My brother is a huge XM radio fan. His blog has a link to Lee Abram's log, and while I usually agree with most of what Abrams has to say, the following made me pause:
"if you were in your musically formative years around 1980, and were into the American soundtrack at the time, REO was a band you probably cruised around listening to over and over"
I was, and every time a REO song came on I shuddered (if you do the math from my age you may be thinking 'But you were only 10 years old!' True, but I was an early starter ...) The thing is, REO Speedwagon always seemed, well, boring. I am sure they are all fine people and so on, and repect anyone who has had success at that level, but ... ZZZZZZZZ.
But, your mileage may vary. There are bands like Bon Jovi that, while I'm in no hurry to start buying thier stuff still have left me with fond memories.
Two weekends ago I tuned in to American Top 40 on XM 8. I was excited that it was from 1982.
Apparently I have blocked how much of the top 40 from that era I just plain don't care for. I absolutely *love* some of it, but then we have REO or Little River Band and it just leaves me cold.
Play some Blondie or Berlin or Human League (for instance) however ...
Makes me feel like I'm floating on a cloud.
Wednesday, February 7, 2007
Tuesday, February 6, 2007
Love and rockets
One piece of advice I've seen for blogging is "make it timeless". In general that is what I try for here, intending posts to have relevance whether read today or next year. This post is a little different. Today's big news story is just so ... deliciously bizarre I can't help but comment. Plus, the topic gives me a chance to make a gratuitous comics reference in the title (Love and Rockets - one of my faves. Shame on you if you thought the title was a reference to the group that rose from the remains of Bahaus).
By now chances are you've probably heard of the astronaut love triangle between Lisa Nowak/Colleen Shipman/Bill Oefelein. In some respects this is a standard love triangle, with one party (Nowak) seeing another (Shipman) as a rival for the affection of a third (Oelefin). Nowak traveled from Houston to Orlando to scare Shipman into a conversation. Two things raise this story above ordinary:
1) These folks are astronauts. Thus the title.
and
2) To prevent having to stop during her trip to Orlando, Nowak wore ... diapers.
No big overarching point here. It is fun to see highly educated, intelligent people (pretty much required of astronauts) act less than rationally. Gives the rest of us hope.
And ain't it funny what love (or infatuation) can do to a person?
UPDATE:
Since writing thiis, Nowak has been charged with attempted murder. Not quite as funny as it once was.
By now chances are you've probably heard of the astronaut love triangle between Lisa Nowak/Colleen Shipman/Bill Oefelein. In some respects this is a standard love triangle, with one party (Nowak) seeing another (Shipman) as a rival for the affection of a third (Oelefin). Nowak traveled from Houston to Orlando to scare Shipman into a conversation. Two things raise this story above ordinary:
1) These folks are astronauts. Thus the title.
and
2) To prevent having to stop during her trip to Orlando, Nowak wore ... diapers.
No big overarching point here. It is fun to see highly educated, intelligent people (pretty much required of astronauts) act less than rationally. Gives the rest of us hope.
And ain't it funny what love (or infatuation) can do to a person?
UPDATE:
Since writing thiis, Nowak has been charged with attempted murder. Not quite as funny as it once was.
Sunday, February 4, 2007
COLD
it's colder than [insert your favorite explative].
Todays high -8 F. Starting about 56 hours ago we went below zero, and won't see positive temps for another 35 or so hours.
Yikes. I'm Minnesota born and bred, I've seen much worse, but we haven't been this cold this long in a decade.
This stinks.
Todays high -8 F. Starting about 56 hours ago we went below zero, and won't see positive temps for another 35 or so hours.
Yikes. I'm Minnesota born and bred, I've seen much worse, but we haven't been this cold this long in a decade.
This stinks.
Saturday, February 3, 2007
Friday, February 2, 2007
Curried mock duck
My single favorite dish is curried mock duck. So, being on a food history kick lately, I thought I'd look into this dish's history.
Apparently I've picked another difficult-to-research topic to get interested in. So far, I've only found one restaraunt outside Minnesota that has the dish I'm thinking about. This restaraunt isi n Chicago. Still Midwest, which strengthens my suspicion that curried mock duck is a 'restaraunt' dish rather than a traditional prepration. Also strengthening my gut feeling is that although there are certainly Vietnamese restaraunts outside Minnesota, expatriats of my home state complain about not finding this dish, which is common in these parts
'But wait', you may say, 'there are restaraunts with this dish in their online menus from NY, LA and so on.' Yes, but look closely at the descriptions. In these locations 'mock duck' is soy based. Around here, it is seitan (wheat gluten).
