Edwin MacPhisto

Speaks volumes. The beat is a silly 2 bar loop, the composition of which was 2 chords. No talent involved, just haphazard pressing of keys. The fact that you would consider it "great" indicates exactly how easy you and the rest of the general public are to pacify. I didn't listen to the beat you were talking about it, so your wanking is pointless. Also, as you might have guessed from the avatar, Prince is my favorite musician of all time, so you don't need to proselytize in his name. You might also remember that some of his best work, specifically stuff from the Dirty Mind through 1999 period, relies heavily on the sequencers and drum machines you so loathe. And what the hell is "If I Was Your Girlfriend" but a few drum and synth loops? I also would put most of the beats on The Chronic on the same level as many great compositions by people like Prince or the Beatles. "Nuthin' but a 'G' Thang" and "Dre Day" in particular are perfect pop, far more than the simple loops you claim they are. Several layers of instruments, several changes, and a perfect sound for the attitude and sound of Snoop and Dre's raps. If you don't notice them, then I don't know what to tell you. Hip hop is undeniably a lyrical art form, but its best representatives wouldn't be worth half of what they are if not for the music behind them.

Seconded. Really dumb thread. Your idiotic misinterpretation aside, I don't care if Rick Rock or Rick Rubin or anybody can make a great beat in 8 minutes. They're exceptional at what they do. Time put into making a song doesn't automatically yield quality; the Beatles--and many other canonical rock acts--tossed off piles of great songs in the space of an afternoon. If you want to see no talent, then watch BET sometime when they're playing really shitty videos from no-name rappers. Compare the beat to those to something off The Chronic. Or off any Outkast album. Or any Public Enemy album, since we're talking Chuck D. The shitty music on soundclick.com or mp3.com or any number of free distribution sites is shitty all-around; it's not like you've got wunderkinds making great beats and just rapping poorly. It's just as easy to make a shitty song on a guitar as it is to make a shitty backing beat for a rap track.

Bike shorts and bandoliers.

Gabriel Garcia Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude. Easy, accessible, fun, and brilliant.

The best Clash cover I've ever heard is the Afghan Whigs' take on "Lost in the Supermarket," which is the rare cover version that actually does more than just copy the original. Really cool reinvention. The worst Clash cover I've heard has got to be that painfully dull Social Distortion take on "Death and Glory." How you make the Clash boring is a mystery to me, but damned if those guys didn't pull it off.

No, they're actually pretty marvelous. I'd even put "Buddy Holly" on the bottom half of the album pretty comfortably, and I love that song. I'd go into more detail but it's not worth it at this point.

Check out the Go! Team. I'd love to see them live. Fun goddamn album. You guys should check out the Arcade Fire even if you're iffy on the album, cause they put on a ridiculously energetic and affecting show.

You can measure a song's quality--or at least some component of it--by lyrics, but keep context in mind. Why would you criticize the largely nonsensical lyrics on "Buddy Holly" when you've got a fat stack of power chords, tons of little hooks in the background, and fantastic fucking handclaps all throughout? That many melodies crammed into 2:40 is pretty impressive. "Oo ee oo" isn't really the point and I don't think it detracts from the song. It's also not a terribly representative example of the approach to lyrics throughout the album, which, on nearly every other song, are much more evocative. Weezer was at their best when they were having fun. "Only in Dreams," or at least the first half of it, is the least impressive song on their first album just because it's so serious-schmaltzy.

That's all.

Now that Wyatt Sexton is out for the whole year with Lyme disease, FSU has a bunch more questions. The lines are good as always, but they're going to have to put a redshirt freshman at quarterback, which is going to be trouble for at least a few games, especially the opener against Miami.

Nah. This was brought on by incidentally encountering/overhearing a few different persons today complaining about how, since they dropped out of UVA, the best job they could find was something in the vein of $7/hr at Sam Goody, and how hard dropping out is. MOVE OUT OF THE COLLEGE TOWN, DUDE. My sole close friend who did cease college is now learning how to pilot nuclear submarines, so I'm quite happy for him.

Complain about dropping out. Complaining about college is fine as long as you're not a crying-ass baby about it and you're doing something better than jerking off into your own hand. Speaking of which...

Yeah. If it took recent terrorist actions to make you realize that some people do things that hurt people and that have an infinitesimal chance of ever actually harming you, you had a long way to go anyway. If you let that shocking discovery change your livelihood or your approach to life then you never had one that was terribly worthwhile in the first place.

You could make a stretch to argue the Clash, since everything after London Calling is largely take it or leave it, but that's such a great record that I don't think I'm really going to complain about them doing their best work halfway through their career.

Weezer's first album is fantastic. Every song is loaded with great hooks, and the songs are specific, clever without being obnoxious, and exuberant. I wish they still put out songs like that. I'll take them all the way through the second self-titled, which is about half great songs and half okay. What radio play a song gets years after its release is almost as uninteresting a measure of supposed quality as printing a chunk of lyrics.

The divisions are pretty unbalanced at the moment if you go on last year. FSU's biggest challenger in the Atlantic this year will probably be Boston College, but I don't think Maryland's going to have another sub-.500 year. The Coastal, on the other hand, is loaded. Virginia Tech is most people's choice for favorite, but replacing Randall with Vick is going to be a much bigger struggle than most people seem to think. Randall wasn't a token MVP last year. Still, they're bringing back almost all the starters. Miami is always dangerous based on sheer talent. My Cavaliers probably can't contend for the title this year since the weak defensive backs aren't going to be much better than last year, but I think they should still make 7 or 8 wins easily. Georgia Tech is on everyone's hype list, and though I'm not that impressed, they do have some of the best skill players (especially Calvin Johnson) and a pretty good defense. North Carolina will get a couple surprise wins. Duke is really the only walkover in the Coastal.

The Dead Hate The Living is miserable in every way. And has a horrid theme song, yipes. Fun idea, but the original Dawn of the Dead ought to cruise through this pretty easily.

The 4th traditional involves barbecues, and I rather like those, so I approve.

Only for the people who don't want the nebulous other having its own channel in the first place.

Good stuff, but let's get some summary thoughts on the season too. I got the feeling as it went on that, after the Shane/Vic reconciliation, you thought it faltered pretty substantially.

I love the Power Glove.

A friend of mine had a copy of Youth in Revolt in 9th grade, and none of the school administrators were particularly pleased about that, since it had developed a bit of a reputation as a lascivious little thing. For whatever reasons he passed it around the county and had everyone who read it sign the inside cover. I'm pretty sure the entire page ended up filled. I remember enjoying it then, but 8 years later I can't remember a damn thing about it, except for the crossdressing and the kid with the bent penis.

I'll ejaculate in your eye socket, you hundred-dollar-handshake havin'-ass Volunteer. We're a classy team.

Last year's championship loser is back. Sign me up.