Happy Odd Week, again. Here are your 25 winning picks, grandiose prognostications, hopes and prayers. May the best teams--which means the teams I've selected--WIN!
*Baylor @ WEST VIRGINIA
*Indiana @ NORTHWESTERN
*Arkansas @ TEXAS A&M
*Penn State @ ILLINOIS
*MISSOURI @ University of Central Florida
*MINNESOTA @ Iowa
*North Carolina State @ MIAMI
*Duke @ WAKE FOREST
*Colorado State @ AFA
*Marshall @ PURDUE
*Tennessee @ GEORGIA (GA has the greater shot at distraction with SC next, but I quibble)
*OHIO STATE @ Michigan State (and OSt has NEB next, but I'm betting on them)
*CLEMSON @ Boston College
*LOUISIANA TECH @ Virginia (LaTech will win until they lose, hopefully not this week)
*ARIZONA STATE @ California (pains me, but I fear it's true)
*FLORIDA STATE @ South Florida
*BOISE STATE @ New Mexico
*UCLA @ Colorado (do I REALLY need to explain??)
*University of Texas-El Paso @ EAST CAROLINA (tough choice)
*Texas @ OKLAHOMA STATE (hi, Sonneyjo! While neither team has had a real challenge yet, in this match-up I'll go with the powers of distraction: Texas has WVU next, OkSt has a bye, which is to say they play poor, wretched Kansas.)
*Wisconsin @ NEBRASKA
*Ole Miss @ ALABAMA (I give up, no one can beat the red tide)
*OREGON STATE @ Arizona
*SAN DIEGO STATE @ Fresno State (I think they'll do it, Tony!)
*OREGON @ Washington State
Place your verbal bets, but keep your money at home. I read stats and signs, I don't actually divine this stuff. Watch the games for me, I have a deal today which will take me away from the TV until evening. Curses, drats, and phooey!
Saturday, September 29, 2012
Thursday, September 27, 2012
BEST SONGS OF MY LIFE: The Chorus
Picking a list of the Top 100 Songs of recent time, we're talking more Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons than Vivaldi's Four Seasons, is problematic for anyone. Some of us are a note or two beyond fan, more denizens really, and we "musical" folk tend to take these things seriously. So when the braintrust at the Consequence of Sound came out with just such a list last week (you can see it here: http://3dotmag.com/consequence-of-sound-unveils-its-100-greatest-songs-ever/ ), I immediately began picking it apart for its flaws. (If you choose to view the list you'll note the note at the end from the 3dotmag person saying, see, this why these things usually go over better organized into categories...which they do in the mag. I did it below, but only out of orneriness.)
Music is personal, and in crafting such a list the CoS folks run a risk similar to kicking someone's dog or calling their kid ugly: They invite criticism, hatred, even action. But being a pacifist, and not learning from their traipse into the danger zone (hi, Kenny), I've decided to put together my own list. And as I don't take direction well, mine is not a straight-forward list of 100 songs: I offer you a categorized list of a certain number of songs which I haven't even bothered to tabulate. Take it or leave it--it's my story and I'm sticking to it. (...though as soon as this is posted, I'll think of something I'll wish I'd added.)
WHAT THE HELL? HOW DID YOU LEAVE THESE ARTISTS OUT?
* The Kinks--let's go with "Lola"
* Van Morrison--I'm good with either "Brown-eyed Girl" or "Into the Mystic"
* The Doors--let's go with EVERYTHING
* Dire Straits--I favor "Sultans of Swing" but refuse to live without "So Far Away"
* Red Hot Chili Peppers--I'm going with "Under the Bridge"
* Journey--makes me cry: "Lights"
* Arlo Guthrie--I sing it in the grocery store and I don't care who hears me (besides, I sing it really f-ing well): "City of New Orleans"
* Stone Temple Pilots--one of my anthems: "Interstate Love Song"
* Queen--how do you leave out Queen? For the children: "We Are The Champions"
* Jimmy Buffett--for the husband: "Come Monday"
* The Pretenders--gotta have "Middle of the Road"
* Kiss--you can't leave out Kiss and I choose the very un-Kiss "Beth"
* Blue Oyster Cult--SHAME! More Cowbell! My picks: "Don't Fear the Reaper" and "I'm Burnin' for You"
* Janis Joplin--my god, how do you not include the woman? Obviously, "Me and Bobby McGee"
* two words: BOB MARLEY--pick your fave, it'll be worthy
* Green Day--I'll make it easy and go with "Warning"
* a crime for no: Grateful Dead
* and for no: Phish
* how easy to add: Elton John
* and: Billy Joel
RIGHT ACT, WRONG SONG (check the link, you may agree):
* The Who--"My Generation" and "Baba O'Riley" are perfectly nice songs, but "See Me, Feel Me" is stronger than than any gospel song in any church hymnal!
