Title is apropos of nothing, except for my super-charged self!
I played Ultimate. All. Weekend. Rock! Good exercise, except that it got canceled out by the Vanilla Swiss Almond ice cream I ate afterward.
I did classwork. All. Weekend. That was also exercise, but not nearly as fun except that it ended in ice cream as well.
Dan showed me a time-travel movie that wasn't annoying or self-consciously clever. Although "Predator" remains my favorite time-travel movie (EverMike knows!), "Primer" really wasn't bad. Throw that in my face and there's going to be trouble in River City.
New favorite lyric:
"You know that when the truth is told
That you can get what you want or you can get just get old
You're gonna kick off before you even get halfway through
When will you realize Vienna waits for you?"
Artist: Billy Joel (Billy Joel)
Song: Vienna
Album: The Stranger
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Sunday, April 22, 2007
And the aftermath
The reunion was last night, and now I report!
I looked pretty good, I must say, and I spend a good deal of time making sure of it. There was no way I was going into that mess without confidence that every seam, fold and strand of hair was exactly in place. I deliberately arrived 90 minutes late...like I was really going to get there on time! What was neat was that almost no one recognized me at first, so I kind of stealthed around the place, checking out who had gotten fat (a number of people) and who bald (a slightly lower number). Eventually people started recognizing me, and when they did the most common remark was, "Wow, you look exactly the same!" I managed to avoid preening, mostly because I was aghast at how not exactly the same some of the remarkers looked. Great Zeus...had it only been twenty years? One guy I spoke with looked 48 if he was a day!
I expected that it would be embarrassing and mind-blowing, and possibly awful, but it was really just awkward; I had very little to say to most of these people when I was in high school, and even less twenty years removed. I did have kind of a revelation that I won't reveal here; no true confessions on this blog! (Or at least not today.) I left after 45 minutes and went to meet some friends in town, where I had an infinitely better time.
BTW, I wore my snazzy outfit the rest of the evening. Hey, it was too good to waste on a high school reunion.
New favorite lyric:
"And if I had a jetpack I'd bust into your door
I'd take you by the hand to the Jersey shore
And underneath the moonlight you'd want me even more
'Cause I'd have a jetpack."
Artist: Jill Sobule (Jill Sobule/Robin Eaton)
Song: Jetpack
Album: Underdog Victorious
I looked pretty good, I must say, and I spend a good deal of time making sure of it. There was no way I was going into that mess without confidence that every seam, fold and strand of hair was exactly in place. I deliberately arrived 90 minutes late...like I was really going to get there on time! What was neat was that almost no one recognized me at first, so I kind of stealthed around the place, checking out who had gotten fat (a number of people) and who bald (a slightly lower number). Eventually people started recognizing me, and when they did the most common remark was, "Wow, you look exactly the same!" I managed to avoid preening, mostly because I was aghast at how not exactly the same some of the remarkers looked. Great Zeus...had it only been twenty years? One guy I spoke with looked 48 if he was a day!
I expected that it would be embarrassing and mind-blowing, and possibly awful, but it was really just awkward; I had very little to say to most of these people when I was in high school, and even less twenty years removed. I did have kind of a revelation that I won't reveal here; no true confessions on this blog! (Or at least not today.) I left after 45 minutes and went to meet some friends in town, where I had an infinitely better time.
BTW, I wore my snazzy outfit the rest of the evening. Hey, it was too good to waste on a high school reunion.
New favorite lyric:
"And if I had a jetpack I'd bust into your door
I'd take you by the hand to the Jersey shore
And underneath the moonlight you'd want me even more
'Cause I'd have a jetpack."
Artist: Jill Sobule (Jill Sobule/Robin Eaton)
Song: Jetpack
Album: Underdog Victorious
Friday, April 20, 2007
Yes, it is still true...
...that my 20-year high school reunion is tomorrow. I have this fear that it will be really lame and that everyone who is there will remember me as an integral part of that lameness. And I'll remember it too. Forever and ever. Save me.
Mock trials are fun, as I learned the other night at SuperTarzan's. My favorite part was when ST responded to an objection thusly:
A great weather weekend looms before us, for once. Given that winter has made several encores, I'm keeping my heavy coat at hand until, like, July. However, I am also keeping my disc handy, and tomorrow I am using it! How can anyone not love Ultimate? If I were the FBI, I'd profile for that, because Ultimate-haters are terrorists.
I was walking along Boathouse Row today, and I used my Sarcasmo eyes to look at the buildings I've passed a zillion times before but never really seen. One of them has this little tower that looks rather like a miniature lighthouse, and I wondered if anyone ever used it as such. The only watercraft you'd guide in are the little boats the crew men and women use.
