Beatles: Money

From "Can't Buy Me Love" to this, the Beatles evolved perhaps more than any other band in history.

Song of the Day: Suzy Snowflake

Rosemary Clooney did more than snuggle up with Bing in White Christmas and do commercials for paper towels. Here's a classic from my youth.

Song of the Day: The Hanukkah Song

Adam Sandler

Why I want the Detroit Lions to go 0-16

I will be rooting against the Detroit Lions this weekend when they play the Green Bay Packers. A loss would make them 0-16 and that's what I'd like to see. Why, you ask? Isn't it cruel and unkind to root against someone, rather than for someone? In the spirit of the Holiday Season, shouldn't we be more generous, good will toward man and all that?

Sure. And I'll be all that in most instances. But Detroit must got 0-16 to please me. Here's why...

1--There's something to like about extremes, both good and bad. Getting snow? If you're going to get 6", you might as well get 26"; make it something worth talking about, something worth remembering.

2--No team has ever gone 0-16. Combine point #1 with the fact that last year, for the first time ever, a team went 16-0 for the first time and you've got a nice little back-to-backer. It would've been better if they happened in the same year, but consecutive years is close enough.

3--Any franchise that keeps Matt Millen as their GM despite years of declining performance and stacks of bad drafts and personnel decisions deserves the worst. They only got rid of him earlier this year. It's a shame to see what one of the older franchises in the NFL has become. To paraphrase Jack Nicholson's Joker, that franchise needs an enema. An 0-16 season will finish the job started when Millen was finally let go.

4--The only thing worse than Rod Marinelli's coaching ability may be his sense of humor. His defense is maybe the worst in the game. His defensive coordinator is his son-in-law. After the team's 15th loss of the season--a 42-7 disgrace AT HOME against the so-so Saints--a local columnist asked Marinelli if he wished his daughter had married a better defensive coordinator. Not bad, eh? Not only did Marinelli miss the humor, he refused to just ignore the obvious joke of a question. On Monday, he accused the reporter of "attacking" his daughter. Wow. Must be a barrel of laughs at the Marinelli family Christmas dinner, eh?

Go, Pack, Go!

Wow!

I was reading an article about that guy in NY that swindled a bunch of people out of a LOT of money, when I came across a paragraph with an interesting fact.

Jewish philanthropy has an enormous impact on the American nonprofit scene - a study by the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University found last year that 91 percent of Jews give to charity, making Jews far more charitable than most Christians - and the vast majority of Jewish giving goes to non-Jewish organizations, such as hospitals, museums, and universities.

Ninety-one percent? Oy! Is there any other demographic group that gives that highly? Let that be a challenges to the Catholics, who love to crow about all of their community works when someone brings up pedophile priests.

Apparently this guy's actions may have some antisemitic backlash, too, though I don't really understand why.

Not that you asked

But I'll be good whether the Red Sox sign or do not sign Mark Ta-Cher-a/Tecks-air-a. It's not my money, so I don't care what he gets paid. Anyone that gets worked up over "they make too much money" has to take up yoga or meditation.

I think it'd be an upgrade to have Tecks-air-a and Youk at 1B and 3B rather than Youk and Lowell. I mean, Lowell's kind of old and he's got a bad hip. Who knows what he'll be like next year and beyond?

Song of the Day: Dreidel, with apologies

Happy Hanukkah. No offense. Here's a more traditional version.

Song of the Day: I want a Hippopotamus for Christmas

According to this site:

"I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas", was sung by an 11-year-old girl, Gayla Peevey, who according to legend, was a regional child star of the Oklahoma City area. This 1953 hit was recorded as a fund-raiser to bring the city zoo a hippo. When released nationally by Columbia Records the song shot to the top of the charts, and the city zoo got a baby hippo named Matilda.

Song of the Day: Little Drummer Boy

Perhaps the oddest musical pairing on a holiday tune in the history of music; David Bowie and Bing Crosby. Had one of Bing's kids acted like Bowie, he would've disowned him.

