Tuesday, March 31, 2009

More Recommends

Hey everyone,
It's Mike again with another Wednesday. Today I thought I would expand on something from last week and present a list of new recommends from my dad.

My dad happens to be one of Adam's favorite conversation topics of mine, because all of the stories that involve him have some sort of ridiculous scenario. The joke at the bar, the Tommy Hilfiger outlet, the Disneyworld birds (Adam might not know this one), but these are all classic stories that involve my dad getting impatient, or asking for a ridiculous request. Ask me about these one time and I will gladly spin you a yarn.

Anyway, I was talking to my dad last week and asked him what his favorite albums were. I was a little shocked by his answers because he doesn't own any real albums (which I will explain in a sec), and only listens to the radio. I also got his fave movies. Here's his list:

Music:
The Beatles - The White Album
The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper
Fleetwood Mac - s/t
Fleetwood Mac - Rumours
E.L.O. - Greatest Hits

Movies:
Gunga Din
The Outlaw Josey Wales
The Searchers
Red River
Lawrence of Arabia

My childhood experience with these albums is a little off balance. I was exposed to a fair amount of Fleetwood Mac and E.L.O., but it was my mom who used to play these all the time, and not my dad. He was always playing Vivaldi's Four Seasons on cassette, or the oldies station. And I really was not even exposed to much Beatles growing up. Probably 8 years ago, I rummaged through his old records and found all of these albums there, plus a slew of other classic stuff. It was surprising finding some of these here because he never previously expressed interest in the Beatles, and around the time I was getting into them, he always seemed like he was turned off by them. Also, he doesn't own any CDs, preferring songs to whole albums. Another thing I found amusing while searching through his records was when I came to the self titled Fleetwood Mac album. On the back of the album he had checked off in pencil the songs that he enjoyed the most. I guess he needed the reminder that "Rhiannon" is a good song. I will say that in the years since, he seems to have taken a liking to the Beatles again.

I will say that his movie picks are not for everyone. Three of the movies here are Westerns, and the most recent of these five is The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976). However, I actually am a fan of all of these movies.

Lawrence of Arabia is actually on my Top 5 movie list as well. It has some of the best camera work in movie history, and is one of the most epic movies ever conceived. If you are a history buff, more specifically military history, this is required viewing. It takes during World War I, and when I think about it, I can't think of a better depiction of that era than this movie. The man's story it chronicles, T.E. Lawrence, had a pretty incredible life. The whole movie basically shows how he went from the lowly ranked soldier, to a commander of an army in a relatively short amount of time. Anyway, read more here:


Anyway, that's it for me. More next week...

Live Blog!! Chris Q&A!! One Day Only!!!

Hi Everyone!!!

Today, we're doing something very special and very interactive. I didn't have time to look into any of your old recommendations, so tell me about some new stuff and I'll riff on it ON THE SPOT.

Leave a comment and let me know about something that I can easily look into here at work. A song, a youtube clip, a piece or art, a poem, a weirdo on Facebook...anything. I'll look into and give you my thoughts on it ON THE SPOT.

Unadulterated, unedited and totally off the wall!


Okay, hit me up with some stuff.

And check back often, because this thing is getting updated up until 4:45PM EST.

At 11:10AM, Baltimore City Department of Public Works Bureau of Solid Waste recommends:
We recommend that you place your solid waste into trash cans with tight fitting lids and to never to leave your trash outside in just a plastic bag. Only cans with lids keep trash contained, prevent litter and discourage rodents, stray animals and other pests.
Chris responds:
Seriously, BCDOPWBOSW?? You mean I've been putting bags of garbage on my sidewalk for 8 months, and NOW you're telling me its not cool? Now you're telling me [albeit through a mass glossy postcard junk mailing that I'm paranoidly thinking was your way of talking directly to me since you were too scared to say it directly to my face] you're going to fine me $50? Get out of here with your rodent talk. You're the pest in this scenario, dawgs. Scram!
Next!

At 11:14AM, Chris Laun recommends:
How about that Tracy Morgan interview I sent you yesterday.
Chris responds:
I agree 100% with the notion that I didn't care for Tracy Morgan before 30 Rock and his subsequent talk show appearances. I feel bad that I didn't realized that he was always a lunatic. This interview is pure insanity. Its a 20-minute run-on sentence, only disrupted periodically by radio station identification. Its truly a work of art. I can only hope that this is how Adam acts on WJZ on Friday.
At 11:36AM, Michael Ward recommends:
I recommend the hot dog from Five Guys. How about giving it a try for lunch?
Chris responds:
Sorry Mike...If I were to prioritize [or even meet] your request, it might be seen as a conflict of interest, since you're a fellow scribe. On a purely personal level, I might consider this recommendation. But I will NOT be writing about my enjoyment of it on this blog.
At 11:41AM: Heather Vandenburg of Ithaca, NY recommends:
[I recommend a reaction to] how.. .you feel about all this crazy quiz taking going on on facebook? huh? huh?
Chris responds:
I don't like it, Heather. Its old-hat to complain about the new Facebook homepage layout, but it bears repeating...its HORRIBLE. I have no idea what's going on anymore. There is nothing even remotely highlighty about the "Highlights" column. And these crazy quizzes that you mention? These things are for the birds. The myspacing of Facebook is upon us and there's no turning back. Start sailing to the New World, Heather.
At 12:09PM, Adamhop recommends:
why don't you talk about how to make a mockery of a perfectly nice blog!?
Chris responds:
Adam, I know you still think of this as your blog, but its not anymore. Its OURS. We can do what we want. We have free reign. Live-blogging is a perfectly respectable way of blogging. It toes the line between chatting and blogging. Its really free and liberating. And thusfar, my grammar has been spot-on. Granted I haven't responded to any substantial recommendations yet, but I'm getting there. You built it, and now I'm coming. Deal with it.
At 12:40PM, Jeska recommends:
Also, I finally realized a week or so ago what was going on with Rick's bizarre closings. I think he could really take this a long way as an interactive performance art, by posting comments on strangers blogs merely containing the closing. [I recommend that you post your] Thoughts?
Chris responds:
I must have been upgraded to a Plus Membership, because I know no longer have to decipher what these crazy words say, so I'm afraid I can't relate. I have nothing to say on the matter, except for that I wish Ricky B the best in this or any other future endeavors. If he builds it, I will go.


