Do They Know It's Halloween?

While I don't like dressing up, I have decided to be a waiter this Halloween. To show my commitment to the costume I am going to spend the whole weekend in a restaurant! Beat that. I am certain that some people will have Zombie related costumes, but are you going to start eating brains? I bet not. I imagine that by Halloween proper I will have altered my costume into a tired waiter who should have paid more attention in college. In slightly related news, I hate the Marine Corps Marathon.

The video is for Tommy.

Friday...

The internets are going nuts this morning. Ryan and Lisa are coming back and Spencer is leaving TNR. I don't know what happened with Ryan and Lisa, but I suspect that Spencer was seduced by the useless layabout lifestyle of his roommates.

I was wiping down a table at the restaurant the other night, and managed to find a way to have the tine of a fork jut into the part of my finger between the tip of my finger and my fingernail. I was both amazed by the fact that this was possible, and by how much it hurt. I currently have a little red line the width of the tine of a fork running about halfway up my fingernail. I can't decide if I should be worried about losing the nail.

I think that I am ready to sell all of my possessions and follow whoever created this. Things are slow around the office, so I just might spend the rest of the day playing it.

This post's YouTube video is Psapp's "Tricycle" off of their newest album.

I like to think that I am doing my part to drive down productivity this dreary Friday.

Somewhere My Love Lies Sleeping (with a male chorus)

I am not sure if it is because I am a musician, or because I am crazy, but I constantly have music running through my head. The problem is that sometimes I start singing, and I am not really aware of it. For example, a few days ago I found myself walking around the office quietly singing:

"We hear he is a Whiz of a Wiz
If ever a Wiz there was
If ever, oh ever, a Wiz there was
The Wizard of Oz is one because
Because, because, because, because, because
Because of the wonderful things he does"

I am not sure how this entered my mind, but I am pretty sure that it isn't normal.

And because all of my posts now are just excuses to search YouTube, and am including a scene from the Marx Brothers' movie "Animal Crackers." I am including this because:

1. I love the Marx Brothers, and I feel that they are a big reason why I am so crazy. I watched a lot of Marx Brothers movies when I was 10. This love, and craziness, runs in the family by the way. I am pretty sure, although it hasn't been confirmed, that one of my cousins is named after Groucho's "Lydia the Tattooed Lady."
2. I won't consider myself a proper pianist until I can play like Chico does in this clip. You really have to wait until the close up of his hands. It is pretty impressive.
   
3. It's my blog and I will do what I want.

So enjoy.

Music Miscellany

I think that 2006 has been a pretty good year musically. There hasn't been much that has really blown me away, except for The Hold Steady, but there have been a lot of really strong albums released this year. Psapp, Howe Gelb, and I'm From Barcelona are just a few examples. Another really good album is El Perro del Mar's release. I saw the video to "God Knows (You Gotta Give to Get)" on Pitchfork today, and I love posting YouTube videos, so I thought I would pass it along.

In other news, I just realized that Love is All, one of my favorite releases of either late last year or early this year depending on which country you are it, is playing the Black Cat on Wednesday. Does anyone want to go? Except for Catherine, she is busy.

My Plan for World Peace

My father's company, and another group, are hosting a conference this week, and last night they had a reception at the Air and Space Museum. They "rented" the whole museum, and it was pretty amazing. There was an open bar and good food, including a mashed potato bar with 4 different types of mashed potatoes and plenty of toppings that you ate out of a martini glass.

In addition to having the ability to drink your way through the exhibits, they also had the flight simulators open. I hadn't been to the museum in years, and I didn't know that they had flight simulators, but they were pretty impressive. You get into a cockpit, and the machine lifts up and executes barrel rolls and flips and the like. You have the option of controlling the flight yourself, or going running a simulation. After a few cocktails, I decided for the simulation, lest I end up drunk, upside down and unable to right myself.

As if drinking and flight simulators were not enough, the museum also had an IMAX showing of "Magnificent Desolation: Walking on the Moon," which is in 3D! This was the first movie that I have seen in 3D, and it was spectacular. At times the surface of the moon extended right up to your face and moon dust would be flying right at you. It was really, really amazing.

This all brings me to my plan for world peace. The conference has attendees from 80 different nations. People from all over the world, were gathered in the Air and Space Museum and having a great time. I realized that the problem with the United Nations is that they never have any fun.

You may be thinking, "The U.N. has serious business and no time for fun." But they problem with not having fun is that you can't threaten to take away fun. People argue that sanctions for example only hurt the poor in the country they are imposed on, and not the people making the decisions. Well, what if there was a rule that if you invaded another country you lost all of you open bar privileges? Or take North Korea, their delegation can't go to the IMAX movie. Sorry, but that's the rule. Imagine the jealousy when they hear the South Korean ambassador talking about how the flying dust looked so real that he ducked. That will teach them to test nuclear weapons.

I am convinced that under this plan we will have peace across the world in 3 weeks.

Ladies and Gentlemen...

The Hold Steady.

These guys are so good that I feel a little guilty that I haven't given them any money.

Education...

The Wire has me thinking a lot about education these days, particularly the ways to fix our schools. The post had a good article on the problem this weekend. Personally, I think the problem is that we don't make learning exciting enough. In that vein, let me suggest that this is a step in the right direction:


You can also go here and see how exciting educational films can be.

Wire Prediction

In a prediction that is so obvious that I am surprised that no one has made it, I am going to predict that Randy ends up working with Bubbles by the end of the season and is shooting heroin by the end of season 5.

I think that one of the things that the David Simon wants to show this season is how the characters we know ended up where they are. In this vein it is clear that Randy is a young Bubbles. They both are entrepreneurs, Bubbles selling to people on the street, and Randy to his classmates and people on the street. Episode 4 also featured Randy snitching on a classmate, a skill that Bubbles has often used. We know that Bubbles isn't to happy with the kid, whose name I have forgotten, he currently has working for him, and Randy would be a superior partner. Bubbles is also around the school more, trying to get his partner to learn the skills that Randy already has. I expect that Bubble will run into Randy selling out of his bag and recruit him. I think that Randy will be hesitant at first, but then run away from his strict foster mother.

If this were any other show, I would predict that being around Randy would force Bubbles into a come to Jesus moment where he cleans up for good. This is The Wire though, and that is why I see Randy turning into an addict instead.