Snooze
Things I think of before falling asleep ---
Why is the slang term for male genatalia also a rooster? Why is a woman's genatalia nicknamed after a cat?
Why do cats feel the need to zoom to one room without any advance warning? Did they forget something? Is there something in that room they need to see at that minute?
Why do cats then come zooming back into the room? Are they trying to tell us what they just discovered? Do they want us to follow them?
What would happen if I ran from room to room like a cat?
What would happen if I followed a cat that ran from room to room?
Why do I hate cats?
If I was dog I'd be Scooby Doo.
Did Scooby and Shaggy really smoke pot in the back of the mystery van?
Is the song Puff The Magic Dragon really about pot smoking? And if so is Little Jack Horner just a bong?
The pot that is in Coeur d'Alene Idaho is better than any pot in Los Angeles.
I don't even smoke pot.
I wonder how my friend Patrick in Idaho is doing.
I should talk about Patrick in my blog tomorrow.
I hate that guy from Pink Is The New Blog.
I love the new Pink album.
I should wear a pink shirt to work tomorrow.
I hate having to work but I need money for CDs.
I need to stop buying so many CDs.
I love my new CDs.
I should work on new songs.
I love that song "Cats" by my friend Patrick in Idaho.
Why is female genatalia nicknamed after a cat?
zzzzz
This Week's Random 7
I guess with my birthday and all, I was feeling a tad nostalgic this week, so we have five very classic albums and two new ones just to throw in a little twist.
JOAN JETT & THE BLACKHEARTS - I Love Rock & Roll (1982; remastered)Okay does anyone not believe that Joan Jett kicks ass? This is her classic second album with the title hit, her version of "Crimson & Clover" and twelve other rocking little ditties done up in that jett lag style. I've been wanting to buy this forever but always forget until the other day when I was at Amoeba and found a used copy for $10. I snatched up that sucker and like the bonus tracks, I keep playing it over and over.
BLONDIE - Auto American (1980; remastered) I have owned this album in every imagineable format since its release in 1980. It was at the time the only Blondie I had, where I actually went into the store and bought it when it first came out. Full of all that is Blondie glory, there isn't a genre not covered on Autoamerican. From the hip hop stops of "Rapture", the reggae tune of "The Tide Is High" - jazz on "Faces" , 40s style "Here's Looking At You" and straight up rock on "Walk Like Me" and "TBirds." This is definitive Blondie, and it contains my all time fav Blondie track "Angels On The Balcony. Plus the whole thing starts with a space age alien soundtrack called "Europa."
LOVERBOY - Loverboy (1980) I love me my Mike Reno of 1980 and the whole band Loverboy burst onto the scene and burst out of those leather pants with this debut album. As a child I had this tape and the follow up "Get Lucky" and for some reason it was always the second album I played more, because of its more rock sound but having matured and buying both releases on CD, I find myself gravitating to the debut so much more often. It's much more new wave rock than one would think of when they think of Loverboy and songs like "Lovin' Every Minute Of It" but this is truly a new wave melodic album with the hit singles "Turn Me Loose" and "The Kid Is Hot Tonite", it contains some of the best album tracks of the 80s.
GREASE Soundtrack (1978) This is the very first album I ever got, in fact my aunt had the record and played it so often by the time my mom bought me the 8track, I knew all of the songs. Though I must admit, I didn't know what a lot of them were about. The Mr. Right Rizzo is so longing for in "There Are Worse Things I Could Do" made me think she was talking about her landlord - Mr. Right. I couldn't figure out why a high school student had her own apartment, and don't even get me started on the swear words in "Greased Lightning" I thought I only heard. But with every viewing of this movie, and every spin of the soundtrack, I am taken back and I love it in Rydell High 1958. Plus when Sandy turns slutty there's just no turning down your electrifyin' Livvie love.
PAT BENATAR - Crimes Of Passion (1980; remastered) Just to show those who don't know what an 8 track is or was, I happened to find a picture of this great classic album on 8-track. In fact when I went to buy this album in 1980 they were sold out and all I could buy was the 8track. Thankfully in the last few months Chrysalis Records got wise and remastered Pat's first three albums. It is Crimes Of Passion, Pat's second album that drove her into the rock stratosphere and made me the ultra Benatar lover I am. Driving singles
"Hit Me With Your Best Shot," "You Better Run" &
"Treat Me Right" showed she could rock and sing the talk. But listening to all the elements of the remasters I realize why I loved this album in the first place. Album cuts like
"Hell Is For Children", "Little Paradise" and
"Out-A-Touch" rock, plus her cover of Kate Bush's "
Wuthering Heights" is something to hear in order to believe. With Neil Geraldo's great guitar solos and Pat's defiance, all came through on this 1980 release. Plus it has another of my all time fav songs ever,
"I'm Gonna Follow You" all about being stalked by someone who finds themselves in "My alley".
