I was well-heartened to receive several positive replies to my recent "Snakes in a Blog Post" message. A couple folks were put in mind of other verses from their own encounters, from Lynard Skynard's "That Smell" to Astrud Gilberto's "It Might As Well Be Spring"!
Others, in New York state, bemoaned that it isn't exactly spring there yet; sure enough, I checked and Yahoo! says the high for the Peak'n'Peek ski resort today was 13. Uh, brrrrrrrr.
And apparently Brad Pitt's character sings along to Keep on Loving You "in the midst of a hellish car chase in the movie Mr. & Mrs. Smith. He just could not help himself." (Thanks, Linda.)
I haven’t seen that movie yet. I’m still PO’ed at Brad Pitt for breaking up with Jennifer Anniston. I like her, I knew a girl in high school with similar mannerisms, if not looks. But I’ll watch for this scene on the DVD. Curiously, I see Vince Vaughn is in this film, (he is/was Anniston’s boyfriend after the Pitt break up, in case you don’t follow these things; not that I do…)
I'm sure Spring, will, um, spring again for you all up north, but it's no wonder I live in Alabama these days. Of course, we have other challenges in these parts (this is where I need a photo of a bunch of pickups in the parking lot with 3-year-old “W” stickers on the back (although here around Huntsville you're not unlikely to see a car with a Jesus Fish on the back pulled up to a red light beside one with a Darwin Fish.) Yep, spring’ll be back for ya'all, but these folks are a fixture here….
Just warming up,
-- Chip
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
Snakes in a Blog Post
I know my hearing is actually getting worse as I age a bit, but there have been a number of songs (hang on: for a quirky effect, not that it has anything to do with anything, but try reading this first part with a valley-girl affectation; let’s try again:)
I know my hearing, is, actually – getting worse, but there have been, like, a number of saw-ungs that have been onthe rad-ee-o, and, like, for the first time ever, I’ve been able to understand the lyrics ?! (Okay enough of that.) This morning’s example of a great, previously missed snippet of lyric, like many, is about the angst of love:
“You played dead
But you never bled
Instead you lay still in the grass
All coiled up and hissin’”
That’s early 80’s classic rock – that’s what they’re calling it now – how can post-punk anything have become classic? What’s such a pointed metaphor doing in burner-rock? Anyway; that music all sounds so rich to me now; today’s tunes all sounds so, to steal from American Idol judge Randy Jackson’s most overused critique, “plucky”. There’s no anthemism, no backbeat, no continuum of reverb. Of course we would have called it banal (“baa” –naal”, two rhyming syllables, the first a sheep’s sound; (reading my crap sometimes, it’s like Americanism (from “The American President”, with Michael Douglas (parentheses nested deep enough for you yet?)) it’s advanced citizenship, you gotta want it bad)), and wouldn’t have been caught dead enjoying REO Speedwagon, or their midwestern compatriot band, Styx, or others of their ilk (e.g. Journey). But now, even the album title strikes me as great: “Hi Infidelity”.
I’ll drop the rest of the words down here, it gets a bit trite, but when delivered with that nasally-toned staccato voice (“foreverrrrr”) and all the contractions (hissin’, lovin’, wanna…) it’s a lot of fun, if not deep: missin-listen-hissin, now that’s a terrific triplet!
Keep On Loving You
You should've seen by the look in my eyes, baby
There was somethin missin
You should've known by the tone of my voice, maybe
But you didn't listen
You played dead
But you never bled
Instead you lay still in the grass
All coiled up and hissin
And though I know all about those men
Still I don't remember
Cause it was us baby, way before then
And we're still together
And I meant, every word I said
When I said that I love you I meant
That I love you forever
And I'm gonna keep on lovin you
Cause it's the only thing I wanna do
I don't wanna sleep
I just wanna keep on lovin you
(solo)
And I meant every word I said
When I said that I love you I meant
That I love you forever
(chorus)
Words & Music Kevin Cronin
©1980 Fate Music, all rights reserved
And I love the parentheticals in the lyric text (from the official website), just in case you didn’t know, but wished you did, exactly where the solo happens. It must be Spring. I’m feelin’ Spring, because it’s Monday morning and I’m pretty upbeat. There was still frost on my windshield this morning, but there’s daffodils and dandelions and bloomin’ forsythias. (Another cliché, for me from B.C., the comic strip: “There may be frost on the roof, baby, but…”)
Speaking of Spring… a number of things are conspiring to keep us close to home this Spring Break; close to our house in Alabama, that is, I still tend to stall at calling it home; I continue to feel like an ex-patriot here, yet there are local treasures… e.g. “first Sunday” at Garden Cove, the Seventh Day Adventist-run health food store that offers 10% off their already low prices every first Sunday of the month (Saturday is their Sabbath). Great produce. But I’ve drifted. I had thought to go see a Wonder, like the Grand Canyon and visit missed relatives in Arizona. But we are busy. I’m ditching the “rat race” metaphor for one I find more insidious: a “hamster wheel” – maybe I’ll get to say more about that another time, though. There’s soccer (reffing and playing). There’s airfare that is not as low as hoped. There’s college indecisions and college finances looming. Another rant that I’ll (mostly) forego for now: saving much money for college means that the FAFSA people will have one word for you when you look for financial aid: “fuggetaboutit”. Negative motivations everywhere you turn. (Visions of an Alabama native son –er, daughter, Helen Keller, violently twisting this way, then that to get away from what she cannot see.)
