Edwin MacPhisto

Michael Jackson sucks.

My take on last year's best hip-hop album: Dizzee Rascal - Boy in da Corner Sitting Here: 8 Stop Dat: 6 I Luv U: 10 Brand New Day: 9 2 Far: 6 Fix Up, Look Sharp: 8 Cut 'Em Off: 4 Hold Ya Mouf: 7 Round We Go: 8 Jus a Rascal: 10 Wot U On: 6 Jezebel: 7 Seems 2 Be: 6 Live O: 5 Do It: 8 Vexed: 5 Individually there are only 7 or 8 superstar songs, but all lined up, they make for one really great stretch of an album. Overall, the album gets a 9.

Mountain Dew Code Red remains the best of the spin-off flavors, simply by virtue of it pretty much tasting totally new. Vanilla Coke tastes like someone melted butter into cola.

The Longest Yard and Wide Right are both on here already? I was certain one of them would be the requisite Super Bowl top 10 moment. Arbitrary like whoa.

Going into Iraq to depose a mass-murdering fuckhead is fine. Trying to manipulate it by spending a year insisting that Iraq was linked to al Qaeda is not. The latter doesn't nullify the good of the former, but it kills any faith I may have had in this administration. Such callow manipulation is worthy of contempt, even if one good thing has been done.

I think Flyboy was referring to your punctuation. Book : Short Story :: Album : Song "Audioslave" would indicate a song. Audioslave would indicate an album. Audioslave would indicate a lame band.

What a hard topic. And a good way to start - "Just Like Heaven" is a fine choice. The Cure are fine for angst, but their poppiest stuff is really outstanding. Sticking to the zippier side of things, my personal choice: New Order, "Bizarre Love Triangle."

It also might be a little odd for guys in their 30s now to try and capture the mortifying loneliness of being blasted Kentucky youth, unless their careers have really gone to shit. And it would be even weirder to hear Slint, who are basically iconic for six songs (Tweez notwithstanding), take the music in any other direction. I'd still go see them play, of course, given the chance. To everyone who is just watching the two of us masturbate over this superb band: you should really buy Spiderland.

Hadn't heard that yet, but yes, worth a double. I'm intrigued, and I wonder if they'd still have that same weird sadness so many years later. I've found an odd way to listen to Spiderland: in the car. For some reason I've been picking up the subtleties on the way to work in the morning. My job must suck.

On a well put-together album, a low point barely even registers with me. It kinda gets swept up in good sequencing and its superior peers. My ratings on this thread almost always skew high on account of that. And me being uber-generous. In a lot of cases I've been doing the same thing as The Artist Formerly Known As La Parka Es Mi Papa. I have never seen the Dump album anywhere new nor had any chance to hear a single lick of it. So I'm just going to get it off of Half.com since I'm sure I'll love it anyway.

Last time you punched somebody: One of those friend-punches a few days ago. Last time you ate meat: Around 3 hours ago. Last time you got arrested: Not yet. Last person you sent an e-mail to: My worthless agent. Last regret: Taking an excessively long nap yesterday that wasted half the afternoon. Last time you wore a suit: A banquet back in February. Last country you visited: England. Last injury you suffered: Ferocious stubbing of my toe - nay, whole right foot - on a stone table. Last family outing: Well, I went to dinner with the parents on Saturday. Last item you put on your credit card: I only use debit. In that case: a shirt. Last beer you drank: Grolsch on tap. Haven't had any since London 3 weeks ago. Last movie you watched in full: The Village. MISTAKE Last time you lied: At work, when I said an interview was at 2:30 so I could grab some lunch before it happened at 3. Last meal you ate: London broil (there's the meat) with some macaroni and a corncob. Last time you laughed: Seeing Henry Rollins lovingly cradle a Cabbage Patch doll on I Love the 80s. Last video game you played: Mario Kart for Gamecube, I think. Last album you listened to: Constantines - Constantines Last time you said 'I'm sorry': When I didn't share dinner with the dog. Last sport you watched: A football match in England. Last time you said 'This is the last time': When playing Mario Kart, I believe. "That you whoop my ass" may have been included in there.

Randall's still there. Officially Randall was the starter, but most people expected Vick to have the job within the first few games. Now he's definitely the starter.

