Monday, September 30, 2019

My Music Monday

I was listening to Terri Gross the other day, as I am apt to do. She had on identical twin lesbian sisters / musicians, Tegan and Sara.

Honestly, I know them from two songs only, "Walking With a Ghost" and the wildly popular, "Everything is Awesome" from the Lego Movie.

Anyway, the gals have a new book and new music disk out. They played little music, but as always, Gross made everything sound horribly wonderful.  I've lost tons to that woman's wonderful interviewing skills.

The following day, was iTunes release day, and boom, there was Tegan and Sara's new disk, which are actually recordings of songs they've written a while back but never recorded. I sampled it for sure. I'm always searching out some new music.

A few caught my ear, but none more than, "Don't Believe the Things They Tell You (They Lie)".  That title would have never fit onto a 45 label.

I want to say the song is great, but it's not.  The first two-thirds is great.  The last part is good, just not great. But there's nothing wrong with good.


Sunday, September 29, 2019

Record of the Month

I figured I'd do a monthly 'what I'm listening to' kind of thing. This could be viewed as a lame placeholder kind of post. And probably it is. But it's my blog! So there!



Berlin has a new disk out, Transcendance. The original members of the group that is. This iteration has not been around since 1986-87.  This version of the band only had three disks, though there are more under the band's moniker.

I loved (x3) their first disk with vocalist Terri Nunn,  Did you know Toni Childs was their original vocalist?  I didn't.  And even she didn't appear on their first album, another vocalist did. Thanks wiki! Still, Pleasure Victim was just (and still is) great. The following disks were fine, but I never thought they hit all their potential.

Once "they" did "Take My Breath Away" (a la Giorgio Moroder) it was over. The band wrote and played not one note on that song, though it was credited to them.  You can hear the almost identical version that Martha Davis, of the Motels, sang on a version that wasn't used. The instrumentation is exactly the same.

Transcendance is ok, but it is not going to match their heyday, but almost 40 years later, I suppose that's not the expectations.  It starts off well with "I Want You", but the following song, "Show Me Tonight" is just horrible. Forget the overproduced electronica (actually, don't forget it!), the talking over it made me think of so many 80's bands who had that going on. But Berlin, you're an 80's band in the 21st century.....go and grow with it.

For some reason (oh yeah, self-promotion) they felt the need to rerecord "Sex (I'm a.....)".  Totally not worth the "tape".

The title track isn't their usual fare, but it is not bad in the slightest.  But the rest of the stuff is fairly mundane. Well executed, but the creation is meh.

While the music and lyrics might not be top notch, Nunn's voice is pretty good and has remain intact, considering she's 59.  Wait.   How is THAT possible?  Not that she's that old, but she's only THAT old. I'm not buying it. For a second.

Saturday, September 28, 2019

Cattle Call

The end of summer 2019.  Officially.  Not that Labor Day crap. And while we take Shep out most every weekend - somewhere - we hit a few places he'd like to play:  water and the beach. The real one and the Bow Wow one.


Lake Erie.  Last day of summer was 87 degrees.  In Cleveland !

I do get the love when I get him from daycare.  I can deal. 

Not happy I woke her up for a picture. 

My niece's cat: Pippa.  This at their new house. 

Right in the mix of things at Bow Wow Beach. 

Cattle Dog trying to be buds with Mr. Shep - he wasn't really having it. 

Lounging on my favourite carpet. She's allowed. 

Shep, and best gal pal Maisey, were featured on their doggie daycare IG page. 
It's just like the cover of US Weekly. 

....and this guy greeted me yesterday. He would NOT let me pet anyone else. 
I complied to his wishes. 



Song by: Emmylou Harris 

Friday, September 27, 2019

Shopping with Blobby

Yet another installment in the drudgery that is everyday shopping. The camera-phone makes it a bit more fun - though I get looks whenever I take pics of products. Like I care what people think

Bottled water is taking queues from wine and beer - and they only way they can seem to market iffy, or bad tasting (I'm assuming) is to give it a funky / funny name and see what happens.

