Thoughts on Thanksgiving

Another year is passing by once again, and as all the major holidays are either passing by or coming up I would like to take some time to note how my opinion of Thanksgiving has changed over the years.

That is exactly what it was like.

There was a time when I was younger when all Thanksgiving was was just a whole bunch of Pilgrims and Indians (Native Americans for those who care for such things) eating turkey and living peacefully.  Thanksgiving was just another day of the year where I would have to be a little kid and not be able to play with my favorite toys or video games for the day because my whole family was coming over.  I used to hate those days because I never liked to talk to grown ups, I just wanted to play and eat and sleep and just be a little kid.  Those days eventually ended and then a new dawn came.  I then got to the ages where I was in and around High School.  These Thanksgivings were different because I could no longer care less about Pilgrims or Indians or any of the savageries done by one to the other after the famous day of the turkey.  During these Thanksgiving days I would watch football, both the local high school game live, and then later whatever games the NFL would allow us to see.  These games usually involved me not caring as the Lions lost and rooting against the Cowboys as they inevitably won.  These days also became one of the few days my parents wouldn't care and allow me to sit with the family and enjoy a couple beers throughout the day.  But no matter what, during these time periods, I never looked forward to Thanksgiving much, and it was really just another reason to get a few days off of school.

<3 Hand Turkeys <3

But since my years of college have started, Thanksgiving has become something completely different to me and has slowly been working it's way up the list of my favorite holidays.  So since this is where I currently am in life, this is how I currently feel about Thanksgiving.  It is now not only a day off of school but something I completely look forward to as the calendar flips over into November.  The extended break from school (although it is still less than a week) is a much needed breather in the crowded life of a college student, and not only gives a few days reprieve from the seemingly never-ending workload that begins to become your life as you grow older, but it also allows a reason to get a monstrous home-cooked meal when you are used to mediocre dining hall food.  Since I enjoy food as much as the next guy, and I enjoy rest as much as the next guy, Thanksgiving is starting to become a true mix of the things in this world that I truly love.  Since these are probably common thoughts about Thanksgiving I will note that no matter how old I get I find that the allure of a Hand Turkey grows even larger than the days when I was a child and somehow believed that that is what turkeys actually looked like.  Let me leave you with some ideas for songs to help you enjoy and appreciate the spirit of thanksgiving.  Run to the Hills by Iron Maiden definitely captures the spirit quite well in my opinion, but if songs that recollect the way our American forefathers settled this great land in a masterpiece of heavy metal, then maybe this song will be much more suited to your fancy.  Ladies and Gentlemen please allow me to introduce you to the Tommy Seebach Band and their breathtaking video for the song Apache!

