Friday, August 17, 2007

Random

The summer is drawing to a close and frankly I'm ready for the next chapter. The kids have had a great summer and we've had lots of fun together but I'm ready for a change. I'm also ready to be able to write up the tribulations of Ohio charter schools as they occur, something that I've been hard pressed to do lately.
  • Tonight was the world premier of High School Musical 2. If this means nothing to you, apparently you have no ten-year-old girl in your life.
  • I've finally finished repairing my sidebar from the Great Template Change Massacre. I had forgotten about the list of aggregators until Rob Hawkins, proprietor of PlanetNEO wrote to tell me of his redesign. So that is up. In addition, blogger and entrepreneur J.D. Amer has a Northeast Ohio wiki up -- NEO 2.o -- with a blogger page. It's also linked and I encourage folks to visit and enter info, blog-related or otherwise.
  • Interesting link to the Carnival -- Angela Stevens, a blogger out of Nebraska, plugged "politics" into a Google search for a Thursday Thirteen and the Ohio Carnival was in the top 13 results. Thanks, Angela. We'll take the love where we find it.
  • I've been watching Mad Men on AMC. They have an interesting ad gimmick going. During breaks, before each commercial they cut in a graphic with some bit of ad trivia superimposed over the grayscale skyscraper facade motif from the show's opening credits. Sometimes it's about advertising generally, sometimes a factoid about the commercial about to air. These, I suspect, come as a result of a premium ad buy. As networks scramble to counteract both internet advertising and the DVR effect, this could well be duplicated elsewhere, but it only really makes sense with a show about advertising.
  • A Baptist preacher in Califonia has responded to an IRS complaint by exhorting his parishioners to pray that God smite the group that brought the complaint -- Americans United for Separation of Church and State. Some posts you pass on because they are too easy.
  • Kid T has been amusing us lately with utterly random similes. In the past day she has been "cold like a mustang" and "tired like a moose." No idea.
Now here it is, your Moment of Ten:

1. "Mayreh," Art Blakey Quintet
2. "Jessie James," Bruce Springsteen
3. "Sixteen Blue," The Replacements
4. "Beware, Brother, Beware," Louis Armstrong
5. "Verses from the Abstract," A Tribe Called Quest
6. "(Don't Go Back to) Rockville," R.E.M.
7. "Hidden Charms," Howlin' Wolf
8. "Bring the Noise," Anthrax and Public Enemy
9. "Tennesee," Jimmy Martin and the Sunny Mountain Boys
10. "Big Day," XTC

Rap and Metal are such a natural match -- loud noise and bad attitude to appeal to hormone addled adolescents -- that they probably would have come together eventually. Still Public Enemy's collaboration with Anthraxt to remake their already-classic "Bring the Noise" catalyzed the new blend. Before Fred Durst turned rap metal into a joke, before Flavor Flav turned himself into a joke, there was "Bring the Noise." And the video was over the top.

8 comments:

Jill said...

Start holding your sides now before they split: MY ten year old daughter, realizing that the newest Hannah Montana wasn't going to be on until 10:20, LONG after High School Musical 2, WHICH, I should tell you, she doesn't even like very much (have you ever seen worse lip synch - well, yeah - okay - we're old enough to remember Milli Vinilli or whatever they were), started to cry as I told her that it was bedtime and I would TAPE the show (which of course I haven't done). Why, you might ask, did she cry?

Because she wasn't sure she would be able to even SLEEP knowing that she'd missed it.

Oh.
My.
God.
Help.

Was I like that about David Cassidy, I wonder. Nah - I don't wonder.

Jason Haas said...

House of Redhorse, 8/17/07 - Count of Young Females Watching HSM2

Seven, including three teens.

Is it any wonder the spousal unit and I spent the evening hours b/n 8-10 outside?

Jesse James = nice choice. Throw in John Henry and Pay Me My Money Down and we've got a trio.

Jason Haas said...

oops - sorry, that seven should have read five. it only felt like seven...

Scott Piepho said...

Jill:

We've banned a number of shows for conveying messages of which we don't approve. Hannah Montana was the first show we banned simply because it sucks out loud. (Didn't quite phrase it like that, tho.) As a compromise, Z is allowed to purchase the new CD.

Jill said...

ROFL. Too good, Scott, too good. Thanks for sharing the rollercoasting that is parenting.

Anonymous said...

I really enjoy your "Random" posts. If these come from yer personal stash, you have great taste.

I've been meaning to say something about the Spingsteen "Seeger Sessions" projects. As you know, I am a HUGE fan of various forms of "roots" music (Irish, Celtic, old time Appalachian, acoustic old time blues, bluegrass, REAL country (i.e. the Carter Family, Emmylou Harris, Buddy and Julie Miller, etc.)

I've been a fan of The Boss for very long time. As a college frosh, a childhood friend of mine moved back to Ohio from NJ and said "Ya GOTTA hear this LP!" Which turned out to be "Greetings from Asbury Park."And I did like it, but it was "The Wild, The Innocent and the E Street Shuffle" that blew me away. A few months later, I got to see the original E Street Band at the now departed (THANK GOD) horrid Toledo Sports Arena.

But of late, I have enjoyed his "personal" music a whole lot more than his arena rock stuff. I absolutely LOVE "Ghost of Tom Joad." (Every progressive person in Ohio MUST have a copy of "Youngstown" after all.)

So I got the Seeger Session Live in Dublin DVD. I have never owned a recording that I both love and hate so much at the same time.

Love: The Point in Dublin may be the best concert venue on the planet. Not only do those crowds sing along -they know the words and sound GOOD. It's like having the World's Largest Backup Vocal group.

Love: Greg Liszt, the banjo player.

He leads an INCREDIBLE band called "Crooked Still." PLEASE stop what you're doing right now and go get a copy of their latest project called "Shaken by A Low Sound." It defies description.

In fact all of the players are great with maybe one exception and she's married to the boss.

Things I hate: Too many performers, too much of everything. If this were a movie I would say that Bruce "chews on the scenery" (overacts) EVERY song.The arrangements on almost every song are WAY too "dramatic" and way over long.

It just destroys the intimacy and nuance of the material. There's no flow or dynamics because every song is over the top.

OK, I'll shut up now...

Ben said...

I wanted to see if this girl I go out with sometimes wanted to do something Friday and she said she had to watch HSM2. And we are a bit older than your children. I had no idea it was so popular.

Anonymous said...

I'm so glad you enjoyed that Thursday 13!! :)