On amendments

Yesterday, the conservatives came out in what they hoped would be droves but what ended up looking like far less than they probably hoped for at the Iowa Statehouse to demand that the Iowa legislature debate an amendment to the Iowa Constitution defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman. This is in response to the decision late last summer by a judge that the state's marriage law was unconstitutional.

I have mixed feelings about this rally and the people involved in it. While I don't even remotely begin to agree with these protesters, I have to respect their right to speak their minds and feel as they feel. As much as I just wish they would shut up and keep their bigoted opinions to themselves, they have the same right that I do to speak what they feel. But what is the cost of their rhetoric? At one time, it was completely acceptable to speak in a racist fashion, now that can land you in exceptionally hot water. When will this day come for gays and lesbians? I feel like the tide is turning, but that day may yet be a long way off.

I don't know. I don't think that a constitutional marriage amendment in Iowa will gain a lot of traction unless the Democratic majority we have now is somehow voted out. What I think is quite funny is the use of a simple demand "Let Us Vote!" to sum up what is really a very complex issue.

The last thing the world needs is me spouting about it, but I will anyway because it's my damn blog. The Des Moines Register has a bunch of photos of the rally posted. I can't believe these people would allow themselves to become the "face of bigotry" but I suppose they don't really see it that way. Despite the serious nature of the story, this one made me laugh out loud.

I mean, seriously! Start over if you screw up that badly!

Bathroom music

While I was getting ready this morning, I was listening to my iPod on the stage and heard a song I have not heard in forever! It is quite a random song, that's for sure, but it was "Never (Past Tense)" by Roc Project featuring Tina Arena. It is from the third season soundtrack of Queer as Folk and it is so damn dramatic I can't even begin to articulate it. Anyway, it sounded so good this morning in the bathroom (doesn't all music sound better in the bathroom? What's up with that?) I may just have to queue it up again and listen to it on the way to work.

That and "Us Amazonians" by the late Kirsty MacColl which I also heard while I was getting ready and never fails to remind me of my lovely wife.

Canadian songbird

Everybody has those artists in their collection that they just can't bear to reveal. For some, it's that secret copy of Britney's first album. For others, it's a Barbara Mandrell album they can't bear to part with. Yet other choose their guilty pleasure to be Dionne Warwick singing "Theme From Valley of the Dolls." Most of my music collection is one big guilty pleasure, although I once read somewhere (sorry, can't remember where) that the term guilty pleasure implies that there's something to apologize for. I am so far past that point that I can, with great pride, reveal one of my guiltiest of all guilty pleasures: Anne Murray.

I don't know what it is about Anne Murray's brand of 70s not-quite-country, not-quite-pop that I like so much. I have my mom and dad to blame for it, without a doubt. I was raised on a steady diet of this kind of stuff. Heidi once teased me, when labeling Anne Murray one of my guiltiest pleasures, by saying "are you an old lady or what?" Point taken. I actually attended an Anne Murray concert a couple years back and it was very enjoyable. She knew that she was a nostalgia act and played it for all that it was worth. While she played a few songs from her current album, she also knew that people had come to hear the hits, the comfortable songs that feel familiar and cozy.

I don't have every Anne Murray album known to man, only a hits collection and that suits me just fine. But when I found out that she was doing one last album, an album of duets with other female singers, I just had to bite. And I knew just what to do. I sent my mom the link to the album on Amazon.ca (not released in the US yet, and not sure when the US release date will be) and asked for it for Christmas. And sure enough, I got just what I wanted, although it took two shots to get the CD as the first one was mortally wounded in transit from Canada. But it finally arrived about a week ago and the good news is that it is VERY good.

Most of the songs are tried and true Anne Murray staples. This both works for and against the album. It works for it by being those comfortable songs that everyone knows, reworked a bit into duet form, with Anne doing completely new vocals for all the songs. It is this familiarity that also works against it, as Anne does not quite have the vocal chops she had 30 years ago. She is a bit of a warbler now, although, as Mary's friend's uncle or dad or whoever said, "that broad can sing!" As is the case with so many of the artists that I follow, they are headed into their autumn years and, let's face it, a 60 year old voice just doesn't have what a 30 year old voice does. So there are some scratchy moments, especially on "Daydream Believer" and "Snowbird" but we'll forgive her because, well, we just will.

That having been said, the standout tracks for me are "Daydream Believer" (recorded with Nelly Furtado of all people!) and "Snowbird" (recorded with Sarah Brightman of "Phantom of the Opera" fame.) I think what I like most about those pairings is the contrast of the voices, Sarah with her classically trained soprano against Anne's alto. Similarly, Nelly Furtado's voice complements Anne's well on what is probably one of my favorite Anne Murray songs (I remember hearing this song on AM radio when I was a kid riding home from the grocery store with my mom.)

Dusty Springfield also shows up, quite an accomplishment considering she's been dead for nearly a decade. Although the thought of a zombie Dusty Springfield is certainly a thought to ponder, it is purely studio magic that allows Anne to duet with her on "I Just Fall In Love Again." I also really enjoy Martina McBride's performance on "Danny's Song." The addition of the rest of the verses helps a lot. I keep getting that part with "Pisces, Virgo rising is a very good sign" stuck in my head! And of course, there's Dame Livvy (not really a dame, but that's how we refer to Olivia Newton-John around our house) who duets on "Cotton Jenny" which is a song I had never heard before, but is written by one of Caryle's most FAVORITE artists, Gordon Lightfoot. ;)

Not every song works - there's a French language song that I frequently skip and I just don't get into "When I Fall In Love" with Celine Dion. Some of the songs make me really want to hear the originals again, most notably "Time Don't Run Out On Me" featuring Carole King as the duet partner never really seems to get started and plus, I have never really been all that keen on Carole King's singing voice.

