Edwin MacPhisto

Their singles list is pretty solid, even if the Libertines and Coral both do nothing for me. I'd make a couple changes, but that top 20 makes for one hell of a college-kid dance party.

Yeah, I don't love him, but I do like him and his best albums very much. And I think you'd be hard-pressed to argue many more important solo artists in the history of rock music. You can be lame and say something like Chuck Berry for being one of the first, or you could probably make a decent argument for Hendrix or Elvis (though Elvis' legacy is filled with so much crap that I think it dilutes a lot of his power), but I'd be stuck on much else.

See, in America, they're barely exposed. Banky I know is in Canada and Random Hero I think is in England. Here in the US, I've seen the video for "I Believe In A Thing Called Love" just twice, and those're both coming on CTN. What other songs have they released videos for?

LOL 33 AD~!

I think the game I'm most interested to see in the pre-New Year's block is actually Navy/Texas Tech. One team that's huge passing, one team that's huge running, and two teams that probably wouldn't ever meet otherwise. That's a bowl game right there. In the end, I think Texas Tech is going to take it since I'm not sure Navy can put up the 40 points or so they'll need to win the shoot-out.

Any nutsack saying that we now need to pull out of Iraq is retarded. That'd be condemnable; it'd basically say that we were interested in taking out the guy who could have some effect on us and leaving the people to rot. There'll be a big wave of violence over the next couple weeks, but with Hussein gone it will eventually fade out. I'm disappointed we didn't get Bin Laden first, but that's no reason not to admire the extraction of a miserable human from under a farmhouse. Barring something ridiculous, Bush has won the White House for a second term. Now I just wonder how they're going try Saddam - some sort of trial in Iraq, or Hague time?

December 16 New Orleans: North Texas 6 pts. December 18 GMAC: Miami (OH) 18 pts. December 22 Tangerine: N.C. State 4 pts. December 23 Fort Worth: Boise State 21 pts. December 24 Las Vegas: Oregon State 8 pts. December 25 Hawaii: Hawaii 1 pts. December 26 Motor City: Bowling Green 11 pts. Insight: Virginia Tech 10 pts. December 27 Continental Tire: Virginia 12 pts. December 29 Alamo: Michigan State 15 pts. December 30 Houston: Texas Tech 5 pts. Holiday: Texas 24 pts. Silicon Valley: Fresno State 3 pts. December 31 Music City: Auburn 9 pts. Independence: Arkansas 13 pts. Liberty: Southern Miss 16 pts. Sun: Minnesota 14 pts. San Francisco: Boston College 7 pts. January 1 Outback: Florida 22 pts. Gator: West Virginia 17 pts. Capital One: Purdue 23 pts. Rose: USC 27 pts. Orange: Miami 25 pts. January 2 Cotton: Mississippi 19 pts. Peach: Clemson 20 pts. Fiesta: Kansas State 26 pts. January 3 Humanitarian: Georgia Tech 2 pts. January 4 Sugar: Oklahoma 28 pts.

I dislike rum fervently, except for making something weak n' frozen like a daiquiri or pina colada for summer poolside drinking. Preach rum and Coke as the fast n' dirty drink for anyone all you like, but I'll take my bottle of Jack and can of Pepsi, thank you very much. I do, however, support the notion of grog, if not the taste.

Well, it's not really a preconceived bias. It's the bias generated from the fact that it makes you look like a 12 year-old who can't/won't form real arguments that matter to the rest of the world. For a wrestling/pop culture message board, it's probably not the best MO for getting the word/The Word out. On the topic at hand: I can't handle it anymore. The word "diversity" keeps getting thrown around here, there, at my university, everywhere, and no one's defining it. I give up on diversity on say just start acting like human beings. Talk shit, be nice, whatever, just don't waste your time setting up tolerance classes about how to tolerate everyone except the intolerant.

You've got to remember how few slots you have for materia at the beginning of the game. Everybody has a spell or two, and that's it. You also have very few early opportunities to get ones with 2x, 3x, or 4x multipliers. I liked the esper system because it was basically what materia and summons did all built into one. And there was a ton of em, too. Mmm mm good.

That might be it. Until FFX I'd never actually run away from a fight. I also tend to explore every inch of dungeons and towns, and thus probably get a lot more random encounters.

I'm astonished that you got to the end of either game at level 30. I sense hyperbole. On Ultima: what're you fools talkin' about? I uncursed the Paladin Shield in maybe a day or two. Ain't no thang...except, you know, 16 hours of my life or so, but whatever. Oh, to be 13 again.

