Song of the Day - 27.Mar.12

I wouldn't refer to myself as a big fan of reality television, despite my one and only IMDB credit being within the unscripted genre. Nevertheless, on the several recent Monday evenings when How I Met Your Mother is showing a rerun, I flip to NBC and catch bits and pieces of The Voice. And I am really enjoying it. I caught about four of their battles and was impressed with what I saw. The performance that really hooked me was this fantastic cover of the Faces' "Stay With Me." It's a good reminder of how a bitching amount of swagger can turn a less-than-attractive fellow like Rod Stewart into a Bond-level ladies' man.

Day Tripper - New York State of Mind

One of the many perks of living in Philadelphia is its proximity to so many snazzy places. Philadelphians are within a two or three hour drive of the mountains, the ocean, and some of the coolest and most important cities in the world. With that in mind, the What is proud to present Day Tripper, our guide to the numerous fun trips you can take in and around the Philadelphia region.

New York State of Mind

 

Taking a day trip up to New York City is always a great time. Last time Day Tripper visited the Big Apple, we kept it touristy and stuck around Times Square. Now it's time to move on and check out another part of NYC. I had been itching to check out the Brooklyn Bridge and the Lower East Side Tenement Museum for awhile, and decided to combine the two for a nice walking tour with my pops. What we found along with the two main attractions led to a fantastic day trip.

Subway Serenade
The day began early, as I met my Dad at 30th Street Station around 8:30AM. Making the trip with someone who was just as interested in walking the legen-(wait for it)-dary Brooklyn Bridge and visiting the Tenement Museum definitely added to the fun. We hopped on SEPTA's Trenton line, departing at 8:49 and rolling into the Trenton Transportation Center around 9:30. From there, we hopped on a New Jersey Transit line headed into Penn Station in Manhattan, arriving around 11AM. One short ride on the A train took us to High Street in the heart of Brooklyn Heights.

Song of the Day - 25.Mar.12

After a great, self-guided walking tour of Brooklyn Heights and the Lower East Side, I thought I'd cap off the day with a little ode to that city to our North and East.

Joke of the Day - 16.Mar.12

A recent conversation reminded me of one of my favorite gags of all time. Instead of just posting it on Facebook, I figured why not share it with more people? So, in addition to Photo and Song of the Day, now we here at the What will be sharing some of our favorite jokes, gags, and other things to tickle your funny bone.

For me, there is no other way to kick off this feature than with the funniest moment in television history. It comes from an episode of Taxi, which boasted one of the best casts of its time. To set up the clip, the good people of the Sunshine Cab Company help Reverend Jim (Christopher Lloyd) try to get a job as a cab driver when they discover he did not have a driver's license. They take him to the DMV for his test, and hilarity ensues.

Photo of the Day - 12.Mar.12

 In our travels around the world, we here at the What have been lucky enough to capture a few snazzy moments, people, and other random things with our cameras. We figured we should start sharing them with you. Enjoy! 


Date: March 2007

Location: Rio Piedras, PR
Story: I have friends all over the world, which is pretty handy for vacationing. For example, I spent Spring Break of 2007 in Puerto Rico where a friend of mine was living at the time and did not have to bother with hotels. This photo was taken in a neighborhood bar near the University of Puerto Rico where she was tending bar. It is one of many photos I have taken of colorful lights at a low shutter speed.

Song of the Day - 7.Mar.12

There is a fair amount of Van Halen hype going on right now, with the brothers (and son/nephew) Van Halen touring with original crooner David Lee Roth. The Van Halen clan even has a new album out with Diamond Dave at the helm. Having grown up in a household in which Van Halen, with all three of its singers, getting a lot of spins, I would like to think I know a thing a two about the band and their kickass rock. That being said, I fully expect all of the backlash I will get for this. I think the Sammy Hagar-led lineup is Van Halen at their best. So for that, here is a Hagar-era tune. Oh, and one more thing, firing Michael Anthony was a huge mistake.

Monthly Top 5 - March 2012

Hey, remember the What's Weekly Top 5 feature? So do we. The only problem is that it rarely came on a weekly basis, so we're switching gears. In  High Fidelity, the characters compare their top fives in a variety of categories. Being big fans of both the film and novel, we here at the What bring you our Weekly Monthly Top Five, a feature focused on five fantastic things that you should become familiar with.

