I was just getting caught up on some reading, and read this snippet from a Dr. Kornel, a neurosurgeon at Brain & Spine surgeons of New York, in White Plains:
Musical video games that sharpen the mind: Guitar Hero and Rock Band. People who play along with the beat of the songs develop new connections between neurons and synapses, building up the brain.
My addiction to love of Rock Band is merely my attempt to sharpen my mind. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.
Of course, I suppose I wasn't really sharpening my mind when I bought some cool schwag at the Rock Store, including a sweet leopard print tank top and lace up boots to go with my short shorts. Whatever. You're not the boss of me and don't you judge me! It's a cool outfit, and I'll take a picture of my avatar the next time I play. Which should be right about...now.
I would like to thank everyone for their feedback on the little divider bars I gave a trial run to the other day. (I kid with the graphic.) Based on popular opinion, you won't be seeing those again! (See? I do listen to you all, and I appreciated your honesty!) Frankly, I felt the same way when I put them up...I felt they looked a little too clunky and awkward. I've found a few others, and will test those out here and there, and maybe I'll put up a poll to see which one you like best. Although I don't feel the need to restrict myself to any one particular type, and will change it up here and there.
I also appreciated David's feedback about liking the separation of subjects. Thank you my dear for the excellent suggestion, and for those entries in which I write about a few different things, I'll be sure to use divider bars! (I'd just been using a few tildes to separate them before. I feel like gussying things up a little bit.) I can also accept that David doesn't want to read about Notre Dame...after all, he's a Nittany Lion!Hey, speaking of Notre Dame (feel free to move along David, although there’s a little dirty whorish mouth stuff coming up), the Charlie Weis era is over. As expected, he got the boot today. I wish him well, and I'm sorry that things didn't work out for him here. But you just don't continue as football coach at ND with such a crappy record. And it was abysmal, worse than any other recent coach. I have no idea who they'll hire as coach. Right now, I don't really care. It was a crummy season, I'm kind of relieved it's over, and if they go to a bowl game, I hope they win with the interim coach. In the meantime, I turn my sights to my Colts, who are 11-0 along with the New Orleans Saints, who beat the Patriots tonight. Although "spanked" might be a better word! That's right, they pulled down the Patriots' knickers, turned them over their knees, and spanked them. Spanked them soundly, because the Patriots were being a bad, bad little football team....
I'm sorry, what was I saying? Oh yes. The Colts and the Saints are both still unbeaten. Milwaukee Dan #2 wondered about the possibility of a Super Bowl with two 16-0 teams. That might be a sign of the End Times, buddy (along with Sarah Palin getting into a position of national prominence and the Cubs and White Sox meeting in the World Series), so be careful what you wish for. Highly improbable, but wow, wouldn't that be something? I have to say that since I love New Orleans, and since they're still struggling after Katrina, I have a soft spot for the Saints and love seeing them doing well. But if they play the Colts, the Saints are goin' DOWN, and not in a good way!Warning: Rock Band stuff ahead! Not too much, but I'm really proud of myself about tonight. Over Thanksgiving, I discovered from my niece the way to unlock more songs. (Thanks, Jana!) Instead of playing Quickplay, you have to go on Tour. First I had to name my band, and may I introduce to you the one and only Dirty Pleasures? Dirrrrrtyyyyy Pleaaaaasurrrrres! (Think Beatles and Sergeant Pepper.) Some of you might recall my embarrassment when I was chatting with a friend and referred to my guilty pleasure movies as my "dirty pleasure" movies. I thought it was a natural for a band name.
Okay, so I went on tour, singing vocals. I plowed through the first few and unlocked my first new songs! Got through the next batch, too (including 100% on a song I'd never even heard by Queens of the Stone Age) and unlocked a few more. Went back to Quickplay and the new songs were all there, so I did them all on guitar. Got to do "Paranoia" (both vocals and guitar), "Rockaway Beach" on guitar (Ramones), "Here It Goes Again" on guitar (OK-Go), a handful of other fun ones, and an especially fun one, "(Don't Fear) The Reaper." Wheeeee! It was even the full version with the full guitar solo! It seems these are all a tad bit harder than the earlier songs, and I'm kind of digging the challenge. I think my fortes are vocals and guitar. I can't do drums for shit, and bass is boring!
Oh, incidentally, when we were playing Beatles Rock Band with my sister, et al, I switched guitars with my brother-in-law Tom. He was like, "What the hell? I'm six feet tall, and this is too low for me!" I told you I sling low. Maybe not as bad as Johnny Ramone (may he rest in peace), but apparently pretty low. Do I have freakishly long arms or something?
Well, if you're me, first you run errands and get soaked while running from the store to the car. Jeez, by the time I got into the car, it was dripping off my hair and my glasses were completely obscured. Oddly enough, by the time I got home, it was only sprinkling. Grrr. Ain't that always the way?
Then in the afternoon, if you're me, you play on Crackbook way too long (if it's so much fun, I don't know how it can be bad), and then you play some Rock Band. Yeah, baby!
In fact, this is me playing Rock Band. Well, okay, it's how I imagine I look playing Rock Band, because Chrissie is one cool rock chick. ("Brass In Pocket" would be a fun song to have on there.) If I were a rock chick for real, I think I would be Chrissie Hynde more than anyone else. She's got attitude, and I've been told that I do, too. Huh? Go figure. I haven't played with Rock Band for a while, so it was fun to try some of the songs on the original game, and to try guitar. I'm starting to get the hang of it, figured out that I need to have it slung a little lower on my hips, and now realize that I would be a better bass player than a guitarist, because it's a more natural motion for me to pull up instead of stroke down. Hahaha. I'm cracking up right now. So I tried some of the easier songs, like "Should I Stay Or Should I Go?", "Roxanne," and "Say It Ain't So" by Weezer. I even hit the whammy, baby! After Ken got home, he played drums while I played guitar, then he took over guitar and I did vocals.
