Retro Saturday ( Holiday version ) 3.0

well , only if last year is considered retro - I just really love Annie Lennox & this version of God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen off of her 2010 Christmas album A Christmas Cornucopia ...

 

Retro Saturday ( Holiday Version ) 2.0

Sherman , set WABAC machine .....

For this post , I 'm going waaaay back to the late 60's / early 70's. Or as I like to call it, my childhood.

    Christmas was always a magical time for me ( in my mind ) . I loved everything about it. The tree, the lights, seeing Santa on almost every corner. I loved going with my parents to pick out the tree from one of the lots that would spring up around Denver. Then I'd get to help my Dad saw off the bottom of the trunk ( always making sure that it was as level as we could get it so it would stand up straight ). Filling up the stand with water, then watching my Dad string up the lights. That was his job, no one else could do it. Just like it was Mom's job to put the tinsel on the tree after all the decorating was done. That was a job that was much too important to relegate to a 7year old.

I'm sure some of you remember tinsel. The stuff we had was heavy lead-laden foil that Mom would put on strand by strand and then take off again after Christmas, making sure to keep it nice and neat for the following year. It was a Christmas staple in most homes up through the early 70's, when they banned all lead-based products ( poisonous you know ) and went to flimsy mylar-type stuff.  Mom hated it. 

Well every year after we got the tree, my Dad would go to the Firestone tire store & the Goodyear tire store. Because , you see, every year you could  pick up a free album of Christmas songs by popular artists. People like Julie Andrews , the Morman Tabernacle Choir, Percy Faith.  It makes you laugh now but this was one of the highlights during the holidays. Then we'd get to listen to the albums on our coffin sized stereo hi-fi system as we decorated.

One song that's always stuck with me to this day was a little-known song by Bing Crosby.  Not actually a Christmas Carol , but it had the sleigh bells for backround rythm and a bouncy melody, and I think ( in my 7 year old mind ) it gave me an idealized version of what Christmas/Winter would/should be ...

Anyhow - I've always loved Bing Crosby, I watch Holiday Inn & White Christmas every year instead of that sappy thing with Jimmy Stewart.

So for my retro Saturday - Bing Crosby & The White World of Winter ....

01_The_White_World_Of_Winter.mp3 Listen on Posterous

La Fée Verte ...

 

Last night I had the pleasure of introducing my roommates to Absinthe . It was fun to watch their expression as the water dripped down onto the the sugar then into the shot of Absinthe, turning the light green/yellow Absinthe to a milky green ( the technical term is la louche ). 

It was also fun to watch them go from " that tiny shot of booze mixed with water can't be that bad " to being kicked back on the sofa saying it was one of the best "mellows" that they'd had in a long time...

 ...  aahhh , la fée verte strikes again. Two more souls now firmly in her grasp .

 

 

One step forward ...

After months of procrastination I finally got my butt back to the gym. Everything was going great, my weights were decent, I felt teriffic.

There was a bounce in my step as I started my "back" day. Dumbbell rows completed I walked over to the squat rack to start barbell rows. 

Two sets in everything was hunky-dory, I grabbed two 10 pound plates , slid them onto the bar, got in position. Hands on the bar I lifted it off the rack and the next thing I knew I was on the ground, sharp pain shooting through my body.  

I guess I must've twisted just enough getting the bar off the rack that my lower back decided it wasn't having any of it. I spent the next two days in bed taking percocet and trying to stretch out muscles. 

I'm mobile now ( although I remind myself of my grandfather - and my father on his really bad days). My Dr. said it'll take a bit to heal, so no weights for a couple of weeks, but I can work on my cardio until then. So I guess the treadmill will be my new best friend !

The Onion Week in Review -

For those of you that missed the major storiesof the past week : 

 

 

Report: Nobody's Heard From David Blaine In A While, Somebody Should Probably Check If He Died In One Of Those Things 

Retro Saturday ( holiday version )

yeah - i've been lazy ....

Back to Retro Saturday - 

One of the first holiday cd's I remember buying was A Very Special Christmas. I thought it was "cool" that all of these modern artists would put their own twist on pretty staid Christmas standards. 

I've always had a particular fond spot for Madonna's "Santa Baby", I've thought that she she delivered a fun cross of Eartha Kitt/Betty Boop ....

 

Student arrested for burping, lawsuit claims -

via cbsnews.com

The lawsuit alleges the boy was transported to the juvenile center without his parents being notified. It also says he was denied his due process rights because he was suspended for the rest of that school year without "providing him an explanation of the evidence the school claimed to have against him." He was not allowed to call witnesses or defend himself against the burping allegation.

The boy was never charged. He scored a - 2 on a scale of 1 to 10 according to a risk assessment given by the jail staff, 10 being extremely dangerous.