Andy Lester

Mac and Me

andy@petdance.com — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 04:33:30 GMT

I so need to see this:

It's all one big McDonald's ad, although you can't tell from the trailer. However, dig this dance scene in a McDonald's.

Carlin

andy@petdance.com — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 05:56:50 GMT

I can't overestimate the effect that George Carlin had on me. His skepticism for the world around, his love of words, his ability to find the humor in anything and everything, his love for the absurd.

He has a bit on Ed Sullivan. (not quite quoted, but from (my pretty decent) memory) "We never got a chance to thank Ed Sullivan. The show was in reruns over the summer when it was canceled. We never got to say 'Hey, Ed, thanks for all them crazy acts! Thanks for the Beatles, Ed'!"

Thanks, George.

Tunes

andy@petdance.com — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 18:19:02 GMT

New tunes over the weekend:

Parliament, Chocolate City
Whitesnake, Live.... In The Heart Of The City
Aretha Franklin, Sparkle
Barry Manilow, Manilow Sings Sinatra

Just under $20.

Today's CD haul

andy@petdance.com — Sat, 31 May 2008 19:12:07 GMT

Since the company I work for has brought our public library sister company into the fold, our yearly-or-so damaged-and-returned book sale has gotten a lot more interesting. It's still mostly kids books, but now there were a buckets of CDs, all at a quarter a pop! Today's haul:

Devil Driver, The Last Kind Words
John Cougar Mellencamp, Uh-Huh (reissue)
Gladys Knight & The Pips, Love Finds Its Own Way: The Best of Gladys Knight & The Pips
Putamayo presents: Gypsy Groove
The Birthday Party, Hits
Con Funk Shun, Spirit Of Love
'til tuesday, Voices Carry
Les Paul & Mary Ford, All-Time Greatest Hits
The Smithereens, From Jersey It Came! The Smithereens Anthology
Ringo Starr, Photograph: The Very Best Of Ringo
Suzanne Vega, Beauty & Crime
The Hollies, Greatest Hits
King Diamond, The Best Of King Diamond
Adam Ant, The Essential Adam Ant
Radney Foster, This World We Live In
many hip people, Monsieur Gainsboug Revisited

I don't care what the hipsters say, "Pink Houses" is a brilliant song.

Officer Bob

andy@petdance.com — Sun, 18 May 2008 04:40:26 GMT

Please go read and enjoy Officer Bob.

http://www.officer-bob.com/wordpress/

McCain: US can win Iraq war within four years

andy@petdance.com — Thu, 15 May 2008 16:12:31 GMT

McCain: US can win Iraq war within four years

OH! Well, then by all means, carry on! Sorry to have questioned you, Republicans!

Crumbs

andy@petdance.com — Sat, 10 May 2008 13:30:58 GMT

It isn't until the dog dies that you realize how much food detritus a 6-year-old generates.

Current joneses

andy@petdance.com — Wed, 07 May 2008 17:00:48 GMT

"Academy Fight Song", Mission Of Burma from Mission of Burma
"A Challenge", The Backyardigans from Born To Play
"Detroit Rock City", Dee Snider, Doug Aldrich, Marco Mendoza & John Tempesta from Spin The Bottle: An All-Star Tribute To Kiss
"Don't Change", INXS from Shabooh Shoobah
"Falling Off The Edge Of The World", Black Sabbath from The Mob Rules
"Feathers", Coheed & Cambria from No World For Tomorrow
"The Harder They Come", Jimmy Cliff from The Harder They Come
"I Won't Give Up My Train", Merle Haggard from Going Where The Lonely Go
"II - Radio Bye Bye", Coheed & Cambria from No World For Tomorrow
"Madman Across The Water", Elton John from Madman Across The Water
"The Mob Rules", Black Sabbath from The Mob Rules
"The Stairs", INXS from X
"That's When I Reach For My Revolver", Mission Of Burma from Mission of Burma
"These Boots", Megadeth from Killing Is My Business... And Business Is Good
"Tweedily Dee", The Backyardigans from Born To Play
"Update Your Blog", Alex Arrowsmith from Applewine
"Whiplash", Oblivion from Suckers From The Start

Quinn talks about fire

andy@petdance.com — Thu, 01 May 2008 15:03:23 GMT

Lately, Quinn has been very interested in natural disasters. Earthquakes, hurricanes, tsunami, tornadoes, you name it, if the Earth kills someone, she wants to know about it.

The other day, she asked "Do other planets have tornadoes?" I thought about it and said "Well, a tornado is just part of a storm, and some planets have storms, and some don't. For instance, Jupiter's surface is basically all storms, and Venus has many storms. But Mars doesn't have any atmosphere, and neither does the Moon, so they can't have storms."

