Witz Pickz: Don't Be Reading How To Talk To A Widower to Gutterfly while Wirelessly Eating Your Flax with Margarine In the Hood

Here are some Wednesday pickz to keep the ball rollin':

How To Talk To A Widower by Jonathan Tropper: Author of The Book of Joe, another great book, is a very easy read, but entirely worth it if you're looking for something to read for fun that you can still feel respectable about. Jonathan Tropper is like the step-son of Nick Hornby, Michael Chabon, and Dave Eggers. He really wants to be in that crowd, and a lot of his writing reflects their tone and attitudes, however, he doesn't pack in enough grit and originality to make it quite to their level. So...well, he's kind of like me I guess. Crap. Anyway, How To Talk To A Widower follows Doug, whose forty year old wife died in a plane crash about a year ago, as he tries to move forward and deal with his grief. He's only twenty-eight, so the dynamic is interesting and I liked a lot of the ideas and characters. It was trite at times and a little obvious at others, but it also pulled you along and was easy to move through. Jonathan Tropper's specialty is apparently the idea of "30" and what your age means, so it was particularly logical for me to finish it yesterday. Definitely an easy, good read if you have the time, and yes, ladies, it's a bit trashy.

Lifesavas - Gutterfly: The Portland, Oregon trio released their second album and because all rappers think they'd be incredible filmmakers, it is a concept album-- the soundtrack to a movie that doesn't exist. Taking place in Razorblade City (Portland), the three assume numerous personas and characters to go through a narrative. The tracks are good and some are very catchy, but I wouldn't put much stock in the storytelling aspect of the album. It's an interesting album, though, and in the way that I believe David Bowie described seeing The Killers as, "the history of rock and roll in front of his eyes", Lifesavas incorporates all styles of hip-hop, funk, and soul. Definitely worth a listen.

Wireless Video Game Controllers: I don't think people made enough of a big deal about this when it happened. First, there were wireless keyboards and mice. THEN, wireless PS2 and XBOX controllers. Now, it's the norm for PS3 and XBOX360, and nobody seems to verbalize how straight up cool that is. Here's another thing-- apparently, and I just learned this, PS3 has the exact same "axis motion" sensor that the Wii is based on. In some games, simply turning your remote is a function. So, if PS3 has the SAME EXACT abilities as a Wii (and without the obvious motion sensor on top of the tv), how come they don't come out with games that utilize it to its full extent and run the Wii crowd right out of business?? PS3 has way better games and graphics than the Wii and is ultimately about the same price (Wii is cheaper, but each remote with nunchuck attachment used in many games, is 80 DOLLARS-- so for a system of 4 people, it costs like 300+240+games, vs. the PS3's price of about 400-600 dollars). I would buy a PS3 in a second if it had both capabilities.

Flax: Flax is big right now and I just want to throw in my hat and say, "I'm not so sure." I don't know all of what it does for you or what it's supposed to do for you, but I haven't heard any downsides to consuming extra flax, and I'm not sure that's a good thing. Consuming any product en masse cannot be healthy, although I'm basing that mostly on my Chocolate and Gatorade addictions of the mid 90's (did you know that drinking Gatorade regularly ultimately leaves you dehydrated and prone to blacking out?? I now do). Anyway, we'll see in time, but I just want to let you all know that I'm not sold just yet.

Margarine: Much like the wireless controllers, but in reverse, I don't think we made a big enough deal about how WRONG we were about margarine. Everyone hailed margarine as this great thing and it changed our economy, etc (it was cheaper than butter and allowed middle and lower economic families to buy it), it was probably one of the greatest health eff-ups in a while. Once trans fat was found to exist, margarine became one of the worst products in the world. Everybody swears off margarine now, but nobody has made enough of a deal over HOW BADLY THEY MESSED UP. Are there people in the margarine industry just sitting in abandoned warehouses, spinning on their one remaining desk chair, wondering what went wrong? P.S. Super thanks to my Grandma for giving me the straight up "Butter vs. Margarine" test when I was little. "I didn't get it, lemme try it again!" when I was 8 has to have translated directly into about 30 lbs and higher blood pressure today.

Rollin' on...Wheels...Of Some Kind,
Witz