Today the Baby and I...

... listened to the Magnetic Fields' "69 Love Songs". She seemed to dig it, as I thought she would, because it's full of really interesting, offbeat sounds. They should really think about going the They Might Be Giants route and recording a children's album. It's just goofy enough to work.

I swear, if this kid grows up with lousy taste in music, it won't be my fault. She's getting quite the exposure to indie rock, britpop, post-punk, and lots of other good stuff. And some classical and jazz thrown in as well. But I do think it's important for kids to find their own likes, and to not just regurgitate the music their parents like. I think it's very sad to meet people my age or younger whose favorite band is the Beetles or some other group that broke up years before they were born. Like that stupid Juno, spouting off about the '70's punk scene, which ended roughly 20 years before she was born (at least Jason Bateman called her out for that).

One of the things that has changed about growing up was rebelling against your parents by finding your own music. And, of course, it's the Baby Boomers' fault. Not that the music from the '60's and '70's wasn't good, but you need to find your own thing. There was a really funny Bloom County strip about this, back when they were doing the Billy and the Boingers stuff: We see a kid talking about why he's a slobbering B&TB fan; he says, first off, they dress totally cool; then, in the background, we see his parents getting ready to go to a Bruce Springsteen concert; he then says "that's the second reason".

So I guess my point is that it's important to support the music of your era, even if it's lame. My generation (Gen X) was lucky that we had grunge, even if that went to hell rather quickly.

We also played a game (tentatively) called "hold Daddy's finger and run around in a circle" for the better part of an hour. You wouldn't think that running around in a circle could amuse someone for so long, but there you go. You also wouldn't think the momentary pausing of said game to regain one's equilibrium would be the cause for much trauma, but you'd be wrong about that as well. I swear, if we could get that kid on a treadmill, she could power the house.