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Dollhouse premiered tonight, and I can tell you this much–it’s a dead man walking. Now, don’t get me wrong. I thought it was fairly good (pilots are always kind of lame), and totally has potential to be freakin’ awesome, but I forsee it being very short-lived. I mean, just look at its timeslot: 9 PM on a Friday night. That is like the old folks’ home of TV-land. It is where shows go to die. Remember Firefly? No? Well, that was its slot, and FOX axed it after 11 episodes. Joss Whedon, bless his soul, still keeps going back. FOX is like the bad girlfriend who cheats on him and keeps breaking it off, but he runs back because he’s convinced she’s the only person who will ever love him. Oh, Joss. When will you learn?

Anyways, a little bit about the show. It stars Eliza Dushku (AKA bad-girl Slayer Faith on Buffy and Angel and Missy in Bring It On, which happens to be a movie I totally love) as Echo, an “active” in the Dollhouse. The Dollhouse is basically an enclave of hot girls who are blank slates for hire. If someone has the cash, they can can hire an “active” to do whatever–from sleep with him to negotiate a hostage situation. In each assignment, the active is given an entirely new personality and set of memories. After the assignment, they are erased and they remember nothing.

So, hella cool, right? Plus, dude, Joss Whedon. When has anything he’s done not been super-rad? Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Firefly. Serenity. Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog. And now Dollhouse. After such a hiatus from the world of television, I’m glad to see Joss back where he belongs. I just wish he would stay away from FOX.

I was maybe 10 years old and I was camping with my father and my younger sister. My sister had gone to bed, and my dad and I were sitting on folding chairs around our campfire. We were singing, which is something we really should never do, because neither of us is particularly tuneful. At least the only living creatures around to hear us were the mountain lions. We’d already exhausted the supply of songs that we both knew (I had only been alive for 10 measley years, after all. Most of the songs I knew were by NSync). So he started singing songs he knew. He started slowly and sadly, “Sittin’ in the morning sun / I’ll be sittin’ when the evening comes”. There was something eerie about the song, sung quietly and a cappella by the last coals of our campfire. He told me it was by a soul singer named Otis Redding.

I didn’t hear the song as sung by Otis until I was a freshman in high school. My religion teacher, Mr. McCullough, started every class period with a song. One day his selection was Sittin’ On the Dock of the Bay. I went home and looked it up on Wikipedia. I read about the plane crash. He was only 26 when he died, and ”Sittin’ On the Dock of the Bay” had been recorded days before his aircraft plummeted into Lake Monona, killing all aboard except backing singer Ben Cauley.

With this new knowledge, the song seemed even more spine-tingling. As I got more and more into Otis Redding’s music, I found that this song didn’t sound quite like his older work. But what really got to me is the fact that the song wasn’t finished. The whistling bit at the end was just a placeholder until Otis could write another verse. He had such a career, for a man who died so young. So yeah, just like D4 says, “I know he’s never gone.”

Photo by Max Varkudal

Remember a couple posts ago, when I was talking about songs that make me cry? Remember “Pints of Guinness Make You Strong” by Against Me!?

I punched a dude in the kidneys to this song. It wasn’t a random act of violence–I was at an Against Me! show in Seattle back in October. Ever since the release of their latest album, New Wave, their fan base has grown exponentially and unfortunately it includes more than a few jerks. I had been shoved by hulking Cro-Magnons to the back of the pit and was separated from my friends, not to mention surrounded by huge jocky guys and their girlfriends, who more resembled child prostitutes than kids at a show. So I had to fight my way back to the front, elbows out and teeth gritted. After the show, Stephie said, “I hope some people piss blood tomorrow.”

I have this friend. Against Me! is her favorite band. When she was still at Evergreen, we’d sit around and sing along to our favorite songs. She’d pull out her guitar and begin to strum the familiar chord progression. I can never remember the words to songs, but “Pints of Guinness Make You Strong” is one of the few I know all the words to. So it became my song. The one I always had to sing in my cracking, off-key voice.

And of course, there’s the emotional response. I’m often accused of being an emotional void. This is totally true, unfortunately. But this song manages to melt my cold, cold heart and I usually end up choking back tears because it’s so sad–”I swear to God that I’ll love you forever, Evelyn / I’m not coming home tonight”. It gets me every single time.

