Hallelujah

There are many versions of this Leonard Cohen song, and I never thought that the late great Jeff Buckley's version would be topped,but this spare and bone-chilling version by one of my personal favorite bands is just amazing.

And if you don't own " Ohio " by these two, then you clearly have a huge hole in your life.

Favorite Movies of the Decade

Like the music lists before it, my favorite movies of the decade list is a list in progress. Are there things missing? Probably. Are these the ones that have left some kind of indelible stamp on me, enough to end up on the list? Yep. For now, these are my favorite movies of the last decade, in no particular order;[your comments welcome below, this ain't a one way street,folks]

Man on Wire

Wall-E

Dark Knight

Lord of the Rings Trilogy

High Fidelity

The Squid and the Whale

Spirited Away

Donnie Darko

Juno

Once

Kill Bill

A History of Violence

Pan's Labryinth

O'Brother Where Art Thou?

Memento

No Country for Old Men

Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind

Almost Famous

Amelie

City of God

Sideways

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

Little Miss Sunshine

Persepolis

Stranger Than Fiction

Walk the Line

Hedwig and the Angry Inch

Children of Men

The Aviator

There Will Be Blood

Lost in Translation

Dancer in the Dark

Slumdog Millionaire

The Diving Bell and The Butterfly

Knocked Up

School of Rock

House of Flying Daggers

The Devil Wears Prada

Gladiator

See ya in 2020

Things to Avoid This Week - Another List

Gosh, I absolutely love lists. It is in my organized German genes, coursing through my blood. I am pretty sure I started keeping lists before I could speak. I had little graphical representations of the things I had to do. Little pictures of picking up toys, drinking chocolate milk, brushing teeth, and doing push-ups with my 1st girlfriend at age 5.

I have them for everything, they are everywhere, posted, online, in Outlook, voice-notes, little sticky notes, index cards, journals, any means of taking the wild zoo animals of my thoughts, and ubiquitously caging them long enough to attempt to tame them. I love control, or at least attempts at it.[Stray tuned for my future series; " Confessions of a Control Freak"]

Here are the top things I want to avoid this week, which do not include the painfully obvious like meeting my maker and all of that high level stuff:

1. People called " Ace "

2. CNN

3. Conversations about the TV show " Glee ", since clearly I am culturally stilted in not having seen it.

4. Changing my two year old's diaper when he has a stomach virus

5. Toledo

6. Any bands that have " geographical " names. Asia,Kansas,Boston et al.

7. Bud Light " Wheat"

8. Discussions with Obama fans about his 1st year poll ratings, since clearly that is biased by the media.

9. Reading my emails on Blackberry whilst sitting on the toilet. [a major challenge]

10. Being called a " knob " more than once

11. Sleep deprivation

12. Ending up in a dark alley face down next to a hooker.

13. Abercrombie and Fitch, since looking at pre-pubescent boys half naked while being overwhelmed by the scent of a cat-house from all the oversweet cologne is just plain obscene

14. Communists and Liberals

15. Wal-Mart.

Pay attention to the above, and I think it will be a better week for all of us.

Haikus For the Shizophrenic Weather

It has been too cold 'round these parts for this long time Southerner. My word, it is like waking up in Minnesota this morning.And those flakes that seem to be falling from the sky, are the rarest of Southern precipitation, snow, like a blanket of dandruff on the still semi-verdant grass. Yikes, it is grey.

A few haikus that formed in my skull from the inspiration of the weather front:

As the sky does snow

        Across the grass, I feel my

                feet  looking for socks

Falling to the Earth,

        I watch the coffee brew

Inside where the hearth is.

It’s stupid— this white

stuff that can't shelter me

And take me from here.

More Oversimplified Life Philosophy - Life is Easy Part IV

One of the key skills of a good manager is taking complexity and boiling it down to its simplest elements, so that each element can be understood and actioned.

Well hell, life is like that too, my dear friends.

