It’s that time again… let’s reminisce over the best decade I’ve ever lived through. So grab your musket and saddle up to your personal computer cuz we’re heaing due West.

The year is 1848– you and your family are set to leave Independence, Missouri to settle out West. You buy some oxen, extra wagon wheels, sets of clothing, some food, and lots and lots (and I mean lots) of bullets. You, my friend, are going on the Oregon Trail!!

Yes…of course, the old Apple II PC game that we all played in elementary school in the 1990’s during computer/technology class. Who could forget? We always looked forward to starting out our covered wagon journeys on the Oregon Trail with the thrill and suspense of finding about if Betsy will be bitten by a snake, if your wagon would survive when fording a river, if a thief will steal food or extra wagon parts, and who will be the first to die of Cholera or Dysentery. (I still don’t know what any of those diseases do to you.)

But wasn’t everyone’s favorite part of the game hunting?? I mean, who didn’t love to see a message like this- “You shot 1,325 pounds of meat but were only able to carry 200 pounds. You used 32 bullets.”

Oh yeah, the game was educational too, even with its simple (yet awesome) graphics. It taught us about history, geography, and basic survival skills. Truth be told, Oregon Trail made us who we are.

PeAcE,
DeRoin.
(Cardinal Elementary class of ’96)

(P.S.- Sometimes we switched it up…instead of Oregon Trail, it was Super Word Munchers. Who remembers that one?)

(P.S.S.- The long awaited Dumb & Dumber post is just around the corner. So be prepared for a ’90’s double shot this week!)

Why is Hollywood making such a big deal over another dead, drugged-up actor? Is giving Heath Ledger standing ovations and boatloads of awards because he died really necessary? Does he deserve to become another secular idol? Personally, I’ve never heard of him until he died and all the tributes and honors are all just unfruitful fodder trying to make a hero out of a supposed prescription drug abuser…hardly a role model. Exactly the same way music fans made The Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac glorious martyrs– Hollywood is putting Ledger on the pedestal making him greater in death than he was in life. (Sure Biggie and Tupac were great emcees, but don’t deserve to be automatically mentioned in every ‘greatest of all time’ discussion…but that’s a whole other conversation.) 

So, should society continue to herald people only after they’ve died as incredible icons when they so obviously aren’t? Drop some knowledge…

The results are in!

Way more important than the Grammys, the Emmys, Golden Globes, NAACP Image Awards, and Nickelodeon Teen Choice Awards combined…The Siouxland Weekender published their big winners today. Did you favorite person, place, or thing get a nod in the 2009 Siouxland’s Choice Awards?!? If not, are you steaming mad he/she/it/they was (or were) overlooked again?!?

Check out the full list HERE or grab a copy on newstands where ever you can find a Weekender right now!

I know one Sioux City favorite took home an award…The Gateway Drug pulled write-in category for ‘Best Looking Band’…but was there ever any doubt to that in the first place??

Well, congrats to the winners and better luck next year to everyone else. We can’t all be as popular as perennial winner Ron Demers…

PeAcE,
DeRoin.

With a still lingering cloud of doubt and distrust hanging over the greatest record in all of sports history- the all-time baseball home run record- we all sneered and scoffed when it was broken in 2007, ‘Well, that cheater Barry Bonds will be overtaken by Alex Rodriguez in no time anyway.’ 

Now before the 2009 season even begins: surprise—A-Rod isn’t our clean-cut hero either! With evidence now coming to the light of many once-beloved superstars (including Rodriguez) taking steroids and over performance enhancers, who CAN we put our trust in and look up to? If Alex Rodriguez can claim stupidity and innocence in succumbing to using banned substances, what slugger or hurler is next? The era of baseball being America’s Past time is over. No more blue-collar Hank Aaron or Greg Maddux-like role models. The league now must cater to the thrill a minute, immediate consumption, over-diagnosed with A.D.D. public who only want to see 500 foot home runs and 105 mile an hour fastballs. If Major League Baseball doesn’t further its hardline stance on steroids, we’re bound for a future of cyborg clean-up hitters and robot pitchers. The human body can’t handle much more. (For proof, take a look at all the steroid-abusing professional wrestlers dying off in their forties.)

Then where will the trail stop? If the superstars can play off their willful choice to cheat to get ahead, why wouldn’t minor leaguers, collegiates, and even high school athletes? In fact, they have been at alarming rates. Sure, states are cracking down and PSA campaigns are discouraging steroid use– attempting to kill the problem off before it begins in tomorrow’s potential professional athletes, but who would we rather listen to: a star athlete or someone in a suit that sure can’t win an MVP award? Ask Nancy Reagan how her ‘Just Say No’ campaign worked out, and you’re bound to see the youth will continue to emulate those on top at that very second to attain the dashing fortune and fame… eventhough we now are obviously seeing the stars crash back to earth. We’ve read the reports and know what steroids and these substances will do over time, but the reward right NOW outweighs the later risk… I guess. We want the glory without the guts and the pressure to succeed further sways people to steroids.

So, is this to say that anyone who excels in sports now is under suspicion of steroids? Maybe.