Project Yancey: Episode 26: Doug Takes the Case

We open on the Bluffington School on a Thursday morning.  Doug using some kind of police investigator voice tells us about how Bee Bee had her dad's expensive boom box in school that day but it went missing before the day was out.  Doug decides to investigate the matter, and dubs himself "The Chameleon" as we see a quite awesome intro video for this character showing that he is indeed a master of disguise.  I don't think anybody is questioning the mastery of stealth when someone is capable of disguising themselves as a brick wall as their dog poses as a detour sign to catch a petty burglar.  But lets get back to the matter at hand, Mr. Bluff is now at the frond of their classroom yelling at the kids about someone being a thief and all in all being a stuck up rich guy, all while embarrassing  Bee Bee to the point where she sinks under her desk.  Since even children realize that stuck up rich folk are shitheads, Mr. Bone takes over and tells the kids that if the radio is not returned by 4 o'clock that afternoon the entire class would get detention!  This is when Doug gets sucked into the problem, Patti immediately whines to Doug about how she has beetball practice that afternoon and it will be ruined if she has detention.  That is enough motivation for Doug, who immediately thinks to start checking out suspects and searching for clues.  His obvious first thought is that Roger did it, and he even has an extended daydream of the Chameleon chasing Roger while disguised as a school locker, it doesn't look very mobile.  But when Doug decides to run his thoughts past Skeeter (by the way Doug is still maintaining the goofy voice I mentioned earlier), it is pointed out that Roger was in the Principal's office the entire day, so there was no possible way he could have stolen the boom box.  After this, Doug starts from scratch and asks Bee Bee if she has any suspects, but she plays it off oddly relaxed and tells him to take it easy, even telling him that detention is better than some things (her example was getting a bad haircut.)  But not being one to let Patti down Doug manages to find out Boomer sits behind her in class so suspects him of doing it.  Doug now decides to follow him around (Does he really think a guy wearing what looks to be a Star Trek shirt stole a radio?) but Boomer notices Doug following him and asks him to help carry some books.  As Boomer collects his books, Doug finds a piece of the radio on the ground (really? a piece was just laying around all day and nobody saw it?) and found it came from the locker next to Skeeter's.  Deciding to ask Skeeter about it, Doug jets off and totally leaves Boomer screwed by himself trying to carry way too many books.  But Doug doesn't need to ask any questions of Skeeter as when he opens the door to the metal shop and sees Skeeter in there with the radio!  As Doug tries to decide if he wants to turn Skeeter in or not we are treated to a nice cutscene that answers the question we have all been wondering, what would Skeeter look like if he was a crack addict?  So before school ends Mrs. Wingo gives one more chance to the students to turn it in, she turns out the lights and closes the shades so nobody will see who turns it in.  Once Doug realizes Skeeter isn't going to make a move he starts bringing the radio forward himself and Roger (being an ass) flicks the lights on.  But before Doug can be blamed, Bee Bee breaks into tears telling everybody that she broke the radio and Skeeter was fixing it for her, and when her dad asked about it she panicked and said someone stole it.  So hopefully Bee Bee learned a lesson in the truth, and Doug learned a lesson in trusting his friends, and Mr. Bluff didn't learn a thing about not being a snob.

If Skeeter smoked crack!

Damn thieves, they never learn. This episode constitutes what I can call a "television scenario", it will likely never happen in anybody's real life, but it is an easily conceivable situation that makes for a moderately entertaining storyline.  To my knowledge, show and tell thefts are probably at an extremely low percentage, especially with something as big as that boombox appeared to be.  All I ever remember show and tell being when I was a young child was excuses for children to bring their Beanie Babies into school for a day and show off that they had some platypus or bear or something like that.  And even then, your Beanie Baby was perfectly safe and nobody would steal it, even if it was the coolest Beanie Baby ever made. So, I'm sorry... I took a week to think about this one and really just can't relate.  I wanted to take the investigation route, but I already told my stories about that.  But don't worry, theres probably some really good episodes coming up, and I got some top ten ideas cooking.  See you next time!

Remember these things?

