It has been awhile since I’ve done an audio blog. I figure it’s easiest to just put up a link to the MP3 file itself and not mess with plugins.

Cleaning the Oven (0:51)

I followed a link off my friend Tim’s blog just now to an online test that claims be able to estimate the date of your death by the answers you give to a few questions. Apparently I’m going to die on Christmas Day in 2059, and there’s a 33% chance it’ll be from cancer. The spooky thing about that is that many of my family members who have passed on died in December, and several were actually from cancer. Odd.

But that’s not what I’m writing about (although I want to know all your results in the Peanut Gallery). I’m writing because part of the test asked how many pushups I could do without stopping.

Fifteen.

I’m such a wimp. Okay, so at number fifteen Henson ran under me and made me laugh, but I didn’t have it in me to go for sixteen, so I quit right then. Seriously, my arms still hurt. I have no upper-body strength whatsoever.

I want you all, right now, to get down on the floor and try this. Don’t do any girl pushups either. (Unless you’re a girl.) You’ve gotta start with straight arms, and feel the floor with the tip of your nose before you come back up. I don’t care if you’re in a library or whatever. Just do it. No one will stop you, because you won’t last that long. Plus, anyone who does pushups in public is probably too scary to approach. So do it! Let’s see how y’all do.

(Before I begin, I ought to mention that there will be special, "embedded" links to the iTunes Music Store in this post. If you have iTunes, you can click on them to see and hear what I’m talking about. Otherwise, you’ll have to go dig this post up when you’re able to download it and run it. My sincere apologies to those who can’t. I know what it’s like to not be able to run software I really want.)

About a month ago I downloaded the song Rock Your Body by Justin Timberlake. Some might say that I should have passed to the left, but instead I sailed to the right. And I seriously dug this song. I mean that in total honesty. It’s a really great song. Very fun. I absolutely refuse to tell you how high my "Play Count" in iTunes is for this particular song, but let’s just say it’s really up there. It’s currently running at number 47 in the Josh Lewis Top 50. That’s out of 1457 songs.

At first, I couldn’t believe that I enjoyed it. I mean, this is the same guy from ‘N Sync, right? The kind of musical act I despise? The kind of musical act that’s only set up by the record company to make money, darn all artistic integrity? Yeah. But man, I really like that song. I liked it enough, in fact, that I snagged me another one of his, called Señorita after I saw him perform it on Saturday Night Live. The thing that really attracts me to his style is not the fact that it’s sometimes degrading to women (although that does remind me of the music I loved in middle school) but that it seems to me to be the next step in the evolution of Michael Jackson’s work. Really. I think this kid (well, he’s 22 now) is continuing Jackson’s work. Hopefully just his musical work (nudge nudge), but his work nonetheless. Watch him dance. Listen to his voice. It’s in there, most definitely. And for some reason I’m not offended that it might be a little thievery or a bit of a rip-off. I think I’m ready for Michael’s genius to be separated from his tainted history and tainted persona.

Speaking of thievery, check these guys out. Thievery Corporation is a band that I first heard while walking past the pottery room at Bethel. Well, I can say that about a lot of music, actually. But they’re really quite cool. I encourage you to check them out.

And now that I’m in the mood, let me link you to a few other acts I may or may not have mentioned in passing during previous posts, now that you have the chance to get a 30-second sample:

Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Pt. 1 (also available in an acoustic version, and in Japanese)

Ursula 1000 Just discovered them last week. Very fun. To give you an idea of their style, one of their albums is called "All Systems Are Go Go", and another (which I own) is "Kinda Kinky." I call it "Spy Jazz."

Urinetown – The Musical (especially notable are "Don’t be the bunny" and "Cop Song.") Steph wrote about seeing this in an earlier post on her blog.

Odelay by Beck. If you don’t have it, get it. Period. That album is the source of nearly half the catch-phrases you’ll see in grey under the title of my blog on the left.

Starry Eyed Surprise by Paul Oakenfold. I know it was on the radio awhile back, but I don’t listen to the radio. 🙂

Funkytown (Long Version) Seven minutes and fourty-nine seconds of Funkytown! Do I have to justify this?!?

I think I could go on and on, but I’ll stop there until someone reminds me of something. G’night for now. Let me know what you think. Oh, for those of you who also want to post links to iTunes, you can find the goods to do so right here. Technically, it’s also an easy way for those who don’t have iTunes to search and see what content we’ve got, but that’s a secondary use obviously.