Music Monday - "South" by Hippo Campus

Get your holiday hipster dance rock going.

Because yes.

Music Monday - “Sometime Around Midnight” by The Airborne Toxic Event

I like the driving beat and how it builds. Feels like it should be in a hipster movie. It probably is…

THE MAGICAL MYSTERY BURGER TOUR! – Shady’s Burgers

It’s 11:00 am and a meeting invitation from Breet pops up on my screen. 

G, I know you are dining with Lana today, but if you would like to invite her to join the MMBT, she’s more than welcome.

Well, you know what I said… HECK YA!

Much like the last The first Magical Mystery Burger Tour stop, it is also an incredibly cold day.  Today's burger stop?

Shady's Burgers in Richardson. 

 I repeat, will the real Shady's Burgers please stand up?

While closed in, we were not going to dine on the patio.  Scro commented that the patio would be great in the summertime and I agreed. 

We walked in the back door so it was a little confusing where we were supposed to go.  Pintrish found the line to order and we examined the menu.

I was tempted to go with the special, the Chicken ‘Schroom-Wich, which is grilled chicken topped with grilled mushrooms and white cheddar cheese, but that would have thrown off the whole burger tour… and we can’t have that! Instead, I ordered the “Shady burger” and added bacon, avocado and white cheddar cheese.*  I added some frings (french fries + onion rings) and a water to my order. Decent price, I think it came to $12 + tip.

Went to the table to sit on the most A$$-FREEZING ALUMINUM CHAIRS OF ALL TIME! Why do burger joints do this?  They are either too cold in the winter or freaking hot-cross-buns burners in the summer. 

Here's the crew:

 

LALA, Pintrish and Lana (nickname TBD, who got a salad.)

$50 says Pintrish is thinking something naughty.

 

Nam, Nam, Nam... enjoying his noms. And by noms I mean a Slim Shady. 

Check out the Liquor jail behind him!

 

Scro doing a little trigger action and Totes McCoates looking swell.

 

The great Macedonian himself. What a great looking guy!

The food arrived REALLY quickly.  I was impressed. 

So was Breet. But not when he saw this photo…  

“Wow...I look like a psychopath...awesome."

Breet - “Good lord...I need to go see a professional stylist/groomer or something...that was craze, yet not amaze.”

LALA – “I look totes norm in this pic...“

There were four people in the kitchen and two servers who swapped roles at the cash register, bartending and serving foodies.  The guy was nice and friendly. He even said “thank you” when I asked him how his day was going.   

When the girl swapped him out at the register, she made a comment along the lines of “I’m prettier than he is.” Well, uh… okay little Miss Sassafras.

We noted that the food was on a tray, similar to Haystack’s.  

 Cut the burger in half with the big steak knife they thoughtfully supplied. Perfect medium.

We learned that LALA doesn't eat the onion part of onion rings... which is odd, but whatevs.

 

All in all, good place and great location. I guess I would go back, but probably more for a happy hour or during the summer.

Ambiance – 6 (post-apocalyptic slash recycle-land. FREEZING CHAIRS!)

Burger – 6.5 (a little salty. Not as juicy as expected. Light on the avocado and they gave me the wrong cheese.)

Cleanliness –9

Drinks – 9 (it’s happy hour ALL DAY LONG! I could have gotten a vodka tonic for $2!)

Location – 10 (literally around the block.)

Misc. – 7 (LARGE patio space with space heaters and fans.)

Restroom – 5 (why is there a mirror right across from the toilet? It smelt like a zoo.)

Sides – 5.5 (fries were a little greasy and not crisp. Onion rings were MASSIVE!)

Staff – 8.5 (friendly, a little too much hovering and asking us if we wanted refills or to take trays away. But the guy did lower the back garage door when we said it was cold, which was nice.)

Bonus points – 3 (good social media on Facebook, but their website is down and twitter activity stopped in September of last year. They do have Instagram as well, but I haven't checked that out yet.)

TOTAL SCORE: 69.5 of a possible 100. 

We had to leave when a full on double rainbow hipster came in wearing vans. 

What do you see in this photograph?

And here are a few more photos of the environs before we left.

THE END... for now. Until it's time for another MMBT stop.

Catch you on the "flip" side.

*Note: the only cheese they serve is yellow cheddar and white cheddar. That’s it. No Swiss, no pepper-jack. Just cheddar. Swiss is the only cheese to be capitalized besides American (which is not cheese, it’s processed cheese food and it is gross. Don’t eat it.)

SYTYCD Top 17 Perform - Season 10

Well hello there my three readers!* Time for another live blogging of So You Think You Can Dance, Season 10. Hubster is joining me in the entertainment room this evening instead of killing Zombies on the XBOX. Let's begin, shall we?

