Music

Mike asks: "What the hell was that?"

Well, I'll say right off the bat that I didn't see it, as I was watching Queer Eye at the time, but my roommate was watching the game in the next room and stuck her head in my room when it happened. Her initial reaction was to be disturbed by it. When she told me about the baring of the breast, I had an immediate flashback to the Halle Berry and Adrien Brody kiss, which I still think was disturbing and inappropriate, but I'm glad Queen Latifah retaliated, heh. By the way, I know this situation is completely different and that Jackson was complicit. Anyway, the link roundup: Feministe, Echidne, and Christine all have thoughtful comments.

Update: Larry Lessig reminds us what really matters in this debate.
Uh, link isn't showing up. What I mean to say is that Lessig reminds us what really matters in this debate. The link is to http://www.moveon.org/cbs/ad/. I don't know what's going on! I did the code right.

In the speech class I teach, the first presentation the students do is an "X>Y presentation," in which they compare one person, place, or thing to another and take a qualitative stand favoring one over the other. Since this is a very short speech (3-4 minutes), the content needs to be light and fluffy--something that everyone in the audience can recognize. Therefore, we turn to mainstream popular culture. I've assigned some reading in the textbook on planning speeches and transforming ideas into speech points, which entails some brainstorming, idea mapping, and outlining. Tomorrow in class I'm going to try out this exercise, which I thought of sometime during The Apprentice. I'm going to put the students into their peer groups and give them a selection of five topics. They will have to use the planning techniques in the reading to compose an X>Y speech on the topic, present the speech, and describe their planning process.

I find some of the most tripped-out stuff via La Di Da. Thank you Lauren for introducing me to her. So...when Elle linked to this site, I thought it couldn't be for real, but it is:

I will go on record as saying that I think this is brilliant. Are there other celebrities you can get your portrait with?

My latest Winamp playlist...oh, the memories.

Jodeci - Stay
Bell Biv Devoe-Poison
Shabba Ranks - Mr Loverman (original)
Heavy D - Is It Good To You
Warren G - Regulate
Heavy D & The Boyz - Girlz, They Love Me.mp3
Naughty By Nature - OPP
En Vogue - Never Gonna Get it
Babyface - Whip appeal
Montell Jordan - This Is How We Do It
Marky Mark - Good Vibrations
Natural Selection - Do Anything
Gregory Abbott - Shake You Down
New Edition [Ralph Tresvant] - Do What I Gotta Do
DJ Quik - Born And Raised In Compton
Jodeci - Lately [studio version]
Digital Underground - Kiss you Back
Salt N Pepa - Push It
Grandmaster Slice - Electric Slide
It Takes Two - Rob Base & DJ EZ Rock
Wreck N Effect - Rump Shaker
E.U. Da Butt
Prince - Gett off
Rob Base & DJ EZ Rock - Joy and Pain
Unknown Artist - Heavy D - Now That We've Found
Ralph Tresvant - Sensitivity
L'trimm - Grab It
Babyface - Two Occasions (original)
L'Trimm - Cars With The Boom
DJ Quik - Tonite
LL Cool J - Mama Said Knock You Out.mp3
LL Cool J - Goin Back To Cali.MP3
De La Soul - Me Myself And I

One of those cute email surveys sent by a friend:

1. Name one song you hate to admit you like.

Here are three (how embarrassing):

"I'll Be"--Edwin McCain
"A Thousand Miles"--Vanessa Carlton
"Mmmmm Bop"--Hanson

2. Name two songs that always make you cry.

"A Case of You"--Joni Mitchell
"Romeo and Juliet"--Indigo Girls (NOT the Dire Straits version. Only Amy Ray infuses it with that intensity.)
An honorable mention is "The Circle Game" by Joni Mitchell
(Edited to add "I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues" by Elton John)

3. Name three songs that turn you on.

"Is It a Crime"--Sade

My Current Winamp Play List:

Breeders - Cannonball
Destiny's Child - Jumpin, Jumpin
Prong - Snap Your Fingers, Snap Your Neck
Cole Porter - Dinah Washington - I Get A Kick Out Of You
Cowboy Junkies - Sun Comes Up It's Tuesday Morning
Information Society-Pure Energy
Kool And The Gang - Get Down On It
Erasure - Chains of Love (remix)
Robert Palmer - I Didn't Mean To Turn You On
Harry Connick Jr.-- A Wink and a Smile
Dead Prez - Mind Sex
Crystal Gayle - Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue
Hurricane - I'm Onto You
Truth Hurts featuring Rakim-Addictive
Talking Heads - Wild Wild Life
Concrete Blonde - Bloodletting (The Vampire Song)
Shabba Ranks - Mr Loverman (original)
Siouxsie and the Banshees - Peek A Boo
Donna Summer - Love To Love You Baby

The other day, I posted about my love of 80s TV theme songs. In fact, that was exactly one week ago, and I was experiencing some Monday gloom. It's Monday again, and I'm slightly less gloomy, but I find myself thinking again of an 80s TV theme song I love, this time the one from "The Fall Guy":

The Fall Guy



Well, I'm not the kind to kiss and tell,

But I've been seen with Farrah.

I'm never seen with anything less than a nine, so fine.

 

I've been on fire with Sally Field,

Gone fast with a girl named Bo,

But somehow they just don't end up as mine.

 

It's a death defyin' life I lead,

I take my chances.

I die for a livin' in the movies and TV.

But the hardest thing I ever do

Is watch my leadin' ladies

Kiss some other guy while I'm bandagin' my knee.

 

I might fall from a tall building,

I might roll a brand new car.

'Cause I'm the unknown stuntman that made Redford such a star.

 

I never spend much time in school

But I taught ladies plenty.

It's true I hire my body out for pay, Hey Hey.

 

I've gotten burned over Cheryl Tiegs,

Blown up for Raquel Welch.

But when I end up in the hay it's only hay, Hey Hey.

 

I might jump an open drawbridge,

Or Tarzan from a vine.

'Cause I'm the unknown stuntman that makes Eastwood look so fine.

I can blast that song in the car, sing along, and just generally rock out to it! What's the matter with me?

I know I'm kind of late to this party, but what the heck:

1. Every time I see a bottle of calamine lotion, the song "Poison Ivy" gets stuck in my mind.
2. Every time I fly, during takeoff the song "Keep Their Heads Ringin'" gets stuck in my mind. (In the video, they steal a plane.)
3. I love the show Everybody Loves Raymond.
4. I am the biggest misocapnist you know. I guarantee it.
5. Sometimes, when my feet feel really good and I feel good all over (my feet have to feel good in order for this to happen), I think that if other people could experience how good it feels to be me, they'd never want to be themselves again.
6. I drive a 1998 Honda Civic with the following stickers: Keep Abortion Legal, a Lucinda Williams World Without Tears sticker, and a Kasey Chambers The Captain sticker.
7. I lived with my parents until I was 24 years old.
8. The biggest regret of my life is caving in to family pressure and going to college in my hometown rather than going away.