Unfinished Rambler

Here are my top 10 New Year's Resolutions for 2009:

• No smoking.[*] (√ already completed and the year hasn't even begun, yay!)
• No drinking. [**]
  
• No playing with sharp knives when drinking Jagermeister (or any other alcohol product, for that matter). [***]
• No more joking about drinking [****]
• Integrate my online split personalities (unfinishedperson.com, justarunningfool.wordpress.com, justareadingfool.wordpress.com, spiritualexercises.wordpress.com and here, no hyperlink required, plus the other 2 million I have) into one, maybe two mainframes. [*****]
• No more parenthetical remarks (because really, why are they needed?) [******]
• Less hyperlinks and YouTube videos. [*******]
• No more war. [********]
• Real sentences and not cut-off sentences like this that really don't need a period, but I put one there anyway.[*********]
• No more using asterisks in footnotes.[**********]

[*] Considering that I don't smoke and haven't except for that one year in college and only when I went out to the clubs with friends acquaintances people who would provide me transportation there so I could drink alcoholic beverages off campus since our campus, Messiah College, was/is an alcohol-free campus except for the hidden six-packs in the closet and bottles of liquor in the thermos in the desk drawers (not that I would know about either one because neither I nor my friends acquaintances people from whom I would mooch alcohol ever did such a thing).

[**] Except for holidays, including, but especially since I'm writing this on New Year's Eve and already have my eggnog (store was out of it) Pepsi (it was cheaper) with rum propped up on the desk beside me, New Year's Eve AND New Year's Day and when it snows and when it rains and when it doesn't do either one but you just feel like it because you can't deal with life except through the bottom of a glass or a bottle, preferably Jagermeister, chilled.

[***] This also applies to sharp objects of any and all kinds, in fact, just take the objects out of my hands while I'm drinking; I could have a Nerf football injury.

[****] You know what happens to people who joke about drinking? They die of alcohol poisoning like Foster Brooks. Oh, wait, reading his (authorized) biography on Wikipedia, he didn't die of alcohol poisoning. He died at the age of 89, from heart trouble. Well, then I might strike that one.

[*****]






[******] An aside: I worked for a newspaper where the copy editor always told me that I didn't need the parentheses in a lot of the stories that I wrote also (I still included them and had her cut them out, but now that I have my own blog, I can leave them in my long, rambling (that's why it's called Unfinished Rambler and I even can put parentheses within parentheses even if it's not grammatically correct) sentences, so there, Liza).

[*******] I mean, just look at this post, it's like there's a freaking (hey, wait, that's not what I meant) explanation for almost everything referenced or some cute link to some random YouTube video.

[********] Yeah, I wish I had that kind of freaking (no, not that definition either) power, but really I'm with Bono on this one: No more war!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9c4lLnY0rA



Ignore the closed caption and just listen. This is a great version.

[*********] An actual post. Hmmmm. Not just some random photos and thoughts thrown together? I'll have to consider this, but next year.

[**********] I think this one is pretty obvious, don't you?

Happy New Year to you all.

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Humor Bloggers Come on over and give me a review, if you likey. Oh, and check out some of the other funny bloggers here, including a carnival of which this will be one of the posts.

For more on the carnival, see:



Hope you enjoy all the entries.

After being up until 4 a.m., tooling around with my template to get the images to work for my last post (no link this time, just scroll down or back, geez Louise -- I think Louise was Jesus' second cousin, twice removed), I decided earlier today to switch up my blogrolls.

I know. I know. I just did that, not too long ago (no link again, because I don't want you to see where I might have reshuffled you), but this time I'm being more democratic about it, at least for how I determined the top 12, what I call the original 12.

The Original 12: They were the ones who were with me when I first began this blog and commented first. Their comments can be found at my archives on my WordPress.com blog because I never figured out how to migrate the comments into Blogger easily. Some of these bloggers still follow me; I follow all of them (well, now anyway, because I'd look like a cad if I didn't), even though some are like old friends from high school you only see once every five to 10 years. Some I wish would return to the blogging world, poor lost sheep; you know who you are, Damon. I'd provide a link for him, but there's not much there until he returns. I await his Second Coming....

...which brings me to the subject of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. I decided to start with three bloggers, though, who, for me, have influenced me heavily and while I could have gone with calling them by the names of the Holy Trinity, I remember something in my Bible about not blaspheming the Holy Spirit (it might not have been in yours, but it was in mine; your mileage may vary). So I decided to be blasphemous but to a lesser degree and without invoking the name of the Evil One.

I won't say whether for better or for worse, but these three have influenced me (and for these, I will provide links, even though you can go to the blogroll in sidebar at right and get there yourself, but as the triumvirate of humor bloggers they deserve the links). They are, in random order, you can decide which is Jesus, Mary or Joseph: Johnny Virgil, Chelle B. and Diesel.

Johnny has 15 Minute Lunch, and I learned recently, because I have a very short memory, was one of the first bloggers my wife discovered, and she, in turn, introduced me to Humor-Blogs.com (link below, I mean, come on how many freaking links do you need), which leads me to the Lord High and Mighty of Humor-Blogs.com (and now Blogerella) Himself, Diesel.

Then shortly after that, I crossed paths with Chelle B., now the Cabal Leader over at Humorbloggers (fair is fair, that link is below also). I was deeply offended by her blog, especially by her characterization of Jesus (just one example).