So who knew that Anne Murray could crank out an album that would be so appealing to this 35 year old guy? Considering she's the guiltiest of all my guilty pleasures, it's not too terribly surprising. And considering her recent comment on Madonna, which Matthew Rettenmund described as not quite a compliment, not quite a slam, I have a newfound respect for her.

"She doesn't sing like Barbara Streisand...(but) she dances like a son of a gun," Murray says of the Material Girl.

Man's best friend

The Sunday night ritual of getting the garbage out is complete. We are leaving a gigantic size carbon footprint because all the carpet we tore up this last week is now sitting on the curb awaiting the trip to its final resting place. And I moved all that carpet myself, thankyouverymuch! I hadn't intended for it to be that way, but I started with "oh, I'll move the small pieces and then have Heidi help with the one really big mother of a piece." Before I knew it, I was dragging the large piece up the driveway (a task made MUCH easier by all the ice on the driveway) and it was all out there. So YAY!

Earlier today, while Heidi was writing and Anna had a little friend over to play, I watched the movie Fido on the laptop. I remember hearing about this movie earlier this year, and since it was a zombie flick, I knew that I would be seeing it eventually. I'm not even sure that it even made it to the theaters here in Ames, for if it had shown up at that dollar theater, I would have undoubtedly gone. The basic premise of the movie is that sometime in the early to mid-20th century, a radioactive cloud from outer space reanimated the dead, leading to the Zombie Wars. Unlike in most of zombie lore, the humans actually are victorious over the undead, after they figure out what all us zombie fans know: Kill the brain, and you kill the ghoul. But armed with that knowledge, they take it a step further and develop the "domestication collar" which turns the zombies into manageable monsters capable of doing the tedious work that no one else wants to do. So they become household servants, paper boys, milk delivery men, garbage collectors, etc.

Fido is the zombie that the Robinson family brings into their home and unlike any zombie I've ever seen, he has a heart of gold. That is not to say that he does not have a few human snacks, but he develops a special relationship with little Timmy Robinson, a boy whose father is largely absent and whose mother is a bit of an enigma. They live in a typically idyllic 50s neighborhood save the fact that the walking (domesticated) dead are all around them.

What I liked most about this movie was that, for a zombie movie, it was actually kind of cute. That's not a adjective that is frequently ascribed to zombie flicks, the only one that even comes close is Shaun of the Dead, and I still wouldn't call that movie "cute." The relationship between Timmy and Fido is so endearing, and even though the movie breaks a few of the zombie rules, I can forgive it for it helped bring out the heart in the monster.

It was also fun watching zombie carnage set against a backdrop of 50s America. Every time I watch a movie that is set in the 50s, with its clean streets, white picket fences and all those other things that make up the popular conception of the 1950s, I always wish that I could live then rather than in our troubled times. Of course, the popular portrayal of the 50s as a time of carefree existence is completely and utterly false, plus there'd be no antibiotics save penicillin and sulfonamides, so no thanks, I'll stay here in the early 21st century. But watching the bloody-mouthed, shuffling zombies attacking their human counterparts during this time period was very Stubbs the Zombie and a interesting take on the genre.

The movie had a lot to say about the humanity of the monsters (specifically Fido) when compared to those that were actually living and while that was an overriding theme of the movie, you didn't feel like you were being hit over the head with it, which was a relief. I mean, after all, it is a zombie movie.

Next up from Netflix is likely Grindhouse: Planet Terror which is another zombie movie (I know, I need professional help.) That movie had me in the trailer when Rose McGowan took off her leg and replaced it with a machine gun. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is at the top of the queue, but it says "very long wait" so it might be awhile before we see that one.

Ambition of the blond (and the non-blond)

I'm sitting here in my fantastic looking new TV room listening to one of several bootlegs of the Blond Ambition Tour on my iPod while Heidi gets Anna settled in bed. The one I'm listening to is the one from Dallas. I have absolutely no idea how they got this near-soundboard recording of the tour. It must have been simulcast on the radio or something because there's no way on God's green earth it's an audience recording. Anyway, I really like this recording of the tour. Her voice was not completely shot yet, and it lacks the "dress rehearsal" feel of the audio from Yokohama. So it's a bit of a happy medium.

Now, if I really wanted to punish myself, I would listen to the Barcelona Blond Ambition where she sounds absolutely awful. There is no apologizing for that vocal performance, it just scraped the bottom of the barrel. Granted it was toward the end of the tour, so there's that. It is sometimes fun to listen to because it's clearly in an outside arena and Madonna complains about the heat all the way through the show.

Anyway, so today was a good one. We got our room done (for the most part) which is a major accomplishment for something that we didn't even set out to do until January 2nd. Heidi already blogged it, but here's a few pictures of what we did (for those of you that don't read both of us.)

That Anna, she's such a ham.

It feels good. I'll admit, I wasn't sure the red couch would work, even as I was plunking down the money for it, but I do believe it works. It's so nice to have a room that we actually enjoy rather than one that we just kind of ignore the really old and bad parts of. And what's even better is that we did it OUR OWN SELVES. There is so much satisfaction in that, I can't even begin to articulate it. There is nothing like a lot of hard work and then being able to bask in the fruit of your labors.

So on to the next thing, right? Who knows what that might be. I will say that I haven't seen Heidi so full of energy and vim and vigor for I can't tell you how long, so that's a definite plus! (I love you sweetie and am so glad you're feeling better!)

"Hanky Panky" is playing right now. Talk about a song that I thought I'd never hear live again after Blond Ambition.

Anyway, a weird entry, I know. My state of mind is a bit weird, but there are two constants despite it. And they are the love of my girls and my constant slagging on the quality of Madonna's vocals on Blond Ambition. It's how you know I haven't been replaced by a pod person.

