finally had a chance to put together some of the video clips we’ve taken of wakeboarding this summer. i’m prolly gonna show this video at the wedding too (while me and taka are doing wardrobe changes), since it has some of the only footage i have of takako in it.

on friday night taka and i went to see the ben ackerman band (possibly the last time in that particular formation) play in redondo beach. like all the shows the best part is being able to just kick it with homies that you don’t see often enough. so during their set, this woman in her 40′s/50′s is rocking out to the music. she’s really into it and that’s what catches our attention. it takes a few minutes, a few lookups on eric’s treo, and a couple of bets before we realize it’s alley mills, norma arnold from the wonder years.

as soon as they finished their set, i walked over to her, just to confirm. she seemed almost too young to be the same woman, and she looked great for her age, wearing expensive jeans and a well fit top that would have led you to believe she was much younger than 55. we talked for a few minutes about how much of a fan i was of the show, and how kevin arnold was about the same age as me, so i really related to him and his experiences. she told me that fred savage was now married and had a child, and she congratulated me on being engaged. she then introduced me to her husband, actor orson bean (from dr. quinn medicine woman among other things). the most amazing thing about the experience was how she spoke to me with her head slightly cocked and with the warm mothering eyes that made norma arnold a lovable character. i wonder if she does that now out of habbit of being an actress, or if it was that quality that landed her the role as kevin’s mom.

as the conversation began to stall, eric came over, now realizing that it was infact norma arnold, and asked why the dvd’s of the wonder years haven’t yet come out. it was the perfect question, because apparently it was an issue she was very opinionated about. according to her, since there was so much great music in almost every episode of the show, there are a lot of licensing issues with putting them out on dvd. she said there had been attempts to replace some of the classic music with more generic music, but that it just wasn’t the same. so it remains to be seen if and when the dvd’s will ever be released.

i’m watching the mtv music awards, and i’ve noticed that in the performances, they have KIISFM-like censorship… like the panic at the disco song (sorry james) that goes something like “i chime in, haven’t you people ever heard of… closing the god damn door, no…” anyway, in the performance he said “odd, ham door” or something unintelligeble like that, and when he’s supposed to say “whore” he just says “shhh!”. anyway, the wack thing is that the closed captioning (that has been turned on on my tv since taka got here =p) actually shows “god damn” and “whore” even though he’s censoring himself. so it’s not ok for people to hear it, but it is ok to see the word? wack.

i made an mp3 cd (my car plays ‘em) with Billboard’s top 100 songs of 1994-1998, the years i went to highschool. it’s insane the emotions these songs drive through me, especially when they’re played back to back. some of these songs bring back memories i’ve completely forgot about.

some of my favorites from 1995:
notorious big – big pappa
soul for real – every little thing i do
boyz II men – water runs dry
sophie hawkins – as i lay me down
better than ezra – good
collective soul – december
take that – back for good
tlc – creep
luniz – i got 5 on it
coolio – gangstas paradise
seal – a kiss from a rose

i remember almost every one of the 400 songs. good stuffs.