Saturday, February 18, 2023

Valentine's Day True Love Books

(all images from Goodreads)

It's an extra bonus post!

(I am repeating this from the earlier thing I wrote today:)
Hey. I know Valentine's Day was like a few days ago. The theme of the show this VDay was "true love." You can listen to it here or here. But the fact that it's no longer Valentine's Day doesn't mean we can't continue to talk about think about or hope for true love, does it?

Our favorite librarian Carole stopped by to talk about books featuring true love. The covers are above, but here are the details. Please click on the name for more info!

Bagel In Love by Natasha Wing & Helen Dardik*
Zombie In Love by Kelly DiPucchio & Scott Campbell
Slugs In Love by Susan Pearson & Kevin O'Malley
Viking In Love by Doug Cenko

Please enjoy these wondrous books - Carole picks things I know you'll love - so check them out at your library or, if you want to purchase one, please do so from a local bookstore & not Amazon, which hates writers & puts local bookstores out of business.

& remember! Even if you never find true love itself, but we can always find books about true love. & some of them will be filled with adorable kittens!

* Good Reads like to write the name of the author & then put the word illustrator in parentheses next to the artist, but as a long-time comic book nerd I assume the artist is as involved in the creation as the writer, so I don't single one or the other out, because it feels like it's diminishing them somewhat.

Valentine's Day True Love Movies

(image from the IMDb)

Hey. I know Valentine's Day was like a few days ago. The theme of the show this VDay was "true love." You can listen to it here or here. But the fact that it's no longer Valentine's Day doesn't mean we can't continue to talk about think about or hope for true love, does it?

Our resident cinephile Chuck came on the show to talk about films tagged with "true love" on the IMDb. You can see that list here. There's also a list on Letterboxd. (His reviews are on Letterboxd too.)

But what about the movies?  Why, watch some of them on his YouTube playlist. Or watch more on the IMDb list of films streaming elsewhere for free. There is so much to watch!

Keep up with what Chuck is watching (he'll be back in three weeks) at his Twitter account. Give him a follow! Watch movies along with him!

Because we might never find true love itself, but we can always find movies about true love. You old romantic you.

Friday, February 17, 2023

New Computer Woes

(I miss my Mac SE. Image from here.)

This is a completely dumb middle class problem but - I just got a new computer - & so many of my old fucking apps no longer work on it. These include applications that are essential for making radio shows - since I not only record at least one of them from home (The Dickenbock Report) but I also record funny people & use those recordings as interviews for Self Help Radio.  & it has been fucking exhausting trying to figure out what works & doesn't & then trying to research if I can get a decent replacement.

The first hard thing is transferring over all the data. That is fourteen hours of work - not work I have to do, but what am I supposed to do with my time while it's happening?  Not using a computer, that's what!

Then it's time to see what has transpired in the let's see oh no TEN YEARS?!? since I had a new computer. Hey developers, why don't you think of programs written in 2012 when you make your new computers? Why do we have to update? They were just grand - imagine how amazing they'd be when they're as fast as the new computer is? But nope!

& something else - I got my first computer in 1993 & was online at the end of that year. I don't want to use applications based on the web. Yes, I get it, I have email on the web, & social media on the web, but editing sound on a web-based app? Holy shit why? What if their stupid website goes down? Please just let me have the application on the computer. With the files too. I don't want to keep my files somewhere else. I know they're just dumb electron things but as someone smarter than me once said, "The cloud is just someone else's computer." I paid a lot of money so I could have space on my computer for my electron things.

Anyway, this could become what the British call a "proper whinge" but I'm too tired. Just so tired. & I'm going out tonight. & when I come back I'll see what needs to be done. & hope I can do some work tomorrow. & I know I'm going to walk in downtown Portland past people sleeping in the streets & they would love to have to fret over setting up a new computer instead of you know finding shelter in the cold weather, among other things.

& this tempers my frustration & weariness. Until I discover I have to do something with security settings to make something work & then I'm bouncing my head off my desk as the only logical reaction to the stupidity of it all. Do people who make computers use them? Have they ever had to upgrade from one computer to another?

Etc.

Tuesday, February 14, 2023

Self Help Radio 021423: Valentine's Day 2023 - True Love


That picture up there - I've colored it, of course, & added the show's logo - I took it sometime in the spring of 2022, & it looked to me like someone splattered paint around a telephone pole so it would look like the pole was piercing the heart. Maybe no one sees it but me. Still, I thought it a nice symbol of true love.

Because that is this Valentine's Day show's theme! All songs about true love, plus lots of conversations with friends about true love, & visits from our favorite librarian & our resident cinephile, who have books & movies about true love to discuss.

Perhaps you can listen with your true love. Or it can just remind you how romantic you are as you yearn for true love. Or like Valentine's Day in general it can be a real bummer.

