OnePageWonder Pop culture grab bag extended dance remix

Halloween2009: Spooky Sounds and Bonus DVD

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 09:29:24 CDT

So I thought I'd relive the glory days of making haunted houses as a kid with a good old fashioned spooky sounds CD: This is a lot like any other scary sounds CD with tracks that are supposed to replicate the terrifying sounds of a haunted crypt, haunted forest, haunted house- well, you get the idea. I listened to a bit of it and it really seemed like a lot of footsteps and chewing noises, which could be scary, but they just didn't put their heart into it; not like the Hallmark one I had back as a kid when Hallmark worked to be your Halloween headquarters. No, the real bonus here was the bonus DVD. I didn't know what it was, but popped it in and was greeted with this: CATCOM With a graphic like that, you know you're in for a treat. Well, it turns out that they felt so bad about the lack of effort with their scary sounds CD that they decided to throw in a copy of The Unexplained entitled Werewolves, Witches, and Vampires. The Unexplained was an Unsolved Mysteries-esque show from the 90s that dealt with, well, the unexplained. Someone somewhere must have written a textbook on making these shows because they all seem to adhere to a few simply rules. Rule #1: Once Well Respected Actor in Trench Coat. This seems to be a cardinal rule and it really works for some reason. The whole first part of this show is dedicated to finding out if werewolves exist. It's inane. But you introduce the segment with Peter Graves in a trench coat and a fog machine and you're suddenly doing investigative journalism. Rule #2: Inclusion of Experts. This one is equally important, you can't just interview any old nut about werewolves. If your expert is a doctor of something, then all the better. But this is where you have to get creative with it. Everyone knows that werewolves don't actually exist, but in order to make an actual show, it has to be longer than two minutes. Rule #3: Add credence to your subject by talking about something completely different.Werewolves don't exist? Don't be so sure about that. In this instance, they advance the point by talking about lycanthropy. It's apparently some condition where you're absolutely crazy and to prove the point, they went ahead with a re-enactment of what crazy might look like: See, werewolves are real. Rule #4: Include lots of re-enactments. Now you're cooking with oil. Never mind the whole shape shifting thing, this woman is absolutely mad and we've got a bona fide doctor telling us it's all because of a medical condition that comes from a word that shares its etymology with the term werewolf. Still not convinced? Then maybe this will change your mind: Rule #5: Don't have footage? Make your own or just include something from an old movie. How can you say this isn't real? You're looking at it, aren't you? So what's not real, that picture of a werewolf? See where this is going? The show continues in the same vein when exploring the question of witches and vampires and I would strongly urge you to watch it just to see the bit on witches. Who needs re-enactment footage when you've got the real thing. Of course, they go on about the Salem Witch Trials and give a long apology of the history of Wicca, but how can you concentrate when you're faced with such stunning visuals: This is what people did before WOW Granted, this footage is from the 90s, but I would bet dollars to dimes that any present day coven would look pretty much the same: overweight females and sensitive men, like shopping at Hot Topic. I suppose there are worse things one could be doing than prancing around the woods in a cloak, but they probably aren't as entertaining. This is serious stuff, people And vampires, sure we'll pay lip service to Vlad the Impaler and all that stuff, but it's much more fun talking to this person: Do vampires really exist? Do they sparkle in the sunlight? Of course they do, this woman claims to be one. OK, she isn't technically undead, but she does claim to sleep in a coffin and likes the taste of blood AND she's a huge fan of the Cure- what more evidence do you need? Sigh. It was a treat watching this again as it reminded me of all those Friday nights I spent as a kid watching Unsolved Mysteries. I think reality TV has really ruined the paranormal. There's something about having a real person share their experience and then re-creating the happening with really bad acting (why didn't they use the real person in the re-creations? I never got that). Well, I'm off to prepare for Halloween...

