The reason that "For What It's Worth" by Buffalo Springfield sticks in my head was because of the Muppets. That and it's a really good song. The scene from the Muppets goes like this (via Wizbang!):

"a mother possum singing to her children, while the other forest animals looked on -- occasionally interrupted by a marauding horde of whooping hunters randomly firing their guns into the air, driving all the animals back out of sight."

It's pretty funny that someone else has the same memory and impression of "For What It's Worth." Anyways ... the song was originally intended to be about the war, but changed to be a commentary on the protests and clashes with the police that were occurring on the Sunset Strip at the time.

"There's something happening here
What it is ain't exactly clear
There's a man with a gun over there
Telling me I got to beware
I think it's time we stop, children, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down

There's battle lines being drawn
Nobody's right if everybody's wrong
Young people speaking their minds
Getting so much resistance from behind
I think it's time we stop, hey, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down

What a field-day for the heat
A thousand people in the street
Singing songs and carrying signs
Mostly say, hooray for our side
It's time we stop, hey, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down

Paranoia strikes deep
Into your life it will creep
It starts when you're always afraid
You step out of line, the man come and take you away

We better stop, hey, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down ..."

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Published: (2005-03-31 14:37:25.0)

So the premier issue of Make showed up in my mailbox yesterday. It's pretty freakin' schaweet. It's definitely kept me enthralled, and the cool part is I can come to work and have excited conversations about the articles. And my compatriots will totally understand what I'm blabbbering about.

I'm going to try to make the Gauss Rifle. All I need is a 12" wooden ruler, four gold-plated neodymium-iron-boron magnets (a little pronunciation help please), some nickel-plated steel balls, scotch tape and an exacto knife. The only problem is the article doesn't specify how much velocity that last ball is going to have, so I'm a bit worried about pulling a Wierd Genius. I can just imagine what happens after the fist firing ... "whoa sweet! er, um, oh oh ..." A few seconds pass. "Wow I can see clear through the walls ..."

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Published: (2005-03-30 17:36:37.0)

Yeah, that's right, I'm going with Wang Chung's "To Live and Die in L.A." Remember that movie? Despite what you may think about Wang Chung, the soundtrack is actually pretty good. I pull it out every couple of months and give it a spin. You've probably heard the instrumental track "City of Angels" and not realized where it was from or who did it. If you don't believe (I see that look on your face!), check out the reviews on Amazon.com.

"In the heat of the day
Every time you go away
I have to piece my life together
Every time you're away
In the heat of the day
In the dark of the night
Every time I turn the light
I feel that God is not in heaven
In the dark of the night
The dark of the night

I wonder why I live alone here
I wonder why we spend these nights together
Is this the room I'll live my life forever
I wonder why in LA
To live and die in LA

I wonder why we waste our lives here
When we could run away to paradise
But I am held in some invisible vice
And I can't get away
To live and die in LA

If I let myself go
And for where I just don't know
I'd maybe hit some cold new river
That led out to the sea
An unknown sea
I'd either swim or I'd drown
Or just keep falling down and down
I think its that, that makes me quiver
Just to keep falling down
Down, down, down

In every word that you say
I feel my freedom slip away
I feel the bars come down around me
And I can't get away
I can't get away"

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Published: (2005-03-30 17:22:52.0)

Occasionally here at Sun, you'll encounter a person that's secretly funny. You know when you are milling around after a meeting, in those few moments when you're deciding whether to slink back to your office, or perhaps wander aimlessly around the halls a bit and randomly annoy your co-workers, you'll utter some random comment to a person you just met, and their reply turns out to be quite hilarios and utterly brilliant, tearing a hole in the mundane. I love those moments. Well, I love laughing, I really do. And I'm easily amused. Which may not be a good thing ... but my daughter enjoys it.

So, yes, lots of funny people here. Its just that you tend not to know it right away, because "Be Funny or Something" isn't on the meeting agenda. Maybe I should do that. Try to spice up those agendas.

