Saturday Morning, Circa 1988

I recently purchased an album by a band called The Go! Team called Thunder, Lightning, Strike. It's a good album, and you can hear a few songs from it courtesy of this playlist. However, when you listen to these songs, I want you to remember Saturday mornings circa 1988. I want you to remember the blurry neon colors that blasted through your pre-satellite television. I want you to remember the chatter of a spoon scraping the last of the Fruity Pebbles from the sides of your cereal bowl. I want you to remember Autobots and Decepticons, the "Sandman" story arc from Ghostbusters, and plastic action figures firing spring-loaded missiles into clear blocks that were never included with the action figure itself. I want you to remember the original Nintendo Entertainment System, and the satisfying ache that took over your thumbs after playing Contra all the way to The Red Falcon's still beating heart. I want you to remember these things while listening to these songs because, at the end of the day, it will make your soul happy.

Country Fried!

Below is a heapin' helpin' of my new and improved Country Fried Playlist. Let it fill your arteries with saturated awesome.

1. Everlasting Light by The Black Keys
2. Kick Drum Heart by The Avett Brothers
3. Righteous Heart by Nathan Lawr and the Minotaurs
4. Home by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros
5. Tender by Blur
6. Jesus, Etc. by Wilco
7. Skinny Love by Bon Iver
8. Big Sur by The Thrills
9. Everybody Needs Somebody by China Forbes
10. Wildflowers by Tom Petty
11. Right Hand on My Heart by The Whigs
12. Bad Things by Jace Everett
13. A Martyr for My Love For You (Acoustic) by The White Stripes
14. Wishing Well by Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
15. Tiger Tiger by The Sadies
16. Someday Baby by R.L. Burnside
17. Stick Around by Jonny Kaplan and the Lazy Stars
18. The Cave by Mumford and Sons
19. You Will Be My Ain' True Love by Alison Krauss
20. Until Morale Improves, the Beatings Will Continue by Murder By Death
21. I Don't Wanna Grow Up by Hayes Carll
22. The Mountain by Heartless Bastards
23. Sweet Jane by Cowboy Junkies
24. Done All Wrong by Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
25. Four Leaf Clover by Old 97's
26. Further On (Up the Road) by Johnny Cash
27. Jolene by The White Stripes
28. Baby I Love You by The Yayhoos
29. Timebomb by Old 97's
30. W.I.A.D.F.Y. by Elliott Brood
31. Kingdom of Doom by The Good, The Bad, & The Queen
32. Bad As They Seem by Hayden
33. I Wish My Baby Was Born by Tim Eriksen, Riley Baugus, & Tim O'Brien
34. The Man Comes Around by Johnny Cash
35. Country Sweat by Oingo Boingo
36. Great High Mountain by Jack White
37. Goin' Out West by Tom Waits

COOPER: "Do you want to know why I'm whittling?"
TRUMAN: "Okay, I'll bite. Why are you whittling?"
COOPER: "Because that's what you do in a town where a yellow light still means slow down, not speed up."

"Teachers Are the Greatest Freaks On Earth" --Anne Frank

It's been a really long time since I've spent any time on this clunky old blog of mine, but since I'm contractually obligated to be here for another ten minutes, I'm gonna let loose with a bunch of goings on that have been going on:

Created a facebook account.

Saw a car dodge a cardboard box on I-80 and crash through the median, getting tangled up in a mess of steel cables and dust (I got out of my car to assist, and everyone was okay).

Have been listening to Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity on my drive home and can now say that they are idiots for myself.

Alice in Wonderland was just okay.

Sherlock Holmes was freaking awesome.

Signed up for gamefly (it's like netflix but with video games). Rented Dante's Inferno. Do not recall a gargantuan topless Cleopatra shooting unbaptized babies out of her ta-ta's in the original story.

Musical taste has veered into alt-country folky territory (Mumford & Sons; Elliott Brood; The Avett Brothers).

Have started watching Dexter. It is very awesome. Have added Michael C. Hall to list of dudes that I have a man-crush on.

Purchased and beat Mass Effect 2, but lost three of my crew members in the process. I've never felt so emotionally distraught after a video game character dies as I did when Grunt got carried off by a pack of pissed off alien bats.

Have eaten chicken feet. I do not recommend eating chicken feet.

Am very close to wrapping up the third quarter of my first year teaching. It's gone by pretty fast, but I kind of feel like I've done a good job so far.

That should about cover it. See you in another three months, blogosphere.