The Grammys

I tried to watch the Grammys last night, but the local TV station was screwed up somehow. The above picture is an actual screenshot of the broadcast. It was frozen on the screen like that for -- I don't know how long -- quite a while. You can sort of see the CBS logo down in the lower corner.

I gave up on watching it. Then when I was looking at other stations I quickly came across another CBS station that I didn't know we had. But the picture on it was all fuzzy, then distorted, then wavy -- in short it sucked. At times it was OK and I could see what was going on clearly, including Paul McCartney sitting there. I saw Carrie Underwood singing but during her performance the reception (on cable TV) was poor. The reception during Coldplay was not too bad, especially during the piano song.

Anyway, after a while, even though I really wanted to watch it -- I just couldn't anymore. I flipped over to the original channel and the picture had changed from the above, to another still shot, also broken up, so that was it.

Folks I wanted to see included MIA and Paul McCartney's performances. But, alas, it wasn't to be. I figure they're online somewhere. But I didn't have time today to look around.

Naps

Naps can be very refreshing or naps can be a pain. Especially if you take an overly long one, wake up, the day's wasted, and you don't feel any better.

I think I might have died today, that's how intense my nap was. But I woke up around an hour into it and thought it felt like six hours instead of one. That's when I should have gotten up, a signal moment of victory over the forces of sleep! But I succumbed back to whatever the dream was, and it turned out to be closer to three hours.

Now it's close to dark out, I'm sitting here alone, except for a few animals, and it feels like my regrets at an overly long nap are spoiling the goodness of the time both since and to come. That much more occur!

I could watch TV, but that's not always fun. Do this for a while, then do something else. I might go exercise. That's a discipline I need to be more disciplined at.

Singled Minded Cat

When I went out to the car, passing through the kitchen, the cat thought it might be time to eat. So he comes out to see, or maybe he was already there. Then when I get home, 15 minutes later, he thinks maybe it's time to eat, checking with me.

I get up in the morning and stir. I need to go downstairs and the cat comes wandering out -- immediately -- thinking it's time to eat. No, I say, it's a little early. I go back upstairs for an hour or an hour and a few minutes. Then I go down. This time it is time for the cat to eat, and he appears without any calling.

That cat is always monitoring the dish. Always hungry it seems. He has a single minded focus on one thing, when the next meal is. Of course he always has the dry food setting there, and he is pretty good about eating it. But he likes that extra can of meat.

I don't remember my cat always being this way. It seems to me now that he's old he is a lot more demanding about food. Let's eat, let's eat, let's eat!

Putin: "Mamma Mialovich!"

Everything I ever hear about Vladimir Putin points to the inescapable conclusion that he's one creepy guy.

This seems weird, what's reported of an Abba tribute concert they arranged for Putin and a woman, perhaps his wife. They flew in a tribute group all the way from London for a private performance. The Russian government bought new equipment for the group. Then the group performed, as "Mr Putin and a woman companion were sitting on a sofa that was veiled by a lace curtain. Half a dozen other guests were present at the hour-long show on January 22 as the group sang 15 Abba hits including Waterloo, Gimme Gimme Gimme and Dancing Queen."

“It was the smallest audience we have ever performed to but Mr Putin was really enjoying it, shouting ‘bravo’ and clapping with the others,” said one of the performers. The group, Björn Again "performed despite the distraction of a burly security guard who sat in front of the stage watching their every move. Band members were under strict instructions never to leave the stage during the show."

Newt Gingrich?

Did we elect the Democrats just so we'd get more Republicans? I hope not.

On 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., an MSNBC show, Craig Crawford was speculating that Newt Gingrich might be a good head for HHS, which is what? Health and Human Services...? Which Democrat did we have for this in the Bush years?

Newt? I don't think so. Don't we already know he's no good? We elected Democrats. Let's have Democrats putting forth a Democratic agenda and showing what can be done with good government. The Republicans had eight years to muck things up. The idea that somehow they're any good now is ridiculous.

Viva Italia

Whatever happened to the movie, "Viva Italia"? I never hear of it, in fact I've never heard anyone mention it.

But at allmovie.com they still have a reference to it:

This Italian black comedy is comprised of nine short stories all related to the theme that most men are selfish cads. At the 1978 Oscars, the film was nominated for Best Foreign film.

So it's not just my imagination that it existed. Since it was a 1978 film, that must have been the year I went to it. I was at the theater and I think I was the only person there. It was a cold, nasty day. They had the downstairs closed to help with heat, it seems, and so I sat in the balcony.

The kid of the ticket lady came up and told me it was about to start. I really enjoyed it, but don't remember much about it. It was episodic, just like the allmovie paragraph says, little vignettes. My biggest memory was the use of the song "All By Myself" by Eric Carmen, when someone blows up a plane, I believe it was, that his lover was on. So if that is meant to illustrate that men are "selfish cads," I guess it succeeds.

Another movie I'd like to see, but never hear of, yet I think is actually available, is "The Norman Conquests." Saw it on TV once and it was very funny. Never saw it again.

Big Bopper

Big Bopper was one of the guys who died in that plane crash 50 years ago today, along with Ritchie Valens, Buddy Holly, and the pilot, Roger Peterson.

