bye grandma

It's sad that it's not that sad. It's more sad that it was so sad last year when I realized I didn't have much time left with you, but so much of you was already gone. I should've had that conversation sooner. Sorry. We'll have that conversation soon. Keep God company.

i wanna pop! i wannaaaaaanswer!

Today at work, this guy Steve asked me if I had seen The World Series of Pop Culture on VH-1. He then told me that next year he, I and his buddy Antonio should definitely do it. A few months ago the three of us journeyed to Las Vegas together (the trip was somewhat chronicled in my entry called malja' mIqta') and chatted about movies the entire time. We also poked fun at how stereotypically Star Trek geeky some of our co-workers were, while we quoted some obscure Star Trek references ourselves (keep in mind this is the same trip where I bought a tribble and a Klingon dictionary). Steve and Antonio are pretty die-hard movie buffs (as well as die-hard filmmakers), so it's quite an honor to be (possibly jokingly) invited to be on the team (probably because their other friends aren't as geeky).

The fact is, The World Series of Pop Culture pays out $250,000. Kind of low end for game shows these days, but not chump change by any means (and you don't even have to eat any live stink spiders or anything). I've spoken with friends and roommates about this too. Just yesterday, on The Abel Hour I spoke with pop culturist extraordanaire, Scott Johnson, about it.

The World Series of Pop Culture might be something I have to be a part of.

Tonight I decided to see how well I'd do. I tuned in to the semi-final bout between two teams called Velvet Rope Revolution and Boeghy Bunch. I'm not going to say that I did well, but I will say that I did better than either team in the freaking finals of the freaking World Series of Pop Culture.

Round 1- high school movies

I swept this category. The first three answers were "Jeff Spiccoli," "In Your Eyes," and "Chet" (feel free in the comments section of this post to give me the questions). One of the teams missed the Clueless term for the actor family used as an adjective to describe a hot guy (my correct answer: "Baldwin"). The next question amazed me: "What is the dangerous ski course Lane Meyer skis on one ski in the movie Better Off Dead?" That question stumped both teams! The answer of course is "the K-12." Everyone I associate with knows that.

End of round 1.
Both semi-finalist teams in The World Series of Pop Culture: 3
Me, lying on my parents' couch: 5

Round 2- Seinfeld

The correct answers to the first five questions were: "Cosmo," "Soup Nazi," "Junior Mint," "Dolores" and "Jon Voight." Provide the questions please (most people I respect shouldn't have a hard time). The question that stumped the girl from Velvet Rope Revolution asked about the name of Jerry's favorite yellow shirt (my correct answer: "Golden Boy")

End of round 2.
Both teams: 8
Me: 11

Round 3- movies in a nutshell

In this round they gave a synopsis of a movie and the contestants named which movie was described. The first five answers were: "Throw Momma from the Train," "Fatal Attraction," "Bend it Like Beckham," "Soul Man" and "Harry and the Hendersons." The one I missed was at the very end and it was for the movie called Gotcha! Personally, I feel the flick was far more obscure than the rest of the bunch. Gotcha! only received 1,782 votes on imdb.com (compared with 19,839 votes for Bend it Like Beckham). Soul Man, I suppose is in nearly the same level of obscurity at 1,835 votes, but Gotcha! is still the most obscure one. I guess I'm being a little bit technical because this was the only question in the game that I actually missed. I don't feel too bad, though, because the contestant missed it too.

End of round 3.
Both teams: 13
Me: 16

Round 4- alternative music

Answers we all got: "Talking Heads," "Morrissey," "Rock Lobster," "London Calling." The question both teams missed was: "What single-word Depeche Mode album contains the singles "Personal Jesus" and "Enjoy the Silence?" Yes, you heard me right. BOTH teams missed this question. I just re-bought this cd a few days ago. I was going to actually write a blog entry on doing just that (perhaps I will later). The answer, of course, is Violator.

End of round 4.
Both teams: 17
Me: 21

Round 5- animated tv

Correct answers: "Chef," "Scrappy-doo," "The Great Pumpkin," "propane" and "Malibu Stacy" (which had the funniest question of the night with "What Simpsons doll had as one of its catchphrases 'Let's buy make-up so the boys will like us!'") The question the guy from Boeghy Bunch missed was "What band's name does Beavis sport on his t-shirt?" The guy guessed AC/DC, giving the Velvet Rope Revolution contestant a chance to steal. He guessed Metallica because he knew that Beavis and Butthead sported those two bands, but he couldn't recall which was which and the other contestant eliminated the alternate for him. Could I recall Beavis' shirt without the elimination? Yes.

End of round 5.
Both teams: 22
Me: 27

The last round actually ended in a tie between the two contestants. They went into a tie-breaking round that consisted of naming off as many celebrities from Dancing With the Stars as possible. I must admit that I didn't do well. The only one I could immediately think of was John O'hurley and that was only because I associated it with his dancing on Seinfeld. Both contestants on the show got four apiece, so in the tie-breaker they would have skewered me (of course it wouldn't have come to a tie-break if I were playing).

