Jim's Guts

Friday Morning Pick Me Up...

The Lovely & Talented Mrs. Smith and I did the 2nd Annual Top Pot 5k last weekend, and Caspar Babypants were performing. Now, that might not mean much to most of you (some of the hipper parents in the crowd might know them), but it's a band fronted by the former lead singer of Seattle favorite Presidents of the United States of America, Chris Ballew. While Caspar might be for kids (though, it's fun catchy stuff), PUSA were awesome and with their quick, approciable sound, I'm always a little surprised they weren't a bigger hit.

While probably their most popular video was "Lump", I wanted to spotlight a couple of lesser known, but equally good PUSA songs. First up "LOOKOUT!" it's "Peaches"

And here's the title track from PUSA's last album, which contains one of the best lines ever "She was high on Twinkies when she pulled in thinking she could just get in / out, convenience is bliss...", this is "Love Everybody

Finally, and really, it's bittersweet to include this (sweet because of the great memories it invokes, better because the Zombie Sonics are in the NBA Playoffs), but it's just so good that I can't skip it - Here is something the PUSA made for Seattle on their run to the 1996 Championship Series. This is "SuperSonics". Link to videos for FB friends.

Toby...

The problem with dogs is that for all the joy they give us, they’re with us for such a short time. It’s almost inversely proportionate, like if they were more like humans (held grudges, worried about things, etc.) they’d live longer, but because they’re almost always full of the good things they burn out faster. Unfortunately Toby, a dog with nothing but joy and wonder, left us today.

It’s actually a miracle that Toby lived a day let alone 11 years – He was stillborn, and only thanks to the heroic efforts of his breeder, was he resuscitated and able to join the rest of his littermates, and that’s what led to us getting Toby. We had been looking for a new puppy, but hadn’t had success yet when we got a call from our friend the breeder. She had this puppy that had been stillborn, but seemed okay, still in case there were complications she’d rather he go to someone she knew, and so it was that we brought a new Golden Retriever puppy home. Keeping with our tradition of Disney related names, we settled on Toby (from “The Great Mouse Detective”).

Turns out Toby was brain damaged, but only the way that all Goldens are – He loved to fetch tennis balls, and would do so till he couldn’t walk (we had to put him on a “pitch count” in the summers), but he had no interests in birds. He didn’t like the water, but didn’t mind hopping in the tub for a bath. He wasn’t scared of things (he didn’t like the vacuum, treating it mostly with disdain, but he never freaked out about it), but he startled very easily and he *hated* walking on linoleum.

Toby was also one of the sweetest dogs I’ve ever known and he loved everyone. In fact one of the clues that he was really sick was that he didn’t get up to greet us when we came home (anyone who ever visited knows that he was always right there with a toy or a ball as soon as you came in the door). He had been to the vets’ on the 11th of this month, and while old, all the test came back normal and the blood work in good order. Unfortunately, the visit on Monday produced much different results, he was severely anemic, and x-x-rays showed his lungs (and probably abdomen) riddled with cancer.

So we gave him a couple of really good days with lots of treats and double bacon cheeseburger, and this afternoon we said our final goodbyes. We’ll miss him.

Sunbursts Believe The Improbable "Toby" 27 Jan 2000 - 27 Apr 2011

 

Friday Morning Pick Me Up...

How about some music? I have to admit, I didn't really like "Young Folks". It was okay, but didn't really do it for me. That said, I'm really digging the new one from Peter Bjorn and John, the video is interesting but the song rocks! This is "Second Chance"

I got to have lunch with my good friend Fina yesterday and as I was leaving these guys came on the radio. A few years back Fina, Timmah, and I got a chance to see them in concert, and while Timmah and I may have been the only two straight guys in the theater, they put on one HELL of a great show. Here is Erasure with "Love To Hate You"

Link to videos for FB friends

Friday Morning Pick Me Up...

