Three years later and I once again find myself on a Sunday night watching CNN and scared to death about what I see. A hurricane is once again bearing down on New Orleans and I am waiting with baited breath to see what will happen tomorrow.
I’ve mentioned on this blog a lot about my love for New Orleans. Throughout my entire job search I would constantly look for jobs there and even applied for a few, though nothing ever came out of them. I’m probably one of the few people in my situation from a career standpoint who would willingly relocate to New Orleans. Yes, the city is being rebuilt and had crime and infrastructure issues. But every time that I am there it just feels like home.
What I love about New Orleans is that it is its own place. The architecture is its own, the food, the music, the art, it is all uniquely tied to this one place. So much of America is cookie cutter. I was talking to a friend today about her cross country road trip and she said that she hated highways in which she looked out the window and couldn’t tell what state she was in. Everything was just the same. You can’t say that about New Orleans. It is its own little world.
I was there a few months before Katrina, back when life was free and easy. I sat in my apartment and cried watching the aftermath of Katrina. It was tough to explain to people. I would watch the news coverage and see places where I had walked submerged. I’d see the people suffering at the Superdome and know that someone I had met on my travels was there at that moment. It was like seeing all of your dreams being destroyed in front of your eyes with no one bothering to stop to help.
A year later I was back to help with the rebuilding efforts. I only spent a few days volunteering but I helped to gut a couple of houses and get them ready to be rebuilt. I was proud to do the work and gladly took vacation time to do it though I will still say that when you need me to swing the crowbar to get things done the government is doing things really badly. I was happy for the rebuilding but the city wasn’t the same. It was quiet and empty and more than a little sad. The life just wasn’t there.
When I came back last year though the Quarter had at least returned to its old self. The population was slowly coming back and while you could still see the devastation and the FEMA trailers at least the vibrancy of the city had return. A lot of the joy was back. Times were still tough but the people were making it work. I left feeling really happy about what I had encountered.
From people I know who have been there recently things have only gotten better. That is why I am scared tonight. I don’t know what will happen if the levees fail again. It has taken three years and the city still isn’t rebuilt. I don’t know if people will have the energy to try again.
I am going to say a prayer tonight for the people and the city that I love. I hope you do the same.
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Thursday, August 28, 2008
The Best Selling Albums of All-Time (Part Two)
Continuing the list of best selling albums of all time. (I’ll write about the convention tomorrow. I have much to say.)
15 Million Sold
Journey: “Greatest Hits”, Guns N’ Roses “Appetite for Destruction”, The Beatles “The Beatles 1962 – 1966”, Bee Gees “Saturday Night Fever Soundtrack”, Pink Floyd “The Dark Side of the Moon”, Bruce Springsteen “Born in the USA”
Seriously? 15 million people decided that they must own Journey’s greatest hits? I know a lot of people had their first makeout session to Open Arms but even that isn’t enough to buy the greatest hits collection. G’N’R’ makes an appearance that is deserved given how massive that band was in the late 80’s. Even my mom was aware of them. And, as I said before, the Beatles are the Beatles.
You might make fun of disco but the Bee Gees did well for what they were and they had awesome beards. I am actually surprised that Pink Floyd didn’t sell more given that this album was on the charts for something like twenty years. There are always just enough stoners around to keep that band in the black. No complaints on the Bruce Springsteen front either. Not many complaints at this level.
16 Million Sold
Led Zeppelin “Physical Graffiti”, Alanis Morissette “Jagged Little Pill”, Garth Brooks “No Fences”, The Beatles “The Beatles 1967 – 1970”, The Eagles “Hotel California”, Elton John “Greatest Hits”, Hootie and the Blowfish “Cracked Rear View”
Ok, I want to examine this list as someone twenty years from now. Led Zeppelin will be understandable. I think the band is horrible but I can understand their position on the chart. The Beatles (whose later greatest hits are apparently slightly more popular than their earlier songs), The Eagles, and Elton John are also expected to make appearances. I’m confident that in twenty years people will still remember those acts. You can probably put Garth Brooks in that category as well. It is a bit more of a stretch because even with 15M in sales he always will seem more of a genre act than a mainstream one and the fact that there isn’t much musical legacy to tie him to but people will remember him.
That leaves us with Alanis Morisette and Hootie and the Blowfish. Two acts that are, for all essential purposes, one hit wonders. Now they had more than one hit but they really only had one album that people cared about but wow, can you believe these sales numbers? People really wanted to hear Alanis sing about giving Dave Coulier a hummer and then completely misinterpret the word ironic. Or listen to Hootie discuss the importance of hand holding. A kid today would have no clue who you are referring to when you mention these acts. What is going to be the case twenty years from now.
17 Million Sold
Whitney Houston “The Bodyguard Soundtrack”, Boston “Boston”
Apparently a lot of people wanted to have a copy of “I Will Always Love You”. If you could name any other song on that soundtrack I will be stunned. Boston is essentially the 70’s version of Hootie and the Blowfish. They started off massively popular and are now a pop culture afterthought. I am just old enough to remember some of the songs but most people wouldn’t be able to name a single song by the band. Though I will always give props to bands that use spaceships on their album covers. Super cool.
(And here is the Top 10)
19 Million Sold
The Beatles “The White Album”, Fleetwood Mac “Rumours”
You could argue about whether these are the best discs of either band but there is certainly no argument regarding the musical quality of either act. Incredible talent at this level of sales.
20 Million Sold
Garth Brooks “Garth Double Live”, Shania Twain “Come On Over”
Take everything I said about the last group and reverse it. Exactly how Garth Brooks sold that many records confuses me. I don’t understand how he sold out a week’s worth of shows in KC either. Shania Twain is a wonderful example of the power of marketing. There is some talent there but not enough for 20 million in sales.
21 Million Sold
Billy Joel “Greatest Hits, Volumes 1 and 2 (1973 – 1985)”
Actually, this is a greatest hits set that I could understand owning. Billy Joel had such a massive collection of hits across such a wide range of albums that owning the greatest hits collection actually makes a decent bit of sense. What is funny is that I don’t think anyone would ever consider Billy Joel to be massively popular. He is just an artist that everyone likes and has a few favorite songs so when they are in a record store they see his greatest hits collection and go “that would be a good pickup”. Like there were 21 million spur of the moment purchases.
22 Million Sold
AC/DC “Back in Black”
I’m still stunned by just the sheer number of units sold here. Do you know how insane it is to get 22 million people it is to do anything in the current marketplace? Now get them to buy a heavy metal disc. I’m impressed more than anything.
23 Million Sold
Pink Floyd “The Wall”
I never got Pink Floyd. I know people who have this album. Hell, one of my siblings had it on tape. I just never had any desire to listen to it. Maybe I was just too square or didn’t imbibe in the proper chemical mixtures.
24 Million Sold
Led Zeppelin “Led Zeppelin IV”
Sigh. I hate Led Zeppelin. The fawning over the band always seemed to be completely overblown. I’m very confident that half of these sales are a direct result of Fast Times at Ridgemont High where it was implied that purchasing this disc would help you get laid. For the record, this is one of the two discs that I have ever sold in my life because of the fact that apparently Fast Times lied to me.
27 Million Sold
Michael Jackson “Thriller”
Say what you will about Michael Jackson but this album had all types of hits on it. And incredibly cool videos. “Beat It” had a gang fight, an Eddie Van Halen guitar solo, and a rather confusing choreographed dance all in one. Plus, there is the duet with Paul McCartney that is extremely silly when you listen to it now but as a kid I thought it was awesome.
29 Million Sold
The Eagles “Their Greatest Hits 1971 – 1975”
Yes, the best selling album of all time is a greatest hits collection. One from a band I don’t particularly like as well. Maybe that says something about my view of popular culture.
Here is my biggest thing. Look at this list and you know who is missing? Nirvana and U2. Arguably the two biggest and most influential bands of the past twenty years and neither of them could outsell freaking Jewel. Sleep on that one.
15 Million Sold
Journey: “Greatest Hits”, Guns N’ Roses “Appetite for Destruction”, The Beatles “The Beatles 1962 – 1966”, Bee Gees “Saturday Night Fever Soundtrack”, Pink Floyd “The Dark Side of the Moon”, Bruce Springsteen “Born in the USA”
Seriously? 15 million people decided that they must own Journey’s greatest hits? I know a lot of people had their first makeout session to Open Arms but even that isn’t enough to buy the greatest hits collection. G’N’R’ makes an appearance that is deserved given how massive that band was in the late 80’s. Even my mom was aware of them. And, as I said before, the Beatles are the Beatles.
You might make fun of disco but the Bee Gees did well for what they were and they had awesome beards. I am actually surprised that Pink Floyd didn’t sell more given that this album was on the charts for something like twenty years. There are always just enough stoners around to keep that band in the black. No complaints on the Bruce Springsteen front either. Not many complaints at this level.
16 Million Sold
Led Zeppelin “Physical Graffiti”, Alanis Morissette “Jagged Little Pill”, Garth Brooks “No Fences”, The Beatles “The Beatles 1967 – 1970”, The Eagles “Hotel California”, Elton John “Greatest Hits”, Hootie and the Blowfish “Cracked Rear View”
Ok, I want to examine this list as someone twenty years from now. Led Zeppelin will be understandable. I think the band is horrible but I can understand their position on the chart. The Beatles (whose later greatest hits are apparently slightly more popular than their earlier songs), The Eagles, and Elton John are also expected to make appearances. I’m confident that in twenty years people will still remember those acts. You can probably put Garth Brooks in that category as well. It is a bit more of a stretch because even with 15M in sales he always will seem more of a genre act than a mainstream one and the fact that there isn’t much musical legacy to tie him to but people will remember him.
That leaves us with Alanis Morisette and Hootie and the Blowfish. Two acts that are, for all essential purposes, one hit wonders. Now they had more than one hit but they really only had one album that people cared about but wow, can you believe these sales numbers? People really wanted to hear Alanis sing about giving Dave Coulier a hummer and then completely misinterpret the word ironic. Or listen to Hootie discuss the importance of hand holding. A kid today would have no clue who you are referring to when you mention these acts. What is going to be the case twenty years from now.
17 Million Sold
Whitney Houston “The Bodyguard Soundtrack”, Boston “Boston”
Apparently a lot of people wanted to have a copy of “I Will Always Love You”. If you could name any other song on that soundtrack I will be stunned. Boston is essentially the 70’s version of Hootie and the Blowfish. They started off massively popular and are now a pop culture afterthought. I am just old enough to remember some of the songs but most people wouldn’t be able to name a single song by the band. Though I will always give props to bands that use spaceships on their album covers. Super cool.
(And here is the Top 10)
19 Million Sold
The Beatles “The White Album”, Fleetwood Mac “Rumours”
You could argue about whether these are the best discs of either band but there is certainly no argument regarding the musical quality of either act. Incredible talent at this level of sales.
20 Million Sold
Garth Brooks “Garth Double Live”, Shania Twain “Come On Over”
Take everything I said about the last group and reverse it. Exactly how Garth Brooks sold that many records confuses me. I don’t understand how he sold out a week’s worth of shows in KC either. Shania Twain is a wonderful example of the power of marketing. There is some talent there but not enough for 20 million in sales.
21 Million Sold
Billy Joel “Greatest Hits, Volumes 1 and 2 (1973 – 1985)”
Actually, this is a greatest hits set that I could understand owning. Billy Joel had such a massive collection of hits across such a wide range of albums that owning the greatest hits collection actually makes a decent bit of sense. What is funny is that I don’t think anyone would ever consider Billy Joel to be massively popular. He is just an artist that everyone likes and has a few favorite songs so when they are in a record store they see his greatest hits collection and go “that would be a good pickup”. Like there were 21 million spur of the moment purchases.
22 Million Sold
AC/DC “Back in Black”
I’m still stunned by just the sheer number of units sold here. Do you know how insane it is to get 22 million people it is to do anything in the current marketplace? Now get them to buy a heavy metal disc. I’m impressed more than anything.
