The end of the universe

Here is Lewis Black doing his mildly amusing "End of the Universe" routine on The Daily Show. I like that it centers on Houston, though. Go H-town! Best end of the universe EVER!

Doctor says you're cured, but you still feel the pain

While everybody knows that Alanis Morisette's question of "Isn't it ironic?" should have been more appropriately worded as "Isn't it a bummer?," it was Howard Jones who penned the quintessential ode to misfortune some ten years earlier with his pretty rad "No One Is to Blame." That song is just so heavy, man. I mean, let me get this straight: dude's the fastest runner, but he's not allowed to win? What the frick kind of track meet is this? Who is the governing body here?

"No One Is to Blame" originally appeared on 1985's Dream Into Action, with the album version running 3:28. The song was remixed and released as a 4:12 single the following year (with new production, percussion, and backing vocals by Phil Collins), and it became Jones's biggest U.S. hit, peaking at number 4 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Almost twenty-five years later, here is Jones still b-tching about a clearly defective jigsaw puzzle where the last piece of the puzzle strangely doesn't fit:

As an aside, I think it would be fun to become the CEO of the Irish Spring Corporation but then not take any showers for weeks at a time, and then sing "Ironic" to your buddies but change the words to "Isn't it ironic . . . that I stink? A little too ironic, yeah I really do stink."

Because "stink" rhymes with "think."

Honky Tonk Sixths

Here is a good article on "Honky Tonk Sixths," which are major and minor sixths played on the top four strings. Not only do they sound very cool, but they are also pretty easy to play, and I have become enamored with them lately. The two most common pattern examples:




Honky Tonk Sixths are not limited to country music, however; in fact, probably the best known example comes from this song by an Irishman. You know what the best known song by a hobbit is? Probably this one. (EDIT: This song's signature riff actually comprises thirds, not sixths. I'm a moron, and I hate myself.)

And I will be alone again tonight, my dear

Some say love is one of life's great mysteries ("Love is one of life's great mysteries"), while others say love is all around ("Love is all around"). I say: Love is an L.A.-based band from the 1960s and 70s that had some great songs, including "Alone Again Or" (from 1967's Forever Changes). The song, with its Spanishy sound, has been covered by The Damned, Calexico, and Susanna Hoffs and Matthew Sweet, and it has been featured in Wes Anderson's Bottle Rocket. Wikipedia says that the song was inspired by Prokofiev's "Lieutenant Kije Suite," but then again Wikipedia also swears that Texas A&M is an accredited university, so I don't know what to believe. Either way, the song is nice.

Like a knight in shining armor, from a long time ago.

Oh, what the hell. I'm all in.

You're the best . . . AROUND!!!

Will someone, preferably a scientist, explain to me how this is so awesome? Because I need to know. To paraphrase Michael Ian Black, this video blows my mind all over my face:



Just watching this video again, I feel faint from how ridiculously rad this karate is, what with the chopping and the punching and the kicking and the jumping and the hi-ya'ing. I had the VHS version of this movie in middle school, and I used to watch it constantly and get so pumped up. If there was one lesson I learned, it was that household chores can teach you karate. And learn karate I did: do the dishes, take out the trash, polish the silver, re-sew the lace doilies that go on the sofa, feed grandma her pills, clean out the cat box, etc. I learned all the sweetest moves.

Until I finally was ready to confront the group of bullies at school that had pushed me around long enough. Using my karate, I challenged my tormentors to a fight and proceeded to unleash a monsoon of kicks and chops the likes of which the quadrangle at St. Anne's middle school had never seen. While I still got got my head bashed apart pretty unmercifully that day, the main thing was that I finally stood up to those scary girls.

If it's June, it's Rice at the College World Series

How much does this video get me pumped? Only like ELEVENTY BILLION units of pump up. Yes, I know the song does not have that much true merit, but I love this video so. 

Tomorrow, the 2008 edition of the College World Series begins, with the boys from dear old Rice playing in the Sunday game against Fresno State. This is Rice's third consecutive appearance in the CWS and its seventh appearance in the last eleven years. Now, I'm not good at math, but I think this means that Rice is good at playing baseball. They are not predicted to win the whole thing this year (like they did in 2003, which is where the video below comes from), but who knows? With Wayne Graham, anything is possible (I heard he has three unicorns at home, and I believe it).