Freakout

 Unless you've been living under a rock, you know that on New Year's Eve Oklahoma City is the place to be.  


That's right.  Not New York City with their lame lighted ball and 1million-strong crowd, or Sydney, Australia with their Oprah opera house and being first to see the new year on the globe, but Oklahoma City.  Because we have the Flaming Lips giving us live action and you don't. And their show's been rated one of the best New Year's Eve shows to see.  


I was going to link to that last proclamation, but I can't find a story backing me up, so you're going to just have to trust me on this one.  Anyway, why would Rolling Stone stream it live if it wasn't true?


Huge hamster ball over the crowd, a phenomenon that's so cool it's referenced by geeks? 2011 balloons?  The best cover in the world?  How can you not love that?   


And yes, those stupid green blocks were everywhere, telling us to go to wimgo.com. Which, for the life of me, I'm still unclear on what its purpose is other than dolling out goofy green swag at Flaming Lips concerts for two consecutive years.  


BTW, those "pillows" get tossed through the crowd like beach balls.  Except they're not.  They're potentially lethal. -> 


One of my favorite Lips songs: 

Related articles

• Flaming Lips to Play The Soft Bulletin at New Years Show (pitchfork.com)
• Flaming Lips to release a song a month in 2011 (guardian.co.uk)
• The Flaming Lips wish you a freaky New Year (chromewaves.net)

Spooky Stuff

Ok, there are many things about Halloween that are supposed to scare me.  And I will admit, some of them do a pretty good job.  I don't do horror movies, for instance, and I refuse to do haunted houses, even if they're just in someone's garage.

Say you: Pansy. 

Say me: Right?  

But these things right here?  These things terrify me on multiple levels:  

  

That's right, folks.  "Creatures in a Jar: Gummies in Liquid Candy".  These were on display at Little Missy's Halloween Extravaganza at school.  One of the moms thought the were really cute and HAD to buy them.  Kids: One each, only. Trade later if you must. 


Let's just start with the ingredient list, shall we?  Ok, never mind.  I didn't bother because I didn't want to see it.  But I've no doubt the first thing listed was high fructose corn syrup, followed by (in no particular oder): dextrohydrocarbonhyphenatedxbox, sucrosuspendedmuckxycontinbox, lactogenericthrowinwordscuzpeoplewontreadthisxywordbox, and chartreuse colorant No. 7.  


Secondly, did you see Silence of the Lambs?* Do you remember that scene when Jodi Foster goes in the abandoned storage shed that had a stuck door and she had to jack it open and crawl in there and she hurt her leg when she crawled under it and she needed a flashlight cuz there's was no light and it was all dusty and musty and there was a head in a jar tucked away in back and the camera zoomed THIS CLOSE on it (in my memory, anyway.) Well, those things up there look exactly like that head, just on a smaller scale.  And I don't do heads in jars. 


Thirdly: Liquid candy?  Really?  REALLY? I mean, dessert wine, sure.  But actual liquid candy?  Ugh.  


Fourthly:  What a waste of money!  How many kids are actually going to eat those?  


I forgot I'm not eight. A few of them actually did.  And I have proof:  

 

She's a brave little soldier, isn't she?  And it's hard to tell, but that pink lizard is dripping with the, um,  liquid candy.  I'm sure she required a shot of insulin soon after she arrived home.  For the record, that child doesn't belong to me.  My child gave her Creepy Freaky Thing in a (not #2 plastic) Jar to a buddy.  


And there there were some fellow pansies kindred spirits who chose a different, more subtle, route: 


                       
From packaging, to table, to hands, to trash: 19 minutes.  -> 


*There's a story with that movie and The Geek.  Remind me to tell you about it sometime.  

Related articles

• 12 Gross Candies Perfect For Trick or Treaters (neatorama.com)
• Caffeine & Edibles : Gummy Brain (thinkgeek.com)

13

  

Thirteen palettes on one day, behind one store in one town. Hopefully this will be recycled, but who knows?  -> 

Tailgate Fallout *

      

Game time: T-minus 60 minutes.  This is one trashcan in one parking lot of the university.  I was wondering as I was uploading this how many trashcans are on the property.  My guess is 250.  (Surely I can dig and get a real number?) They're all overflowing on game days, as you can well imagine.    


As you can see, almost all of this stuff can be recycled.  The university does have recycling receptacles close to the stadium, but I haven't seen any in the parking lots around campus, which is where all the tailgating happens.   ->  


*I had a couple of other shots that I tossed today...I'm still not sure this is the right one.  It tells a story, though, which is what made it the winner. 

Related articles: 

• Panthers tailgaters recycle tons of trash (charlotte.news14.com)
• Buffalo Bills tailgater convinced to stay (dailycaller.com)