Reasons to become an MLS fan

I love sports. Watching or participating in athletic competition is great. But there are a few things that get annoying after awhile. The prima donnas  of the NFL and NBA who seem more at home on reality television than in stadiums or arenas. The agonizingly slow pace of baseball. Hockey teams existing in cities that have never seen ice outside of a cube tray in the freezer. And in any sport, the same damn teams winning year after year and many games being forgone conclusions before the opening whistle. If these things annoy you as much as they annoy me, I urge you to check out Major League Soccer.

Song of the Day - 4.Mar.12

 

Some days you just need to rock out to a little Wu-Tang. So here is the Fred Flinstone-approved video for "Gravel Pit."

Simple & Delicious - Dixie Biscuits

As always, the What is dedicated to presenting you with colorful ideas for everyday life. Many of our ideas are food-related, because we love food. Learning how to cook for yourself now that you no longer have your mom or your meal plan to provide your meals can seem like a daunting task. We at the What are here to show you that cooking can be fun, easy, and rewarding by offering up recipes like this from our personal cookbooks. As is the case with most of our recipe-based ideas, this one is simple and delicious, just like us.

Dixie Biscuits

While I may not have been the biggest fan of living in the South, there were certainly plenty of positives. One such positive was the food. During my time in South Carolina, I went out of my way to have as much barbecue as possible. On a trip to Charleston, I ordered some biscuits to accompany my pulled pork at Jim and Nick's Barbecue. Usually in a situation like this, you end up with corn bread, but this time, it was different. This time, it was a basket of warm, tasty, cheesy biscuits. Since I enjoy making my own pulled pork at home, I decided to take a crack at making these biscuits to accompany the tasty BBQ.

Mixtape Madness #14 - Boss Covers

According to the novel High Fidelity the making of a good mix tape, like breaking up, is hard to do. Furthermore, a good mix is never finished. You never know when you will come across a song that changes the dynamic of the mix you just completed. There is a litany of intricacies to crafting the ideal mix no matter what the mix’s intended purpose should be. This feature is merely a guide on the cosmic highway of mix making, and while experienced, the writer does not claim to be an expert.

Boss Covers

After several Mixtape Madness columns focusing on the past, this next one was supposed to be a bit more current. But then Late Night with Jimmy Fallon decided it was Springsteen week and the National Constitution Center opened a Bruce Springsteen exhibit, and plans changed. Since plenty has been written about the Boss and the E Street Band and their amazing catalog of music, this article will instead focus on some stellar covers of Bruce tunes.


1. "Back In Your Arms" by Marc Broussard - I actually had not heard of this song until it was covered by Broussard, who was billed as the "Bayou Bruce" earlier in his career. 


2. "Dancing in the Dark" by John Legend and the Roots - This cover is the song that led to this article. Legend teamed up with Philly's own Legendary Roots Crew for this jazzy, understated version of "Dancing in the Dark" on a recent episode of Late Night. It's no big secret that Jimmy Fallon is a huge Springsteen fan, so we will be seeing his influence again later in the mix.


3. "Because The Night" by 10,000 Maniacs - Originally recorded by Patti Smith, this song is probably most popularly known from the Maniacs' MTV Unplugged performance. This is one of many songs Bruce wrote and gave to other artists early on in his career. 

Checklist - March 2012

The internet is full of magical, mystical things. So much, in fact, that it is sometimes hard to sift through all of the crap to get some decent information. In the interest of providing you with colorful ideas for everyday life, we here at the What present the Checklist so that you may find some helpful information from other sites along with a comic that makes us giggle.

Pizza + Beer = Happy
Mamma Mia Pizza Beer
Two of the greatest things on earth. The two reasons your friends will help you move. The two mainstays of any house party. Finally, they are together as one. A couple from Illinois took homebrewing to the next level when they created Pizza Beer. That's right, pizza-flavored beer. This is probably one of the greatest scientific achievements of our time, so check out their site and order some Pizza Beer!

Common Grammar Mistakes
Lit Reactor
There are more than enough websites, blogs, and such dedicated to poor grammar, but this one from Lit Reactor focuses on some of the more forgotten rules. Even the staunchest Grammar Nazi will be alarmed to find that they have been mistaken. I have probably broken several rules in this column alone. Regardless, check out these 20 Common Grammar Mistakes and improve your ability to correctly communicate.