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Songs You Didn’t Know Were Covers

Blender.com has an awesome list of songs that you probably didn’t know were covers. Examples? “Bette Davis Eyes”, “Istanbul (Not Constantinople)” and “Barbara Ann”.

An interesting tidbit: a lot of folks from “my” generation know the song “Always On My Mind” from the Pet Shop Boys’ cover of it. Many from my generation (including me) were somehow under the impression that it was originally a Willie Nelson song. Well, Willie covered it too, as did Elvis Presley. Until today, however, I had no idea that Brenda Lee actually sang the song originally. You learn something new every day, I guess!

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GT Rolls; UGA, Michigan Fall…

Georgia Tech vs. SamfordWow! What can I say about Saturday’s game between Georgia Tech and Samford? Tech was up 28-0 in the first quarter, and was up 45-0 by halftime in what would go on to be a 69-14 blowout. The Jackets had 380 rushing yards, punching the ball in for a record 9 rushing touchdowns. The game was such a blowout that running back Tashard Choice was pulled at the end of the first quarter, and GT played three quarterbacks in the first half alone – a forth, Kyle Manley, played in the 4th quarter.

The only thing that could make the win sweeter was a UGA loss… which happened! Steve Spurrier’s Gamecocks went to Athens and slapped the Bulldogs around, winning 16-12. Meanwhile, Michigan and Notre Dame also lost, making both teams 0-2 for the year. And, to the surprise of absolutely no one, Duke lost again. They’ve lost 22 straight games, with no end of the misery in sight.

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Bill Paxton Redux

Wow! Right on the heels of my previous post about Bill Paxton’s mid-80s band “Martini Ranch”:

I showed the video to Lisa, who initially recognized Paxton as “Chet” from Weird Science. Which is true, of course. But she didn’t believe that “Chet” from Weird Science and “Bill” from Big Love were the same person. I went to his IMDB page to show her that they are the same person… when I came across yet another amazing Bill Paxton fact: Paxton directed (and starred in) the early 80s cult classic video “Fish Heads”. Don’t believe me? Check it out for yourself:

Man, Bill Paxton is everywhere!

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Holy Crap!

Ever heard of an 80s pop band called “Martini Ranch”? Me neither. But look closely at the video below… you just might recognize one of the band members… and no, I’m not talking about Judge Reinhold, who I believe makes a cameo in the video (and is also credited with whistling on one track on Martini Ranch’s only album, Holy Cow):

Even more amazing than seeing Bill Paxton singing in an 80s art-pop band (after he had a hit as Chet in Weird Science, mind you) is the fact that the above video was directed by none other than… James Cameron! What a crazy world!

Thanks to the Lost In The 80s Blog for the tip about this.

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Today’s The Day!!!!!

After what seems like an eternity, the NFL is bacccccccccckkkk baby! I’ve got the tequila-lime wings, chorizo and Pabst Blue Ribbon ready to go for tonight’s season opener, which pits the Colts against the Saints (or, as an occasional Atlanta fan is required to say… “the ‘Aints”). Ohhh God… Oh God… FOOTBALL I MISSED YOU SO MUCH!

NFL

In case you’re not a football historian, the picture above is of Philadelphia Eagle Chuck Bednari, after he knocked the everlovin’ crap out of New York Giants quarterback Frank Gifford (yep, Kathy Lee’s husband) in a game all the way back in 1960. That hit kept Gifford out of football for 18 months.

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KEN LIVES!

As long as there’s been a World Wide Web, there have been websites publishing lists: “The 20 Greatest Clutch Hitters”, “The 50 Worst Novels Published Since 1980”, “The 10 Worst Kevin Costner Movies”… you name it.

One of the most popular lists is “worst album covers”; it seems like every website on the planet has put out such a list, and almost every single one features this album cover by a guy known only as “Ken”:

Ken - By Request Only

It’s a funny album cover, to be sure. But someone at urban legend debunking site Snopes.com wanted to know if the album cover was real. In this thread at the Snopes forum, many of the objections are laid out: the album doesn’t appear in any copyright, publishing or CD info databases. No other website seems to mention anything about the album, except to put it on their own list of silly album covers. No person or site has ever published a list of tracks on the album, nor has anyone ever seen the back cover of the album. What’s more, the picture of the album cover seems suspect: the album itself seems to be in pristine condition, with no cover wear of any kind on it. Could By Request Only be an elaborate fake?

