Ego-trippin

Okay, so while in Louisville over the break, I ran into some people from my old lab at UL. While talking, I found out that a colleague had named her second child with my name. This was somewhat surprising given that she and her husband are from mainland China. It's hard not to be flattered, since I have a hard time believing that they really knew that many people with my name other than myself. Either they were really impressed with me, really liked the sound of the name (which I guess is more of a compliment to my parents), or they realized that their son was going to grow up in the US and be subject to a short attention span and speak in a series of movie quotes. Maybe it sounds a lot like a Chinese name... I don't care, in my head, it's because they want their child to grow up to be like me (God help us all).

Back in the Promised Land...

J and I will be back in the Promised Land (Louisville) on Friday. Unfortunately we have to return to Philly the day after Christmas, but we hope to see as many of our friends as possible while in town. For those of you that are also coming home for the holidays, please let us know if your time will overlap so we can meet up.

Local media without the local...

So I've kind of been reading a little bit on the cancellation of the Joe Elliott Show on WHAS back in Louisville. I remember it was always nice to listen to him cover local issues late at night (9-12 if I remember correctly), driving home from friends' houses or from school. He'd let people call and express their opinions, but largely kept the discussion civil, unlike many modern shows. I'm sad to see that his show is (has?) going off the air and is going to be replaced by a national show that is the epitome of the aforementioned programming. The LEO does a good right up decrying the loss of local control of media driven to educate their readers/listeners to large conglomerates interested in profits here.

I wonder, why do these local powerhouses get bought out so easily by outside interests? Is the money too much for the owners to pass up? Does this have to do with the inability of the children of the owners able to afford the so-called "Death Tax" (or I as I like to think of it, the "What did Paris Hilton do to Earn it Tax") after their parents' passing? I don't really know, but so far we still have NPR, which still does a good job with local issues, even if you have to put up with Terry Gross. Also, I can't help but think of this post by t.

Hey Science, Don't Mess with Texas

I've been following this story the last couple days but this is the best headline I've seen. Maybe I'm biased being a scientist/engineer, but when people act like science teachers advocating to teach evolution (which it looks like she didn't even do), that is not an extremist position. To try and give Intelligent Design (which cannot really be tested by any scientific method) equal footing as evolution is an extremist position (usually pushed by those with no experience in science). And for an administrator with 9 years experience + 27 years experience teaching science in the classroom to be fired (I'm sorry, forced to resign) by a boss who never taught, has a political science degree, and most of her experience is working/fund raising for Bush is deplorable. Please leave politics out of our science class (and preferably out of schools in general).

Best Cover Songs

Now there are fewer things worse in my opinion than being charged a cover charge in order to watch a band do their best to imitate the most popular bands. But when original artists sometimes cover songs and make them their own, I think it's pretty cool. Strangely enough, I particularly like it when female vocals cover male originals (there are only 2 vice versa examples on this list). Here are my favorites that come to mind, who did the cover with the original artists in parentheses, please feel free to add your favs:

Sweet Jane - Cowboy Junkies (Lou Reed/Velvet Underground): I really think this is my favorite cover ever. When I hear it, I still hear the lines from Natural Born Killers, but it's a great song anyway.

The Man Who Sold the World - Nirvana (David Bowie): They played this during their MTV Unplugged set, and it really changed my perception of the band. I was (and still am) more of a Smashing Pumpkins man, but this really opened up Nirvana to me.

Killing Me Softly with His Song - Fugees (Roberta Flack did the previously most popular cover): This song introduced most of us to Lauryn Hill and Wyclef Jean. Her voice still will still make me stop and listen to any song.

Hazy Shade of Winter - The Bangles (Simon and Garfunkel): From the soundtrack from the 80's Less than Zero, I still think this song rocks.

I will Survive - Cake (Gloria Gaynor): I love both versions of this song, but hearing from Cake was both hysterical and disarming because I guess I never thought about the lyrics until then.

Wild Horses - The Sundays (Rolling Stones): Classic from the prom/penultimate episode of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season III (which combined with seasons I and II were television at its greatest, yeah I'm a nerd). Almost brings a tear to my eye.

Landslide - Smashing Pumpkins (Fleetwood Mac): Screw the Dixie Chicks, all you need is this and the live version performed by Fleetwood Mac and you are set.

I'm on Fire/Losing My Religion - Tori Amos (Bruce Springsteen/REM): My favorite songs by her are covers...

Superstition - Stevie Ray Vaughan (Stevie Wonder): Stevie Wonder originally wrote it for SRV, but decided he like it so much he released his classic version before SRV could. Both are great.

