How I think

[tahnan]

Apropos of nothing, I've added a little graph of how I think to my userinfo. Don't even ask. I apparently left out "puttering around on the computer"; file it under "puzzles".

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Also, courtesy of the Diesel, a quote from the next table over:

"You used to eat salads at Chuck-E-Cheese's? What are you, a freak?"
"It does sound really dumb, doesn't it."

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Also from the Diesel, courtesy of my music collection: things you shouldn't do, as commanded by Einstein's Little Homunculus, Billy Joel, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers (twice), Free to Be You and Me (performed by Billy DeWolfe), Francis Heaney, Peter Gabriel, Elton John (with Kiki Dee), Leonard Cohen (via David McComb & Adam Peters), Neil Young (via Annie Lennox), Elton John (by himself; also via Oleta Adams), Warren Zevon, No Doubt, Fleetwood Mac, Queen, 10,000 Maniacs, Kander and Ebb's Cabaret, and Talking Heads. (Sorted alphabetically by act to avoid.)

They enjoin you not to: ask, ask me why, come around here no more, do me like that, dress your cat in an apron, fuck with me, give up, go breaking my heart, go home with your hard-on, let it bring you down, let the sun go down on me, let us get sick, speak, stop, stop me now, talk, tell Mama, or worry about the government.

That’s what my music collection has that starts with "Don't", eliminating certain things that slipped in, i.e. Don't I Know, Don't Know Much about Love, and Don't You Want Me. The injunction against crying for me, Argentina, got left out because the title of the track begins "On the Balcony of the Casa Rosada".

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I idly wondered earlier today how long a chain you can form by iterating "...who covered song X, originally by Y..." (without repeating artists). For instance, Cry Cry Cry covered "I Know What Kind of Love This Is" by the Nields, who covered "Lovely Rita" by the Beatles, who covered "Roll Over Beethoven" by Chuck Berry. Which isn't a very long list, of course. And how long a loop can you form? (Loops are certainly possible: The Who covered "Saturday Night's All Right for Fighting" by Elton John, who covered "Pinball Wizard" by The Who. But it's a pretty dull loop.)

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OK, enough thinking for one night.

Comments

[bibliogirl.livejournal.com]

The covers chain stuff has been thoroughly looked into... there's a whole site about it, which Google will probably turn up. If memory serves, the longest chain is in the hundreds.

[thedan.livejournal.com]

I looked it up and found The Covers Project... I'm not impressed though, since the very first artist profile I looked up had an error. (The site claims that Stabbing Westward covered "Perfect" by the Smashing Pumpkins, when they actually have their own song called "Perfect"; although it is pretty similar in tone.)

[tahnan.livejournal.com]

Yeah--I picked one at semi-random (i.e. more or less the first one on the list), and found that they list 10,000 Maniacs as having covered "Because the Night" by Bruce Springsteen (true), and also list "Because the Night" as being originally by 10,000 Maniacs and covered by "Beki Bondage" (obviously false, if the other was true).

gip

[colorwheel.livejournal.com]

a little graph

it's a cw!

[flynngrrl.livejournal.com]

Good job not making anything a bigger piece of your brain pie than your wife. She's awesome... and the very soul of VENGEANCE!

[leighjen.livejournal.com]

It is possible that concealed questions should fear for it's life because it is very close to eclipsing me.

I may have to take a hit out on it soon.

[jadelennox]

I got a very short chain once (did I ever get longer than three songs?) of songs which specifically mention another band or another song by the same band, then going on to that band or song. "Hi, we're the Replacements" by They Might Be Giants, followed by "Alex Chilton" by the replacements. I think and made a longer chain at one point, and wrote it down somewhere.