and all my instincts, they return.

--I just finished my first mock draft, along with a list of the 20 best prospects in the draft.  I'll put it up in a little while, and update it after next week's Combine/big free agent moves.  Whether the workout warriors whose stocks rise become Mike Mamulas or Vernon Davises remains to be seen.

--For any fan of Roger Ebert (and as a used-to-be aspiring film critic, I'd certainly put myself in that category), this is a must-read.

--Stop while you can, Justin Vernon.  There's no reason for you to turn into the next Travis Morrison (gone from one of the best lyricists in indie music to complete outcast).

--20th Century Ghosts was terrific, and deserving of much more than this little blurb.  Joe Hill, Stephen King's son, has his father's talent for storytelling (not to mention the same blue-collar approach to horror) and subtle tenderness, along with an imagination that expands beyond the elder King's usual "What if?" premises.  There's "Pop Art," about an inflatable boy and the nature of childhood; "Bobby Conroy Comes Back from the Dead," about lost love on the set of George Romero's Dawn of the Dead; "Last Breath," a little ode to Bradbury; and "Voluntary Committal," a novella about what it means to be a brother.  These, along with a number of other excellent stories, make the book worth far more than the cost of admission.

--Having finished rereading The Inferno for class and with precious little time left before research and assigned readings consume the rest of my reading schedule, I'm tearing through Dan Simmons' The Terror.  It's a meticulously researched horror novel about two ironclad steamboats, the HMS Terror and the HMS Erebus, that get stuck in the ice while searching for the Northwest Passage.  In addition to the constant cold and darkness, and the threats of consumption, scurvy, and starvation, there's something out in the cold preying on the explorers.  It's an awesome premise, and very well-written, especially in terms of narrative structure.

--I could almost fill out a playlist with misleading 80's (roughly speaking) love songs.  "This Must Be the Place," "Every Breath You Take," "Love Will Tear Us Apart," and "In Your Eyes" would be the highlights.  Also, how bad is that "In Your Eyes" video?  Yowza.