Horseshoes

~~ If anyone wants to send some good luck waves my way, I’d appreciate it. ~~

It’s hard typing w/ your fingers crossed.

Top 100 Songs of 1986

Via Eden. Songs I still like in bold. Favorite underlined. Striking through all the ones I hate would take too much time. Seriously, Eddie Murphy was #7? Eddie Murphy?

Edited to add link to list (doh!).

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 (Eden thinks this is best on the list.)
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, Falcon
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 (This song made me nostalgic when I was 17.)
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

Wacky Xians Strike Again

Tempest brews over quotes on Starbucks cups

The group believes corporations have a responsibility to reflect the diversity of their customers by taking a balanced approach � or staying out of divisive social issues altogether.

Actually, corporations only have a responsibility to their shareholders.

Starbucks spokeswoman Lara Wyss said decisions about sponsoring gay-pride events and other causes are made at the store or regional level, not the corporate level.

Largest corporate contingent–by far–at the Pride Parade this year? That’s right. Starbucks.

The parade was very corporate this year, really indicative of the pressure now on corporations to demonstrate how inclusive & openminded they are if they want to keep their customers. What a change from even a few years ago.

Grammar God

But we knew that already, didn’t we?

Grammar God!
You are a GRAMMAR GOD!

Congratulations! If your mission in life
is not already to preserve the English tongue,
it should be. You can smell a grammatical
inaccuracy from fifty yards. Your speech is
revered by the underlings, though some may
blaspheme and call you a snob. They’re just
jealous. Go out there and change the world.

How grammatically correct are you? (Revised with answer key)
brought to you by Quizilla

So You Want To Write Full-Time?

People often talk bad about teaching, saying that it zaps a person’s creativity. And I will admit that there are challenges. But taking that job at ETSU let me take a breath. I returned to the manuscripts and made the changes that I wanted to make for my own artistic reasons. My choices were motivated by my goals for the story, not the fact that I needed to eat. That I would lose my little condo. Or that I might have to nove in with my parents. (Horror of horrors!).

So this is why I urge writers to think long and hard before making their writing their primary source of income.

Laughed So Hard I Cried

It’s not often I feel compelled to share something IMMEDIATELY. But once I controlled my uncontrollable laughter, I had to share this. I was laughing so hard, I’m sure the neighbors think I’m crazy.

Ah, Dan Savage. You rock. The religious right? Not so much.

What’s it about? It’s about nothing.

I don’t know who Brian Hennigan is, but after reading this, I think perhaps I should find out…

This had me in stitches.

It was also another one of those “I said this EXACT SAME THING!” moments (yes, I know exact same is redundant). (It happens w/ Anderson Cooper a lot. Which is why I think we could be BFF. But I digress.) Okay, I’ve not been quite as pejorative as he gets in his closing paragraphs. But this guy is Scottish, after all. I’m Canadian. You see the difference.

This, however, could be a direct quote:

Let me also say that, yes, I have read a Harry Potter book. It was nice enough – for a children’s book. But at no point did I ever think that I was involved in anything other than a book for children.

There was not anything of entertainment value for a fully-developed adult mind.

HP aside, these “Hey! I said that last week/month/year!” moments happen so frequently that I wonder if there is not an audience for my observations/opinions. Perhaps one needs to be semi-famous first before anyone is interested in what one has to say? Possibly. But maybe, just maybe, it’s simply a matter of articulating stuff that people identify with.

Two things that happened today

FYI, it’s stuff like this that makes me proud to be Canadian.

Same-sex legislation passed

The Liberals’ controversial same-sex marriage legislation has passed final reading in the House of Commons, sailing through with a vote of 158 for and 133 against.

Supported by most members of the Liberals, the Bloc Quebecois and the NDP, the legislation passed easily, making Canada only the third country in the world, after the Netherlands and Belgium, to officially recognize same-sex unions.

Not quite as momentous, but…

Wal-Mart rejected

After a lengthy public debate, Vancouver city council has rejected a proposal to build a 143,000-square-foot store that would have been the city’s first Wal-Mart. The vote was 8-3.

What? Someone said “no” to WM? *gasp* (hee)