Highwaygirl banner

July 31, 2005

Never Forever Whatever

Soul Asylum
"Sometime To Return"
Listen | Buy

NOTES: When I was in college I listened to several bands from Minneapolis - the Replacements, Husker Du, and Soul Asylum. My favorite was Soul Asylum, not in small part due to the fact that the lead singer - Dave Pirner - was this manic, whirling dervish-esque force of nature onstage. Plus, his songs were catchy as hell. Although I crushed on him quite profoundly, I always had a grudging respect for a guy who had been dating the same girl for seven years.

Then he ditched her for Winona fucking Ryder, starfucker extraordinaire.

Soul Asylum went downhill from there, and I totally blame Winona, that whore. I loved this band, but after Dave hooked up with her he got soft and happy and that, my friends, sucks in a rock band. The band later released Let Your Dim Light Shine, which is abysmal. You might remember the video for "Just Like Anyone" which features Winona's (former?) friend and minor-league starfucker, Claire Danes (here is a clip - go ahead and have fun torturing yourself. Don't say I didn't warn you).

Yes, I am apparently still bitter [side note: I just realized this is the third time I've bitched about this; so yeah, I'm clearly not over it]. Especially since bassist Karl Mueller died a few months ago (cancer) and because Soul Asylum is still one of the top three concerts I've ever attended (a double bill with the Goo Goo Dolls - before the Goos started to suck too [hmm, pattern anyone?] - during the Grave Dancers Union tour). This song is from the release Hang Time which is harder than GDU, the release that made the band famous. Both CDs - as well as ...And the Horse They Rode In On - are excellent and you should give them a listen if you get the chance.


I ran my way
I walked a fine line
Wasted time only to find
You were callin' I think my name
To remind me I am fine

What you are is what you see
And you see me and we can be
Something you can call real
We are we are we are

Doing what we can
Working without a plan
I'm beginning to understand
It's getting out of hand

I have seen these closing doors
I've woke up on this floor before
Picked it apart for hours and hours
Hours and hours
Of turning, tossing and looking and listening
To you and all the fucked up things you do

But you're doing the best you can
With every grain of sand
It's trickling through your hand
Sayin' "Catch me if you can"

If someday comes early
Comes whipping comes whirling
To take you for all you have learned
The tables are turning
Your bridges are burning
My destination sometime to return

Throw away your calender
And saddle up your salamander
Get up and get down
Ride into town and look around
Get up and do something
Your time to choose it
Do it do it do it do it do it

Doing the best I can
With or without a plan
I'm taking what I can get
I haven't seen nothing yet

If one day you wake up
And find what you make up
Come and get me, come and take me there
Into your illusion
I'll make my intrusion
Anytime, anyplace, anywhere

The hourglass is draining fast
It knows no future holds no past
And all this to will come to pass
Never, forever, whatever

If someday comes early
Comes whipping comes whirling
To take you for all you have learned
The tables are turning
Your bridges are burning
My destination sometime to return

Posted by Highwaygirl on 12:07 PM | Comments (0)

July 27, 2005

Rappy = Space Cowboy

Me: does he live near you?
Rappy: no
Rappy: in a town that's about 1/2 an hour by train
Rappy: but one of his best friends lives near me
Me: hangout potential!
Rappy: I'm trying to get him to join me at a food workshop
Me: so you can get him drunk and take advantage of him?
Me: you naughty girl!
Rappy: at a food workshop? At 10:30 on a Friday morning?
Rappy: With 15 other people around?
Rappy: yeah, that's my plan.
Me: no, you START getting him drunk at the workshop
Me: and then continue it at your pad
Rappy: ok. *takes notes*
Me: what does he do exactly?
Rappy: Depending on which project he's working on, I think he mostly does project logistics.
Rappy: but he does different things on different projects
Me: I'll bet he's a high-priced male escort in his off time
Rappy: I'm sure
Me: it could happen!
Rappy: of course
Rappy: In my spare time I'm a rocket scientist, so why the hell not?

Posted by Highwaygirl on 04:35 PM | Comments (0)

Just to Dream a Dream With You

Billy Bragg & Wilco
"California Stars"
Listen | Buy

NOTES: Oh, just because.

