I say to you, no.
I'm done, I don't care how good he is at wrapping up the story. The story lost me. It's over.
Friday, November 12, 2010
Friday, October 15, 2010
Who should really NOT be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?
These artists should not be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame:
1. Floyd Cramer
2. Rick Astley
1. Floyd Cramer
2. Rick Astley
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Who should REALLY be in the Rock and Roll HOF?
There are way too many people in the rock and roll hall of fame. It's time to cull the herd.
These artists should actually be there:
Elvis Presley
Buddy Holly
The Beach Boys
The Beatles
The Rolling Stones
The Who
Diana Ross & the Supremes
Smokey Robinson
Led Zeppelin
Jimi Hendrix
The Grateful Dead
The Doors
The Bee Gees
Pink Floyd
The Police
U2
REM
Michael Jackson
Eric Clapton
The Clash
Elton John
Eagles
I may be done.
These artists should actually be there:
Elvis Presley
Buddy Holly
The Beach Boys
The Beatles
The Rolling Stones
The Who
Diana Ross & the Supremes
Smokey Robinson
Led Zeppelin
Jimi Hendrix
The Grateful Dead
The Doors
The Bee Gees
Pink Floyd
The Police
U2
REM
Michael Jackson
Eric Clapton
The Clash
Elton John
Eagles
I may be done.
Monday, October 4, 2010
Friday, September 24, 2010
Shall we play a game?
I'm going to need some audience participation here. Or, at least, some co-author participation.
For years, I've been fascinated by songs with titles that don't appear in the lyrics. It's pretty rare - at least in "mainstream" music. But not so rare that it hasn't jumped out and hit me from time to time. But I never remember to, say, write a blog entry. Or a FB Note. Or what have you. So, I have these lightning bolts of realization - hey, that's one of them! - and then I forget. Probably because I then drink something.
So. Let's make a list. Or, actually, two lists - I'm also going to accept songs where the title appears exactly once. The sad part is just how few things I can think of from my years of thinking about this. If I were to spend sober time thinking, I'd find more. But for now, I'll seed each list with exactly one song.
Title Does Not Appear:
Sympathy for the Devil, Rolling Stones
Title Appears Exactly Once:
Verdi Cries, 10000 Maniacs
Go!
For years, I've been fascinated by songs with titles that don't appear in the lyrics. It's pretty rare - at least in "mainstream" music. But not so rare that it hasn't jumped out and hit me from time to time. But I never remember to, say, write a blog entry. Or a FB Note. Or what have you. So, I have these lightning bolts of realization - hey, that's one of them! - and then I forget. Probably because I then drink something.
So. Let's make a list. Or, actually, two lists - I'm also going to accept songs where the title appears exactly once. The sad part is just how few things I can think of from my years of thinking about this. If I were to spend sober time thinking, I'd find more. But for now, I'll seed each list with exactly one song.
Title Does Not Appear:
Sympathy for the Devil, Rolling Stones
Title Appears Exactly Once:
Verdi Cries, 10000 Maniacs
Go!
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Interpret My Star Wars Dream
Last night I had a dream. There were some friends of mine being held captive by the enemy, who resided in an enormous...building?....on the other side of the valley. Really, it was like part of the mountain, all the stuff was built right into the ground. I made my way across the valley to rescue them no problem, and I sneaked inside the establishment.
At this point it became apparent that I was Luke Skywalker, complete with light saber. It was a yellow light saber like the Luke Skywalker action figure had back in the 70s, except it didn't slide out of my arm. It had a regular handle and you could turn it on and off. In my dream, I mean.
Conversing with some nebulous figure, I concocted a plan to sneak into the control room of this mountain fortress and strike off the head of the enemy leader, using my light saber. This guy was an Emperor-like figure but not the emperor himself. Looked more like that Tars Taarken dude on the Death Star in Star Wars. Some name like that anyway. He didn't look like a big green bug, I don't want to confuse you if you google that name--there's some dude in Star Wars with a name kinda like that but not that.
