Ten Best (after their first album... of course)

In the continued pursuit of procrasination (I've worked six days a week, 8-12 hours a day since January... step off), I've decided to make a list of the ten best Pearl Jam songs. Admittedly, I have not listened to Pearl Jam exclusively in a long time, but they remain one of my three favorite bands (the others being Tool and Queen).

(1) "Dissident" Vs. - This song epitomizes what Pearl Jam was to me. "Was" is the operative word here. Eddie used to have a raucous voice, now tempered by wine and age. He screams, McCready and Gossard duel with their guitars (which, in my opinion was THE reason PJ is great).

(2) "Rearviewmirror" Vs. - Another song that epitomizes my PJ listening career. Again, just an angry, screaming Vedder over the dueling guitars.

(3) "Yellow Ledbetter" Lost Dogs (and others) - I'm sorry, this is one of the best guitar riffs ever. Ever. I still don't know what the hell Vedder is trying to say, but I love this song. You want a horrible cover? Listen to my brother's live CD... I still have it somewhere.

(4) "Lowlight" Yield - This is a song I've grown to literally love and listen to countless times. Vedder sounds really good in this song. You can feel the pain.

(5) "Deep" Ten - The first of three songs from Ten. Ten is considered by many to be PJ's best album... I think it was Vs. But this song is the type of screaming, hyper guitar stuff that I love.

(6) "Porch" Ten - There's a part in this song where everything almost stops except for Ament's bass. That's when I pull my head back to prepare for some serious head-banging... ah, I long for the days of long hair and flannel shirts.

(7) "Alive" Ten - The only real single-single on this list. I love this song, the lyrics are fantastic. Reportedly this is the first in a triology (with "Once," and "Footsteps") about a kid who finds out his dad is dead, goes on a killing spree, and gets put in prison. Comes from Vedder's dad not being his real dad or something.

(8) "Immortality" Vitalogy - The first of three slow, intro-spective songs. Kind of anti-Pearl Jam of the 90s, but kind of what they're about now. This is the best of their "slow" songs.

(9) "Love Boat Captain" Riot Act - I'll just admit Riot Act was an horrendous album... except for this weird and wonderful song.

(10) "Present Tense" No Code - This song always gets to me. At the beginning of the second chorus, Eddie's voice begins to rise as the guitars and bass begin to rise. It's a wonderful moment in an excellent and underrated song.

Notable Ommissions

(1) "Jeremy" Ten - I literally dislike this song... immensely. Sure, it's powerful and all that... but is it really a good song? The answer is no.

(2) "Even Flow" Ten - Another song I really dislike. I change the station if this song comes in. Blech.

(3) "Daughter" Vs. - I like this song, but it got played way too much and made PJ mainstream... which kind of ruined them... just a little.

(4) "Wishlist" and "Given to Fly" - Seriously? Not good songs. Just not.

So there is the list. There are a number of live songs and soundtrack songs that PJ does ("Leatherman," "Man of the Hour," "Masters of War") that are just brilliant songs that did not deserve to go on this list. I flirted with putting "Man of the Hour" and "Masters of War" on there, but I didn't want to bump any album songs.

The Perils of Playing Catcher

Could it be that I weight 270 pounds? Could it be that I have played sports that put undue stress on my knees? Could it be a combination of the two? These are the questions I asked myself as I played catcher last night during a softball game. As I got up to throw the ball back to the pitcher, my left knee buckled. Pain? Moderate. Uncomfortability? High. The pain was quite bearable, but the uncomfortability was quite weird. I'm not sure how my leg can just stop straightening. Strange. Needless to say I continued playing and I can walk with the normal amount of pain today. Therefore, I shall not worry about my knees until the next time I squat behind homeplate.

My Implementation of the Fairness Doctrine

It has come to my attention that I may appear biased towards a certain political party (the attention was provided by myself). In the spirit of the Fairness Doctrine, I will provide the following things:

(1) I'm exceedingly angry with the lack of communication between the White House and the American people regarding a plan of action in the Iraq War... spefically what is a win, what is a loss, when are we done there. These questions continue to remain unanswered and the anger with which the White House responds to such questions is ridiculous.

