Blink-182 – "All the Small Things" (2000)

Keep your head still

I’ll be your thrill

The night will go on

My little windmill

(“My little windmill”?  Don’t worry – I’ll explain that line later.)

*     *     *     *     *

Have you heard about Blinkist?

Blinkist is a $99-a-year subscription service that provides summaries of best-selling nonfiction books to people who don’t have a lot of time on their hands.

The idea behind Blinkist is that a subscriber can get the benefits of reading an entire book in just 15 minutes – which is how long it takes to read or listen to a typical book summary, or “blink.”

Blinkist’s book list is dominated by self-improvement tomes – it has blinks on how to be more successful in your career, or how to be more successful in your relationship.

So if you’re a person who not only wants to have a better life, but wants to have a better life in just 15 minutes, Blinkist may be for you.

*     *     *     *     *

I know about Blinkist because they run the following commercial constantly on Sirius/XM radio:

Female (with awe in her voice): It’s such a beautiful night.  Look at the stars!

Male: They’re amazing.  Did you know twenty percent of stars have planets orbiting them capable of sustaining life?

Female: How did you know that!?  You must spend a ton of time reading.

Male: Not at all!  I use Blinkist.

Female: Blinkist?

Male: It’s an app that takes key insights from over 4000 non-fiction bestsellers and gathers them into 15-minute “blinks” for you to read or listen to!  With Blinkist, you can learn the main points of an entire book in just 15 minutes.

FVO: What kind of books?  

MVO: Nonfiction books in over 27 categories, from personal development to history, management, investing, philosophy, and more!  Blinkist makes it easy to learn about pretty much anything.

Female (teasing): Like the stars?  (She giggles.)

Male: Even the stars. (He laughs.)

You really need to hear the Blinkist commercial – you don’t get the full effect from the printed page.

But trust me – it’s obvious that the young lady in that commercial is simply ga-ga over the guy’s astronomical expertise.  Forget whether he drives a fancy car, or is a snappy dresser, or looks like a young Brad Pitt.  The fact that he knows how many solar systems have planets that are capable of sustaining life gets her all hot and bothered.

You’d better believe that I’m kicking myself today that I never shared my deep knowledge of astronomy with my dates.  I had no idea what a turn-on it would have been!     

*     *     *     *     *

I’ve decided to launch a service that will compete with Blinkist.

It’s better than Blinkist in two important ways:

First, IT’S FREE!

Second, unlike Blinkist, you don’t have to decide which book summaries to read or listen to – I do the work for you!

Here’s how it works.  You call me up, and I talk for 15 minutes or so about something that interests me.  I might tell you about a book I just read, or a movie or TV I just watched – or tell a long, convoluted story about a girl I knew in high school that I’m still obsessed with.  

Or I might just go on a rant about politicians, or robocalls, or something else that annoys me.

Trust me – if my topic is something that interests me, it is something that will interest you!

(Did I mention that my service is FREE?)

*     *     *     *     *

Blink-182 co-founder Tom DeLonge wrote “All the Small Things” for his longtime girlfriend, Jenna Jenkins, who he referred to as “my little windmill”:

I had to write her a song, because I wrote songs about other girls, but I haven’t written one for her.  So I was kinda getting some heat for that.  Not really though, because I love my girlfriend, so I was like, “I need to write a rad song” because I was scared – if the song came out bad, my girlfriend would be pissed.  So I kinda warned her that it would come out bad.  Then it came out good, so I was happy.

“All the Small Things” was released in 2000, and it seems to have worked – Tom and Jenna got married in 2001.

“My little windmill”

But in 2019, they got divorced.  (I guess he should have written her another song.)

Click here to see the official music video for “All the Small Things.”  (After watching it, I have to believe that Blink-182’s members are a bunch of tools.)

Click on the link below to buy the song from Amazon: