Friday, December 21, 2012

Christmas Morning Menu

For the past few years, Carlos and I have hosted Christmas Morning Breakfast - where we eat, drink and exchange presents, before heading off to the get together with our extended family. (This year, we have 36 attending.)

I thought I'd share this year's menu.



To Drink:
Coffee
Eggnog

To Eat:
Cinnamon Toast
Biscuits

I have seen many versions of the Grits and Grillades recipe. The one I have linked is Paula Deen's and is my favorite.

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Boy Bands



So I was driving down Airline Drive on my way home from work today, blasting this song...

One Direction - What Makes You Beautiful

...when I came to a stop light. The passenger in the large red truck on my left side gave me a strange look. I rocked on.

That got me thinking...


One of my hobbies is trading shirtless photos of celebrities. I guess it's the modern day, gay version of baseball cards.

I run three fairly successful Yahoo groups - 

I also frequent and contribute to a message board called Famous Males Forum. Because it's based in the UK, I find out about many stars that never cross over to here in the US.

Even though I have over 100 shirtless photos of, for example, Lee Ryan...

until last week I had never heard a note of his band Blue. That is, until I started compiling my list of...


Top Ten Boy Band Songs of All Time


Or at least that was the original idea of this post. I quickly realized that I liked looking at the members of the boy bands much more than actually listening to their music. Even with 89 listed American Boy Bands -- and 58 listed English Boy Bands - plus the 50+ ones from the rest of the world, this is the best list I could assemble.

Once I assemble a Top Ten Boy Band Members for my other blog, I'll post a link here.


Starting off our countdown is One Direction - What Makes You Beautiful at #7. You saw that video above.

Here's how to correctly remake a song - with style, humor, and a wink to the original version...

#6 - Westlife - Uptown Girl


Bonus points for the best looking member being the one who came out (and the fan base didn't care)...

























Here is Billy Joel's original version...

Billy Joel - Uptown Girl


The aforementioned boy band Blue has done both a classy remake...

#5 - Blue featuring Elton John - Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word


...and a fumbled attempt...

Blue (featuring Kool & the Gang and Lil' Kim) - Get Down On It


Here is Kool & The Gang's original version...

Kool & The Gang - Get Down On It


Of the Disney-Channel-spawned band The Jonas Brothers, this is their best song (though they actually do have some other good ones)...

#4 - The Jonas Brothers - Year 3000

The youngest brother Nick is especially talented. I've heard his solo album - and it's quite good.




Going back to 1996, I still sneak this song onto mixed CD's that I create...

#3 - Hanson - MMMBop

Zac Hanson, the 10-year-old drummer in the video, is now 27 years old, and married with two kids. Taylor Hanson, the lead singer, is now 29, married with five kids. Don't you feel old now?


Interestingly, my top two songs both have the same title..

#2 - The Jackson 5 - I Want You Back


The top of my chart of Top Ten Seven Boy Band Songs of All Time was always going to be this one...

#1 - NSYNC - I Want You Back


What are your favorite boy band songs?