The Annekenstein Monster

Another idea stolen from someone else’s LiveJournal. 20 interesting questions, and my answers of the moment:

1. Your favorite song with the name of a city in the title or text.
This is easy. It’s gotta be “Istanbul (Not Constantinople)” by They Might Be Giants
2. A song you’ve listened to repeatedly when you were depressed at some point in your life.
“Birds and Ships” from Mermaid Avenue by Billy Bragg & Wilco (sung, I believe, by Natalie Merchant)
3. Ever bought an entire album just for one song and winded up disliking everything but that song? Gimme that song.
“Fight The Power” from “Fear of a Black Planet” by Public Enemy. Not that it’s a bad album, but I wasn’t even close to being ready for it when I got it.
4. A song whose lyrics you thought you knew in the past, but about which you later learned you were incorrect.
“Talk About The Passion” from Murmur by REM. It was about 3 months ago when I finally figured out it was “comme bien du temps” (at least that’s what I think it is now). I always just sang gibberish when I sang along. Of course, that’s what one did when singing to early mumbly-Stiped REM.
5. Your least favorite song on one of your favorite albums of all time.
Another easy one. “Yellow Submarine” from The Beatles’ Revolver
6. A song you like by someone you find physically unattractive or otherwise repellent.
“You Never Can Tell” by Chuck Berry. Not the most pleasant mug to gawk at. Plus, there’s all that video-taping-woman-using-the-toilet-in-his-restaurant stuff
7. Your favorite song that has expletives in it that’s not by Liz Phair.
“Fuck Her Gently” by Tenacious D
8. A song that sounds as if it’s by someone British but isn’t.
“Harry’s Wall” by Loudon Wainwright lll, not because he sounds British, but only because he states his address in the song. It’s a London address.
9. A song you like (possibly from your past) that took you forever to finally locate a copy of.
I can’t think of any songs that are now difficult to locate.
10. A song that reminds you of spring but doesn’t mention spring at all.
“Oblivious” by Aztec Camera. Light and crisp.
11. A song that sounds to you like being happy feels.
“Ranking Full Stop” by The Beat. Is there anything more fun than dancing with a group of people to a ska band?
12. Your favorite song from a non-soundtrack compilation album.
“I Love Paris” by Les Negresse Vertes from Red Hot + Blue: A Tribute to Cole Porter
13. A song from your past that would be considered politically incorrect now (and possibly was then).
Can’t recall any recorded song that would fit this description. However, there’s a version of “I’m a Little Teapot” that I ocassionally sing that’s not very correct.
14. A song sung by an overweight person.
Other than my version of “I’m a Little Teapot”? Hmm, I’d say “Move Your Feet” by Junior Senior. I believe Senior is overweight.
15. A song you actually like by an artist you otherwise hate.
“Nothing Compares 2 U” by Sinead O’Connor. It’s the only song I like by her. I don’t hate her, but this is as close as I can come, I guess.
16. A song by a band that features three or more female members.
“Those Memories Of You” by The Trio (Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris, Linda Rondstat) Not really a band, but close enough.
17. One of the earliest songs that you can remember listening to.
“My Brother Paul” by Stompin’ Tom Connors
18. A song you’ve been mocked by friends for liking.
I’ve been mocked for having “Oh Sherrie” by Steve Perry in my music collection, even though I don’t like him/it. It’s there for my wife. I swear.
19. A really good cover version you think no one else has heard.
Cracker performing a countryfied version of “White Riot” by The Clash
20. A song that has helped cheer you up (or empowered you somehow) after a breakup or otherwise difficult situation.
“My City of Ruin” by Bruce Springsteen from America: A Tribute to Heroes

A baseball pitcher told a reporter that it was obvious, just by looking at Barry Bonds, that he has been taking steroids.

This is part of Bonds’ reply:

“I heard about his comments. If you’ve got something to say, say it to my face,” Bonds said. “Don’t talk through the media.”

“I’m not worried about him. I’m not worried about anyone. I have a lot of respect for Turk Wendell. I have a lot of respect for every baseball player in this game,” he added. “You got something to say, you come to my face and say it and we’ll deal with each other. Don’t talk through the media like you’re some tough guy.”

…said Bonds, talking through the media like he was some tough guy.

That’s even more ironic than rain on your wedding day.

Moments ago, I was spoken to by some sort of higher force. It said “It’s time for the remake of The Warriors.”

I can see it. Absolutely. Dope ST, dawg. Starring a murder of current rappers, hip-hoppers. A who’s who of da nizzle, my frizzles.