I don't have a degree in marketing or advertising, so one would think you'd know what you're doing in this job and not just making it up as you go.

But like beer and wine, there are hundreds of these flavoured sodas. ....and there's not a one I would try.

Ok, maybe one. How bad can the cucumber be? 

This seems {enter any city name} Eagle-y. 

...and now?  Now I am just thinking of Mike. 


I suppose (?) these companies make money - but it ain't from me.

Thursday, September 26, 2019

Let's Impeach the President

First off, I'm going on record saying you haven't really seen a political post from me in two weeks,  so Imma just gonna pat myself on the back for a few......

And, I had no plans to post one today. I've postponed the scheduled one, as events of the last 36 hours or so have made it so.

For what little I think of Pelosi - and I do - what played in my head once she announced they'll have impeachment hearings.....or whatever they are....against BLOTUS: "if you're gonna hit the king, you'd better kill the king."

Of course, it goes without saying I want the king to be killed, I'm not convinced this is what they / we want it to be.  Or will do it.  It seems a little grey for me, but we will see.

BLOTUS has a way of muddying the waters to the point that facts don't matter and he will use that to his full advantage. And Pelosi isn't strong enough to do a thing about that. This close to election season (well 2020), if this doesn't stick, she is going to fuck any democratic candidate that is put forward.

On the plus sides of all of this:  while it seems Biden did nothing illegal in any form, it could taint him enough to NOT be the candidate of choice - something I fully support. I loved him, but go away, Joe.

Oh, and Pence. I believe that released transcript / memo thing involves him as well. In theory, if one goes down, both should fall.

We will see how the following days fall out, as I have to believe there is a bunch more stuff to be brought forward and discussed.



Song by: Neil Young

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Downtown Train

When cultures collide.  The title picture made me laugh.

We went to see the Downton Abbey movie - not because we felt the overwhelming need to see it the first weekend, but more of didn't want to be told about it before seeing the movie.

As it turns out - you could have just told me.

Don't get me wrong, it was ok, but don't get me wrong, it wasn't better than ok.

Premise - the King and Queen of England come to the Crawley airbnb for two nights. Along with staff, which makes downstairs seem redundant and not needed.  Oh, how will it play out???

Other than that, it's fairly standard fare for the Grantham house.  Some extremely predictable storylines, if I say so myself.  I won't spoil it for anyone, but it's not horribly clever, but then again it's not quite the Young & the Restless, which it started becoming in serial form.

The horribly contrived story to bring Mr. Carson back, was well.....horribly contrived, and executed. Love him or hate him, I've always been a fan or Mr. Barrows, and his being pushed aside for Carson was stupidly put together.  Still, whatever neurologist was seeing Mr. Carson for his inferred Parkinson's should be commended, as he has not sign of it at all anymore - even moving old, expensive bottles of wine without the slightest tremor!

Yes, I get this is an event movie - for the ladies and the gay men - and everyone expects to see Carson, but c'mon.......it wasn't a small plot point in the show and now it's just erased?  Julian Fellows could have been a little more clever, no?  Well......no. apparently he couldn't have.

A highlight was when Delores Umbridge and Minerva McGonagall exchange words. And you know, in real life, Delores is married to Carson, so I think we know how she got this job!

I always enjoy Tom Branson - as he is a looker. His storyline(s) were seen a mile away too. One of them done well, one......ehhhhh......questionable at best.

It was really the downstairs staff one that just annoyed me. This has a storyline that could have only been executed by the downstairs crew........or any Laverne & Shirley episode. Though with Anna's scheming here, it isn't a far stretch to assume she easily could have pulled of Mr. Green's murder and gotten away with it.

Edith was Edith and Mary was Mary. It's not quite as fun as when they didn't get along. There is a great moment with Granny and Mary though.  Maggie Smith had a few good lines, only one that made me laugh out loud.

I did like Barrow's storyline too, but again, predictable.

What every gay man and woman needs to know - and honestly, who else is going to this movie - is there is a boiler repairman that really needs to be seen. Totally worth the price of admission. You'd have a picture here if I could have located one while the actor was in character. He loses something in 21st century clothing.

