Funny Strange, by Lori Culwell

Saturday Night Live "Top of the Pops": Name That Musician!

2013-05-20T08:33:00-07:00

So, you probably know that this years' Saturday Night Live finale was the last show for Fred Armisen and Bill Hader. Seth Meyers is supposed to be doing half of next season, then replacing Jimmy Fallon when he moves to the Tonight Show.

Here is the song that Armisen and friends peformed for this send-off:

In case you're curious, here are the musicians on stage with Armisen, in order of appearance. In typical music nerd style, we have identified the musicians, their respective bands, and the guitars they are playing.

-- On stage in the beginning: Fred Armisen as lead singer/ guitarist (we thought this might have been a Silvertone he was playing, but now we think it's a custom guitar). Jason Sudekis on drums, Bill Hader is on Fender P-bass, and Taran Killen on a Gibson Batwing.

-- At the 1:49 mark, Armisen says "I've got some friends of mine," and then Carrie Brownstein and Steve Jones come in. In case you don't know, Carrie Brownstein is Fred Armisen's best friend, former member of Sleater Kinney (of course) and his co-star in Portlandia, and Steve Jones is famous for being in the Sex Pistols and for generally being a character. Steve Jones is playing a Gibson Les Paul, and Brownstein is playing a Gibson Batwing. The next wave of people to come in are J Mascis (from Dinosaur Jr), who is playing his signature Jazzmaster, plus Kim Gordon (from Sonic Youth) on tamborine (and rocking the gold lame), Aimee Mann on a Gibson Acoustic Hummingbird, and a guy we haven't yet been able to place who stands in back of Bill Hader the whole time. Bonus points if you can tell us his name.

The other noteworthy event in this song is at the 2:41 mark, where someone obviously steps on the fuzz face and you really start to hear J Mascis' awesome guitar solo on that Jazzmaster.

Oh, did you not think I would soak up some guitar knowledge after 15 years being married to a musician? That's where you're wrong. I am also currently a little obsessed with this music blog and the show on Sirius XM that goes with it. You go, Aquarium Drunkard!

Are Those People in the Discover Card Commercial the Same Actor? (Part 2)

2013-05-19T07:15:23-07:00

BY LORI CULWELL

OK, this is a follow-up post to this first post in March where I was wondering about this weird Discover "It" Card commercial, where they are suggesting that they treat you like you would treat you. I have now watched the whole series and have concluded (as much as this is possible) that the actors are DIFFERENT PEOPLE in each commercial-- one playing the cardholder, and one playing a customer service rep that looks enough like the cardholder.

Here is the version of this commercial series that convinced me.

These two old white guys are definitely NOT the same person.
I still think this series is totally confusing and takes away from the overall message of the Discover Card brand and this new service they're rolling out. But, and I don't know if this is in response to people talking about how confusing the series was-- it does seem like they are now trying to make the actors look different. Here's an example of a commercial in this series where you can clearly tell that these actors are not the same person: When I told Stephan about this further development in the case of the commercial series, he said: "So, now they're deliberately confusing you to try to get you to use a product that you don't want and no one accepts. Great!" Also-- who is the Agency of Record for this series? I am going to the Effie Awards this week. Maybe they will be there and I can ask them!

Photo Funny for Your Saturday

2013-05-18T19:53:20-07:00

First off, thank you to several friendly people who informed me that "Beets and Horseradish" is like, a totally commonplace thing in Jewish households. Ok then! I can be taught. I might even try it and make a YouTube video about it. You never know!

It's the weekend, so I'm cleaning and getting organized. Part of that routine now involves backing up all the photos in my phone and all the notes I've made that week in my notebook by using the Doxie Go scanner and Dropbox.

First up: here's a guy wearing a fringety fringe fringey jacket when it's 78 degrees in New York City. This is one of the reasons I love New York, man-- if you're just a dude, and you super love your black fringe jacket and you want to come here and wear it-- GO AHEAD, MAN. That's what we're all about here-- accepting you no matter how you want to look. In fact, I saw a guy walking down the street the other day with a cat on his head, and (here's what I love about New Yorkers)-- no one was even looking at him. You're going to have to get up pretty early in the morning to turn heads in New York, my friends. Actually, I'm not saying the black suede fringe guy was trying to turn heads. I'm saying-- that jacket/ hat combo is his THING, and he wants to just wear it and for people not to give him a hard time about it because it's black and it's probably too hot for that jacket, or because the jacket has shoulder pads. WEAR THAT JACKET, BRO. This is New York City.

