Monday is my day off. I usually don’t use it very well… at all.

Take last Monday, for instance. As I started out the day, I had five things I wanted to get done– all of them for sheer enjoyment’s sake. I wanted to (1) watch a video of my cousin Steve teaching, (2) read part of a couple books, (3) listen to some new music, (4) learn a new song on my guitar, and, most importantly, (5) something else I can’t remember because it’s not that important right now.

Yes, those all sound like wonderful things to do on a lazy day off while my wife is off at school and I’m sitting around the house wearing pajama pants and a funny t-shirt that I am the only one laughing at.

But I didn’t do any of them.

So what did I do instead?!

I played the brand new FIFA 2006 on my Xbox. All day. It was an amazing accomplishment, when I think about it. It’s been a long time since I played video games regularly and it’s been ages since I actually went on a binge.

So, today, instead of frittering away the hours trying to set up the perfect cross from Rooney to Ruud, I am going to work today on finishing what I’ve started, as I have scattered around the house and various “drafts” folders piles of unfinished business.

FIFA 2006 and Man. U can wait a few more Mondays.

A few days ago, Mike shared his Sesame Street Memories.

You know how lakes “turn over”? (If you don’t, read here or just fake it.) That’s what Mike’s fun little article did to my brain. Suddenly things that were sitting at the bottom of my brain rose to the surface and I suddenly forgot about my taxes, which sunk from the top to the bottom of my brain.

One of the curious things that surfaced was the crazy Sesame Street Martians. If you don’t recall, or haven’t read Mike’s great post, the Martians were little blue and red guys who always said, “yip, yip, yip, uh huh, uh huh, uh huh”. Mike shared this audio clip of the Martians meeting a phone and I was instantly transported back to the days of yesteryear.

Pretty soon I was asking everyone I talked to who was within the age range that grew up with Sesame Street, “Do you remember the Sesame Street Martians?” Most people’s eyes lit up and they would just start laughing.

When I told my brother, Justin, about remembering them, he had a different reaction. “Oh! Man!” he said, rolling his eyes. Then he suddenly started chanting:

Yip, yip, yip, yip, yip, yip, yip, yip,
Uh-huh, uh-huh!
Yip, yip, yip, yip, yip, yip, yip, yip
Uh-huh, uh-huh!
Yip, yip, you,
Yip, yip, me!
Yip, yip, baby!
Yip, yip, family!
Yip, yip, yip, yip, yip, yip, yip, yip,
Uh-huh, uh-huh!
Yip, yip, yip, yip, yip, yip, yip, yip,
Uh-huh, uh-huh!

Immediately recalling the sketch he was referring to, I laughed heartily and said, “Now you’ve gone and gotten that crazy song stuck in my head!”

A long and bitterly held rage flashed in his eyes as he snapped back, “That song’s been stuck in my head since I was nine years old!“

And now it can be stuck in yours, thanks to the miracle of the Intarweb:

Sesame Street Martians Family Song

Enjoy!

A couple of months ago, my Dad got a new Explorer with Sirius Satellite Radio installed. Being a music junkie and an open critic of today’s radio, I have been interested, but skeptical. Whether you go with XM or Sirius, you’re still looking at corporate hijacked music, just like (almost) any FM or AM band radio station.

A few things stood out to me right away. First, there is a “New/College Radio” channel called “Left of Center”. This is somewhat amusing because while “College Radio” has become almost a category of music on its own, it gets its name from the fact that such stations are broadcast by colleges. This one breaks from that mold in that it’s not. At all.

Despite the fact that these “stations” have enormous playlist possibilities at their fingertips, most of of the ones playing anything new seemed to have the same small rotations that any Clear Channel station would have. I don’t know if someone left the payola button on “repeat”, but I heard Straylight Run’s song, “Existentialism on Prom Night”, no fewer than seven times in two days on three different channels.

The Sirius DJs are fairly interesting and incredibly professional. Some are a little weird, though. Like the “College” station DJ playing on Wednesday who came on in a cheerful sounding sing-song rant on her life. (Her cadence was much like that of the opening cheer routine in the movie “Bring it On!”) “Hi! I’m Jewish! I’m 32 and Single! I’ll be alone on New Year’s Eve! I’m never getting married! I’m never having children! So how’s your week going?” Strange, indeed. But she was pretty funny.

