Superbowl Week could only mean: time for Christmas Songs! Right?

I'm up way too early this morning. Completely missed the debate last night. That's too bad 'cause I wanted to laugh at Ron Paul. No, probably almost anything I'd have heard from him woulda just made me mad. I'm so politiced out anyway. Let's just elect a family of mice to run the country. They'd probably do just as good of a job, if not better, than any politicians or businessmen.

-54° (-48 C) in Fort Yukon yesterday. Man... that's like nuts. -40 we see occasionally in winter but it almost never hits -50+ here.

With the day off from work, we had a nice High Temp of -19° (-28 C.) I don't think I went outside at all. I know I didn't go anywhere... when it's that cold, when ya don't gotta, ya don't go nowhere! Simple.

Overnight it started snowing again. Won't accumulate much but lookin' out my front window at the snow falling in the lone streetlight about a football field away, tis quite a peaceful and almost Christmas-like scene.

So... how about some tunes to match this A.M....

	It's Christmas All Year!
	Volume 2

Charlotte Church

Dream A Dream

2000







Dream a Dream (Elysium) (Duet w/Billy Gilman)
O Come, All Ye Faithful
The Little Drummer Boy
Mary's Boy Child
Ding Dong! Merrily On High
Winter Wonderland
The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire)
Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
The Coventry Carol (Lully Lullay)
Joy To The World
When A Child Is Born
What Child Is This? (Greensleeves)
God Rest Ye Merry, Gentleman
Draw Tua Bethlehem/Far Over Bethlehem
Ave Maria
Gabriel's Message
O Holy Night
Lo! How A Rose E'er Blooming
Silent Night

Me listening to music by a 14 year old girl? Yeah, uh, that's almost creepy. The thing is, if you did not know the girl singing on these songs was 14 when this album was recorded, you'd never imagine she was just a child of such a young age. Well, at least I never would. What an amazing voice she has! It's heavenly even. Being someone who does not listen to opera-style or this type of classical music, this was definitely different. Beautiful stuff, though.

Now I find it interesting that the little girl from Cardiff, Wales is now a 21 year old unmarried mom. Living with boyfriends since Age 16, she's had plenty of sex including the mistake pregnancy. Apparently salacious sex stories of young Charlotte have been sold to the slimy UK press by TWO former lovers. She's been in and out of the tabloids for mostly all the wrong reasons while hundreds of thousands of pounds have been paid and made... all because a little girl wasn't brought up properly. Did fame have something to do with it all? Probably. How special. And how sad.

	dload 256kbps
Charlotte Church - Dream A Dream (Part 1)
(Part 2) Charlotte Church - Dream A Dream

Dead Bluegrass

Democrats need to stand up and clap when someone speaks of making tax cuts permanent. Why in the hell do people with gobs of money want to take away more money from those who DON'T have enough extra cash in the bank? Huh? SO THEY CAN MISSPEND IT?! So they can force every U.S. citizen to take part in a national healthcare plan... and then PENALIZE each person who does not sign up???!!?

Let us keep our money. We work hard for it. We should spend it how we want to, not let it be misspent by politicians who bow down to lobbyists and those who push through earmarks for things like a $400,000 Study to Determine the Best Way to Wash Pigs.

No higher taxes!!!

Well, at least to counter all the crap in this great nation, and in the world, we have good music to enjoy... sometimes it's not even great, just interesting and still worth checking out. Hmmm... like this...

Pickin' On
The Grateful Dead

A Tribute

1997







Althea
Scarlet Begonias
Friend Of The Devil
Bird Song
Truckin' (featuring the "Truckin' Telecasters")
Lady With A Fan (from "Terrapin Station")
Casey Jones
Samson And Delilah
Touch Of Grey
Cumberland Blues
Ripple
Goin' Down The Road Feelin' Bad
Dark Star

Right off the top I've gotta say that there are two songs here -- FOTD and Ripple -- found within the setlists of Garcia-Grisman that I'd much rather hear their version of since it's so close to the one here. The same is almost true with Bird Song. I don't believe Garcia-Grisman have done that but both Garcia and the Dead in various acoustic settings, they sure have.

All the tunes have an interesting appeal because they are mostly done in a bluegrass style. Truckin', I believe, is the lone exception -- more of a country western feel, by far. A whole lotta pickin' goin' on here that Garcia-Grisman never came close to in the 1990's or when they had their closer-to-traditional bluegrass band Old & In The Way in the early 70's.

It's some nice stuff that's here. Polished it might be, no raw sound of Appalachia or anything like that. But the musicians do a good job. Obviously I'd rather here the Grateful Dead or Jerry or even Phil or Ratdog or any Dead-related incarnation do any of the songs on this album... but this is something a little different so I thought I'd give it a try. When I listen to the GD, I really wanna listen, not listen while doing something else 'cause then you can't really listen. This on the other hand, I can put on shuffle and repeat when I'm at the computer for awhile and it makes for some good occupied-with-other-stuff listenin'. Curiosity was the truest reason and I'm glad I checked it out.

