Edwin MacPhisto

Ha. That's exactly what happened to Pitt last year. Roll with the punches, Big East.

On Prince: like Inc said, Purple Rain is probably the obvious starting point, but your tastes suggest to me that you'd very much like starting off with Dirty Mind or 1999. The former is perfect kinky pop; the latter is is dirty jammy dance music with a slew of great hooks. Those 3 albums are definitely the first place I'd look, though. I love Sign o' the Times, but it'd be a daunting introduction. Also, yes, always more Smiths.

Most of that game was awful, but the 4th quarter was great. It's way more than Fisher's shot, too; that would have been impressive, but the fact that Tim Duncan made his ridiculous shot (at, what, 1.6 seconds) made it amazing.

I was going between that and "Rawhide" for some ODB-obscenity. In the end, the brilliance of "Came out my momma's pussy - I'm on welfare/26 years old - still on welfare" won out. "Dog Shit" is still hilariously good, though.

How was it "retarded"? Well, it was ridiculously cliche, full of goofy historical awe and really bizarre leaps of logic, and featured Nicholas Cage just about busting a nut over the prospect of pouring lemon juice on the Declaration of Independence. Totally ridiculous in pretty much every aspect, but a much better-made movie than its dopey script would imply. I had lots of fun.

Whoa. My personal opinion is that that album sucks quite voraciously, but if you really like that, I can't imagine how much you'll love the rest of Wu-Tang. RZA is pretty much the worst rapper in the group, but his beats are fan-damn-tastic. The debut album--Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), which I think Superstar posted a picture of earlier in the thread--is awesome. Top 3 rap albums for me, probably, and absolutely where you should start. "Da Mystery of Chessboxin," "Protect Ya Neck," "Cream," "Bring da Ruckus"...pretty much every song is a classic. If you like that, look for a used copy of Wu-Tang Forever, or Ghostface's Ironman, GZA's Liquid Swords, and Raekwon's Only Built 4 Cuban Linx. Some fun tracks outside of the debut: "Triumph," "Hellz Wind Staff," "It's Yourz," "Gravel Pit," "Incarcerated Scarfaces," "Winterwarz," "Duel of the Iron Mic," "Rawhide," "Iron Maiden," "Ice Cream"...the list goes on. I love the Wu.

There was so little to do over Thanksgiving weekend that I contributed to National Treasure's gross. It was retarded, but Nicholas Cage's uncanny ability to take everything seriously was pretty fascinating. Best picture 2004.

Since I actually live there 4 months out of 12, I've got more Florida cred than most. I fight gators like everyday. My count says there's a closet for every one of us, guys.

Nope, they definitely don't. The only college football story in Florida is whether you went to UF or FSU.

South Florida is certainly not that bad, and the program has been improving at a rapid rate. 4 years ago the football team barely existed. They won't be threatening UF or FSU anytime soon, but the move to the Big East should be good for recruiting. They'll be bowling within a few years.

I count 6 closets to shit in. That's a really freaking good monthly rent, too. I'm jealous. Are you in the projects?

Some minor bowl news: Like Vern guessed, after Northwestern's loss, the Music City Bowl invited Minnesota, who officially accepted. Liberty Bowl officials were at Boise State/Nevada last night and invited Boise afterwards, so the Broncos should be a lock for that game unless Cal loses to Southern Miss and Boise sneaks into the BCS. Pitt made it into both the AP and Coaches' polls, at #19 and #21, respectively, so Syracuse's chances of sneaking past them for the BCS bid look very slight.

Sure as hell looks like it. That accordion dude is a nut. The Arcade Fire album remains my favorite release of this year by a long measure. It's swirling and fantastic; while it certainly is "indie rock," the moments of sheer pop glory all throughout (and ouch, those pulsin' rhythms) really make it something grand. I like it much more than Blueberry Boat, and I also like Gallowsbird Bark more than Blueberry Boat. Less self-consciously wanky, better songs. I'm a little more excited about seeing TV on the Radio open for the Pixies than seeing the Pixies themselves. The hit parade will undoubtedly be very fun, but I've got really high expectations for TV on the Radio after seeing some perforamance footage last week.

Pop and rap don't have to be exclusive if they're done well. "Change Clothes" is slightly silly pop-rap; "99 Problems" is a lot better and I'm not sure where you make the connection. As a damning term, "pop-rap" doesn't really work for most of The Black Album.

One of the things I should have noted in my list is that I was going more for the general conception than my own solid opinion. I love Kid A, and there are plenty of days when I think it's my favorite Radiohead album. I too can feel an inkling of the Smiths in Radiohead, but frankly, just about every British guitar-based pop-rock band has a bit of the Smiths in them. Radiohead hasn't got Morrissey's sense of humor at all.

I go J.J. Arrington. Low-profile nationally, but Aaron Rodgers, while good, hasn't really had blow-em-up numbers outside of the USC game. Alex Smith is my very close #2; without him, the Utah offense is putting up half the points it's hanging. Out of the bigger names, I think Benson is more important to Texas than White or Peterson, individually, are to OU. Also possibly more important to his team than Leinart.

Where do you have the payout figures for the bowls? That's something I'd like to see.

Wow. Sorry to post so many times in a row, but this is something you don't see every day: Know how I've been talking about the Champs Sports/Tangerine bowl? Our university president just turned down Virginia's bid for that game on account of final exams. We have exams through the 21st, which is the day of the game. It's a bit bullshit, but it's also kinda commendable, from an academic standpoint. Still, it probably damns a team that, while far from great, deserves more than a game out in Boise. Yikes. Had Clemson not chosen to opt out of a bowl, this would leave a wonderful opening for Virginia to head to the Liberty Bowl against Louisville, since the Liberty is losing Utah. I'm not sure a conference team can get out of its bowl obligations in that fashion, though, when the conference-affiliated Boise game is still on the table.

Oh, goodie. Iowa State against Virginia in the Tangerine Bowl. I'm thrilled! Maybe Texas Tech will drop that far and we'll at least get an exciting game. And I think Colorado has a better chance than Iowa State would have had. Still probably not much of one, but a decent game against OU should get them to the Independence or Houston Bowl.

I think the more accurate reading is that Rick Clausen isn't up to the standard set by Erik Ainge, or even by Schaeffer. Auburn by 24, again.

It would probably get rid of Cal, with Auburn staying at #3 and taking the automatic bid that Cal would have used. I think there's too much of a gap between Auburn and Cal for the Tigers to drop out of the 3rd place spot if they lose, unless they get hammered extremely hard in the human polls. Which, admittedly, could happen--drop Auburn behind Cal and Texas after one loss. In which case Texas would still miss out on the BCS. Poor bastards.

Ugh. Again, UVA collapses in the 4th quarter, and Virginia Tech runs away with it. Too many mistakes, too many dumb penalties - this win would have made it a 9-2 year with a good feeling. Now it's 8-3 and off to a miserable bowl against Colorado or Iowa State. Sad day to be a Virginia fan...though at least it's probably sadder to be a BC fan.

I hope you drink an entire box of wine and love it.

Hell, I'd say a 10 year old has a pretty damned good grasp of right and wrong. I'm sure your background in cognitive and child development speaks to that. Case-by-case basis for every instance. With kids, you really can't do it any other way.

The tissues are right behind you.