Sunday, December 30, 2012

736. Crash Into Me (the song)

I forgot about the existence of Dave Matthews until Ellen told me he lives in our neighborhood. I'm not sure I would recognize him if I saw him, but I'm sure he wouldn't recognize me, so that's fine. Listen here.

Saturday, December 29, 2012

735. Our Town

Boy meets girl. Boy marries girl. Everyone dies. (Oops. I ruined it.)

Friday, December 28, 2012

734. The Maryland state flag

Clearly the best state flag. It really stands out against all those other boring flags. (It's actually just the heraldic banner of George Calvert.)

Sunday, December 23, 2012

729. The Lion King

You know, Hamlet, but with more wildebeest stampedes and less ear poison. (I'd love to see a production of Hamlet with a wildebeest stampede.)

Thursday, December 20, 2012

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

725. The myth of Cassiopeia

Don't brag that your daughter is more beautiful than all of Poseidon's daughters. Poseidon doesn't take kindly to that.

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

724. The Creation of Adam

Nearly three quarters of the way through, so any time I think of an iconic work that's not already on the list, you can be sure it's coming up. Also, about this painting, notice that God seems to be in a big floating brain. Just a fun fact.

Monday, December 17, 2012

723. How the Grinch Stole Christmas!

Let's go with the TV special rather than the book. (And certainly not the movie.)

Sunday, December 16, 2012

722. How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe

A novel about time travel paradoxes and the difficulties of the father-son relationship.

Saturday, December 15, 2012

721. Pastoralia

An excellent short story about a man who is absurdly committed to his job of pretending to be a caveman in a historical recreation-themed amusement park that nobody ever comes to visit.

Friday, December 14, 2012

720. I'll Be Seeing You (the radio drama)

We went to see the KUOW production of this radio show from the 1940s. A soldier with PTSD falls in love with a woman who's temporarily released from prison.

Thursday, December 13, 2012

719. Freaks and Geeks

The most honestly depicted family relationships I've seen on TV. But hard to watch if you've got low tolerance for awkwardness.

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

718. A Canticle For Leibowitz

After a nuclear apocalypse, monks preserve technological manuscripts without having any clue what they mean.

Monday, December 10, 2012

716. Marree Man

A modern large-scale geoglyph whose construction is still a mystery.

Saturday, December 8, 2012

714. The Tiger

TIGER, tiger, burning bright 
In the forests of the night, 
What immortal hand or eye 
Could frame thy fearful symmetry? 
 
In what distant deeps or skies         5
Burnt the fire of thine eyes? 
On what wings dare he aspire? 
What the hand dare seize the fire? 
 
And what shoulder and what art 
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?  10
And when thy heart began to beat, 
What dread hand and what dread feet? 
 
What the hammer? what the chain? 
In what furnace was thy brain? 
What the anvil? What dread grasp  15
Dare its deadly terrors clasp? 
 
When the stars threw down their spears, 
And water'd heaven with their tears, 
Did He smile His work to see? 
Did He who made the lamb make thee?  20
 
Tiger, tiger, burning bright 
In the forests of the night, 
What immortal hand or eye 
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry? 

Thursday, December 6, 2012

712. Pain au Chocolat

Something about winter is making me lean towards edible art.

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

710. If

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too:
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream---and not make dreams your master;
If you can think---and not make thoughts your aim,
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same:.
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build'em up with worn-out tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings,
And never breathe a word about your loss:
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings---nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much:
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And---which is more---you'll be a Man, my son!

Monday, December 3, 2012

709. Schindler's List

Way up there on my list of excellent movies that you don't want to watch more than once.

Sunday, December 2, 2012

Saturday, December 1, 2012

707. Give Peace a Chance

I originally had two typos in the title. I do feel like I would listen to "Give Peach a Change", but the message might not resonate as well.