cover land

I'm sure I've posted the Jenny Owens cover of "Hot in Herre" before. The cover is so good, it makes me like the original. Written by The Neptunes (Pharrell and his partner.)

original by Nelly


Jenny Owens Young: "get up up on the dance floor!"



Here are some covers by Jamie Cullum, that I just discovered...

"Don't Stop the Music" - original by Rihanna


by Cullum - fantastic!


"Frontin'" by Pharrell


by Cullum


My fave Britney Spears song "Toxic"


the Yael Naïm cover.


Now that's how covers are supposed to work. They shouldn't sound like the same version with a new singer--you've got to bring something new to the song.

And if you really prefer rock versions to pop music, there's a whole series of "Punk Goes Pop" albums. Here's a cover of Huey Lewis' "Power of Love" !



Man, checking out this Punk series... most of it is People Unclear on the Concept. Who needs a supposedly punk version of The Police's "Wrapped Around Your Finger?" It's already a rock song. Same with The Roots' "The Seed 2.0". And Punk Goes Heavy Metal?? Heavens.

books and blogs and cuts

I figured out how to put dates into the books I've read in facebook--I'm adding the date to the tags. Of course, you know me... I'm going back through my entire list of books and trying to identify when I read them. For the older ones, the tags are elementary school, high school, univerisity1, coles, chapters and university2. But now I'm reading through my oldest blog entries for any mentions of books I was reading, so I can be more accurate with those.

And I came across this funny entry, describing the various ways to "cut" someone in the Regency period:

To renounce acquaintance with any one is to cut him. There are several species of the cut. Such as the cut direct, the cut indirect, the cut sublime, the cut infernal, &c. The cut direct, is to start across the street, at the approach of the obnoxious person in order to avoid him. The cut indirect, is to look another way, and pass without appearing to observe him. The cut sublime, is to admire the top of King’s College Chapel, or the beauty of the passing clouds, till he is out of sight. The cut infernal, is to analyze the arrangement of your shoe-strings, for the same purpose.

Definition taken from The 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, originally by Francis Grose.

This is the song that Pink sang to Carey Hart, that got them back together. Awwww...

That's her actual wedding dress. ...Though I'm not sure she wore roller blades at the reception. Though knowing Pink, she might have.

toonz toonz toonz

While looking for "Stranded in the Jungle" I found an album on iTunes for $5.99 with 122 songs--the sexistly named Original Soul Men Classics (even though there are some women on it). I'm quite enjoying it (and discovering where the Beach Boys got half their material from.)

My fave BD!

I bought and read in one evening the new Les Nombrils bande dessinée. So good! And didn't end on a cliffhanger like last time. I wonder if there will be a fifth. Ahhh so good.

yoopi!

So like... for YEARS now I've been thinking about this old TV science show I used to watch as a child. I could remember the music, and the voice of the male host, and the format, but not the name. I just knew they always ended each segment with a little phrase like "isn't that amazing!" or something like that. When I described it to my family, no one remembered it.

Then I was watching a Kotter episode today and Epstein said: "What'll they think of next" obviously quoting from a show of the time. And I was all: EUREKA!

That's the show! What Will They Think of Next! It was a Canadian show, but also showed in the US. But there are no clips on the internets anywhere. I'll hum you the theme song:

laa la la la laaaaaaa
la-la la-la laaaaaaa
la
laa la la la laaaaaaa
la-la la-la laaaaaaa
laaaaa
laaaaaa
laa
laaaaaa
laaaaaaa
laa
laaa-la-la laa laaa
la-la-la-la laaaaaaaaa

WHAT WILL THEY THINK OF NEXT aired weekly, I think Nickelodeon aired it on weekends. It was basically the two of them talking about what the future was going to be like. They would talk about new technologies, innovations, and that sort of thing. At the end of each segment, if I remember correctly, one of the two would state “What will they think of next?”

I remember one episode talking about how one day, you would be able to go on your computers and look at the showtimes at your local movie theatre, or see what stores were in your local mall. I watched this in amazement, not knowing that computers would be able to do such things. This was in the days even before the Commodore 64, where they were just hooked up to your TV to type text in.

Ghosts of Christmases Past

Jacob Teddy Marley

Hungrily eying the ornaments.

My brother, apparently outgrowing his jammies.

My Donnie Osmond doll!
(Manlier than Ken. I never owned a Ken doll.)

NUTTY NUMBERS
(We used to get these albums of novelty songs.
They totally rocked.)
Disco Duck!
"I don't like spiders and snakes
and that ain't what it takes to love me
like I wanna be looved youuu."
Pepino, the Italian Mouse
Mr. Custer
Norman
Rama Lama Ding Dong
Little Red Rented Rowboat
Don't Go Near the Eskimos
James (Hold the Ladder Steady)
Chick-a-Boom (back then I thought "chick" meant a chicken)
and the best...
Stranded in the Jungle!

The Hulk, and suntanning doll
My hair must have been changing to a darker blonde.
Looks like I have really excellent streaks!

What is that watch I'm wearing?

With muthah

With fathah

"We are the wee tin soldiers who like to play all day!"
My brother is the tallest soldier.

...
Flashforward several years
(The above photos I have because my dad got his slides converted
to jpgs. So then it's years of regular photos, all in photo albums.
And then my photos, not in e-form.
We pick up the Christmas story when I finally get a
digital camera.)

Fernando and his first nephew, on nephew's first Cmas.

Not sure which winter, but this is when we get to see Mr. Gilby,
when he comes back to town each winter.

2005 tree
Believe I was in school at the time so not much of a Christmas
In fact, ever since I started university in '92, and then went straight into
a retail job, I've never had a real Christmas break.

Very rare balcony snow leopard

The Great Sibling Christmas of 2007
Theme: Swellegant Christmas!

Me and Fernando
(he sat on the couch and sewed)
I'm drinking from the drunken-sot-Santa mug

Playing mini-croquet
(Ever since Pablo and I read Harpo Marx's biography
we've wanted to play croquet.)

Fernando's sister by the Christmas tree.
Since we were at Pablo's apartment, I tried to make the tree
look Cool Yule and masculine.

2008
Ohhh Nombly's last Christmas

And Haley conspiring to knock over the tree

Christmas Present:

I didn't put up a tree this year--there isn't a single decoration.
The gift my parents' sent is sitting behind by Oscar Wilde doll.
That's about it.

Bah Humbug!