It's a bit overdue, but Maryanne and I watched the conclusion of America's Got Talent when it aired. We were both very pleased to see that Cas Haley and Terry Fator were the top two acts, and both even more pleased to see that Terry Fator won the whole thing.
That said, though, I was impressed enough by Cas Haley to find it hard to imagine that some record executive somewhere didn't see him and doesn't want to make a contract with him. He's a talented perforer with an "everyman" quality. I think that's what really struck me with many of the acts -- their humility and gratefulness at getting a chance to perform and show what they can do really impressed me.
Good luck to everyone!
Mood: Thoughtful
Music: Nazareth: "Love Hurts"
2007-08-29
2007-08-27
Zippo
This op/ed piece on the famous Zippo lighter may make you want to go out and buy one, even if you don't really need it.
Mood: Thoughtful
Music: Heart: "Barracuda"
Mood: Thoughtful
Music: Heart: "Barracuda"
2007-08-24
Dirty Mac
No, it's not soiled pasta products, it's a supergroup John Lennon put together for the Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus. Never having seen the entire concert show before, this was a pleasant surprise to me. Dirty Mac featured Lennon on vocals and rhythm guitar, Eric Clapton on lead guitar, Mitch Mitchell on drums, and Keith Richards on bass guitar. Check out their performance of Yer Blues.
Mood: Intrigued
Music: Dirty Mac: "Yer Blues"
Mood: Intrigued
Music: Dirty Mac: "Yer Blues"
2007-08-20
Dog Days
Maryanne, Sarah, and I spent the weekend up in Door County to visit family and friends. While our May and June visits were perhaps better, this one wasn't terrible. Maryanne got her Sonny's fix on Friday night, Sarah thoroughly enjoyed herself at Sunset Park Saturday morning, and we had dinner Saturday night at Weisgerber's in Bailey's Harbor (review). The only dark spots on the trip were the terrible experience at the Galley Café Saturday morning, and the cold, damp weather that permeated Sunday.
Mood: Thoughtful
Music: Pink Floyd: "Time"
Mood: Thoughtful
Music: Pink Floyd: "Time"
2007-08-16
Down the Drain
I wonder how long it will take the Army Corps of Engineers to get their act together and fix this.
Mood: Curious
Music: Rare Earth: "Get Ready"
Mood: Curious
Music: Rare Earth: "Get Ready"
2007-08-15
2007-08-11
Ads
These commercials should take you back....
Mood: Nostalgic
Music: Bad Company: "Rock and Roll Fantasy"
Mood: Nostalgic
Music: Bad Company: "Rock and Roll Fantasy"
2007-08-10
Fist Fight
I had an odd dream last night. For some reason I was at my parents' old house, using an adding machine to tally up some kind of time sheet I had to fill out for work. I kept getting interrupted though, by Ed McMahon. So I got in a fist fight with him.
Then I woke up.
A fist fight.
With Ed McMahon.
What the Hell?
Mood: Confused
Music: Aerosmith: "Crash"
Then I woke up.
A fist fight.
With Ed McMahon.
What the Hell?
Mood: Confused
Music: Aerosmith: "Crash"
2007-08-09
Kid Culture
These are things I'm now going to have to be aware of and consider when looking for children's entertainment.
Mood: Thoughtful
Music: The Who: "Pinball Wizard"
Mood: Thoughtful
Music: The Who: "Pinball Wizard"
2007-08-08
Extinction
This kind of thing makes me ashamed to be human.
Mood: Ashamed
Music: Bob Dylan: "Knockin' on Heaven's Door"
Mood: Ashamed
Music: Bob Dylan: "Knockin' on Heaven's Door"
2007-08-07
2007-08-06
No Pants, No Job
It looks like Roy Pearson, that administrative law judge who decided to sue a dry cleaners for $54 million, might find that he not only lost the case, but that he's lost his job over it, as well.
Mood: Intrigued
Music: Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band: "Turn the Page"
Mood: Intrigued
Music: Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band: "Turn the Page"
2007-08-03
Toddling
Narf and Pauline decided to go on what was ostensibly a vacation but was more of a delivery of sorts, removing Leanne's possessions from my basement and trucking them to Nebraska. Because of their absence it behooved either Maryanne or me to stay home with Sarah. Given that I had more time off available, it was me, and so I spent the last four straight days home with a toddler.
