Monday, January 30, 2012

Kids Say the Darnedest Things About Celebrities

I use the first two notes of the National Anthem as an example of the dotted eighth/sixteenth note rhythm, and we got on a tangent about how some amateur renditions of the Anthem are less than successful...

ME: Yeah, some of them are kinda bad.
KID: Well, not everyone can be the next Julia Roberts.
ME: Can she even sing?
KID: Wait--that's a real person? I thought I just made that up!

(I quickly went to Wikipedia to produce a picture of Ms. Roberts, and the kid said she looked somewhat familiar.)

The same kid had one more take on national anthems. I mentioned that ours was particularly difficult to sing, compared to, say, Canada's...

KID (sings): O Canada...I hate your bacon!
ME: (laughs) You don't like Canadian bacon?
KID: It's...just...ham. Why do they call it bacon when it's just ham?

If this kid goes into stand-up comedy later in life, this blog might get a lot more readers...

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Fans of the Esbjörn Svensson Trio, Rejoice!

It turns out that, before Svensson's untimely passing in '08, the group had one more album's worth of music in the can...and it's about to be released:
Nearly four years after their demise following the tragic death of pianist and composer Esbjörn Svensson in a diving accident in June 2008 a new EST studio album, 301, is set for release on 30 March on the ACT label.

[...][T]heir appetite to continually evolve and experiment saw the trio’s final album, Leucocyte, recorded in 301 Studios, Sydney Australia just prior to Svensson’s death, become their most radical departure yet. In addition to the released album nine hours of music were tracked at the Leucocyte sessions and it was Esbjörn’s initial plan to edit it down to a double album, or release two consecutive albums. In the circumstances following his death it was decided to release it just the single album.

In November 2011 after both recording solo albums and touring, bassist Dan Berglund and drummer Magnus Östrom decided to revisit the sessions and together with their sound and recording engineer Åke Linton, whose electronics played a key part in these recordings, decided to edit the remaining material.
This is great news. I can't wait!

Kids Say the Darnedest Things About Dead Composers

This one was playing a Bach minuet and adding some, umm, artistic license...

ME: You keep trying to put an F# in there.
KID: I know. I like that F#!
ME: Yeah, but Bach didn't, or he would've put one there. And he may be dead, but you don't want a German ghost haunting you.
KID: Good thing I'm German...
ME: But you still wouldn't want a ghost with a powdered wig coming in your room...
KID: Yeah, I know, 'cause I just washed my bed!

Monday, January 23, 2012

Kids Say the Darnedest Things About Footwear

Today, I was wearing my TOMS shoes to school, and a kid noticed:

KID: I've always wanted a pair of those. How do they feel?
ME: They're amazing.
KID: Like a potato?

Monday, January 16, 2012

Wait..Haven't We Heard This Story Before?

A story of note from the business world last week involved a global beverage company buying out a smaller competitor in order to avoid name brand confusion, even though many people believed the smaller company's product to be superior to that of the giant one. And while you may say, "Wait--we've talked about this already," hang on; I'm not talking about Dr Pepper at the moment, but Budweiser:
Anheuser-Bush InBev NV (ABI.BT), the world's biggest brewer, has acquired the rights to some Budweiser brand trademarks in Europe by striking a deal with a small Czech brewer, marking a small step forward in a long-running legal battle for global use of the Budweiser brand.
While I never sampled the smaller Budweiser that was bought out last week, my parents brought me some Budvar Budweiser--the last remaining barrier to Anheuser-Busch's exclusive ownership of the name--from a trip to the Czech Republic, and it's a far better beer than the one from St. Louis could ever dream of being.

I sure would like to see David beat Goliath in the corporate world again sometime...

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

The End of a Legend...and for No Good Reason

I can't tell you how upset I was to read this a few moments ago. From the Facebook group called "Support Dublin Dr Pepper" comes this horrible news:
As some of you may have noticed I had pulled this page for the past few weeks. I was asked to do so by the people at The Dublin Dr Pepper bottling company, as they were in negotiations with Dr Pepper/Snapple Corp/Cadbury. In lieu of the outcome of the court case I feel that it is time to open the page back up.

It is with a very heavy heart that I must tell you the results of the case. A true Texas tradition has died. As of five o'clock central time The Dublin Dr Pepper Bottling Co and Dublin Dr Pepper are no more. Dr Pepper/Snapple/Cadbury Companies won their case against our small bottler and have closed the plant in Dublin. They have graciously allowed the new museum and soda shop to remain open, but they will only be able to serve regular Dr Pepper sweetened with sugar; not the original recipe we all love.

I know that all of you will be affected by this outcome, but I can't even imagine the devastating affect it will have on my small town. I vow to NEVER buy a product made by any of these companies and pray that you will let them know exactly how you feel. As always, there is contact information on the Info page. Please pray for all of the newly unemployed Dublin bottler employees, and for Dublin, Texas.

Thank you for all of your support!
Corporate greed at its finest, ladies and gentlemen. I'll savor my last few sixers of Dublins that I bought the last time I was in Stephenville last month, but after that, I guess my weekly DP at Chick-fil-A will change over to something else; I'm not supporting this corporation in any way, shape or form.

UPDATE: More information can be found here; this article makes it appear that they settled, and Dublin probably caved a bit to avoid having the full corporate legal hammer fall on them. It still sucks, no matter how you slice it.

Kids Say the Darnedest Things About Holidays (the sequel)

Back in October, a Monday kid was lamenting the fact that the next Monday holiday wasn't until MLK Day next week. This week, he was confronted with the fact that the holiday is almost upon us...

ME: I'll see you in two weeks. That holiday you've been longing for is next week.
KID: Next week is spring break???