Another meme via Toast: pick your favorite album released every year you've been alive. Go to Wikipedia, seek the year you were born, look up album releases, and go on from there.
This is going to get very difficult at some point.
1969 - Five Leaves Left, Nick Drake
Yes, I know: Abby Road, Tommy, Man of Song/Man of Music, The Velvet Underground, The Stooges. I'm just feeling Nick Drake tonight, so he's my choice.
1970 - Moondance, Van Morrison
1971 - oooh, tough choice. I'm going to have to go with Who's Next by The Who, closely followed by Hunky Dory (David Bowie) and Young, Black and Gifted (Aretha Franklin)
1972 - The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, David Bowie, closely followed by Transformer by Lou Reed.
1973 - Raw Power, The Stooges
1974 - Rock & Roll Animal, Lou Reed...although I would like to pick Meet The Residents, it's really something that amuses me, not my favorite.
1975 - A Night at the Opera, Queen
1976 - A Day at the Races, Queen
1977 - tough, tough year. I will go with Aja by Steely Dan. It's the only album of theirs I have, and I love it, and I don't care how dorky that is. But closely followed by Never Mind The Bullocks, Here's the Sex Pistols.
1978 - More Songs About Buildings and Food, Talking Heads (closely followed by Feeding of the 5000 by Crass)
1979 - London Calling, The Clash (closely followed by The B-52s)
1980 - Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables, Dead Kennedys (runner-up: Boys Don't Cry, The Cure)
1981 - Kiss Me Deadly, Generation X, although it occurs to me that some of these albums were not my favorites in the year they came out. In the early 80's, I was listening to teeny-bopper stuff. At the time, my favorite was probably Duran Duran. I came to the punk stuff later in the 80s.
1982 - Bad Brains by Bad Brains, Combat Rock by The Clash, and 10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1 by Midnight Oil...although at the time, it was probably Rio by Duran Duran
1983 - Violent Femmes
1984 - Let It Be, The Replacements
1985 - Meat Is Murder, The Smiths
1986 - So, Peter Gabriel
1987 - Introduce Yourself, Faith No More
1988 - Shadowland, k.d.lang
1989 - Paul's Boutique, Beastie Boys
1990 - I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got - Sinead O'Connor
1991 - Nevermind, Nirvana
1992 - Little Earthquakes, Tori Amos (followed by Ingenue by k.d.lang
1993 - I have no favorite for this year.
1994 - ditto
1995 - Ben Folds Five
1996 - Tidal, Fiona Apple
1997 - Whatever and Ever, Amen, Ben Folds Five
1998 - Hello Nasty, Beastie Boys
1999 - The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Meissner, Ben Folds Five
2000 - nothing
2001 - Poses, Rufus Wainwright
2002 - nothing
2003 - Want One, Rufus Wainwright; The Love Below, Outkast
2004 - American Idiot, Green Day
2005 - nothing
2006 - Back in Black, Amy Winehouse
2007 - nothing
2008 - yet to be released
7/26/2008
Light Posting
Yes, even lighter than it's already been. I will be out of town for a few days, and I'm not thrilled about it (it's work related, and I'm going someplace hotter than it is here, which is not something I'm keen to do).
I have to get up in about 4.5 hours, and I can't sleep...
I have to get up in about 4.5 hours, and I can't sleep...
7/23/2008
My List
Tracy at Bowl of Life tagged me with this kind of fun meme: who are the 5 celebrities you would want your spouse/partner to grant you a Get Out Of Jail Free card for?
In no particular order:
1. Jon Hamm
He's a new addition to my list, I've been mesmerized by his subtle performance as Don Draper on Mad Men since last summer. He is charming and funny in interviews, and he looks like he's a really good kisser.
2. Nathan Fillion
I already loved him from Firefly and Serenity. But did you see Dr. Horrible? He SINGS, too! I admit, I would like to spend some time with the Captain and his Hammer.
