The best song you've never heard?

I am not a big fan of Heineken beer, but I am a big fan of the songs they play on their commercials (which you probably have not seen unless you watch a lot of baseball and football, which I do). And ever since I saw Heineken's latest ad, titled "The Switch," I've been obsessed with the song played in the background.



(Is it just me or is that singer a dead ringer for Amy Winehouse?)

So finally, last night, after seeing "The Switch" a half dozen times (we watched a lot of sports yesterday: football -- GO JETS!* -- baseball (Mets still suck, sigh), and the U.S. Open women's tennis final, which was awesome, though could someone please put a mute button on Victoria Azarenka already?)  I went Googling to see who sang the song played in the background.

Turns out, the song is called "Love Letter," and it's by a group called Clairy Browne & the Bangin' Rackettes. And it's even more awesome than I thought. (Also, I am clearly not the only one who saw and heard a resemblance between Clairy Browne and Amy Winehouse.)



"Love Letter" is totally going on my iPod, and if you like smokey, jazzy, R&B songs (or Amy Winehouse), I recommend you put it on yours.

So if any of you know of an awesome song most people probably never heard of, please leave a Comment with the name of the song and the YouTube link.

*So are the Jets this good or were the Bills that bad?

How harsh a parent are you?

The spouse and I were amused reading New York Times reporter Jodi Kantor's recent article about the Obama girls, Malia and Sasha. Specifically, we were amused by Michelle (and Barack) Obama's rules for the girls, which included (and I quote):

• Technology is for weekends. Malia may use her cellphone only then, and she and her sister cannot watch television or use a computer for anything but homework during the week. 
• Malia and Sasha had to take up two sports: one they chose and one selected by their mother. “I want them to understand what it feels like to do something you don’t like and to improve,” the first lady has said. 
• Malia must learn to do laundry before she leaves for college. 
• The girls have to eat their vegetables, and if they say that they are not hungry, they cannot ask for cookies or chips later.

While some children (and their parents) might find these rules on the harsh side, the spouse and I did not. Indeed, while we allow our daughter to use technology and watch TV during the week, she only does so after doing her homework. And she had to start doing her own laundry when she turned 13. We also put her on a clothing budget when she became a teenager, which has taught her to look for coupons and watch for sales, and I have taught her how to comparison shop. And we told her she can only cook (or bake), an activity she loves and has gotten quite good at, if she cleans up after herself.

Are we being too harsh, or strict? We don't think so. (Hey, compared to Prince Charles -- and Queen Elizabeth II -- who just sent Prince Harry to Afghanistan for four months as punishment for misbehaving*, we are softies.)

But what do you think of the Obamas "rules" for their girls? And what rules do you have for your children? I'd love to know, via the Comments.

*No, the Queen didn't really send Harry to Afghanistan as punishment. At least I don't think so.

Lies, lies, lies, yeah (they're gonna get you)

I am so sick of all the lies that the Republican presidential candidate Willard Mitt Romney and his sidekick, vice-presidential candidate Paul Ryan, have been spouting -- and repeating even after nonpartisan fact-checking organizations have called them on their lies -- I want to scream. The only time I want to hear lies is in the lyrics of a song, preferably one with a beat that I can dance to.

So, as I have been told that wiring the presidential and vice-presidential candidates to a lie detector (and an independent fact checker) during the debates and having the moderator administer an electric shock every time one of them lies, the bigger the lie, the bigger the shock, would probably kill them, I propose playing a snippet from one of the following songs each time a candidate lies.

So which song should it be? The Thompson Twins' "Lies"?



The Eurythmics' "Would I lie to you?"



Or Depeche Mode's "Policy of Truth"?



Or do you have another suggestion?

Mighty erections

Alternate title: Another visit to the Storm King Art Center.

I love a good outdoor sculpture park. And what better way to enjoy a lovely late summer day than to stroll the grounds of Storm King at dusk?

Here are a few of my favorite photos from yesterday's visit. (You can see photos from our previous visit to Storm King, back in 2010, here.)

Click on the photo to see a larger view (as well as the name of the sculpture and artist).

[FWIW, the spouse took a most unflattering photograph of me taking the second-to-last picture, which, if you are interested, you can see on both of our Facebook pages.]

The death of the English language?

When I was growing up, I loved to look up words in the Oxford English Dictionary, which we happened to have a copy of (as my mother was a college English teacher, specializing in Victorian literature). Indeed, at one point I seriously considered studying linguistics and semantics, as I love language and words.

But, after being sent an article about some of the latest words to be included in the Oxford English Dictionary (or OED) -- hat tip, which happens to be one of the new phrases, to friend of the blog D. -- I have to say, this is not my mother's dictionary. And I am not happy.

Vajazzle? Really? How many people (outside those who watch the British reality TV show The Only Way Is Essex) actually use or know that word? And how many people will still be using this word five or 50 years from now? Which douche (yet another new word) thought it would be brilliant to include that gem? And can we vote him off the island?

Granted, not all the new words seem ridic (like ridic). Inbox, ripped, and video chat all make sense to me. But do you really need a special entry for date night? And is mwahahaha even a word? And lolz? (Please note, I am not laughing.) But whatevs (which was added last month).

Do these words really belong in the Oxford English Dictionary? (The Urban Dictionary, definitely, but the OED? Not so much, IMHO.)

I don't know about all of you, fellow lovers of the English language, but I could use a group hug about now.

Note: You can find a list of all the words the OED added this August here.

You might be a Republican if...

You might be a Republican if... you get your news from Fox.

You might be a Republican if... you think facts were invented by liberals.

You might be a Republican if... you don't believe in global warning (or climate change), or that it has nothing to do with people. (See "You might be a Republican if... you think facts were invented by liberals" and "you get your news from Fox.")

You might be a Republican if... you think evolution is just another liberal theory.

You might be a Republican if... you don't what Liberalism actually means -- and don't care.

You might be a Republican if... you are against people receiving government entitlements (Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare, farm subsidies, corporate tax breaks, student loans, government loans), except if it's you, your family, or your business receiving them.

You might be a Republican if... you complain about taxes in one breath and complain about the poor quality of your schools, police force, roads, and bridges in the next.

You might be a Republican if... you are "pro life," except for those who can't pay their medical bills and pregnant women.

You might be a Republican if... you think women, blacks, and/or Hispanics should "know their place" (that is, at home taking care of the kids and having your supper and a drink ready when you get home from work; helping your sports team win a championship or else in jail; taking care of your lawn for minimum wage, respectively).

You might be a Republican if... you think cheating is wrong, unless your wife has her period or you're out of town on business.

You might be a Republican if... you believe government shouldn't interfere in people's private lives, unless they are a woman. 

Getting schooled

I can't believe my baby's starting... high school. How did that happen? It seems like just yesterday she was heading off to kindergarten (in a very similar outfit) -- and I was in high school. Sigh.

Here's hoping the teenager's first day of high school doesn't suck (like this poor guy's).



On a lighter note, my good friend, A., sent me this excerpt from a book titled F in Exams: The Very Best Totally Wrong Test Answers, which made me laugh out loud (and then silently weep, because it is so true):

There are 300 students in the 10th grade.
Mary and Mark want to find out the 10th grade's favorite color.
Mary asks 30 people. Mark asks 150 people.
Mark says, "My conclusions are more likely to be reliable than Mary's."
Why does Mark think he's right?

Answer: Because Mark is a man.

Here's to a good school year!