Category Archives: Uncategorized

Sex or fireworks

NAPLES, Italy, Dec. 12 (UPI) -- A group of more than 40 women in Naples, Italy, said they will withhold sex if their husbands or boyfriends set off fireworks during the holiday season.

Dr. Vincenzo Sorrentino said the idea for the committee of women pledging to withhold sex came after years of injuries and deaths resulting from Christmastime fireworks, ANSA reported Friday.

"We've tried everything to stop the mayhem caused by fireworks but we've never reached the results we hoped for," Sorrentino said. "We decided to get women involved because they are more convincing and they always achieve their goals."

Carolina Staiano, 42, the head of the women's committee, said her own father was seriously injured years ago by exploding fireworks.

"So far we've had more than 30 women join up and we're hoping for more," she said Friday. "We're fed up with these stupid annual massacres. This time they're just going to have to choose: sex or fireworks."

Mrs Cleek buys fireworks for me.

Why I Hate Allmusic.com

...and by extension, iTunes' record reviews.

Exhibit A, Peter Gabriel: Security:

...
That's not to say that the rest of the album is bland easy listening — it's designed this way, to have certain songs deliver greater impact than the rest. As such, it demands close attention to appreciate tone poems like "The Family and the Fishing Net," "Lay Your Hands on Me," and "Wallflower" — and not all of them reward such intensive listening. Even with its faults, Security remains a powerful listen, one of the better records in Gabriel's catalog, proving that he is becoming a master of tone, style, and substance, and how each part of the record enhances the other.
...

AllMusic's rating: 3 stars of of five. This makes it tied with 1992's Us and 2002's Up for the lowest-rated studio album in Gabriel's AllMusic discography. How can it also be "one of the better records in Gabriel's catalog" ?

Exhibit B, Cowboy Junkies : The Caution Horses:

With the ethereal voice of Margo Timmins gleaning the lyrics "The phone rings, but I don't answer it/Good news always sleeps till noon" on the opener ("Sun Comes Up, It's Tuesday Morning), listeners rest assured -- the Junkies haven't compromised their comfortable, country-twanged, folk-rock style to cater more to the trends of the masses. Mellow, honest, and provocatively reticent at points, their melancholic tone might seem bland to those with more aggressive tastes, or to simply more mainstream palettes, but for those whose tastes float serenely upstream, and for Junkies fans in general, this album is a treat.
...

Rest assured, this honest, and provocatively reticent record is a treat! Two out of five stars.

iTunes is smart enough to not use AllMusic's ratings, but they use AllMusic's write-ups.

White Christmas

We've lived in the south for 12 years now, but still, every year, I'm surprised when the temperatures get up into the mid-60s (or even mid-70s) at the end of December. Old dogs, new tricks.

Gobbles!

Wilbur the turkey has been spared a messy end on the dinner table this Christmas — as he’s not very bootiful.

Customers were put off by the nine-month-old Norfolk Black’s “sad and bedraggled” appearance.

He is underweight, has no tail feathers, a misshapen body — and walks with a limp.

...

But the good news for Wilbur is that soft-hearted Peter, 66, and wife Jackie, 64, are going to keep him as a pet at the farm in Totnes, Devon.

Peter, chairman of the Turkey Club UK, said Wilbur will live out his days in a “happy and peaceful” retirement — free to roam the 72-acre farm alongside the cattle, ducks, chickens and breeding turkeys.

Dad-of-four Peter added: “One thing’s for sure — he’s the luckiest little bird in the world.

“Wilbur will become one of the family. He might be an ugly old thing, but we think he’s lovely.”

Timmeh.