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I took that test and got blue as well. Good thing I guess that my blog is already that color.

I thought to change my blog color just for the day, but changed my mind. But the blog is OBVIOUSLY green.

I really enjoy reading “Pearls Before Swine”, even if the artwork is lacking.

Yeah, though the artwork is actually growing on me. It’s better artistically than early Doonesbury, which was really minimalist, as I recall. In any case, it’s probably one of my top three strips.

Questions for Roger:

Yeah, that’s just like me, answering questions that weren’t even being asked.

1. So far, what has been your biggest-happiest-proudest moment of being Lydia’s father?

Don’t know, actually. But I can tell you what’s tickling me right now. She takes her carriage, the one she used to ride in (but won’t now unless she’s ill), which is still taller than she is, and walks it around the block, without riding off onto someone’s lawn or someone’s driveway. Just last week, I was walking behind her and the carriage and someone coming toward me though I must have had a remote control for the carriage. People seeing this from the street side seem to think it’s “AWWWW”-inducing. I think it’s amazing, since it involves six right turns (one out of the walkway, four at the corners, and one back into the walkway). She must be using her peripheral vision.

Also: she sees my change (coins), and has not indicated any interest in swallowing them. (Conversely, her father swallowed a penny once.) Instead, she brings it to me. This frustrates her mother; when SHE finds my change (on the floor, on the bed, in the laundry), she puts it in her change jar.
Recently, Carol was reading the paper, and Lydia said, “NO, Daddy’s!” (I read it a lot more than my wife does.) I thought it was very funny. Not sure my wife did.

2. It’s early yet, but who are you picking to win the World Series?

You’re a cruel man, Scott.
All right. The New York Metropolitans over the Detroit Tigers in six games.
BTW, I saw the Tigers’ leadoff hitter, Curtis Granderson, playing in Class A Oneonta three years ago.

3. What is the most controversial book you have read and what are your general thoughts about it?

I don’t know. Really. So, I went to Banned Books list and picked out four “challenged” books I’ve read.

Captain Underpants – I used to read this series with my niece who’s now 15, when she was maybe half that age. We enjoyed it tremendously.

A Handmaid’s Tale – I’m not a big novel fan, but that was the assignment for that particular month in my book club. I was surprised how much I was enraptured by this Margaret Atwood story.

Pentagon Papers – I was really ticked off with the abuses of my government.

Joy of Sex – I was 15. I don’t remember. Oh, wait, I do remember. I said, “THAT can’t be right, can it?” (It was.)

(And forgive me if questions #1 and #3 have already been asked of you in the past.)

I’m sure I’ve answered #1 before, but it’s always changing, so I never mind answering it.

And now from Nik:

Cheesy cliched questions!

I like cheese.

If you were a tree, what kind would you be?

A chestnut tree. There were chestnut trees on my walk home from school, and every year in season, I’d collect chestnuts. They’re smooth and beautiful, like fine wood. I’d keep them through the winter, to remind me that there would be new life. Then I’d toss them before they would go bad and do it again the next year. I should note that they were actually horse chestnuts, and therefore not edible.

If you could meet any person living or dead, who?

Thomas Jefferson, or Thomas Edison. Or maybe politician, inventor and regular raconteur Ben Franklin.

If you were a book, what would your title be?

I’ve ben thinking about this a lot, actually, because I signed up at The Remembering Site to write my life story. Haven’t actually WRITTEN much (started three sections), but have mused on it. In 1989, I probably would have stolen “Still Crazy After all These Years”. Now I really don’t know yet. But I’m open to suggestion/persuasion.
***
Fred Hembeck:
a) got married to Lynn Moss 27 years ago today
b) is smart enough to have mentioned same in his blog today
c) was kind enough to mention me in his post yesterday even though he was
d) the subject of my teasing last year on this date over this subject
e) is someone, along with the aforementioned Lynn Moss (and the artist currently known as Julie!) who we hope to see this summer
f) has a new outlet for his musings – this week, Beatlemania…and Al Jolson?

Paul Simon- Surprise. I found a surprising number of people online who indicated that they didn’t like the album. I’ve enjoyed it thus far, especially the first song, which was so atypical Simon, probably the Brian Eno influence, that I though I had put in the wrong album. “How can you live in the Northeast? How can you live in the South? How can you build on the banks of a river When the flood water pours from the mouth?” A conversation I’ve had with others since the flooding on the Mississippi in the last decade.

Lesley Gore – Ever Since. Gorgeous. Great reinterpretation of “You Don’t Own Me”.

George Harrison. This is an album of rarities a friend sent me. My favorite tune so far is a song that starts out with My Sweet Lord musically, but lyrically is a pirate song.

Jesse James appears in both the Mark Knofler/Emmylou Harris disc, and the Springsteen disc. I found Mark and Emmylou’s disc quite enjoyable.