Ma premiere disque

Gakked from Heidi who gakked it from Caryle:

1) Go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
The article title is the name of your band.

2) Go to http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3
The final four words of the last quote on your page are the title of your album.

3) Go to http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days/
The FOURTH image on the page is your album cover.

4) Design your cover. Layout and presentation are up to you.

5) Post your cover, along with these instructions. In the comments your friends will tell you what kind of music you play and the name of the album's single.

OK, so here it is.

I had a different album cover the first time around, but my download of the picture didn't work (damn it!) It was a picture of a purple flower. The trashed umbrellas make it just SLIGHTLY less likely that it's me playing the singing crystal bowls.

Hole in my heart chakra (all the way to China)

So on Monday, I had the day off after working the weekend. The weekend was the first weekend I have worked in probably 2 years, so it was a bit of a shock to be back at work on Saturday and Sunday. But it was a good weekend and there are pluses about working weekends, one of them being days off during the week. They are great opportunities to get to places that are difficult to get to during the week when you work and impossible to get to on the weekends.

In any event, on Monday, I went to see Heidi's energy therapy lady. The last month or so has seen less-than-optimal management of my SAD. The lack of light this year has gotten to me even more than I am used to. Part of the reason for this is that I have not been as diligent about doing the things that I know keep it all at bay. But the new year has seen a new resolve and Heidi has kind of been on my case to go to this energy therapy thing. Well, I'll try (almost) anything once, so late last week, she kind of forced the issue and I got an appointment for Monday morning.

I'll admit that I was skeptical. The funny thing is, Heidi said, you don't even have to believe in it for it to work. Having been trained to think in a traditional Western medical way, I always view such things with quiet skepticism. But there is a part of me (a part that I think might be bigger than I want to admit) that desperately wants to believe in all that. It's the same part of me that wants ghosts and UFOs and all that X-Files stuff to be real. And seriously, there is probably something to it because people chewed on willow bark for no apparent reason long before we discovered aspirin in that willow bark. So I went, and despite my skepticism, I was determined to get the most out of it.

Honestly though, I was amazed at what it accomplished. I won't go into exactly what she did although I will say that it involved both touch and working above my body while I was laying on the table. I am afraid that I might have drifted off to sleep while she was doing it, but Heidi assured me that was okay because everyone has a different reaction to it. It was funny, there were times that I was like "this is all so weird!" and then times when I was totally into it and I really seemed to be "feeling" something for lack of a better word.

What I will say for the experience is that after she was done, she told me that I had not one but FOUR of my chakras blocked. The chakras that were blocked - the result of emotional upset, conflict, loss, etc. - were chakras one through four - the most basic of all chakras. I told her going into it that I felt like my heart chakra (number 4) was blocked. I had determined this based on some conversations Heidi and I had over the last month or so. So I wasn't surprised to hear about number four, although numbers one through three surprised me.

The goal of energy therapy is to unblock these chakras and get them functioning more normally again, put a hole in them so-to-speak. To do that, you need to get the energy flowing through them in a more natural way, and I do feel like that happened. The trick is to figure out how to do it myself. I was impressed with her in that she didn't do the chiropractor sell and say "well, you need to come back twice a week for the rest of your natural life." According to Heidi, she is very into teaching you how to keep your chakras unblocked. But you have to do the work. You have to meditate (which isn't as daunting as it sounds) and you have to be cognizant.

So time will tell, that was my energy therapy experience. If you're reading this and thinking "Dan, that sounds way too new agey for you!" you're probably right, but I did get something out of it. And that's the most important thing I guess.


(the song from which this post dervied its name)

What about the Gentlemen?

Heidi forwarded this to me, and it is just perfect. It's the GOP presidential contenders if they were Buffy villains. Too classic.

But perhaps the best one is in the comments (where several try their hand at the Democratic candidates):

Hillary Clinton => Buffy Summers
Her choice of gentleman companions leaves something to be desired. Struggles with her demons. Portrayed by a not terribly likeable actress. But you know that when the chips are down she will kick serious ass.

Heart failed at the top of the staircase

...instead of in the back of a taxi.

Those of you keeping up with Heidi's blog have seen the transformation of our TV/family room from a 70s hell with dark wood paneling and stained carpet to a fabulously painted room with sealed hardwood floors. The sealing has been a tricky in this house of many cats. It has pretty much required us to seal the cats in different parts of the house. The three young men - Walter, Bingley and Sidney got the basement. We sealed the cat door at the top of the steps so as to prevent their escape onto the sticky floor above, but this did not stop one determined Walter from nearly clawing through the door in an attempt to escape his prison.

Between plaintive meows, we heard frantic scratching and clawing at the door, desperately trying to remove the cat door as if THE most exciting thing in the world was happening on the other side. Seriously, it sounded like he was going to drop dead from heart failure in the next minute if we didn't let him out.

I am happy to report that he is still alive, ready to annoy and slobber another day.

It's been a really good remodel of the room. It's been difficult, but I think we're really going to like it once we're all done. And unbelievably, it has not been all that expensive. It helped immensely that we didn't have to rent a floor sander (although when we do the floors in the back bedroom, there is no doubt in my mind that we will be renting it for that job.) We only have several more coats of polyurethane to put on the floor, a job that is proving to be more difficult with each subsequent coat because it's harder and harder to tell where you've already been and where you have yet to go.

But it's very satisfying because it's something we've wanted to do since the day we moved in, and it is finally happening. So YAY for that.

Darling, just be yourself tonight

Every now and then, I wonder what it was like to listen to one of those "classic" albums before they were classics. For instance, I wonder what Rumours sounded like before it sold a bazillion copies and had spun off 4 hit singles. As a long time Madonna fan, I've had the opportunity to do this with her records before the albums became collections of hit singles. But recently, I've come across an album that I really wish I had been able to do the "virgin listen" with.

