Ten random songs

Guess the lyric, win no prize:

  1. “My Baby’s in Love with Eddie Vedder” by Weird Al Yankovic, guessed by Eric B.
    She likes his brooding angst and his wild-eyed stare
  2. “Hello, Goodbye” by the Beatles, guessed by Eric B.
    I don’t know why you say goodbye
  3. “Veronica” by Elvis Costello, guessed by Eric B.
    Is it all in that pretty little head of yours?
  4. “You Better Watch Yourself” by Dion
    You better stop drinking that wine, sonny boy
  5. “Roll Another Number (for the Road)” by Neil Young, guessed by Eric B.
    It’s too dark to put the keys in my ignition
  6. “The Boston Rag” by Steely Dan, guessed by Eric B.
    Lonnie was the kingpin back in nineteen sixty-five
  7. “Pale Blue Dot” by Ice-Core Scientist
    Well I came upon an old man weighed down by his fears
  8. “Walkin’ Down the Line” by Taj Mahal
    I got no shoes upon my feet
  9. “Genetic” by Sonic Youth, guessed by Eric B.
    I have heard it said before it’ll never happen
  10. “Chocolate Jesus” by Tom Waits, guessed by Eric B.
    Well I don’t want no Abba Zaba, don’t want no Almond Joy

And see — definitive proof that no prizes were handed out last week!

As always, best of luck!

Futurama

Abigail Nussbaum writes:

Something else that occurred to me while watching Aliens was that I wouldn’t be surprised if, in the wake of the film’s release, some military hardware engineer sat down and started designing an APC that could be loaded onto a plane, or fully-articulated body armor. And then I thought about this article, which cropped up on the net a few weeks ago and finally confirmed what so many columnists and bloggers have been postulating–that the US intelligence apparatus is modeling its behavior towards terror suspects and its techniques in preventing terrorism after the actions of characters from 24. I started wondering–what’s the difference? Science fiction fans have always known that imaginary futures can predict the real one by making it, by implanting images in the minds of movers and builders, telling them that this is how the future is supposed to look. Why are we surprised to discover that 24 has the same effect when it comes to the present?

Which is an interesting way of looking at science fiction’s notoriously awful track record at predicting the future. Science fiction writers may not have any better idea of where the future’s headed than anyone else, but they can still subtly manipulate the direction through sheer accident.