Every summer there's that one song that perfectly embodies the free spirited-ness and happy-go-luckiness that the warmer weather, cookouts and days spent at the pool brings. It may have taken me until September to find it, but I have mine for this year.
"Say Hey (I Love You)" by Michael Franti & Spearhead is the perfect summer song. Hands down, game over, thanks for playing. I heard this song at random different times all through the end of the summer, but never could figure out who it was by or what it was called (radio DJs really need to get their act together about that stuff....).
Finally, my wonderful girlfriend saved me even more hours of Googling random lyrics and sent me the YouTube video.
This song is bouncy, fun and happy. It's a love song, or, more specifically, just "a song about a boy and a girl." There's really nothing else to say about it. You just have to listen.
I don't know who Michael Franti is, but I hope he keeps making good music. But maybe he should wait until next summer.
10.08.2009
Lake Norman News and Cabarrus News
All the hard work the last month has finally paid off! On Wednesday, my four coworkers and I successfully launched the Cabarrus News and the Lake Norman News. So far, we have had very positive response, including an e-mail from a man who was going to cancel his Observer subscription until he saw our new section.
I had three bylines total in the two first issues, and one article that didn't have a byline. For the Cabarrus News, I wrote an article in a volleyball player at Concord High School who signed a letter of intent to play at Washington State University. I also wrote an article about a soccer game between Concord and Hickory Ridge.
In the Lake Norman News, I wrote an article on an indoor skate park that opened in August in Cornelius, and wrote a game preview that didn't have a byline.
The sections look great and I'm so excited that other people can finally see them. We're already wrapping up the second issue and moving onto the third. You can read another soccer game recap that I wrote last night and will be published in the second issue of the Lake Norman News.
And if you didn't already know, you can be our friend on Facebook and follow us on Twitter:
www.facebook.com/LakeNormanNews
www.facebook.com/CabarrusNews
www.twitter.com/NewsLakeNorman
www.twitter.com/CabarrusNews
Let me know what you think!!
I had three bylines total in the two first issues, and one article that didn't have a byline. For the Cabarrus News, I wrote an article in a volleyball player at Concord High School who signed a letter of intent to play at Washington State University. I also wrote an article about a soccer game between Concord and Hickory Ridge.In the Lake Norman News, I wrote an article on an indoor skate park that opened in August in Cornelius, and wrote a game preview that didn't have a byline.
The sections look great and I'm so excited that other people can finally see them. We're already wrapping up the second issue and moving onto the third. You can read another soccer game recap that I wrote last night and will be published in the second issue of the Lake Norman News.And if you didn't already know, you can be our friend on Facebook and follow us on Twitter:
www.facebook.com/LakeNormanNews
www.facebook.com/CabarrusNews
www.twitter.com/NewsLakeNorman
www.twitter.com/CabarrusNews
Let me know what you think!!
10.06.2009
Tuesday Guilty Pleasure: Indie romantic comedies
Look, I posted two weeks in a row! I'm back, baby!
Have you ever thought to yourself, "Man, I'm really in the mood for a romantic comedy right now?" If you're a guy, the answer is probably no.
I might just be the exception.
The guy at the box office or clerk at the local Blockbuster usually assumes that I'm seeing that romantic comedy because I'm with my girlfriend and she somehow tricked me into it. Well, that's not always the case. Sometimes I'm really feeling a good romantic comedy.
Now let me clarify. I'm not talking a crappy, stereotypical romantic comedy like "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past" (biggest waste of two hours ever...) where a guy and a girl don't realize how much they care for each other, then they do, then one of them screws up and works the rest of the movie trying to get the other one back and they ride off into the sunset together. No. Forget that.
I'm talking the cute, indie-style romantic comedies that have become popular recently, where the two characters just have a good relationship and that's it. They go through life's problems and deal with them.
What made me think about this was seeing "Away We Go," with John Krasinski (Jim from the Office) and Maya Rudolph. The two characters are undeniably in love and they go across the country seeing old friends and trying to find a new place to live. Sounds simple, and it is. But it was hilarious and heartwarming.
Even though it's a little different, and definitely not as good of a movie, I would put "Garden State" in the same category. Same with "Juno."
I hate the formulaic, boring and overacted romantic comedies. But give me a fun and cute love story and I'm so down. I can't wait until "500 Days of Summer" comes out....
Have you ever thought to yourself, "Man, I'm really in the mood for a romantic comedy right now?" If you're a guy, the answer is probably no.
I might just be the exception.
