International Talk Like A Pirate Day Music: Alestorm

Arr, matey! In a never ending quest to give recognition to anything and everything, National Talk Like A Pirate Day has become something of an addictive oddity. Basically, it all started in 1995 and involved a few guys and a racquetball sports injury. Curious? Read up on the origin here.

Being that it is International Talk Like A Pirate Day, who better to listen to than a pirate rock group. Yes you heard me. Pirate Rock. Check out the band, Alestorm. The first time I listened, I laughed. The second time, I started to sing along. By the third listen, I was ready to pillage and plunder! Remember, it's only music and should not be used as a soundtrack to making people walk the plank.

Check out the Alestorm video for "Keelhauled."

Buy the song or album on iTunes.

Love it or Hate it: "Fu-Gee-La" by Fugees

Fugees
"Fu-Gee-La"
The Score
1996

Buy the song or album on iTunes.

Watch the video.

"Ooh la la la. It's the way that we rock when we doin' our thing!" This was the first song I ever ruined stereo speakers with. Thank goodness blowing the speakers was covered under the warranty. This song and the album bring back some great memories. I love it.

Here are the thoughts from music loving colleagues:

Darrell Alston: Love it. It has to be one of the top 10 albums of all time.

Yvonne Lucado: I like it. It reminds me of Caron Wheeler in the group Soul II Soul. They sang "Keep On Movin'" and "Back To Life."

Malika Comfort: I like it. That was my first introduction to Lauryn Hill. Wish she never left the industry.

So that's 4-0 for Fugees' "Fu-Gee-La." Tell us what you think about it.

Love it or Hate it: "Groove Is In The Heart" by Deee-Lite

Dee-Lite
"Groove Is In The Heart"
World Clique
1990

Buy the song or album on iTunes.

Watch the video.

Some would argue that Deee-Lite is not a one hit wonder however, I can't seem to find another person who remembers another song by her. My first introduction to this song was at a skating rink. I remember hearing it at least 3 times in the 2 hours I was there. I still love the song.

Here are the thoughts from music loving colleagues:

Andrew Bonner: I love it. It hit me at that time in my life where it was OK!

Gwen Jones: I guess I'd have to say I kinda like it.

Darrell Alston: It's alright. I used to love it when I was a kid.

Jason Burns: I hate it. It's all because of the video. If I had never seen the video, I'd like the song.

So that's 4-1 in favor of Dee-Lite's "Groove Is In The Heart." Tell us what you think about it.

All music mattered after 9/11.

In 2001, I ran an open mic night at a local music club. Sept. 13 was the usual night and the owners debated having the open mic night at all that week. I told them to go ahead. That night we had more people come in and sign up to play music than to sit and listen. One person came in and sang "Imagine" by John Lenon acapella.

2 days before, I was the classic stereotype of a musician. Asleep face down in the pillow with guitar beside me on the bed. My girlfriend ran into the bedroom and woke me up yelling that the world trade center had been hit. With the rest of the world, I watched as the second tower was hit, the pentagon was hit and Flight 93 went down. For the first time that I know of, cable tv stations were going dark. QVC went off the air, MTV and various other music stations switched to the newscasts of their parent companies.

When the announcement that all flights were grounded and U.S. airspace was locked down, I went in to work at the local newspaper. It was my day off, but I knew we were going to be putting something out about it. I would've worked for free that day.

10 years later, some things fade from memory... What I was wearing, what I did when I got off work. One thing I do remember is not playing any music for two days.

I had nothing to say through music. At the open mic night, I can't remember what I played. I do remember letting other musicians borrow my guitars for a few songs. I remember one large jam at the end of the night for one reason. No one said anything. Drums were beat, guitars and bass were strummed, piano, flute, harmonica and sax got in on the action. The music was upbeat and normally a spoken word poet or a freestyle rapper would jump on the mic, but not that night.

Maybe for that brief time, everything that needed to be said could be done by a note or a chord. A minor, F, C, G. On Sept. 13, that was how a bunch of musicians talked to each other. That was a great conversation.

*image from CNN

Why Jay-Z's music still mattered on 9/11

Labor Day weekend menu!