Afterward, 710 thanked me for 'gay date night'.  My response was, "our date nights are all gay ones". But he was right in his reply: "well, this one is more gay than others".   True that.

Downton Abbey was fine. It was a super-sized version of the tv version, but nothing more than that.



2019 Movie Count / Goal: 16 of 15


Song by: Tom Waits

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

the Winner Takes it All

Well well well.........look who is the belle of the ball.

Singular. Like Lance Armstrong or Scott Hamilton.

Mike has bested me at this year's Emmys thing.  And possibly cirrhosis. But more importantly is the Emmy thing.

One can always get a new liver!

See, the irony here is - I made a number of my selections after imbibing a few. Though the joke might be, it was those in which I did better. Like Mike, I need to drink........more!

Through no fault of his own {a-hem!}, we weren't completely at the top of our game with our live texting.  And the only thing worse than a host at these events is having no host. The gags weren't funny - sorry Maya.

To be honest, we didn't see Fleabag coming - but neither did Veep. Nor did I really think Mrs. Maisel would do so well the second season - but hats off to Tony Shalhoub, whom I lost with last year for picking and lost this year too, for not.  Mike more than doubled (doubled!!) his wins with his picks (7-3). He got totally totally totally lucky with someone named Julia Garner - whom is only known to her parents and agent. And he crossed that gay line to super gay picking his doppelgänger Billy Porter.

I begrudge neither of them anything - unless I was sitting behind them while they wore that hat.


This  below is required from the accounting firm of Dewey, Cheatam and Howe, as after one foible in calculation eons back has made Mike a Doubting Dolly.  To be fair, he did fine a semi-error in the directing categories....one was suppose to be 'writing'.  I just copy / pasted, so I blame the Hollywood Reporter website.

Outstanding Drama Series Better - both won
Outstanding Comedy Series - both lost
Outstanding Limited Series - Mike
Outstanding Drama Actor - Mike
Outstanding Drama Actress - both lost
Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series - both won
Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series - Mike
Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series - both lost
Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series - Blobby
Outstanding Comedy Actor - both won
Outstanding Comedy Actress - both lost
Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series - Mike
Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series - both lose
Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series - both lost
Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series - Blobby
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series - both won
Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series - both won
Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series - Blobby
Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series - both lost
Outstanding Directing for a Limited Series, Movie, or Dramatic Special - both lost
Outstanding Writing for a Limited Series, Movie, or Dramatic Special - both lost
Outstanding Television Movie - Mike
Outstanding Competition Program - both win
Outstanding Variety Talk Series - Mike
Outstanding Variety Sketch Series - Mike
Outstanding Directing for a Variety Series Documentary - both lost
Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series Documentary - both won

Mike said in his submissions, and I quote: "May the best, most-handsome man win…".  Well, he didn't, but he came in a far second.


Song by:  Abba

Monday, September 23, 2019

My Music Monday

September has no theme.  And it's almost over.

But one day in the last week, I woke up with a song in my head. This happens often. Usually it is from something I had heard in the last few days - but this time, it was not the case.

Love love love Neil Young and arguably, he was no better than between 1977-1981.  He has lots of great periods in his career, but I'm fond of the (mostly) Crazy Horse era.

His disk Rust Never Sleeps, which is a live album - but shouldn't be confused with his other live disk, Live Rust - is primarily known for the opening and closing numbers:  "My My, Hey Hey (Out of the Blue)" and "Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black)", semi-acoustic and full on electric respectively.

The album has lots of good songs, but the best (my opinion, of course) is "Powderfinger). This song is fully electric along with distorted guitars for which Crazy Horse could be known.  The phrase "fade away" comes in this song, as it does in the two aforementioned tunes. I won't say it's a theme, but Rust's overriding sentiment is survival.

The song was originally recorded but not released in 1975. It was offered to Lynyrd Skynyrd two years later, but never recorded after some band members died in a plane crash.  This always interested me, since Skynyrd's song "Sweet Home Alabama" was a response to Young's "Alabama".

