Blogapella

Here for my 179th post, I would like to show my appreciation for a'capella music.
Now, I'm not talking about ONE chick that's trying to sing a Paramore song, nor am I referring to groups singing things like Stand By Me.
Usually I try to find a more modern song sung by a group. (preferably not on stage)
There are a few exceptions though.

Yes, a lot of times its pretty goofy sounding.
But good a'capella truly is...well...good.
(Just as bad a'capella is horrid.)
Rarely is there a middle ground, with the exception of comedic a'capella. (Run To The Hills by It's Super Effective, WHAT?)
Playing instruments truly takes a lot of skill, but I feel that orchestrating an a'capella piece takes a lot of coordination, since there are so many parts and voices involved.

My personal favorite would be the Bad Romance cover by the following group of gentlemen.


This newly discovered piece is another favorite.
(Along with a favorite song in general.)
Notice how he sounds almost EXACTLY like Sufjan.


Don't hate me for this one:


Despite the stupid bow on the one girl's head, and the even more stupid song selection, these girls really know how to pull it together.

*Disclaimer; I by no means support Justin Beiber or his fans.

Jeff Buckley's Hallelujah


This one took a lot of searching, as there were a lot of pretty bad covers of this song.



This one is pretty impressive also. Even though usually I don't go for male vocals sung by females


This was a toss-up between two:



and




This was a hard one to find a good version of.
Let me know if you find one that you feel is more impressive.
I liked this one.



If anyone can find an a'capella cover of a Flogging Molly song (that isn't a bunch of kids singing on cellphone quality in pirate costumes and stomping to the beat.), please send it to me.
(Though, the previously mentioned one was pretty cute.)

Surprisingly Uncool

Today I would like to bring a sense of enlightenment to the seemingly very confused world. Perhaps its just Poughkeepsie that suffers from these horrible phenomenons, but just in case it is the rest of the world too, I will continue on.
Here I would like to remind people that just because you think something is cool, doesn't mean that it actually is.
Now, I by no means claim to be a cool person. I mean, honestly, I write a blog for Christ's sake. But still, there are some people out there that need to get a grasp on what is or is not socially acceptable. So, today I bring you:

THINGS PEOPLE THINK ARE COOL

1. Car-balls

I don't understand what makes these cool or funny. They're stupid and disgusting, plane and simple. Do you not have any of your own, so you feel the need to tack a set of fake junk onto your bumper? Come on, guys. Give it up. Neuter your pets. The last thing we need is a bunch of stray Hummers running around.

2. Tacky-ass Ghetto nails.

No matter what your occupation, if you have nails that are more than an inch long, you instantly look like you run the cash register at the local 7-11. And I am instantly going to assume that you're going to sell me a Slurpee. Wild Cherry, bitch.

3. Douche-Beard

Although it sounds like you might be a bad-ass pirate, actually HAVING a douche-beard simply makes you an ass. If you spent half as much time learning proper English as you did carving hieroglyphics into your head, you would be a much more respectable human being. Instead you look like you just allowed a lawn-mower to take creative freedom of your face.

4. Tribal Tattoos

Unless you're a Maori or fucking Tony the Tiger, you need to stay away from the tribal ink. You either look like a wrestler, or look like a frat boy. Neither of which are respectable personas for the day-to-day civilian. There is nothing else like having solid splotches of meaningless black ink over your body to say "I think I'm a bad-ass, so does my orange-tan girlfriend!" They're gggggggrrreat!

5. Plymouth Prowlers

A wedge of cheese on wheels. Enough said.



6. Keytars
Perfect for the kid whose mom made them practice hours of piano everyday before they could watch t.v. We all know that all you wanted to do was join a rock band. Just like we all know you will always be a total dweeb for the rest of your life. Keytar = significantly uncool.


7. 3-wheeled motorcycles

Too bad-ass for a 4-wheeler, too chicken for a chopper. Looking for the perfect balance? You didn't find it. Move along. You're a tool. Tack a side-car onto it and you'll be the whole hardware store.

Come In To My Parlor

Arachnophobia: the fear of arachnids, more commonly; spiders.

This, thankfully, is one thing I do not suffer from. My boyfriend, on the other hand....

So here today I have written a list to make the little 8 legged creepy-crawlies a little more bearable.

10 Things You Should Be Glad Spiders Can't Do

1. Fly. Yes, some can sail on threads, others can jump, but let us be thankful that they can't hover, float, fly, or propel themselves through the air. Because that really is the last thing that we need.
2. Shoot lasers. I don't think I need to touch on this any further
3. Speak. Luckily enough for us, they can't crawl under our beds and taunt us in our sleep.
4. Swim. Yes, there are water-striders, but none of them are diving through the depths as a dolphin would, jump through the oceans and rivers.
5. Communicate with other species. Last thing we need is an army of rats being lead by a spider armada.
6. Breed with other species. Spider-cat hybrids. That's all I have to say.
7. Mind control.
8. Create civilizations
9. Shoot barbs.
10. Implant their eggs into your flesh.

