You've Got To Live and Learn

I love 90s music. The 90s were when I graduated from high school and college and became a young professional. I also went to concerts by myself for the first time (not counting seeing Debbie Gibson in the late 80s).This was a foundational part of my life.

Over the weekend, while flipping around stations on SiriusXM, I came across a 90s "Back in the Day Replay" where they played the top 30 songs from this week in 1992. While I'm not sure if the songs in the countdown are the same as the Billboard chart, they seemed to be similar. Let's take a look at the top 30 songs according to Billboard (since I have this and not the SiriusXM list).

1. Save the Best for Last - Vanessa Williams

2. Tears in Heaven - Eric Clapton

3. Remember the Time - Michael Jackson

4. Masterpiece - Atlantic Starr

5. To Be With You - Mr. Big

Is this an adult contemporary countdown? These are all slow songs that might be played at the end of a high school dance. Well, no one is playing Tears in Heaven, the song based on Clapton's 4 year old son tragically dying from falling out of a window at prom or homecoming. Not a romantic song for teenagers (or anyone else). Of the other songs, I barely remember Masterpiece. All five of these songs are okay at best. In any event, these were your top 5 songs in the first week of April 1992? Yikes!

6. I'm Too Sexy - Right Said Fred

7. Breakin' My Heart (Pretty Brown Eyes) - Mint Condition

8  Make It Happen - Mariah Carey

9. I Can't Dance - Genesis

10. Beauty and the Beast - Celine Dion and Peabo Bryson

I'll admit that I'm a fan of I'm Too Sexy. It's just fun. And after seeing this, I know you want to tell your significant other that you're too sexy for your shirt or your hat or your car. Otherwise, we have more adult contemporary hits. We have early Mariah, and the absolute worst Genesis song. I also have no recollection of Breakin' My Heart or Mint Condition. Don't remember them getting airplay on B-94.

11. Justified and Ancient - The KLF featuring Tammy Wynette

12. Good For Me - Amy Grant

13. I Love Your Smile - Shanice

14. Ain't 2 Proud 2 Beg  TLC

15. Hazard - Richard Marx

The KLF had a great song called 3AM Eternal. They followed it up with a similar sounding song and an extremely odd pairing with Tammy Wynette in Justified and Ancient. Even at the time, I remember being confused about what was happening. Good For Me is fine though the video is um, not good, and makes me dizzy. I Love Your Smile is a happy song, and TLC is just great. Even though my 14 year-old did not like Hazard, I think it's a fantastic song and has been the one stuck in the my head since I decided to create this post.

16. Thinkin' Back - Color Me Badd
17. Human Touch/Better Days - Bruce Springsteen

18. Everything Changes - Kathy Troccoli

19. Missing You Now - Michael Bolton

20. We Got a Love Thang - CeCe Peniston

All five of these songs are completely forgettable. I have no recollection of Color Me Badd having a second song. Human Touch probably doesn't make one of Springsteen's top 75 songs. I really hope that Kathy's last name rhymes with Broccoli. I also remember music videos being better than what I'm sharing in this post. 

21. If You Go Away - NKOTB

22. One - U2

23. Tell Me What You Want Me To Do - Tevin Campbell

24. Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen

25. Oochie Coochie - M.C. Brains

How about this for a group of five songs? You have two absolute classics by Queen and U2. Tevin Campbell always amazed me since it seemed like he was putting out hits at the age of 10. I'll give New Kids on the Block credit for having massive and catchy songs with You Got It (The Right Stuff) and Step by Step. If You Go Away is not one of these songs. Adding M.C. Brains here reminds me of the part of the movie A League of Their Own where the league makes a reel of its players. And how 'bout M.C. Brains? What a hitter.

26. Live and Learn - Joe Public

27. Romeo & Juliet - Stacy Earl featuring The Wild Pair

28. My Lovin' (You're Never Gonna Get It) - En Vogue

29. Uhh Ahh - Boyz II Men

30. I'm the One You Need - Jody Watley

I thought Live and Learn was an awesome song in 1992. Not sure if it still holds up today. Now My Lovin' absolutely holds up. Just as good as 33 years ago. 

Overall, this is not a very good group of songs. In the top 20, you have some of the greatest selling artists of all-time, but these aren't close to the best songs by Michael Jackson, Mariah Carey, Springsteen, Celine Dion, and even Michael Bolton. So many ballads. Without looking, I'm just going to hope that the charts later that year were much better!