Project Yancey: Episode 25: Doug Out In Left Field

This is what I'm talking about, the episode kicks us off at a baseball stadium and Patti Mayonnaise being called to the plate.  As she apparently has a batting average of 1.000 (that's perfect for you all scoring at home), she promptly smacks the first pitch for a triple with the worst swing ever (and she also has a foot on the plate so she should technically be out.)  The next batter is Doug, who is announced to be the worst hitter in the league (the only possible parallel is they are the Rays, Patti is Evan Longoria and Doug is Carlos Pena without any power), and he shows why by missing the first two pitches for a quick two strikes.  Doug wonders why Patti only needs help with things he isn't good at when the next pitch blows by him right down the middle, we should assume he was struck out.  So now we return to real life and Doug and Skeeter are at their lockers when Coach Spitz is making an announcement on the intercom that tryouts for the softball team are open to all boys that day after school.  When they get to the tryouts they are promptly turned away along with many others for varying reasons, "negative muscle mass" for Doug and "negative brain mass" for Skeeter. He ends up giving a tryout to some kid in catcher's gear, who turns out to be really good.  When Coach Spitz tells the kid they are on the team and asks for their name, the kid pulls off the mask and reveals the face of Patti Mayonnaise underneath the mask.  Since Patti is a girl he kicks her off the team immediately by telling her to "hit the showers" which he quickly revises to "the girls' showers."  A dejected Patti goes to the bleachers with the rest of the cast-offs and decides the unite them as a team to take on the very team they were trying out for, the Honkers.  When she tells the rest of her band of misfits when practice is gonna be she tells them "I'm counting on you!" and happens to point to Doug who thinks she is solely counting on him.  Their practice the next day doesn't go very smoothly, players are complaining, Doug can't hit, and there was even a stereotypical scene where 3 players converge to catch a ball shallow in the outfield and all give way to the others causing the ball to land safely on the ground.  So after this abysmal showing Doug and Patti talk about it, and they decide they need a way to unite them all as a team.  Right on cue the ice cream man drives by and asks them if they want ice cream, and then continues to ramble about how when you want ice cream you just find someone with a Mr. Swirley uniform (the ice cream man also looks strikingly like Doug with soft serve on his head and if he lived the GTL lifestyle), which makes them think to get uniforms to unite the team.  So Doug is able to scrounge together matching Patti's Pulverizers bumper stickers to put on everyone's backs so they are dressed similarly and feel like a team.  Thanks to the power of being a team, they are able to limit the score so they are only losing 3-1 by the time Skeeter hits a 2-out double in the last inning.  This leaves Doug up with the game on the line, and in his nervousness he forgets to grab a helmet, this is when the magic happens.  Patti tosses Doug a helmet and notices him catch it with his left hand!  She then tells him since he is a lefty he should hit lefty (how did he not think of that), which causes him to hit a double as well.  So now Patti is up with Doug on second and they are losing by one.  She anticlimactically hits a ball hard which is caught on a dive by the other team's center fielder, and they lose.  Because of this showing their team is excited about how close they got, Patti turns down a chance to play for the Honkers because she loves her team and wants to challenge them to play again next week!  The End.

That is definitely GTL Doug working as a ice cream man so he can afford to party.

So this is absolute perfect timing, much like Patti's Pulverizers the 2010 World Series champion San Francisco Giants were also a band of rejects.  Thanks to this perfect timing I am going to write a piece that I decided against when it first happened, so without further ado, I present the 50  reasons its awesome that the Giants won the World Series!
1. Brian Wilson's beard.
2. Sergio Romo's beard. (for a good view of  1 and 2)
3. Edgar Renteria being the MVP despite not starting in the NLCS.
4. Pablo Sandoval being the most popular player on the team despite being benched for most of the playoffs.
5. Buster Posey changing my mind on who the NL Rookie of the Year should be.
6. Aubrey Huff admitting that he wore a "lucky" red thong for all the games from August on.
7. Freddy Sanchez finally getting the chance to show off on the national stage making tons of awesome plays at second base by harnessing the power of a huge mole on his cheek.
8. Juan Uribe having a career year and reminding people that he exists and won a World Series before.
9. Pat Burrell being dropped from the Rays halfway through the year and then winning the World Series.
10. Aaron Rowand being the highest-payed positional player on the Giants and not getting a single start in the playoffs.
11. Andres Torres coming from nowhere and playing great all this year and setting the table many times in the series.
12. Cody Ross for being a 29 year old who is balding and hits homers all playoffs.
13. Cody Ross being the quickest I have come from hating a player (single-handedly beating my Braves) to absolutely loving him (hitting two homers off of Halladay less than a week later)  
14. The fact that Benjie Molina was traded to the Rangers to make room for Buster Posey and ended up playing against his old team in the World Series.
15. Travis Ishikawa's existence (seriously what a sweet name!)
16. Watching the Giant's pitching staff is almost as good as the Shawshank Redemption.
17. Tim Lincecum's hair.
18. Tim Lincecum's pitching.
19. Matt Cain dominating every game he pitched and finally showing everybody that he is a total bulldog.
20. Jonathan Sanchez was expected to be the breakout pitching star of the playoffs but didn't deliver.
21. Madison Bumgarner did deliver.
22. The last 4 players I mentioned will be superstars some day, and were all brought up through the Giant's organization.
23. Barry Zito being the highest-paid player on the Giants and being left off of the roster for the entire playoffs.
24. Barry Zito being reminded how good his curveball used to be whenever he had to watch Cliff Lee pitch against them, who somehow resurrected the famous 2002 Zito curve.
25. Ramon Ramirez being traded from the Red Sox to the Giants after blowing too many games and continuing to blow games.
26. I thought Mark Derosa was going to be huge when he signed with the Giants this offseason, I just remembered now he signed with the Giants this offseason.
27. Bruce Bochy has the world's largest head.
28. The World Series reminded me of 2002 when J.T. Snow saved Dusty Baker's son.
29. They lost the world series in 2002 with Barry Bonds and then won in 2010 without Barry Bonds.
30. This hopefully will mean San Francisco Giants and Barry Bonds won't be synonymous anymore.
31. Willie Mays's catch from the last time the Giants won a World Series (they were the New York Giants).
32. At&T Park is the third most beautiful stadium in sports (under Fenway Park and Wrigley Field).
33. Guys sit in canoes in the San Francisco Bay behind AT&T Park just hoping to get a chance to get a ball.
34. AT&T Park has an area where people are allowed to watch the game for free for three innings behind a chain link fence in the right field wall.
35. This probably caused the first parade in San Francisco in at least a decade that did not involve gay pride.
36. The Giants aren't the Yankees
37. The Giants aren't the Phillies
38. For the second straight year the World Series winner decline their option on the World Series MVP.
39. A Black and Orange team won the World Series the day after Halloween.
40. A team who's fans held up signs that said "fear the beard" won the World Series on the first day of No Shave November.
41. I properly used The Bad News Bears as my movie connection for them.
42. I had them ranked 5th in my playoff rankings (wasn't that bad.)
43. I wrote that I didn't understand how there offense wins games, and I'm still not sure.
44. Nolan Ryan is 63 and still throws 86 mph fastballs in a suit! (Okay sure that's about the Rangers' president but it is still amazing!)
45. Their World Series champion shirts were awesome! (see picture)
46. Nobody expected them to even make the playoffs as recently as late August.
47. They almost had to play a 163rd game to even make the playoffs.
48. They only stood a chance to make the playoffs because the Padres hit a 10 game losing streak and showed me a sports equivalent of the X-men movie trilogy.
49. Brian Wilson is now one of my favorite baseball players despite my massive bias against closers and mohawks.
50. This picture only exists because the Giants won the World Series. (see below)