So to make it easier for you, dear reader [quite literally the one of you] here is Part IV in my "Life is Easy" series. You may want to do yourself a favor and peek at the blog archives, you may have already missed some life-altering advice. You don't want to continue through life hobbling like some mental cripple do you? 

Buckle upand hold tight for some unprecedented mental growth.

Today's topic is the clearly under employed and under appreciated " gratitude ".

But rather than blather on about the usual and " big " topics, like loved ones, and health and blah blah blah, [which most people don't appreciate either - go see a therapist] we will talk about those small random things that should bring gratitude.  And yes, my tongue, as often, is firmly in cheek, however the message is real, people, find little things to be grateful for, and they will snowball into a better more grateful life. Of this I am certain. Be grateful that I am shutting up now and getting on with the life-changing list.

Note: these things are personal, and all of you have your own version, I can't tell you what that is - do I look like a virtual mind-reader? So figure it out for yourself. Growth is only a kick in the pants, you have to do the work.

Small Random Things to be Grateful For - An Ever Growing List  - Part 1A

1.Hearing a song that you have not heard in years that brings you back to an exact and vivid place of joy in time.
2.Getting up in the morning and having matching clean socks
3.Telling a joke, and then being the only one to laugh at it, and not giving a crap.
4.Licking a stamp
5.Not seeing Nancy Grace from CNN's face once during a 24 hour period.
6.Never having experienced Priapism
7.Mozart
8.Going one day where technology has not f*cked you up.
9.Robes. Not the Papal kind, more the Hugh Hefner variety
10.Kid Free days, where you can go to the Toilet without someone knocking and saying" what are you doing, Daddy"?  As long as it is not too many days away, because after more than one night, you miss the little sh*ts.
11.Looking in the mirror and saying in your most serious tone " you are one sexy man" and kind of meaning it
12.Toast with Peanut Butter, Honey and Bananas and huge glass of cold milk.
13.Coffee
14.Coffee
15.Coffee
16.Coffee
17.Jumping from one bed to another in hotel rooms with your kids and feeling so good about being so wrong
18.Fresh Guacamole
19.Ale over Lager
20.Fresh Clean Sheets

See what I mean?  I could go on forever. Go make your list, and live it.
Stay tuned for my next installment; 10 sexual favors to be grateful for.

Song for Tiger

The news is just making me nuts again. I worked out for 45 minutes this morning, and for whatever reason the hotels always feel the need to have the news blaring in the workout room, to the point where I can barely drown it out with my iPod workout metal soundtrack. The entire AM news time was more or less devoted to endless speculation about Tiger Wood’s recent auto accident.


In a word, disgusting. Come on, people, keep your eyes on the road, and stop the rubbernecking.
So as a means to cope, I wrote this little song.

Lie of the Tiger?

Come on now Tiger, please tell us you are not another freak.
Just focus on your low scoring
We just want you to be normal and boring

Not the damned car crash of the week

Not another Jackson
Or Brittany or Paris
Whose panty-less escapades and binges scare us

Come on Tiger, dare us!
We need to know the score
Tell us you are a famous, superstar bore!

Tell us you are not having an affair
And that you are just and fair
Not some whacked out, superstar nut bag
With a hidden inclination to golf in drag

Now the whole rubberneckin nation
Is stuck in mindless speculation
Only you know the real story
We just hope it is boring

Sometimes I think people want you to fail
Envious of your talent and fame
They want to see you fall in shame

I just want you normal

Not  f*cking the neighbor
Or smoking 8 balls all night
Or diddling kids
Or sending your cash to Al Qaeda
Or being a secret Russian Operative
Or an alien from Planet Golf, sent here to take over our Earth
Or confused about your sexuality
Or stealing library books
Or, gulp, dating Paris

Please Tiger, tell us!

I am wearing my heart on my sleeve
Please help me to believe
In your smile
That you mean it
That you are there for the kids
And not selling lids

We need you now.
We need you now.

[instrumental break played on a Violin struck gently by a oversized Ping Putter, imagine the sound of a car crash mixed with the fluttering of angel's wings]

Untitled So Far

Poet-saint
lighting the dust,
present
motionless,
back lit
flame, the words
his architecture.

