Back To Bringing The Goods

I took a pretty extended break from blogging for a little bit (my most significant break since, oh, 2004 or so) but after a vacation to SXSW, spending an increasing amount of time with my four-year old (that's about to go up too - more on that later) and trying to concentrate on work, I found the exact article to ease my way back into the writing gig when I saw this this little educational nugget about the public educational system, or lack of it.

WASHINGTON - Seventeen of the nation's 50 largest cities had high school graduation rates lower than 50 percent, with the lowest graduation rates reported in Detroit, Indianapolis and Cleveland, according to a report released Tuesday.

MSNBC gets the cite.

Let's see.  I live in Denver.  It's one of the most highly educated cities in the nation, I've heard somewhere.

Denver:  Denver County School District - 46.3 percent graduation rate.

43.6 percent graduation rate?

So I'm going to have to try to send my daughter to private schools for the rest of her days?

Public education.  My wallet.  I weep for them both.

Alanis Morissette For The Win

1. If that is Alanis Morissette, good for her.
2. If it isn't, I nominate that actress for just about any reward.

And now, without further ado:

Alanis Morisette doing the Black Eyed Peas' "My Humps".

I would have made a comment about how this might be looked at as Ironic, but isn't, but really, I felt that pun fell flat.

I Heard A Rumor

...that Fiji has gone and had a coup.

 

SUVA, Fiji - The military ruler who led a coup against Fiji's elected government forcibly dissolved the South Pacific island's parliament Wednesday, installed a new prime minister and warned that he could use force against dissenters.
Commodore Frank Bainimarama, leader of the country's fourth coup in 19 years, also dismissed the country's police chief, who had publicly opposed him.
Armed troops entered Parliament and demanded senators end budget deliberations that had resumed despite the government's ouster. Bainimarama said he had formally dissolved the legislature.

 

The Boston Herald.

 

Every time I read a story about this tension filled situation, when I see the name "Bainimarama", I always think of a successful 1980's new wave girl band  and wonder, "What the hell are they doing in Fiji?"  Is that wrong?  Should I not be doing that?

 

 

 

 

Life's Soundtrack

An idea nabbed from the Assimilated Negro.  What's my life's soundtrack?

 

Well, according to my trusty iPod, here it is.  I find it interesting.  You might as well.  Notice that I didn't cheat to make myself look better/cooler/hipper.

 

Opening Credits: Award Tour - A Tribe Called Quest

Waking Up: Money For Nothing - Dire Straits
First Day at School: Y Control - Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Falling In Love: Get It On - T.Rex

Fight Song: Beastie Boys - Heart Attack Man

Breaking Up: The Warmth - Incubus

Prom: Love Me Two Times - Doors

Life: Cupid - Jack Johnson

Mental Breakdown: Kid Fears - Indigo Girls

Driving: Torn and Tattered - Joss Stone

Flashback: The Letter - Macy Gray
Wedding: Hanging Around - Counting Crows

Birth of Child: Silver Lining - David Gray
Final Battle: More Than A Woman - Bee Gees

Death Scene: You're So Rad - Bouncing Souls
Funeral Song: Cornflake Girl - Tori Amos

End Credit: Girl Afraid - The Smiths

 

 

 

 

 

On My Outdated iPod

A very long, long time ago, I bought an iPod. 

 

And hit shuffle.

 

It's the end of 2006, and my iPod has reached obsolescence, but still I shuffle on.  Here are the last ten songs on my iPod.

 

In The Waiting Line - Zero 7

More Than A Woman - The Bee Gees

Head Over Heels - Tears For Fears

Round Midnight - Miles Davis

G. Love and Special Sauce - I-76

The Cure - The Caterpillar

Moby - Natural Blues

Black Eyed Peas - Head

The Beatles - Revolution 9

Ray Parker Jr. - Ghostbusters

 

Two comments.

1.  There's a definitive theme there.  Really.  If you give it a good, good look, you can see a them.  I'm just too much of homebody to tell you what it is.

2.  ...except for this.  Ghostbusters?! 

 

I've got to pick up some new CDs.  From the used CD shop.  Without DRM.

 

I Get My Coups Above The Waistline, Sunshine

Uh-oh.

 

Tanks have taken up position around the Thai government headquarters in Bangkok blocking traffic, eyewitnesses have told Reuters news agency.

An army-owned TV station has altered its programming to broadcast images of the royal family and songs associated in the past with military coups.

