18thCandidate's New Writeupshttp://everything2.com/?node=New%20Writeups%20Atom%20Feed&foruser=18thCandidate2006-05-31T16:39:19ZBrian Downing (person)http://m.everything2.com/user/18thCandidate/writeups/Brian+Downing18thCandidatehttp://m.everything2.com/user/18thCandidate2006-05-31T16:39:19Z2006-05-31T16:39:19Z<p>It was Opening Day <a href="/title/1975">1975</a> at old <a href="/title/Comiskey+Park">Comiskey Park</a> in <a href="/title/Chicago%252C+Illinois">Chicago</a>, and my father had played hooky from work and allowed me to play hooky from school so that we could go see what the <a href="/title/Chicago+White+Sox">White Sox</a> would put on the field this year. The baseball bug had finally bitten me the year before, even though both of the Chicago ballclubs were mired in mediocrity. Many a long afternoon was spent in the grandstands at <a href="/title/Wrigley+Field">Wrigley Field</a> during the lazy summer of <a href="/title/1974">1974</a>, watching the hapless <a href="/title/Chicago+Cubs">Cubs</a> let another game dribble out of their fingers, my father holding an <a href="/title/Old+Style">Old Style</a> in one hand while teaching me the finer points of filling in a <a href="/title/scorecard">scorecard</a> with the other, me excitedly racing around after long balls. He would tell me stories about ballgames attended with <i>his</i> father and grandfather, regaling me with tales of <a href="/title/Gabby+Hartnett">Gabby Hartnett</a> and <a href="/title/Hack+Wilson">Hack Wilson</a> told to him by his grandfather, and I would pound my fist in my glove and wait eagerly for the next foul ball to come my<!-- close unclosed tag --></p>…November 7, 2005 (person)http://m.everything2.com/user/18thCandidate/writeups/November+7%252C+200518thCandidatehttp://m.everything2.com/user/18thCandidate2005-11-08T14:50:46Z2005-11-08T14:50:46Z<p>At 11:55 AM CDT today, my first child, Joseph Merlin, was born, weighing in at 7 lbs. 13 oz. (just a smidge over three and a half kilograms). He's twenty inches long. The mother and baby are both perfectly fine.</p>
<p>He has his mom's cheeks, dimples and chin, and his dad's eyes, hair, and toes. In short, he's perfect.</p>
<p>A picture of the baby should be in my homenode for quite a while.</p>
<p>Thank you to all of you who sent me well wishes in the last few days. They've been very much appreciated.</p>Royal Crown Revue (thing)http://m.everything2.com/user/18thCandidate/writeups/Royal+Crown+Revue18thCandidatehttp://m.everything2.com/user/18thCandidate2005-09-16T23:10:42Z2005-09-16T23:10:42Z<p><big><big><big><b>Royal Crown Revue</b></big><br>
The unheralded fathers of the <a href="/title/swing+revival">swing revival</a> ... and probably the best of 'em</big></big></p>
<p>Most people say that the explosion of the <a href="/title/swing+revival">revival of swing music</a> of the late <a href="/title/1990">1990</a>s can be traced back to one moment... and in that one moment, it was <a href="/title/Royal+Crown+Revue">Royal Crown Revue</a> playing in the background.</p>
<p>Remember the <a href="/title/1994">1994</a> movie <i><a href="/title/The+Mask">The Mask</a></i>? The one with <a href="/title/Jim+Carrey">Jim Carrey</a> in the ridiculous yellow suit and green mask, acting as over the top as he possibly could? Remember the impossibly young <a href="/title/Cameron+Diaz">Cameron Diaz</a> in that movie, her first big break, still with the glow of youth around her?</p>
<p>The scene in that movie that really stuck with me was the one in which Cameron and Jim danced together to an excellent swing song, using the steps that my <a href="/title/grandpa">grandpa</a> used to use with <a href="/title/grandma">grandma</a> back in the day. Yet like the rest of the movie, there was a sense of something very modern inside and along with all of the retro sound, a catchy little<!