(2) I'm also exceedingly angry with Republicans (specifically, certain radio talk show hosts) who have determined that the amnesty bill is a horrible breach of national security. Being the grandson of a formerly illegal immigrant, I find that the vast majority of immigrants come here to work, not to leach off of the government. They come here for a better life for themselves and their families. Cut them a damn break. And the terrorists? It's the same argument I have for keeping the right to bear arms - if you make guns illegal, the people who want to kill someone will still get them. If you put walls around the U.S., terrorists will still get in. It's not my fault if you don't like people who don't have blonde hair and blue eyes... deal with it.

(3) The Christian Coalition. I'm Catholic... I'm a practicing Catholic. I am horribly frustrated that a presidential candidate from the Republican Party must pander to this one faction of the Republican Party in order to get nominated. Guliani and I (and Ahnold) share the same political views... now, Rudy has to pander to these people to win the nomination. It disgusts me. There needs to be about four more political parties in this country. Vote Libertarian jerks!

(4) Free Speech. This is the last one and it's killing me. Not as much as the immigration thing, but it's up there. How come free speech is only free if the speech agrees with what you think? If you can't win a debate, you shouldn't be able to make the opposing view illegal. Stupid. Put whatever you want on the radio or TV. Take some personal responsibility for your kids. If they want to watch porn or the Sopranos or listen to Air America or Rush Limbaugh, they're going to... no matter what you do. So tell the kids what you will, but don't make it illegal. Dude... it's the first amendment. The FIRST!

That satisfies my fairness for the year. Continue with the liberal bashing! Huzzah!

Solar Powered Amplifiers?

How do they provide power and transportation for such a large event?

http://liveearth.msn.com/?

I can't stand hypocrisy. What I hate more than hypocrisy is hypocrisy combined with preaching. Practice what you preach, then preach. We jump all over (rightfully so) Christian ministers who cheat on their wives, but we politely ignore Hollywoodland and their self-righteous hypocrisy... AENEMA!!! - wash it all away.

Don't Tell Me Blues are Dead

Lyrics to Clutch's Electric Worry (I've listend to this song approximately 50 times):

Well you made me weak
and you made me moan
Well you caused me to leave,
child, my happy home
But someday baby,
you ain't worry my life, anymo'

I get satisfaction
everywhere I go
Where I lay my head
that's what I call home
Where the baron burns
oh the vision stale
Take tomorrow's cutter
give him bout the glare

Refrain: Bang bang bang bang
Vamanos vamonos
Bang bang bang
Vamanos vamanos

You told everybody
in the neighborhood
What I done to mistreat her
and that I was no good
But someday baby,
you ain't worry my life, anymo'

Doctor or lawyer
I'll never be
Life of a drifter
the only life for me
You can have your riches
all the gorgeous saved
Ain't room for one thing
in everybody's grave

REFRAIN

If I had money
like Henry Ford
Lord, I'd have me a woman
on every road
But someday baby,
you ain't worry my life, anymo'

In my cajun of the tummies
rap me on my head
Cash in at the corner
house of street cred
I get satisfaction
everywhere I go
One day baby
you worry me no mo'

REFRAIN

Woke up this morning, got myself a beer

Well, no. Did you ever have a weekend that you need a weekend to recover from? I spent my Friday evening baking (with my wife) for my sister-in-law's graduation party. I spent Saturday working, Saturday night driving to the shore for dinner with my dad. Sunday morning we woke up at 7:00 AM to go to my wife's father's for breakfast, then to the graduation party. Got home Sunday night at 12:00 AM. And went to work on Monday. Blech.

Save our city!

It Seems His Hypocrisy Knows No Bounds

... to paraphrase Val Kilmer as Doc Holliday in Tombstone.