BBC!  BBC!

More to come, no doubt.  This news makes a hard man humble.

 

 

Things That Make Me Happy

How about the Steely Dan Dictionary?

 

Ever wondered what a bodhisattva is? Or how to gaslight somebody? Then this site is for you! You're looking at an A-Z glossary of over 80 obscure words, people and places — all taken from the lyrics Steely Dan songs.

 

Dude, you SO get a link from me.

 

At night when we chase the Dragon,

The water will change to cherry wine,

And the silver will turn to gold,

Time out of mind.

- Steely Dan

 

Ah, to be nineteen again.  Wait.

 

RIP Billy Preston

Dang.  Billy Preston died today.

Billy Preston (September 9, 1946 – June 6, 2006) was a soul musician from Houston, Texas and raised mostly in Los Angeles, California. He began playing piano while sitting on his mother's lap at age three. Preston collaborated with some of the greatest names in the music industry, including The Beatles, Sam Cooke, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Eric Clapton, Sammy Davis Jr., Sly Stone, Aretha Franklin, George Harrison, The Jackson 5, Quincy Jones, Bob Dylan, and The Rolling Stones. He was the only person to receive a credit on a Beatles single, playing the organ on 'Get Back' as part of the rooftop concert.

 

Via Wikipedia, and thank Fark.

 

Well, that's definitely a downer.

Guess it's time to listen to Nothing From Nothing.

 

 

Surprising Musical Revelation

You know, oddly enough, the album Louder Than Bombs by The Smiths holds up particularly well, especially the song, "Girl Afraid".

I don't care if Morrissey wore a band-aid on his nipple.

 

Yes, you are allowed to Google that.

 

 

True Life Quote That I Heard Today

"If I thought it had any chance of working, I would crack open my own skull, and use a rusty garden rake to scrape the phrase "lady-lumps" out of my brain."
 - ringloss, on the Black Eyed Peas opus, "My Humps".

On that note, I have only this to say:

My humps
My humps
My humps my humps my humps,
You love my lady lumps.
My humps my humps my humps.


Yeah, I know.  The lyrics are merely illustrative.

Here Is A Test

This is a test.  Take notes.  This will count as 3/4 of your final grade.  Hints: remember, in chess, kings cancel each other out and cannot occupy adjacent squares, are therefore all-powerful and totally powerless, cannot affect one another, produce stalemate.

 - Harlan Ellison, "The Deathbird"

Interestingly, this post only tangentally has to do with that particular quote.  However, three test questions of varying difficulty follow the quotes, below.  See if you can answer them correctly.  I would add that if you do not own the story mentioned above, find it and buy it quick.  I have it on good information that it is, at present, out of print.

Via itch.in...

Virgin Records deserves a spanking. I'll do what I want with the content I pay for, thank you very much. When will they realize that if it's in bits and bytes, nothing's ever secure?

More here.

Coldplay's new CD comes with an insert that discloses all the rules enforced by the DRM they included on the disc. Of course, these rules are only visible after you've paid for the CD and brought it home, and as the disc's rules say, "Except for manufacturing problems, we do not accept product exchange, return or refund," so if you don't like the rules, that's tough.

The Boing is at it again.

Now for the test.

1.  Can this particular Coldplay CD actually be played, period?
2.  Has this particular security strategy paid off for Virgin Records and Coldplay with increased record sales and grateful Coldplay fans?
3.  Will Clark buy another CD at any point in the near-future?

Answers will be revealed at the end of this post.

True, sad story:  My mother wanted CDs for Christmas.  EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM had DRM and all of them were likely to load an outside application to her computer system that could make her hardware more susceptible to viruses.  I actually had to tell my mother to never, never ever play any of those CDs on her computer system.  How pitiful is that, really?

DRM blows. 



Answer Key:

1,  No.  Well, maybe.  But do you want to take that chance?
2.  No, unless you count fan alienation as an overall positive for your musical fan base, from the obsessed fan to the casual consumer.
3.  No.  No.  A thousand times no.  Oh my God, DRM killed Kenny.  You bastards!

Short, Shameful Confession No. 1029

Man, I can really dig on some old Janet Jackson tunes.

 

I'm not kidding.  I've been listening to her old stuff (pre-1996) for the last hour.

Beat This!

I'm not sure that I've ever been more pleased with last ten songs played on my iPod.

 

Here's THE LIST.

