Time's up

The answers to the ones you didn't get yet:

3. "Wicked Path of Sin" - Old & In The Way
5. "AT&T" - Pavement
6. "Fishwater" - Widespread Panic
7. "The Eleven" - Grateful Dead
8. "Maybe Partying Will Help - the Minutemen
9. "I Know There's an Answer" - the Beach Boys
11. "Diamond Dogs" - David Bowie
12. "Split Open and Melt" - Phish
15. "God Knows" - God Is My Co-Pilot
16. "Hell Yes" - Beck
18. "The Picture" - Son Volt
19. "I'm Convicted" - Bad Livers
20. "Billie" - Pavement
21. "Heroes and Villains" - Brian Wilson
23. "What Is The Light???" - Flaming Lips
25. "It's So Obvious" - Wire

You deserve answers

But before I spoil the meme-y fun, I wanted to offer a few more hints. See if any of these help jog the "random knowledge" portion of your head:

• 3 is a Bill Monroe tune performed by a early 70s bluegrass supergroup.


• Numbers 5 and 20 are the same band, one that pretty much defined the term "lo-fi." The two songs are not on their two best known albums.


• Numbers 6, 7, and 12 are all jam bands from (respectively) Athens, GA; San Francisco; Burlington, VT


• 8 - San Pedro's finest belt out what should've been the Eugene anarchist theme song - seeking to pacify existential angst about "victims of [our] leisure" with beer and a bag of mersh.


• Numbers 9 and 21 are from (respectively) the crown jewel and belatedly realized masterpiece of these iconic Sixties Southern California surf/pop band.


• The artist in 11 is well-known for collaborating, musically and possibly otherwise, with the likes of Lou Reed, Mick Jagger, and Iggy Pop. Tough lyrics, though.


• I'm not even going to bother with 15 - it really does qualify as obscure indie rock.


• 16 is a repeat of one of the first four artists.


• For 18, think of the lesser known half of Uncle Tupelo.


• The song title's in the lyric in 19, played by an awesome bluegrass/punk/rock/klezmer/etc. band from Austin, TX (and featured on Punk Rock Monday)


• For 22, think Big Suit.


• Number 24 is a repeat of an artist from 12 through 15.


• Number 25 is so obvious. Think influential 70s British punk band that wasn't the Clash or the Sex Pistols.

I don't know whether these will help or hinder your efforts. I do know, however, that I've spent far too much time absorbing trivial knowledge.

Hints

I threw up some hints on the music meme, so if you're still playing...

Incidentally, there's a broad range of genres there, from 90s lo-fi to hippie and neo-hippie jam bands, from SoCal surf music to bluegrass. And only a few obscure indie bands.

Because I ♥ memes

This is following from feminist, ph.d's welcome introduction of this meme. The rules:

1. Randomize your tunes... nicely
2. Post the first line of the first 25 songs, no matter how much you don't want the rest of us to know that Creed is on your iPod.
3. In comments, leave your informed opinion as to what the song title is and who the artist/s is/are. As they come in, I'll strike the song off the list. Googling for the answer makes you the Barry Bonds of the meme world. Do you really want that? Besides, I'll post the answers eventually.
4. Rinse, lather, repeat.

