Is there a term for the things that suddenly turn up on the internet that have likely been around for a while and you just weren't paying enough attention? There probably is. It's probably a term that people on the internet are using that has been for a while and I just wasn't paying enough attention.
I "found" this oldie on Last.fm. It's a live clip of Ash doing "Wild Surf," my favorite song from their second album Nu-Clear Sounds. There's an killer chord progression four bars before the chorus that makes it for me. Well, that and Charlotte Hatherley, whose backing vocals, on the studio version, always worked wonders.
Here, we see her freshly initiated into the band. She may have a touch too much heroin chic going on, but I still fall for her. And she nails a biting solo.
So, I've been using my Typepad account instead of VOX, and whenever I come back over this way I have shit loads of spam comments to delete. Surely, VOX, if you delete a spam account, it should automatically delete all of the spam comments they've left as well?
Last night, I was at the dinner table with Mitsuki, going over some math problems. There’s a focus on mathematics in the First Grade, we discovered. To support this, we’re been giving her extra math problems after she completes her homework. We make up these one-minute math tests (20 addition or subtraction problems), as well as some word problems (“James saw Star Wars three times. Then, he saw Up twice. Finally, he saw Madagascar 5 times. How many times did he go to the movies?”).
I gave her a visual-pattern question:
Complete the pattern.
square triangle square square triangle square triangle triangle square triangle square {blank} triangle square triangle {blank}
Hint: Break up the shapes into groups of four
Well, she didn’t get it at first. We looked at the hint together. Then I divided the shapes into groups of four:
square triangle square square
triangle square triangle triangle
square triangle square {blank}
triangle square triangle {blank}
As I said them aloud, she said, “Wait, I’ve heard this before.” She was remembering the bilateral move in aerobics wherein the exercise – such as a jab or tilt of the head – alternates sides, in the pattern of single single double (or, left right left left, right left right right).
Then, it clicked. “Oh!” she said and grabbed for the pencil and filled in the blanks.
square triangle square square
triangle square triangle triangle
square triangle square square
triangle square triangle triangle
It was quite gratifying to see that a) she could get her arms around this new type of problem, b) she recalled the musical/dance pattern and could related it to the math problem, and c) she (hopefully) walked away with a new technique for finding patterns.
Then, the kicker. What I was waiting for. Before she could move onto the next thing, I said, “Wait, I want to show you something” and I wrote R above the squares and L above the triangles. “This is also a drumming pattern,” and I played it for her.
RLRR LRLL RLRR LRLL
Half surprised, I watched her take it slow and tap it on the dinner table. It was easy for her.
“That,” I concluded, “is called a paradiddle.”
“A para-diddle?” she repeated and laughed.
I’d been waiting years to teach her that, and it took all but 5 minutes for her to get it.
I was listening to KFOG's "New Music Thursday" last night, and at a crucial moment in the evening, Chris Isaak's "We've Got Tomorrow" popped on.
Isaak, who is a local boy and a longtime favorite of mine - long before Helena Christensen and his subsequent over-exposure - has been putting out records consistently since "Wicked Game." But I hadn't heard anything in a long while that stuck with me.
I know he's got more to him than the flaccid, cliché-heavy songs that make it to the radio, so with every new song I hear I pin hopes that he hasn't shot his bolt.
But this one, from his recently dropped "Mr. Lucky" album, sounds promising. There's still a hint of sap in his trademark croon, but we have a bonafide love song with a positive outlook for once. There are more than the usual changes. Some jaunty horns. Some tasty guitar. Things are looking up. Good job, Chris.
Have you (or someone you're close to) ever been on television?
Yes, I have! I talked about knitting on a morning show once. It was great fun, although the host didn't know much about knitting or handicraft. People said I represented my craft well and looked very relaxed. Afterwards I got a free taxi trip to work and came to the office still wearing my TV make-up.