23 Million Sold
Pink Floyd “The Wall”
I never got Pink Floyd. I know people who have this album. Hell, one of my siblings had it on tape. I just never had any desire to listen to it. Maybe I was just too square or didn’t imbibe in the proper chemical mixtures.
24 Million Sold
Led Zeppelin “Led Zeppelin IV”
Sigh. I hate Led Zeppelin. The fawning over the band always seemed to be completely overblown. I’m very confident that half of these sales are a direct result of Fast Times at Ridgemont High where it was implied that purchasing this disc would help you get laid. For the record, this is one of the two discs that I have ever sold in my life because of the fact that apparently Fast Times lied to me.
27 Million Sold
Michael Jackson “Thriller”
Say what you will about Michael Jackson but this album had all types of hits on it. And incredibly cool videos. “Beat It” had a gang fight, an Eddie Van Halen guitar solo, and a rather confusing choreographed dance all in one. Plus, there is the duet with Paul McCartney that is extremely silly when you listen to it now but as a kid I thought it was awesome.
29 Million Sold
The Eagles “Their Greatest Hits 1971 – 1975”
Yes, the best selling album of all time is a greatest hits collection. One from a band I don’t particularly like as well. Maybe that says something about my view of popular culture.
Here is my biggest thing. Look at this list and you know who is missing? Nirvana and U2. Arguably the two biggest and most influential bands of the past twenty years and neither of them could outsell freaking Jewel. Sleep on that one.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
The Best Selling Albums of All-Time (Part One)
I came across this last week and have been meaning to do a big post about it. It is a list of the top 52 selling albums of all-time and it is just a fascinating study in buying habits as well as the fact that digital music and piracy has created a world where there will never be a disc that will match these numbers. Remember, Hannah Montana was the best selling disc last year at 3 million. I’ll do one half tonight and the other half tomorrow.
12 million copies sold:
Jewel: “Pieces of You”, Shania Twain “The Woman In Me”, The Rolling Stones: “Hot Rocks 1964 – 1971”, Kenny Rogers: “Greatest Hits”, Various Artists: “Forrest Gump Soundtrack”, Kenny G: “Breathless”, Led Zeppelin: “Led Zeppelin II”, Pearl Jam: “Ten”, The Beatles: “Abbey Road”, Boyz II Men: “II”, Bon Jovi: “Slippery When Wet”, Def Leppard: “Hysteria”, Phil Collins: “No Jacket Required”, Matchbox 20: “Yourself or Someone Like You”, Dixie Chicks: “Wide Open Spaces”
Only one of these that I own is Pearl Jam, which was the epitome of grunge that was commercially successful without losing all of its musical qualities. They were, for a lack of a better term, friendlier than Nirvana. I’m stunned the Dixie Chicks sold that much but I like them so no harm there. And The Beatles are The Beatles. But wow, the rest of the list…
Was Sussudio really that popular? I remember being a Phil Collins fan at the time but I can’t believe that 12 million people decided to purchase that album. I know no one who owns Kenny Rogers Greatest Hits or could name a song other than “The Gambler”. I also don’t know a single song on the Forrest Gump soundtrack. I assume there are a bunch of classic rock songs but I couldn’t name a single one.
But the one that really amazes me is Jewel. 12 million copies of her debut album sold. There were two good singles from that album and it timed in with Lilith Fair but I don’t think it was that big of a hit. Def Leppard and Bon Jovi were massive, arena selling artists in the 80’s. I could not imagine Jewel selling out a venue that size in the mid-90’s.
13 Million Sold
Backstreet Boys: “Millennium”, Whitney Houston: “Whitney Houston”, Prince: “Purple Rain”, Steve Miller Band: “Greatest Hits 1974 – 1978”, Bruce Springsteen: “Live 1975-85”
Well, you knew the Backstreet Boys were going to appear eventually. Notice that they are easily the most recent act on the list so far and they were around seven or eight years ago. It does explain why there was such an abundance of boy bands. That was the only genre that was having super-blockbusters at the time. Outside of that you have an amazing debut album by Whitney Houston and a Prince classic that still holds up today.
There is also the live album / greatest hits collection aspect that needs to be examined throughout the list. Steve Miller’s greatest hits outsells any Steve Miller album. This is due to the people who buy greatest hits packages under the assumption that this disc contains all the songs of the artist that they like. While true, the music fan in me really hates things like this. I grew up on the concept of albums being a cohesive whole and not just a collection of singles. Sadly, thanks to MP3 files that is exactly the direction that music is headed.
14 Million Sold
Britney Spears: “Baby One More Time”, Simon & Garfunkel “Greatest Hits”, Meat Loaf “Bat Out of Hell”, Metallica “Metallica”, Garth Brooks “Ropin’ the Wind”, Backstreet Boys: “Backstreet Boys”
At this level we get Brittney and the Backstreet Boys (who have nearly 30M out of two albums that no one will admit owning). Again, this is why the music industry went bonkers over the teen market in the late 90’s / early 2000’s. Where else were you going to move that type of volume without much effort? Just get some pretty people, add a couple of catchy songs written by a 55 year old man, run the vocals through a computer and sell it to the public.
The whole Meat Loaf thing amazes me. For some reason he always just seems to be one step ahead of Weird Al in terms of public acceptance but with sale numbers like that you probably need to give him a lot more praise. Every metal fan owns that Metallica album, Simon and Garfunkel needs no explanation and Garth Brooks shows that all you need is a cowboy hat to succeed.
Tommorrow, the top half. With a few surprises along the way.
12 million copies sold:
Jewel: “Pieces of You”, Shania Twain “The Woman In Me”, The Rolling Stones: “Hot Rocks 1964 – 1971”, Kenny Rogers: “Greatest Hits”, Various Artists: “Forrest Gump Soundtrack”, Kenny G: “Breathless”, Led Zeppelin: “Led Zeppelin II”, Pearl Jam: “Ten”, The Beatles: “Abbey Road”, Boyz II Men: “II”, Bon Jovi: “Slippery When Wet”, Def Leppard: “Hysteria”, Phil Collins: “No Jacket Required”, Matchbox 20: “Yourself or Someone Like You”, Dixie Chicks: “Wide Open Spaces”
Only one of these that I own is Pearl Jam, which was the epitome of grunge that was commercially successful without losing all of its musical qualities. They were, for a lack of a better term, friendlier than Nirvana. I’m stunned the Dixie Chicks sold that much but I like them so no harm there. And The Beatles are The Beatles. But wow, the rest of the list…
Was Sussudio really that popular? I remember being a Phil Collins fan at the time but I can’t believe that 12 million people decided to purchase that album. I know no one who owns Kenny Rogers Greatest Hits or could name a song other than “The Gambler”. I also don’t know a single song on the Forrest Gump soundtrack. I assume there are a bunch of classic rock songs but I couldn’t name a single one.
But the one that really amazes me is Jewel. 12 million copies of her debut album sold. There were two good singles from that album and it timed in with Lilith Fair but I don’t think it was that big of a hit. Def Leppard and Bon Jovi were massive, arena selling artists in the 80’s. I could not imagine Jewel selling out a venue that size in the mid-90’s.
13 Million Sold
Backstreet Boys: “Millennium”, Whitney Houston: “Whitney Houston”, Prince: “Purple Rain”, Steve Miller Band: “Greatest Hits 1974 – 1978”, Bruce Springsteen: “Live 1975-85”
Well, you knew the Backstreet Boys were going to appear eventually. Notice that they are easily the most recent act on the list so far and they were around seven or eight years ago. It does explain why there was such an abundance of boy bands. That was the only genre that was having super-blockbusters at the time. Outside of that you have an amazing debut album by Whitney Houston and a Prince classic that still holds up today.
There is also the live album / greatest hits collection aspect that needs to be examined throughout the list. Steve Miller’s greatest hits outsells any Steve Miller album. This is due to the people who buy greatest hits packages under the assumption that this disc contains all the songs of the artist that they like. While true, the music fan in me really hates things like this. I grew up on the concept of albums being a cohesive whole and not just a collection of singles. Sadly, thanks to MP3 files that is exactly the direction that music is headed.
14 Million Sold
Britney Spears: “Baby One More Time”, Simon & Garfunkel “Greatest Hits”, Meat Loaf “Bat Out of Hell”, Metallica “Metallica”, Garth Brooks “Ropin’ the Wind”, Backstreet Boys: “Backstreet Boys”
At this level we get Brittney and the Backstreet Boys (who have nearly 30M out of two albums that no one will admit owning). Again, this is why the music industry went bonkers over the teen market in the late 90’s / early 2000’s. Where else were you going to move that type of volume without much effort? Just get some pretty people, add a couple of catchy songs written by a 55 year old man, run the vocals through a computer and sell it to the public.
The whole Meat Loaf thing amazes me. For some reason he always just seems to be one step ahead of Weird Al in terms of public acceptance but with sale numbers like that you probably need to give him a lot more praise. Every metal fan owns that Metallica album, Simon and Garfunkel needs no explanation and Garth Brooks shows that all you need is a cowboy hat to succeed.
Tommorrow, the top half. With a few surprises along the way.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Early mornings ahead
As my first day of work quickly approaches one major thought crosses my mind: how in the world am I going to switch to being a morning person? This is a rather non-trivial question. Remember that I have not worked for five months now and given that I handed in my notice of accepting the separation package in January it has been more like eight months since I had a definite care about my work performance. You can't fire someone who is quitting. So, waking up in the morning hasn't been a big concern for me for pretty much all of 2008.
That is going to have to change and change quickly. Partly this is due to the need to make a good first impression. I need to show myself as the good employee and hard worker that I am. That is not really a problem. I also will have the benefit of a whole new office and new challenges so at least getting up in the morning should not be that large of a challenge. But still it is going to be a major change of pace for me. No more staying up to one in the morning every night. Now I will need to be in bed by a reasonable hour and be in the office bright and chipper in the morning.
It's going to be a massive change, that is for sure. There will probably be a few groggy afternoons in the mix (especially due to the relocation nightmare that I am currently enduring and will rant about in detail at a later date) but I expect to get up to speed rather quickly. It's just that I am already thinking that the rest of this year is going to turn out to be a complete blur. By the time I find myself settled in the year will be over. And this has been a great year for me and I just don't want it to be over just yet.
More stories tomorrow. I'm off to watch the convention.
That is going to have to change and change quickly. Partly this is due to the need to make a good first impression. I need to show myself as the good employee and hard worker that I am. That is not really a problem. I also will have the benefit of a whole new office and new challenges so at least getting up in the morning should not be that large of a challenge. But still it is going to be a major change of pace for me. No more staying up to one in the morning every night. Now I will need to be in bed by a reasonable hour and be in the office bright and chipper in the morning.
It's going to be a massive change, that is for sure. There will probably be a few groggy afternoons in the mix (especially due to the relocation nightmare that I am currently enduring and will rant about in detail at a later date) but I expect to get up to speed rather quickly. It's just that I am already thinking that the rest of this year is going to turn out to be a complete blur. By the time I find myself settled in the year will be over. And this has been a great year for me and I just don't want it to be over just yet.
More stories tomorrow. I'm off to watch the convention.
Monday, August 25, 2008
Where's my sign?
Political conventions are a very strange beast. It used to be a lot more interesting in the good old days back when men were men and women weren't allowed to vote. Back then there was no such thing as a year long primary process and you went into the convention with no idea who was going to be the candidate. It typically went to whoever complained the loudest, or twisted enough arms, or, in one unfortunate incident, Rutherford B. Hayes went to the bathroom at an inopportune time and came out to discover that he was now the nominee because everyone else just wanted to go home.
Thanks to the political theater of the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago when Mayor Daley gave the order to the police to just knock the crap out of any guy with long hair (which, to be honset, isn't bad advice) we now have a very organized political system and the conventions now consist of four days of well rehearsed speeches surrounded by arguments over party platforms and Robert's Rules of Order which is thankfully not televised.
