Procrastinate on This! Bon Qui Qui

Well, I haven’t watched MadTV in years, but thank goodness that CH’s nephew, Josh from “Future So Bright,” does b/c he hepped me to this insanely funny skit from their 2007 season. So this is two years late, but hopefully new to you,...

Future So Bright: Facebook Vs. Twitter

. a blogumn by Josh Grelle There seems to be a newish trend in the media, Twittering. It’s all over the news channels, especially Good Morning America. I honestly don’t get twittering, though. I don’t get why people do it or even what it really is. From my understanding it’s just a website devoted entirely to facebook like status messages. Why would you twit (or tweet or twitter) if you could just do the same thing on Facebook? Facebook also has chat, groups, games, and messaging. So I just don’t see what’s so great about Twitter. I don’t actually know anyone my age or in high school who twitters, although supposedly it’s a growing trend. One ABC article talks about how Twitter usage is up 700% from last year. However, it’s surprisingly not the technologically savvy youth causing the huge uptick, but adults in the 24-54 year old range who are making Twitter’s activity jump. I guess this explains why it’s more popular with older generations. Twitter seems rather easy to use and is probably a good place to start an online social life for people who didn’t grow up with Facebook and Myspace. Another article speaks out against Twitter because of its actual purpose: “Being exposed to details, from someone’s painful breakup to what they had for breakfast — and much more sordid details than that — feels like voyeurism,” says one 31-year-old public relations executive in Washington, D.C. “I’m less concerned with protecting my privacy, and more concerned at the ethics of a `human zoo’ where others’ lives, and often serious problems, are treated as entertainment.” Although this article is directed against both Facebook and Twitter, I feel that Facebook is more than just looking at how people are spending their every...

Future So Bright: International Food Week — Texas Style

. a blogumn by Josh Grelle Have you ever happened to pass by some cool ethnic restaurant and made a mental note to check it out, but never managed to eat there? I’ve been doing that a lot it seems. There are a lot of restaurants here in Plano, TX, so the lack of variety in the food I have consumed has been a little disappointing. We (we being my mother and I) set out on a quest to redeem ourselves.  Our solution was drum roll please…… International Food Week. Our hopes were high as we planned out our meals for the week. We had recently bought one of Emeril Lagasse’s international cookbooks so we found our recipes in there. On the first night of  IFW (International Food Week) we decided to have Thai food. We made chicken satay with  peanut sauce and a side of sticky rice. I loved the chicken. It was super yummy, however the peanut sauce was just so-so.  On the second day of IFW we had a Puerto Rican pork roast with Portuguese rice. I liked both of these dishes. The rice was nice and flavorful and the texture of the meat was outstanding. For our next dinner we hade Beef Stroganoff — the flavors were very strong, I don’t know if that’s how its supposed to taste because I had never eaten it before, but if it is, then I’m thinking I like beef stroganoff. For the fourth night we decided to have Korean food. We made pork and rice lettuce wraps with siracha sauce poured on top. The flavors were amazing together. They were nice and spicy and delicious. We ended the week with lasagna. My mom got a pasta roller (she had been wanting one ever...

Future So Bright: Saying Goodbye to E.R.

. a blogumn by Josh Grelle I feel like I’m going to lose a friend, a good friend….E.R. I don’t know how long I have been watching E.R., but I do know it has been for a very long time. My mom has been watching it since shortly after I was born. E.R. has always been faithful to us; always there on Thursday night, no matter what was happening, it was always there. Although perhaps it’s better that the show dies with its creator Michael Crichton, may he rest in peace. E.R. has been on for 15 seasons, which makes it the second longest running drama on NBC. E.R. always promised great writing, great characters, and great action. It also served as a launch pad for many careers — most notably George Clooney’s. And it has had many guest stars from Forest Whitaker to Zac Efron. One thing I really admire about E.R. is that all but one episode ( the very first, E. R.), has always been on Thursday night at 10:00pm/9:00pm central. I really can’t stand it when TV shows change days . When they are on one day one season and then the next season it’s on a different day. I do like that they brought back Noah Wyle’s character Dr. John Carter this season. However, I was super duper upset when Dr. Pratt was killed and Abbey and Luka left. I would have liked for them to have stayed until the end. There is supposedly a new show in the works from the creators of E.R., but I don’t think I’m going to be able to watch. It would feel like I’m betraying E.R. It will be like a stranger in the room, it just feels awkward. So this is...

