Scalzunfield

Check out the ticket prices for that awesome event! I'm glad I finally have an excuse to get the fiance to Alaska.

Top 5 novels off the top of my head (I'm probably forgetting something): TC Boyle - "The Tortilla Curtain" - So rich with symbolism and meaning. TC Boyle - "The Road To Wellville" - Shows off Boyle's storytelling skills moreso than in any of his other novels. Steven Hall - "The Raw Shark Texts" - Wow, this book is a mindbend. I know no other way to describe it. Neal Stephenson - "Cryptonomicon" - Epic, a spectacular weaving of the past and present. Kurt Vonnegut - "Slaughterhouse Five" - I feel like this book prepared me for any other novel. So totally unique, so filled with meaning and beau

Thanks for the link. My goal was to be in the 25-30 range judging by the fact that when we're watching the show I hit about half the board each time. 23 is what I believe I scored on that. I'm still unsure how I froze on Lindsay Lohan and "vanity."

How does everyone know what they got? I mean, I know I was a miserable failure but the message afterwards said something about no score being provided.

I'll politely disagree. Uncle Tupelo shows Jeff's growth as a songwriter while Jay was already in his prime. Jeff's gradual rise in his songwriting abilities has been on the steady incline since those days while Jay's has been on the steady decline. IMO if you were to chart it out their paths would cross in roughly 1996 and only recently have they taken very minute steps back towards "the middle."

I received mine today too. As noted above: stunning. Awesome.

As a hourly employee I have a forced hour lunch and two 15-minute breaks per day. Therefore I end up with roughly 70 minutes a day at work to read. Depending on life outside work I have some time to read at home as well. When you figure I have somewhere between 5 and 6 hours a week at work to read a book, it's not hard to go through them fast, even for a medium-to-slow reader like myself.

I'm re-working my way through all of TC Boyle's novels at the moment. Such a wonderful writer who has a mastery of the English language and a masterful plot in virtually every book. I'm not sure how many I read in 2008 but I'd put it somewhere in the 25-35 books range. I go through spurts where I'll read 400 pages in a day (see: last weekend) and then where I don't touch a book for days (see: this weekend).

That is all.

I'll cast a vote for any song that begins "Uno dos tres catorce!" in addition to the previously mentioned McCartney X-mas song.

I went to put mine on at work this morning. No life. Huh...

March 3rd is the day after my birthday as well. Sadly, I'm thinking that sharing a birthday with Jon Bon Jovi is a bigger highlight than this album will be... I'm hoping for something, but with the exception of the first half of All That You Can't Leave Behind, U2 has been no more than a U2 impersonator IMO since Achtung. My hopes aren't high, but maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised. As for the deluxe edition, they have a ton of huge fans out there and will dupe them into spending the hundred bucks for it. Welcome to the music industry where re-packaging and selling the same shit for ton

That was a great game. And I love intensity: Bieksa seemed on the verge of going a little too far at times last night. But a great match-up overall. To be honest, I had the Canucks pegged as maybe an 8th-10th place team for this year, just below the Hawks. Both teams have far exceeded my expectations. I had that division (Calgary, Minnesota, Colorado, Vancouver) pegged as probably the most evenly-matched division coming into the year (but not necessarily in a good way). I figured that division would give us 3rd in the West (Minnesota) and the remainder of the teams missing the playoffs.

Man, watching the Hawks/Canucks game tonight, I'm struck by a few things: 1-Byfuglien on the Hawks is a minor leaguer playing way above his station. 2-Bieksa on the Canucks takes some poor runs at people and is overly aggressive. It's only a matter of time before someone gets totally fed up with it (hopefully tonight) and absolutely buries him. 3-Outside of the Sedins, the Canucks don't have any big names in the lineup with Luongo hurt and they're still playing good hockey night in and night out. Sundin coming in and Luongo getting healthy can only make this team the winner of their division

How are you feeling about the Canucks tonight at home against the hottest team in hockey?

I love the use of the word "pretentious" to describe any rock music. It's a joke, and a term that has replaced the phrase "selling out." Sure, some of it's a little goofy, but I look forward to every direction they take. They're not a typical band and, if they're going to sing about strange topics, more power to 'em. They could always just write the same love/heartbreak song every other pop band is writing these days. Don't get me wrong, I don't adore the Decemberists, but I enjoy them a good deal and they do put on a pretty fun live show as well.

Maybe this is just my sheltered American mind thinking this but all this does again is make me think a few select thoughts that I seem to come back to with unfaltering regularity: 1-"How the fuck can one human do this to another? How?" There's no other way to phrase this question in my mind. 2-"How can one person do this based on what they claim are their religious beliefs, especially when that religion preaches peace?" This question leads me to my complete hatred of organized religion because these can be the results of those who twist it to their own personal hatreds rather than what

This video pretty much summed up for me just exactly what a flash in the pan Billy truly was. Even going back now and listening to their best stuff, it just doesn't feel like it stands the test of time. I never really loved SP then, and now that opinion continues to sink with every new thing Billy does. Such a primadonna.

Thanks so much.

Can anyone upload "One Wing" and "Sunny Feeling," and even the Wilco tune from Colbert if they've got it. I seem to have lost those first two when I switched computers. Thanks.

I still haven't made it through the album yet. I'm not really impressed lyrically and I just get tired of him falling back on the whiney vocals constantly. I guess in some ways I'm hoping he's still got a career-defining album in him and this ain't even close to it.

lmao "I Am Trying To Break Your Balls" with the comment "their diehard fans will be hearing this on vinyl."

I never understood TB. Maybe it was the complete plethora of totally unnecessary tracks. Maybe it was that the album seemed loaded with filler "alternate versions." I'm not sure. I once trimmed it down to a respectable 8 track EP that I enjoyed mildly, but it still has never really found its way into rotation. I still think of it as the worst Jay-related release too. This is due entirely to Space Junk and alternates. It just felt like he could have done better. Then again, he released "Trace" and how can you ever equal that again?

If only a single Nickel Creek song was 1/2 as good as this sounds.

We got Snoopy Waves as the opener (if memory serves), but the encore was "Basketball, Get Your Groove Back." My one complaint was that they only played for approx. 60 minutes. Still great, but I would have killed for Holy Night Fever.