THANKSGIVING MUSIC

I meant to post about this before I left but oh well. One of my big projects for any vacation is what music I will bring with me. My CD case has 24 slots in it, so that's what I have to work with. When you're only gone 5 days, it's not so bad. But still, you want music to drive to and to be able to relax to at the hotel. The process is a bit different these days since I have so much music that is just on the computer. I burned six albums onto disc for the trip and brought 2 more I'd burned for summer vacation. Anyway, here's the list; it's a good look at what I've been digging recently...

Beck/The Information
Centro-Matic/Fort Recovery
The Decemberists/The Crane Wife
Drive-By Truckers/A Blessing and A Curse
The Essex Green/Cannibal Sea - burned for summer vacation
Golden Smog/Another Fine Day
Harvey Danger/Little By Little - burned for summer vacation
The Hold Steady/Boys and Girls in America - newly burned
Ben Kweller/Ben Kweller - newly burned
The Long Winters/Putting the Days to Bed
Margot and the Nuclear So and So's/The Dust of Retreat - newly burned
The Mountain Goats/Get Lonely
My Morning Jacket/Z
The National/Alligator
Pernice Brothers/Live a Little - newly burned
Tom Petty/Wildflowers
Portastatic/Be Still Please - newly burned
The Shins/Chutes Too Narrow
Silversun Pickups/Carnavas
Simon Dawes/Carnivore
Sparklehorse/Dreamt for Light Years in the Belly of A Mountain
Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs/Under the Covers Vol. 1
John Vanderslice/Pixel Revolt
M. Ward/Post-War - newly burned

TRADITION CONTINUES

I'm in a hotel in Williamsport, PA as I write this; I've been at this hotel over Thanskgiving weekend for a number of years now and in Williamsport for almost every Thanksgiving of my life. It's tradition.

We left on Wednesday and actually got to leave earlier than we ever have - 6:45 or so when we hit the road. It was nice to make the drive during the daytime and we made good time. It was weird to be among the first members of the family to arrive rather than the last. I stayed up too late that night visiting with my cousins but I just went to bed earlier last night.

We had 21 people at the dinner yesterday, ranging in age from my 98 year-old step-grandfather to my 9 year-old son. The food at the restaurant was very good as usual - I had a cup of creamy pumpkin soup, a fantastic house salad with blue cheese dressing, and a main entree of horseradish-encrusted prime rib, mashed potatoes, and broccolini. I didn't have dessert there because later on in the evening we had our traditional homemade ice cream and pie (I had a piece of shoofly and a piece of apple crumb). Good food and good company.

Today the men and the women separate for lunch and there will be various shopping excursions (Jill and Grant are on one now) and more euchre later on (I haven't gotten any in yet!). It's a nice relaxing day. I just finished reading a story (in book #36) and am listening to KEXP. I have to call soon to make the men's lunch reservation and I'll probably swing by the local comics shop later. I can see down into the hotel pool. The sun is shining brightly. Hope everyone else has had a good weekend so far and that it will continue.

SUNDAY SHUFFLE #13

It's the unluckiest shuffle of them all...or is it? It probably isn't. I've been in shuffle mode all week so I'll be interested to see if some of the same songs pop up or if I get ones I haven't heard all week. I've pushed a lot of songs into double digit plays this week too - will the shuffle reflect that? Let's find out...

1. I Must Be High/Wilco (7) - Last played Oct. 28
2. Sweetness and Life/Portastatic (7) - Last played Nov. 9
3. Today's Undertaking/M. Ward (13) - Last played Nov. 16
4. Boys, You Won't/The Wrens (2) - Last played Sept. 28
5. The Lovers' Rights/The Rosebuds (9) - Last played July 27
6. Confetti/The Lemonheads (1) - Last played when I last listened to It's A Shame About Ray on CD
7. We're Just Friends/Wilco (6) - Last played Sept. 29
8. Call To Arms/Black Angels (6) - Last played Aug. 18 (also includes a bonus track at the end)
9. She's A Jar/Wilco (8) - Last played Oct. 8
10. The Delicate Place (4) - Last played Aug. 12

Only one song in double digits and one song I've already heard this week - and it's the same song! I see we're back to the high Wilco content, which reminds me I need to get that mix out to Paul (it's coming!). Next Sunday we'll be driving back from PA, so the shuffle may have to skip a week. Horrible thought, I know.

COMING DOWN

I've been on an adrenaline high the last 28 hours or so and it's finally starting to wear off. Why? I started writing a new song on Wednesday night, finished it yesterday afternoon, had Graham work out a guitar solo/accompaniment to it, and then we performed it last night right around this time. It got a good response from the crowd and friends - the owner of Front Porch even came over to tell me it was a good song, a keeper. That made me feel very good. I am proud of the song and I'm still surpirsed at how quickly it came to me. It's called "Holding Pattern" and when I get around to recording it will definitely make the cut.

52.21 - 52.26

DC's weekly series hit its halfway point the day after Halloween and we're still getting more questions than answers, though that ratio will have to shift in the second half if 52 will ultimately prove to be worthwhile. There's definitely enough happening to keep my interest 26 weeks in, which is enough for now.

Much of these six issues deals with the growing "family" of Black Adam - Isis's missing brother is found and becomes Isis. They change the terms of their deal with China and meet with Dr. Sivana's family. We also see more of Intergang and The Crime Bible. Bruno Mannheim is up to something...

The Question and Renee Montoya parts ways with the Black Marvel Family, meeting up with Richard Dragon. The question once again comes up - who is Montoya?

Lex Luthor's metagene project and his new heroes of Infinity Inc. are also a heavy focus. We see Luthor take away the powers of one of his team, resulting in her death. This concerns the Teen Titans, who are seen in full for the first time in the series. Steel is always continuing his investigation as well.

We are introduced to Super-Chief, see him in a new version of the JLA led by Firestorm, and die. Why? It does tie-in somewhat to Ralph Dibny's tour of magical places by Doctor Fate's helmet in search for his dead wife. Wow, that sounds really odd when you write it down.

There's been no sign of our space heroes; we see more signs that Skeets is up to something terrible. Ambush Bug turns up with the new JLA and it's as funny as ever. The sees of Checkmate are sown. And what's happening at the island where all the mad scientist have gathered... Egg Fu?

Who is Supernova? What is Luthor really up to? What is Black Adam really up to? What is Skeets up to? How will all of this tie together? 26 issues to find out...

LAST YEAR

My second post a year ago talked about how I had achieved my goal of 36 books read; I had even accomplished that goal a few weeks before the post (on November 11). I was also confindent that I would reach 40 books read by the end of the year; in reality, I only read 2 more books the rest of the way.

For comparison's sake, I am currently working on book #33 and have just under 100 pages to go. I am hoping to finish it today, though I will be distracted by football and the laundry (I suppose blogging counts too). If I manage to finish, I'll have 49 days left in the year to read 7 more books. The margins for falling behind just get worse and worse. Oh well. I'm enjoying the process anyway.

SUNDAY SHUFFLE #12

It's the golden birthday of Sunday Shuffle! Ha ha heh. Here's the music...

1. Little Round Mirrors/Harvey Danger (38)
2. Monday/Wilco (6)
3. El Otro Lado/Josh Rouse (7)
4. On a Freezing Chicago Street/Margot and the Nuclear So and So's (4)
5. 6 String Belief/Son Volt (3)
6. Sounds Better In The Song/Drive-By Truckers (1)
7. Ain't That Enough/Teenage Fanclub (1)
8. Little Lover's So Polite/Silversun Pickups (2)
9. Dinu Lipatti's Bones/The Mountain Goats (3)
10. Oxygen/Aux Send/Grandaddy (7)

Fun Fact: The totals plays for the last nine (34 combined) don't even add up to the Harvey Danger track (38)

ONE YEAR

Yep, it's been a year since I made my first post on my third blog. Today is my 153rd post, which means I've average one every 2.4 days or so. That's not too bad for me. Thanks for stopping by and reading my ramblings; I hope you continue to do so as I begin year 2.