BODYROCKERS - Bodyrockers (2005) I saw the video for the band's "I Like The Way" and knew the song thanks to one of those soda commercials, but I thought the boys had a little something to offer. I'm still on the initial run of the CD and it's pretty good but hasn't totally blown me away yet. Though I must admit the mix of dance rock they are doing is pretty catchy, perhaps I'll throw it on the stereo while dancing, I mean dusting the apartment.
and this week's stand out CD is:
THE GOSSIP - Standing In The Way Of Control (2006) Now this CD I can't get enough of! I told you a few weeks ago how I saw the video for "Standing In The Way Of Control" and completely went ape shit over the thing. Every single song on here is kick ass. Full of rock raw power the lead singer Beth can wrap her lungs around anything and does so with a ferocity most bands could only hope to aspire to have. Plus there is a ballad on here called "Coal To Diamonds" that show off what real passion can sound like.
Driving Me Out
It's strange how some parents and friends can react to the whole "coming out" process. I've always believed if you have a fairly good relationship with your 'rents then telling them you're gay shouldn't make them want to send you out of their lives forever. Perhaps that's my own naivete but that's what I think. A parent is supposed to love you no matter what, unfortunately I think that isn't always the way it goes, but luckily for me.. my mama loves me and though the initial idea of her son being gay is not what she wanted never once has she made me feel horrible or threatened to cut me out of her life.
But I do recall the day I finally got up the nads to tell her. Like a well played soap opera, I first told all of my friends, just to get the initial reactions. I set up this whole plan on how to tell everyone. I made a date so all of my friends would be at the bar at the same time, but still told them individually. After all the hoopla I built up in my head I was a tad ticked off when the 35th, "Well it's about time" came out of one of their mouths.
As for my mom, well she always knew too. But she didn't necessarily want to hear it and I didn't necessarily want a big confrontation, so one afternoon after lunch, as she was driving her car, I looked over from the passenger seat and said, "Hey guess what!"
She couldn't hit me, she couldn't cry too hard, she was really fairly helpless what with having to maneuver a large vehicle and all. I figured if she would pull over I'd jump out and run away but it didn't happen.
But being a small Midwestern woman who still has a fairly slim view of the world, she took it pretty well. She has met almost everyone I ever dated and when that rolling line of holiday guests finally dwindled down to my Alf - she was more than excited to meet him and find out that he basically takes care of me - he pays his bills, he has a job, he's responsible and quiet - all those things a mother would always want in a son but got in a son in law instead...
I Didn't Write It, I Just Live It
Many times I have been accused of living my life as if I lived in a soap opera. Now I'm not actually convinced I do that, though I know secretly I really wish I was Abby Ewing at more times than I'd care to admit. I too want to sleep my way to the top, tell people off just for the hell of it and create drama through out my apartment complex just by showing up for dinner. Okay, perhaps there is a tad soap opera diva in me.. and it seems to have showed up in places I never would've expected.
A friend of mine sent me this insane little email that was called the "Psycho Test" - the scenario is as follows - a woman is at her mother's funeral and falls instantly in love with a handsome stranger. The attraction is so strong, she knows it is love at first sight. But as the funeral winds down the man is nowhere to be found and the woman never got his number or name. A week later she kills her sister. What was her motivation in killing her sister?
Now the test is this, if you came up with any number of solutions you're okay, if you came up with the idea (the correct one) that the woman killed her sister because she thought that would bring the man to the funeral than you think like a psychotic killer.
As for me, when I heard this, I thought to myself, oh it makes perfect sense. She found out the sister knew the man, had been sleeping with him for years and he was also secretly sleeping with the mother. Rumor had it he may even be her brother, and in her rage over the family secrets she killed the sister. Sounded perfectly plausible to me... if you lived in Knots Landing.
It Was Raining On Prom Night
Okay so it's not exactly prom night but it is a fairly monumental day, for today is the day that I burst unto the world with my endless form of wit, good looks, charm and most importantly modesty. But as I woke up this morning on my birthday, there it was rain, rain, rain - in Southern California none the less.
