As It Turns Out, Not That Big a One

Following in Jaq's and the Samurai Frog's footsteps, I will now respond to this meme, designed to test the level of your geekiness:

() You spent a day watching all of the Lord of the Rings/Star Wars/Star Trek movies.
I'm pretty sure in high school I and some friends watched the first three Star Wars films, but even that I'm not sure we got through all of them. I;d like to do this one day, but logistically I'm just not sure I see it happening for a while. That's one big time investment.

( ) You spent next two days after watching commentary, outtakes, and behind the scenes footage.
(X) And you bought the soundtrack.
As has been documented here well, I like me my film scores.

() You went to a midnight release of a movie.
Nope.

( ) You camped in front of the theater for more than 12 hours to get tickets.
( ) Camping did not prevent you from being in costume.

() You can have an entire conversation with friends consisting of quotes from your favorite movies.
Not quite. I'll quote TV and films on occasion, but not to that extent.

( ) You own at least three game systems.
One - a PlayStation that I haven't played in years.

( ) You have lost weight because you forgot to eat while trying to reach the next level in your game.
( ) You own more than four game controllers (of any kind).
( ) You have existed on 3 hours of sleep per night so that your "Sims" get 8 hours and are refreshed for work.
( ) You upgraded your computer because you wanted to buy a new video game/expansion pack.( ) You have dressed as your game avatar, or as a NPC in that game.
( ) You achieved level 60 on World of Warcraft.
Not a big video game guy.

(X) You have played "Dungeons and Dragons" or any other RPG.
Off on on in high school and college. Great fun, but time-consuming.

(X) You know what "RPG" stands for.
( ) You dressed as your RPG character would dress.
( ) You own dice with more than six sides.
( ) You have been accused of having a "gamer" scent.
( ) You can identify a Black Lotus.
I don't even know what that is.

() You can identify a Charizard.
?

( ) You have bought any of the "Harry Potter" books after standing in line until midnight.
I have them all, but no midnight runs.

( ) You waited to get your "Harry Potter" book in costume, quoting favorite lines.
(X) You have attended any function with "con" in the name.
One NY Comic Con, in maybe 1993.

( ) You stood in line at said "con" for more than 4 hours to have an item signed.
( ) You spent more than $50 on a costume to wear to "con" because you wanted it to be authentic.

(X) You own more than 50 comics.
Probably 300 or so.

(X) You collect your comics in longboxes.
Finally! I had them just stored in boxes for a long while, but finally organized them in longboxes last year. It makes the mild OCD'er in me very happy.

(X) You know what a "longbox" is.
( ) You've met and had your comics signed by the creator(s)
( ) You know how many "Robins" there are.
Not positive.

(X) You know that the portrayal of Rogue in the movie "X-Men" is completely wrong.
Well; not like the comic character, no. But I love what they did, and think it worked better than an attempt at the comic character's actual backstory/character would have.

(X) You have chatted online more than in person.
Oh yeah.

( ) You chatted online enough to learn the time zones.
( ) You think that when the Mythbusters say "Don't try this at home," they really don't mean YOU.
( ) Have participated in a movie/TV marathon that involved a drinking game.
( ) Can sing along with the Buffy Musical Episode.
Well, a little.

(X) You know Seth Green from more than just the "Austin Powers" movies.
(X) You can name all 8 Kevin Smith-directed movies without referring to IMdb.
I didn't think I could, but, nope, I got 'em!

(X) You have participated in a "Clerks"-esque discussion about Star Wars (or any other movie).
My friend and I would discuss the plot of Star Wars ad nauseum, breaking down plot holes and questions.

( ) You have participated in a Kirk vs Picard discussion.
I have seen two Star Trek films. The one where they meet God and the one with the whales. This is the full extent of my Star Trek knowledge.

( ) You have participated in a Star Wars vs Star Trek discussion.
( ) You have participated in a Babylon 5 vs. Star Trek:DS9 discussion
(X) You know who JMS is.
From comics, yes.

( ) You have ever corrected anyone who called you a Trekkie.
( ) You have worn a Star Fleet Uniform.
( ) You own a Star Fleet Uniform.

