Meanwhile in the land of good music

I was going to write this long post about Levon Helm and the sound of American music. But forget it, I'm old and tired and if you don't get it I probably can't explain it to you.

Shut up and learn something.

UGH

This should probably go without saying. But Will.I.Am is not this generation's Bob Dylan. And anyone who makes that comparison deserves to have their product die and quick a death.

Bob Dylan wrote songs that mattered and were about important subjects and changed people's lives. And when I say he changed people's lives the people I mean include Paul McCartney, John Lennon, Bruce Springsteen and Brian Wilson.

His songs include the lonesome death of hattie carroll, we shall be released, master's of war, tangled up in blue, blowin' in the wind and like a rolling stone.

Will.I.Am is responsible for let's get retarded and my humps.

Dear Pepsi,

Are you SERIOUS?

Every rose has it's thorns

Currently listening to Every Rose has it's thorns, the original hair metal ballad. Look, Poison sucks, but every crappy band/singer/artist usually has one great song in them. Don't believe me, how about this: Ice Ice Baby.

15 years later every one in my age group can recite you all the lyrics to that one. Also, someone please tell Kelly Clarkson that "My Life Would Suck Without You," is the worst song title since "Honky Tonk Badondakadonk."

And no, I have no Idea how to spell Badonkadonk. In the comment section below tell me of your most horrific band who gave you one great song.

That or your best concert experience. Mine was B.B. King in Washington D.C. He sat down the whole time and still sang and played better than everyone in today's top 100.

IKIRU

There was a blog question about your favorite movie on one of the blogs I read. The forst one that came to mind was Ikiru. It's Akira Kurasawa's take on It's A Wonderful Life. The movie opens with Ikiru, a mid level bureacrat in postwar Japan learning that he's got a fatal illness. He does what many people would do in that situation, he drinks, he parties, he tries to reconcile with his grown son.

... And, ultimately he finds a purpose. I don't want to tell you more. I don't want to ruin it. Go buy it, you'll love it.

Who watches the Saturday morning Watchmen

It is really, really disturbing. Watchmen Cartoon

Grandma roadtrip

So a couple of months ago my grandmother showed up at my door at 8:15 a.m.

Grandma: Are you off today?

Brady: (long pause) uhhhh yes.

Grandma: I need you to take me to a funeral in Blakely.

Brady: (long pause) uhhhh ok.

Grandma needed me to drive because the funeral was in the afternoon and granddad didn't want her driving after dark. So, at about 11 a.m. we're off.

Brady: Umm do you know how to get to Blakely?
Grandma: Yes.

Turned out that the real answer to that question was I knew how to get to Blakely 20 years ago but now I'm not so sure.

We got to the Interstate and it became clear that she really wasn't sure which road to turn on. The road was near the Interstate and after asking the UPS guy at Subway for directions we found it.

Brady: Uhhh Grandma, when we get to Blakely do you know which funeral home to go to?
Grandma: There's only one funeral home in Blakely.

Actually there was only one funeral home in Blakely 20 years ago. We passed three funeral homes on the way into the city.

Luckily the helpful person at McDonalds told us which funeral home to go to. But when we got there grandma seemed confused. She pointed out that she didn't recognize the people who were going into the funeral home. I thought, oh dear is there really a funeral today? Does grandma really know these people? Is she having a senior moment that has now cost me my day off?

Then, the people she knew arrived and it was all good. Well as good as things were going to get at a funeral.

I really didn't know the woman, other than I was somehow related to her and she used to be Ted Turner's girlfriend.

Still in the car Grandma told me stories. She pointed out a church where the members erected a sign that says that only church members could be buried in their cemetery. Apparently, years ago someone wanted to bury a child who was not the right color and there was a fight. And now, there is a sign.

She also talked about her most memorable birthday. She was a teenager and it was her birthday and the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor.

That's right kids my grandmother and Vito Corleone share a birthday. Which confirms some theories I've had about my family connections to The Family.

Fear the Dixie Mafia.

The wine was sour so I threw it out

Watching The Agony and the Ecstacy. It's about Michelangelo painting the Sistine Chapel. It is quite quite good. It's about the struggle of the artist to remain true to his craft even when idiots and bullies and fools stand in the way. It was a movie I needed to see today.

The central struggle is Pope Julius II vs. Michelangelo. The pope wants the ceiling painted and wants it to be good and quick and cheap. Michelangelo tries to do this but discovers that the wine is sour.
So, he throws paint on everything and runs away. While away he has a vision from God, comes back to the pope, who wants to hang him, and tells him how it's gonna be. Which leads to this exchange.

Soldier: That's not what you wanted.
Pope: No, I wanted a ceiling. He wants a miracle.

Heh ...

Here's what wikipedia has to say: The composition eventually contained over 300 figures and had at its center nine episodes from the Book of Genesis, divided into three groups: God's Creation of the Earth; God's Creation of Humankind and their fall from God's grace; and lastly, the state of Humanity as represented by Noah and his family. On the pendentives supporting the ceiling are painted twelve men and women who prophesied the coming of the Jesus. They are seven prophets of Israel and five Sibyls, prophetic women of the Classical world.

Pope: When will you make an end of it?
Michaelangelo: When it is finished!