Bram's "Strange Man, Changed Man" is an excellent album. His others, not so much.

"Distinguishing Marks" has a ton of songs I'd call power pop - "Ringing Tone", "Yes Eyes", "Houdini Love".

"Sincerely" is pretty solid all the way through. "You Were So Warm" is the forgotten classic on that one, I think. "Twilley Don't Mind" is a bit spottier but "Looking for the Magic" is probably one of the best songs I've ever heard.

The slick version of "Game of Pricks" with the 30 second or so guitar opening should've been the biggest hit of the '90s. It should have made them superstars. It blows the lo-fi version away. It's an anthem for the fucking ages, and its chorus has some of Pollard's only clearly accessible lyrics. It's absolutely…

Honestly, every Nick Lowe album has at least one song you need to possess on it.

Any Trouble! "Where Are All the Nice Girls?" is in my top 5-10 power pop albums, easily. "Wheels in Motion" is almost as good. Clive Gregson was a brilliant songwriter who could out-Costello Elvis and could beat Joe Jackson at his own game.

"Get the Knack" is fantastic. Fuck y'all for disagreeing. "Good Girls Don't" is their peak and their cover of Springsteen's "Don't Look Back" (a bonus track) is way better than the original.

Fuck, that comment doesn't make any sense. Add a question mark in there somewhere.

Does Riff's Fedora have one of those signs in the hatband that says "PRESS".

Wow…I read that book a few years ago and thought it was pretty funny. I never expected the movie (with Tim "Coke Dealer" Allen) would have been even remotely worth watching. I guess I was wrong. The book was mostly Barry's attempt to ape Carl Hiaasen, and that's hard to do well.

I agree. Plus, "Here Kitty" is such an obvious Arrested Development reference that it totally makes up for any problems this episode had.

Silver was great on "The West Wing". George Pelecanos (if you don't know who that is, I can't help you) said "TWW" was basically an hour of people making speeches to each other, and he's right, but Silver was really convincing as a political operative who probably never voted in his life and who could still give a…

@Isis: I believe he's referring to the Bob Evans chains of restaurants, famous for all-day breakfast, and apparently, pre-10am discounts for people of a certain age.

@Riff: I imagine you've seen the Ramones doc "End of the Century". If not, it's worth watching just for the interviews with Johnny and Dee Dee. Some fucked up individuals, for sure. But my jaw was on the floor for most of their time on screen.

You mean, the young Dee Dee Ramone that was so strung out that he couldn't even nail the line "Where's the pizza?" or something when they were backstage? Shit, if y'all want to catch whatever creepy-crawlies that were transmitted via needle drugs in 1979, you can keep him. I love the Ramones as much as anyone but I…

@Worse Than Hitler: Because he's a raging alcoholic. Harry Shearer had to dub his lines for him. That guy's quite the mimic!

UPS drivers - package car drivers, at any rate, maybe not tractor-trailer drivers - can't wear facial hair. However, whenever I run into my UPS guy on his frequent vacations, he's got a few days worth of growth.

Wasn't it a millionaire who said imagine no possessions? A poor little schoolboy said that we don't need no lessons?

I thought the covers album Mandy Moore did was highly respectable. And if I can say that about covers of "Senses Working Overtime" and "The Whole of the Moon" by an assembly-line pop tart, THAT must be pretty damn impressive in itself.

Those Larry the Cable Guy ads finally convinced me to browse the Firefox add-ons available. I suggest everyone else do the same - I never realized how wonderful life could be.