To help me celebrate, go here and watch this spiffy new trailer for "Spider-Man 3." Can't wait!

eMUSIC ROUND NINE

Second month with a higher number of downloads and now that they're changing the pricing structure, I'm very happy that I upgraded. Anyway, here's what I grabbed...

Portastatic/Be Still Please - Lots of string and trumpet on this nine song set, which is very very good. I especially love "You Blanks."

Yo La Tengo/I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass - This is my first experience with Yo La Tengo and I'm glad I grabbed this album. Lots of jazzy touches. My only problem is that it's a bit too long; a few songs are disposable. But come one, how can you not love "Mr. Tough?"

Margot and the Nuclear So and So's/The Dust of Retreat - Huge indie band from Indianapolis that works both in the small and more epic musical styles. The more I hear it, the better it gets. Current favorite (it shifts with every listen) is "Jen Is Bringing the Drugs."

Okkervil River/Black Sheep Boy - Yes, I know I'm behind the times on this one. Their "The President's Dead" single is what made me finally grab it. So, so good. It's hard to go wrong with "For Real" or "Black" or "A Stone."

The Mountain Goats/We Shall All Be Healed - Since I can't stop playing the new one, I figured I should delve into the back catalogue. I've only listened twice so far but it's good.

The Decemberists/Picaresqueties - Same thing here, although I've already started grabbing their back catalogue. Nothing major here but it's solid.

GIDDY

Today's news that Donald Rumsfeld will no longer be the Secretary of Defense makes me very very very happy. In fact, it almost makes me happier than the election results do. Almost. Democratic control of the House and Senate (looks like); a woman as Speaker of the House; a black governor elected for only the second time; even a Muslim candidate winning. Wow. Makes me feel good about the country and goes a long way towards erasing the despair from a couple years ago. A good day.

GET OUT THE VOTE

I did this afternoon around 2:45. It was very quiet at the polling place, which meant a quick in and out. I was flabbergasted to learn that our method of voting has changed since the last time - we now have to fill in bubbles on paper! How does that happen? Sure, the punch hold method we used to have wasn't exactly state of the art but using a pen?!? Technology did come into play at the end of the process, as we fed our ballot into something that looked like a copier. Wha? Anyway, I hope I wake up tomorrow in a world where the Republicans took some serious losses.

I also made another vote this week, one with my purchasing power and palate. For a number of years, I would use Taco Bell brand taco mix - I always liked eating there and the taste was fine. However, it would give me pretty good heartburn and I've been going longer and longer between having them for dinner. Well, this week I decided to try Old El Paso, a package that included both hard and soft shells (a necessity in our family). I just finished eating dinner a short while ago and I quite enjoyed the taste. Plus, no heartburn (and their hard shells are pretty good). Sure, not as hard-hitting as an election but important to me nonetheless.

DVR DAYS

We added a DVR to our cable subscription at the end of September. We immediately loved being able to record something on the main TV without having to leave that channel on. I also started using the ability to pause and rewind live TV while watching football and baseball. Then we discovered you could record 2 things at once, which comes in very handy when no one is home to watch anything. It's been great.

Naturally, I took advantage of the opportunity and captured a lot of the new fall shows. My days would be spent trying to catch up on the previous nights' TV, albeit at a faster pace. I've noticed something, though. All that TV is starting to dwindle.

I gave up "The Nine" after only a few episodes. I tried and discarded "Help Me Help You." Just tonight I have given up on both "Heroes" (which started out so promisingly) and "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip." I've still been watching "Gilmore Girls" but I'm not really sure why, which means chances are good it will be gone soon.

There are still good shows to watch, of course. "The Wire" remains one of the best shows ever on television and this season has been fantastic so far (I watch it On Demand before it airs on Sunday night). My new favorite show is "Battlestar Galactica," which is just incredible. How did I ever live without it? And while "Veronica Mars" started out slow, it's still really good. Yes, I'm still watching "Lost." I'm having some frustrations with how the story is being told but part of that is having too many characters to focus on. The last drama I'm still watching is one of the new ones, "Friday Night Lights." I've always found Kyle Chandler interesting to watch, as well as Connie Britton (plus, she's hot). And the story has been good if not incredibly original.

And the comedy side, there are only 3 (at least until "Scrubs comes back in a few weeks) - "How I Met Your Mother," "My Name is Earl," and "The Office." All three still make me laugh several times a half hour but "The Office" is the cream of the crop ("Tuna!").

Oh yeah, still watching "The Amazing Race" too. The only reality show I still find worthwhile.

Hmm, 7 1/2 hours of TV a week not counting sports. Well, it was worse...

SUNDAY SHUFFLE #11

This feature doesn't feel quite so pointless now that I've posted some actual content this week. Your mileage may vary...

1. Them & Me/Brendan Benson (4) - Wonder if we'll get a new Brendan Benson solo album or a second Raconteurs album first?

2. Broom People/The Mountain Goats (3) - I really need to do a review of their latest album - it's so so good.

3. the sun fell on you (ps 119:82)/The Prayers and Tears of Arthur Digby Sellers (17) - They have an EP up at their website for free that is well worth grabbing.

4. Mother Mary/Eels (3) - I bet it's not too long before we start hearing talk of a new Eels album.

5. The Slow Decay of Some Radio Afterglows/The Prayers and Tears of Arthur Digby Sellers (4) - Long song title; long band name; long song (7 minutes plus).

6. Paper Kitten Nightmare/Margot and the Nuclear So and So's (4) - Second song of the year with "Meow meow meow" as a lyric, along with "Where I'm Anymore" by Grandaddy.

7. Might/Archers of Loaf (6) - I still haven't picked up Eric Bachmann's solo disc from a few months ago - anyone have it?

8. Oceans/The Format (5) - Check out TJ's site for a scary promotional e-mail he got from this band.

9. Questions?/Dramarama (1) - Is Dramarama one of the most underrated bands of the last 20 years? Yes.

10. Fireflies/The Drams (6) - These guys have been touring with Drive-By Truckers - that's a show I'd go see.

STREAMY

I've got plenty of music to listen to - albums I've barely had time to digest, all sorts of stuff on podcasts, lots of great music from earlier this year that I haven't played in a while, let alone all the great stuff from previous years. But is that enough? No. I'm listening to streams of Silversun Pickups (Oct. 27 at around 3 PM) and The Shins (yesterday at 1:20 or so) on KEXP and The Long Winters from the other day on NPR. There's also a Decemberists concert to get to, also from NPR. Now if I could only get paid for it...

FRIDAY NIGHT FOLLIES

Drove down to DeMotte tonight (about 25 miles away) to meet my wife and parents for dinner before an open mic at a local place. We ate at a Mexican place that makes great burritos (chicken and pork combo!) and it was good as usual, if a bit slow due to a large crowd. We were just finishing right before 7:00, so I ducked out early and went across the street to the open mic. Well, there was the opposite of a big crowd. The host was there by himself. We waited for a few minutes but no other performers came and the only potential audience members were supplied by me. So, we packed it in.

