Norlos

Driving home on Friday, Spirit in the Sky by Norman Greenbaum came on the radio.  I cranked it up, since it is an awesome driving song.  Since it was just after a rain storm, I realized that between the wet road, heavy traffic, tire spray, and glare from the sun on pavement, it was kind of a dangerous commute.  Some things occurred to me:

1. If I was going to die in an auto crash, this would be an awesome song to go out on.

2. That’s a little over-dramatic, don’t you think?

3. If I was watching a movie of a guy driving and this song was playing and then he died, I would say, “man, that was really pretty lame”

4. Do you suppose there is some counter-acting force, a spirit in the sky, if you will, that might protect me from dying in a fiery auto crash while listening to this song, not because it’s about Jesus, but because that would just be too cheesy?

About that time, the song ended.  But meanwhile, I was also listening to the lyrics.  Apparently my irony-meter is tuned up a little better than it used to be, because it never occurred to me before that this might have not been entirely a song of praise, but rather a little dig at religion:

“Never been a sinner

I never sinned

I got a friend in Jesus

So you know that when I die

He’s gonna set me up with The spirit in the sky”

Seems kind of obvious now, though.  And actually makes the song even more awesome.  Especially since the guy that wrote it is Jewish.

In perhaps an unrelated matter, I pose the following question to the group that’s been bothering me lately:

Are “Fast Car” and “We are young” musical matter/anti-matter?  Would the universe implode if Tracy Chapman and Fun played a song together?

We’ve made a new baby. He came on December 7 (“A day that will live in infamy”). His name is Luke and he likes to sleep. Yay!

Many have noticed the passing of Gil Scott Heron.  In his memory, I note that our first black president and child of the sixties/seventies seems to have effectively killed the lunar landing program.  Coincidence?

Jebus approaches me at some kind of party and says, “Eight people in the Podunk Willies is already too many.  You need to quit hanging around like you’re trying to get into the band.”  It hurt my feelings, but I appreciated his honesty.  And now I have this Nada Surf song stuck in my head.  So I’m not sure what that all means, really.

AV Club lets Andrew WK loose on Silent Night.

But then invites the mailman in.

I spend about 1/2 hour in the car each way to and from work since we moved a year ago. I listen to the radio. I just can’t seem to get into NPR, even though that’s the adult thing to do. I listen to my share of hipster “alternative” music. But my guilty pleasure is Wild 107.5. As near as I can tell, they only keep about 7 songs on rotation at any one time. So a little goes a long way. Most of the lyrics are kind of boring, but every once in awhile, they bust out something that’s hard to resist. My old favorite was from Lil’ Wayne’s label, and a gentleman named Drake from Canada(?!):

I Love your sushi rolls

hotter then wasabi

i race for your love

shake-n-bake

ricky bobby

im at the W

but i can’t meet you in the lobby

girl i gotta watch my back

cause im not just anybody

ive seen them standing in line

just to get beside her

i let her see that aston

and let the rest suprise her

thats when we disappear

you need GPS to find her

O that was your girl?

I thought i recognized her

But my new favorite is from Will.I.Am. He’s not really my thing, and most of this song is kind of annoying, but then this gem appears:

We in the club making party people holla

Money in the bank we be getting top dollar

I’m a big baller,

You a little smaller

Step up to my level, you need to grow a little taller

I’m shot caller

Get up off my collar

You a Chihuahua

I’m a Rottweiler

Pure genius!

The Bison beat KU in Lawrence and all of a sudden the blog comments don’t work? Hmmm…well, I can’t argue much with the KC Star, although it would have been nice if they could figure out that it’s NDSU, not NDST.

And for all that “worst loss ever” rhetoric, consider my current home, where both local teams share the inglorious “toilet bowl” game, which may be the worst ever played anywhere, by any college teams. I quote from the Oregonian,

“1983: Eleven fumbles. Five interceptions. Four missed field goals. The staggering ineptitude of the scoreless game that becomes known as “The Toilet Bowl” marks the low point for the Civil War. On the Ducks’ final play, with one second left on the clock, Chris Miller throws a 15-yard pass to Kwante Hampton, who laterals to Ladaria Johnson. The play nearly goes the 82-yard distance, but Johnson is tackled at the 14. Officials rule he had stepped out of bounds near the 50 anyway. “It was almost like neither team wanted to win,” said UO coach Rich Brooks, uttering one of the most improbable thoughts in the history of the series.”

Go Thundering Herd!

When I heard I was getting one, I thought, “whoa, there doc, I think I can handle my own business just fine, if you know what I mean.”

But then it turned out to be one of these instead. I guess how exciting it is depends on what you stick it to…

Crop Killer! Fuck invasive species bru-tal-it-y!

Might there by a Body Count fan at the Oregonian?

Born February 20, 2010. 8 lbs., 7 oz. 21 inches long. Has a full head of reddish-brown hair and a pretty solid looking chin. All are doing well.