It's time for the 2011 Vancouver Sun Run, so the L&T and I are headed up to Canada to face my nemesis tomorrow. When you tell non-runners that you're actually traveling to run 6.2 miles they look at you a little funny which reminded me of the following You Tube clip - Just remember, "Do not offer to compare resting heart rates, or show them your thighs...And especially do not mention chaffing"

As we're heading to the Great White North, I thought I'd run an all Canadian special this week so let's start off with a great road song. Here is Tom Cochrane with "Life is a Highway"

I've always liked this song, particularly on longer runs, but I really didn't know that Tom Cochrane was actually in this group until recently, anyway this is Red Rider with "Lunatic Fringe

Friday Morning Pick Me Up...

This is awesome! Here's the trailer for "When Harry Met Sally 2"...

When Harry Met Sally 2 with Billy Crystal & Helen Mirren from Billy Crystal

 

Link to video for FB friends

Friday Morning Pick Me Up...

I've been thinking of changing the format of the Friday Morning Pick Me Up - Yes, there will probably be music videos some weeks, but honestly, I'm running out of decent stuff to share. I don't want to copy Steve in a Speedo, and go with just funny stuff on Fridays (though I think I was doing FMPMU before Steve started his "Friday Funny" feature), so instead this will hopefully be just cool stuff that brightens your Friday mornings (or whenever you happen to check my blog).

So, first up in the new format... One of the L&T (who has her own Friday regular feature that's worth checking out) and my favorite shows is "Castle" and on a recent episode the referenced a Sci-Fi classic; the 1956 masterpiece (and I do not use that term loosely) "Forbidden Planet". Many have said that it's based on Shakespeare's "The Tempest", which I'm not as sure about, but I can tell you that without "Forbidden Planet" there probably wouldn't have been a "Star Trek". So without further ado, staring a young Leslie Nielson as Cmdr. John J. Adams, here is the trailer for "Forbidden Planet";

Friday Morning Pick Me Up...

Another slightly different FMPMU, but the fact that most everyone is freaking out about the Impending Nuclear Doom (tm) and not really noticing that as of the time of this writing there's a confirmed 26,000 plus people dead or missing.

Look, I get it, Impending Nuclear Doom (tm) seems scary (and Americans love to wet their pants about anything and everything) but it's important to keep things in perspective. Currently, the total deaths at Fukushima is 1. Will there be problems in the future? Maybe, the honest answer is no one knows. The International Atomic Energy Agency has something called the Nuclear Event Scale or INES and they currently list this event as a 5 (for reference, 3 Mile Island was a 5, Chernobyl was a 7).

So while people freak out and start buy iodine pills, maybe they should try a little rational thought. I love "xkcd", but it's a little sad that we have to turn to it and its author, Randall Munroe, for the much needed perspective mentioned above. Below is a chart (click to embiggen) made by Mr. Munroe and his friends which he's graciously put in the public domain. Actually his blog post about it is good as well.

The reality is there are a lot of folks that need our help, not our panic on their (or our) behalf. If you'd already donated, thank you! If not and you have some cash to help you can do some good at the following Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders, Save The Children - Link to post for FB friends.

 

Friday Morning Pick Me Up...

A little different FMPMU today, in that's it's not so much a pick me up as a request for you to help pick others up. I'll let Mr. Takei put it more eloquently than I can...

Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders, Save The Children - Link to video for FB friends.

Friday Morning Pick Me Up...

Sometimes you just like a song, it's not really your "type" of music, but something about it just grabs you. That's the case for this song (and quite possibly the group, I just heard their latest single "Impossible" which I quite like as well, but the video isn't that good). This is Anberlin with "Feel Good Drag";

Sticking with that theme, I really probably shouldn't like this one either. Although I love the group, this song was pretty "pop-y" for them and it's been overplayed to death, yet I still enjoy it. Here are The Pretenders with "Back On The Chain Gang";

Link to vids for FB friends.

Friday Morning Pick Me Up...

It's been a busy week back in the United States, so it's a quick one today. Here is TheGabe Dixon Band with thier excellent video for "Till You're Gone";

And for the classic, an all time classic - This is Arrested Development with "Mr. Wendell"...