Future So Bright: The Summer Reading List of 2069

. a blogumn by Josh Grelle Do you all remember in high school how you had to read a lot of the classic literature: The Iliad, The Odyssey, Great Expectations, and The Count of Monte Cristo? I do, although that may be because I am still doing so. In my English class we are doing a project on classic literature, and one of the objectives that we are supposed to achieve is to know what makes a book a classic. Well this got me thinking. If I’m stuck here reading this book that has no relevance  to the present, what books will some kid sixty years into the future be reading and complaining about. I found this to be an interesting prospect as I was staring at the pages of my book without really reading them. It may just be me but It’s really hard to choose which books will become future classics, there are so many and it seems that few of them are even popular enough to become future classics. After a long time deliberating about this I decide on my top three. The Harry Potter series of course, The Davinci Code, and The Hot Zone. I do hope that in the future I can add A Molly Ringwald Ending to this list also, if that is what it will be titled in the future (keeping my fingers crossed) Harry Potter is the obvious choice because of its extreme popularity, it inspired a whole new generation of readers, and the fact that it’s a realistically written fantasy book, meaning that it gets to the point instead of rambling on about nothing (LOTR — although I should say that I kind of enjoyed that series) .  I chose The Davinci Code because of...

Future So Bright: 1 Liter of Tears and Other Dramas

. a blogumn by Josh Grelle How many times have you looked on the bottom of your purchase electronic or otherwise and seen the oh so familiar “Made in China” or “Made in Japan” stamp? How long before you see that stamp when your favorite television series is on? My prediction, not long, a new trend has been sweeping my high school, Asian TV. Well more specifically Asian dramas. Brought to us by our friends who are in touch with their Asian heritage, these dramas have been capturing the attention of teens by storm. What is an Asian drama? Well, contrary to the average American perception of a drama, this kind of drama is more of a mini-series, which have varying subjects from action adventure to romantic comedy. This has been popular in my school for quite some time, but I only just now gave them a shot because the thought of reading subtitles was repulsive. However, the constant begging of my friends and being out of the loop just became too much. So after much mental preparation I started my first drama. I selected one of the more popular ones called 1 Liter of Tears, which can be found here. 1 Liter of Tears is a Japanese drama based on the true story of 15-year-old Ikeuchi Aya, who is diagnosed with spinocerebellar degeneration, a crippling and incurable disease in which one slowly loses control over their own motor function. Aya and her family’s struggle with this disease makes an amazing story. Heartbreaking —  actually like make you sob your eyes out heartbreaking. This totally blew my expectations out of the water. One of my new favorite shows ever!!! I assumed that it would be cheesy and have extremely bad acting, but alas it...

Future So Bright: Grading Our New Grade Point Average

. a blogumn by Josh Grelle Some of the things kids say just amaze me: “ Is that a furry pig?”- Abby “Abby that’s a buffalo”- Me “How do you not like bacon, it’s like the best part of the cow?”-Gabby And my personal favorite: “Is Cuba the state next to Arizona or Maine?”-Waley. All I can say to these is wow. Who can possibly be this ( I don’t want to say stupid because it’s mean but it is a really appropriate word for this particular situation) _________ insert your chosen word here. The most recent example of institutionalized intelligence sucking is the new Texas GPA plan. Or as I like to call it the worst piece of crap ever to happen to education since standardized testing and the No Child Left Behind Program. The Texas GPA Equality Plan is supposedly going to even out the GPA averages, so that colleges don’t get confused — because, of course, people at the colleges are o so dumb. The way they plan to accomplish this is by taking the honors or Pre A.P. (the politically correct way to say it) G.P.A. and lowering it from a 4.5 G.P.A. to a 4.0 G.P.A. which is the exact same G.P.A. as the regulars students. So all of the hard work that the honors kids put in will be for nothing. In fact it might even hurt their G.P.A. because honors is more difficult than regular classes, so even if you score a 94 in honors and can get a 100 in a regular class then your G.P.A. will be lower. Basically this is going to discourage people from trying to take harder classes and injure the ones who do. Of course the whole college confusion reason is...