So Tim Caynes is one of those people. And his latest post is quite hilarious. And it happens to be at my expense, which is even funnier. I happen to be a member of what he calls "woeful assortment of project managers." I laughed. I will ask him about his vacation though, and I will make it a point to ask about his children. And I will fantasize about poking him in his eye, or slapping him with a fish.

I'm grateful to these people, and I treasure those moments they catch me off guard and make me spit out my coke. Especially on those awful days when I stop and ask no one in particular "Can I have a mulligan please? No? At least a time out then." So thank you.

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Published: (2005-03-29 20:51:04.0)

Quick update on yesterday's entry. After reading my blog, a friend of mine sent me a link to the transcript of a Frontline that aired on January 24, 1983. The title of the report is "88 Seconds in Greensboro." Thanks Kevin.

"Round Here" by Counting Crows was one of those songs I used to walk around the office and sing at the top of my lungs as the Walkman blared in my ears. Much to the annoyance of my office mates, but then again I really didn't care. I loved the lyrics, and I loved the passion in Adam Duritz's voice.

There's a great explanation of what this songs means:

"Round Here is a song about someone facing a life that doesn't seem to be the logical end product of all the things that he thought were leading up to it. For a list of these cliches of childhood, see every line of every chorus. In that last chorus he is saying I got all the things I wanted when I grew up(e.g. not having to wait for anything, staying up late) and it doesn't seem to mean anything"

So, are you the lamb in lion's clothing? I too wanted to radiate and carve out my name.

"Step out the front door like a ghost
into the fog where no one notices
the contrast of white on white.

And in between the moon and you
the angels get a better view
of the crumbling difference between wrong and right.

I walk in the air between the rain,
through myself and back again.
Where? I don't know
Maria says she's dying.
Through the door, I hear her crying
Why? I don't know

Round here we always stand up straight
Round here something radiates

Maria came from Nashville with a suitcase in her hand
She said she'd like to meet a boy who looks like Elvis
She walks along the edge of where the ocean meets the land
Just like she's walking on a wire in the circus
She parks her car outside of my house,
takes her clothes off,
Says she's close to understanding Jesus
She knows she's more that just a little misunderstood
She has trouble acting normal when she's nervous

Round here we're carving out our names
Round here we all look the same
Round here we talk just like lions
But we sacrifice like lambs
Round here she's slipping through my hands

Sleeping children got to run like the wind
Out of the lightning dream
Mama's little baby better get herself in
Out of the lightning

She says, "It's only in my head."
She says, "Shhh....I know it's only in my head."

But the girl on the car in the parking lot
says: "Man, you should try to take a shot
Can't you see my walls are crumbling."

Then she looks up at the building
and says she's thinking of jumping.
She says she's tired of life;
she must be tired of something.

Round here she's always on my mind
Round here I got lots of time
Round here we're never sent to bed early
Nobody makes us wait
Round here we stay up very very late

I can't see nothing.. nothing round here
will you catch if I'm falling
will you catch me if I'm falling
will you catch me cause I'm falling down on you
I said I'm under the gun around here
I'm innocent I'm under the gun around here
and I can't see nothing, nothing round here"

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Published: (2005-03-29 15:11:44.0)

Monday. So what to do? The clouds have broken, and I'm valianly trying to shake the bleariness of the rain. The sun appears, and I start snapping my fingers. Something with a beat, but with dark undertones. It's Monday after all. "You know it! God you know it!"

"88 Seconds in Greensboro" comes from OMD's "Crush" CD. According to a Q&A on one site, the song is about the killing of 5 anti-KKK protestors in Greensboro, North Carolina. Nobody was ever prosecuted. Perhaps that was a little too dark... Surprisingly, Google turns up very little information on the incident.

