Category: Music

setting the table

Today is Thanksgiving Day in the United States, a holiday marked by primarily by sitting around a table and eating. In honor of the day, I’ll set the table for you.

This ThThTh list features utensils. Actually, just forks and spoons. I’ll keep the knives stored safely away for another day. Likewise, I will avoid the hazards of the spork.
spoon_psf

A collection of spoons (and forks)

  1. Spoon!: The battlecry of The Tick.
  2. spooning: a position for cuddling.
  3. born with a silver spoon in one’s mouth: an expression said of one who is born into a wealthy family.
  4. Silver Spoons (1982-1987) A TV show about a rich kid and his father. (Did anyone else remember that the show had regular appearances from Jason Bateman as a kid?)
  5. Can you hang a spoon from the tip of your nose?
  6. gag me with a spoon: an 80s Valspeak exclamation used to express contempt and/or disgust.
  7. A Spoonful of Sugar: a song from the movie Mary Poppins.
  8. Hey Diddle Diddle: A nursery rhyme in which a dish rus away with a spoon:

    Hey diddle diddle,
    The cat and the fiddle,
    The cow jumped over the moon.
    The little dog laughed to see such fun,
    And the dish ran away with the spoon.

  9. And the Dish Ran Away With the Spoon: a picture book by Janet Stevens.

    10. 696px-heydiddle and_the_dish

  10. “There is no spoon”: a line from The Matrix, and a reference to this spoon-bending scene:
  11. fork in the road: a type of intersection.
  12. The Dirty Fork Sketch, from Monty Python:
  • The Blue Rajah: a character played by Hank Azaria in Mystery Men (1999). A superhero who throws forks (and fork-filled dialog):

    • An effete British superhero, to be precise. I am pilfering your tableware because I hurl it. I hurl it with a deadly accuracy. The Blue Raja is my name. And yes, I know I don’t wear much blue and I speak in a British accent, but if you know your history it really does make perfect sense…The point is: Your boy’s a Limey fork-flinger, Mother.
    • I say, what the fork! Let’s do it!
    • May the forks be with us.

    • So there’s my list. Stick a fork in me, I’m done.
    800px-fork6233

    If you’re looking for more tasty bits to gobble up once your t(of)urkey is gone, go stick your fork into the 107th Carnival of Satire over at The Skwib. A spoonful of satire makes the holiday angst go down! (Especially when taken with a Wild Turkey chaser.)

    80s Pants Party!

    pants_party1

    80s Pants Party! Volume 1:
    Put on your party pants and prepare yourself to party to the max with this totally awesome New Wave Pants-o-rama party!
    Tracks:

    1. Tainted Pants 3:52
    2. Goody Two Pants 3:12
    3. West End Pants 4:01
    4. She Blinded Me With Pants 3:25
    5. Pants in a Northern Town 2:56
    6. Under the Milky Pants 3:33
    7. Everybody Wants to Pants the World 4:59
    8. Don’t You Forget About Pants 2:45
    9. We Got the Pants 2:47
    10. Don’t Stand So Close to Pants 3:03
    11. Hungry like the Pants 3:23
    12. Lay Your Pants on Me 2:57
    13. Pretty in Pants 3:25
    14. Girls Just Want to Have Pants 3:03

    Bonus Track:

    • Safety Pants (extended pants remix) 7:52

    This production was brought to you by:
    • Painted Maypole and the Monday Missions! (supporting CD liner note style since 1984)
    • My Big Sister and the News of 80s Pants Revival!
    • The word Pants!

    Sales from this album will benefit the American Pants Society, The United Charter for Pants, and Pants Across America.

    Look for More 80s Pants Party Music in Stores Soon!

    bed post

    bedPhoebe got a real bed a couple of weeks ago, inspiring me to think about beds for a ThThTh list¹.

