Bruce Springsteen and Arcade Fire

I was recently listening to Bruce Springsteen's Born to Run album (#18 on RS Top 500 list) in the car, and I thought to myself, "Wow, this sort of reminds me of Arcade Fire..." So I came home and googled Arcade Fire's musical influences in hopes of seeing Bruce Springsteen listed. Sadly, I couldn't find mention of AF tipping their hat to Springsteen, but lots of other people have made the same connection between the two that I did. Matter of fact, Springsteen invited AF to join him on a few songs in a concert in Ottawa last October! I've posted Springsteen's "Thunder Road" and Arcade Fire's "Intervention" on my jukebox, so let me know if you hear what I hear. Also, here's the link to a video of "State Trooper/Keep the Car Running" from Springsteen's Ottawa show. I think it's pretty cool...

Cutie Patootie

Emily's favorite pet name for Vivian is "Cutie Patootie." We got some great shots of our little Cutie Patootie today.

Shameless Product Promotion - Seventh Generation Disposable Diapers

I was skeptical about trying environmentally friendly diapers. I just assumed that they would leak, smell, and generally be inferior to the traditional disposables. One gets used to inferior quality when buying environmentally friendly products. However, the Seventh Generation diapers have been just as absorbent as Huggies or Pampers and leaking has been a total non-issue.

The used Seventh Generation diapers do smell a little more "natural," but it hasn't really bothered me.

It's worth noting that the diapers are the color of a brown lunch bag. To the untrained eye, one may think the diapers are soiled when they are not.

Equally good pricing news, if you buy the diapers on Amazon.Com you can get them for about $0.22 per diaper which is about what one would pay for Huggies or Pampers at the grocery store, but they're delivered straight to the house.

For Robyn

My sister-in-law Robyn asked that we post a picture of Vivy every week-- even if we don't write anything. So here are a few shots from Fink happenings over the past few weeks, plus one of our Godson Josh collecting table numbers at the Sports Connection. Fun times!

Let's Start With the Rolling Stones

I recently started listening to Exile on Main Street by the Rolling Stones. I was only familiar with their big radio hits like "Start Me Up" and "I Can't Get No Satisfaction", so I was really surprised when several tracks from this album reminded me of the Grateful Dead and other... more mellow music. I've added one of my favorites from the album to the playlist called "Loving Cup". I'm not going to write a lot about the Stones because, frankly, I'm not that into them. But I hope you will appreciate listening to an earlier song.

I will, however, write about how both the band and the magazine got their name. After a little research I'm pretty sure that both the band and magazine are named after an old Muddy Waters song called "Rollin' Stone". I was hoping that the name came from Bob Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone" off of Highway 61 Revisited because it is a fantastic song. But I took some solace in the fact that the Dylan tune was ranked the #1 song in the RS top 500 songs list. I've posted both the Muddy Waters song and the Dylan song for your listening pleasure. I never thought I would say I like Bob Dylan, but Highway 61 is a really great album.

And I also want to give a shout out to Johnny for pointing out that the Beach Boys album I mentioned in my last RS post is called Pet Sounds and not Pet Music. Good catch, Johnny.

Ever have that feeling...

...that everything you hold dear and holy is a lie? I regret that I had a bout of insomnia last weekend and stumbled upon VH1 Classic around 3am. The first video I saw was Boston, but I can't remember what song. I had a good impression of the song though. I was starting to feel a little better about being awake so late watching VH1 Classic.

Then I saw AC/DC's "Thunderstruck":



Great video. Very fun. I was enjoying being so tired (sorta). I eagerly waited for the next video.

And then, it happened. The moment of profound despair. I saw KISS's video for "Lick It Up":



Since the time Ronda was a teenager and I heard her play KISS, I thought they were the cool guys. Sure, they wore makeup, but it was scary makeup, strong makeup, the kind of makeup a warrior would wear into deadly, manly battle. It was man-makeup.

Instead, I see these people in leopard-skin high-heels and lots of makeup, girly makeup, the kind of makeup Dil wears in The Crying Game.

I have lost hope for humanity.

Vivian's First Cold

Vivy had her first cold a week or two ago. She was a real trooper, and was as smiley as ever even though she could barely breath. She slept like a champ for the 6-7 days the cold lasted. Listen to her breathing on the video - poor thing.

Holy Shamu!

Vivian is the hardest working, most intelligent child this side of Alpha Centauri. Lately she got bored with learning human languages, and instead started dabbling in animal languages. Whale songs are her favorite. Her accent is impeccable after only a few weeks of practice. I'm so proud.

A Growing Little Froggie

Vivian is four months old and I am just stunned with how (1) it seems like it was just last night when she was born, the memories and feelings are still so vivid, and (2) it seems like I've known her my whole life and I can't fathom how I ever got along before she was born.

So I'm starting to get a sense of what folks really mean when they say how fast kids grow up.

Compare Vivy's first bath (~8lbs):














With her bath last night (~16lbs):















And look how tall she is!

Blending In

We need to get rid of all the floral patterns in the house. It's like playing "Where's Waldo" every time she puts on those pink Elmo camo overhauls.

I Get No Respect - Reprise