As someone who loves tacos myself, both hard- and soft-shelled, and a big fan of Culture Clash, who in no way made fun of the Chicano/Latino/wetback communities, how could I not be offended? I just kept reading to see who else she could offend and she hasn't disappointed. She's an equal opportunity offender.

The 47 Ronin: If you read the story of the 47 Ronin closely on Wikipedia, which I didn't because I was too tired this morning, from what I gather these samurai dudes killed themselves defending the honor of their leader. The point was, though, the loyalty they had. In the same way, these 47 are loyal to me, I hope anyway, and I am loyal to them. I hope they don't kill themselves over me, though, because then I'd lose readers...and I hasten to add, not to mention, great people as well, the best minds of my generation, yadda yadda.

The Crazy 88: This last group are mostly new bloggers that I've only recently discovered through either Entrecard, Humor-Blogs.com or Humorbloggers, and while they're not all certifiable crazy, to my knowledge, many of them should be. I still have five openings left for this one. And even though I read on Wikipedia that actually the Crazy 88 only had 44 in the gang, I'm going to rebel against the Quarantino standard (I think he'd like that) and go with actually 88.

If you consider yourself crazy enough, please apply by using the contact form at the top of the page (no samurai skills needed, but if you have some, that would be bitching). And if you don't get selected now, there might be an opening soon because unfortunately some of these bloggers, like Damon, haven't been updating as often as they should. I can put you in my Google Reader and we'll go from there, chola or cholita.*

For more on the blogrolls, see them in my sidebars at right. For those of you in readers, that means you might actually have to visit my site (for the record, I open blogs in separate tabs and look at your pages, so hey, I think you could the same; if you're offended, talk to Chelle).

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* If I didn't use those terms correctly, forgive me, I'm a white guy from the hills of Pennsylvania who up until the age of 12 didn't know a person of another race.

When I told The Wife I was going to write about New Year's Eve parties, she said:

"Like the one where we were stuck with your great aunts who were listening to Guy Lombardo and we were playing canasta."

Crickets.

"Oh, wait, that wasn't you. That was in ninth grade. That was a different boy."

Growing up, I really didn't celebrate New Year's in any party hardy kind of way. In our family, we'd sit around or sometimes stand, if we'd been sitting too long on the couch, and watch the ball drop on Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve. Then we'd watch the horrible bands that played afterward there and on MTV: like The Go-Gos or Belinda Carlisle sans Go-Gos or Ray Parker Jr. or his nemesis, Huey Lewis and the News.

Except for that one year when I discovered the group Lone Justice, still one of my favorite bands, even though they only had two albums and disbanded shortly after they were on the MTV New Year's Eve special in 1987 (seen at end of post).

Most of the time, we just called to wish each other a Happy New Year.

"Did you see the ball drop?"

"Yeah."

"So did we."

"Well, see you later."

Click.

So after we got married, for a few years, when we ended up going to an actual New Year's Eve party every year at the house of the parents of a friend of hers from high school, I was in heaven.

When I say "house," I use the term loosely, because while it wasn't quite a mansion, it definitely was on an estate. For me, who grew up in a simple (read: just short of falling apart and being a bit "drafty" in the winter) two-story house in the country, the sprawling house-garage-side-house-complete-with-a-separate-kitchen-for-the-catering- company-to-prepare-the-food-for-the-party, though, it was a mansion.

At the party each year was a five-course meal: starting with an appetizer of caviar in the main kitchen, and then later such exotic dishes as venison and Brie, and I was introduced to Pimm's and Cuban cigars there.

As much as things were different, in a way they still were the same. We still watched the ball drop though on Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve and I ended up calling my parents where we'd have the same conversation, starting with:

"Did you see the ball drop?"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k90vfI_iPQI&fmt=18"




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MikeC @ A Lust for Life is one of the first bloggers on Entrecard that I might have actually stopped and read more than one of his posts. The post that first caught my eye was Go to a Gwar Show!, because I remember Gwar (not necessarily fondly, but I remember them) and I thought who would want to go to one of their shows? Well, Mike, you see is making a list of life experiences, and putting them in one of four categories:

• Completed
• To-Do
• Failed
• Rejected

Among items on his list are everything from completing sexual exploits, such as joining the mile high club and having a threesome, to conquering fears, such as walking through a cemetery at night. He tells the reader why he wanted to accomplish the item and then if he accomplished it or not.

To see whether he completed or failed the items mentioned, or if he threw them on the rejected or failed list, click on the links-- and on his blog, as he continues his lust for life.

MikeC also will be featured in a sidebar at right as This Week's Shout Out, for those who might miss this post.

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Starting this Sunday, in the tradition of The Sunday Suck-up Times at Beyond Left Field and Two for Tuesday at Crotchety Old Man Yells at Cars, I'll be giving my own "shout outs" to a blog that, in my opinion, should be receiving more attention than it is. I started doing something similar a few months ago with something called "This Week's Funny Find" in which I would feature a blog each week. Unfortunately, I didn't really keep a record. This will help me keep a record and also an archive of the best blogs you're not reading.