So I extended my bit of science teaching. "You also can't have fire on the moon. Fire has to have heat, fuel and air. If there's no air, there's no fire." She said, thoughtfully, "No S'mores on the moon!"

Good night pupper

andy@petdance.com — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 01:26:40 GMT

Baxter died about 4:10pm today. He was lying on his bed on the floor at Dr. Bishop's office, and I was petting him and Molly the assistant was petting him and Dr. Setzler gave him his little shot and he just dozed off.

If you never met Baxter, here's a story of his first bath with us. Reading that and looking back at other old pictures of when he was healthy reminded me of the difference of how he was. It was just time.

Baxter's health

andy@petdance.com — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 05:06:12 GMT

Three weeks ago, Baxter starts poopin' in the house. He's never done that. Then about about two weeks ago, he's throwing up. One night he threw up five times in 24 hours. There were bits of wood & a Polly Pocket plastic shoe in the puke, along with lots of dog food and a lot of hair. But we took him to the doc on a Thursday, who said "put him on rice & ground beef, and we'll check this little tumor thing to see if it's cancerous and we'll run blood work. If he's still throwing up over the weekend, take him to the ER for X-rays." Blood work is clean, tumor is non-cancerous. Over the weekend he's still throwin' up. I take him to the ER. X-rays come back clear. Here they are for your viewing.

Oh, weight history: April 2007 he was 56 pounds. December 2007, 48. Last week, 40. Still throws up off and on this week. Today throws up more and he's dazed and clearly hurting from his arthritis. We haven't given him his buffered aspirin since the puking started, so he has a lot of trouble going up the stairs. He's now on super bland Science Diet I/D food. Threw that up, this morning. He's walking around dazed and in some pain, 'cause he has a lot of trouble lying down, and when does lie down, he gets up again a few minutes later, like he's not comfortable on the floor. Not crying or anything, though. So we think maybe today's the day that he doesn't come back from the vet. But how can you know that, y'know? Amy & I decide we need to go to the ER and talk to the doc.

So we talk to Quinn, all of us crying. Quinn: "Is it OK? Is he OK? Is it OK?" Me: "No, sweetie, it's not." Quinn: "Will he get better? Do dogs get better?" Me: "We'd like him to, but maybe he can't. Maybe he's going to die soon. We're going to go to the hospital and see what the doctor says. He may have something else we can try to make him better, but he might have to help Baxter die." So Quinn goes to Aunt Julie's house, and Amy and I head to hospital.

He's down to 38 pounds. Doc agrees Baxter is unhappy, out of it, starving, etc. Doc tries to feed him, to see if he's got any appetite. She has a little can of I/D cat food, and scoops some out with a tongue depressor and puts it in front of Baxter. He sniffs it, and then goes straight for the can itself. "Yeah, hey, that little glob is nice, but I would like the whole can, OK? Thanks." So he eats half the can right out of her hand and the doc says this is a good thing.

We talk about what we can do going forward. We know we don't want to do anything heroic. We sure don't want to put him through surgery. I mean, he's 14. Maybe 15. Got him from Save-A-Pet and they weren't sure of his age.

Doc looks at all the things we've tried, and says there's one more thing we can try. The anti-puking stuff he'd been given by his regular doc wouldn't handle esophagitis, if he's got an irritated esophagus from the buffered aspirin for his arthritis. Thinks that if it's esophagitis, Prilosec will take care of it. If not, it's something else we don't know what it is, and never will. So we agree that's worth a shot. We don't want to call it too early, but we also don't want him to go through pain/suffering. Doc says we'd know in a few days with the Prilosec. Either things will improve, or they won't, but if they don't, at least it won't be too long that we're dragging things out.

So we brought him home, and we give him many frequent feedings. He should be getting about 2.5 cans per day for caloric intake, but we'll be starting small. I've given him two half cans since we came back (about eight hours), although he's only eaten half the last serving I gave him.

He just came back in from outside where I assume he was playing Dog Of The Night, where he walks around the lawn, looking for miscreants. He still looks kind of dopey, but he's also had his flashes of relative normalcy since we got back, too.

Resurrection rolls!

andy@petdance.com — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 06:07:24 GMT

The marshmallow represents Jesus' body, and the crescent roll represents the tomb...

My muxtape

andy@petdance.com — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 15:11:25 GMT

I gave in to peer pressure. Next, I'll be trying hard drugs.

http://petdance.muxtape.com/

Obama's speech

andy@petdance.com — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 16:06:41 GMT

The snippets of Obama's race speech getting played on the news and/or Daily Show are amazing enough, but it's over half an hour of brutally honest discussion of race in America. Wow.

