2008 Grammy Awards

So the Grammy's were Feb 10th so I apologize for getting this post out a little late. I must admit overall, the show was ok, nothing spectacular stood out, except for maybe Herbie Hancock and Lang Lang's performance. So, in no particular order here are some of my notes on this year's Grammys (probably not in sequential order of the show since I watched it a week ago).

• Beyonce introduced Tina Turner as the Queen. Queen of what? Hot legs? 'Cause I know she ain't no data queen, nor the queen of soul. Luckily, Aretha (who gave a great performance later in the show, let it roll off her back).
• Tina Tuner still can dance, her voice may be aging, but her moves sure aren't.
• Cirque du Soleil performed a few pieces from their Love show, which showcases Beatles songs. It made me want to listen to my Red and Blue Beatles albums again and made me NEVER want to see Cirque du Soleil.
• Kanye West wore a very weird outfit, something Michael Jackson-ish (maybe it was his tribute to the 25th anniversary of Thriller?) but did a very nice rendition of his song, Mother.
• Cyndi Lauper helped to present an award to Amy Winehouse. She looked terrible, I never heard much about Cyndi doing a lot of drugs, but she looks like it.
• Foo Fighters were relegated to the outside stage with three young musicians (2 violinists, 1 cellist) who were finalists to play The Pretender with the Foos. They were voted on by people watching the Grammys after playing only about 8 notes. The prettiest girl won, but all three got to play the song anyway.
• Carrie Underwood actually gave a great performance singing Before He Cheats. Why did she do country again?
• John Mayer should stick to playing the guitar and not sing.
• Keely Smith and Kid Rock performed a duet - WHAT??
• Herbie Hancock and Lang Lang played Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue with the Grammy orchestra. They were fantastic. It was up until this point I seriously considered not watching the rest of the show.
• Amy Winehouse performed two songs from London. Despite all her drama, she was worthy of all her awards (5).
• Herbie Hancock won album of the year - the first time a jazz album has won in 40 years.
  

Station Fire

Today is the fifth anniversary of one of the worst fires in RI history. Great White, a hair band from the late 80s, was playing. During their performance pyrotechnics were set off setting the noise-insulating foam, which covered entire ceiling of the club, on fire. 100 people died including the band's guitarist and a late-night DJ from one of the local radio stations. It was a huge tragedy. In addition to those who perished, many people were significantly burned, physiologically and emotionally. Luckily, I didn't know anyone who was a victim, but one of my co-workers at the time had 2 buddies who never made it out. Two people went to jail - the manager of the band, who set off the pyro, and one of the club owners for not providing the correct insulation.

Every year the ProJo notes this significant, sad day in RI history and I am always amazed reading the survivor stories. These stories really prove the strength of humanity.

Caucus!

Last Sunday, Maine held its democratic caucus. I have never been involved in a caucus before so I decided to go, it sounded exciting and I feel it's important to be a part of our nation's politics. I was able to participate since I was registered as "undeclared." I heard this wouldn't be a problem, all you have to do it re-register as a democrat and then go participate in the caucus. It started at 2 pm so I got there just after. As I drove up the street to the garage I parked it, I saw the line of people waiting to get into the high school where the caucus was held. It didn't look too bad except it was snowing wet snow but I figured it wouldn't be too long until we got in the building. Little did I know there was a line equally as long coming around the other side of the block. So I was standing outside for about an hour. It wasn't too bad until the last 15-20 minutes when I started to get really cold. So finally, we (this is the collected "we" as my hubby passed on the event) got inside the building.

Once I got inside I was directed to another line to re-register as a democrat. This line went up three flights of stairs and lasted probably another hour. By this time I was a bit tired but still interested in participating in the process. There were lots of people talking about Obama, walking up and down the hallway with signs and some recruits for the city's Democratic party. I saw a few people I knew, made temporary friends with the people I was in line with. No one really complained about the lines which made the atmosphere fairly enjoyable, albeit tiresome.

