Yeah, I did shit hundreds of years ago too but what have you done this year.

Got a feeling 20-1-1 is gonna be a good year…
Pop culture: Read more books and listen to more hip hop.

Badly Drawn Boy
How is the new album? I lost track of him a long time ago for no particular reason. I think I stopped with the About a Boy soundtrack (I'm now recalling how "Silent Sigh" is such a wonderful song). Would it be worth my time to catch up with what he's done since. Keep in mind that my time isn't very…

I'm in the "don't mind it" camp. The over-the-top production bothers me more than the over-the-top lyrics, so I liked the understated version here.

Don't get me wrong, I'm enjoying it immensely. My concern is that as a "history of private life" it has thus far been very focused on 19th century Britain at the expense of other times and places. My complaint is a petty one, I suppose. With such a topic it is best to focus on something and what he has written about…

In the category of books read and enjoyed in 2010 but not published in 2010 and have the word "cloud" in the title, I'd have to nominate "The Cloudspotter's Guide"

I'm working my way through "At Home" at the moment. At this point I'm not sure if it's going to fully succeed in its aims (or what I thought they were) but Bryson is always a worthwhile read.

I second that emotion.

Card Cheat is truly and honestly my favourite Clash song. So there, Kosmonaut.

I actually like Murder Mystery but I think it's on the wrong album. They should have swapped it with Here She Comes Now, which doesn't fit very well on White Light White Heat.

Some more nominees
Hit the Plane Down and Train Round the Bend (and I do hope no one besmirches Lonesome Cowboy Bill)

Since we're on the topic of the Byrds, I'll throw in "Space Odyssey".

That is a fantastic last name. Manchon isn't bad either.

I have a harder time seeing Randy Newman as a navel-gazer, personally. Still, I think VDP has a point: you can see them all on a spectrum. Maybe James Taylor is further to an extreme than Neil Young but Neil Young is on there (and if you looked at his catalog you could find plenty of examples).

For starters, Leto, "American Sgt. Pepper" is an awful, awful description for Song Cycle. Sgt. Pepper is a pop album at heart. Song Cycle has pop elements but for the most part it is too unusual in structure and arrangement be pop, in my view. So maybe you're not getting it because stupid people gave you inaccurate…

Whoa, hold on now…
You can buy Muppet versions of yourself online?

Blank? Blank!? You're not looking at the big picture!

What I'm wondering…
Did they just get out of the shower or have they not showered in months?

Rush deserves to make it but don't you be tearing down ABBA, son.

The sooner the better. I can't tell you how many songs there are that I can't remember the lyrics when I hear them but I can always remember the Weird Al parodies.