Ah, Nostalgia

Another list from Pajiba.com.

Forgiving the obvious omission of A-ha, I would also like to nominate:
The Tubes, She's a Beauty,
Dexy's Midnight Runners, Come on Eileen,
and
The Clash, Rock the Casbah
(ode to Posse East, Austin, TX!).

"If Matchbox 20 isn't the headliner of this list, I'll uppercut a nun."

HahaHAHAHA!!

Posted by: Fredo, commenter at Pajiba.com.

This list is hilarious.

It takes me back to the best of times (Crowded House, Kate!) and the worst of times (I swear I will punch in the neck the next person on the SGA entertainment committee who wants to book the Gin Blossoms...or was it the Goo Goo Dolls? Who the hell can tell the difference?) at Lipscomb University.

Now I need a Falcon Crest version

Created by this guy.

This one's been around for awhile, but it's pretty good too:

The Whole Shootin' Game, The Whole Shootin' Set...

Evidently the American Independent Film movement can trace its roots back to a movie made in Austin in 1979 entitled "The Whole Shootin' Match." Eagle Pennell was 26 years old when he made the film for somewhere between $30,000 and $45,000, and Robert Redford has cited it as one of his inspirations for starting the Sundance Institute. Roger Ebert wrote an influential review of the movie in 1980 and reviewed it again in 2007 after the film was restored from a print discovered in Germany (of all places). Up to that point the film and its negatives were believed to be lost forever to the ravages of time.

Eagle Pennell died in 2002. He had few mourners as he had spent the last two decades of his life drinking away every ounce of goodwill that his little movie about a pair of perpetually hungover slackers had earned him. The actor who played one of those slackers was Lou Perryman. Perryman had achieved a certain cult status during his modest acting career and was recently murdered in his South Austin home by an imbalanced 26-year-old. The second half of the duo, Sonny Carl Davis, spent much of the 80's and 90's taking small supporting roles in film and television. Recollections of their experiences in making the landmark movie and working with Pennell are captured in an interview here.

A copy of "The Whole Shootin' Match" is sitting in a Netflix sleeve in our entertainment center. I'll let you know what I think about it over here soon.

"Far Out, Man. Far F***ing Out."

Dude! First Zombies, now this?

Something's afoot in Austin...maybe aliens are taking over. And maybe that's why that idiot kid walked onto the elevator BACKWARDS, ipod in ears, staring at something in the hallway, and onto ME trying to exit earlier today. I mean, seriously.

Seeing as I can't sleep anyway...

For the many reasons I curse this town (i.e. rampant laziness, terrible drivers, young-adults whose parents let them out into the real world having taught them literally nothing of the real world but self-involvement...really, it's ridiculous--they walk into oncoming traffic, so apparently, their parents didn't even teach them how to cross the street, etc...), there are usually at least close to an equal number of reasons why I kiss this town.
Check this out. A friend in Nashville pointed it out. Then CNN Headline News covered it.
I must have missed it Monday while awaiting the plumber to fix our water main leak...

Seriously?

How can The Tennessean seriously think this was worth anyone's time?

I mean it.
How is it possible?
Go on.
Take a gander at all 26 pics and let me know what you think.

People, let me tell ya 'bout my new best friend!

Team Tacodeli

I stepped onto the elevator yesterday at noon with my Tacodeli menu in hand. A coworker got on at the next floor. The following conversation transpired.

She said: Tacodeli, eh?

I said: Yeah. I've got to have it at least once a week.

She said: Dave [her husband] can get junk food on Tuesdays. I let him get whatever he wants.

(stunned) I said: Have you ever tried this place? It's really good.

She said: Why would I... I mean... I can make tacos at home.

The doors opened and she got off at the first floor before I could retort. "Not like these you can't."

I have no time for these people.

Just Because

Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.

Where the Days are Longer and The Nights are Stronger than Moonshine

So, several weeks ago I went to visit the Fryes out in Ventura, CA.
Kate and I had been marveling over the fact that she and I hadn't had any solid face time, one-on-one, in about 6 1/2 years and decided it was time. Plus, I hadn't seen Tom in 3 1/2 years and hadn't seen Jackson since he was about 5 months old and he's about to turn TWO!
Anyway...we got a whole week. It was fantastic.

My accommodations in their newly renovated guest house were perfect and the gardens were lush and beautiful.
(Lush enough for my allergies to kick into high gear about 48 hours into my stay.)



We had a lunch party with the newly wedded Lisa and Dave.