I’m here to tell you folks that it’s not a fake, and that KEN LIVES!

Continue reading “KEN LIVES!”

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But Can She Sing?

Actress Heather Graham has a video out for a song she’s singing in one of her new movies. Have a listen:

Not bad, I guess. But if I’m going to have to listen to a hot blonde actress sing, I’ll wait for Brittany Murphy’s new album, thanks!

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Virtual Desktops

One feature that Unix-based operating systems have had for years (but Windows hasn’t) is virtual desktops. When you boot up most flavors of Linux, for example, you’ll see an odd feature on the taskbar: a grid, usually with four “buttons” on it. These four buttons represent four virtual desktops. You just click on a button to switch to a different desktop; you can even move windows back and forth between the virtual desktops.

Why would you want a feature like this? Because it allows you to organize your desktops in any way you see fit. Perhaps you’d like one desktop with all of your web applications (web browser, email client, etc.) and another desktop with all your local applications (Word, Excel, etc.). Perhaps you’re working on a couple of projects at once; you can use one desktop for all the windows for one project, another desktop for another project, and another one for your email and web browsing. Or maybe you just want to be lazy at work: virtual desktops mean that you can have one desktop with a browser open to an online poker site, and another desktop open with some Excel documents, so it looks like you’re working. That way, if the boss comes around you can look productive with a single mouse click!

Continue reading “Virtual Desktops”

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A Football Joke…

A Cleveland family of football supporters head out one Saturday to do their Christmas shopping. While in the sports store, the son picks up a Pittsburgh Steeler jersey and says to his older sister, “I’ve decided to become a Steeler fan and I would like this for Christmas.”

His big sister is outraged by this and promptly whacks him round the head and says, “Go talk with Mom.”

Off goes the little lad with the Pittsburgh Steeler jersey in hand and finds his mother. “Mom?”

“Yes, son?”

“I’ve decided I’m going to be a Pittsburgh Steeler fan, and I would like this jersey for Christmas.” The mother is outraged, promptly whacks him around the head and says, “Go see your father.”

Off he goes with the Pittsburgh Steeler jersey in hand and finds his father.

“Dad?”

“Yes, son?”

“I’ve decided I’m going to be a Pittsburgh Steeler fan, and I would like this jersey for Christmas”.

The father is so outraged he, too, whacks his son around the head and says, “No son of mine is ever going to be seen in THAT!”

About half hour later they’re all back in the car heading towards home. The father turns to the son and says, “Son, I hope you’ve learned something today?”

The son says, “Yes, Dad, I have.”

“Good, son. What is it?”

The son replies, “I’ve only been a Pittsburgh Steeler fan for an hour and I already hate you Cleveland bastards.”

God, I’ve missed football!

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My Next-Door Neighbor Died Last Night…

So last night the missus and I were sitting in bed playing Point (a card game similar to Briscola) when we suddenly heard the “beep-beep-beep” of a “reverse gear alarm”… you know, the kind usually found on big trucks. Since we weren’t expecting a construction crew in front of our building at 11PM, we got up and looked out the window… only to see two ambulances, a North Carolina state trooper and several civilian cars with emergency lights on their dashboards.

Apparently the old man next door had died. Members of his family soon showed up, one of them in almost uncontrollable tears. Eventually a small white minivan pulled up. I’m assuming that it was the medical examiner, since the guy driving the van got out, pulled a gurney from the back of the van, and then put an empty body bag on the gurney and wheeled it in the neighbor’s townhouse. Eventually he came back out with the body and put it in the back of his van.

So after this happened last night, I was itching to write a post about it. Originally, it was going to be something along the lines of “ding-dong the witch is dead” from The Wizard of Oz. I say that because back when the Old Man first moved in, he and I went around and around about my “noise”. If, after 11:00PM, I decided to watch a sedate BBC documentary about birds – much less anything with explosions or car chases – you could always count on the Old Man to bang on the wall, or come over the next day to complain. One time he even came over and challenged me to a fist fight over my so-called noise (even though he couldn’t specify what noise or when it happened). That instance was so bad that I wrote a letter to the HOA. Apparently the letter set off a chain of reactions that led to him getting his medications changed; after that he ceased giving us so much trouble.

So instead of saying something crass, or something that I don’t really mean, allow me to just say requiescat in pacem, Old Man. I hope you’ve found peace, wherever you are.