Any World (That I'm Welcome To)

I managed to see the first two episodes of Obi-Wan Kenobi. Wow, starting with an angry young man and a bunch of guys with guns slaughtering children is a bit much right now, Disney. I know they couldn't predict specific events, but it's not like a lot of real people weren't already all too familiar with such tragedies. If you're going to open with something like that, maybe make it clearer how it's relevant to the actual plot some time during the first two episodes to justify it instead of just plonking it in to let us know that the show is dark, man, dark? I saw one suggestion that we should have gotten some obvious signs that Reva and the Jedi youth Obi-Wan doesn't help were both in that group of kids that escapes, and they should have recognized each other. That would have been a start.

Tiny Leia and her tiny shoes sure are adorable though.

Also, Obi-Wan has a job butchering a...sand whale? Giant sand tuna? What the heck is that thing, and does it actually swim through sand? Why are they apparently only butchering it during day shifts instead of working round the clock to finish the job before the meat spoils in the devastating Tatooine heat? Or is there a night shift too, and they don't Gonk-clock in until a few minutes after the day shift Gonk-clocks out? Do they really expect us to concentrate on the plot when we're wondering these things?

And if there's a sand whale, why aren't they singing sand shanties while they butcher it? We know Ewan McGregor can sing! So far this show appears to be designed to deliver maximum id vortex indulgence: shiploads of Prequel Trilogy actors pressed back into service, a bunch of expanded universe stuff, cute kiddos, scruffy emo Ben, badass evil people in black leather, Darth Vader, a comedy Jawa, Alderaan, painfully ironic comments about what it will be like when Leia rules Alderaan someday, a cyberpunk Crime Planet, a marketable baby droid, you name it. Why not toss in a few Tatooine sand shanties? (For the record, I also thought Law & Order criminally wasted the opportunity to come up with an excuse for a musical episode when they had Jerry Orbach and Jesse L. Martin playing buddy cops together.)

Come on, Disney! It's not like anyone believes you're devoted to making quality Star Wars content anymore, so you wouldn't be losing any dignity or anything. Let's have a Special Musical Edition!

Until that happy day, I will accept your sand shanty lyrics.

For anyone in need of a break from everything for a few minutes, check out this interesting reconstruction of an Anglo-Saxon love song.

This very serious question is courtesy of a relative of mine.

In "Folsom Prison Blues," Johnny Cash as the narrator says he ended up in Folsom Prison because he shot a man in Reno just to watch him die. Reno is in the state of Nevada. Folsom Prison is a state prison--in the state of California. So what's he doing in Folsom?

Were all the Nevada state prisons so crowded that they arranged a transfer to California, which for some reason had room in its prisons? I could have sworn that it usually happens the other way around... Or is there some other explanation for this transfer between jurisdictions?

At least if he'd said "Tahoe" instead of "Reno," we could imagine he was on the California side. Or he could have shot someone in any California town of two syllables he pleased. Luckily for me, there are lots of handy lists for this sort of thing. Just looking at places ending in "-o," we get Fresno, Barstow, Chico, Igo, Ono, Yolo [County]... Or perhaps Chino, which conveniently has its own state prison nearby!

What's your favorite explanation for why shooting a man in Reno gets you sent to California, or your favorite alternate scene of the crime?

There is now a Downton Abbey rap. With some of the background guitar sampled from "Black Cow" by Steely Dan. Which means now you can enjoy an awesome show and one of the most awesome bands ever at the same time!

Well, actually I'm still waiting for someone to make a vid with Steely Dan's song Don't Take Me Alive showing Sharon Valeri's season 1 arc, because even though it is about Charles Whitman, it totally sounds like a Cylon song. I hear my inside/the mechanized hum of another world, you say?

Via Ferretbrain, Complete History of the Soviet Union, Arranged to the Melody of Tetris.

Also, Juan of the Dead has a second trailer. "We slaughter your beloved ones" must be one of the best advertising slogans ever.

I was messing around with some ANH screencaps and Firefly taglines, and this is the result. If anyone wants to use these, go right ahead! Credit would be nice, but it's not like I'll track you down if you don't.

As always, Lucasfilm and associates own the images, and I make no profit from this and claim no credit. Screencap for the first three done by made_by_lily, found through cap_it.

( Shiny. )

Other miscellany: wouldn't Aimee Mann's song Ghost World be great for a vid about Luke bumming around Anchorhead and the Lars Homestead "with college [/the Academy] out of reach"? Really, take a look at the chorus:

So I'm bailing this town
Or tearing it down
Or probably more like hanging around
Hanging around

Or in Luke-speak, "I guess I'm going nowhere." And the bridge would be perfect for a flash of Leia's hologram and Ben handing Luke the lightsaber:

And all that I need now is someone
with the brains and the know-how
to tell me what I want... anyhow

You'd need to use the cut scenes with Biggs and Camie and everyone, probably. I don't think exist in high-quality format yet - but they might in the Super-Duper Specialer Edition which will surely come out someday soon.

Alas, I have no vidding skills. But if anyone ever finds or makes this, let me know!

I recently discovered that Alessandro Juliani, the actor who plays Felix Gaeta on Battlestar Galactica, got his Bachelor's in Vocal/Opera Performance. Gaeta. Opera. Is this not awesome?