I hear that DRAGON is going out of print. The news made me a little sad, as at one time I was a regular subscriber and, once, an author. In a way I'm sheepish about admitting that, but in another way I'm not; at the time I published, that magazine had a circulation of around 100,000. If you Google my name (no, I'm not posting it here) along with the title of the magazine you can find pdfs of the article. Someone still reads the thing, for which I was paid the princely sum of $60. I still have a copy of the check.
I decided that, when I'm too old to work and too young to sit around all day, I'm going to become a crossing guard. I don't much care for children, but I like the idea of helping protect them from traffic. Evidently I dislike drivers more than children. That's the awe and wonder of me.
Mock trials are fun, as I learned the other night at SuperTarzan's. My favorite part was when ST responded to an objection thusly:
"Your Honor, it doesn't take any sophisticated legal knowledge to know that confessing to murder is going to hurt you at your murder trial."Heh.
A great weather weekend looms before us, for once. Given that winter has made several encores, I'm keeping my heavy coat at hand until, like, July. However, I am also keeping my disc handy, and tomorrow I am using it! How can anyone not love Ultimate? If I were the FBI, I'd profile for that, because Ultimate-haters are terrorists.
I was walking along Boathouse Row today, and I used my Sarcasmo eyes to look at the buildings I've passed a zillion times before but never really seen. One of them has this little tower that looks rather like a miniature lighthouse, and I wondered if anyone ever used it as such. The only watercraft you'd guide in are the little boats the crew men and women use.
I hear that DRAGON is going out of print. The news made me a little sad, as at one time I was a regular subscriber and, once, an author. In a way I'm sheepish about admitting that, but in another way I'm not; at the time I published, that magazine had a circulation of around 100,000. If you Google my name (no, I'm not posting it here) along with the title of the magazine you can find pdfs of the article. Someone still reads the thing, for which I was paid the princely sum of $60. I still have a copy of the check.
I decided that, when I'm too old to work and too young to sit around all day, I'm going to become a crossing guard. I don't much care for children, but I like the idea of helping protect them from traffic. Evidently I dislike drivers more than children. That's the awe and wonder of me.
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Whoa!
Two whoa things today.
Check out how well the "troop surge" is working. Of course, I am sure the Bush administration will be quick to say that the surge is too recent to have had any effect, or that this is the insurgents' Last Throe #703. Boy, do we have this coming.
I am going to my 20-year high school reunion in two weekends, may the Seven protect me. As the song says, don't ask me why. Actually, I know why; I want to see who got fat and who got bald, or (please, please!) both. While I'm being honest, I had thought about hiring a gorgeous model for the evening and telling her to call me "doctor" but I finally decided that would be lying. I guess. I'm divided on what to wear; half of me wants to hew to something sharp yet conservative, and the other half wants to drag out my quilted gold brocade, black-velvet-trimmed Versailles waistcoat. Since it will by then probably be too warm for quilted brocade, I'm probably going to stick with my new linen jacket.
Dan asked if I wanted him along and I said no for this reason. I have no idea how this evening's going to be, so I want the freedom to be able to walk (or run) out after five minutes without worrying about upsetting anyone. Such an exit might upset my former classmates, and I am sure that I'll toss and turn for at least three seconds over that.
New favorite lyric:
"And they'd say 'Granddad, Mom has told us
Is it true you were alive
When there were forests in New Jersey
And Windows 95?' "
Artist: Deirdre Flint (Deirdre Flint)
Song: Old With You
Album: Then Again
Check out how well the "troop surge" is working. Of course, I am sure the Bush administration will be quick to say that the surge is too recent to have had any effect, or that this is the insurgents' Last Throe #703. Boy, do we have this coming.
I am going to my 20-year high school reunion in two weekends, may the Seven protect me. As the song says, don't ask me why. Actually, I know why; I want to see who got fat and who got bald, or (please, please!) both. While I'm being honest, I had thought about hiring a gorgeous model for the evening and telling her to call me "doctor" but I finally decided that would be lying. I guess. I'm divided on what to wear; half of me wants to hew to something sharp yet conservative, and the other half wants to drag out my quilted gold brocade, black-velvet-trimmed Versailles waistcoat. Since it will by then probably be too warm for quilted brocade, I'm probably going to stick with my new linen jacket.
Dan asked if I wanted him along and I said no for this reason. I have no idea how this evening's going to be, so I want the freedom to be able to walk (or run) out after five minutes without worrying about upsetting anyone. Such an exit might upset my former classmates, and I am sure that I'll toss and turn for at least three seconds over that.
