we're with stupid

one of the reasons i'm a teacher is to do daily battle with ignorance--for a democracy can only exist with an informed populace. politicians and pundits are constantly lauding the american people for their intelligence, but if this article in the new york times is any gauge, i'm absolutely HORRIFIED!

for those with hopes of seeing a democrat reclaim their rightful place in the white house this november, don't get your hopes up too high--read the article--you'll see why...

tip of the energy dome to somerby for the link/post inspiration.

I HEART CHEAP TRICK!!!!

i could (and prolly should) write a whole post about how cheap trick live at buddokan changed my life... it is the first LP i remember listening to in its entirety (albeit, inadvertently).

in the summer of 1979. everyday. for a whole month. my sister woke the entire house up each morning with,

"ALRIGHT, TOKYO!!" audience screams
"ARE YOU READY?" louder screams
"WILL YOU WELCOME, EPIC RECORDING ARTISTS,
CHEAP TRICK!!!" pandemonium

enter rick neilson's (pictured above) crunchy guitar...
bun e. carlos' tight snare hits followed by...
robin zander's rock salutation,

"HELLO THERE, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!
HELLO THERE, LADIES AND GENTS!
ARE YOU READY TO ROCK? (with tom petersson's bass)
ARE YOU READY OR NOT?!"

hell yeah, i'm ready to ROCK!!! i'm also WIDE AWAKE now.

suffice to say, the indoctrination (inROCKtrination?) worked--i love cheap trick! so when my sister gave me tickets to see them this christmas, it fulfilled a childhood dream. thanks, raquel!

actaully, in 1986, cheap trick would have been my first concert had my parents let me venture from behind the orange curtain to see them play fender's international grand ballroom right here in the LBC! here's a bit of trivia: guess which soon-to-be-huge band opened for them?


G'N'F'N'R!!!
(guns 'n' roses)

argyle

it's a benchmark book--or at least it was--so it's teaching-related! ;>

"gloriously silly"

the thingz get a nice plug in the LA WEEKLY!

come see us at mr. t's bowl this saturday with the guilty hearts...

it'll be fun!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

from all of us at YDNFTF, have a great 2008!

my resolution this year was to register as a democrat, and i did that today! i'm excited: now i get the chance to actually affect the presidential election by voting in the primary february 5 (since i live in solidly-blue california, my vote in november is pretty much a moot point).

here's to finally throwing out the bush/cheney junta!