The good news is I finished a new song about 20 minutes before we left, the first one I've finished in a couple months and my 6th song overall (#5 has only been played once and won't really outside of a band setting). I did go to the open mic in Valpo last night for the first time in almost 2 months, which was nice. And now I have something new to play next week; I also have another song that just needs lyrics and should be done by Thursday.

What am I doing instead of performing? Having a beer and using up the rest of my current eMusic downloads while watching basketball on mute. Go Bulls!

BOOK BACKLOG

It's been a while since I mentioned books around here, so I thought I'd give an update. I have managed to get myself back on pace to read 40 books this year; the pace is actually a fast one since I still have 8 books left to go. The good news is that I hit September with 16 books left to go, so I know I can read 4 in a month. And it won't be the end of the world if I don't make it; I read 38 last year, so if I at least get to 39 I'll be happy. Anyway, here's what I've been reading the last two months...

25. Infoquake/David Louis Edelman - A different sort of SF novel, with an economy set up around Bio/logics (upgrades for the body, such as NiteFocus 49) and a possible revolutionary change in that business. The main character, Natch, is an ass but an interesting ass. I really liked the book and eagerly await the two sequels that are forthcoming.

26. The Book of Fate/Brad Meltzer - I picked this up because I read the first chapter in an issue of Justice League of America, the comic Meltzer is currently writing, and was intrigued. The book falls more in that John Grisham vein, though it's more concerned with power and the Presidency than the law. It was a page-turner but nothing that blew me away. Let's put it this way, I won't be picking up any of his other books (and his JLA is losing steam too but that's another post).

27. The Washington Story/Adam Langer - This contiunes the stories of many characters from Langer's debut, Crossing California. I really liked that book and this is more of the same. It is set in Chicago, so I recognize events from my childhood, and it deals with the college adventures of several characters. Art, sex, relationships, radicalism, loss, longing, and hope. And more, of course.

28. Fragile Things/Neil Gaiman - The new story and poetry collection from Gaiman, one of my favorite writers. As is the case with all collections, I liked some stories better than others but the overall quality is very high. I particularly enjoyed "A Study in Emerald," which involves both Lovecraft and Doyle, and "Sunbird," a story about an eating club with mythical aspects.

29. The World to Come/Dara Horn - This novel falls in the category of an "everything" novel for me, a book that concerns itself with multiple ideas and characters. It deals with Vietnam, the Soviet Union, art, stories, twins, relationships (both romantic and familial), theft, Jewish life, and more. It's very well-written and very very good.

30. Third Class Superhero/Charles Yu - This is a small story collection, the debut by Yu. The title story appealed to me the most, a look at a super-hero longing to join the big leagues. The stories are not the norm and have some math apsects to them as well. Yu reminds me of George Saunders in tone if not it content (though sometimes in content too). Solid.

31. The Ladies of Grace Adieu/Susanna Clarke - I loved Clarke's debut, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. This is a set of stories set in the same milieu with some of the same characters popping up. Most of them deal with the intersection of Faerie and "the real world" or with magic or sometimes both. Written in unusual dialects or structures, the stories are very rewarding. I'd still start with the novel but this is well worth your time.

32. Stardust/Neil Gaiman - Yeah, I'd never read this before. But one of the stories in the Clarke collection shares a setting with this book (Wall, where you step through a gap in a stone wall and into Faerie) so I thought I'd finally read it. Now I can't believe I put it off. It's full of whimsy and wonder, action and humor, wonderful ideas. I highly recommend it and can't wait to see how the movie turns out (coming out in early 2007, I believe).

DELAYED TRICKS

Outside of the cold tempartures for candy-hunting yesterday, the day was pretty much a treat. Sure, I could have done without the 45 minute break between classes but I can't blame the kindergarteners for not coming down to swim - they were in costume. Grant got compliments on his costume (Superman) and his fake black hair and filled his pumpkin to the brim with candy (then promptly rejected half of it, which isn't a bad thing). A good day overall.

Today has been a little different. The tip of a cotton swab fell off while I was cleaning my ear this morning. My attempts to get it out only lodged it in further. Jill was at work, of course, so I enlisted some of my co-workers to help (susbstitute wives, who are all married and therefore used to dealing with idiot men). Two of them couldn't see anything but after being in the pool I knew it was still in there - my ear was closing up and not immediately unclogging. After I was done for the day and my boss took a look, thinking she spotted it. I had brought some tweezers along in case that happened and she was able to successfully remove it. What a relief.

We've had a clogging kitchen sink drain the past few days, which periodically happens in our old house. Jill put some stuff down it to loosen things back up and then I heard her shout. The pipe was leaking under the sink, spraying nasty gunk all over. Turns out there was a crack. She went out to Menards and got some supplies and was able to fix it. Plus, the drain seems to be fine now.

Hmm, maybe the moral of this day is that the women in my life are awesome and I'm not so useful....or it was just a bad day made better by others. Either way, I'm hoping for a calmer tomorrow.

SUNDAY SHUFFLE #10

Wherein the only recurring feature reaches double digits and no extra chatter is necessary...

1. White Wave/Portastatic (8)
2. Exodus Damage/John Vanderslice (2)
3. My Sweet Annette/Drive-By Truckers (2)
4. Tame/Pixies (2)
5. What Happened.../Grandaddy (5)
6. Alec Eiffel/Pixies (1)
7. Moral Centralia/Harvey Danger (23)
8. Black Gown/The Lemonheads (6)
9. Eterna (concerning the end of the world) (ps 30:9)/The Prayers and Tears of Arthur Digby Sellers (17)
10. Last Days of My Bitter Heart/Eels (6)

GEEKED

Got a couple goodies in the mail today - Justice League Unlimited Season 1 and Jeff Tweedy: Live in the Pacific Northwest - and both make me very happy. Grant and I have already started on the first one, even though we're still in the middle of three animated box sets already (Simpsons, Superman, and Batman). We watched the first two episodes, "Initiation" (which sets up the new concept of many heroes and features Green Arrow, a personal fave) and "For the Man Who Has Everything" (an adaptation of the classic Alan Moore story). The second one I will get to as soon as I can because...well, come on. I'm such a Tweedy fanboy it's not even funny. This all came courtesy of a preorder at Circuit City online (we had a credit) - it's so cool it actually showed up today!

SUNDAY SHUFFLE #9

Number nine...number nine...number nine...

1. Bryte Side/Pernice Brothers (6) - Last played on Sept. 12

2. Neptune's Net/M. Ward (11) - Last played on Oct. 21 (yesterday!)

3. Marie Floating Over the Backyard/Eels (1) - Last played whenever I listened to Blinking Lights and Other Revelations on disc

4. The Bleeding Heart Show/The New Pornographers (1) - Last played whenever I listened to Twin Cinema on disc

5. El Otro Lado/Josh Rouse (6) - Last played on Oct. 8 (during Sunday Shuffle #7)

6. You Must Build A Fire/Crooked Fingers (3) - Last played on Aug. 19

7. [Untitled Track]/The Black Keys (7) - Last played on Aug. 2

8. These Are The Fables/The New Pornographers (4) - Last played on Sept. 28

9. Ballad of Big Nothing/Elliott Smith (12) - Last played on Aug. 21

10. Eterna (concerning the end of the world) (ps. 30:9)/The Prayers and Tears of Arthur Digby Sellers (16) - Last played on Oct. 7

SUNDAY SHUFFLE #8

I'm doing this a bit later in the day than usual...it's 5:00 CDT. We've had a busy weekend with a wedding we attended in Indianapolis yesterday and spending time with my family (my brother came in for the weekend and my dad's birthday was the other day). I also wanted to finish the book I was reading (#29, leaving me 3 more to try and get to in October and it's already the 15th!) before getting to my regular (and almost only these days) feature. So, here's the music...