3. Daniel Day-Lewis
I have been in love with Daniel Day-Lewis since the 80's, when I saw him in My Beautiful Laundrette. He's tall and thin, with dark hair and light colored eyes, which is a look that hits me right in my sweet spot. And his intelligence and compassion shows in his acting. Love him.
4. Liam Neeson
Love his accent, fantastic speaking voice, dreamy eyes, I even like his nose, which is proportionally large compared to his face. He has such kindness in his expression.
5. Tie between Kate Winslet and Rachel Weisz
I think they are both so beautiful, and so intelligent and interesting.
So that's my list, fow now.
In no particular order:
1. Jon Hamm
He's a new addition to my list, I've been mesmerized by his subtle performance as Don Draper on Mad Men since last summer. He is charming and funny in interviews, and he looks like he's a really good kisser.
2. Nathan Fillion
I already loved him from Firefly and Serenity. But did you see Dr. Horrible? He SINGS, too! I admit, I would like to spend some time with the Captain and his Hammer.
3. Daniel Day-Lewis
I have been in love with Daniel Day-Lewis since the 80's, when I saw him in My Beautiful Laundrette. He's tall and thin, with dark hair and light colored eyes, which is a look that hits me right in my sweet spot. And his intelligence and compassion shows in his acting. Love him.
4. Liam Neeson
Love his accent, fantastic speaking voice, dreamy eyes, I even like his nose, which is proportionally large compared to his face. He has such kindness in his expression.
5. Tie between Kate Winslet and Rachel Weisz
I think they are both so beautiful, and so intelligent and interesting.
So that's my list, fow now.
7/19/2008
Oh my God. They killed Penny! You Bastards!
Joss, clearly, you've been away too long. I had forgotten that in your 'verses, actions have consequences. I was thinking I was watching a love story, about a sorta sweet villain and the do-gooding girl he loves. I thought her purity of heart would turn him around, make him into a hero.
Instead, I was watching supervillain origin story. You zagged when I expected you to zig. I kind of hate you right now, but even more than that, I love you. You rotten bastard.
Instead, I was watching supervillain origin story. You zagged when I expected you to zig. I kind of hate you right now, but even more than that, I love you. You rotten bastard.
7/15/2008
Nathan Fillion can do anything
Dr. Horrible's Sing-a-long Blog, Part I is now available. Please, do yourself a favor and check it out.
I'm not joking around, people. Get your lazy asses out of bed and hit the site!
I'm not joking around, people. Get your lazy asses out of bed and hit the site!
7/13/2008
Where am I?
I am busy at work, my home computer is still dead, and I've been having lots of excitement.
1. I was on vacation! As I wrote below, I took 5 days off from work and basically just read a lot.
2. My darling husband was in the hospital with a staph infection. You do not want to get a staph infection. He had a temperature of 103.5, and his poor, needlephobic self had to get 3 IVs (pulled the first one out while he was sleeping, the second one didn't work, and so he had to get a 3rd one for his intravenous meds. He is feeling entirely better now.
3. On the plus side, his doctor wouldn't let him go back to work until today, so we've been spending lots of time together.
4. He got 2 pairs of Converse All Star sneakers, and I have to say, seeing him wearing them makes me a little weak in the knees.
5. I'm working on a writing project that I will tell you about later.
6. I've been watching my Mad Men DVDs. Jon Hamm makes me almost as weak in the knees as my husband in his Converse All Stars.
7. Monkey is at camp, so it's just grownups in our house.
8. This is the week we will get our first look at Dr. Horrible's Sing-a-long Blog. I am practically palpitating with excitement.
1. I was on vacation! As I wrote below, I took 5 days off from work and basically just read a lot.
2. My darling husband was in the hospital with a staph infection. You do not want to get a staph infection. He had a temperature of 103.5, and his poor, needlephobic self had to get 3 IVs (pulled the first one out while he was sleeping, the second one didn't work, and so he had to get a 3rd one for his intravenous meds. He is feeling entirely better now.
