PUT THAT DICK IN MY MOUTH!

Top 5 songs of 2007 so far 1. LCD Soundsystem - "All My Friends" 2. Fat Joe ft. R. Kelly, Lil Wayne, Birdman, TI, Ace Mack & Rick Ross - "Make it Rain (remix)" 3. Rihanna ft. Jay-Z - "Umbrella" 4. R. Kelly - "The Champ" 5. UGK ft. Outkast - "International Player's Anthem" albums 1. LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver 2. The Good, The Bad, and The Queen 3. Battles - Mirrored 4. Deerhunter - Cryptograms 5. R. Kelly - Double Up

Yeah, I found that sort of dissapointinting too. I didn't absloutely love the CoC, but I did think they provided a nice counterpoint to everything else that was going on. Though I didn't find their dissapearence from the novel as dissapointing as Lake Traverse's. Another problem I had with the book is that it seemed like some of the charactierization got lazier near the end. I'm thinking of Yashmeen in particular; she goes from being probably the most interesting character in the book (especially during the Göttingen section) to being basically just another run-of-the-mill Pynchon heroine who's into kinky sex. As for good books from the past year or so, I'm currently reading Marisha Pessl's Special Topics in Calamity Physics, which had all the critics going nuts last year. It's nothing earth-shattering, but it's nice enough (though the narrative voice--that of an over-educated college freshman--can get a little grating from time to time).

I just thought that the Frank stuff could have been handled without sending him to Mexico. It almost felt like Pynchon felt obligated to somehow work the Mexican Revolution into the book and so just sort of forced Frank into it. I understand that Frank needed to be a presence in the second half of the novel, I just think it could have been handled differently. Looking back on it, though, I realize that the Mexico stuff didn't really eat up that much space, and so it's not that big of a deal. As for Cyprian, I found his relationship with Yashmeen to be the most compelling part of the whole Cyprian/Yashmeen/Reef storyline. I was actually sad to see him go, because Yashmeen/Reef alone was really sort of dull and uninteresting.

I was "listening" and I fully grasped everything you touched on in the spoiler. The problem was I simply didn't care. This was mainly due to the fact that the characters in the film barely resembled actual human beings, and as such it was hard to get deeply invested in a story about their eternal and undying love. The film is so concerned with making these grand statements about love and death that it totally misses the "human" element that makes those things matter.

I liked Cyprian. I thought if anything could have been cut it was Frank Taverse's protracted adventure in Mexico. It added nothing to the novel. At least Cyprian provided for some fun sex scenes.

I straight hated this movie. Dippy new age bullshit trying in vain to say something Deep and Insightful. Yuck.

I was pretty big into The Who when I was a freshman in high school. I'm glad I got over that.

After roughly seven months of fitful reading, I finally finished Against the Day. It was a bit baggy and a little trimming down (to, say, 800 or 900 pages) probably wouldn't have hurt it too badly. That said, it was still (way) better than anything else I've read in some time.

What's wrong with writing songs for girls?

I never really got what people see in this album. I love Supreme Clientele and Ironman and I think Ghost was the second best part of Cuban Linx (behind RZA's career-best production work), but Fishscale always felt kind of sloppy and unfinished to me. It's certainly got some great stuff on it, but it just doesn't seem to hold together the way the best Wu-Tang stuff does. Maybe it's the complete lack of RZA (or even Mathematics) beats?

Rap albums 1. Genius/GZA - Liquid Swords 2. Jay-Z - Reasonable Doubt 3. Raekwon - Only Built 4 Cuban Linx 4. Outkast - ATLiens 5. Wu-Tang Clan - Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) Neil Young 1. "Motion Pictures" 2. "Albuquerque" 3. "Birds" 4. "Ambulance Blues" 5. "Rockin' in the Free World"

Gym Class Heroes doing "Good Vibrations." There aren't words to describe how terrible this is. Hear it here.

Slaughterhouse-Five is my least favorite of the Vonnegut I've read. I've always felt that it pales in comparison to the thematically very similar Catch-22. It's got a little too much whimsy in it to be a really effective anti-war novel, I think.

Jay-Z Songs 1. "Public Service Announcement (Interlude)" 2. "Can I Live" 3. "Heart of the City (Ain't No Love)" 4. "D'Evils" 5. "My 1st Song"

Except none of the songs on The Eagles' Greatest Hits are any good.

Understandable, but not relevant to the situation here. You don't know that. It's interesting to see you apply very different standards of the burden of proof to Britain in this case and Saddam Hussein in the case of Iraq. What?

Yes. 1992 was the last year I viewed MTV with nothing but fondness. I want to hold you in parentheses.

When I make it rain they be like, "Kells, do it again."

Gym Class Heroes.

Panda Bear - "Bros" First listen through Person Pitch. I'm digging it more than the Animal Collective stuff I've heard.

"All My Friends" is one of the best songs I've heard in a long, long time. The rest of the album is pretty fantastic, too.

Last concert you attended: Chingy, August 2006 (It was free and I was bored that night) Last person you ate breakfast with: I don't eat breakfast Last time you hated something: Yesterday, one of my friend's dirty stoner friend who came to hang out with us for Patty's Day. Ugh. Last night on the town: A few weeks ago. Last movie you saw: Borat Last book you read: Moby-Dick by Herman Melville for a class. Horrible. Last album you listened to: Whut? Thee Album by Redman Last time you wore a tie: Grandmother's funeral back in August. Last time you cried: I don't even remember. I think I was 10. Last piece of clothing you bought: Over-priced T-shirt from Abercrombie. Last vacation you took: Windsor, last October Last food you ate: A chocolate-chip cookie Last promise you made to yourself: Fuck more Last TV show you watched: Does basketball count? Because I haven't watched anything else on TV for the last four days. Last time you lied: I dunno. Last time you got into a fight: I've never actually been in a physical fight Last time you were in the hospital: Never Last time you witnessed anarchy: I dunno. Last magazine you read: The Atlantic Last time you got ripped off: Every time I buy something from the convenience store in my dorm. Last thing you drank: Vault Last web-site you visited: This one Last thing you killed: Probably a bug of some kind Last person you talked to on the phone: My mom, earlier today Last song you listened to: "Ladies and Gentlemen We are Floating in Space" by Spiritualized Last time you were confused: Yesterday.

Ughh.

Reading that actually made me kind of angry.