I swear this is the only Four Loko photo I have.

We here at OMGWTFRVA say this a lot. Well, stock up on Joose and Four Loko while you can!  Don’t know what the eff I’m talking about?  These drinks are similar to Sparks, caffeine plus “premium” malt liquor, but with 12% alc/vol. In essence, this one $2.59 drink will get you wasted.  Which is great but…

It’s tricky business to not get too crazy drunk if you’re pre-gaming with a Joose or Four Loko.  Take last Monday night for instance.  I was at Fine Foods and noticed there was a new flavor of Four Loko out, Blue Raspberry.  One Four Loko later and I was drunk and decided to go to Bogart’s with Chad and Cameron for karaoke.  I had a couple beers there, some whiskey at Chad’s place…  And then things get hazy.  Which is to say I have no idea what I did but Chad and Cameron say they’ve never seen me so drunk and apparently I’m bad at making beds, writing questions for truth or dare Jenga, and standing up after drinking that particular combination.

I may severely regret that stupid Blue Raspberry Four Loko, but now the FDA wants to take away my ability to buy drunk in a can!  Sparks was targeted for appealing to minors with its blend of alcohol and caffeine and now Joose and Four Loko are under similar attack.  The companies that produce these products have been told they most provide evidence that their drinks aren’t combing ingredients in dangerous manner.  Check here for an article from the New York Times about it.

Not that I need to be drinking another Four Loko anytime soon (I’M STOCK PILING THEM AS I TYPE).

The newest release!

Last night was kind of surreal. I ended up drunk, in a dimly lit basement of a Baptist church, at a table with a bunch of people from the internet, to hear Meade Skelton sing songs like From the Outside Looking In and Sweet Tea (twice!).

If you don’t already know Meade, check out his personal blog or youtube pages. I hadn’t heard of him until recently when he posted a comment on one of Jeff’s photos from the last SMCRVA event, but once I was linked to his blog he became a bit of an obsession and I needed to know if he was real. Here’s a paragraph from one of the first blog posts of his I read:

I went to Premiere Costume Shop today in Carytown and rented my costume for Halloween. I’m going as a “Native American” (incorrect term, but you know how people are these days). So I asked the lady in the shop who was 10 shades whiter than myself if the Indian costume was authentic with the head dress , and she snarled at me “Not, Indian, Native American ! “. She went on to say she was Native American herself. Well, I didn’t have the nerve to tell her I probably have more “Native American” blood than she does , considering my great great grandmother was half Cherokee and I’m a direct descendant of Pocahontas . Anyways, after that was over, she said it would do. I got the costume. I’m not crazy about enclosed spaces, and the costume shop is very snug. Feels like everyone was breathing down the back of my neck in there. Then I heard some coughs and sneezes. I sure don’t want to get sick! After I got my costume, I headed over to Walgreen’s where I picked up some bags of candy and stool softener.

Awesomely enough there was a record release party in mid-November at the Tabernacle Church were Jeff and I could go witness Meade Skelton live in person!

Pre-release party drinks were had by Jeff, EditorDee, and I at Bogart’s and then we headed over to meet up with Twitterers/bloggers FilthyRichmond, worldwidebrian, thebyurokrat, alisonkay, and a few other folks. We sat together at a table in the back and got labelled the hipster/blog table, which was especially fun when Hipsters Ruin Everything was sung. But the evening itself was actually pretty enjoyable. I was tipsy, there was lots of food, including Meade cookies that FilthyRichmond made, it was nice talking to others as fascinated by Meade as I was, and then I got to meet the man in person.

Meade Skelton has such a unique and strong personality online that I was surprised that when I introduced myself he seemed a bit nervous. Not the sauve character I had imagined! But we showed him the Meade shirt Jeff had made and worn for the occasion and Jeff bought a record that he got signed. I believe it read, “To Jeff, Musically Yours, Meade Skelton.” So sweet. And then we hightailed it out of there and went to Helen’s were, I for one, got drunk on bourbon and PBR.

