yo mo fos

a new bloggie-poo.
Non Sequiturville.

sad and dreamy

How awesome is this poster?

Another song that I just can't stop listening to. OK, the lyrics are positively ridiculous (go Lorenz Hart!) but you've just got to hear the song. Oh, and of course, it's sung by Maurice Chevalier. It's been a bit of a standard since it was a hit in the '30s:

Mimi, you funny little good-for-nothing Mimi,
Am I the guy?
Mimi, you sunny little honey of a Mimi,
I'm aiming high!
Mimi, you've got me sad and dreamy,
You could free me, if you'd see me,
Mimi, you know I'd like to have a little son
Of a Mimi by and by.

since it's almost over

here's some Holiday Road for 'ya.

And here's another treat: "we're ten hours from the fucking fun park and you wanna bail out!"

bhishma and shyam

had better watch out! Laurie sent me this link to Fish School. Check out the theme song!

brokeback flatpoint

my friend told me she'd seen this but not Strangers with Candy. It's actually a bunch of clips from Strangers with Candy.

Brokeback Flatpoint

why I like strangers

with candy.

I just saw the best episode ever, where Jerri is in the jazz band and "scats" and where Mr. Jellyneck (Paul Dinello) and Mr. Noblet (Stephen Colbert) are torturing their students by making them pose nude in front of their classes or by drawing their private parts on the chalkboard. Mr. Noblet tells one of them: "Oh my God. Is that what yours looks like? Sit down! Ugh. Somebody else give it a shot. Who's got a pretty one? Suzie, you look clean. Come on up here."

I by accident saw the end of an episode of "America's Next Top Model," where someone said that one of the pictures looked like a squashed insect. As far as I can tell, all of the contenders look like squashed insects even when their images are not frozen in a picture. All of the contenders have smashed-in pig noses, bug eyes, and weird teeth. In fact, I was impressed that they were able to find so many people who looked like insects bulging from death all over the spectrum. Oh, well. I remember when I used to actually pay attention to super models back in the late '80s and early '90s and there was this one chick named Kristen-something, I think, who was almost ugly. She was a big deal, too. Hey, I found her! Kristen McMenamy. Here she is in all her glory (and yes, I think she's ugly):

this is how old I am

Isn't it amazing how well we remember the horrors and tragedies in life? I just realized how many tragedies mark this list in particular. Anyway....

I am the same age as Leonardo diCaprio, Drew Barrymore, the Beckhams, Tobey Maguire, Joaquin Phoenix, and Angelina Jolie.

I was born on the day of a major plane crash that killed 92 people out of Dulles. I was born during the Ford Administration, just fewer than four months after Nixon resigned, two weeks after the murders in what became the Amityville Horror house, the same year in which Blazing Saddles and Monty Python and the Holy Grail premiered, and when disco was really starting to take off. (Yeah, yeah, the world was having problems in 1974, much like it is now.)

I was alive when "Saturday Night Live" premiered and when "Monty Python's Flying Circus" ended.

I distinctly remember when John Lennon was shot. It was exactly a week after my sixth birthday. I was not only aware of the importance of the event; I knew who John Lennon was and the Beatles were the only rock group my father ever listened to.

I also distinctly remember when Ronald Reagan was shot, as well as Anwar el Sadat.

I watched Charles and Diana's wedding on television, and I also watched Andrew and Fergie's wedding.

I remember when Prince William was born and all the dolls that commemorated the event.

I was old enough to be a Madonna Wannabe, and I was one, complete with stockings tied in my hair, lace mitts, and everything except the Boy Toy necklace (circa 1983).

I was in love with Michael Jackson when "Thriller" came out and we used to watch the "Making of Thriller" at Girl Scout parties. Thriller also happened to be my first LP album. This was before audio tapes were really popular, though. I am also old enough to remember people having eight-tracks in their cars.

