I Misread That Song Title Once Before

    Last year, I posted a puzzle based on the name of various television shows, except one letter was changed in the title.  Find it here. I had so much fun, I came up with a second puzzle the following week based on a slightly different theme, either adding or deleting a letter.  Well, I have come back to do an update, but based on song titles this time.  I debated whether or not I should do this, as I usually create other puzzles based on song titles.  However, I came up with such good ideas, I finally came around to make this one up.  Below, you will find synopses of various songs that were popular last year.  However, one letter was changed in the title, creating an entirely different song.  Think of it a the start for one of "Weird Al" Yankovic's song parodies.  For example, if a clue read "A small municipality celebrates the bicentennial of the statue of their amphibian mascot," followed by the artists Lil' Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus, your answer would be "Old Town Toad," which is based on the song "Old Town Road" with a 't' replacing the 'r' in the last word.  Each of the clues can be solved in the same way.  Scroll down to find the answers.  Good luck.

1. Men have a rap battle about how supremely attractive their spouses are.  Glass Animals
2. A public service announcement about one way to curb the pet population.  Kid Leroi and Justin Bieber
3. A woman gets a tattoo in such a place that she can point out where the sun rises, and where a certain part of her anatomy is found.  Adele
4. Notice to all woodworkers about the dangers of getting small pieces of wood caught under your skin.  Ed Sheeran
5. A man realizes the mistake of ordering shellfish for dinner on a blind date with a woman he just met, and now he has digestive problems.  Jack Harlow
6. An instructive tune about how peat is a renewable fuel source.  Latto
7. Scientists debate about how a man now has soda pumping through his veins instead of blood.  Elton John and Dua Lipa
8. Local meteorologist informs the public that it is almost rainy season, and one should start their moisture defense protocols.  Lizzo
9. Nuns have a fashion show to debut their new apparel line featuring bright colors and bold designs. Ed Sheeran
10. Are you in need of a colon cleanse?  Then try our newly improved product designed to remove even more waste!  Imagine Dragons
11. A man confesses about how he wants to cook his girlfriend, marinade her in the cooking juices, and then eat her.  Morgan Wallen 
12. I wrote a companion piece to this puzzle about the vertical struggle of having to come up with jokes and wordplay to make this puzzle funnier.  Kate Bush
13. A man with insomnia can't stop pacing, even though it is well past midnight and he needs to get to sleep. Harry Styles
14. Ozzy Osbourne confesses about his secret addiction to eating flying mammals after accidentally biting one on stage during a performance. Steve Lacy
15. Researchers debate on the intelligence of small insects.  Turns out, most aren't.  Em Beihold
16. A farmer worries about how he will till his fields, since they are all hard and packed.  Beyonce
17. Another farmer is scared that a fearsome creature is prowling on his property, for a second time. Zach Bryan
18. Vladimir Putin creates a propaganda song about how he is the epitome of Russian masculinity. Bad Bunny
19. A woman complains to her boyfriend about how ill-fitting her new jeans are. Doja Cat and The Weeknd
20. A tribute to Wilbur from Charlotte's Web. Megan Thee Stallion and Dua Lipa
21. Advice from Paul Hollywood about bread-making on a cooking show. Chris Stapleton
22. A famous musician leaves the business to a life of mediocrity.  Parmalee
23. A woman tries to shake off a "Karen" who is trying to take an item she say she wants.  Sam Smith and Kim Petras
24. Eureka! Someone just discovered gold in Biloxi. Kane Brown
25. A little kid just ruined a dress for the Met Gala by drawing happy faces in crayon all over it. Maren Morris

ANSWERS

1. "Heat Wives" - "Heat Waves"
2. "Spay" - "Stay"
3. "East on Me" - "Easy on Me"
4. "Slivers" - "Shivers
5. "First Clams" - "First Class"
6. "Bog Energy" - "Big Energy"
7. "Cola Heart" - "Cold Heart"
8. "About Damp Time" - "About Damn Time"
9. "Rad Habits" - "Bad Habits"
10. "Enema" - "Enemy"
11. "Basted on You" - "Wasted on You"
12. "Punning up That Hill" - "Running up That Hill"
13. "Late Night Walking" - "Late Night Talking"
14. "Bat Habit" - "Bad Habit"
15. "Dumb Little Bug" - "Numb Little Bug"
16. "Break My Soil" - "Break My Soul"
17. "Something in the Grange" - "Something in the Orange"
18. "Moscow Male" - "Moscow Mule"
19. "You Tight" - "You Right"
20. "Sweetest Pig" - "Sweetest Pie"
21. "You Should Probably Loave" - "You Should Probably Leave"
22. "Take My Fame" - "Take My Name"
23. "Unhold" - "Unholy"
24. "Ore Mississippi" - "One Mississippi"
25. "Circles around This Gown" - "Circles around This Town"