Halloween2009: Candy Corn Flavored Dots

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 05:39:37 CDT

Bear and I were at Target the other day when we ran across the Halloween themed Dots candies. I don't know how long the good folks over at Dots have been doing this, but it was interesting to see them attempting to take a nearly extinct brand into the 21st century. Of course, Dots aren't extinct, in fact, they are still a staple in those mixed candy bags you buy to distribute to the trick or treaters every year. So I guess they just figured that since Halloween is the only time people buy these things, why not come out with special Halloween editions? And by Jove, that's exactly what they did. Along with the candy corn flavor, they also had Dots Ghosts and Dots Bats. I think that doing a candy corn flavored version of another candy is probably the obvious choice, but I'm not sure that it's the right one. I have a love hate relationship with this candy. It's one of those things where I think why not have a couple kernels of this delicious confection which quickly declines to "well, I might as well finish the whole bag." There is no moderation with this stuff, you're going to get a stomach ache, that's all there is to it. So you combine that with a candy that is guaranteed to be flavorless and pull your fillings out? I don't mean to harp on a candy that has been around since the beginning of candy, but I don't think it's good...and I've touted the deliciousness of the Necco Wafer and the complexity of the circus peanut. This is a trip to the dentist, not a candy. I think that the candy corn flavored dots were a lot fresher than what I am used to because these were actually soft. That was nice. But they didn't taste anything like candy corn. Actually, they didn't taste like anything. Sure they had that strange initial flavor that all Dots have, but outside of that- nothing much. So candy corn Dots taste like nothing. Mystery solved. Though I did see that the Dots Bats are blood orange flavored, so I'm sure I'll be giving that a try. Until tomorrow...

Halloween2009: The Major Dad Halloween Special

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 06:20:27 CDT

I know, you're thinking Major Dad and Halloween episode...life just couldn't get any better. It's like the day peanut butter met chocolate- candy for the mind. It's so good, in fact, I think it would be best if we just dove right into it instead of dilly-dallying or trying to make polite conversation first. The episode opens at Major Dad's office. It's Halloween, it's a Saturday, but they are all at work? Unfortunately, they have to finish a report by today, so everyone had to roll up their sleeves and pitch in. Fortunately, he's Major Dad, so he's not to peeved by the whole thing. The Lieutenant is trying to make the most of his favorite holiday with gags and cupcakes when the General comes in and offers his help. Well, one thing leads to another and the General keeps erasing the reports on his computer, meaning they have to continually start all over. Adding to this Sisyphus like nightmare is Casey. She is carving her pumpkin and just wants some help putting her costume together, but nobody will help her. Robin and Elizabeth are too busy going to the thrift store to get their costumes and Mom is up to her eyeballs doing her election work. Nobody has any time for poor Casey... So Mom gets called into work meaning Casey will have to stay at Major Dad's office where there is absolutely nothing at all to do. Everyone is too busy working on their report to pay any attention to her. So to occupy herself, she goes over to Major Dad's computer and, you guessed it, deletes the entire freakin' report. Major Dad and the gang are all really upset because not only did they have to work all Saturday, they're going to have to continue working through the night. Luckily for Casey though, the General is kinda downsey, so everyone assumes he deleted it. The bad news for Casey, is that Gunny feels her head and notices that she has a fever! It's Halloween and poor Casey is stuck on the couch where she's subjected to the horrors of watching other kids trick-or-treat. Casey nods off to sleep, but being a child with a fever, she is naturally unaware of that fact. Just then there's a knock at the door...why it's another little girl just like her, only she's trick-or-treating. "Tell, you what," Casey says, "I'll give you all of this candy for your costume?" Well the girl agrees and Casey is set with a costume, which is always why you escort your children when they go trick-or-treating! But just then something happens, the screen cuts to a completely awesome transition shot. It's a creepy sky, a poorly animated vampire bat, then no, it's their jack-o-lanterns. Casey finds herself on the porch where's she's greeted by Robin and Elizabeth. Only they're sorta uglier than before and they're calling Casey names and chasing her with a live snake! Inside, Mom says that they're just awful because they're teenagers, but is that Mom or a vampire version of Mom? Well, Casey escapes from the house and heads on over to Major Dad's office, but it's no use. The Lieutenant turns into Frankenstein, Gunny turns into a witch, and the General turns into the Phantom of the Opera. Even though Casey is to young to get that last reference, she's still terrified. Luckily she makes it to Major Dad's office. He's tries to calm her down. "Look," he says, "there's nothing out there but that full moon..." Unfortunately the full moon turned Major Dad into that guy from Fleetwood Mac and now everything is starting to look grim. Slowly all the monsters fill Major Dad's office where they surround Casey and threaten her. But luckily Casey wakes up in time to Mom and Major Dad comforting her on the couch. It was all just a dream...and everyone is there, even the General. Well, Casey apologizes and they gingerly forgive her like all military parents do. Besides, it's Halloween, so let's all just have a big Halloween party! Just not before we end this just like every other Halloween sitcom episode! Well, I just hope that you, gentle reader, understand what I went through to bring you this review. And just in case you're really bored, this episode is called There's No Place Like Farlow, but I really think you've seen enough already.

