Not dead yet.

The past few days made me think of this song.

This was the one video I could find on youtube.

I love the lyrics.

Bad Examples, Not Dead Yet:

I was born too late to play in the rolling stones
I don't know jimmy page, I never met yoko ono
Standing with a strat, I'm rock and roll's bastard son
Go out, get drunk, get laid, have fun
I don't got a million dollars, don't drive a cadillac
Gimme half a chance, 'cause I'm not dead yet
(chorus)
I'm not dead yet - not dead yet
I'm a mad dog fighting with the wall against my back
You'd better get a bigger gun, I'm not dead yet

I been machine-gunned, hand-gunned, hijacked, left for dead
Divebombed, napalmed, nuclear warheaded
Dropped from a jet plane with no parachute
Shot by a firing squad and raped by a business suit
I'm dancing on a landmine, one leg left
But I can still crawl and I'm not dead yet

Chorus

Well, you're bigger, tougher, meaner, rougher
Dirtier and uglier and sneakier and trickier
You wanna shoot me with a gun, cut me with a knife
Take your bare hands and rip out my eyes
You kicked me in the balls and bit me in the neck
Hit me again, 'cause I'm not dead yet

Chorus

Well there's a mugger in the alley, there's a sniper in the hall
There's a girl at the bar wants to get me by the balls
The hangman is hanging if I autograph the noose
And lee harvey oswald's brother's on the loose
There's a mafia hitman with a bullet for my back
Someday he's gonna get me, but I'm not dead yet

I'm not dead yet - not dead yet
I'm a wild card waiting in the middle of the deck
You'd better get a bigger gun, I'm not dead yet

Chorus

Alice, Tim Burton style.

Alice sure has changed over the years.

Alice and the cast of characters in Wonderland have always been unsettling to me.

It's like living in a bad dream you can't get out of.

Even worse than the "I have a final exam and can't find the class room because I haven't gone yet" dream.

Can't wait. March 2010.

Link (to the Sun Times)

Mia Wasikowska as Alice

19-year-old Australian actress Mia Wasikowska earned critical praise in last year's HBO drama "In Treatment." She also appeared in the WWII drama "Defiance," and was named one of Variety Magazine's "10 Actors to Watch." Burton says he chose her because "she just had that certain kind of emotional toughness...that makes her kind of an older person but with a younger person's mentality." Alice will be the only character in Wonderland who isn't enhanced in some degree with makeup or digital manipulation.

Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter

In the book, Carroll only ever calls the character "The Hatter," but he does appear in the chapter "A Mad Tea-Party." The look in the movie is a variation on the book's illustrations by John Tenniel, with his wild hair, oversized bowtie, and "10/6" label pinned to his giant hat. This is Burton's seventh time working with Depp over the past 20 years. He told the Los Angeles Times he likes to work with Depp because "[he] doesn't like to be the same way twice. That's good, it always keeps it fresh and all."

Helena Bonham Carter as the Red Queen

The Red Queen is the villain of the second book, "Through the Looking Glass," though in many adaptations the character is combined with the Queen of Hearts from the first story. In the original illustrations, she is depicted as a legless chess piece. For the movie, Bonham Carter's head will be digitally enlarged to about three times its actual size. She has worked on five previous movies with Burton, and they have two children together.

Anne Hathaway as the White Queen

In "Through the Looking Glass," the White Queen claims to be over one hundred and one years old, but she seems to experience time backwards. So it follows Carroll's twisted logic that when Alice returns the Queen would be young. While Anne Hathaway looks very different in the role with her long white hair, her appearance will not be digitally manipulated. Hathaway told MTV that while she was happy to get a chance to work with Burton, she was most excited to share scenes with Johnny Depp. She said, "I wish I could be so cool about it [but] I am such a huge fan, I felt really embarrassed. He would catch me staring at him."

Matt Lucas as Tweedledee and Tweedledum

Tweedledee and Tweedledum appear in several versions of "Alice in Wonderland," including Walt Disney's 1951 animated film, though they actually don't appear until "Through the Looking-Glass." Carroll never specifies they are twins, but that is how Tenniel drew them. English comedian Matt Lucas plays both roles in the movie. Lucas is well known in the U.K. as half of the sketch comedy team on the show "Little Britain."