To my recollection, these are the first dozen bloggers to whom I gave props, so I'm giving them my first unofficial shout out. If your blog wasn't included previously and is there now, well, you're getting your props now. Without further adieu, here they are:

• T. Troy Stewart @ BlackCynic America
• Nick @ Buffalo This (who has disappeared off the radar for the last month, Nick, are you out there?)
• Angie @ Cup of Snarky
• William McCamment @ Dead Rooster
• Sue Seese @ Farvel Cargo
• Kiki Walter @ Flittertigibbet
• Leeuna Foster @ my mind wandered and it never came back
• Mike @ OK, Crazy
• Mike @ PlainOleMike
• tricia @ papercages
• Johnny B. Truant @ The Economy Isn't Happening
• Harris Bloom @ Why Me? The Life and Times of Harris Bloom
  

Tomorrow I'll actually kick it into full effect with the first official shout out to yet another deserving (at least, in my humble opinion) blog. Most of the blogs I have discovered either through Humor-Blogs.com, Humor Bloggers or Entrecard, in some cases, all three.

As for the ones which I have found through Humor-Blogs.com, my only criteria is that the blog had to be beyond the top 20 and many times beyond the top 50. Some are so far down that it isn't even funny-- no, seriously, it's a travesty.

Aside: Personally, I believe each blogger should not be allowed to vote for himself at Humor-Blogs.com. The only reason I do is peer pressure. However, if given a choice, I wouldn't. I think if our posts are funny, others will know it.





Earlier today, one of my favorite bloggers, Meg @ Prefers Her Fantasy Life gave me and four others an award. While I am not into tagging others usually, being in the Christmas spirit, I'm going to tag five others, who are among some of my favorite bloggers (and plus I probably haven't given enough links for blogs for all the rest of you to read). However, you don't have to feel obliged to tag others, folks, because I'm not all about the rules:

1. Muskrat
2. SlightlyDrunk.com
3. Olga The Traveling Bra
4. Idiot Girl in Action
5. View From The Cloud
   

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As promised, in this week's Flashback Friday, I look back on the year's "best" music in 2008. I am using quote marks because this is according to a few different sources: NPR Listeners, Spin Magazine, Rolling Stone Magazine, Amazon.com Editors, and Pitchfork.

These 10 (arranged not on basis of which one is better, but just luck of the draw) kept coming up in poll after poll, so I thought I'd just give you my initial reaction to them, since I have heard none of these albums previously and only two of the bands ever: Metallica and Coldplay. The name of the band is first with the name of the album, second. The only reason I say that is because like me, you might be confused which is which.

10. MGMT - Oracular Spectacular (Last FM)

"Let's make some music, let's make some money...I'll shoot some heroin," is all I need to hear from the group's first track, "Time To Pretend." Bad synthesizer music, Flock of Seagulls on drugs.

9. Portishead - Third (Last FM)

"Silence" is the title of the first song off this album. Cue the squeaky bedsprings, then drum machine. Nice beat, but when does the song begin? Two minutes in, no vocals. Next song: "Hunter". The Wife calls "unholy alliance of Coldplay and Black Sabbath." Personally, I wish it was that good. I might listen to a little more of it. Addams Family music. Click...next....

8. My Morning Jacket - Evil Urges (YouTube)

Doesn't seem all that evil yet. Oh, wait, there's the vocalist. Jerry Garcia if he had been castrated. Got it. Click...next...

7. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend (NPR)

Song: "A Punk" Protopop punk, with Christmas music thrown in. Reminds me of a calliope, and not in a good way. Hey, hey, hey. The Wife: "Bastard child of Jack Johnson, Tom Petty and The Kinks and not in a good way."

6. Metallica - Death Magnetic (YouTube)

The only group so far that I can actually listen to more than one track. One good hard rocking song in "All Nightmare Long" (video below) and then standard fare in "Unforgiven III" (necessary, probably not really) and "The Day That Never Comes". Thumbs up. Definitely would like to hear more, but then again, I'm a Metallica fan, and I've actually heard of them, unlike the other poseurs.




5. Santogold - Santogold (YouTube)

Santi White (Santogold) is hard to classify. I had a hard time picking out which track to showcase because each is so different. I showcased the weird dance track "The Creator" on the link, but the "Light Out" video below reminds me of the B-52s or The Go Go Girls, I'm not sure which.
Listen and see for yourself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwNkuw-YTVo

I might consider getting this album.

4. Coldplay - Viva La Vida (YouTube)

I own one album by this group, "A Rush of Blood to the Head," and I think it's the only one I "need" to own. It doesn't sound like they've broken any new ground here, plus I think The Wife's analysis of Chris Martin's voice: "It sets my teeth on edge": is really becoming true, if it weren't already true previously. "I like him less now that he admitted to ganking a Jeff Buckley song." The Wife keeps up on the news more than I do.

3. Lil' Wayne - Tha Carter III (YouTube)

With songs like "Lollipop" (see video above, if you dare), "Pussy Monster" and "Got Money", this one is anything but subtle. Enough said.

2. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes (YouTube)



"Are they supposed to be the neo-Beach Boys or something? Does all their crap sound like that?" The Wife's analysis. Couldn't agree more unless I were under the influence of heavy duty drugs AND alcohol, then I'd agree vociferously. Get back to me around New Year's (at least for the alcohol portion of it).

