Rockers and Rollers: a book review

If you're a fan of AC/DC and/or cars, then you'll love lead singer Brian Johnson's autobiography, Rockers and Rollers. Set up more like a collection of anectdotes than an actual memoir, Johnson relates stories from his life from the point of view of what automobile he owned or his friends/family owned at the time, stating that the two constants in his entire life were cars and music. Johnson writes exactly how he speaks (except it's actually intelligble LOL) so every line is a hysterical piece of northern English slang and euphemism, and he doesn't mince words. I've never laughed out loud more in my life while reading a book. From the first (and only) car his father ever purchased, to trying to talk bassist Cliff Williams out of impulse-buying an Aston Martin while on tour, to the start of his successful racing career, every chapter is the kind of story guys would share over pints. You feel like Johnson is your buddy the way he casually writes, like he's going to give you a clap on the shoulder and share a laugh with you at the end of each tale.
The cars mentioned are predominantly European, so if you're an American muscle car nut you might not be up for hearing about Aston Martins, Porsches, Renaults, Ferraris, Rolls-Royces and the like. But a passion for motors is a universal language, so any automobile aficionado regardless of what makes and models they prefer will be able to understand how Johnson feels. The stories involving his fellow bandmates, not just in AC/DC but in his earlier band Geordie, will give you insight on his relationship with fellow musicians and life on the road.
Even if you don't know anything about cars and don't care, the way Johnson tells the stories will have you howling. It's a quick read which you can breeze through in less than 3 days but you'll be thoroughly entertained, and it's a reminder that rock 'n roll and cars have always gone together like peanut butter and jelly.
I give it 4 out of 5 stars.

Seasonal Update

I have to get back in the swing of blogging more frequently. It's been too long since the last time I updated. So even though it's 2 months before New Year's I'm going to make a resolution to update my Blogger, Twitter and FaceBook on an almost-daily basis.

So I think I'm having a quarter-life crisis. I'm turning 25 this month. On the one hand that's not old at all, but on the other it's 5 years from 30, and nothing I had planned to have accomplished by now has come to fruition. I'm still living at home, and I'm no closer to starting my career and getting married. I realized that subconciously I've been trying to recreate my youth. Over the past year or so I've been slowly collecting all my favorite childhood shows on DVD, the most important being Peanuts specials. For some reason, Snoopy will always stick out in my mind as being a big deal when I was growing up, and recently I've been rewatching the specials I already have on DVD or VHS and have been trying to collect the rest that are available on DVD (no small feat as there were over 130 made between the 1960s and early 2000s and not all of them are on DVD yet) I've been on the Peanuts wikipedia page and I found out there's a Charles Schultz museum in Santa Rosa, California that I MUST go to - and there's even a statue of Charlie Brown and Snoopy in Santa Rosa center. Other series from back in the day I've amassed in my nostalgia stupor include Garfield, Adventures of Pete & Pete, Darkwing Duck, Inspector Gadget, Clarissa Explains it All, Alf, and Punky Brewster. Not to mention all the old movies I have as well. I'm too young to be freaking out about my age and trying to recapture my youth, but right now the desire to relive the simpler times in my life is at full force. But it's not necessarily a bad thing. Those were some great shows and the fact that they're on DVD and I can watch them whenever I want is great - especially when there's bonus features because I'm a trivia whore.