Brian Wilson, Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain... Magical

Project Yancey Episode 24: Doug is Quailman

How Perfect to give me a cover shot!

Finally, we get a long overdue extended intro to Quailman, complete with description of the Planet Bob, title banner and credo.  Also a great entry in the beginning in this episode is the introduction of Quaildog, and the list of Quailman's abilities to bob, dart and stupefy.  So once this simply amazing extended intro is over, we are brought to Doug finishing his first Quailman comic and are sent directly into the Quailman story after the title screen.  Quailman is sitting on his comfy chair in the Thicket of Solitude watching television when a hair care commercial is broken up by breaking news that Dr. Klotzenstein (not to be mistaken with his alter-egos Klotzilla, Baron von Klotz, and the Cyklotz) is on the lose and is in Bluffington under the disguise of Roger Klotz (Doug is really subtle when he uses people he knows as artistic influence.)  To this news Quailman decides to do absolutely nothing other than stay on the alert.  So while Quailman is on the alert, we are brought to what is usually Doug's science class with Professor Ogie.  (Key part) Roger starts the class out by making a terrible pun about his "Aunt Phibian" (get it amphibian?) as he throws his frog at Patti.  But once the shock of how terrible that pun was, Prof. Ogie walks into the class and tells the students there will be a pop quiz, which everyone shudders at other than Roger.  Roger shows why he was excited as when the teacher asks the questions to people in the class he steals their thoughts and answers the questions for them.  These questions range from how many bones are in the body to which planet has the longest rotation around the sun (Pluto isn't a planet anymore Roger!) to Newton's third law of motion.  This sequence leaves me in complete shock that someone could create a device that wipes people's minds empty, but doesn't even know Newton's laws.  Amazed by Roger's progress, Prof. Ogie decides to go get Mr. Bone and leaves Roger in charge.  Roger in turn shows the class his "Brain Drain" and drains everyone in the classes brains.  This leaves the entire class acting like they are on Valium (which is apparently what it's like to have no brain) but Patti still manages to make the quail call, and summons Quailman and Quaildog to the scene.  Quailman promptly gets to class and realizes whats going on quickly since Dr. Klotzenstein has no problem explaining his entire plot to Quailman immediately.  Now the showdown begins as Dr. Klotzenstein tries to drain Quailman's brain, but he is able to evade the beam quick enough to hide.  While hiding, he finds Roger's Aunt Phibian under a desk and tricks Dr. Klotzenstein into draining the brain of the frog.  This causes him to become Toad from the X-men, and a simple whistle returns the brains of all the students.  It is just then that Prof. Ogie and Mr. Bone come into the class and see that Quailman fixed the situation and Quailman flies away through a closed window, thus breaking it.  The episode concludes with Quailman and Quaildog getting permanent hall passes from Mr. Bone and zooms out to Doug and Porkchop celebrating the end of their first comic.