But I won't let these late May showers drench this Bradley flower, instead I just put my
Grease soundtrack into the CD player and travel back to the days so long ago when I was just a little cute blonde boy and the world was full of Olivia Newton-John goodness.
So what am I doing on my birthday? I'm so glad you asked - my birthday happens to last the entire month of May so I've already begun celebrating. On Saturday I hit the Universal (Gibson) Amplitheater where Blondie performed a special Birthday concert just for me, then My pal Luther took me drinking in the Valley where the booze flowed and the smiles were enormous as the whole bar celebrated with me. Then yesterday the Leivas gave me some money and dropped me off at Amoeba Records, and tonight I get a free dinner at Lawry's where my Leivas has already made reservations.
But alas I didn't take the day off of work so here I sit performing my one and only real birthday ritual - going through my address book and making little checks by the people who have called me, sent me cards and/or presents and making a little skull and cross bones by those who did not.
I Think, Therefore I'm Nuts
Have you ever had one of those heated debates where you start out with your opinion, adomently stand by everything you say but find yourself swaying by the time the debate is over? Well have you ever done this with yourself? I have, and I have to admit I'm not proud.
I have this strange habit of hearing every side of an argument in my head. This is great if one is getting ready for a real debate but I'm usually just getting ready for bed. I think it stems from too much time alone. I work by myself, and most of my free time is spent writing or thinking about writing - two things that well, you do by yourself.
Recently I came up with this ingenius idea that if one were debating about God hating gay people then perhaps an argument could be made that God made some of us gay for the sole purpose of population control. It's not a half bad argument. But then it could be argued from the other point that there are... oops that's where my brain takes a left turn, or perhaps it's really a right turn. See I can't even figure out which way I'm going.
I'd like to pass off this craziness to the fact I'm a Gemini (only 3 shopping days left!) but perhaps it's a little more serious. Luckily, one of my internet buddies has a blog of his own on myspace and for some reason his ideas seem to coincide with mine a lot and he is writing his own book entitled "He Said, He Said" in which he basically comes up with a topic and argues both sides by himself.
Either we are both completely open minded geniuses willing to hear and take in everyone's arguments no matter how awful, or we will both be sharing the same mental hospital one day.
A Politician Worthy Of Support?
While growing up in Wisconsin, I didn't pay much attention to the government, in fact other than who our President was, I don't think I knew any other names in the political world. But I do recall as I hit my teens that Russ Feingold was always on the news. He seemed to be a pretty great guy with views I agreed with. Lately, he's been in the news a lot and rumor has it he may be headed to the White House, and if so this man has my fullest support and yesterday proved one more reason he's the man! He walked right out of a committee meeting for a ban of same-sex marriage. Here's the full story (okay sections of the full story) Today, a Senate panel advanced a measure that would amend the U.S. Constitution to ban same-sex marriage as the committee chairman shouted "Good riddance!" to a Democrat who walked out of the tense session. "If you want to leave, good riddance," Senate Judiciary chairman Arlen Specter told Wisconsin Democratic senator Russell Feingold, who refused to participate because, he said, the meeting was not sufficiently open to the public.
"I've enjoyed your lecture too. See you later, Mr. Chairman," Feingold told the Pennsylvania Republican before storming out. The testy exchange highlighted tensions over the proposal, which would amend the U.S. Constitution to prevent states from recognizing same-sex marriages.
Feingold later said, "Today's markup of the constitutional amendment concerning marriage, in a small room off the Senate floor with only a handful of people other than Senators and their staffs present, was an affront to the Constitution. I objected to its consideration in such an inappropriate setting and refused to help make a quorum."
He went on to say, "The Constitution of the United States is an historic guarantee of individual freedom. It has served as a beacon of hope, an example to people around the world who yearn to be free and to live their lives without government interference in their most basic human decisions. I took an oath when I joined this body to support and defend the Constitution. I will continue to fight this mean-spirited, divisive, poorly drafted, and misguided amendment when it comes to the Senate floor."
The Network Blues
We watch a lot of television in our house, in fact The Leivas seems to have somehow tapped into some portal of time where he is able to watch every television show that's on the air. As 8 pm rolls around, the DVDR in the living room lights up, the VCR in the bedroom begins to tape and the TV is on and running.
Because of the time he spends in front of the television, in order to actually spend any time with him myself, I have to sit right down and enjoy what we have. Luckily, a few shows captured my interest and I'm not bored to tears. But usually if I like something that means it has about two airings to go before the plug is pulled.