192 kbps dload right here
Pickin' On The Grateful Dead

Zep-like Run

Ay caramba! Wouldn't that scream of an emergency? No emergency.

Just lunacy. Although... there is that satellite falling to Earth which is going to kill someone. Probably. Well, maybe not. I guess since the planet is like 2/3 water, I guess odds are it ain't gonna hit anyone. Might disturb some fish in the ocean somewhere but we humans are probably safe. Theoretically it could hit Times Square.

Left wing loony birds are praying to their... uh, whatever Godless people pray to... praying it hits Tehran or a place that America is at odds with, so they can blame the Bush administration for STRATEGICALLY AIMING the falling satellite in that direction and then lying about it in order to start a war. No matter where it falls, the Bush regime will get blamed for something.I think that's the way the world works now.

Anyway... I've got off from work on this Monday -- pretty sweet. But why'm I awake so friggin' early?! Somehow I fell asleep way early last night... and then woke up 'round 5 a.m. today on a day that I have plans to do nothing... except go for a run which I already did! Now I have the whole day to look forward to... to what?

Clouds rolled in yesterday and the temperature outside warmed up. HAA!!! "Warmed up" -- that's funny. Yeah, we went from -40° to what we're at this morning -17° (-27 C.) Compared to -40, it's really not that bad.

I decided to head to the Rec Center and mingle with all the college kids heading to class while I hit the gym. Actually very little mingling since I didn't have to walk across campus or anything... I just parked and went right into the building I needed to.

No clue what I'm a gonna do today. As much as I don't care for the warm weather, at least extended periods of it, I think I'll dream of Key West maybe.

Monday Morning Run: 16 minutes 52 seconds	(+5)
·indoors·

Run Time - January:

2 hours 56 minutes

First run in 3 days. I think I have a good excuse, though -- the cold weather; I mean who in their right mind would drive to the gym and back just to run for 16 or 17 minutes... when it's like 25 below, much less 40 below?! Nuts!

But today I got back on the indoor track. If I recall correctly, my last run was pure hell. Not this morning. Twas easier. Twasn't a perfectly easy piece of cake but I made it. At the end there was no stopping to huff and puff in a desperate attempt to regain normalcy. At the end I did not have to stop in my tracks even. When my end cue sounded I was able to slowly walk a couple laps while listening to the next song that played.

Only added 5 seconds today but that was strategic due to my last outing. As always -- I am in no rush to push myself to greater and greater run times. Adding just a little here and a little there and slowly working my way up is just fine and dandy with moi.

Running tunes from
the album of the day...23 sec

Robert Plant

Pictures At Eleven

1982






Burning Down One Side
Moonlight In Samosa
Pledge Pin
Slow Dancer
Worse Than Detroit
Fat Lip
Like I've Never Been Gone
Mystery Title

Holy cow, oh mama. The first track was a single released for this album way back when... and hearing it the first time that I had the opportunity to Press Play on this album about two weeks ago, man, it brought me back to growing up near New York City and hearing it on the World's Greatest Rock and Roll Radio Station -- WNEW. It's been well over a decade since I last heard that song and bammo slammo I remembered it like those days were just last week. Burning Down One Side was the one song from this album that was in kinda semi-regular rotation on 102.7 and I was taken right back to the Garden State -- livin', workin', growin' up and listenin' to the radio like always.

The rest of Plant's debut solo album is just great stuff, for the most part. With the exception of two songs, Phil Collins is the drummer here and that's one balding Englishman who can play, I tell ya what

Out of the eight songs (there are ten on the remastered reissue,) Slow Dancer, I think, is maybe most like Zeppelin. But really since it's Robert Plant and his voice is so recognizable, and since this is his debut, there's a whole lot here that sounds just a shade away from being Zep.

One of the best albums I have heard in a long time!!

192 kbps dload @ Back On The Road

Cold mutterings (again) ... and watery, too!

Nice! Out of all the temperature reporting stations in all of Alaska, right here was third coldest in the whole country!

Like a week ago we were about 35 degrees above normal. Now we're right about at that magical spot where Fahrenheit meets Celsius (-40.)

It actually warmed up a bit today,
allllll the way to about -25 (-32 C.)

Saturday night and I almost went out after my shift was done a little while ago at 9. Right now I'm drinkin' coffee but truly I could for a cozy bar stool and a pint or two of Guinness.

Maybe I'll still venture out. If it was 0 degrees then no big whoop. Even 5 or 10 below -- not a big deal. But -40? The thought of going outside and driving into town, especially considering I had to be outside often during work, not appealing what-so-freakin'-ever.

But that pint or two is practically makin' me drool.... it's still early.....

For now...

Unconscious Mutterings

a free association game -- I say ... and you think ... ?