See!?  It's the exact same thing!

Well isn't this hard, I am not a superhero.  I have no superhero alter-ego.  I never wrote a comic.  I am not as imaginative as Doug is.  And lastly, I have never done anything that could be construed as heroic.  So this all leaves me sitting here trying to make some kind of stretch as to what I could possibly write about that would connect to this episode and would not indirectly ruin my stories for any later episodes.  (Thinking....) I got it!  I'll discuss superheroes to the best of my ability.  The best of my ability to discuss superheroes is simply to talk about Spiderman since he is by far my favorite superhero and probably the only one that I would be able to make an attempt at rambling about.  One of my favorite food for thought games to play when I am bored and talking to random people is to ask them if they could remake any movie ever with themselves as the main character, which movie and character would they pick.  Mine has always been Peter Parker/Spiderman from the first Spiderman movie in the Sam Raimi/Tobey McGuire series.  I have always been able to connect with the character of Peter Parker as I am a semi-nerdy kid who has a talent for science (mathematics in my case) and I like to think that if I got superpowers from a radioactive spider that I would use them for good.  My problem with really telling people about this is that I have recently found that people like to tell me that I kind of look like Tobey McGuire, which I am not completely sure if it is a good thing (he's not a bad looking guy by any means but I mean you never hear girls go "OMG I <3 Tobey McGuire! He is sooooo HAWT!").  Those first two movies are among my favorites, and my gripes about the third movie are probably what most other people have with it (what the hell is the deal with Peter Parker trying to be an emo ladies man? And why would anybody be dumb enough to cast Topher Grace as Eddie Brock/Venom.)  Okay, so I think I've rambled enough but I want to end on this note.  If you are reading this Hollywood Execs, send me an email, I want to play Eddie Brock and Venom in the new Spiderman Reboot you are doing.  I could totally be sold as the photography rival of the kid from Percy Jackson and the Olympians, and I could easily sell the craziness of Venom, just trust me.  Readers, you can help too get the "Chase Robertson as Eddie Brock" campaign going, together we can do it!

Really? That kid? Please make me Eddie Brock so I can kick his ass a little!

P.S. Thank you Denmark for your recent support!  Keep tuning in and send Prince Hamlet my regards!

My Top Ten Albums of the 2000s

This is a little piece I've been wanting to write for a little while now, I listen to a good heap of music which is mostly from the 90s so when I like something new it usually blows me away to some extent.  What I am about to give you is the list of albums that seemed to have blown me away, and are in the order of how good I feel they are right now.  For each I would like to give a short explanation of why I like it and specific songs worth listening to and hopefully for each a suggestion of songs that should have been released as singles.  The only rules to this list are that only one album is allowed per artist, no compilations/greatest hits albums and it is solely based on my opinion.  So starting with the bottom we will work our way to the top, which brings me to my list...

10. The Reason - Hoobastank

I really for the life of me don't know what I like so much about this album, but I know it is one I can listen to at any time and enjoy so that means something there.  I also find it funny that the single that made this album famous, and also from which the album gets it's title is easily my least favorite song on the album.  The album starts out really strong seeing that Same Direction and Out of Control are probably the two best songs on this album and I would especially recommend the first for anybody to listen to (love the guitar in that song).  The rest of the album (save for The Reason) follows in the same vein and while it sounds similar throughout, it is always a good listen.  Since every song I have already mentioned was released as a single, I need to name another to fill my quota, so I would elect my third favorite song on the album, that being Escape, mostly because I like the drums and the chorus is a little catchy.