"Mississippi Queen" was a lot of fun, although I'm not a huge fan of that song. I am proud to say that I did excellent on "Wanted Dead Or Alive" (much better on vocals than guitar), and when I sang the lines "I've seen a million faces...and I've rocked them all," I really got into it! Ha! Oh man, this is so much fun! This is a way for the talentless to actually feel like they have some. Talk about an ego stroker. I still need to get a scarf to tie onto the microphone.
It also reinforces my respect and appreciation for real musicians...you know, the ones who don't play musicians on TV. My friends Jim, Deb, and Darren, and Indigo's Paul, are all very talented (I hope I'm not leaving anyone out), and I am always in awe of someone who can play so incredibly. I've got fumbling fingers with freakin' Rock Band...how much harder is it to do it for real? So I'll keep playing, and you guys keep doing it for real. It's your talent that makes real music, and I'm just along for the ride. You make my dreams come true!
Here is one of my favorite Pretenders songs, "Message of Love." Hard to believe that 50% of the people in this video are dead: Pete Farndon (bassist) and James Honeyman-Scott (guitarist). But Chrissie is still going strong.
Before I get to the fun stuff, a little bit about health care reform.
All right, I heard those groans. I won't keep you past the bell, I promise, but I think this is something worth noting. This is from an article on Politics Daily, and it concerns the report released by the health insurance industry (a report paid for by a health insurance trade group) stating that a health care reform bill would raise the costs of everyone's premiums.
After the health insurance industry released a report Monday attacking Democrats' plans for health reform, it appears that the insurance lobby and the White House have abandoned all hope of working together on the issue, the Washington Post reported Wednesday. The White House had spent months courting the industry for input on reform, but the report and the ensuing battle of rhetoric suggests that insurers have become the administration's chief enemy in the health care battle.
The health insurance lobby was a key player in defeating reform 15 years ago under President Clinton. Obama had hoped to avoid a similar showdown by inviting various industry groups -- hospitals, drug makers and insurers -- to participate in the negotiations. But after the critical report funded by America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) hit Washington earlier this week, the gloves came off.
"The insurance industry has decided to lead the charge against health reform, and everyone recognizes their motives: profits," White House deputy communications director Dan Pfeiffer said. "We are going to make sure they can't sink this effort at the last minute."
Insurers, meanwhile, responded with one of the oldest tactics in the book: spreading concern among senior citizens that they will lose their current benefits. AHIP launched a multi-state ad campaign warning seniors that Democratic legislation would take away benefits they receive from private Medicare accounts.
It seems abundantly clear to me that health insurance companies are opposing this so vehemently for one reason and one reason only: it will cut into their obscene profits.
I'm not talking about hospitals or doctors or people who actually deliver the health care. This is about insurance companies who dictate whether you will or will not get treatment, and tell you whether they will or will not pay for it. For anyone who thinks that the insurance companies are motivated by concern for patients and helping them get the care they need, I have to wonder (as Mark said in a comment), "Are you HIGH?" If you are unable to get beyond the mistaken belief that this is going to lead to "socialized medicine," if you are incapable of feeling compassion for others who might not be in as good a position as you when it comes to being able to afford health care, if you can turn a blind eye to your fellow citizens who are suffering and yes, dying because they cannot get insurance because of a pre-existing condition, if you are so rock stupid that you can't comprehend that there may come a day when you won't be able to afford insurance or you get deathly ill and max out your coverage or you have to declare bankruptcy because you can't pay your medical bills...even if you are unable to grasp any of these simple concepts, perhaps you can understand cold, hard cash. That is exactly what the insurance companies are concerned about: getting yours and keeping theirs. Let their opposition to a health care reform bill be a clue to you. They don't want this because it will cut into their profits, and they obtain those profits from you. Don't let them keep doing this to the American people.
[stepping down one level on my soapbox]
Rinnnggggg! See? I timed that perfectly.
Now for the fun stuff! When I went out to get the mail today, there was a huge box sitting on the steps. The new Rock Band's here! The new Rock Band's here! A little while later (while I was putting everything together, in fact), the UPS guy came by with the mike stand. So the instruments are all set up and ready to go, now we're just waiting for the Wii itself, the other software, and the other guitar. I swear, we must have an Amazon distribution center around here, because when did I order this stuff? Monday evening? That was fast.
Yes, that is a curio cabinet full of penguins. Why do you ask?
I talked to Ken's Mom today, and Ken had mentioned to her that maybe we'll have his stepbrother and his wife over when they're here for Thanksgiving, and play some Rock Band. Ken's Mom said, "Heck with that—I might want to play, too!" Now that would be a sight to see!
One thing I've heard about this is that it's brought some classic rock to a whole new group of kids who have never heard a lot of it before. Hard to argue with that. I'd like to know where the Kinks are, though! I'm sure there are all kinds of licensing agreements that have to be dealt with, so not every band or song I love is going to be included. On the next edition, I want to see "Are You Ready for the Sex Girls?" Make it happen!
Oh, and thanks Lisa, for telling me how much you love it. Hearing that a fellow rock chick has so much fun with it tells me that I'll enjoy it, too. I can't say I'll get into "Talk Dirty To Me" as much as you did, but I'm definitely looking forward to getting into some Blondie and Devo. Haha! Hey, I feel an uncontrollable urge for a little Devo right now. (And yes, this song is on the game. Yay!)