Just Your Typical Thundercats Ho

Today I had planned on writing a blog about how every woman has "Jaguar mode". No, this has nothing to do with "cougars" or anything of the sort. Jaguar mode is when a woman gets so incredibly irrate that when she yells or screams she no longer sounds like a human being, but like a wildcat singing a thrashmetal song. This tends to be a very rare experience and only happens when a women is as angry as she can possibly be.

To better describe this, I had clips from two movies in mind, but I couldn't find the second one that I needed. First bit from was Forgetting Sarah Marshall. There is a scene about two-thirds of the way though the movie where Rachel encounters her ex-boy friend and more or less flips shit on him. I found that clip and will post it below.
The second bit was from Knocked Up. In that scene, the character Allison screams mercilessly at a rather confused Seth Rogen in a gynecology office. Unfortunately I could not find the clip from that.
But, those were my two best examples of women going into jaguar mode.
It really is a terrifying experience.

Here is the clip from Forgetting Sarah Marshall. It is relatively short, but the part that I speak of is only within the last 10 seconds or so, and she only does it for about 3 seconds, as jaguar mode rarely lasts longer than that.

Well, I suppose after all of that I did make the post I had originally planned on. So now you may carry on with your lives.

Good day.

Oh, and if you are curious as to what sound I am refering to, is would be this, which is technically a bobcat:

I am pretty lost right now
in a way no GPS could help me
Kind of strolling about
with no reception
in a country where I don't speak the language.
I don't really know what to do with myself for the time being.
In between being very, very sad, I am also bored, confused and frustrated.
Help?

I think I came back to New York too early.
Should have waited another day.
But I had been gone so long that I wanted to see Van again.
And now I have to go to work, which I shouldn't, but I've been away for quite some time and have no money at the time being.
So I need to keep going.
and I need more jobs.
Looking at perhaps a bookstore?
That might be nice.
Since I like to alphabetize.

PANEER PAKORA!

I'm currently in Philly, getting ready to go to sleep. Tomorrow we leave the house wicked early to go back up to New York.
Its cruise time!
Off to the Bahamas I will go.
Unfortunately there will be no way for me to update while I am gone, as it costs a WICKED crazy amount to use the Internet on cruise ships. So any updates will have to wait until I return.
Anyhow, the real reason I came on here was to rave about an Indian restaurant that just opened up around my parent's house. Its called Aman's and its in North Wales, PA.
It was wonderful.
I got a Boti Kabab, which was cooked lamb. Came with bosmati rice. Also tried one of their vegetable samosas.
But, what really impressed me was this;
My favorite Indian dish is paneer pakora. I love it. It is delicious. I could eat it all day long.
For those of you who don't know what it is, its basically fried cheese with a curry sauce on the inside. So, so good. Now, I;ve been to several Indian restaurants, and I have yet to find it anywhere. I'm not sure if its a regional thing, if its an Americanized dish, or if its just uncommon.
There was a place I used to go to called Greater India, and honestly, it was some of the best food I've ever had. But the owner was not very nice, so we stopped going there about three years ago. Since then, I have been on a quest to find delicious paneer pakora, and sadly, I have not found it.
Until today.
Whilst looking on the menu, I did not see it anywhere, and I was immediately saddened, but, considering that its a brand new restaurant, not even a week old, I asked the waiter if they by any chance made it, but it wasn't on the menu.
He said no, but he was then kind enough to go ask the chef, just in case.
And, the chef, was kind enough to make it for us anyway, even though they don't sever it there!
It was very surprising and very nice. I was incredibly impressed.
So, I figured I would write a nice little review, just in case anyone in the Buck's county area is looking for a great Indian restaurant. I highly recommend Aman's. And who knows, maybe you will see me there, because I will definitely be going back again!

The Busy!

Mostly out of boredom I have been doing some online RPing. Just because I can. And that is all I have to say about that.

The other day a buddy of mine and I went to go see Protest the Hero in Albany. It was a 2(ish) hour long drive in the blistering heat, but it was definitely worth it.

A great show, I must say. The first three bands were not bad. One instrumental, the other two were just your standard hardcore/metalcore band. Protest did really well. Sang all the good songs too. I am very happy that I got to see them. One more left, then my list is complete. The Weakerthans.

I will most likely have to go to Canada to see them, but that isn't a problem at all! It actually sounds like a lot of fun.

I think that is all I have to say for now.
So until later, have some art.

Some are just anthromorphic creatures. Im working on a set of zodiac based ones.

The Cthulhu is probably my favorite.