Uncombed hair! Weird music! A girl smoking a pipe!

andy@petdance.com — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 22:40:12 GMT

Phyllis Schlafly is appalled at the state of affairs represented in Juno:

America is in bad shape if the financial success of this movie reflects today's high school culture: sexual activity without marriage, crude pictures on the walls, vulgar language, a girl smoking a pipe, unattractive clothes, uncombed hair, enjoyment of slasher movies and weird music, and marriage breakup.

It's like Sheriff Bell says in No Country For Old Men: "It starts when you begin to overlook uncombed hair. Anytime you quit seein' the comb an' brush, the end is pretty much in sight."

Corn beef

andy@petdance.com — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 16:00:38 GMT

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Now spell the food correctly.

Often paired with cabbage, corned beef is "a cut of beef (usually brisket, but sometimes round or silverside) cured or pickled in a seasoned brine." The "corn" refers to the coarse salts used to cure it.

You also have corn-fed beef, where "corn-fed" refers to what the cows eat during their lives.

Please do not say "corn beef and cabbage."

Today's wacky combo that works

andy@petdance.com — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 16:57:52 GMT

Gretchen Wilson fronting Alice In Chains & Nancy Wilson on "Barracuda".

http://www.vh1.com/video/play.jhtml?id=1560410&vid=150940

Current joneses

andy@petdance.com — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 14:34:10 GMT

Stuff I've been enjoying a lot from my "Current Joneses" iTunes folder:

"Academy Fight Song", Mission Of Burma from Mission of Burma
"Burn In Hell", Oblivion from Suckers From The Start
"Burn In Hell", Twisted Sister from Stay Hungry
"Celebrate", An Emotional Fish from The Definitive Irish Rock Album
"A Challenge", The Backyardigans from Born To Play
"Detroit Rock City", Dee Snider, Doug Aldrich, Marco Mendoza & John Tempesta from Spin The Bottle: An All-Star Tribute To Kiss
"Don't Change", INXS from Shabooh Shoobah
"Don't Bring Me Down (Live)", The New Pornographers from Live from Soho (iTunes Exclusive)
"The Harder They Come", Jimmy Cliff from The Harder They Come
"He's a Whore", Cheap Trick from Cheap Trick
"Heaven On Thier Minds", Queensÿche from Take Cover
"I Won't Give Up My Train", Merle Haggard from Going Where The Lonely Go
"Intro (Feel The Heat)", John C. Reilly & Mark Wahlberg from Boogie Nights
"The Mob Rules", Black Sabbath from The Mob Rules
"Never Been Any Reason", Head East from 20th Century Masters: The Millenium Collection - The Best Of Head East
"Promises In The Dark", Pat Benatar from The Best Of Pat Benatar Volume 1
"Redneck Woman", Gretchen Wilson from Here For The Party
"Takin' It To The Streets", The Doobie Brothers from Best Of The Doobies
"That's When I Reach For My Revolver", Mission Of Burma from Mission of Burma
"These Boots", Megadeth from Killing Is My Business... And Business Is Good
"Treason", Naked Raygun from Understand?
"Tweedily Dee", The Backyardigans from Born To Play
"Whiplash", Oblivion from Suckers From The Start
"Who Loves You", Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons from The Very Best Of Frankie Valli And The Four Seasons
"Your Love Alone Is Not Enough", Manic Street Preachers from Send Away the Tigers

The halls smell like piss / The rooms are underlit

andy@petdance.com — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 20:48:46 GMT

I want to start a band where all we do is play Mission of Burma's "Academy Fight Song" over and over again.

The Backyardigans rock

andy@petdance.com — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 17:18:49 GMT

I really do love the Backyardigans. Musically it's great, and the stories are still funny enough for dads.

One of the comments below talks about the rhymes, which is a huge part of the appeal. Here's part of "A Challenge" from Born To Play, with Pablo assigning a task to Tyrone & Uniqua:

T&U: Will we have to find a princess, and climb real high to save her?
P: This challenge is much harder, you'll have to be much braver
T&U: Braver?
P: Braver, the importance is much graver
T&U: Will we journey to the mountains and chase a hairy beast?
P: The challenge will be tougher, or just as tough at least
T&U: Tougher?
P: Tougher and perhaps a little rougher

And from my favorite Backyardigans song of all, "Astronauts Never Give Up":
Uniqua: We took the astronaut pledge, the astronaut oath
Pablo: Well which one was it?
Uniqua: Pretty sure it was both

New car

andy@petdance.com — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 05:14:38 GMT

Bought a new-to-us car yesterday. 2005 Honda Accord with 20,000 miles on it, $15,000 at CarMax.