-- close unclosed tag --></p>…iPod nano (thing)http://m.everything2.com/user/18thCandidate/writeups/iPod+nano18thCandidatehttp://m.everything2.com/user/18thCandidate2005-09-16T15:23:01Z2005-09-16T15:23:01Z<p>After playing my old 30 <a href="/title/gigabyte">GB</a> <a href="/title/iPod">iPod</a> into oblivion, to the point where it was so scratched up the screen was difficult to read and it had a battery life of under an hour, I began to look at upgrading my <a href="/title/iPod">iPod</a>. I didn't really consider other players because, to put it simply, I was very very happy with the performance and ease of use of my <a href="/title/iPod">iPod</a> and the other players I looked at were more difficult to use or were clunkier in size. The primary features that I wanted in my next portable music purchase were integration with the <a href="/title/iTunes">iTunes</a> Music Store (as I had a decent number of singles that I had downloaded from it), the ability to store 500-600 songs (more on this in a bit), the ability to navigate through these songs with ease, and a small size. I investigated several options, including a large 60 GB <a href="/title/iPod">iPod</a> Photo as well as an <a href="/title/iPod+mini">iPod mini</a> and an <a href="/title/iPod+shuffle">iPod shuffle</a>, but each one had some problem that frustrated me, with only the <a href="/title/iPod+mini">iPod mini</a> coming close to the features I was looking for.</p>
<p>Tha<!-- close unclosed tag --></p>…278 Books You Should Have Read By Now (idea)http://m.everything2.com/user/18thCandidate/writeups/278+Books+You+Should+Have+Read+By+Now18thCandidatehttp://m.everything2.com/user/18thCandidate2005-09-15T01:54:36Z2005-09-15T01:54:36Z<p>The list by <a href="/title/Harold+Bloom">Harold Bloom</a> that starts off <a href="/title/278+Books+You+Should+Have+Read+By+Now">this node</a> is perhaps the most pretentious and self-absorbed list of its kind that I've ever seen. While most of the books in it are <i>good</i>, to call it a list of books you should have read by now and include <i>six</i> titles by <a href="/title/John+Ashbery">John Ashbery</a> smacks of a world of self-absorbed cultural <a href="/title/irrelevance">irrelevance</a>. These aren't 278 books you should have read by now, these are 278 books that a pretentious literary twat should have read by now.</p>
<p>Books you should have read by now should be engrossing, but at the same time have some degree of cultural relevance. Books you should have read by now shouldn't involve seven titles by the same tired author, but should include a huge amount of diversity, both topical and authorwise.</p>
<p>I could make a much better list... and <a href="/title/A+Heartbreaking+Work+of+Staggering+Hubris">in fact, I have</a>.</p>
<p><big><big><b>278 Books You Should Have Read By Now</b></big><br>
the<!-- close unclosed tag --></big><!-- close unclosed tag --></p>…Gone Till November (thing)http://m.everything2.com/user/18thCandidate/writeups/Gone+Till+November18thCandidatehttp://m.everything2.com/user/18thCandidate2005-09-10T04:15:58Z2005-09-10T04:15:58Z<blockquote><i><a href="/title/Wyclef+Jean">I</a> dedicate this record, <a href="/title/The+Carnival">The Carnival</a>, to all you brothers takin’ long trips down south, <a href="/title/Virginia">Virginia</a>, <a href="/title/Baltimore%252C+Maryland">Baltimore</a>, all around the world, and your girl gets this message that you ain’t comin’ back. She’s sittin’ back in the room, the lights are off, she’s cryin’, and then my voice comes in: pow! in the middle of the night, and this is what I told her for you</i></blockquote>
<p><b><a href="/title/The+Carnival">The Carnival</a></b> - Track #10 - <b><a href="/title/1997">1997</a></b> - Written by <a href="/title/Wyclef+Jean">Wyclef Jean</a> | Performed by <b><a href="/title/Wyclef+Jean">Wyclef Jean</a></b></p>
<p>I wake up in the morning, walk into the bathroom, splash some cold water on my face, and look at myself in the mirror. It's the same old me, except I see the first little wrinkles start to appear under my eyes, and every once in a while I'll see the faintest glint of light bouncing off a silvery hair in the sea of brown atop my head. <a href="/title/What+Should+I+Do+with+My+Life%253F">But it's my eyes that I can't stop looking at.</a></p>
<p>It comes rolling down on top of you<!-- close unclosed tag --></p>…