The Iceberg

Spent the weekend cleaning the place up.  Serious cleaning.  Scrubbing the floors and everything.  So it seems appropriate to play Elliot Smith’s “All Cleaned Out”.

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This will likely be the last music fix for a few weeks.  I’m flying to Hanoi on Wednesday and will be there for three weeks.

And when I return, I’ll be a married man.

…is love, sweet love a little goofy dancing.

I discovered this video while reading this story in the IHT.  The video stars a worldwide cast of thousands - and a guy named Matt Harding, whom you can learn more about at www.wherethehellismatt.com.

In the meantime, watch the video and spend at least a few minutes of your day thinking positive and pleasant thoughts.

Ok, there is one downer to the video.  There is one shot of Matt dancing in front of Namdaemun (the South Gate) in Seoul, which those of us who live here all know has since burned to ashes.

“Young Folks”, by Peter Bjorn and John

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Just arrived home a few minutes ago.  I was working late at school entering final grades into the computer.  This was preceded by a weekend of correcting over a thousand student homework assignments and quizzes.  Oh, and watching and evaluating about eights hours of videos of student speeches.  I had to watch the speeches on video because I missed three days of classes to serve as a guide for teachers visiting from Thailand.

Needless to say, I’ve been busy.

But not anymore!  The busy work is done and all that’s left in front of me before I head off to Vietnam is a couple of days of review lessons followed by five half-days of proctoring final exams, and then a week of wind-up classes (mostly watching videos).

Still, I need some air.

The Black Rebel Motorcycle Club’s “Need Some Air”, that is.

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…but, I mean, c’mon.

We are in the midst of the trial pitting the City of Seattle vs. the Seattle SuperSonics. As much as I’d like to see the Sonics stay in Seattle, I just can’t see how it’s going to happen. Howard Schultz, you’re an idiot. Clay Bennett, you’re an asshole.

This song is dedicated to the Sonics’ better days. It is “Detlef Schrempf”, by Band of Horses. For those of you who don’t know, Detlef Schrempf was a forward from Germany who played for the Sonics in the ’90s - a time when they were actually good. He also played for the University of Washington.

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Adieu, Sonics.

Received a call from the future Mrs. Iceberg last night.  We received the “all clear” from the Ministry of Justice and will be signing the papers on July 16.

One month to the day until the papers are signed.  In lieu of that, here is “Closer”, by Travis.

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…that Viet Nam’s largest stock exchange is the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange?

Did you also know that the acronym for the exchange is “HOSE”?

I think they might want to reconsider the name, for there are two ways to perceive this. The first being, “If you invest here and end up getting hosed, don’t say we didn’t warn you.”

And the second being, “Get yourself some dong and try your luck with the HOSE…”

Childish. I know.

Upon further reflection I realized there could be some confusion here…the dong and hose reference is meant to be a (stupid) joke on the double-phallic reference.

I missed last week’s music fix because I was busy in Viet Nam, so here’s a double dose.

First is “I Will Overcome”, by Hard-Fi (who are playing at Pentaport).

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Next is “Fluorescent Adolescent”, by the Arctic Monkeys.

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Enjoy.