Your defending national champion Kansas Jayhawks play their first exhibition game tonight. Seems like some hoop thoughts are in order.
KU and the NCAA The saga continues its glacial slide towards a resolution. Wednesday KU announced that it was imposing various penalties, ranging from Bill Self and Kurtis Townsend being suspended for four games (reflecting an NCAA mandate for being found guilty of a Level 1 violation), to recruiting limitations, to reducing scholarships.
A light month thanks to reading The Stand and being out-of-town for a week.
Movies, Series, Shows Halloween Baking Championship I have two episodes left, so no final grade yet. Interesting that the baker that seemed to be clearly the best took herself out of the competition early by taking an unnecessary risk. Incomplete
The Patient I watched the first two episodes of this one night and then never got back to it.
I had a really good week in Washington, D.C. with L and her classmates. It wasn’t all great, but we avoided the major issues that often plague these trips.
We did A LOT. I took some notes along the way, but I think the best way to share the experience is just to list everywhere we went and add a thought or two as necessary.
Monday: Flew into Baltimore and drove directly to Arlington National Cemetery.
Friday L had the day off after our DC trip (more to come on that tomorrow), although I still had to get up and take C to school. Why did I have to take her? M was on her senior retreat Tuesday through Friday. Friday evening was the welcome home ceremony for the seniors. That was interesting, as all the kids (40-some) had to stand up and say something about their experience.
youtu.be/_ul7X5js1…
“Superstition” live on Sesame Street - Stevie Wonder L and I arrived at our house, tired but happy, around 1:00 this morning following a long, jam-packed, and mostly excellent trip to Washington, D.C. with her classmates. I’ll get to all of that next week.
In the meantime, Stevie Wonder’s Talking Book album had its 50th anniversary this week. Pop culture writer Jeremy Gordon contributed to this New York Times feature about it, and tweeted out a link to this most excellent video for one of the album’s most famous songs.
Monday playlist? WHAT?!?!
That’s right, a very special playlist to kick off the week.
By the time you read this I will likely be in the air, on my way to Washington, D.C. as a chaperone for L’s 8th grade class trip. We have an action-packed week ahead of us, from the moment we land until we depart late Thursday. Gotta keep these little heathens on the move and out of trouble!
Fall Break A pretty boring break for us, as we have trips ahead of us. M went up to Ball State to hang out with a friend of hers. Apparently they went to a few parties Friday night, but I tried not to hear too much about that.
Normally we get our flu shots over fall break but I couldn’t wrangle all the girls together at the same time to knock that out efficiently.
Slow week here at blog headquarters. Or actually a busy one in terms of commitments outside the home which has meant for limited posting opportunities. Expect the same next week, but more on that later…
Here is this week’s selection of music.
open.spotify.com/playlist/…
“See” - Hooveriii Hoover three, get it? The latest track to pop up recently that has at least a hint of psychedelic funk to it. Might we be in the midst of a boomlet?
The Stand - Stephen King I mentioned in my last entry I was working through a very big book. Nearly 30 years after reading the original version, I decided to read the “completed and uncut edition” of The Stand. Released in 1990, this version included over 400 pages cut from the original 1979 manuscript, and checks in at over 1100 pages.
I read the original version in the summer of 1993, my first-ever experience with a King novel.
FNL For the ninth-straight year Cathedral ended their regular season schedule against Center Grove. They are almost always great games, although CG had a 6–2 advantage coming into this year’s game. Two years ago the game came down to Cathedral being unable to get less than a yard on fourth down. This year the game also came down to one team coming up one yard short. Kind of. Center Grove (No.
Back to the (mostly) newer music this week.
open.spotify.com/playlist/…
“Lucky One” - The Big Pink I like the heavy, almost ominous feel of this track.
“Literary Mind” - Sprints I’m a long-time sucker for songs that capture the feeling of being young and in love, and this sure does that. I especially like how, as the song builds, the band’s Dublin accents come out more-and-more.
“Wolf” - Yeah Yeah Yeahs I finally got around to giving the new YYY album a listen on Tuesday or Wednesday.
I’ve been focused on my book this week, so not a lot percolating in the ol’ noggin’ worthy of writing about. Thus, some links for your enjoyment.
Become 007 With Pelorus’ Bond-Worthy Travel Experience I wonder if the girls will be upset when I tell them that their college accounts have been drained so that I can do this instead.
A breakdown of every James Bond actor’s favourite car “Favourite.
I am deep into the longest book I’ve read in years. My Kindle tells me I’m 54% through it after more than a week of work. Figured I better get to the books I read before I started it so I don’t totally forget what they were about.
Italian Ways - Tim Parks Hmmm, a book about taking trains in Italy. That is interesting. Because, you see, we will be riding on trains in Italy in about six weeks.
A quick run through a busy weekend.
FNL It was Cathedral’s homecoming week. They pounded their Jesuit brothers pretty easily, winning 42–21 with two of those scores against coming late in the game. I went for the first half but it was chilly, C’s back was bothering her (she’s been seeing a chiropractor), so we left after we watched one of M’s best friends since kindergarten win homecoming queen. Next week is the big season finale: at Center Grove, who have lost one game - by one point in overtime to a team from Kentucky - in the past three seasons.