Halloween2009: Halloween Candy Bowl

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 10:46:13 CDT

The supermarket aisles are starting to fill up with seasonal end caps of candy corn and Halloween themed breakfast cereal. It's around this time that Bear starts to get nervous every time I announce my intention to go to the store alone because she knows that I'll be gone for an hour on what should have been a ten minute excursion. Of course I'll blame it on the super slow customer service, but we both know I spent 45 minutes staring at packaging. So it was hardly a surprise when I came home with a bag of fun-sized candy. She also knows that this is just the tip of the ice berg for the year. I don't normally eat candy, and I rarely eat anything contained in the bag above, but paint the bag purple and black and shrink the candy to tiny individually wrapped packages and the will power goes out the window. The packaging is great, but you're not really in business until you display your holiday treats in a salad bowl. This is the only time of year when you can effortlessly display a motley bevy of totally unrelated candy. When else can you greet your guests with a Twizzler or package that contains three Whoppers? That's sort of the problem with buying these packages of candy- there's always a stinker in the bunch. And there distribution always favors the candy you don't like. I think they usually do this by guaranteeing that at least 50% of the bag contains Smarties, but this time they got creative on me. In this case it was the Jolly Rancher Doubles. The idea looked good on paper (at least the packaging), I mean, I like Jolly Ranchers, so putting two flavors in each piece should double the fun. The only snag to their cunning plan was that every single one is combined with orange. Green apple and orange, grape and orange, it the Dr. Moreau of candy. The other thing that stumped me were the chocolate lollipops. Why would you do this when we've come so far in developing new sucker flavors? This isn't 1909 for goodness sake, so why include something in a bag of trick-or-treat candy that trick-or-treaters are guaranteed to hate? I guess it makes sense in a way, though; if they include a few varieties that nobody likes, they're guaranteeing that you'll still have something to pass out to the brats come Oct. 31... Either way, I'm off to welcome the changing of seasons by ceremonially eating four Milk Duds.

Blogs: Halloween is Coming

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 06:57:51 CDT

Holidays: Summer Recap

Fri, 28 Aug 2009 04:43:55 CDT

Well, I definitely didn't write as much as I wanted this summer. I know I'm not the first person with a website to say that... Anyhow, the few posts we did put up this summer actually increased the traffic to this meager site, so thanks to all you nice people who up-vote us on the various social sites out there (Redditors and Stumblers, you know who you are). But like I said, I was cleaning out the SD card and found a few random posts that never came to be... We had a fun 4th of July...someone even set the neighbor's yard on fire. Bear and I celebrated with a massive tank battle. In the end her Monty was no match for my Rommel. Maybe next year, Bear. And then the heat came. We actually had the hottest day on record here in the PDX with temperatures at 109 where we were. It was Africa hot. We tried to demonstrate the heat by cooking an egg in the sunlight, but we failed to produce an omelet. We had a rabbit problem. It was only one rabbit, but it decided to move in under the backyard shed. I guess that's not a problem unless you also happen to own a beagle with extremely strong instincts. Every morning, Gertie would dash out of the house and begin baying uncontrollably, so we figured that the easiest solution would be to trap the rabbit and relocate him. The very day we setup the trap, the rabbit disappeared. But Gertie was excited when we trapped a sparrow. This is entirely uninteresting. I'm aware of that. And last weekend we spent the day at the local Family Fun Center to celebrate the niece and nephew's birthday. Bear got soaked on the bumper boats. Our other niece had a squirter on her boat that sprayed right at face level and I think she spent the entire time dousing her poor aunt. But we made up for it some extreme go-kart action and some cut throat miniature golf. I've got nothing here. The summer was nice and even though it's still warm out, I must admit that I'm looking forward to a change of seasons. After all, we're about the enter the best time of the year. With that, I promise to at least try to be more interesting come fall.