1. Booze :: Liquor

2. Counter :: top

3. Action :: Park ... it used to be a waterpark in Vernon, New Jersey, kinda close to where i grew up. It was close enough to NYC that in summer, schlubs from places like Brooklyn and Queens would make the journey out there for a day in the country.

Vernon is in a gorgeous part of northwestern NJ and Action Park is right on a mountainside. At times during its history, it was a great place to go to beat the heat and have some fun. There was also an Alpine Slide and other non-water rides/fun things to do and/or kill or maim yourself on!! Anyone who grew up within like 30 miles of that place knew of its existence. There was (and still is) a ski area (the former Vernon Valley) on the site, the biggest one in New Jersey. So in the winter when skiing, you'd see many of the ride structures off to the sides of the trails. I may have only gone there in summer like two or three times but I skied there probably over a hundred. Fun times! Glad I didn't die there!

4. Trial :: lawyer

5. Wheelchair :: bound ... I would hate to be but in combination with endless depression, I guess I'd get used to it

6. 1-800 :: Safe Auto ... stoopid commercials, they'll get no linked plug from me.

7. Chop :: pork ... i never cook them but i have a horrible hazy recollection of terrible ones from when I was a kid. Damn, how come my mom couldn't cook like Emeril?!?! And why'd the Food Network cancel Emeril Live? What the hell were they thinking? First burying it at 7 o'clock and removing the 11 o'clock repeat... that was the first step which lasted several months and then BAM! CANCELED. Too bad.

8. Relatives :: have them ... (couldn't think of a thing except that. not a lot of them in my life so I suppose that's why. actually, I'm sure i have plenty but none that are close either physically (Alaska I am not from nor is any of my family) or close happy get along family-wise.)

9. Bed sheets :: clean ones ... are nice but ya know what I hate: bed sheet snobs. Oprah Winfrey's the worst I know of. I mean seriously, $2,000 for one set of bed sheets? Give me a break. How many children could be fed for that? Children who would otherwise die, how many could be saved with the money from just one set of bed sheets?

10. Funnel :: beer ... oi.

Today's images stolen borrowed
from WeirdNJ.com

Just a little cold today, not too bad...

-42° (-41°C)

Sittin' here at work... waiting for a call.

Had plans, I did, to drive to the gym and get a run in
before work this morning...

HAA!

I woke up and saw the temperature... and when I saw my dog INSIDE (he has his own door and usually no temperature is too cold for him but when he comes inside to sleep, that means it's at least 20 below and he's like, "Screw that!") ... when I saw the temp this morning I had to do a double take to make it sure it really said what I thought it said.... and it did say what I thought it said... and I was like, "Screw that!"

Could I just quit work today to not have to go in?

Or maybe I could wish for the world to stop and then I wouldn't have to drive to work.

Or perhaps a Star Trek teletransporter dealie would magically show itself in my living room and [Star Trekkie teleporter noise...] I could be transported to work without having to feel the cold air outside?

Anything.

Well, I got my butt here.

My truck started okily dokily after some begging it not to fail me.

Now here I sit La Dee Freakin' Da.

Strange, when it's this cold, no one needs EMS.

Hey, fine with me. I get paid if I'm working back-to-back calls and don't even have time to eat a granola bar... or if 12 hours go by and I never leave the station. That would be a 1 in a thousand shift but tis possible. I've only been on call for almost an hour now... but so far it's nothing but quiet. It's so friggin' cold out... it's just damn freakin' insanely cold, I'm essentially prayin' for no calls 'cause last thing I wanna do is go outside, even if it's for 2 seconds.

Did I mention it's -42 !?!?!?

Tiiime Keeps on Slippin' Slippin' Slippin', Into The Fuuuu-ture

It's perplexing to me where the hell time goes. All of a sudden we're already a week away from February? You've gotta be kidding me. Seriously? This is not a good thing. Time goes by too fast without truly accomplishing what I want to get done. And then soon it'll be March and then Summer and then September and... and good God, it's got to slow down!!!

Of course it won't though. Even working (a 12-hour shift) basically only every other day and a half, I still feel like I don't have the time to stop and make plans for the future -- a trip to Africa including two weeks volunteering in a medical clinic and a few days in NYC both before departing JFK and when returning to the continent, a roadtrip Outside including the SF Bay Area... okay, well, those are my two primary journeys for 2008. Also perpetually on my mind is a trip to northeastern China (and sneaking into North Korea,) and Turkey & Iraq to see about kayaking the Tigris River down to the Persian Gulf, and then a trip to Eastern Europe specifically to go to Auschwitz.

And then there's my desire to escape America at Christmastime. I want to go to some remote island that doesn't resemble the United States, where people aren't overtaken by the "need" to give so selfishly to themselves and their families while driving crazily around like busy acid-tripping mad Tasmanian devil-Hungarian banshee hybrids caught in a blender with a jipagillion tons of wrapping paper and stick-on decorative bows.

