Happy Halloween

I know that today is supposed to be filled with frights, ghosts, ghouls, etc. I guess that I just wasn’t prepared for how terrifying this day could actually be.

I just received an e-mail from my college class president updating me on what is happening with my classmates after college. I get these about quarterly, and they seem fairly innocuous, but trust me there is evil lurking in the attachment. Everyone is getting married. The e-mail is just a litany of engagements, one after another, building to a crescendo that could only please Satan himself.

It is not just the number of people getting married, but who is getting married. One of my freshman year roommates is married. This is a guy who was caught urinating off of the second floor of our dorm before the first week of school had ended! An act that I believe perfectly set the tone for the next four years. Also, decorum prevents me from describing my first meeting with his wife.

I realized that I get to be Peter Pan for Halloween, and I didn’t even have to buy a costume.

The People Will Be Heard

I know there are about 3 people who read this site and don’t read Tommy and Catherine’s. Well as a public service I am going to clue you into to the must have item of the fall.

Now I Am A Real Blogger

Well, Kriston tagged me. This is my first meme, so be gentle.


1. Of all the books that you have eventually finished after many starts & stops, which one took you the longest and how long did it eventually take?

I really want the answer to this question to by Ulysses, but I still haven’t finished it after an almost Sisyphian number of years and attempts. I say almost Sisyphian because he at least got the rock to the top, and Ulysses tends to crush me about halfway through. I tend to be a fairly quick reader, but the answer is probably “Chaos” by James Gleick. I was seduced by the pretty pictures of fractals, but the book probably took me about 6 months when all was said and done.

2. What great band (or album or song) have you heard so often, you wouldn't mind never hearing again even though you still think the band (or album or song) is great?

I think this is a toss up between Led Zeppelin and Bob Marley. Both are pretty great and influential, but I just don’t really ever want to listen to either. In many ways, I think their influence is so widespread that listening to them just seems boring and redundant. Also, people who play “Stairway to Heaven” and “Redemption Song” on the guitar, particularly at parties or camp outs, need to be shot. Not only should they be shot, but do it quick because you know “More Than Words” is coming next.

3. Which cliché or often cited quote needs to be placed in quarantine for a few decades?

“You must be the change you want to see in the world” by Gandhi really needs to go on an extended sabbatical. I know it is inspirational and all, but I am just sick of hearing it.

4. During the 1990s "Compassion Fatigue" received a lot of press, now the media is giddy with "Donation Fatigue". What will be the next trendy fatigue?

I am hoping for “Ambition Fatigue.” Maybe China hurry up becoming a world power so that we can adopt a more European lifestyle because I think I can really increase the number of lunch beers I have in a given day.

5. What percentage of respondents will answer "meme fatigue" to question #4?

Everyone wants to, but this question prevents one from appearing witty, so none.

I don’t really know who to pass this on to, my blog friends are all pretty much covered. Is their bad luck for not passing on a Meme?

This One Is For Tommy

Did any of you see that the "Watchman" made Time's list of the 100 best English-language novels from 1923 to the present. "Snow Crash" made it also. I don't know, I just found this kinda surprising.

Get Your Lighters Ready

So I have always had a soft space in my heart for Journey. Their “Behind the Music” might be the greatest thing that Vh1 has ever produced. One of my favorite memories from touring is sitting in a Communist bar in Cambridge, MA and convincing a heavily tattooed bartender to play “Don’t Stop Believing” so that we could drunkenly sing/shout it.

Well that same anthem is currently being used to inspire the Chicago White Sox. In fact the song is so integral to their success that the team asked Steve Perry to travel to Houston with them. According to wikipedia, the association happened when:

“players Joe Crede and A.J. Pierzynski went to a bar and screamed ‘Play some freakin' Journey!!’ to a bad lounge singer.”

This just isn’t fair to the Astros, they look across the field know that the full force of Steve Perry has come down against them. How can they compete? What singer can they possible call into to counter act the full force of Steve Perry? If you think that I am overstating, remember that we are not just talking about “Don’t Stop Believing” but “Faithfully” “Separate Ways”“Lovin’, Touchin’, Squeezin.’” and “Anyway You Want It” And god help the Astros if the White Sox get down, because then they know they are getting a full dose of “Open Arms.” It just seems cruel to make any team have to endure this.

And finally some trivia. Who was the first band to inspire a video game? Wait for it, wait for it...JOURNEY!! You can go here to read about it, but the quick synopsis is: the band has a “scarab vehicle” and has to travel to different worlds to collect their instruments. After you have collected the instruments, and used them to shoot your way back to the “scarab vehicle” the band performs a concert. At the concert you control Herbie the roadie and your job is to keep “groupoids” from attacking the band. This is so awesome that it needs no comment

I am nothing that will ever capture your heart

While walking to work this morning, Tom Waits’s “Downtown Train” came on the old Ipod, and I found myself waiting outside my building until it was over. I dream of writing a song that good.

Will someone think about the...

I was reading this article about session musicians, and I was wondering what is going to happen to them as a result of file sharing. Some very talented musicians have created some great work in anonymity. If albums are no longer profitable, and become more of an advertisement that induces you to spend money elsewhere, like say going to concerts, it seems like it will be harder for session musicians to make a living. I don't know the answer, I was just thinking about a group of musicians who gets left out of the whole downloading debate.

Just to clear something up.

I mentioned comment spam in my last post. And while the comment in question was clearly comment spam, I have also recently been blessed with some comments that might not necessarily be spam. I have gotten a few comments like: “I like your blog. I have been reading it for a while. You should check out my site at…” And while I am fairly sure that these comments are spam, and have been deleted, I want it known that I will delete these types of comments anyway. If you want more links to your website please at least pretend to read the post you are commenting on, like “I agree with you, Mike Love should be shot.” Never forget that most blogs exist to serve the ego of the author, and this one is no different.

I tried to put my phone on vibrate, but I swear it was too late.

I believe that I have made my feelings on ringtones clear. So imagine my surprise when this is my first comment spam. Now, I realize that I am only encouraging them with this link, maybe someone can help me figure out how to post one this without having the idiot’s google rating go up.

Personally I love the line:

“I come from the land of 3g audio ringtone so I know what I'm talking about!”

I realize that this is spam, and just copied over and over again, but someone had to write it at some point. And presumably, knowing that it would be copied over and over again, that person had to think that it was a good line.

This comment came on a post I did about how I hate Contemporary Christian music. Does this mean that I can look forward to ringtones of Contemporary Christian music? Because if I hear Steven Curtis Chapman coming out of a cell phone, I will be convinced that God has pulled his flock up to Heaven and given Satan this world to do with what he will, and frankly I am a little pissed that I got left out.

Also, there is a “land of 3g audio ringtones?” If this is true, then I support military action there, hell I will even enlist.

Finally, EXCLAMATION POINT? Seriously? You are that excited about ringtones and the knowledge they bestow upon you? This guy might as well walk into a chemistry class and say, “I smoke a lot of crack so I know what I’m talking about!”

I'm Back

Well a whole month went by with nary a word from me. Well, I recently started a new job, and I still work at the restaurant, so I don’t have a lot of time to post these days. Also, rock music, or any other type of popular music, just isn’t doing it for me these days. This happens to me from time to time, I just get bored. I am sure something exciting will come along soon, it always does.