I have never been able to pinpoint why this song resonates with me so, but it does. For me, it ranks up in Young's top 10 songs.....maybe top 5.


Sunday, September 22, 2019

Choices

"Oh yes, we are playing", said Mike in a text back in mid-July - but without the comma.

I had given us both an out on this year's Emmy shindig, but my winning the Oscar thing this year must still sting.  As it should.

This one isn't going to go to well for me. Maybe for us. I haven't seen a lot of these. I haven't heard of many of them either.

I thought about just saying, "they're all winners in my book!", that way, I cover my bases and no matter who wins, I win.

Pretty sneaky, sis!

But Mike would call 'foul' or maybe 'fowl'. Stupid homonyms.  So it's basically pin the tail on the TV show.  If I lose, I won't feel too bad.  If I win, I'll gloat like no one's business.

While the list below seems extensive, it was more so, until I found out we didn't need to worry about the Creative Arts Emmys, which were last week.  .....and just to nitpick, isn't acting, writing and directing creative and arty?

This works to my advantage, as I know Mike would have voted all things RuPaul and Queer Eye.  There is a fine line between being gay and being gay!  But he found that line and pranced right over it.

Full disclosure:  I started this fully sober.  I'm not ending it that way.  Mike is aware of this. I'm not absolving myself of my decisions due to alcohol, unless I lose, then all bets are off.

Well........on with the guess-fest, shall we?


Outstanding Drama Series Better Call Saul Bodyguard Game of Thrones Killing Eve Ozark Pose Succession This Is Us

If it were up to me, it'd be Succession.  But it's not up to me. 

Outstanding Comedy Series Barry Fleabag Russian Doll Schitt’s Creek The Good Place The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel Veep

It's frickin' Veep, the final season  It's frickin' hilarious. 

Outstanding Limited Series Chernobyl Escape at Dannemora Fosse/Verdon Sharp Objects When They See Us

Don't bet against a show about race and Rape.  SVU hasn't been on for two decades for nothin'. 

Outstanding Drama Actor Bob Odenkirk (Better Call Saul) Kit Harington (Game of Thrones) Jason Bateman (Ozark) Sterling K. Brown (This Is Us) Milo Ventimiglia (This Is Us) Billy Porter (Pose)

I've never seen 35 seconds of this show. But fandom will win out. 

Outstanding Drama Actress Emilia Clarke (Game of Thrones) Robin Wright (House of Cards) Viola Davis (How To Get Away With Murder) Sandra Oh (Killing Eve) Jodie Comer (Killing Eve) Mandy Moore (This Is Us) Laura Linney (Ozark)

How how I love Linney. How I hate she won't win. 

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series Jonathan Banks (Better Call Saul) Giancarlo Esposito (Better Call Saul) Alfie Allen (Game of Thrones) Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Game of Thrones) Peter Dinklage (Game of Thrones) Michael Kelly (House of Cards) Chris Sullivan (This Is Us)

Ummm.  Sure. Because he was great in the Boss

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series Lena Headey (Game of Thrones) Gwendoline Christie (Game of Thrones) Sophie Turner (Game of Thrones) Maisie Williams (Game of Thrones) Fiona Shaw (Killing Eve) Julia Garner (Ozark)

I'm thinking Harry Potter's horrible aunt will win only because the 43 GoT actresses will cancel each other out.

Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series Game of Thrones “The Last Of The Starks” Game of Thrones “The Long Night” Game of Thrones “The Iron Throne” Killing Eve “Desperate Times” Ozark “Reparations” Succession “Celebration” The Handmaid’s Tale “Holly”

Oh, how the f*#k should I know? I'm just hoping Mike doesn't either. 

Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series Better Call Saul “Winner” Bodyguard “Episode 1” Game of Thrones “The Iron Throne” Killing Eve “Nice And Neat” Succession “Nobody Is Ever Missing” The Handmaid’s Tale “Holly”

You'd think GoT, but it's the final episode and everyone seemed to be so-so on the ending. It might knock it out of contention.  I have absolutely nothing to back up my selection. 