With all this in mind, I had a bit of trepidation as I hit Yahoo News today to find out what the major networks were going to put on in the fall. Every May, they get together and announce their fall schedules and every May I sweat, hoping there will be something to keep my interest while my boyfriend and I spend our quality time together.
As it turns out, this fall is looking pretty grim. Almost any show I had become attached to will be gone -
Invasion, Out Of Practice, Still Standing, Surface - all gone. In their places will be nothing too interesting full of stars I could care less about. Where's the new Lisa Hartman sitcom about a travelling singer who fights crimes? Where's the gay soap opera about a group of residents in a small coastal town fighting an old homophobe? Where's the Lost spin off with the gang of gay characters inhabiting only 10% of the island after their Olivia Cruise ran aground? But really, in all honesty, where's Bea Arthur when you really need her?
New Bubbatune
We continue my endless array of compilation CDs known as Bubbatunes with our latest drop in the 80s bucket - the sax blowing, rock thumping band known as
Quarterflash and a little compilation I like to call
"Make It Shine." 
bub 60 Quarterflash - MAKE IT SHINE
Track List:
01 Make It Shine
02 Find Another Fool
03 Don't Be Lonely
04 Take Me To Heart
05 Love Without A Net (You Keep Falling)
06 Valerie
07 Nowhere Left To Hide
08 Harden My Heart
09 Shane
10 Walking On Ice
11 Take Another Picture
12 Love Should Be So Kind
13 It Don't Move Me
14 Right Kind Of Love
15 Eye To Eye
16 Talk To Me
17 Try To Make It True
18 Critical Times
19 Night Shift
Rindy and her gang are best known for the
"Harden My Heart" single but there are many a good piece of 80s rock to be found on here. My ultimate fav song by the band has always been
"Make It Shine" - an upbeat little number enforcing positive attitude while breaking down in the middle to a drum induced refrain (I love those),
"Find Another Fool" is probably my favorite single by the band but
"Take Me To Heart" may come in a close second. One of the most overlooked songs in their entire catalog is the title track to their second album Take Another Picture - the song is a punchy number reflecting the fear of fading away before your time is done -
"Please take another picture, I don't want to fade away..." but the actual verses are what sucks me in -
"I saw a picture hidden in the bedroom underneath father's ties/ a beautiful woman caught naked forever/ black strip over eyes/ I still remember that picture/ the image is sharp and clear/ and I'll never erase that eyeless face still smiling all these years..." Clever.
There are other gems to be found in the Quarterflash catalog that you may have forgotten about or never knew existed.
"Don't Be Lonely" was the B-side to
"Harden My Heart" and also included on
Fast Times At Ridgemount High - a fun little ditty set to a chug beat and full of beacking vocals; and a fairly risque little ditty from the first album called
"Valerie" about the girl in art school who had what appears to be a lesbian crush on the singer. They never say "yo! she's a lesbian" but even when I was a kid I could figure it out.
By the time Quarterflash recorded their third album they were actually fading away but that doesn't mean they didn't have some fine tunes left in them. The singles
"Walking On Ice" and
"Talk To Me" may have been lacking the ultimate pizzazz of earlier songs but they were still quite catchy and
"Love Without A Net" is the 80s personified, which means I love it.
Stay tuned as I work up some more bubbatunes and in the next few weeks, I'm actually going to go back and start at the beginning, giving you all a taste of the 60 Bubbatunes, I so passionately and painstakingly created.
(Note: No copyrights were infringed upon for talking about making a compilation of unreleased music you bunch of corporate bastards!)Note 2: Only 6 days left until the most joyous of events!!!
When You're A Brad
So do you recall a few posts back when I mentioned I got the shopping trait from my mother? Well there are a lot of other traits I inherited and though maybe not directly from Ms. Karen, it definitely came from the Jacobson tree... the trait that is so prominently engrossed in my little blonde head today is the one where I get all gussied up, think I'm so cute and adorable and then proceed to drink everyone and their mother under the table, while continuously and I mean on and on and on, talking - usually about myself and secrets I swore I'd never tell anyone.
This weekend found me and the Leivas hightailing it to his sister's house in Riverside where the wine was a flowing. Now usually the Levias' and their friends and family find me quite charming but I can't help to think that perhaps there were moments when I stepped over the line. There was a woman there who reminded me of my Nauntie Dianne, there was a woman who was the spitting image of Kirstie Alley - there was a whole group of people around the ashtray completely engrossed in my stories! How could I not talk and talk and talk.
