BarlowGirl

Today, random article brought me the the entry about BarlowGirl, an all-girl Christian rock band from Elgin, IL. Doesn't the one on the left look like Kelly Clarkson?

Now, since Elgin is kinda near where I grew up (Milwaukee), I wonder whether they're related to the Barlows I know. Probably not. They aren't Christian. They're Mormon. Mormonism isn't part of Christianity, is it? Damned if I know. I am, as it were, a Cashew (Catholic Jew) and, as such, know very little about my own religion(s), much less anyone else's.

In any event, it seemed strange that they were Mormon because, to my knowledge, there wasn't a huge Mormon contingency in southeastern Wisconsin. Was there? Again, I have no idea.

Anything I had heard about Mormons was that they got married a bunch and lived in Utah, neither of which was a true statement about the Barlows. Granted, I was 15 and lived in ridiculously homogeneous suburb, so I was clueless. But, to me, the Barlow family was anything but creepy polygamists.

In fact, my BFF Kim and I (who ended up not being a BFF after all when we stopped being friends in 8th grade-ish) were in love with the oldest brother, a lifeguard at the pool we frequented every summer from 1988-1994. We were crushed when he suddenly stopped working due to some sort of drug bust involving him and this other super cute lifeguard Cody. Very un-Mormon of him, no?

Come to think of it, Cody happened to be from the one other Mormon family in town, which is, again, weird. Right? I thought they weren't supposed to do drugs. I guess you can see why I'm so confused about Christians and their rock bands. Whatever, I'm going to go watch Big Love.

wikrolling: an experiment or an experience?

So I'm not necessarily sure the phenomenon commonly (?) known as Rickrolling has swept the nation as vastly as I originally thought. In my social circle, it's rather commonplace due to our pre-Rickroll affinity for Rick Astley's classic tune. In any event, for those of you unaware or too lazy to click on that link above, Rickrolling is ostensibly a bait & switch trick in which one sends a friend/nemesis/unsuspecting parent a link, claiming it's awesome/awesomer/a quiz to tell you which flower best represents you (respectively)...but, SURPRISE! It redirects to the YouTube video of Rick Astley's 1987 hit "Never Gonna Give You Up". A hilarious albeit elementary concept to say the least, Rickrolling as a trend seems to have worn out its welcome.

That's why I find it necessary to bring it back...kinda. As I tend to not read books (deal with it) but rather immerse myself in the randomly useless facts I can find by browsing the wonder that is Wikipedia, I've decided to Wikroll myself as part of my foray into the blogging community (that sounded really effing trite, but it's true, okay). What this means is, whenever I find the urge to log-via-web, I'll wander over to Wikipedia, click the always precocious "random article," and see what surprises me. Maybe it's something awesome--like Bora Bora or Reese's Pieces. Maybe it's not--like Philip V of Spain (perhaps the most unattractive king of all time) or sap. Either way, in true improvisational comedy fashion (I do have over $2000 worth of experience on the subject), I'll see what kind of funny junk this random topic inspires from me. If all goes well, you'll all laugh a lot. If all goes poorly, then, uhhh...shut up. Let's get started. Click here for the first post.