You're acting like people are saying any I-AA team could school the Sooners. They're not. No sportswriter in America is tearing them as big an asshole as you think. C&Ped from the *other* thread, since this is now basically the same thread, in case you missed it there:

I'm an English major, yet I'm up at 3 in the morning struggling through a religion paper. That's what I get for diversifying the courseload. I've always wanted to be a writer and have even gotten started doing freelance writing for magazines, but lately I've had the strange, recurring feeling that I'm ultimately going to end up a professor of modern literature.

It's just backlash, that's all. We're still less than a week removed from OU getting blown out. The media spent the entire year cupping OU's balls, and pretty much rightfully so. Everybody on the ABC and ESPN broadcasting teams picked Oklahoma to go to the title game all year long. Shit, Oregon got ragged on just as bad when they fell apart 4 games into the season after getting a Sports Illustrated cover. When the team that everyone's been calling phenomenal all year long takes a hit, all the potential criticism and disappointment spills out. It's nothing personal. They lost big 6 days ago, and it's their time to get ragged on.

Damaramu, I think you're also somewhat overestimating what Jason White did that Nate Hybl didn't. There's no question that White put up way better stats and played better all season, but he didn't really make the overall team *that* much better. I mean, 2002, OU finishes 12-2, wins the Big 12, and wins the Rose Bowl. If they win at the Sugar, they're going to finish 13-1 and win at least a share of the national championship. There is a significant difference in going from top 10 team to #1 team, but I think so much of that credit should go to the Oklahoma defense. A&M put up 54 yards. Fifty-four yards! Texas, big scorers all year long, only put up 13 points. OU returned a lot of starters and experienced players on defense, and that incredible brick wall of a secondary kept them basically untouchable for the whole year. White performed very, very well, but I'm more impressed with someone like Rivers or Manning, who gut out wins for the team despite average (and in NC State's case, abysmal) defenses falling apart at the worst times. OU was dominant, and White was a part of that, no question. However, I don't think he's nearly as large a part of his team's success as Manning was for Ole Miss or Larry Fitzgerald was for Pitt. Have you seen Pitt's blase running game? Have you seen Pitt's AWFUL run defense? Without Larry Fitzgerald making the big plays, Pitt doesn't beat Virginia Tech or Boston College. Against Rutgers, Fitzgerald's yardage and big catches are what kept them comfortably ahead despite doing almost everything they could to give an easy win away down the stretch. Without Jason White, OU goes 12-2 and wins this year's Fiesta Bowl. A great player, worthy of his Heisman nomination, but not what winning the award is supposedly about.

Wait, FFVI is "much-disputed"? If there's one Square game I've seen both hardcore RPG fans and casual fans who gave it a shot embrace, it's FFVI. I seriously need to bust out the SNES and play it over winter break. Been way too long.

Stop thinking about record. That's the whole reason the Heisman is a ridiculous award. It's not about the best player in the country, as they advertise - it's about the best player in the country on one of the best teams. Jason White definitely deserves to be up there as he IS one of the best QB's in the nation and definitely the best QB on a great team, but I'd rather have Philip Rivers on my squad any day. Jason White'll be a good choice when he wins, but unfortunately it'll continue the precedent of a team having to be top 10 for their man to have a chance.

We've had basically that same course here at UVA for a couple years, with a bit more of a writing bent to it than a literature bent. Comics, especially anything by Alan Moore, are really starting to get tacked onto university syllabi. There are at least four courses offered next semester across the Media Studies and English departments that are using something by Miller or Moore as a primary text.

You don't say! I downloaded it tonight, played it for my insistent roommate, and deleted it promptly thereafter, ears burned. Begone, Kelis. You sang a nice verse on Andre 3000's album, and I have no further need for you.

omg i was in this nice work homez

I hope you're enjoying Chrono Cross now, because the ending is brutally retarded. For $15, FFVII is entirely worth it. When it came out, it was visually far and above any other game out for any system at the time, and even though it looks way dated in 2003, it's still more than visually tolerable with some beautiful rendered backgrounds. The game has one of the better Final Fantasy stories and a lot of great, nuanced characters. The game's one big flaw is that, unlike the other FF games, no character is really defined by any special skill or ability. The materia system gives you all your abilities - it's just a bit disappointing that no character is really special in a fight until you make them that way. Eric is totally right, though. You MUST play FF6 and Chrono Trigger. Even after all the Square games on Playstation and PS2, they remain probably their two best overall efforts. Forget graphics, these rule. Tremendously. And they still look pretty darn good. And hey, that's a pleasant sig right above me.

Eww. Stop while you're ahead.

Philip Rivers really ought to get into the top 5, but I doubt he will. He's the only reason NC State has those 7 wins this year. You're probably right - Larry Fitzgerald was close all year, but Pitt's not even in the top 25 anymore. I'll be stunned if he gets it. White is the easy choice.

I actively dislike this song. Boo.