Humiliating Kick In The Crotch

May 29, 2008

According to my phone, which I have no reason to doubt, Boston lost again last night, 1-0 to the resurgent (at least, against us) M’s. Wakefield started, and got the loss, but he obviously didn’t do that poorly. Eric Bedard got the win, a guy who, when he’s throwing strikes, can be unhittable. I don’t feel that bad about that, really-but the glow of the home winning streak is wearing off, as we’re getting our heads kicked in out West.

That’s one of the big pluses to opening so strong-you can endure a 5 out of 6 losing streak without dropping 5 games in the standings. Tampa has done about as well as they had any right to expect, so if we can catch them napping-go 15-5 while they go 8-12- we can blow past them pretty easily. And as long as the Yankees keep floundering, we should be able to put the division away.

The inimitable Jason Calacanis was livetwittering (live tweeting?) the Wall Street Journal Digital conference. Apparently, Herr Murdoch said some interesting things, such as his opinion that Bill O’ Reilly “gives both sides” of an issue (a laughable concept) and that the new WSJ is going to beat the New York Times at doing hard news. I still don’t understand that. WSJ is the leading business paper in the world, right? Why are they trying to be the New York Times? Oh, well, he’s a billionaire and I’m not. I guess he must know something.

My phone is texting just fine, but it doesn’t seem to believe in the Internet just now, so I can’t tell if the Celtics won or not. They were playing well towards the end of the first half, then I went to sleep. I tried turning it off and on, and that didn’t help. Sigh. So I live on, unknowing. Even twittering for the score didn’t help.

The more teenagers and young adults I encounter, the more I become an advocate for summer school. I don’t know when I became the “you kids get off my lawn” guy. My son’s age or above, I really have no use for you.

My phone finally woke up to tell me that Boston won, 106-102, to take a 3-2 lead in games. That’s good. It was exciting, physical, defense minded basketball, and a game Boston really needed if it wants to make the finals.

Black Crowes, “Could I’ve Been So Blind”

The Eagles, “Frail Grasp Of The Big Picture”

Metallica, “Turn The Page”

I remember very clearly dancing with a very pretty blonde to a band doing the Bob Seger version of this song at a Honor Society function in high school. If you told that guy that Metallica would one day cover that song, I would have laughed until soda shot out of my nose.

Elton John, “Kiss The Bride”

I love this song. I LOVE this song. I keep thinking, every time I hear it, that there is a story in this song. Someday, maybe I’ll write it.

Van Morrison, “Bright Side Of The Road”

Reportedly a prick, but dude can carry a tune.

REM, “Wanderlust”

I like my stuff too much to travel.

The Phantom of the Opera, “Notes/Twisted Every Way”

“If you can call this gibberish- art?”

Like “Rent”, a movie that should have been better than it was. Lost something in translation to the screen, but I can’t really tell what.

Or maybe I just don’t understand people’s taste.

Yeah, that’s more likely it.

But Emmy Rossum…Sigh. Double Sigh.

Billy Joel, “Easy Money”

Used in the Rodney Dangerfield film of the same name. One of the lesser known tracks on “An Innocent Man”, kind of like “Careless Talk” and “Christie Lee”, songs that had a certain appeal for me because most people hadn’t heard them before.

It’s kind of scary to see a piece of paper that you know, without a doubt, that you saw 9 hours ago today, and yet it looks new to you.

Mudcrutch, “Oh Maria”

Not bad. It’s hard to know how much I like this band, whether I’m giving it Tom Petty Halo Points or evaluating it on its own merits.

I read that the “I’m Not There” soundtrack has a bunch of Dylan covers. Sounds tempting.

Talking Heads, “Take Me To The River”

I had a professor in college who was a HUGE Talking Heads fan. I had a life threatening crush on her. I remember reading somewhere that she had authored an award winning human physiology text. I hope she’s happy. I’m sure the text is brilliant, she was an excellent writer and speaker.

“I don’t know why/I love you like I do”

Pink Floyd, “Time”

My first date with my second serious girlfriend was to the Pink Floyd Laser Show at the Hayden Planetarium, Museum of Science, Boston, Massachusetts. Genius that I was, I got off at the wrong subway stop. It was bitter, Boston in January at Night Cold. As we left, she asked me sweetly, pointing to the much, much closer Science Park station- “Shouldn’t we have used that one?”

She was right, of course. She usually was.

The Police, “The Bed’s Too Big Without You” (Live)
The Police, “Synchronicity II”

Random? Yeah, sure it’s random. (I know, I know, it just doesn’t SEEM random.)

“Every meeting with his so-called superiors
Is a humiliating kick in the crotch.”

Paul McCartney, “Back in the USSR” (Live)

Remember the USSR?

Billy Joel/ Elton John, “Here Comes The Sun” (Live)

Off a bootleg. So sue me.