His bones the language of atonement
his forgetting, the assassination of who you are.

(pulse beats enter you,
pry the closed eyes -
spilling vowels into the shape of silence)

recognize my face !
sculpted throne of glances
ideas roll off tongue, yet

I never find myself repeat
I never find myself repeat

I help you find yourself -
hanging in an image
(night falling on death’s head)
the madness of my discourse
is changing colors for others
poet: murmur
the shadow my words cast
tongue tearing itself
apart
the pause/middle of phrase
untouchable
except
on
page.

self: spinning sculpture
king of fantasy
I do not exist
except

in the graveyard of phrases.

Nostalgia Is A Warm Blanket for Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is many things. A time to warm the heart, and share it with family. A break to slow down, pull over to life's curb, and count your abundant blessings.

The holidays come faster every year, with Christmas already lurking in the wings.
I bet you 5 bucks, you have said " is it really already almost Christmas" a few times in the last few weeks. Grab hold of life, man, this is a quick ride.

So we look for joy, and laughter and warmth wherever we can find it, multiply it, share and build on it. And we eat to somehow make sense of it all.

This video does not have a damned thing to do with Thanksgiving, other than the deep nostalgia I felt, from all of the past at once, from all my kids, and a goofy smile wider than the mighty Mississippi.

Spend the 4 minutes and watch, your heart will be a better place for it.

Happy Thanksgiving, y'all.

Word Up ! – My All Time Favorite Words - Part III

I am doing this for the kids. For our language.  For the pure hell of it. Today’s language is born of speed and quantity, not quality.  We text, and email like rabid dogs, our kids are all thumbs, emoticons, abbreviations, graphics and pop- sound.

The letter is dead. The word is a patient on a stretcher, shot through with the bullet-holes of technology. Punctuation is a cruel joke, from the devil’s playground - the English class. Grammar is a slap on the hand with the ruler.

Words can be meaty, and more filling and spicy than Jambalaya pasta.

So today’s word ,kids is “ visceral “

·          

• relating to or affecting the viscera; "visceral bleeding"; "a splanchnic nerve"
• intuitive: obtained through intuition rather than from reasoning or observation
• Having to do with the response of the body as opposed to the intellect, as in the   distinction between feeling and thinking. Often described as intuition; cf. gut feeling, gut reaction
• viscerally - Literally, in a manner that affects the viscera or gut; In a visceral manner; in a way that affects one's inner core or produces overwhelming emotions

It is rock n roll.

Well kids, there is nothing quite so nice as that feeling where something moves you so much that it is like a punch in the gut.   It can be animalistic, instinctual, like lust or love or when AC/DC comes on the radio, and you need that more than anything in that particular moment and you may not even know or care why.

It is that movie, or book that knocks you in the eye and you cannot quite measure what just happened. But you know it did.

It is that look in your loved ones eye, when there is a moment that you cannot quite measure, but is there, it is felt and shared.  It is heartache, and heart break, and the constant jangle of your nerves.  It is you singing in the shower or car at the top your lungs, and not giving a shit.

It is everything you have ever felt that crackles across your synapses looking for a charge, like lightning passing through an outlet. It is drunk, it is sober. It is tears and laughter, and everything in between.

You just have to feel it.

Hunch - Cool Website of the Week Award

For God's sake, once again someone has beaten me to the idea. This is some cool beans folks, a decision-making engine that learns as you play. You feed it, it helps you make decisions.  On anything, the whole darned A-Z gamut.This is not your kids goofy floating triangle " Magic Eight Ball ", people.  And it learns. And it is watching. And it is sharing. At once, damned cool, and a bit scary at the same time.  Really worth a look. This will come in handy indeed.

Songs Titles for Songs I have Yet to Write

As so often in life, my ambition far outstrips my ability to execute, due to the usual rainstorm of creativity excuses; energy, time, dishes to wash, a job, the lack of a full moon and other petty distractions.  Nonetheless, I have a list of titles that are simply looking for the song to tag along.  A good start. I am working on it.

