Hung Truong: The Blog!

They Might Be Giants Concert @ The Mighican Theater!

I just got back from the TMBG Concert.

So the opening band was called Oppenheimer. They’re two guys from Northern Ireland, apparently. The band seems like a suitable opener for TMBG, since they consist of two guys. The bald guy plays drums and sings, and the slightly chubby one plays guitar and sings with the robot-inducing keyboard thing. Voicebox?

I’m glad I got The Else before this concert, because it sucks not knowing the songs when a band plays it live. Something about having to process the song instead of sort of knowing what’s going to happen. With Oppenheimer, I didn’t know any songs, so it was sorta hard to get it. Plus their songs were all very electronicy. Like with sustained chords and such. They were pretty cool though. The chubby guitarist also seemed really into it, sort of like a guitar-playing Star Wars Kid!

TMBG started off with one of their new songs, The Cap’m and ended up playing quite a few of The Else songs. After the first song, Flans told everyone to go stand in the front, so I ran into the aisle to the 10th row or so. Maybe closer. That was cool, since my seat was right behind an Amazonian lady. Nothing against her, but I couldn’t see Oppenheimer because of her massive head (and its height).

So I got to rock out in the aisle the whole show. It was cool! They played a mix of songs mostly from their newer albums (The Else, The Spine, and Mink Car) and a few of the “classics.” They didn’t play Ana Ng, Don’t Let’s Start or She’s an Angel, which was kind of dissapointing. But they did play The Famous Polka! Without the words… Ooh, they played Why Does The Sun Shine? and Meet James Ensor though, which almost makes up for it. And Doctor Worm. And New York City. It was a good show.

If I could have done the playlist, I’d have taken off Cyclops Rock (though it actually sounds good live) and XTC Vs Adam Ant. They also played this weird song where they listed countries in alphabetical order that I’ve never heard before. It must be off the kid’s album. With those songs removed, I would’ve added those previously mentioned unplayed songs, and maybe some of Linnell’s state songs (Montana!).

Also strange was the absence of my favorite song of the new album, Upside Down Frown… It made me turn my smile upside down. Temporarily. They did play the Mesopotamian one though.

Singing-wise, they were very good. I actually think they sound better live. There’s a lot more energy in their live show that doesn’t get transmitted in the CDs. Linnell really belts it out, as well as Flansburgh (especially during Istanbul (not Constantinpole)’s interlude part. Some songs that I’ve disliked in the past sounded better live.

They also had some weird skits, like they made a phone call with some dead person. Tonight (I dunno if it changes) was Jerry Orbach, who I didn’t even realize was dead! Apparently the rest of the audience didn’t know who he was by his name (along with me), since They sorta had to explain the gag. Then Jerry (Flans) and Linnell (Linnell) had a duet.

TMBG left somewhat suddenly after playing their Mesopotamian song. Then the audience started clapping and the house lights didn’t go on, so we kept clapping and yelling until the band came back to play more songs. Then they played a couple more songs and left again. Then we got them to come back again. I know it’s part of the showmanship thing, but playing a part in this rehearsed set of events kind of makes me feel used. Psychologically though, I guess it was better than if they just said “so long!” after their real last song.

Having played quite a few gigs in a band myself, I can say that people sort of expect you to play another song after you say you’re done. So it’s always kind of good to cover your ass by saying you’re done when you’re not. Because fans get pretty pissed when you quit without doing an encore. Except if you fucked up that night, which also happened a lot in the band I was in. But I digress…

Overall, it was a cool show, and I think I got my money’s worth. It’s sort of strange seeing these people that you’ve heard for years actually making music on the fly. Like “whoa, this music is made by real people!” I’d have stayed and tried to get something autographed, but I heard that they weren’t going to meet fans after the show. I went to the merch place and they had CDs that were pre-autographed. Sort of lame, really. It’s not like the CDs were priced any higher than normal, but at least show up to say hi to the fans! Okay, I didn’t stick around, so maybe they did, but they definitely gave the impression of not caring with the pre-autographed stuff.

If I ever get a chance to see them again, I’ll probably take it. I had a good time. If this was an eBay transaction, it’s probably go something like: “SUPER FAST SHIPPING GREAT COMM WOULD BUY FROM AGAIN AAAA+++++++!!!!!!” But don’t they all?

They Might Be Giants: The Else – CD Review!

Whoa, so I just got The Else in the mail. And just in time, since the TMBG concert is tomorrow night! I had gotten psyched for it this weekend by watching the TMBG documentary, Gigantic. I guess I could’ve written about it too. Maybe I will later. But this is a review of the new(ish) CD!

Banished From Boggle

There’s a Facebook app called “Bogglific.” It’s sort of the Boggle equivalent to Scrabulous. Anyway, my boss Gillian likes playing it, so I added it to play against her. And she beat me handily. So handily, in fact, that I was resolute to come up with a way to have my revenge.

I’m the kind of person who likes to play smart, not hard. And I’m a programmer. So put one and one together. Go ahead, I’ll give you some time to predict what I did.

YES, I WROTE A PROGRAM TO CHEAT AT BOGGLE!

I mean, it’s sort of this fun problem if you think about it. My solution used a lot of recursion (probably too much), and a dictionary function that verified actual words.

