I haven't started to do my "research" for my "radio show" yet but I suspect there are a million or so different "dances" that will go beyond what the theme this week covers. Beyond, you know, "Do The Twist," "Do The Tighten Up," "Do The Dog," etc. It makes me want to do make songs up for dances that don't really exist: "Do The Ted Danson." "Do The Colonoscopy." "Do The Charming Junkie."
But a dog - tagless & friendly - interrupted while we were walking which we brought home & now it's hiding in our backyard. I've put an ad on Craigslist & I wandered the neighborhood looking for anyone calling out a dog's name, but it's too late to put up flyers - we'll do that tomorrow. I just think about the poor thing in our backyard! He is not eating anything. He's just miserable.
We simply can't adopt another dog, & I'm not sure if he'd be happy here. But oh my sweet Ed Helms bobble doll, I would hate to have to turn him over to animal control. Lexington is probably not no-kill. There's that voice inside you that says, "If you had left him on the street, he might have found his way home." But you know that might not be true.
If one of our dogs were missing, we'd be waking up the neighborhood.
The saddest dance of all: Do The Lost Dog.
Saturday, May 05, 2012
Friday, May 04, 2012
Thinking About Cats Today
Is your cat an outdoor cat or an indoor cat? & outdoor cat here means "a cat allowed outdoors that spends some time indoors."
There are those who feel obliged to honor their furry companion's genetic programming by letting it outdoors to spray & kill whatever its tiny heart desires. Should you live in an urban setting, this is practically a guarantee that your "pet" (said with a verbal caveat represented here by quotation marks) will live a truncated lifespan. Did it or you make that trade-off?
Then there are those who wants to make their kitten's life as safe & happy as possible, & keep the cat indoors, even though it does seem to want to get outside, to chase falling leaves, to explore rustling sounds, to chase bugs & birds. Such cats will most probably live very long lives - the average cat age is twelve to fifteen years, but some can live as long as twenty.
Here is a list of the things that can happen to an outdoor cat which may severely truncate its lifespan: "traffic accidents, fights with other cats, intentional acts of violence, poisoning (accidental or intentional), diseases caught from other cats, being picked up by animal control & subsequently euthanized if not claimed, & death caused by predators."
It's also worth noting that cats allowed outdoors kill lots of birds. Lots of them. Perhaps up to a billion a year.
The cats that populate the Self Help Radio landscape stay indoors. One of them is too frightened to go outside. One of them has asthma, & would most probably suffer needlessly, & die horribly, if she strayed & did not get her medicine. The third is tough black cat who just turned six who'd doubtless be a terrific hunter - but who has a low white blood cell count & would probably succumb to the first infection that came his way.
They are all loved to distraction. They stay indoors because their presence is required as long as humanly (& felinely) possible.
There are those who feel obliged to honor their furry companion's genetic programming by letting it outdoors to spray & kill whatever its tiny heart desires. Should you live in an urban setting, this is practically a guarantee that your "pet" (said with a verbal caveat represented here by quotation marks) will live a truncated lifespan. Did it or you make that trade-off?
Then there are those who wants to make their kitten's life as safe & happy as possible, & keep the cat indoors, even though it does seem to want to get outside, to chase falling leaves, to explore rustling sounds, to chase bugs & birds. Such cats will most probably live very long lives - the average cat age is twelve to fifteen years, but some can live as long as twenty.
Here is a list of the things that can happen to an outdoor cat which may severely truncate its lifespan: "traffic accidents, fights with other cats, intentional acts of violence, poisoning (accidental or intentional), diseases caught from other cats, being picked up by animal control & subsequently euthanized if not claimed, & death caused by predators."
It's also worth noting that cats allowed outdoors kill lots of birds. Lots of them. Perhaps up to a billion a year.
The cats that populate the Self Help Radio landscape stay indoors. One of them is too frightened to go outside. One of them has asthma, & would most probably suffer needlessly, & die horribly, if she strayed & did not get her medicine. The third is tough black cat who just turned six who'd doubtless be a terrific hunter - but who has a low white blood cell count & would probably succumb to the first infection that came his way.
They are all loved to distraction. They stay indoors because their presence is required as long as humanly (& felinely) possible.
Thursday, May 03, 2012
Are We Meme Yet?
Here's a list of the most popular memes generated by people just like you (& maybe even you!).
If you don't know your meme, there's a handy place to go to find out what it's all about.
For example, you might see an image with a cartoon drawing of genius astrophysicist & science popularizer Neil deGrasse Tyson. Underneath it is some variation of the phrase "Look out, we got a badass right here." That's called a rage meme. Not because anyone is angry - least of all Tyson, who is amused by the whole thing, but because it's a "rage" as in the idiom "all the rage," meaning very popular.
Some people wonder where memes go when they die. Some people fear the death of memes, so they get tattoos of them.
Luckily for everyone there are many repositories of memes, like this one, & probably dozens more - there's not really enough time to find & list them all - especially since that appears to be the reason Tumblr exists - so you never have to be surprised by a new meme again!
If you don't know your meme, there's a handy place to go to find out what it's all about.
For example, you might see an image with a cartoon drawing of genius astrophysicist & science popularizer Neil deGrasse Tyson. Underneath it is some variation of the phrase "Look out, we got a badass right here." That's called a rage meme. Not because anyone is angry - least of all Tyson, who is amused by the whole thing, but because it's a "rage" as in the idiom "all the rage," meaning very popular.
Some people wonder where memes go when they die. Some people fear the death of memes, so they get tattoos of them.
Luckily for everyone there are many repositories of memes, like this one, & probably dozens more - there's not really enough time to find & list them all - especially since that appears to be the reason Tumblr exists - so you never have to be surprised by a new meme again!
