Shuffle meme – scores and answers

Posted on May 2, 2008 by Cath@VWXYNot?

Well, the response was great, especially considering the number of album tracks on there! Thanks everyone who took part, this was a really fun meme!

With one point available for each correct song title and band name*, how did everyone do?

1st with 8 points, EcoGeoFemme
=2nd with 5 points, Arduous and Dancing Fish
=4th with 4 points, Makita and Mad Hatter
=6th with 2 points, Kyrsten, ScienceGirl, StepwiseGirl and Ceresina
9th with 1 point, HypoglycemiaGirl

Here are the outstanding answers, complete with video links and waffle.

3) Although my lover lives, In a place that I can’t live,
Come on Home, by Franz Ferdinand.

This is my favourite song of theirs. We saw them live a couple of years ago and they were fabulous. I’ve never seen anyone play guitar while standing on a drum kit before. Shame about the second album though.

5) I’ve got a rabbit, it likes to hop
Intimate Secretary, by the Raconteurs

Ceresina gets a point for the band’s name! I bought this album because I think Jack White is a genius guitar god and I wanted to hear what he sounds like with a proper drummer and a bass behind him. Well, the answer is, not as good as he sounds in the White Stripes.

I’d always liked the Stripes, but didn’t truly appreciate them until I saw them live at the loudest show EVAH. It isn’t until you see for yourself that one man is making all that noise that you realise just how good he actually is. He makes that guitar sound like it has a personality, an opinion. It sings, man.

Here’s Seven Nation Army by the White Stripes, just because it’s awesome. The guitar solo kicks in at about 02:03.

9) You can force it but it will not come
DancingFish recognised this as Radiohead, but the song title is a bit obscure (Planet Telex).

The Bends is one of the few albums that I prefer to listen to in its entirety (the others being Graceland and Abbey Road, which loses the uniqueness of the medley on the second half if you play it on shuffle). My favourite song is probably High and Dry – I’ve never quite worked out what it’s all about, but on occasion it’s actually made me tear up.

11) Once upon a time, Not too long ago, Took a day out in Manchester

Whippin’ Piccadilly, by Gomez.

Best live band I’ve ever seen – and I’ve seen U2, twice. I’ve seen Gomez four or five times now and would happily see them again and again, any time they’re in town. I can’t recommend them highly enough. Favourite song? Anything on the first two albums, but Hangover Girl is a standout for me. Too bad there’s only a short clip of it on YouTube! If this meme inspires you to check out one new band, it should definitely be Gomez.

14) I tried it, I couldn’t fight it, Now I just wanna get back to me
Man I Used to Be, by K-OS.

I would have been astonished if anyone got this, because he’s not even all that well known in Canada (well, not on the West coast anyway). He deserves a much wider audience. Mr E Man and I got into him after hearing the audacious Crabbuckit on the radio one day.

18) We were walking, Walking in two worlds

Jack Names the Planets, by Ash.

This is a ridiculous song, but I love it. They’re probably best known for Girl from Mars. Another good live band.

19) You’re so young, And you know so much
Queen of the New Year, by Deacon Blue (only clip I could find, sorry for the quality!)

My all-time favourite Scottish band. Your Swaying Arms was “our song” with an ex-boyfriend, as the lyrics include some Glaswegian references that were meaningful to us (“One day I can see us walking, Arm in arm in sheltered Kelvin way”). It took me a couple of years to be able to listen to it again, but luckily I can now visualise just Glasgow when I hear it, rather than its previous bastardly inhabitant!

21) Stop making the eyes at me, I’ll stop making my eyes at you

I Bet That You Look Good on the Dancefloor, by the Arctic Monkeys

Ceresina got this band’s name too. The photo I linked to suddenly makes sense! I defy you not to dance around like a crazy person when this comes on. I didn’t like the album much, but this song was an instant classic!

24) The word is about, There’s something evolving

History Repeating, by the Propellerheads with Shirley Bassey.

It was worth buying the album just for this one song, although there is some other good stuff on there too.

It’s fun reminiscing about all those live shows, on the day that I’m going to my first gig in months! Danko Jones, at the Commodore – my second favourite indoor venue after Glasgow’s legendary Barrowlands. My friend’s been into the band for years and they’re finally playing in Vancouver. He couldn’t persuade any of us to go down to Seattle with him to see them last year, but there’s a good group going tonight. It’s gonna be LOUD.

*The reason I didn’t tell you that this was a competition is that I just made it up.

Posted in competition, embarrassing fan girl, meme, music, personal, videos | 12 Comments

OMG OMG

Posted on May 1, 2008 by Cath@VWXYNot?

I just met Trevor Linden, Vancouver Canuck and genuine local hero. I shook his hand and he signed an autograph for my friend’s son, who is called… Linden. (Yes, his dad named him after a hockey player).