Grab Bag: Durian, The Forbidden Fruit

Mon, 10 Aug 2009 12:54:11 CDT

The durian fruit has long been a delicacy in southeast Asia and is often referred to there as the king of fruits. I've heard several reports that these pungent fruits are banned in public places because of their strong smell, yet from everything I've gathered, the seem to be extremely popular: Durian Fruit The fruit itself is relatively large and has a thick skin that is completely covered in spikes. The fruit grows on tall trees, making these things lethal when they fall. Figuring out how to cut into one of these things can be a bit perplexing, but the fruit actually has a built in seam and you can easily get into a durian by running a sharp knife along it. Peeling back the edges of the durian reveals the fruit's rich, creamy innards. It's also completely grotesque. When you throw in the sound, all I could think of were the eggs in Aliens that would hatch those face sucking alien things; it's something Klingons would eat. Unfortunately, the smell isn't that much different. At this point, we were all crowded around the patio table and people started to back off one-by-one as the durian's scent found its way to their nostrils. But the gentleman at the market told us not to be thrown by the smell as the fruit tastes different. He actually went on about how much he loves the taste of durian, so the smell of decay simply wasn't enough to dissuade us. The fruit itself contains five sections that all contain the custardy yellow flesh of the durian along with large seeds that look like mutated hazelnuts. It also helps spread the unique aroma. If you open this outside (which I heartily recommend), don't be surprised if the police get calls of a decomposing body in your house. Just a word of caution. Then again, if you are hiding a decomposing body, stocking up on durian might provide you with a compelling explanation. By this point we had all spent so much time hemming and hawing over the scent that there was no other choice but to dig in. Using a spoon, I easily scooped a little out and was ready to go. I tried to remember what I'd heard about the smell and taste being unrelated, so I felt pretty confident that I could handle the taste. The flesh was really soft and more like a custard than a fruit. The taste, on the other hand, was a little different than the smell. At first I was hit by the taste of overripe papaya and swallowed the first bite thinking that it was actually pretty good. Less than a second later, I was hit by the aftertaste which was completely different. There were strong hints of rotten onion, stomach bile, nuts, and oh so much more. Getting it all the way down was challenging as my gag reflex was fighting me the whole way. That was the strange thing about this food. I'm always up for trying new things and have eaten plenty of things I didn't care for. But I've never had to fight to get fresh food down before. The taste is truly beyond description. The only thing I can really compare it to is taking a fresh papaya, some onions, a couple almonds, and stuffing the combination into the hollowed out cavity of a dead cat. Let that sit out for a couple weeks under a warm sun and you're in the ballpark. But I do think there is a definite cultural bias here. The flavor is so intense and so foreign you just can't get your head around it. It made me think of my first college roommate who was a Japanese exchange student. He'd love to try anything that I would bring home from the grocery store, but the one thing he never understood was Dr Pepper. To him, that was the most disgusting thing he'd ever come into contact with and he simply couldn't understand why anyone would drink it. So is the durian as awful as everyone says? Millions of people shell out big money for them, so I guess it's a matter of perspective.

