8.31.2005

The Peril of Piles

(For those of you 'specting musings about health & hygiene "down there" -- move right along now... Now. Get along with yourself. G'head.)

StinkyLulu's been on a several year journey of "organization" -- of trying to simplify while also trying to determine what's useful, possibly essential, among the piles and piles and piles of papers (not to mention the piles & piles OF piles) amassed via a long meandering path through the wilds of academentia...

This bit over at Academic Coach offered both consolation and admonition. "There but for the grace of the Goddess goes StinkyLu..."

The peril of piles, yea verily...

8.30.2005

StinkyLulu's Bad Taste in Music Meme

Well, it's been a long week & StinkyLulu really needs a bit of mindless piddling. So, it seemed as good as time as any to do a meme. Saw this one over at New Kid on The Hallway & thought it sounded fun enough...

The premise (memise?) is to go find the list of the top 100 songs from the year you graduated from high school. Bold the ones you like(d), strikeout the ones you don't. O'course, StinkyLulu's a doof & doesn't know how to do the strikeout thing; so StinkyLu's agonna italicize the ditties for which the reaction is "feh".

********

1. That's What Friends Are For, Dionne Warwick, Elton John, and Gladys Knight
2. Say You, Say Me, Lionel Richie
3. I Miss You, Klymaxx
4. On My Own , Patti Labelle and Michael McDonald
5. Broken Wings, Mr. Mister
6. How Will I Know, Whitney Houston
7. Party All The Time, Eddie Murphy
8. Burning Heart, Survivor
9. Kyrie, Mr. Mister
10. Addicted To Love, Robert Palmer
11. Greatest Love Of All, Whitney Houston
12. Secret Lovers, Atlantic Starr
13. Friends And Lovers, Carl Anderson and Gloria Loring
14. Glory Of Love, Peter Cetera
15. West End Girls, Pet Shop Boys
16. There'll Be Sad Songs, Billy Ocean
17. Alive And Kicking, Simple Minds
18. Never, Heart
19. Kiss, Prince and The Revolution
20. Higher Love, Steve Winwood
21. Stuck With You, Huey Lewis and The News
22. Holding Back The Years, Simply Red
23. Sledgehammer, Peter Gabriel
24. Sara, Starship
25. Human, Human League
26. I Can't Wait, Nu Shooz
27. Take My Breath Away, Berlin
28. Rock Me Amadeus, Falco
29. Papa Don't Preach, Madonna
30. You Give Love A Bad Name, Bon Jovi
31. When The Going Gets Tough, Billy Ocean
32. When I Think Of You, Janet Jackson
33. These Dreams, Heart
34. Don't Forget Me (When I'm Gone), Glass Tiger
35. Live To Tell, Madonna
36. Mad About You, Belinda Carlisle
37. Something About You, Level 42
38. Venus, Bananarama
39. Dancing On The Ceiling, Lionel Richie
40. Conga, Miami Sound Machine
41. True Colors, Cyndi Lauper
42. Danger Zone, Kenny Loggins
43. What Have You Done For Me Lately, Janet Jackson
44. No One Is To Blame, Howard Jones
45. Let's Go All The Way, Sly Fox
46. I Didn't Mean To Turn You On, Robert Palmer
47. Words Get In The Way, Miami Sound Machine
48. Manic Monday, Bangles
49. Walk Of Life, Dire Straits
50. Amanda, Boston
51. Two Of Hearts, Stacey Q
52. Crush On You, Jets
53. If You Leave, Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark
54. Invisible Touch, Genesis
55. The Sweetest Taboo, Sade
56. What You Need, INXS
57. Talk To Me, Stevie Nicks
58. Nasty, Janet Jackson
59. Take Me Home Tonight, Eddie Money
60. We Don't Have To Take Our Clothes Off, Jermaine Stewart
61. All Cried Out, Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam With Full Force
62. Your Love, Outfield
63. I'm Your Man, Wham!
64. Perfect Way, Scritti Politti
65. Living In America, James Brown
66. R.O.C.K. In The U.S.A., John Cougar Mellencamp
67. Who's Johnny, El Debarge
68. Word Up, Cameo
69. Why Can't This Be Love, Van Halen
70. Silent Running, Mike and The Mechanics
71. Typical Male, Tina Turner
72. Small Town, John Cougar Mellencamp
73. Tarzan Boy, Baltimora
74. All I Need Is A Miracle, Mike and The Mechanics
75. Sweet Freedom, Michael McDonald
76. True Blue, Madonna
77. Rumors, Timex Social Club
78. Life In A Northern Town, Dream Academy
79. Bad Boy, Miami Sound Machine
80. Sleeping Bag, ZZ Top
81. Tonight She Comes, Cars
82. Love Touch, Rod Stewart
83. A Love Bizarre, Sheila E.
84. Throwing It All Away, Genesis
85. Baby Love, Regina
86. Election Day, Arcadia
87. Nikita, Elton John
88. Take Me Home, Phil Collins
89. Walk This Way, Run-D.M.C.
90. Sweet Love, Anita Baker
91. Your Wildest Dreams, Moody Blues
92. Spies Like Us, Paul McCartney
93. Object Of My Desire, Starpoint
94. Dreamtime, Daryl Hall
95. Tender Love, Force M.D.'s
96. King For A Day, Thompson Twins
97. Love Will Conquer All, Lionel Richie
98. A Different Corner, George Michael
99. I'll Be Over You, Toto
100. Go Home, Stevie Wonder

