What People Said About Crazy: A Collection Of Interesting Quotes

  

"Some people never go crazy. What

truly horrible lives they must live."

~  Charles Bukowski, writer

"A question that sometimes drives me hazy:

am I, or are the others crazy?"

~  Albert Einstein, scientist

"If you're going to be crazy, you have to get paid

for it, or else you're going to be locked up."

~  Hunter S. Thompson, journalist

"Insane people are always sure that they

are fine. It is only the sane people who

are willing to admit that they are crazy."

~  Nora Ephron, writer

"Dreams are often most profound

when they seem the most crazy."

~  Sigmund Freud, psychologist

"I may be crazy, but it keeps

me from going insane."

~  Waylon Jennings, musician

"Some people hear their own inner

voices with great clearness. And they live

by what they  hear. Such people become

crazy... or they become legend."

~  Jim Harrison, writer

"There is no salvation in becoming

adapted to a world which is crazy."

~  Henry Miller, writer

"Of course I'm crazy, but that

doesn't mean I'm wrong."

~  Robert Anton Wilson, writer

"Crazy people don't sit around

wondering if they're nuts."

~  Jake Gyllenhaal, actor

"No one can drive us crazy

unless we give them the keys."

~  Douglas Horton, clergyman

"I've done very good stuff and very crazy

stuff, and I don't regret the crazy stuff."

~  Jean-Claude Van Damme, actor

"We are obliged to regard many of our

original minds as crazy, at least until

we have become as clever as they are."

~  Georg C. Lichtenberg, scientist

"I was a crazy young man who let himself

be blinded by his passions and obeyed

only the impulses of the moment."

~  Gustav Mahler, composer

"On second thought, I think I am

more crazy than my goat."

~  Remedios Varo, artist

"You can live your whole life in your

brain and not experience what's

around you. You go crazy that way."

~  Fiona Apple, singer/songwriter

"What sane person could live in

this world and not be crazy?"

~  Ursula K. Le Guin, writer

"I've never had any problem with

crazy people. I like crazy people.

I probably am a crazy person myself."

~  Errol Morris, filmmaker

"Life is beautiful, but people are crazy."

~  Charles Osgood, journalist

"If I'd have known being insane was so

much fun, I'd have gone crazy long ago."

~  Phylicia Rashad, actress

Songs By Mononymous Singers, Vol. 2 – The Guys

In case you didn't see or read yesterday's post, I'll recap the intro as succinctly as I can. A mononym is "a one-word name by which a person is known." Many singers, songwriters, and musicians in the industry are (or have historically been) commonly known by a single name. Yesterday, I posted a collection of songs by mononymous female singers. Today, it's the singularly-named guys' turn. Enjoy!  ~  JH

(NOTE: Several notable mononymous males are absent  from this list, but that is by design. Prince not only has a comprehensive catalogue of wildly inappropriate music, but he also seems to have wiped his entire music video collection off the face of YouTube. Bono [U2] is a great singer, but he hasn't really done a whole lot solo, so I excluded him from consideration here. Yanni is a popular musician, but he isn't much of a singer. Eminem and Drake may be highly talented rappers in their own right, but their lyrics are so foul that I declined to post any of their music here.)

1)  Sting  ~  "Fields Of Gold"  (You can't go wrong with this guy – classic song, classic voice.)

2)  Moby  ~  "Raining Again"  (Moby doesn't always sing the vocals for his songs, but when he does he's not half bad!)

3)  Matisyahu  ~  "One Day"  (Wonderful song by a one-of-a-kind musician – a Hasidic Jew who sings reggae music!)

4)  Beck  ~  "Loser"  (Some of the most bizarre lyrics ever set to music can be found right here in this song.)

5)  Tedashii ft. BenJah  ~  "Last Goodbye"  (Two mononymous guys in one song – ha!  Warning: You might want to have your Kleenexes handy...)