Holidays: Water Rocket Riot

Sun, 12 Jul 2009 11:21:12 CDT

We got to spend the day watching our niece and nephew (5 year old twins) yesterday. Not having children of our own, we always look forward to these babysitting sessions. It gives Bear the opportunity to exercise her maternal skills and I get to pick up cool toys to keep everyone occupied (plus it's always good to secure your position as world's coolest uncle). Being a warm summer day, I set out to find us a water rocket: I was actually surprised I was able to find one at the first store we visited. For those who don't know, a water rocket is a small plastic rocket that comes with a pump. You add a little water to it, pump it up, and it soars to pretty good heights. For me, the water rocket was a summertime staple. This one was a little fancier than the all red ones they sold when I was a kid, but the size and shape was the same. Maybe I was a simpleton, but the ability to propel things into the air with nothing more than water and a bit of elbow grease really appealed to me. But was the water rocket enough to keep two modern five year old kids busy until nap time? We headed to the park to find out. The first step to preparing your water rocket for launch is to carefully add the water. The kit includes a small funnel and the side of the rocket is marked with a fill line, so you know exactly how much to add. At this point, my nephew Sam was immediately intrigued by the process. The water/air ratio is critical to getting your rocket to fly. Too much water and you can't pump enough air in. Too little water and you won't have anything to propel the rocket. It's almost like science or something. The next step is to secure the rocket to the pump and begin pumping air. This was the one thing the kids weren't really strong enough to do, so I was more than happy to help out. The instructions warned against anything more than 20 pumps, but we all knew that was for amateurs and not serious rocketeers like ourselves. Me: You're not thinking of launching that at my head, are you? Sam: [silently faces the other direction] After a quick safety inspection, Sam was ready for liftoff. Once you have enough pressure, you just aim the rocket and launch it by releasing the clasp that holds the rocket to the pump. The results? The rocket actually gets up there pretty good, probably going around 50ft or so in the air. The kids, of course, loved it and immediately started chasing after it. So there we had it, a perfect toy for a warm summer day. That is until... We were all having a great time until the inevitable happened. An errant launch ended with our rocket getting lodged near the top of a tall fir tree. You could literally see the kids' expressions turn from delight to disappointment as they realized the rocket wasn't going to budge. Worse yet, we weren't armed with anything that would allow us to knock the rocket out of the tree. Sam just looked at me and whimpered "It's all Molly's fault this happened." The age old blame your sibling strategy. Bear and I coaxed them back to the house with the promise of snacks, but the damage was done. We headed back later with their dad and a few tennis balls to try to get the rocket. Of course, we immediately lost the tennis balls, but after a few good bouts of chucking rocks at the tree, we were able to free it from captivity and were back to exploring the cosmos.