At 12:46PM, T.J. recommends:
hmm... yes - perhaps my idea was a bit too broad... how about... blueberry muffins or big trampolines... whats your thoughts on those?
Chris responds:
Tough choice. As a kid, there were many foods that I decided that I didn't like. Pickles, beets, onions, chocolate, blueberries and muffins. As I grew older I came to a philosophical understanding that it's ridiculous for a human being to be disgusted by the taste of anything. All things taste good. The world is imperfect yet perfect. So, I've slowly been teaching my taste buds to enjoy the tastes that the childhood me had jeered. I've come around on muffins in the biggest of ways... but blueberries, I'm still trying to fully appreciate those. So, while I'm decidedly indifferent to trampolines of ANY size, the big trampoline still wins this battle hands down, as of this moment. You might want to resubmit this question for my next Q&A.


Sorry, everybody.

Monday, March 30, 2009

________ Sundays

This one is going to be a little bit of a recommends stretch for me. Since some of my fellow bloggers have gone a little bit outside of the box, I decided to do so for this Monday post because it is something that I feel strongly about.

This is the concept of _______ Sundays. It should be read like Richard Lewis' "The ______ from Hell." For the purpose of this post, ________ should just be read as "blank." The idea of ______ Sundays was suggested to me by our Thursday poster TJ Huff back when we were in our undergrad. However his ________ always takes the very specific format of Coltrane Sundays. There are no set rules for Coltrane Sundays, other than you try to make it a point to listen to some music by John Coltrane every Sunday. To me this is a great idea, and I try to do this religiously, like most people who go to church on Sundays. Sometimes I get way into this idea and listen to a whole lot of Coltrane, and some Sundays I just listen to a song or two. As I type this I realize that I haven't gotten my Sunday dose of any Coltrane today, but with a half hour remaining I can't think of a better way to close the weekend. Currently listening to "Chasin' the Trane (Live)" from Disc One of The Complete 1961 Village Vanguard Recordings. We'll see where we go from there. I hope TJ chimes in to enlighten us more as to his reasoning for the invention of Coltrane Sundays, and exactly when that happened. He is truly the biggest fan of John Coltrane's music that I know (and I know a lot of people who love him) and I suspect that he just wanted to make sure that he always makes time to appreciate his music.


So, my recommendation to you isn't necessarily to participate in Coltrane Sundays, because you might hate the music of John Coltrane. My recommendation is to find something that you love to do, or a musician that you love more than the rest and dedicate just a little bit of time one day a week (Sunday IS the perfect day) to make sure you appreciate that thing. You owe yourself. It is really easy to get caught up in the day-to-day of things we NEED to do, that sometimes we don't allow ourselves the luxery of listening to our favorite jazz saxophonist even for just one song that takes up five (or fifteen) minutes. That is a shame.
So, I urge you to find your own ______ and make sure you appreciate that thing at least one a week. Please let the Friends Recommends readers know if you have chosen a ______ for your ______ Sundays. It might catch on big like TJ's Coltrane Sundays.

My second pick was "Impressions (Live)" (Eric Dolphy!) from the same disc and album as "Chasin' the Trane" and my third will be "Everytime We Say Goodbye" from My Favorite Things.

Friday, March 27, 2009

Tom Waits

This post is actually specifically about Rain Dogs. The reason for the title just being Tom Waits is because a number of people have recommended him as a general artist (George mentioned Tom Waits, and Jessica Tom Waits early(ier) years, whatever time period that means). Chris Laun recommended Rain Dogs specifically, so I am going to chalk this up as an 80% Laun recommends with 10% George and 10% JeskA thrown in. OK?

I've been meaning to post about Rain Dogs for some time now. My problem was that even though a number of people have told me how great of an album it is, it never really hit me as a Tom Waits favorite. Before two weeks ago my favorite Tom Waits album was without question Mule Variations. I would have nothing of anyone ever telling me that there was a better Tom Waits album, because Mule Variations is near perfect. It has goofy tracks, painful heart-wrenching ballads, Primusy tracks, creepy tracks about creepy neighbors, and everything in between. I was pretty much set with my favorite Tom Waits album for the rest of my life. About two weeks ago I decided to do a post on the Chris Laun Rain Dogs recommendation. After listening to Rain Dogs a couple times through I can now only say that Mule Variations is probably my favorite Tom Waits album, it is no longer definite. P.S. before I completely move on from Mule Variations. I recommend the whole album, that is for sure. It works well in it's entirety, and I think from start to finish it is extremely well crafted. A lot of variety from song to song, but that gives the album a great overall arch. Also, there are some top notch musicians on it, including bassist Greg Cohen (Masada, Ornette Coleman), Les Claypool (Primus), Marc Ribot (to be discussed further), and others. While I love all the tracks, some standouts for me are Big In Japan, Hold On, House Where Nobody Lives, Black Markey Baby, Chocolate Jesus, and maybe you should just buy the album.

After all of this praise for Mule Variations I can honestly say that I highly recommend Rain Dogs as well. Where the mood of Mule Variations is overall that of a rainy day and leans towards the depressing side, Rain Dogs sounds like a circus of pirates and muppets overall. It is pretty far to the outer edges of pop music in terms of accessibility, and actually took me a couple listens before I even decided that I liked it. And now I am listening as I type this post and realize that I love this album. Clap Hands just came on and I feel myself almost singing along. Anyway, one of my favorite parts of Rain Dogs is the wide range of instruments Waits used to get the sound. A quick visit to the Rain Dogs Wikipedia entry and a quick scroll down to personell will give you the rundown of exactly which instruments are on the album, but some strange highlights are the use of percussion instruments (most standout being marimba), organ, accordian, banjo, and a variety of horn, string and woodwind instruments. This wide scope of instruments paired with Waits' voice gives us an album that is completely unlike any other. It is also notable for being the first time that Waits hired jazz-based guitar wizard Marc Ribot, and Keith Richards of some famous rock band contributes additional guitar. Check out this one for sure. If you don't like it at first, I suggest you keep listening and it might grow. It did for me.

I have to make a special note of the sequence of the last three songs on the album, Downtown Train, Bride of Rain Dog, and Anywhere I Lay My Head. This might be the best concluding sequence of any album I've ever heard. It really ties the whole thing together. I don't have a link to Bride of Rain Dog, but here is a great video for Downtown Train followed by a live recording of Anywhere I Lay My Head from 2008. It is really great to listen to the Rain Dogs version and then listen to the 2008 version and hear how much lower his voice is now. Amazing! Enjoy. Also, I am too tired to go back and edit this post (which I normally do). You can just deal with it!




Thursday, March 26, 2009

gateway posting

this recommendeering is going to use cory's recommendations as a catalyst for the theme. Cory Palmer gave us his list a long time ago... looong looooong time ago back when this blog was still in its infantile state... just learning to walk and spitting up cute things... ok...enough of that... (ireally overuse the "..." don't i?) anyway, i noticed a good theme in the arts section. Cory mentioned liking Dali and MC Escher.