Watch My Feed for It Won't Watch Itself

    I was late getting into the online video craze, such as it is.  In fact, I have only starting watching certain channels on a regular basis this year.  It all started on Facebook a few years ago when I accidentally his the "Watch" icon instead of one of the other ones.  They way the order can change, randomly and then back, can be confounding.  Anyway, since I was there, I decided to see what was available.  At first, there was a seemingly random mix of almost anything.  Then, I discovered this comedian who was doing sketches instead of touring due to the 2020 lockdowns.  I began to look for his new episodes whenever they came up.  Sometimes, older videos popped up instead of new ones.  I ultimately began to follow him, because I sort of liked his material. He uploads one new episode per week, on average, although he has taken breaks, or put up a bonus episode.  Mostly, the sketches are topical takes with him personifying the various states in the USA or the Federal government.  At other times, he goes on deeper dive into a state to bring up such things as the names of various cities or their unusual laws.  Over time, my feed began to pick up more comedy bits, mixed in with the household hacks, video game replays, and bunny videos. BUHHNIES!!!!  Sometimes, I would get TED talks on mathematical challenges or logic puzzles. Astrological discussions would pop up regularly.  Lately, though, comedy dominates, with the gaming videos second, particularly one where various armed figures would battle it out while jerkily trying not to get knocked out.  One of the comedy bits involved a bunch of people being forced to try foods that might not be technically good.  I first thought that they were based outside of the US, like some of the English lessons, but I was proven wrong.  They were a comedy troupe from LA, some of whom were former child stars.  Soon, other videos of theirs began to show up.  Improv challenges, written sketches, or other games that weren't food related.  Hidden among those videos was one were these two men would discuss various topics.  After a few videos, between the comic book comparison lists and historical lessons (and the occasional health chats on topics outside the listing for this blog), I noticed that these two men showed up a few times with the comedy troupe.  Slowly, their other videos began to pop up.  They would do taste tests on various food products, play games based on where foods originated, redo recipes based on entirely different ingredients, and even have a few non-food based things.  Well, this past January, I finally caught their YouTube channel.  And I was obsessed.  I started watching the original clips on the day they came out, instead of the abbreviated versions I had been watching.  For example, this Monday's episode featured the men trying to figure out which price-point of certain foods, a recurring segment this time featuring their producer's favorites.  Whenever either one chose the highest price version, they would have to dance with a person in a cow costume.  For the last few times this segment aired, assassination attempts were made on the cow.  This time, the attempt was successful, as sticks of dynamite were attached to the cow's back and 'blew' up.  Bits of cow costume were everywhere, including part of an utter in the food they were tasting.  While most of the bits were later cleared out, some were still seen in the background.  For the version shown on Facebook the next day, which was only a quarter of so long, the cow's demise wasn't shown, but the costume bits were still seen in the background.  The original was funnier.  Through research, I found out the these guys' production company bought out the comedy troupe's a few years ago when the comedy channel was in danger of folding.  Now, they are part of the same family, and I kind of feel that I missed out for so many years.  Instead of watching clips of anime in the original Japanese or people laughing at other's mistakes/jump-scares, I could have been seeing more of this.  These two channels are now dominating my feed, and I can't help to wonder about how well their algorithms know me.  I already make sure I don't go to some websites before logging into Facebook or other sites.  The cookies start loading things that I sometimes don't think match with me.  Now, I just need to get some ideas on how to improve my own online media.  I'm beginning to think I have found a true calling here.

