October 10, 2021
Another update on things:
- I am on page 270 of Dune. I still wish I could read faster.
- I got through marginally more cleaning.
- I truly enjoy Fall.
I enjoy the trees and explosions of color. I am no arborist, but, disappointingly, I believe most of the trees in my back yard are oak. They don't so much change color as they fade to brown and drop inconveniently late in the season. I have to wait until mid December before I can stop dealing with leaves.
I love the cooling temperatures. Ain't no weather like sweater weather. Jackets are also superior articles of clothing. When I was 18, I bought a green jacket made of alpaca at a local thrift store for $4. Considering I still wear that jacket 20 years later, it's probably the greatest investment of my lifetime. Someday, I'll delve deeper into in the genesis of the purchase and the history of the green jacket, which is essentially the history of me at point considering the "era of the jacket" now encompasses more than 50% of my life.
Of all household chores, yard work is my least favorite and with Fall comes the end of crass cutting and weeding, so chalk up another one in the win column for the third season. It never happens as early as I hope - usually I'm putting the mower in storage around mid November, but it is a glorious day when I do, know I should have a solid four to five months when I just don't have to worry about it, at which point I might actually start to make a dent in cleaning and organizing my home.
I love it when the cool side of the pillow is truly cool, which just doesn't happen until from May through September.
I enjoy being outside on a brisk afternoon. I enjoy being able to go for a run or a bike ride and not thinking that I'm going to melt. Running in the 50's and 60's instead of 70's or 80's is worth a solid 20 seconds per mile to an amateur runner like myself. Biking is a bit trickier as it can get pretty uncomfortably cold with the wind and if you start in the cool of the morning, there is a big difference between 45° and 65°.
Finally, Fall means that we're only a few more months away from Winter and I love it when the world is dressed in white. I'd say the Winter is truly my favorite season, except for that if there is no snow, it's sort of dull and grey and wreaks havoc on those with Seasonal Affective Disorder. And with climate change, my neck of the woods sees fewer and fewer snow days.
Surprisingly, I'm actually not a big outdoors person (I hate camping...), but I've come to realize that getting out is a major boon to my mental health and Fall is probably the best time of year to experience "Nature!"
The CBS SUNDAY MORNING POWER RANKINGS
Sunday Morning has finished rolling out "The New Season" which means less art and culture stories and more current events. Something weird happened this past week. Down is up, up is down. Here we go, round and round. Try and spot it.
Also, I addressed the concept of putting together weekly "power rankings" for Sunday Morning previously, but I just want to reiterate that I love Sunday Morning. The committee tends to enjoy segments that tackle topics in the following non-random order:
- Martha Teichner
- Art
- History
- Nature
- Architecture
- Sports
- Music
- Literature
- Film
- Science
- Current events
- Medicine
Every correspondent has their beat, which puts some of them at a disadvantage if they seek to summit Mt. Power Ranking. But the blog is entirely a facetious conceit. If you are seeking to jam more pointless competition into your lives, the NFL pregame show starts at noon. Or in the case of this coming Sunday, thanks to commercial megalomania, 9 AM, to which I say:
Enjoy your week off everyone!
Anyway, after careful consideration and debate by committee members, the rankings for October 10 are as follows:
1) Tracy Smith
It's weird when a middle aged (not quite forty) year old man digs angsty pop songs written and performed by teen girls, right? I swear, I'm not a creep. I just think at a certain point in my life, I got tired of listening to dude rock and made a concerted effort to branch out. So here are the official female teen angst pop music power rankings.
- Lorde: The fact that Pure Heroine was written and performed by a 17 year old is crazy. The fact that Melodrama was even better is also crazy, but I'm pretty sure she was 20 when that came out. I'm guessing she wrote and recorded most of it while still 19 though, so the committee will count it. I would own Solar Power and be listening to it right now if record stores were still a thing. I miss record stores.
