Chagrined Bear

Poll for Aug. 30th and second week predicts...

2008-09-03T14:02:00.005-05:00

Here's the new poll plus the predictions for this coming weekend...

1. Georgia vs. Central Michigan. The experts picked the Chippewas to repeat as MAC champs this year. Of course, UGA won't give them any help, unless they're looking ahead to next week's game with South Carolina.
2. Florida vs. Miami (Fl). Too bad this won't be the Canes' team from the first half of this decade, instead of the descendants of the mess of the last two years. Oh, yeah, USA Today. Hard to imagine that some football nut from Alabama would remember recent sports history better than one of your writers (or editors), but the last time the Gators and Canes met up in the regular season was 2003, not 1987. Florida rules.
3. USC off. I guess with all the man-love for Pete Carroll that TV (especially ESPN) and radio has, USC could have beaten Virginia UNION 52-7 and would awarded the #1 ranking this week in the AP and UPI (sorry, USA Today/ESPN/Poulon Weedeater Coaches) Polls. Until someone beats UGA, they remain no. 1 in the Jimbo Poll. Until someone beats Florida, they remain #2. Until someone beats SoCal (hopefully soon), they're #3. Deal with it.
4. Oklahoma vs. 23. Cincinnati. Could be a tough game, one that Stoops usually overlooks. Not this year.
5. Ohio State vs. Ohio. A bevy of instate fights begins here. Guess who wins.
6. LSU vs. Troy St. Whup Troy.
7. Mizzou vs. SE Mizzou. Another directional school.
8. West Virginia at ECU. OUCH! After the Pirates' upset of Va Tech last week, this is a trap game if ever I saw one. Mounties should win, but don't be surprised...
9. Wisconsin vs. Marshall. Where's Randy Moss when the Herd needs 'im?
10. Texas vs. UTEP. Big Brother pays Little Brother so Big Brother can beat them up.
10. (tie) Auburn vs. Southern Miss. Trap game, perhaps. War Eagles haven't played Golden Eagles since '92. Two losses at Homecoming in '90 and '91 might caused Auburn to shy away. Auburn probably wins, unless a revenge game at Starkville is on their minds more.
12. Arizona State vs. Stanford. After the Cardinal upset Oregon State last week, the Sun Devils won't overlook the league's doormat.
13. Bama vs. Tulane. Roll Tide! Don't let it get to your heads, boys.
14. BYU at Washington. Cougs try to build on BSC-buster creds. Jake Locker is dangerous, but the Y could be looking ahead to UCLA.
15. Texas Tech AT Nevada. Hasn't Tech got ahead in the world enough not to have to do a home-and-home with a WAC team. No difference, though. Tech wins.
16. Kansas vs. La Tech. Jayhawks won't let Tech do to them what Tech did to Miss St.
17. South Florida at UCF. Should be a great game, since this is the battle of Florida Upstarts. Bulls too strong.
18. Fresno St off.
19. Penn St vs. Oregon St. Dangerous game for PSU; Beavers might be mad from loss to the Trees last week. JoePa keeps them going, though.
20. Clemson vs. The Citadel. Let's see if what I considered the best tailbacks this side of Knowshon Moreno can gather any rushing yardage. Bama ate 'em up last week.
21. Oregon vs. Utah St. Ducks win.
22. Wake vs. Ole Miss. Interesting game, but Deacons are much better than the Rebs right now.
24. UCLA off. Enjoy that gift from the Vols while you can, Rick.
25. Illinois vs. Eastern Illinois. Another instate pounding. Illini stayed in the top 25 due to not giving up to Mizzou. Still a good team.

Other Games of Interest:
Jax State vs. Ala. A&M. Thanx to UNA and Livingston St staying in D-II, Troy St and UAB going to D-IA, and Samford trading butt-whuppin's from us and EKU for butt-whuppin's from App. St and Furman, A&M is the only in-state rival we have left that'll play us (until South Alabama kicks in). Easy to predict that Paul Snow will sell out, if the crowd's still what it was when I went to JSU. Jax State should win.

First week's predictions...

2008-08-28T12:43:00.002-05:00

Yahoo! Football's finally here. If you use any of this as a guide for your calls to the bookie, you're a bigger idiot than I am.

