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Friday’s Quizzlet: There Goes the Scotch


in Friday's Quizzlet

Appetizer: What was your favorite cartoon when you were a child?
I used to love Saturday mornings and remember that Dungeons and Dragons, The Smurfs, G.I. Joe and a bunch of others were always on my dance card. But the 70’s version of Spider-Man was my very favorite. I still remember every word of the fantastic theme song – lemme see if I can find it somewhere. Got it – wow that takes me back. I love the furious horns and the Buddy Love style to it. Must have been made in the late 60’s. I half expected a cartoon version of Sammy Davis Jr. to shoot lazers at Spidey out of his gold-rimmed glasses by the end of it.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4o29VoxtsFk[/youtube]

Soup: Pretend you are about to get a new pet. Which animal would you pick, and what would you name it?
I just went through all of this, actually. I picked a dog, a Boston Terrier and I named him Shepherd. I also considered “Huck” (Huckleberry Pye) and Indy (we named the dog Indiana!) but Shepherd fit the Pye naming convention perfectly, and is actually a respectable dog’s name historically. “Old Shep” is a well known Walter Brennan song about a beloved dog and was eventually even covered by Elvis himself. I love Brennan – you’ll remember him as John Wayne’s old-coot of a side kick in several Westerns, particularly Rio Bravo. “I picked up my gun, and aimed it at Shep’s faithful head“. Jesus, I hope it never comes to that.

Salad: On a scale of 1-10, how much do you enjoy getting dressed up for special occasions?
I haven’t had cause to wear a tuxedo in a good 10 years but I am a groomsman at my friend’s wedding in September and was just sent a tux rental form for the occasion. I’ll enjoy it. I’ll make lots of Dean Martin jokes. Probably drink scotch all night. 2 fingers, 3 ice cubes – just the way Francis Albert liked it. Then I’ll fall asleep alone in a hotel room and wake up hating life. I get to go to 4 weddings in September. In 4 different States. And yes – I want to kill myself.

Main Course: What kind of music do you listen to while you drive?
Excellent question, quizzlet. Your excellent questions are few and far between. I’d like to take this opportunity to list my favorite driving songs of all time. I’ll number them, but there’s not really any particular order.

  1. RoadRunner by The Modern Lovers – Jonathan Richman’s tribut to Massachusetts and driving down Route 128. “The highway is your girlfriend as you go by quick. Suburban trees, suburban speed and it smells like thunder.”
  2. Threshold Apprehension by Frank Black – Read my review. I get pulled over nearly everytime my iPod shuffles to this track.
  3. There Goes the Fear by The Doves – All time favorite sinalong, and the nutty Brazilian rhythms will make the hours fly past, providing that you play the song 27 times in a row. Maybe that’s just me.

Dessert: When was the last time you bought a clock? And in which room did you put it?
I bought a Kids in the Hall clock off of eBay a couple of years back, and it hung proudly in my North End kitchen until I moved back to the Great White North a year ago this very month. It’s currently in a box out in the Winchester and I look forward to restoring it to a place of honor when I get around to going through all my stored stuff this summer. Now that is a DVD set I really need to break down and purchase, Santa. The series left me scarred. Scarred for LIFE! Bu-gock!

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Pupdate: The Big Fix


in Animalistic

Janet and I picked up Rhuby and Shep at the vet’s in Westport this morning where they’d been overnight after having been spayed and neutered respectively. Rhuby had a large uterus, apparently, and her sutured incision is quite long. Shep’s nad removal required only about a 3/4 of an inch slice which he already seems to have forgotten all about. Rhubarb’s stitches run three layers deep and are a bit more serious, so we have to keep them separated and aptly monitored for a good 10 days or so. No jumping, no horse play, no swimming, no baths, no offleash outside frolicking – no fun. This is not going to be an easy set of rules to try and enforce.

Now that the deed is done, a little bit of guilt has crept in. I find myself wondering exactly what the benefits of a fixed pet are over and above people telling me that it’s a “good idea”. Here’s what I’ve learned tonight…

What fixing a dog does:

  • Simply put, it eliminates hormone-driven behaviors.
  • Eliminates a dogs need to fight with other dogs over potential mates.
  • Helps curb the need to mark territory or to advertise ‘availability”.
  • Helps dogs remain focused during training instead of looking around for a female in heat, etc.
  • Makes it less likely for the animal to develop many types of cancer and other diseases.

What fixing a dog does not:

  • Neutering does not affect physical or mental development.
  • It does not automatically make dogs fat and lazy.
  • It does not make dogs less protective of you or your property.

I think I feel better now, to be honest. Here’s a question to all you dog owners: Have I missed any thing on my list? Are you for or against the fixing of man’s best friends? I think i’m leaning towards the “unless you’re planning to breed them, snip the little fuckers” camp. 10/10 mail carriers agree.

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Wednesday Wadio: Cut Copy’s ‘Feel the Love’


in Musical

From the first swirling synths and gleaming melodies of curtain raiser “Feel the Love”, In Ghost Colours asserts itself as a hugely magnanimous record. Everything here sounds stadium-sized, loved-up, and breezily inclusive. – Pitchfork

It frustrates me when the song I want to evangelize doesn’t have an associated YouTube video and I have to settle for something else from the same band. Such is the case today, so I hope to be able to get my point across and at least bend the year of a couple of you’se. The band is Cut Copy and they’re a solid rock/electronica (think New Order for a quick and dirty comparison) from Melbourne Australia. Here’s an alternate choice for a video, Out There on the Ice, which is a good tune but definitely my second choice.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sI3tstEeY7g[/youtube]

For me, the first song on their new release In Ghost Colors is head and shoulders above the rest of the tracks and I’m shocked I can’t find more references to it online. Feel the Love is the pretty little ditty I’m attempting to share, and here are a few options for those of you who take my musical tastes to heart:

  • Listen to a clip of the song free on LastFM.
  • Listen to or right-click and download the MP3. Probably the best option for you, dear.
  • Treat yourself to a solid punch in the balls and go do something more constructive.

Feel the Love is very ‘joyous’ and I quite enjoy listening to it in my car on sunny days with the sunroof open. Cut Copy’s electronica influences and current usage is definitely very retro-80’s which is why I think they’ll eventually enjoy quite a bit of success here in North America. The rock element is well produced with great sounding drums and acoustic guitar which melds well with the silly synth creating a (somewhat) truly unique sound. Yes, this has been done before – but rarely as well, and never in Melbourne.

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Veekend Video: Wuthering Sheps


in Animalistic, Veekend Video

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOXmjh6wMyQ[/youtube]

Last week my neighbor Don came over to help me get the lake pump started, and Shep heard him approaching through my bedroom window. He proceeded to bark incessantly and I decided to take some video to undoubtedly use for something silly at some point. Friday afternoon my work productivity hit a wall around 4pm and I edited the yippy barrage into my latest cinematic puppy delight. If you dig Kate Bush, all the better.

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