now they got the sun and they got the palm trees, they got the weed and they got the taxis.

--First off, for Firefox at least, if you want to open a link in a new window, hold CTRL and click on it.  Second, sorry for the hiatus - I've been ridiculously busy with the home stretch of schoolwork/out of the country (in Texas).

--This truly is one of the most ridiculous things I've ever seen, and provides superfluous evidence that every Hollywood exec in existence is ten years old.  In other news, though I generally shy away from Sean O'Neal's reviews, the man can write a headline.

--Speaking of the AV Club, their weekly series of covers by visiting musicians, AV Club Undercover, has been consistently good thus far.  Ben Folds' cover of Elliott Smith's "Say Yes" last week was my favorite of the bunch, and I can't wait for the "Two-Headed Boy" cover.

--Here's what this blog will look like when Geocities makes its inevitable comeback.  The internet is the best sometimes.

--And yet, it is also the worst sometimes.  Though Betty White has acquitted herself pretty admirably in her recent TV spots, the people who are clamoring for an octogenarian to return to the forefront of TV comedy right now deserve to watch this happen.  Sorry, Betty - it's...evolving.

--Whoever thought to do this is a saint.  Although I haven't been able to keep up with Treme as much as I'd like (and yikes has it gotten preachy), I can still appreciate the music, and it helps me get through the tedium of my job.

--As I've mentioned elsewhere on this blog, I have a hard time recognizing greatness when it's right in front of me.  I've deleted substantial amounts of In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, Mass Romantic, and scads of Bowie, to say nothing of the albums I ignored for far too long (Remain in Light and Return to the Cookie Mountain, maybe my two favorite albums, are good examples).  That said, I knew that The National's new album, High Violet, was something spectacular the first time I listened to it.  Getting a better grasp of the lyrics may temper my enthusiasm a bit, but right now I love the entire album, especially "England," which is an anthem on par with, say, "Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)," "Shout Me Out," or "Carousels."

--High Violet was just one of a dozen or so albums I picked up before I moved back home, and I'm trying to cross them off at work.  The highlight yesterday was Liquid Swords by the GZA of the Wu-Tang Clan, which, like all good East Coast hip-hop, strikes a difficult balance between being surprisingly vulnerable and being as hard as it gets.  The GZA's got great flow, and what he lacks in exuberance he makes up for with excellent lyrics and a supernova of energy, RZA, working his choruses and production.  It's a terrific - and terrifically cold - album, and, like High Violet, it's one that grabs you on the first go-round.

--I also listened to The Smiths' The Queen is Dead and Ra Ra Riot's The Rhumb Line, which have similar weaknesses:  both of them allow far too much self-indulgence on the part of their frontmen, especially the Smiths' Morrissey, whose lyrics are often shockingly bad.  Unlike the Smiths, though, Ra Ra Riot has no Johnny Marr to come in and save the day (his work on The Queen is Dead, especially its title track, is superhuman) and it completely lives or dies based on whether vocalist Wes Miles is on point.

--For all the bad press that KG's earned these past two years, the combination of this retelling of the Malik Sealy story and Garnett's inspired play against the Cavs and the Magic ought to remind people why he was so easy to root for in the first place.  If the increasingly likely 2008 Finals rematch happens, I won't have any qualms about rooting for KG (or, for that matter, Doc Rivers).

--The Wiz winning the John Wall sweepstakes is one of the best things that could have happened to the NBA; Wall will rejuvenate one of the league's less-alive franchises and breathe some life into a stale Eastern Conference.

--I hate me some Red Sox, but I can't bring myself to hate Dustin Pedroia, who's kind of awesome.  Also, the Cards and the Rays (who, inconveniently, comprise a large chunk of my fantasy team) done fell off, by all appearances.  It's a marathon and not a sprint, etc., but it's still a pretty strong deterrent from me actually watching baseball (so, in a roundabout way, it's a good thing). 

--Coming up later this week:  a little essay on LeBron and the NBA's general dearth of heroes, an album review, and hey, maybe some football.