1. Georgia vs. Ga. Southern. Once upon a time, Ga Southern was App. State. Not any more.
2. Florida vs. Hawai'i. A year ago, this woulda been a great match-up, with Tebow vs. Colt Brennan. Too bad it's this year. Gators chomp.
3. USC at UVA. The Cavs were a much better team last year. Who knows how they'll be this year. USC romps.
4. Oklahoma vs. UT-Chattanooga. Where's TO when the Mocs need 'im? Not here.
5. Ohio State vs. Youngstown State. How nice of Sweater-vest to pay for YS's fb budget, since he coached there for years, leading them to several D I-AA national titles. 'Eyes ain't taking no chances before Sep. 13th.
6. LSU vs. App. St. Could the Mounties do to the Bengals what they did to Michigan last year? Nuh-uh, unless Gustave distracts LSU.
7. Mizzou vs. 13. Illinois. Best game of the week, outside of the Georgia Dome. Mizzou should win, with Illinois having to replace Mendenhall and some choice defensive players.
8. Clemson vs. Bama. Being a Bama fan, I'd like to see them win this game, just to shut up a few War Eagle fans who'd squawk about the fact that THEY beat Clemson in the Peach Bowl last year. Davis and Spiller are too strong, however, I'm afraid. Character builder for the Tide.
9. WV vs. Villanova. Where's Rudy Gay when 'Nova needs 'im?
10. Wisconsin vs. Akron. MAC game. Used to be dangerous but not now. Badgers for real.
11. Texas vs. Florida Atlantic. Good ol' Schnellenberger. Leave to the guy who invented Cane football to think that a Sun Belt team could come in and beat the 'Horns on their home field. But, FAU is about where Miami was when Schnellenberger came aboard. Horns still win.
12. Auburn vs. La. Monroe. Great. Something else for the War Eagles to crow about; Monroe beat Bama last year.
14. Virginia Tech at East Carolina. This was an emotional game last year, thanx to the VT massacre. It could be a trap game this year, since the Pirates aren't pushovers.
15. Arizona State vs. Northern Arizona. Sun Devils throws a bone to a state school.
16. BYU vs. Northern Iowa. Where's Kurt Warner when NI needs 'im?
17. Tennessee at UCLA. Ouch. With injuries aplenty, UCLA doesn't look good on paper, but the Bruins have surprised UT before, back in '94. UT should win, though.
18. Kansas vs. Florida International. Jayhawks begins with their usual juggernaut schedule.
19. South Florida vs. Tenn-Martin. Yeah, Bulls! Beat them Skyhawks (or whatever they are); UT-Martin is an old rival of JSU's.
20. Texas Tech vs. Eastern Washington. This is the school that Jimmy Klingler of Houston's run-n-shoot fame popped for 11 TD's . Think Harrell couldn't do the same?
21. Penn State vs. Coastal Carolina. Except for Clemson-Bama, UT-UCLA, and Mizzou-Illini, this ain't a stellar weekend. But it don't need to be; it's opening week. It's FOOTBALL. FOR THE 1ST TIME IN 7 MONTHS.
22. Oregon vs. U-Dub. Wow, how'd this sneak up on me? Ducks vs. Jake Locker, the third best option-QB in the U.S. Could be a close game. Ducks win, though.
23. Fresno St at Rutgers. Another decent game. The Knights will miss Ray Rice and the 'Dawgs are the best of the non-BCSers. Fresno could win.
24. Cincinnati vs. Eastern Kentucky. Another JSU rival. Go Bearcats.
25. Michigan vs. Utah. Upset special? Could be. Won't be, though.

Other games of Interest:
Jax State at Ga Tech. App. St, part 2? With the new QB from LSU, we might could pull off an upset, although it wouldn't be on a Mich-App St. level. Would be big for Jax State, though.
Michigan State at Cal. One team going up, one team going down. Crossroads intersectional game.

"I'm a star, I'm a star, I'm a big bright shining star..."

2008-08-22T12:22:00.004-05:00

After finding the second part of the Dazed and Confused soundtrack online (I had owned a "hard copy" before; my ex-wife apparently confiscated it), I got to thinking about the songs they left off both the soundtracks to Dazed and Boogie Nights. Then I thought about the fact that they took the songs out of chronological order from the movie. Which led to IMDB. Which led to watching movies to pick out, then make a list of the order of the songs. Which led to what you have before you now: what I call the "Master Editions" of both Dazed and Confused and Boogie Nights; every song played in the movie in the order in which it was played. I consider these to be anybody's basic Introduction to Rock (Dazed) and Disco/funk/wotaveyou (BN) in The 70's. Both contain over 30 songs (Dazed has some choice quotes from the film alongside the music), so go to IMDB to find the track listings.

Dazed and Confused (Master Edition) Part 1

Dazed and Confused (Master Edition) Part 2

Boogie Nights (Master Edition) part 1

Boogie Nights (Master Edition) part 2

Enjoy!

Kiki re-upped

2008-08-19T15:01:00.003-05:00

Here's a re-up of the "Kiki's Delivery Service" with the missing song from the english version, "Soaring" by Sydney Forest (the song that plays during the opening credits).

"Kiki updated"

Enjoy!

The Song Remains the Same

2008-08-18T12:02:00.004-05:00

I came to Led Zeppelin relativelly late in life, at the old age of 16 (old for a guy who was already becoming a (temporary) metalhead), due mainly to the conservative nature of my mother, who bought into the Christian propaganda that LZ was satanic, especially "Stairway to Heaven". Zoso, of course, was the first LZ album I bought, but when I found the '73 concert film from MSG buried behind a bunch of Duran Duran and Michael Jackson concert tapes in Video Depot in 1987, my life changed.

Funny, to think that many felt that this was not their best live work at all (Richard Cole even said so in his book, Hammer of the Gods) but until the creation of the internet and bootlegs that didn't cost $25 a freakin' CD but rather free thanx to filesharing and Torrents, this was the ONLY LZ concert I had access to, until Live at the BBC and How the West was Won was released. I still think the versions of "Since I've been Loving U", "No Quarter", and "The Rain Song" are the best I've heard so far. The funky visuals from the film, especially "Dazed and Confused", lend a lot as well.

This was grabbed from Utorrents as a FLAC file, which I converted to 320 kbps.

..."This is a song that takes in a manner our forefathers were very used to... The cosmic energy - everyone goes 'YEAH' - BASH!"

"I think this is a song of hope..."

Enjoy!

"...where were you when we were gettin' high?"

2008-08-18T11:56:00.003-05:00

This didn't stick with me until later on, although, as everyone else in the U.S., I first heard of them with "Wonderwall". Like Rumours, I had to have something to be depressed about before songs such as "Wonderwall" and "Don't Look Back in Anger" meant much to me. In 1996, I simply felt that they were a pretty decent Beatles homage (right down to the Lennon glasses Liam wears in the video). In the past few years, I enjoy them much more, at least the first 2 albums and their concerts from 95-96.

"...don't look back in anger, I heard ya say..."

Enjoy!

"Does anybody here remember Vera Lynn?"

2008-08-15T13:37:00.004-05:00

Pink Floyd The Wall meant a lot more to me when I was younger and more angst-ridden (rather than just plain ol' depressed). The album was better than the movie, although I've never seen the movie high like so many people have advised me to (I did listen to the album on a walkman whilst stoned to the gills on good weed in '92. Once was fucking enough. Trauma such as that only needs to happen once in a lifetime. I won't even listen to The Wall whilst drinking, much less under the influence of anything stronger).