Who’s in as producer?

What movie from the past is ripe for the remake, according to you?

Okay, so I saw some other *ugh* blogger do this, and I thought I’d give it a go, too.

I’m going to randomize my complete music library into a playlist. I present here the first 20 songs, good and bad, embarrassing and not.

Here they are:
1) We’re Going To Be Friends – The White Stripes
2) All This Useless Beauty – Elvis Costello
3) We’ll Meet Again – Johnny Cash
4) Headache – Frank Black
5) One Week – Barenaked Ladies
6) Pontiac – Lyle Lovett
7) Politik – Coldplay
8) Carnival of the Animals, The Swan – Saint-Saens (not sure of composer. This is some classical piece)
9) Sing It Again – Beck
10) I Saw Her Standing There – The Beatles
11) Eyes Without A Face – Billy Idol
12) Courage – The Tragically Hip
13) Tomb Of The Boom – Outkast
14) Simple Pages – Weezer
15) Don’t Stand So Close To Me – The Police
16) Old King Kong – George Jones
17) Twist The Knife – Neko Case
18) The Needle and the Damage Done – Neil Young
19) Lonestar – Norah Jones
20) Daisies of the Galaxy – Eels

Okay, so as I was typing this, I took the liberty to remove repeat artists. For instance, Elvis Costello showed up again at #18 with “What’s Her Name Today”, and Johnny Cash repeated at #9 with “See Ruby Fall”. So, this is actually the first 22 songs in the “All My Songs” playlist.

Not a bad mix, if I do so say. If I was to burn it to a CD, I’d probably remove the classical piece and Billy Idol, plus take out “One Week” simply because it’s been an over-played radio staple.

After a multi-day break from this site, I hope to experience a recrudescent period of active posting here once again.

Check this out. It’s pretty funny. Esto no es una canción rebelde. Éste es domingo domingo sangriento (sorry, it’s .ram)

I was walking back to work at lunch today, and I saw a guy trotting up a street carrying a cumbersome load of papers in his arms. He was, perhaps, 30 yards from where I was. He didn’t drop his pile of paper, but as I saw him, I wondered: if he did start to drop it, and I had super power strength or ability or speed, would it be worth my trouble to go and prevent the accident. Further imagining my super-powers to be secret to the public, I decided it wouldn’t be worth the trouble of possible discovery of my wonderful abilities. (Yes, I’m 38 years old.)

But that got me wondering something else. In my lifetime, what incidents (that didn’t directly involve me) have I personally witnessed where the use of some super-human ability would have been ‘worth the trouble’? Had I witnessed a car accident, where my super-speed could have shoved the little girl out of the way of the speeding car? No, nothing like that rings a history bell with me.
After a thorough 20 second google of my brain, I came up empty. I couldn’t think of anything that sticks out in my life that would have benefitted from my secret super powers.

What about any of you? Have you been in the vicinity of some event or accident or incident where you’d have used a secret super-power to keep it from happening?

Having spent more years than I should have in my poverterial (my word) pursuit of the performing arts, and acquiring the financial debt that this implies, I now take serious aim at freeing myself of this obligation, and look forward to the day (year?) when I am finally quietus in my relationship with Mastercard and Visa.

For Al: They can take away our amplifier and our guitars, but they’ll never quietus.

I have a sense of humour. Everyone does, of course, to varying degrees. And each of us has a differing opinion on what is funny.
One aspect of my sense of humour relies on sarcasm and, to some extent, on the appearance that I mean what I say. For me, a sarcastic remark is best if the receiver of it isn’t sure if it is, in fact, sarcasm. And I may go to great lengths to not give anything away.
In the textual world of the internet, sarcasm is a tough sell. Especially for someone who doesn’t like to make the sarcasm obvious. So, when you come across any of my online personas: Unka Whiskerz in the lolita chat rooms; BlueBallzz in the fetish forums; AzzCrackz in the big bum boards, or Lieutenant Dan in any of the alt. newsgroups, don’t be looking for an “lol”, or a winking smiley face emoticon from me, because I won’t give it away that easily.

I made the committment not to give it away so easily on that night, right after I lost my cherry.

Well, it looks like we’ve saddled ourselves with a name for both our group and for our show this summer.

We are, and it is, called ‘Sketch 22’. Now, of course, we wait for the inevitable ‘there’s a group in blah-blah who have that name’, or ‘What? Just like 22 minutes?’, or ‘that name sucks’. To all of that, I say:

That’ll do, pig. That’ll do.

You can catch a sneak peek during the TheatrePEI theatre festival in late March.