3. On the plus side, his doctor wouldn't let him go back to work until today, so we've been spending lots of time together.
4. He got 2 pairs of Converse All Star sneakers, and I have to say, seeing him wearing them makes me a little weak in the knees.
5. I'm working on a writing project that I will tell you about later.
6. I've been watching my Mad Men DVDs. Jon Hamm makes me almost as weak in the knees as my husband in his Converse All Stars.
7. Monkey is at camp, so it's just grownups in our house.
8. This is the week we will get our first look at Dr. Horrible's Sing-a-long Blog. I am practically palpitating with excitement.
6/30/2008
To answer the question that no one is asking....
...I've been busy.
Plus, my home computer has a virus, and I don't want to pay the Geek Squad's extortionary rate, so I'm looking for something better.
Also, I took a wee vacation so I could spend some time with Monkey and go to the beach. We happened to pick the only cold day in the past week to go to the beach, but eventually it started raining, so we didn't stay at the beach for long.
I've also been reading. I read The First Casualty and Dead Famous by Ben Elton, Twilight and New Moon by Stephenie Meyer; The Color of Magic by Terry Pratchett; A Long Way Down by Nick Hornsby; and I just started The Historian by an author whose name I cannot currently remember.
Lastly, I've been going to bed at a reasonable hour - before 11pm most nights. It helps that I put an air conditioner in my room and it's bloody humid right now. I want to sleep more so I can wake up in October, when it's cool again.
Plus, my home computer has a virus, and I don't want to pay the Geek Squad's extortionary rate, so I'm looking for something better.
Also, I took a wee vacation so I could spend some time with Monkey and go to the beach. We happened to pick the only cold day in the past week to go to the beach, but eventually it started raining, so we didn't stay at the beach for long.
I've also been reading. I read The First Casualty and Dead Famous by Ben Elton, Twilight and New Moon by Stephenie Meyer; The Color of Magic by Terry Pratchett; A Long Way Down by Nick Hornsby; and I just started The Historian by an author whose name I cannot currently remember.
Lastly, I've been going to bed at a reasonable hour - before 11pm most nights. It helps that I put an air conditioner in my room and it's bloody humid right now. I want to sleep more so I can wake up in October, when it's cool again.
6/16/2008
Tony Awards
I used to love all awards shows when I was younger, but I've definitely lost my love. However, I make an exception for the Tony Awards. When I was a child, the Tony Awards was a window into a world that I wanted to belong to. I pictured myself singing and dancing, in fantastic costumes, on stage in front of a live audience.
I liked a lot of things about last night's show. But the highlights for me were Lin Manuel-Miranda's acceptance speech for winning the Best Original Score Tony - which he delivered in freestyle rap - and the presentation from Sunday In The Park With George, which might be my favorite Sondheim musical.
I'm not sure if it's the music or the words or what, but that song gets me every time.
I liked a lot of things about last night's show. But the highlights for me were Lin Manuel-Miranda's acceptance speech for winning the Best Original Score Tony - which he delivered in freestyle rap - and the presentation from Sunday In The Park With George, which might be my favorite Sondheim musical.
I'm not sure if it's the music or the words or what, but that song gets me every time.
6/09/2008
I am so happy
that Jesse Taylor is back at Pandagon. I didn't realize how much I missed him until I started reading his posts again.
Maureen Watches Too Much TV: The Dance, Dance, Dance edition
This week, my TV viewing was almost entirely dedicated to dancing, with a small foray into changing partners with the new CBS drama Swingtown.