On the whole, Eurythmics albums are rather hit and miss for me. For every classic album they have (Savage), they have one that doesn't really do it for me (Touch - I know! Heresy!) I'm not sure why this is, as I really do love Annie Lennox and the production is right up my alley. But for whatever reason, some of their albums really appeal to me, and others, I can leave with no problem. Be Yourself Tonight, which I have just recently listened to in its entirety, falls into the former category.

Be Yourself Tonight is probably the Eurythmics album on which there is the largest percentage of recognizable hits. At only nine tracks, that doesn't take much, but almost half the songs were released as singles, those being "Would I Lie To You", "Sisters Are Doin' It For Themselves", "There Must Be An Angel (Playing With My Heart)" and "It's Alright (Baby's Coming Back.)" Listening to the album now, there's a sharp demarcation between those famous hit singles and the lesser known album tracks. Oh, here's a hit single! Oh, here's a song I don't know. I really wonder what it would have been like to listen to this album when the only song that you knew going into the listen was "Would I Lie To You."



(To this day, I still think it sounds like she's saying "I'm naked! Naked!" instead of "I'll make it, make it!")

As an album, it ranks right up there with my all-time favorite Eurythmics album Savage. A bit more pop-rockier than the previous efforts, it does have some ace songs, and I'm not even talking about the singles. "Here Comes That Sinking Feeling" is a personal favorite as it served as a bit of a "personal work theme song" when I was working retail pharmacy in Iowa City nearly a decade ago. The album is a perfect example of how less really is more. The CD age has seen artists feel compelled to fill up every single minute of the CD, compromising the integrity of the album in the process. Be Yourself Tonight clocks in at a tight 43 minutes and is intriguing and appealing for all 43 of those minutes.

Annie Lennox is in such fine voice on this album and it is immaculately produced, however, the Eurythmics' fortunes would start to fail with their next release (Revenge) and fall even further with Savage. But for what it's worth, Be Yourself Tonight is a classic album of the 80s and one even casual Eurythmics/Annie Lennox fans should give a spin from start to finish.

The remastered version released a few years back has 6 bonus tracks, including two remixes, a live track and some unreleased stuff from (one assumes) around that time, including a killer cover of The Doors' "Hello I Love You."

He's here again

I am not what one would consider a Kate Bush fan - not by a long shot. I admire and respect her as an artist, but I just don't much care for her music. Most of the time, I find her voice rather grating and not very appealing. She is, I believe, an acquired taste which I have not really acquired. However, I was mentioning to Heidi the other night that the one Kate Bush song that I really have latched onto is "The Man With The Child In His Eyes." I'm not sure why, but I think it's just gorgeous.



Now there are some other Kate Bush songs that I do like - "The Red Shoes" and "Rubberband Girl" but none, in my opinion have the beautiful simplicity of "The Man With The Child In His Eyes."

I think, as artists go, I have to take Kate Bush in very small servings. But like I said, I do admire her body of work and her bravery in going her own way.

Caucus insanity (not so much)

About 4 years ago, I wrote this post about the 2004 Iowa Caucuses and our experience there as Dean supporters. It was, in effect, what made us leave Washington and move to Ames. It was not the only reason, but it was definitely the straw that broke the camel's back. I'm happy to say that our experience caucusing this time around was nowhere near as stressful and was actually a bit of fun.

With the caucuses a thing of the past and the results on every news channel known to man, we all know that Barack Obama won. He was the clear favorite at our caucus site, with fully half the room supporting him. 228 people showed up to our caucus site - we had 10 delegates to divvy up. Obama got 5, Edwards (who Heidi and I were both unswayably supporting) got 3, and Richardson got 2. To my great shock and surprise, the Hillary group was not viable (i.e. did not reach the 15% of caucus goers in the room) so they had to realign with other campaigns. I felt bad for her in a lot of ways, mostly because the Clinton precinct captain is a neighbor of ours who has had her Hillary sign up for a damn long time and was obviously very passionate about it. I think ANY of the Democrats will make a good president, and I was nearly swayed to Obama by an article in The Atlantic that I read a month ago. It was that article alone that made him my strong second choice. But ultimately, it was Edwards, who was my second choice after Dean in 2004 that got my caucus vote this time around.

It's kind of fun - because it's cool to see democracy in action, no matter how antiquated and creaky the caucus version of democracy is. It was fun this year because I was just a body to be counted, and not someone who had to work the floor and try to get people to come stand up for our candidate. I am not cut out for that kind of life.

After all is said and done, any Democratic candidate is better than ANY of the Republican candidates. Huckabee will lead the Republican party to an electoral disaster. Although there is a lot of time between now and Election Day. And if there's one thing I've learned, it's that anything can happen.

RIAA update

So the RIAA hasn't gone completely over the edge yet. As it turns out, that Washington Post article that I linked to yesterday was not the best researched bit of news in the history of the world. I'd detail it here, but really, someone else has already done a better job.

Ringing in 2008

We rang in 2008 in style last night with meatballs, cheese and crackers and Pizza Pit pizza, amongst other health foods. It was just 6 of us (including Anna, who managed to make it all the way to midnight) and we had a good time. There was copious amounts of silly dancing and inside jokes and general fun. This was the centerpiece on our table.

After awhile, Cher suffered a heel injury and had to be retired to the wheelchair. This of course, led to countless jokes about Cher being in the nursing home. (Are you ready for your pills, Cher? Do you need to take a nap?)

She has recovered after vigorous physical therapy.

The highlight of the night was definitely watching Heidi's 20 minute iMovie that she made (that I plan on uploading to Google Video as soon as I can get my act together.) There was a large amount of cursing involved in the making of it, but the laughs were worth it.