Since BSG is apparently going the music video route already, what with characters reciting lyrics and the whole show turning into a fanvid at the end, I think Season 4 should feature Singing Gaeta. Perhaps he could show off his lovely baritone (and his tiger tatoo) while singing in the shower.

Here's hoping Allegra and FloNase will help, since Claritin, Alavert, and Chlortrimeton didn't. I think I feel more alert than I have in weeks, which is a good sign. Now if only the post-nasal drip would let up...

So to focus on more cheery topics - that "one moment of beauty" just over halfway through Season 2 of B5? Puer natus est! I had to learn that in chorus once, and I think we listened to that very recording! It always feels good to recognize the random cultural references in TV shows. (Or is it random? Maybe a Gregorian chant about the birth of Christ intended for Christmas services is relevant in some way I haven't realized yet.) Also, the Ministry of Peace, aka MiniPax? The B5 crew are obviously not up on their 20th-century lit, or they'd be more wary.

I've also started watching Buffy, which I sadly missed the first time around (am now on S2), and have already gotten gotten two great laughs out of spotting Hamlet quotes. The Master's "Where are your jibes now?" puts a line originally addressed to a skull in the mouth of someone trying to turn Buffy into a skull (well, trying to kill her, anyway), and Giles's "The rest is silence" in response to Buffy turning off her music as a guy dies outside also had me giggling.

So, I've been feeling nauseated all week and thought I was getting sick, but I finally figured out that it's just allergies or something and it's the post-nasal drainage that's the problem. I took an antihistamine and have been completely spaced out all day. Seriously, I took it at about eight AM and only within about the last hour or two have I been able to keep my train of thought long enough to read or write a sentence. And I slept for about four hours this afternoon instead of reading for school. But at least I don't feel sick... although that might be preferable.

So instead of posting the TPM thingy I had hoped to have finished a few days ago, it's the last two unposted song filks (one's really short) I have on my hard drive. (I figure I need to keep in the habit of posting or I'll just get lazy.) This is terrible, because now I realize how important keeping a backlog of meta and filks and various things on my hard drive is to my... I want to say something like "style" or "method of operating" but neither sounds right. Damn drugs. Anyway, I work better when I have several things gestating in a form I can see and tweak than when I'm completely winging it.

Enough drug-induced rambling. ( Filk! )

Meme courtesty of my friend Wimbly.

IF A MOVIE WAS MADE OF YOUR LIFE, WHAT WOULD THE SOUNDTRACK BE?

So, here's how it works:

Open your music library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, etc).
Put it on shuffle.
Press play.
For every question type the title and artist of the song that's playing.
When you go to a new question press the next button.
Ready? GO!


Opening Credits: Bells - Stay Awhile
So it starts with a long-haired guy who sneaks into my room and makes me quiver? At least it's a happy start, if sappy.

Waking Up: Dar Williams - Mercy of the Fallen
I guess I was dreaming about Jesus. This song's a bit more melancholy. I guess Mr. Long-hair (Jesus?) isn't making me quiver with joy as much as he used to.

Falling In Love: Brian Setzer Orchestra - Jump Jive and Wail
So, not a serious relationship. No wonder we have a fight scene.

Fight Scene: Sir Mixalot - Baby Got Back
Stop looking at Becky's butt, you pig! Isn't my butt big enough for you?

Breaking Up: B.J. Thomas - Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head
At least I took the breakup well.

Make-up: OPM - Heaven Is A Half Pipe
Jesus and I made up over a bong? I don't think this sounds like a stable relationship!

Secret Love: Die Aerzte - Nie wieder Krieg, nie mehr Las Vegas
What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.

Life's Okay: Sublime - Santeria
Life's okay with jealousy, violence, and Yoruba religious traditions mixed with Catholicism! What kind of life am I having? The kind that leads to a...

Mental Breakdown: Disney - Tarzan - Trashing the Camp
Ha. Vandalism with the animalistic boy band.

Driving: Godfather Theme
Where am I going? 0_o

Flashbacks: 2gether - U + Me = Us (Calculus)
To kill him, maybe? Will I kiss him on each cheek first? (This is even weirder if he's Jesus.)

Happy Dance: No Doubt - You Can Do It
Nice and upbeat. I just hope it doesn't mean, "You can kill Mr. Long-hair."

Regretting: James Taylor - Sweet Baby James
Maybe Mr. Long-hair became a cowboy, and I'm regretting that I didn't kill him before he got away. (This song would actually work pretty well for the next one, too.)

Long Night Alone: Spin Doctors - Pocket Full of Kryptonite
Er... so now that I've gotten over Mr. Long-hair, I have the hots for Lois, but she's into this Clark guy... Superman must die!

Final Battle: Red Hot Chili Peppers - Otherside
This isn't going well, is it? Am I depressed because I just can't compete with the Man of Steel?

Death Scene: Procul Harum - A Whiter Shade of Pale
But before I kill myself and turn ghostly white, I get drunk.

Ending Credits: Grand Funk Railroad - Hooked On A Feeling
...what? An upbeat love song? I guess this supports the theory that Mr. Long-hair is Jesus, and now we're together again. But then what was Jesus doing as a lonely cowboy "thinking about women and glasses of beer"?