Edwin MacPhisto

This calls for an

Let's not forget the mighty, short-lived Slovakia.

Bought it as well. Like it so far, though it's not as immediately arresting as Funeral. There's a lot more going on here, though--probably will take a while to digest. I do!

I'd need to know a lot more about the RPI/strength of ODU's opponents before making that guess. When I think ODU, I think "won at Georgetown early, and then went on a tear and won something like 11 games in a row to end the season in their weak conference." The kind of team I would expect to see somewhere on the 10-12 lines. Fill in the blanks if you have a list of their opponent RPIs, or opponent rankings, or whatever would be a good measure here.

I thought about keeping Odin for a while just so I could learn Meteor, but I got lazy and switched it just for kicks. I like Pearl and Flare better anyway.

To Live and Die in L.A.. Great movie with a phenomenal car chase, lots of sleaze and violence, and badass William Petersen before he got all fat and CSI.

Where will Gonzaga land? I imagine they'll be pretty close to the Gonzaga 12-seed hustlers of yore, but for different reasons than when they were actually good.

Autoreplace has wreaked havoc on Dr. Mik's well-intentioned spelling.

LAME Every time this season comes along an interesting possibility, it goes in the opposite direction.

I realized yesterday while playing through the Ancient Castle that I remembered pretty much everything in this game--the secrets, the plot developments, the cool tricks, and so on, even having not played it all the way through for 10, 12 years. I don't remember a damn thing about how FF7 moved, except for some of the really early stuff in Midgar. I think that probably sums up why I love this game so much. I'm finding it a lot easier this time around. I guess being older and actually understanding that leveling with Espers is the smart thing to do makes it a pretty easy run. I also noticed how well the game trades you off between having Celes and Terra for the first half almost entirely--it makes sense that they're more or less the same character stats-wise, because you almost never have them together until you get the airship in the World of Ruin. It's also probably a lot easier because I realized that stuff like Edgar + Pearl Lance + Dragoon Boots + Dragon Horn is a lot more ruthless than picking "Chainsaw!" every turn.

I'd hesitate to call list of releases since 2000 a list of "best." "Best" and "favorite" mean somewhat different things to me. Not really enough perspective yet to perform a legit value judgment--I doubt any of us have consumed enough of the 2000 and beyond releases to size that up yet. But I do love me that TV on the Radio album. Similar thoughts to Inc about Young Liars, but the expansion on this album almost knocks that one down a peg. Like Revolver and A Hard Day's Night to me, to draw out an overused analogy. On the flipside, I really like seeing lists of favorite music from these past 7 years, because I think they're a bit more honest than 90s, 80s, 70s list. Not to belittle anyone's choices from those decades, but with recent music there's hardly any canon yet, so we've got fewer subliminal pressures pointing us towards Classic Album A or Genre-Defining Release B.

I have a feeling that situation in the CAA is one reason we won't have to hear Billy Packer complain about mid-majors this year. The major conference bubble teams seem to be doing things right, while the mid-majors are stumbling or winning the auto bids (i.e. Winthrop).

I don't have enough perspective yet, but anyway: ought-nizzles: 1. Outkast - Stankonia 2. Jay-Z - The Blueprint 3. Wolf Parade - Apologies to the Queen Mary 4. The Wrens - The Meadowlands 5. Exploding Hearts - Guitar Romantic I think the only reason Yankee Hotel Foxtrot isn't on there is because I've been in a big Being There mood lately.

OMG WTF.

Your boy just got jacked the fuck up by Henderson. Blood and mouthbreathing everywhere! Total cheap shot, no matter what Billy Packer's dumb ass thinks, but I guess that's what happens when the starters stay in with 14 seconds to go. Dumb move Roy Williams, dumber move Duke player. Ooh, and Henderson will be suspended for the opener in the ACC tournament. Since Virginia gets the Duke/NC State winner, I love it.

Nobody wants to win the ACC! Virginia could have won it yesterday--didn't. VT could have won it today--lost to Clemson. Boston College could have put themselves in position--didn't.

80s: 1. Prince - Sign o' the Times 2. Tom Waits - Rain Dogs 3. The Replacements - Tim 4. Prince - Purple Rain 5. Mission of Burma - Signals, Calls, and Marches 90s: 1. Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea 2. Wu-Tang Clan - Enter the Wu-Tang 3. Notorious B.I.G. - Ready to Die 4. Snoop Dogg - Doggystyle 5. Outkast - Aquemini My four favorite rap albums are all from the 90s, and in a genuine analysis I like them more than Radiohead and DJ Shadow, who both might have snuck on here otherwise.

Both were road games after big home wins, this one on only 40 hours rest. UVA plays tight and mediocre on the road--everyone in the ACC does, actually (only Duke and BC tomorrow have a chance at getting 5 conference road wins), but UVA does it especially badly. I'm still pretty happy with the inevitable 4-6 seed, though, depending on conference tourney performance. Great win for Kansas today, holding off super-Durant. If Texas gets a 5 seed, I expect half the country to have them out in round 1 and half to have them in the Final Four.

Yeah, Al Thornton won ACC player of the year today. With Douglas back, you can add FSU to the list of "dangerous teams in the ACC tournament," which now includes pretty much everyone. UVA choked at Wake, which sucks, but eh. I haven't seen these guys in the tourney as long as I've been a UVA fan, so I'm still thrilled at an 11-5 year and a good seed.

luke-o's head remains stuck one of those extremely fat asses he loves so dearly.

I didn't really think about order on that list, but thinking about it now I would say that "Oh Yoko" is my favorite on there. One of the most jubilant and perfect love songs I've ever heard. There's some bias in that judgment, because: 1) it comes from Lennon, who I normally associate with more dour, less gleeful songs, and 2) it backs that great scene in Rushmore, probably my favorite movie.

I ruled that shit.

don't get snippy with me edward mcfistjob I might change my TSM name to that. And I was actually serious. I listened to the first album, and I guess it's fair to say that it's not musically uninteresting. It still doesn't interest me a ton, though--I bobbed my head a bit, but most of the time I just wished I was listening to "Oh Yoko." Which I'm doing right now. But I remember "Best Imitation of Myself" now and like that. I also like the way "Video" sounds, but am so-so on how that meshes with the lyrics. "Sports and Wine" and "Underground," however, sum up everything I don't care for about him, and just kill the middle of the album. Five favorite "Oh" songs: 1. Oh Yoko (Lennon) 2. Oh! You Pretty Things (Bowie) 3. Oh! Sweet Nuthin' (VU) 4. Oh Yeah (Can) 5. Oh Comely (Neutral Milk Hotel)

Here, I'll go download the self-titled album and maybe Whatever and Ever Amen and see if my fleeting impressions of his boringosity are justified.

Yeah, I love Georgia Tech so much right now. As thrilled as I am about UVA after tonight's win over VT, what has me really psyched is VMI, who upset High Point to get to the Big South final against Winthrop. If you haven't seen VMI at all: they had to kick two scholarship players off the team at the beginning of the season and were left with four scholarship guys. So, rather than play traditional ball, they instituted an insane version of the Grinnell offense to make the best use of their scrubs, basically shooting at will (the goal is 100 shots and 50 threes per game), trapping constantly, and creating chaos on the court at the expense of giving up easy layups. They sub out the entire lineup every 2 or 3 minutes, just like a line change in hockey. Totally fascinating and hilarious. They top 100 points most games, even in losses, and I think they've broken 130 at least three times. I would love to see them upset Winthrop and become The Most Unpredictable 16-Seed Of All Time.