"88 seconds
Is all it takes
88 seconds
Don't make mistakes

We've seen you
We can see you

In red and blue
In black and white
Under crystal skies
In full daylight

You know it
God you know it

88 seconds
Is all it takes
In 88 seconds
We don't make mistakes

We know you
Oh yes we have known you

Times are changing
But not in our street
Once we played there
Like the good times

You know it
God you know it

They're heading for
A shallow grave
With a big black cross
By a tall white house
To a place down south
We won't forget
To be stabbed in the back
By a man they met

88 seconds
In Greensboro
Is all we take"

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Published: (2005-03-28 15:52:26.0)

If you're not into online gaming, then this probably will only cause a large question mark to form in your head (and I'm not sure if this guide is going to help.) But if you're fluent in the lingo, then the Revenge of the Sith trailer with added subtitles for the 1337 among us will surely bring about a chuckle (warning: bad words and stuff). It r0xx0rz! The line about tk'ing made me spit out my coke :)

If you are plagued by the question mark, don't worry. Alex Trebeck was left scratching his head as well.

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Published: (2005-03-28 15:38:33.0)

I may have lost you there on the last choice. So let's head to something a bit more familiar, something fitting for the weather. Get out your felt hat, and pull it low over your eyes. Sit on the porch step, and dust off that harmonica, and get that foot tapping. And never you mind about the rain.

If you're a drummer like me, you thank the heavens for John Bonham. His work and sound on "When the Levee Breaks" was something always to strive for. From the linked article - "He got that sound by pulling his drumset into the hallway of Headley Grange studio, using room microphones and running the sound through a guitar amp."

"If it keeps on rainin', levee's goin' to break,
When The Levee Breaks I'll have no place to stay.

Mean old levee taught me to weep and moan,
Got what it takes to make a mountain man leave his home,
Oh, well, oh, well, oh, well.

Don't it make you feel bad
When you're tryin' to find your way home,
You don't know which way to go?
If you're goin' down South
They got no work to do,
If you don't know about Chicago.

Cryin' won't help you, prayin' won't do you no good,
Now, cryin' won't help you, prayin' won't do you no good,
When the levee breaks, mama, you got to move.

All last night sat on the levee and moaned,
Thinkin' about me baby and my happy home.
Going, going to Chicago... Going to Chicago... Sorry but I can't take you...
Going down... going down now... going down...."

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Published: (2005-03-22 15:20:43.0)

The rains returned last week, and it's pouring today. Rumbling echoes from the skylights, and I'm in a mood. One of those moods where smiles are hard to find, and my mind just wanders off. I'm here, but not really. There's a poem that I've been writing in my head the past few days, and it won't leave me alone. I'm in a mood you see ...

standing here in the rain
oblivious to those that stare
wondering if you are proud
of your latest cheap shot
and the pain that
crashed into my world
i wanted to be angry
but all i could find
was an image of your half-parted cherry lips
as they pouted out such words

i smiled a smile that really wasn't

but i'm sure
if you came to me
and asked to hold my hand
there would be just the briefest pause
before I nodded and reached out
and when you again headed to those dark places
my love would be sure to go there

you can say yes or no
with a flick of your hair
but do you love me so
when I shimmer in this lover's madness

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Published: (2005-03-22 14:42:44.0)

Videodrone is a new group for me, and their self-titled CD has me grooving. "Faceplant" is hip, and I can picture myself sitting in a bar as the sun sets, bobbing my head, and slowly sipping [insert your favorite cocktail here.] They have close ties to Korn, which explains the appearance of Jon Davis on the CD. Fred Durst also pops up.

"Like ecstasy to the spine
A moment of lost words no memory of time
A twist from within
Like the calling of the Lord
A shock a convulsion no shape or form
I'm feeling again
I felt so scared I felt so used I felt so confused
You creeped right into my soul as I was sleeping
I don't know and I don't care
No I don't care

I lift you to my lips
Now everything makes sense when it's over
And if I fall down again
Won't you let me in when I'm sober?

We connect like puzzle pieces
Look into my eyes no words are needed
Where have you been all my life?
I seek you on every corner
Thought you were the devil or maybe my lover
You opened up my eyes
I felt so scared I felt so used I felt so confused
You creeped right into my soul as I was sleeping
I don't know and I don't care
No I don't care

I lift you to my lips
Now everything makes sense when it's over
And if I fall down again
Won't you let me in when I'm sober?

