I think it's a tiny bit better (A- territory). This is probably one of the most consistent Crooked Fingers albums, and seems to touch almost all of the various genre flourishes Bachmann has toyed with in the past.

I've listened to the whole album. It's terrible.

Is it, though? Currently at 96% on Rottentomatoes, and 87/100 on Metacritic. Many of the positive reviews are more in the B+ range, like Noel's, but I wouldn't call that "mixed."

The trailer makes the movie look awful. Beyond awful, even.

No, I'm looking forward to it as well. Shotgun Stories was one of my favorite films of the past decade, and the idea of Shannon and Nichols working together again….hooray!

Next up: Texas Instruments unveils program that lets you watch part of a movie ported onto your calculator.

"Bottomless Cup" really is a fantastic tune.

I just pooped in my pants now as I thought about this.

This is a private school, so maybe that plays into it?

Monopoly CAN be fun if people play the rules the way they're written. Most folks just play the rules they learned growing up, which are boring as all get-out.

I live in America and work at a college, and we have to work today. Most of my staff co-workers burned a vacation day today to do fun things outside, but it's raining. Ha!

I'm working through the show again with my wife, and honestly — Black Market didn't bother me as much this time. It was clunky, yes, but the almost hardboiled plotline and pacing kept me interested. Season three has much worse episodes.

Judging from some of the early production tidbits from the second season, I'm guessing that they'll stick to one book a season. It looks like they're moving some of the plot elements up a season — specifically some of Jaime's material. I have a feeling more and more will get cut out from each season. That happens,…

He had six people proof ADWD, from what I've heard.

I see the "last two books don't advance the plot" statement a lot these days, and I'm honestly curious about this. How so? Is this another way of saying that there's more action in the first three book? I look at where characters were at the end of A Storm of Swords and where they are at end of ADWD and it seems like…

Yeah, I'm with you, santos. I get why fans are frustrated, but I can't count myself as one of the angry ones. I've loved all of the ASOIAF books, especially the last two. If Martin never finishes the series, I'll at least be happy I got to enjoy the volumes he DID complete.

@Dread

Good question, though it'd be neat if they recorded again. Bachmann's voice is especially strong these days — he was really belting when the band played on Jimmy Fallon's show. Plus, AoL doesn't have some ridiculous reputation to live up to (you know that no matter how good a new Pixies album could be, it'd never live…

@Ref Cal

Vs. the Greatest is my favorite release by the band. "Audiowhore" and "Lowest Part is Free!" are about perfect, and lots of the other singles/B-sides on the reissue are quite good. I'd say it's worth getting the bonus material. Plus, it's remastered…right?