In case you're wondering, there are some amazing and memorable songs beyond the top 30. Prince's Diamonds and Pearls was #31, Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit was #32, and the one song I remember by Color Me Badd, All 4 Love, was #34 after reaching the top of the chart weeks earlier. Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me by George Michael and Elton John was just outside the top 40. Two other notable songs that debuted in the top 100 that week: Jump by Kris Kross and Under The Bridge by Red Hot Chili Peppers.

What Really Grinds My Gears

I was inspired to start Sean's Ramblings after reading blogs by several friends. My friend Dan was the author of one of these blogs and had a regular feature titled What Really Grinds My Gears after the TV show Family Guy. Well, I have a perfect example of this today.

Late in 2022, three friends and I purchased tickets to see Bruce Springsteen for approximately $200 per ticket. Why there was a television show called Who’s the Boss? and the answer wasn’t Springsteen is one of life’s greatest mysteries. Anyway, the concert was scheduled for summer 2023. It was postponed several weeks because of an illness and then postponed again to September 2024. By the time the concert date arrived, two of my friends were no longer to attend.

So I did what any other logical person would do with two extra tickets. I posted them on Ticketmaster and sold them. While I can't find the exact amount of the sale, I made some money even after refunding my friends for their tickets. Of course, Ticketmaster being Ticketmaster, they took a cut of the sale. Yes, Ticketmaster charged a rather significant fee to buy the tickets and took even more money from me selling the same tickets. 

A few weeks ago, I received a 1099-K form from Ticketmaster/Live Nation. While I'm not an accountant or tax professional and I don't play one on the internet (or TV), apparently, this counts as income that needs to be reported on my tax return. Even better is that the amount on the form is the total amount of sale. The original cost of the ticket and the fees taken out for selling the tickets by Ticketmaster are not part of the equation. Ticketmaster is the worst.

Best and Worst of 2024

While I've written this before, I dislike best and worst posts that come out in November or early December. What happens if you see something great in late December? Does it qualify for the next year or is it just forgotten? Now that 2024 is complete, here's my annual best and worst list. Please note that the items in this post represent what I watched or saw in 2024 even if they came out before this year. For example, The Sound of Music was released about 60 years ago, but I saw it for the first time over the summer as part of a live outdoor screening/sing-a-long (which was a lot of fun). 

Best TV Show: A Man on the Inside and Primo

There's two things in common with these shows: They are comedies with a lot of heart, and Michael Schur is a producer on both. Primo, which aired on Freevee in 2023, featured a teenage boy in San Antonio raised by his single mom and five uncles. While it's a coming of age story about the teenager, the dynamics between the five uncles (as well as with their sister and nephew) made the show. I'm writing this in past tense since it's unfortunate and disappointing that the show was cancelled after one season. Still, I highly encourage you to check it out.

A Man on the Inside follows Ted Danson, a widower hired to live in a retirement community by a private detective to try to solve a case of a stolen necklace. This one seemed to hit close to home between older residents and Mary Elizabeth Ellis (maybe best known as The Waitress on It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia) and her husband raising three boys. Any scene with the three kids seemed to mirror many parts of my life. While there are certainly funny moments, I think the show is much more of a drama than a comedy.

Right before I published this post, I changed my mind. My favorite TV show that I watched in 2024 was Only Murders In The Building. Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez are fantastic. The show has so many good lines and scenes and amazing guest stars. The "minor" characters are all awesome too. The only negative is that I haven't watched the last two episodes of season four since my free Hulu subscription ended. I need to see how the last season ended!

Worst TV Show: Yellowstone

I watched the first three seasons last year, so this only represents season 4 and season 5, and really it's just the last 6 episodes which aired in November and December 2024. The show returned after a nearly 2-year break by killing off a major character but not having that character appear on screen thanks to a contract dispute. Even though there wasn't much time to wrap things up, there was still time to show Yellowstone's creator and writer Taylor Sheridan play poker several times and have Rip tell a story about meeting Sheridan's character at a bar fight. Oh, and there's always time for 2-3 minute clips of horses stopping quickly in the dirt for the 713th time. I really hope that there's not a 6th season though I would watch a spin-off featuring Mo and Teeter.

