Now the ukers have struck for fame

For Bowie's birthday, the definitive version of "Life On Mars" by the
Ukelele Orchestra of Great Britain.



Searching for the Ukelele Orchestra on youtube turns up many more uked-up rock covers.

Their version of "Shaft" has to be seen (and heard) to be believed! As Nigel Tuffnell might say: "How much more white could that be?" And the answer is "None. None more white"

Curse of the Giambino

After Jason Giambi bolted from the A's to the Yankees in 2002, I put a hex on the team so they'd never win a World Series with him on the team. And they haven't, but I guess the Yankees can go back to winning championships now that Jason is back in Oakland.

As far as the A's go, I'm not sure what to think. On one side, they're getting a guy who hit 30 HRs last year for a bargain basement salary, and Oakland's hitting was so woeful last year that even Jeremy Giambi would help them, and the acquisitions of Jason Giambi and Matt Holliday will definitely help the offense.

On the other hand, this transfers the curse of the Giambino to Oakland, and Jason left no bridge unburned on his way out of town seven years ago when he dissed Oakland on the Letterman show just one day after he signed with the Yankees -- "Have you ever been to Oakland?".

Yes I have. And it's not a bad place. Welcome back Jason, to the poor side of town. Doot-doo-doo-wah-shooby-dooby.

Circle Round the Square

One of the songs on Scott Miller's 1985 installment of Music: What Happened? that I'd never heard of was "Circle Square" by Other Bright Colors. The song is standard mid-80s college rock, but it's standard mid-80s college rock that I'd never heard before. "Circle Square" sounds like the 13th Floor Elevators to me, possibly because this youtube video of the record playing is so lo-fi.

Back in the Real World

Scott Miller tackles two years from the fabulous 1980s (1983 and 1985) in the latest double dose of MWH. Even though he doesn't have many nice things to say about that decade, he manages to compile two pretty decent playlists from those two years.

My one pedantic complaint about Scott's song selection is that he kind of played loose and fast with his years by including 1982 songs like Marshall Crenshaw's "Favorite Waste Of Time" ( b-side to "Someday, Someway") and this Bangles tune ("The Real World") from their debut EP on his 1983 list.



But cool songs are still cool songs, no matter what year they came out. One year after this, the Bangles had their first taste of fame covering another song on Scott's 1983 list thanks to this video they made with Mr. Spock. How fascinatingly illogical!

Going For the Cup

One day after making fun of college football for not having a playoff, I should say that I think the FA Cup is the essence of sports competition. Every team in the English Football Association, from Man United down to the lowest conference side, playing it off for a trophy with a blind draw in every round.

I used to not like the FA Cup because it was kind of confusing, with a lot of teams I'd never heard of, but it's great to watch anonymous teams like Southend and Hartlespool match up against Chelsea and Liverpool (and sometimes knock them off).

The larger Premier league teams get byes into the third round, but sometimes end up getting shocked by lower division teams confident after winning four matches in a row. It's pretty much what sports is all about.

My new favorite cup underdogs Hartlepool get to play West Ham (the Hammers) after beating Stoke City this weekend.

Da Utes Win!

Watching the Utah Utes against Alabama in the Sugar Bowl last night, I kept thinking of this scene in My Cousin Vinny.



Just like in the movie, where Vinny got the two utes off a murder rap in Alabama, the Utah Utes rolled over the Crimson Tide 31-17. And Utah coach Kyle Whittingham made Nick Saban look like Joe Pesci.

As much as I enjoy watching college football, the way it determines a champion couldn't be more messed up if it tried. The Bowl Championship Series (with four traditional bowls plus a championship game) was supposed to fix this, with the top two teams playing off for a championship, but it only works when there are two (no more, no less) top teams.

Going into the bowl season this year, there were six major conference teams (Florida, Oklahoma, Texas, Texas Tech, Alabama, USC, Penn State) and two undefeated mid-major teams (Boise State and Utah) who could claim to be the top team in the country. This would have been perfect for an 8-team playoff, but instead, the first two teams (Florida and Oklahoma) play for the title, while the other teams are paired off in lesser bowls, more or less at random.

This makes the bowl season frustrating for those who are concerned about who's number one, but why is it so important to know who's number one. The one thing that's certain for Utah is that they'll end the season 13-0, ando even if they aren't picked #1, they won all their games, which is as well as they could possibly do.

At worst, Utah deserves to be #2 under whatever team wins the fake championship.



Vinny Gambini: Everything that guy just said is bullshit... Thank you.
D.A. Jim Trotter: Objection. Counsel's entire opening statement is argument.
Judge: Sustained. Counselor's entire opening statement, with the exception of "thank you", will be stricken from the record.

2008: The Year That Was

Here's my annual 2008 mix. I wanted to fit 25 songs on a single CD (for a perfect 5x5 iTunes grid), but came up a song short. Close enough for an imperfect year like 2008. I ended up not including the Coldplay song, but there's still a Jonas Brothers track, as my indie cred sneaks quietly out the door.

The hidden theme of this mix is "light" (as in "lumina" not as in "light rock") since at least six songs have some form of light in the title.

2008: THE YEAR THAT WAS
01. School of Language - Rockist Part 1
02. Army Navy - Saints
03. British Sea Power - A Trip Out
04. The Bye Bye Blackbirds - Leave A Light On
05. Death Cab For Cutie - No Sunlight
06. Even - I Am the Light
07. Firewater - Borneo
08. David Byrne & Brian Eno - The Lighthouse
09. The Fireman - Light From Your Lighthouse
10. Robert Forster - Let Your Light In, Babe
11. The Hold Steady - Stay Positive
12. Jonas Brothers - Pushin' Me Away
13. The Kooks - Shine On
14. The Lonelyhearts - Harlequin Bands
15. The Lucksmiths - Good Light
16. Matthew Sweet - Let's Love
17. Nada Surf - I Like What You Say
18. Pugwash - Take Me Away
19. The Baseball Project - Past Time
20. R.E.M. - Living Well Is the Best Revenge
21. Shake Some Action! - Unusual Girl
22. Sloan - Cheap Champagne
23. Sparks - Lighten Up, Morrissey
24. The Week That Was - The Good Life

For emusic subscribers, here's a simple way to legally download the songs that are available there. The rest of you can illegally grab the whole thing here and here.