They're having a Price is Right Live event at Foxwoods now through the 18th. Being the game show whore that I am and the fact that it's only 2 hours away and $25 for a ticket, me and Wig are thinking of going next week. Who knows? We might luck out and win some awesome prizes. It's worth the shot. I'd fare a lot better on Cash Cab, Wheel of Fortune or Jeopardy though, it's less up to chance and more reliant on my unending cache of useless random trivia. Also I just found out that there's a little sci-fi convention being held the 21st and 22nd in the Framingham Sheraton (the castle on the Mass pike) and fucking Brent Spiner is going to be there. Only my favorite actor who played my favorite character in the entire Star Trek universe. And tickets are only $35 for the whole weekend. I've already started overnights for the season, and getting weekends off is normally impossible this time of year, but my manager is a fellow nerd and he totally understood. I only really need Friday off so I can sleep and be well rested and get there early then I can do my normal Saturday overnight after I get back from the con. I don't need to go Sunday unless I miss Brent on Saturday and he's going to be doing signings on Sunday too. But I think Sat will suffice. But if I couldn't get the days off, I could function on a couple hours sleep and still work and go to the con. I can forgo sleep for one weekend for Brent Spiner. I know I'm being a total spaz right now, but this is a big deal. I've been a fan of Star Trek: The Next Generation since I was eight and Data has always been my favorite character, so this is a lifelong dream.

In other news, I had a couple Etsy sales a few weeks ago. Two in a row. I also joined an Etsy Team. It's the CreateCrochet team and it's wicked fun. Every month there's a new challenge theme. This month's is "winter" and the possibilities are endless. You make your item, list it, and it gets featured on the blog and in treasuries. Every week there's a featured seller and I was the featured seller 2 weeks ago. I got much love for my brain slug amigurumi as usual and a bunch more hearts but no sales. We're also doing a swap right now where we were matched up with other members to convo back and forth and get to know each other and make each other surprise gifts. I have to work on the swap and the winter challenge item plus some new ideas I have for the shop. I don't know what I'm going to do for everyone for Christmas yet. I have a lot of ideas that cost a lot of money but no money to pull them off, but I don't know what I can crochet for everyone that I can get done in time. But I'll think of something and pull it off last minute.

I actually had a decent Halloween for the first time in years. Me, Wig, Inyx, Sin and Ed went into Salem. It's so overrated and overcrowded and has been totally ruined by the tourists. But the highlight of the day was seeing a DeLorean decked out just like the one in Back to the Future! Complete with a Marty McFly and Doc Brown for photo-ops. They were collecting donations for TeamFox for Parkinson's Disease research and any donation allowed you to take a picture in the driver's seat. I love the Back to the Future trilogy and I love DeLoreans because we share the same initials, DMC. My dad used to joke I was named after the DeLorean Motor Company, and I'm even considering keeping my maiden name when I marry just to keep the coolest initials ever. More pics on my flickr.

I had a job interview a couple weeks ago. While the position was in Beverly I had to go to the main office in Sudbury for the interview. It was for a part-time music teacher for a daycare/school called Next Generation Children's Center. I thought the interview went really well but I got a rejection letter literally 3 days later. With my license still pending and no experience, it's next to impossible to get a job in anything remotely teaching related. But I'm not giving up yet. I have a list of online resources for private school job listings someone my mom knows sent her for me, and there's the option of private lessons. I'm also seriously pursuing the idea I had for a children's book: Hayden Go Seek. I don't know whether I want to do it like an I Spy book or for younger children where you lift open flaps to find items, but the plot is that you have to find specific orchestral instruments, parts of the musical staff and composers. Also my eBay sales have been steady. No huge hauls but I'm getting a few bucks for things I don't need anymore (or promotional items I got for free or for as little as a penny!). Although I'm having some issues with a couple buyers not having paid yet. They're already late, it's been over a week, but I try to be understanding and lenient. I mean, there could've been a death or medical emergency and they haven't been online in a week. Who knows? But if I still get no reply or payment in a few days I will file a claim with eBay. This is the first time I've had this problem on eBay, although I had it once on Etsy. Generally I get paid instantly or within the first 3 days. I pride myself in having 100% positive feedback and everyone praises my fast shipping and communication. I'd hate for my reputation to be tarnished.