By the time I left I'm sure I had told everyone my opinion on everything, probably more than once. Alfred insists people love me and I do recall pseudo Auntie Dianne telling me she loved talking with me despite the fact she and I had some words about gay rights or the war or both, and Kirstie Alley even ran up to the bar and got me an extra glass of wine when Alfred wasn't looking, so maybe it wasn't as bad as I think it was. Yet something tells me I should call my "sister in law" and fish around to see if anyone hates me.
Of course I'll have to pour myself a glass of wine first cuz that woman likes to drink wine and talk and talk and tell everyone her opinion about everything.
Note: Only 8 more shopping days left until my birthday!
This Week's Random 7
This week's random 7 CDs include some old favorite with newer albums, some old favorites with their classic albums , some brand new favorites - and interestingly enough a number of songs about cheating and numerous penis references~
MORNINGWOOD - MorningwoodRarely do I buy an album where I've never read, heard anything about or even know who the band is, but when I was shopping at Tower a few months ago, this CD was on sale for $10. It was on a display with a few other newer indie type bands and I have to admit the name of the band and the cover intrigued me. I love rock chicks and I thought the singer bore a striking resemblance to Hedwig & The Angry Inch. So I bought it and within two days their single "Nth Degree" was all over. It's a great song, a little synth dance number with a chant of the band spelling out their name, but it's not reflective of the album as a whole, which is really a pretty balls to wall type of rock album. There are a few more syth styles added but the rocking songs are what make up the CD, and though it wasn't one of my favs when I bought it this debut album is definitely getting to me.. I think a few more listens and I may be sprouting.
MARIANNE FAITHFULL - Broken EnglishI had heard of Ms. Marianne from her countless downfalls in the press in the 60s - once a high octave diva singing Rolling Stones covers all that changed with this 1979 album. I first discovered
Broken English after reading about it in one of the Women In Rock books which talked about the song
"Why'd You Do It" and once I read the great review I immediately found a copy. On and off my CD player since then, I had to take this out for a spin this week and it's just as good as I remember it. Gone is the sweet Faithfull of the 60s replaced with punkish dance rock, a cigarette filled voice and attitude personified. All you have to do is listen to the moody
"The Ballad Of Lucy Jordan" about a mother's breakdown, or the aforementioned kiss off -
"Why'd you do it she said/ why'd you let her suck your cock?..." and that's only the beginning!
LIZ PHAIR - WhitechocolatespaceeggMy favorite Liz album by a long shot, for some reason this is the album I love the most.
"Polyester Bride" is one of the best tracks she has ever done, and with songs about being beaten around
("but I liked it, yeah I liked it more and more"); this is the classic mixing of early brash indie Liz and her later pop leanings.
BELLE & SEBASTIAN - The Life Pursuit
I first came to know Belle & Sebastian when my pal Patrick put
"Lazy Line Painter Jane" on for me. As I was preparing for a bus trip to Los Angeles, he said the song reminded him of me (
you will find a boy tonight/ on the first bus out of town). I bought a few Belle & Sebastian albums since and enjoyed them but it was
Dear Catastrophe Waitress which hooked me, and then lo and behold a new album came about earlier this year. The Life Pursuit is just as good as Waitress and then some. Great tracks like
"Sukie In The Grave Yard" and
"The Blues Are Still Blue" show what a great and diverse band this is. The music kicks ass, the lyrics are completely witty and the songs are actually very catchy. Highly recommended!
THE DITTY BOPS - The Ditty Bops
I don't know how to describe The Ditty Bops except perhaps maybe a bit like a band you might see in those old travelling carnival shows. Full of little music interludes featuring accordians and acoustic guitars, these girls tell pain stakingly stories of death and love with the utmost sense of morbid humor. Featuring lines like
"you can find the meaning of life in the barrel of a shotgun.." this is not the teenagers pop song butI love them. I first saw the video for
"Wishful Thinking" on Logo and immediately ran out and got the album.
Now I can shimmy like my sister Kate as I dance with the Dittys.
