Month: June 2013

45RPM: Mr. Brownstone

Where I match a song to a specific memory.

My parents bought me a car to drive about a year after I got my driver’s license.  It wasn’t fancy, a Mustang II with an AM radio and a penchant for leaking oil and breaking down.  When my brother got his license, my parents upgraded us to a green ’79 Mustang with tires too big for the wheel wells.  They would scrape every time we went over a big bump or a dip.  For a period of time, it had no radio.  This was more maddening than only being restricted to the AM band, but some good came out of it.  Before everyone had their licenses, we all piled in the cars of the few who could drive in order to get from here to there.  We were smashed together, chattering all the way, laughing and gossiping.  In other cars, music was the background or the foreground of our ride, but in my car we filled the silence ourselves.  Driving a dark road to somewhere one night we fell silent until Eric burst into the opening notes of Gun’s and Roses Mr. Brownstone.  We were all GnR fans, and knew every word, so we rode into the night, our drug-free bodies singing with great gusto about addition and touring and a life that nearly all of us would never lead.

Three sentence movie reviews: GI Joe Retaliation

I went to see this because it’s the newest Channing Tatum flick and if Mr. CT is in a movie, go I must.  I do not wish to do any plot spoiling here, but let me tell you that there is a reason he’s kind of small on the movie poster, and that reason was rather disappointing to me.  However, I rallied, and instead focused my keen critic eye on the actress who played Tyra on Friday Night Lights.

Cost: $4.00 (now the only way to see a movie for less than $4.00 is to go to the Kennedy School where they charge $3.00 and where I usually end up ordering wine so the cost isn’t $3.00 at all.)
Where watched:  Jubitz Cinema.  It was me and a room full of truckers who, to my delight, had their usual pre-movie conversation where they don’t know each other, stare straight ahead, never making eye contact and they talk about all matter of things.

Parade Magazine Photo Spread: You win some, you lose some.

On the one hand, when a heterosexual couple rides a tandem bike, it is very uncommon to find the female in front.  Really. In real life, I’ve only seen it once.  This makes no sense to me as most women are smaller than their partners and it would make sense for them to be in front so they can see something beside their companion’s sweaty back.  So I liked this pairing that places–wait, who is that?  Kelly?  I think it’s Kelly Ripa?  Anyway, it places her in front of her new co-host.
 
However, look at her shoes!

Good lord, no!

A walk to a funeral.

It was a day that threatened rain, but I wasn’t in the mood to take two buses to get where I was going.  So I took a nice long walk. Here’s what I saw along the way.

A while ago, I photographed the house on this lot.  I was thinking it was about to be torn down and indeed, it was.  Two houses have replaced it, with two more coming soon.  Once again, I’m torn between the infill development (which I support) and the fact that the houses built are all very large and they leave no room for a yard.
 

Same street.  This guy is for sale and is on a big lot. I sense his days are numbered.
 
I’ve always liked this corner.
 
Reaching for the sun.
 
I love when there are messages written on girders.
 
Someday, someone will be tearing down this building and smile when they discover the mark of Local 28.
 
Here’s a total Portland guy.  Hops growing on his balcony.  He caught me taking this picture.
 
One reason I haven’t yet been to Pine State Biscuits.  Another reason?  I feel like I have to go on a 40-mile bike ride to properly integrate the calories.