Susan Boyle Channels Depeche Mode?

One of my favorite songs ever is "Enjoy the Silence" by Depeche Mode. 

Susan Boyle

Just saw that Susan Boyle came out with a version of it, and I said, uh, oh, that can't be good.  You remember her. She's the frumpy looking woman in 2009  on Britain's Got Talent who was grossly underestimated until she opened her mouth to sing. It's one of the most famous videos on YouTube and I still tear up a bit when I see it. 

That initial success led to a big recording career for Boyle. And I"m so glad, she deserves it. I've always rooted for her. 

However, I usually don't like remakes of my favorite songs. And though Boyle has an awesome voice, I couldn't imagine her taking a crack at Depeche Mode. Kind of like mixing hamburger and ice cream for dinner.

But once again Boyle was underestimated. By me this time. Turns out her Depeche Mode remake is awesome. Compare the two versions for yourself.

Click on this sentence to listen to the Depeche Mode version


And click here to listen to Boyle's take on "Enjoy The Silence." 

I honestly don't know which version is better. 

Something Called Dubstep. Dancer Wows

A viral video going around proves that I'm an out of touch old man.

The guy in the video is dancing something called Dubstep. It's a type of music, and a type of dance, I guess. I'd never heard of it until now. I guess my brain is still in 1978 or some damn thing,

The song is a version of the hit song "Pumped Up Kicks," by Foster the People, modified to be Dubstep. The song is slowed, a lot of production elements are added, and there's an intense base vibe to it at times. You have to listen to understand.

But the dancing is amazing, even if you don't like that type of movement. It looks like there's some sort of video editing trick going on, but I'm assured this is really the guy moving without any editing tricks. Really cool, Watch:

Summer Hangs on in Vermont

Today was another picture perfect July weather day.
And the fact it's late September made it all the more wonderful.

Flowers and gardens are hanging in there with this 80 degree late season warmth, so we get to enjoy landscapes that aren't frost bitten ruins, like they usually are this time of year.

A couple of pictures I took yesterday and today of flowers and sedum in my gardens and posted here prove my point.

Traffic Not Like Vermont

This isn't why I live in Vermont.

I'm spoiled in that I rarely have to sit in traffic jams, given how I live in the Green Mountain State.

Last Wednesday. Interstate 89, south
of Georgia, Vermont. Grr!

Which makes it pretty annoying that the traffic jams are cropping up here more and more often.
Last week, it was twice in two days.

On the way home from work Wednesday, things came to a complete standstill on Interstate 89 between Colchester and Georgia, Vermont

Seems there had been a car crash earlier, and although it had been cleaned up by the time I got on the Interstate, the road still jammed up. People rubbernecking at skid marks? People trying to cause new accidents just for fun? People just stopping because it's fun to stop on a major highway and make the whole world stop with you?

It was a complete mystery, but I sat still, not moving for a half hour. It was almost long enough to see a discernable change in the color of the leaves, it being fall and all.

All in all, it was a wonderful way to spend an early autumn evening. Breathing in the fumes of the cars and trucks around me, and watch the fuming of all the people around my late to wherever they were going.

Next morning, Joy! I had to take a road other than Interstate 89. This would be a breeze! I had to bring Jackson the puppy to doggie day care, which would take me along Route 7 into Milton, Vermont.

Of course, I forgot about the construction at the intersection with Lake Road, which is the route to doggie day care. They've been digging and scraping and drilling and moving earth since May, and I don't see a difference. I don't know what they're building.

The construction crews there appeared to believe that stopping all traffic to lay pipes between 7:30 and 8:30 a.m. is the perfect time to do this. So there I sat in another long line of traffic.

Thursday morning. Route 7 in Milton.
Double GRRRR!!!

Traffic jams are city things. It's jarring to sit there in a line of cars amid the pleasant autumn rural scenery. Will this get worse? Will these traffic jams happen every day? Maybe I should move to somewhere quieter, with fewer cars.

Baffin Island, perhaps?

Too Into His Work

 Glad to see the garden supply place I go to has a sense of humor.

I went to pick up a load of topsoil at Gardeners Supply in Williston, Vermont the other day and saw what you see in the pic in this post.

Either somebody is too into his work in the mulch pile, or Gardeners Supply was trying to get a laugh from customers.

They got a laugh from this customer, anyway. Mission Accomplished.

What's With the Mean, Awful Debate Audiences?

For the third time this year, the audience upstaged the candidates during a Republican presidential debate on Thursday.

Too bad it the upstaging was in such a lurid, disgusting way. Where do they get these audiences anyway?

To recap, in past debates over the past few weeks, some audiences cheered when capital punishment was brought up. Kill 'em all! It's fun!

Then in the next debate, some yahoos in the audience cheered at the prospect of a hypethetical man without insurance needing expensive health care. The cheering was for the option of letting the patient die, as punishment for not having health insurance.

At least these audiences are consistent in being pro-death. Except of course for unborn children. After they're  born, they're on their own, I guess.

Thursday night was a debate in which people made YouTube videos of themselves asking question of the Republican presidential candidates.  Steve Hill, a gay soldier serving in Iraq, asked a question about the repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell. The repeal, which took effect this week allows openly gay soldiers to serve.

Some members  of the audience booed Hill, apparently because he is for gay. I guess the fact this guy is risking life to protect these audience idiots' lives is besides the point.

So, if one of these yahoos has a heart attack and the paramedics come to save him, he'll check whether the paramedic is gay first? And if so, would he rather die than be saved?

Don't get me wrong. I have no problem with full throated debates on capital punishment, health care policy and gay issues. I'd bet most of my conservative and liberal friends would agree this stuff needs to be hashed out.

Also, to be fair, reports are many audience members during the booing Thursday night tried to shush the loud boo hoos in the audience or gave them cold, hard stares.

But really, it's depressing to hear people cheer the deaths of other people, or disrespect a member of the military like that.

It's got to be hard, being a idiot audience members like those that boo soldiers and cheer death.  When these guys hit hard times,  as karma almost always dictates,  will anybody respect them enough to give them a hand?

Maybe they can talk to that soldier they booed. Maybe learn a lesson in humanity.

Nirvana Masterpiece 20 Y.O. Already!

Yep, I'm feeling old. Nirvana's landmark album, "Nevermind" came out 20 years ago this week.

I do consider it one of the finest albums made, so I guess I join a lot of critics in that regard.

The lead single, "Smells Like Teen Spirit," is among my top ten favorite songs I can think of. True, you can barely understand what the lead singer, the late Kurt Cobain, is singing. And even if you did, some of the lyrics are pretty nonsensical.

"A mulatto, an albino!
A mosquito, my libido!"

But the rage in the song is so cathartic that you have to embrace it. Odd how such a chaotic song could have such great hooks.

So yeah, here's me, a 49 year old guy screaming along to Kurt Cobain. You can, too. Here's the "Smells Like Teen Spirit" video. Enjoy