Venkman

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed, by their Creator, with certain Inalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

Thomas Jefferson wrote those words 231 years ago. It's time to get rid of another King George.

Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King [George] is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let the Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offenses:

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

From TBO.com:

IKEA Opening In Tampa
Posted Mar 26, 2007 by The Tampa Tribune

TAMPA – Swedish retailer IKEA today plans to announce that it will build a store in Tampa. It would be the third Florida location for the seller of assemble-it-yourself furniture.

Construction of the store may begin next spring, with the opening tentatively set for the summer of 2009, according to a press release. IKEA earlier announced plans for a 310,000-square-foot store at the Mall at Millenia in Orlando. That store is to open this fall.

Mayor Pam Iorio is expected to join company officials for today’s 2 p.m. announcement. The company will be seeking approvals and infrastructure improvements from the city before beginning construction, according to the release.

IKEA showrooms are built around furnished spaces that simulate different areas of a home. The settings include furnishing, lighting and decorating suggestions.

Furniture typically is packed flat in boxes. Customers are expected to pick up purchases in a self-service area, transport them home and put them together on their own.

The company promotes its family-friendly atmosphere, including a supervised playroom and demonstration toys in the children’s department. Stores also include restaurants serving breakfast and lunch, including an assortment of Swedish and daily specials made from local produce.

What does New York City and Paul Weller have in common? Me!

From CMJ:

Since the dissolution of his groundbreaking punk band the Jam, Brit mod god Paul Weller has been famously disinterested in playing in the US. So whether it’s due to the calming of age or the fact that he’s got a career-spanning box set, Hit Parade (Yep Rock), coming in January, Weller has changed his tune, and is playing a three-night stand at New York City’s Irving Plaza, January 29-31. Each night will focus on a different stage of the man’s career (Jam, Style Council, solo). And from the smashing sounds of his recent live CD, Catch-Flame!, Weller's live show is experiencing a sturdy third wind. 2007 will, incidentally, mark the 30th anniversary of his career.

I'm gonna be there with my buddy Anthony and his pal Jack. We got tickets to all 3 shows today.

Booya!

I haven't been to NYC since I was 16. Two years ago I went to New York with my mom and my sis but we didn't get into Manhattan.

I'm very excited. Not just about the shows but about being in Manhattan again.

It's gonna stretch the budget a bit, but I've already checked on flights and they're in the neighborhood of $175 round trip. Hotel in Manhattan may be a bit much, but Anthony or Jack may already have a line on someplace good. Sondra has offered to pick of the cost of the concert tickets for me as an early Birthday/Christmas gift. She rocks.

New York City! WooHoo!

Students at Princeton University show how easy it is to hack into a Diebold voting machine and steal an election.

http://itpolicy.princeton.edu/voting/

Remember when Walden O’Dell, chief executive of Diebold and a top fundraiser for the Bush campaign, wrote in a fund-raising letter in 2003 that he was “committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next year?”

George W. Bush, advocating a constitutional amendment against flag desecration, June 27, 2006:

"By showing respect for our flag, we show reverence for the ideals that guide our nation. And we show appreciation for the men and women who have served in defense of those ideals.

George W. Bush, commemorating the attacks of 9/11, Sept. 10, 2006:

The crazy diamond shines no more.

So, so you think you can tell Heaven from Hell,
blue skies from pain.
Can you tell a green field from a cold steel rail?
A smile from a veil?
Do you think you can tell?
And did they get you to trade your heroes for ghosts?
Hot ashes for trees?
Hot air for a cool breeze?
Cold comfort for change?
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage?
How I wish, how I wish you were here.
We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl, year after year,
Running over the same old ground.
What have we found? The same old fears.
Wish you were here.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/SHOWBIZ/Music/07/11/britain.floyd/index.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syd_Barrett

Not that they mean diddly squat in the real world, but I was happy to see Jaime Pressly get a nod for "My Name Is Earl," she's funny as hell in that show. I was suprised to see Denis Leary get one for "Rescue Me," I din't think they'd ever recognize a performance that good of a character that flawed.

Other pleasant suprises were "The Colbert Report" for best variety series, Steve Carell for the "The Office," and "Scrubs" for best comedy.

The usualy/expected omissions: "Gilmore Girls," "Battlestar Galactica" and "Veronica Mars."

