cryptique

Why do you hate America?

I thought we'd already done this, but I guess I was thinking either of the 1990s thread or the thread where we bitched about Pitchfork's 2000s list. I'll see if I can come up with my own list.

How's that? I have The Shapes We Make and rather like it ... been meaning to check out her earlier solo stuff.

Yup, that was on my list. Amazing film.

Typically to get Borders coupons, you have to have one of their Rewards cards and get e-mails from them.

I've been a Billy Bragg fan for well over twenty years, and if I had to choose between solo shows by Bragg and Tweedy, I'd probably go see Bragg. Even though I think that many of Billy's Mermaid songs are inferior to Wilco's, I can't imagine deleting them from a playlist.

Wow. Seems like a small thing, but it could have made a lifetime of difference to the other guy. Kudos to Scott, and I hope Etheridge is back to 100% soon, even if his football days are over.

My brain keeps trying to tell me that the title of this thread is "On Fillmore on MY Terms." I've been at VC too long...

Truth. I was fine with small club starting times of 11 PM or even midnight when I was a student, and also for a while when I was a dirt-poor 20-something dirtbag. Now that I'm older and more settled into my daily routine, it pisses me off that to go see a weekday show at the Blind Pig (for example), I'd probably not return home until 2 AM or so. I get up at 5. This doesn't work.

Yes. Awful. I don't get what all the fuss was about. I had the same experience with Middlemarch. Bleah. I think Rand sucks in general, but yeah, I hated The Fountainhead. Oddly, I kinda enjoyed Wuthering Heights. That probably undermines my man-cred.

Everyone seen this? Entire Beatles catalog to be sold on limited edition USB drive. FLAC and 320 kbps MP3

YHF and Time (The Revelator) are the only two that'd make mine. And come to think of it, I'm not too sure about Time (The Revelator) (though I do love Gillian).

Huh. I don't like five artists on that list, love two, kinda like one, and am indifferent to the other two. It's safe to say that I had an entirely different take on the decade.

Man, I'm saddened to learn that so many people get turned off by A Confederacy of Dunces. Oh well, nothing I can do about that I suppose. But I really love that book.

True. But there are far less despicable things in this world than someone catering to the lowest common denominator to achieve that success. Especially when he seems to know that he's gone outside the lines.

Yup. And people rake them over the coals for it. Which is what's happening here.

But that's kind of the point. He willingly crossed over to the dark side to amass that audience. That says a lot about him.

I hated, and never finished: I've met the author and have enjoyed other things she's written, but this one wasn't for me. Much of my aversion stems from the long-ass names she forces you to deal with. It's a lot to ask of one's readers, and I just wasn't up to the task. (See this excerpt for an idea of what I'm talking about, though the names in this snippet are pretty tame compared to those in much of the book.)

I actually kind of liked Beloved, though I couldn't tell you why. It was assigned in college, and I was surprised that I enjoyed it. It's no mystery to me why people hate it, however.

I can see why someone would hate Naked Lunch. It's kind of a shock to the system. I wouldn't say that I enjoyed it, exactly, but I also didn't think it was bad enough to "suck."

A Confederacy of Dunces is an awesome book. A true American classic. Probably one of my top ten favorite books of the twentieth century.

This is one of the worst books I've ever read: The story is fairly compelling, but the writing is horrid. Not only is Brown an awful writer, but his editor is obviously an idiot.

On Facebook there is a hint of a new album (called Transference) due on January 26th. Their website corroborates this.

I'm currently comparing the mono and stereo packaging... MONO: gatefold cardboard cover, reproduction of the original inner sleeve, reproduction of the cutouts on a small card. STEREO: tri-fold cardboard cover; extra photo on one surface (Beatles in uniforms looking to their right/our left); back of external cover is different (another alternate photo and a track listing/composition credits); 32-page booklet with all of the lyrics, reminiscences by McCartney and George Martin, a short piece by Mark Lewisohn, recording notes compiled by Lewisohn, a piece on the creation of the cover by arti