And I Never Wanna Moose You Again

    As I have mentioned multiple times on this blogcast, I have some unusual interests. For instance, I can sometimes get obsessed over rabbits.  It was just Easter after all, so this can be understandable.  Rabbits are my primary spirit animal; the only one of many that I mention in public.  Well, my mother has a more unusual animal obsession--moose.  I don't know where it came from, but she really likes moose.  I try to alert her when any new moose-related video hits the news.  Supposedly, she had a least one "ugly" Christmas sweater that had a moose on it.  I don't remember ever seeing it, but it was destroyed in that weather instance from twenty years ago that I still don't like talking about.  She has been trying to get a new sweater ever since, but she hasn't had any luck.  Every Christmas, she scans the stores for one, but each one appears to be out.  She doesn't like shopping online, but she has tried to find one there as well.  However, she either waits too long and the sweaters are sold out, or she doesn't want to spend the time and money at the time.  The weirdest thing though is that 'technically' what she looking for wasn't always a Christmas sweater.  See, the sweater has on it the saying "The moose is loose."  When I went searching online for her once, I found out that this was originally the slogan for a regional beer company, somewhere around Minnesota or southern Canada.  Even after I showed her where her sweater saying originated, she still wants one.  She has seen other moose-inspired Christmas sweaters, but she would like one similar to what she once had.  Eh.  Furthermore, she would really like to see a moose up close, or at least as close as safely as possible.  Now, she has seen entire herds of elk, some within touching distance from the car. [As an aside, this will probably never happen again since a certain unnamed dollar store decided it needed a fourth location within a ten mile radius, if not more, right where a local herd loved to graze.  I've seen a few elk on the uncleared portion of the field, as nearby as well, but it is just not the same.] Moose are noticeably larger than elk, so the safe viewing distance is much larger.  Now, moose are not native to anywhere near eastern Kentucky, meaning she would have to travel a few hundred miles to see one in person.  Unlike me, she hates going long distances, particularly ones where she couldn't get back home within a day.  Also unlike me, she doesn't mind going anywhere without me, without regards of how it would affect, while she has gotten into a panic if I am just a few minutes late getting back from the grocery store.  Sure, I am normally prompt or early, but sometimes there's an unforeseen problem and it causes me to get off schedule.  Whatever.  All this adds up to is that she will probably not get to see a moose in person.  At least she might get a new moose sweater this year.  That will go well with the new moose emoji that just debuted. 

    The title for this week's post was punned from a lyric from "Miss You," a remixed version of "Jerk," originally performed by Oliver Tree.  The particular remix in question is by Robin Schulz, although there was another similar remix out.  There is some controversy over the remixes, so I don't want to comment much more about them.  For some reason, Tree's music videos popped up on my Facebook feed, and this is one of the ones that stood out as a favorite.  Strange, I know, but look again at the first line on this post.

The Great Game Migration

    Later on today, hopefully no later than tonight, I will be transferring the account of one of my games from Facebook to my phone.  I didn't want to do it, but the game, Golf Clash, is being discontinued on the platform within the next twenty-four hours.  The notification was announced about a week after the game was temporarily taken off the site for almost two weeks. Fortunately, I was compensated for the lost time.  However, I will now have to perform a risky procedure just to keep all of my progress.  I first started this game when a friend of mine invited me to try Golf Clash out on Facebook.  At the time, I didn't realize that he would get an in-game bonus for doing so, but I digress.  For a few years, I would only play occasionally, as I didn't have a computer of my own.  At most, I would play for an hour or two total a week. After I did get my own computer, I still didn't play too much, as I just wasn't that good or competitive at it.  Things changed when the game developed leagues.  I followed my friend into a clan he found, by accident.  I was only checking things out, and I wound up joining it.  I tried to get another friend to join, but he got kicked out after a few weeks, probably for not playing as often as the clan president of the time liked.  That guy ultimately left, and my friend became the new president by default.  After that, I felt safer in staying, and a funny thing happened.  I started to get good.  Not super great, but good enough. I was able to improve my game equipment.  I was winning more, even in tournament situations.  Sure, there were hiccups along the way, but nothing too bad.  Until the last few months.  I was starting to get technical situations every few days.  The was costing me wins and resources.  I ultimately switched the browser I was playing online with to ease many of the problems, but a few non-threatening one still pop up.  Then, the lockout came.  My game was locked out of Facebook for those two weeks due to some ill-defined reasons.  After the game came back, the news of the leaving broke.  Now, if this had came out a year ago, I would have been lost.  However, things have changed since then.  I now have a phone to go with my computer.  Technically, I now have access to three iPhones.  While a year ago, I would have had to reluctantly use someone else's phone, resulting in a much reduced playing rate.  Now, I can transfer my account to my phone.  However, during the lockout, I started a second account on my phone, one which I had join my clan.  This second account could be switched back and forth on my phone, but it will be very difficult if I tried it.  Instead, I will be moving it to a second phone, after I finish moving my main account.  This phone doesn't have a SIM card, so I can only use wifi with it, but that should be enough for my purposes.  If it doesn't work, I will have to use another phone to use as a secondary source.  Once this happens, I will be playing on two accounts at a time, on totally different skill levels.  Confusing to say the least.  I will miss the wider screen that my computer provided, even though Facebook just started reducing the available area when they redesigned their gaming site.  I'll miss the mouse as well, as I am still getting used to just moving my fingers along my phone's screen.  There is a way to hook up a mouse with my phones, but I haven't had a chance to see if it works with my mouse, as it has been acting up these last few weeks.  At least I have the knowledge that both of my accounts placed third in a recent tournament.  Even if this switchover doesn't work, at least I will have accomplished something great. 