I like to call these two artists "GATEWAY ARTISTS". And let me start off by saying that this in no way diminishes the role of these artists or the appreciation therein. But I find that there are some pretty universal artists that are responsible for getting people into a certain, albeit, harder-to-immediately-appreciate genre. Much in the same way that police officers who come to middle school assembly's and talk about the dangers of marijuana being a gateway drug, here we have two artists that are introduced to burgeoning middle schoolers at a pinnacle moment of their coming into art appreciation.. and later are responsible for leading them down the path of augmented and expanded appreciations. MC Escher and Dali, I feel, are specifically responsible for me becoming an artist as well as a majority of people who started their artmaking at that impressionable middle school age. the two were able to combine thought provoking and easily-engageable content with a superior craft.. and do so in a somewhat comical way. So as middle schoolers we mimicked their style and probably tried to draw hyper-realistic eyeballs and drippy telephones on trapper keepers and such. We watched cartoons such as ren and stimpy, and in some of the weirder close-up shots in the show, we saw the craft and detail in the weird illustrations and all of the sudden that craft, detail and weirdness extended into the fine art world. After a year or two of exploring these artists and their respective ouevres, we then stumbled across'd other artists who employ a similar quality in craft, but now the content is in a higher echelon... and so on and so forth down the road until we come to a macroscopic, well-versed appreciation on all levels.





For instance, I now love the work of pierre puvis de chavannes, a french romantic scene painter, But I could never get to an appreciation of him if it didn't follow a certain path laid out... in fact, i bet i can trace it almost like the 6 degrees of kevin bacon.

mc escher > pablo picasso > vincent van gogh > honore daumier > eduard manet > pierre puvis de chavannes










similarly, i could add jean-michel basquiat and picasso to these gateway artists. people can easily get obsessed with these two outspoken gents and later find themselves moving along the evolutionary path of a blossoming spectrum of appreciation to later possibly include george condo or cy twombly.





i think this analogy of gateway artists extends to other fields of expression as well. For instance (and again i am speaking from my own perspective as well as those who i watched grow up around me) Led Zeppelin and Jimi Hendrix were gateway artists for those of us who later decided to be guitar players, and while I dont listen to them that often anymore, I could never get to appreciating people such as Nels Cline and Michio Kurihara without them. As for classical music, my gateway artists probably were both Frank Zappa and Mozart. Mozart being the obvious one... wrote some pretty influential works that people hear peripherally from a very young age. Be it at a doctors office, or a wedding/funeral... or in the Amadeus movie you have to watch in 7th grade music class.... anyway, the guy wrote great stuff... and without him i would've never even heard of brahms or bartok. The Frank Zappa is a more lateral approach... but coming from a 6th grader who liked guitars and rock music, my guitar teacher handed me frank zappa albums every so often and it was there that i first saw the appreciation of an orchestral approach to some non-orchestral music. i started to appreciate all sorts of instrumentations which i might've otherwise lept categorized to classical or soundtrack music at that age.

and on that same music front... as much as i hate to admit this... i used to like that band phish in high school... and while i am a bit ashamed of that fact, i do hold them responsible along with herbie hancock to get me into jazz and for that i am grateful. most directly, listening to those two got me coltrane's blue train for christmas one year (maybe 11th grade) and that album in turn led me to the appreciation i have for improvised music i now hold. those roots go back to phish and that makes me feel sheepish. but also... to comment on adam's seasonal albums... getting blue train for christmas has embedded that album as a christmas time album for the rest of my life.


lets seee... what else... i think kurt vonnegut is a great gateway author to remind you that reading can be enjoyable and weird... and it can open you up to a whole bunch of other novelists and short story folk.... hmm... that angle of the list is a bit limited (please feel free to expand it for me).

gateway films: (note here i am saying films as opposed to movies to assume a higher art factor than solely entertainment and boobs) i think amelie could be a good gateway film for people. It was entertaining, but the precision and nuance in the camera-work, reoccuring themes, post-production/ manipulation... all turne this movie into a cinematic art piece. i think wes andersons stuff also bridges that gap of entertainment and high art and gets people into liking fellini or seymour cassel's earlier films. im sure there's got to be other good examples i am not thinking of.


lastly, i am not saying that everyone will fall inline with the same steps of appreciation as i had in my formative / manipulative state... but it is nice to see that there are certain artists, who hold a special place in our hearts and are a vehicle for the apprecaition of other artists.... even if their limelight it sometimes short lived.... thanks cory for reminding me of this notion.... that being said... cory's selections also sat on the other end of the see-saw with respect to his Bartok String Quartets, Bach Cello Suites and Shostakovich Cello Concertos which have broadened my novice apprecation already.

no wait.... that wasn't lastly actually... it was preemptive to the reeeeal LASTLY... which is... if you adhere to this idea, i'd love to get a scope of what some of your gateway people might've been. or even if you think this ideas dumb... you can also comment and make some remark about how i smell funny or something.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

A Classic

It's Wednesday, I'm back. It's Mike here with my second post.

OK, so since recommendations are what this blog is all about, I thought I would start off with a quick and important recommend from my dad. Please listen. It's an invaluable piece of information.



As stated last week, I thought I would comment on something previously mentioned here in this blog. Going through all of these lists, I came to Jessica's, which lists a lot of good stuff, but It's a Wonderful Life stood out to me. I love this movie. My dad loves this movie.



He introduced it to me when I was a kid and I've watched it probably a hundred times. If you are one of the few who haven't seen this, it's an amazing movie. If you are at all interested in the movie's story, or want to read some really interesting facts about the movie, I suggest you go here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It%27s_a_wonderful_life


From the article:
The full extent of Mr. Potter's deviousness is never revealed to the other characters in the film, and he is never brought to account for sequestering the $8,000, although Capra filmed an alternate ending that was subsequently cut wherein Potter receives a "comeuppance".

They actually did this scene on a classic SNL sketch. I absolutely love this. Mr. Potter is arguably one of the biggest bastards in movie history, and this would have made the movie so much sweeter.



Another thing I like about this movie are the ways that George Bailey changed the lives of his friends and family by not being born. Uncle Billy ends up in an insane asylum because George wasn't there to keep him together mentally. Mary ends up unmarried (despite that she was the hottest chick in Bedford Falls when George was alive), old, and unattractive because George wasn't there. Harry dies during a sledding accident because George wasn't there to save him. The whole sequence of him not being born ends up being a little over the top (Bert the cop firing a gun into a crowd of people at George?), but I like this. It's part of the movie's charm. Besides these sparse moments, I still am moved by this movie every time I see it. I don't know of any other movie that I can say that about.

Anyway, more next week with a tidbit on something else.