* Jimi Hendrix--Now, see here: thou shalt not mention JH withoutst thou dost include "Hey, Joe" because there has never been, will never be a better walking base line. PERIOD! You can have sex with the thing, for heaven's sake. And you may get pregnant.
* The Beatles--my turn at blasphemy here, I DON'T LIKE THE BEATLES. There, I've said it. But if I HAD to include them (and yes, I think you should), I'd have gone with "In My Life"
*Otis Redding--also makes me cry, "(Sittin' on the) Dock of The Bay", but "Try a Little Tenderness" doesn't do it for me.
*Bob Dylan--no, no! Here's another you pick, it'll be okay. (I do a nice impression of Willie Nelson doing "Lay, Lady Lay" if you're interested...)
* Stevie Wonder--oh lord, "Superstitious"? You gotta go with "Higher Ground" (wah-wah-umha-wah-wah)
* Prince--he'll change his name to Symbol or The Artist again if you can't come up with better!
* Michael Jackson (rest him)--"Man in the Mirror"? Really? "Billie-freaking-Jean"? The poor man deserves better.
* John Coltrane--I'm sure that "A Love Supreme Part One: Acknowledgment" is lovely, but just listen to "After the Rain" one time and tell me if you'll ever get it out of your heart.
* The Ramones--how in this world do you ignore "I Wanna Be Sedated"? You don't!
* The Smiths--and " " " " " " " " " " " "How Soon Is Now"? No way, man!
* Portishead--"Roads" is an important song, but can't we have "Sour Times", too? Those of us who fondly remember "The Wild, Wild West" can really get off on that one.
That's enough for now; you wouldn't believe how long it's taking to put this post together. (Imagine if I'd done it well.) I'll give you such nuggets as these in the follow-up post which we'll call "The Refrain":
#Songs To Seize To#
#Speeding Ticket Songs#
#Songs I Wanna Sing With My Tyla#
#Songs I Believe Have the Power To Kill Me#
#Songs To Test Speakers To#
#Songs From Perfect Albums#
* Dire Straits--I favor "Sultans of Swing" but refuse to live without "So Far Away"
* Red Hot Chili Peppers--I'm going with "Under the Bridge"
* Journey--makes me cry: "Lights"
* Arlo Guthrie--I sing it in the grocery store and I don't care who hears me (besides, I sing it really f-ing well): "City of New Orleans"
* Stone Temple Pilots--one of my anthems: "Interstate Love Song"
* Queen--how do you leave out Queen? For the children: "We Are The Champions"
* Jimmy Buffett--for the husband: "Come Monday"
* The Pretenders--gotta have "Middle of the Road"
* Kiss--you can't leave out Kiss and I choose the very un-Kiss "Beth"
* Blue Oyster Cult--SHAME! More Cowbell! My picks: "Don't Fear the Reaper" and "I'm Burnin' for You"
* Janis Joplin--my god, how do you not include the woman? Obviously, "Me and Bobby McGee"
* two words: BOB MARLEY--pick your fave, it'll be worthy
* Green Day--I'll make it easy and go with "Warning"
* a crime for no: Grateful Dead
* and for no: Phish
* how easy to add: Elton John
* and: Billy Joel
RIGHT ACT, WRONG SONG (check the link, you may agree):
* The Who--"My Generation" and "Baba O'Riley" are perfectly nice songs, but "See Me, Feel Me" is stronger than than any gospel song in any church hymnal!
* Jimi Hendrix--Now, see here: thou shalt not mention JH withoutst thou dost include "Hey, Joe" because there has never been, will never be a better walking base line. PERIOD! You can have sex with the thing, for heaven's sake. And you may get pregnant.
* The Beatles--my turn at blasphemy here, I DON'T LIKE THE BEATLES. There, I've said it. But if I HAD to include them (and yes, I think you should), I'd have gone with "In My Life"
*Otis Redding--also makes me cry, "(Sittin' on the) Dock of The Bay", but "Try a Little Tenderness" doesn't do it for me.
*Bob Dylan--no, no! Here's another you pick, it'll be okay. (I do a nice impression of Willie Nelson doing "Lay, Lady Lay" if you're interested...)
* Stevie Wonder--oh lord, "Superstitious"? You gotta go with "Higher Ground" (wah-wah-umha-wah-wah)
* Prince--he'll change his name to Symbol or The Artist again if you can't come up with better!
* Michael Jackson (rest him)--"Man in the Mirror"? Really? "Billie-freaking-Jean"? The poor man deserves better.
* John Coltrane--I'm sure that "A Love Supreme Part One: Acknowledgment" is lovely, but just listen to "After the Rain" one time and tell me if you'll ever get it out of your heart.