I'm thinking more "surf and turf" this year. T-bone, lobster tails, potato salad, baked beans, fresh corn chips, pico de gallo and spinach salad. This year, the garlic butter and pico de gallo will be a hit.

Garlic Butter
1 room temp stick of butter unsalted
4 cloves of garlic
1/4 cup of Italian seasoning

Toss the 4 cloves of garlic in the food processor along with the butter and Italian seasoning. Blend for 1 to 2 minutes. Remove garlic butter from processor and place on a sheet of plastic wrap. Cover and mold into a round log formation. Let it sit in the fridge for at least an hour.

The longer you wait, the more the flavors blend. I usually let it sit for a day or two. The garlic butter can now be sliced into medallions for placement on a hot steak or melted for dipping lobster.

Pico de Gallo
12 Roma tomatoes
1 med onion (red, white, yellow... your preference. Red for less sharpness)
4 sprigs of cilantro
1 jalapeno (optional for hot)
1 zest of lime (optional for citrus essence)
pinch of sea salt (optional)

Slice tomatoes in half length wise and use a spoon to clean out the seeds. Dice tomatoes and place in metal or plastic mixing bowl. Dice onion and place in mixing bowl. Finely chop the cilantro and toss it in with the tomatoes and onion. Sprinkle some sea salt on top and mix. Place bowl in fridge to let flavors mingle for at least an hour before serving. Goes great with corn chips and can be used as it's own side dish or garnish.

A citrus tea will add a little something extra to the party.

Citrus Tea
1 lime
1 lemon
1 orange
2 cups of sugar
1 gallon pitcher
2-4 tea bags (depending on your preference)

Let tea bags steep in boiled water for 30 minutes. Slice the lime, lemon and orange and place in bottom of pitcher. Pour sugar on top. Remove tea bags and pour tea into pitcher stirring as you go. Fill the rest of the pitcher with water while stirring.

Add an ounce or two of Flor de Cana rum to individual drinks to give guests of legal age a kick.

Any food or drink recipes you are willing to share for this holiday weekend? Let's hear them!

*Image from Fotosearch

Reason #52 that you should become an UFO...

After reading the "Bites on Today" story about annoying ways co-workers eat lunch, I think they are missing one of the biggest and worst offenses to the senses, burnt popcorn.

The problem with burnt popcorn is that the person making it usually sets the microwave on 5 minutes and walks away. At around 3:30, the popcorn is popping strong or on it's last kernels. By 4 minutes, all you hear is the hum of the microwave and thats when it happens. 60 seconds of nonstop, unadulterated burning action wreaking havoc on those who dare to walk past the break area.

By the end of the 5 minute burn, the person who put the popcorn in the microwave has either forgotten that they put it in there, realizes they did and rushes in to see what they can salvage or the worst thing of all... Pretend it wasn't them. They stay quiet. Working along as if they never left their desk meanwhile a foul bomb has been released throughout the office and terrorizing nostrils.

The smell dissapates after 30-40 minutes so it won't ruin your whole day. However, for office space veterans, there may be 3 or more incidents a week and by the end of the week, becoming your own boss and being an UnFranchise® Owner sounds like a great idea. Work your own hours and you'll get to make your own rules... and rule #1 would probably be no popcorn in the microwave.


*Image from Bloomimage/Getty Images/BloomImage RF

The annoying ways our co-workers eat lunch

MTV VMAs go from 'shock and awe' to 'cute and aww'

I rarely ever watch the MTV Video Music Awards. I love to wait til the next day and catch the highlights of what everyone is buzzing about. This year's advertising commercials are definitely surprising in that aspect. I almost want to say they are 'purrfect.'

Instead of ridiculous antics and hosts that may need all 30 seconds of the commercial to remember who their names are, they've been replaced with cats and dogs.

Check out these commercials and tell us what you think.

*Image from WireImage/MTV

Meow! Kittens and puppies re-enact VMA moments

No Labor Day plans? Time for a cookout.

Of course the beach will be packed. It is every Labor Day weekend. However, there are other options for traditional end of summer. How about a cook out? Now, how about getting cashback for it?

I remember a time when folks knew their neighbors and would select certain times a year to have a neighborhood cookout. Why not try that again with a Market America twist?

