(no subject)

My Dad's so square. We were at a baseball game last night, and they were playing "Johnny B. Goode" over the PA between innings. So Dad's there clapping on 2 and 4, and he says something like, "This is rock and roll, right? Like early rock?" I said yeah. Then he said something about his tastes having broadened so much in the past 30 years or whatever. Then he said something about "The Great Pretender," then wanted to know what I was snickering about. I said, "Is that an example of your liberal tastes?" He kinda smiled and said yes. I said, "Yup, that's pretty avant-garde." Ten years ago, he would have gotten all huffy about that, but he's mellowed a good bit, so he just said something about not being ready for the Smashing Pumpkins and laughed it off.

It's actually pretty cool how our relationship has improved over the past five years or so. I guess we've come to a mutual understanding in which we both know that we can't change one another. I know that's what it is in my case; somewhere along the line I decided I was going to try to accept him and not get so infuriated at his often freakish behavior. In his case, I don't think it was a conscious decision, but he started respecting me and my decisions. (This probably roughly coincided with the time in my life when I started exhibiting somewhat respectable behavior.) Anyway, we're still a couple of strange motherfuckers, but at least we get along better now.

While I'm on the subject of parental coolness, I'll relate a little anecdote. When I was at my Mom's place over break, I was glancing at this little note pad on which she had written some stuff she needed to do at work. Schedule tutors, call the dean, check on this or that, all that kind of stuff. But at the top she'd written, "ALL YOUR BASE ARE BELONG TO US." I thought that was pretty cool.

guitars

So, I'm a very happy man after my recent Ebay acquisition. The guitar on the left is the Washburn I've had since I was 16 or so. It's kind of fucked up -- bad frets and stuff -- but I rewired it and set it up as best I could recently, so it's in better shape than it's been in in a while. Anyway, while I was doing the work on it, I got to looking around for one like it on the net and found the silver one on Ebay. Cost me a little over $200 all told, including shipping from Australia. It's fantastic, a total bargain. It's really reminded me of what I've always loved about my original one -- beautiful tone, endless sustain, and built like a brick shithouse. The one on the right is my Strat (just home from a proper setup!), which I've had since around '91.

So anyway, I've got all these guitars to play, and not enough time to play them. I wish I could just quit all my obligations and start playing a lot, but of course then I'd have no money and I'd have to hock the bastards. The modern dilemma.

oscars

I just turned on the Oscars for long enough to see that the background for the stage looks like the Wheel of Fortune board and that Winona Ryder, who introduced Bjork, is looking quite lovely these days.

Oooh, there's John Travolta introducing the clip of people who died this year. Interesting, that -- they picked the guy who committed commercial suicide this year with that Battlefield Earth dreck to introduce all the dead folks.