1. Killer Parties/The Hold Steady (10) - I've listened to Almost Killed Me a few times directly on the iPod, so the relatively low number here shouldn't throw you. Craig Finn was talking about Charlemagne from the get-go...

2. This Isn't Farmlife/The Essex Green (10) - Wow, I've gotten 2 songs to double digits right from the start. I burned a hardcopy of Cannibal Sea and have listened to it many times that way. It still remains one of the pleasant surprises of the year for me.

3. The Concept/Teenage Fanclub (1) - "She wears denim wherever she goes/ So she's going to get some records by the Status Quo/ Oh yeah." Ah, good stuff.

4. Ammunition for a Bolt-Action Heart/The Prayers and Tears of Arthur Digby Sellers (3) - From The Mother of Love Emulates the Shapes of Cynthia. Long titles rock!

5. Magnetic Heaven/Slobberbone (11) - A nice instrumental from Everything You Thought Was Right Was Wrong Today and my third double digit song only halfway through.

6. The Thrilling of Claire/The National (7) - This is from the bonus disc that came with the reissue of Alligator earlier this year. I just downloaded it since I already had the disc. And you know, I keep forgetting I have it. I shouldn't because this song is just as good as the stuff on the album.

7. Sooner or Later/Marah (5) - I guess it's the day for the albums with long titles to be represented; If You Didn't Laugh You'd Cry fits the bill here. I thought I'd heard a few months back that there might be a new one from them again this year but I haven't heard anything since, so I guess it will be next year.

8. Per Second Second/The Wrens (1) - The Meadowlands is another album I loaded in for the mix I made a few weeks back. This is probably the weakest song of a fantastic set of music.

9. Box Full of Letters/Wilco (4) - This is the song that introduced me to Wilco, that made me like Wilco (even though I didn't buy A.M. at the time; Being There was my first Wilco record). Thank you, WXRT (why do you suck so much now?). And yes, this shuffle almost ended without a Wilco tune - can you believe it?

10. Heavy Metal Drummer (demo)/Wilco (8) - Obviously not. It's fated! Fated!

eMUSIC ROUND EIGHT

Before I talk about my most recent round of eMusic downloads, I need to mention something I left off last time. I forgot to note I grabbed Elliott Smith's "Division Day" and "No Name #6," which were originally released as a single. Not my favorite of his but still well worth owning.

I also need to note that I upgraded my subscription this time around, as there was just so much new music coming out. I'm now paying $14.99 for 65 downloads, which is still a great bargain. I would have had to pay that much for only one of these in the store, so I'm very happy with the bargain. Here's what I grabbed...

Ben Kweller/Ben Kweller - Sure, Ben's lyrics can be a little goofy but then they can also be really sharp too. He's in fine form musically (as usual) with some more piano-based songs this time around. It's a more mature album maybe and that's not a bad thing at all.

Joseph Arthur/Nuclear Daydream - I got his previous album, Our Shadows Will Remain, for Christmas a few years back and upon first listen I thought I had made a huge mistake in asking for it. Turned out I was wrong. I didn't have any such problem with his new album. It's a bit more stripped down musically but still fairly dark in the lyrics. It all sounds good.

The Hold Steady/Boys and Girls in America - I'm planning on doing a more in-depth review of this at some point, so let's just say I like it and leave it at that for now.

Pernice Brothers/Live A Little - My anticipation for this album sent into a huge Pernice kick that I'm still not over. I'd like to talk about this one more too but I will say this - you need to get it. Seriously.

The Lemonheads/The Lemonheads - Yeah, it's just Evan Dando and some new recruits (including J. Mascis...and did you see Dinosaur Jr. is coming out with a new album next year?) but it still sounds all Lemonhead and why wouldn't it? Not that album of the year but I'm enjoying listening to it.

The Brokedown/The Dutchman's Gold - I pay attention to press releases from Merge Records and one such mentioned they had signed this band and would put out their full-length debut in January. Well, I thought it they were good enough for Merge they would probably be good enough for me so I grabbed their debut EP. And I was right. By the way, they've now changed their name to The Broken West thanks to another band threatening legal action or some such. I'm sure that other band is nowhere near as good.

The Decemberists/The Tain - How cool is it to have one remaining dowload and then discover that eMusic has this whole EP as one download? Pretty cool. 18 plus minutes of goodness.

SUNDAY SHUFFLE #7

Let's see how many Wilco songs turn up today, shall we?

1. Smiley Faces/Gnarls Barkley (1) - Jill bought St. Elsewhere the other weekend and loaded it onto iTunes. But I like it too, so I'll count it under my music...at least for today.

2. El Otro Lado/Josh Rouse (5) - The closing track from Subtitulo. Man, that album so early in the year that I tend to forget about it. I shouldn't, because it's good. I burned myself a copy too, so I've listened to it a lot more than seems to be indicated here.

3. Via Chicago/Wilco (5) - Well, that didn't take long. From Summerteeth. I just put the live version of this one on a mix for one of the high schoolers I work with.

4. Jersey Clowns/Josh Rouse (7) - Well, who knew it would be a Josh Rouse two-fer? This one's from Subtitulo as well. Hmm, looks like the shuffle is staying in the "S" section of the albums today.

5. Hang On/Teenage Fanclub (2) - Here's 305 seconds off of Four Thousand Seven Hundred and Sixty-Six Seconds. Wonder if they'll put out a new album next year...

6. Strahan Has Corralled the Freaks/Centro-Matic (14) - I was running a shuffle yesterday while watching all the baseball games (some days you don't need to hear Joe Morgan or Tim McCarver) and this popped up; now here it is again. Proof that shuffling works or doesn't work? Anyway, this is from Love You Just the Same.

7. Song for Dennis Brown/The Mountain Goats (4) - If I didn't need to work on digesting a dozen new albums (or more) recently, I would be playing Get Lonely all the time. So, I'm pretty high on The Mountain Goats right now. This is from last year's The Sunset Tree.

8. The Other Shoe/Eels (1) - I loaded Blinking Lights and Other Revelations onto iTunes back in January and have just listened to the songs as they came up in shuffles. Obviously, this one hadn't made it until today.

9. Comes A Time/Nada Surf (3) - I don't think I like The Weight Is A Gift quite as much as Let Go but it's still a good album. I think they're akin to Harvey Danger, having that big hit early on and then being forgotten about while turning out good music.

10. Black Gown/The Lemonheads (3) - This is the 2006 version of the group, from the new self-titled album. I just grabbed this from eMusic earlier this week and have only managed a couple listens so far.

So, only one Wilco track. And I actually had something come up that was in double digits. What'll happen next week?

THE WEEK AHEAD

Big week.

First and foremost are this week's music releases. The Hold Steady. Pernice Brothers. The Decemberists. Beck. Hard to beat that for a new music day, isn't it?

Tuesday brings the season premiere of "Veronica Mars." I actually get to see episodes as they air this year! Wednesday has the season premiere of "Lost" and Friday brings "Battlestar Galactica" (Netflix was making me wait, so I went out and bought the 2 DVD sets for Season 2 and currently have 7 episodes left to watch - I will be caught up!). Plus, the baseball playoffs start this week. Even though my White Sox did not make it, I will watch as much as I can because I love the game.

I will attempt to finish book #28 on the year (Neil Gaiman's Fragile Things) and jump right into book #29 (no idea what that will be yet).