So You Think You Can Dance: We had one episode dedicated to auditions, which were kind of boring, and then the Thursday night ep was the Vegas episode. This is when the top 200 dancers get put through the ringer. At the end of the episode, they introduced the top 20 dancers, which surprisingly did not include Kelli Baker or Brandon Bryant, both of whom I thought were locks for the show. The show gets much better once the top 20 are chosen, so I'm looking forward to this weeks episodes.
Step It Up And Dance: This week was the finale, and the final 4 dancers were to present their solos. Of course, first they had to participate in a choreography set to a terrible, terrible song by Fergie. As one of the contestants said "we thought we were going to the finale, but instead, we have finale purgatory." But the solos were impressive. Each one of the dancers presented their solo to notable choreographer Jerry Mitchell, who gave really useful critiques to each one of them. Based on what they presented to Mitchell, I was convinced that Mochi would win - her solo was powerful and beautiful. But when they presented their dances on stage, it was clear that the only possible choice to win the competition (and $100,000) was Cody Greene.
America's Best Dance Crew: I will watch anything dance related that doesn't have the word "star" in the title, I guess. This is an MTV show, produced by the mostly incoherent Randy Jackson. I recorded this one, which was a wise call, because in a TWO HOUR program, there was possibly 8 minutes of dancing. Since I don't care about all the chit chat, I fast-forwarded through everything except the routines. None of the finalists in this one grab me as much as the winners of the last season of this show, Jabberwockees. But it's early days yet.
Swingtown: I was as surprised as anyone when I heard CBS was going to do a show about swingers in the 70s. The premiere episode was okay - they opened the episode with a fake-out blow-job, and they had to make the nod to price differences (heavens forfend, ground beef for .88 cents a pound!), but this could be interesting summer viewing. Molly Parker (Susan) is dreamy (although she either got new boobs or the costumer can do miraculous things), Miriam Shor (Janet) is uptight and judgemental, Jack Davenport (Bruce) is so cute but he's too mumbly, and the swinging couple across the street (Grant Show and Lana Perilla as Tom & Trina Decker) are positively predatory. I'll keep watching this one, for the time being.
So You Think You Can Dance: We had one episode dedicated to auditions, which were kind of boring, and then the Thursday night ep was the Vegas episode. This is when the top 200 dancers get put through the ringer. At the end of the episode, they introduced the top 20 dancers, which surprisingly did not include Kelli Baker or Brandon Bryant, both of whom I thought were locks for the show. The show gets much better once the top 20 are chosen, so I'm looking forward to this weeks episodes.
Step It Up And Dance: This week was the finale, and the final 4 dancers were to present their solos. Of course, first they had to participate in a choreography set to a terrible, terrible song by Fergie. As one of the contestants said "we thought we were going to the finale, but instead, we have finale purgatory." But the solos were impressive. Each one of the dancers presented their solo to notable choreographer Jerry Mitchell, who gave really useful critiques to each one of them. Based on what they presented to Mitchell, I was convinced that Mochi would win - her solo was powerful and beautiful. But when they presented their dances on stage, it was clear that the only possible choice to win the competition (and $100,000) was Cody Greene.
America's Best Dance Crew: I will watch anything dance related that doesn't have the word "star" in the title, I guess. This is an MTV show, produced by the mostly incoherent Randy Jackson. I recorded this one, which was a wise call, because in a TWO HOUR program, there was possibly 8 minutes of dancing. Since I don't care about all the chit chat, I fast-forwarded through everything except the routines. None of the finalists in this one grab me as much as the winners of the last season of this show, Jabberwockees. But it's early days yet.
Swingtown: I was as surprised as anyone when I heard CBS was going to do a show about swingers in the 70s. The premiere episode was okay - they opened the episode with a fake-out blow-job, and they had to make the nod to price differences (heavens forfend, ground beef for .88 cents a pound!), but this could be interesting summer viewing. Molly Parker (Susan) is dreamy (although she either got new boobs or the costumer can do miraculous things), Miriam Shor (Janet) is uptight and judgemental, Jack Davenport (Bruce) is so cute but he's too mumbly, and the swinging couple across the street (Grant Show and Lana Perilla as Tom & Trina Decker) are positively predatory. I'll keep watching this one, for the time being.