I've always said that Gilmore Girls is one of my favorite shows, and I don't care who knows it. It's smart, funny and very much plugged into the pop culture. Case in point: On this week's episode Loreli (played by the wonderful Lauren Graham) said "Frackin'."

Fans of Battlestar Galactica (another great show) know that "frack" is a made up expletive roughly meaning "fuck." All this interconnectedness made me wonder if someone had compiled a list of all the made-up curse words employed on TV.

Thank god for Wikipedia.

Selections from Wikipedia's List of fictional expletives:


* backbirth - from Firefly, meaning one born on a primitive or outer planet. It can also be used to imply someone is naive or stupid.

* bastich - from 2000AD's Judge Dredd, Lobo, and the film Johnny Dangerously, a portmanteau of "bastard" and "bitch", and used in the same way as its source words.

* Belgium - from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: "The concept it embodies is so revolting that the publication or broadcast of the word is utterly forbidden in all parts of the galaxy except one, where they don't know what it means." The word first appeared in the radio series, and later replaced "fuck" in the censored American edition of the novel Life, the Universe and Everything. The character of Stingray Timmins on the soap opera Neighbours has also adopted this term. Also from the British TV comedy series, Monty Python's Flying Circus (Episode 37, 'Prejudice'), where in a game show, viewers are asked to send in suggestions for a derogatory term for Belgians. The winner was 'Miserable fat Belgian bastards.' A runner-up was 'I can't think of anything more derogatory than Belgians.' As Douglas Adams worked with Monty Python late in the series, it is possible that his usage of 'Belgian' was inspired by the Python's.

* Bitchcakes - from NewsRadio, an all-purpose swearword that can mean crazy ("this is bitchcakes"), over excited ("why is everyone so bitchcakes?") or a general expletive ("aww, bitchcakes").

* bitca - from Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV series, curse word for a malevolent entity (coined by Xander Harris, by misunderstanding when Willow Rosenberg delicately spelled out "b-i-t-c-h")

* boll-yotz - from Farscape; same meaning as "bullshit"

* buck - from That Hideous Strength by C.S. Lewis

* cakesniffer - A favorite expletive of Carmelita Spats in her appearances in A Series of Unfortunate Events. Used as an insult, generally directed against the protagonists of that series: "You cakesniffer!" (Also featured on a spin-off t-shirt bearing the legend "I am not a cakesniffer.")

* Cardies - from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, a racial epithet used against Cardassians (most commonly used by Miles O'Brien)

* cruk - in Doctor Who: The New Adventures spin-off novels; same meaning as "fuck" (Happy Endings by Paul Cornell claims it originally came from a mid-21st century kids' TV show, in which "crukked" meant "tired")

* drannit - from Farscape

* dren - from Farscape; same meaning as "shit"; possibly modification of German Dreck

* Emperor's black bones! - generic expletive phrase from some Star Wars novels set after the events of Return of the Jedi.

* expletive deleted - similar to bleep, used in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back to replace all swear words on television. The head of Richard Nixon also uses this term on Futurama.

* fahrbot - from Farscape; meaning insane or mentally deficient.

* fargin' iceholes - from the film Johnny Dangerously; self explanatory.

* felgercarb - from Battlestar Galactica (also seen spelled feldergarb, feldercarb, or felgergarb) usage context appears to be similar to "bullshit" / also a term for garbage and/or mechanical sludge in more polite usage. Once it was used as an interjection (as in "damn"). Although not seen in the series, according to series creator Glen Larson, a 'felger' was a bovine-like animal with six legs and multifaceted eyes that was written into several of the early Battlestar Galactica scripts.

* frack - from Battlestar Galactica. Similar meaning to "fuck", but the usage by children in a 1978 TV show might suggest that it doesn't carry more social weight than "rats" or "darn" in the universe of Battlestar Galactica.

* frak - new spelling for "frack" used in the new Battlestar Galactica (Same meaning as "fuck"). Same usage as the original series, but greatly expanded, and it also seems to carry the same "social weight" as fuck, as characters sometimes appologise for their language after using it. This expletive also appears in the roleplaying game Cyberpunk 2020. In an early-1980s game on the BBC Micro called Frak! a caveman called 'Trogg' would utter this word in a speech bubble when "killed". Presumably same meaning as "fuck". Hacked versions of the game substituted "fuck".

o frak-head - from new Battlestar Galactica miniseries, derived from "frak", substitution for "asshole": when the miniseries originally aired on SciFi channel the phrase "superior asshole" was used by Starbuck (Kara Thrace) - when later aired on NBC the phrase became "superior frak-head".

o motherfrakker - derived from "frak" in parallel to "motherfucker". Used by Specialist Cally in Season 2, but apparently not standard usage, as Chief Tyrol finds the Cally's usage quite amusing.