A Machine for Loving.

The title might be a bit deceiving. This is a song about a dog and about dogs.

An interesting song by Iggy Pop sung in narrative style
reminding me of ( Candy).


I like it.

Two weeks after my arrival, Fox died

Just after sunset

I was stretched out on the bed

when he approached

and tried painfully to jump up

He wagged his tail nervously.

Since the beginning

He hadn't touched his bowl once

He had lost a lot of weight

I helped him to settle on my lap

For a few seconds, he looked at me

With a curious mixture of exhaustion and apology

Then, calmed, he closed his eyes

Two minutes later he gave out his last breath.

I buried him beside the residence

At the western extremity of the land

Surrounded by the protective fence

Next to his predecessors

During the night, a rapid transport from the Central City

Dropped off an identical dog

They knew the codes and how to work the barrier

I didn't have to get up to greet them

A small white and ginger mongrel came toward me

Wagging its tail I gestured to him

He jumped on the bed and stretched out beside me.

Love is simple to define

But it seldom happens in the series of beings

Through these dogs we pay homage to love

And to its possibility.

What is a dog but a machine for loving

You introduce him to a human being,

Giving him the mission to love

And however ugly, perverse, deformed or stupid

This human being might be

The dog loves him.

The dog loves him.

The Mad Ones.

I just saw this reviewed with the author on The Daily Show.

The title "Mad Ones" comes from a Jack Kerouac quote about the Beats.

Joey Gallo wrote poetry, argued about the meaning of life, dug jazz and read Camus.

Also, he was handy with a chain whip, had a talent for extortion and bit the ear off a jailhouse enemy.

Part thug, part beatnik - Gallo lived in two worlds that really didn't overlap too well.

(Review Source)

Bob Dylan's song Joey is about Joey Gallo.

Area Man.

I have to admit didn't get the "Area Man" shirt at first glance.

Just google "area man" or read the couple headings below from The Onion.

I'm sure it will make sense now if you didn't get it already.

Ha.

Area Man Well-Versed In First Thirds Of Great Literature (reads only first 100 pages or so...)

Area Man Constantly Mentioning He Doesn't Own A Television

Reaganomics Finally Trickles Down To Area Man

Area Man Makes It Through Day

This is the day.

by The The.

This is one of those songs that if I hear on the radio I must listen to all the way through - even if that means sitting in the driveway (I stole that idea from National Public Radio) till it's over or driving around the block again.

Fortunately I only have a few of them. (Short list off the top of my head: Can't you hear me knocking? and Sympathy for the Devil by the Stones, Loan me a dime by Boz Skaggs with Duane Allman, Milky Way by The Church, Home of the Brave by The Nails, Come as you are by Nirvana and Ship of Fools by World Party.)

This is the day:

Well... you didn't wake up this morning
Because you didn't go to bed
You were watching the whites of your eyes
Turn red
The calendar, on your wall, is ticking the days off
The calendar on your wall is ticking
the days off
You've been reading some old letters
You smile and think how much you've changed
All the money in the world
Couldn't bring back those days.
You pull back the curtains, and the sun burns into your eyes,
You watch a plane flying across a clear blue sky.
THIS IS THE DAY -- Your life will surely change.
THIS IS THE DAY -- Your life will surely change.
You could've done anything -- if you'd wanted
And all your friends and family think that you're lucky.
But the side of you they'll never see
Is when you're left alone with the memories
That hold your life together like
Glue

Company of Thieves, Oscar Wilde.

Company of Thieves is a Chicago indie rock trio.

This is Oscar Wilde (download here if you like it.)

Oscar Wilde has been dead for over a century but many of his quotes seem to fit current events.

Just today...

From Yahoo News :

Recent reports describe him as overweight and a heavy drinker.

Now 26 (years young), Kim Jong Un has reportedly been tapped to

become the next leader of nuclear-armed North Korea.

From Oscar Wilde - three quotations:

Work is the curse of the drinking classes.

I am not young enough to know everything.

A man cannot be too careful in the choice of his enemies.