Friday, July 31, 2009

Song of the Day: Home at Last



Song 5 from Steely Dan's Aja.

Sensitivity is tough to judge

I happened to hear about Jennifer Kelly last week, though not by name. The person who found her having trouble while she was jogging was the neighbor of someone who works with someone who's married to a coworker of mine. It was a sad story that was passed around. I never got a follow up that she had actually died. But she did.

And there was a wonderful obituary in Tuesday's Globe. But I missed that, too. What I saw was a blog post by the reporter who wrote the obituary, and many others it seems.

The blog post was excellent, I thought. Which made it shocking to see all of the negative comments that followed it (though many more positives now added). I can only imagine they didn't see the obituary a few days earlier either.

I think the blot post was a tremendous insight into the guy doing his job and an excellent addition to the obituary itself. Congratulations to him for doing the thankless job that means so much. And for doing it so well. Excellent work Bryan.

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Thursday, July 30, 2009

Extremely upsetting

If it pans out--and it looks pretty credible--this is very upsetting. With the caveat that I'll take it all back if somehow his innocence is revealed, here are my feelings...

I was at Game 5 of the 2004 ALCS, where Ortiz drove in the winning run in the 14th inning with a soft flair to send the series back to New York.

I've also been a fairly harsh critic of Ortiz' seeming failure to keep himself in shape and promptly address injuries to limit his lost playing time.

Now I see one more very good reason to call for his release in the offseason and will consider his legacy to be one of lies and shame.

All the good feelings he generated and good will he enjoyed were based on lies. He cheated. He lied. He marketed himself and allowed himself to be marketed as the "good guy," the big lovable hero. All the time he knew it all to be lies?

He profited from his dishonesty while others fought honestly, but unsuccessfully, to make their own way.

He is a liar and a cheater. I will not forgive him for the shame this brings to the franchise and the World Series wins in 2004 and 2007.

Like I said, if this turns out to be a horrible mistake or devious slander, I'll take it all back. Otherwise, my above opinion stands.

Setting the bar

Here's how you get your wedding seen by a whole bunch of people AND get your bride a big round of applause when she walks down the aisle, instead of just silent admiration.

I wish mrs. noternie and I had done something like this. Would've been fun.

Song of the Day: Peg



Song 4 from Steely Dan's Aja.

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Milestone moment

Don't look now, but we're rapidly approaching the end of the 24th consecutive month in which this blog has been active. (Ok, look now. Over there down in the right column. Read all the old posts you haven't read before. We both know you have the time.)

I'd like to thank the my family, the academy, Cal Ripken, Walter Krankheyt's dentist and the Flying Spaghetti Monster for his grace and all knowing guidance...

Someday I Will, on the world wide intrawebnets at http://noternie.blogspot.com

Visit often to show your support for freedom!
(and to see the links and embeds not visible in the Facebook notes)

Song of the Day: Deacon Blues



Song 3 from the Steely Dan album Aja.

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Song of the Day: Aja



From the album of the same name. Yesterday's tune was the first on the album, this the second. See where this is going?

Monday, July 27, 2009

LOST

Shown at ComiCon, a huuuuge comic book/superhero annual convention.

Song of the Day: Black Cow


Steely Dan has recorded some excellent music. Tremendous grooves. Jazz and Funk inspired rock. Great musicians.

Friday, July 17, 2009

Song of the Day: Dear Mr. Fantasy

Because I didn't encounter any traffic this morning, I thought I'd put some here.

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Beyond Splooge

This is the kind of stuff that gets me excited.

Theo is super badass. I hope he's in charge for the next 30 years.

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Title time in Massachusetts

Pick two places in Massachusetts for each title, based on residents: Where is Fat City and where is Fit City?

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

A-Rod in decline

Is A-Rod the best player in baseball? Not many think so. Not many at all.

Getting off steroids and getting old will lead to a decline. Even in the NY Daily News poll, only 10% call him the best. Pujols comes in first with 42% of the vote and youngster Evan Longoria blows away ARod, coming in a close second with 39%.

Drugs are bad, m'kay?

Super chill monkey does Hollywood

Song of the Day: Hey Hey Wer'e the Monkeys

Killing the animals

I think it's unlikely that any animals at the Franklin Park Zoo were ever going to be euthanized. And it's likely the Zoo has made a long-term enemy of the Governor by publicly embarrassing him.