Link to videos for FB friends...

Friday Morning Pick Me Up...

While I've been in Manila I've met a ton of really great people, seen a lot of cool things, and ate some good food, but one of the things I've missed is beer. In Manila you've got lots of choices, there's San Miguel Pale, San Miguel Premium, San Miguel Extra Dry, San Miguel Strong Ice, San Miguel Light, are you seeing the pattern? If you're lucky enough to find it and you want to really splurge you can buy a Budweiser or Heineken for about $10 USD - In short, your selection over here is pretty limited which is why, after kissing the L&T and petting Toby Dog, I'll be popping open a Redhook - In celebration of that how about this from Reel Big Fish? It's "Beer";

As for this week's classic, yeah, the video quality isn't great, and no I have NO idea that the hell it means (it was the 80's very few videos made sense), but it's one of the best song from a group that made a lot of good ones. This is The Damned with their version of "Alone Again Or";

Link to videos for FB friends...

Friday Morning Pick Me Up...

Pretty quick one today, mostly because I'm still in the MNL and completely forgot till just a few minutes ago that it was Friday morning in the USA. Generally I try to mix it up a bit, but lets go with a couple from the 80's this morning...

The movie, staring a young Gil Grissom (William Peterson), is so bad it's awesome, but the song has stayed fresh even after all these year. From the movie of the same name, this is Wang Chung with "To Live And Die In LA";

Here's one that most people only know from the Movie "Something About Mary". If that includes you, and you like this song, I highly recommend their 1st album - This is Danny Wilson and from the album "Meet Danny Wilson" with "Mary's Prayer";

Link to videos for FB friends

#3

Very few (if any) of my friends are Motor Sport fans, let alone NASCAR fans, but I am and have been for a long time. The L&T, bless her heart, follows the sport enough to talk intelligently about it, knows who the drivers are, and will watch with me occasionally, but I'm pretty sure that's just for my benefit (and it's appreciated).This weekend's Dayton 500 will mark the 10th anniversary of the death of one of NASCAR's all time greatest, Dale Earnhardt, something I don't think I'll every forget...

Sunday, Feb 18th, 2001 - We had just left Port Orlando on the Disney Wonder for the 1st day of our 1st ever cruise to celebrate our 10th anniversary. We had a blast at the launch party, but I knew that "The 500" was on that afternoon and wanted to at least see some of it. The L&T, sport that she is, agreed to go to the on board ESPN Zone to watch some of the race before we went to dinner. We watched for a bit (rooting for Mark Martin), and then headed off to a wonderful dinner figuring we'd get the results the next day or so.

Monday, Feb 19th, 2001 - Our first day in the Bahamas was fun, but we're not big shoppers so we decided to head back to the boat for lunch. On our way back I grabbed a local paper (I love reading local papers) to enjoy while we eating. We sat down, I grabbed the front section, the L&T sports (have I mentioned how much I love my wife?) and we started to eat. Then the L&T said "What?!?!" which obviously got my attention so I asked who had won the race - "Dale Earnhardt was killed!" - That prompted my own "Wait, what!?!?" moment. There on the 3rd page of the Bahamian Daily Sports' Section was news the Black #3 had been killed on the last lap of the Daytona 500.

I was never a Earnhardt fan, but I respected the hell out of the guy, and I'll never forget where I was the day after he died.

Friday Morning Pick Me Up...

This first video is so full of AWESOME that even if you don't like The New Pronographers (and seriously, who the hell doesn't like TNP?), it's worth watching! Don't be fooled by the "trailer" that plays before the video AND make sure to stay for the credits. Just amazing what those wacky Canadians can do. Here are The New Pronographers with "Moves";

Seeing as we started with TNP, let's stick with "super groups". The video fo this song isn't great (but it is classic 80's), but the song is an all time classic. This is Asia with "Heat Of The Moment";

Link to videos for FB friends...

Friday Morning Pick Me Up...