6)  Maxwell  ~  "This Woman's Work"  (Wow, falsetto much?)

7)  Liberace  ~  "I'll Be Seeing You"  (Good googly-moogly, that outfit!)

8)  Babyface  ~  "Every Time I Close My Eyes"  (This guy's voice is smooth as silk – in other words, I'm jealous!)

9)  D'Angelo  ~  "Cruisin'"  (A classic old-school R & B song given a new-school vibe – I like it!)

10)  Donovan  ~  "Mellow Yellow"  (Donovan had to be on some serious drugs when he wrote this song – and maybe when he performed it, too – there's no other explanation for the blatant weirdness...)

11)  Gotye ft. Kimbra  ~  "Somebody That I Used To Know"  (A great song by two talented singers – both of whom are mononymous!)

12)  Seal  ~  "Kiss From A Rose"  (This was one of Seal's better ballads back in the day.)

13)  PSY  ~  "Gangnam Style"  (Oh, yes, I went there...)

14)  will.i.am ft. Cheryl Cole  ~  "Heartbreaker"  (Technically, I suppose you could say will.i.am is three different words, but I'm going with it anyway.)

15)  Morrissey  ~  "Alma Matters"  (I've heard a lot about this guy, but this is the first time I've actually listened to a song by him – nice voice...)

16)  Usher  ~  "Numb"  (Always a crowd favorite...)

Creepy Mascots, Vol. 1: College Mascots

I've always found sports team mascots a bit creepy. Maybe it's the oversized heads, the fixed facial expressions, the in-your-face-ness that's inherent in their interaction with fans like me who'd rather be left alone. (I don't particularly care for clowns for many of the same reasons.) While I'm not explicitly afraid of mascots – that would be ridiculous! – I'm also not fond of them. So consider this miniseries of posts a "face your fears" – or, rather, "face your aversions" – exercise. Perhaps you'll get a laugh out of these, or perhaps a nightmare. Either way, here they are...  ~  JH

Thanks a lot! Now I'll never eat my vegetables!

The Fighting Okra

(Delta State University)

I gotta hand it to 'em. It is a clever acronym.

DIBS (Demon In A Blue Suit)

(DePaul University)

What the heck is a geoduck? And why
 does it look like a green hot dog?

Speedy The Geoduck

(Evergreen State College)

This bird seriously looks like he's up to no good.

The Cardinal

(Iowa State University)

You don't wanna mess with an angry beaver!

Benny Beaver

(Oregon State University)

He looks more like a Ku Klux Klan member
than someone to whom you'd give a confession.

The Friar

(Providence College)

If this mascot doesn't strike fear in the hearts of the other team's
players, at least maybe they'll laugh too hard to play well.

Artie The Fighting Artichoke

(Scottsdale Community College)

Something about a blue-faced pirate in clunky
boots just doesn't sit right with me for some reason.

The Pirate

(Seton Hall University)

This mascot is a hot mess any way you look at it.

The Stanford Tree

(Stanford University)

Life-sized fruit is not something I ever
wish to encounter, thank you very much.

Otto The Orange

(Syracuse University)

With his giant keys, he shall unlock the door to victory.

Wilbur The Wildcat

(University of Arizona)

Stop staring at me like that. Seriously!

Oski The Bear

(University of California-Berkeley)

Can you imagine the poor cheerleaders who have
to stand alongside this guy during the game?

Sammy The Banana Slug

(University of California-Santa Cruz)

This bird will never hold my baby.
Let me say that again. NEVER!

The Cardinal

(University of Louisville)

There's something endearing about this mascot.
 But there's also something a little frightening.

Testudo

(University of Maryland)

You've heard of Angry Birds? Meet a real one.

Sebastian The Ibis

(University of Miami)

Not one but two creepy mascots at the same college. #smh

Lil' Red & Herbie Husker

(University of Nebraska)

Someone has described this mascot as a hybrid of
Frankenstein and Bart Simpson. Couldn't agree more!

