Sufficient unto the day is the sappiness thereof

[omorka]

The number of stuffed animals at school this year was up by about 150%, but the number of big ugly red mylar balloons was down by about a quarter of two years' ago's total (last year V-Day was on a weekend, so it can't really be directly compared).

I got chocolate from three students and RR.

Spouse brought me roses when he picked me up. :) I didn't get him anything special - now I feel guilty.

We went to our special-occasion semi-cheap Italian place. It was good - better than last time. And the waitstaff has gotten back to its usual level of cuteness, too.

I really am not much for V-Day - it's a saint's day, after all, and I have Imbolc and the Spouse's and my cryptoversarry bracketing it, and those are both far more meaningful to me. But the kids are rabidly cute, and it's nice to have a day to celebrate sexual attraction, for once (instead of condemning it or trying to sell stuff with it).

--

The restaurant was full of red balloons. This, plus Flyboy's having a minor freakout on Friday about the North Korea situation and my totally realizing how new this was for him, has led me to my newest playlist, to be entitled "In the Shadow of the Bomb." I have a half-dozen songs in mind (leadoff is "99 Luftballons," of course; penultimate is "1999," and the anchor will be "End of the World as We Know It") - any suggestions?

Comments

[follybard.livejournal.com]

Heh -- first thing that springs to mind is "Ask" by The Smiths ("If it's not love, then it's the bomb that'll bring us together....")

[bassfingers.livejournal.com]

Still find "Right Here, Right Now" by Jesus Jones particularly poignant, personally. "Keep on Rockin' in the Free World?" One of those mile-a-minute, lyric-a-second Billy Joel songs along the lines of ItEotWaWKI(aIFF) ("We didn't start the fire?").

[bassfingers.livejournal.com]

"We'll Meet Again" by Vera Lynn would probably go over their heads, at least insomuch as the Kubrick reference, but still apropos

[moontyger.livejournal.com]

"Wild Wild West" seems appropriate. And me, I would consider something off the Hysteria album, probably either "Armageddon It" or "Gods of War".

[briareos.livejournal.com]

Megadeth "Rust in Peace... Polaris" If you can stand Mustaine's yowlings.
Rush "Manhattan Project"
Soundgarden "Hands All Over" or "4th of July"
Sting "Russians" or "Love Is The Seventh Wave"

Along the "bands no one's heard of" route, there's "Bombjour" by Skyclad, "I See The Ruins" by Warrior Soul, "Revelation" by Digital Ruin.

[kansas-dave.livejournal.com]

That sounds like a cool theme for a mix. What would you think of punctuating the songs with quotations from The Day After? Lithgow's character, Huxley, had some good ones.


Bruce Gallatin: What are the chances of something like that happening way the hell out here in the middle of nowhere?

Joe Huxley: Nowhere? Ha-ha-ha! There's no "nowhere" anymore. You're sitting right next to the Whiteman Air Force Base right now. That's about 150 Minuteman Missile silos spread halfway down the State of Missouri. That's... an awful lot of bullseyes.

-----------------

[Intercontinental ballistic missiles are being fired]

Alison Ransom: What's going on?

Joe Huxley: Those are Minuteman missiles!

Alison Ransom: Like a test, sort of... like a warning?

Joe Huxley: They're on their way to Russia. They take about thirty minutes to reach their target.

Aldo: So do theirs, right?

-----------------------

Dr. Sam Hachiya: What did you see? You come from Kansas City. What did you see?

Dr. Russell Oakes: I was on the freeway, about thirty miles away. I'm not sure... this high, directly above downtown. It was like... the sun exploded.

----------------------------

Joe Huxley: You know what Einstein said about World War III? He said he didn't know how they would fight World War III, but he knew how they would fight World War IV: With sticks and stones.

--------------------------------

Joe Huxley: This is Lawrence. This is Lawrence, Kansas. Is there anybody there? Anybody at all?

[starcat-jewel.livejournal.com]

You've got to have Tom Lehrer's "Who's Next?"!

[omorka.livejournal.com]

I'd already put "Russians" on the list . . .

Any idea where I might be able to either find or, failing that, (ahem) liberate some of the more obscure ones?

[omorka.livejournal.com]

I was vacillating between that and "So Long Mom, I'm Off to Drop the Bomb," but I think you're right.

[starcat-jewel.livejournal.com]

You might also look for "I Was Only Nineteen" -- I don't know who wrote it, I've only heard it at filk circles. Stunning, from the POV of a returned Nam vet with PTSD.

"And doctor, can you tell me why I just can't get to sleep,
And why the Channel Seven copter scares me off my feet?
And what's this rash that comes and goes, can you tell me what it means?
Ghod help me... I was only nineteen."

[starcat-jewel.livejournal.com]

Aha! Google is my friend (http://www.schumann.com.au/john/lyrics.html), I found the lyrics. Apparently written by an Aussie, which would explain why I remember hearing it from Mitchell Clapp.

One note on the lyrics -- Mitchell sang it this way:
Frankie kicked a mine the day that mankind kicked the moon.
Ghod help him... he was s'posed to go home in June.

IMO this makes it considerably stronger, makes it clear that he was held over past what was supposed to be the end of his tour and as a result he got killed. Just like what's happening to a lot of our troops right now.

Classics...

[perkyshai.livejournal.com]

How about a voice clip from 'War of the Worlds'
Signal to noise, Peter Gabriel

[starcat-jewel.livejournal.com]

Oh, and I forgot "We Will All Go Together When We Go", too! Geez, Lehrer did a lot of bomb-related stuff...

[brezhnev.livejournal.com]

Pink Floyd has a relevant song in The Wall -- "Mother" if I'm not mistaken. A few '80s-era Rush songs seem relevant, not so much about war as about Communism and the Red Scare.

This brings back the memories.