Simpsons Question of the Day: In "Lisa's Rival" (1F17), Bart drives the car for Homer so Homer can do what? a) Gesture widly, b) Eat pizza with both hands, c) Tune the radio, d) Wipe a smashed bug from the windshield? (I don't really watch the Simpsons that often, but oddly enough, I just watched this episode yesterday. I think I have a psychic calendar)

(previous answer: a torpedo)

Fact of the day (brought to me by Garrison Keillor): "It was on this day in 1877 that Thomas Edison announced that he had invented a new device for recording and playing back sound, which he called the phonograph. His hope was that it would replace stenographers ain bussiness offices, and that it would allow people to preserve the voices of family members who had died. He wrote, 'It will annihilate time and space, and bottle up for posterity the mere utterance of man.' " Mr. Keillor then goes on to talk about everyone's fear of recorded voices (they sounded like ghosts) and that in order to get people comfortable with recorded sound they recorded patriotic music by Sousa, who was not a fan and had this to say: "The time is coming when no one will be ready to submit himself to the ennobling discipline of learning music. Everyone will have their ready made or ready pirated music in their cupboards."

This makes me think of the movie that my friends and I were half-watching/half-MST3king the other night: "Song of Love". Lame title, yes, but halfway decent movie (two words: Katherine Hepburn). I was totally jealous that parties consisted of hanging out in a parlor in full formal wear, listening to a fellow guest play the piano and breaking into dance occasionally. Having the ability to play music wasn't the white rabbit that it has become. Someone or everyone in your household would learn to play something, else there was no music in your house. A+ Mr. Edison, you ruined it.

Seriously though, this is when music became cheapened and musical ability became hobby terrritory. These days we don't have to create or play our own music so studying an instrument is no longer necessary and on the other side of that, playing an instrument for your own enjoyment is a foreign concept to most. I enjoy playing the piano. I do not enjoy playing for most people. I say most because there are situations where I am comfortable. I will play for people who barely recognize that I'm playing. I don't mind people commenting on the song itself, I just can't deal with criticism and judgment. However back in the day, I would have totally rocked some parlors. Why? Back then, you played out of necessity and people listened out of necessity and today, people have this need to be impressed. Most people seem to derive some sort of joy out of critiquing what you play. It doesn't matter that you just perfectly executed 14 pages of music because you hesitated on that second to last measure. Sonsabitches.

Throughout the month, Turner Classic Movies has had guest programmers choosing the movies for the day. Tonight at 8PM is Kermit the Frog! Go watch!

Song of the moment translated into Japanese and then back to English: "The we whom you have known we would like to change the world entirely, mean that you think that we want the rotary well. As for that a certain way as for us who are said to me there is a well of the evolution where you have known that we would like to change the world entirely. But when destruction having expressed, you do not know that it can count me. That you know that a certain thing is done without something to say." (Previous song: Song for the Dumped by Ben Folds Five)