1. TV on the Radio -- Dear Science

Hearing one of their songs, I was not impressed, but then I heard these two:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0gghjczAt0

and

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7mMoc-x_v0



The Wife's (as usual) unsolicited analysis: "That's annoying." Me? I don't know. It was like a bone caught in my ears. What can I say?

Humor-Blogs.com If not a member,you can register, you don't even have to have a blog and you'll receive no spam-- even though, as Monty sings, it is lovely and wonderful.

If looking for another recent music-related post, check this one out about favorite Christmas comedy songs and Ozzy Osbourne. Surprisingly, there is a connection between the two.

Blogerella

photo taken by my sister

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In case, I don't get around to commenting on everyone's blog, please have a happy and safe holiday season, y'all.

Actual action figure available (sans beard, hat and speech bubble) from McFarlane Toys (14th item down) with apologies to NeedlessToSay's Just Because You Don't Need It.

The poll from last week is over. In case, you missed it was "Who was the best frontman for Black Sabbath?" I'm not putting it up again because even though Vizu says it's closed, it's not.

Anyway, with a whopping nine votes, Ozzy won 77.8 percent to 22.2 percent for Dio. Surprisingly, none of the other lead singers, Ian and Ray Gillan, David Donato or Rob Halford received a single vote. I, for one, was completely shocked since I had never heard of any of them except for Halford -- and he sucked when he sang for Sabbath.

Now that THAT's over (whew), on to the next meaningless poll.

In the spirit of Christmas, which is your favorite Christmas comedy song?

Keeping with the Ozzy theme, this one?


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRW2poUfJ34



For my Canadian friends, this one, eh?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WCXnlFWaIY



For my Hispanic stoner friends, si?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSH9ryRzHQ4



For my Jewish friends, mazel tov?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vrd9p47MPHg



I know there's many more, including the stupid Grandma song, but it gets way too much airplay, so I'm not including it. To vote, visit the poll on my sidebar, or leave in the comments your alternatives or ones I've forgotten. "Modern" comedy songs preferred.

Humor-Blogs.com If not a member, , you can register, you don't even have to have a blog and you'll receive no spam-- even though, as Monty sings, it is lovely and wonderful.

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It's official. Leigh, a.k.a. the inappropriately-named Fantasy Virgin over at Humor Bloggers Fantasy Football League Blog, really is the Queen of the HBFFL.

With a 95-94 win over Chris Cameron's team, La Machine, she is the champion of the inaugural year of the league. Myself? I placed third with a 74-60 victory over The White Strypers, coached by Matt (formerly known as The Hypocritical One), and thanks to Kurt Warner's whopping 1-point performance. Thanks, Kurt.

For the rest of the consolation prizes, visit the blog where Chris will break it down for us later, I'm sure, and I'll have a Tuesday Morning Quarterback post (still morning on the West Coast when I post it) where I'll give a tip of the hat to the other losers like me.

In the meantime, a song for Leigh:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tbp1JIrcHZs



Humor-Blogs.com If not a member, you can register, you don't even have to have a blog and you'll receive no spam-- even though, as Monty sings, it is lovely and wonderful.

Blogerella

"Did you unplug the Christmas tree lights?"

"I don't know. I better go check."

This is the conversation every Christmas, my mom and dad had after they, my sister (eight years younger than I) and I are already piled in the car with all the presents in the trunk. All of us are ready to travel the 600 miles from our Pennsylvania home to coastal North Carolina or so we think, until my mother asks the question.

A half hour later, my father returns, after making sure that every electrical appliance from toaster to iron to refrigerator (we'd defrost it when we got home) is unplugged. He doesn't want to return to a pile of ashes where the familial home, over a 100 years old, had once stood, after all.

"Everything's unplugged."

"Are you sure, Ronnie?"

A half hour after that, my father pulls the car out of the driveway, usually about 1 a.m. Christmas morning.

Thus begins..

Our Family's Annual Christmas Pilgrimage to N.C.

Twenty miles down the road, my mother asks again:

"Are you sure, Ronnie, you remembered, to unplug [insert name of random appliance that year: hair dryer, clock radio, electric drill, whatever]?"

"I'm sure, Carolyn."

"Are you absolutely 100 percent sure?"

Finally, after another half hour of my father double- and triple-checking every major and minor appliance from basement to attic, we are on the road-- this time for reals (yes, that's how we spoke then in the backwoods of Pennsylvania, still do speak like that, homes, for reals).


"Nyuh, I did not," I can hear her saying now even as she reads this, but she knows in her heart of hearts, that it is true. Admit it, Boondock Rambler, you were a brat and still are. I am, and always will be, the nice older brother.

Anyway, we fight, sleep, and play ultra-cool '80s games like Boggle or punch bug. We don't have real rules. We just punch each other until we're sick of punching each other, which for me is like never.





http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEL3GaEER_U



Humor-Blogs.com If not a member, you can register, you don't even have to have a blog and you'll receive no spam-- even though, as Monty sings, it is lovely and wonderful.

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Recently, I've updated my blogrolls. Just in case you're curious and even if you're not, here's what I'm regularly reading, some new, some old:










I changed to the Baker's Dirty Dozen after re-adding The Ominous Comma, whose author Brent Diggs has been on hiatus until recently. Welcome back, Brent.

