Edwin MacPhisto

I remember that album being kinda fun and extremely silly. That and a shit-ton of Leonard Cohen were some of the first things I really loaded up on with Napster. I was listening to that album really loud one time, and my mom came into my room to let me know that dinner was ready. It was right in the middle of the song that goes "I'm not in love, but I'm gonna fuck you until something better comes along." Perfect timing.

Those are old, though. Since then, I think he's gotten more into pizzaboy chic. The thread that got CJ banned was really, really funny. Also, Flyboy, hooray.

Congratulations...I guess? I dunno. Was this one supposed to happen? Porter's got his shit together, at least. I knew he had kids, because I remember being terrified when I saw that he was a few months younger than I am.

Nutritionists bring the ruckus.

You know what I really like about "Make Em Say Unh?" The video, with that one insanely fat fat guy. Like, he's not just fat. He's like Grimace. And ballin'.

Noted. I'll add these to the queue behind 69 Love Songs for stuff to check out once I get to take a breather from my thesis. And I'd like to point out that, at my laptop's current resolution, I can get three Steve Perry animated gifs on the screen at once. It's hypnotic.

Make me a list and I'll get to stealing/buying.

I do not think I have ever heard a single song by Belle and Sebastian. I am an absolute philistine.

Wow. For me, this was the best episode since the 90 minute ep last year. Unbelievably good. Claudette NAILED him, finally. And I gotta say, seeing Aceveda in a candid moment--calling out Lem and begging him to take 1 year for all the shit the Strike Team has done--was one of the best, most believably acted moments I've seen on TV. Uh, and next week looks even better. Fuck, do I love this show.

UVA just took out BC in a romp. I didn't think we had a chance in hell, even at home with the way BC's been lighting up opponents on the road lately, but they got suckered into the zone and couldn't stop the guards. I can't believe that UVA is probably going to put up at least 8 ACC wins this season. The ACC bubble is interesting. At this point, I think it's going to take an impressive tournament showing to get any of the bubble teams in, unless one of them can actually get hot and stay hot, which none have been able to do all year.

West Virginia is rapidly turning into the decent Big East team that all the Big East teams needing a quality win beat.

Yep. The actor's name is Mark Sheppard. I thought it was really funny that he got stabbed to death in the opening scene, and it was only after that that his name appeared in the credits.

Looking at your trade, it's pretty amazing that, as long as the Pistons resign Ben Wallace this summer (and I can't see any reason for them not to, unless he gets an insane max offer from someone), they're going to have that starting 5 for at least another two seasons.

I can't believe the Chargers are thinking of letting Brees go. I know they've got Rivers, and as an ACC fan I know how good he might be, but he's never even started a game. Unless they know something about Brees' surgery that we the general public don't, I don't know how you let a top-10 QB go in favor of his untested back-up. Unless Brees is looking for Manning/Brady money, you've got to keep him.

Haha, the new villain is the Eurotrash scientist from Arachnophobia. Awesome. He's like shitty Jeremy Irons. Really dug this episode, though a little disappointed they cut off all the loose ends from the first third of the season so quickly. I would have been really interested in Nathanson being more than the "GIVE ME THE CHIP AS YOU DIE" character, which we already did in Season 2 quite clearly. I hope that Lynn continues to go nuts and eventually Jack has to do all this shit without help from CTU, because that would be a big difference from the way the past few seasons have run.

More or less. I remember one of Kibs' points of emphasis being how insanely-dead-ass-vertical the victim was. The emphasis was on your neck getting fuckin' broken. Memorieeeees...

I missed Tom Waits time last month, so: 1. Rain Dogs 2. Bone Machine 3. Swordfishtrombones 4. Small Change 5. Real Gone

Northern Iowa BUSTS A BRACKET over Bucknell, in double OT. Sloppy shots a-go-go.

I've bought two mp3s in my lifetime. Both were purchased while remarkably drunk. (Highway to the) "Danger Zone," you'll always be a part of me.

