Edwin MacPhisto

I was entirely unaware that Trail of Dead had a new album coming on Tuesday until I looked at this morning's Best Buy circular. I think I'll probably buy it, since Source Tags & Codes was pretty wonderful.

Hey, I always kinda liked that line.

I caught the tail end of 106 and Park yesterday, and 50 and Game were performing "How We Do." I was impressed with Game's live delivery--no problems with breath control or sounding absolutely flat like so many MCs do when they're not studio-edited--but he's still nothing special to me.

I have a need for speed.

92%, 12 miles, 190 seconds. I'm a superstar.

Holy shit, I missed the part where he actually wrote that. I thought you all were just being hyperbole factories. Awesome.

Jobber's right. Nearly any survey of journalists done in the last decade indicates that a majority self-identify as moderate or liberal on social issues, and moderate or conservative on fiscal issues. This has very little to do with what you actually get on the news because of the much more prominent corporate influences Mike mentioned, but he's on the right tack.

I'm taping it and may watch it later, since I grew up in the real Point Pleasant. Pretty sure they didn't film much of anything there, though.

Nein. Proud to say it is all my own doing. That wasn't quite my point, you know.

I didn't find any clinical studies or anything, but I don't think many people have bothered since the doctor's methodology was so flawed and his results so varied. Basically, he concluded that it seems that the body loses some weight upon death--his results varied from the original 21 grams of the first trial to several ounces, to none at all. To take that as proof or even a suggestion that the weight is attributable to a human soul is tantamount to dropping some pudding on the floor and shouting "magic!" as far as I'm concerned. Decent general summary of it all at Snopes.

That post sounds like Agent of Oblivion got into Yuna's account.

It shouldn't matter if we all vanish into the void; we wouldn't be around to perceive that we've died. Also, the whole "21 grams" thing comes from some fairly imprecise (and often inconsistent) measurements taken back in 1907. Not exactly scientifically loaded stuff.

Least necessary use of "black" as a modifier I've seen lately.

My mom called me today and said "Hi son, iust wanted to let you know it's just under 70 degrees today," and then hung up. Those rascally parents o' mine.

You sound like Sean Hannity.

You guys are such douchebags. Seriously. I can't decide if it's lamer to pretend to be really offended, or if you actually are REALLY REALLY OFFENDED GODDAMMIT.

Also: Wire, Pink Flag. It's the import release, and as a result it has "Dot Dash" on it, which is fantastic. Equal parts nervous anxiety and pop brilliance throughout. Yo La Tengo, I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One. Loping, loopy, varied, moody, still as good as I remember it. This has been my default background music/driving album since New Year's. Prince, Sign o' the Times. Every few months I start listening to this album incessantly, especially the second disc. The run of "U Got The Look"/"If I Was Ur Girlfriend"/"Strange Relationship"/"I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man" is just about unparalleled. My roommate finally got a copy of his own for Christmas, and we've pretty much been playing it non-stop.

I use Metacritic.com for a lot of info on new releases or bands I don't know a lot about. They compile reviews for music and movies, give links to off-site reviews, and do a pretty good job of it all. They don't cover everything released, but they hit on most of the "buzz" bands and big releases from known artists. Their current music page has the likes of U2 and Ludacris, but also MF Doom, Neko Case, and Death From Above 1979, so you get a wide range of big-time and smaller groups. Allmusic.com is still the bible for information about bands, but you generally need to know who you're looking for beforehand. As for actual purchasing, well, I live in a college town with a fair share of college-rock minded music stores, so it's not hard to find stuff slightly out of the norm.

I spat water everywhere when I read this. Here in Virginia, it's not just MLK Day - it's Lee Jackson King Day! That's Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson, by the way, for those of you who may have been giving the Commonwealth the benefit of the doubt.

It's going to hurt when that guy lands on his penis.

Pittsburgh over Atlanta. That's the match-up I want to see.

So it looks like it's going to be #1/#2 in both conferences. How boring.

Now that the weather seems to be suggesting bad news for the Colts...Indy by 10.

My dad's fantastic and spends his free time driving around in a Corvette and cooking lasagna. Sorry about you sad sacks.

I actually beat it on the first try, I shit you not. After flying school, just the fact that I didn't have to go through all those damned checkpoints made it a breeze. I was really lucky and didn't fill up the "above radar" meter once. For flying school, the only missions I really had any trouble with were "Circle Airfield" and "Circle Airfield and Land." Only use L2 and R2 to steer except for a few quick banks with the analog stick; I never used the stick for more than one second at a time, because that miserable plane flops out of control if you do. The landing is really tricky...as soon as you get through the last checkpoint, cut right and line up with the runway, drop your landing gear, and start tapping on square to slow your speed. After that, it's just a matter of trying not to bounce when you hit the runway. The most important thing is that you finish lined up with the runway; if you veer off to the side, you won't get credit for the landing. The loop-the-loop and "moving targets" mission are a bit of a pain, but I got through them after about 10 tries.