* The Ramones--how in this world do you ignore "I Wanna Be Sedated"? You don't!
* The Smiths--and " " " " " " " " " " " "How Soon Is Now"? No way, man!
* Portishead--"Roads" is an important song, but can't we have "Sour Times", too? Those of us who fondly remember "The Wild, Wild West" can really get off on that one.
That's enough for now; you wouldn't believe how long it's taking to put this post together. (Imagine if I'd done it well.) I'll give you such nuggets as these in the follow-up post which we'll call "The Refrain":
#Songs To Seize To#
#Speeding Ticket Songs#
#Songs I Wanna Sing With My Tyla#
#Songs I Believe Have the Power To Kill Me#
#Songs To Test Speakers To#
#Songs From Perfect Albums#
Monday, September 17, 2012
Sucky McSuckerson
I was gonna write about how I did better in Week Three with a 27-9 record. I was gonna say that hey, beats the heck out of my lousy Week One showing AND I've learned to NEVER change a prediction mid-sentence. (I bow to the Lesson of Louisiana Tech.)
But as I'm all giddily totaling up my Ws and Ls, I realize that I didn't make 35 predictions last weekend, I made 36. How exactly can I go about spinning a yarn in which some phoenix rises from the ashes of failure only to emerge with a piece of toilet paper stuck in her beak? (I'm having flashbacks of Sissy Spacek in "Carrie": All smiles and foolish adoration. Oh, and the killin' and whatnot.)
Pride certainly does cometh, and probably before the following were invented: spellchecker, time to read through once more for errors, concentration in middle age, etc. But I have no excuses now because we have a pill or potion for nearly everything. I should really check into...wait, what was I saying?
But you know our human error can still best the electronic brains from time to time; once my spellchecker insisted on continuing to change the word "parents" to "paranoia" even after I told it to stop. So obviously that proves...oh nevermind!
Some Week Three Fun Facts:
*I was right about Utah possibly upsetting BYU, I just didn't pick 'em--but OH am I glad I stayed up for the ending, ending, ending of that game!
*I'll NEVER pick against my beloved Stanford again
*I TOLD you CU is worse than awful
*Jeff Tedford/Ted Jefford is really pissing me off, which is saying a lot as I was IN THE STANDS at Memorial Stadium in Berkeley when he FORGOT how to manage a clock and THREW AWAY the number one ranking! (grudge much, susy?)
*PIGS and MIDSHIPMEN: I will not be pulling for you guys again. You burn me like a hot sauce enema yet I still keep coming back for more. No honey, he won't be calling you and Arkansas and Navy will not win for you. Face it boys: I'm done with the lot of you until, well, until pigs float, or sail maybe. So Suey Me!
The one and only thing I got right in all of this was to skip a week. Imagine how many fewer mistakes I'd make if I skipped TWO weeks?! (You'll have to because I cannot help myself.) So no even weeks, just odds. I like the odds of odds. And I speak the language, fluently.
But as I'm all giddily totaling up my Ws and Ls, I realize that I didn't make 35 predictions last weekend, I made 36. How exactly can I go about spinning a yarn in which some phoenix rises from the ashes of failure only to emerge with a piece of toilet paper stuck in her beak? (I'm having flashbacks of Sissy Spacek in "Carrie": All smiles and foolish adoration. Oh, and the killin' and whatnot.)
Pride certainly does cometh, and probably before the following were invented: spellchecker, time to read through once more for errors, concentration in middle age, etc. But I have no excuses now because we have a pill or potion for nearly everything. I should really check into...wait, what was I saying?
But you know our human error can still best the electronic brains from time to time; once my spellchecker insisted on continuing to change the word "parents" to "paranoia" even after I told it to stop. So obviously that proves...oh nevermind!
Some Week Three Fun Facts:
*I was right about Utah possibly upsetting BYU, I just didn't pick 'em--but OH am I glad I stayed up for the ending, ending, ending of that game!
*I'll NEVER pick against my beloved Stanford again
*I TOLD you CU is worse than awful
*Jeff Tedford/Ted Jefford is really pissing me off, which is saying a lot as I was IN THE STANDS at Memorial Stadium in Berkeley when he FORGOT how to manage a clock and THREW AWAY the number one ranking! (grudge much, susy?)
*PIGS and MIDSHIPMEN: I will not be pulling for you guys again. You burn me like a hot sauce enema yet I still keep coming back for more. No honey, he won't be calling you and Arkansas and Navy will not win for you. Face it boys: I'm done with the lot of you until, well, until pigs float, or sail maybe. So Suey Me!
The one and only thing I got right in all of this was to skip a week. Imagine how many fewer mistakes I'd make if I skipped TWO weeks?! (You'll have to because I cannot help myself.) So no even weeks, just odds. I like the odds of odds. And I speak the language, fluently.
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