TL: “How do you spell that?”

CAE: “Well, he’s named after you…”

(Seriously. This was our actual conversation).

Look at all those grey hairs I have! That’s the building I work in behind us.

There were lots of other celebs there, including two Olympic medalists. Pretty much everyone ignored them and mobbed Linden instead. Welcome to Vancouver!

My friend Dr. Spandex was more organised than me and brought his jersey to be signed.

Sweet!

Dr. S. also has an iPhone (the first one I’ve seen) and is therefore officially the coolest person I know.

Posted in embarrassing fan girl, personal, photos, sport, Vancouver | 12 Comments

First music night: by the numbers

Posted on May 1, 2008 by Cath@VWXYNot?

Yes, I finally managed to get a music night going.

Busker catz will play for katnip

– Instruments: 1 classical guitar(me), 1 flute (brother-in-law’s hilarious new girlfriend)
– Bottles of beer: 1
– Bottles of wine: 1 (no, not each)
– Breakdown of time spent:

  • retuning my guitar*, 5%
  • bitching about BIL’s crazy ex, 70%
  • telling stories about my crazy ex colleague who joined a cult, 10%
  • playing music, 15%

– My ability to play the pieces that caused me no problem when I was 16, as a percentage of my anticipated ability: ~43%
– Apparent amount of interest in music displayed by my cats: 1%, and that was only until they discovered that guitar strings aren’t tasty.

It was fun though! Hopefully it will grow as I persuade more people that ability and talent are not only unnecessary, they’re actually an impediment to enjoying the evening.

*I swear it got more out of tune the more I drank, maybe out of sympathy. To be fair it’s got new strings on it and they’re still slipping about a bit.

Posted in drunkenness, furry friends, music, personal, photos | 20 Comments

The margins of scientific understanding

Posted on April 29, 2008 by Cath@VWXYNot?

Apparently I’m feeling bloggier now.

It is not a good sign when you write “aaarrgghh” in the margins of a paper you’re trying to understand. I never knew that my lack of training in pathology nomenclature would become such a major problem.

Yes, there’s another grant deadline approaching. How could you tell?

More blogginess at my other blog – a human genetics story with a local flavour (not the ubiquitous smoked salmon), and a Python reference.

Geez I need to cut down on caffeine.

Edited to add: shortly after posting the above, I was chatting to my boss at my desk and he picked up the scribbled-on paper and started to browse through it. Worried about the aaarrgghh! note, I preemptively said I was having trouble with the nomenclature, and apparently it’s not just me, the whole field is hopelessly confused and needs to be standardised. So now I don’t feel so dumb.

Posted in grant wrangling, science, silliness | 2 Comments

Quiet week

Posted on April 29, 2008 by Cath@VWXYNot?

Not feeling very bloggy, so just a quick question:

When did people stop speaking about things, and start speaking to them?

As in, “if you could just speak to the funding situation…”

Posted in English language | 9 Comments

Your Father was an Iceman…

Posted on April 28, 2008 by Cath@VWXYNot?

…but the olfactory resemblence of your mother to elderberries remains unverified by modern science.
Here’s a rare gem from this week’s local news.
A few years ago, a body emerged from a melting glacier in Northern BC. When I first heard this story I inevitably thought of Oetzi, the Austrian iceman, but the BC remains turned out to be much more contemporary. Kwaday Dan Ts’inchi (“long-ago person found” in the local language) may have been born as recently as the early 18th century.
So what can this find tell us about the life and times of Kwaday Dan Ts’inchi?

Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 6 Comments

Shuffle Meme

Posted on April 26, 2008 by Cath@VWXYNot?

NOW WITH EXTRA LYRICS AND CLUES IN RED!

As seen at MonkeyGirl and What a recently tenured college professor shouldn’t be doing – this one looked like too much fun to pass up.

Step 1: Put your MP3 player or whatever on random.
Step 2: Post the first line from the first 25 songs that play, no matter how embarrassing the song.
Step 3: Post and let everyone you know guess what song and artist the lines come from.
Step 4: Strike through when someone gets them right. (I’ll link to the video too, if it’s on YouTube. I don’t have access at work, but I’ll update the list at home every day).
Step 5: Looking them up on Google or any other search engine is CHEATING.

A quick caveat – in a moment of insanity I bought one of these instead of an iPod, and I really wish I hadn’t. It looked so cute (powder blue!), but it’s too small (1G), and has a terrible interface and file transfer system. So I’ve tended to dump whole albums into it rather than individual songs. If an artist came up that was already on the list, I skipped, so there are no duplicated artists in the list.

