OMG SO ADICTIVE LOLZ!!!1

I want a dog. A chihuahua.

Streaming .TV shows by Ustream
When I get back to my small flat, I want to hear somebody bark.

(Re) Born Again, Naturally

Born Again 80's is a (relatively) new blog that documents the evolution of the 12" dance mix throughout the 80s -- hence, the name. I found it yesterday through a link on WFMU, and just went hog wild with a' downloadin'. A lot of this stuff is no longer (or never was) commercially available, so the RIAA-inspired piracy guilt/fear of prosecution is kept to a minimum. Or, at least that's the hope.

Among my favorite remixes that have been posted so far are Cameo's "Word Up", Fine Young Cannibals' "Johnny Come Home", Morrissey's "Suedehead" (!), and Steven 'Tin Tin' Duffy's "Kiss Me". There are also remixes of the only two Phil Collins songs that don't send me immediately into a seizure, The Price is Right Theme, and The Timelords' "Doctorin' the Tardis". The site is certainly worth checking out, especially if, like me, you have a soft spot in your heart for the clumsy remixes of the 1980s. (Although, in the interest of full disclosure, a lot of the remixes are from the 90s or later; it's just that the original songs came out in the 80s.)

Oh, and just for shits and giggles, here's the video for "Doctorin' the Tardis".
Enjoy!

I Don't Feel Like Dancing

Or do I?

I went to the dance at my old AmeriCorps site yesterday. It was fun, although there were not many of my old students in attendance. In fact, there were only two: Luis, who had very little to say to me, and Pedro, who always has something to say. I was very happy to see Pedro, because he is no longer even a student at De Porres P.L.A.C.E. He was always one of my favorite students, very enthusiastic about learning English, and, while he was beset by medical problems last year, he seems to be doing much better now.

I asked him why he never sent me an e-mail, and he said that he had lost my address, so I gave it to him again, as well as my phone number. I told him that he has to have me over to have Venezuelan arepas again: he made them for us on the last day of school, and damn if they weren't the best arepas I ever had. Which isn't saying all that much, since the Colombian arepas I have had have been served cold, and they gave me the impression, through their size and texture, of unscented urinal cakes. So he insisted he would call me.

I ended up dancing with the AmeriCorps service member for the site I work at now, Jenny-Lind; Erin, the AmeriCorps service member at De Porres who is referred to as "the new Bill" -- similar to how I was "the new Mary" at the beginning of my service year; and Sandra, the secretary at De Porres. I did not freak out when pressured to dance like I have in the past, nor did I hide underneath a table, as I similarly have a history of doing. So that was good.

When the Daddy Yankee reggaeton song "Gasolina" came on, I wanted very badly to ask Sister Margaret, the director of De Porres P.L.A.C.E., to dance with me. I chickened out, though, although that seriously would have been the funniest thing ever.



In other news, having not learned my lesson the first time, I have started reading my second book by Anthony Trollope, Can You Forgive Her? I don't really know why, except that I was tired of reading fantasy short stories, and evidently the only answer was to start reading an 800-page Victorian novel. So far it's far superior to The Way We Live Now, and besides, the title was purloined by Pet Shop Boys as the title of one of my favorite songs.

I anticipate that, based on my previous experience, I should finish the book sometime within the next calendar year.

Blast You, Minge!

That feisty queen tagged me! Wailey! Wailey!

Well, OK, so I'm flattered that someone cares about my opinion, but these are hard questions. "Next time make it easier for me, OK, handsome?"

Name a book that you want to share so much that you keep giving away copies:
I didn't so much give away copies as loaned everybody mine, but Sean Stewart's Mockingbird. At least three other people read the book, and it is no longer in my possession. It is well-written, and is extremely enjoyable with it's mixture of realism and fantasy.

Also: Gideon Defoe's The Pirates! in an Adventure with Scientists. Because it is a freaking hoot! And there have been many, many others, including Karen Joy Fowler's Jane Austen Book Club, Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca, and Alan Moore & Eddie Campbell's From Hell.

