I heart Dali

We’ve been recording episodes of this great old game show from the 50s called The Name’s the Same, and it’s awesome.  Basically, the show goes like this: regular people with odd or famous names (a kid named Tom Sawyer, a dude named I. Wash), and usually they will have somebody famous on the show too wit  h a ‘secret wish’ that the panel has to guess.  And the famous people have been pretty awesome (Victor Borges, Peter Lawford, Eva Gabor, assorted baseball players and boxers), but none have been as awesome as Salvador Dali, who has been on the program twice since we’ve been watching it.  It is so totally bizarre to see him on a television program, first of all, and secondly it is totally surreal and hilarous to see these small-time famous people sort of mocking Dali because he is so odd.  ANYWAY, this is all the set up to tell you how I have discovered this book, which he plugged the last time we saw him on the program.  And my library has a copy in the stacks, so it is sitting on my kitchen counter right this minute.  The thing is so amazing.

I should give it back to the library, right?  I shouldn’t keep it?

The whole book is these questions, like “Why do you wear a mustache?” and “Isn’t your mustache impractical, especially when you travel?”  and the response is a picture of Dali and his mustache, formed in a way to answer the question.  It’s fantastic.

Add a comment November 11, 2008

Irrationally Happy Time

Yo Gabba Gabba is a crazy good kids show on Nick Jr. – and this particular bit with the Ting Tings covering Altered Images’ Happy Birthday has inspired me to reconstruct the whole soundtrack to one of my favorite movies of all time, Sixteen Candles.  Apparently the soundtrack was never released commercially, so I’m going to have to buy them all from Captain iTunes.

Here’s what I can look forward to hunting down (thanks to IMDB!  I love it more and more each day)(the orange ones I’ve already found or had):

• “Snowballed”
  Performed by AC/DC
  Courtesy of Leidseplein Presse B.V. / J. Albert Ltd.
  By Arrangement with Warner Special Products
• “Today I Met the Boy I’m Gonna Marry”
  Performed by Darlene Love
  Courtesy of Phil Spector International
• “Love of the Common People”
  Performed by Paul Young
  Courtesy of CBS Records
• “Kajagoogoo”
  (Main Title Song)
  Performed by Kajagoogoo
  Courtesy of EMI Records, Ltd.
• “Happy Birthday”
  Performed by Altered Images
  Courtesy of CBS Records
• “Kazooed on Klassics”
  Performed by The Temple City Kazoo Orchestra
  Courtesy of Rhino Records, Inc.
• “Dragnet”
  Performed by Ray Anthony and His Orchestra
  Courtesy of Capitol Records, Inc.
• “Rumours in the Air”
  Performed by Night Ranger
  Courtesy of MCA Records, Inc.
• “Peter Gunn”
  Performed by Ray Anthony and His Orchestra
  Courtesy of Capitol Records, Inc.
• “True”
  Performed by Spandau Ballet
  Courtesy of Chrysalis Records, Inc.
• “Wild Sex in the Working Class”
  Performed by Oingo Boingo
  Courtesy of A&M Records
• “Little Bitch”
  Performed by The Specials
  Courtesy of Chrysalis Records, Inc.
• “Growing Pains”
  Performed by Tim Finn
  Courtesy of A&M Records and Mushroom Records
• “When It Started to Begin”
  Performed by Nick Heyward
  Courtesy of Arista Records, Inc.
• “Lenny”
  Performed by Stevie Ray Vaughan
  Courtesy of Epic Records
• “Whistle Down the Wind”
  Performed by Nick Heyward
  Courtesy of Arista Records, Inc.
• “Ring Me Up”
  Performed by The Divinyls
  Courtesy of Chrysalis Records, Inc.
• “Love Theme”
  From The Godfather (1972)
  Composed by Nino Rota
  Conducted by Carlo Savina
  Courtesy of MCA Records, Inc.
• “Turning Japanese”
  Performed by The Vapors
  Courtesy of Liberty Records, a Division of Capitol Records, Inc.
• “Rev-Up”
  Performed by The Revillos
  Courtesy of Virgin Records, Ltd.
• “Farmer John”
  Performed by The Premiers
  Courtesy of Rampart Records / Rhino Records, Ltd.
• “Hang Up the Phone”
  Performed by Annie Golden
  Courtesy of MCA Records, Inc.
• “Gloria”
  Performed by Patti Smith
  Courtesy of Arista Records, Inc.
• “New York, New York”
  Performed by Frank Sinatra
  Courtesy of Reprise Records
  By Arrangement with Warner Special Products
• “Young Guns”
  Performed by Wham! (as Wham)
  Courtesy of CBS Records
• “Geek Boogie”
  (Instrumental)
  Music by Ira Newborn and the Geeks
• “Rebel Yell”
  Performed by Billy Idol
  Courtesy of Chrysalis Records, Inc.
• “Lohengrin Wedding March”
  Performed by The Bavarian Staatsoper Munich Chorus and Orchestra
  Conducted by Robert Heger
  Courtesy of EMI Electrola GmbH
• “Young Americans”
  Performed by David Bowie
  Courtesy of RCA Records
• “If You Were Here”
  Performed by The Thompson Twins
  Courtesy of Arista Records Inc.
• “Sixteen Candles”
  Performed by The Stray Cats
  Courtesy of EMI America and Arista Records Ltd.