Opener - Top 18
Pretty Face (Nathan Lanier Remix) by Soley
Contemporary
Sonja Tayeh and Christopher Scott routine
Wow. Great routine, slightly ballet-esque. Very pretty. The audience was enjoying each leap into the pyre. Quite symbolic. Good costumes. No one stood out, but that is the point, they all look great together. I enjoyed the leg extensions and not quite knowing where to focus my eyes.

Jade is out of the competition due to the need for surgery. And this week's cuts won't happen until the very end of the show (which is how it SHOULD be... geez.) And the guest host is Paula Abdul? Are you freaking kidding me? Hubster points out her beverage and we both reckon she is already drunk.

Who's in Danger?
Jasmine M, BluPrint, Jenna, Curtis, Alexis and Jade.
With Jade out, there's no need to send a guy home. All three girls will dance and one will be booted.
Please don't cut Alexis! We need a tapper to make it to the final 10!
Jasmine M is a lot of floor movement and turns, but I wasn't too impressed.
Jenna looks like a dancing gazelle mated with Princess Kate. And that's a compliment.

Amy and Fik-Shun 
Paso Doble
Jean-Marc routine
Tactical Dominance by Jack Trammel
A fight to the death! I couldn't take my eyes of Amy. Awesome costumes, the black leather rocked. As Mary Murphy provides commentary, Hubs shoots an imaginary gun at her face to shut her up. Some of those leaps were astounding. That was the least boring paso doble I've seen on the show. "Hate is a ssshtrong feeling." Oh shuddup Paula Abdul *hiccup* no one wants to hear your slurry mess.

Ooo. There's a SYTYCD app! I gotta get that.

Jasmine H and Aaron
Broadway
Spencer Liff routine
They Just Keep Moving The Line (SMASH Cast version) feat. Megan Hilty
Crime scene investigation + SMASH soundtrack? Color me IN!
Was that a quadruple pirouette? OMG I heart Aaron and Jasmine H. They are PHENOM! This was vastly entertaining and ridiculously fun for a Broadway routine. I wish that they hadn't spoiled the "dead" aspect and had her finish by lying on the marked out corpse line as a final reveal. They definitely acted the characters. If these are the first two routines, I hope the rest are able to at least match this entertainment.

MacKenzie and Paul
Contemporary
Lindsay Paulina routine
No Day But Today by Idina Menzel
She's got a terminal disease and he can't deal with it. Paula Abdul talks about Make a Wish, but turns it into herself in promotion. If you didn't have the backstory, then it would just be a pretty routine. It was lovely. But I wonder if the choreographers are trying to insert a story into the dance just to get votes? Perhaps I'm being cynical. It was lovely, but nothing that I would want to re-watch numerous times. Some of the lifts were quite brilliant.

At this point the Hubster leaves the entertainment room to go take a nap. I don't know that this bodes well for the rest of the show.

Jasmine M and Alan
Jazz
Sean Cheesman routine
Veins by Charlotte Martin (this is a popular song on SYTYCD. I swear we've seen other routines to this number, but I am likely wrong. They cannot reuse songs, right?)
Royalty? Go with it. Her skirt keeps getting in the way but she deals with it well. This was fun and different. I am impressed with Alan's strength. Jasmine M was fantastic to watch, but she did a weird skirt thing at one point that felt off character, but maybe that was the choreography. Enjoyable. SO far there hasn't been a bad routine.

Jenna and Tucker
Hip Hop
Keoni and Mari Madrid (sp?)
Dangerous (immortal version) by Michael Jackson
It is so uncomfortable to watch two white people who don't do hip hop try to do hip hop. Even the song is old. I am not a fan of the routine. I don't understand the costumes or Jenna's hair plan. It was... confusing. The judges are being nice. Paula calls it a "hipster kind of jazz" which is an insult to hipsters and jazz aficionados everywhere. Now I'm just being a little harsh... but it isn't a routine I will remember. The fact that it was a Nigel favorite makes me even more uncomfortable. I want to see Tucker highlighted next week.

Malece (minus Jade who had to withdraw) so we have All-Star Marco!
Contemporary
Sonya Tayeh
In the Embers by Sleeping At Last
Was it a funeral? Candles and the black lace. Maybe it was the recent wedding for Avril Lavine and Chad Kroger? Wow. Malece is going to be an All-Star herself. This was absolutely lovely. The leg extensions and lifts were incredible. Poor Jade. He is sooooo shooting himself in his bad leg right now. The judges are singing Malece and Sonya's praises. She is completely safe. The waves at the end were powerful. Great job! Normally the routines in the middle are less good (see Hip Hop routine above) but this was fantastic.

