The Sheepcat

Rob Paravonian's Pachelbel Rant

Very funny for lovers of baroque music, lovers of classic rock, lovers of folk music, haters of baroque music, … you name it.

There's no way to be cool when your instrument is larger than you. When you walk to school with a cello, you're like a wounded gazelle on the Serengeti, man – the bullies just smell you comin' from a mile away.

Link originally via the CAEI combox, but I'm now sending you to Rob's own site.

Update: Nice to see so many of you coming by, but I suspect you've been enticed by the hope of finding links to other blogs referencing you-know-who's rant, links that aren't there. Google has unfortunately just quoted some of TypePad's Trackback boilerplate text, which hopefully I've now removed by turning off Trackbacks for this post.

I don't want to let you down, though, so just so you don't go away empty-handed, here's Rob pointing out the dopiness of the extended theme song from Friends and a sweet, catchy melody I'd never noticed has lyrics about a guy cheating on his girlfriend.

Advice for Obsessive People

I've been a worrier for much of my life, and worry seems to have returned with a vengeance lately, for no especially good external reason. Jimmy Akin has a very helpful post on scrupulosity (which he doesn't define but I take to mean excessive concern with minor personal sins) and its frequent connection with obsessive-compulsive disorder. Some in his combox links to Ten Commandments for the Scrupulous.

As a professional editor and proofreader, I do often find a productive outlet for my obsessive tendencies. Jimmy advises:

Watch the TV show Monk on USA Network. It's about a detective who has OCD and who manages to be a productive member of society anyway. In fact, his OCD makes him a better detective as he notices (and obsesses about) details that nobody else spots. Many OCD folks really appreciate this show and say it helps them in that it offers a sympathetic portrait of someone with their conditions, lets them laugh about it, and lets them see their condition from an "outside" perspective.

Thanks for that, Jimmy. I watched a few clips and haven't laughed so hard in a long time.

Gilligan Is Dead

How can this be? Bob Denver will always be the age he was in the 1960s, and that's that. Because I said so.
I grew up on that show. Gilligan's Island, Get Smart, and The Brady Bunch were my cultural staples. The next thing I know, you'll be telling me that Robert Reed is dead and Don Adams is hawking phones or something.
I am bereft.