The guy at the box office or clerk at the local Blockbuster usually assumes that I'm seeing that romantic comedy because I'm with my girlfriend and she somehow tricked me into it. Well, that's not always the case. Sometimes I'm really feeling a good romantic comedy.
Now let me clarify. I'm not talking a crappy, stereotypical romantic comedy like "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past" (biggest waste of two hours ever...) where a guy and a girl don't realize how much they care for each other, then they do, then one of them screws up and works the rest of the movie trying to get the other one back and they ride off into the sunset together. No. Forget that.
I'm talking the cute, indie-style romantic comedies that have become popular recently, where the two characters just have a good relationship and that's it. They go through life's problems and deal with them.
What made me think about this was seeing "Away We Go," with John Krasinski (Jim from the Office) and Maya Rudolph. The two characters are undeniably in love and they go across the country seeing old friends and trying to find a new place to live. Sounds simple, and it is. But it was hilarious and heartwarming.Even though it's a little different, and definitely not as good of a movie, I would put "Garden State" in the same category. Same with "Juno."
I hate the formulaic, boring and overacted romantic comedies. But give me a fun and cute love story and I'm so down. I can't wait until "500 Days of Summer" comes out....
9.29.2009
Tuesday Guilty Pleasure: One-Hit-Wonders
Ever heard of Soft Cell? How about Pure Prairie League? a-ha? How about the Manfred Mann Earth Band? Certainly you know Right Said Fred and Sir Mix-a-Lot.
No? Well, I sure do.
They were the masterminds behind, respectively, "Tainted Love," "Aime," "Take On Me," "Blinded by the Light," "I'm Too Sexy," and "Baby Got Back."
That's right, I know those artists off the top of my head. Why? I have no freakin' clue. But somehow in my 22 years of existence, so many one-hit-wonders have gotten stuck in my head it's not even funny, many of which hat their 15 minutes before I was even born.
I have to lay a piece of the blame on my step-father, who is an encyclopedia of one-hit-wonders. His knowledge dwarfs mine, but he's had a few more years to file away meaningless bands who wrote meaningless songs, one of which got inordinately popular.
I get some sick pleasure out of sneering at my nearest friend/person-I-kinda-know and asking "Who does this?" when "Breakfast at Tiffany's" comes on. And when they can't answer, I chuckle condescendingly and say "Deep Blue Something," which inevitably leads to the conversation, "Deep Blue what?" "Deep Blue Something." "Yeah, but what's the last word?" "Something." And on and on....
There's no way anyone should know that. But I do. And it makes me feel as superior as a NYU hipster smirking and leaning against the back wall at a Morrissey concert.
It's mean, I know, but somehow slightly gratifying. Try it for yourself. Next time "Somebody's Watching Me," comes on the radio (or on that obnoxious Geico commercial), spin around to your closest buddy and yell "Who does it??" When they inevitably give you a blank stare or guess "Michael Jackson" (who, interestingly, did sing the chorus and back-up vocals), laugh in their face and say with the pride that only comes from being filled to the brim with entirely useless information: "Rockwell."
(I'm going to go ahead and use this time to inform those that don't already know about the real lyric in "Blinded by the Light." He's not saying "Wrapped up like a douche another motor in the night" or any version of that. The actual lyric is: "Revved up like a Duece, another runner in the night," referring to a car. One more fun fact: this song was actually originally written by Bruce Springsteen. See, useless information....)
No? Well, I sure do.
They were the masterminds behind, respectively, "Tainted Love," "Aime," "Take On Me," "Blinded by the Light," "I'm Too Sexy," and "Baby Got Back."
That's right, I know those artists off the top of my head. Why? I have no freakin' clue. But somehow in my 22 years of existence, so many one-hit-wonders have gotten stuck in my head it's not even funny, many of which hat their 15 minutes before I was even born.
I have to lay a piece of the blame on my step-father, who is an encyclopedia of one-hit-wonders. His knowledge dwarfs mine, but he's had a few more years to file away meaningless bands who wrote meaningless songs, one of which got inordinately popular.
I get some sick pleasure out of sneering at my nearest friend/person-I-kinda-know and asking "Who does this?" when "Breakfast at Tiffany's" comes on. And when they can't answer, I chuckle condescendingly and say "Deep Blue Something," which inevitably leads to the conversation, "Deep Blue what?" "Deep Blue Something." "Yeah, but what's the last word?" "Something." And on and on....
There's no way anyone should know that. But I do. And it makes me feel as superior as a NYU hipster smirking and leaning against the back wall at a Morrissey concert.
