Je cherche un millionnaire
Avec des grands "Cadillac car"
"Mink coats" - Des bijoux
Jusqu'au cou, tu sais?
(Full lyrics here, including an English translation for those of you in need.)Heh. Well, I have ONE of the prerequisites...
The No. 1 Crimson Tide will face the No. 4 Buckeyes in the Allstate Sugar Bowl, and the second-seeded Ducks will face the third-seeded Seminoles in the Rose Bowl presented by Northwestern Mutual, both on New Year's Day.I'll bet the air turned blue in Waco and Fort Worth when the playoff selections were announced. Both the Bears and the Horned Frogs have their points, TCU more than Baylor, to my way o' thinkin'. But it is what it is... and what it is is GOOD. The smart money will be on Bama to win the whole shootin' match but, speaking as a guy who doesn't have a dog in this fight, I'd like to see Oregon go all the way. Watching Marcus Mariota has been a pure joy this season; he's quite possibly the most exciting player in all of college ball this year.
 |
| Meg Griffin |
WARNING: THERE ARE A LOT
Can You Spot Every Reference In This Brilliant Animation? The music video for Cruisr's "All Over" is one cultural reference sliding into another. And another. And another. Good luck keeping up.
"...use by lower-ranking generals."Virgil has the BEST stories.
Most people know that Air Force 1 is the designation of the Presidential plane and Air Force 2 that of the VP, but did you know that there is an "Air Force 3?" That is the designation given to a similarly-equipped aircraft for the use of members of the JCS or the Heads of the major commands. From this I'll relate a funny story. At the time I was stationed in the UK my 1st cousin, then a Brig General, was the Deputy Commander for Ops, (DCO) HQ USAF in a 2-star slot. As such he was technically the # 3 guy in the Air Force (working directly under the CinC and ViceCinC USAF (despite the presence of many 4-star generals in the major commands. From all this I have a story:
One night I returned fairly late to the O'club @ RAF Woodbridge after drinking at a local pub: "Jesus Christ, Virgil" they said, "call the command post IMMEDIATELY, the Wing Commander has been rising hell trying to find you!" Turns out the Wing CP had gotten a call from "Air Force 3" en route requesting that I be located so that the DCO, HQ, USAF (my cousin) could have dinner with me. LOL! Of course they didn't know that he was my cousin, and that he was on his way to a USAFE conference in Wiesbaden, so they--including the Wing CO--were jumping thru their a-holes trying to locate this Jr Capt that must have SOME KIND OF PULL! With failure to do so perhaps seeing certain careers sink before their very eyes. The situation was saved only by the wx which caused AF 3 to divert to RAF Mildenhall, from whence Maurice was driven down to Bentwaters by staff car. There were some puckered you-know-whats for a while on that dealieo, lol!
I think I discovered Roy by listening to WDET in Dee-troit. I'd bet money on it, actually. Speakin' of WDET...We were quite pleased to find DET is on iTunes Radio; this means we can listen to the lovely Ann on the weekends now. Ann had a daily show back in the day and we'd speak on the phone sometimes during the course of her show. I also had occasion to meet and speak with her in person, albeit briefly, during a couple of the annual cocktail parties DET threw for donors who contributed at a certain level. We had a nice e-mail exchange after her show yesterday afternoon... which I'd publish if Blogger wasn't such a pain the ass about formatting cut 'n' pasted e-mails. I can't get the formatting to work to save my ass, so you'll just have to take my word for it. It's always sumthin'.
We're down to our emergency tee shirt supply, given the state of our laundry bag and available clean clothes. This example happens to be well over 20 years old, what with me having acquired it back around 1987 or so. I wear it rarely these days as it is thin beyond belief. It's also something of a personal treasure as well, being a memento from Former Happy Days. This tee was part of the swag one gets for supporting public radio, and I was a BIG supporter back in the day. Read as: when public radio was worth supporting. I was saddened to find DET has sunk in the metro Dee-troit radio ratings, but not all that surprised. DET was a powerhouse back in the '80s and a veritable fount of new music... and Ann Delisi (a deejay and then programs director) was to die for. But that's another story altogether.