Yes, to escape that from now on and to leave the hell that is Christmas behind, that is my wish, hopefully beginning this year. And again, that would be a journey which would give me a few great days in NYC before departing JFK and when I return (unless I go somewhere in the Pacific and depart from SF or LaLaLand.)

Anyway, it's now almost February
and what am I getting done?

Zilch.

And having today off, what will I get done to accomplish anything related to my international travel ideas? Nothing. I'm going snowmobiling.

Friday Morning Run: 16 minutes 47 seconds	(+12)
·indoors·

Run Time - January:

2 hours 39 minutes

Pure hell.

First run since Monday morning -- four days have elapsed and again I have to curse myself for allowing that to happen. What's wrong with me?! I've got to care MORE about my health than to run twice in 5 days.

Woke up way early this morning intending to drive to the Rec Center and then come back to my house to get ready for work at 9 a.m.. Well, about a minute into my run I was hit by a ton of bricks -- OH YEAH!!! I remembered that I switched my schedule to work Saturday instead of today. D'OH!

Finished my run, adding on 12 seconds from Monday, and, well, it wasn't easy out there, at least the second half or so.

On the 0 to 10 Scale...

10 being Death.
9 is a certain collapse requiring hospitalization...

today was about a 7.5 to an 8. Pure hell.

When I hit my end cue I had to stop moving, put hands on knees, and huff and puff for about a half a minute before I could move again in a slow walk around the track for a song or two before I was ready to leave. Maybe I didn't really have to stop and huff and puff... but that's what I felt like doing and I did.

It's been a little over an hour since my run and I feel great now! But that was tough. I don't know why. That's kind of bothersome. Why some days are relatively easy and others are not. I fueled up, I've had enough sleep, nothing out of the ordinary. Strange.

Still very unhappy with my frequency of running. Just pathetic. I've really got to kick it up a notch in the January homestretch... but like always -- better to run just 30 minutes in 4 or 5 days than to not run at all.

Running tunes from
the album of the day...31 sec

INXS

Full Moon,
Dirty Hearts

1993





Days Of Rust
The Gift
Make Your Peace
Time
I'm Only Looking
Please (You Got That...) [w/Ray Charles]
Full Moon Dirty Hearts [w/Chrissie Hynde]
Freedom Deep
Kill The Pain
Cut Your Roses Down
The Messenger
Viking Juice

There was once a time when getting the new INXS album was a special event. Well, at least twice with Kick and X. Then life changed and I stopped caring so much about them. Their old tunes are still as great as ever to listen to. But what about listening to an album of theirs as if it's brand new? Man, just isn't the same anymore. This CD is one that I have never before listened to until this week. Others I've heard over a 100 times each... but never this. Perhaps part of the problem with Full Moon, Dirty Hearts is it's just not as good as their older stuff. Duets with Ray Charles and Chrissie Hynde? I like 'em both alright but on an INXS album? Kinda weird.

Overall it's an okay bunch of tunes, certainly not bad. There are a few pretty good songs on here that could be included on an INXS mix. Even though I still dig listening to this band from Down Under, this album from them just isn't one that I can listen to over and over much like Kick and X and Listen Like Thieves.

320 kbps dload @ Mussiqa
dead link, sorry

To help or not to help...

I can't imagine not having enough food to supply me with at least what I need.

There are some people who are perfectly capable of working some job to earn money to eat but they'd rather rely on the government for a handout... and that ain't right.

But then there are those who absolutely can't manage. And what about children who have parents who can't sufficiently feed the kids they have? Should those children suffer because of their parent(s)? No.

Sometimes I wonder what others think about those who have very little or even nothing to eat...

Living a comfortable life, spending all sorts of money on self, even spending often on items that are completely unneeded for living, whether it's a new DVD, a pack of cigarettes, a swimming pool for the backyard, or the nicer convertible rental car rather than the budget option...

is that way of living
more important than helping others?

is that way of living
more important than children who have no food to eat?

GD - U of O - 30 Years Ago Tonight

Dear Al Gore,

I believe you!!!

A few miles down the Richardson, down 'round Wainwright and Eielson
it's currently about 36° (2°C)...

that means it's 36 degrees ABOVE NORMAL.

What the hell?!?!?! We're on the very edge of setting the record high temperature for this date.

My backyard thermometer's reading 30° right now. Nothing's melting yet on my street but it's still 30 degrees above normal. In the hills it's gotta be at least 40°. Some of the snow's gonna be melting out there and I'm just glad I'm not working tonight 'cause it's gonna be ugly. Usually in January this doesn't occur. No melting, freezing, cars crashing... it's all constantly cold, no big deal.

Oi vey, I tell ya what. I think I'm gonna put on some shorts and just a light fleece jacket and take a drive into town, get some errands done... in shorts... in Fairbanks... in January! (This is just whacked.)