* frag - from Shadowrun and Lobo, same meaning as "fuck"; also from Babylon 5, where it's often used in the form "fraggin'". This expletive also appears in the Doom manual and some Warhammer 40,000 novels. Frag was derived from the practice of the same name in Vietnam where soldiers who couldn't take any more fighting killed their superior with a fragmentation grenade (hence "frag") to escape the lines. Also used in Robotech as a derogatory term for humans who collaborate with the Invid.

* frek - from Farscape; same meaning as "fuck", but not as harsh as "frell" - but possibly the Luxembourg word "freck" used as the equivalent of "perish it"

* frell - from Farscape; same meaning as "fuck"

* gimboid - from Red Dwarf; one who is stupid or clumsy; possibly an adaptation of the word gimp

* Hassak/Hashak - from Stargate, Goa'uld derogatory term, meaning weakling.

* Holy flerking shnit - Phrase used by Kang of The Simpsons in one of the "Treehouse of Horror" episodes. Derived from "Holy fucking shit."

* Jackhole - Coined by late night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel while still a member of the Kevin and Bean morning show on KROQ-FM in Los Angeles. Was later used by Cameron Diaz when hosting Saturday Night Live and became the title of Kimmel's production company, Jackhole Industries. One of the more convincing fictional expletives since it is derived from parts of two actual expletives.

* joojooflop - from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: "One whole joojooflop situation"

* karakh - from Wing Commander; the Kilrathi word for "shit".

* mibs/mips - from Coneheads general purpose expletive

* nerfherder - Often used in Star Wars as a relatively un-offensive curse word. Similar to calling someone a pig farmer, for "Han Solo" it suggests that he is a rubbish pilot or a ground pounder. It implies an unpleasant body odour.

* Pinkskin - from Star Trek: Enterprise, an Andorian racial epithet directed against humans.

* Qu'vatlh - from Klingon, a strong expletive, exclaimed in moments of extreme anger.

* semprini - from Monty Python's Flying Circus television show. Never exactly defined, this is one of the words supposedly banned from the show. Used to refer to a part of the body, but is also the name of an aftershave.

* sithspit - from various novels and other works about the characters in Star Wars. Refers to the Sith. Most likely a substitute for "shit."

* vandrook - from a Saturday Night Live sketch featuring Will Ferrell and Chris Parnell. Most likely a substitute for "bitch". Parnell is aggravated, exclaiming "son of a vandrook!" causing Ferrell to incredulously reply, "Is that a real curse word?"

* wrinklies = testicles/balls — from Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV series, episode School Hard

From Boing Boing

A moment in time: 01:02:03 04/05/06.

This Wednesday, at two minutes and three seconds after 1:00 in the morning, the time and date will be 01:02:03 04/05/06

I never know what to think when I hear one of my favorite novels is going to be made into a movie.



From the Hollywood Reporter:

NL books Bardem for 'Cholera'

By Borys Kit
Javier Bardem is set to star in the epic "Love in the Time of Cholera," which Mike Newell is directing for New Line Cinema.

Based on the novel by Nobel Prize-winning author Gabriel Garcia Marquez, "Cholera" follows a romantic young man (Bardem) who loses the girl of his dreams to a wealthier suitor and consequently spends the next 50 years building his life and reputation so that one day he might have her. Other women find this devotion irresistible, so he finds himself with frequent female companionship throughout his wait, but his heart always remains faithful to the woman who first captured his heart.

Oscar winner Ronald Harwood ("The Pianist") penned the screenplay.

Stone Village Entertainment's Scott Steindorff will produce, while Dylan Russell and Scott LaStaiti will co-produce. For years, the author rebuffed offers to adapt "Cholera" for the big screen. He finally relented after being pursued for two years by Steindorff.

New Line's Toby Emmerich and Mark Ordesky are overseeing for the studio.

The studio is anticipating to start the movie this year and is eyeing locations in Central America and South America.