I don't seem to have any Big Bopper records -- mp3's anyway. There is a possibility, not a very good one, that I have a record somewhere that has his song -- HOLD THAT, I just thought of one, the American Graffiti album, which I have the CD of. So I'll put it on.

Yeah, there it is! A phone ringing, the Big Bopper speaking, then we hear his side of the conversation. It's cool. I'm listening to it. Two minutes I wasn't sure I had this song. I was listening to the 30 second clip at Amazon and debating whether to waste 99 cents on it. I didn't. Now I'm glad.

I can get it going with this kind of music. Boogying. I think it times at 2:21, which it did at Amazon. But it's still not in my nature to want to pay for downloads of songs. I like actual records and CDs, something that will still be around when this computer is in the dump, like two years from now. I presently make copies of everything, but that's also not very tangible. You're at the mercy of this stuff.

Well, that was good. That happened to be one of the songs that Wolfman Jack doesn't talk over. Thank goodness.

So this guy died 50 years ago. A few years ago I saw his nephew (or some relative like that) carrying on the family name. He was up on stage, singing the same songs.

Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, Big Bopper

Well, tonight is a night for rock 'n' roll! A sad anniversary kind of night, but they must have had a great concert 50 years ago tonight ... before flying away and crashing sometime after midnight.

We've been to the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa. We went there once for one of the big anniversaries -- I guess it was -- a few years ago. They had record tables, records for sale, dancing, various bands, including Jack Scott. I didn't actually get to see Jack Scott, because I needed to leave, but I saw his wife! And bought his CD.

But 50 years ago they had the current rock 'n' rollers there. And we've loved them (sort of) ever since. Big Bopper, I basically only know that one song, "Chantilly Lace," but I've heard his others a time or two, most of them. Ritchie Valens, he got the full movie treatment, and I have a CD of his Del-Fi stuff. "Donna" and "La Bamba" and there's some other good things on there. Buddy Holly is the biggest, and over the years we've had his records.

In the late '70s I got a boxed set of LPs from England that was supposed to be the complete works, and the record store guy said it's all you'll ever need by Buddy Holly. But that was before CDs. And so in CDs all I have are "The Buddy Holly Collection" with 50 songs, and the MCA Greatest Hits album that has 20 songs, which of course are also found on the other album.

I've had several Buddy Holly records and probably still have a few, 45 rpm records. I used to have a great promo copy of "Blue Days, Black Nights," but sold it back to the friend who sold it to me. I needed some memory for my VIC-20 (how stupid! but true).

Here's my big adventures in getting some Buddy Holly 45s. I went to this jukebox record place in Des Moines one time. They had a pile of 45s from jukeboxes in the back room. Just the usual '80s junk, as it was considered at that time. But there was another room, just a few steps this direction. And in there I found numerous good records, including some Buddy Holly ones. The lady finally came back and caught me, but she allowed me to buy some of them.

One other adventure, not really an adventure, but I was at a jukebox record place in Marshalltown, Iowa, one time. And I'm just glancing through the ordinary 45s, which they had categorized, and guess what, there was a Buddy Holly record, old Coral, filed with "The Hollies." Ha ha, naturally I bought it. I got some other really good things that day, but that was the one that related to Buddy Holly.

Unfortunately, over the years I needed money, and ended up selling most of these to a guy for around $12 apiece.

I was around when Buddy Holly was alive, but just a kid. So, even though I was already an Elvis fan at that time, since my mother was, I have no memories of Buddy Holly. And I don't recall ever seeing any of his records while growing up. So she must not have had any.

So the day Buddy Holly died ... at the time no one mentioned it to me.

P.S. Also killed in the crash was the pilot, Roger Peterson.

Long Haired Football Players

What's with all the long haired football players? Did I miss an important cultural shift? Is long hair back?

I'm not much of a football fan so I didn't know this was going on. A guy told me the other day that there was a long haired one, but that's not the half of it. I watched the Super Bowl and there must have been -- well, let's see -- I jotted down some names -- four or five that I noticed.

One of these I only have the first name of: Laboy, Larry Fitzgerald, Darnell Dockett, Paul Palamalo, and Tyrone Carter. Palamalo's name might not be spelled right there.

To me it looks great, hanging down under their helmets. Men of nature!

Health Insurance Place Wasting Their Time

My health insurance company has some kind of asinine program, in which they call me periodically to tell me that if I ever have any health questions I can call them and they'll let me speak to a nurse.

Come on, if I'm not feeling well, it's never going to occur to me to call my health insurance company to ask them what I ought to do about it. Since they make their money by me not using my health insurance, what's the chances of the nurse giving me good advice? "My leg is hanging by a thread of skin! What should I do?" "Uhh, sir, we find that bandages do a world of good, and we will send you a three day supply for the low co-pay of $65." "Thank you, helpful nurse."

If they're simply trying to provide me information, it's also a waste of time and money. Because I already have a doctor. I can look at WebMD or a thousand other websites a lot faster than I can call some nurse -- they didn't even give me the number -- and then have to explain who I am, all my other information, and eventually get some kind of runaround.

They called me one other time. They knew it was me because they asked for me. Then when they explained the program they said I needed to give them certain numbers to prove that it was me! That's how eager they actually are to serve. Because I, the guy who answered the phone at my house, might be some other guy, eager to get information on health issues for the first guy, and it's all quite confidential, whatever questions he or I might have! That, my friends, is a runaround.