Kevin Marshall's America
Blogorama will be posted tomorrow.
TONIGHT: it’s the 4th anniversary of Troy Night Out! Join Elizabeth Young and the Downtown BID (sounds like a Motown Group) along with other city officials in Monument Square at 6:00pm for a special ceremony, then engage in all the great offerings of the city! Go to the official website for a full listing.
TOMORROW: UFC 127 showing live at Buffalo Wild Wings in Clifton Park. Join myself and the fine folks at Albany Alive for the event, with prelims at 9:00pm and the event itself kicking off at 10:00pm. Get there early to ensure a seat!
NEXT WEEK: We have our first ever giveaway, and it’s to a show that I guarantee will be one of the most sought-after tickets of the year.
In the meantime, check out the video below of Bell Biv Devoe’s appearance on NBC’s “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.” Of course they performed “Poison.” Did you expect any less? Of course, Fallon’s house band The Roots provided back-up. It was glorious.
You had me at "my fellow New Yorkers".
The New York Post‘s “Page Six” today reported on the worst-kept secret in Albany: the romantic entanglement between State Senators Jeffrey Klein (the Bronx & Westchester) and Diane Savino (Brooklyn & Staten Island).
“Oh my God, you guys,” one State Senator was (not) quoted as saying. “I see them smoking cigarettes together and eating together and everything! During third period I heard they’re going steady, but I also heard that they’ve been holding hands for, like, oh my God, weeks. Like a long time.”
Some politicos are crying foul – seriously – because Savino joined Klein’s Independent Democratic Caucus which arose from dissatisfaction with John Sampson’s leadership. For one, they probably have it backwards: the romantic entanglement more likely stems from shared views, not the other way around. More importantly, any politician in Albany citing a conflict of interest because the two are an item is like Charles Manson shouting “murderer!” across the prison cafeteria at someone eating a piece of chicken.
Most annoying of all? The pet name given to the couple – “Klavino.”
It’s 2011. Can we stop with that combining names bulls*** already?
The ceramic shrine to red meat that adorns the parking lot of the Amsterdam Ponderosa got me to thinking about how morbid food marketing used to be.
Take, for instance, Big Daddy. Ideally we’re supposed to look at this bull and laugh, but I couldn’t escape the notion that this creature was doomed to be consumed by man. It seems morbid to me, though I’m sure some Animal Rights folks would go further.
The McNugget Buddies celebrate and encourage their own murder.
The worst, though, was the McNugget Buddies.
Created by McDonalds to sell their Chicken McNuggets to kids, the McNugget Buddies were actual McNuggets themselves. They would gleefully sing and shout their joy at their impending doom, even going so far as to jump into tiny containers of barbecue sauce.
To call them self-destructive would be an understatement, and a bit of a misnomer. Someone who’s self-destructive will engage in behaviors that are detrimental to their health. The McNugget Buddies went far beyond that, and actually encouraged their consumption.
“Murder me,” they’d say. “Murder me, and eat me. Then laugh.”
The McNuggets, along with other McDonalds Land “delights,” were retired in the 21st Century in favor of images of real people eating inside the restaurant. Comparatively speaking, it’s painfully dull and colorless. Sure, the McNugget Buddies and their ilk were awkward and morbid avatars of greasy gluttony, but at least they weren’t boring.
Also of note: Grimace, the lovable creature whose nature was a mystery to us all, originally started out as a shake-stealing villain with four arms. Frightening.
Before anyone asks: no, there won’t be any nostalgic trips to McDonalds. I gave that stuff up years ago and I’m all the better for it.
We love you, Big Daddy: our arrival at Ponderosa Steakhouse in Amsterdam, NY
Last night I did something that my friend Ed and I had been discussing on and off for some time: I recreated an enduring memory from my childhood and made the trek to Ponderosa Steakhouse.
Growing up in the Capital District, there were at least two that I was aware of: one across the street from Crossgates, and the one my family frequented in East Greenbush. I always looked forward to the trips, especially since for us they were few and far between.
In the last decade or so, the Ponderosa locations throughout the Capital Region disappeared. I had always assumed that the company had gone out of business, until a little over a year ago when Ed informed me that one still existed in Amsterdam, NY. After someone – I don’t remember who – made mention of it on Twitter, I snagged the opportunity to rope some others into the great, impossible dream Ed and I had clung onto for so long.
Attending were Hellions of Troy roller derby competitor and Times Union blogger Marcie Pry (alias “Short Temper”), local blogger Leigh Cummings, and local local (the aforementioned) Ed Lass. The four of us met in Albany’s Center Square neighborhood, piled into Ed’s car, and embarked on a forty-five minute drive to Amsterdam, New York, though it might be more appropriate to say that we went North on the Thruway and took the exit for our childhood.
Image via Wikipedia
Folks – you can and should join myself and Albany Alive for an evening of food and fights at Buffalo Wild Wings in Clifton Park! It’s a chance to get together with some great people, meet yours truly, and get a look at what I think is a woefully underrated fight card.
UFC 127 is headlined by the greatest Lightweight of all time, BJ Penn, continuing his ascension at Welterweight by taking on contender Jon Fitch in a fight that could potentially determine a new #1 contender to Georges St-Pierre’s crown. The event also features a fight between British fighter Michael Bisping and Jorge Rivera, a fight that has become a bit personal. Also featured is an exciting Lightweight fight pitting potential #1 contender George Sotiropoulos taking on German sensation Dennis Siver, and much more.
The event kicks off live at 10:00pm this coming Saturday, with preliminary bouts airing live at 9pm. But make sure you get to Buffalo Wild Wings early, as seats will be filling up quickly.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO (AlbanyAlive.com)
The full fight card is below.