My dad is probably one of my favorite people in the world. He is a quality individual. I also talk about him a lot. I’m pretty sure this annoys the crap out of people and generally gives the impression that I’m such a loser that I spend inordinate amounts of time at home playing Guitar Hero with my dad (Nunz N Mozes is the best fake band ever), which is pretty much a true impression. It has made me fairly decent at GH, however.

We were IMing today and I happened to be listening to Amy’s “It’s Snowing, Let’s Overreact!” mix (from the post below). The song playing was “Sun or Snow” by Chuck Ragan & Austin Lucas. I told him the song I was listening to made me sad and I sent it to him.

Dad: when did u start listening to hilbilly music?

He then proceeded to quiz me on my pronunciations of “Appalachia”, “pen”, and “guitar”, all of which were apparently in the style of the hillfolk from which I am descended. (Appalaycha, pin, gittar). I proceeded to send him the following songs:
“Wagon Wheel” – Old Crow Medicine Show
“The Boat” – Chuck Ragan
“Last Pale Light in the West” – Ben Nichols
“Restless” – Rumbleseat
“The Weight of Lies” – The Avett Brothers

He sent these:
“Amie” – Pure Prairie League
“Dixie Chicken” – Little Feat
“Can’t You See” – The Marshall Tucker Band

Dad:  this is fun!

Then we talked about our mutual dislike of Led Zeppelin (sometimes I feel like the only person in the world who doesn’t think Led Zep is God’s gift to rock ‘n’ roll)

Then it was past his bedtime. He’s coming up to visit next week (!) with my mom and little sister. I can’t wait to see them.

“It’s Snowing, Let’s Overreact!”
By Amy
December 2008
No More Fighting Cats, OK? – Des Ark
Secrets of a Salesman – Rocky Votolato
Sun or Snow – Chuck Ragan & Austin Lucas
Snow Creature – Matty Pop Chart
I Am Citizen – Against Me!
Emotional Weather Report – Tom Waits
Cold Weather Gear – The Menzingers
Sleeping Weather – Small Brown Bike
Thunder Road – Tortoise & Bonnie Prince Billy
Salamander – The Butchies
I Hear the Rain – The Violent Femmes
And Then the Rains Came – William Elliott Whitmore
Interstate 8 – Modest Mouse
Fake Palindromes - Andrew Bird
Think I Wanna Die – Someone Still Loves You, Boris Yeltsin
It Wouldn’t Be – Slingshot Dakota
Restless – Rumbleseat
Imitation of Life – R.E.M.
In the Aeroplane Over the Sea – Neutral Milk Hotel
Death Is Not the End – Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds
I listen to this a lot when I’m going to sleep.

Untitled
By Mr. Byrnes
January 2009
The American in Me – The Avengers
We Are the One – The Avengers
Paint it Black – The Avengers
Alone Again – Love
Seven and Seven Is – Love
Fuck and Run – Liz Phair
What a Wonderful World – Joey Ramone
Seven and Seven Is – The Ramones
I Don’t Want to Grow Up – The Ramones
Pet Semetary – The Ramones
Day of Wine and Roses – The Dream Syndicate
The Ledge – The Replacements
Merry Go Round – The Replacements
What’s She Done to Your Mind? – Rain Parade
Love Is All Around – Joan Jett
Hollow Man – R.E.M.
Kids Are Alright – The Who
I Have Had Enough – The Who
John Coltrane Stereo Blues – The Dream Syndicate
World Leader Pretend – R.E.M.
To Susan on the West Coast Waiting – Donovan

I just finished reading Rollergirl: Totally True Tales From the Track by Melissa “Melicious” Joulwan, one of the founders of the current incarnation of women’s flat-track roller derby. After about 10 pages I realized that I must do this. I must become a rollergirl.

For young ladies whose anger levels are a bit high (such as myself), roller derby is a Godsend. Even though there are rules, they’re just made to be broken. Basically, you get to skate around knocking chicks down. Even though I am seemingly docile and mild-mannered, approximately 77% of the time, I want to fight someone. I also really enjoy rollerskating, as a general rule.

My only concern is that I am generally non-athletic and very, very clumsy (I fell down a flight of stairs in D Dorm on my first day back after Winter Break. I had the most beautiful bruise ever on my thigh). But I can learn, right? Because I really need this to be a part of my life and I am not letting my depth perception problems stand in my way.

Three songs that make me cry like a little girl, every time.

Pints of Guinness Make You Strong (Acoustic) - Against Me!

Left and Leaving - The Weakerthans

Restless - Rumbleseat