I can picture you there on that stool, drinking like a drunken fool.Heh. There were people in my past lives who might coulda sang this song to me. Once upon a time. Mebbe.
Yeah, you're sitting there on your ass, muttering into your glass.
Paying for your lowlife thrills with wet quarters and soggy one dollar bills.
I know where you are, baby.
You're down drinking at the bar.
One of the special delights which ladies find in Cadillac ownership is the pleasure of being a passenger.
[...]
We invite you to visit your dealer soon - with the man of the house - and spend an hour in the passenger seat of a 1959 Cadillac.I can't imagine it, either. God Forbid that a woman might want a Cadillac of her own, yanno?
There are things you can replace
and others you cannot
The time has come to weigh those things
this space is getting hot -
you know this space is getting hot
I told AltheaGetting hot? It got hot and burned out, long ago. But here we are, talking about less and less and forgetting the love we bring. What a great tune this is.
I'm a roving sign -
that I was born to be a bachelor -
Althea told me: Ok that's fine -
So now I'm out trying to catch her
Can't talk to me without talking to you
We're guilty of the same old thing
Talking a lot about less and less
And forgetting the love we bring
 |
| Doncha miss album cover art? I mean real, big-ass vinyl albums, not CD jewel boxes. |
In 2014 David Gilmour and Nick Mason re-entered the studio and, starting with unreleased keyboard performances by Richard Wright, who sadly died in 2008, added further instrumentation to the tracks, as well as creating new material. The result is The Endless River, including 60% of recordings other than the 1993 sessions, but based upon them. The title is a further link, '... the endless river...' being part of the closing phrases of High Hopes, the final song of the previous Pink Floyd album.Interesting, but I'm not sure I'll lay down 31 Yankee Dollars for the 2014 Floyd. But I MIGHT.
Friday, December 01, 2006
Hey! It's December!
I watched a re-run of Frontline’s Secret History of Credit Cards on PBS last evening, and absorbed some distressing facts on how Americans use credit cards, and much more distressingly, how banks exploit credit consumers. “Exploit” is a pretty loaded word, but it fits. I would say that, as a capitalist, I’m somewhat conflicted about this exploitation, but I’m not. The principal of Caveat Emptor should apply here, in other words, an intelligent individual would avoid the exploiters and do business with banks that are on the up and up. But they’re all in the consumer exploitation business. When it comes to credit cards, the contract language banks provide you is so opaque and so lengthy and so fraught with legalese that no one, and I mean NO one, short of a contract law attorney, can understand the damned things. And nearly no one reads ‘em, either. According to Frontline, anyway, and I tend to believe the assertion because, well, I’ve never read mine.Some “fun facts:”145 million Americans carry credit cards55 million pay off their balance in full every month90 million Americans carry a balance. These folks are known as “revolvers.”35 million of the revolvers make only the minimum payment every month.The average balance…average…is $8,000.00. Per card.
And worst of all, there is nearly NO limit on the interest banks can charge on credit card accounts. You may thank the Supreme Court’s Marquette Bank decision, which effectively eliminated usury laws, for that. (Details here.)What allowed Wriston to make good on his threat to leave New York was a little-noticed December 1978 Supreme Court ruling. The Marquette Bank opinion permitted national banks to export interest rates on consumer loans from the state where credit decisions were made to borrowers nationwide.So by early 1980, with New York refusing to go along, Citibank set out on a search for new place to base its credit card division. The pickings were slim. Usury laws were still on the books in the vast majority of the states. And federal banking rules required that before banks could set up operations outside their home state, a formal invitation had to be issued by the legislature of the state they wanted to enter. Local bankers had prevented any state legislature from ever extending such an invitation.