 

Tribute - Tenacious D

The Love Cats - The Cure

Zombie - The Cranberries

Take It Slow - Long Beach Short Bus

You Got Me - The Roots

Keep It Rollin' - A Tribe Called Qwest

Hard To Handle - The Black Crowes

Pantala Naga Pampa - The Dave Matthews Band

Promises, Promises - Naked Eyes

Shape of My Heart - Sting

 

Observations:

1.  Did you notice how this set contains some of the best songs from these respective bands:  The Cure, Tenacious D, The Roots, and The Black Crowes?

2.  Sting was still relevant (and Queen Amidala was still a teenager - VERY troubling film, incidentally) in this list?

3.  The Love Cats.  Man, I love that song.

 

Put yours in the comments.

Memes - The Friday Music Edition

Here we go again!

 

Last 10 on the iPod Shuffle List

 

"Colors" - Ice-T

"Crazy For This Girl" - Evan and Jaron

"Beginnings" - Chicago

"Always and Forever" - Heatwave

"Strange Fruit" - Billie Holiday

"It's The End Of The World As We Know It" - REM

"F-Stop Blues" - Jack Johnson

"South Side" - Moby and Gwen Stefani

"Babylon" - David Gray

"Midnight Rider" - The Allman Brothers Band

 

Analyzing....analyzing....

 

I think that maybe I should maybe leave the house tonight.  Sounds like a fun evening.

 

Pile on, y'all!

Sir Memes A Lot

I haven't done this in a while, but it's Ipod Shuffle Friday!

 

The Last Ten Songs To Play On My iPod

 

Jamiroquai - Travelling Without Moving

The Smiths - How Soon Is Now

Sublime - Right Back

Brand New Heavies - Midnight At The Oasis

Ozzy Osbourne - No More Tears

Hi-Five - She's Playing Hard To Get

Stevie Wonder - I Wish

Shaggy - It Wasn't Me

Eminem (featuring Dido) - Stan

Guns N' Roses - Sweet Child Of Mine

 

Conclusions?  Either my musical tastes are diverse, or I can't make up my mind.

The smart bet is on the latter. 

 

Anyone who cares to leave their list toss 'em in the comments. Me, I've got another story to write.  I'll try something light-hearted for a change, instead of going through the past, darkly.

 

Music, Again

I'm lifting you up, I'm letting you down,

I'm dancing 'till dawn, I'm fooling around.

I'm not giving up, I'm making your love,

this city's made us crazy and we must get out.

 

You know what?

 

I'm not even ashamed to say that I like Maroon 5.  Yeah, I'm prepared to take hell for that.  However, that's what we bloggers have to be willing to do.

 

Armaggedon It

Sorry about that title, but I won't change it, and you can't make me.  Don't you know that I have no shame?

 

Haven't posted one of these in a while.

 

For your perusal:

 

Mass Detruction - The Photoshop Contest.

 

Via The Directory of Wonderful Things.

We Are Google. Join Us.

The Masters have struck again.

Instant messaging, a type of communication long dominated by chatty teens, has become the latest front in an escalating war among big Internet companies competing to make themselves indispensable to mainstream audiences.

Google Inc. plans to enter the fray today by launching Google Talk, its own version of a service that allows registered users to send instant messages or talk over the Web to other users.

The new test program will compete with more established services offered by America Online Inc., Microsoft Corp., Yahoo Inc. (Nasdaq: YHOO - news) and Skype Technologies SA.

Via Yahoo.  Hm.  Wonder how much longer I'll be linking to those guys.

 

Considering my previous posts on Google (here's another ) and the sheer beauty of Gmail, how freakin' long do you think it will take before I download that bad boy?

 

 

 

 

 

The Top Five Albums In Hell

1.  Color Me Badd - The Best of Color Me Badd. 

2.  Milli Vanilli - Girl You Know It's True

3.  Britney Spears - Anything from her catalouge.  For God's sake, when will her 15 minutes be up?!

4.  Glass Tiger - Best of Glass Tiger

5.  Celine Dion - Take your pick.

 

Don't know why I had to say that.  I just had to.

The Top 50 Albums Of All Time

KBCO-FM is trying to get votes for the Top 50 Albums of All Time.  They're offering voter a chance to win the use of a car as an enticement.  You pick three albums.  They have about 100 albums listed to choose from.

 

The anarchist in me says:  write in three albums.  Cause havoc.