Author: Mike P. Lewis

The Real Animal House

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I’m trying to make a point to blog about books i’ve read, so here goes….

Over the weekend i read “The Real Animal House” by Chris Miller. He’s the same guy who co-wrote the movie Animal House which went on to be come the largest grossing comedy of all time. Chris also went to dartmouth (like me) and was a brother in the Alpha Delta fraternity (like me).

The book was interesting for two main reasons:

In the AD basementFirst, it was really interesting to see what college life was like in the early 1960’s because of the emergence of rock n’ roll and the absence and importing of women at/to the school. Chris was really into rock and roll, which was new on the scene. Rock and roll at the time was played exclusively by African Americans and was not universally listened to. When rushing a frat, he remarked that most of the frats didn’t even know about Rock at all. AD back then fully embraced it and most of his stories either revolved around the music or at least discussed what what music was playing. The management of women at colleges in the 60’s is amazing. Women would train up to dartmouth for a weekend and be paired with a date for the entire time which would transform the entire campus.  For the guys, it was like going on a 2-3 day blind date. As someone who’s been on a bunch of blind dates, i can see how this would be painful (both for the men and the women) and could lead to some social madness. I can also see why there was so much alcohol involved. Further discussion with my parents about this time has shown that travelling to schools and finding the right guy/girl was one of the main mechanisms provided at the time to find a suitable husband. Keep in mind that no sex before marriage was believed to be normal and there weren’t many options for birth control. After reading this, i’m very happy that i came through 40 years later when women were on campus and many of the dating conventions have been changed.

Continue reading “The Real Animal House” →

Dylan's Themed Radio Hour

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I recently found a little gem on XM radio. Every week, for an hour, Bob Dylan hosts an themed radio show. In this hour, he chooses some of his favorite songs relating to the theme. Each song is usually at least 30-50 years old and pretty obscure. The themes are subjects like weddings, baseball, drinking, fathers, jail and divorce. In between songs Dylan gives little tidbits and trivia about the artists and what they did in the careers.

What’s amazing is how knowledgeable Bob is about the older artists and songs and he usually knows the lyrics of every tune. You really get a feel for how much he appreciates and loves lyrics and the classic artists. The show is a great listen if you like older stuff and if you like Dylan. I know i’m checking out each one. I don’t have XM but you can download them. (also, if you have AOL, you can get XM radio through AOL radio)

I’ve put up a sample hour – his drinking hour – and here’s a link to download all of them. They’re great.

New Guns N' Roses Album is Coming!

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Axel RoseYou read it here first. The next Guns N’ Roses album called Chinese Democracy that’s been rumored for about the past decade is finally coming. And to prove it, there’s a single coming out from it. It’s called “Better” and i’ve got it right here (link).

This could turn out like Michael Jordan’s return to play with the Wizards. Whatever, i’m pretty damn excited.

(from Idolator)

Hit the Gym With These

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Running with Liz
Image by pescatello via Flickr

It’s COLD.

I used to be able to take it but i’m living below the Mason-Dixon line and have become a totally softy. Because of this i’ve been confined to the treadmill for the past few weeks. I hate running on the treadmill. To make treadmill running less boring and sucky, i’m on a constant lookout for workout music to keep me going on a stationary machine. So, i’ve found a few things that have made me happy…

Mashups

If i owned a gym like Bally’s or WSC/NYSC i would play mashups over the loud speakers all the time. They are familiar songs but with a extra funky kick. Everyone likes them. Some of my favorite songs to run to are mashups. Here are 3 good examples for you.  You can download them from this site.

  • Prince’s Kiss + Rob Base’s It Takes Two = It Takes 2 To Kiss
  • Jay-Z + Nena = 99 Luft Problems
  • The Cure + Ying Yang Twins = Badd To Me
  • Kanye West + Beethoven + Walter Murphy = Beethoven’s Fifth Gold Digger
  • Kelly Clarkson + Depeche Mode + Rex The Dog = Since U Been Gahan

LCD Album

I bought this song on iTunes and it’s a 45 minute song created specificly for running. It has ups and downs to represent the highs and lows you have when going for a 45 minute run. This is the first time i’ve seen something like this and it’s good to have sometime if you want something to just be good background music for a longer run. I’m working to convert this to an mp3, stay tuned.

iPod T-Shirt

I normally don’t listen to that much music when i run outside, but i have to have it on the treadmill or else i get pretty bored. Also, i hate carrying the damn iPod when i’m outside. When i’m inside, i can put it on the treadmill. I did find this sweet shirt which makes it easy to stash my nano in my shirt when i run. There’s a little side pocket that’s good for my keys and nano. Both stylish and functional!