Monday, March 23, 2009

Getting Curious With All Y'Alls

Hello everyone!!!

I will be this week's host of the Tuesday Show. I first met Adam when I was 12. We both grew up in west Glen Burnie. I had been expelled from school and Adam's parents couldn't afford to send him. As fate would have it, we both ended up at Arthur Slade Day Care, Monday through Friday, 7AM to 3:30PM. Along with our friend Karl, Adam and I made the most of our time together. We played Mario Brothers, sang hymns and Mr. Joshua taught us to climb trees. In the spring of 1994, upon having enrolled in high school, we helped remodel the Fabulous Whispers Restaurant and Lounge as our "last hurrah." I'll never forget those times.

I had a hard time choosing today's topic. Don't get me wrong. There's a lot of good stuff left to explore. Its just that I have to dedicate some time to actually exploring it. Its gonna be hard for me to say anything substantial about art. I can say that I love sleeveface a lot, but i don't know that I have a thousand words on it. These books are probably pretty long. These movies...shorter, but long. TV is somewhere between books and movies. I don't want to talk music two weeks in a row. I have to wait for the "right moment" to talk about food. And I don't want to talk about my own recommendations.

Which only really leaves "be curious" from Heather Van De Mark's list. Heather's list included far more intangibles than everyone else's. Its like a poor man's Mastercard commercial. I'm declaring the latter half of her list to be my go-to whenever I'm stumped on something to talk about.

Be Curious. What does it all mean?

To me, it means that I'm supposed to spy on people. But in a flattering, non-threatening, lovable way. I'm going to now go through everyone who's done one of these things and list one or two "interesting" tidbits about them that I found by digging deep into the internets. I'm not about to embarrass anyone. Its just that sometimes, we can all be shy. We might be proud of something, but we don't want to tell others about it, because either you think its silly or you don't want to come off as a showboat, or, in some cases, you might just be too dead. So, I'm going to let everyone know your little secrets for you. You can thank me later.

Let's meet some people.

  1. Adam Hopkins - Adam really hopes to ride the "Big O" in Montreal sometime soon and he's got a dog that loves to eat flies. Skateboarding doesn't owe him anything.
  2. Timothy Huff - Unfortunately, Timothy passed away on October 16th, 2008. I wish he had stuck around long enough to see this.
  3. Cory Palmer - Cory has a BA in Japanese, but now is unsure how "real worldy" such a degree is.
  4. Eric Hopkins - Eric is a great artist and an island child. As his work develops, he need to spend more time in the air looking for the answers he was looking for as an island child. How does man fit into the natural world? He finds them as he move through the deep flat space of his paintings.
  5. Jessica Matthews - Jessica told her eighth grade teacher that she wanted to write a book someday, but that day didn't come until some 20-odd years later when her youngest child was born. She tracked down said teacher and told her, "Sit on it, bitch."
  6. Matt Smiley - Matt used to get frisky with some other dude on MTV.
  7. Heather Van De Mark - This is not Heather's real name. The real Heather [Van Den Berg] finished in 177th when she participated in the Skunk Cabbage Classic Half Marathon. Congratulations, Heather!
  8. Todd Hargest - When still living in the old country, Todd's surname was "Swanson." Like many immigrants, upon his arrival to the United States, Todd changed it to the more Americanized "Hargest," a shout out to his high school, James Hargest College, where he was known for hurdling goalies.
  9. Michael Ward - In 2005, Michael was inducted into the "Ultime Combat de Clips" Hall of Fame, for his goofy cover version of the "Final Countdown."
  10. Christopher Myers -I have married Kyle Minor twice, but only once while wearing my good luck kilt. Knock on wood.
  11. George French - Even after retiring on February 1st from the Telegram and Gazette, George is still remembered as being true to his word, having never succumbing to "Byline Fever."
  12. Chris Laun - Chris is busy writing a Paul Simon parody song called "50 Ways To Maximize Your Brain Fitness." He's got all the ways down, but he's having a tough time figuring out rhyming names. He's currently stuck on "Make some blueberry pancakes, xxxxxxxxx." Good luck, Chris!
  13. Mike Gittings - Mike and the neighborhood kids are possibly the most boring bike riders ever.
  14. Ricky B - Ricky does not like to be forced to eat bread and salad, especially when he's on a budget. He's recently discovered shirts.
  15. Megan Rogers - Megan is growing up too quickly!
Thanks guys! I love you all!

Winter to Spring and the albums that take me there...

This is a bit of a diversion from my normal format here at Friends Recommends. Part of it is due to it getting late, and me getting tired, and me wanting to go to bed. I still have some great post ideas to be hashed out in the near future, but I couldn't get any of them together for tonight. I did have to take a trip to Annapolis today for a gig in the morning, and when I left the gig at 2 o'clock it was really something beautiful out. It definitely let me know that Spring is on the way. I am always very interested in pairing music with the seasons change, and I think certain albums fit real well with specific seasonal change. For instance, Mingus' "Ah Um" is the perfect album for the first Fall day of the year after a hot summer. It just really sets the table for Fall to make its way in. Bon Iver's "For Emma, Forever Ago" struck me as a perfect Winter album, and I'll most likely try to remember that next November. You get the idea.

So this post today is simply to recommend my top-5 favorite albums for this time of year, when Spring begins to show its face, when windows get rolled down for the first time in a long time while driving. Some albums are just meant to be heard with the windows down and played loud. I'm not sure why these five albums are NewSpring albums for me...the might not even strike you that way at all. All I can say is that I've always enjoyed these five albums the most at this time of year. They are great any time, but they will be great great in the coming weeks. If you don't have a car, because you live in NY or something, I recommend them to be playing in the ipod on a walk to work, or as you emerge from the subway to sunshine in the eyes. OK, here we go. I dont think these are in order.

1. The Arcade Fire "Funeral"--This album had it's own entire post just a few weeks ago. But I remember mentioning that this is my favorite time of year to hear it, so just consider this a reminder.

2. Radiohead "The Bends"--This one is more because of memories of a trip to Ocean City sometime while I was still in college. I remember Prevas being there, and Matthayes (where's the list, a-hole?), and Cree, etc. Anyway, I remember Fake Plastic Trees being played a lot on that trip when we drove up and down Coastal Highway, so this is forever an enter Springtime kind of album for me.

3. The Flaming Lips "Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots"
--Oh man, this one is too perfect with the windows down. Just do it. Take my word. The Soft Bulletin is more of a coldish album for me, but this one screams Spring. When I walked out of my gig this afternoon this is the first album that came to mind for me to listen to. It was great. Real great. Here is a video of Beck covering Do You Realize? from Yoshemi. Not as good as the original, but it's fun to hear.