Future So Bright: The Holiday Blues

. A blogumn by Josh Grelle Oh man it’s Christmas time — oh wait perhaps I should rephrase that, aww man it’s Christmas time. Why the holiday blues you ask? Well Christmas just isn’t the same anymore now that I’m not a little kid. The holiday season used to be something more than buying presents and being taken advantage of by ads and sales exploiting Santa Claus and just Christmas in general. But now… Well, to aid in my quest to combat my holiday blues I have compiled a list of tips to get us through the holidays. 1. Avoid carrot sticks. Anyone who puts carrots on a holiday buffet table knows nothing of the Christmas spirit. In fact, if you see carrots, leave immediately. Go next door, where they’re probably serving pie. 2. Throw caution to the wind: “The best way to spread Christmas cheer is to sing out loud for all to hear.”- Elf. Even if you’re not the best singer in the world, give it a try. Who cares if you embarrass yourself. It’s Christmas. 3. If something comes with gravy, use it. That’s the whole point of gravy. Gravy does not stand alone. Pour it on. Make a volcano out of your mashed potatoes. Fill it with gravy. Eat the volcano. Repeat. As for mashed potatoes, always ask if they’re made with skim milk or whole milk. If it’s skim, pass. Why bother? It’s like buying a sports car with an automatic transmission. 4. Set aside time to watch your favorite childhood Christmas movie or special, be it Rudolf or A Charlie Brown Christmas, whatever it is , it is worth it to make time to watch it again. In fact I am watching The Polar Express as I write...

Future So Bright: That’s So Crazy, It Must Be Japanese!

. A blogumn by Josh Grelle Hola everybody! Today I’m writing about something that I find so entertaining it hurts. One day I was merrily surfing YouTube, and I magically stumbled upon something  that changed my world forever…….. Crazy Japanese game shows = ). But instead of telling you about these, I should probably just show you because, well, no human being can accurately describe them, and actually I’m not completely sure I know what’s going on in all of them (there’s a rather big language barrier). Silent Library: Okay so I guess this one is a game show where basically these college guys are in a library and they have to  do horribly evil things to each other while not making noise, because they are in a library hence the name Silent Library. If you think that’s bad, more examples of crazy Japanese game shows after the jump: Dizzy Boxing: So in this one they make two cross dress Japanese people spin super-fast and then try to box each other off a balance beam and then jump in a pie ( I really don’t understand what the pie is for though). Human Tetris: What’s happening here is that they are dressing up Japanese men in tight and shiny spandex suits, and making then squeeze through a hole in a wall that is zooming towards them. Don’t Laugh: This one encompasses teenage boys in a classroom setting who are shown videos of another Japanese kid trying to learn English. Here’s the good part if they laugh at all these weird guys come in and spank them with paddles. Japanese Marshmallow Eating Contest: This game show has teams of Japanese guys in kimonos who have to strap a rubber band around their faces and try...

Future So Bright: Twilight Mania

. A blogumn by Josh Grelle Ok so I wouldn’t feel like I was completing my duties as the Fierce and Nerdy high school blogumnist, unless I wrote about Twilight at least once. If you don’t know what the Twilight series is, I can sum it up in four words (not counting the and) vampires, romance, and really popular. So down here in Texas, especially in the high schools Twilight is the biggest thing since umm… idk… bottled water. Twilight is definitely the new Harry Potter, and I know that it is a romance story, but actually from a guys perspective, it’s a good read, especially the fourth book, Breaking Dawn. Though, I still don’t think it’s anything to get so worked up about like most all of the high school girls do. For example my school has kind of been split up into two sides, Team Jacob and Team Edward. There has been an influx of arguments about it recently (with the hype of the movie and all) it’s a little ridiculous if you ask me but w/e. So if you haven’t started reading this series then I highly suggest it. If you are planning to attend the movie (like me =]), and you haven’t read the books, and plan to wait to read them till after you see the movie, then I highly suggest that you don’t. This is  because I definitely wouldn’t want the movie to ruin the ending for you. I think the movies are going to pale in comparison to the books (also like Harry Potter, actually I guess most all books that have become movies are like that). And if you aren’t planning on reading the books at all then you should definitely reconsider your choice, because I...