Tomorrow Grant and I have dentist appointments and he starts a drama class at our local community theater guild; Tuesday I have an appointment to talk about getting snipped (yep, we've made the decision). On Wednesday I have to stay a little bit extra at work to teach for a co-worker; another co-worker is in New Orleans on a mission trip all week, which means I'll have to be on top of things even more in the pool. Friday brings an open mic and I'd like to finish some songs and do some new material. And I'm working on Saturday morning again this week.

Big week. I'm looking forward to it.

SUNDAY SHUFFLE #6

Sans commentary today.

1. Looter's Follies/Destroyer (9)
2. Poor People/Marah (3)
3. Outtasite (Outta Mind)/Wilco (6)
4. Salesman at the Day of the Parade/Rogue Wave (4)
5. Muzzle of Bees (live)/Wilco (1)
6. August/John Vanderslice (2)
7. Sister Jack/Spoon (1)
8. Poor Places/Wilco (5)
9. Silver Plate Complaints/Centro-Matic (7)
10. Working Girls (Sunlight Shines)/Pernice Brothers (6)

SUNDAY SHUFFLE #5

I loaded around 15 CDs onto iTunes this week so I could put together a mix for one of the kids I work with. I love exposing people to music they haven't heard before. So, we'll see if any of that ends up on today's ten...

1. Requiem/M.Ward (9) - A song from the brilliant Post-War. Once more I urge to get it if you have not done so. Seriously.

2. This Year/The Mountain Goats (4) - The lead track from last year's best-of mix. I like The Sunset Tree a lot but I've really been getting into the new one...which could very well end up in my top ten. You know, only three months until those decisions need to be made.

3. CRC 7173, Affectionately/John Vanderslice (1) - There's one of the new albums, Pixel Revolt. I've cooled off on my constant listening of it - too many other new albums to absorb. But it's still great. "It's so much better now..."

4. The Pledge/Brendan Benson (3) - I'll be loyal to you, Brendan. Please give us another solo album or even a new Raconteurs album in the near future, okay? From The Alternative To Love.

5. Land Locked Blues/Bright Eyes (4) - Hmm, a second from the best-of 2005 mix. He's supposed to have a new album out early in the 2007; this is from It's Wide Awake It's Morning.

6. Honest/The Long Winters (1) - Ah, here's another one and one of the highlights of the fantastic Putting The Days To Bed, which is also slated for my top ten of 2006.

7. How To Fight Loneliness/Wilco (2) - The only other time I listened to this song on iTunes was May 5th. That's been a while. Summerteeth; smile all the time and laugh at every joke.

8. Valerie/Crooked Fingers (2) - I still need to get a hold of Eric Bachmann's solo album, which came out last month. But there's nothing wrong with some of this band (or Archers of Loaf). Nothing at all. From Dignity and Shame.

9. Sad Eyes/Josh Rouse (7) - From those radio sessions that I've mentioned before. In fact, it looks like this came up a couple weeks ago on this feature...maybe not. Might have listened to it after I put up the post.

10. Don't Look Back/Teenage Fanclub (1) - And here's another freshly ripped song to close things out. It comes from Four Thousand Seven Hundred and Sixty-Six Seconds, a career retrospective they put out a couple years ago. I only have one of their proper albums, a situation I need to rectify. Great band.

52.17 - 52.20

The long-simmering storyline of our heroes lost in space come to a forefront in the four most recent issues of 52. They are finally away from the planet and beginning their long trek home. Starfire lectures Animal Man about the dangers of "existential isolation trauma" but Buddy feels like the universe like him and that he'll be okay. That's a reference to his Grant Morrison-written solo series from the late 80s (available in three trades and essential reading!) and suspect Morrison is behind that section of the current series. Anyway, the two heroes and Adam Strange run into problems - Devilance has pursued them off-planet, though that danger is quickly replaced by the return of Lobo (an anti-hero who was very popular in the 90s; I could take him only in small doses). Things are different for the Main Man - he has found religion and is an Archbishop. He has also found the Emerald Eye, which leads to further complications.

Ralph Dibny (Elongated Man) returns in #18, after being contacted by Detective Chimp. Not only is Detective Chimp a member of Shadowpact but he and Ralph are also members of a heretofore unknown group called the Croatoans. One of that second group's members has died in mysterious cirumstances that also involved Dr. Fate's helmet. Ralph agress to help look into things but the helmet talks to him and he disappears...is is possible he will become the new Dr. Fate?

Skeets (sidekick to the recently-deceased Booster Gold) turns up an ancestor of BG's at his funeral (remember Booster is from the future) and uses him to get back into Rip Hunter's lair. Skeets isn't playing fair, however, and sends Daniel Carter to his doom while uttering "He knows." Um, who knows? And what is Skeets playing at?

And those are just the main points. We also see more with Black Adam, Isis, The Question, and an even more messed-up Renee Montoya; the reemergence of Steel; the internal problems associated with being Luthor's personal super-heroes; Supernova versus Weather Wizard with an assist and awkward encounter with Wonder Girl; Supernova also breaking into the Batcave (along with a reference to events that took place in the Jamie Robinson-written "One Year Later" issues of Batman and Detective Comics; and clue to what to overall nature of 52 might be in the form of Red Tornado. Plus, solid art by Chris Batista (twice), Eddy Barrows, and Patrick Oliffe along with a host of inkers and the secret origins of Lobo, The Question, Animal Man, and Adam Strange.

Looking forward to more...

MOCKED BY A MAJOR MAGAZINE

Yup, I'm being mocked. By Entertainment Weekly, no less. We received our new issue in the mail today and staring at me on the cover are three cast members of "Battlestar Galactica," promoting the cover story on the series and its upcoming third season premiere (for the record, those cast members are Mary McDonnell, Tricia Helfer, and James Callis). Now it's great that they're spotlighting the show but I can't read the article. Why not? I'm still working my way through the series via Netflix. In fact, I watched the penultimate episode of Season 1 this morning and now have an agonizing wait until I get the next disc in the mail (Monday...I hope). After that, I have 20 episodes of Season 2 to get through. Only then can I read the article without be tremendously spoiled as to the events in the series. Yes, I realize I should have watched this show before now. I think I was put off by the name originally and dismissed the critical buzz around it. I should know better. At least I've been looking at the DVD sets at Best Buy for quite a few months before this...that has to count for something, right? Those sets are going on my Christmas list - I've only been watching the eps and not bothering with commentaries or extras so I can make it through before the season premiere (Oct. 6 is coming ever closer). But I want my episodes now! I am thoroughly addicted to the intelligent science fiction TV show. The only shock in that is how long it took me to get to that point. And that I'm being mocked by EW.

eMUSIC ROUND SEVEN

I picked these up fairly early during the last period but just never got around to mentioning them. UNTIL NOW...

M.Ward/Post-War - I've mentioned this one in passing, at least. Really, it deserves a post all of its own because it is a fantastic album and everyone needs a copy. Might even be the most mighty of all the "albums of the year" I've heard this year.

Pernice Brothers/The World Won't End - I've been on a huge Pernice kick of late and I just had to pick up this one. At the time, it was my third of theirs (now I have 4, soon to be 5 when the new one comes on Oct. 3). Joe Pernice has an incredible melodic gift and his lyrics are good enough to listen to again and again.

Heartless Bastards/All This Time - My eMusic sub has definitely allowed me to be more adventurous - when each album is around $2.50 to $3.00, what can it hurt? That's not a lead-in to me saying I don't like this album because I think it's okay. But it's not as immediate as a lot of others. I like the music a lot, just not sure about the singer. I'll keep lending an ear, though.

Spoon/Loveways - Continuing my quest to get every Spoon song I can.

