Rob Larsen

Archive for June, 2010

If You Like Bluegrass Check Out Junior Sisk & Ramblers Choice

They have a new album out and they were played on Hillbilly at Harvard today, which reminded me of how much I liked their previous record. As they said, they sound like a band that stepped into a time machine in the 1950s and showed up in a recoding studio 60 years later. If you tapped your toes to some of the songs on the Oh Brother Where Art Thous Soundtrack and want to take a dip back into the Bluegrass pool, these guys are the real deal.

Check out their site:

Junior Sisk & Ramblers Choice

And their albums on Amazon mp3:

Heartaches and Dreams

Blue Side Of The Blue Ridge

And a neat live performance:

They're Tearing Up the Streets Around My House- Are They Trying to Get Me Excited for the Tour?

I ride to work at least once or twice a week now that I work at an office that's properly accessible by bike. Cramer I had to cross the highway to get to- not fun, really.

Anyway, I rode in today and was surprised to find Centre Street torn up. They're repaving the entire street, which made for a fun first half mile. Riding my junky commuter bike (complete with fenders, rack, lights, a bell and panniers) over gnarly, torn-up pavement was a loud, clangy blast. It also got me excited for Stage 3 of this year's Tour, which promises cobbles and a "hint of the classics."

I'm seriously excited about that stage, both for the potential pitfalls as the GC men try to avoid punctures and madness (see Stage 7 of this year's Giro for a similar profile and the potential mayhem this stage could cause) and for the head-bangers delight as the one-day men fight for one of the most prestigious stages in this year's Tour.

One thing that's disappointing is that they wimped out and avoided the trouée d'Arenberg. I understand the thought-they don't want to completely destroy the peloton, but it's such a tease to be within shouting distance of the famous Paris-Roubaix landmark and not charge through it.

But really, do you want to see Andy Schleck and The Accountant bouncing around over this:

Arenberg

Well, maybe I kinda do, but that's not what the Tour is all about, so the Arenberg is out. I'll ride extra hard over the nasty patch outside my house to make up for it :)

One Sentence About Every Movie I Watched in 1998

I'm pretty sure this list is from 1998. The original list was hand written by me in an old notebook I kept. There are plenty of films from 1997 and 1998 and no films from 1999 on the list, so my deduction is it's from 1998.

This was a period of serious film-geekitude for me, so the list clearly reflects my interests at the time.

So, here's one sentence (or fragment) on each of those films. I'm trying to do this without much editing or research so expect to see some weirdness follow :) I linked to full reviews of the films where applicable if you want to follow up and see how my original appraisal and my later recollections match up.

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I'm Not Sure How Long You Want to Stare at This One

The Blues? Or Just Lots of Blue?

Lots of BLUE.