This is the Official Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab Ultradisc™ 24 KT Gold version. Although it claims to have superior sound, I guess I would have to have bought one of those $10,000 Technics or Harmon Kardon to really appreciate it, not a $90 Sony boombox from Wal-mart. But, hey, I could get what I could afford. At the time, this set cost about $40 at Slip Disc (our local independant record store at the time); now it runs up to $87 on Ebay. I got it for 4 bucks in 1991 from a friend who obviousily valued cigarettes more than music. Lucky me. Lucky you if this might be what you're looking for.

ripped at 320 kbps. If I knew how to rip in FLAC, I would, since this would probably sound better in lossless...

Disc 1

Disc 2

Enjoy!

The second best album of 1987...

2008-08-15T13:20:00.003-05:00

I was aware of U2 before this album came out, or, specifically, before "With or Without You" first played on the radio; some friends of mine in marching band told me about them, around the time The Unforgettable Fire was out, but I didn't invest my lunch money into that record, then (that's how I bought much of my music from 10th grade until 12th; I saved up 7 days of lunch money and had enough to grab the tape on sale at Camelot. When the newest releases were on sale in 1987, they were usually $6.99-7.99).

It was the haunting "With..." that drew me in, plus "I Still haven't Found What I'm Looking For", which fit me to a T, with all the crushes I had going at the time. I got the tape on the Fourth of July, 1987, the same day my mother bought me a Corona electronic typewriter (the equivalent of a word processer in 1992 and Word for Windows nowadays) so I didn't have to write longhand all the time.

This remains my favorite U2 album, with Achtung Baby a fair-to-middlin' second. This is the expanded version that was released a year ago, with b-sides and other misc.

Disc 1

Disc 2

Enjoy!

"Number nine...number nine...number nine..."

2008-08-13T13:06:00.003-05:00

It's hard to pinpoint just one Beatles album to call their greatest. Most magazines state that Sgt. Pepper is their best, while others name Revolver or Rubber Soul. To me, it's always been the White Album, their least cohesive of all, at least when it came to true collaboration (Paul even overdubbed Ringo's drums with his own playing on "Back in the USSR" because he was pissed about the initial take). Even with everyone basically using each other as a glorified studio band on their personal songs, the sheer scale of the work is monumental. I must just have a thing for the audacity of double-albums (See Sign O the Times, Kid A/Amnesiac, 1999, Mellon Collie, The Wall, etc., etc.)

LP 1

LP 2

Enjoy!

"Disarm you with a smile..."

2008-08-13T12:41:00.004-05:00

Despite all the grunge hoopla in '92 and '93 (and I bought into it, just a bit; I never did the flannel shirt or unwashed hair thing and although I enjoyed the movie Singles, I appreciate it more as an artifact of the early '90's than any kind of Graduate or Breakfast Club generational statement), the band that came out of that time period that meant the most to me was the Smashing Pumpkins. Nirvana was great and Nine Inch Nails articulated a good bit of my angst (although, like the previous post, Rumours, I didn't truly appreciate Trent Reznor's lyrics until I was around 30, not 23), but the Pumpkins, at least with Dream and Mellon Collie, made me feel that this was the band that I would have founded, if I had learned how to play guitar or drums, write music, and convinced others to play in a band.

It was, in a nutshell, how someone felt when, after 4 or 5 years after escaping high school, they still haven't quite gotten over the trauma. I wasn't really picked on (I was 6'3" and about 220 in 11th grade; the principal was more mad about the fact that I wouldn't play football or basketball than he was about my long hair and suspect friends), nor did I not have any friends. I guess that I engaged in a internalized Theater of Class Warfare from seventh grade until I graduated from college. Whatever the ruling class was (Preppies, Jocks, Frat Boys, Bowheads (what My Crowd called sorority chicks in the early '90's, because they all wore color-coordinated ribbons tied in a bow in their hair), I hated it and refused to play the game. Not that they seemed to miss my company, anyway. I most certainily was not Klebold and Harris (although I did wear a black trenchcoat 10 years before they made it verboten to wear to school; however, my inspiration was Ralph Macchio from Teachers and Bender from The Breakfast Club, not mass murder or Sting from WCW), but I made sure that everyone knew that I hated the caste system in school.

Anyway, nevermind my hang-ups, here's the Pumpkins...

"Who wants that honey?"

"Thunder only happens when its raining..."

2008-08-13T12:16:00.004-05:00

There are several albums that you can't really appreciate or even fully understand until you reach a certain age, or, at least, a certain level of maturity. Fleetwood Mac's Rumours is definitely such an album for me. Like Beck's Sea Change, John Mellencamp's The Lonesome Jubilee, and several of Prince's songs, such as "If I was your Girlfriend", "Forever in My Life", and "Adore", certain music requires experience in living. Sure, I remember listening to "Dreams" or "Go Your Own Way" on the radio, both as a kid on 92J and as a teenager on Rock 99 (the 1st 'classic rock' station to come to central Alabama), but they were just great tunes, then. Sign O the Times has been my favorite album since it was released in 1987, but it took growing up and finding out what the Hell Prince meant in some of those songs to understand the music.

Now, after marriage and divorce, cancer and recovery, Rumours means more to me than it ever did when I first bought the album (for a whole dollar at a flea market, on vinyl). "Go Your Own Way"? That's exactly how I felt in 2001. "...When the rain washes you clean... you'll know." Boy, do I ever.

"...Players only love you when you're playing."

Enjoy!

Magic on the Sax

2008-08-12T11:48:00.003-05:00

There's not much that I can say that someone hasn't already said about Coltrane, so here's all I'm gonna say. Although I had heard his name being dropped by Bono two or three times on Rattle and Hum, and a buddy who dallied in jazz had mentioned him, It wasn't until Spike Lee properly introduced me to Coltrane in Mo' Better Blues that True Love hit. Upon finding it at the Laser's Edge in Homewood, life has been a little bit better.