Then we went to the beach (once on bikes!) and to a couple of parks and to the zoo (where we looked for alligator lizards in the air) and basically just relaxed and got caught up and hung out with Jackson (whose favorite movies were a toss up between Cars and Shrek:2--with Shrek:2 slightly in the lead).
One evening we even went hiking in one of the parks on a gorgeous mountain path.








Thank you to Kate and Tom and Jackson for such a wonderful time!!!

No Excuses

No, not the brand of jeans...
(Although, I like the way you think...)

Ok, so there are no good excuses of where we've been with the blog, except that we've been busy.
Yeah, yeah, I know! Everyone gets busy!

So, just to get back on track, I should say:

HAPPY 30th BIRTHDAY, CORK!

HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY, JODY!

And, Boy! I cannot wait to tell you about this cutie pie!

Tagged by Mouse Tails

So, my friend, the Mouse Asthmatologist tagged me with a "six word memoir meme." The instructions were these: Write a six word memoir, then tag six others.

So, here's what I've got so far...

"Staggeringly indecisive, yet optimistic there's hope."

Or how about:
"Support our troops, Mice for Cancer!"

Wait, wait!
"Too old for Late Night Drinking"

Or:
"Happy Hour Hero more age appropriate"

Or, on an election night:
"Full onset Voter Anticipation Fatigue, *sigh*"

This is kind of fun, Mark, thanks!

I think I shall tag Jono, Emma, Danny, The Wagners of Rock, The LaCrowes, and the newly preggers Loopty Lou, who I am convinced is the first person to NOT do this.

Ahoy!

Overheard in Texas

3.11.2008, KUT traffic report, 5:30pm

"Loose cattle, rather, one large bull, in the road on Highway 71E. If you are traveling towards Bastrop and are anywhere in the vicinity of the Hog Wild Bar & Grill, be on the lookout for a few hundred pounds of pot roast on the hoof in the median."

What's the Point?

How do I know that New Year's Resolutions are meant to be broken?
Girl Scout Cookies go on sale the 3rd week in January.
Blerg.

Commuting Sentence

I drive 16 miles to and from work, and while the majority of the trip is on the MoPac Expressway, it often takes me almost 45 minutes to get to work and 45 minutes to an hour and 15 minutes to get home. Some folks in Austin have taken to referring to MoPac as MoPark. Clever.

MoPac, on a Sunday morning, I imagine.

I'd use the bus if I didn't have to transfer twice and have it take an hour and 40 minutes. A MetroRail project is underway. I'd use that too, but it won't expand to our neighborhood anytime soon.

So for now, unless we move to another part of town or I change jobs (which may well happen if the wrong person reads my last post), I'm stuck on MoPark.

On the bright side, there's one good thing about being stuck in traffic: You're not alone.

Ramblings from the last day of November

So I work in a 7-story building with about 500 other people. Most of us are in cubes. The people in the cubes want a cube with a window. The people in the cubes with a window want an office. The people in the offices want a bigger office. The people in the bigger offices want a corner office. The people in the corner offices want to retire.

I wear a badge which I sometimes leave at home. When I do that, I have to sign in at the front desk, because somebody needs a record of the people who forget their badges. There's been an armed security guard in the lobby the last two days because someone in the building had been threatened by somebody outside the building... somebody without a badge. Today, I left my badge in yesterday's pants.

My cube is full of tabloid-sized printouts of pages from the Student and Teacher's editions of my company's Elements of Literature textbook program. They call these printouts digitals because printouts doesn't sound jargon-y enough. In fact, my spell check doesn't even recognize digitals as a word.

I use a Dell at work. It's great for spreadsheets, word documents and email. I get a lot of emails. People like to send emails. Emails cover your @$$. If you want that corner office, you have to cover your @$$. My spell check recognizes @$$ as a word.

I don't use my home computer much lately other than to pay bills and check more emails. Tonight I'm finally using it to blog. So there.

The Fans' responses have been overwhelming! Your calls have been heard! And we shall post again!

HERS: Is October almost over, ALREADY?? What the?!?

Our New Autumn's Resolution is to try to post at least once a week.
Just one lousy post--how hard could that be, right??
Today's Fall-ish weather (it's about effing time, Texas) has re-invigorated me.

In the news, the DiSabantonio's have greeted a new baby girl named Anna Isabella--pictures, hopefully, forthcoming.
And now that we have officially vacationed just about all we can this year, the Holidays fast approach.
(Really? Seriously??)
The above pic is from the Furlong Family Vacation in Indian Shores, Florida--halfway between Clearwater, to the North, and St. Pete, to the South, on the Western Florida coast.
Check out that gorgeous sunset!

The Quest for Fire-y Chiles

Chuy's Hatch Green Chile Festival is almost here...
...complete with a Primitive Man advertising campaign.