New favorite lyric:
"And they'd say 'Granddad, Mom has told us
Is it true you were alive
When there were forests in New Jersey
And Windows 95?' "
Artist: Deirdre Flint (Deirdre Flint)
Song: Old With You
Album: Then Again
Monday, April 09, 2007
A podcast is a podcast*
I'm recording a podcast for my class, and in addition to becoming rather hoarse, I'm also noticing something I hadn't before.
Could my voice get any faggier? Geez Louise!
Ultimate Sean lent me the first season of "Beauty and the Beast" on DVD. I'm not a very romantic person, but that show should have been true. Seriously. And it had action! And an archrival! Not too many cute guys, it's true, but Linda Hamilton's shoulders were padded like a linebacker's. The latter really doesn't make up for the former, but I thought I'd point it out nonetheless.
New favorite lyric:
"At any convenient time
Funny how my memory slips
While looking over manuscripts of unpublished rhyme
Drinking my vodka and lime**"
Artist: Simon & Garfunkel (Paul Simon)
Song: Hazy Shade of Winter
Album: Bookends
*While writing this title I wanted to add "...but a Manwich is a meal." Podcasts and Manwiches have no ostensible connection except in my brain tonight.
**I'm not much of a drinker, but vodka and lime sounds really gross. I'll take a Manwich*** instead.
***Manwich sounds way dirtier now than it did when I first saw the commercial, way back when.
Could my voice get any faggier? Geez Louise!
Ultimate Sean lent me the first season of "Beauty and the Beast" on DVD. I'm not a very romantic person, but that show should have been true. Seriously. And it had action! And an archrival! Not too many cute guys, it's true, but Linda Hamilton's shoulders were padded like a linebacker's. The latter really doesn't make up for the former, but I thought I'd point it out nonetheless.
New favorite lyric:
"At any convenient time
Funny how my memory slips
While looking over manuscripts of unpublished rhyme
Drinking my vodka and lime**"
Artist: Simon & Garfunkel (Paul Simon)
Song: Hazy Shade of Winter
Album: Bookends
*While writing this title I wanted to add "...but a Manwich is a meal." Podcasts and Manwiches have no ostensible connection except in my brain tonight.
**I'm not much of a drinker, but vodka and lime sounds really gross. I'll take a Manwich*** instead.
***Manwich sounds way dirtier now than it did when I first saw the commercial, way back when.
Tuesday, April 03, 2007
Some of my favorite songs
These are songs I can listen to over and over without tiring. And have.
The King is Half-Undressed
"She dots her i's with a smiley face
A work of art in all but taste
The fool deserves the bed he's made
Where idiots slumber"
Ah, Jellyfish. Only two albums did they produce before Roger Manning and Andy Sturmer started disliking each other, but, boy, were they good! I'm not exactly sure what the song means, but the lyrics are neat and the drums incredible. Sturmer was the drummer and the lead singer, too...how cool is that?
Our Lips Are Sealed
"Careless talk through paper walls
We can't stop them, only laugh at them
Spreading rumors, so far from true
Dragged up from the underworld just like some precious pearl"
Written by Jane Wiedlin and Terry Hall during their ten-minute love affair and originally recorded by the Go-Go's, this song is great no matter who covers it. Good bass line, singable melody and, in the original at least, you have Jane's pixie-ish bridge vocals. Love. Her.
Troy
"I remember it
Dublin in a rainstorm
Sitting in the long grass in the summer
Keeping warm"
Sinead O'Connor may be many things, but talentless she ain't. This song is both sad and screamy, and she makes both extremes work just fine. She's like that.
Closer to Fine
"I went to see the doctor of philosophy
With a poster of Rasputin and a beard down to his knee
He never did marry or see a B-grade movie
He graded my performance, he said he could see through me
I spent four years prostrate to the higher mind
Got my paper and I was free"
The Indigo Girls are liberalism made flesh and given guitars, and this song is liberalism to music. Still, it's got winsome lyrics and a nice rhythm, and of course Amy and Emily are vocalists without peer.
Revolution Earth
"While the wide arc of the globe is turning
We feel it moving through the dark
Hear the hills scrape the sky
And our eyes fill with the falling sparks"
The B-52's are pretty good at writing songs about nothing (see Hot Pants Explosion), but although this one doesn't exactly tell a story it paints a picture so vivid that I can't help but be transported. They recorded this one without Cindy Wilson, and although Kate Pierson does a fantastic job solo, I wish CW had been involved.
Are You Happy Now?
"I smashed the pumpkin on the floor
Candles flicker at my feet
As goblins flew across the moon
And children peered into the room
A cowboy shivered on the porch
Cinderella checked her watch
A hobo waited in the street
And an angel whispered, 'Trick or treat' "
This is an entry in the (presumably tiny) category of Halloween break-up songs. Richard Shindell gets all of the emotions involved in a parting of the ways just right, and even laments that his departed lover took the damned Halloween candy with her too. Bitch.
