99 Red Balloons – played with red balloons
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Bag of Randomness
- I got another phone call from my very first friend about our 20-year high school reunion. He said a suite was might be reserved for the Class of 94 at the football game. I said, “Mineral Wells has a stadium that has friggin suites?!”
- President Obama will address the nation tonight. He normally addresses the nation from the East Room, and I’m guessing that’s because he feels more comfortable standing when giving a speech than sitting. As a matter of fact, he’s only addressed the nation from the Oval Office twice. His predecessor addressed the nation from the Oval Office six times, and his predecessor’s predecessor did it thirteen times. Surprisingly, Nixon only did it once, and that was his resignation speech. Source: Wikipedia
- The Railroad Commission of Texas thinks Russia may be behind some of the anti-fracking movement.
- The “Crying Indian” was actually Italian.
- The Daily Show’ will air from Austin at the end of October during SXSW.
- Jean sales fade thanks to yoga pants, ‘athleisure’ trend
- One day I may have to actually explain to my kids the meaning behind “roll up your window” and “hang up the phone”. In today’s world, those things no longer apply.
- I thought it was pretty cool of Tim Cook to honor Steve Jobs with “Just one more thing.”
- U2 new album random thoughts:
- I was following the Apple event via two live blogs and then I got an email from the U2 fan club that I should be expecting something big in the next half hour. To be honest I was just thinking a performance or their new album on a phone you’d have to purchase, but I wasn’t expecting a free album I could get immediately.
- I’m convinced if it wasn’t for a strong deadline like this Apple event they would still be trying to tweak the album. One reason it was released in collaboration with Apple is this is the ten year anniversary of their iPod commercial.
- It’s gonna take me a while to dissect all the metaphors and double meanings in the lyrics, but that’s how I like it. A good album should take some time to digest.
- I’ll describe this album as a lot of their early stuff off albums like Boy and The Unforgettable Fire with a splash of Achtung Baby.
- I was too critical of the album on the first listen, but the second listen made me really appreciate it as I followed the lyrics. On a scale of 1 to 10, I gave their last album a 5.5. On the first listen for the new one, I at first gave it a 6, but I’ve bumped it up to a 7. I also felt the last album not only didn’t have any radio worthy songs, but didn’t really have anything that the audience could connect and interact with (think ‘Pride’) but this one has a few.
- Bono has feared the band is struggling to stay relevant and I think it was Adam that stated for them to be so, they’d need more songs to make air play. I’m not convinced many of these songs will play on the radio, but artistically it’s solid. So I think people over the age of 35 will like it, but I doubt the young folk will be attached to it, unless they really appreciate folks like David Bowie, The Clash, and The Ramones. I’d say it’s really an album for old time fans and not one that will win over any new ones. I’m the outlier U2 fan that actually likes the newer stuff more than the older stuff.
- A lot of U2 albums take you on a interconnective journey from song to another. I’m not sure if each song is connected or related to one another, but the overall subject of young innocence is apparent, when they were a young band on a journey of firsts, hence the name Songs of Innocence. I’ll take it a step further and say it’s about reconnecting, discovery, guilt, self-forgiveness, and hope for redemption. They’ll also be releasing another album in the somewhat near future about what all they experienced, Songs of Experience, and I expect that one to be meatier.
- I think the most spiritual song is “Song For Someone” – And I’m a long long way from your Hill of Calvary – And I’m a long way from where I was and where I need to be.
- Their album How to Destroy An Atomic Bomb dealt a lot with Bono’s father’s death. There’s a song in this album about Bono’s mother who died when he was 14 at her father’s funeral of an aneurysm.
- The main riff in ‘Volcano’ sure sounds a lot like ‘Glastonbury‘.
- Rolling Stone – U2’s ‘Songs of Innocence’: A Track-by-Track Guide
- Rolling Stone – Exclusive: Bono Reveals Secrets of U2’s Surprise Album ‘Songs of Innocence’
- A letter from Bono, on the arrival ‘of our new baby’ – Songs of Innocence
- So how does a free release of this album play into Billboard rankings? Here’s an article that explains it well. Basically it won’t be on the chart until the album actually goes on sale on Oct 14.