Song of the Day: Foxy Lady

A Jimi Hendrix classic, in tribute to the flood of people switching to Firefox today.

Welcome to Firefox

I'm back. Had to take a day yesterday to do some Christmas shopping. Went quite well. The health is actually coming around, as well. Wish I could say the same for Microsoft.

Like many, I am using Firefox today because Microsoft Internet Explorer has a serious security flaw. No, that wasn't a hoax email warning someone undoubtedly forwarded you today, Microsoft has a serious "hole" they need to close.

I've used Firefox and Safari a little bit. I just easily had Firefox go get all my Favorites, cookies and essential other stuff from Internet Explorer and plug them in here. Had to rearrange them a bit to get them in my preferred order, but it was VERY easy. I may customize Firefox and stick with it.

Song of the Day: Twelve Pains of Christmas

I'm sick. There's sickness all around me, in fact. So it seems like a good day to feature this Christmas Classic. Posting may be a little light this week. Bear with me and know that I'm rubbing some of that alcohol hand rub on the keyboard, so you should be safe reading this and any other posts I make.

Song of the Day: The Littlest Christmas Tree

This is one of my favorite Christmas songs. It's not really a song, but it's about a Christmas Tree and it was on a album we had growing up. I can't being to imagine how many times this album played in our house. Or how it survived as well as it did.

Red Skelton does the voice of the tree. It's a testament to his performance and the power of childhood memories and experiences that I still love this, despite some of its very blatant religious and political propoganda.

This is actually a good time to tell you that my anti-alter-ego is something of a fan of Christmas music. Actually, to say he's a fan is putting it mildly. Go see.

ditch the hats, keep the rest

The Red Sox have introduced new road and alternate jerseys. I'm fine with the red alternate jersey and the grey road jersey. But the hat with the red socks instead of the B doesn't do much for me. Doesn't look like something to be worn by players on the field. Looks like something on the shelf in the souvenir shop. Just too "different" for me, I guess.

From last month

I agree with the entire thing.

Let's let reality get in the way of a good narrative

Unions, though a compelling "bad guy" in the downfall of America's economy, are not the problem.

If UAW workers took a huge cut in pay/benefits, it wouldn't come close to solving Detroit's problems. Some of that is because UAW workers don't make anything near what's been reported. In fact, they're pretty close to the number reported for workers at Japanese owned manufacturing facilities in this country. There are actually unions throughout Japan's auto industry. Unions are not the problem with the American auto industry.

And if you drastically cut payments to public pension funds in this state, it wouldn't solve budget problems, either. Eliminating a bill you haven't been fully paying will only eliminate the debt, not the deficit. There are systemic problems in Detroit and in the Statehouse and most City Halls in Massachusetts that need to be addressed. Decertifying every union in the world is not going to fix those problems.

Song of the Day: All I Want for Christmas

She may be nuttier than a Christmas fruitcake, but the gal's got pipes. Here's Mariah, from her pre-crack up holiday album.

Do we need a new reason for the season?

The Winter Solstice still happens when they say. The birth of Jesus? Maybe not so much.

"I'm dreaming of a hazy, hot and humid Christmas..."

Of all the things to debunk about Jesus, I never would've figured his birthday would be a high priority target.

Song of the Day: Christmas, Baby Please Come Home

This is a Christmas song worth listenting to! U2.

Reminder: I don't like WalMart

The Selling of a Senate seat

Not to pat myself on the back too much, but I tipped off Jay at Hub Blog to the arrest of Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich this morning. My method of investigation? I saw Boston.com post it before he did.

He's got some experience covering Illinois politics, even wrote a book about it. Which means he should be plastering his mug all over local media comparing Illinois corruption to Massachusetts corruption. He should also be rolling in the dough when he updates his book.

Later today I emailed him opening the discussion about who tipped the FBI to look at the Governor for trying to negotiate personal gain for appointing someone to fill Obama's open Senate seat. I wondered if it were possible that Obama, having been approached to give Blago something for getting his choice the appointment, instead turned around and siced the feds on him.