It's been a good morning, though, listening to some good ol' Grateful Dead. Third time in a few days I've listened to this and I'm now thoroughly envious of those who were lucky enough to be there. Bastards!!!

Grateful Dead
1/22/78

McArthur Court University of Oregon Eugene

1st Set
Minglewood Blues, Dire Wolf, Cassidy, Peggy-O, El Paso,
Tennessee Jed, Jack Straw, Row Jimmy,
The Music Never Stopped

2nd Set
Bertha-» Good Lovin', Ship Of Fools, Samson And Delilah,
Terrapin Station-» Drums-» The Other One-» Garcia Jam-»
St. Stephen-» Not Fade Away-» Around And Around

Encore - U.S. Blues

In my ability to type up a pseudo-review as I have been doing, with this show I hit a roadblock. Why? It's just so damn good!!! I've decided to transcribe the following from my copy of Deadbase IX:

The last, and easily the best of eleven California dates, in terms of both tape quality and level of performance, this show has so many highlights, it would take a short story to document them all.

The first set ranks as one of the best ever, with each tune having that extra something. Jack Straw and the set-closer The Music Never Stopped are the obvious highlights. The second set opens with a Bertha> Good Lovin that is as exciting as I have ever heard this typical medley.

Things get especially hot with the most potent and meaningful version of Terrapin Station ever done. The following drum solo, easily one of the all-time most thrilling, escalates into a hair raising intro to a very direct and powerful The Other One. After this we get something that Garcia had been fooling around with on this 1978 California tour, but here everything comes to dramatic fruition. This is the Close Encounters theme in all its glory, beautifully flowing into one of the best modern (after 1976) versions of St. Stephen. Not Fade Away and Around & Around end this awesome performance.

I should mention that U.S. Blues (the encore) was surprisingly hot.

-Dick Latvala

If Dick was alive I'd mention to him that, while the preceding ten shows on this tour were all in California, Eugene is in fact one state north in a place called Oregon... which is most definitely not a part of Cali. (Hey, I'm a stickler for gettin' the facts right. Sue me!)

I'm also wondering when he wrote that 'cause in my opinion, Drums... hmmm... well, I don't want to argue but I'm not sure that I'd call it thrilling. This was surely above average but there've been better. And it doesn't really escalate at the end, at least not that much. What makes it incredible is Phil's entrance to power into The Other One. Just a damn fine transition! Mmmmm... oh so sweet!!!

The Jerry Solo a.k.a. Garcia Jam a.k.a. Close Encounters doesn't truly have the same fullness that was brought to life on the silver screen by Steven Spielberg a couple months before. That doesn't mean what's here ain't cool, it totally freakin' is! It's really the jam as a whole which is just phenomenally mind-blowing. Not an everyday thing when just Jerry alone is wailin' away up there without anyone else joining in.

So a couple things there I disagree with Dick on but other than that, man, he is right on about what takes place in Eugene on this January night 30 years ago. You want a ton of perfect Jerry on guitar? Right here. No bullshittin' that this is just an excellent show from start to finish!

The Native Oregonian informed me that this was
his first Grateful Dead show.
He posted up a pic from the show here.

Source: sbd>??>cd>eac>shn
*all except the first four songs of Set 2 which are:
Audience Front Of Board Sony TC-640 reel to reel > TCD-D8
(if they exist in SBD form, they are not in circulation.)

Sound Quality: mostly A+
(the 4 Aud tunes aren't that bad.)

the Soundboard-Audience composite of 1-22-78 is @ Archive for listening only.

the entire Aud FOB of 1-22-78 is also @ Archive for not only listening but downloading as well.

-or-

Download The Show Right Here

1/22/78 Grateful Dead - Eugene 1st Set

Set 2, Part I - Eugene 1/22/78

1/22/78 Eugene - 2nd Set, Part II

1-22-78 aka 01-22-78 aka 1/22/78 aka 01/22/78 aka 78-01-22 320 kbps mp3 download and setlist

Gene & Roy but no Sarah

I missed my show. How sad.

Week in and week out, how many shows during primetime are there? A bunch, that's for sure. How many do I care about? The answer was a big fat NONE... until recently.

Tonight was the 4th episode of Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles. When I saw the commercials I thought -- hey, that looks purty neat. So I checked it out. Best show ever! Maybe. Maybe not. Probably not. But I like it, it's not bad. Methinks it's got appeal especially since Ahhnold was in T1 and T2 which were big hit movies back in the day ... and then finally in T3 a few years ago before he became the Governator.

Anyway, I caught the first night of the show (2 eps) and then the 3rd ep. last week and then tonight... yay, wouldn't ya know it, the first frickin' time in months that my shift ran long and so I didn't get to see it. (I can't believe I'm typing so much about TV which I pretty much don't care for, the network dramas and sitcoms and reality shows, that is. I figure if it's trendy now then I don't want any part of it. If it's good enough for syndication eventually, maybe then I'll see it. But along came Sarah Conner and there was one show I gave a damn about.)

