(Not) Just Like Falling for the First Time

Last weekend, Susi and I went to see Barenaked Ladies in concert. This was the fifth time we have seen them play live, but the first since Steven Page left the band. They were playing at RibFest, a RAGBRAI kickoff event. That meant admission was pretty cheap ($20 apiece), but it also meant a solid majority of the crowd were drunken cyclists there for a cheap concert.

Musically, it was a good show, though not as good as some of their previous ones. Page's absence was definitely felt - without his voice the vocals were thinner and the harmonies not as tight. Perhaps more importantly, the best part of any BNL show is the banter and improvisation, and although they did some pretty good riffing on the sign language interpreter (I don't know, either) and copious amounts of BBQ they had consumed, losing the easy chemistry of your co-front man of 20 years hurt.

On the plus side, they were working hard to entertain. It was obvious that they were very serious about keeping fans, even going so far as to staying after the show to to meet and greet:

No, Kevin Hearn, YOU are the man.

So, it was a good show. If I hadn't seen them so many times previously, it may have even been a great show. It just wasb't the same, though.

Friday Five: 7/24

In which I blather about five songs randomly selected from my iPod playlist as I listen to them.

"Yellow Submarine" - The Beatles
Number 2 on my personal list of songs the Beatles have done regarding underwater matters (#1 being "Octopus's Garden ," naturally).

"If you Love Somebody Set Them Free" - Sting
It doesn't seem like much now, but I remember being really intrigued by this video when it first came out.

"Freedom" - Wham!
"Baby you could drag me to hell and back/ Just as long as we're together/ And you do." Great, great song.

"Be My Yoko Ono" - Barenaked Ladies
"I know that when I say say this I may be stepping on pins and needles/ But I don't like all these people slagging her for breaking up the Beatles/ If I was John and you were Yoko I would gladly give up musical genius/ Just to have you as my very own personal Venus." The genius of BNL, especially on Gordon, is that they are able to be silly and completely sincere at the same time.

"Happy Valentine's Day" - OutKast
"Now when arrows don't penetrate, see/ Cupid grabs the pistol/ And he shoots straight for your heart/ And when he won't miss you!/ That's alright 'cause y'all won't believe in me anyways/ Ya won't believe in me, but you would fancy leprechauns or groundhogs/ No thank you, Easter Bunny!/ There's all this talk about Santa Claus, but see love will rule reign supreme." From The Love Below, a hip-hop song from the perspective of a modern cupid. Extremely cool.

Triple Play

Friday night gaming... three people... yadda yadda yadda.

Dominion: I won (Mike a close second, Jay a distant third) following a strategy of only buying treasure cards, highest-value territory cards, and 1-2 types of action cards (my constantly having a Market card in hand really started to irk Mike).

Small World: Mike won (me a close second, Jay a distant third). My Subterranean Halflings didn't give me as much oomph as I needed.

Pandemic: We won on medium difficulty with the researcher, scientist and dispatcher. We were able to knock off 2 diseases pretty quickly due to a favorable initial card draw. I think next time we play 3-player, we might be ready for the (assumed) mind-blowing insanity of 6 Epidemic cards.

Friday Five: 7/17

In which I blather about five songs randomly selected from my iPod playlist as I listen to them.

"Am I the Only One?" - Barenaked Ladies
Am I the only one/ Who had to dress you up/ To see how you fell down?/ Am I the only one/ You needs you to go/ Go on without me/ Am I the only one/ Who loves when you leave/ Your hair down in front of your eyes?" Simple but pretty little song from Maybe You Should Drive.

"Blue Heaven" - The Pogues
Jaunty tune (not a cover of the standard) from Peace and Love.

"Connected" - Stereo MC's
Is this trip-hop? Trance? I have no idea when you get to sub-genres that fine. Wikipedia tells me this is this title theme for "Burn Notice," which I've never actually seen.

"Radio Song" - R.E.M. with KRS-One
"What are you saying?/ What are you playing?/ Who're you obeying?/ Day after day it's/ Baby baby baby/ That stuff is driving me crazy." One of the odder rock/hip-hop crossovers, but it is one of my favorite tracks from Out of Time.

"Dancing in the Sheets" - Shalamar
Footloose: so-so movie, kick-ass soundtrack.

The Queue

A periodic feature in which I regale you with thrilling tales of my Netflix queue.

Returned
Justice League (Season 2, Discs 2 & 3): Most of the episodes from this series are good to very good, but every once in a while there's one that's "holy shit" good. "The Terror Beyond" was one of those episodes. Not only did it feature a Defenders-homage lineup and culminate and Solomon Grundy and Hawkgirl beating up Cthulhu's brain, but the ending is about enough to break your heart as well. Great stuff.

Sex and the City (Season 4, Discs 2& 3): More of the same.

Slumdog Millionaire: Good, but not great. The writing was clever and the acting was fine, but I guess it didn't live up to the hype.

Spellbound: A fairly interesting documentary about the 1999 national spelling bee. It's worth watching, if for no other reason, to see the musical robot kid (hours later I was still cracking up at that).