Grab Bag: We've Solved the Childhood Obesity Problem

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 06:07:41 CDT

It's no secret that more Americans that ever before are struggling with weight issues. Put someone in a cubicle for 8 hours a day, subject them to some stress, throw some money worries their way and it's pretty likely they'll put on some weight. But when it comes to our kids, there's really not a good excuse for a healthy kid to become overweight. But there's a pretty obvious reason it's happening: Pizza Anyone? Bear and I were at the grocery store last night when we stumbled across these pizza Lunchables. This piqued our interest so we picked up a few other items that were marketed to kids as food. Let's see the results. First the Lunchables. These were originally little cheese and crackers kits that were gross, but not too bad if you were in a pinch. Since their debut, Oscar Mayer has apparently stretched the definition of lunch a bit. The kit comes with three whole grain pizza crusts, 9 pepperoni-esque sausage discs, a small wad of mozzarella cheese product, and a small plastic tube of Tombstone pizza sauce. The directions even boast "no need to heat," so you're welcome to just make your own cold miniature pizzas for lunch. I tried it cold first and these things are disgusting. Cold pizza sauce smeared on cheap bread with fake cheese and sausage discs just isn't my definition of food. I took a couple small bites and that was all I could do. But I figured that there's no reason these would be good cold, regardless of the quality of the ingredients, so I decided to nuke one: The warm version was better than the cold, but the main problem (aside from the cheese and sausage sweating all over the place) was the fact that these things were pure sugar. I know that kids crave things that we simply can't stomach as adults, but these things are repulsive and I don't think any kid would eat them cold. But just in case they do, three small pizzas will net you 270 calories, 4.5g of saturated fat, and 25% of your sodium for the day. So unless you're eating brown rice for your other two meals, this probably isn't a good supplement to your diet. Up next is the off-brand version of Lunchables. This one is my absolute favorite because the packaging makes it sound like you're getting chicken nuggets for lunch (and kids love their chicken nuggets), but when you open it up: You get 4 tiny chicken nuggets, a pool of ketchup like dipping sauce, and a fun-size box of Nerds. The nuggets don't taste that bad. They're basically miniature chicken nuggets that have been cooked and refrigerated in plastic for far too long. So basically kids and college students will eat these up. The ketchup is pure sugar and there are a few Nerds or dessert. But does it pass as lunch? These aren't as bad as the pizzas. You're getting 200 calories, 23% of your sodium, and 1.5g of saturated fat. But the major problem is that even a kid is going to be starving after eating this, provided the cold chicken nuggets didn't totally ruin their appetite. Up next we picked up a couple of boxes of Kid Cuisine frozen meals. These are great because they not only feature what appears to be Daffy's non trademark infringing cousin on the box, but they clearly display the food pyramid on the bottom, intimating that these are a good nutritional choice. We started with the Bug Safari meal which was ready to consume after following the simple instructions: A few minutes later and you're all set to decorate your reconstituted "white" chicken nuggets with the tube of partially frozen ketchup sauce: Like the package indicates, this is a true lunch safari. You've got bug shaped chicken nuggets, corn, mac and cheese, and gummy bugs for dessert. The mac and cheese is super salty and bland at the same time, the corn is...well forget that because there's no way a kids going to eat it, the nuggets are ok, and the gummy bugs taste like imitation fruit snacks and they're filled with slime. All in all, a kid would eat it (sans corn). The end result is 420 calories, 3.5g of saturated fat, 10% of your cholesterol, but you are getting 20% of your dietary fiber and 32% of your protein. So is this one really bad for you? Probably not that bad, but you are getting enough salt to naturally preserve your child just in case the cholesterol causes a major heart attack when he's climbing the jungle gym. The chicken sandwich was up next. This one was called KC's Karate Chop and featured a chicken sandwich, tater tot thingies, vegetables, and some sort of strawberry dessert. The preparation on this one was a bit trickier. You have to remove and slice the bun, cook, then assemble your sandwich and continue cooking. Basically, by the time you did this, you could have made a normal sandwich and a healthy side for your kid. The finished result? Imagine taking a fast food chicken sandwich, letting sit for a couple of days, then replacing the bun with a Cinnabon. The bread is literally sweeter than a doughnut. I thought it was me until I discovered that the second ingredient in the bread was high fructose corn syrup. Can you even call it bread at that point? For dessert you get Strawberry Flavored Popping Crispies which are basically Rice Krispies that are covered in a sweet imitation strawberry yogurt and infused with Pop Rocks. I'm not joking, these thing started popping the minute they got wet in my mouth. In other words, kids would love them. This one comes in at 410 calories with 130 of those coming from fat. You also get 4g of saturated fat, 15mg of cholesterol, and 18% of your sodium. The thing that gets me here is that for the same money and time, you could actually prepare something much healthier for your kid. So what's the cure for childhood obesity? I think it's actually pretty simple: If it's not food, don't feed it to your kids. Oh, and the stuff pictured above isn't food. It just flat out isn't. It might be fine in a pinch, but it's not food.

Grab Bag: Bigfoot Prints in the Sand

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 10:40:15 CDT

A special thanks to Jeremy Smith of Candlelight Press for the illustrations. If you like this, check out his comic Zoo Force, it's the best comic ever made. If you've been especially moved by this poem, please feel free to comment below to share your experiences, or pass it along to a friend.

Blogs: Happy 4th of July!