Also included, below the 1st link, is Coltrane's next best work, "Alabama", an abbreviated version from the Malcolm X soundtrack.

A Love Supreme

"Alabama"

Enjoy!

"I've got a tape I want to play."

2008-08-12T11:20:00.004-05:00

Until about a year ago, I thought that Prince's 1987 concert film for his Sign O the Times tour was the best concert film ever made, although many critics at the time felt that either "The Last Waltz" or the Talking Heads' "Stop Making Sense" was much better. I saw "Last Waltz" at a rather young age (14; before I could really develop a true taste for good music), so I wasn't as impressed (at the time) compared to the baby boomers who rave(d) over it.

"Stop Making Sense", however, was out of my grasp for a long time. As most people in Alabama, I was introduced to the Heads via "Burning Down the House". I then picked up True Stories, after reading about them in Rolling Stone (Don't laugh; in Northeast Alabama, Rolling Stone was more hip than reading Village Voice or NME in bigger cities; I was the only one at my high school who even read rock criticism. Everyone else read the metal mags). After buying Naked in 1989, I didn't think much about them until college when they released Sand in the Vaseline. Finally listening to their entire breadth of work (Little Creatures was even hard to find at Camelot, the best record store in the 5-county area; remember, this is 1991 in Alabama), I was floored.

Although I like R.E.M. and U2 better, as groups go, Talking Heads was beyond anything I had heard before, especially the early stuff. I read more about them, seeing that they came from the NY/CBGB scene, but, to me, as much as I like them as well, the Ramones and Television didn't have anything on them. Perhaps my love for Prince's music, and his dense sound, made the Heads more palpable to my ears.

I decided to give what I feel is the best of all possible worlds, the soundtrack to Stop Making Sense. In a town where the idea of a concert film on DVD or tape in a rental shop is Miley Cyrus or Toby Keith, I had to go the route of Utorrent for this one; Netflix is not in the cards since I've avoided credit cards like the plague ever since one of my closest friends got royally screwed up in college by overspending, so that leaves Netflix and even Amazon out of the question, unless they take money orders. If you haven't seen it yet, see it. Until then, enjoy the magic of the Heads.

"...Home is where i want to be, but i guess i'm already there..."

Enjoy!

"...if we got married, wouldn't it be cool?"

2008-08-08T12:03:00.005-05:00

When Doves Cry remains my favorite Kid song, but The Beautiful Ones is probably his most poiganant, behind If I was your Girlfriend.

Purple Rain is, for many people, his greatest album. It is one of the best in the past 40 years, but Sign O the Times remains, for me, his masterpiece. Still, there is not a weak second, much less a weak moment on Purple Rain. Entertainment Weekly definitely got something right when they named PR the best New Classic of the past 25 years (hard to believe that this is the same company that publishes People Magazine), if for the artist if not for the album.

Purple Rain remains as close to my heart as anything from my youth, since it moved me from the music that I listened to as a child (AM country and Easy Listening, the Percy Faith sort on the old FM 100) to the glories of pop/rock. Sure, Michael Jackson, The Police and the Eurthymics caught my ear first, but the Kid made me not only a rock fan, but a music fan. He led me (and many others) to the Dawn, which I am forever grateful. Too bad he gets mad if people want to share him with others; I've already bought most of his work in 2 or 3 different mediums (LP, tape, CD), so I don't feel so bad as to share it with you.

Welcome to the Dawn, ya'll...

(look in comments for extra info)

The best band of the past 15 years

2008-08-08T11:42:00.008-05:00

Most think they're too hyped, some would agree with me totally. Radiohead, in my humble opinion, is the best band to at least emerge in the past 15 years (I'm not counting R.E.M., U2, Talking Heads, etc. since they emerged well before 1993). OK Computer is a modern masterpiece, whilst Kid A/Amnesiac (I treat them as a double-album, in a way) redefined what music was supposed to be in the new century.

These have been uploaded countless times on the web, but here's those albums at 320 kbps, which I got off Utorrent.

"...hope that you choke, that you choke..."

"Yesterday I woke up sucking a lemon..."

"Well of course Id like to sit around and chat..."

Enjoy!

The best Album ever...

2008-08-07T11:44:00.007-05:00

...Sign O the Times and its two predecessors, The Crystal Ball and Dream Factory. Sign is easily the best of The Kid's grand career, but the funny thing about it is that, originally, as most Kid's fans know, there was a project with he and the Revolution called Dream Factory, then, after the dissolution of the Revolution, a 3-LP set named Crystal Ball (the whole story can be found at its Wiki page).

First up is Dream Factory:

"This is what it's like at the Dream Factory..."
"...Africa, Cap'n Crunch..."

Next, Crystal Ball... (the image is for the outtake album that came out in the late '90's, not for the '86 album)

LP 1
LP 2
LP 3

and finally, Sign O the Times...

"Shut Up, already...Damn!"
"Would you let me kiss you down there...you know, where it counts..."

Enjoy!

The Best Albums Ever...

2008-08-07T11:17:00.006-05:00

...or, at least, my favorites. Let me start off with the fact that, thanks to the internet, I now own almost every single album that I've ever had or wanted over the past 37 years of my life. Since I started this blog, I've decided to forgo the ban on compleat albums and post the 20 or so of the ones that I feel are the best ever. Notice that there are no Led Zeppelin, Elton John or Elvis records here; that's because I consider their entire work to be wonderful and can't possibly break it down to one or two albums. Prince is the same way, after a fashion, but I can provide the two best, including what I feel to be the best albums of all time: Sign O the Times.

Since Prince is famous for having lawyers scan the internet for his work so as to delete it and/or sue, I'll simply refer to him as The Kid, after his nom de plume in Purple Rain.

