Edwin MacPhisto

Tool is the best case for evolution that I've seen mentioned here. Even the VU example doesn't work quite as well, as they were solidly awesome from step to step. Opiate: Decent songs, superb title track, the beginning of their sound. Undertow: Impeccable singles, some of their most fulfilling heavy moments, Maynard's voice emerging as a key instrument. Aenima: The first classic, their best individual songs, and the point where everything really gelled. Lateralus: The culmination of what they promised with Aenima, with the best instrumentation and most consistent musical feel of their career. It's been almost three years since Lateralus and the new Perfect Circle album has been done and out for a while. I want the fifth album, dammit.

See, in order to get one of these topics, a band shouldn't blow. They did have a nice run of cutesy special effects videos in the middle there, though.

I don't follow the logic in this argument. Sure, he's going to have to move towards the center to win, but who else are going to vote for? Certainly not Bush - that's the foundation of why many currently support fiery-Dean. He's the front-runner against Bush. The only "notable" third-party competition at this time could be another Nader run, and we saw how few voters he pulled in during the 2000 election. I guess you could say that the people who are supporting I-Want-The-Nomination Dean will just not vote, but I don't buy that. Public opposition to Bush is less about supporting Howard Dean as it is about opposing the current President. What I see as Dean's problem is the fact that, if he doesn't continue to distinguish himself from the Republican offering, he will remain just the alternative and won't pick many more votes. He probably won't get enough support outside the current base he has, but that won't be an issue of him running as a centrist. It'll be an issue of him developing a consistent public personality, not policy, and appealing to the people who are shaky on Bush but not quite shaken off the tree yet. I don't see Howard Dean losing the support he's already gained. When he wins the primary, he's going to be the sole alternative to Bush, and these early liberal votes are signed, sealed, and delivered.

I barely follow basketball, but I haven't heard Penny Hardaway's name in a long time. What sort of contract did he luck into that'd let him make $14 million and not even start?

There are a lot of other clues, too. Obviously spoilers below for all of Morrison's run up to this point, but if you're reading this thread I bet you don't need the warning... ...When Xorn kills the U-Men in the forest during the Riot At Xavier's storyline, then whispers to Angel that this can be "their little secret." When Xorn somehow uses a strength we'd never seen before to loosen the cement mixer and dump it on Herman (blobby guy on fire) at the end of the Riot at Xavier's storyline. Magnetism much? Xorn's selective healing, and the fact that the only time we ever really see him heal anyone is when he's "healing" the team and Xavier from the nano-sentinels. All he had to do was shut off their metal parts, which is relayed when he reveals that he was fusing Xavier's spine together with them. There's a pile of little clues. I don't really like how quickly the re-emergence of Magneto came and how fast, loose, and rushed the entire Planet X arc felt, but I do think that it was Morrison's intent that Xorn be Magneto the whole way through. The whole arc could have been remedied if the 9 issues of Assault On Weapon Plus and Planet X had been better integrated, kinda like the whole lengthy, multifaceted Cassandra Nova arc in Morrison's first year.

Ah, but you're looking at early Creed, which I still think sucks, but is a far cry from how low they've sunk over the past two horrifically multi-platinum releases. At least then their album covers weren't quite as retarded.

My Bloody Valentine, "Sometimes." I consistently think of Scarlett Johansson when I hear this now, and I'm fine with that.

The Bends is another really strong choice. For me, it falls apart a bit after "My Iron Lung," though. "Black Star," "Bulletproof," and "Sulk" re-tread territory I think the band covers better earlier in the album, and the whole trio acts as a bit of a downer on the way into the blow-away "Street Spirit." And OK Computer ends with a triangle, which after many years I've come around to recognizing as a great finale. Go triangles.

With the USC Song Girls, we're all winners. God bless 'em.

ABC has picked stunningly weird transition music so far this evening.

Y'know, I've never really noticed it before, but it's really prominent tonight. Unless White can get into a more traditional overhand delivery, no way he's ever going to be a high draft pick, destroyed knees aside.

Yep, OK Computer. Close call for me up against Kid A, but it's the winner.

Second, but no chance to win. Tears, tears, everywhere.

The main reason I'm into college football is because I go to a college with a decent team. I don't think I would have started to care nearly as much if I couldn't go to 6 games a year for free and have my own team to root for.

It doesn't matter if they COULD have been playing their best. They didn't, and they lost. That's part of the season too. The BCS is good because it looks at the entire season, but I don't think even you would argue that, at the end of the season, USC and LSU were both playing better and had more momentum than OU. I see no problem with a simple idea that's been proposed many times over, if we must have a single national champion: if the AP and Coaches' poll both have the same #1 and #2, those teams play for the title. Period. You can use the BCS standings and conference champs to determine the rest of the 6 slots. If there's a discrepancy, then cede to the computer system.

