cryptique

Santana out for the season.

Glad to know I'm not the only one.

Huh? None of the above. Don't like Third Eye Blind. Have no kids and never will.

"Laffitte Don't Fail Me Now" and "The Agony of Laffitte" - Spoon They released a two-track single just to say Fuck You to an Elektra A&R man.

I'm a dissenter on this one. Didn't think much of it, don't understand the hype. But honestly, with the exception of The Royal Tenenbaums, which I thought was fantastic, I can't say Wes Anderson's stuff does anything for me. We finished "The Wire" over the weekend. I'm not sure there's ever been anything better on television.

A matter of opinion, of course. It's possibly my least favorite song in the entire Wilco catalog.

With the exception of "What Light," I love Sky Blue Sky. I even love the stuff that most people here seem to hate: "Shake It Off," "Please Be Patient With Me," and "Leave Me Like You Found Me." It's been on repeat on my car's CD player for the last several days and I've been quite happy. Sorry to hear about the promotion situation, barbkm.

I wouldn't get your hopes up.

I heard several tracks from this at the record store yesterday. I've never gotten into that band, but this new one was sounding really good to me.

This cracked me up, because I've never heard that Black Eyed Peas song.

Agreed. The mono box is mostly a collector's curiosity for hardcore Beatles dorks like me. The stereo box is for the masses.

If you're happy with the way they sound, sure.

What's confusing? There are two different stereo mixes -- one from 1965, one from 1987. The 1987 one was released on CD. The 1965 one wasn't, because it has pretty drastic stereo separation, and consequently people generally prefer the mono or 1987 stereo versions of that album. So, the stereo box will have the 1987 stereo mix made by George Martin. The mono box will have the original mono mix, plus (as a bonus for completists) the 1965 stereo mix, even though it's kind of shitty.

2008 rankings, Bears defense: Total defense (yards per game): 21st Passing yards per game: 30th Rushing yards per game: 5th Points per game: 16th Team sacks: 22nd Unless they're drastically improved this year, they'll need Cutler to be sharp just so they can keep pace with the other team's offense.

There's only one problem with that: the Bears no longer have a great defense. The myth of the great Bears defense has persisted for years after it ceased to be true.

Because that's where they decided to put it. The '65 stereo mixes are probably of more interest to collectors (i.e., the people who are likely to buy the mono box) than anyone else.

Agreed. Osgood has been up to the challenge of filling Kuralt's shoes.

If "unretouched" is a word, then so is "unremastered."

I've never played it, so I can't say. Until this morning, I nearly got caught up in the hype of the box set releases to the point of buying the game, plus a console, plus the additional guitar controllers. Then I realized how much all that was going to cost me, and financial reality set in. The box sets are important to me, but the game ... I can skip it.

...and Jeff will still be fielding questions about rehab.

OK, a question about the Beatles Rock Band... I've been reading the product descriptions, and it looks to me like the limited edition bundle provides only a bass and drums (plus the software, obviously). If you want the Beatles-branded guitars, you have to buy them separately at $100 a pop. So if you want the whole set, it's going to cost $450, and even then you'll still only have one microphone (unless you already had others). Oh, and this doesn't include the game console (which I don't have). Am I reading it right? Anyone get a different take from the info that's available online?

The Rubber Soul disc in the mono box will have both the mono mixes and the original 1965 stereo mixes. They didn't use the stereo masters to create the mono mixes -- they put both mixes on that disc. Sure, but most people who will buy the mono box will probably also buy the stereo box. Like me.

That was terrible.

Anyone see Chad (Johnson) Ochocinco ? Gotta give the guy some credit -- yeah, it was just an extra point, but he kicked it right down the middle and gave it the high trajectory that any good professional kicker should.

I'll be cheering against him ... but then, as a Bears fan, that was pretty much a given anyway.