Ninja Parade Slips Through Town Unnoticed Once Again

This explains all those times I found candy in my pocket...

When #1 Comes to Happy Valley

This was only the third time Penn State had played a #1 ranked team at home, and the last time was in the 70's. Game time was set for 8:00 pm. A night game in the home of the ultimate tailgating paradise. The rain cleared by mid morning, making way for many hours of partying. Perfect weather for a football game.
Last night's loss to the Buckeyes was especially painful because my tickets to the game were in the visitor section. I had just enough tasty beverages to make the hostile surroundings interesting, but not enough to get myself arrested.
When the Nittany Lions had the lead, it was glorious. There would not have been a better seat in the house if we could have pulled off the upset.
But when Ohio State began to dominate, the second largest crowd in Beaver Stadium history became much quieter. That is except for the drunken asses dressed in red who surrounded me. They became much louder and profane in their celebration. My flask of bourbon was not enough to make it seem okay.
It was definitely an experience I will not forget.
This video has nothing to do with last night's game, and the Ohio State fan pictured is nothing like the jagoffs I met yesterday. But this is much better than watching highlights from the game.
And no, I absolutely do not like Ohio State now.

Oh yeah, it's probably NSFW.

Tasty!

After many years of neglect, I busted out my growler and took it for a fill-up at Otto's this afternoon. My selection for this evening's Game 1 of the World Series (Go Colorado) is the Mt. Nittany Pale Ale. 64 ounces of fresh-brewed, tasty goodness.
Several interesting coincidences led to my revived interest in craft brewed beer:

• Late night shuffleboard with Jameson Irish Whiskey caused a 36 hour unpleasantness, thus halting my desire to consume any form of liquor. Luckily, this came after summertime, so I had several months to enjoy Palomas in the sun.
• Gus blogged about the top 5 ranked beers in 6 different categories. I woke up from my tasteless light beer phase. The lack of Magic Hat's inclusion from the lists led to disgust, and then...
• My bottle cap from a Fat Angel said "You're a Winner", which I came to find out means I get a free t-shirt! This happened almost 3 years to the day from my trip to Burlington with my wife for our honeymoon. That week we stopped at the Magic Hat Brewery each afternoon to pick up a growler of fresh suds.
• Pletcher's, our local beer distributor, carries an excellent selection of hoppy ales. I started with Dogfish Head 60 Minute I.P.A., followed by a Stoudt's Variety Pack, and then a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale.

Now my only problem is the 14 crappy Labatt Blue cans and the 2 Bud Lights that are wasting valuable space in my refrigerator. Should I take them out? Should I try to feed them to someone else? Should I just drink the damn things? Another one of life's great dilemmas.

This Week's New Releases

It pains me to say it, but I'm disappointed by Neil Young's latest effort, Chrome Dreams II. I had very high expectations, especially after visiting An Aquarium Drunkard for the long lost original 1977 unreleased predecessor. It's no secret that Neil is one of my favorite artists of all time. Whether it's his beautiful, acoustic, heartfelt ballads or his "Grandfather of Grunge" electric noise-rock, each of his phases represents a different stage in my life. I remember camping at our cabin in the woods (built from logs and mud) while my buddy Verno played songs from Neil's Unplugged album on an old guitar around the campfire in the mid-90s. Fast forward to 2003's headlining Bonnaroo appearance. Neil is universal - a true legend in our time. I'm not saying Chrome Dreams II is horrible, but I found it tough to listen to it the whole way through. There are definitely tracks worth hearing, so it is still a must-have in any music lover's collection.
But when it comes to new music this week, I've gotta instead recommend Ryan Adams' Follow the Lights EP. I haven't always been a Ryan Adams fan - it took some time for me to get into Easy Tiger.
And if you're feeling adventurous, you can count on Ween. La Cucaracha delivers more of the creativity and disturbing antics we have come to expect from Dean and Gene.

Band of Horses on Letterman 10/18/07

Dave says "Yessirree". You can't help but love these guys.

Ghostland Observatory on Conan 10/16/07

Damn. That is funky.

Who'd want to be Harry Truman?

Having followed You Ain't No Picasso's link to The Top Ten Most Incomprehensible Bob Dylan Interviews, I was instantly fascinated by the Playboy Interview from February 1966.