( ) You think "Twilight" is lame because everyone knows that vampires burst into flame in the sunlight.
Haven't read it. Don't plan to.

( ) You have written fanfic.
(X) You have watched Bizzare Foods and thought "I'd try that."
I love bizarre foods!

( ) You can pinpoint the moment at which "Lost" jumped the shark.
Lost has very decidedly not jumped the shark.

(X) You know who Stan Lee is.
(X) You know who Jack Kirby is.
(X) You know who Geoff Johns is.

( ) You have built a website.
(X) You have started a blog.
(X) You maintained a blog for over a year.

( ) You know what the Genie SFRT is.
No idea.

( ) You have a Twitter account.
( ) You have over 500 followers on Twitter.
( ) You purchased a smartphone just so you could check Twitter on the road.
(X) You forget your family members' birthdays because they aren't your friends on Facebook.
I know most of my my sibling's birthdays and my wife's and kids', and a few parent ones.

( ) You have given virtual gifts on Facebook.
( ) You have Superpoked your boss on Facebook.
( ) You have gotten a date through Facebook (and we're not talking dinner and movie with your buddies).
( ) You have broken up with someone/been broken up with through Facebook.

( ) You've reached level 30 or higher in Mafia Wars.
( ) You know what Mafia Wars is.
( ) You participated in more than three social networks.

(X) You've spent more than 200 hours playing the same video game.
Probably as a kid trying to beat Zelda.

(X) You've seen any movie in the theater more than three times.
Not many though. All three original Star Wars (considering the re-releases) and the Phantom Menace.

( ) You can name the episode of MST3K where Joel was replaced by Mike.
( ) You've argued why the comic is way superior to the show/movie when discussing "The Tick," "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles," "X-Men," "Fantastic Four," "Spider-Man,"

( ) You have the soundtrack for "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog" on your MP3 player.
But I want it!

(X) You are willing to defend the Star Wars prequels.
And have, right here.

( ) You openly disparage the Star Wars prequels because they don't live up to "Empire."
( ) You're openly concerned about the time line ramifications that J.J. Abram's "Star Trek" movie presents to the canon.

(X) You own anything written by Neil Gaiman, Alan Moore or H.P. Lovecraft.
A few Alan Moore graphic novels, that's it.

( ) You have a flying spaghetti monster on your car.
( ) You've seen a midnight showing of Rocky Horror Picture Show with live actors in front of the screen.

(X) You know the REAL reason Spider-Man had a black costume.
Yes, but the film's reason (which is actually very close to the comic's) is better, frankly.

( ) You know the NCC numbers of at least two starships other than the Enterprise.
( ) You know what "NCC" stands for.
( ) You own an original Star Trek Concordance, Technical Manual, and Blueprints.

( ) You own at least two medieval weapons.
( ) You have participated in battles with foam-covered swords.

( ) You know who "Major Matt Mason" is.
(X) You have seen bootleg copies of the original Fantastic Four and Justice League movies.
FF only.

( ) After having had children you realize there's now more people to costume and relish it.
( ) You've managed to turn four days at Euroquest* into nearly eight because, who needs sleep?( ) You've spent more than $1000 on your "spot-on" costume. (and it's still not quite right...)
( ) You've made a fan film.
( ) Your fan film has been seen by more than your immediate family.

( ) People know you by your online name instead of your mundane name.
Only you online people know me as Tosy and Cosh

( ) You know what Pennsic is.
( ) You've camped at Pennsic.
( ) You have/had personalized plates on your car proudly proclaiming your fandom.
( ) Your spouse and/or friends do as well.

( ) You yell at your kids when they try to open a toy/book/comic/figure etc. that you're collecting.
Emphatically no. I WANT them to like this stuff, and that means handling the accoutrements and playing with them. I have no real collectible stuff.

( ) Your kids have broken your Hallmark collectible Star Trek/Star Wars, etc. ornament.
No, but I have.

( ) You've traveled more than 500 miles to attend a con.
( ) You have a tattoo related to your fandom of choice.
( ) You met your spouse at a fan-related event or con.
( ) You got engaged (to be married!) at a sci-fi convention.

