Author: Gary

When you live in a cold weather state, the first day it gets really warm, everyone goes nuts. It isn’t a gradual thing, it just sort of happens on one day. Yesterday was that day. It got up to 69 and *poof* just like that, all the grass on campus was taken up by kids with frisbees and laptops. The motorcycles come out of the garage, people drive with their windows open, and its good all around.

As I write this, its 9am and already 60 degrees outside. We’ve crossed that thin, but very real line, where it doesn’t suck to live here anymore. We also have daylight again, which is good.

Of course, the way this usually works is you get excited, then nature throws one more blast of cold and snow on you just to show you who’s boss.

Sprink break is over and I for one am glad. If you aren’t taking a full course load, and have no place to go for break, then its really not a big deal. I’d rather just not take the break and get done sooner.

My extempers had PETA send me something in the mail. Very cleaver. It will be interesting to see what other lists I get on because of that. They just need to remember that any mischief they do, I can out do them 100 fold. 100 fold I say.

Our state qualifying tournament was tonight and I’m glad its over with. It was harder than the state tournament will be. That oddity is due to how the schools in the sections stacked up. We had Edina and Eastview in our section, and those schools alone had enough to fill up most of the final round of the state tournament. Tim Hogan took 3rd and qualified to the state tournament, and I’m happy with that. At sections, all that matters is that you qualify. Tim took 2nd last year and won the state tournament, so I’m not too worried. We have a month to work on it.

Last night I attended a lecture by Brian Greene, the author of An Elegant Universe and the host of the PBS special of the same name.

Without going into too much detail (not that there was much detail presented) it was about super string theory and current attempts to rectify the problems with relativity and quantum mechanics. A good chunk of the audience were students there because their teacher told them to show up, a small chunk were professors, and the rest were like me.

I got a whole slew of DVDs this week. Something I haven’t done in a while. Now that I have DVD drive on my PC, I’m able to watch films while doing other things. Today I watched “The Great Ziegfeld”, “Mutiny On The Bounty”, and “Mrs. Miniver”. All of which were Oscar winners for best picture (1937, 1936, and 1943 respectively)

“The Great Ziegfeld” really wasn’t that great. It was a three hour movie with a bunch of big song/dance production numbers, which back in the day I’m sure was a big deal. “Mutiny on the Bounty” was actually pretty good. Charles Laughton was great as Capt. Bligh and should have won the best actor oscar over Clark Gable. “Mrs Miniver” was very suprising. Its a movie you never hear about and has never reached the status of a great, classic movie. The movie is obvious wartime propaganda, but its good propaganda. The movie was very pedesterian, except for two really good scenes: the miracle at Dunkirk and the night of the bombing raid.

I have a few other Oscar winners I want to get through this weekend. “Schindlers List”-1993 (no, I’ve never seen it and it just came out on DVD), “You Can’t Take It With You”-1938, and “Grand Hotel”-1932. That should only leave me with a few Oscar winners which I haven’t seen.

Bietz posted these questions on his site. I shall answer them here:

1. Your favorite song with the name of a city in the title or text.
Walking in Memphis by Marc Cohn

2. A song you’ve listened to repeatedly when you were depressed at some point in your life.
Alone Again by Gilbert O’Sullivan

3. Ever bought an entire album just for one song and winded up disliking everything but that song? Gimme that song.
Album: Best of Mountain. Song: Mississippi Queen

4. A song whose lyrics you thought you knew in the past, but about which you later learned you were incorrect.
Papa Was a Rodeo by The Magnetic Fields (big suprise actually)

5. Your least favorite song on one of your favorite albums of all time.
Mother by the Police on Synchronicity

6. A song you like by someone you find physically unattractive or otherwise repellent.
Ace of Spades by Motorhead. Lemmy is an ugly man and there is just no way around it.

7. Your favorite song that has expletives in it that’s not by Liz Phair.
Asshole by Dennis Leary

8. A song that sounds as if it’s by someone British but isn’t.
Elenore by The Turtles

9. A song you like (possibly from your past) that took you forever to finally locate a copy of.
That’s Just What You Are by Aimee Mann

10. A song that reminds you of spring but doesn’t mention spring at all.
Finale from Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite. I think the spring imagery comes from Fantasia 2000

11. A song that sounds to you like being happy feels.
I know its not very original but Don’t Worry, Be Happy by Bobby McFerrin

12. Your favorite song from a non-soundtrack compilation album.
Here Comes The Sun by Joe Brown from The Concert for George

13. A song from your past that would be considered politically incorrect now (and possibly was then).
Turning Japanese by the Vapors

14. A song sung by an overweight person.
Two Out of Three Aint Bad by Meat Loaf

15. A song you actually like by an artist you otherwise hate.
Nothing Compares 2U by Sinead O’Connor

16. A song by a band that features three or more female members.
Hand Grenade by Team Dresch

17. One of the earliest songs that you can remember listening to.
Playground In My Mind by Clint Holmes

18. A song you’ve been mocked by friends for liking.
Most recently its been Sk8er Boi by Avril Lavigne

19. A really good cover version you think no one else has heard.
Beginning to see the light by the Velvet Underground done by Liz Phair or
Freebird by Lynnard Skynard done by Phish

20. A song that has helped cheer you up (or empowered you somehow) after a breakup or otherwise difficult situation.
Cast your Fate to the Wind by vince Guaraldi

If there is room:
21. A song you’ve listened to while making out.
Midnight Train to Georiga by Gladys Knight

22. A song not in English—preferably a foreign-language version of an English-language hit.
Sie Lieb Dich by the Beatles