What this means is that the conventions are essentially four days of political advertisements covered by all the networks. I don't really have a problem with this as by watching the major candidate speeches you do tend to get a good sense of what type of candidate they will be. What interests me more now is the created theater for the event.
Such as the "Michelle" signs for when Michelle Obama spoke tonight. This is a common convention tactic. Hand out coordinated signs to the crowd. Now signs in the crowd are a great thing and show the enthusiasm of people who will find posterboard and markers and use it to write something witty. But everyone with identical placards is just simply a coordinated backdrop. It's a beautiful backdrop and it works but it is nothing more than a backdrop.
What was important tonight though wasn't that level of theater but what was created by Ted Kennedy's speech. View that as the last act of the handing of the torch from one generation of democrats to the other. The Greatest Generation and the Silent Generation have officially passed the baton to the Boomers and the Gen Xers. Teddy was the last icon from that era. As others have pointed out, this is also the end of the Kennedys as a dominant political force. They will still be heard but they will no longer be a cornerstone. Tonight marked the end of that era and I'll have to admit I am a little saddened by it.
Thanks to the political theater of the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago when Mayor Daley gave the order to the police to just knock the crap out of any guy with long hair (which, to be honset, isn't bad advice) we now have a very organized political system and the conventions now consist of four days of well rehearsed speeches surrounded by arguments over party platforms and Robert's Rules of Order which is thankfully not televised.
What this means is that the conventions are essentially four days of political advertisements covered by all the networks. I don't really have a problem with this as by watching the major candidate speeches you do tend to get a good sense of what type of candidate they will be. What interests me more now is the created theater for the event.
Such as the "Michelle" signs for when Michelle Obama spoke tonight. This is a common convention tactic. Hand out coordinated signs to the crowd. Now signs in the crowd are a great thing and show the enthusiasm of people who will find posterboard and markers and use it to write something witty. But everyone with identical placards is just simply a coordinated backdrop. It's a beautiful backdrop and it works but it is nothing more than a backdrop.
What was important tonight though wasn't that level of theater but what was created by Ted Kennedy's speech. View that as the last act of the handing of the torch from one generation of democrats to the other. The Greatest Generation and the Silent Generation have officially passed the baton to the Boomers and the Gen Xers. Teddy was the last icon from that era. As others have pointed out, this is also the end of the Kennedys as a dominant political force. They will still be heard but they will no longer be a cornerstone. Tonight marked the end of that era and I'll have to admit I am a little saddened by it.
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Olympic wrapup
Just a couple final Olympic comments based mainly on what I watched of the closing ceremonies...
- I was completely unaware that the double decker buses in London were actually Transformers. This is quite disconcerting. Presumably they are Autobots but the entire sentient public transport system gives me the willies.
- Jimmy Page looks surprisingly like Mickey Dolenz from the Monkees at the moment. But I guess we should be happy that Jimmy Page can still play guitar.
- I'm still trying to figure out the whole modern dance London section, which seemed really inclusive by involving people in wheelchairs. That became much less inclusive when you saw that the people in wheelchairs were then dancing on the bus.
- I often wonder what do a billion chinese do every day. Apparently they spend all of their time preparing quite challenging human pyramid designs. Seriously, that was quite impressive even if I didn't quite understand what it was all supposed to mean.
- The U.S. wins the total medal cout while the Chinese won the gold medal count for those wondering. Why the change? China has focused on sports with large numbers of individual medals while the U.S. has always been more team sport focused. We are proud to win one basketball gold medal versus four gold medals in table tennis or badmitton. Still, medal counts are a keepsake from the cold war where political ideals are debated by determining who is best at rowing a boat.
- Congrats to India for winning their first gold medal ever this year. Over a billion people, twenty percent of the world's population, and they only now get a gold medal. That astounds me just in terms of percentages. Statistically speaking, they have to have at least one decent athlete in the country.
- I'm still really pulling for Chicago to win the 2016 games. I would go nuts for that. Sure it would make traffic horrible for weeks and we would build a swimming venue that would never be used again but I jus think it is amazing to have your city to be the center of the world for a few weeks. Plus, we would rock out the ceremonies. Styx would have to reunite just so we could show who we really are.
Coming up this week. Convention coverage! In depth analysis of planks and platforms! What will the great state of New Hampshire say as they try to justify their state's existence! So much fun.
Saturday, August 23, 2008
80's Weekend Rewind #6
In today’s edition of the 80s video rewind I decided that I should give a lecture on foreign relations.
Like most Americans, I have absolutely no idea how people live in the rest of the world. It is confusing enough when you travel to another part of the country and realize that, yes, you may be forced to buy your groceries at stores named Acme or Piggly Wiggly. But the culture shock that I received by going to England and wondering, “Ok, I’ve got a headache. Where is the damn Walgreens so I can get some aspirin” and being met by blank stares is rather stunning. That doesn’t even match the whole television situation with fewer channels, no programs ever starting on the hour or the half hour and the strange feeling you get when walking back from a bar, turning on the tv and seeing only nature programs being broadcast in sign language.
But at least I understood England. When you talk about the third world I don’t even have a frame of reference. I have to go back to my first introduction to those places which was, of course, Duran Duran’s “Hungry Like the Wolf.”
Imagine my surprise when I went to Mexico, which while not quite third world is probably in the second world, and discovered that things weren’t quite like they were in the video. First off, I wasn’t in India which is what I assume the setting for the video actually is. Also, there was a noted lack of mysterious women pulling me into darkened corridors or freestyle wrestling matches taking place in the jungle. (Look, I was nine when I watched the video. Even as an adult I’m not quite sure if they are having sex or if Simon LeBon is looking for an opportunity to hook her in a cross-faced chicken wing.) However, the kids rolling tires and friends of mine running out shirtless but sporting headbands showing pictures of myself to locals in an effort to locate me proved to be quite accurate.
I use this as my example as to just how narrow a view of the world that we have from pop culture. If you ask me what Bombay is like I would describe this video. Like I would be amazed to find that they have cars or electricity. Also, I would assume that I could flip over tables just because I was pissed off without setting off an international incident. As cultured as I think I am, and I probably beat the average American, I really don’t know that much about the world.
Do you know what the weirdest thing is? Twenty some years later and this is still a damn good song and I’m not afraid to say it. It just sounds really catchy and interesting. Duran Duran is one of the bands you bring up when you talk about crappy, synth laden 80s bands but the music worked for what it was. It was meant to be fun to listen to and it is. It will never change the world but you certainly wouldn’t change the station when the song came on.
Friday, August 22, 2008
Some small concerns...
It’s late and I’m tired so I’ll write quick tonight. Here are some things that worry me about starting work again. I’ll go into more detail on some of these later.
· Having to get up at a reasonable hour after months of sleeping in until ten
· The need to relearn a computer system I last touched seven years ago, though I did spend six years of my life using it
· Walking into an office in which I know all of two peoples’ names.
· Moving to a town in which I do not know a single soul
· Working on a trading floor as opposed to a cube. No cube walls to hide behind any more
· Not knowing whether or not I will be allowed to wear headphones while working
· Fear that I will spend the first day trying to explain to people, “No, really, do you have any decaf coffee lying around”?
· Whether I can spend eight hours at a computer and not surf pop culture websites
· What am I going to do for lunch?
· Will they be nice to me?
Discussions to follow. Nap time now.
· Having to get up at a reasonable hour after months of sleeping in until ten
· The need to relearn a computer system I last touched seven years ago, though I did spend six years of my life using it
· Walking into an office in which I know all of two peoples’ names.
· Moving to a town in which I do not know a single soul
· Working on a trading floor as opposed to a cube. No cube walls to hide behind any more
· Not knowing whether or not I will be allowed to wear headphones while working
· Fear that I will spend the first day trying to explain to people, “No, really, do you have any decaf coffee lying around”?
· Whether I can spend eight hours at a computer and not surf pop culture websites
· What am I going to do for lunch?
· Will they be nice to me?
Discussions to follow. Nap time now.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Gymnastics at social commentary
On my post from last night, if you have any suggestions you better make them fast because I finally have a start date and, yeah, they want me a little quicker than I expected. Actually, it was the date I originally thought about but that was based on me not spending two weeks in bureaucratic limbo. So if you see me running around like a madman over the next few days I hope you’ll understand why. I’ll explain things further once I understand them further.
Olympic note # 1: Having the championship of the beach volleyball tournament being converted into a mud volleyball game is a move of genius. It still doesn’t equal my belief that all gold medal wrestling matches should take place inside a steel cage but it comes close.
Olympic note # 2: Has anyone noticed over the course of the Olympics how everyone: announcers, reporters, commercials has been pulling for Shawn Johnson and being rather upset that Natasia Lukin kept on winning. Now sure part of that is because Johnson was the defending world champion and the favorite going in. But let’s look at the difference between the two.
Shawn Johnson is the sparkplug with a nice smile from Des Moines. She fits that Mary Lou Retton role of being short and feisty while still being an all-american girl. You could see her selling any product, sitting on the couch with Letterman or Leno, and just being the face of the sport.
Natasia Lukin is stoic, nearly robotic and was born in Moscow with a father who was a gold medalist for the Soviet Union. While she is unbelievably graceful there is still this sense of grim determination to her performance. This is someone who is visibly upset about finishing second. While we don’t really celebrate silver we still want people to be happy about the end result.
Basically, since Shawn Johnson makes a better story they went into the balance beam with the story being “Shawn Johnson’s last chance at gold” rather than “Natasia Lukin goes to cement herself as the greatest American Olympic gymnast ever.” It was subtle but it was clearly there. NBC was hoping like mad that Shawn Johnson would win last night.
Olympic note # 3: While I was playing trivia at the time, the whole Champions Gala event for gymnastics is one of my least favorite things about the Olympics. We take time from the games to show performances that do not count for anything. It’s just an exhibition. I know it is the most popular sport but instead of showing lesser events all we do is show the same thing except now it isn’t even a competition.
Olympic note # 4: Best trivia question I saw all day. How many times in history has a white man run under 10 seconds in the 100 meters? Answer: 0, best time is 10 seconds flat by a dude from Poland is 1968. That just seemed to be a rather amazing stat when I saw it.
Wednesday Night Music Club: Ok, here is a tape of what is essentially my favorite KC concert moment ever (even though this actual clip is from a show in San Francisco). I was at Liberty Hall in Lawrence to see Rufus Wainwright and for the encore the entire band took the stage dressed as the Wicked Witch of the West. Crowd goes nuts and Rufus is a few lines into the opening verse and goes “Oh my God, we’re in Kansas!” Just a really fun moment and the clip shows what it looked like.
Olympic note # 1: Having the championship of the beach volleyball tournament being converted into a mud volleyball game is a move of genius. It still doesn’t equal my belief that all gold medal wrestling matches should take place inside a steel cage but it comes close.
Olympic note # 2: Has anyone noticed over the course of the Olympics how everyone: announcers, reporters, commercials has been pulling for Shawn Johnson and being rather upset that Natasia Lukin kept on winning. Now sure part of that is because Johnson was the defending world champion and the favorite going in. But let’s look at the difference between the two.
Shawn Johnson is the sparkplug with a nice smile from Des Moines. She fits that Mary Lou Retton role of being short and feisty while still being an all-american girl. You could see her selling any product, sitting on the couch with Letterman or Leno, and just being the face of the sport.
Natasia Lukin is stoic, nearly robotic and was born in Moscow with a father who was a gold medalist for the Soviet Union. While she is unbelievably graceful there is still this sense of grim determination to her performance. This is someone who is visibly upset about finishing second. While we don’t really celebrate silver we still want people to be happy about the end result.
Basically, since Shawn Johnson makes a better story they went into the balance beam with the story being “Shawn Johnson’s last chance at gold” rather than “Natasia Lukin goes to cement herself as the greatest American Olympic gymnast ever.” It was subtle but it was clearly there. NBC was hoping like mad that Shawn Johnson would win last night.