Other TV shows I watched in 2024:

Night Court

The Bear (season 2)

Archer (final episode)

Not Dead Yet

Abbott Elementary

Quantum Leap

Atlanta

Shogun

Modern Family (I had the last few seasons from several years ago saved on my DVR)

Welcome to Wrexham (latest season)

The Big Door Prize

The Amazing Race

Fargo (season 5) 

High Potential

The Other Two (season 3)

Girls5eva

Succession (last half of last season)

Hard Knocks: In Season with the AFC North

Hacks (season 3)

Beast Games

Best Song: APT by Rose and Bruno Mars

While I wrote about my favorite songs of 2024 a few weeks ago, APT by Rose (from the South Korean group BlackPink) and Bruno Mars is my favorite. It's pure pop and really, really catchy. To me, the bridge makes the song. 

Don't you want me like I want you, baby

Don't you need me like I need you now

Sleep tomorrow but tonight go crazy

All you gotta do is just meet me at the

So good. Plus, if you want to be silly, you can replace the chorus with a-pa-chocolate chip. It works. (Credit to The Moose for this change.)

Worst Song: Lonely Road by MGK and Jelly Roll

Look, if you're going to use the tune from John Denver's Take Me Home, Country Roads, just do a cover. 

Lonely road, take me home

To the place that we went wrong

Where'd you go now?

It's been a ghost town

And I'm still here all alone.

No. No. No. No. No. Now, if you insert West Virginia after where'd you go now, that might redeem the song a little. That might be funny.

Best Movie: The Holdovers

I'll admit that this was the toughest pick for me. Oppenheimer and Barbie both deserved all the acclaim they received. Poor Things and Emelia Perez are both very weird (especially Poor Things), but I appreciate that the films went for a big swing. They are both so much different than anything I've seen. With all of that, The Holdovers is a safe pick. Paul Giamatti, Da'Vine Joy Randolph, and Dominic Sessa are all excellent. A feel good story and ending too.

Worst Movie: Maestro

I give credit to Bradley Cooper for acting and directing this movie about Leonard Bernstein. I just found that I didn't really care about Bernstein's personal life. 

Other Movies I Watched in 2024 not mentioned above:

Confessions of a Dangerous Mind

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (the 1971 version)

Dumb Money

Mississippi Burning

Lincoln

Ex Machina

A Star Is Born

The Sound of Music
Everything Everywhere All at Once

Top Gun: Maverick

Knives Out: Glass Onion

If

Wicked (part 1)

Best Book: Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto

Vera Wong runs a tea shop with barely any customers and finds a dead body in her shop one morning. From there, she decides to solve the case. It's a really fun read. 

Other Books I Read in 2024:

Rickey by Howard Bryant

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

60 Songs That Explain The 90s by Rob Harvilla

Dial A for Aunties by Jesse Q. Sutanto 

People Love Dead Jews by Dara Horn (only a few chapters in)

Best Pittsburgh Sports Moment:

The real answer should be anything related to Paul Skenes, but this picture (as shown below) after Pitt's men's basketball team defeated Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium in January is still awesome. Pitt really should have made the tournament, but a few pre-conference losses sealed their fate. 

Worst Pittsburgh Sports Moment:

Everything else! The Penguins didn't make the playoffs. The Steelers lost in the first round of the playoffs in snowy Buffalo and seem headed to that again next week. The Pirates are the Pirates, Pitt's football team lost 6 straight, and Pitt's women's volleyball team had an incredible year but lost in the final four. Duquesne's men's basketball team winning an NCAA tournament game was fun though.  

Best Sports Moment I Saw Live: Maryland Women's Basketball

Yes, this is definitely recent bias, but the pass starting around the 3:40 mark of this video was awesome.

Most Meaningful Blog Posts:

The high and low of 2024 came just a few weeks apart. The Moose celebrated his Bar Mitzvah in early April, and then, my mom passed away at the end of the month. I'm grateful that she was able to watch the ceremony online and congratulate him on an amazing job. 

Worst Blog Post: A Hawk Tua Post

This was a dumb idea about hawks that lived on my street and the Miami Dolphins quarterback.

Best Concert: Pearl Jam and Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band

I saw these concerts about a week apart, and that's quite the twin bill. What I appreciate about both is that they have deep catalogs and play such a wide variety of their songs. I was awestruck by the Bruce concert, and as I was leaving Nats Park, I started going through his hits that they didn't play. I wasn't upset. Bruce and company could play a 7-hour concert and still not play everything!

Busy Times

This post is being published / was published on September 17th. This is my first post in September. I'm using this post to explain what I've been up to this month. Or maybe more accurately, what my kids have been up to recently.