1) Bones sinking like stones, All that we’ve fought for
2) Maybe I’m amazed at the way you love me all the time

3) Although my lover lives, In a place that I can’t live, I kind of find I like a life this lonely. It rips and pierces me, in places I can’t see, I love the rip of nerves, The rip that wakes me. So I’m dissatisfied, I love dissatisfied, I love to feel there’s always more that I need. So Come On Home,

Scottish band named after a historical figure.

4) Little ghost, little ghost, One I’m scared of the most

5) I’ve got a rabbit, it likes to hop, I’ve got a girl and she likes to shop, The other foot looks like it won’t drop, I had an uncle and he got shot, Is this greeting the type that’s meant for me? Are you part of this kakistocracy?

Jack White is in this band. But it is not the White Stripes. I think this is an album track so I’ll give full points for just the name of the band.

Update: it’s the Raconteurs. But what’s the song?

6) She’s got a smile that it seems to me, Reminds me of childhood memories

C’mon, people! šŸ˜‰

7) You’ve got a great car, yeah, What’s wrong with it today?
8) Over the mountain, Down in the valley, Lives a former talkshow host

9) You can force it but it will not come, You can taste it but it will not form, You can crush it but it’s always here, You can crush it but it’s always near. Chasing you home saying, Everything is broken, Everyone is broken

We’ve established that this is Radiohead, but what’s the song? Hint: the title is not in the actual lyrics.

10) They say home is where the hate is, My dome is where fate is, I stroll where souls get lost like vegas, Seen through the eyes of rebel glasses, Pray to god that my arms reach the masses

George Bush doeesn’t care about this song. Probably.

11) Once upon a time, Not too long ago, Took a day out in Manchester, We all fall down, There’s not enough hours in a day

In December I let you know that I have a t-shirt with this band on it. British. Awesome.

12) You can reach, But you can’t grab it
13) I’m happy, I’m feeling glad, I’ve got sunshine, In a bag

14) I tried it, I couldn’t fight it, Now I just wanna get back to me, woo hoo yeah, Back into the man I used to be

This is a tricky one ‘cos he’s Canadian and not (I don’t think) well known outside of the country. The song’s title is in the lyrics above.

15) Look, If you had one shot, One opportunity

16) All those dirty words, They make us look so dumb, We’ve been drinking far too much, And neither of us mean what we say. Well you and I, Collapsed in love, And it looks like we might have made it, Yes, it looks like we’ve made it to…

The next two words are the song title. Come on, Brit Poppers!

17) Please allow me to introduce myself

18) We were walking, Walking in two worlds, In the gardens of sunlight home, Bad children on the phone, Withheld me to withhold you, Said I’d kiss you if you want, You’ve got things back to front, I got a letter, I sent it back, I didn’t like it, what you had

Again, the next words are the title. A bit obscure but it’s on their Best Of album! The title of this band’s first album was their year of birth, which is the same as my own. Another British one.

19) You’re so young, And you know so much, Heaven help us all, From the tales you tell. You`re so old, And innocent as hell, How I love your questions, You…

Guess what? The next words are the title and mean Monarch of the Hogmanay Festivities. Another Scottish band, but a much older song than #3.

20) Last night, She said

21) Stop making the eyes at me, I’ll stop making my eyes at you. What it is that surprises me is that I don’t really want you to. And your shoulders are frozen (as cold as the night) Oh, but you’re an explosion (but you’re dynamite) Your name isn’t Rio, but I don’t care for sand, Lighting the fuse might result in a bang with a bang-go[Chorus:]I said I bet that…

Part of the title is up there. The band’s name resembles this photo. A more recent British indie anthem than most of the others on this list.

Update: it’s the Arctic Monkeys. What’s the name of the song?

22) It’s been 7 hours and 15 days
23) We’ve come a long long way together

24) The word is about, There’s something evolving, Whatever may come, The world keeps revolving, They say the next big thing is here, That the revolution’s near, But to me it seems quite clear that it’s all just a little bit of…

You know the drill! Brits, this is (or at least used to be, not sure if it’s changed) the theme to So Graham Norton.

(remix version – partial credit for the original)

25) One two three, Take my hand and come with me

Is “I need to update my music collection” a good enough reason to justify buying an iPod?

I’m gonna tag everyone who commented on my music night post – that seems fair. I know lots of people are super busy this week, so there’s no obligation!

EcoGeoFemme
Mad Hatter
ScienceGirl
Amanda
Makita
Wayfarer Scientista

Anyone can join in the guessing!

Posted in meme, music, silliness, videos | 36 Comments

PZ PredictZ

Posted on April 25, 2008 by Cath@VWXYNot?
Following this post on the discrediting of astrology, PZ Myers has started a sideline in fabricated horoscopes. Some of these are priceless, so I’ve collected them here for those of you who don’t read Pharyngula.