2 comments October 7, 2008

A little last minute, but

Anyone have the time and money to go to Scotland this weekend?? Because:

Um, yeah. I’d like to see that.

http://www.connectmusicfestival.com/content/default.asp?page=s15

2 comments August 25, 2008

Sex and the City

I finally saw a preview for the Sex and the City movie that actually suggested some plot details other than ‘we’re friends! we’re walking! wedding dress!’ None of it is still very shocking but the most unexpected thing in this new preview is the Issue that is hinted at between Miranda and Steve, which just seems mean to do to them.

http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi344391961/

I of course will go to see this movie and I’m 92% sure that I will be angry that I did – I think they wrapped up the show so well 4 years ago that this is pretty unnecessary. But this show got me through some tough times (full time waitressing at OCharleys, no less) so even if they make me mad, I will probably still love it. Unless they really push that Miranda/Steve thing.

1 comment April 25, 2008

Tracy Chapman

So there I was at work last night.  One of my poky little pet projects is going through and scanning all the cds to see how many have something weird about them (like being still on a patron’s record).  I was going through the Bs and Cs last night and discovered not one, but two letters tucked into Tracy Chapman cds – on the same paper and written in the same handwriting.  The first one I discovered I thought ‘huh, that’s weird, somebody left their love note in a cd case,’ because it really was all about how glad they were to have Tracy in their life and how she’s an angel and such.  Then (about a 1/2 hour later) I found the second, which was also addressed to Tracy and had more to do with God and stuff then about love.

So someone in the branch is writing letters to Tracy Chapman.  Which is one of the odder things I’ve come across, and definitely weirder than just still being checked out on someone’s card.

Add a comment April 1, 2008

Superheroes

I feel like I’ve been steeped in superheroes lately.  Yesterday we attempted to watch My Super Ex-Girlfriend, but seriously had to turn it off after about 45 minutes because it was so dopey.  I believe this quote sums up the movie pretty well:

After an athletic doin’ it scene in which Luke Wilson’s bed breaks, Uma Thurman says “I’m sorry, I’ll buy you a new one.”  To which Luke Wilson (by the way, what is up with his hair in this movie?) replies awkwardly “A new bed?  Or a new penis?”

And of course there is the disappointing new season of Heroes, which I continue to make Ben tape in the hope that it will get suddenly awesome again.

AND I just read Hero, by Perry Moore, which was really, really good.  It’s a YA story about a kid who’s figuring himself out – which is pretty complicated because his father is a fallen superhero, his mother’s gone invisible, he’s got his own powers he’s learning how to control, and a killer on the loose is taking out superheroes.  Even with all this superpower stuff it’s a pretty human story, and the relationships between Thom, the main character, and the people around him are complex and interesting.

