R&R HoF

The list of the 2012 Rock n Roll Hall of fame nominees was released yesterday. I imagine most of you have already seen it, but since I didn't have time to post anything yesterday, I'm commenting right now. First off, I know many if you probably think the Hall is ridiculous, & pretty anti-Rock n Roll, but I've always been interested in it. I guess it's just my constant need for nostalgic crap. Whatever the reason, here's the list of nominees:
Beastie Boys
The Cure
Donovan
Eric B. & Rakim
Guns 'N Roses
Heart
Joan Jett and The Blackhearts
Freddie King
Laura Nyro
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Rufus with Chaka Khan
The Small Faces/The Faces
The Spinners
Donna Summer
War
In previous years, they've inducted 5-7 acts per year. I would imagine it'll be the same this year, which means Rufus w/ Chaka Khan will be out of luck. As will Donna Summer I would guess. I bet The Beastie Boys will get in before Eric B & Rakim; they're more famous after all. But for my money (which is negligible lately), I'd go w/ Rakim every day of the week. His influence on hip hop has been huge, & while the beasties have obviously sold more records, Eric B & Rakim are the better group... & there's no way the HoF will induct 2 hip hop groups the same year.

Of course, The Faces & War should go in... a nice argument could be made that they should be in already. Donovan will probably get in this year too... & Freddie King. As a way to ensure enough Motown representation, The Spinners will go in too, which leaves room for 1 more act... I would think it will be Heart, but GnR or the Chili Peppers could edge them out. I think I would prefer to see Guns n Roses make it, but Heart has been around a lot longer & have some sort of Seattle street cred... even though they kind of suck. I could also see Laura Nyro sneak in since she'd been nominated before, but I don't know who she is. Maybe I should, she can't be worse than Heart. I also don't see Joan Jett of The Cure making it yet... but some day, I'm sure.

Does Guest + Blog Post = Jinx?

The autumn half of the MUSL season is in full swing. I served my suspension a couple weeks in a match we lost 2-0. The saving grace from that match was that the goals were scored while we were short-handed. The following week, we played even better… @ least in the second half. After going down 2-0 early, we pulled one back & had our tightest score line so far, losing 2-1. We could tell we’d been improving & that a positive result was lurking just around the next corner. Things were finally beginning to gel. We’d been connecting on more passes, playing w/ our heads up & strengthening the steel on the defense.

This then brings us to last week, the first ever Verde FC win from the run of play. We got one victory last year but only because the Brighton team played a suspended guy &, therefore, forfeited the match. As we arrived in Plymouth for our game last Sunday, there was something in the air… a feeling of confidence & excitement that had here-to-for been unknown by the Verde squad. I shifted the line-up around, & we took an early lead through new boy Joe F. He then doubled our lead before the interval. Going into the half time break w/ a 2 goal lead was amazing. In the 2nd half, even newer boy, Efrain M. headed in a corner kick putting us up 3-0. By the end, Plymouth pulled one back after a weird scramble in front of goal, but we won… 3-1.

We are taking this 1 match winning streak to Oxford today for another match we really think we can win. I’ll be meeting up w/ Cal & Eric in a little while for the trip out there… it ain’t close. And Sara will be joining us for her first ever Verde viewing… something most of you have never experienced. You all claim to be die-hard fans, so next week, for our 11:00 home match, you should don the green & get off your ass & jam. For there ain’t no party like a Verde party cuz a Verde party don’t stop!

Wiki Tag

Here's a fun little game I just invented (I know, I'm so prolific). It's kind of like the 7 degrees of Kevin Bacon game, but it's kind of different too. Now, I know I haven't been blogging much lately, but then again, I'm not really certain people have actually notice anyway. I am thinking about a couple bigger posts that will be coming soon (1 about Sartre & blogging, 1 about soccer, 1 about Whitman, & 1 things that have been going on lately). In the mean time, here's a little thing about my Wiki game.

It goes like this:
Go to the page about the band that performed the last song you heard & see how quickly you can follow the links to get to a page about the last movie you watched. In my case, the last song I heard was "Sultans of Swing" by Dire Straits & the movie I'm watching now is A Huey P. Newton Story. From Dire Straits I then went to Bob Dylan. From Dylan, I then went to the page for The March on Washington for Jobs & Freedom. From there, I then went to the page about Malcolm X. Getting to Huey P. Newton from Malcolm X seemed like an easy move since, according to Bobby Seale, they founded The Black Panther Party for Self Defense as a reaction to Malcolm X's assassination. However, the closest I could get from Malcolm X was the page about Black Power which easily went to the page about The Black Panther Party. Of course, getting to the page about Huey P. Newton from there was easy & then the page about the film was simple too.