The plan went well at first. Using my light saber, I was able to cut open an electrical panel near the control room and screw up the circuits. Then I posed as a maintenance worker, there to repair the pane. Ideally, this would give me access to the control room itself at some point. But when I activated the light saber, I noticed the blade was very weak...watery...translucent. Just to test it out, I sneaked up behind some random Imperial dude and tried to slice off his head. The blade passed right through his neck but didn't do anything. It was nothing more than a light. No saber quality.
Discouraged and pressed for time, I ran to a bathroom and started taking the light saber apart. In theory, me being a Jedi, I knew how to build one. It's one of the skills all Jedi must acquire. But I unscrewed the top and a spring went sproing! All these little washers and crap jumped out everywhere all over the bathroom floor. I couldn't figure out how to put all the pieces together again. Plus, the power supply was obviously low, which was why my blade was ineffective in the first place.
Interpret that, bloggers.
At this point it became apparent that I was Luke Skywalker, complete with light saber. It was a yellow light saber like the Luke Skywalker action figure had back in the 70s, except it didn't slide out of my arm. It had a regular handle and you could turn it on and off. In my dream, I mean.
Conversing with some nebulous figure, I concocted a plan to sneak into the control room of this mountain fortress and strike off the head of the enemy leader, using my light saber. This guy was an Emperor-like figure but not the emperor himself. Looked more like that Tars Taarken dude on the Death Star in Star Wars. Some name like that anyway. He didn't look like a big green bug, I don't want to confuse you if you google that name--there's some dude in Star Wars with a name kinda like that but not that.
The plan went well at first. Using my light saber, I was able to cut open an electrical panel near the control room and screw up the circuits. Then I posed as a maintenance worker, there to repair the pane. Ideally, this would give me access to the control room itself at some point. But when I activated the light saber, I noticed the blade was very weak...watery...translucent. Just to test it out, I sneaked up behind some random Imperial dude and tried to slice off his head. The blade passed right through his neck but didn't do anything. It was nothing more than a light. No saber quality.
Discouraged and pressed for time, I ran to a bathroom and started taking the light saber apart. In theory, me being a Jedi, I knew how to build one. It's one of the skills all Jedi must acquire. But I unscrewed the top and a spring went sproing! All these little washers and crap jumped out everywhere all over the bathroom floor. I couldn't figure out how to put all the pieces together again. Plus, the power supply was obviously low, which was why my blade was ineffective in the first place.
Interpret that, bloggers.
Song lyrics I got wrong (Billy Joel)
I was listening to Billy Joel this morning. Some songs played that I used to hear as a kid, when my brother had Billy Joel's "Innocent Man" tape.
There's a line in "Tell Her about It" where Joel sings
give her every reason
to accept that you're for real
As a kid, I thought it was either "accept that Joe for real" (like the singer is just an ordinary Joe) or "accept that chump for real" (like the singer was a, well, chump). In retrospect, those interpretations appear to be stupid.
From the same album comes the most hated Billy Joel song of all time, "Uptown Girl," which was naturally my favorite as a little kid. The line in question goes
but maybe someday when my ship comes in
she'll understand what kind of guy I've been
Now. As a wee bairn I was not familiar with the phrase "when one's ship comes in," so I was at a bit of a loss to translate that line. I came up with two possibilities. The first was "when my **** comes in," which sounded like something my mom would say. It didn't make much sense, but had the advantage of being profane, which was certainly exciting. The fact that the song was a radio hit, however, made me doubt that particular solution.
What I went with was "someday when my shirt comes in," which made sense to me because at that point in history my family was getting all of our clothes from the Sears catalogue. It was a big deal with "shirts came in," because that meant we got new clothes. Someone whose shirt had come in was certainly a better catch than someone wearing old clothes.
There's also a line in that song about "white breaded world" or "white threaded world" that I still haven't figured out.
There's a line in "Tell Her about It" where Joel sings
give her every reason
to accept that you're for real
As a kid, I thought it was either "accept that Joe for real" (like the singer is just an ordinary Joe) or "accept that chump for real" (like the singer was a, well, chump). In retrospect, those interpretations appear to be stupid.