Honorable Mentions:
Hurt - Johnny Cash (NIN): If I didn't think that this song was already perfect the first time Trent and NIN did it, I would have included. This song was loved by a lot of people 6-10 years younger than myself, and I couldn't help but think they were missing out on the original.

99 Red Balloons - Goldfinger (Nena): Nothing better than punk bands doing 80's classics. Once again, both versions are great.

Feel free to add your favorites, I'm sure I'm missing some that I really love.

On Friendship (part 2)

(Ages 14-21ish)

So upon entering high school, only one of my best friends from grade school accompanied me. So I got the great idea to play football (practice started a month before classes) my freshman year to try and meet new people. Now, I don’t think scrawny even begins to describe how small I was at the time. I’ve never had a problem meeting people and making friends, but I really have to say that my attempts were not even remotely successful. I really did not make a single friend from the football team. It wasn’t until a school mixer where I was kind of forced to hang out with different people, that I made new friends. That’s where I first hung out with JBJ (who was looking rather gangsta with either an Alabama or Florida St hat pulled back in Fresh Prince fashion). I don’t remember if RPK was at that dance (not really his style), but I soon started hanging out with him (probably due to the close proximity of the J and K in the alphabet). Now I hung out with a lot of other guys (APB out for Shown), but those two plus Luis “La Machina” (the friend from grade school mentioned above) made up my core friends. A group of friends I am still very close to.

Looking back now, I try to put my finger on the common thread of my friends from high school (and for that matter college). Here is what I came up with, we were all above average students (even though some of us were lazier than others, namely me), we were fair athletes though not stars (except maybe Luis, who could have pitched in college), we were not social lepers as nerds are often portrayed (although JBJ always seemed to spend his life with his foot in his mouth), we came from nuclear families (both parents, siblings, etc…), and we didn’t drink (at least not around me). In college I would include we were largely from Catholic High Schools, although the home life of some of my college friends were less idyllic.

In college I was pretty slow to make new friends; I started initially hanging out with friends from grade school (APB for Dukes) and a friend who graduated a year before me from high school. It was really the summer of my first year in college that I first started hanging with out with Fe-C, The TD Maker, J Alv, and t outside of playing volleyball (the first time I went to his house was for Tommy’s birthday party (his cat) and t spent half the time chasing Tommy trying to put a tie on him). A lot of these people played soccer together and I would go watch because afterwards we would swim at bbbbbb’s house or play Sky Fox and Golden Eye in the Fe-C basement. On Wednesdays the Brothers B would host a 90210 party which would be followed by trips to O’Charley’s for ½ price appetizers. There would always be a few of us in the downstairs dining area of the SAC playing Spades or Mille Bourne (You… might… not drive so well…?). Road trips in either (A) one of the Strati or (B) in luxury (the LeSabre).

By the next spring, when I finally found the courage to ask my Diane Court out on a date, I would regularly do things with a crew of like 8-12 people from this group. She was amazed, and it was fun to always have people around and to go out to restaurants. Everyone got along incredibly well and there was a good time had by all. This, of course, would not last.

At about this time, a few events occurred that would eventually lead to a great splintering of the group. First some new members on the soccer team started hanging out with the group. In particular there was a skuzzy V, who was a walking hard on and really sketchy. Soon after that, there was a breakup of a longtime couple in the group that led to swooping vultures in the friends trying to date the girl (which is just not cool, breaks all kinds of rules among friends http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man_Laws, thankfully she was smarter than that). Finally, we all started turning 21. Now, by and large, this crew was all alcohol free (a rarity nowadays), but this changed at this time.

Now for me personally, my closer friends were not one of the vultures, so I kind of ostracized myself from that group. I began to avoid any and all contact with V, especially after he went after a friend’s older and younger sisters. And I don’t drink, so even though I don’t really have a problem with people that do, I’m not going to have much fun at parties that are based on drinking (which explains why to this day I despise games like Beer Pong and bars that close their kitchens early).

I slowly withdrew so that in the end (in about a year and a half) I largely hung out with t, the TD Maker (who became known Captain Shootdown for not agreeing to random “great” activities that t and I wanted to do), J (of course, my Diane Court, and you should never doubt Lloyd Dobler), Jen-by-another-name, or teammates of J. I separated so much from the group that I never really saw when Fe-C escaped the group. From the original large group, that is the relationship I regret losing the most. But nowadays, I see some of the same issues from the splintering in the problems I have making friends today…