Vindicated!

The internet is a magical, magical thing.

As a young, impressionable child in the 80's, I used to watch a show called The Great Space Coaster. I remember it with great fondness, but I've never been able to find another living soul who has heard of this program or will admit to having watched it. When I try to describe the show, people generally roll their eyes and accuse me of dreaming or otherwise hallucinating it. Granted, an amazing (an vaguely psychedelic) space roller coaster and a talking gnu do seem a little far-fetched.

I got sick of being called crazy though, so one day, I decided to Google it. Miracle of miracles, you can actual watch the (fabulous) intro in its entirety here. But be warned, that song will be stuck in your head for years.

My favorite character from The Great Space Coaster was a newscaster (or should I say gnuscaster?) named Gary Gnu, whose tagline was "no gnus is good gnus". I don't know exactly what a gnu is (Wiki does!), but they seem to wear a lot of eye makeup. Watch Gary in action here.

Take that, nay-sayers! Even hit show Family Guy has grabbed a piece of the space coasting action. Who's crazy now?

Love is a mix tape

First, the title of this post doesn't come from my own clever brain, rather, it is the title of an actual book by Rolling Stone writer Rob Sheffield. I haven't read it yet, but it comes highly recommended and I'm hoping to pick it up soon. The artwork at left comes from this book.

With the slow demise of cassettes, I have been contemplating the phenomenon of the mix tape in my own life and in our culture. I still remember the first mix tape I made for my husband, back in 1996. He was on vacation in Maryland, I was preparing to leave on a (separate) trip to Florida, and his birthday was approaching. We hadn't been dating long enough for me to send anything too expensive or too romantic, but I wanted him to know I was thinking of him. The perfect solution? A mix tape, of course! Between packing my suitcase and the arduous process of casette-to-casette recording, I stayed up all night making that tape. I mailed it the next morning, and I suppose the rest is history. He did marry me, after all.

While CD's and other new-fangled technologies make it easier than ever to create a personalized music mix for yourself or your friends, I can't help feeling that we're missing out somehow. Back in the day, a mix tape was the perfect gift, because the recipient understood the amount of thought and effort that went into its creation. Today, you spend a few minutes plugging the songs into your computer, hit the "burn" button, and you're done.

I guess what I'm really pondering here is nature of gifts. As children, we start out by making things with our own hands and anything we can stick glitter onto. As we get older and wealthier, we can afford to buy more elaborate and expensive gifts for our loved ones. But I can't help wondering if those pricy gifts, which take just minutes to select and purchase, are really a better representation of our affection than the time and energy invested in the creation of a mix tape, or even a macaroni necklace.

A picture is worth 1000 words, etc.

Just for fun, I have mapped out my "VisualDNA" at imagini.net. I'm not sure if if's a dating site or what (no, I'm not looking for dates) but I found the image-based personality test more interesting than some of the other wacky quizzes and things you can find online.

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

Click on the "Get your own VisualDNA" link above to try it (it's free and you don't have to create a profile or anything).

Where am I going and why am I in this handbasket?

Yeah, yeah, I'll start posting again soon. Until then, please enjoy my favorite Hemingway quote, re-imagined as a church sign:

(to make your own, click here)

The Cruelest Month

All right T.S. Eliot, you win. April is the cruelest month. Thank goodness that's over! The last few weeks have been among the worst in my life, with unlucky events happening one after the other. I was beginning to feel like the title character in Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, except that it was all month long, and I didn't have the option of moving to Australia.

Fortunately, April is behind us now. I received some very good news today, and I feel like May's going to be a better month for me. But I'd like to have a quick moment of silence for my car, which was recently totaled in a very unfortunate traffic accident. Farewell, stealth car. We had a good run.


(The only photo I could find was of the car covered in ice, but you get the idea.)