DaveTown

ThinkFree - A website that allows you to create, edit, and publish documents that are compatible with Microsoft Office (including PowerPoint). Yeah, that’ll only save you about $300.00 or so. Free.

Pandora – Type in a song or artist you like. Pandora will start playing songs that are similar. Click a link that tells Pandora whether you like it or not. Before you know it, you’ve created a radio station specifically tailored to your taste in music. Free.

LibraryThing – An online catalogue of your personal library. Entering your books is as easy as clicking a few links. The perfect site for that obsessive/compulsive bibliophile in your life. Free.

Wikipedia – The online encyclopedia that you can write and edit. Add an article that needs to be added, or improve an article that needs improving. Very addictive. It’s like cyber-crack. Free.

Gameknot – If you want to play chess online, but don’t have huge swaths of time to spend on it, Gameknot has time controls of anywhere from 1 to 10 days per move. Find people of your own skill level (rank beginner to grandmaster), and have a blast. Even if you don’t play chess, but have kind of always wanted to (it’s okay, you can admit it), this is a great way to learn. Free.

TOP FIVE WORDS OR PHRASES THAT SHOULD BE BANNED FROM ALL LOCAL NEWSCASTS:

1. Tragic
2. Breaking News
3. Potentially Deadly (especially if they’re going to wait until “after the break” to tell you about it)
4. Caught On Tape
5. Special Investigative Report

1. Del Fuegos  Boston, Mass.  - These guys came so close to making it big. They even had a beer commercial back in the 80’s. “Don’t Run Wild” is one of the best songs I’ve ever heard, period.
2. Majosha  Shut Up And Listen To Majosha  – Before Ben Folds created Ben Folds Five, this was his band. I defy you to find it any record store anywhere. I had a cassette version which just gave up the ghost. I’m very bummed about this. There may be some .mp3 versions of this album floating around internet. Find them and listen. It is a unique piece of work (great work, to my mind) and holds up quite well some 20 years or so after it was recorded
3. Aerosmith  Draw The Line  -  By far the best album they ever recorded, but do you know anyone who has it? Nope. Me neither.
4. Civ Civ – I was quite shocked to hear “Can’t Wait One Minute More” on a car commercial last year. I don’t understand why more people didn’t like this record.
5. U2 – The Unforgettable Fire  I hated this album when it first came out; then I listened to it about 30 times in a row. Now I love it and try to listen to it every few years or so, just for drill. Kinda like the way I read Salinger every few years; just to remember how good it is and enjoy it all over again.

Top Five Movie Fights of All Time:

5. “She Wore A Yellow Ribbon” – Victor McGlaglen beats up a whole squad of soldiers, then buys them a drink, then commences to beat them up a second time.

4. “Hooper” – Classic bar fight, in which so many guys get thrown out the window, the last guy throws himself out, just for drill. Features Burt Reynolds and Terry Bradshaw. As campy as campy can get.

3. “Blazing Saddles” – Cowboys, Nazis, Dancers, Alex Karras, and a Pie Fight. ‘Nuff said.

2. “The Quiet Man” – John Wayne and Victor McGlaglen in a brawl that goes from one side of the county to the other; they actually have to take a break so that people from the next town over can be bussed over to watch.

1. “The Presidio” – Not a good movie, but Sean Connery beats up a biker thug in a bar using only his left thumb (”The right one is far to powerful for the likes of you”). Worth the price of admission.

Honorable Mentions:

“McClintock” – An all out brawl in a water-filled mining pit. Mostly I chose it for the line “I’m not gonna hit ya. No, I’m not gonna hit ya. Like hell I’m not.”

“Heartbreak Ridge” – Another brawl in a mining pit. Not a great scene, but I thought Clint Eastwood should be somewhere on the list.

Did I miss anything?

Anti-Resolutions, ‘04 Style

It just seems easier to resolve not to do things in the coming year. I can’t remember the last time I actually carried out a New Year’s Resolution, so without further eloquence, I give you the much more accessible 2004 New Year’s Anti-Resolutions:

1. I will not run for public office this year.

2. I will not give up something for Lent that I don’t even enjoy in the first place.

3. I will not campaign for Howard Dean. Or Wes Clark. Or any of those other guys.

4. I will not turn 40 in September with any modicum of grace or dignity.

and, finally,

5. I will absolutely, positively NOT take a job with a law firm. Unless it pays really well. And doesn’t require a whole lot of long hours. Or lots of legal knowledge.

And this year, I MEAN IT!

Thanks to Heather

1. List your five favorite beverages.
* Coffee
* Sweetened iced tea.
* Newcastle Brown Ale
* Dr. Brown’s Cream Soda
*Well water from Isle of Wight County, Va.

2. List your five favorite websites.
* BigSoccer.com
* Roger Ebert’s Movie Reviews
* The Straight Dope
* Blogger
* Dappled Things

3. List your five favorite snack foods.
* Goldfish (the cracker, not the fish)
* Lay’s Potato Chips
* Chex Mix
* Cheezits
* Jerky

4. List your five favorite board and/or card games.
* Scrabble
* Chess
* Poker
* Gin
* Slapjack

5. List your five favorite computer and/or game system games.
* Fritz 8
* ChessMaster
* Pong
* Pinball (which is what we called video games when I was a kid)
* The little wooden paddles with the rubber ball attached with a rubber band.

Top Five All Time Books:

1. Seven Storey Mountain – Thomas Merton
2. Franny and Zooey – J.D. Salinger
3. The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe – C.S. Lewis
4. Captain Horation Hornblower – C.S. Forester
5. The Lord of the Rings – J.R.R. Tolkein

I would add that the series of books included in the above entries (Chronicles of Narnia, LOTR Trilogy, Hornblower) are included. Not to mention that Franny and Zooey is inclusive of all the Glass Family books by Salinger, though I don’t know if I’d call them a series (It’s my blog, I can split hairs if I want to).

Top Five All Time Albums:

1. Johnny Cash – American Recordings
2. Violent Femmes – Violent Femmes
3. U2 – The Joshua Tree
4. Los Fabulosos Cadillacs – Fabulosos Calaveras
5. Sex Pistols – Never Mind The Bollocks, Here’s The Sex Pistols

Top Five all time Movies:

1. The Quiet Man
2. She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
3. Monty Python Search For The Holy Grail
4. The Princess Bride
5. The Godfather

Honorable Mention: Rocky II, just because Burgess Meredith is great. Casablanca, which should probably be in the top five.

My criteria, by the way, for these movies is that anytime they come on TV, I’ll drop what I’m doing and watch it.