    A bed list²

    1. make one’s bed and lie in it: an expression meaning that one must accept the consequences of one’s actions. The wording of the expression is somewhat variable, with various subjects (and agreeing possessives) possible, some variation in tense/aspect of the verb make, and variability in the the following clause. eg. You’ve made your bed, and now you must lie in it. or He made is bed, so now he’ll have to lie in it.
    2. The Princess and the Pea: a classic fairy tale in which a pea is hidden under mattresses to test whether a girl can feel the lump under the bedding
    3. “Someone’s been sleeping in my bed.” Something the bears say in the fairy tale Goldilocks.
    4. flower bed: an area, such as in a garden, that has been planted with flowers
    5. bed of roses: an expression meaning an easy or luxurious situtation. More often heard with a negative, such as “it was no bed of roses.”
    6. fortune cookies: If you add “in bed” to the end of the fortune when you read it, hilarity will ensue (in bed).
    7. hotbed: an environment conducive to rapid growth
    8. Beds Are Burning, a song by Midnight Oil. (youtube video)
    9. “5 little monkeys jumping on the bed:” a children’s song/rhyme of the “counting down” variety:

      Five little monkeys jumping on the bed
      One fell off and bumped his head
      Mama called the doctor and the doctor said
      “No more monkeys jumping on the bed!”

      Subsequent verses are sung with one fewer monkeys jumping, until one reaches the final “no more monkeys” state. There’s a book based on the rhyme, too.

    10. “10 in the bed:” another kids’ song of the countdown type.

      Ten in the bed and the little one said “roll over! roll over”
      So they all rolled over and one fell out…

    11. in bed with the enemy: an expression meaning “consorting with the opposition”
    12. strange bedfellows: an expression used to describe a situation where unlikely individuals cooperate, having been brought together to by unusual circumstances. Taken from a line from Shakespeare’s The Tempest: “Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows.”
    13. “In Bed with Madonna:” The title of the 1991 Madonna movie (“Truth or Dare“) as it was released in various countries. I saw it in Brazil as “Na Cama com Madonna.”
    14. “My Bed is a Boat:” a poem by Robert Louis Stevenson from A Child’s Garden of Verses

      My bed is like a little boat;
      Nurse helps me in when I embark;
      She girds me in my sailor’s coat
      And starts me in the dark.

    15. “Come, Let’s to Bed:” a Mother Goose rhyme:

      “To bed! To bed!”
      Says Sleepy-head;
      “Tarry awhile,” says Slow;
      “Put on the pan,”
      Says Greedy Nan;
      “We’ll sup before we go.”

    16. bed head: hair that has been messed up during sleep, or that at least appears that way

    44432_girl_sleep_lg>
    ¹Also at times inspiring me to miss the cage-like qualities of the crib. Is duct tape really so wrong?
    ²You know, I pretty much never make my bed. But I’m clearly not opposed to making a bed list.³
    ³You know, I really need to get to bed.

    girl in bed image source: Ella M. Beebe Picture Primer (New York: American Book Company, 1910), Copyright: 2008, Florida Center for Instructional Technology

    Do you know the nipple song?

    I made a discovery a few weeks ago that I’ve been meaning to share. And what with Sunday’s nipple-related post, I thougt now would be as good a time as any. This is a music video from India, which has been captioned/subtitled for English-speakers:

    Apparently a new tradition has blossomed across the internets to add English subtitles to videos that are not translations of the lyrics, but what the non-English lyrics sound like to an English speaker. I somehow had missed this, even though it has clearly gone viral, judging from the over 9 million YouTube views on a video called “Crazy Indian Video” since it was posted just over a year ago:

    I stumbled across this phenomenon when following a link from Ashley Awesome to an Indian video, which I found strangely compelling. Then I found that same video, “buffalaxed.” (Go see Tunak Tunak Tun for yourself!)

    I admit it. These crack me up. Does this prove to the world that I am actually a 12-year-old masquerading as an adult?

    change is good

    With Tuesday’s election in the US, people all over have been talking about change. Lots of people are saying they want change.

    As such, it seemed a good time to offer up some change myself. Some spare change.

    I dug out these coin things from deep in the pockets of my brain (and a few from between the couch cushions) just in time for ThThTh.

    A Coin Collection¹

    • “Christmas is Coming:” an English Christmas carol

      Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat
      Please put a penny in the old man’s hat
      If you haven’t got a penny a ha’-penny will do
      If you haven’t got a ha’-penny
      then God bless you

    • a penny for your thoughts: an expression spoken as a request to hear about what someone else is thinking. Does not usually actually involve a cash transaction.
    • “A Penny for Your Thoughts,” a treacly song from the faux musical from Waiting for Guffman. (You can hear a version of it performed by Elvis Costello, even. It’s still painfully treacly.)

