I Have a Bone to Pick with iTunes

I'm a big fan of 70s and 80s music and lately, I've been trying to fill up my iPod with some of my fave tunes from those eras. One of those songs is "It's Magic" by a one-hit-wonder group called Pilot. Well, iTunes has the song, all right, but here's the catch: You have to download the entire LAME-O "Herbie 2" soundtrack to get that one song! Sorry, but I am NOT spending $9.99 for one frigging song! Especially for that dopey movie!If you try to find another stand alone version of the song, you're shit outta luck. Yes, they exist, but none of them are the original. Why does iTunes do this? I noticed that other users were complaining, too, on the iTunes feedback bulletin board.Well, I'll just search around for a 70s compilation CD somewhere, I s'pose.

I posted this lament on my LiveJournal and a friend of mine wrote back:

"Usually the reason that happens is the movie soundtrack is on one label that paid to use another label's tune on their movie but the owning label does not do business with iTunes/Apple. That's why you don't see AC/DC, Beatles, Led Zep and many other bands - because they are on Sony or EMI that won't deal with Apple because they have deals with Napster (Lamester) or their own music store they're trying to get going. It annoys me too, so in situations like that I'll look first at the public library collection of music to check out, then to the used CD stores for cheap copies.Good luck hunting!"

Aha...now I understand. Don't like it, but I understand.

Why Is This News?

And, furthermore, don't ALL fruitcakes taste as if they are 40 years old?


Man Rediscovers Gift Fruitcake From 1962
By Associated Press
Tue Apr 18, 8:12

WAUKESHA, Wis. - Lance Nesta did what many people do when receiving a fruitcake _ he set it aside, only to rediscover it more than 40 years later in his mother's attic. Nesta couldn't resist taking a peek at the cake, still in its original tin and wrapped in paper.
"I was amazed that it hadn't changed at all," he said.

Nesta's two aunts sent him the fruitcake in November 1962 while he was stationed in Alaska with the Army.

"I opened it up and didn't know what to do with it," Nesta said. "I sure wasn't going to eat it, and I liked my fellow soldiers too much to share it with them."

As best he can remember, he packed the cake with the rest of his belongings and shipped it home to Waukesha when he left the military a few years later. He recently rediscovered the boxed fruitcake in the attic of his mother's home in Waukesha.
His mom had given him advance warning of the fruitcake back in 1962.

"She knew I hated the damn things, but she said she didn't have the heart to tell my aunts, who had already mailed it," he said.
The cake arrived wrapped in brown paper with a red "fragile, handle with care" sticker on it. The cake itself was contained in a round blue tin printed with the words "Old Fashioned Fruitcake."

"Now it's just old," Nesta said.
While looking at the cake's container this week, he noticed the listed ingredients included rum and brandy.

"If I had known back then that it had rum and brandy in it, I would have eaten it," he said.
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Random Musings

Who the Hell Is Dick?

I downloaded some Grateful Dead songs onto my iPod, some from CDs that I own, others from iTunes. I came across a pretty cool group of Dead songs called Dick's Picks in my travels and I'm wondering, "Who the hell is Dick?" Granted, Dick has some pretty good taste in Dead tunes (his U.S. Blues pick is awesome), but who is he and why do his picks matter? Where are Bob's picks? Or Mary's picks? Or, for that matter, Martta's picks? And I thought I was up on all that is Dead.
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First Place, Woo-hoo!

I took first place in my age at South Orange Rotary 5K this past Saturday. I felt that I ran well but I never dreamed that would take first place at any race this early in the season. I've started doing some speedwork on my own and that's probably been helping. This was a tough course, too. The first mile is all uphill...yuck! We DID have terrific weather, though, 70s and sunny. The best day for 2006 so far.

My time was 25:21. Not my personal best, but a personal best for this particular course. More than a minute faster than my 2004 time. I am praying to the fast twitch gods that this will be the first of many successes for me in my running career this season.

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Yoga? Zzzzzzz.

First off, let me start by saying that I think yoga is a beautiful thing. It's great for flexibility, stress reduction, spirituality and for people who cannot do weight bearing exercises. That being said, for the most part, I like more of an aerobic or anaerobic workout, like running, swimming, karate, etc.

The reason I bring this up because my sister-in-law RAVES about this yoga place in West Orange and has been trying to get me to come. I did go with her to some sort of anniversary party they had and honestly, I was not that impressed.

For one thing, throughout the entire party, the owners/instructors were shilling for membership. A BIG turnoff to me. Kind of used car lot-ish. Show us, don't tell us, as a former creative writing teacher of mine used to say. Make me want to come back, don't pressure me.

At one point, people got up to give testimonials. One of the stranger ones was a woman, about early 40s, who said that she was having pains in her chest so she decided to check out yoga! Uh, Honey, if I had chest pains, I would be on the phone to a cardiologist, not running to a yoga studio!

Also, while my sister-in-law's in great shape, most of the people doing the demos/testimonials were kind of on the, uh, zaftig side. Not what I would call fit. Think I'll stick with the running, swimming, bike riding and weight training.

Reason #245 not to have kids.

Reason #245 not to have kids. They can kill you:

Bloodbath & burgers

Pa. cops call son Mr. Cool

BY ADAM NICHOLS in Lancaster County, Pa.,
and WARREN WOODBERRY JR. and HELEN KENNEDY in New York
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS


A woman and a little boy outside the home where six members of the Wise family were murdered.

As the bludgeoned corpses of three generations of his family lay moldering inside their picturesque Amish country house, confessed killer Jesse (Jay) Wise took his girlfriend to McDonald's for hamburgers