Cheezing my effing balls off (or how I came to embrace the alternative Big Mac index)

I'm a big fan of The Economist's Big Mac Index - it is a great way to understand the purchasing power of the US dollar in other countries. Imagine how McExcited I was to see their listing of an alternative to the Big Mac Index, which lists the average time needed to work before you make enough of the sweet green to buy a tasty sandwich!

Take a look at Nairobi, where it takes workers, on average, nearly three hours to make enough cash to buy a Big Mac. These Nairobi-ites obviously need to ramp up their work ethic if they want to eat - no more free rides, folks.

(nice going Chicago!)

Currently listening to...

The Beatles singles in remastered mono and they're delightful (especially Hey Bulldog).



I want to grow Lennon mutton chops but I think it's frowned upon in most social circles.

Rock Hall of Lame (yeah I went there)

So yesterday, this year's nominees for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame were announced:

ABBA
The Chantels
Jimmy Cliff
Genesis
The Hollies
Kiss
LL Cool J
Darlene Love
Laura Nyro
Red Hot Chili Peppers
The Stooges
Donna Summer

There are some admirable candidates on there (Hollies, Jimmy Cliff, Stooges). We'll see what happens when they pick the actual inductees.

What's more surprising is to look at a list of artists that have been passed over again and again for induction - hell, some that haven't even been nominated.

Here's a list of some that should be in there:

Rush
Thin Lizzy
T. Rex
Joe Cocker
Beastie Boys
Alice Cooper
Moody Blues
The Cars

Some of these folks haven't even been nominated. Bonnie Raitt was inducted in 2000 for christsakes! Seriously? Bonnie Raitt is better than Rush? Rush is one of the best power trios ever.

Here is some Rush for your listening (and viewing) enjoyment:

The Spirit of the Radio (the first 20 seconds of this video should be enough to qualify them)



Fly By Night



One of my favorite bands, Thin Lizzy, is criminally underrated and has been overlooked year after year. Their music makes me want to quit my job and start breaking faces. Here's what I'm talking about:

Cowboy Song/Boys Are Back in Town



And of course, there's T. Rex:

Get It On



Lean Woman Blues

A Ken Burns Joint

This Sunday on PBS, Ken Burns' new documentary The National Parks: America's Best Idea premieres. Not surprisingly, it covers the history of the US National Park System.

This is an extended preview:

Evolution is for socialists

Public acceptance of evolution in 34 countries:

(click on the image for a larger version)

If there's one thing that I hate more than socialism, it's evolution. I'm not sure if you're aware of this, but our forefathers were not smelly apes that scrounged around for whatever food they could find or kill - they were strong men who hunted and gathered their food and could go weeks or months without bathing. Big difference.

Furthermore, everyone knows Jesus rode around on dinosaurs like a badass. Here's an actual picture of Jesus:

We're number one! Suck it Greece!

The Economist

Could a BlackBerry (or iPhone) Have Stopped the Holocaust?

One of the perks of my job is reading my boss' National Journal magazines that she doesn't have time to read. Pretty much everything about that magazine interests me (minus all of the ads for Lockheed Martin and Northrup Grumman).

One of the recent issues has an article entitled In New Media, Image Is Still Everything which is definitely worth a read if you have a few minutes.

Colonel Crazy

Libya is in good hands with this dude. Check out the Libyan leader's style at the UN:

Here he is at an audition for Miami Vice:

"The Israeli-Palestinian conflict, he said, should be solved by the creation of a single state, which Mr. Qaddafi called Isratine." (from the NY Times)

You've gotta love his attention to detail (on all fronts). Vanity Fair has more pictures here

Ahmaderkajad

Something tells me that Iran's First Lady enjoys a slightly lesser celebrity than our own.

Hilarious montage of dating videos

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xaf03z_dating-montage_creation

"I'm a 25 year subscriber to Playboy and the New Yorker."

Currently listening to...

The Stone Roses - The Stone Roses (recent remaster)
Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros - Up From Below

Wurlitzers and Mellotrons and why should we care?

This is an odd first post, I know - but it's what I want to write about. Fair warning - I probably won't answer the "why should we care" part.

I just got back from Indiana where I had an opportunity to visit my grandparents. They recently moved into an assisted living center, lovingly dubbed "the prison" by my Grandmother. That aside, the place is really nice and they have a movie theater room which is really impressive. In one corner of the room I noticed a Wurlitzer electric piano and played around on it for a few minutes. (Using the internets and the googles, it looks like what we have on our hands is a Wurlitzer Orbit II Synthesizer). The Wurlitzer Orbit is apparently a pretty old - there isn't too much info out there on it. What I can say, having spent a few minutes tinkering with it, is that it is similar to a Mellotron in that it has the ability to synthesize different instruments.

The point of including synthesizers on these keyboards was probably to replace the actual instruments it was supposed to emulate (for instance, a flute or horn or chorus), but they sound so unlike the actual instruments that it isn't remotely feasible for use in a recording. What IS important is that these were some of the first synthesizers widely used and created new sounds when they weren't meant to, something that a lot of artists used to their advantage. Here's someone much greater than I explaining Mellotrons.

Some of the sounds created by these instruments have defined songs, such as:

Beatles - intro to Strawberry Fields Forever (Mellotron, obviously)
Beck - intro to Where It's At (Wurlitzer electric)
Marvin Gaye - I Heard It Through the Grapevine (Wurlitzer)
Neil Young - See The Sky About to Rain (Wurlitzer - through a Leslie speaker)
Supertramp - Logical Song (Wurlitzer)
Tom Petty - You Don't Know How It Feels (Wurlitzer - also through a Leslie)
Queen - You're My Best Friend (Wurlitzer)
Led Zeppelin - Kashmir and the Rain Song (Mellotron)
RHCP - Californication and Breaking the Girl (Mellotron)