Not Ready to Make Nice

So I realize this song has been out for a little while, and though the controversy surrounding the Dixie Chicks is nowhere near where it was back in London in 2003 when Natalie Maines made her infamous remark, "Just so you know, we're ashamed the President of the United States is from Texas," it has recently started to affect me. And I just can’t stop listening to this song. I’ve liked the Dixie Chicks for a while, and back during my country music phase I really liked their albums Wide Open Spaces and Fly. And after that I didn’t really listen to them too much. But when that issue over that remark started blowing up, I paid a little more attention. But I kind of forgot about them again as the controversy died down, until I heard this song. I freaking love it. it has so much emotion in it, and I love the video.

The whole anti-Dixie Chicks campaign really made me sick. The fact that they were boycotted by so many people just really bothered me. Isn’t the whole 1st Amendment thing in place to allow people to say how they feel? Yeah, I hear a lot of stuff that bothers me and I can’t believe people say it. But I also understand that they have the right to say it, and I have yet to send a letter to someone threatening to hurt and/or maim them over some rude or crude or just downright stupid remark they made.

I think it’s really cool that they “bounced back” as much as they have from this, considering half the country turned on them, and probably more than half their fan base. I’ve been watching a few interviews recently on youtube (I love youtube) with Larry King, Good Morning America, the Grammy’s and a few others. And the more I watch about the Dixie Chicks and the affects that that statement had on them and the country, and how they have stood their ground, the more respect I have for them. I plan on renting the Dixie Chicks: Shut Up and Sing dvd very soon, because I think that looks so interesting. And I’d like to learn more about the overall affect on the Dixie Chicks. But for now I settle for interview on youtube, and watching the video over and over. I just really love this song, and can’t stop listening to it. I really like the live performance as well from the Grammy awards. So I’ve embedded both videos in this post. Partly for your sake, in case you haven’t watched them yet, and partly for mine, so I can watch them all the time from my blog.

I also added the lyrics for those not versed in Dixie Chick.


Forgive, sounds good.
Forget, I'm not sure I could.
They say time heals everything,
But I'm still waiting

I'm through, with doubt,
There's nothing left for me to figure out,
I've paid a price, and i'll keep paying

I'm not ready to make nice,
I'm not ready to back down,
I'm still mad as hell
And I don't have time
To go round and round and round
It's too late to make it right
I probably wouldn't if I could
Cause I'm mad as hell
Can't bring myself to do what it is
You think I should

I know you said
Why can't you just get over it,
It turned my whole world around
and i kind of like it

I'm in bed, and I sleep like a baby,
With no regrets and I don't mind saying,
It's a sad sad story
When a mother will teach her daughter
that she ought to hate a perfect stranger.
And how in the world
Can the words that I said
Send somebody so over the edge
That they'd write me a letter
Saying that I better shut up and sing
Or my life will be over

I'm not ready to make nice,
I'm not ready to back down,
I'm still mad as hell
And I don't have time
To go round and round and round
It's too late to make it right
I probably wouldn't if I could
Cause I'm mad as hell
Can't bring myself to do what it is
You think I should

I'm not ready to make nice,
I'm not ready to back down,
I'm still mad as hell
And I don't have time
To go round and round and round
It's too late to make it right
I probably wouldn't if I could
Cause I'm mad as hell
Can't bring myself to do what it is
You think I should

What it is you think I should...

Forgive, sounds good.
Forget, I'm not sure I could.
They say time heals everything,
But I'm still waiting





~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And live at the 2007 Grammy Awards.

Just fun videos

For lack of interesting commentary to blog about, I just have fun videos instead.

I love this! I had recorded the award show and used to watch this intro all the time.

Would You Like A Cherry Squishie?

