This Month At Dontmindme.com — August 2001

Well, my serious thoughts of changing Stuff of the Week into Stuff of the Month met with no protest, so let the change begin. This change will let me feature more stuff every time, and be more detailed in my write-ups.

Song of the Month: "Harry got up dressed all in black. Went down to the station and he never came back. They found his clothing scattered somewhere down the track, and he won't be down on Wall Street in the morning." No, this isn't the Quote of the Month, it's the opening lines to Don Henley's "New York Minute." This slow and brooding tune illustrates that Henley was the best songwriter to come out of the Eagles ("All She Wants To Do Is Dance" notwithstanding) and perhaps one of the best songwriters of the 1980s. Certainly not a happy song, but well worth a listen.

Album of the Month: Most everyone considers that U2's best album was 1987's The Joshua Tree, and while I don't disagree that it is a great album, I consider 1983's War to be the definitive U2 disc. Aggressive and powerful, the album hits the mark time and time again with tracks like "Sunday Bloody Sunday," "New Year's Day," "Seconds" and "Two Hearts Beat As One." The Edge's guitarwork has never been sharper. This disc is also one of the best driving CDs I own.

Fun Link of the Month: Everyone has played Rock-Paper-Scissors, right? Well, if you need a help with the rules, or with some strategies, I have the site for you. It's the Official Rock Paper Scissors Strategy Guide. No, I'm sure how seriously to take this, but it's certainly worth a look. Thanks to my friend Brian for suggesting this site, here's a link to his page. That's two links for the price of one, so enjoy.

Useful Link of the Month: Ever find yourself online and needing to know the exact definition of ebullient, but you don't want to go find a dictionary and look it up? You don't need to leave your seat to find a dictionary, though, just hit the Merrian-Webster Online Dictionary. It's easier than biting the head off a bat, and far more practical.

Quote of the Month: "So raise your hand if you think that was a Russian water-tentacle." — Lindsay Brigman in The Abyss. No, I'm not going to explain that quote, you have to watch the movie to understand it.

Game of the Month: It's an old, old game, but the original Pirates! is simply one of the best games ever coded. The graphics aren't great by any recent standard, and the sound is worse, but the game is so much fun that it doesn't matter. I still have a copy on my hard drive 14 years after the game first came out. What's more, I have developed a very extensive knowledge of Caribbean geography, well, at least 17th century Caribbean geography. You can find an downloadable version of the game on-line, just do a search for Pirates! and be sure to include the exclamation point.

Fun Fact of the Month: Chris Tucker was paid 20 million dollars to star in Rush Hour 2. Actually I think this falls better into the disturbing fact column, but I don't run a monthly disturbing fact. . . yet. This fact is probably only fun if you happen to be a close friend of Mr. Tucker, but still I feel the need to kvetch about this. Chris Tucker is okay, but he's not a Bruce Willis or a Harrison Ford or even a Will Smith. He's been in a total of two big blockbuster movies, and he wasn't the biggest star in either of them. How on earth he landed 20 million for Rush Hour 2 is beyond me. I want to meet his agent.

DVD of the Month: The quote may have given it away, but I'm promoting The Abyss this month. Why, you ask? I'll tell you. It's because the DVD is very, very cool. It's loaded to the gills with bonus features. We're talking second disc here. And the first disc contains both the original theatrical version of the movie and the directors cut that makes so much more sense, even if it is almost three hours long. The effects might be a touch weak when compared to recent sci-fi FX extravaganzas, but this is still a very watchable movie.