Music Project: 50s and 60s

Here are the songs that made the cut for our music project for the 1950s and the 1960s CDs:

1950's
Rolling Stone, Muddy Waters
Rag Mop, The Ames Brothers
Kansas City, Wilber Harrison
La Bamba, Richie Valens

Heartbreak Hotel, Elvis Presley
Get a Job, Silhouettes
Yakety Yak, The Coasters
Whole Lot of SHakin' Going On, Jerry Lee Lewis
Rock Around the Clock, Bill Haley
Roll Over Beethoven, Chuck Berry
Tutti-Frutti, Little Richard
Why Do Fools Fall In Love, Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers
The Wanderer, Dion and the Belmonts
Splish Splash, Bobby Darin
Walkin' After Midnight, Patsy Cline
Lollipop, The Chordettes
Chantilly Lace, Big Bopper
Peggy Sue, Buddy Holly

1960's

The Twist by Chubby Checker (R&B 1960)
Cathy's Clown by the Everly Brothers (Pop 1960)
I Can't Get Next To You by the Temptations (R&B 1969)
Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In by the 5th Dimension (Pop 1969)

I Want to Hold Your Hand, the Beatles
Leader of the Pack, The Shangri-Las
I'm Into Something Good, Herman's Hermits
Big Girls Don't Cry, Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons
Surfin' USA, Beach Boys
19th Nervous Breakdown, Rolling Stones
My Generation, The Who
Respect, Aretha Franklin
Hello, I Love You by the Doors
The Star Spangled Banner by Jimi Hendrix
Piece of My Heart by Janis Joplin
White Rabbit by Jefferson Airplane
Come Together, the Beatles
Dance to the Music, Sly & The Family Stone
In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida by Iron Butterfly
The Dock of the Bay, Otis Redding
To Sir, With Love by Lulu
Mrs Robinson by Simon & Garfunkel


I do not claim to be comprehensive. I do not have an actual degree in Music History or Music Theory. However, I hope that I have hit the stylistic highlights/milestones of each decade. (Note: The second Beatles song really should have been Helter Skelter, but we couldn't get a copy of it!)

Latest music project

My son is thinking of running a meeting of his youth group in the next few weeks. His theme is pretty broad: Music. Grendel appreciates my musical knowledge, so we're having fun working on this together. We've talked a lot about it, and we think we've narrowed it down to a history of popular music in the last 50 years or so. We've had to narrow our focus quite a bit to get something we think that he can fit into a two hour meeting.

Yesterday, we were talking about our need to narrow our focus even more and I said that I could easily put together a syllabus for a full semester college course on the History of Popular Music in the last 60 Years. He smiled and said, in all sincerity, "I know you could." It felt good to hear him say that. Really good.

In my early twenties, a friend commented on my diverse taste in music saying that such breadth meant that I really had NO taste. Bah! Fortunately, I let his commentary roll right off my back. I love music, lots of different kinds of music. I can easily listen to classical, swing, jazz, honky tonk, blue grass, folk, celtic, R&B, classic soul, reggae, rockabily, rock, surf, punk, soft rock, AAA, metal, hip hop, techno, country, and rap. Admittedly, I'm VERY selective in what I like in those genres, being particularly selective when it comes to modern (post 1980) country and rap. Even so, I like listening to music for it's influences, tempo, lyrics, and beat.

Maybe I missed my calling. Maybe I should have majored in Music Theory or Music History. Sadly, a PhD in either might have garnered me a poverty-inspiring teaching position. If income were not an issue, I REALLY think teaching others about the diversity, influences, impacts, and sheer joy of music would be a blast.

Back to our project. Here is our current plan. We hope to compile a CD for each decade from the 1950's through the beginning of the millenium. The first four songs would be the top rock and R&B songs from the beginning of the decade and the end of it. The rest of the CD would include some milestone songs exemplifying the styles of the decade.

We also want to do a CD of influences, covers, and parodies. This would include things like an original blues song from the 40s and the Elvis cover of it in the 50s. (Also, Alien Ant Farm's version of "Smooth Criminal", along with the original) As well as an original song and a Weird Al or Twisted Tunes cover of it (Think Avril Lavigne's "Complicated" verses "Constipated"). As the saying goes, "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery." Or, our point is that a cover (or parody) shows the staying power of a song.