(But wait! Doesn’t everyone read Pharyngula? Well, I think there may be one or two that don’t).

Aries: Look. The reason for your headaches is all the head-butting you do. Switch it up a little, and next time life throws one of those little annoyances your way, trying biting or kicking instead.

Taurus: Great news! Soft drink executives are planning to market a new energy drink made from your urine, on the basis of vague, unfounded rumors of your vitality. This is not such happy news for the rest of us, however.

Gemini: Avoid reading anything about Cyril Burt. There’s a strong possibility you might vanish. No, don’t google that name. I’m warning you. Dang, too late, you’ve just become a statistical anomaly.

Cancer: This is not a good day to moltā€”there’s a cephalopod with an eye on you. Hunker down beneath a rock with some ripe rotting fish and wait.

Leo: The stars predict there is a harem in your future. Unfortunately, it’s not as glamorous as it sounds; it’s more like a knacking yard cooperative, with benefits.

Virgo: You may think you’re sitting pretty, but there’s a really ugly test cross with a triple mutant in your future.

Libra: There’s a choice to be made. You can live fast and hard in the hands of the coke dealer, or you can have the sedate life with regular maintenance, dealing with nothing harder than the occasional phosphate salt. The difference is as simple as a chain with a lock.

Scorpio: The black lights in your bedroom will pay off in a big way ā€” expect a fluorescent romantic entanglement in your near future. Male Scorpios should definitely invest in life insurance.

Sagittarius: Uh-oh. A Republican is going to notice that you are a man-animal hybrid today. Expect vicious denunciations on the steps of the Capitol; beware of federal agents in white lab coats.

Capricorn: You are going to experience a miserableā€¦wait. Those eyes. Those weird pupilsā€¦Iā€¦Iā€¦All Glory to the Hypno-Capricorn. You will be appointed Ruler of the Universe. Hail! All hail the Capricorn!

Aquarius: Beware the nitrate levels in your tank, and do a filter change. Your guppies are pregnant. The air line to the little plastic treasure chest is at risk for getting clogged. Don’t overfeeā€¦what? It’s what? Aquarius, not aquarist? Never mind.

Pisces: You will be busy exchanging ions across your gill membranes today ā€” watch out for predators, and trust your lateral line organs.

I’m an Aquarius myself*, but I think I like Virgo’s horoscope best.

I predict that sometime today, all signs will read about plant dignity (yes,that’s right, the dignity of plants) at my other blog.
__________________

*I’m more likely to be found carrying beer than water, on Fridays at least.

Posted in blog roll, silliness | 4 Comments

Primate Party Time!

Posted on April 24, 2008 by Cath@VWXYNot?

It’s been a while since the last Primate Party, but then I saw a photo of a bathing monkey on a colleague’s desk* and remembered an anecdote from a couple of years ago.

In between my postdoc and industry job, Mr E Man and I went on a week-long camping trip around the interior of BC. It rained every day (but never all day), so we did less hiking than we’d anticipated, and spent our time relaxing in various hot springs instead.

On one such occasion, Mr E Man came swimming over to me with a lovely happy smile on his face. Looking all wistful and romantic, he began to speak.

“I was just looking at you over here”, he said, “all wreathed in steam and gazing out over the misty mountains. And I thought to myself,”

(I braced myself for the compliment of the year),

“She looks like one of those red-faced Japanese monkeys”.

After hitting him and laughing together for a while, we were joined by some elderly Dutch tourists. Looking at them, wreathed in steam and gazing out over the misty mountains, I saw exactly what he meant.

Photo credit

*I think it was an ad for a Taq polymerase.

Posted in camping, monkeys, personal, photos, Primate Party, silliness | 8 Comments

Arabidopsis Abuse and Cruelty to Carrots

Posted on April 23, 2008 by Cath@VWXYNot?

Luckily for my sanity, this week’s email alerts from Nature News are much more interesting than the ones I’ve been getting from Google. Today’s offering concerns new guidelines from the Swiss government’s ethics committee. All relevant grant applications must now contain a statement about the project’s impact on the dignity of the research subjects.
Those of us who work on grant applications that involve human or other animal subjects are used to this kind of thing. But our plant biotechnologist colleagues? Not so much.
Yep, as if submitting grants wasn’t stressful enough already, Swiss biotechnologists now need to consider Plant Dignity in their applications.
Maybe they could start by defining it.
I wonder if the comments on this article will get as crazy as these ones on a Nature News article about induced pluripotent stem cells. Thanks to Kyrsten Jensen for sending me the link to this very entertaining exchange, which degenerated into name calling, extensive comment moderation, and a stern reprimand from Nature staff.

Posted in Uncategorized | 17 Comments