It sounds so easy, yeah, yeah ..."

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Published: (2005-03-21 16:16:34.0)

While giving my daughter a bath the other night during our normal goofing off, I put my face very close to hers. She giggled, then her eyes got very big and she became very quiet as she stared into my eyes. Puzzled, I asked "what do you see sweety?" No response. I didn't move, wanting to understand what was going on. Then it hit me. "Oh, you see yourself don't you?" She slowly nodded, not blinking. Finally she said "I see pictures!" I laughed and replied "Oh yeah? You see pictures of you? Pretty cool huh?" She smiled and said "Pretty cool."

Another moment passed, just us staring into each other eyes. Finally, I whispered "You know what? I see the world in your eyes." She seemed very pleased by this, and we went back to the serious work of goofing off.

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Published: (2005-03-21 12:39:40.0)

I was just reading through the review for "Spamalot", the show from Monty Python that just opened on Broadway. The following quote brought a smile to my face:

"Its authors have had to walk a precarious line — pleasing those fanatical Python fans who have committed the entire movie script to memory while satisfying other theatergoers who never have heard of the Killer Rabbit, the Knights who say "Ni" or that cheeky French soldier who hurls insults such as "your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries!"

I guess you can put me in that "fanatical" group, because I have a hard time fathoming how people could not know about the Knights who say "Ni!" I mean, really, just thinking that is preposterous.

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Published: (2005-03-18 08:54:58.0)

So I'm feeling mellow, or maybe I'm just tired. It doesn't matter - what I know that for these moods, the Cocteau Twins fit very well. You just close your eyes and sway your head back and forth, and let their beautiful layered sound wash over you.

"Heaven or Las Vegas" is one of those songs that you hum to, because you're not quite sure what the words are. Or if it's even English. It turns out there's a debate about their lyrics, but in this rare instance, I really don't care. I'm going to dim the lights, close my eyes and slide low in my chair, and drink deeply of this lush tune. Please don't bother me ...

"Pull him away
Jealous so with me
Go there for new
For new things there

Singing of a famous street
I want to love, I've all the wrong glory
But is it Heaven or Las Vegas?
But you're much more brighter than the sun is to me

He's a hustler
It's a role he'll never make suit
Hang on to this
Stay and stay and fail and fail

Reaching this itch in my soul
Is like any good playing card
Must be why I'm thinking of Las Vegas
Why it's more brighter than the sun is to me

Carnivals are bluster loud
I'm dizzy so I go under the 'Big Dipper'
Come fantasy, for a carnival
How fitting before a wedding

Maybe then you will swear
This is hardly personal
I suspect I'm singing to a tune
And still find that beats singing to your soon"

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Published: (2005-03-17 15:13:57.0)

And that means I'm up early. I have a weekly call with folks from the U.K., Europe and now Canada - and so I need to start early to catch everyone at a decent hour. I've found the World Clock Meeting Planner a great tool for these sorts of things. It's an interesting call, and I'm fascinated by all the accents. I'm especially partial to the U.K. folks - I'm thinking of having Tim guest narrate my future concalls.

It's a cool thing about working here at Sun, a chance to daily interact with folks from all over the globe. And I'm constantly reminded that I think too much like an American - self centered on my existence in California. "Well that should work! Er wait no, what about Germany? And then there's Japan. And oh yes Australia. Ok that's not going to work ..."

Another cool thing - your team mates or boss can be anywhere in the world. And so now I have to visit sites to help me with my English Slang, and by English I mean British. Right. Because when I talk to my boss in the U.K., I need to be mindful that some of our words don't translate too well, or that they translate to something that will bring the call to a screeching halt. And I've discoverd that all those Monty Python's movies haven't been that helpful.

So it's a global thing, and that is a good thing

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Published: (2005-03-17 14:50:11.0)