The time was pleasant enough. She wasn't terribly grumpy or crabby, merely uncooperative at times. Structure not only helps a toddler, but helps a parent get through the day as well, especially if it's been taxing ("Only an hour until her nap!").
I was able to get a few things done with my time at home, not the least of which was reading the final Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. There will be no spoilers here, not even hidden in the full post. Rowling's characters retain their depth and their humanity, where the good and the evil alike are plagued by their own flaws and desires. The body count is indeed high, and a number of main characters are lost in the final conflict. We finally learn the truth about Snape, a topic much speculated upon, and also learn the truth about Dumbledore, Harry, and the demise of Voldemort.
I think I read through the book in around seven or eight hours, though not all at once. Rowling's dialog-driven style reads quickly, bogging down slightly during longer bits of prose or a few awkward "talking heads" scenes, which were fewer in this last book. The book came to a satisfying conclusion, with a few surprises, some pleasant and some unpleasant, and a few things long coming -- I'll say no more lest I give anything away.
One reviewer lamented the lack of a moral decision in the final installment of the series. I disagree. Harry makes what is perhaps his greatest moral decision near the end of book six, choosing to face Voldemort, even knowing he might die, because it is the right thing to do. This is perhaps the main moral decision of the series taken as a whole. That said, though, Harry does have a decision to make in book seven, and it is a moral decision. Though he may make it more quickly than that made in book six, it just as important, if not more so, than his previous one.
It's doubtful it will stand up as great literature decades from now, but it was a marvelous adventure and an entertaining read.
Mood: Thoughtful
Music: Led Zeppelin: "Houses of the Holy"
The time was pleasant enough. She wasn't terribly grumpy or crabby, merely uncooperative at times. Structure not only helps a toddler, but helps a parent get through the day as well, especially if it's been taxing ("Only an hour until her nap!").
I was able to get a few things done with my time at home, not the least of which was reading the final Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. There will be no spoilers here, not even hidden in the full post. Rowling's characters retain their depth and their humanity, where the good and the evil alike are plagued by their own flaws and desires. The body count is indeed high, and a number of main characters are lost in the final conflict. We finally learn the truth about Snape, a topic much speculated upon, and also learn the truth about Dumbledore, Harry, and the demise of Voldemort.
I think I read through the book in around seven or eight hours, though not all at once. Rowling's dialog-driven style reads quickly, bogging down slightly during longer bits of prose or a few awkward "talking heads" scenes, which were fewer in this last book. The book came to a satisfying conclusion, with a few surprises, some pleasant and some unpleasant, and a few things long coming -- I'll say no more lest I give anything away.
One reviewer lamented the lack of a moral decision in the final installment of the series. I disagree. Harry makes what is perhaps his greatest moral decision near the end of book six, choosing to face Voldemort, even knowing he might die, because it is the right thing to do. This is perhaps the main moral decision of the series taken as a whole. That said, though, Harry does have a decision to make in book seven, and it is a moral decision. Though he may make it more quickly than that made in book six, it just as important, if not more so, than his previous one.
It's doubtful it will stand up as great literature decades from now, but it was a marvelous adventure and an entertaining read.
Mood: Thoughtful
Music: Led Zeppelin: "Houses of the Holy"
2007-08-02
Minnesota
Last weekend Maryanne, Sarah, and I went to Minnesota. One of Maryanne's roommates from her college days at Viterbo, Kim, was getting married, and it also made a good excuse to see Jenny, another roommate, as well. We left on Friday, almost a week ago now. Maryanne had taken the day off, and I got off work early. The logistics of it were planned well, though there was something lacking in the execution, as there was over an hour delay in the time I was ready to get off work and when Maryanne actually picked me up. The drive to Minnesota went fairly smoothly, and we arrived in good time.
