Who do I still think I am??

This one's about to be, or not to be.

30DBC PROMPT: "Invalid Item" 

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Enjoy responsibly. Or don't.

Whoo hoo! What up? Now the Fivesixer Magical Elixir comes in bottle form and is ready for your consumption! Looks like this party's about to get turnt up, like all the kids you don't know seem to be sayin' these days.

It's Friday! Which means kinda little to me right now, but I'm sure it's an exciting day for you 9-5'ers out there with real jobs and actual responsibilities and whatnot. That's cool...bottles will wait for you and if you catch me in the corner of Andre's, I'll be sure to raise my glass and acknowledge your presence.

I think it's about time I have my own smartphone app to go along with my beverage...any developers out there willing to take a stab at it? I don't really have any ideas, and I have no clue how one would go about obtaining such a thing, but how sweet would that be to have a little icon of my ugly grill on the home screen of your Apple or Android or Blackberry that takes you directly to this nugget of internet in sundae form (nuts and whipped cream are extra, but the sauce is complementary)? Would it be worth paying $1.99 for? Or a monthly subscription? What does the market have to say about this? Hopefully I'll know better once I start classes in the fall and learn maybe how to take all of this on myself. Screw the 2-year degree; I wanna take my brand global in ways the "normal" internet can't go.

Meanwhile, Andre's seems stuck on Magical Musical Monday...and I'm not complainin'. There are worse things than a piano takin' up space with a belligerent monkey passed out on it while the jukebox plays on and on.

BCF PROMPT: "Are you a fan of Shakespeare or not?"

Awww man, I don't know. Wasn't it like "National Shakespeare Day" or something earlier this week? And what's not helping me is that I'm reading the prompt in an angry sort of voice, like how parents would yell at little kids who are runnin' in and out of the house all day..."Are you in or out?" like there's no grey area. I know that's not the intention of Mr.CJ Reddick and that's not how he means it, but still it's chuckle-inducing to me.

So here's where I stand...I was one of those kids in high school who kinda liked Shakespeare in part because he tore language up and dropped it on its earhole. I'm completely ok with that, because it makes me think that if you really wanted to figure out what all it means, you would, and if you didn't then it's clearly not for you. The trouble with that is two-fold: it's hard finding enough peers that enjoy Shakespeare at that age to make liking him a legit group that could challenge the haters and those bored completely off by his works; and he's so out-of-date now that even trying to update his works for modern times is a chore...and hardly anyone seems down for either attempting it or partaking in the viewing of it. Plus, I haven't read him since probably my failed attempt at college back in '94 or '95, if that even.

But I respect him. How many famous contemporary authors do you think kids will be studying 500 years from now? Or even 100 years from now? And with that begs the question, "What makes a work of literature a classic?" What will resonate with leaders, educators, and students alike down the road? Has education slipped into a moratorium where we can only learn about certain authors and books, forevermore? How long does a book have to be atop the New York Times' Bestseller List to merit classroom discussion in twenty or fifty years, or decades and centuries from now? Who will be the next Shakespeare, Poe, Dickens, Kerouac, etc.? I've worked in a few bookstores over the years and became acclimated to the scene for quite awhile, and I'm still struggling with who I think might have that opportunity. Dan Brown? Stephen King? Stephenie Meyer? I don't know. Perhaps they're too genre-specific to appeal to a broad classroom audience...then again, wasn't Shakespeare himself? Weren't all his plays originally acted only by men? Did the adaptations truly appeal to an audience beyond devotees?

All worthy questions to ponder. And here's where I admit my bias toward quasi-contemporary literature...I'd rather read Beat Poetry any day over Shakespeare, partly because I don't feel compelled to extoll the virtues of Shakespeare as much and partly because I feel Kerouac and Ginsberg are a shit-ton more relatable than 16th-century culture. That's not meant to take anything away from him; there's a reason his words are still prevalent today as a means of studying the history of literature, its evolution, and his involvement.