4. Pavement "Brighen The Corners"
--My first Pavement album, thanks to BrotherHop. It is still my favorite even though no one seems to agree with me. Listen to the first three songs (Stereo, Shady Lane, Transport Is Arranged) and then tell me this isn't fighting for top honors in the Pavement discography. I don't believe you. Music video for Stereo.

5. Neutral Milk Hotel "In The Aeroplane Over The Sea"--Possibly the greatest indie rock album ever created, whatever that means. This is solid gold from start to finish. You should really have this one.

6. Beach Boys "Pet Sounds"--I might get crap for this because it is so obviously a summertime album, as the Beach Boys just seem to have that sound down. While that may be true, I can never hold off past the first few warm days before I have to listen to this one in it's entirety. One of the greatest albums EVER regardless of anything. God Only Knows might sit somewhere around number four on my list of all-time favorite songs. Great!

Friday, March 20, 2009

The Fountain (2006)--Darren Aronofsky


Let me begin this post by thanking, many times over, our guest bloggers for this week and for as long as they can stand to do it. I very much enjoyed each of the three posts from The Christopher Myers, Mike Ward, and Timothy J. Huff. Having four people currently posting here certainly keeps it fresh, and offers a much needed alternate perspective to my daily ramblings. I can't thank these guys enough. Over the course of a week they saved this blog from the path of destruction that it was headed it down. It may still be headed down that path, but it is at least going much, much slower now. And they seem to have big plans for future posts, so you will definitely want to stay tuned.

It looks like we have a Steve Colmus list coming in soon, and a second TJ, and I think a second BrotherHop as well. So it is still working like this: I post on Monday, TCM on Tuesdays, Wardo on Wednesdays, TJ on Thursdays, and lists on Fridays if we have them. If we don't have them I'll either do a second post for the week, or we'll have some rotational guest bloggers. Already, George and Colmus have expressed interest in guest blogging. That option is open to other people as well, if that have some insight they are dying to let loose via the world wide interweb. OK, great. Business taken care of. I hope the readers are enjoying the guest blog team posts as much as I am. Nothing quite on the level of a poopy Friendly's booth yet, but I'm sure we'll get there.

I had a couple of other ideas for a post today (it is great to have a couple ideas, BTW, and not be straining to come up with one!), but when I came to HSV's after my gig she had The Fountain just waiting to be watched. So we watched it, and I'm certainly glad that we did. She had already seen it, so had some clue as to what was going on, but I was left in the dark for the majority of the film. I am constantly impressed by this Darren Aronofsky fella. If you remember my rave reviews of The Wrestler from January, you know how much I enjoy this guys work. The Wrestler is still my favorite of his films, but I really enjoyed The Fountain and would recommend it to anyone else as well. Also as previously mentioned, Requiem For a Dream was cerainly an amazing accomplishment for the director, and I think the film was incredible...I just can't bring myself to recommend it freely like his other works. I remember loving Pi too, but saw it so long ago that I couldn't tell you a thing about it. Netflix, HSV?

Anyway, a plot summary of The Fountain is out of the question. To give a plot summary I would have to first understand what went on in the film, which I didn't, and need to watch again. There are three very interesting storylines occuring simultaneously, and I just need to see it again to keep everything straight. The storylines themselves are actually very easy to keep track of, because one is in the far past, one the present, and one the future. It is just how they all eventually unfold that left me a little confused. All of the three plotlines feature the character of Tom (or Tommy, or Tomas) play by Wolverine and his modern day wife is the leading lady played by Rachel Weisz. All three plotlines revolve around the idea of immortality (and mortality) with a central image being the Tree of Life. Of the four Aronofsky films I have seen, this is by far the most sci-fi/fantasy based and he does it very well.

The visuals in the film are out of this world, or stunning as one might call it. Really, I could have even less of an idea as to what was going on with the plot and would still enjoy the movie for the filming alone. You get a good idea of this from the trailor I've included below. You also get to hear some of the great film score by Clint Mansell (who scored Requiem and Pi as well), performed by awesome rockers Mogwai and The Kronos Quartet (who recorded the entire score for Requiem). Awesome, right? The second clip below gives you more of an idea of this soundtrack pairing. See this movie. If you buy it and don't like it, TJ will refund you in full. Clips...trailor first, clip for soundtrack purposes second:




Wednesday, March 18, 2009

MURAKAMI... MORE-RECCOMMI-ENDATIONS

and i am the final of these replacement muskateers of recomendeering. my name is tj. its a real short name... so sometimes easy to remember... but sometimes easy to forget... i don't mind if you do either. may i first preface the following text with an apology. i am a horrible writer (the grey suite can account for this) and i write with very little editing... so if this is wordy or choppy... please forgive me.

it seems like its protocol to talk about how we first met adam before getting into the actual recommending....so there i was... a freshman at james madison university, with no friends around... sticking my newborn-freshman head out into the open air of the beginnings of adulthood, when i come across'd adam hopkins. i am not sure if i first saw him with a skateboard or with his bass... but either way he seemed dorky enough to want to be my friend. he tells tale of me apparently lying to him about my origins and whereabouts... i have no recollection of this. i do recollect having horribly smelling feet at jazz band and him telling me that it offended his large nose. i also remember him saving my life as we were skating through the streets of harrisonburg va on at least one occasion. all in all, a good friend who needed some weight lifted of his internetty-shoulders and i'm here to help. the other 2 shoulder-relievers did a darn fine job with their first recommendings and i am honored to be a part of this team... i reeealllly hope i dont forget to keep it up.

ok... so with the recommendations...

i am going to refer back to mike gittings list when he recommended HARUKI MURAKAMI'S - WIND UP BIRD CHRONICLES. now this one is an easy one for me... so i thought i'd start here.