From the same album comes the most hated Billy Joel song of all time, "Uptown Girl," which was naturally my favorite as a little kid. The line in question goes
but maybe someday when my ship comes in
she'll understand what kind of guy I've been
Now. As a wee bairn I was not familiar with the phrase "when one's ship comes in," so I was at a bit of a loss to translate that line. I came up with two possibilities. The first was "when my **** comes in," which sounded like something my mom would say. It didn't make much sense, but had the advantage of being profane, which was certainly exciting. The fact that the song was a radio hit, however, made me doubt that particular solution.
What I went with was "someday when my shirt comes in," which made sense to me because at that point in history my family was getting all of our clothes from the Sears catalogue. It was a big deal with "shirts came in," because that meant we got new clothes. Someone whose shirt had come in was certainly a better catch than someone wearing old clothes.
There's also a line in that song about "white breaded world" or "white threaded world" that I still haven't figured out.
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
I don't know what gamey tastes like or ozone smells like
I don't even know what "gamey" means. It's just a word I've seen thrown around.
I need someone to give me two pieces of meat and say "this one's gamey and this one isn't," so I can learn the difference. The word itself doesn't render up any taste imagery. It sounds like parcheesi. So maybe it tastes cheesy? Cheese meat? I don't think I would like that. That's one of those rules, you can't mix cheese and meat, or eat octopuses.
Ozone is the same way. People often use "whiff of ozone" in their fancy writing and I'm like, fine, but I don't ******* know what ozone smells like. Somebody told me you can smell ozone from a photocopier. I don't know. I smell toner. Is that the same thing? I don't know. I just don't know.
They say "Ooh, ozone smells like a thunderstorm" and I'm thinking it just smells like everything's wet. I guess ozone smells wet.
Now, a wet dog, I know what that smells like.
I need someone to give me two pieces of meat and say "this one's gamey and this one isn't," so I can learn the difference. The word itself doesn't render up any taste imagery. It sounds like parcheesi. So maybe it tastes cheesy? Cheese meat? I don't think I would like that. That's one of those rules, you can't mix cheese and meat, or eat octopuses.
Ozone is the same way. People often use "whiff of ozone" in their fancy writing and I'm like, fine, but I don't ******* know what ozone smells like. Somebody told me you can smell ozone from a photocopier. I don't know. I smell toner. Is that the same thing? I don't know. I just don't know.
They say "Ooh, ozone smells like a thunderstorm" and I'm thinking it just smells like everything's wet. I guess ozone smells wet.
Now, a wet dog, I know what that smells like.
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Exotic meat weekend?
So, I went a little wild with weird meats this weekend. I had some ground buffalo that I bought at Whole Foods, and was looking for a recipe to use it in. I decided to go with a bolognese, and poked around the web for some variants. Epicurious had one with bison, which I figured was close enough. That recipe also called for antelope and/or venison. So I went out to Savenor's to see what I could find... and I found elk burgers. Close enough, mark 2? Why not.
Did that on Friday night, and it was really tasty! The buffalo is probably too close to beef to tell the difference in a tomato heavy sauce like this bolognese. But the elk definitely made the whole thing a little gamey. Which is good for me, but I was worried the husband wouldn't like it. In the end, I'm not sure he noticed.
I've got some of that left over, but it's going to have to wait... because today I'm doing python for lunch (also from Savenor's). Crazy, eh?!? Also, crazy expensive, but let's not worry about that. I'll post later with the results.
Oh, and I had the remaining elk burgers for lunch yesterday. I think they're TOO gamey to do that way. Tasty, but a bit overpowering. Ridiculously filling considering it was only ~ 1/3 pound.
Did that on Friday night, and it was really tasty! The buffalo is probably too close to beef to tell the difference in a tomato heavy sauce like this bolognese. But the elk definitely made the whole thing a little gamey. Which is good for me, but I was worried the husband wouldn't like it. In the end, I'm not sure he noticed.