Olympic note # 3: While I was playing trivia at the time, the whole Champions Gala event for gymnastics is one of my least favorite things about the Olympics. We take time from the games to show performances that do not count for anything. It’s just an exhibition. I know it is the most popular sport but instead of showing lesser events all we do is show the same thing except now it isn’t even a competition.
Olympic note # 4: Best trivia question I saw all day. How many times in history has a white man run under 10 seconds in the 100 meters? Answer: 0, best time is 10 seconds flat by a dude from Poland is 1968. That just seemed to be a rather amazing stat when I saw it.
Wednesday Night Music Club: Ok, here is a tape of what is essentially my favorite KC concert moment ever (even though this actual clip is from a show in San Francisco). I was at Liberty Hall in Lawrence to see Rufus Wainwright and for the encore the entire band took the stage dressed as the Wicked Witch of the West. Crowd goes nuts and Rufus is a few lines into the opening verse and goes “Oh my God, we’re in Kansas!” Just a really fun moment and the clip shows what it looked like.
Things to do in KC
So it has dawned on me that my time in Kansas City is limited. I still don’t have an official start date but I have completed all of the steps needed to acquire one. What I’m thinking about right now is what I need to do before I leave in a few weeks. Not from a moving / packing / saying goodbye to friends perspective. I’m talking about things I need to do to remember KC by. Here is my first attempt at a list. Feel free to add anything I may have missed.
1) Really do some shopping on the Plaza: Several reasons behind this. One, I think I will soon find myself missing having such convenient shopping in a pleasant environment within walking distance of my apartment. Two, I am really going to miss not having a Mark Shale nearby. Three, I really need to upgrade and update my wardrobe and I would like to do that before I start working. Anyone willing to help in this endeavor is welcome to join in.
2) Visit the Liberty Memorial: I’ve driven past the thing for five years and have never actually been in it. Given that it is the closest thing that Kansas City has to a landmark I really should make a trip there.
3) Spend a day with a camera taking pictures of all the places that I want to remember: For some reason I just feel like documenting this part of my life. Maybe spend a day driving around town and taking photographs of all the places that I hung out at or that hold special meaning to me. There are some odd corners of the city that I would like to remember for a very long time and having pictures help.
4) Get some real barbecue: I’ve had surprisingly little barbecue in my time in this town. Since I really won’t be able to get much on the east coast I should try to have my fill before I leave.
5) Take one last trip to Lawrence: Spent too many days there and saw more concerts than I can count. One last day hanging out at the only part of the state of Kansas that can be deemed to have culture.
That is all I have for the moment (it’s late and I’m tired). Suggestions are welcome.
1) Really do some shopping on the Plaza: Several reasons behind this. One, I think I will soon find myself missing having such convenient shopping in a pleasant environment within walking distance of my apartment. Two, I am really going to miss not having a Mark Shale nearby. Three, I really need to upgrade and update my wardrobe and I would like to do that before I start working. Anyone willing to help in this endeavor is welcome to join in.
2) Visit the Liberty Memorial: I’ve driven past the thing for five years and have never actually been in it. Given that it is the closest thing that Kansas City has to a landmark I really should make a trip there.
3) Spend a day with a camera taking pictures of all the places that I want to remember: For some reason I just feel like documenting this part of my life. Maybe spend a day driving around town and taking photographs of all the places that I hung out at or that hold special meaning to me. There are some odd corners of the city that I would like to remember for a very long time and having pictures help.
4) Get some real barbecue: I’ve had surprisingly little barbecue in my time in this town. Since I really won’t be able to get much on the east coast I should try to have my fill before I leave.
5) Take one last trip to Lawrence: Spent too many days there and saw more concerts than I can count. One last day hanging out at the only part of the state of Kansas that can be deemed to have culture.
That is all I have for the moment (it’s late and I’m tired). Suggestions are welcome.
Monday, August 18, 2008
Why we watch
I’m going to change things up tonight. Instead of my typical post in which I discuss the Olympics I am going to discuss why we are all discussing the Olympics. This isn’t an insignificant point. On three straight nights I was in a bar last week in which people were crowded around a television set cheering people swimming. That is unusual enough to warrant some deep analysis.
First off, NBC bet the farm on this being the Michael Phelps show and it paid off. They made it so that the swimming finals would be live in the States and fed us the story about how important it is and people bought into the story. Early on you had the come from behind win on the relay that really caught people’s attention. Then you had the dominance in the middle which allowed people to think of 8 golds as a possibility. Tag on a miracle win and the last race was something you just had to see. It is an amazing accomplishment, especially given the talent level in swimming. I won’t call it the greatest athletic accomplishment ever but it was definitely noteworthy.
But given the high ratings for the opening ceremonies there is something beyond Michael Phelps at play here. One idea that I have read states that the interest in the Olympics is due to a really crappy television season. Thanks to the writer’s strike we’ve been dealing with reality show overload and even that month and a half when the real shows were back they weren’t firing on all cylinders. The Olympics have been the biggest television event in probably nine months just due to the fact that it is new programming.
There is also a level of patriotism at play here. With the games in China part of the reason you watch is because China is such a strange place. You don’t quite understand what is going on over there but you know that it is important. There is also a degree of cheering for the U.S. over China that I haven’t seen since the glory days of the Cold War Olympics. Look at gymnastics, which has been sold as a U.S. versus China battle. Or the focus on the medal count, which is playing a bigger role than in the past. This is very interesting to see given that I felt that we had moved into a post-patriotism age.
I’m still not sure if this explains all of it. I’ve been trying to think of an Olympics that has garnered as much attention as this one. The only two that I can think of are 1994 (Tonya and Nancy) and 1984 (the L.A. games where the US won every medal and we all got to eat for free at McDonald’s for a month as a result). So what has caught our attention this time? Why the hell are we caring about rowing results? Since when has water polo become part of the national interest?
Honestly I just think the nation is collectively burnt out and we need a two week break from reality. The economy is horrible, the housing market has collapsed and the dollar is incredibly weak. We have more troops in combat than we had ever imagined possible and we can’t see where the end point is. There are three months of political ads in front of us after a primary race that would not end. We all just want to have one big collective sigh.
That is what the Olympics are for the US at the moment. We are all collapsing on the couch and watching our countrymen win and set records and perform amazing feats. We’ve forgotten that such a thing is possible. The past few years have been so dark and cynical that we can’t imagine us winning again. For a moment we are all smiling again. That is what makes sports so important in the world. It is one of the few unifying aspects of life.
First off, NBC bet the farm on this being the Michael Phelps show and it paid off. They made it so that the swimming finals would be live in the States and fed us the story about how important it is and people bought into the story. Early on you had the come from behind win on the relay that really caught people’s attention. Then you had the dominance in the middle which allowed people to think of 8 golds as a possibility. Tag on a miracle win and the last race was something you just had to see. It is an amazing accomplishment, especially given the talent level in swimming. I won’t call it the greatest athletic accomplishment ever but it was definitely noteworthy.
But given the high ratings for the opening ceremonies there is something beyond Michael Phelps at play here. One idea that I have read states that the interest in the Olympics is due to a really crappy television season. Thanks to the writer’s strike we’ve been dealing with reality show overload and even that month and a half when the real shows were back they weren’t firing on all cylinders. The Olympics have been the biggest television event in probably nine months just due to the fact that it is new programming.
There is also a level of patriotism at play here. With the games in China part of the reason you watch is because China is such a strange place. You don’t quite understand what is going on over there but you know that it is important. There is also a degree of cheering for the U.S. over China that I haven’t seen since the glory days of the Cold War Olympics. Look at gymnastics, which has been sold as a U.S. versus China battle. Or the focus on the medal count, which is playing a bigger role than in the past. This is very interesting to see given that I felt that we had moved into a post-patriotism age.
I’m still not sure if this explains all of it. I’ve been trying to think of an Olympics that has garnered as much attention as this one. The only two that I can think of are 1994 (Tonya and Nancy) and 1984 (the L.A. games where the US won every medal and we all got to eat for free at McDonald’s for a month as a result). So what has caught our attention this time? Why the hell are we caring about rowing results? Since when has water polo become part of the national interest?
Honestly I just think the nation is collectively burnt out and we need a two week break from reality. The economy is horrible, the housing market has collapsed and the dollar is incredibly weak. We have more troops in combat than we had ever imagined possible and we can’t see where the end point is. There are three months of political ads in front of us after a primary race that would not end. We all just want to have one big collective sigh.
That is what the Olympics are for the US at the moment. We are all collapsing on the couch and watching our countrymen win and set records and perform amazing feats. We’ve forgotten that such a thing is possible. The past few years have been so dark and cynical that we can’t imagine us winning again. For a moment we are all smiling again. That is what makes sports so important in the world. It is one of the few unifying aspects of life.
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Still searching for coherence
Random Thought # 1: After watching swimming for the past week I can’t believe that it took me until Friday night to notice something amazing. Did you know that there are lifeguards present for the Olympic swimming events? I am not kidding. As they would go down the pool you would clearly see one of those tall lifeguard chairs. That would have to be the coolest job in the world. I mean, what are the odds that you are going to have to jump in the pool? You could just sleep the entire time and no one would notice.
Random Thought # 2: I really believe that all of John McCain’s political ads should end with “I am John McCain and I approve this message. Now you damn kids get off of my lawn.”
Random Thought # 3: Here is a sign that you are not nearly the athlete that you thought you were. After putting in an insanely slow 5K on the treadmill (and still being tired as hell afterwards) I watched the women’s marathon and realized just how much faster they were than I am. In the twice as fast range. That just makes you feel very sad and old.
Random Thought # 4: I did get to watch one of my favorite Olympic sports, trampolining, this weekend. If you think of gymnastics as formula one racing then gymnastics is the equivalent of Nascar. It’s lower class but more action packed and the crashes are spectacular. The sport itself is rather amazing. People jump up and down on a trampoline doing these amazing flips and occasionally get a little off balance and then all you hear is an “Aieee!!!” followed by a splat. Very few Olympic events have a contestant thirty feet in the air thinking, “I’m screwed.”
Random Thought # 5: Fun with the medal count. Currently Mexico is tied with international powerhouse Togo with one bronze apiece. Zimbabwe has four medals though more accurately Kristy Coventry has four medals. If they would have let her swim the relays by herself she probably would have more. That is the one thing when people talk about Phelps’ medal haul, which is amazing. Just remember that swimming and men’s gymnastics are essentially the only sports where that many medals is possible (and in gymnastics you would have to win every single event). Carl Lewis winning four golds in 1984 is the best you can do in track and field unless he decided to also try to pole vault. So most golds really isn’t a comparable stat across sports.
Best of 120 Minutes: Do you know that at one point in time having a nose ring was considered incredibly strange? Yes, there was a time when not everyone was tattooed and pierced. Frente was noticed for a piercing as much as anything else. And a really cool New Order cover.
The five random CDs for the time being:
1) The Brunettes “Structure and Cosmetics”
2) The Drovers “Kill Mice Elf”
3) Mike Doughty “Golden Delicious”
4) Tori Amos “Sweet Old England”
5) Sting “…Nothing Like The Sun”
Random Thought # 2: I really believe that all of John McCain’s political ads should end with “I am John McCain and I approve this message. Now you damn kids get off of my lawn.”
Random Thought # 3: Here is a sign that you are not nearly the athlete that you thought you were. After putting in an insanely slow 5K on the treadmill (and still being tired as hell afterwards) I watched the women’s marathon and realized just how much faster they were than I am. In the twice as fast range. That just makes you feel very sad and old.
Random Thought # 4: I did get to watch one of my favorite Olympic sports, trampolining, this weekend. If you think of gymnastics as formula one racing then gymnastics is the equivalent of Nascar. It’s lower class but more action packed and the crashes are spectacular. The sport itself is rather amazing. People jump up and down on a trampoline doing these amazing flips and occasionally get a little off balance and then all you hear is an “Aieee!!!” followed by a splat. Very few Olympic events have a contestant thirty feet in the air thinking, “I’m screwed.”
