Record stores have always seemed crazy to me

[vovat]

I went to the library today, and checked out two books. One was Terry Pratchett's Wintersmith. I actually got this book through interlibrary loan, and they called me yesterday to say it had come in. Then last night, I had a dream about being at a library that had a whole bunch of copies of the book, and there were two different covers. I checked out the one with a leopard on it, but I forget what was on the other one. The thing is, there really are separate British and American covers for the book, which might have inspired this part of my dream. People on the discworld community are always complaining about the American covers, but I actually like this one. It's sort of like a generic young adult novel cover, but hey, there's also a drunken, violent blue pixie on it! Kind of a clever mix of the mundane and the fantastic, ye ken? Still, I fail to understand why we don't get the Paul Kidby covers in the States. Anyway, the other book was Dave Barry's Money Secrets. Like Weird Al, Barry is a humorist I got into when I was younger, and have stuck with as I've gotten older. Oddly enough, I've never read any of his fiction, despite having had Big Trouble on my bookshelf for some time.

I've started working out my best of 2006 mix CD. Yeah, I know it's only October, but the only other new album I'm likely to hear this year is The Tragic Treasury. I've noticed that a fair number of the songs I'm putting on here are kind of on the mellow side. Not an adult-alternative or smooth-jazz level of mellowness, but not songs that totally rock out, either. I guess that's largely unavoidable when musicians I like who have done a lot of rockin' stuff in the past, like Frank Black and Scott McCaughey, released somewhat softer stuff this year. Even Neko Case, who did a fair amount of honky-tonk country on her first two albums, has been sticking more to...well, not mellow, but darker and less upbeat stuff as of late.

Speaking of music, jenhime wrote a post where she mentioned that Tower is going out of business. It seems like music stores are much less common these days than they were about a decade ago. Places like The Wall and Sam Goody were ridiculously overpriced, but when I really wanted to get an album on the day it came out, I was sometimes willing to pay $19 for it. I think this might be part of a trend of specialized shops dying out, as people prefer to patronize a-little-of-everything stores. In general, it's a better deal to order just about all non-essential items online nowadays, which is usually fine, but really doesn't equal the experience of going out to buy an actual physical CD on its release date.


I got this survey from leolapyre, who apparently got it from MySpace, which is why there are questions about MySpace songs and headlines.

1. Whats the meaning behind your myspace song?
Hmm, it's still "Sing Me Spanish Techno," by the New Pornographers. Maybe I should change it, but I don't really have the time to mess with MySpace when I have my LJ friends page to catch up with. Anyway, there's no real meaning per se. It's just a song I think is cool. Everyone else seems to like "The Bleeding Heart Show" the best out of the songs on Twin Cinema, and that's definitely a great song, but something about "Techno" grabs me more.

2. What month were you born in?
November

3. Where do you live?:
South Jersey

4. Wallet?
Yeah, what about it?

5. Would you ever change your name?:
I don't think so, but it might be interested to use a pseudonym or two.

6. Toothbrush:
It's one of those Colgate 360 things.

7. Jewelry worn daily:
None

8. Pillow Case:
They match my sheets. I didn't buy them, but I like them just fine.

9. Eyes:
Well, they're blue. Is that what you wanted to know?

10. House color:
Brown

11. Love life?
I'm happy with it.

12. Cologne/Perfume:
I don't usually wear cologne, but it might not be a bad idea to start. (Didn't I say the same thing on another recent survey?)

13. CD in stereo:
Weird Al's Straight Outta Lynwood is still in my actual stereo, but what I'm listening to at the moment is Fuzzy Warbles Volume 8.

14. Piercings:
None

15. Wearing:
Pajama pants and a Kmart T-shirt. I need to change before I go out to the library, but I have to take a shower before that.

16. Wanting:
Many things, but right now, food is a pretty high priority.

17. What does your headline mean:
On MySpace, you mean? It's from the spoken introduction to "You're A Good Man Albert Brown," by the Dukes of Stratosphear.