For Obama and his supporters, that would seem the perfect way to ensure that he doesn't get tarnished the least bit by this. (Already the FBI and the criminal complaint seem to indicate that Blagojavich had no luck getting Obama or his people to play ball.)

Well we may have the next best thing. Someone in the Chicago press apparently got at tip that it was fellow Illinoisan(?) and Obama Cheif of Staff Rahm Emmanuel might have been approached by Blagojevich and turned to the FBI.

Sources close to Eammanuel are now saying that's not true. But wouldn't you deny it once it came out? It doesn't need to be proven and verified. Those that needed to know he did it, now know.

I hope and think it's true. It'd make me a big fan of Rahm Emmanuel. That's the kind of person you want as your Cheif of Staff.

Why people love dogs

Here's a good reason people like dogs: they save kids from dying.

Short story: Three year old kid and two puppies wander off from their Virginia home. The kid survives being lost for 21 hours in the woods despite temperatures sinking to 17 degrees. Why? Because the puppies snuggled up against him to keep him warm.

Go read the entire story. It's only a click away, there are pictures and it'll all make you smile.

It's dizzying

So one of the more noted bands of the day, Coldplay, comes out with a new album earlier this year. The title track is one of two songs that gets play before the album comes out and is promoted quite a bit, including in an Apple commercial and as a Song of the Day here.



Well now Joe Satriani, a great guitar player who had some commercial success in the 80s with his Surfing With the Alien album, is suing Coldplay, saying they took the melody of the song from one of his, "If I Could Fly," which he recorded in 2004.

I'd say he might have a case. Listen for at least a minute or two before you make up your mind.

Watch this for a minute or two, as well. First there's the Coldplay song, then the Satriani song, then the guy plays them together.


If you're still here, listen to this one, a tune called Heart by Marty Balin from the 80s. I regret to say it sounds familiar. Not just from the 80s but from the previous two. FYI, Marty Balin was a lead singer of Jefferson Airplane.


But WAIT, there's MORE!
A Brooklyn band named Creaky Boards is claiming the song is theirs and that Coldplay lead singer was at a show where they played it. The lead singer makes his case in a fairly compelling YouTube clip.

Creaky Board guy makes no comment on whether he took the tune from Satriani or Balin.

The end

The final Artie Lange cupcake is no more. It met a quiet and satisfying end a few minutes ago.

Truth is, it was lucky to have survived the night.

Is it me?

Is it me or do the more recently recorded Christmas songs tend to be slow, sappy things? Some of them seem downright whiny. I don't have any official statistics on it, but I'd say 3 of 4 new efforts--including both entirely new compositions and remade songs--don't have nearly enough pep.

That Christmas Shoe song is atrocious and the Gloria Estefan thing torturing my ears right now is HOOOORRRRRRRRible. (Disclosure: I think pretty much all of her songs are crappy.)

Baseball news at winter meetings

The Texas Rangers traded one of their catchers. Gerald Laid was sent to the Detroit Tigers.

The Rangers are one of the teams that the Red Sox are looking to for catching, via trade. They have two young catchers who are possibilities.

The Tigers are one of the teams thought to have an interest in Varitek.

Does this make it more likely Varitek stays with the Red Sox? If it does, only slightly so.

Song of the Day: Starting Over

John Lennon was shot and killed on this day in 1980. Wikipedia has a thorough, but concise recap of the event.

I've already featured Lennon here twice, including one of my favorites and one of his big post-death hits. I'm sure I'll do his most famous solo tune--Imagine--someday, too.

John and Yoko had been at a studio recording or mixing a song that Yoko would later release: Walking on Thin Ice. Here it is. It's pretty bad, which is par for the course when it comes to Yoko music. I was thinking of making it the SOTD, but it's just way too bad. Here it is, in case you're curious or don't trust my judgement.