And my car has been in the shop TWICE in the past month for leaking coolant. The first time was a cracked something-or-other valve and then 2 weeks later the radiator went. When they were replacing the radiator, they found that the transmission lines were rusted and one broke so those had to be replaced. Fortunately, the guy that does all my repairs is a close friend of my dad's and didn't charge any labor. I still owe my dad and my grandmother a ton of money for helping me with car parts and repairs. :(

And we have a new kitten! Heather's friend couldn't keep him and she didn't want to see him go to the animal shelter, so she brought him home. We were supposed to find a new home for him but we got too attached and kept him. His name's Frankenstein. He is the most obnoxious pet I ever owned but he's adorable. And my parakeet Gemini died the other day. Sad, but not devastatingly sad as I wasn't too attached to him, and he was old for a parakeet and I think het got sick in the past couple months.

I saw Boondock Saints II: All Saint's Day. If you haven't seen the first one, what the fuck are you waiting for?! And if you have, see the sequel you'll fucking love it! It was much like the first one with the action and the spurts of comedy but it had a deep backstory that Saints fans will appreciate. Wig and I both give it two thumbs up.

Well, I think I'm going to work on some crochet projects and rest before my overnight shift. I'm going to try to blog more often so my few readers know what's going on. Until then...

Keeping Up Appearances

Haven't blogged in a while, so just posting so the few people who do read my blog or who will eventually come across it don't think I'm dead.



Since I last blogged, I saw AC/DC at Gillette Stadium. The concert was AMAZING but traffic to and from Foxboro SUCKED, especially trying to get out of the parking lot. It took me 3 hours to get home. THREE FACKING HOURS! But man, I'd go to the ends of the Earth for AC/DC. I hate to admit it, but they're starting to show their age a little bit: Angus looked more tired than usual and I think he slipped up on the TNT solo and he picked the intro the Thunderstruck which is always does hammer-ons and pull-offs live. But he still kept going non-stop the entire time and except for those 2 little off moments was as perfect as any performance. As always, they put on the most high-enegery, electrifying rock show ever.



That same week, I drove to Hartford, CT for ConnectiCon, the last anime convention of the summer. ConnectiCon's a big one because we always have the Artist's Alley Networking Party. It's a way for fellow artists to get together and share their craft and make connections to get their work out there and also to unwind and get drunk and have some fun at the end of the con season. Sales were great, and I sold a Super Mario Invincibilty Star to a cosplayer who was doing a spot-in Billy Mays impression selling 1Up Mushrooms and throwing in the invincibility for free. You can see it on YouTubes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojwo7ioDEIo and buy both 1Up mushrooms and Invicibility stars at my Etsy, stringtheory101.etsy.com.

And if driving to Foxboro and Hartford wasn't enough, the following Tuesday I then went to Mansfield to the Comcast Center for Mayhem Fest, which has effectively replaced the new defunct Ozzfest as the must-see metal festival of the summer. This is only Mayhem's 2nd year but they were able to get big names both last year (Disturbed) and this year (Slayer). Slayer was a BIG DEAL to all the metalheads there. Marilyn Manson and KillSwitch Engage were also headlining. KillSwitch played their cover of Holy Diver, which, no offense to Dio (especially since Ronnie James Dio is a fellow mini-guinea and we's gotta stick together) rocks harder than the original. We left early to try to beat the crowd, we like Marilyn Manson, just not that much. We stayed for the popular songs like Disposable Teens, Dope Show and Beautiful People. He did his cover of Sweet Dreams too. But with leaving 15 min early and our optimal position in the parking lot, we made a "Leaving Comcast Center" record of 5 mins! We hit a little bit of traffic on 95 because everyone was rubbernecking to watch firefighters put out a burning bus, which I can only assume was a Fung-Wah or Lucky Star bus since they have a history of exploding or tipping LOL.
So between AC/DC, ConnectiCon, Mayhem Fest and work, I spent more time on major highways and in traffic in 2 weeks than I have in the 7 years I've had my license.