One of these days I'm going to have time to do real blogging again, but right now I'm actually happy to have time to at least keep up (mostly) with the FMPMU. Anyway...It's well established that I enjoy a pretty wide variety of music, and lately thanks to "Backspin" on Sirius, I've been listening to a lot of classic hip-hop recently, so here's an old school hip-hop version of the FMPMU!

While considered old school, this was actually quite popular with the wider music audience, going all the way to #7 on the US Pop charts (even the L&T likes). Here is Marvin Young, better known as Young MC with his classic "Bust a Move";

While some purist might consider that last one iffy, this one more than qualifies - One the original innovators in mixing message with Rap, this is Chuck D and Public Enemy with "Fight The Power";

Link to videos for FB friends...

Friday Morning Pick Me Up...

Live from Manila, The Philippines, it's a weird edition of the FMPMU? Why weird you ask? Well I mean other than the fact that I wrote this while I was in the Philippines, when this post on the blog I should be on the first leg of my flight home. Weird enough for you? Anyway on with the show...

First up is a group that I'd never heard of before my marathon. I'd asked the Old Guys (sorry again Fina!!) to each recommend one song to put on my playlist and The Mancow suggested these guys. I have yet to listen to any of the rest of their stuff, but this song rocks (and was perfect for the playlist). Here is The Afters with "Never Going Back to OK";

I don't have my list of previously played tracks with me, but I did a quick search and didn't find this one, which I thought was a little odd, but anyway... "Right about now, you're about to exsist on the sounds of MC Rob Base and DJ E Z Rock..." This is "It Takes Two". Hit IT!

Link to videos for FB friends.

Friday Morning Pick Me Up...

Sorry for no FMPMU last week, it was a busy week trying to get caught back up after being offline for a week. Hopefully this will make up for it...

In that vein, how about some Rilo Kiley? Yeah, that's what I thought, here's "The Frug"...

And to keep the good groves going here is Urban Dance Squad with Deeper Shade of Soul;

Link to videos for FB friends

Friday Morning Pick Me Up...

Pre-marathon edition! This post is being composed from high above (about 35,000') the United States as the Lovely & Talented Mrs. Smith and I fly to Orlando, FL, or more specifically Walt Disney World to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary and for me to run the WDW Marathon. I'll try to do a more specific marriage post at some point, but for now I need to get in the mood to run 26.2 miles.

"Look, If you had one shot, one opportunity, to seize everything you ever wanted, would you capture it, or just let it slip" - I love that, and what better way to start a marathon playlist than with a good song that's got a great tempo and an even better opening, this is Eminem with "Lose Yourself"

You know what helps people run further and faster? Devo (it's a proven scientific fact, you can look it up. I mean I'm pretty sure they've done papers on it and everything...), so here they are with "Good Thing";

Link to videos for FB friends.

Friday Morning Pick Me Up...

It's New Years eve and there's nothing better than a little Ska to help ring in the New Year!! First up are The Dualers with "Don't Go";

NYE is a big night for drinking (not for me, I've usually got a run in the morning) so to help keep things in the spirit here is one of the best current Ska bands out there, Reel Big Fish, with their live version of "Beer"!

Link to videos for FB friends

Friday Morning Pick Me Up...

It's Christmas Eve so how about a Cmas edition of the FMPMU? I really don't do traditional Christmas carols much, it's just never been my thing, so here are a couple of my favorites that probably fit into the "Alt" category...

First up, one of the best Christmas songs ever - Here are The Pogues & the late Kristy McColl with "Fairytale of New York";

A lot of the songs I really enjoy (Sun 60 - "Mary Xmas", Chris Stanley Group - "Christmas Time", Mono Puff - "Careless Santa", etc.) come off an album called "Just Can't Get Enough: Holidays" including this one. An all time classic from the Pretenders, this is "2000 Miles" from the BBC's Top Of The Pops;

Finally, and many thanks to Auntie for first posting this, here's a great mashup by Mojochronic, it's - "Rudolph (You Don't Have To Put On The Red Light)"

Happy Christmas everyone! Here's a link to the videos for FB friends