Wahoo wa, bitches. Eat a bag of dicks, Tech. The Hokies don't break .500 this year. Mark my ferociously biased words.

The best has got to be the rock band, signed by manager Lou Siffer (SNEAKY). Their number one hit was "Rock rock rock, rock let's rock, rock rock rock, rock." They all do coke and die, and one of them is punished with the evil of AIDS for embracing rock music and signing his soul to the devil.

The Pumpkins haven't held up nearly that well for me. Loved them when I was 15 and 16, but the holes really show on the rare occasions I go back to them now. Plenty of nostalgia for the singles, and that's about it. I still like Adore a good bit, though; "To Sheila" is the best song on there. My Siamese Dream scores would probably be almost a full third lower than yours. Fun with a lesser-known Prince album: Prince - Around the World in a Day Around the World in a Day: 6 Paisley Park: 10 Condition of the Heart: 5 Raspberry Beret: 10 Tambourine: 4 America: 7 Pop Life: 9 The Ladder: 7 Temptation: 6 Three genuine classics, obvious by their scores, and a lot of decent-to-good supplemental tracks. "Condition of the Heart" is kinda flat for a Prince ballad, and "Tambourine" is one of few forgettable songs from his '80-'87 period. Altogether the only album in that stretch less essential than this is Controversy, but for rank 6 out of 7, this remains pretty damn good.

I listened to the most of the DEP album at my local music shop today. As advertised, it's really cool. All sorts of weird synth stuff creeps in, the songs actually feel like songs, the thrashy parts are very sharp, and it all just works. Some of the instrumentals really sound like they could be off an early Tricky album, and the fact that Dillinger pulled that off impresses me indeed. "Setting Fire to Sleeping Giants" and "Sunshine the Werewolf" were the stand-outs on first listen. Didn't buy the album, because they only had the deluxe DVD for more money than I wanted to spend. Definitely a looker, though.

I'm going to be the flower girl.

"Terrorism" gets a cowboy hat and two pistols. "Howard Dean?" brings out the photo of Osama. Fancy.

Right. It's poorly written (though I did enjoy TDAT). Writing is a part of how something is made. What you're describing is how the film is shot and arranged visually. Not the making of the film; a film is not made until all the parts are synthesized together. Acting + writing + directing + editing + cinematography + everything else = making a film. If it looks like shit or reads like shit, shit it remains. I won't dispute that The Village was well-shot. I thought it was at times gorgeous to look at and I loved the spots of bright color. But it wasn't well made, because in the end, those atmospheric aspects didn't connect with the awful script. We're arguing over semantics, but I believe what I've just laid out is truer to the actual notion of "making" a film.

Hey, tell us how that is. I've been trying to download samples for eons with very little luck.

This is the preseason poll........ That's his point, and a very valid one. It's meaningless. With the new BCS slated to count each poll as 1/3 of its vote, just wait until shit gets ironed out, let the first month of the season go by, and decide who sits where then. The first three weeks of the season are teams jumping and dropping 10 and 12 ranks at a time because they lose one game or win one surprise game, and so on.

LET'S DRESS UP IN MONSTER SUITS GUYS

Toxxic, you son of a bitch! Nice work and congratulations. Get Spike his cruiser belt back and you guys will be Team Dickhead numero uno. Enjoy the prize, it's fun as hell. I love both of the tag teams in the tag match a whole helluva lot. So much so that I'd kill to see an 8-man (and woman) tag sometime in the near future - 42nd Street and Birdrea vs. Van Siclen and RevZero, maybe? Welcome back Grand Slam! Having a guy who's out of shape and had no intent of being back in action back in action is a pretty unique angle. Since he's squaring off with Duran on Storm, I'll also mention here how much I liked Duran's promo. He's been quiet, but this was an excellent example of a simple character choice helping push a solo storyline. I've only skimmed things, and honestly probably won't get a chance to make more comments, but congrats to everyone who wrote, and urine to everyone who didn't. Zing!

Sold.

The first album is weird, fucked-up pop-and-rock majesty. White Light/White Heat is nutbag shit with weird spoken word on "The Gift," and the infamous "Sister Ray." I agree that the first is their best album and the best place to start if you're after the whole catalog. And "Black Angel's Death Song" is awesomely odd no matter what you like. But if it's VU at their most extreme that you want, it would be White Light/White Heat.