QotD

Napoleon's chief of staff, Louis-Alexander Berthier, tasked with organizing a hunt for his boss, got a thousand rabbits to the Tuileries. Unfortunately, he bought tame rabbits instead of wild ones. According to historian A.G. Macdonell, when the emperor took his gun and advanced into the park, the bunnies, "all thousand of them, mistook him for the man who provided their daily lettuce and leapt to their feet and charged towards him." Napoleon's marshals beat them off with whips, but some rabbits, being skilled in Napoleonic warfare, wheeled around on both flanks and reached the carriage of the escaping Bonaparte.

--Barbara Amiel

Picture of the Day

QotD

In honor of Oz, which I have been watching of late:

Augustus Hill: When Napoleon died in Exile, the doctors cut off his dick. They put his dick in an ornate jar and gave it to his priest; don't ask me why. Over the years, Napoleon's dick was sold and sold again to the highest bidder. To this day, at least three people claim to own Napoleon's dick. But you see, it's not important who owns the real dick. The big question is, well... who the fuck do those other two dicks belong to?

I think I love that show.

Desert Island Albums

Oh that eternal question, if I could only take 10 albums with me to the proverbial desert island...I have always wanted to make a list like this because I am nothing if not a huge nerd. Some obvious ground-rules: Best of Compilations are cheating. Self-mixed compilations are cheating. Ipods are definitely cheating. More than one album for each artist is cheating (except BNL, 'cause they are my favorites and this is my list and my rules, dammit).

1) American Idiot - Green Day. Rock opera is cool, yo.
2) Born on a Pirate Ship - BNL. Even though I'm not sure it hangs together as an album in any particular way, BOAPS is still pound for pound BNL's best collection of songs to date.
3) Either/Or - Elliott Smith. This was hard. Leaving off every one of Smith's other albums was *hard*. Thank God I'm not really ending up on a desert island anytime soon, or I might not be able to live with myself. Either/Or is my favorite Elliott Smith album, though, and it has to go with me.
4) Lost and Gone Forever - Guster. I believe this is Guster's best-produced album to date. However, however, "Come Downstairs and Say Hello" is my favorite song of all time, and it's on Keep it Together. So this was another tough decision. Ultimately, however, I was swayed by the existence of "Amsterdam" on KiT--that song has to stay the fuck away from me! It is just too awful.
5) Kind of Blue - Miles Davis. You know, for those mellow desert nights.
6) Rock Spectacle - BNL. I can't survive without that live version of "What a Good Boy." I really can't. Also, that panting at the beginning of "Straw Hat and Old Dirty Hank" will never get old.
7) Automatic for the People - R.E.M. (although my version would magically have "Everybody Hurts" removed, 'cause I can't fucking stand that song).
8) Songs in the Attic - Billy Joel. Billy Joel has so many albums, and I've never really had a particular favorite. 52nd Street has my favorite Joel song on it ("Until the Night," which has my favorite song climax of all time); Glass Houses was my favorite of his albums for a long time; Piano Man is probably his album that I find most cohesive and that I listen to the most nowadays. But, really, Songs in the Attic is probably the best compromise. I love live albums.
9) A Rush of Blood to the Head - Coldplay. Say what you will about Coldplay and overexposure and overrating (and I know, people can say a great deal), but this is an amazing album.
10) The Vanity Project - Steven Page. I still can't believe I didn't think much of this CD the first time I heard it. This is why I have a self-imposed rule of listening to a new song five times before passing judgment on it. "Everything's the Same" is the best song on here; "Wilted Rose" is the most catchy; and "So. Cal" is my favorite to sing along to.

One final thing, on the subject of compilations. When I was a kid, my dad bought a cassette at the gas station called "Cruising Classics of the '50s and '60s." Johnny B. Goode, Travelin' Man, That'll Be The Day...that was the soundtrack of my childhood. Best fucking compilation ever. I wish I knew what happened to it. I would sneak it onto that desert island, rules be damned.