I’d want to be Janeane Garofalo. She’s all right, in my book.

Ever since George, on Seinfeld, came up with “Seven” as the name he’d like to call his child, the notion of coming up with an unusual name of my own has been percolating in the back of my head.

Lately, I’ve been coming back to ‘Error’ as a name. I realise it’s absolutley awful, but still, I come back to it. I don’t even think that, if one could discount the negative inherent in the word, it would be a good name, yet I’m fixated on it. It does have a celtic flavour to it, which is good if you’re into that. Perhaps if it was spelled differently, it might work better? Eihrrohr?

I think naming a child Eihrrohr would be about the worst thing you could do.

What unusual name would you name, or not name, a child?

Enjoy fellowship, goodwill and turkey, y’all. And if you happen to get something to unwrap, all the better.

Even though so many of them are anti-funny, the comics page lives on in many newspapers. There are many ways to view comics online, but here’s one of the better ones I’ve come across yet: The Houston Chronicle gives you the option to build your own comics page. Just go to this link and choose your favourites, as many as you want. Click the submit button, then a new page comes up.
Simply bookmark this new page and you’ll have a handy-dandy link to all your favourite comics, updated daily.