Cool Stuff People Send Me: Creative Math Solutions

The eldest child (aka Jolee) starting bring home some word problems for math that a) initially confounded me, and b) gave me horrid flashbacks to the days of yore. I was instantly reminded of Professor Ben Friedman's "Math as a Liberal Art" class my freshman year at Occidental, which helped me eliminate my mathematics requirement. The course was more difficult than it sounded, much to the chagrin of the football players who ventured into Fowler Hall, thinking they were about to encounter the "Easy A". No such luck.

Which brings me to the following examples. Rather than leave a question blank, isn't it better to make an attempt and perhaps get partial credit? Or is it better to entertain (my choice, I think)?

Do mathematicians have senses of humor? Do math professors? I'm sure.

I remember the story from high school, undoubtedly a tale of urban myth. A class arrives for a final exam to be confronted with a one-question test, and the question is "Why?"

Scores of students spend the two hours filling their test books with lengthy essays expounding on all they had learned, or what they thought the professor was looking for. The tale, as it is spun, ends with the results: only one student passed, the rest failed. The student who passed responded simply to the question. "Because," he wrote, and then turned in the test.

Unlikely, it seems, to be real. Sad, however, if it is true. Because none of the following examples from creative students were rewarded for their creativity. Even on the web, there work is presented with the mask of anonymity.

Enjoy. Click on an image to enlarge for better resolution.

I think the above was a perfect response. Below, we shift to science for a brief moment.


The answer is funny, the mental image even funnier. Here's more:


Kudos to Peter:


This one makes more sense than what the actual answer most likely would:


Next, nice try, but maybe art school would be better?

Saving the best for last:
And finally, the simplest answer is not always the most correct. If correct at all.


That whirring noise is Pythagoras spinning in his grave. x=5 cm.

Pearl Jam Shuffle

As I recover this morning from Sundance Head slaughtering Pearl Jam's "Jeremy" on American Idol last night, I'm going to do a Pearl Jam post to clear my sinuses.



So, today we have a special Pearl Jam shuffle. Which means most of you will want to skip this post entirely, I guess.

So, here, are the first five songs shuffled, using only the 853 Pearl Jam tracks on the BilliPod.



1) "Release," originally from the album Ten, but this particular track is from a batch I have labelled as "First Week Rehearsal Demos," circa 10/23/90.

Listen: "Release" (mp3) from their performance at Limelight in New York on April 12, 1992, courtesy of The Sky I Scrape



2) "I Am Mine," live at Madison Square Garden, July 8, 2003, also known as MSG1, one of the band's highest-regarded concerts. I attended my first Pearl Jam show the following night, aka MSG2. This was one of two singles from 2002's Riot Act

Here's them performing the song on The Late Show with David Letterman on November 14, 2002:



3) "Improv," also from the "First Week Rehearsal Demos". This track is an early incarnation of the concert staple "Yellow Ledbetter," which originally appeared as a b-side to "Jeremy."

Since this is one of the earliest versions, I'll give you a relatively decent recording of the last time they played "Ledbetter", in Honolulu on December 2, 2006:



Do take some time to watch, as lead guitarist Mike McCready throws a version of Jimi Hendrix' "Little Wing" into the mix.

4) "Sleight of Hand," the studio version, from the album "Binaural."



Listen: "Sleight of Hand" (mp3) live at the House of Blues in Orlando, April 12, 2003. Mp3 courtesy of The Sky I Scrape.

and lastly, in my self-indulgent Pearl Jam shuffling quintet:



5) "Who You Are," also the studio version, from No Code. This song was the lead single off the album. Here's a recently-added clip to YouTube that uses the song. Not sure what the video is about, but it's kind of cool.

Monday Morning Mouthful: Papahanaumokuakea

Monday morning:

Riding the "R" train composing this on the way to work. Listening to the 808-TALK Hawaii podcast, as they report on First Lady Laura Bush announcing the name Papahanaumokuakea of the Northwest Hawaiian Islands National Monument. Read more about this news item here.