Random Thought # 5: Fun with the medal count. Currently Mexico is tied with international powerhouse Togo with one bronze apiece. Zimbabwe has four medals though more accurately Kristy Coventry has four medals. If they would have let her swim the relays by herself she probably would have more. That is the one thing when people talk about Phelps’ medal haul, which is amazing. Just remember that swimming and men’s gymnastics are essentially the only sports where that many medals is possible (and in gymnastics you would have to win every single event). Carl Lewis winning four golds in 1984 is the best you can do in track and field unless he decided to also try to pole vault. So most golds really isn’t a comparable stat across sports.
Best of 120 Minutes: Do you know that at one point in time having a nose ring was considered incredibly strange? Yes, there was a time when not everyone was tattooed and pierced. Frente was noticed for a piercing as much as anything else. And a really cool New Order cover.
The five random CDs for the time being:
1) The Brunettes “Structure and Cosmetics”
2) The Drovers “Kill Mice Elf”
3) Mike Doughty “Golden Delicious”
4) Tori Amos “Sweet Old England”
5) Sting “…Nothing Like The Sun”
Friday, August 15, 2008
80's Weekend Rewind #5
For this edition of the 80’s Weekend Rewind I am going to go back to a time when being a U2 fan was cool: Specifically, the Live at Red Rocks Concert.
As I have mentioned before I am really torn when it comes to U2. I was a huge, huge fan back when I was a teenager and note that was in the pre-Achtung Baby era. Being a U2 fan then still had some indie cred to it. Sure, Joshua Tree had broken big but they hadn’t become a football stadium band yet. Essentially, their music and style hadn’t turned to crap yet.
Ok, that is a little harsh. The music has always been decent. It is more like Bono’s act hadn’t started wearing on everyone yet. Watch this video. Bono is completely earnest in his sentiment and the crowd is wholly behind him. There is no messiah complex yet, just someone who is singing what he believes in. The problem is as the years past and the band grew bigger so did Bono’s presence and you just can’t provide an aspect of earnestness to fill a 60,000 seat stadium. You’re going to look like a jerk. There is no way around it.
That’s why I prefer this era of U2. Everything is real. The crowd has less douchebags than you will find nowadays. The band has something to prove. The Edge has hair. The sound is raw and unpolished. It just works better.
Oh, and did you see Divorce Court?
You know you have spent too much time being unemployed when you find yourself glued to your couch watching a high speed car chase. CNN’s coverage of this guy in Houston kept me in my apartment for much of the afternoon. It is strangely mesmerizing. Much like Nascar, you are constantly waiting for the huge crash. In this case, the guy hit a set of spike strips, lost control, ran into a another car, jumped out of his car and then promptly went over the hood of a cop car that ran into him. Always interesting when you can hear the entire CNN newsroom go “ooh.” The guy didn’t seem to be hurt though, which is just amazing.
I also want to congratulate this great country of ours as our little girls proved superior at jumping up and down than other countries little girls. I’ll admit it, the reason that I am posting late is because I was watching the gymnastics final. Despite some really flaky judging at times the end result was correct. It’s been a pretty impressive run for the Americans so far. We are constantly medaling in the pool, doing well in gymnastics but not reaching our potential in badmitton or Team Handball. We’ll just have to work on that for 2012.
Here is my fun trivia story for the night. Going into the final question we were middle of the pack. We decided to bet it all as we had no other chance at winning. The question was this. As everyone knows, Isaac Hayes had a number one single with the Theme to Shaft. He only had one other number one hit and it was on the British charts. Name it?
After a quick consultation with my team we realized that we knew no other Isaac Hayes songs other than the theme to Shaft. In fact, the only one I could name was “Chocolate Salty Balls” from South Park. Since we had no other ideas, and since it seemed to be kind of funny, I put that down as the answer and handed it in.
That is, in fact, the correct answer. I kid you not. Chocolate Salty Balls hit number one on the British pop charts. Don’t ask me why or how that happened. I didn’t even know that it did happen. This might be a first in all of my games of trivia. We win by providing an answer that we thought was completely wrong. Sometimes luck just happens to be on your side.
I also want to congratulate this great country of ours as our little girls proved superior at jumping up and down than other countries little girls. I’ll admit it, the reason that I am posting late is because I was watching the gymnastics final. Despite some really flaky judging at times the end result was correct. It’s been a pretty impressive run for the Americans so far. We are constantly medaling in the pool, doing well in gymnastics but not reaching our potential in badmitton or Team Handball. We’ll just have to work on that for 2012.
Here is my fun trivia story for the night. Going into the final question we were middle of the pack. We decided to bet it all as we had no other chance at winning. The question was this. As everyone knows, Isaac Hayes had a number one single with the Theme to Shaft. He only had one other number one hit and it was on the British charts. Name it?
After a quick consultation with my team we realized that we knew no other Isaac Hayes songs other than the theme to Shaft. In fact, the only one I could name was “Chocolate Salty Balls” from South Park. Since we had no other ideas, and since it seemed to be kind of funny, I put that down as the answer and handed it in.
That is, in fact, the correct answer. I kid you not. Chocolate Salty Balls hit number one on the British pop charts. Don’t ask me why or how that happened. I didn’t even know that it did happen. This might be a first in all of my games of trivia. We win by providing an answer that we thought was completely wrong. Sometimes luck just happens to be on your side.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Lawn darts should also be a sport
Somehow my life has ended up at this point. I found myself watching women’s doubles ping pong in high definition this morning. Wasn’t even with the American team; it was the Chinese versus the Croatians. You start questioning what should be considered a sport when you see that. Sure it is not the same as what I played in the basement (the lack of the nerf paddles being the first sign) but one of the rules behind calling something a sport is that you should look cool doing it. The competitors looked a lot like people I meet at the Dungeons and Dragons conventions.
Another general commercial comment that I forgot about yesterday. Apparently restaurant customers are the dumbest people in the world given that they cannot recognize a Pizza Hut product. First they were confused by pasta, now they are fooled by a chocolate dessert and the worst French accent ever attempted. It’s nice that they show the people who are going “Wow, I’m so impressed” as opposed to the people who are spitting it on the floor and yelling, “Why the hell are you trying to serve me that crap?” I mean, how would you feel if you walked into a restaurant and instead of fine dining were served Pizza Hut?
For those wondering about the current status of my life it is kind of in limbo at the moment. Not in a bad way, just one of those corporate things that you have to go through. Background check, drug screens, all of those things that you have to do in order to start work. Once I get this done I’ll have a start date, once I have a start date I can find a place, once I find a place I can get the move planned, etc. However, as I don’t have the first step complete I am instead spending all day in front of the television watching the Olympics. Not a bad time to be in limbo when you think of it.
So right now I’m just kind of hanging out in life. I’m unemployed, really unemployed as my severance has run out, but since I have a job waiting for me it really isn’t that big of a deal. It is pretty amazing that right when I turn 35 I am going to move and turn my entire life upside down. That is pretty rare for someone outside of a mid-life crisis. I’m still not saying that a mid-life crisis is out of the question, I’m more than a little bit itching for one to happen. But I will have a blank slate in the near future, which I have to say is pretty enticing.
Wednesday Night Music Club: In a Ryan Adams mood tonight, just because I’m kind of feeling like a slacker screw up for having spent the entire day on the couch. Ryan could relate.
Another general commercial comment that I forgot about yesterday. Apparently restaurant customers are the dumbest people in the world given that they cannot recognize a Pizza Hut product. First they were confused by pasta, now they are fooled by a chocolate dessert and the worst French accent ever attempted. It’s nice that they show the people who are going “Wow, I’m so impressed” as opposed to the people who are spitting it on the floor and yelling, “Why the hell are you trying to serve me that crap?” I mean, how would you feel if you walked into a restaurant and instead of fine dining were served Pizza Hut?
For those wondering about the current status of my life it is kind of in limbo at the moment. Not in a bad way, just one of those corporate things that you have to go through. Background check, drug screens, all of those things that you have to do in order to start work. Once I get this done I’ll have a start date, once I have a start date I can find a place, once I find a place I can get the move planned, etc. However, as I don’t have the first step complete I am instead spending all day in front of the television watching the Olympics. Not a bad time to be in limbo when you think of it.
So right now I’m just kind of hanging out in life. I’m unemployed, really unemployed as my severance has run out, but since I have a job waiting for me it really isn’t that big of a deal. It is pretty amazing that right when I turn 35 I am going to move and turn my entire life upside down. That is pretty rare for someone outside of a mid-life crisis. I’m still not saying that a mid-life crisis is out of the question, I’m more than a little bit itching for one to happen. But I will have a blank slate in the near future, which I have to say is pretty enticing.
Wednesday Night Music Club: In a Ryan Adams mood tonight, just because I’m kind of feeling like a slacker screw up for having spent the entire day on the couch. Ryan could relate.
Olympic musings
Olympic Commercial Comment #1: So Home Depot is the primary employer of our U.S. Olympic team. Does that make anyone else feel slightly depressed? That you spend your life focused on some specific skill like rowing or trap shooting and all that leaves you qualified to do is sell paint. At least it would make sense if the champion weightlifter works in the lumber department. He can carry the heavy stuff quite easily as part of his training.
Olympic Commercial Comment #2: I don’t know which is worse, the number of times I am watching the ad for McDonald’s Southern Style Chicken Sandwich or the number of times I have ordered it in the past week. How watching athletic people compete results in my making the worst health choice imaginable is beyond me.
Cruel Thought of the Night: (Following Alicia Sacramone’s repeated falls) Announcer: “What do you to say to someone in this situation?” EC: “Thanks for costing us the gold medal would be a good start.”
Actually that is what is so insane about women’s gymnastics. You spend your entire life training for this event. You complete ruin your body, postpone puberty and have no life outside of gymnastics. After all that effort you finally have your chance on the biggest stage of all. And then you try to land on a balance beam and fall and you have assholes like me on the couch laughing at you. There is something wrong with that picture.
Gender Equality Thought of the Night: So in women’s beach volleyball you wear swimsuits that show off every inch of your body. In men’s beach volleyball you wear shorts that go down to your knees. Can someone explain the reasoning behind this? Not that I am complaining, I would just like to know the reasoning behind it.
Sport That Really Needs the Involvement of Professionals: Wrestling, obviously. I want the Iron Sheik coming out of retirement to represent Iran. Let’s have numerous men in masks representing Mexico and Japan. At least three men wearing facing paint representing Parts Unknown. I want the gold medal match to take place inside a steel cage. This would so kick badmitton’s ass.
Olympic Commercial Comment #2: I don’t know which is worse, the number of times I am watching the ad for McDonald’s Southern Style Chicken Sandwich or the number of times I have ordered it in the past week. How watching athletic people compete results in my making the worst health choice imaginable is beyond me.
Cruel Thought of the Night: (Following Alicia Sacramone’s repeated falls) Announcer: “What do you to say to someone in this situation?” EC: “Thanks for costing us the gold medal would be a good start.”
Actually that is what is so insane about women’s gymnastics. You spend your entire life training for this event. You complete ruin your body, postpone puberty and have no life outside of gymnastics. After all that effort you finally have your chance on the biggest stage of all. And then you try to land on a balance beam and fall and you have assholes like me on the couch laughing at you. There is something wrong with that picture.
Gender Equality Thought of the Night: So in women’s beach volleyball you wear swimsuits that show off every inch of your body. In men’s beach volleyball you wear shorts that go down to your knees. Can someone explain the reasoning behind this? Not that I am complaining, I would just like to know the reasoning behind it.