I was completely obsessed with Cyndi Lauper and my first audio tape was She's So Unusual.

I am old enough to remember what it was like when people smoked everywhere, especially in airports.

I remember when Boulder's Downtown Mall was built (1978).

When I was little, we watched "The Muppet Show," "M*A*S*H," and "Sha Na Na" every week.

I remember when Princess Grace was killed in a car accident (September 1982).

I watched the 1984 Summer Olympics televised from Los Angeles and remember how obsessed everyone was with Mary Lou Retton and Carl Lewis. According to Wikipedia, that Olympics marked the premiere of John Williams's Olympic Fanfare and Theme, so I guess I'm not crazy when I consider that I have always heard that theme whenever the Olympics is on.

We happened to have cable television one summer only. These were the things we watched: MTV, HBO's Video Jukebox, "You Can't Do That on Television," and the premiere of "Fraggle Rock." We were so mad that my parents yanked the cable right when THAT came out. That summer, we watched Poltergeist on HBO about one hundred times. We saw the videos for "Every Step You Take," "Hold Me" (Thompson Twins), "Hey Mickey," and "Like a Virgin" over and over.

I think the summer of 1983 was also the summer when we got our first VCR. We were the first ones of all the kids we knew to have one. We rented Annie, Airplane! (which we weren't allowed to watch right then), and Bedknobs and Broomsticks to christen it. 1983 was also the year we got our first compact disc player, I believe. My father's friend had loaned him Handel's Water Music and this weird iridescent thing was sitting around on our dentist's cabinet in the front hallway for, like months.

I wore a Mondale/Ferraro campaign button to school for several weeks in the fall of 1984. Reagan won again, of course. The first Presidential election of which I was conscious was in 1980, when my mother voted for Anderson over Carter and Reagan. I turned eighteen three weeks after the election in 1992, so I couldn't vote until 1996, when I was a senior in college, and voted for Clinton.

I saw the three canonic Star Wars movies in the theater when they came out, as well as E.T., Ghostbusters, Amadeus, and Back to the Future. I was E.T. for Halloween the fall it was still in the theaters--my mother made the costume and QUILTED it. My parents were really strict about audience regulations and age, so we didn't see nearly as many films as other kids our age did. Movies about my generation that came out when their characters were my age: Goonies, Heathers, Reality Bites, Before Sunset, Clerks, Chasing Amy, and Mallrats, and Office Space. I saw Heathers again recently with some friends of mine who are about eight years younger than I am, and I couldn't believe how dated it looked. When it came out, it looked so brand-spanking new and I was jealous of the clothes and hairstyles.

Our family's first home computer was a PC Jr. We had Apple IIs at school and used great programs like Basic and Logo. My first computer game was King's Quest (circa 1983 and 1984).

My brother had a Nintendo II (we personally didn't have an Atari) and we played lots of Super Mario Bros. 1, 2, and 3. To this date, those are the only video games I will play (circa 1988 and 1989).

My cousins, brother and I were all at Flatirons Elementary School when the Challenger exploded on January 28, 1986. My cousin and brother saw it live. I was in fifth grade.

I was involved in a demonstration against Operation Desert Storm in 1991, when I was a sophomore in high school.

I participated in a massive school demonstration and walk-out during the Rodney King riots in April 1992. I got a terrible sunburn. I was a junior in high school.

That same spring, I watched the last week of "The Tonight Show" with Johnny Carson.

I was a sophomore in college when the Oklahoma City bombing occurred on April 19, 1995.

I had graduated from college on August 31, 1997, the night Princess Diana was killed in a car accident.

I was living in New York City when Matthew Shepard was murdered in October 1998. I was in a peaceful demonstration that quickly became out of control in its numbers and was nearly seriously injured by police several times. They brought in mounted police and beat the crap out of innocent bystanders. To this day I hate and detest the NYPD and I resent seeing people who were obviously tourists in New York wearing NYPD shirts, hats, etc.

