Haystacks

Billboard Buzz

It was very exciting this week to find out that one of my favorite bands was going to be on the cover of BILLBOARD magazine. This is the first time a Christian artist has been featured on the cover and I am so proud to say I love and support these guys.

The concert photo used in the article was taken in April of this year at The Wild Horse Saloon in Nashville, TN. We were there on the front row. Yeah, I know, concert pictures of the crowd are vague at best. And don't all heads look pretty much the same from the back? Not when you're wearing a cowboy hat!

Two birds with one stone

Or four birds with two books...or something like that...

Mark says he's getting a summer reading club going. I have several items on my Mission 101 list that pertain to reading:

35. Clean off my 'to be read' shelf by reading
66. Read 5 books for historical/ political/social relevance
85. Write a review of every book I read

My plan is to participate in the reading club and knock a few things off my list in the process. Watch the sidebar for a reading list and reviews.

Don't Panic!

According to The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy:

A towel, it says, is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitch hiker can have. Partly it has great practical value - you can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble-sanded beaches of Santraginus V, inhaling the heady sea vapours; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon; use it to sail a mini raft down the slow heavy river Moth; wet it for use in hand-to-hand-combat; wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes or to avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (a mindboggingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can't see it, it can't see you - daft as a bush, but very, very ravenous); you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough.

More importantly, a towel has immense psychological value. For some reason, if a strag (strag: non-hitch hiker) discovers that a hitch hiker has his towel with him, he will automatically assume that he is also in possession of a toothbrush, face flannel, soap, tin of biscuits, flask, compass, map, ball of string, gnat spray, wet weather gear, space suit etc., etc. Furthermore, the strag will then happily lend the hitch hiker any of these or a dozen other items that the hitch hiker might accidentally have "lost". What the strag will think is that any man who can hitch the length and breadth of the galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds, win through, and still knows where his towel is is clearly a man to be reckoned with.

I can't believe I missed it! I am such a Douglas Adams fan. I promise. I am.  Oh, well, there's always next year. Somebody remind me... 

Indy IV

Jason and I caught the midnight showing of Indiana Jones IV Wednesday night/Thursday morning. Although, I have some issues with the movie, (I'll get to that in a second), I loved it. Nostalgia alone would grant it 3 stars. I'm an Indiana Jones fan from back in the day. RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK is my all time favorite movie and Harrison Ford is my favorite actor. I'm biased.

In the original film, the powers that be followed the 40's serial template. They patterned the feel, tone and pace of the movie after the adventure tales for the era. Indy 4 does the same thing, except the era has changed. It is 19 years after the last installment and we are now facing the red menace. Science Fiction was the rage in the early 50's. It was, in fact, the adventure serials of the 40's updated to a modern and more outreaching society.

The adventure is there, although I thought the whip could have been used more. It IS Indiana Jones, after all. The stunts were exciting, but the CGI was...well, CGI.  The plot wandered a bit and seemed sometimes to be held together only by the astonishing array of action shots.

And quite frankly, I miss the Nazis. Sure, Cate Blanchette makes a convincing villianess. But, the Russians weren't and aren't always the bad guys. They flip flop. But the Nazis, Oh! The Nazis! They are forever the evil doers. There's no redemptive history to make you feel sympathy. No, sir, you know where you stand with the Nazis. 

As a long time Indiana Jones fan, It gave me 2 hours with my favorite movie character again. I've missed him and it was good to see him in action one more time.

A baby no more...

In a few minutes Jason and I are leaving to attend a graduation party; not unusual, given the season and Jason's profession. But this party is different. It is for one of my kids, not Jason's.

I met Shelby when he was 18 months old. His mother was a former teacher and a dear friend. They had moved to Charlotte a year before Shelby was born. I remember the first time I saw his face. He was sitting at the breakfast table, with oatmeal all over his little square head. He looked at me and giggled and I was in love.

I moved in with the family and became Shelby's nanny. We spent every day together. We learned to play catch, sang our ABC's and could repeat every word to the dialog and soundtrack of The Little Mermaid. We chased butterflies, caught frogs and planted flowers. I taught him the Vulcan greeting, sort of...he never got the finger placement exactly right and he would only say "POCK!". Never Spock and never "Live long".

When Shelby started school, there was no longer a need for a nanny. We've kept in touch over the years and today I celebrate a milestone in his life. I hope in some small way I have helped to shape this sensitive, intelligent, passionate young man who will no doubt change the world.

"Yeah, man!"

Cool new image search site! Tag Galaxy has a seemingly endless supply of options. Cool graphics, too.

Accessorizing

I liked this lamp so much...



I made a necklace out of it.

I'm not sure what kind of statement it makes about my sense of fashion that I perfectly matched the lamps at the Marriott of Orlando. But it struck me as rather amusing. ;)


 

Summer ticket prices

From Rolling Stone, May 29, 2008 Issue:

Despite a summer of more festivals than ever and a diverse roster of touring superstars from Bruce Springsteen to Radiohead to Kanye West, the U.S. economic slowdown and $4-a-gallon gasoline are driving up ticket prices for many shows and could keep fans home. “The costs are increasing — that will get reflected in the ticket price,” says Randy Phillips, president of concert promoter AEG Live. “And it’s more expensive for people to go to things, so they’ve got to really pick and choose how they spend their disposable income.”

Read article here.

Haystacks Jukebox

I may have talked about Finetune before. Well, I'm talking about it again. 
I am from the age of mixed tapes. The era of history when you showed your true feelings for another by making a mixed tape. It's a lost art, really. It is my love of the mixed tapes that led me to Finetune. Nothing makes me happier than a collection of songs to fit a certain mood. (To be more precise, I should say 'fits MY mood'.)

Check out my sidebar and see if anything does it for you. I have a collection of 1940's love songs and dance numbers, a rainy day playlist that will do absolutely nothing to improve your mood, a group of driving songs, the soundtrack to my formative teenage years and finally a mass of John Prine inspired songs.

Music fits into crowded corners and fills vast empty spaces.

Friday Favorites

Mark started a Friday Favorites. I'm in.

Summer is just around the corner. (Or is it here, already?) That means ice cream. I love ice cream! I love the soft serve cone dipped in chocolate. I love sherbet. I love vanilla from the carton covered in fresh strawberries. I love it all! But this is about choosing a favorite.

My favorite ice cream is a Marble Slab concoction called The Tipsy Sailor; amaretto ice cream with chocolate chips and almonds. Yummm!