I Told You There Would Be Madness

    In last week's post, I mentioned how the NCAA basketball tournaments were riddled with upsets.  Well, that turned out to be sort of an understatement.  In the two days after I wrote that post, the last two number one seeds in the men's tourney were defeated.  Ultimately, this would leave a four seed, two five seeds, and a nine seed in the final four, with only one of the teams in a so-called power conference.  That team would be Miami (FL) from the ACC, even though they are more known for football.  Technically, Connecticut is not in a power conference, as the Big East is usually considered a mid-major now that they don't have football.  However, UCONN is the only previous winner still in.  UCONN's last win came from an incredible conference and national winning streak, so we will see what happens this year.  On the women's side, things went pretty much as expected.  Two number ones, a number two, and a number three seed make up their final four.  All four teams come from power conferences, with two from the always dominant SEC.  This includes the undefeated South Carolina team, obviously the favorite.  Yes, there were a few upsets on the women's bracket, with two of the number one seeds losing before the Sweet Sixteen.  Yet, this still lent the women's tournament a sense of regularity.  Nothing too major beyond those loses really stands out, at least not as much as the bloodbaths on the men's side.  I don't think that many people would have chosen any of the men's final four to win it all, except maybe a few UCONN fans, and not many of those.  Seriously, how many people outside of Florida have even kept up with Florida-Atlantic? For the women's final four, South Carolina has been such an overwhelming favorite that they have a better chance of winning it all than did the rest of the Sweet Sixteen combined.  Now, should the four top seeds on the men's side have been changed?  Who can say?  All I can add is that the process needs some retooling to be fairer to the largest number of schools and fans.

Well, Doesn't That Bust My Brackets

    At the time I write this, it is just before the start of the second week of 'March Madness.'  The first week of the NCAA Men's (and Women's) Basketball Tournament was highlighted by upsets, including what many consider to be the largest upset ever in the history of the tournament.  Farliegh's narrow win over Purdue was only the second time ever that a number one seed had lost in the first round.  The 'real' first round, that is.  Such upsets are almost becoming the norm.  Sure, there has usually been a few upsets every year, but I feel that they are becoming too common.  While such Cinderella teams make for a good story, most cannot maintain that momentum to become champions.  Furthermore, having such smaller teams go far into the tournament can ultimately lower ratings, as the market to watch a small team cannot compare to many of the larger schools.  The problem lies entirely with the way the tournament has been seeded for the last few years.  See, the NCAA expanded the field to include sixty-eight teams, up from the previous sixty-four.  However, these extra teams are not treated the same.  Instead of having the four extra teams play each other, the NCAA chose to have four of the teams that received automatic bids from their conferences go up against each other for two of the sixteen seeds, while the other four teams vie for an eleven seed.  Basically, this invalidates two of the automatic bids, usually those to smaller conferences, so that the bigger, so-called 'power' conferences can have the remaining spots.  These bigger conferences had averaged five or six seeds per tournament, but they now can easily have up to eight with this rule. This is leading to the planning commission to undervalue the smaller conferences' teams.  Just because the competition is not as strong, that does not mean the players and teams are not good.  For instance, the eighth best team in the Southeastern Conference, Mississippi State, failed to win their play-in game.  Farliegh did win their game and managed to upset Purdue before losing to the ninth-seeded Florida-Atlantic.  By focusing more on the power conferences, and placating their large markets, the commission is not ranking the teams as well as they should.  The balance of play is missing when the focus is taken off the smaller schools.  Many of these small schools actually have great teams.  Maybe not any future professional players, but still fairly high-caliber.  Fewer upsets might happen if the notion of the power conferences dominance is removed.  Take the women's tournament as an example.  This marks the first year that the women's tournament went to sixty-eight teams as well.  Previously, such upsets were rare, with at least three number one seeds making the national finals each year.  Sure, the Southeastern Conference once had ten teams in the tournament, but that was mainly due to the overwhelming quality of a few schools during the heyday of Tennessee. This year will mark the first time that not all of the number one seeds did not make the Sweet Sixteen.  This could be another sign that the matching of teams is unbalanced due to focusing one bigger schools, although this instance involved a power conference team (Indiana) losing to a mid-major school (Miami of Florida) and not a smaller school.  Still, the correlation could be made on how seeding should be looked at to make such upsets less likely and competition fairer for small schools.