It's mean, I know, but somehow slightly gratifying. Try it for yourself. Next time "Somebody's Watching Me," comes on the radio (or on that obnoxious Geico commercial), spin around to your closest buddy and yell "Who does it??" When they inevitably give you a blank stare or guess "Michael Jackson" (who, interestingly, did sing the chorus and back-up vocals), laugh in their face and say with the pride that only comes from being filled to the brim with entirely useless information: "Rockwell."
(I'm going to go ahead and use this time to inform those that don't already know about the real lyric in "Blinded by the Light." He's not saying "Wrapped up like a douche another motor in the night" or any version of that. The actual lyric is: "Revved up like a Duece, another runner in the night," referring to a car. One more fun fact: this song was actually originally written by Bruce Springsteen. See, useless information....)
9.28.2009
It's Monday, the Arctic Monkeys are on, and I'm eating green seedless grapes.
I'm really sad that I haven't been writing as much.
Honestly.
It's a awful truth that when you're getting paid to write, writing for free suddenly loses appeal. Even though I haven't actually had anything published yet -- a fact that continues to befuddle friends and family alike ("What the heck have you been doing for over a month??) -- I've spent most of my days on the ground doing prep work, preparing stories for the launch, training and editing.
Needless to say, the last thing I want to do when I get home is sit in front of a computer screen. But there's such a satisfying release that comes with personal writing, as opposed to reporting and story writing.
I'm realizing this more as I read the insane collection of essays by Chuck Klosterman in "Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs." This guy combines the hilarious and opinionated story-telling of David Sedaris with the clinical insanity of Hunter S. Thompson. Right up my alley.
But the point is that most of his essays are late night rants that he wrote down. If you've read this blog long enough, you know that I've had my share of opinionated rants, many of which came during the months leading up to the election. I eventually decided that it was better for my readers -- and my employability -- if I stopped being so opinionated and just presented facts and remained fairly objective.
What's the fun in that?
Reading this book has made me realize that there is inherent value in hearing/reading some guy rant about everyday life, making outrageous claims -- like that the Lakers vs. Celtics rivalry in the '70s can be used to describe everything about human life or that soccer is a sport created by and for outcasts and should be banned (two actual claims in Klosterman's book) -- and backing up with creative, though sometimes faulty logic.
Now I'm not sure I can start doing that again on my blog. I worry that my current employers won't be terribly happy about me spouting off insane hypotheses about politics, sports and the music industry.
I also don't plan on putting all these into a word file to be made into a book later so that I can become the next over-the-top and edgy social commenter. OK, maybe I will. But I'm not doing it for the money. OK, maybe I am.
Anyway, I guess what this rambling is leading up to is that I want to come back to writing for pleasure more. I keep telling myself that I don't have time to write up well thought out posts for this blog, but obviously this didn't take me very long.... So maybe I'm right.
Whatever happens, I want to at least get my favorite post series back running: Tuesday Guilty Pleasure. It's been far too long since you guys got to make fun of me for some really random crap that I've fallen in love with.
As soon as I hit "Publish Post," I'm going to craft a TGP for the four (maybe less?) people that actually check this often enough to notice my absence. It will publish tomorrow at 9 a.m., the exact time I'll be walking into my office, where my writing means a pay check.
Can you believe that people would actually pay me to write? I can't either, but I'm not going to say anything.
Honestly.
It's a awful truth that when you're getting paid to write, writing for free suddenly loses appeal. Even though I haven't actually had anything published yet -- a fact that continues to befuddle friends and family alike ("What the heck have you been doing for over a month??) -- I've spent most of my days on the ground doing prep work, preparing stories for the launch, training and editing.
Needless to say, the last thing I want to do when I get home is sit in front of a computer screen. But there's such a satisfying release that comes with personal writing, as opposed to reporting and story writing.
I'm realizing this more as I read the insane collection of essays by Chuck Klosterman in "Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs." This guy combines the hilarious and opinionated story-telling of David Sedaris with the clinical insanity of Hunter S. Thompson. Right up my alley.
But the point is that most of his essays are late night rants that he wrote down. If you've read this blog long enough, you know that I've had my share of opinionated rants, many of which came during the months leading up to the election. I eventually decided that it was better for my readers -- and my employability -- if I stopped being so opinionated and just presented facts and remained fairly objective.
What's the fun in that?
Reading this book has made me realize that there is inherent value in hearing/reading some guy rant about everyday life, making outrageous claims -- like that the Lakers vs. Celtics rivalry in the '70s can be used to describe everything about human life or that soccer is a sport created by and for outcasts and should be banned (two actual claims in Klosterman's book) -- and backing up with creative, though sometimes faulty logic.
