Good night, Mrs. Hitler

Last night, bethje and I watched the Venue Songs DVD that They Might Be Giants put out recently. It was pretty cool, although a bit on the short side. I guess it would have been prohibitively expensive to make a video for EVERY Venue Song, although I can't imagine that videos like the Asbury Park one cost much to make. It does seem like they ignored some really good songs in favor of less-good ones, but that's their decision, I suppose. I loved the introductions by John Hodgman, the self-made millionaire. Nonsensical jokes and Garrison Keillor references were in abundance. And Beth thought he was attractive. {g}

Anyway, I'm going to try to say a little bit about each song:
( Gowanus rules! )

I haven't listened to the CD yet, but I think I've already heard all the songs on it, so there's no real hurry. Overall, though, I have to say that the Venue Songs prove just how amazing the Johns are as songwriters. I mean, they must have written them really quickly, and while they're not all among the band's best work, they show a lot of variety and creativity. I wish I could write off-the-cuff songs as well as the Johns. Hell, I wish I could write ANY songs as well as the Johns.

And speaking of TMBG, here's a quote from their newest e-mail newsletter:

"Our warehouse is buzzing with Venue Songs DVD/CD set orders and special Holiday bundle orders (and we say Holiday because it freaks out Bill O'Reilly)"

I'd say freaking out O'Reilly is a noble goal, although perhaps a bit too easy. We saw him on TV just last night, going on about how there's a "war on Christmas" because some retailers are saying something generic like "Happy Holidays," rather than "Merry Christmas." According to him, people want to see a sign that says "Merry Christmas" when they walk into a store. Whether anyone KNEW this was what they wanted to see before Bill got all O'Riled up about it was never addressed. As Beth pointed out, when they have a bunch of trees, wreaths, and Santas all over the place at every store, who cares whether they use the word "Christmas" in their advertising? Are people going to forget what holiday they're supposed to be shopping for?

( And, speaking of Christmas... )

In my dream last night, my family (which was apparently the Stereotypical Nuclear Family within the context of the dream) was going out to eat at some restaurant that was located near a Kmart. It turned out, however, that not only was the restaurant closed down, but the actual building was completely gone. Also gone was a water ice stand in the same shopping center, and some kind of bazaar was closing down. I went to buy something from this guy who was selling TMBG CD's and wood carvings of rock stars' faces, including (and these were actually the ones he advertised) Neko Case and Carolyn Mark. Instead of buying any of these things, however, I was somehow convinced to spend $16 on a book of addresses and address forms (or something like that; I don't remember what they were actually called in the dream, and I doubt it would make sense in my waking life anyway) for people at Drexel. Then there were these guys (who might have been puppets, and who also might have been in a previous dream of mine) who kept saying all this nonsensical stuff, and everybody seemed to think what they were saying was totally accurate. I started trying to argue with and making fun of one of the guys, but he just kept on talking regardless. And then I woke up and typed out this summary, so I wouldn't forget it.

And I suppose that's all for now.