Nobody is prefect, but athletes (plus actors and singers) are pumping themselves with synthetics trying to become perfect. Why not just accept our mortal limitations and play the game with a level playing field? Yeah, good luck…

((as it appeared in Sunday February 15th’s print edition))

It’s time once again for my weekly look back on my favorite decade. This week we set the way-back machine to 1991 for the release of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System.

It was a 16-bit gaming console. So, ummm…what’s that mean? Well, in short, it means that it is awesome! With twice the graphics and capabilities as the original Nintendo Entertainment System that brought up the Super Mario Brothers, Paperboy, Punch-out!, Legend of Zelda, and MegaMan sagas from 1985-1990, the Super NES had people excited. And hey, you didn’t even have to blow on the games anymore. Just stick the fat cartridge into the system, sit way too close to the TV, and play for hours on end.

A, B, Y, X, L, R, Select, Start, direction pad—we would barely contain ourselves with all these buttons until the advent of the Nintendo 64 in late 1996.

Donkey Kong Country, Street Fighter II, Ken Griffey Jr. presents Major League Baseball, Super Mario World, NBA Live series, NFL Madden series, Pilotwings, Mortal Kombat, WWF Raw, they were all here… and occupied the days when we weren’t at school, riding bikes, or playing hide-n-seek across the whole neighborhood while wearing all black clothes (you know you did it too).

So, who else used to go to Blockbuster (or even the old Pop ‘N Go) video stores every Friday after school and rent a Super NES game for the weekend? You can keep your X-Box 360s and Wii’s…give me something from the ‘golden age of gaming’ anyday.

And just for the record, no one will ever beat me at Super Mario Kart.

PeAcE,
DeRoin.

P.S. – Sega Genesis always has and will always suck!

Next week- We take the ‘90’s for another spin reel-to-reel and remember the decade’s greatest masterpiece of cinema….not Schindler’s List (never saw it), not Titanic (never saw it), not Braveheart (never saw it), not even Independence Day (did see this one, in theatres even)…but Dumb & Dumber. [[Honorable mention does go to Toy Story and Forrest Gump, but I’ll save those for another day.]]

By now you have probably heard about the Octuplets born in California to a mother who already has 6  young children. It’s been a very controversial topic especially since the mother’s interviews have been on tv. She used fertility drugs to become pregnant and does not have contact with the father (althought the father of the first 6 children was the sperm donor for this pregnancy). There are lots of questions on whether this was ethical or not on the mother’s part as well as the doctor. The mother is unemployed and recieves $2300 a month for food and disability for a couple of her older children. She has set up a website in order to accept donations. People are outraged at this situation and the fact that it was allowed to happen. What are your thoughts? Please Share!

 The website is below:

http://www.thenadyasulemanfamily.com/

It’s just hours before we all have to go red for the day, buy chocolate, candy, flowers or whatever it is that you get your significant other on this love-friendly holiday.

So we thought we’d ask you – our readers – to finish this verse with a tribute to your loved one. We’ll post submissions – add them with a comment below – to this blog and print some in the Sioux City Journal.

So, without further ado, please complete this verse with your own words – and again remember that this is a tribute to your significant other or (if you are without one) your dog, a favorite cereal, friend or otherwise. And don’t forget to share this link once you’ve honored him or her in verse.
Roses are red …

Bored at work and need to jam out? At the gym and want to stay amped up? Throwing a party and just gotta pump up the volume? Well, look no further than a weekly radio show that’s been on the air since 1996- WeFunk Radio.

Emanating from Montreal, Quebec’s CKUT 90.3 FM every Friday at midnight local time, DJ Static and Professor Groove have been dropping the freshest mixes for 550 shows strong. Hip-Hop, Soul, Funk, oldies, goodies, rarities, new releases, classics, and the one and only James Brown—you can find them all on WeFUNK. Shows stream on the website all the time day and night for your worldwide listening pleasure; plus you can download recent shows by joining the mailing list or through iTunes.

So check it out!

PeAcE,
DeRoin.

For more info or to listen visit WeFUNK right now, ya know, click on the highlighted link.

For all of those who didn’t make it to the “Best of Rockestra” concert last Saturday, it was great! The Orpheum was packed and the crowd was especially into the show this time. The concert was a little longer than usual (over 2.5 hours), but I don’t think anyone minded. My favorite tune was the Led Zeppelin medley, but I really like that group anyway.  For anyone who went, feel free to sound off on your favorite song from the concert, and for all those who didn’t make it, there will be another concert on Saturday, April 18th, and Rockestra Jr. will be sharing the stage as well!

-E. Horneber   

I just got back from the Morningside Kiosk literary magazine Poetry Slam. A whole host of people crammed into a basement with coffee, cookies, and a mic to hear 15 amateur slam poets throw down with their finest free verse. It was mad fun to hear all the styles and subjects that came from the competition’s entrants. Some cool dude in a purple shirt named Greg smashed the competition in all three rounds en route to the $100 grand prize.  If you know him or are him, hit me up and I’ll give you your props.

I was the last person eliminated in the semi-finals and took home nothing but a few compliments. I’m definitely going to slam again.

So, hey, people with connections!! Let’s host a city-wide slam at the Public Library or somewhere else, sometime soon. We have a scene of writers young and old alike that could come together and express their passion.

PeAcE,
‘Dice’.