For example, the 1950's would include blue-eyed soul, surf, cruisin', romantic harmonies, greaser rock and sock-hop hits (including both swing and honkytonk inspired early rock). I used to be a big oldies nut, when 'oldies' meant 50's and early 60's. So, this one will be especially fun.

The most difficult aspect of this project is that we only have a week or so to pull it together, and we're limiting ourselves to one CD a decade, all of which can't possibly be played in the two hours alotted.

Paul Newman, You Were One of the Greatest

I rarely note the passing of celebrities, but this one hit me pretty hard: Paul Newman passed away.

Newman was not only a great actor, but a great human being, a fine example for us all. He will be missed.

Some of my favorite all time movies starred Paul Newman, including: "Exodus" and "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid".

Great Parody Video: "Head of Skate"

Frighteningly funny.

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Why Real Media and Rhapsody suck

Years ago, I used to use the Real Media products. When they 'enhanced' their service by offering RealOne, I was decided to subscribe and check out the features. While all the content and games seemed cool, the service was overpriced and the software was slow, buggy, and bloated.

For the last couple of years, I have subscribed to Yahoo Music Unlimited. Last winter, it was announced the Yahoo Music was sold to Rhapsody, Real Media's latest music product. I was a bit intrigued because Rhapsody integrates with TiVO, so that you can listen to your Rhapsody playlists on your TiVo. A few times since the first of the year, I was ready to give up Yahoo Music, but I decided to wait until all the accounts cut over to Rhapsody, just to see what the service was like.

When I cutover, the software was (as expected) a bit slow and bloated. Getting to my playlists through the TiVo was arduous, since you have to enter your account information and password, character-by-character, everytime you want to play something. After two months, I decided that it wasn't worth keeping. So, I went online to cancel.

Ha! Of course you cannot cancel online. That would make it too easy for frustrated Rhapsody users to bail out. In order to cancel you must call a toll free number. Calling the number involved waiting on hold for four minutes. When I got an Indian (offshore/outsourced) customer service representative, he could not hear me. After a few frustrating interchanges, I called back. I got another offshore representative. Once he took my information, both my email address and my credit card number, he asked why I wanted to cancel. I said that the main reason I signed up was for the TiVo access, and that it was too slow to log in through TiVo. He then tried to transfer my call to a technical support person so that they could solve my problem. I had to sternly convince him that I did NOT want to have my problem 'solved'; that I just wanted to cancel the account. The interchange remained painful, but I was finally able to get a cancellation confirmation number.

Note to self: Stay away from Real Media under all circumstances.

An Eye Opening Experience

For our nineteenth anniversary, my husband arranged for me to have a private lesson with a local firearms expert at a nearby shooting range. While this may seem like an odd anniversary gift, I was excited by the prospect. I have long been curious about guns. Part of me is attracted to guns in an abstract, Hollywood kind of, way. Another part of me fears and loathes guns, particularly hand guns, for the ease with which they allow one person to take the life of another person.

For a couple of years now, Goblin and I have discussed the possibility of living somewhere kind of rural. Part of this discussion has been based on the possibility that society/civilization could degrade drastically if energy, food, and water resources become threatened (which they really could be if governments do not remove craniums from sphincters). Under that kind of inspiration, the idea of owning a gun, or guns, for both home defense and, possibly, for hunting has been discussed.

Also recently, our son has expressed an interest in attending the Coast Guard Academy. I offhandedly suggested that maybe we should take him to the shooting range at some point so he could get a feel for firing a real gun in preparation for armed service.

All of these factors converged recently as in inspiration for my anniversary gift!

Prior to my lesson, I took note of the dozen or so young people milling about the exterior of the shooting range, several of whom were in camouflage. It was kind of daunting just to waltz through that crowd to get to the door. Once inside, I had to fill out a waiver form and attest to my mental stability and lack of illegal substance abuse. The facility was quite busy. Lot's of people shooting on the range, visible through bullet proof glass. The noise was muted but significant. The facility staff all seemed to have holsters on their belts. Several patrons were salivating over various used guns for sale in the showcases in the main lobby.

