Ever since I was in high school I’ve wanted to be able to play the banjo. Most teenagers want to play something cool, the drums, guitar or saxaphone. Not me, I wanted to play the five string banjo like Earl Scruggs. I think it goes back to my first trip to Philmont and just sitting on the porch at Crooked Creek and listening to the camp staff pick away at the banjo in the rain. Something about that was cool (not to mention the suave plaid jacket in the album cover to the left!).

I finally got a banjo for Christmas two years ago and I picked up a couple of books on how to play and slowly tried to learn. However, being the non-musically inclined oaf that I am, I quickly got frustrated and finally convinced my love to sign me up for Banjo lessons.

I’ve been taking lessons from Jody Hughes for about 8 months now and while I am not the best, nor have I ever been accused of practicing too much (something I need to remedy) I get a little better each week. Below is a tune called Doug’s Tune. It was written by Doug Dillard and has been played everywhere (ok, on the Andy Grifith Show). If you want to hear what it really sounds like check out some of the other videos after my clip.

I’m not convinced that Lumiere is not an idiot. The trainer we’ve been working with at Man’s Best Friend in Woodstock told us early on that his stubbornness was a sign of a smart dog. I just don’t know. I’ve shared videos before of Lumi running in circles in the backyard and barking at nothing (which he still does occasionally). Lately though, he’s been barking at Christmas decorations that are higher than him. Snow flakes, a kissing ball, even the Angel on top of the Christmas tree, nothing seems to be safe. I swear, if the dog had a medical id bracelet it would only say IDIOT on it.

As usual with us, we set up our train under the Christmas tree (whats Christmas with out a train under the tree?) and the girls like it. We’ve all taken turns playing conductor and at first, Lumiere seemed to like it. After a little closer inspection though, the dog seems to be threatened by the train. Take a look.

Today was the preschool presentation at Grace’s preschool. I wasn’t allowed to tape it, but here’s a little sample of what we were treated to…

They do a good job at Saint Catherine’s.

I don’t remember Pickler from american idol, but she was apparently on there. Anyway, she seems to have a lot in common with Ms. South Carolina.

I’m not a big Johnny Depp fan. Until his turn as Captain Jack in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies if there was a choice between watching a Depp movie or cleaning house, I’d almost always choose the house cleaning. Edward Sicissor Hands, Benny and Joon, Cry Baby, Fear and Loathing, you couldn’t get me to sit still to watch them. I saw him as Captain Jack in the first Pirates movie and I thought he was perfectly cast for the part though.

I couldn’t imagine anyone else playing the scattered pirate and he really played it well. It was a fairly believable act and one that has kind of made me a fan, but I still like to pick and choose which depp movies I watch. I also thought that casting him as the eccentric chocolateer in the remake of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was good simply for the reason that he’s one of a few actors capable of pulling off the eccentricity of the roll of Wonka (though, Gene Wilder is still the one true Wonka).

I liked both of these rolls for Depp and I feel that they kind of brought him out of his shell a little bit. True, he’s always tended to play the odd character in his movies (you don’t see him in too many bruce willis type action movies) and when I saw the trailers for the Sweeny Todd movie thats coming out, it looked right up his alley. I did visit the official Sweeney Todd movie site to see more of the trailer and find out more about the film and I”m intrigued by it.

Its coming out this Christmas (though its obviously not a Christmas feel good movie) and while I may not go see it in the theater (I can’t even remember the last thing I saw IN a theater) I will probably catch it when it comes out on DVD. Depp’s character is consumed with the act of revenge for a life lost when a wealthy englishman sends him away forever and takes his wife and child as his own. Alan Rickman is at his best as the object of Todd’s revenge in this movie and Helena Bonham Carter looks to be good as Depp’s sidekick in this flick as well.

While I don’t know if its enough to get me to become a true fan of Depp, I did visit Sweeney Todd on MySpace to see if I could find out any more about the movie.

Some kids out there just cry out to get picked on. I wasn’t one of those kids, neither were my friends as we fell in between the bullies and their marks. However, two brothers have become the perfect fodder for bullies world wide and I can only hope it doesn’t do more harm. These two created Wedgie Proof Underwear. A concept in itself that is so wrong. Especially when demonstrated on NATIONAL TV (Fox News) by the two brothers.

The 8 year old twins developed the Rip Away 1000’s to help them out at school. Though after this video, they may need something other than rip away undies.

There are some really, really good nuggets of sound in this clip, I recommend you watch it. And for heavens sake, DO NOT EVER BUY THESE FOR YOUR CHILDREN!

we’ve dressed our dogs up before, and I honestly believe they don’t like it. I know I don’t…

I’ve recently decided that online contests are cool (we’re running one here if you haven’t heard…). There are blogs dedicated to contests. Some are blog related (make a post on your blog, win a prize) some are comment related and some are video contests. I haven’t gotten in to the realm of videos yet (at least not for making them and posting them on the blog). I’m not a fan of the way I sound on tape and I haven’t found a goon willing to be in the videos yet (maybe I could get grace to do it…) but when I do, I’ll have to check vidopp.com out for some things to enter.

The contests are good for several reasons, the biggest being the boon to traffic that they seem to bring. Vidopp scours the web and puts all the current video contests in one easy to find place which is nice (much like contestblogger or other contest related sites). Best of all, they do the hard work for you by reviewing the rules and small print on each contest and all you have to do is post your videos.

Talk about a porta-john…

for some reason, this video makes me giggle uncontrollably…

EDIT: Gruntled sent me this one, which is even better!