The Arockalypse is NOW!

I was under the impression that when one plays paintball, one wears some form of padding. But yesterday, when we got to Memphis Paintball Park and rented equipment, the college kid behind the counter just handed us guns, paintballs and face masks.

My friend Eric decided that the only proper way to celebrate his birthday was to get a bunch of people together and go play some paintball, an activity that most of us had never participated in.

I was a little apprehensive, but for some reason, I didn't think it would actually hurt when I got hit. So, when Colin shot me in the elbow in a course that reminded me of Children of Men, I wasn't prepared for the sting. Once I knew what to expect, it was a lot more fun. I was on a team made up of two girls, Colin's brother-in-law, and three very fit dudes that had all shown up (independently of each other) in matching outfits. We did fairly well - there was one game where we didn't lose a single person.

In another game, K.K. and I (the last representatives of our team) exhausted our rounds on each other until she finally hit me in the other elbow. She had a clear advantage - she was in a tower, I was in a ditch. The ditch was kinda nice, though - I did a lot of crawling around. It was one of the only times in recent memory that I've felt like a bad ass.

After six games, we went to lunch, exhausted, dirty and bruised. Colin and I went home and took a nap that lasted until 7:30. Eric and Linsey went to bed around 8. Would I do it again? Hell yes. It was awesome, even though I'm still sore today.


In other news, Andy came over late last night and we made spaghetti. After a long discussion of things you probably shouldn't do whilst naked, the conversation turned to one of the best French pop songs ever, "Ca Plane Pour Moi", sung by a fabulous man named Plastic Bertrand. Plastic Bertrand looks like he really, really wanted to be a member of Flock of Seagulls, but it just didn't quite work out. He also dances like a deranged Jazzersize instructor. Observe:



Plastic Bertrand led to Andy and I scouring YouTube for videos of the Eurovision Song Contest. The Eurovision contest is about the craziest thing ever. It's a multi-national "American Idol"-style program complete with voting, costumes, and back-up dancers. Only, it's really nothing like American Idol, though I'm sure it does inspire lots of national pride. Here are some of the 2006 Highlights: (Note - these are all very worth watching. Make sure you're not drinking anything while you watch them, because beverages shooting out of one's nose can be a little painful)

Israel's Entry, "Push the Button".



Firstly, I can't believe this band is called Teapack. Secondly, I think this song is about terrorism. Unfortunately, the lead singer can't quite decide what style of music he really wants to be playing.

Then, there's the 2006 second place winner, a drag queen from Ukraine:



Um, I don't know about you, but I feel like I'm being commanded to dance. Or listen to Danzig . I'm not sure which. What I do know is that I want that headdress. They can keep the shorts.

The winner of last year's contest was a Finnish band called Lordi. They won for their song "Hard Rock Hallelujah". You just have to watch it. If you've skipped over all of the other videos, watch this one. It will make your life. Even if you don't like the music, glam rock sung in broken English is about the greatest thing ever. As is the lead singer's Finnish Pride.



Why are we Americans so geographically unfortunate? Why doesn't BBC America broadcast this here? I think we need to start a letter writing campaign to the EU. Who's with me?


Today is the day of Rockening,
Kerry