Take a look at the Grocery tab on your portal. I went straight for the meats section. Osso buco, NY strip steaks, filet mignon spring rolls, black angus burgers and mussels. Can you imagine that spread on a weekend afternoon?

There are more than enough groceries on your portal to make your neighbors love you while they are over at the house and to be jealous of you when they leave. Top it off with a variety of MA wines and you'll have the perfect "staycation" without ever leaving the house. Food, drinks and friends delivered to your doorstep.

Have food fight, will travel.

It was 1994 at a Boy Scout camp. I was dinged with a tater tot and then a piece of cantaloupe during breakfast. The scout next to me tried to get away from the onslaught so he stood up in a quick motion knocking me backwards off the picnic table bench. As I was going down, I picked up the bowl of grits and tossed it in the general direction of the offending scouts. It hit their scout leader. What happened next was a food fight you only see in movies.

Even after having to apologize and spend half a day cleaning the mess hall, that was fun. So much so that I would do it again. Eggs in a sling shot, punkin chunkin (throwing pumpkins), baked bean bombs and the ever so classic, pie to the face. These actions bring out the most immature, carefree laugh I could ever get. And that's why I would love to take a trip to Spain for the La Tomatina festival.

In it's basic form, La Tomatina revolves around throwing tomatoes at everyone in 1 to 2 hour increments. A huge truck drives down the street dumping tomatoes out which are immediately thrown at by spectators or tossed up into the air in celebration. Bring a pair of goggles and prepare to get messy. Check out the video here.

In Gloucestershire, England, they have an annual Cheese rolling event where participants chase a rolling cheese wheel down a hill. I'm sure it's fun to compete, but being a spectator would provide for all the entertainment you'd need. See the video here.

Is there a crazy food festival that you have always wanted to attend? Tell us about it and plan your next trip with ma|Travel!

*Image from Juanjo Valverde/MSNBC

World's weirdest food festivals

Never too early for wedding reception planning

I knew it was going to happen at some point. My girlfriend made a light joke about us getting married. Rather than the stereotypical male response of leaving the room or changing the subject, I had one thought. What would we serve at the reception?

That makes me think of a country farm style wedding on picnic tables and a hootenanny in the barn once the ceremony was over. Nothing like down home farm cooking.

I know shrimp cocktail is played out, but I still like it. It could easily be replaced with a shrimp civeche.

I would also like an Asian themed flaming hibachi style setup as seen in some Japanese restaurants. Some folks don't know how to use chopsticks, however a set of His and Hers for the bride and groom would be kind of interesting.

The first time I heard of the baked potato bar, I thought it would be interesting. Unfortunately, with all the fixings I would pile on my baked potato I can imagine my mother screaming at me from across the room with a look of horror on her face. Some meals aren't meant for social gatherings.

In this MSNBC story, they talk about 10 wedding food cliches and how to avoid them. What is a twist or a new idea you would have for a wedding reception?

*Image from MSNBC/Bvdc/FeaturePics stock

10 wedding food cliches (and how to avoid them)

Spotify music debate: Own a piece or rent it all?

"What Spotify is saying is, ownership (of music) is great, but access is the future," Daniel Ek

I'd rather own my music. However, streaming everything does seem to be the wave of the future.

Rent or own? What do you say?

Image from CNN

Spotify founder: Future of music is access, not ownership

The final Harry Potter review

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 closed out the series in fine fashion. Super attack on Hogwarts, character redemption's, dragons, flames, ghosts, explosions, love and sacrifice. I would watch it again. And this comes from someone who hasn't cared for the series at all.

I would announce that this is a spoiler alert, but most of the people reading this have probably already read the book and know how it ends. As such, I will say that according to all of the status updates on Facebook from Potter fans, they got everything right. As for me, I wouldn't have noticed. Here is the nondescript action movie run down.

Lord Voldermort (plaid brilliantly by Ralph Fiennes) steals the super Elder wand from the grave of a powerful wizard. He now has what he needs to destroy the hero, Harry Potter.