I met my instructor, Tom, as he was finishing up a firing session with a student. He was hauling a small gym bag and a large plastic tackle box. The first part of our lesson was carried out in a classroom down the street from the firing range. Tom was very personable and humorous. He could tell I was nervous from the start and tried to quell my anxiety. He made a lot of disparaging and humorous remarks about men and guns. I learned about the difference between single-action and double-action guns. I learned about revolvers verses semi-automatic guns. I learned a few safety tips for handling a gun, along with stances, aiming and trigger control. Then, we went back to the firing range.

At the firing range, I was outfitted with ear and eye protection. Unfortunately, the eye protection did nothing for my 'mature' vision issues. Aiming was going to be interesting. I can see far away, but close up is problematic, and the sites on the guns qualified as 'close up' for me. The ear protection was good, but it was impossible to talk when other people on the range were firing. Also, trying to concentrate on my firing while other people were firing was very difficult for me.

Tom outfitted the target with a big white paper plate and sent the target about fifteen feet away from me. The first gun he handed me was a 22 revolver. He had me load the gun on my own. He schooled me to squeeze the trigger very very slowly so that my body would not anticipate the recoil, and thus lean into the shot and foil my aim. I hit the paper plate with every round.


The next gun he handed me was a revolver which could fire either 38 or 357 bullets. He put five 38 slugs in, and one 357 (for the last shot). The first shot out of that gun startled me. It was much louder and had more kick to it than the 22 revolver. Also, you can actually see the explosion coming out of the barrel of the gun. My next shot went pretty wide of the paper plate. He got me to calm down so that the rest of my shots were back on the plate. However, I had forgotten about the last slug. When the 357 shot fired I nearly crapped my jeans. I really wanted to throw the gun down and run out the door. Huge explosion and EXTREMELY loud bang, not to mention the recoil!

We then moved onto a 38 semi-automated. That one was a bit more complicated to work with than the revolvers, but it had a little less kick. However, my shots were a little less controlled (a few off the paper plate).Tom decided that it would be a good time to introduce me to a 22 semi-automatic, Which had less noise than the 38 semi-automatic, so I was happy. I fired off a seven shots, and then Tom had me reload my own magazine. My hands were shaking and I couldn't see what I was doing. So, Tom turned on the overhead light for our lane on the range. That helped with the seeing, but did nothing for the shaking. My shots did stay on the plate and were grouped with in a few inches of each other. Admittedly this was a little to the right and south of center, but at least I was consistent with all seven shots. See:



Tom was ready for me to shoot some more, but I begged off. I was shaking like a leaf and I could tell I'd probably done some damage to my upper back, since I had been firing with really tense shoulders. So, we walked out to the lobby. We chatted a bit while we settled up for the lesson, the range time, and the ammo I'd used. He gave me my last plate as a souvenir.

After I got home, a lot of the anxiety that I had been holding at bey kicked in. I felt a little nauseous and light headed. I ate some pretzels and had a cocktail to calm me down. My husband came home about an hour after I did and asked me about my experience, which I relayed pretty much as above. He was surprised to discover how terrified I had been during the experience. He says that not much seems to scare me.

I am really glad that I did this. I learned a lot about guns and gun safety. I also know some realities about guns that I never understood before (how they work, what it feels like to shoot one, how loud it can be, and how expensive they are, in many ways). I would still like to fire a long arm, like a hunting rifle, I think. However, I do not think I will ever be comfortable enough to regularly fire a gun. I also doubt that I will ever become an actual gun owner. Then again, who knows. Maybe if I talk myself into going again a time or two some of my absolute terror will fade.

Does this fit the definition of ironic?

One of the definitions of irony is "Incongruity between what might be expected and what actually occurs".

On Sunday evenings, I drive my son to our church so he can meet with his youth group. The youth group serves two purposes. It allows like minded Unitarian Universalist teenagers to socialize, and it gives the kids the opportunity to talk (and plan to act) about social/political issues in a positive way. The group usually does some volunteer work during the year. They also talk about ways to improve the environment or further social justice causes. We love that our son is involved with these kids, and he has a lot of fun at their events.

On the flip side, I have recently gotten interested in learning how to handle a gun. This seems a bit odd, considering my generally left-wing proclivities, I know. However, I've always been interested in guns from both a self-defense and cultural perspective. This afternoon, I'm going off to actually have my first ever gun handling lesson at a local shooting range.

