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On 12.31.09, In Life, By Mike
On 12.29.09, In Aye Wonder Tuesday, By Mike
Happy New Year one and all. ‘Tis the last Tuesday of 2009 and for the first time ever, AWT is publishing our fearlessly feckless 20 predictions for 2010. It’s quite scary committing your thoughts to public record but if you have something to say, you may as well say it. The scope of these forecasts will be both personal and global, micro and macro. Some will be tongue-in-cheek, others are not. (I will decide at year end which is which!) If you’d like, we can reconvene at year end 2010 with the scorecard and put me to task. You ready? Lets get going.
- 2010 will be better than 2009 but only at the margin. We are nowhere close to being done with the jobs recession. Want a better economy? Raise confidence. It is a simple equation but a complicated task.
- Learning about the sex life of our politicians, celebrities and sports figures will explode into a major industry. Why? “Enquiring” minds want to know and…it sells.
- Guantanamo Bay will not close in 2010 especially if we are led to believe that prisoners released from there were involved with the terrorist plot on NWA Flight 253.
- Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Nancy Bachman, Joe Lieberman, Deval Patrick and Sarah Palin will continue to suck. A further prediction, this is the year that Sarah Palin’s tank runs dry and everyone begins to see her for the fraud that she is.
- There will be further schisms between the North and the South, the red and the blue. If we are not careful, we could see the end of another “empire” in future years.
- 2010 will take us another step closer to a cure for cancer and the Kanzius Machine will play a part in its cure.
- Magazines will rise again (428 closings in 2009!) and on-demand television will flourish. Apple’s new tablet computer will drive this but it will mostly be because people will continue to want home entertainment as a way to save money.
- MTV will come to its senses and cancel Jersey Shore. Oh wait, MTV comes to its senses?? I may have to rethink this one.
- The stock market will lose value in 2010 but companies who grow their market share in a bad economy will flourish.
- We will not hear from Octomom, Balloon Boy and Levi Johnson ever again. I wish that the same fate could be conferred on Glenn Beck, Charlie Sheen and Bernie Madoff.
- Personally, I will end this retirement experiment and find gainful employment looking around corners which I do better than most, this prediction stuff notwithstanding.
- Iron Man 2 will be as bad as Oceans 12. Maybe worse.
- Joseph Gordon-Levitt will become a household name.
- President Obama will enjoy a surge in popularity that his administration will squander.
- The New Orleans Saints will win the Super Bowl. They deserve it. They have played impeccably on both sides of the ball and the city sure could use the boost.
- Tiger Woods will play in the 2010 Masters. It’s what he lives for (well, that…and you know). AND he will not get divorced.
- Interest in Twitter will fade like a Tim Wakefield knuckle ball. It’s a one dimensional technology that is crying the emperor has no clothes. Don’t waste anymore of your time with it.
- The album will die – even online. Artists will release songs more often and on the internet. Free music will be the order of the day since there is no money to be made on music sales to the consumer. It will take awhile but you will see it begin to happen in 2010.
- I am taking Spain in the 2010 World Cup. They play with precision, heart and discipline. If the Italian squad learned discipline, they would be my pick. But alas
- Eliot Spitzer will rise again. He may have messed up but he’s done a lot of things right since then and you just can’t hold down someone who is as intelligent and ambitious as him. The same fate does not await Mark Sanford.
And there you have it…20 fearless predictions/forecasts for your final AWT of 2009. Thank you for visiting and offering your opinions. It’s best when there is a dialogue. I wish you great things in 2010, good health and good cheer, prosperity and hope. It is a new decade that we get to write the blueprint for. Lets make it amazing! All the best.
Aye Wonder.
And so should you!
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On 12.24.09, In Music, By Mike
In the midst of my prep work for Christmas dinner, I thought of today’s song. It is an insane song that had a short shelf life in this country but did well everywhere else. You don’t have to understand it to enjoy it. In fact, it’s nearly unintelligible anyways, consisting of pig French and English and lord knows, probably a bit more. It is part T-Rex, part Garage Rock and part Beach Boys. Here is Plastic Betrand singing their quasi-big hit Ca Plane Pour Moi (which loosely translates as “this life’s for me.”)
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Happy Christmas one and all. Ca plane pour moi.
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On 12.23.09, In Music, By Mike
Within three notes you will know this song and your head will be bopping, your shoulders twisting and your toes tapping along to the music. It’s an incredibly joyous song that tells the story of the power of music to make you feel better. And hell, that’s what this exercise has been all about. I present to you, Earth, Wind & Fire’s Sing a Song.
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The countdown continues to Christmas. Day 15 is in the bin.
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On 12.22.09, In Music, By Mike
The Lightning Seeds’ Marvellous is like two songs in one. The front half is an electronica gee-whiz instrumental that half way in turns into an all out, indie pop celebration. It’s all about throwing caution to the wind and going for it. Hmmmm….I don’t remember them making music like this in Liverpool.
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Hey, I don’t make ‘em, I just play ‘em. And that makes 14.
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On 12.22.09, In Aye Wonder Tuesday, By Mike
I never like wishing time away. I think I have mentioned this on numerous occasions here. However, this decade may be an exception. As a result, I thought I would spend this Tuesday’s AWT reviewing the decade from a DiCarlo family perspective.
