YouTube: "This Old House"

Songs called "This Old House" (or "Ole" or "Ol'").

• Stuart Hamblen (1954 - I just know the Shakin' Stevens cover)
  
• Neil Young (Farm Aid, 1987)
  
• Madrugada (Norwegian band, 1999, check out their other videos)
  
• Madeline (1993 - some French indie chick, I think)
  
• Acoustic Dad - nice strumming. Annoyingly, reminds me of another song I can't quite identify.
  

Sports: Coach Facial Expressions

Shells adds the scowl of an old college basketball coach, Eddie Sutton.

YouTube: "Whole Wide World"

This is a little gem: Wreckless Eric and Amy Rigby live in Dallas playing his biggest song, "Whole Wide World", as seen in "Stranger Than Fiction".

The original - how young he was when he was young!

Cover by Irish singer Gemma Hayes - "Ah, shite!"

Cover by the Monkees - is that Mickey singing?

Cover by the Proclaimers, proving (despite what Mike Myers might say) that something can be Scottish AND crap.

Cover by Laptop - at least he's trying to do something different with it.

Guitar lesson - only two chords!

Sports: NFL Coach Facial Expressions

Sure, Bill Cowher's scowl was disturbing, the way the down-turned corners of his mouth appeared to go all the way to the edge of his face, like a pissed off Beaker.

And Tampa Bay's Jon Gruden has a really scary angry face.

But the one that gives me the willies is Saints coach Sean Payton when he sucks in his cheeks and purses his lips. (Yeah, he does look like Kenny Chesney. And I guess the look might be stolen from Zoolander.)

YouTube: Local 80s Acts

Hey, remember the '80s? Doctor Proctor, Kansas City, MO band on local TV, circa 1984. Worth it just to see the lead singer. Wonder whatever happened to the bass player?

Here's a more sophisticated Connecticut band, Disturbance, from 1983.

Maryland, 1985, and Butch Willis and the Rocks - you have to see the back-up singer's technique. This may be the best song I've heard today.

In a different league is this Atlanta band, The Raves - good McCartney impression!

Essays: Innovation

New Yorker article by Malcolm Gladwell on the subject of innovation.

YouTube: Dutch Music

Music from the Netherlands.

• The Tielman Brothers, "Rollin' Rock" (1960) (Dutch-Indonesian rockabilly - amazing!)
  
• Golden Earrings, "Daddy Buy Me A Girl" (1966) (love the dancing chick!)
  
• Golden Earring, "Radar Love" (1973) (they dropped the "S" - video with Spongebob)
  
• Gruppo Sportivo, "Disco Really Made It" (1979)
  
• Nits, "In The Dutch Mountains" (1987)
  
• Bettie Serveert, "Palomine" (1992)
  
• Bettie Serveert, "Under The Surface" (1992)
  
• Carol van Dyk, "Silent Spring" (1998) (with John Cale)
  
• Bettie Serveert, "Lover I Don't Have To Love" (Bright Eyes cover)
  
• Chitlin Fooks, "The Battle" (2001) (Carol's country side-project)
  
• Rock 4, "Paranoid Android" (a capella cover)
  

Bonus: Frank Black pays tribute to Herman Brood.

Nitpicking: "Literally" 2

Okay, we've been here before, but Eric emailed me this Jerry Jones quote about Adam Jones: "He's literally on a high wire without a net."

And on "The Daily Show" tonight, conservative author Christopher Buckley said that after he publicly backed Obama, "quite literally, all hell broke loose."

And in the Obama piece, he writes about his editor, "As for Kathleen, she has to date received 12,000 (quite literally) foam-at-the-mouth hate-emails."

I can't decide if misusing "quite literally" is worse than misusing plain "literally", or not. Depends if you're speaking American English or English English:

Quite is used differently in English English and American English. American English tends to use the old meaning of 'absolutely, completely', whereas English English tends to use quite as a sort of begrudging 'fairly, adequately but...'.

There is a blog tracking misuse of "Literally", but they haven't posted since August.