So here goes, in no particular order - or as the kids might say, "Randomly..."
1. Say you stand by your man
2. Because mutiny on the bounty’s what we’re all about [I'm gonna board your ship and turn it on out]
3. In this awful world of sorrow [On this wicked path of sin] [cover - bonus points for guessing the right artist]
4. Oh when they beat upon a broken guitar
5. Lately, someone’s gonna save me [My heart is made of gravy and the laps I swim from lunatics don't count]
6. Four train days, get me back to New Orleans [Drink more fishwater there than any whale's mama ever seen]
7. High green chilly winds and windy vines [In loops around the twisted shafts of lavender]
8. As I look out over this beautiful land I can’t help but realize [That I am alone. Why am I able to waste my energy?]
9. I know so many people who think they can do it alone [They isolate their heads and stay in their safety zones]
10. Z Y X, Z Y X
11. As they pulled you out of the oxygen tent [You asked for the latest party]
12. In the morning I pack up my gear and toss it in my carryall [Run the wide load to the lip and watch the big core crack and glow]
13. Oh gawd, has she always lived here?
14. It’s close to midnight and something evil’s lurking in the dark
15. Everyone sees every movie you make [The whole world hears every word you say]
16. Lookin’ for my place on assembly lines [Fake prizes risin' out of the bombholes]
17. That there, that’s not me
18. Hurricanes in December, earthquakes in the heartland [Bad Aryan decks on its flashing warning sign]
19. I’m convicted by reality convicted [I'm rejected, a bigger part of me is wastin']
20. Billie and my friend the saint, you’re perfect in so many ways [But you never looked hard at a fetus in a jar]
21. I’ve been in this town so long that back in the city I’ve been taken for long and gone [and unknown for a long long time]
22. Lost my shape - trying to act casual [Can't stop - might end up in the hospital]
23. What is the light that you have [shining all around you? Is it chemically derived?]
24. With your feet on the air and your head on the ground
25. It’s so obvious, it’s here it’s there [It's not just the color, it must be more]

There's a couple of repeat artists in there. Have fun.

Happy May Day!

The Internationale

Arise! ye starvelings, from your slumbers;
Arise! ye prisoners of want.
For reason in revolt now thunders
And ends at last the age of cant.
Away with all your superstitions
Servile masses, arise! arise!
We’ll change henceforth the old tradition
And spurn the dust to win the prize.

Chorus
So comrades, come rally
And the last fight let us face
The Internationale
Unites the human race.

No saviour from on high delivers;
No faith have we in prince or peer.
Our own right hand the chains must shiver:
Chains of hatred, greed and fear.
E’er the thieves will out with their booty
And give to all a happier lot.
Each at his forge must do his duty
And strike the iron while it’s hot!

The law oppresses us and tricks us,
The wage slave system drains our blood;
The rich are free from obligation,
The laws the poor delude.
Too long we’ve languished in subjection,
Equality has other laws;
“No rights,” says she “without their duties,
No claims on equals without cause.”

Behold them seated in their glory
The kings of mine and rail and soil!
What have you read in all their story,
But how they plundered toil?
Fruits of the workers’ toil are buried
In strongholds of the idle few
In working for their restitution
The men will only claim their due.

No more deluded by reaction
On tyrants only we’ll make war
The soldiers too will take strike action
They’ll break ranks and fight no more
And if those cannibals keep trying
To sacrifice us to their pride
They soon shall hear the bullets flying
We’ll shoot the Generals on Our Own Side.

We peasants, artisans, and others
Enrolled among the sons of toil,
Let’s claim the earth henceforth for brothers,
Drive the indolent from the soil!
On our Flesh too Long has fed the Raven;
We’ve too long been the vulture’s prey.
But now farewell the spirit craven:
The dawn brings in a brighter day.

Laugh it up, fuzzball

My friend AJK posted these on Facebook, and since most of you didn't know me in the Way Back When of 1996, I thought I'd share a little bit of the past with you. I believe the preferred nomenclature for my look around this time is "Wookie."

AJK, myself, and B


Me, AJK, and JA


I almost look like ez, eh?

More groveling

Okay. So I've been a major slacker about the noodle these days. Outside of being ill, I've also been spending my evening hours away from the computer, doing things like watching movies, reading books, and hanging out with the family. On top of that, I've had a major deficiency of blogging mojo - I just don't much feel like commenting about things that are going on these days, although this could be an effect of being out of practice rather than any actual lack of interest.

That said, I'm going to try to be better in the next few days about posting some content - either that, or I'm going to declare a hiatus for a few weeks in order to meditate on my mojo. But I'll work on the former.

So that's what's going on.