But as bare knuckle politics/public relations, they really did a tune on him. They mentioned the possibility, threw it at the Herald and let them make it sound as if they needles were being filled and the Gorillas were having their arms tied off.

Who wasn't sympathetic to the animals when they read the stories? I'm sure most are like me. I like Monkeys.

Home Run Derby

Did you watch the home run derby last night? I saw very little of it. I was scrubbing down and rinsing the deck in the dark (fun!) so I can stain it tonight or some upcoming night.

Being right off the TV room, though, I did hear quite a bit of it. Well, I heard Berman screaming. He's really over the top and not in a good way. I've come to an understanding with Dick Vitale doing college basketball and even the way Mike Goldberg does UFC fights. But Berman irks me. Not all the time, just when he plays the buffon. Maybe I feel like he's just putting it on a bit too much where guys like Vitale and Goldberg are a bit more sincere in their excitement.

Other lowlight of the broadcast was when Erin Andrews was interviewing on of the participants and asked them about the performance of "Brian" Howard. Ugh!

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Song of the Day: Get off of my cloud



Such characters/caricatures.

Gov race just go really interesting

Seems there will be a busy Gubernatorial race coming up. Deval Patrick will run for re-election, Christy Mihos has committed to running again as a Republican, current Treasurer Tim Cahill left the Dems to set up a run as an unenrolled candidate and now Charlie Baker is going to run in the Republican primary.

I voted for Patrick last time and will probably do so again. But I worry about his prospects. He started with some embarassing little things that didn't play well in the press. Then the economy tanked and he's been forced to champion some budget cuts and tax increases that never go over well, no matter how necessary they may be.

Cahill may steal some conservative Dems and unenrolled voters that Patrick finally got to check the D column. He and Mihos are somewhat wildcards that can't easily be dismissed. But Baker is the biggest threat to Patrick. He could pick up a majority the same way that Weld and Cellucci did: blasting "tax and spend" Democrats and one party rule of the state while identifying as a fiscal conservative from the "real world" that will leave the social stuff largely alone.

It will be interesting to see if, like John Kerry in 96--Patrick can overcome the unimpressive image and rise to the occasion brought by top-flight competition.

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Gettin' a few things figured out

Song of the Day: Smile



Reportedly Micheal Jackson's favorite song, it was a Charlie Chaplin song sung by Jacko's brother Jermaine at the memorial today.

Tour de France

Forgot it started over the weekend. Will be following coverage closely from this point forward. It's remarkable how interesting it is, even in a nontraditional media format. Several websites (including the ones here, here)post running commentaries and while you'd think it would be much better to view live on TV, I still find this fomrat compelling and dramatic in its own way.

Monday, July 6, 2009

C'mon, fess up

Who's going to watch?

Song of the Day: More than one way home



Did you ever buy a full album (cd, kids) knowing almost nothing about the band/artist? I've done it a few times, with great success. A number of years ago, I was wandering through a record store (remember those?) and I stumbled upon a disk by someone named Keb' Mo'. Interesting name, but I'd never heard of him...them...it. Still, it had a sticker on it labeling it a Grammy winner or nominee for best contemporary blues album or artist. I was digging blues at the time and decided to give it a try.

The album--Just like you--was a great listen. Enjoyed it from front to back and went back in later years and got me some more Keb' Mo'.

This song has the feel of summer or a warm spring day to it. Don't know why but it does. To me. And this is my blog, so that's what counts. Hope you enjoy this song and maybe some of his other work.

PS--His real name is Kevin Moore.
PPS--He's originally from Compton, CA (South Central LA), just like NWA (Eazy E, Dre, Ice Cube, etc.) Their styles are markedly different.
PPPS--I found Radiohead the same way I found Keb'Mo'.

Thursday, July 2, 2009

Song of the Day: Hard rain's a-gonna fall



This remake of a Dylan penned song got lots of airplay among a circle of friends back in the day when it was featured on the "Born on the Fourth of July" soundtrack. It's appropriateness this week is more than obvious.

Great song, great lyrics.

I've always liked Edie Brickell. A review once made a comparison of the sound of her voice to freshly baked bread. Always agreed with that creative assessment.

And hark, the sun attempts an appearance as I post this!

Song of the Day: Brandy



Had a request for this classic by Looking Glass. "Brings me sunny, chill day at the beach thoughts..."