Harry, Ron and Hermione (Daniel Radcliffe, Rupurt Grint and Emma Watson) devise a plan to get the last piece of the deathly hallows which includes the Elder wand, cloak of invisibility and cup of resurrection.) This requires help from a troll. From myths and legends, trolls have never been the most trustworthy of creatures and it was proven once again. Inside the vault, Hermione bumps one of the valuables which hits the floor and starts replicating suddenly filling up the room. Harry gets the cup of resurrection and then becomes buried underneath the pile of valuables. He breaks out in heroic fashion and the troll promptly takes cup to make the exchange for a special sword.

So the troll gets away and here come the wizard police shooting at Harry and friends while they try to escape. Hermione comes up with a plan to use the big ol' dragon in the middle of the area. they hop on it's back, break it's chains and fly out of there leaving a path of destruction behind them.

Fast forward past some dramatic moments where they get back to the wizard realm, run into some folks, make their way back into Hogwarts, boost morale of the kids and make a grand appearance after the second bad guy in command, Professor Snape, summons all the kids to threaten them if Harry Potter shows up and no one says anything. Tadaa! Harry shows up.

Another professor defends Harry, running Snape off. Voldermort's essence makes a couple of girls scream and he says he'll leave everyone alone if they give him Harry Potter. Like that's gonna happen. Professors set up a force field around Hogwarts and guard the entrance with stone warriors. Voldermort and a crew of baddies launch a '300' style attack firing wand blasts at the force field. No luck. Harry goes off on a mission to find various jewels that can destroy Voldermort. Ron and Hermione strike the resurrection cup with the tooth of a basilisk. Didn't really understand that part, but the wall of water that blew across them provided for one of those "we almost died" make out sessions between the two. Whatever happened, Voldermort strikes the force field with a wand blast that destroys the force field and cracks the wand while he's at it.

The attack begins. Massive ogres vs stone warriors. A bunch of werewolf type witches and warlocks get blown up on the rear bridge entrance. Chaos ensues. Harry realizes that he must destroy the snake that follows Voldermort before he can take him out. A trip through front battle lines leads to a boat house where Voldermort sends his snake to attack Snape. Why? Power, of course. Since Snape killed Dumbledore, that means Voldermort has to kill Snape for the wand to obey him. Harry and friends hide while this happens and creep in just in time to get a couple tear drops from Snape before he dies.

Voldermort sends out another round of mental messages for his troops to retreat and for Harry to meet him in the woods for a final showdown. Classic, ain't it? Harry drops the tears in a plate of water and dunks his head in. We get to see how Snape falls in love and protects Lilly, Harry's mother, and then gets tossed aside as she falls for the guy who would become Harry's father. I feel for ya, Snape. Hate it when that happens. Nice guys finish last.

We also get to see how Harry's parents were murdered by Voldermort and the scar on Harry's forehead is actually a ricochet from Voldermort's wand as he killed Lilly. Snape finds the dead bodies and makes a deal with Dumbledore to save Harry. So Snape wasn't all bad. But he's dead. That's usually how it works. He got redemption.

Harry heads to the woods. Voldermort pops him with a super blast dropping both of them. Harry has that white room is-this-heaven type talk with Dumbledore and plays dead til Voldermort and crew take him back to Hogwarts to declare their supremacy.

Voldermort breaks out into a "Harry's dead! Join me" type speech. One of the kids steps forward and gives a rousing diatribe about how Harry will always be with them and proceeds to pull the same sword that the troll had out of a hat and promptly gets sent flying by Voldermort's wand blast. Braveheart moment denied. Harry springs back to life and takes off running. Battle ensues again.

Voldermort goes after Harry. The snake goes after Ron and Hermione. After a fun wizardry duel, Harry grabs Voldermort and is prepared to die by sending them both off of a ledge. They fly all over the place trying to rip the faces off each other and land back at the court yard where they scramble for their wands and fire at each other. The kid sword wakes just in time to cut the head off the snake as it dives for Ron and Hermione. Voldermort feels the pain of the snake dying after a test of wills fire blast with Harry.

Voldermort gives it the ol' college try one more time and loses his life and wand in the process. Pieces of him chip away into oblivion. The good guys win. Harry breaks the Elder wand and tosses it off the bridge, gives a little bit of a speech and the 3 friends hold hands while staring off into the distance.

