When I was around 12 I had a friend down the street who compulsively lied. Everybody has that friend growing up right?

"Hey. Did you see Back to the Future? Did you know those hoverboards were real? They are too. I have one."

"My dad is a ninja, but only on weekends."

So, this wouldn't have been that big a deal had I not been the most gulllible kid on the block. I didn't really understand the concept of making things up. You told me something so it must be true.

Sure, they're making all of the Six Flags Magic Mountain rides into lego sets.

Yeah, I can't wait for Ghostbusters 3 either.

Wow. That sure is a big fish you caught.

I'm sure there are horribly far-fetched and in-no-way-true stories that my friends told me 15 years ago that I still retell as truth.

I remember one day he told me that if you flipped a switch on his radio it would reverse the functionality and broadcast whatever you said into it to the whole neighborhood. The whole neighborhood. The idea struck me as one of the most fantastic things I had ever heard. My own radio station. I could share great music with people. When I talked they had to listen. I would rule the neighborhood.

Over the next few weeks we created radio shows in his bedroom, me always thinking these shows were being broadcasted to the mean elderly couple across the street, the man next door with the blind dog, and whoever else happened to have their radio on.

Alas it wasn't so. I don't remember how I figured it out, so it must not have been too traumatic. Maybe I secretly knew all along but just didn't want it to not be true. Maybe we had a big fight over it and I've since tried to forget it. Either way, he and I aren't friends any more so it doesn't matter.

Which brings us to today.

Today anybody can be their own radio station. Yeah, you know what I'm talking about....Podcasts. Oh man. How I love you, you sweet sweet podcasts. 30 minutes on baseball. An hour and 20 on independent Canadian music. Ebert. NPR. Philology. Add that to my already fantastic ability to randomly shuffle 3,000 of my favorite songs of all time and I never need to listen to conventional radio again!

You may scoff, but it's awesome. Gloyd and DMH know what I'm talking about. Give it a shot. You'll like it. Listen at home. Listen at work. In the car. Doing dishes. Shopping. Wherever.

Here's a few I really like
Podictionary the podcast for word lovers
kcrw's On the Beat with Celia Hirshman (don't listen to the seduciton of apple one though. bad.) film reviews by Joe Morgenstern, The Treatment with Elvis Mitchell
and
Baseball Prospectus

And here's an article about using garageband to record your own podcasts.

Viva la Revolucion!

What are you thankful for? We ask it of kids all the time, but what about you?

What? You think you're to cool and grown up to think about that kind of thing?

This is an excellent time to really reflect on the great things in your life.

You are alive right?

Good. That's one.

We spend way too much time whining about our circumstances and not enough time thinking about how blessed we are. It's a hell of a lot easier for people to focus on the bad rather than the good. It takes a little bit of courage to put yourself out there and expose yourself a little bit. We need to turn that around. What better time than now?

I'll go first.

I'm thankful for box drums, my wife, records, morning-time crossword puzzles and coffee, rainy days, friends, family, meow-meow, this horribly frightening picture, and tweed jackets


Okay, now it's your turn. Hit me back.

Number 1.

Christmas lights that know hot to Rock n' Roll .wmv

{listen with maximum volume for maximum hard-rocking}

link via

According to Bill Bryson, the number of English words currently used in Japan is around 20,000. Some of these look exactly the same, but are used in strange ways (such as the example to our left) Most of the words, however, as any culture is wont to do, the Japenese like to make fit better into their pre-exisiting vocabulary by slightly changing their pronunciation.

So here we have a game.

I will list of 10 words or phrases used by the Japanese, and you will try to guess their English counterpart. Fun, eh? {All words courtesy of Mr. Bill Bryson and his fabulous book, The Mother Tongue, already being shamelssly plugged at right}

1. erebata
2. gurama foto
3. sarada
4. shyanpu
5. remon
6. chiizu
7. hamu
8. haikurasu
9. rushawa
10. nekutai






----
okay, here's the answers (no fair cheating)
----






---
1. elevator
2. glamor photo
3. salad
4. shampoo
5. lemon
6. cheese
7. ham
8. high class
9. rush hour
10. neck tie

Wasn't that fun? Hurray for language! Hurray for modernization and adaptation! Hurray for the human brain!
for more funny English used in Japan check out engrish.com

Oh, how I long for those simpler times. Look at these students. They all seem so well-behaved. I bet that teacher never had to use idle threats and cheap videos to placate her students. And what about that man in the suit? Principal? Guest Speaker? Substitute? He is so happy about being there.

