Friday Night Videos

Bonnie Tyler's "Total Eclipse of the Heart" is, in my estimation, pretty much the perfect music video. What's not to love? It's got dancing ninjas, leather-clad biker gangs, football players, some kind of weird S&M shindig and, last but not least, a bizarre "Village of the Damned" boys choir. And none of it makes a lick of sense. As far as overblown, melodramatic power ballads go, Celine Dion could learn a thing or two from Bonnie Tyler. Turn around, Bright Eyes!



Previously on Friday Night Videos... Paul McCartney.

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Friday Night Videos

The late '80s collaboration between Paul McCartney and Elvis Costello proved to be a good one. With someone to work off of and challenge him, McCartney's old songwriting strengths returned to the fore, without any of his sentimental pap to weigh them down. "My Brave Face" was the best McCartney single to emerge from the collaboration, even better (to my ear) than Costello's excellent "Veronica." Sadly, neither the single nor the album, "Flowers in the Dirt," were major hits despite widespread critical acclaim. Had the album come out a few years earlier instead of the baffling "Press to Play," I'm certain both would've been huge blockbusters. As it was, the public and record industry seem to have written McCartney off by that point. Still, "My Brave Face" remains a fave...



Previously on Friday Night Videos... The Grateful Dead.

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Mission San Xavier

As a break from the personal chaos afflicting my life at the moment, I offer to you this false-color infrared image of mine from inside the Mission San Xavier replica in San Marcos.



No great story to go along with it, just (in my opinion) a nifty-looking picture.

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Status update

Here's a quick status update for those of you who keep up with these things--since I'm most likely to be under radio silence the rest of the week.

My mother is in the hospital. Saturday evening she fell in the garage--we're not entirely sure how, tripping over a dog remains the popular theory right now. In the process of falling to the hard concrete floor, she broke both wrists and gave herself a concussion. There was some degree of drama involved in getting her to the Columbus hospital, since most of the family is scattered around the state, and she was pretty much incapacitated. Once she'd gotten to the hospital and patched up, my estranged father (estranged from pretty much the entire family) showed up, apparently out of concern (this is out of character for him, but I'll give him the benefit of the doubt for now) and promptly had a not-insignificant heart attack. So he was transferred to Houston, where a battery of tests revealed all sorts of surreal weirdness going on with his heart. So my brother John, who is the only sibling living in Columbus, had been dealing with all the drama and managing the situation (good for him) until last night, when word came down that his fiancee's grandfather--who she was very close to--had passed away. So now he has to pack up and fly down to Mexico to help with the funeral arrangements. Suffice to say, this triple-whammy of stress has got him beat down pretty much.

So I'm in Columbus the rest of the week, taking care of whatever needs taking care of and hoping that this is all the excitement I'll have to face for the next year or six...

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Friday Night Videos

The fact that the Grateful Dead had a top 10 hit in the late 80s to qualify as "One-hit wonders" despite several decades as a successful touring act with many big-selling albums to their credit gives me no end of amusement. "Touch of Grey" was an excellent song, of course, but sounds oddly out of place when listened to in the context of other hits from the 80s. The album from which it sprang, "In the Dark," was pretty darn good too.



Previously on Friday Night Videos... The Moody Blues.

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A passion for passion

So yesterday I'm in the back yard playing with the Bug. He goes off to ride the skateboard down the slide, so I take the opportunity to pull a bunch of old, deal passion vines off the dog run fence. I discover two surprising things--one is an incarnata vine under most of the dead foliage that is still green and growing. In February. Incarnata passion flowers invariably die back to the ground at the first hint of cold and resprout every spring. The fact that this one is still alive and growing well past the middle of winter shows just how warm weather has been these past months.

The second surprise came when I pulled up one dead vine and about 18 inches of root as thick as my little finger came with it. Goodness! What to do with this find? Passiflora roots are hardy things--regrowing in the spring and all. So I did what any passion flower nut would do. I cut into sections and planted them around campus in isolated semi-wilderness areas today during my lunch break. I've thrown seed out in the past, but haven't had any take. This time, however, I'd expect the odds are much improved on having passis blooming by midsummer.

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First Born

Hookay, The Wife tagged me with this "First Born" meme, which means I'm morally obligated to answer lest she put me out. Even though these questions are obviously intended for women only. Such is my life.

The idea is to answer the following questions about your first born and then tag other mommies to do the same.

1. WAS YOUR FIRST PREGNANCY PLANNED?
Yes

2. WERE YOU MARRIED AT THE TIME?
Yes

3. WHAT WERE YOUR REACTIONS?
Relieved -- she'd been driving me nuts about it.

4. WAS ABORTION AN OPTION FOR YOU?
No

5. HOW OLD WERE YOU?
28

6. HOW DID YOU FIND OUT YOU WERE PREGNANT?
The Wife started bouncing off the ceiling like a Warner Bros. cartoon.

7. WHO DID YOU TELL FIRST?
My parents

8. DID YOU WANT TO FIND OUT THE SEX?
No, but I didn't have a say in the matter

9. DUE DATE?
Nov. 19

10. DID YOU HAVE MORNING SICKNESS?
No. Neither did the wife--instead, she opted for the 24-hours-a-day, 7-days-a-week, for-the-duration sickness.

11. WHAT DID YOU CRAVE?
I craved the time when I could fix something as exotic as unflavored oatmeal and not have her scream "What's that horrid stench!?"

12. WHO/WHAT IRRITATED YOU THE MOST?
Everything, because everything irritated The Wife. I seriously considered finding her a sensory deprivation tank.

13. WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST CHILD'S SEX?
Girl

14. DID YOU WISH YOU HAD THE OPPOSITE SEX OF WHAT YOU WERE GETTING?
No

15. HOW MANY POUNDS DID YOU GAIN THROUGHOUT THE PREGNANCY?
I dunno. But The Wife lost significant weight through the first half of the pregnancy because of the relentless nausea.

16. DID YOU HAVE A BABY SHOWER?
Yes. I had to attend some of them as well.

17. WAS IT A SURPRISE OR DID YOU KNOW?
Being a supportive husband doesn't extend to remembering stuff like this.

18. DID YOU HAVE ANY COMPLICATIONS DURING YOUR PREGNANCY?
Unrelenting nausea.

19. WHERE DID YOU GIVE BIRTH?
Scott & White in Temple

20. HOW MANY HOURS WERE YOU IN LABOR?
6 or so

21. WHO DROVE YOU TO THE HOSPITAL?
I drove The Wife.

22. WHO WATCHED YOU GIVE BIRTH?
I was the lone spectator. No Junior Mints were available, though.

23. WAS IT VAGINAL OR C-SECTION?
Vaginal

24. DID YOU TAKE MEDICINE TO EASE THE PAIN?
The Wife got an epidural, and then vowed never to suffer that--or pitocin--ever again.

27. HOW MUCH DID YOUR CHILD WEIGH?
7 lbs 5 ounces

28. WHEN WAS YOUR CHILD ACTUALLY BORN ?
November 23

30. WHAT DID YOU NAME HIM/HER?
Calista Felice

31. HOW OLD IS YOUR FIRST BORN TODAY?
10

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