Most can be found on Humor-Blogs.com, Blogerella, Humor Bloggers dot com and/or Entrecard.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KFopjaV8QM



So yesterday I put a link to this video by Shontelle Layne. Today, I decided to read the lyrics:

Hey, ohh, let me tell you no.
Oh baby.
Trying to decide, trying to decide if I, really wanna go out tonight.
I never use to go out without you, I'm not sure I remember how to.
I'm gonna be late gonna be late but, all my girls gonna have to wait cause, I don't know if I like my outfit.
I tried everything in my closet.

Nothing feels right when I'm not with you, sick of this dress and these Jimmy Choos.
Taking them off cause I feel a fool, trying to dress up when I'm missing you.
Ima step out of this lingerie, curl up in a ball with something Hanes.
In that I lay, with nothing but your t-shirt on.
Oh, with nothing but your t-shirt on.

I'm going to stop there, because I don't know how much either you or I can stomach. I don't know why, but I was really struck by the grammatical errors. Let's just skip the first stanza and go right to the fourth line of the second stanza:

In that I lay, with nothing but your t-shirt on.

Wow. Where do I begin? Not only do we have a fragment of a sentence, but also perhaps more egregious than that, we have improper use of the word "lay." It should be "lie."

Even though I was (notice, not were) an English major, I consulted the Internet (AP Style, capitalized for those questioning my use of capitalization) to double-check and found this: http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/lay-versus-lie.aspx.

Yes, Grammar Girl confirmed what I knew to be true, and what, as she illustrates, that neither Bob Dylan nor Eric Clapton knew when they wrote "Lay Lady Lay" and "Lay Down Sally."

Putting the grammar aside for a moment, I have other more important issues than that with the song: the use of the brands Jimmy Choo and Hanes.

Why not Christian Louboutins or Manolo Blahniks or Tory Burchs for shoes, and the "comfortable, up-to-date styles of" Fruit of the Looms for t-shirts? Even if she was referring to underwear, wasn't Emma right that "fruit makes the best pickings"?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dE9cWIVnR6A



In addition, now that they're available in blue, how can you refuse, Shontelle, to change your lyrics?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLj4YgDiRW4



However, I must admit changing the lyrics to:

Ima step out of this lingerie, curl up in a ball with something blue in Fruit of the Looms

might not roll off the tongue the same way.

****

Super superfluous video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyO2k96MOf0



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This is the fourth and final part of a series on the top albums, either best or favorite, of the last 39 years of my life.

My first post (1969-1979) can be found here; second post (1980-1989) here, and third post (1990-1999) here.

Now on to the next last nine years, the start of a new millenium and the end of music, where white boy whining music (yeah, "Move Along" is right) and black boy ballin' music becoming the standards-- with girl music of all races just getting on my nerves (almost 13 million views! WTF? of course, now I'm helping it get closer to that 13 million! dammit!).

2000: At least, during the previous 30 years, I recognized a few of the bands who were formed during that year on Wikipedia. This year I hardly recognize any of the bands as it looks like a Dadaist experiment: The Birthday Massacre, From Autumn to Ashes, Circle Takes The Square, Horse the band, I Am The World Trade Center and Mutual Admiration Society.

Despite this, just skimming the albums listed on Wikipedia and my other resource, Alaska Jim, I actually recognize more than a few: The Sickness by Disturbed; Nickel Creek, Nickel Creek; Mer des Noms, A Perfect Circle; Brave New World, Iron Maiden; The Marshall Mathers LP, Eminem; Riding with The King, Eric Clapton; Music, Madonna; Parachutes, Coldplay; Stankonia, Outkast; Red Dirt Girl, Emmylou Harris; White Ladder, David Gray; Who is Jill Scott?, Jill Scott; America III: Solitary Man, Johnny Cash and Kid A, Radiohead.

My pick, though, for the album of the year for 2000: All That You Can't Leave Behind, U2.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z72Uv-qMci0


2001: Audioslave, Jet and My Chemical Romance were formed. The end.

Okay, not really.

Notable albums: Love and Theft, Bob Dylan; Is This It?, The Strokes; White Blood Cells, The White Stripes; Toxicity, System of a Down; Mahogany Soul, Angie Stone; Break the Cycle, Staind; Satellite, P.O.D and America: A Tribute to Heroes, various artists.

One, though, really stood out for me was by this woman, and I couldn't help fallin' for her.

2002: Around this year and maybe the previous year, I became heavily influenced by a public radio station from Philadelphia called XPN from the University of Pennsylvania, with my musical tastes swinging a little more to the "independent" side of music. That doesn't mean the bands weren't popular, just that they weren't the normal pop stuff.

My favorites for this year included Audioslave, Audioslave; 1000 Kisses, Patty Griffin; A Rush of Blood To The Head, Coldplay; Songs for the Deaf, Queens of the Stone Age; 1 Giant Leap, 1 Giant Leap (which is, and was, one of the more creative projects out there, wherever there is); and The Eminem Show, Eminem.