 Outstanding Comedy Actor Bill Hader (Barry) Don Cheadle (Black Monday) Anthony Anderson (Black-ish) Eugene Levy (Schitt’s Creek) Ted Danson (The Good Place) Michael Douglas (The Kominsky Method)

It'll be Hader. I still haven't seen Barry, but it has good buzz. 

Outstanding Comedy Actress Christina Applegate (Dead to Me) Phoebe Waller-Bridge (Fleabag) Catherine O’Hara (Schitt’s Creek) Natasha Lyonne (Russian Doll) Rachel Brosnahan (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Veep)

Save for Waller-Bridge, whom I don't know, I love all these ladies. But c'mon. JLD. She is fucking awesome. 

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series Henry Winkler (Barry) Anthony Carrigan (Barry) Stephen Root (Barry) Tony Hale (Veep) Tony Shalhoub (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) Alan Arkin (The Kominsky Method)

Heyyyy.  It should be Shalhoub, but it won't be. 

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series Sarah Goldberg (Barry) Sian Clifford (Fleabag) Olivia Colman (Fleabag) Betty Gilpin (GLOW) Marin Hinkle (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) Kate McKinnon (Saturday Night Live) Alex Borstein (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) Anna Chlumsky (Veep)

I SO want it to be Chlumsky (I say that every year she's nominated for "Amy" on Veep.  But it won't be. Again. So let Coleman get an Oscar and an Emmy in the same year.

Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series Barry “The Audition” Barry “ronny/lily” Fleabag “Episode 1” The Big Bang Theory “Stockholm Syndrome” The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel “All Alone” The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel “We’re Going To The Catskills!”

Jews + Comedy = Catskills.   This seems reasonable enough for a win. 

Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series Barry “ronny/lily” Fleabag “Episode 1” PEN15 “Anna Ishii-Peters” Russian Doll “Nothing In This World Is Easy” Russian Doll “A Warm Body” The Good Place “Janet(s)” Veep “Veep”

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series Mahershala Ali (True Detective) Hugh Grant (A Very English Scandal) Benicio del Toro (Escape At Dannemora) Sam Rockwell (Fosse/Verdon) Jared Harris (Chernobyl) Jharrel Jerome (When They See Us)

Ali has two Oscars.  He don't need this. 

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series Amy Adams (Sharp Objects) Patricia Arquette (Escape At Dannemora) Michelle Williams (Fosse/Verdon) Joey King (The Act) Aunjanue Ellis (When They See Us) Niecy Nash (When They See Us)

While Nash could get it, she has all the Claws money.  Like Lola Heatherton, Williams is a triple threat. she acts, dance and acts. 

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series Ben Whishaw (A Very English Scandal) Stellan Skarsgard (Chernobyl) Paul Dano (Escape at Dannemora) John Leguizamo (When They See Us) Michael K. Williams (When They See Us) Asante Blackk (When They See Us)

Who doesn't like Whishaw?

 Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series Emily Watson (Chernobyl) Patricia Clarkson (Sharp Objects) Marsha Stephanie Blake (When They See Us) Vera Farmiga (When They See Us) Patricia Arquette (The Act) Margaret Qualley (Fosse/Verdon)

It's Patricia Frickin' Clarskson.  She should win EVERYTHING!

Outstanding Directing for a Limited Series, Movie, or Dramatic Special A Very English Scandal Chernobyl Escape At Dannemora Fosse/Verdon “Glory” Fosse/Verdon “Who’s Got The Pain” When They See Us

I want to say Fosse/Verdon, but I don't think that will get me the win. 

Outstanding Writing for a Limited Series, Movie, or Dramatic Special A Very English Scandal Chernobyl Escape At Dannemora “Episode 6” Escape At Dannemora “Episode 7” Fosse/Verdon “Providence” When They See Us “Part Four”

It's about dance. Fosse dance. These TV folk think they're artsy, so they'll vote what they think is. 

Outstanding Television Movie Bandersnatch (Black Mirror) Brexit King Lear My Dinner with Hervé 

You don't fuck with Willie S. 