So I know this is going to sound silly, but I'm excited to see the Simpsons movie. And speaking of movies, I've seen a few lately and would like to take this time to comment on one of them now... Mr. Brooks - FREAKING LOVED IT!!!! I saw it a few weeks ago, and it was a freebie 2nd movie... meaning we paid the full matinee price (we're frugal movie goers) and snuck into the second movie. We typically only go to a movie if we can time it to see two. Anyway, back to the movie review. I was wary of it going into it, because A. I don't like a lot of blood and gore and it was about a serial killer 2. Dane Cook was in it, and although I like Dane as a comedy actor (I really liked him in Employee of the Month) I didn't know if he would make a good serious actor (i.e. Jim Carey syndrome). So I went into it a little unsure. And I walked out just floored by how good it was. Out of 5 stars I'm giving this a 5.125 because holy cow was this movie great. So without getting too much into the plot or giving too much away, here are the main things that I really liked about the movie, and once you see the movie, these will make more sense:
- I loved the fact that they used a separate actor completely, William Hurt, to play Kevin Costners murderous and crazy fun loving serial killer alter ego, Marshall. I loved their interaction. The fact that they would talk to each other throughout the entire movie and it was all in Kevin Costner's head was great. I thought that was much better than Kevin Costner talking to himself, or looking at himself in the mirror and seeing himself. In this case he'd look in the mirror to talk to William Hurt in the back seat. And in once scene they are in the car, and William Hurt is in the backseat, and Kevin Coster looks over his shoulder and William Hurt looks over his at the same time. And then they turn back to the front at the same time. Simple, I know, but very effective.
- I loved that this was not a baseball movie. Darn you Kevin Coster for making so many baseball movies!
- I really liked Danielle Panabaker as Kevin Costner's daughter. She was great in this role. I far cry from Sky High.
- I really liked Dane Cook, to my surprise, as a voyeuristic neighbor who takes pictures of his very open with their sex life neighbors and catches Kevin Costner in the act of killing the nymphos. Which, kind of ironically, was going to be his last murder. But he basically blackmails Kevin Costner into taking him along on another murder. Anyway, I didn't think I would like him in a serious role, but he brought enough dry humor into it that it surprised me and I liked him in it very much!
- I really liked that it wasn't too bloody and gory and serial killerish with the blood and the gore.
- I really loved the ending. I won't spoil that for you, but I thought it was freaking awesome.

Anyway, this movie review has now taken up more of my time than I anticipated and I'm tired. So I'm going to bed now.
But I would highly suggest Mr. Brooks.

Making our house our home

So Dave and I have really been trying to add the little touches that give our house some personality over the last week or so. We hung some of our pictures up in the family room downstairs, some of out funny tin signs, our clock and this awesome mirror that Dave wasn't really able to put up in his apartment, so I hadn't seen yet, and it just is really cool. So our family room has now taken on our personality, a bit of humor, and some nice style - if I do say so myself. And we got very good at hanging these large pictures and heavy items by drilling in anchors and using a leveler and stud finder.
To say we've been "drill happy" might be a bit extreme, but I'm going to go with we've been drill happy. In addition to the pictures and clock and mirror, we've installed a hand towell ring in the upstairs bathroom, a hand towell bar in the downstairs bathroom, I drilled in my hook to hold my Hawaiian wind chimes that my old roommate Tracy brought me, and some great outdoor blinds to go in our covered porch. So now if we're out in the morning, we can pull the shades down and not have the sun right on us, and they just look really nice. So we installed 4 sets and they're great, and of course, Camille helped.
And then Dave was just so cool and surprised me by installing my kitchen under the counter iPod player for me. We bought me a player to go in the kitchen cause I really like listening to my iPod pretty much wherever I am, except now at work I have the sound of tv in the background instead of my iPod. But he knew how much I wanted that up, but I was nervous about putting it up myself. So he brings up the drill and starts looking at the directions and the template for where to drill the holes and when I asked him what he was doing, he said he was just taking a look at the set up. Next thing I know he's laying on the counter under the cupboard, wearing sunglasses like protective eyewear, and he's drilling away. Few minutes later I have my iPod player up and running! I love having it in the kitchen, and I've used it almost everyday. While I'm loading the dishwasher, cooking something for lunch or dinner, whatever. It's already gotten enough use to have justified it's purchase. So I'm very happy with my kitchen iPod setup. I swear we've got enough iPod players that our house is practically iPod central. But it's great, cause we can be anywhere and pop one in. I especially love having it in the bathroom so I can rock out in the shower.

Our house is definitely coming along, but we've still got quite a ways to go. Dave's mom is coming to visit for the 4th of July and she's going to be yet another visitor who has to deal with boxes being in the way. One thing that's been cool though, as we've moved some around to create more space, is that it's like we've forgotten how big a room is, until some of the boxes are gone. Then I'm just amazed at how much space we have. So once our living room is cleared out (that's primarily where all the boxes still are) we'll have a really nice big conversation area with a couple couches and a couple chairs. That will be really nice. And when we have our dining room set up, we'll have this really great rug on the floor and our black dining table that is so pretty, and that will be another area to gather. So I think once our place is really done, it will be a great entertaining spot. Lots of areas to sit and talk, or gather to watch a movie on our awesome tv system and audio set up. I really love our house, and as it gets more and more cleared out and gets closer to how it's going to be, it's more and more our home. And I love that!!