2 comments November 5, 2007

last among sequels

I have to confess that the new Thursday Next book is just not doing it for me. I re-read the third book to refresh my memory on the characters – but this new book goes through and explains everything all over again, so I’m a little like ‘yeah, I KNOW’ right now.

Also, I realize this is ageist, but it is very strange to me to think about Thursday being 52. It’s making me feel like this is one of those middle-aged lady detective stories, which is sort of ruining the mood for me.

So I’m only about 40 pages into it – I might try again, but I’m not enthused about it. So if you’re reading it and you have words of encouragement, please let me know.

Ok, so with the endorsements from Sunday and Angie, my two fellow Nextian enthusiasts (and dodo fanciers), I polished the book off this morning.  Fortunately the revisits to previous books mostly stopped and I could focus on the very silly situations at hand, which were entertaining in the ‘I really don’t have to think about it’ kind of way.  There is a great sort of twist at the end that is a serious turn of cleverness, and you know I always appreciate a bit of cleverness.  So I’m glad I finished the book, although the really excited me that devoured the first few books I think has moved on to other interests.  Like memoirs and biographies.  And candy.

1 comment August 28, 2007

Something Cool

Yesterday at work I received a copy of Good magazine in the hopes that we would order it for our location.  Turns out this is kind of a kick ass magazine and I’m definitely going to order it for MYSELF, if nothing else.  Here’s why it rules:

1) 20 bucks/6 issues.  Ok, this seems like kind of a lot, but not when you learn that that whole 20 dollars goes to one of 12 organizations that you pick – orgs like Creative Commons, City Year, Teach for America, and UNICEF.

2) The activist attitude.  It’s positive, aggressive, fun, and intelligent.  Which is a really general thing to say, but seriously, read it.  You’ll feel like doing something useful.

1 comment August 16, 2007

what is up

the following is a brief update on the state of my being.

1. i have run 6 miles at a time since my last post. i will have to get up early tomorrow and do it again. it went ok the first time – i was in wisconsin visiting my folks and it was very very hilly. which was fine during but the following days were a little touch and go there. in my muscles. luckily st. louis is much flatter (although probably seven times as humid) so my thighs might not hate me. also, i got a totally sweet fuel belt today at the running center, where they also gave us three ginormous jugs of fancy gatorade concentrate for freeeeeee.

2. i have recently discovered (actually benj knew and brought them into my life) dvd episodes of Home Movies . so so so funny. he’s bought seasons 3 and 4 and we’ve watched at least 2 every day for the past few days. where was i when this show was on?? actually, i kind of know – i was in ireland and americorps for the first couple of years, and didn’t have or watch a tv. but still, i can’t believe i didn’t know SOMEBODY who watched it. anyway, it is amazingly good. i heart coach mcguirk. apparently a lot of the people who were involved in that show are putting out a new one called lucy, daughter of the devil, which has a much darker spin and could possibly already be on cartoon network.

3. work’s going pretty darn well. my boss is great and it’s been pretty peaceful. other than a car getting stolen last week. to be fair, the lady did just leave her car keys out on a random table. i like my new duties and don’t miss many of the old ones, so i think i made a good choice.

4. it looks like we’re going to be moving soon. we found an extremely cute house that’s more halfway between the benj and the me as far as work goes. it’s a ton of space, which is exciting. moving kinda suks tho.

5. my dad has to have a little bit of surgery this month.  it’s the kind of thing that a lot of men go through eventually, but it’s still pretty stressful and freaky because it’s MY dad, not some random dude.   so think good thoughts for him, ok?

2 comments July 7, 2007

Stolen from Eliz

Good things:

1. Pizza and the house salad from Dewey’s

2.  The temperature where it feels like there is no temperature

3. Tim Curry reading the entire Lemony Snicket series on audiobook

4.  Coming away from an interview feeling like if I didn’t get the position, I’d be just fine with that.

5. MARTIN SEXTON coming to perform in a week!

6. The Prestige, The Pursuit of Happyness, and Stranger than Fiction

1 comment April 22, 2007