Can BJ Penn excel at Welterweight, or will superior grappling once again be his undoing? Image via Wikipedia
Main card
- Welterweight bout: B.J. Penn vs. Jon Fitch
- Middleweight bout: Michael Bisping vs. Jorge Rivera
- Lightweight bout: George Sotiropoulos vs. Dennis Siver
- Welterweight bout: Chris Lytle vs. Brian Ebersole
- Middleweight bout: Kyle Noke vs. Chris Camozzi
Preliminary card (airing Ion TV)
- Lightweight bout: Ross Pearson vs. Spencer Fisher
- Light Heavyweight bout: James Te-Huna vs. Alexander Gustafsson
Preliminary card (on Facebook – like the official UFC page to watch!)
- Light Heavyweight bout: Anthony Perosh vs. Tom Blackledge
- Featherweight bout: Zhang Tie Quan vs. Jason Reinhardt
Preliminary card
- Middleweight bout: Nick Ring vs. Riki Fukuda
- Heavyweight bout: Mark Hunt vs. Chris Tuchscherer
- Lightweight bout: Maciej Jewtuszko vs. Curt Warburton
You can never trust a big butt and a smile, but you can trust the producers of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon to bring you epic awesomeness on the music end of things.
The trend continues with a Bel Biv Devoe Reunion on tonight’s show.
BELL. BIV. DEVOE.
“Me and the crew used to do ‘er.”
Check out the wicked effect at the 36 second mark.
Robocop: future Detroit monument. (image via Wikipedia)
Last week, news broke that $50,000 had been successfully raised on the site Kickstarter to construct a statue of Robocop, a character from the 1988 film of the same name. The news created a whirlwind of activity on the internet. Most of it was positive, including comments from yours truly. I was always a big fan of the film, but more importantly, I’m a big fan of the statement it makes.
Many have incorrectly characterized the project as irritating hipster irony run rampant. Firstly, I think they’re confusing it with the Phil Collins Day Parade (also known as Williamsburg Jumps the Shark Day). Second, the project and eventual construction of the statue actually makes a statement by juxtaposing cynical projections of future societies – like the future Detroit portrayed in “Robocop” where crime has run rampant in a city that has cynically privatized its police department – against what Detroit has become in the 21st Century. Both the fictional Detroit represented by the statue and the real Detroit wherein it will reside act as cautionary tales of industry run rampant, and what happens when we allow concerns about profit margins to override concerns about human life and dignity.
Understandably, not everyone sees it that way.
Ron Marz was one of those people. Marz, a legend in the comic industry who resides in the area, tweeted last week about it and inferred it was a shame that so much time, attention, and money will go towards a visual pun rather than something like a soup kitchen for the underserved members of Detroit’s community. It being the internet, this created a firestorm of people who took Ron’s statement out of context and used it as an opportunity to attack someone with greater stature and work out some frustrations that had been brewing all day in their cubicle.
There were some, however, that instead engaged Ron in a very serious and thoughtful debate on the merit of this and other similar ventures.
The result of the latter was RoboCharity.
RoboCharity argues that charity isn’t a zero-sum game, and that the attention given to the Robocop statue can be parlayed to a deserving charity. In this case it’s Forgotten Harvest, an organization which gets food to hungry people in the metro Detroit area.
The results have been astounding so far, with donations pouring in all over the nation and resulting in over 10,000 meals (and climbing) for those most in need.
So what have we learned from this?
One, in a modern American society that is obsessed with self-promotion and a borderline hedonistic obsession with disposable entertainment, altruism is still possible.
Two, Robocop is awesome.
Your move, creeps.
Petra at Anchor No. 5
Last Fall I went into the Anchor No. 5 Boutique on River Street during Troy Night Out and noticed something unusual: it was busy.
Like, really busy.
Now, that shouldn’t surprise anyone. It’s Troy Night Out, and many local businesses do their utmost to pull in as many people as possible. But this was a bit different. There weren’t just people milling about, there were people coming through at a consistent rate and customers actually purchasing goods. What’s more, they weren’t doing a musical attraction or gallery opening.
The next Saturday, I stopped in and spoke to the owner. We struck up a bit of a friendship and I decided to do a piece on her for the Troy blog.
It’s refreshing to see a business that not only does it right, but doesn’t have a litany of excuses. It’s a lesson to entrepreneurs in and around the area: success is possible, you just have to be willing to put in the work and know what you’re getting into.
P.S. This Friday is Troy Night Out. Come find me.
P.P.S. MMA fans, I have a new blog post over at the Mixed Marshall Arts blog about Fedor Emelianenko and what I think is the most important aspect of the game.
On the heels of him teasing he’ll run for President (which went over like a lead balloon when he was booed at the CPAC Conference a couple weeks back), word has it that Donald Trump is also looking into buying a significant portion of the New York Mets.
Fantastic. I can just imagine…
Image by Gage Skidmore via Flickr
“Listen, dis is gonna be a classy ballclub and a classy stadium. I’m gonna class up da joint. Dip some gloves in gold, replace da stripes on da uniforms with gold, solid gold bases all around da park. Real classy. Den declare bankruptcy, den come back, den declare bankruptcy again. It’s gonna be a great, classy baseball season. YAW FIRED!”
I say go for it. What’s the worst that can happen? It’s the Mets. The blew a chance to get into the playoffs in back to back seasons, have an owner being sued for literally a billion dollars for being in bed with Bernie Madoff, and most importantly, they are the New York Mets.
Mets fans: “bring it on.”
This is almost art.
Happy President’s Day, everyone, and enjoy the day off if you have it.
STALK ME