I guess, in summation, I'm a fan, but from a distance. I'm inactive in my search for his deeper meanings. I have plates with more on them in front of me, I suppose. But I'd be lying if I said I wouldn't want blogs to be studied years from now the way we were forced given Shakespeare as a means of cultural relevance back when I was a student who didn't know any better, and it'd be an honor to earn consideration among the greats of yesterday and today (but that's probably an entry in itself for another day).

MUSICAL BREAK!!

I believe this video is from around the same tour I saw Radiohead on in Toronto, but I'm not positive and I could be wrong (and I don't feel like digging out the t-shirt that lists dates on the back). This song originally appeared on the "Romeo Juliet" soundtrack (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117509/soundtrack?ref_=tt_trv_snd), and also as a b-side to "Street Spirit (Fade Out)". (http://www.greenplastic.com/radiohead-lyrics/b-sides-and-other-non-album-songs/t...)

THE DAILY BOX SCORE:

I neglected to mention my recent fast-food experience in my last entry...if anyone's been paying attention to any little subtleties (or otherwise) I've made mention of, I have a thing against McDonalds. But they're just too damn cheap and convenient to not eat there. So while I was hangin' around last Friday while waiting for my brother to make his way to Cortland, I got hungry. Not wanting to cause any out-of-the-way dilemmas, I just suggested McDonalds and kept it simple. I wanted the cheeseburger with two slices of cheese on it; not the Dollar Menu fake-out one slice double burger. But I don't know their actual menu names, so from the passenger seat I said, "The double cheeseburger with two slices of cheese on it." Don't get me started on what kind of society we live in now that "double cheeseburger" doesn't mean "two slices of cheese". Got my drive-thru order and discovered there was not one, but two sandwiches in there. And neither one was particularly what I ordered; one was their stupid little $1 double burger/one slice of cheese, and the other was a plain (no condiments besides their reconstituted onions) cheeseburger with two slices of cheese. I may have also asked for bacon, which one came with, but that's not the point. You can't get what you ask for anymore, and even when it's more that what you wished for, there's a certain feeling that comes along with getting what's right. More doesn't always equal better, in that instance.

And speaking of my distaste for functionality at McDonalds (please reference "This one's about 12 staples and no sauce." ), it came to my attention yesterday that your boy Ronald McDonald is getting an update on his looks and is taking on a social media presence as well (http://www.aol.com/article/2014/04/23/ronald-mcdonald-takes-to-twitter-gets-make...). While he'll be charged with "bringing the fun back again" or whatever, his wardrobe will still be out-of-date, because McDonalds spokespeople claim it took "two years to get him" in gear. I wasted no time getting at one of the many "official verified" McDonalds Twitter accounts, and of course, like the average American voicing his or her concerns to a giant corporation, I was subsequently ignored.

It's not often in this space that I trumpet the words of others, but this is something I can get behind and I hope you'll read it and feel similarly incensed as well. My thoughts are in the comments section of lizco252's entry "Invalid Entry" . This is a really important thing...corporations are gonna start taking over your internet, and that's friggin' bullshit (I apologize for the harsh combination of letters). You want that content that you already pay too much for to be delivered to you faster? Guess you'll have to pony up even more dough...meanwhile, everything else internet-related gets shoved into the dial-up lane like it's 1997 all over again. Computers and the internet aren't TV and cable, regardless of what providers think. I shouldn't have to pay more to get some sites to work faster or to ensure their compliancy with my expectations. I can't pay more to expect content shown on cable TV to come up faster or without interruption...why should any article I read on any given website be sacrificed because I'm not paying more for "faster speeds"? There's duplication of payment all over the internet already for access to certain features...and now this is a problem because an already terrible-yet-unregulated service should be sanctioned by the government in ways that make big companies even more money? Unreal. I'm gonna take a deep breath and not let this ruin my day...but the more people we get thinking about it, the better.

And with that, I'm gonna grab a bite to eat and maybe catch a nap (probably not though), since my sleep cycle is still a little shady from surgery and travelling. Peace, come and find me, and GOODNIGHT NOW!!