The Other Side...

...songs I've heard, 'I Want You Back' is a clear favourite. It's probably my all-time favourite Motown song too. I love that chord progression followed by the falsetto 'Oooo Baby....'. I'm definitely going to try figuring it out the next time I do something on a guitar.

Anyhoo, here are three covers. I'm a big fan of covers in general, because they often bring out the best parts of the song in a different way.

First up a bluegrass version from Nickel Creek. Sarah Watkins' voice and the strumming kicks serious butt.



Second, KT Tunstall doing her thing with her brilliant acoustic loop thingie, which makes it look like a whole band is backing her, when she's really all alone with her guitar. Go here to read about the loop pedal stuff.



Third, an instrumental with some fingerpicking brilliance that I found on Youtube.



Finally, a Jackson 5 off Soul Train. Outstanding stuff.





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...it's too early to post a funny video. It's only been like a week or something.

But here's Lajoie's take on the fickle media.



Note: I'm not an MJ hater or anything - I actually like some songs and bought some albums growing up. But he should have let those kids alone. Seriously.



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...that I come up with an original one-liner. I leave that to the experts, usually.

But here's one I thought up while procrastinating early in the morning.

"Exercise converts mental strength into physical energy".

Cheesy, eh?

...I feel like a fool early in the morning. Take this box of cereal, for instance.


I open it, and look inside. HALF the frikkin box is just thin air. Seriously, guys. The cereal tastes nice. Why'd you have to make me take a photograph and put it in my blog, eh?


Not criticism, just some consumer feedback.

Update: I can't argue with Neeraj, in the comments: "It says Light and Tasty. You admit it is tasty, they're just following through on the other half of the promise." Brilliant observation. I need to look at the LABEL carefully, hence.

...one of those cities I love visiting. It's perfect for walking around, looking around in amazement at the strange sights from a different world. And I find it strange and amazing every time I go.

Anyhoo.

Andy Connor is (was?) in Tokyo on holiday and he has some very Tokyo photographs. Here.

This photograph should give you that stimulus you need on a Monday morning. Dash out happy already.



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...or the other, this NYT crossword actually predicted the election winner, a day before.

Quoting Crossword Unclued,

This puzzle was published on 5th November 1996: the day of the Presidential Election in the US in which Bill Clinton and Bob Dole were the prime candidates. The lead story in the next day's newspaper would naturally be about the result of the election.

Lead story in tomorrow's newspaper (!), with 43A: CLINTON ELECTED

BUT at the time the crossword was published, the election result had not been declared. There were loud protests from solvers – was NYT being so presumptuous as to predict the result?

Read the entire story to see how it worked out, for the 'politically correct'.

Via Lahar, who is not a girl, but a crossword freak, instead. I used to like doing cryptic crosswords in boring lectures. Haven't done one in a while, though.



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...to enter, but not late enough to enjoy the prize winning entries. At the Tweet Me a Story contest.

And I only found out when catching up on Wondermark, a webcomic I enjoy. David Malki, the artist, had a few entries in the finals, and eventually came in third.

Some of the ones I liked:

The air was bitter cold. A frozen tear fell from my cheek, crushing a small school. I thought to myself, "Keep it together, Godzilla." CREATED BY Brian Joines

"We're the only 2 humans left!" she wailed. "You could at least shed a tear!" But he simply blinked. One whirring, clicking, terrible blink. CREATED BY Katherine Boboris

Came home from the funeral & went straight for the attic. The old trunk was still there; Dad's key fit perfectly. I'll see you all yesterday CREATED BY David Malki

Check it out. And practice for next time.

And if you're interested in this sort of thing, try Six Word Stories, which is hardcorer. It all started when Hemingway wrote "For sale: baby shoes, never worn." which he said was among his best works.



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...the new blog template?

I like it and I'm hoping it'll get me posting more. Feedback welcome, folks. I'm still making some final tweaks...

...for this extremely useful post on Girish Shahane's blog.

It's on travel to Iran - and is an useful primer. You might want to take a closer look at his blog for his detailed entries on his trip.

It also answered the berry pulao question I'd had in my mind for a while now.



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...wii videogame in the world is House of the Dead: Overkill. It's brilliant. To put it in a nutshell, it's like being in your own Quentin Tarantino movie. How can you refuse that?

But I digress.

The most profane cricket blog in the world is CricketWithBalls. And he has a book out. It promises to be fun. In a Quentin Tarantino meets cricket sort of way. Without the one-legged Rose McGowan.

Go read all about it here and buy it.

No, I'm not getting paid for the plug. But there's a reason. If you bought the book already instead of touching yourself during the strategic timeout, you'd know, wouldn't you?

More about House of the Dead later.

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