18. The last thing you ate?:
Some Goldfish crackers

19. Something you are afraid of?:
Going broke

20. Do you like candles?:
They're okay, as long as you don't fall asleep while they're burning.

21. Do you like the taste of blood?:
I can't recall having tasted it. I know I don't care to eat bloody meat.

22. Do you believe in love?:
Yeah, sure.

23. Do you believe in soul mates?:
Not really

24. Do you sleep naked?:
No, I always at least wear underwear.

25. Do you like seafood?
Yes, very much so in some cases. I love shrimp, for instance. No clams, though. They're kind of gross.

26. Do you remember your dreams?
Sometimes, but not always.

27. Do you consider yourself a study freak?:
No.

28. What's your favorite thing to do in the place where you live?:
Stand. Then I think about direction, and wonder why I hadn't before.

29. Do you like tattoos?
Generally, no. I've seen some decent ones in my time, though.

30. Do you like sandwiches?
Yes, but I tend to like them relatively plain, because I am still quite childish when it comes to my taste in food.

31. Do you burn easily in the sun?
Yeah

32. Do you speak another language other than English?:
Well, I took five years of German and one of Latin, but I wouldn't say I'm fluent in either one.

33. What's something you wish you could understand better?
I'm going to steal Laura's answer and say "people."

34. Are you shy around a crush?
I'm shy around EVERYBODY.

35. What's the farthest from home you've ever travelled?
Albuquerque

36. Would you rather own a mustard mine or a treacle well?
The mine, as long as I didn't have to work in it.

37. Is anyone else tired of quizzes with numbered questions where some of the numbers are missing?
Well, I am, but I'm guessing some people don't even notice.

38. Got any plans for the weekend?
Not really. I do plan to go to the library, and possibly get my car serviced.

39. Who do you miss?
No one in particular at the moment

40. Your name spelt backwards?
Nahtan. My name is dangerously close to being a palindrome.

41. Last incoming call on your cell phone?
bethje

42. What is the last thing you downloaded onto your computer?
A song that arfies made.

43. What's your favorite restaurant?:
Probably the Olive Garden

44. Last time you swam in a pool?
I swam in Beth's pool maybe twice this past summer. I forget when the last time was, but it was a while ago.

45. Britney Spears is a skank. Agree or disagree?:
Agree. I hear that if you rip off her tail, she grows a new one!

46. What was the last thing you bought?
Apple juice from a vending machine

47. Does someone have a crush on you?
Not as far as I know

48. Ever made a prank phone call?
No

49. Where did Waldo go?
When the company that made his striped shirts and bobble hats went out of business, he ended up losing his job.

50. Do you really know all the words to your national anthem?
Just the first verse, which puts me ahead of Dennis Hastert

51. What did your last text message say?
It was from Beth, and pertained to my second-grade story about Dictionary Bear that I posted a little while ago.

52. Have you ever been in a beauty pageant?
No

53. Have you ever been in a pie-eating contest?
No

54. Have you ever been on TV?
Not as far as I know

55. Have you ever won a trophy?
Nah

56. Are you a good cook?
Unfortunately, no. That's something I need to learn how to do.

57. Do you know how to pump your own gas?
Yeah, although I live in New Jersey and never actually have to do it.

58. Think fast, who do you hate right now?
The people who number these surveys improperly

59. What is your mood?
I'm okay, I guess. Kind of tired, and I feel like I have a lot to do, but I'm not going to do any of it for a little while.

60. What do you think about most?
Stuff that annoys or worries me, probably.

Comments

[rockinlibrarian.livejournal.com]

I do enjoy Dave Barry's fiction. I remember being pleasantly surprised by it, even though there's no reason why a good essayist shouldn't be a good novelist too, but I guess I just thought it might sound more like an essayist pretending to write fiction than the actual decent works of fiction they are. Even his foray into Children's/YA, the prequel to Peter Pan that he wrote with some other author whose name I can't think of -- that was decent young-YA, too, and I'm pickier about that age bracket!

re: 28-- made me laugh way more than it should have. 51-- It makes me bizarrely happy to hear that Dictionary Bear continues to come up in conversation even after several weeks.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

It makes me bizarrely happy to hear that Dictionary Bear continues to come up in conversation even after several weeks.

Actually, I got that message the same night I posted the Dictionary Bear story. I just don't get text messages very often.

And for me, it's been twenty years, not just several weeks. {g}