I've always been confused by the real definition of irony. Now, I wonder if this next bit is a good example of irony or not. Please feel free to chime in.

My son's church meeting is between 6 and 8 p.m. on Sunday evenings. The shooting range has 50% off shooting fees on Sunday's between 5 and 8 p.m. for "Ladies Night". Would it be ironic if I were to drop my son off at his church meeting so he can be a better social activist and world citizen, while I wander off to spend an hour learning how to hone my gun skills?

Just wondering. (grin)

Finally listening to the DNC

I didn't manage to watch either the Democratic or Republican conventions. The greater part of me says, "No great loss". After all, the speeches are highly engineered bits of propaganda to fire people up. However, Audible.com had all the speeches from both conventions available FOR FREE, so I downloaded them to my Sansa MP3 player. I started listening to them today as I rode the shuttle bus between my office and a conference in Cambridge. While I feel somewhat manipulated, I found myself inspired. Thus far I have listened to Michelle Obama, Edward Kennedy, Nancy Pilosi, and Hillary Clinton. Tomorrow, I'll probably get through Bill Clinton, Al Gore, Barak Obama and Biden's speaches. Then, I'll start listening to the Red Team's crap. I think I need to hear it to know how they're selling themselves. On my Red Team playlist I have Bush, Lieberman (what a traitor), Laura Bush, and Sarah Palin. Palin's is the third longest recording (at 40 minutes). McCain's is 49 minutes (Obama's is 45 minutes). In the case of McCain and Palin, I have to wonder: how can people who have so little to say take so much time to say it?

Palin is making me ill

I feel like I'm on the verge of becoming a rabid screaming dog on the topic of Sarah Palin. This mindless right-wing shallow reactionary wench has begun campaigning on her own. She claims that Obama will raise taxes, and that she and McCain know how to grow the economy.

Excuse me? Look here, Madame Trailer Trash, ruling over a podunk town in Alaska does not give you the street credibility to claim that you know how to 'grow an economy'. Knowing how to line your own pockets and those of your friends does not give you credibility.

Sadly, many narrow-minded under-educated frightened Americans will buy into your line of bull and think that you and The Fossil will save them from the scary over-educated black man and his free-spending tax-loving Liberal cronies.

Yes, I just spewed a bunch of stereotypical labels. Sadly, politics is, a great deal, about pandering to the quantifiable camps.

In actuality, I don't know if the Ice Bitch is makihng me ill, or if it's just the potential of the shallowness of the election jargon and marketing that's making me want to go live in a cave for the next two months.

I can do laundry

My husband, Goblin, does the laundry in our house. Last weekend, he somehow got behind so I was shy on some things at the very beginning of the week. He did eventually catch up. This weekend, I decided to take care of the laundry myself.

Understand, Goblin does not like it when I do laundry. He fears pink clothing.

However, I did most of the laundry this weekend, including the folding and putting away (of my own, at any rate - which I do normally accomplish).

Now that I've proven that I can do laundry without screwing it up, perhaps he can refocus his time on the mound of 'honey do' tasks that have long been neglected?

Changes in the wind

I had an interview a couple of weeks ago with M+. I was only moderately interested in the position at the time. I was more intrigued by the potential of working for that particular organization.

Over the last two weeks, a few things have happened at work that have made me reconsider my reluctance to jump for the particular position under discussion with M+. Taking a position with M+ would be an exceptionally smart career move for me. M+ really supports professional development and career growth. There is a great deal of crossover between operations and research. So, even though the position I interviewed for would be in Operations, there would be opportunity to participate on research projects, with an organization that is highly regarded in my field (InfoSec).

M+ called me yesterday and left a message. I returned the call today. They are very interested in bringing me on board. They wanted to know if I was interested in working there after talking to all the folks that I interviewed with. (I said 'Yes') They wanted my minimum salary requirements and asked if they could contact my references. Two of my three references have been contacted in the last 24 hours, and they gave me glowing recommendations (bless their hearts).

I am ready for a change. If this M+ thing doesn't work out, I won't be heart broken. There is change in the wind where I am right now. However, I still see a significant bunch of issues that are being ignored. I've been fighting the good fight for months. Some of what I have put out there is slowly (very slowly) being addressed. Change may come, or it may not. I have carved out a position of some respect, and I have made a name for myself as an agent for positive change. I may be able to affect more change as yet. Staying will not be without potential rewards. It would not be horrible to stay. However ... I really feel that our CIO has little respect for the abilities or knowledge of anyone whom he did not directly hire or promote (usually after a significant round of butt familiarity).

