TANcast

This is it! The last day of March Blog Madness 2! I should probably post something about Easter, since today IS Easter…but I decided I want to go out with a salute to my on extended hiatus video series, Kingdom Comedy! I do miss it so, but I just haven’t had the time/money to do more Disneyland videos. I hope to bring the series back with a slight twist in the near future, but for now I’ll have to settle for a simple blog post. I’m counting down my High 5 songs from the Happiest Place on earth!

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Besides Michael Jackson, I have pretty odd tastes in music. On my iPod, I have Barry Manalow, Snoop Dogg, John Denver, Duran Duran, Garth Brooks, Usher, and Metallica…and then there’s the hours of Disney music (more on that tomorrow). So I don’t really have a “type” of music that I prefer. I don’t really know what makes me like one song more than another. I don’t know why one Maroon 5 song makes me want to smash my speakers and another makes me want to blare them at full blast. My inner workings are a mystery to me. However, I do know that a common way to make it into my musical heart is to be the recipient of mockery. For instance, I was not one of the kids who jumped on the Nirvana bandwagon when they first came out. It seemed like most of my friends loved Smells Like Teen Spirit but I couldn’t change the channel fast enough. Then “Weird Al” did Smells Like Nirvana. I listened to it because, hey…”Weird Al,” and not only did I enjoy Al’s parody but I grew to love the the original as well. This is not an isolated incident either. And so I present my High 5 list of songs I like because someone made fun of them…

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I’m happy to say that I’m going to my first gay wedding tomorrow. Well, technically I have to work during the ceremony, so I only get to go to the gay reception. Still I’m very happy to stand with my friends as they celebrate their love and their commitment to spending their lives together.

Sadly, since I’m in California, it won’t be recognized by the government. That really pisses me off! It’s one thing to be for the concept of marriage equality, but tomorrow marriage inequality will be literally staring me in the face.

I know these guys. One of them was at my wedding. Now I have to stand by as the state discriminates against them? It doesn’t seem fair.

I’ve talked about this before at length. I don’t want to rehash all my same gripes about why it is 100% pointless to outlaw gay marriage…so I’ll just throw this bit of childishness into the “debate” on the topic:

So the HDMI cables came today (as referenced in TANcast 235) and I was able to hook up my Blu-Ray player to my HDTV. I watched my first Blu-Ray disc on it and I watched a regular DVD on it. (I made sure to wear my glasses so that I could appreciate the high definition). I have to say I was impressed, not blown away, but impressed. The Blu-Ray I chose was Marvel’s The Avengers. I didn’t watch the whole thing, just some of the special features and the final battle. One thing I noticed right away was that I could see the tiny aliens in the background pretty clearly. Then I put in Return of the Jedi on standard DVD and it looked pretty crisp.

Yup…That was neat. I dunno if it really WAS greater quality or if I convinced myself it was because I know how much money, time and effort from my family and friends went into this upgrade. I mean I ASKED for this as a birthday present. Well, to be fair, I asked for “the cheapest Blu-Ray player you can find” but my mom interpreted that a little differently. Then my wife decided that would be a great excuse to upgrade our TV. Even Noah and Geoff helped out. (Geoff even helped move our HEAVY old TV while I was at work. Big ups to Geoff!) I feel like I received far more than I deserved…so I’d BETTER be enjoying the **** out of it. So I say that image has never looked better.

I gotta admit, I didn’t make this upgrade because I wanted higher image quality. I made the upgrade because they seem to be making all the special features I like exclusive to Blu-Ray. The deleted scenes and gag real for Avengers? Only on Blu-Ray. The deleted scenes for The Muppets? Only on Blu-Ray. I keep seeing it over and over, and it sucks. I didn’t want to switch. I fought this as long as I could. There was nothing wrong with the picture quality up ’til now. But congratulations, corporate Hollywood. You broke this miserly old curmudgeon who wasn’t gonna waste perfectly good money on a entertainment “upgrade.” And that’s part of the problem, I feel guilty for forcing my friends and family to buy what I was too high and mighty to buy for myself. (These are the neurotic thoughts that flow though my goofy brain on a daily basis)

But you know what? It’s here, it’s set up, and I love it. Just like the iPhone and the iPod before it, I fought it but there was really no good reason. I’ve got plenty of good stuff in my immediate future. I’m looking forward to jumping on the Netflix bandwagon since we can now watch Netflix streaming through our Blu-Ray player. I’m looking forward to watching the other Blu-Rays I got for my birthday: Wreck-It-Ralph, Casino Royale, and The Shawshank Redemption. I’m also looking forward to hearing what other movies look AMAZING on Blu-Ray. Any suggestions? (Fair warning: anyone who says “Transformers” will be ignored)

So I am running behind today so I had to grab an old blog draft and use it for today’s blog. When I say “old,” I mean June of 2010..almost 3 years ago. So here was something I thought was a funny idea 3 years ago. Let’s see if I was right…

A few days ago I tweeted: “Why do bugs want inside my place so bad? You have wings that can take you anywhere you want…and my tiny little apartment is your choice?”