(X) You are publicly willing to defend Dollhouse, because Joss Whedon must be trusted.
They got me there. It's getting better!

Until Whenever

Three by Three

Three things I liked about Monsters v. Aliens.

• The action sequences, which were clear and easily followable while at the same time taking full advantage of the advantages of animation. Animation can show comic book action better than any other medium, but only if time and money is spent. I really hope one day we get Pixar-type renditions of classic superheroes, if only so that this advantage can be fully realized.
• The human characters, who were funnier than expected and mainly managed to avoid one-note cliches.
• The story - the clear arc of a woman becoming a monster and learning to embrace it was nice in the way it gave a big boys movie like this a female protagonist.

Three things I did not like about Monsters v. Aliens

• The execution of that story. While it worked as a whole, and certainly had some clever bits (the President-attempting-communication-by-music), the beat-by-beat story was not as consistently delightful as Pixar has led us to believe is possible.
• The glossing over of the whole "monsters have been prisoners for 50 years thing." That got forgiven/forgot by the characters real quick.
• Reese Witherspoon, who didn't really give Susan enough character through her voice work.

Until Whenever

Doin' the Friday Shuffle

1. "A Well Fed Man" - The Kinks - Juno
One of those songs I know without knowing I know. Didn't recognize the title at all.

2. "Wiggly Wiggly Christmas" - The Wiggles - Wiggly Wiggly Christmas
An original Christmas tune from those Australian geniuses.



3. "Kiss Me Kate - Corrective Casting (Jerry and Liza)" Cole Porter and Gerard Allessandri - Fordibben Broadway Strikes Back
In an older FB edition they did a parody song spurred by rumors of a revival starring Mandy Patinkin and Bernadette Peters. Here they up the ante.

4. "All Because of You" - U2 - Live from Under the Brooklyn Bridge
A great early promo rendition of one of the most overt rockers in the U2 canon.



5. "Sehr begalich - Soprano Solo - Mahler
A bit of Mahler lieber. This stuff comes on the symphony CDs but in all honesty I never listen to it.

6. "Castle on the Hill" - Danny Elfman - Edward Scissorhands
Classic Elfman. I never remember to listen to this score - I should more often.



7. "You Angel You" - Bob Dylan - Planet Waves
Just got this and haven't absorbed it yet.



8. "Nobody's Got the Gun" - Mark Knopfler - Golden Heart
A sweet and shuffling Knopfler tune.



9. "Morning Sun" - Echo and the Bunnymen
Got this on a mix, and it wasn't a song that made it through the culling process. I probably only listened to it once or twice.

10. "Tombstone Blues" - Ritchie Havens - I'm Not Here
A very nice acoustic cover by the old folkie of the classic Dylan tune.



Until Whenever

Great Covers

I sometimes forget how useful YouTube can be for uncovering (hah!) covers you might not normally hear. Exhibit A - Elvis Costello doing U2's "Please." Tosy and Cosh nirvana.



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Stuck on the Road Again with the Small Town Blues

According to Rolling Stone, Bob Dylan, John Mellencamp, and Willie Nelson will be touring together this summer, laying minor-league ballparks. I absolutely love this mix of artists - such a canny mix of laid-back, American rock and country vibes. I never would have thought to mix them, but it totally works.

Until Whenever

Random Top Ten

Random Top Ten!!

Top Ten Police Songs

10. Can’t Stand Losing You
I like how this song both gently mocks and takes seriously the archetype of the breakup song.



9. Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic
Buoyant and joyful, and a great evocation of the feeling of falling in love.



8. Murder by Numbers
The Police do a dark, jazz thing about the business of murder. Wonderfully archetypical.



7. Walking on the Moon
One of the all-time great bass lines.



6. Roxanne
Best song about a hooker ever?



5. Bring on the Night
That rolling guitar figure just pushes my buttons, not sure why. And I really don’t like reggae!



4. King of Pain
A great lyric and a wonderful way of setting a mood, with that ticking clock intro.



3. Every Breath You Take
Up there with Bruce Springsteen’s Born in the USA as one of pop music’s all-time most misinterpreted songs. But in the end it’s that stepwise guitar figure that makes the song immortal.