I did not do a lot of new music listening this week. So, to switch things up, I’m just going to play my Spotify Liked Songs on shuffle and see what it throws out for this week’s list. I’ll also make it extra-long, hopefully a good soundtrack as you wrap up your week.
open.spotify.com/playlist/…
“1234” - Feist Remember when iPod commercials took songs that were niche hits and turned them into songs everyone knew?
A quick kid hoops update, as L’s St P’s team has hit their (stupid) fall break-break.
First, a refresher about the dumbness of the CYO girls basketball schedule.
Girls hoops has always been a fall CYO sport, so that the gyms are cleared out for boys basketball and boys/girls volleyball in the winter. Never mind that girls volleyball should be a fall sport, to mirror high school and avoid the core travel season.
A belated rundown of this past weekend.
FNL Cathedral finally had their first home game of the year. Since they only have one after this, and it has already been tagged as homecoming, Friday became senior night. Which was a little weird. I stayed home and listened to an easy 37–6 win over Cincinnati LaSalle. LaSalle has won four Ohio state titles in the past eight years, but this year’s team was kind of dog crap.
Movies, Series, Shows US Open Probably watched as much of the tournament this year as I’ve watched in several years. It was time well spent. A
30 for 30: Shark I LOVED Greg Norman when I was a kid. He was my first favorite golfer and until Tiger came along I was all-in with the Great White Shark. Over time I’ve come to think he is kind of a douche, a view that has been affirmed this year as he has spearheaded the new LIV tour.
September 2022
Stevie Wonder - 62 The Beths - 40 Maggie Rogers - 34 The War on Drugs - 34 Beastie Boys - 22 Complete stats available at my Last.fm page.
Once again we are brushing up against a slowing stream of new music, so this week’s playlist is a little more eclectic, at least in terms of date of recording.
open.spotify.com/playlist/…
“At Attention” - Northern Portrait You cannot convince me these kids aren’t actually from the industrial north of England. Sure, their bio says they are from Denmark, but I’m not buying that for one minute.
“Zenosyne” - Caroline Loveglow What a gorgeous song!
My season-long boycott of baseball has continued. It’s really not been hard since the Royals have been so shitty this year. I’m not feeling any inclination to crack in a week when the playoffs begin. I’m sure I’ll watch some of the games, but I don’t expect to be as into them as I have been in recent years. I have plenty of other things that can entertain me during evenings in October.
Every so often I bust out a post dedicated to a show or movie I have watched as soon as I see it rather than wait for my monthly Media edition. Last weekend I watched an entire season of a streaming service exclusive that rocked my world. Yes, I watched the latest season of Cobra Kai last week. But this post is not about that.
This post is about The Bear.
A jam-packed weekend full of events that may be of mild interest to my loyal readers.
FNL Cathedral traveled three hours to play a horrible team - they were up 56–0 at halftime and held on to win by that exact score - so I walked across the street with my pal Nicole H to watch The Other CHS play the school our tax dollars support. It was the first, real, fall-weather night of the season, and it was terrific, other than the occasional sprinkles that surprised us.
open.spotify.com/playlist/…
“Cold Shoulder” - Peace Ritual Since I first heard this band a month or so ago I’ve been trying to figure out who they remind me of. I know it’s some late ’90s/early ’00s band that I did not like. I think my mind is intentionally blocking those memories since I like Peace Ritual’s songs and it doesn’t want to ruin them by making the connection to the turn-of-the-millennium band I did not like.
Today I unveil a new style of post. Who knows how regular these will be, or how long they will last. But let’s give it a shot.
As the title suggests, in these posts I will be Ranking Shit. Five things I will place in an order with just a few words of explanation.
To kick us off, I will rank the top five songs on the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack.
Chart Week: September 18, 1982
Song: “Somebody’s Baby” - Jackson Browne
Chart Position: #18, 8th week on the chart. Peaked at #7 for three weeks in October.
I loved this song when I was 11. It wasn’t because I was a big Jackson Browne fan, or because it was a fantastic song. No, it was solely because it was the lead single off the soundtrack for Fast Times at Ridgemont High, arguably the greatest movie ever made about being in high school.
Some weekend. No Cathedral football Friday. L’s hoops team got blasted on Saturday. The Colts appear to be shitty and have made the wrong selection, yet again, for their quarterback. I could write a lot about two of those three topics.
I’m going to save all my writing effort for another topic, though. And I think you know what that is.
THE KANSAS FOOTBALL JAYHAWKS ARE THREE-AND-OH!!!!!
First 3–0 start since 2009.
open.spotify.com/playlist/…
“Shine A Light” - Paolo Nutini Forget where I came across this, either via a Spotify recommendation or somewhere else, but it was a nice surprise. I remember Nutini’s name from somewhere in my musical past, but can’t find where I’ve ever listened to much of his music or shared it with you. Thinking this song might be an opening to something new and interesting, I gave his new album a spin.
I suddenly have a bunch of links to share. Not all of them are fully cooked, but I’ll go ahead and serve up what has been simmering for awhile.
As I get older I realize how hard it is to do big lists like those in the next two links. I’m way overdue for updating my Favorite Songs of All Time list but it seems like a much more daunting task than it did two years ago.