Edwin MacPhisto

I've got a 60 gig player, Ripper. Not quite half-full yet, but it'll get there someday. Having my whole music collection and then some in 5 cubic inches is tingle-inducing. It'll ultimately hold around 12,000.

God, I love this man. This song is great. Same overwrought everything, a marked variation in the actual sound and delivery, which is what made The Wolf such a nice change-up from the first album. Andrew W.K.'s diversifying his bonds and I'll be thrilled to add this next album to the collection as soon as possible.

Slideshow of awesomely hilarious pictures up at awkworld now. Time to check out the song.

After I read Niskie's post I listened to "Triumph." There's a fucking song.

Huge possibility of that, of course. It's tough to argue with a team that's, what, 24-1 over the last season, returning one of the best QBs in the country, one of the best all-around threats, and a whole slew of talent at other positions, but they can definitely lose. Talent seems up to typical levels, but does USC get past Cal and Oregon last year without Norm Chow? They also have a non-conference schedule that would look pretty rough for any team not as heavily loaded. At Hawaii, at Notre Dame, and hosting Fresno State and Arkansas--many teams have non-conference schedules without a single game as tough as any of those.

I must go to one of their games.

The new trailer is way better than the first. The first tried to make this out to be some huge epic action piece, and it kinda fell flat as a result. This one is much more subtle and seems to be much more in line with the show's tone. Less "THAT GIRL IS KICKING ASS" and more "subtlesubtle." With the ridiculous marketing push this is getting from Sci-Fi now, I'm a bit more optimistic about the movie's chances of breaking even.

Phil Fulmer was the prom queen.

Fuck, "My Way." That's tight. Awesome shit.

You're right that Maryland will get better. Friedgen is too good of a game coach to let the same deadweight offense run the same setups as last year. I question how much room they'll have to improve their record in a fairly loaded conference, but even if they only win one more game than last year, the team will likely have improved a sizable amount. Few things would make me happier than seeing storied Miami shunted all the way down to, say, the Car Care Bowl (VT in Boise would be one of those of few things), so I'll gladly eat my hat if you're right.

I process old manuscripts and books at the UVA Special Collections library, and code lots of stuff into XML for decent pay. I also write for the UVA Law Journal. Finishing off my Master's in English this year.

Well then, explain yourself, sonny boy. Picking Tech?

Maybe you misunderstood--I don't mean the BCS Championship game. I mean the ACC's automatic BCS bid. I.e. Orange or Sugar, certainly not Rose. Gert, I assume you're talking about my Cavs, since that's whose schedule you pointed out. Yes, I do think there's an outside shot that Virginia/Miami could decide who wins the Coastal. It's rough, though--the only ACC teams I see as having better than a slim chance at beating Miami this year are the two Virginia squads, since banged-up FSU plays them so early in the season. Upsets are possible (Clemson & UNC last year), but not terribly likely. I will be surprised if Virginia goes down to Miami with less than 2 ACC losses, because of those rough stretches you pointed out. If that's the case, they'll have needed Miami to lose at least one game previous to have a shot at it. I do think that'll happen, so I guess it's feasible. I guess the roadblock for me is that I flat-out don't think Virginia can beat Miami. Watching the game last year showed off UVA's one big, big weakness: speed. The Miami receivers and return guys were just too quick on their routes for our very average DBs to handle. UVA also doesn't have the best reputation for high pressure games; last year's Miami game was, more or less, for a chance to take full control of the ACC race, and the Cavs collapsed in the end. And that was in Scott Stadium. Miami bleeds speed; UVA is a power team. Overall, I wouldn't be too shocked if Miami, Virginia, or Virginia Tech were to win the Coastal. Those three teams are on a tier above the other half of the division.

Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody"?