Sport That Really Needs the Involvement of Professionals: Wrestling, obviously. I want the Iron Sheik coming out of retirement to represent Iran. Let’s have numerous men in masks representing Mexico and Japan. At least three men wearing facing paint representing Parts Unknown. I want the gold medal match to take place inside a steel cage. This would so kick badmitton’s ass.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Can't sleep, clown will eat me
I’m very upset with the way that China has altered the Olympic lineup in order to pad their medal count. How else would the fire drill be considered an official sport?
(Sorry, long day.)
Also, I am not sure what surprises me more right now. The fact that they’ve greenlighted a show about a guy who is simultaneously a family man and a world class criminal without being aware of the duality of his life, the fact that said show is starring Christian Slater or the fact that Christian Slater is still alive and can find active employment. I’m really confident that by the end of the Olympics I will be able to discuss all of NBC’s programming schedule. I won’t watch any of it but I can discuss it.
Today was a bit of a list day. Last night went extremely, extremely late and I just don’t recover the way I used to. It wasn’t that I was out drinking or anything I was just up really late and I’ve reached the age where I just have to sleep eight hours even if that means waking up in the middle of the day. And even with that I still don’t feel entirely right so I just try to slog my way through the day, taking care of whatever easy tasks I can so that I can go to sleep feeling like I’ve accomplished something.
My life is still on a bit of a hold though I am trying to move things forward. I still don’t have a start date for my new job and I kind of feel that I can’t do my apartment search without one. Or at least it makes it a little more difficult. The good news is that I have a list of places (apartment buildings, not just cities) where I can see myself living and I have done all the math regarding my finances so I know just what I need to do. Getting a place shouldn’t be too difficult and with a few respectable choices it should move fast.
Plus, the more I look at my apartment the more I realize that it will be a rather easy move. I have a surprisingly modular life. Much of what I have is already in boxes and the rest can be easily boxed up. Nothing too difficult to pack or organize. My place is even pretty clean at the moment which should make the entire process even easier. I just kind of want to get it going. Not that I am that desperate to work again or to leave KC but I just have to get moving. Otherwise I will just spend all day in bed and while that is nice there are other things that I could be doing.
(Sorry, long day.)
Also, I am not sure what surprises me more right now. The fact that they’ve greenlighted a show about a guy who is simultaneously a family man and a world class criminal without being aware of the duality of his life, the fact that said show is starring Christian Slater or the fact that Christian Slater is still alive and can find active employment. I’m really confident that by the end of the Olympics I will be able to discuss all of NBC’s programming schedule. I won’t watch any of it but I can discuss it.
Today was a bit of a list day. Last night went extremely, extremely late and I just don’t recover the way I used to. It wasn’t that I was out drinking or anything I was just up really late and I’ve reached the age where I just have to sleep eight hours even if that means waking up in the middle of the day. And even with that I still don’t feel entirely right so I just try to slog my way through the day, taking care of whatever easy tasks I can so that I can go to sleep feeling like I’ve accomplished something.
My life is still on a bit of a hold though I am trying to move things forward. I still don’t have a start date for my new job and I kind of feel that I can’t do my apartment search without one. Or at least it makes it a little more difficult. The good news is that I have a list of places (apartment buildings, not just cities) where I can see myself living and I have done all the math regarding my finances so I know just what I need to do. Getting a place shouldn’t be too difficult and with a few respectable choices it should move fast.
Plus, the more I look at my apartment the more I realize that it will be a rather easy move. I have a surprisingly modular life. Much of what I have is already in boxes and the rest can be easily boxed up. Nothing too difficult to pack or organize. My place is even pretty clean at the moment which should make the entire process even easier. I just kind of want to get it going. Not that I am that desperate to work again or to leave KC but I just have to get moving. Otherwise I will just spend all day in bed and while that is nice there are other things that I could be doing.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Needs more Team Handball
Some thoughts from the opening weekend of the Olympics…
1) I was in a bar during much of the Opening Ceremonies so I missed much of the pageantry and spectacle. I am intrigued as to what the purpose of the giant Q*bert board was. Without sound it really did seem like one of those grand communist spectacles, which is kind of expected. Huge numbers of people doing everything in unison. All that was missing was the group calisthenics.
2) Congrats to a Domer for winning the first gold for the U.S. in fencing in Women’s Sabre. The U.S. swept behind students from Notre Dame, Yale and Duke, which kind of tells you the type of people who fence in this world. They are also going to be competing in the team event, which I really hope consists of two teams of three simultaneously swinging swords at each other. You know, with competitors jumping on top of tables and leaping on to tapestries and fighting up the stairways of the arena. That would be awesome.
3) If you haven’t watched fencing yet you really should if just for the helmets. We have now added bullet proof glass to the classic mesh and added in yellow and red LED lights to show scoring. It looks vaguely like what I wear when I play laser tag.
4) Things that intrigue me about beach volleyball (besides the obvious). A) The fact that they had to create a beach in Beijing. B) The importation of an American announcer and pop music. C) The rather incongruous cheerleaders being brought out onto the court during changeovers (which I don’t believe Pierre Du Coubertain imagined back in 1896), D) The fact that places like Latvia, which I do not believe have beaches, are able to field teams.
5) What I learned by watching parts of the cycling road race. A) The smog in Beijing is just killer. Everything just looks gray and depressing as if breathing would be a complete challenge. B) Beijing has a 7 Star hotel with a massive Jumbotron taking up several floors in the middle of it. Why either of those are needed is a bit of a mystery to me.
6) If I am going to be forced to watch hours of gymnastics I request that all falls be accompanied by humorous sound effects. Up to and including the theme to the Benny Hill Show and the sound the mountain climber makes when he falls off the cliff on The Price is Right.
Best of 120 Minutes: I can’t say that I am a fan of the band Bush. In fact, I pretty actively dislike them. There is nothing about this song that I particularly enjoy either. However, Julie Delpy plays a significant role in the video and that is all I need to know.
1) I was in a bar during much of the Opening Ceremonies so I missed much of the pageantry and spectacle. I am intrigued as to what the purpose of the giant Q*bert board was. Without sound it really did seem like one of those grand communist spectacles, which is kind of expected. Huge numbers of people doing everything in unison. All that was missing was the group calisthenics.
2) Congrats to a Domer for winning the first gold for the U.S. in fencing in Women’s Sabre. The U.S. swept behind students from Notre Dame, Yale and Duke, which kind of tells you the type of people who fence in this world. They are also going to be competing in the team event, which I really hope consists of two teams of three simultaneously swinging swords at each other. You know, with competitors jumping on top of tables and leaping on to tapestries and fighting up the stairways of the arena. That would be awesome.
3) If you haven’t watched fencing yet you really should if just for the helmets. We have now added bullet proof glass to the classic mesh and added in yellow and red LED lights to show scoring. It looks vaguely like what I wear when I play laser tag.
4) Things that intrigue me about beach volleyball (besides the obvious). A) The fact that they had to create a beach in Beijing. B) The importation of an American announcer and pop music. C) The rather incongruous cheerleaders being brought out onto the court during changeovers (which I don’t believe Pierre Du Coubertain imagined back in 1896), D) The fact that places like Latvia, which I do not believe have beaches, are able to field teams.
5) What I learned by watching parts of the cycling road race. A) The smog in Beijing is just killer. Everything just looks gray and depressing as if breathing would be a complete challenge. B) Beijing has a 7 Star hotel with a massive Jumbotron taking up several floors in the middle of it. Why either of those are needed is a bit of a mystery to me.
6) If I am going to be forced to watch hours of gymnastics I request that all falls be accompanied by humorous sound effects. Up to and including the theme to the Benny Hill Show and the sound the mountain climber makes when he falls off the cliff on The Price is Right.
Best of 120 Minutes: I can’t say that I am a fan of the band Bush. In fact, I pretty actively dislike them. There is nothing about this song that I particularly enjoy either. However, Julie Delpy plays a significant role in the video and that is all I need to know.
Friday, August 08, 2008
80's Weekend Rewind #4
Continuing the 80’s Weekend Rewind segment with one of the most unlikely hits of the entire 80’s: Men at Work’s “Down Under”. Let’s just list some of the degrees of awesome shown in this video.
· The classic Australian travel method of sticking a bunch of stoners in a van and driving into the desert.
· Collin Hay (the lead singer and now a rather indie music hipster) eating cereal and his own hair with the strange lady who made him breakfast.
· The short shorts on the real estate agent.
· The band member who carries a stuffed koala with him in every scene that is never commented on in any way, shape or form.
· The unleashing of the term vegemite on an unsuspecting American populace.
· When the band starts chugging beers one of the band members mistakenly drinks from the vase of flowers.
· The dance break in the middle of the song featuring the band members alternately juggling or digging in the sand.
· The den in Bombay that I never properly understood as a kid watching the video. Hadn’t been taught about Opium yet.
· The ending in which the Ark of the Covenant is seemingly replaced by the band’s gear.
Given that this is the start of the Olympics I should add in the following story. When Sydney was awarded the Summer Olympics for 2000 Collin Hay decided he had to reform Men at Work. As he said, “You know we are going to have to play Down Under at some point. We might as well sound good in the process.” I still remember them singing it during the closing ceremonies. That is a nice way of knowing that you’ve made it.
Thursday, August 07, 2008
Who gets a participant medal?
I am very concerned by this development of Brett Farve, the former quarterback of the fabled Cobra Kai fantasy team, being traded to the New York Jets. Doesn’t he know that once a Jet a Jet he shall stay from his first cigarette to his last dying day? If Broadway musicals have taught us anything it is that becoming a Jet in New York will only end in tragedy that will be replayed endlessly by drama kids in high school gyms. Also, I learned that trains can sing. Thanks Andrew Lloyd Webber. How high were you when you came up with that one?
Oh and I spoke too soon about Big Brother. My local CBS affiliate, whose offices will be picketed tomorrow due to their actions in recent days, decided that the Chiefs pre-season game was more important than the live eviction on Big Brother. Now they were playing the Bears so I give them a little leeway but it is a preseason game. It doesn’t count, it doesn’t matter and the Chiefs barely count as a professional team. Surely they could have just done score updates and left us with watching whether Jessie or Memphis was eliminated? Is that too much to ask for in this world?
The Olympics start tomorrow so that is always a reason for great joy in my part of the world. This is one of the few times of the year where I can unleash my intense and irrational hatred of certain countries and be considered completely within my rights for doing so. Not as fun as the Winter Olympics, during which I constantly spew my hatred regarding those damn Latvians. Seriously, who the hell elects Victor Von Doom to be their president?
First off, expect to see the standard puff pieces that show just how advanced the United States is compared to the rest of the world. You’ll get swimming events where we discuss how the American’s parents installed an Olympic size pool in their backyard while the guy in the next lane is from a nation where 98% of the residents do not have access to clean water. If that doesn’t make you proud to be an American (where at least I know I’m free) I don’t know what will.
I’m contemplating live blogging the opening ceremonies tomorrow except that I won’t be watching it live. Well, no one will since it will be in China but I’m going to be taping it anyway. I always find the opening ceremonies to be interesting just for the whole spectacle of it. Also, the fact that multiple hours of network television can be taken up by showing people walking is a pretty amazing thing. But I dig the spectacle and I’ve watched every ceremony since 1984 so I should keep up with the tradition.
This is going to be an interesting games. Every summer Olympics tends to be mismanaged and confusing due to the sheer size of the thing but this one has the possibility of being an absolute nightmare. We have the Chinese trying to control the weather and the smog, which will either fail miserably causing the athletes to suffer or work and scare us all due to the fact that the Chinese can now control the weather. There also just aren’t as many great stories out there. With all the doping scandals track and field doesn’t have the same buzz as before, both Hamm brothers are out of the gymnastics competition though they will appear in the next season of Ninja Warrior, and once again Live Pigeon Shooting is not included as an Olympic event. I can only hope for a large amount of beach volleyball coverage.