PAT BENATAR - Go
Pat's 2003 album features that signature Benatar sound only updated for the masses. Opening with the rocking and surprisingly modern sounding title track, there is something to be said for a gal who can still kick some rock & roll butt after twenty some years. She even has a little waltz about lovers in 1940s Germany, a very lovely ballad called
"Please Don't Leave Me" and some fairly dreamy sequences. Of course I'm all about the sassiness and rock and of course my girl delivers, only in a more adult way than say the "Treat Me Right or I'll kick your ass 1980 Pat" instead she says,
"You think you can walk on water/ you better be careful it gets pretty deep.."and the outstanding member of these week's 7 is a member I'd like to get my hands ononce again we have Wheatus!
WHEATUS - Suck Fony
Once again we have a Wheatus album and let me just say I have totally fallen head over heels in love with Brendan Brown, the singer and main member of the band. Actually it's him and his brother but Brendan does his Nick Gilder high singing and writes the lyrics which are always, always astounding. Suck Fony was actually supposed to be the band's second album for the Sony label but they dumped it, and the band got pissed. They re-recorded some songs added some bitchier songs including a cover of Benatar's
"Hit Me With Your Best Shot" and released this album on the internet. I can't recommend it enough. Like I said I'm in love with the boy - featuring songs of self humiliation, betrayal and plain old pissiness, it's like he's tapped right into my life. It just doesn't get any more honest when songs like "Lemonade" an ode to a cheating girlfriend asks the question,
"Just tell me his name/ just tell me you didn't get laid in our bedroom/ tell me it's the same/ Tell me is his dick bigger than mine?" and awesome declarations of pissiness in songs like
"The Song That I Wrote When You Dissed Me". Self depreciation and anger have never sounded so enticing - buy it, buy it now, and Brandon if you're reading this; call me.
Obsession Possession
Just like the rest of you (I'm sure) today I started really shopping for my birthday. Sure, I'm already obsessed with shopping and buying myself all kinds of things but today I actually had a few reasons.
Whenever I get a free moment or ten, I find myself bee bopping over to
www.amazon.com or
www.musicstack.com, two of my all time favorite places to find all those things I had completely forgotten I needed to have or I would die!
The thing with my shopping is I am actually quite frugal, I will spend months and months looking up the same item on the internet and in stores until I think I find a price really worthy of my money. But sometimes that price never goes down, or sometimes it's something so important no amount of research will help.
Such is the case with one of the two purchases I made today. For a few months, I've been wondering if I should or should not fork out $25 for a record. Not even a rare album, just a little 45 from the UK with the same songs I have on multiple CDs, but what made this one special is the picture sleeve. Of course you had to figure it's either
Blondie or
Benatar, and you'd be right. This lovely 45 of Pat's very first UK and US single
"If You Think You Know How To Love Me" (though
"I Need A Lover" was released in Holland before this song), but after thinking about how much happiness it would bring me just having ownership of this piece of nostalgia, I figured what the hell! So it's coming to me soon!
As for other obsessions, I love to look at old books about music charts. I'm obsessed with knowing when a song charted on the top 100, how far it charted, I'm even intent on knowing catalog numbers of the actual song and record. For our anniversary My Leivas bought me the top 100 Pop Singles 1956-2002 and I can't put it down, then when I was able to move on a bit I bought myself Bubbling Under, a book of all the songs that just barely made the top 100. Now with that being read and re-read it's time for my new book - the
top 100 Pop Albums 1956-2001. The problem with these books is they are super expensive, and I want them anyway. But when I saw this book today; normally priced at $65-85 and it was listed at $38 well hello and happy birthday to me!
Note: Only 11 more shopping days until my birthday! Get those credit cards smoking!
Birthday Disasters
Well it's that time of year again kids! That's right, the blessed event that put all of you into contact with someone as blonde as me, it's the countdown to my birthday! Only 12 more shopping days (that would be May 22nd) so I expect those cards and presents will be arriving any day now. On the slight chance you haven't already taken me out to celebrate, I'm available every night after 5 just tell me where and you can buy me all the drinks you think I can handle.
As for presents, well don't worry I've got that covered too. If you go to
www.amazon.com and look under my name or email, well then you will find everything I ever wanted or thought I wanted. But just to add some extra fun, here's an idea. Yesterday, the disaster film took a giant leap with extended editions of two of my all time fav movies.
Anyone who knows me, knows I love those disaster films. In fact, my pal Amy Cissell and her Brad had a disaster night one evening and it was fun, fun. Now with the onset of the remake of
The Poseidon Adventure, the film company got smart and re-released original and the equally classic
The Towering Inferno - complete with featurettes, commentaries and all that hoopla I eat up.
