Lately on the morning drive to drop off my 5 year old at school she has been requesting “Barbie Girl” by Aqua. We now listen to that song EVERY day, several times during the drive. I try to sneak in at least another one or two songs though - I think I’ve convinced her that “Dr. Jones” and “Lolliop (Candyman)” are also considered “Barbie” songs.

I go to bed and wake up with Aqua playing in my mind.

My brother actually had the Aqua album from 1997 - he got it from Columbia house alongside probably 9 other albums. Remember Columbia House and all the albums they would mail you back in the day for cheap? I still don’t really know how that worked.

In listening to Aqua everyday the obvious progression to this story is what ever happened to them? As I searched I was hoping for so much more but in summary: they released another album after Aquarium called Aquarius, which flopped. Then a couple of the band members got married, they reunited in 2009 releasing Megalomania in 2011, they then released a few singles in the late 2010’s, and according to Spotify, they’re on tour in the US come November. Oh and they got sued by Mattel because “Barbie Girl” was too risqué according to Mattel. Aqua won the lawsuit.

All in all, just a very quiet, normal path for a sort of one hit wonder band? OK - not so quiet and not so one hit wonder. I just wasn’t expecting the band to turn out to be nice, normal people after the crazy success they had in the 90’s - when does that ever happen?

This week's issue is a 3 minute read:

💃 Lot’s and lot’s and lot’s of eras

🍁 Leave the leaves alone

👱‍♂️ The most famous man in Florida

Taylor Swift and her 3 hour movie

This past week you had a couple choices if you felt like spending 3+ hours in a movie theatre: Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon OR…Taylor Swift’s concert. And given I had two daughters who could care less for Scorsese (they don’t actually know who he is, duh), we watched Taylor Swift sing for 3 hours to a Los Angeles audience.

Now I know what you’re thinking, how can anyone sit in a movie theatre for 3 hours, let alone just to watch a concert? Valid question. Well, firstly we did not have enough to drink or snacks to eat to last us past the first “era” so I had to re-up somewhere between Cruel Summer and Shake It Off. The tour is called the “Eras Tour” because Swift basically sings songs from every album she’s ever made aka all of her eras - clever isn’t it?

I honestly didn’t know the difference between Taylor Swift in her early days vs Taylor Swift nowadays but I suppose if you were a diehard fan you would really enjoy the stage and costume motifs as she switched from era to era. One thing I will say though, not fully knowing why everything looked the way it did, her stage and setup was really well done. At times I felt like I was watching a really well done version of Highschool Musical and at times it felt like just a really well done live performance.

She sang every song you probably would have known and then some. She played to the crowd with her millennial innuendo. She danced - somewhat awkwardly. But I suppose that’s why you hire really good back up dancers. And the whole thing was edited fairly decently so you got a bit of the vibe of what it would’ve been like to be there live. That all said, is Taylor Swift’s movie concert thing worth going to the theatre for? Yes, if you’re a big enough fan and want go get the big screen experience. Otherwise just wait for it to hit whatever streaming service willing to pay the big bucks to host it.

Being lazy was never this smart

Leaves were so fun to jump in as a kid. Perhaps as an adult you still enjoy jumping in them. But raking them, that’s a whole other story, especially if you still try to mow your lawn in October. But what if I told you you can leave the leaves alone and it’ll be good for your lawn? Leave the leaves alone!

Instead of picking them all up, you should be mulching your leaves and letting that mulch rest on your grass into the winter and beyond.

It turns out mulch from leaves is great for earthworms and other critters living in the grass as they like to break it down into organic matter which is great for the grass and soil. As an added bonus, when spring comes around the mulch helps to prevent against weeds and dandelions. Being lazy and not picking up your leaves has never sounded better.

Na na na na na na na na Florida Man!

If you Google “Florida Man” what do you get? I got, “Florida man allegedly threatened to shoot someone at CVS unless given ‘all bottles’ of Viagra”. It really is like spinning a roulette wheel when you search up “Florida man”. This February, the meme or search topic or whatever you want to call it is becoming a reality when the city of St. Augustine in Florida hosts the first ever Florida Man games. Yes, an Olympics for the meme-worthy Floridian hot mess that is, the “Florida man”.

Are you ready to hear about the events? Well…

Evading Arrest Obstacle Course - Florida man climbs over fences and runs through yards trying to escape real police officers

Category 5 Cash Grab - Florida man stands in a wind-blowing booth trying to grab as much cash as they can.

Beer Belly Florida Sumo - I mean, do I really need to explain this one?

Weaponized Pool Noodle Mud Duel - Given Nitro and Ice from American Gladiators will be the games referees, this event should take you back to the classic Joust game. Or it should take you back to that bar with the mechanical bull - either / or.

Aside from the competition there’s all kinds of things you can do like selfies with alligators, “cultural” demonstrations that include alligator shows, hot pepper vendors and SWAT vehicles (I did say cultural didn’t I?) and “more”. I really need to know what this more thing could be.

Tickets are $50 in case my summary absolutely convinced you to go.

BONUS: Google image search “Florida Man” … sorry lol.