For those of you who are unaware of his writings at this point... you are in for a real treat. Murakami holds a special place for me. Perhaps its just because I can relate so easily to the plights of the protagonists, or at least the emotions they go through really are easy for me to associate with. I will continue to read his work for as long as I can see... and I will easily say his writings are my favorite reads. For a lamely brief intro to the author. He is a short, japanese man with a real keen interest in running and music, baseball and apparently writing great stories. He didnt start writing until he was 29... so for those of you out there thinking youre getting on in years to start something new, thats always a nice little treat to hear . I know about the shortness part because I went to an interview with him and we sat only a few feet away. he was seated on a raised platform but we were still eye to eye... and i think he looked at me. (" the baby looked at you?" - cheif wiggum) he was fielding an interview about his latest book WHAT I TALK ABOUT WHEN I TALK ABOUT RUNNING - which is another great book... not the wind up bird chronicles, so we'll talk about it another time. Anyways, I think he's 60 years old now, and he's got a great honesty and seemingly "aloof" quality about him which I really admire. When I say aloof, I am more talking about him keeping a distance from his stardom. He is quite popular world-wide... and sometimes characterized as a best-selling popular type novelist to which the elitists would snub up their noses at (they would also snub their noses as my hanging proposition in that previous sentence). Anyway, these qualities of Murakami come through in his novels beautifully as the protagonists usually are based on his life to some extent.

speaking of his life, here's a little pic of the old guy:


The novel at hand THE WIND UP BIRD CHRONICLES is Murakami's longest novel, and I must say it is the only one of his which gets a liiiitttle bit tired in the middle. The plot follows some odd events in a 30 yr oldish man named Toru Okada. He is on the receiving end of a fair amount of loss in the beginning of the novel. His cat, his job, and his wife all go missing and the events that unfold because of these missings fill out the rest of the novel. I don't want to give too much away, but I will say that the novel also jumps back and forth chronologically as a second plot about the mongolian empire intertwines with the aforementioned plot. It is a very readable book, but also ( i found) quite complex.

Murakami's novels usually breakdown in 2 categories: some have fantastical elements such as talking cats, and the others are all too real in terms of the not only the scenarios, but the way the emotions come off the page and affected me as a reader. The Wind Up Bird Chronicles leans more to the fantastical side... not so much as Kafka on the Shore, but moreso than Norwegian Wood.

This is a good novel to start on if you want to become a Murakami Fan. However, keep in mind that its a long book. I also wouldnt stop here... i mean... i'd read them all, and actually i have... twice... but here are a couple other titles i suggest if you either (A) loved it and want more, or (B) found it too strange and want something a little different.

NORWEGIAN WOOD
SOUTH OF THE BORDER, WEST OF THE SUN
KAFKA ON THE SHORE.

lastly, what makes murakami a great element of this recommendation site is, his work is choc full of specific recommendations of his own... i would wager that every 20 pages or so he cites a specific work of music or literary work - and each of those references, if you take the initiative to follow up with further exploration turn out to be great recommendations as well

here's a sampling of his references:
http://www.randomhouse.com/features/murakami/site.php

so... i realize that the actual talk about THE WIND UP BIRD CHRONICLES was breif... and i sidetracked a bit.... but its a beautiful book and is worth the money and the time invested. I can't thanks Mike enough for bringing it to the table.

I'm new

Ahoy friendly readers! My name is Mike and it's my pleasure to be able to comment and offer my own insight to this blog. Hat's off to Adam for asking for my contribution. Adam didn't actually give me a lot of instruction about what to talk about, but to just comment on other people's recommendations (or some shit). For now I will be the writer of your Wednesdays. Anyhow, I thought I'd start kind of the same way new lists are presented and talk a bit about Friends Recommend creator Adam Hopkins. Maybe Adam doesn't remember this, but I first knew of him ten years ago, when he came to see my old band at Cafe Tattoo. At the time, he was taking bass lessons from the bass player in my band. I still very clearly remember my friend Greg telling me that his student Adam was coming to see us play, and I vividly have this picture in my mind of Adam standing with a friend of his in the back of the Cafe Tattoo in the shadows. I remember this so well because he was one of only five people there that night. The other band bailed at the last minute, so it was just us, and we got paid a total of $5. I never thought I'd be writing about that moment ten years later...but yeah, what a guy this Adam is. I feel like Adam asked me to do this because I tend to have a lot of enthusiasm for the things that I love. Someone recently said I am "like an eight year old who just won the spelling bee" (when I'm excited about something). I guess this is true. I love sharing the things that I love.

Anyway, I was thinking about what my first analysis was going to be, and decided to go on a bit of a tangent and talk about a topic Chris Myers and I discussed a few nights ago; Tom Green. Remember this guy?




His bits were absolutely classic. Manic comedy at it's best. At first glance his humor seems inane, low brow and cheap...and it is, but it's also really smart at the same time. He had quite a few imitators, including Jackass, and helped spawn viral comedy that is now so prevalent on the web. This bit is my favorite, where he pranks his parents by painting "Lesbian Sluts" on the hood of his dad's car. His parents are so tolerant of him also, because he pranks them over and over and they always forgive him. Take a look.



The reason I got on this topic is because right now Tom Green is on Celebrity Apprentice, and while he definitely has calmed down a whole lot, he still rubs people the wrong way. The people who hate him most (Herschel Walker and figure skater Scott Hamilton) seem to have no creative bone in their body. Tom is great on this show, and you get to see just how smart he is.

Anyway, that's it for this week. Next week, I'll try to go back on topic and talk about someone's recommend.

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Laura Cantrell - When The Roses Bloom Again

Hello everyone. I am going to write Adam's blog today.
[
editor's note: If I was Stephen King, I would say, "Uncle Stevie's gonna be your driver today, kiddies!"]

Who I really am is Chris Myers, sometimes known as The Christopher Myers around these parts. I would previously ramble at The French Inhaler blog, but that quickly turned into a dream diary or something. I'm not sure when I met Adam Hopkins. The first time I remember seeing him was in high school when I noticed that he was part of some weird cult that sat in a hallway all the day long and refused to go to class. And in the odd chance that they weren't sitting in this hallway, you could tell they were part of this cult because they had "Mr. Belvadere" [sic] written in white-out on their backpacks. To this day, I don't understand how he, like I the year before him, won the "Dumb Kids Math Award" by just sitting in that hallway all day. Because of that, I would argue that I haven't met the real Adam Hopkins, yet.

For my first post, in true Friends Recommend fashion, I'm going to ramble on about a Recommend that was already very near and dear to my heart. This one was mentioned on my good friend Ricky B's list:



I wouldn't say that I hated country music growing up. I sorta appreciated the Dan Seals Greatest Hits tape that my mom would play in the car. And there were worse things than the early-nineties WPOC that my dad would play in his truck. But I wouldn't say that I loved it.

In late 2000, I finally bought a two-fer of Gram Parson's "GP/Grievous Angel." From what I could gather, the style of music that I loved [Wilco, Evan Dando...] was an amalgamation of Big Star and Gram Parsons. Having gotten into Big Star [the pop side of things] a few years earlier, the time had finally come for me to take the leap and explore the more country side of the equation. Spend a week with GP, and you'll never again be fearful of the classic country drawl.

Fast forward six months and I owned everything that Gram Parsons had ever recorded. I had a girlfriend from Texas that introduced to me a few great Kenny Rogers songs and I rediscovered my love for this one:



Having never seen that video before until a few minutes ago, I can now safely declare Dan Seals as being my left-handed role model. I might discuss this video in full in a future blog. One of you needs to recommend it first, so please do it now!