6/02/2008
6/01/2008
Banned Book Meme
Tagged by Deborah
These are the top 100 banned books. Bold the ones you've read, italicize the ones you've read only in part.
#1 The Bible
#2 Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
#3 Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes
#4 The Koran
#5 Arabian Nights
#6 Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
#7 Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift
#8 Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
#9 Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
#10 Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman#11 Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli
#12 Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
#13 Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
#14 Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
#15 Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
#16 Les Misérables by Victor Hugo
#17 Dracula by Bram Stoker
#18 Autobiography by Benjamin Franklin
#19 Tom Jones by Henry Fielding
#20 Essays by Michel de Montaigne
#21 Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck#22 History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon
#23 Tess of the D’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
#24 Origin of Species by Charles Darwin
#25 Ulysses by James Joyce
#26 Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio
#27 Animal Farm by George Orwell
#28 Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell
#29 Candide by Voltaire
#30 To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
#31 Analects by Confucius
#32 Dubliners by James Joyce
#33 Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
#34 Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
#35 Red and the Black by Stendhal
#36 Capital by Karl Marx
#37 Flowers of Evil by Charles Baudelaire
#38 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
#39 Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D. H. Lawrence
#40 Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
#41 Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser
#42 Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
#43 Jungle by Upton Sinclair
#44 All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
#45 Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx
#46 Lord of the Flies by William Golding
#47 Diary by Samuel Pepys
#48 Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
#49 Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy
#50 Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury#51 Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak
#52 Critique of Pure Reason by Immanuel Kant
#53 One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey
#54 Praise of Folly by Desiderius Erasmus
#55 Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
#56 Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm X
#57 Color Purple by Alice Walker
#58 Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger#59 Essay Concerning Human Understanding by John Locke
#60 Bluest Eyes by Toni Morrison
#61 Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe
#62 One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
#63 East of Eden by John Steinbeck
#64 Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
#65 I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
#66 Confessions by Jean Jacques Rousseau
#67 Gargantua and Pantagruel by François Rabelais
#68 Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes
#69 The Talmud
#70 Social Contract by Jean Jacques Rousseau
#71 Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
#72 Women in Love by D. H. Lawrence
#73 American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser
#74 Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler
#75 A Separate Peace by John Knowles
#76 Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
#77 Red Pony by John Steinbeck
#78 Popol Vuh
#79 Affluent Society by John Kenneth Galbraith
#80 Satyricon by Petronius
#81 James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
#82 Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
#83 Black Boy by Richard Wright
#84 Spirit of the Laws by Charles de Secondat Baron de Montesquieu
#85 Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut
#86 Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George
#87 Metaphysics by Aristotle
#88 Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder#89 Institutes of the Christian Religion by Jean Calvin
#90 Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse
#91 Power and the Glory by Graham Greene
#92 Sanctuary by William Faulkner
#93 As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
#94 Black Like Me by John Howard Griffin
#95 Sylvester and the Magic Pebble by William Steig
#96 Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
#97 General Introduction to Psychoanalysis by Sigmund Freud
#98 Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood#99 Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Alexander Brown
#100 Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess#101 Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman by Ernest J. Gaines
#102 Émile by Jean Jacques Rousseau
#103 Nana by Émile Zola
#104 Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
#105 Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin
#106 Gulag Archipelago by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
#107 Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein
#108 Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Peck
#109 Ox-Bow Incident by Walter Van Tilburg Clark
#110 Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
Consider yourself tagged. Also: some of these books are puzzling inclusions. Little House On The Prairie?
These are the top 100 banned books. Bold the ones you've read, italicize the ones you've read only in part.