Finally I got into the room where I could change my party affiliation. This room was total chaos. You were supposed to get in the line according to your last name, although after standing in the S-Z line for about 30 minutes, I found out that the V-Z line was really under the H-J line so I moved over there. Once I changed my party, I got a small slip of paper with my district on it so I knew what room to go to. However, at that point, all of the caucus rooms were rumored to be full so they gave us the option of voting absentee. At that point I was thoroughly tired of being in line so I filled out my absentee ballot and went home.

It was certainly an experience and now at least I know to get there earlier and to re-register for my party ahead of time. It was a very successful caucus for the state with 99% of the precincts participating. Yeah for democracy!

Tickets!!!

I just wanted to let everyone know that I got Red Sox tickets to OPENING DAY and to one of the Yanks games in July. I am so psyched!!! GO SOX!

Science rules!

Being a science dork, I like it when science it applied to all aspects of life and fantasy. Check out this article about The Science of Fairy Tales. Now, if they could only come up with a genetic mutation to change mice into horses.....

Happy Valentine's Day!

People in big cars

The other day, I was driving down a fairly busy street in my city, behind this guy driving some sort of SUV (like an Expedition or something huge like that) and he totally took the side mirror off a car that was parked on the street! He didn't even stop, hell, he probably didn't even notice. I just hope his car got some sort of scratch from doing that, otherwise, he'll never know the difference. Seriously - why do you need a car that big? He was all alone in that vehicle, he wasn't even towing anything. Ug. Makes me so annoyed. (cartoon from www.grinningplanet.com)

Today I am really bored

What Video Game Character are you??

I am Kung Fu Master. I like to be in control of myself. I dislike crowds, especially crowds containing people trying to kill me. Even though I always win, I prefer to avoid fights if possible. What Video Game Character Are You?

RIP Heath Ledger

A few weeks ago, a promising, young actor passed away. I obviously did not know Heath Ledger, but I admired his work, from 10 Things I Hate About You to Brokeback Mountain. It was truly sad to learn about his death which brought to light that even famous celebrities are subject to stress and anxiety. I feel like sometime we (non-famous people) tend to think that because someone has a zillion dollars, they are superhuman. The coroner's report has finally comeback with a ruling of an accidental lethal mixture of prescription drugs in Ledger's system. I truly feel for his family, especially his young daughter. I hope they will all find some comfort in the fact that Ledger was able to bring joy to the many people who watched him on the big screen.

Dreams brought on by disappointment....

Can have happy endings I have found. So, I haven't much talked about the Patriots this year. I usually leave that to the Burger or LB. But, the New England Patriots had an amazing season. They were undefeated in the regular season and made their way to the Super Bowl. Last night, their perfect season was ended by the New York Giants. It was a crazy game. Very low scoring, weird plays, and our Pats just didn't look right. Something was wrong, whether it was the pressure to win it all, or age, or what, something wasn't right and the Giants took advantage of everything we gave them. The game was messy including some really weird play clock issues, topped off by the fact that there was one second left on the clock at the end of the game, the Giants had the ball, and to add insult to injury, the refs made them make the last play. They should have just effed with the clock again and brought it down to zero. Everyone was already on the field, the coaches had already shook hands and Belichick was in the locker room, I couldn't believe they made them end the game like that. It was disappointing, even heartbreaking. For this was much more than just the Super Bowl, it was a chance to become the Best Team Ever.

But last night I dreamt of Tom Brady. No, not that kind of dream. It was after the Super Bowl and there was a big party, everyone was dressed to the nines, and I got to ride with Tom in his limo with a zillion other girls (but of course I was sitting next to him), as we drove down the streets of Boston (I think) and we just talked about how he needs to get healthy and take some time to rest and get ready for next season. I really only remember that I told him he shouldn't be afraid to tell Belichick if he is hurt so he can get better, no one was going to be mad at him for admitting that he needed some rehab on his shoulder or whatever was wrong (apparently I was convinced that he was hurt - it must've been my mind rationalizing why he played so strangely last night). And he was really nice and seemed to understand and appreciate my concern. And man was he CUTE!