Down with disease

My apologies, dear readers. For the last six days I've lain in bed with Madame Influenza, basking in her feverish garden of hallucinatory delights. I'm currently happy to be sitting upright again.

At any rate, as better health appears to be upon me, I'll get back to minding the shop for our mutual amusement.

New York City's a good ole place to go

I'm off to the Big City for a weekend of urban charm, gritty streets, and most importantly, to celebrate four years of wedded bliss with the effervescent ms. wobs. Yes, if I had it to do all over again, I would.

So, light to no posting for the weekend... although that's pretty much been the rule around here lately, hasn't it? I'll be back on Monday with a new PRM (that won't suck, dr, I promise).

Sunday Night Bambino Blogging plus

I realize I've been stingy with the l'il wobs pics as of late, so here's a two-for-one showing him in many hats, plus a piece I like to call "Some Call Me Tim."

It's not you, it's me

Regrettably, I have nothing to say other than I have a case of the "blahs."

Blah.

Sorry 'bout that

Huh. I look up and the next thing I know a week has gone by. By way of accounting: Tuesday, movie; Wednesday and Thursday, reading; Friday, tired; Saturday, drinking; Sunday, hungover.

I'll add that Saturday involved hanging out with Joel S., Brian W., and Dan W. and was reminiscent of some nights at High Street, but without the early A.M. drunken bike ride.

And furthermore

Not that I'm the type to toot my own horn or anything, but on top of being named an Award Winning Poet, I've also been named a Poet Fellow:


This award only costs $60 and comes with a "24K" Gold Pin. Quite the bargain. How low are you willing to go, International Society of Poets? Do I hear "New Poet of the Year," my picture in the newspaper, and a $45 membership fee? My shit's hot, y'all, and I'm being courted.

To all of you who would diminish my achievements by claiming that this is some sort of ruse to get chumps to donate their hard-earned dollar to an organization of dubious distinction, I say this:

By next week, I'll be fucking Dante, my haiku will be a Broadway musical, and my membership will be free!

A meme worth repeating

Because peej and dave think it's cool:

If somehow compelled to pass an awkward evening among upper-middle-class, middle-brow intellectuals, I could discuss _________ without sounding like an ignoramus:

A) The metaphysics of St. Thomas Aquinas
B) The Wealth of Nations
C) The history and future of human space travel
D) Basic quantum theory
E) Tiger Woods' swing

Pass it on.

4077th

Both ms. wobs and l'il wobs are currently laid out with the flu, which probably means I'll soon be laid out as well. It's like a freaking M*A*S*H unit here right now, which, given my chosen self-medication for the evening (is there anything a hot toddy won't cure?), makes me:

For the record, 45 minutes worth of Google searches failed to turn up a single usable picture of Hawkeye in his bathrobe with a martini.

Note to self

Double-check that all the lids are tightly sealed if the boy helps you pack your lunch. Yogurt covered ham sandwiches are not as appealing as they seem.

Reading tip for the evening

Blog comments are best enjoyed as though they're being delivered by Tom Hanks or Martin Sheen in a Ken Burns documentary: "... and that is why I think McCain is demonstrably pro-NAMBLA. LordsGOP, February 8, 2008 at 3:46 AM."

I get mail

For some reason, I opened the spam this evening and got something so gleefully strange, I had to share:

from: Grieves Shamlin [xxxxxxxx@xxxx.com]
reply-to: Grieves Shamlin [xxxxxxxxxx@xxxx.com],
to: medullanoodle(at)gmail(dot)com,
date: Feb 11, 2008 9:29 PM
subject: peoples

Heya,

Are you a freqquent visitor of rretail softwaree stores?
We know what you're overppaying for:
- box manufacturiing
- CD

- salespperson salary
- Rentt of shop sspace
- Year--to-year increasingg taxes in your countryy

Well, what for ?! You're able to dowwnload everythingg legally NOW! Faabulous range of softwaree and LOW prices will make you smile and save your money! Welcome to http://shaunawolfgramfc.blogspot.com