I began watching the next game of semi-finals. The first round was 80s movies I think and it was very profitable for me. I got two questions right that stumped both teams. The answers were "Marty Moose" (once again, guess the question) and "'Chopsticks' & 'Heart and Soul'" (this one is a little bit trickier). I would've finished watching it, but the first episode of Futurama was on the other channel. Enjoying pop culture is way more fun than watching other people get stumped by it.

pioneer weekend update

So it seems that we got that place I was showing you earlier. It's going to be a little pricier, so until we get a new roommate and our bearings, I won't be buying a new car incredibly soon. I know I shouldn't anyway. I'm totally being irresponsible.

Actually, speaking of roommates, I might need one. This one kid (over 30) may move in with us, but maybe not. We need a dependable, industrious, non-annoying guy. So now for the next question: Who should live with us?

I cleaned my room yesterday. Turns out I have hard wood floors. It was pretty hammered after I looted through it looking for stuff for the yard sale.

Friday was Lady in the Water. Meh. I actually enjoyed watching it, but it's not quite as fun of a hindsight M. Night as his usually tend to be.

Saturday was An Inconvenient Truth. I must admit that if I ran with a slightly different crowd, I'm sure I'd be a really annoying environmentalist. Al Gore is really hilarious when you get to know him. He was on Futurama a couple of times and even used a clip from it during his presentation on how we're all gonna die from global warming. What really cracked me up were the shots of him being all pained and introspective. It made me take the movie less seriously, but more enjoyable. What really leant the movie credence was the fact that Dre and I walked out of the theater and it was like 85 degrees at 11:30 p.m.

Tomorrow Laura and I and possibly Kaila are going to trek to the Imax to see Superman in 3-D. Why aren't more movies in 3-D? I remember one time when I was a kid and channel 20 or 14 or 13 showed an old 3-D flick called The Mask (not the Jim Carrey one) and we had to go pick up 3-D glasses at 7-11. There was one part where there were spiders right in front of my face. Freaky! Good stuff anyway. It'll be nice to finally read the Superman reviews. I have this thing where I tend not to read movie reviews of movies I plan on seeing, because they usually give more away than I want them to. Abel wrote a review that I'm dying to read. I also need to finish his book that he pretty much only has one copy of that I've been hoarding for two months.

Speaking of Abel, I nearly forgot that I'll be alone doing the radio show on Tuesday and Wednesday. Tuesday's show will probably be about adoption and Wednesday's show will probably be a pop culture show with a pop culturist. Call into the show. We can talk about anything you want. Remember it's at 11 a.m. and the number is 1-800-331-4301.

Oh yeah. Also go to www.theabelhour.com. That's our new site dedicated just to the show. Point out grammatical and spelling errors. You can also click on the listen live link to listen if you don't get AM 1400 K-STAR (most people don't).

Should I go to the parade tomorrow? It's right at the bottom of my hill.

Oh, I forgot to mention that about a month ago, I turned in three dollar bills to the change machine at the carwash and of the 12 quarters I got back, 4 of them were 1965 coins! Weird, huh? Fine, maybe it's old news. If I remember right, it corresponded with 6/6/06.

should i live here?

We checked out this house tonight (officially yesterday i guess). It's a bit much, so we'll need someone else to live with us. The girls totally dug it though and that's pretty important to me. What do you think? Could you live here? Apparently, the cabinets are super nice or something. Also notice that the bedroom has two separate entrances. It also doesn't come with all the junk seen in the photos. It's on Center Street and 5th North (just a couple of blocks away from where I'm at now).

massacre on west capitol

So, this youtube thing is pretty cool. Here's our Halloween movie from last year. If you know me, you've probably already seen it.

watch me crash

This is my first attempt at getting this youtube thing working.

apt to change

Have I mentioned that we need to be out of our house by the 1st of August? I guess not. It's very sad, because it's been a wonderful house with wonderful memories and wonderfully cheap rent. Clint and Joe have apparently found places, so Rhett and I need to get crackin.' Please please tell us if you find anything in a two bedroom variety, close to downtown, large and under $1000.

We checked this place out today. Not gonna get it. It's about $400 off, but I found it to be pretty cool.

your love is like brad medicine

Special props to Brad Newbold for actually taking the plunge. Good job Chelsea, at getting him committed.

boats are fun

I'm getting a little bit better at wakeboarding. The perks to go to the lake are getting more apparent. By the end of the summer, I plan on clearing the wake by any means necessary. Btw, this photo is now my desktop wallpaper.

hardly a seller's market

In case anyone was wondering, I earned about $50 at the yard sale. Now some guy has all my ties.

chapter 13

Just in case you're wondering -- God exists. And fortunately, he loves us very much. I'm writing it down because, for some reason it can be very easy to forget.

selling ii!

