Steph! Just in this last week or two, I finally decided to look up this Hamilton deal and see what the fuss was about. I've been playing it virtually non-stop (see what I did there?) on youtube ever since. It is just unbelievably good.

I've been thinking about this recently, the Buffistas have provided so many excellent recommendations for my pop culture needs. Aside from Hamilton, there's MCR's Danger Days, Leverage, Veronica Mars, Orphan Black. I'm currently watching Avatar: The Last Airbender with Ryan, and Justified on my own time. These are all things that I quite possibly would not have got to under my own steam. So, y'know, thanks for the recommendations (and to Trudy, erika, Jilli, Cass, Cindy, Jessica and many others.)

Biyi was initially unimpressed with Hamilton. The rapid-fire delivery isn't entirely congenial for a non-native speaker. I have brought her round by pulling up the lyrics so she could follow along, and playing Helpless and Satisfied for her.

As soon as I have the spare cash, the CD will be mine. (I'm assuming the liner notes include the lyrics?)

As soon as I have the spare cash, the CD will be mine. (I'm assuming the liner notes include the lyrics?)

I bought the album from iTunes, so I don't have physical liner notes. The best place for the lyrics is the Genius site [link] where, when you click on each song title, you get the lyrics, SUPER annotated with all manner of historical, musical, and pop-cultural info. It's fantastic. Is that what you pulled up for Biyi?

I bought the album from iTunes, so I don't have physical liner notes. The best place for the lyrics is the Genius site [link], where, when you click on each song title, you get the lyrics, SUPER annotated with all manner of historical, musical, and pop-cultural info. It's fantastic.

Oh yes, I've checked that out for some of the songs. Notably The Room Where It Happens, which just demonstrates the genius detail that LMM put into it. (The wordplay around capital and banks is very clever, but beyond that, taking the audience out of Hamilton's heretofore transparent thought processes - and into Burr's heretofore opaque thought processes - is a deft and very effective move. All of which pales before my great joy that he brought a banjo into the orchestration. It supplants Swamp Thing as my favourite use of a banjo ever.)

Concerning liner notes, I'm thinking more for Biyi's benefit. (I mean, I'm getting it on CD anyway. Due to some pricing quirk, I can get the CD for about $3 less than if I bought it on iTunes. But hopefully it'll have the lyrics there too.)

That was an excellent documentary. I haven't heard much of Hamilton, mainly because I wasn't sure I understood enough of the history to really grasp all the most important parts of the plot. I only knew there was a duel and Hamilton lost. (That, plus, my daughter's Hamilton cousins are somehow related.) Now, I'm really going to have to give the whole thing a listen. I loved Jefferson's passe jazz stylings.

Oh, you're welcome, Billytea. How can I do otherwise for the man that offered so many thoughts on "iguana style" back in the day?(Sufficient enough that I know that was just chosen as a funny word) Your thoughts about Biyi remind me of when I made my attendant occasionally struggle through "the Vest Ving" except, you know, German)

Parents aging is hard. Dad's more klutzy and absentminded professor with people. Mom is having memory issues that while she's voiced them to me, I'm seeing in stark relief in person. I know she's talking to her drs about it, but I'd really like to add my voice in in case they aren't taking her seriously. This is diffferent than her repeating a story cause she's not sure who she has told; this morning, she didn't remember the school by me we drove past last night that we talked extensively about. I gently told her and she said 'I know, this forgetting scares me shitless.'Mom doesn't swear a lot. None of her elder sisters are experiencing this, her dad didn't start having memory issues until late in his eighties.

I don't even know.

I'm glad mom's all 'we're coming again next year' because I'm happy they have finally embraced travel in retirement ( and I no longer have to make the reservations.) but...I probably don't got many more visits left.

maybe she is vitamin b deficient or something...read that happens sometimes. Not that you shouldn't treasure the moments and so forth...

Yeah, I'm clinging to straws and hoping she finds some competent meds in their area. It's a good place to retire boringly, NSM if you've got shit going on.

I keep meaning to watch that Ehlers Danlos episode of Grey's, but I haven't had a chance yet.

Yikes, sarameg. My sympathies. It's hard for you and super scary for them, and you hope that at least that fear doesn't show up as anger (as it did for my mother). She will need more support going forward, and patience and understanding.

The Alzheimer's Reading Room has a lot of non-medical support and guidance on how to relate to/work with people with dementia.

I watched the first 20 minutes of the Hamilton doc, but I can't stay up. Instead tonight I went to a live recording of Pop Culture Happy Hour, with special guest Mallory Ortberg! It was hella fun.