Haley and Curtis
Samba - oh this won't go well
Jean-Marc D
Straight to Memphis by Club des Belugas
Her hips don't lie... in fact, Haley's hips are non-existent. (Sorry Paula, but you are wrong.) Either the music was too slow or they just couldn't get it together. It was like watching Samba Hour for the novices. It wasn't good. It wasn't horrible. It just wasn't entertaining. Silver Linings Playbook had a better routine. The samba is the kiss of death; right behind the waltz. Sorry Jean-Marc... what happened to your Run Lola Run red-haired accomplice this season? I have a feeling one or both of these two dancers will be in the bottom three next week.

Alexis and Nico
Spencer Liff routine
Jazz
I Put a Spell On You by Nina Simone
Nico was on point, Alexis was slightly behind on her steps. But I heart her and want her to proceed. It was an interesting idea of being under control by a hypnotist. I think that these choreographers have been reading The Night Circus and coming up with ideas. You're about a year too late folks! All the judges mention is wondering why she is in the bottom three; which means she will likely make it. Nico has the teenage girl vote.

Mariah and BluPrint
Hip Hop
Luther Brown routine
Bring the Noise by M.I.A
They made it sound so epic, but it fell flat. They weren't synched together during parts of the routine. I'm not saying I could do it, cause I know for DANG sure I can't. But it wasn't anything tremendous. And BluPrint lifting his shirt reminded me of Combs from the Navy who used to do that and it's so dumb. Maybe I have to watch it again because apparently I'm not agreeing with the judges. Paula has been drinking ... she thinks they were in sync at the beginning. Though, her comment that BluPrint was holding back is correct. BluPrint looks pissed at the judges when they say he needs to bring out his personality.

Now... which girl is going home? I'm going to go out on a limb and say Jenna.

Nope. I'm wrong. Must be Jasmine.

Yup, it's Jasmine. Alexis continues on but gets the note that she needs to LISTEN to the choreographers.

See you next Tuesday folks!!!


*And hello to all those who found this blog on a search engine. Somehow I have over 70+ readers on a Wednesday. I don't know who you are, but you are welcome to comment. Or not. Be a lurker. That's cool. Whatevs.

Music Monday - Hipster Disney Princess

Adame's birthday was this past weekend.  His desire was to meet up at Franconia Brewery in McKinney for the Saturday tour. I said I would go, though Hubster had to get some shut-eye before work. Bueno was going to be there too, so I definitely wanted to catch up outside of work.

I've been to Franconia before with Rhett and Stace; it was a few years ago and I think there was 25 or so of us on the tour.  Dennis (the Creator, Developer, Owner and Brew Master) is a passionate speaker and clearly loves the process to make the best beer. When I heard how emphatically he believes in quality control of the beer, I was all the more impressed.  Like I said, that was about two years ago.  Oh, how things change.

First, I got horrendously lost.  I drove 10 miles out of the way on the 75 North, getting stuck in construction going 3 miles an hour; so I had to turn around and go back. Then, I went the right way on 380 but not far enough and was confused and turned around, driving 15 miles in the wrong direction. Somewhere around this point my phone died and I cursed bloody hell.  I really regretted not taking the GPS out of the truck, or my phone charger from my other bag... both things that the Hubster had triple asked me before I left that I should grab.

Eventually, I figured it out and made it to Franconia. I was only 35 minutes late but there was still a massive line out the door. What the what?? Apparently, everyone aged 25 - 45 in the metropolis decided to visit today!  And not only that, 99% of them were Hipsters.

HIPSTERS?  Ohmygodyouhavegottobekiddingme! Here is just an assortment of the Hipster/DBaggery that was on display:

• Mutton chops
• Facial hair "art"
• Circa 1980's mustaches
• Layered shirts, vests and jackets
• Hand knitted scarfs, artfully draped
• Two tone hair
• Thick, black glasses
• Questionable hygiene
• Wearing a knitted soft hat
• Tie pins and tweed
• Unevenly chopped hair
• Leather messenger bags
• Ironic t-shirts Quasi-Steampunkers without irony
• Pocket watches
• Vans and Chuck Taylors

 *Sigh* And the worst part?  I realized belatedly that three of the things I "spotted" ... I was also wearing.

So here's the music for Monday... Hipster Disney Princess.



What else makes a Hipster?  Some thought starters:

• Raising chickens for fresh eggs
• Raising goats to make goat cheese
• Use of Tom's toothpaste
• Playing a banjo
• Calls their hat a "chapeau"
• Refuses to listen to "pop" music
• Can ride a unicycle
• Makes tea by straining leaves through a proper strainer
• Owns multiple bottles of various whiskies
• Calls anything artisanal or says they are an artisan
• Only owns vinyl records

Discuss.