I'd like to rest my heavy head tonight
On a bed of California stars
I'd like to lay my weary bones tonight
On a bed of California stars

I'd love to feel
Your hand touching mine
And tell me why
I must keep working on
Yes I'd give my life
To lay my head tonight
On a bed of California stars

I'd like to dream
My troubles all away
On a bed of California stars
Jump up from my starbed
Make another day
Underneath my California stars

They hang like grapes
On vines that shine
And warm the lovers' glass
Like friendly wine
So I'd give this world
Just to dream a dream with you
On our bed of California stars

Posted by Highwaygirl on 03:28 PM | Comments (3)

July 26, 2005

Uniform Sacrifice

I have been both busy and uninspired lately. Excuses, excuses.

There was a very interesting op-ed column in the New York Times yesterday - The Best Army We Can Buy, by Stanford professor David M. Kennedy. I know quite a few people serving in the military right now, so I found the column especially interesting.

It talks about the chasm that currently exists between the people who serve in the military and civilians, and then contrasts this with the way society and the military were interwoven in the past, especially during World War II:

Since the time of the ancient Greeks through the American Revolutionary War and well into the 20th century, the obligation to bear arms and the privileges of citizenship have been intimately linked. It was for the sake of that link between service and a full place in society that the founders were so invested in militias and so worried about standing armies, which Samuel Adams warned were "always dangerous to the liberties of the people."

Many African-Americans understood that link in the Civil War, and again in World Wars I and II, when they clamored for combat roles, which they saw as stepping stones to equal rights. From Aristotle's Athens to Machiavelli's Florence to Thomas Jefferson's Virginia and Robert Gould Shaw's Boston and beyond, the tradition of the citizen-soldier has served the indispensable purposes of sustaining civic engagement, protecting individual liberty - and guaranteeing political accountability.

That tradition has now been all but abandoned. A comparison with a prior generation's war illuminates the point. In World War II, the United States put some 16 million men and women into uniform. What's more, it mobilized the economic, social and psychological resources of the society down to the last factory, rail car, classroom and victory garden. World War II was a "total war." Waging it compelled the participation of all citizens and an enormous commitment of society's energies.

...The implications are deeply unsettling: history's most potent military force can now be put into the field by a society that scarcely breaks a sweat when it does so. We can now wage war while putting at risk very few of our sons and daughters, none of whom is obliged to serve. Modern warfare lays no significant burdens on the larger body of citizens in whose name war is being waged.

That last paragraph rings especially true for me. I'm asked to sacrifice nothing - literally nothing - when my country wages war on others. If I didn't read the newspaper, watch television, or surf the internet I could conceivably know nothing about the armed conflict in Iraq. I'm not asked to give, because others are giving for me.

This isn't to say that I think there's something inherently romantic or, by definition, noble and honorable about serving in the military. For most people, it is a career choice. One that is far more risky and for obscenely lower pay (given that risk) in comparison to other occupations, but still - it's a choice. However, it is certainly a choice I'm not willing to make myself – I'm not willing to die so that people in Iraq may be free – so it is for that reason that I respect those who do.

I think, though, that if civilians were asked to make sacrifices in order to support and defend the interests of the country, that most of us would. But I can't imagine a scenario where modern U.S. society functions as a unit to support foreign policy. Well, I can - world war.

It's easy enough to say, "Well I don't agree with the policies of _insert name of President HERE_, so I'm not going to give up anything to support them." On the whole, I agree with that point of view. How else is a citizen supposed to make their views known, if not through the willingness to vocalize and act on dissent?

However, if it became plain that our own safety and way of life were threatened - not in oblique terms, like Iraq, but in concrete, quantifiable terms like 9/11 - I think people would pull together in ways that would rival the society back in the 1940s. But situations that are devoid of political jockeying (which is the P.R. problem that shadows Iraq) are few and far between.

I can't say that Saddam Hussein being ripped from power in Iraq makes me feel like it's less likely there will be another terrorist attack in the U.S. at some point. The U.S. military has done some wonderful things in Iraq on a humanitarian level, but the currency offered for progress there has been the blood and limbs of thousands of servicepeople. It's not for me to decide whether or not that sacrifice has been worth it, but I can't help but think that we should have gotten more in return for our tributes.

Instead, we're helping to build a country where the proposed constitution strips women of the right to choose their own husbands. How does that honor, especially, the female soldiers who have given their lives?

Perhaps we missed an opportunity after 9/11 to do something socially meaningful and revolutionary. I haven't given up anything, even though I'm willing to (although that sentiment doesn't extend to the Patriot Act, which is so flawed on its face that I have trouble understanding why it's able to pass into legislation). There is no uniform sacrifice in this country, not on any level.

Should there be?

Posted by Highwaygirl on 08:44 AM | Comments (1)

Who Did You Think You Are?

