Once Upon a Time

Take a look at this. I didn't start following popular music until 1984ish, at the age of 11. Young kids are susceptible to liking whatever happens to be on the radio, and so it probably is not a surprise that my favorite period of music is the mid-1980s. I think though I can make a good case that this music actually was very good for the most part, and has aged quite well. The charts were dominated by Madonna, Prince, Cindy Lauper, Wham!, Huey Lewis, Springsteen, and Phil Collins. I liked all of those at the time. Ok, much of Phil Collins is unlistenable now. And I am really sick of Springsteen, whose enduring popularity has been driven by baby boomers. Cindy Lauper would have been more popular than she was, but she didn't hit until age 30, and she didn't go out of her way to sell out. Huey Lewis had some dopey songs, but the Ghostbusters theme could not have been pilfered without him. Wham! is one of the stupidest names ever concocted for a music act, but George Michael was the true King of Pop, thanks in part to a spectacular voice.
The second British invasion was at the heart of this era. In one chart from May of 1985 8 of the top ten were by acts of British origin. This dominance occurred even with huge bands like The Cure and Depeche Mode not charting in the top ten until much later.
1986 saw the emergence of Bon Jovi and the so-called hair metal, which would plague radio for the next five years, until its demise thanks to the fleeting popularity of grunge. Which brings me back to my first sentence. I knew that pop music had taken a turn for the worst in the late 1980s, but I didn't remember it being that bad! That list is plain embarrassing! And really, pop music never recovered.

shoo, shoo

Quite frankly I don't have much sympathy for the woman in this story. When you are dealing with wild animals, you don't try to "shoo" them away by confronting them, and you especially don't do so when it is a mother with her babies. What really perturbs me is that the raccoons are being blamed for this "attack." The woman should have stayed in her house, opened a window, and banged on a pot until the noise drove the animals away. If that didn't work, then call animal control. And if that didn't work, then the old crow could just stay in her house and stare at the wall and wait for the raccoons to leave. What an idiot that sheriff is too, adding his hunting knowledge to the affair. After all, anyone who shoots animals with a gun is an expert on wild animals.

The Master of Prognostication

According to Conan O'Brien-
In the year 3000, after Radio Shack changes its name to "The Shack," and Pizza Hut changes its name to "The Hut," The Olive Garden will change its name to "The Horrible Restaurant."

Happier Days

See a piece of history whose existence has heretofore escaped me. The history major in me is astonished by this footage.

Novel Thoughts

It's always nice to read an article that confirms my sanity, or at least confirms my insanity in an insane world. Ebert's latest blog entry accomplishes just that. I was further amused by the picture of the girl, named Susie, pictured in front of a wall of books. Clicking on the picture failed to enlarge it enough to make more than a few book titles legible. I have this fascination with looking at what is on another person's bookshelves. I checked out her blog too, and noticed that the Erasmus quote that started Ebert's blog was actually posted by her back in February, along with the picture. Also worth noting is her May 18th post, where she waxes enthusiastically about the previous night's Nine Inch Nails concert.