But hey, I’m feelin’ Spring: let the sun hit zenith, step outside, walk onto the grass and inhale!
When I said that I love you I meant
That I love you forever,
-- Chip
I know my hearing, is, actually – getting worse, but there have been, like, a number of saw-ungs that have been onthe rad-ee-o, and, like, for the first time ever, I’ve been able to understand the lyrics ?! (Okay enough of that.) This morning’s example of a great, previously missed snippet of lyric, like many, is about the angst of love:
“You played dead
But you never bled
Instead you lay still in the grass
All coiled up and hissin’”
That’s early 80’s classic rock – that’s what they’re calling it now – how can post-punk anything have become classic? What’s such a pointed metaphor doing in burner-rock? Anyway; that music all sounds so rich to me now; today’s tunes all sounds so, to steal from American Idol judge Randy Jackson’s most overused critique, “plucky”. There’s no anthemism, no backbeat, no continuum of reverb. Of course we would have called it banal (“baa” –naal”, two rhyming syllables, the first a sheep’s sound; (reading my crap sometimes, it’s like Americanism (from “The American President”, with Michael Douglas (parentheses nested deep enough for you yet?)) it’s advanced citizenship, you gotta want it bad)), and wouldn’t have been caught dead enjoying REO Speedwagon, or their midwestern compatriot band, Styx, or others of their ilk (e.g. Journey). But now, even the album title strikes me as great: “Hi Infidelity”.
I’ll drop the rest of the words down here, it gets a bit trite, but when delivered with that nasally-toned staccato voice (“foreverrrrr”) and all the contractions (hissin’, lovin’, wanna…) it’s a lot of fun, if not deep: missin-listen-hissin, now that’s a terrific triplet!
Keep On Loving You
You should've seen by the look in my eyes, baby
There was somethin missin
You should've known by the tone of my voice, maybe
But you didn't listen
You played dead
But you never bled
Instead you lay still in the grass
All coiled up and hissin
And though I know all about those men
Still I don't remember
Cause it was us baby, way before then
And we're still together
And I meant, every word I said
When I said that I love you I meant
That I love you forever
And I'm gonna keep on lovin you
Cause it's the only thing I wanna do
I don't wanna sleep
I just wanna keep on lovin you
(solo)
And I meant every word I said
When I said that I love you I meant
That I love you forever
(chorus)
Words & Music Kevin Cronin
©1980 Fate Music, all rights reserved
And I love the parentheticals in the lyric text (from the official website), just in case you didn’t know, but wished you did, exactly where the solo happens. It must be Spring. I’m feelin’ Spring, because it’s Monday morning and I’m pretty upbeat. There was still frost on my windshield this morning, but there’s daffodils and dandelions and bloomin’ forsythias. (Another cliché, for me from B.C., the comic strip: “There may be frost on the roof, baby, but…”)
Speaking of Spring… a number of things are conspiring to keep us close to home this Spring Break; close to our house in Alabama, that is, I still tend to stall at calling it home; I continue to feel like an ex-patriot here, yet there are local treasures… e.g. “first Sunday” at Garden Cove, the Seventh Day Adventist-run health food store that offers 10% off their already low prices every first Sunday of the month (Saturday is their Sabbath). Great produce. But I’ve drifted. I had thought to go see a Wonder, like the Grand Canyon and visit missed relatives in Arizona. But we are busy. I’m ditching the “rat race” metaphor for one I find more insidious: a “hamster wheel” – maybe I’ll get to say more about that another time, though. There’s soccer (reffing and playing). There’s airfare that is not as low as hoped. There’s college indecisions and college finances looming. Another rant that I’ll (mostly) forego for now: saving much money for college means that the FAFSA people will have one word for you when you look for financial aid: “fuggetaboutit”. Negative motivations everywhere you turn. (Visions of an Alabama native son –er, daughter, Helen Keller, violently twisting this way, then that to get away from what she cannot see.)
