The Last Book On Earth

So we were discussing literature the other night, and Wife posed the question "If you had one book (non-scriptural) and one book only to read for the rest of your life what would it be?"

This is a hard question. I'm not a great reader of fiction as most of you know. College ruined fiction in many ways for me. I spent too much time reading histories and ethnographies. Now I have no idea where to start when I enter the fiction section of Borders. The sheer number of tomes in the fiction section makes me believe that most of them must suck. I can't believe that there are that many quality writers in the world.

In any case if I were to choose just one book to read for the rest of my life, I'd have to choose Watership Down. Now let me explain that this is not the greatest novel of all time nor even my favorite novel. But it seems to me that the inherent optimism of this novel is something I'd need in a world where I only had one book to read.

In any case this whole exercise reminded me of one of the greatest shows of all time. The original Twilight Zone; for those who think I'm referring to a show about vampires, well there's no hope for you. One of the greatest episodes of Rod Serling's masterful program starred Mickey from the Rocky movies. His real name is Burgess Meredith but honestly he'll always be Mickey to me. In any case in the episode "Time Enough at Last," Meredith plays a beaten man who happens to be a book worm. If you have half an hour check it out. After watching it I wonder why television sucks so badly these days, it didn't always.


Watch 8. The Twilight Zone - Time Enough At Last in Entertainment Videos | View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

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There was music before I was born

I think everybody has in their closet that one pair of comfortable jeans to which they are religiously devoted. You know the pair to which I refer. They're usually stained with ketchup or sometimes catsup. Often they're either too big or small, depending on which side of Christmas you find yourself (damn that Christmas fudge). Almost without exception, this pair of jeans has a hole in the crotch or buttock region (your fanny for you non-Brits).

I often treat the Internet like that pair of jeans. Just as I like to wear those comfy jeans every day, I visit the same ten comfy sites every day. So you can imagine how exciting it is when I find a new site that gives me a whole new way to waste time online.

Today my time waster is lala.com. It's like a giant virtual jukebox which seems to have an infinite (well no Zeppelin or Beatles) supply of songs. As my friends Tyler and Ryan and I were discussing just this very week what we would consider the top ten songs (non classical) prior to our birth year (77), this site proved to be an excellent delivery vehicle to prove my list's superiority over theirs. So with no further ado I present to you "Husband's Top 10 Songs that were Almost as Great as the Divine Chorus which Undoubtedly Sounded at my Birth"(or that could have been my mom swearing at the doctor, my memory is fuzzy back that far).

[Note if you're reading this on facebook you should probably come to the blog site as you won't be able to see any of the neat links I loaded from lala. Oh and it helps stroke my ego to see my site visit counter go up. STROKE MY EGO. THE FIRST COMMANDS IT]


10. Black Water-Doobie Brothers

Black Water - The Doobie Broth...

9. House of the Rising Sun-The Animals

House Of The Rising Sun - The ...

8. A Boy Named Sue-Johnny Cash

A Boy Named Sue - Johnny Cash

7. Kashmir-Led Zepplin

6. Fortunate Son-CCR

Fortunate Son - Creedence Clea...

5. Purple Haze-Jimmy Hendricks

Purple Haze - Jimi Hendrix

4. Helter Skelter-The Beetles

3. Mr Tambourine Man-Bob Dylan

Mr. Tambourine Man - Bob Dylan

2. For What It's Worth-Buffalo Springfield

For What It's Worth - Buffalo ...

1. Paint It Black-The Rolling Stones

Paint It, Black - The Rolling ...

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Another meme

I usually ignore these but la Yen's looked too fun to ignore. Once again proving my susceptibility to peer pressure.

1. If you could escape to anywhere in the world where would it be?
Husband: France. This is a no brainer for me. Although this time I'd spend less time in Paris and more in the country side.
Wife: I guess France because I like to hang out with Husband. But if I got to choose a vacation for once it would probably be anywhere on the Mediterranean.
2. What song do you play when you are by yourself in the car?
Husband: Meatloaf's "I will do anything for love". And I sing it at the top of my lungs.
Wife: I love it when I find a Backstreet Boys or N'Sync song on a satellite radio station. Please don't judge. I don't get much alone time in the car so it doesn't happen much.
3. If you had a night to yourself, and money was no object, what would you do?
Husband: One night. I'd probably go online and buy all my Christmas presents for the year.
Wife: Spend it all in a bookstore.
4. What is your guilty pleasure?
Husband: A homewrecker burrito from Moe's and a night watching Criminal Minds.
Wife: A tub of cream cheese icing and a box of vanilla wafers and a VH1 countdown featuring Backstreet Boys and N'Sync.
5. What is the farthest place you have traveled away from your home?
Husband: Dumfries, Scotland
Wife: Vienna.
6. Last book that you couldn't put down?
Husband: Rough Stone Rolling
Wife: Suite Francaise. Thanks to all who suggested it. It was not a wasted read.
7. When you want to escape into another time, what movie do you watch?
Husband: The Lord of the Rings.
Wife: It doesn't much matter. There's a good chance I'll fall asleep regardless of what I put in.
8. What is your favorite local escape?
Husband: I'm really fond of Thatcher Park
Wife: Target, though that could also be my answer to Q#3.
9. How do you escape on a budget?
Husband: Stay with friends and mooch off their families.
Wife: Totally what he said. Or maybe even my own family.
10. Best food you've ever had while on vacation.
Husband: Cafe Rio, steak burrito cooked enchilada style with the medium sauce.
Wife: Totally what he said. But we usually eat pretty well on vacation.

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Dinner at UsAndCats Week of August 29

For those of you who have visited us, and we all know how lucky those blessed few are to enter these hallowed halls, know that Wife and I may not be anal retentive about cleaning but when it comes to planning our meals in advance we have few rivals.

In an effort to help you all drink deeply from the depths of our awesomeness, and to force us to actually eat what we plan and not just skip meals and go out to eat we're going to start posting our weekly menus along with links to the cookbooks from whence we got the recipes (Amazon should seriously pay us for the traffic). We will at the end of the week post the feedback on each recipe. That said this experiment will probably last two posts before we get sick of it. So with out further ado here's our schedule.

29 August --We're eating out at Phoenicians of Albany. Yeah that's a heck of a way to start but for those of you in the greater Capitol District we highly recommend this place. It's my favorite Lebanese food around here. If you are going let us know though and we'll go with you and introduce you to the owner. Fantastic food.

30 August--Chicken Parm from "Starting with Ingredients" p. 265. Accompanied with Pesto Pasta Salad from "Food Network Favorites" and Grilled Asparagus. Of Course we're having husband's family recipe of Mississippi Mud for desert.

31 August--Pork Enchiladas in a Green Chili Sauce from "Mexican: Healthy Ways With a Favorite Cuisine" p 134. Yes our Mexican is probably better but we haven't tried this green chili sauce.

1 September--Stir Fried Sesame Chicken & Leeks from "The Essential Wok Cookbook" p 166.

2 September--Moorish Chicken & Nut Pie from "The New Spanish Table" p 172. This by the way is an awesome cookbook and well worth the $9 it's going for right now on Amazon.

3 September--Grilled Cheese and Creamy Tomato Basil Soup.

Since you've been patient here's a classic Pinky and the Brain:

(If you're viewing this on Facebook or through an RSS feed, well you're missing out on the awesomeness of the photos and videos on our blog. Further, your lack of comments on our blog makes me want to gouge out my eyeballs in hopes that pain lessons the emotional trauma you've caused.)

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