#1 The Bible
#2 Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
#3 Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes
#4 The Koran
#5 Arabian Nights
#6 Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
#7 Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift
#8 Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
#9 Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
#10 Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman#11 Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli
#12 Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
#13 Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
#14 Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
#15 Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
#16 Les Misérables by Victor Hugo
#17 Dracula by Bram Stoker
#18 Autobiography by Benjamin Franklin
#19 Tom Jones by Henry Fielding
#20 Essays by Michel de Montaigne
#21 Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck#22 History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon
#23 Tess of the D’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
#24 Origin of Species by Charles Darwin
#25 Ulysses by James Joyce
#26 Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio
#27 Animal Farm by George Orwell
#28 Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell
#29 Candide by Voltaire
#30 To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
#31 Analects by Confucius
#32 Dubliners by James Joyce
#33 Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
#34 Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
#35 Red and the Black by Stendhal
#36 Capital by Karl Marx
#37 Flowers of Evil by Charles Baudelaire
#38 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
#39 Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D. H. Lawrence
#40 Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
#41 Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser
#42 Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
#43 Jungle by Upton Sinclair
#44 All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
#45 Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx
#46 Lord of the Flies by William Golding
#47 Diary by Samuel Pepys
#48 Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
#49 Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy
#50 Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury#51 Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak
#52 Critique of Pure Reason by Immanuel Kant
#53 One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey
#54 Praise of Folly by Desiderius Erasmus
#55 Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
#56 Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm X
#57 Color Purple by Alice Walker
#58 Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger#59 Essay Concerning Human Understanding by John Locke
#60 Bluest Eyes by Toni Morrison
#61 Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe
#62 One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
#63 East of Eden by John Steinbeck
#64 Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
#65 I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
#66 Confessions by Jean Jacques Rousseau
#67 Gargantua and Pantagruel by François Rabelais
#68 Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes
#69 The Talmud
#70 Social Contract by Jean Jacques Rousseau
#71 Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
#72 Women in Love by D. H. Lawrence
#73 American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser
#74 Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler
#75 A Separate Peace by John Knowles
#76 Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
#77 Red Pony by John Steinbeck
#78 Popol Vuh
#79 Affluent Society by John Kenneth Galbraith
#80 Satyricon by Petronius
#81 James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
#82 Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
#83 Black Boy by Richard Wright
#84 Spirit of the Laws by Charles de Secondat Baron de Montesquieu
#85 Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut
#86 Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George
#87 Metaphysics by Aristotle
#88 Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder#89 Institutes of the Christian Religion by Jean Calvin
#90 Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse
#91 Power and the Glory by Graham Greene
#92 Sanctuary by William Faulkner
#93 As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
#94 Black Like Me by John Howard Griffin
#95 Sylvester and the Magic Pebble by William Steig
#96 Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
#97 General Introduction to Psychoanalysis by Sigmund Freud
#98 Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood#99 Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Alexander Brown
#100 Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess#101 Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman by Ernest J. Gaines
#102 Émile by Jean Jacques Rousseau
#103 Nana by Émile Zola
#104 Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
#105 Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin
#106 Gulag Archipelago by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
#107 Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein
#108 Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Peck
#109 Ox-Bow Incident by Walter Van Tilburg Clark
#110 Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
Consider yourself tagged. Also: some of these books are puzzling inclusions. Little House On The Prairie?
It's a Mr. Death? Something about the reaping?
A couple of weeks ago, our lawn mower passed away, and since it was late spring, the grass grew and grew and grew, until it was very long. I was starting to feel anxious about it (since we live in a neighborhood of people who are obsessed with their lawns), thinking everyone was talking behind our backs about how we were letting things slide, so I decided I had to do something about it.
My initial thought was to buy a reel mower, so we could mow our vast .14 of an acre yard using only man/womanpower. But our grass was too long for a reel mower to be effective. So I bought a grass whip.