- Wall Street Journal – U2, Apple and the Deal Behind Getting ‘Songs of Innocence’ Free of Charge
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U2 Drops a New Album, and It’s Free on iTunes
Apple CEO Tim Cook introduced Bono and the boys today and announced their new album is free on iTunes.
My family won’t find me until I listen through all tracks at least three times so I can get a good feel of it.
Bag of Randomness
- An old friend (actually, my very first friend) called me to ask if I knew anything about our 20-year high school reunion. He made an interesting point that at the 10-year reunion almost no one was married or had kids and he’s sure that has now changed. All of that made me wonder about how much we’ve changed from previous generations as I’m sure most were married and had kids before their 10-year reunion.
- There are lots of rumors of U2 playing the Apple event today but the Irish Times says it will only be an appearance and while the new album won’t be available for download, it can be streamed on the new device.
- What will we discover first, the wreckage of the missing Malaysian Airlines plane or the reason why Ron Washington resigned?
- CBS11’s lead story last night was on a sexual assault on the SMU campus. A female student stated a man with a knife grabbed her from behind as she was jogging near campus around 11:15 PM. WifeGeeding made a very valid point – don’t go jogging alone so late at night.
- I’m surprised no one has mentioned the possibility of Jerry Jones signing Ray Rice when or if he becomes reinstated. I’m thinking if Michael Vick can make a comeback, there’s a path Rice can take that involves all sorts of community service and whatnot.
- A lot of folks can’t stand Chris Berman, but he was doing play-by-play last night and wasn’t bad or irritating. But then again, I only listened for about ten minutes.
- The only thing that I really wanted as a kid that I never got was a trampoline. Thanks to Craig’s List I found a great one for just $80, new ones run around $250-$300. WifeGeeding and I found it’s a great way to get the energy out of the kids when we are running on fumes. I do get a kick out of DogGeedingII jumping on it on his own to bounce with the kids.
- I caught the Bear Grylls special with Deion Sanders that aired last night. Deion was hamming it up a bit too much and you could tell certain “spontaneous” things were planted. Other than that and seeing how Deion was overly promote Under Armor, it was okay. Several times Deion prayed in tongues, seriously.
- There’s a new Auto Trader commercial with the original Bo and Luke Duke in the General Lee. John Schneider has held up much better than Tom Wopat.
- I hope my criticism of June Jones didn’t cause him to resign yesterday. I’m sure he takes the comments of a chubby-half-Asian blogger seriously.
- The one thing that has bugged me about the Frisco murder case is that the media will frequently mention that the Indian mother nodded yes when asked if she killed her son. What I’ve never heard mentioned is that certain Indian subcultures, nodding the head means no and left/right is yes, exactly opposite of what Americans are use to. I experienced this firsthand when I worked at Southwest and had to share a cube with an Indian who would do this all the time. At first it was frustrating, because I would be explaining something to him and he would shake his head left/right in agreement but I thought he was saying no. It wasn’t until another Indian coworker informed me that he was actually agreeing with me and that his culture’s head shaking is opposite from ours. Here’s a clip in which the Indian Consulate in NY brings it up during an interview with ‘The Daily Show’ and here’s a BBC News article about it.
- Bill Murray Likes Female Ghostbusters Idea, Has Casting Suggestions – Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Linda Cardellini, and Emma Stone
- Today’s dose of ‘MURICA – If you like firearms, cowgirls, pickups, and the outdoors, here’s some sexy wallpaper for your computer.
- The shotgun formation was created in 1961 by a San Francisco 49ers, not to help the quarterback to throw, but to run. That coach later worked for Tom Landry who modified it for the passing game. I found all of that in this interesting Rick Gosselin article.
- Inside Capitol Hill’s black market: Snacks
- I guess they just aren’t selling – Amazon Drops The Price Of The Fire Phone To 99 Cents
- CBS Sports – Classic U.S. moment: European journalist to DeMarcus Cousins: “Do you know where Slovenia is?” Cousins: “No, do you know where Alabama is?”
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