Shooflypie

I've got work for school to do and I want to watch some football too, so let's jump right to today's ten... 1. A Slow Parade/A.A. Bondy (3) 2. Joke About Jamaica/The Hold Steady (3) 3. Suspended In Gaffa/Ra Ra Riot (2) 4. Wild Honey/U2 (3) 5. Modern Art/Art Brut (7) 6. A Bower Scene/The Decemberists (4) 7. The Lighthouse/David Byrne & Brian Eno (3) 8. Submarines Of Stockholm/A.C. Newman (2) 9. Tbtf/Broken Social Scene Presents: Kevin Drew (3) 10. The House That Dripped Blood/The Mountain Goats (4)

I've had myself good and blocked over a paper I have to write. Here's the kicker - I know what I'm writing about, I just can't seem to start. I'm going to try to suppress those feelings this morning and get it done. In the meantime, let's get to today's ten... 1. The Summer Place/Fountains of Wayne (5) 2. Cool Water/Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan (9) 3. Kiss Yourself/Verbena (5) 4. Hold On to This Coat/The Rosebuds (2) 5. Apartment Story/The National (5) 6. Cato As A Pun/Of Montreal (3) 7. #10/Velvet Crush (7) 8. Before It Gets Better/Earlimart (5) 9. Who You Are/American Music Club (2) 10. Go It Alone/Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit (6)

As I mentioned in my last post, I read the latest George Pelecanos novel, The Cut , in just a few days last week. I think this is my third Pelecanos; the previous two I read were stand-alone novels but this one is the first is a projected series (well, at least one more is coming). The main character, Spero Lucas, is a vet of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. Since he's been home, he's been working as an investigator, sometimes for an attorney and sometimes as a freelancer. On the freelance jobs, he takes a 40% cut of whatever it is he receives and that's how he makes his real money. He's still young and he likes his women. His brother is a high school teacher and the boys still hang out with their adoptive mother. All of this is background, of course. The main thrust of the plot deals with his being hired to retrieve a wholesale package of marijuana. Things don't go well, of course, and get complicated from there. It's a breezy read and an enjoyable one....

While I've spent the last 3 days tearing through The Cut by George Pelecanos, I'd like to take a few minutes to talk about the previous two books I read (outside of Robinson Crusoe , which we just read in my British Novel class and about which I need to write a paper by Wednesday)... I read Lev Grossman's The Magicians around the time it was published two years ago. In fact, I wrote a little about it here . While I liked the novel and found the ideas to be interesting, I didn't love the main character, Quentin Coldwater. That concern completely disappeared in the just-published sequel, The Magician King . King Quentin has actually matured since the events in the first book and while he isn't perfect, he was much more readable. The new novel also alternates the action in the present with chapters of Julia's story, which runs concurrent with the first book. The Magician King just felt stronger overall and it not only makes me ready for the third book in the s...

I have 12 things on my weekend to-do list and I managed to get only 4 done yesterday, though I did start a 5th. That means I have lots of work ahead of me today. I also want to watch as much football as I can. Yeah, it's gonna be tough. On the plus side, I think I know what I'm writing my Robinson Crusoe paper on. Anyway, let's get this going... 1. I Know These Waters Well/Apex Manor (12) 2. He Brings Out The Whiskey In Me/Amy Millan (4) 3. Liza's Earworm/Tom Adamson (5) 4. Wake Up Shake Up/Blair (7) 5. Rake/Steve Earle (4) 6. Don't You Believe A Word/Sloan (3) 7. Of The Sea/A.A. Bondy (3) 8. Surf City Eastern Bloc/Arcade Fire (2) 9. A Certain Guy/Mary Weiss (3) 10. Magazines/The Hold Steady (3)

I've owed my nephew a mix for a while now. I kept waiting for new albums to come out but that's a game you can always play. I started putting it together last night and finished this morning. I suspect I'll be doing a new one sooner than later but that's in the future. Here's the tracklist for So Long, Summer!.. 1. June Hymn/The Decemberists 2. Make Some Noise/The Beastie Boys 3. Weekend/Smith Westerns 4. We Can Get Together/The Hold Steady 5. Teenage Blood/Apex Manor 6. Helplessness Blues/Fleet Foxes 7. Civilian/Wye Oak 8. Shook Down/Yuck 9. Holding on to Black Metal/My Morning Jacket 10. Unkind/Sloan 11. Wrong/Archers of Loaf 12. 50 Ways/Telekinesis 13. My Mistakes/Eleanor Friedberger 14. Kathleen/Josh Ritter 15. Everybody Needs Love/Drive-By Truckers 16. Thunderstorm/Matthew Sweet 17. Summer...It's Gone/Grandaddy 18. How Lovely All It Was/Old 97s

I'm glad it's a three-day weekend because I didn't accomplish much of anything yesterday. I have school work and house work to do, my DVR is still quite full, and I'd like to finish reading The Leftovers as well. Better get started with today's ten then, eh? 1. Mistaken For Strangers/The National (3) 2. Awkward Kisser/Telekinesis (7) 3. Ballad of Vitaly/The Delta Spirit (11) 4. I'm All Fucked On Beer/Admiral Radley (4) 5. Take My Love With You/Eli "Paperboy" Reed And The True Loves (6) 6. Reppirt Yad/The Budos Band (7) 7. Die Die Die/The Avett Brothers (2) 8. Sweetest Kill/Broken Social Scene (5) 9. Blake's View/M. Ward (3) 10. Torch Song/The Walkmen (8)