Oh and I spoke too soon about Big Brother. My local CBS affiliate, whose offices will be picketed tomorrow due to their actions in recent days, decided that the Chiefs pre-season game was more important than the live eviction on Big Brother. Now they were playing the Bears so I give them a little leeway but it is a preseason game. It doesn’t count, it doesn’t matter and the Chiefs barely count as a professional team. Surely they could have just done score updates and left us with watching whether Jessie or Memphis was eliminated? Is that too much to ask for in this world?
The Olympics start tomorrow so that is always a reason for great joy in my part of the world. This is one of the few times of the year where I can unleash my intense and irrational hatred of certain countries and be considered completely within my rights for doing so. Not as fun as the Winter Olympics, during which I constantly spew my hatred regarding those damn Latvians. Seriously, who the hell elects Victor Von Doom to be their president?
First off, expect to see the standard puff pieces that show just how advanced the United States is compared to the rest of the world. You’ll get swimming events where we discuss how the American’s parents installed an Olympic size pool in their backyard while the guy in the next lane is from a nation where 98% of the residents do not have access to clean water. If that doesn’t make you proud to be an American (where at least I know I’m free) I don’t know what will.
I’m contemplating live blogging the opening ceremonies tomorrow except that I won’t be watching it live. Well, no one will since it will be in China but I’m going to be taping it anyway. I always find the opening ceremonies to be interesting just for the whole spectacle of it. Also, the fact that multiple hours of network television can be taken up by showing people walking is a pretty amazing thing. But I dig the spectacle and I’ve watched every ceremony since 1984 so I should keep up with the tradition.
This is going to be an interesting games. Every summer Olympics tends to be mismanaged and confusing due to the sheer size of the thing but this one has the possibility of being an absolute nightmare. We have the Chinese trying to control the weather and the smog, which will either fail miserably causing the athletes to suffer or work and scare us all due to the fact that the Chinese can now control the weather. There also just aren’t as many great stories out there. With all the doping scandals track and field doesn’t have the same buzz as before, both Hamm brothers are out of the gymnastics competition though they will appear in the next season of Ninja Warrior, and once again Live Pigeon Shooting is not included as an Olympic event. I can only hope for a large amount of beach volleyball coverage.
Wednesday, August 06, 2008
They better not dare mess with the eviction ceremony
First off, I would like to express my utmost disgust and dismay at my local CBS affiliate for their actions last night. It was bad enough that they shrunk the screen to show election results but they even cut into a broadcast to discuss the primary. Not any broadcast mind you but Big Brother right when the entire house was in a massive argument. What they couldn’t be bothered to wait for a commercial break? Did they really need to tell me what the numbers were with 1% of the polls reporting? It was a freaking August primary. The power of veto competition is way more important than that.
Today was a nice day. Having made my decision has helped to reduce a lot of the stress that I’ve been under for the past few weeks. It’s tough for me to explain but I’ve been waking up every day with a headache that was not alcohol related. I didn’t have an appetite and was probably not drinking enough water given the heat wave that we were under. That is just the way I tend to deal with stress. Lots of people eat when they are nervous; I stop eating. I also tend to lie in bed until the last possible moment. Today I was actually out doing things and laughing and smiling, which is a welcome change.
For those who are already wondering I will be keeping this blog going at the same URL. First off I have to keep blogging because I will have more interesting stories in the next few months than I have had in a long time. Moving to a new part of the country with all of its inherent idiosyncrasies will just be a field day for me. I still won’t write about work (and I’m kind of wondering when I will tell people about the blog) but life should give me a lot of mew topics to explore.
I will be keeping the kcgatsby domain and monitor for a few reasons. First is that after four years I probably have built up a small following who would be upset if I changed the location of the page. But mainly I like the image behind KC Gatsby. I really do try to model myself after Jay Gatsby. Suave and debonair but tied to his past and unable to gain true acceptance in this world. (I’ll ignore the whole part about being shot by a jealous husband. Let’s just say that I avoid swimming pools for that reason.) But being Gatsby in KC doesn’t make sense and neither do I. I’m just a mass of inconsistencies so why not have a name that echoes it. Plus, I have more than my fair share of Daisies in this world.
Wednesday Night Music Club: I’m not sure why but I just really feel like posting some Rufus Wainwright tonight. This is from the Want One album, which is high on the list of incredible discs that you don’t own. There is such an orchestral and dramatic feel to all of his music that I dig. It is musical in the right sense of that term. Plus this song is about the unknown and confusion and it just seems to fit with the way that I’ve been feeling the past few days.
Today was a nice day. Having made my decision has helped to reduce a lot of the stress that I’ve been under for the past few weeks. It’s tough for me to explain but I’ve been waking up every day with a headache that was not alcohol related. I didn’t have an appetite and was probably not drinking enough water given the heat wave that we were under. That is just the way I tend to deal with stress. Lots of people eat when they are nervous; I stop eating. I also tend to lie in bed until the last possible moment. Today I was actually out doing things and laughing and smiling, which is a welcome change.
For those who are already wondering I will be keeping this blog going at the same URL. First off I have to keep blogging because I will have more interesting stories in the next few months than I have had in a long time. Moving to a new part of the country with all of its inherent idiosyncrasies will just be a field day for me. I still won’t write about work (and I’m kind of wondering when I will tell people about the blog) but life should give me a lot of mew topics to explore.
I will be keeping the kcgatsby domain and monitor for a few reasons. First is that after four years I probably have built up a small following who would be upset if I changed the location of the page. But mainly I like the image behind KC Gatsby. I really do try to model myself after Jay Gatsby. Suave and debonair but tied to his past and unable to gain true acceptance in this world. (I’ll ignore the whole part about being shot by a jealous husband. Let’s just say that I avoid swimming pools for that reason.) But being Gatsby in KC doesn’t make sense and neither do I. I’m just a mass of inconsistencies so why not have a name that echoes it. Plus, I have more than my fair share of Daisies in this world.
Wednesday Night Music Club: I’m not sure why but I just really feel like posting some Rufus Wainwright tonight. This is from the Want One album, which is high on the list of incredible discs that you don’t own. There is such an orchestral and dramatic feel to all of his music that I dig. It is musical in the right sense of that term. Plus this song is about the unknown and confusion and it just seems to fit with the way that I’ve been feeling the past few days.
Tuesday, August 05, 2008
The Die is Cast
(And a 20 sided die at that)
Well, it is now official. I have accepted a new job. For those who are wondering about the specifics I have taken a job at [company name redacted] as a Transmission Specialist. No, that does not mean that I have become a mechanic though I will admit that it is one of the least impressive job titles that I have come across (and this is from someone who was once officially a General Engineer.) What it means is that I will be focused on analyzing the U.S. Transmission Grid and discovering the choke points and limitations and using that knowledge to benefit the energy trading team. This is similar to what I was doing in my past engineering life except that now instead of looking at the limitations and trying to fix them I will be trying to make money from them.
This is really what I went to business school to do. I left engineering for the finance with the intention of returning to the energy industry in a position where I could combine my engineering and finance experience. I just happened to go to school when the energy industry imploded (thanks Enron) and I had to change course which led me to find myself in Kansas City. But right now is probably the best time to get back into the energy sector. It is one of the few parts of the U.S. economy that is growing and with Obama and McCain both talking about their energy policies it certainly looks to be a huge growth area in the future. Whether we go nuclear or renewable there will certainly be transmission issues and that is where I will be.
I’m not taking an engineering position though. I’m pretty intent on not returning to that field at the moment. Yes I will be doing engineering work but the focus will be on a financial (and hopefully strategic) perspective. That just seems to be the best mesh of my skills at the moment. It is easier for me to work as a finance person who understands engineering than as an engineer who knows finance. Or at least companies would definitely prefer the former.
I know that a few people are at least a little disappointed that I did not try for a more creative career choice given that it seemed like I was on that path. I’m a little bummed about that and especially the fact that surfing the internet and understanding pop culture will no longer be part of my job. The thing is there really isn’t anything in my background that gives employers the indication that I would be talented at that role. I’m an electrical engineer / financial guru; nothing on my resume screams creative genius. I’m certainly not going to let that side of me go to waste. I see myself putting much more focus into my writing and blogging in my free time and really trying to turn that into its own little career after I move.
Yes, I will be moving. The job is in suburban Philadelphia though I’m not quite sure where I am going to live at the moment. Right now the leading candidates are downtown Philly where I would have to deal with hour long commutes or Wilmington, Delaware where I would have a much shorter commute but would have to deal with, well, living in Delaware. True, visiting a screen door factory is a wonderful thing but there just is this weird vibe that you get when you say you live in Delaware. I did spend the weekend in Wilmington and the place had a nice vibe and I could definitely find a space there that will fit me. No matter where I go I will have the same challenge: moving to a place where I know no one and have no network around me. That will be one hell of a challenge but I’m ready for it.
There will be something rather soothing about turning 35 and starting off with a completely clean slate. New job, new city, everything unknown. Scary but soothing.
This was a really tough decision to make. I never anticipated that it would be this difficult. If you had told me six months or a year ago about this opportunity I would have jumped at it. But the past few months made me realize just how much I liked Kansas City and the people that I have met here. After five years you tend to put down some roots even if you don’t try to and I’m going to be sad to say goodbye for the moment to all the friends that I have made here (with one in particular who made me really think about my future.) But I really do consider it a goodbye for the moment. I won’t disappear, everyone that I am friends with now will remain my friends and I’m sure I’ll find a reason to come back to KC now and again.
I don’t have a timetable at the moment as to when everything is going to happen. Technically everything is dependent on my background check so knock on wood everything will be fine there. Then I’ll need to find a place and move across the country and start my new life. Which is pretty amazing and I kind of want to end with the following story.
As most people know I am one of five kids and I was the one that everyone protected. I was just a really sensitive kid, way too smart for my age, and I didn’t grow into my body until I was in my thirties. Everyone watched out for me and made sure that I wasn’t picked on and to be honest, I really appreciated it. But what I find really interesting is that I am the one in my family who will readily take on the unknown. I’m once again moving to a completely unknown town. I’ve traveled to Europe by myself. I’ve taken off to go to weddings in Mexico with a printout of directions and nothing else. I’m not fearless and my anxiety gets the better of me more than I would like but I will still step into the unknown. I’m really proud of that aspect of my personality. I know that I will be successful. I always am.
Well, it is now official. I have accepted a new job. For those who are wondering about the specifics I have taken a job at [company name redacted] as a Transmission Specialist. No, that does not mean that I have become a mechanic though I will admit that it is one of the least impressive job titles that I have come across (and this is from someone who was once officially a General Engineer.) What it means is that I will be focused on analyzing the U.S. Transmission Grid and discovering the choke points and limitations and using that knowledge to benefit the energy trading team. This is similar to what I was doing in my past engineering life except that now instead of looking at the limitations and trying to fix them I will be trying to make money from them.
This is really what I went to business school to do. I left engineering for the finance with the intention of returning to the energy industry in a position where I could combine my engineering and finance experience. I just happened to go to school when the energy industry imploded (thanks Enron) and I had to change course which led me to find myself in Kansas City. But right now is probably the best time to get back into the energy sector. It is one of the few parts of the U.S. economy that is growing and with Obama and McCain both talking about their energy policies it certainly looks to be a huge growth area in the future. Whether we go nuclear or renewable there will certainly be transmission issues and that is where I will be.
I’m not taking an engineering position though. I’m pretty intent on not returning to that field at the moment. Yes I will be doing engineering work but the focus will be on a financial (and hopefully strategic) perspective. That just seems to be the best mesh of my skills at the moment. It is easier for me to work as a finance person who understands engineering than as an engineer who knows finance. Or at least companies would definitely prefer the former.
I know that a few people are at least a little disappointed that I did not try for a more creative career choice given that it seemed like I was on that path. I’m a little bummed about that and especially the fact that surfing the internet and understanding pop culture will no longer be part of my job. The thing is there really isn’t anything in my background that gives employers the indication that I would be talented at that role. I’m an electrical engineer / financial guru; nothing on my resume screams creative genius. I’m certainly not going to let that side of me go to waste. I see myself putting much more focus into my writing and blogging in my free time and really trying to turn that into its own little career after I move.