We stayed up till nearly 3AM last night - Mary collapsed from exhaustion earlier, so it was just Heidi, Jeff, Caryle and me. We had a spirited V.C. Andrews discussion (if you're dead, you have a lot of time on your hands to write books. Believe me, this stuff makes sense after several beers and in the middle of the night.) I woke up around 10 after being roused awake by Anna, and we've been pretty productive today. So that's good.

In other news:

I am feeling a small amount of trepidation with regards to 2008. It does not help that according to Michael Lutin, my forecast for the next 2 years thanks to Saturn in Virgo is something like "The big question is are you going to be more committed to the family or can you function on your own in spite of your fears of being alone?" Now, I don't for one instant think that should be taken literally, but still! WTF? But still, the arrival 2008 seems like a complete severing of all that seemed familiar, so who knows what the year will bring.

I watched Brokeback Mountain again this afternoon for the first time in a long time. I forgot how much that story gets to me. I have no idea why that movie gets to me like it does. Mostly, I feel so bad for Jack and Ennis, truly victims of the time period. But I also think that it reflects more broadly on platonic male friendships. But that's a whole 'nother blog post.

I really wanted to watch the episode of "The Golden Girls" last night where Rose was dating Dr. Jonathan Newman, the psychiatrist who happens to be a little person (is that the right term to use?) Blanche is just a kill in that one. Shrimp? Alas, it did not happen.

Back to work tomorrow, but then onward to Iowa City on Thursday to get Heidi's tooth looked at, then off Friday but I work the weekend. Booyouweekendworkingwhores!

That's it. Happy New Year to everyone!

Bravery

It's New Year's Eve - one more post before we kiss 2007 goodbye and ring in 2008 with style. The house is cleaned up, the guests won't arrive for a few hours, so I thought I'd get one last post in before the year is out. Last year, I declined to do a look back - it just wasn't what I wanted to do at the time. This year, thanks to the iMovie that Heidi made, I'm a bit more in the mood to look back. Parts of 2007 sucked beyond words, but the good times outnumbered the bad by a comfortable margin.

Here I am on December 31st, 2006, with my one real resolution for the year. As I've mentioned before, I am not much of a resolution kind of guy, but I felt like this was one that I really wanted to make.

I also apparently resolved unknowingly to start wearing my hair longer - what a curly top!

I started 2007 with a firm resolve to stop hiding, to be more authentically me (because the authentic me really is fabulous), and to be braver. And for the most part, I think I really accomplished my goal. I took a lot of chances last year that might not have paid off, but for whatever reason, they did. They were not all big things - I didn't quit my job to join a Buddhist convent or anything like that, nor did I sell all my belongings to search for buried treasure - but I do believe that I had a year full of the unexpected, things that my 30 year-old self could never have done.

In so many ways, getting my ear pierced was a perfect metaphor for what I set out to accomplish the night that video was made. That act may not seem like a lot to people, but to me, it really is. It all stemmed from a suggestion by Heidi one night when we were out together sans kid and feeling the effects of one glass of wine too many and I couldn't stop thinking about doing it. I know that I hemmed and hawed in this very blog about it probably more than I should have, but in the end, I did it. Despite all my worries about how it would go over at work or with more conservative members of my family, the most common response to it has been "have you always had that and I'm just now noticing it?"

I've taken chances in relationships, stepping outside of my comfort zone in getting to know people with some very satisfying results. I've been more honest with myself and those around me, to varying degrees of success. I danced with reckless abandon in a gay bar. I have gotten braver in my blogging - sometimes I wonder how smart that is, but my unwritten rule is I don't blog anything that I wouldn't feel comfortable saying to anyone in person. I still am smart enough to know not to blog about work (blogging about work is not brave, it's naive.) While there will always be a lot of music posts around here because it is such an important thing in my life and really the prism through which so much of my life is refracted, I have also littered this last year's worth of blogging with a lot of personal stories and things that have made me hesitate prior to hitting PUBLISH. But I am who I am and I can't change any of it, nor would I really want to.

But perhaps the biggest thing that has happened this year is that, after many years of intellectually knowing it but not wanting to believe it, I have (much as my lovely wife has) come to the conclusion that not one single solitary person on this planet is capable of saving you besides YOU. I have spent a lot of time in my life looking for people to affirm this or that or the other thing and mostly, that's a fruitless endeavor. It's not fair to them and it's certainly not fair to me. And that's hard. It pisses me off for it puts a big roadblock up smack dab across the path of least resistance. It forces you to look at yourself and realize that really, there is no savior. You HAVE to do it yourself. So you get to have a fit and then once you're done with that, you get to the business at hand. And once you start, you realize it's not quite as bad as you expected, and that really, it is empowering.

I have a long way to go, that much is certain. But I think I've come a long way since New Year's Eve 2006. I'm a work in progress, after all! And while it 2007 was overall a pretty good year, I am haunted today by the Casey Stratton song "A Promise Made." I am not melancholy or sad today, mostly just mellow, but here is what keeps going through my head.

There will be happier days, I promise you
And there will be sun in the sky, I swear
And there will be happier days if you just hold on to the light.

My goal for 2008 is to really believe that. We'll see how I do. Stay tuned.

PS - Thanks to everyone in my life who has made 2007 a great year. I will not call you out individually as I will almost without a doubt leave someone out. But you know who you are. Thank you. Here's to a 2008 that blows the socks off of 2007.

The death rattle of the music industry

The major labels are truly desperate. Having been rendered obsolete in the past 7 years by continuing to promote an outdated approach to music distribution, they are grasping at straws in an attempt to stay relevant. First, it was suing online file sharing programs like Napster and Audiogalaxy. Then, when that failed to stop file sharing, they started suing their very own customers. This has proven to be a bit more effective, with most people settling out of court, and in the one case that actually went to trial, the verdict came down in favor of the record industry.