(A Joe Biden speech - and may I say that Biden's prediction of an international crisis early in an Obama presidency was a huge gaffe, not because of any doubts that may be planted in voters' minds about Obama but because it confirms what a self-important windbag old Joe is. "Mark my words...Remember I said it standing here, if you don't remember anything else I said...I promise you it will occur. As a student of history and having served with seven presidents, I guarantee you it's going happen. I can give you at least four or five scenarios from where it might originate." The CNN report ends with: Biden appeared to forget Sunday night's fundraiser wasn't closed to reporters, saying, "I probably shouldn't have said all this because it dawned on me that the press is here." It's not too late to dump Biden and pick Marlee Matlin.)

Small Towns: Hutchinson, KS

Wow! Someone actually walks in Hutchinson, Kansas! "If they're having dinner out, she and her husband walk to the restaurant just like a couple in New York City." Goll-ee! Demerit for using the phrase "more unique".

The courthouse in Reno County had a bad smell. "Some witnesses, including Schroeder, an Oklahoma grad, likened it to a dead KU Jayhawk." Now why would a Kansan go to OU? That doesn't make sense.

Hutch (as I like to call it) was the birthplace for composer Steven Stucky. He's on YouTube!

And look! A cute college girl from Hutch!

Beverages: Zima

RIP Zima. Used as the punchline in 9 Top Ten lists, most in 1994 and 1995. Never tried it.

YouTube: Road Songs

• Lars Bygden & Ane Brun - "This Road" (Read about her at the NY Times)
  
• The Cardigans - "The Road" (One of my favourite Cardigan songs. Too bad we only see the back of Nina's head.)
  
• The Cowboy Junkies with Ryan Adams - "200 More Miles" (For 20th anniversary of "The Trinity Sessions".)
  
• The Highwaymen - "On The Road Again" (My least favourite Willie Nelson song.)
  
• Katie Melua - "On The Road Again" (Canned Heat cover.)
  
• Barrabas - "On The Road Again" (Spanish disco.)
  
• Lightnin' Hopkins - "Lonesome Road" (And dominos!)
  
• The Triffids - "Wide Open Road" (Perfect.)
  

Lyrics Quiz: Save

Here's one I've been "saving" up. #1-7 have "Save" or "Saving" in the title. #8-12 don't.

1. "And you wanted to dance, so I asked you to dance. But fear is in your soul. Some people call it a one night stand. But we can call it paradise."
   
2. "We try to hustle them, try to bustle them, try to cuss them. The cops want someone to bust down on Orleans Avenue."
   
3. "When I think of those East End lights, muggy nights. The curtains drawn in the little room downstairs. Prima Donna. Lord, you really should have been there. Sitting like a princess perched in her electric chair."
   
4. "Sooner or later, your legs give way, you hit the ground."
   
5. "Its not very easy, living all alone. My friends try and tell me, find a man of my own. But each time I try, I just break down and cry, 'cause Id rather be home feeling blue."
   
6. "Go on and close the curtains, 'cause all we need is candle light. You and me and a bottle of wine. Going to hold you tonight. Well we know I'm going away, and how I wish, I wish it weren't so. So take this wine and drink with me. Let's delay our misery."
   
7. "Though it hurts to go away, it's impossible to stay. But there's one thing I must say before I go. I love You (I love you). You know." (Video clue)
   
8. "There are many things that I would like to say to you, but I don't know how. Because maybe you're gonna be the one who saves me."
   
9. "Jack, he is a banker. And Jane, she is a clerk. And both of them save their money when they come home from work."
   
10. "And some have sailed from a distant shore. And the company takes what the company wants. And nothing's as precious as a hole in the ground. Who's gonna save me?" (Not "Who's gonna shave me?" as some thought at the time.)
    
11. "Like a worm on a hook. Like a knight from some old fashioned book. I have saved all my ribbons for thee."
    
12. "Don’t help me - I can save myself. If I’m incomplete, don’t fill the gaps. Save me from the people who would save me from myself."
    

Bonus: The Triffids, "Save What You Can" video.

Well it doesn't look much like we'll see the New Year,
'Cos all the bright young faces are here.
And I can't see us rising to their occasion any more.
No, not their Christmas cheer.