Howsoever you feel, if you'd like to listen, you can do so at both the KBOO website & at the Self Help Radio website. As usual, the latter requires a username & password (SHR + selfhelp) but you can download it. All the stuff that happens is below.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Self Help Radio Valentine's Day True Love Show
"True Love" Herman Griffin _For This I Thank You: Motown R&B, Popcorn, & Rock 'N' Roll_
"True Love" George Harrison _Thirty Three & 1/3_
"True Love" Jilted John _True Love Stories_

a quick introduction

"True Love" Marching Girls _1_
"True Love" X _More Fun In The New World_
"True Love" Adrian Younge Presents The Delfonics _Adrian Younge Presents The Delfonics_
"True Love (feat. James Bay)" Montag _Phases_
"True Love" Crushed Out _Teeth_

our favorite librarian Carole talks about books featuring true love

"True Love" Fenster _The Pink Caves_
"True Love" Vince Mira _El Radio_
"True True Lovin'" The Bristols _Introducing The Bristols_
"Monologue For An Old True Love" Isobel Campbell _Amorino_
"From My Own True Love (Lost At Sea)" The Decemberists _Picaresque_

our resident cinephile Chuck talks about movies featuring true love

"True Love Cast Out All Evil" Roky Erickson _Reverend Of Karmic Youth_
"My True Love" The Bobby Fuller Four _The Bobby Fuller Four_
"Tell Me (I'm Your True Love)" Gore Gore Girls _Up All Night_
"When Love Is True" Susan Hampshire _The Girls' Scene_
"Don't Let True Love Die" Diana Ross & The Supremes _The Never-Before-Released Masters_

a conversation with my friend Derek

"True Love Will Find You In The End" Spectrum _Still In A Dream: A Story Of Shoegaze 1988-1995_
"Finding Out True Love Is Blind" Louis XIV _Illegal Tender_
"True Love Knows" La Luz _Weirdo Shrine_
"I Found A True Love" Wilson Pickett _The Midnight Mover_
"I Lost A True Love" Danny Wagner & The Kindred Soul _Big City Soul Volume 1_

a conversation with my friend Bobbie

"True True Love" Mickey & Sylvia _Love Is Strange_
"True Love Don't Grow On Trees" Helene Smith _Eccentric Soul: The Outskirts Of Deep City_
"My True Love" Freddie McKay _Soul Defenders At Studio One_
"True Love Tends To Forget" Bob Dylan _Street-Legal_
"Black Is The Color Of My True Love's Hair (Jaffa Remix)" Nina Simone _Verve // Remixed²_

a conversation with my friend Roger

"Glory Of True Love" John Prine _Fair & Square_
"True Love Leaves No Traces" Dead Famous People _I'm Your Fan: The Songs Of Leonard Cohen
By..._
"True Love Never Dies" Allen Orange _Crescent City Soul: The Sound Of New Orleans 1947-1974_
"You'll Never Cherish A Love So True" The Vells _Finders Keepers (Motown Girls 1961-67)_
"Even True Love" Widowspeak _Plum_

a conversation with my friend Jarvis

"First Dance, First Kiss, True Love" Billy J. Killen _Teen Town U.S.A. Volume 8_
"(If You Cry) True Love, True Love" The Drifters _The Definitive Drifters_
"Love So True" Tielman Brothers _The Golden Years Of Dutch Pop Music (A&B Sides)_
"A Love As True As Mine" The Roc-Kays Band _The Deepest Soul_
"True Love Don't Come Easy" Stephanie Mills _Tantalizingly Hot_

a conversation with my friend Joan
+ conclusion & goodbye

"A True Love Goodbye" Roy Orbison _Orbison 1955-1965_
"True Luv Gone Astray" Joey Tedeschi & The Idols _Sigh Cry Die_
"True Love Is Not Nice" Jonathan Richman _I'm So Confused_"True Love Ways" Buddy Holly _Not Fade Away: The Complete Studio Recordings & More_

Monday, February 13, 2023

Whither True Love (Valentine's Day Show 2023)?

(image found here)

It's that time of year again - & Self Help Radio is actually airing on Valentine's Day this time around!

At this point, the show has covered themes like  love, hate, crushes, jealousy, boyfriends, girlfriends, love songs, lovesickness, "love is...", valentines, famous lovers, heartbreak, sweethearts, roses, flirting, the heart, "make you mine," & dating. It seemed appropriate that the show focus entirely on true love on the day of the holiday itself.

In addition to lots of songs about true love, telling us what true love is & isn't, I'll talk to several friends about their experiences with true love.  It should be goofy & romantical!

Listen tonight, or tomorrow really, at the very start of Valentine's Day, midnight to 3am Portland time on 90.7fm in town or online at kboo.fm. It probably won't help you find true love, but it may rule out some of your more disturbing notions about it.

Sunday, February 12, 2023

Preface To Valentine's Day 2023 - True Love: A Picture

While I have no idea if what I have is true love, it's lasted through some ups & downs now for more than twenty years. Here's a picture of my wife & me in one of those mirrors people put up so they don't drive into traffic. I have a habit of taking pictures of us together when we walk by those.

We're not doing anything for Valentine's Day, though. I guess I'm doing a radio show. But it's a regular day for us. In fact, she just said, as I showed her this picture, "Valentine's Day is this week? So that's why you've been playing all those songs about love!"