smoke and mirrors

in a perfect world . . .

Loved this song forever.
The band as well.
XTC
Get out the phones, peoples . . .

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It’s Wednesday again (a bit early, perhaps) and time for some serious weirdness with me and
my accomplice Annie, the WriterChick.
Please pay the Queen of Weird a visit after here, okay?
We picked ‘Hump’ day to post the strange and wonderful in an attempt to
entertain the masses.
Obviously the biggest news topic the past week has been celebrity deaths.
FF, MJ, EM, BM were the biggest.
I’ll start today with a short video of the morphing face of Jacko
(aka, Mr. PotatoHead)
Pretty damn cool.

Next up:

Stare at the picture below.
Who do you see? (say, Einstein)

If you can, move 10 to 15 feet away from the monitor, now tell me who you see?
Coolbeaners, huh?
(tanks, Pamel)

Next up:

A few products to entice you;

It’s called the “Aquariass” and has this description:
Add a little life to your bathroom with this live aquarium.
The fully functioning tank fits American Standard bowls.
Custom bowl installation is available.

You can’t make this shit up, folks.

Here’s something everyone needs;

Bathroom Chess
Have some time?
Plan your next move and build strategy while doing your business with this wall mounted chess set.
(build strategy with who?)

Next up:

My E’pic’ of the Week:

And last, a few links from the Onion newsdesk:

Chipotle Employee just gave guy in front of you more rice

A little bit of Taco Bell goes a long, long way

Happy Weird Wednesday!

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I’m thinking many people have wondered about the origins of my URL,
or not.
I’ve based my email addresses on Steely Dan song titles
simply because I didn’t want
an email address like  dan22677hj_kko0@yahoo.com.
Steely Dan song titles worked great;
hence bookofliars@gmail.com
(Book of Liars is a Dan song not currently on YouTube)
Okay, now I’ve let my little secret fly.
Now go and listen to the tune that ultimately gave me my URL . . .
(and a few email addys)
If you’re a Dan fan from the Boston area,
they’re appearing at the Wang in late July.
Go to Steely Dan.com  for more info
I’m on vacation that week but for some reason
I’m not bumming about it at all . . .

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He was walking in the morning, Sunshine
a green and red pizza-sliced umbrella hung over his head
like a clown’s frown
He was neither here nor there but anywhere was better than his here and now

With a grey rag wool cap on his head and
a scratched up pair of $3.99 Aviator sunglasses covering his tired and muddy eyes,
he looked like some godforsaken Howard Hughes, waiting for Godot
But you wouldn’t know how he carried his world full of blue in a wrinkled leather satchel,
his personal box of rain that seemed almost attached to his hip

It was far from cool, this game, maybe this joke
kept his rarer than rare smiles in his bag, next to his smokes
because nothing made sense anymore, and it hadn’t for sometime
his box filled with rain, this life without rhyme
So one day He was walking in the evening sunshine
at least the sun don’t ever lie
and sometimes that just has to be enough
for a guy called Sunshine . . .

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Appropriate music for the start of another Weird Wednesday.

As always, after visiting here be sure and visit my friend Weird Chick

because that’s what makes this whole thing work out.

She’s as strange as me.

Go figger.

Here we go.

This is weird and just plain funny.

*Remember the Gong Show?

Continue reading »

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Sometimes when I’m having a hard time coming up with something to write about
I put on a piece of music guaranteed to stimulate a brain wave or two.
I’m currently listening to Charles Ives and his Concord Symphony,
specifically ‘Hawthorne’, the second movement of the piece.
Ives isn’t for the average listener, believe me.
It’s some strange and beautiful stuff.
When I first listened to this particular piece years ago,
I wondered how one man could physically play it.
About three minutes into ‘Hawthorne’ you hear these pentatonic (all black notes) clusters,
an impossibility for the right hand alone given what the left hand is doing at that point.
Trust me.
It’s impossible.
Or so I thought.
I would find out years later that the performance notes for the Concord
require a piece of wood that must be cut to a certain size and
must weigh approximately 8oz or some crazy ass shit like that.
The board is gently ‘layed’ across the black notes on the piano giving the massive ‘cluster’ effect that I heard (and loved)
Nope Ives is not for the faint of heart simply because of the harmonic complexity of his music.
One minute he can sound like Chick Corea while the next he’s Scott Joplin on an acid trip.
I would recommend that everyone listen to Ives but I fear you’d call me insane.
If you want to experience something insanely creative by a lowly insurance salesman from Danbury, Connecticut,
go for it.
Ives is incredible and one of a kind.
I heard someone play something by Ives many years ago and it was something of a religious experience.
Truth.
Check it out.
Be sure and stop back for Weird Wednesday!

~m

For those of you that choose to listen:

Hawthorne Part 1
Hawthorne Part 2

These are performed by Marc-Andre Hamelin,
an amazing pianist and great interpreter of Ives.

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Strange mood this evening, peoples
Felt like some appropriate night music.
Enjoy.

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Dear Dad,

I know you’ll never read this but I wanted to take a few minutes
and tell the world how very much you mean to me and Maureen.
We miss so many things about you; your laugh, your smile, your once bright eyes,
the way you used to drive Mom nuts whenever you tried to sing,
how proud you were of your wonderful grandchildren,
even the way you used to wrap yourself up like a mummy whenever we went to the beach so you wouldn’t go all ‘lobster’ on us.
I’ll be visiting you this Sunday and will undoubtedly feed you lunch,
maybe give you a shave if you need one.
It’s really sad that there isn’t more I can do.
But at least I can do that.
I haven’t been keeping up with the Red Sox like I used to either.
That was something I did when you were better so we’d have something to talk about besides the weather.
These days the weather isn’t worth talking about anyway.
I saw an older man sitting on a bench on the Boston Common the other day that looked just like you.
I absentmindedly started walking faster towards you him before I caught myself.
He wasn’t you.
He could never be you.
Then again no one could ever be the man I call my father except for you.
On Sunday, Maureen and I pray a small part of you knows how special you have always been to us
and will continue to be.
Maureen says it best when she gently puts her hand on your cheek and says,
“You are the greatest Dad ever, you know that don’t you?”
And so I will say, “Happy Father’s Day, Dad,”
because in my heart I know you’re still in there somewhere.

Much love, Papa Wally
Much love . . .

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I am all about the stars.
Just downloaded ‘Stellarium’ tonight.
Had to share.
Even the desktop icon is cool for this program.
If you like stars and the night sky this program is nuckin’ futs.
It’s a big file (@40megs) but totally worth it.
I’ve been trolling the sky for the past half hour.
Click on the picture above and enjoy.
Any guesses as to the constellation up there?
(Moe, don’t bother)

Enjoy . . .

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