clanMcGraw.com

Amazing. This is the 2000th post on clanMcGraw.com. You’ll also notice that with this milestone comes a new look.

*If* you’re keeping track, this is the 5th ‘re-design’ of the site. Originally it was a link page on Mindspring, which evolved to a family page once Brandon and Caleb came along. In fact, if you look closely at the Internet Wayback machine site from May 2002, you’ll see a link for ‘God, My Boys, and Me.’ That blogger tool hosted what would eventually become clanMcGraw.com.

Iteration 3 of clanMcGraw.com started using Movable Type as the blog engine, and took us away from hand-coded HTML, although I do still do some of that, even today. It’s just good to know how to do that kind of thing. Version 3 had a rocky start on a hosting service known as Cyberwings, as it disappeared about 2 weeks after I’d started hosting on it. Those posts are gone for good. Also, after switching to a new host, my 2nd post was a sad one. It was when my Grandfather passed away. Just 2 months later, I’d be blogging about the loss of my Father-In-Law, Jim.

Iteration 4 of clanMcGraw.com abandoned Movable Type for WordPress. I chose the theme that it used, because it was so similar to my old high school colors. I also liked it because fonts just seemed to have the right look and feel.

So here we are today, on Version 5. Still on WordPress, but with a different theme, necessitated by a back-end upgrade. The back-end upgrade will hopefully make the Facebook / Blog integration much tighter. These days, that’s where a lot of people do their interaction with others. I still like the idea of posting all my original content here, but don’t want to have to post to multiple places to accomplish that. I’m also not really thrilled with the colors or fonts, but I’ll be playing with the style sheets to change that. But the picture feature on top is pretty cool. I thought it would be neat to throw an old Christmas picture of the boys up there for now.

I also took the occasion to clean up my blogroll, and add some new entries. Hope you take a few minutes to poke around. Please let me know if something just doesn’t look right!

And thanks to all of you who visit clanMcGraw.com.

Because everyone needs to see Acapella versions of cartoon theme songs:

(Facebook-friendly link here.)

Awesome.

Here it is… sans Queen:

Today, I was introduced to Rock Sugar. If you’re a child of the 80s, or a big-hair-band fan, you’re about to be introduced to total awesomness. If you’re not, skip this post.

From the Rock Sugar bio:

And so, the hardcore degenerate heavy metal members of Rock Sugar spent the last two decades stuck on an island with nothing to do but drink schnapps, catch hard to digest wildlife, befriend monkeys and dream of their long lost groupies while listening only to, and being slowly and systematically brainwashed by, every favorite pop song of a 1980’s preteen girl. Bored, full of schnapps and wasting away on a tropical oasis, they built a stage out of driftwood, bamboo shoots and tree sap and got to work. Against the odds, Rock Sugar was alive… and they were practicing.
…
Finally rescued and now violently thrown back into the real life of present day Los Angeles, and with absolutely no clue whatsoever of anything that’s happened, developed or changed in the world since 1989, Rock Sugar is back and ready to electrify audiences with their brand new, razor sharp, psychotically original sound.

For some horrid reason, Rock Sugar isn’t available on iTunes. But you can find their music on YouTube, which I’m happy to share with you now.

Ladies and Gentlemen… Rock Sugar!!! Because Pop Rocks.

Don’t Stop The Sandman:

Shook Me Like a Prayer:

Heaven and Heaven:

Round and Separated:

Everybody loved it. Everybody thought they were great at it.

Try First Person Tetris.

Still think you’re pretty awesome? I didn’t think so. I share in your humility.

…but please stop butchering this song:

Here’s some really cool electronic stuff, circa 1983:

(HT: Geeks Are Sexy)

The literal version:

(Not as funny as the A-Ha video someone did a while back, but still pretty funny).

Christmas time is here
Happiness and cheer
Fun for all that children call
Their favorite time of the year

Christmas time is here
We’ll be drawing near
Oh, that we could always see
Such spirit through the year
Oh, that we could always see
Such spirit through the year…

This may be the first Christmas song that I remember. You know it best from here, as performed by Vince Guaraldi:

I have always loved the Charlie Brown Christmas special. When I was a child, it was one of those special TV shows that your parents would actually let you eat in the den while it was on. I remember my Mom clipping cartoons out of a magazine, and binding them together into a makeshift book that told the story. When I was older, though, I began to really appreciate what the story was about: Remembering the true meaning of Christmas, through all of the Christmas glitz and hustle.

I’ve watched it with my sons every year. Maybe we’ll watch it again tonight.