FULL PLATE

Guess who went back to work last week? Not only do I have my regular classes but I'm also in charge of all the preschoolers and kindergrateners who come to the Y. So we've had to assess their skills to try and put them on the right days and learn all of their names and so forth. Plus I'm training some new teachers and I was in the pool from Monday to Saturday last week. Quite a change from having a few weeks to myself. I'm not complaining, though. I really do like my job. It just gets in the way of my pop culture intake. :)

I'm still trying to stay on pace for 40 books on the year. I am currently reading #27 (The Washington Story by Adam Langer) and have to finish it and another one by next Saturday to try and stay on pace. I hope to do reviews of the last couple - Infoquake and The Book of Fate - but we'll see. I really liked the first of those and thought the other was solid; haven't read a thriller like that in quite a while. I still have my SF mags piled up too.

I finally got around to watching the "Battlestar Galactica" mini-series, which left me wondering why I'd waited so long to give it a try. Now I'm trying to catch up via Netflix before the third season starts on Oct. 6. I've watched the first 4 eps of Season One so far and have at least the next disc arriving today.

Yes, I've been watching new TV as well. "The Wire" has been great as usual. I always like "The Amazing Race." I had given up on "Survivor" but tried the first of the new season...and I'm once again done (plus, "My Name Is Earl" and "The Office" start this week). The first couple episodes of "The Simpsons" have been solid. "How I Met Your Mother" came back solidly. And I thought "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" lived up to the hype. Looking forward to more of that one.

I've also been trying to ingest a ton of new music - Silversun Pickups, TV on the Radio, Black Keys, Bishop Allen, and some older ones by Pernice Brothers and The Long Winters. I'm toying with the idea of upgrading my eMusic sub too - new ones from Yo La Tengo and Ben Kweller and Joseph Arthur and The Lemonheads (next week!) and and and.

So yeah, I've been keeping myself busy. Almost done writing a new song too. And how are you?

SUNDAY SHUFFLE #4

It's an easy post to do...

1. I Turn My Camera On/Spoon (2) - Gimme Fiction would still be at the top of my 2005 list even if I did a new one. It's also my reading motto. I'm also working on a cover of "I Summon You."

2. Truth Lies Low/The Drams (8) - Second week in a row and the third straight for The Drams. iTunes must really like Jubilee Dive.

3. Angeles/Elliott Smith (8) - Elliott Smith is fantastic and Either/Or is quite possibly his best work. Unless I'm listening to another of his albums, that is. But yeah, I'd probably go with this one.

4. Instrumental #1/Wilco (5) - This comes from the demos for Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. Nice little piano and strings piece with some subtle drumming touches by Glenn Kotchke.

5. Cold Snap/Harvey Danger (4) - This is from the bonus disc included with the reissue of their fabulous Little By Little. Seriously, buy this album in whatever format. You won't be sorry.

6. I Want to Protect You/Eels (14) - An online single release from...earlier this year? I likes me some Eels.

7. Handshake Drugs/Wilco (6) - It's not a Sunday Shuffle without some Wilco. From A Ghost Is Born.

8. Outta Mind (Outta Sight)/Wilco (5) - Like I said, it's not a Sunday Shuffle without Wilco. I actually prefer the more rocking version from the first disc of Being There but it's still a good song.

9. I Can't Help You Anymore/Aimee Mann (2) - I 'm looking forward to her Christmas album, a genre I'm not usually a big fan of. One of the best songwriters of the last 20 years. This is from The Forgotten Arm.

10. I Was Thinking I Could Clean Up for Christmas/Aimee Mann (4) - Heh. Another one from The Forgotten Arm.

SUNDAY SHUFFLE #3

Back by non-popular demand! The first installment was called "Shuffle Off" and then last week brought #2. And here's number #3 - whee!

1. 7:30/Pernice Brothers (5) - On a big Pernice Brothers kick lately, so it was cool for this to pop up first. From the recently-downloaded via eMusic The World Won't End.

2. Publish My Love/Rogue Wave (3) - Love this album, Descended Like Vultures. Haven't really played it much via iTunes.

3. Biggest Fan/Brendan Benson (4) - Another album (Alternative to Love) I like quite a bit but don't really play through iTunes. Brendan is currently playing with The Raconteurs.

4. Cars Can't Escape/Wilco (9) - This was a song they worked up for Yankee Hotel Foxtrot but it didn't make it onto the album, though you did see them working on it in "I Am Trying to Break Your Heart." Their outtakes are just as strong as the songs that made it.

5. Train Under Water/Bright Eyes (2) - See songs #2 and #3 above and apply to I'm Wide Awake It's Morning. Rinse and repeat.

6. The Animal World/Grandaddy (9) - Weird. I just listened to this on my CD player this morning. It's from their swan song, Just Like the Fambly Cat, released earlier this year.

7. Through With People/Portastatic (2) - And by rinse and repeat, I meant it would apply to this song as well (from Bright Ideas). New album from these guys in a month or so.

8. Truth Lies Low/The Drams (7) - I talked about this band last week; again, this is from their 2006 debut, Jubilee Dive.

9. Eyes on the Prize/M.Ward (6) - The only reason the play total isn't higher for this is that I'm trying not to listen to Post-War continually. Not easy to do.

10. Here Comes the Sun Again/M.Ward (1) - This kinda ties this post altogether, doesn't it? Obviously, this album (Transistor Radio) falls into what's become today's theme and it's cool to end with two tracks my one of my current obsessions.

CAN'T GET ENOUGH

...of the following songs:

1. "Chinese Translation" by M. Ward - Just a subtle shift in lyrics results in a song that seems epic and sad in scope. Really, the whole of Post-War is just awesome. It's the current album I'm obsessed by and will most likely make its way to the top of my year end charts. You can stream the whole thing at Merge's website.

2. "Half Dead" by The Mountain Goats - A perfect melancholy little pop song. Lyrics work, yeah yeah, but the kicker is that little guitar riff and then the vibraphone that comes in about halfway through. Brilliance. I like Get Lonely as an album too.

3. "Somerville" by Pernice Brothers - This is a song off their upcoming Live a Little (due on Oct. 3 along with the new ones from The Hold Steady and The Decemberists). Talk about pop perfection and you're talking Pernice Brothers. Love the lyrics on this one "Gonna take a lover/Gonna take her back to Somerville/Don't care if she's pretty as we leave Suck City" and then that little guitar riff? Hell yeah. You can listen to this one and five more over at their website.

MOVIE BACKLOG: DONNIE DARKO

I only made it 20 minutes or so into this movie before I gave up. What did it for me? The old woman they almost ran over whispering in Donnie's ear. No thanks, had enough. Sorry, fans of the movie. Blargh.

That's probably going to do it for the backlog too. Baseball is getting into the thick of things and football season is about to start. So is the fall TV season. And we now have "Lost" Season 2 to watch and still have "Arrested Development" Season 2 and 3! I'd love to catch up on "The Office" somehow too. What can I say, I like TV. So, it looks like 3 movies was it. Tune in next summer to see if I watch another couple!

UNSOLVED MYSTERIES

Yesterday I finished reading a new book - The Boy Detective Fails by Joe Meno. It's the story of Billy Argo, who was a celebrated child detective along with his sister Caroline and their friend Fenton. After Billy grew up and went away to college, though, his sister didn't do so well without him and eventually committed suicide. This sent Billy into a mental institution and his release into a sort of halfway house is really where we pick up the story. He has a hard time coping with the world, though he does become friends with a pair of siblings who live close, Effie and Gus Mumford. The latter doesn't talk, is smart, and is also the terror of the school as a third grader. Effie isn't much liked and someone has killed her rabbit by decapitation. Billy also has to deal with an archvillain living across the hall and always turning up on the bus; buildings disappearing; his job selling fake mustaches, wigs, and beards; a pickpocket he starts falling in love with; and the reason why his sister did what she did. The book is funny and sad and clever, maybe sometimes too much for its own good (though it's in a way I enjoy). It also includes a bonus story in code at the bottom of some pages, as well as a few chances to solve more within the main story. I liked it and I will check out more of Meno's work.