2. Message in a Bottle
A taut little three-act story of a song anchored by a great riff.



1. Synchronicity II
“Many miles away, there’s a shadow on the door, of a cottage on the shore, of a dark, Scottish lake.” A top ten lyric for me.



Until Whenever

Where or When

One of the cool things about working in the city is that performances are happening all around, all the time. And today, in the Winter Garden of the World Financial Center, where I work, Diana Krall did a quick six-song set to promote her new album, Quiet Nights. Now, the acustics in the Winter Garden are pretty horrendous, and I was standing at the back of a big group of people, pretty far from the stage. Still, I got to hear one of the preeminent jazz singers of our time sing for free while I took a half hour break.

That's pretty cool.

Until Whenever

U2 Ranked

In ranking (nearly) all of U2's songs, my original plan was to post on ten songs at a time. But then I realized that I've posted on every song in every album already. And the whole exercise began to feel pretty stale. So - no more song reviews; just the list. Here's how I rank (nearly) all U2 songs. (I haven't slotted the songs from No Line on the Horizon into this yet, as they are too fresh.)

148. 4th Of July
147. Alex Descends Into Hell For A Bottle Of Milk/Korova 1
146. Love Comes Tumbling
145. Two Hearts Beat As One
144. Deep In The Heart
143. The Three Sunrises
142. The Ocean
141. Spanish Eyes
140. The Refugee
139. Numb
138. Elvis Presley And America
137. Drowning Man
136. Wave Of Sorrow (Birdland)
135. Miami
134. The Playboy Mansion
133. Scarlet
132. I Threw A Brick Through A Window
131. North And South Of The River
130. Fire
129. Like A Song...
128. Lady With The Spinning Head
127. With A Shout
126. Trash, Trampoline And The Party Girl
125. Tomorrow
124. I Fall Down
123. Your Blue Room
122. Promenade
121. Falling At Your Feet
120. Walk To The Water
119. Fast Cars
118. Heartland
117. Luminous Times (Hold On To Love)
116. Stranger In A Strange Land
115. A Room At The Heartbreak Hotel
114. Summer Rain
113. She's A Mystery To Me
112. If You Wear That Velvet Dress
111. Red Light
110. Stateless
109. Dirty Day
108. Rejoice
107. Daddy's Gonna Pay For Your Crashed Car
106. Lemon
105. Indian Summer Sky
104. Some Days Are Better Than Others
103. Sweetest Thing
102. Babyface
101. Tomorrow
100. Another Time, Another Place
99. Love And Peace Or Else
98. Seconds
97. Is That All?
96. I Trip Thorugh Your Wires
95. Peace On Earth
94. The Ground Beneath Her Feet
93. Last Night On Earth
92. Surrender
91. New York
90. An Cat Dubh / Into The Heart
89. God Part II
88. A Man And A Woman
87. Wild Honey
86. Stories For Boys
85. Two Shots Of Happy, One Shot Of Sad
84. Tryin' to Throw Your Arms Around The World
83. MLK
82. A Celebration/A Day Without Me
81. If God Will Send His Angels
80. Crumbs From Your Table
79. Twilight
78. Get On Your Boots
77. Out Of Control
76. Shadows And Tall Trees
75. Staring At The Sun
74. Mothers Of The Disappeared
73. 11 O'Clock Tick Tock
72. Hawkmoon 269
71. Miracle Drug
70. Silver And Gold
69. A Sort Of Homecoming
68. When Love Comes To Town
67. Wire
66. Gloria
65. So Cruel
64. Angel of Harlem
63. Desire
62. Electrical Storm
61. Elevation
60. In A Little While
59. In God's Country
58. Mysterious Ways
57. The Electric Co.
56. I Will Follow
55. Zooropa
54. I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
53. The First Time
52. Even Better Than The Real Thing
51. Van Diemen's Land
50. Until The End Of The World
49. October
48. Slow Dancing
47. Stuck In A Moment You Can't Get Out Of
46. Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own
45. The Hands That Built America
44. Ultraviolet (Light My Way)
43. Vertigo
42. The Wanderer
41. One Step Closer
40. Do You Feel Loved
39. Exit
38. All Because Of You
37. Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me
36. Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses
35. Red Hill Mining Town
34. With Or Without You
33. Grace
32. 40
31. One Tree Hill
30. Bullet The Blue Sky
29. Love Rescue Me
28. The Unforgettable Fire
27. Yahweh
26. Mofo
25. Original Of The Species
24. Zoo Station
23. Running To Stand Still
22. The Fly
21. Gone
20. New Year's Day
19. Wake Up Dead Man
18. Miss Sarajevo
17. Window In The Skies
16. When I Look At The World
15. Stay (Faraway, So Close!)
14. Love Is Blindness
13. Kite
12. Pride (In The Name Of Love)
11. City Of Blinding Lights
10. All I Want Is You
9. Mercy
8. Bad
7. Beautiful Day
6. Sunday Bloody Sunday
5. One
4. Acrobat
3. Walk On
2. Please
1. Where The Streets Have No Name