Highlights of the evening: sweet dance moves, cookies, sweet tea, Hipsters Ruin Everything, sweat soaked clothing, livetweeting, rainstick usage

PROS

The panelists at this event were well-spoken and informative, and very representative of the audience.  Marcus Messner, VCU professor of mass communications, moderated an engaging discussion tackling issues of group branding, employment, community building, and expanding you knowledge on social tools: all subjects that are interesting and relevant to the mixed audience of social media gurus and newcomers.  The panelists were not esoteric in answering questions generated by the audience, and were (for the most part) clear and concise.

CONS

At times, the panelists had trouble moving forward into different lines of questioning, regressing to topics of discussion that had already been covered.  This was especially true on the topic of transparency in social media:

Yeah, that was my tweet, but it was re-tweeted by three others in the room, and viewable on the large screen behind the panelists… which brings me to my next point.

If there’s going to be a panel discussion with Visible Tweets behind the panelists, it would be useful to have a person designated to watch the tweets and bring relative ones to the attention of the moderator so that the discussion could be more inclusive, interactive, and interesting.

Overall, I think the balance in this event was pretty immaculate.  Kudos to the panelists… especially our friend Trevor Dickerson!

]]> http://omgwtfrva.net/2009/10/14/review-smcedu/feed/ 4 cameronparker IMG00181-20091012-1921 Picture 9 http://omgwtfrva.net/2009/09/28/obamajoker-socialism-mural-on-the-side-of-velvet/ http://omgwtfrva.net/2009/09/28/obamajoker-socialism-mural-on-the-side-of-velvet/#comments Mon, 28 Sep 2009 22:01:06 +0000 cameronparker http://omgwtfrva.net/?p=606 ]]> Though we haven’t done our inaugural trip INSIDE Velvet Gentlemen’s Club, we did have to check out the hoopla surrounding this mural:

Sound off!

Everyone has heard stories about cancer.  Each one is as heart-wrenching as the next.  We’ve all donated to the American Cancer Society or Susan G. Komen for the Cure.  We have taken part in Relay For Life.  We have offered encouragement to friends and family members suffering from cancer, and listened to their harrowing tales.

You probably haven’t heard the story quite the way Casey Quinlan has told it, though.

Check out our exclusive interview here.

BUY THE BOOK.

In the recent past, many of you have been inquiring as to what our criteria are for choosing the “Tweets of the Week.”

You don’t have to be dirty, edgy, or even interesting to be chosen.  You just have to be funny.

Over the last 2 years, most of us can count the number of Tuesday nights we’ve missed on one hand. People always ask us why we attend the exact same event every single week without fail. Our response is normally that while it’s the same thing at the same bar, each Tuesday has its own personality with people, songs, and experiences that make it unique.

From now on, we’re just going to tell people that we attend Sticky Rice every Tuesday because you never know when you might get a night like “the night that Ryan came.”

Even after being promised via Twitter that Ryan Nobles would show up at Sticky Rice to celebrate his birthday with us Tuesday night, most of us were still skeptical. We assumed something (or someone) would get in the way, advise against it, or simply prevent it from happening.  Needless to say, we didn’t hold our breath.

The night went as any Tuesday would; we arrived around 10 PM, got comfortable in our reserved tables, and ordered drinks. As the night progressed, while Ryan and company were on our mind, they certainly weren’t at the front of the line; after all, we did have songs to sing, people to greet, and a Tuesday night tradition to uphold, whether Ryan showed or not.

11:45 came and went and most of us had either forgotten about his arrival or figured he simply wouldn’t be able to make it. But just as @chokeychicken and @CameronParker got up on stage to sing “On a Boat,” which has conveniently morphed into the OMGWTFRVA theme song, a magical thing happened.

Kurt Autry, head anchor for NBC12 walked in. Followed by a few others. And then, at the back of the line was Mr. Ryan Nobles himself, decked out in stylish glasses and a Buffalo Bills (not New York Giant) football jersey.

After our song, we asked Ryan what song he would be singing. We didn’t expect him to actually show, much less actually sing a song.  In front of people.

“Just put me in for ‘Jump Around” by House of Pain,” he replied with a sly smile.  “I’ll take care of the rest.”

Not a bone in his face gave any indication that he was kidding.

About 15 minutes later Ryan was called on stage, beer in hand, to sing the 90’s hip-hop hit. Before beginning, he grabbed the microphone:

“This song goes out to everybody for their kind birthday wishes, my wife Karey, and the crew at OMGWTFRVA! Let’s go!”

And with that, Ryan belted out “Jump Around,” complete with literal jumping, as if he had actually written the song himself. We would love to insert a video here of Ryan’s performance, but with Sticky Rice resembling the bat cave as far as lighting goes, that just wasn’t a possibility.

We want to thank Ryan for celebrating his birthday with us, despite all the negativity surrounding the situation we are sure he received. We hope that both he and his wife thoroughly enjoyed themselves. We sure did.

So much so, that we’re already planning for next year. How does Velvet Night Club sound, Mr. Nobles?

(Thanks to @KareyNobles for providing us with the fantastic opening picture)

You should have seen our faces when this tweet entered our stream. Not only were all of us extremely excited to have Ryan on board for our weekly karaoke ritual, we were extremely surprised. We figured that after reading the negative feedback from people advising Ryan that if he wanted to keep his job and his life intact, he would refuse our offer. It seems as though the king of media tweets has a little bit more faith in us than the common man.

And we intend to show him that he made the right decision.

Drinks are on us and we will choose our karaoke songs carefully. We intend on showing Ryan a great time in celebration of his birthday and we promise, he will be both alive and employed come tomorrow.

His name is Ryan Nobles.

And we’re calling him out.

Yesterday afternoon, Ryan tweeted a message about a holiday coming up that most of us were not aware of.  It appears as though in one week (6 days now) Ryan will be celebrating his birthday.  And by the sound of things, he doesn’t have any plans:

We’re looking to change that.  After stealing a suggestion from our good friend @RVABusiness, if Ryan doesn’t object, we’d like to throw a party for him next Tuesday. And before he or anybody else starts shaking their head while predicting that he will be unemployed come next Wednesday, let us say up front that we will make sure that we keep it somewhat classy. After all, we’re dealing with a member of our local media here.  We have to make sure he keeps his job.  We’re not sure what we would do without live news tweeting on Sunday nights.

The plan is to throw a small pre-party next Tuesday night at a local bar and then invite the party to join us for our Tuesday night ritual at Sticky Rice for karaoke.  We’d also like to let the OMGWTFRVA readers choose the song Ryan sings – but we don’t want to get ahead of ourselves. One step at a time.

Ryan, what do you say? A few drinks and a whole lotta singing for your birthday?

Let us know. We’ll be waiting.

First off, never walk confidently up to me wearing some sort of polo shirt/affliction tee/sports jersey, loudly proclaim your newfound status as a legal adult in front of all your bros and then tell me you want a Buttery Nipple for free.  I will (and have) laugh in your face and ask you to please order something a sixteen year old girl wouldn’t drink.  Man up.  There’s all manner of shooters and shots that I am more than willing to make and most of them, I’m willing to buy you your first round, because I am a nice girl.  I’m a big fan of Mind Erasers, Red Headed Sluts, Soco and Lime, pretty much anything I can make that doesn’t make you look like a giant vagina while drinking it.

Secondly, please don’t order something just because you heard it in a rap song.  I work in a bar on the cusp of Oregon Hill.  We have a pretty extensive liquor selection.  However, when you walk up to me and ask for a Courvoisier and Diet Coke, you look like an idiot.  The same goes for anything with Hypnotiq.  If you’re hellbent on drinking a Caribou Lou on your big day, I can definitely point you in the direction of a bar that can serve your needs.

Lastly, your friends are going to want to see you vomit by the end of the night.  It’s usually not pretty and you’re going to wish you died when you wake up in the morning.  There are a couple ways you can prevent this.  Eat something!  Celebrating on an empty stomach is a terrible idea.  Also, try to drink some water while you’re downing those shots.  It’ll combat all that dehydration you’re bringing on yourself.  Finally, if your friends challenge you to more than one Blue Motorcycle Race in one night, they are not your friends.