WuShock

(Wichita State University)

I hate this mascot for the same reason that I hated
the similarly plastic-headed Burger King mascot.

Pistol Pete

(Oklahoma State University)

Songs By Mononymous Singers, Vol. 1 – The Ladies

For the linguistically uninformed, a mononym is "a one-word name by which a person is known." The entertainment world, and the music industry in particular, is rife with notable mononymous persons. What follows is part one (of two) of a collection of songs by singers known only by one name. Sometimes it's their actual first name and sometimes it's a stage name – but it's always and only one name that they go by. Today, the ladies. Tomorrow, the guys. Enjoy!   ~  JH

(NOTE: Apologies to Bjork, P!nk, Jewel, Orianthi, Plumb, Xenia, Meiko, Basia, Feist, Kimbra, and others whom I may have left off here. All of these ladies would have qualified, but I've featured their music prominently on my blog in the past, and this time I wanted to focus on some "new" singers. To be fair, Adele has appeared on the blog before also, but she was too good to be left off here.)

1)  Cher  ~  "Believe"  (Contrary to popular belief, Cher is NOT a man in drag!)

2)  Madonna  ~  "Secret"  (It's hard to find a Madonna video that isn't slutty...)

3)  Beyoncé & Shakira  ~  "Beautiful Liar"  (Two mononymous singers for the price of one! – how 'bout them apples?)

4)  Selena  ~  "Dreaming Of You"  (Rest in peace – 18 years ago, actually – to a wonderfully talented singer who was cut down in her prime.)

5)  Ke$ha  ~  "Your Love Is My Drug"  (After all my previous ribbing regarding her stupidity, Ke$ha has finally made an actual "musical appearance" on the blog – will wonders never cease?)

6)  Fergie  ~  "Big Girls Don't Cry (Personal)"  (I heard this song covered on Glee and really liked it, but I didn't know who originally sang it till now.)

7)  Anjulie  ~  "Love Songs"  (A feel-good song by a unique-sounding singer.)

8)  Poe  ~  "Angry Johnny"  (WARNING: Contains gleefully violent lyrics – if you don't have a twisted sense of humor, you might not appreciate it!)

9)  Lenka  ~  "Everything At Once"  (Fact: Australian girl-pop is some of the quirkiest music you'll hear anywhere.)

10)  Adele  ~  "Someone Like You"  (This is an absolutely perfect song by one of my all-time favorite singers.)

11)  Rumer  ~  "Am I Forgiven?"  (Being a longtime fan of The Carpenters, I was awestruck when I first heard a song by Rumer – while she's an excellent singer in her own right, the similarity between her voice and Karen Carpenter's simply cannot be ignored!)

12)  Lights  ~  "Toes"  (A toe-tapping – pun intended – tune by a tremendously talented young lady.)

13)  Tiffany  ~  "I Think We're Alone Now"  (Years after I heard this song for the first time, it strikes me that Tiffany wasn't actually that great of a singer after all.)

14)  Aaliyah  ~  "At Your Best (You Are Love)"  (The R & B genre lost a great talent in 2001 when this young lady – 22 years old at the time – died in a plane crash in 2001.)

15)  Eowyn  ~  "Cliché"  (And now for some Christian hard rock by one of the more talented female singers in that niche...)

16)  Rihanna  ~  "Diamonds"  (It's also hard to find a Rihanna video that isn't slutty...)

17)  Enya  ~  "Caribbean Blue"  (I'm the only person I know who'd follow up a Rihanna song with one by Enya.)

18)  Monica  ~  "For You I Will"  (In my opinion, this is one of the best R & B songs recorded in the last 20 years.)

19)  Mandisa  ~  "Stronger"  (This video is of a live, in-studio performance of her hit song – amazing!)

20)  Imaj  ~  "Blush"  (Is the country music industry ready for an African-American female singer? If this is song is any indication, I certainly think they should be...)