I must have been aware of the film's existence because I know I've looked @ Spike Lee filmographies over the last 10 years, but when it was on the other day & I set the DVR to record it, I didn't remember having heard of it. As it so happens, the film came out in 2001 & was directed by Spike Lee. It's fantastic. Check it out... & enjoy a nice game of Wiki Tag.

25 Random Things

1 I love tea and shortbread in the evening.
2 I only drink coffee @ diners.
3 I prefer Highland Scotch to Islay.
4 I used to be able to name every Grateful Dead song on ever album in chronological order… that’s how I would fall asleep when I was in college rather than by doing things like counting sheep. There’s no way I could do that now though. I tried recently but couldn’t get through the first album.
5 I wish we could just have Autumn and Spring… I don’t much care for Winter or Summer.
6 I’m listening to Django Reinhardt right now.
7 I dig soccer.
8 I also dig curling & rugby (& to a lesser extent, baseball), but most other sports annoy me.
9 I often start writing stories, but then get bored w/ them & never finish them. That’s why Borges claimed he didn’t write longer stuff too, so I guess I’m just like Borges.
10 I don’t drink much anymore… weird, because it was never really a conscious decision & I used to drink a lot… A LOT!
11 I don’t really watch any new TV shows, but I watch old stuff like Seinfeld, Hogan’s Heroes, Maverick, Freaks & Geeks, & The Rockford Files all the time. I guess I do watch The Soup every week, so there is that.
12 Only 6 times in my life have I read multiple books by the same author back to back: Judy Blume, Hardy Boys, Joseph Conrad, Umberto Eco, Arthur Conan Doyle, & John Fowls.
13 I dig T&A both in movies and in real life.
14 Although they were always around, I never really did a whole lot of drugs.
15 I was on the ski team & the soccer team in high school.
16 I like most genres of music but only very specific things in each genre.
17 I think people should read my blog more often because what I have to say is important & thought provoking.
18 I’m kind of scared of the future, but in a good way I think.
19 I’ve never read Harry Potter, Narnia, or Lord of the Rings & I have no desire to read them.
20 I’ve been teaching since 1998 but I still feel like an imposter sometimes.
21 I saw Blues Traveler more times than I saw the Grateful Dead… ridiculous… but it was fun.
22 I dig my white blanket w/ pink roses on it.
23 I’ve dedicated about 279 hours of my life to watching James Bond films if we’re counting Never Say Never Again and the Woody Allen/David Niven Casino Royale. About 260 if we’re not. Here's the link to my blog post where I quantified it originally... I had to adjust for the last couple years now though.
24 I should be reading Tropic of Cancer right now, but I got side-tracked.
25 I’ve been through some weird shit over the last few years.

New Semester, New Office

So the move back to Pray Harrold has gone pretty well. My mini-fridge that was once Jim's mini-fridge didn't make the transition back w/me, but everything else is here. My bookshelves & microwave that was once GB Cross's microwave showed up yesterday after a little worry. It turns out, I don't really need the shelves anyway though since there are nice ones built in now. I've also got a much bigger office than before too... in fact, it's bigger than most other people too for some reason. There's no window, but there's also no office-mate, so that's pretty sweet. W/o an office-mate, I no longer feel obligated to keep my pants on & stuff, so I've got that going for me! Although, there's no shower like in Hoyt, so the motivation to disrobe isn't quite as strong.
Here's the break down on the renovations~~
The positives:
1) Everything looks great. the little things around the building including the new new name/signs above the entrances that look like a location listings on Fringe are cool.
2) The landscaping is nice w/ big rocks on the hill going up to Porter & ivy on the building to make it look like an actual college.
3) The new phones are nice... I even have working voicemail for the first time.
4) my office is HUGE! I know I already covered this, but it's pretty freaking amazing.
5) The classrooms have good tech stuff & the holes in the floor have been fixed. In general, they look fantastic & are no longer embarrassing.
6) Everyone seems to be in a great mood about everything.

The negatives:
1) OK, the Part-Time-Lecturer-Faculty members (formerly known as the part time lecturers) have offices in another building so they aren't in the same good mood as everyone else... & rightly so.
2) I think I have poison ivy behind my left knee. it might not have anything to do w/ the renovations, but it's still a negative.
3) I now need 2 keys instead of 1 to get into my office. At least they don't need to be turned simultaneously like I'm launching a nuclear missile though. However, I was hoping the renovations would have done away w/ keys all together. My fingers were crossed for retina scanners or @ least voice activation. I wanted to be able to say, "Sex machine to all the chicks," & then hear, "Andre's voice recognition activated. You may enter." It would have been even sweeter if the voice was the same as the hot British woman whose voice comes out of the ATM on on the 1st floor. As it stands, we're stuck w/ keys.
4) Not everyone has been able to get their keys yet.
5) the blow-dryers in the restrooms are really, really loud.So there you have it. Money well spent. A sweet, sweet renovation. I think the students seem to be happy w/ it too.