Author: Andy Labis

Two Dilemmas and Some New Movie Reviews.

By:

The Dude on the Right
I have two dilemmas I am dealing with right now, both of which I hope to
remember to discuss with
Stu
Gotz during our "Weekend Wrap-Up" podcast tomorrow.  Well, one I will
definitely discuss with him, and that simply has to do with having a podcast
that really isn’t for the kids.  No, we aren’t going to have any strippers
or porn stars in the studio discussing perverted sex acts or how they were
molested as children, although Stu would probably welcome that.  Nope, I’ll
leave that to the kings of those who do that.  In any case I heard a new
song on the radio this weekend.  Nope, it wasn’t on an FM nor an AM
station, it was on satellite radio,
Sirius as a matter of fact,
and it’s a pretty blunt song about Connecticut.  The thing is I laughed my
ass off during the song, and I’d like to play some clips for Stu, as well as
some clips from some of the band’s other songs.  I’m not sure if I want to
go there, namely risqué songs, but I think Stu will appreciate the songs, for
the campy feel they are worth.

My other dilemma has to do with movie theater
loyalty.  I don’t think Stu has this issue, but for the past many years I
have been a steady patron of our
AMC theater sort of
near my dude-pad.  It was a little further away than some of my other local
theaters, but it was the only one with stadium seating, had a huge variety of
times movies would be playing, had great online ticketing that didn’t charge you
anything if you were a
MovieWatcher member, and even gave you free stuff (popcorn, sody-pop, and
movies) and other bonuses if you were also a said member of said MovieWatcher
program.  But another movie theater has opened, much closer to me, and at
slightly cheaper prices.  The problem I have is they don’t have free online
ticketing, the movie screen isn’t as enveloping, and as far as I know, no free
stuff for patronizing them.  The benefit is that the seats are a little
more comfortable and bouncy, and they stock

Raisinets.  I suppose I might have to do a statistical analysis of the
pros and cons of both theaters, but man, the five minute travel time versus the
20 minute travel time is a huge issue, although without that travel time, I
wouldn’t have heard said song I eluded to in my first paragraph of this plight
had I gone to the closer theater on Saturday.  Who knew going to the movies
could be so complicated?

On the simpler of things, I did catch "Nacho
Libre" and "The
Lake House" this weekend.  I’ll talk to Stu about them as well, but
feel free to read the reviews in the meantime.  There’s a few more movie
previews posted, with a few more to come in the next couple of days, and then
finally I should be all caught up in getting my movie previews done.  My
next step is to get back to some concert reviewing, some CD reviewing I’ve been
promising for awhile, and even some DVD’s.  My summer is looking very busy,
and hopefully very fun.

That’s it for this one! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!

What’s New? A Great Movie Line, Mentos & Diet Coke Infatuation, and Your iPod and Your Toilet.

For this podcast The Dude on the Right finds a great movie quote, is still infatuated with Mentos & Diet Coke, but for the most part understands the importance of an iPod player combined with a toilet paper holder. You know you want to listen to your iPod in the bathroom, don’t you?

A Great Movie Line, Mentos & Diet Coke Infatuation, and Your iPod and Your Toilet.

By:

The Dude on the Right
I give a quick mention of one of my favorite
movie quotes,
because, well, it was on TV tonight, and some of this podcast is about my
seeming obsession with the

Mentos & Diet Coke phenomenon.  But for the most part this podcast is
about a
new product for your iPod.  Where is one of the places that it has been
difficult to listen to your iPod?  That’s right, it’s your bathroom. 
A company has come up with an iPod dock/player for your bathroom, and it even
has a toilet roll dispenser built in.  Laugh now, but don’t you want your
music in your bathroom?  Or if you are a dudette, taking a calming bath,
with the candles glowing, wouldn’t you like to have a place for your iPod with
your "soothing" music play-list playing?  Like I said, it sounds funny at
first talk, but these folks
with the bathroom iPod dock are probably onto something.  I’m just bummed I
didn’t think about it first.

Thanks for listening.

That’s it for this one!  I’m The Dude on the Right!!  L8R!!!

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Yahoo! Podcasts

Mentos & Diet Coke: I Wish I Were In College Again.

By:

The Dude on the Right
I guess this phenomenon started back in April 2006 when some folks found out
that if you dropped a couple of Mentos candies into a 2 liter of Diet Coke, well, the
Diet Coke erupted.  Sometimes I’m too big and slow in finding out about
these things, but I blame most of this by being out of college and not even
thinking about trying wacky stuff like this anymore, namely dropping some Mentos
into a bottle of Diet Coke.  But this morning I was listening to the radio
here in Chi-Town, and
Johnny
Brandmeier was reading a story from, I think The Wall Street Journal,
talking about mixing said candies into said soft drink.  Supposedly a
geyser erupts, and Johnny B. did so by trying it and taking out some ceiling tiles in a
bathroom (at least Johnny listened to his producer, Guy, and didn’t try it in
the broadcast studio).  I really meant to pick up a couple of 2 liters and
some Mentos today, and try the experiment for myself, but I was too lazy so I just hunted out some videos on the
internet, and none lived up to the folks at
EepyBird.com, with a click
to it at the right.  It’s complete with cool music, they try to compete with the fountains at the Bellagio
Fountains, and it is fantastic.  I know some of their secrets to getting
different eruption heights, thanks to my extensive engineering background, and
even their simple yet inventive way of setting off the "charges" as they would
be.