Sun, 05 Jul 2009 11:44:29 CDT

Grab Bag: How to Read A Person Like A Book

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 04:26:15 CDT

Bear brought this book home for me to review and boy am I glad she did. The rear cover of this marvel from 1971 states: "This illustrated, no-nonsense manual shows you how to spot the hidden social, sexual, and emotional meanings behind the gestures of people you know- or would like to know better- by learning to read the language that everyone uses but nobody speaks." The book itself is broken into categories of non-verbal behavior such as defensiveness, openness, frustration, and so on. To make things even better, each sections contains quotes from famous authors and neat illustrations like the one above of a Republican Senator at a public urinal. I think the only problem is that some of the pictures contain people gesturing, but the illustrations simply don't contain enough context to really get the gist of what's going on. Fortunately, I once took and received an A in a community college non-verbal communication course, so let me help you decipher these gestures. The blonde is hotter, but I bet the red head really grinds... My nipples are erect, so you knowI'm telling the truth What's she gonna do, tell her supervisor?I am her supervisor. Hey ladies, what has a bitchin' hat and hides in your bushes at night? I wonder when they'll figure outI have a time machine... I can't believe I've stuck my finger in my eye, again. Act natural, no one else knows you crapped your pants.Why did this have to happen at work? The book, of course, has other illustrations, but I found that these were the most informative. Oh, and just in case you men are wondering, this is what the book says a woman looks like if she's interested in you: According to the authors, if you get this look from a woman, you're supposed to respond with a preening gesture... Thanks for tagging along and don't forget to check back soon.

Blogs: It's My Birthday

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 06:51:24 CDT

Entertainment: My Addiction

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 05:21:16 CDT

Ah, the daily compulsion. Whether it's the website you just have to check or that daily cup of coffee, the day just doesn't go smoothly until you satisfy it. For me, it's the New York Times crossword puzzle. I started to get into the NYT crossword from buying the Sunday paper. Bear and I would spend our lazy Sunday afternoons working the puzzle together. But then something magical happened. As I began buying the daily newspaper, it occurred to me that they also syndicate the puzzle during the week: The New York Times Crossword Once I started doing the weekly puzzle, I realized that it's actually more fun and more challenging than the Sunday puzzle. I know, solving the Sunday New York Times puzzle is regarded by many to be a feat of intelligence, but get this: the weekly puzzle gets progressively more difficult throughout the week. The Monday puzzle is a cakewalk, but the Saturday puzzle is next to impossible. As a reference point, the Sunday puzzle is often said to have the same level of difficulty as a Thursday puzzle. I am writing this on a Wednesday and have found that the Wednesday puzzle is generally a nice bridge between difficulty levels. You can definitely solve it on your own, but it'll take more time than a Monday or Tuesday puzzle. For example, this puzzle is themed (another commonality of the NYT puzzle). There are three long across answers that all contain something that Brits do and the clues have question marks, letting you know that they're a play on words. Clue: British smart alecks? Answer: Wise Blokes (get it, wise guys?) This puzzle continues with keep in lorryin and catch some zeds in true British spirit. Some other interesting bits of trivia about the New York Times Crossword: The puzzle is almost always symmetrical (turn it upside down and the pattern is the same) All the puzzles are edited by Will Shortz, but he doesn't write the puzzle, he edits them Will Shortz is the 4th puzzle editor since the puzzle debuted in 1942, so the job tenure is akin to being a Supreme Court justice If there's an abbreviation in a clue, the answer will be abbreviated The clues and answers will always agree in tense and number If the answer is a phrase, the clue will be in quotes The weekly puzzles contain common clues and answers throughout the week, so it's easier to solve a Saturday puzzle if you've done the earlier ones (from my experience) While the New York Times is famous for its puzzle, the crossword was actually invented by Arthur Wynne who created the first puzzle in 1913 for The New York World The New York Times puzzle is syndicated and carried by hundreds of papers, but the syndicated version is always 5 weeks old so if you want today's puzzle, you have to get the New York Times Of course, if your local paper is like mine, they also feature a Daily Crossword, but I've found that the daily puzzles lack a theme and the art/science/literary references that make the NYT puzzle so famous. It's the Wheel of Fortune to the NYT's Jeapardy!

Blogs: Voltron: Defender of the Universe

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 12:31:06 CDT