I had moved out of NYC by the time the WTC was bombed in 2001. I watched both towers collapse on television and was acquainted with a few people who died in them. Anyone who has ever lived in New York has an organic connection to the city in a way that one doesn't with other places. Walking everywhere makes one much more familiar with a city and all its blocks and buildings than driving everywhere. I could see WTC from my bedroom window in Park Slope. I was 26 when September 11 occurred.

On March 20, 2003, I was involved in a massive anti-war demonstration in Chicago that grew rapidly in numbers. We took over Lake Shore Drive. The cops wouldn't let anyone leave at that point and they wouldn't let people move. My friend and I managed to escape before the block points where they were just randomly arresting people, even though anyone who was there didn't really have any control over leaving the demonstration before that point--there were just too many people flooding the expressway.

Maybe I'm a little young to be writing my memoirs. But in this town, I'm constantly told how old I am--everyone says "You look SO good for your age," and "Oh my God you are so old--what have you been DOING wasting your life away for so long before grad school?" (SERIOUSLY I have been told this more than once). But this town is a vacuum of space in terms of age, whereas 31 is considered pretty young anywhere else you go. :) If any of my readers think I'm old, check out the top of this post again and see if you think any of my comrade celebs are old. Anyway, happy spring!

ozarkian accents and mercury, again

Am watching Million Dollar Baby. My biggest complaint is that no one from the Ozarks talks with a drawl. My aunt's biggest complaint is that no one can talk with a respirator running, unless they shut off the equipment, etc. She says they should have used a medical consultant. I say they should have used a dialect coach. I've never heard a twang like what one hears in Southwest Missouri state. (I guess Hilary et al figured no one would notice if she just used a generic accent.) I can't mimic the Ozarkian twang, but I start talking that way whenever I'm there. It's kind of weird. My mother's mother was obsessed with not talking like other people from that area and tried hard to talk without a twang. When my mother got a job when I was in eighth grade, she mentioned to a coworker or boss that she was worried about the way she sounded on the phone, and her boss or whoever said "What? I think your twang is cute." If my mother talks about Missouri, she starts to lapse a bit. I'm not sure if it's because of her inflections or just because I'm used to that twang but I really do embarrass myself if I'm in Lebanon, Missouri for more than a couple of days.

When I know that Mercury is in retrograde, I just start to roll with the punches. The saga continues. Today, my temporary card to get into my building was supposed to expire at 10:40 tonight. However, I got locked out around 1:15. So I called Family and Graduate Housing and I need to take my new ID (that I got on Friday) all the way to Orchard Downs. Problem is, my bike is in the shop, the buses aren't running on a useable schedule, and I don't own a car. So I walked all the way to Orchard Downs (two miles each way from where I live). When I got there, the woman looked at my card and said that it hadn't even been entered into the system. Furthermore, the ID card I lost that was activated to supply access to my building was still activated. So if anyone found that ID, he could just walk into my building whenever. So I walked THREE miles to the bookstore, which is closed. I can't fix the situation until the folks in the ID office fix THEIR mistake. Fun, fun, fun. Given that Mercury is in retrograde, I need to be prepared to be randomly locked out of my building anytime, regardless of the fact that they extended the use of my temporary card (not my new ID which according to the entire system of the University of Illinois doesn't exist). Plus we're expecting some snowstorm. Maybe I should just lock myself in my apartment all day tomorrow so as not to run into too many pitfalls with the storm. :)

I probably needn't say yet again how very glad I am that I didn't have to deal with a bureaucratic state system as an undergrad. It's so great how all the responsibility falls on the shoulders of the student, who has to drudge around for miles because the system keeps fucking up.

today's songs

I get into ruts sometimes. Well, not exactly ruts--more like grooves. I suppose all of us have problems playing certain songs within an inch of their lives for certain time periods.