Sorry I haven't mentioned it yet, but my house is having a ginormous yard sale Saturday morning at 9:00 am. Come by and buy stuff. We'll have cookies, lemonade and free dvds to people who spend more than ten bucks. Hey! You can even come by and sell some stuff. We'll totally cater. I've got some people already using this event to sell their gear. I'll probably wind up with more things than I started.

517 N. West Capitol Street (50 W.) in Salt Lake City.

broadway debut. D-E-B-U-T, debut.

I meant to mention this a month ago. Sorry.

The first Broadway play I ever went to was The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. It was also the first Broadway play I ever acted in.

I asked Sally what people wear to Broadway shows. She told me that some people really dress up for them, but that tons of people go in jeans and t-shirts. It's probably because tourists running around with their one change of clothes don't really have the same conveniences as locals and these broadway shows rely on tourists so they make them pretty casual. I wore jeans and my "WANTED" t-shirt.

When Kristi and I first got to the show, we were accosted by a woman with a clipboard who asked us if we'd like to be in it. We both enthusiastically said yes, despite the advice of Sally that we speak to two separate people about it with the logic being that they wouldn't take two people from the same group (they only have four audience members participate in the play itself). The woman asked us weird questions like whether or not we were up on current events and then told us to wait in line for someone else to interview us. The girl who interviewed us asked if I was a good speller and I responded that I actually won a spelling bee in 7th grade (true by the way). She then asked if Kristi and I would mind being split up. I responded by saying "If you pick one of us... pick me." For some reason this completely tickled her. 15 minutes later the girl announced the four "winners." I was first on the list. I'm pretty sure it was because of my selfish attitude.

The other three people were a middle-aged woman tourist, a middle-aged man and a teenager in a bosomy prom dress. They took the four of us to the lighting booth and ran over the ground rules and gave us very limited edition pins to prove we were part of the experience. We weren't supposed to try to act, but it was very important that, when spelling words, we ask for a definition and to use the word in a sentence.

The seats that Kristi and I won through Tim at the lottery were really the best seats in the whole auditorium (which was dressed up perfectly like a middle school gym). Even if I wasn't actually in the play, I practically would have been anyway. The seats we had were on a kiddie bench a foot away from the spelling microphone. The announcer called my name as a late entry and the cast members playing the kid spellers took me and the other audience contestants to the risers on the stage.

During a flashback sequence many of the characters acted as one of the kid's parents, brothers, cousins, etc. They stood up on the risers as the kid sang about them. He mentioned one person and a few of the cast members nudged me to stand up. After I did, the kid singing slowly shook his head as if I wasn't supposed to stand. The joke was simple humiliation at my expense, but at least the audience laughed.

They don't tell us how to spell the words we're given. That's part of the sponteneity. Some audience contestants get easier words, some get harder words, but they find a way to eliminate all of us by the end of the show. About four people into the spelling bee, my name was called to spell. As I walked up to the microphone, the announcer announced, "Jon Madsen is president of his school's sideburns club."

"Jon, your word is 'jihad.'"

I realized that's probably why they asked if I was up on current events. It's sort of a stretch, but I don't remember any of the other words having anything remotely to do with stuff like that. "Could I have that in a sentence please?"

"Timmy, here comes a jihad; so get behind this western wall."

"Jihad. J-I-H-A-D. Jihad."

"Correct!"

It was super nice to get the applause.

Shortly before my next word was a musical number. The other contestants told the three of us audience participaters to hold their hands and jump up and down for it, but they somehow managed to give us each others' hands so it was just the audience members jumping around like idiots.

When I went up for my second word the announcer said, "When Jon left his house this morning he told his mother, 'I'm wearing jeans and a t-shirt today. I'm going to a spelling bee, not a Broadway play."

"Jon, your word is "*zoo zoo*"

Hmm. Never heard that word before. I forget what the definition and sentence were. "Z-U-Z-U?"

"I'm sorry. Z-U-U-Z-U-U."

The character playing the paroled prisoner doing community service by comforting eliminated spellers gave me a huge hug and a juicebox. Yeah, it was a real juicebox. I got lots of applause when I went to sit down. I don't think I'm a natural on stage, but people naturally like me, so there.

The prom girl was the last of us to go out. She was announced with "Sheila has been suspended 15 times over the school's dress code."

I very much recommend the play next time you're in New York. Very funny. Very fun. And it touched me man.

Later in the day I was wearing my pin in the subway and this guy came up to me and congratulated me. He asked about spelling bees being televised and I mentioned that, yes, I had seen spelling bees on ESPN before. He then asked when I'd be on. The whole time this guy thought I was a middle school student competing in one of those nationally televised spelling bees. I decided to let him and me enjoy that fantasy.

By the way, I looked up zuuzuu. It's totally not even a word.

don't you find it ironic that the man who represents truth, justice and the american way is literally an illegal alien?

just sayin.'