September 25, 2004
Choking the chicken ...
Ozzy, the dog who gives chase constantly but never nabs his prey, finally caught up with what he was after. It was a rooster that apparently wandered away from the safety of its home. I looked up and saw Ozzy chasing it along the shore of Melton Hill Lake until he finally nabbed it, prompting me to charge after him, telling him to let it go. By then, Xena was on the case, too.
The whole thing ended up looking like that scene from Gilligan's Island when the mars rover lands on the island and the castaways get ready to broadcast their images back to "earth." But they end up covered in chicken feathers, thanks to a goof-up by Gilligan, prompting NASA to think Mars is populated by strange chicken people.
Ozzy and Xena, each with a mouth full of feathers, are chasing the rooster. I'm chasing Ozzy and Xena. And somewhere in the commotion, the roster limps off into the woods. I don't think he was too badly hurt. Just winged.
Posted by Bob Benz at 10:53 PM | Comments (2)
Kill Your Idols
I read Kill Your Idols a while ago, but it's worth a mention. It's a series of essays by Generation X and Y rock critics. The premise is pretty simple. Take aim at classic rock icons and open fire.
It's a lot like shooting trout in a barrel. The essays range from fun to obvious to annoying. The best one (and I'm prejudice here) is by my friend Leanne. She takes on Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Pronounced" album. But she turns it more into a commentary on Southern culture, which is incredibly on the mark. To quote:
"I'm here to tell you that the definitive Southern rock band is handing you an F-350 truckload of bombastic, sentimental bullshit. Its vision of the South as a land of rebels resisting all things modern, intellectual and Northern is as outdated as hoop skirts, and was even when the band made its debut in 1973."
Other essays tackle everything from the Dead Kennedys to the Byrds. It's fun in the way top 100 lists are fun. I didn't even realize some of these albums were part of the canon. There were several I'd never heard. And when you look at the critics' favorite albums in the back of the book, it's amusing to note some of them list music that's targeted in "Kill Your Idols."
Definitely worth picking up for anyone who grew up with classic rock as their soundtrack ...
Now Playing: Long Black Veil from the album The Pizza Tapes by Jerry Garcia, David Grisman & Tony Rice
Posted by Bob Benz at 10:29 PM | Comments (6)
September 18, 2004
Wireless tunes ...
I finally broke down and bought an AirPort Express, Apple's cool little wireless base station. I put it off for a while because I bought an AirPort Extreme that I was never able to get to work properly.
This was a completely different story. I purchased it so I can stream music from my computer to our stereo. The setup went flawlessly, and now I'm listening to the new CDs I purchased and loaded onto the computer. It's much cooler and easier to access music through iTunes and stream it to the stereo than it is to sift through hundreds of CDs and load them into a CD player. My iTunes music collection is now more than 4,600 songs (about 14.5 days worth of music), and I have quick and easy access to all of it.
During a recent flight, I listened to CSN&Y's Deja Vu through my iPod and was floored by what an incredible CD it is. It had been a while since I'd listened to it. That's put me on a CSN&Y binge, during which I purchased:
-- "If I Could Only Remember My Name," a solo album by David Crosby that includes most of the members of the Grateful Dead, several folks from Jefferson Airplane, Neil Young and Graham Nash. It's awesome. I'd never heard of it until I caught a tune from it on WDVX. It's now on regular rotation.
-- Manassas by Stephen Stills. I've only listened to it once, but I like it already. I really wanted a copy of Super Session with Mike Bloomfield but CD Universe didn't have one (is it even out on CD? If not, it should be. Their version of Donovan's Season of the Witch is incredible.)
-- Four Way Street by CSN&Y. Another great purchase.
And one departure from my binge:
-- "Shuffletown," by Eric Taylor. He's right up there with Townes Van Zandt in my book. Incredible songwriter.
Now Playing: Cowgirl In The Sand from the album Four Way Street (Disc 1) [Live] by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
Posted by Bob Benz at 2:13 PM | Comments (3)
Kiosk chaos
When the airlines started switching to kiosks for check-in, I was ecstatic. This made things faster and had a definite appeal to my inner geek.
On Friday morning, I learned painfully that most people still prefer interfacing with humans. As a long line snaked out in front of the Delta kiosks, "normal" people grappled with technology. And the humans weren’t winning.
For some, just sliding a credit card through the reader was a Sisyphean task. Others wandered aimlessly through the array of menus and selections the kiosk presented. One man fought the machine for 20 minutes before a harried Delta agent looked at the printed copy of the passenger's itinerary.
"You're going to Harrisburg through Cleveland?"
The flustered passenger nodded, shamed by his technological shortcomings.
"That's a Continental flight. This is Delta. Go down to the other end of the airport."
Travel Bob then stepped forward, undaunted, ready for his shot at the machine.
I swiped my credit card in the reader, punched my way through the buttons and watched with satisfaction as the kiosk spit out my ticket like a fallen boxer coughing up teeth.
Posted by Bob Benz at 11:41 AM | Comments (1)
September 6, 2004
Six Feet Under ... my theory
For Six Feet Under Fans ...
At the close of last week's episode, there were previews of the season finale, during which Nate has a eureka moment looking at a photo of Lisa on the beach taken shortly before she died. Someone had to take the photo, right? And that person would be a suspect? Maybe Lisa didn't die by misadventure or her own hand.
My theory, which came to me yesterday as I watched Ozzy in yet another fruitless squirrel pursuit at the lake:
Lisa was murdered ... by Billy, Brenda's wacko brother. Here's the method to my madness. Billy is a photographer (thus the photo). He has tangled with Nate in the past. His incestuous feelings toward Brenda resulted in a major rift with her. In Billy's twisted mind, he decides that if he kills Lisa he can get back near Brenda again. Lisa's death paves the way for Brenda and Nate to get back together (which has happened). Basically, Billy decided that if Brenda is with Nate and happy, he has a better chance of circling back and re-establishing his relationship with her. A happy Brenda is a Brenda more likely to re-bond with Billy. And Billy has re-established his relationship with Brenda. Also, kinda interesting that Billy shows up as the new instructor for Claire's class. Coincidence? I think not. Now Billy just needs to deal with Nate ...
Or maybe my interpretation is as empty as Ozzy's pursuit of the squirrel, which by the time I had hashed out my theory was dancing merrily in the branches above a frustrated Osbourne, taunting him wihtout pity.
Posted by Bob Benz at 9:08 AM | Comments (5)