Dandy Warhols
"Shakin'"
Listen | Buy

NOTES: It's been a good 10 weeks since I've posted a Dandy Warhols song. Can't let that happen again.

Oh you got me shakin'
Oh you got me high
I'm getting nowhere now
I'm not that good

But you were drinking
And thinking all night
You were hot so you thought
You didn't want to try

You were getting older
I was getting wiser not
You could see no reason to be any nicer
But I still can't seem to help
But want you back back back back back

You said I'm lazy
Well maybe you're right
I turned around and said
"Hey man turn that shit off."
Maybe baby you act like a star
You did not, anything, who did you think you are?

You were getting older
I was getting wiser not
You could see no reason to be any nicer, but
Well you get what you got
And you learn how to like it
But I still can't seem to help but
want you back back back back back

You were getting older
I was getting wiser not
Say you will but you wont but you did but you don't
Well you get what you got
And you learn how to like it
You can see no reason to be any nicer
But anyway you slice it I just don't get no wiser
But I still can't seem to help but want you back back

Posted by Highwaygirl on 08:41 AM | Comments (0)

July 18, 2005

What Jake Looks Like

This is how I sometimes feel when I am tweaking HTML/CSS code, testing software, or recapping the Big Brother live feeds:

pic184679hs.gif

(Stolen shamelessly from the TV Junkie.)

Posted by Highwaygirl on 11:01 AM | Comments (1)

July 14, 2005

Peace, Love and Goats

Jake: clearly your cats are pure evil
Me: why?
Jake: I just noticed you had a photo section on your site. Don't know why I never saw it before.
Jake: Anyway... HERE'S WHY
Jake: Goddamn evil
Me: my cat is damn cute you twat!
Jake: hahaha
Jake: MY CAT IS CUTER
Me: I need to update this thing
Jake: It doesn't freak you out that anyone in the world can view photos of you and your family?
Me: no, not really. not many people would just stumble upon that photo album.
Jake: still fantastic
Me: ooh, yeah! I should do a lomo for my next shot on Foecus.
Jake: there's something absolutely amazing about wet hair in front of eyes like that, especially in a nice b/w
Jake: and I dont even mean in a perverse way
Jake: it's just an artistic thing of beauty to me
Me: yeah, I think it looks interesting in the super saturated color AND in the b/w
Me: totally different looks
Jake: yeah
Me: did you see my spoon shot?
Jake: Yeah I saw that a few weeks ago. Absolutely loved that one.
Me: I wish I could be a photojournalist
Me: how COOL would that be?
Jake: yeah, I know the feeling
Me: although I'm not good enough yet
Jake: Ehh
Jake: It's like any other "art" ... it's all up to the viewer
Jake: 22) Get a facial
Jake: ahahahaha I can't help but succumb to my immaturity
Jake: I'll still giggle at such things when I'm 40
Jake: If I live that long
Me: wait, is that on my list?
Jake: yes
Me: I need to update my list
Me: I tackled the database conversion
Jake: 39) Watch a sunset on the West Coast
Jake: West coast of Florida or you mean CA?
Me: not of FL
Jake: ah
Me: Hawaii is the goal
Jake: I was gonna say ...
Me: but barring that, West Coast of the U.S.
Jake: 48) Stay awake for 48 consecutive hours
Jake: Heh
Jake: Part o' the reason I was so manic when I met you guys...
Me: sleep deprivation?
Jake: Ive been getting very little because of my current projects
Jake: It's great
Jake: Now if only i had access to a wide array of drugs
Jake: PILLS DAMN YOU
Jake: I'm in the mood for some lovely psychedelics
Me: Jake
Me: what is a "daisy chain"?
Jake: I ain't no hippie
Jake: 100) Go blonde (or very dark brown)
Jake: Please
Jake: Please Julie
Jake: Don't make the baby Jesus cry
Me: oh, dude! I've done that too!
Jake: egianbhjadfh
Me: the very dark brown
Me: well, almost
Jake: Thank fuck I havent had to see the blonde
Me: my hair, no matter what color I dye it, always turns a bit red
Jake: There is no tactful way of throwing up
Me: it is FANNOYING
Me: now I'm going to bleach my hair just to spite you
Jake: demon
Me: alright, I gotta run out to CVS
Me: back in a flash-o-matic
Jake: Time for me to start making dinner you wretched goat
Jake: I have no genuine explanation as to why I insult you with such titles as GOAT. A wretched one for that matter.
Jake: Peace and love
Jake: APOCALYPSE

Posted by Highwaygirl on 05:19 PM | Comments (0)

July 13, 2005

Watch the World Slow Down

Idlewild
"El Capitan"
Listen | Buy

NOTES: Finally I get around to posting a track from Idlewild's fourth full-length release, Warnings/Promises, which is STILL not commercially available in the U.S. I was having trouble deciding between this song and my two other favorites ("I Understand It" and "Love Steals Us From Loneliness"), but then I visited the band's website and learned that "El Capitan" is the newest single. So I figured, let's be current and go with this song. You can listen to other tracks off the CD - as well as watch videos for my three favorite tracks - on the website's Music page.