I got bored pretty quickly. Eddie Mac's ACC Breakdown So it's no secret that I go to the University of Virginia, and that I'm a huge homer for ACC football. I go to every UVA home game and this year I'm going to try to get to a few away games as well, especially the Thanksgiving game down in the Orange Bowl. This is a big year for the ACC--the expansion is finally complete, and the first ACC championship game in Jacksonville will decide who makes the BCS. It's still no SEC, but I think this year's set of ACC teams ought to be #2 as far as conferences go, despite the fact that this is a reloading year for several of the programs. My divisional predictions: ATLANTIC 1. Florida State 2. N.C. State 3. Boston College 4. Clemson 5. Maryland 6. Wake Forest In its first year as a 12-team conference, the ACC's divisions seem woefully unbalanced. Only two Atlantic division teams made it to bowls last year, while everyone in the Coastal but Duke made it to the post-season. The Atlantic is kinda like the Big 12 North right now. This will balance out in time, but not in time for this year. Despite losing Wyatt "God" Sexton to Lyme disease and being fucking crazy, as well as big-time CB Antonio Cromartie, FSU should still walk away with the Atlantic. They're going to get creamed in the Miami game, but by October one of their redshirt freshman QBs will have it together. There are too many good young players all over the field for them to collapse entirely. The Seminoles will likely continue to be what they've been for the past 4 years: a very good team, but only occasionally a great team. Probably 8 wins. I don't believe in Boston College just yet. Yeah, they went 9-3 last year. Yeah, they return a ton of starters. They've also lost to Wake Forest an awful lot lately. BC did well in the Big East, but the ACC's mid-level teams are way, way better than the likes of Syracuse, Rutgers, etc. I see them dropping at least 3 games--FSU, Virginia Tech, and UVA--and probably at least one more to someone in the Atlantic. Instead I'm throwing my second-place lot in with N.C. State, who returns a strong front four and should be able to put a few more points on the board now that QB Jay Davis has had a full year of getting his ass kicked and learning how to not get his ass kicked. I don't expect anyone in the Atlantic besides FSU to finish with more than 7 wins, so the middle-of-the-conference is a huge crapshoot. Everyone lands between 7-4 and 4-7, probably 2 of them besides FSU make bowls. Maryland, Clemson, and Wake are all good for a few upsets here and there, but I doubt any of them will be a major factor. Maryland's QB situation is a mess and their offense will be just about as anemic as it was last year. Clemson can't keep it together for a whole season and still has porous lines that are going to give up big play after big play on both sides of the ball. Even though I've got them in the cellar, Wake is the one team that might surprise; coach Jim Grobe has a better program than he should down there, and their weird spread, trick-based offense gives good teams trouble. Chris Barclay is a great running back, too. On to the big-time... COASTAL 1. Miami 2. Virginia 3. Virginia Tech 4. Georgia Tech 5. North Carolina 6. Duke Yep, Miami. How boring is that? But they've got the talent and another 4 guys who are gonna go in the first round of the NFL draft. Like I said before, the Annual FSU Shitkicking should play out as usual. A few losses, but I think they'll end up taking the division and ultimately the conference, possibly on tiebreakers with one or both of the Virginia schools. Georgia Tech is the ACC jerk-yourself-off pick of the year, the team that's being hyped as a preseason top-20 surprise. This isn't 1990, guys. This team hasn't been seriously competitive under Chan Gailey and it's not going to be this year. They don't play FSU, but they play at Miami, at Virginia Tech, at Virginia...and 5 ACC wins might not even be enough to get these guys a winning season, because they have one of the roughest OOC schedules around. At Auburn, hosting UConn, and the rivalry game at Georgia. They have Calvin Johnson, the best WR in the conference, but they also have Reggie Ball, the flightiest QB in the conference not named Charlie Whitehurst. I think this is a 6-5 team, again, as it has been for the last four years. The two teams that'll finish above Georgia Tech are the Virginia schools. UVA's big problem the past few years has been just not getting big wins or road wins. In 4 years as coach, Al Groh's best wins are Penn State (home) in 2001, West Virginia (bowl) in 2002, and Virginia Tech (home) in 2003. Last year UVA beat everyone they should have (except Fresno) and lost to everyone they should have. Not beating one of FSU, Miami, or VT would make this year a huge disappointment, and two wins should really be attainable with FSU on the slide and at home. 7 guys departed for the NFL draft, but the team is mostly solid all-around. Wali Lundy will return to being the #1 RB. I expect better things out of Marques Hagans. The defense is thin at OLB, but having the best pair of ILBs in the country (future top-10 pick Ahmad Brooks along with Kai Parham) should fill in for that. The secondary is still a problem and will continue to get burned on 10-15 yard inside routes, but the line is great (and the o-line is even better). The team is once again loaded with NFL-caliber talent, but whether they'll come together remains to be seen. One thing I like about this year is the schedule; last year, it started with 5 of the 6 easiest games and set the team up for a big fall. This year starts against Western Michigan and then immediately gets into the thick of things, with road games at Syracuse, Maryland, and BC before the homestand against the Seminoles. UVA'll probably drop at least one of those road games, but I'm hoping the more balanced schedule keeps everything hype-free and tests the team early. I'm taking my UVA over rival Tech because the only thing Marcus Vick has shown me is that he can fuck 14 year-olds and get his dumb ass suspended for a year. He has the last name, and that's about it. Anyone who followed ACC football in 2003 knows that Vick was a half-assed version of his brother back then. Now he's missed an entire year with the team and he's taking over the starting job. You expect improvement why? He has talent, but not nearly as much as his name might suggest. Bryan Randall was vital to Tech last year, and replacing a strong veteran QB with a much-hyped, inexperienced guy with happy feet is going to cause a substantial drop. The rest of the team, especially RB Mike Imoh, TE Jeff King, and CB Jimmy Williams, will keep the team going, but I'll be shocked if they manage to repeat as champs with Vick under center. Winning season, yeah, winning conference, no. North Carolina will surprise a few people but probably not as well as they did last year, and miss out on the postseason. Duke continues its reign as the Baylor of the ACC. POSTSEASON Championship Game: Miami over Florida State, making it 8 in a row. Duh. Miami will probably have picked up a loss or two and won't be national championship material, but they'll get the BCS game. Don't think the ACC will get a second BCS game unless one of the Virginia schools really steps up. The Gator has second pick in the bowl order, but since the championship game is in Jacksonville too, I doubt they'll take whoever loses that game. What fans are going to want to go back to the same place they watched their boys get stomped three weeks previous? The third-place team will deserve the Peach, but probably get bumped up. So, until the improved bowl tie-ins start next year: BCS: Miami Gator: Virginia Peach: FSU Champs Sports: Virginia Tech Tire/Car Care Bowl (Charlotte): N.C. State Shitty Boise Bowl: Georgia Tech or BC And one or two of the other winning teams will fill in for a conference that can't use all of its slots. And that's my pre-season take on the ACC. Thoughts?