Sister Catherine Claire
"Her candy jar was always stocked
Her holy card collection rocked
She had the really gory ones
Like Vincent lanced and Stephen stoned"
Oh how I adore this one! This song really encapsulates Deirdre Flint's music: funny, accessible, and poignant. I defy your heart not to lift a little when "they declare Pope Catherine."
***
No favorite lyric today. You just had seven!
The King is Half-Undressed
"She dots her i's with a smiley face
A work of art in all but taste
The fool deserves the bed he's made
Where idiots slumber"
Ah, Jellyfish. Only two albums did they produce before Roger Manning and Andy Sturmer started disliking each other, but, boy, were they good! I'm not exactly sure what the song means, but the lyrics are neat and the drums incredible. Sturmer was the drummer and the lead singer, too...how cool is that?
Our Lips Are Sealed
"Careless talk through paper walls
We can't stop them, only laugh at them
Spreading rumors, so far from true
Dragged up from the underworld just like some precious pearl"
Written by Jane Wiedlin and Terry Hall during their ten-minute love affair and originally recorded by the Go-Go's, this song is great no matter who covers it. Good bass line, singable melody and, in the original at least, you have Jane's pixie-ish bridge vocals. Love. Her.
Troy
"I remember it
Dublin in a rainstorm
Sitting in the long grass in the summer
Keeping warm"
Sinead O'Connor may be many things, but talentless she ain't. This song is both sad and screamy, and she makes both extremes work just fine. She's like that.
Closer to Fine
"I went to see the doctor of philosophy
With a poster of Rasputin and a beard down to his knee
He never did marry or see a B-grade movie
He graded my performance, he said he could see through me
I spent four years prostrate to the higher mind
Got my paper and I was free"
The Indigo Girls are liberalism made flesh and given guitars, and this song is liberalism to music. Still, it's got winsome lyrics and a nice rhythm, and of course Amy and Emily are vocalists without peer.
Revolution Earth
"While the wide arc of the globe is turning
We feel it moving through the dark
Hear the hills scrape the sky
And our eyes fill with the falling sparks"
The B-52's are pretty good at writing songs about nothing (see Hot Pants Explosion), but although this one doesn't exactly tell a story it paints a picture so vivid that I can't help but be transported. They recorded this one without Cindy Wilson, and although Kate Pierson does a fantastic job solo, I wish CW had been involved.
Are You Happy Now?
"I smashed the pumpkin on the floor
Candles flicker at my feet
As goblins flew across the moon
And children peered into the room
A cowboy shivered on the porch
Cinderella checked her watch
A hobo waited in the street
And an angel whispered, 'Trick or treat' "
This is an entry in the (presumably tiny) category of Halloween break-up songs. Richard Shindell gets all of the emotions involved in a parting of the ways just right, and even laments that his departed lover took the damned Halloween candy with her too. Bitch.
Sister Catherine Claire
"Her candy jar was always stocked
Her holy card collection rocked
She had the really gory ones
Like Vincent lanced and Stephen stoned"
Oh how I adore this one! This song really encapsulates Deirdre Flint's music: funny, accessible, and poignant. I defy your heart not to lift a little when "they declare Pope Catherine."
***
No favorite lyric today. You just had seven!
Sunday, April 01, 2007
A few pictures
These were on my hard drive, and now they're on your screen!
The first one is Star in Rittenhouse Square, and was taken by the Philadelphia Inquirer. If you didn't know Star you missed out on a part of life. If you knew Star and didn't like her you missed out on basic humanity or good sense, or something.
The second one is me at Dover Castle in - surprise, surprise - Dover, England. (I should put in the county name but I don't feel like looking it up.) I'm way off to the right, barely visible and irrelevant in light of the wonderfully green grass. No Photoshopping on this pic...that color's all nature. The day that picture was taken was like many in England, blustery and cool, partly sunny but largely not, but it was a great visit nonetheless.
Looking back I think I realize the connection between these two pics. My trusty London map has been to the UK more times than I have, because Star took it with her during her own London trip. I hadn't remembered this until I came across the map in my desk at home, and then it seemed very precious. Having something that went along with Star on one of her adventures is like owning Bilbo Baggins' travelling* cloak.
New favorite lyric:
"Dreams that are towers that rise above
The bower of dreams where I lie with my love
Dreams that fly from our hearts to each other
Shared thoughts of our love under the covers"
Artist: B-52's (B-52's)
Song: Dreamland
Album: Cosmic Thing
*I thought the British spelling only appropriate in this context.
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