In case you missed it

Sonny von Bulow finally died. Local coverage here. Almost wenty-eight years to the day after she entered a coma and one of New England's more famous murder trials of my lifetime started. I don't remember all the sordid details of the case and what really led to her husband's being found not guilty, but it seems to me most took the same position as mrs. noternie; that she died a lot later than he would've liked.

Claus is still alive, and living in London.

Thanks to Pete and Barack

The second election bet has been paid off. The first one--lunch on a coworker when Obama's electoral college total went over 300--was paid off a few weeks ago. This one was Crumbs cupcakes from a friend if Obama went over 290. For those of you that have not had the pleasure, this is a cupcake from crumbs, the last of six that arrived last week.


It's about 3 inches across, too. They're big!

That's an Artie Lange version. Developed by and named for the comedian on the Howard Stern Show who inhales them on "Cupcake Wednesday" when the NYC-based bakery sends them over. It is yellow cake with a chocolate pudding center, covered with the hard chocolate and the chocolate and white sprinkles. Even shipped, even days later, they remain moist and delicious.

Here's menu of the other cupcakes they make. I've had several and one is better than the next. They only ship the Artie's, but if you're in NYC, check them out. They also have shops elsewhere in NY as well as in Jersey, SW Conn, and Cali.

Song of the Day: Boum

Alternate dispute resolution.

The catapult is great. So is the "grenade" dropped in the car that explodes out the windows. Highly entertaining.

It's found!

Someday I Will, the Jimmy Buffett song that lends its name to this blog has been found online in an embeddable format. Here it is. I'll add it to the sidebar on the right, to be available all the time.

Song of the Day: Il Triello (The Trio)

"You see in this world, there's two kinds of people, my friend--those with loaded guns and those who dig. You dig."

Ennio Morricone did the score. I remember an uncle (who really isn't) had the title song from the movie "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly" playing when I was a kid and our family was visiting his. I loved it from the first time I heard it. But when I finally saw the movie years later, I loved this song even more. The trumpets give me goosebumps.

I'm down with this

Even if I didn't believe in the same basic premise the atheists and humanists do--there is no god, no heaven, religion is a man-made tool invented to bring people into specific behavior using fear of the unknown--I'd support their efforts in Washington and Washington, D.C. There's some very basic free speech issues that unequivocally protect what they're doing.

As it turns out, I mostly do agree with them. That's why I'm a Pastafarian.

UPDATE: Of course, rather than open and free debate, some would rather silence any opposition. The sign in Olympia is now missing.

Happiness goes virul

If Kevin Bacon is happy, you will be too. But will you be doubly happy if the degrees of happiness is three, where the degrees of sepration is six?

And I think I'm not a good rememberer...

Through Jay, I found and read this article, which is very interesting. It's sciencey, but it's such a basic concept and presented in such basic terms that it's an easy and enjoyable read.

Need a tease? One of the most fascinating patients in the history of the brain just died. He lived from age 27 to age 82 without being able to create ANY new memories, aside from muscle memory. Seriously. It's a ahort article, so go read it.

By request

From Hub Blog: "I've been monitoring your blog for your anticipated Saddest Day of the Year post, i.e. the leftover turkey is gone. So far, nothing. Too much in grief? Extra big turkey with leftovers still flowing?"

I did this post last year.

But it was a lean turkey sandwich year for me. Thanksgiving was at the in-laws and was delicious. The next day I spent at my mother's and enjoyed a delicious turkey sandwich with warmed stuffing, mayo and cranberry sauce on lightly toasted white bread. Heavenly!

But there were no leftovers taken from mom's. And later that day I failed to take the leftovers from the in-laws house when I went to reclaim Lenny. So Saturday passed with no turkey. And though the in-laws brought the leftovers by on Sunday, I was off to the Patriots game and could not enjoy them.

I got back on the horse Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, though there was no cranberry sauce in the house and the stuffing ran out Tuesday. Today's lunch was a meatball sub. Good, but not a turkey sandwich.

There were plans to go to the grocery store a day or two after thanksgiving and buy a turkey at a ridiculous markdown, just to fuel the turkey sandwich eating frenzy, but it did not happen.