"Good Morning Childeren. I was just on my way to buy the daily paper, and I thought I'd pop on in for a quick hello."

(Children: all in unison) "Good Morning Mr. Wall."

"Now you all aren't giving my lovely sister here a hard time, are you? Ho ho. Of course you aren't. You wouldn't even think of it. Now, how's about we learn about science together?! Everybody pull out your bunsen burner"

(Chorus of glad cheers)

I think back on these photos of times I've never experienced, and pine for a time there probably never was. I imagine Truffaut's Small Change when it was probably more like The 400 Blows.

But at least Antoine Doinel and company never had to watch a 15-year-old and clearly out-dated Bill Nye the Science Guy to learn about eyes.

Which brings me to:

5 Decade-old-or-more Pop Culture Refrences Made in the Forementioned Bill Nye the Science Guy Episode that Almost Assuredly Were Missed by the 7th Grade Students I Subbed for Yesterday

1. High Planes Squinter (Drifter)
2. Bob Ross
3. Gene Siskell
4. Purple Haze
5. The Eye Doctors with their Hit song 2 Eyez (Spin Doctors - 2 Pricnes)

In case you were curious, here are some of the lines from that hit Eye Doctors song:

Babies, they are born with blue eyes - They're in their heads now
But some change, colors when they're older - This one's brown now

And that's edutaiment Ladies and Gentlemen

Mice and the Billionaires

Stereogum linked to a great article today about Alex Steinweiss, the man credited with inventing the album cover. Apparently before 1939 all records were just thrown in their paper sleeves and sold as-is. Steinweiss changed all that when he, as the art director at Columbia, decided to use art on the package of albums to help them sell. Then, when hit first design increased the sale of Beethoven's 9th by 894%, the rest was history.

It's interesting that album packaging seems to have come full circle. Now we seem to be in an era where people don't need the art to sell the music {or don't even want any packaging in the first place} Perhaps there may come a new era in which the album package is marketable/neccessary again.

Here's the NY time article I mentioned, and here's another article on Steinweiss and early album art in general.

It's raining. It's a beautiful day outside. And somewhere in the world these two people are kissing on a vespa. I guess it really couldn't get much better than that eh?

The Sunday Times - Britain has an article today about the future. The future of smokers.

And it looks like it's going to be a healthy future.

That's right.

And I qoute: BRITISH American Tobacco (BAT) is to launch a controversial “safer cigarette” designed to cut the risk of smoking-related diseases such as cancer and heart failure by up to 90%.
The cigarettes use tobacco treated to produce lower levels of cancer-causing chemicals. They also incorporate a new type of filter said to remove more of the remaining toxins.

Now some anti-smoking groups are poo-pooing this fantastic study saying (roughly) "It will be like jumping out of a 15-story window rather than a 20-story one. It still kills you."

Ha! The words of someone who obviously hasn't expereinced the sweet sensation of the morning coffee and cigarette combination. And what about the late night conversation cigarette hang-out? Clearly, they have no idea! These squelchers of cool will do anything to stomp out the purveying of hip culture. Bob Dylan smokes cigarettes. Jack Kerouac smoked cigarettes. Heck, even ol' C.S. Lewis liked the pipe and pup brotherhood.

I, however, have still quit.

But for those who haven't start your research on the future of smoking here

So I've been wanting to do this for a while, and now that I had a few days on my hands I got it started. I hope you like the little visual change around here. A little cleaner, nicer to look at . . . grayer.

Also.

Starting this month say hello to Mouse & the Mixtape. To your right there is a link to said page where I will be posting the mixtape that I have made for the month (a la Gloyd). "Why?" you ask. Two reasons. (1) This way I can share the music that I dig each month and (2) there will be a written account of each month's mix so if I happen to lose all of the lists due to computer failure (also... a la Gloyd) we have a backup!

Hurray! Everyobdy wins!

Check it out. Right now I only have October up, but I plan on putting up one for every month of this last year (2005). I hope you enjoy it.

They are indeed a-Changin'.

The plans we make unmake us.

Last night I was trying my best to organize the music room/soon-to-be living room and listening to Bob Dylan's greatest hits Vol 2 (which is definitely under-appreciated if you ask me).

When Don't Think Twice It's Alright came on I was looking through some old photo albums of houses, tours, and times long gone, and it about did me in.

This morning I got out my old Craig Cassette Recorder and did my best at a cover. It's not the best thing in the world, but I enjoyed doing it.

Don't Think Twice it's Alright.mp3 - Mouse & the Billionaire

Again, Enjoy.