Friday, April 1, 2011

Julia Roberts Appreciation Day
Say what you will about the slick confidence tricks & chummy camaraderie of Messrs. Clooney, Pitt, & Damon, for my money the real draw of Ocean's Eleven is the luminous Julia Roberts. Her acting performances evidence a deft subtlety that I, for one, find both disarming & enchanting. She is the queen of the silver screen, & long may she reign.



Operation AXIOM
April Fools! I regard Roberts, a talentless hack of the first order, with naught but scorn & am actively desirous of never again seeing a motion picture featuring her misproportioned visage. She's awful. On this April Fools' Day, may all your pranks be successful & received with good cheer.

The Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day: SKApril
The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, "The Impression That I Get" from Let's Face It (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary: Welcome to "SKApril," a month-long celebration of my favorite style of music, ska. I was introduced to ska in 1997, during the glorious "Summer of Ska." 'Twas late one night & I could not sleep; I went downstairs to pace in the family room & turned on the television for background noise. I tuned the television to, of all channels, MTV. Given what ensued one must surely suspect in this the hand of Providence. That night, I saw the music video for "The Impression That I Get" by The Mighty Mighty Bosstones. (Once upon a time, MTV showed pre-YouTube YouTube videos called "music videos," & during the Summer of Ska they showed the music videos of ska bands.) I had encountered The Mighty Mighty Bosstones before, at least their name, in a magazine advertisement for Chuck Taylor All-Stars that my sister than taped to the wall of her bedroom, in which Dicky Barrett described himself as the band's "vocalist," not, he emphasized, "singer." Fourteen years later & I still can't get "The Impression That I Get" out of my head, nor do I wish to.

The R.B.D.S.O.T.D. isn't an April Fool's Day prank, I really do owe my discovery of ska to MTV; much as that knowledge sickens me, 'tis vastly overshadowed by the joy ska has given me lo these many years.

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