That was book #24 on the year, which still gives me 16 more to go if I still want to make my goal. I have to continue reading 4 books a month in order to reach that goal. I am currently 80 pages or so into the next one and am deciding what to read after that. I have a couple issues of Asimov's and F&SF on the shelves too - if I could finish my books before the month is up, I might have some time to read those. Ah well.

MARS

I spent most of last week watching "Veronica Mars" Season 2 on DVD. I had actually planned to do that the previous week but then a problem with disc 1 and the local Best Buy running out of copies quickly pushed things back. It was worth the wait.

The main mystery this season is a bus crash that kills a number of kids from Neptune High; Veronica was also supposed to have been on the bus. Other mysteries weave in and out of this storyline - Weevil starts losing control of the PCHers; Logan is dealing with murder accusations; the Aaron Echolls murder case (the big story through season 1) rolls towards conclusion. Then there's Veronica and Duncan's relationship, which takes an interesting turn. And Veronica and Wallace fall out for a bit as well, plus a new character named Jackie shakes things up for Wallace. The gorgeous Charisma Carpenter appears as a gold-digging stepmother to two characters and Alyson Hannigan reprises her role as Logan's sister Lily. Lots and lots happening. But in the end this series turns on the incredibly believable relationship between Veronica and her father (Keith Mars). Kristen Bell and Enrico Colatoni knock it out of the park every time. And yes, Bell is a cutie but she also plays smart and tough and vulnerable equally well.

I'm happy to be caught up with this series and look forward to watching new episodes as they air. "Veronica Mars" will be on after "Gilmore Girls" on Tuesday nights on the new CW in a few weeks. I know what I'm doing that night.

The other day I also caught the final episode of the first season of "Life on Mars," which aired on BBC America. It seems more likely that Sam Tyler is hallucinating his time in 1973 but I still hold out hope for some sort of time travel angle. All that aside, you still get a great period police show with Tyler bringing new techniques to the world of 1970s British police work The relationships are key here too, between Tyler and his superior DCI Hunt; Tyler and Annie, a policewoman; and even Tyler and Chris, a somewhat inept detective. I haven't heard anything about a second season but I hope we get one. There is also an American adaptation in the works but it's rare that you get something of the level of "The Office," if you know what I mean. Anyway, this show is good stuff.

SUNDAY SHUFFLE

Why not?

1. Take A Walk/Spoon (7) - A short bouncy song from their fantastic album Girls Can Tell, which is my second favorite of theirs (right behind last year's Gimme Fiction).

2. Lit Up (Remix)/The National (6) - This comes off of the Alligator bonus disc that was packaged with a semi-reissue earlier this year (I got it off the web since I already had the album). This version isn't much different from the original but it's a good song.

3. In A Future Age/Wilco (6) - A sparser number from the multi-layered Summerteeth. Again, a good song but certainly not the strongest from the album. Have I mentioned yet that they're my favorite band?

4. Not About Love/Fiona Apple (10) - This one is also from the Jon Brion version of Extraordinary Machine. Really love the strings on this one.

5. The Hustle/Marah (5) - I put this album (If You Didn't Laugh, You'd Cry) in my top ten for last year. If I did it today, it wouldn't be there. But it's still an album full of good rock and roll and you can't beat that.

6. Get Him Back/Fiona Apple (7) - See above. And you know, this album would no longer be in my top ten from last year either...even the Jon Brion version.

7. Wonderous Life/The Drams (4) - Closing track to their debut album, Jubilee Dive. It has Brent Best dueting with himself via a processed second vocal. Not my thing usually but it works well enough, I guess.

8. Winter in the Hamptons/Josh Rouse (8) - Another track from that radio session he did in France. It's from last year's Nashville and is one of my faves from that album.

9. Four Hours in Washington/M. Ward (3) - This is from last year's great Transistor Radio. I particularly love the drums on this song.

10. Your Blood/Destroyer (6) - I got this album (Destroyer's Rubies) from eMusic earlier this year and obviously haven't listened to it a whole lot. I like the songs but I've generally preferred them coming up in shuffle mode than listening to the whole thing.

FUNGAL

1. Shriek: An Afterword by Jeff Vandermeer - A new novel set in the city of Ambergris that tells the tale of Duncan and Janice Shriek while weaving in and out of the history of Ambergris itself. Full of fungus and great writing and two narrative voices {Duncan's in parentheses like these}. Well worth your time.

2. Bottle Rocket - I love Wes Andersen movies, yet I'd never seen his debut (and the debut of the Wilson brothers) until now. It has the requisite odd characters and romance and cool dialogue (it overlaps quite a bit in this film). I liked it quite a bit and you can see where the brilliance of "Rushmore" comes from.

3. HBO season finales - On "Entourage," Vince is pissed, Ari scrambles, Drama is calm. Can't wait to see the next 8 episodes when "The Sopranos" comes back in March. And on "Deadwood," the violence isn't huge but it is just as devastating to a number of the characters. Only 4 more hours ever of this show? Say it ain't so!

4. JLA #1 - Brad Meltzer delivers on the promise of his zero issue. Red Tornado, Black Lightning, Vixen, and Deadman all make appearance amongst the better-known heroes. Can't wait to see where this goes.

5. Batman #656 - Batman vs. ninja Man-Bats! A great metafictional use of 60s style sound effects! Bats comes face to face with his...son?!? Grant Morrison is brilliant and Andy Kubert is great on the art - more please!

SHIFT

The main goal of my "Year of 35" was to do all those things I'd meant to and hadn't tried. Obviously, the music aspect has been going quite well and I'm very happy with it. Music wasn't the ultimate goal, though. I also wanted to start writing and I haven't done that at all, outside of the blog. So, I want to start focusing on the creative writing without giving up the blog completely. I've decided that I'll do a shift in format, stealing from Entertainment Weekly's "Must List" (which I've done before) and from Ken Tucker's EW online column, "Five Reasons to Live." I'm going to do "My List" entries wherein I highlight 5 things that I've been digging. This will keep my entries shorter and will still allow me to talk about all the pop culture I love. There's no schedule for this either - when I have 5 things, I'll do a post. I'm not saying it will always be this way or that I won't throw in a longer post here and there but for the near future anyway, this will be the norm. Hope you enjoy it and keep on reading!

SHUFFLE OFF

I've been in a period of shuffling through iTunes for at least a month now. I do it not only for the thrill of the unknown but also to see those play counts rising. As a person who loves statistics (yes, I know it's sad - blame years of baseball), I like seeing how long since a song was played and keep trying to see if more of my songs will get into the top 25 played. Yes, I share our iTunes (and the iPod) with my wife and son, which means I have to wade through Veggie Tales and Disney and The Cranberries and Black Eyed Peas and more to get to my songs. Anyway, I've really lost the thread of my most recent album downloads this way so I thought I'd go back to straight up listening for a while. But before I do, here's a standard 10 song shuffle (though I'm only going to count songs that I've put in) with the current play count noted for posterity...

1. Violin for Mom/Kathleen Edwards (6) - Pretty much what the title indicates...about 40 seconds worth of violin from her early EP Building 55.