9. Cage the Elephant - Cage the Elephant

This album I really know why I put it on, and the reason is because they take all the qualities I enjoy in Jack White's music (more about this later), and apply a different energy to it.  Seriously, try to listen to Ain't No Rest for the Wicked without thinking to yourself that this is just a really sweet song.  All of the songs on this album are, at the very worst, easy to listen to and if you are one for playing an album full through to listen to without having any real changes, this is as good an album as many.  This album shows a hell of a lot of energy in it, more notably seen in In One Ear, Tiny Little Robots, Lotus, and Judas. The singles released from this album, Ain't No Rest for the Wicked, In One Ear, and Back Against the Wall were all excellent calls in my idea, but if I had to make a complaint, it would be that Lotus wasn't a single (but there is still time for them to remedy this situation.

8. Consolers of the Lonely - The Raconteurs

Didn't I just mention my love for Jack White?  This album was released far past the point when I began loving his work, but it succeeded in showing me some more ways that he can kick some ass with a guitar in his hands.  After a first Raconteurs album that I wasn't particularly interested in, this album was released and brought with it a really cool southern vibe to it.  To suggest some songs, I would recommend to listen to at the very least the first 8 songs on this album, each of which are really cool to me and very enjoyable.  For example the piano-heavy You Don't Understand Me, and bringing in a brass section for The Switch and the Spur were some really nice ways to mix their album up.  Again, no complaints with the single selections, Salute Your Solution and Many Shades of Black (both of which among my favorites on the album), I would've liked to see either the title track, or The Switch and the Spur get the single treatment, but again, no complaints at all.

7. The College Dropout - Kanye West

This was the beginning of the end for Mr. West.  Before he got extremely famous and began to lose the qualities that made him famous in the first place (yet somehow got more famous for it), he was a young man with issues to discuss and did so with many heartfelt rhymes.  This debut was pretty much an instant hit on the power of his first single Through the Wire, in which he rapped about an injury which caused his jaw to be wired shut with his jaw wired shut.  You can't get many raps more real than that,  and he even followed that up with the semi-prophetic All Falls Down, and the religiously-driven Jesus Walks.  This is easily one of the most important rap albums released in the decade, and one of the very few that I genuinely enjoy listening to.  I would recommend anybody to listen to Family Business, We Don't Care, Get Em' High, and Spaceship, although would only wish the last one would have been a single.

6. Audioslave - Audioslave

A supergroup?!? Yes, I put an album from a supergroup on my top 10 albums of a decade, and you know what?  I would probably do so with the 90s as well.  Grunge artists manage to do great things with supergroups.  This time being Chris Cornell with the backing band from Rage Against the Machine, and even though sometimes in the album I pined to hear Zach De la Rocha doing his thing, this is a respectable rock album.  Listen to the songs Like a Stone, Getaway Car, Shadow on the Sun and Show Me How to Live.  I hope you listen to this album before any of the others because this is what should have been and Audioslave's later works were complete let downs (except for Be Yourself, which is probably their best song as a band).

5. Artist in the Ambulance - Thrice

This album is not for everyone, but I have had a love for it since the first time my brother told me to listen to it and this list is not for everyone.  This is without a doubt the heaviest album on this list and is my favorite for the guitar.  If you would like to listen to 12 songs of someone just thrashing on a guitar with a pretty versatile singer more or less yelling in the background (most people who I tell I like Thrice wonder how I like the singing, but truth is I love the vocal range he as and is the one thing that I think sets them apart from other bands of their type.)  Their singles are all very good from this album, All That's Left was the first heavy song I learned to play, Artist in the Ambulance is easily the most approachable song on the album, and Stare at the Sun is a close second.  I wouldn't really recommend any singles to be released because this isn't a mainstream album, but I would love to suggest anybody listen to Blood Clots and Black Holes for one of my favorite guitar songs ever, and also Abolition of Man is well worth listening to even if it is just for the ending.