And it worked pretty well, too. I beat one of my coworkers 70 points to 1. Of course, afterwards I fully disclosed this information. I’d never be able to live up to the hype if someone challenged me to a live game anyway. I mostly cheated to see if my program was any good. And apparently it was. My plan was to make it to the top of the leaderboard, then retire from the business altogether.

I have to hand it to the Bogglific people; they’re pretty clever. They detected that I was cheating and banned me. And I have nothing against that. I knew what I was getting wrapped up in. I still even have my pride intact, since it was my program that I was cheating with! I understand though that cheaters should be banned. It really isn’t fair for everyone else who comes up with their three and four letter words.

I’m thinking of adapting my Boggle solver into a Facebook app. For educational purposes only, of course. Like, check out all the words you missed! It’ll be a sort of Boggle trainer…

Anyway, I am taking my Boggle banishment in stride. I hold nothing against my oppressors. At least now I’ll have some free time to work on my Scrabulous Solver (which is actually a somewhat more computationally complex (and interesting) problem…).

The Meijer Free Sample Lady Saved My Life!

Yep. So today I went to Meijer for my weekly groceries. I had an extra hour, so I figured I’d be extra slovenly this morning. I made some coffee. I wasted time on the internet. Then I left. But I forgot to eat breakfast!

I only remembered this once I got to Meijer. I felt really weak, and realized I should’ve gotten food first. So I sorta just staggered around, getting stuff I needed. I went to the bottle return thingy too. Due to my weakness, I think I talked to myself a lot more (“soup get!”) and weirded people out. Wandering the aisles, I was trying to figure out if I could eat anything, then pay for it later. But that doesn’t really work in grocery stores. I would’ve sampled some Jelly Bellies, but I doubt that would have satiated my weak shell of a body.

Luckily, about halfway through the adventure, I saw that the foreign-sounding lady (“here! it’s-a very good a-pumpkin cake!”) that’s always giving away free samples at the Saline Rd Meijer had setup a pumpkin cake sample area! I ate one, and told her it was the first thing I had eaten all day. Then she gave me another! She basically saved my life, maybe.

I didn’t end up buying a cake, but I did buy lots of other crap today. So thank you foreign-sounding Meijer sample lady, whoever you are!

Orange Juice Snobbery

So since I’ve been living alone, I’ve been buying groceries for myself. One thing I’ve been drinking more of is orange juice. I’m not quite sure why; probably because I think that if I drink high volumes of the stuff, I’ll be healthier than if I don’t. And it’s sort of worked. I think pretty much everyone in Michigan is currently sick except for me.

On my weekly grocery run, I always make sure to grab at least two things of orange juice. I go through two in a week, and sometimes more. I think a 2-2-3 pattern works out nicely. Typically I just buy what’s on sale at Meijer. So far, I’ve had pretty much all brands of orange juice available. There’s Minute Maid, Tropicana, Simply Orange, Meijer brand…

In short, I’ve become somewhat of an orange juice connoisseur.

I never could make the distinction before between “from concentrate” and not. These days, “not from concentrate” is equal to “tastes like crap.” I’m drinking some Meijer from concentrate orange juice as I write this, and 1) It tastes pretty bad, 2) I think it’s giving me heartburn.

Aside from the concentrate issue, we have things like pulp density, added vitamins, etc. There was one version of Minute Maid I bought that had some kind of weird joint drug in it… Needless to say my joints were feeling great after I drank it. Perhaps this is due to some placebo effect. Or perhaps it’s due to the fact that I’m not quite old yet.

Also, there exist orange juices with an added “Omega-3” ingredient. Apparently this is good for you. But you get this ingredient from fish. Yeah, orange juice with fish in it. Not my idea of a tasty breakfast beverage. Incidentally, I think my multivitamin also has this fish stuff added. But I just swallow that whole. I guess it’s still gross, just somewhat less so.

But let’s keep on track. I’m blogging about orange juice, goddamn it! When I see OJ with added vitamins or minerals, I’ll probably go for that. Calcium is good, but normal is fine too. Last week, Tropicana was on sale. But they only had the “Low Acid” and “Healthy” versions. The “healthy” one apparently had half the sugar… I got the low acid one. And it tasted really damn good! I have to wonder where the acid went after being extracted from my orange juice. I can only hope it was used for good, and not evil.

Let’s get back to the pulp. I’ve been experimenting with pulp densities. So far, I’ve found that moderation is key; medium pulp works well. No pulp is just unnatural, and high pulp is just too chewy and hard to clean. Low pulp can be substituted if medium pulp is unavailable. The thing is, there’s no common pulp density measure between orange juice distributors. How high is high pulp? Only the juicers know for sure. I’ll continue experimenting with the pulp density levels until I reach, with a high confidence level, a consensus on my preference.

Due to cost and time issues, I have not yet ventured into the business of “home brewing” my orange juice. I think I’ll leave that job to the professionals. While there is something to be said about one who juices his own oranges, I cannot be bothered to perfect my skill in this particular craft.

In conclusion, there is no clear winner as far as orange juice brands go. I’ve only bought single brands of orange juice each week. I can say that I like Simply Orange, Minute Maid, and Tropicana. I haven’t tried the more expensive Meijer version yet. Perhaps in the future I will try a double blind orange juice taste challenge. But for now, I’ll just buy what’s on sale. I hope it’s something good this week…