50 Words Or Less (Give Or Take)

I've been in a rut, musically speaking, lately. I haven't really heard anything new, nor have I been actively seeking out new music. So I decided to try a bunch of new things. I've spent most of the week at work listening to these new albums and here are my thoughts, in 50 words or less per album.

The Tiny Dancers - Free School Milk Never heard of them before, but really enjoyed the record. Musically they remind me of the Trash Can Sinatras, but vocally I can't quite put my finger on who they remind me of. I recommend this.

Alexander Schultz - If You Forgive Me, I'll Just Do It Again If you had to over-generalize the type of music I prefer, it's singer/songwriter stuff. What I especially like about this singer/songwriter is that he's Norwegian and his accent creeps through his vocals.

Tom McRae - King of Cards I liked this album at the start, but by the end of it, his voice was really getting on my nerves. Don't know if it was my mood or if I just can't take a whole album of him.

The Nightwatchman - One Man Revolution This is Tom Morello from Rage Against The Machine doing his troubadour thing. There are one or two really good songs on this, but the overall impression I get is it's a protest folk parody. But it's not.

Joan As Police Woman - Real Life I don't think I gave this one enough of a chance. My initial thought was "what if Amy Winehouse didn't drink and put out a record." I think this one I need to give a few more spins to before I can say for sure.

Dolly Parton - Straight Talk Okay, this isn't new, but it's new to me. And this is everything that was wrong with Dolly Parton in the early to mid 90s.

Wilco - Sky Blue Sky I've spent years avoiding Wilco. They are critical darlings and I was pretty sure than when I finally got around to listening to them, they wouldn't live up to the praise. I like this album a lot, but I don't think it's the greatest thing ever.

Dresden Dolls - Yes, Virginia... I think I'm too old to listen to the Dresden Dolls. I kept thinking that this is something I might have really gotten into ten or fifteen years ago, but not anymore.

Joan Osborne - Breakfast In Bed Is this my favorite Joan album? No. (Last year's Pretty Little Stranger is.) Is it a damn fine Joan album? Yes it is. I like the formula of mixing new songs with a handful of well known covers. She's groovy.

Crowded House - Time On Earth One of my most looked forward to new albums this year. They still have it. My only complaint about the album is it could have used a couple more upbeat songs. But otherwise, I'm in love with it.

Southerly - Storyteller and the Gossip Columnist This was a great find. All pop music should be this good. Lush folky pop that makes me a happy boy. Give this one a try.

Cary Brothers - Who Are You I love, love, love this album. He looks like a dirty boy, but he's got a great voice and he writes really great songs. Kind of reminds me just a little bit of Howie Day. If you like Howie, this is right up your alley.

Pink Martini - Hey, Eugene! If you're looking for a fun, 50s loungy throwback album, this is for you. Listening to it reminds me of the Ultra-Lounge series of cds Capitol Records put out a few years ago. Kitschy and fun.

They Might Be Giants - The Else To be honest, I'd lost track of TMBG over the last few years. I wasn't digging their newer stuff too much. I decided to give this one a chance and I'm glad I did. Sounding more like their older stuff (at least to me), this was pretty good. I just hope it holds up to repeated listenings.

Rufus Wainwright - Release The Stars I think Rufus is awesome and this album continues to please. I can't say enough nice things about this cd.

Throb

I've got a throbbing headache. It came on near the end of my work day today. It's been getting worse as the evening has gone on. I hate having a headache. All I really want to do is go to bed, but it's only 8 o'clock. And I've got laundry running. Bah. I'm nothing if I can't find something to complain about.

I've been doing pretty well on my diet. Well, that's a lie. Not that I haven't been doing well, but I wouldn't really call it a diet. I eat what I want, but I actually think about what I'm eating before I eat it. I'm trying to eat better. Is that really a diet? Anyway, as I've mentioned before, I hit my current low weight on Sunday. I've bounced back up two pounds since then, but that doesn't count because it's not Sunday. Tomorrow at work is going to be a problem. We're having a big promotion party for four of the people on my floor. All four start their new positions on Thursday, so tomorrow we're eating. And let me tell you, my floor knows how to eat. We have these quarterly events called Pig Outs. It's exactly what it sounds like. You either make something and bring it in or you pay $7 and you eat for two solid days. Believe me when I tell you we have some fantastic cooks on our floor. Tomorrow is going to be very similar to the Pig Outs, only it's not called that. I usually don't participate because I know I can fall into temptation without much encouragement. I'm eating tomorrow. I'm entitled to be a little piggie now and again. Granted I was one on Sunday, but still. I'll behave myself as much as I can. Rosie is making carrot cake and my mouth is watering just thinking about it. She's the top of the tops when it comes to cooking.

JSA

I don't think it's a secret that my favorite comic is Justice Society of America. It has been for quite a while now. Probably since the book first relaunched a few years ago under the title JSA. Near the end of the run of the JSA title, Alex Ross started doing a string of portrait covers of the various members of the team. This series of covers continues in the new book and I'm still loving them. I've searched out all the covers to post. The Wildcat one is the only one I couldn't find a scan of without the logo and other stuff. They're all so damn pretty. I know a lot of people are getting sick of Alex Ross (if you read internet message boards... but everyone on the message boards seem to be pretty sick of everyone and everything anyway), but I don't care. I still think he's an amazing artist.

Sad

Charles Nelson Reilly passed away. I'm sad. I've been a fan since forever, whether it was from Lidsville, The Ghost & Mrs. Muir or Match Game. I'm just really bummed out.