Yeah, I kinda like the steel drums. Way to go, me. Here's a slight variation: shitty cover songs that introduced you to the far superior original. E.g.: I heard David Gray's "Say Hello, Wave Goodbye," and then checked out the original by Soft Cell, which I love. Marc Almond is way hardcore.

This is pretty much what would be playing in my own personal hell. I really like pretty much anyone covering the Velvet Underground's "Sweet Jane." Last time we did this I think godthedog mentioned the Cowboy Junkies version, used to great effect in Natural Born Killers. Gang of Four's cover is great, too, and surprisingly fun coming from them. Lately I've been enjoying the zip the Arcade Fire put on their cover of the Talking Heads' "This Must Be The Place." Not as good as the original, but almost equally as enjoyable. Incandenza will now shoot me in the crotch.

What kind of work are you going to be zoning in on? I've been majoring in journalism for the past three years, mostly for the lack of a more appealing one. But I've come to the realization that I don't much care for reporting and prefer more creative outlets. English was suggested to me because of the creative writing aspect, but I'm not sure I want to take a lot of courses with people who think everything they write is brilliant and witty. Of course, I've found that to be the case with a lot of journalism majors, too. I probably won't be zoning in on creative writing, simply for the fact that it's almost entirely a self-made industry. English as a degree is almost universally a literature degree, though lots of programs offer creative writing concentrations. Still, there is a creative aspect in all literature analysis, simply because most of what you're writing is generated by you, and not by interviewing others. I do write fiction and essays, and I have been published before, but it's really not something on which you can hang your survival. The sorts of magazines a beginning writer can aspire to--national magazines linked to a university, genre magazines--pay very little for submissions. I'm talking $100, or maybe a two-year subscription, and that's if you even get published. When you get a story accepted, it might not see print for another 6, 12, 18 months. Unless you write creatively on a much more than full-time work schedule, or get exceptionally lucky, you won't make a living strictly as a writer of fiction. If you want to get a jump on what's hot right now, have AIDS in New York and write in a derivative post-modern style. I'll keep doing it on the side and submitting a story to some of my favorite journals here and there, but I'm more zoning in on editing and research work at this point: full-time positions that involve writing to some extent. Landing something like a book deal is a pipe dream. I've applied for positions as an in-house editor at the Smithsonian, as a publications officer with the CIA, as a proofreader for D.C. Comics, as a technical writer for a financial group, as an editorial assistant for a regional cultural magazine in Boston, and as a digital research assistant for the George Washington Papers project, to give you some idea of the types of jobs I'm after. And of course, an M.A. in English also makes you very qualified for many high school English teacher jobs, or literary courses at a community or junior college, if you're into that sort of thing. An English degree puts you in pretty much the same boat as any other qualified humanities major: capable, hopefully a good communicator or writer, and reliant on any specialized skills you've incidentally developed over the years.

Jack has gradually turned more towards petulance and away from being a leader-type as the show has progressed. I'm kind of at a loss where some of the leads stand now. Locke has gone from being enigmatic to just being kind of boring, and Kate is just there, overloaded with backstory. They've fallen back into the ensemble, which is nice for the rest of the cast, but kind of disappointing considering how compelling they were in the first season. Anyone else somewhat amused that Sawyer just left his big ol' gun in his tent when he went frog hunting? I guess it doesn't matter since only he and Charlie know where they are and he could get another quite easily, but the notion of, say, Bernard walking by and seeing *his* chance to become king of the island is kinda funny to me. Also: Whedon fans among us should be delighted to know that Drew Goddard just signed a 2-year contract to write for Lost.

Your malicious bias will not stand, young man. I'm gonna go listen to the Exploding Hearts and pee on you. I've heard nothing of the Arctic Monkeys, but they're getting the variety of NME-hype that usually translates to me not liking a band. I'll casually investigate.

Trading for Francis without getting rid of Crawford would be hilarious.