I've got some of that left over, but it's going to have to wait... because today I'm doing python for lunch (also from Savenor's). Crazy, eh?!? Also, crazy expensive, but let's not worry about that. I'll post later with the results.
Oh, and I had the remaining elk burgers for lunch yesterday. I think they're TOO gamey to do that way. Tasty, but a bit overpowering. Ridiculously filling considering it was only ~ 1/3 pound.
Monday, August 30, 2010
Obsession
Ok, so I've always been easily addicted to stupid games. Yes, I'm still playing Farmville. And D&D, for that matter. But this past weekend I stumbled across something that has me hooked like nothing in recent memory.
It's a Facebook game, yes. So I get that lots of folks will dismiss it immediately. That's probably wise. But anyway - it's called City of Wonder, and it's basically Farmville + Civilization. Which means that for me, it's crack.
Now, if one is smart, one can play this game casually. You can set up your little farms and ranches and quarries and lumber mills to pop out goods every 8 hours. Or presumably every 24. Then you can just check in once a day, click all your little buildings, and go about your real life.
I, however, am unable to do this. I have all of my factories spewing things at the fastest rate they can. Every 3 minutes in the case of my garden. Who knew peas grew that fast? So, I'm logged in at home and clicking all day/night this weekend. Then I went to work this morning and did it all day in my office. I can't stop.
The building-clicking isn't what makes it interesting - that's farmville, and social city, and any number of other games. But this one adds in the Civ elements that have me hooked. I NEED to research Fermentation, so I can convert my garden into a vineyard, damn it! I need to know how much better Currency is than Trade. I want to know if Stonehenge is enough to win my culture exchanges, or if I need the Colossus - or, God help me, the Pyramids.
It's a perfect storm of Crap Heelzebub Cannot Resist.
I'm sure I'll at least extend the factory timescales in the next couple of days. But I still need to recruit some more Euclids to cut down my research time on Theology so I can get started on Law...
It's a Facebook game, yes. So I get that lots of folks will dismiss it immediately. That's probably wise. But anyway - it's called City of Wonder, and it's basically Farmville + Civilization. Which means that for me, it's crack.
Now, if one is smart, one can play this game casually. You can set up your little farms and ranches and quarries and lumber mills to pop out goods every 8 hours. Or presumably every 24. Then you can just check in once a day, click all your little buildings, and go about your real life.
I, however, am unable to do this. I have all of my factories spewing things at the fastest rate they can. Every 3 minutes in the case of my garden. Who knew peas grew that fast? So, I'm logged in at home and clicking all day/night this weekend. Then I went to work this morning and did it all day in my office. I can't stop.
The building-clicking isn't what makes it interesting - that's farmville, and social city, and any number of other games. But this one adds in the Civ elements that have me hooked. I NEED to research Fermentation, so I can convert my garden into a vineyard, damn it! I need to know how much better Currency is than Trade. I want to know if Stonehenge is enough to win my culture exchanges, or if I need the Colossus - or, God help me, the Pyramids.
It's a perfect storm of Crap Heelzebub Cannot Resist.
I'm sure I'll at least extend the factory timescales in the next couple of days. But I still need to recruit some more Euclids to cut down my research time on Theology so I can get started on Law...
Monday, August 23, 2010
Okay - Sara and Karen stories
I'll post them here for my college friends who have been unable to find them on other threads.
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Things that are Wrong with Boston
Deer Island is neither a Deer nor an island.
There are other placenames that are problematic. Commonwealth Avenue, for instance, is certainly an avenue with trees and what not lining the street, but it seems highly unlikely that it is a commonwealth. Admittedly I have only a vague idea of what a commonwealth is, despite having lived in at least two (Massachusetts and Virginia) because from what I can see they are just states. So we'll let that one slide.
What really irks me is Porter Square. Okay, it's in Cambridge and not Boston. BUT. It's not a ******* square, and I don't even mean in the literal geometric sense. Obviously you don't expect that, but I'm looking for at least some sort of symmetry. Take Carrollton, GA. It has a square that is a geometric square, cut right out of the center of town where two roads cross. Same thing in Davie County, NC, in whatever town that is in the middle of Davie County. Mocksville. Alright, fine. But I'm not even taking that as a requisite.