But first, let me give the best two soundtracks for all time, or, at least for one, the soundtrack that has absolutely no filler. First, Vince Gualraldi's A Charlie Brown Christmas, then Trent Reznor's Natural Born Killers. (Yes, this is one Hell of a pair - yen and yang- but it works)

"Christmastime is Here..."

"A moment of realization is worth a thousand prayers."

"Well, let's give that key lime pie a day in court, and a big old glass of non-fat milk, if you please."

2008 Pre-season Jimbo College Poll!

2008-08-05T11:08:00.004-05:00

As I said before in the title, "A bit of sport", here's the sports part: My official poll for Division 1-A college football which I've done since 1989. It'll differ from the AP and Coaches' Poll, but perhaps nearly 20 years of devouring college football on a national scale qualifies me some...

1. Georgia (1)
2. Florida
3. USC
4. Oklahoma
5. Ohio State
6. LSU
7. Mizzou
8. Clemson
9. WV
10. Wisconsin
11. Texas
12. Auburn
13. Illinois
14. Virginia Tech
15. Arizona State
16. BYU
17. Tennessee
18. Kansas
19. South Florida
20. Texas Tech
21. Penn State
22. Oregon
23. Fresno St
24. Cincinnati
25. Michigan

(receiving first place vote(s))

also considered: Cal, Bama, Boise St, FSU, Miss. St.

I'll try to comment on the upcoming games if I can remember to do so, sort of like a handicapping list, but if you bet money on my picks, you're crazier than I am. Only 23 days til kickoff!

More Miyazaki...

2008-07-31T11:44:00.002-05:00

Here's the soundtracks for Howl's Moving Castle and Spirited Away...

Howl's

Spirited Away

Enjoy!

"You asked for it, you got it, Toyota."

2008-07-31T11:39:00.003-05:00

Here's the lost file of "Power of Myth" eps. 5 and 6. If this don't work, let me know.

Enjoy

Power of Myth 5-6

"You'd think they'd never seen a girl and a cat on a broom before."

2008-07-29T12:55:00.005-05:00

Miyazaki's work has long been my favorite animated films
since my childhood, and just about the best (next to Spirited Away)
is Kiki's Delivery Service. A quaint tale about a 13-year-old witch
and her cat discovering a larger world outside of her childhood
home, in a Europe that might have existed if World War II had
never happened (a reoccurring theme in Miyazaki's work (see
Howl's Moving Castle, as well). This was the first of his films
that I saw, after Disney licensed his movies in the 90's, although
I had heard of My neighbor Totoro. My nephew and nieces at the
time loved it. The music was wonderful, also, and here's the sound-
track that I found on a Japanese social board. Also is included, on the
third track, the English song that played during the end credits, "I'm
gonna Fly" (I couldn't find "Soaring" anywhere at the moment).

Enjoy!

"I'm gonna Fly..."

Story of our Lives, Vol. 0.5, part the second

2008-07-26T13:24:00.002-05:00

Here's the second part of the 80's collection, covering roughly from 1986 to early 1989.

(track listings are in comments)

81 Honda Civic ('86-89; named after the car that I was given permission to drive by my mother after I turned 16. This is mostly pop music with some club/dance that was played mostly on Q104)

John Lander's Hit Music USA ('87-88; named after a syndicated show that aired on Saturday nights on Q104)

Camelot Music ('87-89; stuff that wasn't played on the radio but was discovered when the best record store of my youth (before the arrival of Slip Disc in Saks) came to Gadsden Mall. A great hodge-podge of things)

R.I.P. Christy C. ('85-'88; the most personal of this collection. In tribute to a girl that I held a debilitating crush for about 3 years. The music in this file is still hard for me to listen to at times, although after I wrote her a letter telling her how much I liked her, the love-sickness died away. She was always dating someone else, anyway, and by the time I got around to writing her (I was too chicken-shit to tell here face-to-face), she was practically engaged to the man that she would stay married to until her untimely passing in a car accident a couple of years back. So, this is my Ultimate Mix-Tape to Christy)

Enjoy!

"You don't get it, boy. This isn't a mudhole...it's an operating table. And I'm the surgeon." KRRAKKK!!

2008-07-25T11:05:00.017-05:00

After seeing "The Dark Knight" and, of course, Heath Ledger's unbelievable portrayal of the Joker, I had to re-evaluate my list of best (or favorite) movie villains. I have 3 different categories for villains (and keys to a legend so you'll know where they stand with me; # means you love to hate him. ^ means you might actually root for him over the 'good guys'. * means you want him dead, dead, dead. You want his head on a pike so bad you can taste it. These are the truly despicable and are also the actors who do their job the best.) Here's my top 10, in reverse order:

10. Bobby Peru - Wild at Heart.

Played by Willam DaFoe with relish, just the scene in the bedroom with Lula is enough to place him in anyone's top 20. He has the least time on the scene for a major character, as well, but he uses that time to the upmost. #*

9. Gollum - The Lord of the Rings

At times you feel almost sorry for him. Then he does something to make you hate him all over again. The ultimate portrayal of a die-hard addict. #

8. Don Logan - Sexy Beast; Teddy Bass - Sexy Beast.

"Not this time, Gal. Not this time. Not this fucking time. No. No no no no no no no no no! No! No no no no no no no no no no no no no! No! Not this fucking time! No fucking way! No fucking way, no fucking way, no fucking way! You've made me look a right cunt!" - Don Logan (Sir Ben Kingsley) #*

"Where there's a will - and there is a fucking will - there's a way - and there is a fucking way." - Teddy Bass (Ian McShane)#^

Sheer brillance. Go directly to Movie Gallery and rent it. RIGHT NOW!