Albums that stood out above the rest, besides 1 Giant Leap, were three: 3) Waiting for My Rocket To Come, Jason Mraz; 2.) The Rising, Bruce Springsteen and my No. 1 album for 2002 was by the band that Meg at Prefers Her Fantasy Life loves: Wilco with Yankee Hotel Foxtrot.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBhj73WtiZU



2003: I'm just going to toss you my top 10, because that's the way I'm feeling at 1:11 a.m. here on Friday morning as I'm writing this up:

10. Fallen, Evanescence
9. Come Away with Me, Norah Jones
8. Unclassified, Robert Randolph and the Family Band
7. The Soul Sessions, Joss Stone
6. Kish Kash, Basement Jaxx
5. Black Cherry, Goldfrapp
4. Welcome Interstate Managers, Fountains of Wayne
3. Speakerboxx/The Love Below, Outkast
2. Elephant, The White Stripes
and No. 1, Hail To The Thief, by my wife's favorite band again, Radiohead, with this freaky video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lstDdzedgcE



2004: It's not just because it's just getting late that the list is getting shorter than when I began. It's also because I'm not finding much on any of the lists that are catching my eyes.

I can only come up with five for 2004, and four of them are female artists after complaining about how all girl music getting on my nerves:

5. One Moment More, Mindy Smith, mainly for this song
4. Get Away from Me, Nellie McKay
3. Van Lear, Loretta Lynn
2. Here for the Party, Gretchen Wilson

and No. 1, by default, How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb, U2.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dd01FObU3Q4



2005: Yikes, it's getting bad now. Only four are even on my radar and none are particularly striking me: Push The Button, Chemical Brothers; Time Well Wasted, Brad Paisley; Extraordinary Machine, Fiona Apple, and, I guess, my pick for my favorite album(s) of 2005: Mezmerize/Hynotize by System of a Down.

Why I like them is because of songs that kick like this, B.Y.O.B., from the first album and then take it down a notch like this one, Lonely Day, from the second album.

2006: Just go here. This guy had the top album of 2006, as he was getting into Modern Times.

2007: One again, from that group my wife hates, but I just love for some reason. From the album In Rainbows released first on the Internet:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoLJJRIWCLU



and 2008? I'll be honest, I haven't listened to much new music this year so it would be unfair of me to judge. However, that doesn't mean I won't. Next Friday, based on a week's worth of listening to the year's "top albums," I'll give you my thoughts on just an initial listen.

Note to The Wife: If you've made it this far, I'll try to make this exercise more fun than this has been, and hopefully not quite as time consuming for me (as I'm finishing this post at 3:10 a.m., Friday morning). I'll also try to include more upbeat music, but which is still easy to make fun of like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyrSjN3M9oQ

Don't click on this last link unless you really feel like you need to have an evil ear worm that you won't be able to get out of your skull for the rest of the weekend. Don't say I didn't warn you.

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Whew. That title was a post in itself.

However, if you still want to see more, then check out my post from earlier today over at Humor Bloggers Fantasy Football League Blog where I lament my third loss to Leigh from Leigh Online. It features no Poorly Photoshopped Crap like over at The Other Side of Normal or Mad Photoshopping Skillz like here on this blog, and only two links (well, relevant ones anyway) so doesn't break Commandment No. 4 of Rickey's Twelve Commandments of Blogging unlike this post, which has at least a half a dozen if not more by the time I get done with this.

And despite what my last post said, you can scroll back, I'm not going to link back, beyotch, Chris Cameron at Angry Seafood is right: the Huey Loggins Debate is Unsettled. I thought the polls had closed on Sunday, but my poll now says 50 percent too.

Somehow I bet New Hampshire screwed it up. New Hampshire is not only an indicator in the Presidential elections. It's also an indicator in the Great (oh, it's not really that great, it's a made up thing that Chris Cameron and I thought up because it was cold where we live and we were getting SAD and needed something to distract us and at least give us a laugh, because in actuality, we both could care less about Kenny and Huey -- personally I like aboriginal opera, and Chris is in to Finnish death metal bands) Huey Loggins Debate of 2008. However, what it's indicating I don't know...

...much like this post which I'm betting broke more than just that one rule of Rickey's. At least, I hope so, because I sure tried.

Chris Cameron from Angry Seafood and I recently had a slight debate over Kenny Loggins and Huey Lewis. For more about the debate, click here where you'll find a few more links (just what you need, huh?). But at least, on the poll on MY blog, Kenny won, with a whopping six votes against Huey's four votes. I know, not an overwhelming victory, but a victory nonetheless.


(But yes, that version of "Paranoid" by Rob Halford was awful, Chris. I'll give you that. I just threw it in because I do like Halford, but yes, it's a horrible version.)

For this week's poll, see the far right sidebar.

Humor-Blogs.com If not a member,you can register, you don't even have to have a blog and you'll receive no spam-- even though, as Monty sings, it is lovely and wonderful.

Blogerella

You already knew this, but now Poobomber from The Other Side of Normal has confirmed it:

My Blog Is

0%

BADASS!

How About Yours?
Click HERE To Find Out.

However:

100!

I thought I'd be gay today, no, not homosexual gay, but just general gay (for a fuller explanation and to show you I'm not a total bigot, see JohnnyBTruant's post on Christmas is gay), and start sort of like those gaytards (again, general gayness, see definition of gaytarded here) that leave comments on other bloggers' posts: "First!"

Or like a kid that gets to the top of steps, or I imagine like Beatrix Kiddo getting to the top of the staircase of hundred steps at the White Lotus Temple and Pai Mei says to her:

You breathe hard. The one hundred steps robbed you of your wind. So your stupidity is matched only by your weakness.