I'm saying to be a square you need this symmetry--at the very least, a crossroads. And look at Porter Square in Cambridge, Mass. Not a crossroads. Not a geometric square. It's one road coming in from the side to intersect with Mass Ave (Massachusetts speak for "Massachusetts Avenue," which is clearly too long a name for a people renown for their rapidity of speech). It's a T-intersection, fittingly outfitted with a T-stop (Massachusetts speak for "subway station"). A freaking T intersection is not a square. It doesn't even come in at anything close to a 90° angle, which might at least give the town founders a shot at a different definition of "square." You might as well call an orange a football field.
There are other placenames that are problematic. Commonwealth Avenue, for instance, is certainly an avenue with trees and what not lining the street, but it seems highly unlikely that it is a commonwealth. Admittedly I have only a vague idea of what a commonwealth is, despite having lived in at least two (Massachusetts and Virginia) because from what I can see they are just states. So we'll let that one slide.
What really irks me is Porter Square. Okay, it's in Cambridge and not Boston. BUT. It's not a ******* square, and I don't even mean in the literal geometric sense. Obviously you don't expect that, but I'm looking for at least some sort of symmetry. Take Carrollton, GA. It has a square that is a geometric square, cut right out of the center of town where two roads cross. Same thing in Davie County, NC, in whatever town that is in the middle of Davie County. Mocksville. Alright, fine. But I'm not even taking that as a requisite.
I'm saying to be a square you need this symmetry--at the very least, a crossroads. And look at Porter Square in Cambridge, Mass. Not a crossroads. Not a geometric square. It's one road coming in from the side to intersect with Mass Ave (Massachusetts speak for "Massachusetts Avenue," which is clearly too long a name for a people renown for their rapidity of speech). It's a T-intersection, fittingly outfitted with a T-stop (Massachusetts speak for "subway station"). A freaking T intersection is not a square. It doesn't even come in at anything close to a 90° angle, which might at least give the town founders a shot at a different definition of "square." You might as well call an orange a football field.
The Problem with My Cats
Look, I can understand if the litter box is too full for your comfort. But instead of just laying one down on top of the litter with total disregard for any sort of odor-preventing technique (be it the chemical power of deodorant litter or the physical prowess of simply piling a bunch of sand on top), why don't you do the manly thing and just stick a claw in my leg to tell me something is wrong? You had no problem this morning sticking a claw in my leg (which still itches, by the way) to let me know that you had not yet been allowed to lick the milk dregs out of my wife's cereal bowl. I know you can handle that technique.
Instead, you try to stink up the entire bottom floor of the house. Now, I have to put on my shoes (which are uncomfortably warm to be worn indoors this time of year (warm-worn, that sounds very similar!)) and go into your "cat bathroom," which is the one in which the toilet has been cut off because the flapper leaks, and pour a bunch of litter on top of your steaming produce because I don't feel like actually making the effort of cleaning out your damned box, which I just did three days ago, thank you very much (not that you ever thank me for this service that I have been performing for you on a semi-weekly basis for five years now).
Prepare for a big dose of limonene in your breakfast.
Instead, you try to stink up the entire bottom floor of the house. Now, I have to put on my shoes (which are uncomfortably warm to be worn indoors this time of year (warm-worn, that sounds very similar!)) and go into your "cat bathroom," which is the one in which the toilet has been cut off because the flapper leaks, and pour a bunch of litter on top of your steaming produce because I don't feel like actually making the effort of cleaning out your damned box, which I just did three days ago, thank you very much (not that you ever thank me for this service that I have been performing for you on a semi-weekly basis for five years now).
Prepare for a big dose of limonene in your breakfast.