8.24.2005

Roiling Academentia

Boy howdy. Busy coupla weeks. Sorry, dear reader, for once again violating the "it's been two weeks & that's just wrong" axiom...

Basically, the Lu's been caught in the roiling tidal pools of academentia, and going under in the last days before the semester... (Classes started Monday, & StinkyLu's first teaching day was Tuesday.) But last week? An extended, required, all-day-for-five-days-with-no-$$$-compensation "orientation" for "new teachers" in the department where StinkyLu'll be teaching one (1) class for purely mercenary reasons.

Ah well -- as StinkyLulu kept repeating (eyes clenched, rocking back and forth): "It's always good to stop and reflect about the process of teaching...
itsalwaysgoodtostopnflectboutprocessoteaching... salwaysgootstopnflectboutprossoteach...
salwaysgootstoflecteach..."

ANNNNNNNNNNYWAY.

MrStinky & Lu were able to snag a screening of the new cool movie thing Broken Flowers. It's cute. Nice in a meditative sorta way -- a meandering quiet flick about the process of reflecting on the wreckage of your past & beginning to discover the willingness to be honest. O'course, the movie's actually about the collaboration of those two modern masters of melancholic irony: Bill Murray & Jim Jarmusch. But that's not really StinkyLulu's bag. The Lu liked the gourmet cameos all those great ladies -- Jessica, Frances, Tilda, Sharon, Chloe, Julie -- each putting in a great day's work, with the electric Jeffrey Wright in a zingy framing device/supporting role. I imagine some will find the stubborn flouting of genre conventions -- a mystery without a climactic reveal?!?! egads!!! -- too frustrating, but it's a nice quiet movie, filmed in a really pretty way...

8.10.2005

Who said there's no shopping in ABQ?

So far as is known, this does not refer to anyone in StinkyLulu's circle.

(via the shutterbugs at dukecityfix)

8.07.2005

El Otro Vegas

The weekend arrived suddenly. Busy busy busy. (And school's not even started yet -- eeps.) Gratifyingly, though, MrStinky & Lulu had long ago made plans for a weekend getaway to Vegas -- el otro Vegas -- Las Vegas, NEW MEXICO.

THIS Las Vegas -- founded a full century before the shinier one -- is the hometown of StinkyLulu's pops (aka PapaStinky) & the home of Highlands University, where PapaStinky met MamaStinky -- causing something of a local scandal -- lo so many years ago. The town's realy a crazy burg: rural trading hub in the mid 1800s; railroad boomtown toward the turn of the century; small college town circa 1950; in decline pretty much ever since. But the funky hispanic hinterlands location -- combined with the pretty amazing blend of nuevomexicano & victorian & midcentury modern architecture -- gives this Vegas a nifty vibe. It's one of those amazing but decaying small towns: so easy to fall in love with & next to impossible to make a life in. And perfect -- winkwink -- for a weekend getaway with your sweetie!

