Washington Irving -- Not Like Wishbone.

I'll tell you one thing, folks. Wishbone lied to me. Every piece of literature seems pretty incredible when it's re-enacted by a talking dog. Well, he sort of talks. But really, what's the story, Wishbone? It's that Alison can not finish "Rip Van Winkle" to save her life. Instead, I'm pretty sure that watching catchy theme songs with dogs in costumes is a favorable alternative:

The other point of this story? "Rip Van Winkle" yields kid-friendly edutainment. I found this rendition of "Bat Van Winkle" by alexbrandonclark as well. You can tell why: I was intrigued by the music choices. That's Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin, kids! And I have a soft spot for bats. Ever since I read Silverwing.

I was such a literary kid, and what am I now? I'm a college girl, a Skars-craving, selective vampire fiction reader and Eric-watcher who can't get through a short story assignment. It's times like these when I realize why people always said they hated English classes in high school. Well, in college, not much has changed.

What's a girl to do when they don't present classic literature with the easy-to-digest spunky terriers and cartoons?

Um... I guess, type up yet another nostalgic blog post about the bygone pop culture days of my youth? Spend a little time searching YouTube videos and discovering that Jensen Ackles was on Wishbone (4:40)?

That sounds about right.

UPDATE: Finished that... thing. It got better after he got all old. I must say that the bats helped me keep the story straight in my head. I can't say I recall so many trippy bats with pirate eye patches, though. There was just the one...

Playlists -- Writer's Block

The idea for this stems mostly from the fact that I happen to love "Kurt Vonnegut" from Born Ruffians and I wanted to do a writer's playlist around that. So it's about the process, the products, the greats. There's a live version at the top, and a sound-only link at the bottom. (They didn't play the whole song on the first vid.) Sharpen your pencils!

The Lineup:

1. "Handwriting" by Bottom of the Hudson (Unofficial Vid -- In the olden days.)

2. "Cut Cut Paste" by Tokyo Police Club (Live -- Something I always do when I write...)

3. "You Could Write a Book" by Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin (Live -- ...If you were Kurt Vonnegut?)

4. "& So It Goes" by Albert Hammond, Jr. (last.fm -- Not sure if it's meant to be, but I always thought this came from the saying in Slaughterhouse-Five.)

5. "Kilgore Trout" by The Appleseed Cast (last.fm -- Science Fiction writer in Slaughterhouse-Five)

Video. "Kurt Vonnegut" by Born Ruffians (Live and link at left to Sound Only Vid)