And now that the con season is over, I can relax on the amigurumi a bit and work on other crochet or craft projects. I made some new guitar pick earrings and I finally finished the Shit Pickle amigurumi. The Shit Pickle is a cartoon pickle covered in shit that bounces around and repeats its name a la Pokemon. He's got a big buck tooth and cross eyes and is only there to be annoying. He is the creation of independant filmmaker James Rolfe, who is world-famous on YouTube for his Angry Video Game Nerd webisodes where he reviews the crappiest games and consoles of the 80s and 90s with hilarious results. I was inspired after seeing the Shit Pickle in some of James' videos and seeing that Shit Pickle had a bit of a cult following. Other fans have gotten tattoos, drawn fan art, made a Shit Pickle version of Monopoly, cookies, and decorated their XBox 360s. So I said, man, a Shit Pickle would be easy to crochet! So I did. Then I emailed James Rolfe about sending him the first and so far only Shit Pickle. I also asked for his permission to sell them on Etsy, but he said they don't know what they're planning on doing with Shit Pickle for merchandising right now. He's tied up with contracts from Spike.com and MTV (they own GameTrailers.com which hosts his newer Nerd videos) and he's an indie filmmaker running his own small business so I respect his rights. It's different from Nintendo characters where it's such a huge corporation and they're already making millions and they'd barely notice one person on Etsy selling 1Up mushrooms.
Another project I was able to finish was my Pint o'Guinness. Wig's friend Fetus, being fiercely Irish, always drinks Guinness when he's over Wig's. I thought it'd be cool to make an amigurumi in the shape of the trademark curved glass, complete with a big head of foam. I was working on a rug using the same crocheting and increasing in the round I use for amigurumi to make a spiral design, and it was coming out pretty well but it was getting tedius, so I stopped for a while and made an Oreo cookie. I also plan to make some more scrunchies. I have too many ideas for crocheting and not enough time to do them. I'm also trying to get my name out over the interwebs more so I can get more traffic to my Etsy. Sales have stalled out since last month, but I'm hoping they pick up soon.
But that's all for now, hopefully I'll write sooner next time.

PortCon, Wheel of Fortune, and the Death of Many Legends

So I didn't have a chance last week to blog about PortCon Maine, which was actually 2 weekends ago, so time to blog about it now.

It was just Inyx and I, as Wig had the opportunity to make $120 and get some of his old parking tickets paid off and get his license renewed in exchange for working with his father and uncles. We got up to Portland quickly and checked in. The convention was back in its old location, which was the South Portland Sheraton but is now the Wyndham, which is a much better location than where it was last year. It's right across from the Maine Mall and only a few blocks away from a lot of major restaurants and a Hannafords.
After an easy set-up, we headed over to the Maine Mall for a quick dinner at Panda Express. There was a David's Bridal there and Inyx thought it'd be fun to look around. I saw a couple on display that I kind of liked because they had old-fashioned elements, but I didn't see any I really wanted to try on, but Inyx weaseled her way into getting a fitting and tried on a dress herself and sent a picture to her boyfriend in Maryland to see if he'd freak, but nothing fazes him. We also went to Michaels because I forgot to pack my glue gun. Then we went to the hotel's pool and hot tub.
Sin arrived the next day after a delay because her friend Ed's car was in the shop and business went as usual. Friday night we went to Old Country Buffet with a group of other Artist Alley people. It was us, Sin and her group, Zodi-ack! a mother/daughters business also from Massachusetts, and a couple of Zodi-ack!'s friends. The food was decent, because OCB is really luck of the draw, depending on when you go there's shit to choose from or there's a good spread. At one point, someone got a taco, and another said "They serve tacos? At a Chinese food place?" And her friends are like "This isn't a Chinese food place! What made you think that?" and I go "Did you think the 'Old Country' was Thailand or something?" And hilarity ensued. I think the staff was happy when we finally left. Then we went swimming and hot tubbing with Sin and her crew.
Saturday after Artist Alley closed we all went to Olive Garden. Instead of squeezing into Ed's car, we threw Sin, Ed and Anzu into Inyx's truck bed, because it was only around the corner. I don't know if it's illegal in Maine to ride in the bed, but it is in Mass. But Anzu kept making Mexican migrant worker jokes and talking in a bad Mexican accent. On the way back from Olive Garden Sin's sitting up on her knees and dancing and waving her arms and when Inyx took a wide turn she flew forward and landed in Ed's lap. I have 4 videos of the entire trip to and from Olive Garden with the stop at Hannaford's to buy booze, including Sin's spill. They'll be up on YouTube eventually. Hannaford's wouldn't let us purchase the alcohol because not all of us had ID.
We all decided that the entire crew for PopCult and Plastic Love are going to dress in steampunk for ConnectiCon so now the race is on to get some Victorian-ish clothes and accessories that look like they came out of a Jules Verne novel. It's going to be fun. ConnectiCon is alway the big con because we have the Artist Alley Networking Party. Fortunately, it's not until July 31 so I have a lot more prep time.