Monday, April 30, 2012
More Indiepop For The Masses
Yes, my exercise in futility continues. I finished the Gs! I started the Hs! There was lots of good music! But I understand I may be eighty-eight when I get to the letter S.
Hey, I have a freeform show that I do before Self Help Radio (it's called Sugar Substitute) & I hijacked that show so I could cover more indiepop ground. Therefore the list of songs below is in FOUR parts & covers almost THREE hours of radio. I hope you enjoy. Here are the links to the separate parts:
part one I part two I part three I part four
The shows - & maybe all thirty-five previous episodes of the Indiepop A To Z series - are available at the Self Help Radio website. Look for the indiepop shows on the archive page.
& thanks so much for listening!
(part one)
"Made-Up Lovesong # 43" The Gulliemots _From The Cliffs EP_
"A Brief Encounter" Guther _Sundet_
"For Your Smile" Gypsophile _Just For A Day_
"Funky Little Song" Bruce Haack _Listen Compute Rock Home: The Best Of Dimension 5_
"Our Love Was" Petra Haden _Petra Haden Sings: The Who Sell Out_
"Heaven Help You Now" Paul Haig _The Warp Of Pure Fun_
"The Last Stop" The Haircuts _Sorrow Is The Way To Love_
"Election Day" Hal _Election Day_
"Charmed Life" Half Japanese _Greatest Hits_
"Joy Division Oven Gloves" Half Man Half Biscuit _Achtung Bono_
"Eclipse" Half String _Eclipse * Oval * Hue_
(part two)
"Second City Blues" Halftime Oranges _Rotterdamnation_
"Rich Girl" Hall & Oates _The Essential Collection_
"Virginia Reel Around The Fountain" The Halo Benders _The Rebel's Not In_
"Stay Away For Awhile" The Halo Bit _Stay Away For Awhile 7"_
"Two Stones In My Pocket" Neil Halstead _Sleeping On Roads_
"You Might Not Believe" Handsome Train _This Engine Should Do_
"Another Day" Hang David _Another Day_
"Top Of Morning" The Hang Ups _So We Go_
"Love Is Blue" The Hangman's Beautiful Daughters _Love Is Blue_
"Soho" The Hangovers _Slow Dirty Tears_
"Hurray" Hanky & Panky _Labrador 100_
(part three)
"All These Things" Darren Hanlon _I Will Love You At All_
"Popemobile" Arne Hansen & The Guitarspellers _So Happy I Could Pop (Vol 2)_
"That's What I'm For" The Hanshalf Trio _Woosh! - Little Teddy Recordings 1991-2001_
"Girls FM" Happy Birthday _Happy Birthday_
"Terry" The Happy Birthdays _The Happy Birthdays_
"Another Sunny Day" The Happy Couple _Fools In Love_
"Puritans" The Happy Family _Man On Your Street_
"Under A Song" Happy Losers _Beikoku-Ongaku Magazine # 12_
"Step On" Happy Mondays _Pills 'n' Thrills & Bellyaches_
"Camera Song" Happy Supply _Crucial Cuts_
"Heaven No!" Happydeadmen _Eleven Pop Songs_
(part four)
"The Boy I Was" Harbour Bar _The Sound Of Leamington Spa Vol. 2_
"Orchid Sunrise" The Harbour Pilots _Welcome To The Wetherbeat Scene 1988 - 1991_
"Sleepers" Harbourkings _Summercolts_
"Bastard Son" John Wesley Harding _Here Comes The Groom_
"Wonderful Lie" The Hardy Boys _The Hardy Boys Play Songs From The Lenin & McCarthy Songbook_
"Finland" Hari & Aino _Hari & Aino_
"Make Me Smile (Come Up & See Me)" Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel _The Best Years Of Our Lives_
"Train Not Stopping" Harper Lee _Everything Is Going To Be OK_
"(There Is) No Refrain" Harrison _(There Is) No Refrain 7"_
"Crackerbox Palace" George Harrison _Thirty Three & 1/3_
"Bambi Eyes" Harry Hunks _20 Miles An Hour_
Sunday, April 29, 2012
Whither Indiepop A To Z # 37?
(& 36 too!)
Tomorrow on both Self Help Radio & the show that I do which comes chronologically before it, which is called Sugar Substitute, I will be continuing the ridiculous indiepop project which I began too long ago to remember & which now stretches into a future that I might not actually make it all the way to. This will be the 36th (on Sugar Substitute) & 37th (on Self Help Radio) editions of the Indiepop A To Z. Spoiler alert: we'll finish the Gs! Spoiling alert: we'll start the Hs! I am spoiling you.
That's happening tomorrow morning - Monday the 30th - from 6 to 9am on the 88.1 frequency on the fm dial. You can also listen online at wrfl dot fm. & of course the show will be archived at self help radio dot net later tomorrow.
& hey! I think almost all of the Indiepop A To Z collections are available on the Self Help Radio website! Look through the archive page - you'll see!
Tomorrow on both Self Help Radio & the show that I do which comes chronologically before it, which is called Sugar Substitute, I will be continuing the ridiculous indiepop project which I began too long ago to remember & which now stretches into a future that I might not actually make it all the way to. This will be the 36th (on Sugar Substitute) & 37th (on Self Help Radio) editions of the Indiepop A To Z. Spoiler alert: we'll finish the Gs! Spoiling alert: we'll start the Hs! I am spoiling you.
That's happening tomorrow morning - Monday the 30th - from 6 to 9am on the 88.1 frequency on the fm dial. You can also listen online at wrfl dot fm. & of course the show will be archived at self help radio dot net later tomorrow.
& hey! I think almost all of the Indiepop A To Z collections are available on the Self Help Radio website! Look through the archive page - you'll see!