But now, they're trying to tell us that importing a copy of a CD to your computer is, in fact, breaking the law.

Excuse me, but has anyone seen my right to fair use?

I'm no lawyer, but I don't see this getting much traction. The legal precedent is already set with the decision that using VCRs to tape television shows is allowable.

While rampant downloading of leaks in place of actually purchasing the music is at the very least, rude, (I mean, come on, I don't work for free, why should anyone else?) I think that file sharing is actually a service to not only the industry, but ultimately, the artists themselves. There are, naturally, those who disagree, but there has been so much music that I have purchased that I would have NEVER EVEN HEARD OF had it not been given to me for free to try out. Of course, that argument only works if you actually go out and purchase the music afterward.

But to try to tell people they can't put their CDs on their iPods? Well, I can think of no better way to alienate the customer base even more.

Things that go bump in the night

I met up with Matt today and hit the cineplex for a early afternoon showing of I Am Legend. When I heard that this was finally seeing the light of day and that it was starring *gulp* Will Smith, I was admittedly very nervous. If there was anything that the movie did not call for it, was Will Smith's brand of wink-wink nudge-nudge humor injected into a very bleak story about the end of humanity. But he was better than Arnold Schwarzenegger, whose name had been attached to the project in the mid-90s, and once I saw the teaser, most of my fears were suitably assuaged. Still, many a movie is made to look good by the trailer, only to stink upon arrival.

I'm glad to say that I Am Legend didn't disappoint. Basic idea: Robert Neville is the last man on Earth after a virus has wiped out 90% of humanity, turning the rest of them into creatures of the night that are not quite vampires, but not quite zombies either. During the day, he has his run of an abandoned, overgrown New York City, but at night, well, Katie bar the door! (Heidi, you knew I just had to work that in.)

To say that it is based on the novella by Richard Matheson is being generous. At the end of the movie, I said that a more appropriate credit would be "loosely inspired by the novella by Richard Matheson." It's not as loosely inspired as, say, the Demi Moore version of The Scarlet Letter is from its source material, but what the film version of I Am Legend mostly has in common with the novella is a character named Robert Neville and creepy vampire like creatures.

That having been said, I also think that this is about the best movie version of this story that we could possibly get. That's not to say that the original story is unfilmable, although I do think it would be hard as there is so much internal dialogue that doesn't translate to the screen all that well. The novella also has an extremely bleak ending - not a typical Hollywood ending by any stretch of the imagination.

But yes, the movie works - on a lot of levels. Oddly enough, the level it works the least well on is a horror flick. Ultimately, I don't think that's the movie is a horror movie in the traditional sense. Plus the CG was pretty bad - the creatures are very obviously fake and kind of Van Helsing in many ways which is a SERIOUS slam against the effects. For me, I found a lot in the quietness of the movie. Perhaps that's why the reviews have been mixed. I think that maybe a lot of people (critics included) went in expecting a movie packed full of action and effects shots and instead, we got a lot of Will Smith walking around being internal and simply trying to stay alive, while attempting to find a cure for the virus. This was more satisfying to me, I think, than scene after scene of the monsters chasing Neville. The scenes with Neville and his family were heart-wrenching - including one scene in which I am sure I audibly gasped and it was followed by a scene of complete silence. Doh!

Complete side note: one of my favorite scenes was one in which Neville was going through an apartment, ostensibly looking for food or medicine or whatever to stockpile. In a blink-and-you-miss it moment, he very briefly picks up a CD, and it is none other than Cher's Believe! I immediately thought of that famous quote about Cher, something like "after the nuclear holocaust, there will be cockroaches and Cher." I couldn't help but wonder if that moment was intentional. Surely it wasn't, but could it be? That was my private moment of laughter in what was otherwise a very somber movie.

So it's worth the money - without a doubt. Now I just have to manage to get to 30 Days of Night which was eviscerated by the critics, but I still want to see! And Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem, which is at a whopping 14% on Rotten Tomatoes, fully double what I was expecting for it.

Best of 2007: Dan's Top 80 Minutes of 2007

I have finally gotten my act together and I'm ready to put this to bed - my favorite songs of the year. I struggled and hemmed and hawed. Some of these were shoo-ins. Others worked to make the cut. Some I really wish I hadn't had to cut. But ultimately, I can't imagine 2007 without any of these songs. It's 19 songs - but it's 80 minutes worth, something you can all burn to a CD which I know you will be doing immediately because you all want to have as good of taste in music as I do. ;) Okay, maybe not. But anyway, here we go.

Dan's Top 80 Minutes of 2007

1) On With The Song - Mary Chapin Carpenter
Angry political songs that work are so rare, but leave it to Chapin and her ace songwriting skills to craft a near perfect indictment of the politics of the last 7 years. The song itself was written as a tribute to the Dixie Chicks and the controversy that swirled around Natalie Maines' controversial statement, but it's so much more than that. I will never forget being at the Ames 4th of July parade this summer and seeing the Republican nominees going by - Brownback, Romney, Paul, etc., and feeling compelled to listen to this song on my iPod as a reminder to myself that the entire world hasn't completely lost its sanity. Writing a song like this means Chapin really doesn't give a shit about getting played on country radio, and I'm glad for that. Simply one of the best songs of the entire year.

2) Car Crash - Matt Nathanson
I have Caryle to thank for this one - she's the one that put Matt Nathanson back on my radar. I always liked a few songs from his album Beneath These Fireworks but beyond that, I never really got into his music. Well, "Car Crash" was the free iTunes single one week and I thought what the hell? Little did I know that it would be one of the most played songs of the fall.