Displayed, the overreaching zeal of a gaoler who without
reason. That familiar, hysterical quality the ocean as if
she were his favourite bride. When thrown in gear, had been
running as smoothly the most primitive manual task its right
dignity, i suppose it was a good lesson to me and made wandered
about, hunting deer, and wild boars, with great devotion,
possessed of hearts full to commercial and military preeminence,
it may have doen heretofore: that which have made on look
on the absent, tender face as the great masters, were illustratio
(quint. Vi. 2, 32) and perspicientia an old fellow who hitherto
had held his peace radha laughingly said unto shalya these
words, adapted to their early settlements in canaan and.

I haven't actually haven't clicked on the link, but if any of y'all do, could you tell me if I reallyy can get hott softwaree deals while avoiding the year-to-year increasingg taxes in my countryy. Isn't that last paragraph so like the really bad creative writing majors we've all met, whom I've come to think of as the "method writers"?: "Hey, I just drank a fifth of Bushmills and started my sequel to Finnegan's Wake?"

And while I'm generally pleased to see that the author of this particular spam mail has been conscious enough to use gender-neutral pronouns, the phrase "salespperson salary" just generally strikes me as wrong outside of the random doubling of consonants.

Verily a threshent beyond of which bilbo would succumb originally mon petit chou (John 3:16) until wrestled away from conquistadors in peru, cake and.

Because I'm there

And for anyone who ever thought that a late 1960s show could be anything but bliss, I give you the world's most fucked up acid-era "St. Stephen"

On the political economy of the barnyard

Most of you are familiar with the children's book Click, Clack, Moo. The gist of the story is that the hens and cows withhold their eggs and milk in order to force Farmer Brown to acquiesce to providing them with electric blankets. In order to seal the bargain, the cows agree to trade their typewriter (with which they were able to make demands) for the blankets. Future hijinx ensue when the ducks, a third party in settling the dispute, abscond with the typewriter and issue their own demand for a diving board at the duck pond. The last page, with the image of a duck diving from a newly installed diving board, leads us to believe that they too were able to leverage the solidarity of their species and bargain.

Now, we could debate for hours the wisdom of bargaining away the typewriter (seriously, do it in the comments), but what intrigues me is that the ducks somehow won. In terms of the barnyard economy, the ducks seem to be at a distinct disadvantage when it comes to making demands. The ducks only bring value to the farm in two ways - as food or as animals that enhance the barnyard ambiance that is so crucial in promoting agri-tourisim. In the latter case, given the negligible income generated from the hordes of tourists flocking to see a "working" farm - were the goods producing animals not on strike - and given the expense of caring for them, I'm betting the ducks were loss leaders. Farmer Brown could have just as easily sold the whole gaggle to some fancy French restaurant in the city to recoup his lost revenue from the "staples strike" of aught-eight, sent a chilling message to the rest of the barnyard community, and grabbed his damn typewriter without having to install a fucking diving board. Or even more chillingly, Farmer Brown could have made an example of Mr. Lead McDuck by prepping him up for foie gras.

So I ask again, what could the ducks have possibly had that would give them leverage over Farmer Brown?

I've only been able to come up with one answer that fits the facts of the story - the ducks were the barnyard good squad, employed by Farmer Brown with a cush duck pond and all the feed they can eat in return for keeping the rest of livestock in line. Farmer Brown employs them to break the strike, the ducks arrange for the veal truck to be spotted in the farm parking lot, the cows, um... cowed by the aggressive display, but still wanting those blankets, stand firm on their one demand but agree to give up the one means by which they could make demands. After greasing the deal, the ducks, mercenaries with no set of loyalties that they are, decide that it's Farmer Brown who owes them big for mediating an agreeable solution, and when Farmer Brown initially ignores them, he wakes up next to the head of his plow-horse. The ducks then, through a savvy combination of patronage and calculated violence, maintain labor peace and managerial benign neglect to keep their dope smuggling ring intact and away from prying eyes.