Edwin MacPhisto

The music loop going in the back of those videos was so apocalyptic and troublesome. And VT has to be the favorite. Illinois is really bad this year. Ergo, I'll be thrilled if they do manage to beat the Hokies.

Road win/home loss modifiers? Best guess I can offer without much thought.

vivalaultra got a job!

I'd really like them to bring back a dead character, like Chappelle, and not explain it at all.

Back on !!!: got the new album, and like it a ton. I always enjoy their stuff ("Me and Giuliani Down by the Schoolyard" was a ridiculous but extremely fun way to spend 10 minutes), but this is the first album of theirs that I think is really really really good. I don't think any of the songs on Myth Takes are too long/repetitive, which has been a significant flaw in some of their work till now, even if it is primarily dance music. Been listening to that Deerhunter album, too. Very fuzzy, and I like fuzz. It has one claw in me right now, and I'm waiting to see if the rest of it sinks in with time.

I hate that conventional wisdom seems to only include one #1 seed this year. Usually loading up the Final Four with some 2s and 3s is enough to create separation from the people I'm competing against, but this year it seems like everyone in my friends pool--especially the ones who don't follow college basketball--has Florida, A&M, and Georgetown getting it done, with UCLA/Kansas splitting the votes from that region. Time to get creative.

Nah. Seconded. I found it to be a fantastic CD. I put it slightly above the self titled debut. I'd probably sound like a broken record if I repeated my thoughts about this one, since I have a similar assessment to it as I do the Interpol album. Notable here, though, is that the cleaned up, stripped down version of "Eleanor Put Your Boots On" they released on the single is incredible breezy fun. It reminds me of some of those great jangly Cure mini-hits, especially "Mint Car."

First time I've checked in on this business since last week. That was an alternately hilarious and cringeworthy 15 minutes.

This season is so weird. It's begun to feel less like it's about the current threat than a game of "I wonder what the memorable characters of 24 seasons past are up to!" Which could be an interesting concept, if they were to actually get behind it. I can't wait to inevitably see what Audrey and her wacky dad have been doing lately!

There's a tourney pool thread about halfway down this first page in Sports, I think. I thought really hard about taking off for the first two days, but decided that I'll just flake off at work and enjoy March Madness On Demand, and take a really long lunch break on Friday for the Virginia/Albany game.

In one pool, I think I'm going to do a bracket that's all chalk just to see how well picking favorites works. Not sure if you guys'll get that or one I actually think about.

Yeah, I don't think it's a good draw for Tennessee at all. They have trouble when they face capable big men, and Oden's gotten more and more capable as the year's gone on. In fact, it's a pretty ugly draw for whoever hits OSU in the Sweet Sixteen (presuming OSU gets there); Tennessee, Virginia, Albany, and Long Beach State all appear to be very perimeter/guard-centric teams upon whom Oden can feast at will. Ultimately though, I think I like A&M out of that region.

I'm still fond of Antics, especially "Evil" and "C'mere." It stumbles a bit, because "Narc" is kind of lame and placed weirdly on the album, and because "Length of Love" and "A Time To Be So Small" are probably the weakest tracks on the whole thing; since they finish the album, it sort of ambles its way to a sluggish finish over those last 9 minutes. TOTBL is definitely better (one of my favorite albums, in fact), but Antics doesn't hit slump levels for me.

OVERSEEDED AT #4, BABY! That's so awesome (and undeserved), but I'll sure as hell take it.

By contrast to the Midwest, the West looks pretty soft.

Very nice region. Maryland's slightly overseeded, but I think that's going to be the strongest 10-13 block in the tourney.

As I file the new Arcade Fire album closer and closer to mediocrity, I think I'm coming around on the new Bloc Party album. Kele Okererekekereke's vocals are annoyingly wispy and twee a little too often, but the music itself has me coming back repeatedly. This, despite the fact that I think a few of the tracks sound like Postal Service b-sides at first. "Waiting for the 7.18," for example, comes close to driving me nuts, but then they get the wall o' guitars just right. Good show.

Haha. Maryland AND Duke out on the first day of the ACC tournament? So awesome.

I've seen the Roots live too. They were okay, but had no real rhythm to their show. Set list was very poorly arranged and they had some weird "jam sessions" going on. They're a good hip-hop backing band, but that doesn't make them a good live band overall when no one's talking. "You Got Me" was great, though.

The Roots bore me more often than not (though I do like Phrenology) and the Clipse are great.

If this holds, Maryland will be fortunate to keep a 4 seed. Lots of teams make big moves up 2-3 seed lines in conference tourneys.

Expanded Neon Bible thoughts, after three-ish listens: -Win Butler is on songwriting probation for that terrible "eating in the ghetto on a hundred dollar plate" line. A little too often he sounds like he's trying to emulate the shitty new Killers album. -Songs I really like = "Intervention," "Ocean of Noise," "No Cars Go" (of course), "Keep the Car Running." The last one is kind of a Funeral retread, but since it's one of few tracks on here that really gets up to speed, I dig it. One of my friends characterized it as out-U2ing U2, in the sense that lately they're always trying to reclaim the epic level they had with their Joshua Tree anthems, but have only put out not-quite-there derivative work for the past 7 years. -Lacks the abstract, fantastical feel of the first album. Nothing's as enchanting as "Neighborhood #1." Those songs didn't just sound overwhelming; they were also about weird things (parentless towns covered in snow? I'm down) and the themes and music synced up really. They stepped a little too far away from the fantasia this time. Didn't get enough mileage out of their string arrangements either. Those really punched up songs like "Power Out" and "Rebellion (Lies)" from Funeral. So, I like this album in the sense that there are a few good songs I'll certainly put on mix CDs for people, but it doesn't stack up to Funeral, which I still love totally and utterly.

The big four albums you guys have listed have taken over my metro rides.

It appears that Gene and I have been made unwitting partners in a ferocious race war. I've always feared this might happen.

I want to see the survivors because the first season of Lost was all about them, and it was fun, exciting, and intriguing. I did want to see more of the Others because they were terrifying, but now we've seen tons of them, and you know what? We still don't know what the hell they're doing, why they're doing it, or anything like that. Boring, lame, etc. Now I just want the show to be another 20 episodes of riding around in the magic van.