2. Somewhere Else/Kathleen Edwards (4) - A song from her most recent album, Back to Me. A slower burn with some great horns.

3. Please Please Please/Fiona Apple (7) - This is from the Jon Brion-produced version of Extraordinary Machine. The songs sound pretty close on both versions but I tend to like the Brion one better.

4. Checkout Blues/Eels (3) - One of the lesser songs from the double album Blinking Lights and Other Revelations, though still a solid song.

5. Candy Cane Crawl/Twilight Singers (6) A really moody piece from their 2006 album Powder Burns. The "slow down/lean in" part with backup female singer and multiple singers later on is great.

6. Streetlights/Josh Rouse (6) - This is a live acoustic performance from France and a song from Nashville. Rouse is one of my favorite singer/songwriters and tremendously underrated.

7. Too Far Apart/Wilco (6) - My favorite band. This is the closer to their debut album, A.M., which is my least favorite album of theirs. Doesn't mean it's not good, though. This tune is a bit of a shuffle with some nice guitar work.

8. The Man Who Doesn't Know How to Smile/Josh Rouse (5) - A sweet duet between Rouse and the woman he followed to Spain from his 2006 album, Subtitulo. Love it when the full drums kick in.

9. Archaeopteryx/The Prayers and Tears of Arthur Digby Sellers (5) - "My bones are hollow and I have wings behind my shoulders/But I've made my home here on solid soil so I won't fall too far below." Yeah. Great track from The Mother of Love Emulates the Shapes of Cynthia. This band is the real deal.

10. Stars Fell on Alabama/Mountain Goats (11) - Nice little bass line and shuffly groove here. Any song with the phrase "and the kudzu grew" works for me. This is from Nine Black Poppies and was downloaded from somewhere.

52.14 - 52.16

The most recent three issues of 52 have focused largely on events in Khandaq and Metropolis. In #14, Renee Montoya and The Question take their trip to Khandaq to investigate possible links with Intergang. They discover dead bodies and empty boxes of rat poison before being arrested for the murders. #15 details their abuse and subsequent escape from prison and #16 has them searching for a killer at the wedding of Black Adam and Isis, the other main focus of the issue. We see Black Adam nervous about the wedding and some fun interaction with Captain Marvel. In fact, the whole Marvel Family is in attendance: Mary Marvel wants to make sure Isis isn't being duped by her soon-to-be husband; Captain Marvel, Jr. and Talky Tawny are on security detail; and Uncle Dudley tries ordering food. Scenes of the wedding are intercut with Montoya and The Question trying to avert disaster - they do, but at a price.

Back in Metropolis (in #14), Steel has completed new armor for his niece but has not seen her; she is firmly in Luthor's camp. #15 has a despondent and out-of-control Booster Gold trying to do something to put himself back in the good graces of the citizens. Skeets finds something in the historical records and Booster runs off to save the day...however, he doesn't do a very good job of it and Supernova arrives to save the day. They have a confrontation before Skeets informs Booster that the danger is not over. He attempts to save everyone and does, yet pays the ultimate price.

We also see more of Will Magnus. He tries to get his Metal Men to work again and it's not going too well. The government wants to be involved but he refuses. Magnus goes to visit T.O. Morrow but the latter has vanished from his cell but not before leaving Magnus the secret to artificial life. Magnus is then able to get Mercury to work properly.

And finally, our intrepid lost-in-space heroes are finally ready to get off the planet where time seems to work differently. By the looks of things, we'll see more on this next week with the return of Lobo.

Solid stories with some subplots coming to an end only to open up new ones. Solid art by Dale Eaglesham/Art Thibert; Shawn Moll/Tom Nguyen; and Joe Bennett/Ruy Jose. Still liking the series and now I'm all caught up in talking about it, so look for issue by issue discussions from here on out. Maybe.

D'OH!

How in the world did I forget to mention The Hold Steady in my fall music post yesterday? Wow.

STYMIED

I went out and picked up Veronica Mars Season 2 on DVD yesterday; I like the show and want to get caught up so I can watch new episodes as they air this season. Watched the first episode last night and I thought it was a bit too ambitious (multiple time frames; a fake out on the cliffhanger season one ending; trying to be a bit too cute with who her boyfriend is; and setting up a number of mysteries right off the bat) though still plenty entertaining (a reference to Encyclopedia Brown; Veronica's relationships with her dad and Wallace; the appearance of smokin' hot Charisma Carpenter in a teeny bikini). Anyway, I was going to watch the second ep at lunch today and after a few minutes the picture broke up into pixelated hell. I took out the disc and tried again with the same result. I found my receipt and went to Best Buy to exchange it for a new copy - and they were all out! Now I have to wait for Saturday and the earliest to be able to continue watching. Sigh.

I'd planned on doing more entries today but I allowed myself to get sidetracked with:

A) Errands for Jill
B) A trip to Barnes & Noble
C) Hanging out with my friends at the hospital and holding Chase for the first time
D) New comics
E) Rockstar: Supernova
F) Baseball
G) A huge storm that dumped giant chunks of hail
H) Checking in at the Y
I) All of the above

You guessed it!

IT'S A BOY!

Our good friends Tammy and Craig Snyder had a baby boy this afternoon. His name is Chase and he is doing quite well. We are very excited and happy for them and look forward to getting to know Chase. Yay!

MOVIE BACKLOG: SIN CITY

I've been behind on my movie watching ever since I joined the pop culture parade. When I was a teenager, you had to drive 30 miles to the nearest theater and while I did see quite a bit, I missed a lot too. That was rectified somewhat in college, where I would sometimes take in 3 movies on a weekend. Jill and I used to see movies fairly often, though that changed once Grant was born. Now I'm lucky if I see a half dozen in the theater each year. Sure, there's DVD but I don't always take the time to watch; I put a priority on all those great TV shows on DVD. Anyway, with my couple weeks off I've decided to try and catch up on things I've missed...

So, "Sin City." I read the comic book series, of course, though I lost a bit of interest the further it went. Or maybe that was just me losing some interest in comics back then. In either case, I drug my heels quite a bit in seeing this adaptation. Robert Rodriguez convinced creator Frank Miller that they could do a true adaptation and have a movie that looks very similar to the comic. He was right.

There are many shots in the movie that I remember from reading the comic; both are in black and white with spots of color and occasional sillhouettes. They movie really is visually stunning and I'm not talking about all the bare actress bodies. And the actors really do look like they came straight out of the comic - the makeup job on Mickey Rourke as Marv is outstanding.

The dialogue is also straight out of the comic and that doesn't translate nearly as well. Lots of repetition and terse hard-boiled dialgoue that can sound very silly coming out of the mouths of living, breathing people. The violence also is a bit ludricous for the same reason; it reminded me of certain parts of "Kill Bill."

On the whole, though, I enjoyed the movie. The movie really works for me when Mickey Rourke is on the screen as Marv, killing in the name of his lost love Goldie (a hooker who gave him the night of his life). And yes, that's the most cartoony section of the movie, so go figure.

FALL RELEASES

Today is the start of the fall music season. Yes, it's still summer but with my wife back in school for a week and son starting tomorrow, it feels like fall around the Steiner house. There are a bunch of new releases from artist I like to help keep me going as the weather starts to catch up with the season...

Mounatin Goats (today!)
Eric Bachmann (of Crooked Fingers and Archers of Loaf - also today!)
M. Ward
Bob Dylan
The Black Keys
Ben Kweller
Pernice Brothers
Portastatic
Golden Smog EP
My Morning Jacket live

...and more that I can't remember or don't even know about yet. And that doesn't include all the new bands yet to discover as well. I love music.