Two Songs

Heard a terrible duet cover of "One" at the Health & Racquet Club today, so of course I had to listen to the original. It toally reminded me of why Achtung Baby is still one of my favorite albums of all time. In fact, Achtung Baby is one of the first CD's I've ever owned. I got it as part of a big order from BMG, taking advantage of their fabled buy one get two hundred billion free promotion. Come to think of it, that same order also included Joey Lawrence's (of TV'S "Blossom" "whoa!" fame) first, and I believe, last album. I have my sister to blame for that pick. Or at least I think she ordered it. The alternative explanation would be too embarassing to contemplate.

"One" - U2

Is it getting better, or do you feel the same?
Will it make it easier on you, now you got someone to blame?
You say one love, one life, when it's one need in the night.
One love, we get to share it
Leaves you baby if you don't care for it.

Did I disappoint you or leave a bad taste in your mouth?
You act like you never had love and you want me to go without.
Well, it's too late tonight to drag the past out into the light.
We're one, but we're not the same.
We get to carry each other, carry each other... one

Have you come here for forgiveness,
Have you come to raise the dead
Have you come here to play Jesus to the lepers in your head
Did I ask too much, more than a lot
You gave me nothing, now it's all I got.
We're one, but we're not the same.
Well, we hurt each other, then we do it again.

You say love is a temple, love a higher law
Love is a temple, love the higher law.
You ask me to enter, but then you make me crawl
And I can't be holding on to what you got, when all you got is hurt.

One love, one blood, one life, you got to do what you should.
One life with each other: sisters, brothers.
One life, but we're not the same.
We get to carry each other, carry each other.
One, one.


Here's a new fave

"Little Death" -- +44

Please sleep, my darling, sleep
Your cry for inspiration
Never reaches ears on distant stars
And every night our lonely planet
Slides across the universe
and I won't pretend I understand.

Please sleep, my darling, sleep
Your death by information
Won't disturb the peace on distant stars
And even when you lock the door
Slide behind the unlit shades
None of us are strangers anymore.

Fall asleep with the windows open
Come to me with the worst you've said and done
you'll close your eyes and see me
a little death makes life more meaningful
I stand no chance at all.

Please, sleep my darling, sleep
Your car crash in slow motion
Won't upset the pace on distant stars
And one by one the years
are all I've stumbled as the moments pass
So please hold on, please hold on...

Fall asleep with the windows open
Come to me with the worst you've said and done
you'll close your eyes and see me
a little death makes life more meaningful
I stand no chance at all.

Page Turner

"I pick up lots of good lines at prayer meetings. I asked Amy, I whispered to her, how she'd like to have a little manna on her honey. And she turned red, and kicked me on the ankle. I whispered to her again, asked her if I could Mose-y into her Burning Bush. I told her I was going to take her to my bosom and cleave unto her, and anoint her with precious oils."

-- Jim Thompson, The Killer Inside Me, 1952

The above excerpt is pretty much the only light-hearted moment in the entire book, which may be the most disturbing work of fiction I have ever read, and one of only a handful of books that I've read from start to finish in one sitting.

Highly recommended.

I never liked any of Stanley Kubrick's movies, but I have to agree with him on this one: "Probably the most chilling and believable first-person story of a criminally warped mind I have ever encountered."

One More Reason...

That Tina Fey is one hot mama: Paris Hilton "is a piece of shit."

Datarock

This afternoon I was walking home in a really pissy mood because earlier at the gym I couldn't find my bloody locker and discovered that I had forgotten to put the lock on the damn thing AFTER asking the gym manager to clip two other locks! One of them belongs to a trainer who works there. So great, now I have some beefy trainer pissed at me.

Anyways, I felt a lot better after listening to some Datarock, a quirky Norwegian outfit I discovered recently. "Fa-fa-fa" is definitely one of the most upbeat and fun songs I've heard in a while. I laughed out loud when "Computer Camp Love" came on. How could you not love a song with lyrics like these?

I ran into her on computer camp
(Was that in 84?)
Not sure
I had my commodore 64
Had to score
(Not with that dirty tramp)
She’s not a tramp
Her name is Judy
(That’s a nice name)
Yeah she’s a nice girl
(Big deal. Did you get in her pants?)
She’s not that kind of a girl, booger
(Why, does she have a penis?)
Seen as supremus
You better know she’s a genus and a Venus
(Tell me more; was it love at first sight?)
That’s right this was god-given grace with a face you could praise
(Tell me more; did you put up a fight?)
I don’t think so, but before we tour [tore?] the chorus stall let’s all explore a more a
(Computer cabin war)
That's right
I said before we explore the amore on my story do a dora
(Computer cabin war)
Seen as supremus
You better know she’s a genus and a Venus
(Tell me more; was it love at first sight?)
That’s right this was god-given grace with a face you could praise
(Tell me more; did you put up a fight?)
I ran into her on computer camp
(Computer cabin war)
Hard core
It started like a boar ending up on the floor
(Come on now tell me more)
Seen as supremus
You better know she’s a genus and a Venus
(Tell me more; was it love at first sight?)
That’s right this was god-given grace with a face you could praise
(Tell me more; did you put up a fight?)

Highway Robbery

I finally went to the grocery store today to buy some yummy fruits because the heat is on full blast at the apartment now that winter is finally here, which leads to chapped lips and dry throat for me. The prices at the Food Emporium a block away were so outrageous I started cursing at the produce. I mean, $3.50 for ONE bloody persimmon??? $10 for a 4-lb watermelon? I actually said "fuck you" to the banana stand when I saw the sorriest looking bunch of bananas going for A WHOLE FUCKING DOLLAR PER POUND!?!? I could shit better looking bananas than these squished, half-brown excuses for a banana.

Then I picked up a liter and a half bottle of Diet Coke for Chil, who definitely didn't appreciate my suggestion of sticking to fat-free water and questioned my preference for greasy Chinese food, in addition to suggesting that I purchase a vagina at the local drug store. Hey, I'm not the one who's 40 pounds overweight, that's all I'm saying.

I'm only 20 pounds overweight.

Go See Ron Mueck!!!!

On Saturday I went to the Brooklyn Museum to check out the Annie Leibovitz exhibit with Sachin. As usual my company ID got us in for free, which I guess is at least one benefit of working for a soul-less corporate America. I went for Annie Leibovitz, but was totally blown away by the sculptures of Ron Mueck. They are the most impressive artistic achievements I've encountered since seeing Michelangelo's David at the Accademia in Florence. My jaw hit the floor: "My mind's been blown, " I kept telling Sachin.

These are the most realistic and powerful representations of human beings I've ever seen (except for the whole different scale thing, I guess). They seem more human than most people I encounter on the streets every day. The details are so painstakingly accurate, every hair (some gray, some dark, some graying), freckle, mole, wrinkle, eye lash, vein, nail is there. I felt overwhelmed with emotions as I watched these naked, vulnerable souls who seemed lost in lonelieness and melancholy. I felt really sad not just because I was sympathetic towards the statues' sorrows but also because I felt that I will never be as accomplished as Mueck at anything I do in life. Ok, maybe at whistling, because I kick ass at whistling. The other night when I was with Sachin, Leslie and Adrienne at a taco place, I started whistling along to "Wind of Change," that awesome Scorpions song that was being played at the taco shack.

Anyways, go visit the Brooklyn Museum before the Mueck exhibit ends on 2/7/07. I think it's the most powerful and moving exhibit I've ever visited.