School started for the kids on Monday, August 19th. The first two weeks represented the calm before the storm. No or limited homework and activities hadn't started yet. We had a significant family event over Labor Day weekend and then the fun began. The events below occurred starting on September 3rd through this past weekend. These are their stories.

 

* 3 flag football practices for Luigi (2nd grade)

* Cub Scouts pack meeting and a Cub Scouts den meeting for Pedro Tulo (5th grade)

* 1 flag football practice for The Moose (8th grade)

* 3 separate back-to-school nights

* Sunday school for all three kids

* Dentist appointment for The Moose.

* The first flag football games for both Luigi and The Moose

* Basketball try-out for The Moose

* Family outing to a Nationals game for Luigi's birthday

Oh, I should also mention that I saw both Bruce Springsteen & Pearl Jam over the last two weeks (though not together...that would have been a 6-hour show!). 

Maybe I'll write more about the concerts later. In any event, there will be more posts soon. Or at some point.

Best And Worst Of 2023

It's time for my annual best and worst of the year in pop culture, entertainment, and more. As you'll see, there are not many "worst of" below. I have limited time, so I'm not watching or reading things I'm not interested in. Here we go:

Best TV Show: Shrinking

I loved this Apple+ show. Jason Segal plays a therapist struggling with the loss of his wife. While I like the storylines of Segal with his patients and his relationship with daughter, what really makes the show are his colleagues, Jessica Williams and Harrison Ford. They are fantastic. It's fun watching Harrison Ford be funny. This scene was the best thing I saw all year.

Honorable mention: Jury Duty

This was such a unique show. Everyone, meaning the lawyers, judge, jury members, etc. are actors...except for one jury member named Ronald who believes that this is a real case. Ronald is such a likable guy, and I don't think this show would work with a different lead. James Marsden playing a version of himself is also fun.

For no apparent reason, I tracked every TV show I watched this year, and I feel like sharing this. 

Better Call Saul (last season)

Party Down (original)

The Chair

Night Court

American Auto

Not Dead Yet

Quantum Leap

Abbott Elementary

Yellowjackets (season 1)

Ted Lasso (season 3)

Sprung

Welcome to Wrexham

Lucky Hank

The Big Door Prize

Mrs. Maisel (season 4)

The Afterparty (season 2)

Shrinking

Jury Duty

It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia

The Wonder Years

Miracle Workers

Barry (last season)

Succession (part of last season)

Yellowstone 

Lego Masters

The Bear (season 1)

Best Songs: HONEY (ARE YOU COMING?) by Maneskin and bad idea right? by Olivia Rodrigo

All caps and no capital letters at all? Can we please work on this! While I'm way out of her target audience, I am an Olivia Rodrigo fan, particularly with her up-tempo songs. bad idea right? gives me a vibe of  "Naked Eye" by Luscious Jackson. Oh, the song is definitely not suitable for work.

Meanwhile, I think Maneskin has the best guitar riff of the year with HONEY. 

Worst Song: Popular by The Weeknd, Playboi Cardi, and Madonna

Looking at my archives, I picked two songs by The Weeknd as the best of the year over the last few years. This is certainly not an anti The Weeknd post. While Popular isn't bad, I don't find it good either. It's repetitive and don't feel that Madonna adds anything to it.

Best Movie: Parasite

Parasite won the best picture Oscar a few years ago, so I'm a little late to this. The storyline is essentially a poor family scamming a rich family. I mean, there's definitely the message of class and the spoils of the rich. Definitely did not expect the ending.

Most Interesting Movie: The Menu

I can't put this as the worst movie since it's just so different from anything I've seen. I watched The Menu on an airplane and remember leaving the plane thinking "What the heck was that?" I really want to see this again.

And now, these are all of the movies I watched in 2023:

The Menu

Elvis

Rise (A movie about Giannis Antetokounmpo and his family)

Anchorman 2

Logan Lucky

Leo

Elemental

Homeward Bound: An Incredible Journey 

Parasite

Family Switch

Migration

My New Year's Resolution for 2024 is to watch more movies. Almost all of these are movies for kids/families. There's no Barbie or Oppenheimer. I mean, how can I get a media credential for The Oscars with this list?