Here is a photo I took in a bodega, then texted to Stephan with the caption "Settle down with all the value adds," to which he texted back "All I want is a f%^ing cookie."

Here is a truck we saw while out walking. I feel like this, right here, is what is wrong with most websites-- we call this the "burden of too much choice," or, as Stephan put it when we stopped to take the photo: JESUS CHRIST, I DON'T KNOW MY OWN NAME ANYMORE."

In closing, here is a skunk with full-on rabies. If you see a skunk like this, can I recommend that you not get this close? Good thing I have a client who specializes in wildlife removal. If you want to see how f-ed up this skunk was, I also have video.

Horseradish and Beets. You know, the usual.

2013-05-17T08:57:29-07:00

I just noticed I have two photos in my phone that are related to horseradish, and I thought this was unusual enough to warrant a post. I feel like horseradish is one of those things that you either totally love (like I do) or you totally hate (like Stephan does).

Here is a billboard touting the "Power of Horseradish." Honestly, I don't know that horseradish needs a billboard. It's hot and you either love it or hate it, and I don't think a billboard is going to change your opinion of whether you like that feeling of hotness shooting up your nose. Also, this billboard is too far away for me to actually see what brand is being advertised, rendering it pretty much useless, don't you think? For educational purposes, I did some research and concluded that this ad is for Gold's Horseradish, though honestly, I didn't even know there were different companies for that sort of thing.

Several days later, I was in the grocery store when I saw this gem of a product, which apparently is made by the same company. How much are their advertising and development budgets?

Yes, you're reading that right. Horseradish and beets. I texted this photo to Stephan as a joke, because these are two things that he hates equally, and frankly, this is the product you would give him if you didn't like him.

Who eats horseradish and beets together? Is this a thing I just don't know about? Horseradish is good on a roast beef sandiwich or in wasabi, but I just don't think I can get behind the use of beets, which are gross no matter how you slice them. Sorry! It is so nice that the horseradish beets are made "Real Home Style" and that they have no additives and nothing artificial. I suppose if you like the taste of beets and horseradish together, this would be a tasty treat for you!

What are you making of this? Are "beets and horseradish" a thing that you eat and love? Someone give me some insight, please.

Amy's Baking Company: Just, WOW.

2013-05-16T04:37:00-07:00

BY LORI CULWELL

So, I don't know if you're following this story about the season finale of Kitchen Nightmares, where this pair of completely crazy restaurant owners go down in history as out Gordon Ramsey-ing Gordon Ramsey himself, but if you haven't, can I highly recommend that you go over and read the Daily Beast writeup and watch the episode, which is actually embedded in the post?

Go ahead. I'll wait.

So, now there's a big scandal because everyone is supposedly bullying them on Yelp, and they claim their Facebook and website have been hacked when they clearly keep losing their sh%t and posting and then regretting it, and they claim that the FBI is involved, and the whole thing is just one big slow-motion train wreck and I can't look away.

Here's the main question I have: WHY DID THEY AGREE TO BE ON THE SHOW? This is the question I have whenever someone goes on Shark Tank with zero sales: do you not watch this show? Do you not recognize that yes, Gordon Ramsey is going to pick on you, and if you are that defensive when someone complains about your food, why on earth would you agree to be on a show like "Kitchen Nightmares"? The only possible explanation for this is that they thought it would just be great publicity, they are deluded enough to think they had nothing to hide, and they figured that their loyal client base (which they do not have) would come to their defense.

So, basically, this delusional attitude, combined with the power of social media, Yelp, and Reddit, is going to make this business sink like the Titanic. I can kind of feel the schadenfraude coming from the 50 former employees fired in the past 6 months (!) and the current wait staff (if there are any of them left). How stupid do you have to be to not only talk back to Gordon Ramsey, but also to ADMIT that you keep all of your waitstaff's tips and defend your bad cooking?

I posted about this on Facebook, and one of my friends commented "They are so Scottsdale." If that is true, I feel a "Real Housewives of Scottsdale" franchise coming on with this woman as the star, because they are NUCKING FUTS, dude. My prediction? They are not just going out of business. They have apparently incurred so much karmic wrath, I would not be surprised if we hear about them getting into legal trouble after their business shuts down.