Best Band Names

A quick post before the electrifying conclusion to my last post...

I was just checking what CDs where posted on www.swapacd.com and it got me thinking about how some bands have the coolest names. Here are some of my favorites...

Dashboard Confessional - I just love the imagery of the lonely driver "emoting" to his dashboard as he drives down some lonely highway in the middle of the night...

Toad the Wet Sprocket

Jars of Clay - Probably the best scriptural-reference band name that I know of...

10,000 Maniacs

Stabbing Westward

They May Be Giants - If a name ever matched a band...

The Folk Implosion

The Innocence Mission

Counting Crows

Fine Young Cannibals - Where did these guys go?

Fountains of Wayne - Another fun band with a great name...

Mutual Admiration Society - two good bands (Nickel Creek and Glen Phillips) who like each other and working together

Panic! at the Disco - Can't forget the "!"

The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band

Soul Asylum

Thievery Corporation

Was (Not Was) - Once again, the "( )" make the name for me...

Philosophy, Morality, and Captain America, Part I

I have several distinct memories surrounding the world of comics (the monthly magazines, not the Sunday Funnies):

1. Before my dad's friend, Paul, had 8 kids of his own, he'd babysit for me and my sister. I don't remember much about the small apartment they lived in, but I do remember the stacks and bags of comics that he kept in a small closet under his stairs. I'd sit in there all the while I was being "sat" and read through all the comics (after organizing them a bit so that I could read them in order). Paul was more of a DC guy, so he had years of Batman, Firestar, JLA, and JSA.
   
2. Remember when every small town had a pharmacy (before the overwhelming and dehumanizing hulking form of Wal-Mart dwarfed every freaking town)? Well, there was a little pharmacy in Leo that I used to ride my bike to during the summer when I was 8-ish. Not only did I get to browse through the walls of candy (does a pharmacy selling candy strike anyone else as slightly confusing?), they also had two whole racks of comics! I would buy a pop or candy bar, sit on the floor, and read through the latest adventures. I think I was reading Spiderman, Wolverine, X-men, and probably Daredevil at the time.
   
3. Around this same time, my older Brother Jerry moved back in with us. He too was into comics. We'd sit in our shared room in the basement of our Cedarville home and read Wolverine, Spiderman, Daredevil, Iron Fist & Luke Cage, and X-men.
   

After Jerry got married and I hit high school, I had the misfortune of going to a Bill Gothard conference where he convinced me my comic collection came (free of charge) with actual demons attached. These comics could eventually lead me into all sorts of evil deeds. Essentially, if the rock music doesn't get me, the comics will. So, and I'm rather embarrassed of this, I burned the whole collection. This is not the first (although it was the last) collection that that man cost me.

Well, the fear of demons pasted quickly, but my interest in comics did go dormant. Until…

The Constant Vendetta

OK, I've been thinking about this blogging thing for months now and wondering how to do something that would be worth reading and realized… It ain't going to happen. So since I don't have anything profound or wonderful to publish, I'll just put down random thoughts from the various movies/books/shows/life experiences as they happen.

And as a disclaimer, just because I mention a movie/album/book/show doesn't mean I'm suggesting it. If I suggest a source, I'll come right out and say it. Otherwise, be careful and listen to your own conscience (mine's busy enough as it is keeping up with me).

V for Vendetta - Movie

"Artists lie to expose the truth. Politicians lie to cover it."

You've got to respect the opinion of anyone who reenacts 1950's sword fight routines while wearing a smiling, metal mask…

The Constant Gardener - Movie

If you haven't read any John le Carre', you should. He writes espionage and spy novels (he was a British agent, you know - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_le_Carr%C3%A9) but his last few novels have been more than spy thrillers. They're more philosophical about the why's and how's of the spy trade.

The Constant Gardener explores how the West uses the desperate need for its own greed (this time through a pharmaceutical firm that uses small clinics in Africa as test sites for experimental drugs). It reminded me again of a quote from another film where an African dictator remarks concerning his own abuses of his people, "This is Africa. Nobody cares about what happens here."

I'm not sure what started the West caring about the desperate plight of most of Africa, but it is far overdue. The disparity of wealth, health, attention between the West and places like Africa is more than I can comprehend… I don't know what to do about it…