      So here’s penny for your thoughts, a nickel for a kiss
      A dime if you tell me that you love me

    • lucky penny: Pennies are sometimes kept as good luck charms. Finding a penny is said to bring good luck: “Find a penny, pick it up, and all the day you’ll have good luck.”
    • There is a wedding custom for the bride to put a penny in her shoe for the ceremony for “good fortune and protection against want”:

      Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue and a copper penny in your shoe!

    • penny loafers: shoes in which people would stick a penny as an ornament.
    • “Pennies from Heaven,” a song and a movie from 1936. Originally sung by Bing Crosby, then by many others. (Here’s a youtube version by Billie Holiday.)
    • it’s your nickel: an expression meaning “you made the phone call” and also “it’s your turn to talk.” My grandmother used to say this when I’d call her long-distance.
    • nickel and dime: an expression meaning “cheap” or “inconsequential.”
    • Nickel and Dimed: a book by Barbara Ehrenreich about her experiences working at various low-wage jobs.
    • dime store: a somewhat archaic term for a store carrying various and sundry low-price items.
    • dime bag: the quantity of marijuana that can be purchased for 10 dollars.
    • “Dime,” a song by Cake. About a dime. Really.
    • “shave and a haircut two bits:” a very short song. Two bits is a quarter, or 25 cents. (Apparently small change was once cut wedges of a silver dollar, each worth an 8th of a dollar.)
    • Pac-Man Fever, a song from the 80s (duh) beginning with the line:
      “I got a pocket full of quarters and I’m heading to the arcade.” (Oh, the nostalgia triggered by bad 80s music and references to arcade video games. If you want to subject yourself, you can hear the song on YouTube.)
    • 50 Cent: the stage name of rapper Curtis James Jackson III
    • silver-dollar pancakes: very small pancakes, such as might ressemble a large coin.

    dime
    ———
    ¹ It’s a bit heavy on the pennies, but so are most change piles.²

    ² I almost forgot the word of the day. I’ve chosen denticles : “Small tooth like raised points on the inside edge of coins.” How could I resist a word that rhymes with tenticles?

    Vote now!

    Election day is finally here in the US.

    There are quite a few hours left to go before we get the results. The world is all aquiver with antici…

    …pation.

    Making us wait.

    So the word that’s been on my mind today is anticipation. Which brings to mind this song.


    (Anticipation, by Carly Simon)

    Which brings to mind ketchup commercials.(And ketchup goes so nicely with Dr. Frankenfurter…)

    And seeing as WordPress has this cool new poll feature, I thought I’d take advantage on this historic day to ask you an important question.

    some key things

    Damn. It’s now less than an hour before Thursday’s over, and I haven’t put up my Themed Things list. I always think I’ll find more time…

    Anyhow, my lost keys of yesterday (which have now been found, by the way) had me digging around in my mind to find various key-related things. Here are some keys I found in the cluttered piles of my head.

    A few key things

  • key. An item used to unlock something. Traditionally a metal object which fits a lock, but extended to refer to other things that give some sort of access, such as cards, passwords and codes.
  • the key to X: an idiom meaning “the means to achieve X, or gain access to X.” (eg. the key to success, the key to happiness, the key to my heart, the key to my pants…)
  • key. an adjective meaning crucial or primary. As in “the key participants” or “getting sleep is key.”
  • Dawn, the character introduced in Buffy, season 6.
  • Zero Effect (1998). A movie where a detective is hired to find a set of lost keys.
  • “The Golden Key“, a fairy tale from the Grimm brothers.
  • the key to the city. An award that is “presented to esteemed visitors, residents, or others the city wishes to honor,” typically in the form of an ornamental key. At least in TV and movies.
  • keys. The things you push on a typewriter or, um, keyboard. Or piano.
  • key. a musical term about the tonality of a composition such as “in a minor key”
  • “Musical Key.” A song by the Cowboy Junkies.
  • movie/TV cliches featuring keys: I feel like I’ve seen tons of movies and or TV episodes where a character is in a jail cell, and tries to escape by means of reaching keys either left unattended (eg. Harold & Kumar) or held by a dog (eg. the first Pirates of the Caribbean). The spy/heist genre also frequently features the need to sneak a key away from a character who keeps a key on their body. (eg. in Danny Kaye’s Court Jester, or apparently in the second Pirates of the Caribbean) If you can think of examples of these, please share. My brain couldn’t dig up more.
  • Then there’s the scene from The Princess Bride where Wesley, Inigo and Fezzig storm the castle and confront the gatekeeper:

    “Give us the gate key.”
    “I have no gate key.”
    “Fezzig, tear his arms off.”
    “Oh, you mean this gate key.”