I deliberately left out a couple moments because it's actually worth paying for (2D version is what I saw). You have the story in a nutshell. It follows a pretty standard action script. Most of the back story can be recapped here.

I say it's definitely a summer movie worth watching even if you haven't seen the other films or are interested in Harry Potter. It may not be in the same category, but this is better than Thor and Green Lantern.

That said... I'm still not a Harry Potter fan, but it has definitely earned my respect.

*Image courtesy CNN/Warner Brothers

Harry Potter fans flock to premiere

Not a Harry Potter fan, but I could watch the last film.

It's been coming for a while. Potter minions from near and far are gathering. The time has come. Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part 2.

Can you feel the excitement!? I can't. I must be one of those muggles. For me it's just another run of films I can't wait to fade into obscurity. Like when MTV played TLC's "Waterfalls" video at least twice every hour back in the 90's.

However, I will say that seeing the previews forced upon me at the start of each of the summer blockbusters I've watched has had a strange side effect. I think I want to see it.

I saw "The Prisoner of Azkahban" because a friend in the office invited me with her friends. I saw Order of The Phoenix for some reason I wasn't sure why.

But "The Deathly Hallows part 2"? Hmmm. A whole bunch of explosions, fighting, running for your life, dark halls of a wizard school, a bunch of wizards and witches firing off wand puls projectiles like a scene out of '300.'... This film looks kinda good.

On MSNBC, they show a video for folks like me. 7 Harry Potter films in 6 minutes. I got the gist of the back story on how everyone came to be where they are now which also helped me understand what I was watching in the two films I did see. So for those of you who are along for the ride at midnight for the premiere of Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part 2 or will see it another time or are only doing it because someone invited you, please watch this video.

May the force be with you... Or whatever they say to each other.

*Image from HarryPotter.com

Be your own Disc Jockey on Turntable.fm

Some days people can send you links to some of the craziest things. Today it was Turntable.fm. This isn't your regular Internet radio site. You actually get to pick the songs you want to play. As with most things that sound too good to be true, there is a catch.

The way it works is that there are chat rooms with 5 DJs spinning. Each DJ is a person playing a song they have uploaded from whatever genre or style the chat room is. Once the song is over, the spotlight moves to the next DJ. So on and so forth. A "Like or Lame" meter at the bottom of the screen can judge a DJ's choice of music along with the chat log on the right side of the screen and the movement of the avatars.

Speaking of Avatars, the more fans and DJ points you receive, the better avatars you can choose from. Everyone starts off with choices of dorky boys and girls avatars. From there it moves up various Hello Kitty-esque avatars and random characters from Cartoon Network, it seems. The highest ranking DJs I noticed had Deadmau5 as an avatar.

Music choices are all over the place. From various forms of dubstep all the way to country music and around indie rock. Folks are now bound by only the rooms listed. You can create your own. A Conquer Entertainment DJ Room in the near future would be pretty cool.

A couple things you should know: Turntable.fm is still in "beta" which means there are kinks and glitches with the site that the developers are working on. But while they are fixing it, you get to play on the site. The site also doesn't work well with Internet Explorer so now is the time to try Firefox, Chrome or Safari as a web browser. Getting selected to be a DJ relies upon the speed of your index finger. Because there is no actual "que" for picking who goes next, although some rooms do have their own selection process.

However, with being able to create your own room to play your own music, this is definitely a way for independent artists to get their music out there without leaving the house.

Turntable.fm

*Image from CNN.com

5 tips for spinning on the addictive Turntable.fm

Kids like you more when you have an iPad.

A couple weeks ago my small one bedroom condo became ground zero for my team of editors working on a project we submitted to the annual 48 Hour Film Festival. This is a great competition that gives filmmakers 48 hours to write, shoot and edit a seven minute film. We were under the gun to get the project done on time, but some of my teammates had families with kids that they invited over to my place while we were working through the final edits.

My place isn't very big and needless to say we were a little cramped for work space. With a packed house, lunch was delivered by our executive producer and her 3 children. Don’t get me wrong, I love kids and hers are great, always well behaved, but I could tell they were getting a little restless after around 10 minutes or so.

