Edwin MacPhisto

And Pat fucking Burke makes a 30-footer. Insult to injury, guys.

He doesn't really, but I'd argue that he's already bigger than either of those guys. And yeah, Patrick told me he didn't really like "What You Know" so much. I was kinda surprised. Great summer jam. "Know you don't like me cause/Your bitch most likely does"? Fantastic. I still think "Rubberband Man" is his most fun single, but this song is a good'un, and way up there as far as declarations of rap superiority go. I believe him when he says it.

Smush is only 2/6, but he's got, what, 3 steals/break-ups? He's playing better than Kwame Brown, who's letting Diaw back him up (in addition to missing every damn layup). I like Diaw and all, but he's handling Kwame like he's Marion or Stoudamire. These are the end-of-the-season Lakers; Odom taking stupid shots, Kobe playing well. Suns win by 12.

One-pump-peppermint. There's a phrase. I get the absurd iced drinks covered in whipped cream. Real man's man. Oh, and the Band are real good.

You can get any number of jobs with any degree, really. An office is an office. High school looks like the most obvious choice, though. Now, a second B.A.; how's that work? Did you actually do another 3-4 years of college, or just take correspondence courses to fill time in the working world?

I was reading Amazon reviews of this and bumped into this one: I fucking love Amazon.com. I loved Tool a few years back (evidence of such can be found on this very board, I'm sure) and saw them twice in 2002, but I just kind of got bored after that and have grown out of them since. The whole arc is very much like how I came to feel about Nine Inch Nails, with all the relevant events moved up about three years on my personal timeline.

I think that could be said of pretty much any bands, sports team, public figure, etc.

Hey, at least you're not writing a paper like this guy. Papers due after your thesis are academia's cruel taunt.

Jefferson in the bottom 5 is being contrary for the sake of being contrary. Much like Eric, I can't believe you'd put him down as a worse president than Nixon AND Jackson.

Night Ranger, not Rider. And yeah, great scene in a very good movie.

Ticketmaster always charges service fees. Some of the charge is linked to Ticketmaster itself, some to the individual venues.

They are fun live, but I think they could be a lot more fun. The best material comes from two places: when they play really energetic mid-90s hits like "Just" or even "Creep," and, on the more complex side, any of the material off Kid A and Amnesiac. Songs like "Everything In Its Right Place" or "The National Anthem" or "I Might Be Wrong" are absolutely masterworks to behold live. Those songs grow and breathe in ways that I never thought they could; their general coldness on CD is totally recalibrated, and you end up with huge, exciting, synthy, exploratory jams. Unfortunately, I caught them on the Hail to the Thief tour, which meant that half the songs played were off that album. And while those are generally pretty good songs, they were played very by the book. They also stopped between each song, and I felt they could have gotten a lot more out of a more continuous set list. I'm half surprised you find Radiohead boring, Banky, but then I think about what I know of your tastes and I'm not that surprised. But I'll be really surprised if you don't at least like The Bends, because as many have said many times over, everyone should like that album. So good!

Oh yeah. The flashback was dumb because it was more stupid "they're all interconnected!" stuff and it introduced the totally gratuitous and uninteresting prospect of Jack having a half-sister. What's with all this soap opera shit, seriously.

Wow, wtf. So much for any of Libby's plotline. I'm really starting to have a big problem with this show's attitude towards desirous women--kill em right off, fellas! I did not know this was coming. Stupid flashback, though. All that said, I'm guessing that Michael isn't evil, or offically an Other. They probably threatened Walt's life, and told him to let Henry go free and be their man on the inside of sorts, do what Ethan wasn't able to do for them. If he has flipped, I'll be kind of surprised.

Why the bold? You don't think you can get a representative feel from an album over eight songs, especially by an artist with such a long track record? It doesn't matter if it's only 8 of 28; it's still probably 30 minutes of music.

DJ Shadow, The Go! Team, Mike Patton & the Dillinger Escape Plan. Lots of stuff that's busy and interesting but largely lyric-free, or at least fuzzy. Keeps you from nodding off but doesn't distract you too much. I also get a lot of mileage out of albums I know by heart. Purple Rain is good for 45 strong minutes of work.

That's exactly the kind of player Jennings is, so he ought to fit nicely.

The two-disc XTC compilation Fossil Fuel, is one of the best comps I've ever heard. If you can find that for download, it'll give you an overview of their entire career and let you figure out which distinct phases you like most. I've never gotten into them heavily, but I do like everything I've heard quite a bit.

Speaking of Eslinger and Blue, here's another Greg that I think will do really well and satisfy a lot of Green Bay fans, now that Walker's gone: Greg Jennings, their 2nd round WR pick from Western Michigan. This guy was great all last year, basically that team's one weapon. He's small, but he just finds the ball.

With the exception of Lavin, they're going after guys who are already in pretty comfortable situations. Then there are guys like Brey who probably wouldn't succeed at NC State and would be out the door in three years. It's really, really funny.

The Clippers are playing huge. I know it's just the Nuggets, but they've been fantastic. Between Brand, Maggette, Livingston, Kaman, Mobley, and Cassell, I think they're playing the most balanced basketball of anyone in the playoffs right now. I don't buy Lakers in 4 or 5 for a second.

Maybe because it was "teardrop," and that song is Massive Attack's "Teardrop." Oh, the cleverness.

That was utterly absurd. Nash got mauled. Terrible.

That's really true. "Nuthin' But A G Thang" and "Who Am I (What's My Name)" are my favorite summer-jam efforts from that catalog. Doggystyle in its entirety is a fantastic summer album.

I'm going to be extremely satisfied if any one of Logan, Henderson, and Bierko survive this season. One of the things I've always thought was a little hollow about this show was how its villains always get themselves killed. For once, I'd like Gael's wife, the floor outside that parking garage, or the CTU death helicopters to not eliminate our villains--send 'em to court for a change of pace and slightly less neat resolution. Don't know how I feel about the Bluetooth bunch--with Henderson and Logan, I think they're somewhat unnecessary, but I don't think it'll be terrible.