Scarface: School Edition

I'm all for promoting the arts with children. One of the best classes I took while getting my Master's in Elementary Education focused on infusing arts in all aspects of the classroom. I know I used various rap songs in my teaching, but I would always change lyrics or use "clean" versions.

The video below is of a school play version of "Scarface" -- yes, you read that correctly -- the movie starring Al Pacino that deals with coke, killing, coke, coke, and just a little more coke for good measure. I haven't found out where the video is from yet, but I do know that I think I can safely say this is NOT a good use of arts in education. What is this school doing next year? Requiem for a Dream: the Musical??

Now, the awful side of me did laugh at 2 parts:

1) The pile of popcorn representing cocaine.

2) The dutiful drama teacher ushering on the student at the end so he wouldn't miss his cue. (I'm definitely burning in hell because I watched this part 3 times laughing harder each time at sincerity of the teacher.)

Biden is a Real Person!

Love or hate his politics, you can't deny that it's refreshing to have politician like VP Biden who can still be himself. I'm not saying it's right to curse to the President, and by no means is this in the same league as when Cheney cursed at another senator, I'm just saying it's nice to have a politician that isn't fully scripted every second of every day.

Still Lovin' It?

Take a long look at this photo. It looks pretty normal right? Just a regular old McDonald's Happy Meal. Key word in that last sentence is "old." The picture is of a Happy Meal after being left out for ONE YEAR!!!! The photographer is Joann Bruso, author of "Baby Bites - Transforming a Picky Eater Into A Healthy Eater Book." From Joann about the Happy Meal:

"My Happy Meal is one year old today and it looks pretty good. It NEVER smelled bad. The food did NOT decompose. It did NOT get moldy, at all."

I rarely eat fast food anymore, and I know this won't stop me from ever eating it again (I mean, c'mon, is there anything better after a night of drinking than McDonald's french fries?!?!?) I just found it fascinating that basically, McDonald's food is as invincible as Chuck Norris.

Blinded By My Own Loyalty

I finally did my Final Four brackets. A few years ago, based on my boy Matt Troha, I decided to only fill out one bracket and use that in all my pools. I know, I know, it limits my changes -- but I want to win big or not win at all.

This year, I went with my heart and my Orange. AO or not, I think they have what it takes. I based my FF on the "Melo Theory." Basically, what team has the best stud with a really, really, really ridiculously good supporting cast -- just like Carmelo et. al in '03. With that being said, my picks:

- Ohio State (Turner is a beast)

- Kentucky (Ditto for Wall)

- Nova (Scottie has something to prove after a poor regular season finish -- plus their bracket sucks)

- Syracuse (All-America and Big East POY Wes!)

Final: Syracuse over Kentucky 81-78. NB Ever since 2003, I always use 81-78 as my score. Sappy, but I don't care.

PS -- Follow Otto's Army if you aren't already.

Whiskey Not So Neat

For about a month I was super excited to attend my first every whiskey tasting which was held at Monk's Cafe this past Tuesday night. Monk's is a good place -- even if I don't care a thing about whether or not my beer is hoppy, and IPA, blah, blah, blah. I wish I had a picture of the waitress' face when I said, "Just give me whatever you have that's like Miller High Life."

Anywho, everything I've ever heard about any kind of tasting before sounded great. You get to sample a product, laugh with the people you're with, and maybe mingle with some other interesting people. Unwittingly, we walked into a Star Trek Convention for whiskey drinkers. Out of about 40 people, my group of 7 were the only ones who never had been to a whiskey tasting. Our collective experience was limited to doing shots of Jack, Jameson, Makers, etc. Needless to say, "those" brand hand no place here since they were not part of the featured item of the night: single malt scotch whiskeys.

Every person there was SUPER serious about the tasting and just loved listening to our host talk for 15 minutes about each drink while you had to listen silently. No joking, no cheersing, nothing. It was like a bad dream -- having drinks with your friends...in the library. Well, there was that one time we were drunk and ran through the library while drinking after Cuse made it to the Final Four -- but I digress....

The event was the most counterintuitive drinking experience of my life. The more we drank, the quieter we had to be, which was very hard since the 2nd of 8 tastings was already 111 proof! Our host would also throw out some of the following gems that we obnoxiously laughed at under our breath and NO ONE else did:

- "I expect to taste a lot of nutty in this one."

- "If my body was Scotland, the lowlands are here..." as he kept gesturing to his penis.

- "Never mix and 18 year old and a 35 year old."

- "I taste light coffee flavors, a little sea, and some brine." oh good...cause those things go together soooo well.

- And the winner of the night: "Most people these days try to make sure the bung hole is accessible."

It was worth it for these unintended puns and of course for the great company. For the next tasting, I'm just having people over with a bunch of glasses and a big ole bottle of Mr. Daniels.