There are lots of videos out there in internet-land about this phenomenon, so
all you pretty much need to do is type something like "Diet Coke Mentos Video"
into your favorite search engine.  Some show what look like college dudes
(oh, times like this I miss college) tossing lightly capped versions of the same
experiment, resulting in rocketing 2-liter bottles, and some just show failed
experiments.  Chemistry is fun sometimes, and if I were a high school
teacher trying to teach a class, on the interaction of various chemicals, this
one is a hell of a lot more fun, and a hell of a lot safer, than mixing sodium
and water, at least I think that is the bad one.  It’s been a while since I
took Chemistry, so please don’t try to mix anything.

If you are younger you might be more likely to say something like "What
happens if I drop a Mentos into a bottle of Diet Coke?"  If you are older,
that question never seems to come around anymore.  Sometimes, in this case,
if you are an older, wouldn’t it have been fun to find this out and show your
kids?  I admit I’ve lost a lot of this experimenting, but maybe we
shouldn’t.  This is too philosophical.  Just get out there with your 2
liter bottle of Diet Coke and some Mentos and see it explode.  You might
need a shower, but have fun.  And wear safety goggles.

That’s it for this one! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!

What’s New? Stu & The Dude’s Weekend Wrap-Up: Guess the Celebrity, Rude Old Ladies, Going Potty Before the Omen, and Champions.

For this podcast, Stu & The Dude give their weekend wrap-up. It’s an action-packed episode with talks about “Cars,” “A Prairie Home Companion,” rude movie-goers, kids at inappropriate movies, and new Chicago champions.

Stu & The Dude’s Weekend Wrap-Up: Guess the Celebrity, Rude Old Ladies, Going Potty Before the Omen, and Champions.

By:

The Dude on the Right
This is one action-packed episode of Stu & me doin’ our weekend wrap-up! 
First I give Stu Gotz a celebrity guessing game, then look for his input on if
elderly women should be given a pass for talking during a movie, the movie in
this case was "A
Prairie Home Companion."  I also explain why you will love or hate the
movie as well.  I made an assumption earlier this weekend, but was also
correct in assuming Stu’s response regarding asking your kid if they have to go
potty before seeing "The Omen," and both us got weepy during "Cars." 
There is a cool device I found for keeping your

drink cool around your computer, but Stu warns to watch about spillage, and
also about not using your CD-ROM drive as a cup holder.  Chicago also has
some new champions!

Thanks for listening.

That’s it for this one!  I’m The Dude on the Right!!  L8R!!!

Download and Listen Here Subscribe Here



Yahoo! Podcasts

Chicago has the Champions, Should Blue-Hairs Get a Pass at the Theater, and do Potty and “The Omen” mix?

By:

The Dude on the Right
We are the champions!  We are the champions!  That’s right, here in
Chicago, we are the champions!  And I watched the game.  I was there
with them at the beginning, when they were the
Chicago
Bruisers.  And I haven’t been there for them since, until today, when I
remembered that the
Chicago Rush
were in Arenabowl XX and
it was on TV.  So I watched.  Yay!  I still remember

Super Bowl XX, and how couldn’t I, it was my first winter in Chicago, and
the Chicago Bears won.  So how much of a weird twist of fate is it that
Mike Ditka coached the Chicago Bears to victory in Super Bowl XX, and there he
is, part owner of the Chicago Rush, with the Rush winning Arenabowl XX. 
Coincidence or are the Football Gods just giving Mike Ditka his due?  Somehow, though, I don’t think the Chicago Rush are going to get a parade. Anyway, the
only thing that sort of kept bugging me was the continued talk of this being
Chicago’s first trip to the Arenabowl.  No, this is the first trip for the
Chicago Rush to the Arenabowl.  The Bruisers, one of the original Arena
Football teams, were there, in 1987, for Arenabowl II, where sadly they lost to
the Detroit Drive.  In any case, we have Arena Football bragging rights for
a year!  Hooray!!

On a different tangent, I have some movie issues to
talk with Stu about during our weekend wrap-up podcast tomorrow, but one I also
wanted to bounce off of you, the reading crowd.  The dilemma is simply
this:  You’re in a movie theater, and the couple sitting one seat away from
you insists on jibber-jabbering back and forth during the movie.  They
aren’t that loud, but loud enough.  Do you nicely lean over and ask them to
keep quiet?  Do you look in their direction and give them the "if you don’t
stop talking I’m going to do something" stare?  Do you give them that
annoying "Shhh" sound?  Do you wait for the end of the movie and express
your displeasure at them for their talking during the movie?  This is
usually an easy answer, it’s usually one of the listed responses, or you just go
home upset.  But what if the couple were a couple of elderly ladies?  I
knew I should have said something, maybe as I was leaving, but I wasn’t up to a
confrontation with a couple of blue-hairs.  I knew I could probably out-run
them if I had to, but I enjoyed the movie, "A
Prairie Home Companion," so much, that I just let it go.  I guess my
question is really should they get a pass for talking during a movie because
they are elderly?

And lastly I’m waiting to do my review of "The Omen" until I
can go back and re-watch the original version and see if I really remember how
it stacks up.  I will say this for now, that this 2006 version of "The
Omen" seemed to drag a lot during the beginning half of the movie, and then when
it got to the bad stuff, it was so over-the-top that I burst out laughing at
times.  Don’t get me wrong, the beheading in the 2006 was cool, but it will
never stick with me like the beheading in the original.

And one last movie
question, which I’m pretty sure I can guess Stu’s answer if I remember to ask
him, is this:  Should you bring your kid to see "The Omen" when you have to
ask her, about five minutes before the film starts, "Do you have to go ‘potty’
before the movie starts?"  Ah, parents of today.

I suppose I’ll get off
my questioning soap box for now. 

That’s it for this one! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!