Best Sports Moment: Sheffield Wednesday

Sheffield Wednesday completed the biggest comeback in English Football League playoff history back in May. Down 4-0 after the first leg, the team battled back to tie the overall score at 4-4 in the 90+7th minute. Peterborough, their opponent, got a goal in extra time, but Wednesday tied it again before advancing in penalty kicks. By far the best sports moment of 2023. (More about this game is available from my May post.)

Worst Sports Moment: Pittsburgh Sports

Although Pitt's men's basketball team returned to the NCAA tournament and the women's volleyball team is now a consistent power, the professional teams struggled. The Penguins missed the playoffs for the first time since the 2005-2006 season, the Steelers are an average NFL team, and the Pirates, though better in 2023 compared to 2022, still had a record under .500. While I don't have a specific moment for the worst sports moment, the Pirates were 20-8 after we attended the 16-1 victory over the Nationals, and several weeks later, the team's record was 35-42. Lots of losses. Actually, there is a worst moment. The Penguins, battling for a playoff spot in the next-to-last game of the season, lost at home to the worst team in the NHL.

Best Book: 12-way tie!

Okay, this definitely isn't true. I just wanted to share that I read 12 books this year, by far the most since the pandemic started. I was part of a book club in 2023, and book clubs are stressful! It's like high school all over again trying to finish a book in time for the discussion or test. At least we have snacks for book club! Here's what I read this year:

The Umpire Is Out by Dale Scott

How to be Perfect by Michael Schur

Raise a Fist, Take a Knee: Race and the Illusion of Progress in Modern Sports by John Feinstein

The Nazi Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill by Brad Meltzer and Josh Mensch 

The Book of Lost Names by Kristin Harmel

Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng

Flying Solo by Linda Holmes

The Housemaid by Freida McFadden

Just Like You by Nick Hornby

The Housemaid's Secret by Freida McFadden

Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman

Why We Love Baseball by Joe Posnanski

Best Live Concert: Pink

She's amazing.

Worst Live Concert: Bruce Springsteen

Before you freak out, this is the worst concert I attended because I didn't attend. Bruce postponed his concert from August to September and then to 2024. Hopefully he'll appear in my best live concert in my 2024 post.

Best Blog Post: Goodbye Ziggy

In May, we had to say goodbye to our cat Ziggy. I still miss him.

Worst Blog Post: Is Tim Tebow's Wife a Pirates Fan?

Since she wore a hat with a "P," I immediately thought it was a Pittsburgh Pirates hat. It was probably a Puma hat.

While this may or may not be my last post of 2023, have a Happy New Year!

What Would Bruce Springsteen Do?

We recently visited New Jersey for the Memorial Day weekend and had a great time. That’s not of the point of this post, though. New Jersey is one of the last places (along with Oregon, I believe) that requires full service when you get gasoline. Besides New Jersey, I actually don’t even remember the last time I had the option of getting full service when filling up the car.



Anyway, my question regards the protocol of tipping the gas station attendant. I didn’t tip the guy since all he did was take my credit card, swipe it in the machine, fill up my car (while walking away to do the same to another car) and hand me back the card. I didn’t even need to sign a credit card receipt. Back in the Stone Age, the gas station attendant minimally washed off your car windows and often checked your fluids. If that occurred in New Jersey last weekend, I definitely would have tipped the attendant a dollar or two.

When I mentioned my New Jersey experience to a friend, she said that I should have tipped the attendant. Since I disagree, I pose this question to you. Should you tip the gas station attendant when full service is required?

Friday Links

There is a sighting of Ramblings favorite Kevin Pittsnogle. (New York Times)

The Sports Guy’s "One final toss for The Dooze." Warning: It may get a bit
dusty at your desk/home near the end. (ESPN).

Mike Tomlin’s 2-year anniversary as the Steelers coach was yesterday. (PSAMP)

Chuck Noll was a great coach and is the rare great coach who didn't promote himself after retiring. (ESPN)

At some point today, I'll be part of Meeting People is Easy. (One For The Other Thumb)

I received an e-mail from Bodog with Super Bowl prop bets. If I’m a member of the E Street Band, I’m betting big money on this one:

What Song will Bruce Springsteen sing to begin his Halftime Show at the Super Bowl?
Born in the USA - 2/1
Glory Days - 2/1
The Rising - 4/1
Born to Run - 5/1
The Wrestler - 5/1
Radio Nowhere - 8/1
I’m on Fire - 12/1

A couple of cool pictures of the Terrible Towel across the globe. (Mondesi's House)

And a NASA video from space. (Blog 'n' Gold)