Right now, over and over, I keep playing several songs. One is Basie's "April in Paris," and I do sincerely hope that one day I will no longer associate it with Blazing Saddles, when the entire orchestra is in the desert playing it. Another is Basie's "Corner Pocket."

I also keep playing a couple of Tito Puente songs: "Cual es la idea" and "Baile como es."

Virtually unknown "pieces" to most of my readers that get me going these days:
Sans frayeur dans ce bois - Chaconne H. 467 from Charpentier's Divertissements, as well as Charpentier's La Pierre Philosophale, H 501: Menuet pour la petite gnomide. So fun. The first has an absolutely fabulous bass line, as I'm finding most Chaconnes from the early 17th century do. It makes me want to learn viola da gamba something awful. But more than anything I want to learn theorbo. Which means I really, really ought to get back to playing the lute (or relearning it in my case since I only played it for a YEAR over ten years ago). The reason I didn't continue is that I ought to get my own freaking lute--I can't keep borrowing them. And they're not exactly available on any old street corner. But for any interested reader's information, I've attached pictures of a lute and a theorbo to this post. :)

Lute (theorbo at top):

SO in retrograde....

After many blunders yesterday and today, I decided that Mercury has GOT to be in retrograde.

It all started with a very depressing rehearsal for the "soloists" in Chamber Singers. There are a bunch of solos throughout, divided by soprano, alto, tenor, bass (naturally), and our conductor put three of us on each part (except for the two basses). He didn't really sit down and figure out who would sing what ahead of time; he just told us that he wanted it to be divided up equally. Well, he gave me all "amen" passages. In other words, I only sing the WORD amen. And I'm the one with good Latin diction (and translation--see below). Also, each of the passages I'm assigned is in about a four-note range, and right in my break. Which totally sucks. The other two people assigned to alto solos are a friend of mine, who has a lovely voice and one I find appropriate for the mid-Baroque work we're doing, and another woman who has a nice voice but one that doesn't jive well at all with that time period. Both of them got more than I did. I found out later that there's at least one person per voice part who is really ticked off about these decisions, and that I wasn't the only one screwed (a couple of people were much worse off than I was and they are both excellent singers). Which led me to believe that it wasn't intentional at all and wasn't well thought-out and....was a big miscommunication.

I went to Krannert yesterday evening and got drinks with my boss and his wife, after we went to a musicology/ethnomusicology lecture on Gideon Klein and a trio he wrote in Auschwitz or Terezin or some horrible death camp. I got completely plastered on two glasses of wine (really, really pathetic) and came home and accidentally used bleach cleaner instead of Shout on a stain on my slacks. Then I went to another rehearsal (for a doctoral recital) and lost my ID, which meant I lost access to my building. By the way, don't EVER try to sightread Bach cantatas (sans chorales, of course--those are easy) when plastered. I was making a total ass out of myself. (Bach is next to impossible to sightread even when you're sober, but with all the other stuff we were sightreading, I was surprised at how well I was doing, even while drunk. :)

So today I had to go get a new ID. Then I went to Espresso to get coffee. Their credit-card machine wasn't working. So I went to the ATM. Which was out of cash. Then Espresso told me they don't take checks.

All of these things point in one direction--Mercury is in retrograde. I checked it out online and it IS. Until March 25 everything is going to be freaking miscommunicated, misdirected, misunderstood. And bad things are more likely to happen like plane crashes and train wrecks. I know it sounds crazy but pay attention and you will see that I'm right.

Anyway, that aside, I had to do a booktalk today on Helter Skelter. Which I totally messed up. I should have practiced in front of someone. The biggest mistake I made was assuming that everyone knows about the Manson murders the same way everyone knows about September 11. It was too easy for me to conveniently forget that most people in my class were born well into the 1980s. I was born five years after the Manson murders, so in my lifetime it was considered recent history. So I just figured I didn't need to go into any background because that would be redundant and boring. I will never make THAT mistake again.