I would like to thank all the anonymous visitors who have enjoyed the two most recent "Poetry in Motion" posts I have offered up from the New York City subway system. (They are here and here). Often, in the blogosphere, it feels like no one can hear you scream. It is very satisfying to get thanks from complete strangers on the "service" I provided.

Podcast has ended, now listening to Lucinda Williams' 1980 album of old blues and traditional song covers, entitled "Ramblin'."
Not sure if I have mentioned it here, but I snagged tickets to see Lucinda on March 23 at Radio City Music Hall.
I've switched to the "N" train. Pal Jill, friend of BillyBlog, will be accompanying me to the gig. Despite snagging "cheap" seats, in the upper mezanine, I am excited to get to hear Lucinda perform. Her new album, "West," is getting mixed reviews from critics, but I am faling on the positive side. A group called The Heartless Bastards is supporting, and you never know who will roll onto stage as a surprise guest in the Big Apple.

In other news, Eddie Vedder will be introducing R.E.M. as they are inducted into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame. Check this song out, a cover of Pearl Jam's song "Long Road," by R.E.M., with Vedder joining on vocals. It's bootleg quality, but still a decent recording:

Listen: "Long Road" (mp3) at the Crocodile Cafe, courtesy of an Italian fan
site here.




Beautiful sunrise visible this A.M. as the N crosses the Manhattan Bridge.

For those American Idol fans complaining about the lesser-talented singers surviving the vote, while better singers are kept on by the viewing public, remember this: "American Idol" is at its core a reality TV show masquerading as a singing competition. By the way, I'm going to sell out

and just mention Antonella Barba, and gather some extra hits from indiscriminate googlers.

Two stops away from 34th Street, so I'll wrap this up. Happy Belated Purim to all!

Gratuitious Soccer Dad Post, part 2, March Madness

Shayna scored 2 goals yesterday, helping solidify the Gold team's 5-0 victory over Green, and helping continue the Gold's unbeaten streak in this season's indoor soccer league. Both were pretty shots into the corner of the net.

Here's Numero Uno:



and the second:



As Yoda would say, "Proud Soccer Dad, I am."

News Item of the Day: Swiss Accidentally Invade Liechtenstein

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Published: March 2, 2007

Filed at 8:43 a.m. ET

ZURICH, Switzerland (AP) -- What began as a routine training exercise almost ended in an embarrassing diplomatic incident after a company of Swiss soldiers got lost at night and marched into neighboring Liechtenstein.

According to Swiss daily Blick, the 170 infantry soldiers wandered 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) across an unmarked border into the tiny principality early Thursday before realizing their mistake and turning back.

A spokesman for the Swiss army confirmed the story but said that there were unlikely to be any serious repercussions for the mistaken invasion.

''We've spoken to the authorities in Liechtenstein and it's not a problem,'' Daniel Reist told The Associated Press.

Officials in Liechtenstein also played down the incident.

Interior ministry spokesman Markus Amman said nobody in Liechtenstein had even noticed the soldiers, who were carrying assault rifles but no ammunition. ''It's not like they stormed over here with attack helicopters or something,'' he said.

Liechtenstein, which has about 34,000 inhabitants and is slightly smaller than Washington DC, doesn't have an army.

Photo o' the Day

This is on the mobile postal truck outside of Madison Square Garden. Nice to see that the U.S. Postal Service is honoring the separation of Church and State.

Brooklyn Bridge Photo in the New Yorker

The current issue of The New Yorker has, in addition to a great cover by Bruce McCall,



a cool photograph in it:



For the full story about the picture(a few paragraphs), as well as a slide show featuring it, the following photo,



and several others, visit the magazine's site here.

New York Minute: Farewell to February in Brooklyn

To commemorate our brief Winter (and yes, I acknowledge that, by posting this, I am taunting Mother Nature), I am celebrating March with a rather boring minute from the beginning of the week: leaving home and sploshing through a light, yet ample dusting of frozen precipitation, in Brooklyn on February 26, 2007.