- Billie Eilish: Billie managed to legit cram in two albums way before turning 20 en rout to becoming a global phenomenon. Much in the vein of Lorde, her breakout hit, "Bad Guy" was a gem of sparsely produced speak-singing electro-pop. Maybe a little darker and with a little more humor to subvert the angst.
Maybe because Lorde is from New Zealand and Eilish is from LA, she became the bigger star due to shear proximity. It also probably has to do with Lorde writing songs that attack the concepts of popularity and poseur culture. Thus, it shouldn't be a surprise that she's stuck to her guns and eschewed global fame - not that she's not famous... It also would not be correct to say that Billie Eilish sought out fame, but I get the impression she feels an obligation to her fans. - Olivia Rodrigo: I'll admit to know little about the Disney channel star-cum-pop star beyond what I've seen on Saturday Night Live. They excerpted the "Driver's License" sketch, which was totally the right call because it was one of the best things SNL did in, well, I don't know how long. Watch the full thing if you haven't:
You can also watch her perform it herself on SNL. It's fine. She's good. I've also noticed that she seems to have a thing for flannel patterned outfits. In a way, the look kind of fuses together early to mid 90s grunge with polished teen idols of the early to mid aughts. I call it fresh. - Kelly Clarkson: Look, I know Clarkson emergence via American Idol Season 1 (Whatever happened to Justin?) makes her a little more prefab than the others on the list. But she gave us the sad banger to end all sad bangers with Since U Been Gone, which at the very least makes the OG of teen angst for those of a certain age - i.e. my age.
It's also been covered by everyone. I believe it was Ted Leo that show us all that, us Indie kids, you pop kids, we're not so different after all.
Man, I miss record stores. If they still existed, I'd go in and buy an album by each of these ladies and I'd be sure to let whoever is taking my money know that, "No, these aren't a present for my niece, they're all for me," and bask in the awkwardness of that interaction.
Also, society, please do not ruin these young women (well, Kelly Clarkson is a grown-ass woman, so I'm not as worried about her). We all know the trap, pits, and perils of being a famous young person, much less a famous young woman, so via con dios and avoid the tabloids if you can.
I've made my thoughts on the Fall season known. My thoughts on Aspen?
3) Jane Pauley
It's official Fall when Jane Pauley says it's Fall. Gone are the days of white or even off-white outfits. Jane's gone full maple leaf sans chlorophyll. That is, very deeply red:
4) David Pogue
There have been recent grumblings that the committee perpetually undervalues the contributions of one Mr. David Pogue - the Cal Ripken Jr. of Sunday Morning. He's in the starting line up week in and week out. And as Bill Parcells used to say (I know I'm mixing sports metaphors here), "The best ability is availability."
So here's to you David Pogue, erstwhile stalwart of Sunday Morning. Because someone's got to do the segment on shipping containers augmented by a fun little PowerPoint.
NPR has also done numerous stories about supply chain issues the past few months. One knock on effect of not being able to get those shipping containers to middle America is that there farmers can't find a way to ship their goods out of the country. The containers are going back to China empty the second they are unloaded instead of hanging around here to be loaded with goods for export. Because mime is money.
FYI: David did some more nodding.
Despite our best efforts to pave paradise and put up a parking lot, our country is still abundant with natural wonder. This week natural wonder comes via the oft-overlooked state of Arkansas at the edge of Ozark National Forest. Since birds are prominently featured, this moment of nature recap is once again brought to you by Audubon Florida.
(Yes, I know that Florida and Arkansas are different states.)
6) Seth Doane
Seth Doane interviews force of nature Billy Porter which means that I can't not acknowledge Sunday Morning's preeminent LGBTQ correspondent interviewing the LGBTQ actor who has captured the zeitgeist. So there I mentioned it.
At first, I was like, "Is Billy Porter in Italy?" but it sure seemed like the interview took place stateside. Which then got me wondering if it was the first trip back to America since COVID for the famously Italy inhabiting Doane. If somebody could give me confirmation one way or the other on that, I'd appreciate it.