Outstanding Competition Program American Ninja Warrior RuPaul’s Drag Race Nailed It! The Amazing Race The Voice Top Chef

I'm going with what will inevitably be Mike's choice. If nothing else we'll tie this one. 

Outstanding Variety Talk Series -  Full Frontal With Samantha Bee Last Week Tonight With John Oliver The Late Show With Stephen Colbert  The Late Late Show With James Corden  Jimmy Kimmel Live!  The Daily Show With Trevor Noah

I'm betting the long shot. 

Outstanding Variety Sketch Series - At Home with Amy Sedaris  Documentary Now Drunk History I Love You America, Sarah Silverman Saturday Night Live  Who is America?

Not a fan of Sahsa Baron Cohen, but.........he kind of got stupid american assholes in his crosshairs. Yeah, I'm talkin' to you Palin.

Outstanding Directing for a Variety Series Documentary Now! “Waiting For The Artist” Drunk History “Are You Afraid Of The Drunk?” Last Week Tonight With John Oliver “Psychics” Saturday Night Live “Host: Adam Sandler” The Late Show With Stephen Colbert “Live Midterm Election Show” Who Is America? “Episode 102”

Lord, I do love Drunk History.....which is not just Mike telling tales from his past. I mean, it IS, but they didn't make a show of that.                Yet. 

Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series Documentary Full Frontal With Samantha Bee Last Week Tonight With John Oliver Late Night With Seth Meyers Saturday Night Live The Late Show With Stephen Colbert

It's about writing. And while I love Colbert, Oliver's written material is strong. 



Stay put until Tuesday to see who the winner might be............



Song by: Leonard Cohen

Saturday, September 21, 2019

Reach Out and Touch (Somebody's Hand)

Good picture week, if I say so myself.

Spooky Cat. 
With our emergency lantern during our power outage, Sophie casts a nice shadow. 

Hotel Dog. 
I think he should get his own Marriott Rewards card.  He seems comfortable here. 

He did crash. I got the lean - which I love. 

Sophie and her shoelace.  
It's been hanging off a stool since she was a kitten. She still loves it. 

Happy Dog.   
I love getting him out after work. So does he. 

Sophie has been reaching out and pulling my arm to her constantly. 
Who am I to tell her 'no'?


Ball Ball. 
Someone is leaving her scent all over one of Shep's toys.  This isn't going to end well. 


Henry was asleep when I picked up Shep. 
But I said 'hello' to him and he came up for love. And I love him so. 
Henry has his own IG page.  As well he should.




Song by: Diana Ross

Friday, September 20, 2019

Lightening Strikes

As I mentioned last week while holed up in a Residence Inn with dog and husband, the storm we had was bad, and possibly a microburst.

Probable, I'd say.

It totally amazed me that it took Cleveland media - print, radio and TV - three days to even report on it, save "30,000 people without power".

I love a good thunderstorm, but before we lost our power, we actually gathered the pets and migrated to another area of the house. Quickly - especially when we assumed a bolt of lightening hit between our place and the neighbors.

As it turned out, we were right about the lightening and the neighbors, just the wrong one.  In the title image you can see how lightening travelled down this tree to the ground. Enough to damage, not enough to actually split the tree.

We had been worried about our 100ft oak right next to the house. Well, we were more worried about the house and the oak falling on it. And us.  As it turns out it didn't.

But that said, others close to us were not as lucky.

This was a few streets over. There is an entire Farmer's Insurance ad with this. It wasn't the only car on that street. 

Senna, an ex-neighbor dog (and still current daycare dog) helped with clean up. 

But there were trees everywhere. Down, that is.  Below is a very small sampling of some of the damage. There were streets that weren't even passable on foot, let alone vehicles. 




We had power trucks in from New York, Indiana, Pennsylvania and Maryland. ...and those were just the ones I saw. 

It took us 48 hours to get power. It took some another 48. I wouldn't have made a great pioneer. 

We totally lucked out. 



Song by: Lou Christie

Thursday, September 19, 2019

In 3's

Well, it's been a week for celebrity deaths, no?

"They" say, they go in threes, and so it goes.