Humpday Housecleaning

I want to send a thanks and a link to the site Hickory Creek. They linked my post about icicles in Switzerland and I had a huge spike in traffic. Bloggers like that stuff. Check out the site, they seem to find a lot of cool, interesting stuff out and about. May be worth a return visit or two or six or fifteen.

Returned to the scene of the crime today, Burgers and Cupcakes in Chelsea. Dragged a co-worker who likewise raved about the awesomeness of the burger. I went for the bison burger with grilled mushrooms and stilton cheese. Simply fantastic. We split their Chocolate Peanut Butter Marshmallow cupcake. Likewise, phenomenal.

A little bit of Bookpeeping on the subway last night:



Lifeguard by James Patterson and Anrew Gross



Et Apres by Guillaume Musso




The Rules of Engagement: A Novel by Anita Brookner



Rudolph's Fundamentals of Pediatrics by Abraham M. Rudolph



The Wine Bible by Karen MacNeil

In May, I posted about the amazing chalk drawings of Julian Beever here. Someone sent me some more amazing examples, so I thought I'd share the link to the old, and pics of the new.

New Post from Friday

Just added a new post here. Just trying to be chronolgical, folks.

BillyBlogs the Oscars

Still unsure of what happened, but retrieved my sent file, here are the posts, chronologically:

INTRO - 8:22 PM EST

This will run in reverse, but I will try and make some Blogservations of the Oscars. I'm qualified since the only films I've seen that are nominated are "Cars" and "Pirates of the Caribbean".

That means I should win the Oscars pool with the gang from Cali.

So far, the highlight has been Sally Kirkland's crazy dress.



Chris Connelly is my (Kevin) Bacon - 8:27 PM EST

As the interviewers fawn over the stars on the Red Carpet, I fondly recall the Summer of 1990 when I free-lanced for MTV and drove Chris Connelly around L.A. as he interviewed stars for MTV's "Big Picture - Summer Movie Preview." Nice to see his hair has grayed along with mine!


Opening Sequence - 8:37 PM EST

Ok, it's cute, but I miss the Troy Miller - directed sequences.

Ok, it's boring now. Sorry. Jaded.

Nice chilli pepper shirt.

Is this a GAP commercial?

Here comes Ellen.....

No, they're re-introducing the nominees.

Melanie liked the opening. She says I'm a cynical bastard.

Here's Ellen!


Ellen - 8:47 PM EST

Nice opening!

I especially like the "If it weren't for Blacks, Gays and Jews, there'd be no Oscars."


First Award - Art Direction - 8:49 PM EST

I picked Pan's Labyrinth and the winner is....

Pan's Labyrinth!

By the way, it's snowing in Brooklyn.


Will Ferrell - 8:58 PM EST

I have a wig just like his hair, only mine is rainbow-colored.

This whole comedian-musical is cute. Still not as great as Robin Williams performing "Blame Canada" several years back.


Makeup - 9:00 PM EST

Pan's Labyrinth wins. I'm two for two!


Best Animated Short and Best Live Action Short - 9:06 PM EST

I chose "Lifted". The Academy chose.....
"The Danish Poet".

Oh well.

For live action, I chose West Bank Story...
The oscar goes to West Bank Story!
The whole family got it!


Sound Effects Choir - 9:15 PM EST

Totally awesome.

One of the coolest Oscar moments I've ever seen.


Sound Editing - 9:17 PM EST

I picked Iwo Jima.

The Oscar goes to.....

Iwo Jima!


Sound Mixing - 9:21 PM EST

I have Flags of Our Fathers,

The Oscar goes to ....

Dreamgirls.


Supporting Actor - 9:27 PM EST

And the Oscar goes to ....

Alan Arkin!

(Bah, I had Pluto Nash!)

