Darth Drabek

Oh man, sixty bucks is steep. I would have stayed home, too.

Excellent! Chris Cornell - She'll Never Be Your Man So far I'm on the fence about the new album. There are some instant classics and some songs that I might need to grow into. I gotta say, I loved the idea of covering Billie Jean at his acoustic live shows. However, I don't like that he put it on the album.

So, Kor, from the front page story in your hometown rag, I see the Red-Headed Stranger came to town. You check it out? Sorry to derail the language debate...

Hot damn that's a great song! I only have one thing to say about the Zevon talk I missed a few days ago: Of all the Thompson gunners, . The White Stripes - You Don't Know What Love Is (You Just Do As You're Told)

Guided By Voices - Glad Girls hey, hey glad girls only wanna get you high hey, hey glad girls only wanna get you high and they're all right and they're all right and they're all right (repeat) Now that's what I call a chorus!

Yeah, and before that he was Servant of Eru, whatever the hell that meant. My only beef (ha, ha!) with the Child formerly known as SOE is that he basically killed the internet with that ridiculous Wendy's cheeseburger signature. Seriously. I couldn't even read threads with his posts in them -- my browser would freeze every time. Of course, that was when I didn't have the Internet at home, so I was surfing the Web at work on an Apple that was almost old enough to buy smokes. So it was mostly my fault, but it still frustrated the hell out of me.

Yeah, I'm with Tale on this one. Thanks for the inside info, Omelette.

Yar, ahead there be spoilers! .....

come on, get some before it gets stale Yeah.... R.E.M - Talk About the Passion

Hmm... well I went to see POTC3 in the theaters a while back. I thought it was pretty good, although I didn't know about the secret bit after the credits, so we skipped out and missed it. That's what I get for actively avoiding spoilers, I guess. Also, it's not a movie, but I've been watching season one of The Office (US version) on DVD. It's been great so far. I've only seen bits of the UK edition on YouTube, but that looks funny too. I finally got around to seeing the Johnny Depp version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory when it was on HBO last week. I thought it was pretty good, although nobody could ever top Gene Wilder. Oh, and last night I flipped over to Showtime after SportsCenter and they had a movie on called "Lie with Me." It was a really depressing art flick about this girl who's addicted to sex but is incapable of love. I watched a bit, but it was a real downer... something that's basically glorified softcore porn shouldn't take itself that seriously. Also, I guess Showtime can show wangs. I did not know that.

Say Anything - Alive with the Glory of Love Love the lyrics. Very clever.

Cleveland, Ohio. Yeah, yeah. Joke all you want, but remember: you live in Iowa. At least we have a lake.

That is a bummer, dude. 1965 is definitely one of my desert island discs. I do know you can get it used from Amazon for less than three bucks (sans shipping) or new for $9.98. Last three: Ryan Adams - A Kiss Before I Go Spoon - The Underdog The Hold Steady - Killer Parties

Paul Westerberg - It's a Wonderful Lie

Fountains of Wayne - I-95 Hip-hop stations are fading in and out All I'm receiving now Is a kick drum mixed with static Constellations are blinking in the sky The road is open' wide And it feels so cinematic It's a nine hour drive From me to you South on I-95 And I'll do it

My parents are both teachers, and I'm an only child, so we took a lot of vacations in the summer when I was growing up. As I got a little older, the trips evolved from driving out west and staying in KOAs to taking cruises. One thing to consider: All cruise lines are not created equal. Generally, the bigger the ship, the lower the quality of service. Also, some of the older folks who demand the personalized service and better cuisine (and who have the cash to afford it) have defected to the "premium" cruise lines -- Princess, Celebrity, et al. -- as old mainstays like Royal Caribbean have driven their cruise experience toward the mainstream. If you go on a Carnival or RC cruise, you run the chance of being crammed like sardines into one of their hulking superships. The level of revelry is usually higher on the cheaper cruise lines, because there's a younger crowd -- recent college grads, honeymooners, etc. Of course, you're not going to soak up the sun and drink mai tais all day. I would think a Mediterranean cruise would attract a more cerebral group of travelers. I've been on two Caribbean cruises (RC) and one Alaskan cruise (Celebrity). My buddies from college and I are planning a cruise for next summer, now that the grad schoolers are finishing up and we're all getting settled into our jobs. I love the cruise experience and recommend it. As far as vacations go, you could do much worse.

Man, I love looking at old war propaganda. Nice find.

None other than Johnny Cougar's "Jack and Diane." I can hear the handclaps now... Fountains of Wayne - Hey Julie

Wilco - She's a Jar

I'll bet Enoch and I are replying to this simultaneously. One specific reason The Beatles get all the love they do is they are one of the few groups whose music developed -- and never regressed. How many times have wished one of your favorite bands would evolve a bit instead of writing the same album over and over? Well, The Beatles' career arc was a perfect model of evolution. They started as a rowdy bar band playing American R&B covers and ended up writing symphonic opuses and avant garde noise-pop that stretched the limits of musical engineering. They had already mastered the art of writing great pop songs, and so they started to push the envelope. They were miles ahead of all their peers. Everybody waited for the next Beatles album, to see if they could top themselves. Their album filler was superior to other bands' singles. On a related note, I watched the Help! movie a few weeks ago. I'd seen it when I was a kid, but man does it hold up well. Rent it when you've got a chance. Great document of a great band. It's a James Bond spoof, with a sense of humor like Python meets the Pink Panther. By all accounts, they were high as hell when they made it -- which explains a lot. Umm... The Beatles - The Night Before

The Beatles - Something

Have you heard the original? Warren Zevon - Carmelita

Yep, LeBron had better watch his 'nads, as he'll certainly draw Bowen. It's ridiculous that such a patchwork team as the Cavs made it to the finals, but hey, here we are. Between a balding Lithuanian giant, an amped-up Brazilian with a "Sideshow Bob" hairstyle, a few high-priced, underachieving free agents, several guys who can shoot but can't play defense, some other guys who can play defense but can't shoot, and Scot Pollard's faux-hawk, how can you not love the Cavs? Oh, and rookie Daniel "Boobie" Gibson gave us one of the greatest announcer moments of the year when he was destroying the Pistons in the fourth quarter of game six: "Boobie's bustin' out!" I'm just looking forward to Ginobli vs. Varejao: Battle of the Floppers!

I just got hip to those guys recently. I like

Nice find! And the song ain't bad either... Wilco - Box Full of Letters