Change is hard. But, maybe, change would be good about now.

Hail To The Geek

I heard this song over the weekend that I really enjoyed both for the rock music and the lyrics. I ended up buying a copy from Rhapsody. Check it out:

Hail To The Geek
by Deaf Pedestrians

I got a spiderman t-shirt
I got Converse that are rotting off my feet
I got a bad mustache
a reoccurring rash
and not a lot of cash
I spend it on my stash
Man it's good to be a geek

Well it's good to be a geek
It's good to be a creep
It's good to draw my pictures
that no one will ever see.
It's good to be a geek
It's good to be unknown
It's good I'm never waiting
right beside the telephone
Cuz no one ever...

I play dungeons and dragons
I got a 13th level halfling fighter thief
got seven hit die on my backstab
sometimes you know it's good to be a geek.
It's good to be a geek
It's good to play the freak
It's good to comb my mullet once every other week
As far as I can see
It's good to play the Wii
Then stay up painting miniatures til 2 or 3
Cuz no one ever...

Chorus:
Someday I'll learn to play guitar
Start up a band and be a star
And when you wind up pumping gas
Just fill 'er up and kiss my a$$...

I'm addicted to Star Trek
I'm a Klingon speaking federation freak
I find I'm more inclined
to spend the bulk of my time
on the starship enterprise
than talking to girls I meet

Well I never get the girl
but I like to be alone
cuz i can always m@sterb@te when there's no one home
it's good to have a plan
it's good to be the man
it's good to download p0rn0 from a website in Japan
cuz no one ever...

Chorus:
Someday I'll learn to play guitar
Start up a band and be a star
And when you wind up pumping gas
Just fill 'er up and kiss my a$$...

Ninth grade is when I got the swirlie
tenth grade is when I got the indian burn
four years of continuous wedgies
wore nine pairs of briefs so they could all get a turn
someday I'll buy a fancy condo
someday I'll drive a car that's more than your house
someday you'll kiss my a$$

It's good to make some noise
it's good to scream outloud
it's good to feel immortal
like your last name is McCloud
it's good to be a geek
its good to be unseen
its good to watch the Wrath of Khan on a plasma screen
it's good to be a geek
it's good to be the man
it's good to download p0rn0 from a website in Japan
It's good to be a geek
It's good to be unknown
It's good I'm never waiting
right beside the telephone
Cuz no one ever...

I got a bad mustache
a reoccurring rash
and not a lot of cash
I spend it on my stash
Man it's good to be a geek
You know I don't intend
To look like Boba Fett
I got my Holland set
Although it makes me sweat
Man it's good to be a geek!

Preferences can change

I have been a reader most of my life. In high school, I primarily read history and historical novels. In college, I started reading fantasy and science fiction. In my twenties, I read almost no non-fiction. At the time, I believed that I couldn't maintain the attention span required to get through such books; I felt like I needed a plot to keep my interest. In my thirties, I started reading the occasional memoir. Now in my forties, the majority of my encounters with novels are through audio books. I spend most of my eyes-on-a-page time with non-fiction works of one sort or another.

I come to this reflection as I weed my massive book collection. I have spent decades collecting books that I hoped to 'get around to' reading. Bookshelves take up a significant portion of our unfinished basement. Since we hope to finish the basement in the next twelve months, I decided to begin a brutal weeding of my book collection. Most of what is being "donated out" are novels that I never got around to reading. Many simply no longer appeal to me. Some still appeal to me. Whether an interesting sounding novel stays or goes is based on two factors:

1. Is it available as a digital audio or audio CD? If so, it can leave.


2. If it's not available in the desired audio format, is it more than 350 pages, and is it still well thought of? If it's long, but isn't well thought of, it can leave.

I love to read. However, reality has set in. Unless I were a woman of leisure who expected to live another seventy years, I could not possibly read all the fiction currently in my house, much less pick up anything newly published between now and when I pass away.

Hopefully, my castoffs will find eager readers somewhere else out in the world.