Good for him, though. Nice to see a great actor recognized.


Cars' Song - 9:47 PM EST

Separated at birth - James Taylor and Robert Duvall.

And how golden is Randy Newman's touch? Will he be the first composer to win a lifetime Oscar?

Oh, here's Melissa Etheridge now... is this going to be a five-song medley?

Nice performance, nice messages. Of course there are probably more hybrid-car owners per capita in the Kodak Theater than at home, and most of the messages on the screen are not seen by the tv viewers.

Just 2 songs.

Nice pairing of Leo and Gore. Great gag with the music....


Animated Feature - 9:51 PM EST

Cameron Diaz' dress, in Melanie's words, is "like a bad bridesmaid's dress".






The Oscar goes to...

Happy Feet!

I chose Cars.


Writing Montage - 9:55 PM EST

Very cool.

"You ain't no writer, Fink."


Screenplay - 9:59 PM EST

Nice play on the corny teleprompt text by Hanks.

Adapted screenplay first.

Consensus predicts "The Departed"

And so it is.


Costume Design - 10:05 PM EST

What the hell is around Meryl Streep's neck?




I chose "Curse of the Golden Flower".

The Oscar goes to......

(Is this getting tedious yet?)

Marie Antoinette!


Cinematography - 10:16 PM EST

Gwyneth upgraded her wardrobe this year.




Not a big fan of the dress, but at least it isn't stomach-turning.

Sorry, didn't mean to be catty.

This should go to Pan's Labyrinth and ...

It does.


Visual Effects - 10:22 PM EST

Nice joke from Robert Downey. Haven't seen him since the Clinton administration.

Pirates wins.


Foreign Language Film - 10:31 PM EST

Upset!

The Lives of Others beats Pan's Labyrinth!


Best Supporting Actress - 10:36 PM EST

Anyone notice the lines "Well, do ya punk?!" keep appearing between all the nominees?

Go Jennifer Hudson!


And.... - 10:39 PM EST

Nice last minute shout-out to Jennifer Holliday by Ms. Hudson.


Short Subject Documentary and Feature - 10:50 PM EST

Oscar goes to The Blood of Yingzhou District (5 points for me!)

For Feature, we get a Seinfeld intro. Some jokes. Hmmmm.

Not so funny.

Do we get a speech from Al Gore?

You betcha!

Nice and sweet and to the point.


Celine Dion - 11:03 PM EST

World Premiere of "I Knew I Loved You".

Hmmm.

Take away the necklace and she looks very similar to the Oscar statue behind her.



I can only think of her covering AC/DC in her Vegas concert, and I am too distracted to appreciate the song.

Last time I saw Celine she was doing some schtick on Deal or No Deal.

Good for Ennio Morricone. Sorry if I misspelled that. Check iTunes. Yo-Yo Ma does a nice tribute to his work.

You learn something new every day. Clint can translate Italian.


Score - 11:09 PM EST

Oscar goes to Babel.


Original Screenplay - 11:16 PM EST

Tobey Maguire and I go way back. Just google "Hot Rod Brown, Class Clown".

Shayna has been picking some dark horses tonight. She chose Babel while the rest of the house chose Little Miss Sunshine.

Sorry, Shayna.

Sunshine wins.


Silhouettes - 11:18 PM EST

Definitely cool.


Dreamgirls - 11:27 PM EST

It's 11:21 EST. Still a ways to go. Have you been enjoying this live blogging? I have a sinking feeling it has only been fun for me. Sorry.

Well, not really.


Best Song - 11:30 PM EST

The kids chose the song from "Cars". Go figure. Melissa Etheridge wins!


Editing - 11:44 PM EST

Oh does anyone care at this point. Sure, but I am almost 40 and want to go to bed.

Winner is:

Thelma Schoonmacher for "The Departed".


In Memoriam - 11:50 PM EST

Who will get the most applause?

I'm guessing Altman.

Well they ended with him and he did.