But the Stinkys' adventure really started on Old Las Vegas Highway, just north of Santa Fe, at Bobcat Bite: a perfect place to get your certification as a carnivore renewed. It's a burger shack -- complete with calendar prints of bobcats framed on the walls, ancient wood veneer tables, simple menu, cash-only vintage cash register dingalinging away -- with the food served fast & fresh when, and only when they finally get to you. The burgers were good: a sizable glop of hamburger grilled on a filthy -- oops -- seasoned cast iron griddle, served hot & juicy on a simple bun. And the thronging crowd was palpably pleased with itself for having the good taste to devour seared cow-flesh in such authentic environs. (MrStinky aptly observed that it felt like being in the Hamptons: richie rich out-of-towners cramming into a tacky food shack & just inhaling the local color. So right, that MrStinky: Martha would totally eat at Bobcat.)

Colons contentedly full of cow, the Stinkys ventured north, arriving to the Inn on the Santa Fe Trail with plenty of time to freshen up for the evening's main event: the recent Vince Vaughn/Owen Wilson flick Wedding Crashers.

"A road trip for a movie currently being screened on nearly every screen in the country?" Legitimate query, lovely reader. StinkyLu's omitted but one crucial detail. In this Las Vegas, recent hits are screened -- at least during the summer months -- at the Fort Union Drive-In. Yes, dear reader, at a drive-in. Tickets? $10 a carload. Refreshments? $9.50 for popcorn, hotdog & candy. To share MrStinky's first time. At a drive-in. Priceless....

(Good thing the drive-in experience was there to counteract the Stinkys' general disappointment in the mooovie. The first 20 minutes or so are freakin'ilarious. After that, though, the movie careens into too too many plots & loads of ill-conceived caricatures. Not even the charisma & comic chops of Vince Vaughn, Rachel McAdams & the incredible Isla Fisher can redeem this one. {StinkyLu will leave Owen Wilson unmentioned as Lulu realizes that some people like that sort of thing.} The Stinkys have seen worse, but then again the Stinkys have seen way better.)

Morning had MrStinky & Lu joining up with StinkyLulu's favorite cousin & her new beau at the astonishingly named local bistro, Spic & Span. Good food, better tortillas, and -- hey -- when in this Las Vegas, you just sorta hafta eat at a place called "Spic & Span"...it's a local law. And you know what they say: what happens in this Las Vegas stays in this Las Vegas...cuz barely anybody knows this Las Vegas even exists.

But, hey, this Las Vegas makes for a sweet weekend getaway...

8.02.2005

Beyond, So Beyond...

"This is my happening & it freaks me out!" -- Z-Man


Sunday rolled in & The Stinkys were off to a special early afternoon screening of the incomparably crazed Beyond the Valley of the Dolls at Albuquerque's rough little gem, The Guild Cinema. MrStinky & Lu converged with Inez & Beth Love for the BVD screening to benefit Albuqueerque's LGBT Film Fest.

If you haven't seen it, BVD defies simple summary. Directed by Russ Meyer, and scripted by Roger Ebert -- yes, THAT Roger Ebert, BVD has next to nothing at all directly to do with Jacqueline Susann, Neely O'Hara, Sharon Tate or any part of MrStinky's favorite film, The Valley of the Dolls. Rather, BVD has much more in common with one of StinkyLulu's all time favorite movies, Myra Breckenridge, another big budget 20th Century Fox production released in 1970 that aimed to cash in on the emergent sexploitation/midnight movie market & instead, in tandem, nearly bankrupted the studio altogether. (StinkyLulu loves both BVD & Myra -- both with their terrorizing trannies & frenzied narrative/editing style, ala an acid-washed Laugh-In. It's just that BVD's freaky violent climax sorta reallyreally scares StinkyLu &, well, Myra has a trashtastic Hollywood aspect what with Mr.Howell, Farrah & Mae West all in small parts. Honestly, StinkyLu could watch Myra every day, while BVD obliges a respite of several years between screenings.)

It sorta makes sense that BVD would have the loyal hipster following that it does: it's just awful. And yet, while it's got the big boobies & potsmoking=promiscuity & vicious violence that earned its x-rating, it's also oddly innocent -- like the Partridge Family or Josie & The Pussycats actually showed up in LA one day...only to be met by Z-Man, a "mysterious host" whose innate perversity makes both Count Dracula & Frank N. Furter seem frilly & innocent by comparison. Zowie. It really is quite a mooovie.

Possibly fascinating side note: During StinkyLulu's NYC days on the chacha circuit, a favorite co-worker was a beautiful black woman named "Petrenella" who was named for the character in BVD. She said her mother was pregnant with her when she saw BVD & loved the movie & loved the name. Imagine that...