Until Whenever

I'm In

I will not miss two U2 tours in a row.

I may be sitting in the upper tier at Giants Stadium. And I may be going by myself.

But I'm going.

Until Whenever

Look Out!

If you haven't seen this, well, you should. The kind of feel-good story that's just right for a Friday.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Until Whenever

Doin' the Friday Shuffle

1. "Dice are Rolling" - Andrew Lloyd Weber and Tim Rice - Evita (Original Broadway Cast)
Evita's moment of triumph, as she convinces her husband to take power.

2. "Nobody Needs to Know" - Jason Robert Brown - The Last Five Years (Original Cast Recording)
A great example of a slow-burn song that build and builds slowly but surely over its length. Nicely dramatic.




3. "A Call to Arms" - James Horner - Glory
A simply glorious score - has the Harlem Boys Choir ever been put to more effective use?



4. "Part of Your World (Reprise)" - Alan Menken and Howard Ashman - The Little Mermaid (Original Broadway Cast)
As much as I love the Broadway Beauty and the Beast score, I never really got into this one.



5. "Bulldog of Bermen" - Thomas Newman - Cinderella Man
And as much as I love Newman, I've never really fallen in love with this score.

6. "Mornin', Lawyer, Lookin' for Somebody?" - George Gershwin - Porgy and Bess
A plot-moving scene. As much as I love P&B, the recitative scenes have never done much for me.

7. "Sheer Perfection" - Alan Menken and Time Rice - King David
A beautiful oratorio that I really wish had taken off into a full stage version. This is a sweet, slightly resigned little ballad - very classic Menken-sounding.



8. "If I Can't Love Her" - Alan Menken and Tim Rice - Beauty and the Beast (Original Broadway Cast)
There we go. My favorite Menken song.




9. "100 Years" - Five for Fighting
Got this for the wife. Not my cuppa.



10. "Jesse James" - Bruce Springsteen - The Seeger Sessions
A wonderful rave-up of a song.



Until Whenever

Random Lost Question #2,482

Weren't Juliet and Ben a couple in New Otherton? and if so, doesn't that mean that Adult Ben remembered the mechanic from when he was a kid when she came to the island? And isn't that a little creepy?

Until Whenever

New Logo

OK, who can guess the provenance of the letters in the new logo? (some are, of course, gimmees).

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Three by Three

Three things I liked about Wet Hot American Summer:

• Chris Meloni is as good as legend would have it as the bat-shit crazy camp cook. He hedges the performance not one bit, committing fully to the character's unhinged lunacy.
• The kids. By and large, they cast very well, and elicited great, non-grating or show performances from the campers.
• Jeneane Garofolo and David Hyde-Pierce, who not only have surprisingly good chemistry, but nail the balance the film calls for between parody and sincerity.

Three things I did not like about Wet Hot American Summer:

• How unevenly the cast and film nailed that balance. WHAS isn't an out and out parody the way Airplane was, but it's not just a goofy comedy film set in the 80s either. It's a very schizophrenic mix of parody and original absurdist humor, and while at times that mix worked great, at other times it felt very disjointed.
• That they filmed (per the bonus features) and didn't use the 10-years later flash-forward reunion. That looked funny.
• The comedy. Not really. It was very funny. But I couldn't help but feeling throughout that it should have been funnier.