Best Actress - 11:57 PM EST

11:51 EST

I am now the only person awake in my house.

Apparently, Phillip Seynour Hoffman's hair stylist is also sleeping.



I am not a well-coiffed dude, but MY LORD! Did Nicholson give him a swirlie during the last commercial break?

No surprise, Helen Mirren wins.


Three Awards to Go - 12:12 PM EST

And it's tomorrow. Or today. It's late.

Reese Witherspoon should have worn a necklace.

Best Actor:

Sweet. Forrest Whitaker!

Great speech.

Coppola, Lucas, and Spielberg presenting for director. Very funny.

Scorcese should win and bring down the house.

Let's see......

Yup. Standing "O".

Shot while Marty is speaking, we see Clint Eastwood's wife brushing something off of his lap. Wonder what that was about?


Best Picture (and the last post of the 79th Academy Awards) - 12:19 PM EST

Nicholson and Keaton presenting.

And the Oscar goes to:

The Departed!

Final Score from Brooklyn:

Me: 180 pts (out of 300 possible)
Melanie: 175
Jolee: 110
Shayna: 75

Good night!

Best Discovery of the Day, or Something to Look Forward to in May

After Dark by Haruki Murakami. To be published May 8, 2007. Buy here from Amazon.com.

Top 25 Albums #20

This post is about my favorite album from the band Queen, but it is not A Night at the Opera, which is considered by many to be their crowning achievement. Instead, I have selected A Day at the Races, the follow-up record that was released the following year, in 1976.


I can't tell you exactly when I heard this record, but it was very early in my music-appreciating career.

I do know that I had very little in my collection when I was given the cassette. If memory serves me right, the tape was a gift from John Lukehart, who was my "Big Brother," courtesy of Big Brothers of Hawai'i.

I became involved with the organization as I was being raised by a single mother in Honolulu, and I only had a consistent daily positive male role model over summers, when I stayed with my father on the Mainland. I don't know what prompted John to give me the tape, and I doubt he would remember. Perhaps I had been caught up in the whole "Bohemian Rhapsody" madness of the mid-seventies. The song hit #9 on the U.S. charts, so I must have heard it.

I do remember though, being entranced by the cover art of the cassette, and studying it thoroughly. As a frame of reference, I was nine when this album was released. It is definitely my first-owned rock album, so I rank it as an influential landmark in my early musical education.

Here's what I think is interesting about this choice, at least for me. There were only two bona fide "hits" on this record. Both singles, "Somebody to Love" and "Tie Your Mother Down", led off each side of the record.















The two songs are classics in and of themselves. I think I was more apt to go for "Tie Your Mother Down," than the love song, because I took it literally and as a nine-to-ten year old boy being raised by a mother, I remember thinking that it was pretty funny.

Of course, I didn't register the lyrics:

Your momma says you don't
And your daddy says you won't
And I'm boilin' up inside
Ain't no way I'm gonna lose out this time

Tie your mother down
Tie your mother down
Lock your daddy out of doors
I don't need him nosing around
Tie your mother down
Tie your mother down
Give me all your love tonight

That was track one, and I was hooked. That opening guitar riff from Brian May was imprinted on my psyche and when I think of Queen, "Tie Your Mother Down" is the first song that comes to mind.

Of the ten tracks on the album, two others drew me in. Both on side 2, "White Man" and "Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy" were standout tracks for me. That is, when I look at the track list, those two jump out at me as ones I remember liking as a kid. "White Man" was a hard-rocking song that bemoaned the fate of Native Americans at the hands of the settlers. "Good Old -Fashioned Lover Boy" is a rollicking song that I just thought was lots of fun.

Listen: "Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy" (mp3) via polaroid > un blog alla radio

The final track on the record is "Teo Torriate (Let Us Cling Together)" and was released as a single in Japan, as a tribute to the band's Japanese following.