I was never much of an Eddie Money fan. Sure, "Shakin'" had pre-Apollonia Apollonia. And if I never hear "Two Tickets to Paradise" again, I think I'd survive. I didn't mind "Take Me Home Tonight", oddly enough.

Also oddly enough, I saw Money in concert back in 1978 {ugh, I can't believe I just typed that}. He opened for.............the Cars.  If Bob Welch, who was also on the bill, wasn't already dead, I'd tell him to "look out".  Todd Rundgren might want to take that advice though.

The Cars - in certain doses - I liked much more than Money, though even for my teen ears, they were awfully loud  Sure, MTV kind of made me hate them for a while, as they played "Magic" and "You Might Think" far far far too often.  Even their lesser known disks would usually have a decent hit on them. Maybe more.

I probably liked Ben Orr's vocals more than Ric Osasek, but he never quite got half the exposure, but had arguably vocals for some of their better songs:  "Moving in Stereo", "Drive", "Just What I Needed" and "Bye Bye Love", and my personal fave, "All Mixed Up".

But the death of the week is someone I've probably listened to more than either of these two artists. Cokie Roberts passing just sucks. For decades, every Monday morning at 06:20, she'd have her piece on NPR's Morning Edition, usually touching on the Sunday morning political shows and what things were said - and more importantly, what things weren't.

And OMFG, I hate to even say his faux-name at this point, but BLOTUS on Roberts, "she never treated me nicely" comment is just, well, uncalled for.

Admittedly, he never met her, so honestly, why is he commenting on her death at all, and better (?) yet, how did it become about him? 

Yes, I know - with him, it's all about him......24 / 7 / 365.  But fuck dude - just StFU.  Just once. Just for like 25 minutes.  But if you wanted to know why she might not have treated you nice, maybe look at what you just said about a dead woman you never even met.



Song by: Beastie Boys

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Ad of the Month

Usually, I do "funny" ads here. While I tend to lean to the humourous, there are times when it should just be about a good ad.

Sometimes it should just be about the message. And while you think these democratic presidential candidates are overstating the obvious, clearly you haven't been paying attention to the last six administrations who have done nothing. Literally, nothing.

That all said, what is Harris doing with her eyes?


Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Still Within the Sound of My Voice

As foretold, we went to see Linda Ronstadt: the Sound of My Voice this last weekend, when we had no power.

The theater had power, but if they had air or fans was questionable.

This film was on my short list to see, and truth be told, I liked it, but didn't love it. And that was a shame.

Where David Crosby's film was almost like a history and part of his 12 steps, the Sound of My Voice was almost like a filmed obituary.

There is no doubt Ronstadt had a strong and powerful voice. It's no secret she seemed strong-minded enough to do multiple genres and still make them work at least in that sector.  Truth be told, I know no one of the three millions people who purchased Canciones de Mi Padre. Do you?

At the end of the movie, it says the film was based on her book Simple Dreams. And I can see that. I read it and it was interesting, more so than the film. So I've heard many of these tales before. Still it was nice to see the interspersed clips of Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne, Ry Cooder, Emmylou Harris, Dolly Parton and others.

While Ronstadt has said she has not sung for years, at the end of the film she certainly does a passable attempt with her cousin and nephew that was filmed this year. It's not perfection, but at 72 and with Parkinsons, it is never going to be.

All told, still a decent movie, but one you could see on Netflix just as easily.



2019 Movie Count / Goal: 15 of 15


Song by: Linda Ronstadt & Aaron Neville

Monday, September 16, 2019

My Music Monday

Today's selection is the Stone Poneys (that never looks correct) cover of Michael Nesmith's "Different Drum".

Linda Ronstadt was the singer along with two other dudes, one being Kenny Edwards, who would do a lot of album work with others over the years.

How the band played this song was much more folky than you've normally heard. The long standing story is that Ronstadt was called in to rerecord it after record execs didn't like it. Only when she got there, the band wasn't.  And the arrangement was different.

You can easily find the original version on YouTube, but you can also find a version of Raquel Welch doing the song in the USO - go-go boots and all.

