Wobbly the Dancing Squirrel

It’s Wobbly the Dancing Squirrel.

Actually, though, I believe it’s Wobbly the Squirrel with Parkinson’s Disease. Can squirrels get Parkinson’s?

This just doesn’t look normal to me.

Maybe he’s been eating fermented fruit like the drunk squirrel I posted another time.

Om Nom Nom Nom

Suddenly I’m very hungry.

(Don’t let the still image on the video fool you. It’s not overtly sexual in nature and very safe for work, etc.)

Feel Good Friday – Accordian For Trudy

It’s Friday and I’ve got a Feel Good tune for my friend Trudy.

She’s one of the most musically gifted people I know, with the ability to play about any instrument you put in front of her.

I knew she played the accordian, but was reminded of that fact again yesterday at lunch. Trudy gave me my best laugh of the day when she told us a story about having to play the squeeze box at a local Catholic church’s Cajun festival event all while 7 months pregnant. The accordian was placed on a stool in front of her during the musical exhibition. My imagination went wild and the laughter pealed out.

So, for Trudy today, I present you some rock and roll accordian – a rendition of Bill Hailey and the Comets’ “Rock Around The Clock.”

Paul Stanley Scandal

Two men named Paul Stanley.

One has recently been involved in a sex scandal.

Which do you think it was – the Rocker or the Republican?

Rock Band The Beatles Version

I have about as much musical ability as the average doorknob.

As a child, my grandmother taught me how to peck out a few beginner tunes on a piano. I’m sure I drove her nuts because once I learned them my goal became to see just how fast I could blaze through them note for note instead of actually counting the time.

With the introduction of Guitar Hero to my home, I learned that the pinky on my left hand is apparently not connected to my brain. For as soon as I advanced beyond the beginner phase of the game, I could not command my tiniest finger to strike the keys when called upon. FAIL!

I didn’t even try to jump in and play Rock Band when it arrived at my homestead at Christmas since there was no plastic recorder to butcher play. No vocal skills, no rhythm, and already a failure at guitar, I opted to not humiliate myself in front of the nieces and nephews.

Now I’ve learned via the LA Times music blog Pop & Hiss that the upcoming version of Rock Band will feature The Beatles. With several fans of their music at my address, I’m guessing I’ll be hearing the nieces’ adaptations of tunes from The White Album ASAP.

Here’s a Beatles trailer  from the Rock Band web site for the for the Sept. 9, 2009 release of the Beatles game.

And for those suddenly  jonesing for an online version of one of the games, I’ve previously written about online Guitar Hero.

Six Word Stories

Succinct, brief, illuminating.

Most of us who start clacking away on the keyboard are none of the above.

Thus the challenge of Six Word Stories.

According to their About page:

“Brevity is a virtue.

This is a collection of short short stories consisting of just six words. It was inspired by Ernest Hemingway’s famous challenge.”

My first submission =

“Ran. Fell. Cried. Dried. Ran. Forward.”

It’s not necessarily the great American novel, but at least I finished this one.

Brevity … hmmm … I may have to try it more often.

The Squirrel Has Landed

I was four and a half when man took his first step on the moon 40 years ago today.

I really don’t recall anything about that day. If my mom plunked me down on the linoleum in front of our black-and-white television set to witness the event, I don’t remember it.

Since that day, I’ve seen the video of the first step replayed over and over. I’ve read and heard the phrase “One small step …” repeatedly.

It never gets old.

I do treasure the human spirit, creativity and bravery that it took to put man on the moon in a time when the best technology available was more limited than the computing power I carry in my pocket every day.

May our nation always have a will to dream and achieve equal to and beyond what it took to place three humans (Mission Commander Neil Alden Armstrong, Command Module Pilot Michael Collins, and Lunar Module Pilot Edwin Eugene ‘Buzz’ Aldrin, Jr.) on the moon in 1969.

Maybe July 20 should be a national holiday. If Columbus Day exists, shouldn’t there be a Moon Landing Day?

Here are the links to NASA’s page full of Apollo 11 40th anniversary stuff including partially restored NASA footage of the monumental moon walk moment in HD.

An iPod Before Apple?

Let’s look back in time to the dark ages before Al Gore’s intertubes ruled the world and everyone had a two-way wrist communicator like Dick Tracy’s.

Way back in ancient history in 1979, inventor Kane Kramer got a patent for an idea/invention that was basically Apple’s iPod.

“Kramer’s device, the IXI, was flash-based, even though flash memory in 1979 only could have held about three minutes of audio, and featured a screen, four-way controls, and was about the size of a cigarette pack. Even weirder, he envisioned the creation and sale of digital music …”

Wouldn’t you be kicking yourself if you let the patent go out of date for this like Kramer did in 1988?

Also, please don’t get Kane Kramer confused with Cosmo Kramer, inventor of the Manzier.

Gizmodo has more on the prehistoric iPod story.

Feel Good Friday – Chicago Style

Now, when I type Chicago, I don’t mean the 1970s-era band filled with a groovy horn section. No “Saturday in the Park” here, mind you.

I’m talking about the movie version of the musical starring Renee Zellweger and Richard Gere. I heard this song during dinner last night and was reminded how fun that movie was to watch. I’ll need to put Chicago on the list to view again soon.

Meanwhile, here’s Queen Latifah offering an introduction to how things work in the Big House to Zellweger’s character Roxie with “When You’re Good to Mama.”

Sure it’s a song about bullying with threatening overtones, but Queen Latifah certainly does it in such rousing, if not arousing, fashion.

Here’s a true story about me. When I was about 5 I had an older and wiser cousin. Whilst chunking dirt clods into a pond next to his house, he, being all of 7 at the time, posed a question to me. “Do you like Chicago?”

My honest response, “Well, I’ve never been there, but it sounds like a nice place.”

DOH! He beat me down verbally for my lack of musical insight by pointing out he was asking about the band not the Windy City.

Let me point out he went on to be a stoner DJ at a local Top 40 radio station for a while as a young adult.

I knew way before he got hired that was the perfect job for him.

Gone Filet-o-Fishin’

I’m heading out to the lake to go fishing for the first time in about a kajillion years with Newscoma and another great friend Trudy. Trudy will be our official lake guide as we seek out water beasts worthy of a Monsterquest episode.

My guess is that my fishy dinner, if it’s based on my outdoor skills, will likely come from under the Golden Arches.

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And here’s a reminder that I’ve posted about little fishies before.