Who uses it: English teachers
What it means: Attributing emotion to inanimate natural objects ("the sky is crying," "the unforgiving mountain").
How to use it: Pathetic fallacies are neither pathetic nor fallacies. Discuss.
Well, it is raining, but I cannot take that as the natural world's commentary on anything, unless it's the anniversary of John F. Kennedy's assassination. It is certainly no reflection on the fact that Tarren Bragdon turns 30 today, and a very happy birthday to him.
Home again, reunited with my faithful dog -- who barked at me when I pulled up in the Lechners' drive yesterday, until he realized who I was. Dizzy had a wonderful time at the Lechners', so much that he did not want to leave; he seemed to want me to stay, so we could be one big happy family in the great house that has a fireplace and a forest and a four-year-old who supplies biscuits on demand. We'll be going back on Thursday, so he'll just have to be patient.
I've figured out what the CDs were that I lost, and the list is dismaying. The good news is that I had TWO copies of London Calling, so that's taken care of. The other good news is that I didn't have the Pete Townshend CD with me after all -- I'd left it in my player at home. The bad news is that I'd jammed a couple of extra CDs in the folder, and one was in the player itself, so I lost 14 CDs, not just 12 -- and these really are pretty close to my list of all-time favorites:
David Bowie, Changes
Mary Chapin Carpenter, Party Doll and Other Favorites
Elvis Costello and the Attractions, Imperial Bedroom
Bob Dylan, Blood on the Tracks (which I do have on cassette)
Electric Light Orchestra's Greatest Hits (do NOT mock me for this; this CD is better than Prozac)
Peter Gabriel, Us
John Hiatt, Hiatt Comes Alive at Budokan
The Jayhawks, Smile
The Best of Van Morrison
Bruce Springsteen, Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ
Bruce Springsteen, Nebraska
Too Much Joy, Live at Least
Suzanne Vega, Solitude Standing
Not exactly music to smash car windows by, is it?
4 comments:
A propos of nothing....I feel like I'm in some sort of parallel universe of favorite records--I'd probably include many of these selections in theory, only differently....like:
Kraftwerk's Computer World rather than Bowie, Lucinda Williams/Car Wheels instead of MMCarpenter, Elvis Costello Get Happy/This Year's Model instead of Bedroom, Time Out of Mind instead of Blood on the Tracks, Hall and Oates greatest hits rather than ELO, Gang of Four Entertainment instead of Gabriel's Us, Wilco Yankee Foxtrot not John Hiatt, Howling Wolf over The Jayhawks, Some of The Best of Van Morrison, Neil Young's On the Beach and Everybody Knows...instead of any Bruce, Joy Divisions 2 discs over Too Much Joy, and finally, love ya Suzanne Vega but I'd still always reach for Blue by Joni Mitchell.
And What About Bob? Marley that is....
Well, my top ten are subject to change on any given day, with the exception of LONDON CALLING, IMPERIAL BEDROOM, and ALL THE BEST COWBOYS..., which are permanently on the list. I can't quibble with any of your selections, except for Neil Young, whom I just can't get excited about. Of course I love BLUE, and the only reason I didn't have LEGEND with me was that I just wasn't in the mood the day I packed for the trip.
No love for Townsend's _Empty Glass_? Am I alone on this one?
True story, which my sister may or may not remember:
When I was 11 or 12, I was sneaking a listening to Ellen/Clair's copy of Springsteen's _Darkness on the Edge of Town_, which I BETTER NOT DO! (no emphasis added). In a Brady-esque mishap involving our then-dog Bill, an overly mayo'ed cold cut sandwich, and karmic justice, I dropped the disk as I was putting it back in the sleeve, thus breaking off a chunk.
Needless to say, Ellen/Clair found out about the breakage, and since I was the only one in the house besides her who at the time could have have even conceivably given two shakes about the Boss, she knew who to blame. I felt so bad (or maybe our parents made me; can't remember, but I'll stick to the version that makes me look better in the eyes of history), I spent two whole weeks of my own allowance on replacing the broken album.
Only the Little Creek Navy Exchange didn't have _Darkness_ in stock. So I bought Ellen/Clair _Greeting from Asbury Park_ and _The Wild, the Innocent, and the E Street Shuffle_ instead.
The moral of the story is that I'm off the hook for helping Ellen/Clair replace her smashed and grabbed CDs because roughly 25 years ago I replaced her tripped, slipped, and cracked LP with what wound up being one of her all time favorite recordings.
--Ed
Ed, I absolutely remember that story, except the album you chipped was the second disc of THE RIVER, not DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN. And yes, I'd say that gets you a bye on future purchases of music for me.
I do love EMPTY GLASS, just not as much as ALL THE BEST COWBOYS...
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