It took a little while to get the hang of it, but it was pretty darn effective. You basically swing it like a golf club, only less hip action. The best part: the children in the neighborhood gathered around to watch me reap, and they all wanted turns. I was happy to oblige. My shoulders feel well exercised, and Loki went out and evened out my work (and then did some more), so it looks good now. It's also quiet, uses no fuel and will be handy for those times when we let our lawn get a little out of control.
I think I'll still get the reel mower, though. My friend Katrina has one and she says it works great.
My initial thought was to buy a reel mower, so we could mow our vast .14 of an acre yard using only man/womanpower. But our grass was too long for a reel mower to be effective. So I bought a grass whip.
It took a little while to get the hang of it, but it was pretty darn effective. You basically swing it like a golf club, only less hip action. The best part: the children in the neighborhood gathered around to watch me reap, and they all wanted turns. I was happy to oblige. My shoulders feel well exercised, and Loki went out and evened out my work (and then did some more), so it looks good now. It's also quiet, uses no fuel and will be handy for those times when we let our lawn get a little out of control.
I think I'll still get the reel mower, though. My friend Katrina has one and she says it works great.
5/28/2008
Update
My friend Leslie has created a new blog, and the link has been updated in my blogroll: Leslie's Life.
5/27/2008
5/20/2008
Maureen watches too much TV
ETA: Can you give me feedback on this post? I would like to know if you think I should have included a plot synopsis for the episodes...sometimes I forget that other people read this and that it's not just for my own personal enjoyment. Do you think a brief synopsis of the plots of the shows listed below would have improved this post?
It's only Tuesday, and thanks to the magic of the Tifaux, I've watched the following series finales since yesterday:
The Big Bang Theory: I only started watching this after the writer's strike was over. I was recording another show and I caught a snippet of the end of this one, and it made me laugh, so I started watching. It's kind of spotty, humor-wise, and this episode featured one character, Leonard (who is a nerdy science type, although I'm not sure which field he works in) kissed Penny (dumb blonde who lives across the hall whom Leonard has had a crush on), and the studio audience reached Married With Children levels of whooping it up. That bothers me. I do like some of the characters: Raj, who is a computer guy, is adorable and consistently makes me laugh; Howard, an engineer, is creepy-funny, and physicist Sheldon, Leonard's hyper-rational roommate can be hilarious when used in small doses.
How I Met Your Mother: I had to start watching this show. I was a huge fan of both Freaks & Geeks and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and this show has Jason Segel (Nick Andopolis from F&G) and Alyson Hannigan (Willow from Buffy). I like to keep up with the careers of actors from shows I like. This show has moments of absolute brilliance, and I enjoy the out-of-order storytelling. The finale was a little more sentimental than I like, and they may make the character Neil Patrick Harris plays grow and change, which I'm not sure is a good thing, but I trust the writers.
Bones: I watch this one because David Boreanaz was on Buffy and Angel. The finale sucked. It's like the show is being written by fan fic writers. All I can say is that I've guessed who the bad guy is in every single episode I've seen this season. I might have to drop this one.
House: The season finale was the second part of a 2 episode story that started last week. I was a little disappointed last week because I figured out that Amber was the victim the first time House noticed the beautiful woman's necklace, but otherwise, these two episodes featured stellar work from Hugh Laurie, Robert Sean Leonard, and Anne Dudek, who was radiant in the final episode. RIP, Cutthroat Bitch, you were just too awesome for this world.
It's only Tuesday, and thanks to the magic of the Tifaux, I've watched the following series finales since yesterday:
The Big Bang Theory: I only started watching this after the writer's strike was over. I was recording another show and I caught a snippet of the end of this one, and it made me laugh, so I started watching. It's kind of spotty, humor-wise, and this episode featured one character, Leonard (who is a nerdy science type, although I'm not sure which field he works in) kissed Penny (dumb blonde who lives across the hall whom Leonard has had a crush on), and the studio audience reached Married With Children levels of whooping it up. That bothers me. I do like some of the characters: Raj, who is a computer guy, is adorable and consistently makes me laugh; Howard, an engineer, is creepy-funny, and physicist Sheldon, Leonard's hyper-rational roommate can be hilarious when used in small doses.