Fun In The Sun

I'm exhausted. We spent the entire day with the Girls doing up one of their gardens. Left the house at 9 this morning, got there around 10, went plant shopping and then spent about 3 hours planting. In the sun. The very intense sun. Then they took a quick swim in their brand new built in pool (I would have joined them, but I didn't bring my suit). Afterwards we went out to dinner, back to Lowe's for more plants and things, back to their house for a little more gardening and a couple of quick home improvement projects and cake, and then finally home at 9. A full day to say the least. Naturally I didn't use sunblock and now I'm burned. I always do this. Burn early before I learn my lesson.

In other news, it's my official weigh in day. I was hoping for the 249 I saw earlier this week, but alas, it was not to be. Instead I got 248!! HOLLA!!! Naturally I fucked it all up with today's eating habits. McDonald's for breakfast, too much bread at dinner and 2 pieces of cake before the drive home. As long as it doesn't rain tomorrow, I should be able to walk some of it off. And hopefully I burned some of it off today. We'll see.

Miscellany

So far this is turning out to be a fantastic weekend. Busy, but fantastic. I feel like I've accomplished a bunch of stuff. Yesterday started off with me going out and picking up the new Joan Osborne cd. I love her and the new album is great. Some covers, some new material. She's great and it's a shame more people don't like her. Their loss, right?

Thursday night I got inspired to start ripping up the carpet in the basement. We've got a pretty damp basement and the carpet that's covering the one room is pretty gross. I was sure there was probably mold growing under it. We've been in the house a few years now and that was one of the things on the To Do list. I got about half of it up on Thursday night. Yesterday I spent a few hours in the basement moving the contents to the adjacent room so I could get (most of) the rest of the carpet up. And then the sweeping began. I filled the shop vac 1 and a half times with the dirt and dust that's accumulated over the years. Today Ken helped me move the rest of the stuff to the second room, we got the carpet that was under the shelving units up and more sweeping and vacuuming. Ken bought floor paint for the basement and we had intended to start that job today, but the floor was still damp where the last bits of carpet sat, so we're letting it finish drying out tonight and on Monday we'll paint.

We can't paint tomorrow because we have plans to go to Lynn & Lori's house. They need Ken's gardening expertise. They want to plant a garden but aren't quite sure what they need (or want). We're going down tomorrow morning to help. It should be fun. It's always fun when the Girls are involved.

Tomorrow is my official weigh in day for the week and I'm anxious for it. I've seen some renewed weight loss progress this week (FINALLY!) and need to know if I've cracked the 250 barrier. Yesterday morning I stepped on the scale and was 249, but since yesterday isn't my official weigh in day, it didn't count. Keep your fingers crossed. I've tried to refocus on my eating habits and I've been really good about getting out there and being active. And speaking of being active, I was curious as to how far my usual walk was. On the way home from dinner tonight, we clocked it with the odometer. My pattern is 3.6 miles, which is a little longer than I thought. I figured it was about 3. I have an alternate route which I didn't clock, but I'll bet that's closer to 3. I'll have to clock that one, too.

I was very excited this morning to see two new people have commented on my blog. Just Another Southern Gay Guy and Davy from Pop Trash Radio left comments. I found Just Another Southern Gay Guy's blog a few days ago when I was poking around blogspot. Saw an
entry about not being able to watch Series 3 of Doctor Who and I felt the need to comment. And I posted recently on the Pop Trash Radio blog which is how Davy must have found me. If you're into podcasts and into the trashy side of pop culture, I highly recommend that podcast. It's hosted by Davy and Kendra and they're funnier than shit.

I changed my profile picture today. I'm sick of looking at the old, fat me and I haven't motivated to get a current picture of myself. Instead, I went to meez.com and created a Meez of myself. That's the closest I could make it look like me. Go to Ken's photoblog and there will be current pics of me so you can compare. Do it now, dammit.

I love this cover of Superman with Batgirl on it. Love it.

Weekend!!

I'm taking Friday off so that I have a four day weekend. I remember last year I took a half day on the day before Memorial Day and ended up leaving work early because I was sick. Got home, laid down and woke up 20 hours later. Whatever I had was nasty and it sucked out loud.

It's hotter than shit out right now. It got up to 90 degrees today and now my house is disgustingly warm. I was too hot to get the air conditioners out of the attic, so that will have to wait until tomorrow, which is going to be just slightly hotter. Ack!

Go read Tony Z™'s Comics 'n Things. Because I said so, that's why.

I just downloaded the new episode of QCastCT, but I'm afraid to listen to it. I called in and I'm sure they're going to play my call. I'm also sure I sounded liked a total Fucktard on the call. Again, something for tomorrow.

I stopped at the comic shop on the way home from work tonight and bought the new Donna Troy action figure. Ain't she pretty?

Got a belated birthday card in the mail today from my friend Rob from High School. He included a picture of his new baby daughter. She was born May 6 but wasn't due until August 12th. She weighs just over a pound. I can't even imagine. He's hoping she'll be well enough to come home right around when she was supposed to be born. I hope she's doing well.

Feets Don't Fail Me Now

I had my follow-up appointment with my podiatrist on Monday. I was going to cancel it because the neuroma in my left foot hasn't been bothering me, but about three weeks ago, both my feet started bothering me. I'm sure that when I stepped up my walking, wearing shoes with no support wasn't the best idea. So I kept the appointment so I could find out what's going on with my dogs. Turns out I've got neuromas in both feet. Swell. I go back in August and we'll discuss treatments then. He's pushing for orthodics for my shoes. That's how we'll probably go, but we'll see.

Super Geek Out - Day Two

I know I just posted a bunch of comic book covers yesterday, but today DC Comics announced it's solicitations for August and I'm going to post the covers to the books I'm planning on buying. I love when the new solicitations come out. Marvel Comics should announce their new books later in the week. I don't read nearly as many from them as I do DC.