The new Springsteen album, The Seeger Sessions, which I got from one of my sisters from Father’s Day, it felt like I’ve know for years. It’s like what Carole King once said about her early performances; she felt that she went on the stage “pre-loved”, because her friend James Taylor would introduce her by asking the audience, “Do you know (these songs)? This lady wrote them!” That’s how I feel about this album – loved practically before I heard a note.
Springsteen’s version of “We Shall Overcome” I had already owned from this Seeger tribute compilation that I bought in 2002 at an Old Songs festival. “Overcome” and “Eyes on the Prize” were on the Seeger “We Shall Overcome” album I’ve owned for 40 years. “Froggie Went a-Courtin’ ” and “Erie Canal” I knew from my childhood – all upstate New York children of a certain age knew “from Albany to Buffalo”. And the gospel and folk songs were also largely familiar.

Lefty made an album for Eddie, and sent me a copy, too. My enthusiasm practically matches Eddie’s.

In celebration of summer, here’s your chance once again to Ask Roger Anything. And he has to answer! The answers might even be true! E-mail me or leave it in the reply space.

The other day, Chris Black asked “Are you following the World Cup?” Well, I haven’t actually SEEN any of it, though I read the write-ups in the paper (and see a very occasional ESPN SportsCenter) enough to fear the Brazilians. I think it’s because I don’t find soccer (or futbol) to be a great TV sport; it’s MUCH better live, when you can see the whole field, and the strategies the players employ. (Whereas football, American-style, is a great TV sport, because the action is more limited.)
I’ve also discovered that, for me, hockey is better live than on TV, pretty much for the same reason; TV hockey feels like “follow the puck.” Oh, congratulations, ‘Canes.

So, Roger, what new acronym do we need to adopt? IYT. The acronym already has a couple definitions, but needs another: An “Inapplicable ‘You, Too’ ” as described in the 5/23 edition of Pearls Before Swine

It is SO true. Sunday, my wife said to two of our male neighbors, “Happy Fathers Day.” They replied in unison, “You, too.” Then they grinned sheepishly.

Add IYT to the lexicon!

I thought I’d list, not so much my favorite Beach Boys songs, but the ones that have affected me the most. Truth is, I could probably pick seven songs from Pet Sounds for the Top Ten, but what fun would THAT be?

1. Sail On Sailor – from my freshman year in college; the first time I really listened to post-Pet Sounds Beach Boys.
2. God Only Knows – damn, this is so beautiful, I could practically cry.
3. Our Prayer – ditto.
4. I Get Around- the first Beach Boys song I ever owned. The instrument-only version from the box set merely enhances my enjoyment.
5. Help Me Rhonda – the BAW BAW BAW BAW version with the “Help me Rhonda, yeah” in harmony, not the other, inferior version.
6. Don’t Talk – “Listen. Listen, listen, listen.”
7. In My Room – beautiful, but sad.
8. ‘Til I Die – beautiful, but REALLY sad. “I’m a cork on the ocean.”
9. Darlin’ – just because.
10. Feel Flows – from my college days, reinforced by Cameron Crowe.
11. Wouldn’t It Be Nice – a specific personal reference.
12. When I Grow Up – I was a sucker for the years going by: “14, 15, 16, 17”.
13. All Summer Long – from American Graffiti. Always thought the instrumental bridge was out of tune.
14. You Still Believe In Me – another Pet Sounds track.
15. Barbara Ann – great sing-a-long song.
16. Caroline, No – the single listed as by Brian Wilson.
17. Don’t Worry, Baby – the other first song in my collection.
18. Be True to Your School – another song with multiple versions; I like the one without the female background singers. A JEOPARDY reference.
19. I Just Wasn’t Made for These Times – sometimes, I could relate to the title.
20. Transcendental Mediation – I loved the irony: a relaxed title with fairly raucous music.
21. Break Away – it was a VERY minor hit in 1969 (#63); I didn’t hear it until the mid-1970s.
22. Good Vibrations – probably would have ranked higher except that it was savagely overplayed.
23. Surf’s Up – I have no idea what most of the lyrics mean, but it has that classic BB vocalese ending.
24. Let’s Go Away for Awhile – instrumental from Pet Sounds.
25. Surfer Girl

And, Friends, if I were to Do It Again, under the Warmth of the Sun, I might have picked a dozen other songs and rearrange the order.

When George Orwell wrote 1984 back in 1949, I imagine it seemed that 1984 would reflect a none too distant future for this New Society to take hold. Of course, a version of Newspeak has been around ever since the first euphemism was devised.
(I think the degree to which it took hold in that title decade was epitomized by the lyrics from Tracy Chapman’s 1987 Why?
Why, when there’s so many of us are there people still alone?
Why are the missiles called peacekeepers, when they’re aimed to kill?…
Love is hate, war is peace, no is yes,
We’re all free…but, somebody’s gonna have to answer, the time is coming soon.
Amidst all these questions and contradictions there’re some who seek the truth. )

Science fiction has long sought to reflect on the future, possibly most notably in the film 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Prince’s 1999 may have seen out of reach in 1983, or maybe it was just the apocalyptic nature of the penultimate year of the 20th Century that was so attractive to the songwriter.