pale beneath the blue

Road stories and more from singer/songwriter, pale beneath the blue.

Friday, July 28, 2006

Mike brings up a good point...

So, you know, I haven't paid to see a show all year. Granted, I was supposed to see Peter Mulvey, but I got stuck in NYC longer than expected. I certainly haven't spent $200+ to go see one of the top grossing acts (see yesterdays post). So, who are you guys paying to see? Anyone? Or are we all just sitting around at the Poison Room listening to Dale Johnson's crazy stories? (By the way, if anyone knows of a nice, intelligent girl, who isn't completely psycho, Dale would be interested in hearing from you.)

Thursday, July 27, 2006

Top Grossing Touring Acts this year...

Just got this from my buddy Andy Valerie at Big Beef Records .

ENTROPY BEAT
The ten top grossing touring musical groups for the first half of 2006 include these seven. Next to the names is the year they got started.

1960 PAUL MCCARTNEY
1962 ROLLING STONES
1969 AEROSMITH
1971 BILLY JOEL
1976 U2
1981 LUIS MIGUEL
1983 BON JOVI

This supports the thesis of western cultural entropy outlined in "TheQuiet Storm: Blowin' in the Wind of Cultural Decay." While there isnothing wrong with these groups, a thriving civilization would be expected to have a higher percentage of more recent bands.http://prorev.com/quietstorm.htm

Friday, July 21, 2006

Superman Returns and Nacho Libre, one man's view

So, if you've ever been to see Pale Beneath the Blue live, you may have noticed or met one of our adoring fans. He writes poetry, he screams at computers, and apparently writes movie reviews with his own special flair. Let me introduce to you...Ray Bigelow:

Bryan Singer Is A Thieving Scalawag!
A Movie Review by Biggles of Antartica

I was recently in our nation's capital (unless yer a scurvy furriner)explaining in a resonating voice to my nieces The New York Times choice of Benedict Arnold for spokesman while waiting for the theatrical release we had paid for to get interesting. Sadly, themovie never quite took off, but at least some young children now understand the classical definitions of "treason" and "quisling weasels".

A light Summer it's been for Hollywood sequels, unless you count ScaryMovie 4, Mission Impossible 3, X-Men 3, Pirates of the Carribean 2, and Superman Returns. Superman Returns is actually Superman 5, but since 3 and 4 have beendeclared more non-canonical than the overhyped DaVinci Code snorefest,it's been regulated down to Superman 3. And did anyone but me cheer wildly when they recognized Stan "The Man" Lee in Princess Diaries 2?

The most original plot of the season centers around a hero of the classical mode who wears blue tights and a red cape; has black hair, asuper physique, fighting prowess, a secret identity, a hidden crush ona pretty girl, dead alien parents; acquires a relentless, hairlessnemesis; takes a severe beating before his last battle; saveschildren; and has a kick-ass musical soundtrack.

Yes, I'm talking about Jack Black's Nacho Libre!

Or am I? A touching story of a down-trodden orphan raised in a monastery to devote his life to feeding other orphaned children and tending to the spiritual needs of impoverished Central Americans, who dreams of providing better food for his loved ones, dares to rise above poverty, shares a life of chaste affection, promotes celibacy,and overcomes the temptation of both passive mediocrity and financial lucre - and what is done to this story? It's warped into a Nietzschean fantasy where a dead-beat dad impregnates a bad spelling,liberal reporter who hops from bed to bed so quickly she can't tellher child's father from a farm boy to a pond pilot (who incidentallygot incinerated by his paramour in his previous movie); and where "thehero" abandons them without a word for five years, only to return andspy on the cohabitors's with x-ray vision like a Pagliachic peeping tom.

One character (played by the great Frank Langella from Dracula 1979 and Sphinx) asks does this Superman still stand for truth, justice -all that stuff? This reviewer says "No!" And certainly not "the American Way". He didn't even had to ask! Superman Returns was NOT asequel to the prior generation's Superman movies; it was a blatant and inferior rip-off of Nacho Libre!

In my opinion, Superman wasn't the only person shivved in the back in the theatre this Summer.

Thursday, July 20, 2006

Time is running out to make OH Smoke Free

Patrice just told me last weekend that Smoke Free Ohio was at the tail end of collecting signatures on petitions to make the entire state of OH smoke free. Obviously, you can still smoke in your house, but all work places (which means restaurants and bars) are included because someone has to work there. They still need signatures to get this thing on the ballot in November. If you signed a petition last year, do nothing. If you haven't yet signed the petition, go to www.smokefreeohio.org and download one. Then get some signatures and then get a friend to download one so you can sign it. Petitions are due July 31st.

Goodluck and Godspeed.
R.

If you live in Warren or Montgomery Counties, I will have one for you to sign at Borders in Dayton tomorrow night.

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

They pelted us with ro-- fish?

