Random acts of randomness

Time for another in my series of “posts that are made up of a bunch of random topics as I am too tired for cohesive thoughts and I should be in bed by now anyway.” Everyone’s favorite, I know.

Point #1: I think we can all say that we mark the passing of Brittany Murphy with sadness as no one should die at 32. It is also sad that we are all pretty much correct in our assumptions that drugs were somehow involved given the small pharmacy that was found in her bathroom as well as her recent history in addition to the fact that 32 year olds tend not to die of natural causes. What struck me most of all about the coverage was the fact that she was always referred to as “the star of Clueless.” Two points on that. 1) She wasn’t the star, that was Alicia Silverstone. 2) That movie came out in 1995. It is rather telling when the first mention on your resume is the film you costarred in nearly fifteen years ago. The second mention was typically 8 Mile and that came out around six years ago. All of this means is that this is the tragic death of someone young who used to be famous, which might make the whole thing even sadder.

Point #2: The top name for baby boys for both the year and the decade was Aiden with Jacob and Jayden also making the top five. For the record I can recall no Aidens or Jaydens at any point in my entire life though there were a handful of Jacobs. Jackson was also a popular name this year most certainly due to Michael Jackson dying. Hey, I just point out the connections I can’t say that they make any sense.

Point #3: Emma is the top girls name for the decade (though Isabella was top for the year.) Madison also made the top five for the decade continuing the recent tradition of naming girls in such a manner that they will not have to change their name when they become a stripper. Parents I am telling you that before you name your daughter ask yourself could you hear the next sentence “Gentlemen, put your hands together for our next performer on the main stage…!” I assure you that you will then name your daughter Gladys.

Point #4: For the record, Christopher came in 30th for the decade just ahead of Gavin. I feel sorry for all the kids named Gavin. It’s tough to go through life knowing that no one in the history of the planet has been successful with your name.

Point #5: I think it is time to have some egg nog and call it a night. Question though, why don’t we drink egg nog all year round? Or settle for a nice fruitcake in July?

I'm leaning towards the Canyonerro though

You know, if I was a celebrity I would be looking over my shoulder right about now. They seem to be dropping like flies. Ed McMahon and Farrah Fawcett? Their deaths were at least anticipated. Michael Jackson’s death was more of a shock but given his life story an early demise was never out of the question. But now we have lost Billy Mays for OxyClean as well? That is one huge shock. Even more shocking: Keith Richards is still listed as “alive” according to Wikipedia.

Here is the wonders of automatic link scripting for you. Under the headline: “Billy Mays dead at 50” Yahoo listed several other links this afternoon including, and I kid you not, “10 household cleaners for under $10.” I’ll admit that I have not spent much time wondering how my obituary would read other than knowing that it will set the record for the greatest number of “awesomes” ever listed in an obituary. However, I sincerely hope that my life’s work will not be summed up into a link on the wonders of baking soda. Just a thought.

Switching gears from the dark bunting that is now haunting the celebrity landscape I want to talk about a significant milestone that I reached in the past week: my car broke the 80,000 mile barrier. For a 2001 Pontiac Grand Am that is a rather significant accomplishment. I’ve driven every single one of those miles and this is the first time I have ever owned a car that has made it that distance. Now I love my car. It has gone across the country with me and has played every single CD that I own (thanks to the wonders that is the random CD project.) But it is time to face facts that the car is getting a little old.

This became readily apparent when Kim visited a few weeks ago. As we were driving around she went to lower her window only to be met by some horrific sounds as the window motor broke. Now, to put this in perspective, my passenger side window has probably only been lowered a couple dozen times in the eight years that I have owned the car. I typically don’t have passengers and no one in their right mind rolls down the windows in winter. This leads me to face the choice of fixing the window or buying a new car and I have sided with buying a new car. Clear choice, obviously.

Now as most people know I have little knowledge of cars and would like the assistance of the blogosphere in guiding me to the ultimate new car purchase. First, some background on myself. Over my lifetime I have driven A) a ’77 Chevy Impala, B) an ’89 Chevy Cavalier, C) a ’95 Pontiac Grand Am and D) my ’01 Pontiac Grand Am (the last three of these I purchased myself, the last two new.) Clearly I have been a loyal GM customer but given all of the recent events and the fact that Pontiac is no longer even going to be a brand I have to reconsider my choices. I would definitely like to stay with an American car even if it is made in Mexico while the Japanese car is made in Kentucky. Don’t ask me why, I just think it is a better thing to do. And finally, this luckily does not need to be a midlife crisis mobile. I already have the woman of my dreams and if she had no problem dating me after seeing my current car I figure any choice I make will be viewed as an improvement. I don’t need to prove myself via my wheels.

So please write comments and / or email cars you think that I should look into. The first one that has caught my eye is the Ford Taurus SHO, which was named Car of the Year by Esquire, which might give it a bit of that mid-life crisis cache but for crying out loud, it is a Taurus. I also want to look at a Prius mainly because I get a better parking space at the office if I drive an alternative fuel vehicle. Other than that I am wide open to suggestion. Only you, anonymous internet user, can help me solve this quandary.

Best of 120 Minutes: Ok, here is one of my many problems with all of the Michael Jackson coverage. Even though he is apparently the voice of my generation I never really cared for much of his music. Yes, I had Thriller on cassette but so did every other person on the planet so you can’t hold that against me. It is just that when people were buying Bad and Dangerous I was listening to World Party talking about the importance of proper shipping techniques. That is probably why in my mind Michael Jackson was always a sideshow.



The five random CDs for the week:
1) Martin Zellar & the Hardways “The Many Moods of Martin Zellar”
2) Jeff Buckley and Gary Lucas “Songs to No One”
3) Blue Mountain “Tales of a Traveler”
4) R.E.M. “Green”
5) Alain Vinet Mouvement “Day by Day Volume One”