Check your iPod

From Entertainment Weekly online: Take a few minutes to peruse your iPod song list — or paw through your CD collection — and then share the five most shameful songs in your collection. And remember, I wouldn't ask you to dive into the humiliation pool if I wasn't already standing in the deep end, arms outstretched, promising to buy you a pony. Ready... set...jump!

Okay, let me first apologize for any earworming, but here are my five:

(1) Insane in the Brain – Cypress Hill. Shut up – you know it’s catchy!

(2) Mmmbop – Hansen. *sob* I’m only human!

(3) Baby Got Back – Sir Mix-A-Lot. I just love the lyrics, that’s my only defense. And the rhythm. And, well, the memory of Ross and Rachel singing it to the baby on Friends.

(4) Wannabe – Spice Girls. I blame the mojitos I was drinking that night for buying this on iTunes.

(5) Danger (Been So Long) – Mystikal. I will never apologize for loving this track. The background samples, Nivea’s voice counterpointing Mystikal’s, the nearly incomprehensible lyrics (except for the occasional “N Bomb” on the uncensored version). This is a gem in the rough.

Those who know me will find this list somewhat surprising, since I’m more of a Van Morrison, Three Doors Down, Bonnie Raitt, Damien Rice kinda gal. But I listen to these songs pretty regularly. Just goes to show you never can tell about people’s tastes!

Catholics take on road rage, Southern Baptists chicken out on global warming

I found the Vatican's 10 Commandments for Driving just a reiteration of how people should be behaving in the first place, being considerate of one another and not hurting each other. I also think it is both an overstatement of the obvious and a frivolous use of the pontiff's authority. But hey, no harm, no foul - I'm Jewish and he's not the boss of me anyway.

The Southern Baptists, on the other hand, continue to piss me off. It is bad enough to condemn same-sex marriages in a world where love is in such short supply and committed relationships are an asset regardless of their flavor, but now they've taken a cowardly stance on global warming. Or perhaps it's simply towing the Dubya party line, what with conservative, reactionary money pouring into the collection plates and funding everything from religious themed amusement parks to intolerant hate campaigns. I hope that enough Christians will think for themselves when they hear about this poorly-conceived joke to reject the SBC's edicts in this case and remember that among God's earliest instructions to Adam included His appointment of humanity as the stewards of the earth and its resources.

Kushiel's Justice by Jacqueline Carey

From the first few chapters of "Kushiel's Dart" I discovered that Jacqueline Carey has a gift for creating characters that are real, human and yet gifted in various ways beyond our reality. The world she has created, with its roots in our world yet somehow MORE, has taken on a character of its own with its beautiful D'Angelines, actively involved deities and demigods, varied landscapes and surprising treasures is a place I certainly wouldn't mind living. And with this fifth installment, Imriel has truly grown into a complex adult who is willing to take responsibility for his own actions and failures yet also ready to stand up to his queen for the love of the woman he adores. I can't wait for the next installment!

The Harlequin by Laurell K. Hamilton

I'll be uncharacteristically brief: this was the best Anita Blake book since Burnt Offerings - the return of Edward (and yes, Olaf as well) was worth the wait and I savored every little detail. I especially, surprisingly, enjoyed the scene between Raoul and Anita. I have one tiny little nit to pick: When Sylvie visits Anita in the hospital and says she doesn't do women. I think that line may have been intended for Claudia because I have always cherished Sylvie as the sole preternatural lesbian in Anita's world. Or maybe she should have said she knew Anita didn't do women.

Grunge Cringe

This is too funny!