7. Agent Smith - The Matrix

Do I even have to explain? #*

6. Amon Goeth - Schindler's List.

Pure evil. Satan on Earth. Even when he shows a whit of decency, you know he's just jerking your chain. Ralph Fiennes' greatest moment. *

5. The Joker - The Dark Knight.

Wondered when I'd get to him, right? Words can't express Heath Ledger's performance in this movie. Jack Nicholson can't compare. No spoilers, but perfection awaits at Gotham General Hospital. ^

4. Dr. Hannibal Lecter - The Silence of the Lambs.

What to say? "A census taker once tried to test me. I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice chianti." FHHH-FHHHH-FHHHH-FHHHH-FHHHHH!!! #^

3. Liberty Valance - The Man who shot Liberty Valance.

Satan comes to the Old West. I just thought I hated Amon Goeth more than any other movie character. I was wrong. Lee Marvin takes the cake on wanting to see a man get his just rewards: a bullet in the gut. *

2. Anton Chigurh - No Country for Old Men.

A force of nature. Death on a Pale Horse. Sheer perfection from Javier Bardem. #^

1. Frank Booth - Blue Velvet.

For those who know me and know what my favorite film is, this is no surprise. Although Amon Goeth probably did exist a thousand times over in the War, Frank can be someone that's standing next to you in Wal-mart. Just don't fucking look at him.

"Now it's dark..."

As a bonus, here's Frank Miller's masterpiece (imho), The Dark Knight Returns, in glorious pdf.

Enjoy!

The Dark Knight Returns

"That's a fair thought to lie between maids' legs."

2008-07-25T10:20:00.002-05:00

Hamlet, by far, is my favorite Shakespeare play, preceding Henry V and 12th Night. Here's a great reading I found on Avaxhome.

Hamlet

Enjoy!

The Power of Myth w/Joseph Campbell and Bill Moyers

2008-07-25T10:12:00.004-05:00

This series came out when I was a senior in high school, and it really woke me up to the meaning of both mythology and religion as a whole. I had always been interested in mythology, but, until then, always in a comic-book/fantasy sort-of-way. Joseph Campbell changed that for me. For those who don't have this magical series themselves...

power of myth pts. 1-2

power of myth pts. 3-4

power of myth pts 5-6 (down; see re-up above)

Enjoy!

"Thief! Thief! Baggins! We hates it! Hates it! FOREVER!"

2008-07-22T10:06:00.004-05:00

The last installment of the Hobbit...

Enjoy!

Inside Information

Not at Home/Fire and Water

The Gathering of Clouds/Thief in the Night/The Clouds Burst

The Journey Home/The Last Stage

Story of our Lives, vol. 0.5, part the first

2008-07-19T12:06:00.006-05:00

After reviving the old 'Story' series and trying to reconstruct it in mp3-cd format, I decided to search my memory (and some of my old tapes from junior high school) and recreate what I had recorded off of Q104, 92J, and I-95 (local radio stations) back in the day. Most were the usual hits: Prince, Culture Club, Simple Minds, Cyndi Lauper, etc. However, there were a few gems that might have been more familiar to someone living in a more "hip" town, but in backwoods Alabama, they might have been considered 'punk' (according to the conservative tastes of my peers) or 'strange': Baltimora's 'Tarzan Boy', Bronski Beat's 'Smalltown Boy', Adam Ant. Hell, even Prince was considered a freak at my high school, which had the highest levels of homophobia (which I was half-way part of, since I didn't know any better, and if anyone was gay at our school, they sure didn't tell anyone there) and teen auto fatalities.

Anyway, here's a few files for those who might want to hear what I was playing on my Sears boombox back in '84 and '85.

Night Tracks (late '83-'84; named after the TBS knockoff of MTV; I grew up in the only part of Calhoun County that didn't have cable, so I could watch this via a TV antenna booster on channel 17)

Avanti-Omni (1984; named after the cheap 3 for $1 tapes that I used to buy at Big B drugs before I learned about sound fidelity. At the time, all I cared about was getting the song on tape for my boombox and/or Walkman)

Sony-Nitetime (1984-85; moved up to Sony tapes in '85. Nitetime is named for certain songs that I remember being played on Q104 right before I went to sleep at night. With the lights out, the only illumination was the red led meter.)

Band Bus (these are much larger):
Frosh (1985-86; my freshman year and first year in the marching band. We played music when we went to away games and competitions and my boombox was the loudest we had, so I played DJ even when I was 14)

Soph (1986-1987; sophomore (and last) year in the band.

(track listings in comment section)

Enjoy! If any questions, just shoot a comment.

(I know the Frosh file is big - 226 megs - but if you download anything, grab that one first; the sheer breadth of pop music from '85 to '86 is worth it)

"Fifteen birds, in five fir trees/Oh, what shall we do with the funny little things?"

2008-07-19T11:49:00.003-05:00

Here's where I left off on the unabridged Hobbit, from the escape from the Goblins until Laketown.

Enjoy!

Out of the Frying Pan

Queer Lodgings

Flies and Spiders

Barrels out of Bond

A Warm Welcome/On the Doorstep

"Confusticate and bebother victory! My only hope is to be taken prisoner as quickly as possible..."

2008-07-18T12:13:00.002-05:00

Since I got a very good response to LotR, here's the unabridged "Hobbit", read by the same man, Rob Inglis, and procured from Utorrent.

I'm posting three zips at a time. The files are much larger than LotR (LotR was only 64 kbps; Hobbit is 192k's) and I'm also throwing the compleat "Hobbit" OST from the Rankin-Bass version; after going through some of my data-cds (my computer is dead and I refuse to buy an Ipod; I play all my stuff on a Sony mp3-cd player (have to retain SOME old-school habits), I found it buried behind a Willie Nelson concert from 1978 and Gordon Lightfoot's greatest hits.

Enjoy!

An Unexpected Party

Roast Mutton/A Short Rest

Over Hill and Under Hill/Riddles in the Dark

"...the Dwarves of Yore/Made Mighty Spells/
While Hammers fell like Ringing Bells..."