And then Pai Mei (the symbol of my blogging) beats me to a pulp and threatens to chop off my arm at will...

...yet I keep coming back for more torture, and, for some reason, so do you.


And now from the same friend of mine that brought the inspiration for two of my most popular posts: Springtime for Hitler in South Korea and Actress 서우 Seo Woo: A fine example of South Korean culture comes this gem:





and the New Kids on the Block/'N Sync/Backstreet Boys of Japan, How Gee:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmhrYWkz6Vs





And then they had to add this, and in bold:

Hmmm. Only 5.53 hours. Are you this boring in real life?

Whoa. Was that necessary? Am I really that boring? (And the larger existential question: Is my life defined by Twitter? If so, how boring am I really: sitting in front of a computer screen all day? I saw another Twitterer who boasted that she's "wasted 290,550 Seconds or 4,843 Minutes or 80.71 Hours or 3.36 Days with 9685 Tweets on Twitter!" Is that really something to boast?)

Whatever.

I'm off to do dishes and then come back here to sit on my boring ass and catch up on some blogs over at Humor-Blogs.com (if not a member you can register, you don't even have to have a blog and you'll receive no spam-- even though, as Monty sings, it is lovely and wonderful).

If that's not exciting enough for you, then I'm going to go to Blogerella too...

...and, oh, the ever-exciting Entrecard, at least, according to my good friend Lobo, who swears by it.


Then I'm going to keep wastin' time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBB599DldsQ

This is part 3 of 4 of a series on the top albums, either best or favorite, of the last 39 years of my life.

My first post (1969-1979) can be found here; second post (1980-1990) here.

Now on to the next 10 years:

1990: The year that the diverse groups of Infectious Grooves and Wilson Phillips (I’m not putting a link to them, you probably remember how bad they were, right?) form as well as the not-as-far-off Pearl Jam and Tool.

Starship disbands. Awwwww.

Album-wise, the year begins on a weird note as in January They Might Be Giants releases Flood.

Bell Biv DeVoe, Boo-Yah Tribe, The Black Crowes, Damn Yankees, Mariah Carey, Alan Jackson, Digital Underground, En Vogue, Inspiral Carpets, Wilson Phillips, Biohazard, Alice In Chains, Firehouse, C & C Music Factory all release their debut albums.

Highlights include Ritual De Lo Habitual, Jane’s Addiction; Mama Said Knock You Out, LL Cool J; Time’s Up, Living Colour; Faith Hope Love, King’s X; No Fences, Garth Brooks. The Rhythm of the Saints, Paul Simon.

My top two albums for 1990, with one correction from my last post, are: 2) If There Was A Way, Dwight Yoakam; and, going in a completely different direction for the No. 1 album for 1990:

Fear of a Black Planet by Public Enemy (which Wikipedia – I know it’s a shock that they could be wrong-- incorrectly identified as a 1989 album in its 1989 in music link and so I misidentified also)

http://www.youtube/watch?v=M_t13-0Joyc



1991: Grunge is born with Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden and Temple of the Dog breaking through, so to speak.

Brooks & Dunn, Cypress Hill, Dave Matthews Band, Spin Doctors, Tupac Shakur, Boyz II Men, Smashing Pumpkins, Seal, Trisha Yearwood and Ricky Martin all release their debut albums.

Besides the first four bands mentioned, other bands making their mark this year are Guns N’ Roses with Use Your Illusion I and II; U2, Achtung Baby; R.E.M, Out of Time; Red Hot Chili Peppers, Blood Sugar Sex Magik and Fishbone, The Reality of My Surroundings.

With all of these albums, it is difficult to pick out a best, top or favorite album. However, I have to give the top album of the year to Nirvana with Nevermind because it was so groundbreaking. My favorite album, though, was Pearl Jam’s Ten. A very close second in both those categories for me (favorite and top) is Metallica’s self-titled album or The Black Album along with the U2 and R.E.M. albums.

And while everybody knows Smells Like Teen Spirit, the one from that album which stuck in my mind was this song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOL5cpwTkes.

1992: According to Wikipedia, a lot of things happened, but as most have the note "citation needed," I'm not going to repeat them here. After all, I'm not one to go 'round spreading rumors. No, I'm not the gossiping kind...

...so I'll just highlight albums that caught my eyes as I was browsing the list the Wiki Wack people provided and a few more from my iTunes library.

Artists and bands making their debut albums were Arrested Development, Tori Amos, No Doubt, Body Count, Kriss Kross, Das EFX, Sophie B. Hawkins, Jackyl, Sugar, Ugly Kid Joe, Blind Melon, Stone Temple Pilots and Dr. Dre. An interesting exercise might be to make a poem using the names of some of these bands. Try it on a separate sheet of paper.

This also was the year that The Tubes and April Wine reformed-- for what reason, I'll never know.

Among albums released this year are Dirt by Alice In Chains; ingenue, k.d. lang; Vulgar Display of Power, Pantera; Ingenue, k.d. lang; Diva, Annie Lennox; Countdown To Extinction, Megadeth; One, Me Phi Me; Psalm 69, Ministry and III Sides To Every Story, Extreme.

Many critics' favorite for this year is R.E.M.'s Automatic for the People, and while one of my favorite bands, and this is a very good album, I'm going to mention two albums, because I can't narrow it down: Images and Words, Dream Theater and the self-titled debut from Rage Against the Machine.

