Random Thoughts the Third

Being on overnight duty (or 24-hour duty, for that matter) gives you a lot of time to watch mindless entertainment on TV or to do other mindless things, such as endlessly refreshing SportsJournalists.com to see if there are any interesting new posts.

 

While looking up some stuff on Springsteen tonight, I found what surely must be considered one of the worst Demand Studios/eHow stories out there on the Interwebs. It was a random find, and it inspired this random thought: "Wow, this shit really sucks."

How to Sing Like Bruce Springsteen

1. Use a deep, raspy voice. Springsteen is best known for his gravely voice, used in most of his top hits including "Thunder Road" and "Born to Run."

2. Master a wide vocal range. Springsteen frequently changes his tone, volume and pitch. He can sing with a deep rasp or a high-pitched falsetto.

3. Inject words like "sir," "mister", "darlin'" and "baby" throughout a song. Many of Springsteen's songs directly address people in a musical dialogue.

4. Convey a message in your songs. Many of Springsteen's songs reflect current political issues and more personal themes, such as love, tradition and family values.

5. Sing loud, rowdy rock songs such as "Badlands" or "Radio Nowhere" as well as soft ballads like "The River" or "Fade Away." Be versatile. Have the ability to go from "Born In the USA" to "One Step Up" without missing a beat.


http://www.ehow.com/how_2126995_sing-like-bruce-springsteen.html

 

Just now in the gallery:

"He's only open today because he's Jewish. Thank God he's Jewish!"

 

This is fucked up:

 

Big Pharma, twisted and corrupted and scary beyond belief.

 

The dooley_womack is kinda like the frug, but more intense.

And my discovery of the day: The character of Bag in Happy Days was played by Neil J. Schwartz. And Bag's last name was Zombroski; he was the drummer in Richie's band. I missed him when he and Richie's older brother disappeared after Season 1. Maybe they died in Nam together.

 

My bathroom has a nightlight. It's a dim light covered by a turtle-shell shade. The bathroom does not have a window, and the hallway gets very dark at night. The nightlight is more for safety than anything else.

My bathroom nightlight is somewhat new. I moved recently and until then had no use for the turtle-shell nightlight my mother gave me as part of a birthday knick-knacks box. But it will, as all things do, die.

Then what?

This question became an imperative for me tonight while relieving myself of a burrito. What happens when the turtle-shell bathroom nightlight burns out? The obvious answer would be for me to find a replacement, but that replacement is an open-ended set of value judgments. How to replace the turtle-shell bathroom nighlight my mother gave me is consuming me now, months or even years before it needs replacing.

As best I can see, there are four paths toward replacement: buy a backup bulb now, buy a bulb when it burns out, buy a new nightlight or move on with life sans bathroom nightlight. These choices would fit on a Myers-Briggs personality test.

Buying a backup bulb now is the move of a mature, responsible adult. Have I reached that point yet? Am I, a single man in his 20s who almost never cooks for himself, really ready to take the step into adulthood required of those who buy backup bulbs for bathroom nightlights? I do plan ahead and buy in bulk, particularly for bathroom necessities. But the nightlight isn't a necessity. It's either a luxury or a safety guard, at best. Going a day or three without a bathroom nightlight would not break me.

Buying a replacement after the burnout seems more like what a 20-something single man would do. But which replacement? Waiting, then buying a bulb seems almost cheap, as though the buyer didn't want to waste the money until it became necessary. Waiting, then buying a new nightlight is the move of a lazy college student who doesn't want the burden of buying the wrong bulb and having to go back to the store. I'm not that far removed from college in terms of years, but those days have passed me by.

Then there's the option to move on without a bathroom nightlight. Many of my friends would chose this. If you can go two days without one, you can go forever, they would argue. But most of my friends wouldn't write 400 words on the turtle-shell bathroom nightlight theri mother gave to them in a knick-knacks box as a birthday present.

I added nightlight bulbs to my shopping list, which I keep, I suppose, because I am a mature adult.

 

The people with entirely too much time on their hacking hands ...

http://news.thehackernews.com/

 

Oh, I know. But I don't.

 

Huey Lewis. Weird Al. American Psycho. Sports.

Enjoy.

http://www.spin.com/articles/weird-al-yankovic-huey-lewis-american-psycho-spoof-video

 

What was first vinyl record you bought, and year? Best memory about it? Why? Thanks.

Would love to have several answers by about 2:45. Thanks.

 

Mine was Don't Be Cruel by Bobby Brown. I bought it in 1988, I was nine. I played the hell out of that album, I used to wanna be able to dance like Bobby. My mom was really into the old school Motown sound and this was kind of my way of rebelling against her music, which I now love.