Edwin MacPhisto

It's totally great. Crazy songs, and a fair share of straight-up Waitsian balladry (i.e., heartfelt stuff about dwarves). And there's a flipbook in the liner notes! The Arcade Fire is probably even better, though. Wonderful debut. High recommendations to Coat Is My Father and Lord of the Curry in particular, though anyone who's found themselves admiring the Wrens, Broken Social Scene, or Neutral Milk Hotel in the past few years will probably find something to like in the mix of sincerity and incredible arrangements.

Excellent exchange tonight. Both were good, but I still get mortified anytime Bush talks about science or the Constitution.

I can't top that. But: The Arcade Fire's Funeral, and the new Tom Waits album.

A Big East/MAC showdown? Line up for Rutgers/Akron, everybody! Some thoughts on last nights Virginia game, which I was fortunate enough to attend along with 62,000 of my nearest and dearest: wahoo-wa, bitches. Clemson came out big and went 80 yards for a score in the first 3 minutes of the game, and then we held them to 130 yards for the 57 remaining minutes. 30-10 indeed. Alvin Pearman looked great, making the big slashing runs that Wali Lundy seemed to have trouble with early in the game. For Clemson, Whitehurst looked much better than he has this season - for the first half, at least. He was nothing in the second half, throwing the ball away and eventually knocking his interception count up to 11. I was a bit disappointed that our d-line wasn't able to put him on the ground, but ultimately it didn't matter, as the pass coverage was great and even his completions rarely went for more than 7 or 8 yards. Poor Clemson seems to be more talented than that 1-4 record, but they're caught in a rough spot: going big has result in 15 turnovers on the season, and last night they showed that they can't do anything with conservative playcalling. Had they kept coming with risky bombs like the 56-yard route they managed on the first drive, they might have had a chance, but in a trench war, it was all Cavs. Bring on the 'Noles.

Who's saying that? I haven't seen a single sports mag or site make that pick. Everyone's saying Texas won't get trounced as badly this year, but that's a no-brainer: it's awfully hard to be trounced by more than 52 points. It should be a fun weekend for the Big Ten, with the two mid-teens matchups sorting pretenders from contenders. They were probably the two hardest picks for me to make in Bored's contest. Minnesota seems to play a very similar style of football as my beloved Cavaliers, so I'm looking forward to checking them out this Saturday.

Hahahaha.

It's got the feel, but not the happy-go-lucky attitude. If you're talking Pet Sounds Beach Boys, certainly. "Surfin' Safari," not so much. My roommate bought it last week, and it's pretty good. It still sounds a bit twee and dated (understandably), but it is highly listenable and loaded with great harmonies and arrangements. The re-done versions of "Heroes and Villains" and "Good Vibrations" are a little off-putting, though.

Fluxblog. Out-there, off the radar stuff. He puts up 2 or 3 songs every day. Most of you will probably hate what he offers, and a lot of it is admittedly chaff, but you find some real gems.

AIDS.

THURSDAY Southern Miss Virginia FRIDAY BYU SATURDAY Oklahoma Michigan Michigan State Notre Dame Maryland Wisconsin Oklahoma State USC Georgia UCLA Purdue Florida State Texas Tech Florida Missouri Tiebreak #1: How many total points will be scored in the UNLV/BYU game? 45 Tiebreak #2: How many total yards (passing & rushing) will Virginia's Marques Hagans have against Clemson? 221

Ultimately a much less interesting debate than the first presidential face-off. I thought Cheney did better, but Edwards improved a lot after a truly awful first 20 minutes. Nonetheless, so much of this was about each vice-president's record or statements, and not as much about their headliners; I don't see this debate having much of an effect on the undecided electorate.

My roommate is somewhat terrified of Bone Machine.

That review reminded me that anyone making the Joy Division comparison with regards to this album will be even more off-base than they were with TOTBL.

Kerry should be thankful that he's got two more go-rounds with Bush and that the VP debate historically has less of an impact than his own. Edwards is taking the unfortunate approach of trying to explain complicated reasons for voting on bills, bringing up lots of minutiae, and he's not doing a very good job of it. It's the exact opposite of how Kerry succeeded so well in the first debate. Cheney's staying simple and displaying a mammoth knowledge of the nation's history, contextualizing everything he's saying and looking like the guy in control. East-coast debate scorecard: Edwards 24, Cheney a weak 26.

Edwards is a stumbly little monkey thus far. I'll give him some time to warm up, but right now he's falling into the same trap I thought Bush did on Thursday: talking point, rinse, repeat. Cheney's making a lot of shit up too, but he's doing it much more convincingly.

I think he needs it to survive.

What are you talking about? I didn't say a thing about "vote who you think will win." Vote for the platform and policies you believe in. Where's the controversy in that?

Good for them! Want me to give you a medal to pass to them? Again how many that are voting for Kerry, are actually voting for Kerry and not just 'to get that evil Bush out of office'? After the debate, when he finally had some sort of presence, a lot more. Also, you may be shocked to realize this, but very often people just vote on party lines and the platform with which they agree. Why should it matter if you strictly support Kerry? If you support abortion rights, affirmative action, and any other recognized position of the Democratic party, then you're going to vote Democrat unless you are really fond of the opposing candidates. No one should be talked down to for voting with the party they prefer, regardless of the individual candidates.

Yes, because if you aren't voting for Bush, you MUST BE a Kerry supporter. Oh I also happened to think Kerry performed better in his debate, so I guess I am voting for Kerry. I have stated it several times already, please let this be the last. And where exactly do you think Kerry's getting his most support, from actual KERRY SUPPORTERS? Hell most would vote for Nader or Badnarik but 'don't think their vote would do any good' or 'it doesn't get Bush out of office'. If you think that many people actually know and consider third-party candidates, you are mistaken. 50 million people are going to vote for Kerry and the notion that "most" of them would rather support Nader or Badnarik (especially considering how much of a loon Nader is and the fact that the general public hasn't even heard of Badnarik) is pretty delusional.

Since this movie sucks so, so, furiously, I don't mind fluff.

Worth bumping because 1) I saw the video for "Slow Hands" today, and it's pretty lame, and 2) This album is a monstrous grower. The actual instrumentation is much, much better than on the debut, and though it doesn't stand out too much as an album, the songs on their own are excellent. I've been listening to it on shuffle over the last few days, and doing so has yielded unknown pleasures.

I've been listening to the samples on the iTunes store, now that they're available. I'll be dropping by Best Buy to nab this one tomorrow after all. Just another layer of insane for Mr. Waits.

You watched college football in 2000? No one should worry about the early BCS rankings because they're going to change drastically the deeper we get into conference play.

I thought you would stop posting when Bigjig did.

A tremendous amount of Tom Waits. "Who Are You," especially.