with no berlin wall, what the hell you gonna do?

--Gabe & co. are KILLING IT at Videogum right now. I cite as evidence:

• This terrific preview of Lost's sixth and final season (I'm pumped!!!!).
• Gabe found a textbook example of why the internet is bad for you.
• One of many great party games.
• And some great investigative work on Kirstie Alley's quest to wrest the title of "the worst" from Nancy Grace.
  

--Jeff Beck just won 2010, everyone. As if there was any doubt that he would.

--The very best idea in sports. Nnamdi is henpecked, Elvis is perturbed, Tashard is stirred up, Trent is the best, and Brian Dawkins is insane.

--Read some of my old writing earlier today. Yikes.

--Some nicknames:

everything is divided, nothing is complete.

--I’ve said in the past that it’s really pretty easy to root for both the Colts and the Saints. Not only are they in different conferences and accordingly don’t play each other much, but the prospect of the Saints getting to the Super Bowl at all (let alone playing the Colts in it) seemed inherently ridiculous. But there was a lurking anxiety throughout this season that the two teams—both franchises arguably having their most successful seasons ever—were on a collision course, and we’re now officially two weeks away.

my top ten albums of fiscal year 2009.

I’ve come to dread doing these, because my list of mistakes just keeps growing. The first, and most egregious, was putting a middling Genesis album in the top spot of my first list instead of Sufjan Stevens’ Illinois, arguably the best album of the decade. I think Return to Cookie Mountain (which is in the same conversation as Illinois) made an honorable mention on that same list, and just last year I said with total confidence that Dear Science was the best TV on the Radio album, whereas now it’s in contention for third place for me. I hope that you guys will be as gracious with this list as you’ve been with those in the past, and, more importantly, that you enjoy it.

The rules: The ten best albums (plus five honorable mentions) I picked up in one year, regardless of when they came out. No two albums from the same band. No best-ofs. No games. No drama.

your old man was but a wishing machine.

--Rien n'arrete nos espirits. That's French for "it's Haitian Fight Song time, y'all."

Haitian Fight Song - Charles M...

Spence Hall's got a helpful post on the most effective ways to donate to Haiti relief.

--In less dramatic news, LOL WTF Pete Carroll and Lane Kiffin? Those really were both big surprises, especially Carroll, who's apparently under the impression that they give phantom national titles in the NFL. As for Tennessee fans, I wish I could say I feel sorry for you, but your AD went all-in on a mercenary (and an unsuccessful one at that), and sometimes that doesn't work out. It is my sincere hope that college football fans in the South will get to reap a perfect storm of haterdom, and see Tennessee, Lane Kiffin, and SoCal suffer in the next few years.

--Blake Griffin has gone Defcon-Oden, and will miss the entirety of his rookie season. Hello, guaranteed Rookie of the Year Tyreke Evans; goodbye, fantasy basketball ace in the hole.

--It is, as always, all about the U. Reggie Wayne is my favorite athlete who doesn't wear the number 18, 9, 3, or 5. He's the coolest cat around.

--I'll have my top ten albums of last year up either later tonight or tomorrow afternoon, depending on if I stall out on something (as I have done repeatedly in the course of trying to write this thing).

thank you for taking my hands, young liars.

A requiem for a season: