Skip to main content

Bring da Ruckus

There are people under 35 that don't know what the Wu-Tang Clan is.

That statement absolutely astounds me. It's not so much teenagers not recognizing their elders/classic albums that blows my mind; they were potentially born after the release of 36 Chambers/Wu-Tang Forever and therefore have an excuse..maybe they just don't like rap..or history. However, when I speak to a fellow human being that is in the 25 to 34 year old demographic, that grew up in North America and had access to Much Music/MTV/Radio/didn't live in a cave and doesn't have a clue who Wu Tang is, it blows my mind. Up until a couple years ago I actually didn't know people like this existed. There I was, at a wedding trading small talk with a 28ish year old girl that was sitting at my table, yadda yadda yadda..me, "Wu-Tang", girl, "What's that" *crash* [my jaw creating a softball size hole in the floor as it fell straight through it]. How the shit? Wu Tang was literally everywhere in the mid to late 90's; clothes, video games, releases almost monthly from their 6 million affiliate members..they released one of the greatest rap albums of all time ENTER THE WU-TANG 36 CHAMBERS! Shit, they were so big that Triumph, the first single from their sophomore album Wu-Tang Forever, was 5:38, had no hook or chorus..and was a success. Also, Wu-Tang (the group and solo members) is still active to this day. I just can't wrap my mind around someone not being aware of the Wu. It doesn't matter if you love Wu or hate Wu, the point I'm getting at is one should at least be aware of Wu.
 
Today I return to the salty box for a new treat. Hapi Snacks Ramen Crunch (there are [I assume] Japanese symbols on the bag that may give more information but I don't read Japanese.) In the bottom right corner of the bag it reads "Crunchy Crunchy", "Trans fat & Cholestrol FREE!" and "SPICY". When I finally got the bag open (it was a tough nut to crack) I peered inside to see what I got myself into. My best description is 3cm X 0.5cm flat noodle ribbons with a little salt and red seasoning. I somewhat hesitantly pulled a few of the noodle ribbons (not really knowing what flavour they were going to be) and gingerly placed them on my tongue, time to masticate. To my delight these salty little snacks are pretty tasty. The vessel used to deposit salty flavouring to my mouth tastes very much like the noodles you get from ramen noodle packages (big surprise right). The flavouring on these noodle treats is initially salty and semi sweet but quickly develops a chili like 'heat' (it's closer to the bbq side of the spectrum than jalapeno). These are kind of like Doritos Sweet Chili Heat's weaker Japanese cousin. All in all, pretty tasty.


Stay Hydrated,
Marc

ps. I know Kung Fu/Wu Tang is Chinese and Ramen is Japanese.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Stairway to heaven 2

Dear Diary, I was in Dollarama last week picking up some last minute..well it doesn't really matter why I was there. Anyway, as I was in the line for the checkout and out of the corner of my eye I noticed a blue bag that I'd seen a million times before. For some reason this time, it's unassuming blue on blue top with stock photo potato chip bottom intrigued me (that in addition to it being 280g for $2). I thought, to myself, 'hey, they carry Covered Bridge..maybe these Made in Canada "D Gourmet" potato chips are some other high end chip that just happens to be carried in dollar stores.'. I proceeded to take the $2 leap and threw them in my basket. Within an hour of getting home I had cracked the bag and was happily consuming. These D Gourmet Salt & Vinegar potato chips were for lack of better term, pretty run-of-the-mill. The chips are somewhat sterile, no well done chips and no skins, and fairly lightweight. The seasoning is faint but fairly well di...

The End of All Things

 I am not an expert on Nomeansno, but I can tell you this..their music can be quite difficult to get on physical media (LP, CD or otherwise [unless you want to spend somewhat spicy money]) in Canada. Luckily, Alternative Tentacles reissued Wrong. Now, cross border shipping is still muy caliente, but enough distros picked it up in Canada to allow me to put Wrong into my record collection this year. Nomeansno (since 1979) played (ended 2016) chaotic punk rock that I want to say fell into hardcore, but they were far more than a single genre. Wrong is unconventional for a punk band to say the least. The bass is lively as hell, with a tone that's absolutely perfect. The drums know when to get weird and when to kick it into overdrive. I don't know if it's jazz or funk, but there's something in the mix that if Nomeansno wasn't so aggressive it might feel pretentious..instead they're just odd and make me wish I had the opportunity to seem them live. Lyrics are talk sung...

Antoinette

 At the end of 2023 I saw Quit It! play in Winnipeg at the Handsome Daughter. I typically try to catch the opening bands, because I like being introduced to new music. One of the opening bands was Leon's Getting Larger, LGL (not sure if they ever abbreviate their band name like that [it reminds me of LWL, the Jersey pop punk band from the late 90s early 2000s, I'll Always Remember the 6th is such a banger {LGL doesn't really sound much like LWL, other than a bit of off center pop sounding...where was I going with this}]) were really fun to watch and they produce a sound that I don't hear very often coming out of Manitoba (maybe I just typically run in a different musical circle?). Anyway, Leon's Getting Larger put out their first album late last year, You Be Good Now ...which saw a vinyl release earlier this month (February 2025). I ordered a copy and it came to my door late last week. This album's great. Leon's Getting Larger has a couple singin' voices...