Now I'm not sure I can start doing that again on my blog. I worry that my current employers won't be terribly happy about me spouting off insane hypotheses about politics, sports and the music industry.
I also don't plan on putting all these into a word file to be made into a book later so that I can become the next over-the-top and edgy social commenter. OK, maybe I will. But I'm not doing it for the money. OK, maybe I am.
Anyway, I guess what this rambling is leading up to is that I want to come back to writing for pleasure more. I keep telling myself that I don't have time to write up well thought out posts for this blog, but obviously this didn't take me very long.... So maybe I'm right.
Whatever happens, I want to at least get my favorite post series back running: Tuesday Guilty Pleasure. It's been far too long since you guys got to make fun of me for some really random crap that I've fallen in love with.
As soon as I hit "Publish Post," I'm going to craft a TGP for the four (maybe less?) people that actually check this often enough to notice my absence. It will publish tomorrow at 9 a.m., the exact time I'll be walking into my office, where my writing means a pay check.
Can you believe that people would actually pay me to write? I can't either, but I'm not going to say anything.
9.13.2009
EuroTripping: Part II
It's been a while, I know. I'm keeping a lot more busy than I thought I would. I plan on keeping this blog, but expect the updates to be much less frequent, like they have been recently.
Anyway, I wanted to post the latest in my EuroTripping series from my trip this summer, with footage from Amsterdam and Bruges. I've spent the last three weeks wrestling YouTube to get songs on there that didn't get shut down by Warner Media Group (stupid copyright rules...). Thus, I couldn't use "Amsterdam" by Guster, which sucks and I even had to get rid of the George Harrison song I was using. That being said, I got some pretty good music on there, but you've probably never heard it before.
Without further adieu, here is "EuroTripping Part II: Amsterdam and Bruges."
Now that I've gotten back into the rhythm of editing, I hope to get the final two installments done before too long. I'll let you know when they're posted.
Anyway, I wanted to post the latest in my EuroTripping series from my trip this summer, with footage from Amsterdam and Bruges. I've spent the last three weeks wrestling YouTube to get songs on there that didn't get shut down by Warner Media Group (stupid copyright rules...). Thus, I couldn't use "Amsterdam" by Guster, which sucks and I even had to get rid of the George Harrison song I was using. That being said, I got some pretty good music on there, but you've probably never heard it before.
Without further adieu, here is "EuroTripping Part II: Amsterdam and Bruges."
Now that I've gotten back into the rhythm of editing, I hope to get the final two installments done before too long. I'll let you know when they're posted.
8.16.2009
Good News
If you read my blog a lot, you may have noticed two changes this week.
For a few weeks I was shamelessly promoting myself in my sidebar in the hopes of landing a job. You might notice that's gone. Also, you'll notice my location is slightly different.
That's because this week I'll be lugging all my still-packed boxes down to a one-bedroom apartment in Charlotte so that I can start work at the Charlotte Observer!!!
That's right, despite the bad economy and the troubles in journalism, I managed to get a job at a big metro paper.
They are starting a special project that involves publishing weekly local inserts into the Observer. Eventually, this will spread to 12 zones, but the first two will be Lake Norman and Cabarrus County. My job will be to cover the sports (mostly prep) in these two zones!
I'm super excited and can't wait to get started. But now that I have a legit writing job, the posting on this blog might start to waver. I'll do my best to keep it going -- especially the Tuesday Guilty Pleasure series -- but a lot of the will most likely focus on issues around Charlotte and local sports.
Once the Web sites go up and the publications are released, I will give you more information about them here!!
I hope you'll keep following along and see where this job takes me.
For a few weeks I was shamelessly promoting myself in my sidebar in the hopes of landing a job. You might notice that's gone. Also, you'll notice my location is slightly different.
That's because this week I'll be lugging all my still-packed boxes down to a one-bedroom apartment in Charlotte so that I can start work at the Charlotte Observer!!!
That's right, despite the bad economy and the troubles in journalism, I managed to get a job at a big metro paper.
They are starting a special project that involves publishing weekly local inserts into the Observer. Eventually, this will spread to 12 zones, but the first two will be Lake Norman and Cabarrus County. My job will be to cover the sports (mostly prep) in these two zones!
I'm super excited and can't wait to get started. But now that I have a legit writing job, the posting on this blog might start to waver. I'll do my best to keep it going -- especially the Tuesday Guilty Pleasure series -- but a lot of the will most likely focus on issues around Charlotte and local sports.
Once the Web sites go up and the publications are released, I will give you more information about them here!!
I hope you'll keep following along and see where this job takes me.
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