Now what am I gonna do? There's just no way I can watch next week 'cause I'll have missed like 44 minutes of the story! The horror of that is literally sickening me now! What am I gonna do?! Will the series be played in its entirety in repeats before Season 2? Will there even be a Season 2 because of the writer's strike?? Oh my God, I'm panicking! (Not really... and now I'm really typing way too much about this!) Perhaps I should just say screw it, give up on watching it, and just get the DVD release eventually.

Whatever.

After work and no Sarah Conner I figured I'd make some popcorn
and watch a movie...



The Old Corral

1936

starring: Gene Autry, Smiley Burnette,
Lon Chaney, Jr., Hope Manning
(and Roy Rogers in the Sons of the Pioneers)

Just another B-western on the Encore Westerns channel... although this one actually had a nice little treat in it.

The legendary Gene Autry stars as Gene, the sheriff of Turquoise City. On the run from Chicago mobsters, wanted for involvement in a murder, is a singer who's offered a job singing in a saloon in town. The saloon's owner is played by none other than Lon Chaney, Jr. Interesting seeing him in this old B-western rather than as The Wolfman or any number of his interesting roles.

Gene first contends with a gang of brothers who hold up a bus, yes, a bus and not a stagecoach, and in the gang singing brothers turned outlaws, none other than Roy Rogers. Roy would soon go on to fame as the King of All Cowboys but here he was an uncredited member of the Sons of the Pioneers.

After they're caught and locked up, into town comes the mob from Chicago, looking for Eleanor, the singer in the saloon. With help from his sidekick, Smiley Burnette, Gene catches the mobsters, as well.

Just another silly B-western with horses and gunfights and old timey country songs sung at times when it really just didn't make any sense.

I could watch these everyday!

Pack-Giants-Pats, Morning Run

Seriously? The East Rutherford New Jersey Giants beat the Packers? In Green Bay? Man, tough to figure that one out. That guy Tynes, the kicker for the Giants, he essentially got himself fired by missing that game-winning field goal with 4 seconds left. Looks like, unless he screws up in the Super Bowl, his job might be safe now after that miracle kick from 47 yards to win the game and send all of Wisconsin into a state of depression.

Even though I grew up (fairly) close to the Meadowlands where the Giants play, I became a Bears fan, completely dissing my home state football teams. As a Bears fan I'm supposed to HATE everything about Green Bay... but come on, how can you hate Brett FARVE?! I was hoping the Pack would win 'cause New England-Green Bay in the Super Bowl would have been an incredible game! Oh well. What we're lookin' at now:

New England		45
Giants		10

That's pretty much a blow out. (sorry, Nazz.) I actually think giving the Giants a TD & a field goal is fairly generous. The Patriots' defense is just gonna crush Eli Manning.

Like I said, Packers-Patriots would have been a great game (probably.)

Monday Morning Run: 16 minutes 35 seconds	(+8)
·indoors·

Run Time - January:

2 hours 22 minutes

Decided to wake up way before work today to get a run in this morning rather than tonight after my shift is over. Unfortunately I'm continuing to not have a decent rate at which I'm running ... what I mean is it's been almost 3½ days since my last one. Not good. Just plain and simple not good. However many runs I've had this month so far, it's not enough and it should be more. Hopefully I can redeem myself.

And due to not timing my Playlist correctly, I only added 8 seconds today. Whoops. I guess that's better than adding 0 seconds. And running for 16½ minutes is better than not running at all. Gotta look at it positively!!

Not a bad time on the track indoors once again. Fairly easy run it was. Back for about 30 minutes now, showered and ready to get back in my truck to go work... and I'm feelin' great! I almost feelin' like I wanna run AGAIN when my shift's over at 9 tonight! Not gonna happen, one a day's good enough. Can't anyway -- the Sarah Conner Chronicles is on. I don't usually give a crap about TV shows on in primetime, the new TV season means nothing to me, but this late season starter I've seen all 3 times now and tonight's #4. Great freakin' show!!



Running tunes from
the album of the day...44 sec

Chris Tomlin

See The Morning

2006






How Can I Keep From Singing?
Made To Worship
Let God Arise
Everlasting God
Glory In The Highest
Awesome Is The Lord Most High
Glorious
Uncreated One
Rejoice
Let Your Mercy Rain
Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)

For good heaping helping of Christian bands/artists, there's a song or two that I've heard before when I once spent some time listening to a pretty cool Christian radio station. I often tried to catch the weekly Top 20 Countdown and that kept me current on much of what was popular in the world of Christian radio. Made To Worship by Chris Tomlin was without a doubt on that Top 20 at one time, and probably for a whole bunch of weeks and probably, quite possibly, it hit #1 for a week or two. So based on that I wanted to check out his music in the future and this morning the future arrived, well, actually today was the third listen for this album in a few days now.