Being the great host I try to be, I wanted to find something to keep them entertained. As I was scrambling to find something, anything for the kids to do, I had a flashback to the night before when a producer kept going on about things he needed us to do while we were trying to focus on editing. I handed him my iPad, and coached him how to play some games and get online. He was content, quiet and kept to himself in the corner. I wondered, if it works on a grown man, could it work on children?

I broke out my iPad and the kids’ faces immediately lit up. "Oh Cool! You have Assassin's Creed!" one shouted out. Another editor handed his iPad over "Angry Birds!" the second kid gushed. What to do with the last child? I wasn't sure. It was at that point I wished I’d had a third for the young ladyt that was left out, but she waited patiently for her turn as her brothers played games. So I showed her how to use Apple TV while she waited for her turn. The mom looked at me in disbelief; I had actually found a way to silence her children. Does this mean that I am destined one day to be parent of the year? Let’s not go that far, but I was feeling pretty good about myself!

As they left, I heard a chorus of "Thanks, Louis!" To that, I say thank you, iPad.

The great thing that this story tells us is that the iPad is universally known by both children and adults, and is so simple to use that a toddler can find their way around this incredible piece of technology without breaking a sweat.

The iPad has over 90,000 Applications (Apps) that span from the office to education to the latest in video games. It’s a communication tool, as well as a way to access the internet, and take photos and video. It’s the Swiss pocket knife of technology.

Here are a couple notables for family life. There are apps that can work with office files. PDFs, Word, Excel and others can be read offline through different apps. They can also be viewed through Safari which is standard Mac Internet Browser. For road trips with the kids, the iPad can hold movies which can be downloaded from iTunes and enjoyed between the kids with a headphone splitter. Movies can be upwards of 1 or 2 gigabytes easily so this is where the difference between the 16 and 32 gigabyte storage on iPads takes place.

For the musician in the family, there are apps with guitar/bass tuners, amplifier effects and even a whole drum kit. iMovie for iPad allows you to do editing and uploading on the go.

For the reader, there is iBooks. No more searching around for to find the right book to read to the kids before bed. Just bring it up the app. And the iBooks app is free.

Along with education apps that involve English, science, math and history... There are coloring books! Yes there are apps for coloring books. Learn more about the educational apps at this link.

Is it worth the investment? I've found it to be and I think your family will as well.

Share with us some unique ways that iPad has changed your families lives. Tells us about ways that you think the iPad has helped your family, and how your kids use it.


Pick up an iPad 2 in black here.

Pick up an iPad 2 in white here.

*Image from CNN

5 reasons why the iPad was made to keep parents sane

With 4th of July coming up, leave the grilling to the experts

4th of July cookouts are a staple of being in the U.S. Burgers, steaks, hot dogs, chicken, corn... if it can be grilled, then it will be somewhere in America this weekend.

The problem is, not everyone grilling knows how to do it properly. You don't need to have top of the line equipment to make a great rack of ribs. You don't need to dump a whole bottle of lighter fluid on the charcoal and mimic a Woodstock bonfire. And pouring your favorite brand of light beer on a burger patties isn't the greatest method of keeping them moist.

I have a theory that most of these habits began in college. So I have a list of reasons why things may be the way that they are.

1. Not cleaning the grill before using it: You get used to not having full sets of dishes and utensils, matching furniture and when it comes to grill ware... there is most likely a spatula, tongs and a pitchfork. Iron brush for cleaning? Some inventive, yet lazy, soul said "It's OK, it adds flavor and besides, once the grill gets hot, it won't matter." A co-ed probably validated this statement by eating a burger cooked off the dirty grill and saying "Not too bad."

2. Pouring light beer on the burger: A secret recipe or a desperate attempt to save a dry burger that had been left on the grill too long? I think both are valid. In actuality, the theory is there for adding a hint of beer flavor to a burger like folks do with beer can chicken. The catch comes with a phrase every chef knows, "The flavor is in the fat." Light beer is usually light on flavor and the majority of light beers found near or around 21 year olds is probably Miller lite, Coors Light, Bud light or various cheap and generally flavorless options. These are also mostly water. By pouring light beer onto a sizzling burger, you are washing away the flavor and putting out the coals cooking the meat. Thus the temperature drops and the cooking time slows. Drink the beer. Spare the burger.

