Better luck Friday Random Ten

Last weekend we got our first big snowstorm of the winter. Since the temperatures rose to about 50 on Monday and we've had a lot of rain, most of that snow is gone now. I didn't mind the snow, or the cold, really. What sucked was we got six inches or so on Saturday. Nobody really likes to work on Saturday to begin with, so the weather was an excuse to close everything, or not open it in the first place. So with tomorrow not looking snowy, I can hopefully have breakfast where I choose and go to the library at least. And knock on wood the next blizzard will be on a Monday.

1. Kendra Shank - Gone
2. Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings - When the Other Foot Drops, Uncle
3. Arcade Fire - Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)
4. Brian Eno - Through Hollow Lands (For Harold Budd)
5. Reading Rainbow - Runaways
6. Beck - Broken Drum
7. U2 - Babyface
8. Harry Nilsson - Salmon Falls
9. The Beautiful South - You Keep It All In
10. Nick Drake - At the Chime of a City Clock

Who told you...

Serpent: Hey Adam.
Adam: Whuzzat, man?
Serpent: You might want to clean that spot on your shirt.
Adam: (looking down) What are you talking about? I don't have a spot on my shirt. In fact it doesn't look like I'm... HEY!

When behind-the-scenes is better than most scenes

This is an excerpt from The Muppets on Puppets. It's a first-person documentary that Jim Henson made in Pennsylvania in 1968. Keep in mind that this was several years before The Muppet Show existed and a little before his work could even be seen on Sesame Street

In itself, seeing Frank Oz with a full head of hair is almost worth the price of admission. But seeing them turn that baaic puppet into a handful of completely different characters just by rearranging the features? Priceless.

A crucial part of the creative process is fluidity: the ability to change in midcourse and find something better, or more fitting. Henson had it in spades.

Shopping follies

If you;re not a big football fan, there's something weirdly illuminating about grocery shopping on Sunday. First of all I don't need to watch any games on TV to find out how they're going. It's a big year for the Patriots, so so updates are everywhere.

But back to grocery shopping. There were a lot of men and couples out anxiously looking for gametime snacks. It was not a day to be loitering in the nuts, chips or salsa area.

Service advisory (again)

Might need a couple of days away from posting here. I plugged in my laptop tonight and a spark flew from the cord. Not too surprisingly the 'chine isn't charging now. I've sent away for a replacement AC adapter. All should be well then.

That dream

Last night on WGBH - which I can still get on my computer at least - I heard most of Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" speech. Between his eloquence, his vision, and his delivery it's not too hard to see how this man moved mountains.

I had to wonder about the effect a speech like that would have in our current multimedia involvement. The entire thing would have been on YouTube, as well as the sites of all the big news organizations, within minutes. And within minutes of that the commenters would have come in with "More liberal whining. Yawn" and almost certainly some thinly veiled racial stuff.

So on balance would that kind of exposure be good or bad? I honestly don't know. We have gotten used to experiencing the world in smaller-than-life proportions, though.

Note to self Friday Random Ten

At some point this extended holiday weekend, I'll proably call myself at work. That's something I do when I think I might need to be reminded to do something. Plus you never know, I might catch myself by surprise one of these days.

1. U2 - Dirty Day
2. Brian Eno - Backwater
3. Tom Waits - Hell Broke Luce
4. Tori Amos - Not the Red Baron
5. Nick Drake - One of These Things First
6. The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Long Hot Summer Night
7. The Clash - I'm Not Down
8. The Magnetic Fields - Love In the Shadows
9. Harry Nilsson - It Is He Who Will Be King (Outro)/Daybreak
10. Kendra Shank - Softly, As In a Morning Sunrise