Bardem received an Oscar nomination for his work in 2001's "Before Night Falls" and starred in Alejandro Amenabar's "The Sea Inside" in 2004. He recently wrapped "Goya," starring Natalie Portman and Stellan Skarsgard, and next stars in "No Country for Old Men" for the Coen brothers.

Bardem is repped by Endeavor.

Over the weekend Kiersty and I went to Ft. Lauderdale to see the King Tut exhibit at the Ft. Lauderdale Museum of Art. Since everything in the exhibit was pulled out of the tombs of Tut and his relatives, each piece had something to do with the Egyptian idea of the afterlife. Most of the items were representations of things the dead royal would need in the afterlife, like a model of a boat or a chair. There were even representations of the dead royal themselves, called Shabti, that could take the dead’s place if in the afterlife the gods asked the royal to do any hard work. And of course there were fancy ass containers for various internal organs that were removed during the mummification process but might be needed later (lungs, liver, intestines, but oddly enough, not the brain. They just pulled that out with a metal hook via the nose and then threw it away. I guess there’s no thinking required in heaven). Each item’s significance was explained to me by Omar Shariff via a fancy mp3 player I had to pay 7 bucks to use for 2 hours. A good time was had by all.

We stayed in the Riverside hotel on Las Olas Boulevard, which is the posh section of town with all the expensive shops and restaurants. I had French food for the first time in my life (crepes) and I liked it.

On the way home we drove up A1A for a while to see the beach, but it was mostly obscured by large ugly houses. Then for a change we cut across the state and made a visit to Lake Okeechobee, because I’d never seen it.

It’s big.



The only bad part of the trip was very bad indeed. On the way there Friday afternoon we were on Alligator Alley when up ahead I saw what I at first thought was smoke but quickly realized was dust being kicked up by someone crossing the median. A few minutes later we came across a horrible accident. I looked like a car had indeed crossed the median and hit an 18 wheeler. The truck was off the road and had crashed into the fence. The car had been obliterated to the point that I couldn’t tell what kind of car it had been. It sat on the shoulder of the road surrounded by a debris field which stretched across both lanes. I could see the body of a man lying half out of the back of the vehicle, and another in the grass halfway between the car and the semi. Although I saw no blood or visible injuries it was clear they were dead. As I slowly passed I saw the truck driver stumble out of his rig. There were a lot of other motorists who had already stopped with their cell phones out.

The whole scene left both Kiersty and I shaken and upset for the rest of the trip.

From the Miami Herald:

IKEA, known for inexpensive, chic furniture, confirmed that it has landed a site in Sunrise after seeking a South Florida location for almost five years.

Florida IKEA fans: The wait will soon be over.

The retailer known for its cheap, chic furniture confirmed Tuesday that it has landed a site in Sunrise after searching for a South Florida location for almost five years.

The 293,000-square-foot store, which will be the first south of Atlanta, will be built on the site of the former Blockbuster Golf and Games. Construction is scheduled to begin this spring with an opening scheduled for summer 2007.

Found on The Digital Bits

We've had a lot of people asking about this title lately, so we're very pleased to tell you that Warner is currently hard at work on a long-awaited DVD release of Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet. The title is (as yet) unannounced, but we've confirmed directly with the studio that they're working to get the disc on store shelves before the end of 2006.

Fafblog via Boing Boing:

Q & A: Our Omnipotent President

Q. Is the president above the law?
A. Nobody's above the law! As commander-in-chief the president just outranks the law.
Q. So the president doesn't break the law. He just appoints new laws to fill vacancies in the office of law, as empowered by Acticle II of the Shmonstitution!
A. In the presidential order of succession the law falls between Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings and Secretary of Veterans Affairs Jim Nicholson.
Q. You can't put the law any higher. It would just slow down the War on Terror with bureaucratic rules and regulations like the Geneva Conventions and the Bill of Rights.
A. If the law outranked the president we'd never get anything done! The president would go toss Osama bin Laden through a plate glass window and the law would call him into his office an go "Dammit president, you're outta control!"
Q. And then the president'd be all "You're outta control, chief! The whole freakin system's outta control!"
A. And then the president would totally turn in his badge and quit the force to fight crime!
Q. Fight crime... with mind-powers.

Spent Saturday at my buddy Gordon's apartment in the garden district of Spring Hill. He recently acquired a 50' HD TV to go with his new Xbox 360. It's pretty much geek nirvana over there, and it's a good thing the 360 is hard to come by otherwise I'd have gone out and got myself one that night.

