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Recently (okay, a couple of weeks ago) Danelle.org tossed out the following blog challenge. List the last five songs you’ve listened to.

Well, I had in mind to do this but I have a tendency sometimes to play the same one or two songs over and over again, especially if I’m writing. Or I won’t have any music playing at all for various reasons. Lately, it’s been hard to come up with the last five songs I’ve listened too (even if I try to count the songs on the radio at work. I can’t because I tend to not be paying close attention LOL).

So, instead I’m adding a twist to the challenge and am going to list the last five songs I’ve listened to on YouTube. This list I can do because these vids are ones I’ve watched several times lately. I gotta tell ya tho’, it’s pretty eclectic!

So here it is, the last five songs I’ve listened to! (I should note that since my track record with imbedding YouTube vids is miserable, I’ve merely included the links here.)

1. Speechless (Live on Ellen) – Lady Gaga (Say what you want about Lady Gaga, the girl has the chops and can craft songs and sing. I don’t think we’ve seen anything like her since David Bowie and Elton John in the 70’s)

2. Come With Me Now (Theme from Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. Full version) - Bill Conti (Cripes I had this song totally stuck in my head for awhile about a week or so ago. It would not leave me alone. It still pops in every so often.)

3. I’m a Ramblin’ Man (Live in Austin Texas, 1989) - Waylon Jennings ( I LOVE this live version of this song. Especially Waylon’s guitar part. One of the most unique sounding guitars in country music.)

4. I’m Just a Giglo - David Lee Roth (Fo’gettabodit Dave! LOL. Yeah, seriously, I don’t know how this song ended up stuck in my head lately, but it did. I had a feeling back in the day when it first came out that it was a cover, but I had no idea until recently just how old this song really is. Louis Prima did a version back in the 50’s, which Roth basically did similar of, but Bing Crosby did a slow waltz version waaaaaay back in the early 30’s. You can find it on YouTube.)

5. Yankee Rose - David Lee Roth. (After watching the Giglo video I got to thinking about the rest of Diamond Dave’s Greatest 80’s Hits and could recall the opening to another video…but couldn’t remember the song. A Google search of the words “gimmie a bottle of anything, and a glazed donut. TO GO!” and I found the vid. Truthfully, I haven’t gone back repeatedly to watch this one, except to watch the totally unrelated intro – which I always got a chuckle out of it, even if it makes no damn sense at all. I wasn’t that big a fan of the song as a kid. ROFL)

Oh, I should also add, I know who Django Reinhardt was. Heh!

Dermot Mulroney to star in “Rockford” update

No. No, no, no, no, no. No. Just no. No way. NO. Absolutely NO!

What did NBC not learn from the Knight Rider remake attempt? Have they not noticed the pattern over the years with all the horrible film “remakes” of classic tv shows? And do they really think Steve Carrell, who was in the failed remake of Get Smart, is going to do anything for this project, more or less get it right?

What part of NO does NBC not understand?

After blowing up late night comedy as we know it, hanging Conan O’Brien out to dry and then loosing a fortune on the Olympics, what, prey tell, does NBC think it’s going to achieve with this Rockford remake?

They’re not.

I predict the show will not last for a full season. And that’s being generous.

As most of you know, James Garner is one of my all time favorite actors. I’m sure Mr. Mulroney is a fine actor, but no one, no one, can replace James Garner as Jim Rockford.

No one.

I’ve been totally slacking lately in the blog duties. I haven’t been inspired to write much for various different reasons, be it lack of inspiration, lack of time or just plain lack of giving a damn. I stopped paying much attention to the news a few months ago, when CNN started becoming less of a news network and more like a hokey medicine show. Not that I’m not aware of what’s been going on in the world, I am, but mostly by nothing more than a headline.

I’ve avoided blogging about financial related matters as it’s just become trite at this point. My daily gig is in the financial industry, where every day I see the fallout from the economy, bankruptcy, foreclosures, deaths of borrowers who leave no will or had any estate planning. And then the morons who file bankruptcy and think the slate is wiped clean a month later and they can go right back out and get more credit. (Wrong!)

I’ve avoided the rant because nobody’s paying any attention. This is evident in the government’s overhaul of lending regulations that cover home buying. This is evident also in the President’s Home Affordable Modification Program, aka HARP, which, surprise, has not helped hardly anyone out there that it was intended to help.

The reason why is easy. The program sucks. The qualifications and requirements are too complex, the required slashing of interest rates on these loans no bank or investor wants to swallow and it’s probably safe to assume that even once all is said and done, the loan would end up in foreclosure anyway because the borrower was in over their head from day one.

Which brings me to the changes to lending regulations. This is even worse. Although the intent of the new reg is noble, to provide the consumer with information so they can shop around for the best loan for them, unfortunately does not work in practical application. What was once known as the “Good Faith Estimate” is now essentially a document the lending institution is bound by. The government has taken “good faith” and “estimate” right out of it. The bank is bound by the fees and costs it discloses in that Estimate or else it could end up paying a penalty, (if certain fees/costs exceed a certain tolerance in certain circumstances).

In fact, if the bank does a “no cost” loan, in which it absorbs the costs/fees of the loan and the customer doesn’t pay a dime in closing costs, if any cost or fee disclosed on the Good Faith Estimate should exceed one of those tolerances, the bank has to pay the customer the difference.

Hell of a deal eh? You don’t pay a cent in fees, but if the bank screws up you get a check! Woo! Bank Error in Your Favor. Pass Go and Collect $200!

Ah, but I’m rambling in a half rant here. Thus, this is why I haven’t blogged much because I don’t want this to be one rant after another. I realize, however, that I gotta get back into the swing of things with the blog here and find topics BESIDES the stuff that pisses me off to blog about. Even if it’s just sharing YouTube gems or more screen caps from DVDs or whatever nonsense I can come up with.

So here’s to renewed chaos!