Weezer: Red Album

So I finally managed to pick-up the new Weezer Album this morning. Sure I could have bought it online, but I decided to just get the actual CD since I was at Target anyway looking for a Wii Fit again (I’ve lost all hope at this point). So far I’d say it’s a pretty decent album. Of course I manage to tolerate all of their albums, so Weezer could probably put out a record that was just Rivers Cuomo farting and I’d probably still like it and listen to it a couple hundred times.
I did decide to drop the extra $2 to get the deluxe edition that contains 4 bonus tracks, a booklet talking about the making of the album, and slightly different packaging. It’s nice to get the lyrics, but generally Weezer’s lyrics are pretty understandable so it isn’t that necessary. There seem to be several typos in it though, so they should probably get someone to proof-read the jacket on the next album.

Weezer supposedly has a Prince-like catalog of music, but it seems that some of these songs are either completely new or major rewrites of old ones. I do think it’s interesting that when you’ve got a band that’s been around for close to 20 years they have a history and can remember when they first met. I especially like the references to Nirvana’s first major album in Heart Songs and it really takes you back to what it must have felt like to be around them when the band started. I’d say that this is a nice evolution for Weezer and might be a bit better than some of their last attempts at a decent album.

Anyway, that’s all I’ll say for now. I’m sure there are thousands of other reviews online that are much more in-depth or descriptive, so I’ll stop now and give you time to check those out while I take my board to work instead of my car (to save gas of course).

Adults using baby wipes

I found out in the last week that two of my friends (who are guys) are now using baby wipes after taking crap rather than simply using toilet paper. I remember a brief advertising campaign close to 10 years ago to try and get people to buy a small dispenser that clipped onto your normal toilet paper roll and start using the equivalent of a baby wipe after pooping, but I figured that most with above average intelligence dismissed this as worthless and wasteful. Apparently I was wrong.

Of course it does seem that some others seem to think this is a good idea too, but you can almost always find another idiot or two on the internet who shares your warped sense of reality.

I didn’t find out if my friends carry their wipes around in their purses, but I’m guessing either that or their fanny packs.

McDonald’s Southern Style Crispy Chicken Sandwich

I’ve always felt like McDonald’s has done a good job of creating new and unique food items that you never knew you wanted. The McRib was a perfect example. I didn’t know that I needed a hunk of pork pressed to look like a short rack of ribs (edible bones included) and smothered in barbecue sauce, but once I had one I knew I needed another. The same thing can be said for the McGriddle. I don’t think I ever thought I needed a breakfast sandwich with meat and egg on syrup-infused bread, but damn that thing is good.

Though the ideas for these products may not have always come from Marketeers or Chef’s at McDonald’s, I always felt like McDonald’s didn’t steal these ideas from other national competitors. Until they announced the McDonald’s Southern Style Crispy Chicken Sandwich. Sure every fast food restaurant has a fried chicken breast sandwich, but this one is an exact rip-off of the Chick-Fil-A Chicken Sandwich. It even seems like they tried to make sure it was nutritionally equivalent as well:

	Calories	Fat	Saturated Fat	Carbs
Southern Style Crispy Chicken Sandwich	400	17g	3g	39g
Chick-Fil-A Chicken Sandwich	410	16g	3.5g	39g

On paper, these sandwiches seem identical, so I decided to make a trip to McDonald’s recently to determine if this sandwich was worth the hype. I was always a fan of the the other famous sandwich, the McChicken (the equivalent of a giant processed McNugget on a bun), but I’m a HUGE fan of the Chick-Fil-A sandwich and currently feel there is no better fast-food chicken sandwich in existence (sorry to all the Bojangle’s fans out there).

The verdict: No one anywhere in the Chick-Fil-A organization should lose sleep over the new sandwich from McDonald’s. The Southern Style Chicken sandwich was tasty (probably the best chicken sandwich I’ve ever had from McDonald’s), but anyone with a ounce of sense is not going to pick this turd over a Chick-Fil-A Chicken Sandwich — not even on Sundays.