Really good tunes here. Tomlin, I believe I read, is the worship leader at a church in Austin, Texas... so it makes sense that much of what he writes is heavy on praise. A lot of other popular artists often write songs which praise the Lord but don't call out His name at all. Not the case here. And I think it's because of that that the music doesn't fully stray into Play It Loud territory. A few songs have a pretty fast pace to them... but much of this is more closer to the land of softer adult contemporary -- less loud guitars, more comforting than window rattling. Probably nothing here that can reach out and appeal to the unchurched. This is definitely not that kind of music. Overall it's not bad. I could see myself listening to it again eventually.

There's a pretty good review at Christian Music Today.

128 kbps dload @ Música Cristã MP3

Mutterings of the Global Warming Kind

There's something so not right about 18° (-8°C) this time of the year.

Global warming is a myth? Whatever. We were 20 degrees ABOVE normal today. Hel-loooo? I think we're probably all doomed. Alaska's going to turn to mush and be consumed by the oceans. It's just not right. Then again, it probably won't concern me too much; I'm probably not gonna be livin' here forever... but then again then again you never can tell. Oh wait, then again then again then again wherever I am, probably New Hampshire, I'll still feel the crappy warmth in winter there, too. A snowless New England in winter? It would not surprise me within my lifetime. I'm not sayin' Al Gore's the environment god we should all bow down to, nor am I sayin' we, human beings, are in any kind of super-dire emergency... but it's happening and certain nations ::cough::U.S.::cough::China::cough:: just don't care. I shouldn't say the United States doesn't care but Republicans seem to not care as much as Dems, seems they'd rather favor corporations who will make more money by polluting instead of telling them they have to settle for making not as much money by cleaning up their acts. Oh, that and the fact that we're still addicted to oil. Lobbyists for the auto industry and the oil companies have politicians in the palms of their hands. Of course America could switch to having all new cars use alternative fuel engines... but why? There's still oil to use. It doesn't matter if gasoline costs $3.00 a gallon, people still keep paying for it.

So it all continues. Oil-based pollution keeps filling the atmosphere. Every single month and every single year what happens? That INCREASES, yes, there's more and more and more of it screwing things up. The Earth's population keeps increasing: more people need cars, more oil, more gasoline, more industry, more pollution... more global warming.

On the plus side, because we weren't in negative temps today, I finally decided to take my friend Jan up on going dogsledding. Her brother raises and trains sled dogs and on the weekends she helps him out and told me to stop on by. Fun time, I tell ya what. It's fascinating being in the wilderness, everything is white, air is crisp, a dozen dogs pulling a sled just as they have for hundreds of years across the Arctic and sub-Arctic regions. It's interesting how they actually love what they're doing. It's not like they're slaves doing something they hate. They get joy from working in that way.

I just wish my dog was half a decade younger and didn't have a bit of arthritis... I don't know how well he'd do compared to true sled dogs but Samoyeds have dogsledding (amongst other things like reindeer herding) in their ancestry. The first ever dog, named Etah, to reach the South Pole was a Samoyed. They're not used very much anymore for sledding but he (my dog) mighta had fun with it. Ahhh well. He's had a good life. In any case, good day today ... hmmm, technically that was yesterday but since I'm still awake from yesterday it feels like it's still today.

Anyhoo... wow, I didn't intend to type all that. All I was gonna do was say: It's cold but not as cold as it has been... but like I often do, I got carried away. Sometimes it's good to just let the fingers go where the mind is wandering. Why not?!

All done for the time being...

How about now...

Unconscious Mutterings

a free association game -- I say ... and you think ... ?

1. President :: Lincoln ... Honest Abe!

2. Stare :: off into space

3. Embrace :: hug

4. Movie :: Holiday Affair ... i just recorded it to watch soon. I'm not sure if I've seen the original but am definitely looking forward to it.

5. Everything :: band from rural northern Virginia ... I knew a girl who lived in a nearby town, the name of which is escaping me but it starts with an S ... ohhhh man, I've never forgotten the name of this town until now... I gotta check my atlas........ Sperryville and in January of '95 I went and picked her up to drive her to a new home with her best friend in California. I was in Sperryville for about a week and Summer (her name, from hippie parents) loved driving around my [VW] bus and one place we went was a cool old farmhouse in the rural countryside along the Blue Ridge Mountains near Sperryville and there in that house the band Everything lived and worked. I don't know if they all lived in the house but it was their base of operations, complete with a credit card machine connected to a phone line for merchandising purposes. This was a few years before they had a hit song in the movie The Waterboy and just after they were on a tour opening for the Dave Matthews Band. Fun time.