"Automatic for th' people"

2008-07-18T11:42:00.003-05:00

Don't know if any of you have caught the '87 documentary about the Athens scene around the time of R.E.M. and the B-52's (titled "Athen, GA inside/out") or not, but here's the soundtrack, which features the bands that didn't crack the indie scene but might be familiar with those who lived in record stores in the mid-to-late '80's or had a cool cousin from Atlanta. If you have Dish Network and have the Documentary Channel, it might come on again one day; I was smart and recorded it on videotape, although Pink still has the tape and I can't think to get it back.

Athens, GA Inside/Out

"Do you remember the first time..."

2008-07-18T11:40:00.002-05:00

In response to a request for a Pulp concert I had, here it is, Pulp at Glastonbury in June of '95.

Enjoy!

"Pretend you never went to school..."

"When the sun came up this morning..."

2008-07-18T11:16:00.002-05:00

Almost anyone who grew up in the South during the '70's (or probably older) should remember "The Bill Dance Show". One of the better fishing shows syndicated (on channel 6, when I was a kid), Bill wasn't blustery like Roland Marlin or some of the others who migrated (Bill along with them in the '90's) over to cable TV. With his Vols cap and wry smile, watching Bill was like sitting in a boat with another fisherman. The few times I went out on a boat, my uncle didn't say more than two words the entire time; he was serious about the rules of silence when bass were concerned. Bill didn't talk too much either, but when he did, it was worth listening to, not just "I think you got you a big 'un, Earl."

The highlight, of course, was the first two minutes of the show, and, after I got older and cared more about music and girls, soon turned out to be the only part of the show that I watched. Those two minutes was the theme song, which, after I discovered filesend, megashare, limewire, and Utorrent, I hunted down like a mad beast, along with Loretta Lynn's "Red, White, and Blue", Rod McKeon's "A Boy named Charlie Brown" and "Piss-bottle Man" by Mike Watt. About three months ago, on a mega-torrent containing about 20 Jerry Reed albums, I finally found it.

If you remember Bill Dance, you'll remember this song...

"Today is Mine..."

"Poor ol' Bill...Poor ol' Bill."

2008-07-16T10:59:00.003-05:00

Here's the final installment on the unabridged Lord of the Rings, 'Return of the King'. Book VI also has what appendices they decided to include with the set. "..Whip" is for all of ya'll who remember the Rankin-Bass version of 'RotK". Sorta sounds today like a song most of the troops whose tours of duty keeps being extended by Shrub and Cheney would most likely sing.

Book V

Book VI (plus appendices)

"When there's a whip..."

"Not bad meaning bad but bad meaning good..."

2008-07-14T13:29:00.003-05:00

This is a collection of, probably, my favorite "bad" songs, or as Run-DMC stated in 'Peter Piper': "Not bad meaning bad but bad meaning good". Some of the songs are not bad per se, such as the two blues songs nor the heart-breaking rendition of "Desperado", but they are all cult classics, either in the past or (in my book) in the future.

Enjoy!

"Heerrree, Fluffy..."

(track listing in comments)

"Me, Sir? Me and go see Elves n' all? Oh, My!! Oh, HOOOORAAAYYYY!!!"

2008-07-14T13:14:00.003-05:00

Here's the unabridged 'Two Towers', if you like. For Jordan (and whoever else wants it), is the soundtrack to Bakshi's 1978 animated production of LotR, plus a few songs from the Rankin-Bass production of 'The Hobbit'.

Enjoy!

Book III

Book IV

Lord of the Rings (Bakshi)

Goin' to the Smokes...

2008-07-13T19:03:00.011-05:00

Around the end of May or the first of June, each year from the time I was 6 or 7 until I was 18, my family (that is, my mother and grandmother (and sometimes my annoying grand-aunt)) would go to the Smoky Mountains, about 350 miles from my house. I haven't been since 1998, the year my ex-wife bought a convertible Toyota and we stupidly went without any motel reservations on a week that a converted-truck convention was in town (the ugly pieces of crap like this):

I came across a website a few weeks ago whilst trying to find out if most of the things I remembered about the Smokies were still there or if they'd all been torn down like Panama City Beach's old stuff, in the name of "gentrification". God, I hoped not. Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge were the last true relics of over-the-top tackiness left in the tourist world.

Thank God that it was all still there, at least according to http://thegreatsmokeymountainsparkway.com .

here's a look:

For all you familiar with Pigeon Forge, this is the famous sign you see on the way in to the Tennessee Miracle Mile.

This is the first restaurant that I usually saw coming into PF. That sign (if it's still there) hasn't changed in 30 years.

It's STILL THERE!!! Probably the greatest record store known to Mankind. Best selection of t-shirts, cds, and paraphernalia (music, not weed)in the world! A look inside...

Remember this?

I was too chicken-shit to go in this until I was 13 because I believed in all those ghost stories I heard as a kid (still do).

Did anyone eat here? All I can remember is that it had the godawfulest smell on the planet (then again, I abhor the smell of boiled peanuts and turnip greens cooking as well).

Finally, for now...

The very same boxes they used in 1978! How great is that? You can get these in Cracker Barrels across the US, in case you can't get to Gatlinburg.

I have plenty more photos of the Smokies if anyone's interested.

"Gandalf, oh, Gandalf, it's REALLY you!!!! Oh, after it's been so long..."

2008-07-13T18:18:00.003-05:00

This one's definitely for the Tolkien fans in the house. Since I bought the tapes for about $50 around 6 years ago, I had no reservations about downloading and sharing this with you: the unabridged Lord of the Rings, with a wonderful reader, Rob Inglis, who does a tremendous job with all the voices and narration.

The first post will be 'Fellowship'. Each load is a complete "Book" (Book One is the prologue and Frodo's journey to Rivendell; Book Two is the journey through Moria, Lothlorien and the Breaking of the Fellowship). I'll get Two Towers and Return later on, if there's interest in Fellowship.