3. Flames sear in the flavor: Well... Yes and no. Any surface that is hot enough can sear. That's why you burn yourself getting into a hot car that's been sitting for a while. On a grill, the flames burn more than sear. Once you get the charcoal lit, give it a couple of minutes for the flames to die down before throwing the meat on there.

4. Poking the meat to see if it's done: We've all done it. It looks done. The meat is brown. Cutting each piece half way to check the middle is considered a lack of skill amongst your peers. So what do you do? You poke it, flip it again or roll it one last time. Oddly enough, this is probably where you start going back to the whole "Light beer should moisten it back up." concept.

5. "Here, you take over.": I get it... It's a party. The company and the cooler with the drinks are probably out of range and until the food is done, everyone is hanging out by the drinks. The problem is, being picked to grill is an honor later in life. In college, it was more of a means to an end and passed off to the next guy that happened to come along and sniff to see if the food is done.

So here's to being a little older and a lot wiser when it comes to how the food is prepared. I like marinades but nothing over 24 hours. Having a large grill doesn't automatically mean I have issues... it means I enjoy multiple heating zones on the grill. When it comes to the Charcoal vs. Gas debate... Let's just say I have an opinion on both, but one over the other won't break my 4th of July cookout.

Do you have any tips or tricks for people on the grill?

*Image from CNN

An open letter to my neighbors who are very bad at grilling

Gym, Tan, Laundry and Pink Slip?

According to TMZ, sources say season 5 of Jersey Shore will be the last. That's not saying they are gone for good. They'll have spin offs while MTV can hire some cheaper super tanned kids to run the main show.

Poor New Jersey... Just when you thought you were out, they pulled you back in.

*Image from TMZ.

MTV to 'Jersey Shore' Cast: Arrivederci For Good!

Happy Birthday, Sonic The Hedgehog!

Another bit of nostalgia, Sonic The Hedgehog is 20 years old today. Those of us who remember the Sega Genesis are familiar with the video game. For those looking to bring some of it back, you can find working Sega Geneses (plural) on EBay for pretty cheap.

Does anyone know how old Street Fighter 2 is? Mortal Kombat?

Image from nerdreactor.com

Sonic turns the big 2-0 today.

Shazam helps you name that song you heard on the radio or TV.

We've probably all been there before. You're listening to a song on the radio and you've most likely caught it half way through. At the end of the song, the DJ goes into another one and the name of the song is never mentioned. What do you do? Drive around for another hour or two and wait for the song to come back on with an explaination from the DJ? Why don't you Shazam it?

Shazam is a free app(other versions go for $5.99 in the Apple App store) that you can get on iphone, android and blackberry that can tell what the song is and then tell you where to buy the song.

It doesn't work on people trying to sing the song from the few lyrics they know accapella. 3 folks in the office tried with me. If the app could laugh at us, it probably would.

I can't wait to try it out on various commercials.

*Image from Techcrunch.com

Shazam Raises A Huge Round To The Tune of $32 Million

The 80's action cartoon challenge.

He-Man and The Masters Of The Universe, Transformers, Voltron, M.A.S.K., The Centurions, COPS, G.I. Joe, Thunder Cats, Captain Power and The Soldiers of The Future (Not to be confused with Captain Planet). These were shows I enjoyed in my pajamas and a bowl of frosted flakes. This week, Entertainment Weekly's PopWatch blog has been asking which characters did you like the most on the various shows. I have a feeling that this will end with a "Who is the greatest 80's cartoon character" question, but with so many cartoons being team oriented, it's only fair to pick the best team.

So here it is. Which 80's cartoon team can rule over all the rest and why?

My vote is G.I. Joe. Mainly because of man power. The 'Joe had the largest squad with varying abilities of all the members and even though the stories centered around the main characters, there were always extra soldiers around. G.I. Joe could overrun He-Man and his team. They have just as many machines as Transformers. If one lion goes down, Voltron can't form. M.A.S.K. would be the only other one who would pose a threat. There are only 3 centurions. If G.I. Joe took out Panthro and Cheetara, Lion-O wouldn't be much good. Captain Power could be a dark horse in that cartoon battle, though. Agree? Disagree?

Image from EW.com/Everett Collection

Who is the coolest 'He-Man' character?