Time is against us, even love conspires to disgrace us.
And with things being what they are ...
Yes and things being what they are

Oh my friend, we used to walk in the flames.
Now somebody's taken my arms.
The shadows are taller, you're missing your halo.
With your face in the half-light you look like a stranger.

You made me catch my breath just then,
You made me catch my breath.
Is that you... is that still you?

If you cannot run, then crawl.
If you can leave, then leave it all.
If you don't get caught, then steal it all.
If you don't get caught, then steal it all.
Steal it all.

The final time we touch,
I watch as you enter the church.
You turn and you wave, then you kneel and you pray.
And you save of yourself what you can save.

If you cannot run, then crawl.
If you can leave, then leave it all.
If you don't get caught, then steal it all.
If you don't get caught, then steal it all.
Steal it all.

And between ourselves, and the end at hand,
Save what you can.

(Official website)

Music: Dukes

• I heartily recommend listening to the new album by Duke Special (click on the song titles in the ad on this page to listen). Reminds me of "Room To Roam"-era Waterboys. Just hate the dreadlocks. On "Later With Jools Holland". Covering "Video Killed The Radio Star" live.
  
• Not to be confused with the Duke Spirit. Good record store appearance. Here they are trying to be the Velvet Underground and Nico. Another video.
  
• Duke Robillard playing with Tom Waits.
  
• And let's not forget the Dukes of Stratosphear, an outlet for XTC's psychedelic psyde. A video!
  
• The original: Duke Ellington (with two other pianists on David Frost's show). And "Take The 'A' Train". And "Satin Doll".
  

Advertising: Sharp

Why is Sharp using that freaky albino scientist (Dr. Gerard Fasel, in their TV ads? He's almost as creepy as the Lipitor guy. Apparently, he'll play an albino security guard in a movie.

Internet: Google 2001

Google is celebrating their 10th anniversary by allowing users to search their oldest available index (from January 2001). A search for "Sarah Palin" returns zero matches. "Paris Hilton" returns one result about the "teen beauty" followed by many results for the hotel.

Video: "Take On Me"

Literal version of aHa's "Take On Me".

Religion: Yom Kippur

Last year on Yom Kippur, I went to see a Keira Knightley movie with a rabbi and the Prime Minister of Israel. The ticket collector at the cinema let them in, but then put out her arm to stop me following. "I'm sorry, sir," she said, "but this is the Jewish day of 'Atonement'."

Obituaries: Jerry Reed

Reuters obituary for country singer Jerry Reed. Live performances of "When You're Hot, You're Hot" and "A Thing Called Love". He was in "Smokey And The Bandit" (as well as performing the theme song). And he even appeared in Scooby Doo.

Obituaries: Don LaFontaine

Washington Post tribute to movie trailer voiceover artiste Don LaFontaine. (Via The Rich Girls Are Weeping.)

Politics: Sarah Palin

• Sarah Palin's Vlog (actually, comedian Sara Benincasa). "I'm a mother of five..five children I had myself." (Via Wonkette, which has taken to calling her a "snowbilly".)
  
• Fake blog: The PalinDrome (cute). Guest post from "Todd", addressed to his pregnant daughter: "I will admit I was worried at first about this fiancey of yours. I mean Levi, thats not a normal name like Trapper or Hunter or Trigger or Scout."
  
• The Guardian offers two actual palindromes.
  
• The L.A. Times asks who'll play her in inevitable TV movie. No surprise - Tina Fey has a commanding lead.
  
• Did McCain wince when he heard her screechy voice for the first time? Check out this video at about the 2:05 mark. And 4:12. She needs the same voice training they gave Margaret Thatcher. And why does McCain keep tugging on his ring finger?
  
• The Anchorage Daily News has an article about her ex-brother-in-law, State Trooper Mike Wooten. Worth reading just for the subheading, "TASING THE STEPSON". That sounds like it should be a euphemism for something.
  
• Updated 9/3: McCain has called Palin "spectacular". Must be a "Seinfeld" fan.