3) Duel - Sophie Ellis-Bextor
This is one of 5 songs that graduated from the top 20.5 of the summer to the best of the year. That seems like a lot, when I get right down to it. But really, the summer was one of the best for music in a very long time. This is also one of several B-sides from artists who had actual full albums out this year that made the best of list. This is perhaps one of my all-time favorite covers, and I don't even like the original Propaganda track! (Heidi and I both think the singer on the original sounds like Kermit the Frog.) But Sophie takes this song and despite doing a note-for-note remake of it, completely makes it her own. Plus, those Pet Shop Boys synthy strings get me. Every. Single. Time.

4) Projector - Casey Stratton
Only two artists have the prestige of having two songs in the years best of list. Casey Stratton is one of them. While The Crossing underwhelmed me, "Projector" is my favorite track off of it. Perhaps it's because I am a complete sucker for a pop song in a minor key (C minor in this case.)

5) Smithereens - Annie Lennox
Annie Lennox is the only other artist besides Casey who gets two spots on this list. I seriously could not decide between two songs from her album Songs of Mass Destruction. "Smithereens" is a classic Annie ballad. It is made all the more poignant by some events that took place this year in our lives. Really, I didn't mean to break it down to smithereens. I really hope this is a single because I think Annie could do wonders with a video for this one.

6) If I Called You On The Telephone - The Revelations
As XO pointed out, this is the best little song that no one knows. It is retro, yet current. And besides, phone songs are almost always fun and cool. This is no exception.

7) Green Light (Freemason's Remix Edit) - Beyonce
Caryle pointed out to me this weekend that she simply cannot believe how much better the remix of "Green Light" is when compared to the absolutely shiteous album version. I do not make it a habit of listening to Beyonce - don't get me wrong - but this remix is so fabulous I simply could not bear to leave it off. I will never forget hearing this at The Garden this summer during Heidi's birthday, followed by "Umbrella" (which did not make the list, but nearly did) and "Hung Up." (Confidential to you-know-who: See, "Bootylicious" is not so embarrassing!) :)

8) Let Me Know - Roisin Murphy
Roisin Murphy is making a lot of other bloggers' lists. I never really got into more that "Let Me Know" - but what a song it is. It's an effortless pop song - the best kind that there is. Others have sung its praises better than I could ever attempt.

9) Guilty (Bimbo Jones Remix) - De Souza & Shena
This is less a song than a brilliantly used sample - but still, the sheer unexpected brilliance of sampling Streisand's "Make It Like A Memory" merits it a spot on this list. I had completely and utterly forgotten about "Make It Like A Memory" until this song ripped it out of my subconscious. The sample does what a good sample is supposed to do - work itself effortlessly into the song and become a part of it, while serving as an homage to the original work. Not since "Gimme Gimme Gimme" was worked so flawlessly into "Hung Up" have I heard a sample used so well.

10) Let Your Loss Be Your Lesson - Robert Plant & Alison Krauss
Lest you think that it's all pop all the time, here's a Plant/Krauss song to shake things up a bit. Raising Sand is a great album - so unexpected. I was a bit skeptical when I heard about it, but then a friend forwarded a Huffington Post review of it and I just had to check it out. This was the track that immediately jumped out and grabbed me. I have always enjoyed Alison Krauss, and pairing her with Robert Plant was something that shouldn't have worked, but did.

11) Better Get To Livin' - Dolly Parton
Quite simply the best Dolly Parton single in eons, I can't figure out why this isn't climbing the country charts. Oh, wait...that's because most people wouldn't recognize good music if it came up and bit them! An empowerment anthem that is the most contemporary country-sounding song Dolly has done in quite a while. I can't wait to hear it live on February 28th!

12) Call The Shots - Girls Aloud
I was not all that impressed with the Girls' Tangled Up album. It all sounded so much the same to me, but I heard "Call The Shots" before I heard the rest of the album and it made my fall playlist on my iPod. It's not gotten tons of play, but I can't imagine the fall without it. As the year has rounded out, I have played it a lot more.

13) Fall For You - Kylie Minogue
I still think the best song on X didn't make the record. How "Nu-di-ty" survived the cut and "Fall For You" didn't is just completely beyond my comprehension. It's like if "Vogue" had ended up the "Keep It Together" B-side that it was originally intended to be! This is one of my all-time favorite Kylie songs - pop music at its best. (Sorry guys, "Wow" didn't make the list.) :(

14) My Interpretation - Mika
I really don't like Mika - but this song is the BIG exception. As I detailed when this song made my best of summer list, a friend sent this to me when I was dealing with a situation that I seriously would have rather not been dealing with. As the year wore on, it became more and more appropriate to another situation which I would have rather not dealt with. I am fond of telling the story of a college friend saying to me during a break-up "A pop song should not know how I feel!" to which my only response was, "If it doesn't, what's the point?" Hopefully, I'm done with this song knowing how I'm feeling for a very long time.

15) You're On My Mind - Passenger
A bit of an odd choice for me - it's a deviation from the diva-driven pop that seems to dominate my musical tastes. But Passenger is a very Keane-ish type band (even though I never really got into Keane all that much) and I do have a soft spot for the sensitive Brit-pop songs. Truthfully, this song got a lot of play because it came right after "She Spoke 2 Me" from the Girl 6 soundtrack in my "Recently Added" playlist during the late summer/early fall, and by simple exposure, it became one of my favorite tracks of the year.

16) Fallen Angel - Darren Hayes
Darren Hayes released the best two records of his career with This Delicate Thing We've Made. I struggled with picking a song from that album to put on this list - there are so many to choose from. Ultimately, it was a B-side that won out. "Fallen Angel" was a B-side to "On The Verge Of Something Wonderful" and I simply could not get enough of it when I first heard it. It has an infections pop sound to it - reminiscent of some of his best Savage Garden work but would have fit in quite well with the introspective songs on the album. I am so glad that Darren continues to make music without the support of a major label - he has a lot of songs in him and I, for one, look forward to what is yet to come.