Until Whenever

Prognosticatin'

Given that U2 will be doing stadiums in the Fall I am more optimistic than I expected to be about getting tickets. And as I've been thinking about the tour, I've been trying to predict what songs will make the cut this go-round. So, assuming that they stick to the Vertigo model and do 16 or so songs and then a six-song encore, what will we hear?

From the new album
The four songs they have already played live during the promotional tour are gimmes:

• Get On Your Boots
• Breathe
• Magnificent
• I'll Go Crazy if I Don't Go Crazy Tonight

That leaves 18.

From the new album, I'd also expect to hear:

• No Line on the Horizon (I'm going to peg this as the opener, a la the ZOO TV tour opening with "Zoo Station")
• Moment of Surrender (the requisite ballad)
• Unknown Caller

That leaves 15.

From How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, I'd expect them to keep:

• Vertigo
• All Because of You
• City of Blinding Lights

That leaves 12.

From All That You Can't Leave Behind, I'd expect them to keep:

• Beautiful Day

That leaves 11.

Dipping into the U2 live staples, expect the following to remain in the setlist; the songs fans would revolt upon not hearing and that the band can't seem to give up:

• Where the Streets Have No Name
• Bullet the Blue Sky
• One
• New Year's Day
• Sunday Bloody Sunday
• Pride (In the Name of Love)
• Mysterious Ways

That leaves 4.

Expect them to dig out an oldie they haven't played in a long time, like they did last tour. I'm guessing it will be Out of Control.

That leaves 3.

Expect them to go back a tour or two and pull out a live favorite or two they don't have to relearn.

• Until the End of the World
• The Fly

That leaves 1.

The Saints Are Coming cover? They already learned it and it's a left-field choice.

So - my projected set list- in order of how I think it will unfold?

No Line on the Horizon
Magnificent
Get On Your Boots
Vertigo
Beautiful Day
Unknown Caller
Moment of Surrender
I'll Go Crazy if I Don't Go Crazy Tonight
Out of Control
Until the End of the World
The Saints Are Coming
New Years Day
Sunday Bloody Sunday
Bullet the Blue Sky
Where the Streets Have No Name

Encore:
City of Blinding Lights
The Fly
Pride (in the Name of Love)
All Because of You
Breathe
One

Until Whenever

My New Favorite Line About Television

"Part of the joy of watching a theatrical repertory company is seeing the actors play a variety of parts. Television especially is our national repertory theater and seeing a variety of performances from a single actor is part of the pleasure it gives us."

That's from the #21st installment of Tom Stempel's "Understanding Screenwriting" series over at The House Next Door. That you should be reading both the blog and this series there goes without saying. But I just loved this particular quote, and how it encapsulated the joy i get when I see an actor from one shoe pop up on another show.

Until Whenever

Do I Like Fantasy?

I always thought I did. But in recent years, I've wondered more and more. Not if I like it at all - I do - but if I'm really a fan. I can't decide. Maybe you can. The evidence.

• As a kid I read Lloyd Alexander's Prydain series at least three times.
• I've never read the Lord of the Rings. The Hobbit and The Fellowship, and the beginning of The Two Towers, yes. But not any more. Nor do I particularly want to.
• I read in high school the first two Shannara trilogies, and loved them.
• In college I tried (twice) to get into The Eye of the World, the first book in Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series, reading hundreds of pages. Never happened, and I never finished it.
• I've seen all three Lord of the Rings films multiple times, and love them dearly.
• I am now reading George R.R. Martin's A Game of Thrones, the first book in the A Song of Ice and Fire series. I am loving it, much to my surprise. I expected to not really like it enough to invest time in such a massive series (I only picked it up because news of the HBO series intrigued me), but was rapidly sucked in.
• I played D&D sporadically in high school and college, but never that regularly.
• Stephen King is my favorite author.
• I read comic books (but find explicitly "fantasy" comics boring).
• I am a fair-to-middling Star Wars nerd, and have read a good dozen or so of the novels.
• Apart from what I listed above, I don't know that I've ever read any other fantasy novels.