By the harbour, I harbour the strangest memories
Older than I could ever be
Stranded in nostalgia
So tonight I'll try harder
But it's hard to fix this spotlight on me
In a cast that's taken to places
I'm unsure of where I want to be

Stand up, stand up
And stand down
I'll climb El Capitan
And jump off to cheers from the crowd
Stand up, stand up
And stand down
And I hope you take your camera
To photograph my tears as they hit the ground

No one even listens
The same way that no one ever laughs
I'm digging the car out of the snow
I'm wondering where the summer went to
Circled by your secrets
I'm hoping they don't include me
At least I'm in good company
Because there's no one else around
Except me

Stand up, stand up
And stand down
I'll climb El Capitan
Just to watch the world slow down
Stand up, stand up
And stand down
And I hope you took your camera
Silence makes the loudest sound

It seems far too easy to say the same things
I'll choose my own way to use my life up
Finally found a new way
Of saying the same things in imaginary ways
I'll use my life up

You were looking at pictures in the distance
Hoping to see the future in your pictures
Of the distance hoping to see
The future looking at pictures in the distance
Hoping to see the future through your pictures
Of the distance, hoping to see

Posted by Highwaygirl on 07:13 AM | Comments (0)

July 12, 2005

Where the Buffaloes Rove

Perhaps it is wrong, but I don't really care - I am loving the schadenfreude being dealt out with the revelation that Karl Rove, senior adviser and deputy chief of staff to El Presidente, was involved in leaking the identity of an undercover CIA operative to the press.

The NY Times weighs in. In the immortal words of MC Hammer - break it down!:

WASHINGTON, July 11 - Nearly two years after stating that any administration official found to have been involved in leaking the name of an undercover C.I.A. officer would be fired, and assuring that Karl Rove and other senior aides to President Bush had nothing to do with the disclosure, the White House refused on Monday to answer any questions about new evidence of Mr. Rove's role in the matter.

The million dollar question is - Will the President make good on that promise? Will he fire Karl freaking Rove? Could we be so fortunate as to witness such glory in our lifetime?

One thing I do know - Leo McGarry would never have done this to Jed Bartlet.

Under often hostile questioning, (White House press secretary Scott) McClellan repeatedly declined to say whether he stood behind his previous statements that Mr. Rove had played no role in the matter, saying he could not comment while a criminal investigation was under way. He brushed aside questions about whether the president would follow through on his pledge, repeated just over a year ago, to fire anyone in his administration found to have played a role in disclosing the officer's identity. And he declined to say when Mr. Bush learned that Mr. Rove had mentioned the C.I.A. officer in his conversation with the Time reporter.

When one reporter, David Gregory of NBC News, said that it was "ridiculous" for the White House to dodge all questions about the issue and pointed out that Mr. McClellan had addressed the same issues in detail in the past, Mr. McClellan replied, "I'm well aware, like you, of what was previously said, and I will be glad to talk about it at the appropriate time."

The time is now, motherchuckers! I love when the White House press corps gets bitchy. I mean, openly calling the President's policy of not commenting "ridiculous" - I don't think I could have kept myself from snickering had I been sitting in the press room at that moment.

Oh man, you guys have to watch this video clip from the Today show this morning. Go to this story on Rove, then click on the Free Video link. And then listen to David Gregory get his righteous indignation on.

In September 2003, Mr. McClellan said flatly that Mr. Rove had not been involved in disclosing Ms. Plame's name. Asked about the issue on Sept. 29, 2003, Mr. McClellan said he had "spoken with Karl Rove," and that it was "simply not true" that Mr. Rove had a role in the disclosure of her identity. Two weeks earlier, he had called suggestions that Mr. Rove had been involved "totally ridiculous." On Oct. 10, 2003, after the Justice Department opened its investigation, Mr. McClellan told reporters that Mr. Rove, Mr. Abrams and Mr. Libby had nothing to do with the leak.

Tee hee.