At Home
The Muppet Movie
Sex and the City (Season 5, Discs 1 & 2)

Misfire

For I couple of weeks, I've been working intermittently on a campaign version of Gunslinger - basically just a decision-tree of shootouts where the other players would control the same 1 or 2 individuals and I supplied all the opposition. Since we had everyone there on Friday for a change, I thought it might be a good opportunity to play through a few basic shootouts as a rules refresher. The results made me glad I had only been working on this idea intermittently.

The first one we played was Thieves Fall Out, which is one we played way back when (I also ran at Nuke-Con). In it, 4 outlaws - the Kid (Jay), the Border Rider (me), the Gun Artist (Matt) and Innocente (Mike) - are gathered around their loot when violence erupts. We began arrayed in a circle, so the Kid and Border Rider, across from each other, began by taking a step back (removing ourselves from Innocente's and Gun Artist's peripheral vision, respectively). Also in the first turn (ie, the first 2 seconds of the gunfight), the Kid used his quick draw ability to get off a quick, inaccurate shot at Innocente with his revolver, and everyone else unlimbered their rifle and began to aim - Border Rider at Gun Artist, GA at Innocente, and Innocente at the spot where the Kid used to be. By the end of turn two (4 seconds into the gunfight), both GA and Innocente were dead. In the ensuing turn, the Kid winged BR in the non-gun arm with his Colt .45 despite being at long range for a handgun. Faced with a massive penalty if he tried to fire his rifle, BR drew his pistol and advanced. The Kid had plenty of time to get his Winchester ready and put BR down for a fairly easy victory, though.

After some of the "light-hearted" grumbling that was going on, I probably shouldn't have even set up the second showdown. But I did. Unfortunately. That showdown took place on a larger board, a town where 4 old enemies - the Marshal (Mike), the Mountain Man (Matt), the Dude (me) and Ike (Jay) - had gathered to settle their scores for good. Due to the setup method (everyone writes down what hex they are starting in before simultaneous placement), Ike and the Marshal ended up in close proximity, while the Mountain Man and Dude and closer to the other side of the board. The Marshal, inside a building crouched behind a window, got off a shot at Ike, who was leaning out around a corner, but missed. Despite the fact that Ike was aiming at him, he re-cocked his rifle (instead of, say, ducking below the window sill) and was going aim again, if not for the bullet that hit his head. Meanwhile, on the other side of town, the Dude (armed with a sawn-off shotgun and going against a long-range specialist) was maneuvering to make sure there was as little distance as possible between him and his opponent when there was finally an opportunity for a clear shot. The Mountain Man obliged by rushing headlong around a corner and, for some reason, attempting to get the Dude into a bear hug. Two barrels worth of buckshot to the face disabused him of that notion.

As I was pondering how to maneuver next to counter Jay's long-range advantage, the complaints about how lethal the game is and how long it takes to move anywhere somehow turned into taking pictured of flipping each other off with cell phone cameras. It was about at this point I went from irritated to just wanting it over with. The Dude grabs MM's buffalo rifle and heads out into the street, get shot by Ike, and is incapacitated for long enough for Ike to finish him off. Game over.

I guess I was too polite to say no when Bang! was suggested after that. We played 3 quick games. I won the first as the Renegade. In the second game, I was the Sheriff and was eliminated very quickly. In the last game, I was again the Renegade but went out first. After that it really very close, with the Sheriff (Jay) and the 2 Outlaws each down to 1 bullet at one point. Eventually, the Outlaws prevailed. It probably would have been pretty exciting if I hadn't been too pissed to care.

Friday Five: 7/3

In which I blather about five songs randomly selected from my iPod playlist as I listen to them.

"Hawkmoon 269" - U2
Sparse, moody song from Rattle and Hum. It's a great late-night road trip song.

"Love Hater" - OutKast
From the Andre 3000 side of Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, the songs from which impress me more and more every time I listen to them. One of the great albums of this decade.

"Blue Moon Revisited (Song for Elvis)" - Cowboy Junkies
Another one from The Trinity Session, featuring an original song that incorporates a truly phenomenal version of the original "Blue Moon" in the middle. Great song.

"Blame It on Me" - Barenaked Ladies
"Here you are and you're a hundred thousand miles away/ They say absence makes the heart grow fungus/ I wax poetic, as you're waxing your legs/ You say you think there's a traitor among us/ If all else fails you can blame it on me."

"There She Goes Again" - R.E.M.
One of, I think, 3 R.E.M. covers of Velvet Underground songs on my playlist.

Snakebitten

Corry and finished out the NLCS in our ongoing playoff simulation, and the results were not pretty. For me, at least. Game 6 saw the Diamondbacks jump all over Tom Glavine en route to a 10-2 win. Luis Gonzalez and Junior Spivey hit 2 home runes apiece, with Mark Grace adding another to power the win. Schilling went all 9 innings, striking out 11. In Game 7, Arizona built a 7-0 lead through 8 innings thanks to 2 home runs from Steve Finley and 1 from Gonzalez. The Braves tried to make it interesting in the top of the 9th, but they could only come up with 4 runs.

With the Yankees ahead 3-2 in the ALCS, it's looking like a good shot for him to advance both of his teams to the World Series.