But You're Not Gonna Reach My Telephones

    This time last year, I didn't own a single smart phone.  I currently have two, plus I am the primary caretaker for my mother's.  How did this happen?  I'm still unsure.  First, the background.  When cell phones first came out, I had no use for them.  I didn't have anyone to call.  I rarely went anywhere on my own, so I didn't have any need to alert someone if I was having problems.  Even when the first PDAs and smart phones came out, I was intrigued, but not enough to actually buy one.  I mean, why waste so much money on something I really didn't need.  Even when the technology improved, including features that tickled my fancy, I stayed away.  I barely even looked at the various books and manuals that came out that would come through my store. In fact, I would wind up getting my MacBook well before I would have a smart phone in my possession.  This would change when my mother got appointed to a local utility board. For some reason, it was decided that the members would need official phones so they could more easily stay in touch.  So, when my mother received her phone, it was going to be me to find out how it worked.  Fortunately, it was an SE model iPhone, so I already knew many of the basics of Apple software.  The particulars of an iPhone were still beyond me.  I would up downloading the manual onto my computer just to get many of the basics down, while my mother checked a book out of the library, possibly on a different model.  I mean, why buy anything for something that technically isn't yours.  My mother was just going to use it for calling about board business anyway.  Well, we wound up using the camera to take pictures of animals we saw while driving or the latest holiday decorations for the store, but not much else.  I mean, I helped my mother make a emoji of herself on it, but that was the most involved with the phone she has ever gotten.  Well, things changed again last year, when my university made a notice that two factor authentication would be implemented for use of many sensitive portions of their online information, including classes.  I wasn't taking any last semester, but I was scheduled to take an exit exam.  While online graduate students like me weren't immediately effected by this change, my mother was freaking out, so much so that she demanded I get a phone as soon as possible.  Of course, I was going to get an iPhone just for the connectivity.  I looked around for a few weeks before choosing an outline and option that worked good enough.  I mentioned that story in a previous post last year.  I wound up not needing the phone until this semester, and I mentioned that story in a post a few weeks ago.  So, what about my second phone?  Last month, the board notified my mother that she would be getting a new phone.  She was also told that the old one was now hers to do with as she pleased.  She could've sold it, but she probably wouldn't get that much for it.  So, I am now keeping it.  The current plan is to use it for one of my gaming accounts once the game departs Facebook.  Sure, the old phone doesn't have a cellular plan connected with it, at the moment, but it should still work with wifi connections.  If that doesn't work, I might have to borrow my mother's phone so that I can keep both accounts going without having to switch them back and forth on the same phone and risk losing one.  Her phone is the previous year's model to mine, so there shouldn't be any problems with that part.  I also bought a book and a manual for my phone, as the former is helping me get better acquainted with the regular features while the latter is for the latest iOS updates.  In fact, I'm still learning some new things about my phone.  For instance, there appears to be a way to connect a mouse via Bluetooth to my phone so I can play my game the way I would like to.  I haven't made it work yet, but if it does, this would make playing my game less frustrating.  I should add that playing Golf Clash with just swiping the screen isn't too hard, I still like my mouse.  And no, I still barely use my phone for calling.  Mostly, it has just been calls to an out-of-state supplier.  My phone has a better long distance plan than my store's landline. I just don't have anyone else I need to call out of the blue.