4. White Blood Cells - The White Stripes

The first album in which I actually had to think about which album was my favorite from that artist (even if I chose Elephant it would be #4).  I ended up deciding on White Blood Cells because it was a more bluesy album, and when I listen to the White Stripes I like to hear some of the blues.  To talk more about my love for Jack White, this album might not be his best on the guitar, but I'm not let down by it at all, mainly because I just like the small town kid vibe of the entire album.  The singles from this album, Hotel Yorba (my favorite on the album), Fell in Love With a Girl, Dead Leaves on the Dirty Ground, and We're Gonna Be Friends (more commonly known as the song that plays during the intro credits of Napoleon Dynamite) were all perfect choices and in that order are probably my favorite songs on the album.  But I really am disappointed I'm Finding It Harder to Be a Gentleman and Same Boy You've Always Known weren't singles either, they are both really good.

3. Hot Fuss - The Killers

It really is hard to describe how good this album is, and it is really hard to believe that even though I had this album since shortly after it's release, that it took me nearly 5 years to finally give it the full-through listen that it deserves.  This album really does not have any bad songs, or hell even a bad note.  To recommend a song I would just tell you to sit down and play it all the way through,.  You will enjoy the singles released, Mr. Brightside (simply amazing), Somebody Told Me (barely less amazing), All These Things That I've Done and Smile Like You Mean It, and you will enjoy all the rest of the songs just as much.  This album does a great job of maintaining a similar song throughout but at no point do any of the songs sound alike, which is something I find quite awesome.  But please listen to Midnight Show and Andy, You're a Star, you won't regret it.

2. Speakerboxx/The Love Below - Outkast

There are incredibly many reasons why I should have put this as number one on my list.  First, even though this was a set of two albums, either one would have been on this list had they been released separately under the names Big Boi and Andre 3000 respectively.  Secondly, I listened to this album when it first came out and was stunned by it, I listened to this album years later and was stunned by it, and am currently listening to it and am stunned by it.  This album is not number one for the sole reason that I am a total fanboy (you will understand in a second).  Speakerboxx is one of the best straight rap albums that I have ever listened to, only rivaled by The College Dropout and Dr. Dre's 2001.  The Love Below is a series of love songs from Andre 3000, who despite being a rapper first in old times only raps in a handful of songs on this album.  To understand why Speakerboxx is so good, listen to The Way You Move and War.  For a taste of the Love Below, listen to Hey Ya, Roses, and Behold a Lady (which I am going to post a video below because it is that amazing. )



1. A Crow Left of the Murder... - Incubus

To me, choosing my favorite Incubus album is what I expect it is like for a parent to choose their favorite child.  Either you just are unable to do it, or  it fluctuates so often that you couldn't even say because it would only be moments before the answer has changed.  Luckily the decision was made a little easier since S.C.I.E.N.C.E. and Make Yourself (my favorite of the bunch) were both released in the 90s.  So really this spot belongs to A Crow Left of the Murder..., Morning View and Light Grenades.  I chose ACLotM, because of the power that it brings with songs like Megalomaniac, Talk Shows on Mute, Sick Sad Little World, Here in My Room, and the title track A Crow Left of the Murder.  I am not even going to recommend any songs for this album, but I rather will tell you to go out and buy the entire Incubus discography, I have never told anybody to do that who hasn't later returned to me agreeing that it was necessary.  So yes, I am an Incubus fanatic, and only put this album above some others because I have such a deep love with them that I owed it to them.  You know what I have to say to that?  I genuinely do think Incubus's three albums during the 2000s were the three  best albums released in the 2000s.  So step off and don't try to tell me otherwise.

Honorable Mentions: Black Gives Way to Blue - Alice in Chains, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix - Phoenix, Backspacer - Pearl Jam, Only By the Night - Kings of Leon, and As Daylight Dies - Killswitch Engage.

If you like this list, like my recommendations, or have any music recommendations for me please write it in my comments.  I'm all ears.