So my last turkey sandwich was seven days after thanksgiving. But it was just turkey with mayo on the toast. And I had missed two consecutive days. It's funny, while I was making the last sandwich yesterday, I was thinking of college days, when suggested I put enough turkey and stuffing in bags for a sandwich and then repeat that several times and freeze it. All I needed to do was get a loaf of bread and a can of cranberry sauce and it was turkey heaven.

Maybe it's time for the pizza and Chinese, as referenced in last year's post. Maybe I'll go looking for that discounted bird...

Song of the Day: Boum

Recognize the tune? I'll place it for you tomorrow, if you can't guess it. (No cheating.)

This is what I'm talking about

I was just saying the other day how much it irked me that people do whatever they can to avoid jury duty.

Amazing that in one society, people can dislike work so much that the phrase "mental health day" was created. And yet, when given the opportunity to take a day off with a perfectly legitimate excuse--one for which they will most likely be free to leave by lunch time--they try to scam their way out of it.

It's even more amazing when you consider American's almost bottomless thirst for gossip and getting in each other's business and the fact that a trial is just about the ultimate gossip experience.

Jury duty is something to look foward to in my opinion.

This is what it comes to

It's bad enough when they have to send students home with fundraisers in the first week of school and then three or four more times during the year.

Does anyone like this idea?

I think I'd buy space for a quote of my own: Ignorance costs more than education. Unfortunately, you're neighbors don't agree. Learn and vote!

Hot stove happiness

Happy to see Pedroia sign an extension with the Sox. And at VERY reasonable dollars.

Something else that made me happy was Tony Maz's post on the Yankees and how the bloom might be off their rose, so to speak. It may not be 100% true and accurate, but even if it's exagerated, the premise being conceivable makes me happy.

Song of the Day: Mr. Crowley

Ozzy Osborne is 60 today. Yes, I know, only 60? Well, before he was a reality tv and commerical star, Osborne did develop a career as a legend in rock and roll and heavy metal. In other words, he was huuuuuge before he became big.

Carve 80 minutes out of your schedule

Listen to this. Eddie Murphy, Raw.

Still one of the funniest things you will ever hear.

Song of the Day: Live your life

Catchy tune. It's by T.I., featuring Rihanna. Or Rihanna, featuring T.I.

Here's a second SOTD, since I didn't do one yesterday. Paramaore, apparently, is one of the more popular current groups. My niece was quite disappointed that I didn't have any on my iPod. Even more disappointed that I had never heard of them. I have heard of this song, which they covered. My Hero is a Foo Fighters tune. They've done it very well in electric and acoustic versions. Here, Paramore does the unplugged thing on it. Pretty good.

Laugh if you want

It's easy to make a joke about a Red Sox casket. But to do so really requires one to overlook the logic of buying any kind of ornate box in which to place a loved one before putting that box within another cement box six feet under the ground.

I'm not saying any of it is wrong. Just that one is not any better or worse than the other, is it?

Light dawns on Marble-head

I'm not saying the dummy CEO's of the car companies read this blog, even when a post is almost an open letter to them.

But can you read this and know for sure that they don't?

The CEOs of Ford and GM are essentially doing the same thing. The CEO of Chrysler?

Chrysler LLC CEO Robert Nardelli will not travel by corporate jet. A spokeswoman says his travel plans will remain secret for security reasons.

Seriously. That wasn't from the Onion. Security reasons. No inflated sense of ego there.

Speaking of bad business expenses

Watching. MNF and noticed something odd. The Texans, playing at home, are wearing all red uniforms and encouraged fans to wear all red as well.

Just saw a shot of a fan in a very red tshirt that read "Paint the town Red" with a company name underneath. I think it's sort of the same thing as when WEEI prints and distributes those K cards at Red Sox games. Only this company isn't in sports broadcasting. In fact, it's a company you wouldn't expect to be associating itself with the color red or that a team would neccesarily want to associate itself with because the company name on that shirt is Halliburton.
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