Giuseppe Zangara

Has it been discussed that the Black Eyed Peas, while horrible, are better now than back in their "alt rap" era? The hackwork of a bunch of no-talent pop stars is more tolerable than the BEP of yesteryear, what with their clumsy rhymes about reaching a higher consciousness and remarkably ill-advised boasts of alleged rapping skills.

It stings, but it passes quickly.

Well, to see if I had any STDs, I recently had my penis swabbed. Do you need further details?

Good news, guys! I'm STD-free!

Everyone on it is bound to die of dysentery. I'll pass.

Oh and Czech, since you were given Against the Day I guess what I'm about to say doesn't apply to you, but, I'd have gone with every other of Pynchon's novels first. AtD is good, but about 300 pages too long. Anyone interested in reading it should just wait for the paperback.

I don't think American Pastoral was repetitive in any spot. Zuckerman's recalling his childhood idolization of the Swede—and his discovery of the Swede turning into a shallow dullard later in life—fit right into his (Zuckerman's) discovery of the tragedy that had befallen the Swede in the interim.

I haven't heard "Bossy" nor "Buttons." My life is richer for it, I think.

Anyone else read The Plot Against America? It's good. Plausible, even, up until about the last 60-or-so pages, wherein the book goes off the deep end. Lame. Also lame, in order to extricate the story from drowning in its potboiler of a climax, a bizarre conspiracy theory is presented to somewhat justify why Lindbergh was so friendly with the Nazis. And, to alleviate Czech's fears, I can say while Charles Lindbergh is very much present throughout the story, he's more of a ghost than an actual character. The novel mostly concerns itself with the tribulations of one Jewish family in New Jersey, and the troubles—both real and imagined—the Lindbergh presidency presents. He's never depicted as personally leading Jews to the gas chambers or anything of the sort. I'm going to rank the Philip Roth I've read thus far: 1. Sabbath's Theater 2. American Pastoral 3. Operation Shylock 4. Portnoy's Complaint 5. The Plot Against America I'm next gonna pick a couple of his shorter works, The Breast and The Ghost Writer.

I have people coming over later. Some of us will be drinking Johnnie Walker Blue this evening!

Fact: Repeated exposure to "Squeeze Box" leads to deviant sexuality. Remember Pete Townshend's arrest for child porn a few years back? A cautionary tale, truly.

Also: Where in this thread did you read any of that, you goddamn halfwit?

"Squeeze Box" is worse than Hitler and AIDS combined.

Leonard Cohen - "Chelsea Hotel No. 2"

This is what I assumed you were getting at and what I was addressing earlier, though I didn't exactly word it that way. If you happen to get more out that, fine, but your earlier post implied that operating left-of-center was intrinsically better. I like (and happen to love) some of what you've listed there, but Reed wrote some great, unabashed pop songs that trump most anything he's done. "I Heard Her Call My Name" is tremendous, yet "Sweet Jane" seems so much more perfect.

It can, but so many writers who take that path end up not talking about the music so much as gossip about the musicians themselves. I'd rather everyone shut up about this singer/songwriter's relationship woes or this band's creative differences and talk about music aesthetically. Of course, I long ago realized that most rock critics are incapable of doing that—at least doing it well—so I rarely bother with rock critics now.

What bit of Reed's discography are you considering "unique?"

Focusing on the extracurriculars mainly results in lazy criticism. Which, by the way, isn't a shot at you.

Minus the emphasis on theory, I more or less held Czech's opinions on music when I was 18. People think I'm insufferable now! Anyway, I'll argue that good-to-great music written within the structure of standard pop music (i.e. verse-chorus-verse etc.) is so much more of an accomplishment than, say, composing a baroque song cycle utilizing iambic pentameter or whatnot. Pulling off the former, given the rigid guidelines of pop, is much more difficult.

As of 5:58pm, EST, on 12/24/06, the number of Profile Views: 124.

Well, now I don't feel as special.

Sensei John Kreese remembers more about me than I do.

Ha. I actually had written something longer, only to fudge it in the editing.

Go easy on, chave, guys. He's clearly had enough.

Back in January, I started a thread wherein I intended on listing all the new releases I heard through the year, as I heard them. I ended up abandoning the thing, losing count at around 20 or so. If pressed, I could list ten albums I liked, but the ranking would be entirely arbitrary. (Save Return to Cookie Mountain in the top spot.) That I was able to put together a definite all-time top ten favorite albums list was the big 2006 listing news, as far as I'm concerned.