My Top 20 Favorite Songs

Last week, my husband and I were talking about what our top 10 songs are. I had so many that I wanted in my top 10 that I had to make a top 20. Here they are, just for s and g's.

1. Back in Black - AC/DC
2. Nobody's Listening - Linkin Park
3. Hotel California - Eagles
4. Tom Sawyer - Rush
5. Baba O'Riley - The Who
6. Kashmir - Led Zeppelin
7. Cowboy - Kid Rock
8. AM Radio - Everclear
9. Veteran of the Psychic Wars - Blue Oyster Cult
10. Orion - Metallica
11. Thunderstruck - AC/DC
12. Seven Bridges Road - Eagles
13. Unforgiven II - Metallica
14. One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer - George Thorogood and the Destroyers
15. Landslide - Stevie Nicks
16. Paint it Black - The Rolling Stones
17. Freebird - Lynyrd Skynyrd
18. I Stand Alone - Godsmack
19. Rooms on Fire - Stevie Nics
20. Rock 'n Me - Steve Miller Band

My top Albums (in no particular order):

• Full Moon Fever - Tom Petty
• Songs from an American Movie - Everclear
• Master of Puppets - Metallica
• Meteora - Linkin Park
• Hybrid Theory - Linkin Park
• Supernatural - Santana
• Devil without a Cause - Kid Rock
• Workshop of the Telescopes - Blue Oyster Cult
• Who Made Who - AC/DC
• Green - REM
• So - Peter Gabriel

My favorite bands, in case you couldn't tell (in no particular order):

• AC/DC
• Rush
• The Who
• The Rolling Stones
• Eagles
• The Steve Miller Band
• Led Zeppelin
• Tom Petty
• Everclear
• Metallica
• Linkin Park
• Kid Rock

See How Your Senators Voted on the Bailout

Senate vote for HR 1424, the "Senate Bailout".

http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=110&session=2&vote=00213

Both of my senators voted for it, so guess who I am going to vote against when they are up for re-election.

Notes on Sarah Palin - Charlie Gibson Interview

My rough notes from the Palin/Gibson interview:

economy:
-put govt on side of people-halt the growth of government
-in Wasilla-cut property tax-increased sale tax-cut small business inventory taxes-started with a balanced budget and ended with a deficit for sports arena
-Alaska:-temporarily eliminated state fuel tax

what would you change in Bush economic plan?
-change oversight of quasi-government agencies (such as fannie mae and freddie mac)
-reduce taxes, reform spending, change oversight
-vet programs should not be touched
---
-describes self as washington outsider with no allegiances to power brokers.
-paid 30,000 for a lobbyist to washington
---
-roe v. wade should be overturned on the state level-abortion only in the case of the woman's life endangered (McCain for abortion permitted in case of incest and rape)
-against embryonic stem cell research (McCain for)
-avoided question about whether being gay is learned or genetic
-against more gun control
-says she is experienced enough and has enough ability to be vice president and possibly president
---
-avoided national security and foreign policy question, saying being more energy independent would be great for national security
---
-played basketball in high school

GOP Selection of Palin is Highly Insulting

I have been in a bad mood since the announcement was made. I find the selection of Sarah Palin as the Republican vice presidential nominee to be highly insulting. What are we supposed to infer by her nomination? She has only been the governor of Alaska for less than 2 years. Before that, she was a mayor. She does not have near enough experience for the position. So why was she chosen? Because she is a woman? There are plenty of female Republicans who are qualified for the job. This just disgusts me. And it seems that all the Republican politicians are just going along with it, like this is a genius move. Ugh! Let's see, she's not as qualified as Barak Obama, Obama's not as experienced as George W. Bush was when he took office-and I did not vote for Bush-because he was not qualified enough!

What was McCain thinking? Was he thinking? Is he just going with what other people are telling him to do, or was this his idea? If it was his idea, it does not bode well for him.