[…]In an effort to stimulate the local economy, South Dakota was in the midst of eliminating its usury laws. Mr. Wriston told Mr. Janklow that if South Dakota would quickly pass a bill inviting Citibank into the state, he would bring 400 jobs. To preempt concerns from local banks about new competition, Citibank also promised to open only "a limited" bank. "We'll put the facility in an inconvenient place for customers and we'll pay different interest rates," Mr. Wriston recalled telling Mr. Janklow. "All we want to do is use it to issue cards.''I learned my own personal credit card lesson back in the early ‘70s, before the Marquette decision. I’ll not point fingers or anything, but I cut up three or four cards at that point in time and paid off the balances, slowly but surely. It took me over five years to pay the bastards off, and that was at extremely modest interest rates, compared to today. I’ve not paid a penny in interest since. Well, not entirely true. I’ve paid interest once or twice. But it’s REALLY a rare occurrence. I know one thing, though. I’m awfully damned glad I’m not in the same credit card debt situation today as I was back in ’72.I know another thing, too. The banks need to clean up their act when it comes to credit cards. It’s way past time. If they refuse, then it’s time for the government to step in. As I said in the beginning, as a good capitalist I should be conflicted on this issue. But I’m not. Wrong is wrong. Period.This is The Weather Channel…and this is The Weather Channel On Drugs… So, I’m standing in the kitchen around 2030 hrs last evening, finishing up the dishes and just generally cleaning up. I have the Tee Vee tuned to the WX Channel, “Your Local on the 8s” comes on, and my head just whipped around. Nothing to see but the familiar blue screen with WX data, but what’s this? Pink Floyd’s “One of These Days?” Yes, it most certainly is! I’ll be damned…
You may have heard the song before, even if you’re not a Pink Floyd fan. For instance:"One of These Days" is the song playing over the end credits of the Sopranos episode "The Fleshy Part of the Thigh"."One of These Days" is featured in "The Lives of the Stars" episode of Carl Sagan's television documentary Cosmos.And now The WX Channel. On drugs. A one time good deal, perhaps, or a momentary lapse of reason? Because the next and subsequent “Local on the 8s” had the usual innocuous, unidentifiable, guitar soft jazz backgroundmuzakmusic. I like Floyd better.Speaking of weather…The storm that cut its teeth over the High Plains night before last through yesterday morning is kicking butt and taking names as it moves east and north. We only got a burst of bone-chilling cold and a dusting of snow, but the intersection of that cold front and moisture from the Gulf has dropped anywhere from eight to ten inches of snow on northern Oklahoma and southern Kansas. The St. Louis area was suffering from a pretty good ice storm, with the usual mass power outages ice storms bring. And it ain’t done yet. Not by a long shot. Look out, East Coast…here she comes!It definitely could have been worse here on the High Plains.When Terror Strikes… My propane tank went to “empty” overnight, as I strongly suspected it would. After all, our high yesterday was only 35 degrees and the low last night was in the mid-teens. In other words, maximum furnace run-time. The interior gauge LEDs indicate empty, but there’s probably a gallon or so left in the tank. So, at 0800 this morning I make the call to the propane company in order to get in at the front of today’s queue. The nice lady on the other end of the phone sez: “OK, I’ll tell Albert to stop by, but it’ll probably be late this afternoon or early tomorrow morning. He had to go to Roswell this morning to get the truck inspected.”Aieee!After I told her I was “on empty” she assured me Albert would be by this afternoon. Good thing we’re warming up today. My brand new little ceramic heater should be able to hold the heating front until the heavy artillery arrives.Speaking of ceramic heaters... I bought a new one yesterday, the fourth such in six years time. The danged things seem to get less and less efficient as time goes on, until they reach the point where you generate more heat by passing gas than the heater does running on full-stroke. In other words, they wear out. Faster than I think is acceptable, but that’s just me. I switched brands this time, moving from a Holmes heater to one made by Honeywell. In China, of course. Don’t get me started on that subject.Today’s Pic: The interior of one of our local watering holes: The bar in The Roosevelt Restaurant. This bar is a great example of those old mahogany bars one found throughout the US in the 19th century. This particular example was found in an old abandoned bar near Roswell, disassembled and trucked to Portales, where it was lovingly and beautifully restored. The Roosevelt is the one place in P-town where you can get a good single-malt or small-batch (read: boutique) bourbon. January, 2003.
Now I've got a suitcase full of fifty pound notesA half-naked woman and a suitcase full o' 50 pound notes sounds like a recipe for a great good time, doesn't it? I think I'd take either one when it comes to the suitcase and the half-naked woman but... alas... both options seem to be out of reach at the moment. At any rate, "Rumor and Sigh" is the first album up in our Happy Hour rotation, to be followed by the Stones (Exile On Main Street), Lucinda Williams (Car Wheels On a Gravel Road), and a couple o' others. I think Happy Hour MIGHT last a lil bit longer than usual today.