Both the magazine and the artist were revolutionary during those days. And both continue to provide social commentary while simultaneously providing influence.

Check out this excerpt:

PLAYBOY: In recent years, according to some critics, jazz has lost much of its appeal to the younger generation. Do you agree?
DYLAN: I don't think jazz has ever appealed to the younger generation. Anyway, I don't really know who this younger generation is. I don't think they could get into a jazz club anyway. But jazz is hard to follow; I mean you actually have to like jazz to follow it: and my motto is, never follow anything. I don't know what the motto of the younger generation is, but I would think they'd have to follow their parents. I mean, what would some parent say to his kid if the kid came home with a glass eye, a Charlie Mingus record and a pocketful of feathers? He'd say, "Who are you following?" And the poor kid would have to stand there with water in his shoes, a bow tie on his ear and soot pouring out of his belly button and say, "Jazz, Father, I've been following jazz." And his father would probably say, "Get a broom and clean up all that soot before you go to sleep." Then the kid's mother would tell her friends, "Oh yes, our little Donald, he's part of the younger generation, you know."

Wakey Wakey, Rise and Shine

It took several listens for me to feel confident enough to even attempt to comment on Radiohead's new album, In Rainbows. With my 5:30 am listening this morning, I knew it couldn't wait any longer. It's been many years since a collection of songs has inspired me to think so deeply.

Earlier this week, I turned off all the lights downstairs and trekked groggily upstairs for bed at the end of the evening. After realizing I left my phone on the dining room table, I stumbled back down in the dark. A copy of Chuck Palahniuk's Haunted rested on the table near my phone. I did not realize until that moment that the disturbing image on the cover glows in the dark. I was quite surprised to be face to face with such a shocked looking ghost.

One morning this week I went out the front door prior to dawn to walk the dog. One of our neighbors, a retired hippie who drives a Park Avenue, was walking down the street alone in the dark. Why? Where was he going and why was he awake at that hour?

And Radiohead released In Rainbows on October 10th. It doesn't sound much like something representative of sunshine and bright colors. To me it represents the uncomfortable surprise of something you knew was there, but it was always hidden during the daylight. And strangers wandering in the dark for some unknown reason while most of civilization is safely sleeping indoors.

I have not yet finished Palahniuk's Haunted, and I have not formed all the opinions I someday will about Radiohead's latest release. But both are beautifully disturbing and disgustingly pleasing to the senses.
Late in his life, Timothy Leary published Chaos and Cyber Culture where he proposed that the PC was the LSD of the 1990's. In many ways, this is even more true today. There is no way to expand your mind today like the immediate accessibility of information on the internet. And In Rainbows seems to be a perfect soundtrack to that trip.

Flash Strike

This game is really cool. It's like a cross between those arcade games where the zombies keep jumping at you, and Delta Force. Simple, yet fun.

Click to play game

Recent Discoveries

• Check out this article for some extremely interesting descriptions of the Black Lips live shows.
• An Aquarium Drunkard has again recommended some worthwhile tunes in Steve Earle's Washington Square Serenade.
• I finally checked out Culture's Two Sevens Clash. Great rasta reggae reminiscent of very early Marley (not the stuff on Legend).
• Radiohead has decided to sign to a record label for a conventional release of In Rainbows as a CD. Maybe I'm confused, but I thought the whole point of doing what they did was to prove this was unnecessary. Those dudes sure are strange... I hope the new album is worth all this fuss.
• I just got a copy of Ghostland Observatory's 2006 album Paparazzi Lightning. It sounds pretty good so far.

The Black Keys - Live at Grimey's Records, Nashville, TN

Not to be confused with Black Lips, The Black Keys are huge and bluesy pure rock and roll music. Yes, it is just a guitarist and a drummer. They should be forced to publicly apologize to Jack White for kicking so much ass. Head over to the AT&T Blue Room to check out video of their set at this year's Lollapalooza. The tracks are also available for download from iTunes as a live EP. The gods of classic rock are smiling.

Black Lips - Cold Hands

The new album by Black Lips, Good Bad Not Evil, dropped less than a month ago. Their "flower punk" sounds like it could have been released any time during the last 40 years. After reading mixed reviews about the collection of songs, I almost passed it by. Now I'm glad I checked it out - and you will be too!