There is no disputing that Queen was an influential band for so many people. This album could have been replaced by any other record of the band's had I heard it first. It's safe to say that, as a band, Queen was/is in a league of their own. This record is not Queen's best, but it is my favorite, out of sheer sentimentality.

Watch:

"Somebody to Love":



Performing "You Take My Breath Away," prior to the band recording the song:



"Tie Your Mother Down," the surviving members of Queen at the Freddie Mercury Tribute concert for AIDS Awareness, April 20, 1992, with Joe Elliott (Def Leppard's lead singer) and Slash on the guitar solo:



Queen performing "White Man" live in Houston, in 1977. The video quality is fair, but the audio is amazing:

Friday from Four to Ten

Family post here. A break from the officiousness of music reviews and t-shirt hawking (keep the orders coming!)

Friday afternoon, we decided to take advantage of Free Friday Nights at the Museum of Modern Art. Even though I recently discovered that MoMA's admission prices for kids were quite reasonable (read: Under 16 = Free), the idea we could walk into the high-priced MoMA for free (Adults = $20, regularly, which is steep, by museum standards), was too sweet to pass up. And, as the week had gone by without any take-advantage-of-living-in-New-York-the-greatest-city-in-the-world moments, I really felt morally obligated to take advantage of the offer.

The plan was to hit MoMA for a couple hours, thenn let the girls bowl at Chelsea Piers, meeting up with Melanie after her adult gymnastics class for dessert.

The line was a bit long when they got to MoMA at 3:45, but it moved rather quickly.

Experiencing a museum with two strong-minded young ladies is quite the adventure. The kids really liked the architecture and design section. Jolee wanted this chair, designed by Charles Eames:

Shayna's favorite piece was created by Mona Hatoum:



It may not look like much, but:

This work is a large-scale re-creation of the kinetic sculpture Self-Erasing Drawing Hatoum made in 1979. Replacing conventional artists’ tools (pencil and paper, paint and canvas) with a motorized, toothed metal arm and a circular bed of sand, Hatoum mechanizes the practices of mark-making and erasure. At a rate of five rotations per minute, the sculpture's hypnotic and continual grooving and smoothing of sand evokes polarities of building and destroying, existence and disappearance, displacement and migration.

Overall, it was enjoyable, but when I got to the floor which had the most notable works of art, the sand had run out of their art-appreciation hourglasses. For example:

"Daddy, I want to get out of here. It's too crowded."

"That's because the most famous art is here. Everyone wants to see it."

"So, let's leave."



"Look: Van Gogh's Starry Night."

"So."

"So, it's Starry Night."

"So, I've seen it before."

"Not in person."

And so it went. Note to self: next time we do MoMA, we're starting on the top floor.

From MoMA, we rendez-vous'ed met up with Melanie and we headed over to Chelsea Piers. The plan was to head over to the bowling alley and let the kids bowl and spend mindless amounts of money on arcade games so they could each get $2 worth of crappy toys for $20 worth of games.

Alas, the Alley was packed, and said plans were thwarted by a corporate party's monopolization of the lanes.

Disappointed (well, at least 2/3rds of us), we headed back to the Field House, where Jolee watched Melanie tumble her heart out, and Shayna watched a couple of indoor soccer games. I plodded toward the end of The Show I'll Never Forget.

When all was said and done, we headed out to a late dinner.

We stopped at a new restaurant called Burgers & Cupcakes, on West 23rd between 7th and 8th Avenues.

We had to wait a bit for a booth, but the delay was well worth it. The menu is simple, affordable and the food was delicious.

I ordered the chiptole chicken burger with pepper jack cheese and grilled mushrooms. Melanie had the vension burger with goat cheese crumbled over salad. Jolee and Shayna had turkey burgers.

Unfortunately for us, the kids were not so fond of their burgers. They are accustomed, through a failure in parenting, to pre-processed turkey burgers, as are commonly served in Brooklyn diners.

