Dude, what's up with Finland?

Seriously, after the U.S. and Canada, I've gotten the most hits on that Neil Young post from Finland. Like, hundreds of them! Any idea why?

Pssst, come here...

So, shhhh, you guys, you don't want the others to hear, but see that post down there? The one right below this one? Well you wouldn't know it by looking at it, but in the just over 24 hours it's been there, it's gotten oh, more than 2,400 hits! I know! I have an invisible hit counter, so I know it's true. And they're coming from all over: the U.S. (duh), Canada, UK, Australia, France, Ireland, Finland, Norway, Thailand, Philipines, Netherlands, Belgium...and the list goes on.

I sent my link to the nice guy at Reprise who invited us down for the Neil Young preview as per his request for links to blogs talking about it, he posted it on the Neil Young blog about the album, and voila! Half the world is down there reading about my Friday night! Weird, eh? Just thought I'd warn you guys in case you bumped into a stranger on the site. Don't worry, you're still my favorites. Try to play nice!

Living with war in Burbank

When Friday started, I had no plans for the evening. Little did I know I'd end up sitting with just a handful more than a dozen people in a listening room at Reprise records in Burbank, given exclusive access to Neil Young's yet-unreleased album, Living with War. I know! Weird, eh? But, N emailed me during the day about this post, and yada yada yada, we ended up being two of the chosen.

It was a pretty cool experience, I have to say. Just being in the record company office, signing in, surrendering our cell phones, and waiting in the lobby under a giant poster of Madonna (Maverick offices were in this building too...thank you N, for allowing me to be excited about that without making fun of me. At least out loud.) was exciting. (I do have to say, though, that while we were waiting, and for a good few minutes into the album, I was fully expecting to be punked. Seriously, isn't this exactly how people get sucked into being subjects of lame-ass reality shows? But, we made it out of there without having to sign release forms of any kind, so that was good.)

Anyway, the point of this tiny listening party was to encourage some grassroots marketing and good old-fashioned word of mouth. The guy who invited and greeted us there asked us to use our blogs and emails to put the word out about the album and its message. Apparently, the album was made in record time, and will be released online sometime next week. N told me he read that after sitting back and hoping the younger generation of artists would speak out against the war in Iraq (among other things), apparently Mr. Young decided he could wait no more (I'm still holding out for the Mandy Moore protest album. Come on, Mandy!).

It was pretty cool to just sit and listen to an album in its entirety without the distraction of driving or reading or whatever you usually do while listening to music. The fancy screening room didn't hurt, either (though someone really needs to dust the bookshelf that held the sound system. What? I'm easily distracted!). The album rocks, really, and definitely sends a message. Let's just say that Mr. Bush and his Red State Posse will not be happy.

Anyway, plenty about the album can be read online, in particular on the blog that I linked to up there. You can also check out the lyrics on this site. I know that N and I will be downloading/purchasing this album as soon as its available. I think you'll like it too. (Well, maybe not you, but I'm guessing you'll appreciate the message.) Read more about others' experiences at the listening party at the blog linked above as well. (They tend to be more specific about each song's contents.)

Back to our regular programming tomorrow!

Stop the presses!

Tom and Katie had the baby! (What, I can't jump on the bandwagon?? There will be NO other news today, you know.) Anyway, they named the kid Suri, which has an interesting meaning according to this web site:

"Suri" appears to be a noun or adjective from the
Aymaran language, one of the two Native American
language groups in the Andes mountains along the
Altiplano of Bolivia, Chile and Peru. According to
native informants, the term "suri" means "straight"...

Hmmm. Interesting.

I probably still have some 'splaining to do

I'm sorry I left you hanging and looking at kangaroo balls for so long, but it's been a busy/lazy week. And now, I'm posting from work (technically, I still have three minutes left on my lunch hour, so I'll make this quick).

The short story is that I had a lovely birthday for which N bought me a brand-new camera that we tested out on all the animals at the LA Zoo. I was very excited to use the camera and came back with dozens and dozens of photos of our day. Sure, there are prettier and better composed photos, but I couldn't resist posting animal genitals here! So there you go. Ooh, we also made a very fine bbq rib meal in the crockpot that we let cook while we were playing at the zoo. I have a picture of that, too. In fact, I have pictures of all kinds of mundane things from the last week! I'll post as I see fit.

Dammit, three minutes go by fast!

I'll explain later

Hey, check out the balls on this kangaroo!










And the genitals on this chimp!

At least the house didn't burn down

Have you ever used a crockpot? My first early birthday present (well, besides the Cat Fancy, which, really, how can you beat?) was a crockpot. N and I were pretty excited about the thing, running out Sunday morning (okay, afternoon) to buy ingredients for a brisket (hi, have I mentioned we're Jewish?), which turned out fantastic beyond our expectations. So of course I spent all day online reading crockpot recipe sites (I mean working). I picked what had to be the easiest one out there: whole chicken, bottle of barbecue sauce, set on low while you go to work. I happily got up a few minutes early today, dropped the chicken into the pot, covered it with the sauce, flipped the switch, and went on my merry way to work (where I spent only half the day looking for more recipes).

I just got home, and well, it looks...good? (You tell me.) I poked it with a fork and the meat just fell off, which is a good sign, but it fell off into this pool of oil, which I assume is the remains of what used to be chicken skin. That's kind of gross. The tiny piece I tasted was alright, but a little bland and, well, oily (and oddly dry at the same time). The top pieces of chicken are looking a little burny, and come to think of it, the whole house smells a little burny. I think the problem here is that I'm away from the house too long, what with that horrid commute and all, and chickens just aren't supposed to be in there all day, especially with the skin still attached. Next time I'm going boneless. Oh yes, there will be a next time! (But first we've gotta cook up that second brisket we bought on Sunday. I told you we were excited!)