Disappointing flicks

Other than "The Dark Knight", I think this summer's flicks have been a bust. Last weekend we went to see "Babylon A.D." Nice action. Diverting. Confusing plot and disappointing ending. Friday, we went to see "Bangkok Dangerous". Again, nice action. Reasonable character development for an action flick. Fine flick up until a disappointing ending.

We kind of want to see "Death Race", but expect to be disappointed in that as well. My son, Grendel, wants to go see "Pineapple Express". His parents were not convinced. Who knows though, it could be the winner in the bunch at this point.

Conventions on my terms

Part of me wanted to watch the DNC and RNC hoopla the last couple of weeks. Things just didn't work out. I have both reasons and excuses for not watching. However, Audible has made it easy for me to play catch up. They have ALL the major speeches from both conventions available for FREE download. I've already lined up most of the DNC speaches. I'll probably pick up at least McCain and Palin's crap as well.

I already told my husband that we should plan on divorcing ourselves from any live radio or commercial television programming until November. (TiVo is a blessing, yet again.) I have no tolerance for the negative campaigning that both sides indulge in any more. A negative campaign ad against the other side can even make me hate my own candidate.

Little victories in parenting

Since my son returned from spending the summer with his grandparents, things have been generally better than they were before he left. Here are some of our little victories:

1. Grendel takes a shower every morning and actually uses soap and shampoo on his body without being asked to.


2. He asked if he could attend the FIRST Robotics Team meeting after school today (something we've wanted him to do for a while, but gave up on). Apparently, it is now 'cool' to participate, and he has a few friends who are involved with the program.


3. He was looking at the YMCA Life Saving course information this morning during breakfast. I asked him about it this evening. I pointed out that the class is 10 hours every Saturday for the next three Saturdays. He thought about it briefly, and whined about the time, but then said that he wanted to go tomorrow morning to see if he could get into the class.

I'm sure that there will be more bumps in the road. But, I like that there are these tiny glimmers of progress.

Contemplating a new evening routine

As many of you know, I suffer from chronic pain and wicked insomnia. Over the years, I've tried numerous activities and chemicals to get and stay asleep each night. For the next couple of nights, I'm going to try something new.

1) At 6pm, take Tylenol (or Advil) PM in hopes that it will get me sleepy long before I would traditionally go to bed (9pm).
2) Walk away from the television and the computer by 8pm.
3) Read a novel until I get sleepy or until 9pm, which ever comes first.

The goal here is to get better at winding down, and to cut down on the number of evenings that I fallback on my mother's sleep remedy (nightcaps).

Apparently, my mother also suffered from chronic pain and insomnia. She didn't talk about it much but, looking back, I can compare some of her routines and behaviors with my own. It's kind of scary when you recognize a parent in your own behavior, no?

Wish me luck with my latest 'cunning plan' for a decent night's sleep.

Labors of the weekend

I was a very busy bee this weekend around our house. A three-day weekend, of course, means a long list of tasks to complete. (Well, for certain type-A personalities, anyway.) And while I did not complete my list (I never do), I am rather proud of what I did manage to get done.

My primary accomplishment was the complete rewiring of my home network. It started with the death of my printer earlier in the week. Several months ago, I decided that I would replace my printer with one that was network capable. I have several computers on my desk, but I could only print from the primary. So, on Monday night we bought an HP C6280 All-in-One.

Knowing that the printer was network capable did give me pause. For you see, the three ports on my router, and the eight ports on my switch, were all taken. I could have ditched one or two things that I rarely use. But ... I decided it was time to make order out of chaos, so I purchased a Netgear ProSafe 24 Port 10/100 Switch on Saturday. On Sunday, I tore apart my entire network. I labeled all the cables. Then I reconnected everything in an orderly/logical fashion. I even showed my family where their machines were connected to the switch and how they could tell if they had good connectivity.

Voila!



I configured the printer for two of my four systems, and for my son's system (his printer has been whacked out for months). I still need to set up the new printer for my husband's systems, my work laptop, and (here's the real challenge) for my Fedora server. Maybe that will be next weekend's project.

Chick flick or horror movie

Another nod to Dr Momentum on this one. Maureen Dowd opined in NY Times Op-Ed Columnist - Vice in Go-Go Boots? that the Sarah Palin story could be compared to the movie "Miss Congeniality". Maybe, if FearNET did a remake of it.