Shift Happens

Okay, so we had another week span where nothing was posted. Sorry, it’s been awfully busy over here so hopefully you can forgive me and accept the apology.

“Busy? Busy with what?” you might ask. Well, just life in general – school, work, extracurricular activities, social goings-ons, and everything else that you can imagine that would contribute to this hectic, modern culture that we now live in. Hate it or love it, that’s just the way it is. To exemplify how chaotic and progressive our society is nowadays, watch this video and you’ll see what I mean.

Walken All Over Lady Gaga

Is there a cooler person out there than Christopher Walken? I sincerely doubt it. In fact, I dare you to find anyone more revered in any field than this amazing man. In both the areas of dramatic acting and comedy entertainment, Walken has managed to become a near cult figure in American society. He’s an icon.

Perhaps his most enthralling characteristic is his unique mannerism of talking. You could say that he’s essentially made his entire career off of it. Whether it’s natural or forced, I frankly could care less – as long as he keeps doing it, I’ll watch him do anything.

His latest appearance on the BBC chat show Friday Night with Jonathan Ross typifies the mystery and charm of Christopher Walken and the style in which he speaks. This video is his rendition of Lady Gaga’s highly suggestive “Poker Face” and the most recent addition to the Walken archive of priceless moments.

Micronation Monday Presents: The Principality of Sealand

First and foremost, a big thank you to Andrew Johnson and secondly, a big hello to all of you guys. My name is John Gogoi. I'm a native of Minnesota hailing from Willmar (320 wut wut!). I'm currently a student at the University of Minnesota and a strong advocate of volunteering and the enjoyment/preservation of our national park system. As of today, I'm also a writer for this blog. I've been called up by the head honcho himself (aka. Andrew "EastCoast" Johnson) to write a series of entries specifically on the subject of micronations. So without further adieu the staff at The Best of What's Around present to you guys, our esteemed readers, a series entitled: Micronation Monday Presents. You guys are probably thinking, What is a micronation? If you are then shame, shame, shame for having not read the last blog entry. No worries, take five and go read it. It's the one before this one. Good to go? Great. Now that we all know the definition of a micronation, I would like to entertain you with the idea of a place that is both real and not real. Subscribe your minds, briefly if you will, to the idea that in this world there can exist a place that is both a country and not a country. Not a country because the U.N. and other won't recognize it and country nonetheless in the eyes of a man and his family. I give you the Principality of Sealand. You're maybe thinking to yourself, "What? what kind of nonsense is this? The principality of who, what now?" I thought the same thing too. According to Wikipedia, Sealand is basically a Maunsell sea fort off the U.K. coast that some guy claimed as his own country. For those of you that don't know, a Maunsell sea fort is a kind of fort created out on the water that was used to protect the U.K. from the Nazis. This particular fort (six miles off the coast of Suffolk, England in case you decide to visit) was occupied by a Mr. Paddy Roy Bates in 1967. Legend has it (wikipedia) Paddy being a pirate radio broadcaster, wanted to broadcast his pirate broadcast station off the platform. So he did and he had to go to court for it, but because the platform was in international waters and not British waters the authorities couldn't do a whole lot. by the time British waters were extended the guy had his own constitution, currency, flag, passports, etc. So ya, that's it in a nutshell. He still runs the platform and his family is the royalty. Go to wikipedia and look it up....the article mentions a hostile takeover by German nationals which is hilarious.

This Blog's Writing Staff Just Got a Little Bigger

Recession? What recession? Our workforce at “The Best of What’s Around” just doubled. Please welcome my good friend, first guest writer, and latest contributor to my blog, Mr. John Gogoi.

To those that still follow these disconnected, rambling entries that I throw together a few times a week (my dad not included), I promised a November surprise and this is it. This idea came into fruition one night when John and I were casually chatting about some random global issue, as we so often do, and he so happened to bring up the micronation of Sealand.

I had no idea what he was talking about at first and it was then that he enlightened me on the notion of a micronation. For those that you that are also in the dark on this subject, a micronation is an “entity that resembles an independent nation or state but which is not recognized by world governments or major international organizations.” A micronation is basically just some guy deciding that he wants to make a certain piece of land into his own country; they’re pretty much the next level up from a little kid’s make-believe kingdom in his backyard. Yet, despite their clear illegitimacy, these little pockets of self-fulfilled liberty are gaining serious attention because of all the legal trouble their causing the bigger country.

For the next undetermined amount of time, John will be providing all of you with “Micronation Monday” – every week he will introduce you to a country hardly bigger than the room you’re probably reading this from. Tomorrow will feature the aforementioned Sealand and, from then on, I’m a loyal, interested, follower who is unaware of what’s next just like the rest of you so tune in and get ready to see a side of the world that you can barely see even when you’re right in front of it.