Say It Out Loud:

Luke Williams is a ridiculous-cool musician. So I'll give a brief history of Luke Williams, possibly the most talented musician I know. The "possibly" comes from the time I met Baby Spice in the late nineties. Since I only 'met' her, I don't know if that counts as 'knowing' her. So for that reason, Luke is the only possibly the best musician I know. Baby Spice's talent just reached so far beyond the bounds of just music. That's why I'm naming my next daughter Baby Spice Belnap. But this blog isn't for singing praises to Baby Spice, it's for telling you about Luke Williams.

So I met Luke when he was like 13 or 14. I think he's like 20ish now. The kid could seriously play the guitar/bass as a 13 year old. I thought, "Hmm, this kid has potential." I thought, "Hmm, maybe I could kidnap this kid and make him play on the streets to get me money and pay him with dirty crack. My plan, unfortunately, never came into fruition; and alas, Luke was discovered by someone else. My first mistake was letting him see face before throwing a gunny sack over his head. I had to play it off like it was just a big gag--ha! gotcha!

Well Luke has now released his first album. It's more of a demo of sorts. And I'm going to be straight with you all right now. When Luke told me about it, I thought, "Yeah, I'm sure it's pretty good. Luke is very talented. He can play a mean guitar." Folks, I di'n't know the half of it. Of course Luke can play. But who thought he could sing? I'm telling you, the kid can sing. I know what you're thinking right now. You're thinking, "Yeah, I'm sure he can sing and play guitar, but there's no way he rocks the accordion." Wrong. He teaches those vertical ivories a lesson every time he picks up his squeeze box. But what do my accolades mean? Nothing. Don't take it from me. Go to his website and download it for free.

But in case you don't feel like doing it right now just based on my word. I've provided a little sample below. This is from my favorite song if his "We Were Wrong". Ridiculous. It was hard for me to choose a one minute clip. You've got to hear it all. But this is a good teaser for you. Thanks, Luke. And well done. I really wish I was cool as you, but I'm unfortunately destined to play Led Zeppelin covers for the rest of my life with my falsetto voice...Hey hey mama said the way you move, gonna make you sweat, gonna make you groove...

Sorry. Got distracted by the falsetto voice. I'll get back to Luke. Enjoy.

Dear Jon,

Ahh, Jon Stewart. I really had my doubts about him. I've wondered if a political comedian of sorts who has survived for the last eight years by having George W. Bush and Co., an easy target for any comedian really, could continue to make it work after his man was elected. Well, Jon, you've still got it.

You may or may not have caught wind of Jon Stewart's recent 'War of Words' with Jim Cramer, the host of CNBC's "Mad Money". This is golden. *warning* This clip does have a bleeped out swear word in it but is otherwise quite harmless--unless you're living in a McCarthyist society--then you'll find it offensive for other reasons...

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Basic Cable Personality Clash Skirmish '09

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things With Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Economic Crisis

Cool Blogger Feature

Hey...so I'm relatively new to 'blogger' and found an interesting thing that I'm sure you all already know about. So you can click on someone's interests on their profile and find everyone else on blogger who has those same interests. I decided to put the feature to the test. I typed in "clubbin", "beach volleyball", "working out", "driving jeeps", "pumping bass", "calling my friends 'bra'", "tanning", and "puka shell jewelry", and I came up with this hit. Blew my mind--seriously. The technology these days...

I got a D+??

Funny Tommy Boy Clips -

I think the first 50 seconds of this clip sums it up. Yes indeed, faithful readers, I have passed. How do I feel? Well, I think the best of the British Invasion of the 1960s sums that up on my playlist thing.

I know you're all thinking, "Why hasn't Ben updated his blog in so long?" and "I can't survive any longer if Ben doesn't post on his awesome blog." etc. etc. Well wait no more ye faithful followers, I have returned.

As it turns out, there are these tests called 'prelims' in my program that one must pass before he or she is able to begin his or her dissertation. Testing material for prelims consists of four years of course work and an an article list of 200 articles. Preparation for these tests consumed my life for about 2 months. My family suffered, my work suffered, but worst of all, you, my blog readers suffered--waiting in agony for the next post. I hope you accept my sincerest apologies.

Ok, so the first portion is the oral testing. This is where the professors in my program grilled me on articles from the list and I had to come up with material to show I had read them. It was intense, but I passed that portion.

The next section was the essay portion. This consisted of one essay question from each of the five professors in my program. This took all day long. Literally from 8 until 5. Ben Springer, my faithful friend and companion throughout this process, was done by 3:45, but not being as cognitively gifted, I took the full 9 hours. Although there were a few speed bumps along the way, like learning that I don't really know the legalities of the American Psychiatric Association's Code of Ethics, I passed. And like Thomas Callahan III, I too likely earned a D+, and that is just fine by me. I now have only one hoop remaining before you--every last one of you--will refer to me as Dr. Benjamin Bruce Belnap. I will accept no other title. Maybe Dr. Ben--like when really pretentious MDs or PhDs try to keep it real. Like, "Hey, I'm cool. We're buds--but don't forget I'm a doctor along the way, you worthless piece of crap."

Yes, if only those playground bullies could see me now. Yeah, maybe I still look a little sickly. Yeah, perhaps I still enjoy a good game of hopscotch and jumprope with the girls. But after a mere four years in graduate school, I am only a dissertation away--one year at the very soonest--from being a doctor--a fake doctor...you know the PhD kind. That'll show them. Now if you could excuse me, I need to go hold my pillow tightly and weep for awhile. I'll be ok. Don't worry about me. I love graduate school. I'm so glad I did this. No regrets. Why are you looking at me like that? I said I have no regrets...now leave me alone!