I discovered R.E.M. via a Trouser Press flexi-disc with "Wolves, Lower." Ran out and bought "Chronic Town," as soon as I could and they've been one of my very very very favorite bands (at times, my favorite) ever since.

I'll agree that this album feels frontloaded at first blush, but then again, so did FABLES and (especially) DOCUMENT.

Bodes Well For The Upcoming Album
Being pretentious and videos for every song — and calling them "films" — means that R.E.M. is fully engaged once again!

It'll All Even Out
Sure, I'll owe millions and millions of dollars to various asswipes, but luckily, I'll be owed just about the same amount from other asswipes!

As bad as Riker's O-face was, it still wasn't as bad as Lou Reed's

I'm totally going to use "infected with a retard-virus" as an insult at least once today.

I HATED THE GAME SO MUCH!!!!!!!!
I watched it on the first run and have never ever watched it since — purposely skipping it on subsequent re-runs.

The TV Bar Has Been Raised
I think that after the decade that TV has just had, our expectations for every new show on that's obviously trying to be quality are way way higher than they ever were before. So if BOARDWALK EMPIRE or RUBICON or TREME aren't as great as THE SOPRANOS or MAD MEN or THE WIRE, then the critical…

You Know What Would Be Kinda Awesome?
If that was the only thing that he ever tweeted.

MURMUR was a disappointment the first time time I heard it. CHRONIC TOWN had been so up-tempo and so electric and even kinda psychedelic that the acoustic textures and slower song speeds of MURMUR felt like a definite letdown.

I read Lord of the Rings probably two dozen times. And "Ball Four" and "To Kill a Mockingbird" nearly that many.

Sandinista! Now? Nope, Decades Later.
The Clash were my favorite band in the entire universe when they released SANDINISTA!, but a 3-record set only a year after a 2-record set (plus an album-length "maxi-disc" in the interim) was too damn much, and I quite literally couldn't wrap my head around it.

Every Time April Smiles
An angel gets its wings.

They're Gonna Get Sued
I'm pretty sure that Oprah has the copyright on the letter "O."

I loved Michelle Forbes as Ro from the start, and always thought that Nana Visitor (what a GREAT sci-fi actress name!) got the toughness but not quite the depth that Forbes brought.

@HDB,

@Reformed Calvinist

No Love for that dog or Geraldine Fibbers?
that dog's RETREAT FROM THE SUN wasn't just one of the greatest indie-pop albums of 1997, it was one of the greatest of the whole decade, taking the weird lessons of the Breeders and applying them to hooks that Matthew Sweet would kill for.

My 1997 List
Whiskeytown - Strangers Almanac
Radiohead - OK Computer
that dog - Retreat From The Sun
Pavement - Brighten The Corners
The Replacements - Nothing For All (the rarities disc)
Yo La Tengo - I Can Hear The Heart Beating as One
Chemical Brothers - Dig Your Own Hole
The Geraldine Fibbers - Butch
Bob Dylan - Time Out…

If We Learn Anything from the Hipster Princess Meme
It's that a pair of glasses always makes a hot chick that much hotter!