Honestly, until the other day, I didn't even notice on this song there is orchestration - strings and such. It's amazing what one looks over now and again. The performance is strong though, especially for Ronstadt's debut


Sunday, September 15, 2019

Powerless

Remember that impending storm I was trying to beat before yesterday's post was drafted?

Well, A. I didn't beat it. We lost power and I had to use my iPhone to complete.  B. We still have zero power - and don't expect to get it back before Monday evening.

Saturday morning's dog walk  - well before dawn - showed, or alluded to, damage, and nothing little.

It got uglier after the sun came up.

As bad as the above picture seems, and it is, as you drove outside of our neighborhood it was like a war zone.

I was so blown away by the severity of it, I didn't even think to take pictures.

The trees down are biggies - crushing cars, cutting off roads, going into houses.  .....and well, power lines. Enough so that no power still.

I'm crafting this at a hotel. A pet friendly hotel.

Sophie is good enough to stay at home in the dark, but the rest of us are roughing it at a Residence Inn.

And yes - roughing it. I have to manually brush my own teeth.  Oh, the hell of it.

Shep is having an adventure. As it seems lots of dogs are. The hotel, and the ones around us, are packed. We are not the only ones with this idea.  He was wild at first, but took to it fairly well.

We will see, but I think we wiped him out.  Currently, he is without power too.



Song by: Linkin Park

Saturday, September 14, 2019

She's Thunderstorms

Trying to get this in queue before we get hit by a massive storm.  It's not here and we've already lost power twice.


We took Shep to Doggie Dipp - and event at the end of summer where after they close the pools but before they drain them - they let the dogs in. 

It turns out Shep cannot swim - as we suspected. So it was the shallow end of the kiddie pool for him. But he had a BLAST!  

Sophie's new hang place.  I don't get it, but I don't have to. 


Windy day at the Polo Fields. 

Petey Fries.  
The fries at the bottom of the bag we gave to Petey.  Shep wanted them. The struggle is real!

WHAT????

Same nook.  Different nose. 





...and we've lost internet now. I'm publishing by using my phone as a hotspot.



Song by: Arctic Monkeys

Friday, September 13, 2019

12 of 12

So I'm doing my 114th 12 of 12.

Normally it is 12 pictures taken on the 12th of the month. Since I only post once per day, you get my images the following day. All pictures taken with my iPhone. Click images to enlarge, if you choose.

Created by Chad Darnell and picked up from, what I can tell, any number of random bloggers who then link back to him and vice versa. Chad is no longer doing this, nor is successor coordinating the linking of other 12 of 12'ers anymore. Now it's just myself - that I know of.....as it's the only blog post he's still doing......for now.  

05:01.  Post Dog walk "paper" reading.

05:37.  Breakfast.  Honey Nut breakfast.

06:25.  Rainy ride to work

07:32.  Telecom. 
I was presenting at an IT meeting. This was all of us . and about 20 on the phone. The other end. 

08:15.  My would-be new office.  Finally!!!
This guy's moving out. I get the keys today. 

08:50.  Measure twice. Bury once. 
I still need to get a headstone for my parents. And while I have time, I need to get on it. I also want it to match the ones from my great-grandparents. So, as I traveled from one office to the other, I stopped and took measurements to see what I can order. 

10:40.  Second Office. 
On main campus, I no longer have and office. The chairman of my old department today gave this to me for the time being, but I'll have to give it up if they should ever need it. It was a great gesture. 

12:10.  Puppy Parade. 
Pet Pals is a volunteer organization whose dogs (maybe cats?) come in and visit with patients. They had a parade and costume show at lunch. Of course, I went to see. 

16:45. Slow Leak. 
Every 2-3 weeks I need air in this tire. I just need to bite the bullet and get it fixed. 

16:55.  Happy Dog Walk. 
He loves when I come home and rescue him. 

18:55.  What could it be???
It was rice with garlic and Parmesan.  710 was outside grilling the main course. 

19:30.  Pee Time. 
I've been pushing 120 oz of water per day. And there are consequences to that. 


That's it. For now.