m_thomp

An extra 80 votes (Joss' original request)? Or an extra 30? I'd say that's happier...um... ish?! I'm happy to help out and lighten your load: I've got form in compiling album lists, albeit to a very basic sub-novice standard. Many thanks for sorting this and your efforts!

Fifty is probably a happy compromise. I understand both sides of this argument, on the one hand greater number of votes allows the voter more chance to express their tastes, and this might draw out and boost some of the interesting and different low-scoring entries a tad. On the other hand, the only thing that will change the chart outcome significantly - beyond the sacred Beatles, Dylan, Pink Floyd, Led Zep, Wilco - is to get more/new people to vote, and increasing the number needed to vote can be daunting for the voter, ultimately detracting as many as it attracts. Not to mention it being

Missing from the list is Let Me In, the Hollywood remake of 2008's Let The Right One In. I assume this is being remade purely for dyslexia sufferers who have been unable to sleep at the prospect of reading subtitles. Otherwise it's achingly unnecessary.

Totally get all that, and trust me, I thought the finale was great in how it pitched the emotional weight and tone (it wasn't too saccharine sweet and schmaltzy) and in the characters resolving their past behaviour/indescretions, and 'clicking' through the reawakenings to achieve a better 'tomorrow', or destiny. I liked the way each character had to discover their destiny for themselves, and whilst there was coaxing (Desmond), it played better when it was more subtle: the looks of 'we'd love to tell you, but can't' from both Jin and Sun to Sawyer when he called to check up on Sun was a great

Personally, I looked forward to watching back from season 1 and seeing all the interactions, mythology and plotlines dovetailing to make sense when viewed as a whole. As a conclusion, it felt as though it wanted to make a statement that would be the grand 'final piece in the jigsaw'. The jigsaw, for me, was already complete, making the grand "Aaaaah!!!!" reveal redundant, largely because, if I recall correctly, the writers/producers had pretty early on dismissed the 'they're all dead' theory. Reading through some critics reviews, someone called the summation as being marginally better than

This is how I see it. This is so true. Lost was beaten to the punch. Overall I must admit to being disappointed in the ending, but not the final episode, if that make sense. It would have felt, to me, a more natural conclusion if after the "reawakenings" the characters went on to live happier lives. But the 'they were all dead' thing just feels horribly and unecessarily tacked on, to such an extent that as soon as you know this fact huge amounts of plot from the original Oceanic crash onwards is just trivial irrelevance.

I have seen Big Train but it was at the time of airing (1998/9?) and my memory isn't that great. Willing to re-up the mix, and also I've got another mix ready to go. This one's unmixed, but this time it does have a theme: shit-hot rhythm tracks. It's a bit on the short side at the moment, so, as far as mixtapes go, it's more C60 than C90. Final mixtape thoughts for the day: I remember ages ago, around the time that I first joined VC, there was a thread set-up, similar to this mixtape one, that revolved around people requesting a mixtape by a certain artist or genre. Volunteers would th

There's a 'rewinding track 1' hidden track on the Super Furries' Out Spaced too. This may be breaking news for Joss Ackland.

YouTube is a banned site here so I can't see your links. I wouldn't bet against you poking a bit of fun at the contents of track 4, though, and that (quality control? mullets?) being the 'reason' it wouldn't extract/got corrupt. If it really is corrupt...... Oh bum, sorry for the wonky file.

My mix is ready. The original theme was to make something upbeat and uplifting, but as I had to piece it together in dribs and drabs (and it shows!) that goal flew out of the window. However, if at least one song doesn't put a smile across your face then I've failed my just-this-minute-invented mission. Smiley Smile mix 1. Boards of Canada – From One Source All Things Depend 2. Sparks – The Number One Song In Heaven 3. Hot Chip - Take It In 4. Daryl Hall and John Oates - I Can't Go For That 5. Gary Davis & His Professor – The Professor Here 6. Albert Ayler – Heart Love 7. Sidney Owen

In. If anyone's interested I also have a couple of mixes that were done late last year for a friend. They're both quite varied and include some tracks from a few mixes you guys did for the last round of mixes.

NP: that Plants and Animals album. I really like it. It feels like a natural progression from Parc Avenue, they're venturing toward new ground whilst still sounding like Plants and Animals. I hate it when bands try a new tact which almost exclusively apes another band in every respect. The Mama Papa is a bit out of place alongside the rest of the set, but that makes the album all the better, it livens it up a bit. Kon Tiki is a great song.

One of those rare albums that's every bit as good as I imagined it would be.

Caught eps 3 and 4 last night and I'm enjoying how this finale season is coming together. A few things I thought about, and few tiny slithers of ham-fisted theory popped into my head. These theories may well be explained in earlier episodes in earlier seasons, I've never rewatched (or rewound scenes from) a single episode, so my ability to follow the various timelines flew out of the window a long time ago only. Anyway happy for this little lot to get shot down in flames... - Still think it's a philosophical battle between freewill and destiny with MIB and Jacob being the respective player

I thought it was okay, but was kind of glad when it finished. I had mega high expectations set down by ...Dark Horse. I really love that album and was, rather unfairly, expecting more of the same, or at least in a similar vein. Sadly this one, for me, lacked the subtlety and nuance of its predecessor. It just seemed to be an exercise in taking lots of different routes to get to the same squalling guitar climax. I kept waiting for some variation, only it never arrived.

I was looking forward to the Besnard Lakes album, but then I heard it. The one I'm most looking forward to at the moment is Caribou's Swim. I think it's out in April, but you can download a track, Odessa, from the Caribou website. If the rest of the album is as good then it's going to be special.

Just done a quick search and could not see a post but found out about this last Friday: Michael C. Hall diagnosed with cancer Big vibes to him. Apparently, at the Golden Globes last night he was quoted as saying he's well on the road to recovery.

Hey, let's not be cruel on the 80s, my dislike of U2 goes far beyond that decade.

I was just showing my wife the other day the Dexter t-shirt I was going to buy as a Christmas present (Showtime don't do internatinal shipping so in the end it was a no-go), when I stumbled across some of their new t-shirt designs. Sorry to bring up the old thread, but I thought some of you might like to see (buy?) this bad boy.

I'm 34. And I'm obviously in the polar opposite place to yourself when it comes to appreciating U2. As far as 80s music goes, I've always seen U2 as part of the problem that perpetuated how bad popular sounds were back then. Now I understand that U2 bring a lot of joy and happiness to a lot of people, but so too does heroin, and that deserves elimination also.

U2. The musical landscape of the past and present would not be worse off if they were removed. In fact, we'd be better off without anything that the monstrously vain, do-gooding Bono touches.

Completely forgot about Juan Maclean - Happy House would be one of my tracks of the year if it wasn't originally released in 08. Oh, and in a future age, when heterosexual same-sex platonic pregnancies were the norm, Augurus and myself, based on the above, would have perfect children. I'd be daddy, of course.

I'm a huge fan of their debut, which is quite Middle Eastern, folky and a little bit proggy too. Seems like on this latest they've binned off most of that and taken to listening to a lot of Tears for Fears. Had one listen so far and I really like it. They do what good bands should do: move on.

I dunno, she's usually the one who cracks the cases, hence her rapid promotion through the ranks. I think you might be underestimating her, she can usually put two and two together and come up with an expletive-ridden four