ok, Davy Jones has been done!

( click to read where (today show spoiler warning) )

i hate the 700 meg limits of a cdrom...

my halloween collection had to get trimmed from the 956 meg down to 700 to fit on the damned thing.

of course, really this just meant getting rid of the "long stuff" (Pink Floyd's Dogs and Shine On, the 20 min Rite of Spring from Fantasia, exchanged with excerpts) that I likely wouldn't play tonite, but still...

11 hours, 46 minutes to choose from for tonite.  I'm ready.

"bring 'em on"

(in the "crapity crap crap crap" zone - I didn't get "Welcome to my Nightmare" on it 'cause I don't have a rip of it here @ the office...bleh.)

oh, and since everybody here has asked, I'm naming the mix "Thriller Free" 'cause that's the one thing I refused to put on it.

scare tactics for the young?

Dispatches from the Culture Wars: Were They Wearing Brown Shirts?:

This happened about an hour away from me:

Police in the western Michigan community of Wyoming entered two classrooms at Lee Middle and High School on Thursday and announced there was a threat to the school, The Grand Rapids Press reported.

Students, who were unaware police were conducting a drill, were taken from the classroom into the halls, patted down by officers and asked what they had in their pockets, the newspaper said.

"Some of these kids were so scared, they just about wet their pants," said Marge Bradshaw, a parent with four children in Godfrey-Lee Schools. "I think it's pure wrong that the students and parents were not informed of this."

A drill for what, exactly? Under what imaginable scenario would the police have to burst into a school unannounced, line up all the students against the wall with guns on them and frisk them? None that I can think of. I can't imagine any operational justification for this drill. I suspect it's more about spreading fear in the school, letting the students know that big brother is watching and he could do this to you for real.

I know the courts have basically decided that kids in school have no rights except those which their parents are willing to defend (in court), but this is absolutely insane.

there are limits to "power to the people"

Gallaudet's Loss - washingtonpost.com (editorial):

THE BOARD OF trustees at Gallaudet University certainly showed who was in charge when it voted to terminate Jane K. Fernandes's contract as president. Sadly, it wasn't the members of the board, who are supposed to serve the interests of the university. Nor, for that matter, were reason or right in evidence Sunday as the trustees ousted a woman they had recently judged to be the best person to lead the renowned school for the deaf. Instead, what triumphed was lawlessness and the principle that a university president should be chosen on the basis of popularity.

sanctity indeed...

Charlie Crist, candidate for Florida Governor:  marriage is a "sacred" relationship - "like I had, before I got divorced."

tonite's spooky playlist...

• Tubular Bells excerpt (duh)
• Purple People Eater
  
• Steve Hackett - Vampire with a Healthy Appetite
• Genesis - Home by the Sea / Second Home by the Sea
• Led Zep - No Quarter (live)
• Sting - I Burn for You (Bring on the Night version)
• Uriah Heep - The Park and Lady in Black
• Pink Floyd - Is there anybody out there?
• played as we'd gone a good 40 minutes without a ring...everybody's on the other side of the street right now...
• The Beatles - I am the Walrus
• BOC - Veteran of the Psychic Wars
• B-52's - Rock Lobster
• Men at Work - Doctor Heckle and Mr. Jive
  
  
• Disney's Haunted Mansion - Grim Grinning Ghosts
• excerpts from the Harry Potter soundtracks
• Raiders of the Lost Ark - The Map Room
• Labyrinth - Within You
• Legend (Goldsmith score) - The Dress Waltz
• Lemony Snicket - closing credits "drive away"
• The Addams Family (movie) - opening credits
• Star Trek I - Vjer flyby
• Theme from The Prisoner
• excerpt from Walking with Dinosaurs
  
  
• Orff - O Fortuna from Carmina Burana
• Mozart - Excerpt from Don Giovanni (from Amadeus soundtrack)
• Mozart - Excerpts from Requiem Mass (from Amadeus soundtrack)
• Prokofief - Montagues and Capulets (from Romeo and Juliet suite 2)
• Stravinsky - opening of Rite of Spring
• Bizet - L'Arsienne
• Grieg - excerpt from Peer Gynt
• Ives - The Unanswered Question
• Tchaikovsky - Marche Slave

In general, quieter (fewer kids) than last year. Not sure why.  It's 'bout 830 now (two hours since i started) and I think we're about done...

Icon shot taken today @ office party, dude.