One of my life policies is to get the bad news out of the way early. As a result, I thought I would disclose here that I am Tiger Wood’s nookie bookie. Tiger has come to me on numerous occasions (more than the currently disclosed fourteen) and asked me to secure willing women for him. The cue that sprung me into action was Tiger singing “I’m dreaming of a White Mistress.” While at the outset I took to my new job with zest, I quickly realized its baseness. As a result, the selection process suffered and my choices for Tiger most often came from the dregs of the gene pool. I offer my deepest and most sincere apologies for anyone I may have hurt along the way.
Since I am sharing bad news, there’s this. It was recently disclosed that Christine was notified that, despite her performance early in the decade, she will not be immortalized in the Shopping Hall of Fame (SHOF). Apparently, but unbeknown to me, Christine has not been putting up SHOF type of numbers over the past three years. She is taking this notification very personally and recently dented an old purse when she threw herself in front of a parked car. I know you will continue to lovingly support Christine, as I do, while she goes through this most difficult and challenging time.
Another member of our family – Grover, our beloved Brussels Griffon Terrorist, has been with us for the last half of the decade and has yet to really experience the high life. As a result, all he does is sleep, eat and lick himself. We are extremely concerned that this type of behavior may be habit forming and have scheduled a preliminary appointment with noted dog psychiatrist, Doctor Iwanna Bleedu-Dry. After consulting with Dr. Bleedu-Dry, we decided that the 100 session pricing on a per session basis was most economical. We’re hoping that soon Grover will be able to read and write. Wish us luck!
In 2oo7, we were hopeful that our Scotland project would bear fruit. It was such an amazing and unique project that even an idiot could make it a success. It turns out that we over estimated idiocy and the project failed famously. There was one benefit to failure, our reality TV series, Watching Wasserman Wallow, has been picked up by NBC to replace the Jay Leno Show. The pilot was an amazing success. We’re positively pleased as punch.
If everything goes as planned, Christine and I (and the sleeping, eating & licking, Grover) will finally relocate to our new mud hut in Jalalabad, Afghanistan on the Pakistan border. We have been talking about this move for the past 3 years and after considering, Flint MI, Bridgeport CT, Biloxi MS, Camden ME and Gary IN, we finally settled on Jalalabad because the name is so fun to say. (Djibouti came in a close second and Spitsbergen a distant third) The clincher for us was when we heard that Jalalabad has an active comedy scene. We will keep you apprised as we near the move date.
Early in 2000, I predicted correctly that the stock market would regularly go up and down. This incredible bit of prognostication has led me to consider some other new directions in life as I return from retirement and begin the job search. Offers to predict the weather are pouring in. Yesterday, Farmers Almanac came calling. With our impending move, I may have to tell them that it would be a temporary position.
As 2010 beckons, Christine and I know that we can count on your continued support and love as we await the results of Grover’s testing, our impending move and the success of our reality tv show.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all.
Dourly,
The DiCarlos
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On 12.21.09, In Music, By Mike
Richard Thompson is an acquired taste. He’s like your first beer, it didn’t go down well but there was a pretty good chance you would have another. Thompson has a very dark sense of humor that once you are on board with it, you can see his brilliance. Today’s song is I Feel So Good and it is a typical Thompson gem. Thompson sings as a teenager who just got out of the juvenile prison and wants to celebrate by doing additional property harm and breaking a heart. It’s not your usual fun and uplifting song but if you recognize that it is tongue-in-cheek, you will understand the joy here. Never has breaking the law and getting a little bit of revenge sounded so good.
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The countdown continues. Four more are left.
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On 12.20.09, In Music, By Mike
It’s almost unthinkable that The Undertones of the 2000s are the same band from the 70s & 80s. Their brazen Northern Ireland rough and ready punk that landed them critical acclaim by uber DJ, John Peel has given way to an almost sunshine-y Beach Boys sound now. The difference is that their legendary front man, Feargal Sharkey, hesitated in rejoining the band when they reformed and the balance of the band decided to forge ahead without him with great result. In today’s song, The Undertones pay homage to a rarity in Northern Ireland, The Winter Sun. Have a go and cheer up on this snowy Sunday in December.
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The countdown to Christmas continues.
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On 12.19.09, In Music, By Mike
Israel Kamakawiwo’ole is not a household name but in Hawaii, he was their most popular entertainer until his death in 1997. He came into the national spotlight when several movies used his medley of Somewhere Over the Rainbow and What a Wonderful World. His rendition is beautifully and delicately played on the ukulele and Kamakawiwo’ole’s vocal belies his stature (He was 770 pounds at the time of his death at age 38). This is the one song in the series that has both an uplifting feel to it and sadness at the same time.
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On 12.18.09, In Music, By Mike
Today’s toe-tapper comes from the grumpy old man of rock and roll himself, Van Morrison. The Irish bard has been at this now for 5 decades and when he wants to turn out an infectiously cheerful song he can. Witness Brown Eyed Girl or today’s irresistibly charming and remarkably upbeat Bright Side of the Road.
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Keep on listening in and don’t forget the new music bar at the bottom.
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I have written….
- Time for an AWT Good News Edition
- A New Decade AWT – I Feel Better Already
- Happy New Year One and All
- AWT is on the Record
- The Insanity Continues
- Two Days Remain
- Marvellous. Just Marvellous.
- The Decade in Review – The AWT version
- I Feel So Good, I’m Gonna Break Somebody’s Heart Tonight
- Has Anyone Seen the Winter Sun
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