I feel like this is an example of the grass is always greener syndrome. Because they must think there is something good inside these walls. There isn’t. Clearly they don’t find what they’re looking for, because as soon as they get in, they start banging their heads on the window trying to leave. If you hadn’t come in here in the first place this wouldn’t be a problem! I imagine a fly in my apartment is like anyone who goes to see a Uwe Boll movie. Somehow you were tricked and now you just want to get the hell out!

So this got me pondering bugs…what’s their problem?

Then a few days later, Noah and I were on a walk and he wondered why gnats always fly around right at head-height. It’s annoying because when you’re running, you often get a mouth full of gnats. You’d think simple self preservation would keep them off of running paths.

While I’m on the subject of gnats, why do they always fly back and forth over one area over and over for an extended period of time? You can fly anywhere and you’re just going to hover above the ground…going no more than a foot in any direction? What’s the point of that?! That would be like if Superman just flew in random circles over a 3 block area of Metropolis.

“Hey Superman…you know you can fly anywhere you want right?”

“I know. But I prefer to just go back and forth over this tiny stretch of land.”

“Are you looking for something?”

“Nope.”

“Are you preparing to get some food?”

“Nope.”

“Then what’s the point?”

“I just like to be going nowhere but constantly wasting my energy flying”

“Oh…ok”

And that’s where I left it. I suppose I thought I was going to come up with some big closer. Well, I had nothing then and I’ve got nothing now. But the March Blog Madness monster has been fed for the day.

I’m doin’ it!

It’s no secret I’m a huge Michael Jackson fan. But my fandom goes well beyond the hits like Billie Jean, Man in the Mirror, Thriller, etc. Michael has a lot of great songs buried deep in his albums that you may not have heard of. That’s where I come in. Here is my High 5 list of lesser known Michael Jackson Songs that are awesome.

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Alright this is a blog I’ve been tinkering with on and off since December. It’s probably not gonna be that funny…just a warning.

“Oh crap…Tim’s going to get ‘political’ again.” (Closes window)

It started shortly after the Sandy Hook shooting when I saw a posting from one of my Facebook “friends.” It was a video of Mike Huckabee saying that taking God out of our schools was the reason things like Sandy Hook happen. To be fair, that is an oversimplification of his point. It wasn’t as simple as “A” caused “B.” It was more about the effect of taking God out of schools on the overall culture, but the message was clear, “we need to put God into our classrooms.”

That prompted me to write this comment:

Ok, explain this to me…and I mean this not with malice but genuine bewilderment. How does the political party that wants to privatize everything want to put God in the hands of our government? God means so many different things to so many different people…who gets to choose which God is the official God of the USA? Why would we give our relationship with God over to the state?

I honestly am confounded by this. If you or your friends have an answer for me, you will not be shouted down, mocked or belittled by me. I really am trying to understand this dichotomy.

I thought that was a fair question. I still do. The conversation that followed certainly did enlighten me…but without answering my question at all. Read the rest of this entry »

This week the TANboys talk ex-girlfriends, answer some baby questions, and review the movies Magic Mike, Oz: The Great and Powerful, and Olympus Has Fallen.

[CONTENT WARNING] TANcast features mature language and immature hosts but is NOT a representation of the stand up act of Tim Babb. Listener discretion is advised.

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So Monday and Thursday’s blogs ruined Beauty and the Beast, Friday’s blog was about my dead father, and yesterday’s blog was about the sadness of growing old…I decided today we needed some joy up on this blog. Not joy at the expense of others either. No Tosh.0 nut shots or jokes at the expense of Sarah Palin or Comcast. Just happiness for the sake of happiness.

So, what makes me happy? Well, I love dogs and I love babies. Could there be a way to combine those two loves? Of course there is….this is the internet. And so I present to you over five minutes of babies laughing at dogs!

…I think my soul is growing back.

Today is my birthday. I’m officially on the downward slide to 40 now. That sucks. Getting old just sucks. Not for the usual reasons. I mean, yes, my body is falling apart. I can’t eat like I used to. My eyes don’t work as well anymore…and technology is slowly passing me by, but that’s not my problem with getting old.

I finally have a Star Trek costume, a Superman costume, a Darth Vader costume, and a bunch of other cool things I’ve wanted since I was a kid. But now when I wear them, I’m just the creepy old guy dressed up like a guy from Star Trek. Since I was in high school, I wanted a Trek uniform so I could film myself and edit myself into an episode of the show. A few years ago I did…

That’s all well and good…but the dude in that video is almost old enough to run for president. What was I thinking? I’m not some 20 year old who has an excuse to run around and be an idiot. I’m just a sad, immature thirty-something who looks ridiculous. I know my 20 year old self would call this guy a loser. But forget hypothetical, younger me, what about when my son grows up and sees this?

“Really, dad? This is how you spent your free time? C’mon, you can level with me…I was adopted right? No? Maybe mom had an affair with an actual grown up? No? So you actually felt like your DNA was worth passing along to the next generation? Ugh…NO, that was not a reference to the show. Wow, pop, you’re a freak. I got you something for Father’s Day…pity!”

But I still want to do stupid, silly stuff…I just don’t want to be this old while I’m doing it. But unless that fountain of youth has been discovered…oops…just checked, it has not…well then I have two choices: grow up and act like an adult or embrace the fact that I’m now a creepy old guy.

…say hello to Tim Babb the creepy old guy. (but don’t get too close, or take candy from him….move along)