Project Yancey: Episode 23: Doug Says Goodbye

Bee Bee is going to have a big costume party and Doug and Skeeter are going to go as members of the Beets (good timing given it is less than a week after Halloween), even though Skeeter happened to have a perfect Chap Lipman costume, but Doug still had to find a wig for his costume.  Unfortunately the wig quickly lost it's importance as Doug goes to school the next morning and Skeeter informs him that he is moving and can't go to the costume party the next night.  Although Doug asks for more information about the move, Skeeter unfortunately can't tell him anything more than his father just told him to pack his stuff up for the next day, and that's all that was said.  This terrible news takes us to a great retrospective of Doug and Skeeter's relationship thus far (seeing this is the season 1 finale, it is also a retrospective on the first season as a whole) as we revisit the first time Doug and Skeeter met at the Honker Burger, the time Skeeter taught Doug how to dance, and who could forget when they met the Beets and got to air guitar with them?  Doug next contemplates ways he could stop the Valentines from moving, but while he can imagine Quailman would give Mr. Valentine the Quail-Eye and Smash Adams would basically threaten the movers from letting them move, he as Doug can't do anything to prevent the move.  He would merely just hang on to the bumper of the car as it zooms along the street away from Bluffington.  Fortunately(?) Doug's ideas are unnecessary, as Skeeter claims he doesn't have to move and curiously runs off.  The next thing we know Doug is sitting in the kitchen looking melancholy while his mother comes in with the perfect wig for his costume.  This doesn't seem too important to Doug at the moment, but things get important as Doug goes to try his costume on for his mom and finds Skeeter in his closet!  After getting his mother out of the room, he asks Skeeter what the deal is, and it is revealed they are gonna be "secret brothers" and will live together in Doug's room forever.  Not much later, they go to the Honker Burger to get a celebratory shake, and Skeeter even dresses in costume so nobody would be able to realize its him and tell his parents where he is.  Unfortunately the costume is terrible and everyone knows it is Skeeter.  It seems the only person in the Honker Burger who doesn't notice Skeeter is Mr. Valentine, who is looking for him because he never came home from school.  This is when Doug realizes that Skeeter's family will really miss him and realized its for the best they don't live together.  He tells Skeeter that he has to move and that they can still be friends, and even exchange Skeeter's lucky penny for Doug's comb as mementos.  After an awkward goodbye on a par with when a couple has to literally be pulled apart by their friends to stop talking and get on with their lives, the sad Doug "doo doo dooo" theme plays in the back and they are separated for good.  Doug tries to say one last goodbye to Skeeter the next morning before he leaves, but he shows up in time to see the Valentine family car zoom off.  Not knowing what to do next, Doug sits on the stoop and sulks, but oddly enough Skeeter comes out of the house and is like sup dawg?  This is when the happy ending comes (ready for it...) Skeeter's move was only to the basement, and now he has rockin' basement room!  They will be friends forever those two!

Skeeter!!! Come out of the closet!

Oddly I started the season with the story of my first few weeks at college and the inevitable change that brought, so why not end the first season with the prequel to that.  I had the same friends for most of my life at that point and was going to be separated from them for the first time in my life, so this is the story of my move away from the friends I had always held so dear.  I was the first to move out to college, and did so nearly 3 weeks before anybody else at that, so even though we did have an older friend who already had a year of college under his belt, this was the beginning of the first mass dispersion.  I don't remember much of what we did in those last few days other than the Applebee's dinner the night before I left, it was an apt farewell as we are all cheap and hungry, and Applebee's is cheap and satisfying.  The rest of the summer was more or less our last real time to be free and hang out all the time, the following summers saw our work schedules always at odds so being able to hang out all the time became difficult.  The summer was full of all our usual activities, wiffleball games, frisbee games, video games, hanging out in general, and the card game that will never die, MLB Showdown 2000/2001.  Those are truly the activities that define my summers and the times with those friends (obviously with much more specialized events in there but those are too numerous to count.)  But not being one to disappoint I will point out two of the massive highlights of that summer that I will always hold dear.  The first was the Pearl Jam concert that I have already discussed.  The other is still one of the more interesting times of my life, I, along with two friends of mine, crashed a toga party hosted by one of their parents, and it was both the first and last time the three of us would drink together that summer, but we definitely made it an experience worthwhile.  I would lastly like to thank  any such friends who are reading this, you all are good people I tell you, thanks.

Buddha!!!!!