I'm also including the Atlas, for hardcore fans.

enjoy!

Book One (plus prologue)

Book Two

Atlas (especially for Jordan)

Wanna take a ride?

2008-07-13T17:46:00.004-05:00

I didn't get around to listening to Coast to Coast AM and Art Bell until I started driving to work in B'ham around 1998. Although I had been fascinated about UFOs, Bigfoot, and (especially) ghost stories since I was a kid, I had no idea that there was a 4-hour long show that talked about this stuff every night. Tim Lockette told me about it in 1994, but the cavaet was that it came on at 12 in the morning, something I couldn't handle since I had to sleep. But, after '98, and getting up for work at 4 am, I began to catch the replay of the show on the way to work, along with Dave Nemo's trucking show.

Art Bell (and later, George Noory, who replaced Bell after several retirements) also talked about vast conspiracies, which I had a hankerin' for at the time (and still do, although I'm not as gullible as I was in my early 20's). What I loved most of all, however, was the bumper music, or the songs that introduce and exit each segment before and after commercial breaks. Some I knew, like "Wicked Game" and "The Mummer's Dance". Most were new to me: "Ride my See-Saw" by the Moody Blues and "Some Velvet Morning" with Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazelwood.

George's selection is more varied, but when Art came back for weekends (and I was able to record some of his shows thanx to a minidisc player and/or a wire linked to my soundcard), his playlist was exact each time. After discovering Limewire, I was able to compile the Definitive Art Bell Original Soundtrack. Hope you all enjoy...

Art Bell OST

(track listing in comments)

"This is fer th' Birds in the audience..."

2008-07-13T17:26:00.005-05:00

I said earlier that I wouldn't place whole albums on here; only in rare cases will I do that. Also I have to careful about putting up stuff by my favourite artist, Prince. His lawyers scan the Universe for boots online, so I'll have to be circumspect about him.

For starters (after SooL 1), I'm putting up an historic concert from Oasis. It took me a couple of years to find this, so here it is for all you Oasis fans - the glorious Knebworth concert from August of 1996, which was witnessed by over 250,000 fans.

I have many other concert by them plus Pulp, if anyone's interested.

(just click on the words below to access the loading site; also the files say O.GLAST.; it's NOT glastonbury; sorry, a brain fart while zipping the files)

Oasis kneb part 1

Oasis kneb part 2

enjoy!

Story of our Lives Vol. 1

2008-07-12T11:42:00.003-05:00

The first real post will be a download opportunity; It's a two-parter, on filesharing sites that doesn't have ridiculous limits. The files are from a mixtape that I put together in the summer of 1992, after some of my friends from the previous three or four years had drifted away, or, in the case of my closest friend at the time, joined the Air Force. It's mostly music that meant something more to me than the usual tune on the radio.
I had always held music closer to my heart than most, and some songs have a strong emotional and nostalgic pull to them. The mixtapes are either long lost or broken, but a powerful memory for things that aren't really important to essential life is a facet of mine; thus, I was able to piece together most of the 11 volumes of mixtapes covering 1989 to 1998. The first, which I'm giving to you, covered 1989, 1990, and some of '91, I think. I'm not going to describe the importance of these songs right now; I want to see if anyone downloads and listens to them first.

story 1a:

track listing: http://www.zshare.net/download/151856748292451d/

1. God - John Lennon
2. If I was your Girlfriend - Prince
3. Heartbreaker - Led Zeppelin
4. Ramble On - LZ
5. (you may notice that there's a skip between 4 and 6; there was a GnRoses song there that meant something else to me, concerning a girl I had a crush on in high school, but it had several discriminatory comments that most of you would disagree with and I don't care for much myself, either, so it's blank)
6. Fish Cheer - Country Joe and the Fish
7. Christmastime is Here - Vince Gauraldi
8. Where've you Been - Kathy Mattea
9. Positively 4th St - Bob Dylan
10. Free Fallin' - Tom Petty
11. I'm yo Pusher - Ice-T

story 1b: http://www.filesend.net/download.php?f=e703c1f106c10063b94fecdbb2ad82cb

1. Castles made of Sand - Jimi
2. Suite Judy Blue Eyes (live at Woodstock) - CSN
3. Don't Believe the Hype - PE
4. Strawberry Fields Forever - Beatles
5. Here comes the Hammer - MC Hammer
6. (nothing but) Flowers - Talking Heads
7. Fool in the Rain - LZ
8. Love Shack - B-52's
9. Bold as Love - Jimi
10. Sister Moon - Sting
11. Little Wing - Jimi

there you go; hope you enjoy.

Hola

2008-07-12T11:26:00.003-05:00

I decided to start one of these things myself, since Chris did so. There's a few things that I can do here that probably would get me kicked off MySpace.

About myself: On the backside of thirty, single as Hell, currently unemployed whilst recovering from medical problems.

Avid sports fan, although I generally look at it through a journalistic point of view, except when it comes to Auburn football, Roger Federer, and the New England Patriots; I get emotional about these three since my sole goal in watching them on TV is to see them get their asses kicked.

Avid music fan. Favorites include Prince, R.E.M., Radiohead, Talking Heads, The Smiths (although not as much as Pink James), the Beatles' later stuff, U2, yacht rock, country music from the early 40's until about 1983, some classical music, Coltrane, and crappy stuff like Sweat Talley. One of the reasons I'm starting this blog is to share some of this with you, although I'm not going to post whole albums like most of the music blogs where I've built most of my collection.

Other interests: Roma's Pizza (although it's a great delicacy for me now, with Diabetes and all), hippy chicks, Garrison Keillor, and I am also an avid film nut. I'll be posting various lists about movies in the future.

Hope this thing is worth reading at times. Send all comments through the proper channels. Enjoy the free music that I'll share.