The wedding was on Saturday, and the weather was hot and humid. We made the drive into the Twin Cities (I don't know if we crossed the bridge that collapsed), and for once Minnesota let me down: on all of our previous trips there dealing with road construction, detours and what not had been clearly marked -- this time parts of I-35W were closed, with no detours marked at all. We stopped for directions, though, an arrived at the wedding's venue, a Radisson hotel, on time. The ceremony itself was small, held in a courtyard at the hotel. The reception was larger, though there were still a few empty seats in the banquet hall. The food was adequate, and there was an open bar which we didn't really take advantage of.
Now Kim, the bride, is Laotian, as was the band hired for the evening. They called themselves Moonflower, and they were decent. All of the "slow" songs were Laotian, though, to which the Laotians in attendance danced some kind of circle dance. I didn't get the opportunity to dance with Maryanne as I had promised her.
One of the bright spots, though, was that there was plenty of eye candy: plenty of attractive Asian women, often dancing with each other.
Besides Kim, the only people Maryanne and I knew there were Jenny and her husband Gene. The table we had chosen to sit at was the one occupied by the photographers, a husband and wife team, so after dinner everything was pretty much downhill. I kept waiting for a song that Maryanne and I could dance to, but when ten o'clock rolled around and we still hadn't heard one, Jenny suggested we return home.
Sunday started a bit anticlimactic as I packed up our stuff and loaded the car in preparation for our departure. We left around one, a little over an hour later Maryanne got a call from her friend Andy who reported that I-90/I-94 East towards Madison was full of traffic. We decided that once we reached La Crosse we would take US-14 to Madison instead. We stopped in La Crosse to feed Sarah (she didn't eat much), visiting an A&W, before following US-14 the rest of the way to Madison. It was a longer drive, going through various towns and hamlets along the way, but the scenery was gorgeous, the landscape revealing why so many central and northern Europeans settled in the area.
I was glad to return home, though, and since I would be home with Sarah for the next four days I had plenty of time to recuperate from the weekend's activities and stresses.
Next: Four whole days with a toddler, and Harry Potter 7!
Mood: Thoughtful
Music: The Rolling Stones: "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction"
The wedding was on Saturday, and the weather was hot and humid. We made the drive into the Twin Cities (I don't know if we crossed the bridge that collapsed), and for once Minnesota let me down: on all of our previous trips there dealing with road construction, detours and what not had been clearly marked -- this time parts of I-35W were closed, with no detours marked at all. We stopped for directions, though, an arrived at the wedding's venue, a Radisson hotel, on time. The ceremony itself was small, held in a courtyard at the hotel. The reception was larger, though there were still a few empty seats in the banquet hall. The food was adequate, and there was an open bar which we didn't really take advantage of.
Now Kim, the bride, is Laotian, as was the band hired for the evening. They called themselves Moonflower, and they were decent. All of the "slow" songs were Laotian, though, to which the Laotians in attendance danced some kind of circle dance. I didn't get the opportunity to dance with Maryanne as I had promised her.
One of the bright spots, though, was that there was plenty of eye candy: plenty of attractive Asian women, often dancing with each other.
Besides Kim, the only people Maryanne and I knew there were Jenny and her husband Gene. The table we had chosen to sit at was the one occupied by the photographers, a husband and wife team, so after dinner everything was pretty much downhill. I kept waiting for a song that Maryanne and I could dance to, but when ten o'clock rolled around and we still hadn't heard one, Jenny suggested we return home.
Sunday started a bit anticlimactic as I packed up our stuff and loaded the car in preparation for our departure. We left around one, a little over an hour later Maryanne got a call from her friend Andy who reported that I-90/I-94 East towards Madison was full of traffic. We decided that once we reached La Crosse we would take US-14 to Madison instead. We stopped in La Crosse to feed Sarah (she didn't eat much), visiting an A&W, before following US-14 the rest of the way to Madison. It was a longer drive, going through various towns and hamlets along the way, but the scenery was gorgeous, the landscape revealing why so many central and northern Europeans settled in the area.
I was glad to return home, though, and since I would be home with Sarah for the next four days I had plenty of time to recuperate from the weekend's activities and stresses.
Next: Four whole days with a toddler, and Harry Potter 7!
Mood: Thoughtful
Music: The Rolling Stones: "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction"
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