Presidential Election 08

I have been researching the Presidential candidates online. I like to look at the candidates' voting records, biography, official stance on the issues, and their writings and speeches. The issues that are important to me right now are, in order; Budget/Finance, Immigration and National Security, and Foreign Policy.

Click here to view Senator Barack Obama's Senate voting record at Project Vote Smart.

Click here to view Senator John McCain's Senate voting record at Project Vote Smart.

Once on the page, chose an issue from the drop-down menu and click "go".

What I'm (re-)Reading: Watchmen

Watchmen by Alan Moore. I first read this in college. When I saw the preview for the Watchmen movie (coming 2009), it made me want to read it again.

Movie Talk: Summer of Movies

Yes, this has been a fantastic summer for movies! Dark Knight, Tropic Thunder, Pineapple Express, Iron Man! Awesome. Personally, I found Dark Knight to be the best. The acting was superb. Heath Ledger played the Joker straight out of Killing Joke with a few twists of his own. Bravo! Aaron Eckhart and Gary Oldman did very well in their roles. My favorite parts of the movie were when the truck flipped end-over-end and the nurse. :) I saw Dark Knight 3 times in the theater, and I would like to see it again, but in IMAX. It was filmed (or at least many of the scenes were) specifically for IMAX.

Tropic Thunder is Hil-aaaarrrr-ious! I've seen it twice, first with my husband and my oldest son, second time I took the two other sons. Tom Cruise is a comedy surprise. He plays Les Grossman, the movie studio exec. A balding, hairy man with gigantic hands and forearms. His dance cracks me up!

Opening this weekend: Death Race and House Bunny. House Bunny looks like it could be funny, but I will wait for video. I keep going back and forth on Death Race. OK, it is a stupid story, IMO, but the driving and effects would be cool on the big screen.

Global Advanced Personality Test

My results:

Advanced Global Personality Test Results Extraversion 74% Stability 58% Orderliness 54% Accommodation 38% Interdependence 70% Intellectual 62% Mystical 43% Artistic 63% Religious 10% Hedonism 50% Materialism 36% Narcissism 50% Adventurousness 43% Work ethic 43% Humanitarian 70% Conflict seeking 56% Need to dominate 43% Romantic 23% Avoidant 30% Anti-authority 63% Wealth 30% Dependency 30% Change averse 56% Cautiousness 63% Individuality 36% Sexuality 70% Peter pan complex 36% Family drive 70% Physical Fitness % Histrionic 36% Paranoia 50% Vanity 36% Honor 70% Thriftiness 70%

Take Free Advanced Global Personality Test
personality test by similarminds.com

Comic Books

So, I walk up to the counter with $38 worth of comic books, and all I can think is "being an adult is awesome!" Really. I can buy all the comics I want. I remember being a kid and only being able to buy one or two comics. The little girl inside me is smiling.

I wanted to buy The Watchmen...which I read in college...but they were sold out. They said they are getting 10 in tomorrow. So, guess where I'll be? I saw the trailer for the Watchmen movie, and decided I need to read it again. (If you haven't seen the trailer yet, check it out!)

Link: Watchmen trailer on IMDB

Found my Camera!

Yeah! I found my camera this past weekend. It was in the couch. Not under a couch cushion. Not down the side of the couch. But somehow down the corner of the couch where the arm rest meets the back. I was thrilled, of course!

My oldest son, Bobby, and I made our first video blog. (And it may be our last!) We took about 20 minutes of video. I uploaded it to my computer. That took about 10 minutes. Then, I cut it into smaller chunks and exported those chunks into wmv format (the default for my camera is Quicktime). I used Windows Movie Maker to cut those pieces up even more, add text, etc. Then, it had to be converted to wmv format again (Windows Movie Maker saves it as a project). All told, we spent between 3 and 4 hours to produce a 4 minute video. That's a lot of work, when you are not getting paid for it! All of those format conversions took their toll on the video. There are black spots, text is out of sync, etc.

It was kind of fun, though. But I don't know if I will do it again. Straight video is easier. And, after all, I am not a video professional.

Here's the video, if you are interested.