Future So Bright: How To Feng Shui Your iPod

. A blogumn by Josh Grelle Okay, so In America, there is about 305,507,561 people according to the Census Bureau and about 6,732,780,911 people in the world which is a lot. Now think about the amount of songs you listen to and then think about the amount of songs in the whole entire world. The amount of songs that you hear on the radio or have bought on iTunes or seen on YouTube is so minuscule compared to what’s out there. I recently have started trying to remedy this and so have many people at my school. Ever since the Olympics there has been an influx of foreign music, more specifically Chinese music and although most people can’t understand the lyrics, people still listen to them because music is music. I have also found listening to Chinese music very helpful in learning Chinese; it gives you a lot of pronunciation practice. So anyways I have been listening to Chinese music for a while and it I find it quite enjoyable for a couple of reasons. For instance there haven’t been very many really great solo male singers in America the past couple of years. It seems like they are all in bands, or at least used to be bands. Well, in China there are a lot of really, really good solo male artists. Another thing I like about Chinese music is that most of their music (from what I can understand) seems to be a lot purer that some of the modern day American music. Instead of being about sex and drugs, it’s about love friendship and fun, and I find this extremely refreshing. Here are some great music videos from some of the more popular male artists after the jump. Before you watch...

Future So Bright: I’m Scared For America

. A blogumn by Josh Grelle Okay, so I know this is supposed to be more of a review column, but I really can’t resist writing about this, the reason I’m scared for America. You may be thinking this is about the economy, the election, or maybe even the war, but you are wrong. The reason I’m worried is because of people my age. I myself being a nerd am more into politics than most people my age, and so one of the topics I talk about regularly is politics. I often find myself in a debates, and seeing as how I’m a Democrat in Texas  most times I am outnumbered,  But it’s not the Republican factor that I’m worried about (although I find it rather annoying).  The thing I’m worried about is that most of the people my age I debate with are not Republican because they honestly believe in Republican values and ideas, but because their parents are Republican. Maybe I’m just expecting too much from these non-nerds, but if you’re fifteen maybe sixteen, then shouldn’t you have developed a sense of your own political beliefs? I wouldn’t mind if they actually knew what they were talking about and why they choose McCain as the candidate that they want, but the usual response is I don’t know or because Obama’s a Muslim. And then all of the cool kids, instead of choosing McCain, choose Obama, not because they are supporting him politically but because they think that it’s cool to support Obama. I mean seriously, if these people are going to be the ones choosing the president in 2012, then I would prefer that they didn’t vote in the first place. Voting is a privilege that not everyone in this world gets...

Future’s So Bright: Fine Living

. A blogumn by Josh Grelle Yola, everybody! My name is Josh. I’m 14 years old and, for lack of a better word, a nerd. However, I don’t think that really sums me up. Perhaps if I find the word I’m looking for, I’ll tell you, but for now I’m just a nerd. I’m writing to you from the bustling metropolis of Plano TX, a Dallas suburb of about 250,000 people. I am currently attending the ninth grade at Vines High School A.K.A. The Pharmacy. I’m sure you all remember high school as it doesn’t seem like one of those things that you can forget — even if you wanted to. This column is designed to bring you the latest high school trends and fads and also life from the point of view of a high school nerd (me). In future blogs, I will write about books that I enjoyed, music that I listened to, movies that I loved, and T.V shows that I feel are worth checking out. Speaking on that subject, I rather enjoyed this new show the first time I watched it: Whatever Martha! (Fine Living Network, 9pm, Tuesdays) —  oh, and the by the way, I don’t just randomly watch the Fine Living Network. I saw a commercial for this show while my mom was watching the Fine Living Network, and I decided to catch it. Turns out that Whatever Martha! is sadistically funny, and I plan to make it a weekly watch. The main idea of the show is that Alexis Stewart (yes, Martha Stewart’s daughter) and Jennifer Koppelman Hutt use clips of Martha’s old shows and basically make fun her. Alexis and Jennifer are not afraid to say what’s going on in their minds, and it’s often the...