6. Profile :: information

7. Satire :: comedy

8. Erratic :: driving

9. Costume :: Halloween

10. Secretary :: Of State

shoot me

For some insane reason I've done it again -- I watched a movie that no one on Earth has any legitimate reason to watch. Why? Why do I do this?? I don't pay that much extra for plenty of movie channels but the few I do have always give me a choice to see something I never have before... so why do I sometimes choose the absolute worst movie that's on?! Kinda makes no sense to me whatsoever.

Dr. Chopper

straight-to-video, 2005

0 stars out of 5

starring: no one known by anyone anywhere...
except perhaps Costas Mandylor

The question is: why would someone make or appear in this movie? Seriously, would a struggling actor really want this blemish on their résumé? Seriously... why?! I suppose if pure schmaltzy crap is what you're into, then this is a high point because that's all this movie is. I'm actually embarrassed that I watched it and everyone involved in its production should be embarrassed and ashamed, as well.

Twenty years ago, a doctor experimenting with body parts runs away when he's wanted by the police for abducting patients. Fast forward to the present day when Nick, after his mom's passing, learns she had a cabin in the mountains. He, his girlfriend, another couple and a frat bro head up there to check it out. Well, guess who lives in the area? Dr. Chopper, yup, uh huh, and in that region people have been disappearing for years. Mayhem ensues.

The story itself, for a horror flick, isn't that bad. Everything else nearly completely or totally fails. Some of the actors do work their hardest to put in a sincere performance of their character but overall there is so much bad acting and incompetent directing, plus horrible writing, cheap effects... it's all just a long, drawn out mess. It's really almost more of a comedy. Costas Mandylor has a small part as a State Parks Ranger who's exiled himself to this "elephant's graveyard" where not a lot of tourists go anymore, a place he can just drink himself to death over the loss of a loved one. I've seen Mandylor a few times in this and that, including the TV series that made him someone in Hollywood, Picket Fences, where he's been decent to watch as an actor. Here: WORST ACTING EVER (or at least right up there, or perhaps I should say down there in those ranks. So sad.)

What is good about this movie? Nothing. Wait... there's actually a small twist in the plot that was pretty unexpected. Usually tripe like this is straightforward crap with nothing unpredictable whatsoever. While the twist was a surprise, it doesn't save the movie at all. Such a small budget, a 10¢ script, a director who obviously has no sense of good film making, and no good actors doomed it completely.

In all honestly -- in watching Dr. Chopper I've wasted some of my life and typing all of this up about it, well, that has just added to it. Yay.

For every Brah, Betty, Benny, Barney, and Beachcomber...

It's Christmas All Year!!!! Wooohoooo! Actually I'm not really excited and those exclamation points are just for effect and since I'm mentioning that, I guess my cover's been blown, huh?

In reality I hate Christmas. It's true. One of the reasons that I'll mention is I'm sickened that in the United States, Christmas seems to be about the dollar sign and not much more than that. But then again, consumer spending in the month of December is extremely important for the economy. Sort of a double-edged sword kinda deal, I suppose. It's just nuts the way people run around like crazy... and not just shopping and more shopping... and then some more shopping but parties and [shaking my head here, not even sure what else to add] ... kids Christmas pageants/school plays? Family get-togethers. Did I mention parties? This past Christmastime I worked during our "office" party. HAAA! While a buttload of my co-workers enjoyed themselves, I was drivin' around town in an ambulance takin' care of people. EMS doesn't take time off. Someone had to work. And then I even worked on Christmas, as well.

I do dig Christmas music, though. I don't really have anything against it, except for that God awful Grandma Got Whacked By A Reindeer song. Too much Christmas music would drive me insane. But when I have control over how much I hear, that's okay. And since too much of it in December leading up to the 25th would begin to make me have thoughts of blowing away a mall full of shoppers, when there's so many albums to sample, why play it during only the last month of the year? Why not play it year-freakin'-round? Hey, methinks that ain't a bad idea.

It's Christmas All Year

Volume 1-'08

Surfin' Christmas

Twelve Yule-Tide Classics

by
The Wave Benders






God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
What Child Is This
Deck The Halls
The Twelve Days Of Christmas
Do You Hear What I Hear
We Three Kings
Joy To The World
Jingle Bells
Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer
Silent Night
Little Drummer Boy
We Wish You A Merry Christmas

I had no idea if this CD would be any good. My first impression was that it's not bad; it would be perfect for a Hawaiian-themed Christmas party. Giving it a second listen I was more impressed. Right from the get-go, this is some well-made music. Who these "Wave Benders" are I have no clue, but they're good musicians and each arrangement of these songs is quite interesting and definitely different than the norm. Different can be good! Here it is. Truly I thought this novelty would be sort of a one-off listen kinda deal, that it would be cast aside never to be listened to again... but I'm not sure that's the case. I just might find myself bustin' this out one day again, crankin' it up and dreamin' of catchin' some waves on Christmas Day.

256 kbps dload right here
Surfin' Christmas

SoCal surf shop window art by Zoé
See more @ www.zoesurfart.com