While I haven't seen the Kinky Boots musical, I've seen and truly enjoy the 2005 movie it's based on starting a young Joel Edgerton and star turning performance from the underrated Chiwetel Ejiofor as Lola. Why is the character named Lola? Have you ever payed attention to the lyrics of The Kinks song? It's a British song, so the reference to a classic British pop song is obvious. And the band is called The Kinks so it works on a couple of levels.
Short story: The first time I ever saw someone in drag was at the Value City in Latonia, KY. I probably would have been somewhere in the range of 9-12. Two ladies were at a register a few down from the one I was at with, I'm assuming my Mom, but I can't remember. Whoever I was with didn't notice or ignored/blocked it out. I just remember nothing was acknowledged.
In fact, it never really registered until years later. At the time, the only thing that really registered was that they were women, but maybe a little bigger than normal. I probably stared at them longer than was polite while trying to figure out why something seemed out of place. I don't know why I remember this, but I did spend a lot of time at that Value City. Ah, youth.
Behold the greatest commercial of all time:
My undying love for Avery Brooks AKA Captain Benjamin Sisco, the greatest Starfleet captain of them all, aside, the advertisement is brilliant in concept and execution. We're not going to have flying cars because we don't need flying cars. In fact, lets get rid of a big chunk of our existing, non flying cars while were at it.
In the pantheon of pop culture futures that posit the existence of flying cars, the power rankings are as follows:
1) The Fifth Element
What? Do you think we've overrated it? The following scene has style.
2) The Jetsons
The OG of sci-fi flying cars
3) Back to the Future
Roads? Where we're going, we don't need... roads.
- Doc Brown
4) Blade Runner
Undoubtedly the most artistic film depicting flying cars. I've watched it at least twice. For some reason it leaves me a cold. I know there's like three different cuts of the movie and maybe I didn't watch the "right" one. Maybe I should take another crack at it.
Are you shocked to see Martha this low? Did you think I had simply forgotten about her? Please don't think this is due to some kind of Hillary hating misogyny. Is it possible to have zero interest in reading her book and have it not be political? I still have a ways to go before finishing Dune...
I will say, I feel a little bad ranking it so low, because there is a certain joy to be found in watching three women of a certain age yuk it up. They even reference Hillary's hair, which was quite possibly the original internet meme. We're talking 25 years ago, when Geocities was a thing. So long ago that not even the Wayback Machine managed to archive it in its heyday.
A guitar is an instrument with a perfect shape. I like to doodle on a guitar when I have a few spare minutes, which I rarely do. It's kind of fun when I fall into the habit enough that calluses start to form on the tips of my fingers. It's also good way to try to maintain motor skills in my impaired left hand.
Of all the good looking guitars out there, Les Pauls might just be the most beautiful. I remember in college occasionally going to the Guitar Emporium (still around!) on Bardstown Road in Louisville and picking out a guitar to noodle on in the sound proof booth where you could try one out. I did occasionally seriously think about buying one, but, you know, money. While I think it would be fun to play one, it's one of those things where I feel like a prerequisite for owning one would be that I have much more musical ability than I actually have.
On the other hand, buy a Les Paul would certainly be a better mid-life crisis move than say, buying an Alfa Romeo... or I could just aim to not have one.
10) Steve Hartman
The story is about a woman that organizes a giant yard sale - big enough to raise several tens of thousands of dollars, with the sole purpose to fund random acts of kindness throughout the year. What did I fixate on?
How much did that giant stuffed animal sell for?
Unrakable) Rita Braver
Rita didn't get Teichnerized so much as, I'm just not going touch abortion in a generally light-hearted recap blog with a ten foot pool. If anyone wants to have a respectful conversation about the topic, I'll deal with it on a one on one basis. My thoughts may (or may not) surprise you. Anyway, I thought Braver's segment was reasonable and nuanced. However, if anyone wants to complain about media bias, I did think it was pretty obvious where she comes down on the issue. You can watch if you want, but you won't because it's nine minutes on the abortion debate, which lets be honest, has never really been a debate for anyone involved.
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