Wrong Dog's Life Chest

Johnny Cash is one of my favorite musicians of all time. I like it all, from Ring of Fire and Field Of Stone to I Walk The Line. There is something about the stuff that he did at the end of his career that haunts me. There is a raw power and haunting that can only come from a man that has lived long and knows that his twilight is come.

I was talking to a new friend at the Obama returns party Tuesday night. I was talking about some of the 'covers' that Johnny did at the end of his life, and she said that she had not heard them. Thinking about that, I thought that it would be worthwhile to share some of my favorites here.

Rusty Cage was originally performed by Soundgarden. By any standard, it is a powerful song with some sort of hidden message. As a point of reference, here is Soundgarden's version:

and Johnny's version:

Depeche Mode's Personal Jesus

And Johnny

Nine Inch Nail's Hurt has always been one of my favorite songs. It has such passion and

I'll let Johnny speak for himself.

In case you have been living under a rock, you might not have noticed that Portishead has released a new album called 'Silence'. I am listening to it right now on Rhapsody and so far it is everything that I have wanted it to be.  I think that Rhapsody's description of the new album is pretty much straight up:

Morbid, sleeping-pill club music for people to dance on your grave to. Absolutely uncompromising. Absolutely brilliant. Portishead returns. 

 

Beth's vocals are as strong as ever and the band is still as tight as ever. How cool is this!

 

 

[NOTE: If you are asking yourself 'What The Hell is a Portishead?', see this: Glory Box, by Portishead

Or this slightly scaled back: Wandering Stars, by Portishead 

 

Sooo. I am sure that we all do something a little interesting every day. I think that I actually do some pretty cool stuff from time to time. You might even find it interesting too, but I don't think that you would want to sit on your couch after dinner and watch a show about it.

Enter Discovery channel's new show 'Verminators' wherein exterminators are followed around on their day to day. I happened to catch the last five minutes of the series premiere, and I can't see me regularily tuning in to watch some dude vacuum spiders. As if spending a few hours with camera's following you around a house vacuuming up balck widows wasn't bad enough, while thanking him the lady said "I would shake your hand but its gross." My first thought was 'how insulting!' My second thought was 'She's probably right.'

I am going to call this one short lived. TV is supposed to be better than real life, or at least better than the average life.

It cost over $20,000 to make. You would think that they could have spent $50 and run it past someone with the mindset of a 12 year old boy, like myself. Seems that they didn't notice until the unveiling.

It cost £14,000 to create, but clearly no-one at the smart London design outfit that came up with the new logo for HM Treasury thought to turn it on its side.

The logo, for the Office of Government Commerce, was intended to signify a bold commitment to the body’s aim of “improving value for money by driving up standards and capability in procurement”.

Instead, it has generated howls of mirth and what is likely to be a barrage of teasing emails from mandarins in other departments.

 

 

I was busy writing the third part of my candidate website review over at the netroots when I came across a most peculiar thing. All of the other MT-AL congressional candidates were compelled to add sections to their websites explaining their positions, backgrounds and qualifications, I was shocked to see that our Congressman Dennis Rehberg does not feel that he need to do any such thing. If you visit his website, there is a video, a short letter and nothing more. The only link to demonstrate his priorities, accomplishments and qualifications is labeled "Donate". To add insult to injury, the video starts playing automatically and has no visible controls to turn it off.

 

 

 

What are we to make of this? Are campaign donations the only issue important to Rehberg? Does he not feel the need to share his positions and accomplishments with us? Perhaps we are just supposed to accept that the job is his birth right and move the hell on? Who are we to ask these questions anyway? What was i thinking?

A visit to Jim Hunt's site at http://huntforchange.com shows a candidate that is interested in letting you know his positions on issues important to Montana. in fact, it has one of the most complete Issues sections I have seen in a candidate site. I suppose you could just head over there and read about Rehberg's positions if you are really interested.

I have been bringing you love from the McCain Girls ( here and here ) and now they have a little more love you. Please enjoy their thank you. 

 Click Here To Watch The Video

Remember, you heard it here first. 

OK, I showed you the awesome piece of work by the McCain girls last week and you came back with mixed reviews. Doug in Helena said:

I suspect these ladies will be showing up in my fever dreams shortly too. This must be some plot to drive what few conservatives remain over a cliff.

Pj in Missoula said:

Just want to add a big thanks. Now I've got that damn song stuck in my head.

We have all been on the edge of our seats, waiting to see what stroke of genius the lovely trio that have come to be known as The McCain Girls will do next. Turns out, not wanting to keep their fans waiting, we don't have to wait long:

Click Here To Watch The Video 

Disclaimer: Neither Shane C. Mason nor Wrongdog.Net is responsible for any health or mental issues that arise from viewing this video. Possible issues include, but are not limited to night terrors, night sweats, disassociation, post traumatic stress disorder, scrubbing your eyes with sandpaper, anal leakage, suicide and spontaneous combustion.

I mean, I think that this is serious. I mean, I think that these ladies are trying to praise John McCain, not embarrass him. You have to see this:

Watch The Video 

So, Ihave been pretty patient with television over the years, watching the decline of programming from crappy cop/lawyer/doctor shows into reality hell. Some reality shows are even 'ok'. I like Amazing Race because it shows people working together as a team to try and solve problems. I like American Idol because most of the people are very talented. I am not fond of Survivor, Big Brother and the like, as they are more about popularity, alliances and deception.  However, I have about 50 thousand channels, so I can just turn and watch a Futurama rerun anytime I want.

 I saw an advertisement for a show that just blew my mind yesterday. It's called America's Prom Queen and is about exactly what it says.  All the advertisement made me think about was highschool popularity games and how destructive and stupid they were. Why would I want to watch that on TV 17 years later?

I wrote here a just a few weeks ago about my dogs arson attempt, using a heat lamp I had provided for warmth. Well, a nearby dog made a more successfull attempt. 

The fire allegedly was caused by a heat lamp in a dog house in the backyard. The fire traveled into the roof of the home, gutting about half the roof, said West Valley Volunteer Fire Department Chief Jerry Shepherd

 

This is a terrible thing, but luckily no person or dog was harmed. However, the family lost their home and belongings.

After my own dog nearly burned my house down, I came to the conclusion that dog's and heat lamps don't mix. And this just goes to show: read my blog and save your house.