Name a piece of music that changed the way you listen to music:
Um, it's not a piece of music so much as an album. I borrowed Pet Shop Boys' Discography from the guy across the hall in my dorm on the last day of my freshman year at university. Keeping in mind that I already knew some of the songs from my youth, I was just completely blown away to hear them, alongside all these brilliant songs that I had never heard before. Up to that point, I listened almost exclusively to alternative rock -- The Smiths, Pixies, REM -- but this album threw my musical tastes wide open. It proved to be a gateway music to disco, which, in itself, got me completely into 60s & 70s soul and funk. At the same time, their references to classical music got me interested in such composers as Richard Strauss and Claude Debussy. They're also at least partly responsible for my interest in Noel Coward, Stephen Sondheim, and Dusty Springfield. They molded my idea of what pop music is, and what it can accomplish, and what can be expected from it. I found a music that spoke to something fundamental in me, music that had a wider view of the world than the petty complaints of white, suburban youth. Not only that, it was music made by gay folks. So, you know, bonus. Plus it was the music that convinced me that I should dance, no matter how self-conscious I am, and no matter how stupid I looked. Pet Shop Boys are still my favorite musical group.

Although I still don't like "West End Girls" very much.

Name a film you can watch again and again without fatigue:
I have a few: Written on the Wind, Letter from an Unknown Woman, I Walked with a Zombie, There's Always Tomorrow, The Heiress, Rebecca, Smiles of a Summer Night, Hairspray. I could probably come up with a few more, but that's good enough for now. Most of these are weepies, because I've noticed that sad movies retain their emotional impact for me better than comedies do. And because I am a complete pushover for melodrama of the non-camp variety.

Name a performer for whom you suspend all disbelief:
Barbara Stanwyck. Even in her stupid movies (Cattle Queen of Montana, anybody?), she just MAKES me believe her. And even her stupid roles are acted intelligently.

Name a work of art you'd like to live with:
I could probably come up with something better if I weren't so tired, but right now, all I can think about is that I would really love if I could have one room of my apartment papered with the Cow wallpaper that Andy Warhol used to cover galleries with. That would be so, indescribably cool! Albeit difficult to coordinate my furniture with.

Name a work of fiction that has penetrated your real life:
Wow, that sounds pretty personal. Penetrated how, exactly?

The work of literary fiction that I have most often found myself idly thinking about in my every day life is Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man. Mostly because it is a novel that traffics very heavily in metaphor, and I am nothing if not a metaphorophile. The problem is, by saying this, I basically make myself look like the most pretentious individual on the planet. Which, you may be thinking, almost goes without saying.

Wait, a work of fiction can also be a television show, right? Well, in that case the answer would have to be Buffy, the Vampire Slayer. Oddly, for many of the same reasons listed above. It's all a metaphor for growing up. Julie and I (and occasionally Jolie) would plan our Tuesday nights around it, and watch it together, and then discuss what we watched. And, if you really want to see me bawl, just show me the episode where Buffy's mom dies. I'm not so much into it as I was when it was on the air, but it shaped how I think about television shows since I first watched it.

Name a punch line that always makes you laugh:
This was the easiest question to answer. From Arrested Development:

Buster: "Mmmm, so watery, and yet there's a smack of ham to it!"

Comic genius, never fails to crack me up completely every time. I even start laughing when I just remember the line. To see it, click below.

I tag whoever feels like being tagged: I don't have enough faith that people read my blog to tag anyone.

Huzzah for the Interweb!

The worst thing about living in the United States of America is, of course, the lack of Pet Shop Boys videos on television. But with the expansion of the Interweb, it has become possible to view said videos, without having to emigrate to another country that happens to be Great Britain. Exhibit A: "I'm With Stupid"...

A great song is made greater by a video that only REALLY makes sense if you've seen the video for my favorite Pet Shop Boys song, "Can You Forgive Her".

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Speaking of leaving the country, of last year's AmeriCorps team, Krystie is currently teaching English in South Korea, and Brianna (AKA, "My wife, Mrs. DePorres") is currently teaching English in Peru. (That loser Dave was briefly teaching English in Honduras, but then returned to the U.S.A., just because living there was "scary" and "dangerous". Whatta pansy.) Anywho, they both have blogs that they probably won't bother maintaining for long, so I encourage you to go check in with my former teammates at your leisure -- just click on their names.