That's why it's not rape, duh.

I'm thinking yes. Ohio State/Texas is *the* non-conference game of the year (though LSU/Arizona State ought to be grand as well) and I could make an argument for Texas, but I think the Buckeyes are too deep on defense to lose that one, especially at home. Sometime later today, as I get more and more bored at work, I'll do an ACC breakdown and full-conference predictions, since Tobacco Road is my backyard.

The far Taco Bell in town would always make them on request, but the one about 2 minutes from where I live wouldn't. Usually convenience won out, but now I no longer have to settle. Life's grand.

Taco Bell's officially got cheesy gordita crunches again.

Attaboy.

You can search on Google and find a million guides to this in about 3 seconds, but anyway: Flash players just use memory. They have no moving parts inside and are monumentally tough to destroy. They're small, about keychain-sized. They're relatively cheap, all things considered, ranging from $100-150. Most hold somewhere between 512 mb and 2 gigs. Hard drive players are bigger. Since they're hard drives, they have movable parts inside, which means they can break if you're reckless with it. The iPod is the most common (and pretty much the best). They hold a lot more music, and can often hold photos or video or other fun things. You can get players as small as 5 gigs for about $200, 20 gigs for around $250-$350 depending on brand, or big ones like the 60gb iPod (my player) for $399. If you only want to hold 120-250 songs, get a flash player. If you want more--up to about 12,000 on the biggest models--get a hard drive player.

A Rage compilation that isn't half composed of songs off their first album would be really weird. I don't listen to them anymore, but that self-titled is so much better than everything else.

I just listened to "Champagne Supernova." Still pretty cool.

It's very hard for me to think of two compilations I could want less than a Weird Al comp and a Metallica comp. A friend put together a great two-disc Morrissey (solo career only) compilation for me. Absolutely great. And another thought re: Greatest Hits albums: the Cars' Complete Greatest Hits is probably the best and most-justified hits compilation I can imagine.

I think most people--in America, at least--are entirely indifferent to Oasis. No one in the United States has paid attention to anything they've released after Be Here Now, especially after that retarded video with the helicopters. Their first two albums are perfectly acceptable if mostly unremarkable, and the singles are very memorable, though they're more colored by nostalgia than they are actual quality. As for British rock bands of the 90s, Pulp smokes Oasis in every way conceivable.