SyFy movie of the week
I can hardly wait: Lake Placid 3. I guess I was vaguely aware that there was a 2. Never mind that I haven't seen 1 or 2. I'm a little worried that the only "star" listed is someone of whom I've never heard - Ryan Carnes, anyone? But this plus Joe plus Karen plus Andrew plus Emily plus Martin plus Jay, maybe Gabrielle, maybe John Lawrence, and my awesome husband? Plus our homebrew blackberry lambic. This should be good. I'll keep y'all posted.
Ha! 2 is on now, and John Schneider is the star. Remember when C&I dressed up as the Duke boys?
Ha! 2 is on now, and John Schneider is the star. Remember when C&I dressed up as the Duke boys?
Friday, August 20, 2010
Recurring Dreams, Part II
Here is my next recurring dream.
RECURRING DREAM #CT02
I dream a lot about tornadoes. They are always approaching on the horizon, sometimes as many as 6-10 at once. They are coming for me and I must hide. Often these dreams wake me up in the middle of the night, generally during rainstorms, and I make my wife run downstairs and hide in a closet with the cats. In general, I am too terrified to speak coherently when I wake up, which in turn terrifies my wife because I can only bark out commands like "Get downstairs. Now. Go. Go. Get in the closet." She becomes convinced, while in that muddled just woken up mode, that there are robbers and we are hiding from them.
Which reminds me.
I knew this girl in high school whose house got robbed in the middle of the night while she was in it. The thievers crept through her bedroom window to enter the house. She remembers waking up and seeing them and being scared, but then she convinced herself it was a dream and went back to sleep.
GO
RECURRING DREAM #CT02
I dream a lot about tornadoes. They are always approaching on the horizon, sometimes as many as 6-10 at once. They are coming for me and I must hide. Often these dreams wake me up in the middle of the night, generally during rainstorms, and I make my wife run downstairs and hide in a closet with the cats. In general, I am too terrified to speak coherently when I wake up, which in turn terrifies my wife because I can only bark out commands like "Get downstairs. Now. Go. Go. Get in the closet." She becomes convinced, while in that muddled just woken up mode, that there are robbers and we are hiding from them.
Which reminds me.
I knew this girl in high school whose house got robbed in the middle of the night while she was in it. The thievers crept through her bedroom window to enter the house. She remembers waking up and seeing them and being scared, but then she convinced herself it was a dream and went back to sleep.
GO
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Interpreting recurring dreams
This is a post about interpreting recurring dreams.
1) You are allowed to post your dream (keep it clean)
2) You are allowed to interpret other peoples dreams. And your own, for that matter.
RECURRING DREAM # CT01
In this dream I am driving my car. It is always my car from high school/college, a 1990 midnight blue Nissan Sentra. In the dream, I attempt to drive the car either 1) through running water, 2) over running water, or 3) across bridge that crosses rapidly rising water with water creeping over the edges. I never get swallowed by the water, I am always driving across. But I never reach the other side. I either wake up or the dream changes to something unrelated
COROLLARY DREAM #CT01A
In this very similar dream, I am flying or rising up or jumping over something. I keep going up, just until the point where I pause in the air, but I never descend. I pause for a sickening second and look down, but then I'm rising again until I pause somewhere even higher. This cycle continues until I either wake or the dream changes to something unrelated.
GO
1) You are allowed to post your dream (keep it clean)
2) You are allowed to interpret other peoples dreams. And your own, for that matter.
RECURRING DREAM # CT01
In this dream I am driving my car. It is always my car from high school/college, a 1990 midnight blue Nissan Sentra. In the dream, I attempt to drive the car either 1) through running water, 2) over running water, or 3) across bridge that crosses rapidly rising water with water creeping over the edges. I never get swallowed by the water, I am always driving across. But I never reach the other side. I either wake up or the dream changes to something unrelated
COROLLARY DREAM #CT01A
In this very similar dream, I am flying or rising up or jumping over something. I keep going up, just until the point where I pause in the air, but I never descend. I pause for a sickening second and look down, but then I'm rising again until I pause somewhere even higher. This cycle continues until I either wake or the dream changes to something unrelated.
GO
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)