However, the "fresh cut-twice fried potatoes" were spectacular and the chocolate raspberry truffle cupcake was a delightful flourish to end the meal. The kids had basic chocolate cupcakes.

Check out the menu here.

Website: Burgers & Cupcakes.

Let's Try This Again - Support BillyBlog's Capitalist Tendencies

I tried this a year ago, but no one bought. Let's try again. I need help paying for my Lucinda Williams tickets.

Buy this and/or similar products here.

Music News: The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly

Three interesting music tidbits floated my way today:

The Good:

from Billboard:

Zevon Saluted With Album, Reissues, Book

February 21, 2007, 2:00 PM ET

Jonathan Cohen, N.Y.

Late singer/songwriter Warren Zevon, who died of cancer in 2003, will be the subject of a double-disc rarities collection, three expanded reissues of vintage albums and a book in the coming weeks.

First up are new editions of the albums "Excitable Boy," "Stand in the Fire" and "Envoy," due March 27 via Rhino. Each album sports four previously unreleased bonus tracks. The 1981 live album "Stand in the Fire" had been out of print for years, while "Envoy," released the following year, has never been made available on CD until now.

On May 1, the new label Ammal Records will release "Preludes -- Rare and Unreleased Recordings," culled from 126 pre-1976 tracks found in a road case after Zevon's death by his son. In addition to demos and alternate versions, the album sports six previously unreleased songs: "Empty Hearted Town," "Going All the Way," "Steady Rain," "Stop Rainin' Lord" "Studebaker" and "The Rosarita Beach Cafe."

The second disc blends 40 minutes of music with segments of an interview between Zevon and KGSR-Austin, Texas' Jody Denberg.

Finally, Zevon's life and times are chronicled in the book "I'll Sleep When I'm Dead," which is told through interviews with family members and musicians such as Jackson Browne, Lindsey Buckingham and David Crosby.

The article and track list here.



The Bad:

From RollingStone.com

According to Blabbermouth, Chinese Democracy’s previously half-confirmed release date, March 6th, has been retracted. Guns “associate” Del James has reportedly commented on the album’s status, saying: “The good news is that all of the recording for the album has been completed…There is no official release date, as the band is currently mixing, but after some delays and scheduling difficulties, things appear to be moving along.” Mmm k.

And The Ugly:
From MTV News:

Van Halen Reunion Tour Might Not Happen After All

Source close to band says 40-city jaunt with David Lee Roth has been postponed indefinitely.

By Corey Moss

Not so fast on breaking out those ice skates in hell. (Yes, those were our words we might soon be eating.)

The Van Halen reunion with original singer David Lee Roth — the one Eddie Van Halen described as feeling like "pure magic" after one rehearsal (see "Eddie Van Halen Says Reunion With David Lee Roth For Tour Is 'Pure Magic' ") — might not be happening after all.

A source close to the band, requesting anonymity, told USA Today on Tuesday (February 20) that the 40-city tour — tickets to which were expected to go on sale this weekend — has been postponed indefinitely.

Meanwhile, Eddie, Alex and Wolfgang Van Halen's publicist — who announced the tour February 2 — said reports of a cancellation should be considered rumors until an official statement is released.

In mid-February, Roth spoke of the reunion with Rolling Stone, saying that he hopes it lasts beyond the summer trek. "God willin', and the creek don't run dry, just like Grandma Roth used to say," he told the magazine in typical Roth-speak. "Barring any act of God or Ferrari ... yeah. I have hope and faith, and that's more than just the name of a couple of strippers from Albuquerque."

Regardless, on March 12, Van Halen will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (see "R.E.M., Van Halen, Grandmaster Flash Make Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame") in a ceremony that could feature Van Halen performing with both Roth and his replacement, Sammy Hagar (see "Sammy Hagar's Plans: Beach, Cruise, Sharing Stage With David Lee Roth?").

So, I've made up for the paucity of posts earlier in the week. I also completed my post for Top 25 Albums, #20, but will hold off a day or two before posting it.