But hey, I’m feelin’ Spring: let the sun hit zenith, step outside, walk onto the grass and inhale!
When I said that I love you I meant
That I love you forever,
-- Chip
Friday, March 02, 2007
Creativity to the People
“I said out loud: 'There it is, that's the moment we're reversing now. It was a mistake to believe that creativity was something you could delegate, no matter how much better they were than you, because it's an important human activity, like breathing, eating, walking, laughing, loving.'”
Dave Winer's insight after quoting a lady on "Empire of the Air"; she said there came a point soon after she started listening to radio when she realized she could stop practicing the piano, because she would now get her entertainment from better musicians.
For myself, it’s my New Year resolution to produce more creative output. Of course that was for 2006. But I renewed it. Can you do that, like a library book, without getting fined?
Dave Winer's insight after quoting a lady on "Empire of the Air"; she said there came a point soon after she started listening to radio when she realized she could stop practicing the piano, because she would now get her entertainment from better musicians.
For myself, it’s my New Year resolution to produce more creative output. Of course that was for 2006. But I renewed it. Can you do that, like a library book, without getting fined?
Friday, February 02, 2007
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Just Lunch
Lunch was a little too good today at work. It was "just leftovers", things we'd prepared at home over the long MLK weekend (Martin Luther King -- I caught part of an interview with him on one of the talk shows from back in 1969 or so, Dick Cavett I think, amazing man; smart man, two (white) interviewers tried to get him riled up but he gave thoughtful, complete-yet-concise answers that were difficult to argue with to tough questions like why it wasn't an affront to the parents of black soldiers when his movement protested the Viet Nam War; no real mystery why some wrong-thinking folks considered him dangerous). Back to lunch: leftovers, but pretty good ones: brocolli with cheese sauce, about 4 oz. of NY strip steak (this thicker portion had only been grilled to about medium rare so I was able to microwave it until hot and yet it didn't cook beyond medium well -- usually you have a choice of having leftover steak either cold, or well done), a can of Fresca, and for dessert, creme brouillet. Very tasty, but it does make me feel a little guilty in the world of "Babel" (awarded best film drama at The Golden Globes last night).
Monday, December 25, 2006
Sunday, December 24, 2006
Monday, September 18, 2006
Baby Bunny in my Garden
Last night this young rabbit was inside my fence and under my tomato plants.
Apparently he chewed a hole in the fence; it's only plastic.
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
A Green Spider...
on my tomato plants. I refused to photograph the 3 large hornworms I pulled off today, then I Sevin dusted. Unfortunately the spider probably got caught in the dust, too. But the horn worms are miserable blighters, I refused to take their picture.
Sunday, August 13, 2006
Vincent Wood
Added some scanned image links to signed trading cards and a print. The artist, Vincent Wood, signed our cards at a dinner and later sent us the print: The Charles R. Patton Jr. and Family Page. His twin brother custom painted us a willow tree some years earlier, also shown on this page.
Sunday, July 30, 2006
Tree Damage
A couple days our neighborhood had some wind damage during a thunderstorm. We lost the big half of the only tree that wasn't planted by us or the builder, a persimmon that was 6 or 7 feet tall when we moved in. It was probably 16 or 17 feet before the break:
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
More from Caralyn on the Other Art Page
I added three things from Caralyn to the Other Art page:
Houses under the Moon
Comic Girl
Do You Want To Dance?
Houses under the Moon
Comic Girl
Do You Want To Dance?
Sunday, July 23, 2006
Sunday, July 16, 2006
the show: 07-11-06 - zefrank
Ze Frank continues his amazing run of one man videos: the show: 07-11-06 (Warning: Contains bad words !)
This show is a classic !
This show is a classic !
Friday, June 30, 2006
IT Conversations: Retooling Developers for Geospatial - Where 2005
I received my first byline today for my volunteer work on The Conversations Network. It was on the IT Conversations "channel" for Retooling Developers for Geospatial - Where 2005.
They have been publishing audio content from conferences, lectures, interviews, etc. for a couple years now; some of it is pretty interesting -- if you have an interest in the subject matter.
As a website editor I write the short description (for the front page) and the longer description here. Find and tailor the bios and put a picture together. That's about it, but they have some pretty high standards for form and content.
They have been publishing audio content from conferences, lectures, interviews, etc. for a couple years now; some of it is pretty interesting -- if you have an interest in the subject matter.
As a website editor I write the short description (for the front page) and the longer description here. Find and tailor the bios and put a picture together. That's about it, but they have some pretty high standards for form and content.
Monday, June 12, 2006
Sunday, June 04, 2006
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