So - what say you?

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Most Played

So according to iTunes, these are the 10 songs I have played most often over the past year and a half.

10. Spirit on the Water, Bob Dylan - 29 plays
When I got Modern Times I listened to it a lot. This is the second track, and since I will often listen to an album and not finish it, this ends up pretty high.

9. Hoop de Doo, The Wiggles - 30 plays
The kids have a bunch of CDs in iTunes, and thew Wiggles CD is a favorite.

8. Open Spaces - Johnny Greenwood - 30 plays
The opening track to Greenwood's score for There Will Be Blood, which makes great "tune out the office" music.

7. Thunder on the Mountain, Bob Dylan - 30 plays
The first song on Modern Times

6. Toot Toot, Chugga Chugga, Big Red Car - The Wiggles - 31 plays
The first song on that CD.

5. Imagine - Jordis Unga - 31 plays
The Wife and I both love this version, so it gets a lot of play.

4. Central Park, New York, The Wiggles - 32 plays
Not really sure why this is higher than some of the other Wiggle songs.

3. Jingle Bells, Ella Fitzgerald - 33 plays
A Christmas favorite that the girls and I like a lot.

2. Over the Rainbow - Wonderful World, Israel Kamakawiwo'ole - 35 plays
This is likely the Wife's favorite song, so it appears on most of her playlists.

1. Get On Your Boots, U2 - 36 plays
I got the single weeks before the album, so it got a lot of play.

Until Whenever

Reason George Lucas Is Still Pretty Cool # 68

I've been watching the new animated Clone Wars series and have been pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoy it. Part of this is just the sheer fun of seeing those many glorious Clone War battles that Obi-Wan hinted at 32 years ago. But an even bigger part is the sheer quality of the action. See, as a big Marvel fan I was very excited when the company first started rolling out animated movies on DVD a few years back. I mean, an animated Ultimates film sounded just brilliant. But the animation itself, when unveiled, was clumsy and non-compelling, and not much better than the animation in those old 90s Marvel X-Men and Spider-Man series. Limited and not good to look at.

Maybe I've just been spoiled by Disney and Pixar. They don't (aside from the brilliant Incredibles) really do action/super-hero movies, but the action scenes they do do are always wonderfully kinetic and realized. Think of the final scene in the original Toy Story. Or the door-chase in Monster's Inc. Or even the fights in Pocohontas. That level of sophistication delivered to a Captain America film would be just a great thing. But that's not what we got.

But it is what Lucas is delivering on Clone Wars. The first episode I saw was the Yoda ep, and the quality of the action scenes was just great. And with each episode I've seen that level is being upheld. It's fun, engaging, and thrilling Star Wars action. And for that, I thank Lucas.

Until Whenever

Random Top Ten

Random Top Ten!!!

Top Ten Mandy Patinkin Songs

10. "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?"
This is for me the archetypal Patink performance. Start off slow and build to an impassioned, slightly manic finish.



9. "If I Loved You"
Here, he takes this model and expands on it. Just when you think he's done he comes back with a final, bellowed, gorgeous repeat of the final verse.



8. "Color and Light"
The "blue-red-blue-red" sequence is a tour de force. Who else could convey pointillism so well musically?

7. "Loving You"
A delicate, haunting rendition of this slow, sorrowfully happy song from Passion.



6. "Over the Rainbow"
Is this the greatest song ever? It might be.

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5. "I Wish I Could Forget You"
Listen to his deep register here. Puts the lie to the notion that all he;s got going is that falsetto tone.

4. "Oh What a Circus"
The original recipe, and his introduction to the theater world. What an entrance.

3. "Finishing the Hat"
A more convincing expression of the miracle of the artistic process has never been sung.

2. "Casey Medley"
A seamless joining of "Casey," Randy Newman's "Marie," and Charles Strouse's achingly beautiful "Once Upon a Time." Probably my all-time favorite medley.



1. "Lesson #8"
Makes the hairs on my arm stand up, every damn time.

Until Whenever