President Barry #1 State of the Union Recap Extraordinaire!

I expected the State of the Union to be a pretty typical speech; policy-heavy, lots of proposals, pitching pet programs... but I didn't expect it to be this... commercialized:



The Republican response was better than average. Usually it's someone sitting alone in a room, talking to a camera, but having audience feedback adds a lot to the experience. Here's a screen grab from the speech:

Knowing politics as I do, I know that little is left to chance. I'm guessing that, prior to this speech, a couple of political consultants had to sit down and figure who the 4 people in frame with the Governor would be.

"Look, we need two men and two women. We should have a military guy, and a black guy."

"No problem on the military guy, but there's no black guys available. Goddammit, I miss Sammy Davis Jr."

"OK, make it a black chick. For the other chick... I don't know, see if you can find a smokin' hot blond. I met a chick at a Halloween party last year dressed as 7 of 9... maybe she's available."

"OK, that leaves one more guy. Another military guy?"

"No, it'll be too obvious that we're stacking the deck. Maybe a businessman?"

"Oh shit, I know! An ASIAN businessman!"

"Hells yeah! You just earned your paycheck this month, fellow politics guy!"

That's pretty much how it happened.

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Mountain Dew Throwback

I'm not a big fan of the Pepsi drink lineup, but when I saw a commercial recently for Pepsi and Mountain Dew Throwback, I have to admit that my curiosity was piqued. I'm a fan of soda, but I mostly stick to the diet stuff because I don't need the extra calories. But when I go "regular", I like to drink soda that uses real sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup: Dublin Dr. Pepper, Mexican Coke, and Passover Coke are the big players among sugar-soda aficionados, although there are plenty of boutique colas made with real sugar (Jones, Izze, Red Bull Simply Cola, etc.).

The "throwback" in Pepsi and Mountain Dew Throwback refers to their use of real sugar - in this case, a mixture of cane and beet sugar. So even though I'm not a Pepsi fan, I figured this was up my alley. And if I like a concept, I may as well support it. (Hell, I bought a 4-pack of Coca-Cola Blak when it came out, so clearly I'm game for just about anything.) So far I've only been able to find the Mountain Dew Throwback. I was somewhat surprised to find it just stacked in with regular Mountain Dew. The distinct packaging meant you couldn't mistake it for anything else, but still, I thought a limited-edition soda like this deserved a little better placement.

Here's what it looks like:

As far as taste goes, well, it tasted like Mountain Dew, but a little less vile. Mountain Dew has the same failing that 7-Up does, which is that it lacks the tartness that makes Sprite so delightful. Also, the idea of urine-colored sodas doesn't sit well with me, unless it's apple-flavored.

So if you like Mountain Dew, or 7-Up, or weird sodas, or you want to have a party where you pretend you're in the past, pick up a 12-pack while you still can. You can't pretend like you're too far in the past, though, because it has the stay-tab instead of the pull-tab.

Mrs. Bart's review: "It tatest like 7-Up mixed with green Gatorade."

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What's on my iPod?

I spend a lot of time in the car, so my iPod (iPhone in this case) has to be loaded for bear. I can't subsist on commercial radio, with its... commercials. I don't want to turn it on and wait 8 minutes for entertainment. I demand instant gratification. And so, I stock my iPod with only the most delightful and entertaining podcasts. I heartily recommend them all. They're all available on iTunes, just search for the names. Yes, I'm too lazy to figure out the links and them embed them.

1. The Adam Carolla Podcast. New every weekday. He's now incorporating live shows into his already excellent interview-style programs.

2. CarCast. Weekly podcast from Adam Carolla, showing his "car nut" side. There's a lot of talk about headers, which sounds sexier than it really is.

3. Comedy Death Ray Radio. Weekly comedy podcast. Truly excellent.

4. I Love Movies. Stoner comedian Doug Benson's one-every-two-weeks live show in which he jokes about movies with guests. It has games you can play along with at home, if you don't mind never winning.

5. The Sound of Young America. The flagship program from Jesse Thorn, America's Radio Sweetheart (approximately 1 hour of content per week, released in chunks every few days). Interviews with seriously interesting people. I get a lot of books, movies, and music based on what I hear on the program.

6. Jordan, Jesse GO! Released approximately weekly, it's a goofy & hilarious romp with the aforementioned Jesse Thorn and pal Jordan Morris.

7. SModcast. Filmmaker Kevin Smith and assorted guests (usually producer Scott Mosier) shoot the shit for about an hour. Ideally released once a week, although when he's in the middle of filming, or editing, or smoking way too much weed, there tends to be a gap between episodes. Topics range from current events to bizarre flights of fancy, but it's always entertaining. The podcast has spawned books and even art exhibitions, so you know they're doing something right.

That pretty well keeps me occupied on my drives. Although on holidays, or weekends when I'm listening at home, I have to add audiobooks. Such is life. Hope this gives you some ideas for your own mobile entertainment.

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Want to really help Haiti? Listen to the Bartman

Well, it looks like the Crappiest Place on Earth (C) TM, aka Haiti, has just become crappier.

If you're like me, you've read (or listened to the audiobook version of) Mountains Beyond Mountains, the story of an American doctor setting up a comprehensive health system in rural Haiti, and setting new standards for eradication of XDRTB (extreme drug-resistant tuberculosis) at the same time.

Well, the organization this doctor started, Partners in Health, is the real deal. If you really want to help out Haiti, your dollars couldn't go to a better place than here.

And incidentally, if you haven't read or listened to Mountains Beyond Mountains yet, I highly suggest it.

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The blu-ray conundrum

Good news: I got a blu-ray player for Christmas. Yay! It's a gift that I think Jesus would really have been on board with. Until I pick up some blu-ray porn. In which case, I'll be hoping for a pass.

The downside is that I'm faced with a media-incompatibility conundrum the likes of which I haven't seen in a decade. From this day forward, every time I buy a movie, I have to decide whether to get it in DVD or blu-ray. If it's DVD I can play it on my computer or anywhere in the house, but I'll be able to see its imperfections when I stand up really close to the screen. If it's blu-ray it's a little more expensive, and I can only play it in the living room, but it'll look awesome.

So I bought the director's cut of 'Watchmen' on blu-ray today at Target for $20. Seemed like a good deal. Although you can buy a season of 'The Man Show' on DVD for $15. That's the good one with Adam Carolla and Jimmy Kimmel, not Joe Rogan and whats-his-nose.

The real difficulty will come in deciding when and if to replace my existing DVDs with blu-ray. There would have to be something really compelling to make me switch. Like 'Star Wars' on blu-ray. Or 'The Empire Strikes Back' on blu-ray. Probably 'Avatar'.

Well, the good news is that now I have something substantial to worry about :)

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