$40 a ticket... for a movie? Say it ain't so, Mr. Moore. Perhaps we should take you on a tour of the neighborhoods of those people devastated by increasing movie prices.

http://movies.msn.com/movies/article.aspx?news=265968&GT1=7701

Retort

I'd like to think Bush's vision for the Arab world looks something like this: http://img.timeinc.net/time/photoessays/arab_democracy/images/splash.jpg

Which is why I don't like the various and sundry gleeful articles on "Bush's vision."

Hamas... Shmahamas

Read this headline... http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19215537/

"Hamas Takeover Shows Failure of Bush's Vision"

There are two things wrong with that statement:

(1) Why is this the president's vision and not anyone else's? Is everyone else FOR Hamas takeovers? If not, what is everyone else's plan? Oh, that's right, no one else has a plan because that would mean maybe coming under attack and having to stand for something. Politicians don't do that any more.

(2) Some will think it's just me, but doesn't that headline and the corresponding article seem almost gleeful... as if MSN wants Bush's vision to fail. What the hell is wrong with people? What happened to hope and hard work?

Blech... hard work.

Tales... of... INTEREST!

So, I was talking to someone at work about how I play basketball during the weekends. I started playing pickup ball in high school and continued into college, law school, and non-school life. I remember vividly my first college pick up game. My roomate (a 6'1", skinny kid) and I (a 6'0", husky kid) played against two players from the Penn women's basketball team. One of the girls, Diana, ended up being the leading scorer in Penn basketball history. Anyway, we played about 5-6 games to 11. We lost all the games. And, back then, I was fairly athletic and my roommate was an excellent basketball player. They just mopped the floor with us. In the first game, we scored 2 points. Now, in my defense, I never played organized basketball and Diana was 6'1" and nearly as husky as I was. She outrebounded me, outshot me, and generally outhustled me for two hours. And it's not like I could foul her hard because, well, she's a girl. It was quite the learning experience for me.

Why Brian Regan is great

Saw his show at the Tower Theater on Saturday night. It was fantabuloso. Two things of note: first, the Tower Theater is a fantastic place to see a show, especially if you like nostalgic things, like I do. It's in a bad section of town, but is very cozy and has a 1950s-style Americana thing going on. The second thing - observational humor is funnier when the humorist is ridiculous looking and acting. Move over Jerry Seinfeld.

Regan is a goofy, more intelligent version of Seinfeld, in my humble opinion. He does a number of things well - he uses intelligent, non-swearing language (not that I mind the swearing), he walks and talks goofily at appropriate times, and he talks about things that we all wonder about. I won't do him justice by repeating his routine, but I will note that he takes some interest in why publishers insist on putting the title of a book on every page of a book (like one would forget what book he or she was reading if not for those titles on every page). He likens it to having the title of the movie at the top of the screen. "What's... what's with all the apes. They're everywhere." (he looks up at the top of the fake screen, then back down, then up again, then back down). "Oh, the Planet of the... hence the apes." I don't know, I about pissed myself.

Why Smokin' Aces was not good

Ryan Reynolds. Van Wilder (the character, not the movie) was excellent acting on Reynolds' part. But he could not save this movie. I thoroughly did NOT enjoy Smokin' Aces, except for the gratuitous violence. Especialamente the one female assassin and her high powered cannon. I had semi-high hopes for the movie. I anticipated half an hour of story followed by an hour and a half of gun battling. It was the reverse. I'll never forgive myself for watching that movie.

Another Comic for Prying Eyes

Please... I urge youse to read Kingdom Come. I generally do not like DC comics, excepting, of course, the non-mainstream stuff. But Kingdom Come might be one of the greatest examples of a comic story I've read in a while. I'm all about character creation and overarching stories. I have my own little superhero world I made up. I've created something like 400-500 characters... well organized of course... I like lists. I can't get them down in a story, but I have the background, character names, powers, etc. I just need to get them down. Anyway, I digress.

Kingdom Come - superheroes and villains abound!