This thread (and the 34 others like it over the past month) are the only reason I want to see LSU whoop the shit of Oklahoma in two days.

Because I'm bored, major conference bowl records thus far: ACC: 4-1 (pending Humanitarian Bowl) SEC: 4-2 (pending Sugar Bowl) Pac-10: 4-2 Big East: 3-2 Big Ten: 3-5 Big XII: 2-4 (pending Sugar Bowl) And, if Tulsa manages to knock off Georgia Tech, the WAC will finish 4-0 with two wins over BCS teams. Not bad, mid-majors.

Yeah. They were wise to take it out. It shouldn't matter if you grind out close games like Ohio St. does or if you blow out opponents like OU. You just win the game. The human polls already give margin of victory the slight consideration it should have, so they were wise to make it inconsequential in the computers. Though I still don't really understand *why* the computers are there, since they seem to be redundant on several levels to things like the SOS component (which is still mucked up anyway, since it's just a win-loss scale and isn't nuanced enough to work out a formula based on national standing. 8-4 Tulsa =/= 8-4 Clemson or 8-4 Florida. I too was impressed with USC's ultimate win. I'll definitely be watching the Sugar Bowl Sunday night, but either OU or LSU will have to play absolutely incredible football for me to personally look at them as more impressive than the Trojans.

Hmm. I was out at a Blondie concert (yeah Debbie Harry!) so it sounds like I missed a great game. I did watch most of Clemson/Tennessee, though, and let me just say: GO ACC! After underachieving all year long, the ACC finally steps up in Bowl season and outperforms pretty much every other conference, with the exception of the still-exceptional SEC. NC State annihilates Kansas, Virginia takes out Larry Fitzgerald and a very good Pitt team, Maryland KILLIFIES W.Va again, and now Clemson comfortably knocks off the #7 team in the nation. If Georgia Tech can take care of Tulsa tomorrow, the conference'll finish a really impressive 5-1 bowl run, with FSU's close loss being the only blemish. Football is back on Tobacco Road!

Finally watched the Alien 3: "Director's Cut" yesterday. And, I'll be damned - this is a much better film than the original cut, a few silly workprint special effects aside. We go from 114 minutes to 144, and the depth makes all the difference in the world. Little scenes here and there basically transform a cast of faceless, nameless characters into at least recognizable figure. Golic becomes way, way more important, and Clemens actually feels like a male lead for a while. There's a lot of added spirituality and discussion of the alien's arrival as an apocalypse that makes the whole religious fanaticism of the inmates way more interesting than the "blah blah we found God" way it felt in the original. And, perhaps most importantly for me, the scene with the huge fire and explosions when they're first trying to trap the alien finally makes sense. The last half of the film was previously disconnected and confusing - now everything follows in a logical order and makes a fine bit of sense. The little crappy alien animatics they show after the "birth" are stupid, and the slight change of the ending is obviously just so Alien Resurrection is a bit more plausible. Some of the restored scenes are also a bit superfluous, a bit overlong. But altogether, the excess is totally worthwhile: Alien 3 *finally* feels like an Alien film, no longer just a quick, disjointed romp starring Lieutenant Ellen Ripley. As for the other stuff: I've gone through all the pre-production and production docs on the first two movies. No commentaries yet, though I'll probably watch Aliens with the commentary this week. This is really a great DVD set, and I'm impressed that they got so many people back and involved in the reflection process.

Did you end up using any of the other unique characters, Sakura? I always found myself strangely drawn to using Beowulf even if he was just eh. By the last third of the game, they're throwing so many unique characters into your party that I pretty much just let them all sit in the corner and collect dust.

Repeat that for me, pretty much verbatim. Earlier stuff is more "important," but this is his peak.

It blows my mind how much pressure just USC's front four can get on Navarre and Perry. Even when they drop back SEVEN into pass coverage, they're stalling the run and forcing Navarre to throw it away. There you go, though. A couple good pick-ups for Perry. Michigan is doing the right thing by keeping up the run, even if they haven't succeeded yet. They'll break a few holes. Not sure if it'll be enough.

Yep, all gay men are like this. Yeah, I was about to mention that. I think a regular ol' gay man who met Yuna might want to grind her head into paste.

Erm.. the Purdue-Georgia game has been the best game of the day. It was good, but sloppy. Purdue got back in it only because Georgia was stupid. This is, so far, two really talented squads clamping down and just butting heads with each other. Now, if this ends up USC 41, Michigan 10, or Michigan 35, USC 7, I'll agree. But I'm having the most fun right now seeing what Mike Williams can catch and what the Michigan secondary and level out of his hands.