It was interesting to get to hear satellite radio only after becoming a regular podcast listener. There were several songs played on Sirius that I first heard on podcasts. MC Lars - “Signing Emo”, the Dears - “Lost in the Plot”, and some Andrew Vladeck, among a great many others. Every time I heard a track from a podcast, I would excitedly inform the other folks riding in the car, who quickly pointed out just how much I was boring them.

As professional as some of these DJs sounded, they really don’t hold a candle to Funtime Ben (and Josiah!) at Tracks up the Tree, Jason Evangelho at Insomnia Radio, or RadioZoom’s John. There’s really something to that “amateur magic” that makes podcasting insanely addictive. When “real” people are not paid to play something, but are taking their time to speak with self-inspired enthusiasm about music they are genuinely excited about.

And speaking of money, I would guess you’ve heard satellite radio plugged as “commercial free”. Um, kind of. The music stations are commercial free, but the branded talk stations seem to have missed that memo. So don’t worry, Fox News listeners, you can still look forward to hearing Sean Hannity hock Whose-it’s Whats-its. (Thankfully, I’m not a regular Fox News listener. I would probably start chewing on my steering wheel if I had to listen to Mr. “Let Freedom Ring” himself sell diet pills and eggnog substitute.)

While listening to the huge number of stations, I found myself in Distractionville. (It’s just outside of Coverville.) Every time a song came on that I didn’t want to hear, I would skim the thirty channels that sounded interesting, looking at the display as I did. (The display shows the artist and track title of each song playing as you turn the dial to each station.) In order to read what was playing on each station, my eyes were taken off the road - the dark, icy road - and down toward the display, located at cupholder level. I think it would be safe to say that satellite radio would probably get me killed.

The wrap: Is Sirius for you? I have no idea. Why are you asking me? Oh. Sorry. You didn’t ask, did you… Well, I’d say if you like “less talk and more rawk” and don’t mind getting the extra gear, it’s probably a pretty good bet. I know my folks really like it. Me? I’ll stick with podcasting. Infinitely superior in practically every way. Siriusly.

And I’m done with puns.

Oh yeah — here’s a sampling of some of the music that I first discovered on Sirius that I liked, along with which channel I heard it on. One station I enjoyed immensely was “Folktown”. Newer Folk music is probably my favorite style, but it’s just about impossible to hear on the radio. I really liked what I heard on this channel. If it was new, I liked it. And the classics were good to hear as well. Don’t be stunned if some of it shows up on a future podcast.

Lowen & Navarro - “If I Was the Rain” (Folktown)

Keren Ann - “Not Going Anywhere” (Folktown)

Kasabian - “L. S. F.” (Alt Nation)

Adam Green - “Jessica” (Left of Center)

Whoa buddy. I officially have a 250GB HDD in my Xbox now. I have no idea what I’m going to fill it with, but that’s not important right now. Especially considering that my frickin’ computer has a 40GB HDD. The math just doesn’t work…

Insanity, I tell you. YES!!!

Sometimes I miss cable TV. (Um, very rarely.) But why miss it when I can check out highlights from the Daily Show or great documentary news articles from PBS Frontline? Or, if I’m feeling really saucy, I can dial up some Channel9.

Well Garfield’s crappy movie hasnt even come out yet and it allready sold out. That gluttonous feline is now using Goldfish to prmote himself and his new movie. I hate love America.

Well Hollywood has sunk to a new low. In all of the hype of mostly good comic book movies, somehow 20th Century Fox decided to make the worst comic strip ‘legend’ into a hopeful blockbuster hit. Thats right, they decided to make a movie based solely on Garfield. The fat, lazy cat that does nothing but eat and sleep. The funny thing being that that’s all that he litteralry does. I have never found the comic strip funny and I pray to God that no one finds an hour or so of the comic on the big screen any funnier.

I’m watching Something’s Gotta Give with my wife and folks. Let’s just say I’m glad I grabbed my mom’s laptop before we started the movie. It’s the worst one I’ve seen this year! Maybe in the last few years! Seriously horrible! Whee!

After many annoying popups from AIM I actually looked at them and one sparked my interest. A seinfeld and superman webisode! I had no idea what a was, or have any idea what it is now, but what could be better than Jerry Seinfeld and Superman in one togethor? After watching it I thought that it was pretty funny and you might too. Maybe.

I went and saw “Johnny Depp 25: Secret Window” yesterday and I have to say that I was very dissapointed and confused. I was disappointed in the preview for Hidalgo, which I will adress later on but not now because my sister wants to leave and I have to come with her. But I was also in the movie itself. Careful, link contains spoiler.

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