How I Met Your Mother: I had to start watching this show. I was a huge fan of both Freaks & Geeks and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and this show has Jason Segel (Nick Andopolis from F&G) and Alyson Hannigan (Willow from Buffy). I like to keep up with the careers of actors from shows I like. This show has moments of absolute brilliance, and I enjoy the out-of-order storytelling. The finale was a little more sentimental than I like, and they may make the character Neil Patrick Harris plays grow and change, which I'm not sure is a good thing, but I trust the writers.
Bones: I watch this one because David Boreanaz was on Buffy and Angel. The finale sucked. It's like the show is being written by fan fic writers. All I can say is that I've guessed who the bad guy is in every single episode I've seen this season. I might have to drop this one.
House: The season finale was the second part of a 2 episode story that started last week. I was a little disappointed last week because I figured out that Amber was the victim the first time House noticed the beautiful woman's necklace, but otherwise, these two episodes featured stellar work from Hugh Laurie, Robert Sean Leonard, and Anne Dudek, who was radiant in the final episode. RIP, Cutthroat Bitch, you were just too awesome for this world.
5/18/2008
Oblivious
Did you ever have one of those days where you suddenly found out all kinds of secrets about your family? I never realized how completely oblivious I am to what's going on around me.
5/11/2008
Ten things about my mother
1. She never says goodbye on the phone. When she's done talking, she just hangs up.
2. She will not accept any presents.
3. If you tell her you like something in her house, she will immediately force you to take it.
4. She has never said "I love you" to any of her children.
5. She has the most lovely singing voice, which she will only rarely share.
6. She once stole a cat and returned it when her mother found out. She then collected the reward for the missing cat.
7. She will drive across state lines for a great pizza.
8. She taught the kids in our neighborhood how to jump double dutch.
9. She made up funny nicknames for teachers she didn't like; the principal of my elementary school, Mr. Reardon, is actually called (according to my mother) Mr. Rearend.
10. She taught me the following rhyme to say to kids I didn't like:
Scab sandwich
pus on top
monkey's vomit
camel's snot
eagle's eyeballs dipped in glue
that's a sandwich made for you
My mom's not perfect, and I can trace certain issues I have back to certain behaviors of hers, but I love her so much. If nothing else, she provides me with some of my best stories.
2. She will not accept any presents.
3. If you tell her you like something in her house, she will immediately force you to take it.
4. She has never said "I love you" to any of her children.
5. She has the most lovely singing voice, which she will only rarely share.
6. She once stole a cat and returned it when her mother found out. She then collected the reward for the missing cat.
7. She will drive across state lines for a great pizza.
8. She taught the kids in our neighborhood how to jump double dutch.
9. She made up funny nicknames for teachers she didn't like; the principal of my elementary school, Mr. Reardon, is actually called (according to my mother) Mr. Rearend.
10. She taught me the following rhyme to say to kids I didn't like:
Scab sandwich
pus on top
monkey's vomit
camel's snot
eagle's eyeballs dipped in glue
that's a sandwich made for you
My mom's not perfect, and I can trace certain issues I have back to certain behaviors of hers, but I love her so much. If nothing else, she provides me with some of my best stories.
Kittens
Monkey is a hog in mud right now, because we are foster parenting two adorable little kittens for the next month.
The sprawled out kitty is Fiona; the curled up one is Candy. When they aren't curled up sleeping, they are climbing furniture, crawling underneath things from which it is hard to get them, and engaging in the impossibly cute things that kitties do.
The sprawled out kitty is Fiona; the curled up one is Candy. When they aren't curled up sleeping, they are climbing furniture, crawling underneath things from which it is hard to get them, and engaging in the impossibly cute things that kitties do.
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