Free mp3s to workout to

There’s a great site that’s appeared called I Like This Song which posts a new mp3 every day of a good tune. I recommend you go there and get the tunes

Plasma TV: 1080p and HDMI

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I’m about to purchase a new Plasma TV and thought i’d post about the new acroynms that have become my obsession.

Let’s start with 1080p. There are 3 types of HDTV’s available today: 720p, 1080i, and 1080p. What do these mean. The numbers refer to the number of lines across the screen, the ‘i’ stands for “interlaced” and the ‘p’ stands for “progressive”. Interlaced means that only every other line is refreshed whereas Progressive means every line is refreshed (both happens 24 times a second). To date, only 720p and 1080i have been available. Because ‘p’ refreshes every time, it’s better than ‘i’. But 1080 is better than 720 because it is more lines. So it’s a toss up between the two.

BUT, then came along 1080p, the best of both worlds. These TV’s are just hitting the market now and should be everywhere by this summer and definitely by Christmas. So, the question i ask myself is: do i wait for one of these or shell out for one of the others?

Doing this research (thank you Dr. Raduchel) i found out the following items:

There is NO detectable differnce between 1080p and 720p unless you have a screen larger than 50 inches

There are no HD-DVD’s, Blu-Ray DVD’s, TV shows, or anything available at 1080p. There will be eventually, but it is also true that most movies weren’t shot in high enough resolution to matter. Basically, most movies were shot in worse quality than 1080p so having a super nice picture showing lower quality doesn’t make sense.

The HDMI cord matters. This is the cord that carries the picture and sound to your TV. HDMI 1.3 was just released and you should get this version with your TV. It’s different than 1.2. Speicifically the transfer rate is much higher so if there is a high-resolution standard in the future, your TV can handle it. And, most importantly, it supports something called “Deep Color” which basically extends the number of colors from millions to billions. In the future, you’ll probably want your TV to be using HDMI 1.3. The PlayStation 3 was one of the first to have it and most TV’s will have it soon. (Go here if want to know more)

So all this being said, i’m probably going to go with a 720p Plasma from Samsung.  Anyone else have any thoughts or experiences that they’d like to share?

Hitler's Name

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Before World War II, only 2% of all people in Germany were named Adolf, and during Hitler’s reign, he forbade Germans to name children after him.  So, you are almost guaranteed to never meet anyone with the name Adolf Hitler.

The Who?

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I found this list of explanations of some band names. It’s pretty interesting, especially the Blue Oyster Cult one…

Hot Tuna – they were originally called Hot Shit but their record company made them change the 2nd word to Tuna.

Pearl Jam – Eddie Vedder came up with the name in honor of his Aunt Pearl’s homemade jam which supposedly is a natural aphrodisiac and contains peyote.

Beastie Boys – Beastie is supposed to stand for Boys Entering Anarchistic States Towards Inner Excellence

Blue Oyster Cult – the name is an anagram of “Cully Stout Beer”. One band member came up with it one night when he was doodling at a bar with the band manager.

The Gin Blossoms – a gin blossom is slang for the capillaries in your nose and face that burst because of excess drinking

311 – the police code for indecent exposure in California.

Generation X – named after a book that Billy Idol found in his mother’s bookcase. It was a mid 1960’s sociological essay that featured interviews with teenagers in competing gangs in the UK.

Foo Fighters – World War II fighter plane slang for UFO’s

Counting Crows – comes from an old British poem that states that life is as meaningless as counting crows

Blind Melon – according to the bassist (Brad Smith) the name is slang for unemployed hippies in Mississippi

The Who – The band was originally called The High Numbers but one day they were sitting around thinking of a new name and each time somebody mentioned one, they would joke and ask, “the who?” Finally a friend said, “Why not just call yourselves, ‘The Who’?”

Got the Ass Stamina, See All Best Picture Options

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body_bgrd.jpgIt’s a pretty good year of movies and the five films up for Academy Award for Best Picture are all worth seeing. They are Babel, Little Miss Sunshine, The Departed, The Queen, and Letters of Iwo Jima.

If you have missed some or all of them, you’re in luck because AMC theaters is doing a 1-time event where they’ll play all 5 movies back-to-back. The first film starts at 11 am and there’s a 15-25 min break between each one as well as unlimited popcorn and soda for the entire day.

Over Christmas, my cousin and i did 4 movies in a row (Rocky, We Are Marshall, Apacalypto, Dreamgirls) and it was pretty rough on the ol’ kisser, but this is a better lineup so it could prove be a little less painful. Personally, i’d go to rewatch The Departed (my favorite of the year), see Babel, Iwo Jima, and Queen and then skip out on Little Miss Sunshine. Who’s with me?