Okay, usually I don't make a big deal about stuff on the internet, but oh, my...have you seen this video? This poor guy is being bombarded by jumping fish.
http://video.yahoo.com/video/play?vid=4053b7970ed852f0df1d6e5e84ed54a9.568554

Sunday, July 16, 2006

Comparing Protein Bars

So, I'm just lying around today since my leg is all freaky and I hope to just hang out at the pool all day. Though I may have to go out to find a new book since I finished my other one (I'm still baffled at how some of the people connected and how the entire thing got wrapped up in about 20 pages.) But I digress. Since I've been working out quite a bit and have been living on Protein bars that I would do a comparison.

First up, Zone Perfect bars. I only eat them in Chocolate Mint so I don't know about the other flavors, but this one is tasty. Very little dairy and 15g of Protein. It's not all natural, but that's it's only down fall.

Second, Power Bar Nut Naturals. Have you ever read the ingredients for Power Bars? It's frightening. I really don't think it can be considered food. The nut naturals however, do at least have nuts. I can tolerate this bar, but pick up the Mojo Bar by Clif when given the chance--they both have only 10g of Protein. Good when you need some carbs but want to keep your protein intake up.

Third, this is my new favorite--Builder's Bar by Clif. This is 20g of protein and includes only natural ingredients and a very minute amount of dairy. The chocolate one is the best as far as I can tell, though non of the flavors are offensive. The cookies and cream is a little too sweet for my taste though. But this is what I eat before or after a really good workout. (Oh, I see from the website they are adding Chocolate Mint flavor...mmmm).

There are some good tasting bars out there with more protein but they do not have natural ingredients. If you aren't concerned about that sort of thing, I recommend:
Detour--30g protein
ProMax, Honey Peanut--20g protein

And my standby, ever faithful, good anytime bar--
Luna Bar by Clif, in Chocolate Peppermint Stick--10g protein (all natural, no dairy)

Have a happy protein-filled day,
Rhonda

Wednesday, July 12, 2006

Ikea next door?


So, it's been rumored that Ikea is looking at land in and around Cincinnati. Could it be that Patrice and I will no longer have to drive long distances with so much Ikea merchandise in the van that we can't see out the back window? How cool would that be, really? Well, we won't know for another month, but why not check out the OH Ikea site and let the world know where you'd like to see the Ohio Ikea go. And if I find out that you voted for Columbus there will be no more funny Ikea stories for you.

A big thanks to Jen Segrest for keeping the dream alive for all of us Ikea-holics.

Smooches to all,
Rhonda

ps--that's me in my kitchen with my favorite Ikea light fixture. Photo by Dale Johnson

The government is spying on me...

Okay, I was kinda serious when I said that we should just take over Mexico and that way we could have more beaches/warm weather and if those folks want to live in the Midwest, be my guest. But mostly I was kidding. However, I heard allusions to this story on my long drive back from Atlanta a couple of weeks ago... and then today, I got this from my buddy Alex in San Antonio:

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=50981

Check it out. Freaky. Amero...

Monday, July 10, 2006

My day

Today, I...
Worked on an online songwriting class
Checked my email
Took a shower
Went to the dentist
Stopped by Borders in Dayton for a few minutes
Got a smoothie at PLanet Smoothie in Dayton and said hello to Caitlin
Worked out at the gym
Painted orange circles in my guest bath
Went to Chipotle (never again)
Played 7 hands of solitaire and won 4
Watched "The Cooler"

What are you all up to this summer?

Thursday, July 06, 2006

Baseball...the great Aryan Past time

July 1st, someone randomly gave us Reds tickets so against my better judgement, I headed downtown with part of the fam. I hadn't been since the new stadium had been built but it always seemed as exciting as watching paint dry so what was the point? However, we had free parking and once we found it, we were off to the watch the Reds vs. Indians.

I don't know when it happened, maybe when the franchise was raising money for the new stadium, but everything went crazily commercial. There's Dippin' Dots and Montgomery Inn Ribs you can buy. Between innings, there's some announcer guy talking to folks on the Sofa Express big red couch, there's the Crest White Strips Smile Cam, and the Snappy Tomato Pizza wheel. There were also these really strange computer generated shorts which made no sense and looked really cheesy. As if all that wasn't disturbing enough, I finally took a look around during some stupid "commercial" only to notice that everyone I could see in the stands was Caucasion. I'm not kidding. I suddenly was frightened that I had somehow been transported to South Dakota or maybe some aliens had abducted us as we walked through the parking lot of the Underground Railroad Museum (yes, the system by which slaves would head to Canada undetected.) So, I don't get it. The guys on the field were from every nationality imaginable and yet, we white folks are the only ones who go watch them? We did actually see maybe 10 non-whites on the way out--out of 40,600. So, truly, does no one else like baseball, or are they just frightened by the large numbers of white people drinking alcohol?