    • —
    Okay, it’s 11:56. Still Thursday!

    I’m a loser, baby…

    And my time is a piece of wax
    Falling on a termite
    That’s choking on the splinters
                                 -Beck

    I lost my car keys today. I hate losing things.

    Theo has been fussy the past couple days. Phoebe went to daycare yesterday (she still goes 3 days a week, which helps us maintain some sanity, and which helps me preserve the illusion that I will be able to get some of my research done), but it was such a fussy day that I was clearly not going to accomplish anything requiring either more than one hand or more than half a brain. I hoped to at least get out of the house, but I barely managed to get dressed and eat breakfast by the time Phoebe was due to come home. By the end of the day I was going a bit stir-crazy.

    Theo seemed more calm today, and I was bound and determined to get out. I got a bit of extra sleep, and then managed to get us out the door some time before one. Theo needs some warmer pajamas, so I decided to head to a used children’s clothing store. (I try to explore the reuse options for kids’ clothing. We’ve been lucky to have a large number of hand-me-downs for Theo, including many of Phoebe’s old things.) Then I was going to stop by a fabric store to further my goals of getting together some Halloween costumes. I also thought I might pick up some lunch, as I hadn’t wanted to delay leaving by eating.

    My first stop was the used clothing store. Theo was asleep when I got there, and I carried him into the store in his carrier. I spent quite a bit of time in the store, poking around for things for Phoebe as well as Theo, checking out the sale racks and Halloween costumes. Digging through bins of winter hats and mittens. Basically roaming the whole store. I bought quite a few things for both Phoebe and Theo, and took my big bag of clothes and my still-sleeping bucket of baby back to the car. Only to find that I could not actually get in the car. My keys were not in my pocket.

    The keys were clearly not in the car, as I’d used the remote to lock the car. Also not on the ground. So I went back in the store to see if they’d been found. I figured that the keys must have fallen out of my pocket while I was shopping. I seriously expected to find them quite quickly. It’s a fairly small, if densely stocked, store. But I looked all over the store, as did the manager and other empoyees. We looked on the floor, in the bins of hats, around the register, in my bag of purchases, the car seat… Nothing. I expect they will find the keys some day, probably stuck to a hanger or in the folds of some hanging item of clothing. Or perhaps one of the various kids that had been playing in the store pocketed them, or stashed them in some toy or shoe.

    The people at the store were very helpful, and were nice enough to let me sit in the back room to feed Theo. The manager let me use her phone to call John, and suggested that we could get the car dealership to make a new key for us. Remarkably, John had gone to a meeting in the same town as our car dealership, so this was faster than having him go home and hunt for the other keys.

    I ended up spending about 3 hours in the store, what with the time spent shopping, then looking for the keys, then tending to Theo, then waiting for John. I could have gone to lunch, but by the time the plans were underway, it was 3:00, and the closest feasible food options closed at 3:00. I didn’t want to walk too far, as I didn’t have my cell phone. (I also left the diaper bag in the car, as I hadn’t planned to be in the store very long. Sigh.)

    Really, things were not that bad. John was able to get and bring me a replacement key (4, actually), all in time to get Phoebe from daycare. Meanwhile, I was in a safe, moderately comfortable place. Theo was with me, and I was able to feed him and walk and bounce him around to calm him, which is largely what I do all day at home anyhow. There was a bathroom, water to drink, a chair to sit in, and the manager even found me some nuts to eat. It was hardly harrowing.

    But damn I felt like a loser.

    Update: The store called. A customer found my keys stuck to a sweater on one of the racks. Yay. I guess.

    (Also, it appears I can’t embed the Beck “Loser” video.)

    isolation

    Theo is one month old today, and I can’t believe how fast it’s flown by. So different from my previous experience with the newborn phase. (I’ve been known to say that the first 4 weeks of Phoebe’s life were the longest 6 months of my life.)

    But I admit it. I’m going a little stir crazy. Having a newborn is very isolating.

    I actually wrote up some longer whining, but it was too whiny. Life is good. I just miss adult conversation. And the ease of electronic communication afforded by having two hands available for typing. And unfettered leisure time that can be measured in increments of longer than 5 minutes. Okay, I’m getting whiny again. Sorry.

    But I do like having an excuse to post some Joy Division.