At this point, it was debatable whether or not I knew precisely what Country Music was.

Then came July 12th, 2001: the fateful night when I first saw this beautifully-voiced Laura Cantrell perform. It says a lot about her performance that although I went to the show to see the headliner, my all-time favorite Teenage Fanclub, I found myself humming her "Not The Tremblin' Kind" and "Pile of Woe" on the drive home instead.

Over the course of the next month, I purchased both of her albums, "Not The Tremblin' Kind" and the apple of Ricky's eye, "When The Roses Bloom Again."

I agree with Ricky. This is a Top-5 album. It has usurped the Teenage Fanclub. The Gram Parsons. The Big Star. The Wilco. The Evan Dando.

It was the true impetus for me falling in love with Dolly Parton, discovering the Louvin Brothers and learning how to look past Lucinda Williams' crazy-ass voice [and to delete all of her self-indulgent/bluesy stuff from my iTunes].

The title track, coincidentally, was arranged by Wilco during the Mermaid Avenue sessions. They also recorded a version for the Chelsea Walls soundtrack, but LC's is truly the definitive version.



Recently, my fellow FR poster Michael Ward spearheaded a project where I was asked to make a CD of my Top 60 Minutes of music - songs that I could listen to at any time, any place and never tire of. The majority of the songs were released before I was born. The opening track to this album, "Too Late For Tonight," was the most modern song on the disc. The song is disturbing absent from the internet, but it is 2.5 minutes of pure country-pop magic. A beautifully weaved representation of how it feels to be apart from your true love:

I've been sittin' all night,
Listenin' to my records,
Makin' up my mind.
I'd call you up,
But I'm never on time,
And it's too late for tonight.

If you weren't so far away,
I'd just ring you up:
Got a lot to say.
But the city sky,
Soon will see it's first light.
And it's too late for tonight.

You brought me home one night and left me,
Standing on your stairs.
Turned around to lock your door,
But I wasn't even there.

That was a long time ago,
I'm thinkin', laughing:
An' I miss you so.
An' I'm all right,
But I can't close my eyes,
An' it's too late for tonight.

The hours are long and quiet,
An' it's drifting through my mind.
Some sweet, sultry night,
You'll be by my side.

I can see the sky so clearly now,
The silver an' fiery moon.
Oh, the record player humming so dearly,
In the other room.

Was it BJ, 1972?
He's wishin', he's hopin',
And he's feelin' blue.
An' I'm floating,
On a sweet lullaby,
An' it's too late for tonight.

Oh, goodnight, my dear, goodnight.

I'm sure you enjoyed having to scroll quickly past those lyrics. I don't know why I posted them. One of the greatest tips I can give to any sort of reader is to ignore anything that's indented or italicized. Its always tangential. Let's call that the "Rule of I."

Like a lot of great country singers, Cantrell only had a hand in writing 1/3 of the songs on the album, but has such an amazing ability to choose cover songs that she easily fools you into thinking that she wrote it all. She owns everything she sings. This album and its predecessor are perfectly crafted albums. "Yonder Comes A Freight Train" is the only hiccup on this one, but relatively speaking to some other singers, its hardly an atrocity.

Ricky's favorite song on the album, "Early Years," is also not easily represented on the internets. When I'm asked to do my top 120 minutes of music, this one would easily make the cut, along with a couple others from this album..."Mountain Fern," "Oh So Many Years," "Vaguest Idea." Holy crap, this is a great album.

I'm glad that I have Ricky to talk with about LC. We've driven to Philadelphia twice with the intention of seeing her perfom. Unfortunately, we only saw her once, because the first time, we accidentally got to the venue about a day too late. My bad. When we did actually get our act together to show up at the right place and time, it was to our disappointment that she was opening for some non-descript singer and was relegated to only a 40 minute set or so. That didn't stop her from absolutely wowwing us, regardless. Afterwards, we found Laura at the bar and told her how much we loved her and she made us feel like we were the greatest guys in the world. Oh man, that lady.

Friday, March 13, 2009

A New Era of Friends Recommends

Perhaps this blog is still a little young to be entering a new era, but big changes happen starting today. Well, starting Monday. Actually technically starting Tuesday. Regardless, next week is the start of a whole new Friends Recommend. The reason for this change is that lately I've had a very hard time keeping up with blog posts, and have been unable to live up to my initial promise of posting every weekday with a new recommendation. So instead of giving up on the blog (the original plan) or posting less frequently (the second version of the plan) I will get by with a little help from my friends. I have enlisted three Friends Recommends superstars to assist with the posting duties, and bring you different angles and takes on each of these great lists. Each of these people have submitted a list already, and are no strangers to this blog. I am going to continue personally posting on Fridays, with new lists whenever we get them (now that I have other reviewers, I might do one of these myself). And I will also post on Mondays, with my typical one-sided reviews of things that you recommend to me. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday we will have guest bloggers taking over the duties and we can expect great things from them. Without further ado, I give you the new faces of Friends Recommend:

Tuesdays--The Christopher Myers


Wednesdays--Mike Ward


Thursdays--Timothy J. Huff



A little help...(when are they going to release this on DVD?)

Thursday, March 12, 2009

The calm before the storm...

Hey Friends,

Not much of a post today, but check back tomorrow to see the brand new direction of this blog. You are going to love it. I love it already.

Some of my favorite songs from Megan's album recommendations. I'm not even going to label them. I have a feeling you've heard these:






Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Six Things From Friendly's...


Megan's six things from Friendly's that are so good they're disgusting (or vice versa) made me remember a few things about the restaurant from my past. Before I get to that (and I have a LOT to say about it) there are going to be some more changes around here. Change for the better. Obama-like change in the blogsphere. I'm not going into details today, because there are still a few loose ends to be tied up. But one to three of my fans complained about the lack of daily posts, so I am reponding to the masses and bringing it back. You'll get an update every weekday. I'm not telling you how, but it is coming. I'll layout the whole plan on Friday, when there is supposed to be a new list. Since there is no new list (thanks, Matthayes) I'll lay out this new plan instead. You are going to love it. I don't know how you couldn't love it. You might not love it, but you'll definitely like it. One a scale of one to ten you will at least like it.