After I got back from PorCon, Wig and I met up at Dunks w/Flav, Ricky, Alison, Jay, Gantz, Tony and Joey. Alison was down in Boston to celebrate her birthday. Mark and Katie also arrived and later Doug. We spent most of the time looking through yearbooks and photo albums reminscing about high school. Wig and I left early because I was exhausted after 2 conventions in a row and very little sleep. I've actually been out of it for a while, sleeping til 1130 and noon most days. I'm trying to get myself up at 9 to get shit done, but 10/1030 is all I can muster.

Yesterday, I drove an hour to Marlborough to Solomon Pond Mall because the Wheelmobile was there holding try-outs for Wheel of Fortune. As everyone knows, I'm too good at that game and it's my goal to get on there and/or Jeopardy. The ride was easy, just 93 and 495, but long, but it took me 20 minutes to find parking. But I only had to stand in line for an hour and a half before they began to call out names from my application group. Alas, they didn't call me :( But while I was at the mall I took the opportunity to get the AC/DC Chucks and also ended up getting Thundercats Season 2 volumes 1 and 2 for $9.99 each and Season 1 volume 1 for $20. Considering when they first came out, each volume was $60 each, this was a great value.

Of course, you all know that last week was the Week o' Celebrity Deaths with Ed McMahon dying at 86 on either Monday or Tuesday and Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson dying Thursday. Then yesterday while in line at the Wheel of Fortune event, Wig's brother texts him to say Billy Mays died. At first I insisted it was a prank because so many deaths already happened last week somebody's starting a rumor. I couldn't look it up on my phone because internet on my phone sucks. Wig called his friend Guru to look it up online from a reputable news source and it's unfortunately true. The report so far is that he was unresponsive yesterday morning but no foul play is expected. Saturday he was in a minor plane accident and hit his head, but he insisted he was fine and didn't go to the hospital. My theory is he had a concussion that he didn't treat and fell asleep and you know you're supposed to keep concussed people awake. But we'll see what the autopsy says. I'm devastated, he was an icon. Easy to parody, very memorable. I won't be able to laugh at the YouTube poops anymore. Would it be in bad taste for Wig to continue on with his spot-on impression? What will become of the reality show Pitchmen? And who will promote products like OxiClean and Mighty Putty now? Vince is good, but nowhere near the same caliber of Billy Mays. Incidentally, Wig wants to create a tribute song in the style of Dethklok, the death metal band from the Adult Swim show Metalocalypse. One of the suggested titles is "Sinfomercial" I'll post lyrics as soon as they're written. He already has one line about Zorbeez sopping up your blood or something. Meanwhile, jokes about Michael Jackson molesting small boys continue on even after his death while simultaneously everyone praises him for his memorable music...much like when he was still alive. And Farrah Fawcett's death seems merely a footnote. Who's going to die next? With all the rain and celebrities dropping like flies, someting apocalypic is going on...It's been a fucked up summer.