So even if you don't deem me worthy enought to buy me a copy, check it out for yourself, just call me and make sure you have cocktails and something to nibble on. I mean, what better way to celebrate the disaster that is a 29th birthday than with the granddaddies of disaster films.
Cursed Or Just Mental?
When I turn on a computer, it's always a bit of a crap shoot. Is it going to work for me? Is it going to stay on while I'm processing my endless projects into its hard drive or will it give me that insane strange blue screen telling me it must, simply must dump physical memory? Where does this dump occur? Why does this dump occur? Who asked my computer to do the dumping? I certainly didn't as I just explained I don't know what or where these items are dumped.
But within the last 24 hours it has occured to me that the computer virus that oozes from my fingertips causing computers to act out from here to Wisconsin, is not the only thing wrong with me. In fact, it seems every electronic device I own has it in for me.
That ever elusive blue screen dump has been happening on my computer at work for months now. No explicable reason, it just does what it wants to do I guess. I have no warning when it is going to occur and it's even become kind of a game, with me frantically working just so I can get things saved before the blue shows up.
Meanwhile, the computer I use at work is connected to the computer terminal directly behind me. It is at that computer my old boss used to download pictures of vintage guitars and probably porn. But lately it's been just me so the computer doesn't get much use. What I use it for is to work on while running my countless virus scans on my main computer. But suddenly this little network system I have is no longer working. In fact, the other computer won't even acknowledge mine exists. So when the CD reader on my computer stopped reading CDs yesterday, I tried to move all my stuff over there. Alas, the computer network and my CD reader are officially dead.
The computers at work have actually been a problem for awhile. But now even the CD player has turned against me. It is a 100 disc CD changer that for some inexplicable reason has decided to only play one disc at a time. It plays the CD I tell it to then it shuts off. Why? I don't know, it hasn't told me yet.
But if problems with electronics at work wasn't enough, the electronic rebellion is now following me home. The CD player in my car refuses to play CDs in a correct and timely manner. I have cleaned it over and over, yet when I throw in a CD it won't play it. It just stares at me as if I asked it to conjure up the spirit of Jim Morrisson instead of just playing a Doors CD. So I try and try and eventually if I'm very lucky, the CD player will in fact play a song. That is until I hit a bump in the road and the whole process starts over.
So I go home where I find the need to relax by sitting in my corner of the living room and doing my endless arts and crafts, writing and the like - all to my favorite tunes on the head phones while The Leivas watches his TV. But the frickin' CD player I have refuses to play the CDs either. I put the CD in, it looks at me like I asked it to conjure up... you get it.
I throw a fit, I hit the CD player. The Leivas takes a break and runs to the bathroom. So I sit down and relax again. Being the avid lover of TV, I try to keep everything I love on DVD. This means my DVD recorder gets a work out as I edit commercials and burn DVDs. Well imagine my utter surprise when the remote control to my DVD recorder decides it too is sick of me and will not fast forward correctly. I push that button until my thumb is black and blue but nothing. Which means it now takes me an hour and a half to edit out the commercials in a half hour sitcom. It takes ME this long, mind you. The Leivas can hit the fast forward button with no problems whatsoever.
Having had it with the remote control and CD player scandals, I run to the bedroom to hop onto the computer so I can create endless CD artwork, music and write until my little digits cramp up. For if a computer works, I am fairly savvy and can navigate and all that. But last night as I wrote a very clever first act to episode 10 of
Carlton Heights, a blue screen came on and informed me that it must, simply must dump its physical memory!
Am I cursed? Am I technologically challenged or am I just plain retarded? I am trapped in a camp version of Stephen King's Maximum Overdrive where the world's electronics have banned together to send me into a mental hospital.
So Glorious
My latest guilty TV viewing pleasure is one that even I'm surprised I like. I was never a fan of
Beverly Hills 90210 and I have always detested poor rich Tori Spelling, but with the advent of the single camera psuedo reality show, I have to admit Ms. Spelling has a brand new fan.
So NoTORIous is a complete riot, with Tori making fun of her C-list status and her upbringing, but mostly she's just making fun of herself and that is always hilarious. Not to mention Loni Anderson playing her mother Kiki is ingenius casting. Now I don't even recall seeing pictures of Candi Spelling, Tori's actual mother, but I can only imagine anyone who would cast the role in any telepic or film about the Spellings would probably go to Loni for the role.
