Queen Amaranthine

"I hate you less/Than the rest" fits cynical and dark humor very well. I like the song overall, but for some reason the word "swine" gets in my way. It fits well rhyme-wise, and I get the idea in using the word, but something about it seems to break the otherwise smooth lyrically flow. It stands out in the way that "piss and blood" does in "I Might," though not as gross. Maybe that's the point, though.

What kind of pets do you have? What are the benefits and drawbacks of that kind of animal as a pet? Any good or funny pet stories to share here? Also, what would you suggest for young kids? My kids, ages 5 and 6, are asking for a pet. We sort of share a terrier dog with grandma who lives down the street. We dogsit him sometimes and claim him as our own too. He's great with kids but is definitely grandma's baby. My son has a mild allergy to dogs, so we don't want one at home full time. We love cats, but my son and I are too allergic. I would like a cuddly rabbit, but the dog would go after

Has anyone else here seen Sedaris' Santaland Diaries performed live? Hysterical. The performance I saw didn't star Sedaris himself, but the guy who played the department store elf perfectly nailed Sedaris' humor and style. Amy Sedaris is hilarious as well. This book is funny and contains surprisingly practical recipies and crafts. I tried out the fried zuccini recipe and it was really good!

Superstition and the otherwise Unexplained sure do have a way of trumping scientific, evidence based ways. My Irish Catholic grandmother instilled that in me. As for the song that is the subject of this thread, it is holding up for me. I listened to it twice in a row on my way home from work today. At first I overlooked Rising Red Lung and Black Moon but now I'm thinking they are two of the most amazing songs on the album. I'm still not getting into Sunloathe, though.

This indeed!

My poor husband had no idea what he was doing when he downloaded YHF from Napster in 2002. He burned it onto a CD, handed it to me, and said it sounded like something I would like. Long story short--oh, yeah. No doubt my husband still has regrets about handing me that CD, listening to me ramble on about the band (I've since learned to curb my enthusiasm!) and being dragged to a couple of shows (he put his foot down after the second one ), but he can't blame himself. The Universe would have directed me to Wilco in some fashion or another anyway.

Totally agree! I've seen him open for Jeff solo twice and he brings so much energy and creativity into his performance. He's creative with what he uses, too, and an engineer in designing instruments and sounds.

If Wilco stations were in the midwest, I'd be a regular customer there too. In my state, Wilco has already been taken for a plate by someone else, lucky fan!

In all the years I've worked where I do, I've only seen the official decaf pot used one time, and I said out loud (with humor), "Who made decaf? Is this some kind of joke?" Turned out we had a visitor at work who requested decaf, which I totally understood. It has not been made before or since, though, to my knowledge anyway. I've tried going decaf for health reasons twice, but it turns out that caffeine wasn't the problem in either case, so I happily returned to my full-power coffee habit.

Same here! We like it strong in my office. Some days, though, I swear someone spikes the coffee pot with decaf.

This isn't heard Wilco, and in fact is not our Wilco, but I recently got home from a holiday vacation to Florida and was delighted to see Wilco Travel Plazas here and there in Georgia and Tennessee. I saw a tanker truck too on the road and thought, cool, it's in liquid form too! Clearly that picture was taken before gas prices spiked a few years ago. Since I didn't manage to take a picture myself, this is the best I could find as evidence that Wilco Travel Plazas do in fact exist. On the way home we drove through Belleville, IL on I-64 en route to St. Louis. I was tempted to stop into a

I don't know how I feel about it yet. I can say, though, that I have extremely mixed feelings about FB as a whole. On the positive, I like keeping in touch with friends that I wouldn't ordinarily find time or a venue to stay in touch with. That alone is worth it. Yet I am also surprised by how many of my friends and family aren't in FB. However, FB doesn't allow for in-depth conversation (that factor, in contrast, is a plus here in VC). FB feels like soundbites. I don't find it terribly intuitive/user friendly, either. I want it to do things in ways it's not set up to do. I want privacy se

That sounds wonderful! My work party was a potluck, which was tasty but a major carb and sugar ticking bomb. I'll second that! Silk also makes a decadent mint chocolate soy milk for the holidays and a pumpkin spice version every autumn. I even like the simple plain vanilla in coffee sometimes.

That looks delicious! I love to cook from scratch and do so often, a necessity at my house because of my food sensitivities and my husband's diet that keeps an autoimmune disorder under control. However, this time of year is insane due to extra workload at work and the holidays in general. Therefore, Subway and Taco Bell were in our menu this past week! I did manage to make turkey & black bean chili just for myself last night. No doubt the kids and I will make Christmas cookies this weekend or next week. The kids love frosting cookies nearly as much as they do eating too many of them

"7 days seems pretty optimistic to me." You know, I didn't even pay attention to what the weather is/will be. I think I saw some sunshine in the next couple of days?

I too disagree. I saw them last week in Des Moines and thought they were fantastic. Based on threads about shows since then in Minn, etc., VCers had mixed reactions about the energy levels of the band and the crowds, but the show at the Val-Air was high energy and full of life.

Maybe a super-quiet kiss is appropriately intimate!

"I was waiting on a moment But the moment never came All the billion other moments Were just slipping all away" Flaming Lips Also, too many of Jeff Tweedy's lyrics to mention here.

Someday in the future, it would be interesting to have a part 2, called "Born to Die Alone" or something like that, to pick up after YHF until wherever Wilco goes from here.

Well said! My favorite "Jar" lines: Are there really ones like these? The ones I dream Float like leaves And freeze to spread skeleton wings I'm into "Rising Red Lung" lately, especially the instrumental after these lyrics: As intimate as a kiss Over a phone And it goes... By the way, how intimate is a kiss over the phone, really? I'm trying to figure out if that means there's too much distance between lovers to be truly intimate since they are on the phone, or whether a phone allows for an intimacy even in a crowded place, where potentially only the two on either end of the phone can he

That's what happens during a 5-year absence from Wilco shows--I've missed out on the owl! I need to not wait so long to go to another. I noticed that too and thought the same thing. Given that he has a long history in rock music, and his performance was great, I was kind of surprised there wasn't more attention. As uncool2pillow noted, such is the nature of the opening act, though. I need to get the crop circle show poster...perfect for Iowa and very out there!

ROCK rock show says it perfectly, REH. Right about the crowd--wasn't "rambunctious" the word Jeff used to describe it? I was up toward front center, being perfectly quiet and attentive, though a few guys to the left of my friends and me, and a group behind us a few rows to the right, were certainly in that rambunctious category. Harmless fun, though. This is the 3rd time I've seen Wilco at the Val-Air, and every time the crowd has had that kind of bold energy, whereas the four other venues I've seen them in have been mellow in comparison. I don't know what it is about that place. This was my

Ain't family fun sometimes?! Sarah, I just noticed your signature--really funny!

Here's the book mentioned above.

That is a great quote! Congrats, Sarah! My husband and I were married in a botanical center. About 75 family and friends attended. We had an informal reception and it all was very nice. Both my husband and I are budget-conscious, so we kept costs reasonable. I read in a really good recent book about the psychology and facts/statistics of relationships--I will try to find the title and share it here, as my "parent brain" forgets things so easily!--that gave a tip on signs of whether a marriage will last. It's surprisingly simple: how the couple talks about how they first met. Even if the