Middle of the night gas station sightings
At first I thought it was one of those VW Beetles with fake skin. When I got closer, I realized it wasn’t, but I don’t know what make of car it actually is.
the smedley log - suburban scrawl
Soothing sounds of the 90s
Ah, the wonderful tones of the Breeders’ “Cannonball” creep back into my eardrums…
I was just clicking through some recent stories and comments at my second home, when I happened upon a link to Skin Radio. It seems like an effort to revive all of my favorite college era memories (and a even few of the non-favorites).
Even though they’re on the air at 1340 AM, the best listening option for me is going to be their streaming service. That is, if they stay around a while. Which apparently is not set yet, as they’re still seeking corporate sponsorship – that thing that both enables and kills most great media.
But for now, I’ll just enjoy while it lasts.
Almost like having my own waiting room
I’d like to think my taste in periodicals is this eclectic, but it isn’t quite. Two of these are on my regular reading list. One was a free sample copy I signed up for online and the other had an article that intrigued me, so I bought a single copy.
An imaginary prize for the first commenter to correctly identify which magazines fit which statement.
Friday random ten
(reaching out and reaching in)
- I Got to Let You Know – Los Lobos
- Elsewhere – Sarah McLachlan
- Maybe Katie – Barenaked Ladies
- First Tube – Phish
- Sir Casey Jones – The Eighteenth Day of May
- Don’t Panic – Coldplay
- The Distance – Live
- Blue Collar Suicide – The Refreshments
- R3wind – Better than Ezra
- 5 Minutes – Garrison Starr
Song of the day: “5 Minutes” – It may be that I still remember the first time I heard this one, as I stood within fifteen feet of a female singer I’d never heard of before. I had gone with my brother-in-law that night to see Cracker at Jimmy’s Haunt in Morristown, NJ. Garrison Starr was the opener, and this song helped her to a great first impression in my mind. Incidentally, I downloaded this version of the song from emusic.com, which, for a paid music service, is right up my alley (indie music, no DRM).
In these bodies of clay:
Autumn, Ben, Brian, Ellen, Fred, Jessica, Marisa
WordPress 2.1 killed my feed
…but luckily it’s back from the dead.
I’d been wondering why it seemed a little quieter lately. Then, almost by accident, I discovered my RSS feed had fallen victim to a WordPress upgrade three weeks back. It had to do with the Feedburner Replacement Plugin I’ve used since last June.
According to Feedburner, my RSS readership dwindled all the way down to four. Yes, four. Which leaves me wondering why nobody mentioned it. And who were the four kind folks who didn’t delete my feed when the only thing left was a database error message? Should I thank them?
Knowing when to walk away
“Some people change.
Others hang on ‘til they can’t anymore.”
-Black Lab
I was talking with a friend recently about relationship-oriented matters. My friend talked, almost off-hand, about having given up on looking for a long-term relationship, about being resigned to living single. I initially scoffed, thinking my friend is still at a stage of life where finding love (or whatever passes for it) is still entirely possible, and given the positive attributes my friend has, even probable. Surely it’s far too early to be giving up. [Read more →]
Rating versions of Hamlet
As a sort of follow-up to the last post, here’s a list of the Hamlet versions I’ve seen on screen, ordered according to my taste.
- A version from the late 1980s or early 1990s I saw on PBS, with Kevin Kline: best I can remember seeing. It’s probably recorded from a Shakespeare in the Park performance; I just wish I knew where to find it on video.
- The 1948 version with Lawrence Olivier: flawed, but will always hold a high spot simply because I saw it first. (And, come on, it is Olivier)
- The 2000 version with Ethan Hawke: done somewhat similarly to the DiCaprio/Danes Romeo and Juliet, but a better film (if you can get past the star factor).
- The 1996 version with Kenneth Brannagh: pretty good – may have suffered from my expectations.
- The 1990 version with Mel Gibson: seriously disappointing. I thought Gibson could have pulled it off at least a little bit.
A suggestion: before resorting to the Gibson version, might I suggest a spin-off instead?
Stowaway Ophelia
It was another Tuesday night open mic at the Point in Bryn Mawr, circa 2000-2001. A collegiate trio ambled up to the slightly elevated stage. Two guys and a girl with two guitars and a violin. The girl sang and played one of the six-strings for a Shakespeare-themed, brokenhearted love song. Her voice recalled the soothing tones of a mother in mid-lullabye.
I was so captivated by the sound I had to find them after they performed. They had a compact disc, which I paid for as I paid my compliments. The trio went by the name Ellipsis, which I thought was cute, especially when coupled with a CD titled And so on… .
The song they performed also piqued my interest because of a longtime fascination with Shakespeare and, more specifically, with the Hamlet scene from which some of the imagery in the song was lifted. The song, called “Stowaway Ophelia”, used the phrase “the more deceived” from a passage in Act 3, Scene 1 of Hamlet. Personally, I like to call it the “nunnery” scene. [Read more →]