Inspirational Margaritas
Sometimes a little bit of drinking will make me realize what a genius I really am. Last night I had cocktails with one of my favorite people in the entire world - Amy Cissell. Amy is a brilliant and talented gal who just finished writing her first novel. It's really quite an amazing feat and I must admit I'm a tad jealous as I've yet to write a first chapter to a book.
Of course in the last week I finished two episodes of my soap opera "Carlton Heights" and there is the dust covered chapters of "My Life As A Banana" a group of short stories about my life a la David Sedaris. But I would really like to write a full lengthed novel and then today as I was doing my hair with the scrumptious new pomade I have, it occured to me that I could and should begin a novel and it should be a hysterical murder mystery about blonde people being murdered.
So as I write this, I am making mental notes on the book I will someday write. So far I'm doing quite well, I have a title -
Color Me Dead and an actual idea for the first few paragraphs. And of course I know that the people being murdered are killed shortly after having their hinted that very special bleach blonde.
7 Random
and this week's seven random CDs are as random as my thinking -
THE SOUNDS - Dying To Say This To YouI first saw The Sounds late at night when I had MTV on. I didn't have the sound up but the video was on and I thought it was archival footage of Blondie, so I turned it up and was more than surprised to discover this gem of a band. I love this Swedish band and was so excited when they finally launched this, their second album. Still holding on to the Blondie new wave sound but adding a few more synths, the sound is tight and The Sounds are simply fun.
NIRVANA - NirvanaFor some reason I never even knew this album existed. It's basically a "Best Of" compilation with the last recorded song with Kurt on it. For a pretty good collective of the music landscape changing geniuses, this is pretty good. Plus it has
"Rape Me" and that is for sure, one of my all time fav performances by Nirvana.
MORRISSEY - Ringleader Of The Tormentors After waiting over a year, I finally bought Morrissey's album
You Are The Quarry, and then a week later this album came out. Produced by Tony Visconti who worked with Bowie forever, this is a kind of back to the old Morrissey trip. He's witty, he's gloomy, he's sexy, he's Morrissey.
MADONNA - MadonnaSometimes dubbed "The First Album" this is a little piece of 80s fun. Back when I wasn't sick of looking at her. My pal Melsie and I listened to this album over and over when we were teens. The singles everyone knows but it's songs like
"I Know It" that make this one a great little dose of nostalgia.
LAURA BRANIGAN - Branigan / Branigan 2So I suddenly found myself wanting to hear more and more Laura Branigan. When I couldn't find a song I was looking for, I headed over to Yahoo Groups and found Branigan fanatics who were more than helpful. In fact one guy sent me a CDR of Laura's first two albums with such hits as
"Solitaire", "Gloria", and my new fav Branigan track
"Deep In The Dark" but along these two albums are some very very good songs. Rocking little ditties like
"Livin' A Lie" and great ballad performances. It's really quite sad that Laura is so underappreciated because she had some really great pipes and her song choices were actually very good. In fact, these two albums are going to be re-issued in that ever evolving Bubbatunes collection I have. Because, like all great fanatics, those kids at Yahoo sent me a lot of rare tracks that need to be reissued.
KAISER CHIEFS - EmploymentI don't know where I was when this album came out last year, but Kaiser Chiefs were sweeping the Brit Awards this year and after catching their performance of
"I Predict A Riot" I realized I simply had to have this CD, so I bought it and you know what? I frickin' love it! It's one of the best CDs I've ever heard. The opening chords of the 80s synth on
"Everyday I Love You Less & Less" and then going into
"I Predict A Riot", the album just gets better and better with each listen.
OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN - The Rumour You know I love my Livvie and since Australia also has a fondness for the girl, they remastered all of her albums in 1998 and have been listening to the gems since then. Now I have finally bought the ones I want and was more than excited to get this 1988 album. Known primarily for the title track co-written by Elton John, this was not a huge success for ONJ, but that is only in sales because this is probably her best album ever. Co-writing most of the album, Livvie tackles divorce in
"It's Not Heaven", a sort of letter to her daughter, AIDS in
"Love and Let Live", the rain forest and pollution in
"Let's Talk About Tomorrow", sexual politics in
"Get Out" and she ends it all with the terribly catchy
"Tutta La Vita" - a little rhumba ish ditty about love and success where
"It's not a mansion in Malibu/ or a face lift at forty/ you can't get there by a car/ not even your BMW"... if you find a used copy of this sucker, you buy it - Livvie and I both would want it that way.