The games of course look amazing (especially on the new TV) but beyond that the 360 is a media center in the truest sense. We logged onto Xbox live and got our asses kicked playing Dead or Alive 4 against random folks in cyberspace. We could hear them trash talking via the headset which comes with the game (when I finally get one of these things I can see using it to talk with Gordon instead of using the phone).

Later we used the 360 to wirelessly stream music from the pc in the other room, a feature I would use more often than playing games (I've been ripping my 1600+ CD collection like a madman in anticipation of getting a 60 gig IPod soon, and it'd be great to be able to listen to all those files through my surround sound receiver instead of the crappy computer speakers).

It will be some time before I get one, though. I'm determined to pay for it with real money and not credit, and even if I had the cash on hand they're harder to find than an un-indited Republican member of Congress.

I like to save my ticket stubs, but unfortunately I don’t have one for every show. Here’s a picture of my oldest ticket and my most recent: Billy Joel at Madison Square Garden in 1984 and at the Ice Palace last Thursday. He hasn’t lost a thing; he’s still a great showman 22 years later.


I’ve seen a lot of concerts.

Poe, Denali, Mike Roe, Diana Krall, Gillian Welch, Norah Jones, Pat Benatar, ABC, BR549, Harry Connick jr, Bruce Hornsby & The Range, Lone Justice, 10,000 Maniacs, Squeeze, Huey Lewis & The News, Rilo Kiley, Fiona Apple, The Thompson Twins, Joan Osborne, They Might Be Giants, Robert Palmer, Petra, Junior Brown, Chris Isaak, Heart, The Fixx, A flock of Seagulls, Ben Folds Five, Visqueen, The Sadies, Kelly Willis and Devil Doll are just a few.

Not as many as some. I’m not claiming to hold any record. I’ve never followed the Dead around the country in a VW bus, but I have driven to Atlanta to see Neko Case. I camped out overnight for tickets only once, to see Genesis on the Invisible Touch tour, which turned out to be a very disappointing show (older songs all but ignored for newer, more pop-oriented material, bad sound and rotten seats). I’ve only seen 2 artists on back to back days (Elvis Costello and Brian Setzer Orchestra, both in Orlando and then in Tampa). I’ve seen Out of the Grey seven times, Billy Joel six times, Cowboy Junkies, Over The Rhine, Sixpence None The Richer, Berlin, Duran Duran, and Sting three times each.

The first show I ever saw was John Denver at Nassau Coliseum on Long Island. I was probably about 10 or 11, and my parents took me. My Uncle Mike used to work for RCA records and he got us free tickets. I saw Alabama the same way.

The first show I paid my own money for was Men At Work in 1983. It was exactly like listening to the record at home, the arrangements were exactly the same live.

Liz Phair was better than I expected her to be, given her recent pop albums. Lyle Lovett was disappointing, as he played every song off his latest cd and just 2 or 3 older songs. Elvis Costello at Ruth Eckerd Hall was the best show I’ve ever seen, he was really at peak form that night. The aforementioned Genesis show was the worst.

I’m happy to say I’ve seen Peter Gabriel and Portishead here in Florida, 2 acts I never thought would come down here.

Artists I’m still dying to see who rarely tour the US are Van Morrison & Paul Weller. I’d like to see U2 but haven’t wanted to pay $80 for a ticket. I’d like to see Pink Floyd if they tour with Roger Waters.

I was fortunate enough to attend the Johhny Cash memorial concert in Nashville, where I saw Willie Nelson, George Jones, Roseanne Cash, John Mellencamp, Brooks and Dunn, Sheryl Crow and Kris Kristofferson. I never did get to see The Man In Black himself, and that’s a shame.

I’ve seen some legends: Bruce Springsteen, the Beach Boys, Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney, Elton John, The Allman Brothers Band, Steely Dan and David Bowie.

In high school I went through a heavy metal stage which resulted in my seeing AC/DC, Whitesnake, White Lion and Great White.