Here are the song titles, and the intended genre;

1. I’d Marry You If I Knew You Better, for Now Nudity is Enough  [country]
2. Stop Calling me a Fag, You Big Fag [ song for Morrissey]
3. If you Want to Talk, Get in the back of the Truck, we’re going to Home Depot  [country]
4. My Diction, Your Mouth [ punk ]
5. Cognitive Dissonance – If My Thoughts Could Only Get Along [ Ballad]
6. Das Boot – The Operetta
7. Why Didn’t You Say No, when I asked you to marry me? [ Funk]
8. Love is A Pile of Bricks, that need to be stuck together to make somethin’ [ Hip Hop]
9. There’s Traffic in Hell [ speed metal ]
10. If that it a Five O’Clock shadow, pay for your own drink. [ Disco ]
11. Stop. Shush.Roll Over. Enjoy. [pop punk]
12. Shit, Scat is Logical [hip-hop jazz]
13. ABC as simple as Differential Equations, for You and Me Girl. [ Soul ]
14. Big is in the Mouth of the Beholder [ synth-pop]
15. If You wanted to dance, You should have Drank more [ country]
16. If you think I am not listening now, just wait til I take off my headphones [Trance]

Dawn

More

than the usual this morning

the dawn gets eaten up

a slow lust  burning,

I am feeling up your tongue

for the trace of our dreams.

Heaven is in words crackling

finding new sanity in flesh

drowning in the sea-surge;

sweat’s breath in sticky movement

prying one iridescent pearl

from the end of a rose bulb.

We are simple enough for two worlds;

understanding - delicate, precise, fine,

the binding deluge of love, and

color planes, motifs, vibrations of abstract language

interpretations prying sprouting and peering                                

heating our blood from the inside.

The sugary fabric of words

steams the windows; your body polished,

in glass slippers

walks the night

finding reveries and bringing them home.

Motivational Series - A Guest Post

My good friend Dave and I like to poke fun at all the silly little things in life that are taken way too seriously. Chief amongst our targets are work, and things that go along with our vocations. Buzzwords, politics, managers and those little pests that are everywhere, people.

Here  is Dave's introduction to a  new motivational program for your workplace and your own personal development;

There is a new motivational program which features the two superstars - Wayne Dyer and Tony Robbins which you must listen to. Chapters include:

• Why your life sucks and ours doesn't - A motivational intro to Wayne and Tony's lifestyles
• 10 ways to kill yourself after listening to this program - Bonus instructional video included
• Improve communications - Leave the room (part 1)
• Do everyone a favor - Leave the room (part 2)
• Tips for motivating others with a baseball bat - Tender areas to focus on
• How to get what you want out of life - Screw everyone else
• The lost art of ignoring  and disassociation - An exercise in effective listening skills

 I am starting with the last bullet point first.  Can't wait to get my hands on this series, and pass it along. I feel a robust synergy coming along.

Contradictions or coping ?

I am on another cattle car flight in one of the busiest air corridors on earth from Atlanta to NY. Every bin, every seat is full.  The last 10 flights I have been on been the same. With my silver elite status, I was number 59 for an upgrade, for a plane with 12 seats up front. The "priority" boarding, was more or less 70% of the plane.

This begs the question, if the economy is so bad, why the hell are so many people flying ?

If it is business, is it to be more in the face of their customers than their fierce competition ?

If is vacation, how can all these people afford it ? 

Sure, some flights are cheap, but I can tell you, many are not, these days.

Perhaps, the economy, allows us certain privileges after all, the feeling like we deserve a break, or that we have to be that much more aggressive than our competition.

Have you noticed that service is mostly better wherever you go ?  Darn tootin, treat me like a king, with my rare nickels or I will go somewhere else.

The other thing is phones, times are tough, but you can bet your bottom dollar that everyone has the latest and greatest.

Times are not that bad it seems.
-
Updated from BlackBerry.