And a half-naked woman
With her tongue down my throat
And I feel so good, and I feel so good
Oh I feel so good I'm going to
Break somebody's heart tonight
She came to me like a friendI always liked ELO and the album from whence this tune comes from is a favorite... mainly coz of the time frame when it was popular. Although I didn't know it at the time, there most definitely was a showdown in my future. It just took around 23 years to materialize.
She blew in on a southern wind
Now my heart is turned to stone again
There's gonna be a Showdown
Save me, oh save me
It's unreal, the suffering
There's gonna be a Showdown
Children we have it right here
It's the light in my eyes
It's perfection and grace
It's the smile on my face
Tonight when I chase the dragon,Ah, chasing the dragon. The first entry at the link refers to "hard" drugs like smack or crack cocaine but there are other, more user-friendly dragons, chief among them fine single malts. Interestingly enough, most of my friends back in the day (that day bein' 1980, when "Gaucho" was released) had never heard the term before and were incredulous when I (a) mentioned the source of the phrase and (b) what it actually meant. "No!" they all cried, but they soon learned to believe me when I dropped these bits of esoterica on them. That's me: a mind stuffed FULL o' useless information.
The water may change to cherry wine
And the silver will turn to gold
Time out of mind
Above, watch the music video for the record's lead single, "Detroit Made," a John Hiatt-penned tribute to the singer's hometown and the cars that it has produced. Shot largely at Detroit's Woodward Dream Cruise, a hot rod parade that passes through the city on the third Saturday of every August, the video features footage of classic rides owned by other Michigan natives.The offical vid is cooler than cool and I hope you chase that link. Just a couple o' things... the first bein' any and every time someone/anyone mentions the Dream Cruise I can't help but tell those someones/anyones that I drove my ol' Caddy* in the first-ever Woodward Dream Cruise, and what a fan-fuckin'-tastic THAT day was. Second: why no Seger here at EIP? You go live in Dee-troit for ten years and then come back and ask the question again. I'm the victim of severe Seger burnout due to MASSIVE over-playing of his songs.
T (he)S (econd)M (rs.)P (ennington) christened the car “The Smokin’, Drinkin’, Partyin’ Car” and she most certainly was that. The best story about that car can only be told in “wink-wink, nudge-nudge” terms and involved TSMP and I splitting the upholstery in the Caddy’s back seat. Or, to put it another way…we were exuberant and the upholstery was old. In our garage. On a Saturday afternoon. Wink-wink, nudge-nudge. (more on the car here)Ah, Former Happy Days. We remember them fondly.
Standing tough under stars and stripesI was a big, big Steely Dan fan in the wayback, so it was only natural that I'd buy Mr. Fagen's first solo effort and I was NOT disappointed. I love this album; it's very much like the Steely Dan albums that preceded it before Mr. Fagen and Mr. Becker decided to go their separate ways. Which is to say a jazzy, upbeat collection of tunes with interesting lyrics, wonderful (and catchy) music with lots o' hooks, and spectacular production values. What's not to like?
We can tell
This dream's in sight
You've got to admit it
At this point in time that it's clear
The future looks bright
On that train all graphite and glitter
Undersea by rail
Ninety minutes from New York to Paris
Well by seventy-six we'll be A.O.K.
What a beautiful world this will be
What a glorious time to be free
(full lyrics here)
The Nightfly was certified Platinum in both the US and UK, and produced two popular hits with "I.G.Y. (What a Beautiful World)" and "New Frontier". It also received several 1983 Grammy Award nominations. This relatively low-key but long-lived popularity led the Wall Street Journal in 2007 to dub the album "one of pop music's sneakiest masterpieces."[2]Sneaky? That's an interesting term to describe what's clearly a masterpiece. But, Hey! There's prolly no finer endorsement than that given by the Journal.
But it's alright, in fact it's a gasYea, verily... it's a gas, indeed. Wowie-Zowie! Guitar pyrotechnics don't get no better than this.