When I saw the White Stripes I believe Jack White was stoned. When I saw Matchbox 20 I’m positive the lead singer was drunk (they opened for Poe at the State Theater in St. Pete, I had no idea who they were and they sucked). The first time I saw Bob Dylan I had wrangled backstage passes in an attempt to impress a girl I liked; we got to stand on the side of the stage in the wings at the end of the show. We could see that the bottle Bob had been drinking from the entire show was vodka. Cheap Trick was so bad I wish I had been drunk (it was a free show at the USF Sundome and I still feel cheated. I remember the opening band was someone called “The Wankers” and they were far better).

These days I prefer the smaller venues, arena shows leave me cold for the most part. I like to be able to get close to an artist. The best venue by far in the Tampa Bay Area is Ruth Eckerd Hall.; absolutely spectacular acoustics. The Worst is the Ice Palace; horrendous echo.

However, no matter where I sit or stand I always attract dunk people. I honestly don’t understand why anyone would pay $50 for a ticket to see a band only to get wasted on $6 beer. Couldn’t they do that at home with a six pack and a CD? At the Billy Joel show last Thursday I had a real pair next to me. The guy was wasted before the show even started and kept elbowing me and shouting, “BJ!!!,” “I love you BJ!!!,’ and the drunk’s mating call; “Woooooo!” His girlfriend was no better. She wouldn’t stop talking through the whole show. A song would start and she’s scream “I love this song” and then talk about how she was a total skank in high school.

General admission shows are sometimes even worse. They tend to attract the drunk dancer, which is a particularly annoying moron. At Chris Isaak I had this middle aged hag with a beer in her had staggering in front of me for half the show. She kept bumping into me while attempting what I could only imagine was the electric slide in a 2’ square space. While watching Devil Doll I had a jackass next to me spinning around in circles as if he were at a Phish show.

I’ve got a few shows coming up in the near future: The Blasters, Eisley, and maybe Hall & Oates. They’re all general admission and I’m sure I’ll have a drunk within spitting distance. It’s a shame but I’ve got to keep the ticket collection going somehow.

I received a copy of EW in the mail today; apparently someone got me a gift subscription. Who do I have to thank for this?

UPDATE: Turns out I have yourmusic.com to thank for the sub to EW. Some kind of free promotion.

Do you remember the first time you saw Star Wars?

Check out the trailer for this new movie called 5-25-77, it may jog your memory.

Paul Weller, As Is Now

Easily my favorite disc of 2005. So many great tracks: "Blink," "From The Floorboards Up," "Come On/Let's Go," and "Bring Back The Funk (Parts 1 & 2)" are instant classics.

Best of the rest:

Kate Bush, Aerial Great to have her back, Kate's voice hasn't lost any of it's power. Favorite track: "How To Be Invisible."

The White Stripes, Get Behind Me Satan Not as good as last year's Elephant, but pretty damn good. Highlight: "My Doorbell."

Feist, Let It Die Features my favorite cover of the year, an addictive reworking of the BeeGee's "Inside & Out."

Over The Rhine, Drunkard’s Prayer Quiet, intimate and hearbreakingly honest, OTR proves less is more on what may turn out to be their best album ever.

Fiona Apple, Extraordinary Machine I liked the original version better.

Gorillaz, Demon Days "Feel Good, Inc." I'm not made of stone.

Original Soundtrack, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou I probably listened to this disc more often than anything this year. The highlights are of course David Bowie's songs, either in their original versions ("Queen Bitch"), or in Portugese as sung by Seu Jorge ("Five Years").

Nouvelle Vague, Nouvelle Vague 80s classics reinterpreted by a French lounge act. "Too Drunk To Fuck" alone worth price of disc.

Eisley, Room Noises Eisley picks up where The Sundays and Sixpence left off: Making dreamy, somewhat sad, hook-laden pop. On a side note, here's more proof George Lucas is a souless prick: The band was originally named Mos Eisley until he threatend to sue them.

Gimmie Some Truth
John lennon

i'm sick and tired of hearing things
from uptight-short sighted-narrow minded hypocritics

all i want is the truth
just give me some truth

i've had enough of reading things
by nuerotic-pyschotic-pig headed politicians

all i want is the truth
just give me some truth

no short haired-yellow bellied
son of tricky dicky
is gonna mother hubbard soft soap me
with just a pocketful of hope
money for dope
money for rope

i'm sick to death of seeing things
from tight lipped-condescending -mommies little chauvinists

all i want is the truth
just give me some truth

i've had enough of watching scenes
of schizophrenic - ego - centric - paranoic - prima - donnas

all i want is the truth
just give me some truth