Definatly need more research on this before I can really feel like I'm getting a grasp on the question.
Tommorrow tune in for a very special blog entry.
Apparently I've picked another difficult-to-research topic to get interested in. So far, I've only found one restaraunt outside Minnesota that has the dish I'm thinking about. This restaraunt isi n Chicago. Still Midwest, which strengthens my suspicion that curried mock duck is a 'restaraunt' dish rather than a traditional prepration. Also strengthening my gut feeling is that although there are certainly Vietnamese restaraunts outside Minnesota, expatriats of my home state complain about not finding this dish, which is common in these parts
'But wait', you may say, 'there are restaraunts with this dish in their online menus from NY, LA and so on.' Yes, but look closely at the descriptions. In these locations 'mock duck' is soy based. Around here, it is seitan (wheat gluten).
Definatly need more research on this before I can really feel like I'm getting a grasp on the question.
Tommorrow tune in for a very special blog entry.
Thursday, February 1, 2007
Dave has an idea ...
... for a new hobby. Collecting cans/bottles from energy drinks. This is a worldwidee beverage category, and something I consume daily, so collecting the containers isn't too much of a stretch. My other collections go way beyond casual hobbies. Some I look at as collections proper (7,000 or so comics), some are better termed accumulations (100+ cookbooks), others somewhere inbetween (easily in the hundreds, but haven't counted lately, records).
I'll blog more on this in the future. In particular I take pride in my comics collection, which is largely made up of smaller sub-collections.
I'll blog more on this in the future. In particular I take pride in my comics collection, which is largely made up of smaller sub-collections.
The Asexual Lifestyle of Cultivated Garlic
As a title, "The Asexual Lifestyle of Cultivated Garlic" has a lot going for it.
It is relatively short and to the point. Contrast this with many Victorian-era titles, which often go overboard explaining what the work is about. My subtitle to the earlier post "Puree" was pretty much a riff on these titles. I've always been a fan of short, sharp, shock titles (being of the Chaos UK literary school ... I lie here. There is no such school, literary or otherwise.) In my own writing I often use one-word titles.
It grabs your attention, mainly due to ...
It sounds a little rude. I mean, the word "sex" is right up there front and center. Never mind that the context is asexual plant reproduction. The word jumps out at people.
It is a bit surreal. Seeing the title, most will assume I am not really talking about garlic, sex or no sex. There has to be a literary term for this kind of misderection; I feel no shame in not actually knowing that term. Think Zen koan here. But enough tree-hugging hippy crap for today.
The one area this title really falls down, though, is in having anything to do with the actual blog entry here. Although I have just spent most of this entry talking about it. This is the kind of thing that short-circuits robots.
What I really wanted to say, before getting off on a tangent, was "DUH!"
I have mentioned before looking for pre-chilli 'heat' in Asian and African cuisines. Black pepper was undoubtedly important (I was overly dismissive of it earlier), but I couldn't think of other bases for fiery cuisine.
Ginger. Duh.
And after slapping my head, mustard, I thought,
I still haven't found a definitive source on these cuisines before chilli peppers. But I have a much clearer grasp on the possibilities now.
It is relatively short and to the point. Contrast this with many Victorian-era titles, which often go overboard explaining what the work is about. My subtitle to the earlier post "Puree" was pretty much a riff on these titles. I've always been a fan of short, sharp, shock titles (being of the Chaos UK literary school ... I lie here. There is no such school, literary or otherwise.) In my own writing I often use one-word titles.
It grabs your attention, mainly due to ...
It sounds a little rude. I mean, the word "sex" is right up there front and center. Never mind that the context is asexual plant reproduction. The word jumps out at people.
It is a bit surreal. Seeing the title, most will assume I am not really talking about garlic, sex or no sex. There has to be a literary term for this kind of misderection; I feel no shame in not actually knowing that term. Think Zen koan here. But enough tree-hugging hippy crap for today.
The one area this title really falls down, though, is in having anything to do with the actual blog entry here. Although I have just spent most of this entry talking about it. This is the kind of thing that short-circuits robots.
What I really wanted to say, before getting off on a tangent, was "DUH!"
I have mentioned before looking for pre-chilli 'heat' in Asian and African cuisines. Black pepper was undoubtedly important (I was overly dismissive of it earlier), but I couldn't think of other bases for fiery cuisine.
Ginger. Duh.
And after slapping my head, mustard, I thought,
I still haven't found a definitive source on these cuisines before chilli peppers. But I have a much clearer grasp on the possibilities now.
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