Nanerpuss: Best. Commercial. Ever.

Way to go, Denny's.

Tonythedancemachine

A phenomenon has been sweeping the Upstate lately. Frankly, it is the greatest thing from Germany to hit this part of the state since the BMW factory. He is more than a man. He is Tonythedancemachine.



We first became aware of Tonythedancemachine (who I simply refer to as "Tony") about a month ago when some classmates of mine encountered him at one night at one of the Clemson bars. In describing Tony to us the next day, they handed us his business card (which is awesome) and explained that Tony is originally from Germany, doesn't drink, and simply loves to dance. According to our friend, Tony originally came over to the US to work as an engineer, but has recently been going through a divorce and generally sort of a rough patch, and decided that in order to deal with it, he would just dance. Upon further investigation it would seem that he has been visiting various venues up in Greenville for a while, but heard that Clemson was pretty fun, so he apparently makes weekly trips to the Clemson bars nowadays.



Basically his M.O. is this: Tony shows up at a bar, dressed in his tight Levi's, tight Under Armour, and matching brightly colored tennis shows. He walks around a little bit to scope out the scene and then, upon starting to feel the beat, breaks it down. A circle forms around him with everyone watching, laughing and pushing girls in for Tony to dance with. Tony doesn't ever really seem to be phased by this and usually appears to be having a good time. Sometimes the dancing borders on lewd, but it is usually because the girls make it that way. Tony usually stays and dances for a little while, say, half an hour, before making his exit and presumably going to another bar.

I think that Tony can be hired for parties, I'm not exactly sure, but based on the fact that he has business cards and has formed his own LLC, I'm thinking that he does. He is quite internet saavy and has his own website and Myspace page which are both worth taking a look at. On his website you can view more pictures and videos of his impressive dance moves. Overall, I think Tony's a pretty good guy. It seems that he doesn't have ill intentions, and is simply having a good time. He also brings seems to make everyone around him have a better time, so what's not to appreciate about that?

"Varsity" Disposable Fountain Pens

I don't wear a suit coat or jacket often enough to conveniently carry a pen on me at all times. If I did, I think I might like to invest in a quality fountain pen to carry with me. However, given my current circumstances, I simply try to have a pen at arm's length whether I am in my car, in class, or at home. My number one choice for such a pen is the "Varsity" disposable fountain pen made by Pilot. As far as I'm concerned, it's the best disposable pen. Ever.



I originally got hooked on these pens when working as a runner at a law firm in Birmingham. In case you haven't spent much time around lawyers, they are the most coddled group of professionals out there. They have to have everything done for them by their secretaries, paralegals, and runners. At least in my experience, they are incapable of brewing their own coffee, cleaning up after themselves in the kitchen, or making their own copies. When it comes to pens, they are so picky that our office supplies area had around fifty different types of pens just because all of the lawyers wanted different ones and would have been unable to function if there wasn't a box of their favorite always stocked. One of these boxes happened to be full of Varsity pens, and at the suggestion of the all-wise receptionist, I gave it a try. I had never used a fountain pen before, but after using it for a while, all other pens paled in comparison. When I left the firm, I think that I took at least three of those pens with me.

There is something very satisfying in writing with a fountain pen, and the Varsity represents a great introduction. That being said, as far as disposable pens go, they aren't exactly cheap. You can usually buy a 3-pack of them at your local office supply store for about $9-$10. You could probably get 50 Bics for that price, but the Varsity pens are worth every penny (except for the stupid purple pens that they keep putting in those 3-packs; just leave it at black and blue, please). Apparently you can pick them up for $1.88 a piece from the Sam's Club website, so maybe it's time to stock up...

The List of Manly Maintenance

Buying quality products inevitably requires a bit of periodic maintenance to make sure that they will last for a long time and look or perform their best while doing it. I submit the following list as the manliest of these activities:

1. Cleaning guns
2. Waxing a Barbour jacket
3. Polishing shoes
4. Mowing the grass
5. Washing the car

On Hipsters

This is probably the best article I have read about hipsters: Hipster: The Dead End of Western Civilization. It does a great job of not only defining hipsters, but also addressing a number of the problems/inconsistencies with the "movement." Don't get me wrong, I don't hate hipsters. I knew, or was at least acquainted with, a number of hipsters back in Birmingham and they threw great parties and I enjoy their music. However, it is not something that has really appealed to me as a whole, and I think this article makes some of those reasons quite clear.

For further reading about hipsters, The Hipster Handbook really is a great read and does a great job of identifying the intricacies of the hipster sub-types in poignant satire.

Blockbuster Video

I am not a big fan of Blockbuster Video. I signed up for Netflix earlier this year and have never looked back. So, when I came across this website which tracks peoples' perception of brands by displaying what words their associate with it, I was somewhat pleased to see the collection of words associated with Blockbuster. Some highlights include "late fees," "obsolete," and "ripoff."

Additionally, this video about Blockbuster from The Onion is quite entertaining.

Historic "Blockbuster" Store Offers Glimpse Of How Movies Were Rented In The Past