Yes, I will be moving. The job is in suburban Philadelphia though I’m not quite sure where I am going to live at the moment. Right now the leading candidates are downtown Philly where I would have to deal with hour long commutes or Wilmington, Delaware where I would have a much shorter commute but would have to deal with, well, living in Delaware. True, visiting a screen door factory is a wonderful thing but there just is this weird vibe that you get when you say you live in Delaware. I did spend the weekend in Wilmington and the place had a nice vibe and I could definitely find a space there that will fit me. No matter where I go I will have the same challenge: moving to a place where I know no one and have no network around me. That will be one hell of a challenge but I’m ready for it.
There will be something rather soothing about turning 35 and starting off with a completely clean slate. New job, new city, everything unknown. Scary but soothing.
This was a really tough decision to make. I never anticipated that it would be this difficult. If you had told me six months or a year ago about this opportunity I would have jumped at it. But the past few months made me realize just how much I liked Kansas City and the people that I have met here. After five years you tend to put down some roots even if you don’t try to and I’m going to be sad to say goodbye for the moment to all the friends that I have made here (with one in particular who made me really think about my future.) But I really do consider it a goodbye for the moment. I won’t disappear, everyone that I am friends with now will remain my friends and I’m sure I’ll find a reason to come back to KC now and again.
I don’t have a timetable at the moment as to when everything is going to happen. Technically everything is dependent on my background check so knock on wood everything will be fine there. Then I’ll need to find a place and move across the country and start my new life. Which is pretty amazing and I kind of want to end with the following story.
As most people know I am one of five kids and I was the one that everyone protected. I was just a really sensitive kid, way too smart for my age, and I didn’t grow into my body until I was in my thirties. Everyone watched out for me and made sure that I wasn’t picked on and to be honest, I really appreciated it. But what I find really interesting is that I am the one in my family who will readily take on the unknown. I’m once again moving to a completely unknown town. I’ve traveled to Europe by myself. I’ve taken off to go to weddings in Mexico with a printout of directions and nothing else. I’m not fearless and my anxiety gets the better of me more than I would like but I will still step into the unknown. I’m really proud of that aspect of my personality. I know that I will be successful. I always am.
Monday, August 04, 2008
Elmo knows bowling
So, I was watching Sesame Street this morning….yeah, screw you. I’m unemployed, what the hell else am I supposed to do? Stop judging me. Anyway, so I ended up watching Elmo learn how to bowl. There were four easy steps: point, swing back, swing forward and roll. After the lesson Elmo tries and misses all the pins and throws a huge fit saying that he doesn’t want to bowl ever again and he hates the game. This leads to a song where Elmo is told that sometimes in life you just have to keep trying. Elmo listens, tries again, knocks down one pin, and celebrates like mad.
Here is what I learned from that exchange. 1) Apparently bowling is a lot easier than I recall. 2) I share the same mentality as Elmo when it comes to participating in sports (hence my not picking up a golf club for eight years). 3) We are really setting a low bar for success if knocking down one pin is cause for celebration as opposed to riotous laughter. 4) Dude, Gordon is old. Not Mr. Hooper old but he’s getting up there.
I was on the road again this weekend, checking out what may be my new home. I do at least now have proof that Delaware exists. Or at least I have been there. It still is one of those places that seems to exist only in terms of trivia questions than in actual locales. I mean, the place is about five miles wide and is lucky that it is the first state because they got in before we figured out what a state actually was.
I rented a car and as is always the case I was rocking the PT Cruiser. It seems that every time I rent a car I end up with a PT Cruiser. I’m beginning to believe that no one ever actually bought one of those and that everyone you see with one is driving a rental. With that said, I actually like renting them and I tend to pick the one with the worst color scheme imaginable. That way you don’t have to worry about finding it in a lot. Just look for the worst car in the lot and you know that it is yours.
(Also, I may have found people who are worse drivers than the residents of Kansas. I didn’t believe that was even possible. I don’t trust someone from Kansas driving anything other than a tractor and that is only because I know that I can outrun a tractor.)
I’m thinking about cars a lot as mine is in the shop right now, hopefully fixed but I still do not have any proof on that. This is much of the disaster I alluded to on Friday. Went out to start my car and it wouldn’t go, which was a bit of an issue given that I was going to the airport the next day. Towed it to the shop and found out that my security system was on the fritz again and that my car was convinced that I was trying to steal it. Why this happens is beyond me but I tend to have this problem. Once a car hits 70,000 miles the security system should just realize that no one is going to bother to steal the car.
So, it is time for me to once again send out a request for advice on cars. I am going to need a new one once I get my new job so what is a good make and model. I think we can safely say that I am heading into full on mid-life crisis mode so pretty much everything is in play. What will make me look cool and relevant? What will show off my style and grace? What will fill that empty space inside of me than gnaws at my very soul like a pack of wolverines crawling through the tundra? Ok, I’ll need more than a car for that one.
Best of 120 Minutes: Why does the internet exist? Mainly so that I can spend a Monday night watching old Billy Bragg concerts.
Here is what I learned from that exchange. 1) Apparently bowling is a lot easier than I recall. 2) I share the same mentality as Elmo when it comes to participating in sports (hence my not picking up a golf club for eight years). 3) We are really setting a low bar for success if knocking down one pin is cause for celebration as opposed to riotous laughter. 4) Dude, Gordon is old. Not Mr. Hooper old but he’s getting up there.
I was on the road again this weekend, checking out what may be my new home. I do at least now have proof that Delaware exists. Or at least I have been there. It still is one of those places that seems to exist only in terms of trivia questions than in actual locales. I mean, the place is about five miles wide and is lucky that it is the first state because they got in before we figured out what a state actually was.
I rented a car and as is always the case I was rocking the PT Cruiser. It seems that every time I rent a car I end up with a PT Cruiser. I’m beginning to believe that no one ever actually bought one of those and that everyone you see with one is driving a rental. With that said, I actually like renting them and I tend to pick the one with the worst color scheme imaginable. That way you don’t have to worry about finding it in a lot. Just look for the worst car in the lot and you know that it is yours.
(Also, I may have found people who are worse drivers than the residents of Kansas. I didn’t believe that was even possible. I don’t trust someone from Kansas driving anything other than a tractor and that is only because I know that I can outrun a tractor.)
I’m thinking about cars a lot as mine is in the shop right now, hopefully fixed but I still do not have any proof on that. This is much of the disaster I alluded to on Friday. Went out to start my car and it wouldn’t go, which was a bit of an issue given that I was going to the airport the next day. Towed it to the shop and found out that my security system was on the fritz again and that my car was convinced that I was trying to steal it. Why this happens is beyond me but I tend to have this problem. Once a car hits 70,000 miles the security system should just realize that no one is going to bother to steal the car.
So, it is time for me to once again send out a request for advice on cars. I am going to need a new one once I get my new job so what is a good make and model. I think we can safely say that I am heading into full on mid-life crisis mode so pretty much everything is in play. What will make me look cool and relevant? What will show off my style and grace? What will fill that empty space inside of me than gnaws at my very soul like a pack of wolverines crawling through the tundra? Ok, I’ll need more than a car for that one.
Best of 120 Minutes: Why does the internet exist? Mainly so that I can spend a Monday night watching old Billy Bragg concerts.
Sunday, August 03, 2008
One by one my hair is turning gray...
This is going to be another short post tonight due to circumstances that are entirely within my control but that I just don't want to deal with at the moment. Or at least I think that this will be a short post; I never quite know how long these will be once I start writing. I will have to postpone the Best of 120 Minutes for a day as I am in no mood to surf YouTube at the moment. For those of you who need your fix, just search for Jeff Buckley. Thanks to Sony Music I cannot post a Jeff Buckley video. We now know who will be next in line behind Ticketmaster to go up against the wall when the revoultion comes.
Anyway, here is the question that has been bugging me since this morning. I looked in the mirror this morning and was rather surprised by what I saw. Now I'll have to admit that I am not someone who tends to look at themselves in the mirro with any kind of critical eye. Hell, I probably go months without looking at myself at all. There is probably some deep seated psychological reason behind this tied to my lack of self-esteem. More likely, I'm usually in a hurry and as long as my hair looks presentable and I don't have half a sandwich hanging from my face I feel as though I am good to go. Sadly, this morning my hair was no longer presentable.
I'm going gray.
I know I've joked about this before but really, today was the first time I noticed just how many flecks of gray there were in my hair. For the people who know me, has this gotten more noticable recently? Because it hit me like a shock today. I know that I've been under a lot of stress and that isn't helping but wow, this wasn't what I expected.
Well, I guess it is expected. I'm a month away from a momentous birthday and I've reached an age where my hair is going to lose some of its sheen. Thankfully I have a full head of hair and this should make me look distinguished and debonair as opposed to ancient and decrepit. But it is a sign that I am no longer a kid. I still view myself as though I was 16. I don't think that I've grown up emotionally since then. I might be able to land great jobs and be given loads of responsibility but at the end of the day I'm just a kid. Or at least that is all I ever want to be.
I guess I'll just start emulating George Clooney in every aspect of my life. He at least has the lifestyle I want and carries himself with that air of confidence that I so desire to have. I could do worse. And if I really start to go gray I am just going the Steve Martin route and going all gray and making it part of my schtick. Who knows, maybe middle age will suit me better.
Anyway, here is the question that has been bugging me since this morning. I looked in the mirror this morning and was rather surprised by what I saw. Now I'll have to admit that I am not someone who tends to look at themselves in the mirro with any kind of critical eye. Hell, I probably go months without looking at myself at all. There is probably some deep seated psychological reason behind this tied to my lack of self-esteem. More likely, I'm usually in a hurry and as long as my hair looks presentable and I don't have half a sandwich hanging from my face I feel as though I am good to go. Sadly, this morning my hair was no longer presentable.
I'm going gray.
I know I've joked about this before but really, today was the first time I noticed just how many flecks of gray there were in my hair. For the people who know me, has this gotten more noticable recently? Because it hit me like a shock today. I know that I've been under a lot of stress and that isn't helping but wow, this wasn't what I expected.
Well, I guess it is expected. I'm a month away from a momentous birthday and I've reached an age where my hair is going to lose some of its sheen. Thankfully I have a full head of hair and this should make me look distinguished and debonair as opposed to ancient and decrepit. But it is a sign that I am no longer a kid. I still view myself as though I was 16. I don't think that I've grown up emotionally since then. I might be able to land great jobs and be given loads of responsibility but at the end of the day I'm just a kid. Or at least that is all I ever want to be.
I guess I'll just start emulating George Clooney in every aspect of my life. He at least has the lifestyle I want and carries himself with that air of confidence that I so desire to have. I could do worse. And if I really start to go gray I am just going the Steve Martin route and going all gray and making it part of my schtick. Who knows, maybe middle age will suit me better.
Friday, August 01, 2008
80's Weekend Rewind #3
Ok, I know that I missed my post last night. I had a relatively decent reason at the time. I had been out rather late and didn’t want to post under the influence. Plus, I needed to watch my tape of Big Brother and eviction night waits for no one. (Seriously, how did they not get rid of Jessie? Who would willingly live in a house with a body builder?) I still should have posted but I just wasn’t in the mood to write.
Today was actually worse. It is a very long story that I will not get into right now. However, it is nice to know that there are a few things that can get me out of a funk. I just wish that I didn’t have to have my life deteriorate into sheer insanity for it to happen. That said, it did get me moving.
Anyway, as part of the 80s rewind project here is one of my favorite unheard of songs from that time period: “Hourglass” by Squeeze. I remember this video as a kid and I always enjoyed it even if all it did was show you all of the fun tricks of perspective that you can use with a video camera. It also gave me a great understanding and appreciation of Magritte at a young age and there are no issues that can be made on that front. See, back in the day MTV taught me about fine art.
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