Everyone knows the song Wake Up from Rage, thanks to The Matrix. However, I really enjoy this video done for the song on YouTube using images from Flickr:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1T8xgHdMEM



As for Dream Theater, this is the song that was the big hit by them (I'd like to put on other videos from them, but most of their songs are pretty long and I'm already stretching your attention span):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pIjHeBbRtY



1993: One of the few things for which has a citation in Wiki Wack is Barry White appears in animated form on The Simpsons on April 29. Pretty important stuff right there.

Artists and albums releasing their debut albums are Ace of Base, Sheryl Crow, Bjork, Radiohead, Tool, Toby Keith, Collective Soul, Us3, Liz Phair, Porno for Pyros and Jamiroquai. Of those, about three, maybe four, deserve to continue making music. The rest, meh. Discuss which three or four amongst your split personalities.

Cannot not mention Nirvana again with its album In Utero or Pearl Jam with Vs., but for me, my two favorite albums for 1993 are from two very different artists, Dwight Yoakam with This Time and Terence Trent D'Arby with Symphony or Damn. Both, but most especially D'Arby's album, were extremely underrated.

This was one of the few videos I could find from that album:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEZ4CxnLXro



As for Yoakam, I always loved this song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zd8_i4GoiQ



1994: In addition to Wiki Waki, I'm going to use some other sources, because the pickings are getting pretty slim (I know I'm supposed to come up with a simile here "like the Republican Party choices for President in 2008" but it's too early in the morning and when I tried, look what I did come up with, plus a dangling preposition) or is that just because music began to suck about the mid-90s and has never regained its former lustre, its former sheen, its former mantle of gold, its (insert your lame metaphor here)? Well, whatever, here's my new source: http://www.alaskajim.com/index.htm, which then links to several other sources.

Not surprisingly after mentioning how music began to suck, I write this: This is the year of Dookie. Green Day actually wanted to call their album "Liquid Dookie," but according to VH1's "Behind The Music" (or this link) they thought it was "too gross." Um, you think?

The Spice Girls, P.O.D. and Limp Bizkit began their careers as did Rammstein (which one of these things is not like the other?).

Other albums included The Downward Spiral (the title perhaps an augury of the future of music), Nine Inch Nails; Purple, Stone Temple Pilots; Live Through This, Hole; Ill Communication, The Beastie Boys; Grace, Jeff Buckley; Illmatic, Nas; CrazySexyCool, TLC;

One of my favorites of this year was American Recordings by Johnny Cash, whom Rick Rubin lured out of retirement to sing songs that weren't normally in his repertoire such as this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7OpGizuCmw

Another was Nirvana's MTV Unplugged in New York, especially for this song which only done months before Kurt Cobain committed suicide, was all the creepier (in my opinion), and my pick for the top album of 1994: Superunknown, Soundgarden.

My favorite song from the album:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWkbFKJZB0k



1995: The Foo Fighters, Ben Folds Five, Garbage (no, really, it's a band for those of you not "in the know" and they're actually pretty good) release their debut albums.

The Smashing Pumpkins release their double-disc of depression, Mellon Collie and The Infinite Sadness.

Other notable albums include the self-titled album by Collective Soul; No Doubt's Tragic Kingdom; Alanis Morissette (for some reason I feel like I'm spelling Mississippi, except without the double consonants to start), Jagged Little Pill; Seven Mary Three's American Standard; Radiohead's The Bends; Shania Twain's The Woman In Me and dc Talk's Jesus Freak.

I'm consulting my Magic 8-Ball, but it's saying Outlook Not So Good. Don't believe me. Look. It might give you a different answer if you type in "What's the top album of 1995?", but I doubt it will give you the right answer. Nothing's speaking to me from this year so I'll just go with something from Collective Soul, and I can't even muster the strength to embed, but it's still worth a click: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=039rVH0HRxI.

1996: I've mentioned previously on my blog that I was abducted during the 1980s (no link, I'll save myself the embarrassment this time), but I think I might have been abducted during this year too because not a lot is jumping out at me again. However, a few do (and not always for good reasons either):

Marilyn Manson, Antichrist Superstar; Tidal, the debut of Fiona Apple; R.E.M., New Adventures in Hi-Fi; Johnny Cash's Unchained, especially for this version of Soundgarden's "Rusty Cage"; The Fugees, The Score, and cutting right to the chase, my favorite album of 1996, the underrated No Code by Pearl Jam:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHS7SyCD8zI



1997: I'm looking through the lists and thinking I don't even recognize half the names on the list. A mere three even register: U2's underrated Pop; Bob Dylan's deservedly well-rated Time Out of Mind; and my pick for my favorite album of 1997: Radiohead's OK Computer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LeLAELIxKY



I don't understand why my wife hates them. I also don't get why she thinks posts like this are so depressing either after hearing uplifting music sung by Thom Yorke.

1998: Two ladies stand out for me, Lauryn Hill with The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill and Lucinda Williams with Car Wheels On A Gravel Road.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGUsF-Whb1g



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXbn1-aVQw8



1999: Just for my wife, who loves this group as much as she does Radiohead, from their album The Battle of Los Angeles:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JSBhI_0at0



and one last song, just because I can: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bv3xM3v4-rI

****

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