Anyone want to buy a 1992 Toyota Paseo with 201,000 miles on it?

Taxes: Good news, bad news, good news

andy@petdance.com — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 03:33:49 GMT

Good news: I finished the taxes yesterday.

Bad news: I just found another 1098.

Good news: It's for mortgage interest so means more money back!

As a side note, just behind people who point out that they don't own a television are people who sniff loudly at getting tax refunds and boast loudly that THEY wouldn't give the government a free loan.

My favorite Onion article ever

andy@petdance.com — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 03:30:18 GMT

I post it here in case it ever gets deleted from The Onion's website, at http://www.theonion.com/content/node/28694

Area Man Constantly Mentioning He Doesn't Own A Television

CHAPEL HILL, NC–Area resident Jonathan Green does not own a television, a fact he repeatedly points out to friends, family, and coworkers–as well as to his mailman, neighborhood convenience-store clerks, and the man who cleans the hallways in his apartment building.

Enlarge Image Area Man Constantly Mentioning

Jonathan Green, who tells as many people as possible that he is "fully weaned off the glass teat."

"I, personally, would rather spend my time doing something useful than watch television," Green told a random woman Monday at the Suds 'N' Duds Laundromat, noticing the establishment's wall-mounted TV. "I don't even own one."

According to Melinda Elkins, a coworker of Green's at The Frame Job, a Chapel Hill picture-frame shop, Green steers the conversation toward television whenever possible, just so he can mention not owning one.

"A few days ago, [store manager] Annette [Haig] was saying her new contacts were bothering her," Elkins said. "The second she said that, I knew Jonathan would pounce. He was like, 'I didn't know you had contacts, Annette. Are your eyes bad? That a shame. I'm really lucky to have almost perfect vision. I'm guessing it's because I don't watch TV. In fact, I don't even own one."

According to Elkins, "idiot box" is Green's favorite derogatory term for television.

"He uses that one a lot," she said. "But he's got other ones, too, like 'boob tube' and 'electronic babysitter.'"

Elkins said Green always makes sure to read the copies of Entertainment Weekly and People lying around the shop's break room, "just so he can point out all the stars and shows he's never heard of."

"Last week, in one of the magazines, there was a picture of Calista Flockhart," Elkins said, "and Jonathan announced, 'I have absolutely no idea who this woman is. Calista who? Am I supposed to have heard of her? I'm sorry, but I haven't.'"

Tony Gerela, who lives in the apartment directly below Green's and occasionally chats with the 37-year-old by the mailboxes, is well aware of his neighbor's disdain for television.

"About a week after I met him, we were talking, and I made some kind of Simpsons reference," Gerela said. "He asked me what I was talking about, and when I told him it was from a TV show, he just went off, saying how the last show he watched was some episode of Cheers, and even then, he could only watch for about two minutes before having to shut it off because it insulted his intelligence so terribly."

Added Gerela: "Once, I made the mistake of saying I saw something on the news, and he started in with, 'Saw the news? I don't know about you, but I read the news."

Green has lived without television since 1989, when his then-girlfriend moved out and took her set with her.

"When Claudia went, the TV went with her," Green said. "But instead of just going out and buying another one–which I certainly could have afforded, that wasn't the issue–I decided to stand up to the glass teat."

"I'm not an elitist," Green said. "It's just that I'd much rather sculpt or write in my journal or read Proust than sit there passively staring at some phosphorescent screen."

"If I need a fix of passive audio-visual stimulation, I'll go to catch a Bergman or Truffaut film down at the university," Green said. "I certainly wouldn't waste my time watching the so-called Learning Channel or, God forbid, any of the mind sewage the major networks pump out."

Continued Green: "People don't realize just how much time their TV-watching habit–or, shall I say, addiction–eats up. Four hours of television a day, over the course of a month, adds up to 120 hours. That's five entire days! Why not spend that time living your own life, instead of watching fictional people live theirs? I can't begin to tell you how happy I am not to own a television."

Surprised by the NIU shooting

andy@petdance.com — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 01:08:08 GMT

I'm surprised that news reports describe the shooter as "skinny".

I'd expect him to be more husky.

Didjits Thriller

andy@petdance.com — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 06:24:32 GMT

Please enjoy this marvelous video.

The Didjits doing Dead Kennedys' "Police Truck", played over an Indian version of the "Thriller" video.

There can be nothing more awesome ever.