17) Ghosts In My Machine - Annie Lennox
This is the other Annie Lennox song that I couldn't bear to cut. I look at this song as a modern day "Sisters Are Doin' It For Themselves" for Enneagram Type 4s. With lyrics like "I hurt too much/I feel to much/I dread too much/I dream too much/I'm caught up by the ghosts in my machine", she spoke to fours everywhere in a language we all understand. Plus it includes a classic Eurythmics sounding "Wooo!....Yeah!" as well as the only cool sounding accordion I have ever heard. My favorite Annie Lennox song in years.

18) Violet Room - Casey Stratton
Wait a second, wasn't this on his Patrick Leonard produced, major label debut Standing at the Edge? And wasn't that out in 2004? Yes, it was. But Casey went back in 2007 and released the The Winter Children - the album that would have happened had Standing at the Edge not happened. I have always loved "Violet Room" - if for no other reason than it has a bridge to die for. While I have always appreciated Patrick Leonard's production on Standing at the Edge more than most Casey fans, I must say that this version of "Violet Room" completely trumps the other. Lyrically, it's slightly different, and the new production suits the lyrics so much better. Simply gorgeous.

19) Two Times Blue - Debbie Harry
I blogged this song endlessly this summer, and it has racked up nearly 100 plays since my first download of it in early June of 2007. It is probably the song of the year, at least from the number of times played. I keep using the word "effortless" when describing song - but really, effortless songs really make the best pop songs. And this is one of those songs. Despite the fact that she really is the love child of Anne Murray and Hilary Clinton in the video, the song is top notch vocally and production-wise. The album may have not lived up to the pop stomper that is "Two Times Blue" but this song will always embody the summer of 2007.

Something Anna and I must "Cher"

The surprise gift of the year was a gift from Heidi to both Anna and me. I was puzzled - what could possibly be to both of us? I really had no idea. But honestly, I should have known better, for it was none other than the diva herself.

We love her - although her hair is a bit on the Play-Doh side and not at all like she was advertised on the Enterainment Earth web site. But it is a perfect gift for the both of us - appealing both to Anna's love of Barbies and my unabashed love of the divas (and singers with large gay followings.) And oddly, she fits in well with the monsters already present on the shelves in my office, although I have a feeling Cher will not be residing there most of the time.

Anyway, here's a video from Christmas morning (warning - I look LOVELY in it, although thankfully, I have very little actual screen time) - with Zombie Hulk and Cher doing a duet. Only in our house could such a thing be possible. But I'm glad it's in my house.



and no worries about using the "Follow this you bitches!" around Anna - she's watched the Farewell Tour a half a zillion times.

And so this was Christmas

So Christmas is over for another year - well, it will be in a couple hours anyway. I think we had a pretty good one overall. Even though I was very oddly tired for a lot of the 4 days I had off, I feel pretty good tonight and I think I'm ready for a run of three evenings before another 4 days off.

Predictably, we woke up before 7AM today as Anna was ready to go investigate what Santa had brought her. She made out like a bandit - I don't recall ever having such loot at Christmas time. But as I've pointed out before, our childhoods are not really comparable because I was not an only child. Anyway, she got lots of good stuff - some fun toys and more Littlest Pet Shop stuff which she loves. She is still in awe over Butterscotch aka Spirit the FurReal pony that Jeff (her godfather) and Caryle purchased for her this year. Anything we could have gotten her is pretty much chopped liver next to that. But Heidi's going to blog Butterscotch so I wouldn't dare to steal her thunder although I will say that Anna sleeps with the head of the horse right next to her bed, which is just a little too Godfather for me. (Which just reminds me of this, which I am SO getting when I have $45 just sitting around burning a hole in my pocket.)

Santa also brought an iPod stage for Anna since we seem to be carting the one we have up and down the stairs all the time. It seriously needs GPS tracking on it as I can never find it. The only problem is that the one Anna got doesn't work. The volume goes up and down. It cuts out randomly during songs. We have the receipt and all the pieces, but how does one go about exchanging a present that is supposed to be from Santa? Anna is one smart cookie and is not easily fooled, but she fell hook, line and sinker for my story that I e-mailed the elves and found out we needed to take it to Kohl's to get it fixed. Not sure how well that will play in even a year or two, but thank God it seemed to work this year.

One of the best things I got this year was something that was from Anna, who always wants to get me "something scary" for my shelf. Usually, that translates into some kind of horror action figure for my shelf in my office. This year proved to be no exception - and it was something totally unexpected. Yes, my 6 year-old thought it would be a good idea to purchase Zombie Hulk for her dad. She was, naturally, correct.

As it turns out, they have Zombie Spiderman and Zombie Captain America down at Mayhem, which I might have to pick up at some point in time as the bases all connect together. I love the addition of the "eaten" Silver Surfer on the base. Nice touch.

Speaking of being eaten, one of the earliest gifts we purchased was a Barbie wheelchair. We got it off of eBay right after we got back from Phoenix in October. While we were there, my brother's dog, Eddie, found one of Anna's Barbie's and partially mauled it - just one foot and part of one arm. We went online to see how much if it could be easily replaced, and wouldn't you know, it's one of the dolls that costs $60 to replace! So instead of doing that, we got a wheelchair for her - Anna loved it.

And just because I can, here's a Christmas morning picture of Anna with some of her loot - and Spirit (she renamed the pony.)

Mostly though, I had a good time being at home with my girls and seeing family and friends. I can't say that I'm terribly looking forward to returning to work tomorrow, but that's mostly just vacation brain talking.