So, Friendly's. Before we go into Megan's list of wonderfully disgusting foods from this ice-cream heaven I will tell you about (probably) the grossest thing that I have ever experienced in a restaurant. This should not reflect negatively on Megan's list, or on your desire to go to Friendly's to sample these things. I'm sure this wouldn't happen again. This might happen again. Anyway, I'll keep this really short. This happened when I was younger...I don't know how much younger, but it was at least 10 years ago. I love Friendly's ice cream. I will talk about my favorite ice cream sundae ever when we move on to Megan's list. This thing that happened to me, though. This thing was not a good thing. I sat down with excitement of the mediocre chicken fingers I was about to order, and the stand-out sundae that will be mentioned in a minute. I don't remember who I was with (was it my family? Eric do you remember this? Am I making this up? I don't think I am making this up). Regardless, I sat down and probably the worst think you could think of to be sitting next to you in a restaurant was sitting next to me. That's right. A real, human (presumably human) piece of poop. What a way to ruin a meal! Poop. In the booth of a restaurant that I was about to dine in. This was not a Twix bar. This was poop. I am willing to assume that it was from a baby, and that is understandable. No wait, that is still not understandable. Really though, don't let this stop you from going to Friendly's for any one or six of Megan's recommends. Here they are (I tried to get pictures of all of these, but then gave up):

Grilled Cheese and French Fries--I could see this being good. It would be hard to mess up a grilled cheese and french fries. Unless there was a piece of poop next to you.

Super Sundae Five-Scoop (3 scoops chocolate, 2 scoops vanilla, hot fudge, optional whip)--This is where Megan and I are obviously different people. I agree with the super sundae part. Always five scoops...if not then you probably don't actually like ice cream. But I could never get anything at Friendly's that isn't the Five-scoop Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Sundae. Nothing in the ice cream world is better. Not even poop could mess this up (OK, that was the last poop joke). And don't say Reese's Pieces are better in a sundae than a peanut butter cup. There is no way you could justify that argument.

Munchie Mania--Is this even a real food name!?

Double Thick Milk Shake in Chocolate--Yeah, I could see this being real good as well. I'll have one in peanut butter, please.

Turkey Club SuperMelt and French Fries--I agree 100%. This is always a satisfying sandwhich. It is one of the things that if I get something else, I always wish I had gotten this. Denny's has a version as well. They are basically the same thing.

Kickin' Buffalo Strips--I am a huge sucker for buffalo strips from anywhere. I will almost always order them if they are available. And I almost always regret it within the hour. Especially if I eat them and then pile a five-scoop sundae on top soon after.

Good picks Megan! Let's have a Friends Recommend field trip to Friendly's, please. I'll have the buffalo chicken strips and a five-scoop Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Sundae please. Hold the poop.

Monday, March 9, 2009

Midnight Cowboy (1969)

I'm writing this post under the assumption that most people reading this blog have already seen Midnight Cowboy, which is now widely considered classic. Although most of our readers have probably seen it, this post is to urge those who haven't to do so in the near future. All of it's praise since 1969 is well deserved. The film's two main characters are Joe Buck (Jon Voight) and Ratso Rizzo (Dustin Hoffman). Dustin Hoffman's character name has to be the inspiration for Rizzo the Rat, the muppet storyteller from A Muppet's Christmas Carol. There is no question in my mind about this.

I'm going to say that this is one of the best, if not the best role Dustin Hoffman has ever played. His roles in The Graduate and Rainman give it a run for it's money, but his portrayal of Ratso is top-notch acting. I don't want to give away too much by revealing the plot of this movie. A very very basic overview is this: Joe Buck quits his job as a dishwasher in Texas, dresses up like a cowboy, and moves to New York City. As his money disappears upon his arrival to New York (funny how this happens) he turns to male "escorting" (?) (how else do I say this) as a means to make money. Enter Ratso who cons him out of $20 and disappears. Joe Buck later sees Ratso in a diner and takes whatever money he has on him, but Ratso offers to help Joe by letting him stay in his apartment, which happens to be in an abandoned building. The bulk of Midnight Cowboy centers around the bond of these two characters, and their dependency on one another. On a scale of one to ten, it is definitely among the best movies I've seen. Megan hit the nail on the head with this one. There is a full plot synopsis over at Wikipedia, but if you haven't seen the movie you definitely shouldn't read it. It gives away everything. I'm serious. Don't read it.

Initially rated X for some scenes that were pretty risque in the late 60's, it is the only X-rated film to ever receive an Academy Award. Soon after it's release the film was re-submitting for rating and was lower to a more standard R. Here is a trailor, in case you aren't convinced. The ending scene in the trailor, where Dustin Hoffman says "I'm walkin' here" is a classic among classics. Enjoy!


Friday, March 6, 2009

Megan Rogers

Special thanks to Megan, who, like Ricky B is keeping this blog going! Megan has a list of 30 things here, and although I don't require a specific number, it is nice when the fit in all perfect and neat like this.

I'm not actually sure when I met Megan...could it have been at Sunday baseball? Could it have been through either Eric or Jessica? I really, really don't know when the initial meeting was. But I do know it was a while ago, and I do know that she rules, and so does her list. This past summer she reintroduced me to the joys of camping, which I liked, but I think I most liked the post-camping shower. I think that was the best part, and I think she might have warned me that it was one of the best parts. Also, I don't know that there is a person in the world with a stronger love for Little Havana's on a Sunday morning (unlimited Mimosas!). I have Megan to thank for that as well, and now recommend the place to any out-of-towners looking for a good breakfast experience. I must say I am a sucker for pictures with animals, which is why I chose this one (is that a seal?) It's great. Additionally she is the first of two people I know with a pet named after Audrey from Twin Peaks! See her list below for a Twin Peaks recommend. Onward!:

Music:


6 Albums Having Nothing to Do With Morrissey:

Roxy Music - Roxy Music
Talking Heads - Stop Making Sense
Guns N' Roses - Appetite for Destruction
Jane's Addiction - Nothing's Shocking
The Clash - London Calling
David Bowie - Hunky Dory

Books:

6 Really Great Fiction Books:
Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco
Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov (my favorite is actually Speak Memory, but that's non-fiction)
Master & Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
Glamorama by Bret Easton Ellis
Last Exit to Brooklyn by Hubert Selby Jr.

Movies:

6 Movies That Aren't The Big Lebowski:
Ghostbusters
Cheech & Chong's Next Movie
Easy Rider
Midnight Cowboy
FUBAR
Usual Suspects

Miscellaneous:

6 Reasons to Own a Television and DVD Player:
Twin Peaks
Orangutan Island
Absolutely Fabulous
21 Jump Street (Seasons 1-3)
Fishing With John
Tom Goes to the Mayor

Food:

6 Things From Friendly's That Are So Good They're Disgusting (Or Vice Versa):
Grilled Cheese and French Fries
Super Sundae 5-Scoop (3 scoops chocolate, 2 scoops vanilla, hot fudge, optional whip)
Munchie Mania
Double Thick Milk Shake in Chocolate
Turkey Club SuperMelt and French Fries
Kickin' Buffalo Chicken Strips