Oh, and here's the Newsweek story that started the whole giddy mess.

Posted by Highwaygirl on 09:01 AM | Comments (1)

Time Won't Stand By Forever

Gin Blossoms
"29"
Listen | Buy

NOTES: The fact that I've never posted a Gin Blossoms song is just wrong, because they're one of my all-time favorite bands. The combination of Robin Wilson's voice and the late Doug Hopkins' lyrics ... well, I find myself singing various songs from New Miserable Experience quite frequently. This song, "29," is my favorite.

Time won't stand by forever
If I know it's true
And I've learned not to say never
Else I'll seem the fool

At 29 you'd think I'd know better
Living like a kid
It's when my lies may seem less than clever
It's when I fall for it

Only time will tell if wishing wells
Will bring us anything
Or fade like scenes from childhood dreams
Forgotten memories

Some rides don't have much of a finish
That's the ride I took
Through good and bad and straight through indifference
Without a second look

There's no intentions worthy of mention
If we never try
So hang your hopes on rusted-out hinges
Take 'em for a ride

Only time will tell if wishing wells
Can bring us anything
Or fade like scenes from childhood dreams
Forgotten memories

Only time will tell

Posted by Highwaygirl on 06:55 AM | Comments (1)

July 06, 2005

One! More! Day!

Until Big Brother 6 starts, that is. And everyone needs to come over to Hamster Time and check out our live feed recappers (including me), because we bring the funny (and witty and cynical and bitter).

Sorry I haven't been posting much. I was hellaciously busy at work, then I was busy getting HT and its alternative board, HT.net, ready for the season, AND I was trying to finish up the layout for Foecus. I'm pretty happy with the way Foecus is looking, and today's photo - "Depth of Feline" - is particularly good.

In depressing news, Eric is leaving tomorrow. Who will keep me entertained during lunch?

Posted by Highwaygirl on 07:10 AM | Comments (1)

Bring On the New Messiah

Echo and The Bunnymen
"Bring On the Dancing Horses"
Listen | Buy

NOTES: Echo and The Bunnymen's Songs To Learn & Sing was one of my favorite albums when I was a teenager. For some reason I've been dying to hear some of these songs, so I broke down and purchased a handful off iTunes. This song is one of the band's most recognizeable, having appeared in the movie Pretty In Pink.

Jimmy Brown
Made of stone
Charlie clown
No way home

Bring on the dancing horses
Headless and all alone
Shiver and say the words
Of every lie you've heard

First I'm gonna make it
Then I'm gonna break it
'Til it falls apart
Hating all the faking
And I'm shaking while I'm breaking
Your brittle heart

Billy stands
All alone
Sinking sand
Skin and bone

Bring on the dancing horses
Wherever they may roam
Shiver and say the words
Of every lie you've heard

First I'm gonna make it
Then I'm gonna break it
'Til it falls apart
Hating all the faking
And I'm shaking while I'm breaking
Your brittle heart

Brittle heart
Brittle heart
Brittle heart
And my little heart
Goes

Jimmy Brown
Made of stone
Charlie clown
No way home

Bring on the headless horses
Wherever they may roam
Shiver and say the words
Of every lie you've heard

First I'm gonna make it, and
Then I'm gonna break it
'Til it falls apart
Hating all the faking
And I'm shaking while you're breaking
My brittle heart

Brittle heart
Brittle heart
And our little heart
Goes

Bring on the new messiah
Wherever he may roam

Posted by Highwaygirl on 06:59 AM | Comments (1)

July 02, 2005

MySQL Test

I think I just converted my Berkeley database to MySQL. I'm not entirely sure. I did get the "Done copying data from Berkeley DB to your SQL database! All went well." message, so I think that part of the conversion worked.

I'm just not sure if I am currently using MySQL or if I'm somehow still hooked into the Berkeley database.

And I'm not sure how to tell.

Uh ... yeah. But STILL - I converted my damn database (mostly) all by myself (thanks, John!).

ETA: Dear god, I think it worked. I just checked my SQL database and the last row in the table is for entry #689 - and that's this one.

I am honestly STUNNED.

Oh, and for anyone on GoDaddy who is attempting to upgrade Movable Type from Berkeley to MySQL, the glitch I found was that the password for your MySQL database must match the password for your Berkeley database. At first I was using two different passwords, and I could not get access to the server. But as soon as I made all the passwords the same (i.e. the SQL db had the same password as my GoDaddy user account), everything went swimmingly.

Posted by Highwaygirl on 12:01 AM | Comments (3)